That the greater number of you think Iran is not on the table is especially disconcerting — if that word is not too troubling — for no doubt you thought much the same pre-Iraq II. (Will never happen.) It also shows that you have not looked at the maps of the US Empire. FDL had one earlier today: Iran is ringed by US bases. It is not the complete map.

The British Empire required their every servant to know multiple languages and dialects, even to be a postman. Alexander the Great commanded his officer elite to participate in a mass wedding with the conquered Persian royalty, and, to wear native costume. They were by far the most imposing of empires, ones in which respect for the vanquished was prominent.

We have nonesuch regard. The reason is the same one I find the comments here so naieve: we are living in a dictatorship, and a dull/clever one, one so sure of public apathy that election-rigging would not be noticed; that they could be sure that a bogus war would not be either nor the plundering of Halliburton and dozens of other scandals; any one of which might have brought down any other government in the civilized world now or in the past.

If a majority is dominated by an extreme minority of rabid anti-constitutional religious fanatics such as we have, favoring ramming their own agenda down the majority’s throat, then this constitues a dictatorship. Simple. Yet you all miss it.

Instead, you pretend to discuss politics and wind up worrying about paying your taxes on time.

(If you were a billionaire it would be beneath comment.)

The fact is when you have no voice in government, no chance at protestation, nor representation and your biggest concern is paying your taxes to an illegimate regime bent on apocalypse, you are sheep. . . whose herd instincts have created this monstrosity. These discussions once took place in ink on paper and were read by the literate. Here, they are confined to a sad-bovine minority of dilettantes assuming themselves to be politically “involved” while unaware they are living under a clever dictatorship, well, perhaps not so clever but one controling the propaganda machine.

At least the French have the courage to routinely ruin the ambitions of excessively ambitious government, whether you appreciate their historical readiness to take to the barricades or not, or accept the US State media dismissal of all civilized societies not qualifying as our tame corporate carnivores.

But you too have a route to protest, to the barricades, if you don’t worry about your cashmere, merino, or other sheep’s clothing.

If you think the CIA and other intelligence agencies are not quite on board with the dictatorship, or were not in the lead-up to the bogus war, beware. I have lived under a CIA-designer coup. Greece. 1967. There and then, as here and now, the leader seemed a total idiot, mouthing repetitive slogans embecilically. Fortunately a handful of students (and writers and musicians and scientist and exiles) brought them down in seven years. Greece, like Chile, and Honduras, and Guatemala, and dozens of other nations we have engineered regime changes in, have yet to recover from the scars we helped inflict through our big business design.

After you log off to watch “American Idol” ask yourselves who is, from your own neighborhood, facing extreme rendition? You don’t have a clue. Nor will you, unless it be a child of yours. Or a parent. Should that be the case just book a flight to Gitmo, or Syria and get back to me. Just go “baaaa — ” and I’ll know it’s you.

Figuratively, we, on the blogs, are discussing the possible rearranging of chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

gingrich has a lot of competition to be named “the most repulsive person in American politics.” delay comes to mind first. cheney and bush, etc. are part of the pantheon. jean schmidt! now there’s a piece of work if there ever was one. and she’s been around only a couple of years! finally, sleazy jomentum shouldn’t go unmentioned.
if newt actually became president maybe he would do enough stuff to cinch the title, but for now i’m just not convinced. no doubt he’s one of the most blatantly mean-spirited though………

File for the extension and pay the tax in August. IRS will assess an interest payment (very small) sometime in September/October. Last year I filed December 31 because hurricane counties were “exempted” from the other deadlines. But then got hit with late-filing penalties on top of the interest. Exchanged a bit of hate mail with them and got the penalties lifted. Interest OTOH is always due.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The same ones that got fooled last time will get fooled again. willful idiots everyone.

little-dick, bedwetter republicans are overdo for a little more shock and awe.
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