T minus 4

Only four (4) more dead US soldiers and Dick Cheney will have reached His Goal of 4,000 dead! Maybe it'll happen on Easter Sunday - wouldn't that be swell (in His eyes)?

I was amazed to watch the video clip of Cheney where He was asked if He cared that 2/3 of the public is against His war, and He said "NO" (the question starts at :57 seconds).

Maybe it's just me, but He seemed particularly happy during the interview. I suspect it's because oil is over $110/barrel and His buddies at KBR (Halliburton) are raking in record profits at the expense of the National Guardsmen who are dying for His own personal gain.

It's only a matter of time until he, McCainBush and the other Republican Freaks bring back The Draft. Let's hope they (sensibly) restrict it only to Republican teenagers, since that will help to thin their ranks for future wars.

waiting for April

I wonder if there are as many racists in Pennsylvania as there are in neighboring Ohio; I guess we'll know on April 22nd.

Separately, the US military death toll may hit 4,000 before then .. we're at 3,984 now, best I can tell.

Mission Accomplished, The Sequel

According to Associated Press:

(ARTICLE DELETED)

Okay, let me get this straight: in the past two months, 3571 people were killed in Baghdad, and we're supposed to accept this as a SUCCESS?

Compare this to the number of Americans executed by al-Qaeda on 9/11: 2819. Also note that Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks (unless you're one of those IDiots who thinks the Earth is 6,099 years old, in which case you're already a lost cause).

Lately (to amuse myself) I've been telling people that it's obvious (!) that Dinosaurs Never Did Roam The Earth - those (often large) bones were placed there by A Creator as a way to test the faithful! Most seem to accept that. Oy.

Yet Another Milestone

.. and then there was the article in today's newspaper about the happy people of Crawford, Texas .. now relieved that the war protestors (led by Cindy Sheehan) will no longer be coming to Crawford, interrupting their formerly-placid lives. Yeah, remembering those 3,480 dead soldiers is such an annoyance.

It seems like only yesterday, when the number of dead US soldiers from President Quagmire's Campaign For Glory passed 3,000. Now, we're only a day or two (at the current "run rate") of reaching the milestone of 3,500 dead.

A few weeks ago, I added the [US Fatalities] widgit to my laptop (running OS X) which keeps it in my mind ...

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unrelated: another power failure @ 00:34 last night (shortly after midnight, for you time-challenged readers). this one lasted all of 90 seconds.

The Final Solution

News item, 9am today:

The death count has jumped to more than 90 people killed in a suicide attack on Shiite pilgrims in Hillah.

Well, I'll bet that Ann (nee Andy) Coulter and the rest of the CFRP are So Very Pleased. They've told me that Bush's Army is Surging, and the streets of Baghdad are now safer. Why, prospective Starbucks franchisees are certainly lined up around the block. I'm reminded of the comment Laura ("Rocket Scientist") Bush made a few days ago:

"Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, of course, what we see on television is that one bombing a day that discourages everybody."

Yeah, it's all the fault of those TV crews; if only we could stop the flow of information, all our problems would go away. I suppose Cheney and the rest of His war planners never thought the insurgents would simply resort to Whac-A-Mole™ tactics - attack elsewhere. Memo to Cheney: if you secure one place, the terraists will go elsewhere. It's like trying to contain Jell-O™ without the bowl.

Setting aside the trivial detail that we never should have attacked Iraq in the first place, I still think the best solution is simple:

Draft the children of anyone who voted for Bush in 2004. And that includes Jenna and Barbara.

That should provide more than enough bodies to police all of Iraq. President Quagmire did have a mandate then, right?

perspective

58,148 -- Americans killed during the Vietnam war
58,148* -- Iraqis killed during Bush's War

* and climbing

how to end The War

Oooh, I like this bumper sticker. Gotta run out and buy me a bumper to put it on!

Send The Twins Bumper Sticker

nonbelievers

News item:

President George W. Bush said he will send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq.

Observation:

none of which are his military-age daughters. I guess neither the Bush Twins nor Andrew Rove (The Puppetmaster's Son) believe in Daddy's Cause

Deep Thought:

Why does President Quagmire remind me of [Moby Dick]'s Captain Ahab?

Worth another look: Operation Yellow Elephant

and also, if you prefer tongue-in-cheek: 800,000 Privileged Youths Enlist To Fight In Iraq

what was that? did you see something?

I doubt that I've ever been one to predict The Spark, but I couldn't help but think about this as I watched reports of the crude cellphone video of the moments leading up to Saddam Hussein's execution.

I suspect the transcript is easier for us non-Arabic speakers to understand, but it was clear that the bulk of Those In The Room during the hanging were Shiites exacting revenge on The Lead Sunni. No doubt. True, the members of the judiciary who were there tried to calm them down, abd it wasn't like they knew they were "performing" for a worldwide TV audience .. but this strikes me as The Spark that could truly ignite a genocide of the minority Sunni-Iraqis at the hands of the Shiite-Iraqis, who were subjugated by Saddam's Baath Party for decades.

I sure hope I'm wrong, but this makes me wonder if we've witnessed the Real Spark to an Iraqi Civil War that could make the genocides in Rwanda, Uganda & Darfur look like strolls in the park?

"stubborn" lacks the connotation

Joseph Nye has an item over on HuffPo today that's worth a quick read: A New Year's Wish for George Bush.

After doing so, my 40-pence analysis: I know for a fact that President Quagmire lacks the brain cells to know the difference between a war and a campaign. If He bothered to ask His brain (Karl Rove - the Puppetmaster) about this at all, I'm sure He was assured that His base [now 29% and falling] would rally around a war, but not a campaign

(which sounds too much like a political campaign, with all those balloons and handshaking and ponies and buttons and banners and BBQ and oh-my-what-fun)

so he should put that silly thought of a PhraseShift out of His mind. I suppose Nye has to be (at least mildly) Politically Correct. He says that President Quagmire is being "stubborn" by using the phrase "The War On Terra" when that simply marginalizes the term [WAR].

Not having to be PC myself, and apparently a better student of connotations than Nye, I can say that the POTUS is simply pigheaded.

Bottom line: the only way this Rocket Surgeon will ever get it is when His daughters are drafted, and end up on the front lines. Then again, they might be al Qaeda's main target, since Britain's Prince Harry will apparently be kept far from the front lines. RHIP, ya know.

can you spell "brrrrrr" ?

It's a three-dog night here, temperatures dropping to the low 20s(F). Gotta git me 2 more dogs, I reckon. I recently installed new weatherstripping around two of my outside doors, where the old stuff had worn thin. Good timing, huh?

Speaking of timing, I have to wonder about Dubya's hair color. Now, 6+ years into His Debacle, He's starting to realize that 93.6% of the world's population Knows. We're onto the fact that He finally figured out that This Presidency Thing isn't just another big joke from His college fraternity days, something to add to His resume. Still, His incessant condescendence and smirking send me over the edge every time I see His face on the telly. His I-Am-Still-The-Decider mantra remains apalling, yet not surprising, given His reaction to the recent Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach. I secretly get a thrill by seeing the pain on His face each time He tries to avoid reality. Fascinating.

I just have to wonder if He has yet realized that the democratization of Iraq can never work*. Democracies (appear to - correct me if I'm wrong) require the "cooperation" of your neighbors. Here in the USA, we're bordered by Canada and Mexico. Iraq, OTOH, is bordered by countries that are not democracies and have no desire to go down that road. What on earth would persuade Iran, Syria and (Saudi) Arabia to endorse a style of government that would mean the demise of their own? I don't get it.

* unless He listens to Belacqua Jones (example: Send the Iraq Study Group home; victory in Iraq is within our grasp.

Entertaining read: Diane McWhorter's Unmentionable lessons of the midterm aftermath.

PS to Raul: yes, I updated Sundry on Thursday. You can now rest easier.

bring back the draft!

I have to wonder if this is a stunt: Congressman Rangel Will Seek to Reinstate Draft. I've read about this gent, and it seems as if this is the third time (?) he's proposed returning to compulsory military service (unless your daddy has enough money to sneak you into the Alabama National Guard, like some POTUS we know). Then again, it could be that Rangel (a Democrat) is using this tactic to force a debate on whether we should recall the troops in Iraq (and presumably send them to Afghanistan to fight the resurgent Taliban, or to Tehran to put an end to Iran's Nuke Bomb Program, or to Pyongyang to say hello to Kim Jung Il). With all these Wars On Terror that we'll be fighting for the next hundred years or so, it just makes sense to mandate military service again, although I'd be strongly in favor of only sending Republicans (see Operation Yellow Elephant).

I recently watched a 2-hour PBS show about the 1960's, and it brought back memories of the Vietnam-era draft, along with the anti-war (actually anti-draft) protests, the rise and fall of LBJ and Richard Nixon, and so forth. I was still a bit young to appreciate those days (I entered the 6th grade in 1969 as the decade closed), and was more interested in tricking out my bicycle than what was happening in Hanoi.

Deep thought: Although the Brooklyn Dodgers became Los Angeles Dodgers, it's odd that Draft Dodgers never became Dodger Dogs.

It's only a vague memory, but I recall the periodic "lotto ball" where draft numbers were called by the Selective Service System. I seemed to recall a large drum with 366 balls, one for each day of the year. If your number was called, you had a certain amount of time in which to either report to the local recruting office, or plan your extended vacation to Canada.

Insurgency? What insurgency?

I had to run an errand today: drop off some stuff at the Bulk Mail Facility. Each time I've been there, I noticed the TV in the waiting area

(you didn't think people in queue at the post office have to wait?)

is tuned to Fox "News". It's been that way for the past 2 years. You'd think that once in awhile it would be on one of the networks, which (I think) air soap operas and their ilk all afternoon. Or maybe the Discovery Times channel, or Animal Planet. Or heck, even CNN Headline News. But nope .. it's always tuned to Fox "News" (network of the Radical Right Wing).

So, I listened about 90 seconds while VP Dick Cheney stupidly excused his assininity in proclaiming that the Iraq Insurgency was on its deathbed, over a year ago. (Hindsight being 20/20, and all that). I suspect I laughed out loud, then realized that a 19-year old Muslim-killing-wannabe (his T-shirt imprint, buzz haircut, and open-mouthed gaze were the giveaways) was also in line, and was Eating Up Cheney's Every Word, as if he were watching a divine creation speak.

I hold no illusion that, when these mental giants (obviously a product of the Texas education system - 49th in the country) vote in upcoming elections, the most anti-immigrant anti-gay anti-choice anti-flagburnin' (anti-anti?) candidates will continue to win.

Lesson learned: remind me not to return to the post office without my earplugs.

Memorial Day 2006

Flashback to Saturday, 21 July 2001. I'd taken delivery of a new car earlier in the month. Partially as a reason to exercise it, I drove down to the DFW National Cemetery.

Although my father spent 30 years in the US Navy, I never had the inclination to join the military, and dad never asked me about it; he died during my second year in college. He didn't talk much about his World War II experiences, other than a brief story about a multi-ship convoy in the Pacific where only his ship and one other survived. I once wrote to the Navy department, asking for a copy of his military records, but they never replied.

I knew the DFW cemetery opened in 2000, and I wanted to look around. I thought I spotted a mountain lion from a distance, but couldn't be sure. There was a sign warning that "(t)his cemetery is being maintained in as natural state as possible [sic] and is inhabited by various wildlife such as lizards; snakes; birds; coyote; deer; fox; skunks; opossums; spiders; bobcat; wild dogs and scorpions". I spent a few hours there, taking photos and otherwise taking it all in.

The next day, I see that I went to the "DFW Founders Plaza" to watch the planes take off and land. I took quite a few photos that day, not knowing that such behavior, two months later, might seem highly suspect in a changed-forever country. Don't bother going back to my thoughts in those days; I didn't start this blog until July 2003.

This morning, I nosed through part of my photo collection (partly as a way to recall when I went to the DFW National Cemetery). I decided to give Adobe's "PhotoShop Album Starter Edition" a whirl with my (eeek!) 11,930 photographs. I'm guessing that they'll offer me all sorts of (paid) upgrades and options, eventually. For now, it's enough that I make a serious stab at organizing them all; if only I had that much time.

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Unrelated thoughts:

#1

I wonder ... what happened to the rest of the bribe? Louisiana Congressman William J. Jefferson allegedly (yeah, right) took $100,000 outside a suburban Washington hotel, but The Feds only found $90,000 in his freezer. Did he stop at Exxon on the way home to fill up his SUV?

Aside: after listening to AirAmerica skewer this moron, I flipped over to one of the 3R stations (Radical Right Radio) and listened to them say that .. because Jefferson is a Democrat (and a black one at that) .. the "Liberal Left Lunatics" were ignoring the whole thing. Ah, the 3R-Media have learned Karl Rove's lesson well: Lie. Repeat the Lie Until Everyone Believes It. Ignore (or, better yet - belittle) Anyone Who Disagrees.

#2

I wonder ... if the phrase "Haditha Massacre" will be this generation's equivalent to "My Lai Massacre"? Unlikely, since the scale of the atrocity is (apparently) so different. In Vietnam, between 347 and 504 people were slaughtered by US soldiers. In Iraq, it appears that "only" 24 civilians were slaughtered by US soldiers. Time will tell.

#3

I wonder ... if Simone and Marvin remembered Jill-Bob, who I picked up at DFW yesterday, following her three week, 4500 mile* RV trip from Minneapolis to Anchorage. Better her than me!

* Yahoo! Maps says the distance between Minneapolis and Anchorage is only 3206 miles (80 hours). I reckon they were moseyin' and lollygaggin'.

political realities, and Murphy

One of the realities of politics is: there are some things you simply cannot admit in public. Certainly, one or more of Murphy's Laws must be at work here.

One of those realities is the real reason why President Quagmire started the latest Iraq War: American's Affluenza Infection. One of the things that makes us Americans is our need to constantly overindulge - in everything. We eat too much, consume too much, and waste too much .. and because of that, thousands of our soldiers are fighting and dying many thousands of miles from here. Gotta protect the American Way of Life, ya know.

I have a personal goal which includes a healthy dose of "Voluntary Simplicity" but I'm still a long way from there. I've grown past the phase where lifetime success is counted in the number of Things I own, and I've made serious attempts to orient myself to having better stuff, but less of it. The Affluenza film (mentioned above) really hit home for me. Americans comprise 10% of the world population yet consume 25% of its resources: eeeek!

Given the number of trade journals I prescribed at, I've made many trips to The Paper Recycler, and need to make many more. Most paper gathers dust if I don't process it (read it, convert the useful items to properly categorized note in my PDA, discard it) with a week or so of its arrival.

I've found the best thing to do is to recycle. Meaning: grind it up, and morf it into Different Stuff - whether that be a new magazine filled with advertisements prompting us to Buy More Stuff, or an egg carton. An egg carton: ah, one of the few things in life whose goal is simple .. to protect a dozen delicate chicken eggs long enough for us to consume them.

of scorpions and ducks

Richard Clark was on The Colbert Report (hyping his latest book - The Scorpion's Gate), and offered some new terms that Donald "Duck" Rumsfeld wants us Red Blooded Americans to use:

old: War On Terra (as pronooncified by President Quagmire)
new: GWOT (Global War On Terror)

old: insurgents
new: ELGI (Enemies of the Legitimate Government of Iraq)

Please begin weaving "ELGIs" and "GWOT" in your everyday speech; America will be safer for it. Thank you.

We now return to your regular programming.

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PM update: HayJax fetched Rambo, after we lunched at The String Bean (specializing in Comfort Food). Beta wandered through the house -- once -- looking for him, but quickly lost interest and settled in for a long winter's nap.

another use for Duct Tape

It's not December 31st yet, but I'm ready to crown US Congressmember Jean Schmidt as "CFRP Patsy of the Year" after her fumbling attack on Jack Murtha last Friday. She quoted a Marine reservist (and Ohio state congressmember) named Danny Bubp, saying (in effect) that anyone who thinks we should give Iraq back to the Iraqis is a coward. By inference, if that shoe fits Murtha (war veteran), well ... he must be immediately vilified (Karl Rove Tactic #1). Later, she asked that her comment be stricken from The Record, but .. the damage was done.

What an idiot. I repeat: part of the qualification for being elected to Congress should be an intelligence test. And I'm not talking about something as absurd as the TAKS test here in Texas* (college freshmen are admitted based on a set of questions to a specific test, but are otherwise functionally illiterate).

* Today's lesson: Compare And Contrast the TAKS to the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress).

No, I'm thinking more in line of a Stanford Binet (or Mensa-accepted test) although it would be impractical to hold them to a Top 2% threshold. Maybe the top 80% .. just enough to weed out the nice folks such as Ohio's Jean Schmidt, who doesn't understand that not every communication deserves to be repeated.

Deep Thought #80: Speaking of repeating stuff (!) I read somewhere that the few "mixed Islam" cities (villages?) in Iraq are starting to trend one way or the other (Sunni or Shia). If that's true, it lends more credibility to the idea of an eventual civil war after the American/British troops leave, splitting the country into 3 parts. When/if that happens, the big challenge will be keeping Iran, Syria and Arabia out of their internal struggle. It'd be fascinating to see a map of the area in 20 years time, where entirely new countries have formed from today's chaos.

conventional marketing wisdom

There's an item in Tim Bray's ongoing blog called "War Marketing" which is succinct. Succinct is good sometimes.

Deep Thought #78: messages that have been in Trash more than 30 days will be automatically deleted
(a message on Gmail)

Speaking of Trash, I was disgusted with The Regime again yesterday - more so than usual. Yesterday was Veteran's Day here in the States, where the idea is to honor the veterans (it was originally Armistice Day -- the holiday to commemorate the end of The Great War a/k/a WWI).

Instead, Karl Rove (who's become increasingly predictable in the spotlight) scrambled aboard Air Force One, then commanded His puppet (President Quagmire) to read a lengthy statement to another hand-picked audience -- this time at the Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania Army Depot. Basically, it's a tired rehash of Rove's view that it's un-American to question President Quagmire's judgment about Iraq. I guess the line in Rove's speech that really browned my muffins was "These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will ..." when it's clear to anyone with a brain (thus leaving out The Puppet) that the attacks on His Regime are not baseless.

Tried-and-tested Rovian Tactics include "Repeat The Lies and They Will Believe": the Puppet said it's "deeply irresponsible" to criticize His war policy, since that sends the wrong message to the terra-ists and Evil Doers. It's as if He is speaking to a nation filled with zombies from the CRP; He can't understand that His credibility is shot. Once that's gone, you can stick a fork in it (it's done). The Puppet's approval rating's down to 37%; the remaining Believers appear to be Fringe Elements: the Kansas School Board; Tom DeLay and His Ilk; and The Fristians.

I look forward to the day that Rove is locked away in Guantánamo Bay, where the CIA's allowed to use the torture techniques approved by Dick Cheney Himself. Finally, see Brian Coughley's insights: Sleaze, Deceit and Torture (caveat: it's not succinct). And then, have a nice day!

juxtapositions

Rosa Parks dies at age 92. In an interview (years later), she said what she did -- refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man -- wasn't that remarkable. She says the person who is "due the credit" was the white bus driver (James Blake) that day, who made a scene.

A new poll shows only 2% of American blacks support President Quagmire. I wonder if that 2% .. undoubtedly part of his 51% mandate, from the 2004 election .. are proud of themselves.

The passage of another milestone: 2000 US soldiers have died in Iraq War II (a/k/a President Quagmire's "Secret" War for Oil). Estimates are that 28,000 Iraqis have died in this war, compared to the 250,000 Iraqis* who died in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).

* median estimate

related (as mentioned in a MoveOn.org email): "It took 18 months to reach 1,000 dead, but just 14 months to reach 2,000. It's now been nearly two and a half years since President Quagmire declared "Mission Accomplished" and he still has no exit strategy."

Just Numbers

22,000 -
estimated Day One deaths in Nagasaki (9 August 1945)

23,646 -
estimate (minimum) of Iraqis killed in The Puppet's Oil War (begun 20/3/2003)

Japan provoked us; Iraq did not. In both cases, they're Just Numbers, not humans.


Unrelated: Katrina (Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale .. maximum sustained winds @ 175 mph) is about to Come Knockin' on Naw'lins ... then again, those are Just Numbers, too, right?