Statecraft Informer

Sparxafire!

Time for a quick comment on censorship. In the U.S., we allegedly have freedom of speech, which is why I am able to jabber so carelessly here. But, and there’s always a but… not when the words could cause bodily harm to others, not in cases of state secrets, or slander or libel. The U.S. Constitution’s first amendment merely protects us from government censorship. “Congress shall make no law…”

It is perfectly legal for your boss to require you not to disclose trade secrets and to make rules about your communications as an employee. Just ask Don Imus how that works. Or Verizon, who refuses to allow a pro-choice organization run ads on its cell phone network. Nasty facists, but that is not new or surprising to anyone who understands we are living under a regime that is run by corporations.

So, on top of everything else, taking time to go out of its way to do so, your government is on a toot to sniff around the edges of “free speech” just to see how skittish it can make us.

First step: Surveillance of everybody, willy nilly. Well, hey! You have to listen in to know who to censor, right?

Second step: Start “denouncing” everybody. Even though it clearly states “Congress shall make no law” they’re getting around that, and trying to damage free speakers with denunciations. So that is why we have to watch jaw-dropping sessions of Congress denouncing MoveOn dot org’s “Petraeus/Betray Us” ad. In fact, Congress is finding denunciations of free speech to be a fun diversion. Last week, they denounced Rush Limbaugh, puffy radio host, for calling war veterans who have come home and spoken out against the war “phony soldiers.”

These are just denunciations, mind you… No jail time or fines… Effects on the denounced being incalcuable. Oh! Hold on….

We do have a situation where your president is pressing his case against the Fox Network for “fleeting profanity” on TV awards shows. I don’t know, maybe Cher dropped an f-bomb somewhere, or Sally Field cut loose with …”god dam wars…” Whatever. You see, the airwaves are theoretically owned by all of us. Ha. And the Federal Communications Commission regulates the airwaves on behalf of the people. And Bush already lost the case in a lower court, so we’re going right to the Supremes. Who knows, maybe Diana Ross can figure it out.

So in the wake of Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 SuperBowl, Congress gets its panties in a bunch and passes the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, (under a huffy, narrow-minded Republican majority) raising the maximum allowable fine from $27,500 to $325,000 per violation. And Congress gets to decide, which is sweet because they seem to have a lot of spare time on their hands lately.

Now we have Bill O’Reilly on our airwaves, spewing insulting speech against an ethnic group. What do we think? Will he be fired or denounced or skate free?

Clearly, freedom of speech is no longer a simple, self-evident truth. These are dark times and they’re trying to take it away. Just a caution, folks, stepping up on the soapbox is turning into a slippery proposition.

Sparxafire!

Are you up-to-speed on the new “Freedom’s Watch” organization? Its members consist of wealthy Washington insiders who predict that Iran is the next Nazi regime and that Iranian president Ahmadinejad is really Hitler. Did I mention the members of this group are wealthy? As in, it was just founded this summer and its first item of business was to run a $15 million advertising campaign to prop up support for the president’s Iraq strategy, which, is best summed up as, “stay the course,” as far as I can tell.

To be able to waste $15 million on a lost cause evokes two thoughts:
1. The members are smart enough to have earned and be worth millions of dollars.
2. The members are stupid enough to choose war with Iran as their next agenda item.

I’ve never understood how people can be so smart and so dumb at the same time! Among these charter members are folks who have Cheney’s private number in a “Hey, zup Dick!” kind of way. For example, one member is Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, who says, “Ideologically, we are inspired by much of Ronald Reagan’s thinking – peace through strength, protect and defend America and prosperity through free enterprise.”

Puh. Leese. As if Reagan ever had a thought in his head. Tsk.

And “the free enterprise” system? Double Puh. Leese. They have to be roaring with laughter behind their closed, tax-exempt doors. The notion of free enterprise is only the thinnest veneer of semantics that whitewashes the obviously facist U.S. state where these guys were able to gouge out their fortunes in the first place!

And this is how they “give back.” Campaigning for more war. Great, fellas. Thanks very much. What is wrong with this country??? Free Dumbs Watch.

Sparxafire!

I guess I should have set this up as a two-parter. Yesterday, I argued that the system of checks and balances among the three branches of government has broken down for the first time in American history (that I know of). Today, I tackle the fourth estate… the press, the media – often referred to as the MSM, mainstream media … which the framers of the Constitution depended on fully as much as the three governmental branches. The first amendment says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; ….

There it is. GOT to have a free press to publicize and cast a spotlight on governmental antics. Dan Rather is now suing “the media” for crumbling to governmental pressure to report the antics its way, supressing, spinning, whatever you want to call it.

This is as good a bellwether as any to indicate that the fourth estate is just as broken as the government! What’s beyond a “trifecta?” Quadfecta? Who is breaking our society apart. What is their motive? Why do people in power ALWAYS turn corrupt? How is it a good idea to aggrandize oneself on the back of mass human suffering? That is, Katrina suffering, military suffering, Iraqi suffering, medical suffering and, of course, a middle class that is embarking on its last gasp collapse – too weak, apparently, to mount any protest.

I would truly welcome a dispassionate, logical breakdown of how the thought process progresses from President Cheney. Is it actually something so small as greed? Honestly? How much money do you want? Why is it necessary to have so much money beyond, say, a few million? And, apparently, it doesn’t work unless you are doing things to make sure that other people have less money. After all, what good is it to be a millionaire if everybody else is also a millionaire?

Sparxafire!

I am not seamless with my history of the U.S. government. But as far as I know, we are living in unprecedented times where all three branches of government are compromised, in dangerous disarray. And, especially in the absence of historical precedent, there is no guarantee they will survive when the entire system of checks and balances has collapsed.

I think above all else, this what people are really referring to when they speak of “dangerous times,” and the “crisis of the constitution.” When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution, it is understood they were justifiably concerned with avoiding any king-like powers for the chief executive. No crowns, no thrones, and answerable to the congress and judiciary. On the other hand, the chief exec was given power to veto the congress, and to select the jurists on the Supreme Court… So, it is a somewhat sloppy weave.

It seems to me that over the years, a majority of U.S. presidents have more or less understood the fathers’ intentions, and in spite of the sloppy weave, have wrought veto and appointment powers in a more or less responsible way. They knew and respected the intent behind the three branches.

Then, the century turns over, and pow! Six years later we are a fully blown fascist state. I’ve quoted the 1987 movie, “Wall Street” before… (”How many yachts can you waterski behind???”) And I quote it again: Bud asks, “Why do you have to wreck this company???” Gekko responds, “Because it’s wreckable.”

That still doesn’t answer the question: WHY did Cheney and the Bush family want to wreck this country? It’s more than wreck-ability. As a bona fide victim, swirling down the tubes even as we speak, I’d like to know why I had to lose my life in 21st century America. That’s the very least I could ask, not deserving more than the very least and all.

Sparxafire!

I cannot resist stuff like this: Apparently, your president’s new little press secretary accidentally posted online your president’s reading copy of his speech to the United Nations. The speech on the paper he reads from has phonetic helpers to help him pronounce words correctly. I know.

Keith Olbermann, of MSNBC’s Countdown, pulled back from the implications of having phonetic helpers in a speech, alleging that everyone who speaks publicly does it now and then. Although I agree with Olbermann 99.9 percent of the time, I’m not so sure …

I’ve done a fair amount of public speaking, and have to say I’ve never done it!

OK, so here’s the fun part: In the speech, the writer helps your president pronounce Mauretania this way…

more-EH-tain-ee-a

Now, this is not easy to do in a blog, but, the EH syllable is actually not accented… It’s the TAIN syllable that has the accent. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself, say Mauretania out loud. See? It’s like Lusitania, the ship, except your president’s writers would have you saying, Loose-UHHH-tane-ee-a…

It’s tiny and insignificant. It is an error than means absolutely nothing, and, as Olbermann implies, there’s nothing here to extrapolate, such as Bush should be impeached because he hires speech writers who cannot even create an accurate phonetic helper for Mauretania.

Still. As a writer, my interest is in words, language, grammar and such like that, and I happen to find this ever so amusing… As in a stupid guy hires another stupid guy to prevent him from sounding stupid and ends up looking really, really DOUBLE stupid. Stupid X Stupid = Stupidity Squared. There’s your joke.

Sparxafire!

So much of current events seem to share what I kindly refer to as “being out of touch.” Take this quiz to see where you stand:

1. You are the Republican president of the U.S. and declare that Republican presidential candidates see you as a “big asset” in the upcoming election. The next day, in a candidate forum, nobody mentions your name. You are:
A. Out of touch
B. An idiot and a big, fat liar
C. All the above.

2. You are a mercenary solider-of-fortune in Iraq and you shoot a bunch of civilians. You are:
A. Out of touch
B. A war criminal
C. All the above

3. You are a Democrat in Congress. You waste time debating and ultimately voting to condemn an ad with a pun that equates Petraeus with Betray-us. You are:
A. Not sure what you’re supposed to be doing.
B. Unclear about what you do for a living.
C. Stealing your paycheck from the taxpayers because you frankly don’t know how to do your duty.

This could go on forever. I could even throw in a Britney Spears deal:
4. You are Britney Spears and the judge just ordered you to undergo random drug testing to retain custody of your children.
A. You go home and take a nap.
B. You go shopping for underwear.
C. You go club-hopping and get roaring drunk and stagger about in full view of the papparazi.

Is it me? Am I the one who is out of touch? For example, how could any human with the credentials, record and approval ratings of your president stand in front of a microphone with a straight face and declare he is an “asset” to his party? When he does things like this, (”My fellow Americans, up is down.”) my initial reaction is anger. “How dare he think I am so stupid!”

Is that what this is all about? Do these people think I am that stupid? Or are they just that stupid???

Sparxafire!

One of the best writers/bloggers at the Huffington Post is Steven Weber, and he just posted an eloquent and hopeful piece hoping to rouse the masses out of their stupor. I encourage any visitors to bounce around here and read a few sample posts… That’s what we do here, at Statecraft Informer. We try to understand the Bush supporters. How do their minds work? What makes them tick? What mysterious logic takes them to the conclusions that the Iraq war (Operation “Enduring Freedom!” Ha Ha! Who knew “enduring” meant troops will be there for 50 years???) is a good thing?? Ad nauseum.

Where Steven has hope for the masses, I’m afraid I must argue that that ship has sailed. As a baby boomer, I am allowed to say, “Shame on the boomers; 2007 is the world we created.” Euw. Must be so! Clinton and Bush are both boomers, too. We began our productive, adult lives in the early 70s. We are starting to turn 60 this year. What did we contribute? The electric car and reduced dependency on fossil fuels? Health care for everyone? Economic security for all? Maybe we can take some credit for developing (not inventing…) the Internet. And what is that?

Instead of using the Internet to create a true democracy, where everyone is wired in, and could vote daily on all issues facing the government, we went with porn. Interesting choice.

Name one president who has done anything to help the middle class. I remember “having hope” when Jimmy Carter promised to revamp the IRS and clean up the tax codes and eliminate the lard and so on. How’d that work out?

There are a bazillion such examples of failure. Reagan’s presidency? Oh, my. Every time I hear that damned, “Mr. Gorbechov, tear down this wall!” I laugh out loud. I see the captain of the Titanic declaring, “Mr. Iceberg, sink this ship right now!”

When was the last time the government “did” anything??? Anything at all to improve the quality of life in this country. Instead, everything they do, or fail to do, has beaten down the middle class to a bloody pulp. So here we are, one of those third-world outfits with a few wealthy at the top, and near starving masses. Recipe for revolution? You’d think so, wouldn’t you?

Sparxafire!

On second thought, no… don’t give me a break. I am as close as it gets to zilch on a stick, just taking up space. I am simply incensed with Congress today, filiblustering away any vote on the proposal that soldiers should have as much time at home from the war as they spend fighting.

Who is supporting the troops now? This is the most direct slap in the face to the troops I’ve seen to date. Your president, of course, naturally is AGAINST this humanitarian move to literally and directly support our troops. What a hypocrite.

Suppose you were “a troop,” (I LOVE it when newscasters and allegedly educated people try to use the word, “troop” to describe a single soldier. It’s equivalent to referring to more than one mouse as “mices!”) … OK. So you are a soldier, and you are maxt out, exhausted, stressed, and so homesick you could die. And you watch your government mince and priss and whine and blah blah blah about giving you a highly deserved, desperately needed break.

Do you feel supported or petrayed?

Do you appreciate yellow ribbons, and lip service and empty, attaboy speeches? Does this type of thing feel like “support” to you — when your family back home is on food stamps and you don’t have basic protective gear?

I absolutely spit on the Republican’t party’s shameful “opposite-of-support” for every single troop.

Sparxafire!

So what does OJ have to do with statecraft? OJ has a way of pointing a spotlight on the weaknesses of our legal system, that’s what.

If anyone recalls watching portions of the great OJ murder trial back in the ’90s, one recalls listening to a lot of ridiculous krap… I’ll tell you what I remember: That’s the scene of OJ, standing there with the gloves ON, showing ruefully that they “don’t fit.” The gloves were ON. They did, in fact FIT. But everyone saw the gloves ON him and agreed they did not fit. That was my number one astonishing moment.

OK, so who wants to take bets on the way our judicial system handles OJ this time? They’re gonna release him on $150,000 bail first of all. Flight risk, yes or no? OJ is supposed to be living on his modest NFL pension. How can he afford to fly his lawyer into Vegas from Florida, and scramble up $150,000? Legally, everything above his pension is owned by the family of Nichole Brown, his murdered wife.

Are we up for another OJ circus? His celebrity is somewhat different now than it was back in the mid-90s. But the circus is provided by our legal system, which I believe to be a gigantic, inefficient, inept, sluggish, broken down machine – as borne out by my personal experience with civil court. I will spare you the grisly details, but what a mess!

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This Blackwater incident in Iraq is a Big Mess. We don’t even know the details yet, but Blackwater USA is a private security firm contracted by the U.S. government, I guess… to provide protection to U.S. people in Bagdad. An incident occurred where Blackwater personnel may have been firing at Iraqis, and what’s up with that anyway???

The Iraqi government is not pleased. It is “investigating” the event, which may be one reason why the reports of what actually happened are so foggy. In the course of this incident, as the spotlight swings around to shine on contract security forces in Iraq — forces not affiliated with the U.S. military — the questions do begin to tumble out…

Apparently there are 48,000 such contractors placed in Iraq by the U.S. government. What the hell? That’s another third of an army over there (if you consider 130,000 pre-surge troops). What are their rules of engagement? What happens when they skirmish with Iraqis or anyone else who might be there? Are they fighting a war or murdering Iraqis?

As mentioned, this is a Big Mess, and the Iraqi government seems poised to keep the spotlight on this situation with investigations and calls to “suspend licenses” for these contractor groups. There’s another question… the Iraqi government “licenses” non-military U.S. security forces?

I hated to post prematurely about this, because clearly, it’s some kind of snake’s nest with far more questions than answers, but holy soldier of fortune, Batman, this really smells bad right from the git-go! It may have the potential to blow bush’s whole war apart……….?

Sparxafire!

Well, god bless Sally Field. After two Oscars™ and three Emmys™, she now has produced two memorable thank you speeches. The first, after winning the Oscar for her performance in 1985’s “Places in the Heart,” when she did the, “You like me! You really like me!” thing.

And now, upon accepting the Emmy for “Brothers and Sisters,” she declares, “If mothers ruled the world, there wouldn’t be any god-damned wars in the first place.”

Now, don’t get your statecraft informer wrong, she is in NO way a booster or fan of mothers or motherhood… In fact, my true feelings would be closer to something like, “If mothers ruled the world, we would all be emotionally abused, as in fact, we are.” Or, “If mothers ruled the world, all audacity and creativity would be pounded out of us, as in fact, it is.”

No, I’m just grateful for an anti war statement of any kind, from anyone – even Sally Field. The fact that she threw in the “god damn” makes me proud of her audacity and creativity!

On the Sunday morning talk shows, someone – and I forget who – referred to your president’s speech last week as “his farewell address….” That’s just great! And SO true. Stick a fork in his fat ass; he’s done. If only. In this case, I’m not so sure we don’t have a “mother…” in charge, actually.

Sparxafire!

You know, as much gnashing of teeth and woe that we heap upon the abject failure of the Iraqi government to form itself into anything effective, I think the U.S. government is worse! Both governments took the month of August off for vacation and refreshment, while 77 U.S. troops were killed, 10 reported missing and 404 injured. Civilian deaths for August are estimated in the range of 1,500 or so.

Who is less competent? The group that says here’s a bunch of people who will die to give you time to get your act together, or the group that can’t get its act together?

By the way, how a surge in troops directly relates to giving the Iraqis breathing space to get their act together eludes me entirely as 100 percent nonsense. It’s a little like saying to a homemaker, “Here. We will bring more kids into your house to be under your feet while you bake a pie from scratch. Don’t thank us, we’re happy to do it.” How does this help or hurt, one way or another?

So, after the long hot summer of 2007, enduring the Bush/Petraeus/dog/pony show, we get the results we deserve: “Ta Da! The surge worked! It gave the vital breathing room we hoped it would! Unfortunately, the breathers squandered the time by apparently breathing through their mouths, but still! Ta Da! It’s the old pie in the face, except for the deaths.

Worse then is, “OK, America, as your reward, the troops who are required, and pre-scheduled to come home? We’re going to let them come home! Ta Da!

The other day, my 2-year-old grandson undertook the dangerous mission of climbing out of his high chair on his own. There were some tense moments, and a loss of balance, and some minor bumping… but somehow he nailed his landing on two feet. The little expression on his face changed from “Uh-oh…” to a brilliant grin, and a declaration of “Ta Da!” Clearly, the kid is presidential material!

Sparxafire!

This just in from Idaho Senator and Airport Restroom Naughty Boy, Larry Craig on the Petraeus/Crocker presentation:

“I believe their testimony told a positive story. Our soldiers are making progress on the ground to provide breathing room for the Iraqi government, and we have seen a significant decrease in violence across the country, and most importantly, in Baghdad. That being said, the Iraqi government must stand up and prove to their people that they can govern and secure their country from violence.”

How embarrassing this must be for the homosexuals of America — not that Craig does a good job at being gay. In fact, he is a downright krap gay what with all the shame and repression and lashing out against his own and whatnot. Gays must realize that Craig is a krap gay, not a good, upstanding gay, and therefore any reasoning he does must be krap. Like his assessment about Petraeus’s remarks.

The kernel of the report was this (I paraphrase):
Petraeus - We think some good things have happened since the surge. The best thing to happen, a settling down in Anbar province, had nothing to do with anything we did. However, we think we gave some breathing space to the Iraqi government to get their act together. And as far as anything the U.S. military might be doing to help keep Americans safe, I got nothin’.
Crocker - Well, doggone it, as soon as the Iraqi government got a whiff of that breathing space, they misunderstood and took a month off for vacation. Sorry, but as far as the Iraqi government getting its act together, I got nothin’.

And that’s what your statecraft informer heard!

The only thing I care about is stopping the increases in American deaths and the American debt. And I deeeeeeeeeeeeply resent that we are suffering all this loss out of 85% sheer stupidity and 15% filthy politics.

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Welp, loyal masses of statecraft informer fans, as of today, all statecraft has died in the current administration. The Petraeus report was even more lame than we expected. The democrats are SO over… they have no choice but to give your president every single dollar and young soldiers’ lives he wants. Everybody wants the war to continue at this point (well, except the troops and the American people)… for political reasons. Your president is bound and determined to hand off his warturd to the next administration, and the democrats don’t want to take responsibility for ending it now.

I just wish I knew what r-e-a-ll-y motivates your president to kill an average of 70 or so of our soldiers every month. What motivation could there possibly beeeeee? I suppose it has something to do with money (oil). But how smarmy and disgusting is that? Why? Why does he continue in the face of overwhelming evidence that there is nothing, but nothing to gain… no victory at all. I hope there’s plenty of oil… or to put it another way, how many American casualties does it take to control Iraqi oil? Will it wind up being X soldiers per gallon, like some ghastly mileage calculation? Isn’t that gross?

From now on, your statecraft informer will try to confine herself to the arena of the presidential campaigns. Sigh. Because believe me, from now until January 2009, there is no craft in the state of bush.

Sparxafire!

Oh, for goodness sake! There’s too much going on, and I am all fogged up at the anniversary of 9/11. Every year, I force myself to revisit the Terrorist Attack of Sept. 11, 2001 and refresh my horror. I watch all the documentaries and retrospectives on television. And I make myself sick every time at the bumbling incompetence shown at every level… every single level… that allowed this thing to happen as it did.

Clinton admin paralyzed by Monica out of doing anything.
1998 missle strike MISSES! (Way incompetent)
Airport people who let the suicide pilots on the planes in the first place
Norad/FAA/air traffic control, total blundercluster

I cannot think of or name a single damn individual or entity that did its job regarding 9/11.

While I may not have wholeheartedly joined the conspiracists, I flutter around the edges. They do have valid questions, and raise intriguing concerns. For example, I am mystified as to why those twin towers disintegrated like they did. We are told they fell because the fire melted the steel… yet jet fuel does not burn hot enough to melt steel. But what made them turn to dust? The pulverization of the buildings makes no sense to me; does not sound right to me. And, some demolition experts have stated that the pancake descent and pulverization of the towers is precisely the way a planned demolition goes. The south tower was hit nearer one edge of the structure. How could that end up falling straight down? It should have tilted as the injured side collapsed. It didn’t tilt.

And, clearly, no one expected the towers to collapse. That was a big shock for everyone… except the people who wired it to fall. Professional firemen had no reason to expect the collapse, as proved by their race up the stairwells. Because buildings on fire just do not behave the way those towers did.

And, my resentment of Rudy Guiliani grows with each passing day. How dare he run for president on the basis that he was mayor of New York the day those planes hit? His city was SO not ready, in spite of the overt warning of the first WTC bombing! He had his fire and police departments using half-crap, half-toy radios that day… no plan in place for the two departments to work together. His failure to protect cleanup workers’ lungs in the face of obvious lethal atmospheric conditions. It was pathetic.

More pathetic? Six years later, we still have to listen to bin Laden tapes.