Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Kristol Clear at Time


From my "Capital Games" column at www.thenation.com....

The market doesn't work -- not when it comes to conservative commentators.

Before the Iraq war, rightwing (and middle-of-the-road) pundits claimed Saddam Hussein was a dire WMD threat, that he was in cahoots with al Qaeda, that the war was necessary. The neoconservative cheerleaders for war also argued that an invasion of Iraq would bring democracy to that nation and throughout the region. They were wrong. But they have paid no price for their errors. They did not have to serve in Iraq. None, as far as I can tell, have had sons or daughters harmed or killed in the fighting there. They did not have to bear higher taxes, because George W. Bush has charged the costs of this military enterprise to the national credit card. Though they miscalled the number-one issue of the post-9/11 period, they did not lose their influential perches in the commentariat. Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle, Robert Kagan, Gary Schmitt, Danielle Pletka and others (including non-neocon Thomas Friedman) who blew it on Iraq still regularly appear on op-ed pages and television news shows, pitching their latest notions about Iraq, Iran or other matters.

Foremost among this band is William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard and former chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle. Kristol, a Fox News regular, has not seen his standing as a go-to conservative pundit suffered. Moreover, he has been rewarded with a plum posting. Time magazine's new managing editor, Richard Stengel, has invited Kristol to become what Stengel calls a "star" columnist for the magazine.

Both Kristol and Stengel are likable fellows. I usually enjoy debating Kristol on television or radio. He's no hater, and he's no autopilot partisan. Stengel is a thoughtful and cerebral person who once was a senior adviser to cerebral Senator Bill Bradley, a Democrat. So there's nothing personal when I ask, why in the hell does Stengel believe that what America needs now is more Bill Kristol? (Slate media cop Jack Shafer criticized Stengel's pick of Kristol by noting that "Kristol isn't much of a deviation from Charles Krauthammer, an occasional Time 'Essay' writer." Friendship declared: Shafer is a pal of mine.)

It's too late to affect Stengel's decision, but let's take this occasion to review Kristol's record on Iraq, courtesy of a rather cursory Nexis search. It holds no surprises.

On September 11, 2002, as the Bush administration began its sales campaign for the coming war, Kristol suggested that Saddam Hussein could do more harm to the United States than al Qaeda had: "we cannot afford to let Saddam Hussein inflict a worse 9/11 on us in the future."

On September 15, 2002, he claimed that inspection and containment could not work with Saddam: "No one believes the inspections can work." Actually, UN inspectors believed they could work. So, too, did about half of congressional Democrats. They were right.

On September 18, 2002, Kristol opined that a war in Iraq "could have terrifically good effects throughout the Middle East."

On September 19, 2002, he once again pooh-poohed inspections: "We should not fool ourselves by believing that inspections could make any difference at all." During a debate with me on Fox News Channel, after I noted that the goal of inspections was to prevent Saddam from reaching "the finish line" in developing nuclear weapons, Kristol exclaimed, "He's past that finish line. He's past the finish line."

On November 21, 2002, he maintained, "we can remove Saddam because that could start a chain reaction in the Arab world that would be very healthy."

On February 2, 2003, he claimed that Secretary of State Colin Powell at an upcoming UN speech would "show that there are loaded guns throughout Iraq" regarding weapons of mass destruction. As it turned out, everything in Powell's speech was wrong. Kristol was uncritically echoing misleading information handed him by friends and allies within the Bush administration.

On February 20, 2003, he summed up the argument for war against Saddam: "He's got weapons of mass destruction. At some point he will use them or give them to a terrorist group to use...Look, if we free the people of Iraq we will be respected in the Arab world....France and Germany don't have the courage to face up to the situation. That's too bad. Most of Europe is with us. And I think we will be respected around the world for helping the people of Iraq to be liberated."

On March 1, 2003, Kristol dismissed concerns that sectarian conflict might arise following a US invasion of Iraq: "We talk here about Shiites and Sunnis as if they've never lived together. Most Arab countries have Shiites and Sunnis, and a lot of them live perfectly well together." He also said, "Very few wars in American history were prepared better or more thoroughly than this one by this president." And he maintained that the war would be a bargain at $100 to $200 billion. The running tab is now nearing half a trillion dollars.

On March 5, 2003, Kristol said, "I think we'll be vindicated when we discover the weapons of mass destruction and when we liberate the people of Iraq."





Such vindication never came. Kristol was mistaken about the justification for the war, the costs of the war, the planning for the war, and the consequences of the war. That's a lot for a pundit to miss. In his columns and statements about Iraq, Kristol displayed little judgment or expertise. He was not informing the public; he was whipping it. He turned his wishes into pronouncements and helped move the country to a mismanaged and misguided war that has claimed the lives of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. That's not journalism.

In an effectively functioning market of opinion-trading, Kristol's views would be relegated to the bargain basement. And he ought to be doing penance, not penning columns for Time. But -- fortunate for him -- the world of punditry is a rather imperfect marketplace.

Posted by David Corn at January 2, 2007 06:27 AM

49 comments:

Saladin said...

Doing penance? They should ALL have hung right next to saddam. And God forbid we discuss impeachment, removal from office and indictments for the lunatics that have been planning these wars for years, golly, they were just mistaken, and ANYONE can make a mistake. Let's just move on now. The dems have a great example to follow, do whatever you want and never pay a penalty. 2007 is looking grimmer and grimmer.

kathleen said...

Corn you referred to Kristol as a "likable fellow". If psychopathic fascist is your definition of "likable fellow" then your concious is in trouble.

I have watched and read Kristol for years now...this "likable fellow" does not have one empathetic, compassionate bone in his body. He is the premiere example of an elitist right wing zionist with a severe condition of a dual loyalty and Israel comes first before the welfare of this nation.

Is this appointment by Stengel more of what NPR has been charged with by many employees that have either been fired for questioning, quit, or been unable to move further up the ladder at NPR. NPR has been accused of "pervasive cronyism"! There was an independent investigation of these charges and the report has never been released. Is TIME quilty of the same type of "pervasive cronyism" sure looks like it.

Why would anyone in charge of a magazine want such a lop-sided and inaccurate "talking head" such as Kristol to be writing for Time? Unless Stengel has an agenda similar to Kristol's to promote. Surprise Surprise!

Kristol has been wrong, manipulative and destructive in regard to Iraq. This guy has not pulled any triggers but he is neck deep in Iraqi blood and lies!

We can expect Time magazine to be focused on
IRAN IRAN IRAN... In a very negative and destructive way.

THIS IS KRISTOL (such a likeable fellow) AND THE NEO CONS NEXT TARGET!

Saladin and Capt I hope you re-post some of the articles that you linked about Iran and Palestine

Thanks Capt for linking that article by Pappe

Watching the Ford funeral on C_Span
The dominant message is white militarism, rigid, WHITE WHITE WHITE WHITE WHITE. Very little diversity...not a reflection of what this country is "supposed" to be about. Lets the world know just who is in control!

So much for Ford being a simple guy, and a guy who moved our country forward beyond Water gate and Vietnam. He shut the Accountability faucet off, and buried the opportunity to demonstrate that a President is not above the law, well except if he gets a blow job in the oval office.

Saladin said...

2007: Decisive Year for the Israeli-Neocon Attack Iran Plan

As if to kick off the New Year, and usher in the required political mindset, the Israelis are switching the attack Iran mantra into hyperdrive.

“As an American strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help him pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and US newspaper editors,” declares Israeli Brigadier General Oded Tira. “We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure.”

It is refreshing, in a sadistic sort of way, so little translation is required here. First, Tira, a former IDF chief artillery officer, has cut to the chase, not belaboring us with the sort of platitudes uttered by a Binyamin Netanyahu or Ehud Olmert. In order for Israel to exist, so the reasoning goes, it is required for the United States to attack Iran and kick off world war three, or as the neocons call it, world war four. Of course, by “existence” the former IDF officer means Israel must continue the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, continue killing and torturing the Palestinian people, and mucking around in the domestic affairs of its Arab neighbors.

I believe the second point, however, is not necessary, as in many ways the Democrats are more pro-Israel than the Republicans, if that is possible. Killing large numbers of Muslims—650,000, by conservative estimates, in Iraq alone as the year ends—is indeed a bipartisan affair. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, while dissing the neocon occupation of Iraq in the name of political expediency, have called for invading Iran. But the likely Democrat presidential selectee, John Edwards, is even more pro-Zionist than either Clinton or Obama.

“Edwards has been one of Israel’s strongest and most consistent supporters in the U.S. Senate, and as President, he will work in the tradition of Democratic Presidents like Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and Israel and the Jewish people. He will work tirelessly to strengthen America’s economic and political ties with Israel—the region’s only democracy—and will ensure that America will do what is necessary to ensure Israel’s security, including through economic and military aid,” declares the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, billed as a “non-partisan” organization established “to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship by emphasizing the fundamentals of the alliance,” that is to say disseminate propaganda through the Jewish Virtual Library, a sprawling online encyclopedia.

Specifically, in regard to Iran, Edwards said during a vice presidential selectee “debate” in 2004: “It’s important for America to confront the situation in Iran, because Iran is an enormous threat to Israel and to the Israeli people.” Not the American people, mind you, but the Israeli people. As president, Edwards will carry Israel’s torch forward, making certain to ignite Iran—not that he will be required to do such, as the departing neocons will do it for him, possibly sooner before later.
=========
The new boss, same as the old boss. I can't understand why people put any faith in politicians today. They are nothing but corrupt war mongerers bought and paid for by a foreign country. But hey, obama or edwards nuking Iran is WAY better than mccain nuking Iran, right?

kathleen said...

Reading Carter's new book. The chapter on the Daddy Bush's administration is short and interesting. I knew Baker had been the most upfront with Israel and their illegal expansion of settlements and aggressive land grabs. But I did not know that he actually made such demands at an Aipac conference

He actually said that at an Aipac conference that thoughts for a "greater Israel" needed to cease!

Carters book is great!

I forgot to mention some time ago that during the interview with Carter on C-span book T.V. Carter mentioned how he was being kept off college campuses.

I would put money on this effort is being spear headed by Daniel Pipes organization "Campus Watch".

Please contact your local colleges and universities and request a visit from Jimmy Carter. Encourage others to do so. Also ask if there has been any effort to block Carter from coming to that school to speak about his new book?

They did not even try to pretend to mix it up at the Ford funeral...white white white!

kathleen said...

It's funny when the camera finds a black person at the funeral it hangers there for quite a while. There is one young woman in the choir who is black the camera is spending quite some time on her.

Ford obviously did not spend much time outside of his white world making friends.

kathleen said...

Kristol continues to be "kristol clear" but now it is all about Iran and the escalation of forces!

David I believe Ledeen has children serving in the military. I believe his daughter was doing business in Iraq immediately after the invasion.

kathleen said...

Kissenger another "likeable fascist" is now speaking at the Ford funeral. Ford took away Kissengers dual jobs of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the Nixon administration.

Saladin said...

WHO IS THE US CONGRESS LISTENING TO?


NOT YOU!! If our votes won't make them listen we will have to try another method.

capt said...





The Iraqi government has launched an inquiry into how guards filmed and taunted Saddam Hussein on the gallows, turning his execution into a televised spectacle that has inflamed sectarian anger.

A senior Iraqi official told Reuters the US ambassador tried to persuade Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki not to rush into hanging the former president just four days after his appeal was turned down, urging the government to wait another two weeks.

News of the ousted strongman's death on Saturday and of his treatment by officials of the Shi'ite-led government was blamed by one witness for sparking a prison riot among mainly Sunni Arab inmates at a jail near the northern city of Mosul.

An adviser to Maliki, Sami al-Askari, said: "There were a few guards who shouted slogans that were inappropriate and that's now the subject of a government investigation."


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

An inquiry? Oh my, hanging Saddam on video with hooded Sadr supporters taunting him might cause some sectarian violence? WOW who would have thought it?



capt

capt said...

'Illegal' Execution Enrages Arabs



BAGHDAD, Jan 2 (IPS) - The execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein carried out at the start of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha has angered Iraqis and others across the Middle East.

Saddam Hussein was hanged on what is held to be a day of mercy and feasting in the Islamic world. It is usually celebrated with the slaughter of a lamb, which represents the innocent blood of Ishmael, who was sacrificed by his father, the prophet Abraham, to honour God.

Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, the Kurdish judge who had first presided over Saddam Hussein's trial told reporters that the execution at the beginning of Eid was illegal under Iraqi law, besides violating the customs of Islam.

Amin said that under Iraqi law "no verdict should be implemented during the official holidays or religious festivals."

While Iraqi Shias, particularly those in the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, view the execution as a sign that Allah supports them, many Sunnis across Iraq and the Middle East now see Saddam Hussein as a great martyr.

"Saddam Hussein is the greatest martyr of the century," Ahmed Hanousy, a student in Amman in Jordan told IPS. A 50 year-old man in Baghdad said "the Americans and Iranians meant to insult all Arabs by this execution."


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

So, we are all suppose to believe Busheney are trying to quell sectarian violence?



capt

capt said...

Saddam: The death of a dictator



Through the bumbling of the U.S.-backed regime, justice becomes revenge, and a despot becomes a martyr.

[…]

In his death, as in his life, Saddam Hussein is managing to divide Iraqis and condemn them to further violence and brutality. But the Americans and the Shiite- and Kurd-dominated government bear some blame for the way they botched his trial and gave him this last opportunity to play the spoiler.

Iraq is on high alert, in expectation of protests and guerrilla reprisals. Leaves have been canceled for Iraqi soldiers, though in the past they have seldom paid much attention to such orders. But perhaps the death of Saddam, who once haunted the nightmares of a nation, will soon come to seem insignificant. In Iraq, guerrilla and criminal violence executes as many as 500 persons a day. Saddam's hanging is just one more occasion for a blood feud in a country that now has thousands of them.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

More violence and strife could be used to justify sending in more troops - so by failing Bush attains victory!



capt

capt said...

Kristol was chairman of PNAC (if my memory doesn't fail me).


capt

Saladin said...

Public service info.

Fluoride Accumulates in Pineal Gland
===========
Flouride in Nursery bottle water?? Something is going very wrong here.

capt said...

Sioux Falls firm opens door to eliminating mad cow



Hematech-developed cattle show no vulnerability in early stages


A Sioux Falls-based biotechnology firm is receiving international recognition for its research in developing cattle that don't appear to be able to contract mad cow disease.

Scientists at Hematech say they've raised 12 healthy Holstein bull calves that don't have the naturally occurring prion proteins that can misfold and cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as BSE or "mad cow disease."

While the occurrence of BSE in the United States has dropped in recent years, thanks in part to changed feeding practices and better government surveillance, Hematech's findings are creating a buzz in the biotechnology world. The study is published in the most recent edition of the Nature Biotechnology journal.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Why do I think this will end badly? Genetically engineer a cow so that it doesn't get mad cow disease, clone it many times over - pump this herd of clones full of BGH and strong antibiotics - maybe even some bovine anti-depressants?

Hey, if it makes a better profit who cares what it might do to the people crazy enough to eat the meat or use the dairy products from these "cloned-cash-cows".

capt

capt said...

Voice Of God Revealed To Be Cheney On Intercom



WASHINGTON, DC—Telephone logs recorded by the National Security Agency and obtained by Congress as part of an ongoing investigation suggest that the vice president may have used the Oval Office intercom system to address President Bush at crucial moments, giving categorical directives in a voice the president believed to be that of God.

While journalists and presidential historians had long noted Bush's deep faith and Cheney's powerful influence in the White House, few had drawn a direct correlation between the two until Tuesday, when transcripts of meetings that took place in March and April of 2002 became available.

In a transcript of an intercom exchange recorded in March 2002, a voice positively identified as the vice president's identifies himself as "the Lord thy God" and promotes the invasion of Iraq, as well as the use of torture in prisoner interrogations.

A close examination of Bush's public statements and Secret Service time logs tracking the vice president reveals a consistent pattern, one which links Bush's belief that he had received word from God with Cheney's use of the White House's telephone-based intercom system.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Bunnypants should have known it was Dick when GOD used Dick's pet name for Dumya "SFB" (shit for brains).

HA!


capt

capt said...

Bush 'to reveal Iraq troop boost'



US President George W Bush intends to reveal a new Iraq strategy within days, the BBC has learnt.

The speech will reveal a plan to send more US troops to Iraq to focus on ways of bringing greater security, rather than training Iraqi forces.

The move comes with figures from Iraqi ministries suggesting that deaths among civilians are at record highs.

The US president arrived back in Washington on Monday after a week-long holiday at his ranch in Texas.

The BBC was told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush's Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week.

Its central theme will be sacrifice.

The speech, the BBC has been told, involves increasing troop numbers.

The exact mission of the extra troops in Iraq is still under discussion, according to officials, but it is likely to focus on providing security rather than training Iraqi forces.

The proposal, if it comes, will be highly controversial.

Already one senior Republican senator has called it Alice in Wonderland.

The need to find some way of pacifying Iraq has been underlined by statistics revealed by various ministries in the Iraqi government, suggesting that well over 1,000 civilians a month are dying.

More HERE

O'Reilly said...

Before the Iraq war, rightwing (and middle-of-the-road) pundits claimed Saddam Hussein was a dire WMD threat, that he was in cahoots with al Qaeda, that the war was necessary. The neoconservative cheerleaders for war also argued that an invasion of Iraq would bring democracy to that nation and throughout the region. They were wrong. But they have paid no price for their errors. They did not have to serve in Iraq. None, as far as I can tell, have had sons or daughters harmed or killed in the fighting there. They did not have to bear higher taxes, because George W. Bush has charged the costs of this military enterprise to the national credit card. Though they miscalled the number-one issue of the post-9/11 period, they did not lose their influential perches in the commentariat. Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle, Robert Kagan, Gary Schmitt, Danielle Pletka and others (including non-neocon Thomas Friedman) who blew it on Iraq still regularly appear on op-ed pages and television news shows, pitching their latest notions about Iraq, Iran or other matters.


This is far and away the best paragraph David Corn has written since election day in 2006.

Keep 'em coming Corn. It's time for the American people to be woken from their work a day stupors and take control of the reigns of government. Boo-YA!

capt said...

"Iniquity, committed in this world, produces not fruit immediately, but, like the earth, in due season, and advancing by little and little, it eradicates the man who committed it. ...justice, being destroyed, will destroy; being preserved, will preserve; it must never therefore be violated." Manu 1200 bc

=
"In order that all men might be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it." Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) - Source: The Rambler, 1750-52

=
"Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to him for attacking most unsparingly our most cherished opinions." Sir Leslie Stephen - (1832-1904), literary essayist, author Source: The Suppression of Poisonous Opinions, 1883

=
"Political correctness is really a subjective list put together by the few to rule the many -- a list of things one must think, say, or do. It affronts the right of the individual to establish his or her own beliefs." Mark Berley - Source: Argos, Spring 1998

=
"There never was an idea stated that woke men out of their stupid indifference but its originator was spoken of as a crank." Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American Poet - Source: Over the Teacups, 1891

===

Read this newsletter online http://tinyurl.com/dy6yy

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

Saladin said...

So today is another federal holiday because "shit for brains" (thanks Capt!) declares we must observe a mourning period for one of his traitorous cronies? I say, good riddance to bad rubbish! A few down, many to go.

Saladin said...

Coverup of the Number of Soldiers under US Command Killed in Iraq
JESÚS DÁVILA / El Diario (Puerto Rico) 12jul2005

Official US. government reports on soldiers under US command killed in Iraq are so fragmented that they account for less than half of the total number, according to information uncovered as part of an inquiry by the Government of Puerto Rico regarding the total number of Puerto Rican war casualties.

This analysis was confirmed by El Diario/La Prensa's review of multiple documents, including official reports issued by the US Department of Defense, the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior and more than 230 battlefront reports, which reveal that more than 4,076 troops under US command have been killed in 799 days of battle.

This information contrasts markedly with the limited information on casualties generally issued by US military authorities, which focus only on US uniformed troops. These total 1,649.

Military affairs expert Jose Rodriguez Beruff from the University of Puerto Rico said that the figures showing more than 4,000 dead indicate that, far from winning the war in Iraq, "what is happening is that the troops are being worn down." He said that traditional theorists calculate that for an armed invading force to win a guerrilla war, its casualties should be one to ten of its enemy's. In this case, that would require 40,000 casualties among the insurgents.

In addition, Rodriguez Reduff warned that the reports should be reviewed on an ongoing basis, as he suspects that the number of casualties is even higher.

Calculations are even more difficult when it comes to the wounded, which US authorities number at more than 12,600, and medical discharges -- those maimed or suffering from physical and mental injuries -- about whom only partial reports can be obtained. In this category, large discrepancies in counts have been publicized by news outlets such as the national German Press Agency (DPA), which ran a story reporting on US Army documents putting the number of US soldiers with war-related mental ailments at 100,000.

That issue is more controversial. The Argentine press agency Argenpress reported about 17,000 unreported cases of war-related mental illness. But no matter the scenario, the numbers of wounded and medical discharges are larger than those officially announced, as is the case with casualties.

The figures came to light in the course of an ongoing investigation that El Diario/La Prensa is making on the number of Puerto Rican and Hispanic casualties in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That inquiry prompted Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY) and An’bal Acevedo Vila, then Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to request a full casualty report, which yielded a partial list with 200 Puerto Rican losses, including casualties, wounded and medical discharges.
============
Notice the date. This is the first I have seen this news outside of TBR. You KNOW they're lying, they lie about everything.

Saladin said...

Kathleen, it just ocurred to me, I'm sure if kristol seems like a likable fellow no doubt some people said the same about hitler and stalin! Probably pol pot as well. Yeh, real likable as long as you weren't on the hit list.

O'Reilly said...

Quoting Kristol: coincidence or cribbing?

Check out the post at Glenn Greenwald's website by Anonymous Liberal.

O'Reilly said...

Put Up Or Shut Up, Joe
By Jane Hamsher on Iraq

Collins was in on the same discussions with the commanders that Lieberman was. And she emerged from those meetings "flatly opposed" to an escalation.

Yet Lieberman has now twice said that those conversations persuaded him of the rightness of his own call for an increase.

It's worth asking one more time: Why is Lieberman never, ever pressed by the media for his many inconsistencies and outright falsehoods on Iraq? Has a single reporter ever asked Lieberman why he's now calling for an escalation, when — as Atrios frequently points out — he said during his reelection campaign that he was "confident" that we'd be drawing down "significant numbers" of troops by now?

uncledad said...

Saladin:

"God forbid we discuss impeachment, removal from office and indictments for the lunatics that have been planning these wars for years, golly, they were just mistaken, and ANYONE can make a mistake. Let's just move on now."

Well said, As I read Corns essay I can't help but laugh. Wasn't he explaining to us a couple weeks ago how impeachment would hurt our country? If the "official" behavior he describes today is not challenged or met with some sort of impeachment, what the hell are we arguing about? We all might as well move to Canada. If this war is not dissected and the profiteers prosecuted, our country (HomeLand) really might be broken.

The United States people will slowly convince themselves that stopping the war is too controversial, It's too quick; we must be careful how we exit. No matter that we had the shock an Awe campaign to start this misadventure. Apparently we should kill them quick, and take our time burying them.

I cannot explain my confusion with the Medias reaction to very recent history. James Brown, Gerry Ford, and Saddam all in one week. Wow. What is the media to do?

James Brown: We will exploit his bad behavior, it gets good ratings. Of course we will throw in some accolades so as not to appear racist.

Gerry Ford: As soon as we figure out that he really was President. We will shower him with generalities, he was an eagle scout, he was a healer, and he was a modest man? I wonder had J.C. (Jimmy Carter) died before Ford, would The C-student in chief declared a federal holiday, would he send Air Force One? Would the “Media” be so kind?

Saddam: What can I say? I don't believe in Capital punishment. Saddams public hanging fiasco is really no surprise. Just another example of our half assed occupation of Iraq. It appears to be a mistake, much like This!

uncledad said...

Or this!

uncledad said...

Or Uncledad does Woody Guthrie!

O'Reilly said...

Kathleen and Saladin and Cornbloggers all, check out this article

When the talk gets too serious, send in the clown
By Norman G. Finkelstein

As Jimmy Carter's new book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid climbs the bestseller list, the reaction of Israel's apologists scales new peaks of lunacy. I will examine a pair of typical examples and then look at the latest weapon to silence Carter.

link

Norman wrote "Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history" and "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering"

Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics, Princeton University, for a thesis on the theory of Zionism. He currently teaches political theory at DePaul University in Chicago.

uncledad said...

What if Santa was Christ: Oh boy!

uncledad said...

hey jew!

kathleen said...

Saladin I did find it odd that Corn referred to Kristol as a "likeable fellow" instead of what he is a "pathological liar" But if Corn spoke the truth he probably would not be invited to debate with such liars. Where I come from when people persistently lie and those lies have a direct consequence on whether people live or die we call these people criminals, and put people who tell these lies that have such serious and dire consequence in jail so that the can not continue to do such serious damage to others.

But it appears that Time promotes this type of person. This is telling!

Although Corn did go on and line up some of the evidence that are examples that prove that Kristol is a pathological liar and is neck deep in the Iraqi peoples blood.

There is just no excuse for the hiring of Kristol by Stengel at Time. To promote a pathological liar by giving them more room to promote their lies (next on Kristol's list is Iran) would appear to indicate that Stengel is on the same page as Kristol.

Judy Miller was given plenty of space to print up her lies about WMD's in Iraq, Kristol has his own publication "Weekly Standard" to promote his pathological lies, now he will have more room in "Time" to do so.

I would say it is TIME TO BOYCOTT TIME MAGAZINE for promoting pathological liars agendas'

The American public deserves high quality and accurate reporting not more lies spewed by people like Kristol.

BOYCOTT TIME!

..

kathleen said...

I want to continue to encourage people to call their local colleges and universities and ask them ( you could even put a petition or letter together signed by others) to bring Carter to that campus to talk about his new book "Palestine Peace: Not Apartheid".

Follow your request and whether that school is contacted by the radical right wing group "Campus Watch" (started by Israeli firster Daniel Pipes. Carter indicated on his C-span Book T.V. interview that there were people and groups trying to keep him off of college campuses. I would think that Campus Watch would be more than likely guilty of this. This organization was partially set up to make sure that the "divest from Israel" movement that was starting to take hold five years ago.

BRING CARTER TO YOUR CAMPUS! (track the response or efforts to block Carter)

kathleen said...

by Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D., Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)
posted 10 Nov 06\

Rumsfeld’s Legacy


Like many in and out of uniform, I've often criticized the now former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.


Finally, following the Democratic sweep in the 2006 mid-term elections, the anticipated moment has arrived. It is time to address the Rumsfeld legacy.


Surprisingly, it isn't the Iraq fiasco – this is the criminal legacy of neoconservative advisors in and out of the White House, pro-Likud factions in and out of government, the utterly spineless and incredibly stupid Congress in 2002, and the appalling non-investigatory investigative reporting of major U.S. news corporations.


While he certainly propagandized the 2003 invasion, and glossed over the facts on the ground, I think Rumsfeld was far more honest and forthright with the public and presumably his bosses than either deputy Secretary of Defense Paul “The war will cost $1.5 billion and be paid entirely from Iraqi oil revenues' Wolfowitz or his old friend Veep Dick “Fire-Aim-Ready' Cheney.


Rumsfeld's legacy will also not be the transformation of the Department of Defense, unless future U.S. historians carelessly use “transform' instead of the more accurate “demolish,' “destroy,' “demoralize, “defang' and “obliterate.'


In early 2001, while serving in the the Pentagon I remember many of us hoped very much that Rumsfeld's can-do attitude and political history would allow him to accomplish what cautious Clinton era cost-cutting failed to do – shake up the military-industrial establishment and guide it towards faithful service in a truly post-Cold War world.


Instead, Rumsfeld played pivotal role ensuring that neoconservative conspirers of the Reagan era could re-establish a new Cold War by fighting fake wars, offering fake security advice and playing dump-the-dictator games in vulnerable countries around the world. The Bush War on Terror, while unsophisticated, illogical, and end-times-ish, has become a bellyfeeling and bank-account-filling New Cold War.


The Rumsfeld legacy will not be one of shame, even though we should be ashamed. When I heard that Saddam Hussein would be hanged soon, my first thought was how relieved Mr. Rumsfeld must be. In terms of real legacies, that famous Rummy-Saddam handshake and the secret deals the United States pushed and pursued in an effort to destabilize Iran in the 1980s are probably the most interesting. This dishonorable history is part of Rumsfeld's most important legacy – that of the ultimate insider, playing the powerful hand of the world's greatest democracy, in the name of American people who were absolutely kept in the dark.


When we think of Donald Rumsfeld, we won't really remember the Iraq fiasco, the destruction of both quality and confidence of the United States military, the purgings and the sparrings, or even the 100,000 and counting damaged bodies and souls of young Americans returning from a pointless and irrational Iraqi occupation. They won't name any of the great American bases in Iraq after Rumsfeld. This former Naval aviator won't even get a carrier.


I think that we will best remember Rumsfeld for his succinct set of favored quotations, known as “Rumsfeld's Rules.'


The original version was prepared in 1974 – and one regrets that these nuggets of pith weren't finalized then and there, that Rumsfeld had not been content to simply push artificial sweeteners through the FDA, and make boatloads of money.


There are many great quotes in “Rumsfeld's Rules,' and Rumsfeld aspired to apply them liberally.


I'll point to two that seem pertinent today. Rumsfeld quotes General George Marshall, recalling that “If you get the objectives right, a lieutenant can write the strategy.'


In a nutshell, this certainly explains our real problem in Iraq today, and tomorrow. We have misguided, venal, greedy, and idiotic objectives. This means that lieutenants can't be counted on to write the strategy – and thus we fall back on those famous pseudo-sages at the American Enterprise Institute, and the graybeards of cowardice and intellectual sloth conjoined in the old Project for a New American Century. Don Rumsfeld doesn't understand that the problem isn't the strategy – he'd like to tweak and alter and experiment and stay on and on and on. The problem is the objective. Recognizing this early on, as General Marshall might have, would have constructed for Rumsfeld a powerful and grand legacy – but sadly, he was not up to that task.


And this is the rub -- the Rumsfeld legacy is that he was simply not up to the task.


This failure may not spring from Rumsfeld's own history or character. Instead, the reason for this legacy of failure is explained by another of “Rumsfeld's Rules.'




That George W. Bush is mediocrity made flesh is not questioned in any part of America or the world. Much like nearly forgotten FEMA Director Michael “heckuva job' Brown, and the forgettable Harriet Miers, Don Rumsfeld was – plain and simple – the hiring outcome of a bonified “B.'


And this, dear reader, is Rumsfeld's pitiful and pathetic legacy.


© 10 Nov 2006 Karen Kwiatkowski

kathleen said...

Go to John Dean Findlaw and read this one.

----
What Should Congressional Democrats Do, When the Bush Administration Stonewalls Their Efforts To Undertake Oversight?:
Part Two in a Three-Part Series
By JOHN W. DEAN
----

kathleen said...

O'Reilly thanks for linking that article. I had read it, but it is always good to read an honest article by Norman.

Jimmy Carter is being hammered by the radically wrong!

capt said...

Olbermann: Special comment about ‘sacrifice’



If in your presence an individual tried to sacrifice an American serviceman or woman, would you intervene?

Would you at least protest?

What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them?

What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them — and was then to announce his intention to sacrifice hundreds, maybe thousands, more?


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Keith delivers another KO!



capt

capt said...

On the "likable fellow" comment - I took it more as tongue in cheek.

Maybe I am too creative in my assessment?


capt

Gerald said...

David Corn's article, "Kristol Clear at Time," is one of David's better articles. At least he is sticking his neck out to some degree.

However, calling Kristol a likable fellow is troublesome for me and others. Kathleen is right. Kristol is a psychopathic fascist. Let us remember that Kristol and the PNAC say that our planet can only sustain 500 million people and 6 billion people must be eraticated, exterminated, and terminated. I cannot find anything likable in those numbers. That means endless wars and the dropping of "conventional" nuclear weapons upon people. Congress has approved the use of conventional nuclear weapons. These conventional nuclear weapons are six times more lethal than the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan.

My Nazi American brothers and sisters, are you feeling safer under Hitler Bush?

If you live by the sword and you will die by the sword!!!

Don't you just love this devil incarnate nation??????

What is there not to love about this Nazi country?????


Posters all, thank you for great comments on this article!!!

Saladin said...

Kathleen, I boycotted ALL MSM based media, both print and radio/TV long ago, I can no longer stand the fluffy bullshit that passes for information today. I hope they all go down with their captain when that ship finally meets the iceberg!
Happy New Year to you too Erling! Your article about Palestine was heartbreaking. I simply cannot fathom how Israel is allowed to get by with such overtly murderous behavior. Now lieberman, the one in Israel, is calling for all Arabs to leave Israel, and no one even blinks, neither will the MSM even go there. What is happening to the people? Is there no empathy left? God help the innocent, peaceful people of Israel if all are made to pay the price for the past 60 years. I've read that many have begun to flee the country and that immigration into Israel is at a record low. I guess that's a good sign. I've considered fleeing the US because I don't want to answer for the blood shed in my name, but don't know where to go. I never thought I would feel shame for my country.
Gerald, I hope your comment about us being Nazis was made in jest. I am no nazi!

Gerald said...

Mission Accomplished

I love those words.

Gerald said...

Whoever favors war, use of nuclear weapons, torure, and murders is a Nazi as far as I'm concerned.

If the hat fits, a person must wear it.

No one can say to me that what has gone on in this country is not Nazism.

capt said...

Bill Kristol: The Anti-Nostradamus



When you hear level-headed people say that General Kristol and the Neocons have been wrong about literally everything for the past five years, they're not kidding. Anonymous Liberal — guest-posting for Glenn at Unclaimed Territory — gives us a small sample of the predictions made by TIME Magazine's new "star" columnist:

On March 17, 2003, on the eve of our invasion of Iraq, Bill Kristol wrote the following:

We are tempted to comment, in these last days before the war, on the U.N., and the French, and the Democrats. But the war itself will clarify who was right and who was wrong about weapons of mass destruction. It will reveal the aspirations of the people of Iraq, and expose the truth about Saddam's regime. It will produce whatever effects it will produce on neighboring countries and on the broader war on terror. We would note now that even the threat of war against Saddam seems to be encouraging stirrings toward political reform in Iran and Saudi Arabia, and a measure of cooperation in the war against al Qaeda from other governments in the region. It turns out it really is better to be respected and feared than to be thought to share, with exquisite sensitivity, other people's pain. History and reality are about to weigh in, and we are inclined simply to let them render their verdicts.

Now, you would think that being so incredibly wrong about such an important subject might hurt your career prospects, and that would probably be true in any other field. But in the world of Washington punditry, being consistently and catastrophically wrong about everything is apparently not an obstacle to advancement. Read more…


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

I'm kind of surprised nobody mentioned Corn's likable guy comment?



capt

Saladin said...

Robertson says God told him of ''mass killing'' in U.S. in 2007
By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 2, 2007 | Last updated 10:13 PM Jan. 2

VIRGINIA BEACH - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson cited communications with God in predicting Tuesday that horrific terrorism aimed at the United States will result in "mass killing" during the second half of 2007.

"The Lord didn't say nuclear, but I do believe it'll be something like that - that'll be a mass killing, possibly millions of people, major cities injured," Robertson said.

"There will be some very serious terrorist attacks," he said. "The evil people will come after this country, and there's a possibility - not a possibility, a definite certainty - that chaos is going to rule." Robertson did not say where the attacks would occur.

Robertson made his predictions during "The 700 Club" television show, which he hosts from the Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach.

Predicting events for the coming year is a tradition for Robertson, who customarily spends the last days of each year in prayer.

The prayer retreats yield "what I feel, or I feel the Lord is saying, is going to happen," he said Tuesday. "I put these things out with humility."

"God said he's going to restrain the evil but he isn't necessarily going to restrain it in the beginning," Robertson said. "A lot of these things can be reversed - we just need to do a lot of praying."
===========
When a "New Pearl Harbor" isn't quite enough you can look forward to a "New and IMPROVED Pearl Harbor." He and bush must talk with the same god, only the evil people aren't "GOING" to come, they're already here and have been for some time. Fucking crazy people.

Saladin said...

Capt, what kristol, a proven pathological liar, said is the polar opposite of this article. Gee, I wonder who we should believe?


Saddam “Dead”, Mission “Accomplished”
The Bush Dynasty May Sleep in “Peace”
Ali Baghdadi, Albasrah.net

January 1, 2007

The first day of Eid Al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, will be taking a new meaning. It will be remembered as a "holy" day, a "happy" occasion, the sacrifice, the fall and the rise to eternity of one of our greatest heroes.

Unlike the great majority of Arab and Muslim leaders, Saddam Hussein defied U.S. attempts to rob his country’s resources and prevent Iraq from acquiring modern industry, science and technology. He freed women. Iraqis of all nationalities, religions and sects lived in harmony. Health and education services on all levels were free. Electricity and clean water were available without interruption, 24 hours a day. Corruption in the public as well as the private sectors was virtually eliminated. Even under the 13 year long economic sanctions, the basic requirements of life were guaranteed to every Iraqi citizen. His biggest achievement on Arab national level, he was the only Arab leader who successfully challenged Israel’s military superiority, and shattered the claim of Israel’s invincibility.

The choice by "Bush the Little" to execute Saddam Hussein on the first day of Eid Al-Adha, a time of peace, compassion and forgiveness, demonstrates his contempt and hatred to Islam, and his insistence to escalate his crusade and war of vengeance against Arabs and Muslims. One thousand three hundred million Muslims worldwide are celebrating the Eid; while four million Muslim pilgrims, are answering God’s call around Al-Ka’ba, the holiest place in Islam. Muslim worshipers, rich and poor, representing all races and all colors, are gathering in the city of Mecca, shoulder to shoulder, in the most solemn demonstration of love, brotherhood, equality, peace and universality.

Saddam, the Bushs’ greatest enemy, was hanged. Their goal was realized. The President of the United States of America, the most "powerful" man on earth, as well as his entire dynasty, think they can now sleep in "peace". It is "worth" it. Since the May 2003 photo pose Bush made in front of the "Mission Accomplished" banner on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf, over 3,000 American soldiers, mostly blacks, Latinos and poor whites, have come home in boxes under the cover of darkness. An additional 47,000 have been permanently disfigured. The cost of the war paid for by the hard working people of the United States, is in the trillions. Iraqi civilian death toll since Bush’s declaration of "victory" has exceeded 700,000.

Saddam chose to sacrifice his own life so we all may live in dignity and with honor. He refused to bargain in exchange for his freedom. He refused to bow down to the "empire" and to the "emperor", who possesses and commands the most destructive war machinery known in human history. His executioners urged him to beg for mercy to spare his life. But he rejected their humiliating offer. He had lived as a great man, and walked to the gallows, calm and composed, as a great man. He refused to wear the execution hood. As always, he left this earthly world with his head up high. Saddam Hussein’s body is now resting under Iraqi sands that he greatly loved. His soul, however, and the resonation of his last words, will, forever, continue to haunt his enemies.
========
Two reports, you decide!

capt said...

The last paragraph from Gerals link "Mission Accomplished":

George W. Bush has been savagely criticized and mercilessly mocked for declaring "mission accomplished" at the very moment when the anti-American insurgency was birthed, but in retrospect this makes perfect sense – if one realizes that our mission was the utter destruction of Iraq. As a dress rehearsal for the larger event – the coming Sunni-Shi'ite civil war that will go down in history as comparable to Europe's Thirty Years' War pitting Catholics against Protestants – Iraq is truly a "model" for the rest of the region, albeit not in a way anybody but the perpetrators of this criminal policy expected.

*****

Sums it up nicely, eh?



capt

Saladin said...

The Freedoms We're Fighting for But Not Allowed to Have
URL Source: http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/topic/44
Published: Jan 2, 2007
Author: Bob Ellis

...They may ask, too, a simple, arithmetical question: if a head of state can hang by the neck until he is dead for having ordered, or countenanced, or signed off on, or not punished, or failed to countermand the torture and killing of 148 Iraqis guiltless of any great crime, what will happen to the generals, bureaucrats, prime ministers and heads of state who ordered, or countenanced, or signed off on, or did not punish, or did not countermand, the killing of 150,000 Iraqis guiltless of any great crime (this is now the Iraqi Government's estimate of the dead) and the torture of ten thousand more of them in Abu Ghraib? And how many Americans - Bremmer, Abizaid, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Bush - should on this precedent be charged and hanged?

They may also ask, as many legal experts have, how much was fair about a trial in which three of the defence lawyers were shot dead and those who survived forbidden to see the prosecution's written testimony before it was unveiled in court, and only those parts of the proceedings the Government liked were telecast - lest Saddam "grandstand" his cause and gain followers. And how wrong it was this trial was not aborted, and another trial begun in The Hague.

They may ask as well why Saddam died so soon. Something to do, perhaps, with his coming genocide trials and the complicity of Germany, France, the US and Britain in the manufacture of his nerve gas, anthrax, cluster bombs and helicopter gunships, and his amiable business relationships with Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush snr, once head of the CIA, in past decades, and how his genocidal methods back then did not greatly annoy them, not so long as he paid his bills.

And these are the freedoms we fought for. The freedom to ask, and not be told - lest we encourage terrorists - what really happened, and who was in the loop when it happened. Such were the freedoms Nixon encouraged in Chile when he helped Pinochet to censor, torture and kill those inconvenient to the many, many secrets America wanted to keep.

These are the freedoms we fought for, and will now defend in Iraq for decades if Bush and Howard, brothers-in-arms for "freedom", get their way.

In Saddam's hanging we saw them all at once.
=========
So many, many lies, so little time.

capt said...

President Creates Cabinet-Level Position To Coordinate Scandals



WASHINGTON, DC—In his State of the Union address to the nation last night, President Bush announced a new cabinet-level position to coordinate all current and future scandals facing his party.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

From back in February? I must have missed this one.



capt

capt said...

Olbermann: Special Comment on "Sacrifice"



Keith Olbermann stepped up and slapped Bush's plan to use the word "sacrifice" as an excuse to send more troops to Iraq. Bush needs a new catch phrase to try and deceive the nation with, but Republican talking points won't work on the people anymore. They are fed up with Bush and this war and sending more troops to die is not an answer. John McCain and Lieberman will now wear the McCain Doctrine around their necks—as Bill Kristol drools with glee as he'll finally get his wish.

Video-WMP

Video-QT (big file)

Olbermann: If in your presence an individual tried to sacrifice an American serviceman or woman, would you intervene? Would you at least protest? What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them? What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them — and was then to announce his intention to sacrifice hundreds, maybe thousands, more?

Rough transcripts below the fold

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Here's the video with KO.



capt

capt said...

Spider-Man’s next super-villain: George W. Bush



Creator's have had enough and say "F-U" to admin policies...



"Destiny" got the scoop on the Examiner, noting that: "Spider-Man crashed into a newscast this month to criticize government policy on secret detentions. Granted this took place in a comic book — but it was clearly addressing specific policies of the Bush administration."

The Examiner summarizes:

In Marvel Comics’ — ahem — "Civil War" story arc, the U.S. government passes the "Superhuman Registration Act" after hundreds of innocent American men, women and children become collateral damage in a superhero-related tragedy (the president of the United States even swings by the disaster site to assess the damage). The act mandates registration of all superheroes with the government. Spider-Man initially supports the act but then grows suspicious after discovering that unregistered captives are being held without civil rights at an off-shore prison called "the Negative Zone" (oh, and the prison was built with a no-bid contract). Detainees will remain there for life if they don’t register.

Destiny notes that the writer of this particular storyline, Bush-critic J. Michael Straczynski, was sick of having the famous "with great power comes great responsibility" phrase twisted into some neocolonialist manifest destiny bullshit. Thus, "Civil War."

More to come... bet your bottom dollar.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Funny thought - watch Bunnypants take THIS more seriously than any other criticism. In the same vein as Nixon when he lost Cronkite?



capt

capt said...

New Thead!