Wishful Thinking

( Written Sun. 6th) Maybe I just projected this but it truly seemed to me like like George Tenet had an existential crisis moment on Meet the Press this morning. Some question of Russert's triggered something and Tenet choked up like he was thinking "Oh my God ,what have I done, what kind of system am I part of , what have I become?" If so, it would be the first human moment I have witnessed from a talking head in ages. Were those tears?

Speaking of pikers, Paul Berman ,Mitchell Cohen and Thomas Cushman all use the occasion of a Forum called Exporting Democracy;What have We Learned From Iraq (Dissent Spring 2007) to exculpate themselves for their own poor judgement in supporting the war. They attempt to deflect criticism in the usual pathetic ways, calling the far left treasonous, bad intelligence, mismanagement blah blah. Can't anyone just bow their head and admit they were tragically mistaken? Anyone heard of Alberto Gonzales lately? Valerie Plame? Jack Abrahmoff?

The overly hyped boxing match between Merriweather and De la Hoya was a Perfect Spectacle, complete with 35,000 dollar ringside seats ,filled with shiny celebrities, and totally mediocre pugilism. Phat Floyd came out with a huge sombrero and Fiftycent doing a rap rhapsody. The only honest response is to drink alot and think of boxing in the day.

I feel the urge to rouse you know who.This seemed typical of that "liberal media" we hear so much about. Headline Saturday on MSNBC "Hamas Rejects US Document; Rocket Fired" next to a picture captioned : An Israeli examines Damage to his House. In the second paragraph we learn: "Islamic Jihad militants fired three rockets toward Israel, damaging a house in the town of Sderot, to avenge the killing of three members of the group by Israeli undercover troops a day earlier."
What about this headline? "Israeli Troops Murder Three Palestinians in Extra-Judicial Assasination" and in the second paragraph "followed by rocket damage to Israeli house."Right.

Thank God For Rich People

Was it Gatsby who said "the rich are not like you and me."? It is true they have special problems. I took one guy fishing for a couple of days whose firm had landed a huge contract and his problem was handling the expansion. Another "expansion" issue arose with a wealthy client for whom I was doing some carpentry work. An avid trophy hunter, he was needing more room in his river-side mansion to accomodate the growing collection of stuffed animals he and his family had killed. The biggest issue was making room for the full mount of the 18ft crocodile his daughter (who hosts an ESBN African safari show) wished to display. It wouldnt fit next to the full lion mount so we discussed pushing the wall out to create a large ,new, room. The walls and floors are covered with every kind of bird, fish or mammal from around the globe. Heads, skins,horns, parts and pieces, for all to admire.

Another rich persons problem which could become everybody's problem is the slide in the dollars value. Who owns the most dollars and hence loses the most? Not Americans, certainly, they have no savings, no dollars, but China and Japan have both been buying up tremendous amounts of US debt in dollars. Big losers. Will they let us down slow? A delirious stock market says yes. They've been wrong before. 80% of the makets wealth belongs to 5% of the "citizens".Average folk have their money tied up in their depreciating house. oops.

George Tenet joins the crowd of ex-loyalists hoping to sell a book. He jumps in a growing line of excuse makers, not my faulters, and other slime who wish to capitalize on some publishing profits before they slink back into the slime of think-tanks or corporate lobbying. Turns out he didn't mean the WMD "intelligence" was a "slam dunk", he meant selling it to Beakerkin and the other naive patriots would be a slam dunk. So all is forgiven. Hope you swim in blood soaked nightmares for the rest of your pathetic existence, George. Speaking of Beakerkin, I found out where he gets his affirmation, his "news" and opinions. A piece in the Nation describes the workings of the openly Zionist New York Sun, a right-wing funded welfare program for Israels brave defenders, disquised as a newspaper.

That Delicate and Oh So Sensitive Subject

Since Allen Dershowitz doesn't read this blog I feel pretty secure in offering up some anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist and anti-Israel criticism. I'm going to go way out on a limb and suggest all three groups, with their inter-related matrix of relationships and politics, are less-than-perfect. There, I said it.

Jews, like Christians and Muslims, Hindus and Satan worshippers, need to separate their faith from their civics and agree to meet in the public forum as equals with equal Gods (or un-Gods, whatever). Chosen People need to lose their Chosen-ness. Just show up with your intelligence( a little logic wouldn't hurt) and rationality and reasonableness for this exercise .( not to dis irrationality but it is simply unworkable for this particular format of governance, political discourse, etc) So. no Satan Lobby, no Jaweh lobby , no Allah lobby, no Christ lobby,no Krishna lobby, ok?

The problem becomes especially acute when you have religious nations , for instance a "Jewish" state, a "Christian "nation, an "Islamic" state etc. Certain critics of Jimmy Carters new book, or of Wes Clarks recent comments on Huffington Post, or of Scott Ritters recent piece, or Mearshiemers recent study have elevated this issue in the public dialogue and this is a good thing. Criticize a man's use of the word "aparthied" if you want, defend the actions of AIPAC if you can and even make your case for the "evil" empire or "axis of evil" if you want but don't label your opponents sentiments as springing from some racist or zenophobic or irreligious wellspring unless you have direct proof of their bigotry.

The good news, as I stated, is that Carters book has drug this issue out into the light of day and defenders of liberty must go on the offensive against those who rush to smear or slander or impugn. Follow the money, remember that this is about power and speaking truth does have consequences which are not always pleasant.