No

SUNDAY 06.13.04 / 6:30 AM / LINK

How many more ways can we say "dangerous"?

The question raised here is that even if the president does not have the inherent power to break laws, if he's been given a legal report suggesting he does, and if he's innunadated by more bad advice while under the influence of missionary impluses, will he tend to act upon it? ...more than likely.

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06.13.04 / 6:30 AM / LINK

More bad apples than to can sic a dog on...

How many Iraqis can I make piss their pants? Bring in the dogs and let's find out.

"A military intelligence interrogator also told investigators that two dog handlers at Abu Ghraib were "having a contest" to see how many detainees they could make involuntarily urinate out of fear of the dogs, according to the previously undisclosed statements obtained by The Washington Post."

Operating at the highest standard of American morality?

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THURSDAY 06.10.04 / 6:30 AM / LINK

More baby steps toward a National Church?

What we really need in this country is a national church. For those tired of this blah, blah, blah separation of church and state crap there is hope.

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06.10.04 / 6:01 AM / LINK

"I'm an America, I'm a f***ing American!"

Army reverses itself regarding the G.I. who sustained serious injury when beaten by guards who were practicing not routinely using torture and abuse.

As I said earlier, "You've heard of friendly fire?"

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06.10.04 / 6:01 AM / LINK

My dirty bucket's got a hole in it

At the Whiskey Bar we have these ruminations about flowers and dirty buckets. They're about why it may not be a good idea for George Bush to be putting his mug up there alongside Ronald Reagan's during this week of this Republican funereal spectacle of skewed history (think Poindexter, North, Irangate; think screwed unions, massive invasion of tiny Carribean island, big deficits).

Related:

"Now, how many days of leaving the (Bush website) that way will it take before people start to see the obvious: that President Bush's campaign staffers believe that pushing their own guy isn't a particularly good political strategy and that bashing Kerry or grasping on to Reagan nostalgia is far preferable?" --TPM

And this.

And here's the Reagan --uh, I mean Bush campaign website.

If the Republican's ran Reagan's corpse for president they couldn't do much worse than they've done with the empty vessel they're running now. Reagan at least was a better actor.

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06.10.04 / 5:44 AM / LINK

Oh ye of little really good faith...

The religious left is looking to gain ground in the political arena. It's looking for the voice it had during the civil rights movement.

At a conference of more than 350 political liberals "Speakers celebrated the role of religious liberals in the civil rights movement, protests against the Vietnam War, the nuclear freeze campaign and sanctions against South Africa's former apartheid system. They called for a stronger, more clearly religious voice against the Bush administration's foreign policy and for environmental stewardship, universal health insurance, and efforts to fight poverty at home and abroad."

Since God probably does not recognize left or right, this might be a start in getting the country more in sync with reality. A left hand religious view joining a right hand view might lead to the shaking of hands. This would be a good idea which all of really good faith might applaud.


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06.10.04 / 5:20 AM / LINK

A lot of "few" mistakes

Many before the war said there would be a risk of greater terrorism if we invaded Iraq. A recent report by the Bush administration shows just the opposite. But as usual the Bush administration lied. It'll be coming out soon with a revised report which will be closer to the truth. This is about the best you can hope for with the Bush administration.

As it says in this article, " ... the (State Department) report was pilloried by academics, a lawmaker and others. They said its math defied the reality of a steady growth in the number and significance of terrorist attacks in 2003, as well as the worst type of attacks spreading from just a few countries to at least 10."

"Yesterday, after reviewing the matter more carefully," the Washington Post says, " the department formally conceded it made a few mistakes (wink wink).

It turns out there were a lot of "few" mistakes, but you can read about it here.

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WEDNESDAY 06.09.04 / 6:03 AM / LINK

Rooting for evidence in a pig pen

Here's an article at From The Wilderness that makes good reading for anyone whose curiosity was piqued when they heard George Bush would probably be lawyering up for the Valierie Plame case.

The lead:

"Why did DCI George Tenet suddenly resign on June 3rd, only to be followed a day later by James Pavitt, the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations (DDO)?

"The real reasons, contrary to the saturation spin being put out by major news outlets, have nothing to do with Tenet's role as taking the fall for alleged 9/11 and Iraqi intelligence "failures" before the upcoming presidential election."

The concluding paragraphs:

"If both Bush and Cheney are removed or resign, what happens? Madsen reported that lobbyists and political consultants in Washington are dusting off their copies of the Constitution and checking the line of presidential succession.

One lobbyist said he will soon pay a call on Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens, who, as President pro tem of the Senate, is second in line to House Speaker Dennis Hastert to become President in the event Bush and Cheney both go."

With lots of intriguing info in between

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TUESDAY 06.08.04 / 6:03 AM / LINK

How people pick nits to save their goddamn soul

For a good look at the old human enterprise of trying to bullshit yourself into heaven, read this at the Whisky Bar.

The lastest news on the U.S.A. torture policy (are there and good apples in this here barrel for chrissakes?) is that a bunch of lawyers at the pentagon spent some time developing legal justifications for torture. Well, not torture exactly, just inflicting pain.

Billmon lays some of this out, zeroing in on one of these lawyers in particular, a certain "Christian" lawyer named Mary Walker, who will surely find herself on the receiving end of a line attributed to Jesus: "Many will come to me saying, 'Lord, Lord', and I will say to them, 'I never knew you' ".

Here's a real fine example of the spiritual life of Mary:

Ms. Walker says, "When God is the center of your life and everything you do revolves around His plans for you and the world, then that is when life really gets exciting." The report that Ms. Walker helped author: "The infliction of pain or suffering per se, whether it is physical or mental, is insufficient to amount to torture." It "must be of such a high level of intensity that the pain is difficult for the subject to endure." A simple "ouch" will not suffice. A terrible scream of "Oh, God! Oh, God!" will be required. And this: Walker: It's a travesty to be in a place of strategic importance to the world as a business or political leader and not allow God to accomplish the truly significant through you. The report: To protect subordinates should they be charged with torture, the memo advised that Mr. Bush issue a "presidential directive or other writing" that could serve as evidence, since authority to set aside the laws is "inherent in the president."

There you have it folks, the "...authority to set aside the laws is 'inherent in the president.' " God will accomplish his ends for America by the setting aside of the laws.

Don't you wonder what presidential prerogatives are being cooked up by other cabals of lawyers in the bowels of the whited sepulcher?


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MONDAY 06.07.04 / 6:03 AM / LINK

Another View of the Gipper

We're getting a full-bore onslaught of glossy tributes for Ronald Reagan from one end of medialand to the other, and we'll be getting it for another few days. But, since it's never a good idea not to have balance, here's some balance.

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SUNDAY 06.06.04 / 6:29 AM / LINK

If Lenny Briscoe could only get the president in that room for one minute ...

The president will be lawyering up in the case of Valerie Plame. He does this wisely, before Det. Lenny Briscoe gets a chance to get him into a room with a two way mirror to wisecrack him mercilessly into confessing.

"You may be President Bush inside the beltway, Georgie, but right here you're just another punk president sap ...ling, " Lenny might say.

Mike Allen reports in the June 4th Washington Post the president had this to say, "In terms of whether or not I need advice from my counsel, this is a criminal matter, it's a serious matter, I have met with an attorney to determine whether or not I need his advice," Bush said. "And if I deem I need his advice, I'll probably hire him."

Doink doink....


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SATURDAY 06.05.04 / 6:29 08 / LINK

You've heard of "friendly fire" ... ?

And they say the abuse is not widespread... Check out this by Nicholas Kristoff.

"If the U.S. military treats one of its own soldiers this way — allowing him to be battered, and lying to cover it up — then imagine what happens to Afghans and Iraqis."







FRIDAY 06.04.04 / 6:29 08 / LINK

Smoke & Mirrors

Some things you can do with smoke and mirrors, some things you can't. You can't solve math problems with them. And you can't pay off credit card debt with them. You also cannot base national economies on smoke and mirrors. Math and economies rely on the relationships of numbers and even cynical government can't spin them forever.

Here in the Guardian, columnists David Teather says, "According to the Bush administration, the huge tax cuts of the past few years ... will ultimately pay for themselves," by stimulating the economy, blah, blah, blah...

"However," he continues, "a report issued this week by an influential Washington-based bipartisan group disagrees. The Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities suggests that not only will someone have to ultimately pay for the tax cuts, but that the lower income sectors of society will bear the burden."

Is there anyone really surprised that this might be the case? I don't think so.

When the Republican congress voted for the tax cuts they made sure they pushed payment off on the following generation so the one voting for them and their president wouldn't be blamed for the consequences. This was bought by the general population with enthusiasm, if poll numbers are to be believed.

As reported by Teather, "When Congress enacted the tax cuts, it decided to finance them through higher budget deficits, pushing the cost into future years. 'That makes the tax cuts look free - but, of course, they are no more free than any other item bought on credit,' Isaac Shapiro, a co-author of the report and a senior fellow at the centre, says."

What are we idiots? We have to have this spelled out for us?

According to the Guardian piece, "The report said that, through spending cuts and tax increases down the line, the result would be a transfer of up to $113bn in wealth from the bottom 80% of US households to the top 20%.

There you have the second leg of the dreadful rampaging Neoconzilla. The other leg is global hegemony. In real life as well as in "B" movies, tyrant-osuarus wrecks.

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THURSDAY 06.03.04 / 6:29 AM / LINK

Too Precious

I just thought this was too precious not to include the whole thing. It's from CBS News.com, 6/1/04.

(CBS) When a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, cutting power supplies and raising prices, Enron energy traders celebrated, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports. "Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing," a trader sang about the massive fire. Four years after California's disastrous experiment with energy deregulation, Enron energy traders can be heard – on audiotapes obtained by CBS News – gloating and praising each other as they helped bring on, and cash-in on, the Western power crisis. "He just f---s California," says one Enron employee. "He steals money from California to the tune of about a million." "Will you rephrase that?" asks a second employee. "OK, he, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day," replies the first. The tapes, from Enron's West Coast trading desk, also confirm what CBS reported years ago: that in secret deals with power producers, traders deliberately drove up prices by ordering power plants shut down. "If you took down the steamer, how long would it take to get it back up?" an Enron worker is heard saying. "Oh, it's not something you want to just be turning on and off every hour. Let's put it that way," another says. "Well, why don't you just go ahead and shut her down." Officials with the Snohomish Public Utility District near Seattle received the tapes from the Justice Department. "This is the evidence we've all been waiting for. This proves they manipulated the market," said Eric Christensen, a spokesman for the utility. That utility, like many others, is trying to get its money back from Enron. "They're fucking taking all the money back from you guys?" complains an Enron employee on the tapes. "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?" "Yeah, grandma Millie, man" "Yeah, now she wants her fucking money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her ass for fucking $250 a megawatt hour." And the tapes appear to link top Enron officials Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling to schemes that fueled the crisis. "Government Affairs has to prove how valuable it is to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling," says one trader. "Ok." "Do you know when you started over-scheduling load and making buckets of money on that? Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win. "It'd be great. I'd love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy," says one Enron worker. That didn't happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices. "When this election comes Bush will fucking whack this shit, man. He won't play this price-cap bullshit." Crude, but true. "We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse and that's why I oppose price caps," said Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001. Both the Justice Department and Enron tried to prevent the release of these tapes. Enron's lawyers argued they merely prove "that people at Enron sometimes talked like Barnacle Bill the Sailor."

Capitalism at work for you.

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MONDAY 05.31.04 / 3:47 PM / LINK

Dirty Little Secrets

What are these two whispering about? Are Henry & Dick cooking up some illegal Cambodian killing?


Democratic leaders with secrets like crooks with secrets are probably up to no good. In an open political system what can't stand the light of day probably shouldn't have been conceived much less executed. But it will be. Political conceit is next to eternal, you can count on it. If it looks like you've got a leader who prefers subterfuge he probably does, so watch out! More than likely you've got a closet despot on your hands.

Richard Nixon fortunately was forced to resign before he could do more damage. But it was a different country back then. The one we've got now will probably reelect the current Machiavelli. And that'll be followed by presentation of a the Congressional Medal of Mendacity for valorous action under blistering vollies of truth.

The International Herald Tribune makes some good points here about Nixon and his curley-headed henchman, Henry Kissinger, and their underground war. Read about it and be warned.


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05.31.04 / 10:06 AM / LINK

Across the great divide

Through his bishops, Pope John Paul II said the U.S.A has a "souless vision of the world" (Vatican Press Release 5/28/04). Although I was raised a Catholic I don't often agree with the Pope, so I'm a little surprised to find myself in sync with him about the current state of our spirituality. But I wonder if the "widespread spirit of agnosticism and relativism" that concerns John Paul is the problem.

Commenting on the Pope's remarks, Jonathan Pait, spokesman for Bob Jones University (an institution that, until the last few years, barred interracial dating of students on Biblical grounds) has weighed in on the issue. "We're going away from a standard of spiritual moorings and toward whatever pleases me," he says.

Maybe. But wasn't that the attitude of the Roman Church toward Martin Luther when he decided he had a better idea about faith and challenged Papal authority? The Vatican would have categorized Bob Jones U with Galileo back then, and called it an institute of heretics.

Disregarding Luther's deeply personal decision to publish his 95 theses attacking Papal abuses which launched the Protestant Reformation, Pait frets about religious individualism. "If you're traveling in a boat and set your sextant on a star," he says, "you'll reach your destination. " Otherwise, "you're just going to be going around in circles."

True. But if you're sighting the wrong star you'll probably end up somewhere you shouldn't be. Which begs the question: spiritually speaking, is it better to cruise around in circles, or to sail off half cocked just for the sake of getting somewhere even if you might wind up somewhere wrong, like in the middle of an inquisition or standing on scripture to justify racism or terror? Strict sectarians and atheists opt for certainty in the Cloud of Unknowing. The rest of us are agnostics.

The agnostic (a-gnostic, not-knowable) position before the great mystery is one of spiritual humility, anything else is hubris. Agnostics recognize our dilemma: on this side of the metaphysical divide we can never be sure if we're sailing in circles or heading somewhere. Without knowing what God knows like so many fundamentalists, circling or plodding onward (practically speaking) amount to the same thing. Despite the hundreds of thousands of often contradictory scriptures of every known religion claiming to contain absolute maps and directions to the seat of God, the route will only become certain at death ...or not.

This is exactly what’s so infuriating about death and tales of paradise. Those with no first-hand knowledge of ever having thoroughly died, speculate all over the place and blab about it, while those who’ve actually had the experience never open their mouths.

Still the Pope is onto something about us. We are definitely screwed up spiritually. But this has nothing to do with agnosticism. It's a problem of belief. It has to do with the fact that we suffer from a faith-based split personality disorder. The problem is, most Americans believe in God and Capitalism with equal fervor. God and gold. One poll says that 79% of us believe in God. And with the current passion even average Americans have developed for the stock market, and for stacking stuff up in rental storage units it's a safe bet most of us have a profound belief in Wal-Mart as well. But even George Bush's favorite moral philosopher, Jesus, said we can't have it both ways. He said we can't serve both God and mammon. Face it my fellow Americans, bottom line is, we're meta-fiscally schizophrenic.

This cleavage of the soul is troubling to Bishop Edwin Conway, vicar general for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. There are times --especially when social injustice is concerned-- when the Bishop wonders about America's collective soul. "Where is it?" he asks. "It's kind of dormant," he answers.

But is it dormant or confused? I think it's confused. The American soul is just utterly disoriented trying to deal with the relentless onslaught of sexy advertizing hype, conservative "free market" mumbo-jumbo, and the prick of conscience. It's no wonder we've lately been quoting God while rumbling through the world, spewing SUV fumes, consuming way more than our share of the world's resources, and leaving a pre-emptive trail of broken bodies next to pieces of our once intact reputation as a country not riddled with systematic corruption (also here). --and if you doubt this corruption, check out investigative reporter Greg Palast's book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, it's an eye-opener.

The Pope's view is that "...contemporary Western society will need to confront directly the widespread spirit of agnosticism and relativism which has cast doubt on reason’s ability to know the truth, which alone satisfies the human heart’s restless quest for meaning.”

I think the pontiff's right about the human heart's "restless quest for meaning". And I think he's right about relativism. But the greatest corruption of values and the most destructive relativism we face are woven into the faith and fabric of Capitalism. Faith in God and gold don't mix. Creating a non-lethal blending of those antagonisms is as impossible as trying to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle. Our predicament is a time-honored one that'll never be solved by the accumulation of wealth or by huge tax cuts for those making over $200,000 a year. History's been there, done that. We need something fresh.

Dylan put's the ancient dilemma of God and mammon this way: he says no matter how you spin it, "You're gonna have to serve somebody. Yes you will. You're gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody."

We can take that literally or mythically. We can spin it personally, nationally, or internationally. We can claim knowledge of God or not. But in simple and practical human terms it always boils down that one unavoidable choice.

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FRIDAY 05.28.04 / 4:38 PM / LINK

Florida: The no-unRepublican-vote zone

You'd think that once bitten, Floridians would be rattling Jeb Bush's cage big time to force him to get behind the fundamental American right, namely the right to vote. And you'd think that given the outright corruption that handed his brother the presidency in 2000 the Governor would do all he could to avoid making his state Election Corruption Central. But not this guy. If he's not purging voter rolls of Democratic minority voters, he's making it possible to skew elections via unwitnessed absentee ballots.


Accoring to Jim DeFede of the Miami Herald, "The only thing the bill Jeb signed Tuesday guarantees, is that Florida's elections will continue to be a joke. By taking away the witness requirement (for signatures for absentee ballots), the governor and the Legislature not only made it easier for corruption to take place -- which in itself is a fairly amazing feat -- but they have also made it more difficult to catch."

Corruption depends upon difficulties in catchability. With this in mind, if you want a nicely detailed account of exactly how Jeb and Cruelle de Harris and their crew of thugs and con artists pulled off their amazing in-our-face affront to democracy you have to Read Greg Palast's, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. You can get it here. If you love the right to vote this is must-read stuff. If you don't really give a sweet one, forget about the book and move to Florida.

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05.28.04 / 4:38 PM / LINK

Left-wing radicals question the president's motives on security warnings

There are more and more left wing radicals oozing out of the woodwork who question the administration's credibility as it issues new terror warnings. As hard as it is to believe that anyone might think this administration is incredible, here we have it:

Radical #1: International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger said it is suspicious that the administration reportedly knew about the new threat for more than a month but only chose to publicize now because Bush's approval ratings have been sinking. ``I find the reports in this press conference to be politically convenient at best,'' said Schaitberger. Radical #2: International Brotherhood of Police Officers President David Holway criticized the administration for ``sitting on this information'' instead of sharing it immediately with police. ``The timing on this is very suspect,'' Holway said. ``We want to make sure that when this information does come out, it comes out in a timely manner.''

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05.28.04 / 10:22 AM / LINK

I must be an idiot, or a little piglet myself

When you finally realize your president has Iraq in place of a brain what do you do? This is the question facing us at this very moment. Whatever happens anywhere else on the planet is not as important as replacing this "leadership". Due to American power, the leadeship of this nation has enormous repercussions everywhere. Forget democracy in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter. If U.S. democracy doesn't get back on the right track soon, it'll be falling dominoes of lethal digression from sea to shining sea. Do we want to wake up longing for a way back to sensibility only to find it's too late? Do we want to wake up and find we can't get there from the ditch we've been driven into while we've been dozing or watching American Idol and waving flags?

In his speech Monday night the president said we have to stay the course. What course? The course we've been following? Of course. The proof's in the plodding. George Bush can't even imagine another course. Adaptability is not a virtue of a doctrinaire. But Marine General Anthony Zinni, in his book Battle Ready, says the course we're staying is taking us over Niagra Falls in a barrel. And he's just one of a few top generals being critical.

El Presidente is a real-life version of Dr. Strangelove's bomb-riding Slim Pickins --only our Senor Leader has got himself over a barrel. And he's riding that barrel over the brink. He's whipping the bejeezus out of the barrel with his stetson. He's a-hollerin', "Stay the course, pardners! Stay the course!"

You and me? ...we're in the barrel.

But don't blame it all on George. We've got to ask some hard questions of ourselves if we allow three years of incompetence, secrecy, and deceit to be glossed over by misplaced patriotism compounded by the red herring of diminished security. History and self-preservation demand that we be honest with ourselves despite mendacious leadership, especially in times of tribulation. This, and insisting the press do its job by providing accurate information, is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy. If the people truly rule, the people should be setting the course. An ignorant populace might be stuck just going with the flow, but an informed people can direct the flow. Staying this course just doesn't cut it. And staying stupid doesn't help matters either. Gullibility should not be a new 21st century American paradigm, no matter how dangerous it is out there. Get a life, people!

General Zinni who's had an inside track in these matters, having served under Bill Clinton and for a while as Bush's Middle East envoy, ain't pulling any punches regarding his ex-bosses (who happen to be currently directing this tragedy of errors). In his book, and in a recent 60 Minutes interview, he delivers the kind of straight talk the president loves to pretend he delivers. What the General says is, "In the lead-up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility--at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

If only the media had been doing its job and being as direct as that during these past years maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess now. But that's all spilt milk over the bridge and under the dam, as George-the-Articulate, might say. That was then, but this is the future. The truth is we cannot bear to stay this course and follow these leaders. They don't deserve it and the American Spirit won't survive it.

Paul Krugman, in today's NY Times, examines the media's spectacular failure to give us the goods on George Bush from day one. He remarks that, "People who get their news by skimming the front page, or by watching TV, must be feeling confused by the sudden change in Mr. Bush's character. For more than two years after 9/11, he was a straight shooter, all moral clarity and righteousness." But now the truth is coming out. Krugman says Bush's good-guy, down-home, straight-shooter character was a figment of the news media's imagination. You might call it poetic license --the kind of stuff you get on Fox News 24-7-- or maybe it's just hack journalism – it depends on your politics, or credulity.

Anyway, Krugman says, "...(the president's) character flaws ... have been visible all along ... to anyone willing to check his budget arithmetic," And as to, "..his inability to admit mistakes," he continues, "I first wrote about Mr. Bush's "infallibility complex" more than two years ago, and I wasn't being original."

It's getting clearer and clearer, we've been sold a pig in a polk. Actually, a bunch of pigs –one after another with relentless consistency. And who's to blame for this oink-fest? Well, pardners, you know that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I must be an idiot or little piglet myself," ...or something like that.


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WEDNESDAY 05.26.04 / 8:15 AM / LINK

Strangling Argentina ...a look into America's future

Given what's going on with our economy these days average American's looking at the economic and social lay of their land might want to review what's been happening to the Argentine economy during the last few years. "Globalization" to Argentina's lower class has not meant "upward mobility" or "the good life".

American investigative reporter Greg Palast (who writes for the London Observer because the corporate lap-dog U.S. press won't touch his stuff) reported here about our basket-case South American neighbor.

Palast said then, "The news last week in South America was that Argentina had died, or at least its economy had. One in six workers was unemployed even before the beginning of this grim southern winter. Millions more have lost work as industrial production, already down 25 per cent for the year, fell into a coma..."

That reference to industrial production should provoke some anxious shortness of breath for Americans whose jobs have packed up and left the country because we don't make many things here any more. Oh I know, I know, we're replacing manufacturing with servicing. We're becoming a service economy. But whose servants are we becoming? Why, servants of the very people who are building houses with great rooms, personal gyms, and three acre kitchens with the money they make shipping our jobs overseas, of course. Soon we'll be nothing but a nation of bootblacks and butlers (metaphorically speaking) with the most powerful rentable military on the globe --not that there's anything wrong with that.

But I digress (though not far).

Palast, a reporter with balls --unlike the conservative sycophants at Fox News(ha!), blames the International Monetary Fund for garroting Argentina. He says the rope used "...is called a 'Technical Memorandum of Understanding' ... signed by Pedro Pou, president of the Central Bank of Argentina, for transmission to Horst Kohler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund." You can go here for his reasons.

As our columnist lays out the crime scene we can see that the plan to "save" the Argentinean economy put forth by the IMF, world bankers, and other global loan sharks lays the heaviest burden on the poor and middle class. But why does this sound so familiar? Because it is. In fact it's absolutely neoconservative and would not seem out of place in the Wall Street Journal.

But it hasn't been all gloom and doom according to Palast. He says, "... the IMF's scheme could work. All that is required is a 'flexible' work force, willing to bend to lower pensions, lower wages or no wages at all. But, to the dismay of Argentina's elite, the worker bees are proving inflexibly obstinate in agreeing to their own impoverishment. After Anibal Verón, a 37-year-old father of five, lost his job as a bus driver, with his company still owing him nine months' pay, he joined the 'piqueros', the angry unemployed who blockade roads. In clearing a blockade in November, the military police allegedly killed him with a bullet to the head."

Some might say, there but for the grace of god go I. And they'd be right. There but for the grace of god, the U.S.constitution, and George Bush losing the next election, go all working class Americans.

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