A Tale of Bad Pumpkins

Or, Something's Rotten in the Pumpkin Patch

Once upon a time, there was a pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were foolish, and allowed a very bad ruler to come to power:

The Pumpkin Ruler was self-indulgent, crude, and not very bright:

He kept company with some other nasty pumpkins:

Together, they did some very bad things:

The other pumkins weren't too worried, though, because they were satisifed being consumers:

One day, however, the pumpkins learned that one of the Pumpkin Ruler's friends was not very nice to the little pumpkins:

This made the other pumpkins feel bad:

Then, they learned that it was not an isolated event:

The Pumpkin Ruler started to give the other pumpkins a very bad feeling inside. They finally realized that they needed to purge themselves of the Pumpkin Ruler:

So they rid themselves of the Rotten Pumpkin, and there was Peace in the pumpkin patch.

Unveiling the Next War

Daniel Ellsberg, the former American military analyst who helped wake up the nation in 1971 when he released the U.S. military's account of Vietnam war activities, otherwise know as Pentagon Papers, to The New York Times, has something to say about the Next War. "Many government insiders" he writes, "are aware of serious plans for war with Iran, but Congress and the public remain largely in the dark."

Having been personally responsible for public release of classified information that was never intended for release, but that revealed to the American people how much they had been deceived by the U.S. government about the war in Vietnam, Ellsberg muses now about how things might have been different if he had brought the information forward sooner:

Had I done so, the public and Congress would have learned that Johnson’s campaign theme, “we seek no wider war,” was a hoax. They would have learned, in fact, that the Johnson Administration had been heading in secret toward essentially the same policy of expanded war that his presidential rival, Senator Barry Goldwater, openly advocated—a policy that the voters overwhelmingly repudiated at the polls.

I would have been indicted then, as I was seven years later, and probably imprisoned. But America would have been at peace during those years. It was only with that reflection, perhaps a decade after the carnage finally ended, that I recognized Morse [one of two senators to have voted agains the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in 1964] had been right about my personal share of responsibility for the whole war.

Not just mine alone. Any one of a hundred officials—some of whom foresaw the whole catastrophe—could have told the hidden truth to Congress, with documents. Instead, our silence made us all accomplices in the ensuing slaughter.

Ellsberg also notes the stunning parallel betweeen runup to the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution and the runup to the 2002 Iraq Resolution in the way the President and his top Cabinet members deceived Congress and the public to coerce them into supporting preexisting war plans against nations that posed no "near-term" threat to the U.S., and the obedient silence of hundreds of insiders who were aware of and complicit in that deception. Likening his missed opportunity to prevent the catastrophy of the Vietnam war to that of Richard Clarke, Bush's Chief of Counterterrorism and author of Against All Enemies, Ellsberg discusses the risks of revealing the Big Lie:

The personal risks of doing this are very great. Yet they are not as great as the risks of bodies and lives we are asking daily of over 130,000 young Americans—with many yet to join them—in an unjust war. Our country has urgent need for comparable courage, moral and civil courage, from its public servants. They owe us the truth before the next war begins.

And the War Crimes Protection Act (aka, Military Commissions Act) that we allowed Congress to pass and Bush to sign won't make that job any easier.

Fruits of War

Cultivate the Killing Fields, Expect a Bumper Crop

Many believe it is time for the U.S. to let Iraq create its own history--the figure is a full 90% in Iraq. Why do Iraqis want the U.S. out? Is it because they want to work with "the terrorists?" The data suggest otherwise:

...All of the polling data shows that Osama bin Laden remains enormously unpopular in Iraq. It is rather that they feel strongly that they could do a better job of providing security on their own, and they are afraid that the destabilizing U.S. presence, the main recruiting poster for terrorists, threatens to be permanent...An occupation initially advertised as a “cakewalk” war to disarm a tyrant is now, according to our politically desperate president, a fight for the soul of the world—good versus evil, democracy versus tyranny...The evidence arrives daily in the form of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of mutilated bodies. But even the few ghastly images that actually make it onto the television actually underestimate the horror. And it is getting worse, not better: The killing of innocents is now 10 times higher than a year ago. (More...)

In the safe harbor of a press conference, Bush dismissed a request to quantify the human toll of the Iraq war. And yet, 655,000 Iraqi civilian deaths is not a mere guess. Rather, it is the best estimate, based on the most sound methods, and the strongest evidence that we have to date, which is why the Iraqi medical authorities are now forbidden to release mortality information.

The wounded are often an ignored cost of war. Ron Kovic, Vietnam Veteran, recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, peace activist and outspoken critic of the Iraq war, muses over the forgotten wounded of Iraq.

They have been coming home now for almost three years, flooding Walter Reed, Bethesda, Brooke Army Medical Center and veterans hospitals all across the country. Paraplegics, amputees, burn victims, the blinded and maimed, shocked and stunned, brain-damaged and psychologically stressed, over 16,000 of them, a whole new generation of severely maimed is returning from Iraq, young men and women who were not even born when I came home wounded to the Bronx veterans hospital in 1968.

Kovic included the following poem at the beginning of his autobiography, Born on the 4th of July (hear it read by the author):

I am the living death
The memorial day on wheels
I am your yankee doodle dandy
Your John Wayne come home
Your Fourth of July firecracker
Exploding in the grave

This is what happens when we allow corporations to make war on the public dime.

See this film:

We are not building Democracy.
We are not spreading Freedom.

We are fomenting Mayhem.
We are unleashing Violence.

We are cultivating the killing fields
and harvesting one hell of a bumper crop
while someone makes a mint.

Who's Counting?

Apparently, not the Iraqi medical authorities.

A new epidemiology report released this month has shown that more than 650,000 Iraqi civilians have died at the hands of violence since the American invasion in 2003. Supporters of the war have cricized the report; the scientists involved have stood by their work and have challenged critics to present better methods and numbers:

"I loved when President Bush said 'their methodology has been pretty well discredited,' " says Richard Garfield, a public health professor at Columbia University who works closely with a number of the authors of the report. "That's exactly wrong. There is no discrediting of this methodology. I don't think there's anyone who's been involved in mortality research who thinks there's a better way to do it in unsecured areas. I have never heard of any argument in this field that says there's a better way to do it." (More...)

This does raise some interesting questions about the actual number of deaths, how they are best counted, and who benefits from suppressing this information. Last month, the Christian Science Monitor reported that the Baghdad morgue body counts tripled the official August death toll. Now we have learned that the Iraqi Prime Minister has ordered the medical authorites to stop providing mortality data:

Mr. Qazi, a former Pakistani diplomat, says that the order to let the prime minister’s office take over the release of the numbers came down a day after a United Nations report for July and August showed a serious upward spike in the number of dead and wounded. The leader of the Health Ministry in Iraq appealed to be allowed to continue supplying the figures to the United Nations but was turned down according to a subsequent letter from the prime minister’s office, Mr. Qazi’s cable said.

Perhaps I'm stepping out on a limb here, but it almost seems as if they don't want to know.

Man in Black

Seems like today we are so proud of ourselves for not getting entangled by thinking of others.

My daddy loved Johnny, but this isn't why.

Thread openly, if you have it.

Republicans Cut the Deal and Run?

It's rumored that Bush, with the help of former Secretary of State, James Baker, may be preparing plans to exit Iraq, despite the fact that:

Such a strategy would once have been unthinkable for Mr Bush, who famously vowed to keep US forces in Iraq even if he was supported only by his wife, Laura, and dog, Barney. But the president now appears willing to acknowledge that the public is losing confidence in his administration's involvement in Iraq. On Wednesday Mr Bush admitted for the first time the existence of a parallel between Iraq and Vietnam.

Wow.
The Decider contradicted himself.
Iraq was compared to Vietnam.
The ground trembled.

Furthermore, the timing is odd.

Right before the election, mistakes are made, and admitted, and rumors swirl. It almost seems that as soon as the deal is cut on the rules for controlling Iraq's oil, which is due to happen any day and with the involvement of all the usual suspects (i.e., Bush's oil Cartel), the Republicans plan to "cut and run" out of Iraq, out of congress, and out of responsibility for the mess they made. As delighted as I am with the punishment the Republicans face at the polls, it makes me wonder.

Why did tricky Dick Cheney insist on keeping his energy policy meetings with oil executives secret? Why did meetings to set U.S. energy policy involve maps of the Iraqi oil fields? Was it the Bush strategy all along to cut the oil deal and run?

Related post: History Lesson
(Cross-posted at Ice Station Tango)

Californians Ready to Invite Arnold Back

Well, how did we get here? In the state with 43% of registered voters identifying as Democrat and 34% identifying as Republican, a wildly unpopular Republican president, and in the midst of a punishing backlash against Republican politicians nationwide, how did we land a Republican shoo-in governator? Dan Glaister of The Guardian has some answers.

Californians think it's cool to be bi:

"Part of the answer lies in the governor's much-vaunted bipartisanship, his professed keenness to work across party lines and do what is best for the state."

He's free of Bush's influence, he's got star power, AND he's humble:

"Trying to link me with George Bush is like trying to link me with an Oscar."

He's nearly royalty himself, but better:

Responding to his debate opponent's long-winded discussion of minutae, Arnold replied, "I feel a bit like I'm having dinner with Uncle Teddy at Thanksgiving."

Maybe it just comes down to the "wow" factor:

"...[Angelides] has the charisma of a biology teacher. In American politics, for good or bad, you have to have something going on."

Personally, I've had some pretty hot biology teachers.

Election: Projection/Protection

Dems Catching Wind in Midterm Election Sails

The Democratic party has caught wind in the fast and furious storm surrounding the Foley child predator sex scandal. TPM desribes 6 more races that have come into play, noting: "These shifts come after a more extensive Election Central analysis a week ago found that since Foleygate broke in late September, at least 29 races moved towards Dems."
The latest polling data suggest a rather strong sea change, indeed:

The Republican party faces historic losses in next month’s mid-term elections, according to the latest polling. The numbers suggest that voter discontent with the Republicans is so strong that they will lose control of both the House and the Senate.

The poll, for the Wall Street Journal and NBC, shows the Republicans breaking a series of records: approval of the Republican-led Congress fell to a record low of 16%, for the first time more than 50% of voters favoured one party - the Democrats - to control Congress, the Republican party received the highest ever negative rating for a party, and President Bush was viewed negatively by 52%, matching the worst score of his presidency.

Oddly, it seems like there has been more news about election projection than election protection, even in the face of illegal vote suppression.

How will Americans react to reports of election tampering, and how does this "isolated incident" look from the outside? Philip James, writer for The Guardian, reports that in America, "Republicans are damaging the republic" as "questionable tactics in the midterms weaken the foundations of US democracy."

Racked with scandal, cowed by voter dissatisfaction and bereft of fresh ideas, Republicans are resorting to the only measure left to a party in power and desperate to cling to it: cheating, or what's more politely referred to as voter suppression. (More...)

So, how big a landslide will the midterm elections be? How broad and brazenly will votes be suppressed? And this time around, will there be an election fraud smoking gun? Subjects in the new Imperial Democratic Fascism want to know.

Bill of Wrongs

What Part of the "Bill of Rights" Isn't Clear?

Protest while you still can:

On October 13, the New York Times reported that internal military documents, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, showed that military officials had labeled antiwar activities within the United States as “potential terrorist activity.”

The activities cited included a “Stop the War Now” rally in Akron, Ohio in March 2005. An internal military report in May 2005 on antiwar actions at the University of California, Santa Cruz, flatly asserted that “the Students for Peace and Justice represent a potential threat to D.O.D. (Department of Defense) personnel.” Material suggesting that antiwar activities posed the threat of criminal terrorism “were widely shared among analysts from the military, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security,” the Times reported.

The implication of such reports is clear: plans are well under way, in the Bush administration and the military and intelligence agencies, to criminalize political dissent and treat those who oppose the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those who defend democratic rights, as potential terrorists, who can be branded as “unlawful enemy combatants,” arrested, and locked away in a new American gulag. (More...)

So now we make Israel look soft on the willingness to torture scale?

Those who think that the "War Crimes Protection Act"—also known as the "Torture Act" and the "Military Commissions Act"—is not a clear cut case of "CYA" (i.e., "Cover Your Ass"), are really trippin.

The way I see it, nullifying the Bill of Rights is pretty black and white.


Someday we will be asked:

"Why did America let the Bill of Rights
give way to the Bill of Wrongs?"

How will we answer?

History Lesson

Robert Newman gives a history lesson in his "History of Oil" that will make you laugh and cry.

If you haven't watched it, watch it.
If you've already watched it, watch it again.

Then think about this:

"Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as "the prize." Iraq is sitting on a mother lode of some of the lightest, sweetest, most profitable crude oil on earth, and the rules that will determine who will control it and on what terms are about to be set." (More...)

The pantless inspiration, blogger sans-culotte, researched this subject thoroughly, and posted on it; for a more in-depth history lesson, references and all, click here.

Who says history never repeats?

BLUE Moon

Blue Light
Moon Light
Fond of You Light

May Truth see the light of day

This thread is Open and Blue.

Stormy Weather

The sky ripped open tonight.

Talk about it, or not.

Is It Time Yet?

Yes, I really am getting tired of waiting for the election. Yes, I feel like I've been trapped in a bubble for the past 6 years. Yes, I want out. Yes, I'm anxious. Yes, I know it's not over. Yes, time goes slowly when you are waiting for something to happen. Yes.

Rumsfeld Enabled N. Korea

In the wake of North Korea's recent nuclear test, Bush and Company have set about rewriting history by blaming the Clinton administration for the pending Asian nuclear arms race. In addition to being patently false, it turns out that Bush's Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, helped North Korea go nuclear. We know that Rumsfeld sat on the board of ABB, as that company won a contract to sell nuclear reactors to North Korea:

Mr Rumsfeld was a non-executive director of ABB, a European engineering giant based in Zurich, when it won a $200m (£125m) contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors. The current defence secretary sat on the board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year. He left to join the Bush administration.

Furthermore, Fortune magazine revealed Rumsfeld's role in lobbying on behalf of ABB:

ABB spokesman Bjoern Edlund told Fortune magazine at the time that "“board members were informed about this project."” ... "“This was a major thing for ABB," the former director [who sat on the board with Rumsfeld] said, "“and extensive political lobbying was done." The director recalls being told that Rumsfeld was asked "“to lobby in Washington" on ABB'’s behalf.

And like a good war profiteer, Rumsfeld refuses to discuss the matter. He does not seem to recall the arms deal which preceded Bush's abrupt change in policy:

Just months after Mr Rumsfeld took office, President George Bush ended the policy of engagement and negotiation pursued by Mr Clinton, saying he did not trust North Korea, and pulled the plug on diplomacy. Pyongyang warned that it would respond by building nuclear missiles. A review of American policy was announced and the bilateral confidence building steps, key to Mr Clinton's policy of detente, halted.

And like a good journalist, Keith Olbermann recently dug into the truth:


And when it comes to turning profits on a war, follow the money. Especially in a corporate state government. War. It does a corporation good.

Sunshine

Shame, Tears, and Sailboats

Or, How I Feel About Losing the Bill of Rights

What makes me ashamed these days?

Did you hear that click, like the turning of a dial, auguring a new America?

It happened on Sept. 29 at 2:47 p.m. That was the seismic minute that Congress passed the Military Commissions Act and formally granted President Bush royal powers he had been unilaterally arrogating. The historic action may one day be remembered as the moment the great American experiment in liberty ended. It was a good run.

You see, it is one thing for a renegade executive to crown himself like Charlemagne and declare that his (cough) wisdom is exceptional enough to designate Americans and foreigners as enemies to be detained indefinitely. It is quite another for 315 members of Congress to go along. When the people's representatives collude to collapse the separation of powers into one omnipotent executive, our nation becomes defined by that act. We are a nation of laws, even when it's a really bad one.

That was ROBYN E. BLUMNER, Times Perspective Columnist, writing about the War Criminals Protection Act: We Americans Really Ought to Be Ashamed. A tad more:

The law is a true abomination. It is our fault. We let this happen. We allowed them to draw the false dichotomy between security and freedom. We accepted Bush's Torture Nation and his untouchable island prison.

Judge Learned Hand said "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it." Americans no longer understand what liberty means. They think it has something to do with tax-free shopping and their right never to be offended by others' opinions.

Bush has made me mad, I can't begin to count the number of times, and he's caused me "grave concern", and he's made me "sick to my stomach", but on September 2th, I covered my eyes with my open palms and like a little girl, I cried.

Last night, Keith Olbermann, Journalist for America, articulated in clear, direct terms what had brought me to such a place:


Where is my sailboat back to Democracy, and why are so few of my leaders building boats? And if I decide to try to swim back, will I find myself washed up on the shores of an island detention camp designed for people who oppose the New American Fascism? Can we take this broken State and together build a raft?

If Everybody Knows...

...Then why are we here?


Musician: Leondard Cohen
Video H/T: Bluegal, who happens to rock...

So after it becomes possible for foreign-born pushers of fitness supplements to become president, then they can stay in office forever... I see a Terminator without term limits (i.e., Dictator) in the making:

WASHINGTON - One thing is certain about the 2008 presidential election campaign that begins in one year: It won't involve George W. Bush as a candidate. But bipartisan legislation to repeal the 22nd Amendment restriction of two terms for U.S. presidents could change that certainty for future presidents.

Two of the most passionate congressional advocates of such a move - Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-MD, and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-WI - have teamed up to sponsor a resolution that would represent the first step toward that change in the U.S. political system.

Color me impatient...

Anyone Watching Now?

At a time when many are having a hard time swallowing the blood running fast and foul in the waters of Iraq, news of the Amish school shooting struck a heavy blow. Of all victims, who could be less deserving but children of the peaceful, gentle Amish? And we have been obsessively trying to imagine how it all could have happened...

The shooter's funeral was held on Saturday; about 75 people attended, and about half were Amish. They came to mourn the man who had killed five of their young school girls and had wounded five more in a " brief, unfathomable rampage."

And what were they doing at the memorial service? Why ever did the reclusive and withdrawn Amish attend? Bruce Porter, a fire department chaplain who attended the service, said, "It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed." Marie Roberts, the shooter's widow, he said, "was absolutely deeply moved, by just the love shown." Why, indeed.

Knowing how much the corporate media and its viewers have fixated on the story of Republican Congressman Mark Foley's sexual predation of children, and also knowing how transfixed, we as a nation, have been with the Amish school girl killings, including the lurid details of how the shooter had intended to sexually assault the girls before killing them, I wonder if anyone is still paying attention. Because in America, wearing a cowboy costume and being a bully can make one a most underserving hero. And, it seems there is a lesson in this story for which America is long overdue. Anyone taking notes?

Make It Stop

The President Who Made Things Up and
The Congress That Couldn't Say No.

Make it stop.

(And consider this an open thread.)

Test

This is a test of the Democratic system.

The Terminator's Terms

So, you really want to know why California, leader of U.S. progressive causes, seems to be ready to cast its vote for the muscle-builder turned actor turned politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic-Governor Terminator Extraordinaire...

Well, it is true that after the trouncing he received in the November, 2005, special election, where Californians collectively voted "NO!" to a band of ballot initiatives high on his wish list, the Terminator seemed to be nearing termination of his reign as California Governor; his approval ratings had dipped to a low of 37%. But what's an expensive abysmal failure of a special election between friends?

Recent polls put Arnold ahead of his opponent, Phil Angelides (17% lead), and Arnold has raised more than his opponent, though Angelides has more cash on hand. Some say it is the centrist "olive branches" Arnold has offered since his "Special Defeat;" the Angelides camp counters that Arnold's popularity has remained stable despite a long campaign spending spree and the voters have not yet gotten to know Angelides and his appeal. Imagine.

But I have to wonder, given Arnold's failure to disclose his fitness magazine business dealings, which occurred immediately before he took office, and were kept secret as he later vetoed bills designed to protect people from the dangerous health effects, including death, of products like Metabolife, why California voters seem willing to sign up for another term. In the throes of Special Election campaigning, he alienated teachers and union workers by calling them "Special Interests", never mind his recent verbal debacle regarding the mingling of Black and Latino "hot blood." He has continued to support Bush's failed and unjust war. And then, of course, there's the pass he gave to Big Energy on California's Energy Scam.

Confounding the issue may be that Californians are leading a national trend toward independent voters--the "Decline to State" camp, who can be hard to predict, short on memory, fleeting in loyalty, and slow to the voting booth.

So is it that California voters are just too star struck to help themselves, or that Schwarzenegger's opposition is just a little shy on content; so far, anyway, Angelides seems to be running on the "He's friends with Bush" platform. Though President Bush is immensely unpopular in California, voters don't seem to connect Schwarzenegger with Bush, despite the Governor's continued support for Bush's policies.

Perhaps the Democrats should consider taking a page out of the Keith Olbermann book of "Special Comments"... just to see what it feels like.

Tags: Schwarzenegger Reelection, California Governor's Race, Phil Angelides.

Trouble in Paradise?

Could it be... ?

Rumors about the anticipated "October Surprise" continue to swirl. Will we attack Iran? Will "the terrists" attack us? Will Martial Law be put into effect? Will the election be cancelled? Will the internet be shut down? Will the detention camps be filled? Will we hear that God told George to keep on saving the world one colossal failure at a time? Be assured, Trouble is afoot in the bush garden of Eden. Capital "T."

Opinions diverge on all but the certainty that something will happen, and that it will be every bit as staged as the downing of the Saddam statue, the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, and the debut of Bush's flight costume at the Lincoln Playhouse.

Perhaps it will be that Rummy will get the boot, with Laura cheering on the sidelines, evil eyes wide open. Woodward, for all his late-date flip flopping, gives some reason to consider this a viable hypothesis.

Of course, it may be that Laura is simply starring in another commercial to sell the idea that there is a modicum of reason in the Bush Circle of Obedience, while Bush demonstrates to manly men everywhere how to ignore a reasonable opinion from a woman who is to be seen and not heard. Go Tuffy.

And who really is responsible for leaking all that dirt on Foley?

Opinions, facts, links, distractions...

Bring 'em on.