"We all recognise that there is violence, that there is sectarian violence. But the way I look at the situation is that the Iraqis took a look and decided not to go to civil war." - President of the United States George W. Bush.
Violence?What kind of violence do you want, Goat Boy? How about an average of 80 people a day assasinated. Every day. Shot in the back of the head and their bodies dumped for their families to find, flies buzzing around their corpses.
The Iraqis are already in a civil war.
GoatBoy is definitely certifiable and needs therapy. And while he's in therapy, maybe he could learn to speak proper English.
From Dictionary.com:
sectarian: Adhering or confined to the dogmatic limits of a sect or denomination; partisan.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Sail on, oh mighty Ship of state
Civil war in Iraq? Yes
The administration and pundits on both sides of the stay/go argument about Iraq keep repeating the lie that its hard to tell what’s going on in Iraq. Bull. Here’s the deal:
Yes, Virginia, it is a civil war. It’s low scale, but it is a war, and not very civil. It is a power struggle between Shi’a and Sunni, and nothing to do with us, whether we go or stay. The Kurds don’t care either way.
Yes, the winner ultimately is Iran, but Iran was the winner from about the end of the first year of our occupation. Recall that they had fought a real war - with trenches and nerve gas and everything but the kitchen sink – with Iraq for eight years prior to our arrival. Yes, there are Iranian agents in Iraq, and they are bad actors as far as we are concerned, but there is precious little that we can do about it, short of bombing Iran back into the Stone Age, or shipping over about 500,000 troops to occupy either country; not much of an option in any case.
Rather than stabilize the Middle East, we have created a snake’s nest of jihadists, seriously endangered the safety of Israel, and managed to alienate the entire planet in the process.
Bear in mind that we have a Senate majority leader in the person of Bill Frist, who has said, in another context, that the President “has done nothing illegal,” and so we have a Senate leadership blind to reality, an army that we are doing a damn good job of destroying our own selves by not relieving them in any kind of orderly fashion, a national treasury that is being bled dry because of this war, and a pissed-off and demoralized citizenry.
And you say that “staying the course” in Iraq is an option? What kind of nuts are you, exactly?
Not your father’s Republican party
Originally the Republican party was a collection of people concerned with fiscal responsibility, limited government, and dedicated to the advancement of civil rights and protection of the environment. Certainly there are many Republicans in my lifetime that I would count as towering figures - Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Pete McCloskey, Tom McClintock, and recently, Lincoln Chaffee - but not many.
As I survey the political scene today, I see a pathetic pack of venal and mendacious power mongers: Frist, Delay, Gingrich, the several Bush’s – it’s a long list. None of whom are what I would call a decent person. And no way in hell would I want to ‘have a beer’ with George Bush, jr., a sociopath of the first water.
Oddly enough, I think Strom Thurmond has become a decent person, morphing from a racist bigot into a world-class statesman, but that’s just my opinion; I know lots of people who would disagree with me on that.
We’re a long way from the decent, ordinary-businessman-turned-politician who was the bedrock representative of the Republican Party of the 1950’s. Instead, what we see now is a gang - dependent on a power base of radical Bible-pounding theocracy fanatics - waging war on the rest of the world, Islam in particular, and spending the people’s money like drunken sailors, driving this country into receivership, not to mention sabotaging the Constitution in the process.
Many of my friends are actual dyed-in-the-wool Republicans. To a man (and woman) they are shocked, dismayed, and confused about what has happened to their party. Where did these deficit monsters come from, they ask me. Not unkindly, I point out that they elected these egomaniacs.
In the other corner ...
Not that the Democrats are all that much better: bickering, rudderless, confused, afraid of being perceived as “weak” - which they certainly are - proving their spinelessness daily. The tough realists in their midst, Murtha, Feingold, Byrd, Conyers and a handful of others, are ignored or sidelined by the “leadership,” or criticized by self-serving political pundits.
It’s been said over and over that in a democracy the people get the government they deserve, but I cannot for the life of me see America as deserving of this entire crew of fanatics, war-mongering religious bigots, and near-sighted and craven politicos.
So, what to do, what to do? Well, there’s always the November elections, if Diebold can be made to behave, and Republican election commissioners can restrain themselves from hacking the ballot boxes. Good luck on that, I say.
There’s a new crop of Democrats (many of them war veterans) who deserve strong support, but no towering figures visible yet.
Third party? No help there: most Americans hate change, and there’s no money available to mount any kind of serious challenge in that direction; Hillary Clinton has vacuumed up all the spare cash, anyway. Which is crazy, because she doesn’t have a hope in hell of winning the presidency in our lifetimes, regardless of her monumental ego.
The only serious hope – and it’s a faint one - that I hold for this country is that corporate leaders put this government on notice that this country is headed straight for economic implosion and is going to take the planet down with it if somebody doesn’t wake up and steer the Ship of State in the right direction.
John Dean said in another context – but for similar reasons – that, “there’s a cancer on the presidency.” I would submit that there’s a gaping hole in the Ship of State, and I see no shipwrights, no navigators, and certainly no captains capable of saving her anytime soon.
The administration and pundits on both sides of the stay/go argument about Iraq keep repeating the lie that its hard to tell what’s going on in Iraq. Bull. Here’s the deal:
Yes, Virginia, it is a civil war. It’s low scale, but it is a war, and not very civil. It is a power struggle between Shi’a and Sunni, and nothing to do with us, whether we go or stay. The Kurds don’t care either way.
Yes, the winner ultimately is Iran, but Iran was the winner from about the end of the first year of our occupation. Recall that they had fought a real war - with trenches and nerve gas and everything but the kitchen sink – with Iraq for eight years prior to our arrival. Yes, there are Iranian agents in Iraq, and they are bad actors as far as we are concerned, but there is precious little that we can do about it, short of bombing Iran back into the Stone Age, or shipping over about 500,000 troops to occupy either country; not much of an option in any case.
Rather than stabilize the Middle East, we have created a snake’s nest of jihadists, seriously endangered the safety of Israel, and managed to alienate the entire planet in the process.
Bear in mind that we have a Senate majority leader in the person of Bill Frist, who has said, in another context, that the President “has done nothing illegal,” and so we have a Senate leadership blind to reality, an army that we are doing a damn good job of destroying our own selves by not relieving them in any kind of orderly fashion, a national treasury that is being bled dry because of this war, and a pissed-off and demoralized citizenry.
And you say that “staying the course” in Iraq is an option? What kind of nuts are you, exactly?
Not your father’s Republican party
Originally the Republican party was a collection of people concerned with fiscal responsibility, limited government, and dedicated to the advancement of civil rights and protection of the environment. Certainly there are many Republicans in my lifetime that I would count as towering figures - Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Pete McCloskey, Tom McClintock, and recently, Lincoln Chaffee - but not many.
As I survey the political scene today, I see a pathetic pack of venal and mendacious power mongers: Frist, Delay, Gingrich, the several Bush’s – it’s a long list. None of whom are what I would call a decent person. And no way in hell would I want to ‘have a beer’ with George Bush, jr., a sociopath of the first water.
Oddly enough, I think Strom Thurmond has become a decent person, morphing from a racist bigot into a world-class statesman, but that’s just my opinion; I know lots of people who would disagree with me on that.
We’re a long way from the decent, ordinary-businessman-turned-politician who was the bedrock representative of the Republican Party of the 1950’s. Instead, what we see now is a gang - dependent on a power base of radical Bible-pounding theocracy fanatics - waging war on the rest of the world, Islam in particular, and spending the people’s money like drunken sailors, driving this country into receivership, not to mention sabotaging the Constitution in the process.
Many of my friends are actual dyed-in-the-wool Republicans. To a man (and woman) they are shocked, dismayed, and confused about what has happened to their party. Where did these deficit monsters come from, they ask me. Not unkindly, I point out that they elected these egomaniacs.
In the other corner ...
Not that the Democrats are all that much better: bickering, rudderless, confused, afraid of being perceived as “weak” - which they certainly are - proving their spinelessness daily. The tough realists in their midst, Murtha, Feingold, Byrd, Conyers and a handful of others, are ignored or sidelined by the “leadership,” or criticized by self-serving political pundits.
It’s been said over and over that in a democracy the people get the government they deserve, but I cannot for the life of me see America as deserving of this entire crew of fanatics, war-mongering religious bigots, and near-sighted and craven politicos.
So, what to do, what to do? Well, there’s always the November elections, if Diebold can be made to behave, and Republican election commissioners can restrain themselves from hacking the ballot boxes. Good luck on that, I say.
There’s a new crop of Democrats (many of them war veterans) who deserve strong support, but no towering figures visible yet.
Third party? No help there: most Americans hate change, and there’s no money available to mount any kind of serious challenge in that direction; Hillary Clinton has vacuumed up all the spare cash, anyway. Which is crazy, because she doesn’t have a hope in hell of winning the presidency in our lifetimes, regardless of her monumental ego.
The only serious hope – and it’s a faint one - that I hold for this country is that corporate leaders put this government on notice that this country is headed straight for economic implosion and is going to take the planet down with it if somebody doesn’t wake up and steer the Ship of State in the right direction.
John Dean said in another context – but for similar reasons – that, “there’s a cancer on the presidency.” I would submit that there’s a gaping hole in the Ship of State, and I see no shipwrights, no navigators, and certainly no captains capable of saving her anytime soon.
Monday, March 20, 2006
European oil firms endorse California emissions initiative
The Bush administration – as well as American oil companies – may be fighting the concept of fossil fuel conservation, as well as the thought of finite petroleum resources, but apparently, the European companies think differently.
Once seen as nearly monolithic as regards oil pricing and the effects of noxious emissions, the oil industries of America and Europe have some major differences in their approach to conservation, alternative energy, and ultimately, their views on the impact of man’s activates on this planet.
Dutch Shell and British Petroleum (BP markets under the name ARCO in California) have both announced their intentions to sign on to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fossil fuel auto emissions initiative, part of which is a voluntary registry of greenhouse gas emissions.
While the feds and American oil companies have been fighting tooth and nail to deny responsibility for greenhouse emissions or conform to the basic tenets of the Kyoto Accords, the European petroleum giants have not only endorsed Arnold’s initiative, they have put some serious cash toward the development of alternative energy manufacturing facilities.
California has the lowest permissible emissions quotas in the United States already, and the feds and American companies are deliberately holding back in conforming to the state’s regulations.
More at: “Gov.’s Plan Divides Oil firms,” (LA Times).
Once seen as nearly monolithic as regards oil pricing and the effects of noxious emissions, the oil industries of America and Europe have some major differences in their approach to conservation, alternative energy, and ultimately, their views on the impact of man’s activates on this planet.
Dutch Shell and British Petroleum (BP markets under the name ARCO in California) have both announced their intentions to sign on to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fossil fuel auto emissions initiative, part of which is a voluntary registry of greenhouse gas emissions.
While the feds and American oil companies have been fighting tooth and nail to deny responsibility for greenhouse emissions or conform to the basic tenets of the Kyoto Accords, the European petroleum giants have not only endorsed Arnold’s initiative, they have put some serious cash toward the development of alternative energy manufacturing facilities.
California has the lowest permissible emissions quotas in the United States already, and the feds and American companies are deliberately holding back in conforming to the state’s regulations.
More at: “Gov.’s Plan Divides Oil firms,” (LA Times).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)