All hope is not lost...

Labels: france, politics

Finally someone dares say out loud what so many people think quietly. Of course, it helps that the person who says it is a former US President, a Nobel Peace Laureate, and does so in a Post Op-Ed piece.

The clear fact is that Israel will never find peace until it is willing to withdraw from its neighboring occupied territories and permit the Palestinians to exercise their basic human and political rights.

Labels: politics

Surreal article in the Times today about the house Senators Schumer and Durbin and Representatives Miller and Delahunt share while in D.C.

As a general rule, the abode is hardly fit for entertaining, or even for a health inspector. It is used for convenience: sleeping, ditching stuff, and fast-food consumption — the kinds of functions prized by vagabond politicians whose families are back in their home states and who generally spend only their working weekdays here.

I always find it fascinating to learn how things work in that town, outside of the Sunday morning talk shows and the headlines.

Labels: politics

Excellent piece by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker about the neoconservatives obsession with Iran. Unvetted intelligence, dodgy and unverified evidence of WMD program-related-activities-of-some-kind, the same people that led us to Iraq are now desperately trying to lead us to Iran. Their latest argument? Iran is the only way to stabilize Iraq. It's called "failure forward".

Deja vu, anyone?

Labels: politics

This week's New Yorker cover. Cute.

Labels: politics

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Labels: politics

Yes, even if your state is not a swing state. Everyone should vote. Period.

Well, vote Democrat, of course. If you're a Republican, stay in bed all day. You got plenty of time to get to the polls. They're open from 9Pm to 10PM tonight.

Labels: politics

Going after the Jewish vote, Hil?

It's interesting to see what's happening in Lebanon reported in the US media vs. European media. The US is, as usual, unconditionally supporting Israel in "whatever steps are necessary" to ensure its safety. That's cool. I guess if that principle holds true, it does make sense for us to spend $300 billion invading a country that was never proven to be a real threat to us. We felt it was "necessary".

I don't even know what to say to people who support what Israel is doing right now. Three of their soldiers were taken by a terrorist organization last week, and in return, they're bombing civilian populations in the country where those terrorists hide (200 dead and counting). They're bombing ports, airports, residential neighborhoods, roads, all in the name of "starving the terrorists". News to them: Hezbollah does not hide in Christian areas like Jounieh, which you bombed last week. What they're doing is use a defenseless and armyless country to prove their might.

Lebanon never had a say in Hezbollah and Syria using it as base to launch attacks on Israel. After 20 years of Syrian occupation, it was finally managing to rebuild itself into a sovereign state and rebuilding its infrastructures. Bombing its population is an act of terrorism in and of itself, akin to the Police shooting into a crowd because a murderer is hiding among them. The fact that the US is incapable of recognizing that is nothing short of tragic.

Labels: politics

Our favorite political commentator/naked cook/stripper/nitwit is at it again, this time wishing the world a Happy Independence Day. Yes, the world, not just the US. See, according to His Fake Tan Majesty, the world should really rejoice ever so much in America having been gifted to it, so it could just improve everyone's quality of life.

His arguments, to be sure, are spotty. Let's examine one paragraph:

[...] Would the maps look differently if America decided it had enough of the intervention doctrine and sat out of World War Two? Would pirates still be sailing around the Mediterranean if our Navy and Marines had not existed? Would parts of the world be converting to the control of an Islamic Caliphate if it were not for our military thwarting the desires of extremists? Would the United Nations be able to function without the contributions of the United States?

Okay, let's take this one by one. The US got into WW II because of Pearl Harbor, not just because they felt like being nice. As far as I know, the US Navy never intervened in the Mediterranean to rid it of pirates. There hasn't been a Caliphate for quite some time, and it looks like US intervention is actually fueling extremism in Afghanistan, Irak or Iran. And finally, the US routinely pays its dues to the UN about a year late, if not more, forcing a lot of agencies to rely on private contributors to keep the cash flowing.

The rest of his post is along the same lines. The world would be such a sad, sad place, had everything in it not been invented by Americans, including cameras(?), satellites(?), vaccines(?), the list goes on, attributing everything but tap water to American ingenuity.

I will pass on the fact the boy clearly does not know the difference between "it's" and "its" and cut to the post's conclusion:

I am not wishing others a Happy Fourth of July. I want to wish everyone a Happy Independence Day. It’s not an American holiday any longer. Its because of our Independence that everyone in this world should be told.... “Happy Independence Day!”

See, "Brat Boy", this is exactly the kind of immodesty people find so irritating. Happy Fourth indeed, and America really is great, but you ain't helping.

Labels: politics

This has been reported in my favorite (albeit Socialist-leaning) French blogs; it's pretty tragic: three detainees committed suicide at Guantanamo recently. After 4 years of detention, questioning, no access to a lawyer or their families, no actual indictment, the act is pretty much the definition of despair. Not so much says Navy Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris:

I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetric warfare aimed at us here at Guantanamo

Wow. Hey Admiral, how about you give me a call when you get that War on Terror thing wrapped up, we'll grab a bite.

Labels: politics

So now the World Trade Center memorial is estimated to cost $972M. That's 5 times more than the World War II Memorial in DC, 30 times the cost of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, or 69 times the cost of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC (numbers taken from the Times article and adjusted for inflation).

The whole thing is such a farce. Between the delusions of grandeur of celebrity architects and countless commissions, the orgy of superlatives about the tragedy making it OK to spend those amounts of money because we're all still so upset and it was the worst tragedy EVER, the victim's families somehow having some kind of veto power on any decision...

Just make the footprints into reflecting pools and build a small monument to the side. For the rest of the site, get back to business.

Labels: politics

Sad, sad report on CNN today about the National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs 2006 Geographic Literacy Study. It asked a bunch of (basic) geography questions to 18 to 24-year-olds and analyzed the answers.

• 33% couldn't find Louisiana on a map
• 60% couldn't find Iraq on a map of the Middle East
• 47% couldn't find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia (WTF! It's kinda hard to miss!)

But then again, the bar set on geography in this country is pretty dismal. Take the CNN .com's geography quiz, found on the article page. The quiz asks the viewer to identify/locate:

• New York State
• Ireland
• Iran
• Louisiana
• Turkey
• Germany

At the end, if you've done good, you're told you apparently deserve the Nobel prize for being so smart...

Excellent work! You must read the atlas in your spare time.

Well, call me Doogie Howser.

Labels: politics

It's official, the Bush White House is now merging with Fox News, and conversely. It became just a little harder to claim the whole Fair and Balanced thing without laughing.

Labels: politics

We all know Ann Coulter is famous for her measured, well thought-out reflexions on human nature and politics. In her latest column, she draws from her extensive foreign affairs background and bravely claims:

The "offense to Islam" ruse is merely an excuse for Muslims to revert to their default mode: rioting and setting things on fire. These people have a serious anger management problem.

Makes sense. I mean, all 1.2 billion Muslims are like those mobs of people, I saw it on Fox News. It also makes sense that these are all spontaneous, popular movements of outrage, as opposed to any sort of manipulation by extremist mullahs.

She of course, also bravely, and really just to advance the debate, as opposed to merely pure provocation, makes available to her faithful readers the Mohammed cartoons.

Gosh, what I wouldn't give to see her expatriated to Syria!

Labels: politics

I was reading some conservative blogs that, of course, are delighted W chose someone nicknamed "Scalito" and are eager for a fight. Morons.



But I digress. On the site in question was an ad for a Conservative dating web site. I wondered if you could choose Man 4 Man in the search box, you know, or all the closeted Republicans, so I started filling out the lengthy application. But then, on a hunch, I simply checked out the Terms of Use:

2.2 As a condition to use this service you acknowledge that you will not use this service to contact other members for the purpose of homosexual relationships, activities or activism. Openly espousing in a profile as "gay" or any word that delineates homosexuality is also forbidden.

Well, that settles it, don't it? At least they're a little more straight-forward than eHarmony.

Labels: politics

Remember, back in, say, 2002? Bush was invicible. He and Cheney were reigning like Emperors over their docile Republican flock, nothing bad could happen. If one had told you, back then, the week Georgie's just had, you'd never had believed it.

First of course, Harriet's defection. Now W's ass is stuck between a rock and hard place: he goes more conservative, Dems will filibuster, he goes more liberal, his own Party will crucify him.

Then of course, Scoot's lil' indictement. Doesn't look very good for Turd Blossom either.

Add to that the fact that his brother's handling of Wilma is being criticized left and right in the crucially important state of Florida, the Brownie debacle of the last few weeks, Iran going completely nuts, Delay's indictement, and W's having the worst season ever.

The House of Bush is unraveling, just in time for the midterms. Time to move in for the kill.

Labels: politics