info@noutopia.com

George Bush:
I never had relations with that high-administration leaker.

Red-meat-eating kristallnacht conservatives?

A BuzzFlash reader's recent reflection on the "Vicious Right":

Barbara Bush saying if you come after her family you're dead. Kathleen Parker's column quoting someone saying that Democratic candidates should be lined up and shot. The wife of Maryland Governor saying Britney Spears should be shot. Pat Robertson saying the State Department should be nuked. Clear Channel DJs inciting drivers to pelt bicycle riders. Bill O'Reilly saying Peter Arnett should be shot. Ann Coulter saying liberals should be killed, and that it was too bad the terrorists didn't fly into the NYT building. John Derbyshire of the National Review implying that Chelsea Clinton should be killed.

Is it me or is there a pattern here? Just wondering.

A BuzzFlash Reader

 
HASN'T ANYONE IN THE ADMINISTRATION EVER HEARD OF JUJITSU?

HEADLINES

Other things we might be doing in the world if we weren't being so unilateral elsewhere

Eric Alterman steers us here today in Altercation:

"After a recent visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a delegation of human rights and peacekeeping experts today issued a report, 'Ending Congo's Nightmare: What the U.S. Can Do to Promote Peace in Central Africa,' that calls for an increased commitment to Congo by the Bush Administration."
John Shattuck, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and leader of the delegation, says "Since war began in Congo five years ago, more people have died there than in any one conflict since World War II. During the delegation's visit, they saw first-hand the progress and set-backs Congo is experiencing since a fragile truce was formed this past summer. The delegation also met with Congolese who told them of the ongoing atrocities of rape, murder and children being conscripted to fight against their will."

Yes there are other situations that demand the attention of a great superpower...

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Hasn't Anyone in the Administration Ever Heard of Jujitsu?

We can't pull out of Iraq! "One result could well be a re-Saddamed Sunni triangle. Baghdad would then become the arsenal of terrorism, importer and exporter of nukes, bioweapons and missiles. There is no way we can let that happen. Either we stay in Baghdad until Iraq becomes a unified democratic beacon of freedom to the Arab world — or we pull out too soon, thereby allowing terrorism to establish its main world sanctuary and its agents to come and get us."

This is William Safire's take on the situation in Iraq. It's a black and white take. But in nature there's no such thing as black and white. Look around and all you see is nuance.

We're targets in Iraq. Our soldiers are targets ... Americans running a Muslim nation... what did we expect flower petals and candy? According to many reports, even Iraqis who supported the invasion to overthrow Saddam want us gone. Isn't it possible that removing the target will eliminate a motivating factor for terrorists? Leaning back is not a coward's move. Hasn't anyone in the administration ever heard of Ju Jitsu?

What about doing something really courageous? How about turning over Iraq to a true coalition of other nations, committed to making the world a safer place. How about bringing together leaders of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish nations --unbiased men and women rather than politicos-- to do what we as prime targets, can never do alone: bring about a stable Iraq?

Pundit Safire suggests that owning up to the mess we've created will lead to a defeatist pullout. But what about a thoughtful pullout? A reasoned and thoughtful pullout doesn't have to be defeatist. That's just another example of black & white thinking. There are more possibilities than one or two in this world, Horatio, unless you're a raving sectarian --and my hope is there are many more non-raving sectarians than raving, because I'm afraid sectarians will always be with us.

Recently, Egyptian siamese twins joined at the head were successfully separated by an American medical team at an American hospital and, so far, are doing well. This is an example of a wholly different variety of American might. That grueling operation was an incredible humanitarian effort of a kind that just might counterbalance our negative image among Muslims, and much of the rest of the world for that matter. At least it might if were weren't also sitting in Baghdad behind barricades, occupying Iraq astride the world's largest oil reserve. It doesn't take a genius to add 10w30 and 10w30 together to sum up why the Oil Administration wants to keep on holding on.

But what if we had another vision of ourselves in the world? What if, because of this vision, the United States was seen not as The Great Satan but as the greatest humanitarian nation in history? And what if, at the same time, a coalition of other countries was rebuilding and reorganizing Iraq after we'd rid it of Saddam ...then voluntarily pulled out! What if we simply poured that $87 billion into international humanitarian causes rather than old-hat military ones? How about even half that amount? Impossible, you say? Who's being defeatist now?

The planet has endured the use of force as a major means of solving personal, religious, and international disputes for as long as our species can remember. But maybe the strongest, richest, and freest nation ever to have existed might be expected to change all that. Maybe this is our real mission. Maybe this is the meaning of our unique superpower moment in history. Or, to put it in increasingly popular fundamental religious jargon, maybe this is what God wants?



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It's the Voodoo Arithmetic, Stupid

There are now 16 more U.S. dead in Iraq due to the downing of a helicopter. But commentator Edward Luttwak says, "...the Bush administration's reaction ...on Sunday morning was the same as it was to the suicide bombings at police stations and the Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad a week earlier — and the same as it has been to every other setback the coalition has faced: insistence that there is no need for more American troops ...in Iraq.

Real Arithmetic (according to Luttwak):

Of Ultra-modern U.S. Troops deployed in Iraq:

Number in the support echelon: 133,000
Combat trained,available for security duty: 56,000
On patrol (while the rest sleep & eat): 28,000

28,000 to: oversee frontiers terrorists are trying to cross, to patrol rural terrain including vast oil fields, to control inter-city roads, and to protect American and coalition facilities, police the squares, streets and alleys of Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk....

Baghdad:

Population: 6,000,000
Mosul: 1,700,000
Kirkuk: 800,000
Fulluja (site of 15 recently killed troops): 250,000

(28,000 patrolling just those 8,750,000)

New York:
Number of cops in NY City alone: 39,000

"In fact, say Luttwak, "...American troops are now so thinly spread that they cannot reliably protect even themselves; the helicopter shot down on Sunday was taking off from an area that had not been secured, because doing so would have required hundreds of soldiers. For comparison, there are 39,000 police officers in New York City alone — and they at least know the languages of most of the inhabitants, few of whom are likely to be armed Baathist or Islamist fanatics."

Ummm. will someone please wake up the president?

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A Clash of Visions

Thomas Friedman (NY Times, today) sees a clash of visions in the present state of American-European relations. He says the German and French failure to pony up for Iraq runs deeper than simple disagreement over the issue of the war, and wonders about an end to "The West".

We need a West-West summit, he says.

"Just as we once had U.S.-Soviet summits to ease the tensions of the cold war, maybe it's time for a U.S.-French- German summit to ease the tensions of the post-cold war. Leaders of all three nations have behaved badly and have weakened the West, even if they have not ended it. It's time to chart a new Atlantic alliance, but not one that is based on nostalgia for 1945 — one that really bridges the differences between 1989 and 2001."

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." --Proverbs 29:18

On Bad Vision:

"Duck!" --NoUtopia


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Of Grand-Standing Pilot and Funerals

You might honestly wonder why George Bush, King Con, the shyster of the photo-op, the famous pilot-president in a codpiece, has not been showing up at the funerals of the fruits of war: dead American soldiers.

Because he knows there'll be cameras there. It's the politics, stupid. The man is up for re-election next year. Do you think he wants his face popping up all over the news standing next to flag-draped coffins?

He hasn't been to one even for the sake of symbolism. The cynicism of this man is beyond words.

"Those who go for the big con, who audaciously paint false pictures, think everyone else is stupid. They want to promote themselves based on the gullibility of others."

WEDNESDAY: 10/28/03

Salon Interview with Camille Paglia Oct. 29,2003 Talking 'bout: The war, Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Limbaugh, Madonna, Wesley Clark, John Kerry, Howard Dean, and blogs...

Paul Krugman

A Fable
by John Liechty

Once upon a time there was a place known as The Greatest Country In The World. This place had forgotten its true name. Grandparents had told children had told grandchildren had told great-grandchildren for so long now: “You live in The Greatest Country In The World (and incidentally that makes you The Greatest People In The World),” that the true name of the land had been lost.

Go here for the rest of the story.

Willful ignorance at the White House ... Paul Krugman strikes again.

Thanks Paul.



SUNDAY: 10/26/03

As my friend Harry Wash said, "Thank God for Krugman." Indeed. Paul Krugman is one commentator who has both the courage and the know-how to continually refute the Bush administration's lies and exaggerations about it's economic policy. In Bush Bizzarro World, up is down and minus is plus; in Krugman's world things add up.

But Paul Krugman is no Dick Cheney. He's willing to share info. In his Oct. 23 NY Times column he even offers free advice to Republicans.

Owing to the position on the war of the majority of leading Democrats Krugman says the only serious opposition to what's going on now in Iraq can come from Republicans. "...so they'd better get focused, " he says, "because there is nothing about the Bush team's performance in Iraq up to now that justifies a free pass."

We're hearing from the administration that things are going far better than what we're getting from media reports (someone tell Don Rumsfeld who's recently leaked memo suggests something different). Krugman disagrees.

Among his bones of contention:

Allowing Turkish troops into Iraq. What, are they nuts? he asks. Pretending we're in a mop-up operation. "Attacks on our forces are getting more deadly, not less. Besides those killed, we've had 900 wounded or maimed." Throwing out the babies with the Baath water. "I'm glad we banned the Baath Party, but the ban was not done right. It needed to be accompanied by a clear process for people who simply joined the Baath to secure government jobs, like school directors, to recant and be rehabilitated."

Read Krugman here.

Access to Paul Krugman's new book: The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century.

Read Russell Baker's review of the book.

And go here to read the Daily Howler's take on Russell Baker's review of Paul Krugman's new book (some astute observations of the news elite).

And go here to read my opinion of the Daily Howler's take on Russell Baker's review of Paul Krugman's new book..... no, no, just kidding.

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Have they found the Big One in Baghdad yet? Have they found evidence leading to the Big One even?

Nope.

"At Hussein's former palace complex in Abu Ghuraybush, lush by Baghdad standards with two small artificial lakes, frustrated members of the nuclear search team by late spring began calling themselves the "book of the month club," says a report in today's Washington Post.

" 'There's a lot of guys over there read more novels than they will the rest of their lives,' said a recently returned investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'You've got some bored people over there, big time.'

"Nuclear investigators had come with expectations set by Bush and Cheney, who gave rhetorical emphasis to Iraq's nuclear threat in their most compelling arguments for war. At least four times in the fall of 2002, the president and his advisers invoked the specter of a "mushroom cloud," and some of them, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, described Iraq's nuclear ambitions as a threat to the American homeland."

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Is Bush becoming a peacenik? This columnist from Pacific News Services says, maybe.

Franz Shurmann writes, "At the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group (APEC) meeting in Bangkok, when President Bush got the news that the North Koreans had launched a rocket over the Sea of Japan, his reaction was surprising. Instead of taking his usual hard-line against an "axis of evil" country, he proposed a compromise to get the nuclear talks going again between North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia."

As a consequence Iran suddenly changed it's tune about allowing international inspectors in.

Shurmann observes, "If Bush had taken his anticipated hard-line toward North Korea, it is unlikely the Iranians would have made their turnabout. Instead, it appears the three European foreign ministers visiting Tehran pointed to a changed approach to North Korea as proof that President Bush was moving onto the peace and conciliation road."

Some interesting speculation here about Bush getting rid of Cheney for the next election.

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Pants On Fire "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." --Thomas Jefferson

Tax Cut Info:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
CNN Money
Bush Pushes Cuts
The Great Tax Debate

Since late 2001 Nabors has used a Bermuda maildrop as its tax headquarters and a Barbados office as its legal headquarters but has its working headquarters in Houston. This operation is in New Iberia, La.

 SATURDAY: 10/18/03


Some of my readers think I'm too gloomy. I've been getting static to that effect. But I'm just calling it the way I see it --and I don't think I'm being rash. I'm checking my rage. And I'm comparing notes with others. So, if yelling "Fire!" when most of us are getting our eyebrows singed is being gloomy, I'm guilty. But I'm gloomy in good company. Others are yelling "Fire!" too, and they're people with a lot more intellectual capital than I have. To cop a political slogan, it's not me, "It's the situation, stupid". I'm just a regular guy somewhere in the middle of the heap availing myself of freedom of speech. Use it or loose it, is the way I look at it. But far be it from me to rain on the parade of anyone who's convinced themselves the sun's shining during a monsoon.

Maybe my critics have a point though. Maybe I should be more upbeat. The problem is, when I scour the scene for an upbeat angle, the only ones I see with anything to be upbeat about are comrades of the corporate class and their political consigliores. What with the declining job situation, the improbability of ever realizing universal health care, money being siphoned from public education, and the soldier sons and daughters of average Americans in Iraq being targets of people ticked off at the USA... well, from the perspective of working-class Americans there's not a lot to be perky about --unless you count reality TV and bloody movies.

However, for those hooked into the nodes of power with super-incomes enhanced by wealth-biased tax breaks, adopting an upbeat attitude is not so out-of-the-question. Therefore, in order to give those tired of my sniping at George Bush a break, I'm going to pretend to be a non-homeless, free-market-scion for a while. This way I can be very cheerful. For the next few paragraphs I promise to be positively perky. Just think of me as a dyed-in-the-wool corporate capitalist with nothing to worry about except making sure nothing gets regulated except the opportunity of the out-of-sync to catch a break ...that and George Bush remaining president (same thing).

Fade out ... Fade in ...

Hey, I got some great news today, the unemployment rate's up. Yay! Now I'll have fewer over-compensated saps to pay. The whiny jerks. If they just applied themselves they could be as well-heeled as I am. High unemployment is such a positive economic indicator, especially when coupled with the increased productivity of robots. Eventually I'll be able to run the whole operation myself. I can shut down six factories in South Carolina tomorrow and take the kit and kaboodle to Asia. Tough luck all you Nascar dads. While you're occupied going around in circles waiting for a wreck I've already caused one. I'm gone ...to Indonesia maybe, or Bali. Goodie, goodie, and goodby.

And can you believe my luck ...again? George Bush wants to give me another tax break! I can't thank the man enough. First one humongous cut, now this? He's so generous and thoughtful. And the man's so honest I know he'd never give my $200,000 contribution to his campaign a sidelong glance in any policy decisions. We're fortunate to have a president who cares so much about the bottomless wants of the really deep-pocketed. With the money I'm saving on taxes, I'll be able to live ten years on the interest alone (beyond the fifty years I can already live on interest alone). This is one great country!

Oh my god, it's raining cats and dogs of positivity! I just reeled in another no-bid contract to help rebuild Iraq. According to my crooked accountants I'll realize another hundred-million on this one. And without competition even. I was so blessed to have crossed paths with the
vice-president when I did. I have such amazing karma. Having Dick Cheney as a silent partner has been such a positive force in my life. The boon of our friendship since he assumed power with Georgie Porgie has been beyond measure ...literally ...too high to count ... but who's counting? It just goes to show what a little pluck and soft money can do.

NAFTA, NAFTA, NAFTA, you beautiful, gorgeous trade agreement you! You've made my day, week, year, life, ...whatever. I can now make legal cross-border raids (sort of wet-backing in reverse). Because of you sweet NAFTA, I have unrestrained access to the cheapest labor possible ...I can milk the little people dry of any sense of self respect, not to mention getting around those pesky nonsensical environmental regulations. God is so-o-o-o good. With these guys administering to me --Bush, Rove, Cheney, Wolfowitz (and let's not forget Bill Clinton's part in nifty NAFTA)-- it's as if the heavens opened and oozed manna. Hey! Jose, Manuel, set up that maypole there will ya', I want to dance deliriously around it broadcasting fistfuls of those new twenty dollar bills ..catch 'em if you can.

Finally, as if life wasn't fat enough, God went ahead and invented offshore accounts in a glorious pact with Lucifer. He did it just for me. Ah, the transcendent beauty of the world. With offshore accounts the system reaches an apotheosis of perfection. With accounts in the Bahamas I can dodge taxes with the grace and alacrity of Tinkerbell flitting around flinging fairydust into my investment portfolio. Heaven knows there's no reason for me to be paying for the civic well-being of Joe Budwieser and his horde. Or latte Larry, for that matter. What'd they ever do for me? Let's keep fiscal policy fair for chrissakes. Oh, wonderful providence... I'm so deservedly priviledged. I'm so happy, happy, happy.

And so it goes. Are we getting the big picture yet? Don't worry, be happy. Cheer up. Grin and bear it, dude.

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"When the people fear the government, you have tyranny. When the government fears the people, you have freedom." --Thomas Paine

The jobs problem is a doozy. On the one hand, the economy has actually been growing since the end of 2001.
....But businesses aren't acting like that's the case - at least they're not hiring like it. Instead, they're paring payrolls to the bone and making up the difference by working smarter, outsourcing or "off-shoring" - shifting work to lower-wage countries such as China. --Andrew Cassel, Philly.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- George W. Bush's race for the presidency made a brief pit stop in the world of car racing Saturday night, as he came here to shake hands with NASCAR fans, racing crews and drivers -- people he said "work for a living."

Nafta Info:
Public Citizen
Economic Policy Institute

Shelter From the (Tax) Storm, and Having it Both Ways

We institute governments (among other things) to protect the people from the narrow interests of one group or individual against another's. This is what Law is all about. But some will forever try to circumvent the general interest for their own narrow one. We owe this to human nature.

One group who operates against the general interest is the club of off-shore tax dodgers. An example of it's operation can be found here.

As this story in today's NY Times by David Johnston tells it, "A big oil-well drilling company that has used one law to escape American taxes by taking addresses in Bermuda and Barbados is now trying to use another law to qualify for business open only to American companies.

"Nabor Industries is the nation's largest operator of oil-well drilling rigs and has its working headquarters in Houston. But since late 2001 the company has used a Bermuda mail drop as its tax headquarters and a Barbados office as its legal headquarters."

Where's government when you need it?

I hope it's not where the sun don't shine (it's head up some narrow free-market ideology). And maybe not completely:

Representative Gene Taylor, Democrat of Mississippi, said he was "angry that a company that became foreign so it would not have to pay taxes still gets all the benefits the taxpayers provide, with the Coast Guard to rescue their ships if they get in trouble and the Navy Seals if they are attacked by terrorists.

"They have an advantage against companies that pay taxes."

Last year Nabors paid 7 cents in taxes out of each dollar of profit.

Abuse, in this case thy name is Nabors.

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ARMY GENERAL SAW SATAN HOVERING OVER MOGADISHU

No, this is not a headline from The Enquirer, The Globe, or The Star this is the honest-to-god belief of a U.S. Army General.

"Pointing to a dark shadow on several photographs he shot of Mogadishu's skyline from a helicopter shortly after 18 Americans were killed in the "Black Hawk Down" debacle, Army Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin assured the congregation that, indeed, they were witnessing the faint outline of Satan hovering over Somalia.

"It is a demonic presence in that city that God revealed to me as the enemy," he said.

This same general was recently awarded another star by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who put Boykin in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Boykin's official title is deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, which sounds like a contradiction in terms to me.

One of general Boykin's eyebrow and hair-raising opinions is that "George Bush was not elected by a majority of voters in the United States. He was appointed by God." Now, while this marginal-fanatic with stars got the first part right (the part about Bush not being elected), we who are less credulous can only pray he was way off on the second.

Go here to find out why the country may be headed for hell.

Comments by the Interfaith Alliance here.
Rummy defends the general here.

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Some remarks by the holy General