CNN's Ali Velshi cornered Geithner on the AIG bonus scandal : the Treasury not only knew about risks of bonuses to be awarded but prevented Sen. Chris Dodd from adding a clause to minimize them*.
Tim takes the blame raher unconvincingly : he uses the first person for the legally binding part of his job ("It's my responsibility, I was in a position where I didn't knowabout those sooner, I take full responsibility for that"), swiches to the second person for the future "now let's fix it" section ("In any case, we're going to go back and try to recoup the payments that were already made we had no legal ability to block at that time"), but keeps his distances with the third parties who actually dunnit : "The people doing this, the Fed and the Treasury people, are workingvery closely together".
"They, the People" of the Treasury, won't like this, Tim.
You just caught a bullet for your boss.
The previous day, Barack Obama changed his tune regarding the AIG mess : OK I'm angry but look, the buck stops here, I'm responsible.
The bullet stopped before reaching the buck, and I'm glad Geithner took it. From the beginning, this man was Obama's poorest pick.
* "Geithner: Treasury Pushed For Bonus Loophole (VIDEO)" (HuffPost - 20090319)
20090316
Lobby Dick Tries To Retire, Fails To Retract
As the newly reformed League of Justice (D.C. Serious Comics) consider putting behind bars the Supervillains who disgraced America over the past 8 years, one of their most abject leaders resurfaces.
Last time we saw The Evil Doctor Cheney, he was pitifully escaping with his master Victor von Dumb in an helicopter. Their lair had just been raided by Captain America, who even humiliated von Dumb in public with his most powerful weapon ; a loud and concise X-ray speech exposing the imposter. The hero then threw this protective shield over the nation : "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
It's hard to tell whether von Dumb will ever recover from his wounds. Somewhere deep into the darkest swamps of Amerika, The Rover is probably trying to revive his creature. D.C. Serious Comics declined to comment, but a sequel could be in the making under the title "Amerika Doomed : The Legacy".
We do know for sure the man known as Lobby Dick is still alive. Yesterday, he even rose from his armchair to deliver a "State of the Union with John King" address on CNN.
The Anchorman's hulk of a body was protected by a 8-inch adamantium-reinforced glass table, but for good measure King cast a few spells on The Creepy Veep, using quick hand gestures on his Magic Screen : as some of the Supervillain's most shameless moments were instantly brought back to life, there was no chance anyone in the audience could misinterpret his snarl for a friendly smile.
King first asked Doc Dick what he thought about Captain America's first weeks in power :
- "This League of Justice is dangerous : they are changing the very definitions of democracy, justice, freedom, science... cancelling all the much needed reforms we brought to the dictionnary over the last eight years. Next thing you know, even listening to Rush Limbaugh will be considered cruel and unusual punishment".
- "Well... isn't it already, I mean technically ? And what do you think about the use or abuse of the new superpower called Stimulus ?"
- "You sometimes do need a stimulus to get things going. For instance, when I don't get an answer or when I get an answer that I don't like, electroshocks can prove useful. But this Stimulus is a joke. Let's be clear : this country needs bullets, not bullet trains. Tax cuts for the rich, ax cuts for the poor. And a nationwide pipeline network".
- "... connected with new oil fields in Alaska, I presume ?"
- "Nah... oil should keep circulating on trucks, gas-guzzling trucks doing circles, virtuous circles. This country needs pipelines for water."
- "Pardon me... did I hear "water" ?"
- "You did. Getting water all across the nation is a major challenge for this millenium : we want to democratize waterboarding - no child left behind."
- "But that's insane !"
- "Yeah. Look how poor John McCain lost his bearings... I'm sure he refuses to promote waterboarding because Arizona is too dry."
- "Wasn't it because he was tortured in Vietnam ?"
- "That's a question of vocabulary. There was no CNN at the Hanoi Hilton back then, talk about cruel and unusual punishment..."
King offered the criminal an opportunity to redeem himself : "come on, Doc, now that your ruling days are behind you, now that you have nothing to lose... why not confess that you could have done or said things a better way ?"
Hissing and shrugging, von Dumb's sidekick refused to retract :
- the collapse of the Twin Towers ? "The DemoTeam did it, we tried to save Freddie and Fannie, but this infamous gang deliberately refused to strip them from their most dangerous powers when it was still possible"
- the Deficit ? "yet another creature from the DemoTeam - we found the fingerprints of The Dude all over it. Plus we had to reprint all procedure manuals... and by the way, do you know how much it costs to build a soundproof torture chamber ?"
- the Big Bang ? "We were caught in a global tempest and had to cope with the same crisis as our allies - rumors that the crisis originated from our own labs, our very homes, are bold lies"
- Shock and Awe ? "My only regret : the CIA didn't do their job and provided us with poor intel... but luckily enough, I was there to correct them and forge the case for the invasion of Iraq. Going at a Supervillain was the right thing to do. Everybody is definitely better off now, don't you think ? Iraq has ceased to exist as a united nation, Persia has recovered its Superpower status, new enemies keep popping up from all over the planet... more than ever, this World needs Amerika."
- "And how about The Scoot ?"
The Dark Lord's face turned even more somber as The Anchorman mentioned the case that almost tore the Doc Cheney - von Dumb couple apart in the last throes of their assault on democracy : "Victor and I slightly disagreed on that one, granted. I think it has something to do with my partner's hypocrisy. That's probably the reason why he keeps hiding his true fundamentalist face behind a mask of compassion. But make no mistake : he is as dangerous as I am."
Last time we saw The Evil Doctor Cheney, he was pitifully escaping with his master Victor von Dumb in an helicopter. Their lair had just been raided by Captain America, who even humiliated von Dumb in public with his most powerful weapon ; a loud and concise X-ray speech exposing the imposter. The hero then threw this protective shield over the nation : "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
It's hard to tell whether von Dumb will ever recover from his wounds. Somewhere deep into the darkest swamps of Amerika, The Rover is probably trying to revive his creature. D.C. Serious Comics declined to comment, but a sequel could be in the making under the title "Amerika Doomed : The Legacy".
We do know for sure the man known as Lobby Dick is still alive. Yesterday, he even rose from his armchair to deliver a "State of the Union with John King" address on CNN.
The Anchorman's hulk of a body was protected by a 8-inch adamantium-reinforced glass table, but for good measure King cast a few spells on The Creepy Veep, using quick hand gestures on his Magic Screen : as some of the Supervillain's most shameless moments were instantly brought back to life, there was no chance anyone in the audience could misinterpret his snarl for a friendly smile.
King first asked Doc Dick what he thought about Captain America's first weeks in power :
- "This League of Justice is dangerous : they are changing the very definitions of democracy, justice, freedom, science... cancelling all the much needed reforms we brought to the dictionnary over the last eight years. Next thing you know, even listening to Rush Limbaugh will be considered cruel and unusual punishment".
- "Well... isn't it already, I mean technically ? And what do you think about the use or abuse of the new superpower called Stimulus ?"
- "You sometimes do need a stimulus to get things going. For instance, when I don't get an answer or when I get an answer that I don't like, electroshocks can prove useful. But this Stimulus is a joke. Let's be clear : this country needs bullets, not bullet trains. Tax cuts for the rich, ax cuts for the poor. And a nationwide pipeline network".
- "... connected with new oil fields in Alaska, I presume ?"
- "Nah... oil should keep circulating on trucks, gas-guzzling trucks doing circles, virtuous circles. This country needs pipelines for water."
- "Pardon me... did I hear "water" ?"
- "You did. Getting water all across the nation is a major challenge for this millenium : we want to democratize waterboarding - no child left behind."
- "But that's insane !"
- "Yeah. Look how poor John McCain lost his bearings... I'm sure he refuses to promote waterboarding because Arizona is too dry."
- "Wasn't it because he was tortured in Vietnam ?"
- "That's a question of vocabulary. There was no CNN at the Hanoi Hilton back then, talk about cruel and unusual punishment..."
King offered the criminal an opportunity to redeem himself : "come on, Doc, now that your ruling days are behind you, now that you have nothing to lose... why not confess that you could have done or said things a better way ?"
Hissing and shrugging, von Dumb's sidekick refused to retract :
- the collapse of the Twin Towers ? "The DemoTeam did it, we tried to save Freddie and Fannie, but this infamous gang deliberately refused to strip them from their most dangerous powers when it was still possible"
- the Deficit ? "yet another creature from the DemoTeam - we found the fingerprints of The Dude all over it. Plus we had to reprint all procedure manuals... and by the way, do you know how much it costs to build a soundproof torture chamber ?"
- the Big Bang ? "We were caught in a global tempest and had to cope with the same crisis as our allies - rumors that the crisis originated from our own labs, our very homes, are bold lies"
- Shock and Awe ? "My only regret : the CIA didn't do their job and provided us with poor intel... but luckily enough, I was there to correct them and forge the case for the invasion of Iraq. Going at a Supervillain was the right thing to do. Everybody is definitely better off now, don't you think ? Iraq has ceased to exist as a united nation, Persia has recovered its Superpower status, new enemies keep popping up from all over the planet... more than ever, this World needs Amerika."
- "And how about The Scoot ?"
The Dark Lord's face turned even more somber as The Anchorman mentioned the case that almost tore the Doc Cheney - von Dumb couple apart in the last throes of their assault on democracy : "Victor and I slightly disagreed on that one, granted. I think it has something to do with my partner's hypocrisy. That's probably the reason why he keeps hiding his true fundamentalist face behind a mask of compassion. But make no mistake : he is as dangerous as I am."
20090310
SNL - The Rock Obama
I know the GOP shouldn't be evil, but you don't want to make President Obama angry either...
From Saturday Night Live, he's facing the hulk of a problem and not with his green agenda :
From Saturday Night Live, he's facing the hulk of a problem and not with his green agenda :
20090306
Watchmen and the nature of Alan Moore's power
As the screens get filled with spectacular images of Zack Snyder's action movie sharing the same title as Alan Moore's delicate masterpiece, I welcomed Salon's interview of 'The wizard of "Watchmen"' (Andrew Firestone - Salon - 20090305).
At last ! The only person who could say something relevant and intelligent about his own work (which once again, has nothing to do with a recently released popcorn byproduct*).
In very deed, Watchmen is not about comics and superheroes. ""Watchmen" is an intelligent meditation on the nature of power".
Intelligence and power ? Alan Moore knows something about those, alright. As well as he knows something about human nature, its beautiful as well as its lighter and - preferably, I reckon - darker sides.
To stay with Watchmen characters, I think the darkest side of Alan Moore resides not in Rorschach, but in Dr Manhattan : the systems he designs are as perfect, but the key difference is that they are meant for planet Earth, perfectly human and humanly flawed, a tribute to intelligence**. Not the boring, dull, sterile Ozymandias kind of intelligence - the sparkling, stimulating kind.
If Stan Lee revolutionized super heroes and the comics industry, Alan Moore revolutionized comics as a medium*** for human intelligence and creativity. And in that extent, there is something fictionally autobiographical in Watchmen, "an intelligent meditation on the nature of Moore's power".
I was not surprised to learn that Moore produces several pages of script for each final page. The edifice requires an incredible concentration from its author, and there is just no way one could add, move or retrieve any single piece without ruining the work and provoquing its collapse****. The movie, any movie, was doomed to fail from the start.
Moore knows how to lift existing characters to new dimensions, and he changed the Swamp Thing or Batman forever, reinvented actual or virtual figures from the past, but he can do much more than that, lift the burden of all existing rules, build his own universes, bend space and time, explore fiction beyond Pynchon or Borges. How's that for superpowers ?
His best moments ? When he starts from scratch. And even then, he must always move on before it gets boring to him... which happens much earlier than it does to us. This author simply cannot stick to one thing, even from a dark swamp.
At last ! The only person who could say something relevant and intelligent about his own work (which once again, has nothing to do with a recently released popcorn byproduct*).
In very deed, Watchmen is not about comics and superheroes. ""Watchmen" is an intelligent meditation on the nature of power".
Intelligence and power ? Alan Moore knows something about those, alright. As well as he knows something about human nature, its beautiful as well as its lighter and - preferably, I reckon - darker sides.
To stay with Watchmen characters, I think the darkest side of Alan Moore resides not in Rorschach, but in Dr Manhattan : the systems he designs are as perfect, but the key difference is that they are meant for planet Earth, perfectly human and humanly flawed, a tribute to intelligence**. Not the boring, dull, sterile Ozymandias kind of intelligence - the sparkling, stimulating kind.
If Stan Lee revolutionized super heroes and the comics industry, Alan Moore revolutionized comics as a medium*** for human intelligence and creativity. And in that extent, there is something fictionally autobiographical in Watchmen, "an intelligent meditation on the nature of Moore's power".
I was not surprised to learn that Moore produces several pages of script for each final page. The edifice requires an incredible concentration from its author, and there is just no way one could add, move or retrieve any single piece without ruining the work and provoquing its collapse****. The movie, any movie, was doomed to fail from the start.
Moore knows how to lift existing characters to new dimensions, and he changed the Swamp Thing or Batman forever, reinvented actual or virtual figures from the past, but he can do much more than that, lift the burden of all existing rules, build his own universes, bend space and time, explore fiction beyond Pynchon or Borges. How's that for superpowers ?
His best moments ? When he starts from scratch. And even then, he must always move on before it gets boring to him... which happens much earlier than it does to us. This author simply cannot stick to one thing, even from a dark swamp.
Yeah, the man's back to "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - not my favorite. But he's a human being, remember ? And his "Lost Girls" will probably expose new weaknesses.
I probably won't read those two, but I'd love to have a peek at his scripts.
Which, I know for sure, will be a delight for scholars decades from now.
PS: I also committed three blogules in French about Alan Moore : two lamenting about the disastrous choices of filmmakers ("Watchmen - Le Film" - 20081210 / "V for Vendetta - c'est Alan Moore qu'on assassine" - 20060323), one pointing out how "V" became IRL when, following the 2005 terror attacks, London authorities lauded their surveillance systems as their "Ears" and "Eyes" ("V for Vendetta. V : c'est arrive en 2005" - 20050724).
* Haven't watched it yet (who watches the Watchmen anyway?), but I will. Eventually.
** What's in a Worldsmith ? This Blue Man Group Of One would build with "materials" (please don't nuke me Doc, I know I'm being utterly reductive and classically / quantumly wrong) where the Bard Wordsmith mindnipulates "immaterials".
*** I'm not saying "a" as "one" : in Watchmen, Moore mixes all kinds of media (comic strips, novels, radio, cinema, press, TV, sketches and paintings...).
**** see (in French also) "Watchmen - Frappes chirurgicales et hommages collatéraux".
20090304
Yoo Got Mail - The Prince's Diary
The USDOJ released on monday confidential OLC memos 1 confirming what everybody already knew : the Bush administration had rather strange ways of defining such concepts as democracy, freedom, justice, or law. To name a not so happy few.
I'm afraid my title may be perceived as too kind for the infamous psychopath who used to run (and disgrace the very name of) the Office of Legal Counsel at the time when those memos were crafted : John Yoo is neither Niccolò Machiavelli, nor even Karl Rove (at least, The Architect did have some competence, some florentine know-how, and a few neurons to spare).
And John Yoo was not an advisor to "Il Principe" : Lorenzo il Magnifico offered Renaissance to the World. George W. Bush ? A sick Medieval revival.
Indeed, W. seems closer to Girolamo Savonarola than to Lorenzo de' Medici : his glorious "acts of faith" will be remembered as the destructive crimes of a dangerous fundamentalist, the same way "auto de fe" / "auto-da-fé" now echoes Spanish Inquisition delicacies, or bonfires of good books or people.
At least, the Bush Administration did embrace innovation in that field, and not only in the torture section : compared to Yoo's 9 memos, a Library of Alexandria of confidential documents has disappeared in the shredding machine feeding frenzy meant to save Dick Cheney from Justice (see "Justice now").
But change has come to America and guess what ? Justice, the real thing, is back.
Exit Yoo. Exeunt Addington, Ashcroft, Gonzales.
Enter Eric Holder. Enter Dawn Johnsen, and the new OLC boss has a long history of sound statements against the mob that used to rule the nation 2.
Other relevent comments ? From Jack Balkin (Yale), who sees in Yoo's memos a "theory of presidential dictatorship". "This was a period of panic, and panic creates an opportunity for patriotic politicians to abuse their power" 3.
I guess "patriotic politicians" abusing their power could pose a problem.
But I know for sure what happens when it's a bunch of "fascist theocons" 4.
1 http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/olc-memos.htm
2 "Obama's impressive new OLC chief" (Glenn Greenwald - Salon 20090105)
3 "Bush administration memos on presidential powers stun legal experts" - David G. Savage - LA Times 20090303)
4 see "Universal Declaration of Independence from Fundamentalism" and "Let's Face It They're Fascists" (archives 2004)
I'm afraid my title may be perceived as too kind for the infamous psychopath who used to run (and disgrace the very name of) the Office of Legal Counsel at the time when those memos were crafted : John Yoo is neither Niccolò Machiavelli, nor even Karl Rove (at least, The Architect did have some competence, some florentine know-how, and a few neurons to spare).
And John Yoo was not an advisor to "Il Principe" : Lorenzo il Magnifico offered Renaissance to the World. George W. Bush ? A sick Medieval revival.
Indeed, W. seems closer to Girolamo Savonarola than to Lorenzo de' Medici : his glorious "acts of faith" will be remembered as the destructive crimes of a dangerous fundamentalist, the same way "auto de fe" / "auto-da-fé" now echoes Spanish Inquisition delicacies, or bonfires of good books or people.
At least, the Bush Administration did embrace innovation in that field, and not only in the torture section : compared to Yoo's 9 memos, a Library of Alexandria of confidential documents has disappeared in the shredding machine feeding frenzy meant to save Dick Cheney from Justice (see "Justice now").
But change has come to America and guess what ? Justice, the real thing, is back.
Exit Yoo. Exeunt Addington, Ashcroft, Gonzales.
Enter Eric Holder. Enter Dawn Johnsen, and the new OLC boss has a long history of sound statements against the mob that used to rule the nation 2.
Other relevent comments ? From Jack Balkin (Yale), who sees in Yoo's memos a "theory of presidential dictatorship". "This was a period of panic, and panic creates an opportunity for patriotic politicians to abuse their power" 3.
I guess "patriotic politicians" abusing their power could pose a problem.
But I know for sure what happens when it's a bunch of "fascist theocons" 4.
1 http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/olc-memos.htm
2 "Obama's impressive new OLC chief" (Glenn Greenwald - Salon 20090105)
3 "Bush administration memos on presidential powers stun legal experts" - David G. Savage - LA Times 20090303)
4 see "Universal Declaration of Independence from Fundamentalism" and "Let's Face It They're Fascists" (archives 2004)
20090303
GOPgle - Don't Be Evil
A few quotes of the week :
Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity on FOXnews about Barack Obama : "So I shamelessly say, no, I want him to fail".
Michael Steele to CNN about that bout : "Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment. (...) Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."
Michael Steele to Politico.com a little later : "My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. (...) I was maybe a little bit inarticulate".
Well, you WERE articulate, Mike.
And you were RIGHT :
- First, Limbaugh IS an entertainer. In the same interview, he managed to smack this pearl of wisdom well over the fence : "I'm a thinker. A lot of people, I guess, aren't - People are emotional and they react emotionally to things". Or to credit FDR for Hoover's failure, and to consider WWIII as the solution to our problems : "The new deal didn't work. You know, Hoover was president through the depression for one year. FDR prolonged the new deal for seven or eight years, and yet he's given credit for ending the depression. Didn't happen. World War II ended it. "
- Second, yes, what Rush says is both ugly and incendiary. Not his wishing for a failure of "socialism" (what he actually meant), but his venomous speech about race throughout the interview, the typical way he's denying racism while fueling it - something Steele must have felt even more acutely than I did.
Steele first reacted as a sound leader for the good of his party, his country, and mankind. I don't think this man will manage to kick fundamentalists out of the GOP*, but I like his early-Googlish "Don't Be Evil" approach. Republicans must redefine themselves and if they keep positioning themselves AGAINST things or people, they are bound to remain at least one step behind things and people.
Yes, Steele did make a few political concessions to his right afterwards, but unlike Rahm Emanuel (who deliberately fueled Limbaugh's fire a little bit earlier), he did the right thing in the first place.
Bobby Jindal obviously didn't the right thing in his first major speech as the top contender to a match up with Obama in 2012**. "Being compared to Mister Rogers is better than some of the other comparisons we've had here in the past" - in very deed, Piyush : you should be glad not to have been compared to Fred Rogers' coathanger instead.
Anyway, forever lost in his own angry Limbo, Rush won't be seen singing "Won't You Be My Neighbor ?" anytime soon.
This great self-proclaimed "thinker" probably never dared consider that "Love Thy Neighbor" could mean anything beyond "Be a good Amerikan : get your gun and join my Neighborhood Watch".
* remember ? "GOP : Time to Split" !
** or rather 2016 - see "GOP Primaries 2012 Kick-off - Charlie Crist's Second Coming"
Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity on FOXnews about Barack Obama : "So I shamelessly say, no, I want him to fail".
Michael Steele to CNN about that bout : "Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment. (...) Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."
Michael Steele to Politico.com a little later : "My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. (...) I was maybe a little bit inarticulate".
Well, you WERE articulate, Mike.
And you were RIGHT :
- First, Limbaugh IS an entertainer. In the same interview, he managed to smack this pearl of wisdom well over the fence : "I'm a thinker. A lot of people, I guess, aren't - People are emotional and they react emotionally to things". Or to credit FDR for Hoover's failure, and to consider WWIII as the solution to our problems : "The new deal didn't work. You know, Hoover was president through the depression for one year. FDR prolonged the new deal for seven or eight years, and yet he's given credit for ending the depression. Didn't happen. World War II ended it. "
- Second, yes, what Rush says is both ugly and incendiary. Not his wishing for a failure of "socialism" (what he actually meant), but his venomous speech about race throughout the interview, the typical way he's denying racism while fueling it - something Steele must have felt even more acutely than I did.
Steele first reacted as a sound leader for the good of his party, his country, and mankind. I don't think this man will manage to kick fundamentalists out of the GOP*, but I like his early-Googlish "Don't Be Evil" approach. Republicans must redefine themselves and if they keep positioning themselves AGAINST things or people, they are bound to remain at least one step behind things and people.
Yes, Steele did make a few political concessions to his right afterwards, but unlike Rahm Emanuel (who deliberately fueled Limbaugh's fire a little bit earlier), he did the right thing in the first place.
Bobby Jindal obviously didn't the right thing in his first major speech as the top contender to a match up with Obama in 2012**. "Being compared to Mister Rogers is better than some of the other comparisons we've had here in the past" - in very deed, Piyush : you should be glad not to have been compared to Fred Rogers' coathanger instead.
Anyway, forever lost in his own angry Limbo, Rush won't be seen singing "Won't You Be My Neighbor ?" anytime soon.
This great self-proclaimed "thinker" probably never dared consider that "Love Thy Neighbor" could mean anything beyond "Be a good Amerikan : get your gun and join my Neighborhood Watch".
* remember ? "GOP : Time to Split" !
** or rather 2016 - see "GOP Primaries 2012 Kick-off - Charlie Crist's Second Coming"
20090227
USS War Censorship Sunk
Robert Gates announced the end of the ban on photographing caskets of war dead*, a ban initiated by George H. W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War.
To me, this tells a lot about a country willing to make peace and end war, and puts an end to a shameful tradition of hiding the truth to the US audience.
Remember how US Weapons of Mass Disinformation used to make a show of "surgical strikes" and other "clean war" impostures ?
Remember how the first pictures of scores of caskets, lined up in an army aircraft on its way from Baghdad, caused a scandal not because of the reason why those unlucky people where sent to death in the first place, but because such "un-American" images could undermine the morale of a nation at war ?
Remember how W. got reelected because he had the courage to take the decision of going to war, and not kicked out of the White House because he was coward enough to dodge his own military duties decades earlier, and crazy enough to take that doomed decision on the sole basis of his own fundamentalist's hidden agenda ?
Of course, let us not be fooled by the timing of Gate's announcement : the Defense Secretary is not only speeding up the withdrawal process (now US viewers must all understand it's better to get the heck out of Iraq as scheduled), but also pointing out fundamental differences between Obama and Bush at the very moment when journalists take notice of some similarities in the way war is being waged.
The Bush-Cheney propaganda era may be over, some positive spin can't hurt.
Can it ?
* as long, of course, as each family agrees - see "Pentagon OKs media photos of war dead overturning Bush's 1991 ban" (NY Daily News 20090226)
To me, this tells a lot about a country willing to make peace and end war, and puts an end to a shameful tradition of hiding the truth to the US audience.
Remember how US Weapons of Mass Disinformation used to make a show of "surgical strikes" and other "clean war" impostures ?
Remember how the first pictures of scores of caskets, lined up in an army aircraft on its way from Baghdad, caused a scandal not because of the reason why those unlucky people where sent to death in the first place, but because such "un-American" images could undermine the morale of a nation at war ?
Remember how W. got reelected because he had the courage to take the decision of going to war, and not kicked out of the White House because he was coward enough to dodge his own military duties decades earlier, and crazy enough to take that doomed decision on the sole basis of his own fundamentalist's hidden agenda ?
Of course, let us not be fooled by the timing of Gate's announcement : the Defense Secretary is not only speeding up the withdrawal process (now US viewers must all understand it's better to get the heck out of Iraq as scheduled), but also pointing out fundamental differences between Obama and Bush at the very moment when journalists take notice of some similarities in the way war is being waged.
The Bush-Cheney propaganda era may be over, some positive spin can't hurt.
Can it ?
* as long, of course, as each family agrees - see "Pentagon OKs media photos of war dead overturning Bush's 1991 ban" (NY Daily News 20090226)
20090221
Terminator 5 - Rise Of The Taxes
$42 bn. Petty money these days. Not even a Madoff.
$42 bn. The deficit of the World's 8th economy. The Golden State. The Land of Milk and Honey.
California.
From 49ers to 42ers. From Gold Rush to Bank Rush. From Californication to Califoreclosure. From No Problemo Gubernator to Hasta La Vista Berniemador.
To add insult to injury, they're going to pry tax raises out of Schwarzenegger's hands, over his dead Hummer.
It keeps getting better.
$42 bn. The deficit of the World's 8th economy. The Golden State. The Land of Milk and Honey.
California.
From 49ers to 42ers. From Gold Rush to Bank Rush. From Californication to Califoreclosure. From No Problemo Gubernator to Hasta La Vista Berniemador.
To add insult to injury, they're going to pry tax raises out of Schwarzenegger's hands, over his dead Hummer.
It keeps getting better.
20090217
Vice Senators, Vicious Governors, Virtuous Circles
Time to hatchet the Burris ?
So Roland Burris lied. He did have a chat with Rod Blagojevich's brother regarding Obama's seat in the US Senate.
Big deal.
As if anyone doubted there was anything fishy. Democrats badly needed someone ASAP to vote for the bailout-recovery-stimulus-hail-mary Obama plan, and they couldn't wait for impeachment. So be it.
This plan by no means perfect. Bullet trains make sense in California, but the LA-LV axis doesn't seem an environmental priority... unless you go all the way to Denver, Saint Louis and Chicago, that is (not to say hello to Burris, but to pave the way for a major nationwide network).
But even if it only manages to succeed halfway, this plan will have been worth it. Provided the political will to change remains strong ; I do hope the lack of details was only a trick to pass the bill quickly, and that the Obama Administration will seize the opportunity to set the pace for a new global framework, a more balanced order (see "This is not a financial crisis").
The Burris incident proves that change has not totally come to DC (not to mention Chicago). But when Politico's Arena raises the question : "Should the Constitution require elections to fill Senate vacancies?", I'm not sure that's the kind of changes needed.
French politics are president-driven. "Dissolving" the national assembly is a national pastime, and reducing the Presidential mandate from 7 to 5 years (same as a MP) undermined the balance between the executive and legislative powers. Chirac should have either picked 6 years or reducing national assembly cycles to 4 years.
American politics are calendar-driven. You do elect Vice-Presidents but not Vice Senators, and that's OK, untill you get a Governor with one Vice too many.
US politics have their flaws, but the priority seems to make sure federal elections are fair. One nation, one president, one process. And not one of the 305,833,705 members of the US population (05:16 GMT (EST+5) Feb 17, 2009) left behind*.
* BTW : I don't like the idea of Rahm Emanuel's Executive Office of the President controlling the US Census Bureau, but it didn't certainly belong to the Commerce Department in the first place. I would put it in the OMB (Office of Management and Budget).
So Roland Burris lied. He did have a chat with Rod Blagojevich's brother regarding Obama's seat in the US Senate.
Big deal.
As if anyone doubted there was anything fishy. Democrats badly needed someone ASAP to vote for the bailout-recovery-stimulus-hail-mary Obama plan, and they couldn't wait for impeachment. So be it.
This plan by no means perfect. Bullet trains make sense in California, but the LA-LV axis doesn't seem an environmental priority... unless you go all the way to Denver, Saint Louis and Chicago, that is (not to say hello to Burris, but to pave the way for a major nationwide network).
But even if it only manages to succeed halfway, this plan will have been worth it. Provided the political will to change remains strong ; I do hope the lack of details was only a trick to pass the bill quickly, and that the Obama Administration will seize the opportunity to set the pace for a new global framework, a more balanced order (see "This is not a financial crisis").
The Burris incident proves that change has not totally come to DC (not to mention Chicago). But when Politico's Arena raises the question : "Should the Constitution require elections to fill Senate vacancies?", I'm not sure that's the kind of changes needed.
French politics are president-driven. "Dissolving" the national assembly is a national pastime, and reducing the Presidential mandate from 7 to 5 years (same as a MP) undermined the balance between the executive and legislative powers. Chirac should have either picked 6 years or reducing national assembly cycles to 4 years.
American politics are calendar-driven. You do elect Vice-Presidents but not Vice Senators, and that's OK, untill you get a Governor with one Vice too many.
US politics have their flaws, but the priority seems to make sure federal elections are fair. One nation, one president, one process. And not one of the 305,833,705 members of the US population (05:16 GMT (EST+5) Feb 17, 2009) left behind*.
* BTW : I don't like the idea of Rahm Emanuel's Executive Office of the President controlling the US Census Bureau, but it didn't certainly belong to the Commerce Department in the first place. I would put it in the OMB (Office of Management and Budget).
20090216
Next Stop : Pakistan
They have fled Iraq for Afghanistan. For many, it was a way back to where it all started. Others learned their trade in Iraq, a giant terrorist training camp created by George W. Bush in his fundamentalist crusade in a country that really didn't need this kind of touristic resorts.
Now that a surge is on the way to Kabul and Southern Afghanistan, they are touring Pakistan beyond their usual Northern safe havens.
Pakistan is not safe, and the economical, social, and political situation worsened since last November, when I wrote these already gloomy lines (see "Lessons from Mumbai ?") : "The main target in the Mumbai attacks was Pakistan, the weaker link, and the democracy the most likely to fall for fundamentalism if the international community fails to help it help itself."
44 started using the same military quick fixes as 43/36* : air strikes as "surgical" as Israel's bombs on Lebanon or Gaza. But make no mistake : diplomacy is on its way. Not the naive, vintage dovish kind of diplomacy, but resolute and fair.
Diplomacy is on its way, and Barack's most lethal weapons are on their way : ahead of Hurricane Hillary, "diplomatic equivalent of a hydrogen bomb" AfPak envoy Richard Holbrooke met with Hamid Karzai... and The H. Bomb clearly avoided the kind of toasts Carter shared with Shah Reza Pahlavi over 30 years ago.
Last week, a local governor made an international show of a bonfire of puppy crops and illegal drugs seized in his region. A small step for Afghanistan, but a major leap out of the loop for ever the media magnet Karzai.
President Obama must keep his eyes on the ball. Keeping in mind the fact that dancers are once again changing ballrooms.
* not Lyndon Baines Johnson but George Walker Bush : 43 has just been awarded the 36th position in the best POTUS contest. Dubya's behind Hoover but before Fillmore - the latter does have the name of a villain in a Harry Potter book, while W. enjoys the fame of Daddy Herbie (41 went up from #20 to #18).
Now that a surge is on the way to Kabul and Southern Afghanistan, they are touring Pakistan beyond their usual Northern safe havens.
Pakistan is not safe, and the economical, social, and political situation worsened since last November, when I wrote these already gloomy lines (see "Lessons from Mumbai ?") : "The main target in the Mumbai attacks was Pakistan, the weaker link, and the democracy the most likely to fall for fundamentalism if the international community fails to help it help itself."
44 started using the same military quick fixes as 43/36* : air strikes as "surgical" as Israel's bombs on Lebanon or Gaza. But make no mistake : diplomacy is on its way. Not the naive, vintage dovish kind of diplomacy, but resolute and fair.
Diplomacy is on its way, and Barack's most lethal weapons are on their way : ahead of Hurricane Hillary, "diplomatic equivalent of a hydrogen bomb" AfPak envoy Richard Holbrooke met with Hamid Karzai... and The H. Bomb clearly avoided the kind of toasts Carter shared with Shah Reza Pahlavi over 30 years ago.
Last week, a local governor made an international show of a bonfire of puppy crops and illegal drugs seized in his region. A small step for Afghanistan, but a major leap out of the loop for ever the media magnet Karzai.
A surge on the ground, elections and potentially new faces at the helm of the country... change is probably coming to Afghanistan.
A Taliban surge, a catastrophic economic downturn, déjà vu short sighted legal and constitutional compromises with fundamentalists, radical factions fueling the seeds of civil war... change is surely coming to Pakistan.President Obama must keep his eyes on the ball. Keeping in mind the fact that dancers are once again changing ballrooms.
* not Lyndon Baines Johnson but George Walker Bush : 43 has just been awarded the 36th position in the best POTUS contest. Dubya's behind Hoover but before Fillmore - the latter does have the name of a villain in a Harry Potter book, while W. enjoys the fame of Daddy Herbie (41 went up from #20 to #18).
20090205
The Screwing Up Buck Stops Here
"I think I messed up. I screwed up"... "This was something that was my fault"... "It's something that I take responsibility for"... "I'm going to screw up sometimes"... "Making sure that when I screw up that I'm taking responsibility for it"...
...
I think we got the message, Barack.
On CBS News ("Obama On Daschle : I messed Up" - 20090203), President Obama offered a mea culpa* diametrically opposite to Sarah Palin's utterly screwed up bravado facing the same Katie Couric last autumn (in memoriam, watch the far less embarrassing Poehler-Fey version : "Couric-Palin @ SNL").
John McCain did use the same words in front of David Letterman... but in order to apologize for a no (TV) show. Not to take the blame for a series of unfortunate vettings as a President-Elect as well as as a POTUS.
Change has come to America : mistakes are being done, but they are spotted early, recognized as such, and dealt with swiftly and in full transparency.
Not to mention the fact, of course, that they have far milder consequences.
A few weeks after Israel**, America is using executive power a very disproportionate way.
But this apparently weaker message resonates much stronger.
And the World is listening.
* mea minima culpa - thou art forgiven, my son
** see "Come Feb. 10th, Will Israel Embrace History Or Vote Bush-Cheney 2004 ?"
...
I think we got the message, Barack.
On CBS News ("Obama On Daschle : I messed Up" - 20090203), President Obama offered a mea culpa* diametrically opposite to Sarah Palin's utterly screwed up bravado facing the same Katie Couric last autumn (in memoriam, watch the far less embarrassing Poehler-Fey version : "Couric-Palin @ SNL").
John McCain did use the same words in front of David Letterman... but in order to apologize for a no (TV) show. Not to take the blame for a series of unfortunate vettings as a President-Elect as well as as a POTUS.
Change has come to America : mistakes are being done, but they are spotted early, recognized as such, and dealt with swiftly and in full transparency.
Not to mention the fact, of course, that they have far milder consequences.
A few weeks after Israel**, America is using executive power a very disproportionate way.
But this apparently weaker message resonates much stronger.
And the World is listening.
* mea minima culpa - thou art forgiven, my son
** see "Come Feb. 10th, Will Israel Embrace History Or Vote Bush-Cheney 2004 ?"
20090121
True v. False vs Good v. Evil
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
I must confess I had the political equivalent of a quick but intense orgasm when I heard that sentence, to me the climax of an otherwise not-so-great but nonetheless perfectly powerful inaugural speech.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals" celebrates the end of the Bush-Cheney era.
This "we" goes far beyond "We the People of the United States", which does already incompass a large spectrum of origins, colors, beliefs, non-beliefs... you name it, and did Barack name a few during his 18 mn speech !
This "we" includes human beings from "each nation, every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity".
The verb "reject" resonates strongly in such an inclusive speech and it should because it denounces our worst enemy, the one from within. When we forget who we are.
The Bush-Cheney equation was "false". This is not a moral judgement, "right" vs "wrong". And this is certainly not a religious statement about who is "good" and who is "evil". This is a clear definition of what mankind is all about.
At this defining moment, Barack Hussein Obama reminded us the true definition of freedom and democracy.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
We reject as false the Bush-Cheney definitions of "freedom" and "democracy".
To add insult to injury, the Supreme Justice nominated by George W. Bush fumbled with the 35 words of the Constitution he was supposed to protect during that glorious inauguration. And of all words, he put "faithfully" in the false position.
President Obama later talked about things that were "true". One may question "patriotism" or other examples, but the word "true" has a more forgiving and subjective meaning. It is about loyalty to life, whatever or whomever you care for. Your ideals.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
Obama's first decision is to close Guantanamo and put an end to Bush-Cheney's caricature of justice.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
At this defining moment, America declared its independence from Amerika.
blogules 2009
I must confess I had the political equivalent of a quick but intense orgasm when I heard that sentence, to me the climax of an otherwise not-so-great but nonetheless perfectly powerful inaugural speech.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals" celebrates the end of the Bush-Cheney era.
This "we" goes far beyond "We the People of the United States", which does already incompass a large spectrum of origins, colors, beliefs, non-beliefs... you name it, and did Barack name a few during his 18 mn speech !
This "we" includes human beings from "each nation, every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity".
The verb "reject" resonates strongly in such an inclusive speech and it should because it denounces our worst enemy, the one from within. When we forget who we are.
The Bush-Cheney equation was "false". This is not a moral judgement, "right" vs "wrong". And this is certainly not a religious statement about who is "good" and who is "evil". This is a clear definition of what mankind is all about.
At this defining moment, Barack Hussein Obama reminded us the true definition of freedom and democracy.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
We reject as false the Bush-Cheney definitions of "freedom" and "democracy".
To add insult to injury, the Supreme Justice nominated by George W. Bush fumbled with the 35 words of the Constitution he was supposed to protect during that glorious inauguration. And of all words, he put "faithfully" in the false position.
President Obama later talked about things that were "true". One may question "patriotism" or other examples, but the word "true" has a more forgiving and subjective meaning. It is about loyalty to life, whatever or whomever you care for. Your ideals.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
Obama's first decision is to close Guantanamo and put an end to Bush-Cheney's caricature of justice.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".
At this defining moment, America declared its independence from Amerika.
blogules 2009
20090116
Bush's Farewell : Mission Accomplished... as Fundamentalist in Chief
"There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions, but there can be little debate about the results".
Well. The least one could say is that George W. Bush was not very open to debate before nor during these decisions, but I agree with him on this : "there can be little debate about the results". Thanks to him, Muslim, Christian and Jewish fundamantalists are far better off than before 9/11.
Because George W. Bush never acted as a POTUS for the good of his country,
and George W. Bush never even acted as a Republican for the good of his party
George W. Bush always acted as a Fundamentalist for the good of fundamentalism.
So Mission Accomplished, Mr Fundamentalist in Chief.
Now, let History do its job and put "The Bush Legacy" into perspective.
Justice in America, No Democracy in Israel ?
Yesterday, Eric Holder confirmed that waterboarding was torture, and that "Adherence to the rule of law strengthens security by depriving terrorist organizations of their prime recruiting tools". In other words : yes, the Bush-Cheney Administration fueled terrorism by disgracing the very values they were supposed to defend. No wonder Karl Rove wants Holder's head before he get yours, Dubya.
Once again (see "Universal Declaration of Independence from Fundamentalism"), the only way of fighting against terror and fundamentalism is at their roots : poverty, unjustice, and wrongdoings of supposedly model democracies.
Once again (see "The Stolen Election"), America has only gone halfway towards redemption by electing Barack Obama, and will finish the job by bringing actual justice to the people who insulted her. Gonzales must pay, Cheney must pay, Rumsfeld must pay, Bush must pay. Their desperate attempts of rewriting History are bold revisionism (see "The Bush Legacy").
Meanwhile, Israel confirms its wrong choices (cf "Come Feb. 10th, Will Israel Embrace History Or Vote Bush-Cheney 2004 ?") : by banning two Arab parties from upcoming elections, the Government clearly stated its poor consideration of democracy and its will to exclude from the Nation its non-Jewish citizens.
Muslim Israelis (about 16% of the population) were already asking themselves questions : they pay taxes but don't think the money is well spent in the Gaza invasion. Actually, extremists from both sides would love to see them turn into radicals.
At this stage, the Hamas alibi doesn't stand. It's not about Israel v. Hamas but about Israel v. Israel. Like Amerika v. America. Israeli voters are entitled to know where this Government actually wants to go. Keeping digging deeper and deeper as if there were no limits is totally suicidal.
Israel cannot postpone an official declaration about how it defines itself in the XXIst Century, its nature, its values, its political project.
Presented at birth as the State of the Jewish People, this country chose democracy and republic, and Non-Jews represent 20% of its population.
But the 1948 project of Constitution failed because of disagreements between fundamentalists and partisans of secularism, and nothing has really changed ever since.
It's time to stop kidding and play out in the open : does Israel want to become a democracy among peers or a Jewish sidekick to Iran-style Islamic Republics ?
If Israel prefers the latter, it only has to keep insulting fundamental values and rights, refusing international law, and of course giving terrorists "prime recruiting tools" by multiplying illegal exactions and usages of WMDs...
But the USA may not keep using their veto rights to absolve them much longer...
Obama pledged to close Guantanamo et restore Justice and Democracy at home. I sincerely hope he will help democracy in Israel even quicklier.
---
PS: "Six Days Seven Nights" - Jon Stewart on W.'s farewell speech, mistakes, disappointments, and soul sales :
Well. The least one could say is that George W. Bush was not very open to debate before nor during these decisions, but I agree with him on this : "there can be little debate about the results". Thanks to him, Muslim, Christian and Jewish fundamantalists are far better off than before 9/11.
Because George W. Bush never acted as a POTUS for the good of his country,
and George W. Bush never even acted as a Republican for the good of his party
George W. Bush always acted as a Fundamentalist for the good of fundamentalism.
So Mission Accomplished, Mr Fundamentalist in Chief.
Now, let History do its job and put "The Bush Legacy" into perspective.
Justice in America, No Democracy in Israel ?
Yesterday, Eric Holder confirmed that waterboarding was torture, and that "Adherence to the rule of law strengthens security by depriving terrorist organizations of their prime recruiting tools". In other words : yes, the Bush-Cheney Administration fueled terrorism by disgracing the very values they were supposed to defend. No wonder Karl Rove wants Holder's head before he get yours, Dubya.
Once again (see "Universal Declaration of Independence from Fundamentalism"), the only way of fighting against terror and fundamentalism is at their roots : poverty, unjustice, and wrongdoings of supposedly model democracies.
Once again (see "The Stolen Election"), America has only gone halfway towards redemption by electing Barack Obama, and will finish the job by bringing actual justice to the people who insulted her. Gonzales must pay, Cheney must pay, Rumsfeld must pay, Bush must pay. Their desperate attempts of rewriting History are bold revisionism (see "The Bush Legacy").
Meanwhile, Israel confirms its wrong choices (cf "Come Feb. 10th, Will Israel Embrace History Or Vote Bush-Cheney 2004 ?") : by banning two Arab parties from upcoming elections, the Government clearly stated its poor consideration of democracy and its will to exclude from the Nation its non-Jewish citizens.
Muslim Israelis (about 16% of the population) were already asking themselves questions : they pay taxes but don't think the money is well spent in the Gaza invasion. Actually, extremists from both sides would love to see them turn into radicals.
At this stage, the Hamas alibi doesn't stand. It's not about Israel v. Hamas but about Israel v. Israel. Like Amerika v. America. Israeli voters are entitled to know where this Government actually wants to go. Keeping digging deeper and deeper as if there were no limits is totally suicidal.
Israel cannot postpone an official declaration about how it defines itself in the XXIst Century, its nature, its values, its political project.
Presented at birth as the State of the Jewish People, this country chose democracy and republic, and Non-Jews represent 20% of its population.
But the 1948 project of Constitution failed because of disagreements between fundamentalists and partisans of secularism, and nothing has really changed ever since.
It's time to stop kidding and play out in the open : does Israel want to become a democracy among peers or a Jewish sidekick to Iran-style Islamic Republics ?
If Israel prefers the latter, it only has to keep insulting fundamental values and rights, refusing international law, and of course giving terrorists "prime recruiting tools" by multiplying illegal exactions and usages of WMDs...
But the USA may not keep using their veto rights to absolve them much longer...
Obama pledged to close Guantanamo et restore Justice and Democracy at home. I sincerely hope he will help democracy in Israel even quicklier.
---
PS: "Six Days Seven Nights" - Jon Stewart on W.'s farewell speech, mistakes, disappointments, and soul sales :
20090108
Come Feb. 10th, Will Israel Embrace History Or Vote Bush-Cheney 2004 ?
Israel 2009 mirrors America 2003 : a “war on terror” deliberately meant to fuel hatred and secure the victory of hawks in upcoming elections1, outright propaganda with daily lines carefully edited by spin doctors, and media either kept in the dark or turned into weapons of mass disinformation.
In 2003, Americans overwhelmingly supported the invasion and in 2004, America embraced Bush's Amerika.
Israeli moderates have a choice : making sure Israeli embraces post Nov 4th History, or remaining silent and letting their country vote for Bush-Cheney 2004.
Barack Obama will have one shot and about 3 weeks to put his weight in the balance.
1- see "A Christmas Gift for Fundamentalists ?"
In 2003, Americans overwhelmingly supported the invasion and in 2004, America embraced Bush's Amerika.
Israeli moderates have a choice : making sure Israeli embraces post Nov 4th History, or remaining silent and letting their country vote for Bush-Cheney 2004.
Barack Obama will have one shot and about 3 weeks to put his weight in the balance.
1- see "A Christmas Gift for Fundamentalists ?"
20090101
Happy new year 2010
Sorry, but I want to forget 2009 :
January - Tel Aviv hawks perfectly used the window of opportunity before Obama's inauguration, igniting a 3rd intifada and an attack from Hezbullah. The Likud is disbanded (too far left) and on February the 10th, Yigal Amir's National Nationalist Party wins in a landslide. All Israelis of Palestinian origin lose their citizenship and their rights to the Geneva Convention but as a compensation, receive a one-way ticket to the Gaza Ghetto. Moderate Jews are considering a secession and by April, medias start talking about a civil war.
February - in order to celebrate Darwin's bicentennary, Sarah Palin burns the Library of Congress and a few science museums to the ground : "Them scientists have been lying to us for too long, and this fake Santa deserves to fry. Burn'em all ! And let's check if they taste like monkeys ! If we descend from the apes, how come I'm dumber than a moose ?"
March - Bernanke is arrested for a massive pizza scheme : he traded all the Federal Reserves with anchovies and pepperoni. China saves the US from bankruptcy but the country has a new currency : the Western Yuan. A Big Mac costs about two redbacks.
April - Gordon Brown choses the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Ireland to become the new King of Scotland. And 20 years after Tiananmen, the Politburo proposes a new deal to the Chinese People : "a slower growth but even less freedom". Wu Jintao is ousted within one day, and Wen Jiabao becomes the new Leader of the Cultual Revolution. By the end of his first 5 year plan, he should become the next Dalai Lama.
May - Alberto Gonzales escapes prison and manages to fly to North Korea where he becomes Honorary Chairman of the Waterboard.
June - Europe votes : 75% abstention and 95% NO. NB: it wasn't even for a referendum but to elect members of the Parliament...
July - No fireworks on the 4th. Need more ammos for Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia and Estonia.
August - A new Putin blitz : invades Vatican the 5th, becomes Pope the 6th, canonizes Stalin the 7th.
September - Black Thursday the 24th. Quotation suspended for the S&P500. As of today, it's still uncertain whether it will become the SubStandard & Poorer 300 or 200. The latter wording has the favor of people who want to be at least once ahead of the market.
October - The corpse of Francis Bacon, 100, paints a vivid portrait of Hank Paulson screaming on the electric chair.
November - George W. Bush collapses at the end of a gigamass in his honor. The autopsy shows he choked on the Eucharistic bread. Human right activists who wanted him to share Dick Cheney's cell find it hard to swallow.
December - The Nobel Peace Prize goes to Robert Mugabe for his role in the reconciliation between the ANC and COPE. He also gets the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his eradication of AIDS and all other human diseases in Zimbabwe (no more Zimbabwean alive to celebrate at home).
January - Tel Aviv hawks perfectly used the window of opportunity before Obama's inauguration, igniting a 3rd intifada and an attack from Hezbullah. The Likud is disbanded (too far left) and on February the 10th, Yigal Amir's National Nationalist Party wins in a landslide. All Israelis of Palestinian origin lose their citizenship and their rights to the Geneva Convention but as a compensation, receive a one-way ticket to the Gaza Ghetto. Moderate Jews are considering a secession and by April, medias start talking about a civil war.
February - in order to celebrate Darwin's bicentennary, Sarah Palin burns the Library of Congress and a few science museums to the ground : "Them scientists have been lying to us for too long, and this fake Santa deserves to fry. Burn'em all ! And let's check if they taste like monkeys ! If we descend from the apes, how come I'm dumber than a moose ?"
March - Bernanke is arrested for a massive pizza scheme : he traded all the Federal Reserves with anchovies and pepperoni. China saves the US from bankruptcy but the country has a new currency : the Western Yuan. A Big Mac costs about two redbacks.
April - Gordon Brown choses the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Ireland to become the new King of Scotland. And 20 years after Tiananmen, the Politburo proposes a new deal to the Chinese People : "a slower growth but even less freedom". Wu Jintao is ousted within one day, and Wen Jiabao becomes the new Leader of the Cultual Revolution. By the end of his first 5 year plan, he should become the next Dalai Lama.
May - Alberto Gonzales escapes prison and manages to fly to North Korea where he becomes Honorary Chairman of the Waterboard.
June - Europe votes : 75% abstention and 95% NO. NB: it wasn't even for a referendum but to elect members of the Parliament...
July - No fireworks on the 4th. Need more ammos for Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia and Estonia.
August - A new Putin blitz : invades Vatican the 5th, becomes Pope the 6th, canonizes Stalin the 7th.
September - Black Thursday the 24th. Quotation suspended for the S&P500. As of today, it's still uncertain whether it will become the SubStandard & Poorer 300 or 200. The latter wording has the favor of people who want to be at least once ahead of the market.
October - The corpse of Francis Bacon, 100, paints a vivid portrait of Hank Paulson screaming on the electric chair.
November - George W. Bush collapses at the end of a gigamass in his honor. The autopsy shows he choked on the Eucharistic bread. Human right activists who wanted him to share Dick Cheney's cell find it hard to swallow.
December - The Nobel Peace Prize goes to Robert Mugabe for his role in the reconciliation between the ANC and COPE. He also gets the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his eradication of AIDS and all other human diseases in Zimbabwe (no more Zimbabwean alive to celebrate at home).
20081226
A Christmas Gift for Fundamentalists ?
Tel Aviv hawks delivered Gaza to the Hamas because they needed this convenient evil at their doorsteps (see "Palestine : the Pakistan-Bangladesh scenario").
They are about to lose their main supporter in Washington, but they are determined to make the most of the last few weeks before Obama's Inauguration.
Hopefully, they won't offer Fundamentalist in Chief Bush his most coveted dream of a full throttle war with Iran (see "Iran who wants war and why"). Nonetheless, they'll do their best to secure victory for one of their own in the February 10 national elections, and a massive operation on Gaza is gaining ground.
Fellow lame duck Ehud Olmert showed a few remorses months ago regarding the way Palestinians were treated, and Livni's recent visit to Mubarak was an interesting development... but Netanyahu and the Likud want diplomacy and Kadima to fail, and you can count on them to pour oil on the flames.
The Hamas cannot afford losing either. And they do know how to go with a bang...
Anyway, the calendar definitely looks grim for moderates, be they Israeli or Palestinian... and the window of opportunity perfect for fundamentalists, be they Jewish, Muslim or Christian.
They are about to lose their main supporter in Washington, but they are determined to make the most of the last few weeks before Obama's Inauguration.
Hopefully, they won't offer Fundamentalist in Chief Bush his most coveted dream of a full throttle war with Iran (see "Iran who wants war and why"). Nonetheless, they'll do their best to secure victory for one of their own in the February 10 national elections, and a massive operation on Gaza is gaining ground.
Fellow lame duck Ehud Olmert showed a few remorses months ago regarding the way Palestinians were treated, and Livni's recent visit to Mubarak was an interesting development... but Netanyahu and the Likud want diplomacy and Kadima to fail, and you can count on them to pour oil on the flames.
The Hamas cannot afford losing either. And they do know how to go with a bang...
Anyway, the calendar definitely looks grim for moderates, be they Israeli or Palestinian... and the window of opportunity perfect for fundamentalists, be they Jewish, Muslim or Christian.
20081222
So help me Rick Warren
The key question is not "Does it matter that Rick Warren will give the inaugural invocation ?"1 but "Does it matter that a supposedly model democracy performs inaugurations with invocations, swearings on the Bible, and the final words 'so help me God' ?"
I don't consider myself an atheist and I understand the value of traditions, but these symbols are a clear statement against the separation of church and state at the most critical moment : when the power is handed to the very person who will defend the U.S. Constitution.
I know I'm repeating myself ("Universal Declaration of Independence From Fundamentalism"), but even religious Spain understood that this century and moreover this post-9/11 World demanded clear messages from democracies. Zapatero swore with his right hand on the Spanish Constitution.
I don't consider myself an atheist and I understand the value of traditions, but these symbols are a clear statement against the separation of church and state at the most critical moment : when the power is handed to the very person who will defend the U.S. Constitution.
I know I'm repeating myself ("Universal Declaration of Independence From Fundamentalism"), but even religious Spain understood that this century and moreover this post-9/11 World demanded clear messages from democracies. Zapatero swore with his right hand on the Spanish Constitution.
Barack Obama can't afford this now, and his poor choice of Rick Warren proves to those who doubted that he won't ignite any divisive war during his mandate.
But I have this dream : President Obama casually swearing on the U.S. Constitution for his second term.
In doing so, Barack Hussein Obama will also defuse many mines for successors who are bound to break, sooner or later, that other glass ceiling.
1 - see today's Politico Arena.
20081217
Madoff with his head(ge funds)
A $50 bn scam (Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme)
A $913 m scan (the SEC budget for 2009)
A $138 bn scandal (see "How the Fed Reached Out to Lehman" NYT 20081215)
It looks a little bit like computers and the race against hackers : the more open the networks, the more likely bad guys will outsmart the system, and anything can happen.
Well. Not quite right.
Entering NYC's financial market ain't that easy. Plus everybody knows everybody... Actually, thieves pal around with cops all the time. Furthermore, post-9/11 America is not post-Hoxha Albania, where no-one knew anything about capitalism and Ponzi schemes could flourish as quickly as culprits could vanish.
Madoff didn't vanish.
The man is smart enough to know he was bound to crash, and the more he postponed his escape, the bigger the final ka-boom. Come on. Even Woody Allen would take the money and run.
But Bernie kept parading in lavish mansions. Bernie kept deceivingly spreading the wealth around. Bernie kept smiling his best dummy smile.
Because somehow, Bernie kept existing.
Bernard Madoff fell because his Second Life Avatar Bernie didn't follow The Woody Law.
Morale of the story : when dummies outdumb dummies, anything can happen.
A $913 m scan (the SEC budget for 2009)
A $138 bn scandal (see "How the Fed Reached Out to Lehman" NYT 20081215)
It looks a little bit like computers and the race against hackers : the more open the networks, the more likely bad guys will outsmart the system, and anything can happen.
Well. Not quite right.
Entering NYC's financial market ain't that easy. Plus everybody knows everybody... Actually, thieves pal around with cops all the time. Furthermore, post-9/11 America is not post-Hoxha Albania, where no-one knew anything about capitalism and Ponzi schemes could flourish as quickly as culprits could vanish.
Madoff didn't vanish.
The man is smart enough to know he was bound to crash, and the more he postponed his escape, the bigger the final ka-boom. Come on. Even Woody Allen would take the money and run.
But Bernie kept parading in lavish mansions. Bernie kept deceivingly spreading the wealth around. Bernie kept smiling his best dummy smile.
Because somehow, Bernie kept existing.
Bernard Madoff fell because his Second Life Avatar Bernie didn't follow The Woody Law.
Morale of the story : when dummies outdumb dummies, anything can happen.
Allahwood's Walk of Shame
Muntazer Al Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist turned terrorist was caught launching Weapons of Mass Destruction at George W. Bush1.
Broken arm and ribs for the victim... "the victim" referring not to the target, but to the journalist... That should be Retaliation Size 10 on the Bush-Cheney Torture Scale, I guess.
Zaidi lost his honor as a journalist2, but made his point as a revolted citizen.
Nikita Khrushchev made his point by banging his own shoe on his desk... History will remember different tales about 43 : choking on a pretzel, asking for permission to pee, taking a lesson about My Pet Goat instead of his responsabilities, and once again3, exposing his formidable talent for dodging, ducking, and even lame-ducking.
1 - 9/11 Truthers ("9/11 Truthers Knockin' At Your Door" - 20081207) claimed that the shoe had been tele-guided by CIA operators so that it would crash on the US flag instead of the POTUS - a false flag scenario meant to trigger a war between US and Middle Eastern shoe manufacturers.
2 - an interesting twist of fate when you consider how journalism has been handled with during Bush's terms (see "How much for a journalist ?" - 20050113)
3 - meet "The Washington Dodgers" (20080925), the nut house that George built.
Broken arm and ribs for the victim... "the victim" referring not to the target, but to the journalist... That should be Retaliation Size 10 on the Bush-Cheney Torture Scale, I guess.
Zaidi lost his honor as a journalist2, but made his point as a revolted citizen.
Nikita Khrushchev made his point by banging his own shoe on his desk... History will remember different tales about 43 : choking on a pretzel, asking for permission to pee, taking a lesson about My Pet Goat instead of his responsabilities, and once again3, exposing his formidable talent for dodging, ducking, and even lame-ducking.
1 - 9/11 Truthers ("9/11 Truthers Knockin' At Your Door" - 20081207) claimed that the shoe had been tele-guided by CIA operators so that it would crash on the US flag instead of the POTUS - a false flag scenario meant to trigger a war between US and Middle Eastern shoe manufacturers.
2 - an interesting twist of fate when you consider how journalism has been handled with during Bush's terms (see "How much for a journalist ?" - 20050113)
3 - meet "The Washington Dodgers" (20080925), the nut house that George built.
20081208
CREDO in unum jokum
I bumped into Joe Lieberman this morning:
For those who can't read the banner, there's a big "switching is easy" next to Joe's face, and below an invitation to join CREDO mobile : "more people are changing to CREDO mobile for reliable services and reliable values (NB : the "and" is not only bold - I mean the typo - but also underlined). We've been a loyal supporter of progressive causes since 1985".
Unfortunately, I didn't keep the M-VNO's campaign promising handcuffs for Karl Rove (see "CREDO mobile vs Karl Rove"), but I'm joining this comparative ad featuring W. as AT&T (it splashed over my computer screen a couple of days before one of the most glorious days in American history) :
Apparently, the Lieberm'ad has been running for a while, and was part of a scheme to strip America's most famous political weather vane of his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship*.
Everybody knows Joe The Switcher eventually kept his chair. This campaign is now focusing more than ever on promoting one cause : the CREDO brand.
Anyway, either by trickling down on its own, or because Working Assets have this thing for spreading it around, part of this wealth will end up benefiting other causes**.
* "Jaws (not calls) drop as Credo Mobile uses Lieberman’s mug in ad" (Chris Steller - Minnesota Independent - 20081124)
** I still don't know how many subscribers CREDO mobile have, but The Courage Campaign claims that they gathered over a week "200,000 signatures on a pledge to repeal" the Proposition 8 ("Join the Impact: California’s Prop 8 Discrimination Becomes a National Issue" - Rick Jacobs - The Courage Campaign / California Progress Report 20081116).
---
initially published on mot-bile : "Credo, loyalty and royalty".
PS: other phony 3 A.M. calls : "Obama answers 3 A.M. phony calls"
For those who can't read the banner, there's a big "switching is easy" next to Joe's face, and below an invitation to join CREDO mobile : "more people are changing to CREDO mobile for reliable services and reliable values (NB : the "and" is not only bold - I mean the typo - but also underlined). We've been a loyal supporter of progressive causes since 1985".
Unfortunately, I didn't keep the M-VNO's campaign promising handcuffs for Karl Rove (see "CREDO mobile vs Karl Rove"), but I'm joining this comparative ad featuring W. as AT&T (it splashed over my computer screen a couple of days before one of the most glorious days in American history) :
Apparently, the Lieberm'ad has been running for a while, and was part of a scheme to strip America's most famous political weather vane of his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship*.
Everybody knows Joe The Switcher eventually kept his chair. This campaign is now focusing more than ever on promoting one cause : the CREDO brand.
Anyway, either by trickling down on its own, or because Working Assets have this thing for spreading it around, part of this wealth will end up benefiting other causes**.
* "Jaws (not calls) drop as Credo Mobile uses Lieberman’s mug in ad" (Chris Steller - Minnesota Independent - 20081124)
** I still don't know how many subscribers CREDO mobile have, but The Courage Campaign claims that they gathered over a week "200,000 signatures on a pledge to repeal" the Proposition 8 ("Join the Impact: California’s Prop 8 Discrimination Becomes a National Issue" - Rick Jacobs - The Courage Campaign / California Progress Report 20081116).
---
initially published on mot-bile : "Credo, loyalty and royalty".
PS: other phony 3 A.M. calls : "Obama answers 3 A.M. phony calls"
The Bush Legacy
When former French President François Mitterrand died in January 1996, his closest followers started working on his legacy, so that History recalls his great moments (peaking with the abolition of death penalty), and forgets his less glorious ones (where to start : Vichy ? Rwanda ? illegal eavesdropping... ?).
George Walker Bush is not dead yet, but The Bush Legacy project seems to be the priority of an administration in its last throes (nevermind those minor wars and crises). Former eminent members are also taking part, and Ks are welcome. Not necessarily of the triple nor financial kind but yes, Karen Hughes and Karl Rove are doing their shares.
"The Architect" is not only indulging into revisionism but also threatening to reveal, in a book, the names of political figures who never considered Lord Dubya "a legitimate president" : "I'm going to name names and show examples"1.
"I'm going to name names and show examples". I guess many of us obscure bloggers wish we were political figures instead of pathetical buffoons, just to have the pleasure to receive this supreme honor from a man who, ironically, owes his "Turd Blossom" nickname to the very person of whom, over the past decades, he's been devotedly licking the fleshiest parts other beers cannot reach.
"I'm going to name names and show examples". This sentence is probably the ultimate tribute to the actual Bush Legacy, the most vibrant homage to the darkest moments in the Bush-Cheney era. Amerika decided to show such examples as Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, and History will need names to go along with these.
History has just started its work on the Bush Legacy, Karl2... And your own name has been named for a legitimate residency in jail, remember ?
I guess Hollywood can milk out of your project something like "The Bourne Again Christian" trilogy : The Bush Legacy = The Fundamentalist Supremacy + The Fascist Identity.
One last time, Bush was successful only as a Fundamentalist in Chief : he never acted as a President for the good of his country, nor even as a Republican for the good of his party, but as a Fundamentalism for the good of fundamentalism. And in that field, he was only one Supreme Justice short of a perfect record.
1 - "Rove planning to 'name names' of Bush haters in his new book" (Amanda Terkel - Think Progress 20081207)
2 - Including from Iran, with love : "Bush: A disgraceful legacy" (Linda S. Heard - Tehran Times 20081207) "You have to admire President George W. Bush, who on January 20 will leave behind him what is arguably the worst U.S. presidential legacy ever. No sleepless nights over a global economy in freefall for him. No conscience haunted by the millions of souls, whose lives have been ruined for ever due to his misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan."
George Walker Bush is not dead yet, but The Bush Legacy project seems to be the priority of an administration in its last throes (nevermind those minor wars and crises). Former eminent members are also taking part, and Ks are welcome. Not necessarily of the triple nor financial kind but yes, Karen Hughes and Karl Rove are doing their shares.
"The Architect" is not only indulging into revisionism but also threatening to reveal, in a book, the names of political figures who never considered Lord Dubya "a legitimate president" : "I'm going to name names and show examples"1.
"I'm going to name names and show examples". I guess many of us obscure bloggers wish we were political figures instead of pathetical buffoons, just to have the pleasure to receive this supreme honor from a man who, ironically, owes his "Turd Blossom" nickname to the very person of whom, over the past decades, he's been devotedly licking the fleshiest parts other beers cannot reach.
"I'm going to name names and show examples". This sentence is probably the ultimate tribute to the actual Bush Legacy, the most vibrant homage to the darkest moments in the Bush-Cheney era. Amerika decided to show such examples as Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, and History will need names to go along with these.
History has just started its work on the Bush Legacy, Karl2... And your own name has been named for a legitimate residency in jail, remember ?
I guess Hollywood can milk out of your project something like "The Bourne Again Christian" trilogy : The Bush Legacy = The Fundamentalist Supremacy + The Fascist Identity.
One last time, Bush was successful only as a Fundamentalist in Chief : he never acted as a President for the good of his country, nor even as a Republican for the good of his party, but as a Fundamentalism for the good of fundamentalism. And in that field, he was only one Supreme Justice short of a perfect record.
1 - "Rove planning to 'name names' of Bush haters in his new book" (Amanda Terkel - Think Progress 20081207)
2 - Including from Iran, with love : "Bush: A disgraceful legacy" (Linda S. Heard - Tehran Times 20081207) "You have to admire President George W. Bush, who on January 20 will leave behind him what is arguably the worst U.S. presidential legacy ever. No sleepless nights over a global economy in freefall for him. No conscience haunted by the millions of souls, whose lives have been ruined for ever due to his misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan."
20081207
9/11 Truthers Knockin' At Your Door
A "discussion" with a 9/11 Truther is similar to a visit from a Jehovah's Witness : about 30 seconds into his monologue, you wish you never opened the darned door... and the fanatic won't leave until he's managed to either convert you, or extort from you the pledge to read the tons of brochures he came with.
And it works : the cult claims every day more followers, and because of the network effect (now that more and more people talk about it around me, it sounds more plausible), "skeptics" now refer to the few naïves who keep refusing to believe in The Obvious Truth. At the speed of light or almost (not everybody is optical fiber connected, but the internet surely helps), an underground streamlet becomes the powerful mainstream.
By the end of 2006, more than one third of Americans thought that 9/11 was somehow masterminded by their own Government (cf "Why the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Won't Go Away" - Time Magazine 20060903). At that stage, this alternative propaganda reached the levels of the official propaganda circa 2004 elections. By "official propaganda", I mean the neocon/theocon spin (Saddam did it), not the plain facts (al Qaeda did it).
Of course, the vast majority of believers have nothing to do with the minority of activists from the far left and the far right who designed this now indestructible perpetual motion device. The aim of the game is not to reveal truth but to keep masses of faithful citizens very angry against the media, democracy or justice... and thus ready to switch to something radically different.
In an ultra-conservative's "best of all possible worlds", the Democratic Party, which somewhat managed to sideline the more or less nihilist "ultra-liberals" who doomed its federal elections for decades, could face the same turmoil as the Republican Party facing its own fundamentalist "minority" (see "GOP : Time to Split"). In a nutshell : US extreme right, in its last throes, resuscitating US extreme left... now we're talking conspiration theories, GOPdamnit !
I've already made1 the parallel with fundamentalism and explained how decent citizens, legitimately demanding accountability and transparency, are being shamelessly fooled, how 9/11 revisionist movements actually serve both the terrorists who committed the crimes, and the excuse for an administration that deliberately betrayed the victims and lied to its own people.
You want to elaborate on this parallel.
In the endless and strange alternative swamps roam self-proclaimed Keepers of The Truth About 9/11. I guess this breed of fundamentalists, "Truthers", owe their name to the same guys who came up with "pro-life" for "anti-abortion rights". Just like with religious fundamentalists, you can find an infinity of Truths, sects, and charismatic preachers. The difference is that each one of them publishes his own Holy Book.
Speaking of which... one of the main reasons why conspiration theories keep multiplying is the fact that the supposed reference book happens to be a total joke for everyone, including its own authors. Doomed from the start, The 9/11 Commission Report was reluctantly initiated more than one year after the attacks (at that time, even the name of the House Majority Leader was DeLay), and carefully monitored and edited in order to spare the Bush-Cheney ticket... Unsurprisingly, when the final report was issued (July 2004), 9/11 revisionists had more fish to fry than 11/2 conspiratists.
Aggravating circumstances : the whole 9/11 affair is plagued with all the ingredients needed for vintage conspiracy theories. Secret services from Western and Eastern countries alike were aware of the eminence of a massive terror attack in the US involving planes, the White House dismissed the threats, neocons (and Darth Vader himself, the very Lord of False Flags) were waiting for the occasion to spread wealth for corporate lobbies and mayhem for enemies of democracy, the operation leveraged on al Qaeda's comprehensive network and often from US friendly countries, and the public opinion had been relentlessly carpet bombed by Dubya's Weapons of Mass Disinformation... enough stuff to feed one successful thriller trilogy, two sequels, five prequels and a pretzel - no sweeteners needed, thank you.
Anyway... Truthers are pumped up to the max, and they want to expose everything about 9/11. Well... almost everything. For instance, they refuse to see those plane debris around the Pentagon, they don't want to consider the potential links between the collapse of the WTC and the minor dent caused by a small boeing passing by, and they have no clue whatsoever how a peaceful santa claus look-alike meditating in the Afghan mountains could have any connection with this American tragedy.
As Michelle Malkin nailed it the other day, "The plain truth will never mollify a Truther"2.
Truthers are the masters of cover-up : everyday, they overwhelm facts with thick layers of new documents, analysis, and theories. Everyday, this fertile soil welcomes more fundamentalists eager to grow everyday more greenbacks. Too bad the said theories are not as sustainable as this profitable ecosystem...
Which may explain why, when it comes to claiming justice, those guys are more successful at building Facebook petitions than bulletproof cases for the usual legal path.
I mean come on, this is America, a country where even before gas prices took a hike, there were more lawyers per capita than cars (I'm wrong ? Sue me). This is Amerika, a country where the First Amendment makes sure the Nazi Party can parade in Ohio or sponsor a highway in Oregon3. This is America, back on track, where even the President's Vice and his former Chief Torture Officer can be brought to justice4. This is America, where even O. J. Simpson can run, but can't hide.
The day someone actually finds the proof that al Qaeda didn't commit 9/11, and the day this person actually wants to make his Truth triumph in the arms of Justice, he will succeed. You betcha.
The question is who's gonna win the Race of the Millenium : the fundamentalists desperately waiting for the WTC Messiah, or the fundamentalists ready to provoke the second coming of the Christ / Mahdi via their own false flag5 ?
---
2 - "The plain truth will never mollify a Truther. There’s always a convoluted excuse – some inconsequential discrepancy to seize on, some photographic “evidence” to magnify into a blur of meaningless pixels – that will rationalize irrationality." ("Truthers to the left of me, truthers to the right" 20081205).
NB: yeah, I know... I'm a subscriber to Karl Rove's e-mails and I sail dangerous seas over the web. But browsing the site of a "conservative syndicated columnist, author, and Fox News Channel contributor" can be rewarding sometimes. Check this banner out : what a lovely souvenir I fished on her homepage yesterday - Santa GOP has already come to town ! I voted McCain and all I got is this lousy Palin 2012 T-shirt ! =>
3 - see "Red blogule to the First Amendment - Land of Opportunity for Nazis, Land of Plenty for Fascism"
4 - see "Everybody loves Raymondville, TX"
5 - see "Iran : who wants war and why"
And it works : the cult claims every day more followers, and because of the network effect (now that more and more people talk about it around me, it sounds more plausible), "skeptics" now refer to the few naïves who keep refusing to believe in The Obvious Truth. At the speed of light or almost (not everybody is optical fiber connected, but the internet surely helps), an underground streamlet becomes the powerful mainstream.
By the end of 2006, more than one third of Americans thought that 9/11 was somehow masterminded by their own Government (cf "Why the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Won't Go Away" - Time Magazine 20060903). At that stage, this alternative propaganda reached the levels of the official propaganda circa 2004 elections. By "official propaganda", I mean the neocon/theocon spin (Saddam did it), not the plain facts (al Qaeda did it).
Of course, the vast majority of believers have nothing to do with the minority of activists from the far left and the far right who designed this now indestructible perpetual motion device. The aim of the game is not to reveal truth but to keep masses of faithful citizens very angry against the media, democracy or justice... and thus ready to switch to something radically different.
In an ultra-conservative's "best of all possible worlds", the Democratic Party, which somewhat managed to sideline the more or less nihilist "ultra-liberals" who doomed its federal elections for decades, could face the same turmoil as the Republican Party facing its own fundamentalist "minority" (see "GOP : Time to Split"). In a nutshell : US extreme right, in its last throes, resuscitating US extreme left... now we're talking conspiration theories, GOPdamnit !
I've already made1 the parallel with fundamentalism and explained how decent citizens, legitimately demanding accountability and transparency, are being shamelessly fooled, how 9/11 revisionist movements actually serve both the terrorists who committed the crimes, and the excuse for an administration that deliberately betrayed the victims and lied to its own people.
You want to elaborate on this parallel.
In the endless and strange alternative swamps roam self-proclaimed Keepers of The Truth About 9/11. I guess this breed of fundamentalists, "Truthers", owe their name to the same guys who came up with "pro-life" for "anti-abortion rights". Just like with religious fundamentalists, you can find an infinity of Truths, sects, and charismatic preachers. The difference is that each one of them publishes his own Holy Book.
Speaking of which... one of the main reasons why conspiration theories keep multiplying is the fact that the supposed reference book happens to be a total joke for everyone, including its own authors. Doomed from the start, The 9/11 Commission Report was reluctantly initiated more than one year after the attacks (at that time, even the name of the House Majority Leader was DeLay), and carefully monitored and edited in order to spare the Bush-Cheney ticket... Unsurprisingly, when the final report was issued (July 2004), 9/11 revisionists had more fish to fry than 11/2 conspiratists.
Aggravating circumstances : the whole 9/11 affair is plagued with all the ingredients needed for vintage conspiracy theories. Secret services from Western and Eastern countries alike were aware of the eminence of a massive terror attack in the US involving planes, the White House dismissed the threats, neocons (and Darth Vader himself, the very Lord of False Flags) were waiting for the occasion to spread wealth for corporate lobbies and mayhem for enemies of democracy, the operation leveraged on al Qaeda's comprehensive network and often from US friendly countries, and the public opinion had been relentlessly carpet bombed by Dubya's Weapons of Mass Disinformation... enough stuff to feed one successful thriller trilogy, two sequels, five prequels and a pretzel - no sweeteners needed, thank you.
Anyway... Truthers are pumped up to the max, and they want to expose everything about 9/11. Well... almost everything. For instance, they refuse to see those plane debris around the Pentagon, they don't want to consider the potential links between the collapse of the WTC and the minor dent caused by a small boeing passing by, and they have no clue whatsoever how a peaceful santa claus look-alike meditating in the Afghan mountains could have any connection with this American tragedy.
As Michelle Malkin nailed it the other day, "The plain truth will never mollify a Truther"2.
Truthers are the masters of cover-up : everyday, they overwhelm facts with thick layers of new documents, analysis, and theories. Everyday, this fertile soil welcomes more fundamentalists eager to grow everyday more greenbacks. Too bad the said theories are not as sustainable as this profitable ecosystem...
Which may explain why, when it comes to claiming justice, those guys are more successful at building Facebook petitions than bulletproof cases for the usual legal path.
I mean come on, this is America, a country where even before gas prices took a hike, there were more lawyers per capita than cars (I'm wrong ? Sue me). This is Amerika, a country where the First Amendment makes sure the Nazi Party can parade in Ohio or sponsor a highway in Oregon3. This is America, back on track, where even the President's Vice and his former Chief Torture Officer can be brought to justice4. This is America, where even O. J. Simpson can run, but can't hide.
The day someone actually finds the proof that al Qaeda didn't commit 9/11, and the day this person actually wants to make his Truth triumph in the arms of Justice, he will succeed. You betcha.
The question is who's gonna win the Race of the Millenium : the fundamentalists desperately waiting for the WTC Messiah, or the fundamentalists ready to provoke the second coming of the Christ / Mahdi via their own false flag5 ?
---
1 - sorry dear compassionate reader, but you'll have to visit my French website for that blogule ("Propagande + contre-propagande = tout bénef pour les extrémistes"). Ditto for the parody I recently committed about a mythical French 9/11 ("11 Septembre français : l'incroyable vérité"). Needless to say Truthers didn't enjoy the joke and retaliated. I decided to expose them once again in "Baggy Truthers", a blogule which I decided to follow-up with a translation into my broken English (the very pamphlet you're reading right now).
2 - "The plain truth will never mollify a Truther. There’s always a convoluted excuse – some inconsequential discrepancy to seize on, some photographic “evidence” to magnify into a blur of meaningless pixels – that will rationalize irrationality." ("Truthers to the left of me, truthers to the right" 20081205).NB: yeah, I know... I'm a subscriber to Karl Rove's e-mails and I sail dangerous seas over the web. But browsing the site of a "conservative syndicated columnist, author, and Fox News Channel contributor" can be rewarding sometimes. Check this banner out : what a lovely souvenir I fished on her homepage yesterday - Santa GOP has already come to town ! I voted McCain and all I got is this lousy Palin 2012 T-shirt ! =>
3 - see "Red blogule to the First Amendment - Land of Opportunity for Nazis, Land of Plenty for Fascism"
4 - see "Everybody loves Raymondville, TX"
5 - see "Iran : who wants war and why"
20081205
Change - Mobilization Has Started
Even after the elections, the Obama campaing keep a perfect record in management. The migration from barackobama.com to change.gov was one first step, and as expected, the grassroot operations machine is being re-mobilized*, weeks ahead of the inauguration.
I've been expecting from them a spectacular drive, nationwide and beyond, for a new kind of public / community service at the county level, and I guess we're about to witness it.
* David Plouffe's e-mail this Dec. 5th :
I've been expecting from them a spectacular drive, nationwide and beyond, for a new kind of public / community service at the county level, and I guess we're about to witness it.
* David Plouffe's e-mail this Dec. 5th :
Exactly one month ago, you made history by giving all Americans a real opportunity for change.
Now it's time to start preparing and working for change in our communities.
On December 13th and 14th, supporters are coming together in every part of the country to reflect on what we've accomplished and plan the future of this movement. Your ideas and feedback will
be collected and used to guide this movement in the months and years ahead.
Join your friends and neighbors -- sign up to host or attend a Change is Coming house meeting near you.
Since the election, the challenges we face -- and our responsibility to take action -- have only gotten more urgent.
You can connect with fellow supporters, make progress on the issues you care about, and help shape the future of your community and our country.
Learn what you can do now to support President-elect Obama's agenda for change and continue to
make a difference in your community.
Take the first important step by hosting or attending a Change is Coming house meeting. Sign up right
now: http://my.barackobama.com/changeiscoming
To get our country back on track, it will take all of us working together.
Barack and Joe have a clear agenda and an unprecedented opportunity for change. But they can't do it alone.
Will you join us at a house meeting and help plan the next steps for this movement?
Thanks,
David
David Plouffe - Campaign Manager - Obama for America
20081204
Big 3's Slim Fast solution
US automotive industry is dead because, in spite of decades of decay, it decided to stick to "US automotive industry" instead of switching to "global mobility services".
Ford being Ford, only GM and Chrysler are openly talking about bankruptcy* in what looks like a slim-fast solution before a merger of equals (obese couch potato dummies lacking a vision for the future) : "just give us some cash, we'll deliver green cars as soon as we can and oh... if you don't mind we'll deliver a few pink slips even sooner".
Flint survivor Michael Moore wants**, like most Americans, the US to put money in sustainable transportation infrastructures, and to pull the plug for dumb, dumber and dumberer, to which I answer "which plug, Mike ? Isn't it time to install one ?"
* see for instance "GM, Chrysler Said to Consider Bankruptcy to Get U.S. Bailout" (Bloomberg 20081204)
** see my e-mail box, in the spam section : "Saving the Big 3 for You and Me ...a message from Michael Moore" (20081203), somewhere between an ad for blue chips (take a blue pill and recover your lost highs on Wall Street) and a message from a desperate whitehousewife ("take my advice, O Great Bama, and please pardon my sins for I don't want to go to jail. Yours Truly, Karl Rove").
Ford being Ford, only GM and Chrysler are openly talking about bankruptcy* in what looks like a slim-fast solution before a merger of equals (obese couch potato dummies lacking a vision for the future) : "just give us some cash, we'll deliver green cars as soon as we can and oh... if you don't mind we'll deliver a few pink slips even sooner".
Flint survivor Michael Moore wants**, like most Americans, the US to put money in sustainable transportation infrastructures, and to pull the plug for dumb, dumber and dumberer, to which I answer "which plug, Mike ? Isn't it time to install one ?"
* see for instance "GM, Chrysler Said to Consider Bankruptcy to Get U.S. Bailout" (Bloomberg 20081204)
** see my e-mail box, in the spam section : "Saving the Big 3 for You and Me ...a message from Michael Moore" (20081203), somewhere between an ad for blue chips (take a blue pill and recover your lost highs on Wall Street) and a message from a desperate whitehousewife ("take my advice, O Great Bama, and please pardon my sins for I don't want to go to jail. Yours Truly, Karl Rove").
20081203
MSNBC Replaces FOX News - Jon Stewart
20081129
Lessons from Mumbai ?
This is vintage terror, classic asymetric warfare, and certainly nothing new under the Indian sun. Maybe more mediatic exposure because big networks don't have much fish to fry in this lame duck season - nobody cares for Congo and the audience is fed up with financial news.
There is no way to prevent 100% of such attacks from happening, but there is a way to make them look irrelevant, to undermine the undermining effect of terror.
The message from the Mumbai terrorists is : we want people to hate each other because we fundamentalists need war and hatred to survive, we want Hindis to go at Muslims, we want Jews to go at Muslims, and most of all we want moderate Muslims to be silenced and overwhelmed by fundamentalists. The masses will follow us because we will accurately claim that Muslims are once again the actual victims of the attacks.
The main target in the Mumbai attacks was Pakistan, the weaker link, and the democracy the most likely to fall for fundamentalism if the international community fails to help it help itself. Manmohan Singh must not finish the mission of the terrorists and blame Pakistan, but help fellow victim Asif Ali Zardari win over enemies from within, and together they must expose the fundamentalists' agenda which as always is only about politics, not religion.
The best way and the only way to tackle terror is to go at its roots : to recognize the existence of unfairness and to start doing something about poverty, to denounce fundamentalism as foul politics masquerading as religion, and to let the moderates speak.
The opinion should be prepared for that, and the community bracing itself through positive and sound values, and neither through fear, nor nationalism. Let's not make the same mistakes as after 9/11, please.
The terrorist attack on Mumbai clearly echoes Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" because both are proposing the same imposture : this clash of civilizations, these religious wars are artificial, man-made, and deliberately fueled by people who want them to happen. No wonder Huntington's book is a bible for the neocons and theocons who sold the invasion of Iraq and dream of provoking a war between Israel and Iran. Fundamentalist in Chief George W. Bush offered the worst answer to the 9/11 attacks, but the best ones from the terrorists' point of view.
The worst answer to the Mumbai would be for India to retaliate against Pakistan.
There is no way to prevent 100% of such attacks from happening, but there is a way to make them look irrelevant, to undermine the undermining effect of terror.
The message from the Mumbai terrorists is : we want people to hate each other because we fundamentalists need war and hatred to survive, we want Hindis to go at Muslims, we want Jews to go at Muslims, and most of all we want moderate Muslims to be silenced and overwhelmed by fundamentalists. The masses will follow us because we will accurately claim that Muslims are once again the actual victims of the attacks.
The main target in the Mumbai attacks was Pakistan, the weaker link, and the democracy the most likely to fall for fundamentalism if the international community fails to help it help itself. Manmohan Singh must not finish the mission of the terrorists and blame Pakistan, but help fellow victim Asif Ali Zardari win over enemies from within, and together they must expose the fundamentalists' agenda which as always is only about politics, not religion.
The best way and the only way to tackle terror is to go at its roots : to recognize the existence of unfairness and to start doing something about poverty, to denounce fundamentalism as foul politics masquerading as religion, and to let the moderates speak.
The opinion should be prepared for that, and the community bracing itself through positive and sound values, and neither through fear, nor nationalism. Let's not make the same mistakes as after 9/11, please.
The terrorist attack on Mumbai clearly echoes Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" because both are proposing the same imposture : this clash of civilizations, these religious wars are artificial, man-made, and deliberately fueled by people who want them to happen. No wonder Huntington's book is a bible for the neocons and theocons who sold the invasion of Iraq and dream of provoking a war between Israel and Iran. Fundamentalist in Chief George W. Bush offered the worst answer to the 9/11 attacks, but the best ones from the terrorists' point of view.
The worst answer to the Mumbai would be for India to retaliate against Pakistan.
Afghanistan was not guilty for 9/11 : the World let it fall into the wrong hands. Pakistan is not guilty for the Mumbai attacks : the World must prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
The World, united, must declare its independence from fundamentalism.
20081124
AIPAC Hillary v. J Street Barack
My first reaction when I heard about the Clintons being vetted for Secretary of State and Chief Bubbassador was disappointment : I get the "good-cop - bad-cop" concept but to me, this looks like XXth century politics and XIXth century diplomacy.
My second reaction was : that's a darn good way of getting rid of the Clintons. Billy Boy will never accept to open his books (Prez library and beyond), and once again, turn into a liaBillity for the person who made a President Of The United States out of a cool dude from Hope, AR.
I guess we'll have to watch the usual good cop bad cop flick after all. The NYPD veteran swallowing her pride after the rookie took the medal she'd been coveting for decades, and now ready to catch a bullet for a not so cool dude from Hope, HI she wished (in her wildest dreams*) would catch one first.
Scenarists pushed the cliché all the way to the young tall Afro-American / old short blond Caucasian stereotypes. Their car is an old Detroit survivor with dented bumpers and a battered exhaust pipe spitting more tar than a chain smoker on his deathbed. The tough veteran can read NYC's mid forties streets like the palm of her own hand and would never miss an AIPAC meeting. The soft speaking toddler in an Hawai'ian shirt is more the J Street** kind of guy, but not the kind of person to sport bumper stickers for this kind of causes either.
Both have the full support of Police chief Biden a.k.a. Frank Drebin, their white haired, gaffe prone boss who knows the city best and can use a gun when needed.
This squad may not catch the most wanted terrorist but together, they can do a lot of damage to his network. Not to mention a lot of good things if scenarists truly really want the new series to become a hit.
Season I premieres Jan. 20.
* remember that old black & white movie, "Dial Hillary for murder" ? Feels like it was released eons ago.
** see "J Street - at last"
My second reaction was : that's a darn good way of getting rid of the Clintons. Billy Boy will never accept to open his books (Prez library and beyond), and once again, turn into a liaBillity for the person who made a President Of The United States out of a cool dude from Hope, AR.
I guess we'll have to watch the usual good cop bad cop flick after all. The NYPD veteran swallowing her pride after the rookie took the medal she'd been coveting for decades, and now ready to catch a bullet for a not so cool dude from Hope, HI she wished (in her wildest dreams*) would catch one first.
Scenarists pushed the cliché all the way to the young tall Afro-American / old short blond Caucasian stereotypes. Their car is an old Detroit survivor with dented bumpers and a battered exhaust pipe spitting more tar than a chain smoker on his deathbed. The tough veteran can read NYC's mid forties streets like the palm of her own hand and would never miss an AIPAC meeting. The soft speaking toddler in an Hawai'ian shirt is more the J Street** kind of guy, but not the kind of person to sport bumper stickers for this kind of causes either.
Both have the full support of Police chief Biden a.k.a. Frank Drebin, their white haired, gaffe prone boss who knows the city best and can use a gun when needed.
This squad may not catch the most wanted terrorist but together, they can do a lot of damage to his network. Not to mention a lot of good things if scenarists truly really want the new series to become a hit.
Season I premieres Jan. 20.
* remember that old black & white movie, "Dial Hillary for murder" ? Feels like it was released eons ago.
** see "J Street - at last"
20081119
Everybody loves Raymondville, TX
America just redeemed itself*, and Texas seems to follow suit.
I mean literally : a local Grand Jury has indicted, along with Senator Eddie Lucio Jr**, the two symbols of George W. Bush's sick idea of justice.
Cheney and Gonzales Indicted At Last !
This suit has something to do with abuses of prisoners, but neither in Gitmo nor in Abu Ghraib : the crimes were perpetrated in US prisons just a few miles away from the Mexican border, in Willacy County, TX. Today, everybody loves Raymondville.
W.'s Chief Torture Officer is charged for lobbying against investigations into those abuses, and "Lobby Dick" for - what else - conflict of interest : Darth Vader owned shares in the Vanguard Group which itself had something to do with those dark Texas detention centers.
Interesting day for Alberto Gonzales : the Justice Department announced that his lawyer fees would be paid for (up to 24 Grants a month) by taxpayers' money. You know ? Gonzie happens to be sued for imposing political biases in hirings and firings within that very Justice Department... I doubt this exceptional favor was awarded by a "liberal leaning" appointee.
* see "America is a great country"
** KRGV-TV, today's Huff Post "Cheney, Gonzales Indicted By South Texas Grand Jury".
I mean literally : a local Grand Jury has indicted, along with Senator Eddie Lucio Jr**, the two symbols of George W. Bush's sick idea of justice.
Cheney and Gonzales Indicted At Last !
This suit has something to do with abuses of prisoners, but neither in Gitmo nor in Abu Ghraib : the crimes were perpetrated in US prisons just a few miles away from the Mexican border, in Willacy County, TX. Today, everybody loves Raymondville.
W.'s Chief Torture Officer is charged for lobbying against investigations into those abuses, and "Lobby Dick" for - what else - conflict of interest : Darth Vader owned shares in the Vanguard Group which itself had something to do with those dark Texas detention centers.
Interesting day for Alberto Gonzales : the Justice Department announced that his lawyer fees would be paid for (up to 24 Grants a month) by taxpayers' money. You know ? Gonzie happens to be sued for imposing political biases in hirings and firings within that very Justice Department... I doubt this exceptional favor was awarded by a "liberal leaning" appointee.
* see "America is a great country"
** KRGV-TV, today's Huff Post "Cheney, Gonzales Indicted By South Texas Grand Jury".
20081117
Stewart - O'Reilly - The Best Presidential Debate
You know something has changed when you see Bill O'Reilly chat with Jon Stewart.
His interview of Stephen Colbert a few weeks ago was about personal character but here, we've just witnessed the best debate of this election year.
You had all the ingredients for a good comedy : two talkative New-Yorkers, a short Jew and a tall, massive Irish guy, live on Comedy Central for The Daily Show. Jon even offered a Mr Snuggles anger management teddy bear to tame his guest, along with a large cup of warm chocolate sweetened with a handful of sugar cubes.
But here were also two smart and sharp people having a good and lively conversation, sailing well beyond the usual PC pond... and enjoying it. Of course, Bill O'Reilly's idea of "center right" America is not that Alabama where people routinely shoot Jonathan Stuart Leibowitzes on sight while enjoying weird "BBQ parties" (you wouldn't want to visit his "real" Amerika). And of course, Jon Stewart's definition of the American tradition goes beyond gay marriage.
This was a good debate. Exposing acute differences, but putting all fear aside and embracing mutual respect. Change has come to America, and it looks like peace.
The first post-Bush / Cheney era debate.
Part I (5.31 mn) - meet Mr Snuggles.
Part II (6.23 mn) - center, right, tradition.
His interview of Stephen Colbert a few weeks ago was about personal character but here, we've just witnessed the best debate of this election year.
You had all the ingredients for a good comedy : two talkative New-Yorkers, a short Jew and a tall, massive Irish guy, live on Comedy Central for The Daily Show. Jon even offered a Mr Snuggles anger management teddy bear to tame his guest, along with a large cup of warm chocolate sweetened with a handful of sugar cubes.
But here were also two smart and sharp people having a good and lively conversation, sailing well beyond the usual PC pond... and enjoying it. Of course, Bill O'Reilly's idea of "center right" America is not that Alabama where people routinely shoot Jonathan Stuart Leibowitzes on sight while enjoying weird "BBQ parties" (you wouldn't want to visit his "real" Amerika). And of course, Jon Stewart's definition of the American tradition goes beyond gay marriage.
This was a good debate. Exposing acute differences, but putting all fear aside and embracing mutual respect. Change has come to America, and it looks like peace.
The first post-Bush / Cheney era debate.
Part I (5.31 mn) - meet Mr Snuggles.
Part II (6.23 mn) - center, right, tradition.
20081113
GOP Primaries 2012 Kick-off - Charlie Crist's Second Coming
Iowa, get ready: the GOP pack is bracing itself for the 2012 Primaries.
John McCain ? declined. Sarah Palin ? you betcha*. Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee ? still there. Rudi Giuliani ? already dead.
Not yet ? Whatever. He won't run in 2012. Neither the NY Marathon, nor the Big Race. Maybe a fever, after his yearly flu shot.
One week after Obama's victory, 3 players are exuding Prez ambitions from every pore (4 if you include Condi Rice, but that goes without saying) : Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist, and Tim Pawlenty are already campaigning.
Crist did his best to save appearances in front of cameras during John McCain's doomed campaign. A second coming of Crist in 2010 would put Florida back on the GOP map ("wasn't me"), a failure would probably condemn him to retirement in Maine (I suggest home sharing with Stephen King : Charlie keeps his sun tan alive during the summer, Steve prevents his own old bag of bones from screaming durin' 'em long yankee winters, ayuh).
CristforAmerica.com and PawlentyforAmerica.com are somehow "deja vu" too, but still available. Up to now.
JindalforAmerica.com has been booked for the long run (2016, an interesting date).
Registrant : Domain Discreet from Funchal, Portugal
Created on: 22-Sep-08 - Expires on: 22-Sep-16 - Last Updated on: 24-Sep-08
But by then, a web 3.0 candidate is likely to have come out of the blue... or even out of the red.
blogules 2009
* see "Sarah Palin and the Segolene Royal Syndrome - The GOP on the same path as the French Socialist Party"
ADDENDUM 20100211
This post recently received a visit from an interesting URL : vpn.giulianipartners.com (74.9.69.162). Yup. That's from Rudy's headquarters in 5 Times Square New York, NY 10036-6527... Sorry lads if I gave you inaccurate news regarding your dear boss.
John McCain ? declined. Sarah Palin ? you betcha*. Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee ? still there. Rudi Giuliani ? already dead.
Not yet ? Whatever. He won't run in 2012. Neither the NY Marathon, nor the Big Race. Maybe a fever, after his yearly flu shot.
One week after Obama's victory, 3 players are exuding Prez ambitions from every pore (4 if you include Condi Rice, but that goes without saying) : Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist, and Tim Pawlenty are already campaigning.
Crist did his best to save appearances in front of cameras during John McCain's doomed campaign. A second coming of Crist in 2010 would put Florida back on the GOP map ("wasn't me"), a failure would probably condemn him to retirement in Maine (I suggest home sharing with Stephen King : Charlie keeps his sun tan alive during the summer, Steve prevents his own old bag of bones from screaming durin' 'em long yankee winters, ayuh).
Tim Pawlenty could be the reformer this party needs, but does he have the strength to run the ultimate campaign ? Can he lead and set people in motion the way Obama did ? That remains to be seen.
Bobby Jindal remains the favorite for 2012 or 2016. Besides, Obama helped his cause by breaking the biggest glass ceilings : Jindal's first name is Hindi (Piyush), and his ears are ridiculously stuck to his skull.
Let's see how those 3 not-yet-candidates perform on the web :
Anyway, 12 or 16 suck compared to 00, 04, or 08. So forget about those. And "Smith2012" sounds too much web 1.0, XXth century deja vu.CharlieCrist2012.com belongs to Joseph B Mizereck &
Associates, Inc. from Tallahassee, FL
Created on: 01-Jan-07 - Expires on:
01-Jan-10 -Last Updated on: 26-Sep-08
The domain is active (for advertising
purposes) and officially up for saleCrist2012.com belongs to Chris Stavrianos from Chicago, IL
Created on: 27-Feb-08 - Expires on: 27-Feb-11 - Last Updated on: 14-Mar-08
The domain used to be active (with scary commercial content) and up for
sale.CharlieCrist12.com and Crist12.com belong to Cadenza
Entertainment from Winter Park, FL
Created on: 30-Jan-08 - Expires on: 30-Jan-09 - Last Updated on:
30-Jan-08
Inactive (ads)BobbyJindal2012.com belongs to Mark Fricker from Newton
Square, PA
Created on: 07-Feb-08 - Expires on: 08-Feb-09 - Last Updated on:
07-Feb-08BobbyJindal12.com belongs to Rod Snyder from Naperville,
IL
Created on: 10-Oct-08 - Expires on - 10-Oct-13 - Last Updated on
12-Nov-08
Active (ads)Jindal2012.com belongs to Peter Orvetti from Washington,
DC
Created on: 22-Oct-07 - Expires on 22-Oct-12 - Last Updated on: 20-Mar-08
Domain parkedJindal12.com belongs to Brian Sabolich (Sabolich Realty)
Created on: 30-Aug-08 - Expires on: 30-Aug-09 - Last Updated on:
30-Aug-08
Domain parked.TimPawlenty2012.com belongs to a more discreet
person
Registrant: Click Industries from Minneapolis, MN
Created on: 16-Jan-07 -
Expires on: 16-Jan-09 - Las Updated on: 17-Jan-08
Domain inactiveTimPawlenty12.com belongs to Kyle Sandstrom from Rochester,
MN
Created on: 30-Aug-08 - Expires on: 30-Aug-09 - Last Updated on:
30-Aug-08
Just registered pagePawlenty2012.com and Pawlenty12.com belong to Michael
Deutsch, a MIT Alumni from Guttenberg, NJ
Created on: 03-Jan-08 - Expires on:
03-Jan-09 - Last Updated on: 01-May-08
Ads
CristforAmerica.com and PawlentyforAmerica.com are somehow "deja vu" too, but still available. Up to now.
JindalforAmerica.com has been booked for the long run (2016, an interesting date).
Registrant : Domain Discreet from Funchal, Portugal
Created on: 22-Sep-08 - Expires on: 22-Sep-16 - Last Updated on: 24-Sep-08
But by then, a web 3.0 candidate is likely to have come out of the blue... or even out of the red.
blogules 2009
* see "Sarah Palin and the Segolene Royal Syndrome - The GOP on the same path as the French Socialist Party"
ADDENDUM 20100211
This post recently received a visit from an interesting URL : vpn.giulianipartners.com (74.9.69.162). Yup. That's from Rudy's headquarters in 5 Times Square New York, NY 10036-6527... Sorry lads if I gave you inaccurate news regarding your dear boss.
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