George W. Bush sounded as dim-witted as ever when he said, upon hearing of the 4,000th American killed in Iraq, that our dead had laid a “foundation for peace.”
Remind me -- was there War in Iraq prior to the American invasion?
Was there chaos, violence, car-bombings, suicide bombings, sectarian death squads, ethnic cleansing, and a mass internal exodus?
Prior to the U.S. Invasion and Occupation, did the electric grid work, did clean water flow through the pipes, did raw sewage get treated and could Iraqis move about the country in relative freedom and safety?
The people who brought us the Invasion and Occupation told us – told the entire world – that the armed action would be brief, relatively bloodless, and monetarily cheap; they told us that everyday Iraqis would rise up and establish a glorious Democracy in the Middle East; they told us that the Americans would be welcomed as deliriously as the French welcomed Americans in Paris in 1944.
Intelligent people the world over knew that invading Iraq for its purported role in the 9/11 terror attacks was an insane foray into a vipers nest; intelligent people knew that there was no logical nexus between 9/11 and Iraq; and those same intelligent people were quite certain that no Weapons of Mass Destruction would turn up in Iraq. When Bush changed the rationale from rooting out WMD to “liberating” the long-suffering Iraqi people, intelligent people knew the President was full of shit.
If the sole point of the Iraq Invasion and Occupation was freeing people living under tyranny, when is the U.S. going to invade Cuba, North Korea, Pakistan or one of several suffering African nations? Aren’t the people in those places worthy of a gift of freedom from the U.S.?
No matter how we mourn 4,000 American dead – and all of us should examine our complicity in this mess, though none more than George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and a number of lesser arrogant assholes -- ordinary, innocent Iraqis have suffered many times more. Every Iraqi killed or injured is like the proverbial pebble in a pond, emanating outwards, touching dozens of lives – mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends.
The failed Occupation of Iraq may have vanished from American TV screens, but the consequence of our stupidity, hubris, and foolishness goes on, and on. We may bestow medals on the survivors of this grim exercise in imperial overreach, call them heroes, name streets and federal buildings in their honor, but none of that hoopla will erase the fact that this Invasion and Occupation was based on lies and propaganda and had nothing to do with keeping the U.S. secure.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Tear Off the Scab, Expose the Wound
I don’t understand the big media flap over statements made by Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Barack Obama’s former pastor. Why is Obama being held accountable for statements made by someone else, statements taken out of context, statements that probably resonated with the largely African-American audience to which they were aimed? Dr. Wright has no doubt seen his share of poverty, despair and hopelessness. Dr. Wright’s job is to give hope to people who have none. In the short video clip that has become so familiar to TV news viewers, I didn’t hear Dr. Wright calling for African-Americans to rise up and smite their white oppressors; I heard him describing a reality that African-Americans know all too well.
White Americans – and particularly Conservative white Americans – become nervous when an African-American person brings up the race issue. Whites would much rather believe that institutionalized racism is long behind us and that we are now color-blind, with no need for corrective measures like Affirmative Action; whites want desperately to believe that only merit matters; and I think whites desperately wish to believe that the incarceration rate for African-American males is disproportionate because of some inbred lack of ambition, responsibility or morality within African-American males rather than the predictable result of a society where racism is still prevalent. Overt signs of racism may be less obvious today than they were in 1940 or 1950 or 1960, but the underlying assumptions about black people in the minds of white people are still alive and well.
White Americans would do well to read James Baldwin who wrote in an essay called “The Fire Next Time” that, “The American Negro has the great advantage of having never believed the collection of myths to which white Americans cling: that their ancestors were all freedom-loving heroes, that they were born in the greatest country the world has ever seen, or that Americans are invincible in battle and wise in peace…” In other words, African-Americans could see America for what it is, warts and all, rather than an idealized picture that bears no resemblance to reality.
Sounds somewhat familiar, doesn’t it? Sounds like the myths and distortions bandied around every day by white right-wing radio commentators like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, who tell their largely white audiences that racism is all in the heads of black people, an excuse blacks use to account for their failure to lift themselves out of poverty, drug addiction, and violence.
Perhaps the white media is upset about Dr. Wright’s sermon because it rips the scab off the American scar and exposes the wound that no amount of myth-making by white people can heal.
White Americans – and particularly Conservative white Americans – become nervous when an African-American person brings up the race issue. Whites would much rather believe that institutionalized racism is long behind us and that we are now color-blind, with no need for corrective measures like Affirmative Action; whites want desperately to believe that only merit matters; and I think whites desperately wish to believe that the incarceration rate for African-American males is disproportionate because of some inbred lack of ambition, responsibility or morality within African-American males rather than the predictable result of a society where racism is still prevalent. Overt signs of racism may be less obvious today than they were in 1940 or 1950 or 1960, but the underlying assumptions about black people in the minds of white people are still alive and well.
White Americans would do well to read James Baldwin who wrote in an essay called “The Fire Next Time” that, “The American Negro has the great advantage of having never believed the collection of myths to which white Americans cling: that their ancestors were all freedom-loving heroes, that they were born in the greatest country the world has ever seen, or that Americans are invincible in battle and wise in peace…” In other words, African-Americans could see America for what it is, warts and all, rather than an idealized picture that bears no resemblance to reality.
Sounds somewhat familiar, doesn’t it? Sounds like the myths and distortions bandied around every day by white right-wing radio commentators like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, who tell their largely white audiences that racism is all in the heads of black people, an excuse blacks use to account for their failure to lift themselves out of poverty, drug addiction, and violence.
Perhaps the white media is upset about Dr. Wright’s sermon because it rips the scab off the American scar and exposes the wound that no amount of myth-making by white people can heal.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Icing On Bush's Cake
Do you still believe in the Ownership Society, in the sanctity of the Free Market, in endless tax cuts, and that Government, at every level, is an evil that must be rooted out?
Last Friday, President Bush attempted to reassure financial titans that the American economy is still rosy. Bush tried to make light of the crisis engulfing the banking industry, but nobody in the audience believed him; today the DOW opened 143 points lower. Bush’s fantasies are shop-worn. It’s certain he will leave office in disgrace, with the United States stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy in disarray, and average citizens far worse off than they were when the Supreme Court installed Bush & Cheney in the White House.
Where is Grover Norquist, Newt Gingrich, Alan Greenspan, Tom DeLay, fat Rush Limbaugh and all the rest of the cheerleaders for the “permanent Republican majority?” Bush & Cheney tried their best to implement every absurd neo-con idea and look what happened?
Bush will make more jokes and gaffes today when he tries to assure Americans that the economy is fine, just suffering from a temporary setback, but he won’t be any more believable today than he was last week.
Of course, the mainstream American media is crying for the poor employees of Bear Stearns, but where was the media when those employees and Bear executives were raking in cash from sub-prime mortgages and other shady investment instruments? In the salad days, when the good money was flowing, the media had nothing but positive things to say about the American economy and the marvelous “creativity” of the Titans of Finance.
Five years in Iraq, billions poured into that mess, no end in sight. Are you still worried about “family values” and the “personal morality” of the President? How did Bill Clinton’s personal indiscretion in 1998 harm you? According to Gingrich and the other hypocrites who called for Clinton’s head, that piss-ant scandal was the worst event to befall America since Pearl Harbor, a sure sign of our moral decay and imminent collapse. Compared to the wholesale mess we’re in today, Clinton-Lewinsky was a Saturday afternoon picnic.
Last Friday, President Bush attempted to reassure financial titans that the American economy is still rosy. Bush tried to make light of the crisis engulfing the banking industry, but nobody in the audience believed him; today the DOW opened 143 points lower. Bush’s fantasies are shop-worn. It’s certain he will leave office in disgrace, with the United States stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy in disarray, and average citizens far worse off than they were when the Supreme Court installed Bush & Cheney in the White House.
Where is Grover Norquist, Newt Gingrich, Alan Greenspan, Tom DeLay, fat Rush Limbaugh and all the rest of the cheerleaders for the “permanent Republican majority?” Bush & Cheney tried their best to implement every absurd neo-con idea and look what happened?
Bush will make more jokes and gaffes today when he tries to assure Americans that the economy is fine, just suffering from a temporary setback, but he won’t be any more believable today than he was last week.
Of course, the mainstream American media is crying for the poor employees of Bear Stearns, but where was the media when those employees and Bear executives were raking in cash from sub-prime mortgages and other shady investment instruments? In the salad days, when the good money was flowing, the media had nothing but positive things to say about the American economy and the marvelous “creativity” of the Titans of Finance.
Five years in Iraq, billions poured into that mess, no end in sight. Are you still worried about “family values” and the “personal morality” of the President? How did Bill Clinton’s personal indiscretion in 1998 harm you? According to Gingrich and the other hypocrites who called for Clinton’s head, that piss-ant scandal was the worst event to befall America since Pearl Harbor, a sure sign of our moral decay and imminent collapse. Compared to the wholesale mess we’re in today, Clinton-Lewinsky was a Saturday afternoon picnic.
Friday, March 14, 2008
PENIS DEFEATS BRAIN -- AGAIN
OK, Eliot Spitzer, here’s the first question I want to ask you: was that young hooker worth it? Second question: did it ever occur to you that cash money is untraceable?
Jesus, Eliot Spitzer’s a brilliant guy with a first-rate pedigree and a reputation as a kick-ass anti-corporate warrior, but it goes to show that when a man leads with his dick instead of his brain, terrible things usually happen.
The moral side of the Spitzer mess doesn’t trouble me too much – powerful men have sought solace with prostitutes for millennia. Flagging a hooker down on a Manhattan street or making arrangements through an agency is a personal decision that, for most men, carries personal consequences, such as, being rolled by a pimp, contracting an STD, or having one’s spouse find out. For a high-profile elected official, it’s all of those risks and more. Spitzer’s political career is finished, for now anyway, at least until he emerges from Rehab cleansed of his sexual addiction. That’s probably a year or three down the trail, and until then Spitzer has a family to feed and clothe. Even in the sleazy world of big-time corporate law, it’s unlikely a reputable firm would take a chance and hire Spitzer.
Until the dust settles and public memory fades – and if you don’t believe that it will, remember that Bill Clinton is today stomping the campaign trail for his wife, despite that fact that he played hide-the-cigar-in-your-pussy with an intern in the Oval Office – Spitzer might try becoming a lobbyist for a condom manufacturer or perhaps the sex toy industry. Experts generally advise job seekers to stick with what they know, and Eliot obviously knows a thing or two about the tawdry world of sex.
At least Spitzer wasn’t nailed with child pornography on his computer or the names of underage boys on his cell phone; he didn’t, as far as I know, bugger interns in his office or stage an orgy in Central Park. His “crime” was pedestrian, stupid, pathetic; the former NY governor is obviously hauling some heavy baggage around, unsatisfied in his own bedroom, and under a lot of stress; although his wife stood at his side while he informed the planet of his fuck-up, she struck me as a unforgiving lady, and I hope the Spitzer’s have a spare bedroom for Eliot.
Another politician goes down in disgrace. Ho-hum. The Republicans will crow about moral decay, spout illogical claptrap about Christian values, renew calls for the abolishment of public education (a hotbed of immorality and vice) and generally have a field day making the Spitzer story a black mark against all Democrats. NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox, and all the crass infotainment programs will continue to trot out current and former madams and hookers, pop psychologists, sex experts and reformed perverts of every persuasion, and analyze poor Eliot to death.
Was she that good, Eliot? Could she could suck a golf ball through twenty feet of plastic tubing or shoot a ping-pong ball from her vagina? Did she do tricks, swing from the ceiling, suck you off in the shower?
I was under the impression that Ivy League schools do a better job teaching their politically ambitious students to break the law with panache; guess Eliot skipped those lessons.
Jesus, Eliot Spitzer’s a brilliant guy with a first-rate pedigree and a reputation as a kick-ass anti-corporate warrior, but it goes to show that when a man leads with his dick instead of his brain, terrible things usually happen.
The moral side of the Spitzer mess doesn’t trouble me too much – powerful men have sought solace with prostitutes for millennia. Flagging a hooker down on a Manhattan street or making arrangements through an agency is a personal decision that, for most men, carries personal consequences, such as, being rolled by a pimp, contracting an STD, or having one’s spouse find out. For a high-profile elected official, it’s all of those risks and more. Spitzer’s political career is finished, for now anyway, at least until he emerges from Rehab cleansed of his sexual addiction. That’s probably a year or three down the trail, and until then Spitzer has a family to feed and clothe. Even in the sleazy world of big-time corporate law, it’s unlikely a reputable firm would take a chance and hire Spitzer.
Until the dust settles and public memory fades – and if you don’t believe that it will, remember that Bill Clinton is today stomping the campaign trail for his wife, despite that fact that he played hide-the-cigar-in-your-pussy with an intern in the Oval Office – Spitzer might try becoming a lobbyist for a condom manufacturer or perhaps the sex toy industry. Experts generally advise job seekers to stick with what they know, and Eliot obviously knows a thing or two about the tawdry world of sex.
At least Spitzer wasn’t nailed with child pornography on his computer or the names of underage boys on his cell phone; he didn’t, as far as I know, bugger interns in his office or stage an orgy in Central Park. His “crime” was pedestrian, stupid, pathetic; the former NY governor is obviously hauling some heavy baggage around, unsatisfied in his own bedroom, and under a lot of stress; although his wife stood at his side while he informed the planet of his fuck-up, she struck me as a unforgiving lady, and I hope the Spitzer’s have a spare bedroom for Eliot.
Another politician goes down in disgrace. Ho-hum. The Republicans will crow about moral decay, spout illogical claptrap about Christian values, renew calls for the abolishment of public education (a hotbed of immorality and vice) and generally have a field day making the Spitzer story a black mark against all Democrats. NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox, and all the crass infotainment programs will continue to trot out current and former madams and hookers, pop psychologists, sex experts and reformed perverts of every persuasion, and analyze poor Eliot to death.
Was she that good, Eliot? Could she could suck a golf ball through twenty feet of plastic tubing or shoot a ping-pong ball from her vagina? Did she do tricks, swing from the ceiling, suck you off in the shower?
I was under the impression that Ivy League schools do a better job teaching their politically ambitious students to break the law with panache; guess Eliot skipped those lessons.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
The Scarlet Endorsement
What does it feel like to win the endorsement of the worst president in American history? Is it like being anointed king of a leper colony? Like being handed the keys to a Potemkin Village? Like entering a best-ball golf tournament and being informed on the first tee that your partner is Charlie Manson?
You’d think John McCain would have spent the day after clinching the GOP nomination any place except the White House. He’d have told George W. that he was sorry, but he had a previous engagement with his manicurist or his auto mechanic or his proctologist. Instead McCain stood there and accepted Bush’s endorsement, as if Bush is a serious statesman and not the greatest fuck-up since Herbert Hoover.
Memo to McCain: through pig-headed policies and slavish devotion to an empty ideology, Bush hung a rotting albatross around the GOP’s collective neck. It’s called the US Economy and it’s steaming toward a big-time crack-up the likes of which Americans haven’t seen in years.
Sure, the Democrats will pound on one another for another month or so, while McCain takes it easy, has Botox treatments, studies yoga to control his temper and continues sucking up to the Religious Right. Hillary and Barack are egomaniacs who won’t quit until they are splattered with one another’s blood. Fine, American politics is pure blood-sport, and nobody grasps that primal fact better than Hillary Clinton. Like her hubby, she’d strangle a puppy with her bare hands if it helped her win.
Huge amounts of money, time and energy will be spent by Democrats between now and the primary in Pennsylvania.
The Democrats have one glaring problem -- they are still searching for the soul they misplaced when Jimmy Carter lived in the White House. In this regard, McCain and the Republicans clearly have an advantage; Republicans have no soul whatsoever and are proud of it.
But when it comes down to it, McCain is saddled with the Republican record of the past eight years: a failed occupation in Iraq and an economy in tatters, gas prices sky high, the federal deficit ballooning by the day and Wall Street jittery. Even a tree stump like John Kerry could take McCain out under these circumstances. What’s McCain going to do, run on the Bush record!
I hope he does, just as I hope he can get used to the smell of rotting albatross.
You’d think John McCain would have spent the day after clinching the GOP nomination any place except the White House. He’d have told George W. that he was sorry, but he had a previous engagement with his manicurist or his auto mechanic or his proctologist. Instead McCain stood there and accepted Bush’s endorsement, as if Bush is a serious statesman and not the greatest fuck-up since Herbert Hoover.
Memo to McCain: through pig-headed policies and slavish devotion to an empty ideology, Bush hung a rotting albatross around the GOP’s collective neck. It’s called the US Economy and it’s steaming toward a big-time crack-up the likes of which Americans haven’t seen in years.
Sure, the Democrats will pound on one another for another month or so, while McCain takes it easy, has Botox treatments, studies yoga to control his temper and continues sucking up to the Religious Right. Hillary and Barack are egomaniacs who won’t quit until they are splattered with one another’s blood. Fine, American politics is pure blood-sport, and nobody grasps that primal fact better than Hillary Clinton. Like her hubby, she’d strangle a puppy with her bare hands if it helped her win.
Huge amounts of money, time and energy will be spent by Democrats between now and the primary in Pennsylvania.
The Democrats have one glaring problem -- they are still searching for the soul they misplaced when Jimmy Carter lived in the White House. In this regard, McCain and the Republicans clearly have an advantage; Republicans have no soul whatsoever and are proud of it.
But when it comes down to it, McCain is saddled with the Republican record of the past eight years: a failed occupation in Iraq and an economy in tatters, gas prices sky high, the federal deficit ballooning by the day and Wall Street jittery. Even a tree stump like John Kerry could take McCain out under these circumstances. What’s McCain going to do, run on the Bush record!
I hope he does, just as I hope he can get used to the smell of rotting albatross.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Another Tuesday
The political handicappers and pundits are busy this morning, crunching numbers on their laptops and Blackberries, checking in with ground troops in the Obama and Clinton campaigns, and readying the story that will be the Story in the news cycle for the next 48 hours or so.
Obama Triumphant or Hillary Down but Not Out!
Can Hillary come back from the brink? If she makes semi-decent showings in Ohio and Texas, will she remain in the race? If she tanks again, will she bow out gracefully and make the party "unity" speech?
Either way, it will be tough for Hillary. Until the Obama phenomenon exploded, Hillary was the presumptive Democratic nominee, the woman who was making history; all she had to do was avoid a major gaffe and make sure her husband kept his hands off female campaign volunteers. Hillary had big name campaign advisors and consultants, the political pedigree, and a wad of cash. What could possibly go wrong?
Obama-mania. Oprah.
On the stump, Hillary speaks of her experience, her judgment, and her intimate knowledge of the way the White House works; she knows how to get a club sandwich from the kitchen staff at 2:30 a.m., the best places to hide Easter eggs and where the Christmas decorations are stored. She’s ready to move in, clean out every last vestige of Bush and Cheney, and begin another chapter in the history books.
Hillary wants the public to like her, but many of us can’t because we remember the Clinton years differently than she does. Too much NAFTA, too much cozying up to corporate interests, too many hints of scandal from all the people the Clintons fucked over and abandoned on their way to power.
At this point in the campaign, I couldn’t tell you what Barack Obama stands for, whether he’s more of the same or if he has my – and people like me – economic interests at heart. Barack is all gauzy poetry right now, juxtaposed against Hillary’s wonkishness; Barack comes alive on the stump while Hillary turns wooden; Barack dances, jabs and ducks, Hillary stands toe-to-toe, prepared for a slugfest.
But when is Barack going to start identifying the ideology that underlies the failed policies Conservatives have foisted on the country since Reagan? When is he going to offer a different narrative of the way things can be? “Change We Can Believe In” is a catchy slogan, but what the fuck does it mean for citizens who are terrorized and shell-shocked – not by religious nutjobs from Iran or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia – but from domestic economic policies – American policies -- that have denuded the middle-class and created a devastating gulf between the rich and everyone else? When is Barack going to speak out on the corporate fantasy-land that America has become? When is he going to tie the futility of the Iraq Occupation to our economic woes?
Maybe never, who knows? If Barack winds up as the Democratic nominee, he’ll have to find a message that resonates with Independents and even moderate Republicans, which means he’ll move away from fundamental questions and toward the soft, compromising middle.
Over in the GOP camp, McCain’s handlers are honing their man’s message, which at this point comes down to a few key phrases: no new taxes, ever; al Qaeda operatives are hiding under every rock and they hate America; God must be mentioned frequently; and for good measure, just so McCain doesn’t forget under pressure, the handlers repeat these magic words: tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.
This circus will be over, eventually.
Obama Triumphant or Hillary Down but Not Out!
Can Hillary come back from the brink? If she makes semi-decent showings in Ohio and Texas, will she remain in the race? If she tanks again, will she bow out gracefully and make the party "unity" speech?
Either way, it will be tough for Hillary. Until the Obama phenomenon exploded, Hillary was the presumptive Democratic nominee, the woman who was making history; all she had to do was avoid a major gaffe and make sure her husband kept his hands off female campaign volunteers. Hillary had big name campaign advisors and consultants, the political pedigree, and a wad of cash. What could possibly go wrong?
Obama-mania. Oprah.
On the stump, Hillary speaks of her experience, her judgment, and her intimate knowledge of the way the White House works; she knows how to get a club sandwich from the kitchen staff at 2:30 a.m., the best places to hide Easter eggs and where the Christmas decorations are stored. She’s ready to move in, clean out every last vestige of Bush and Cheney, and begin another chapter in the history books.
Hillary wants the public to like her, but many of us can’t because we remember the Clinton years differently than she does. Too much NAFTA, too much cozying up to corporate interests, too many hints of scandal from all the people the Clintons fucked over and abandoned on their way to power.
At this point in the campaign, I couldn’t tell you what Barack Obama stands for, whether he’s more of the same or if he has my – and people like me – economic interests at heart. Barack is all gauzy poetry right now, juxtaposed against Hillary’s wonkishness; Barack comes alive on the stump while Hillary turns wooden; Barack dances, jabs and ducks, Hillary stands toe-to-toe, prepared for a slugfest.
But when is Barack going to start identifying the ideology that underlies the failed policies Conservatives have foisted on the country since Reagan? When is he going to offer a different narrative of the way things can be? “Change We Can Believe In” is a catchy slogan, but what the fuck does it mean for citizens who are terrorized and shell-shocked – not by religious nutjobs from Iran or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia – but from domestic economic policies – American policies -- that have denuded the middle-class and created a devastating gulf between the rich and everyone else? When is Barack going to speak out on the corporate fantasy-land that America has become? When is he going to tie the futility of the Iraq Occupation to our economic woes?
Maybe never, who knows? If Barack winds up as the Democratic nominee, he’ll have to find a message that resonates with Independents and even moderate Republicans, which means he’ll move away from fundamental questions and toward the soft, compromising middle.
Over in the GOP camp, McCain’s handlers are honing their man’s message, which at this point comes down to a few key phrases: no new taxes, ever; al Qaeda operatives are hiding under every rock and they hate America; God must be mentioned frequently; and for good measure, just so McCain doesn’t forget under pressure, the handlers repeat these magic words: tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.
This circus will be over, eventually.
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