A small village in Texas is missing an idiot and unfortunately we found him masquerading as the president. What a fine pickle the world is in as the result of a bunch of careless villagers!

We are witnessing the last throes of so-called representative democracy…

Just how wise is it for billions of souls to to be at the mercy of a proven idiot just because those with the most money and least scruples put him in power? GW Bush and the greedy scoundrels that surround him are stunning evidence of the utter folly and failures of government driven by money, religion, and politics.

It was clear to me that GHW (papa) Bush was crying recently because he’s suffering from the stress of realizing that the debacles caused by his son are ultimately traced to the Bush family’s aristocratic ambitions. In other words, the old man and his cabal cronies are as much to blame for Iraq and other evils as the clueless son they foisted upon the world stage. That is why family consigliere James Baker and smoking man Eagleburger were called in to set the stage for little W’s demise. Since consigliere Baker made sure little W became president, I think he owes us all a very big favor by fixing his earlier horrendous mistake, as soon as possible.

Royalty, aristocracy, and plutocracy always were and always will be bad ideas and we have been forced to suffer through yet more proof of this. Do you think GW’s feelings are more important than the wealth and power of the empire? We’re now witnessing the praetorian guard fulfilling their most sacred duty; saving the empire from an insane emperor.

Unfortunately for them, it’s too little too late.

Here is Wisdom…

Note that just prior to 9/11, Saudi prince Turki was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for a leisurely visit, planned to last for at least a month. His family was with him, as was customary for Saudi royalty – some 60 or so, e.g. wives, kids, etc. They never go anywhere without them – but he took off in his private jet on 9/10, leaving everyone else behind. Left the country asap, leaving everyone else to dribble out of the country as best they could.

And now, he’s left Washington, DC, quite suddenly and without advance notice. No round of goodbye parties, no exchange of gifts with W.

Time to get out of the stock market for awhile? Maybe even a good time to be someplace besides Washington, DC?
(Those al Qaeda types have a tendency to go back and try again if they don’t hit their target the first time.)

Dru at 81: thanks much for the Afghan link.

Welcome; now I’m looking forward to your piece on Afghanistan …

If you were in the military in Iraq, how would you feel about tiptoeing among the factions to implement this last doomed effort? The first faction defeated in this civil was was the moderates, and our actions did a lot to discredit them. If you were the U.S. military and you managed to assemble such a coalition, would you feel protected or surrounded?

I’m not sure that this foolishness isn’t a feint by the boys (and the girl) in Washington to drive our forces into the 80% solution. The objective would be to enmesh us further in the uncivil war and thus remove withdrawal from Iraq as an option. It would bring unconscionable harm to the Iraqis and to us, but that hasn’t worried the Bush administration up to now.

Just to be clear: Hostilities in Iraq, whether it’s us or the Iraqis doing the bombing and shooting, are executed largely against noncombatants. This is not a war that any civilized human being would want any part of.

selise @ 26

Now the Saudis are openly saying that this new Cold War in the region could turn hot. If you don’t own a bicycle, I’d buy one, because a regional war of the sort Saudi Arabia said it feared would potentially cut off 20 percent of the world’s petroleum.

there’s lots more at the link….

so what stock do we buy?

Someone once said, Warren Buffet I think, “Be long oil”. Unfortunate, but probably true.

Not that most of the people in DC have a f*cking clue.

Although we are all utterly furious about the widening rift — no, chasm — among factions in the Middle East, my practical side says we absolutely must be taking personal precautions NOW as this instability begins to affect us more immediately here at home.

By which I refer to the highly probable loss of 20% of the petroleum supply rather abruptly.

What do invididuals need to do to respond, let alone plan in advance?

Speaking for myself, I’m doing what I’ve done for all of my 38 years. I have never owned a car. I don’t own a bicycle at the moment, although that can change. I walk or I use public transportation.

A lot of Americans are just going to have to get over their hard-on for privately owned internal combustion. It might not be practical everywhere, but where it is, that’s the easiest sacrifice we can make.