Protesting Too Much

“Accuse your enemy of your own worst crimes.”

It’s a line from a brief missive called something like, “The Seven Strategies of a Hung Society.” A friend had it taped to a wall in his college apartment. I don’t know who wrote it or, really, even how accurate it is. I’ve Googled it to death and still get nowhere. But it’s a statement that’s stuck with me for whatever reason.

With all the talk coming from the GOP ranks in the last couple weeks about defeating “Islamic Fascism” the line has been especially stuck in my craw lately. Yea, it’s a blatant attempt at re-branding the “enemy,” but injecting a new buzzword into the American psyche takes the kind of finesse you see in multi-million dollar advertising campaigns or, say, a Karl Rove real politik blitz back in his good old days.

But for Rove, Bush, Rummy and the crew, the good ol’ days are long gone. The glass house they built on the graves of the 9/11 dead and furnished with the fear and fury stoked from a malleable American public has been shattered, likely beyond repair. So in increasing fits of desperation, these agents of the elite continue to toe the party line, presumably until it will be pried from their cold, dead hands. Like captains going down with their ships, they see themselves as the noble stewards of a federal (hell, global) ideology thwarted by any number of conspiring forces… blind always to the towering hubris and foolhardy arrogance that set them on their ultimately fatal course.

Manic propaganda and stage-managed catastrophes are the surest signs that the neocon ship is sinking. And as the water rises and the desperation mounts, captains and rats alike will turn to increasingly transparent tricks and tactics in their attempts to gain some kinda ground, a last gulp of air before the black, icy water pours in around them, up their noses, down their throats, sinking them into history’s abyss.

Stay on topic. Read the following.

R J Askew, "Islamic Fascism" - The Buzzword That Makes Us Weaker”

Steve Soto, “Rummy: Opponents Are Appeasing Islamic Fascism, Morally Confused.”

Carpetbagger, “Rumsfeld loses it; will his party go along?”

John Amato, “Rumsfeld says war critics are Nazi appeasers.”

A Movable, If Soggy, Feast

One year anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina nightmare. Enough's been said about it for the last year and so much so today alone, so I'll keep this brief.

One year since the roof was ripped off America's dirty little secret. Race-based societal stratification lingers like a bloated corpse in a back alley-turned-oil-slicked-creek.

The Republican Neocon wet dream of breaking the back of the middle class would see us all as those hapless, helpless left-behinds in New Orleans or Mississippi--skin color be damned. They'd be content to worry about how they look on TV press conferences, how they appeared to be managing the situation. But when the cameras were turned off, they'd get busy cutting communication lines, turning around aid trucks and holding National Gaurd troops back at state lines with every intention of using the chaos and suffering to their political advantage. They did it. They'd do it again in a heartbeat.

In so many ways the Katrina aftermath was the beginning of the end for Bush and company. So many formerly middle-of-the-road-Americans would awake from the brain-deadening lies they'd been swallowing. So many would begin to understand what we've been saying all along. And now a year later, it seems only those with malfunctioned brains or those with something to gain are the only ones left believing in what the criminals and power-mad fascists in Washington have to say. They don't see the melding of the Federal and the Corporate, the erosion of the individual and the Rights inherent to them. They still don't care about the Neoconservative agenda, haven't read PNAC and could care less that their TV news oozes a toxic mix of misinformation and inanity. They continue to confuse patriotism for obedience, safety for fear, war for peace.

But their numbers are shrinking. And that fact alone should allow this grim anniversary to inspire us to continue fighting to make those numbers even fewer.

Congressional Election Nullified – Nobody Noticed

Been a busy work week here. That and the sun was in my eyes, the wind flared up, it's not in my job description, etc., etc....

Nonetheless, as our once-great Republic slips furthur into the abyss Americans of evry stripe smack the 'snooze' button and roll over for another fifteen minutes of z's. Thank God some New Zealanders are up early enough.

Congressional Election Nullified – Nobody Noticed

It appears the US media overlooked one of the great political stories of the year.

[...]On July 31, 2006, the Contestants filed an election contest, seeking a hand recount and to invalidate the election on several grounds, not only including the affirmative evidence of irregular results, but also including the stonewalling of citizen information requests and the pricing of recounts at an estimated $150,000 that made it difficult or impossible for any citizen to tell who won the election.

[...]Shortly after the last vote was cast, citizens discovered disturbing facts. Prior to Election Day, several poll workers had taken home voting machines for periods of a day to a week at a time without supervision or even consistent tracking procedures. Other irregularities like vote switching on touch screen machines emerged.

[...]So there you have it. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the United House of Representatives, called “the peoples’ House,” now has the authority to nullify elections simply by swearing in candidates and claiming federal privilege based on one narrow section of the constitution, while completing ignoring the others, including the one stating that members of the House shall be elected every two years “by the People,” and not selected in Washington DC. Once again, the country is faced with a Bush v. Gore style selection manufactured in Washington DC, and if only the people did not know which party benefited and which party was hurt by the selection, the country would be unanimous in denouncing this power grab.

Read the entire article... if your blood pressure can take it.

(Via Crooks and Liars.)

Photo Post

Chicago's Air and Water Show, Sunday, August 20, 2006. The view from Belmont Harbor.

Two Strange Deaths in European Wiretapping Scandal

I'm off to ride my bike down to the lake and watch Chicago's air and water show. The Blue Angels and other inasane pilots pull stunts and make big noises. I love it. All week they've been buzzing the neighborhoods while they practice. The noise is intense. Windows rattle, car alarms go off. I run to the window like a little kid each time in hopes of seeing a heavily banking F-14 or whatever it is they're flying.

While I sipped my coffee this morning, I came across the following story. Positively hair-raising in a Philip K. Dick kinda paranoiac way. There's little doubt there's some evil fucks working clandestinely in this world. Which is exactly why I reserve the right to question the official line behind things like foiled terror plots and even 9/11.

From AlterNet:

European investigators are tracking the mysterious deaths of two security experts who had uncovered extensive spyware in their telecommunications firms.

[...]The first Italian press reports after Bove's death said the 42-year-old had committed suicide. Bove, according to unnamed sources, was depressed about his imminent indictment by Milan prosecutors. But prosecutors immediately, and uncharacteristically, set the record straight: Bove was not a target; in fact, he was prosecutors' chief source. Bove, prosecutors said, was helping them investigate his own bosses, who were orchestrating an illegal wiretapping bureau and the destruction of incriminating digital evidence.

[...]About 16 months earlier, in March of 2005, Costas Tsalikidis, a 38-year-old software engineer for Vodaphone in Greece had just discovered a highly sophisticated bug embedded in the company's mobile network. The spyware eavesdropped on the prime minister's and other top officials' cell phone calls; it even monitored the car phone of Greece's secret service chief. Others bugged included civil rights activists, the head of Greece's "Stop the War" coalition, journalists and Arab businessmen based in Athens.

Read the article: Two Strange Deaths in European Wiretapping Scandal.

(Via Crooks and Liars.)

The Fatal Flaws of the Arrogant GOP

For those who have yet to hear the story, a brief synopsis:

Virginia Senator George Allen called out a rival's campaign worker, who was filming Allen's speech, to a collection of prospective donors and local GOP personalities. The filming is common practice, nothing out of the ordinary. The filmer, however, happened to be an American-born young man of Indian descent.

In his speech Allen ad libbed a few mocking references to the filmer much to the delight of the assembled crowd. While not a particularly couth political move, and certainly a grossly impolite one, the ad lib was nothing too shocking in and of itself. The hitch was, however, in what Allen said. He twice referred to the young, dark-skinned staffer as a "Macacca," a derogatory term for Algerians and North Africans in general used mainly by the French--though the term's apparently thrown around in racist circles here in the states form time to time.

Allen first claimed that he was referring to the young man's "mohawk" haircut, despite the fact that he wasn't wearing his hair as such. The Allen camp then claimed he simply didn't know what the word that came out of his mouth was. He later offered an odd non-apology, explaining that he simply "made up a nickname for the cameraman." The trouble is, Allen's mother is an anglo French-Algerian. Allen himself has spent time in the region and is a fluent French speaker. There's little doubt that he'd come across the slur on plenty of occasions in his lifetime.

Watch the video of the speech on You Tube.
Read a bit more on the controversy in this WaPo article.

Senator Allen's lame excuses and non-apology aside, a very telling moment comes amid the slurs. Notice the crowd reaction. Despite Allen confessing he didn't know what the word meant and that he simply made it up, they all seem to know exactly what he meant by it. Is it a staple of Virginian white male name-calling or are they just caught up in the politics of the moment? Who knows. Neither option is particularly flattering.

The following commentary is text I originally posted this afternoon on a blog stite that discussed the scandal:

The bottom line is that the guy stood in front of a group of 99% like-minded people and called the one non-white guy in the room a monkey. Nearly the whole place ate it up.

It bears repeating: a GOP senator called a non-white person a monkey. In order to demean the kid and make himself look better, bigger in the eyes of his constituency... whatever.

As a dumb teenager, I spent an uncomfortable amount of time around white power skinhead types. This is their stock in trade. A friend at the time enjoyed telephoning the local KKK recorded message line. It was usually wacky, silly tripe that made us roll with laughter. But, again, the non-white as monkey derision was common verbiage.

Allen's use of the phrase reveals everything we need to know about his soul. He's as hate-filled and bigoted as any dim-witted neo-nazi skinhead or south-will-rise-again Klan member.

Those with any activist inclinations need to keep this story alive to expose this scumbag for what he is and, with any luck, to out those of similar political stripes. They'd also be well advised not pass up any chance to tie this whole issue to the GOP in general. Make THEM answer for it as well. A tactic similar to how the gaffes of progressives are strung around the neck of every Democrat in the nation.

And finally, don't miss this WaPo article on "maverick" senator John McCain's swift attempt to come to put a stop to the political hemorrhaging.

3 More In That Vein

What a week, huh? Endless terrorizing of the public at large. And one by one, the boogeymen up and vanish into thin air. It should be obvious by now. There are those that want to keep us afraid. Keep us cowering. For their own twisted reasons.

The latest via What Really Happened:

1) No Plot To Bomb Bridge, FBI Says - A day after saying it was investigating a possible plot by three men to blow up the Mackinac Bridge, federal officials now say the men have no link to terrorism and there is no plot.

2) Terror Charge Dropped in Cell Phone Case - Ali Houssaiky and Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, both of Dearborn, Mich., headed home from jail Tuesday after prosecutors in southeast Ohio dropped the terror charges, saying they couldn't prove a terrorism link.

3) Prescott lets slip that some suspects won't face serious charges - John Prescott let slip yesterday that some of the 24 people arrested last week over the alleged transatlantic terror plot will not face serious charges.

In Keeping With This Week's Theme

Read, FBI says, ‘No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11' by Paul V. Sheridan on the Ithica Journal's website. Just read it.

The Muckraker Report contacted the FBI headquarters on June 6 to learn why their bin Laden's Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Osama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, chief of investigative publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on the Bin Laden's Most Wanted Web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Osama Bin Laden's Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11.”

(Via The Existentialist Cowboy.)

Expert Analysis of the Latest "Next 9-11"

UK's Craig Murray, ex-diplomat and human rights watchdog, has an analysis that fits all the parts together. It's the most rational look yet at what's sure to be another non-event in the patented "War on Terror."

From the report:

So this, I believe, is the true story.

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.

In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms.

[...]Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing plot to blow up multiple planes - which, rather extraordinarily, had not turned up in a year of surveillance.

Read the article: The UK Terror plot: what's really going on?

More Surprises... Surprised?

A bit of a roundup of the recent revelations (major and minor) in the British air terror scare and that niggling war between Lebanon and Israel. Culled almost entirely from the great Cursor.org:

The Gadflyer takes a moment to reflect on how the American left might sound had they any balls:

"As we've been saying for five years, describing the campaign against anti-American terror groups as a 'war' is as accurate as calling it an armadillo [...] We'd be winning that argument if we had made it from the the beginning. And winning that argument would have meant winning arguments about torture, illegal domestic surveillance and Bush's powers as Commander-in-Chief. It all started when so many of us bought into the rhetorical war."

The Tattered Coat has more about Bush's rushing and pumping up of the British boom-boom flyboy bust.

The World Socialist Website nails the complicit American media:

"No details of the supposed plot have been provided, and no hard evidence that would justify the arrest of so many people or the imposition of chilling security measures that had wreaked havoc at airports in the US and Britain [...] The lack of facts has not prevented the mainstream media, especially in the US, from uncritically accepting the official claims and embellishing them with commentaries by “terrorist experts” about Al Qaeda connections, home-grown terrorist cells and similar hypotheses, all of which are calculated to create a climate of fear and intimidation."

And of course Counterpuch is on task with Christopher Reed's London Fog:

"We await the release of more facts about the 21 (or 23, or 24) young men and one (or two) young women who intended to blow up in mid-air nine (or 10 or 12) transatlantic airplanes "soon" or in the "next few days" or just "imminently". The two-score young Muslim Brits allegedly were preparing liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks, but actually nitroglycerin (or nitormethane, or triacetone triperoxide). However, one of these was so unstable it was likely to fail (as it did in another plot) or smelled so pungent a patrol dog would sniff it at half a mile, or was "almost impossible" to mix on an airplane."

Brasscheck gives us a video collection of the growing series of bogus terror plots as told to us by our government and inflated by our their media.

Seymour Hersh digs up some serious dirt on America's involvement in Israel's "response" to Hezbolla's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. As it happens, our fearless leaders were intimately involved in the planning and execution of the murder of the thousand-some innocent men, women and children. I guess we had to share what we learned in Iraq with somebody, eh?

"President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli
Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah's heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel's security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American premptiveive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground."

Hersh is interviewed on the article by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and by CNN's Wolf Blitzer (scroll to the end of the segment). And the White House swiftly, stiffly responds.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

I had a feeling this whole thing stank too good. Enter the latest revelations via Correntewire.com:

Mere days after the increasingly desperate Bush surrogate Dick “Dick” Cheney called half the Democrats in Connecticut “Al Qaeda types”—oh-so-conveniently just before the extremely non-political “liquid explosives” terror alert story broke—it turns out that Al Qaeda has nothing to do with the liquid explosives plot at all.

And then there's this gem about how Bushco muscled their way into the Brits' program to pump up this latest "terror" bust: U.S., U.K. at odds over timing of arrests:

British wanted to continue surveillance on terror suspects, official says. NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.

A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

(Via Crooks & Liars.)

Postcard From Gainesville

Thank the gods. Football season has begun. And not a moment too soon. My Boston Red Sox are falling apart and I'll be unable to stomach any more baseball if their latest stumble proves fatal to any postseason bid.

My three NFL teams (Pats, Bucs, Bears) are all looking questionable, but, as they say, at this point in the season everyone's a contender. And there's plenty more stories around the leaue to keep things interesting should my guys flounder. The rebuilt Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals will be fascinating to watch. And what about Manning v. Manning? TO in Dallas? And how many rebuilt, bionic QB's are on the comeback trail? Too much fun.

College ball is also gearing up and my Gators are pre-ranked eighth in the nation. While it was beyond exciting to watch coach Urban Meyer secure possibly the greatest recruiting class in UF history, the unhappy truth is that we'll have to wait till next year for that particular fruit to ripen. For the most part. There are, though, a few rookies who look to be 1st teamers and perhaps even difference makers. It's beginning to look a lot like fall.

Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn gives us a great look at the Gator preseason.

You and Me and Everyone We Know

A sovereign nation has the right to defend herself, eh? So long as the war profiteers have a right to rake in the cash, I guess. All this murder in the middle east is making some people a helluva lot of money.

Israel Asks U.S. to Ship Rockets With Wide Blast
By DAVID S. CLOUD

Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, two American officials said Thursday...

What's The Haps?

So what’s been the haps this week?

While Republican in Sheep’s clothing, Joe Lieberman was busy getting served by a nobody in Connecticut Democratic primary, Israel massively stepped up it’s invasion of Lebanon. Apparently unfazed by the growing numbers of dead children and innocents. But to what end is this madness for?

Speaking of the Connecticut primary, it seems ol’ Joe will jolt from party that he couldn’t win and become an independent. Sez Joe of his rationale for leave the party to become an independent, “…I cannot and will not let [the primary]result stand.” It’s a really wonderful peek at what democracy actually means to these wicked bastards. What a disgrace. No word yet from Joe’s camp on whether they plan on taking up Karl Rove's offer to help the Lieberman campaign in November.

Even before the news of the thwarted British airliner plot this morning, I was gonna thrown a some text and a link to a report from a 2004 issue of Regulation magazine by Ohio State University’s John Mueller titled, A False Sense of Insecurity. It succinctly lays out an approach for a more rational approach to dealing with the threats posed by terrorist organizations. It also makes some sterling commentary as to some instances where our leaders have used our fear of terrorism to their own advantage.

I hesitated to put it on here this afternoon, but upon reading it again, I feel it’s more appropriate than ever. Passages like the following illustrate his point quite well:

What is needed, as one statistician suggests, is some sort of convincing, coherent, informed, and nuanced answer to a central question: “How worried should I be?” Instead, the message the nation has received so far is, as a Homeland Security official put (or caricatured) it, “Be scared; be very, very scared — but go on with your lives.”

And:

As [risk analyst David] Banks puts it, “If terrorists force us to redirect resources away from sensible programs and future growth in order to pursue unachievable but politically popular levels of domestic security, then they have won an important victory that mortgages our future.”

The article comes highly recommended and in the midst of today’s international panic regarding terrorist plotting, it’s truly essential reading.

That is, if you believe the thwarted plot was in fact real…which I, in fact, do not. See, not only has every single red-flag, panic-button busted terrorist scenario been massively overblown by the media, but nearly all have had some level of governmental complicity in their stages of cooking. Whether it’s a placed informant being the actual mastermind of a group of half-assed day-dreamers (as the already forgotten Miami-Chicago terror bust last month turned out to be), or completely fabricated terror scares like at LAX last year, or the endless, unsubstantiated “chatter” rumor dwelling--these incidents are almost entirely fake or the product of paranoia and fear feeding off themselves in some kinda Satanic echo chamber.

In any event, I choose not to buy this bullshit. Not to buy whatever it is these inhuman manipulators are selling. And once that choice is made, I am truly free. Free to look into the abyss and judge for myself. Maybe I’ll conclude, once the “evidence” is in, that today’s near-miss was indeed legit, a skin-of-our-teeth bullet dodge. Who knows. But at least it’ll be my decision, not the government’s or the media’s.

No-Doz Or No-Duh's?

Summer hours gave way to mourning hours this week. As life here on our fortified Chicago compound becomes the new kinda normal that it’ll be from now on, all hell seems to have broken loose in every corner of the globe. Jeez. I turn my back for five minutes and suddenly we’re on the brink of WWIII. Better fire up the coffee, chill the red bull, portion out the no-doz, it looks like I’ve got some catching up to do.

An Awful Silence

"No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich" - Louis Saban

Early Sunday morning, we became immeasurably poorer. Our home, our lives have never felt so empty before. Our hearts are broken.

Yea, it ended her suffering. Yea, it was her time. Yea, we're honored for knowing her. Yea, she made our lives so much more happy. And yea, every day it's gonna hurt a little less. But right now there's too much sadness in discovering all the small things there are in the day that this funny little dog played some role in. Now weird little vacancies. All too many.

Goodbye Molly.

1993 - 2006

Israel Takes A Page From Bush's Playbook

The Existentialist Cowboy's got a rundown of what's shaping up to be a scandal of historical porportions. From his article:

Big brother media got it wrong again! Almost universally ignored is the mounting evidence that the two Israeli soldiers were not kidnapped; they were captured inside Lebanon. [See Forbes: Israeli soldiers were captured —not "kidnapped"]
The implications are enormous. If true, then Israel is guilty of aggression —a war crime! Moreover, Israel lied! The war crime of "aggression" is in addition to crimes associated with Israel's deliberate targeting of civilians.

Concurrently the human rights group —Human Rights Watch —has accused Israel of war crimes in connection with what it calls "...indiscriminate attacks against civilians." The new report refutes Israeli claims that Hezbollah uses civilians as human shields and states flatly that the claims are false. Previously, Human Rights Watch addressed Hezbollah conduct and condemned attacks on civilian areas.

Read the rest: "Israeli soldiers were captured —not 'kidnapped'".

"But what about their motives," you say. Well, perhaps, It's about annexation, stupid!

Things To Do In Chicago With An Almost Broken Heart

Sorry 'bout the summer hours on here this week. It's been a soundly bad week. The family pooch seems to be on her last legs and we're left with the heartbreaking decision of keeping her medicated and miserable or putting her down. The thirteen year old pup's been Mrs. Delano III's buddy for exactly half her life. The sadness has been palpable at our fortified Chicago compound this week. My multiple lesser grievances were just shit icing on that crap cake.

So, I'll be looking for some laughs this weekend. Or at least some good, non-festival rock music. If you're in Chicago, come out with me the see Warhammer 48k at Heaven Gallery tonight. (Quick description by comparison: think Unwound & Drive Like Jehu & Rein Sanction & Melvins played by kids barely out of high school, shockingly enough.) I'll be up for any other suggestions if anyone's got 'em.

Here's the text of a Warhammer 48k album review on a web site from their native Columbia, MO:

Warhammer 48k: Uber Om

If you know anything about Columbia music, you’re in high anticipation of this record. Brilliantly recorded in Olympia, Wash., by eager-for-work Unwound bassist Vern Rumsey (no shit!), Warhammer 48k lets everything fly on Uber Om and in only six songs.

Pain will shoot through your arm as you pull it out of the wall while listening to the opening track “Get Bodacious.” It’ll probably bleed a bunch, too, but don’t let any sudden blood pressure changes detract from your ability to catch both channels of pummeling guitars.
Warhammer lets loose its stoner grind on “Haunted Abortion” by slowing the pace and unleashing the furious guitars only to thrust itself back into full-speed metal and then fade into a bath of noise.

The band pulls back from the adrenaline rush for “Total Eclipse,” an at-first gentle ballad that’ll whisk listeners into an enlightened (read: stoned) bliss with its nimble bass line and simple string arrangement, all of which is torn to shreds by the song’s final pounding minutes, which are laced with devilish vocals.

“Do You Need Help Walking” is the release’s eight-minute cornerstone with guitars that’ll batter you senseless and the most demonic vocal moments out of this primarily instrumental group of songs.

These six tracks are the best body of work to come out of Columbia since The One Inch Punch dropped Horsehead Nebula last year. Is it any wonder why the guys in Warhammer were called Satanists when they played in Lexington, Ky., at a church? Is it just a coincidence the last track is four minutes and 20 seconds long? Is it surprising that the content of the band’s tour journal, published in a November 2004 issue of Move magazine, had to be heavily censored? Is it reasonable to not love this music? I think not.