*boom*

i’m sorry for that emotional outburst a moment ago. but that is what happens when one’s head explodes.

have we become the enemy?

i really cannot express how upset off i am right now. i finally saw the pictures:

here’s a clue for everyone: THIS IS NOT LIBERATION. THIS IS NOT WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS. THIS IS WHY THEY HATE US AND WILL CONTINUE TO HATE US!!

the army is investigating, and this may have been the work of military contractors, ie MERCENARIES. jeebus, i don’t even know what to say about this.

update: oh my god. it gets even worse and worse (warning: extremely graphic photos). i can’t bring myself to reproduce those pictures. i just can’t. dear goddess, i can’t believe they are doing this in our names. today, i am very ashamed. very, very ashamed.

i can’t believe coalition soldiers (striken because i don’t wanna make the assumption that the guys in the rape pictures are soldiers – they may be mercenaries for all i know) are raping iraqi women in saddam’s rape rooms. what the hell?

update2: hero.

outrageous

by now i hope you’ve seen the picture of the coffins which ran in the seattle times. yesterday, the woman who took the pictures was fired for violating her contract.

she may have been technically in the wrong, but her photographs – and the decision by the seattle times to publish them – finally broke the embargo.

i think it is complete bullshit that we’re shipping our dead soldiers home in the dead of night. i am disgusted at our leadership for acting like our soldiers are something to be ashamed of.

and people have finally started talking about the draft. well you know what? i mentioned that possibility over six months ago to the monkey and i still feel the same way about it as i did back then. i’m appalled at some of my liberal counterparts who’ve suggested that a draft is the best way to “wake people up”. that’s insanity. i am unwilling to provide the neocons with more warm bodies to turn into cold ones. if we have a draft, i will be among the first to protest.

we do *not* need a draft to accomplish the goal of turning public opinion against bush. what we need is HONEST media coverage.

now far be it for me to suggest that the media “use” these pictures (click to see over 300 photos of our dead, courtesy of the memory hole) to wake people up, but i don’t see any other option. i want to see these pictures on the news every single time one of our soldiers comes home in a steel coffin. and i don’t want them snuck in during the dead of night. i want them to come home in broad daylight. i want a military band to meet them on the airstrip, i want the color guard to raise the flags in honor of our fallen, and i want us to STOP PRETENDING THAT THIS ISN’T HAPPENING.

yes, i’m angry about this. and why shouldn’t i be?

viva espana

hours after being sworn in as the new spanish prime minister, jose zapatero has ordered the spanish troops to come home from iraq within 15 days. that leaves the following contingents in country:

US: 135,000
UK: 8,700
Italy: 3,000
Poland: 2,400
Ukraine: 1,650
Australia: 850
Japan: 550

SCIENTIA EST POTENTIA, part 1

i had a bit of an orwellian revelation earlier. i was reading the transcript of bin laden’s latest tape, and i was struck by the notion that it was a billiant piece of propoganda.

dime a dozen

the reason i’ve pulled my active support for martin frost is fairly simple: he is a dime a dozen.

hardball

i’m pulling my endorsement for martin frost in us tx 32. i’ve removed the link to his donation page, and i’ll write up an explanation later.

i’ve replaced martin with someone who is more deserving (in my humble opinion) of your time and money: mary squires, who is running for zell miller’s senate seat in georgia. mary seems to be a real good lady who will act in the country’s best interests. not to mention that regaining the senate majority is a reachable goal. i hope you’ll take a moment to pop by her website, and especially if you are a georgian, give her some volunteer time and a few bucks if you can spare it.

falling out

just some things i need to get off my chest…

just a theory

i could be completely talking out of my ass, but consider this. gas prices have spiked each summer bush has been preznit. this particular spike comes at a time when open is cutting production. we have a shitload of reserves – definitely enough to open them up and keep prices where they are now for the remainder of summer (or until production is ramped up again and we can get cheaper imports). rising gas prices pinch the consumers – you know, those folks that drive the economy. well, they are going to keep going up, and bush isn’t going to do anything about it. why?

obviously he has the power to call his opec buddies and get them to open the spigot. clinton did it when he was president. bush hasn’t done that, so let’s follow this train of thought for a moment. on right wing radio today, the energy talking point was that this was the democrats’ fault because they didn’t help pass the preznit’s energy bill. and you know, if we just opened up ANWR for drilling we’d be able to keep rices down. (not)

so why doesn’t bush open the reserves? it would make so much sense to open them up when the price is high, help out the consumers, and then replenish our reserves later this fall when prices will inevitably drop to a reasonable level. why not open them?

i wonder what percentage of our oil import interests are owned by bush’s buddies. i wonder how much money they’re making right now by pinching the consumer and continuing to import expensive oil. how much money do they stand to make if we open up ANWR for drilling? how much money would they lose if we opened our reserves and flooded the american market with a bunch of cheap oily goodness?

mandatory

don’t you dare read another blog until you’ve taken the time to sit your ass down and watch these videos. i know it’s a momentous task but i think you are up to the challenge. heh.

richard clark and richard armitage testify before the 9-11 commission – 3 1/2 hrs.; real player only; every american should see at least this much. clarke is powerful and fair, and armitage is interesting because he (probably unintentionally) backs up clark and contradicts condi.

richard clark on bbc’s newsnight – app. 7 minutes; interviewer tries to be sensationalist and parrots the bush attack lines, but he does allow clarke to speak and say what needs to be said; real player only; here is the transcript, although it’s not 100% accurate.

link – 5 minutes; pReznit bush announces that condoliezza rice will testify publicly and under oath; real player and via c-span (which is intermittent right now due to capacity issues). fun because you can watch him squirm.

lisa rein’s weblog – i found her via a google search and *kudos* go out to her for archiving richard clarke on meet the press this past sunday. she has it available for download. the files are huge; please try to be kind to her webserver (ie, only grab one at a time).

what was clarke saying a year ago? was it “inconsistent” as the administration claims? not according to this. wapo’s article, dated *march 13 2003* ends as follows:

Among friends, Clarke is skeptical that the coming war with Iraq is integral to the war on terrorism, as the White House maintains. He describes it as a diversion of scarce resources and a wedge between Washington and critical allies in destroying al Qaeda. Until late last year, he has said, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would not have been among the top suspects should al Qaeda manage to acquire a weapon of mass destruction. Now, with Hussein’s regime on the brink of falling, he will.

inconsistent? i think not. how’s this for inconsistent.

condi rice announces the appointment of richard clarke as “Special Advisor to the President for Cyberspace Security”; 15 minutes; this is interesting for several reasons. first because condi and the bushies are doing a character assasination job on clarke right now, and secondly because of her lavish praise for clarke in this announcement:

“one thing that did not change on september 11 is that we need america’s very best people to be a part of an effort of this magnitude…
today it is an honor for both tom ridge and me to announce the creation of two additional posts stemming from this reorganisation of the government and to tell you that there are two outstanding public servants who have agreed to fill those posts. dick clarke will be the president’s special advisor for cyber security… we are pleased and gratified that both have agreed to serve.”

then tom ridge is introduced to sing their praises. ridge says:

“today the president is putting in place two additional elements that are just as important. first, the administration is extremely pleased that dick clark has agreed to serve as special advisor to the president for cyber security. this position and it’s mission is vitally important… (talks about how IT is so integral to our daily lives)… protecting this infrastructure is critically important… (talks about challenges of this positions)… dick clarke is the right man for the job. he is one of our nation’s leading experts on cyber security. appointed as the first national coordinator for security, infrastructure protections and counterterrorism in may of 1998. in his long career in government service he has served as deputy assistant secretary of state for intelligence under pres. reagan and as assistant secretary of state of political-military affairs under pres. george herbert walker bush. in his new role, he will be the president’s principal advisor on all matters related to cyber security… (talks about clarke’s new role) … dr rice and i are anxious to be working with him in our capacities as well.”

methinks it’s not the credible, honorable, patriot richard a clarke.