~ Redirecting The Redirection ~

Photo: AP

Condi & her boss listen to Negroponte speak, prompting DP to run a "write a caption" contest!

Well, thank goodness your Demon Princess has the day off & the werewithal to pay attention, because it's been a most interesting news day!

For instance ~ Dick Cheney being forced into a bomb shelter in Afghanistan (somewhat entertaining, considering); threats on his life from radical Muslim quarters; Hamas threatening George with repercussions if he won't stop meddling in Iran; real live soldiers who apparently see what's coming & advocate withdrawal from Iraq on 60 Minutes; & this:

An announcement that, on second thought, real Neocons will entertain diplomatic solutions by inviting other Middle Eastern countries to the table in Iraq. (Title bar). And as to that, Press Secretary Tony Snow issues a statement that Iraqis will be in charge of it (in case it fails, we presume), but Big Daddy Bush will maintain a presence (just in case things don't go his way).

Playing both ends against the middle can be a very dangerous game, but the Neocons seem not to have the sense to know it. DP fears they are refusing to recognize that aggression begets aggression, & underhanded aggression begets the worst results of all. (Besides putting all their eggs in one basket, & unable to cope with "evildoers" in other arenas.)

As I always tell my kids, keep one ear open to what people want you to believe, but keep you eyes on they feets.

Anyone who doesn't walk his talk is a bad enemy & a worse friend. And it's always the latter that really bites you in the ass.

Pretzel Logic

Image of original painting, "Juggling," used with permission of the artist, Mark Bryan

http://www.artofmarkbryan.com

More commentary on the Bush juggernaut's brilliant plan to "protect our troops" by setting the entire Middle East ablaze , & by funding the same branch of ruthless terrorists who brought us 911. From the Blogging Curmudgen (ette). (Title bar.)

Your DP is always happy to support other bloggers who see the same lunatic logic at work in the mighty Republicon Administration, and are also amused by their efforts to pass it off with shamelessly hollow PR-esque rubric.

Their contempt for our collective intelligence seems to know no bounds.

Red Alert~ All Hell About To Bust Loose As A Result Of New American Mideast Strateregy

Image of original painting, "Dick," used with kind permission of the artist, Mark Bryan

http://www.artofmarkbryan.com

Legendary Investigative Reporter Seymour Hirsch says, in a New Yorker article today, that the Bush Administration's newest tactic has been to fund, covertly, Sunni terrorist groups with ties to Al Queda in order to foment civil war in Iran. With barrels of cash, without congressional knowledge, approval, or oversight, natch. (Title bar.)

Let's us guess--& then, when things get really outta control, declare war on Iran to save them from themselves (sound familiar?) This is the Bushcon Brigade's idea of provoking & fighting an "honorable" war, is it? --by funding terrorist groups with ties to Al Queda! Go, Fox, we want to see you try to spin that! Some heads we'd be very entertained by seeing explode over that idea: Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter....

This is Bushco's idea of sending a message not only to Shia-dominated Iran, but to the Shia-dominated Iraq we've treated so well so far. We'll fund the people who attacked us (covertly, of course) to put our "pals" in their places. So much for elected "democracies."

And guess whose brilliant idea it's been? ~ direct to you fom the unrelentingly evil & greedy mind of America's #1 Dick ~

Impeach!

Gadget-Holics ~ The New Intolerable Addiction

Ill: Way Odd

In the Yakkety-Yak, Don't Talk Back Department Today

Ever get that sneaking feeling that technologies such as Blackberries & cell phones often have the exact opposite effect that they're supposed to? -- i.e., instead of enhancing communication, they're actually shutting it down.

Your Demon is thinking of that really funny commercial where a pre-pubescent girl dressed in a silly little cheerleader's outfit, pom-poms on the floor beside her, talks on her cell phone--rattling on & on about absolutely nothing of any consequence, endlessly & in a really annoying Valley Girl kind of way ("Did you see what she was wearing? Oh my God!") just because she can, I suppose, while the Cingular Guy or whoever appears in various locations around & behind her, waiting interminably for the conversation to end. And, of course, it never does.

Unfortunately, that sort of non-stop silly conversation has become ubiquitous, and worse, we all have to bear witness to it whether we want to or not. For instance, my son's girl calls him all day at work, every several hours, & her addiction to the cell is so bad she even has to call him when she's a within a couple of seconds from arriving in his driveway. Like he won't know it otherwise, left to his own devices.

I shudder to think what would happen if her parents cut her off from access to her cell phone, cold turkey.

The thing is, I'm pretty certain it's more about the technology than the people involved, because these two are not communicating any better for communicating nonstop, unlike those of us old folks who had to do our courting via the dreary bother of being tied to land lines, way back in the Dark Ages. Can you imagine? Not being able to alert him that you're on your way with live blow-by-blow updates from the road? Can we just get a headset & reciever inserted surgically into this girl's head?

Anyone who's ever had the experience of turning around in a public place to respond to some question, only to find the questioner actually carrying on a conversation on a cell phone, or as this op-ed points out, the person sitting right next to you who's distracted from your real-time personal conversation by e-mailing you at the same time, or having your public space invaded by idiots who, in their bubbles of self-absorption, don't care that they're broadcasting intimate details of their personal lives to an unappreciative & unwilling audience, will enjoy this brief piece. (Title bar.)

There is a silver lining to all this "communication tech" stupidity, however ~ I have found it a convenient excuse when some strange man with whom I don't want to talk to addresses me to say, after a long pause, "Oh sorry, I thought you were talking on your cell phone," smile sweetly, & keep on about my business.

It's gotten so bad that sales of (illegal) cell phone jammers, which allow the reluctant weary-of-being made-witnesses among us to cause the offender's phone to shut down mysteriously, are shooting through the roof, and another idea is to have your cell phone print out notes you can hand to an obnoxious user--e.g., "Although the details of your husband's vasectomy may be fascinating to you, please be advised that the rest of us here in the waiting room really don't give a shit." (Or something to that effect.)

But just when you thought the sickness could not get any worse, it does: karaoke cell phones so you can torment the general public, not just your spouse, with your not-ready-for prime-time tunes, and a cell phone you can attach to your dog's collar so you can call him back home.

"A kitty PetCell is also in the works. But as we all know, cats tend to screen their calls and often choose to be unavailable."

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=561589&page=2

Cat or dog --guess which Your Demon Princess would be.

As new media guru Marshall MacLuhan once said, "The medium is the message." You know, way back in the dark ages.

Yes, now that you mention it, DP is bored with blogging about politix....still.

Fun Game

Batter the George a bit while you're reading the daily not-news about his antics & funny PR stunts--well, funny until they get to killing people.







Throw Bush Around Game: title bar. Use your mouse to click on him & toss him around a bit.

Now if we can just get one depicting Cheney, & assorted vile Faux News show hosts...

~ !! C'est Mardi Gras !! ~

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

(way fractured creole french for "let the good times roll")


Listen in on WWOZ, a public internet radio station dedicated entirely to the unique sound of New Orleans that gave all America whatever groove we may be said to possess. (Title bar.)

*Teaching white tourists to dance since the beginning*

God, I miss that city.

(Well, except for the frat boys puking their guts out on Bourbon Street. I can enjoy that sight any day in Pioneer Square here in Seattle.)

Another President's Day ~ Another Silly PR Stunt Gone Awry

Can You Spot the One Who's Only Pretending to be President?

Photo: AP

~ This President's Day, George Bush seizes the opportunity to place himself among the world's bravest men, those who defied empires & actually led their soldiers through the muck & the blood, without uniforms, often without shoes, without proper arms, without warmth & without comfort~

And who, by the way, were among the western world's first terrorists, if you could have asked the Brits for their point of view. Lacking so much in the way of proper equipment or personnel, they made the most of their meager means by capitalizing on the element of surprise.

George, by contrast, knows nothing of war himself, but presumes to direct it from a safe remove, by remote control, really, for the benefit of war-profiteering military-industrial complex buddies who also feed his & the rest of the GOP's campaign coffers. How cozy & convenient.

Demon Princess says: President's Day while George W. Bush is in office is just another good excuse for sleeping in.

(If you care to view the silly article with you own 2 eyes, hit the title bar. )

And Speaking Of Assholes

What a day to do it, yet! News today that the Senate GOP effectively prevented any debate on President Bush's surge in Iraq, though the House went on record with its (toothless) disapproving resolution.


It's kinda fun to sit on the sidelines & hear the GOP bitch about being the minority party for a change. The point of the resolution, as far as I can tell, was to smoke out the Republicans & force them into taking a stand ~ is you with us, or is you ain't? They fell into a trap instead that proves Dems haven't been sitting idly on the sidelines all this time for nothing. Now, it's a "gotcha" for the Dems: Republicans really won't heed what the voters have said about the war. Nothing very new in that, of course, but the way it's been forced before the public's attention is.

And so we eagerly kick off the countdown clock to the next elections.

As for further ruminations on the mess America has made of Iraq--in which those in the White House or Congress are highly unlikely to engage while their friends are so busy profiteering from the war--let's us ordinary denizens down here take a moment to contemplate what they haven't, & that would be the impact on of the war on the Iraqis themselves.



Young Iraqis Play With Toy Guns in Refugee Camp in Baghdad
Photo: Reuters


Those still living are lucky; those who are ill or left orphans beg in the streets to survive

From the Reuters website: BAGHDAD, 11 February (IRIN) -

"Ahmed Saffar, 7, has been forced to beg on the streets of Baghdad in order to eat. An orphan with two brothers and one sister, Ahmed hangs around all day near a traffic light, asking for money from each driver who stops.

"'Uncle, uncle, give me money to eat,' is his most common opening line. 'Sometimes they give me some money; sometimes, when I insist, they hit me. Women never help and the windows of their cars are always closed but old people are the best ones,' Ahmed said.

"'I have no option. I and my brothers work in the streets, begging in different places. I am the youngest but usually the one who makes more money. My sister is always with me and together we can make enough to eat by the end of the day,' he added.

"Ahmed said he would rather beg than steal and that he had started begging before his parents died because they were a poor family. He said his mother died in Fallujah in August 2004. She was visiting her parents when their house was bombed by US-led coalition forces.

"His father fell ill and could not work so he sent his children out to beg. If they did not come home with enough money, he would beat them, Ahmed said. His father died of kidney failure in April 2005.

"'Now they are dead but my brothers treat us well. We are happy even though we sleep in the open, in a garden with only two blankets. I hope one day I will help all child beggars in Iraq,' Ahmed said, grinning from ear to ear before excusing himself and running after an expensive-looking car.

"Ahmed is one of thousands of homeless children throughout Iraq who survive by begging, stealing or scavenging in garbage for food.

"Only four years ago, the vast majority of these children were living at home with their families.
'Every day when I go to work or pick up my sons from their schools, a child comes near my car asking for money. It is hard to ignore them as so many children are now in the streets begging for food and material help," said Ali Mussawi, president of the local NGO Keeping Children Alive (KCA).

"'They speak and swear like adults, putting the name of Allah [God] in the middle of all their sentences. Sometimes, when their hunger is severe, you can see a child is seemingly not afraid to steal in order to eat,' Mussawi added.

"According to the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI), the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq is the main reason for the increase in the number of street children since the occupation of the country began in 2003. The next major contributor is the increase in the number of widows countrywide.

'"The economic situation of the Iraqis is decreasing month after month. Lots of families are using their children to get additional income, which they can get through begging. There are also families who send their children to work,' Cedric Turlan, information officer for the NCCI, said.
'In addition, with the increasing number of widows and orphans, and the terrible [security] situation, the families' needs have increased as has the number of street children. '

"'Of course, when children are not going to school anymore, there is nothing you can do to keep them off the streets. When children are in school, they are not in the street and teachers and educators can also have an impact on families,' Turlan added.

"There are several centres working with street children in Baghdad and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, in conjunction with NGOs, is working to provide financial or social support to families so as to prevent them sending their children to work or beg.

"'Unfortunately, with the current situation - I mean the difficulty of access and the security matter, and sometimes the lack of funds - these projects are very much reduced and have become very difficult to implement,' Turlan said.

"'Iraq has signed the conventions related to the rights of the children, but their implementation is also much reduced now, certainly because of insecurity. So the main concern is the future of Iraqi children in general: what will be their future'?"

While you're here, also consider this article about from the British press regarding the the tenor of childrens' play in Iraq since we big, strong American-led forces arrived on the scene. (Title bar).

An Ode To The Valentine's Day Past ~ Assholes, Inc.

Ah, love ~ so elusive in this modern day & age~

Valentine's Day must be one of America's most overhyped (& manufactured) holidays, but woe be to the current or prospective lover who ignores it. Those facts will NOT be accepted as a good defense. It is every bit as important to a relationship as recognizing a birthday or any other overhyped & manufactured holiday in America (all of them, in short).

Your Demon Princess would add Halloween to that list, just because (isn't it obvious to the rest of you?) she has so many dangerous planets in Scorpio & the houses of Death & Transformation. Er ~ on second thought, let's not go there.

Suffice it to say, I was not the least bit surprised to read this interesting tidbit in the Washington Post shortly before the momentous holiday of Love: cowards in the romantic department who choose Valentine's Day, of all days, to inform a not-very-significant other that they've checked out.

DP is pondering whether that's any worse than being informed on the way back from the hospital after undergoing surgery that the knight in tarnished armor has flown away, which, of course, would be DP's personal experience with the worst, most cowardly & ill-timed breakup she's ever experienced.

Anyway, having long since recovered from that experience, she's here to tell ya, kids, that it's not for nothing that she has all those planets in Scorpio. Put to the right uses (not necessarily the vindictive revenge for which the Scorpion is justly famed, although Mr. Wrong did get an earful whether he liked it or not, & I daresay he did not, that was a kind alternative in view of the fact that the other was a grisly death by murder most foul .) And, for probably the 1st time in her life as a result of a very dramatic romantic fizzle, your DP went into the pain as opposed to ignoring it & just sailing on. (The sailing on came later, but it did indeed arrive.)

There's a lot to be said for the rationale that (quoting from the article), in the long term, the choice of timing of the Dumpor says a lot to the Dumpee about the Dumpor's character, & you wouldn't want to be tangled up in the psyche of such a person anyway. Cold comfort as it seems at the time, it's really more of a reflection & commentary on them than you. Chances are, the Dumpor is so self-absorbed he or she can't recognize the person you are, or the fact that you also have feelings.

Speaking in very general terms, Americans are nothing if not self-absorbed, afflicted their entire lives, it seems, with the "precious me" syndrome that comes of being immersed in a culture & country which, on the whole, has a surfeit of luxury available & a warped sense of entitlement (& close siblings, envy & lust) as a result. Every thing & every one they encounter seem to be viewed as an object to be manipulated in order to gain the greatest amount of ego-inflating (if short-term) pleasure ~ & if, by chance, some real effort is required of them to sustain it, the most cowardly of them just evaporate into thin air, but not without leaving a boatload of pain in their wakes. Applicable to both sexes, by the way.

And so the rest of us just have to deal with the messes they leave behind. Not necessarily quietly, but somehow, some way. And we do, don't we?

The challenge is not to get sucked into their dysfunctional world views. Demon Princess says: create your own & stick by your guns & to your principles.

The rest of you might want to avail yourselves of the list of dirty tricks & services proferred by the Assholes, Inc. listed in the article (title bar).

But beware: what goes around comes around, & cowardly dirty tricks will come back to bite you in the ass.

Conflation & Provocation 101 ~ How To Start (Another) War Without Really Trying

What's a respectable war-mongering Neocon to do? ~ the case of the disappearing "involvement of highest levels of the Iranian government" allegations~

Your Demon Princess is feeling mighty sorry for the cabalists in the White House today, after the numerous defections of American generals over the issue of our holy war on Iran--the latest being General Peter Pace, who, in a report from Jakarta yesterday reminded everyone (* & openly*) that there is a significant logical gap between finding lethal roadside bombs of apparent Irani manufacture in Iraq & the contention that "the highest levels of the Iranian government" are behind said problem.

And despite the fact that some media are reporting the unproven conflation as fact (deju vu, anyone?), some are asking questions, & seems the more they probe, the more the allegations disappear into the mist.

(Another tidbit: the reason our troops are so vulnerable to these roadside bombs is that their Humvees --fiercely-macho-looking as they are--were apparently built on the cheap. The Pentagon is rushing upgrade materials to Iraq right now to reinforce them. Wouldn't that just be the American Way--all appearance & very little substance? And isn't this the second time we've been led to believe the Humvees are being upgraded?)

For your reading enjoyment, DP presents this article from the Washington Post (title bar). Every last bit is delicious, so don't cheat & just skim it. Let it sink in.

Then, when you're ready, turn your attention to this lengthy piece from Alternet, regarding how long, exactly, the Neocon "Project for a New American Century" has been planning an attack on Iran. Here's a hint:

"Presently, the Administration is trumpeting claims that Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than the CIA's own analysis shows and positing Iranian influence in Iraq's insurgency, but efforts to destabilize Iran have been conducted covertly for years, often using members of Congress or non-government actors in a way reminiscent of the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal.

"The motivations for an Iran strike were laid out as far back as 1992. In classified defense planning guidance -- written for then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney by then-Pentagon staffers I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, World Bank Chief Paul Wolfowitz, and ambassador-nominee to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad -- Cheney's aides called for the United States to assume the position of lone superpower and act preemptively to prevent the emergence of even regional competitors.

"The draft document was leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post and caused an uproar among Democrats and many in George H. W. Bush's Administration. "

http://www.alternet.org/stories/47921/

Anonymous "Experts" Aver, On Behalf Of Bush Admin, That Iranian Leaders "At The Highest Levels" Are Behind Provision Of Roadside Bombs

Let's Bomb Iran

Oh, sorry! Your DP is getting carried away with all the excitement!





The Bush Administration has repeatedly said that it has no intention of invading, much less bombing Iran.

Those extra aircraft carriers in the region are just a precaution. Prudent-like.

Just a precaution.

Today's news vis-a-vis Iran is actually a measured, toned-down and completely accurate report of the nefarious doings of those Iranian evildoers who have been surreptitiously providing deadlier-than usual roadside bombs to the detriment of U.S. troops.

The White House is being (uncharacteristically) circumspect about making unfounded accusations, this time. So they took a great deal of time substantiating their information, tweaking their presentation to reporters & the public. (Title bar.)

"U.S. military officials on Sunday accused the highest levels of the Iranian leadership of arming Shiite militants in Iraq with sophisticated armor-piercing roadside bombs that have killed more than 170 troops from the American-led coalition.

...

"The presentation was the result of weeks of preparation and revisions as U.S. officials put together a package of material to support the Bush administration's claims of Iranian intercession on behalf of militant Iraqis fighting American forces.

"Senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad said the display was prompted by the military's concern for 'force protection,' which, they said, was guaranteed under the United Nations resolution that authorizes American soldiers to be in Iraq.

"Three senior military officials who explained the display said the 'machining process' used in the construction of the deadly bombs had been traced to Iran.

"The experts, who spoke to a large gathering of reporters on condition that they not be further identified, said the supply trail began with Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, which also is accused of arming the Hezbollah guerrilla army in Lebanon. The officials said the EFP weapon was first tested there.

...
"The briefing on Iran was revised heavily after officials decided it was not ready for release as planned last month.

"Senior U.S. officials in Washington — cautious after the drubbing the administration took for the faulty intelligence leading to the 2003 Iraq invasion — had held back because they were unhappy with the original presentation.

"The display appeared to be part of the White House drive that has empowered U.S. forces in Iraq to use all means to curb Iranian influence in the country, including killing Iranian agents."

I'm here to tell ya to take heart, good Americans. At last your tax dollars are being spent more wisely in the lead-up to invasion & war. We've gone from the frantic fantastic hyperbole of weapons of mass destruction to more modest claims of roadside bombs, from unilateral preemptive strikes under the infamous real-neocons-go-it alone "Bush Doctrine" to citing United Nations resolutions as our legal authority for the actions we take.

Seems even the most notorious radical extremist movements can learn from their mistakes.

The only thing that really alarms your Demon Princess here is the fact that "the experts" who bring us the alarming news insist upon remaining anonymous. Understandably, perhaps, they don't want their careers & credibility wrecked if it should turn out they were just being used as shills by an Administration hell-bent on expanding its GWOT.

Colin Powell, George Tenet, et. al, where are you now?

And If You Believe This, I've Got A Bridge For Sale ~ And Some Wars

Ill: Indybay.org

The Pentagon Investigates Itself & Concludes There Was No Manipulation of the Intelligence in the Lead-up to the Iraq War

~ Or if there was, it merely inappropriate, not illegal ~

The Associated Press reported today:

"Some of the Pentagon's prewar intelligence work, including a contention that the CIA underplayed the likelihood of al-Qaida connections to Saddam Hussein, was inappropriate but not illegal, a Defense Department investigation has concluded.

"In a report to be presented to Congress on Friday, the department's inspector general said former Pentagon policy chief Douglas J. Feith had not engaged in illegal activities through the creation of special offices to review intelligence. Some Democrats also have contended that Feith misled Congress about the basis of the administration's assertions on the threat posed by Iraq, but the Pentagon investigation did not support that.

...

"Feith [alleged to be at the center of manipulations] called 'bizarre' the inspector general's conclusion that some intelligence activities by the Office of Special Plans, which was created while Feith served as the undersecretary of defense for policy — the top policy position under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld — were inappropriate but not unauthorized.

"'Clearly, the inspector general's office was willing to challenge the policy office and even stretch some points to be able to criticize it,' Feith said, adding that he felt this amounted to subjective 'quibbling' by the IG.

"Feith left his Pentagon post in August 2005 and now teaches at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He has maintained throughout the controversy over the role of the Office of Special Plans, as well as other small groups that were created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that their intelligence activities were prudent, authorized and useful in challenging some of the intelligence analysis of the CIA.

"At the center of the prewar intelligence controversy was the work of a small number of Pentagon officials from Feith's office and the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who reviewed CIA intelligence analyses and put together their own report. When they briefed Rumsfeld on their report in August 2002 — a period when Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials were ratcheting up their warnings about the gravity of the Iraq threat — Rumsfeld directed them to also brief CIA Director George Tenet.

"Their presentation, which included assertions about links between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government, contained a criticism that the intelligence community was ignoring or underplaying its own raw reports on such potential links.

"The controversy has simmered for several years. The Senate Intelligence Committee included the Office of Special Plans in its investigation into the prewar intelligence on Iraq, but the committee did not finish that portion of its work when it released the first part of its findings in July 2004.

Hmmm....why not?

"In a dissenting view attached to the committee's report, three Democratic senators, including Levin, said that Pentagon policymakers sought to undermine the analysis of the intelligence community by circumventing the CIA and briefing their own views directly to the White House.

"This was a particular problem when the spy agencies' judgments did not conform to the administration's dire views on Iraqi links to al-Qaida, the senators said.

"Later, two senators — Levin and Pat Roberts, R-Kan. — separately asked the Pentagon's inspector general to review the role of Feith's office. It was not immediately clear whether the intelligence committee would press ahead with its own investigation, or if the inspector general's report would suffice."

Suffice to do what, & for whom, DP wonders? Stave off impeachment proceedings?

It's Monday Morning: Do You Know Where Your CEO Is?

In the Speaking of Bloated Corporate Fatcats Department, as we were before talk of the reasons we should invade Iran interfered ~

What was the CEO of your corporation doing on Super Bowl Sunday? Out of town on a "business trip," perchance? (Title bar.)

Interesting radar readings from BoingBoing.

WWIII ~ On The Way

Ill: "Commander Doom," by the Worried Shrimp

Hey, hey, hey, WWIII is on the way!

Just in case you weren't paying attention today, a plethora of no-confidence resolutions were stymied completely by the few Republicons left in Congress (we can fix that; probably not, however, soon enough to prevent Boy George from doing his damnedest to bring the Neocon fantasy of WWIII to brilliant technicolor life), just the same way we were led into Iraq ~ by lies, propaganda & an overdose of PR. The Neocons have already decided that the Global War on Terror is to be their excuse for a perpetual state of war, & undoubtedly, keeping themselves in power.

Republicons, by preventing even a debate on the merits of the "surge," have once again succeeded in keeping the voters out of it. Those of you who were watching C-span tonight had some cause to be entertained (like me) by the spectacle of the crybabies whining, as a complete last resort to cover their real agenda, that the mean old Democrats wouldn't let them, "the minority party" have their way, so they weren't about to let the Dems hold any debates on the resolutions, even the counter-resolutions introduced by their own.

Long story short: the American voters themselves will not be permitted to have any say in the matter. Period. We're being manipulated again ~ now with respect to Iran. It's fairly clear that Bush intends to drag Iran, & every other middle Eastern country that doesn't heel to the radical Neocon agenda of absolute power & domination, into a swirling vortex of never-ending war. Thus we read the dubious news stories of Iranian plans to infiltrate Iraq, & bomb-making capacity they don't yet possess.

Check this interesting tidbit reported in the British press today (title bar): American generals say a war on Iran would be a disaster & beg the British government to stop Bush.

Lest it escape the non-professional war-mongers among us, it has been our thoroughly botched war in Iraq that created a vaccuum in the region, & George continues to lie & manipulate, even in the face of the latest NIE that says we're only creating more conflicts we can't handle in the Mideast. A policy of expansion will be tantamount to pouring blood, lives, & unfathomable amounts of money we don't really have into a rapidly collapsing sinkhole. (And ~ in other news today ~ George also proposes a monster budget to maintain this war, not counting the outsourcing to private contractor-mercenaries, of course ~ a budget he proposes to make more palatable by cutting even more domestic programs, like education).

The sheer relentlessness of the arrogant Neocon agenda is what I find truly astounding. Even more so since it's been made plain to us, the American voters, that we have no say in any of it, as long as Bush, Cheney, Gonzales & their sycophants remain in office.

I've never said this outright before, but the time has come. The Democrats we elected to office as change agents clearly cannot be effective until a Neocon housecleaning has taken place.

Lose no time: impeachment proceedings are in order, right now. We already have ample grounds.

DoublePlus Unfunny ~ Bush Belatedly Notices Reality on Wall Street

Republicans, en masse, seem to respond to whatever qualifies as a crisis in their worldview by clenching their collective fisties, banging them on the nearest table, & asserting authoritarian control, or attempts thereat, only to find, (*imagine*) that some nettlesome problems are more complex than they initially thought. It's never so obvious as when George, their putative father figure, steps up to state something that has been painfully obvious to the rest of us for years, as if he's just discovered it himself.

So it was with his recent statement to Wall Street that CEO compensation packages are way out of whack with anyone's version of economic reality--excepting the self-inflating CEO's themselves (a statement which, according to the NYT, met with dead silence, so delighted were listeners there to hear it). Washington Post article, title bar.

Your was DP particularly galled by the follow-up commentaries he made with respect to Americans needing to get more education-- among other miserable failures of this Administration & the GOP generally, their collective ADD on the education issue K-postgraduate has been particularly shameful. (And how we do go about getting it? "Just pull it outta you asses, losers," seems to be the non-response.)

I'll be charitable enough to not mention that this belated tapping into the national angst-ridden zeitgeist about domestic issues & the economy in particular was more than likely a cynical ploy to steal some Democratic thunder in the wake of elections that were clearly intended by voters as a wake-up call.

Still, the spectacle of disingenuous boy George Bush decrying the go-go-Robber Baron Capitalism he's done so much to advance, & has benefitted by, is almost more than your poor Demon can take.

So she takes great comfort in the Second Law of Thermodynamics as applied to the GOP: Every isolated thing is moving toward a more disorganized state ~