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Grover Norquist may say that the lizard brains will follow Commander Codpiece no matter what:
The base isn't interested in Iraq. The base is for Bush. If Bush said tomorrow, we're leaving in two months, there would be no revolt.
But as Paul Krugman notes, the "don't give my tax dollars to brown people" movement that Grover spawned does demand its own peculiar handicapping form of fealty:
You know that perceptions of rising inequality have become a political issue when even President Bush admits, as he did in January, that “some of our citizens worry about the fact that our dynamic economy is leaving working people behind.”But today’s Republicans can’t respond in any meaningful way to rising inequality, because their activists won’t let them. You could see the dilemma just this past Friday and Saturday, when almost all the G.O.P. presidential hopefuls traveled to Palm Beach to make obeisance to the Club for Growth, a supply-side pressure group dedicated to tax cuts and privatization.
The Republican Party’s adherence to an outdated ideology leaves it with big problems. It can’t offer domestic policies that respond to the public’s real needs. So how can it win elections?
I don't doubt that the base has little interest in Iraq, except for the fodder it provides for racist eliminationist fantasies and authoritarian stripping of hippies' rights. They certainly don't like to lose, and Sunday in the Park with McCain notwithstanding, they'd probably just rather paint the sky of bizarroworld another color and pretend the whole damn thing never happened.
Still, their hatred of regulation, oversight and government in general is going to stand in the way of the GOP addressing domestic issues that people seem to care about. Krugman again:
The good news is that all the G.O.P.’s abuses of power weren’t enough to win the 2006 elections. And 2008 may be even harder for the Republicans, because the Democrats — who spent most of the Clinton years trying to reassure rich people and corporations that they weren’t really populists — seem to be realizing that times have changed.
A week before the Republican candidates trooped to Palm Beach to declare their allegiance to tax cuts, the Democrats met to declare their commitment to universal health care. And it’s hard to see what the G.O.P. can offer in response.
The base may be following Bush, but all he seems to be doing is providing a beacon over the edge of a cliff.
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Jane!
With much love…
No WAR, HealthCare, raise the Minum Wage is there a single Democratic postion on domestic matters that doesn’t piss off Grover but is Hughly popular with the American People. When is the Abramoff investigation going to hit Grover! Or is Gonzo still sitting on that!
Cute Lemming.
Jane - Hope you’re feeling well.
Hi Jane!
I was ready for some red meat. Thanks!
Tear em up, gal!
things come undone @ 3
Not soon enough.
I detest the way Hillary Clinton operates.
From Arianna:
“Why did the rest of the media go along with the story the Hillary camp sold them about her first quarter fundraising — a story about as real as John McCain’s shopping stroll in Baghdad? First, you can subtract $10 million right away, because that’s the amount Hillary transferred over from her Senate campaign. That leaves $26 million, which includes money raised for the general campaign, which is not available for the primary.”
Speaking of McCain’s Sunday in the Park (apologies if this has already been posted in an earlier thread):
(snip)
[Modnote: to close a blockquote please remember the “/” thanks]
Thats a keeper.
Paint the sky of bizzaroworld a different color.
The beautiness of it all.
Subpoena Grover Norquist’s e-mail.
Has anyone else gotten the feeling repugs are lurching from candidate to candidate frantically, as if they’re not just leaderless, they’re panicked. Poor babes, i suppose, heh. I can only feel sorry for em up to a point.
DANG! It’s their own doing, or rather, UN-doing!
The Democrats should stop the war by making bush PAY for the war somehow during his TERM. It could be called the Grover Norquist Debt IS a tax MORON! bill. I still can’t believe the Dems want to get stuck like President Carter was with a tottering economy, a huge debt and no choice but to raise taxes. Either they make bush pay for his own wars NOW or they can be forgotten one term presidents.
Adie @ 11
That’s been apparent for quite some time. It makes a good parlor sport for us outsiders.
From CNN–one of the two shooting victims is dead, but don’t know yet whether it’s the man or the woman.
I’m visualizing a tiny rowboat with Rovey and Norquist at the helm and all their tiny, mini-me minions disappearing down the bathtub drain.
Jane!!!!!
Norquist is a tool. Republicans don’t know how to govern effectively. Krugman is right. When is the last time they effectively argued on policy? Personally, I can’t remember. They build up strawman and knock them down. That isn’t a long term answer. The better answer is: Will the Democrats give them the push over the cliff that is needed, or will they(like the CBC did last week), offer to pull them back fro m the cliff. You damn well know that the Repugliscum wouldn’t waste a second pushing Dems over the creek, so why should be at this point offer them a helping hand? If the fundies want to invoke religion, I say we act like the Old Testament God. An eye for an eye. Make the SOB’s grovel like the pigs 95% of them are.
Subpoena Grover Norquist’s bathtub while you’re at it…
They should just impeach Bush/Cheney and be done with it.
I just hope that the cliff is really, really high. It makes for better splats!
JANE!
This bouquet’s for you!
Queen Flowers
LS @
14
I’m seeing the Ty D Bowl man… err… men…
Talk about how long it’s going to take to unwind the damage the Rs have done, here’s a rawstory headline:
Sunday in the Park with McCain
Ha ha ha ha ha!
OT but always relevant to FDL.
Harold Ford of the DLC is over at TPM Cafe. He was supposed to write a post and then respond to comments. So far, there is just a post and a lot of great, tough comments from people who are very dissatisfied with the DLC itself and with Harold Ford’s decision to associate with the DLC and Fox News.
I particularly liked this comment:
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/sp.....ent-228223
[snip]
So here’s a short list of questions. I think that they’re coherent, and the point behind them isn’t too mysterious.
Aside from the name, is there any thing democratic about the way this organization operates?
The organization has a President, Vice President, CEO (Chief executive officer? chief economic officer?) Chairman, and Vice Chairman. Plus a Chair of a State Legislative Advisory Board and a Chair of a local elected officials network. What are the duties and powers of these individuals? Is there a Board of Directors? a Board of Trustees? How many? How are they chosen?
How many members are there on the State Legislative Advisory Board? Are they Appointed or Elected? IF so, by whom?
How many members of the Local Elected Officials Network? (see 3, above).
What are the terms of office for the leadership of the DLC.? How is the leadership refreshed, renewed, and challenged? Do members have any say in this?
What could or should be done to make the workings of the DLC more transparent? Why aren’t they more transparent, for that matter?
The thesis I’m putting forward with these questions is this: The name, Democratic Leadership Council implies something other than self-anointment. I believe the name is misleading, unless the organization can be held accountable by democrats of all stripes, including my own. I have no objection to an advocacy group such as this, but I think it would be more honest in the absence of accountability to call it something like Some Men and Women who Believe a Bunch of Stuff and Work to Get Like-Minded People Elected to Office. The DLC sounds official. It sounds as if it believes in operating by democratic principles. But does it?
[snip]
LS @ 10
yes! subpoena Grover’s emails, ALL of them.
I’m positive the Dunce would approve–of the shopping I mean:
Yes, the GOP is heading over a cliff, but don’t forget that they have a well-oiled money machine at their disposal.
They will spare no expense come election time. And they will not be afraid to stoop very, very low in their attacks against their opposition.
This stroll in the market should be enough to finish McCain’s bid. If he ever made it past the Primary (or even in the Primary) they could just play this bit of obvious fraud over and over again. This is a Dukakis in the tank moment.
Biodun @ 25
Just what the insurgents were hanging out waiting for.
eCAHNomics @
21
Maybe Lam got it going right before she left as a place to send all the lemmings…no, more likely where they’d like to send all of us.
At least the dim bulb is finally good at something!
Jane Hamsher @
6
Looks like it hit last night:
(from the amazing ME Williams at Wampum)
(see comment 115 on last thread for more)
I realize it’s redundant to mention Grover Norquist and the word “punk” in the same sentence, but I’m going to do it anyway.
And,
(((JANE!!)))
McCain’s Park:
MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
Jane (my best to you and the pups BTW), I think the great irony is, the rethugs may get hoisted on their favorite petard–the economy.
Iraq, of course, will be huge. But the great economic trickle down has slowed to an occasional drip and the masses are thirsty as well as hungry.
Peg if lemming, skating on thin ice
Georgesimian @ 27
I couldn’t agree more!! And I think a previous post on here actually had the Dukakis picture right next to the McCain/Baghdad photo-op pic. I’m thinking that was Jane’s post, but not sure.
To return to the core of the post–how bankrupt the Rs are on domestic policy. Their only answer is privatization. Personal accounts for medical, which will give high income taxpayers (the only ones who can afford them) another tax break, personal soc sec accounts, etc. These ideas have already been drowned in the bathtub. They have no thoughts about higher ed costs. NCLB at best has not done much to improve primary ed. Can anyone possibly imagine what their platforms could be on domestic policies? The only thing I’ve seen is constant harping on values with comical flip flopping or high serious obeisance to Dobbins. Voters have certainly had their fill. So I repeat. Whatever will they campaign on in domestic policy sphere?
McCain’s leisurely stroll in the Baghdad rug bazzare reminds of the Dukakis tank ride. And this guy McCain wants to be the leader of the world’s most powerful nation. Tee-hee.
What is it with shopping? When did going shopping become a sign of a working democracy and a patriotic duty?
Bush was lamenting today that Democrats wanted to raise taxes on the
billionaireworking man. Grover would be so proud.Mandrake @ 35
Damn, beaten to the punch. I should have said a Biden moment. Or “Mission Accomplished” moment. The Biden one is still one of my favs. What the hell was he thinking?
Something meta:
Orcinus (David Neiwert & co.) does this well, and I wonder if FDL could too: could someone place a box on the front page and “bookmark” issue overviews (like post-Libby trial analysis) and general political/social commentary posts that would otherwise be lost in the shuffle? What prompted this was the “Pattern of Corruption” story that will very soon be whisked off the front page. I might have missed it if it were.
Ranger Jay @ 26
Indeed. And Obama has the most to fear, because he is drawing from a group of people that are inspired by him and many of whom wouldn’t normally get involved with politics but have been drawn in by Obama’s charismatic personality and their belief that he is a special person. These are also the kind of people who could most quickly get turned off by “politics as usual”.
Karl Rove and others in the GOP can be expected to go really dirty against Obama, in an extreme way that they hope will turn off all of these inspired Obama supporters who are new to the political world. Republican operatives will try to replace people’s hope and belief in Obama with cynicism about the political process and all political candidates.
If Obama is smart, he’ll cut off this tactic by warning his supporters of the impending GOP smears against his character. Obama would be wise to tell his supporters that he is offering hope, and the Republicans will naturally turn to the politics of character assassination in order to wreck the positive movement that they are building together. This is how Obama could innoculate himself. I hope he does.
eCAHNomics @ 21
I think that’s Blackwater’s new mercenary training facility, or “campus” as they innocuously call them…
Stephen Dulaney @ 38
Isn’t there a dystopia about that? Can’t remember which one.
Thus far Hillary seems quite comfortable with blowing up brown people. Be they Iraqis or Palestinians.
Divide and Conquer! Grover spends a lot of money pushing a conservative agenda which I do believe only gets more and more unpopular every year. For example Hilary’s healthcare plan it wasn’t so popular then and Grover was against it. Today every Dem Canidate supports Healthcare and the issue is hurting republicans. Raising the minium wage, the Iraq war all issues Grover has opposed us, all issues that hurt republicans more now after years of Grover throwing money at the problem to shore up political as opposed to grass roots support. Or the better question might be how much money does Grover have to throw at an issue over how many years for that issue to become a liabilty for the GOP and a game changer for us? I suspect as with the Iraq war the more passionate the American people feel about an issue the less time it takes. Anyway I hope Karl reads this and his head explodes! I hope the GOP realize the path Grover has led them to will lead them to defeat, either they turn on Grover or go extinct!
Conyers writes a letter to Monica Goodling:
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=207
We have reviewed Ms. Goodling’s declaration and the letters you sent to us and Senator Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and we are concerned that several of the asserted grounds for refusing to testify do not satisfy the well-established bases for a proper invocation of the Fifth Amendment against self- incrimination. In addition, of course, the Fifth Amendment privilege, under long-standing Supreme Court precedents, does not provide a reason to fail to appear to testify; the privilege must be invoked by the witness on a question-by-question basis.
h/t atrios
I was amazed to learn on FDL that the lemming deal is a myth made up by Disney!
It’s disturbing to watch McCain lately. He is one spaced out looking guy. Something a lot more wrong going on there than just all the flip flopping.
xyz@42
Yes, and the mud will stick. Some talking head last night said to think about a campaign as a series of tests. Obama has already failed at least 2: his stand on Iran and his statement about supplemental after the veto. An item on democracynow.org this morning suggests he knows very little about his father’s continent as apparently he thinks it’s just fine for W to militarize the continent in offense against terrorists. He’s a very inexperienced and weak candidate who would crash on the shoals in a campaign like the Rs are likely to wage in 08. Charisma is not enuf.
…a legal noose around Grover? Sweet.
The looting of our public lands by Grover’s pals Big Energy and Mining has begun the investigation.
Hope the investigation strangles his organization, and the prison term drowns Grover’s freedom in a bathtub.
____________________________________
[waves at punaise]
things come undone @ 12
You’re certainly right about this one. I worry that Dems will be inheriting an absolute catastrophe waiting to happen. Social Security could have been solved by now, healthcare could have been solved by now, the economy could have been healthy with much less debt including a much smaller if non-existent federal debt and a financially healthier working and middle class. Instead in 08 we could be stepping into an absolute minefield of potential disasters including a middle east that is now (thanks to Bushco) truly marginal in a way that leads to a major regional conflagration that this time WON’T be avoidable. .
The irony is sweet. Grover’s pal Bush has spent this country into the poor house via his deficit spending. And President Pork has an MBA?
Poor McBush…a long way from those halcyon days of 2004 when both Democrats and Goopers wanted to stand as close to him as possible.
It serves him right for being nothing but a prop for Bush.
Gen. Wes Clark ‘08
DuaneBidoux @ 52
Might be a silver lining. Remember that Clinton cured the deficit by raising taxes on the rich. Well, the rich have gotten so much richer under W, leaving all the more tax cream for the Ds to skim.
ironranger @ 49
I agree with you. I totally disagree with soo much that McCain stands for politically, but I ‘m concerned by what I see in his demeanor. He looks physically ill, and very much alone & dispirited. I wish, for HIS sake, he had not decided to run.
oops! do I qualify as a concern troll??!? oh well. so be it.
*xyz @ 47
Looks like Monica will be taking a trip to perjury or contempt land. Will she take the 5th when she is asked to take the oath to tell the truth? Or will she try to substitute one of her own loyalty oaths in its place?
And why btw is she still employed at DOJ?
CNN center - one dead, one extremely critical!!
Thanks–I needed that.
Hugh @ 58
And why btw is she still employed at DOJ?
So they can recycle her into an administration twenty years from now, claiming she has actual job experience?
SURGE IS WORKING FOLKS!
Just heard on the news that Baghdad curfew has been extended 2 hours for shopping purposes!
Adie @
11
Yes, and I think that’s why Fred Thompson’s name is popping up now. LOL, I think he’s supposed to be a “fresh face”. By sure to check the “sell by” date on that container, folks!
Mandrake @ 62
They can get to the market just in time to be blown up.
A turning point for me in my belated maturity about Republican politics was in the aftermath of the 2000 election. Given the win of the popular vote by Gore, those of us who voted for Gore hoped against hope that the appointed President would concede some ground to the other side. We thought he might at least genuflect in the direction of nonpartisan, we’re-all-in-this-together, spirit.
I wish I could remember who said it, one of the RNC officers I think. His response to the profound consternation of the 50% who voted for the other side was something like “We don’t care. We don’t care that you’re upset. We don’t care that you feel robbed. We won.”
Until then, I had assumed at least a shred of reasonableness and sense of common goals. I was wrong, and each passing day confirms my naivete.
They have ruled, not governed, exactly like that. They don’t give a shit about half the population, now a majority. They’re in power and they are going to do everything they can as fast as they can to enrich and entrench themselves.
The rest of us can go to hell.
Some good news:
Lawyers: jailed freelance journalist Wolf to be freed
From the Associated Press
11:30 AM PDT, April 3, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO — A freelance videographer who served the longest prison term for a journalist refusing to testify to a grand jury is expected to be freed from federal prison after reaching a deal with prosecutors, lawyers said tday.
Joshua Wolf, 24, could be freed as soon as today after posting online unaired videotape that he had refused to give federal authorities, said defense lawyer David Greene.
“Joshua Wolf has complied with the grand jury subpoena,” prosecutor Jeffrey Finigan said in court papers filed today.
Grandma Millie @ 55
That’s been the bumper sticker on my car for more than a year.
Come on, Wes, jump in - the water’s gonna be fine!
I hope its a very high cliff with razor sharp rocks at the bottom.
*xyz @ 47
I especially like this portion:
Mary McCurnin @ 64
Just don’t show up on the heels of a McCain market stroll!
Does that mean he gave up his sources? All that time in jail for nought?
LBrowne @ 63
Fred Thompson, the Law & Order candidate.
Welcome aboard reality, Jean2k. It doesn’t matter as much how we got here, but, what we do now! jmho
“The alleged concern that she may be prosecuted for perjury by the Department of Justice for fully truthful testimony is not only an unjustified basis for invoking the privilege and without reasonable foundation in this case but also so far as we know an unwarranted aspersion against her employer.”
Snarky, but good.
*xyz @ 42
What kind of innoculation was Obamas support of Lieberman over Lamont ?
Just asking.
eCAHNomics @ 71
Here’s a more local version:
Imprisoned freelance journalist to be released
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
(04-03) 11:29 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Josh Wolf, a blogger and freelance journalist who has spent 7 1/2 months in federal prison for defying a grand jury subpoena related to his coverage of an anarchist protest, turned over video footage to prosecutors today and will be released shortly, lawyers said.
Under an agreement announced by Wolf’s attorneys, he will not have to testify to the grand jury or identify any of the protesters shown in his video, which has been posted on his Web site.
The deal was announced this morning after a second day of mediation Monday before a federal magistrate. Wolf, 24, was held in contempt of court by a federal judge last August and has been imprisoned longer than any other journalist in U.S. history for withholding information.
Debka (Likunic rag) is reporting Iraq insurgents say the downed a U.S. cargo plane with a missile.
Aaron at 41 — If you’ll look on the right-hand side of the blog page, you’ll see that we have a topical index. The “Pattern of Corruption” article can be found cross-indexed among the UN Attorney tag, the Legal tag, the Justice Department tag and several others. Hope that helps a bit…
An excellent piece, Jane, but keep in mind the gooper “base” is a two-pring thing:
You have the uber-wealthy who, of course don’t care about anyone else.
Then you have these people, who are just too fucking stupid to know any better. Never doubt the ability of the Stupid to be duped by anyone who professes to “kick ass” on them “gawd-dayam ayrabs,” no matter if the same “ass-kickers” are duping the Stupid into abject poverty, and death.
They are the voting bloc that scares me because critical thinking is just beyond their grasp. They listen to El Porko Grande on the radio and believe every word like this the gospel.
The Stupid faction is why we can never EVER let our guard down, or support centrist candidates. Because the Stupid will sell themselves down the river every timein order to “kick ass.” They can’t be educated because they believe in the baybay Jaysus and George W does too, and by gawd, that’s good enough for them. That and “kicking ass.”
Finally, there are a lot of people on the cusp of Stupid, who can be swayed by a good public speaker. The semi-Stupid may be worth working on, but the Stupid are beyond help, beyond redemption.l
So we have to not just battle the rich, we have to battle the Stupid.
Something to keep in mind.
Chit-chatted with my wingnut friend this morning. Easy way to get him talking is to start off with skirts and move on from there. He’s half sane, so I thought I might see whether he was ready to rinse the kool-aid out of his mouth, but I was wrong. He is a tried-and-true wingnut. For a long time I thought it was an act, but he was spouting John Yoo to me about the Presidential prerogative, and when I asked him whether he thought it might apply to Hillary, he just said, no Dem is ever going to come in, so it doesn’t matter. Now, this is a guy with a Ph.D. if you can imagine (though he thinks that James Lott, or whatever his current pseudonym may be, has a brain).
Anyway, he’s one of those true believers. Looks alot like Novakula and from the same ethnic background. Same reactionary ways, and also same follow-the-leader response. These guys have too much invested. They will stay with Bush down to the last capsule.
I think we may be getting close to the people who held that very private energy meeting back before 9/11.
So many people have been implicated in strangely connected scandals and the light is starting to shine on the not noticed before ‘little cogs’ in the wheels of this spiders-web of deceits and back-room deals.
I keep thinking about the saying ‘All roads lead to Rome’
I know this comment is a little dis-jointed, but I do think we are getting close.
FROM THE LETTER RE: GOODLING:
“We note that Mr. Kyle Sampson, the Attorney General’s former chief of staff who worked closely with Ms. Goodling on these matters, advised the Senate recently under oath that he knew of no valid basis for her assertion. If there is no valid basis, we will want to afford her an opportunity (as several other Department employees have agreed to take) to answer in a straight-forward fashion in a private, confidential setting all questions relating to her knowledge about the firings of the U.S. Attorneys, the role in these terminations of the White House with which she served as liaison and the Department’s explanation about these matters to the Congress.”
Translation: Let us know whether she is planning to flip Karl, and we’ll see what we can do.
Thanks P J Evans. It sounds like a compromise, but still Wolf had to give up his tapes.
The trouble with all of them going over the edge like lemmings is that the already threw over education, income security, environmental protection, voting rights, Medicare, peace, the National Guard, the Armed Forces, an impartial judiciary.
How is all that stuff going to get back up the cliff?
It seems to me that making sure the Rethugs don’t get to do it again is only half the problem solved.
And with nothing left to lose, they will take everything else with them.
I refer you to Dr Strangelove.
LBrowne @ 63
LOL!!! Yeah, more than a whiff of political mold, AND the fact that they’re seriously considering a guy who “played one on tv,” as a grade B actor (I’m feeling generous), BETTER than he did in real life. Ya gotta luv it?!
OGAWD Why am I laughing!?! Lookie whut we got now……… Can we feel rest-assured that it’s such a short time tw’/long overlap tw’ jr’s reign & prezcampaign that the idgits amung th’ smarterlemmings will remember whut they wrought in 00 & 04? Yuh THINK???
i think i’m gonna be sick…. scuse….
I have to say that I disagree with Krugman on that one. The Republicans with their union breaking ways, their mania to reduce taxes on the rich, corporations, and capital gains, and finally monetary policies that view wage increases as inherently inflationary created the inequality. It’s not like they want to address it. They just don’t want anyone to blame them for it.
Alison 84
Yup. Source of many sleepless nights for me, contemplating same. I suspect that’s why so many folk congregate here. As some have said, jr. breaks it. We fix it….somehow…..
We just must.
This is a good place to meet up with others who care, and who simply won’t give up.
Regarding “stripping hippies’ rights,” maybe it’s time to start telling the RWingers that it’s time they “got over” the ’60’s. After all, they’re in the past.
I swear they’re still trying to get back at that Time.
Or anything even slightly to the left of . . . well, not even of center, just of the RNC party line.
And it’s so creepy–they live their lives by this, while giving the underlying issues no more thought than if they were picking a cheering section for the Michigan-Ohio game.
AP - President Bush on Tuesday called Democrats in Congress irresponsible for approving war bills that order U.S. troops to leave Iraq by certain dates. He said such efforts will backfire, keeping some troops in battle even longer.
Playing politics with peoples deaths. This prez hasn’t a decent bone in his body.
CNN showing footage from a videophone of the shooting in their lobby. Jeebus–whoever hung around filming a shooting certaing deserves a Darwin Award.
Thanks CHS at 78. I actually did discover the list and perused a few categories. It does help a bit more than a bit!
Hugh @ 86
I have problems with the GOP view of economics: profits are money in the economy, prices and taxes are money in the economy, executive salaries and bonuses are money in the economy, tax breaks for businesses and sports centers are money in the economy, but somehow paying a living wage to non-executives takes money out of the economy permanently.
I guess they figure that all of us don’t eat, pay for housing and transportation, or wear clothes; we just walk out the door at 5 and disappear in a puff of paycheck smoke, and appear at 8 the next morning the same way.
Georgesimian @
17
YES– but unfortunately, that won’t be enough. Did you see Naomi Klein on Democracy Now! last night?
Her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a blockbuster.
This shows yet another way in which Cheney’s business megalomania is not only changing the pieces on the chessboard, but is changing the board itself. Most of us have some vague idea about how Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, et al. are making money like bandits off the war, but it really is much worse than that, if Klein is right. Removing Bush & Cheney by impeachment will help, but it will take much more to reverse what is happening in Global market management. Cheney-style globalization is changing the way the world works, so that War is profitable, but Peace is not. They are ginning the game to make peace impossible and war (of some kind, any kind) inevitable, if I heard right.
Bob in HI
eCAHNomics @
91
Don’t you have to die to get one of those?
Oklahoma kiddo- It must be hard for him to juggle all these recent pressers and the DT’s at the same time. At least he is good at something.
TPM Muckraker has an apparently new letter from Leahy to Gonzalez. It is dated March 30, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. Here it is:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002944.php
I’m starting to realize that this administration just lies to fulfill the fantasies of its base. I mean, it doesn’t lie strategically or even tactically, which we’ve long known that it does. It just plains lies all the time, in all respects, about everything.. whatever the base wants to hear, even if it isn’t important. The WH today gave a statement about why pump prices for petrol are up. Those of us in the business world know the most recent price increases have been due, in large measure, to a (technically based) crisis in refining and transport capacity, both in select US regions and globally. This is not a mystery.. every oil industry and commodity trading rag’s been on top of these technical problems overshadowing the crude and petrol markets for months now. Iran/Gulf straits tension is a factor but not by far the biggest one.
So what does shrub’s admin say (and remember, he’s an oil exec)? He blames it on Dem-supported TAXES (or the threat thereof), on Dem demands for biofuel requirements and global warming initiatives AND, of course, on Dem-created “tensions” over support for the war in Iraq.
Now, he didn’t have to lie here. There’s no real reason for it.. it’s such a minor thing. But he did, and he does. It’s pathological.
It’s Blackwater!! This is INSANE!!
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/....._0403.html
twolf1 @ 94
Turns out many people are really stupid about such stuff. In my experience you can get out of a burning building. I was lunching on 40th floor, smelled smoke, saw smoke in foyer of club, went back to table & the 4 of us walked down the steps while maitre d’ was looking in closets, etc. Rest of diners stayed. Now it turned out to be a waste basket fire 4 floors down, but what sentient being would take the chance? Answer: all but a a couple hundred of the thousands on nearby floors. No fire alarm either!
twolf1 @ 95
You just need to be rendered incapable of reproducing. Getting yourself castrated would do it.