Iranian government overthrown by peaceful pro-democracy protesters, jubilant Iranians elect Obama as their next leader, Ahmadinejad flees to North Korea.
Well, that’s more interesting than my usual Friday “Through Thick and Thin” headline, eh? While I have written a fun post about the battle of Stirling Bridge, possibly history’s best example of why accountants should never be put in charge of armies, today I will restart my Friday review posts. There’s always something to review. History unfolding, scientific breakthroughs, cat news, stock market tips, End Times omens, what have you.
And this week, protests in Iran. This is actually fairly easy to understand. Everything the mainstream media says about Iran is garbage, so that immediately really simplifies my analysis. Basically, there’s always people rioting and demonstrating about something somewhere. We can’t rely on the media to tell us what they are rioting about, but the coverage of such events is revealing. To wit:
If foreign demonstrations get extensive media coverage and are portrayed as popular “pro-democracy” movements, this means the government in question has told the USA to fuck-off and they aren’t about to let the UN and the IMF run their countries to expedite western looting of their resources. This of course would be the case in Iran. If the demonstrators are opposing a US backed toady government, they will get zero mainstream media coverage. This would be the case in Georgia or Thailand. And if the demonstrators are actually opposing the hyper concentration of wealth and power that epitomizes the modern era, such as the protesters at the recent G20 conference, they will be portrayed as radical anarchist thugs. See, one can learn something from the mainstream media, one just as to know how to interpret it.
Back to Iran, I don’t really know what’s going on, and I have no idea how this will turn out. The fact that the protests are even allowed would indicate that it’s probably not the horrible dictatorship that some would like us to believe. It’s also a pretty good bet that whatever the actual results of the election, Ahmadinejad still has a lot of supporters, again, a point that one will rarely see in the western press. And lastly, one has to realize that a lot of the media is using exiles, radicals, and outsiders for their information about Iran. Um, these people might not be the most unbiased sources. In any event, here’s an interesting blog that goes into a bit more detail about western media coverage of foreign unrests: Penny For Your Thoughts. And lastly, despite the endlessly repeated claim that the Iranian election was stolen, it’s entirely possible that it wasn’t. Personally I suspect this will all blow over and Ahmadinejad will continue as Iran’s president, but we’ll see.
In our other foreign policy demon-de-jour, North Korea is making threats again. Of course they aren’t the only one. Obama has called North Korea a “grave threat to the world.” See, that’s the secret to Obama’s success, the man can say stuff that’s absurd beyond all measure, and do so without smirking, laughing, or choking. North Korea is a threat to South Korea, not the world. For the record, North Korea is a small, impoverished, badly run country on the other side of the planet. I’d say that Hollywood has destroyed the typical American’s ability to assess the magnitude of foreign threats, but sadly the American people’s penchant for over-reacting to threats pre-dates the mass media. At one point in the nineteenth century about 20,000 men, fully one third of the US army, was engaged in trying to catch Geronimo and his band of a few dozen braves. Their crime? Refusing to stay on the reservation and cattle rustling. Hmm.
In other world news, a 14 year old boy was recently struck in the hand by a meteorite. This is only the third time in recorded history where a person has been struck by a meteorite, the second being a boy in Uganda who was struck in 1992. The first was the Hodge’s meteorite that came through a roof in Alabama in 1954 and struck a woman napping on a couch. She was badly bruised but able to walk, and the story received world wide media attention at the time. Granted, three hits in fifty years means that people have probably been struck fairly often by meteorites, but it either wasn’t recorded or no one knew what had happened. I mean, if a person was out and about one day, and a rock hit them, most people would assume some miscreant had thrown it from the bushes. There is also a note in a medieval (or older) Chinese archive about an event where “thousands of people” were killed by “iron falling from the sky.” It’s pretty safe to say if this occurred as described, it was a meteor fall.
In one last note, I have started a Doug’s Darkworld twitter: DougsDarkworld. For one thing I will be using this to announce updates to Doug’s Darkworld. Primarily though this will be a place where I will post links to articles and such that I thought were really interesting or instructive, but was unable to fit them into a post. I suppose I might also make the occasional trenchant remark about ongoing world events … no screaming though, I promise. It’s bad enough my neighbours and cats have to hear me screaming when I watch the news on TV.
Have a great weekend everyone!
(The above image predates 1927 and is public domain under US copyright law. Courtesy of the National Archives. This is one of my all time favourite pictures, I apologize if I’ve used it before. This is Geronimo and his band photographed while they were being hunted by the US Army. This is significant because this is the only photograph ever taken of a native American military force operating in the field against the US Army. Whether one calls them freedom fighters or criminals, brave or foolhardy, it’s a remarkable moment captured in time.)
McCain’s VP Pick: Blunder or Brilliance?
I’ve been mulling over McCain’s VP pick, Sarah Palin, for the past day. I’ve looked up a little bit about her, but pretty much ignored what any of the pundits had to say so I could form my own opinion. It’s a painful process but I’ve had some good luck with it before. And at the very least, if I’m wrong, I have no one to blame but myself. Sadly, I’ve also noticed that with practise, I seem to be getting better at forming opinions that seem reasonable to most people, even people who disagree with me. Why sadly? Because my opinions are often depressing.
As an aside, I just got my first “You’re a liberal F–, you should move to France with the other P—–s” comment the other day. He went on to articulate his case in a cogent and elegant manner; cutting my arguments to shreds and illuminating his position in a logically unassailable way. Snort. No, the stuff in quotes was pretty much the whole comment. I mean, sheesh, I may be a bit condescending or what not, but I really do try to listen to opposing viewpoints and am happy to have people point out where I am logically or factually in error. I’ve changed a few of my opinions because of feedback I’ve received on Doug’s Darkworld. I can pretty much guarantee that name calling and insults won’t change my mind about anything.
So anyhow I have some preliminary thoughts about Palin as VP. My first impression was, wow, she’s not a bad looking woman. I know some may say that’s sexist, no, that was my first impression and probably the first impression of a great many people. And the fact is, this certainly can’t hurt, being good looking is a huge political asset in almost any age. It was kind of a surprise pick to me, but I hadn’t really thought about it much beforehand. I was wondering if McCain was delaying his VP pick to upstage and counter Obama’s pick, if that’s the case, he’s done a brilliant job of it.
In other words, I think McCain just clinched the election. There are so many ways this can help him, and very little the Democrats can do to capitalize on it, that I think this will easily put him over the edge. I mean, what are the Democrats going to do? Attack her for their inexperience? They can’t do that without doing collateral damage to Obama. If Democrats go after her possibly criminal behaviour, the Republicans will counter with Obama’s problem in regard to criminal associates. They attack the fact that she should be taking care of her five kids, well, that’s suicidal coming from liberals! I mean, haven’t liberals claimed that having careers is what women should be doing? So far all the avenues of attack I can think of for the Democrats…are easily countered by obvious Republican ploys. I heard one of her kid’s is going to Iraq, pretty much demolishing any sort of claim she is an elitist for example.
Then there’s the crossover problem. How many McCain supporters are going to jump ship and vote for Obama now that he has Biden as a VP? Very very few, I mean, they have an old white war hero on their ticket already, and is Biden even a war hero? How many Hillary supporters might be tempted to dump Obama and his old white guy VP and vote for a young impressive female governor? More than a few I suspect. And even if there is criticism of McCain from within his party, no hard-core Republicans are going to vote for Obama. Nope, Obama listened to some cautious advice regarding his VP pick and was just checkmated as a result.
I’m not happy about this. It has an Orwellian (or Rovian) smell to it all. (I suspect a lot of liberals are going to underestimate just how clever this VP pick is.) McCain has recently started to scare me even more if that was possible, even in these already scary times. Maybe there is some horrible skeleton in Palin’s closet and this will all blow up in McCain’s face in the days or weeks to come, but right now I think he has Obama neatly boxed into a corner. God save us all.
(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit and is central to illustrating the post. Credit: AFP/BBC News. Notice I didn’t say anything about Palin’s qualifications, or lack of them, for the job. That’s because I don’t think it matters, her only real job is to get McCain elected, and she seems perfectly qualified for that.)
Through Thick and Thin & Clinton, Obama, McCain…who is the greatest threat?
Another week gone. First off, I will answer the question I posed in the previous post: Who or what is the greatest threat to the USA? I concluded that the next president of the USA was potentially the greatest threat facing America today. Now I will discuss Obama, Clinton, and McCain…on the theory that the next president would certainly be in a position to do great harm to the USA. Especially since that under even optimistic assumptions, the USA has some serious ongoing issues including the economy and the war on terror.
Well, I like what Obama says, but I fear if elected he may fall prey to the “Carter syndrome.” I.E. he is a Washington outsider and new to the ways of Washington’s byzantine politics and foreign policy. He will not be trusted by the powers-that-be, and in his good intentions, may end up pissing off all sorts of people whose cooperation he needs. The result being basically checkmated within months of getting into office and unable to make any serious changes in US policy. There’s also the possibility that Obama is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, he talks the talk but if elected will he try to do what’s best for America…or simply work to make the rich richer while babbling liberal shibboleths? He wouldn’t be the first.
Clinton. Sigh. I almost feel sorry for her. She basically worked hard for years to get a shot at the White House and make history, and if Obama hadn’t appeared out of nowhere she’d have locked it up long ago. It must be really annoying, I think most people would be hard put to be diplomatic if they worked toward a promotion for sixteen years…only at the last moment to have a “new hire” suddenly be in serious contention for the corner office.
That aside, I think both Clintons are just very smart corporate shills. While they have a lot of liberal trappings, and are not as crippled by ideology as the reigning Republicans currently are, they have done nothing but promote the Imperial Agenda that has taken hold of America the last few decades. I lost faith in Hillary just a few months after her husband became president when she announced she was going to make sure that every American got health insurance. Americans do not need health insurance, they need health care. It may seem like a subtle difference, but it’s not if one thinks about it. That’s when I knew she was a corporate shill, and I’ve seen little to change my mind since.
Now McCain. Oh dear. I used to have some admiration for McCain, at least he wasn’t an armchair warrior or a draft evader. Then when asked what he would do if his daughter got pregnant, he blew it and said they would decide as a family and consider all the options. Of course he has worked hard to make sure that “all the options” are not available for Americans, so he basically demonstrated what virtually all politicians have in common…a sense that the laws they promote don’t relate to them. Anyone who thinks their position of power entitles them to privileges and immunities the rest of us don’t have, has utterly betrayed the ideals of the founding fathers.
Furthermore, McCain is more enthusiastic about Bush’s foreign wars than Bush himself. Since a pretty good case can be made that Bush’s “enthusiastic” military spending is what is dragging the economy down, not to even mention the wisdom of trying to spread American ideals at the point of a cruise missile around the world, it’s hard not to be a little frightened of McCain. While Bush and his policies still have a few supporters, they are a shrinking minority and most Americans think we need to make some changes, not redouble our spending on foreign adventures.
So we have a fellow who might screw things up with amateurish good intentions, a corporate shill trying to make history, and “Bush on steroids.” Who is the greatest threat to America? Beats me. I’m still pretty much of the opinion that it’s like choosing a new captain of the Titanic after hitting the iceberg. If I had to make a choice, I’d say McCain scares me the most, since I think war mongering is the problem, not the solution. On the other hand Clinton will likely take us to the same place, but with more liberal smoke and mirrors. God only knows where we’ll end up with Obama. I already have my “Don’t blame me, I voted for Ron Paul” button, so I’m good no matter what transpires.
In other world news, the Iraqi armies “surge” to take back the streets of Iraq from the Mahdi army has completely fizzled. Bush said it was a “defining moment” in the history of Iraq, but since it turned out to be just another bloody failure…he’s kind of quiet on the subject. Since the “government” of Iraq is a foreign created colonial administration, it has no real legitimacy…which is why things like the Mahdi army arise. People will create the government they need to protect their interests if the “central” government isn’t doing it’s job. In fact coincidentally enough, organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Islamic Courts, etc ALL seem to have arisen in parts of the world where the “legitimate” government is basically a creation of western powers. Interesting, nu? More on that line of thought in a future post, I promise.
Otherwise, it’s been a more or less uneventful week. The economy continues to putter along, China has more or less stopped the unrest in Tibet, and just in general the world continues its slide to wherever the hell this glorious train ride is taking us. And after next week I will be trekking cross country to assess the state of the republic in person, I will blog it as I see it.
Have a great weekend everyone.
(The above image of the Three Stooges is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit and its use here in no way hinders the copyright holder’s commercial use of the image, arguably the opposite. Credit: Columbia pictures. It’s an image from the 1943 short film “They Stooge to Conga,” the most violent three stooges movie ever. I’m not trying to imply anything about Obama, McCain, and Clinton…but gentle reader may infer what they want. I just thought it was interesting that during the war they could parody Hitler and the Nazis like this, nowadays this would be seen as in bad taste I suspect. Times change, perceptions change.)
BINKY FOR PRESIDENT
Press Release
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Contact: Doug Stych
In a move that stunned both the Democratic and Republican parties, Binky, a calico cat residing in Berkeley, announced her write-in candidacy for President of the United States. Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John McCain and were reportedly rendered speechless by the news. Ralph Nader is expected to withdraw from the race momentarily, reportedly saying “With the feline-rights and catnip industry union vote locked up, Binky is unbeatable.” Ron Paul immediately withdrew from the race and threw his support behind the redoubtable feline, saying “Finally, a non mainstream candidate that can win.”
A few reporters questioned Binky’s qualifications for the highest elected office in the land, asking how she could possibly be old enough and have resided in the United States long enough considering that she was born in 1999. She responded by pointing out that “…there is no doubt about my American birth and in kitty years I am sixty years old and have resided in the United States the entire time. The constitution is rather vague on the issue of kitty years vs. human years, so that is an issue the Supreme Court will clarify after I am elected. She went on to outline her cogent and workable plans for world peace and an end to terrorism, but the details were drowned out by thunderous applause from her supporters.
After the applause died down, she demonstrated that she can pronounce the word “nuclear” clearly and correctly; an apparent reference to certain sitting presidents who mispronounce the word as “nukuler.” Numerous Republicans in the crowd were observed hanging their heads in shame at this point. When asked about health care, Binky unveiled an amazing plan that will provide every American (human and cat alike) with cradle-to-grave health care, to be enacted within four hours of being sworn into office. This to be funded by a modest $10 per can tax on dog food.
World stock markets responded positively to the amazing news of the Binky candidacy, and the US dollar promptly recovered its value. Numerous world leaders immediately pledged to support any and all American policy directives originating from this remarkable cat. The UN will meet in an emergency session within hours to discuss a joint resolution calling for Binky to be sworn in as President of the World after her term of office expires in the United States.
In related stories, the Fast Food Industry announced that henceforth “Freedom Fries” will be called “Binky Fries,” Microsoft was changing its name to Binkysoft, and the Eiffel Tower will be renamed the Binky Tower.
(The above image: Copyright © Doug Stych 2002 All Rights Reserved. That’s Binky in a tree in rural Oregon in the winter of 2001-2002. The image may be used for non-commercial purposes so long as it is properly attributed and a link to Doug’s Darkworld is included.)
Through Thick and Thin
Another week gone, another weekend upon us. More milestones in the decline and fall of the American Empire. Another attempt on my part to organize this blog in some cogent fashion. It’s kind of annoying really, posts like this are the most fun to write, but they get virtually zero follow up traffic. Still, when one is writing, follow your heart is good advice I have been advised. So I’m going to try to write a thick and thin post every Friday for awhile. This way I can wax poetic on all the developments of the week that I would like to write a stand alone column on, but don’t have time.
Starting off with, the moral police caught the governor of New York with a prostitute, so his career is over. People like to make fun of Iran or Saudi Arabia because of their moral police, yet here in the USA if a politician gets caught doing something “naughty,” Dear God we act like it’s the end of the world. Lie us into an endless trillion dollar war that has cost thousands of American lives and unleashed the worst calamity in the Middle East since 1948…get re-elected. Stick your penis somewhere it’s not “supposed” to be, your political career is over. Does this make sense to anyone?
And while we are on the unpleasant topic of the Bush administration, Admiral William Fallon, a senior American commander in the Middle East, just resigned under pressure. His crime was opposing a US attack on Iran. The Bush administration has zero tolerance for diverging opinions, so Fallon being forced out is not surprising. And it is eerily reminiscent of the run-up to the Iraq invasion where people critical of same were fired. Does this mean the USA is going to attack Iran? Beats me, but it certainly makes it more likely. My current thinking is that Bush won’t attack Iran till right after the election, since $20 a gallon gas isn’t going to be popular. What a parting gift for the next administration that will be.
Speaking of the election (yes, I have a segue fetish, deal with it) I am still putting my money on President McCain. And what a sad commentary that is on the election, the top runner is a guy so old he recently switched from a hair-stylist to a taxidermist. And if any of my gentle readers gets an email claiming that the Commies brain-washed McCain while he was a POW and we will be electing a Chinese sleeper agent to the presidency…I started that rumour. I had to do something to counteract the emails I get telling me that Obama is some sort of closet Muslim secretly preparing to institute sharia law on the USA.
Jeez, even writing about politics makes me feel dirty. How do people spend their lives immersed in it? Oh well, moving right along, genocide in Tibet. Yes, anti-Chinese riots have broken out in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. What was once a proud and independent land is slowly and deliberately being destroyed by China, but there’s no oil in Tibet and no will to oppose China so the end of Tibet as a culture and people is nigh. The Chinese are using the slow genocide method, they are simply settling so many ethnic Chinese in Tibet that Tibetan culture is being subsumed. I think two thirds of the population of Tibet is ethnic Chinese now, so the chances of Tibet ever re-emerging as a nation are remote to non-existent at this point.
In Iraq the violence seems to be going up again, attacks on American troops are on the rise. Does this mean the surge has failed? Not really, since the surge was primarily a PR gimmick to make it look like we were doing something about the mess in Iraq. The violence went down because the Mahdi army declared a cease fire and we started paying off some of the Sunni insurgents who were attacking us. The former had nothing to do with the surge, the later is little more than paying ransom to keep hostages alive. The ugly truth of the matter, and the truth that most Americans cannot bear to hear: the USA has little or no influence on events in Iraq. We built our bases, we installed a puppet government that is revelling in corruption (and ignoring our directives,) and that’s about that. We could sit in those bases a hundred years and nothing with change. Iraq is a troubled fractured land that we have zero understanding of or influence in.
And finally, the economy. How long did we think an economy based on Wal-Mart, MacDonalds, and casinos would last anyhow? If there’s any good news, I haven’t heard it. My giant vegetable garden is under way. Enough said. Happy Pi Day everyone, have a great weekend.
(The death of Jumbo the elephant, struck and killed by a train September 15th 1885. Afterwards he was stuffed and mounted, enabling him to carry on with his show business career until 1975.)
My Cats are Plotting Against Me
OK, so I let my cats out a few hours before dawn. Awhile later I hear the sound of fighting cats in the yard. I figure it’s the stripy orange guy, he fears nothing and will fight any cat on the planet. While I am getting dressed I can hear the fight is getting closer…moments later a cat flees into the apartment. Who got thrashed? The stripy orange guy! WTF? While I am contemplating this peculiar development…my fluffy black cat, the most non-violent cat on the planet, Gandhi’s cat reincarnated…runs out the door and proceeds to beat the crap out of the intruding cat! I’m like: Oh My God. Did aliens sneak in during the night and swap my cat’s brains? Are they trying to drive me insane?
Makes me think, I can’t even figure out two animals with brains the size of walnuts, and I’m going to make meaningful observations on a world of six billion people? To add insult to injury, I was wondering the other day why I always felt like an idiot around this tenant at a client’s house. So out of curiosity I googled her name. Well, turns out I feel like an idiot around her because compared to her I’m a chimp. Sigh. She won a Nobel Prize at seventeen or some such, yeesh. Sometimes I envy people of average intelligence, most of them seem blissfully unaware that there are people much smarter than them. I on the other hand am just smart enough to know how limited I am compared to people who are really smart.
Oh well. Could be worse. I could be on the Berkeley city council. Yes, some of them are backpedaling over their hasty decision to subsidize Code Pink in their efforts to get a Marine Corps Recruiting Center kicked out of Berkeley. Not surprising, I mean, some of them must have at least some interest in running the city…and having millions of dollars in federal funding cut off because of their using city resources to help a protest group is going to hurt. Anyone heard that Code Pink is offering to pay two million dollars for the parking space the city gave them? I didn’t think so.
In any event I walk by there every day and usually there is nothing going on. I’ve pretty much calmed down about the issue, it mostly makes me mad cause it’s all so dumb and counterproductive and divisive. I understand the protester’s point of view, but their message would play a lot better in Peoria if they chained themselves to a gas station. And the city simply shouldn’t be giving city resources to select protest groups, did they think through the consequences of that at all? In any event, the story once again made CNN, great. There will be a huge protest and counter protest on the 12th, I’ll be there and report all about it. And no, I don’t plan on attacking any protesters, but anything is possible when mobs form.
I have been updating my Countdown to War with Iran page as new ideas and information crop up. I’m still very worried that Bush will indeed attack Iran before he leaves office. From any reasonable standpoint it’s a pretty crazy idea and far riskier than our adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, but unfortunately to a large extent decisions in the Bush administration are made by a committee of powerful advisers. And it’s not widely known, but groups will take riskier decisions than individuals will. Basically with a group people know on some level that they can avoid taking personal responsibility if things go bad, a strong central leader can’t make that rationalization as easily. And of course in the Bush administration it appears that no one ever takes responsibility for any failure whatsoever…so an attack on Iran is a definite possibility until Bush is out of office.
And speaking of taking responsibility, I’ve decided that Bush’s “surge” in Iraq has nothing to do with Iraq, it’s actually a trap for Bush’s domestic political opponents. First of all there really is no surge, adding a few extra tens of thousands of men for awhile is just a drop in the bucket. The reality is that Sadr’s Mahdi Army, the largest insurgent group in Iraq, declared a cease fire last August, so Bush knew the violence would be dropping some. So the Bush administration quickly invented the “surge” to take credit for it.
The beauty part was no matter what happened, they were golden. The violence dropped of course, though not nearly so much as is commonly portrayed. And now that the compliant media has bought into it and many Americans believe “the surge is working,” no matter what happens the war proponents make out like bandits. IE if violence stays at the merely horrible levels they are at now, they can claim the surge is working as the election approaches. And if violence flairs up again, as it might very well do, why…it’s the liberals fault for not supporting the surge! So, sadly, I suspect that the only result of the surge will be to propel another militarist, likely McCain, into the White House this fall. And frankly, I have a sneaking suspicion that’s all the surge was ever intended for in the first place.
Have a great weekend everyone.
(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is only a portion of the original image, low resolution, and converted to grey scale. Its use here does not interfere with the copyright holder’s use of the original image, arguably the opposite. Credit: Copyright © 1995 Art Shaman. The full size colour version of the above image can be viewed here: Digital Artwork Gallery Four. Cats, sigh.)
Iranian boats swarm US ships, Musharraf says Pakistan “not particularly” looking for OBL.
Sounds like Monday news to me. The breaking news of this fine Monday is that US ships had an “alarming” encounter with Iranian gunboats in the Persian Gulf. No shots were fired though, and no residential press conferences have been announced, so I doubt this is the start of anything. Macho posturing on both sides, we send ships along their coast, they send speedboats out to intercept them. Still, an incident very much like this was used to justify the war with North Vietnam in 1964. In that instance though, the US military was raring to have a go at the commie threat, and the president was happy to follow. The situation with Iran is different, and it’s a good guess that the military has at least some reservations of adding Iran to the current war mix. Especially now that the surge in Iraq is “working.” (Working with about a million caveats and codicils I might add.)
And in another exciting headline, Musharraf, Pakistan’s “former military dictator and now beloved president for life by dint of an unfortunate turn of events for his rival,” has declared that Pakistan is not particularly looking for Osama Bin Laden. Why not? Because he doesn’t think Osama is in Pakistan. Well, that’s comforting, I guess if they stumble across him they will arrest him? Beats me, the more I study the situation in Pakistan, the more I think even the experts don’t have a clue. Which is a good argument for the US to get out and stop meddling in Pakistan’s politics, since messing with something you don’t understand is a bad idea. Heck, it’s a good argument to get out of any number of countries where we have been sticking our nose, but Empire is a heady thing and we’ve yet to suffer our Waterloo.
Musharraf also blamed Bhutto for her own death, saying she shouldn’t have been standing up. Gee, I thought it was assassins that killed her? This is about as blatant as one can get at blaming the victim, but that seems to be the stock in trade these days in politics everywhere. Ah, what a age we live in.
Moving right along, we don’t even know who we are going to have as president in the USA after Bush sidles back to Texas to have his memoirs ghost written for him. I guess Obama is doing pretty good, but these things are subject to change with little notice. The absurdity of an election campaign that lasts for years seems lost on pretty much everyone, but the USA is wonderful collection of 18th century political theory still stumbling along like some undead horror from the past. There are so many things absurd about our system of government one doesn’t hardly know where to begin, so I won’t. As for the elections, suffice it to say that mainstream media election coverage in the USA is pretty much on par with mainstream coverage of the Olympics…it’s utterly unwatchable if you have a functioning brain. That might even be the point, who knows.
In Kenya the news is mixed, In Afghanistan its bad. It Italy the army has been called out to clean the streets during a rubbish strike. In local news there is a break in the storms, and hopefully the worst is over. My brother had a second car accident in a month, and he wasn’t even in the car, how do you avoid that? Lastly, my eldest cat is getting weirder by the day. More posts coming up on paranormal stuff and history, because the current world is so depressing these days. Another post on historical photography. Hysterics, ravings, the usual.
(The above navy image of a North Vietnamese gunboat racing by the USS Maddox during the Gulf of Tonkin incident was taken by the US navy and is public domain under US copyright law. It and other images can be obtained here: Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center.)
Bloody Politics
Politicians at work
There’s some imbroglio in the news about Bush and prosecutors and subpoenas and judges and such. I find this about as exciting and important as the whole Valerie Plame thing, whatever that was about. It’s almost political porn in some senses. I mean, Gee, Bush lets politics and ideology guide how he runs the country? Who would ever have guessed that a career politician would engage in such behaviour. Insert rolled eyes here. I know a lot of people put great stock in things like this, but I have yet to be persuaded that there’s anything here to get excited about. The only thing remarkable about this from my perspective is how venal and shallow and stupid so much of Bush’s political shenanigans are. Whatever else he may be, Bush is no Machiavelli.
There’s also been some ridiculous story about how some guy confessed to 911, killing Daniel Pearl, and a host of other things. If he’s guilty of half the things he confessed to, the war on Terror must be almost over, right? More rolled eyes. I don’t know what is stupider here, the lengths to which the Bush administration will go to make a case that terrorists pose some sort of earth shaking threat to the USA, or the fact that millions of Americans buy this claptrap hook line and sinker and support the hundreds of billions of dollars Bush is pouring down this rat-hole. See illustration above.
Or look at it this way, terrorists kill what, a few hundred Americans a year? If that? Yet every year American born gang bangers gun down thousands of completely innocent Americans, and have for decades. Here’s a nice one from just across the Bay this very morning. When is Bush going to fix this problem? Why aren’t Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage urging war with these people? I’m hoping one of the war on terror proponents who reads this post can explain it, because I sure can’t.
Then there’s the election coming up, in what, two, three years? Seems like the presidential election season never really ends these days. I guess a lot of people are running. I still maintain that anyone who wants the job isn’t qualified, so it’s hard for me to get excited about any of them. It seems pretty obvious to me that a Democrat has to be able to draw a good crossover vote from Republicans that are uncomfortable with the fundamentalist flavour that has infected the Republican party in order to win. As long as the Democrats don’t field someone like that, the Republicans could run a sock puppet and win. Obama is all style, no substance. The rest all have baggage. Plus, a lot of things could happen in the next year and a half, I’m not going to get too worked up yet.
And finally, we have the Arnold bashing Rush Limbaugh. A guy who became rich and famous for playing a robot and a fellow who got rich and famous for saying nasty things on the radio. This is news? This is politics? If this doesn’t illustrate how ultimately absurd politics is on some level, I don’t know what does. OK, maybe Al Gore lecturing Congress on global warming.
OK, politics is out of my system. I always feel dirty when I blog about politics, so I won’t be writing too many posts like this one. I promise. Tomorrow a nice uplifting post on exploding whales or some such.
(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit and is central to illustrating the post.)
Living Cats, Dead Dictators, Sick Bloggers…What Does It All Mean?
The stripes make him faster.
OK, my cat is going to live. The little orange creep. He was a lot more pleasant when he was at death’s door. He actually slept. Now he’s approaching his normal activity levels, active all the time with a constant stream of complaints and demands. Even as a kitten I knew he’d be trouble, his eyes were dilated for at least the first six months of life. Oh well. As my ex-wife used to say, “Constant incredulity is the only non-contrived response to life.” I can’t argue, and the orange striped terror seems to think the same.
Well, Saddam is playing pinochle with Adolf, Mao, and Stalin. Actually, he probably can’t play at their table, he’s not in their league. He’s at a table with Ho Chi Minh, Mussolini, and (dare I say it) Nixon. It’s amazing sometimes how many people the world’s leaders have killed, still, in the greater scheme of things, one is more likely to be hit by a bus or something equally mundane. Just look at this cool site I just found: The celebrity death toll update. Most of these folks died remarkably boring deaths. Not Saddam though, even his execution was a world wide show, got to give the man his props, he was a master showman right to the end. And beyond? Even the noose Saddam was lynched with is a hot collectible now, I don’t even know what to say about that.
Bush’s Ethiopian proxy conquest of Somalia is almost complete. We’ll see how long they last in Somalia before their “Black Hawk Down” moment. World wide, Muslims are now further radicalized by this blatant conquest of an Islamic nation by a Christian nation, but of course the western press won’t mention any of that. The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan show just how well conquest prevents terrorism. One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Oh well, if sanity and peace broke out in the world I would have nothing to blog about but my cats. The world isn’t ready for that.
How many countries is Bush going to conquer or have conquered in his crusade against evil before enough Americans realize it is a bad idea and put a stop to it? Beats me, but it won’t happen soon enough I suspect. There was an article in my local paper the other day comparing Oakland’s murder problem to Baghdad’s. More people are murdered in Baghdad on some days than are murdered in a year in Oakland, so it’s like comparing a limb amputation to a paper cut. Very few Americans realize just how catastrophically bad the situation in Iraq really is. Bush has it covered though, he is sticking with his policy of firing anyone who dares disagree with him. Now that’s leadership, by gum!
On an individual level Americans remain just as heroic as anyone else. Americans haven’t started to “disappear” yet, and voices critical of the Bush Administration continue to air their views. So I’m still hoping that the Republic will muddle through the remaining two Bush years more or less intact. I pity the president who has to clean up after him, but there will be no shortage of candidates I am sure. I pretty much think they are all losers, especially the Democrats, so I won’t go into details. Politics is boring. They’re almost all liars and creeps, especially the higher up the political food chain one goes.
And back on a personal note, I have been confined to my quarters by illness. This means I’ll have lots of time to blog the next week or so. For a change of pace I may blog some on the paranormal and X-Files type stuff. Suggestions are always welcome. Um, let me rephrase that, polite suggestions that are anatomically possible are welcome. :)
(The above image is Copyright © Stanley Douglas Stych 2007, All Rights Reserved)
Berkeley Rocks?
Credit: USGS
Now this is getting creepy. There was another earthquake last night, again, for all practical purposes directly under my feet. When the building first started to move I thought that it was just the calico jumping off something (she is working on her version of Darwin’s theory: Survival of the Fattest.) However the motion quickly climbed to anything beyond her abilities, the whole building shook like a play toy in a dog’s mouth. It was not pleasant, fortunately it only lasted a few seconds. I believe I have determined why this is happening, just days before the first quake, esteemed reader KrispieDixie commented that “Berkeley Rocks.” Coincidence…or sinister omen? Cue Twilight Zone music…
Oh well, nothing was damaged, there are no piles of clothes and empty cars in the street, so no rapture yet. Some might say it’s good to have these small quakes because they relieve the strain. Sadly I must inform such folks that this is folklore, not science. The Richter scale is logarithmic, it would take about a thousand of these 4.0 quakes to equal the energy of just a 6.0, thirty five thousand to equal a 7.0. It’s not going to happen, and even if I did, a thousand 4.0 earthquakes would be a nightmare all on its own. Speaking of Richter scales, the Richter number really doesn’t tell much about how a quake felt. For that one needs to use the modified mercali scale. This was about a IV on that scale. I experienced VI in the Loma Prieta quake, and that’s as high as I ever want to experience. At level XII all buildings and structures are destroyed, full grown tree trunks snap, objects are tossed into the air, and waves can be seen moving through the ground. Eep.
In another comment, a reader asked what Monarch I swear fealty too. Why, Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of course. Do I intellectually or rationally support the idea of Monarchy as a form of government? Of course not. I’m just a royalty fan, I find them a lot more interesting than teams of protoplasmic androids beating each other to death over possession of an inflated animal hide. Furthermore I am pleased to report that the Queen’s secret plan to get the colonies back in the British Empire where they belong is proceeding nicely. In two more short years Bush will have so totally trashed the USA that no one will want to run for president, and the Queen will become head of state by default. You heard it here first.
In further Bush news, an umbrella insurgent group in Iraq has offered the USA a one month cease fire to withdraw it’s troops from Iraq. Seems reasonable enough from the Iraqi perspective I’m sure, though even I have to say that the USA can’t just agree to something like that. It’s another sign of how paralyzed Bush is, that Iraq’s insurgents can even make such demands. And the ugly truth is that it’s just going to go downhill from here, now the insurgents will feel perfectly justified to attack Americans as they flee Iraq. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Just a few decades ago Americans almost gleefully slaughtered Iraqi soldiers as they fled from Kuwait, most of whom were draftees who wanted to be in Kuwait about as much as the Kuwaitis wanted them there. Pretty good bet that there are some in Iraq who will be happy to repay the favour. What a mess, as I never tire of saying.
In Somalia, it just gets worse. The Islamists are fighting the Ethiopian supported Somali puppet government in Baidoa. Both sides claim the other started the fighting. Ethiopia claims that it has no troops in Somalia, but that Ethiopia’s arch rival Eritrea does. Eritrea denies this and urges Ethiopia to withdraw. Ethiopia has also been helpfully issuing threats. For their part the Islamists have called for foreign help to repel Ethiopian invaders. The Somalia diaspora has called for everyone to stop shooting at each other and return to the negotiating table, so there’s a least one voice of sanity in this witch’s brew of meddlesome foreigners and waring warlords. I don’t know how this is going to end, but as long as foreign troops are in Somalia, it’s not going to end well.
In a diplomatic “victory” for Bush, he has gotten the UN Security council to vote to put in place sanctions against Iran for “defying the international community.” Since Iran’s nuclear program is completely legal under international law, they are being punished for refusing to be bullied by the USA. Yes, this is really going to contribute to peace and stability in the region. I don’t know how this is going to end up either, but can only hope that this is not another misstep in the road to a wider regional war.
For decades I have been saying that world war three was going to be the first world against the third world. These days I am thinking that more than ever before. God help us all if I am right.
(The above USGS map is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit and it s central to illustrating the post.)
