Chickenhawk Chicanery and Other Thoughts

It's been a little busy here at work, although I did get a chance to go over to the Capitol again today--but not to the observation deck.

I'm sure everyone who might be interested has noticed Condi's flip-flop on testifying before the 9/11 commission. TalkingPointsMemo has plenty of links, including Alberto Gonzales' haughty letter to the commission. The same letter indicates that Bush and Cheney will appear as a tag team, rather than individually--why am I not surprised? I guess Dick will add some gravitas to the event, as well as provide George with a palm to slap when he inevitably finds himself grasping at the ropes.

William S. Lind has a good article in Counterpunch that discusses the clash in Pakistan last week. It seems that it has all but faded from the media's radar screen, but the ramifications--a group of 'tribal' combatants managed to hold off the regular Pakistani Army--could well be the beginning of the end for Musharraf (aka Busharraf). The chances, unfortunately, are quite good that his replacement would be of the lunatic Islamic variety. How will this be spun by the war crowd?

Over in Britain, eight men were arrested in connection with a siezure of more than a half ton of ammonium nitrate, which would make one hell of a large bomb. I'm sure the right-wing nuts will deride this as "mere law enforcement" as opposed to the much more testosterone-laced military operations undertaken by Bush, but it also underscores the fact that war in Afghanistan and Iraq hasn't seemed to diminish the terrorist threat. In fact, just the opposite seems to be the case: terrorism is increasing.

The Island of Balta has several posts worth looking at. The top of the page links to a Washington Post article about a family who received a letter of condolence from George W. Bush--they lost a son in Iraq--and another letter of condolence from George W. Bush that is identical to the first. How kind--a form letter. But I understand how busy one gets when you're pretending to be president. All those fundraisers to attend...

Bush, by the way, decided to visit Appleton, Wisconsin today, home of his hero, Senator Joseph McCarthy. I'm sure Bill "killing-of-kittens-is-my-fetish" Frist will want to know all the details. In his speech, Bush demonstrated his inability to grasp his own budget and spending plans: he 'chided those who want to increase spending' without noting the irony of HIS OWN ballooning deficits and off-book supplemental financing of his wars.

Balta also links to a Detroit Free Press story showing just how Bush busts the budget. Boeing was selected for a military contract involving airborne tankers (planes that refuel other planes) even though they were outbid by AirBus. AirBus' plane was also more suited to the list of specifications than Boeing's--so, of course, the specifications were changed.

I believe the trend among the right is to allow the threat from terror to inflate to the point where the cold war mentality of an 'official enemy' once again becomes the dominant political paradigm. Once installed as the successor to the Evil Soviet Empire, the wild-eyed Islamic Fanatics will justify all sorts of desk-jockey employment for those who like a good, restaurant-cooked meal--and a pleasant home in the suburbs of DC and/or SoCal. Given the right wing indifference if not downright hostility towards the poor of all ethnicities (although that doesn't keep them from making the occasional racist remark) the fact that they've essentially midwifed the latest increase in terrorism is simply another way for them to say "fuck you" to the lower end of the economic ladder.

So Condi will now probably lie under oath, although the agreement that will put her at the witness table has no provisions for a second round--so it will become a 'he said, she said' clash between her and Richard Clarke. The Bob Novaks and Wolf Blitzer's, who must be the second most pathetic pieces of slime-mold shit to wind up on the planet (right ahead of Karl Rove), will wonder if Clarke is gay or racist, while Frist and Hastert seek to kick up enough dirt to taint the 9/11 hearings as "political," i.e., shady and corrupt. Meanwhile, the REAL corruption--the impoverishment of millions throughout the world while sloths in the defense contract industries work on adding an extra chin--continues unabated.

What a bunch of motherfuckers. In fact, I doubt too many of these clowns would have any problems with another terrorist attack on the US, if they thought it would improve their political position.