The Amazing Dick Cheney

Here it is, the quote of the day (CNN online) -- from our most illustrious vice president, Lord Richard Cheney:

"For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously," Cheney said. The vice president also said he believes the insurgency in Iraq is "in the last throes."

One has to admire his talking skills though: Arrogance, blindness, mendacity, stupidity, hubris and brazen propaganda, all in just two sentences.

Iraq disaster update

As of today, 1,647 American military have been killed in Iraq since Bush attacked.
1,510 of these have died since he did his carrier show on May 1, 2003, declaring "mission accomplished."
Wounded Americans are estimated to now be between 15,000 and 38,000.
Judging by the earlier Lancet study, the number of Iraqis killed has to now be far beyond 100,000.
Some experts are convinced that Iraq is already in civil war.
So far Bush's war/occupation has cost the USA $300 billion, presently $1 billion a week.
And the Christian fundamentalists think God chose him for president.
Does one weep or scream or both?

My poor church

As Newsweek pointed out last month (4/18/05), more than 55,000 Catholic parishes in the world do not have a priest. (At least 3,000 of these parishes are in the United States.) In Honduras, there is one priest for every 13,250 Catholics.
Yet the Vatican continues to insist that priesthood and marriage are incompatible, and -- talk about being absolutely oblivious to the modern world -- even simple discussion of the ordination of women is forbidden.
Sometimes I feel like I'm reading science fiction on another planet...

Moyers responds

From Bill Moyers' eloquent response to attacks made on him by the right wing media and their friends (especially Kenneth Tomlinson) at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting:

"We’re seeing unfold a contemporary example of the age old ambition of power and ideology to squelch -- to punish the journalists who tell the stories that make princes and priests uncomfortable."

(See the whole enchilada at commondreams.org)

Life in the madhouse

It seems that we Americans are living in a space gone mad and hardly anyone has noticed.

George W. Bush thinks it is talking dirty to push Detroit to get serious about fuel efficiency. He wants to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And he may be very close to winning.

In the meantime, the current issue of The Week points out that "the oil would likely not go directly to the U.S. Because the global oil market knows no national boundaries, oil is usually shipped to the most convenient market. That means anything pumped out of ANWR would probably be shipped to Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries."

The Week also reports that the big oil companies are not excited about ANWR. "Chevron, Texaco, British Petroleum, and ConocoPhillips have stopped paying Arctic Power, ANWR's leading pro-drilling lobbying group; Exxon Mobil still contributes, but only minimally."

Hmmm. Maybe George is smoking funny stuff again and - worse - most of the country is being affected by his second hand smoke.

What is with this culture of ours?

Today, CNN Headline News, as usual, gave what they thought were the principal headlines of the day. No surprise that first place went to the little plane that strayed too close to the White House. (Big coverage of this event is understandable, and let's also give credit that they didn't shoot those two fellows out of the air.) Then of course Michael Jackson got his usual top billing (Let's see, five days a week times an estimated five month trial equals...?) So there was no room for any headline mention of the fact that Iraq was again blowing up (the BBC called it a day of "carnage") or the fact that enraged Muslims were pouring into the streets of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to protest after Newsweek reported desecration of the Koran in Guantanamo.
This land is your land, this land is my land...and the National Enquirer sets the standards.

Clear sight of a grieving mother

 Yesterday www.truthout.org ran an article by Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq just over a year ago. The whole
article was intensely powerful. Here is a part of what she said:

"Our media was, and still is, a willing shill for the Administration and has never told the American public the truth. Reporting about Iraq is always trumped by such as child molesters, Martha Stewart, Terri Schiavo, Scott Peterson, the American Idol, or now, Runaway Brides! Another tragic thing about this illegal and disastrous invasion and occupation is that there are only 1579 families in this country who even have to think about Iraq. Most Americans probably don't even know where to find Iraq on a map. The Halliburtons, Bechtels, KBRs, and the oil oligarchs of the world, who are laughing all the way to the bank, think of Iraq with greedy glee each day. Sorrowfully, there are 1579 families in this country who have "Iraq" carved on their hearts and souls for eternity. We have sacrificed more than the $1.99 it costs to buy a "Support the Troops" magnet for our cars. We have had a violent amputation. Even if our fellow citizens don't realize it, by allowing this occupation to continue, they are also losing a very important part of themselves: their humanity."

   

Tiresome fundamentalism

Lots of Christian fundamentalists manipulate the bible to condemn Muslims, gays, Democrats, teachers of evolution, Hindus, "relativists," Buddhists and just about everybody else who is not a Christian fundamentalist.

We hear the same bible quotes used over and over to justify supposedly divine exclusion and even persecution.

The preacher-chaplains of Empire brandish their bibles like pistols and anoint their president as the divinely chosen.

But has anyone ever heard a Christian fundamentalist quote this one? "No one can serve two masters... You cannot serve God and wealth." (Jesus in Matthew 6:24 & Luke 16:13)

Or this one? "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." (Jesus in Luke 12:15)

Or has a preacher of The Rapture ever quoted these words? "The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you." (Jesus in Luke 17:20b-21)

Is anything more tiresome (and dangerous) than religious fundamentalism?

ricardo

On the border

Today five of us went to Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, a 1.25 hour drive from Tucson and the heaviest crossing point on the 2,000 mile border. We had a long talk with a Grupo Beta officer. (They stop vehicles coming north to warn migrants about the dangers of the desert.) He emphasized how the numbers fluctuate and told us that right now about 1,300 come to Sasabe each day. This little town (which I've known since 1967) now has "hotels" all over the place. The very bumpy road through town has full vans arriving one after the other. Clearly the migrants getting out of them are coming for survival.
The desert temperatures (91 in Tucson today) are quickly moving toward triple-digits, and the annual migrant slaughter is about to begin. (Actually at least 44 already have died in AZ since Oct. 1.) In the last decade, there have been about 3,000 migrant deaths along the whole border; in AZ last fiscal year, at least 235. But there is little talk about sensible change in U.S. border policy. Instead, the media rave on about the great job the "Minutemen" have done. Even the Christian Science Monitor got suckered by the propaganda (and skipped the conection between the Minutemen and white supremacist groups.)
Last Sunday Marc Cooper told the real story in the L.A. Times: Less than 10% of the promised 1600 volunteers showed up at the AZ rallies. At one rally there were two dozen reporters and no more than 10 Minutmen. "And in the days that followed... (It is) obvious that the Minuteman numbers dwindled to no more than a few dozen at a time... No one in the media, it seems, wanted to be the one who told his or her boss that they had trekked out to the border for no reason... It's a complex and vexing issue that is getting hotter by the day. Now more than ever the public needs news media that are serious, thoughtful and analytical, not compliant suckers for the wound-up partisans and pandering politicians who are increasingly likely to inflame or obfuscate the issue with goofball dog-and pony shows."
Amen and amen.
ricardo

A Bush Anniversary

Today is the second anniversary of that weird day when George W. Bush made his grandiose carrier landing and appeared in a flight suit under that huge victory sign. Since then, 1,449 more U.S. troops have been killed In Iraq. Since Bush invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, 1,586 have been killed. The official number of wounded is now 11,664, but the estimated number stands somewhere between 15,000 and 38,000. And the major media are too busy covering sports-with-steroids and the Michael Jackson trial to pay much attention to the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed.
Happy Anniversary, George.
ricardo