Politics: Of Poetry

TJ at Procrastinating Since 1970 has some seriously funny news haikus from earlier this week. I missed them because I was laid low with illness. Sue me. One of my favorites is this, linking to a piece about the skyrocketing price of gas in the West:

SUV's empty
Shell, Amoco, or Exxon?
Pay through the nose, jerk

In the immortal words of Banya: That's gold, Jerry.

Politics: Dean on Warpath

I'm sad that I missed the Howard Dean appearance Saturday (the baby makes planning anything purt near impossible), because I'd like to see all of the candidates speak in person as the campaign continues. But Dean is surging:

He has taken a 21-point lead over Kerry in New Hampshire according to Zogby.

The Dean campaign has hit the ball out of the park on fundraising for two quarters in a row, and is thinking about "pulling a Bush" and forgoing federal campaign matching funds in exchance for raising a sh*tload of hard money with no limits

Capping a month of incredible press (the cover of Time, Newsweek and US News and a whole bunch of slobbery coverage from everybody else, he received this Valentine from the folks at the New York Times.

Of course, there is the longer-thought issue: Dean is running -- as is absolutely necessary -- as an extremely liberal candidate among the viable Ds in the race right now. But he has the credentials to meld this liberalism with some sensible (though still slightly odious to yours truly) centrist crap that will sell in the hinterlands. This is the formula that worked with Bill Clinton, and Clinton's entire presidency was a demonstration in balancing the necessary playing to the base with the nationally-successful middle of the road policies. [Now is the time for me to insert my necessary digression on Democratic presidential candidates: I will support anyone on the ballot with D next to his or her name on November 2. There have been elections when that person was someone I didn't like but supported and voted for anyhow, and I'm sure there will be more elections like that. But no-one anywhere can tell me that a bad Democrat is worse than a any Republican.]

Oliver and I haven't discussed what if any kind of candidate endorsing will occur on the Liquid List. Because we are such paragons of civility and virtue, I believe we could sensibly caucus and pick a candidate or each support a different candidate. We'll have to see.

Politics: Dangerous

What makes the efforts by the thinly-veiled creationist organization Texans for Better Science Education to demagogue textbooks that teach evolution extremely dangerous is the power Texas wields over the textbook marketplace. Because of its size, textbook publishers tailor their books to the recommendations of the school board in that state, and all the other states who buy the book have to live with whatever insanity a bunch of crack-smokin' creationists forces on them.

Politics: Ringers

I don't know, but I have a strong feeling that the cult-like gross of folks who are meandering all over Montgomery, Alabama demanding resignations, pissing where they live, and otherwise weeping and praying are mostly ringers from professional political nutshops like Operation Rescue and whatnot. The item I referenced earlier from the Southern Poverty Law Center also deals with this.

If you're interested in what non-insane voices from Alabama sound like, check out the smart, savvy op-ed page editor from the Mobile Register, Ms. Frances Coleman. Coleman knows what Moore's after when it's all said and done, and it isn't a Ten Commandments monument.

Politics: Least Dignified Deaths

Donkey-riding septugenarian killed by missile. Israeli spokesman called the death "regrettable."

Then again, which of these deaths was dignified, exactly?

Politics: Finally

I don't even use Smart Tag, and even I'm happy that the Virginia drive-fast-through-the-tollgates system will be merging with the other seven states that use this in the Northeast. This Post item doesn't mention the reason the commonwealth wasn't doing this previously. Dig a little and I think you'll find that former Virginia Governor Republican Jim Gilmore had barred the idea because of a combination of states' rights goofiness and paranoia about big city folks being able to track Virginia drivers. Oy.

Media: I Can Take a Lot

But I think that I'm just about set to pop after reading this New York Times item on the N.F.L. Kickoff Live 2003® game happening in Washington the first week of September. To listen to all of these advertising f*cks sit there with a straight face and talk about how it's "credible" for the NFL to dump a $35 million ad campaign on the heads of Americans to have a crappy concert intent solely on peddling Pepsi Vanilla and Coors Light makes me want to gag. I can't even point out how many idiotic things are in this quote by some Pepsi schmuck: "This event happened to coincide quite nicely with the launch of Pepsi Vanilla. It's an opportunity to create interest in our product at a time when people are re-engaging in the N.F.L." Seriously, do you think people forget about the NFL? Do you think, if you ask an average American -- not even a sports fan -- what sport is played in the fall with pads and helmets that he will stare at you quizically and then answer Jai Alai? Morons.

Politics: 10 Commandments and Race

I have had a sneaking suspicion throughout this now years-long battle over Roy Moore's Ten Commandments that there was an insidious racism implied in the entire thing.

Despite the involvement of Alan Keyes (who is insane), Moore's very public recent actions on the ten commandments monument he installed in the middle of the night in the state's Judiciary building are all tinged with racism. The judge who has been the target of much of the invective from Moore and his supporters, Myron Thompson, is African American. Moore's rhetoric skims the white-Christian language used by most of the white supremacy groups, discussing how the nation was founded by Christians and how the Constitution is a document built on Christian principles, blah blah blah.

Now comes this report from the Southern Poverty Law Center via Orcinus on the wide-array of all-white folks who came to Moore's rally last weekend, replete with well-known neo-confederates, operation rescue nutjobs, and lots of other racist and anti-semitic publishers and media hounds.

Suspicion confirmed.

Politics: These SUVs Need Your Support

In what is certainly a uniquely American display of pure idiocy, dozens rallied in support of a Hummer dealership today. Apparently, they wanted to show the vandals who did up to a million dollars worth of damage to (no doubt insured) Hummers and other SUVs that 6 mile-per-gallon vehicles can't be scared by some spray paint.

In other news, gangland violence claimed another life, the state's democracy is crumbling, and a grave threat to American lives is being ignored. But the SUVs are under attack!

Politics: This Is Not the Story

There are two stories in Alabama right now, and none of them should be about the conflict besetting Alabama AG William Pryor vis a vis Judge Roy Moore's 10 Commandments.

The first story is that Alabama Republican Governor Bob Riley is the first conservative to deserve any claim to the word "compassionate." Riley's got a tax plan on the ballot next month that is wildly unpopular within his party and will probably fail because of his own party's opposition. But what happened to Riley is the stuff of legend: less than six months in the governor's mansion, and Riley realized that Alabama is a deeply divided state, with some of the worst poverty in the nation. Additionally, the state was (like most states) suffering a horrendous budget deficit because of funding cuts from the federal government and more. Finally, Riley saw the fundamental injustice in the state's tax code, which assesses much higher taxes on poor folks. Recognizing these factors brought Riley to a crossroads, and he embarked on a mission of mercy which will almost guarantee the end of his political career. He wants to institute a reversal in the tax code which will put an end to one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation. In Alabama, any modification in the tax code needs to be approved in a statewide referendum. The folks there will go to the polls on September 9th, and right now, 49% of people say they will oppose Riley's changes. Riley wants to lift the state threshold for paying taxes from the nation's lowest -- $4,600 for a family of four -- to a much more competitive $17,000. But the right wing in the state have done everything in their power to ruin this plan's chances.

A public school principal from Alabama told me yesterday that they were informed by the state department of education that they would have a dozen or more schools close the week of September 15 if the referendum didn't go through.

The second story is that William Pryor is still a lousy choice for a federal court judge. Pryor's recent announcement that Judge Moore would have to obey a federal court order is neither brave nor important. No state attorney general deserves praise or accolades for advising people in his state to obey federal law. In fact, it is far more remarkable that Pryor has for so long resisted the fairly clear First Amendment language by defending Moore's 2½ ton monstrosity and appointing 2 special deputy attorney generals to defend Moore in the 11th Circuit. Hundreds and thousands of dollars of state money have gone to Judge Moore's insane desire to bring the 10 Commandments into the state judiciary building. As is his style, Pryor begrudgingly acknowledges federal law when it is no longer politically feasible to resist it in keeping with his own beliefs. He goes to the end of the earth to advance these beliefs as if they were law, and then, when disaster looms for those beliefs (like when the Supreme Court threw out Texas' and 11 other states' sodomy laws, including Alabama's) he suddenly acts like he is merely a servant of the law. Pryor can't have it both ways, and that's what he's trying to do right now with the Judge Roy Moore situation.

Those are the real stories, and it would be great if someone covered them.

Politics: Choose Freedom

I think the Washington Freedom are great. I think the idea of a women's professional soccer league is awesome. The Freedom won the league's championship yesterday on penalty kicks in stunning fashion. I think that's great.

I'm disappointed, therefore, that a sport still in the thrall of athletic talent and not necessarily bought and paid-for by corporate interests is struggling like the WUSA is right now.

UPDATE: Charles in comments points out that I was smokin' crack when I wrote about the penalty kicks in yesterday's Founders Cup. I was thinking about the previous game (which advanced the Freedom to the championship game), in which the Freedom defeated Boston on penalty kicks. Thanks, C.

Admin: Host=Crap

The Liquid List was down some this morning, and the sleep-deprived yours truly had a couple of half-formed ideas which never got translated into posts. Maybe I'll dredge them up in the next few hours. But don't hold your breath.

Politics: Racist, Bigot, Blah Blah Blah

Not that anyone thought it would, but pressure from people (myself included) who think Daniel Pipes is a racist didn't stop Bush from idiotically naming him to the board of the US Institute for Peace.

Pretty cold thing to reward racism on the week of the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's March on Washington, though.

Dr. King said, "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality." In the same speech, accepting the Nobel Prize for peace, he said, "I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow."

Daniel Pipes said, "I worry very much from the Jewish point of view that the presence, and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims...will present true dangers to American Jews."

Politics: No Source Review

There is this thing, in the Clean Air Act, which seems modest. It says that when you, say, add some multi-million-dollar new, um, coal furnace or something like that to your massive, polluting, 50-year-old power plant, you have essentially created a "new source" for pollution. This new source needs to be reviewed and brought into compliance with the Clean Air Act. This is necessary because 50-year-old power plants were grandfathered in so they are currently permitted to pollute at enormous levels. New source review means that eventually, these plants will have to not pollute so much, which was the point of the whole Clean Air Act in the first place, right?

Wrong, c/o the New York Times:

After more than two years of internal deliberation and intense pressure from industry, the Bush administration has settled on a regulation that would allow thousands of older power plants, oil refineries and industrial units to make extensive upgrades without having to install new anti-pollution devices, according to those involved in the deliberations.

Go here to learn how screwed you and your children and their children are getting.

Politics: If You Can't Beat 'Em

Next weekend, I'm heading down to Alabama to erect a massive monument to the five pillars of Islam on the steps of the State Judiciary Building. I'm bringing along a mob of scimitar-wielding turbaned Arab men to help me build it and then surround it, fighting off Christians.

Doesn't that sound crazy? Doesn't this?

Politics: Ruining His Vacation

A puff piece in today's Dallas Morning News really makes me weep for President Bush. The headline is a tearjerker: "Bush Gets No Break from Foreign Crises."

The story then proceeds to run down the various plans that Bush had to do campaign-style sh*t while vacationing on his ranch, and how bloody bomb attacks kept ruining his plans.

Perhaps if the president didn't spend the entire month of August on vacation, hoovering up filthy lucre from the scum of the corporate earth, and fooling exactly no-one about his incredibly bad environmental record, then we wouldn't have to read a pair of experts tut-tut about how it's hard to be president. Is it? Really? Who'd a thunk it?

Dig deep and you will see that there is content in the story. But it is of the Dallas Morning News variety, where the nine Democratic contenders are derided as not having the chops to be war presidents. This is after you hear also-Ari Scott McClellan talk about how terrorists hate freedom and blah blah blah. Get a new rap, fatty, that one's beat.

Admin: Daddy Tired

Sorry I've been a little light on blog this week. In my worklife, there is a lot of activity swirling around a certain attorney general who thinks he should wander the countryside extolling the virtues of a certain piece of legislation, and my bitty bitty blogtime is being swallowed up. In my homelife there is an infant son as cute as the day is long who has a different view of the time of day people spend sleeping.

As I said to a friend recently, "Me tired. Me sleep now. Me blog later." It will be another light day of posts. Hopefully, Oliver's midnight musings will keep y'all busy.

Admin: Frequent Reader

We're more than happy to welcome devoted reader and cuneiform-enthusiast Marduk, who took special care to spell my name correctly when he called me an 'asshole' this afternoon. Welcome, Marduk. Be appeased.

Politics: Like George, Like Tony

It is interesting to watch a less-twisted version of society deal with what may be improprieties at the highest level in leading a nation to war. Unlike here, where the battle over the president's lies are waged between right-wing mouthpieces and gunshy Democratic presidential contenders, the United Kingdom is actually conducting a high-level inquiry, involving actual members of the government, into how the country was brought into the Iraq war. The very implication that anyone in Washington would convene anything like an official body to look into this president's dealings is treated like an act of treason by the right wing, and those accusations have effectively kept the left and center paralyzed in fear.

The British inquiry has revealed that the government's case for war was reworked largely in reaction to demands from Prime Minister Tony Blair. And we now know that the case for war on the U.S. side was crafted under pressure from Vice President Cheney, who made multiple unprecedented visits to the CIA to make sure that the 'right' intelligence was analyzed.

If the case for war was as crystal clear as everyone continually indicates, why do the prime minister of the United Kingdom and the vice president of the United States have to lean on their intelligence agencies to make the case to the public? And why do they all have to lie to us to get what they want?

Politics: El Pussy Gato

Via Off the Cuff comes this disturbing item about the latest attacks by the Texas GOP on the state's Democratic senators. The McAllen (TX) Monitor reports that the state party has bought radio spots attacking one State Senator Juan Hinojosa which feature characters speaking in cartoonish Mexican-accented English.

This is such a typical back-handed racist thing. It's not necessarily a partisan issue, but one where the amazing enticement of greed brings the racism right out into the open. The battle over a Republican governor's efforts to balance Alabama's badly biased against the poor tax system has drawn a similar ad out of the woodwork. You've got to scroll down pretty far to find this paragraph:

Riley's opponents also have targeted black voters, airing a radio ad on stations with mostly black audiences featuring a man with poor diction warning, "Our property taxes could go up as much as fo' hundred percent," and blaming "Montgomery insiders who have been ignorin' us for years." The ad was paid for by a political action committee whose top contributors are the state's largest bank, a leading insurance company, two timber and paper companies and county farmers federations -- all of which supported Riley last November...

I'm glad that America is so race-blind.

Politics: Occupation Roundup

The Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran has an excellent (though slightly charitable) round-up of how spectacular our occupation of Iraq is going. But if you're not up to wading through the big story, here's a quick rundown:

1. It's a hundred degrees, but someone keeps blowing up the water mains.

2. Halliburton's doing a bang-up job exporting Iraqi oil to Turkey, but for some reason, people just keep blowing up the pipeline.

3. We killed a Palestinian journalist, who worked for Reuters. (Does anyone want to look into the trend of dark-complected journalists getting offed by US troops? I didn't think so.)

4. British troops found a baby nestled among the rocket-propelled grenades in Basra. Awwwww.

Politics: Oddly, Personal Profits Are Not Up $100 Million

Bush Administration Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (who, like John Ashcroft, got booted from the Senate and landed in the Cabinet), tells us that consumers will bear the brunt of the $50 billion it will cost to upgrade the nation's electricity infrastructure.

However, it seems that maybe the public utilities could also take on some of that cost, since it is the system they use to serve customers. Why, this Southern Company press release tells us that Southern profits were up $100 million in the second quarter of FY03. The release goes on to apologize to investors for not squeezing more money out of the suckers, er, customers, because of the mild spring.

FYI, Southern, in addition to apparently enjoying immunity courtesy of the Bush Administration from having to finance the upgrades in the nation's power infrastructure, is also one of the most vile polluting corporations in America. Okay, I'll stop.

(Also posted at naw)

Politics: High Office Relations in the Politics Of Maryland

(Points to who knows the Dylan reference.) The Washington Post is reporting on a $25,000/plate fundraising dinner featuring Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich (as well as Ohio Gov. Bob Taft) being hosted by an Annapolis lobbyist named Lee Bowen.

Only one problem: There's a Maryland law prohibiting lobbyists from fundraising for Maryland officials.

Of course, because Bowen is such a strict interpretationist of state law, his is shielded from liability under the law because the fundraiser benefits the Republican Governors Association. That the RGA spent $700,000 to get Ehrlich elected (and will undoubtedly do so again) doesn't enter into the calculation, I guess, if you're a scum-sucking pig.

My favorite bit is here: "Suzanne Fox, executive director of the Maryland State Ethics Commission, said the arrangement probably is legal, as long as none of the money Cowen raises winds up in Ehrlich's campaign account or in the hands of other Maryland officials."

Of course, the lackadaisical reporting by the Washington Post fails to note that the Republican Governors Association is a 527 organization, which means that it does not need to disclose its spending. Which means that the caveat in the article ("as long as none of the money...winds up in Ehrlich's campaign account") is as meaningless as saying "as long as you don't breathe any of my air."

Politics: Dumb-Ass Watch 2003

In California political news, George H.W. Bush's Secretary of State George Schultz has signed on to advise Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign. According to this AP item, Schultz and millionaire Warren Buffet may be joined by accused statutory rapist Rob Lowe on Schwarzenegger's campaign. (Lowe avoided criminal charged stemming from his videotaped sexual escapades with two girls, one of whom was underage, by doing community service.) Sounds like a real crackerjack group, there, Arnold. Should be a real blast on election night.

Politics: Of Religion

Sometimes he is kind of a tool, but Nicholas Kristof has a good column today about the rising tide of American religious fundamentalism, though he doesn't say it in so many words. The gist of his piece covers the fact that a huge percentage of Americans believe in certain pieces of religious dogma which signal a movement away from rationalism and closer to what I like to call 'nutjobism.' The nut graf comes at the end:

But mostly, I'm troubled by the way the great intellectual traditions of Catholic and Protestant churches alike are withering, leaving the scholarly and religious worlds increasingly antagonistic. I worry partly because of the time I've spent with self-satisfied and unquestioning mullahs and imams, for the Islamic world is in crisis today in large part because of a similar drift away from a rich intellectual tradition and toward the mystical. The heart is a wonderful organ, but so is the brain.

Read the whole thing.

Politics: Fake. Fake. Fake. Fake. Fake.

Gina Holland's AP item on a gun control case before the Supreme Court is somewhat deceptive. The headline is "Women, Jews, Others Join Pro-Gun Effort." This makes it seem that there is a massive upswelling of support for this case, which involves the desire by some California rugby players to carry assault weapons.

In fact, the groups that signed on are shadow organizations either run by a single person or propped up by the lead group on the brief, the National Rifle Association.

Because I'm afraid of pissing some people off, I won't discuss the Pink Pistols, a group of gay and lesbian gun owners. Also signing on were the Second Amendment Sisters and Women Against Gun Control, both of whom magically appeared after the rise of the Million Mom March. The Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, the crackpot scheme of one guy in Wisconsin, signed on as well.

There is no problem with these groups signing on to amicus curiae briefs. I can, you can, anyone can. But I object to these groups creating the impression -- and importantly the press perpetuating the impression -- that they are prominent, well-supported groups. They aren't. They are nothing close. A website using HTML 1.0 and a bunch of blink tags doesn't mean you represent anything.

Politics: Weapons of Mass Destruction? We Meant Presence of Crass Deduction

Josh Marshall has the eye-opener on the big sting. Remember that from the beginning, Rove's War was about winning in 2002, and winning in 2004. The surging Dean campaign has made the other Democrats take stronger stands on the WMD search. If Bush manufactures WMDs or lowers the bar such that anything they find can be called a WMD, then the Ds who criticized are silenced. Of course, all of this is based on the mouth-breathing American public and our SCLM taking the bait, but I pretty much assume that will occur these days.

After witnessing the knee-capping of the Ds on the Weapons of Mass Destruction, keep an eye out for part two of the Rove strategy, "2004: The Year of the Gay."

Politics: Sponsored By Nobody

For a while there, I was pretty firmly under the assumption that Neil Young had sort of become a right-winger, because of some comments he made right after 9/11, I guess, and some other clues. Young had always been a big fan of the utterly reputable "Support the Troops, Oppose the War" school of thought, and it seemed that he just kind of collapsed part of it after the terrorist attacks of that day. When I saw him in 1991, during the Gulf War, he opened the show with an elaborate scruffy-Vietnam-vet (played by Young), raising a Iwo Jima like flagpole with a yellow ribbon on top.

Anyhow, it appears that any support for President Bush and the various wars waged by Bush with American lives on the line has turned into rust:

David Fricke: You were on the road with Crazy Horse when America went to war with Iraq in 1991, under a president named Bush. Twelve years later, you're singing these new songs to a nation at war in Iraq, under another Bush. Does the deja vu scare you?

Neil Young: This is a time, I believe, of great inner turmoil for the majority of the American people. There is a new morality coming out of this administration -- fundamentalist religious views; a holier-than-thou attitude towards the rest of the world -- that is not classically American.

I don't think Americans felt holier-than-thou in the twentieth century. We were happy and successful, with a great lifestyle. But something else is going on now. That's what Greendale is about. That's what Grandpa's problem is. He can't understand what's going on. He sees all of these things that the Patriot Act has taken away from what he feels is America.

DF: The other night, you ended "Rockin' in the Free World" with military funeral music -- a feedback quote from "Taps."

NY: That's for the soldiers who die in Iraq every day, because of this stupid plan that the administration didn't have. They didn't know what the hell was going to happen. Bush makes Clinton look like sandpaper -- that's how slippery he is. A lot of people in this country obviously think President Bush is a great leader. If they're happy, they should vote to keep him in office. But if you're not happy, you should also go and vote. Everybody has a right to their opinion, only now it's at the risk of not being patriotic.

Politics: California Insanity

The Post's TV column points out that broadcast stations in California (or neighboring states broadcasting to a lot of Californios) have to limit their presentations of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gary Coleman and Don "Father Guido Sarducci" Novello related programming. As Lisa de Moraes reports:

Any airing by a broadcast station of "Junior" or rerun of a "Saturday Night Live" episode featuring Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci would trigger the Federal Communication Commission's rule that allows other candidates to demand equal time, the Associated Press notes.

Also limited would be glamorous but vacuous programming like "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood:"

Cable channels are not covered by the FCC regulation. But in the past, the FCC has ruled that shows like "Entertainment Tonight" are news shows and therefore subject to the rule because, let's face it, a lot of people get their news from "Access Hollywood." Like the suits at NBC News, who looked to "Access Hollywood" anchor Pat O'Brien to conduct the probing "Dateline" interview of Ben Affleck and J. Lo right before the debut of their flick "Gigli."

And speaking of de Moraes, read Jack Shafer's Pressbox column on how good Lisa de Moraes is about skewering her subject matter. It's quite enjoyable.

Politics: Letters to All Editors

Reprinted here in its entirety, is a letter by the previously unknown (but now widely-hailed in Liquid List quarters) Holbrook Bradley, of San Diego, California, to the Editor of the New York Times:

Liberal Values

To the Editor:

Re "How the `Radicals' Can Save the Democrats," by Sam Tanenhaus (Op-Ed, Aug. 11):

I am a lifelong liberal Democrat who has been dismayed by the takeover of my party by "centrist" Democrats with their dire warning that those of us who still firmly believe in the party's liberal history of support for Social Security, Medicare, the environment and programs aiding the less fortunate are leading the party into the wilderness.

As a so-called radical, I will continue to fight for what I and millions of other Americans still believe in: a better world for all of us.
HOLBROOK BRADLEY
San Diego, Aug. 11, 2003

Amen, sir.

Politics: Book Burning. Seriously

Thanks to librarian.net for the tip (which I may have simply missed from last week; blame the sleep deprivation), we now know that people in Michigan still burn books. Michigan. For crying out loud.

Politics: California, Schwarzenegger and Bush

When I was a kid, one of the first political columnists I read was a guy named Gene Collier, in the Pittsburgh Press. The Press went by the wayside when Pittsburgh transitioned to one-paper rule because of the costs of supporting two points of view. Collier still writes for the successor publication, the previously afternoon-only Post-Gazette, and his insights are sharp as ever, especially in today's column on the mess in California. Read the whole thing, but I'll give away the ending, because it's that good:

This week's polling indicates that Davis will lose handily in October and that Arnold will be his successor, and while all of that will represent a victory for foolishness over reasoned public policy, one thing Republicans can't afford to do is distance themselves from Arnold on the matter of his qualifications.

On qualifications alone, the notion of Arnold Schwarzenegger being governor of California is certainly no more preposterous than that of George Bush being president of the United States. On qualifications alone, which is more offensive, Arnold in the governor's mansion or Bush in a flight suit?

Karl Rove sat George Bush down and literally taught him how the government works, taught him what public image (Texas gunslinger) best suits him politically, taught him which issues are winners and which are losers. The same could be done for Arnold, and it might not take as long.

The sad part is, California Democrats will devise a strategy to defeat Arnold that will rely heavily on making him talk particulars on the issues so that his unsteadiness on the complexities of public policy, indeed his lack of knowledge on pressing public issues, will be exposed. Isn't that the same thing they did nationally against Bush in 2000? He still got 50 million votes.

And it says a lot more about us than it does about him.

Politics: Oh, Great

The New York Times has a Neil MacFarquhar item headlined "Rising Tide of Islamic Militants See Iraq as Ultimate Battlefield."

Contrast that train wreck with the White House's idiotic 100 Days of Progress in Iraq, and you can see just how in touch with reality the White House really is.

Go ahead, if you aren't sick already, and check out the vomitous comments by U.S. Viceroy in Iraq Paul Bremer, as he tries desperately to defend the foundering occupation:

"It is important to remember this and look beyond the shootouts and the blackouts, and remind ourselves of the range of rights that Iraqis enjoy today because of the coalition's military victory." He cited new academic freedoms and the ability to travel and to criticize people in authority.

During the news conference, one Arab journalist asked after "four months of chaos, why haven't you been able to persuade your government to send more troops to Iraq?"

Mr. Bremer replied: "I don't accept the definition of a country in chaos. Most of this country is at peace."

I would really hate to know what Bremer's definition of peace is, exactly. Because a bomb killed an American serviceman today and you can see here, on (embarrassingly) page A22 of this morning's Post, that a bomb also killed an American serviceman yesterday.

In fact, let's parse that "most of the country" comment by ol' Paul Bremer: Yesterday's killing occured in Ramadi, an hour west of Baghdad. The bombing today happened north of the city. On August 1st, a serviceman was killed in Kirkuk. On July 30, a serviceman died after an attack in Belaruz. Three servicemen died after an ambush in Hawd on July 24th, and another died from a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Mosul on July 23rd. A July 22nd RPG attack claimed the life of another soldier in Ramadi, and two more died July 20th from an RPG attack in a town called Tallifar. Another soldier died when his vehicle was bombed in Fallujah. And of course, thousands rioted against the British part of the occupation in Basra last week.

I have trouble believing that "most of the country" is at peace, Paulie. (Thanks to the somewhat creepy but very solemn Faces of Valor page at MilitaryCity.com.)

Politics: Less Free in Twenty-Oh-Three

John Ashcroft's Making a Mess of the U.S. tour 2003 will hit Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Salt Lake City later this month after kicking off with a policy speech here in Washington on the 19th.

Shouldn't all the bloggers in those towns (and we all know that Philly is one of the vibrant epicenters of the real-world blog-wise) try to get some kind of non-electronic presence at those events? I, for one, will run down any flesh and blood events taking place around Ashcroft's "you weren't using your privacy rights anyhow" tour, and post them in this space. Both of my readers should then attempt to attend whatever events they can, provided they don't mind a 72-hour bubble of intense FBI scrutiny (which is actually a lot of fun, especially if you know your way around the back-alleys of your hometown).

Politics: Sigh.

President Bush will use a recess appointment to install vile racist Daniel Pipes on the board of the United States Institute of Peace. This is ironic because Pipes has made some shocking statements that appear to run counter to the goals of the USIP. He has said that Muslims deserve extra scrutiny and that African American Muslims are all anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic. He has refused on the record to condemn the internment of Japanese Americans during the second world war, and he started a project to demagogue academics who don't agree with his extremist views. It goes without saying that he is entitled to his opinions, but should he get a government position to spout his racist bile? I guess the answer to that question doesn't matter to the President and the rest of those sons of bitches.

Politics: Mindless

Does the State Department even realize how much it is making fun of itself in announcing it's victory in the all-government softball tournament?

Why doesn't Colin Powell just say, "Well, I lost my dignity, I got boned on the whole Iraq/WMD thing, I've been getting daily screwjobs from Cheney and Rummy over at the Defense Department, I helped send hundreds of Americans to their deaths, killing thousand of Iraqis and scoring some white-hot extraction opportunities for Halliburton and the rest of the oil industry, and every night I cut myself till I cry just to make sure I still have any emotions left, but at least we won the softball tournament.

Politics: The Fundamental Rights All British and Australian Citizens Deserve

The Wall Street Journal (via AP) is reporting that some British and Australian detainees at Guantanamo Bay could potentially take plea bargains in advance of their show trials, er, military tribunals. This would be novel because at least two Americans have not been offered the option of military tribunals, plea bargains or even friggin' lawyers at this point. But I digress.

My favorite bit of this article is the quote from a spokeswoman for Lord Goldsmith, who is roughly a solicitor general/attorney general type person in the British government:

The spokeswoman said the talks were being held "to ensure that the British detainees, if prosecuted, are assured a fair trial that meets generally recognized principles, wherever those trials take place."

Fair trial, hmm? Yeah, get in line, Goldsmith.

Politics: Disturbing

Attorney General John Ashcroft will go on a multi-city tour to promote the USA PATRIOT Act. This follows on the heels of Ashcroft's tour to promote the VICTORY act, which essentially makes drug crimes...more criminal, and ensures that any immigrants ensnared in any drug related activity immediately lose all their rights.

Obviously it is important that people show up wherever Ashcroft appears to sneer, rebuke and mock him. However, they probably won't, because they would be understandably concerned about having their rights removed indefinitely and ending up in a brig in South Carolina.

Normally, attorneys general travel the country to take credit for things, smiling with state AGs and state troopers and whatnot. I don't believe there is a long history of an attorney general going on the road to promote a law that has already been passed by the legislature and is in force. I can't imagine what misguided PR effort this represents. Does anyone in the Justice Department believe this is going to work? People aren't going to see John Ashcroft on television visiting their hometown, telling people that the Patriot Act is for their own good, and then say, "well, I used to be concerned about the Justice Department abusing my rights and destroying civil liberties in the name of the war on terror, but now I think that the patriotic thing to do is abandon those liberties for the good of the war on terror."

Idiots.

Politics: Primer

To: US Troops in, waitasecond, we still have troops in Afghanistan? Fine. US Troops in Afghanistan
From: The Liquid List
Re: Friends and Enemies

On the left is a Pakistani guardsman, handling, for reasons we don't need to discuss, some unexploded ordnance. We do not shoot Pakistani guardmen. Their dictator-president is our ally in the war on terrorism, so we don't discuss his nuclear ambitions or his rise to power through a coup.

On the right is an Afghan warlord. These guys are, understandably, not exactly playing nicely with us right now, so we've got to keep an eye on them. Many of them may be loyal to the Taliban, which means we may shoot some Afghan warlords.


Finally, here's your test. Who do you shoot?

No. You don't shoot the Pakistani guardsman. He is our ally. Al-ly. Get it?

Politics: Aaauuuuggghhh!!

It's amazing to me. Essentially, every morning I wake up and prepare myself for my day by looking into the face of my newborn son and saying, "You will never be as stupid as everyone else."

So you would think that I would be prepared for the stupid things Americans do, every single day. But you would be wrong.

I don't mean the "News of the Weird" variety of stupid (like the woman cited for breastfeeding while driving, or driving while breastfeeding) but really just dumb, dumb, dumb people.

By this I mean people who, say, don't understand the impact of their actions, who take no responsibility for their place in the world, who don't see that each of us must be part of a bigger thing if we're to survive life on this rock.

And therefore, I mean people who support this ignorant recall effort in California.

Take a gander at this stupidity-filled AP item about the candidate pool in the California recall. I am already on record as being opposed to man-on-the-street interviews, because they are stupid. If I wanted to hear what a regular person thought, I would ask him myself. I certainly don't want a print reporter -- or worse yet, some local news idiot -- wondering around asking strangers their opinion and then broadcasting it out to the millions. There is no lazier way to report the news, and there is simply no tolerating that crap.

But here it is. Check out the choice quotes from these people:

Dawn Cain, a 32-year-old assistant manager at The Living Room cafe in San Diego, was unsure whom she would pick but suggested it almost didn't matter who was governor as long as it wasn't Davis.

"I think we need someone different," she said. "A change couldn't hurt."

A change couldn't hurt? COULDN'T HURT? I'm sure you won't think that, you moron, when someone reminds you that this effort will cost the taxpayers of California $67 million. I bet that when you get a note from the lousy school you send your kid to asking for you to send in PAPER or your kid will be writing on her friggin' hand this fall because they have no money, you're going to think that wasting that $67 million hurt.

Which brings me to our next mouth-breather:

Sonia Boeck, a social services worker from Los Angeles County, said she would likely vote for Schwarzenegger.

"I know he doesn't have a lot of experience, but he has a lot of connections," Boeck said. "He seems like he has the energy. I don't think he could do any worse than Davis."

A lot of connections? Yeah, I guess you're right, dimwit. It appears that he's well-connected to Nazi war criminal Kurt Waldheim. He also has a tight link to the supporters of the unconstitutional Prop 187, which denied social services -- like schooling and medical care -- to some immigrants. He's so connected, he tapped Prop 187 spokes-governor Pete Wilson to run his campaign. And as for his connections to the Kennedy family, I think we can see how well the Kennedy family has lined up behind his candidacy.

Finally, we come to this mental giant:

"The state is in financial turmoil. Somebody's got to do something. You can't just sit back," Phil Norman, a school teacher from Santa Rosa, said Sunday. "I think (the recall) is a reasonable reaction, whether or not the governor did anything wrong."

Let me return to a refrain from a few days ago, Phil. If more than 36.05 percent of the eligible voters in the state participated in the election, imbecile, then that isn't just sitting back, it's doing something.

Breathe. Okay. I feel better.

Politics: Insight

A Florida columnist has hit the nail on the head in regards to the Manatee county school board's assinine pursuit of the Lord's Prayer at their public meetings. Importantly, ths columnist agrees that the Lord's Prayer shouldn't be recited at the meeting, and he is a Christian, whose father, in fact, appears to be a minister. A rational voice is needed on this issue, before it becomes another idiotic battleground.

Politics: Another Bush Lie

The New York Times headline says it all:

Iraqi Trailers Said to Make Hydrogen, Not Biological Arms

Come on, people. How long does the "hunt" for weapons last before we realize that the Iraq stopped the weapons program years ago? How long before we acknowledge that under intense international scrutiny, and with just a thread of connection with reality, Saddam Hussein realized that it was in his best interests to maintain only the threat of WMD, without bothering to spend the cash -- and potentially get his ass blown off -- to actually develop the weapons after the first Gulf War? Seriously. I'm just asking.

We have torn this country apart looking for stuff, and nothing -- not a single thing -- has pointed back to weapons developed after the last Gulf War.

Politics: The War on the American Dream

I guess I've written about it so many times, here and semi-professionally, that I've never really thought of it in the macro sense, but what is happening here is the Bush Administration's war on the American dream.

Think about it. In the most comprehensive way, the American dream is this series of chapters in the American life: going to college; speaking your mind and exercising your independence; buying a house; the immigrant working his way into a real life; the struggling family getting a tax break; and on and on.

The biggest tax cut in history? Great for the CEO's American dream, but not the regular family.

The assault on libraries and liberties in the Patriot Act.

The attack on education in America with the criminal underfunding of the so-called "No Child Left Behind" act, especially through the bankrupting of states via that tax cut.

The assault on higher education for students from outside the United States.

But here it is in a nutshell. Pizza delivery guy gets arrested weeks after 9/11 for taking a picture while hiking in the woods, and remains in jail, awaiting deportation. So much for making a life in these United States.

Politics/Motoring: California Emissions

Aaron at naw wondered if California governor wannabe Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Austria) was a spokesman for Hummer.

Yep.

Motoring: Quality is Job One

Ford has recalled (voluntarily, as all potentially disastrous recalls are in corporate-friendly America) over one million SUVs for two problems which appear to be incredibly dangerous. One involves speed control that won't shut off, which presumably means that the cruise control keeps working to keep the car moving at, say, 65 MPH while you're pressing the brake. The other problem is described in this scary yet glib little paragraph:

The other recall involves about 1.6 million 1998 through 2001 model year Explorers and Mountaineers, and 2001-2002 Explorer Sports and Sport Tracs with high-back seats. Ford said it is possible for a bolt on the driver's seat to fracture, causing the seat to recline unexpectedly.

Yeah, that's right, the driver's seat could recline unexpectedly. That's pretty much assured death if the car is in motion, right? Why isn't this something of a scandal. We're talking about a million vehicles here. Does anybody care?

Politics: The Fulcrum

Daily Kos points out that the serviceman killed today in Iraq represents the tipping point: "We have now officially lost more people after Bush's "mission accomplished" speech than before." Kos also points out that "53 Americans have been killed since Bush's "bring them on" moment."

Finally, he points out that a new organization has been launched to bring home our troops and end the occupation of Iraq.

Politics: Not an Endorsement

In fact, a ringing non-endorsement. Even MSNBC took note of how devoid of content Schwarzenegger's campaign appears to be. All the way to the point where he's quoting President Bush's 'uniter, not a divider' rhetoric. At least Schwarzenegger has an excuse for making up words.

Politics: Quit. No, run. No, quit. I don't know.

I am torn about Gray Davis' future. It makes me so pissed off that this politician (whose only sin is being a politician) would step down when he did nothing wrong. He didn't break the law, sleep with anyone, steal anything, work a slick book deal, nothing. He is a politician, which means he raises money, he takes better care of his friends than his enemies, and he presides over a lot of things, many of which are mostly out of his control. (Remember, the causes behind the energy crisis were more than likely a factor of Enron and other power companies pushing deregulation then gouging customers rather than mismanagement by the state. Of course, we don't investigate oil companies in these United States; it's unpatriotic.) Gray Davis is no Jack Kennedy. Nobody is.

But should he resign. Aaron over at naw says he should, and over the last twelve hours, I'm inclined to agree. But I think he should wait. Arrange a back-door deal with Terry McAuliffe so the Democrats don't spend too much money, absorb the flak, let the GOP pour its millions into California.

Then make a kill-and-die speech about how the politics in California has become a shark pit of disingenuous, dishonest, craven, scum-sucking bastards. Say, on the record, once and for all (because your career is over) that the last GOP governor started California's dance with with deregulated energy, and that people who said that loosened controls on utilities would lead to price gouging and the ultimate screwing of the people of your state were right. Tell reporters that if the Bush administration spent as much effort on prosecuting its pals in the oil industry as it did on taking down honest politicians, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. Urge the people of California to turn their backs on the politics of slime and greed and this stupid, stupid race to the bottom. Profess strong support for your lieutenant governor, wish him luck in the special election and repeat that Californians deserve better than the lying, cheating, disgusting coating of excrement that the GOP coup has left on this once-proud state. And then move to Canada.

Politics: Intellectually Dishonest to the Core

I for one am shocked -- shocked! -- to hear that the Bush administration manipulates scientific research and findings to advance its ideology. This is truly a stunning development:

The Bush administration persistently manipulates scientific data to serve its ideology and protect the interests of its political supporters, a report by the minority staff of the House Committee on Government Reform says.

The 40-page report, which was prepared for Representative Henry A. Waxman, the committee's ranking Democrat, accused the administration of compromising the scientific integrity of federal institutions that monitor food and medicine, conduct health research, control disease and protect the environment.

Politics: Crazy Cali

Some food for thought from California (official motto: national farce) regarding the chances that Gray Davis will survive this recall effort. All the talk about Cruz Bustamente, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Arianna Huffington may lead one to believe that Gray is out of this. Now, I'm not saying I'm a huge fan of Gray Davis, but nothing gets a yellow-dog democrat more riled up than an utterly unjust attack like the one this hapless politician is enduring right now.

So, to be clear, here are some numbers we can think about, Harpers™-style:

Number of eligible voters in the State of California: 21,466,274
Number of registered voters in the State of California: 15,303,469
Number of registered voters who participated in the 2002 general election in California: 7,738,821
Number of registered voters who participated in the 2002 primary election in California: 5,286,204
Numbers courtesy California Secretary of State.

While there has not been a statewide special election with such unique circumstances, we can roughly look at the past two elections to see where California stands, turnout-wise. Davis needs 51% opposing the recall, which amounts to about 3.9 million votes if turnout matches the 2002 general election. Considering that this is a special election with a lot of attention but still not the months-long buildup of a regular campaign, there is a good chance that the turnout will be closer to the March primary number, which means Davis' magic number sinks to 2.7 million, roughly. My point is that there is a chance that people will rally to Davis because he is essentially experiencing a coup.

In the meantime, let's get to work drafting an amendment to make it just a little bit harder to throw a duly elected governor out of office every time a millionaire wants to run for office (scroll down for Issa).

Politics: Revision

For those of you keeping score at home, California is insane, but Florida is still very evil.

Politics: Mike Hawash

I've written here that Mike Hawash was done an injustice. I don't know for sure that this is true, because Hawash pled guilty to helping the Taliban yesterday, according to the Washington Post.

Of course, we know from the experiences of blacks in Tulia, Texas and the experience of the Lackawanna Six that Mike Hawash could have been looking at 10 years with a plea or life in a brig as an enemy combatant. As the Christian Science Monitor item cited above states:

But prosecutors used dubious tactics to force the men into a plea-bargain admitting guilt to lesser charges. According to The Wall Street Journal, they threatened the defendants with "enemy combatant" status - meaning they could have been turned over to the military, deprived of counsel, and held incommunicado indefinitely.

In other words, the government said, convict yourself or we will strip you of your rights and you can rot in jail. That doesn't sound like respect for due process and trial by jury.

Prosecutors also threatened to bring treason charges that carry the death penalty. That's hardball, but within bounds, since the defendants would have a lawyer and a jury trial.

Many of the incarcerated victims of Tulia's one-man drug sting pled guilty after earlier defendants received outlandish sentences, including several 99-year stints handed out in drug trials with no drugs or cash in evidence. The sales power of a shorter stay in prison -- or in the case of the Lackawanna Six, not being killed on a firing range, or whatever they plan on doing to Jose Padilla -- cannot be overstated.

So maybe Mike Hawash is guilty, but I can't look at these hearings, plea-bargains and trials -- or the upcoming trials of the Northern Virginia men released without bail because, according to the presiding judge, the government's case "doesn't hold water" -- and think that anything about this could be described as "fair."

Politics: Smells Like Rove

The SF Chronicle's Carla Marinucci has the goods on a GOP operative's devious plan to make Darrell Issa's California Coup d'Etat into a political plum for President Bush. There is simply nothing these people won't do. And the sooner we learn this lesson, the sooner we get off this hell-bound train. Read:

While White House and national GOP officials insist they won't get involved in the California recall, a memo obtained by The Chronicle outlines a Republican strategy to oust Gov. Gray Davis and help President Bush before the 2004 presidential election.

The memo by California GOP organizer Julie Leitzell, who heads a political action committee called CommonSense Direction, says the Oct. 7 recall election presents an opportunity to target disaffected voters -- particularly women.

"We will work outside of the campaigns and outside of the party," the memo to Republican activists says. "None of the candidates will be attending, as we want to make sure the media are steered toward the 'common sense women against Davis' angle."

Leitzell's memo clearly suggests the imprimatur of the White House.

"Mindy Tucker, former Bush campaign spokesperson and current Bush campaign operative in California, has the White House's blessing to set the record straight: The person responsible for this recall is sitting behind the governor's desk," the memo says.

[...]

Leitzell, reached Tuesday night, downplayed her role in a larger GOP strategy, saying she was a grassroots volunteer who had no connection to the White House or the Republican National Committee.

But her memo says Tucker, California Republican Party spokeswoman Karen Hanretty, and Tracy Schmitt -- formerly with the RNC and now with the Bush- Cheney 2004 campaign -- "will be coordinating seven simultaneous media- friendly events throughout California, (and) we have been asked to call the Bay Area's attention to just how much Gray Davis will cost us if he were left in office."

The memo states "the resulting issue-oriented and image-enhancing coverage will benefit the image of the Republican Party, the recall candidates, and will benefit President Bush as we remind the public of who is to blame for the mess in this state."

It goes on, it gets worse, and anybody who thinks the Karl Rove didn't spend a weekend holed up in his bloodstained cave thinking up this excretory plot may want to get into this incredible deal I've got going with some Nigerian businessman whose father was a brutal dictator.

Politics: Promissory Note

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's David Shribman makes some excellent observations as we approach the anniversary of King's March on Washington and the "I Have a Dream Speech." Read:

And so, in an anniversary month when the familiar ending of the Dream speech will be aired from Bangor to Bakersfield, it is worth contemplating the rest of King's remarks. At this distance -- four decades in which the principle of civil rights has been broadly accepted, leaving the details to work out -- the beginning of the speech may even be more haunting than its conclusion.

King spoke a century after Lincoln's act of emancipation, arguing that black Americans were "still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination," pointing out that a hundred years after slavery "the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."

[...]

That's why the King speech resonates. It is remembered as the "Dream" speech, but in truth it is the "Promissory Note" speech. Before tens of thousands of people gathered in the center of the capital, King set forth the challenge of America. What he demanded was not the fulfillment of a dream. He demanded the fulfillment of an obligation.

Listen to how he put it: So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

[...]

On that day in 1963, King charged his own country with defaulting on its most sacred promissory note, and from this distance we can see that the moral power with which he did it helped change America's mind:

Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

[...]

The King speech reminds us that when one part of the United States is impoverished, the entire nation is the poorer. Moments before he launched into his dream refrain, King sought to answer critics who wondered, even then, when he and his compatriots would be satisfied. "No," said Martin Luther King, giving the speech of his life five years before his life would end, "no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." When should we -- black, white, all of us -- be satisfied? Two-word answer: Not yet.

Politics: Iced Triple Grande Vanilla Skim No Whip Vandals

A somewhat funny item in the LA Times alerted me to a mass-vandalization of Starbucks stores in the Bay Area. Apparently, stores had their locks jammed, windows covered in paste, and "For Lease" or "Closed" signs displayed in windows. Also found on the scene was a hoax letter from the Starbucks corporation stating that thousands of stores would be closed because "the global economy requires a relentless substitution of quantity over quality and shareholder value over human values. At our current market level, Starbucks cannot in good conscience guarantee all of our beans meet both our rigorous quality standards as well as our commitment to social responsibility. We are moving over and making room for local coffee bars."

Yeah, right.

Anyhow, I've got to say, there isn't much that rings higher on the stupid scale than somehow blaming this crappy coffee chain for the end of the world and everything else anti-globalization people get all wound up about. If Americans are actually concerned about globalization and all the bad international ramifications of the expanding western influence over the developing world, maybe they should show the f*ck up on Election Day in droves and make the only goddamn difference that matters. Is Starbucks ruining the world? Or is there a better chance that it's grotesque defense and energy giants like Halliburton, Lockeed-Martin, and Northrup Grumman? Does over-priced latte lead to the agonizing death and destruction of civil war in Africa or is it more likely the policies of the U.S government which can't take a consistent tack for longer than an hour and a half on some of the most disturbing international developments since the second world war?

Think about that, you Starbucks-drubbing idiots, and then write a check to the candidate of your choice, or get other people to do it, or just pick up a newspaper and read about the world around you, and educate yourself beyond a third-grade level, and turn off friggin' American Idol, and vote, dammit. Or shut the hell up, and leave the latte alone.

Politics: Screwing You Better Through Science

The United States government has managed to find a way around all the wise legislation directing the government to stand down its privacy-invading data-mining work. This comes as no surprise, though it is fairly vile. And because no story is complete without it, the Bush administration undertook this end-around our privacy and simultaneously laid down with questionable bedfellows. The Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department are each dropping a couple million on the state of Florida, which has worked with a suspected drug smuggler (!) to come up with a TIA-type database containing millions of records on personal information and commercial transactions of innocent Americans (surprise).

Far from the government having to conduct open bidding and development on such a product, this was given to the government of Florida as a gift, which now threatens the privacy of all of us. Apparently a Boca Raton-based company developed the software out of the goodness of its heart, and then "donated" it to the Florida government, which in turn got $8 million from the Department of Homeland Security and $4 million from the Justice Department to spread it around the country. Oddly, the "donation" by Seisint, Inc is now being paid for (the article says the first $1.6 million has been allocated by Florida), which makes it something other than a donation.

Most harrowing: the system (annoyingly called the "Matrix" by some asshole who should get sued blind by the Wachowsky brothers, even though they're assholes, too) will instantly tell law enforcement about, say, all the brown-haired people with red pickup trucks in a twenty-mile radius of a certain event. This is a violation of your privacy already. It's horrifying because people with the misfortune of sporting brown locks and driving red pickup trucks may fall into the hands of a government that has no qualms about locking people up indefinitely and never allowing them to, I don't know, exercise their Sixth Amendment right to "a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury" or "to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence"

Politics: Pick a Future

We all mourn Fritz Hollings' decision to retire, but make no mistake: He was staring into Karl Rove's loaded gun, and he decided to step down, rather than face a withering attack like the one that brought down Max Cleland in Georgia last year. (Saxby Chambliss' ads included images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and then linked them to Max Cleland, creating the impression that Cleland is soft on national security. Cleland lost both legs and an arm in the Vietnam War, and voted for President Bush's blank check invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Bush tax cut.) The disgusting tactics of the Republican Party election machine will scare off more elected officials (including some Republicans, like Peter Fitzgerald). Fritz Hollings can retire an elder statesman and enjoy his final years on this earth, or he can practically kill himself getting chased around South Carolina by a bloodthirsty mob of Rove-hired professional harassers, trying to raise enough money to defend himself from totally illegitimate attack ads.

As sad as it makes me to say it, he chose wisely.

Press: Odd

Street hawkers and new boxes are distributing on the corners of Washington, D.C. a new publication, called the Express by the Washington Post. This little McNews number is a tabloid-format color publication with no news item stretching over 180 words, as best as I can tell.

All the news items are little, analysis-free, wire-based stories. In fact, there is not a single piece from a staff-member of the Washington Post publication (there are several items from Washingtonpost.com writers), which I guess makes sense, considering that people like myself pay a quarter, a nickel and a penny for home delivery of said Washington Post in the morning.

Still, it seems like poeple who might purchase the Post now won't, because they have had this little USA Today bastard-child thrust into their hands. And I can't exactly work out why this product was created. Is it merely more advertising dollars? The rates (caution: pdfs) seem extremely gentle (general open rates in the Express are about a tenth of the general open rate in the Post), and the Express does feature a front-page tile in the upper right hand corner, which represents the most disgusting advertising development in recent memory, and retails for $1,175. Perhaps the ravenous appetite for advertising lucre has driven this bubble-gum publication into existence.

Politics: Meander-Watch 2003

Following on an earlier post I can no longer locate owing to the failure of our search engine, I took note of several events on the schedules of second-tier presidential candidates today. My earlier post discussed how Al Sharpton took a trip to Africa, which wasn't covered by mainstream press because he's not running for office in Africa, it turns out, but here in North America, somewhere.

The meandering continues. According to today's Note from ABC News, Rev. Sharpton conducts a press conference today with the family of the Burkinabe artist Ousmane Zongo, who was killed by a Staten Island police officer in late May. At the press conference, family members and Sharpton intend to announce a wrongful death lawsuit over the shooting. Noble cause, Rev. Al. However, you may want to actually run for president during your presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is holding an open forum at the Animal Rights 2003 Conference.

Let's look, for contrast, at the activities of other presidential contenders and incumbents, shall we? Cheney is headlining one Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser in Utah and another in Idaho. Senator John Kerry is meeting with union members. Senator Edwards is meeting with union members. Lieberman's raising money. This is what actual presidential candidates do, guys. Just FYI.

Politics: Man-Dog Love Association Chairman Screws Bar Association

Apparently, three federal judicial nominees were asked to meet with the Allegheny County Bar Association (Allegheny is Pittsburgh's home county) for a routine interview so the association could potentially recommend these candidates. Two are nominated for district court seats, and one is the nomination of Pennsylvania Attorney General (and vanquished gubernatorial candidate) Mike Fisher to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

All three were advised not to appear by Senator Rick Santorum, who seems to think that the recommendation of one county is meaningless, though this editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette points out that Santorum didn't feel that way when he was citing the County Bar Association's recommendation for D. Brooks Smith, who was confirmed last year. The final graf of the editorial sums it up:

It is simply arrogant for Sen. Santorum to deny his colleagues the additional perspective that would come from a complete evaluation process by the lawyers who know these nominees best.

The story was broken in Sunday's P-G. The closing paragraphs merit quoting to demonstrate how much of an ass Santorum really is:

But Santorum is adamant that local bar associations should not have a role in rating federal judicial nominees.

"These judges are scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed in the [U.S. Senate] Judiciary Committee process. How many reviews do we have to do?" he said.

He added: "There's enough politicization in the judicial nomination process as it is right now. Look at how these outside organizations have politicized the judicial process beyond anybody's wildest dreams. I'm just drawing the line. I don't care who you are. The process is going to stay internal to the Senate."

Politics: Great Job

From the New York Times comes this reminder that Iraq's future can be viewed with only a short hop over the Islamic Republic of Iran into our old friend, Afghanistan:

The assassination, witnesses said, was trademark Taliban: two men on a motorbike, the passenger opening fire with a Kalashnikov rifle, the driver making a quick getaway.

But the choice of victim signaled a new turn for the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic movement that was ousted from power and has been running a campaign of attacks against foreign and Afghan government troops in southern Afghanistan for months. This time, the assassinated person was Maulavi Abdul Manan, known as Maulavi Jenab, a member of the local district religious council, shot as he left his mosque last week. He was the third senior Muslim cleric killed by Taliban assassins here in the last 40 days.

In addition, the head of Kandahar's Ulema-u-Shura, or Clerics' Council, Maulavi Abdul Fayaz, narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded in his mosque as he was leading evening prayers on June 30. Twenty-seven people were wounded, 14 seriously, council members said.

Since then two other clerics, also members of their district religious councils, have been shot to death. One, Maulavi Ahmadullah, was killed two weeks ago in his district of Dand, not far from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. On Wednesday evening, another, Maulavi Jenab, was killed in his district of Panjwai, southwest of Kandahar.
[edit]
Maulavi Muhammad Haq Khattib, deputy head of the Kandahar Clerics' Council, said the clerics had undoubtedly been attacked by the Taliban. "According to the villagers and local elders, they had no enemies," he said in an interview in his office in Kandahar. "It was because of their support for the government."

The 15-member Kandahar Ulema-u-Shura and its branches in the districts have been vocal supporters of President Hamid Karzai and have welcomed the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Appointed by the governor of Kandahar, the council members are clearly allied with the government, but they are also keepers of the city's most hallowed shrines and are among the most senior tribal and religious figures.

By challenging the Taliban movement at the core of its legitimacy — its claim as a religious authority — the Ulema-u-Shura has drawn direct reprisals against its members. "The Taliban are saying they are religious people, but they are using force to get their aims and are using the cover of Islam," Maulavi Khattib said. "But we say this is not Islam. Islam does not support the use of force, and we are telling people not to fight."

The cleric culture in Iraq is different, of course, but there is a dangerous precedent here, and one that Iraq could easily follow. The Shia religious movement (as opposed to the Shia exile movement, in the guise of Ahmed Chalabi) inside Iraq is well-funded, supported by religious groups in Iran, and they are very interested in a power play to take over much of the country.

Clerics who refuse to defy the occupation and the new appointed leaders could be targeted for similar reprisals as those occuring in Afghanistan. It is already clear that Clerics are important figures in Iraq.

Politics: Worst Thought Ever

The Washington Post drops the bomb that SecState Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage would probably step down if Bush won a second term. Of course, sources close to Powell emphasize that this is not a ballot on Bush's policies, but merely a promise Powell made to his wife.

I won't take the time here to write another impassioned digression about how every morning Colin Powell, if he still has a heart in his chest, must spend the first hours of the day scraping up the tiny little fragmented shards of his self-respect and dignity. Nor will I mention how this life-time soldier must cry himself to sleep each night thinking about the hundreds of American lives lost for an unnecessary war he sold to the American people and the world for his greedy, disgusting masters in the White House.

Instead, I will jump right to the most harrowing possibility, outlined by Glenn Kessler in the Post piece, about who could succeed Powell, Armitage, and other gaps in the national security architecture.

First this scary bit:

Rice and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz are the leading candidates to replace Powell, according to sources inside and outside the administration. Rice appears to have an edge because of her closeness to the president, though it is unclear whether she would be interested in running the State Department's vast bureaucracy.

Then this:

Bush recently named Rice as his personal representative on the Middle East conflict, a move that some State Department officials view as an audition for secretary of state. Republican political operatives have also touted Rice as a possible candidate in the 2006 race for California governor.

But Rice's image has been tarnished by the fallout over the administration's use of intelligence about Iraq's weapons, raising questions about her scrutiny of the materials and the veracity of her public statements.

Rice "is an honest, fabulous person, and America is lucky to have her service, period," Bush said at a news conference before departing for his August vacation.

Wolfowitz, the administration's foreign policy intellectual and prime advocate of a confrontation with Iraq, would be a more daring and controversial choice. A senior Senate Democrat said Wolfowitz would have little trouble winning confirmation in a Republican-controlled Senate. But others said that because Wolfowitz is considered more of a strategic thinker than a manager, he could be tapped as Rice's replacement as national security adviser if she became secretary of state or entered politics.

Then these two eye-poppers:

Another dark horse is former House speaker Newt Gingrich. The Georgia Republican appears to be openly campaigning for the job, arguing in speeches and in a recent Foreign Policy magazine article that the State Department under Powell has failed to adequately support Bush's policies.
[snip]
Officials also said another strong candidate is I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff and already a principal foreign policy adviser inside the White House.

A dark-horse candidate for national security adviser is Steve Biegun, chief foreign affairs aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who is said to have impressed Bush when he served as executive secretary of the National Security Council early on in the administration.

Goodbye, awkward tension between the State Department and the White House. Hello, monolithic, rabid-hawk, kill 'em all foreign policy.

Politics: These People Are Entirely Serious

All take note: The insane have a new web destination: Elect Jim Traficant in 2004.

They have the positively round-the-bend goal of raising $100,000 by October to qualify for federal matching funds. (That's only 60 grand less than Al Sharpton's campaign.) It also appears that they have, with the help of the Memory Hole, captured dozens of Traficant's one-minute speeches. A favorite is this little gem:

Mr. Speaker, last week a girl was crowned prom king in Washington. This week we learn a whole new classification term for men and women: Transgenders. That is right, transgenders. Ohio University has designated 30 restrooms as transgender-type restrooms, able to be used by both men and women at the same time.
They are officially called unisex restrooms. Unbelievable. What is next? Unisex locker rooms with thong/jock support dispensers? How about Maxipad vending machines in locker rooms? Beam me up.
I yield back this higher education business as yet simply getting high.

Yeah, let's raise some money for this guy.

Politics: King DeLay

The Seattle P-I's ed-page has a sharp column by Jan Jarboe Russell on the Tom DeLay story: DeLay is the king of the Hill, with hands in every pocket, millions being raised for or via his machine, and a frightening ideological position to the right of President Bush, the most right-wing president of the past 40 years.

Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle is reporting that a few Texas Democrats are engaging in a DeLay-Damage Control mission during the recess, visiting the Middle East in an attempt to "counter what they characterized as an overly militant speech by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay."

Good luck with that. DeLay's insanity on the Israel issue, largely linked to his mouth-breathing rabid religious right-ism, was profiled in a piece I blogged last week or so. Even Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, who is heading to Israel with Reps. Chris Bell and Gene Green, couldn't overcome the insane rhetoric of the King of Sugar Land.

Politics: Okay

I'm trying my best to get back into the blog of things, since this past week has been sheer, unadulterated suffering, nonstop.

In an effort to return to the blogosphere with my credibility intact, I'm going to run down some thoughts:

The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on the internal debate within the White House over whether to kill or capture Saddam Hussein. I had a brief discussion with Aaron over at naw, and there are two serious ways to look at this. Hussein in jail (and, in my opinion, Uday and Qusay in jail as well) and enduring an ugly trial where his terrible inhumanities would be paraded about could be very good for the American occupation. (This is based on my belief that the resistance claiming a half-dozen soldiers a week isn't actually Saddam loyalists as much as it is Shia resistance not interested in waiting until the Bremer brand of democracy comes to fruition.) The Globe pointed out that any half-competent defense attorney would probably highlight a lot of the U.S. culpability in creating Saddam Hussein as the madman he became. Therefore, for me, the question of a trial for Hussein remains open.