thebigwedding

more boots, more bullets, but less basic before baghdad

2004-07-22T13:53:00.000-04:00

the nytimes quotes a deputy commander of army recruiting command as saying that army recruiting stations have "experienced a downward production trend."

In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October.

As a result, recruiters will enter the new year without the usual cushion of incoming soldiers, making it that much harder to make their quotas for 2005. Instead of knowing the names of nearly half the coming year's expected arrivals in October, as the Army did last year, or even the names of around one in three, as is the normal goal, this October the recruiting command will have identified only about one of five of the boot camp class of 2005 in advance.

excellent. general hagenbeck, a personnel commander working with PERSCOMM went on to say the army would offset this shortage by adding 1,000 recruiters to the streets of america and would "expand the role of private civilian contractors."

ok...given the existing shortfalls in troop strength and the long haul we're looking at in terms of keeping our 700+ worldwide bases adequately staffed, how's that parking-lot recruiting scene from fahrenheit 911 gonna look in 2005 once we've depleted this year's class of entrants?...bet it'll go down a lil bit different:

1. the uniformed army recruiters approach "the mark", do the light chit-chat, look resplendent in his dress uniform, brag about neck-width until...

2. the "private civilian contractors" swoop down in black vans, masked and armed to the teeth. with a flash-bang, a quick slip of the hood over their new "grunt" and a tight tug of the zip-ties...

insta-recruit! very effective. good plan, PERSCOMM.

meanwhile, over at the business section of the washpost a headline reads: Running Low on Ammo: Military Turns to Overseas Suppliers to Cover Shortages.

good fucking job, guys.

the washpost quotes marcus corbin, an analyst for the center for defense information:

"The big complex programs don't do any good if there aren't bullets for the rifles."

holy shit. marcus corbin is a genius. he should be running the defense department, just step right in for rumsfeld.

but it's not as simple as all that. the headline suggests that we are literally running out of ammo in the field, that some soldier will hear the dreaded "click" of the hammer on empty and reach his belt to find nothing but empties. that isn't the case -- we have plenty of rounds to go around...

The military has a stockpile of 1 billion rounds but resists dipping into it except for extraordinary emergencies. "We have a good-sized stockpile" that we keep as "our trump card," Izzo said.

extraordinary emergencies...? as in, we have a land-based attack here at home? i can see why a red-dawn scenario prompts officials to keep a reserve here stateside, but...

who would fire those rounds in the event of such an emergency? aren't the majority percentages of NG and reservists overseas...? what would we do? throw bullets at our attackers???

no, they're doing the right thing by keeping our ammo here where we can reach it. the army has outsourced the gap in production to a company a lot closer to the front, where those bullets will be more readily available. the company...?

israeli military industries!

The Army's use of an Israeli company for ammunition supplies has raised concerns among some in Congress. Insurgents in Iraq could use the Israeli purchases as a recruiting tool, said Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. "It would be utilized by those who wish us ill," Abercrombie said. "To me it seems a very serious issue."

huh. now, i'm not prepared to enter the fray over our support for israel in regards to their "foreign policy", but it sure makes sense -- that an iraqi, insurgent or not, might just go over the edge when it's gone beyond american proxies for israeli soldiers despoiling his nation, and has escalated to the point where the israeli GDP is directly benefiting from the rounds tearing through his flesh. ruh-roh...

here's the last few tidbits from the post article:

1. Abercrombie said he was also concerned that the military should not depend on foreign suppliers to address critical war needs. "We need to keep the manufacturing base here and if that costs a little more money, so what?" he said. "If defense is worth having, it's worth paying for."

2. Other U.S. commercial ammunition makers could help fill the gap but cannot break existing contracts with private sector clients or foreign militaries.

3. The Army has refused to disclose the size of the contracts with Winchester or Israeli Military Industries but acknowledges they are paying a premium of 15 to 20 percent that it attributes to start-up costs, testing and the lower production rate. "With that kind of cost differential, did we really need" this ammunition immediately, given the Army's stockpile, asked Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Weldon estimated that the government is paying a significantly higher premium on the bullets.

that higher premium will be passed on to us. and i don't mean only in higher taxes, either. the awarding of contracts to arms-manufacturers operating in a bottom-line corporate fashion (and often on a "cost-plus" basis) will cost us in american lives. sure, it won't be direct cause-and-effect. we won't hear the click of an empty chamber followed by a murmured "oh shit" with much frequency in this engagement...

but we are gonna pay a premium, for sure.

dwindling numbers in IN national guard

2004-07-15T14:54:00.000-04:00

this is alarming. doubly so, given the devastation in parts of indiana and its neighboring states this last week -- how many troops, i wonder, are available for all that clean-up if they're struggling to keep the rosters full in iraq?

excerpts:

Almost two-thirds of Indiana National Guardsmen in a battalion that spent a year in Iraq chose not to re-enlist when their service time expired.

[...]

Over the past 21 months, the service contracts of 102 soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the 152nd Regiment expired. Of those, 32, or less than one-third, chose to re-enlist.

The unit typically keeps 85 percent of its members, a sergeant in charge of retaining members said.

"What killed us was the stop-loss," [he] said. "There wasn't a whole lot we could do."

the article cites figures that indicate that by spring 2003, over 93% of the IN sample battalion (1st of the 152nd) was deployed in iraq.

93%. of a sample national guard battalion...

so, on any given sunday:

just how safe should hoosiers feel here at home when they're being protected by less than 10% of their active units...?

homeland (in)security, anyone?

i mean, i thought fighting terrorism wasn't supposed to be a "law enforcement" matter anymore, but it seems more the case each day that we're leaving it all just to local cops and rescue. why can't the war on terrorism be pre-emptive here at home? or at least, preventative?

(more) confessions of a reformed naderite

2004-07-14T10:59:00.000-04:00

well, not confessions exactly. i've already poured out my soul to you, and it seems you've forgiven me. but i think nader might have some confessions of his own to make, even if he doesn't quite know it yet. the ego is a tricky thing -- very good at delusion and denial.

if you haven't seen the transcript of the recent conversation between nada and salon editor david talbot today, go read the whole thing. it's priceless. here are some of my favorite bits:

Nader: [on salon's piece "Strange Alliance: Why Is Rupert Murdoch's Media Empire Publishing Ralph Nader's Latest Tome?"]...I mean, this one doesn't even pass the laugh test. Where's your banking done? Do you know any major publisher that isn't owned by a pig conglomerate?

Talbot: Rupert Murdoch is not a typical media mogul. You and I know what his agenda is and what his impact has been on American politics and culture.

Nader: Hey, wait a minute! If he had censored my book, you would've written an article saying, "Hey, now we can prove that these conglomerate CEOs are censorious and anti-democratic because they rejected Nader's book!" Six of one, half dozen of the other. You had it both ways, didn't you?

Talbot: You of all people, Ralph, know -- because we quoted you on this very subject -- what an unusual and unusually noxious role Mr. Murdoch has played in the American media landscape. And for you, of all people, to deny that and say, "Oh he's just another run-of-the-mill media mogul" is disingenuous.

Nader: Wait, wait, let me clarify this. Give me a few seconds, will you? Number one, I've gone after Murdoch mercilessly in my speeches; number two, we've challenged his acquisitions when he tried to own the papers in Boston and New York and so forth. So that wasn't just talk. And his messing around with China and kowtowing to China.

But to follow your principle would be for me to say, "I don't want anything to do with NBC. It's owned by a pig company called GE. And I certainly don't want anything to do with MSNBC because it's owned by both GE and Microsoft." They are worse than Rupert Murdoch, and I will tell you why -- Rupert Murdoch does not produce death-dealing weapons and sell them to dictatorships

[...]

Talbot: Well, you and I will have to agree to disagree on the uniquely noxious role that Rupert Murdoch plays in the American media.

Nader: Well, let me trap you. Will you let me trap you? What if your brilliant Salon articles were reported on Murdoch's television programs -- would you object to that? Would you? What if they said, "Salon reported today etc., etc.," and they carried your message to millions of people that you don't reach. Would you object to that?

Talbot: This is different. He is paying you a good advance to publish your book because he has political interests in what you're doing in the presidential campaign.

Nader: He's paying me money to fight the likes of him and everyone else!

aha, that pesky ego! talk about traps.

so, let me get this straight. rupert murdoch is paying nada, not to hoist nada as a battle flag against kerry and the dems. nope, rupert murdoch is paying nada to fight rupert murdoch.

hmmm. right. that makes sense.

not at all. but let's move on. this is another great tidbit:

Talbot: Why are these conservative groups helping you then?

Nader: Because they're mischievous, that's why! They want to get their name in the paper and trick people like Salon.

oh, those pesky, mischevious neocons! aren't they cute.

there's also the fantastic moment when talbot calls nada on having lost his progressive perspective and nada responds,

OK, now I've flushed you out. Now you've come out. I'm an expert in flushing out bias, prejudice and prejudgment. And you've demonstrated all three.

you know what? you really should just read it all for yourself. it's extraordinary.

it's really so exciting, isn't it? the repugs are gonna push back elections, fight democracy with fear, and fight kerry with nader. and nader...hero of consumers everywhere, advocate of the people...is going to play right into it.

once again, i ask -- where are you thomas f. zorn, white house ethics advisor?!** i've got someone for you who needs an appointment pronto!

***

**UPDATE:: there's not much out there about the myth, the man, the ethicist tom zorn -- no speeches, no lectures or interviews. but! if you want to get in touch with mr. zorn and ask him directly what the hell he's doing to earn his 124K a year on the WH payroll, here's tom's most recent published contact information:

Office of Government Ethics
ATTN: Thomas F. Zorn, Deputy Director
Suite 500
1201 New York Avenue
Washington, DC 20005-3917

tel :: 202.456.5336
email :: tfzorn@oge.gov

here's a sample letter you can cut/paste into your email for thomas zorn. or feel free to modify it to your taste...

Dear Mr. Zorn,

I'm writing as a concerned American citizen. I'm concerned because the administration currently in residence at the White House seems to be experiencing some serious lapses in ethical thinking and action.

I wonder exactly what it is that you do at the White House every day as the President's Ethics Advisor -- the person responsible for seeing to it that the White House conduct itself morally. Why aren't you helping our President and his cabinet make better choices?

George W. Bush and his Administration's practices of consistently witholding and distorting information, exploiting the fear of the American people post-9/11, and creating policy to please the corporations that bankroll him are unconscionable.

Mr. Zorn, I urge you to step up to the plate and tell the President the truth, that he's acting unethically -- that lying and fearmongering do not comply with the standards that someone of his position is sworn to uphold.

Sincerely,

ethics is hard. but really, really fun. i'm sure tom wants to hear from you -- so don't delay.

MISSING IN ACTION :: thomas f. zorn, white house ethics advisor

2004-07-13T14:50:00.000-04:00

they're just trying to scare us. just trying to keep us too afraid to enter the polling stations. it's a bluff, they'd never...

that's what i've been telling myself, anyway.

you've all heard by now, i'm sure, that tom ridge and the folks over at the department of homeland security, bless their hearts, are seeking the authority to delay election day, based on their projection that

bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, [are] overseeing attack plans from hideouts along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in "an effort to disrupt the democratic process."

(source: mtv news)

it seems that, despite this grave threat to our "democratic process", the threat level will remain at yellow, or elevated.

very few people can wear yellow. it's one of those colors that tends to make most complexions look very washed-out. maybe that's why yellow also tends to be a euphemism for cowardly. which is what ridge and his pals are. cowardly bullies, looking to strike unsubstantiated fear into the hearts of ordinary Americans who, unfortunately, tend to be dragged kicking and screaming to the polls come election time anyway, even when we're at a nicer threat color than yellow.

as mtv news reported,

Several government figures involved in this matter have expressed some doubt about the need for a drastic measure such as postponing the election. Representative Jane Harman (D-California), a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN's "Late Edition" that plans to postpone the election are "excessive, based on what we know," and that they were based on "more chatter about old threats, which were the subject of a press conference by Attorney General [John] Ashcroft and [FBI] Director [Robert] Mueller six weeks ago.

"[Ridge] sounded more like an interior decorator talking about what more we can do under the shade of yellow," Harman said.

Other senators have reportedly questioned whether the timing of a private briefing given to Senators by CIA and FBI officials on Thursday was politically motivated, given that it took place two days after John Kerry announced his running mate. Ridge denied the allegation, calling it the "wrong interpretation."

um, excuse me but, wrong interpretation my ass.

we all know that it's exactly the right interpretation, and that it means that dubya, ridge and all the cronies have finally stooped to the new low we've been dreading. i know i for one have been hearing the whispers for weeks, but i somehow had deluded myself into denial of what was inevitably on its way.

according to the washpost, george w. bush's "ethics advisor", a man named thomas f. zorn, makes $124,166 a year. that's a pretty nice friggin' salary, if you ask me.

so where the heck is he?!?!?

hellooooo ethics advisor!! are you out there?!?! we need you!!! the raiders in the oval office are U.S.C., or as my friend would say -- up shit's creek -- and now find themselves in dire need of some ethical advisement.

we're back. well, sort of...

2004-07-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

"we" have been moving lately from the bowelry of nyc to the halls of justice in washington.

c-u-l-t-u-r-e-s-h-o-c-k.

there's been a ton of things to order, pack, reorder and unpack. and there's been a lot in the news too, not least of all rumors of a sphere-wide "blogger burn-out" before the election and the predicted shuttering of a number of the best blogs out there...

will thebigwedding meet the same fate? possibly. longevity and constancy are the hardest when you're working alone, with possibly no readers. but as i've told my friends, the blog is already up there and gets re-cached by google, so it'll always be there for me to return to. i've gotten past the set-up phase: formatting templates, typography, and not sucking. that was the hard part.

here's excerpts from a recent post by billmon, the proprietor of the excellent whiskey bar blog. billmon has returned to the blogosphere ( thank god! ) after a hiatus ( never again, please! ) of a few weeks and explains how painful those weeks were. he recounts the blogger-jones that kept nagging for more of his time, at the expense of his professional life, his kids and his dog.

This blogging thing is very strange - weirdly addictive once you start doing it, but easy to avoid when you're not doing it, if that makes any sense...

...All I know is that for the better part of the past two weeks, whenever I even thought about firing up Movable Type and banging out some random thoughts, an unpleasant sensation would come over me and a very strong, very clear voice in my head would say something like: "Why don't you go do something else, instead?" And I would have an overwhelming urge to do just that...

...It was almost as if I'd been put through some kind of Skinnerian aversion therapy - like that horrific scene from A Clockwork Orange, where the guys in the lab coats pump Alex full of drugs, clip his eyelids open, and force him to watch movies of war atrocities and other senseless butchery, all to the sounds of his favorite symphony, Beethovan's immortal 9th.

Which, come to think of it, isn't such a bad metaphor for what we've all been forced to endure for the past couple of years...Up until the past few weeks, however, blogging has been a cure - or at least a placebo - for existential dread and political despair, not a source of it. But then, for some reason I lost the desire, or at least the will, to keep talking...

...I don't know if I'll be able to regain my previous level of blogging productivity. Even without comment threads to moderate, frequent daily posting may be more than I can handle. But I'm going to try - in hopes that no matter what happens, like the last man in William Faulkner's Nobel acceptance speech, "there will still be one more sound: that of his puny, inexhaustible voice, still talking."

some people "think to talk" in life. i believe i am one of those who "talks to think". and that probably won't change, no matter how "puny" i feel. that said, you can be sure i'll be back here to do some more thinking things through. maybe not today. i have to find an apartment. but soon.

welcome back, billmon.

the patriot's act :: michael moore's recipe for the proud american

2004-07-04T14:35:00.000-04:00

happy fourth of july.

mike moore wrote this oped in today's la times. he asks: what's a proud american? a silent one?

moore makes clear the real stigmatization that open questioning brings in the greater valleys of our country -- at work, at church, or in the home. the threat of retribution fielded by neighbors, employers, sometimes family...

but i live in downtown new yawk city. i can buy a pair of bikini panties with our flag on em right down the block. if i turn the corner, i can pick up a red-white-and-blue "rabbit" for $50.00. my block tranny is wearing stars & stripes tights. and they are too tight. so, i don't exactly know what moore is talking about...

here's an excerpt of moore's piece. you can read it in its entirety here.

For too long now we have abandoned our flag to those who see it as a symbol of war and dominance, as a way to crush dissent at home. Flags are flying from the back of SUVs, rising high above car dealerships, plastering the windows of businesses and adorning paper bags from fast-food restaurants. But these flags are intended to send a message: "You're either with us or you're against us," "Bring it on!" or "Watch what you say, watch what you do."

Those who absconded with our flag now use it as a weapon against those who question America's course. They remind me of that famous 1976 photo of an anti-busing demonstrator in Boston thrusting a large American flag on a pole into the stomach of the first black man he encountered. These so-called patriots hold the flag tightly in their grip and, in a threatening pose, demand that no one ask questions. Those who speak out find themselves shunned at work, harassed at school, booed off Oscar stages. The flag has become a muzzle, a piece of cloth stuffed into the mouths of those who dare to ask questions.

[...]

If you are one of those who love what President Bush has done for this country and believe you must blindly follow the president to deserve to fly the flag, you should ask yourself some difficult questions about just how proud you are of the America we now inhabit:

Are you proud that one in six children lives in poverty in America?

Are you proud that 40 million adult Americans are functional illiterates?

Are you proud that the bulk of the jobs being created these days are low- and minimum-wage jobs?

Are you proud of asking your fellow Americans to live on $5.15 an hour?

Are you proud that, according to a National Geographic Society survey, 85% of young adult Americans cannot find Iraq on the map (and 11% cannot find the United States!)?

Are you proud that the rest of the world, which poured out its heart to us after Sept. 11, now looks at us with disdain and disgust?

Are you proud that nearly 3 billion people on this planet do not have access to clean drinking water when we have the resources and technology to remedy this immediately?

Are you proud of the fact that our president sent our soldiers off to a war that had nothing to do with the self-defense of this country?

If these things represent what it means to be an American these days — and I am an American — should I hang my head in shame? No. Instead, I intend to perform what I believe is my patriotic duty. I can't think of a more American thing to do than raise questions — and demand truthful answers — when our leader wants to send our sons and daughters off to die in a war.

[...]

Let's create a world in which, when people see the Stars and Stripes, they will think of us as the people who brought peace to the world, who brought good-paying jobs to all citizens and clean water for the world to drink.

In anticipation of that day, I am putting my flag out today, with hope and with pride.

FILM :: the corporation : the pathological pursuit of profit and power

2004-06-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

canadian film-makers jennifer abbot and mark achbar have put together an excellent film, the corporation, which opens this summer in over 40 cities. the film is based on joel balkan's book by the same name.

the movie will never get the attention that fahrenheit 9/11 does, obviously, but it might just be the better of the two. it certainly gets beyond the current administration and sticks it to the larger "armies" at work. and it will bunch up the jodhpurs of my friends over at billionaires for bush -- no doubt they will hit the streets in protest.

the flick covers not only the historical infancy of the corporate model, but reviews the concept of "legal person" and the pathology of commerce.

their site also has some so-so interactive tutorials that match you to existing knowledge bases, organizations, and other content/resources based on your responses to their personality quiz. hell, the utility correctly inferred from my answers that viewing ads does in fact "make me sick".

confessions of a (reformed) naderite

2004-06-25T14:15:00.000-04:00

i admit it. i liked him. for a while.

but i've seen the light.

the truth is, i saw the light long before now -- i never actually ended up voting for nader in 2000. i "compromised" by voting for gore on the working families party platform.

but i did go to the "ralph nader super rally" at madison square garden in 2000. and i did write an article about it for a progressive web outlet.

i got over nader pretty quick, and since 2000 i've thought of him as a majorly egotistical, minorly interesting political blip.

but the latest out of nader is unconscionable. not only that, it's dangerous.

take these bits and pieces from the web-sphere as the timeline to the end of my "fairy-tale" with this "prince":

1. nader's got right-wing groups campaigning for him all over the country.

2. nader is welcoming that help.

3. nader completely dumped the greens, who worked their butts off for him in 2000.

4. nader's cynicism has made me turn on my own idealism.

and that really pisses me off.

we should have just re-buried eisenhower

2004-06-24T02:21:00.000-04:00

the supplication of the u.s. media to the altar of ronald reagan was clearly misguided. we all know ronnie to be a liar, a cheat, and a puppet to higher-parties. but it's still hard to throw shit in the face of such a *nice* man...

...yeah, just ask a nicaraguan.

nonetheless, it's easier to pierce the pimple of the reagan administration by holding it up to earlier presidents, and not just clinton or bush. you know...

...men who seemed like leaders.

thebigwedding secret-agent scats faxed in this reminder of the real republican party of the united states. the one that believes in the general concept of "history", and not that we'll all "just be dead" either way. right, shrub? sit up and pay attention...

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

we must begin thinking beyond the bush-kerry dyad. instead, let us focus on the 22nd century and what it will take for any human to see it.

HEAD :: the economies of "losing" and "getting"

2004-06-23T09:51:00.000-04:00

on salon:

enormous bouncers calvin and benjamin are interviewed cheerfully waiting on line at 4:30am to get their copies of my life signed by bill clinton. they talked about seeing clinton campaigning in queens in the 90's and feeling that he was "in touch with the people's needs".

and the quote of the week:

when asked how he felt about clinton's personal issues, benjamin said,

We got people losing heads, and they're worried about someone getting head? Come on!

update :: paul rieckhoff

2004-06-22T23:40:00.000-04:00

we got an email from our favorite amherst college vet, paul rieckhoff, who delivered the weekly democratic radio address a few weeks back. paul, a platoon leader in iraq, has been putting sticks together to keep the fire burning -- not the one in arlington cemetary, but the one in our hearts. he's putting together a new organization, operation truth, with the aim of revitalizing the political wing of the veterans' community and fighting for the rights of our deployed servicemen and women.

Ampro,

Let me give you an update:

Here is what I am up to next:

The response to my speech and recent press appearances has been tremendous. I am in the process of creating a non-profit, non-partisan organization that will serve as the aggressive voice of truth for the public dialogue from here forward. Soldiers speaking out for soldiers.

We were there. Other Veterans of Iraq and I will drive our stories and experiences to the public for the sake of bringing first-person, truth to the issues surrounding the war in Iraq. We will present our experiences (and those of our families) honestly, in order to educate and inform the American public.

The soldiers experiences, frustrations and concerns have yet to be brought out in a strong and passionate manner. The American people primarily get their information about the war from under-informed, overly-biased sources. We will give them the truth from the horses mouth--warts and all.

We will be extremely active and visible-doing op/eds, radio/TV, an aggressive internet strategy, speaking etc.

Check out my website for more info at www.paulrieckhoff.com.

We welcome any and all advice and/or support you would be willing to give. Please spread the word and let people know about what we are doing.

Thanks.

Paul.

paul is keeping his scheduled loaded, with appearances this week at the nyc screening of farenheit 9/11, as max cleland's guest at the premiere of cleland's new film strong at the broken places, and on al franken's air america radio show. that's a pretty heavy schedule.

you can contact paul with questions or comments at his site.

grassroots grow in brooklyn

2004-06-22T10:49:00.000-04:00

salon today reports on the brooklyn-based council of pakistan organization (which next month will be re-named the council of people organization).

copo was founded right after september 11, 2001 by a pakistani muslim shop owner named mohammed razvi, whose male muslim customers were being rounded up in droves by the fbi. muslim families had no idea where their husbands/brothers/sons had gone, and many were lacking the english-speaking and -reading skills to find them.

razvi was joined in his efforts to help by indian hindi graduate student jagajit singh, a former political organizer in india who, after 9/11, was looking for something to do that would make a difference for his community.

razvi and singh's effort to help families find their loved ones has bloomed into a full-fledged community organization, drawing in cooperation and support from muslims and hindus alike, as well as the neighboring orthodox jewish community.

razvi and singh have put significant effort into drawing in and integrating the young people of each community in the area, hoping that children who play basketball together will "have a harder time hating each other as they grow older."

they've found much to be hopeful about. as razvi says:

"Young people, they want results that are positive and fast," he says. "They are truthful and they are radical. They want change for the better."

read salon's article here.

CAPTION ?

2004-06-21T00:32:00.000-04:00

trent, proprietor of spacerook.com, posted this photo on a dailykos comment thread regarding the depletion of the non-renewable "snark reserves". he requested assistance in captioning the photo...

...some of dk's readers obliged. their captions include:

"If I just close my eyes, it will be over soon."

Bush: "Thanks again for choosing the GOP above America and working on my campaign. That was a pretty nifty trick I pulled with you and your illegitimate black kid, huh? Heh, heh."

Halitosis: Bush's Secret Weapon!

Bush: "I mean, who really gives a damn about torturing prisoners anyhow, right John? John?"

"If I close my eyes, I can pretend he's Reagan."

submit your own in comments. or, just think them to yourself.

get your mini iRaq in any color

2004-06-20T23:55:00.000-04:00

this "campaign" is appearing in a number of cities. so are "bush = theocracy" posters in my nyc neighborhood.

caption :: 10,000 Iraqis killed. 773 U.S. soldiers killed.

wanna see my playlist?

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT :: veterans' attorney representation amendment (H.R. 3492)

2004-06-20T14:15:00.000-04:00

Know a Veteran? Disabled Veteran? Know a Serviceman?

Did you know a disabled veteran can't hire a [private] attorney until his claim is in the appeal process, usually two to three years after the initial filing -- delaying the claim another 2 to 3 years for a total of 4 to 6 years -- unless the attorney will represent them for free or for a maximum of $10. Veterans should have the right to choose who is going to represent them.

Write your congressman. Your local congress reprepresentative might also co-sponsor the bill. The amendment allowing attorney choice is: H.R.3492, Title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to allow claimants for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to pay fees for attorney services during any stage of the Department of Veterans Affairs claims process.

Bill Sponsor: Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2] (introduced 11/17/2003)

Cosponsors: 12

Rep Burton, Dan - 11/17/2003 [IN-5]
Rep Christensen, Donna M. - 11/17/2003 [VI]
Rep Garrett, Scott - 11/17/2003 [NJ-5]
Rep Hoekstra, Peter - 11/17/2003 [MI-2]
Rep King, Steve - 11/17/2003 [IA-5
Rep Manzullo, Donald A. - 11/17/2003 [IL-16]
Rep Miller, Jeff - 11/18/2003 [FL-1]
Rep Musgrave, Marilyn N. - 1/20/2004 [CO-4]
Rep Myrick, Sue - 11/17/2003 [NC-9]
Rep Peterson, John E. - 11/17/2003 [PA-5]
Rep Souder, Mark E. - 11/17/2003 [IN-3]
Rep Wilson, Joe - 11/17/2003 [SC-2]

Latest Major Action: 1/6/04

Write to see if you can get your representative involved.

Here's the online petition you can sign in support of the amendment. You can refer to the petition in your letter to your representative.

This should not be a political issue; it should be a bipartisan issue. Political party affiliation should not be holding this bill back.

thanks to ohioan walt kozlowski for tipping thebigwedding on this bill. walt welcomes questions for further information on the amendment's progress.

JOKE OF THE MOMENT :: the hand-clap heard round the world

2004-06-20T03:37:00.000-04:00

this is making the webrounds. it is slightly amusing, if only it were true. and if it is in fact true in some parts of iraq, i would we were hearing it in the news and not at the virtual water-cooler.

Three Marines were driving up the highway between Basra and Baghdad when they came upon an Iraqi insurgent who was badly injured and unconscious. On the opposite side of the road was an injured American soldier who was semi-conscious.

As the Marines gave both men first-aid they asked what had happened. The American G.I. said, "I was moving north along the road when I ran into this guy. We both pointed our guns at each other and I said, 'Saddam Hussein is an asshole!'...

Then he yelled, 'George Bush is an asshole!'...

...Then we were just standing there shaking hands when a truck hit us."

ba-dum-bum.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK :: dwight d. eisenhower

2004-06-19T23:02:00.000-04:00

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

-- excerpt from president dwight d. eisenhower's farewell address to the nation, jan. 1961.

gawker's trend watch

2004-06-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

if the trend of the 1990's was rich white people getting away with everything, according to gawker, the new hot trend is rich white people going to jail.

so said cosmetics mogul evelyn lauder when she addressed hunter college's graduating class last week.

lauder -- who is herself a graduate of hunter -- told the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed grads:

"On Sunday night, as I was throwing out our newspapers, my husband said, 'Don't throw out the business section - there's got to be somebody we know who is under investigation.' And, sure enough, there on the front page, was someone else, another acquaintance who was cited for something. We seem to know a lot of people who are in jail, out of jail, about to go to jail, deserve to be in jail, and that is not acceptable."

frankly, and all tongue in cheek aside, lauder herself really seems a good model for rich white people...

...doing good things. maybe she'll spark a trend.

...maybe.

alternet :: not afraid to be green

2004-06-18T13:00:00.000-04:00

salon lists a new report from the CDC that tobacco use is down among teens in an unprecedented drop. this is good news, for sure. but salon has reported only the aspects of the CDC news that any mainstream media is -- the parts the CDC listed in their press statement. salon writes:

"...Smoking among U.S. high school students has fallen to about one in five -- the lowest level in at least a generation -- in a drop-off the government attributes to anti-smoking campaigns and higher cigarette taxes."

what a crock of shit. it's not the taxes that are doing it, stupid. any kid can buy a carton of smokes online for $20.00. it's easier than ordering ritalin from a canadian pharmacy. and sure, t.v. commercials and PSAs are fun kitsch and all, and plenty of kids will do whatever david schwimmer tells them to...

but that's not what's done the trick. what's done the job is making adults responsible and liable for the age restrictions that the government have deemed requisite to allowing americans to continue their ritual communion with lung cancer, liver failure, and heart disease. shop-keepers, parents, teachers, etc. but mostly the shop-keepers...

alternet presents corollary data from the u.s. centers for disease control report that mainstream salon is ignoring:

Why More Kids Smoke Marijuana Than Cigarettes

The biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey, released May 21 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contained a bombshell:

More U.S. teens are now smoking marijuana than smoke cigarettes.

That's right. Among high school students, current use -- defined as use within the last 30 days -- is now higher for marijuana than for cigarettes. According to the CDC, 21.9 percent of teens reported smoking cigarettes within the last month, while 22.4 percent smoked marijuana.

There is a lesson here, but one that policymakers won't want to hear: If the idea is to stop teen substance use, the approach we've used with tobacco works better than the approach we've taken with marijuana. That means regulation of adult use, rather than prohibition. In the decade from 1993 to 2003, the percentage of teens reporting current cigarette use dropped by nearly one third, from 30.5 percent to 21.9 percent.

For marijuana, despite a marginal, statistically insignificant decrease last year, the long-term trend has been heading in the opposite direction. Past-month marijuana use has risen nearly five percentage points since 1993, when it was just 17.7 percent. Even more alarming, the number of kids smoking marijuana before age 13 went up from 6.9 percent in 1993 to 9.9 percent last year.

Why is teen cigarette smoking dropping so impressively, while marijuana use remains essentially stuck at high levels?

Two words: "We Card."

If you've been in just about any store that sells cigarettes in the last few years, you've seen the signs: "Under 18, No Tobacco. We Card." The We Card campaign is a voluntary effort...Americans made it clear we don't like cigarettes being sold to kids, and legislators in many states responded with tough laws. Merchants who sell cigarettes to youths under 18 can face stiff fines and, in many jurisdictions, can lose their license to sell tobacco.

We have no such control of marijuana dealers, who are unlicensed and completely unregulated. Efforts to stamp them out haven't even put a minor crimp in marijuana's availability: For two and a half decades running, between 82 and 90 percent of teens have told the Monitoring the Future survey that marijuana is "easy to get."

so...when it's us who are the parents of kids who are just rolling in "easy to get" dope, what do we want to happen? it's a tough question...

i just pledged $30.00 to a school-kid participating in an american cancer society / stop smoking walk. that's the cost of about a carton. but worth it. given the choice, i'd rather see a late teen with a legal joint in their hands than a marlboro. the difference is profound. if you're not sure for yourself, you can start your research with alternet. they're one of only a few progressive outlets that stand up each week to keep the "drug war" in the spotlight.

atrocities in iraq :: in their own words

2004-06-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

dick cheney REALLY wants to stop talking about the iraq - al qaeda connection. okay, okay...

let's give dick a break and go back to something that's not as "sexy" or "flashy" as today's headlines that the media are "being so lazy" with:

the white house - torture connection.

the washpost has had this page up for a while, with links to the taguba report, new prison photos, and sworn testimony of abu ghraib prisoners taken by the u.s. in january 2004.

let's bring this back into the mix. what's wrong, dick? you thought we were gonna let you off the hook with something soft...? like what...?

the coverage of just one of thirty-eight dead presidents?

kerry goes for working girls

2004-06-18T11:55:00.000-04:00

today candidate kerry proposed raising the minimum wage to $7 an hour by 2007, and said the raise would benefit working women most.

right on. it's about f*ing time. the minimum wage hasn't been raised since 1997, when it went up only 40 cents. really -- it's true! only 40 cents! and inflation has virtually eliminated that increase.

according to inc,

The nearly seven years without an increase is the longest such stretch since the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets the federal minimum wage, went into effect in 1938.

kerry's co-sponsoring a bill with ted kennedy, which calls for the increase to happen gradually.

"just a ploy to catch votes!", squeaks my inner cynic.

"he'll never see it through!", moans the depressive in my brain.

"$7 is still crap wages", the realist says wisely.

but for now i'm telling all those voices to can it. at least it's somethin'.

larry king doesn’t wear depends

2004-06-18T11:35:00.000-04:00

dick cheney might want to start. he seems to be pooping out crap at quite an uncontrollable rate.

salon’s war room today noted that cheney’s latest is accusing the media of being "lazy". well dude, we’ve all been saying that for months. but cheney’s gripe isn’t about the media’s lack of attention to dick and bush’s constant screwy behavior -- he’s mad that the media seems to be:

...making too much of the 9/11 commission's staff report that disputes the administration's claims about the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida. Some members of the press are "often lazy, often report what someone else in the press said without doing their homework," Cheney said.

you know what i have to say to that mr. cheney?

wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.

cry me a river.

why is randi rhodes the only one using the phrase "stand-down order"?

2004-06-17T17:07:00.000-04:00

yesterday, the new york times quoted the 9/11 commission’s summary of the military, faa and other agencies’ actions on the morning of 9/11 (emphases are my own):

"On the morning of 9/11, the existing protocol was unsuited in every respect for what was about to happen..."

The report, they said, suggests - though it does not say explicitly - that a more organized response by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, might have allowed fighter pilots to reach one jetliner and shoot it down before it flew into the pentagon, more than 50 minutes after the first of the hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.

Instead, the report finds, an emergency order from Vice President Dick Cheney authorizing the hijacked planes to be shot down did not reach pilots until the last of the four commandeered jetliners had crashed into a field in western Pennsylvania, after a struggle between terrorists and passengers aboard that plane.

okay. so. my first question is, why didn’t the order get there? did cheney give it too late? was the chain of command just a mess? what the hell happened guys?!

cut to today’s nyt and it seems that’s what everyone else wants to know too (again, all emphases are my own).

"...even many months afterward, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, were still not fully understood by NORAD officials. In May 2003, the [9/11 commission] staff report said, NORAD officials gave incorrect accounts of how NORAD's northeast air defense sector tracked Flight 93 and the other three jetliners hijacked that day, American Airlines Flights 11 and 77 and United Airlines Flight 175.

...fighters were scrambled from Otis Air Force base on Cape Cod, Mass., after it became clear that hijackings were under way, but the fighters were miles away from New York by the time the towers were hit...

in fact, there was a set of fighter jets orbiting washington while all of this was going on, and they would certainly have time to take down the plane headed to the pentagon, but according to the times:

...they had not been told that they were authorized to shoot down an aircraft, contrary to what Vice President Dick Cheney thought at that time. In fact, the report noted, "the Langley pilots were never briefed about the reason they were scrambled" and did not know that the vice president had ordered that a Washington-bound hijacked jet be shot down.

salon gives the rundown on the timeline in cheney’s bunker. here’s my own timeline, based on my extrapolations:

10:02 a.m. -- cheney's command post received word that a hijacked plane (united flight 93) was heading for washington.

10:03 a.m. -- united flight 93 crashed in the pennsylvania countryside
salon: but the white house was unaware of the crash and was told the plane was still bearing down on washington.

between 10:10 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. -- a military aide said the aircraft was 80 miles out. cheney was asked for authority to shoot down the plane. cheney issued the order.

minutes later -- the military aide reported that the plane was 60 miles out. cheney was asked for authorization again. again, he said yes.

right about the same time -- white house deputy chief of staff joshua bolten suggested that cheney contact bush to confirm his authorization. cheney called the president and got the confirmation.

just then (10:16 - 10:18 a.m.) -- cheney's group was told that a plane was down in pennsylvania. the group wondered if it had been shot down at cheney's direction.

10:30 a.m. – the bunker began receiving reports of another hijacked plane, five to 10 miles out. cheney issued yet another order to engage the aircraft. it turned out to be a medevac helicopter.

now here’s what confuses me and, frankly, freaks me out. according to salon:

In most cases, the commission said, the chain of command in authorizing the use of force runs from the president to the secretary of defense and from the secretary to military commanders. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was briefed by Cheney at 10:39 a.m. that he had been authorized by Bush to instruct fighters to shoot down hijacked planes.

um...ok...so, then:

1. what the hell was cheney doing issuing orders without talking to the president?

2. where was bush when cheney made the decision that he was going to have to make the call?

3. where was rumsfeld at 10:02? why didn’t cheney talk to him?

4. why the hell did no order make it to the fighter jets?

see? this is the kind of thing that keeps me awake in bed, shivering at night.

fascinating :: what happens when you break ranks with the repugs

2004-06-17T11:43:00.000-04:00

secret agent scats wired in this quick note from new orleans, where he is a groomsman at the longest catholic wedding ever put on record.

Jonah Goldberg is positioning himself for a future falling out with Sullivan and giving the nod to the wingers to let loose the hounds. It will be interesting to see how far they go in making Sullivan pay for his ostensible treachery to Bush and what Sullivan's audience will do. We may have another David Brock in the making.

If so, this is great news. Taken together with Tony Blankley's recent cartoonishly anti-Semitic comments it looks as though the Right is reverting to form. All of the '90's category mishmash that gave guys like Sullivan a career is coming to an end as the reactionary wing of the party increasingly kicks it old-school. The more they make being a social conservative a necessary concomitant of being an economic conservative the more constituents they lose. When you take off that genteel cosmopolitan David Brooks/Andrew Sullivan mask to reveal Michael Savage then you've just lost the center.

Now if they could just alienate Drudge somehow.

- wired in by scats

i have no mouth, and i must scream

2004-06-13T12:47:00.000-04:00

harlan ellison's short story was an influence for the interrogation scene in the matrix when neo's mouth is welded shut by the agents of the matrix. i haven't found a good pic of the mouth-melt, but when i do i'll post it here...

i thought of neo while reading talking points memo this morning. josh marshall looks into a houston chronicle editorial that takes the bush WH to task for its blatant and obvious deceptions in the abu ghraib "cover-up" ** and the justice department memos regarding "international treaty obligations" on torture. here's the bit i liked most from josh:

[all emphasis mine]

[the Houston Chronicle]

...The memos were obviously concocted to defend acts that are clearly beyond the bounds of a civilized nation.

The memos support the view that the prisoner abuses uncovered at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were not merely the grave mistakes of a few soldiers, but resulted from policies formed at the highest levels of government. They strengthen concerns about how detainees at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan are being treated.

[Josh Marshall]

As I suggest today in The Hill, I think we're actually pretty far past that point.

We're like contestants on Wheel of Fortune with a long phrase spelled out in front of us with maybe one or two letters missing. We know what the letters spell. It's obvious. We just don't have the heart to say it out loud.

anyone want to buy a vowel? no...? why not...?

cause you don't want to solve the puzzle?

** i know, a lot of people in my family aren't ready for the word "cover-up" because of its depressing result -- that our shared values with regard to the rest of the world are being ignored. fine, fine...we needn't call it that. no need. the WH isn't covering up anything at this point. they are lying directly and with relish right to our own faces. and that works. the blatancy of their deception is a tactic, pulled from the principles of Skull & Bones, the prince, and the art of war: that ambiguity, inconsistency, the suggestion of secrecy in your communications, and disregard for the conventional wisdom of the day will all mightily off-set your opponent's strength. he will be left wondering if you are in fact serious in your engagement, he will underestimate your wit, and will balk in his execution...

an example of this tactic is employed by inferior chess-players when they realize they've sat with a master. knowing a loss is certain, one can effectively "draw out" the loss in order to...

1. buy time to stay in the game and avoid an ego-bruising quick defeat.

2. hope your opponent will become flustered by your play and error on his advantage.

3. force your opponent to uselessly squander his mental energies in what would be an otherwise easy win. even though you will ultimately perish, you will have caused him frustration and possibly weakened his play for the next player to face him (who is now your ally and your only hope for redemption).

what's the tactic?

do not play to win. play as a child would. do not take every piece, retreat when the play calls an advance. but do it with a straight face. remain engaged in your visage. make him question the match in its entirety. strip him of his usual and comfortable victory.

amcop takes it to the rim...again.

2004-06-12T17:24:00.000-04:00

dawkins over at american coprophagia is keeping up the fight to keep the media spin-cycle on "low". i know, i know, it's been like a goddamn week off what with reagan being buried for longer than he ever was an A-LISTer in hollywood. but we need to scroll back through the old posts, summon the archives, and read the may headlines one last time before chucking them in the recycling...

let's just not forget that iraqis are still being tortured, american youth are still dying uselessly, and the administration is still working 24/7 to steal a 2nd election.

don't forget.

here's an excerpt of dawkins' post on the valerie plame outing and the usual suspects:

A Leaker Theory

Here's a weird thought that just occurred to me while reading the Washington Post article about the investigation into the Plame leakers.

Novak said his source was two senior administration officials. One presumes by now that the White House did the leaking/smearing/intimidating intentionally. One would also assume that, in doing so, they'd be cagey enough not to leave any paper trails through the White House. One might presume that Novak was/is/might have been along for this tricky-leaking mission.

They've already said it's not Rove. They've said it's not Libby.

What..."senior administration officials"...are not Rove and Libby and would not get caught up in a White House paper sweep, but who are still "senior" and involved enough to have been up on what's going on?

Is there any chance that our dearly departed pals Ari Fleischer or Karen Hughes -- presumably knowledgeable about the Wilson predicament, interested in the affairs of the White House, but not actually on the premises -- could be part of this?

could be. but i'm voting that it's colonel mustard with the candlestick in the powder-room...

i love murder mysteries.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

2004-06-12T16:07:00.001-04:00

At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land, and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, "thus far and no farther." If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good, but overly bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, "if I repent anything, it is likely to be my good behavior."

-- Edward Abbey

GETYOUR WAR*ON :: damn good, every time

2004-06-10T15:12:00.000-04:00

david rees has added a bit more interactivity to his lo-fi comic, get*your*war*on, in the form of links to articles relevant to the subject of each installment...

his most recent page of the red-and-white links to background on nyt's judith miller choke, a profile of iraqi "he might support U.S. occupation, but still thinks they're fucked" activist kanan makiya, the new sudan crisis, analyzed through the lens of the rwandan genocide of 1994, and human rights watch's documentation of torture, abuse, and murder by uzbekistan's police force.

hey...a little something for everyone, no?

rees is a genius. the moment i first saw his strip in fall 2001, i wanted to win the lottery and buy the rights to his brain. but he published his first tome before i could get off a single pick-six. but from a critical standpoint, i wonder if this new ingredient doesn't set off the original flavor of his soup. the new installment's writing is not as pithy as before. his average words per frame on this new page is way up than before; til now, it's been rees's economy of language, laden with periodic bursts of comic diatribe from his office-worker drones, that has been principal to GYWO's brand of humor.

from a graphical standpoint, the interwoven links detract from the overall scheme of the strip. it looks messy and the text of the links engage the reader in a way that distracts from the characters themselves. in the new material the complexity of topics is definitely up, and rees's effort to provide background on them is smart. but i personally would recommend making the links to any articles the strip themselves, but code the mouse rollover so it presents info about the article linked to -- source, author, one-line summary. a click on the strip itself would open the article in a new page. another alternative is to list articles linked to at the bottom of the page, with short descriptions there.

GYWO is now in print in each issue of rollingstone magazine. the strips there, devoid of cool hyper-clickyness, always get the job done in a clean, succinct and funny manner. rees has proven he can do it...

i just realized what get*your*war*on has always reminded me of...i knew it looked familiar. rees is working in the same vein graphically as max cannon's red meat, a mainstay of the washington city paper, and other local rags...

i'm always hesitant to repost the work of others directly here, but max cannon held a contest among his readers in which they could create their own strips using the static character templates (similar in many ways to GYWO) of his strip. the finalists can be seen here. here's my favorite among them, by whohah:

NOT WANTING IT BAD ENOUGH :: john kerry & smarty jones

2004-06-08T18:12:00.000-04:00

if there is only one thing ronald reagan can teach us, it's:

"WIN ONE FOR THE GIPPER."

that's all john kerry has to remember in regards to president reagan. jfk's "suspension" of his campaign is exactly NOT THAT. he was a fool to use that word when all he needed to do was pay a little respect to reagan and imply (subtly) that no party should capitalize on the memory of one of the people's servants.

but he went ahead and said it. and now even smart people are freaking out about it. fer christ's sake...

but it again raises the question we each ask silently -- alone in the darkest, most secret parts of our minds -- for fear of disrupting the shit-eating, poll-reading grins on most democrats' faces these days...

...i whisper at night, in bed:

"john, what the fuck are you doing? do you even WANT to be president anymore?!?!?"

wanda, over at words on a page asks that question too. she wonders...

Why do I consistently get the feeling that Kerry just does not want this bad enough? Yes, it is sad that former President Reagan has died. A day, maybe two of mourning is appropriate. But suspending your campaign? Not that he's been doing any hot and heavy campaigning to begin with.

I don't know what concerns me more, that Kerry doesn't seem to have the passion needed to ignite those undecided voters, or that this man is what primary voters chose over a man like Howard Dean. What is wrong with Democrats? Do they think that Bush is so bad, voters will just jump ship and either vote for the only alternative or not vote at all? Clearly they are underestimating the fierce loyalty of Bush's supporters. Kerry or someone from his campaign needs to get on the internet and read some of the Blogs for Bush. Maybe then they will realize, Bush has a very strong base, and they aren't going anywhere. As for the un-decideds, they aren't just undecided, they are unconcerned, as well. Odds are most of them wont' bother to vote.

...indeed.

wanda has it right. republicans are a loyal lot, more so than their democrat counterparts in the middle and working classes -- anyone here a Reagan Democrat?...anyone? don't be shy.

and it is reagan's greatest soundbite that kerry needs study. the one that will be most remembered by tomorrow's americans -- no, no...not "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." it's reagan's greatest line that holds the key to exactly what mr. kerry has to surmount and topple if he wants to not only win this election, but ground the ship of the modern conservative movement -- of which ronnie is "the godfather".

look to the gipper, john. or at least rent the movie and have an aide summarize it for you.

...many republicans will do whatever it takes, no matter how dastardly, to "win one for the gipper."

*****

yeah. and on another note, kerry should watch that tape of smarty jones at belmot until it's seared on the oily sheen of his mind. that horse didn't seem to want it badly enough either. i lost $25,000 on that ride. oh well. whatcha gonna glue? i mean, oh my bad...no, "whatcha gonna do?"

HOLY CRAP 3 :: "The Son of Holy Crap"

2004-06-07T14:15:00.000-04:00

thebigwedding secret-agent scats has wired another installment of his highly-lauded "Holy Crap" series...

scats:

Boy is THIS GUY is way "off message"...Didn't he get the memo from Rove that it's the media and not the policies that are losing the war?

[EXCERPTS :: ALL EMPHASIS MINE]

Rumsfeld fears U.S. losing long-term fight against terror

THE SUN-TIMES
June 6, 2004
BY ROBERT BURNS

The United States and its allies are winning some battles in the terrorism war but may be losing the broader struggle against Islamic extremism that is terrorism's source, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saturday.

The troubling unknown, he said, is whether the extremists -- whom he termed "zealots and despots" bent on destroying the global system of nation-states -- are turning out newly trained terrorists faster than the United States can capture or kill them.

"It's quite clear to me that we do not have a coherent approach to this," Rumsfeld said at an international security conference.

The Pentagon chief usually lauds the efforts of U.S. troops, denounces terrorist networks and urges other countries to join the effort to stop terrorist acts.

"What you have is a civil war in that religion where a small minority are trying to hijack it," he said.

After meeting with Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan in Dhaka, the capital, Rumsfeld told reporters the two had spoken about Iraq and Afghanistan but not the specifics of peacekeeping in those countries. Rumsfeld also had talks with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and senior generals.

U.S. defense secretaries rarely visit Bangladesh, but Rumsfeld wanted to draw attention to the mostly Muslim nation as a model of the moderate Islamic country that denounces terrorism. While thousands of anti-American protesters took to the streets of Dhaka on Friday, there was no sign of hostility when Rumsfeld's entourage drove through the capital Saturday.

so...Why does Donald Rumsfeld hate America?

Now, either Rummy is just figuring out now that his policies are moronic when everyone who passed high school civics knew they were stupid in Oct. of 2001, or he's condescendingly lying to foreigners to con them into supporting moronic policies. Even worse, lying in such a way that shows that he knows what a decent policy might look like. Now Aristotle once defined "evil" as someone who knows the right thing to do, but does the wrong thing anyway. So if Rumsfeld continues to support current policy then that would make him.....?

(hint: starts with an "evil", ends with an expletive of your choosing)

However, on the most charitable interpretation, assuming Rumsfeld's not THE FUCKING ANTICHRIST, then he actually believes the crap he's spewing. In which case he's admitting that he's been wrong the entire time....

Should we really let someone who was that wrong for that long and at such cost keep running things?

Should we give him another chance when the stakes are this high?

Is it probable that he'll get anywhere near right on the second go 'round?

Remember: if you answer in the negative to any of the above, then "the terrorists will have won".

-posted by scats

DRESSING DAD :: father's day is just around the corner

2004-06-05T13:22:00.000-04:00

the good people at cafe press have released this line of shirts just in time for father's day. imagine dad, out on the golf-course, or running a company 10k "turkey trot" in one of these...

click here to check out available designs.

UPDATE :: cheney, rumsfeld on abuse trial witness list

2004-06-04T16:01:00.000-04:00

thanks to commenter skunky spliffmeister: the lost article is up at the miami herald website.

it's also back up at salon...

not as exciting as we might have hoped -- they're basically on a big "catch all" list of potential witnesses. but you can check out the story here.

why i still love salon

2004-06-04T10:37:00.000-04:00

okay, for starters, you don't have to subscribe to read it. common misconception. yes, you have to watch a little commercial. yes, it's kind of annoying. but think about all the commercials you watch on tv and don't even think about (or maybe you do, but you get where i'm going with this).

i've heard the complaints -- salon has gone too mainstream, etc. but folks, i urge you to give them another chance. they cover stuff that's not being covered in other easily-accessible media sources. and they've got good things to say. and there's something for everyone.

they've got pundits: sidney blumenthal's regular column is fantastic; arianna huffington is good too.

they've got average joe columnists: joe conason says what you think but haven't articulated yet; heather havrilesky is your guilty (but still lefty) pleasure on everything pop culture for early morning easy listenin'; cary tennis writes an advice column for the feminist majority.

salon's editorial staff writes consistently pertinent, interesting and well-written stories. today check out you gotta fight, for your right, to go solar. the first story in a series on the environment in the 21st century.

and their ap wires are the best. here are three of today's highlights:

#1: south dakotan sworn in as new house member

33-year-old democrat stephanie herseth was sworn in yesterday to replace republican bill janklow (who has been charged with manslaughter in a reckless driving incident -- don't you just wish we could catch the shrub in a "reckless warring" incident and replace him too?).

#2: sharon fires two ministers ahead of vote

sharon fired two "hardline" cabinet ministers yesterday, dismissals that will take effect 48 hours before sunday's major cabinet meeting -- giving sharon a one vote majority on his proposal to pull out of gaza. there's more details too -- go read it.

#3: kerry: bush has created "backdoor draft"

kerry has characterized the white house's plan to keep soldiers for longer tours than originally expected as a "backdoor draft". a bush spokesperson responded that kerry's condemnation was "an insult to the wonderful volunteer service we have in the military and the wonderful people we have serving." of course.

and finally, they have the funnies! comic animator (read: lo-fi genius) mark fiore puts the slick black back in your morning coffee as you get ready to drive to work.

by the way, there's a wire that has gone "missing" on salon this morning. the headline is "cheney, rumsfeld on abuse trial witness list", but the link goes to an error page. i'm looking into it, but if anyone finds more info, please post it to the comments...

MT. BUSHMORE :: the 3 stooges plan a trip to post 9/11 nyc

2004-06-02T15:06:00.000-04:00

--( l. to r. )-- larry, curly, moe.

if bush had bothered to make it to the 9/11 hearings in nyc this month, they might have been worth watching. nothing substantive happened. and until he and the highest leadership prioritize this inquiry...

nothing ever will.

DEFENDING THE HONOR OF A LADY :: the grey lady, lady liberty, and the ladies of our military and their families

2004-05-31T16:56:00.000-04:00

ok, ok...

everyone is RIGHT. the nytimes is filled with their share of jokers, jesters, crooks, and not-so-hot fact-checkers. yup. they sure did fuck up.

but there's still great stuff in it, innit? here's excerpts of two great nyt pieces from the long weekend. i love you grey lady, you are the most articulate girl i know... [ALL EMPHASIS MINE]

from sunday's magazine:

IDEA LAB:
A Really Open Election
By CLIVE THOMPSON

This fall, as many as 20 percent of American voters will be able to cast their ballots on A.T.M.-style electronic voting machines. North Carolina officials recently learned that a software glitch destroyed 436 e-ballots in early voting for the 2002 general election. In a Florida state election this past January, 134 votes apparently weren't recorded -- and this was in a race decided by a margin of only 12 votes. Since most of the machines don't leave any paper trail, there's no way to determine what actually happened.

Electronic voting has much to offer, but will we ever be able to trust these buggy machines? Yes, we will -- but only if we adopt the techniques of the "open source" geeks.

One reason it's difficult to trust the voting software of companies like Diebold is that the source code remains a trade secret. A few federally approved software experts are allowed to examine the code and verify that it works as intended, and in some cases, states are allowed to keep a copy in escrow. But the public has no access, and this is troublesome. When the Diebold source code was accidentally posted online last year, a computer-science professor looked at it and found it was dangerously hackable. Diebold may have fixed its bugs, but since the firm won't share the code publicly, there's no way of knowing. Just trust us, the company says.

But is the counting of votes -- a fundamental of democracy -- something you want to take on faith? No, this problem requires a more definitive solution: ending the secrecy around the machines.

First off, the government should ditch the private-sector software makers. Then it should hire a crack team of programmers to write new code. Then -- and this is the crucial part -- it should put the source code online publicly, where anyone can critique or debug it. This honors the genius of the open-source movement. If you show something to a large enough group of critics, they'll notice (and find a way to remove) almost any possible flaw. If tens of thousands of programmers are scrutinizing the country's voting software, it's highly unlikely a serious bug will go uncaught. The government's programming team would then take the recommendations, incorporate them into an improved code and put that online, too. Already, Australians have used the open-source strategy to build voting software for a state election, and it ran like a well-oiled Chevy. A group of civic-minded programmers known as the Open Voting Consortium has written its own open-source code.

But if our code were open, wouldn't cyberterrorists or other outlaws be able to locate flaws and possibly rig an election? Well, theoretically -- except that it's highly unlikely that they could spot an error that escaped thousands and thousands of scrutineers. Indeed, it may be far easier to infiltrate a private-sector company and tamper with its software. Diebold, after all, kept quiet about the bugs it found in its programs -- including one that subtracted more than 16,000 votes from Al Gore in a single Florida country during the initial vote counting in the 2000 election. Open-source enthusiasts, by contrast, are precisely the sort of people you'd like to see inspecting the voting code; they're often libertarian freaks, nuttily suspicious of centralized power, and they'd scream to the high heavens if they found anything wrong.

From the classification of documents to the refusal to name detainees, the Bush administration's actions show a high regard for secrecy. In essence, it's hiding its code, too. Inside such closed systems, nasty things can happen, as we're learning to our chagrin. Perhaps a blast of open-source candor is exactly what America needs right now.

Clive Thompson writes frequently for the magazine about science and technology.

and from today's national section:

THE WAR AT HOME:
For Soldiers Back From Iraq, Basic Training in Resuming Life
By MONICA DAVEY

FORT RILEY, Kan. — Lt. Col. Dan McClure struts up and down the auditorium in his camouflage fatigues, every bit the drill sergeant he was for years: tormenting any poor soul whose cellphone dares to ring, anyone with the unfortunate rank of lieutenant, anyone blond.

At other incongruous moments on this morning, the gruff officer turns gentle, sounding oddly like Oprah.

Colonel McClure, now an Army chaplain, is here to warn the hundreds of soldiers before him who had returned five days earlier from Iraq, their uniforms still mildewed from the months away, that whatever they think right now, coming home may not be as easy as it seems. After the first embraces with cameras clicking, the homecoming parties, life may get complicated in unimagined ways.

You may find yourself driving your tiny Honda too fast down the center of a Kansas highway, the way you did with your Humvee in Iraq, he tells them. You may get claustrophobic at Wal-Mart, or shaky when a car backfires or a bright light flashes. While you crave sex, your wife may crave conversation. And you will surely get "dumb question No. 3" from those who never set a boot in Iraq: Did you shoot anyone over there?

Colonel McClure, who did two combat tours in Vietnam, shares his own crass retort: "I don't know. I never went to look." But as laughter seeps through the rows, he turns sensitive again. Never answer the shooting question, he advises, because it will only prompt another: How did it feel?

"Don't let them get to that follow-up question," he warns the soldiers, now silent. "That one hurts."

At Fort Riley, this is the last stop before home for soldiers returning from Iraq. Mandatory "debriefs" like this one, to be conducted for thousands of soldiers in training rooms and auditoriums at bases across the country, are a novelty for the United States military. The sessions were begun in response to a spate of deaths at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 2002, when four soldiers were charged with killing their wives in unrelated cases. The sessions reflect the realization that for soldiers and their families, the burdens and sacrifices of deployment go far beyond fighting overseas and waiting at home.

As these re-entry sessions show, coping with war is a long-term struggle, a way of life, falling hardest on a sliver of American society: the men, women and children of the military class, hundreds of thousands of them, many clustered in and around bases like Fort Riley.

"Ladies need affection," Colonel McClure announces. "Take a lesson, gentlemen. Learn an adjective or two. That's conversation."

It used to be that soldiers cleaned their weapons and left for a long vacation almost as soon as they got back from a war zone. But misery can follow them home. Post-traumatic stress has left its mark on generations of veterans. This is why soldiers returning from Iraq must now undergo 10 days of counseling on something that most of them think will be the easiest job of all: going home.

"No matter who you are, or how happy you are to have him home, or how many times you've been through this, all of this is a big adjustment for anyone," said First Sgt. Colleen Shanklin, a reservist whose husband, Curtis, returned a few weeks back.

[soldier Curtis Shanklin's] e-mail messages from Iraq, she said on a recent afternoon, were more forthcoming than his words are now. At first he sat glued to CNN, in what Sergeant Shanklin, 43, described as "his silent mode."

...But that's today. For some, the long-term problems — marital problems, isolation, depression — have just not set in yet.

There are isolated indications of trouble. Eight soldiers who survived Iraq committed suicide back home, said Martha Rudd, an Army spokeswoman. For example, in March, three weeks after Chief Warrant Officer William Howell returned to Fort Carson, Colo., he shot himself dead. At Fort Campbell, Ky., Specialist Jeremy Seeley, newly back from Iraq, apparently poisoned himself in a motel room, his family said. Also in March, Sgt. James K. Pitts, recently back to Fort Lewis, Wash., from Iraq, was charged in April with murder, accused of drowning his wife in a bathtub.

The Miles Foundation, a nonprofit group in Connecticut that deals with abuse in the military, says that the number of reports it receives about domestic violence and sexual abuse has soared since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. Before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the agency got about 75 calls from military families reporting abuse each month; now, it receives 150 calls a week.

Most of all, the moods of new veterans may be changeable. As more soldiers are sent to Iraq for repeat tours, the stress grows more complicated. Experts on veterans' issues say public attitudes also affect how well soldiers and their families cope with resuming ordinary lives. In recent weeks, with mounting rebel insurgencies, a growing scandal over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, and the beheading of an American in Iraq, the polls have shown support for President Bush's policy slipping.

"The soldiers all want to know if there's support from home," Dr. John H. Rennick, a psychiatrist and a major in the Army Reserve, said. "That was part of what happened to them coming home from Vietnam. There was such a division of opinion and waning support after a while — a sense of futility took over among some people."

In the small Kansas towns that surround and depend on Fort Riley, support shows no signs of sinking. As stateside bases go, Fort Riley is typical: home to 11,000 soldiers in infantry, mechanics, maintenance and medical units and a training ground for National Guard and Reserve units from around the Midwest. About 3,700 soldiers from the base are in Iraq; an additional 4,000 have returned from there. Thirty-seven soldiers have died there, nearly all since President Bush declared major combat over in May 2003.

But in private, some people acknowledge that their relationships have changed. Spouses say soldiers are quiet, aloof. Soldiers find spouses clingy or too independent after so much time on their own. Children seem different; the youngest do not even recognize their parents. For the predeployment newlyweds — one Fort Riley couple met on the Internet and married a week before he left — coming home can be truly strange.

Sergeant Shanklin has had visits from some of his younger soldiers. Some complain that their children disobey them. Others struggle with anger at how their wives spent money while they were gone.

The far more serious problems — combat flashbacks, panic attacks — cannot be solved with flowers or dates, Colonel McClure, the chaplain, acknowledges. Talking helps, he tells the soldiers. Call your buddies, he says, but if symptoms persist, call a doctor.

Christa Dannenberg, 20, had never lived alone until her husband, Staff Sgt. Robert Dannenberg, went to Iraq in March 2003, six months after they married. By the time he returned last July...it was odd to have him back. "I had to initiate every conversation," Ms. Dannenberg said. "It was like he wasn't there. He wouldn't talk."

Sergeant Dannenberg, 23, said he had not even noticed his own silence; it was all a blur. "I guess I just thought she had a lot to tell me," he said. "You get that way in the desert."

Not long ago, Sergeant Dannenberg and 700 other soldiers were ordered to return to Iraq.

this piece is the first in an nyt series on soldiers at home. stay tuned, for sure.

happy memorial day.

atrocities in iraq :: in our own words

2004-05-22T21:12:00.000-04:00

of course, you have heard by now that a u.s. military judge found florida national guard sgt. camilo mejia guilty of desertion yesterday; the guilty finding, and mejia's ongoing attempt to reverse his sentence as a conscientious objector, is a huge blow to dissidents within our armed services. and given predictions of the new military draft, his conviction should serve as a warning to all americans, male or female, between the ages of 18 and 31...

...as in, us.

camilo mejia returned to the u.s. in october 2003 on a two-week leave. during his time home he reported to friends, families, and national guard higher-ups that he had borne witness to a number of combat-related and prison-related atrocities by u.s. forces; when he was to report for duty, he didn't. instead, he spent the winter "hiding out" in the boston and new york areas.

here's a bit of the reporting out there about camilo's case : [all emphasis my own]

from the mercury news.

...the military judge, Col. Gary Smith, would not let Mejia turn the court-martial into a trial on the conduct of the war itself, refusing to allow him to call witnesses on international law or to hear evidence of alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners or detainees...[Mejia] claimed the way the war is being conducted violates international law. He refused to return to his outfit after coming home to the U.S on leave last year.

But jurors rejected the University of Miami student's contention that he was entitled to abandon his duty because he had been in the military longer than the eight years that regulations say a non-citizen can serve in the Florida National Guard. Mejia holds dual citizenship in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Mejia, a staff sergeant and well-liked squad leader in the Miami-based Charlie Company of the First Battalion of the 124th Infantry Regiment, took the witness stand in his own defense earlier this week. He said the deaths of young innocents in the conflict turned him against the war and into a conscientious objector.

In October, Sergeant Mejia legally left his unit, the First Battalion, 124th Infantry, for a brief furlough in the United States to look into a Guard rule that foreign citizens may not serve more than eight years, a term he had fulfilled. Sergeant Mejia is a dual citizen of Nicaragua and Costa Rica and a permanent resident of the United States.

from the guardian.uk:

Sergeant Mejia, 28, the first combat veteran from Iraq to apply for the status of a conscientious objector, was sentenced to 12 months in prison with demotion to the lowest class of private and pay reduced by two-thirds to $795 a month. He was led from the clapboard court in handcuffs to an undisclosed location. His lawyer, Louis Font, said he would appeal.

The severity of the sentencing came as little surprise to Sgt Mejia or his supporters who had been bracing themselves for exemplary punishment. The soldier had been instructed on the eve of his trial to get his records and belongings in order in case he was sent to prison. "I knew the consequences of my actions, but I believed strongly in what I did," he said before sentencing.

In an emotional address...the sergeant described the violence he had experienced during his service at Ramadi, and its effects. "Anybody could be the enemy and you lose your perspective. Maybe your friend was shot, or you are scared, and you lose perspective on the value of life.

"I respect this court but from the bottom of my heart I sit here a free man. When I am behind bars - if you put me behind bars - I will be a free man as well because my actions and my belief against the war have set me free," Sgt Mejia said.

After he was led away his mother, Maritza Castillo, told reporters: "One year in prison is nothing compared to having it on your conscience that you participated in an immoral and illegal war."

Sgt. Mejia's lawyers had hoped to introduce experts on the Geneva convention and international law for his defence, but the judge, Colonel Gary Smith, refused.

Instead defence lawyers that, as a holder of Nicaraguan and Costa Rican passports, Sgt Mejia was exempted from returning to Iraq by military regulations setting a cap of eight years on the time non-citizens can be required to serve in the army.

They said that when he left his unit last October, during a leave of absence in the US, he believed he had served his time. "Sgt. Mejia had an honest and reasonable belief that, since he was now a conscientious objector, he would not be required to return to Iraq," his lawyer said. "In truth the command wanted Sgt Mejia back in Iraq whether or not he should have been in the service. Sgt. Mejia's command turned its back on him."

Sgt Mejia, the son of upper middle class parents who had been active in Nicaragua's revolution, was an unlikely recruit to the US military. He enlisted in 1995 after moving to the US as a teenager. Sceptical at the outset of the war, his opposition deepened during his stay in Ramadi.

sgt. mejia is currently facing 12 months hard labor, a pay-cut to $800 a month and a less-than-honorable-discharge (which, ok...i guess that's not a surprise)...but, his mom says it's ok, and that's all that matters. his appeal for conscientious objector's status continues this week.

in regards to mejia's case, army prosecutor capt. a. j. balbo argued that mejia had deserted his post, while his unit remained in hazardous conditions: "He enjoyed all the benefits of military, just not the duty," Balbo said. "The defense says he accomplished all of his missions. Except the most important one - showing up." another official reported that enlistment wasn't a self-serving proposition, as troops can't "come and go as they like."

yeah. sucks to be in the army, don't it boys? at least the private contractors can come and go as they please, AND they can keep working in their iraqi prison M.I. units while they're being investigated for torture and sexual humiliation.

sure sucks to be wearing a uniform. you'll find yourself disgraced for life. seems private security is the only way to go anymore. *sighs*

thebigwedding agent scats passed along the following interview conducted by paul rockwell of the sacramento bee. marine staff sgt. jimmy massey shares many of the not-so-fuzzy-feelings that sgt. mejia reports, and that are undoubtedly common among our young u.s. troops.

[excerpts] :: [all emphasis my own]

Atrocities in Iraq: 'I killed innocent people for our government'

By Paul Rockwell -- Special to The Bee - (Published May 16, 2004)

"We forget what war is about, what it does to those who wage it and those who suffer from it. Those who hate war the most, I have often found, are veterans who know it."

-- Chris Hedges, NY Times reporter and author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning"

***

For nearly 12 years, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey was a hard-core, some say gung-ho, Marine. For three years he trained fellow Marines in one of the most grueling indoctrination rituals in military life - Marine boot camp.

The Iraq war changed Massey. The brutality, the sheer carnage of the U.S. invasion, touched his conscience and transformed him forever. He was honorably discharged with full severance last Dec. 31 and is now back in his hometown, Waynsville, N.C.

When I talked with Massey last week, he expressed his remorse at the civilian loss of life in incidents in which he himself was involved.

Q: You spent 12 years in the Marines. When were you sent to Iraq?

A: I went to Kuwait around Jan. 17. I was in Iraq from the get-go. And I was involved in the initial invasion.

Q: What does the public need to know about your experiences as a Marine?

A: The cause of the Iraqi revolt against the American occupation. What they need to know is we killed a lot of innocent people.

Q: What experiences turned you against the war and made you leave the Marines?

A: I was in charge of a platoon that consists of machine gunners and missile men. Our job was to go into certain areas of the towns and secure the roadways. There was this one particular incident - and there's many more - the one that really pushed me over the edge. It involved a car with Iraqi civilians. From all the intelligence reports we were getting, the cars were loaded down with suicide bombs or material. That's the rhetoric we received from intelligence. They came upon our checkpoint. We fired some warning shots. They didn't slow down. So we lit them up.

Q: Lit up? You mean you fired machine guns?

A: Right. Every car that we lit up we were expecting ammunition to go off. But we never heard any. Well, this particular vehicle we didn't destroy completely, and one gentleman looked up at me and said: "Why did you kill my brother? We didn't do anything wrong." That hit me like a ton of bricks.

Q: He spoke English?

A: Oh, yeah.

Q: Baghdad was being bombed. The civilians were trying to get out, right?

A: Yes. They received pamphlets, propaganda we dropped on them. It said, "Just throw up your hands, lay down weapons." That's what they were doing, but we were still lighting them up. They weren't in uniform. We never found any weapons.

Q: You got to see the bodies and casualties?

A: Yeah, firsthand. I helped throw them in a ditch.

Q: How many times were you involved in checkpoint "light-ups"?

A: Five times. There was [the city of] Rekha. The gentleman was driving a stolen work utility van. He didn't stop. With us being trigger happy, we didn't really give this guy much of a chance. We lit him up pretty good. Then we inspected the back of the van. We found nothing. No explosives.

Q: The reports said the cars were loaded with explosives. In all the incidents did you find that to be the case?

A: Never. Not once. There were no secondary explosions. As a matter of fact, we lit up a rally after we heard a stray gunshot.

Q: A demonstration? Where?

A: On the outskirts of Baghdad. Near a military compound. There were demonstrators at the end of the street. They were young and they had no weapons. And when we rolled onto the scene, there was already a tank that was parked on the side of the road. If the Iraqis wanted to do something, they could have blown up the tank. But they didn't. They were only holding a demonstration. Down at the end of the road, we saw some RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) lined up against the wall. That put us at ease because we thought: "Wow, if they were going to blow us up, they would have done it."

Q: Were the protest signs in English or Arabic?

A: Both.

Q: Who gave the order to wipe the demonstrators out?

A: Higher command. We were told to be on the lookout for the civilians because a lot of the Fedayeen and the Republican Guards had tossed away uniforms and put on civilian clothes and were mounting terrorist attacks on American soldiers. The intelligence reports that were given to us were basically known by every member of the chain of command. The rank structure that was implemented in Iraq by the chain of command was evident to every Marine in Iraq. The order to shoot the demonstrators, I believe, came from senior government officials, including intelligence communities within the military and the U.S. government.

Q: You fired into six or ten kids? Were they all taken out?

A: Oh, yeah. Well, I had a "mercy" on one guy. When we rolled up, he was hiding behind a concrete pillar. I saw him and raised my weapon up, and he put up his hands. He ran off. I told everybody, "Don't shoot." Half of his foot was trailing behind him. So he was running with half of his foot cut off.

Q: Well, I appreciate you giving me the information, as hard as it must be to recall the painful details.

A: That's all right. It's kind of therapy for me. Because it's something that I had repressed for a long time.

Q: And the incident?

A: There was an incident with one of the cars. We shot an individual with his hands up. He got out of the car. He was badly shot. We lit him up. I don't know who started shooting first. One of the Marines came running over to where we were and said: "You all just shot a guy with his hands up." Man, I forgot about this.

Q: You mention machine guns. What can you tell me about cluster bombs, or depleted uranium?

A: Depleted uranium. I know what it does. It's basically like leaving plutonium rods around. I'm 32 years old. I have 80 percent of my lung capacity. I ache all the time. I don't feel like a healthy 32-year-old.

Q: Were you in the vicinity of of depleted uranium?

A: Oh, yeah. It's everywhere. DU is everywhere on the battlefield. If you hit a tank, there's dust.

Q: Did you breath any dust?

A: Yeah.

Q: And if DU is affecting you or our troops, it's impacting Iraqi civilians.

A: Oh, yeah. They got a big wasteland problem.

Q: Do Marines have any precautions about dealing with DU?

A: Not that I know of...If an enemy vehicle gets hit, the area gets contaminated. Dead rounds are in the ground. The civilian populace is just now starting to learn about it. Hell, I didn't even know about DU until two years ago. You know how I found out about it? I read an article in Rolling Stone magazine. I just started inquiring about it, and I said "Holy s---!"

Q: Cluster bombs are also controversial. U.N. commissions have called for a ban. Were you acquainted with cluster bombs?

A: I had one of my Marines in my battalion who lost his leg from an ICBM.

Q: What's an ICBM?

A: A multi-purpose cluster bomb. They are used everywhere. Now if you talked to a Marine artillery officer, he would give you the runaround, the politically correct answer. But for an average grunt, they're everywhere.

Q: Cluster bombs are anti-personnel weapons. They are not precise. They don't injure buildings, or hurt tanks. Only people and living things. There are a lot of undetonated duds and they go off after the battles are over.

A: Once the round leaves the tube, the cluster bomb has a mind of its own. There's always human error. It's starting to leak out about the civilian casualties that are taking place. The Iraqis know. I keep hearing reports from my Marine buddies inside that there were 200-something civilians killed in Fallujah. The military is scrambling right now to keep the raps on that. My understanding is Fallujah is just littered with civilian bodies.

Q: I would like to go back to the first incident, when the survivor asked why did you kill his brother. Was that the incident that pushed you over the edge, as you put it?

A: Oh, yeah. Later on I found out that was a typical day. I talked with my commanding officer after the incident. He came up to me and says: "Are you OK?" I said: "No, today is not a good day. We killed a bunch of civilians." He goes: "No, today was a good day." And when he said that, I said "Oh, my goodness, what the hell am I into?"

Q: Your feelings changed during the invasion. What was your state of mind before the invasion?

A: I was like every other troop. My president told me they got weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam threatened the free world, that he had all this might and could reach us anywhere. I just bought into the whole thing.

Q: Did the revelations that the government fabricated the evidence for war affect the troops?

A: Yes. I killed innocent people for our government. For what? What did I do? Where is the good coming out of it? I feel like I've had a hand in some sort of evil lie at the hands of our government. I just feel embarrassed, ashamed about it.

Q: What happened with your commanding officers? How did you deal with them?

A: There was an incident. On the outskirts of Karbala, we had a morning meeting on the battle plan. I was not in a good mindset. All these things were going through my head - about what we were doing over there. I was holding it all inside. My lieutenant and I got into a conversation. The conversation was striking me wrong. And I lashed out. I looked at him and told him: "You know, I honestly feel that what we're doing is wrong over here. We're committing genocide."

He asked me something and I said that with the killing of civilians and the depleted uranium we're leaving over here, we're not going to have to worry about terrorists. He didn't like that. He got up and stormed off. And I knew right then and there that my career was over. I was talking to my commanding officer.

Q: What happened then?

A: After I talked to the top commander, I was kind of scurried away. I was basically put on house arrest. I didn't talk to other troops. I didn't want to hurt them. I didn't want to jeopardize them.

I want to help people. I felt strongly about it. I had to say something. When I was sent back to stateside, I went in front of the sergeant major. He's in charge of 3,500-plus Marines. "Sir," I told him, "I don't want your money. I don't want your benefits. What you did was wrong."

It was just a personal conviction with me. I've had an impeccable career. I chose to get out. And you know who I blame? I blame the president of the U.S. It's not the grunt. I blame the president because he said they had weapons of mass destruction. It was a lie.

Paul Rockwell (rockyspad@hotmail.com) is a writer who lives in Oakland.

those crazy canadians

2004-05-19T02:42:00.000-04:00

check this out. i hear they have "universal healthcare", too.

the universe doesn't need healthcare.

crazy canadians.

THEY'RE GOING THE DISTANCE :: OH reps sherrod brown, tim ryan & ted strickland

2004-05-18T21:42:00.000-04:00

the three reps from OH are out on c-span tonight. it's nearing 10 pm. they're alone. it's eerie. not even an aide in sight, nary a republican. but they're there. if it were open-chambers i'd order a pizza to the aisle.

they're calling out the veterans to the vote, sounding bush's failures to our troops. they're apologetic. they recount the closings of well-established V.A. hospitals. strickland coins the new pentagon policy catch-phrase:

"if they don't ask, we won't tell," suggesting that if "the vet doesn't ask about what he's entitled to receive, the VA won't offer it to him."

he continues, "it's an issue of outreach and dissemination of information. the government isn't reaching out."

of course, the three OHIOANS have been discussing the many slights against our troops that we all know about -- many covered in barabara ehrenreich's article, "bush's odd warfare state":

charging the retirement funds of wounded combat troops' for the disability pay they collect while they're in traction being "rehabilitated post-theatre" in a V.A. hospital. including a new enrollment fee, higher co-pays, and lowering the income requirement for troops to receive federal assistance for their bennies -- in bush's 2005 "budget", a frontline soldier making $25,000 a year (with dependents) will be too rich to receive assistance...

...ah, god. it's so disgusting.

as another example of bush's 2005 slight to veterans, representative strickland discussed the cutting of 1.X million dollars from the budget of the military's most advanced (and award-winning) prosthetic and amputee treatment and research center (most likely the one at the big V.A. hospital in minneapolis or the research rehab and development center for limb loss prevention and prosthetic engineering, attached to university of washington, seattle)...

strickland verged on emotional, and impassioned, as he seized upon the need to keep our veterans healthy as they reassimilate to their lives, without arms...legs...other body parts. he asked how we're honoring their service if we don't allow them the chance at continued independence and self-sufficiency...

and he's right. i hope every veteran votes for kerry. they'd better. because all of the absentee ballots from our servicemen and women still overseas this fall sure won't get counted. you can count on it.

so shocked...? por quoi...? you don't remember how florida wrangled the returning absentee ballots during the 2000 recount...? well, then refresh yourself here.

IN THEATERS TODAY :: HOLY CRAP ! and HOLY CRAP II : The Return of Holy Crap !

2004-05-18T04:53:00.000-04:00

thebigwedding agent scats has wired his first "HOLY CRAP!" report for our publication. here goes:

HOLY CRAP!

from msnbc:

Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings: Could Bush administration officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so.

...The concern about possible future prosecution for war crimes—and that it might even apply to Bush adminstration officials themselves— is contained in a crucial portion of an internal January 25, 2002, memo by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales obtained by NEWSWEEK...In the memo, the White House lawyer focused on a little known 1996 law passed by Congress, known as the War Crimes Act, that banned any Americans from committing war crimes—defined in part as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions. Noting that the law applies to "U.S. officials" and that punishments for violators "include the death penalty," Gonzales told Bush that "it was difficult to predict with confidence" how Justice Department prosecutors might apply the law in the future. This was especially the case given that some of the language in the Geneva Conventions—such as that outlawing "outrages upon personal dignity" and "inhuman treatment" of prisoners—was "undefined."...In February 2002, it proclaimed that, while the United States would adhere to the Geneva Conventions in the conduct of the war in Afghanistan, captured Taliban and Qaeda fighters would not be given prisoner of war status under the conventions. It is a rendering that Administration lawyers believed would protect U.S. interrogators or their superiors in Washington from being subjected to prosecutions under the War Crimes Act based on their treatment of the prisoners.

holy crap, indeed.

but scats couldn't stop crapping, and quickly followed his first email with the following update:

HOLY CRAP II: THE RETURN OF HOLY CRAP!

from antiwar.com:

Phony Disengagement, Secret Escalation by Paul Sperry

While the Pentagon says it plans to scale back the U.S. occupation in Iraq, it's quietly doing just the opposite, high-level internal e-mails reveal.

It has launched a massive nationwide call-up of former service members across the country who have not fully completed their eight-year contractual obligation to the US Army. They are known collectively as the Individual Ready Reserves, or IRR, and they number more than 118,000.

It's one of the last options the military has before drafting civilians. And the move comes on top of rumors the Pentagon plans to redeploy to Iraq some 4,000 US troops stationed in South Korea.

Call-ups for IRR members begin today, according to high-level Army e-mails I've obtained. Those who don't report could face AWOL or desertion charges.

Ex-soldiers with time remaining on their contracts "are being sought for activation and assignment to a deploying OIF [Operation Iraqi Freedom]/OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom] unit," says Command Sgt. Maj. Luis A. Garcia of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in a May 13 e-mail to garrison sergeant majors, under the heading: "IRR Activations: IMPORTANT!"

"Call-ups will begin 18 May. The Army is looking for 8,000 soldiers to volunteer at first. After 18 May, separated soldiers may be located and called up INVOLUNTARILY," his e-mail emphasizes. "These people will be activated and ordered to report to any ARNG [Army National Guard] or USAR [US Army Reserve] unit that needs them."

Garcia adds: "Those that fail to report could face AWOL or desertion charges. This is serious business."

He cites a Pentagon-level e-mail he received two days earlier from an official at the USArmy Human Resources Command headquartered in Alexandria, Va.

In that May 11 e-mail, Sgt. Maj. Antimo Bruno refers to a recent video teleconference conducted by Lt. Gen. James R. Hemley, commander of the US Army Reserve, in which the commander outlined the call-up plan for IRR members.

"Soldiers assigned to the IRR will start to be activated in support of missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations," explains Bruno, who works in the transition branch of the Army Human Resources Command here.

"The IRR will still be an option for soldiers exiting active duty, if that is what they desire to do," he adds. "But with this new policy, the likelihood of the soldiers being mobilized from the IRR has been greatly increased."

The new mobilization policy requires the authorization of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has bridled in public at calls for more troops in Iraq.

holy crap.

there really must be something in the nyc water, cuz scats got a real case of "the disorder". he emailed again, after an hour. we can only consider this a preview for HOLY CRAP III -- unless he has put together a peter jackson, LOTR - style production schedule.

YES!!!! AHAHAHAHAAAHA!!!!

from the nyt:

U.S. to Halt Payments to Iraqi Group Headed by a Onetime Pentagon Favorite
May 18, 2004 -- By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

The U.S. government has decided to halt monthly $335,000 payments to the Iraqi National Congress, the group headed by Ahmad Chalabi...Internal reviews by the United States government have found that much of the information provided as part of the classified program before American forces invaded Iraq last year was useless, misleading or even fabricated...On Sunday, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, described Mr. Chalabi as a "darling of the vice president and of some of the civilians in the Defense Department," adding that Mr. Chalabi is "a problem" and "not part of the solution. There seems to be an unwillingness to break from him," Mr. Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

i take his laughter as a sign of good movement.

unbelievably, scats emailed a fourth time. this time, it was about coffee. i'm not sure what time zone he's in right now, but my guess is he either needs to lay off the bean, or drink a lot of it to help with the pipes (it's a diuretic, dude). he wanted me to know it's ok to pick up a grande (or do i take a tall? fuck!) from star$$$ now:

660 IN DA HOUSE!!! WALMART YOU'RE NEXT!

from infoshop.org:

May 17, 2004
Industrial Workers of the World
Contact: starbucksunion@yahoo.com

First in Nation, Starbucks Workers Form Union: Baristas Petition for Election

New York, NY- Starbucks workers here have organized a union with the Industrial Workers of the World IU/660 and have submitted union cards today to the NLRB for a certification election. The workers are poised to become the first Starbucks Baristas union certified in the country. Starbucks Baristas at the 36th and Madison location in Midtown Manhattan have come together in an effort to raise themselves out of poverty as well as to achieve respect and dignity on the job. The workers are calling on Starbucks to obey the law as the election approaches.

“Behind the green aprons and smiles are individuals living in serious poverty,” said Daniel Gross, a worker at the store. “Baristas are the cornerstone of a Starbucks coffee shop, we just deserve better. Starbucks cashes in on a community friendly image but it certainly doesn’t extend to their workers or coffee farmers. That’s why we went Union.”

Starbucks is a $15 billion company with over 7,500 locations around the world, but workers have most emphatically not shared in their success. In New York City with one of the highest costs of living in the world, Starbucks workers start at $7.75 an hour and eventually receive raises amounting to merely a few cents. Starbucks has also developed a scheme whereby all Baristas work on a part-time basis and are not guaranteed any amount of hours per week thus making it exceedingly difficult for workers to budget for necessities like rent, utilities, and food.

“I come to work and I work hard,” said Maureen Medianero, 23, who has worked at Starbucks for almost 2 years. “But I’m still hanging on by a shoe string not knowing if I can make ends meet to support my daughter. It’s frightening.”

“A Starbucks coffee shop is an ergonomic minefield. The stores are supposed to mimic an Italian cafe without considering the uncomfortable bending and reaching we have to do,” explained Barista Anthony Polanco. “This isn’t your mom and pop coffee shop, we’re talking McDonald’s busy every day. Starbucks talks about ‘Creating Warmth’ but the only warmth I feel is the heat pad at the end of the day.”

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), founded in 1905, is a union dedicated to workplace democracy. IWW IU/660 represents workers in the retail industry.

who's crapping, now? scats is right. IWW IU 660 should set their sites on sam walton. heh. i love the IWW. they're called wobblies. that always reminded me of the 70s toy the weeble-wobbles.

"...weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!"

2004 :: not the end of history

2004-05-18T01:49:00.000-04:00

ever think about all of the things that seem "self-evident"...? immutable? fixed?...just the way "things have always been"...? like what...? i dunno...

today, a speaker on talk radio said something along the following lines while describing the anniversary of brown vs. board of education: "this stuff seems like ancient history, but when you think about it, there's not a lot of precedent here to feel so comfortable with...only 50 years, and 40 since the 1964 voting rights act."

that did give me pause. and made me reflect on a number of the conversations, arguments, and draws of the gauntlet i've had over the years with politically-adversarial friends and company. specifically, those in which my partner's defense of policy or practice is shielded by the seemingly fixed existence of certain institutions, practices, or beliefs. you know the feeling, like when you can't convince someone that just because piranhas do exist, it doesn't mean we should welcome them as a good thing forever and keep them around the house.

+ corporations

for example - i often argue with thebigwedding secret agent obsotudio about the market, capitalism, and the issues of the day as they pertain to whatever corporation a grand jury is being summoned to investigate. though an ardent democrat, and a progressive one, he won't budge on any suggestion that the mottled history of the corporation in our country is perhaps a sign that we may one day want to do away with them altogether. why? because he's a small business owner. but sorry obsotudio, our founding fathers kept close watch on early corporations and issued charters that recognized the entities for only specific endeavors, for limited periods of existence, and barred them from making political contributions or holding stock in other companies. huh, that doesn't sound like the enron i got rich off of -- in fact, it doesn't sound like anything i'd want to invest in! our colonial forefathers saw only the threat of imperial expansion in corporations of their day; most corporations were chartered by european royalty during the vini, vidi, vici of the age of exploration. as such, until 200 years ago, the corporation was nothing more than a glorified L.L.C. (though often actually "endowed-by-god" by the sun-kings who sealed the early corporate charters).

but how far we've come! it wasn't until 1819 that the body corporate was first unyolked from the plow of the federal legislature; in that year, the supreme court found that:

"A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in the contemplation of the law," Marshall wrote. "Among the most important [of its qualities] are immortality, and if the expression be allowed, individuality; properties by which a perpetual succession of many persons may be considered the same, and may act as a single individual."

and thus, the parasitic creatures of the state, or as thomas hobbes referred to them -- "Corporations...the many lesser commonwealths in the bowels of a greater, like worms in the entrails of a natural man." -- were born. happy birthday, baby bechtel ! just remember, the first business corporation was sweden's stora kopperberg, founded in 1288 (only 700 years ago) and is now known as storaenso. for more on the still nascent history of the corporate model, click here and here. this baby's still young enough to be left to the wolves. i checked the laws.

+ the u.s. senate

the harper's cover this month features the headline "WHAT DEMOCRACY? The Case for Abolishing the United States Senate".

wha...? yes, i choked on my amy's pizza pocket when i saw the issue. abolish the u.s. senate?!?! GOOD LUCK, BRO! can you even begin to imagine what kind of shift in thinking that would require at this point? i mean -- outside and beyond the 100 senators themselves, of course. i know they're not really flexing their muscles these days.

but richard rosenfeld presents a really compelling case for dismantling the body, or at least for changing its mandate. and the only way he does it is by pointing out how fresh and still kicking the whole concept still is -- historically speaking, rosenfeld points out, the senate is no more immutable or sacrosanct than krispy kreme stock. the u.s. senate was modelled on the british house of lords in the 1770s, after an exhaustive study of "all democratic forms of government in history." um - i guess that means ben franklin read up on athens and parliament, but that would be about it, no? the early americans (read: white wealthy land owners) believed that a "higher body" comprised of "men of note, the landed gentry, and those endowed in wealth and mind" would correct and steer the expected fumblings of the lower house (rascals, all of them). the americans believed they could populate their senate with the colonies' equivalents to the house of lords -- nobility and royalty.

sounds good, huh? oh no, ampro, sure they did that then...but there's a greater equity between the house and senate today. um. no there isn't. rosenfeld instructs us to look at both the backgrounds of today's u.s. senators versus their house counterparts and the difference in capital necessary to mount a successful senate campaign versus one in the house (he suggests a senate seat can cost 10 - 20 times as much). he suggests that the senate has served as little more than an approval bottleneck for worthwhile and activist house legislation. but more importantly, he lays out figures that support his claim that the inclusion of senate seats in calculating each state's total electoral votes is the most significant obstacle to representative democracy in our country (by adding two electoral votes to each state's total, regardless of its population, the senate inclusion weakens the voting power of residents of large, diverse states).

the linch-pin to rosenfeld's analysis is what became of the house of lords on which our senate is modelled.

But haven't times changed? The British themselves no longer subscribe to the Polybian balance or to the theory of the one, the few, and the many. The British now vest all legislative authority in the British House of Commons (their single chamber "of the many") and even allow the House of Commons to appoint their nation's executive branch...By the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the House of Lords can no longer veto acts of the House of Commons and can no longer delay legislation for more than a year...Today the House of Commons reigns supreme on legislative and executive matters. The monarch and the House of Lords have merely advisory roles.

well, well, well. can you begin to imagine what c-span might look like -- or our country, for that matter -- without any pesky senators??? hell, a lot of them don't even show up for votes anymore (i.e. - you, john kerry).

but selling the absolution of the senate might be a bit advanced for our majority at the moment. let's keep it in the back pocket.

+ "under god"

our relationship to god and his stewardship over our nation are burned onto the retinas of our national self-image. hell, i mutter "in god we trust" everytime i go to the ATM or brush my teeth. but, are we really "one nation, under god"??? and...how many gods? i see we're one nation, but is that one god? questions, questions...

the low-down is this. we haven't been the wards of god for all that long. y'know -- abraham lincoln wasn't even a member of a church...think he'd get nominated by anyone today? not likely. in reality, the phrase "under god" was added to the pledge of allegiance in 1954 by president dwight d. eisenhower during a crisis in which "the government was publicly inveighing against atheistic communism" -- a fact the federal government does not dispute. eisenhower decreed:

"From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty."

great. which almighty again? and if we are so charged as the recipients of god's love -- if that is part of "who we are" as americans -- then...well, why did we find out only once t.v. was invented?

so...

what's my point? ok, so a few certain things are not as fixed as they appear. big deal. all i want to do is highlight a few "given circumstances" we too readily accept in our understanding of our world -- and of what we can, and can't do, to change it. historically speaking, the precedent for just about anything culturally, socially, or politically recognizable to us has come in only the last 00.1% of human history. nothing's a sure bet. things will change. and more radically then we would like to expect. we have become quite vain in our certitude that our democracy, market, and government are the pinnacles and culminating ends of history; it is too easy to believe that we have executed the right answers to all the difficult questions.

the flip side to these considerations is the realization that our "historical short-sightedness" impacts not just our inability to see room for radical change and transformation in our civilization, but something worse...

the radio commentator who said of integration in the 1950s, "this stuff seems like ancient history" turns my thought to a continual and disheartening habit of the american public (and democrat leaders and voters in particular): our willingness to believe that "once fixed," skeletons in our closet won't come back to pinch us in the rear and reappear in our laws. every election november on the first wednesday morning, the democrats unbutton their pants and push themselves away from the table of the electoral feast. win or lose, they turn their eye away from the meat of the issues and settle into a deep food coma. how do you think welfare got turned around? whatever happened to social security? where's al gore??? a special access program??? what's that...?

our cry could just as well be, "watergate??? again?!?!?"

how many "self-evident" liberties might not be so fixed after all? what might come up on the chopping block next if we're not careful? what might we be taking just a little too much for granted? don't assume freedom itself is the end result, the intended culmination of human civilization -- history suggests the odds are against that. here's a short list of things about which i wonder: will they be around in 50 years...?

+ reproductive rights
+ human & civil rights
+ freedom of speech & assembly
+ oil
+ accepted value of international currencies
+ free & democratic national elections
+ democracy in general

please add your picks to the list of the soon-to-be-hey-hey-good-byes in comments.

THE FUNNIES :: the return of get * your * war * on

2004-05-17T19:55:00.000-04:00

david rees has posted a new webpage of his get * your * war * on comic. finally, i can breathe again.

the highlight of the new installment is the following exchange:

Man 1: Come on June 30th! Come on, baby! Almost there!

Man 2: Yeah, right. June 30th. Good ol' fake-ass June 30th. You know good and well not a goddamn thing's gonna happen on June 30th! You might as well look forward to June 799th. "What's gonna happen on June 30th?" "Oh, a transfer of sovereignty to the new democracy of Iraq's future, blah blah blah." Oh really? Shut the fuck up! You know what's happening on June 30th -- some dudes in suits are gonna sign some proclamation Iraqis haven't seen, and then a marching band will stomp around in a circle while Ahmad Chalabi pouts like a brat. People act like June 30th is the Iraqi Democracy Rapture. Whatever. You know what it's gonna be like in Iraq on June 30th? It's gonna be a hot and dusty day.

Man 1: Maybe. But July 1st is gonna be AWESOME!

enjoy.

LIBERTYVILLE :: where everything costs $17.76

2004-05-17T18:25:00.000-04:00

if you don't watch fox, you shouldn't. unless, of course, you're watching the simpsons or king of the hill. last night, the simpsons ran a new episode that featured something we don't see often in springfield: any political or social situations that reflect our headlines. people have often asserted that creator matt groening and his writers "choose" (or are encouraged by fox) not to write about our current events and scandals. my understanding is that it is the production process itself that keeps the simpsons team from being able to write jokes that are as current as conan's (himself a simpsons writer in the early years), weekend update's, or jon stewart's. the south korean animation studio that fox shows contract for their work requires a lead time for episode writing of 4 - 10 months. either way, what viewers saw last night was a springfield they haven't seen before:

one that mirrors our own.

the episode sparked a lot of choice commentary today on al franken's radio show and his blog's readership. one reader chided those who'd missed the broadcast by saying, "you missed the best one ever. and they will never show it again."

and interestingly...

the official simpsons episode guide has not yet posted a summary of the episode. a one-time broadcast might not be that unrealistic a prediction; if nothing more, i can at least see a lot of affiliates not selecting the episode to run among their syndicated repeats of the series.

fortunately, i had written an informal stream of consciousness summary of the plot last night while i was watching the show. it had become quickly apparent that it would be memorable. i've cleaned it up a bit and clarified some things...enjoy.

bart receieves an innoculation (against his will) from dr. hibbard and his ear drums swell shut (at which point hibbard hands homer a pamphlet entitled "THE DEATH PRICK: your child, death, and innoculation"). still deaf, bart doesn't notice the playing of the national anthem at the annual springfield elementary student vs. teacher donkey basketball game (this can't be fully described, but the poster for the game depicts a basketball player slam dunking while riding a bridled, bucking, and squealing burro). he begins taunting a donkey with a carrot and the donkey pulls off his shorts and literally eats them ("EAT MY SHORTS, MAN!"), leaving bart "mooning" the unfurled u.s. flag in front of the entire town.

bart's accident leads to allegations that the simpsons are anti-american. they appear on a FOX NEWS-style interview show with a loud mouth host / attack dog. after baiting the family, the host incites marge to screaming: "if you mean loud mouth, unpleasant, talk show hosts like you, which everybody thinks they are now, then...YES!!! I HATE AMERICANS!!!"

uh-oh. the incident snowballs and springfield enters a period of patriotic fervor and cultural goose-stepping. the town is officially renamed "Libertyville" and everything sold is priced at $17.76.

in the local grocery store, item names change to things like "homeland noodles" and "uncle sam balls". in the streets: red white and blue traffic lights. hindi KWIK-E-MART owner apu and his brood become the "mcgillicuddy family" (the old frontiersman from the 19th century?) -- his multi-tuplets are renamed manifest destiny, pepsi, condoleeza, superman...

at church: after lisa's short speech about the intentions of our founding fathers and their importance in "the current climate of fear," reverend lovejoy intones, "thank you lisa, your remarks will not go unnoticed, i'm sure..." and black choppers are immediately heard circling the church...para-military forces rappel through the stained glass and seize the simpsons under "the government knows best act." as they are escorted from the church the reverend says "martha, lighten the mood" and the organist starts plaing "take me out to the ballgame."

the simpsons are placed in a re-education center. they are blindfolded, led left, left, and then a 3 hour plane ride. we find out later they are on alcatraz.

they are held in a cell block with clinton and a number of other liberals. it's a great sequence. at one point, a guard yells to a wine critic "why don't you take a napa!" and tazers him into submission.

then they're at an education center film showing. lisa gets totally into the government propaganda film and tells marge "i don't know if it's the lack of sleep, the sodium pentatol or the fact i havent seen a cartoon in almost a month."

an old prospector-type appears to help them plan an escape: "i'm the lasst registered democrat!!! TAX AND SPEND!!! TAX AND SPEND!!! - gold! sweet, sweet gold!!!"

he takes them to the prisoner talent show (the front for their escape) and says, "you guys are going on after al franken. the guards will have used up most of their bullets."

they sing:

"50 stars...

americans are brave and loyal
so come on jerks give us your oil

my card says aclu
look what i'm going to do" (lisa burns her aclu card)

they then make a run for it in their red-white-blue variety show costumes and swim to shore...

the simpsons escape, expatriate to france, live there for four years, before deciding that they do miss the u.s. they decide they'll return as new immigrants and start a new life. we see them on an ocean liner, pulling into nyc harbor, past lady liberty...

homer says to the family:

"we'll have to assimilate ourselves into this society...so, i'll start out as a cop. and then i'll move onto being a dirty cop."

VANCOUVER INDYMEDIA :: helping the WSJ with their journalistic responsibilities

2004-05-17T15:30:00.000-04:00

according to thebigwedding agent scats, eric alterman has reported that this article was pulled from the wall street journal's subscriber site in the last few days.

here's excerpts of the article published by the WSJ. the entire article can be found at vancouver indymedia.

Behind the Scenes, U.S. Tightens Grip On Iraq's Future • Or 'How Iraq Came To Be Ruled By A Brutal Dictator The First Time Around'. Hand-Picked Proxies, Advisers Will Be Given Key Roles In Interim Government Facing Friction Over the Army

By YOCHI J. DREAZEN and CHRISTOPHER COOPER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 13, 2004; Page A1
Saturday May 15, 2004 at 07:25 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Haider al-Abadi runs Iraq's Ministry of Communications, but he no longer calls the shots there. Instead, the authority to license Iraq's television stations, sanction newspapers and regulate cellphone companies was recently transferred to a commission whose members were selected by Washington. The commissioners' five-year terms stretch far beyond the planned 18-month tenure of the interim Iraqi government that will assume sovereignty on June 30.

The transfer surprised Mr. Abadi, a British-trained engineer who spent nearly two decades in exile before returning to Iraq last year. He found out the commission had been formally signed into law only when a reporter asked him for comment about it. "No one from the U.S. even found time to call and tell me themselves," he says.

As Washington prepares to hand over power, U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer and other officials are quietly building institutions that will give the U.S. powerful levers for influencing nearly every important decision the interim government will make.

In a series of edicts issued earlier this spring, Mr. Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority created new commissions that effectively take away virtually all of the powers once held by several ministries. The CPA also established an important new security-adviser position, which will be in charge of training and organizing Iraq's new army and paramilitary forces, and put in place a pair of watchdog institutions that will serve as checks on individual ministries and allow for continued U.S. oversight. Meanwhile, the CPA reiterated that coalition advisers will remain in virtually all remaining ministries after the handover.

In many cases, these U.S. and Iraqi proxies will serve multiyear terms and have significant authority to run criminal investigations, award contracts, direct troops and subpoena citizens. The new Iraqi government will have little control over its armed forces, lack the ability to make or change laws and be unable to make major decisions within specific ministries without tacit U.S. approval, say U.S. officials and others familiar with the plan.

For his part, Mr. Abadi, the communications minister, says that installing a government that can't make important decisions essentially "freezes the country in place." He adds, "If it's a sovereign Iraqi government that can't change laws or make decisions, we haven't gained anything."

U.S. officials say their moves are necessary to prevent an unelected interim government from making long-term decisions that the later, elected government would find difficult to undo when it takes office next year. U.S. officials say they are also concerned that the interim government might complicate the transition process by maneuvering to remain in power even after its term comes to an end.

The fear is not a hypothetical one: The U.S.-appointed Governing Council embarrassed and angered the U.S. by publicly lobbying to assume sovereignty this summer as Iraq's next rulers.

A Tangled Path to Sovereignty: The U.S. has frequently revised its plans for giving power back to Iraqis.

• April 2003: With the invasion over, Coalition Provisional Authority assumes responsibility for the day-to-day administration of Iraq.

• May 12: L. Paul Bremer replaces former general Jay Garner as the top American occupation official in Iraq.

• July 13: Mr. Bremer hand-picks 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, but they are given little real power.

• Sept. 22: Mr. Bremer says U.S. occupation will continue until Iraqis draft a constitution and elect a permanent government, a process likely to take at least two years.

• Nov. 15: U.S. officials announce accelerated timetable for transferring sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government selected by regional caucuses the following summer.

• Feb. 23, 2004: U.N. Iraq envoy Lakhdar Brahimi rejects caucus plan, sending American officials back to the drawing board.

• April 14: Mr. Brahimi calls for interim government led by a ceremonial president and powerful prime minister; U.S. says it accepts the proposal.

• June 30: Interim government scheduled to assume limited control of Iraq; CPA set to formally dissolve.

• January 2005: Elections are supposed to be held for an Iraqi government that will draft a permanent constitution and prepare to assume full sovereignty over Iraq.

(Source: WSJ research)

Currently, the Coalition Provisional Authority, which answers to the Pentagon, has total control of the governance of Iraq. It can issue decrees on virtually any topic, which then immediately become law. It will formally cease to exist on June 30. The Governing Council exists largely as an advisory body. Its members can pass laws, but the legislation must be approved by Mr. Bremer. The council has no control over the U.S. military, and in practice has little influence on civil matters.

It's unclear what powers the interim government, which will be set up by United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, will have. It will not control Iraq's security forces or military. In theory, it will have the ability to enforce and interpret laws on its own, though it will as of now lack the ability to write new ones or make large changes to them.

One thing is clear: The government's actions are likely to be heavily influenced by dozens of U.S. and Iraqi appointees at virtually all levels.

U.S. Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, who participated in the original Iraq invasion, will soon assume responsibility for training the new forces. With American commanders retaining the power to order the forces into combat, Mr. Allawi or his successor will be left with only "administrative control" of the forces.

Meanwhile, the media and telecom commission Mr. Bremer created will be able to collect media licensing fees, regulate television and telephone companies, shut down news agencies, extract written apologies from newspapers and seize publishing and broadcast equipment.

One of the new watchdog agencies, the Office of the Inspector General, will have appointees inside every Iraqi ministry charged with combating malfeasance and fraud. Appointed to five-year terms, the inspectors will be allowed to subpoena witnesses and documents, perform forensic audits and issue annual reports.

The other watchdog, the Board of Supreme Audit, will oversee a battery of other inspectors with wide-ranging authority to review government contracts and investigate any agency that uses public money. Mr. Bremer will appoint the board president and his two deputies. They can't be removed without a two-thirds vote of Iraq's parliament, which isn't slated to come into existence until sometime next year.

The nerve center of the U.S. presence in Iraq will be a massive new embassy. CPA officials recently decided that most employees of the new embassy will remain in a former palace used by Saddam Hussein even though the building is seen by many Iraqis as a symbol of Iraqi sovereignty. The embassy needs the space: It will ultimately employ approximately 1,300 Americans, as well as 2,000 or more Iraqis. The current occupation authority employs 1,500 people.

The U.S. plans to convert a nearby building into the formal embassy that incoming U.S. ambassador John Negroponte can use for ceremonial functions. In an unusual move, two of Mr. Negroponte's top deputies will also have ambassadorial rank. James Jeffrey will become the deputy chief of mission at the embassy. Blunt and often profane, Mr. Jeffrey, a former Army special forces officer, is currently the ambassador to Albania and has held senior posts in Turkey and Kuwait. Ron Newman, currently the ambassador to Bahrain, also has a military background and is likely to join the embassy in Iraq in a senior position such as defense attaché.

U.S. officials had once talked of occupying Iraq for several years, a period more in keeping with the precedent set by the seven-year occupation of Japan after World War II. Last November, however, the White House accelerated the timetable. Despite a wave of bombings the previous month, the administration believed the insurgency was limited to a small number of what Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called "dead-enders."

The Bush administration also felt Iraq's Sunni minority, which had controlled Iraq under Mr. Hussein, had been neutralized by the disbanding of the army and the firing of tens of thousands of government officials. Iraq's Shiite majority was seemingly unified behind Mr. Sistani, who counseled his followers to cooperate with the coalition. And Iraq's ethnic Kurds, who controlled the country's north, had moderated their long-held demands for full independence.

Many of those assumptions haven't yet panned out. Sunnis angry over their forced disenfranchisement have put up a stiff resistance to the U.S. occupation in cities like Fallujah, and Iraq's fledgling security forces have been unable or unwilling to help fight them. Thousands of Shiites have taken up arms against the U.S. under the flag of Muqtada al Sadr, an anti-American cleric once dismissed by Washington as a bit player in Iraq.

U.S. officials settled on making an array of appointments intended to allow them to influence the interim government. The CPA official charged with setting up the new embassy, John C. Holzman, downplays the possibility of disputes, and says the role of the advisers will change after June 30 because they will no longer be answering to an occupation authority with full authority over Iraq.

"There will be a huge difference because we're not going to be issuing orders anymore," he says. "We won't be the sovereign here anymore."

But many Iraqis and Americans concede that friction is all but inevitable. If recent events are any indication, the most serious disagreements between the U.S. and the new government could arise over the best strategy for fighting the ongoing insurgency. When fighting flared in Fallujah and Najaf, U.S. commanders ordered newly trained Iraqi units into combat alongside American forces, but the Iraqis proved largely ineffective. Many units deserted entirely, while others joined the insurgents.

--Bill Spindle contributed to this article. Write to Yochi J. Dreazen at yochi.dreazen@wsj.com and Christopher Cooper at christopher.cooper@wsj.com

THE FUNNIES : mark fiore

2004-05-15T18:31:00.000-04:00

this week's funnies:

mark fiore's "privatizing the military" (speakers recommended).

unfortunately, get*your*war*on has no new installments this month. if you are not yet familiar with david rees's comic, check out the archives here.

AN ORDINARY AMERICAN :: edward hasbrouck

2004-05-14T02:49:00.000-04:00

while poking around, i came across the blog of edward hasbrouck, which deals mostly with developments in international and domestic travel, security, and advisories for people traveling to different areas.

what was most interesting to me was his bio page. hasbrouck has a wide range of experience, both abroad and here at home...

here are excerpts from his bio. his writings are recommended:

Greetings! I'm Edward Hasbrouck, "The Practical Nomad".

I grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts...I'm the child, grandchild, and great-grandchild of engineers. My father started working as a computer programmer in the 1950s, and spent more than 20 years with Digital Equipment Corp., ending in their international division. He was proudest of his two years with a NASA contractor during the space race, during which we got a taste of life in Texas...

I consider myself primarily a political activist. I started down this path as a child, fighting back against my violent and abusive father, and I continued my resistance to the violence of illegitimate authority as an elected but nonvoting student representative to the local school board and activist for peace, disarmament, and students' rights. My first book was a handbook for high school students on their legal rights which I co-authored in the summer of 1977, between high school and college, as an intern for the student service bureau of the Massachusetts Department of Education...

...In 1980, after a five-year hiatus, the US government reinstated the requirement that all young men register for military conscription with the Selective Service System. In 1982, I was selected for criminal prosecution by the US Department of "Justice" as one of the people they considered the most vocal of the several million nonregistrants for the draft. As one of 20 nonregistrants who were prosecuted before the government abandoned the enforcement of draft registration, I was convicted and "served" a six-month sentence in a federal prison camp. Registration remains the law, but the attempt to enforce was abandoned long ago. In the USA no one has been prosecuted for resistance to registration or the draft in more than 10 years. Nonregistration--mass direct action against draft registration--has prevented reinstatement of the draft. I'm proud to have played the role I did in that campaign.

I remained active in the peace movement, moving to San Francisco in 1985 to join the editorial and production collective of Resistance News, the national newspaper of the draft resistance movement. I remained involved in the anti-draft movement through its revival during the Gulf War, when the US government came very close to reinstating a "doctor draft" of medical workers...

Travel and politics first intersected for me on a trip in 1989 to Kashmir...As it happened, [my] arrival in the Kashmir Valley coincided with the outbreak of the latest stage of the Kashmiri nationalist struggle...

...Kashmir's struggle for freedom continues today, increasingly unified in its demands but still with little support or awareness abroad. India's government continues to betray its long-standing promises of self-determination, promises made not only to the Kashmiri people but also to the United Nations. As a friend of Kashmir, India, and Pakistan, I try to do what I can to call attention to the moral and political entitlement of the Kashmiri people to determine their own destiny, not to have it decided for them by India, Pakistan, or any other foreign power.

Some Indian nationalists will probably think me anti-Indian for my views on Kashmir. But while I deplore the Indian occupation of Kashmir, I actually think that India and modern Indian political thought deserve more, not less, attention and respect in the USA and the rest of the North. It's sad that India's Kashmir policy sullies India's record and is one more obstacle to foreigners realizing how much they could learn from India and Indians...

...Some will also think me a Muslim dupe for supporting Kashmiri self-determination. I don't think I'm biased toward Islam...Religion is only one of many influences...I try to base my judgements on what people do, regardless of their beliefs--or lack thereof. Interestingly, the Kashmiri nationalist organization with the most widespread support is the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which is secular, socialist, and as opposed to Pakistani occupation as to Indian. The same is true of the principal voice of Kashmiri opinion in the USA, the Kashmiri American Council...

...I began working as a travel agent quite accidentally. I was out of (paid) work after one of several periods in my life of unpaid full-time political activism. My work as a travel agent, travel seminar leader, and travel writer has given me, for the first time, the chance to integrate my paid employment with my global concerns and my work for social change. Much of my activism is rooted in, among other things, transnationalism. I came to draw inspiration from globalist theoretician/activists like Nehru, Gandhi, Ambedkhar, J.P. Narayan, Rajni Kothari, Vandana Shiva, or Martin Khor, or to define myself as an anarchist and a pacifist. Wherever I go, I try learn about local issues, not just see tourist sights, whether with my ongoing interests in South and Central Asia or with places I've visited more recently like Argentina, where I spent a month in 2002 and 2003.

Working as a travel agent also pays the rent of course, but I haven't stayed in it for the money. I've stayed in my job because of the opportunities it gives me to facilitate learning and to empower people to experience the world for themselves.

Learning isn't necessarily your goal in travel, but experience almost always is. And learning is, I believe, a natural consequence of experience.

It takes real effort to close one's mind enough not to learn from experience. In my opinion, one of the greatest evils is the deliberate avoidance of learning, the willful desire not to know (lest knowledge bring with it an awareness of reasons to change one's actions). But most people want to learn. For me, it's a privilege (and a responsibility) to get paid to help people--travelers--who are choosing to devote a portion of their lives to experiencing, and thus learning about, the world and their place in it.

More bad things result from ignorance than from malice. Lack of knowledge makes it easier for a few malicious people to get away with things that others wouldn't tolerate were they aware of them. All sorts of exploitation and repression can be rationalized to people who have no direct information with which to rebut the lies of omission and commission. Secrecy and ignorance are the first friends of oppressors everywhere.

Gandhi defined "Satyagraha" (often translated "nonviolence") as "truth force". By this he meant, I think, to express the equivalence of renouncing violence and relying on people's ability and desire to make decisions for themselves. To renounce coercion, as I do, is to trust that, if my beliefs are valid, others who seek the truth through experience and observation will reach the same conclusions, or persuade me that I am wrong. All I can ask of you or anyone is that you keep your eyes, ears, senses, and mind open to perception, experience, learning, knowledge, and change--as I try to do myself.

Peace,

Edward Hasbrouck

i have a close friend who is now working in india, where i've never been -- and frankly, i think i look forward to any trip there with a large amount of apprehension, as i would visiting japan or china...what a different history than mine. and a culture that has remained intact and continuous for so much longer than my own.

hasbrouck is cool. his writings are reminiscent of doug adams' (author of hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy) last chance to see, a travelogue of adams' travels to some of the most endangered species in the world. hitchhiker's is being made into a film this year, with sam rockwell as zaphod beeblebrox, martin freeman as arthur dent, john malkovich as humma kavula, and mos def as ford prefect. the director and a few cast members are alumni of da ali g show, which enjoyed a short, but slick and sexy run on hbo last year. we worship da g.

BOOYAKA.
CHECK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF.
OI, OI! FEELING THE MUM-MUMS.

THE FALLEN: looking beyond cannes

2004-05-13T13:50:00.000-04:00

this film was created by the good people at jeaf.com, an indie web consulting company in merced, CA. you can use speakers, or not -- it consists of a 30 slide presentation of photographs (originally published at thememoryhole.org) taken during military processing of decorated american remains.

the film is very good. and very unlike all the other pictures we're contending with these days.

ACT: send pen scholarships to afghani children

2004-05-12T17:25:00.000-04:00

oh, man. we love this kind of thing. this is pretty much a direct link to atrios's post this afternoon. it cites a message from the former manager of the nitpicker blog, who is now deployed in afghanistan. thank you, atrios.

"...It seems that the children of Afghanistan want nothing more than they want a pen.

It was explained to me that the villages through which I traveled (near Kandahar, where I'm based) are so poor that a pen is like a scholarship to these children. They desperately want to learn but, without a pen, they simply won't. It's a long story. I won't bore you with it. Trust me, though, when I say that it would be a big deal if even a few of you could put up the call for pens for me. Anyone interested in helping out could either send some directly to me or go to these sites and send them, where you can find them for as cheap as $.89 a dozen.

You can send them to me at this address:

Terry L. Welch
105th MPAD
Kandahar Public Affairs Office
APO AE 09355 "

atrios:

I edited out his site list - he linked to Officemax and Office Depot. Office Depot was making it very difficult to enter a military shipping address, so I went through Office Max. Spend a few bucks - send a few pens.

...Office Max does require a delivery address phone number, but I just put in my own. I put in "Armed Forces" rather than Armed Forces America or Armed Forces Pacific...

-Atrios

if you go through office max, you enter terry welch and his address above as the shipping recipient. i know plenty of office managers who have access to the catalogs. c'mon. one box of pens. if you get caught, send your boss's inquiry my way. i'll back up your story. you really think they're gonna fire you for sending pens to kids???

if you said yes to that question, have your boss email me directly. i'll sort it out.

THE "WHO, WHAT, WHEN" GAME: "hyperventilation" from rumsfeld

2004-05-12T14:58:00.000-04:00

today's viewing by senators of new pictures and video of prisoner abuses at abu ghraib and other u.s. prisons -- and the concurrent debate over whether the WH should release the photos to the public, its timing and tempo, and considerations over preserving the integrity of forthcoming military court-martials for some of the american accused -- should not divert your eye from the pivotal issues:

donald rumsfeld, other pentagon brass (most notably major general geoffrey miller), and the investigation into exactly WHO knew WHAT, WHEN, HOW...etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

that's the center and the core. many of our representatives in congress and the senate have made clear that they are firm in their mission to keep a bright light on the defense department. but, if you read one of many papers today most of what you saw relates to nicholas berg. the news-people have to march on. rumsfeld's statement that he isn't "one for instant history", though moronic * god! what a moron! *, is instructive to one point: we will have ample opportunity to see all of these photos and nicholas berg's murder ourselves...and for the rest of history...so, maintain an eye on the alleged "causes" of these "effects".

courtesy of atrios, here is a recent bit of analysis by robert jeffers on rumsfeld's "trickling" of the situation and his practice of "holding back" with the "icky stuff" in the hopes that "something good might come around". jeffers is a regular commenter on both atrios' site and instapundit - a good writer. he captures the exertion it takes to try to keep up with the narrative of these new stories. haven't you noticed how hard it is to do anything these days??? like...read a newspaper? turn on your tv? press the "refresh" key...?

From Robert Jeffers:

The story changes so fast you can't keep up with it.

They first learned about this when the "courageous" soldier took the pictures to his superiors. And the pictures were all "personal."

But then stories came out that the pictures were ordered by MI for "intimidation" purposes.

And the ICRC reported it had told the Admin. about these problems months ago.

And it was limited to a handful of "bad apples." Except the same thing happened in Afghanistan.

And the photos were staged, not "snapshots."

And they knew something was up in November, but they fixed it. But they were surprised by the allegations in January.

But no one knew about it. But everyone knew about it, because there was a breakdown in command.

But there was no breakdown. And the Geneva Convention has always applied.

Except when it hasn't.

And we've always followed it. Except when we didn't.

And we don't abuse prisoners. Except when we do. It's not "American." Except it is expressly sanctioned by military regulations. Except it can only be sanctioned by the DoD, because Rumsfeld keeps tight rein on everything.

Except he doesn't. Because this was authorized in Iraq, not in Washington. Except it couldn't have been, because Rummy runs a tight ship.

Except he didn't know. But don't call it "plausible deniability." Because there's a chain of command.

Except Rumsfeld doesn't know what it is. He only knows about the PR campaign he's been conducting since these photos went public.

But he isn't lying. He just doesn't know anything.

But it's okay. Because he's doing a great job.

Even though everything is a shambles.

WORST AD EVER!!! -- i will only see it three more times...today.

2004-05-11T05:12:00.000-04:00

the kerry ads SUCK. he needs an entire makeover STILL. they already had to throw out the "bring it on" slogan or whatever it was -- how stupid can you be? using one of the incumbent's best sound-bites of his career? now, his slogan is ... piss, i don't even know. and i've seen his new ads. yep, unfortunately when the bush pieces aired back to back with kerry's on c-span, the victor was clear. bush's killer was the "kerry says people don't know him. the problem may be they know him too well." that voiceover was followed by scrolling WashPost and WSJ quotes alluding to kerry being more liberal than -- *gasp* -- hillary clinton!!! or even...ted kennedy!!!

josiah!!! round the horses!!! the atheists are coming from the cities!!!

it's followed by the bush ad that only has to state "kerry didn't support the voting of interceptor vests, armor, or appropriate funding for iraq."

...and that just about kills it. wolfowitz (2), kerry (- 4 billion).

the only memorable ad from kerry, well...is memorable only for how lousy it is: "jfk" looks like an absolute hack when he delivers an entire 30 second full-frame one-shot from his shoulders up...

"hmmm...his hair IS pretty massive. are those fall leaves in the background? where is that? i would like a porch...and an iced-tea...kerry plays the guitar...whoa, what'd he say...? it's finished...? oh wait, he's saying one more thing....

"i'm john kerry and i approved this message."

huh? that's the closer??? we know who you are because you've been talking about yourself in the 1st person right in front of us for half a minute. and...given that we just saw all of the words coming out of your mouth, don't you think we've already assumed you're making some discretionary level decision about the whole talking thing at all...

worst ad EVER. memorable for SUCKING. and for not being memorable. i couldn't pay attention to a word he said...couldn't they at least have cut away to a shot of him playing the classical guitar...? on his harley?

MAKE IT WORK, PEOPLE.

we need a new kerry campaign. something that will psych him up. and us. i mean, i often wonder if he's even TRYING to win this election anymore. hell, he's looking at inheriting the worst war in american history, the worst economy, and perhaps the lowest point in the world's perception of the u.s. of a.

already, it's said in d.c. that the 1st one hundred days of the kerry administration will be a disaster...

poor guy. only one, maybe two shots at the oval office in a guy's life. and his turn at the rudder is just FUBAR. poor guy. "not me," he's thinking, "i'm out...i just wanna go home."

what he needs, what WE need, is a candidate that is going to step up into the face of the administration and point his finger in its chest. we need a bronson-style-vigilante-attorney-president. look, we need SOMETHING!!!

"I'm coming down the barrel of a gun, Georgie, and I've got subpoenas on my mind."

now, THAT might energize a lot of people -- a president who is going to go after the administration. no pardons, no holds barred. kerry is A GOOD ATTORNEY. he could easily build on whitewater, monica-gate, enron, anderson, tyco, waksal/stewart and all of the other big cases that have re-enamored the american people with demanding accountability from their leadership. the trend is there: the people feel the empowerment of watching the powerful "get checked."

kerry needs to throw down with some real proactive in-your-face threats to bush and the WH cartel.

independent counsels all around!!!

negligence before and on 9/11!!!

yellow-cake, WMD's, and misleading the congress to war!!!

outing CIA agent valerie plame!!!

funneling money away from afghanistan and into iraq!!!

iraqi prison abuses!!!

order!!! order in da court!!!

think how PUMPED you'd be by the promise you'd get to watch them all go down. month after month of hearings. george, dick, donny, condi, paulie, karl...

how SWEET would that reward be...?

"NBC SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, EVERY DAY...

LAW & ORDER: BUSH, DICK, & RUM

...MUST SEE T.V."

c'mon kerry, fix up them ads. stop dancing around trying to be "the candidate." you're already the candidate.

be the president we need.

THE WONDER YEARS: coming of age in iraq

2004-05-06T00:19:00.000-04:00

seal:

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i’m twenty-three, and when i think about what it would be like to hold a gun, to aim it at someone (just like me) also holding a gun, to shoot the gun and watch the bullet hit my target, to see the blood, to feel the reverberations, i begin to shake and i have to stop.

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i think about my best friend’s twenty-year-old brother, the goatee that is only just beginning to creep in, that he’s so proud of. i think about his books of philosophy and his questions about the meaning of life. i think about his big eyes and his determination that the most important thing for him is to keep an open mind. i wonder, can anyone keep an open mind when they’re holding a gun?

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i’m twenty-three, and i don’t know what i think about anything half the time.

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i wonder, “who will they be when they return?” will they know what they think? will they act on what they think? will they be the leaders of their generation? and where will they lead us? into a new time, or more deeply into the muck?

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i forget until i see pictures of them tormenting, humiliating and beating iraqi prisoners. committing torture that could only be the work of frightened children.

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i’m twenty-three, and in my head i deny thoughts of what it must feel like to look down the barrel of a gun. what it will be like to put down that gun when it’s been your only security blanket for so many months. how will these boys and girls ever feel safe again?

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i forget that they are doing the dangerous, irrevocable work of adults, when they cannot possibly yet have a long-reaching vision for their own lives.

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i forget that when i feel scared and alone, i’m not in a desert halfway across the world from my home and my family.

i forget that a vast number of the soldiers in iraq are younger than i am. i’m twenty-three. we're not grownups. and i forget. but i am trying to remember.

THE FREE PRESS & GOOD BOOKS: jessica stern's terror in the name of god: why religious militants kill

2004-05-05T10:04:00.000-04:00

put this on your wishlist. within the maelstrom of published indictments of the bush administration, jessica stern's book stands out as a thorough analysis of what the rest of the world thinks of the perle-wolfowitz-cheney book-of-revelations-determined cabal...

[excerpts of a review from alternet.org, pioneers of the free media]

As Stern explains, a common view is that "evil arises from trauma. When the pain of trauma is so great that the victim cannot sustain feeling, he too becomes susceptible to propagating further evil." The feeling that they have suffered motivates militants to make their oppressors suffer in return. Stern's chapters on the Palestinian crisis exemplify this best. The anger and powerlessness that many Palestinians feel towards the Israelis has motivated Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas to inspire and recruit young activists to join their ranks and commit suicide bombings and other acts of violence. Stern writes that "The terrorist leaders deliberately inculcate the idea that 'martyrdom operations' are sacred acts, worthy of both earthly and heavenly rewards." Thus, the promise of paradise and God's approval becomes the prime motivation for the martyr-to-be.

Stern, a US terrorism expert, also alerts the West to the continuous rise in religious terrorism that is taking hold worldwide, a phenomenon that seems to be growing at an alarming rate. Their ability to find abundant funding and support has allowed many of these organizations to establish footholds in the West. As Stern explains, "They are buying firearms at American gun shows, studying at American flight schools, and soliciting donations from American and other Western citizens."

you can find out more about stern's book through the following link: terror in the name of god.

UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU.....bring your morning-afters, girls. military repro rights: VOID.

2004-05-05T08:39:00.000-04:00

psyched for the "new draft"...? hoping it might be better than "draft classic"...?

....well, don't hold out for the next version of the u.s. draft. it's gonna be worse than the dormant one already on the books in u.s. courts...

from thestar.com:

"In line with today's needs, the Selective Service System's structure, programs and activities should be re-engineered toward maintaining a national inventory of American men and, for the first time, women, ages 18 through 34, with an added focus on identifying individuals with critical skills," the agency said in a Feb. 11, 2003, proposal presented to Pentagon officials.

The agency acknowledged that they would have "to market the concept" of a female draft to Congress, which would have to authorize such a step.

"market the concept" to congress...? what about the marketing campaign they're gonna need to seduce american women to the idea of wearing camo...? how is that gonna work? redeploy jimmy choo's or manolo's as hand-to-hand combat weapons...? the CIA has already enlisted the "proven intelligence abilities" of hottie starlet jennifer garner, of alias fame, to further the war on terror. now, the house armed services committee didn't address the effectiveness of the "brunette in a blonde wig" strategy, so i have to assume that it was a success...

gloria steinem had plenty to say about the enslavement of women by the u.s. military in an interview on airamericaradio's the majority report:

[this is an attempted word-for-word recreation of steinem's statement. transcripts can be found on google.]

"If [a servicewoman is in] need of an abortion -- as in you were raped in Iraq -- you have to travel and pay for all procedural and therapy and prescription costs...

...You might as well make posters and hang them around recruiting offices saying, 'JOIN THE MILITARY AND LOSE YOUR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS!!!'

...Just how similar is the Bush administration to the Taliban? We're the only other 'recognized government' [by the u.n.] that has laws on the books that are this abusive to womens' rights."

...um. wow. i can't begin to imagine how much more that could possibly SUCK for my female counterparts. and here i was thinking women in our country weren't 2nd class citizens anymore!!!

...individuals of my "XY" gender have been drafted for millennia, but i'm only now pretty fucking thankful that one of my "X-s" became a "Y" when i was only the size of a thumbprint in my mommy's belly....

...at least if i get homoerotically "raped" in an iraqi prison, it will only be "simulated" and in the interest of "breaking down my cultural pride" in order to complete "the mission"...at least i won't give birth to another baby born of hatred.

here's more resources for readers interested in reproductive rights and our female service members:

1. aclu letter of support for the 2003 murray / hill amendment to the DoD anti-choice policies.

Current law prohibits women from obtaining abortion services at U.S. military hospitals, even if they pay for these services with their own private funds. For military women and dependents stationed overseas, this restriction poses grave health risks. Local facilities are often inadequate or entirely unavailable. Traveling to a safe facility can result in delays that may substantially increase the risks of an abortion procedure.

These women are prohibited from exercising their fundamental constitutional right to choose simply because of their military service and where they have been stationed. In a letter to Congress dated May 7, 1999, the Department of Defense opposed this harmful restriction, emphasizing that “it is unfair to female service members, particularly those assigned to overseas locations, to be denied their constitutional right to the full range of reproductive health care."

The ACLU urges you to support the Murray/Snowe Amendment, which would repeal this dangerous and discriminatory ban. Our military women deserve no less at this critical time.

2. womensnews.org's coverage of CA rep. loretta sanchez's efforts to bring this issue to the congressional schedule:

The number of abortions performed at military facilities dropped dramatically over the decades. In the year that ended Aug. 31, 1977, before military abortions were restricted by law, about 26,000 were performed in military hospitals or covered by military insurance, according to a 2002 report by the Congressional Research Service and provided by the Pentagon.

In fiscal 1979, though the Pentagon prohibited publicly funded abortions, it permitted military hospitals overseas to perform some 1,300 abortions because safe civilian facilities were not available, the report said.

But in 1993 and 1994, after Clinton lifted the ban on privately funded abortions, military hospitals overseas performed the procedure only 37 times, and 10 of those were cases in which women's lives were endangered, the Congressional Research Service report said. It attributed the small number, in part, to the refusal of most military physicians to perform the procedure.

Even if servicewomen wanted to obtain private abortions, it isn't always possible. Many countries have outlawed the procedure. In others, "the medical facilities are such that you wouldn't want it done," said Lory Manning, who studies women in the military for the Women's Research and Education Institute, a Washington think tank that analyzes the impact of government policies on women.

Retired Lieut. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, the Army's only female three-star general, added that many officers oppose abortion and they have the authority to reject or delay women's requests for leaves. She recalled a time in Germany when a woman officer sidestepped her male supervisor and asked Kennedy's permission to grant a soldier time off to get an abortion.

The officer then accompanied the soldier to a German hospital, Kennedy said in an interview. "They had patients, women, sitting in the hallways with no tops on and men and women alike walking around," she said. "Her modesty was not respected and she didn't have pain medication for the procedure or for afterward."

"Imagine my sense of not being able to take good care of my young soldiers," Kennedy said.

Kennedy, now a consultant, author and chair of First Star, a Virginia-based nonprofit that helps abused and neglected children, said that by often requiring young servicewomen to explain their need for time off and by forcing them to travel from remote locations, the Pentagon is, in effect, "enforcing" pregnancies.

She and other reproductive rights supporters said the United States has a double standard at home and abroad.

"Our troops are overseas defending our Constitution and defending our rights and the rights that are protected by the Supreme Court," added Ernst of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "We are telling them that as soon as they enter the military, they check those rights at the door."

you can find more information about reproductive rights in the military at the N.O.W. website. the transcript of another gloria steinem interview on the issue is available from the good people at buzzflash.

THE ONLY FIGHTING REDS LEFT : save the skin of the only remaining non-partisan "combatant"

2004-05-05T04:53:00.000-04:00

kanga and roo...where are you??!?

from the news.com.au site:

[Wildlife Protection Association of Australia] Association president Pat O'Brien said red kangaroos would be extinct within 10 years if culling was not immediately halted.

"There are no ifs, there are no buts – it will happen," Mr O'Brien said.

"The red kangaroo is the one that is really at risk. We have got figures showing they are being killed far quicker than what they can reproduce."

"The problem is that we are not even going to know about it until they are gone – they live in the remote areas, they are getting smaller and smaller because the genetically strong animals are being taken out, and the gene pool will just get weaker and weaker and weaker."

"All of a sudden, one day we'll say 'where have all the red kangaroos gone?'."

oh, pooh...we hope your enchanted forest is among the "coalition of the willing"....

THE RISE OF THE MACHINES!!! : arnold, diebold, and the CA courts

2004-05-03T21:19:00.000-04:00

while we were just getting ready to make dinner, we slipped and fell into south knox bubba's reporting of the recent california state decertifications of liebold....i mean, diebold black box voting machines.

in november 2003, california secretary of state kevin shelley found that:

"...the [Diebold] Accuvote-TSx hardware and firmware...are found to be defective and unacceptable for use in California elections."

awesome. and what did arnold have to say...? well, nothing apparently -- it seems he hasn't really made a statement on the issue...

but now, the case has thickened, with shelley calling this week for the CA attorney general's office to sharpen their pencils:

"I'm asking the attorney general to pursue criminal and civil actions against Diebold in this matter, based on finding of fraudulent action," [Shelley] said.

"They broke the law," Shelley continued. "Their conduct was absolutely reprehensible."

Shelley said Diebold deceived California with aggressive marketing that led to the installation of touch-screen systems that were not tested or approved nationally or in California. Diebold had said federal approval was forthcoming when it was not, he said.

...excellent.

so, surely arnold must have something to say regarding this new charge of fraud...i mean, he's gonna get to help call the shots on this issue for CA, and thereby gets to set major precedent for the rest of the states' consideration of electronic voting this fall. but...

i re-checked google, and came up with nothing...maybe he's too busy with "tolerance camp" during his trip to israel...

if anyone can drum up a statement from arnold on the issue, please do send it our way. we need it. bad. without anything from his camp, it just seems like...well, like he's waiting for a better "re-write"...but, why would arnold shy away from technology? isn't he the master of the rise of the machines??!?!

yeah, well. that kinda might be part of the problem: seems that when arnie was using his bragging rights for his "olympian" terminator 3 box office receipts (umm...actually a rather "mortal" $417 million worldwide gross on a $170 million budget) as a "platform" for the california "economy", he might have actually been literally talking about "the rise of the machines!!!!"

...all you need to know about the totality of the schwarzenegger symbiosis with the silicon and how it has affected his inability, no...let's say his lack of desire to address the findings of his own secretary of state is this:

segments of arnie's recall-winning margin of 10.8% were TABULATED BY DIEBOLD MACHINES.

here's a short shockwave cartoon that examines the impact of electronic voting on america's electorate through the lens of arnie's very special way of using language to make things "simp-lah"...

we didn't vote for arnold ourselves...but in our our fantasy-recall pool at the office, we had to hold out really hard and we paid a premium to keep him as our top pick for governor. but it was worth it...i mean, well...it wouldn't be if we actually had to live in california...

on cnn today, we saw a clip of arnold telling a joke to a contributor luncheon of some sort -- we missed the context of the clip's broadcast, but the "hee-haw" went something like this (we're not making this up, unfortunately):

"...as you know i'm also very athletic. still!!! what do you think you're looking at...? chopped liver...??!? no, just yesterday i lifted 280 pounds!!!

[cheers]

...i was helping uncle ted get up from his chair!!! haw-haw-haw-haw!!!"

if we were ted kennedy, we'd punch him right in his stupid face. if the senator needs help getting up from his chair, he should email us.

more resources on electronic voting, diebold, and the CA decertifications can be found at newsmax, the CA.gov website, and verifiedvoting.org.

THE LITTLE THINGS THAT KEEP US KEEPING AT IT: books4soldiers, fisherhouse, the newman's own award

2004-05-03T14:34:00.000-04:00

thebigkahunas in thebigwedding's life have advised we take an abbreviated posting schedule on weekends, to allow for other things to get caught up with and for a few moments of down-time to let things get absorbed...

...sage advice.

so, during a moment of heavy absorption while catching up with ring-level-orange secret-agent skunk after too long a hiatus, i noticed something in his living room that looked quite familiar...

a large shoebox, on the floor, wrapped in packing tape, with the following address markered in sharpie:

CPT Brock A. Zimmerman
HHC 2-63AR FOB Warhorse
Operation Iraqi Freedom
APO AE 09392

...excellent. a shipment for books for soldiers, one of the more creative programs thebigwedding has been tipped to in the last week. skunk said he'd stuffed the box full of his old tom clancys and other political thrillers that captain brock a. zimmerman (holy, what a name!) had requested; i hadn't realized that soldiers and staff sargeants can post specific requests from their units to the site's message board in order to get what they'll actually want to read.

...chalk a point up for thebigwedding. deployment confirmed: one big ass box of tom clancy, shipped on schedule.

that made us feel good. the following day, we went back through the heromiles links page and got a much bigger picture of the volunteer and contribution opportunities available to those who would like to support our troops -- beyond the limited, shadowy, and dubious channels that prevail upon the application of our tax dollars towards the bush-controlled iraq warchest.

...to highlight just a few: adopt-a-soldier, militaryscholar.org, fisher house, and the newman's own award.

finally, reading gulf-war veteran paul rieckhoff's radio address for the democratic party (posted below) really affirmed the growing feeling i've been having that despite the wranglings of the administration, the congress, the courts, and the media, the growing horror of realizing the severity of conditions in iraq, and the chaos of operations on the ground...

...that if you really try to listen, you can hear the voices of the troops themselves. and that maybe if we continue to listen, they'll be emboldened to continue reaching out through the quagmire to keep us informed and keep their military chain of command in check. they should be encouraged to become another "check" in our system of "checks and balances". they know their work best, and they're willing to speak up when they can't get the job done -- as evidenced most recently by the fact that it was entries from a single g.i.'s journal that initiated the investigation into the incidents of torture in abu ghraib prison (and the alleged cover-up of the tactic of cia intelligence officers working in the prison to "sanction" and encourage enlisted MP's to utilize psychological and sexual abuse, as is now being asserted by brig. general janis karpinski, commander of the 800th military police, who was relieved of her task of running the facility.)

clearly, many of our soldiers are allowing the lack of federal support, the shoddy conditions, and the smell of hate and fear percolating in the iraqi air to negatively affect their performance. it's bound to happen. it's sick. and of course, there are many g.i.'s in iraq who one might call "beyond reproach" or "categorically evil." but all of this other news exhibits that the majority of our troops, and the trends in the military that they impact with their actions and style of service, are really positive, grounded, and realistic about what they can accomplish in iraq...

...and if they can be that positive, then let me grab onto their coat-tails and consider them my proxy / guide into what's best for me to do here on my end of the line.

i was motivated by some of the postings -- to and from wounded u.s. service members who are receiving treatment in walter reed army hospital in d.c. until they're well enough to return home -- on the caring bridge guestbook to write a message myself. it expresses the more positive outlook i have about the opportunities to creatively work around "official military channels" and solidify our relationship with our troops.

[excerpted -- it was really rather long, for which i apologize]

as i clicked through the resources page on the "heromiles" website, i was really overwhelmed by the realities that new communications technologies, like the web, have afforded us as a nation - and our pursuit for national identity and solidarity. unlike even in gulf war I, just twelve years ago: back then, contacting troops and finding out about volunteering opportunities was so much harder. i would have had to exert more time and energy to follow through with my support for all you men and women out there...many of us might have had greater difficulty being active in our support -- especially someone like me: no one in my generation of family is currently enlisted, and i have only one good friend who has been deployed since 2000.

it's really hard for a lot of americans who aren't already part of the service member "family" to plug into your lives, even if they're educated and watch good media coverage. but at a very basic level...many americans don't have a way into the life of our soldiers...that will change. now, i can write to you, i can read your blogs, see your digital photos if i google right. i can connect with you. and it means a lot to me to be able to finally do so. thank you to all of you who are taking the extra time to reach out to those of us at home with your emails, weblogs, interviews, and other reports of how you are doing. it means a lot to many of us...

i think our generation (i'm 29) of troops and military families are going to bring great changes to the armed services, for the better. i have a feeling that you all, given how savvy we are with the internet, P2P, IRC, global chat, are really going to take the veterans movement and its community into a new era of strength. you will impact our society. you're building on the foundations of our grandpas in WWII and our dads and uncles in vietnam who reached out to the public, to help us better understand. keep at it.

what you do in the field, and at home, for each other and your families, will decide most (for every american) what kind of military we create for the 21st century -- that human "X-factor" that you feel with your brothers -- the drive and dedication to strive harder for one another, that pushes all of you to do better, work harder, and learn more, so you can go back and help your company mates and support your battalion officers. stay with that. it will help you change our country.

your service to one another, and your studies in responsibility, loyalty, sacrifice, and love, makes you not just "more of an american" than those of us who don't serve, it makes you "THE americans" that we will look to as we try to understand what that label will mean for all of us in the next 100 years: we'll emulate you for your lessons in loyalty, civic responsibility, the good served to the individual as created by the larger whole of the military institution...and better educated young people in terms of global issues and issues here at home.

stay strong for each other. i think in the next 10 years, regardless of what happens with our current engagements and the "end-game" of both our fronts (and the political battles here at home), americans will find a great need to better understand your service -- and not just "what it means" and how "powerful it is", but what it's like for you in the day-to-day: the hassles, the moments of relief, what you look towards for help when things are going badly, or for your families who are supporting one another at home on base.

[...]

no matter what happens in iraq or afghanistan, no matter if we end up there for too long, stuck, or if we eventually "officially lose" and have to pull out with "nothing to show" for your efforts, according to the administration and the brass...

no matter what they say when you come home, no matter how alien the average citizen seems to your service and sacrifices, or if he alienates YOU through his politics...

he is wrong. anything he has to say is not about you. it's about the leadership -- a person like that will eventually see the human faces that are staring back him: yours. he'll realize.

stay there for each other. have faith in your work. you are doing very very hard stuff. come home, gather yourselves, change the military, change the VA and VH's, you can do it. and the rest of us will fall in behind you. we will. it may take 40 years for everything you try to change to happen, but your input, experience, and fraternity will be the great lessons for our nation in this next century.

seize this moment, be the next "greatest generation," or whatever tom brokaw calls our grandpas. that title is yours for the taking. you know, and our grandpas would confess: that the historic forces you face now are of the highest severity that the original "greatest generation" ever witnessed, even in their own combat experiences in europe and the pacific theater.

[...]

if it isn't clear -- many of us support you, always, no matter which deployment, or which war. support one another. by staying true to your friends and making lifetime bonds, you can really make a difference for every american to come.

may peace carry you to your next conversation with a friend.

ampro
nyc / dc, usa - agpinnyc@hotmail.com

SEARCHING FOR A ROCK*STAR: paul rieckhoff and the new veterans' movement

2004-05-03T06:09:00.000-04:00

after bush's EXCELLENT saturday radio address in which our commander in chief deftly and firmly put to rest any lingering doubts about his leadership in the war on terror, he was....oh come on, i'm obviously joking. i know it's early monday morning, but wake up.

take 2: after bush's weekly radio address (get the chimp's transcript here), the democratic party did something (i'm going to put my neck out here), well...unusually democratic...

they had a 29 year old national guard veteran and platoon leader, who spent almost a year in iraq until coming home this february, deliver the democratic response to the president. finally...! they do something cool, if not effective, too. apparently, it is the first time in many years that the party has had a veteran prepare their response; i couldn't confirm what i heard on television (they said since vietnam), but regardless of how long it's been...

...it's about damn time.

if you doubt what it means for paul rieckhoff to speak up (even though he's now a vet), think about some of the casualties thus far in the bush administration's campaign in dealing with "dissidents"...tami silicioher, the contractor/photographer who lost her job for documenting decorated american fallen, outed CIA agent valerie plame, and army chaplain james yee, among others. i really think, even if this guy is flawed (which i don't know), too vulnerable to right wing smears, or even eventually sabotaged and abandoned by the democratic elite, that he's a good example of the kind of leadership -- or at least poster-boy model good looks...you should have seen how kolly swooned at his big blue eyes and his cbgb's t-shirt -- that the new era of the veterans' movement needs to foster. all those troops are just like you and me, you know that. they're well-informed, they know where to go for information, they benefit from the same experiences we all do. as a result (in my opinion), they could really revolutionize the veterans' movement, both within the official channels of the V.A. and the V.H.'s and beyond. foxnews and cnn are already referring to rieckhoff as trying too hard to model himself in the image of the 1973-edition-veteran-spokesman john kerry, which, while true and appropriate, i think is just the usual sort of insult jujitsu that comes from those outlets -- it's like when they congratulated kerry on his endorsement from snore. in any event, the time is...

...i'm sorry. i meant gore. al gore. (although, hey, there you go -- another great example of a solid vietnam era vet, and one who used his career as a journalist to encourage the burgeoning veterans' movement.)

in any event, i've been thinking more and more about what's going to happen when all of these soldiers come home -- "win" or "lose", this summer or next year of the chimp. there's a hell of a lot of them, and with the right encouragement, they could really make change. of course, it's very difficult for many troops to be open about their political beliefs and their criticisms of the administration while they are on active status (which can make it all the harder for kerry and other progressives to reach out to them), but that's exactly why the democratic establishment has got to stand behind, and in a really vocal way, soldiers like rieckhoff when they decide to speak up. the 1973-veteran-edition kerry, with his long hair and tall lanky bearing, was the hippie ken-doll the veterans' movement needed then. and that's exactly what they now need to at least get out of guys like paul rieckhoff, but updated for our times -- the muscle bound, vin diesel, extreme athlete, wwe wrestling / rockstar look.

...now that's not to say neither guy can't contribute more than good looks. rieckhoff graduated with a degree from williams or amherst -- one of those NE liberal arts colleges with purple in its colors. i'm just being as cynical as i need to be about how far the democratic machine is willing to put itself behind individuals that haven't been screened, vetted, bridled, and market-tested by their consultants. i think you know of what i speak.

we always hear from the politicoes in dc. here's rieckhoff's full address from saturday:

Good morning. My name is Paul Rieckhoff. I am addressing you this morning as a US citizen and veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I served with the US Army in Iraq for 10 months, concluding in February, 2004.

I'm giving this address because I have an agenda, and my agenda is this: I want my fellow soldiers to come home safely, and I want a better future for the people of Iraq. I also want people to know the truth.

War is never easy. But I went to Iraq because I made a commitment to my country. When I volunteered for duty, I knew I would end up in Baghdad. I knew that's where the action would be, and I was ready for it.

But when we got to Baghdad, we soon found out that the people who planned this war were not ready for us. There were not enough vehicles, not enough ammunition, not enough medical supplies, not enough water. Many days, we patrolled the streets of Baghdad in 120 degree heat with only one bottle of water per soldier. There was not enough body armor, leaving my men to dodge bullets with Vietnam-era flak vests. We had to write home and ask for batteries to be included in our care packages. Our soldiers deserved better.

When Baghdad fell, we soon found out that the people who planned this war were not ready for that day either. Adamiyah, the area in Baghdad we had been assigned to, was certainly not stable. The Iraqi people continued to suffer. And we dealt with shootings, killings, kidnappings, and robberies for most of the spring.

We waited for troops to fill the city and military police to line the streets. We waited for foreign aid to start streaming in by the truckload. We waited for interpreters to show up and supply lines to get fixed. We waited for more water. We waited and we waited and the attacks on my men continued…and increased.

With too little support and too little planning, Iraq had become our problem to fix. We had nineteen-year-old kids from the heartland interpreting foreign policy, in Arabic. This is not what we were designed to do. Infantrymen are designed to close with and kill the enemy.

But as infantrymen, and also as Americans, we made do, and we did the job we were sent there for — and much more.

One year ago today, our President had declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over. We heard of a "Mission Accomplished" banner, and we heard him say that "Americans, following a battle, want nothing more than to return home."

Well, we were told that we would return home by July 4th. Parades were waiting for us. Summer was waiting for us. I wrote my brother in New York and told him to get tickets for the Yankees-Red Sox series in the Bronx. Baseball was waiting for us. Our families were waiting for us.

But three days before we were supposed to leave, we were told that our stay in Iraq would be extended, indefinitely. The violence intensified, the danger persisted, and the instability grew. And despite what George Bush said, our mission was not accomplished.

Our platoon had been away from their families for seven months. Two babies had been born. Three wives had filed for divorce and a fiancée sent a ring back to a kid in Baghdad. 39 men missed their homes. And they wouldn't see their homes for another eight months.

But we pulled together — we took care of each other and we continued our mission. The mission kept us going. The mission was to secure Iraq and help the Iraqi people. We saw first-hand the terrible suffering that they had endured. We protected a hospital and kept a school safe from sniper fire. We saw hope in the faces of Iraqi children who may have the chance to grow up as free as our own.

And still, we waited for help. And still, the people who planned this war watched Iraq fall into chaos and refused to change course.

Some men with me were wounded. One of my squad leaders lost both legs in combat. But our platoon was lucky — all 39 of us came home alive.

Too many of our friends and fellow soldiers did not share that same fate. Since President Bush declared major combat operations over, more than 590 American soldiers have been killed. Over 590 men and women who were waiting for parades. Who were waiting for summer. Who were waiting for help.

Since I've returned, there are two images that continue to replay themselves in my mind. One is the scrolling list of American casualties shown daily on the news — a list reminding me that this April has become the bloodiest month of combat so far, with more than 130 soldiers killed.

The other image is of President Bush at his press conference 2 weeks ago. After all the waiting, after all the mistakes we had experienced first hand over in Iraq, after another year of a policy that was not making the situation any better for our friends who are still there, he told us we were staying the course. He told us we were making progress. And he told us that, "We're carrying out a decision that has already been made and will not change."

Our troops are still waiting for more body armor. They are still waiting for better equipment. They are still waiting for a policy that brings in the rest of the world and relieves their burden. Our troops are still waiting for help.

I am not angry with our President, but I am disappointed.

I don't expect an easy solution to the situation in Iraq, I do expect an admission that there are serious problems that need serious solutions.

I don't expect our leaders to be free of mistakes, I expect our leaders to own up to them.

In Iraq, I was responsible for the lives of 38 other Americans. We laughed together, we cried together, we won together, and we fought together. And when we failed, it was my job as their leader to take responsibility for the decisions I made — no matter what the outcome.

My question for President Bush — who led the planning of this war so long ago — is this: When will you take responsibility for the decisions you've made in Iraq and realize that something is wrong with the way things are going?

Mr. President, our mission is not accomplished.

Our troops can accomplish it. We can build a stable Iraq, but we need some help. The soldiers I served with are men and women of extraordinary courage and incredible capability. But it's time we had leadership in Washington to match that courage and match that capability.

I worry for the future of Iraq and for my Iraqi friends. I worry for my fellow soldiers still fighting this battle. I worry for their families, and I worry for those families who will not be able to share another summer or another baseball game with the loved ones they've lost. And I pledge that I will do everything I can to make sure they have not died in vain and that the truth is heard.

Thank you for listening.

no, thank you paul. good luck in whatever's next. but remember, whatever your new leadership role: this platoon works a little bit differently, but it's still gonna be your guys that you're working for.

the M-113 "Gavin" tank - dialing back the technology to get the job done

2004-05-03T05:22:00.000-04:00

the house armed services committee had hearings last week in which congressmen gave reports of u.s. troops paying local iraqi body-shops to retrofit their "soft-side" humvees with steel plating, on their own dollar. the "soft-side" humvee is notorious for its vulnerability to attack (especially by RPG and IED methods) and its inability to provide effective protection to its occupants. since march 2003, 140 u.s. troops in iraq have been killed in their humvees, while over 1,000 have sustained injuries...

already, the pentagon has stepped up production of ceramic shielding kits for the "soft-side" hummers and is deploying those kits for retrofitting in the field, in addition to including them on all new units deployed to iraq.

in the meantime, reports from the front-lines abound with anecdotes of:

soldiers rushing to jury-rig their Humvees with anything hard they can find: bolt-on armor, sandbags, even plywood panels, creating what one senior officer calls "Mad Max-mobiles." But Pentagon sources say many of the retrofitted Humvees cannot take the extra weight, and their transmission or suspension systems fail. Another method is to spray shock-absorbing polyurethane foam -- one popular brand name is called Rhino -- to the inside or outside of unarmored vehicles.

huh. hope someone at CENTCOM is tivo-ing monster's garage. i would definitely consider giving jesse james a big fat DARPA grant to inject some muscle into new designs for APCs. i can see him introducing the new killer app of the class...something cool...like a bullet-proof, all-nerf interior to reduce shock and injury in collisions or accidents.

to this day, the number of unreinforced "soft-side" humvees in iraq remains in the thousands. additionally, reports from inside the pentagon indicate that even the newer "up-armor" humvees are not getting the job done; in a march 30th memo leaked to CNN, general larry ellis (commanding general of the u.s. armed forces) wrote:

"Commanders in the field are reporting to me that the 'up-armored' Humvee is not providing the solution the army hoped to achieve.”

the reports from the field include anecdotal evidence that the humvee's tires, due to the more pliable rubber used in their manufacture, are vulnerable to explosives and small-arms fire. additionally, at only 2 tons, the vehicle is light enough to be turned over or rolled by street mobs, explosives, and other accidents.

the risk could not be clearer to anyone but the men and women who have to get back into those death-traps every day. imagine how that feels -- you know that feeling when you realize you've gotten into a car with an unsafe driver...? maybe they start speeding...? or they've had a few drinks...? yeah. that's the feeling. now take that feeling, multiply it by 20, and imagine having it be that way every day when you're facing that "drunk buddy" scenario, but it's during your daily "ride-share" to the office...

20 year old army pfc. john d. hart had to face that scenario each morning when he went to work, and he told his parents about his fears on a weekly phone call home in october 2003. his parents recalled that it was only one week later, after he was killed when his humvee was attacked and ambushed that "the full consequences of what he was telling us" became obvious.

the alternatives:

here's a short-list of the alternatives that the pentagon is considering for "soft-side" and "up-armor" humvees:

the stryker: an armored vehicle that is the result of a four billion dollar development campaign. the stryker is definitely a vast improvement over the humvee, but it too has been addled by an unacceptable number of problems in the field. the stryker is difficult to transport, especially given a design oversight that makes it difficult to load efficiently into a C-130 transport aircraft (the work-horse of the armed forces). soldiers have reported that the stryker is too wide to navigate many of iraq's smaller streets and alleyways where combat flares. additionally, all strykers deployed in iraq have also had to be retrofitted with additional armor: a "cage-style" shielding layer, to counter design weaknesses in protecting against RPGs. and to top it off with a good whiff of rummy dickish-ness, allegations have surfaced that donald rumsfeld's office buried a fall 2003 memo from the pentagon's chief weapons tester attesting that the vehicle did not meet army requirements.

the m-113 "gavin": this vietnam era "small tank" has already proven its mettle in keeping american g.i.s safe. current pentagon estimates are that each m-113 would cost only two to four hundred thousand dollars to upgrade to combat-ready requirements, which is within one hundred thousand dollars of the current per unit cost of upgrading the "soft-side" humvee to "up-armor" status -- and with the obvious added-value of human lives saved. the m-113 is already being held in reserve in large numbers, both in warehouses here in the states and already abroad; an official of the army material command support operations for CENTCOM attested:

“I have roughly 700 113-series vehicles sitting pre-positioned in Kuwait, though some are in need of repairs. I have them available right now, if they want them.”

the best solution, as can be managed in a deployment of tens of thousands of vehicles and given the huge lag and opportunities lost over the months in which these errors were not given due address, will be a combined deployment / rotation of all three technologies into the field (stryker, m-113, and humvees of both caliber armor ratings). our troops will remain flexible and adaptive to the necessary changes, of course, as it's been their lead in not only the voicing of these concerns, but the initiative to find creative solutions to the problem.

kevin horrigan, of the st. louis post-dispatch, wrote this great review (preview?) of pbs' upcoming NOVA show, "Battle Plan Under Fire":

[excerpted]

[Major Gen. David H.] Petraeus [commander of 101st Airborne Division], like all West Point graduates, has read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," wherein it was written 2,500 years ago, "The worst policy is to attack cities." Thirteen years ago, Gen. Colin Powell, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was worried about the same thing, which is why he advised President George H.W. Bush not to send U.S. forces in the Gulf War into Baghdad.

But since then, as NOVA reports, military transformation has swept the Pentagon. The belief in technology and tactics, combined with an arrogance of ideology, has brought the U.S. precisely where it didn't want to be, without the weapons it needs.

The odd thing - given that, by 2010, 75 percent of the world's population will live in urban settings - is how relatively little money was spent preparing for urban combat. Later this year, the United States will begin deploying a national missile defense system that may not work and may eventually cost $100 billion. But we don't have the kind of urban combat vehicles - the ones with periscopes and bulletproof glass - that the Israelis do.

The Marines who besieged Fallujah didn't even have sufficient basic armor. When they headed to Iraq, they were told to leave most of their M-1 tanks and armored personnel carriers back home, lest it look like the military situation was out of hand. The equipment is now on its way.

It's not if as the United States hadn't envisioned this possibility. The Army built an entire mock Iraqi city in the piney woods at Fort Polk, La., to use as an urban warfare training center and even spent $35 million to hire 1,200 Arabic-speaking civilians to make the training at its bases realistic. Most of the troops in Iraq haven't trained there yet. It was going to be over too fast.

A few of them have trained with the Israelis, who advised them to use armored bulldozers to flatten buildings one by one, to blow their way through walls with satchel explosives instead of going out on the streets and to employ lots of snipers. To Israelis who are worried about the survival of their nation, cultural considerations are a lesser concern.

"This focus," says Gen. Scales on NOVA, "this perhaps obsession on technology, blinded us to some degree to this countervailing universe that inhabits all wars. And that's this cultural side of war. It's your ability to understand your enemy, his intents, his motives, his will."

the B.A.B.B.D.C. takes a field trip

2004-04-30T07:33:00.000-04:00

looks like the B.A.B.B.D.C. (the Big-Apple-Blue-Beat-Down-Crew) have maybe brought a taste of bronx borough justice out on tour...maybe they're traveling with a USO show, i dunno the details...

from cnn. [excerpted]

Iraq prison 'abuse' photos aired

(CNN) -- Arab television networks are playing photographs first aired on a U.S. television network that apparently show U.S. soldiers abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

[...]

The U.S. military says six U.S. soldiers have been charged with abusing inmates at the prison.

CBS says it has "dozens" of pictures showing a wide range of abuse.

One picture apparently shows an Iraqi prisoner standing on a box with his head covered, wires attached to his hands.

CNN has not verified the authenticity of the images.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Friday he is concerned the reports of abuse against Iraqis will "increase the risk to the individual soldiers" and has met with representatives of Iraq's newspapers to discuss how to report the story.

[...]

He said he was "disgusted" by the photographs from the CBS report.

"It's a small number of soldiers who abused a small number of prisoners," he said, noting the vast majority of soldiers have treated people with dignity and respect.

An investigation began in January after a soldier reported the alleged abuse to superiors, Kimmitt said earlier this week.

Kimmitt would not disclose the charges or details of the abuse, but said military authorities take any such reports seriously.

"We are committed to treating all persons under coalition custody with dignity, respect and humanity," he said.

"Coalition personnel are expected to act appropriately, humanely and in a manner consistent with the Geneva Conventions."

In February, senior military officials said 17 troops, including a battalion commander, a company commander and 12 MPs assigned to guard prisoners, had been relieved of duty until an investigation could be completed.

Sources previously told CNN that the abuse came to light based on reports from other soldiers and photographs showing detainees being abused by prison guards.

[...]

"I will not stand up here and make excuses for those soldiers and stand up here and apologize for those soldiers," [Kimmet] said.

"If what they did is proven in a court of law, that is incompatible with the values we stand for as a professional military force and it's values that we don't stand for as human beings."

already in just this one article, the number of sources weighing in on the issue (and from so many different corners), and the number of outlets that picked up different kinds of evidence of abuse (photographic and anecdotal), suggests to me that there's been something brewing somewhere in iraq -- for someone, and for sometime longer than just a finite spate of incidents that occured only recently. i'd say that the probability is high, unfortunately, that the american patriot who reported this string of abuse to his commanders may have a lot more to say about it than we've heard so far...

in fact, anyone know the conditions of military gag orders? i have seen some incidents of various kinds, but what happens when this soldier has reported directly to his appropriate chain of command and becomes a witness for the government? is he summarily gagged at this point from saying any more, lest he jeopardize the prosecution's case? or would he just be likely to do that on his own accord, though without it being mandated by protocol?

i'll try to look into that...

i need a good martial law attorney friend. i don't think any of my law-school associates are really going that route. they want to do legal aid stuff and work pro bono for arts organizations....

...christ, who am i kidding?

if someone at 01-01-01 could track a good attorney in that field, it would be appreciated. maybe you can try lawyers.com? i hear they have an excellent variety of atty's in all styles and colors for every season. and all within a budget that will make you say:

"...wow!!...i never thought having my very own lawyer could be this much fun!!!"

beloved pan, and all ye other gods that haunt this place...thank you for the funny, smart ones

2004-04-30T03:43:00.000-04:00

today, thank you for just two heroes of many, who toil week in and week out, turning the technological wastelands of flash movies and clip art into something that makes me laugh like an evil person. and gives me hope that maybe my soul won't be ameliorated by watching this all happen...

1. mark fiore, wizard of voiceover comedy and 30 second giggle-shivers. this week's installment: "Bush on Message".

2. brian rees, trickster creation god of "get your war on," the most subversive, yet most completely ordinary looking comic (in its graphical appearance) to interpret the american war mentality since "beetle bailey."

oh ye, of the highest circles of the night sphere, grant us all great lives of laughter, if not long and free ones.

amcop takes it to the rim

2004-04-30T02:47:00.000-04:00

amcop let the slang hang out in their post yesterday that slammed the toilet seat down hard on the perle - feith - chalabi influence and intelligence cartel. their report features commentary published by the nytimes with what must be one of the most direct and concise pictorial representations of an alleged federal "conspiracy" an american news outlet has ever had the confidence to print. it's frame-worthy, you know, in the way that old wanted posters are kinda keepsakes. well, maybe just for my family, in particular.

do take a quick look.

amcop also links to one of our favorites, michigan based professor juan cole, for background information on some of the overseas connections that the times asserts. if the nytimes graphic doesn't tell you what you need to know, do take a quick glance at dr. cole's post.

now. the allegations of improper influence and conflict of interest center around the leadership of the "Office of Special Plans," a unit ordered by dick perle (yes, definitely an undead scion of shatan...whose mandate seems to have been officially sanctioned by...um. from well...no where official it seems, in congress or in the public record.) to put pressure on intelligence agencies, analysts, and directorate in order to substantiate and bolster the flimsy evidence of a saddam : bin laden connection -- which george bush waved around like a monkey with a dirty hanky, showing off his nose-ore, all over the capitol.

the "smoking gun" that the nytimes has provided us with is the link between the preferred sucessor to the iraqi executive suite, ahmed chalabi, and the israeli law partnership of which doug feith, head of this "OSP," is a partner. chalabi's nephew also works in the firm, founded apparently, by a right-wing israeli settler. the inference to be made from all of this is that the only reason chalabi has won the real favor and backing of the WH is due to:

from amcop:

Perle and his friends thought easy victory was possible because they believed (and still do!) that all we need to do is just find some "friendly Arabs" like Ahmad Chalabi and install them in power in Arab countries, and then we'll be all set. All the other Arabs are benighted and misled, but Chalabi and his nephew and their buddies are good guys. And why are they good? Because they make money by working with right-wing Israelis.

yes, yes...

i see there may be a connection. i was granted a pictorially dynamic vision via the grey lady...yes...many faces.

most certainly, i am convinced. the evidence is damning. amcop is right. it really is outrageous. this only further evidences the unbelievable emphasis placed on the needs of one group in this complex global transaction! you know what i mean? who is it that everyone in the middle east is so worried about?!?! this sphere of influence transversed through and was amplified by the touch of one thing. no, no...not settlers. not zionists. no, no, no...

...lawyers. corporate ones. that's where they're gonna get nailed on this thing. i promise.

let's not forget there were IMF protests last weekend too

2004-04-29T16:58:00.000-04:00

ampro requested that i do a little post about the IMF protests in dc last weekend. thebigwedding was very excited about the women’s rights march, but didn’t want to leave out the other important protest of the weekend.

seems like the march, etc. was great: about a thousand people showed up – probably a group made smaller by the draw of the women’s march – and the protest was mostly peaceful. great stuff. this is par for the course.

but ampro had counseled me to look deeper – to find out whether there had been any arrests, any police violence, anything of note…and so, dutiful gatekeeper that i am, i did some more searching and quickly became nervous.

yeah, there were arrests, but they were arrests for things i might arrest someone for. two girls my age were arrested for keying a bunch of cars – not sooo bad, but not sooo nice either – and one dude was arrested for lobbing metal tacks at cops with a slingshot. really really not so nice. this does not make our side look too good.

so i didn’t really know what to write. but then i found this:

Jeffrey Lee White, 46, of Twin Peaks, Calif., was arrested at about 10:30 a.m. near the Planned Parenthood clinic in the 1100 block of 16th Street NW for carrying what appeared to be a human fetus. He was charged with a misdemeanor under the D.C. code of "keeping and exhibiting dead bodies or parts."

The Washington Times

our people play with slingshots. shrub’s people play with dead fetuses.

and that’s all I have to say about that.

ACT: books for soldiers, care packages for the mind

2004-04-29T16:34:00.000-04:00

this great site was started during gulf war I by a guy who had a bunch of college age friends overseas. the soldiers had a ton of downtime when they couldn't leave their bases because of saudi travel restrictions, and so to help them pass the time, he started sending his old paperbacks to his friends and their friends and their friends and...well, you get the picture....

he ran out of books before he ran out of names and addresses to send them to, and the rest is history.

you know you have tons of old books you'll never read again. i know i've got a wall of em, so go to booksforsoldiers.com and find out how to send them overseas.

Regardless of why the military is deployed, the men and women of our armed services are there for us. They deserve our support and if we can make their deployment easier, then all the better.

AMPRO: away fighting the armies of shatan

2004-04-29T15:23:00.000-04:00

thebigwedding's fearless leader ampro has answered to a higher call this week, and has graciously delegated the task of keeping the ball rolling to me, your humble servant. more on me, and how i fit into thebigpicture of thebigwedding, later on. for now, we have bigger fish to fry.

it’s been a difficult couple of weeks, hasn’t it? particularly for the poor shrub, who’s going to have to account for his knowledge, choices and actions prior to september 11, 2001 in front of the 911 commission today, speaking on the record and under oath.

oh, wait, he’s not under oath....huh. there's not even a stenographer or an audio device to create a record of any kind....oops. welll.....sorry, i guess.

but it’s been a difficult couple of weeks for the rest of us, and in the spirit of taking a collective deep breath and remembering the good things in life, let’s take a little break for some art talk. get your cup of coffee, put on your black turtleneck…

comfy? good.

according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll, the Iraqi people are “conflicted over the war and its impact.” really? shocking. but we’re not talking politics this morning, so on to my point. it seems that, perhaps in order to help the Iraqis manage their conflicting feelings, as my psychologist mom would say, they’ve been given a pretty new flag.

the flag has soothing tones of blue and yellow – contrasting saddam’s harsher choices of red and green (everyone knows you don’t wear red and green together unless its Christmas time and you’re a thirty-five year old secretary in iowa). Blue and yellow I can live with – but could you maybe show me something in pink?

i thought that the blue stripes were reminiscent of banana republic's cute sailor striped tees for spring. but according to cnn.com:

Many said the light blue stripes were reminiscent of the light blue bands on the Israeli flag.

to me, that's like comparing marc jacobs with john galliano - both tortured, talented souls who use BLUE AND WHITE in their designs, but you certainly wouldn't wear them together.

in related arts news, arnold schwarzenegger (celebrated governor of caleeforneeah) will be visiting israel. this "son of a nazi", as cnn.com so eloquently puts it, will be attending the groundbreaking of a museum dedicated to tolerance.

now i'm no ahnold fan, and i really hated the terminator movies, but i say good for him.

even if it's only for appearance sake, as the cynic that lives inside me squeaks, at least he (or his aides) takes his position as an influential public figure seriously.

i can think of a pretty long list of folks the arnold might want to take with him to tolerance camp:

shrub

cheney

condi

rummy

just for starters.

but i digress.

so the arnold is headed to israel. meanwhile, back at the ranch, the donald is launching a radio show on clear channel. once again, according to cnn.com:

Donald Trump will use the Clear Channel network to launch a national radio show, "Trumped!", starting June 15, the company said Wednesday.

The weekday show will span business and nonbusiness topics, including the real estate mogul's thoughts on the media and entertainment world as well as politics.

"The public's appetite for Donald Trump's sharp, sage commentary has never been bigger," said Clear Channel Radio president and CEO John Hogan, who recently dumped Howard Stern from six company stations amid the FCC's indecency crackdown.

i'd like to think that the donald was inspired by the sweeping success of air america radio. but i'm a bit of an idealist. probably he was inspired by the howard getting the axe.

last week, ampro referenced our friend kolly's invoking of the "first they came for" warning of WWII.

they've come for the howard, but he's not the only guy they've got it in for. in fact, they've got it in for subversives - define at will - in general. this is from salon.com this morning:

Protests too big for Central Park?

The AP says an antiwar group planning a massive demonstration in New York City during the GOP convention has been denied a permit to use Central Park for the event because the gathering will be too large.

"United for Peace and Justice said it planned to appeal. The city parks department denied the group's request to rally on the park's Great Lawn after a march through city streets. A permit request for the march, submitted separately to the police department, is pending. In denying the park permit, city officials said the Aug. 29 event would exceed the 13-acre lawn's capacity of 80,000 people and 'cause enormous damage to the lawn.'

the city has a problem with hundreds of thousands of shrub-haters trampling the grass (and perhaps any shrubs that might be lurking on the great lawn), but when disney wanted to show pocahontas to 200,000 kiddies and their mommies and daddies, the grass was readily sacrificed.

now i can understand the concern - after the disney event, it took two years for the grass to grow back. resident shrubs (you may infer of whom i speak) don't have that kind of time to spare.

but there i go, digressing again, when i promised just to talk about art. maybe that's my cue to rest here for a while.

i'm going to run outside and remind myself that it's spring and there's still hope for the world. you all might want to do the same. while you're out there, say hi to a couple of folks. ask them what the last movie they liked was. personally, i loved eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. but some people didn't.

anyway, report back here later on and let us know what you learned out there in the world. until then, join me in sending ampro strength and resilience in his fight against the armies of shatan. let's tell him we hope he'll be back at thebigwedding soon.

it's finally happened: everyone's better than thebigwedding at everything

2004-04-27T00:20:00.000-04:00

over the weeks, thebigwedding has been posting political commentary and other things with what was supposed to be a strong comic bent. we're not unrealistic -- we knew from the beginning that just about everyone we know has a better grasp than us on politics, policy, culture, history, global economics, local economies, education, law, finance, hypocrisy, justice, psychology, science, coalition building, grassroots organizing, progressive realities, and much, much more. hell, we don't even have a "five year plan" or a professional degree from any university. we know what the limits are for us career-wise...

well. there's a bit of a snag. apparently, we also don't know anything about humor, comedy, timing, wit, entendre, or repartee. after asking a friend what he thought of the blog while we were roasting shish-kebabs illegally on our fire-escape, he replied:

"it's all so depressing...why you don't post more comic stuff? you guys are so funny in real life."

huh. well, i guess that tells us something.

we guess, then -- in your best interest, apparently -- that we will be forced to outsource our humor to a more funny person or collective, as we were forced to do in the case of the iraqi quagmire helpdesk. until we are able to find a company that we can afford to handle our comedy offerings, we will just point you to funnier people.

for your enjoyment, please consider the following song by madeliene begun kane, a humorist and songwriter:

Ode to the August PDB

oh crap.when i alt-tabbed back over to madeliene's page to copy the song, i found that she has to approve every reprint by email before i can post it. i guess she's worried people will steal her shit. huh. that song was really funny...not to be passive-aggressive, handles, but yes, IT WAS FUNNIER THAN I AM, you jerk, i should have known better than to invite you over for dinner. oh well. guess you can't see her song here, but you'll have to click over to her site yourself. that's dumb. i know you won't want to click now. and i had credited her and was going to say after the song how funny her ghostwritten journal from the whitehouse "dubya's daily diaries" are. madeliene kane just lost all those readers, because i know you won't click over to her site. you're too busy. i know. too bad for her. reprint permissions are dumb. too bad.

anonymous email making the webrounds: teacher arrested at kennedy airport

2004-04-26T23:51:00.000-04:00

this news update, courtesy of rhino.

SUBJECT: Teacher Arrested

At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney general John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult," Ashcroft said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'there are 3 sides to every triangle'."

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes."

CHECKLIST: THE MARCH FOR WOMEN'S LIVES 04.25

2004-04-23T14:05:00.000-04:00

mom wrote to let me know in advance that she may not have much for this weekend's mom's sunday reading. she's heading off, instead, to sunday's march for women's rights in washington, dc. everything you need to know about why this is a critical time for the fairer sex (and by extension, all life on earth. you better read up on this, fellas -- we may be dead weight on the overall biological level, after all) is on the marchforwomen site. the coalition of sponsors includes the fastest, strongest, and most courageous members of the Hall of Justice -- the ACLU, Feminist Majority, NARAL, NOW, and Planned Parenthood.

for those of you going, thebigwedding would like to humbly offer the following advice for those of you marching for all of our rights. we'd very much like to be there, but that will have to wait til mother's day.

be sure to bring the following:

1. your i.d.
2. sunscreen
3. water
4. loose change
5. a wash-cloth
6. a plastic bag or two
7. a powerbar or some other protein
8. 212.679.5100: the phone # for the National Lawyers Guild, who provide free legal advisement, logistical support, and representation to protestors who are plucked up by the beat-down crews. you'll need that number if anything goes wrong.

the weather: you're in for phenomenal day. the chance is showers is low, at only 20%, with a light breeze, but a high UV index.

leaving the march/getting home: plan on difficulty with metro, buses, and even on-foot once the march has wound down. one of the only ways to avoiding ruining an otherwise great day is to plan on having dinner in the evening somewhere around capitol hill. there's an array of great restaurants around 3rd and pennsylvania avenue, SE, within walking distance just east of the capitol building like the hawk & dove, taverna, and tune inn. after dinner, you can catch the blue/orange line of the metro at the capitol south stop or eastern market.

so. mom - no pressure about the reading list for this week, you are excused. and to all of you:

have a great, great time.

and

thank you.

THE WAR ON ART: fighting the battle one sidewalk at a time

2004-04-22T14:51:00.000-04:00

salon ran a story earlier this week about new york artist, james de la vega. a great muralist, street-chalker, graffitti-artist, portraitist, and installation designer, he's a celebrated community-based artist. he has opened his process to thousands of new yorkers. children, students, neighbors, critics, city administrators, and possibly millions of homeward-bound commuters have sewn his images into their lives. he is a great study in contrasts, as his background and experience radiate all over the map...he's worth reading about...

unfortunately, he's also facing a one year prison sentence, charged on the basis of a 35 year old law. and he refuses to cop a plea ...

...on June 9, [James] will be a defendant in the Bronx Criminal Court to challenge New York City's "graffiti laws," passed in the early 1970s during Mayor John Lindsay's administration, which made painting on a wall an act of vandalism. The graffiti task force Lindsay set up is still in operation, and De La Vega has been charged under a law that reads in part: "No person shall write, paint or draw any inscription, figure or mark of any type on any public or private building ... pursuant to a franchise, concession or revocable consent granted by the city, unless the express permission of the owner or operator of the property has been obtained."

...uh, oh. looks like we ALL been breaking the law! "any inscription, figure, or mark...?" a rather wide net...

here is what james says of what keeps him from taking a plea for a reduced sentence:

"I could not admit to intentionally damaging property. I did not think of the wall as private property; it is a wall of art. For years it has always been filled with graffiti. I added to it. My intent was to share my art in the hopes of bringing a smile or a thought to the commuters stopped at the traffic light at a busy intersection in the Bronx."

you can see more of james de la vega's work here. we haven't been able to confirm any details about his legal representation or the existence of a legal defense fund.

first they came for janet, then they came for stern, then they came for letterman, then they came for just another one of us...

2004-04-22T12:26:00.000-04:00

perhaps you've seen this photo of american remains being returned to the u.s. somewhere on the web. however, it was only yesterday morning that it surfaced in the mainstream press. its appearance on major websites like the nyt, washpost, and la-times was heralded as a firm demonstration against the bush mandate that all images of decorated american remains stay unpublished in our country.

however, the incident has already created another "casualty" in bush's promised "advance of freedom." the final outcome speaks volumes...

within 72 hours of the photo's big splash:

A military contractor has fired Tami Silicio, a Kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers was published in Sunday's edition of The Seattle Times. Silicio was let go yesterday for violating U.S. government and company regulations, said William Silva, president of Maytag Aircraft, the contractor that employed Silicio at Kuwait International Airport.

Maytag also fired David Landry, a co-worker who recently wed Silicio.

Silicio said she never sought to put herself in the public spotlight. Instead, she said, she hoped the publication of the photo would help families of fallen soldiers understand the care and devotion that civilians and military crews dedicate to the task of returning the soldiers home.

Her job put her in contact with soldiers who sometimes accompanied the coffins to the airport. Having lost one of her own sons to a brain tumor, Silicio said, she tried to offer support to those grieving over a lost comrade.

"It kind of helps me to know what these mothers are going through, and I try to watch over their children as they head home," she said in an earlier interview.

Maytag's Silva said the decision to terminate Silicio's and Landry's employment was made by the company. But he said the U.S. military had identified "very specific concerns" about their actions. Silva declined to detail those concerns.

"It wasn't my intent to lose my job or become famous or anything," Silicio said.

Landry, in an e-mail to The Times, said he was proud of his wife, and that they would soon return home to the States.

...almost unbelievable. see what happened while we were all watching the apprentice? i'm going to fire myself.

First they came for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

thebigwedding secret agent "kolly" referenced this quote last night during a talk we were having about chris rock and some things he said about censorship in the current rollingstone. i don't know much about chris rock, but he demonstrates that he can part on the level and meet on the square. read the interview.

"kolly's" livid, as to be expected, that "the culture wars", the privacy battles, the civil rights violations, the legislating of homophobia and teenage pregnancies are all starting to mesh into the same thing. she's right. but at first we were laughing our asses off at c-rock's interview...though soon "kolly" moved on to the more serious implications.....and i'd drifted off:

"wow, some of these comedians really got it nailed down tight. even janet jackson's turn as condi-"sleestak" on SNL cut right to the thick, juicy core of lies and the pathology of stepford-style-fabrication. that was funny. even before she repeated her boob-tube parody. and how cool would it be if sony did cast will farrell and darrell hammond opposite her in the upcoming richard clarke movie?...yeah...i would pay to see that movie, i'd even make sure to buy that ticket and then sneak into whatever second feature i want to see....maybe hell*boy again. that demon was red. and huge. and he had was a good person, too...oh, yeah, "kolly's" upset about howard stern. hmm. that's weird, i thought she HATED howard stern. isn't he a sexist? man, chris rock really knows how to sell a crack joke. he's the man...oh, i see...freedom of speech...what's she saying...?...who's coming after oprah?...oprah's a protestant...?"

by the time i came around, she had written the martin niemoller quote on the kitchen chalkboard. she's been saying for days: there's been nothing but silence from a lot of tv, film, and radio's mainstream heavy-hitters as they wait for their own name to be called out. where's spielberg? oprah, definitely! larry king? montel! ted koppel? sean penn, where are you?!?!? maybe you were right, that award did soften you. you (and many, many others) are all kings of the hill of freedom of expression; of course you are making huge contributions to our political and social landscape...

...but why aren't you all out there helping the people get their free-on? as chris rock put it,

REPORTER: I'm surprised by the near-apathy of popular artists to what's going on in the world right now.

ROCK: Can you believe there is no Rage Against The Machine? There is no Public Enemy? There's no Arrested Development? No one is talking about anything. Nobody young gives a fuck. The only people that even mention that there is a fucking war are, like, me and Al Franken? It's a fucking sad time for art. Art is dead, man.

REPORTER: Especially since now the right song can make a difference before the election and maybe put a catchphrase in people's heads.

ROCK: There is not one record on the radio that reflects anything that is going on, except for the guy, what's his name? McGraw? Chesnutt? Toby Keith, I mean. I don't agree with those guys. But I respect them, because at least they're fucking dealing with what's going on -- in their own crazy right-wing way....

...we've got AIDS, SARS and all this shit going on. All these dead dolphins rolled up on some beach the other day. We are at fucking war, people are fucking broke, mothers are killing their kids, and the welfare thing is going on. And everyone is singing, "Everybody in the club getting tipsy." It's fucking insane."

well, i think rock closed the case on that one -- it seems it's only the comedians that are getting it said and furthering their cred with their verbals on this administration and this war. i mean, turn on nightline -- have you seen the questions they've got koppel asking these days? he must be miserable...

well. hopefully we'll see more of this. remember, these funny-men (rock, jon stewart, howard stern, darrell hammond, conan o'brien, chapelle, carlin, letterman, even [cringe] leno, among others) and funny-ladies (tina fey, rachel dratch, amy poehler, amy sedaris, ellen degeneres, and so many more) are on the mainstream networks. their bosses are companies like GE, disney, siemans, bertlesman, clear channel, and time warner. but they don't pull the punches...

...but how much longer til they're on the list of "first they came for's" that michael powell comes for next?

a thank you to our international readers :: "thebigwedding" revealed

2004-04-22T08:08:00.000-04:00

thebigwedding is pleased to announce its third week on your screens. thank you all very much for your interest, your comments, and your encouragement. we hope to continue providing you with good analysis, quick reporting, a healthy dose of outrage, and a belly-aching laugh when you might need it most. your readership makes it all worth it.

we've been especially happy with the response we've been getting from overseas. it tells us that we've accomplished at least one of our missions -- to wrest our minds from the american media cocoon and learn from our counterparts abroad...

here is a list of our readership, by country, as counted by one of our page-counters. among the nations represented are:

singapore, holland, france, brazil, australia, spain, israel, iran, malaysia, italy, mexico, korea, romania, turkey, bulgaria, ireland, norway, and japan.

it makes us smile every time we look at it. hope it does for you, too.

a friend of mine, who has been supporting thebigwedding from day one, asked yesterday about the name of the blog. he said he'd been curious at first, but had forgotten his query. when i explained its meaning, he asked for a more complete account of its inception. in the interest of "de-classifying" documents, i have excerpted part of my emailed response to him:

yup. "thebigwedding" was the code name used by the september 11 hijackers for the attacks, and the phrase had been flagged and archived by u.s. intelligence during the chatter of summer, 2001. yes, while macabre, i chose the name with an alterior motive in mind. i don't explain the title "thebigwedding" in the blog and haven't referred to it. i decided based on the fact that there are only a certain "class" of articles and outlets (and readers thereof) about 9-11 in the american media (and internet) that refer to the codename "thebidwedding" whatsoever. if you search it in american google (remember, you can google directories in every country, like "google.de"), almost nothing comes up at all. these were the types of sources i was reading when i became finally agitated enough to begin writing (a notable starting point for this ring of stories that got me off my tuckus is: this one)...

after searching "thebigwedding" (also with spaces, and other variations of the phrase) last month in google and assessing the limited use of the phrase in american parlance on the net, i chose to grab it. the intended results were:

1. attracting readers "already in the loop on 9-11"

2. attracting international readers, especially those in muslim and asian countries for whom "thebigwedding" has common usage in their dialogues on 9-11 and its impact

3. increasing the presence of the phrase in the american net parlance by increasing its appearance in u.s. based google results

by getting "thebigwedding" more frequently indexed in google by creating the blog, i would be helping to introduce the phrase to more of the american net. many netizens from other countries (both muslim and otherwise) actually use "thebigwedding" as a search criteria in google for their international searches, and they mostly get sites that aren't american. i thought it was a discreet way of bridging the international gap and of perhaps suggesting on a subliminal level, that americans are coming around and can think, read, and write outside the confines of the WH sanctioned, media-scripted lexicon that we americans are indentured to - to offer the possibility that some americans are willing to "speak in other languages, not just their own," or at least try to better understand our global counterparts' world outlook through the lens of how they themselves talk about those seminal events.

while modest, i think my strategy was in part successful. especially in countries with muslim population or influence in both the middle east and asia, from whom i don't think i would have otherwise attracted readers. here is a link to a screenshot of my counter's list of all the countries i have visitors from and the number of unique visitors from each nation.

i think it gives a good idea of what i'm shooting for. i'm trying to court european and other international readers and have already made inroads with a few bloggers and journalists abroad - given how much more info the euro media gives their citizens, they have a lot of ideas and news that just can't break through here in america - even on blogs and "airamericaradio." i hope to continue with this sort of bridge-building and to hopefully create a mutual benefit to both my readers and theirs.

so. "thebigwedding" refers to the tragedy of 9.11.01. but i hope my letter reveals that there is more behind it than that.

i would greatly appreciate any responses from my readers overseas, especially those who can inform me of good european blogs out there. they can be tough to find here. it doesn't matter if they're in english or another language -- it helps me with my french, italian, and german, mostly -- but i'm willing to take a crack at reading in any language. suggestions would be welcome in "comments" or by email.

we look forward to hearing from you.

and a shout-out for all:

de vrede is met u : la paix soit avec vous : frieden ist mit ihnen : η ειρήνη είναι με σας : la pace è con voi : a paz seja com você : shalom : мир с вами : la paz esté con usted : salaam aleikum

peace be with you.

NOTABLE NUMBERS: war records, war chests, & war lies

2004-04-22T07:51:00.000-04:00

dailykos charts the kerry/bush vietnam records, side by side.

washpost computes the likely adjustments to the war budget.

david sirota counts bush lies regarding the woodward book.

BUSH: "this is a hard country to defend" :: "they'd like to attack us again, by the way"

2004-04-22T04:54:00.000-04:00

excellent news from george today, as reported in news.com.au.

US President George W Bush said today those Americans who expect another terror attack in this country have reason for such fears.

"This is a hard country to defend," he conceded.

Questioned about an Associated Press poll showing two-thirds of Americans believe another attack is "somewhat likely" before the presidential election in November, Bush said: "I can understand why they think we're going to get hit again."

why's that, george? is this some new "historical, but not strategic" information we're getting about something or other? or does prince bandar know another little something you might want to tell us all?

given bush's history of difficulty with the english language -- grammar, syntax, parallel construction, elocution, metaphor, verbs...well, let's just say english as a whole concept -- aren't you glad it didn't strike during this particular statement? think back to the news conference last week -- the transcript the next day really didn't reflect what his speech was like while watching him try to give it. the above closing -- "i can understand why they think we're going to get hit again" -- could have easily come out on any given sunday as -- "i understand they can..why they...i mean, we, we're going...to...to get again hit again. by them."

....don't you agree? and wouldn't that have been something. i'll tell you though, if he had made a mistake like that, we never would have heard about it -- rove would have rocked a scalia over any errant journalist's back. no wonder cheney is going in with him at the commission...consider all of the possible slip-ups that could possibly happen!

They attacked today (local time) in Basra. Killed innocent Iraqis. They attacked today in Riyadh. ... They attack all the time. They'd like to attack us again, by the way," he said.

...what....?

"they'd like to attack us again, by the way"

....um....

"by the way?" that's kind of a strange construction, george. i mean -- everybody, all of us you're addressing already know they'd like to attack us again. you're not pointing out anything new here. we have cnn too...

so, why "by the way" again? it makes you look like you're...i don't know...um...what's the "nice" way to say this? well, like you're the cat who ate the canary?...you know, just "by the way", in case you hadn't noticed you kinda sometimes send that message.

or...are you just saying it in the same way you did in 2001. you know, like that "everybody knew osama bin laden hated america" thing you said when you dismissed the importance of the summer PDBs?

"We have to be effective to stop them," Bush said. "There are no negotiations with these terrorists. It's important we find them before they come here again."

no one is disagreeing with you, george, settle down! but seriously, since it's so "important"...can we get someone on that, pronto? like maybe, i dunno....who's our commander in chief? oh, my bad, that's you.

"Times are tough," the president told the newspaper executives. "Last couple of weeks have been really rough." He said the perpetrators "want to stop the advance of freedom".

ok. just how rough were they, george?

well, freedom's just so-so, i guess is what he's saying. thank god the terrorists have nothing against fishing.

well, i did find spaniards with their hands in the air, but i don't think they were trying to be symbolic

2004-04-22T02:06:00.000-04:00

it is very difficult to get on camera if you are protesting in our country these days, unless it's on government archival footage. that wasn't always the case.

a friend mentioned to me a photo he'd seen taken during protests in madrid last month in which the hands of tens of thousands of people where held aloft, fluttering, as if doves had taken over the capitol streets. he thought i might like to post it on thebigwedding in order to remind people that there are other images out there beyond the "terror" -- of community, solidarity, fortitude, courage, and national dialogue...

i couldn't seem to find that photo, but i found many more. i think they may be as instructive, though not exactly to my buddy's point...

here's some of the images i did find of protesters in madrid following the train bombings, during their call for peace, security, and scrutiny of the u.s. policy in iraq. they seem to have a good sense of what's on the line...

thought it might pump you up for the r.n.c. in manhattan this summer:

enjoy.

all images by fran llorente, for madrid sindical, a major labor paper en espana.

MUSLIM VIOLENCE DISRUPTS INDIAN ELECTIONS: yes, yes, we know...the precedent was set in spain

2004-04-21T15:02:00.000-04:00

it's not like you were a genius for figuring that out, george. to make the assertion that terrorists from the kashmir region could possibly use terror to sway elections is as difficult as my 4 year old sister figuring out that a dog from an attack school could possibly use its bite to hurt you.

but, i know, as you insist. you, because "He" tells you, know everything. so i won't make a point of pointing out your lack of a point in that particular talking point you've been using since the madrid bombings. to the meat of the matter:

cnn, along with the rest of the world, has reported on the outbreaks of violence in the indian elections. read up on it, but what i feel is important to post here are just some of the numbers:

650 million people are casting their votes over the next three weeks.

-- this has to be the largest election in the entirety of not only the earth, but whatever intergalactic high security councils bush thinks we made allegiances with on our rover trip to mars. hey, i'm just saying, you don't really know what they tell him about stuff that's going down...i mean, how else could you explain someone who can lie so effectively? he thinks he's telling the truth...

The violence came despite heightened security -- more than 400,000 forces have been deployed throughout India for the first phase of elections in the world's biggest democracy.

-- the indian government provided adequate secu...what the...?......400,000 forces? unless a "force" is a euphemism in hindi for something else, then isn't that a hell of a lot of soldiers...?....like, a lot more than 135,000?...

The final day of polling ends May 10 with counting and election results set for May 13.

-- who the hell did they contract for their election? creator and destroyer of all things, the god of 1000 arms, shiva? or the female consort, kali? three days? they must have had both, i guess -- you remember how long our recount took -- anyone remember these “professionals” we had working on the 2000 recount? great…

of course, India has moved to electronic voting, as we will this election. but get this –

“The small, portable voting machines, are manufactured by two state-run companies. The devices will also be less prone to hacking, a concern that security experts have raised with the larger machines in the United States. The Indian devices use microprocessors with software burned in, so it cannot be altered or replaced.”

so, i guess it does make sense that we’re outsourcing all our problems to the indians…they seem to know how to get it right. contracting the election to “state-run companies” instead of to “off-shore entities” outside your own jurisdiction…? how novel!

on a final note, here’s what indian’s prime minister had to say on the future of his people’s nation:

Bharatiya Janata Party [candidate and incumbent Prime Minister] 79-year-old Atal Behari Vajpayee said, ‘There is regard for India in the world today. There is food in our warehouses. There is such an image of India today that we can look to the world with confidence.’

– wish i could report the same from here mr. prime minister. we’re going a different route to win the world’s “regard”…I guess the relative slogan might be, well…."Fighting the Evil: Pain, not Grain." you get the idea.

fantasies of flight -- the expatriate problem and the arbitrary "nation-state"

2004-04-20T16:52:00.000-04:00

daily kos has posted this open "water-cooler" discussion thread for his readers, the topics of which run the gamut from lesbian candidates for the massachusetts statehouse to canadian horror flicks. for readers new to the blog phenomenon, it is important to note that the ability of readers to comment and post-back is the bedrock of the power of the "press of the people." without it, blogs would be as one-sided as your nightly news. i recommend glimpsing at the comments sections of many of the major bloggers (majority report radio, atrios, dailykos).

obviously, this stuff isn't what the high priests of medias would have us burning at our altars this moon, and it may not even always be good commentary. but it's reassuring. among the fissures in logic, the dropped subject lines, crossed wires, and the "surveying through a pin-hole" feeling you get from reading miniscule fragments yanked from the lives of disembodied people -- who of course, you suspect (being the savvy netizen you are), are representing the real bottom line of their politics no more accurately or truthfully than when posting their profile on friendster (not to mention their "stats" on the adultfriendfinder profile they keep hidden from their spouse)...

...you get the feeling that within the rough and tumble of it all, there is an actual democratic movement in here somewhere. but it's a quick slip and fall from "emboldened citizen" to "cynical misanthrope" and to settling for keeping it all "on the back foot." neither the policy-makers nor the press inspire confidence (look for my upcoming post about the WH press corps). even the progressive leadership seems in a cluster-muck, if you think you can find them at all. did you know there are real live democrats in congress? no, seriously! check it out, they're there! needless to say, the situation of late, seen from no matter which corner you're in, has been so abysmal that it's hard to reconcile it all. i feel fractured. stunned...

despite all this progress -- the obvious and proven power, the breadth, and the potential of the internet to create a revolution to "democratize the channels of information and influence," the early-adopters, the envelope-pushers, the bloggers, the indie-pundits, the meet-uppers and move-onners...

it's hard not to expect to be let down this fall. and to envision the horrors that would follow.

my plan this summer is currently to get out of the city and spend time in the adirondacks -- spend some time on my music and my writing -- but i'm beginning to realize i may want to look further north. unfortunately, this particular comment thread from dailykos' site may have only encouraged my thoughts about leaving the country of my birth. there are a number of reasons why this is a real problem -- none other than the fact that i want to be proud to be an american -- for my world outlook and could be a decision i regret for the rest of my life...

but i have my instincts. and there are concrete reasons why staying here may not be the best option for me, which i will get to shortly later on in this assessment of some of the mitigating factors:

as long as i didn't confuse a "3" for an "8" somewhere, then my data is good and my modeling of the outcome of the election dictates a kerry win. hands down. the numbers look solid, i think, and unless an absolute all-out revocation of "business as usual" democracy occurs this fall, i think bush is just too far down the rabbit hole now for even the better half of the republican party to save him...

however -- do i expect a fair, open, and democratic election for the american people this year?

exactly. you think this blog is run by some kind of sucker?

no, the greatest danger to our democracy this year will take whatever campaign war-chest kerry manages to build by november....and burn it like the simulated paper money the chinese offer in respect to their dead.

diebold? accenture - the spawn of the arthur anderson accounting company, headquarted in bermuda? science applications international corporation...?

meet the corporations that will oversee, administrate, and i'm sorry to say (my parents believe i'm an alarmist and need to go back into therapy), decide the 2004 election. meanwhile, no judicial, law enforcement, or investigative agency at the federal level has oversight over the electronic voting industry. none. zero. check it -- you know where to look out there...

so, in other words, we send american obsevers to struggling democracies around the world to "gaurantee the integrity" of nascent voting systems and yet we're not requiring it here in our own country. why the hell would i, much less some younger, more highly disenfranchised american (who is the targeted voter for all of these high-cost voter registration and "get-out-the-vote" campaigns) want to vote this fall? sure, "rock the vote" worked for clinton in 1992, but this new crop of kids know a whole lotta new information -- like the ploy in 2000 in which black, hispanic, and other poor voters were deliberately misinformed that they would be fined for unpaid parking tickets if they entered their local polling places to vote...or the fact that pat buchanan admitted himself that he knows "all those old jewish ladies in palm beach county weren't voting for me."

now, if it's obvious to the kids, who are as uneducated as many of them are, then we must not shy away from the knowledge that we have allowed our democracy to be stolen from right under our noses, as painful as that is to accept. we aren't saying this loudly enough to generate a choir.

i have a 4 year old sister -- i wonder, how will she vote 20 years from now? electronically? with a clay ball in a locked box? telepathically? the likely electoral reality to come for her generation seems so dire i wonder if she will ever exercise her right to vote in a free election at all. are we the last generation of voting americans?...

sure, sure all that's bad, but why would i want to expatriate myself now?

"hell ampro, you've known for long enough about all this stuff, don't be so dramatic, man..."

point taken. and my father and his father would command me,

"you gotta love it, pinko, you can't just give up when your counterparts in palestine, afghanistan, latin america, and elsewhere live without even the possibility of that convenience...just because the "daily blend" isn't exactly your cup of tea...that isn't reason enough..."

and they're right -- my position as an american does lend a degree of convenience of which there is no equal in other countries.

but am i going to stay...?

those close to me are right -- there is something new on the horizon that has stoked this flame. i'll admit it, there's something coming that i'm afraid of. very afraid. and it just push me over the edge....of the border.

last year's draft bill #hr163, has not gone away (as everyone reassured me it would) and is still under review in congress. it is a reality. don't get distracted from the reality of the situation, it's too critical. among other things, the bill would make eligible for military service every able-bodied american, male of female, between the ages of 18 and 26.

personally...? i made the cut, i'm 29, but my partner and too many of the friends i share my life with might not be so lucky -- even if it takes the expected two or three years to be implemented, should it be made law...

for them, i'm scared most.

all of a sudden, a lot of commentators, "fellow-travellers" and "vulcan imperialists" alike, are filling the airwaves and the papers with information about the bill that IS NOT TRUE. for starters, it's now "conventional wisdom" that if conditions escalate, the draft will be the only way for any u.s. president to have enough troops to meet the enemy on all fronts. NOT TRUE.

many progressive commentators -- and i mean especially you, majority report radio host janeane garafalo -- have been encouraging support for the draft. they are seriously misguided and are stooping to the level of using a life-or-death consideration as an offensive tactic: on not just the bush administration, but the moneyed class in general. both good enemies to have, for sure, but this method is disgraceful and a regrettable detour from the usual logic of the left.

garafolo, among others, assert the draft is valid for two reasons:

a) "it would lessen the long widening chasm between the class lines that are drawn all over enlistment statistics. poor americans die for this country more often than the rich and the wealthy have for too long had their wars fought for them by a service class."

they are correct on the premise. however , this idea, no matter what you're trying to justify, is wrong for two reasons. first of all, "new draft" will be just as similar to "draft classic" as "new coke" was to "coke classic." those americans with sufficient pull (read: family wealth management advisor) will continue to do whatevever it takes to save their own kind -- can't blame em, it's human nature -- and they will continue to succeed in most cases. hey -- i'll be the first to admit it -- i know that i could get a medical excusal if my number came up and i was still of age. the necessary medical documents were put in the family safe deposit box when i had to sign my selective service papers in 1993. dean did it too. so did the "golden prince" of the dnc, bill clinton, (who just HAS to be knocked back down to earth by someone sometime soon. i wish hillary would just do her job at home. or, are they even married anymore?) secondly, the progressive leadership's exploitation of a "life or death" issue in order to "counter-spin" the discourse is inexcusable. and irresponsible. there will never be a draft policy reasonable or sensible enough to justify sending young americans to die in this unjust war, no matter how rich, or deserving, they are, period. and the progressives already know that...

b) regardless of the outcome of the election, due to the worsening trends in u.s. combat operations, the draft will be necessary, even if kerry himself takes the presidency.

(first of all, this assumes we don't get slapped with some well-timed martial-law inducing catastrophe). they say even if kerry comes into office he will have to order it. NOT TRUE. of course, there are always other options -- as these progressives were so right to point out when we needed to involve the u.n. at the outset of operations in 2003:

1. we could re-open talks with the u.n. security council (and perhaps receive troop provisions)

2. we could reappropriate the funds that bush misdirected to the false war in iraq back to where they were needed in the first place for a successful campaign on our real enemies: real terrorists and al qaeda.

3. we could insist on the deployment of the undeployed technologies gathering dust in DARPA labs and hangars that have been paid for with tax dollars and have already shown success -- remember all the hoopla about the armed predator drones in 2001 and early 2002? remember how one almost got bin laden...?....well, why aren't there thousands of these in iraq, swarming the enemy and clearing the "fog-of-war" and "human-intelligence" obstacles that are leaving soldiers at a disadvantage? well -- first of all, the CIA doesn't want to take responsibility for flying an armed drone (they prefer using arsenic), and secondly, it would lead us to success -- and at a much lower cost to our deficit, which bush has clearly been plundering for his contractor-buddies every which way he can. and you think bush wants the war to end? who would he play "soldiers" with then?

but nonetheless, these commentators ignore these realities and choose instead to utilize the argument of the inevitablity of the draft to preempt right-wing accusations that kerry might "go soft on the war" should he reach the WH.

plain and simple, garafalo and you others -- you are spinning an issue that has american lives attached to it. that being the case, you are no better than your "opponents" in the conservative ranks.

if the future holds that americans will continue to face aggression and hostility, as the whole of history has indicated will happen, and that we will "be forced" to continue our communion with the timeless rituals of violence and combat...

well, then i support compulsory service for all americans: male and female, 18-21, a three year commitment. four years mandated by congress if war conditions require, but that would be the firm cap.

of course, if you're a liberal, even suggesting this as an alternative is like spitting in the holy water, answered to with only torch-carrying mobs and cries of outrage:

- "but i don't want to live in a militaristic state!!!" -- sorry, our nation already fields the largest military in the history of the world, which enables our freedoms, period, no matter how much we recoil from the bloody tools they use. you already live in a "militaristic state." that's just a fact.

- "i don't want to become a society obsessed with miltitarism, like israel!!! we will become fascists!!! -- well, shit - don't you know three year compulsory military service is already the standard in france? how bout germany? could you guess switzerland too? having a standing army doesn't make you a blood-hungry state -- look at japan, they're even "de-mililtarized" and they make it work! most nations report that their citizens appreciate a greater sense of civic responsibility from their service that builds greater interest in preserving the common good.

- "i don't want the miltarism to seep further into the fabric of MY life!!!" -- unless you are enlisted, or are a family member of a soldier and live on or near a base, you see less than .0005% of the day-to-day activities and responsibilities of the average soldier. chances are, before 9-11 , the only place you'd seen a soldier in actual fatigues and carrying an automatic in a public area, was when you got off the plane in paris during your last eurorail trip. i'll touch on this more in a moment...

clearly, compulsory service doesn't fit in nicely with the tiny slices of real life that citizens pick and choose from as they shop for their vision of "their america". well - herein lies the problem. this ideal of a democratic america, and the necessary reality it entails, is not a "buffet-style" proposition. nor is it a "build your own pizza." americans have to stop approaching democracy and government as a consumer-directed "little bit of this, but none of that" transaction. it is more responsible (and effective) to see the WHOLE of america and then deal concretely with changing the aspects we don't like...

too many citizens want only the benefits of institutions like prisons, schools, the military, and even congress, without investigating what it takes to realize them. they even think they are supporting related causes -- "higher test scores!" "vocational training for inmates!" "support our troops!" -- when they are in fact only reinforcing the fantasies that keep these institutions on the wrong track, underfunded, and incapable of the success the people "want." americans have come to believe that this convenience (strategically enabled by the upper echelons of power in government, media, and the private sector) is not just ok on an ethical level, but that it is their RIGHT in a consumer-driven capitalist democracy. we've already each been individually introduced to the end result -- our conflicted consciousness about doing what it takes to actualize real advances for prisoners, the impoverished, and aids patients (just to name a few). you know the feeling -- you've felt its weight in the pit of your stomach -- when you walk by a street addict or poverty-stricken family in your own town...the way it sinks in...that simultaneous feeling of disgust, and desire, and compassion, and fear, and culpability, and helplessness, and regret. the sum of those feelings has a name. it is "evil."

sure, EVERYONE WANTS prisoners to be treated justly and to be given a real shot at rehabilitation...but no one wants to know what it's like to be a fish on the first day on the block, or even just how the whole system works. most people don't want a prison in their town. you know the drill. it speaks to the "anyone but me" psychology that is at the root of our national identity -- the "dreamer" that makes everyone of us "an american." case in point, everyone thinks they'll someday "be famous" or "win the lottery." this fantasy (marketed, distributed, and hoisted on our culture by the armies of shatan among us) has turned the principle of healthy "self-interest" and the right to "self-realisation" into a pathological "selfishness" of national proportions - every opportunity we have to engage with the world (as participants in our democracy) has been appropriated by the market and turned into a consumable. every human instinct towards empathy and understanding -- "to walk a mile in another's shoes" -- has been snuffed out.

the popular aversion to studying massively influential institutions, along with the national disinterest in understanding how the individual negotiates (on a personal, social, day-to-day level) within the existing bureaucratic complexities of those institutions is no more evident than in our dessicated relationship with our military. the average american's lack of understanding of how the average soldier survives in that institution (much less the field of combat) is not only unethical, but dangerous. it endangers our soldiers (from the highest brass to the lowest private), who must fight, as a result, not only their prescribed "enemy," but the ignorance and misguided dismissiveness of the people they have volunteered to serve.

- "well, but they choose it as a job for the pay and they know the risks, so the soldiers are only acting out of their own 'selfishness' too!?"

stop the presses if you don't already know this: a front line army private first class on the ground in najaf this last week made on average only $317.38 for his labor. and that is after factoring in the measly $150 a month added for "combat hazard pay." if you would like more numbers on this, scroll down to the post featuring barbara ehrenreich's article, "bush's odd warfare state."

more importantly, that lack of understanding endangers ourselves. how many times have you heard someone say, "well, a lot of these guys joined up to fight after 9-11. you can't deny they're blood-thirsty." in many cases that's true, but to limit your perception of the military to just a small segment of its ranks or to just its combative functions is...well, silly. ever heard of the army corps of engineers? what do you think they do, study engineering properties to better blow up buildings? no, they build them -- along with rebuilding communities, holding back floods, restoring utilities and civil infrastructure that are off-line and plenty of other "non-military" functions. not every bridge the military builds is for a tank to cross.

to be clear in my voicing of support for compulsory service:

1. it is the necessary alternative to the draft, should events dictate the anticipated astronomical increases in troop need

2. the military, and by extension, those americans who might participate in compulsory service, maintain our survival as a civilisation in ways far beyond defense alone. in its non-combative functions, a compulsory service corps might contribute in many of the same creative ways suggested by the so-highly-lauded clintonian "americorps" program.

3. it would raise national understanding of american policy, on defense and domestic issues, raise civic awareness, and certify each american's commitment to not just our government, but to his fellow neighbor - in a way that the pledge of allegiance never could (and shouldn't). i am not for nationalism, in any way, but i do know that "social studies" and "civics" curriculae are being dropped from school budgets all around the country. how exactly do we expect the next generation to have the tools necessary to defend our "self-evident" rights to democratic freedom?

4. were americans citizens, enlisted according to a compulsory service, utilized and endangered in another unjust or illegal war like the one we have now...that would still be wrong.

5. i am against this war. i strive for pacifism.

***

so...i'm thinking of leaving. i don't know if i can reconcile living in a country where the IRS shills for bush administration initiatives on the bottom of my tax form. on the other hand....what makes an american...? as the joke in my family goes, "we're from two foreign countries -- colombia and mississippi." maybe the lines aren't drawn so clearly in the sand...

but i know two things:

1. if my vote this fall doesn't count for anything, then i kind of don't feel like an american. and the loss of that pride, that right, that freedom might alone cause me to leave, but more importantly,

2. if i have to stand by and watch my loved ones conscripted to fight a war they're grossly unprepared for...

then consider me gone.

OVERLOAD: nobody wants to believe what they're seeing

2004-04-19T18:22:00.000-04:00

i know the feeling. every new revelation seems so unbelievable and yet it all makes sense. we knew. you knew. i knew...

...maybe we weren't exactly sure of which scarlet letter to pin our instincts on. there were so many --

the lack of intelligence in 2001, the sudden surplus of leads on the very day of the attacks, the wmd's, the WH assertions of a saddam-bin laden connection, the alienation of the u.n., the money-funnel to "favored-nations" contractors like halliburton, paul o'neill, the pdb, and now...the woodward book...

let's stop with the reading. it's too much.

here is a short film from take back the media. speakers are suggested. the content is safe for work. you needn't think, turn it off...

just watch.

ACT: write elected officials to ask for complete cooperation with the 9-11 commission

2004-04-19T17:45:00.000-04:00

this is a repost of an earlier entry. i feel it's important that threads of opportunity not be lost in the furious loom of the american news-media cycle. i know, i know....there's plenty of headlines out there to blow your mind and shatter your sense of the laws of physics -- the revelations in the woodward book, reports of major threats in london, the spanish pull-out...

the spools spin on and on and on.

i promised last week to provide a template for writing letters to officials regarding the independent 9-11 commission.

lucky for me, commoncause got there first. they provide an easy automated utility on their site that will allow you to compose and send emails to a number of the major players. you can find it here.

i've checked the utility and confirmed that the addresses work. if you'd like, check "send me a copy" in order to receive confirmation of your effort. then wait for the responses to pour in. i got this from donnie rumsfeld's office:

"Dear Correspondent:

Recently you requested personal assistance via our web site. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

Title: Speaking invitation for Secretary Rumsfeld -- (Link)

Title: Available speeches by Secretary Rumsfeld -- (Link)

Title: Rumsfeld Birthday -- (Link)

Title: 9/11 Commemoration -- (Link)

Title: Terrorism in Spain: March 11, 2004 -- (Link)

Please forward any follow-up inquiries to public@defenselink.mil with the subject field intact."

obviously, the only one worth looking at is "rumsfeld birthday." happy birthday, rummy! and many more!

if you need to reaffirm your feelings about the commission's efforts or reflect on the importance of its mandate, you can access its archives and the calendar for future hearings (many here in nyc) here.

the "see-no-evil, hear-no-evil" monkeys of the republican congress can't stay silent forever. we must press them...help them to wrench the administration fist from their mouths and speak out against this crime...

...this crime. that is not finished, but that we watch unfold further and further into the fabric of our lives...in our living rooms, on our television sets, and in each other's vacant, frightened eyes.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: everything's optional, after all

2004-04-19T09:24:00.000-04:00

"learning is not compulsory, neither is survival."

-- w. edwards deming

FASCISHIONISM: it's not just about goose-stepping down the runway in your knee high leathers anymore

2004-04-19T05:14:00.000-04:00

from salon: a smart review of historian robert o. paxton's book on nouveau trending in fascism, titled "the anatomy of fascism."

it's on my wishlist, that's for sure.

KERRY SUPPORTS NEW SHARON INITIATIVE & ASSASSINATION: thebigwedding forced to pull advertising

2004-04-19T02:59:00.000-04:00

while "seeking to demonstrate where his policy on iraq diverges from president bush" on sunday's "meet the press," presidential candidate john kerry spoke out in support of both israel's legally-questionable assassination of hamas leader abdel aziz rantisi and sharon's horrendous new policies on settlements and palestinian "right of return" to israeli controlled areas. both actions reflect a major detour from the oft-trumpeted "road map to peace" and over fifty years of u.s. middle-east policy.

with tim russert, kerry said:

MR. RUSSERT: Israel assassinated Hamas leader Rantisi. Do you support that assassination?

SEN. KERRY: I believe Israel has every right in the world to respond to any act of terror against it. Hamas is a terrorist, brutal organization. It has had years to make up its mind to take part in a peaceful process. They refuse to. Arafat refuses to. And I support Israel's efforts to try to separate itself and to try to be secure. The moment Hamas says, "We've given up violence, we're prepared to negotiate," I am absolutely confident they will find an Israel that is thirsty to have that negotiation.

MR. RUSSERT: On Thursday, President Bush broke with the tradition and policy of six predecessors when he said that Israel can keep part of the land seized in the 1967 Middle East War and asserted the Palestinian refugees cannot go back to their particular homes. Do you support President Bush?

SEN. KERRY: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: Completely?

SEN. KERRY: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: You also said in December that you would consider as presidential ambassadors to the Middle East President Clinton, but also former President Carter and Secretary of State Baker. You then met with Jewish leaders and said, "I will not send Carter or Baker." Why?

SEN. KERRY: I think that what I was trying to talk about, Tim, was a kind of potential for bipartisanship as to how you might be able to approach putting a special envoy in place. The names obviously need to be acceptable to everybody within the community. You've got to do that as a matter of diplomacy. Subsequent to those names being floated, obviously, some people have different views about it.

MR. RUSSERT: Why do you think Carter and Baker are not acceptable?

SEN. KERRY: Well, that's not important. What's important is how to resolve the crisis, how do you move forward. I believe there's a way to move forward, I'm convinced of that. Now, I think what the president did in the last few days is to recognize a reality that even President Clinton came to. If you're going to have a Jewish state, and that is what we are committed to do and that is what Israel is, you cannot have a right of return that's open-ended or something. You just can't do it.

well. that sounds hopeful. "you just can't do it." with this statement, kerry slides lazily into the mindset that has driven the middle east conflict into a stall over and over again -- and one that encourages future generations of israelis and palestinians to have no hope ever for a peaceful co-habitation in their lands.

good move, "jfk..."

ok. let's get a hold of ourselves for the sake of reality -- this guy kerry has got to be the next president. we don't want to see him fail. i don't think it's alarmist to say any of us might die sooner than we'd like if he's not. but that being the case, we deserve better than this. a lot of people are saying bush accepted sharon's radical proposal in order to court the historically dem-leaning "jewish vote." well, seems the same might be true for kerry -- he's just trying to keep his herd in line and not let any calves get rustled by the black-hats from "crawford ranch."

well -- i'll tell ya -- if that's in fact what's going on, i sure wish the society of friends would start sending it's youth out on some more agressive conversion "missions," a la the mormons, and start thickening their quaker ranks...

it'd sure be nice to have someone courting the "pacifist vote" in this country. *sigh*

however, in light of the kerry campaign's decision last month to remove ads from high-profile blogger dailykos' site after "unacceptable statements" he made (regarding the desecration of the four american contractors last month), thebigwedding staff has had to (regretfully) make the following decision:

due to recent comments made by presidential candidate john kerry on "meet the press" regarding the new bush-backed sharon initiative, the management of thebigwedding has no choice but to respond in a "fair-and-balanced" manner, informed by the precedent set by senator kerry himself.

thebigwedding has removed all zero of the kerry advertisements that had been on this site. additionally, thebigwedding has refunded the total payment of $0.00 paid for the ads to the kerry campaign's account, in the hopes of demonstrating good faith.....well, ok...and we know that he really, really needs the money.

however, thebigwedding is willing to provide the kerry campaign the second chance it never afforded to dailykos:

if john kerry is willing to appear as the guest of thebigwedding on an online, real-time chat with our readers and can provide satisfactory evidence that his endorsement of the sharon plan goes beyond "jewish vote" harvesting and into the realm of actual foreign policy, thebigwedding will welcome any advertising that he may wish to place with us in the future.

c'mon, kerry, we really want to see you win this one -- join us here at thebigwedding and quell this doubt. confirm for us that we were right to pick you for the job.

...actually, to hell with that. you don't need to come on our site. go to fox, or larry king, go to limbaugh. we don't care where you turn up...

we'd just like you to explain this gaffe and restore our faith. a lot of people who are invested in you are getting worried...

BASRA BBQ's CANCELLED: there's too many "flies" and we forgot the "swatter."

2004-04-18T23:02:00.000-04:00

university of michigan professor and blogger juan cole, who may be one of the most excellent and impartial analysts in the entire universe of the situation in iraq, reports in this post of Iran's growing influence on the options left available to u.s. administrators...

...which are, well, you know...few at this point.

as the deathman's cart has made its way from falluja to the southern cities of najaf and karbala (both touted as signs of coalitional "success" as recently as february), ayatollah muhammad taskhiri -- representative in najaf of iran's supreme jurisprudent -- has tightened the noose...

Iran warned the American government that it would "pay a heavy price" if its forces attacked the cities of Najaf and Karbala. Ayatollah Muhammad Taskhiri, the representative of Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei, told al-Hayat, "The American forces will have committed the biggest act of stupidity in their entire lives if they took this vile step."

well...actually, "tashi," it's certainly not the biggest mistake we've made in our lives, but i'll give it to you that it's at least the mose recent...sound fair?

The Ayatollah added it was unlikely that any gulf countries would provide peacekeeping troops in Iraq.

um....well, ok -- have we been expecting some "super-new-ally-to-the-broad-coalition-fighting-the-war-on-terror-in-iraq" to step out from the shadows and perform a jedi mind trick? like who...the saudis?

but just how big a "fly" could these iranian supporters of sadr be to the american "swatter?" well, don't bother putting in a requisition order for a new swatter, CENTCOM...it might be time to pull out the DEET. the issue's moot, cuz the iranian "flies" have already brought their blood to the vein of american operations in the two city centers. while u.s. advisers in southern iraq (who asked not to be identified) insist that --

"The Iranians are not behind the current unrest. No one has produced any evidence Iran is behind that. Of the people we arrested in the south, none are Iranian agents."

-- the christian science monitor exposes the denial embedded in their statement:

Experts say Iran has been actively setting up "networks" in Iraq to be made ready to destabilize things in case of any US action against Iran. "The Iranians want to be in a position to meddle. They will gather intelligence, maybe collect weapons, to exploit a situation if America were to attack them," says the CPA adviser. "If you are Iranian, it would be sensible to create networks."

yes. it would seem sensible to want to create trouble for the transitional leadership of your neighboring enemy of so many years. and hey - if you can get a shot in at the country that armed them in their war against your people...

well. that would seem "sensible," don't you think?

so -- just how much DEET is it gonna take to kill those pesky terrorist "flies" we've been swatting? just what impact might the iranian shiite party-crashers have on our staid and solid campground barbecue?

juan cole relays the chilling reality that our guests might call it quits, head to the dairy queen, leaving all those american burger patties to go to waste. not to mention the buns --

"The commander of British troops in southern Iraq, Brig Nick Carter, admitted that he would be powerless to prevent the overthrow of Coalition forces if the Shia majority in Basra rose up in rebellion. Brig Carter, of the 20 Armoured Brigade, who has been in Iraq for four months, said British forces would stay in Basra with the consent of local Shia leaders, or not at all. Last month, 14 British soldiers were injured in Basra, at least three seriously, when they came under attack from demonstrators armed with petrol bombs, rocks and a grenade. "A crowd of 150,000 people at the gates of this barracks would be the end of this, as far as I'm concerned," Brig Carter said. "There would be absolutely nothing I could do about that . . ." During an interview in Basra last week Brig Carter acknowledged that the Coalition's presence in southern Iraq was entirely dependent on the goodwill of the local Shia Muslim leader, Sayid Ali al-Safi al-Musawi. He represents Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's leading Shia cleric. "The moment that Sayid Ali says, 'We don't want the Coalition here', we might as well go home," Brig Carter said."

great. thanks, tony blair. no, no, no...i have nothing but agreement for the british troops' assessment of the jam they're in. i'm sorry for them, i really am, and i don't blame them for not wanting to die at the hands of a mob that outnumbers them ten to one. but it was "england's clinton" who not only put them there on false pretense - just like our guy did here - but who could have been one of the most effective voices for u.n. resolutions and multi-lateralism, back when that was an option...

instead, he bobbled his jaw up and down, leaping tippy-toe from his padded bench to the speaker's podium of the houses of parliament, juggling that stupid black binder, and acting his way to a guest-role as a shitty attorney on the upcoming channel 4 series -- law and order: schmucks.

...i bet the vulcan-puppeteers find blair's pinocchio performance much more entertaining (and less painful to sweat through) than the texas howdy-doody show they have booked over here in our theaters...

it's come to the point where the united kingdom is the only e.u. country you can go to where your hosts can't slam you for your american leadership. and that's boring. i mean, as far as must-do's in europe go, there's nothing more fun than agreeing with the dutch over a pint of beer.

Vietnam Era Politician Slams Bush

2004-04-18T03:15:00.000-04:00

Satan's Minion chided by Dark Prince of Abaddon

at a conference at the new york plaza hotel for the american bar association, vietnam-era u.s. defense secretary robert -- "it's hard to say you're sorry, even if you were wrong" -- mcnamara laid into george -- "I anguish for those killed by the attacks on 9-11, but Osama Bin Laden was the person responsible for those attacks" -- bush for conducting current policy that "is immoral, it's illegal."

mcnamara specified:

"We are the strongest nation in the world today," McNamara said. "We should never use that power unilaterally. If we had followed that rule we wouldn't have been in Vietnam. There's no solution in Iraq that doesn't involve the UN (United Nations) in a major role."

well. thanks bobby, we coulda used ya a lil while back. given that you're on the mt. rushmore of the republican psyche, you think you might have had something to say...in 2002? how about 2003? what exactly were you doing all those months?

you are of course familiar with the documentary fog of war that examines, through current interviews and recollections of mcnamara, the difficulties of leadership when...

...well, when you make the wrong choices, essentially. it is an excellent film, and in all fairness, mcnamara is very well lit.

however, the film raises serious questions about how much (or little, as revealed) our leaders allow considerations of true, acute personal accountability to enter the realm of policy-making in which millions of lives are at stake.

mcnamara appeared at the kennedy school of government on 03.03.04 to speak with professors and students there about his career, within the context of the fog of war -- clips of the film were run between interview portions. you still may be able to find repeat broadcasts on c-span. i saw one this week.

much of what he says disturbs. in fact, it is not what he says that is so frightening, but that he finds no discomfort in relating ideas and observations that are so unapologetically and profoundly contradictory. it is as if...

...as if he just does not care if we see him for what he is.

in the kennedy appearance, he stated:

"The things we were doing would get us considered war criminals"

yet he balked at admitting remorse for his actions, stressing that the specific dynamics of both the cuban missile crisis and the escalation of the vietnam war made little time for reflection on the possible moral and social costs of either action.

meanwhile, out of the other side of his mouth, he stressed the importance of international courts in monitoring all current and future conflicts, including all current american actions (to which the WH has been adamantly opposed):

"...to keep things fair regardless of who happens to win and lose - what makes something moral if you win, but immoral if you lose? To the victor goes history."

while mcnamara's opinion does add a big gun to the artillery against the bush "war-game," the lost opportunity for policy-makers and all americans to benefit from mcnamara's knowledge and experience cannot be recovered. for at the kennedy school appearance, mcnamara conceded he has historically made a policy of not commenting on any of the actions of sitting presidents and officials who may be involved in delicate negotiations.

however:

"Recently, I’ve felt so passionate about what I’m not saying that I could explode.”

while mcnamara is in fact making valid and necessary criticisms of current policy, it is nothing but disheartening to think that a former official of such (admittedly) excellent intellect would keep to himself decades of global security analysis and insight...

in closing, mcnamara encouraged the "students/managers/future leaders" of the kennedy school to

"listen and learn from the mistakes of those before them."

here's one thing i think a number of the kennedy students were learning in that moment:

too little. too late. but thanks for trying.

REPUBLICAN TRACKING & BOUNTY HUNTING: Friends Don't Let Friends Pick Bush

2004-04-15T15:49:00.000-04:00

Think your broker's incessant talk about the Kerry campaign might be a diversion?

Wondering why, after 20 years of viewing together, your spouse wants to watch the nightly news on the "little tv" down in the cellar?

While searching for drugs, did you find a copy of of Bill O'Reilly's "The No-Spin Zone" in your daughter's sock drawer?

the bottom line:

YOU KNOW WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE, BUT DO YOU KNOW WHO THEY'RE FOR THIS NOVEMBER?

...Friends, it's easy to trust someone you think you know, but in reality, that just makes you an easier target for "Republican Sleeper Cells." PROTECT YOURSELF!!! These small, non-centralized units work within the shadows of Evil, waiting for America to drop its guard, and then they VOTE in unimaginable swarms, like killer-bees descending from the sun!!!

Think about it: Even you might know a high-level Republican "Ranger" or "Pioneer" and NOT EVEN KNOW IT!!!

Let's not allow the tragic events of 11.07.00 to happen again. This silent enemy has infiltrated our cities, schools, churches, and places of work -- they attempt to "fit in" among the rest of us until they are given their signal to mobilize...

It is YOUR responsibility to be vigilant. We cannot rely on our elected leaders alone to rid us of this threat!!!

It is time for us to develop our own "human intelligence" right here in our own communities. We must lift every rock and expose every worm for who s/he really is.

Here are two "Litmus Test" utilities you can use to protect you and your family. Each allows you to look up campaign contributions (including soft-money) made by people you need to monitor.

(1) opensecrets.org

(2) fundrace.org

Once you identify a potential threat to our great country, you must steel your resolve. Approach them openly, but calmly. Tell them what you've learned about them. Be gentle, but firm. Sometimes confronting a Republican is easier in a group - you can stage an intervention, if necessary.

And remember, while some are too far gone in their zealotry, others are not yet lost!

They will never shake our will!

CRITICAL UPDATE: Threat Level Blue

One of our deep-cover agents has uncovered a virtual meeting ground for many of the Republican insurgents. While his extraction was a harrowing experience, we have trained all of our agents to be willing and ready to "make the ultimate sacrifice."

Within their Elephantine lair, renegade "Ranger" scientists have duplicated our "Litmus Test" technology. We are unsure of how exactly it reached their hands, but we think it may be the work of free-radical Colin Quinn.

However, we have hacked a "backdoor" into their data command center, which can now be accessed here.

Remember! Friends don't let Friends Pick Bush!

********
Disclaimer: thebigwedding is not responsible for any adverse consequences resulting from the use of this utility, including, but not limited to:

stroke, seizure, cardiac arrest, loss of breath, broken plates, loss of employment, estrangement, fighting in-laws, depression, alienation, eviction, divorce, ennui, bankruptcy, foreclosure, downward mobility, or homicidal urges

(This list is representative. Other protections apply.)

funnies - "get your war on"

2004-04-15T13:40:00.000-04:00

enjoy.

Barbara Ehrenreich: "Bush's Odd Warfare State"

2004-04-15T10:01:00.000-04:00

nothing puts the blood in my mom's eyes like the historic neglect of american troops that bush et al have now taken on as a long-term "strategery."

"oh well, you mean how bush didn't send over enough troops to get the job done in iraq, right?"

no, not necessarily that, but you are smart...

"oh, oh, oh, i know - i heard somewhere that some troops weren't issued fully operational body armor, or something, and their families are having to fedex the vests and ceramic plates over there on their own dollar. yeah, that really sucks, man. it kind of makes me a little pissed off, now that i think about it..."

well. yeah, there's that too. mom and i both know how you feel...

unfortunately, it should be obvious that some servicemembers overseas are going to run up against some logistical or bureaucratic obstacles along the way. that's par for the course when deploying hundreds of thousands of people and supplies, but...

that's not the stuff that really gets mom's goat. she knows CENTCOM isn't a concierge service.

no, what outrages mom is the dogtag of 2nd world citizen that DOD budget analysts have noosed around the leather-necks of our servicemen and women. (no, no - not just when they're fighting for someone else's "freedom" in some 2nd world country.) she's talking about right here at home.

[DISCLOSURES]

1. i'm currently working on a longer piece (forthcoming) on the various incentives (both real and imagined) young people visualize when they consider service as a career move, and how recruiting protocols not only pander to, but perpetuate many of these adolescent misconceptions.

2. i worked as a defense contractor (assassin? mercenary? call me what you will) from 1999-2000. our client was an agency located at army hq, PERSCOM (english: headquarters, personnel command). in other words, the human resources department. i had the opportunity to work with soldiers from all branches, as our program was mandated by the joint chiefs of staff, and i met a variety of people who were each new to me in their own way. but there was one "difference" between me and the vast majority of the military folks i worked with -- GS-2's or GS-5's, navy or air force -- they were poor. not like "$42k total household income, two-kids, and two-car" poor. STRUGGLING. you can take a look at how the clams are divvied up at the 2003 general schedule (GS) salary table.

i will make every attempt to not insert myself into the presentation of the article featured below.

[END DISCLOSURES]

***EXCERPTED ARTICLE***

Barbara Ehrenreich, columnist for The Progressive, and author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America and Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War is the author of this excellent article:

"Here's one way our President proposes to 'support our troops': According to his 2005 budget, the extra pay our soldiers receive for serving in combat zones -- about $150 a month -- will no longer count against their food stamp eligibility. This budget provision, if approved, should bring true peace of mind to our men and women on the front lines. From now on, they can dodge bullets in Iraq with the happy assurance that their loved ones will not starve as a result of their bravery.

Military families on food stamps? It's not an urban myth. About 25,000 families of servicemen and women are eligible, and this may be an underestimate, since the most recent Defense Department report on the financial condition of the armed forces -- from 1999 -- found that 40 percent of lower-ranking soldiers face 'substantial financial difficulties.' Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, reports hearing from constituents that the Army now includes applications for food stamps in its orientation packet for new recruits.

Market forces ensure that a volunteer army will necessarily be an army of the poor. The trouble is, enlistment does not do a whole lot to brighten one's economic outlook. Frontline battle troops, most of whom have been in the military for about a year, earn less than $16,000 a year -- which puts them at about the level of theater ushers and Wal-Mart clerks. Even second lieutenants, at a starting salary of $26,000 a year, earn less than pest control workers and shoe repairers. So when the Bush Administration, in its frenzied rush to transfer more wealth to the already wealthy, hurts the working poor, you can count the troops among them. The 2003 Bush tax cut for the rich, for example, failed to extend a child tax credit to nearly 200,000 military personnel.

Well, they get all kinds of special benefits, don't they, like free housing and medical care? Yes, and that's a powerful attraction to the young men and women of America's working poor. But no one should confuse the U.S. military with a Swedish-style welfare state. The mother of a Marine reports that her son had to charge nearly $1,000 on her Visa card for items not issued by the military, like camouflage paint and socks. In 2003, Defense Department overseas schools for the children of military personnel closed a week early due to a lack of funds.

...the 2005 budget offers to double the military death benefit received by families of the fallen from $6,000 to $12,000. Sounds good. In fact, it may make death financially preferable to surviving in a damaged state. Bizarrely enough, veterans' disability benefits are deducted from their military retirement pay, giving the wounded a powerful incentive to die while they're young. The sorry condition of VA health services seems designed to accomplish the same thing, and those services are about to get a lot more inaccessible. In his 2005 budget, Bush proposes to raise veterans' health care costs -- through increased drug co-payments and a new "enrollment fee" -- thus driving an estimated 200,000 vets out of the system and discouraging another million from enrolling.

In the interests of maintaining a calm and dispassionate tone here, let's not talk about the morality of sending the poor to distant countries to die for undisclosed reasons while nickel-and-diming them every inch of the way. It will suffice to point out what a peculiar historical anomaly Bush's warfare state represents. Ever since the introduction of mass armies in Europe in the seventeenth century, governments have generally understood that to underpay and underfeed one's troops is to risk having the guns pointed in the opposite direction from that which the officers are recommending. Actually, modern welfare states, limited as they may be, are in no small part the product of war, i.e., of governments' attempts to appease the warriors and the class of people that supplies them.

This has been the way of the world: If you want the working class to die for you, then you have to give it something in return. Or possibly the proposed new immigration plan, which would bring Mexicans in to work at substandard wages, could be used to restock the U.S. military with bracero-soldiers to whom $16,000 a year and a $12,000 death benefit will look like a major fortune. If the citizens get too demanding, you can always resort to an army of foreign mercenaries.

Or maybe the Bush Administration isn't thinking at all, and will be stunned when the endless refrain of "support our troops" turns around, in November, and bites it."

ehrenreich is one of the most exciting authors out there. by covertly penetrating stratas of american society, as evidenced most remarkably by her expose of minnimum-wage-purgatory, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, she has assumed the mantle first lit by John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me...

be sure to check for her columns at The Progressive.

muslim army chaplain james yee cleared of all charges in six-month gitmo/adultery/pornography fiasco

2004-04-15T04:45:00.000-04:00

capt. james yee, the muslim chinese-american army chaplain who was accused of espionage (a capital offense) last year for abetting 9-11 detainees, has been fully exonerated of the string of charges against him. though an american citizen, yee was subjected to some of the same treatment as the "enemy combatants" he once led in prayer, overlooking the caribbean:

(1) yee was kept in solitary confinement for 76 days from the time of his arrest in september, 2003 until his first court appearance. though his transfer from active duty to the brig was covered heavily in the press, specifics of the actual charge against him were slowly released to the media - independent confirmation of many details of the charge against yee was impossible.

(2) after his two and a half month pre-trial incarceration, yee was brought in front of a military tribunal to face reduced charges of "mishandling classified information." however, after only three days, an administrative hearing found the chaplain guilty of new counts of adultery and downloading pornography, discovered during a probe of yee's government-issued laptop. a female navy officer stationed at gitmo testified to military officials that she and yee had had an affair. adultery is considered a serious offense in the U.S. military.

(3) between december 2003 and march of this year, the military was unable raise the evidence necessary to support their allegations of yee's improper handling of classified information. as a result, the court postponed proceedings against yee five times in a four month period.

(4) on march 15, 2004 the U.S. government closed their case, with not enough evidence to continue -- despite the admission into evidence of the classified documents that had been found in yee's possession, along with files on his laptop. the court moved instead to issue a reprimand related to the sex-related charges that would remain in yee's personnel file.

(5) yee, proclaiming his innonence, filed an appeal with the military court, moving for a retraction of the reprimand from his records.

(6) on april 14, 2004, gen. james t. hill -- head of the army's southern command in miami -- granted yee's appeal; he remarked, "extensive media attention given [to] chaplain yee's personal misconduct. i do not believe, given the extreme notoriety of his case in the news media, that further stigmatizing chaplain yee would serve a just and fair purpose."

(7) additionally, gen. hill cited the 76 days yee was held in pre-trial confinement last fall as one of the factors in overturning the guilty verdict and dropping the rest of the case Wednesday.

so...is this "x-factor" an admission of error on the part of the military's internal judicial system? or is this the army way of saying, "time served?"

yee, a west point graduate, has been reassigned to his home post at fort lewis, washington. i am surprised that, despite the obvious unconstitutionality of his early confinement (during his first weeks in the brig, he was denied the specifics of the charges against him and encountered obstacles when retaining the civil attorney of his choice)...

...he did not request a discharge.

maybe they paid him time and half when he was down in solitary. but i'll have to look into that.

"signs, signs, everywhere, the signs..."

2004-04-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

signs of what, you ask? well, i'm sorry to say that they all clearly point to the fact that troops on the ground in iraq, and their commanders, are seriously losing their grip on the situation. consider these three headlines breaking in the australian news, in the following order:

- on it's own, this first article seems to suggest that we finally might widen the pinhole of light we've clung to in the negotiations with Al Sadr:

"Sadr drops mediation conditions :

"Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to drop all his conditions in negotiations with the US-led coalition, a close aide said today. He will follow the guidance of the highest Shiite religious authority, the aide said."

- unfortunately, not-so-great-breaking-news came up on the australian wires one half hour later, indicating that perhaps U.S. negotiators were having problems with their cell phones:

"U.S. forces hammer Iraqi gunmen" :

"US warplanes and helicopters hammered gunmen today, straining a truce in besieged Fallujah. With more troops killed, April became the deadliest month for American forces since they set foot in Iraq. To the south, a 2500-strong US force massed on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf for a showdown with a radical cleric, raising fears of a US attack that would outrage the nation's relatively pro-US Shiite majority."

- sounds bad, huh? well, if you think that is gonna enrage Sadr supporters, wait til you read this, which was reported within 45 minutes of Sadr's announcement that he will drop his conditions in the negotiations. brace yourself:

"Iraqi beaten to death by U.S. troops" :

"An Iraqi has died of his wounds after US troops beat him with truncheons because he refused to remove a picture of wanted Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr from his car, police said today. The motorist was stopped late yesterday by US troops conducting search operations on a street in the centre of the central city of Kut, Lieutenant Mohamad Abdel Abbas said. After the man refused to remove Sadr's picture from his car, the soldiers forced him out of the vehicle and started beating him with truncheons, he said."

well, huh,....what to do?

maybe we should start giving those "psychological debriefings" to soldiers before they are deployed to iraq, instead of saving it all for when they come back stateside.

HERO: "Girl in wreck survives 10 days on noodles, Gatorade" : "Snake-and-monkey-eating troops rethink training protocol"

2004-04-14T10:22:00.000-04:00

you'll remember my rough-and-tumble guffawing at military personnel who have been "feasting" on "tables stacked" with monkey, dog, and snake meat in the indian jungles, in order to train for "low-intensity, guerrilla-style combat" (and "high-intensity fighting in their g.i. tracts").

i laughed. and then i laughed some more.

but - 5 year old girl, ruby bustamante, has proved me right on my notion that you really don't need a gazillion calories to survive "in a pinch." ruby and her mom had a car accident on or around april, 4. their car plunged 400 feet over a california highway guardrail, killing ruby's 26 year old mom, norma. however...

ruby survived amongst the wreckage for 10 days on dried noodles and gatorade, answering the sport-drink's slogan "is it in you?" with a resounding "Yes!"

go ruby! we love you.

u.s. contractors follow bush lead on "full disclosure"

2004-04-14T10:02:00.000-04:00

from today's salon:

FACT:

"...The Italian foreign ministry said its [captured] civilians worked for the U.S.- based DTS Security company and were first reported missing Monday. The Italian news agency AGI and other reports said the four were taken hostage in Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad."

LIE:

"At DTS Security in northern Virginia, operations director Jim Villegas told The Associated Press, 'We have no personnel in Iraq.'"

- when/if the truth comes out, DTS will most likely release a statement saying that the italians were working for a subcontractor - and had been deployed from a neighboring country, like kuwait, into iraq without company knowledge of their proximity to hostilities.

- i don't know how i know they're lying. but you know when you know, you know?

STAT: "12 days in April: 83 U.S. troops dead"

2004-04-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

we're praying for you guys over there. stay safe. come home.

new rules on 9-11 detentions issued by DOJ: "uh-oh, guys, we'd better get those detainee 'beat-down' home videos down from out of the ceiling tiles."

2004-04-14T08:17:00.000-04:00

salon reported today that after a dept. of justice investigation, the general inspector concluded, among other things:

"...'significant problems' with the treatment of post-Sept. 11 detainees, including physical abuse and mistreatment at a federal lockup in Brooklyn, N.Y..."

- sorry, i'm just not shocked by that one.

"The inspector general found guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn slammed detainees against walls, twisted their arms, conducted unnecessary strip searches, banged on cell doors while detainees were trying to sleep and tried to hide security camera tapes that confirmed many of the abuse allegations."

- yeah, that sounds about right for the "B.A.B.B.D.C." (Big-Apple-Blue-Beat-Down-Crew).

"High-ranking Homeland Security officials will be required from now on to review individual cases before approving long-term detentions."

- i'm pretty sure this can be confirmed. i saw a help-wanted sign for this type of position on the side of a city bus: "NYPD Recruits Wanted! Earn up to $25,000 per year! Great bennies!"

"Detainees will be given some form of written notice explaining why they are being held, even if such notice does not spell out specific, intelligence-sensitive information, Hutchison said. Homeland Security officials will no longer seek closed hearings in immigration court proceedings for entire groups of detainees."

"Hutchison said a lack of clear guidelines led to problems in Sept. 11-related investigations in which the FBI asked for individuals to be held, with some detentions lasting months with no apparent progress."

- hopefully, we'll see real progress with these detention abuses and with the military courts' "style" in prosecuting. a source close to me works for a law firm that represented chinese-american-muslim-chaplain army captain, james yee. he was charged with abetting terrorists at gitmo, failing to obey an order, adultery, and removing classified and sensitive matierals from a military base by means of "ninja-laptop-conveyance." (ok, ok. the last part's mine)...

- after being summarily dragged through the mud, yee's attorneys have managed a victory. the more serious counts mentioned above were dropped and yee will now face an april 15th sentencing hearing for the lesser counts of "adultery" and "downloading pornography to his government laptop computer." officials predict that a minor punishment, such as duty restriction or a temporary pay cut, will most likely be handed down.

what.

a.

crock.

of.

sh*t.

- so...what does jim yee have to say about why he was up to "no good" down in gitmo? let's listen in...

"...Yee had told the AP in a January 2003 interview that one of his goals as chaplain was to clear up misunderstandings about Islam. 'A lot of people don't know Jesus is part of Islam but Muslims believe he was a prophet,' Yee said. 'Surely people can be more open-minded.' He also said he was concerned about the detainees' spiritual needs."

- yup. that sounds serious enough to justify bringing an adultery charge that will follow him (and his wife) for the rest of his life.

- hey, rikers! here that? you can put down your plunger - smear campaigns work great too!