Instant Message Ranting

JSpitzberg: what was the biggest fear during the iraq invasion?
buttonmoulder: WMD?
JSpitzberg: house-to-house urban warfare, right?
buttonmoulder: yeah
JSpitzberg: but we were smart and avoided populated areas
JSpitzberg: and went right to bagdahd where the army fled in front of us.
JSpitzberg: but one year later with a population not "pacified"
JSpitzberg: or greeting us with flowers...
JSpitzberg: we're contemplating house-to-house urban warfare.
JSpitzberg: but wait, it gets better....
JSpitzberg: this time we're going to have one of Saddam's top generals...
JSpitzberg: the man who commanded his fiercest fighters, the Republican guards, lead the assault.
JSpitzberg: so now the occupying power is going to bring it's full force on a civillian population (in a holy city no less) under the auspices of the formerly brutally repressive regime
JSpitzberg: hearts and minds.

this photo was taken an instant before Brad Pitt (as Jesus) slapped GWB upside the head.

do yo' ass yahoo?

Snoop Dogg's The Shizzolator

Terrorists, Hippies and assorted low-life

"...as the administration concedes, in the war on terror -- a war with no single enemy, a war where there is no one whose "surrender" might signify a clear end to hostilities -- it is impossible to know what event might trigger the end of detention.

What about the "war on drugs?" Or the "war on poverty?" Having the military lock up single mothers who receive food assistance in Guantanamo Bay would reduce our welfare rolls. That would even be a positive economic statistic for Bush to run for re-election on!

Every life?

"I think that after September 11, the American people are valuing life more and we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life. President Bush has worked to say, let's be reasonable, let's work to value life, let's reduce the number of abortions, let's increase adoptions. And I think those are the kinds of policies the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy and, really, the fundamental issue between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life."
-- Presidential Advisor, Karen Hughes.

[Bush] usually takes less than quarter of an hour to consider final appeals and often opts for shorter briefings from his aides, sometimes taking just four minutes, to decide to go ahead with executions.

The Godfather of Iraq

This guy has been taking US govt money (millions!) for the last 15 years or so. In return he has provided the false testimony from himself and others about Iraq, all in the interest of furthering his own return to power there. Like Michael Corleone speaking to Senator Geary... "My offer is this - nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally."

Now that we have conquered Iraq at Chalabi's behest we are doing everything we can to ensure that he takes control of that country, irrespective of the fact that he has no base of power and is disliked by a majority of Iraqis. We continue to pay him millions, directly or to contractors wholly or partially controlled by him. We allow him access to Saddam's secret police's files so he can blackmail any potential rivals. We appoint his family to important positions including the organizing of Saddam's trial. And we refuse any election scheme that doesn't unquestionably lead to a Chalabi ascension to power.

Put better (from Juan Cole)...

"Chalabi is wanted for embezzling $300 million from a Jordanian bank. He cannot account for millions of US government money given him from 1992 to 1996. He was flown into Iraq by the Pentagon (Perle was on the Defense Advisory Board, a civilian oversight committee for the Pentagon) with a thousand of his militiamen. The US military handed over to Chalabi, a private citizen, the Baath intelligence files that showed who had been taking money from Saddam, giving Chalabi the ability to blackmail large numbers of Iraqi and regional actors. It was Chalabi who insisted that the Iraqi army be disbanded, and Perle almost certainly was an intermediary for that stupid decision. It was Chalabi who insisted on blacklisting virtually all Baath Party members, even if they had been guilty of no crimes, effectively marginalizing all the Sunni Iraqi technocrats who could compete with him for power. It was Chalabi who finagled his way onto the Interim Governing Council even though he has no grassroots support (only 0.2 percent of Iraqis say they trust him).

"Now Chalabi's nephew Salem has been put in charge of the trial of Saddam Hussein. Salem is a partner in Zell and Feith, a Jerusalem-based law firm headed by a West Bank settler, in which Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of Defense for Planning, is also a senior partner when not in the US government. You can be assured that the trial will be conducted on behalf of the Bush administration and the Neocons, and on behalf of the Chalabis. Since the Chalabis have been trying to overthrow Saddam for decades, it is hard to see how this can have even the appearance of an impartial tribunal."

Y-Axis of Evil

... as in, "Why does Condi Rice look like she's attending a funeral?" And, "Why is Dick Cheney so pissed?"

The Axis of Evil

Idealism is a wonderful and attractive trait in a leader. But visions unhinged from strategies and heedless of risks can lead to disasters, especially when impatience produces hasty decision making. We have seen too much of that in the Bush presidency.

this time, from David Broder in his Washington Post opinion piece.

As the iconic image of the "war president" has tattered, another picture has emerged. Bush appears as a passive manager who enjoys sitting atop a hierarchical structure, unwilling and unable to do the hard work that a real manager has to do in order to run the largest enterprise in the world. He does not seem to absorb data unless it is presented to him in simple, crystal-clear fashion by people whose judgment he trusts. He is receptive to information that agrees with his point of view rather than information that challenges it. This therefore leads to enormous power on the part of the trusted interlocutors, who know and bolster his predilections.

- Sidney Blumenthal in Salon.com

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