On false prophets

I am not a religious person and I don't attend church.

But that doesn't mean I don't try to at least understand a little bit about it for curiosity's sake.

One thing I have been trying to understand are prophets (ones that hear divinely inspired revelations). How would one know whether a prophet were truly a prophet, a deceiver, or one deceived?

If I announce to the world that I can speak with animals ala Dr. Doolittle then I imagine there would be more than a few skeptical of my claim. But, suppose that my claim was truthful and you stood in disbelief.

Perhaps I might convince you of the validity of my claim by interviewing animals of your choice and asking them questions of your choice. Perhaps you and your dog are sole possessors of the details of a quail hunting trip and if I extracted such details you would be swayed.

Both your skepticism and my persuasion seem necessary to turn you into a true believer of my claims. I think that is as it should be.

When it comes to a prophet should we not subject them to the same test? Shouldn't they be called upon to speak with God and ask Him questions on our behalf before we believe their claims?

If God is the Creator and he watches over me and knows all that I do, then one speaking on his behalf ought to be able to correctly answer any question I pose, including things only God and I know the answer to.

At least we could convince ourselves that such a person had access to supernatural knowledge.

Next, I should think, we ought to try to discover if the prophet is an instrument of Satan (whom I presume can trick the prophet into unwitting support).

I am less clear on how to detect a deceived prophet. Perhaps the fruits of his tree (the results of his actions) would have to be examined to see if they promoted harm or not.

But, it seems to me that there is a danger of playing for the wrong team when prophets are accepted without skepticism, which is to say accepted "on faith".

Reason seems necessary to disambiguate a false prophet from a true prophet.

Perhaps that is why we are living in an age of intellectual haters?

Perhaps that is why our good war is being waged behind a curtain?

Coasties

The Coast Guard was one of the few stellar examples of competence in the wake of hurricane Katrina. This competence seems to have been the result of ignoring the instructions of the bureaucratic self-congratulators appointed by president Bush. They simply saw Americans were stranded by mother nature and abandoned by cronyism and helped them, consequences be damned.

That's what I call leadership to be proud of.

I mention this because the folks over at the Coast Guard do not like the Dubai ports deal and are saying so. Their judgment was better than Bush's in our last crisis and I'd assume cast my lot with them this time too:

Intelligence gaps limited ports deal threat assessment

Perhaps a solution to the problem is to say that only NATO members will be considered appropriate buyers of our national security infrastructure.

Extravagant delusion

I have been know to complain about US mainstream media because they seem to have become something other than objective truth tellers. There are things that are True and there is balance, but Truth should not be subservient to balance.

But...

I have yet to watch a nightly news broadcast that espouses that the cartoon Tom and Jerry was a cunning propaganda campaign of the Jews, or that Walt Disney himself was an anti-Semite:


Iranian news

I worry our press is becoming like Iran's (perhaps because Americans are becoming like Iranians) but I see that our press has a long way to go yet.

Bush’s Poor Leadership in Terror War

It is too bad that many news outlets took the first five years of George W. Bush's presidency off. If they hadn't we might be led in our time of need by John Kerry and John Edwards, rather than the bumbling, tumbling, jumbling, fumbling, flops we have now.

Sour grapes on my part?

Perhaps.

However, it is good to see the mainstream press exhibit awareness of the fact that Republican leadership has been corrupt, wrong, or incompetent at a time when it needed to be a trustworthy servant of the public interest.

And it is pleasant, I admit, to see a major publication like Newsweek open up a can of whoop-ass on George "Mission Accomplished" Bush's distinguished record of failure.

Hirsh Bomb

While I'm at it I should also like to point out this piece by Paul Krugman, which explains the port fiasco by charging that the president is this time a victim of his own fearmongering.

The harvest of sown fear

Now if the press can focus their attention on one Mr. Murtha, while simultaneously calling for impeachment of the Bush administration we might turn this country around.

Guantanamo is dishonorable

While I conceed that war is by necessity a dishonest undertaking, there are honest allies and I think the US should strive to be one.

While I conceed that wars are evil by nature I do not conceed that they are of necessity dishonorably fought, and I believe that to torture or murder detainees under any circumstances is dishonorable. It may be necessary in extremely limited situations (aka the credible ticking-bomb scenario), but it remains a dishonorable act even then and should not be engaged casually.

While I conceed that civilians always die in war zones I do not accept the death of innocents as Just, and not even in necessary or unavoidable situations. The fire-bombing of Dresden or the nuclear annihilation of Hiroshima may have been necessary, but they were not Just acts.

Good does not harm.

But people are not very good by their natures and seldom improved much with the application of nurtures. The best that we can hope for seems to be to resist our inner temptations to perform evil acts using virtue ethics to guide us. That is, to act "as if" we loved our neighbors seems like our challenge.

I find myself wondering today why so many otherwise decent Americans don't seem to care that their government tortures other human beings.

I know that our allies do not dismiss the Geneva conventions as "quaint". Here is an editorial that appeared in the Toronto Star:

Free U.S. Captives or Charge Them

George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice and their ilk are torture-apologists and seem irredeemably corrupt.

Why don't we care enough to stop them?

Imagine

John Lennon called on us to imagine a world where all the people were living life in peace. He claimed it was easy if we tried.

I have been trying but it ain't easy to picture at all.

Perhaps this is because the first president I remember as a wee lad is Richard Millhouse Nixon.

Perhaps this is because my favorite president, Jimmy Carter, was a one termer and vilified.

I wonder what a world would look like without possessions and everyone was living for today.

So far, I can't do it.

Perhaps the way to go about this is to imagine my own behavior in an ideal world (my ideal of course), then extrapolate that behavior into societal behavior and see what happens.

My ideal people are:

Jesus Christ
Mohandas Ghandi
Martin Luther King
Hopi chieftain Dan Evehama
Dr. Paul Farmer
Johnny Cash?

What would the world look like if it were made up of people that loved their neighbors?

Can you imagine it?

I can't.

All the people sharing?!?

The closest I've encountered to this ideal is the aftermath of the Tsunami.

We used our armies to help people.
We used our voices to comfort them.
We used our money to feed them.

It didn't last.

Why?

I wish I knew.

More cowering

In its continuing effort to fight the truth wherever it is found on American soil the Bush administration is now seeking authority to jail reporters that pass classified information to "persons not entitled to receive it" (i.e. their readers).


The Washington Monthly

America under Bush continues to become less free, more pathetic, less brave, and more cowardly. At a time when our enemies challenge our free speech rights should our president pander to their wishes?

Our Constitution, our very freedoms, demand Courage. It is a mistake to cower in fear against these threats.

It is George Bush's largest misconception about American power.

Freedom isn't free, but neither is it weak.
Freedom is not subservient by definition.

'President's gone insane' - 9/11 dad

Here comes another chop from lifelong Republicon Peter Gadiel:

President's gone insane

"Gone?", sez I.

60 minutes on 12 cartoons

60 Minutes did a piece on Denmark's cartoon controversy that was quite good.

Here's a link:

Muslim Outrage

Chop chop

There were two voices recently raised against the methods of George W. Bush which are further evidence of conservative dissatisfaction with today's Republicon party.

The first protestation comes from columnist George Will who tells us why he thinks the president's case for wiretapping without warrant is unwarranted:

Faithfully execute the laws


The second protestation is much more robust and comes from Reagan-era conservative Bruce Bartlett. He wrote a book whose title is "Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy".

Here is a short review of the book:

Kevin Drum enjoys it

And here is a link where you may purchase a copy (I hear they make nice presents for conservative Republicans).

Amazon Hardcover

Who but Bush dead-enders on Fox News are left to support Mr. Bush in Baghdad-Bob-like desperation?

ACLU Ad

The ACLU has put together a powerful ad highlighting what total invasion of privacy looks like:

I became a card-carrying member recently and was surprised to see that a cheesy cardboard cutout was their idea of a "card". I did what I could to take pride in carrying it, but confess it was a letdown.

This ad made me card-proud.

Invasion Pizza

Be a matador

Even if you accept that the jihadis must be stopped in order to preserve America for future generations, it should still be admitted that George Bush has us making war on the wind.

Are we to simply thrash around incompetently while getting angrier and angrier?

That is the strategy by which the bull makes war on the matador.

Are we at war with all Arabs?

Are we at war with all Muslims?

Who are we at war with?

Isn't that a rather important question left twisting in the wind?

America needs to stop lashing out at red flags.

What America needs now is leadership that is intelligent, focused, disciplined, and tough (in that order).

You know what happens to the bull.

Little cat feet

If it is true that the truth sets us free, then what does a "crackdown on truth-tellers (aka whistleblowers)" make us other than less truthful and less free?


Insight

What kind of American intelligence officer spies on Americans and hunts the truthful among his fellows?

An enemy of Truth and therefore of Justice too?

We used to ridicule the Russians for their yes-men and their service to falsehood. Now look at what we have become.

ADDENDUM:

I think that what the Bush administration fails to realize is that the Truth is we Americans have a lifestyle worth fighting for and worth defending upon its merits, or that is, its Truth.

To seek to keep the Truth from Americans at a time of war is to suppress the will to fight.

That's a daft thing to do.

Sam Harris on Islam

Is it true that, "Muslim extremism is not extreme among Muslims"?

Is it true that, "Mainstream Islam itself represents an extremist rejection of intellectual honesty, gender equality, secular politics and genuine pluralism"?

I hope not, but in this article Sam Harris argues exactly that:

The Reality of Islam

Cheney, man in black

Johnny Cash fans will get a kick out of the juxtaposition of Dick Cheney live in Folsom prison.

This satire contains coarse language and I am fairly certain it is decidedly politically incorrect:


Stuck in Corpus Christi

Valerie Plame

Was Valerie Plame working on Iranian WMD proliferation before she was betrayed by the Bush administration?

Why, yes she was...

Is there any connection between her betrayal and the top secret information Ahmed Chalabi passed to the Iranians?

It seems likely

Is high treason in service to a war wish to be excused by partisanship?

Toleration

I have been thinking about the cartoon controversy flaring up around the world and it seems to pose a few questions.

What is the result when everyone tolerates free speech?

Freedom of speech for all.

What is the result when everyone tolerates the free speech of the intolerant?

Violence followed by the spread of intolerance. In other words, freedom of speech for the intolerant alone.

So, what is the proper response of advocates of democracy (civil society) in the face of the intolerant?

To defend free speech against the intolerant, since tolerance demands intolerance of intolerance.

Why, then, haven't American papers supported the Danish cartoonists in the same fashion as European papers?

Why should anybody appease those spreading intolerance by claiming the cartoonists were unreasonable?

What can we gain by tolerating intolerance?

Somebody pinch me

After the Iraq war has outlasted our involvement in WWII, and after 2400 US soldiers have been killed, and after 400 billion dollars have been spent, it is apparently still inappropriate for Hillary Clinton to be upset at the way things are going in Iraq and not going for Osama bin Laden.

How long must we wait?
How long must we hesitate?
Until it's too late?
Until it's 2000 and 8?

We all know how refined, polite, and genteel conservatives are when someone does something they don't like. It is such a pity, such a crying shame for the state of public discourse, that democrats cannot hold themselves up to the same high standards of politeness as Tom Delay, Rush Limbaugh, Jack Abramoff, Dick Cheney, and Anne Coulter.

Is that what I'm hearing?

Bullshit!

I don't know what raised Hillary's hackles at long last, but thank God a prominent democrat is going to smarten up and follow John Murtha's example. Hopefully she'll show as much meaningful tenacity and honorable dissent as Mr. Murtha too.

Hillary Clinton blasts Bush on war

She's too angry?

She isn't angry enough I sez!

Our troops in Iraq need leadership of the type absent from the president. This is not a game they're playing in Iraq. People are shooting real bullets at them.

I'd rather have president Bush blow up every day over rhetorical explosive devices than lose more of our troops to actual ones. An American politician needs to answer for the results of his decisions whether he is president or county water commissioner. That's what makes America "Greeeeeeat!".

Go get him Hillary.
About time.

Cheney's Got A Gun

When the vice president shoots a 78 year old man in the face it is "unbelievably easy" for someone like Jon Stewart to do his work.

How easy?

"The kind of easy that makes you want to return your paycheck."

This clip comes in two parts, commentary and analysis. The commentary is terrific but the analysis rises to the level of greatness.


Quail of a good time

Enjoy.

To the point

This article by John Atcheson fingers el presidente Bush for his illegal spying on Americans. It is how I wish Democrats would speak when they spoke about the issue. It is how I wish the mainstream media would address the issue.

This is a grab for power by one unable to check his lust for it. This is another lie by a man that has lied repeatedly, broadly, demonstrably, and without shame, to get what he wants, which in this case is power.


Ours to Give, Not His to Take

When the president doesn't have to subject to the rule of law, then why should I?

When the Attorney General doesn't have to swear an oath to testify, then why should I?

When the president doesn't have to tell the truth, then why should I?

It is time for democrats, the party of Justice, to defend what is left of the rule of law before all we have is the rule of men.

Perhaps the play's the thing wherein you'll catch the king?

Cheney shoots hunter

Vice President Dick Cheney, while out quail hunting, shot a fellow hunter in the face.

With stories like this I feel so bad for the satire industry. Their efforts seem so pale and unimaginative compared to the ridiculous true achievements of the Bush administration.

Cheney shoots Whittington

Perhaps Mr. Cheney ought to consider taking a hunter safety refresher course?

Dammed if you do

I think the strongest argument against Republicon (i.e. neocon) policy decisions are the results they secure.

Osama is still free.
Our Mission is decidedly not Accomplished in Iraq.
Nuclear weapons are proliferating in Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran.
Our coalition of allies keeps shrinking.
Americans are now being spied upon by other Americans.

Now we may add that Iran is making threats to seal off middle-eastern oil exports if the UN intervenes to stop their nuclear program.

Iran making threats

Those that take the time to measure outcome against bravado cannot fail to notice a discrepancy.

BIG NEWS: White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of Storm

I am told that some Americans exist that hold president Bush in high regard.

After this story gets out I expect we ought to send teams of sociologists and biologists to study them because they may be threatened with extinction.

Do you remember that when New Orleans was being turned from a city surrounded by a swamp into a swamp surrounded by a city that President Bush was playing a guitar at a fundraiser?

Here is a picture: See here


Do you remember how glad he seemed that New Orleans had "dodged a bullet"?

Do you remember how the director of Homeland Security, Boris Karloff or Michael Chertoff (I forget which worked for Hollywood), was at a conference in Atlanta?

How do you think even Bush dead-enders will feel when it is realized that news of the levee break had "reached the Homeland Security Department's headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight"?

This means, you see, that...

The whitehouse knew the levee broke 14 hours before president Bush played guitar in the land of make believe. You know how important those fundraisers are!

This means, you see, that...

The director of Homeland Security knew the levee broke the night before he went to a conference in Atlanta on avaian flu. You know how important those conferences are!

FYI from FEMA

I know our president is a liar.
I know our president is incompetent.
But, I didn't expect he'd piddle around while Americans drowned.

That's unforgivable.
It's time to impeach this bum.

Harold Von Schmidt, 1944 

We are all Danes now

Well this has been a pretty good week for righteous indignation, particularly for passions inflamed in ignorance.

Many Americans are positively patriotic all of a sudden about the right of a Danish paper to print cartoons which the bulk of them haven't seen, whereas they cheered when Cindy Sheehan was tossed from the State of the Union address for wearing a t-shirt with a message on it.

Go figure.

At least I shall do my part to insure the indignation doesn't continue to be ignorant indignation by providing this link to the offending cartoons (viva la internet):

Muhammad Cartoons


Here is an editorial by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe that takes American papers to task for failing to defend freedom of speech in the wake of the Muslim indignation. It has been a long time since I have seen freedom of speech in particular, or the Constitution in general, vigorously defended in print.

Somebody pinch me.


We are all Danes now

I suppose this should be taken as a direct challenge to editors of the Boston Globe to reprint the Danish cartoons or risk looking like fools.

Speaking of which, four New York editors resigned because their publisher refused to reprint the offending cartoons for fear of offending the offended:

Quitting before cowering

In other righteous indignation news...

Conservatives are once again complaining about the way a funeral for an ally of the poor failed to generate favorable press for themselves. The insolence! The impudence! The horrible display of manners!

Boo hoo.

Of course most of this righteous indignation is also inflamed in ignorance since many have not seen the footage of Coretta Scott King's funeral. That too is easily remedied. Here is a link:

Compassionate Conservative has no clothes

What a week!

Maybe now the Iranian president ought to say something really stupid and Paul O'Reilly can say something inflammatory in response.

How the hell did human beings manage to keep from killing each other this long?

Something I enjoy

I enjoy knowing that Franklin Roosevelt had the following words of John Adams (offered in prayer on November 2, 1800) inscribed above the fireplace in the State Dining Room of the Whitehouse in 1934:

"I pray Heaven bestow the best of blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."

I am curious to know if there are snickers whenever visiting dignitaries are seated for a meal with Mr. Bush.

Don't hurry. Be happy

It took me a little while to understand that when Aristotle said, "A wise man is never in a hurry" he wasn't talking about acting quickly. To be "in a hurry" is a state of mind akin to panic and leads to unnecessary errors while providing no benefit. It is better to face problems calmly and tackle them without hurrying. This can be most clearly seen (watched) in the better athletes. Study their calmness, their focus, their ability to take more time with the ball/puck/pigskin than their teammates. Think about Michael Jordan's calm demeanor, or how athletes lose their edge when an opponent "takes them off their game".

It has taken me a little while longer to understand that tyranny is as much a state of mind as hurrying. If you think you aren't free (even when you are) then you are not free because such a conclusion will prevent you from organizing, from acting, from speaking, or from enjoying happiness. If you think you are free (even when you aren't) then you will not censor your actions to suit external forces and are thus free indeed. People given free reign in a tyrannical state, however, might still be no good.

The best case scenario is to think yourself free, and to indeed be free, which is why our Constitution adamantly protects the qualities of the free mind.

We are not free from desires, we are not free from our emotions, but we are free when we think and act in opposition to them. Similarly, we are not free from external desires (unless we live alone), and we are not free from external emotions (dogma), but we are free when we can think and act in opposition to them.

Freedom is a rational decision not to accept tyranny, and what is tyranny but authority masquerading as Truth. It is this Truth that frees.

The one that got away

The more I learn about John Edwards the more I harbor the distinct feeling that he is "the one that got away".

I understand that he's young.

I understand he talks in that condescending style (which I personally cannot stand).

I understand that he has a lawyers smile.

But, he is a tireless advocate for people less fortunate, and if you believe the Bible fighting poverty makes Jesus happy.

If you take the time to read "The America We Believe In" perhaps you will wind up feeling as I do. That here is the man we should have elected, not Bush.

We all know there are two Americas.

But do we know how bad it is for, say, those claiming an Earned Income Tax Credit?

John does.

And he has simple effective ideas to turn things around, which he calls a "working society".


The America We Believe In

Cindy Sheehan: What Really Happened

Cindy Sheehan was arrested during our dear leaders dear discourse on the State of the Union. She was arrested for being a "protestor". She was a "protestor" because she wore a shirt that said, "2245 Dead. How many more?".


Cindy Sheehan's Side Of the Story

Is this America worth defending?

What happened to "the land of the free and the home of the brave"?

What happened to "live free or die"?

What happened to "Give me liberty or give me death"?

What happened to "Freedom isn't free"?

How did America become so unworthy a standard-bearer for liberty?

How do we restore what has been lost?

America without liberty, America without freedom, America without bravery might be George Bush's America but it isn't mine. 'Tis nothing but an unfertile seed.

I think Bush's America the paranoid, America the fearful, America the totalitarian is doomed to failure because it promotes control over competence, and fear over hope, and power over ideas.

When are we going to have courage again?

When are we going to reclaim our pride in our freedoms and view them as strengths?

When are we going to be glad that an American citizen can sit in the same room as the president of the United States and respectfully dissent?

If we give up these things why should we bother to defend ourselves against our enemies since they represent our worth?

What land will our troops come home to?

When are we going to realize that toleration, liberty, education, and freedom are necessary to scientific advancement and therefore military strength? That to expect to forgo the former and maintain the latter is to be near a painful wisdom?

What is wrong with our Congressmen that an American citizen can be hauled away in their midst and they should not only tolerate it but stay and cheerlead the one most responsible for it?

This type of thing is a symptom of a disease that is afflicting what America means, and consequently what it means to be an American.

Think of the fearlessness of Lady Liberty as she stands on Ellis Island, breaking chains of oppression and holding her flame of liberty high above her head so that all the world can see it.

She does not cower.

She does not tremble.

She does not hide in a bunker.

The big lie

Is it human nature to disbelieve that which you don't wish to believe?

It strikes me that this is so, because even now many Americans obstinately persist in their delusions that the war in Iraq is somehow justified by 911.

Doesn't it annoy anyone else that lots of our troops signed up to "focus their fury" on Osama after 911 but wound up diverted to Iraq?

Don't we betray their courage and abuse their trust by sending them after the wrong villain?

Is that why so many are not reenlisting?

Or, is that because every reason we were given to attack Iraq was a bald-faced, calculated, disingenuous, self-serving lie.

Bush told Blair we're going to war, memo reveals

If you do not maintain your honor then you cannot maintain your morale. You do not promote morale by shouting-down the whistle blowers, you promote morale by keeping the honor clean of the US marine.

Frankly president Bush disgusts me. The nation united after 911 as I had never seen and he used it as an opportunity to advance a personal agenda.

I can't believe he was reelected.

I guess I answered my own question.

All we need?

It seems to me that most problems can by solved by Love, even those problems that currently seem most intractable.

For instance, it seems inarguably true that if the Palestinians loved the Israelis and the Israelis loved the Palestinians that neither side in that conflict would be capable of perpetuating violence against the other.

If people loved unilaterally, then how could racism be possible?

Why is it, then, that Love itself is never seriously considered as a solution to a conflict?

Is it because we cannot carpet bomb an enemy with love?

Is it because we cannot fashion an atomic compassion?

Philosophers have studied love for ages and many seem to tell us that the pathway to love is to imitate love via the great virtues. That is, to practice prudence and temperance and courage and justice and generosity and compassion and mercy and gratitude and humility and simplicity and tolerance and purity and gentleness and good faith and humor is to practice the causes of love and therefore it leads one to it.

Shall we drop Spinoza's Ethics, an improving book in Jeeves parlance, on humanity?

Jesus, when asked, said you must feed your enemy. I like to joke that the words "to the lions" were the rest of the sentence and somehow lost to history.

But, is there wisdom in that viewpoint that we should feed our enemies?

Doesn't desperation spread fanaticism? Isn't it true that when a society practices social uplift and generates a large middle-class and keeps economic inequality in check that strife decreases?

Wasn't that the case under Bill Clinton?

What makes hatred so easy and love so difficult?

I am happiest when I am in love and I assume the same holds true for others.

Why then don't we allow love to direct our actions more often?

Why have we organized our economies and societies in such a way that hate and haters are vigorously spreading?

A Devil's delight, a clash of cultures, a ball for barbarians, an awful Armageddon seems headed our way and Love looks like the most effective defense.

How do we nourish it before it's too late?

This is great!

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio is the new Majority Leader in the House of Representatives:

Introducing John


This means I now get to say "Bush", "Dick", and "Boehner" all the time, as in:

Three guys walked into a bar,

Bush,
Dick,
and Boehner.

Bush said, "Hey Dick, I really think I'm going to like working with this Boehner."

Things like this make me think that if there is a God he has a hell of a sense of humor.

Boehner.

Ha ha.

Turd Blossom.

Too much.

Who's next, Senate majority leader Mike Hunt?

A press secretary named Ben Dover?

I can't wait for the comedians to get a hold of this Boehner.

Snicker.

Amen Mr. Murtha

It doesn't pay to piss off a tenacious man like Mr. Murtha. Here is his latest missive, which I reproduce in its entirety and take the time to highlight a particularly jaw-dropping section.

Also I would like to say thank you to Mr. Murtha for sticking up for our troops and ask other democrats to wake up and follow his lead.


Wednesday February 1, 2006
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500


Dear Mr. President,

This March will mark the beginning of the 4th year of the war in Iraq. In contrast, U.S. involvement in WWI came to an end after 19 months. Victory in Europe was declared in WWII after 3 years 5 months. In the Korean War, a cease-fire was signed after 3 years and 1 month. But after more than three and a half years into the war in Iraq, your administration finally produced what is called a "Plan for Victory" in Iraq.

Iraq is not the center for the global war on terrorism. I believe Iraq has diverted our attention away from the fight against global terrorism and has depleted the required resources needed to wage an effective war. It is estimated that there are only about 750 to 1,000 al-Qaeda in Iraq. I believe the Iraqis will force them out or kill them after U.S. troops are gone. In fact, there is now evidence that Iraqi insurgent groups are increasingly turning against al-Qaeda and other foreign terrorists.

Our country needs a vigorous and comprehensive strategy for victory against global terrorism. The architect of 9/11 is still out there but now has an international microphone. We must get back to the real issue at hand - we have to root out and destroy al-Qaeda's worldwide network.

There are 4 key elements that I recommend to reinvigorate our global anti-terrorism effort: Redeploy, Replace, Reallocate, and Reconstitute.

Redeploy

The war in Iraq is fueling terrorism, not eliminating it. Our continued military presence feeds the strong anti-foreigner fervor that has existed in this part of the world for centuries. A vast majority of the Iraqi people now view American troops as occupiers, not liberators. Over 80% of Iraqis want U.S. forces to leave Iraq and 47% think it is justified to attack Americans. 70% of Iraqis favor a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces, with half favoring a withdrawal in the next six months. In fact, 67% of Iraqis expect day-to-day security for Iraqi citizens will improve if U.S. forces withdraw in six months and over 60% believe violent attacks, including those that are ethnically motivated, will decrease. Our military presence is the single most important reason why the Iraqis have tolerated the foreign terrorists, who account for less than 7 percent of the insurgency. 93% of the insurgency is made up of Iraqis. Once our troops are re-deployed, the Iraqis will reject the terrorists and deny them a safe haven in Iraq. The Iraqis are against a foreign presence in Iraq of any kind.

The steadfast and valiant efforts of the United States military and coalition partners have provided the Iraqi people with the framework needed to self govern. The Iraqis held elections that have been touted as highly successful, based primarily on the accounts of Iraqis who went to the polls. But our continued military presence in Iraq, regardless of the motives behind it, is seen by Iraqis as interfering in Iraq's democratic process and undercuts the chances for the newly elected government to be successful. Recently, Iraq's National Security Adviser accused U.S. negotiators of going behind the back of the Iraqi government on talks with insurgents, saying the process could encourage more violence. He said, "Americans are making a huge and fatal mistake in their policy for appeasement and they should not do this. They should leave the Iraqi government to deal with it... The United States should allow the new Iraqi government to decide on how to quell the insurgency."

In December 2005, an ABC News poll in Iraq produced some noteworthy results. 57% of Iraqis identified national security as the country's top priority. When asked to rate the confidence in public institutions, they gave Iraqi police a 68% confidence level, the Iraqi army 67%, religious leaders 67%. But the U.S./U.K. forces scored the lowest, a mere 18%.

The longer our military stays in Iraq, the more unwelcome we will be. We will be increasingly entangled in an open-ended nation building mission, one that our military can not accomplish amidst a civil war. Our troops will continue to be the targets of Iraqis who see them as interfering occupiers.

Redeploying our forces from Iraq and stationing a mobile force outside of the country removes a major antagonizing factor. I believe we will see a swift demise of foreign terrorist groups in Iraq if we redeploy outside of the country. Further, our troops will no longer be the targets of bloody attacks.


Replace

The ever-changing justifications of the war in Iraq, combined with tragic missteps, have resulted in a worldwide collapse of support for U.S. policies in Iraq.

The credibility of the United States of America will not be restored if we continue down the path of saying one thing and doing another. We must not lower our standards and tactics to those of the terrorists. In order to keep our homeland secure, we must hold true to the values that molded our American democracy, even in the face of adversity. Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, said it best during a speech in March 2004 to the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies: "America knows we cannot seek a double standard. And, America knows we get what we give. And so we must and will always be careful to respect people's privacy, civil liberties and reputations. To suggest that there is a tradeoff between security and individual freedoms -- that we must discard one protection for the other -- is a false choice. You do not defend liberty to forsake it."

Restoring the world's confidence in America as a competent and morally superior world leader is essential to winning the war on global terrorism.

A recent pubic opinion poll, conducted jointly with Zogby International and taken in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, found that 81% said the war in Iraq had brought less peace to the Middle East. A majority of the respondents said they view the United States as the biggest threat to their nations.

Mr. President, I believe in order to restore our credibility, you must hold accountable those responsible for so many missteps and install a fresh team that demonstrates true diplomatic skill, knowledge of cultural differences and a willingness to earnestly engage other leaders in a respectful and constructive way. This would do much to reinvigorate international participation in a truly effective war on global terrorism.

Reallocate

The Department of Defense has been allocated $238 billion for the war in Iraq, with average monthly costs growing significantly since the beginning of the war. In 2003 the average monthly war cost was $4.4 billion; by 2005 the average monthly cost had reached $6.1 billion.

Despite the urgent homeland security needs of our country, the bipartisan 9/11 Commission issued a dismal report card on the efforts to improve our counter-terrorist defenses. Even the most basic of recommendations, such as the coordination of fire and police communication lines, still have not been accomplished.

In the face of threats from international terrorists, we need to reallocate funds from the war in Iraq to protecting the United States against attack. A safe and swift redeployment from Iraq will allow us to do just that.


Reconstitute

The U.S. army is the smallest it's been since 1941. It is highly capable. But this drawn out conflict has put tremendous stress on our military, particularly on our Army and Marine Corps, whose operations tempo has increased substantially since 9/11.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report in November 2005 addressing the challenges of military personnel recruitment and retention and noted that the Department of Defense had been unable to fill over 112,000 positions in critical occupational specialties. This shortfall includes intelligence analysts, special forces, interpreters, and demolition experts-- those on whom we rely so heavily in today's asymmetric battlefield.

Some of our troops have been deployed four times over the last three years. Enlistment for the regular forces as well as the guard and reserves are well below recruitment goals. In 2005, the Army missed its recruitment goal for the first time since 1999, even after offering enlistment bonuses and incentives, lowering its monthly goals, and lowering its recruitment standards. As Retired Army officer Andrew Krepinevich recently warned in a report to the Pentagon, the Army is "in a race against time" to adjust to the demands of war "or risk 'breaking' the force in the form of a catastrophic decline" in recruitment and re-enlistment.

The harsh environment in which we are operating our equipment in Iraq, combined with the equipment usage rate (ten times greater than peacetime levels) is taking a heavy toll on our ground equipment. It is currently estimated that $50 billion will be required to refurbish this equipment.

Further, in its response to Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard realized that it had over $1.3 billion in equipment shortfalls. This has created a tremendous burden on non-deployed guard units, on whom this country depends so heavily to respond to domestic disasters and possible terrorist attacks. Without relief, Army Guard units will face growing equipment shortages and challenges in regaining operational readiness for future missions at home and overseas.

Since 9/11, Congress has appropriated about $334 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while the insurgents have spent hundreds of thousands. We have seen reports estimating that the total cost of the wars may reach as high as $1 trillion. These estimates are said to include such costs as providing long-term disability benefits and care for injured service members. It is estimated today that over 16,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iraq, 10,481 of whom have been wounded by "weaponry explosive devices."

But while war costs continue to climb, cuts are being made to the defense budget. As soon as the war is over there will be pressure to cut even more. This year, even while we are at war, 8 billion dollars was cut from the base defense spending bill. You ordered another $32 billion in cuts to the defense budget over the next five years, with $11.6 billion coming from the Army. The Pentagon told Congress only last year that it needed 77 combat brigades to fulfill its missions, but now insists it only needs 70. In fact, 6 of the 7 combat brigades will be cut from the National Guard, reducing its combat units from 34 to 28. Even though all of the National Guard combat brigades have been deployed overseas since 9/11, your Administration has determined that, because of funding shortfalls, our combat ground forces can be reduced. Not only will these cuts diminish our combat power, but our ability to respond to natural disasters and terrorist threats to our homeland will be adversely affected. It is obvious that the cost of the war, in conjunction with the Army's inability to meet recruitment goals, has impacted this estimate. My concern is that instead of our force structure being based on the future threat, it is now being based on the number of troops and level of funding available.

I am concerned that costly program cuts will lead to costly mistakes and we will be unable to sustain another deployment even if there is a real threat. The future of our military and the future of our country could very well be at stake. The high dollar forecasts of our future military weapons systems and military health care add pressure to cut costs on the backs of these programs. As our weapons systems age, the concern becomes even greater.

During a time of war, we are cutting our combat force, we have not mobilized industry, and have never fully mobilized our military. On our current path, I believe that we are not only in danger of breaking our military, but that we are increasing the chances of a major miscalculation by our future enemies, who may perceive us as vulnerable.


Sincerely,

JOHN P. MURTHA
Member of Congress

ADDENDUM: Here is video of John Murtha responding to the State of the Union Address: Amen

Disciples of a jackass

I remember a quote from a PBS program "I'll fly away", that has stuck with me. The quote was this, "Just because I see a jackass standing in a field braying doesn't mean I should stop and bray back."

On some level that resonates with me, but what happens when you see a jackass standing in a field braying and drawing disciples that bray along? Should you still walk on by, or should you stop and help the disciples see they're following a jackass?

Keith Olbermann ridiculed Paul O'Reilly on MSNBC with this piece which tortures him with truthfulness and smites him with smiles. I suppose he felt that it was right to stop and help the disciples.


Truth vs O'Reilly

Untruthful Testimony

Remember how mad, irate, and inconsolable Conservatives were at Bill Clinton because he lied about his personal sexual relations?

Why then are they so complacent when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is caught lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about wiretapping American citizens?

Gonzales Is Challenged on Wiretaps


Tisk. Tisk.

It seems unseemly, but power politics has reformed these former champions of virtue.

Ethics, I say with increased conviction, ought to be taught in our schools since honesty is no longer practiced faithfully in public life.

If Truth and Justice are indeed pillars of the American way, then what happens when the pillars crumble? What are we left with? Is it worth having?

Tolerance

I have been reading up on virtue ethics recently. This is because I cannot endure the illogical lashings of faith-based religious dogma, but find myself hoping there are logical reasons to be ethical.

The common refrain among the philosophers I've read so far is that good behavior leads to happiness, whereas bad behavior leads to unhappiness. Good behavior is that which does no harm, whereas bad behavior is harmful.

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!

Clap. Clap.

Recently I have been reading "A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues" by Andre Comte-Sponville. It is information that should be taught in our schools, particularly since it requires no religious frame of reference to study Politeness, or Fidelity, or Prudence, or Temperance, or Courage, or Justice, and so on, yet the thrust of these virtues is not normally contradicted by religious teaching (although religious practice seems another matter).

I have worked my way down the list to Tolerance, where I received somewhat of a surprise that seems topical on this day which president Bush delivers his annual state of the union address.

"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule", notes Hannah Arendt, "is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist." Sophistry plays into the hands of totalitarianism: if nothing is true, how can we oppose its lies? If there are no facts, how can we accuse totalitarianism of concealing or distorting them, and how can we reply to its propaganda? For while totalitarianism lays claim to the truth, it inevitably, whenever the real truth disappoints its expectations, invents another, more manageable one.
.
.
.
Totalitarianism begins as dogmatism (it claims that the truth legitimizes it and justifies its power) and ends as sophistry (it calls "truth" whatever legitimizes it and justifies its power).


Andre Comte-Sponville
A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues
Page 164

To elaborate on the second paragraph, we could say that president Bush used something true (911) to justify his power, but then wound up calling true whatever extended that power (Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff, Torture, Spying on Americans, Tax breaks for the wealthy, gay bashing, religious bigotry).

So when it comes to el presidente Bush's state of the union address, those unfit for totalitarianism have a duty to challenge every fiction with facts, and what is false with what is true.

Those fit for totalitarianism need only believe every utterance as gospel.

All too real

Satire is all too real these days and I find it a touch sad too because I know that a comedian finds humor in what he does, whereas our presidential nowhere man takes himself seriously.

But brave satirists keep on trying and here is a worthy attempt gratefully acknowledged:

State of the Union preview

Take 'em at their word

In this article el presidente Bush expresses confidence that his warrantless wiretaps are legal.

Is the warrantless warranted

"Oh yeah?", I say, "then how about we put that empty flight deck bravado to the test and let a court decide, which is where we decide such matters in the U. S. of A."

Nixon, I repeat, resigned in disgrace because he would have been impeached for spying on Americans.

Leahy on Alito

Here is a terrific statement from Senator Patrick Leahy.

Alito a Threat to Our Fundamental Rights


My favorite line is this:

In the days immediately following those attacks [9/11], I said, and I continue to believe, that the terrorists win if they frighten us into sacrificing our freedoms and what defines us as Americans.

He seems to be one of the few prominent democrats that realizes Alito's nomination has little to do with abortion.

I wonder what kind of presidential candidate he'd make.

Alito and stereotypes

I love it when I encounter a fun and creative blog and "The Beast: America's Best Fiend" fits the bill.

Amongst all of the acidity and toxicity of the Alito confirmation process they playfully pit Super Mario and Chef Boyardee in a debate in which they cudgel each other with Italian stereotypes:

Wop/Counterwop

Laughter is healthy so enjoy the doctoring.

A new argument for ending the war

The war in Iraq is the brainchild of a man that takes pride in the fact that he isn't intellectual.

An intellectual is one that is "learned".
A near-perfect antonym for "learned" is "moronic".

People consider you "learned" if you are intelligent.
If you are intelligent you avoid doing stupid things.
Therefore taking pride in not being intellectual is equivalent to pride in doing stupid things.

The president has much to be proud of in that regard, and Iraq no doubt provides a magnificent outlet for his pride.

However, for those of us that don't enjoy seeing the treasury draining, our children shot at, our enemies strengthening, our allies pulling back, nuclear weapons proliferating, and Osama still free, Iraq provides an outlet not for pride but outrage.

The president is an ignorant man. He brags about it. He's proud of his poor judgment and so we should feel merciful towards him. If you believe in fate then you believe he is not a moronic man because he chooses to be moronic, but rather he made the choices he did because he is moronic. If you believe instead that he chose to be moronic of his own free will, then you must also believe that he wants to be moronic, which of course means that he is moronic.

So, he deserves our pity and our mercy, but that does not excuse our duty to oppose him because moronic people make harmful choices and harmful choices are stupid. Another way to think of a stupid person is unintentionally evil. Only intentionally harmful people are evil and they too should receive mercy for the same reasons stated above.

Anyhow we have a duty to stop this harmful behavior of our proudly moronic president before he proudly gets us all harmed with his stupid choices. To that end I suggest another rationale for ending the war and it is this...

President Bush insists he is omnipotent and infallible in time of war, and right to use torture and correct to spy on Americans. So, ending the war pulls the rug out from that argument and there would be no pretense for a presidential potentate to obfuscate, obstruct, omit, and overreach.

Of course one might also argue that an Authorization to Use Force is not a Declaration of War and that we are not legally "at war", but with Republicons holding virtue hostage to monied interests, it is best to use decisive counter-argument.

Stop the war.
Stop the domestic spying.
Stop the war.
Open Guantanamo to our Justice system.
Stop the war.
Stop the flight-deck bravado.

Frist helps dems on Alito

Alito is easy enough to oppose given that he was a supporter of an organization dedicated to keeping minorities and women out of Princeton's student body (namely Concerned Alumni of Princeton). It should be duly noted that even Bill Frist himself criticized CAP as "extreme" (Source).

Senate Majority leader Bill Frist has again come to the aid of democrats by exclaiming that Samuel Alito is "the worst nightmare of liberal democrats".

This means that there is now fodder from a top republican that twice accuses Alito of being extremist.

Thanks Senator Frist!

We need a Supreme Court Justice to uphold liberty and justice for all of us, not just the small circle of people Mr. Alito's bias excludes.

As cuddly as a cactus

If you grasp the Republicon worldview and take 'em at their word then it follows that we would all be safest in prisons with neocon jailers.

But of course, from what I hear anecdotally, prison is not a healthy environment. I hear that the food isn't good, the companions are prone to violence, and the colors are drab.

When I think of disheartened people shuffling to and fro, sufficiently wiretapped, video taped, inspected, dejected, and barren of delights, what comes to mind is the old haunting humbug of Communist rule.

Yes friends and neighbors, Republicons wish to rule us like Communist dictators to protect us from...

But, in order to do that they need to spy on us and get us to snitch on each other and turn our hopes to fears. The spying appears to be well under way and I'm sure operation TIPS will be renewed in another form soon.

The question now is will Americans become trembling masses tied together with one dark cord of delusion and bound together in a prison without bars?

Will we acquiesce power of the people by allowing Alito's nomination to proceed?

Will we inflame our paranoia at every pronouncement from Osama and clamber for restrictions on our freedom and diminishment of our joys?

Will we stifle our creativity with alarms and searches and barbed wire and the noise noise noise of Fantastic fandooblers and gigantic gobjumblers?

Are we madder than the cows?

Are we sicker than the birds?

Are we more stranded than the whales?

What are we giving up?

Does the sun ever shine in a neocon world?

Big Bang

I have never much cared for the "Big Bang" theory of creation because it strikes me as gibberish in fancy dress clothes.

There was nothing.
There was a bang.
There was everything.

Scratch scratch scratch.

Well, I guess you could say it was a "Big" bang.

Ahem.

It strikes me, really, that anyone wishing to believe that may as well believe in oompah loompahs.

While scientists peer into space trying to corroborate this piece of the big bang theory or that one I keep waiting for someone to look up and say, "Wait a minute! It's rubbish!"

I keep waiting for some lab-coated scientist to walk out of a back room, singing...

Oompa Loompa, doompadah dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me
Because the stars are so far away
They coalesce when we view them this way

So it's back to the drawing-board
for you know who.
The OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEE DO

I suspect, I can't say I believe in it the way I believe in elevators, that our universe has always existed (no beginning) or that I can't possibly exist.

Descarte said that if I think, I am, and I think I think. So I suppose I am leaning towards believing that matter and energy have always existed.

It does seem that without matter and without energy there are no people. And that if there are no people there is no time. So why not say that matter and energy have existed for all time?

The question "What existed before time?" does beg itself but I'm not sure that makes sense. Can one say what circles were like before pi existed?

Am I being Oompa Loompa Doopahdee dumb?

50 most loathsome people in America, 2005

Here is a list of the 50 most loathsome people in America in 2005.

It is sophomoric.
It uses foul language.
It is in questionable taste.

And yet, I laughed heartily.

America's Best Fiend

A promise

If Democrats are really going to roll over and confirm Alito then I promise to switch my party affiliation to Independent.

Alito was a member of the keep Princeton white and male club, more commonly known as CAP

The acronym CAP (as in capping the number of contaminated colored people) says it all.

What more is necessary to defeat Alito unless Republicans are willing to publicly defend a bigot amidst widespread corruption scandals during a war that is going very badly?

Harry Reid loses luster on this one unless he has some tricks up his sleeve.

Inconsistent Outrage

Only some 36% of Americans supported the impeachment of President Clinton, and Republicons responded by impeaching a popular president.

According to a new poll by Zogby, 52% of Americans believe that president Bush should be impeached for illegally wiretapping American citizens, and republicons have responded by NOT impeaching an UNpopular president.

Americans support impeachment

Could it be that ethics in Washington take a back seat to party loyalty?

The strength of Murtha

Mike Wallace does his best to discredit John Murtha in this CBS interview, but he is not the typical triangulator that Wallace is used to in a democrat. He has too much experience where it counts and too much bravery when it counts to be intimidated or tripped up by circular thinking.

When it was pointed out that president Bush said Mr. Murtha was wrong and that "the terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war on terror" he responded with:

""He'’s trying to fight this war with rhetoric. Iraq is not where the center of terrorism is. So when he says we'’re fighting terrorism over there, we're inciting terrorism over there. We're encouraging terror. We'’re destabilizing the area by being over there be‘cause we'’re the targets. He said before there'’s weapons of mass destruction. He said there'’s an al Qaeda connection. There'’s many things he said turned out not to be true. So why would I believe him when he says the things he just - made that statement."


Full details

When you lead when it counts that is real leadership.

If more democrats talked with fearlessness and devotion to their beliefs they would perhaps make modest gains when Republican support decidedly waned.

Pity

It is difficult to maintain hatred when the object of your hatred is suffering. Pity makes Mercy come easier than it otherwise might.

When the object of your hatred is diabetic, blind, mostly deaf, and 76 years old it takes a real commitment to hatred to maintain it.

California's governor Arnold Swarzenegger is capable of such hatred.

Clarence Ray Allen

Blessed are the merciless
with hearts as cold as stone.

I want to know

If we don't kill ourselves off with global warfare then global warming seems liable to do the trick. When we're not busy bankrupting our nation to pay merchants of death we're busy sustaining a lifestyle that will ultimately destroy the planet.

We hate too much and we love too little.

And yet as I listened yesterday to the words of Martin Luther King Jr. on the radio I felt a spark of hope. A little, tiny, naked hope kindled in my heart.

How did he know what to do when "history seized him" as he put it?

How did he act so fearlessly?

How did he maintain his commitment to nonviolence?

How did he come to know so much about Philosophy, Religion, and People?

What school taught him?

Where did he learn to talk like that?

How did he face the dogs, the hoses, the bricks, the insults, and maintain his dignity?

How did he learn to speak not just in his own time but for all time?

How did he face such hatred with love?

Where can I learn that?

From politicians?

From churches that rape young children?

From television?

From books?

I want to develop an unshakeable faith in Love.

What kind of school do I enroll in?

I want to hurry to it.

FYI

A nation that continues to spend more money on military defense than social uplift year after year is approaching spiritual death.

Martin Luther King Jr.
Riverside Church, NY
1967

F.Y.I.

As of January 2003, U.S. military spending was creeping toward $400 billion and exceeded the combined military spending of the 15 countries with the next biggest defense budgets.

Source

Rediscovering Lost Values

Here is an excerpt from a speech of Martin Luther King Jr. which seems rather timely. He preaches that there are moral laws in this universe just like there are physical laws, and that you should no more lie and cheat and act disreputably than you should throw yourself off the tallest building in Detroit for fun.

I searched for free audio and wasn't able to find any. That is too bad because the power of Martin Luther's speech, not just his words, ought to be considered a gift to humanity and proclaimed free to all.

In any event you can read his powerful words and reflect on them.

This universe hinges on moral foundations. (Yeah) There is something in this universe that justifies Carlyle in saying, "No lie can live forever." There is something in this universe that justifies William Cullen Bryant in saying, "Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again." (My Lord, Amen) There is something in this universe that justifies James Russell Lowell in saying,

Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne.

Yet that scaffold sways the future. (Lord help him)

Behind the dim unknown stands God,

Within the shadow keeping watch above his own. (Amen)

There is something in this universe that justifies the biblical writer in saying, "You shall reap what you sow." (Amen) This is a law-abiding universe. (Amen) This is a moral universe. It hinges on moral foundations. (Lord help him) If we are to make of this a better world, we've got to go back and rediscover that precious value that we've left behind. (Yes)

Source


These values, these virtues, seem missing from our modern lives. If there really are moral laws governing the universe, if it is truly wrong to hate, then what are the consequences of breaking the moral laws?

Should I fill my bathtub with water and stock up on duct tape?

Oops

If you want to know how little regard George W. Bush has for human life all you have to do is familiarize yourself with this story.

The United States felt like assassinating Ayman Zawahiri and so shot a missile at him.

We missed.

By a lot.

And killed 17 Pakistanis including six women and children.


Killing the innocent

I am ashamed to admit that US officials defended the immoral behavior.

Is this compassionate conservatism or winning hearts and minds?

Impeachment Now

After years of widespread corruption scandals, incompetence, misconduct, and arrogant law-breaking by the Bush administration our nations Congressional leaders have begun to whisper the word "impeachment" into each others ears. In three more years perhaps they will consider acting on their coquettish conversations.

Until that time we can hear public outcries by people like former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman's, a decided boot in Nixon's derriere.


The tush of Bush needs a push

Relativism

I get worried when I find myself in agreement with fundamentalist Christians about anything.

One concept that I do agree with, however, is that moral relativism cannot be True.

My reason for sharing this belief was elegantly phrased by Plato and goes like this:

Relativism is the view that there is no Truth.
Can relativism be True, then, if it exists?

You can probably see where this is headed?

A fundamentalist Christian follows a doctrine.
A doctrine must dismiss Truth when Truth contradicts.
Dismissing Truth is practicing Relativism, since relativism is the view that there is no Truth.
Therefore a doctrine-following fundamentalist Christian practices relativism.

I suppose a fundamentalist Christian would argue that their doctrine is always True.

That is where we part company.

There is too much evidence available for me to believe the earth is 10,000 years old.

A Life, Wasted

Another gold star has been handed out, this one to Paul E. Schroeder for losing his son Edward in Iraq.

He has a lot to say about how/why his son died and they are words that no doubt piss off the Bush administration.


A Life, Wasted

I keep hoping that somehow a letter like this is going to fire a small spark of understanding among my fellow Americans about Iraq. Losing a child has got to be bad enough, but feeling it was a waste has got to sting.

These gold-star families speaking out are speaking out for a reason and it ain't treason. They want to save the children of others from dying for nothing.

The Bush administration has been an unrepentant failure since deciding to attack Iraq in response to 911. It must indeed be a nightmare to entrust your child to these ignorant, arrogant people.

Life is more precious than these machine men pretend.

A minor point

Richard M. Nixon resigned because he illegally wiretapped Americans and was due to be impeached.

George W. Bush illegally wiretapped Americans repeatedly and broadly, admitted it on a radio broadcast, then said he'd do it again.

A man without shame

To impeach or not impeach is not the question.
That is already clearly answered.
To uphold the laws of the land or not is the question.
The answer to that question seems to be a big fat no.

Democracy Dominoes

As I understand the neoconservative "plan" for the middle east it goes something like this:

1. Attack Iraq and overthrow Saddam.
2. Install a client state.
3. Install permanent US military bases.
4. Democracy will spread throughout the Middle East on the strength of Iraq's commitment to democracy.
5. Accept candies, flowers, and the grateful accolades of an adoring nation.

This idea is essentially the tired old "domino theory" we've heard before. That idea failed spectacularly to pan out in Vietnam, and seems to be turning nations hostile towards us in South America.

Freedom is what makes democracy spread, and fear is what makes democracy retreat. When democracies start fearing their very freedoms and start devoting their talents to curtailing them a type of destabalizing paranoia sets in and destroys what no army ever could.

This is happening before my very eyes in America today. Every time the president fans the fears of Americans in order to steal more power for himself, his power becomes exponentially less useful since what he has given up is more valuable than what he has gained.

Caesar said, "Let them hate as long as they fear", and neocons seem to have taken that mantra to heart.

Caesar was murdered by close associates and Rome fell.

Napoleon said, "God favors the army with the strongest artillery", and neocons seem to have taken that mantra to heart.

Napoleon met his Waterloo and France isn't today what it once was.

A leader worthy of the title should strive to create a Just society that is not ruled by fear, but instead one ruled by reason and a desire to do good. Leaders that have done this have enjoyed the type of power (that is trust) that Bushie-types strive for unwisely.

Take 'em at their word

Lately I have been playing a little game called, "Take them at their word". What you do when you hear some fool spout off is take their logic and carry it to a logical conclusion. It's fun you should try it.

My latest example used Pat Robertson's suggestion that Ariel Sharon had a stroke because he was dividing God's land (the land of Israel):

See it here

First of all it should be pointed out that all Pat is doing is amplifying the message of Israeli settlers who feel the same way.

But...let's take him at his word.

God punishes people with either death or debilitating illness for dividing His land.

Anyone at all in the US media remember president Bush's "Roadmap to Peace"? Anyone at all?

I would like to draw your attention to this quote (emphasis mine):

"Prime Minister Sharon is showing strong visionary leadership by taking difficult steps to improve the lives of people across the Middle East -- and I want to thank you for your leadership. I strongly support his courageous initiative to disengage from Gaza and part of the West Bank. The Prime Minister is willing to coordinate the implementation of the disengagement plan with the Palestinians. I urge the Palestinian leadership to accept his offer. By working together, Israelis and Palestinians can lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition."

-- President George W. Bush
April 11, 2005

Source

Woe be to president George Bush for surely he hath made himself a worthy target for the almighty God's righteous strokes!

Finding religion

I have found my new religion and it is skillfully cooked Italian food.

'Tis a religion that does no harm.

I am no Rastafarian.

I am a Pastafarian.

Spaghetti is no longer foodstuff, rather it is a transcendent religious experience that brings me closer to Heaven.

Hallelully Jeebus.

Hallelully!

They're Back

What does Jon Stewart of the Daily Show make of presidential prerogative (special right) when it comes to illegally wiretapping American citizens?

That makes sense

Is 2006 an election year?

Here is the latest news from Iraq:

Violence escalates

Here is the latest news from president Bush:

Bush says troop reductions possible

Any questions?

Harry Truman's warning

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.

Sharon suffers significant stroke

Israel's prime minister Ariel Sharon had a "significant" stroke, followed by hemorrhaging. He is now in stable but critical condition and doctors cannot say yet what the extent of any brain damage might be.

BBC report

Free booze for Canada's homeless

Canada conducted a study which gave homeless alcoholics a regular supply of booze and the results were impressive and surprising:

Wine, Wine, Wine

If the river was whiskey
and I was a diving duck.

Abramoff and my arse

The Washington Post is describing the latest scandal in a continuous stream of Republican corruption as "The biggest corruption scandal to infect Congress in a generation".

Voters that are Republican and think they are Conservative really crack me up these days. Individual rights my arse! Adult foreign policy my arse! Controlled spending my arse! Less government interference my arse!

Conservative you say? My arse! My arse! My arse!

Scrutinize this

Over the rainbow

Sunshine and lollipops

My oh my what a wonderful day.
Plenty of sunshine heading my way.
etc.

Howard Zinn on war

Howard Zinn believes that once the war in Iraq ends that we, the people, ought to make an effort to end war. Not this war, or that war, but war period.


Study War No More


I'm sure he will be shouted down as crazy, for what could be crazier than expecting a government to spend public money on the public's well-being?

What a loon!

He sounds as stark-raving-mad as the Dalai Lama.

What kind of a crazy world would we be living in if people didn't collateral damage each other for the glory of God?

Timber!

Republicans Lindsey Graham, Arlen Specter, and Dick Lugar all have expressed concerns about the president's domestic spying. When I heard this I wondered if Rush Limbaugh would call them America-haters and wimpy.

I suppose he will if he is fair and that any delay is simply a matter of consideration for polished oratory.

Justice for all?

Evil doers

It has been said that evil enters the world through man.

That seems correct to me since a lion can be both brutal and selfish, but nobody accuses a lion of being evil.

Why?

To be considered evil one must understand good behavior and yet choose harmful behavior for selfish reasons. Therefore a lion, acting on impulse, is not considered evil.

Man seems the sole dispenser of evil on earth and it seems to me that only human choices guided by wisdom and the desire to do good can ever overcome it. Unwise choices, even with a desire to do good, can inflict great harm. Wise choices, guided by the desire to do evil, lead to no good.

From where does the desire to do good come from and how does one develop wisdom?

Can a sincere desire to perform good acts be taught?

How do we recognize these traits in others so that we can select good and wise leaders for ourselves, or else prevent evil or harmful leaders?

It seems clear that humanity would benefit from proper instruction in this regard.

Homecoming echo

A zombie movie with political connotations sounds like just the thing blogs ought to popularize.

Want to see a movie that features veterans coming back as zombies to vote in droves against people that started the war which killed them?

Then you need to see Homecoming directed by Joe Dante.

The zombie vote

George Uber Alles?

Many argue that we need a president above the law so we can all be safe, and that one shouldn't quibble about what the president does or doesn't do since our laws only apply to little people.

I say I agree if I woke up in Communist China this morning, but if I woke up in the United States of America this president ought to face the courts to determine if his wiretapping actions were legal.

That's the American way isn't it?

Presidential preference peddlers phrase their arguments differently, but this is what they mean when they argue that democrats ought to overlook president Bush's illegal behavior with regard to spying on Americans: "Shut up and be a loyal subject".

The definition of subject, by the way, is "one under authority".

Apollo's absence

I often feel that there is more to music than I understand. I have learned to play piano but there is a sadness, and a beauty, and an ease missing from my efforts.

For instance, I am currently working on lyrics about an episode in Woody Guthrie's life that starts like this:

The Sea Porpoise had a purpose
in 1944
To ship 3000 men
to go and fight the war.

And Hitler tried to halt them
half-way across the sea
But on the deck there stood
Cisco and Woody

and as a song I think it's going OK. An OK song for a compelling storyline.

But there is an ease, and a beauty, and a sorrow somehow missing and instead of satisfaction from the effort I wind up feeling inadequate. What is it that some people understand about music that I am missing? How is it that some people seem to come from nowhere and trail masterpieces in their wake?

I wish I knew.

Bright Eyes is a band that fits the bill in this regard for me. Here are two of their songs at IFILM:

Bowl of Oranges

At the bottom of everything

They make it look so easy.

Over the rainbow

Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.
A bright lucky penny.
Puppy dog tails and children's laughter.
Brown paper packages tied up with string.
A field full of flowers.

None of these things come to mind when reviewing the news coming out of Iraq:

Candies and nuts
Extreme chaos

But, like the president, I feel today like imagining everything is going super-duper.

Is that a bluebird of happiness I see?
As soon as I eat my sugar-plum I'm going to follow it over that rainbow to a pot of gold.

Tomorrow I expect to be back to normal, so please don't tell me about all the bad times I'm missin'.

The president, I expect, will still be searching for the candy man that can on the little train that can.

Bible study

In an interview that Kurt Vonnegut did recently on PBS's Now, something quite obvious about the Bible was pointed out which I'd like to share.

Conservative Christians, you'll remember, have recently fought to get the ten commandments into America's courtrooms without success. It is interesting to note, however, that the ten commandments are in old-testament Moses domain and not new-testament Jesus domain.

That should be a bit embarrassing shouldn't it?

Kurt Vonnegut suggests that CCs switch their crusade to installing the 8 beatitudes, as a point of integrity, which are squarely in new-testament Sermon on the Mount domain. Here they are:

Blessed are the poor in spirit:
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek:
For they shall possess the land.

Blessed are they that mourn:
For they shall be comforted.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice:
For they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the merciful:
For they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart:
For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peace-makers:
For they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake:
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.




I, like Vonnegut, would enjoy seeing "Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom and "Blessed are the peace-makers" in the Oval Office.

Good gracious

I am going to paraphrase a series of questions Plato asked millennia ago. Please answer them honestly to yourself and see where that leads you.

1. Do you believe that God exists?
2. Do you believe that God is good?
3. Can anything good be harmful?
4. Can something that is not harmful harm?
5. Can something that does no harm be evil?
6. Can something which does no evil be the cause of anything evil?
7. Is God the cause of all things, or of those that are good?

8. Is torture harmful? Is it good?
9. Is war harmful? Is it good?
10. Is cutting food aid to the poor harmful? Is it good?
11. Is Bush harmful? Is he good?

If you have Christian values and you are honest with yourself I don't see how you can answer the second part of question 11 with a "yes" and that is why Bush-backing Christians confuse me.

I believe that many of them are willfully lying to themselves because the alternative is to believe their "revolution" and coalition-building has been corrupted. I don't blame them because that took years of planning and effort and I know pride is often stronger than reason.

To be Christian, though, is to believe that Truth itself is a gift from God and one must wonder why it is that president Bush cannot keep his nefarious deeds secret. I will leave you Bush-backing Christians with a biblical reflection:


Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6)
The Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17).
To know the Truth is to be free (John 8:31-32).


Can you handle the Truth about Bush?

On credibility

President Bush is the most prolific liar ever to occupy the Oval Office, so it surprises me that network viewsmen continue to give the Bush administration wide platitude when he claims to have briefed Capital Hill leaders about his wiretapping and that they all approved.

The truth of the matter can be easily viewed on-line in a hand-written letter published by Senator Jay Rockefeller, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee:

Thanks to Josh Marshall

Why does the mainstream press allow frequent demonstrable lies to be repeated in American's faces?

Isn't the vigor with which our enlisted men fight directly proportional to the perceived honor of that which they defend?

Hasn't president Bush defended torture (extraordinary renditions), secret prisons (CIA black sites), and warrantless invasions of privacy while lecturing the rest of the world about the necessity for democracy in the Middle East?

Shouldn't we be more careful with our honor/security?

My guess is that president Bush avoided the law to get what he wanted because what he wanted had nothing to do with national security but partisan politics. Yes, I am speaking of a Nixonian enemies list.

My strong feeling is that to be a democrat is to respect Justice, and to fail to challenge the president on his blatant law-breaking is to be something other than a democrat.

Here is what the nations best Constitutional authority and Dean of the Senate has to say on the matter: No president is above the law

Scaredy cats

I don't wish to alarm you, but two days ago my cat sneezed.

Today, I sneezed.

This means there may now be a feline flu virus to be scared of.

Call the UN!

Call the CDC!

Get the ducktape.

Plodosophy (a plodding attempt at philosophy)

I thought it would be fun to think philosophically for a moment about immortality.

If one has never been happy, meaning too that one has never experienced sadness, then could you possibly explain to that person what being happy felt like.

If one has never lived, meaning too that one has never experienced death, then could you possibly explain to that person what being alive felt like.

Many people take it for granted that there is a God and that He is immortal.

It seems to stand to reason that God cannot possibly understand what it is like to be alive, or furthermore to die.

Therefore, it would seem that compassion for human suffering is the best that God can do.

I find that interesting. God can never really understand us.

Philosophical warfare

One site that I like to visit is Ask Philosophers, a place where you can pose a question and it is answered by philosophers.

Recently a visitor to the site asked, "How do the philosophers justify war, if they ever do? I ask this question because even the Prophets have fought wars, for their religion. So, how can mortals remain aloof from it?"

The answer is useful when wishing to determine if, for instance, the war in Iraq is Just or not (at least in the view of a philosopher):

Is genocide sanctified?

Here is the most interesting thing that I learned in the article:

Lithuania’s department of defense, for example, actually plans and develops tactics of non-violent resistance. It successfully used non-violent tactics in winning its independence from the Soviet Union (as did Poland). Denmark, too, knowing it could not resist Nazi invaders with conventional warfare, opted for various forms of non-violent resistance during...

That's pretty cool and leads me to believe that if all people could practice non-violent resistance Justly then there would never be a useful conquest, except in terms of geographical expansion.

Heil Bushie

Prescott Bush was a financial supporter of Adolph Hitler, and so much so that on October 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York City that were being conducted by Prescott Bush.

While I try not to hold the grandson responsible for the sins of the grandfather, I do find myself wondering if the Bush family approves of fascism from stem to stern.

Bush defends spying in U.S.

Even Bush dead-enders ought to have trouble supporting such overtly cowardly behavior in their president. At least, that is, the ones that feel the Constitution is more than a "goddamn piece of paper".

I'm tired of being ashamed of my president and all I want for Christmas are impeachment proceedings.


ADDENDUM: This video from CNN on the subject is too good to miss. While I doubt that Bill Frist will follow the honest promptings of his soul, with pieces like this perhaps enough US Congressmen can be shamed into doing their jobs (that is, to reclaim their power of checks and balances from a wanna-be dictator).

I also wonder who follows uncontitutional orders like this and why we aren't educating our security/military people better.

Unrelenting pursuit of torture

Publicly the Bush administration is "compromising" with John McCain to put a stop to the torturing of detainees in US custody.

Behind the scenes the Bush administration is unrelenting in its pursuit of legalized torture:

Turn of the screw

If we "The US doesn't torture" as president Bush insists, then why do we need a legal framework that makes it OK?

If the Bible can be believed, when a nation acts without respect for Justice the land start to yield less bounty, the oceans produce less fish, and every task becomes delayed by bickering.

If the Bible can be believed I'd say we are headed for a precipitous decline.

Leave Iraq

Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania took a courageous stand on Thursday, November 17, 2005 and called for US troop withdrawal from the war in Iraq which "is not going as advertised".

Out now

Democrats clearly decided that partisan attacks on Veterans Day from the president were the last straw. It is about time democrat leadership articulates that the president has no plan in Iraq and therefore there is no course to stay.

The president said himself that victory is exit strategy. Well? Stubborn denial is not a winning strategy for Iraq. Partisan politics is not a winning strategy for Iraq. Question avoidance is not a winning strategy for Iraq. Cronyism is not a winning strategy for Iraq.

One should also note that the return on patience is a loss when invested with incompetence.

Bible study

It appears to me that when people read their Bibles they get enamored by nuance rather than enlightened by the obvious.

The Wisdom of Solomon predicts that fear leads to wailing and gnashing of teeth. Think about that for a moment and then study this picture of Dick Cheney.

Isn't it obvious that he is a teeth gnasher harried by portentous specters?

Little cat feet

Fascism, they say, arrives on little cat feet. I have, of late, been hearing the pitter-patter of little cat feet.

Repressive freedom

Torturing credibility

I would like to be known as one who minced no words and was unambiguously critical of torture.

The torturing of detainees in our care is a shame and a stain on my honor as an American citizen. It is a disgrace to this nation and our great Constitution and to everything our ancestors fought for. The only reason we are torturing today is because we have cowards in high office and cowards to follow their lead.

I was pleased to see that the editors of the Minneapolis Star Tribune came out powerfully against torture and I should think they can take pride in that:

American's Shameful Shift on Torture


Many of our citizens thought they'd left torture behind them when they landed on America's shores. They were wrong. It is my hope that they are not wrong long. It is also my hope they are soon reminded of why they came by our actions now.

Nowhere man

As the president unveils his newest new plan for turning the corner in Iraq (formerly known as declare victory and leave) I am reminded of The Beatles:

He's a real nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.

Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.

He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
Nowhere Man, don't worry,
Take your time, don't hurry,
Leave it all till somebody else
lends you a hand.
Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man, please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.

He's a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.

Is our president learning?

When we were to attack Iraq sensible people warned terrorism would increase. It has.

When we were to attack Iraq sensible people warned it would develop into a quagmire. It has.

When we were to attack Iraq sensible people warned Iraq's Shiites would naturally assume power in a democracy and then align themselves with Iran. They did and they have.

Ever since this disaster got started flight-deck bravado has ruled over reason and partisan politics have trumped national priorities.

But if Jim Lobe is right, reason is making a comeback in Washington

Realists Tighten Grip

Since I define a stupid person as one that does not change their opinion to reflect known facts, and since I am convinced that George W. Bush falls into this category, I am left to assume that 41 is providing guidance to 43.

Are to we expect James Baker soon?

Don't forget Poland

In a revelation that surprises few it turns out that the Eastern European countries hosting the CIA's illegal detention facilities are Poland and Romania.

Story Here

Why would Poland, especially, start down that slope after the lesson of Auschwitz?

Have Americans forgotten it is the pride of the "greatest generation" to have had a hand in stopping concentration camps?