PolyTicks

Triumviri Mensari Imperia

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:49:00 +0000

"Only a madman or an economist could believe in infinite growth in a finite system." - Kenneth Boulding

Is it just me, or did we not just narrowly avoid a complete failure of the global market economy? Yet the corporate incest we call news media, the same outlets that were just trumpeting the end of the world as we know it, now refer us to the global 'recession'. Certainly the thousands who have lost their homes, jobs and savings must be insulted by newspeak euphemisms like 'adjustment' and 'downturn'? Didn't we all see "The Wizard", as former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is known, pulling the levers that control the smoke and mirrors of market capitalism?! The Orwellian doublethink of Central Bank intervention in "free" markets, as proselytized by the pope of deregulation himself, seemed once and for all exposed as heresy. They must be putting something in the water; how else is it possible that things are already back to business as usual... even while the banks continue to fall, more quietly granted, but without ceasing.

In the '90s, amid the wilderness of token regulatory bodies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, there emerged a prophetess of profit. Brooksley Born, then chair of the CFTC, began to preach against what she called a “dark market” of derivatives. So called hedges, bets, swaps and other arcane instruments with names evocative more of gambling than finance, were being exploited in a rigged casino game of high-stakes and perverse profit. Born descried a covert market totally unregulated, not traded on exchanges, without records or official reporting of any kind.... carte-blanche for black-box derivative trading. Not surprisingly, with 5 lobbyists for every congressman in the federal financial sector, a brief inquisition was held and Born was excommunicated from Whitewash-ington.

Six weeks later, LTCM's John Meriwether, head alchemist responsible for converting 500 million into a trillion-dollar golden hedge, soon saw his wizard hat turn into a dunce cap when the titanic fund started turning into lead. Losses of 50 million dollars a day soon got the attention of the 15 banks duped into thinking they were the belle of the ball, in what turned out to be just another capitalist gangbang. The President's Working Group, a sort of star chamber of finance created by Reagan, also noticed and formed a Crisis Group which identified the 'systemic risk'. The system in question, of course, was no less than the US economy. Worried that the first domino had toppled, the cabal of elite geniuses first did nothing; for four days. They then brilliantly suggested that the banks bail themselves out...which they did. Crisis averted. That was 1998!

Even the over-lobbied congress seemed alarmed by this near monetary meltdown. So Greenspan, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers stirred the magic commerce cauldron and came up with a Great Depression anti-formula. Rather than implementing the safeguards based on lessons learned from 1931, they conversely argued that they should be completely subverted and actually used as a reverse template: there should be NO transparency, NO capital reserve requirements, NO regulation on intermediaries, NO prohibition on manipulation and NO prohibition on fraud. They arrogantly insisted that the 'invisible hand' of market regulation, continue to be allowed to deal secrecy, impunity, manipulation and FRAUD into the money game.

No wonder the pseudo-science of economics is thought to be complicated. I, for one, do not have a mind capable of resolving such paradox. Maybe, like Greenspan, you have to be an acolyte of Ayn Rand to grasp such mysteries?

By 2007, the sleight-of-hand sub prime crisis and other forms of hot-potato fund management (Credit Default Swaps...etc) precipitated another Chernobyl of capital. Though, by then it was 600 times worse. Literally. The same unchecked grotesquery of greed and hubris had been allowed to reach 595 trillion dollars. This time the failing banks, brokers, trusts and investment houses couldn't bail themselves out. So, in the hopeless, opposite-world logic of 'reward the wicked and punish the victims', generations of working taxpayers will be forced to carry this cross of debt.

Greenspan, conveniently after retiring, recanted in a stunning public admission that his 50yr career and entire world view were based on a fallacy. Tragically, not all of his zealots have joined him in his reformation; Rubin went on to 'earn' 126 million dollars in compensation... for applying the same ideological wrecking-ball to Citibank. Larry Summers is a high-level economic adviser to Obama! Present high priests, the current chair of the CFT commission, the Federal Reserve chairman and Treasury Secretary were drawn right from the same laissez-faire cult that oversaw the '08 abomination; deregulation devotees and champions of corporate capitalism, all.

Sometimes, all you can do is listen to the blood pound in your temples when trying to rationalize insanity.

"It's a Hanukkah miracle" -Israeli settler

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:26:00 +0000

It may not be possible for most of us to understand the level of animosity and open hostility required to describe the death of innocents, including children, as a holiday gift from god. However, it may serve to illuminate the mind-set of Zionists willing to give their government a mandate to bomb UN schools being used as sanctuary for non-combatants.

Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the UK, recently conducted himself with commendable restraint and dignity during a difficult interview on Hardtalk (BBC). But despite his impressive demeanor, or perhaps because of it, I found his argument chilling and maddening. He repeatedly stressed the concept of defense to explain the ongoing bombardment of Gaza. It took only 6 days in 1967 to gain control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, but the current strike is in its 11th day. I suppose his motto must be "the best defense is a good offence." Hey, it worked so well in Lebanon against Hezbollah right? According to The Guardian, "In the fighting 1,200 Lebanese and 158 Israelis were killed. Of the dead almost 1,000 Lebanese and 41 Israelis were civilians."[78]

The euphemistic language and justifications were exactly the same then, in 2006, when Lebanese refugees were killed in a UN base in Qana. Sorry, that was a mistake, they were firing rockets from that location, we don't target civilians, it's the militants' fault...etc. The result of Israel's military solution? Hezbollah is, arguably, stronger than before the invasion and certainly more galvanized and determined.

"some people" refuse to live peacefully in the region

I doubt anyone denies Israel's right of defense, but there is something to be said for the punishment suiting the crime, yet the scale of the offensive currently pummeling Gaza is seemingly grotesque. Tony Blair, the Quartet's (Russia, EU, UN, US) Special Envoy called the situation on the ground "hell".

So I bristle at the ambassador's 'diplomatic' language in describing the worsening humanitarian crisis . Of innocent casualties his explanation was "inevitable", continuing with the reasoning that the people who voted for Hamas have a "price tag to pay". Since when are populations who democratically elect a government subject to collective punishment for that government's actions? To follow that logic to its absurd reduction, we would include a convicted murderer's family, friends and neighbors in the punitive death sentence. Israel is, by definition (UN member state), held to higher account than so-called terrorist organizations like Hamas, yet they seek to justify terrorism many-times the ferocity and destructiveness of anything they have suffered.

"War is not nice...War creates bad pictures."

What appears to be happening is a familiar pattern: Israel is getting its licks in and expanding while it can, resisting international law, outrage and cries for an immediate ceasefire as long as possible, to achieve its stated aim. In this case, "weakening" Hamas. To strengthen Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah, presumably. I guess all this hellishness is somehow meant to discourage, or kill, the more radical voters and encourage, by not killing, the moderates. Tzipi Livni, Israeli Foreign Minister, recently blamed the violence on "some people" who just refuse to live peacefully in the region. So we'll bomb and shoot them until they do, she might have continued paradoxically.

That should work as well as it always has.

In the end, there will be no independent investigation and, for the most part, we will be left to guess about most details, as "unprofessional" foreign journalists (Danny Seaman, Israeli government Press Secretary) are not being allowed to cover the attacks. Maybe that's because, as ambassador Prosor said, "War is not nice...War creates bad pictures."

Pro-rogues, Knaves and Other NeoCon Cads

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:58:00 +0000

Wow, just as I was going into withdrawal from the end of the US election, the Canadian political scene erupts in fireworks. And it's not July 1st!

Stephen Harper, seeking to avoid the opposition calling his bluff on yet another confidence motion, is asking the Governor General to adjourn parliament and end the current session. The same PM who ignored his own fixed date for the last election and asked for that parliament to be dissolved hoping to consolidate power with a shiny new majority, this time would see the constitution twisted into a Möbius strip by his ambition. What else will he willing to do in order to avoid playing nice with the 62% of opposition MPs?

Not surprisingly, the opposition to the current minority government has tired of the my-way-or-the-highway style of governance; making every vote in the House a confidence issue, parliament has finally lost its patience and confidence.

During the 2 hours Harper met with the GG, and while a ludicrous handful of his own staffers posed as protesters outside his office, there was an interview with John Baird, Minister of Transport, by Don Newman. What a guilty pleasure it was to see Mr. Newman fairly spank Baird during their contentious conversation. To see a journalist ballsy enough to be so frank with a politician to his face, and to insist on honest answers in return, well, it was electrifying. Baird, besides being exposed as ignorant or misleading of the coalition agreement, resorted to jingoist talking points like "separatism" and the "Bloc on the government side" of the House, but was relentlessly called to account on his errors and evasions by a determined Newman. It is yet to be seen what fallout there will be as a result of Baird's more controversial remarks regarding "going over the heads" of fellow parliamentarians and the Governor General.

So despite claiming that the main reason is the economy, Harper has had parliament prorogued for the next several weeks, crisis or no crisis. Having lost the trust of parliament, the Conservative party will campaign aggressively for the opinion of the Canadian people directly. In doing so, will we be exposed to weeks of propaganda only to see the inevitable postponed for the holidays? And what kind of precedent has been set for future PMs with majority aspirations and minority status? In the short term, if the consumer contact sport of Christmas is not to your liking, there should be no shortage of rough and tumble state craft to cheer-on 'til the new year.

Weird Tales From Opposite World

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:43:00 +0000

Here is a link to a little video wherein Thomas Muthee, pastor of The Prayer Cave in Kiambu, defeats the "witch" Mama Jane. You see, she was using "targeted witchcraft" to keep her village under "satanic influences". Skip ahead to the 25 minute mark in the video.

You might be surprised to learn that pastor Muthee, in 2005, also prayed over Sarah Palin at her church in Wasilla, for God to "Bring finances her way even for the campaign..." and to protect her from "every form of witchcraft".

Here is Sarah Palin being protected from "witchcraft" by pastor Thomas Muthee. Obviously he forgot to cast out those evil journalists who seem 'hell'-bent on asking her questions. For protection from reporters she has had to rely on staffers and their insistent incantation of "thank you, thank you, thank you" to the press pool while they are chased away from her.

The witch hunts were the most terrifying expression of misogyny in history, but the Republican campaign has been chanting "sexism" over the media's attempts to find out just who it is might be the next vice president, and whether or not she's qualified.

Apparently the only thing conservatives fear more than sorcery and demons, is the First Amendment.

Here she is, Miss Alaska (runner-up) Sarah Palin, your freshly exorcised pick for vice-president. McCain/Palin, "America may be bankrupt but at least there won't be any witches running around."

Help! Zombies!

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:48:00 +0000

How is it possible that the polls suggest a 'dead' heat in the current US election contest? Well, zombies of course.

Despite a farcical, scandalous and shameful performance from the Republican campaign, their partisan zombies still walk the earth searching for 'brains'. I guess, until they find some, they'll be staggering around and eventually be seen pawing at voting machines. Maybe they'll be sporting the Kawasaki704 eyeglasses, all the 'rage' since Palin 'arose'; that is, if they can get a pair due to the overwhelming demand. Which reminds me, the Lemming Award goes to...

Sharing the Lemming Award this week: every one who recently purchased, or is on a waiting list for a pair of 704s; for being part of the Palin spectacle, so to speak.

Center ring, under the big top today, was the billionaire, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, yes those Rothschilds, who came out for the McCain/Palin ticket. Having recently campaigned and raised funds for the losing Clinton bid, she has decided that Obama is too elitist for her. Is there a presence/absence test for the Irony gene? Because I would venture to say that most Republicans must lack it. The fact that they would welcome and celebrate her defection on those grounds is proof enough. 'Lady' Rothschild is a member of arguably the world's most elite family, but Obama is too much for her. It simply defies parody.

And never mind that she hasn't met Sarah Palin, she "thinks she is pretty cool". That Palin is the polar opposite to Clinton and Obama, seems to matter less than her desire to see a woman in the WhiteHouse. Can you say "sexist" boys and girls? When the media express the people's concern about Palin's fitness to possess the world-ending nuclear codes, they cry sexism, but Rothschild can abandon every principle, value and policy of one candidate for another who shares nothing but gender, and not a peep. *head shake*

Meanwhile, back in Reality, the economy is soiling the bed... and Bush has sent the taxpayers in to clean up the mess. McCain's Republican party, champions of 'free' markets, deregulation and small, hands-off government, has recently donated almost a trillion dollars in corporate welfare bailouts. Capitalism, conservative style: public loss to ensure private profit. And still, half of those polled cling tenaciously to the Conservative totem. The muddy water rising fast beneath them. Imagine, they're still hawking tax cuts for votes, despite the last 8 years of those same policies gutting the country's finances. Same methods, different results? What do they call kind of reasoning again... oh yeah, insanity.

Punishing Punishment from the Punishers

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:59:00 +0000

"in the 21st century nations don't invade other nations." -John McCain

"What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against. We have got to be cognizant of what the consequences are if a larger power is able to take over smaller democratic countries." -Sarah Palin

Japan (1943-45): conventional; incendiary; nuclear
China (1945-49): conventional; biological
Korea (1950-53): conventional; biological; chemical; incendiary
China (1951-52): conventional; biological; chemical
Guatemala (1954): conventional
Indonesia (1958): conventional
Cuba (1959-61): conventional; (biochemical attacks in other years)
Guatemala (1960): conventional
Vietnam (1961-73): conventional; chemical; biological; cluster

Congo (1964): conventional
Peru (1965): conventional
Laos (1964-73): conventional; chemical; biological; cluster
Guatemala (1967-69): conventional
Cambodia (1969-70): conventional; chemical; biological
Cambodia (1975): conventional
El Salvador (1980-89): conventional
Nicaragua (1980-89): conventional
Grenada (1983): conventional
Lebanon (1983-4): conventional
Syria (1984): conventional
Libya (1986): conventional
Iran (1987): conventional
Panama (1989): conventional; chemical; biological
Iraq (1991-2002): conventional; chemical; biological; cluster; DU
Kuwait (1991): conventional; chemical; biological; cluster; DU
Somalia (1993): conventional
Bosnia (1993-95): conventional; cluster; DU
Sudan (1998): conventional; biological
Afghanistan (1998): conventional
Yugoslavia (1999): conventional; chemical; biological; cluster; DU
Afghanistan (2001-02): conventional; chemical; biological; cluster; DU

This is just a smackerel, check out this link: Basic Stats on US Imperialism

'Hoosiers for the Hot Chick' (delegate pin)

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:19:00 +0000

Where to start... whether to start at all? Most of the Republican Convention speakers were so devoid of reason, reality or rationale, that it seems an indulgent waste of time to even address them. But let's, shall we?

"The hope of the world"

Harvard MBA, Mitt Romney was born and schooled back east, yet with a net worth of between 250 and 500 million USD, not including the blind trust in his children's name, which is valued at about $100 million, he still called Obama/Biden eastern elitists. Got loud applause for it. Clearly no sense of hypocrisy required to be a Rep' delegate.
A Mormon, it shouldn't surprise that his view of the world is simplified into dualities like good/evil and that he believes the US' position in the world is providential. For better or for worse, one is left to presume. Other absolutist positions include never surrendering, except maybe when you're funding your own failing presidential campaign, and the super-patriot claim of never not being proud of America...

"Jesus, Elvis and FDR"

Mike Huckabee, an ordained minister, believer in biblical inerrancy, tried to warn us of the dangerous "European" ideas Obama brought home from his trip overseas. Dangerous European ideas, like Protestantism, minister Mike? Maybe the English model of Republicanism, the basis of the American republic? Or the US constitution based on the enlightenment ideas of Montesquieu, a Frenchman? In his own campaign, however, Huckabee boasted of his experience, claiming he'd been to 41 countries. And what about FDR, one of Huckabee's trinity of heroes, known for Liberal advocacy of social programs, would he agree with Mike's call for ever less and smaller government? He finished with a sentimental story in praise of soldiery having little or no relevance to the convention. Besides, a good soldier does not, necessarily, a good president make.

"Drill Baby Drill"

"Rudy" Giuliani, onetime Democrat, was full of tough talk... but, like Romney, wasn't feeling so tough during their many deferments from service in Vietnam. Country first!

Rudolph, like the others, made generic reference to the "left-wing" media and actually kept a straight face while sawing away on the perennial promise of low taxes to fix the economy. The same wrecked economy that hasn't benefited at all from 8 years of republican "tax cuts". He went on to claim that Republicans, unlike starstruck Democrats, don't let Hollywood celebrities influence their votes. No, they actually elect them: Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sonny Bono...

Guiliani described McCain's 5th rank from the bottom of the naval academy as "Top Gun" and again went through the Hanoi Hilton routine, and I say that not to belittle McCain's experience, but because every speaker told the same story. It's almost as though Americans are meant to feel they owe it to McCain to reward him with the presidency because of his hardship.

By the way, when McCain wasn't a POW, he described his service this way on “60 Minutes” in 1997, “I am a war criminal, I bombed innocent women and children.” But that didn't stop Rudolph from mocking Obama's community service and sharing a hearty convention laugh with the giddy delegates. Napalm = heroic, helping poor minorities = laughable. Charming folks, those lipstick-wearing pitbulls.

Speaking of which, Sarah Palin received an eerily long and frenzied standing ovation. This just for her introduction; imagine what the berserkers will do when they actually get to know her. For her part, she delivered a well-written speech in a confident, competent and likable manner. It is yet to be seen how well she will do in a debate with Biden when she hasn't had 2 days locked away in hotel room to prepare her answers.

So, we heard speakers list bloated unions among the reasons for the economy wetting the bed lately, then Palin proudly introducing her husband Todd as a member of the Steel Workers Union. We heard speaker after speaker decry government spending, taxation and the evils of dependency, yet McCain is going to fix education and healthcare. We had to endure the mantra of less government meddling and interference, then Palin bragging about "veto after veto" in governance. We have to put up with the accusations of sexism leveled at the press from the party of patriarchal bible interpretation... and so it goes in Republican Opposite World.

Trophy Kills

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:31:00 +0000

"Sarah Palin... knows how to properly field dress a moose."

Is this what America, verily the world, needs more of right now; people who can shoot and gut large ungulates in the field? At least the sparsely distributed delegates of the GOP listening to former senator and actor (what is it with Republicans and actors: Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sonny Bono) Fred Thompson, seemed to be saying with their vociferous cheers and enthusiastic applause. Is this perhaps the kind of real-world appeal we can all relate to that is going to sell us on Palin's shocking nomination?

Yikes.

If you had the stomach for the patriotic pap, or the tolerance to endure the same Conservative cowboy whipping the same dead horse, you know, the horse that died of a thousand (tax) cuts?, or the good ol' boy, no nonsense of "drain the swamps, damn the gators"?, if you persevered, you would have been rewarded with turncoat Joe Lieberman's ironic and at times awkwardly received speech...

Picture longtime Democrat, running mate to Gore in 2000, Lieberman decrying "Republican corruption", or Republican Washington's disastrous last 8 years, and best of all blaming partisan politics for all that ails the US ... in front of a gargantuan waving flag and a rabidly partisan Republican mob. It was garish and bizarre!

When the eager to be eager crowd wasn't chanting U-S-A like college cheerleaders, they fell quiet at some of Lieberman's remarks. It was especially uncomfortable when Thompson explained that McCain couldn't even salute his own flag because he can't raise his arms above his shoulders. Now, a man's disability used to make political hay is painful enough, but not so hard to watch as a young Marine's tragic death used to wring even more nationalism from the already zealous crowd.

What kind of morbid sensibility decides to vote based on such macabre examples as these?

Meanwhile, outside, in the RNC DMZ, legal protesters were being treated, with gas and batons, to the kind of "freedom and security" that young, mostly poor, soldiers will continue being sent to die for.

American Idols

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:57:00 +0000

Hard not to be seduced by the spectacle of the DNC nomination of Barack Obama, the epoch-making acceptance speech, on an already historical date, which was well written and delivered. Best fireworks since the closing ceremonies of the Olympics too! The idea that the US may be moving out of 18th century racism and actually flirting with an activist black president... well that seriously does warrant rapt attention.

However, what's really impressive is that more people watched the big show than tuned in to American Idol. CNN, proud of its lion's share of viewers, boasted the very fact the next day. So the milieu is a society where almost as many people care about contrived, arbitrary fame as they do about who will be their next president.

But before we despair of the situation, let's try to understand it better.

Entertainment is the natural connection, and CNN rightly made the comparison... without a trace of irony; in fact the context is the only 'news' here, that corporate infotainment is as designed, constructed and responsive to its audience as is American Idol. Ratings drive the price of advertising and it matters little if they are watching great political theater or insipid pop music. (Never mind that the Idol format is actually a siren of deconstructionism, and as hard to avoid looking at as an accident scene.) Then there's the obvious parallel between the show's contestants and Barack Obama's meteoric stardom.

Needing to grab a bit of that limelight for their lackluster campaign, the GOP will feature its own talent-show winner: Sarah Palin. Conservatives everywhere, desperate to match the enthusiasm of their more liberal counterparts, are fawning over Palin with such unwarranted effusion that one has to wonder if they could have been disappointed, even with Rush Limbaugh in heels and a wig. This is partisan politics at its worst.

Witness the conservatives claim that the negative reaction to what they see as pandering to their vote, is just the "feminists" being jealous. "They had their thing with the nomination, so now we made history too." Easy as that, apparently. We're expected to tolerate the fact that McCain made the most important decision of his political career in a way that utterly undermines the main criticism he had of his opponent. Namely, lack of experience. When you get to know her, assures McCain, you'll think she's as great as I do... but won't he be getting to know her with us? He's only met her once before the interview after which he hired her.

The mayor of a small Alaskan town, less than 2 years ago, Palin has now been put in a position that could conceivably, if the unlikely result of tragedy, make her President of the United States for Christmas. Talk about impressing the judges at your audition!

Nothing against Palin, of course, as we don't know her yet, but what this illustrates is the effect on portentous decision making by a medium focused on commercial feasibility and an electorate addicted to entertainments.

So, two months of song and dance, then, America, its time to vote for your favorite Idol.

De Rigeur Without Rigor.

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:02:00 +0000

Recently I was defeated by a moment of television absurdity... introduced, on the catwalks of Paris no less, was a ludicrously expensive bauble for an even more ludicrous clientele.

De rigeur this season, the designer Remote Alcohol Monitor anklet.

Go ahead, take a moment.

Now this warrants a blog entry of its own, but how to satirize something beyond parody?

It does, however, serve as an excellent segue... I happen to be excited about reading Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness, by Neil Postman. Many of his most salient points regarding our image-based culture and the lack of a typographical context, are here illustrated.

The trivializing effect of presenting serious, or grave information as entertainment, is here depicted by the electronic shackle of some vacuous starlet, who's neurotic self-indulgence has led to addiction and shame, now accessorized by a prominent design house.

Don't let's waste mental horsepower on fame and fashion here, except to say it represents the reductio ad absurdum of medium as message and metaphor. What gets more purchase here, so to speak, is this same effect on political discourse particularly during the US presidential contest.

There is a complete lack of substance and content in their communication, despite the ridiculous degree of scrutiny on their lives. Not for any substantive ideological analysis, but more for any discernible politically incorrect gaff, or maybe an indication of uncertainty like a hesitation or maybe a pause to think... that is always considered disastrous. Obama was repeatedly shown sneezing today. I wonder how it will poll?

Imagine that we have reached the point where if a public figure, the stature and import of a presidential candidate, is not flawless with their crafted and rehearsed demagoguery, if they actually betray a real opinion, that it is considered a liability or mistake that could alienate voters? Indeed, this type of bizarre inversion actually does influence voters.

Yet the appetite for meaningless information, or disinformation, is not sated until we have literally stared up John McCain's colon. Picture a room full of so-called journalists pouring over images of a man's intestinal tract, with limited or no knowledge of what they are seeing, just to find out if he has the shelf-life to be president; never mind what exactly he will, or will not be alive to actually do or decide... that seems much less important.

Is this trend irreversible? Is the freefall into moronic, bleating culture death unavoidable? Moreover, is it complete, 'cause I want, at least, to enjoy the temporary rebound when the body hits bottom and bounces.

McCain's Pyrrhic Victory Dance

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:38:00 +0000

McCain's campaign, desperate for attention during Obama's accession tour, is

reduced to hammering away on the tiny little point of the Surge and acknowledging that it was "successful".

Successful by what measure and according to whom seems to matter less than the rhetorical arm twisting to get Obama to say 'uncle' on this issue.

Now,the context here is an illegal and heinously immoral war fought on false pretense, that has cost thousands upon thousands of lives and half a trillion dollars, which Obama opposed from the outset... but the surge, the surge, the surge.

The chickehawks in Washington have applied the insane logic of using the same methods while waiting for a different result long enough that, during this temporary lull in violence, they are tripping over each other to claim some kind of "victory".

If a small, temporary, relative decrease in violence, bought with apocalyptic destruction and hellish suffering, is celebrated as some kind of progress then we really should be cheering "Pyrrhus for president! Pyrrhus for president!

( See Pyrrhic Victory )

For the (Broken) Record

polyticks@rookery.ca (Atomos) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:09:00 +0000

In an interview today, McCain repeated his mantra of "I know how to win wars." Let's explore the events that inform that unproven "knowledge".

Before anyone gets the wrong impression, I do not take McCain's internment lightly; his time in Hanoi was hellish. We know he was savagely beaten regularly for five and half years. So much so that he reached his personal "breaking point" making an anti-American confession, and actually tried to take his own life. His suicide attempt was stopped by guards. He required months of rehabilitation upon his return to the US but remains, effectively, physically crippled by his ordeal, unable to raise his arms above his head.

No one in their right mind can remain unmoved by his story, nor blame him for his reaction to his tormentors. I know I would have broken much sooner under such circumstances. That much is sacrosanct.

Having said that, when does experience become a liability? John McCain's body and spirit were broken by torture; his body bears the signs and scars. What about his mind? He claimed that he forgot all that 45 minutes after he was back. Is that reasonable, believable or even plausible?

Referring to his captors: "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Understandable, but belies permanent effects on his psyche.

Besides the natural resentment, he has also expressed guilt and remorse for some of his own actions in that insane conflict: “I am a war criminal,” McCain said on “60 Minutes” in 1997. “I bombed innocent women and children.”

Are these the words of a man unaffected by his intense past? Is he likely to be someone who can put it all behind him and make level-headed and judicious decisions in times of conflict and war?

Back in America after his release, his marriage failing due, by his own admission, to his several affairs, he quit the navy when it became clear his poor annual physicals would preclude his ever making admiral. He refused the rank of rear admiral and left soldiery behind.

Just some of the details that never enter the dialogue around his war hero status.

Today when he was speaking with Wolf Blitzer, he assumed the attitude of able warrior and capable commander-in-chief when he claimed that IF he was elected president he would ensure the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Guaranteed it in fact. Said he knew how he could do it. When pressed for details he pulled the old I'd-love-to-tell-you-but-I'd-have-to-kill-you routine. Trust me, he said, I know.

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

That's some kind of campaign promise. He possesses the knowledge and capabilities to capture America's Most Wanted man, but he'll only do it if elected. Why not share that information with the current administration? What kind of leader holds the nation's security ransom for political ambition?

Oh yeah, all of them.