Not Counting Niggers

Dubya:

Here's what the American people need to know: that the United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets. We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal. We're using these tools aggressively. [...]

We know what the problems are, we have the tools we need to fix them, and we're working swiftly to do so.

So much (again) for leaving well enough alone and allowing the Free Market^TM to work its ineluctable magic. But doesn't that last sentence remind you a bit of Rumsfeld's infamous "points of the compass" declaration?

If you think -- let me take that, both pieces -- the area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 10/10/08 at 11:11 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Limits Of Power, The, Free-Market Miracles

On the anniversary of 9/11, Barack Obama asked us to "remember that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large, and must be brought to justice."

What of the terrorists responsible for 9/11/73? The terrorists responsible for birthing and administering the School Of The Americas? The terrorists responsible for "Plan Colombia", and the ravaging of Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, Cuba, Panama, and El Salvador. The terrorists responsible for bankrolling the Israeli depredations in the Occupied Territories? The terrorists responsible for the so-called "War On Drugs"? The terrorists responsible for the utter devastations of Afghanistan and Iraq?

Of these, no words from Senator Fuck-Stick.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 09/11/08 at 10:32 am | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Fucking Liberals, Wars Of Terror

Yesterday, the Great Black Hope^TM

cut short an appearance at a Labor Day rally here, calling for a moment of silence for those in the path of Hurricane Gustav.

"Today's not a day for political speeches. I hope you'll forgive me. I hope you don’t mind," Mr. Obama said.

It will be noticed that The Great Black Hope^TM did not call for a moment of silence for the

At least 500 civilians [who] were killed or wounded during the five-day US-led troops' ground and air operation in the Sangin district of Helmand province, a member of Afghanistan's parliament said on Sunday.

Why not? Very simple: Barack Obama = fuck-stick.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 09/2/08 at 4:10 pm | Permalink | 5 Comments
Filed under: Fucking Liberals

"If America wants to see itself clean of terrorists, we also want that our villages and towns should not be bombed," he said at a news conference here. Mr. Sharif, a former prime minister, added he was unable to give Mr. Negroponte "a commitment" on fighting terrorism. [...]

"If I can use an American expression, there is a new sheriff in town," Mr. Haqqani said. "Americans have realized that they have perhaps talked with one man for too long."

Posted by Eddie Tews on 03/26/08 at 8:52 am | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Limits Of Power, The

MS. PERINO: You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that's the way our system is set up.

From the horse's mouth: we're not a democracy. If the U.S. military can't or won't "spread" any "freedom" to the beleaguered residents of Tibet, maybe it could handle an assignment a little closer to home?

Posted by Eddie Tews on 03/22/08 at 2:01 pm | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Our Freedoms

Hanif Ghaffari, writing in the Farsi-language, conservative Iranian daily Resalat, has pointed out how the recent, very successful Ahmadinejad trip to Iraq had to be considered in the context of "Iran after the Iraq war" and "Iraq after occupation by America". The message could not be more graphic. When Bush went to Iraq he saw an ultra-fortified military base, and that was it. Ahmadinejad went everywhere in broad daylight, welcomed like a brother. This is how Tehran sees itself: as the ultimate victor of the US war on Iraq. And no "surge" or spin -- not to mention Israeli paranoia -- can or will make it go away.

Which, of course, simply proves that we haven't dropped enough 90,000-tonne bombs yet. More bombs, please! Need more fucking bombs, now!

Posted by Eddie Tews on 03/7/08 at 7:24 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Limits Of Power, The

Over the last two decades, few industries have lobbied more ferociously or effectively than banks to get the government out of its business and to obtain freer rein for "financial innovation.".

But as losses from bad mortgages and mortgage-backed securities climb past $200 billion, talk among banking executives for an epic government rescue plan is suddenly coming into fashion.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 02/24/08 at 1:14 pm | Permalink | 2 Comments
Filed under: Free-Market Miracles

The Defense Department warned Tuesday that as many as 200,000 contractors and civilian employees would begin receiving layoff warnings by Christmas unless Congress acts on President Bush's $196 billion war request...

If they absolutely can't survive without the taxpayers' money, at least let them do something useful.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 11/20/07 at 11:06 pm | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Military Budget, The

In the 1970s, the U.S. very strongly supported the development of nuclear energy in Iran. Rumsfeld, Cheney, Kissinger, Wolfowitz thought it was wonderful and they were giving plenty of aid and support. Kissinger's argument was that Iran should not use up oil for energy; it should save it. It needs another source of energy – nuclear power. Today, the same people are making the opposite argument, saying Iran has plenty of oil and natural gas, and if it is trying to enrich uranium, it must be for weapons. Kissinger was asked by the Washington Post why he was saying the opposite now from what he had said then. And he answered frankly and honestly, saying they were allies then, so they needed nuclear energy, and now they are enemies, so they don't need nuclear energy.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 05/28/07 at 9:52 pm | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Double-Standards

According to the report, Iraq’s child mortality rate has increased by a staggering 150 percent since 1990. Some 122,000 Iraqi children died in 2005 before reaching their fifth birthday. More than half of these deaths were among newborn babies in the first month of life.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 05/9/07 at 8:17 am | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Double-Standards

Graeme Wheeler, the bank's managing director, said at the meeting that the fight over whether Mr. Wolfowitz should stay on at the bank amounted to the "the biggest crisis in its history".

He said it arose from a range of issues, including fears that Mr. Wolfowitz and his aides were trying to impose Bush administration ideas on family planning and climate change at the bank and worries over a possible conflict of interest in the bank's hiring of a Washington law firm, Williams & Connolly, to investigate leaks. A partner at the firm had earlier negotiated Mr. Wolfowitz’s employment contract with the bank.

While I still maintain that the Republicans' "worst and stupidest" administrations are preferable to the Democrats' "best and brightest", the Repubs' complete ineptness and sliminess really is pretty jaw-dropping, isn't it?

Posted by Eddie Tews on 04/24/07 at 11:53 pm | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Beautiful Minds

"We are on a collision course with Chavez over oil," said Michael Economides, an oil consultant in Houston who wrote an influential essay comparing Chavez's populist appeal in Latin America with the pan-Arabism of Col. Moammar Gadhafi of Libya two decades ago. "Chavez poses a much bigger threat to America's energy security than Saddam Hussein ever did."

Posted by Eddie Tews on 04/10/07 at 8:44 pm | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Limits Of Power, The

For just the second time since the war began, the Army is sending large units back to Iraq without giving them at least a year at home, defense officials said today.

Meanwhile, the White House is threatening to extend deployments if it doesn't receive funding for its war:

White House counsellor Dan Bartlett criticised Congress for going on recess before finishing the wartime funding bill, which U.S. President George W. Bush has vowed to veto if it sets a timetable for pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq.

"By mid-May, troops in Iraq, serving Iraq, would potentially have to have their deployments extended because they're not getting their job done right here," Bartlett told ABC's This Week television program.

Logically, of course, if the funding were discontinued, the troops would be brought home; and thus would face neither extended deployments nor shorter periods between deployments.

But don't try using logic on the White House: it only dumbfounds the occupants.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 04/2/07 at 1:51 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Fuck The Troops

Saudi Arabia's unexpectedly harsh criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq marked a turning point in the complex relations between Washington and its key Sunni ally that raises serious questions about the Bush administration's Middle East policy, analysts say.

Speaking to a summit meeting of Arab leaders last week in Riyadh, Saudi King Abdullah referred to the US troop presence in Iraq as an "illegitimate foreign occupation".

U.S. officials were dumbfounded by the portrayal of the costly US military operation that President George W Bush defends as an effort being carried out at the request of the Iraq government to help stabilise a fledgling democracy.

Bush admin officials "dumbfounded"? Is that even possible?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, to seek an explanation of the king's remarks.

You know, ’cause Condi's the Administration's brilliant student of International Law. And if the prohibition against aggressive wars of conquest is too difficult a concept for her to master, well...maybe "dumbfounded" works kinda okay, after all.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 04/2/07 at 12:58 pm | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Beautiful Minds

Horror at the bloodshed accompanying the U.S. effort to bring democracy to Iraq has accomplished what human rights activists, analysts, and others say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been unable to do by himself: silence public demands for democratic reforms here.

The idea of the government as a bulwark of stability and security has long been the watchword of Syrian bureaucrats and village elders. But since Iraq's descent into sectarian and ethnic war -- and after Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, on the other side of Syria -- even Syrian activists concede that the country's feeble rights movement is moribund.

Advocates of democracy are equated now with supporters of America, even "traitors," said Maan Abdul Salam, 36, a Damascus publisher who has coordinated conferences on women's rights and similar topics.

"Now, talking about democracy and freedom has become very difficult and sensitive," Salam said. "The people are not believing these thoughts anymore. When the U.S. came to Iraq, it came in the name of democracy and freedom. But all we see are bodies, bodies, bodies."

Posted by Eddie Tews on 10/29/06 at 3:30 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Beautiful Minds

If the United States launches a military campaign against the Tehran government, it is likely that America's friends will fall by the wayside, the Gulf Arab states will tremble in fear, the 138,000 US soldiers in Iraq will be held hostage by an angered Shi'ite population, and Iran will respond by an attack on Israel. We would now dare say the obvious: if and when such an attack comes, the United States will be defeated.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 10/13/06 at 12:41 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Limits Of Power, The

Q Tony, do you think Americans should be confident sending young people to Capitol Hill, given what you do know? And I know you don't know everything, but surely there's been some communication. And it's these overly friendly emails, which have been out --

MR. SNOW: I think --

Q How can Americans feel confident that they can send their young people to the Hill, if that's what happened?

MR. SNOW: Look, I agree, Martha. You're not getting me to --

Q But I mean more so the investigation, or people saying, it's okay, they were just "overly friendly emails," even though he asked for a picture.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 10/2/06 at 8:41 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Politics vs. Principle

Holy shit! Sumbitch is this fucking close to letting loose with the laser-beam eyes. Run for your fucking life (if you know what's good for you)!

Posted by Eddie Tews on 09/17/06 at 9:31 pm | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Cyborg Watch

Very good new piece from Gabriel Kolko, in which he concludes that:

The United States, whose costliest political and military adventures since 1950 have ended in failure, now must face the fact that the technology for confronting its power is rapidly becoming widespread and cheap. It is within the reach of not merely states but of relatively small groups of people. Destructive power is now virtually "democratized".

If the challenges of producing a realistic concept of the world that confronts the mounting dangers and limits of military technology seriously are not resolved soon, recognizing that a decisive equality of military power is today in the process of being reimposed, there is nothing more than wars and mankind's eventual destruction to look forward to.

So we've got that going for us...

Posted by Eddie Tews on 08/29/06 at 8:26 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment
Filed under: Limits Of Power, The

About 300 U.S. soldiers who just weeks ago returned home to Alaska after a year in Iraq are being ordered back to try to help bolster security in Baghdad, the U.S. Army said on Monday. [...]

"Of course, this comes as a huge disappointment to the families and perhaps a greater disappointment to kids that were really expecting dads and moms home," [Maj. Gen. Charles Jacoby, head of Army forces in Alaska] told reporters.

But Jacoby said the brigade, which uses the Stryker wheeled armored vehicle, needed the soldiers, mainly infantrymen, back in Iraq to "reassemble a proven team".

There's only one such team in the entire military? Or the other teams are all already there? Or, what?

"From a tactical and military standpoint, this makes all the sense in the world," Jacoby said.

Yeah, it's gonna make "all the sense in the world" when they frag your stupid fucking ass to Kingdom Come, too.

Posted by Eddie Tews on 08/15/06 at 10:14 am | Permalink | No Comments
Filed under: Fuck The Troops