December 14, 2004

The Pudding George Made
<>The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. It took almost four years to cook, but its about to be put on the table, so belly up.
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<>First the recipe for:
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George’s Deficit Pudding

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Go to the pantry and get the very large sack of flour left by the last occupant. It contains $5.6 trillion in surplus flour.

Send $2 trillion of it to your country club for their annual bash. (Put a nice note in the package assuring them you intend to make this a permanent donation.)

Send the rest of the flour to private companies contracted to supply our troops.

Go to the store and buy more flour. Since your larder is now empty, use your credit card.

Purchase pots, pans and serving plates. Charge them too.

On the way home return to the grocery store and charge another $2 billion of flour and give it to the old folks' home.

Put your pudding in the oven and bake slowly (preferably in a dark room) for about 48 months.

Serve cold.

And now the results of the first proof tasting are in:
<>- Interest rates -- rising
<>- Producer Price Index – rising
<>- Consumer Price Index – rising
<>- Job creation – weak
<>- Retail sales – weak
<>- New car sales – falling
<>- Home sales – falling
<>- Trade deficit – rising
<>- Value of the dollar – falling
<>- National Debt - exploding
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<>Yum, yum. What’s not to like? Bet you just can’t wait for the next batch of G.D. Pudding!
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<> Is it “Oversight” or “Over Sight?
<>The most important political story of the day, maybe the year, was buried on page 10 of today’s Washington Post:
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Democrats Planning Watchdog Role

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Senators' Hearings Will Scrutinize Administration Policies

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Senate Democrats announced plans yesterday for wide-ranging hearings to examine Bush administration policies and conduct, saying the Republicans who control both houses of Congress have abdicated responsibility for oversight of the GOP administration.

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<>Well, it took a thorough trashing at the polls to convince congressional Democrats it might just be a good idea to represent the half of us out here who think Bush gang is ruining the economy, the country, the environment and annoying the crap out of the rest of the world.
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<>Of course Senate Republicans believe that their oversight responsibilities are to exercise over sight. They have no interest in holding hearing that could confirm the obvious flaws in this administration’s policies, foreign and domestic. Nor do they have much interest in hearing that could reveal the full scope of the fleecing of the US Treasury by their GOP corporate posse.
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<>The plan announced yesterday described by Democratic Senator Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.), could, for the first time, put this administration’s feet to the fires of public accountability. With Republicans pretty much in charge congressional oversight committees we have seen few if any really probing hearings on this administration’s (failing) programs and policies.
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<>But yesterday Sen. Dorgan warned that that beginning with the next congress that will change. If Republicans refuse to hold hearings on festering sores, like Halliburton’s Iraq contracts, or the administrations phony baloney, “Clear Skies” initiative, or the possible negative impacts of rampant federal borrowing, then Senate Democrats will call and hold their own hearings and, if Republicans refuse to show, tough. (The question is, will the press show?)
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<>Of course, if Republicans boycott those hearings they will lack teeth. As the minority party Democrats will not have subpoena power or be able to compel witnesses to testify. But Dorgan thinks they won’t need no stinkin’ subpoenas. He said he believes that four years of arrogance and ignorance from the Bushites has pissed off scores of hard-working career agency employees who are just itching to spill their guts during C-Span televised hearings. I believe he may just be right about that.
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<>If Senate Democrats follow through with this threat and hold well prepared, hard-hitting oversight hearings, it could provide the spark needed to focus and revitalize the long dormant dems. For too long the party has bought into the phony notion that voters don’t like controversy and division, that Democratic voters really want the minority party to be helpful, not obstructionist. Wrong. But that’s exactly what Karl Rove wants. Because when the opposition party is compliant it becomes irrelevant. And an irrelevant minority party is a minority party -- forever.
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<>When the Republicans were in the minority they were anything but compliant. They fought, fought like French resistance fighters behind Nazi lines. They were political terrorists, conspiratorial, subversive, cruel pranksters and sneaks. They awoke seven days a week with only one mission -- to spend that day making Democrats miserable. They were bastards in their single-minded determination never to be seen as irrelevant. And they won.
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<>Now we can only watch to see if “Dorgans’ Raiders” remember how to fight and, if they do, if they are still a match for these thugs.
<>
<>Rewarding Failure
<>Today at the White House George W. presented the highest civilian honor, The Medal of Freedom, on two failures – former CIA chief, George “Slam Dunk” Tenet, and former Iraq coalition head, Paul “Green Zone Jerry” Bremmer. Former General Tommy Franks also got a metal but he deserved his. He got the job done in Iraq, saw that it was going to be a mess forever and day, and retired. So, he gets an I.Q. Metal too.
<>
<> No Confidence Vote
<>If Sen. John McCain can’t be President his next wish is to be Defense Secretary. So, after three years of being a burr under Bush’s saddle, McCain became a male version of Laura Bush during the campaign in the hopes that in a second term Bush would dump Rummy and appoint him to the job. Then Bush double-crossed him announcing that Rummy would stay. So, the burr is back. Yesterday McCain told any reporter with a mic, camera or notebook that he no longer had any confidence in Rumsfeld.
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Asked about his confidence in the secretary's leadership, McCain said

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"No. My answer is no. No confidence."

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Rummy helped McCain out last week when he flubbed that question from the troops in Kuwait about them lacking armor. It was a rare moment where Rummy glib tongue cramped in mid-answer and he was suddenly revealed to be something considerably less than the military genius he clearly believes he is.
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<>So. is Rummy on the way out and McCain on the way in? Maybe. If so we could see the oddest of odd couples take center stage next year. Are you ready for this dance team:
<>McCain as Secretary of Defense and Joe Lieberman as head of Homeland Security.
<>
<>Yes, it’s true. One of the men on Bush’s shortlist to replace Bernard “Jersey Boy” Kerik is none other than Republicrat Joe Lieberman, a man who when he ran for President, could not seem able to remember if he was running for Commander in Chief or national Rabbi.

Life in Bushworld… it just gets stranger and stranger.

<>
New letters from you guys out there are posted daily HERE.

December 13, 2004

I remember when Richard Nixon was reelected for a second term. The feeling I had on Nov. 2 was the same I had back then; a disturbing mixture of hopelessness, despairs, anger and fear. I had been active in the anti-Vietnam war movement and could not imagine how a man with so much personal and political negative baggage could win reelection. But he did, and for many of the same reasons George W. Bush did. And, despite some of the very same negatives. Look at the map below. In this case blue are the states that went for Nixon. And you thought Kerry lost a lot of states! Clearly the nation was going through an even crazier peroid than now.

So many who read this column are too young to remember the Nixon administration, but don’t despair. You would find it eerily familiar – an scheming vice president (Spiro Agnew,) a creepy Attorney General (John Mitchell,) a scary national security advisor/Secretary of State (Henry Kissinger,) a mad Defense Secretary, (Melvin Laird,) and a covey of White House thug/yes-men (Halderman, Ehrlichman, Colson, et al. –
(See table below:)

The Nixon gang roared to a second term with a sense that they had been reelected in spite of the festering tumor of the Vietnam War and Nixon’s illegal bombing of neighboring Cambodia. And they believed they had put the final nail in the coffin of liberal even though anti-war protesters were in the streets almost every weekend. And nearly every other country in the world was telling us to get out of Vietnam, that we had no right to be there and had no chance of beating the insurgents.

Nixon Republicans saw the election victory as a mandate. If they could win such a sweeping victory in spite of an unpopular war, well, the people must really like what they say and do. So they started saying and doing it all with a new sense of impunity and arrogance.

Pride Goeth Before the Fall. And so it came to pass for the Nixon administration. Two years after sweeping the election they were all gone, some into a disgraced early retirement, some to jail. Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, declaring, “our long national nightmare is over.”


Temporarily.

Now we have a new one that looks a lot like the old one. Only the faces and names are new. It’s the same nightmare though. A different war that in almost every way is the same war. A different cast of blowhard conservative officials and advisors, who are in too many ways like Nixon’s gang. Look no further than John Ashcroft and John Mitchell. Two very strange men, neither emotionally nor intellectually qualified to be circuit judges much less the nation’s top cops. And that bunch over at Defense… this administration’s “best and brightest,” which, like their Nixonite predecessors believe bombs are agents of change. Words, they believe, are for French and other sissies.

So, in his second term Bush will move his Iron Magnolia, Condi Rice, the same person who told him invading Iraq was the way to go, to replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State. To the rest of the world this must seem like appointing an Army Special Forces officer ambassador to the Vatican.

And now we have the Bernard Kerik affair. An administration that likes to boast of its adherence to moral values chooses a New Jersey thug to protect the US homeland. A man with an easily discovered history of arrest warrants, sleazy business deals, misuse of government assets, even an illegal nanny. How could that happen, you ask yourself? Easy. He fit right in. After all, Dick Cheney’s actions as head of Halliburton didn’t keep him out of the administration. By comparison Kerik was a piker, an up-and-comer sleazoid just beginning to move his way down the ladder. Once at the helm of Homeland Security, with mentors like Cheney, hell, the sky was the limit. Maybe when Guilani replaced Bush, Kerik could replace Cheney. Ah, continuity.

Then came the fall. Arrogance and hubris are natures’ answer natural crack cocaine. After the 1972 race the White House became a virtual crack house as the Nixon gang mainlined the stuff. The swagger was unbearable. And, like now, the message to the rest of the world was “the voters reelected us, so get off our back about the war!”

Of course it would be foolish for we “losers” to just sit back and hope that the Bush second term will implode as Nixon’s did. God knows there are plenty of festering sores from the first term, any one of which if pursued with the same integrity and vigor as Watergate and Monicagate could indeed bring an early end to this administration too.

But, don’t hold your breath. The press and Congress are not what they were three decades ago. Bernstein is retired and Woodward might as well be. The White House press corps is little more than a glorified press release service. Back in the 60s congress contained a core of individuals who possessed genuine American values and integrity -- real legislators who had the ability to see wrong even when their own party is the perp. Today’s Congress is composed largely of men and women who, if they were in civilian jobs, would be calling you at dinner time trying to get you to list your house for sale. There are exceptions, but the wrong kind. Tom DeLay, for example, who if a civilian, would be in prison by now. (Why? See DeLay’s Axis of Influence. )

Anyway, I prepared the chart below to amuse myself.

The Old Nightmare and the New Nightmare

Nixon Administration	Remarks	Bush Administration	Remarks
President Richard Nixon	Reelected, then faced Impeachment/resigned	President George W. Bush	Reelected
Vice President Spiro Agnew	Resigned after being convicted of taking payoffs as Gov.	Vice President Dick Cheney	Halliburton.. Dresser Industries
Sec. of State Henry Kissinger	Former W.H. National Security Advisor. Dr. Strangelove kinda guy	Sec. of State Condi Rice	Former W.H. National Security Advisor. Dr. Strangelove kinda gal.
Atty. General John Mitchell	The first Attorney General to be convicted of illegal activities in office -- imprisoned.	Atty General John Ashcroft	Resigns after first term. One weird dude with lots of issues, i.e. statue breasts.
Sec of Defense Melvin Laird	Coined the term “Vietnamization.” Reformed DOD. Pushed to end the draft and created the all-volunteer army	Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld	Is currently trying to Iraqitize the war in Iraq. Reforming DOD. Is stretching the all-volunteer army to the breaking point.
Advisors: John Erlichman H.R. Halderman Charles Colson	Ehrlichman/ Halderman..convicted conspiracy – jailed Colson – jailed for obstruction of justice	Advisors: Karl Rove Richard Perle Scooter Libby	Time will tell

<>

December 12, 2004

December 9, 2004


Will Our Real Values Please Stand Up
I’m a bit confused over this whole “values” business. I’m more than willing to come to grips with the possibility that I have no values, or the wrong values, but first I need those who claim to know to explain a few things to me first.

Is it wrong to lie and cheat? If so why do we let people like Barry Bonds continue to earn millions of dollars a year? Why do we let our kids chase him and his kind around for autographs? He is a liar and a cheater. You know it, and I know it. We know it just like we knew Clinton lied when he said he smoked pot but didn’t inhale.

But you values guys do nothing about people like Bonds. Oh sure there will be laws passed against athletes using steroids, but Bonds and his fellow liars and cheaters will be allowed to go on earning millions and pretending to be role models for your kids. And you guys will let them do it. Some of you will even make money off these liars and cheaters.

So, are lying and cheating among the values you Red State folk want to discourage or encourage? I just want to know. Because if your really want to discourage such behavior then why not insist that the punishment for lying and cheating at least match what a liar or cheater can gain by lying and cheating? In the case of these high-priced athletes I would think that the least you'all should be demanding is that they be banned from the game.

But then you do the opposite. These famous, highly paid celebs actually seem to be rewarded for lying and cheating. Take Martha Stewart. When she finishes her five-month stay in jail she will emerge as a heroine. The groundwork for her reemergence was being laid on my TV screen this morning when a spokeswoman for Stewart’s company gushed, “Martha showed real class and bravery in agreeing to serve her five months sentence…” Right. Like she had a choice.

And, what is your values culture going to do to Martha when she gets out? Why give her her own TV show, of course.

Martha, From Slammer to Syndication
Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal Television Group, announced yesterday that reality TV impresario Mark Burnett will create for the company "the most exciting offering to come along in daytime television" -- development of which will get underway just as soon as the star gets out of the slammer. Jailed nesting diva Martha Stewart will host a one-hour daily syndicated daytime show for the General Electric division, debuting next fall and featuring a live studio audience and celebrity guests. The 14 NBC-owned TV stations, including Washington's WRC, have signed on to air the program.

The message here: Girls grow up to be a tough ass woman, work hard and, when necessary, break the rules. It's okay, as long you make enough money to hire the best lawyers and aggressively manage your image.

So, you see why I am a bit confused about just what kind of values you guys are nagging me to adopt. I was raised to shun liars and cheaters, not embrace them. So, can you help me a bit with that one?

Okay, I will wait for an answer on that. Can we move on to another values contradiction I need some help on?

Let’s talk stealing. I would think that stealing would not be a value you would want to encourage. At least on the street you seem determined to punish those who steal. But shouldn’t the punishment for stealing match the size of the crime? I thought so, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. In fact a look at the numbers tells me that if you are going to be a thief, be a big ass thief. Because, someone who sticks up a 7/11 for a couple hundred bucks will get thrown in the slammer for a couple of years, while a company and that steals millions of dollars gets off with no jail time, for no one. If they don't get caught they keep the money. If they get caught they just have to put the cookies they stole back into the jar, plus a little for the lawyers and the state, and they are allowed to go their way. Most of the time they don’t even have to admit they did anything wrong to begin with. Being a thieving corporation in American is a bit like being a Catholic; when they get caught sinning all they have do is go to confession, say a few prayers in private and, whalla… a clean slate.

Think I exaggerate? I just dipped into today’s business section for these little nuggets:

Fannie Mae Settles Case in Mortgage Scam
Fannie Mae yesterday agreed to pay the government $7.5 million to settle a case in which the Justice Department alleged that the giant housing-finance company knowingly accepted proceeds of a mortgage scam.

Inter-Tel to pay $9.5 to settle e-Rate fraud charges
Inter-Tel Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Inter-Tel Technologies will pay about $9.5 million in civil settlements and criminal fines under the terms of a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice..

Between just those two stories we have $17 million in stolen money. Stolen by whom? Well no human apparently because no “body” is going to jail in either case. Of course a corporation does not commit a crime without humans acting in ways that aid and abet. But no, it’s the paper entity, the un-jailable “corporation” that takes the rap and the humans within are thereby allowed to maintain their Brooks Bros. patina of respectability. (And, don't even get me started on that rat's nest Halliburton!)

So, since you values folks are in charge now, are you going to change that situation? Or should I just start instructing my grandkids that, if they should decide to become a crook just don’t become a small-time crook - one with low values. Think big, aim high and be sure their crookery is shielded by an air-tight corporate charter.

Help me with that one would you? You gonna change that or leave it the way it is?

Okay, enough with bad values, let’s talk about values I thought you guys wanted to encourage.

Professionalism, honesty and fidelity. I'd assumed that those three would be right up at the top of your Must Have Values list. But, look what happens to those who try to live by those very values. As you read these words there are three journalists facing jail because they followed those rules.

In New York: “The U.S. Court of Appeals judges here will decide whether reporters Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the New York Times can be jailed for refusing to appear before a grand jury investigating whether administration officials illegally identified a covert CIA operative to reporters in the summer of 2003. “

In Rhode Island: TV reporter Jim Taricani, 55, and the recipient of a recent heart transplant, faces six months in the slammer for refusing to reveal who leaked him a copy of video tape showing a local government official taking a bribe in one of Rhode Island’s perennial public corruption investigations.

Not one of these reporters mugged anyone, stole their life savings, lied or cheated. They were simply doing their jobs and keeping their promises. Work and fidelity – values I thought you Red Staters were hot to encourage. Was I wrong about that? Should I ditch my long-held values of keeping my pledges and adhering to the rules and standards of my profession? (Can I also make things up now? )

Then there’s the little matter of Robert Novak, the guy who started the troubles now facing Miller and Cooper. Neither of those two reporters received the leak in question, a leak that outted CIA agent Valerie Plame. No, Robert Novak did that. He got the leak and he broke the story. But wait, why isn’t Novak facing jail time for refusing to reveal the source? Could it be because he already spilled the beans? Seems a reasonable conclusion.

So, Novak, one your leading values advocates, broke both faith with source and his profession. And, is letting two other reporters hang. (Reminds me of the line from a Faulkner novel: "The louder he spoke of his virtue the faster we counted our spoons.")

Yo, CNN, why is are you allowing this value-challenged columnist to remain on your payroll or, for that matter, on the air? I would think your motto, “The Most Trusted Name in News,” would preclude such a despicable person being associated in any way with CNN? (FOX sure, but CNN?) What source is going to trust a CNN reporter to keep his/her promise of confidentiality after this?

So, values voters, help me out here. Do I have all this wrong? I’m totally confused and need to hear from you guys on these issues. Why is it you talk big and act small when it comes to weeding out the biggest liars, cheaters and thieves in our midst?

Those of us out here you are so determined to change await your answer – oh, and your actions. Because the older I get the less I watch people mouths and the more I watch their feet.

December 9, 2004

Will Our Real Values Please Stand Up
I’m a bit confused over this whole “values” business. I’m more than willing to come to grips with the possibility that I have no values, or the wrong values, but first I need those who claim to know to explain a few things to me first.

Is it wrong to lie and cheat? If so why do we let people like Barry Bonds continue to earn millions of dollars a year? Why do we let our kids chase him and his kind around for autographs? He is a liar and a cheater. You know it, and I know it. We know it just like we knew Clinton lied when he said he smoked pot but didn’t inhale.

But you values guys do nothing about people like Bonds. Oh sure there will be laws passed against athletes using steroids, but Bonds and his fellow liars and cheaters will be allowed to go on earning millions and pretending to be role models for your kids. And you guys will let them do it. Some of you will even make money off these liars and cheaters.

So, are lying and cheating among the values you Red State folk want to discourage or encourage? I just want to know. Because if your really want to discourage such behavior then why not insist that the punishment for lying and cheating at least match what a liar or cheater can gain by lying and cheating? In the case of these high-priced athletes I would think that the least you'all should be demanding is that they be banned from the game.

But then you do the opposite. These famous, highly paid celebs actually seem to be rewarded for lying and cheating. Take Martha Stewart. When she finishes her five-month stay in jail she will emerge as a heroine. The groundwork for her reemergence was being laid on my TV screen this morning when a spokeswoman for Stewart’s company gushed, “Martha showed real class and bravery in agreeing to serve her five months sentence…” Right. Like she had a choice.

And, what is your values culture going to do to Martha when she gets out? Why give her her own TV show, of course.

Martha, From Slammer to Syndication
Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal Television Group, announced yesterday that reality TV impresario Mark Burnett will create for the company "the most exciting offering to come along in daytime television" -- development of which will get underway just as soon as the star gets out of the slammer. Jailed nesting diva Martha Stewart will host a one-hour daily syndicated daytime show for the General Electric division, debuting next fall and featuring a live studio audience and celebrity guests. The 14 NBC-owned TV stations, including Washington's WRC, have signed on to air the program.

The message here: Girls grow up to be a tough ass woman, work hard and, when necessary, break the rules. It's okay, as long you make enough money to hire the best lawyers and aggressively manage your image.

So, you see why I am a bit confused about just what kind of values you guys are nagging me to adopt. I was raised to shun liars and cheaters, not embrace them. So, can you help me a bit with that one?

Okay, I will wait for an answer on that. Can we move on to another values contradiction I need some help on?

Let’s talk stealing. I would think that stealing would not be a value you would want to encourage. At least on the street you seem determined to punish those who steal. But shouldn’t the punishment for stealing match the size of the crime? I thought so, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. In fact a look at the numbers tells me that if you are going to be a thief, be a big ass thief. Because, someone who sticks up a 7/11 for a couple hundred bucks will get thrown in the slammer for a couple of years, while a company and that steals millions of dollars gets off with no jail time, for no one. If they don't get caught they keep the money. If they get caught they just have to put the cookies they stole back into the jar, plus a little for the lawyers and the state, and they are allowed to go their way. Most of the time they don’t even have to admit they did anything wrong to begin with. Being a thieving corporation in American is a bit like being a Catholic; when they get caught sinning all they have do is go to confession, say a few prayers in private and, whalla… a clean slate.

Think I exaggerate? I just dipped into today’s business section for these little nuggets:

Fannie Mae Settles Case in Mortgage Scam
Fannie Mae yesterday agreed to pay the government $7.5 million to settle a case in which the Justice Department alleged that the giant housing-finance company knowingly accepted proceeds of a mortgage scam.

Inter-Tel to pay $9.5 to settle e-Rate fraud charges
Inter-Tel Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Inter-Tel Technologies will pay about $9.5 million in civil settlements and criminal fines under the terms of a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice..

Between just those two stories we have $17 million in stolen money. Stolen by whom? Well no human apparently because no “body” is going to jail in either case. Of course a corporation does not commit a crime without humans acting in ways that aid and abet. But no, it’s the paper entity, the un-jailable “corporation” that takes the rap and the humans within are thereby allowed to maintain their Brooks Bros. patina of respectability. (And, don't even get me started on that rat's nest Halliburton!)

So, since you values folks are in charge now, are you going to change that situation? Or should I just start instructing my grandkids that, if they should decide to become a crook just don’t become a small-time crook - one with low values. Think big, aim high and be sure their crookery is shielded by an air-tight corporate charter.

Help me with that one would you? You gonna change that or leave it the way it is?

Okay, enough with bad values, let’s talk about values I thought you guys wanted to encourage.

Professionalism, honesty and fidelity. I'd assumed that those three would be right up at the top of your Must Have Values list. But, look what happens to those who try to live by those very values. As you read these words there are three journalists facing jail because they followed those rules.

In New York: “The U.S. Court of Appeals judges here will decide whether reporters Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the New York Times can be jailed for refusing to appear before a grand jury investigating whether administration officials illegally identified a covert CIA operative to reporters in the summer of 2003. “

In Rhode Island: TV reporter Jim Taricani, 55, and the recipient of a recent heart transplant, faces six months in the slammer for refusing to reveal who leaked him a copy of video tape showing a local government official taking a bribe in one of Rhode Island’s perennial public corruption investigations.

Not one of these reporters mugged anyone, stole their life savings, lied or cheated. They were simply doing their jobs and keeping their promises. Work and fidelity – values I thought you Red Staters were hot to encourage. Was I wrong about that? Should I ditch my long-held values of keeping my pledges and adhering to the rules and standards of my profession? (Can I also make things up now? )

Then there’s the little matter of Robert Novak, the guy who started the troubles now facing Miller and Cooper. Neither of those two reporters received the leak in question, a leak that outted CIA agent Valerie Plame. No, Robert Novak did that. He got the leak and he broke the story. But wait, why isn’t Novak facing jail time for refusing to reveal the source? Could it be because he already spilled the beans? Seems a reasonable conclusion.

So, Novak, one your leading values advocates, broke both faith with source and his profession. And, is letting two other reporters hang. (Reminds me of the line from a Faulkner novel: "The louder he spoke of his virtue the faster we counted our spoons.")

Yo, CNN, why is are you allowing this value-challenged columnist to remain on your payroll or, for that matter, on the air? I would think your motto, “The Most Trusted Name in News,” would preclude such a despicable person being associated in any way with CNN? (FOX sure, but CNN?) What source is going to trust a CNN reporter to keep his/her promise of confidentiality after this?

So, values voters, help me out here. Do I have all this wrong? I’m totally confused and need to hear from you guys on these issues. Why is it you talk big and act small when it comes to weeding out the biggest liars, cheaters and thieves in our midst?

Those of us out here you are so determined to change await your answer – oh, and your actions. Because the older I get the less I watch people mouths and the more I watch their feet.

December 8, 2004

If you have been reading this page for long you know I have no patience with religious nonsense - of any flavor. I venture to bet more people have died in the name of religion than any other single cause.

So every once in a while I like to impart some advice to those being lead astray by the conjurers of superstition, be they Rabbis, Priests or Mullahs. Some of the nonsense these sanctimonious blowhards pump into young heads should be designated crimes against humanity -- because that's where it often leads.

So, today I take on the Islamic radical Mullah’s promise of 72 virgins in heaven for those who martyr themselves in the name of Jihad. I want to do my part to de-program these angry young Arab men being encouraged to die by their Mullah's in return for some serious nooky.

Memo to Would-be Martyrs

Young fellas... before you blow yourself up please sit down a moment and think this thing through. I understand you are a 17-year old male and the idea of being handed 72 virgins for your own personal consumption is mighty tempting. After all, you come from a culture that does not even allow you to look at a woman’s face or hold a girl’s hand. So, the idea that all you have to do to relieve all that pent up adolescent sexual tension is blow yourself up, would could be tempting. Listen, I get it. I come from an open society where boys and girls commingle as the norm, and when I was your age an offer of 72 virgins, all for me? Whoa. dude! I would have probably started searching for some dynamite that very day.

But wait. I am older now, been around the block a few times and I have some advice you need to hear. Don’t do it. You will die to regret it.

Clue to the inexperienced – a person can only be a virgin once. After that first time they are just another used car. Drive it off the lot and you own it.

So, how long do you think 72 virgins are going to last a horny 17-year old boy? I suspect you could burn your way through that flock in about 3 days of heavy breathing. Then what? I'll tell you what - congratulations, you have 72 wives.

Another clue: Virgins are lousy lovers.

What we have is one guy with zero experience in bed plus 72 women with zero experience. This, my friend, is a formula for 72 very (VERY) bad dates.. Both you and the girls come from a society that does not allow single folks to even think about sex, much less learn about it. So you probably have all kinds of gauzy, Arabian Nights images in your head about what it will be like. Forget about it. A few hours in the back seat of an old Chevy with the president of the girls’ high school debating team would prepared you better.

Another thing you should consider. Since the Mullahs make it a key sales point that these girls are “virgins,” then apparently in heaven anatomy remains in its earthly form. Therefore, odds are your first sowing of oats should yield a hungry, noisy crop of about 25 kids nine months after you pull that trigger. And more later. Lots more. Hope you like kids because in a couple years your heavenly home will look and sound like an inner city daycare center.

Another clue to the clueless:
Ever notice that none -- not one -- of those sanctimonious, ranting Mullahs has ever blown themself up? Ever wonder why? I supsect it may be because they are already the proud owners of three or four former virgins, now wives. And the thought of having another 68 wives around handing them "Honey Do" lists everyday is just not their idea of heaven.

So fellas, if you really want to strap some C-4 to your body and blow yourself up, go ahead. But if I were you I’d do a little research on living with one woman before you take ownership of 72. Move in with a nice girl. I recommend it. Because life with one good woman is great.

But 72? Believe me, you do not want to go there. Within a month you will be looking to blow yourself up again.

(PS: What do female martyrs get? They can hope not 72 inexperienced males because – and I think you gals out there will not disagree with this – that’s not exactly your image of heaven.)

December 7, 2004

Yes George, Facts ARE Stubborn Things
As President Bush begins his second term surrounding himself with people he can trust (to tell him only what he wants to hear,) there remain plenty of folks outside the White House bubble who stubbornly refuse to get on message.

How’s the U.S. Economy? The Bush Bubble Boys contend that it’s strong and getting stronger, thanks of course to the Boss’s humungous tax cuts. The wealthy, as predicted they say, are using their tax savings to create jobs, which in turn has put money in consumers’ pockets. That in turn has boosted consumer spending and the overall economy. That’s their story, and they’re sticking to it.

But once you leave White House bubble you find plenty of folks willing to tell you otherwise, (or, as the Bush administration would describe them, people who are “helping the terrorists.”)

First, about those rich folk - they are creating jobs, just not here. If you want one of those jobs you’ll have to move to China or India and agree to work for peanuts. But, you ask, if that’s the case where are consumers getting the money to pay for all stuff they are buying? Answer - the same place George Bush gets the $5 billion a month to fund his Iraq adventure.. they borrow it … borrow.. borrow. (Conversely the American savings rate has fallen to a mere two tenths of one percent. That means that a person earning $100,000 a year is saving about 50 cents a week, or $25 a year.) We are a nation living on the Never-never plan. Never, never pay off our debts. Just keep borrowing. A rolling loan gathers no loss.


"It's in this four-letter word: Debt," The U.S. economy is just awash in it We have a Fed that wants a booming economy, but the only way the consumer can continue to fuel the economy is through continued debt accumulation. I don't know if there's an easy way out." (Merrill Lynch chief North American economist Dave Rosenberg.)



But there are limits to even what avaricious credit card companies are willing to lend. So, as consumers reached their credit card limits they had to find another cow borrow milk from. Bush likes to point out that America is a nation of homeowners. Righto Boss. The trouble is consumers have spent the last five years milking all the equity and then some from their homes too. Remember the old days when a family celebrated the burning of the mortgage. Owning your home free and clear was the foundation upon which our parent’s and grandparent’s generations built secure retirements. No more baby. The American home has just become a credit card with a lawn.

“It's a dangerous situation -- potentially a bubble that dwarfs even the U.S. asset bubble that burst in 2000 -- and it will be a challenge for policy-makers to keep it from ending badly.” Justin Lahart, CNN/Money Senior Writer

So, what’s the plan once the American consumer hits financial gridlock? Don’t ask this administration because they are part of the problem. The Bush folk started spending and borrowing the day the arrived. They have run up over $2 trillion in debt so far and, thanks to Bush’s tax cuts; they need to continue borrowing just to keep the heat and lights on.

"Nobody can pinpoint when this process will come to an end. But it is very clear that it can't go on forever.”Carlos Asilis, a portfolio manager with the hedge fund Vega Capital Management.

No Carlos, (you un-American little bastard,) it can’t go on forever. It will, however continue through the Christmas season. We are spoiled bunch of consumers and not even backbreaking debt is going to prevent us from one more round of lavish gifting. Christmas 2004 will add a few more billion in consumer debt to the already radioactive piles of the stuff.

2005 Predictions: Early next year the Fed will resume raising interest rates - which will result in a jump in credit card rates - which will result in larger minimum balance payments - which will force more consumers into default and bankruptcy - adjustable rate mortgage rates will also begin to rise – which will increase monthly payments for already stressed homeowners -- those higher rates will cool home sales - which will in turn depress property values - which means the homeowners not only cannot squeeze another dime out of their homes – in fact, some will find the declining value of their home is less than their outstanding loan balance - which will increase foreclosures. Happy New Year.

More Stuff the Boss Doesn't Want to Hear
How are things going in Iraq? Fine, the White House Bubble Boys snap. We won in Falluja, gave those Evil-doers are real shellacking. Gonna have free elections in January. And the Iraqi police and military trained and just itching to take over responsibility from American troops. That’s the administration’s story and their sticking to it.

But karma is real and, sooner or later, comes home to roost. That’s just what happened last month when the CIA’ station chief in Iraq returned from a year in that country and filed his “End of Assignment Assessment” report and it was soooooo off message!

It was payback time for when the Bush folks blamed the CIA for the whole WMD “misunderstanding?” The CIA remembers that little incident and this time they intend to cover their ass. The day CNN airs footage of our ambassador being plucked from the roof of the burning US Embassy in Baghdad; the CIA wants to be able to prove that “we told you so.”

The CIA station chief’s conclusions will not come as a surprise to those of you who watch any non-FOX news channel. The memo notes that the insurgency is getting bigger, not smaller, stronger not weaker. This month alone over 50,000 of the newly minted Iraqi police refused to show up for work because they are tired of playing clay pigeons to insurgent marksmen. (Over 1000 of the have been killed this year alone – for $75 a week.)

“The station chief's cable has been widely disseminated outside the C.I.A., and was initially described by a government official who read the document and who praised it as unusually candid. Other government officials who have read or been briefed on the document later described its contents. The officials refused to be identified by name or affiliation because of the delicacy of the issue. …… Asked about the cable, a White House spokesman, Sean McCormack, said he could not discuss intelligence matters.. The station chief overseas an intelligence operation that includes about 300 people, making Baghdad the largest C.I.A. station since Saigon during the Vietnam War era.” ( New York Times 12/07)

December 6, 2004

The Trust Gap
What worries you? Terrorism? A worldwide financial collapse? Maybe you worry about both. Well, sorry but they are both just byproducts of something much more worrisome and far, far more destructive.

We Americans have been fixated, as usual, by the endless As America Turns soap opera – reds vs. blues, Christians vs. secular Satan, supplysiders vs. deficit hawks, FOX vs. CNN… etc….etc…

While all that captivates us a worldwide phenomenon has been spreading that, unless reversed soon, threatens to throw social order into turmoil around the globe has mesmerized Americans.

What is it? In a world -- distrust.

This cancer has been growing slowly, but steadily, for decades. Only recently did it take root here, in US. But it’s a familiar foe in places like the Middle East where people distrust just about everything, every institution and everybody.

It’s a distrust of politicians, distrust of government, distrust of the media, distrust of religious groups, distrust of the courts – even distrust of elections.

Distrust of election results, common in the underdeveloped, authoritarian and Third World nations, took root here after the U.S. Supreme Court decided the 2000 election. That was a two-fer for distrust, sparking distrust in both the election results and the motives of the nation’s highest court.

Look at Ukraine where both the election and the media were trust casualties. The election was fixed in such an obvious and ham handed manner that it showed just what contempt the government had for laws and democratic institutions. And, the Ukrainian media, passively allowed itself to be used by the forces of evil, supporting only government candidates and then refusing to air footage or even news of the mounting public demonstrations. (Ironically it was that formerly authoritarian nation’s Supreme Court that honored its people’s trust.)

But Ukrainian Supreme Court decision stands like a frail reed against the rushing flood of distrust sweeping societies around the globe. When trust is lost it can only be replaced by distrust. And once that happens nothing – and I mean nothing – “works” anymore. Trust is the glue that holds all man-made social structures and institutions together. Remove trust and the whole thing tumbles into a disorderly heap, every man, woman and child for themselves.

Yet it spreads. Distrust of stated intentions. Distrust of motives. Distrust of “evidence” justifying actions and policies. Sunnis distrust Shiites in Iraq, Palestines v. Israelis, Muslims v. Christians, Muslims v. Jews, Turks v. Kurds, Canada v. Americans, Europeans v. America. India v. Pakistan, Iran v. America, North Korea v. Everyone.

Sometimes distrust takes physical form. What else can you call the wall being built between Israel and Palestine but a wall of distrust? The Israelis, one of the world’s oldest --and once wisest – races busily walling itself off.

Until recently we Americans have been spared the cancer of distrust. Elections happened every two years for over two centuries. There were winners and losers, but rarely distrust of the results. There was always “next time.” And, even though the other guy won and his/her policies disliked, they were seldom distrusted and their “real motives” the source of suspicion or conspiracy. Back then we just disagreed then went on with life. Why? Because we trusted that our traditions and institutions were stronger than any one person, party or policy. And, that if push came to shove, the courts would stop stupid, prejudiced or repressive legislation before it became an enforceable law.

And, if the courts failed then we trusted that a free press would rip the bad guys a new one and that would be the end of the matter.

This last US election showed that each of those trust-factors has either been weakened or wiped out. Large numbers of Democratic voters still refuse to accept the election results as honest. And, while they challenge the results they fear the courts are now so stacked with Bush appointees that they have little chance there. And, should this election reach the Supreme Court, well, they are still complaining about what the Court did in 2000.Congress, now under complete GOP control is sure not about to do a thing about it.

That leaves the media. Trust in the media is weaker than it has ever been. Over the past decade 0r so America’s once scrappy and fiercely independent media has morphed into just another corporate asset. Major media outlets are now owned and controlled by the same companies that make and market toilet paper, light bulbs and toothpaste. Viewers/listeners and readers now expect only entertainment out of them – even if it is being served up under the guise of news. Questioning the legitimacy of the very federal authorities that dole out broadcast licenses and spectrum is not the kind of thing corporations do for living. And, the public now knows it.

So there we are. Below all the noise and fury over terrorism and economic collapse is distrust driving it all. Yet no one is doing a thing about it. Just the opposite in fact. Daily we create more distrust as distrust feeds on distrust.. Need I explain… attacking nations on trumped up allegations, voting machines that leave no paper audit trails, Halliburton contracts, changing the rules for Tom DeLay, stacking the courts with conservative fundamentalists.. etc.

It’s not terrorism that's going to get us. Terrorist attacks have no more real affect on this nation or its economy than the routine natural disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes or forest fires. We pick up the pieces and move on. And my parent’s generation not only survived a major financial collapse, but also came out of it stronger.

No, there is only one thing that can unravel the whole ball of yarn and it’s distrust. Once we distrust our institutions, the people who run them and the very processes by which those people are chosen, then it’s straight downhill.

Having said all that, I have no global solution the problem. At this point there may be none. After all, it’s not just us. We are just this virus’ latest host. It is already disabling and dismantling social structures right and left. Even religions have lost trust. The Catholic Church revealed as the world’s largest organized pedophile ring, Islamic groups are seen as seedbeds for terrorism, and Jews – of all people on earth -- supporting collective punishment and defacto apartheid for Palestinians.

Drip, drip, drip,…. Trust, replaced by distrust.

What about the United Nations? Sorry. Too late. Oil for Food… Kofi Anan’s son… and that’s just the latest..

Trust. We are running on empty. Where can we get a fill up?

Well, Democratic State party heads begin meeting today in Florida to pick a new DNC leader. This would be as good a place as any to start by first firing everyone in management at DNC national and replacing them with fresh faces from the “grassroots” – a place DNC party leaders like to talk about but with which they have only the most superficial acquaintance.

Then choose a new leader – Howard Dean. Yeah, that’s right. Howard Dean. I would rather have a guy who yells “EYYYYYYYYHAAAAA! when he is pumped than a rich dude who goes windsurfing when the chips are down.

And, I trust Howard Dean.

If they have the balls to pick Dean to lead the party, then I have advice for him too.

Howard, your first act as DNC chairman should be to publicly apologize to Joe Trippi for ditching him during the primaries in favor of that pack of worn out Gore opportunist hacks. Then appoint Trippi head of communications for the DNC. Gawd knows they need one.

(Oh, and them make everyone left at the DNC read this: The Nov. 3 Manifesto. )

December 2, 2004

NEWS FOR REAL
EXCLUSIVE

You may have read in your morning paper that the US is about to increase troop levels in Iraq to 150,000. Early this morning News For Real obtained the secret memo that sparked the decision to quickly add to the current level of US troops already there.

All we can tell you at this point is that the memo below was written by a “high administration official,” who was sent by the President to the theater of war specifically to assess the strength of the insurgency and the likelihood the interim government would survive after planned elections.

S E C R E T

POTUS EYES ONLY

To: The President
White House, Washington D.C.
From: (Deleted)

30November
X456-9909-DOD-4

The government is surviving, but not acquiring wide support or generating actions; pacification is thoroughly stalled, with no guarantee that security anywhere is permanent and no indications that able and willing leadership will emerge in the absence of that permanent security. (The Prime Minister estimates that his government controls only 25% of the population today ….)

The dramatic recent changes in the situation are on the military side. They are the increased (insurgent) infiltration ….and the increased willingness of the (insurgent) forces to stand and fight, even in large-scale engagements….

To meet this possible--and in my view likely—(insurgent) buildup, the presently contemplated Phase I (U.S.) forces will not be enough. Bearing in mind the nature of the war, the expected weighted combat force …will not be good enough. Nor will the originally contemplated … 28 US battalions (112,000 men) be enough… The initiative, which we have held since August, would pass to the enemy; we would fall far short of what we expected to achieve in terms of population control and disruption of enemy bases and lines of communications. Indeed, it is estimated that with the contemplated … 28 US battalions, we would be able only to hold our present geographical positions.

I see two possible solutions:

One is to go now for a compromise solution (something substantially less than the "favorable outcome" I described in my memo of Nov 3) and hold further deployments to a minimum.

The other is to stick with our stated objectives and with the war, and provide what it takes in men and materiel. If it is decided not to move now toward a compromise, I recommend that the US both send a substantial number of additional troops and gradually intensify bombing.

Okay, so I lied. We didn’t get a secret cable slipped to us by anyone. But, what you read above was once a secret cable.. and it was written by a high administration official, just not one from this administration.

It was written by then defense Secretary Robert McNamara on November 30, 1965 to President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Had President Johnson accepted McNamara’s first option – a negotiated settlement, it would not have changed the way the Vietnam War turned out. The insurgents from the North would have “won” and we would have left. But it would have saved the lives of tens of thousands of US troops and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese lives. No small matter, to be sure.

I don’t think I need to explain why I chose today to remind everyone we’ve been at this juncture before. Maybe this time we can make the right decision.

Memo to George: Take a moment today and spend some quality alone at the Vietnam Memorial counting the names of those who died after McNamara's Nov. 30, 1965 memo to President Johnson. It will take some time because a lot of names were added after that, kids -- other people's kids -- who died for nothing. But as you send more other people's kids to Iraq, don't you think it’s the least you could do?

Selected Shorts

Right to Strife
As the stock market looks less and less like a good bet I have been considering other investments. Coat hanger manufactures…hmmmm… yes, that could be winner under the New Values Order. Bolstering my hunch, the NY Times reports this morning that Abortion opponents now consider the US Senate in the bag. The Senate has represented a daunting roadblock in the past when they tried to get abortion restrictions or anti-abortion judicial nominees approved. But now the blue noses from the red states have both the House and the Senate well in hand. They see the path clear now to begin to incrementally shut down abortions in America.

Of course these pious busy bodies know better than to begin with anything as ham handed as a Constitutional amendment banning abortions. No, that might get your attention and encourage you to get involved again. These guys are sneaky. (They have to be.) So they will begin with a carefully calibrated array of incremental, focused restrictions, like a measure to make it a federal crime to circumvent state parental consent laws by transporting a minor across state lines for an abortion. Abortion opponents say there is particularly strong support for one of their newest legislative initiatives, the proposed Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, which would require women seeking abortions after 20 weeks to be told that Congress has determined that the fetus can feel pain and to be offered pain-relieving medication for it. From there the logic leads inevitably to a ban.

Investment Tip of the Day: Coat Hangers…. Buy low, sell high -- then don't get pregnant.

Stick-em Up
Guns don’t kill people, politicians who vote against gun laws kill people. Yesterday there was another killer vote. The Republican Congress eliminated financing for a Justice Department program that had been the centerpiece of the Bush administration's stated desire to prosecute black-market gun crimes.

"If you use a gun illegally, you will do hard time," Mr. Bush is quoted as saying on the Web site for the neighborhoods program, www. projectsafeneighborhoods.com.
The funding cut was attributed to “competing budget priorities.” (Translation: We are broke - gave away too much tax breaks to the rich, up to our ass in debt and no one will lend us any more money so we have to cut domestic programs.)

The cut in funding the anti-black-market guns program comes just months after the Republican Congress refused to renew the assault rifle ban. So far the Bush administration has been everything the National Rifle Associate said it would be -- in their pocket.

Erections Okay, Tolerance No way
As the broadcast media has become corporatized it has begun acting like the toady companies that now own them. The last thing a company wants is to say or do anything controversial. Pissing off potential customers just isn’t part of the business plan. We saw the best example of that yet yesterday when two major TV networks refused to let The Church of Christ run a TV ad encouraging tolerance. Yes ladies and gentlemen, tolerance is now too hot to handle.

The United Church of Christ, (relatively speaking, one of the nation's more liberal Christian denominations,) says that CBS and NBC rejected a 30 second commercial it had produced supporting religious tolerance. See the problem was that the ad was not about the rest of us being tolerant of religion.. that would have fine. Instead the Church wanted to encourage tolerance of “them.” You know who I’m talking about… gays, colored people, Jews…. The ad showed a couple of beefy bouncer types turning “them” away from Sunday services while allowing in the ever so proper Leave It to Beaver family clones.

CBS and NBC said only that rejecting the Church’s ad was consistent with their policy against “advocacy advertising.”

So, let me get this straight. The networks can advocate hard-on and hemorrhoid meds, feminine hygiene and adult diapers during the dinner hour, but not tolerance. Merck could bombard us with ads for their killer drug. Vioxx, but two gay guys being turned away from church by a couple of values thugs is dangerous stuff.

You see of course what’s going on here. Thanks to rampant media consolidation corporate marketing people make programming decisions now. At this pace within ten years each time you turn your TV on you will be “greeted” by a smiling senior citizen in a Wal-Mart vest, assuring you that you will have nothing but a good time because you are in a place where people care about your best interests --whether you like it or not.

Memo to CBS and NBC corporate cubical rats:
1) Disengage heads from ass.
2) Let the church run its damn ad.
3) Get a life – (and this time, make it a real one.)

December 1, 2004

Slip Slidin’ Away
Well, the euro hit a fresh record high to the dollar on today! And the Yen is roaring away in second place.

Nice work George. In less than four years you have managed to turn the richest nation on earth into its biggest deadbeat debtor. And the rest of us are stuck now with the bill. Of course you could pay that bill off early by simply revoking some of the overly generous tax cuts you gave to the already rich. But no, you won’t even consider that. Instead you will take more away from the rest us, our children, and their children.

The “taking away” part has begun. Since Bush has already ruined our national credit rating it will get harder to borrow. So, he must now begin cannibalizing domestic programs. Among the first to go – government funded scientific research.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 - Congress has cut the budget for the National Science Foundation, an engine for research in science and technology, just two years after endorsing a plan to double the amount given to the agency….. The $388 billion spending bill for the current fiscal year, approved by both houses of Congress on Nov. 20, provides $5.473 billion for the National Science Foundation, $105 million less than it got last year…. (NYTimes)

While we cut spending on real science the Bush administration’s evangelical supporters are eagerly filling the science gap in our schools with so-called “creation science.” It’s a full-court press by the biblically lobotomized to lobotomize public school students. It's not the Body Snatchers, but the Mind Snatchers. This is not just a red-state phenomena, it’s a happening thing across the nation. Here’s just a sampler:

• Tennessee: Blount County's Board of Education votes not to adopt three high school biology textbooks because they do not present creationism alongside evolution.
• California: The Board of Trustees of the Roseville Joint Union High School District (Placerville County) decide not to enact a district- wide policy on teaching evolution. Science teachers have told the district that they do not want to add anti-evolutionist materials that are not state- approved.
• Oklahoma: Textbook legislation passes after it is stripped of a provision that all textbooks include a disclaimer describing evolution as "a controversial theory which some scientists present as scientific explanation for the origin of living things" and "the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produced a world of living things."
• Pennsylvania: A Dover, Pa., school board votes to include intelligent design in the district's science curriculum, making it the first such school district in the country.
• Georgia: A lawsuit is filed against the Cobb County School District over this disclaimer inserted into textbooks: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."
• Grantsburg, Wisconsin: school board revised its science curriculum to teach "various scientific models of theories of origin." In Charles County, Md. , the school board is considering a proposal to eliminate textbooks "biased toward evolution" from classrooms. ( Similar proposals have been considered this year in Missouri, Mississippi and Oklahoma.)

You can think of it as Bush’s faith-based alternative to his now under-funded National Science Foundation. Onward Christian soldiers poisoning the minds of what would have been America’s next generation of scientists, filling their heads, not with facts, but with fables, fantasy and fallacy.

(And we wonder why US students continue to score lower and lower on international science and math tests? Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Just wait til the Mind Snatchers get done with them. “How old is the earth?” Why it’s only 6,000 years old. Didn’t know that, did you? Heathen!)

The dollar's decline, the de-funding of science, the assault on public education by the evangelical pod people, are all related. Each is a direct manifestation of the stupefaction of the American electorate by mendacious manipulators of the first kind like Karl Rove. Rove and his kind understand that voters who can be mesmerized for hours by automobiles racing in endless circles were easy prey. Just give them a few catchy slogans, some low-brow smear ads, a soundtrack of jingoistic country and western tunes, and regular warnings that “elite liberals,” if elected, would turn America into a French lap poodle – a gay one at that. So primed these largely working class folks could even be convinced to vote against their own economic interests -- sort of like getting a chicken to vote for Colonel Sanders.

Rove was right of course. Nov. 2 proved that. Now the knuckle draggers are in the drivers seat. They understand little about economics and, like their voter base, think Wal*Mart and easy credit are at once the solution and the fruits of prudent fiscal policy. Add to that that scientists have been added to their pantheon of “elites” who must be watched and countered whenever they present evidence of evolution or global warming.

Down, down, down we go. How low, know one knows. But we have four more years to find out. It’s an assault on everything America has come to stand for in the world… domestic prosperity, progressive ideas, freedom, science and progress.

And where are the Democrats? Are there still Democrats in Congress? You could fool me.

November 30, 2004

Reluctant Warriors
First, a report by the New York Times that details the ineffectiveness and unreliability of the newly American-trained Iraqi forces. The administration likes to brag that they have trained 114,000 Iraqi forces so far. But the training has been so rushed and perfunctory that trainers often refer (in hushed tones) to training and deployment process as “shake and bake.”

“In the most violent provinces, they say, the Iraqi forces are so intimidated that many are reluctant to show up and do not tell their families where they work; they have yet to receive adequate training or weapons, present a danger to American troops they fight alongside, and are unreliable because of corruption, desertion or infiltration.” (NYTimes 11/30/04)

We lost the war in Viet Nam even though the South Vietnamese forces, the ARVN, fought fiercely and bravely. Here we are 30 years later battling another insurgency far from home fighting along side locals who would rather not. What do you think our chances are this time? You do the math.

Oh, one more thing on a related matter. Yesterday a suicide bomber rammed his car into a group of Iraqi policemen lined up in front of their local police station waiting to collect their salaries. Twelve freshly minted Iraqi police were killed and scores others wounded. If this were an isolated incident it would not deserve mention among the massive chaos that now engulfs Iraq. But this kind of thing happens all the time. Every week we hear of a few dozen Iraqi cops, either blown up or shot, while lined up to get paid. One would think that their American security handlers would arrange for a safer way to pay these clay pigeons.

MEMO TO IRAQI POLICE: DO NOT - REPEAT - NOT - LINE UP on the street in front of the police station for your paychecks. We will hand them to you personally when you show up for your regularly scheduled shift.

Duh!

Terror Tourism
Why are Iraq troops and police so scared? Well, besides having to fight their own angry Iraqi relatives, the US invasion and occupation turned their entire nation into Disneyland for wannabe terrorists. From around the Islamic world they come, by train, by car, by camel, on foot – the Koranically lobotomized soldiers of Jihad.

Since boyhood these guys have listened to the rants of half-educated, madmen Mullahs who filled their heads with glorious images of the day they too would fight, hand to hand, the Great Satan, the defenders of the “Zionist Entity.” Now, thanks to George W. Bush they can do just that. It’s even a short, convenient commute -- right in their own neighborhood. It’s terror tourism. They don’t even have to quit school or their job. They can Jihad over vacation break. Al Qaida and other Islamic radical groups will even make their Jihad-vacation arrangements:

SPECIAL JIHAD GETAWAY: Praise Allah! Ten days, 3 cities, two beheadings, single occupancy. Included: First three RPG’s free. Free car.. no return required. All the beans and rice you can eat.

(Note: If you are fortunate to be martyred on a trip arranged by us, we are famous for the quality of our virgins.)

So, that’s one reason Iraqi troops and police have all developed nervous ticks. They have Arabs from all over the Middle East traveling to Iraq to live out their jihadist fantasies and, if they can’t bag an American, they will settle for someone working for the Americans.

Shake and bake, indeed.


Necessary Evil Dept
We are all still fussing over the fact that George Bush didn’t give UN weapons inspectors in Iraq the time or respect they deserved before going off half-cocked. We wish he had because maybe then over a thousand American boys and girls and god knows how many Iraqis would still be alive.

But, having said that, I have to add that the United Nations is still a festering puss-pot of an institution, a magnet for the world’s sleaziest public officialdom. The UN’s job description is “world peace.” But it’s real occupation is self-indulgence, bloated budgets, limos, parking tickets that never get paid, rapes that never get prosecuted, and the systematic theft of public funds on scale heretofore unmatched by any human institution.

But you knew that. We hear about it all the time, shrug and go on. But every now and then the UN out-sleazes even its low standards, and we have to take notice. The latest is the news that Secretary-General Kofi Annan own son was on the take of a Swiss company now under investigation for stealing tens of millions of dollars from the so-called U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq.

New York is the wrong venue for an organization that is supposed to focus on famine, ethic cleansing and war. I have a suggestion. Let’s relocated the UN to countries where the ambassadors can get up close and personal with their stated mission… say, Rwanda, Somalia or Liberia?

Want to bet if we did the quality of “ambassador” would go way up as the cockroach variety head for greener, and safer, pastures. Just a thought.

Speaking of Which
Iran said Tuesday it has not abandoned its right to enrich uranium, despite its agreement with the U.N. nuclear agency to suspend the processing. Such a deal. This is the kind of phony agreements the U.N. engineers when member countries don’t want to mess up existing profitable business arrangements. In this case it’s France and Russia who have been selling nuclear gear and know how to Iran for a long time.

So, thanks to the U.N. get ready for a nuclear-armed Iran. Unless of course Israel vetoes the whole matter with air strikes --which the UN will, of course denounce.

Just another day of la de da, la de da at No. 1 U.N. Plaza, NY.

Finally, This..
Remember when the Bush administration said with certainty that the costs of attacking Iraq would be more than paid for with Iraqi oil revenue? Well, like soooooooo many other things this administration believed, or claimed to believe, that too has turned out to be, not just wrong.. but W R O N G. (About $200 billion wrong so far, and counting.)

Nearly two years later Iraqi oil production is still below pre-invasion levels and revenues can hardly keep up with the cost of keeping the oil flowing. Even with nearly 140,000-armed US troops in country, security around Iraq's vital petroleum industry is a hit and miss affair, at best. Insurgents attack refineries and pipelines at will. Between August and October, Iraq lost $7 billion dollars in potential revenues due to sabotage against the country's oil infrastructure. An estimated 20 oil wells and pipelines were bombed this month alone in northern Iraq.

So, how do we try to protect the oil now? (I have to warn you, it gets worse.) Imagine this. Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin, chief of the Iraqi National Guardsmen in Kirkuk, said that private US security firms now “hire” local tribes to guard oil installations. The going rate -- $1,100 per mile secured. Ah but there’s a wrinkle. These tribes take capitalism seriously… very seriously.

"The tribes fight over who wins the largest number of contracts," Amin said, “the losers blow up the pipelines and oil wells in retaliation." (And you thought Halliburton played hardball.) And tribesmen who own land through which the pipelines pass also tap into the pipes and steal oil to sell, probably to us.

This is the country; these are the people we “liberated.”

Question: Just who is going to liberate us from this deadly, expensive mess?