The Military-Industrial Complex has had a stranglehold on the US government since before the time Ike warned about it in his 1961 farewell speech.
To sustain their $500 billion/year fraud, they must constantly manufacture or inflate fear. Fear of Commies, fear of terrorists, fear of rogue states.
It never ends. In the meantime our infrastructure and schools crumble, our democracy is made into a sham and our lives are put far more at risk, while the few, the rich, the greedy make obscene amounts of money.
Rudy | Homepage | 07.21.07 - 8:40 am | #
Where JP and the kiddies?
plantsman, overly-humid |
07.21.07 - 8:46 am | #
The cartoon frank linked asks a pretty important question. If the Iraqis wanted freedom so damn much, where were these guys when Saddam was in power.
ql-was in NY |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:46 am | #
little tiny bobo,is a lost soul
sittenpretty,creamsickle |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:46 am | #
While BoBo was blubbering, I was wondering if there weren't a few clerks in the WH who actually have to make the decisions wishing they could use that line, too. 'Confused' goes over better than 'criminal'.
Ruth |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:46 am | #
In Saddam's fedayeen.
plantsman, overly-humid |
07.21.07 - 8:47 am | #
i ain't commentin' on what some fascist writes to keep his fascists in power
they can all fuck off
mogwai |
07.21.07 - 8:50 am | #
And let's not forget the real cost
53 for the month of July.
ql-was in NY |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:50 am | #
heh my mum has nearly finished the final Harry Potter now
she knows she won't have time tomorrow as she has to pack up and get ready for the 21st World Scout Jamboree
so hence a sustained time reading it.
Moonbootica, Graduated |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:50 am | #
But I won't buy new.
ql-was in NY
Buying new (or buying retail) is for suckers. Check your local Hospice resale shop - or whoever it is there that has the lock on the really, really good furniture donations. Then, if necessary, have the piece re-upholstered.
GWPDA, Roving Historian |
07.21.07 - 8:50 am | #
Bobo and the others mimic the faith based intuition of our leader. Even if the facts prove me wrong, somehow I KNOW I'm right therefore appearing to be perpetually wrong is meaningless.
.
Agent Orange |
07.21.07 - 8:51 am | #
Is Mum liking it?
plantsman, overly-humid |
07.21.07 - 8:51 am | #
Is Mum liking it?
plantsman, overly-humid | 07.21.07 - 8:51 am | #
she says 'quite good' and 'not bad'
Moonbootica, Graduated |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:51 am | #
Ach, I shall have to read it, when I can.
plantsman, overly-humid |
07.21.07 - 8:52 am | #
Re-reading Frank Herbert's Chapterhouse: Dune , seems to have great re-reading potential.
plantsman, overly-humid |
07.21.07 - 8:53 am | #
Nicely conceived and written, Moe. It's almost as realistic as thinking sending jobs overseas will make U.S.'ers demand your products being sent back for them to pay high prices on after they're made in Somalia etc. as to think China will ship thru Halifax - and the emissions disappear.
Ruth |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:54 am | #
Bobo and the others mimic the faith based intuition of our leader. Even if the facts prove me wrong, somehow I KNOW I'm right therefore appearing to be perpetually wrong is meaningless.
.
Agent Orange
Like when Laurabot was asked about the low poll numbers, she said she just didn't believe them. People always cheer when w makes an appearance.
ql-was in NY |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:56 am | #
Nice article yesterday about power generation from oceanic wave action, and how the Oregon Coast is well-suited to it.
plantsman, overly-humid |
07.21.07 - 8:56 am | #
Thanks, Ruth. I had an hour bitch session yesterday because some stupid copyeditor changed "Norfolk" to "Newark," apparently because s/he had never heard of Norfolk before and was just "correcting" me. They fuck up my place names all the time, and change stylistic things for no good reason at all, and I finally had enough of it. People are being talked to, and changes are being made, I'm told.
Moe Szyslak |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:56 am | #
Thks for the info, Shaw. Wishing the petri dish where this evil crew was brewed had been broken while in process.
Ruth |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:56 am | #
You have two cartoon avatars?
Molly Ivors, da boom king |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:57 am | #
Buying new (or buying retail) is for suckers. Check your local Hospice resale shop - or whoever it is there that has the lock on the really, really good furniture donations. Then, if necessary, have the piece re-upholstered.
GWPDA, Roving Historian
Absolutely. There's a glut of high quality low priced furniture from the mid-early 20th Century that is often in excellent shape. Including all sorts of "antique" repro stuff from the same era.
.
Agent Orange |
07.21.07 - 8:58 am | #
some stupid copyeditor changed "Norfolk" to "Newark,"
I wondered about that, but then I don't know much about shipping.
Molly Ivors, da boom king |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:58 am | #
Breaking news; Americans came under attack, called in air strikes which seem to have killed either (US report) several militants or (Iraq report) 18 civilians.
Ruth |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:58 am | #
So Bush, finally, signs an executive order "prohibiting torture, huh? A d we're supposed to believe this will stop abuses? From Moon's link:
If any of the recent past presidents, Republican or Democrat, were applying this order, we wouldn't have any doubt that it means an end to torture and abuse by the CIA. However, with President Bush's record of playing word games with anti-torture laws, we do not have the same confidence that the torture and abuse has stopped and will not start up again."
Zero credibility. He was done when he allowed it to occur in the first place.
pie |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 8:58 am | #
Moe, you're copyeditor didn't know where Norfolk was? So it was changed to someplace she did know? Isn't that a bit weird?
GWPDA, Roving Historian |
07.21.07 - 8:59 am | #
wow Moe, you were able to write 'stupid' and 'crap' and not have those words pulled out...very nice
mogwai |
07.21.07 - 8:59 am | #
Copy editor's a hoser, eh?
plantsman, overly-humid |
07.21.07 - 9:00 am | #
Ahem. "you're copyeditor" = "your copy editor".
Simels regrets.
.
GWPDA, Roving Historian |
07.21.07 - 9:00 am | #
Moe, you're copyeditor didn't know where Norfolk was? So it was changed to someplace she did know? Isn't that a bit weird?
GWPDA
Yes, that's why I was so pissed. It made me look stupid, too. See, there are two deep water ports on the East Coast-- Norfolk and Halifax. New York is dredging the harbour to accomadate larger ships one day, but right now Newark can only handle very shallow-draft ships.
wow Moe, you were able to write 'stupid' and 'crap' and not have those words pulled out...very nice
mogwai
But they took out my comment about "wet dreams." It's just stupid, so I raised holy hell. It turns out it was the last, low-level person in the chain, not my editors, changing this. A process problem, but also someone very stupid making decisions they shouldn't have been making.
Moe Szyslak |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 9:02 am | #
OT: As if the residents of Cumbernauld, reputedly Scotland's ugliest town, have not suffered enough insults it appears such scorn has now received the royal seal of approval.
Yesterday the much-maligned community was once again in the spotlight after the Princess Royal apparently said that she could not wait to leave "as soon as possible".
The Princess was in town to officially open a new £40m shopping centre. The 350,000sq ft Antonine Centre was designed to breathe life into the beleaguered area, kick-start regeneration and restore the town's reputation.
But a day of celebration, not least because Cumbernauld has reached the grand old age of 50, was reportedly marred by one small sentence.
At the end of a packed visit, Bob Chadha, a councillor, was chatting to the royal visitor. "She told me she was planning to get on to a flight to London as soon as possible," he explained.
And Moe, my worst 'editorilization' was some one who used a pic of a dirt track to illustrate my article about the Washington International, which is run on grass. arrrrghhhh.
Ruth |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 9:03 am | #
Ahem. "you're copyeditor" = "your copy editor".
Simels regrets.
.
GWPDA, Roving Historian
There, their, they're now - we all make mistakes.
.
Agent Orange |
07.21.07 - 9:03 am | #
There's a glut of high quality low priced furniture from the mid-early 20th Century that is often in excellent shape.
I always like to think of myself as mid-century. In okay shape. Certainly worth being re-upholstered.
GWPDA, Roving Historian |
07.21.07 - 9:03 am | #
A process problem, but also someone very stupid making decisions they shouldn't have been making.
This has happened here for the last 6 1/2 years of the Bush administration.
pie |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 9:03 am | #
There you all go, again. In fairness, Brooks still has two days (Monday is the 23rd) to make this thing work. Godspeed, Bobo!
defenestrati |
07.21.07 - 9:07 am | #
If only Bobo could meet Lord Bush in a sky box at the next Baseball game - reaffirm his faith in the secretive ways of Bushism. Oh if only Bobo cold receive the Cheney's word of truth or direction. Bobo is feeling lost right now. He must trust ONLY in want Bush tells him and nothing else, certainly no old style conservtive values need apply - Bobo must have more faith in the dark side.
me-again |
07.21.07 - 11:40 am | #
BoBo meets with the holy pontiff of neo-conism.
I left the 110-minute session thinking that far from being worn down by the past few years, Bush seems empowered. His self-confidence is the most remarkable feature of his presidency.
But Bush is not blind to the realities in Iraq.... Rather, his self-confidence survives because it flows from two sources. The first is his unconquerable faith in the rightness of his Big Idea. Bush is convinced that history is moving in the direction of democracy, or as he said Friday: "It's more of a theological perspective. I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that doesn't exist."
Most folks would think that whatever flows from Bush is either complete insanity or total BULLSHIT.
Most of us know that Bush is bullshiting for the sake of a completely self-serving agenda. I think that if Bobo is confused ON PBS than maybe its because Bush failed to put enough $$ in envelope being passed under the table.
It's beginning to look like faith in Bush takes alot of money.
me-again |
07.21.07 - 12:01 pm | #
Bobo is such a wuss. Now because he is confused, he will most likely go back to his other big grievance concerning his life-=that he did not get into Harvard.
He whines about this past slight when he comes up with a goose egg concerning positive writing about the clowns in the administration.
David Brooks maybe right wing politically, but I have never seen him right editorally. Bobo-you are judged by the company you keep.
I am actually surprised that Mark Shields hasn't hauled off and decked him.
tanglewood |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 1:48 pm | #
I think David Brooks is right. The dream is still achievable. We're going to have a golden democratic nonviolent allie in Iraq With a dictator not unlike Ghandi.
Just let them kill a few more. Just a few more killings and it'll all work out. just be patient. Let a few more die.
old hack |
Homepage |
07.21.07 - 9:36 pm | #