News That Really Isn't News

Bush and Bandar
In George W. Bush's last press conference, he mentioned al-Qaeda at least thirty times, insisting that they were the main cause of our troubles in Iraq. When you actually look at the numbers, this group is responsible for about 10% of the misery in Iraq. The LA Times reported today about where most of the suicide bombers come from : Saudi Arabia. Are they al-Qaeda ? Hard to tell when they blow themselves up into tiny pieces. I think it is likely that they are Wahhabi, though. In any case it seems that country that provides most of these outsiders in the Iraq War is Saudi Arabia, supposedly our staunch allies. To be fair, I would say this simply points out how different a "War on Terrorists" really is and how misbegotten it is to attack a whole country's government. It's really only smaller groups, not a country's army in total.

Yeah, But Can You Prove It ?

Today three Christian Extremists from Operation Save America disrupted a Hindu chaplain as he tried to deliver the invocation at the opening of Senate business. They were heard to shout that this prayer was an "abomination." They said there was no God but their God. I really would like to see them prove that.

An "F" for the Iraqi Parliament

I would like to see the Bush Regime treat America's school children as well as they treat the Iraqi Government. The benchmark report which just came out shows that the Iraqis haven't achieved any of the expectations at all. Tony Snow says they have made satisfactory progress in about half the areas examined.

Now, when the bureaucrats at No Child Left Behind (LOL) rate our schools, teachers, and kids they expect all 39 of their criteria to be met. If a school misses just one area, they get an "F". Consequently, many schools in my state, Florida, get an "A" on state ratings, but an "F" from NCLB. As a teacher, I would certainly be fired if I failed students because they missed one assignment. Yet we're supposed to be satisfied with the spin coming out of this White House.

Ultimatum

I couldn't resist stealing this one from Bartcop.com. It's so funny and so true. I actually believe it's photoshopped from a real picture that they call "Redneck Babysitter." In any case, this concoction is very appropriate for the most childlike President.Unfortunately his arms and hands have been left free for signing statements or one of those rare vetoes.

Corporate Dishonor

The third largest electronics dealer, Circuit City, has laid off 3400 workers (8% of its workers) because they felt they were being paid too much. CC's management seems to think everything is fine, though, because the laid off can come back to their same jobs, but at less pay than they had been earning previously. This is not a stunt, but a new management strategy of the free market, global economy. It's common knowledge that Circuit City has not been performing well, and I think they deserve everything they don't get. I could kick myself because the computer I'm typing this post on came from CC - but I won't make the same mistake again. I'd rather make my purchases from a corporation that has a little more honorable dealings with its staff.

Collateral damage: I stripe this story together with the ubiquitous WalMart self checkout lines. I refuse to use them when I see the actual human cashier folks that may soon be out of job because customers are willing to do the work of checking out their groceries.It's always the little guy or gal that suffers.

Subpoena Goodling

I don't quite understand this Monica Goodling Fifth Amendment business. My understanding is that she can be subpoenaed (as 31 members of Clinton's WH were), she then appears before Congress, and there she has the right at that time to invoke the Fifth Amendment to any answers that she feels might incriminate her. She (nor you or I) does not get to not appear before the committee because she worries about what they might ask her. Isn't that the way it works? Refusing to appear I should think is contempt of Congress. Nothing new for the loyal Bushies.

Also, another consideration is Ms. Goodling's extremely broad interpretation of the Fifth. The actual language of the Amendment says something about incriminating oneself in a "criminal" case, not the procedures and operations of a government agency like the DOJ. It seems that she has already decided on her own that some crime has occurred. I wouldn't doubt it myself.

A further point of interest : I couldn't find a photo of Monica Gooding on the Web. Google images, nothing. Yahoo, nothing. Ask.com : Your search has produced no results. She is definitely under the radar.

Update: My bad. I misspelled her name. It's Goodling. Still this is the only picture of Monica Goodling I could find. She's the second from the right at the picnic table. Apparently this is a Regent College get together.

Scenario

Dick Cheney will retire from the Vice Presidency very soon now for medical reasons (but also to take the heat off further Plame investigations). This will enable George W. to place his brother Jeb in that position. It's been historically difficult for a Vice President to make the jump to President, but it's worth a try, right Jeb?

They Got It Right

Gen. Anthony Zinni

Gen. Anthony Zinni,former Commander-in-Chief of Central Command, led an attack on Saddam's forces called "Operation Desert Fox" in 1998 (according to Thomas Ricks in Fiasco).This enormous endeavor employed more rockets and bombs than the entire Gulf War. At the time, Clinton haters said that the President was only trying to distract the Public from his extramarital affair. Years later, it appears that these raids may have totally destroyed Hussein's ability to produce WMDs, and in the process, bombed his capabilities back to the nineteenth century.

Zinni disagreed with Neocons like Paul Wolfowitz about heading for Baghdad. Zinni said we would end up with a "Bay of Goats", a disastrous invasion worse than Jack Kennedy's Cuban mess. Zinni said, "This is going to generate another one of our defeats there where we get a bunch of people slaughtered." Zinni is quoted in Ricks' Fiasco.

Scott Ritter

Scott Ritter, Marine, major weapons inspector, warned us that Saddam wouldn't, couldn't be able to attack us. He spoke up at a time when administration types were trying to convince us that Saddam's rockets, with a maximum range of 200 miles, were somehow going bomb American cities. War zealots did all they could in the form of ad hominem attacks on Ritter - even suggesting that he was a pedophile, so we could not possibly listen to him.

These two were patriots who understood the needless devastation that lie ahead for our country and its soldiers.

Why the Hell Should Anyone Anywhere Listen to These Guys ?

All these wise men were wrong (year after year after year) about the Iraq War.

David Brooks

Tries to hide how really conservative he is by always appearing Generally Bemused By It All. Wrong about the uptake of the War, still wrong today, but appears in the Times quite regularly anyway.

David S. Broder

This Dean of Beltway Pundits has become convinced that he is as special as his bio indicates. Unfortunately, he doesn't always present the facts. Still, you may often see his columns reproduced in your local paper, and see him on television a great deal. He seems so invested in protecting his idea of the Washington Scene that he isn't too reliable a source.

Joe Klein

LINO- Liberal in Name Only. He becomes upset when actual liberal bloggers point out how often he criticizes the good guys, and sides with the Repugs.

These gentlemen must have contracts clad in strong bars of iron with their publishers !

Update: These writers are some of the Big Guns. There are so many others who got it all wrong !

We're All Suffering From Fundamentalism

Ayman al-Zawahiri
In Lawrence Wright's magnificent book, The Looming Tower, the author delineates the rise of al-Qaeda in the modern world. He concludes that the "debacle" of The Six Day War set the stage for the surge in Islamic Fundamentalism we're currently suffering. Fundies like al-Zawahiri sold his people the idea. Wright says that such extreme leaders insisted that the reason the Arabs were so beaten by Israel was because, "God has turned against the Muslims. The only way back to Him was to return to pure religion."

Immediately after 9-11, American Fundamentalists like Falwell told us that we were attacked because of our own evil secularism. And after Katrina struck we heard from some fundies that this was also retribution we deserved somehow because of our secular sins. Don't they seem the same ?

Dr. Falwell