Mon - October 15, 2007
Empire Falls
Lines from Larkin
They all imagine that they'll last forever (and
at the end they wallow in self-pity, wondering why the subject peoples don't
appreciate the Pax
Your-Predatory-Empire-Here their oppressors
have expended so much time and treasure to inflict), and exit ignobly, sometimes
violently. Better, I think, that we model our decline after the graceful
diminuendo of the Brits. Here's Philip
Larkin on the subject:
Homage to a Government
Next year we are to bring the soldiers
home
For lack of money, and it is all
right.
Places they guarded, or kept
orderly,
Must guard themselves, and keep themselves
orderly.
We want the money for ourselves at
home
Instead of working. And this is all
right.
It's hard to say who wanted it to
happen,
But now it's been decided nobody
minds.
The places are a long way off, not
here,
Which is all right, and from what we
hear
The soldiers there only made trouble
happen.
Next year we shall be easier in our
minds.
Next year we shall be living in a
country
That brought its soldiers home for lack of
money.
The statues will be standing in the
same
Tree-muffled squares, and look nearly the
same.
Our children will not know it's a different
country.
All we can hope to leave them now is
money.
I yearn for the death (along British lines) of the American Empire. I'll piss cheerfully on its grave.
I yearn for the death (along British lines) of the American Empire. I'll piss cheerfully on its grave.
Posted at 07:28 PM
Sun - April 8, 2007
The lady or the tiger?
A cruel conundrum for our GOP
friends
We have been treated these latter days to a
particularly high pitch of vituperation directed at the Speaker of the House not
merely from the usual suspects but from some of the gelded stars of the
allegedly "mainstream" media such as the
Washington
Post and CNN, who are back to their bulemic
ways with GOP talking points. Living as I do in my Northern California enclave I
can't claim to any special insight into the sentiments of lower-middle America,
but my gut, which has grown substantially over the past few years, tells me that
this campaign will fall short of its desired effect. I suspect that the Teeming
Millions have room in their collective political perception for one, and only
one, Castrating Feminazi Bitch, and that this position has been held for almost
fifteen years by one Hillary Rodham Clinton, former First Lady and present
Junior Senator from New York. She has not reached this position by accident, but
rather in consequence of a happy confluence of her own affect (visibly
calculating and ambitious, not conspicuously humorous, short on charm, decidedly
not the worshipful helpmeet), a long campaign of villification, and the fertile
ground of the Teeming Millions' own resentments, anxieties and misogyny, both
projected and internalized. Note that I do not claim there mighn't be other
reasons for disliking Mrs. Clinton, but to the extent she is loathed by a broad
swath of the Teeming Millions I maintain that this owes considerably more to a
decade-plus diet of propaganda than it does to a rigorous point-by-point
examination and analysis of her heath-care proposals in the early
nineties.
So there we are, with Vince Foster's lesbian murderess firmly lodged of set purpose in the throat of the Fox-watchin', Limbaugh-listenin' polyester proletariat demographic. Except—oh, no! We need that spot for Pelosi!—it's a tough job to replace one Castrating Feminazi Bitch with another at short notice. The Teeming Millions may not like Mrs. Pelosi, but they love to hate Mrs. Clinton, and will not readily yield up an old favorite to a newcomer of whose existence most of them were unaware half a year ago. And supposing this substitution could be accomplished? It would require a concerted effort, and no little time, to extract Hillary and replace her with Nancy as the focus and locus of resentment, anxiety, misogyny &c, and what have you accomplished at that point? Why, you've released Hillary to ravage a helpless Republic, its loyal citizenry distracted by Castrating Feminazi Bitch Pelosi. Alas, Orwell's public could be relied upon to switch from Eurasia to Eastasia overnight, but our slow, sturdy yeomen still require weeks of disinformation bombardment to make a like transition.
Bottom line: the effort to demonize Pelosi will fail with most citizens, and the imperative of maintaining Clinton as the reigning Castrating Feminazi Bitch will dominate GOP media offensives until she is eliminated from the race for the nomination or until the next general election.
So there we are, with Vince Foster's lesbian murderess firmly lodged of set purpose in the throat of the Fox-watchin', Limbaugh-listenin' polyester proletariat demographic. Except—oh, no! We need that spot for Pelosi!—it's a tough job to replace one Castrating Feminazi Bitch with another at short notice. The Teeming Millions may not like Mrs. Pelosi, but they love to hate Mrs. Clinton, and will not readily yield up an old favorite to a newcomer of whose existence most of them were unaware half a year ago. And supposing this substitution could be accomplished? It would require a concerted effort, and no little time, to extract Hillary and replace her with Nancy as the focus and locus of resentment, anxiety, misogyny &c, and what have you accomplished at that point? Why, you've released Hillary to ravage a helpless Republic, its loyal citizenry distracted by Castrating Feminazi Bitch Pelosi. Alas, Orwell's public could be relied upon to switch from Eurasia to Eastasia overnight, but our slow, sturdy yeomen still require weeks of disinformation bombardment to make a like transition.
Bottom line: the effort to demonize Pelosi will fail with most citizens, and the imperative of maintaining Clinton as the reigning Castrating Feminazi Bitch will dominate GOP media offensives until she is eliminated from the race for the nomination or until the next general election.
Posted at 12:19 PM
Tue - January 16, 2007
Just another Caudillo, alas
Hugo your way and I'll go
mine...
It's not that this country has
any
moral standing when it comes to Latin America, and I still am disposed to direct
my motor fuel dollars to Venezuela's Citgo rather than to the House of Saud, but it
must be observed that Hugo Chavez, after feasting on his own press clippings for
the past few years, is falling into the predictable pattern of the South
American strongman. I think we may take it as a given that before the next
election Venezuela's existing constitutional barriers to Hugo's continuing hold
on power will have been suitably modified. Pity, that. But the United States,
patron, sponsor, enabler and Onlie True Begetter of sundry sombrero'd horrors
South of the Border, must needs find itself short of breath when it comes time
to huff and to puff.
Nevertheless: bad move, Hugo. Bolívar you ain't. Our two continents must
each await a populist more concerned with reforming institutions over cementing
institutional power.
Posted at 04:39 PM
Fri - November 10, 2006
Down the Memory Hole
Oceania has
always
been at war with Eastasia!
More evidence that the
Washington
Post identifies itself with the powers that
were: follow the link to find a bit of discreet
revisionism.
Lying. Sacks. Of. Shit.
Lying. Sacks. Of. Shit.
Posted at 03:27 PM
Wed - November 8, 2006
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Macaca
this,
motherfucker!
This morning marked the first post-election
Wednesday since 1998 that I rose from bed with a spring in my step. That the
Forces of Righteousness (OK, the Forces of Not as Bad as the Other Guys [Who
Are, However, Really,
Really
Bad]) would prevail in the House of People's Deputies was not altogether
unexpected; that they appear to have eked out a majority in the Senate is
gratifying; that this latter victory involves the destruction* of George Allen's
political career is icing
and
whipped cream on the cake. I've had my eye on the junior Senator from Virginia,
my approximate contemporary and the likely classmate of my 1970 college
roommate, for a few years now, and had monitored his career with some
foreboding: was
this
the future president who would make me yearn for the wise and enlightened rule
of Bush the Younger?
It now appears that at the very least a stick has been thrust into the spokes of this nasty Confederate wannabee sociopath's presidential ambitions. Life is good.
*It should be noted that 30 years ago, upon Ronald Reagan's failure to wrest the GOP presidential nomination away from Gerald Ford, I sighed in relief and said "Well, thank god we've seen the last of that clown."
It now appears that at the very least a stick has been thrust into the spokes of this nasty Confederate wannabee sociopath's presidential ambitions. Life is good.
*It should be noted that 30 years ago, upon Ronald Reagan's failure to wrest the GOP presidential nomination away from Gerald Ford, I sighed in relief and said "Well, thank god we've seen the last of that clown."
Posted at 06:07 PM
Fri - September 1, 2006
An OASys of stability in a troubled world.
As long as the promiscuously-used term
"fascism" is being once again bandied about...
The other day on Talk of the Nation the subject
(too briefly considered—almost a sidebar) was "does the administration's
attempt to conflate the Iraqi insurgency, along with sundry other Islamic
movements that wish us ill, with mid-twentieth century fascism constitute a
historically apt analogy?" The consensus was that it did not. I will insert here
a bit from digby,
who tellingly cites a few features of fascism as described by one Benito
Mussolini, a man whose other well-documented sins cannot detract from
his claim to substantial authority on this
subject:
...The Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, but above all for others -- those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after...
[...]
The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the "ethic" State.......The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone....
Ayup, fits the dead-enders in Iraq to a "T" if you ask me.
Anyway, one of the specialists asked responded that no, the pesky Muslim foes did not particularly resemble the Germans or the Italians of the war that began 67 years ago today. A followup question was: well, does the term "fascism" apply, as some of its blogger critics have suggested, to the Bush administration? The response went something like: "no, I think what we have now isn't fascism but an oligarchic authoritarian system."
Whereupon I went Whe-e-e-e-w! I sometimes thought, in my darkest moments, that we were edging toward fascism, but now I know that we're merely living under an Oligarchic Authoritarian System, for which I propose the extended acronym OASys. Henceforth, my good auditors, should I ever so far forget myself in the heat on online discourse as to use the term "fascism" I trust that you will understand that I meant merely "OASys," that worthy successor to Madison and Jefferson's vision of Constitutional democracy.
...The Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, but above all for others -- those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after...
[...]
The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the "ethic" State.......The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone....
Ayup, fits the dead-enders in Iraq to a "T" if you ask me.
Anyway, one of the specialists asked responded that no, the pesky Muslim foes did not particularly resemble the Germans or the Italians of the war that began 67 years ago today. A followup question was: well, does the term "fascism" apply, as some of its blogger critics have suggested, to the Bush administration? The response went something like: "no, I think what we have now isn't fascism but an oligarchic authoritarian system."
Whereupon I went Whe-e-e-e-w! I sometimes thought, in my darkest moments, that we were edging toward fascism, but now I know that we're merely living under an Oligarchic Authoritarian System, for which I propose the extended acronym OASys. Henceforth, my good auditors, should I ever so far forget myself in the heat on online discourse as to use the term "fascism" I trust that you will understand that I meant merely "OASys," that worthy successor to Madison and Jefferson's vision of Constitutional democracy.
Posted at 02:44 PM
Tue - August 1, 2006
Semper Fidel!
He may be a sonuvabitch, but at least
he's not
our
sonuvabitch!
He been a bad dude. He put up against the wall more people than he oughta. As a reckless thirtysomething he was prepared to involve his Soviet sponsors and the Kennedy Administration in a thermonuclear war, which was very stupid of him. Against those debits he has contrived during his long rule to achieve for Cuba the highest longevity rate in Latin America, the highest literacy rate and the lowest infant mortality rate--the bastard! Clearly he has made these tickmarks to spite us. Clearly Cuba will be better off when he's gone.
Long life to you, Fidel, whatever your sins. You have contrived to stick your thumb into the deserving eyes of ten consecutive American presidents, and I hope that you survive either to treat with a realist or to gouge the optics of another sellout/ideologue. Get well soon, Jefe.
Posted at 08:44 PM
Mon - April 24, 2006
Tue - February 14, 2006
Lest we forget
More pictures the Junta would rather you
didn't see
The
Sydney Morning
Herald has published a selection of
hitherto unseen digital pictures snapped by Our Brave Boys and Girls at Abu
Ghraib.
Here's a sample:
And remember, kids...we're complicit!
Here's a sample:
And remember, kids...we're complicit!
Posted at 07:53 PM
Mon - November 14, 2005
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last...?
The point has been made before, but
seldom as succinctly
Just stumbled upon: a
New York Review of
Books article from last
summer. Money
quote:
Historians and pundits who leap aboard the bandwagon of American Empire have forgotten a little too quickly that for an empire to be born, a republic has first to die. In the longer run no country can expect to behave imperially—brutally, contemptuously, illegally—abroad while preserving republican values at home. For it is a mistake to suppose that institutions alone will save a republic from the abuses of power to which empire inevitably leads.
Historians and pundits who leap aboard the bandwagon of American Empire have forgotten a little too quickly that for an empire to be born, a republic has first to die. In the longer run no country can expect to behave imperially—brutally, contemptuously, illegally—abroad while preserving republican values at home. For it is a mistake to suppose that institutions alone will save a republic from the abuses of power to which empire inevitably leads.
Posted at 02:29 PM
Thu - November 10, 2005
I coulda been a contender
Ahead of my time,
alas
Lately we have learned that the junta has been
parking selected, ah, detainees in foreign facilities for, oh
goodness-gracious-dearie-me, not torture, exactly, but a salutary dose of
"pain-based interrogation protocols" (recently described by Missouri Senator
"Kit" Bond as no worse than the US military basic training regimen), and that
some of these facilities are located on the premises of our new friends in
Eastern Europe. What might these premises be, and what is their provenance? I
gnash my teeth mightily, remembering how I used to amuse my friends (or at least
myself) late in the last century (recall that in the 90s we had only the Simpson
trial and Monica's blue dress to amuse ourselves as a nation) with my plans for
attaining state office on the platform
of...
An infrastructure is a terrible thing to waste!
Friends (I would address my campaign rallies)...friends, we're all sick and tired of the depradations of violent criminals, am I not right? (low, menacing rumble of assent) And we're tired of muggers, and burglars, and murderers and rapists and child molesters and especially of murdering child molesting rapists (billboard-sized image of Polly Klaas projected behind candidate; mood of crowd gets ugly), am I right? And we're goddamned tired of aggressive panhandlers, and of our car stereos being ripped off (shouts of "Damn straight" and "Fuckin'-A Tweety!"), and that's why we passed the Three Strikes law a few years back, so that the third time these scum sprint out of the local video store with the last copy of a new release that we'd intended to rent, the sorry motherfuckers can be put away for life? Isn't that what we want, my friends? The bleeding hearts won't let us pop 'em in the head like they deserve, but we can take them off the street forever.
But—I won't lie to you my friends; there's always a "but"—we don't have enough prisons to hold the bad guys. No, if we're serious about Three Strikes, and even if we're prepared to stack the perps six to a cell, we're going to have to divert most of California's revenues to building new prisons to hold all the criminals we're going to put away for life. We're going to be stuck with the cost of construction, and with the cost of financing the construction, and with the salaries of the guards, and with the healthcare and pensions of the guards...I tell you straight, friends, the cost could beggar us (cries of "awww" and "no...no...").
Is that our choice, then? Are we to surrender the noble dream of Three Strikes just to remain solvent? Is the choice truly between safe streets and state bankruptcy?
No, I say. We can have Three Strikes and escape from the awful financial burden of quintupling our penal infrastructure. In fact, under my plan we can probably cut our existing prison expenditures in half, at least. All we need to do is think outside the box. Specifically we need to think outside the hemisphere.
My friends, there is a place across the sea that has plenty prison cells...plenty of trained guards...a long tradition of the severest penal protocols. The prisons aren't fancy—it's not as though we need to coddle our criminals, is it? (mirthless laugh from the gathered crowd)—but no one ever questioned their functionality. The guards are no-nonsense types, don't have a union to make unreasonable demands about salaries, benefits or pensions, and will work for a few dollars a day. Best of all, these prisons are way, way outside our communities.
I'm talking: "Three strikes and you're out—in the cold." I'm talking Siberia. I'm talking...lease the GULAG. The acronym, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, represents "Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii", or "The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies." (crowd grows slightly restive) But who cares? The point is, the Red Russians have come to their senses and embraced the free market, and what have they got for their trouble? Well so far, if you'll pardon my French, they've got dick! Am I not right? And they still have nukes. And they're broke. And they need a hand. And they're feeling, you know, a little aggrieved. So why not help them out?
For a fraction—a tiny fraction—of what it would cost to house our new Three Strikes inmates here, we ship 'em off...to Siberia. Let the Crips and the Bloods and the Aryan Losers organize in the stir. Who gives a shit? They're on another continent. We're paying the Russian guards, collectively, the equivalent of the California Prison Guards Union annual lobbying budget, if that. And if they ever figure that out, and resent that we're making out like bandits on the deal, well, who are they going to take it out on? You tell me (crowd roars)!
In conclusion, friends, vote me supreme power and I'll make friends abroad, cut our budget at home and scour the criminals off the streets at minimal cost to the taxpayer. Vote for Rand in the next election and (remainder of stump speech is drowned out as candidate is hoisted on the shoulders of the mob, and together we storm the state capitol building).
Ah, what might have been. I never ran for office, of course, and confined this riff to the occasional party once I'd had enough(?) bubbly beverage coursing through my system. Who knew that within a decade we'd have a junta in power to whom my jocular proposition made eminent sense?
An infrastructure is a terrible thing to waste!
Friends (I would address my campaign rallies)...friends, we're all sick and tired of the depradations of violent criminals, am I not right? (low, menacing rumble of assent) And we're tired of muggers, and burglars, and murderers and rapists and child molesters and especially of murdering child molesting rapists (billboard-sized image of Polly Klaas projected behind candidate; mood of crowd gets ugly), am I right? And we're goddamned tired of aggressive panhandlers, and of our car stereos being ripped off (shouts of "Damn straight" and "Fuckin'-A Tweety!"), and that's why we passed the Three Strikes law a few years back, so that the third time these scum sprint out of the local video store with the last copy of a new release that we'd intended to rent, the sorry motherfuckers can be put away for life? Isn't that what we want, my friends? The bleeding hearts won't let us pop 'em in the head like they deserve, but we can take them off the street forever.
But—I won't lie to you my friends; there's always a "but"—we don't have enough prisons to hold the bad guys. No, if we're serious about Three Strikes, and even if we're prepared to stack the perps six to a cell, we're going to have to divert most of California's revenues to building new prisons to hold all the criminals we're going to put away for life. We're going to be stuck with the cost of construction, and with the cost of financing the construction, and with the salaries of the guards, and with the healthcare and pensions of the guards...I tell you straight, friends, the cost could beggar us (cries of "awww" and "no...no...").
Is that our choice, then? Are we to surrender the noble dream of Three Strikes just to remain solvent? Is the choice truly between safe streets and state bankruptcy?
No, I say. We can have Three Strikes and escape from the awful financial burden of quintupling our penal infrastructure. In fact, under my plan we can probably cut our existing prison expenditures in half, at least. All we need to do is think outside the box. Specifically we need to think outside the hemisphere.
My friends, there is a place across the sea that has plenty prison cells...plenty of trained guards...a long tradition of the severest penal protocols. The prisons aren't fancy—it's not as though we need to coddle our criminals, is it? (mirthless laugh from the gathered crowd)—but no one ever questioned their functionality. The guards are no-nonsense types, don't have a union to make unreasonable demands about salaries, benefits or pensions, and will work for a few dollars a day. Best of all, these prisons are way, way outside our communities.
I'm talking: "Three strikes and you're out—in the cold." I'm talking Siberia. I'm talking...lease the GULAG. The acronym, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, represents "Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii", or "The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies." (crowd grows slightly restive) But who cares? The point is, the Red Russians have come to their senses and embraced the free market, and what have they got for their trouble? Well so far, if you'll pardon my French, they've got dick! Am I not right? And they still have nukes. And they're broke. And they need a hand. And they're feeling, you know, a little aggrieved. So why not help them out?
For a fraction—a tiny fraction—of what it would cost to house our new Three Strikes inmates here, we ship 'em off...to Siberia. Let the Crips and the Bloods and the Aryan Losers organize in the stir. Who gives a shit? They're on another continent. We're paying the Russian guards, collectively, the equivalent of the California Prison Guards Union annual lobbying budget, if that. And if they ever figure that out, and resent that we're making out like bandits on the deal, well, who are they going to take it out on? You tell me (crowd roars)!
In conclusion, friends, vote me supreme power and I'll make friends abroad, cut our budget at home and scour the criminals off the streets at minimal cost to the taxpayer. Vote for Rand in the next election and (remainder of stump speech is drowned out as candidate is hoisted on the shoulders of the mob, and together we storm the state capitol building).
Ah, what might have been. I never ran for office, of course, and confined this riff to the occasional party once I'd had enough(?) bubbly beverage coursing through my system. Who knew that within a decade we'd have a junta in power to whom my jocular proposition made eminent sense?
Posted at 07:41 PM
Sat - September 3, 2005
Rehnquist snuffs it
The question
becomes:
Do we bury him, or just drive a stake into his
heart*?
*Assuming, of course, that recent advances in tunneling electron microscopy permit this hypothetical organ to be detected.
*Assuming, of course, that recent advances in tunneling electron microscopy permit this hypothetical organ to be detected.
Posted at 09:51 PM
Fri - September 2, 2005
New Orleans: Sinners in the hands of an angry god
Yeah, yeah, a cheap shot. But
still...
“Agape Press – Reliable News from a
Christian Source”
(snort!)
advises us that the Big easy had it
coming:
The pastor explains that for years he has warned people that unless Christians in New Orleans took a strong stand against such things as local abortion clinics, the yearly Mardi Gras celebrations, and the annual event known as "Southern Decadence" -- an annual six-day "gay pride" event scheduled to be hosted by the city this week -- God's judgment would be felt.
“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it's free of all of those things now," Shanks says. "God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we're going to start over again."
Uh-huh.
The pastor explains that for years he has warned people that unless Christians in New Orleans took a strong stand against such things as local abortion clinics, the yearly Mardi Gras celebrations, and the annual event known as "Southern Decadence" -- an annual six-day "gay pride" event scheduled to be hosted by the city this week -- God's judgment would be felt.
“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it's free of all of those things now," Shanks says. "God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we're going to start over again."
Uh-huh.
Posted at 07:51 PM
Mon - August 22, 2005
Who would Jesus snuff?
The meek can inherit the earth, provided
Halliburton retains the mineral rights
Courtesy of Media Matters, we
learn that popular fundie nutcake Pat Robertson has some sage policy advice on
his 22 August edition of The 700
Club:
ROBERTSON: There was a popular coup that overthrew him [Chavez]. And what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing. And as a result, within about 48 hours that coup was broken; Chavez was back in power, but we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.
You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.
I note with approval the following exchanges gleaned from the comments section of the Washington Monthly site:
Was there a part I missed where Jesus taught the parable about killing people who make trouble for you?
Not Jesus, specifically. It was Paul, in his Epistle to the Crips.
and another:
Even Jesus would accept stopping a brutal unelected dictator like Chavez, even if it meant killing somebody.
Damn straight. I well recall how Jesus led the A-Posse in the battle against a whole slew of unelected dictators—Herod, Pilate, Tiberius Caesar, all that crowd. Remember how, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the guards came to arrest him, JC had both the Jameses lay down a withering crossfire, then told Judas "Kiss this, motherfucker!" and put a cap in his ass?
For those, incidentally, who would like to make the Reverend Pat (and, we may presume, the Little Baby Jesus for whom he speaks) weep for our folly, let me recommend the “Citgo” chain of service stations. Citgo, a U.S. refining and marketing firm, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela—not to the President’s cronies in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US—surely one of them is near you.
in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti,
ROBERTSON: There was a popular coup that overthrew him [Chavez]. And what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing. And as a result, within about 48 hours that coup was broken; Chavez was back in power, but we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.
You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.
I note with approval the following exchanges gleaned from the comments section of the Washington Monthly site:
Was there a part I missed where Jesus taught the parable about killing people who make trouble for you?
Not Jesus, specifically. It was Paul, in his Epistle to the Crips.
and another:
Even Jesus would accept stopping a brutal unelected dictator like Chavez, even if it meant killing somebody.
Damn straight. I well recall how Jesus led the A-Posse in the battle against a whole slew of unelected dictators—Herod, Pilate, Tiberius Caesar, all that crowd. Remember how, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the guards came to arrest him, JC had both the Jameses lay down a withering crossfire, then told Judas "Kiss this, motherfucker!" and put a cap in his ass?
For those, incidentally, who would like to make the Reverend Pat (and, we may presume, the Little Baby Jesus for whom he speaks) weep for our folly, let me recommend the “Citgo” chain of service stations. Citgo, a U.S. refining and marketing firm, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela—not to the President’s cronies in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US—surely one of them is near you.
in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti,
Posted at 06:51 PM
Sat - July 23, 2005
“Five in the Noggin”
Apparently he had it
coming
Oh dear, oh dear. I'm drawn back into commenting
on current events.
Some poor git was summarily executed on the tube the other day. A Brazilian, some dark-skinned wog from a land known to be a hotbed of islamic fundamentalism. Oops—wrong hemisphere. But what the hell. He should have known better.
And the Brits (who have handsomely acknowledged their fuckup, something this regime would never do) have a claque on this side of the pond. Let's cite the appalling "John Gibson," who apparently "reports" for Fox "News," and who contributes the following commentary (emphasis added, oh yeah):
No way to talk about anything but the terror bombing investigation in Great Britain. My faith has been renewed in the Brits. Even though they talk a good politically correct game out in public, evidently, behind the scenes they are as ruthless as I would expect from a civilized country under attack by bloodthirsty barbarians who have been brainwashed.
Let's start at the beginning.
I love the way the Brits have 10 million cameras sticking up the nose of every citizen no matter where they are, except in the loo.
I love the way they popped the pictures of those four bombers so quick. Those four bombers are now identified in public and they will be run down sometime very soon.
I love the way they know where these guys live, and I love the fact that they seem to have been spying on these guys for a while already. All that is good.
What is also good is the Brit police tactics that we saw at work in the subway Friday morning. The tackle and kill team is incredible, if for no other reason than their bravery. Can you imagine the job of those cops? Tackle the guy wearing a vest bomb and hope your colleague is right behind with the gun to put five bullets in the noggin before he sets off the bomb.
Turns out he didn't have a bomb, and turns out he wasn't one of the four bombers Thursday. And if it turns out ultimately that he had nothing to do with anything, no doubt there will be hell to pay. But the police say he was linked to the terror probe, so let's wait and see.
Meantime, got to admire the cojones of those Brit cops to go after him like that. All of this trumps any of my other complaints that the Brits weren't making the right noises about fighting terror. They like to go about things a bit more quietly than us. Not my style, but okay, fine — as long as they get the five in the noggin of the right bomber boy. They do that and I'm fine.
So for the moment, alls well. Just catch the four bombers. Five in the noggin is fine. Don't complain that sounds barbaric. We're fighting barbaric.
That's My Word.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I so want John Gibson someday to blunder onto the wrong side of a profile. Five in the noggin. Oh, yeah.
From Seven Beauties:
The ones who don't enjoy themselves even when they laugh.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who worship the corporate image not knowing that they work for someone else.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who should have been shot in the cradle.
Pow! Oh, yeah.
The ones who say follow me to success but kill me if I fail, so to speak.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say we Italians are the greatest he-men on earth.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are from Rome.
The ones who say that's for me.
The ones who say, you know what I mean.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote for the right because they're fed up with strikes.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote white in order not to get dirty.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who never get involved with politics.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say, be calm. Calm.
The ones who still support the king.
The ones who say, yes, Sir.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who make love standing in their boots and imagine they're in a luxurious bed.
The ones who believe Christ is Santa Claus as young man.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say: Oh, what the hell.
The ones who were there.
The ones who believe in everything... even in God.
The ones who listen to the national anthem.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who love their country.
The ones who keep going, just to see how it will end.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are in garbage up to here.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who sleep soundly, even with cancer.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who even now don't believe the world is round.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
The ones who're afraid of flying.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who've never had a fatal accident.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who've had one.
The ones who at a certain point in their lives create a secret weapon, Christ.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are always standing at the bar.
The ones who are always in Switzerland.
The ones who started early, haven't arrived and don't know they're not going to.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who lose wars by the skin of their teeth.
The ones who say, everything is wrong here.
The ones who say, now let's all have a good laugh.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Some poor git was summarily executed on the tube the other day. A Brazilian, some dark-skinned wog from a land known to be a hotbed of islamic fundamentalism. Oops—wrong hemisphere. But what the hell. He should have known better.
And the Brits (who have handsomely acknowledged their fuckup, something this regime would never do) have a claque on this side of the pond. Let's cite the appalling "John Gibson," who apparently "reports" for Fox "News," and who contributes the following commentary (emphasis added, oh yeah):
No way to talk about anything but the terror bombing investigation in Great Britain. My faith has been renewed in the Brits. Even though they talk a good politically correct game out in public, evidently, behind the scenes they are as ruthless as I would expect from a civilized country under attack by bloodthirsty barbarians who have been brainwashed.
Let's start at the beginning.
I love the way the Brits have 10 million cameras sticking up the nose of every citizen no matter where they are, except in the loo.
I love the way they popped the pictures of those four bombers so quick. Those four bombers are now identified in public and they will be run down sometime very soon.
I love the way they know where these guys live, and I love the fact that they seem to have been spying on these guys for a while already. All that is good.
What is also good is the Brit police tactics that we saw at work in the subway Friday morning. The tackle and kill team is incredible, if for no other reason than their bravery. Can you imagine the job of those cops? Tackle the guy wearing a vest bomb and hope your colleague is right behind with the gun to put five bullets in the noggin before he sets off the bomb.
Turns out he didn't have a bomb, and turns out he wasn't one of the four bombers Thursday. And if it turns out ultimately that he had nothing to do with anything, no doubt there will be hell to pay. But the police say he was linked to the terror probe, so let's wait and see.
Meantime, got to admire the cojones of those Brit cops to go after him like that. All of this trumps any of my other complaints that the Brits weren't making the right noises about fighting terror. They like to go about things a bit more quietly than us. Not my style, but okay, fine — as long as they get the five in the noggin of the right bomber boy. They do that and I'm fine.
So for the moment, alls well. Just catch the four bombers. Five in the noggin is fine. Don't complain that sounds barbaric. We're fighting barbaric.
That's My Word.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I so want John Gibson someday to blunder onto the wrong side of a profile. Five in the noggin. Oh, yeah.
From Seven Beauties:
The ones who don't enjoy themselves even when they laugh.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who worship the corporate image not knowing that they work for someone else.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who should have been shot in the cradle.
Pow! Oh, yeah.
The ones who say follow me to success but kill me if I fail, so to speak.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say we Italians are the greatest he-men on earth.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are from Rome.
The ones who say that's for me.
The ones who say, you know what I mean.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote for the right because they're fed up with strikes.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote white in order not to get dirty.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who never get involved with politics.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say, be calm. Calm.
The ones who still support the king.
The ones who say, yes, Sir.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who make love standing in their boots and imagine they're in a luxurious bed.
The ones who believe Christ is Santa Claus as young man.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say: Oh, what the hell.
The ones who were there.
The ones who believe in everything... even in God.
The ones who listen to the national anthem.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who love their country.
The ones who keep going, just to see how it will end.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are in garbage up to here.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who sleep soundly, even with cancer.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who even now don't believe the world is round.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
The ones who're afraid of flying.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who've never had a fatal accident.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who've had one.
The ones who at a certain point in their lives create a secret weapon, Christ.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are always standing at the bar.
The ones who are always in Switzerland.
The ones who started early, haven't arrived and don't know they're not going to.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who lose wars by the skin of their teeth.
The ones who say, everything is wrong here.
The ones who say, now let's all have a good laugh.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Posted at 03:07 PM
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Published On: Oct 15, 2007 07:43 PM
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Published On: Oct 15, 2007 07:43 PM