Grandiosely Paranoid

In today's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Joseph Cirincione explains that the Neocons are "grandiosely paranoid." First they exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq and then they inflate their own role in history as our saviors against this threat. Cirincione explains the great flaw in the neocon explanation of what is happening in the Middle East is their misunderstanding of the role of Nationalism. Listen to it all!

Rumsfeld's Strategy: Just Enough Troops To Lose

On Imus today Tom Friedman unloads on the Bushies.

'What really drives me nuts, and frankly into a rage Don, is when I hear the President, or the Vice President criticizing Democrats, saying these people don't understand the stakes, they don't understand what a titanic struggle we are in with the Arab Muslim world, with this Islamic fascist fringe out there, and how important this titanic struggle is. And, my answer to that, well if it was so important, then why did you fight this war by the Rumsfeld doctrine of just enough troops to loose, and, not the Powell doctrine of overwhelming force, if it was so important? If it's so important then why won't you impose a gasoline tax, a patriot tax, something that will reduce our consumption, so that we aren't funding both sides of the war; the U.S. Military with our tax dollars and Al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad and all the terrorists with our energy purchases. And by the way, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, if it's so important, if it's such a titanic struggle of our age that we're in, then why do you constantly use it as a wedge issue in our politics as if we could have fought World War II with fifty point one percent of the population? What is so breathtakingly fraudulent about these guys Don is that they always talk about the stakes, but they never talk about actually their performance. They always talk about the principle but never the practice.'

Are You Safe Yet?

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Jim Hightower has a great poster with facts about our national disaster in Iraq. Here's the part about the money:
FOLLOW THE MONEY

* The official White House claim before the invasion of what the war and occupation would cost U.S.taxpayers: $50 billion
* As of July 2006, the total amount appropriated by Congress for Bush's ongoing war and occupation: $295,634,921,248
* Current Pentagon spending per month in Iraq: $8 billion (or $185,185.19 per minute)
* Assuming all troops return home by 2010, the projected 'real costs' for the war: More than $1 trillion
(includes veterans' pay and medical costs, interest on the billions Bush has borrowed to pay for his war, etc.)

Convergence

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1960: the first US Presidential Election where television makes the difference

1991: the end of the Soviet Union attributed in part to the VCR which enabled citizens to see how people in the other parts of the world lived

1991: here in America a "home" video of Rodney King provides footage of LA Police use of force, if not the context for the beating - LA riots after police acquittal

1999: MoveOnPAC is established allowing technology to empower large numbers of small donors

2004: People-powered Howard Dean nearly knocks off the beltway pick for the Democratic nominee. Meetup allows supporters to organize from bottom up rather than from top down

2006: The Internet and video technology converge in YouTube. The media is still the message but who controls the media? In an era where even mobile phones can capture video and anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can upload video to YouTube, it would seem that elected officials no longer control what voters know. Things may never be the same.

Watch the video at Wonkette.

Then try the experiment recommended by BAGnewsNotes to view the video with sound on and with sound off.

But Wait, The President Said...

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BAG News Notes provides a thoughtful analysis of this startling image in this week's Economist.

...it's one thing for Hezbollah to declare outright victory. It's another thing, though, for a prominent Western publication (right under the nose of Bush's GWOT poodle) to design, print and deliver the announcement.

Check it all out here.

Bob's Got A Swing Band In Heaven

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In 1946 Bob Wills and Texas Playboys played to a packed audience of over 8,000 dancers at the Venice Pier Ballroom.

This week in a report from the LA Times:

There is a tear in the beer of country music fans here.

After more than 20 years on the air, the city's only country music station, KZLA-FM, abruptly left the air Thursday and was seamlessly replaced with the rhythmic pop of 'Movin' 93.9,' which plays artists such as Beyonce, Janet Jackson and Jennifer Lopez.

KZLA's sudden and unannounced demise leaves America's two most populous cities, Los Angeles and New York, without country music stations.

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There Are No Hereditary Kings in America

From today's Washington Post.

'It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights,' Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion. '. . . There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution.'

Clueless George and the Map of Lebanon

Juan Cole takes President Clueless to the woodshed for skipping too many map reading classes.

' QUESTION: How can the international force, or the United States if necessary, prevent Iran from resupplying Hezbollah?

BUSH: The first step is -- and part of the mandate in the U.N. resolution was to secure Syria's borders. Iran is able to ship weapons to Hezbollah through Syria.

Secondly is to deal -- is to help seal off the ports around Lebanon.

BUSH: In other words, part of the mandate and part of the mission of the troops, the UNIFIL troops, will be to seal off the Syrian border. '

Cole points out that "the little blue strip at the bottom of Lebanon is generally where the UN peacekeeping troops will be. They aren't in a position to "seal off" the Syrian border, which stretches far to their northeast, and can't be "sealed off" by anyone at all, being rugged and long. The blue helmets of the UN, being a land force, are not in a position to seal off Lebanon's ports, such as Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Jounieh or Tripoli. Nor could they seal off the Syrian port of Latakiya, if that is what Bush meant.

In other words, Bush doesn't have the slightest idea what he is talking about and nothing he said on this subject makes any sense at all. Why does the US press always let him get away with this?" Yes, why?
"

A Self-Defeating War

George Soros explains why the "war on terror" is a false metaphor in yesterday's WSJ.

The war on terror is a false metaphor that has led to counterproductive and self-defeating policies. Five years after 9/11, a misleading figure of speech applied literally has unleashed a real war fought on several fronts -- Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia -- a war that has killed thousands of innocent civilians and enraged millions around the world. Yet al Qaeda has not been subdued; a plot that could have claimed more victims than 9/11 has just been foiled by the vigilance of British intelligence.

Unfortunately, the "war on terror" metaphor was uncritically accepted by the American public as the obvious response to 9/11. It is now widely admitted that the invasion of Iraq was a blunder. But the war on terror remains the frame into which American policy has to fit. Most Democratic politicians subscribe to it for fear of being tagged as weak on defense.

What makes the war on terror self-defeating?

* First, war by its very nature creates innocent victims. A war waged against terrorists is even more likely to claim innocent victims because terrorists tend to keep their whereabouts hidden. The deaths, injuries and humiliation of civilians generate rage and resentment among their families and communities that in turn serves to build support for terrorists.
* Second, terrorism is an abstraction. It lumps together all political movements that use terrorist tactics. Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Sunni insurrection and the Mahdi army in Iraq are very different forces, but President Bush's global war on terror prevents us from differentiating between them and dealing with them accordingly. It inhibits much-needed negotiations with Iran and Syria because they are states that support terrorist groups.
* Third, the war on terror emphasizes military action while most territorial conflicts require political solutions. And, as the British have shown, al Qaeda is best dealt with by good intelligence. The war on terror increases the terrorist threat and makes the task of the intelligence agencies more difficult. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are still at large; we need to focus on finding them, and preventing attacks like the one foiled in England.
* Fourth, the war on terror drives a wedge between "us" and "them." We are innocent victims. They are perpetrators. But we fail to notice that we also become perpetrators in the process; the rest of the world, however, does notice. That is how such a wide gap has arisen between America and much of the world.

Taken together, these four factors ensure that the war on terror cannot be won. An endless war waged against an unseen enemy is doing great damage to our power and prestige abroad and to our open society at home. It has led to a dangerous extension of executive powers; it has tarnished our adherence to universal human rights; it has inhibited the critical process that is at the heart of an open society; and it has cost a lot of money. Most importantly, it has diverted attention from other urgent tasks that require American leadership, such as finishing the job we so correctly began in Afghanistan, addressing the looming global energy crisis, and dealing with nuclear proliferation.

With American influence at low ebb, the world is in danger of sliding into a vicious circle of escalating violence. We can escape it only if we Americans repudiate the war on terror as a false metaphor. If we persevere on the wrong course, the situation will continue to deteriorate. It is not our will that is being tested, but our understanding of reality. It is painful to admit that our current predicaments are brought about by our own misconceptions. However, not admitting it is bound to prove even more painful in the long run. The strength of an open society lies in its ability to recognize and correct its mistakes. This is the test that confronts us.

Patterns: California Republican Lawmakers

Today on the Al Franken show, Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington taked about William Heisel's La Times Article about U.S. Rep. Gary Miller's curious run of eminent domain luck:

August 13, 2006

When U.S. Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) sold 165 acres to the city of Monrovia in 2002, he made a profit of more than $10 million, according to a financial disclosure form he filed in Congress. Ordinarily, he would have had to pay state and federal taxes of up to 31% on that profit.

Instead, Miller told the Internal Revenue Service and the state that Monrovia had forced him to sell the property under threat of eminent domain. That allowed him to shelter the profits from capital gains taxes for more than two years before he had to reinvest the money.

But there is a problem with Miller's claim: Monrovia officials say that Miller sold the land willingly and that they didn't threaten to force him to sell.

Miller, whose 42nd Congressional District includes chunks of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, claimed the same exemption in two subsequent Fontana property transactions, allowing him to continue sheltering his profits from the Monrovia sale. And in each of those cases, the purchasers say eminent domain, which allows a government agency to force a sale if it's in the public interest, was neither used nor threatened.

Internal Revenue Code Section 1033 was designed to protect people whose land is condemned by government agencies or destroyed in natural disasters. Other investors wishing to postpone capital gains taxes would have to follow complicated rules that include reinvesting the entire amount in other property within 180 days. For Miller, a millionaire land developer in the Inland Empire and a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, repeated use of the forced-sale exemption has enabled deferment of capital gains taxes through at least 2009.

Stop Treating Cuba Like It Is Stolen US Property

Today's Guardian has a good op-ed about Cuba:

"It may be as the pages of history are turned, brighter futures and better times will come to Cuba,' wrote Winston Churchill in 1895. 'It may be that future years will see the island as it would be now, had England never lost it - a Cuba free and prosperous under just laws and patriotic administration, throwing open her ports to the commerce of the world, sending her ponies to Hurlingham and her cricketers to Lords.'

It is nearly 250 years since Britain briefly occupied Cuba in 1762, but the island is still the object of ambitions entertained by more powerful nations. As Fidel Castro celebrates his 80th birthday with a picture and a message from his hospital bed, in frail health and with rumours as to the future governance of the country swirling around him, it is worth considering why Cuba has exercised such a fascination over the world for so long."

Technical Difficulties

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Clay Bennett

We All Live in Richard Pombo's District

Here is a great post from Kid Oakland from last fall.

One of the reasons that Manhattan and Austin and Madison and Santa Monica are such 'hot beds' of liberal campaigns and causes is that we already have good representation in Congress. I mean, if we all lived in Richard Pombo's district the first thing we'd all do is work to kick the bastard out. Well, as true as that may be, I've got some bad news:

We all live in Richard Pombo's district.

Read it all here.

Then go to Left On 580 and help kick the bastard out.

Better Dead Than Read

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Mr. Fish

End This Tragedy Now

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Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes on Khaim, in southern Lebanon, yesterday.
Photo Credit: By Lotfallah Daher -- Associated Press Photo

Just as the people of Iraq turned against the US, now the people of Lebanon have turned against the US for "holding Israel's coat." Here is Fouad Siniora, the Prime Minister of Lebanon in today's WAPO.

End This Tragedy Now
Israel Must Be Made to Respect International Law

By Fouad Siniora
Wednesday, August 9, 2006; A17

BEIRUT

A military solution to Israel's savage war on Lebanon and the Lebanese people is both morally unacceptable and totally unrealistic. We in Lebanon call upon the international community and citizens everywhere to support my country's sovereignty and end this folly now. We also insist that Israel be made to respect international humanitarian law, including the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, which it has repeatedly and willfully violated.

As the world watches, Israel has besieged and ravaged our country, created a humanitarian and environmental disaster, and shattered our infrastructure and economy, putting an intolerable strain on our social and economic systems. Fuel, food and medical equipment are in short supply; homes, factories and warehouses have been destroyed; roads severed, bridges smashed and airports disabled.

The damage to infrastructure alone is running into the billions of dollars, as are the losses to owners of private property, and the long-term direct and indirect costs due to lost revenue in tourism, agriculture and industrial sectors are expected to be many more billions. Lebanon's well-known achievements in 15 years of postwar development have been wiped out in a matter of days by Israel's deadly military might.

For all this carnage and death, and on behalf of all Lebanese, we demand an international inquiry into Israel's criminal actions in Lebanon and insist that Israel pay compensation for its wanton destruction.

No Nukes

At the Lawrence Livermore Lab
Photo by John Eaton

Protesting on the anniverary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945

Gov'ment of the Rich, By the Rich and For the Rich

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Mike Keefe

They're Rioting In Africa

In 1958, The Kingston Trio recorded a live performance of the "Merry Minuet" at the Hungry i in San Francisco. The song was originally written by Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who also wrote "Fiddler on the Roof."

For some reason, we starting singing this last night while watching the Lehrer Report. Sad.

They're rioting in Africa (whistling)
They're starving in Spain (whistling)
There's hurricanes in Flo-ri-da (whistling)
And Texas needs rain the whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
AND I DON'T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH!!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
And we know for certain that some lovely day Someone will set the spark off
AND WE WILL ALL BE BLOWN AWAY!!
They're rioting in Africa (whistling)
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't so to us
Will be done by our fellow "man"