Is it November yet?

For me, one of the most interesting -- if completely unscientific -- methods of guaging public opinions after a significant event is to check the most emailed stories on Yahoo! News.

This morning, I expected the number one slot to belong to some thoughtful commentary on September 11th; its meaning and impact on our national life, etc.

But the most popular story this AM isn't a tribute to the fallen, or memories of that fateful day - it's a commentary by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann taking George Bush to task for, well, just about everything.

Here's Olbermann:

[Post 9/11/2001] Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.

The President -- and those around him -- did that.

They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."

They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.

The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."

The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."

Hear, hear!

Where can I get one of these?

In the movie Raising Arizona, "Glen" responds to an obvious question by positing: "Does the Pope wear a funny hat?"

Well, you tell me...



The hat is called a Capello Romano (lit: Roman Hat) or Saturno (because the brim is said to remind one of the rings of Saturn. I don't see it...)

Pope Benedict has made a habit (pardon the pun) of telegraphing his conservative orientation by dressing in more traditional papal duds than his immediate predecessor. Here's a portrait of his namesake, Benedict XV (who reigned during WWI) in his saturno.

I don't know why the pope's wardrobe fascinates me but it does. In any case, I have to have one of these hats...

And, yeah, I definitely need a hobby.

My friend Bob

I have a friend named.. well, let's just call him Bob. Most people think Bob is a nice, intelligent, easy-going guy. I think he's a glutton who drinks too much but, hey, he has a pool so I try to stay in his good graces.

In addition to his social vices (see above) Bob is a communist. (The guy has a Ned Lamont sign on his front lawn and he's serious about it!)

Anyway, last Sunday -- while shamelessly partaking of his hospitality -- he laced into me for "throwing my vote away". (He was in full purple rage, spit, food particles and alcohol flying from his mouth... It was ugly)

His irrational rage was sparked by my voting plans this November. I hate the Democratic party but, for the first time in my life, I'm planning to vote a straight Democrat ticket. I want:

1) To give the Dems control of at least one of the houses of Congress and subject the Bush administration to subpoena power in the hands of the opposition.

2) To lodge a protest over a failed GOP Congress (no executive oversight, failed wars, profligate spending, big brother encroachments, etc.)

3) To end one party rule in DC.

To my mind, all worthy and legitimate reasons for supporting a party I would not otherwise (even under pain of death) support.

Bob disagrees. He says that I should only vote Democrat if I truly believe in what the Dems stand for - any other motive is illegitimate.

As I assume that I won't be the only Independent supporting the Dems this Fall, I wonder if anyone else agrees with Bob's booze addled thinking?

_______________
Worth a read:

- From Republic to Empire? America under Bush by Ronald Bailey in Reason Online.

- Fascists... "The last 25 years have seen a 1,300% increase in the number of paramilitary raids on American homes. The vast majority of these are to serve routine drug warrants, including for offenses as trivial as marijuana." Read the rest (.pdf) - from Radley Balko at the Cato Institute.

John Kerry on the Brain...

It's been a John Kerry kind of day. I think I'm in mental communication with the man.

Has that ever happened to you?

First, in a comment on James' post here, I mentioned the immortal John Kerry line; "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

Then, a few hours later, I was reading through news reports of the Emperor's latest Iraq propaganda. In a speech to the Military Officers Association of America, Bush played the long-forgotten Osama card:

WASHINGTON - Quoting repeatedly from Osama bin Laden, President Bush said Tuesday that pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq would fulfill the terrorist leader's wishes and propel him into a more powerful global threat in the mold of Adolf Hitler.

[snip]

"History teaches that underestimating the words of evil and ambitious men is a terrible mistake," the president said. "Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. The question is: Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?"

So my first though was, "Yeah? Then why didn't you capture the sonofabitch when you had the chance and why does every neocon pundit tell us that Osama "isn't important" if, according to you, he could be a threat on par with freakin' Hitler?!"

Then, reading deeper into the article, Senator Kerry popped up:

"If President Bush had unleashed the American military to do the job at Tora Bora four years ago and killed Osama bin Laden, he wouldn't have to quote this barbarian's words today," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Because President Bush lost focus on the killers who attacked us and instead launched a disastrous war in Iraq, today Osama bin Laden and his henchmen still find sanctuary in the no man's land between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they still plot attacks against America."

Um, yeah... Kind of makes me wish I'd voted for the man. (No it doesn't)

In any case, I've found myself saying. "John Kerry was right" far too often lately. I think it's cause for grave concern...

More sensitivity...

...from the diversity crowd:

[click image to enlarge]

Standing firmly on the free speech ideals of its illustrious founder (Thomas Jefferson), the University of Virginia's Cavalier Daily thinks portraying the Virgin Mary with a sexually transmitted disease is high comedy.

Alas, Mohammed with a bomb in his turban didn't seem to pass the editors' tickle test.

I guess, some sacred persons are just funnier than others...

__________________
Worth a read:

- Fascists Under the Bed Pat Buchanan in the American Conservative.

- Preaching, Pondering and Predicting Col. Karen Kwiatkowski on Rumsfeld's American Legion speech.

- Another Connecticut Marine dies in Iraq... Lance Cpl. Philip A. Johnson († 9/2/06), 19 of Enfield, is the second native of this tiny state to die in Iraq during the past two weeks.

[The full list of Joe Lieberman's constituents who have been killed in Mr. Bush's war can be found here.]

The difference between us

When Michael Ledeen (a man with the finest of neocon pedigrees) isn't hyping up a case for an American attack on Iran, he's reminding people like me why we began to hate neoconservatism in the first place.

To illustrate, here's a line or two from his latest column:

In any event, the first time I encountered the notion that Syria is really our friend was in the mid-Eighties, when I was working on counterterrorism. The synagogue in Vienna had been savagely attacked by terrorists carrying hand grenades and a machine gun. We had learned that the terrorists had gone to Damascus, and then directly from Damascus to Vienna. They had not stopped between the Vienna airport and the synagogue.

I suggested that we might contemplate doing something mean to Syria.

Ok, so the obvious question here is: WHY should WE do something mean to Syria in response to an attack on a synagogue in Vienna? Isn't that, properly, the responsibility of the Austrians?! (Or the Israelis, for that matter.)

The United States Government should have condemned the attack and shared whatever intel it had with the Austrian authorities. Period. End of story. Time to move on.

It was, by the way, exactly what the Reagan administration did. (The above incident occured over twenty years ago.) But for Ledeen, it seems, American restraint in a matter that didn't involve us in the least was, naturally, [get ready for it!] appeasement.

These are the people who are in charge of our foreign policy, folks. For the love of God, vote Democrat in November...

(WHO said that???!!!)

Consider Adolph Hitler

I never thought I'd write those words but what he said during his rise to power is informative and perhaps a bit prescient in our current circumstances.

When Hitler said, "The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category", he may have been writing a page in this administration's playbook.

Happily for us, we don't have a "leader of genius" (Faaaaaaaar from it) but keep Hitler's words in mind when you read a few selected quotes from Bush's speech to the American Legion yesterday in Salt Lake City.

It makes you wonder who the fascists really are:

"When terrorists murder at the World Trade Center, or car bombers strike in Baghdad, or hijackers plot to blow up planes over the Atlantic, or terrorist militias shoot rockets at Israeli towns, they are all pursuing the same objective -- to turn back the advance of freedom, and impose a dark vision of tyranny and terror across the world."

[snip]

"Despite their differences, these groups from -- form the outlines of a single movement, a worldwide network of radicals that use terror to kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology. And the unifying feature of this movement, the link that spans sectarian divisions and local grievances, is the rigid conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam."

[snip]

"On one side are those who believe in the values of freedom and moderation -- the right of all people to speak, and worship, and live in liberty. And on the other side are those driven by the values of tyranny and extremism -- the right of a self-appointed few to impose their fanatical views on all the rest. As veterans, you have seen this kind of enemy before. They're successors to Fascists, to Nazis, to Communists, and other totalitarians of the 20th century."

So there you have it... Whether you fly planes into buildings; resist Israeli occupation; resist AMERICAN occupation, or just want to be left alone you're a terrorist.

There is such a thing as terrorism and it should be condemned. But the men who flew planes into the WTC are not the same as the Iraqis who have picked up guns to resist opposition and/or occupation. Neither is the Palestinian who shoots an Israeli soldier in Gaza the same as the monster who blows up children in a Tel Aviv restaurant.

But it's politically expedient for a failed president to use the fascist tactics of "common enemies" and "perpetual fear" to blithely defend the indefensible.

His latest round of cheerleading for a war already soundly rejected by the American people will only be effective if we allow him to scare us into submission. Or, as Hitler said, "How fortunate for leaders that men do not think."
__________

The above quotes from Mr. Bush's speech in Salt Lake City are a small sampling of the persistent propagandizing and fear mongering that appeared throughout the text. Space and, quite frankly, limited attention span forced me to limit the number of quotes I included in this post. To read the entire speech, go here

Lawyers....

Apparently aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree. To wit:

Boulder, Colorado District Attorney Mary Lacy on her decision to fly a lunatic from Thailand to Boulder (via California) when exculpatory evidence could have been gathered in Bangkok -- thus saving Colorado taxpayers thousands upon thousands of dollars:

DA defends decision to arrest Karr

"We felt we could not ignore this. We had to follow it," she said. "There was a real public safety concern here directed at a particular child" in Thailand, and a forensic psychologist said Karr "was dangerous, this person was escalating."

That's great but, typical power trips of American elected officials notwithstanding, her authority does not extend to Thailand. She's the Boulder, Colorado DA for pity's sake! His behavior in Thailand is the responsibility of Thai authorities. Period.

By all means, share whatever info Boulder has with the Bangkok police, but... awwww, forget it. She should be removed from office, but she'll probably win the compassion vote and remain DA until she grows old and dies.
_____

And then there's the email I found waiting for me this morning... It was a collection of ethnic jokes (everyone was bashed: Blacks, Mexicans, Irish, Italians, Blonde women, all men, and, of course, Southerners). It had been forwarded (and forwarded again) at least half a dozen times. The thing is, it orginated at a very prominent local law firm. No one had enough brain cells to strip the original headers before forwarding it...

Should I send eight lawyers to the unemplyment line?

Why the losses?

I think Andrew J. Bacevich (professor of history and international relations at Boston University) hits the nail on the head in The Islamic Way of War.

Bacevich writes: Muslims have stopped fighting on Western terms—and have started winning:

What are we to make of this? How is it that the seemingly weak and primitive are able to frustrate modern armies only recently viewed as all but invincible? What do the parallel tribulations—and embarrassments—of the United States and Israel have to tell us about war and politics in the 21st century? In short, what’s going on here?

The answer to that question is dismayingly simple: the sun has set on the age of unquestioned Western military dominance. Bluntly, the East has solved the riddle of the Western Way of War. In Baghdad and in Anbar Province as at various points on Israel’s troubled perimeter, the message is clear: methods that once could be counted on to deliver swift decision no longer work.

Defeatist? Well, maybe Hannity would say so but it's a point-of-view rarely discussed in the media. Is it possible that we'll be fighting endless wars of attrition against an enemy who cannot (and will not) be beat?

It's likely if we don't get at those "root causes" that we're never allowed to mention.

A terrible coincidence

On the very day (August 25th) that I blogged that Cpl. Stephen Bixler was Connecticut's most recent fatal casualty in Iraq († May 2006), Marine Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson of Milford was KIA in Anbar Province.

Cpl. Pierson (pictured at left, below)...



...was 21 year old.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Putting a face on it

"Stay the course" sounds appealing in the abstract because, let's face it, nobody likes a quitter and most people desperately want their country to succeed. But when you get behind the political rhetoric and focus on the human toll of Bush's Iraq policy, the slogans seem barren and not a little repulsive. I'm a big fan of critical analysis (at least in others) and I tend to eschew emotional arguments but I don't think you can examine a war policy from a completely detached position.

This young man, who doesn't even look old enough to shave, is Marine Cpl. Stephen Bixler. He is, sadly, Connecticut's most recent casualty of the Iraq war. He was killed May 4, 2006 while on foot patrol in the province of Fallujah.

The Hartford Courant wrote: "Bixler leaves behind his parents, Richard and Linda; a twin sister, Sandra; and dozens of people who knew him as intelligent and athletic, and as a quiet but strong leader, whether it was in the Boy Scouts or on the high school cross-country team."

The only reason I'm writing about this is because I saw a Chris Matthews interview with Van Taylor, an Iraq war veteran who is running for Congress in the district that includes Mr. Bush's Crawford ranch. He's a Republican and he favors "seeing Iraq through" to victory.

He supports the president, he supports the continuation of the war and, despite being a Congressional candidate, he cannot tell us why we invaded Iraq:

MATTHEWS: So why did we attack Iraq then? Why did we attack Iraq then?

TAYLOR: Regardless of why we may have started fighting, and I served as a marine ...

MATTHEWS: I‘m asking the question, why did we attack Iraq? Why did we go into Iraq?

TAYLOR: That‘s not the question that we need answered.

MATTHEWS: It‘s mine.

TAYLOR: It‘s what do we do now?

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: What‘s wrong with me asking the question? We are in a war.

Pearl Harbor started World War II.

TAYLOR: That‘s a question you can ask ...

MATTHEWS: What start it? Why did we go into Iraq?

TAYLOR: That is a question you can ask historians, but today we need to send people to Washington who understand the war on terror. There is not a single member of the United States Congress that has served in the war on terror, and there are only two dozen combat veterans. I will be the very first. We need to send people like me in Washington. [Full transcript here]

In three months we will have been in Iraq as long as we were in WWII and the supporters of this war still can't tell us why we're there. (During Vietnam -- before this blogger's living memory --- they couldn't tell us how we'd get out, but at least they told us why we were there!)

As Election Day approaches, Americans -- foremost among them people like the Bixler family -- have an absolute right to have that question answered.

American Exceptionalism

Is a subject that fascinates me.

In political debates I've always ascribed Evangelical views of America as the "New Zion" to a warped, if exclusive, interpretation of exceptionalism. (America as promised land; favored by God, etc.) In any case, I've always thought of it as a philosophy with religious -- or, at least, quasi-religious -- overtones.

Enter Scott McLemee at Inside Higher Education and my position is found to be lacking. (I really hate when that happens...)

In The Global Exception, McLamee touches on the right-wing religious brand of American Exceptionalism, but he also writes of the liberal, or left-wing, component:

The other form of American exceptionalism has a more left-wing genealogy. It emerged from debates over the peculiarities of the United States compared to other highly industrialized nation-states — especially the lack of a labor party or a mass-based socialist movement of the kind that became standard elsewhere in the world.

[snip]

In either version, the United States stands as a nation apart — somehow the product of forces cutting it off from the rest of the world’s history.

That last sentence is played out daily in Mr. Bush's foreign policy. Have a look at the article, it's a very good read.

Maybe it was the Cold War...

...I don't know but something managed to turn a free, proud people into a nation of cowering police bootlickers.

On Monday I was driving back from Rhode Island and as soon as I crossed the Connecticut line highway signs informed me that I would be fined for littering, fined for using a cell phone without a hands-free device, ticketed for driving without a seat belt, and arrested for speeding and/or drunk driving. Welcome to Connecticut, the "Land of Steady Habits".

Huge, electronic signs above the highway read, "Over the limit; under arrest!", and as I made way home -- listening to a rare Red Sox day game on the radio -- a public service announcement (opening with the sound of a jail cell door slamming)proudly announced that I'd experience that sound in person if I dared to well, I guess, have a drink with dinner some night.

I blame the Democrats, of course (in this state there's no one else TO blame)but, ultimately, it's the people who have gone soft. They've allowed government to assume the role of parent - confronting us constantly with "thou shalt nots" and "you're going to be in trouble if". Government has gone from nanny state to strict father; from overprotective mother to nagging wife.

I'm against drunk driving as much as the next guy but this is waaay over the top.(I went to Catholic school and the Sisters of Mercy weren't this bad!) They should have just put up a sign that read, "Welcome to East Berlin"

Ultimately, a tiny fraction of us drive drunk - just as a miniscule percentage of us murder, rape, rob, run over dogs for fun, etc. Why are a free people assaulted by government threats on their daily commutes? We all know that murder is illegal, but do we have to be reminded of it every twenty minutes?

I miss America...

The Party's Over

Ok, it's official, all that remains is tax policy. (Can Republicans even call this guy a "conservative" without smirking?)

Mr. Bush has abandoned "traditional conservative" stances on immigration, civil liberties, federal spending, limited government, non-intervention, tariffs and trade, and now, at long last, he's even pitching the pro-lifers overboard

President Bush Approves Over the Counter Early Abortion Pill, Pro-Life Base Decries Move

By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, August 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - For his pro-life supporter base, President George W. Bush stepped into one of the biggest political landmines of his Presidential career today with his approval of over the counter status for the abortion-causing morning after pill Plan B.

Rest easy, Fox Fans, it's entirely possible that White House advisers simply forgot to tell the president what he "believes" this morning. No doubt a timely memo from the RNC will clear it all up...

Moderate Joe II

Yesterday, I averaged out Joe Lieberman's liberal credentials by comparing "score cards" from four of the largest Democratic special interest groups. (See post here).

Just for the hell of it, I decided to check the American Conservative Union's lifetime ratings of several prominent Democratic Senators. Including those who are, doubtlessly, running for President in 2008 -- and those who have run in recent years. For the record, the ACU is the oldest Conservative lobbying group in America.

Lieberman (CT) - 17
Biden (DE) - 14
Nelson (FL) - 41
Bayh (IN) - 21
Reid (NV) - 20
Clinton (NY) - 9
Byrd (WV) - 30
Feingold (WI) - 12

So (Liberal) Joe is a 17/100 on the Conservative scale. (That's 3 points higher than Joe Biden; 8 higher than Hillary; and 3 points lower than Harry Reid)

And for the record, GOP whipping boy (and decorated war hero) Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania had a rating double that of Joe Lieberman's...

Define it...if you can

Kudos to the American Conservative magazine for bringing up a subject that's long overdue for serious discussion. In the August 28th issue the editors ask: "What is Left? What is Right? Does it Matter?"

1. Are the designations “liberal” and “conservative” still useful? Why or why not?

2. Does a binary Left/Right political spectrum describe the full range of ideological options? Is it still applicable?

The charge is taken up by thirty writers/thinkers/editorialists from across the political spectrum and the result is a fascinating collection of essays that may keep you reading well into the night.

Not suprisingly, Pat Buchanan penned my favorite line:

Most of us ... are not really ‘neo-’ anything. We are old church and old right, anti-imperialist and anti-interventionist, disbelievers in Pax Americana. We love the old republic, and when we hear phrases like ‘New World Order,’ we release the safety catches on our revolvers.

Good stuff, read it here.

Moderate Joe

Elsewhere on the web, I've been arguing with New England Republicans about Joe Lieberman's moderate credentials.

One gentleman suggested that compared to Kerry, Kennedy, and Reid, Lieberman is, indeed, a moderate. So I checked the numbers on leading liberal indicators and threw Connecticut's Senior Senator into the mix for comparison's sake.

Here's what I found:

SENATOR	ADA***	NARAL	ACLU	PFAW	AVG
Lieberman	80%	75%	71%	85%	78%
Dodd	100%	75%	60%	77%	78%
Kerry	100%	100%	71%	85%	89%
Kennedy	95%	100%	86%	92%	93%
Reid	100%	100%	57%	77%	84%

So based on the latest available "score cards" from these bright red groups, Senator Dodd (who no Republican would EVER call a moderate) and Senator Lieberman were in a stone cold tie.

Senator Kerry and Senator Kennedy were (respectively) 11 and 15 percentage points higher. (No suprise there.)

And Senator Reid -- the DEMOCRATIC LEADER in the United States Senate -- was a mere 6 points higher than good Ol' Joe. (When was the last time you heard any Republican call Senator Reid a moderate?)

When the desperate Bushies say they support Joe Lieberman because he's a "moderate" or an "Independent" thinker, they're lying. (Because he's neither). They support him because he supports George Bush's war. (And, no doubt, his future war plans in Iran and Syria, as well.)

For the sake of consistency, when Senator Dodd runs for re-election, I would expect the RNC to refuse to endorse his GOP rival. After all, by current Republican standards, Senator Dodd is a moderate...
____________

***ADA - Americans for Democratic Action (.pdf)
NARAL - National Abortion Rights Action League
ACLU - American Civil Liberties Union
PFAW - People for the American Way (.pdf)

The funniest 14 seconds in animation history

This material may be objectionable to some viewers so..., aww screw 'em!

The Essential Questions

James Wilson, my favorite Libertarian blogger, has an excellent article posted at the Partial Observer this week.

In True Believers, he asks the supporters of "endless war" twenty-five questions that would almost certainly expose the moral and philosophical bankruptcy of the War Party - if any of them were courageous enough to answer the questions honestly.

Here's a sampling:

• 1. You suggest that many critics of Israel, and of U.S. aid to Israel are anti-Semites. But which is more prevalent, anti-Semitism in the anti-war crowd, or anti-French and anti-Arab bigotry in the pro-war crowd?



• 3. How is bombing non-combatants from above via the Air Force not its own form of "terrorism?" Why do uniforms and greater fire power make one side morally superior?



• 4. Why are non-combatant victims of American or Israeli bombs at least partly to blame for the policies of their government, but American and Israeli civilians are always innocent?



• 5. You claim that extremist Muslims hate us for our freedoms, and want to impose Muslim law on us. Do you not hate Muslim cultures just as much? Aren't you just as determined to overthrow their societies to impose your own values on them? Even if not, wouldn't Muslims have a right to perceive this to be true? How do you know that terrorism is a form of aggression, instead of resistance?



• 7. If we are morally justified in "preemptive war" to destroy countries that may threaten our interests several years from now, wouldn't those countries be militarily justified in launching preemptive attacks on us?



• 10. If the United States suffered under persistent bombing and occupation by foreign troops, would you rule out terrorism against the occupiers? Against the aggressor nation's homeland?



• 20. If your family was massacred by foreign soldiers, or killed by bombs from above, would your reaction be, "Ah, collateral damage. What can you do? No hard feelings."

Go here to read the rest.

Would you buy a used car from this man?

While Hannity, Kemp, Limbaugh, and even RNC Chair Ken Mehlman lament Joe Lieberman's loss in last week's primary, the "Conservative" choice and the much adored "Moral Voice of the United States Senate" is revealed as a liberal, a sore loser, and well, quite frankly, a liar.

They could have titled it "Putting the "lie" in Lieberman", or "Say it ain't so, Joe" (I'm big on Baseball references) but, alas, The National Catholic Register has significantly more class than I do. Here's their lead editorial from the August 18th issue The Tragedy of Joe Lieberman:

When he first ran for the Senate, Lieberman had heavy Catholic support. He met with Hartford Archbishop John Whealon in 1988 and handed the archbishop a pro-life pledge.

Father Thomas Berry, who worked for Archbishop Whealon, is quoted in the Washington Times saying Lieberman “expressed himself against abortion, all suicide and euthanasia. His position on that definitely was well received by the archbishop and priests.”

It’s no wonder Catholics were shocked when the senator not only voted again and again in full support of abortion, but even went so far as to protect partial-birth abortion. That’s the procedure in which a doctor punctures the skull of a child who is being born. The doctor removes the child’s brain, then completes what has become a still-birth. [Emphasis mine]

Ok, he never met a tax he didn't love, he revels in spending the public largesse almost as much as the modern GOP does, he's pro-abortion, and he welches on a public promise to the (now deceased) Archbishop of Hartford in a cynical vote grabbing maneuver... But, hey, he loves the war! And given the chance, he'd vote to invade Syria and Iran (And Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan...) Well, ok, you get the point.

Let Joe run as an Independent if he so chooses, but can we at least stop with all the "moral courage" nonsense? The guy's no better than any other self-serving politician. In fact, by cloaking himself in a a false morality by parading his faith -- and using the faith of others -- he's probably a helluva lot worse...
_________

Update: I regret not quoting their closing line. It's a wonderfully crafted verbal bitch slap: "Joe, we both believe in the God who said “Thou shalt not kill.” Let’s make common cause, together, in Him. He always keeps his promises."

Or maybe not

So much for the increased security at British and American airports:

BOSTON (Reuters) - A woman panicking from claustrophobia forced a Washington-bound flight from London to make an emergency landing in Boston on Thursday, sparking a major security alert.

Police and other officials said there was no apparent terrorist threat, but the incident set off a major security response a week after British authorities said they had foiled a plot to blow up planes from London to the United States.

But here's the kicker:

"Her carry-on bags subsequently were searched and matches were found in the bag as well as a gelatin-like substance [ed: later determined to be hand cream] but those items were not deemed to have any terrorist connection or pose a threat to the aircraft," Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told a news conference. [Empasis mine]

Ok, so with all the ballyhoo about increased security -- especially relating to carry-on items -- how the hell did MATCHES and "a gelatin like substance" make it past British security?!

"Right you are now, love, just a tin of accelerant and a box of ignitables. You're good to board. Safe trip!"

The rules (as amended)

While it was previsouly forbidden for American politicians, pundits, journalists, or private citizens to criticize Israel, Israeli foreign and military policy, or the Israeli government - the rules have now been officially modified.

On Tuesday, August 15, 2006 at 12:10 PM (EDT), narco-terrorist paymaster, Rush Limbaugh, decreed: "The current Israeli Prime Minister is a disaster!"

Had anyone said -- relative to his Palestinian policy -- "Ariel Sharon is a disaster!", he would have been labeled an anti-Semite before the final syllable had passed his lips.

Therefore, the rules have been amended.

It's now perfectly permissable to criticize Israel if you sense moderation, or realism in the conduct of their foreign and military policy. If you discern that the Israeli Government is not behaving in a craven, blood-thirsty, and disproportianate manner then, by all means, have at them without fear of being smeared as a racist who wants Jews "pushed into the sea".

That is all.

der Konservatives

When I first started blogging I was obsessed with the decidedly non-conservative nature of the modern, self-described "conservative Republican". (Or, as a friend of mine humorously noted, "Neocons are neither.")

The GOP has always suffered from a political "multiple personality disorder". There were the big government, national security state brown shirts and the small government, civil libertarians who just wanted government out of their lives and, even, out of business. I was in the latter group at a time when there was still room for us in the Republican Party. Those days are long gone.

Llewellyn (Lew) Rockwell, a Libertarian thinker of the highest order, has summed up the new Republican philosophy very well in a recent article in the American Conservative:

If there are conservatives who believe in true liberty today, they were called liberals in earlier times. And any socialists today who call themselves liberals have simply stolen the term and converted it to mean its opposite.

The reality is that today there are ever fewer conservatives alive who believe in true liberty as the old school believed in it. They have been ideologically compromised beyond repair. They have been so seduced by the Bush administration that they have become champions of an egregious war, ghastly bureaucracies like the Department of Homeland Security, and utterly unprincipled on the question of government growth.

Granted, the corruption of conservatism dates way back—to the Reagan administration, to the Nixon administration, and even to the advent of the Cold War, when conservatives signed on to become cheerleaders of the national security state.

But it’s never been as bad as it is today. They sometimes invoke the names of genuinely radical thinkers such as F.A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises. But their real heroes are talk-radio blabsters, television entertainers, and sexpot pundit quipsters. They have little intellectual curiosity at all.

In many ways, today’s conservatives are party men and women not unlike those we saw in totalitarian countries, people who spout the line and slay the enemy without a thought as to the principles involved. Yes, they hate the Left. But only because the Left is the “other.”

The money line there is: "They have little intellectual curiosity at all" Some of them may be literate enough to take their cues from National Review or the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal but, let's face it, most of them get their marching orders from Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, and [fill-in-the-blank].

White House staffers tell the president what to think; talking points go out to the pundits; the pundits hold forth for the benefit of the great unwashed.

At the height of its power, the Soviet Union didn't "do" propaganda half as well as these people "do" it. At least the Russians had to deal with a population that retained a modest portion of their critical thinking skills.

The lies proliferate and they're swallowed whole:

• "The president is keeping us safe."


• "The root cause of Islamic terrorism is a hatred of the Bill of Rights and open societies."


• "Hezbollah -- not al Quaida -- is a the world's most dangerous terror organization." (Condi Rice actually said that!!)

And the biggest lie of all: "We can defeat Islamic extremism with bombs."

Those damned "soft on terror " Democrats...

...could teach George Bush a lesson or two:

Bush staff wanted bomb-detection cash moved

While the British terror suspects were hatching their plot, the Bush administration was quietly seeking permission to divert $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new homeland explosives detection technology.

[snip]

The department failed to spend $200 million in research and development money from past years, forcing lawmakers to rescind the money this summer.

The administration also was slow to start testing a new liquid explosives detector that the Japanese government provided to the United States earlier this year.

The British plot to blow up as many as 10 American airlines on trans-Atlantic flights was to involve liquid explosives.

Hawley said Homeland Security now is going to test the detector in six American airports. "It is very promising technology and we are extremely interested in it to help us operationally in the next several years," he said.

[snip]

The administration's most recent budget request also mystified lawmakers. It asked to take $6 million from Homeland S&T's 2006 budget that was supposed to be used to develop explosives detection technology and instead divert it to cover a budget shortfall in the Federal Protective Service, which provides security around government buildings.

Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the top two lawmakers for Senate homeland appropriations, rejected the idea shortly after it arrived late last month, Senate leadership officials said. [Emphasis mine]

Ok, so how do the Republifascists spin this to make it seem like John Murtha's fault?

It makes you think...

The next time you think that life couldn't get any worse because the morning line at Starbuck's is too long, remember this poor Boston family:

The devoted older brother of a dying Dorchester teen fulfilled a promise to join his little brother on his journey into eternal life when he died Tuesday in a motorcycle accident just hours before a brain tumor claimed his kin.

William Davulis, 26, the eldest of 10 children, was on his way to say goodbye to his younger brother, Dominic, 17, when he lost control of his motorcycle at the intersection of East First and O streets in South Boston at about 4:35 p.m.

“William wasn’t expecting to see God. He was expecting to see his dying brother,” said the brothers’ mother Terina, who hasn’t slept since she bid adieu to her older son at the city morgue only to return to Dominic’s bedside and hold his hand until he died at 12:50 yesterday morning. [Article]

When I read something like this I feel like a damned fool for complaining about...well, just about anything.

How do you stand on Iraq, m'boy?

I've spent my "online time" these past few days questioning a few "Republican" bloggers on their support for Joe Lieberman. It suprised me (but it shouldn't have) that so-called "Conservatives" are trying to bulid that ol' Joementum to get Lieberman back into the United States Senate.

Lieberman is not a conservative. But, then again, neither are most Republican bloggers..

Pat Buchanan, as ever, makes the point:

[..] Rhapsodizes editor William Kristol, "Is it too fanciful to speculate about a 2008 ticket of McCain-Lieberman, or Guiliani-Lieberman ... ?"

In short, The Weekly Standard wishes to see, on a Republican ticket and a heartbeat away from the presidency, a proud liberal Democrat who supports partial-birth abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, gay rights, affirmative action, reparations for slavery, gun control, higher taxes on the top 2 percent, distribution of condoms in public schools and driver's licenses for illegal aliens.

What does Joe oppose? School prayer, the American Legion's flag amendment, Sam Alito, drilling in the ANWAR and any phase-out of death taxes.

Last year, Joe's rating by Americans for Democratic Action was 80. The ACLU gave him an 83, the NAACP an 85, the AFL-CIO a 92, LULAC a perfect 100. In 2004, Joe got a 100 rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League and a zero from National Right to Life. His American Conservative Union rating was zero. His Christian Coalition rating was zero. The National Rifle Association, which grades by letters, gave Joe a big, fat "F."

But as long as you support war in Lebanon, war in Iraq and a "war-fighting Republican Party," in The Weekly Standard's phrase, you get a pass on everything else. Beat the drum for permanent war for global democracy and against Islamo-fascism, and all other sins are forgiven you.

Such is the state of conservatism, 2006.

To the neocons and their useful idiots in the Republican party (including the Republican Blogosphere) Iraq is the sole test. Your position on that misbegotten war determines your loyalty as an American and your standing in the party.

It is a sure sign of a looming Republican crack-up.

To hell with al Quaida, bomb Syria!

The Bushies are rushing in to capitalize on the UK's discovery of an alleged al Quaida plot to blow up British and American airliners, and I'm left scratching my head...

Is this a victory in the so-called War on Terror, or is it one more stark reminder that while al Quaida plotted and planned to attack us, Mr. Bush had us irretrievably bogged down in the Iraqi quagmire?

Five years after September 11th bin Laden remains at large. While the neocon press and pundits say, "no worries", it can't be doubted that his continued liberty is an enormous symbolic victory for the "terrorissss" and a rallying point for "those who would do us harm".

As recently as last night , RNC Chair, Ken Mehlman, was describing Iraq as, "the central front in the war on terror."

This is the type of logic that you have to adopt to be a "good Republican" these days:

• It's no problem at all that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of September 11th and the motivating force behind today's events remains at large.



• Iraq (a nation that never attacked us and had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11) is "the central front in the war on terror".

You know, even if Iraq were the central front in the War on Terror (TM), it's not as if the administration were doing a bang-up job there either!

It makes my head hurt... A lot...

Sydney Blumenthal nails it

Here's part of his Lieberman post-mortem:

Aug. 09, 2006 | Joe Lieberman's fall from grace appears straightforward. In Connecticut, where George W. Bush and his war are intensely disliked, Lieberman stationed himself as the president's defender. But Lieberman's precipitous descent from nomination as vice president to rejection by his home state partisans is also something of a mystery.

Lieberman was once the most attractive and promising Democrat in his state, his grasp of political realities subtle and sinuous. But he became scornful of disagreement, parading himself as a moral paragon to whom voters should be privileged to pay deference. The elevation of his sanctimony was accompanied by the loss of his political sense.

And here's the rest: Joe's fall from grace

Hell just froze over

Here's the proof:

U.S. directs criticism at Israel

CRAWFORD, Texas - The White House said Wednesday neither
Israel nor Hezbollah should escalate their month-old war, as Israel decided to widen its ground invasion in southern Lebanon.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the U.S. message was for both sides, though his remarks came after Israel's Security Cabinet voted to expand the war effort in an attempt to deal further blows to Hezbollah.

"We are working hard now to bridge differences between the United States position and some of the positions of our allies," Snow told reporters in Texas, where
President Bush was vacationing. "We want an end to violence and we do not want escalations."[Emphasis mine]

I'm going to tuck into that 18 year old scotch that I've been saving for the Rapture...

Joe Lieberman: Sore Loser

It really is too bad that after a thirty-five year career in state and national politics Joe Lieberman has earned himself the reputation of a sore loser.

Last night in his, well, you can't really call it a concession speech, he said that he was going to run in the general as an "Independent Democrat". There's no such thing.

Joementum not withstanding, Connecticut Democrats chose another man to represent them in the General Election and Joe couldn't muster the grace to sit out one cylcle before launching a "comeback run".

But, as I wrote yesterday, that's how Lieberman's operated during his entire career. Hedge the bets, stay in power.

This is a man who likes to play the embodiment of all moral virtue on the public stage even though he made his fortune as a beer distributor. He'll wear his Orthodox Judaism on his sleeve if it'll shore up his credentials; but he never met an abortion procedure that he didn't love.

The immediate analysis chalked up his loss to his support of the Iraq war - with a barely discernible undercurrent of dissatisfaction because he'd lost touch with Connecticut during his heady sojourn in the national limelight. I think that analysis is dead on.

Of course, the victor in yesterday's primary won't woo over many Independents of my stripe when he's crowded out by the usual suspects at his first post-election appearance:



There's Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women on the candidate's immediate left. (As if it were possible to be left of the candidate!) NOW's webpage bills the organization as. "[...] a non-profit, tax-exempt membership organization working politically and legislatively to advance women's rights."

Directly behind the queen of the abortionistas is Jesse Jackson. Let's face it, no democratic campaign would be complete without him. And rounding out the Unholy Trinity, there's a barely visible Al Sharpton to Jesse's right. (Just over Ned's right shoulder).

We all know that these are the movers and shakers of Democratic politics and it certainly comes as no suprise that they were involved in the campaign of a card-carrying liberal. But, my gosh, was it necessary to put them on prominant display at a victory speech? It's like hauling out Ken Lay's corpse to sit in the First Lady's box at the next State of the Union.

Lamont's acceptance speech attacked "Washington special interests" but he was (literally) surrounded by some of the most powerful special interest lobbyists in America. The irony was lost on the TV commentators.

This sort of thing will do zero damage to a Democratic campaign in New England, but it's handing the national Republicans a gift more precious than gold.
_______________________

Here's how the fallout is being analyzed in the Hartford Courant: Connecticut Sounds a Warning

The Big Day

Today, Tuesday, August 8, 2006 my little Blue State is the center of the political universe.

As Chris Matthews (who will be broadcasting from New Haven tonight) writes:

Connecticut gets to do something Tuesday that the rest of us can’t: vote on the Iraq War.

[snip]

But the voters up in Connecticut will have a decisive say this year. On Tuesday night they get to say where they stand on the American decision to invade Iraq.

If they vote for Lieberman in the primary, they’re saying one thing. If they vote for Lamont, they’re saying another. Try complicating it if you will, but that’s the way the world will read it.

As the British say, a vote for Ned Lamont is a “no confidence” vote on the Lieberman, Bush, the decision to invade and occupy Iraq.

Every vote counts. Whoever wins and by how much will be an international story reported and analyzed around the world.

I know it seems politically naive to raise this issue, but I wish a reporter would ask Joe Lieberman why he wants to be a United States Senator from Connecticut.

In 2000 he ran, simultaneously, for Vice President and US Senator. He lost the former but won the latter. Then, at the beginning of his new term, he promptly packed his bags and left Connecticut to run for President.

His showing in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary was humiliating for him and for the state. You have to question the political instincts of a man who didn't know when to "get out with dignity" and who failed, utterly, to comprehend the message his party's primary voters sent him on the Iraq war.

Two years later, he's back in Connecticut, wondering where the love went.

Joe Lieberman used to be a political institution in this state. But his humiliation in 2004 and his desperate efforts in this campaign have made him seem small and insignificant.

And when his divine right to elected office was challenged he presented as craven and self-serving. Even after his party's big guns came up to stump for him, he shamelessly declared that he'd run as an Independent if he lost the nomination. (He was still singing that Independent tune as recently as last night on, of all places, Fox News.)

I'm not a Democrat (Deo Gratias) but I have voted for Joe Lieberman in past elections. Should his name show up on the ballot this November -- either as the Democratic nominee or as an Independent -- I'll pull another lever.
_________
Update:

Sabotage!: Lieb's website gets hacked:

[...] The senator's official campaign Web site, Lieberman2006.com, has been down since 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Lieberman's camp is claiming that the Web site has been sabotaged by hackers who support his challenger Ned Lamont for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.

"They have totally attacked our Web site and e-mail system," Lieberman's campaign manager, Sean Smith said. "If Ned Lamont has a backbone in his body, he will call on these people to cease and desist."

According to the Lieberman camp, the site has been hacked so thoroughly that the senator's campaign can't even use e-mail.

Everyone's favorite Saint

I really have to stop writing so much about religion. But, hey, it is Sunday.

I was trolling around this morning and was suprised to see the Prayer of St. Francis posted at Blogs For Bush.

I actually read B4B a lot. It's neocon to be sure, but it's not the racist/fascist garbage that you typically find at LGF. That said, it's not exactly a peace blog either.

Everyone loves St. Francis but we were forced to say (and even sing) this prayer so often at Catholic grammar school that it's almost become trite. Here's the text for you pagans:

Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Ok, my point...

This prayer isn't a plea for a general state of peace. (As it seems the B4B folks are using it.) It's a prayer of conversion. Peace at the individual or personal level. Or, rather, a prayer to be given the grace to become a peacemaker.

There's no doubt about it, I'm heartened to see that the Bushies are big on St. Francis but could you ever imagine Dick Cheney -- or Jerry Falwell, for that matter -- actually reciting these words?

It always seems that the Christians who "wear it on their sleeves" (although it does get votes!) are the ones who miss the point entirely.

Ok, Reverends, et al, resume the bombing for Jesus' glory!

The only Republican I'd vote for in '08

Ok, I'll admit, that I'd be a little uncomfortable having a President named "Chuck" but, hey, we had one named "Jimmy" and he didn't work out so bad....

The thing about Senator Chuck Hagel is that he's been a consistent critic of administration policy in Iraq and the neocon press and White House chickenhawks haven't been able to lay a glove on him. Unlike the Presidentissimus, Senator Hagel actually fought in Vietnam and came home with a chest-full of medals.

He has a direct style, but he doesn't bludgeon and bloviate. He speaks his Red State mind (the guy is from Nebraska) without reference to the polls (he was WAY out in front on Iraq). And he pulls off that difficult admixture of "regular guy"- cum - "senatorial dignity" very well.

Here's a recent home state news item that has the Senator opposing Bush's decision to reinforce Baghdad with 5,000 additional troops:

With Iraq exploding in sectarian violence and “moving closer and closer to a straight-out civil war,” Hagel said, the Bush administration’s decision to transfer nearly 5,000 additional U.S. troops into Baghdad is “only going to make it worse for us.”

In the end, Hagel said, “feed(ing) more American troop fodder into the fight” could result in “even a worse defeat.”

And, yeah, he's been spotted in New Hampshire...

It's just too easy to believe...

And more's the pity:

Former Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith is claiming President George W. Bush was unaware that there were two major sects of Islam just two months before the President ordered troops to invade Iraq

Via HP

So how do you define "hate"?

The national media are obsessed with Mel Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic tirade. You can't turn on a cable news channel without being affronted by "expert" panels meticulously dissecting Herr Gibson's psyche every which way 'til Tuesday.

Yeah, let's condemn it but can we drop the sanctimony? I'm sure that none of those talking-heads feigning breathless outrage have ever, even once, uttered a racial, ethnic, or religious slur. I sure haven't! And neither, I'm certain, have any of you good people...

It's ironic, though, that during the Gibson maelstrom -- throughout which, we've unanimously agreed that religious bigotry and "hate" are to be condemned from the ramparts -- Comedy Central chose to rerun its infamous South Park episode: Bloody Mary.

In a nutshell: a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is found to be bleeding "from her ass" and rubes (including a caricature of Pope Benedict XVI) line up to have their heads signed with the anal blood.




So here we have a wildly successful, award winning cartoon on a major cable network -- shored up by Corporate America's advertising dollars -- mocking the pope and dragging Jesus Christ's Mother through the sewer. (For the second time. The show originally aired last Christmas...) And, predictably, there's no outrage.

I've yet to see the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad aired on the Daily Show (another Comedy Central offering) and I'm sure the Gibson saga will be played until his career is boxed and planted but attacks on Christianity -- from corporate boardrooms - will proceed with impunity.

You can freely assault the faith of billions, drag the most sacred feminine religious symbol in human history through the mud, and portray Pope Benedict with (farted) anal blood all over his face but never, ever forget that Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Ok, well, just "truth and justice" then if it'll bring in more bean overseas... (Dropping "American way" from the Man of Steel's motto wounded my traditionalist soul...)

I can't write movie reviews, I'm terrible at it. But after sitting in an IMAX theater for 2 1/2 hours watching Superman, I just have to say a word or two. Not a review -- or even a commentary -- just a series of observations.

I would have hated this movie if I didn't like it so damned much. My expectations were low going in so keeping me awake for 2 1/2 hours made it a genuine hit.

What I liked:

• Kevin Spacey is brilliant as Lex Luthor.


• The new Superman (Brandon Routh) pulled it off. I never liked Christopher Reeve, God rest him, there was just something "about" the man that weirded me out.


• The action was great


• The cinematography was fantastic (Made for IMAX)


• Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) is hot - unlike that crazy Canadian wench who played her in the Reeve movies

What I hated:

• Clark Kent wasn't geeky enough. They turned him into a GQ metrosexual bordering on Euro-fag. Instead of the heavy black glasses, he wore trendy smallish frames. A friend -- an expert in communications with the Ph.D. to prove it -- said that was intentional. There's cash in it for Hollywood if they turn Routh into a gay pin-up boy.


• The last half hour. No spoliers, but it was totally Oprahfied. (Like the rest of this country) Same expert friend said that was designed to appeal to female audiences. The Man of Steel is strong as hell but, at the same time, he's oh so very "sensitive".


• I could live to be 100 and I'll never understand how they can't recognize Clark Kent in tights sans glasses. If one of my co-workers took off his glasses and donned some red panties, I think I'd recognize him.


• For the first time in my life, Superman is younger than I am. (That one hurt)

In general:

The movie is heavy on Christian symbolism (No spoilers):

• Clark Kent's mom (Eva Marie Saint -- who I thought was long dead until she showed up in the movie looking, well, long dead) cradling him a la the Virgin Mary in the Pieta.


• Superman falling back to earth in cruciform pose.


• Talk of the world's "needing a Savior".


• "I hear everything" says Superman, as he stands in low earth orbit listening to the cries (prayers?) of a suffering humanity.


• The empty hospital bed. The ubermensch is resurrected.

Cut off the last half hour and I'd give it:

In it's current form, I can only muster 2 1/2.
__________

Here's a real, honest to Superman, review that sums it up very well.

Iran: The Next War

James Bamford's MUST READ at Rolling Stone. Here's the intro:

Even before the bombs fell on Baghdad, a group of senior Pentagon officials were plotting to invade another country. Their covert campaign once again relied on false intelligence and shady allies. But this time, the target was Iran.

Long, detailed, excellent work. Typical of Bamford.

Ireland takes a shot at Israel

This morning I was searching for info on the amazing discovery of a 9th Century Psalter in an Irish field (found it) and stumbled upon some suprisingly strong comments by the Irish Government relative to the war in Lebanon.

I guess Kofi isn't alone in suggesting that the Israeli attack on the UN post was something less than accidental:

He [Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern] said events during the conflict would lead one to believe that there was targeting of some of these areas or at least some reckless activity by the Israeli forces.

[snip]

Earlier the Taoiseach [Prime Minister], Bertie Ahern, said he was appalled by the UN deaths and condemned the continuing use by Israel of reckless and disproportionate force.

You won't hear that on Fox News...
______

UPDATE: The BBC reports: UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

His Own Private Idaho

Folks in Idaho like the president. And that's a good thing because it's one of only four states where the Emperor currently enjoys a plurality of support. [The others being: Texas +1%), Wyoming (+3%), and Utah, which loves him best at (+18%)!]

The other 46 states give a collective thumbs down to the "Commander-in-Chief" (with varying degrees of intensity) but my next door neighbor, Rhode Island, gets the prize for giving His Honor his worst overall approval rating at an abysmal 23/75%!

My guess is that there won't be any suprise presidential visits to the Newport Jazz Festival this year...

Your papers, please

The Joementum's in the shitter...

Yesterday, President Clinton came to Connecticut to stump -- it would appear, reluctantly -- for Uncle Joe.

The choice of Waterbury for a venue would seem significant. It was in that Democrat-ridden city on November 6, 1960, that more than 40,000 people waited on the Green until 3 AM for (candidate) John F. Kennedy to make a brief campaign stop on his way back to Boston. Stunned by the size of the early morning crowd, Kennedy said:

My debt to Connecticut is great, and I come here in the last 48 hours of this campaign to the greatest rally that we have had in this entire campaign, right here in this city.

[snip]

Anyway, New England has not had a Democratic President since Franklin Pierce, 104 years ago, and I think it is about time! [Applause]

[snip]

I promised the mayor that I would have you all in bed by three. [Response from the audience.] I want to just say, and I mean it: No.1, this is the biggest crowd we have had in a city of this size in the United States; No.2, it is not 12 o'clock, it is 3 o'clock in the morning. [Applause.] And I must say every day I keep reading the Vice President [Nixon] says the tide is suddenly going in his direction. [Response from the audience.] Well, I think the tide is rising in Connecticut that is just going to wash him all the way out. [Applause.]

Alas, Big Dog Clinton couldn't conjure up any of that Kennedy magic for Joe Lieberman. It's amazing that the senator -- his party's nominee for the Vice Presidency in 2000 -- and, previously, an enormously popular Connecticut politician in his own right has fallen so far...so fast. The primary challenge from Ned Lamont has really taken it out of him. He looks exhausted and he's aged well beyond his years.

Times change... Insurmountable popularity one day; kicked to the curb the next. And the times have certainly changed for the country and the Democratic party since JFK made his famous campaign stop in Waterbury. In 1960, if you wanted to attend the Kennedy rally you put on your woolens, poured some coffee in a thermos and froze your arse off on the Green until 3:00 AM.

If you wanted to go to the Clinton event yesterday, you had to submit your Social Security number to rally organizers and hope you passed the background check.

God, I miss America...
______________

Look Who's Talking - George Bush or Joe Lieberman?

"Tamely resigned"

After reading a synopsis of the latest attempt by the GOP Congress to fortify the unchecked power of the executive branch (via Independent Country), I was reminded of a quote I once read on the subject of liberty.

It took some doing, but I finally found the quote in an old American History textbook:

We have always looked upon men as a set of beings naturally free: - And it is a truth, which the history of the ages and the common experience of mankind have fully confirmed, that a people can never be divested of those individual rights and liberties which are necessary to their happiness, to the well-being of communities or to a well regulated state, but by their own negligence, imprudence, timidity or rashness. They are seldom lost, but when foolishly forfeited or tamely resigned.

Jonas Clarke
Pastor of Lexington Church
On the Eve of the American Revolution

Two things in this quote stand out: (1) Our ancestors understood the danger of liberty denied (or resigned) and (2) Men of the 18th Century knew how to write!

They were about to bring arms against the mightiest empire on earth in defense of their liberties and we tremble in the presence of a traffic cop...

Sadly, the men and women of Rev. Clarke's generation probably would have preferred life under General Gage to life under Generalissimo Bush. (Gage, at least, ordered the British Regulars to respect private property rights. The Magna Carta not being a "living document" at that particular time.)

If you have plans to visit Imperial Washington for vacation this summer, cancel them. (It's a dump) Instead, fly your family to Boston and drive the 16 miles, or so, to the hallowed ground of Lexington Common.

If, after that experience, you still believe that one man can be trusted with your rights and that liberty should be surrendered for "security" then, I dunno, move to Canada or something...

Living in a Black & White World

I envy people who can see the world and its myriad crises in black and white. No shades of gray for them; just a rigid manichæism that banishes all doubt.

They exist on both ends of the political spectrum and nothing illuminates their poltical philosophy better than the Israeli-Arab conflict.

The hardcore Left villifies Israel and the extreme neo-right get out their pom-poms and lead the cheers whenever Israel "gets tough" with terrorists. (Or Arab civilians and critical infrastructure, for that matter.) The latter position is, of course, the one held by the Bush administration.

As Boston University Anthropology and International Relations professor, Augustus Norton, offers:

I've been studying American foreign policy in the Middle East for 34 years and I can't recall any U.S. president who has subordinated American interests to Israeli interests like this one. The administration is being naïve about how this is going to reverberate elsewhere, in places like Iraq. Israel is primarily targeting Shiite Muslims and that's going to fuel the sectarianism that is feeding the civil war in Iraq. We have other concerns we should be looking out for—but George Bush apparently feels that American interests and Israeli interests coincide, so we have a no-show foreign policy.

I'm sickened by the devastation in Lebanon (I have a soft-spot for the Lebanese. Probably the most generous and hospitable people I have ever encountered.) But at the same time, how can one not be moved by the sight of Israeli women and children running for their lives as (unguided) rockets slam into their homes? Certainly, any nation would -- and has the absolute right -- to defend its citizens in such circumstances.

Putting aside for the moment that Hezbollah was formed in reaction to an earlier Israeli invasion of Lebanon and that the Arab world can't seem to get out of its own way, any thoughtful, critical analysis would find angels and devils on both sides of the blue line.

I know that the "Good & Evil" pundits dismiss any such analysis as "moral equivalence" but, well, to hell with them. The world is a complicated place and human actions and motivations are infinitely more complex that Sean Hannity would have you believe.

This bothers me:



As much as this does:



Both people have been brutalized (as in the sense of , 'to be made brutal') by a multi-generational conflict that shows no signs of stopping. By their current actions, the Israelis will create more terrorists than they destroy. And the Arabs will never "push Israel into the sea."

Until the Palestinian question is solved, Arabs will continue live in crushing, humiliating, misery and the Israelis will live under the constant threat of terrorism.

It's at times like these that I wish we had a president...

____________________
A few ways to help:

Catholic Relief Services

Catholic Relief Services has committed to helping people in Lebanon, Gaza, and Israelis in Northern Israel displaced by Hezbollah attacks.

International Orthodox Christian Charities

Ditto the above

American Friends of Magen David Adom (Israeli Red Cross affiliate) Providing services to Israeli Jews, Arabs, and Druze. Also see British friends and Australian friends

The Lebanese Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society

Provide humaitarian assistance to all people irrespective of creed or nationality.

Pro war Christians fascinate me

I know that Evangelicals subscribe to a rather peculiar Christology, but their ability to (mis)use the Gospel to justify -- and even to celebrate -- war, without enduring even the slightest pang of conscience, leaves me at a loss for words.

Let's face it, even Christians with a highly developed Theology of war (See Catholic Encyclopedia entry here) have to sense an uneasy contradiction between "justified violence" and the message of the Prince of Peace.

For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. [Ezekiel 18:4]

War, and violence in general, may have to be tolerated but watching good "Christians" celebrate hostilities -- even to the point of regarding innocent human suffering as nothing more than "collateral damage" (see the danger in "religious people" adopting statist/party terminology?) -- and even viewing it as something to be amused by -- then it's all gone terribly wrong.

Pat Robertson, please call your office...

I'm neither a pacifist nor, for that matter, am I a very good Christian but stumbling upon these things on right wing blogs, sets alarm bells off in my inky black soul:

“Lord, please hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.”

Think Jesus is going to hear that one? I don't know, but prayers like the one above, that seem to equate soldiers en masse with (potential) Holy Martyrs make me wonder if it's the Soul of Islam or the Soul of Christianity that's at greater risk these day

The Apotheosis of George Washington W. Bush

Look high up into the dome of the US Capitol and you'll see Constantine Brumidi's (in)famous fresco, "The Apotheosis of George Washington".

Disturbing from a republican (small "r") perspective, Brumidi depicted the Father of Our Country in beatific glory with the triumphs of American arts and sciences (as well as a few pagan deities) as his eternal companions.

It's all very nice but it -- like the god-awful building that houses it -- is a bit too imperial for my tastes. (It grieves my Libertarian soul...)

Enter General Washington's 42nd successor...

Putting aside the very real possibility that George W. Bush has absolutely no idea who the first president was, he's not exactly immune to the royal pretensions that were thrust upon General Washington long after his death. (We all know that Washington refused the crown; let alone the halo). But George W. Bush suffers from no such republican angst. (again, notice the small "r" there) He hasn't been offered the crown (yet) but thanks to a boot licking Afghan rug maker, he's got his halo.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Apotheosis of George W. Bush:



There's Jesus showering blessings upon his High Priest, George W. Bush, while the angels look on in absolute rapture. Here's the scoop:

[...US Army reservist and Pulaski County State's Attorney, Grayson]Gile's mission - one he chose to embrace - involves a very special rug handcrafted by an Afghan man anxious to show his gratitude to President George W. Bush for this country's efforts to bring democracy to Afghanistan.

The colorful and beautifully crafted rug was hand-knotted by an elderly Hazara man from Kabul. The Hazaras, believed to be descendants of Ghengis Khan, were one of the most persecuted ethnic minorities in the Middle Eastern country prior to the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance's war with the Taliban.

[snip]

Gile was astonished when he saw the hand-knotted rug, a portrait of Bush, filled with Christian and Catholic symbolism. Filling the center of the rug is an incredible likeness of Bush, dressed in religious vestments, standing at a podium decorated with the official seal of the country and flanked by two waving American flags.

Directly above Bush is Jesus with a sacred heart and stigmata carefully knotted into the rug's pattern. The rug also shows cherubs and, apparently in an homage to both Bush and a fallen Northern Alliance leader, two lions.

Giles hasn't gotten the rug to Bush yet but he's working GOP leaders to get him into the White House.

So does this thing get met with the embarrassment and revulsion it deserves or is it proudly displayed in the State Dining Room?

Sadly, my money's on the latter possibility...

No More Kings!

If Americans know anything at all about history (or grammar, or math) then credit TV.

Every Saturday morning -- interspersed among our animated favorites -- ABC would run three minute Schoolhouse Rock cartoons which have to be the most successful educational experiment in American history. (They definitely had it all over the public schools!)

When I was in high school, we had to write the preamble to the Constitution on a history exam. Before we could even put pen to paper the teacher shouted, "and you can't sing it!!" (Most people will get that reference.)

Here's an old fav that made an entire generation of Americans hate those tyrannical old Brits!

Pat Buchanan & the Jews

Here's the MSNBC transcript on the Immigration bill:

It is a pig story! It’s animal farm all over again. And also make no bones about it, it’s the greedy Jews that were behind it because the people of America walked away from them and they need to bring in people from the Third World who are still gullible enough to sit there and listen to the Zionists…the Jews were behind this, the Jews started this a year ago. The neocons flooded the streets because they cannot get blind obedience anymore amongst educated white people who have caught onto the racket and instead they need to import dummies. That’s the story and it is not difficult for you to understand—I’m telling you the truth. It’s all about greed. It’s greed at the top of the Jewish establishment.

[snip]

Make no mistake about why this is happening. This has nothing to do with compassion for Mexican workers. This has nothing to do with fairness for Mexican workers—it has to do with the greed…. That’s all there is to it. And that includes the Zionist pigs. And if you don’t like it, don’t listen to the show—I really don’t care anymore. I’m not going to be duped by this sanctimonious garbage that all religions are good and that the institution itself is good. Bah humbug. Judaism is rotten from the top to the bottom.

Shocking? Disgusting? Sure, it's both and then some. But it's also something that I completely made up.

Well, I didn't exactly "make it up" I just tampered with the original text. Pat Buchanan never spoke these words against Jews. The object of this diatribe was actually the Catholic Church and the words were spoken (spewed?) by neocon darling, Michael Savage during his nationally syndicated radio show.

Here's the full text:

Tis the Season

I'm not a big fan of the online quiz but there are times when I just can't help myself. This was one of them:

You scored as Sox Fanatic. You're a Sox Fanatic- you know nearly anything and everything about the Red Sox. You've probably gone to at least a few games a year, a Sox-Yankee game, spring training, and have a bunch of autographs. Plus, I can bet Jerry Remy is one of your idols. You definately count as part of Red Sox Nation. Sox Fanatic 100% Almost a fan 88% On the bench 63% Not so much 0%

Are you a true Red Sox fan??
created with QuizFarm.com

Yeah, I know I'm a Red Sox fanatic -- it didn't take a quiz to tell me that -- but the pic that came along with it was just too cool to resist. And, by the way, Jerry Remy is not one of my idols, I can't stand the man...

______________
Also worth a look:

Coolus maximus linguam latinam est!

I love Latin... I took three years in High School but learned little more than a few prayers and the odd maxim or two. Every year -- and I mean EVERY year -- I promise, I vow, I swear that I'm going to sit down with my Wheelock's and build the vocab and work on the grammar. I never do it...

I'll go to my grave with the goal of Latin fluency unmet but I still can't resist websites like these:

Latin Weather Forecasts: The Weather Underground provides current weather and updated forecasts in Latin for people who are just too cool to bother themselves with the English. Another useless site that I find utterly fascinating.

The Latin Lover The official versions of Vatican texts and Papal documents are always promulagted in Latin and then translated into the various modern languages. So who checks the Pope's Latin? Why Father Reginald Foster, of course. Father Foster " The Pope's Latinist" (this is the guy who raps the Supreme Pontiff's knuckles and says "No, Holy Father, you want the VOCATIVE case here!!") has his own show on Vatican Radio. The link above will take you to the website. Yet another place where I can waste hours and hours of time...