terrorists 1; teachers 0

tonight marked some more debates among our GOP candidates and not a word about education or schools. But let's keep fighting terror.

Awesome.

Prolonging the pain.

November 2008 is a long way off. As our administration muddles through in continued failure, have we stopped caring? Why aren't we impeaching everyone responsible for this debacle we call foreign policy?

Bob Herbert offers his own clearly-worded confusion:

Imagine a surgeon who is completely clueless, who has no idea what he or she is doing.

Imagine a pilot who is equally incompetent.

Now imagine a president.

The Middle East is in flames. Iraq has become a charnel house, a crucible of horror with no end to the agony in sight. Lebanon is in danger of going down for the count. And the crazies in Iran, empowered by the actions of their enemies, are salivating like vultures. They can’t wait to feast on the remains of U.S. policies and tactics spawned by a sophomoric neoconservative fantasy — that democracy imposed at gunpoint in Iraq would spread peace and freedom, like the flowers of spring, throughout the Middle East.

If a Democratic president had pursued exactly the same policies, and achieved exactly the same tragic results as George W. Bush, that president would have been the target of a ferocious drive for impeachment by the G.O.P.

Palabra.

invasions get easier

Oh dear. I had no idea of our big plans for world domination.

---begin quote

...he [Lawrence Di Rita, a special assistant to Rumsfeld] and other Pentagon officials said, they are studying the lessons of Iraq closely -- to ensure that the next U.S. takeover of a foreign country goes more smoothly.

"We're going to get better over time," promised Lawrence Di Rita, a special assistant to Rumsfeld.

"We've always thought of post-hostilities as a phase" distinct from combat, he said. "The future of war is that these things are going to be much more of a continuum....

"This is the future for the world we're in at the moment," he said.

"We'll get better as we do it more often."

---end quote

I think we should stop telling George W. that we were wrong to go to war. Dammit, he's going to prove to us that imminent terrorism is a threat if he has to hijack that airplane himself.

Let's just let him think we're okay with him--then in the election, we pull the one-two switch. Then he won't be so hell-bent on being heard about how right he is.

When did it become acceptable to display graphic death photos? I'm pretty sure it's still not. I'm pretty sure that it is not okay to show two men, hated or no, at the ending seconds of their life, assaulted and bloody.

But they're our enemies, you say. But we hate them, you say. But they tortured and killed thousands, you say.

I agree that their behavior was awful, despicable, intolerable. However, I remain that it is not okay to release those photos.

This all goes well until you get to the last sentence, which virtually guarantees that g.w.b. will come up with a new plan:

'Yeah, um, Iraq used to have WMD. Um, Syria bought them. Yeah. Syria. That's the ticket. They've got them now.'

just another genocide

Dear Congo,

We regret to inform you that we cannot help you with your tribal warfare. There's really little at stake for our country and as you are so far away and pose so little threat to our own safety, we're going to let France take the lead on this one. If only you had oil: we'd be more than willing to lend a hand.

As you may recall from Rwanda back in 1994, we prefer to wait until your casualties number in the hundreds of thousands. Quite frankly, five hundred casualties are little more than a common cold. Let's wait until your situation resembles an epidemic.

Maybe during your next mass genocide? Let's talk then.

Signed,

The United States of America
Land of the Free
or
If It Ain't Attached To A Tank, We Don't Want It

Read this: AP Headline Casts Palestinians as Victims of Tel Aviv Terror Attack

And then read this: Israeli Troops Kill 12 Palestinians

I'm not saying any of it is fair. Or right. Or makes sense. But jeez, be consistent. The first article is fairly astounding and second article fails to mention in its headline that the Palestinians were 'masked gunmen.'

Down with media slants.

Oh! A new Yahoo article! Israeli Troops Raid Gaza; Infant Among 12 Palestinians Killed

Compare that story to this one: Chicago Tribune Headline Bias.

Oh, that's right. Here's 200 million dollars that will not go to education.

'If it ain't attached to a tank, we don't want it.'

200 million dollars.

My favorite parts from this article, besides (of course) the 200 million dollars George W. Bush will pee away, concern the leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination and their apparent inability to serve as serious contenders in the race to the White House:

...a Bush associate described Mr. Edwards [of North Carolina] as the Breck Girl of politics, a reference to the shiny-hair model for a popular shampoo in the 1960's.

Another Bush adviser said of Mr. Kerry [of Massachusetts], 'He looks French.'

Let the games begin.

What the hell is this guy talking about?

'Our irresponsible friends' in Turkey?

My goodness. Let's just freaking alientate everyone.

'It's bad enough that the Kurds are not receiving the proper affection and gratitude for all they have done to help topple Saddam. The kid glove treatment of a misbehaving alleged ally, Turkey, needs to stop now.'

Oh jeez. Scathing letter to author will soon follow.

I think I know what I am missing in my mornings--a ritual. There's always coffee, but that's more of a dependency rather than a ritual. I need a media ritual.

When I was a kid, I always had the newspaper cartoons. That progressed into Dear Abby and daily horoscopes. Some years, the morning media ritual is just watching/attempting aerobics on the public television station. Other years, it has been a 6am dose of C.Hi.P.S. on TNN. For a while this year, I had a Wall Street Journal dependency. That has lost its thrill as of late.

I need a daily dose of stimulating yet entertaining media. Finding grammatical mistakes in the Denver Post doesn't count. As I put off writing my paper that is due tonight, will try to find a daily media ritual.

Yahoo news borders on a daily ritual. Though inconsistently riveting, is conveniently accessable.

Homeboy's on to something, poignant at best:

War should not be waged on the whole country due to one man.

Iraq is my country and it is called the Republic of Iraq not the Republic of Saddam Hussein.

We talked about the war last night in my policy implementation class. We were asked to leave out our emotions and just talk about policy. How, my professor wanted us to consider, could our president go from his original campaign claim that America should be more subtle in its foreign policy to... well, to this. No one had an answer. I was hoping my professor would. He didn't. I think he--a brilliant mind in policy implementation--is stumped.

Mike Watt is coming to a town near you.

Today is D. Boon's birthday.

If the fact that Mike Watt's a tremendous bass player isn't enough to bring you out to see him, how about the fact that he takes a few days hiatus off his tour at the end of April to play in the first Stooges reunion in 28 years, at the Coachella Festival. Mike Watt is taking the place of the only missing Stooge, Dave Alexander, who died in 1975. Without question, go see him.

Wow, I want to go to Coachella. Dammit! I have to be in Washington D.C. Arg.

I accidentally set my clock ahead an hour when I was setting my alarm last night. I didn't realize that I was an hour early for work until I was driving to work. I played an April fools joke on myself, I guess.

The article I wrote today:
Principles over Victory

thinking today

thinking today:

...this is a war to secure the oil reserves, but the US is not alone in being greedy and self interested. Everyone wants a piece of the pie.

Snow Day, Part Four

I am still trying to sort out my feelings on Iraq.

Snow Day, Part Three.

Went to work for three minutes. Had to evacuate building on account of roof's collapse. Probably won't work tomorrow, either.

Two more days off. Then the weekend.

Driving to work this morning was dismal.

The roads are deserted and show early signs of flooding... Misplaced trenches, ridges and gaps dot the barely driveable highways and streets. Giant potholes are found in every lane, though most streets are reduced to only one, on account of the snow's piling.

I looked at the damage and thought, wow. This is nothing.

---

What's happening in Baghdad?

The radio plays war songs from the 80’s non-stop. We know them all by heart. Driving thru Baghdad now singing along to songs saying things like “we will be with you till the day we die Saddam” was suddenly a bit too heavy, no one gave that line too much thought but somehow these days it is sounds sinister. Since last night one of the most played old “patriotic” songs is the song of the youth “al-fituuwa”, it is the code that all fidayeen should join their assigned units. And it is still being played.

A couple of hours earlier we were at a shop and a woman said as she was leaving, and this is a very common sentence, “we’ll see you tomorrow if good keeps us alive” – itha allah khalana taibeen – and the whole place just freezes. She laughed nervously and said she didn’t mean that, and we all laughed but these things start having a meaning beyond being figures of speech.

..the worst is seeing and feeling the city come to a halt. Nothing. No buying, no selling, no people running after buses. We drove home quickly. At least inside it did not feel so sad.

hope for the best ♥ insallah

mmm. Quizno's for lunch and a staunch possibility of a snow day tomorrow. What could be better at this moment for me, who is hungry and tired and doesn't want to work? Food and rest rate high on my hierarchy of needs.

As does world peace. What has happened to diplomacy, Señor W? No one will negotiate so you're resorting to brute force? No, no, no. Did you learn nothing from Hulagu Khan? One either negotiates effectively or one strikes sharply. To succeed, one does not do both.

Ladies, ladies, ladies: If you aspire to spinsterdom and need the accompanying cats, take good care of them. When I am a spinster, my cape-wearing fifty cats are going to live large. None of this A.S.P.C.A. craziness.