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February 24, 2005
Eminent Domain= Euphemistic Claptrap
This is a letter (scroll down to "Eminent domain is theft...") I sent to the local fishwrapper, the Daily Mess, in response to this editorial. I showed it to several acquaintances, and they agreed with me to a man (and woman). Somebody even told me that a nationally syndicated radio personality had read it on the air and thanked me for writing it. I think, truly, that more people are libertarians, if not anarchists, than think they are. They just can't take that last logical step and realize democracy itself is bad, since that is what's allowed these depredations to flourish. It's like the old socialist/liberal apologetic for communism: "Communism is great, they just didn't do it right." Instead, they say, "Democracy is wonderful, but the wrong people keep getting elected."
Ah, well. Cognitive dissonance lives on.
Posted by Patrick Yancey at 05:03 PM | Comments (5)
Bush Administration Promotes Press Freedom--in Zimbabwe
The United States has accused Zimbabwe of adopting a "pattern of intimidation" against journalists in the country.
Four journalist working for foreign news organisations have fled the country in the past week after being threatened by Zimbabwe's secret police.
They were accused of transmitting "material prejudicial to the state".
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "an open environment for journalists and opposition" was needed.
"The administration noted a pattern in Zimbabwe where the opposition fears for its safety, where restrictions were being placed on civil society and where newspapers were being shut down," he said.
Undoubtedly there are many bad things going on in Zimbabwe, and undoubtedly the press is coming under increasing pressure not to stray from the government line.
However, it is the height of hypocrisy for the U.S. government--which has fired on a hotel full of journalists in Iraq, shot and killed other journalists in the occupied territory, twice bombed al-Jazeera offices in two countries, banned al-Jazeera temporarily from Iraq (and continually tried to get it shut down permanently), banned other journalists from Iraq, paid columnists to promote its initiatives, inserted a shill into the White House press pool, and produced phony news reports for local TV stations to air--to tell the government of Zimbabwe what to do with its own journalists.
Then again, this is the same government that tells other countries not to meddle in Iraq and not to occupy foreign countries, so what else would we expect?
Posted by Mike Tennant at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)
Dubya's Uncle Profits From Iraq War, Too
The Iraq war helped bring record earnings to St. Louis-based defense contractor Engineered Support Systems Inc., and new financial data show that the firm's war-related profits have trickled down to a familiar family name — Bush.
William H.T. "Bucky" Bush, uncle of the president and youngest brother of former President George H.W. Bush, cashed in ESSI stock options last month with a net value of nearly half a million dollars.
What a surprise! A government program benefits a politically connected firm and its politically connected board member! Whoever would have thought it?
This is nothing particularly unique to the Bush administration. It goes on under every politician, from the local mayor to the president. It should, however, give everyone cause to question everything the government tells us about its programs, from garbage pickup to all-out war.
(Thanks to Antiwar.com for the link.)
On a related note, see Anthony Gregory's column on "Corporatism and Socialism in America."
Posted by Mike Tennant at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2005
Avert Your Eyes! Ze Furhrer Is Coming!
Courtesy of Lew Rockwell we get this story about our Dear Leader's visit to Germany:
For residents of Mainz, George W. Bush's seven-hour visit to Germany on Wednesday and his short meeting with Gerhard Schröder, chancellor, will mean one of two things: a headache or a holiday.
Between the US president's 9.45am landing at Frankfurt airport and his afternoon departure, the sleepy Rhineland town and birthplace of Gutenberg will turn into a steel fortress.
In a contemporary echo of the Lady Godiva legend, anyone living on the route of the presidential motorcade is being discouraged from taking a peek at the 60- to 80-strong column of vehicles conveying the US president. In police leaflets, residents have been asked to keep their windows shut and stay clear of balconies “to avoid misunderstandings”. . . .
Neither driving nor parking will be allowed in the zone, where garages have been emptied, mailboxes unbolted and 1,300 manhole covers sealed.
To keep all travel options open for the president, four highway sections east of the city will be blocked to traffic. Schools will be shut and many workers will be taking a “Bush day”. The nearby Opel and Nescafé plants decided to move their shifts or suspend production.
How dare you volk even look at ze Fuhrer! You vill be shot if you do!
Odd that the man who is bringing peace, freedom, and democracy to the world is so frightened of the people.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2005
Leave Our Boogey Man Alone!
Someone, obviously frustrated with the helpless, limp wrist U.S. military, has finally taken the initiative to find Osama bin Laden. So what does the U.S. Government do? Well, they arrest them, of course. Mat Mihsen has been charged with “making false statements to federal investigators” who, apparently, don’t believe him. Other non-crimes Mihsen has been charged with are trying to “smuggle” bulk cash (as opposed to one dollar at a time, I guess) out of the country and “and attempting to export money and goods to Syria without a permit or authorization.” So, a person is a criminal when he travels with an arbitrary amount of HIS cash to spend at a location that has NOT been approved by the Bush Gestapo. I guess this is an example of the “freedom” Bush Jong-Il wishes to spread throughout the world.
Mihsen was also found to have “a stun gun, 40 rounds of ammunition, pepper spray, a bulletproof vest and three Geiger counters in his luggage.” Yikes! I certainly feel safer now. This will probably qualify the man as an enemy combatant and he’ll be rewarded with an indefinite stay at lovely Camp X-ray.
Ain’t freedom great?
Posted by Roger Young at 10:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Note To The Anti-Wal-Mart Facists
Here is the body of an email I recieved a couple of days ago from a Wal-Mart employee who happened upon my article "My Name Is Duke, And I Shop At Wal-Mart":
"As a Wal-Mart employee, I really appreciate your article about them. I just happened to find it while trying to file my taxes online. Wal-Mart is a good company and it is our customers who make it the best. I've only been there a little over a year and have been promoted to a department manager. Although it is not the dream job I always wanted, the opportunities are there for anyone who applies himself. I know it sounds as if I am a die-hard, but that is not the case at all. I just appreciate my job even through all of its stresses.
Thanks again,"
I left the name and email out to protect their privacy.
Take that, Wal-Mart haters!
Posted by Duke Heberlein at 01:42 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Israel Figures Out That Aggression and Collective Punishment Breed Terrorism
Israel ordered a halt on Thursday to the policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinian militants, a step welcomed by Palestinian and human rights groups.
The decision by Israel's defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, suspends a practice that Israel has employed on and off for decades despite harsh international criticism of it as collective punishment.
A military statement did not say why the policy was being changed, but the newspaper Haaretz reported on its Web site that Maj. Gen. Udi Shani, who headed a committee reviewing the matter, had challenged the existing military position that demolitions were an effective deterrent. It said he had concluded that the policy had caused Israel more harm than good by generating hatred among the Palestinians. . . .
"It's a bittersweet victory, a confirmation of what we've been saying all along," said Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the head of Rabbis for Human Rights, referring to the report that the army had decided demolitions were ineffective as deterrents.
"There was never any substantial evidence that house demolitions provided a deterrent effect," he said. "It also seemed that they actually created more hatred and perhaps even the next generation of suicide bombers."
This is good news, but it raise one important question: If demolishing homes of (dead) suicide bombers tends to breed more terrorists, how much more terrorism must be bred by demolishing entire countries full of innocent people?
(Link via Antiwar.com.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
Just WHO Was Circumventing the Iraq Oil Embargo?
If you follow the official line from the Bushies and their pals on talk radio, Fox News, and so on, you certainly know that the U.N. is involved in all kinds of corruption related to the oil embargo on Iraq and the oil-for-food program. (This is not surprising since the U.N. is just a big collection of governments.)
What you might not know is that the U.S. government is up to its neck in a similar and related scandal. As the Washington Post reports:
The Treasury Department provided assurances that the United States would not obstruct two companies' plans to import millions of barrels of oil from Iraq in March 2003 in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to an e-mail from one of the companies.
Diplomats and oil brokers have recently said that the United States had long turned a blind eye to illicit shipments of Iraqi oil by its allies Jordan and Turkey. The United States acknowledged this week that it had acquiesced in the trade to ensure that crucial allies would not suffer economic hardships.
But the e-mail, along with others released this week by Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs panel's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, provides evidence that the Bush administration directly abetted Jordan's efforts to build up its strategic reserves with smuggled Iraqi oil in the weeks before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.
Furthermore, reports the Post, as bad as the U.N. corruption was, this was even worse:
The illicit oil exports took place outside the Iraq oil-for-food program, which the United Nations administered from 1996 to 2003. While allegations of corruption and mismanagement in that program are under investigation by five congressional committees, the Justice Department and a U.N.-appointed panel, the illicit oil exports outside the program have received less scrutiny. According to investigators, Iraq received more revenue from those exports than from the alleged oil-for-food kickbacks.
"The bulk of [Saddam Hussein's] illicit oil sale revenues actually came from the money he received from unregulated sales of Iraqi oil, entirely outside of the oil-for-food program, primarily to Turkey, Jordan and Syria," Levin said at a hearing Tuesday on the U.N. management of Iraqi oil revenue. "We and the rest of the world looked the other way from those sales even though they were prohibited by the U.N. sanctions regime."
So next time you hear Limbaugh, Hannity, and company start beating up on the U.N. (certainly a deserving target), just remember that the U.N. scandal is dwarfed by the Clinton/Bush scandal. (This started under Clinton but continued right up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.) Hypocrisy, thy name is Uncle Sam!
(Link courtesy Antiwar.com.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
Is Gun Control Racist?
If you believe everything that Michael Moore says in Bowling for Columbine and his books, then you would think that "pro-gun" people are white racists, and that "gun control" would be a wonderful way to help minorities. But a look at America's past reveals what historian Clayton Cramer has accurately called "The Racist Roots of Gun Control."
After the Civil War, the defeated Southern states aimed to preserve slavery in fact if not in law. The states enacted Black Codes which barred the black freedmen from exercising basic civil rights, including the right to bear arms. Mississippi's provision was typical: No freedman "shall keep or carry fire-arms of any kind, or any ammunition."
Author Dave Kopel then goes into further detail about how gun control in the postwar South was used to oppress blacks. It's not a pretty story; but, as Kopel concludes, "it does offer reasons to be especially cautious about the dangers of disarming people who cannot necessarily count on their local government to protect them," which, of course, includes all of us.
(Thanks to the LewRockwell.com blog for the link.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2005
Revolution? What Revolution?
If the history of the Republican revolution were being written today, a single overarching question would have to be answered: Whatever happened to the promise of smaller government?
That question was asked again last week, when President Bush unveiled a $2.57 trillion budget for 2006, the largest in the nation's history. The cuts he called for, in areas like veterans' medical care, farm subsidies and vocational training, were met in Washington with doubts that they would ever get through the Republican Congress. . . .
"The era of big government being over is over," declared Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist Democratic research organization. That would certainly seem to be borne out in the record of the Republican revolutionaries, known as the "Class of 1994" for the year they were elected. Of the 30 who are still in the House of Representatives, 28 hsponsored bills in the last Congress that would have increased government spending overall, according to the National Taxpayers Union, an antitax group.
Read the whole story here. It might be a good one to send to your conservative friends who still think the GOP is on their side. (Of course, the war on Iraq probably trumps all with them, but it's worth a shot.)
Here's a good graphic that demonstrates the failed Republican Revolution even more vividly. (Thanks to the Mises.org blog for this link.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:05 AM | Comments (3)
February 15, 2005
Taxpayer Soaking Administration Fails Again
A security screener at Newark Liberty International Airport failed to spot a butcher knife in a passenger's pocketbook and was removed from the post for retraining, officials said.
Yep, I certainly feel safer with these folks in charge of my flight security. Anyone who can miss a butcher knife in a purse is a prime candidate for a promotion. Heck, let's make her head of the TSA!
One more thing:
Katrina Bell, 27, had cleared security and was waiting with her sister to board a flight on Saturday morning when she discovered she was carrying a knife.
Bell had put the knife in her bag "just in case" before going on a blind date earlier that week, her sister and travel companion, Tikisha Bell Gowens, 30, said in The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark.
I'm just glad I wasn't the guy on the date. I wonder if this chick is related to Lorena Bobbit.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:07 AM | Comments (3)
February 14, 2005
If You Don't Like the Election Results . . .
The Iraqi election results did not turn out well for Uncle Sam's preferred candidate, Iyad Allawi. Instead the majority went for the religious Shi'ites, who might very well install an Islamic government. Naturally, the Bushies aren't sitting around waiting for that to happen, if this report from Asia Times Online is to be believed. It states:
To head off this threat of a Shi'ite clergy-driven religious movement, the US has, according to Asia Times Online investigations, resolved to arm small militias backed by US troops and entrenched in the population to "nip the evil in the bud".
Asia Times Online has learned that in a highly clandestine operation, the US has procured Pakistan-manufactured weapons, including rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammunition, rockets and other light weaponry. Consignments have been loaded in bulk onto US military cargo aircraft at Chaklala airbase in the past few weeks. The aircraft arrived from and departed for Iraq.
The US-armed and supported militias in the south will comprise former members of the Ba'ath Party, which has already split into three factions, only one of which is pro-Saddam Hussein. They would be expected to receive assistance from pro-US interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord.
When the inevitable blowback from this occurs, look for the terrorists to hate us for our freedom once again.
(Thanks to Antiwar.com for the link.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)
My Privatized Valentine
Via the LewRockwell.com blog, here's an interesting piece from Reason on St. Valentine and the privatization of marriage. Here's the introductory paragraph:
Around 270 A.D.—according to one tradition, at least—St. Valentine, a Roman cleric, was imprisoned for his opposition to Emperor Claudius' decree that young men (his potential crop of soldiers) could no longer marry. Valentine performed their ceremonies anyway and was thrown in jail for his obstinacy. His belief was that marriage is too sacred a rite to relegate to the incompetence of state bureaucracy. And, on February 14, he was executed for that belief.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
Saddam Hussein Didn't Have Aerial Drones, But Uncle Sam Does
According to the Washington Post:
The Bush administration has been flying surveillance drones over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in air defenses, according to three U.S. officials with detailed knowledge of the secret effort.
The small, pilotless planes, penetrating Iranian airspace from U.S. military facilities in Iraq, use radar, video, still photography and air filters designed to pick up traces of nuclear activity to gather information that is not accessible by satellites, the officials said. The aerial espionage is standard in military preparations for an eventual air attack and is also employed as a tool for intimidation. (Emphasis mine.)
In short, if you actually believed Condi Rice when she said that an attack on Iran was "not on the agenda at this point," you are the proverbial sucker who emerged in the minute of your birth.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:51 AM | Comments (1)
February 12, 2005
Would they have done that if you had been the victim?
Last week in central Florida, a man shot and killed a deputy sheriff and wounded two others. Law enforcement sent over 500 officers to look for him. I just wonder if they would have done the same thing if you or I had been the victim.
Posted by Rob at 11:49 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 11, 2005
Humberto Fontova almost killed himself
From Root Striker/author/columnist/friend Humberto Fontova:
Don't know if you heard, but I almost killed myself a few months ago in a hideous accident that has left me crippled (lost vivison in my right eye, fractured skull)
Here's the story from the preface to my book:
........And one more thing. On the home stretch of completing this book, with my tongue hanging, with the crowds roaring, with the finish line in sight, I almost lost my life in a hideous accident. ( on exactly 9-11, 2004, as it turned out.)
I was thrown from my bicycle and plunged off a tall bridge, bounced off sharp steel girters on the way down and finally landed face and head first, twenty feet below on jagged boulders. I remained there unconscious and bleeding heavily for half an hour till passers-by rushed to the rescue.
Fractured skull, subdermal hematoma, smashed eye and orbit, 8 inch gash in forehead with cracked skull exposed, leg and hip broken in 6 places, 5 ribs broken along with arm and hand. Various internal injuries. The first few days in intensive care the speculations ran to survival. We cleared that one. Then came speculations about paralysis, life in a wheelchair (I'm a maniacal outdoorsman, not a happy prospect.) We cleared that one. Then came speculations concerning severe brain damage from the horrific trauma to the head (I write and speak for a living, again not a happy prospect)...
Well, to end this depressing screed, this past Christmas season, I found myself not just merrily celebrating the Holidays along with this book's completion, along with my dad's 78th Birthday, along with my 26th wedding anniversary, along with my parents 55th anniversary, along with my daughter's engagement-- but dancing at the multifarious and raucous celebrations!
And I'm talking everything from the Hustle and Bump to the Boot-Scootin-Boogie and Cha-Cha-Cha! I was on a crutch and wearing an eye patch--so, okay, I wasn't exactly John Travolta. But STILL!
So that takes care of the physical recovery, you say. Now how 'bout that brain damage? Hunnh?
Well, these rollicking festivities also found me as engaging, witty, erudite, sparkling, talkative boisterous....Hunnh?-- Oh Hi, honey (My darling wife often reads over my shoulder, making helpful suggestions.)
"A bit wordy, Humberto....just write as "obnoxious"as ever."
"Thanks Honey!" You get the point, amigos. Thanks to a chorus of prayers, thanks to a positively suffocating avalanche of moral (and physical) support from my family and a crowd of--not fairweather, by any means!-- friends I find myself firmly back in the saddle.
Posted by Rob at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2005
Here Come Da Judge
A high profile government employee in Oklahoma City has finally been caught, credited and cited for doing what government employees do best.
Warning: Do not have food or drink in mouth while reading this.
Posted by Roger Young at 09:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Florida 2000, Meet Iraq 2005
Iraqi officials said Wednesday they must recount votes from about 300 ballot boxes because of various discrepancies, delaying final results from the landmark national elections. Hundreds perhaps thousands of other ballots were declared invalid because of alleged tampering. . . .
Officials had promised final results from the elections by Thursday, the end of the Iraqi work week. On Wednesday, however, election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said the deadline would not be met because of the recount.
"We don't know when this will finish," he said. "This will lead to a little postponement in announcing the results."
Gee, you don't suppose the "recount" and "little postponement" have anything to do with making sure the right people (as defined by Uncle Sam) win--do you?
Posted by Mike Tennant at 02:17 PM | Comments (1)
from Jay Leno
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales started his first week on the job. Remember those two naked statues that John Ashcroft had covered up when he took the job? Well they're naked again but now they just have leashes around their necks.
Posted by Rob at 12:16 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 09, 2005
But We're Supposed to Trust Them to Secure the Whole Country
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Four sniper rifles, scopes and ammunition were stolen from an FBI SWAT van parked outside a Baymeadows Road hotel before dawn Sunday. . . .
Four high-powered rifles with scopes and 80 rounds of 308 ammunition were taken from the unmarked, locked van parked outside the Holiday Inn at Baymeadows and Interstate 95. An agent parked the van at 3:45 a.m. and discovered a few hours later the padlock cut and van burglarized.
(Read the whole thing here. Thanks, once again, to Antiwar.com for the link.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
NRO Writer Turns Anti-American Commie
Yes, folks, it's actually starting to sink in, even over at Neocon Review.
John Derbyshire comes out in favor of withdrawal from Iraq and in opposition to trying to remake the world in George W. Bush's image, opening with this fine quote from H.L. Mencken:
"We suffer most not when the White House is a peaceful dormitory, but when it is a jitney Mars Hill, with a tin-pot Paul bawling from the roof. Discounting Harding as a cipher, Coolidge was preceded by one World Saver and followed by two more. What enlightened American, having to choose between any of them and another Coolidge, would hesitate for an instant?"
Among many good paragraphs in this piece is this one:
I am — just bite down hard and say it, man — with Senator Edward Kennedy on this. I want U.S. forces to leave Iraq ASAP. If the place then descends into chaos, I'm fine with it. What's that you say? It would be awful hard on the Iraqis? Probably so. It would certainly be hard on those brave, civic-minded Iraqis — there are plenty of them — who would like to see constitutional government in their nation. However, there are people like that all over the world — there are scads of them in China, including some personal friends of mine. (To be a bit more precise, there are scads of them who are Chinese, though many now live in the West.) We can only do so much. God knows, we have done enough for Iraq, with blood and treasure. The rest is up to the Iraqis. If they make a pig's ear of it, that's a shame, but I can't see why it's our problem. There are lots of messed-up countries in the world. Iraq will be another one.
Derb may very well be looking for work soon.
(Thanks to the Antiwar.com blog for the link.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:27 AM | Comments (1)
February 08, 2005
Budget, Shmudget! It Not MY Money That's Being Wasted
"The era of big government is over," Bill Clinton disingenuously declared during his presidency.
"President Putting 'Big' Back in Government" declares a headline in the L.A. Times today. Writes Janet Hook:
Even as President Bush proposes significant cuts in healthcare, farm subsidies and other domestic programs, his new budget makes one thing clear about the legacy of his first term in the White House: The era of big government is back.
Bush's $2.57-trillion budget for 2006, if approved by Congress, would be more than a third bigger than the 2001 budget he inherited four years ago. It is a monument to how much Republicans' guiding fiscal philosophy has changed over the 10 years since the GOP's Contract With America called for a balanced budget and abolition of entire Cabinet agencies.
No longer are Republicans arguing with Democrats about whether government should be big or small. Instead, they are at odds over what kind of big government the U.S. should have.
Another Times story puts the lie to Bush's claim to be halving the deficit in five years:
It is the 2004 deficit that Bush is promising to cut in half, but he's not starting with the actual 2004 deficit of $412 billion.
Instead, his benchmark is the projected $521-billion deficit that his Office of Management and Budget estimated a year ago, when the fiscal year was four months old. Using half of that figure, Bush's goal is to reach a deficit of $260.5 billion.
If Bush were to start with the actual 2004 figure, his goal would be a deficit of $206 billion — $54.5 billion more.
There are more twists. Bush proposes to cut the deficit in half not in dollars but as a share of the economy. If the economy grows, as is projected, then the deficit will decline as a share of the economy even if it does not shrink by a single dollar.
The 2004 deficit was 4.5% of the economy. So in fiscal 2009 it must be 2.2% or less. That is exactly the average share of the last 43 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Finally, the budget that the president will send to Congress will, like his past budgets, omit some major deficit-raising items.
Among those "major deficit-raising items" are defense spending, expected to be requested in a supplemental bill (the last one was for $80 billion), and the cost of Bush's Social Security "reform," which Dick Cheney admitted will be $754 billion over 10 years (and, as we all know, government estimates are usually well below the final tab) and trillions more after that.
Oh, yes. Our conservative, tax-cutting president has also submitted a budget which hikes the "security fee" on airline tickets 120 percent (and that's on each flight segment), from $2.50 to $5.50, a surefire way to help an already troubled industry go down the toilet even faster. Won't passengers just love paying three bucks more per leg of their flight in order to cover the salaries of the glowering TSA employees who frisk little old ladies and strip search attractive young ones?
I'm certainly glad we didn't get a lying, deceiving, tax-raising Democrat in the White House this term!
Posted by Mike Tennant at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
Neocons Kay-O'ed on Iran
Who wrote this?
There is an eerie similarity to the events preceding the Iraq war. The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that while Iran now admits having concealed for 18 years nuclear activities that should have been reported to the IAEA, it is has found no evidence of a nuclear weapons program. Iran says it is now cooperating fully with international inspections, and it denies having anything but a peaceful nuclear energy program.
Vice President Cheney is giving interviews and speeches that paint a stark picture of a soon-to-be-nuclear-armed Iran and declaring that this is something the Bush administration will not tolerate. Iranian exiles are providing the press and governments with a steady stream of new "evidence" concerning Iran's nuclear weapons activities. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that Iran will not be allowed to use the cover of civilian nuclear power to acquire nuclear weapons, but says an attack on Iran is "not on the agenda at this point." U.S. allies, while saying they share the concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions, remain determined to pursue diplomacy and say they cannot conceive of any circumstance that would lead them to use military force. And the press is beginning to uncover U.S. moves that seem designed to lay the basis for military action against Iran.
Now is the time to pause and recall what went wrong with the assessment of Iraq's WMD program and try to avoid repeating those mistakes in Iran.
Clearly it was some anti-American, left-wing wacko who hates George W. Bush and wants to see America destroyed by terrorists.
The author? David Kay, former leader of the Iraq Survey Group searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Kay has the character and intellectual honesty to admit he was had with regard to Iraq and doesn't want to see Americans tricked into yet another foolish and destructive foreign adventure in Iran.
Would that others who supported the war were as upright as Kay. Instead they blithely go on supporting it, assuring us that the weapons are now in Syria and that an election of dubious validity was reason enough to sacrifice American and Iraqi lives and make more enemies for us.
Kay had better watch his back. The neocons will be gunning for him.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 04:21 PM | Comments (1)
Talon on Loan From God?
First we had the stories about the White House's paying columnists to plug its initiatives. Then we found out the Pentagon was paying for "news" websites aimed at other parts of the world.
Now it emerges that one of the reporters appearing at White House press conferences works for a "news" site run by a GOP delegate and activist. Writes the Boston Globe:
Jeff Gannon calls himself the White House correspondent for TalonNews.com, a website that says it is "committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news coverage to our readers." It is operated by a Texas-based Republican Party delegate and political activist who also runs GOPUSA.com, a website that touts itself as "bringing the conservative message to America."
Some of Gannon's tough questions to the prez:
"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the US economy . . . [Minority Leader] Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?" (Actually, Rush Limbaugh had lampooned Reid's position with the phrase "soup lines"; Reid never said it.)
"Since there have been so many questions about what the president was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam? And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting?"
Now I don't get all exercised about the fact that the guy "has virtually no journalistic background," as the Globe does. There isn't much to be said for having such a background. In fact, not having one might free a person to ask the questions that "real" journalists would be afraid to ask. Gannon, unfortunately, chooses to use his lack of journalistic background to ask questions that the White House could very well have scripted for him.
As a matter of fact, it appears that much of Talon News's "news" is written by the White House. Reports the Globe: "many of the reports Gannon filed for Talon News 'appeared to be lifted verbatim from various White House and Republican political committee documents.'"
Perhaps Talon would like to change its name to Pravda.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2005
Farah's Faucet of Fascism
He now suggests that University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill be investigated for treason and executed if found guilty.
What really gets Farah's goat is that Churchill had the temerity to declare that U.S. government policies brought on 9/11. Why, only a left-wing, fringe, Marxist, anti-American traitor could make such an outrageous claim! (Obviously Farah doesn't read Pat Buchanan's columns, which also run on WND.)
Now it's true that Churchill went too far in claiming that the victims of 9/11 deserved their fate, but so what? Apparently freedom of speech, in Farah's opinion, only extends as far as the polite bounds of liberal/neocon doublespeak.
Farah is correct that the First Amendment has nothing to say about whether or not Churchill can be fired from a state-run school. Nevertheless, to say that Churchill "should be thoroughly investigated for aiding and abetting the enemy in wartime"--for his "outrageous, seditious, contemptuous, evil blood libels against America"--is clearly to misunderstand (willfully, I think) the basis of freedom. Farah also points out that treason is "a capital offense," the obvious implication being that he thinks Churchill should be executed merely for stating an opinion with which Farah disagrees vehemently. So much for "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Do you suppose it's treason to argue that American soldiers' lives be expended in a bloody and futile war on a foreign country that never threatened us--a war certain to play into the hands of the enemy, thus putting us in even greater peril? If so, then Farah's neck ought to be first on the chopping block.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2005
Joe Farah, Conquistador
Joseph Farah, head honcho at WarNutDaily, is at it again.
WND is all for U.S. invasions of Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Now Farah wants to take over Mexico, too!
His rationale, as it were, is twofold:
- Mexico is interfering in our internal affairs by trying to force repeal or blockage of Arizona's Proposition 200, which cuts off most government programs from illegal aliens and forces them to prove that they're citizens when voting.
- "We're so intent on freeing 26 million Iraqis from a corrupt, barbaric tyranny," writes Farah. "What about 100 million Mexicans? Don't they deserve a government of the people, by the people and for the people? How about truly free elections south of the border?"
To the latter he adds: "Maybe it's time to free Mexico. And worse, Mexico is proving to be a more serious national security threat to the United States than Saddam Hussein's Iraq was."
Well, at least he's consistent in his desire to take over every country that doesn't toe the neocon line. Meanwhile, as one e-mailer to WND pointed out, "The audacity of Mexico interfering in our affairs! Where did they get that idea? Iraq, perhaps?"
Posted by Mike Tennant at 02:51 PM | Comments (1)