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SATURDAY 01.17.04 / 12:28 PM / LINK

"We don't do body counts" --Pentagon official

The Pentagon may not do body counts, but despite the political convenience of ignoring death tallies, bodies do count. Bodies count not only for the spirits who dwelled in them during their sojourn on earth, but for those who knew and loved those spirits while they were with them. Dead bodies may not matter to Pentagon bean counters, but we're not talking beans here.

In an article on Alternet writer Medea Benjamin (of Global Exchange) reflects upon what the Bush administration would rather avoid.

Benjamin says, "Over 350 Americans have lost their lives since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1. In fact, more Americans have lost their lives since May 1 than during the war. And despite claims by the administration that Saddam's capture has allowed the US military to sweep up Baath loyalists who were attacking them, the attacks continue – every day. The year closed with a total of 513 deaths, making it the deadliest year for the US military since 1972, when 640 soldiers were killed in Vietnam."

Someone once said that ignorance is bliss. The question is, "But, for whom?"

"I fear that the American people been lulled into accepting these daily casualties,processing them as lightly as they do the day's weather report or the sports figures," the writer goes on. "The fact that the media are banned from covering the flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base or that President Bush has not attended one funeral helps shelter the public from the true horror of this daily carnage. And just recently, the press stopped covering the soldiers' deaths as front-page news."

So much for the "liberal media".

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FRIDAY / 01.16.04 / 5:24 AM / LINK

U.S. citizens under threat. Who will help them, France?

Have you ever seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Wrong Man (scroll a little)? Well, see if you can get your hands on it. Then give it a good watching imagining you're the Henry Fonda character in a nation fashioned after the Bush policies. Yes, there but for the grace of the constitution, really could be you.

It's good news the Supreme Court is stepping in on this one. Let's just hope they get it right in their decisions.

Anthony Lewis, the NY Times today: "The idea of jailing someone forever on the say-so of the president, without a lawyer — as the administration still says it has the power to do — would probably strike most Americans as a violation of their rights: the right to have a trial of any alleged offense, to call witnesses and so on. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution says that no person shall be deprived of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Is due process in a time of terrorism whatever the president says it is?"

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01.16.04 / 5:24 AM / LINK

Stepping into the abyss whilst whistling "God Bless America" past the graveyard

This is what it's about this year. Paul Krugman has it exactly right.

If George Bush wins this election the likelyhood that we'll have another chance to step off the road to imperialism will be profoundly diminished. And the domestic political situation will, more and more, become one of threat and intimidation from a conservative, wealth succoring, elite.

Another four years of this administration, in league with a right-wing senate and house, not challenged by responsible media will make the first four years seem like a liberal dream.

These men will circumvent the constitution at every opportunity if it suits their agenda. And (as my mother used to say), I don't mean maybe.

If you really want to protect your security, send money to the Democrats.

Adding insult to injury, read this piece by Bob Herbert covering Al Gore.

Some snippets:

"In preparing this series of speeches, I have noticed a troubling pattern that characterizes the Bush-Cheney administration's approach to almost all issues. In almost every policy area, the administration's consistent goal has been to eliminate any constraints on their exercise of raw power, whether by law, regulation, alliance or treaty. And in the process, they have in each case caused America to be seen by the other nations of the world as showing disdain for the international community."

"Indeed, they often use Orwellian language to disguise their true purposes. For example, a policy that opens national forests to destructive logging of old-growth trees is labeled Healthy Forest Initiative. A policy that vastly increases the amount of pollution that can be dumped into the air is called the Clear Skies Initiative."

Indeed. And they're already well into the pig agenda of Animal Farm.

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TUESDAY / 01.14.04 / 8:29 PM / LINK

Is Paul O'Neill a reliable source?

In Ron Suskind's book, The Price of Loyalty, George Bush's ex-Secretary of the Treasury has some unflattering things to say about his old boss. But is O'Neill a trustworthy source?

Well, why don't we go to some who've worked with him, and even recommended him for his cabinet post:

George Bush: (when nominating O'Neill)"...in a distinguished career, Paul has earned a reputation as a straight shooter."

Dick Cheney: (When administering the Oath of Office) "Secretary O'Neill is a man of consistently sound judgment. He's a man of honor and decency who will make all Americans proud."

President Bush again: "I find [Paul O'Neill] to be refreshingly candid. I appreciate his judgment."

And again: "Paul [is] one of the most fine, honorable, decent men I've ever served with. He can be proud for all he has done for his country."

Now, of course, the White House wants him investigated. Fair weather friends, it looks like to me.

Go to Eric Alterman's Altercation for more.

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01.14.04 / 7:56 PM / LINK

Blue Linguistics

My father was a poet lauriate of blue-collar lingo. If someone had a problem distinguishing between two obvious options he might say, "That guy doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, " or it's variation, "He doesn't know shit from Shinola." (For those of you too young to know, "Shinola" was a brand of cake shoe polish).

Well, reviewing a clip of his interview with Diane Sawyer (featured here at Talking Points Memo) you'd have to give serious consideration to the probability that George Bush knows neither shit from Shinola, nor his ass from a hole in the ground.

The third possibilty is that these remarks shed light upon Bush's contempt for the intelligence of the people. Sadly, a man with such contempt is contemptible himself.

Here are some extended excerpts from the interview.

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01.14.04 / 6:21 PM / LINK

War Is Hell

For those of us who haven't been there (especially the president and his chickenhawk administration) the stress of war is not something we can understand. Oh, we might imagine, but even those with the most vivid imaginations will fall short on understanding. This is why those without the experience are often quick to jump the gun on war. Men who do might be seen to lack compassion, regardless of how compassionately conservative they claim to be.

An example of the stress that war puts on young men will be found in the 21 known suicides among American soldiers in the Iraq war.

Come you masters of war, you who mangle the facts... I just want you to know I can see through your masks.

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MONDAY 01.13.04 / 7:52 PM / LINK

A faith-based mugging? A horse head in the bedclothes?

One minute John DiIulio, former head of George Bush's faith-based initiative program, is giving an interview to Esquire reporter, Ron Suskind, which is very unflattering to George Bush; the next he's saying he didn't know what he was talking about. He's almost drooling mea culpas. Between those two incidents he had a little friendly talk with with some goon at the White House who must have scared the bejeezus out of him.

Dilulio's remarks were not some wild off-the-cuff remarks either. As Coneson says, "...Mr. DiIulio did more than speak candidly with Mr. Suskind over a period of months. In late October, after mulling over their conversations, he sat down and wrote a seven-page, nearly 3,000-word letter that began with the words "For/On the Record." (Its full text can be found at www.Esquire.com.) The devastating remarks and anecdotes faithfully quoted from that letter in the Suskind article were not ill-considered quips delivered on a barstool. They were the written recollections and reflections of a widely published and quite conservative academic.

What do you think the offer was Dilulio couldn't refuse?

One gets the idea there are some pretty top-notch GOP SOBs running that presidential whited sephulcher on the Potomac.





The rest of the Coneson article is here.

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