Now for the politics of last resort - impeach Tony Blair

According to the Guardian Guardian, British MPs are getting ready to impeach Tony Blair. That's the shit I am talking about.

Adam Price an MP, writes
Truth is the foundation of democracy. Without truth, there can be no trust, and without trust, politics loses its very legitimacy. And that is the tragedy of what has befallen us all in the last three years of this premiership - alongside the personal tragedies of the 64 British service personnel and 13,000 Iraqis who have paid the highest price for what has become the cruellest of deceptions.

Of course Blair was too smart to outrightly lie. But,

"There is more than one way not to tell the truth: half-truths, omissions and deliberate ambiguities" which are or "can be just as effective as crude lies if the mission is to mislead. "

Following the report, A Case To Answer, by Dan Plesch and Glen Rangwala, published today - Price is conviced Blair,

"did not tell the truth. Instead he exaggerated, distorted, suppressed and manipulated the information for political ends. his was an organised deception to win over a sceptical parliament and public to the military action he had long ago promised his ally Mr Bush."

Amen. Now, impeach the bastard already!

Actually this is a compelling read!!!! This is the outrage, I have been waiting for. I am actually more pissed at Blair than I am at Bush about this. Blair should have known better ( in believeing it, or thinking he could fool us successfully, whichever); he is smarter than that. But clearly he is much more expedient than I gave him credit for. And his eloquence got in the way of perfectly good factual arguments and lies. Bill Maher used to say, "it sounds so much better when Blair says it." Better meaning believable.

Question though: How come millions of protestes or antiwar peaceniks already knew/guessed this? How come I knew Bushie and Blair were lying, and the MPs bought it hook, line and sinker in the first place? And how are they going to prevent this from happening again? Urrrrrghhhhh. Skepticism (and alternative press) are so underrated!

Say it, All Hail to the Kings of Highbury: Arsenal Glory!

If you don't know Arsenal, you don't know anything. If you don't love Titi Henry, you need your head read. If you can't respect Arsene Wenger, what can I say, you desperately need style.

43 games in sequence - now spanning three seasons - unbeaten. An all-time record. Nobody, dead or alive, has done this before! Go on Gunnners! Hey Bobby, what's the French for
Arsenal, Unfunckingbelievable!

When the rest of the world said, preemption is a threat to world peace....

They meant this: you can't have a monopoly on preemption. Now apparently, Iran is warning of preemptive strike to prevent attack on nuclear its sites. This story was first reported by AFP Aug22 . This is an interesting development, we'll see if it makes the corporate media wires.

Every Tom, Dick, Haseem can employ a premptive war doctrine and there's shit-all you can do about it if you started it: Fighting a noun (terror) preemptively was always going to escalate into something delightfully chaotic. First up, we can all invent our favorite enemies in the name of terror, and then strike our said invented enemies before they get ideas. Splendidly aggressive if you have a monopoly on terror. In other words, as long as you are the only one defining what constitutes "terror." Otherwise - good day, world chaos.

So, there's a reason why preemption was never anyone's favorite professed strategy. The advent of attacks on sovereign land was not invented on Sept 11, 2001. If Iran struck Israeli/USA forces as a preemptive measure or vice versa, what the fuck are we supposed to say in protest? Nothing, they are fighting terror, that's what. And if anyone decided this whole ensuing setup was a terror threat of their own, -imagine Blair clones on both sides- we would have the most beautiful chaos contrived by modern men and one woman. Thank you, Dubya, and Friends.

POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD, MY ASS.

In a related story, Forbes magazine has decided that Condi Rice is the most poweful woman in the world. I want full disclosure of the methodology for this study. This is nuts! Laura Bush checks in at No.4. Carleton Fiorina of HP cloks in at No.10! Hilary at No.5 and Sonia Ghandi, who gave up the Prime Ministry at No.3! Thatcher who is almost dead and widely reviled by her own pips is also rated (No. 21): Get the fuck outta here. Katie Couric (#57) ranks higher than Oprah Winfrey (#62)? I want to bitch-slap someone. Couric that airhead ahead of Oprah? Cherie Blair, checks in at 12 too. Cherie Blair? Who the hell compiled this? and are they on crack? Arrest them please.

Apparently the "researchers" created a "power scorecard' for each candidate.

" We came up with a numerical weight defined by her title and résumé; the size of the economic sphere in which she wields power (a foundation is measured by its endowment, a country by its GDP); and the number of global media mentions. We threw in some subjective adjustments..."

I want the same scorecard used for men, and throw in those same subjective judgements (what the fuck are those?). And please tell me who are the most powerful men in the world. Tell me if Scott Peterson makes that list. Actually, I would like these crackheads to first of all tell me what they mean by power. What a load of quack.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: First show after Sept 11

I am posting this because.... it's kinda interesting to look at how TDS handled such an immense moment. With the Xfire debacle, I am reminded that people forget what these guys really are like. That as cheesy as it sounds, they are passionate about important things. Peace. COMEDY CENTRAL: TV Shows: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Jon Stewart

Iraqi soccer players to Bush, "Go to Hell, Already!"

Bush has been taking credit for the Iraqi olympic soccer team's success in both ads and stump speeches, and the Iraqi athletes are having none of it, according to SI.com. They have put it in no uncertain terms how they feel about it,
"piss off, already!!" Okay, they didn't say that exactly, but they could have.

It's been amusing to watch. It's almost as if Iraq is a 51st state. Americans and American media could care less about anyone's successes except their own, so the gushing enthusiam/pride for Iraq's soccer team is curious. NBC, showed Wednesday's game against Morocco live, I reapeat fucking LIVE. In a country where the World Cup comes and goes without much ado - except when Team USA is doing well - it is just bizzare. Where do these people get off? Nobody fucking cares about soccer. So this new found care must be because they think they are responsible for this shit, or more likely, it is a patrionizing and paternalistic posture.

I am glad the Iraqi team has spoken out, because the media has been happy to let Dubya bask in the team's glory. 25 million Iraqi may be so-called "free," as the Bushies argue, yet an estimated 10 000 Iraqis have died in this war, and Bush&Co are not interested in even counting them. All I can say is, there better be a god: I want justice.

Gay marriage voided in S.F., Ban Challenged in Australia

I am have been as busy as hell. And have missed a whole week it seems. The only TV, I've seen is mostly in the gym or during ungodly hours of the morning when regular people are asleep dreading the fast approaching dawn. So there's little to gripe about.

Last weeek - was truly a gay week in the US, for the most part. Can I just say, it seems I don't know anybody who is not reviled, disgusted, or whatever by gay people. I just spoke to Bill, another one of those who think society will go to the maggots if gays are allowed to marry: values, blah, blah, blah. I live in the Bible-Belt, or very close to it, --- so I guess it should come as of little surprise then.

First, the debonnaire looking NJ Governor, James McGreevey came out with seeming emotional aplomb (why is everyone so damned impressed by, "My truth is, I am Gay American"). He didn't say, he was a Paedophile American, or perhaps a peacenik Ghandi American, or a Cannibal American, very partial to small children and minorities of any color. Any of those would warrant some hyperbolic reaction. So, he's gay: big fuckin' wank. He then pledged to resign at a future date for, seemingly, not being gay. Okay.

Next. On the same day, 4000 or so gay weddings were annulled in San Francisco. In a State of girlie-men, did anyone think they'd have the balls to let that stand? Honestly.

And the erudite Arianna Huffington was humilated into being the expert on the women-who-get-dumped-by-their-closet-gay-husbands, just because she married and divorced one closet gay man. She took some really stupid questions in her stride actually. Why don't anchors do their homework? On CNN, interviewed by Anderson Cooper, she pointed out that she was already 2 years divorced from Huffington when he came out. Later that night Miles O'Brien- who he the hell is he?- also had Arianna on and didn't seem to know this tiny divorce factor. Or, do they just pretend to be dumb for our dumb sakes so they can discuss the same stupid things over and over again? I swear there isn't enough useless news to fill the air 24/7- 7/52. There isn't even enough serious news for that matter. CNN should close shop after Aaron Brown and come back in the morning. Actually I would prefer that they put Larry "the titanosaurus" King behind closed doors and throw away the keys. Bring back the rainbow looking test-pattern that incessantly beeps monotonically; at least the test-signal has the decency to leave my blood-pressure well alone - when I am desperately trying to coax my reluctant brain into sleep.

Even the Australians are at it. They also banned gay marriage. With Dubya's No.2 Willing Partner, Howard, presiding: Rightly or wrongly, every wrong thing coming out that country fails to exercise me. But it appears, the ban could be challenged legally. I dig this, "Ironically, one of the ways they might be able to argue is marriage in the constitution does not include same-sex marriage and therefore the Commonwealth can't legislate about it." In other words, the Commonwealth cannot ban it. Clever bastards! those Australian Civil Rights lawyers.

In Canada, some gay couple got a divorce, which brings us back to civilization as we know it. In a related story, the Olympics started and I still don't care.

Bush Crows Over Kerry's Acknowledgement On Iraq Vote

And there you have it. Kerry is a douchebag, and the other guy is diabolical. Of course my Dubya is milking Kerry's reiteration that he would have voted to authorize the war, first time around even knowing what he knows now.

I want to strangle random people!

My Dubya is not a nuanced kinda guy, we know that. Voting to "give a President authority" is speak, nobody gets that shit. "Voting for War." Everybody gets that. Why the fuck is Kerry talking nuance to a goldfish? Ohh, for the douchebaggery the of Kerry. I seriously think he lost it yesterday. That's it. My Dubya! for another four years. What the fuck!

Did I not already say, he should have voluntarily come out and said, if he knew that My Dubya was a lying son-of-a-bitch he would NOT have to voted to give the son-of-a-bitch in chief any authority at all. Isn't that the point? Now he knows My Dubya is not an honorable man, so the answer is a categorical, "God, NO. Are you kidding, I'd sooner waltz with wolves, suck on barbed wire, and dubya's dick than, you know...!!!!!" Where's the fucking outrage at being betrayed? The betrayal alone is enough to say, NO.

The trouble is Kerry is he trying too hard to be centrist /moderate at any cost, to win over people who wouldn't otherwise vote for him, the 10 undecideds in Iowa or Ohio or wherever. Oh, and he wants to fight a "clean fight" without the slander. It's like scheduling a fight with Mike Tyson and showing up with your scrabble kit and expecting Mike to play along. Kerry's advisors are supreme douchebags. 50% of the people in this country don't vote, not usually anyway; at least 50% of those people want nothing to do with My Sexy Dubya. They are enraged and outraged. Get those fuckers to come out and vote. You don't do it by agreeing with Dubya on so fundamental a principle. We are all Screwed! Somebody please make it stop, already! Put a goat in the White House and I'll happily take My Dubya, Condi and Dick, for a menage a trois, back to Crawford, TX. We need somebody to videotape it, no? That's me!

Powell To Give the "Parochial Debate" a healthy miss

Disenchanted signor Colin Powell is snubbing his own Convention. Oyi, he in an angry man now, this "house nigger" - somebody called him that, not me. This according to Simon Jeffrey from the Guardian's weblog.Guardian Unlimited | Weblog | US Vote 2004. In a related story, CNN doesn't think this is newsworthy - not yet anyway. Jon Stewart will love this one.

I'm starting to feel sorry for Colin Powell. I have begrudged him for sticking with this lot for a long time. Late in 2001, I remember Time magazine covered him asking, "Where is Colin Powell?" For my money, he should have left then. I should call him names for it, but now I feel sorry for him. I hope, when he ditches this crowd, he sings loud and clear, in a book. And I hope, in it, he gets real bitchy about Condi Rice , you know something like he saw her sucking Dubya's cock once, and she sucked at it too. Huuuh?

BTW. I am still waiting for that Ari Fleicher to sing.

Aug 09: Election Monitors

Election Monitors
You know you are in democratic suspicion land, when you need election monitors. This is the stuff of wannabe dictators. According to CNN, An International team is to monitor presidential election the elections will be monitored. Phewww. Just last night on CNBC Topic A, Howard Dean (in for Tina Brown) was looking at the e-voting systems built by DieBold. It was Frightening, and I was wondering if international monitors could be called in.

Hacking the system
All you have to know to hack the results is know how to open an MS-ACCESS database in their so-called GEMS front-end system. Oh my god the schema of this database is something else. It's a case of way too much money spent on the front-end, too little on the engine.

Jon Stewart
I happened to catch this because I heard Jon Stewart would also be guesting on Topic A. This reminds me Jon has Bill Clinton on The Daily Show tonight.

Al Jazeera banned
This one is actually not that surprising, given the virulent feelings towards Al Jazeera in the Dubya administration. Rummy hates these guys with a passion. The Guardian argues closure a blow to democracy what about it? The last time they did this to Moqtada Al Sadr's paper it sparked off mayhem.

Poor US jobs figures -

This story actually came out Friday. Been shit busy
US jobs figures hit markets

Jobs grew by strong 32K vs a palid projected 200K for the month of July this pummeled the Dow and Nasdaq to their lowest levels this year.
The May and June were cumulatively revised downward by 61K . The economy should be must creating 150K jobs per month just to keep up with natural population growth.

All this evidence that the economy is rearing along merrily. Those tax cuts work, the economy has never been better. We are doing better than Clinton. I am your economy president goddammit and John Kerry is a pessimist.


This is all round fantastic news for Bush. One more month like this and Dubya is definitely a one-termer. Please god let it be so. the August figures come out soon after the RNC. Please god let it be so!

I am all about any means necessary now. It 'll send Wall Street into another tailspin and put to bed any misgivings of a booming economy. Please god let it be so.

Iraq issues warrants for Both Chalabis

This according to the BBC, Iraq issues warrants for Chalabis

This is interesting, both Chalabis wanted for criminal activities and both out of the country. Salem Chalabi, appointed by the US to head the tribunal trying Saddam is himself running from the law! You couldn't make this shit up.
Ahmed Chalabi, the quintessential sleaze-ball, god that guy comes across as really slimey. Surprise, surprise he has fucked someone else over. I am taking bets he won't be going back to Iraq.

Arsenal 3-1 Manure - Community Shield

Arsenal 3-1 Man Utd

We are going to to do it again this season. Come On Gunners!
I can't wait for the season to start.

On Your Marks, Get Set, Ready... Athens 2004

Basically, I could care less about the Olympics. I am not opposed to them being held per se, I just don't care. I deeply care about the World Cup, for example. Olympics, not so much. I actually appreciate them notionally as a giant, free ad and money-making scheme for the host country, which is cool as long we spread the hosting joy around.

It's been mildly annoying hearing reference after reference about how Athens won't be ready. "Athens won't be ready. Do they even know they are hosting the Olympics THIS YEAR?" The all-knowing ignoramus asks, one after the other.

When you listen to, or read US media, you put up with a lot smug, mindless babble about other countries and their incompetency. Just about every know nothing has said, " Athens won't be ready". From 60 minutes to that chubby, pretentious goon, Bryant Gumble. It's a cheap late-night joke, told when they've run out ideas. My own friends belief this garbage.

Basically, I think it's racist. The underlying message is, if it is not done our way, or by us, it fails. And that irritates me. My feeeling has been, "don't worry they will be ready: They won't be ready 3 months before the Olympics, but come opening night they WILL BE READY!" That's all they have to accomplish, isn't it?

The Italians got similar flack for Italia '90. Likewise, South Africa will be dragged through a shit-storm as she prepares for the 2010 World Cup. Why? Very simply, if you don't share the anal retentiveness of germanic efficiency, you are defined as inherently incapable of organizing anything. Conclusion, none of these money-spinning events should ever go to these countries. Why do we even bother? They say. Selfish swines! [oy, I hate the word swine, it gives me the creeps.]

I was reminded of this by this beautiful rendition of modern Athens and its history, from The Guardian: The How the Olympic flame sparked a new golden age

The Doyenne of Making-Shit-Up wants in on some of that WMD Action

The Doyenne of Making Shit Up wants in on some of that WMD action. Katherine Harris is not content with being the democracy parriah supreme of the manufactured criminal records for the thousands of brothas that were denied the vote in Florida, 2000. Harris Regrets Bogus Terror Plot Claim

This making shit up about non-existent terror plots, smacks of cross-your-heart-hope-to-die hoping. Do they really want to win that badly? Do you think they are praying for an attack? Maybe a tiny little one that doesn't kill too many people? Or perhaps kills them where nobody can see? Is that too diabolical even for them? Wait a minute, they have Iraq already. So no, of course not.

On a related story, my Darling Dubya put both feet in it again - continuing the theme, know thy enemy, he is readying the country to attack itself. In an extension of that vicious ad hominem attack strategy he uses so well against his political foes, he told a high-level meeting of Pentagon officials:

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful - and so are we," ... "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people - and neither do we." [IOL]

I knew dat!

White House crapsman Scott McClellan reckons, dont worry, "even the most straightforward and plain-spoken people mis-speak," . Yeah, I know - even the Abstinence Brigade fall pregnant. True story.

Naomi Klein [she's great] in The Nation Magazine says, "Ditch the Distraction in Chief" She contends, Bush in the White House has distracted progessives from the real issues and policy debates. Intelligent debate cannot be had until this mindless obsession with getting Dubya out of the White House is accomplished. This reminds me, there's a guy who has a website called "JohnKerryisaDouchebagbutImStillVotingForHim.com"

What Do Howard Dean and Republican Farting-Heads have to do with the Modern Gym?

I went to the gym tonight which means, I got to just watch some television courtesy of some company called BroadcastVision. I love those people!

They very recently installed this setup with +- 12 TV sets/4 channels and obviously some kind of FM transmitter somewhere in the room. I can bring in my MP3player/radio plus earphones and tune into any of the 4 channels using my walkman's FM and actually catch some TV, with audio. Not CLOSED CAPTIONING, though it’s still on, I don’t have to read it. I love these people! and the people at Cary Str. gym of course!

I hate CLOSED CAPTIONING! It’s such weak technology. If it were a hard product, it would have never have left the assembly line, defect, scrap. It has this +- 10 second delay, it's probably a shorter torture period; it seems like an eternity. What you are reading is never what you are seeing said. You could be watching an anti-depressant ad with those facetiously happy people, while reading, “….find out how he killed his three children and turned the gun on himself” - having somehow missed the nauseating, “when we return,…yada yada yada" and dead happy people. Do they really have to CC ads?

Watching TV in the gym: The visuals, the CLOSED CAPTIONING and that bloody TICKER at the bottom, overlaid with mindlessly talkative DJs, the callers, and still many, many more radio ads courtesy of Clear Channel and their local pimps blasting through every speaker in the room. It’s a mind-fuck. It is stimulation on THG, and you get plenty of it in the gym. It's part of the reason I switched to the smaller gym, which until recently had no TV sets, just the radio idiots, the horrifying local ads, and the ten songs they play over and over again.

Tonight I got to watch Anderson Cooper 360. I can run, watch Anderson at the same time, and actually hear what he's saying. Not quite a mind-fuck, but titillating nevertheless. A problem arises when guests (or AC) say something really funny. Man they need to stop that! Twice now, I have wound up sprawled on the floor somewhere, praying I hadn't broken anything, having suddenly stopped dead on my tracks, chocking with laughter, when the machine wants me steady at 6mi/h. Forget the so-called Precor, that woosie-making elliptical machine. That is a nightmare. I banged my head on the computerized panel's magazine holder thing from being dealt a deadpan blow from the hilarious Andy Borowitz, with Lewis Black (the nut) from the DNC last week.

And then there are the other people in the gym, what must they think? I don’t know. They just look at you funny, sometimes seemingly curious at why you are guffawing in confined public spaces. For once CC with the delay has been somewhat useful. People will look at whatever you are watching for while, but I have never seen anybody laugh at the same joke/comment. I’ve seen laughing at me for falling off, yes.

Tonight AC360 had Howard Dean on the show, and the obligatory, rebutting Republican farting-head- which is what this entry was supposed to be about, not the modern gym. Oyi.

Anyway as the farting-head was talking, spewing the usual fact-less garbage and character assassinations, I said, "Ohh, shut the hell up," loudly. Oyi Oyi Oyi. In my defense I was wearing earphones, with the fart-head in my ear as it were.

Gyms are odd semi-social places. The one I go to is decidedly odd. There are no free-weights and therefore no jocks, and so nobody seeking jock-attention. There is almost no verbal interaction, just people trying very hard no to stare at anybody else, an impossible feat in a place so small. When you are in the gym you are mindless and thought-less (i.e. without thoughts). I mean you can focus on an exercise, but you don’t think about the exercise. So you look at different things without actually seeing them, especially if they move occasionally. Your eyes wonder and settle on an arbitrary object and viola, before you know it, you have committed cardinal social sin No.5: You are staring at a sweaty stranger, and you are freakin’ them out! Not because they are hot or anything, perhaps because, they move occasionally. I don’t know. Alerted by something, perhaps too much movement, or no movement at all, you snap back to planet earth, make yet another mental note NOT TO STARE. Later, eyes wonder you find yourself looking at somebody who in their mindless state is also looking at you. To add insult to injury, this is an equal opportunity problem. Quickly, back to planet earth!

Hence, television in the gym is the perfect antidote for this staring pathology. The downside is TV (with its audio for me) takes us off the mindlessness and thought-less mode of the gym (what?), back into the planet of farting-heads who get away with it. So we find ourselves cursing out loud at political fart-heads, in confined spaces with sweaty strangers. Damn you farting-heads!
=========================================

When I get around to it, tomorrow or whenever, I want to write about the exchange between Anderson and the farting head, and what makes anchors bad journalists/arbiters. I have plenty of love for Anderson (why?) and to be fair , he tried, but.....the chair of the debating society at your local high school can do a better job.

Pakistan Calls S. Africa al-Qaida Target

This is a curious story.
Pakistan Calls S. Africa al-Qaida Target

Al-Qaeda, that nasty, diabolical and (insert preferred invective) lot are a lot even nastier things, but they are not politically inept, well not until now, if these reports are to be believed.

Their targets have always shown political intent and suss. This is a crowd that believes in, "know thy enemy," unlike some people we know -- nudge, nudge, ;) ;). This is especially interesting because they are a loosely, organized vitriol, vitriol outfit? infit? disfit? whatever.

Even this bizarre obsession with snatching unsuspecting foreign truck drivers in Iraq has a political theme. . .

So picking on South Africa is an interesting development because, if true, then they have changed tactics. Nelson Mandela called my Dubya "a threat to world peace" long before it was Prada fashionable to do so, back in the day, when it was Prava-loving and anti-American to disagree with the annointed One. The SA govt has persistently been on the wrong side of the issues, to the chagrin of those beautiful people in the White House.

In the spirit of "know thy enemy," there is a lot to worry about. The let up on "Osama Bin Forgotten" and ignoring real and complex solutions is now more telling than ever. Dubya, darling, we are so much safer, now.
Peace.

Terror threat intelligence 'years old'

The specificity of this intelligence may well refer to 9/11.
They should have barricaded NYC four years ago, if in fact that is the appropriate response.....

This is dated, not specific. Given the adept nature of the enemy, you would think those thugs would know this intelligence is not worth the pirated Windows it's written on. But knowing the enemy has never been this lot's strength.

Oyi, they make me positively ill.
Guardian :Terror threat intelligence 'years old'

US terror plot intelligence 'old'

What? The intelligence of this particular "specificity" is 4 years old.
I am stunned! NOT.

US terror plot intelligence 'old'

Will Ferrell - A message from White House West

The good folks at ACT have produced this Ad:
Will Ferrell - A message from White House West

No kidding when they say, it's the best ad you'll see this election!

Bush warns of 'nation in danger' - I don't know what to make of this?

So apparently, it's orange alert for some then, "everybody do whatever it is you are supposed to when we are not on yellow alert." Sorry, I forgot, it doesn't change a thing. Please continue to shop.
Bush warns of 'nation in danger'

As one who believes in science, that empirical evidence, generalizeability, and falsifiability thing, I was afraid this day would come and I would have to fess up to the fact, given their track record - Dubya & Thugs - I don't buy it, simply because I stopped believing anything they said a long time ago. I don't believe anything. My own building could be on fire, if you said Dubya says so, I'd tell you to go play with yourself.

My inner voice says, anyone who lies about taking a nation to war is, at least, capable of lying about anything. In the absence of falsification of the premise, "they lie": Please, continue to shop, America. We don't want them disrupting our way of life, that's what they want. They hate our freedoms. Pheew!

Kerry, Wrong to Vote for the War

I want Kerry to wake up and say, knowing what he knows now, i.e. Dubya's propensity to lie, ----sorry misinform, the President Don't Lie! --- and unilateral lust for war, he was wrong to vote for the war. If he knew then, what he knows now - he would have said "screw you!"