Iraq and More Importantly ..... Nora Ephron

According to news reports, the US and Iraqi governments brokered a deal with Shiite militias to end the fighting south of Baghdad. Reports over the weekend showed deepening US involvement in what was supposed to be a mission led by the Iraqi military. Shiite militants are calling the deal a victory, which does little to bolster confidence in the al Maliki government.

In other news, none less than Nora Ephron has urged Sen. Hillary Clinton to get out of the Presidential race. Well. Whattya gonna do? Once Nora Ephron weighs in, you gotta react. Forget your hopes and dreams. Forget your vision for the country. This is Nora Ephron for crying out loud. I wonder what Hulk Hogan thinks? What about Charlie Sheen?

Seriously, as much as I don't like to admit it, we Obama supporters have to face the fact that as enraptured as we are by our candidate, as many arguments as we have about the success of a Clinton run and presidency, there are a lot of people who support her. A lot. And they tend to be in big states that can swing elections. Shutting these people out, or making some deal that effectively disenfranchises them would do our cause little good. So maybe I agree with Former President Clinton on this. We just need to "chill out" and have ourselves a nomination fight. Trying to paper over differences at this juncture will just come back to bite Democrats in the ass later on, by creating a class of folks who feel like they were ignored by their party. The winner of this thing will have ample opportunity and ammunition to attack Sen. McCain, and that ultimately should be the prize we have our eye upon.

This Week In The News

This week, Sen. John McCain denounced any government aid to the mortgage industry or homeowners in the wake of the credit crisis. Speaking on the campaign trail, McCain said, "it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.” McCain later danced around environmental issues, stating only that any possible cures for global warming should not hurt the US economy. Asked about his rather unimaginative policies, one McCain aide noted, "John has admitted that economics and the environment are not his strong points. So instead of trying to cook up some actual policy, we thought we would just repeat the same bromides the party has always used. Our motto is, 'if its broke, use it and hope no one notices'"

This week, Sen McCain also attempted to blunt criticisms that his entire biography and political career have been linked to war and that the spectre of war pervades all his political thinking. McCain, responded, "My friends that is just not true. I have always had broad political interests. Whether it is ferreting out corruption in defense contracts, working on veterans affairs, sitting on the Armed Services Committee, or attacking other people's militray careers. It is not all war to me. Sometimes I think, what would a war do to stimulate the economy? Would environmentalists finally shut up if I sent them off to war? Will all those skeletal trophy blondes I like join the USO during a war? Would people think my fat head looks more Churchillian in wartime?"

This week, TWN decided to examine how a period of war, recession, and political shenanigans has effected the much vaunted suburban voter. We traveled to the suburbs of somewhere and visited the annual convention of Suburban Professionals Insular Together (SPIT). While SPIT conventions are usually laid back affairs with a country club casual dress code, this year's gathering was abuzz with hot topics as SPITers felt themselves under siege as never before. The weekend's agenda cast some light on their anxieties.The keynote speaker, R.E Fynance from the American Mortgage Association spoke to a rapt audience on "And You Just Ordered the Jacuzzi Tub: The Credit Bust and Your McManision." Breakout sessions included talks such as "Reverend Jeremiah Wright: Is Anything Scarier than An Angry Black Man?" "The Earth Liberation Front: Is Anything Scarier than People Who Burn Down Luxury Homes?" " Keeping it (Un)Real -- Raising a Child in the Suburbs, " and "I Gave at the Office... Not: Strategies for Keeping Your Money for Yourself." SPITers even stood in line to attend, "It's Not Because He is Black: Plausible Reasons to Vote for the GOP." SPITs gathering was sponsored by various corporate entities including the makers of granite countertops, importers of foreign luxury autos, women's retailer Ann Taylor, and a host of semi prestigious New England colleges.

China

There is something very funny about watching Chinese officials scramble around trying to reign in the many, many people protesting China's human rights violations, support for Sudan, oppression of Tibet or pollution in the run up to the Olympic games. It is obvious that right now, China is accountable to no one in the international community, and the only hitch in their giddyup are individual people of conscience. And there they are at every Olympic oriented event. There is something about watching the next superpower send its thugs to tackle some poor guy with a Tibetan flag....

Of course, President Bush has already publicly stated that he will not boycott the Olympics or the Opening Ceremonies because he views the Olympics as a "sporting event..." So the Chinese have nothing to fear from the world's oldest democracy. Now if they could just get rid of that pesky Llama and his followers.

Five Years On

Today marks the five year anniversary of our invasion of Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain travelled to Iraq to mark the occasion and show everybody how swell everything is going. Unfortunately, their trip was disrupted by a car bomb that killed thirty and injured another fifty. There are, lets face it, a certain percentage of the population who will support this war no matter what and will cling to any faint ray of light as justification for a brutal and immoral invasion. There is little you can do with those folks. They are like the members of America's Communist Party that denied Stalin's atrocities. They are true believers. Excluding those folks though, lets review.

The war has cost us 4,000 American lives and over $1 trillion dollars.

At least 100,000 Iraqis are dead. Four million Iraqis are misplaced, two million have left the country.

Our conduct of the war has strengthened the hands of our enemies as the number of people around the world who do not think we are who we say we are has grown.

One country that was a potential threat-- Iran -- is now looking at Iraq like a yuppie looks at a brand spanking new suburban subdivision. They are already debating where to put the sconces and plasma TV.

By adding thirty thousand additional troops we were able to lower the level of violence in some pockets of Iraq. Of course we also agreed to some deadly deals with Shiite militias to do so. But what are a few thousand Sunnis in the scheme of things?

Had enough yet?

Barak Obama redux

A few random comments on yesterday's speech and the events that led to it. First, I am not sure how many white votes Barak Obama stands to lose because of his minister's speeches. It strikes me that if you hold something the Senator's former minister said against the Senator -- even after he condemned it -- Senator Obama probably was not going to get your vote anyway. In other words, the folks who a flogging this issue were likely looking for any execuse not to vote for the man in the first place.

Second, the reaction of the white community to the Minister's comments betrays a certain sheltered existence. As a white resident of a majority black town, I can tell you that none of the views expressed are that far from the mainstream. You hear similar statements from pulpits all over this town and from commentators all over the radio dial. We should not be surprised that black Americans do not hold our country in the same esteem as we do and we should not be surprised that black Americans have a less than flattering view of white America. Their historical experience with our professed freedom and liberty lends itself to a different point of view.

Third, it strikes me the Senator may be held to a higher standard than his compatriots. Recently, one of John McCain's endorsers referred to Catholics as members of a cult. Other candidates have rubbed shoulders with all sorts of hate mongers like Jerry Falwell, Bob Jones University, The Minutemen etc. and escaped without embarrassment. Majority politicians have always been able to wink and say
"There are some nutballs who support me. What are you gonna do?" Let's hope Senator Obama is afforded the same opportunity.

Sen. Barak Obama in Philadelphia, PA

Today Sen Obama delivered a major address on race in America. A fine peice of work that is reprinted in total at salon.com. I reprint one piece here:

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination -- and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past -- are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds -- by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

All too often white folks like to walk away from race as something that is not our problem, certainly not a problem created by us, and something firmly in the past that healthy people have to "get over." Kudos for reminding us that "the past isn't buried, in fact it is not even in the past."

Bear Stearns

For those of you soaking up the news of the Bear Stearns bailout, see the entry regarding moral hazard. This is yet another example of what we lefties call "socializing the risk, privatizing the profit."

Rhymes with Basshole

The President had this to say to our troops in Afghanistan:

I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

Hey. Asshole. You had your chance to be all romantic and have a "fantastic experience" getting shot at. It was called Vietnam and you used family connections to get into the Texas Air National Guard and then you blew off that commitment to work on a Senate campaign in Alabama. So you missed you chance to find out how exciting and romantic stepping on an IED or better yet ... shooting somebody can be.

The very fact that a fifty year old man would have such a childish understanding of war floors me.

Somebody voted for this guy, right?

This Week In The News

This week, Samantha Power, an unpaid advisor to Sen. Barak Obama stepped down after calling Sen. Hillary Clinton a "monster" in a Scottish newspaper. Shortly thereafter, former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro resigned her unpaid post with the Clinton campaign after suggesting that Barak Obama would not be taken seriously if he were white. With six weeks to go before the decisive Pennsylvania primary, both campaigns seem to have time on their hands and in danger of losing all their staff. Asked what they plan to focus on in the next six weeks both campaigns were unanimous: "Mock indignation. For the next six weeks we will pretend to be appalled and deeply offended at just about everything the other side says even if it is innocuous. We are working on our looks of astonishment, our wrinkled foreheads, and our faces of grave concern. We have have faces that make it look like we are about to cry. We are also mapping out ways inwhich any comment can be transformed into a racial and gender slur. We do not know who will be the victor come Convention time, but we do know both candidates will have been credibly shocked, appalled, disgusted, and troubled by all sorts of things."

This week we learned of another enduring gift given to the country by the Bush Administration: Sexually Transmitted Infections. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control 1 in 4 teenage girls in America have some form of sexually transmitted infection. The trend is most pronounced in African American teenagers. Many commentators blame the Administration's emphasis on "Abstinence Only" education, and opposition to contraceptives for failing to give young girls the tools and knowledge to avoid infection. Undeterred, the Department of Health and Human Services has rolled out new, more intense, abstinence curriculum. Titled, "Don't Be Such a Slut!" the curriculum emphasizes "a punitive view of human sexuality that presents disease, pregnancy, depression, alienation and 9/11 as biblical punishments for the skanky behavior of teenage girls. We will also stress the mercenary nature of teenage boys and the almost sure heartache that results from sex." Noted one DHS spokesperson, "We like to think of it as what would happen if Avril Lavigne and Jerry Falwell merged and wrote about human sexuality."

This week, the Pentagon completed its review of over 600,000 governmental documents seized after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The review concluded that there was no evidence of any operational or financial link between Saddam Hussein and the Al Queda terrorist group. The Bush Administration repeatedly claimed such a link existed and justified the invasion which ahs cost the lives of 4,000 US soldiers, at least 30,000 Iraqi civilians and costs taxpayers about $10 billion a month. Contacted for comment, Matthew Dowd, a former advisor to the President said, "To be honest, I really cannot find a damn thing funny to say about that. "

Spitzer's vs Kilpatrick

Elliot Spitzer's rather rapid resignation from office in the wake of his call girl scandal stands in marked contrast to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's insistence on staying in office despite his adultery/perjury scandal. Last night the Mayor railed against his critics, race baiting them, and refusing to take any responsibility. To listen to the mayor, one could easily forget that he committed perjury and had two police officers fired because he feared his adultery would be uncovered. In earlier speeches he has compared himself to Biblical characters punished by God. The Mayor's ego is seemingly proportionate to his libido.

One can debate the merits of criminalizing sexual behavior, the ability of people to remain monomagous, and the line between the persoanl and the pulic all you want. The conclusions to these arguments in no way excuse lying under oath about a material matter, misuse of the office for private gain, or simple hypocrisy.

Perhaps the one upside to the Affaire Spitzer will be a lesson for the Mayor of Detroit in how to handle himself like a man ... outside the bedroom.

Eliot Spitzer

I see that N.Y Governor Eliot Spitzer has all but admitted that he paid for the services of a prostitute. As you all know, I am a libertine on this issue and I could care less with whom the Governor has sex. His wife may care, but not me. Moreover, the usual moral cacophony we will hear on this issue from fans of monogamy, religious tpes, and women's groups will just make us all look judgmental, hypocritical, and naive.

Spitzer's problem here is not paying for a little somethin'. Its that he sent people to jail for providing just the type of service he purchased. That is going to be a tougher news conference....

The HRCC Inches Towards Relevance

Today the Vatican issued a a new list of sins, or at least conduct they consider sinful. Surprisingly the list was not just about sex and microscopic organisms, the sole targets of Catholic moral thought in my lifetime. Included on the new list are drug abuse, genetic modification, and the the gap between rich and poor.

Number one is rather silly considering I have yet to meet a tea totalling Catholic who is not in a program. Number two seems partially rooted in the usual Catholic fetish with unborn life, but may also lend some valuable insight into issues like genetic testing and cloning. So there may be something there for everyone and I, for one, am willing to reserve judgment. Number three I am all on board with, but good luck getting American Catholics to go along with any social justice program. They have been part of the Republican coalition for twenty years and that coalition has almost made their disdain for the poor and its assault on social justice legislation a calling card.

Later in the Vatican's statement, the Cardinal said that coverage of child abuse within the Church must be denounced because "it detracts from the Church." No. Committing sodomy with young boys and then covering it up by moving pedarests from parish to parish detracts from the Church. It showed the Church had a lot of sick men in positions of authority and a lot of twisted men who tried to deny it, hide it, cover it up and when it was discovered, do anything to avoid responsibility for it. Publicizing their actions -- and by actions I mean pedastry and pedophilia -- just made them stop. I find the fact that the Church attempts to make itself the victim in this circumstance to be contemptible.

Reality Check

What do Citigroup, Countrywide, and Merrill Lynch have in common? A couple things. They are all financial service firms with big roles in the sub prime mortgage mess, either as originators or investors. All recently took big hits to their balance sheets. All have unhappy investors. All appeared in front of Rep. Harry Waxman's (D CA) committee last week to discuss executive compensation.

The combined compensation for the three ex-CEOs responsible for spearheading a national recession and tanking the profits of their compnaies? $400 million. Remember that number the next time someone tells you that "the market" only rewards success.

RIP -- Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax died this week. For those of you who take your cues from the mainstream culture, Mr. Gygax was the creator of the fantasy role playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and the brains behind the TSR Company that created anad marketed dozens of similar role playing games.

That's the official resume. To some of us though, Mr. Gygax will always be remembered as another bust on the Mount Rushmore of Geekdom. He helped launch Geek Nation. His games provided a platform from which thousands of geeks -- myself included -- could view the world, take some inspiration, meet other geeks and eventually appreciate the power and tao of Geekdom. He was the official after school program for the rest of us.

It is now commonly accepted that this is a Geek World and the rest of you just live in it. That is, while we may give superficial paens to The Boy Next Door, The Varsity Athlete and other constructs of mainstream culture, we all know that the truly important parts of our world are run by geeks, the people who write code, do research, wrie book, make policy, construct alogorithms, and design financial systems for world wide capital accumulation.

Next time you insert your ATM card, get a retinal scan, or pore over the details of vastly complex transaction, you should thank a geek. And that Geek should thank Gary Gygax.

Welcome to The Surveillance State- Population You

This from the indomitable Glenn Greenwald. The context here is a new surveillance program under which computer programs will track, trace, and look for patterns in even the most insignificant actions we take in our daily lives.

As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information. . . .

So basically, according to the feds, its ok for them to get hold of just about any piece of information, as long as they do not disclose the information. And a rebuttal:

"Anonymity has been important since the Federalist Papers were written under pseudonyms," [EFF Senior Staff Lawyer Kurt] Opsahl said. "The government has tremendous power: the police power, the ability to arrest, to detain, to take away rights. Tying together that someone has spoken out on an issue with their identity is a far more dangerous thing if it is the government that is trying to tie it together."

This Week In The News

This week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Texas law banning the sale of sex toys. The Court concluded that the law violated citizens' basic right to privacy. Interestingly, proponents of the Texas law did not argue that the sex toys were, in and of themselves, evil. Rather, lawyers for the State of Texas argued that sex toys, "spread the myth that individuals can attain sexual satisfaction without at least picking up the dinner check, laughing at some bad jokes, treating a total loser like a hero, siding with your girlfriend against her evil boss, getting a grown up haircut or being nice to your mother in law. If children were allowed access to sex toys, they would enter the world woefully under prepared and set up for almost certain disappointment. In the hands of adults, sex toys could end dating as we know it. Pretty soon, getting ready for a date would mean locking the door and plugging in the recharger. It would spell the end of moderately priced Italian restaurants, zinfandels, sportcoats, and bars without big screen televisions."

This week, Sen. Hilary Clinton picked her candidacy off the canvas and won the Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries. Clinton ended Sen. Barak Obama's string of primary victories and effectively put the nomination back up for grabs. While a boon for Clinton supporters, many Democrats see Clinton's resurgence as only further complicating their choices. Noted Ed Munster of Norfolk, RI, "The thing is Clinton is a fighter and a policy wonk with no vision or ability to inspire. Obama's all about the inspiration, but couldn't fight his way out of a bar full of transvestites. Republicans and big business will jail rape that poor boy while he is trying to unite America around some big table." Apprised of Munster's concerns, Sen. Clinton laughed in a formulaic way while never breaking eye contact with her interviewer. Sen. Obama replied, " I am from Chicago and the transvestites there are pretty tough. I mean guys they have nails...."

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that individuals harmed by a medical device cannot maintain a suit for injuries against the manufacturer. The decision comes on the heels of another decision in which the Court held that accounting firms and law firms that aided and abetted corporate fraud cannot be held liable in a suit by shareholders. Commenting on the decisions, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that both "reflect a conservative textualist reading of the Constitution and the law. Seriously...we have a plan... we don't just always favor corporations over people.... it just looks that way. "

This week, the school board in Royal Oak Michigan began discussions of a district wide drug testing program. Under the proposal, once a parent consents, their child can be randomly screened for drug use. The proposal comes in response to three heroin related deaths in the district in the last three years. Said district spokesperson, Heinrich Himmelfarb, "In our schools we teach that America is the land of the free and that government has only a limited role in people's lives. Unless it involves drugs. Then we lose all our senses and turn into some type of big brother scold. I think children need to learn to trust the State and not their own consciences don't you?"

This week, new economic data indicated that the country may well be slipping into a recession. In the wake of the continuing economic decline, The White House and Republicans have been busy finding no one to blame and have steadfastly asserted that any downturn is a result of the Mystical and Magical Market and not bad policy making. Said GOP advisor Ed Gillespie, " Some people say that the slump is the result of poor policie -- like spending $10 billion a month on a war of choice, ill timed tax cuts that ballooned our budget deficit, trade policies that gutted our manufacturing base and the middle class, an energy policy that made us beholden to oil producers, a dearth of public investment, and lax regulation in just about every market. Well it easy to throw stones. But these troubles are not -- repeat not -- the result of failed policies or failed dogma rigidly followed by one political party. In truth, we have upset the great Market Gods and must offer unto them a sacrifice of public spending and Allen Greenspan. They -- and their corporate cardinals -- must be appeased before the Great Market's bounty is again bestowed upon us ... or upon some of us at the upper end of the income distribution."

Thank God...

John McCain received the endorsement of President Bush today. I am sure it was a relief to his campaign. The endorsement is key to the coveted "None Too Bright but Very Belligerent" demographic. And those folks turn out at the polls .... unless "Dancing with the Stars" is on TV or they forget which door leads outside.