By Beauty Damned

High Comedy

I wonder if anyone ate the hen.

Man Commits Suicide After Sex With Hen:

LUSAKA (Reuters) - A 50-year-old Zambian man has hanged himself after his wife found him having sex with a hen, police said Friday.
The woman caught him in the act when she rushed into their house to investigate a noise.

"He attempted to kill her but she managed to escape," a police spokesman said.

The man from the town of Chongwe, about 50 km (30 miles) east of Lusaka, killed himself after being admonished by other villagers.

The hen was slaughtered after the incident.

The best part is that he tried to kill his wife first to keep her quiet!!! Hahaaa. What a world. Is it sick for me to laugh?

Funny Quote

Said last night on Letterman:

"President Bush has promised he's going to establish elections in Iraq, he's going to rebuild the infrastructure and he's going to create jobs. And he said if it works there, he'll try it here."

Hahahaaa.

Goes Without Saying

Why does this not surprise me?

BERLIN (Reuters) - Don't trust a man with a fast car. Porsche drivers are less faithful than any other group of car owners, with almost 50 percent of them cheating on their partners, a survey published in German magazine "Men's Car" has revealed.

Among German men, Porsche drivers were the least faithful, with 49 percent admitting infidelity, followed by BMW drivers at 46 percent. Among women, Audi drivers were the least reliable, 41 percent admitting to affairs.

The most faithful group were owners of Opel-Vauxhall cars, with only 31 percent of male and 28 percent of female drivers in Germany having committed adultery.

The survey was carried out by Hamburg-based opinion poll institute Gewis, which questioned 2,253 male and female drivers aged 20 to 50. The results follow similar findings from the same magazine showing that male BMW drivers had the most sex.

I'm Out

I can't believe I never bothered to try and upload a photo before! On my old blog, I wasn't able to because there was some weird glitch in the way my blog was set up. I am a little slow sometimes.

Me at Great Adventure:

Me and my boy. Forgot to lose the high heels.

Kathleen and I. Belmar Beach, NJ.

Me

Not exactly Jessica Alba, but not bad either!

Could the resolution be any crappier? This is the first time I've ever uploaded a picture on my website, so bear with me.

Swing

Something happened this morning that made my day.

My friend at work is 63 years old and a lifelong republican. She voted for Bush. We have debated Bush's competence as a president before. She has insisted that she would still vote for him.

This morning she came to me and told me that she could not vote for Bush in good conscience. She has changed her mind and plans to vote for Kerry instead. Her boss, also a republican, has decided that he can't vote for Bush in good conscience either and is so mad about Bush's incompetence that he's considering not voting at all because he doesn't want to vote for Kerry or Bush.

All hope is not lost.

Disbelief

Washington Post this morning:

If the 2004 presidential election were being held today, would you vote for George W. Bush, the Republican, John Kerry, the Democrat, or Ralph Nader, the Independent?

Bush 45%
Kerry 44%
Nader 6%

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling -- The situation in Iraq?

Approve 40%
Disapprove 58%
DK/No opinion 2%

So basically, many of those who disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq would still vote for him in November? And Nader! Two words: STOP IT. If that guy doesn't drop out of the race he is going to be one of the most hated men in America after this is all over. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Now is not the time Ralph. Please don't corner us into another four years of Bush/Cheney tryanny. I beg of you.

I shudder at the thought that anyone would vote for Bush after the events of the past four years. I honestly cannot fathom it.

Introspective on Office Life

(Written earlier today)

Just less than 33 Days.

33 Days until my vacation. 33 Days until I board a plane to the other end of the country. 33 Days before my earned "freedom" is dropped into my lap and I am allowed to live life as I please for two weeks, unrestrained. Unleashed. Freed from the traps and cages of citylife. I'm dying inside. Every second in this office feels like it is eating a little piece of my spirit. Each new second in this office is the loss of a second of unrestrained independence on the outside. Each new second born in this office breaks from the shell of eternity & instantly transforms into a parasite that then gobbles up what the day could otherwise be. This is also known to me as a perpetual tragedy in the infrastructure of my existence. The perpetual tragedy which is miniature to those who know real tragedy and laughable to one who knows the meaning of living behind bars that cannot be broken or serving time where there is no freedom accruing. Where there is no break at the end of the day. How dare I wallow even a moment?

There is this feeling of powerlessness that descends on me so frequently when I am stuck in an office. It's the oxymoron that has made up my life this far. It is the fact that I have been adamantly free, impetuously independent & adverse to authority my entire life, but have been able to conform enough to "the real world" that I have the good fortune to be stuck in such an office all day. That as a child I spent weekends skulking around my dad's office in downtown Los Angeles, snooping at secretaries' desks, playing pretend that I was a grownup too. Daydreaming of being a lady following my own path in life. For Christmas one year my mother gave me a huge box of office supplies (rubber stamps and forms to fill out and checks and any other little thing my heart desired). I was losing interest in barbies at that point, but still held a huge appreciation for dressup and imaginary adulthood. I would set up my desk with all my office supplies and my little sister and I would play. She would come in and ring a bell and I would say "may I help you?" and then we would perform a little theatre of office etiquette and protocol. I guess I just wanted to feel important and secretaries seemed like very important people to me and I liked telling my sister what to do.

It was a blessing and a curse. This affinity with office life flows well along the highly organized, perfectionist, control oriented side of my personality but also directly conflicts with the dominant characteristic of craving the freedom to do as I damn well please and to live without strict organization, without so much control and to pursue perfection as that which I decide it should be. To conform to a corporate environment and follow orders goes against the very core of my being. Or at least one very crucial facet to the core of my being. To me, the definition of freedom is not being told what to do. Free time is when no one is telling you what you can or cannot do and no one is issuing orders. Freedom. Is a beautiful thing. I don't like being ordered about. I don't like living by anyone else's rules. It's my life. I guess I got that from my dad, along with my love of punk rock music and everything else. (We are a family of rebels. I've always been proud of that).

At the same time, as far as jobs and success goes, this legal business is not all that bad. Working in a big corporate NY firm is much different than working in a tiny private criminal practice in Oregon. There are many fundamental differences, the main being that I don't work nearly as hard because there are so many people in a big firm to do all the little things you would have to do yourself in a small firm. Like copies and faxes and mail/supply management and court runs and filing and record management and accounting. It leaves me with everything that relates to my computer, excluding IT. So it's not as exciting is what I'm saying.

There's also the fundamental differences between working for a firm representing big corporations and entities rather than individual crooks and matrimonial adversaries. In the latter, as a secretary/office manager, I dealt with the clients on a one on one basis regularly. They talked to me and I answered their questions much more frequently than in a big firm. Here I rarely even know the clients. Because they are a "customer" of the firm as a whole and we represent their "company" as a whole, and that leaves very little room for individual interaction with a person in my position, despite the fact that I work directly for shareholders. It's just not as cozy. And there is not as much satisfaction in the results that the firm achieves, as those results are much less individual.

Still there are obvious advantages to working in a much larger firm. I am only glad that I am not nearly as trapped as many of the associates, who work insane hours and are always under the gun. At least I get to come in at 9:30 and leave at 5:30 and I still have my dreams. That hasn't been taken from me yet.

Stop This ... Fucking War

I am becoming increasingly convinced that this fiasco with U.S. troops attacking a wedding party was just that, an attack on a wedding party. Nothing more.

This shit has got to stop.

"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - New video footage showing Iraqis celebrating a desert wedding raised more questions Monday about a U.S. air strike last week that killed about 40 people.

The U.S. military insisted most of the dead were foreign guerrilla fighters who had slipped over the nearby Syrian border. Local people say the Americans massacred wedding guests.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Monday some kind of celebration could have been going on during the day but after midnight 'the activities that we saw happening on the ground were somewhat inconsistent with a wedding party.'"

What does that last quote mean? If it was a celebration during the day, activities after midnight are going to be....quiet? Winding down?

Damn I want this war to end. So I'll leave you with this verse from Operation Ivy.

There's a war going down between my brothers tonight
I dont want no war going down tonight
Civilization ha I call it as I see it
I call it bullshit you know I still cannot believe it
Our evolution now has gone the way of hate
A world evolved resolved in this stupid fate
Stop this war
All so different yeah I say we're all the same
All caught you know in the division game
Self destruction fast impending like a bullet
No one can stop it once its fired no one can control it
Stop this war
A final word, wait it's not a call to action
We aint no sect we aint no fucking faction
Unity unity you've heard it all before
This time it's not exclusive we want to stop a war

Let's Laugh About It, Shall We?

Behold! Someone has brought some humor to this situation.

Low Concept Exit Strategy How to leave Iraq in three simple steps. By George Saunders (Monday, May 24, 2004)

It is clear we are at a crossroads in Iraq. Naysayers are claiming the situation there is chaotic and confusing. Nonsense. It is not confusing. It is quite simple.

Allow me to explain.

There are, at present, two major constituencies in Iraq: those who want to kill us, and those who do not. Success will require minimizing membership in the former group. Complications along this path may include the following:

1) In the process of killing the ones who want to kill us, we sometimes kill some who are not trying to kill us. This has been observed to cause a sudden increase in the number who want to kill us, which means a longer stay for us, since we then must kill, not only the ones who originally wanted to kill us, but also the ones who just started wanting to kill us.

2) In order to identify the ones who want to kill us, it is necessary, once we have caught someone who wants to kill us, to encourage him/her to help us identify others who want to kill us. Sometimes we mistake ones who don't want to kill us for ones who do, and catch them, and encourage them. Upon their release, there occurs a sudden increase in the number of those who want to kill us.

3) Given the large number of us over there, it should come as no surprise that some of us are bad. Certain abuses have occurred. However, it is only fair to note that many more abuses were occurring before we arrived. Plus, if our abusers are abusing over there, they are not abusing over here. So really, it is a win/win: The Iraqis have fewer abuses than they were having, and we have fewer abuses than we would have had had our abusers stayed at home. Everyone is happy, except, it has been observed, those who were abused and those who hear of the abuse and suddenly join the group of those wanting to kill us.

Since it is clear that we cannot leave until they stop killing us, and equally clear that they will not stop killing us until we leave, I propose the following exit strategy:

1) Kill all the ones who are trying to kill us, in such a way that none of those who presently do not want to kill us suddenly start wanting to kill us.

2) At the moment of the death of the last person who wanted to kill us, race quickly out of the country before some additional person suddenly decides he/she wants to kill us, thus necessitating our continued presence in Iraq, in order to kill him/her.

3) Having left Iraq quickly, do not look back, so as not to witness individuals claiming they would have liked to kill us, which would then necessitate a return to Iraq, in order to etc., etc. (See No. 2, above.)

To implement this exit strategy, we will have to practice running quickly. It is further recommended that, while running, the eyes be cast down, to avoid witnessing any last-minute people trying to kill us. We will have to establish excellent communications so that the moment that final person begins dying, we can all begin running quickly at the same time, eyes cast down, quickly, to our vehicles, to get to the airport and get out of the country.

This exit strategy will demand a high level of coordination, dedication, and planning.

But our leaders have already shown the way by showing that, if one has a vision, and refuses to betray that vision by modifying it, or becoming distracted by small details, such as, for example, the confusing data emanating from the non-theoretical world, filled with actual people, pets, clothes on clotheslines, nuanced loyalties, etc., mountains can be moved, nations can be changed, great things can be accomplished.

It is clear that the fate of Iraq now rests in the hands of Iraqis.

People of Iraq, I say to you:

Stop trying to kill us, so we can leave. But also, do not fear. We are in it for the long haul, although we cannot stay with you indefinitely. No, as soon as you stop trying to kill us, believe us, you will never see us again. Therefore, trust us, people of Iraq, have faith, we assure you: As long as you continue trying to kill us, we will never abandon you.

Sad

Circus performer falls to her death
Sunday, May 23, 2004

(CNN) -- A circus performer working without a net died Saturday after falling about 35 feet during a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show, while hundreds of children and parents watched in horror.

A statement from Ringling Brothers said Dessi Espana, 32, was pronounced dead seven hours after the fall at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"Despite all the efforts of the staff at Regions Hospital, her injuries were too great," the statement said.

Witness Eric Neel told KSTP-TV she was twirling from a chiffon scarf when something went wrong.

"She's about 35 feet in the air and all of a sudden it gave way from the ceiling and she fell down on her head on the concrete," he said.

A spokesman for the Ramsey County Medical Examiner said Sunday morning an autopsy had not yet been performed.

A circus spokeswoman said Espana had been performing the act -- in which she climbs two long strips of cloth hung from the ceiling and performs aerial acrobatics -- for the circus since January, although she had performed it elsewhere before then.

An investigation into the cause of Saturday's mishap was under way, said Kim Brock.

"At this point, there's no evidence to indicate that it was anything but a bad accident," said Joe Neuberger, commander of the St. Paul Police Department.

Brock said it was the first death of a circus performer during a show for the 134-year-old company in at least 10 years.

Funeral arrangements had not been finalized.

Espana's husband, Ivan, and other family members performed together in the Ringling Brothers show, according to her biography on the company's Web site. Dessi and Ivan's two children -- ages 5 and 7 -- also traveled with them and were sometimes included in their acts. Espana's Bulgarian parents were also circus performers.

The show did not stop after Espana's fall around 3:15 p.m., Neel said.

"They just kind of tried to keep everybody distracted, and they ended up putting her on a backboard and took her out and then went on with the show," he said.

According to her biography, Espana once held a world record for twirling 75 hula hoops while appearing on the TV show Live With Regis & Kathie Lee. She held the record until 1999.

WHOA!

This is really something else:

Childless couple told to try sex

A German couple who went to a fertility clinic after eight years of marriage have found out why they are still childless - they weren't having sex.

The University Clinic of Lubek said they had never heard of a case like it after examining the couple who went to see them last month for fertility tests.

Doctors subjected them to a series of examinations and found they were both apparently fertile, and should have had no trouble conceiving.

A clinic spokesman said: "When we asked them how often they had had sex, they looked blank, and said: "What do you mean?"

"We are not talking retarded people here, but a couple who were brought up in a religious environment who were simply unaware, after eight years of marriage, of the physical requirements necessary to procreate."

The 30-year-old wife and her 36-year-old husband are now being given sex therapy lessons while the university clinic undertakes a study to try to find out if there are more couples with a similar lack of sex education.

Are you kidding me? Despite this being a very rare situation, this is an extreme example of why sex education is vital. Give me a break! Are you telling me that she never reached over in the morning and said "hey? What's that all about?" No burning in the loins? No aching desire? No intense curiosity? EIGHT YEARS? For someone who got horny at the sight of Tom Cruise at the age of nine (and felt compelled to do something about it), I just cannot comprehend this.

Puppets

Remind us why we invaded Iraq:

http://www.kaicurry.com/gwbush/remindus.swf (Be sure to turn your speakers up).

BRILLIANT shit. I'm so glad people are calling this administration out on their lies. If you don't watch it, I can only assume you can't handle the truth.

Watch It

And behold reality as expressed in the form of an extremely entertaining animated cartoon: Asleep at the Wheel

"George Bush loves taking vacations. He loves it so much that he's taken more time off than any other president in history (including a whopping one month vacation in August 2001). To date, George Bush has spent 40% of his presidency on vacation.

When you read about terrorists plotting new attacks against US interests, when you hear about American companies laying off hundreds of thousands of workers, when you watch the economy tumble further into a recession, you might say to yourself: "Boy, this country is in pretty bad shape; where the heck is George Bush?" Well, chances are, he's probably taking a nap.

How to Play: In this game, you are a newly-hired White House intern working at George Bush's Crawford Ranch. Your job is to make sure George Bush gets more rest and shut-eye than any human being could possibly ever need. You must intercept anyone and anything that might interrupt George Bush from sleeping the rest of his presidency away.

Visit angrycandy.org.

From Celebration to Mourning

If you were an Iraqi, would you go outside and fire a gun into the air for fun?

I sure as hell wouldn't. You have got to be stupid to say "well it's a wedding! And it's a tradition! So go ahead. Shoot your guns off." Do they not know that they are in the midst of a war? That U.S. commandos are out there looking for people to kill and things to blow up? Don't fucking draw attention to yourselves!

Christ almighty.

But despite the stupidity of shooting a gun into the air in celebration, there is something curious about this whole thing:

"Al-Ani, the doctor, said people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and left. However, al-Ani said, helicopters later arrived and attacked the area. Two houses were destroyed, he said."

"This was a wedding and the (U.S.) planes came and attacked the people at a house. Is this the democracy and freedom that (President) Bush has brought us?" said a man on the videotape, Dahham Harraj. "There was no reason."

"Another man shown on the tape, who refused to give his name, said the victims were at a wedding party 'and the U.S. military planes came... and started killing everyone in the house.'"

So the troops left, knowing that this was a wedding party, and then they came back and killed everyone? I'm going to have to stay abreast of this one. Too damn weird.

Things are such an irreconcilable mess over there, my heart just feels heavy and as each day passes and each piece of news is relayed, I feel more and more hopeless about what we are going to achieve in Iraq.

Anticipation

Just haven't had the energy the past few days. Things have been hectic. I have so much to tell, and nothing to say...let's see.

I bought my plane ticket to Oregon today. I am really excited about my vacation back home. I haven't taken any vacation since last September. I have two weeks now and I'll have another two weeks by the end of the year so maybe we can go to Brazil like we've been talking about forever. Rob's grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles are there. His grandparents aren't getting any younger and it would be nice for me to meet them. Not to mention I've always dreamed of going to Brazil, and having a Brazilian boyfriend is the perfect excuse.

I am really looking forward to Oregon. I want to go camping and swim in rivers and lakes and go up to the top of a mountain or two. Oregon is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It truly is. I've never considered myself much of a country girl, but I do love nature and Oregon has lots of that. I also look forward to seeing all my old friends and catching up on all that's happened in their lives recently.

I was born in Medford, OR and moved to California when I was very little. We moved back to Oregon when I was fourteen. I was not happy about being dragged away from my friends and boyfriend in Santa Monica to go live in some little hippie/yuppie/redneck town in Oregon that was two years behind on what was really going on. I carried on a long distance relationship with my boyfriend in California until I was sixteen and after breaking it off with him, my life in Ashland, OR truly began. Being the extremely social creature that I am, I knew everyone in that damn two horse town (it actually has a population of over twenty thousand, but it's still a damn two horse town). Especially once I lost interest in High School to the point of no return, I had one hell of a social life.

It was hard moving to New York three and a half years ago and starting over. Trying to make new friends. Trying to have a life. Trying to have people to call, things to do. There have been times when I couldn't stand being such a little fish in a big pond. I wanted to give up and go home where I knew I was loved and people would pay attention to me because I was cool (hey, I'm just being honest okay). I preferred being a big fish in a little pond, but that's not a very challenging way to live a life. And eventually, the pond always shrinks down to size. Now I have people and things in New York that I am attached to that would be hard to leave if I ever moved away. Funny how that happens.

But Oregon is still my home. That's where my family is, some of my truest friends are...that's where the nature is at. That's where life is laid back. On the west coast, "where stress is less of a factor." Where people chill. How did I ever get to New York? Where luck & fortune have been the biggest factors, but friends have been fewer and further between... and where chilling is only a scarce opportunity and stressing is a way of life. But everytime I think of moving back to Oregon, I remember three things: the economy, the hippies/yuppies/rednecks and, finally, I couldn't get any kind of food delivered to my house at any time. That last one is the clincher.

I hope you have enjoyed this random blather about things which probably mean very little to you. I guess I did have something to say after all. But I've tired myself out. So I'm off to bed now.

Still Laughing

One more reason why I love Canada:

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Debate in Canada's parliament degenerated into shouts and catcalls on Wednesday when an opposition legislator committed what others saw as the sin of mispronouncing an Italian movie star's name.

The disturbance erupted when Jason Kenney of the Conservatives claimed that a former government minister had been "rubbing shoulders with aging Italian sex kitten Gina Lollobreegeeda" -- whose name is in fact Gina Lollobrigida.

Politicians from the ruling Liberals, anxious not to annoy Canada's large Italian community in the run-up to an election, argued that the mangled pronunciation of her name was an affront and an insult.

"It's Gina Lollobrigida, idiot!" bellowed Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe, prompting Kenney to say he was sorry for "offending the aging sex kitten community."

Speaking afterward, Volpe made an apology of his own.

"I'm sorry I called him an idiot. I should have referred to him as an imbecile," he told reporters.

Lollobrigida, nicknamed "La Lollo," is 76 years old and was at the height of her fame in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in dozens of movies including "Trapeze" and "Beat the Devil."

Fantastic. You just can't make this stuff up.

Afterthought: I wish that the worst of issues facing government in the U.S. right now were as paltry as the mispronunciation of a movie star's name, or even as inane as the president receiving oral sex from an intern. Unfortunately, our problems are a whole lot bigger than that right now. Sigh. Moving to Canada sounds better and better. It's a shame I am so attached to this country. Our management fucking sucks.

It's A Wrap

My friend Anya invited me to this thing tonight. This textiles/art exhibit/party. It turned out to be fun. I am pretty sure the company is called Donghia.

Anya's husband Michael played Sitar for the event.

It was held in this studio that had a cool sloped wall that made it look like a half-pipe. There were all these amazing printed fabrics hanging everywhere. They served these yummy middle eastern treats. Lamb meatballs and crispy nan and pita, spicy chicken, delicate samosas. Good stuff. There was a choice of white wine, perrier and evian. I guess I don't have to tell you which one I had four glasses of. We got these nice giftbags on the way out that contained journals with printed fabric covers of the host's design and a couple of little inanities like cards and magazines. All and all it was a pleasant way to spend a Thursday evening.

I took a bath and now I am ready for a nice, restful sleep, completely absent of any dreams involving turkeys or toilets. ;o)

A Few Words From Iraq

Riverbend tells it like it is. You go girl.

There was a time when people here felt sorry for the troops. No matter what one's attitude was towards the occupation, there were moments of pity towards the troops, regardless of their nationality. We would see them suffering the Iraqi sun, obviously wishing they were somewhere else and somehow, that vulnerability made them seem less monstrous and more human. That time has passed. People look at troops now and see the pictures of Abu Ghraib… and we burn with shame and anger and frustration at not being able to do something. Now that the world knows that the torture has been going on since the very beginning, do people finally understand what happened in Falloojeh?

...

And through all this, Bush gives his repulsive speeches. He makes an appearance on Arabic tv channels looking sheepish and attempting to look sincere, babbling on about how this 'incident' wasn't representative of the American people or even the army, regardless of the fact that it's been going on for so long. He asks Iraqis to not let these pictures reflect on their attitude towards the American people… and yet when the bodies were dragged through the streets of Falloojeh, the American troops took it upon themselves to punish the whole city.

He's claiming it's a "stain on our country's honor"... I think not. The stain on your country's honor, Bush dear, was the one on the infamous blue dress that made headlines while Clinton was in the White House... this isn't a 'stain' this is a catastrophe. Your credibility was gone the moment you stepped into Iraq and couldn't find the WMD... your reputation never existed.

So are the atrocities being committed in Abu Ghraib really not characteristic of the American army? What about the atrocities committed by Americans in Guantanamo? And Afghanistan? I won't bother bringing up the sordid past, let's just focus on the present. It seems that torture and humiliation are common techniques used in countries blessed with the American presence. The most pathetic excuse I heard so far was that the American troops weren't taught the fundamentals of human rights mentioned in the Geneva Convention… Right- morals, values and compassion have to be taught.

All I can think about is the universal outrage when the former government showed pictures of American POWs on television, looking frightened and unsure about their fate. I remember the outcries from American citizens, claiming that Iraqis were animals for showing 'America's finest' fully clothed and unharmed. So what does this make Americans now?

There's more.

Unilateral Bullies

Excellent article. Totally on point. Does not reflect my own stance a hundred percent but makes a very good analysis of the current situation.

The saviour of democracy is run by a unilateral bully
By Martin Wolf
Financial Times; May 12, 2004

I am a huge admirer of the US. Freedom and democracy survived the 20th century only because of American actions and values. Without the US, Hitler or Stalin would have emerged as undisputed winners of the second world war. Thereafter, the US turned defeated enemies into allies and undertook the long - and ultimately successful - task of containing and defeating the Soviet empire.

I am also neither hostile to Republican administrations nor opposed to the use of force. On the contrary, I was heartened by Ronald Reagan's efforts to liberalise the US economy and oppose the Soviet Union. I preferred Richard Nixon to George McGovern, in 1972, and George H.W. Bush to Michael Dukakis, in 1988. I supported the first Gulf war, though I opposed the one in Vietnam.

This personal history is of no intrinsic importance. But if I find the Bush administration's foreign policy disturbing, so must the vast majority of humanity. If I feel Tony Blair has allied the UK too closely, then sympathy for this alliance must be perilously low.

So what is wrong with this administration? Put simply, it fails to understand the basis of US power, mis-specifies US objectives and is incompetent in executing its intentions. As a result, the position of the US - and so of the west - is worse, in significant respects, than it was the day after September 11 2001. Then, a huge proportion of humanity viewed the US as the victim of an outrage. Today, after the revelations of the treatment of prisoners in Iraq, it is seen as a perpetrator of them. Then it had the support of all its allies, now it can rely on the public's sympathy in very few.

Let us start with the administration's faith in the application of US military power. This is a double error. The first lies in its exaggerated belief in force. The US was able to defeat the armies of Saddam Hussein, but a civilised occupying army cannot coerce the obedience of a population. The second error lies in its belief in the irrelevance of allies. A country containing 4 per cent of the world's population cannot impose its will upon the world. It needs permanent allies, not reluctant stooges, willing acceptance of its leadership, not sullen acquiescence. The contempt shown by leading members of the administration for those who disagree with it is now matched by the hostility of those whipped by their scorn.

Without military power, victory would not have been achieved in the second world war. Nor would the Soviet tanks have been kept at bay for more than 40 years. But the cold war was won not because the US had a bigger army than the Soviet Union, but because it offered a more attractive model. The more the US plays the unilateral bully, the more its attraction fades.

Turn then to definition of US objectives. Terrorism is a technique of the powerless adapted to the age of mass communications. A war against terrorism is as empty a slogan as one against crime, drugs or disease. But proclaiming a war against terrorism justifies the indefinite suspension of the rule of law, allows every thug on the planet to ally his repressive policies to those of the US, spawns new enemies and foments a war psychosis in the US itself.

As David Scheffer pointed out in the Financial Times last Thursday, the behaviour of the guards at Abu Ghraib is the natural, almost the inevitable, consequence of the position in which the administration has - in its pursuit of its war on terrorism - put detainees. These are neither prisoners of war nor criminal suspects. Instead, they are in a legal limbo for as long as the US decides that this so-called "war" continues. Interrogators have absolute power and, as Lord Acton pointed out, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nobody, not excluding Americans, is immune to the temptations such power creates.

Now let us turn to the question of competence. In the short history of the war on terrorism, only one institution has shown its effectiveness - the US armed forces in "shock and awe" mode. Almost everything else has been a humiliating shambles. Afghanistan is, once again, in the arms of the war lords whose behaviour led to the Taliban invasion. The outcome in Iraq now looks far worse than that.

The decision to wage a war of choice, not of necessity, was a great risk. It could be justified only by discovering the weaponry Mr Hussein was alleged to hold or by leaving the country, if not a Jeffersonian democracy, at least in a reasonably stable condition. Having been so resoundingly wrong on the first point, the US must now succeed on the second. Always difficult, the chances of such an outcome now seem vanishingly small. What will Iraq be a few years from now - a military dictatorship, a theocracy, a divided country, an anarchy, or a permanent US occupation? Any of these, except the last, seems more plausible than stable democracy.

It is impossible to exaggerate the dangers attendant upon a US failure in Iraq: jihadis would conclude that they had now defeated a second superpower; friendly regimes would be shaken; and US prestige would be destroyed. Iraq is not another Vietnam. It is far more dangerous than that. While this venture was never going to be as militarily perilous as that war, this time dominoes could well fall. An incontinent US withdrawal could be a deciding moment in the relationship between the US and the Arab, if not the entire Muslim, world.

The US has, rightly or wrongly, staked its prestige not just on getting rid of Saddam Hussein, but on leaving behind a thriving country. If, instead, it leaves behind despotism or chaos, it will be a grievous defeat, with huge long-run consequences. Responsibility for such a failure must rest with the White House. It cannot be blamed on any subordinate department, not even the defence department. This is the president's policy and responsibility. The buck stops there.

Crafting a foreign policy for a new era is hard. The last time this had to be done was in the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman more than half a century ago. The institutions they established and the values they upheld were the foundation of the successful US foreign policy of the postwar era. Now, a task even more complex has fallen on this president. He is not up to the job. This is not a moral judgment, but a practical one. The world is too complex and dangerous for the pious simplicities and arrogant unilateralism of George W. Bush.

Tragic Turkey

So if you weren't disturbed enough by the random firing off in the previous entry, let me tell you about the warped dream I had last night about a turkey...or maybe I shouldn't...cover your eyes kids.

Well first part of the dream is real fuzzy because I think someone died in my house. Perhaps they killed themself, perhaps I killed them. I don't know. I have a lot of gory dreams. But I am certain that I felt responsible for their death, either way. There was a big knife involved. It was bloody. A bloody mess. And I had company on the way over. In order to make the dead body more manageable, I conveniently transformed it into a turkey. (Ah to possess the power of a god in one's dreams). A big, bloody turkey. Gross. I tried to rinse it off in the bathtub, but it was just getting more blood all over. So I put it in a big plastic bag and stuck it in the toilet while I tried to clean up the blood from all over the bathroom. I kept thinking about the police, and how I had to make sure there was no blood or DNA anywhere. I scrubbed and scrubbed. Blood seeped down the sides of the toilet. The dead bloody turkey refused to be contained. I looked at it again. It was gruesome. Covered in guts and gore.

My guests arrived. I tried to keep them entertained in another room until I had to go back and attend to the bloody mess. I tried to keep them distracted, but they eventually came into the bathroom to inquire about what I was doing. I'd gotten most of the blood cleaned up and they didn't seem to suspect a thing, but the turkey was still in the toilet. I sat on the toilet seat, though it bulged slightly. This made my visitors kind of curious. They asked what was in the toilet. I was super blasé about it. Oh that? It's just a turkey. I nearly showed them the turkey, but then remembered the blood and guts and realized that it would seem very suspicious to have a gory turkey in my toilet. A large dead bird in the loo is one thing, but one that looks like it has been viciously murdered? That's a hard one to brush under the carpet. After awhile of us sitting there -- me on the toilet seat concealing the incriminating turkey and my guests chatting casually -- seeming only slightly curious about the poultry I was making such an effort to hide, I hopped up, opened the lid, grabbed the plastic bag and swooped it from the toilet and out of the bathroom in one quick motion, and headed to the door to get it out of the house and into a dumpster once and for all. My guests seemed to think I was a little strange, but it certainly wasn't enough to make them set down their drinks and desert the intended soirée.

Then I woke up. Don't tell anyone okay. I know this is a sign of a highly disturbed mind.

You Pushed That Button

Anybody mind if I bitch for a moment about this comment that appeared in my last entry this morning? Too fucking bad.

"I would have thought it would be a basic courtesy for you to let me know you had moved your blog from Blog On. I'll go ahead and delete your account shall I?

Posted by Shelagh at May 12, 2004 08:32 AM "

Now this is the woman that hosted my old weblog at blogon.com. Remember when I was desperate to find out what was wrong with my deteriorating blog? She never responded to my messages regarding the problems that I was having, and when Geoffrey finally fixed the whole mess, he informed me that there was something wrong with the CGI script in her main blog and that it really couldn't be fixed from my "sub blog." So, it was a blessing in disguise because I moved to my own domain and I am much happier now.

And today she has the nerve to come and leave this message in my blog comments? Common courtesy? She wants to talk about common courtesy? What about all the emails I sent her that she didn't respond to??? What is common courtesy again? Well since she decided to broadcast her snooty remark/"request" in my comments section, rather than emailing me like normal people do, I am broadcasting my response: common courtesy is returning emails. There is a little link on her page that says "Contact." I clicked that little link and it took me to this page, wherein I attempted to reach her by typing little words into the little box and clicking send (or "contact blogon!" as it were); something to the effect of "HELP! I'm DROWNING!"

Naturally, having not received any response to these pathetic cries for rescue, I assumed one of two things: (1) she doesn't really care/doesn't really have time to deal with my silly technical difficulties or (2) she doesn't check her messages. No matter. Geoffrey-the-arch-nemesis came along just in time and saved me with his knowhow. (I am assuming this was one of those action movie strategies on his part, where someone like Dr. Evil won't kill Austin Powers because he has way too much fun chasing him around. If Dr. Evil killed Austin Powers then he would have no purpose in life, i.e., no one to torment).

I wish I could now show a little clip of Gilbert Godffrey grabbing the sides of his head and shouting in that fantastically nasal voice of his "SHELAGH! What the fuck???" (It's my what the fuck moment of May 2004)

Plan A: Foiled. On to Plan B...

I'm going to take a momentary rest from politics to direct you to this story about this complete and total idiot who tried to electrocute his wife by knocking a radio into the bathtub. Lucky for him, his wife is a quick catch because she grabbed it in midair before it hit the water and subsequently discovered that he had done searches on their home computer for phrases like "bathtub electrocution." Now how stupid do you have to be in this day and age to research your murder plot on the internet, especially from your home computer!?!? Go to the library! Do some research! But don't type in "bathtub electrocution" on Google you jackass! (This was obviously not a guy well informed about the ease with which a person is able to track your internet activity). It never ceases to amaze me how many truly stupid people there are in this world.

Imagine. The police are investigating his wife's mysterious bathtub electrocution when they find his internet searches and discover the fact that he very recently purchased a life insurance policy for her. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He's lucky his wife caught the damn radio or he'd be going to jail for more than attempted murder.

"Affiant has further been advised by the victim that the defendant has told her he has purchased a gun and is not going to jail "'over this shit'"! This guy is like, a bottomless well of good ideas.

Hahaa! What did the moron do when he heard his half assed brother was coming to town? He cut his toilet seat in half! Hahahaaa.

Ain't No Excuse Fuh You

The first three years...

"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country."
- George W. Bush

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
- George W. Bush

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'."
- George W. Bush

"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."
- George W. Bush

"The future will be better tomorrow."
- George W. Bush

"We're going to have the best educated American people in the world."
- George W. Bush

"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."
- George W. Bush

"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."
- George W. Bush

"Public speaking is very easy."
- George W. Bush

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."
- George W. Bush

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
- George W. Bush

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
- George W. Bush

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children."
- George W. Bush

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
- George W. Bush

"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system."
- George W. Bush

It's time for George Bush to enter the solar system.

More on This

I apologize to those who are tired of reading about politics. Perhaps I will calm down soon and get back to more enjoyable, light-hearted subjects. For now, I have been swept up in a deluge of news articles and an overwhelming desire to utilize my small space in the web-sphere to exercise free speach, protest the occupation of Iraq, grieve for the calamity that it has become and express my belief that our presidential administration is fully to blame.

More and more I am reading about conservatives becoming impatient with the Bush administration's policies both domestically and abroad.

This Washington Post article highlights the revelation that many conservatives are becoming "restive" about Bush's policies, or lack of fresh initiative. Blah blah blah, it's just a bunch of political hoo-ha at this point. But all the same, it's a good article. One thing in particular pleased me immensely:

"Conservatives have become unusually restive. Last Tuesday, columnist George F. Will sharply criticized the administration's Iraq policy, writing: 'This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts.' Two days earlier, Robert Kagan, a neoconservative supporter of the Iraq war, wrote: 'All but the most blindly devoted Bush supporters can see that Bush administration officials have no clue about what to do in Iraq tomorrow, much less a month from now.'"

Yes'm, all but the most blindly devoted Bush supporters...That would be the doltish, blissfully brainwashed masses of republicans who are as unwilling to admit that this administration stands in a mountain of its own shit, as the administration itself. I have a feeling it's a combination of a lot of old white folks who aren't fully capable of examining and assessing the latest current events or who don't feel that foreign policy matters much to them in their old age and stubborn rightwing replicants who have indiscriminately consumed every single morsel of conservative propaganda tossed in their direction. At this point, anyone who will continue to insist that we are not in a disastrous situation in the middle east that needs to be seriously re-evaluated, is in denial and should join a "I am addicted to believing the lies and propaganda of the Bush Administration" support group.

I am of the view that Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Cheney and Rove are all criminals and that Bush should be impeached and imprisoned with the rest of his administration for their crimes of waging an illegal war, holding prisoners in violation of the Geneva convention and failing to prevent or act to cease the torture and inhumane treatment of Iraqi POWs, in addition to assisting corporations and contractors in the business of war profiteering in Iraq.

Now I don't expect others to feel the same about all that as I do, but I expect that at the very least, Bush supporters will wake up and smell the blood and oil in the air and start feeling the sting of the headlines, and finally choose to cease their inexcusable enabling of the Bush administration's total misguidance. I also think anyone who realizes the magnitude of the Iraqi POW scandal should fully support the call to remove Rumsfeld from his post as Secretary of Defense.

Even senior military officers are having serious doubts about our ability to accomplish the goal of establishing a free and democratic Iraq. (Assuming that was our goal.)

"A senior general at the Pentagon said he believes the United States is already on the road to defeat. 'It is doubtful we can go on much longer like this,' he said. 'The American people may not stand for it -- and they should not.'"

Something has got to give.

Our Venerable Leader

Article in Slate:

The Misunderestimated Man
How Bush chose stupidity.
By: Jacob Weisberg

[Excerpts below - click on link above for full article]

Quotations collected over the years in Slate may leave the impression that George W. Bush is a dimwit. Let's face it: A man who cannot talk about education without making a humiliating grammatical mistake ("The illiteracy level of our children are appalling"); who cannot keep straight the three branches of government ("It's the executive branch's job to interpret law"); who coins ridiculous words ("Hispanos," "arbolist," "subliminable," "resignate," "transformationed"); who habitually says the opposite of what he intends ("the death tax is good for people from all walks of life!") sounds like a grade-A imbecile.

And if you don't care to pursue the matter any further, that view will suffice. George W. Bush has governed, for the most part, the way any airhead might, undermining the fiscal condition of the nation, squandering the goodwill of the world after Sept. 11, and allowing huge problems (global warming, entitlement spending, AIDS) to metastasize toward catastrophe through a combination of ideology, incomprehension, and indifference. If Bush isn't exactly the moron he sounds, his synaptic misfirings offer a plausible proxy for the idiocy of his presidency.
…
The most obvious expression of Bush's choice of ignorance is that, at the age of 57, he knows nothing about policy or history. After years of working as his dad's spear-chucker in Washington, he didn't understand the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, the second- and third-largest federal programs. Well into his plans for invading Iraq, Bush still couldn't get down the distinction between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, the key religious divide in a country he was about to occupy. Though he sometimes carries books for show, he either does not read them or doesn't absorb anything from them. Bush's ignorance is so transparent that many of his intimates do not bother to dispute it even in public.
…
A second, more damning aspect of Bush's mind-set is that he doesn't want to know anything in detail, however important. Since college, he has spilled with contempt for knowledge, equating learning with snobbery and making a joke of his own anti-intellectualism. ("[William F. Buckley] wrote a book at Yale; I read one," he quipped at a black-tie event.) By O'Neill's account, Bush could sit through an hourlong presentation about the state of the economy without asking a single question. ("I was bored as hell," the president shot back, ostensibly in jest.)

Closely related to this aggressive ignorance is a third feature of Bush's mentality: laziness. Again, this is a lifelong trait. Bush's college grades were mostly Cs (including a 73 in Introduction to the American Political System). At the start of one term, the star of the Yale football team spotted him in the back row during the shopping period for courses. "Hey! George Bush is in this class!" Calvin Hill shouted to his teammates. "This is the one for us!" As governor of Texas, Bush would take a long break in the middle of his short workday for a run followed by a stretch of video golf or computer solitaire.

A fourth and final quality of Bush's mind is that it does not think. The president can't tolerate debate about issues. Offered an option, he makes up his mind quickly and never reconsiders. At an elementary school, a child once asked him whether it was hard to make decisions as president. "Most of the decisions come pretty easily for me, to be frank with you." By leaping to conclusions based on what he "believes," Bush avoids contemplating even the most obvious basic contradictions: between his policy of tax cuts and reducing the deficit; between his call for a humble foreign policy based on alliances and his unilateral assertion of American power; between his support for in-vitro fertilization (which destroys embryos) and his opposition to fetal stem-cell research (because it destroys embryos).

Gone Crazy

The news is insane. There is so much crazy shit going on that I can barely keep on top of it all. My boss must have emailed me fifty articles yesterday, each one more disturbing than the last. Articles relating to everything from the FCC "indecency" witch hunt to this indescribably heinous torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Boy, things are really in the crapper right now. I would try to write about something cheerful, perhaps the party the other night or my adventures with Kathleen yesterday, but I can't ignore what is going on in the world. Everyday I feel more and more as if life is starting to resemble one of the scary sci-fi novels that my dad gave me to read as a kid.

Howard Stern is being hounded by the FCC, while equally "offensive" material on the Oprah Winfrey show raises no flags with the FCC and she continues with her usual program, unhindered. This article in the Nation did a great job of highlighting the inequities within the FCC's focus and pointing out the transformation that seems to have occurred in the attitude of Michael Powell, who once said "I have gained a deep and profound respect for the wisdom of having an unwavering principle that stands at the summit of the Constitution, and holds: 'Government shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.'... Benevolent or not, we did not sign away to a Philosopher-King the responsibility to determine for us, like a caring parent, what messages we should and should not hear."

Powell has flip-flopped on the First Amendment and media regulation. When he was an FCC commissioner, he said that "government has been engaged for too long in willful denial in order to subvert the Constitution so that it can impose its speech preferences on the public--exactly the sort of infringement of individual freedom the Constitution was masterfully designed to prevent." When he became chairman, he said, "I don't know that I want the government as my nanny." In 1999, he accepted the Media Institute's Freedom of Speech Award with a stirring defense of the First Amendment: "We should think twice before allowing the government the discretion to filter information to us as they see fit." But now, Powell is regulating something far more sacred than the business of media: its content, its speech, its freedom. And he dismisses--or at least tries to wash his hands of--the chill, telling Congress recently: "I do not have the luxury of ignoring my duty to enforce the statute because owners might react with excessive conservatism."

That article is worth reading in its entirety as it goes into specific rules and regulations that the FCC is currently trying to reinstate or put into place while bypassing the judicial process that has hindered its efforts in the past. So there is that madness.

And then there is this madness. So Rumsfeld apologizes, professes that the whole thing is his responsibility and states that he would step down if he were to personally determine that he is unable to lead the Defense Department effectively. This is about as ridiculous as Justice Scalia having the authority to decide whether or not he wants to recuse himself from the Cheney energy matter. He should not be the one to decide! Obviously it is in Rumsfeld's personal interest to stay on as Defense Secretary and anyone who thinks he's going to let that get taken from him without a fight doesn't know much about Donald Rumsfeld. He's a proud, proud man. Too proud. And to think that he and Bremer suppressed this information for so long and that Rumsfeld did not even have an answer to a simple question like "what private contractors were in charge of questioning the prisoners and had authority over the guards?" displays how truly unprepared our government was for a situation like this. So many bases failed to be covered before we entered into this war.

Meanwhile, Bush is breaking his promise not to ask for more funding for the Iraqi war until next year, by putting in a request for 25 Billion in additional funds. 100 billion dollar vision thing. What a fucking mess.

As for the depictions of abuse and torture that these Iraqis suffered at the hands of U.S. soldiers, it is so sickening. I cannot even fathom that any human being would do these kinds of things to another human being. It is beyond heinous. There are not even words to describe how ugly those acts are. It honestly makes me wonder what really goes on at Guantanamo Bay. I think people should be calling for independent investigations from every angle to make sure that this is not continuing anywhere else. These abuse allegations are obviously not isolated incidents at this point.

Torture

This is absolutely sickening.

"[B]etween October and December 2003, at the Abu Ghraib Confinement Facility (BCCF), numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees. This systemic and illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force. … The allegations of abuse were substantiated by detailed witness statements (ANNEX 26) and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence. … I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts:

a. Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;

b. Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;

c. Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;

d. Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;

e. Forcing naked male detainees to wear women's underwear;

f. Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;

g. Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;

h. Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture; …

j. Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a female soldier pose for a picture;

k. A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;

l. Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee …

These findings are amply supported by written confessions provided by several of the suspects, written statements provided by detainees, and witness statements. …

In addition, several detainees also described the following acts of abuse, which under the circumstances, I find credible based on the clarity of their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses (ANNEX 26):

a. Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;

b. Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;

c. Pouring cold water on naked detainees;

d. Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;

e. Threatening male detainees with rape; …

g. Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick."

and this:

"Because we acted, torture rooms are closed, rape rooms no longer exist, mass graves are no longer a possibility in Iraq."—Bush, remarks at "Ask President Bush" event, Michigan, May 3, 2004

"I'm not a lawyer. My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture. … I don't know if it is correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore I'm not going to address the torture word."—Rumsfeld, Defense Department Operational Update Briefing, May 4, 2004

Rape Rooms: A Chronology
By William Saletan
Updated Wednesday, May 5, 2004, at 7:54 PM PT

"The Iraqi people are now free. And they do not have to worry about the secret police coming after them in the middle of the night, and they don't have to worry about their husbands and brothers being taken off and shot, or their wives being taken to rape rooms. Those days are over."—Paul Bremer, Administrator, [Iraq] Coalition Provisional Authority, Sept. 2, 2003

"Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."—President Bush, remarks to 2003 Republican National Committee Presidential Gala, Oct. 8, 2003

"There was an announcement by the Iraqi Governing Council earlier this week about the tribunal that they have set up to hold accountable members of the former regime who were responsible for three decades of brutality and atrocities. … We know about the mass graves and the rape rooms and the torture chambers of Saddam Hussein's regime. … We welcome their decision to move forward on a tribunal to hold people accountable for those atrocities."—Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan, White House press briefing, Dec. 10, 2003

"One thing is for certain: There won't be any more mass graves and torture rooms and rape rooms."—Bush, press availability in Monterrey, Mexico, Jan. 12, 2004

"On 19 January 2004, Lieutenant General (LTG) Ricardo S. Sanchez, Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Seven (CJTF-7) requested that the Commander, US Central Command, appoint an Investigating Officer (IO) in the grade of Major General (MG) or above to investigate the conduct of operations within the 800th Military Police (MP) Brigade. LTG Sanchez requested an investigation of detention and internment operations by the Brigade from 1 November 2003 to present. LTG Sanchez cited recent reports of detainee abuse."—Report by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba to Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, senior U.S. military official in Iraq, describing a formal inquiry launched on Jan. 19, 2004

"Sources have revealed new details from the Army's criminal investigation into reports of abuse of Iraqi detainees, including the location of the suspected crimes and evidence that is being sought. U.S. soldiers reportedly posed for photographs with partially unclothed Iraqi prisoners, a Pentagon official told CNN on Tuesday."—Barbara Starr, CNN, Jan. 21, 2004

"Saddam Hussein now sits in a prison cell, and Iraqi men and women are no longer carried to torture chambers and rape rooms …"—Bush, remarks on "Winston Churchill and the War on Terror," Feb. 4, 2004

"Seventeen U.S. soldiers have been suspended of duties pending the outcome of the investigation into alleged allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners, a U.S. officer said Monday."—Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2004

"[B]etween October and December 2003, at the Abu Ghraib Confinement Facility (BCCF), numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees. This systemic and illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force. … The allegations of abuse were substantiated by detailed witness statements (ANNEX 26) and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence. … I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts:

a. Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;

b. Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;

c. Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;

d. Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;

e. Forcing naked male detainees to wear women's underwear;

f. Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;

g. Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;

h. Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture; …

j. Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a female soldier pose for a picture;

k. A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;

l. Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee …

These findings are amply supported by written confessions provided by several of the suspects, written statements provided by detainees, and witness statements. …

In addition, several detainees also described the following acts of abuse, which under the circumstances, I find credible based on the clarity of their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses (ANNEX 26):

a. Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;

b. Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;

c. Pouring cold water on naked detainees;

d. Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;

e. Threatening male detainees with rape; …

g. Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick."

—Executive summary of Taguba report, finalized Feb. 29, 2004, briefed to superiors on March 3, 2004, and submitted in final form on March 9, 2004

"Every woman in Iraq is better off because the rape rooms and torture chambers of Saddam Hussein are forever closed."—Bush, remarks on "Efforts to Globally Promote Women's Human Rights," March 12, 2004

"There's still remnants of that regime that would like to take it back. … They could torture people and have rape rooms, and the world would turn their head from that and let it happen. But they can't do that anymore."—Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, BBC interview, March 16, 2004

"There are no more rape rooms and torture chambers in Iraq."—National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, CBS Early Show, March 19, 2004

"As you know, on 14 January 2004, a criminal investigation was initiated to examine allegations of detainee abuse at the Baghdad confinement facility at Abu Ghraib. Shortly thereafter, the commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force Seven requested a separate administrative investigation into systemic issues such as command policies and internal procedures related to detention operations. That administrative investigation is complete; however, the findings and recommendations have not been approved. As a result of the criminal investigation, six military personnel have been charged with criminal offenses to include conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault, and indecent acts with another."--Brigadier Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition Operations, Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing, March 20, 2004

"Correspondent Brooke Hart: But in a 53-page secret report, Army Major General Antonio Taguba says an investigation found a disturbing pattern of sadistic, blatant, wanton criminal abuses. The report was completed in February, but the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Rumsfeld hadn't read it. Democratic lawmakers are frustrated. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.: This is an unacceptable response. That's not the level of concern the American people would expect of their military commanders for this type of conduct."—"Pentagon officials to answer tough questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding Iraqi prisoner abuse," CNBC, April 4, 2004

"SFC Snider grabbed my prisoner and threw him into a pile. …. I saw SSG Frederic, SGT Davis and CPL Graner walking around the pile hitting the prisoners. I remember SSG Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its [sic] ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to SSG Frederick. … I saw two naked detainees, one masturbating to another kneeling with its mouth open."—Testimony of Military Police Specialist Matthew Wisdom, hearing on charges of prisoner abuse, April 9, 2004; according to The New Yorker, "After the hearing, the presiding investigative officer ruled that there was sufficient evidence to convene a court-martial."

"The investigation started after SPC Darby … got a CD from CPL Graner. … He came across pictures of naked detainees."—Testimony of Special Agent Scott Bobeck, Army Criminal Investigation Division, same hearing, April 9, 2004

"Two weeks ago, 60 Minutes II received an appeal from the Defense Department, and eventually from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, to delay this broadcast—given the danger and tension on the ground in Iraq."—CBS News statement on its broadcast of photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse, April 29, 2004, referring to a DOD appeal received on or near April 15, 2004

"Our military is … performing brilliantly. See, the transition from torture chambers and rape rooms and mass graves and fear of authority is a tough transition. And they're doing the good work of keeping this country stabilized as a political process unfolds."—Bush, remarks on "Tax Relief and the Economy," Iowa, April 15, 2004

"We're facing supporters of the outlaw cleric, remnants of Saddam's regime that are still bitter that they don't have the position to run the torture chambers and rape rooms. … They will fail because they do not speak for the vast majority of Iraqis who do not want to replace one tyrant with another. They will fail because the will of our coalition is strong. They will fail because America leads a coalition full of the finest military men and women in the world."—Bush, remarks on the USA Patriot Act, Pennsylvania, April 19, 2004

"We acted, and there are no longer mass graves and torture rooms and rape rooms in Iraq."—Bush, remarks at Victory 2004 Reception, Florida, April 23, 2004

"The pictures show Americans, men and women, in military uniforms, posing with naked Iraqi prisoners. There are shots of the prisoners stacked in a pyramid, one with a slur written on his skin in English. In some, the male prisoners are positioned to simulate sex with each other. And in most of the pictures, the Americans are laughing, posing, pointing, or giving the camera a thumbs-up."—Dan Rather, 60 Minutes II, April 28, 2004

"A year ago, I did give the speech from the carrier, saying that we had achieved an important objective, that we'd accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam Hussein. And as a result, there are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq."—Bush, remarks in the Rose Garden, April 30, 2004

"There are those who seek to derail the transition to democracy because they want to return to the days of mass graves and torture chambers and rape rooms. But that's not going to happen."—McClellan, White House press briefing, April 30, 2004

"A fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba … listed some of the wrongdoing: 'Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.' "—Seymour M. Hersh, "Torture at Abu Ghraib," The New Yorker, posted April 30, 2004

"Because we acted, torture rooms are closed, rape rooms no longer exist, mass graves are no longer a possibility in Iraq."—Bush, remarks at "Ask President Bush" event, Michigan, May 3, 2004

"I'm not a lawyer. My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture. … I don't know if it is correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore I'm not going to address the torture word."—Rumsfeld, Defense Department Operational Update Briefing, May 4, 2004

"It's very important for people, your listeners, to understand in our country that when an issue is brought to our attention on this magnitude, we act—and we act in a way where leaders are willing to discuss it with the media. And we act in a way where, you know, our Congress asks pointed questions to the leadership. … Iraq was a unique situation because Saddam Hussein had constantly defied the world and had threatened his neighbors, had used weapons of mass destruction, had terrorist ties, had torture chambers …"—Bush, interview with Al Arabiya Television, May 5, 2004

Wisdom

Quote of the Day:

"Keep an open mind, but don't let anyone dump garbage in it."
- Grandpa Jimmy Carreón

¡Celebre Cinco De Mayonesa!

Happy Cinco De Mayo! Today is a great day to celebrate. Luckily, I have a fantastic party lined up for this evening at which you can bet I'll be throwing back some shots of tequila in tribute to my Mexican ancestors.

Tonight I will be a lucky guest at the NY premiere of the new movie "Coffee & Cigarettes" at which possible guests will include Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, RZA, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Alfred Molina, Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Joie Lee, Cinqué Lee, Joe Rigano, Vinny Vella, Vinny Vella Jr., Renée French, Meg White, Jack White, Steve Coogan, GZA, and more. I am very excited at the prospect of being in the same room and drinking from the same open bar as the aforementioned people. Especially Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. I hope that they come.

As for this wonderful day of celebration, what better way to start it out than a visit to Dogsnot, where Geoffrey would, of course, take the opportunity to go off about illegal Mexican immigrants or "Wetbacks" as he apparently finds it acceptable to call them in that context. What a shitbag. "Shitbag" is a derogatory term for white racist republican, in case you were wondering and is therefore an acceptable label in this context.

So aside from that, this is starting off to be a great day!

I would like to take a moment to pay homage to my ancestors, whose contributions to this country have been many. To my great great great...grandfather, the explorer, Juan Bautista De Anza who played a leading role in the discovery of the city of San Francisco. To my grandmother Eloise Ainsa, who was one of the kindest and most compassionate human beings I've ever had the honor of knowing. To my recently deceased grandfather Conrad James Carreón, the first Spanish speaking state legislator of Arizona and a staunch democrat, whose wise words continue to flow from the lips of my father and never cease to inspire us to do our best and to be the best and to always stand up for what is right. To my own father, who has been the best father that any man could be to his children and whose accomplishments are a great source of pride in our family. And finally, to my aunts, uncles and cousins who live their lives with integrity, humility and thoughtfulness and with whom I share the bond of blood and ancestry.

I am proud of my Mexican heritage! Viva La Mexico!

Repuglicans: Read It and Weep

This Wall Street Journal article is worth a read, especially for those who think it's only liberals that oppose this war.

"Maybe it's time, in other words, to listen to retired Gen. William E. Odom. It is delusional, asserts the Army veteran, college professor and longtime Washington hand, to believe that "staying the course" can achieve President Bush's goal of reordering the Middle East by building a friendly democracy in Iraq. For the sake of American security and economic power alike, he argues, the U.S. should remove its forces from that shattered country as rapidly as possible.

"We have failed," Mr. Odom declares bluntly. "The issue is how high a price we're going to pay. ... Less, by getting out sooner, or more, by getting out later?"

His is not the voice of an isolationist, or a peacenik, or Republican-hater. He is talking from the conservative Hudson Institute, where he was hired years ago by Mitch Daniels, later Mr. Bush's budget director. His office displays photos of Ronald Reagan, under whom Mr. Odom directed the National Security Agency, and Jimmy Carter, on whose National Security Council staff he served."

So it's not just "liberal moonbats" (as we are lovingly referred to at Dogsnot) who oppose the war... imagine that.

April 28, 2004

CAPITAL JOURNAL
By JOHN HARWOOD

Former General Sees
'Staying the Course'
In Iraq as Untenable
April 28, 2004; Page A4

The time to worry is when Washington politicians on all sides agree. So
when John Kerry echoes President Bush in arguing that the United States
"can't cut and run" from Iraq, maybe it's time to listen to someone who
says we must.

Maybe it's time, in other words, to listen to retired Gen. William E.
Odom. It is delusional, asserts the Army veteran, college professor and
longtime Washington hand, to believe that "staying the course" can
achieve President Bush's goal of reordering the Middle East by building
a friendly democracy in Iraq. For the sake of American security and
economic power alike, he argues, the U.S. should remove its forces from
that shattered country as rapidly as possible.

"We have failed," Mr. Odom declares bluntly. "The issue is how high a
price we're going to pay. ... Less, by getting out sooner, or more, by
getting out later?"

His is not the voice of an isolationist, or a peacenik, or
Republican-hater. He is talking from the conservative Hudson Institute,
where he was hired years ago by Mitch Daniels, later Mr. Bush's budget
director. His office displays photos of Ronald Reagan, under whom Mr.
Odom directed the National Security Agency, and Jimmy Carter, on whose
National Security Council staff he served.

Rather, his unsettling view reflects a broader reassessment of
America's predicament as Iraq looks ever-uglier. It can be seen as well
in U.S. Administrator L. Paul Bremer's tacit admission of error in
disbanding the Iraqi Army and Mr. Bush's new reliance on United Nations
help.

Mr. Odom opposed the Iraq war before it happened. An expert in
comparative politics who teaches at Georgetown and Yale, he warned that
there was no reason to expect that Iraq could soon develop the
ingredients for constitutional democracy: individual rights, property
rights and a tax-collection system supporting a government to enforce
them. The violence of recent months, he concludes, has exposed Mr.
Bush's vision of doing so as a dream.

Following the planned June 30 handover of nominal sovereignty, Iraqis
may go to the polls and vote. But the result, Mr. Odom explains, will
resemble theocracy more than liberal democracy. As televised images of
Iraqis cheering attacks on U.S. troops suggest, it's not likely to be
anything Americans would consider worth the war's cost in blood and
treasure.

"Anybody that's pro-American cannot gain legitimacy," he says. "It will
be a highly illiberal democracy, inspired by Islamic culture, extremely
hostile to the West and probably quite willing ... to fund terrorist
organizations." The ability of Islamic militants to use Iraq as a
beachhead for attacks elsewhere may increase.

But can't U.S. troops there tamp down such hostile activity? Well, yes,
he says -- at a cost of rising hostility to the U.S. throughout the
region.

"It probably will radicalize Saudi Arabia, [and] it could easily
radicalize Egypt," Mr. Odom says. Violence yesterday between security
forces and terrorists in Syria hinted at what may come, heightening
dangers for Israel and the U.S. Iran might agree not to stir trouble
among fellow Shiites who are 60% of Iraq's population -- provided the
U.S. eases its hostile stance toward Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Yet the stakes, in Mr. Odom's view, are much bigger. The longer U.S.
troops hang tough, he reasons, the more isolated America will become.
That in turn will place increasing strain on international economic and
security institutions that have undergirded the emergence of "America's
Inadvertent Empire," as Mr. Odom's latest book calls it. "I don't know
that the UN, the IMF, the World Bank, [or] NATO can survive this," he
says.

His proposed solution sounds initially like Mr. Kerry's: a call for the
U.N. and European allies to take charge of political and security
arrangements. What's different -- even Bushlike -- is that Gen. Odom
would accompany that request with a unilateral declaration that U.S.
forces would leave even if no one else agrees to come in.

Such a move, he concludes, might even provoke an unexpected result a
year after Mr. Bush brushed off opposition from France, Germany and
many others to oust Saddam Hussein. "The Europeans might get scared [of
chaos] and go in," Mr. Odom says. "There'd probably be a big effort to
try to rescue" Mr. Bush. But U.S. troops would be gone within six
months in any event.

It is a jarring prescription. But ask yourself, as bullets fly in Najaf
and Fallujah, which sounds more credible: Mr. Odom's gloomy forecast,
or Mr. Bush's prediction of success?

Write to John Harwood at john.harwood@wsj.com1

Because Nothing Else Matters

A friend at work came over to show me an ad in a magazine. It is a photo of a wedding album inscribed with the words "Our Daughter's Wedding" and the ad says "Can you think of a better reason?" The kicker: It is an ad for Botox cosmetic treatments. At first I was grossed out because I thought the premise of the ad was to suggest that you should send your daughter in for Botox treatments before her wedding day. Then I realized that it is suggesting that you should try your best to avoid looking like an old hag on your daughter's wedding day. Ah nothing like American sensibilities.

This brings me back to the Swan, which I watched again last night despite my better judgment. I was once again struck by the frankenstein-esque feel of the entire show and sickened by the macabre scene at the end where you see the woman who have just been spit out of the cosmetic surgery cookie cutter, looking like a cross between a two dollar hooker and an android. They show you a camera angle taken from the other side of the mirror where each woman is seeing her new self for the first time and she is crying and touching her own face and body and sobbing "ooooh myyyyy gaaaawd, I am soooo beautiful!!!!" Then her loved ones come in and tell her for the first time in her life that she is beautiful, which is the worst part. I am still waiting for a family member to walk in and say "what did they do to you?" or for the girl to look in the mirror and cry out "ooooh myyyy gaaaawd I am still ugly, just at the other end of the spectrum!!!!"

This world becomes more and more like a scary sci-fi novel with each passing day.

Super Blue

I feel really sad today. I am listening to Trio at work. I brought in a bunch of my favorite cds so I can play them instead of my radio station. I listened to the entire Outkast "Stankonia" album. That album is like comfort food for the soul. Now I'm halfway through Trio's "Da Da Da." More comfort food. This song "Bye Bye" always makes me melancholy. Trudging along through the chords and beats, the lyrics only a little more than a heavy whisper "sweetheart, say goodbye, say goodbye, to all her