Fatwa Against Terrorists, Chalabi Is Scum, The Moonbeam Party

David Brooks

Ezra Klein
Eric Alterman

"In our political system, if Democrats and Republicans are yelling at each other over something, then for the media, that is, by definition, controversy" - Ezra Klein

"A president who sets out to engineer large-scale changes in basic economic, social and legal structures at the same time he is fighting two wars and dealing with the fallout from a fiscal calamity is risking defeat. Obama has courted that risk knowingly because he thinks — as I do — the nation really is in peril. His party in Congress and its leadership are too often more narrow-minded and parochial than the president. And the Republicans have chosen the easy path of near-unanimous opposition." - David Broder

One of the most emailed news article being sent around the Mid East is a 600 page fatwa, which is a written moral opinion by an established cleric. It would be similar to an opinion written by a member of our Supreme Court: "Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, head of the Minhaj ul-Quran religious and educational organisation, said suicide bombers were destined for hell as he released his 600-page edict in London on Tuesday.


"They can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma [the wider Muslim community], no, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards hellfire. There is no place for any martyrdom and their act is never, ever to be considered Jihad," he said."

Mr ul-Qadri has written over 350 books on Islam and heads an organization that promotes peaceful dialogue throughout the Mid Eastern region. Since he is about my age, I could think of him as an ex-hippie, but he is also recognizes as a top Sufi. It's about time that someone had the cojones to step up and formally say what most people on the street have been saying, hopefully this will have some influence and effect on young potential recruits who look to interpretations of the Koran to justify killing. If nothing else, here's hoping that it serves as a deterrent for those living in Western countries, who lately have been volunteering to commit mayhem on their host countries...

"Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses or ifs or buts,"

Speaking of fatwas, will someone please issue one against that old gonif, Ahmed Chalabi? I am amazed that this man is still living, much less trying to become the power behind the peacock throne, or even the eventual Saddam mini-me. the Christian Science Monitor reports on his latest machinations: "Mr. Chalabi, a member of a slate of electoral candidates mostly drawn from Islamist Shiite parties, was deeply involved in a de-Baathification committee that disqualified about 500 secular candidates from running in the election and briefly had some Sunni politicians inside Iraq considering a boycott.


While the boycott won't happen, Chalabi's role in the disqualification of candidates from rival parties – even as he runs on a slate the includes men alleged to have participated in the sectarian violence of Iraq's civil war – increases the sectarian tension around Sunday's election. It's also a symbol of the gains Iran has made thanks to the removal of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's secular Sunni dictator and an avowed enemy of the regime in Tehran. Chalabi has cordial relations with the leaders of the Shiite theocracy next door, as do most of the senior crop of Shiite politicians in Iraq." That's putting it mildly. When Chalabi was receiving money from the State Department and the CIA, he planted evidence from the Iranian intelligence service that Iraq had, what is now called weapons of mass destruction hidden away or buried in the sand somewhere. Further, if Bush would invade Iraq, he could build a democracy that would be friendly towards Israel. Yeah, like that happened... He did this because he is a Shia Muslim andis enamored with the Shia dominated nation of Iran, and he has nothing but contempt for the stupid Americans who even made up more evidence to strengthen the lies he spoon fed them. He had an office in Tehran, and a housing compound in a more rural area, where he keeps his expensive cars, flat tv screens, and other toys.

Ahmed Chalabi wanted the US to install himself as the leader of Iraq after the invasion, but his cloth of lies began to unravel, with the US military invading his Iraqi headquarters in 2004. Since then he has tried to insinuate his family back into Iraqi politics, most notably on the election certification committee who came up with the BS excuse to get rid of Sunni candidates and others who were considered a threat to Nuri al-Malicki. He is on a slate of candidates to be elected to Parliament, his next political goal is to become The Scum Who Would Be King... Anyway, his influence has proven that the real winner of this Iraq adventure has been Iran, who had the US get rid of their arch-enemy for them, and within the next few years may unite with Iraq as one Shia state. If you are a Sunni, be afraid, be very afraid...

"The one thing you can say for sure about Chalabi is that you can never count him out"

I certainly will be glad when the health bill gets to a vote in Congress. Then so many people can get on with their lives. The right wing conservatives would like to delay it so they can use it to get votes in the upcoming election. Once the hysteria dies down, many of the candidates will be seen not to have any clothes, much less a platform. To me, it's pathetic running around campaigning with talking points you cribbed off of a web site. Once the insurance industry stops funding the various groups and websites, will the tea parties then go away? Will they have any substance behind their mean spirited rhetoric and ugly signs, that they also copied off of web sites?

I'm hoping that all this calling Obama a socialist will stop. It's such nonsense, trying to make it into a negative connotation. They really mean to brand him a Communist, with all of the associations of military coups, dictatorial power, running over the people's desires in the name of the people, which is closer to the managerial style of the RNC and the way that Congressional Republicans ruled when they were in control of Congress. Anyway, what's so scary about socialism? I think that Sweden is a wonderful country and I don't see them invading anybody else in the name of anti-terror and democracy any time soon. In fact, that could be my next bumpersticker:

Socialism -

More Saunas, Less Terror

What I am hoping for, are more viable political parties to emerge and organize. The Democrats are inept, the Republicans are too right wing, evidently not right wing enough for many others, but those people are really marginal despite the media attention. Moderates need to form a party of their own to promote balanced, well thought out ideals. Most normal people are a mixture of liberal and conservative thoughts, and don't need a written text to tell them what to think. I don't see anyone in public life right now, besides, believe it or not, ex-Governor Moonbeam Jerry Brown, who might be able to pull it off. I'll have to come up with another bumpersticker by tomorrow for that thought, I know the campaign song would be Sinatra singing How Would You Like To Swing On A Star...

Birth Defects Ignored in Iraq, Who's the Bossier Now?

Dana Milbank
David Ignatius

About a year ago I wrote about the rising birth defect rate in Iraq, a subject that has been ignored by the press. Finally a reporter from the BBC went to Fallujah to investigate: "The Iraqi government line is that there are only one or two extra cases of birth defects per year in Fallujah, compared with the national average. But in the impressive new Fallujah General Hospital, built with American aid, we found a paediatric specialist, Dr Samira al-Ani, who told us that she saw two or three new cases every day. Most of them, she said, exhibited cardiac problems. When asked what the cause was, she said: "I am a doctor. I have to be scientific in my talk. I have nothing documented. But I can tell you that year by year, the number [is] increasing."

The specialist, like other medical staff at the hospital, seemed nervous about talking too openly about the problem. They were well aware that what they said went against the government version, and we were told privately that the Iraqi authorities are anxious not to embarrass the Americans over the issue."

The US has purposely not kept any records nor asked any Iraqi institution to begin any investigations. We are not talking about minor defects like a cleft palate or a third nipple, we are talking incredibly serious defects that result in gross deformity: "We heard many times that officials in Fallujah had warned women that they should not have children. We went to a clinic for the disabled, and were given details of dozens upon dozens of cases of children with serious birth defects. One photograph I saw showed a newborn baby with three heads. While we were at the clinic, people kept arriving with children who were suffering major problems - a little girl with only one arm, several children who were paralysed, and another girl with a spinal condition so bad I asked my cameraman not to film her."

People concerned over this rising problem claim that the defects are the result of depleted uranium from bombs, bullets, and the hardened lining in Humvees. Rubble from buildings and villages decimated gets bulldozed into rivers where it leaches into the water table. Sure, we get the kids with six toes or a missing arm, but there also are the more horrific children that look like they came from a classic horror film. And we continue to ignore it and sweep it under the rug. After all, we are supposed to be their saviors, not the instruments of pain and disfigurement. What soldier wants to come home with that on their conscience? Who would then step up and take some responsibility?

In the meantime, fellow Iraqis continue to blow the crap out of each other, this time aimed at creating havoc during the elections, which last through Sunday. I remember reading about, back in 2003, Muslim insurgents in Iraq refused to use bombs on another Muslim, now it seems they have no qualms whatsoever. Perhaps we have Iranian agents like Ahmed Chalabi to thank, he who sold the concept of WMD's to the gullible Bush administration. So maybe we could also thank Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld for commandeering that ship of fools...

So, are the birth defects from drinking radioactive water any worse than contracting cholera like every other person in Africa? It's been confirmed that the drinking water in almost every major city in the US has elements of metamphetamines and countless prescription drugs, and I am wondering if the concentration is higher in the water in Louisiana. Perhaps all of that black mold that settled in after Hurricane Katrina has induced paranoid fantasies or created psychedelic hallucinations: "The office of the Louisiana sheriff who's forming a citizen militia to defend the parish in the event of a terrorist attack says it has information about possible Islamic terrorist activity in its midst.


"We understand, based on some intelligence that we've collected over the last year, year and a half, that there have been cells and people operating even within our parish that have been trained as terrorists or went overseas to be trained as terrorists," Ed Baswell, a spokesman for the Bossier Parrish Sheriff's Office, told TPMmuckraker this morning.

"So this is not something that's far, far away," Baswell added. "This is something that is a possibility here in Bossier Parish." Sheriff Larry Deen has announced a plan to arm volunteers with shotguns, riot shields, batons, and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a "war wagon," and has begun training them in "hand-to-hand combat" and other techniques, as part of a program to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack or civic unrest."

"Terrorists can tend to strike anywhere and everywhere... There's not a state of paranoia, or anything like that"

The thought of terrorists training in the middle of bumfuck, Louisiana isn't all that farfetched. the leader of the 9/11 terrorists, Mohammed Atta, lived and trained in rural Florida, took lessons at an flight school that was bought overnight by a foreign national and an Arkansas man with ties to organized crime. Atta himself blended in by drinking, using cocaine, going to strip clubs like any pious Muslim would, and even living for awhile with a prostitute to make him feel more at home, which was in Austria, not the Middle East.

Besides, martial arts training for us old men makes a lot of sense, especially if I get to man the machine gun. I guess it ties into the rampant paranoia that the Obama administration is going to take all of your guns away, even though there has been no evidence in word or deed to that effect. Here in Colorado, despite the high unemployment rate, high foreclosure rate, higher divorce and domestic abuse rates, the sales of guns went through the roof. Despite the fact that we had another Columbine imitation-style shooting at a middle school last week, when the University of Colorado announced that it was going to ban handguns on its campus, 97% of my fellow citizens felt that was a wrong choice. They felt it was wiser and safer allowing kids in the midst of puberty to strut around school with a loaded handgun strapped to their body. Careful, baby, I might go off... When I read in today's NY Times an opinion piece by Nicholas Kristoff, where he said that societies that are abusive to women tend to be more violent, I thought he was referring to places like Yemen, not Colorado Springs...

This is down in the swampland where anything goes

It's alligator bait and the bars don't close

It's the real thing down in Louisiana

Did you ever see a Cajun when he really got mad

When he really got trouble like a daughter gone bad

It gets real hot down in Louisiana

And now the stranger better move it or he's gonna get killed

He's gonna have to get it or a shotgun will

It ain't no time for lengthy speeches

There ain't no time for lengthy speeches

from Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight   by Rodney Crowell

More Surveillance Cameras, Italian Arms Smugglers Busted, Local Severed Head Goes to Arizona

Maureen Dowd
Andy Borowitz

I realize now that I have no need to be paranoid over the fact that Big Brother is watching. He has been literally watching us for years now, proving that all of the paranoid fantasies from the '60's have come true, just like in a Philip Dick novel. There are security cameras in every major building in every major city throughout the world, many are posted on major streets and intersections by the police, and thermal imaging cameras are looking out to sea along stretches of coastline. With the publicity and impressive videos made during the assassination of a Hamas member in Dubai, more expensive high definition cameras, which is good news for American optical companies like ICx Technologies. For example, in Abu Dhabi: " Security chiefs are to build a network of surveillance towers around the capital. The towers will be equipped with radar-enabled cameras linked to a central communications system to protect the emirate’s critical infrastructure assets. Installation will begin in April and is expected to take eight months. The new cameras, bought from the American company ICx Technologies, will add to the CNIA’s already widespread network around Abu Dhabi, providing additional coverage and replacing some older units."

So, the next time you are in a strange country for business or out on holiday, remember to smile for the camera. Many of these systems have been working for years in places like London and New York. Surveillance is becoming so sophisticated, that in the near future, if Big Brother wants to find you, there will be an app for that...

A couple of other interesting technologies, reported in Wired Magazine's Danger Room: "In a war zone, evacuating patients under fire is one of the most dangerous jobs there is. That’s why the Pentagon’s hoping to capitalize on recent innovations in robotics to finally create ‘bots that operate as “combat casualty extraction system[s].”


And the military doesn’t just want solo robot heroes, plucking the injured from battle and rushing them to a waiting — and human-operated — vehicle. Nope. The Pentagon’s after an autonomous EMS crew, complete with an unmanned ambulance and robodocs, who can aid fallen troops “with minimal intervention by medic or other first responder operators.”


The potential benefits are obvious. Replacing humans who now help bring medical attention to wounded soldiers would reduce the number of people at risk in rescue operations. And the Army is betting that technology in the works, with developments like free-ranging robots that have human-like movement or legs strong enough to jump 25 feet, offers a chance to swap human medics with robotic versions." Who doesn't love robots? While the Japanese have concentrated on making creepy female robots, the US and Israel are concentrating on spy-bots and bots that can find roadside bombs, and bots that can work in situations that are harmful to humans, especially in wartime.

Another fascinating invention that is about 10 years out from being used in the marketplace, is the way to convert energy from walking or jogging into electricity: "Until now, researchers have been unsure how to make the crystals biocompatible. Manufacturing piezoelectric crystals requires heat that can exceed 1,000 degrees, so they’re tough to embed into temperature-sensitive materials, like rubber or plastic. So McAlpine’s team used nanotechnology, creating ribbons of the crystals on a substrate — 100 strips in a single millimeter — and then embedding them into silicone rubber. The result is a flexible strip of “piezo-rubber” that’s 80 percent efficient at converting mechanical energy (like what’s generated from walking) into electricity.


McAlpine tells Danger Room that a single PZT crystal, implanted into a shoe, could theoretically generate around enough to operate an iPod. Now imagine that instead of a single crystal, the entire shoe’s insole is lined with strips of PZT, that can convert most of the body’s energy into usable power.


Next up for the intel-funded researchers are prototype devices and some number crunching, to figure out exactly how much money the government agency could save if it switched to crystal-based people power.


More than just charging up intel gadgets, the research has clear applications across the military, including easy power harvesting for troops working in isolated, far-out terrain. But McAlpine is also anticipating widespread civilian use. Most importantly, perhaps, is replacing batteries on implanted medical devices, like pacemakers. The strips would harness power from the lungs to control the heart, and work perpetually without needing replacement parts." 


arms smuggling to Iran...

Some of the international sanctions against Iran that have been in effect for several years may have to be tweaked and tightened up. We know about the Hamas official who used to buy arms from Iran for his organization in Gaza. We know about a Russian freighter supposedly full of wood but really was carrying missiles bound for Iran was "hijacked," then returned to a Russian port after being found. There was an airplane from North Korea, staffed by Uzbeks and Georgians, that stopped for refueling in Bangkok, and was confiscated containing arms and small missiles bound for Iran. The crew of the plane were recently released to go home and the cargo taken over by some Thai generals for their personal collections...

Today, an international arms smuggling ring based in Italy was busted by police: "Five Italians and two Iranians, including "some who are believed to belong to the Iranian secret service" were among those detained, police said on Wednesday.

Authorities believe the arrests, which took place on Tuesday in several Italian cities, disrupted an operation which would have shifted large quantities of hi-tech gear including bullets, guns and explosives, to Iran." One of the Iranians was a television journalist who had worked in Italy for 17 years. Perhaps we could trade him for several of the 37 journalists who are currently in Iranian jails?

The international aspect of this case can be illustrated in how it began: "The scheme fell apart during a check by Romanian customs officials, who confiscated 200 gunsights. Another 100 were seized in London... police in Bern, Switzerland, where one of the Italian suspects resided, had collaborated with the investigation. Then, British authorities arrested a Briton implicated in the trafficking a few months ago." Italy used to be one of Iran's largest trading partners, but since Silvio Berlesconi came into office, his right wing, old school anti-Communist beliefs do not mesh with the Iranian style of right wing religious fascism, and their relationship soured. If the arms embargo can stop the arms smuggling, and this has been just the tip of the iceberg, then Iran will be in trouble. Their economy is in a downward spiral, almost half of their population is under 30 years old and currently not working. Further sanctions will affect the many Iranian businesses in the Gulf countries, and with no money or guns coming in, food in short supply, and such high unemployment, the country could fall apart internally. Which is what the US is planning on, causing a regime change from within. If a more repressive ruler takes over, we may soon be wishing for the bumbling, ranting, charmless Ahmadinejad...


mmmmm, head cheesy...

Another fun story from here in Colorado Springs that made the rounds. Usually, whenever a local news story goes national, it's always something embarrassing. A local woman got scammed by an Arizona cryogenics company called Alcor, infamous for being the home of the head of Ted Williams. Yes, they have the severed head of the late baseball player stored in some freezer, taking it out for an occasional bowling match after midnight...

This nice lady, who was enamored with immortality, but not too bright, signed a contract and gave them a $50,000 deposit to keep her head when she died, to become resurrected at an unspecified later date. Recently, she contracted cancer and decided not to go through with her nefarious plan, and wrote a letter stating her reasons.

Then, she died.

Alcor is claiming the head and offering to return the body to the family. Her family want to bury her intact. A judge ruled that, because she hadn't bothered to notorize her letter or sign a seperate contract cancelling her previous agreement, the company wins. Her body is currently being kept on dry ice while the family appeals.


The Bride of Frankenstein      by Edward Field


The Baron has decided to mate the monster,
to breed him perhaps,
in the interests of pure science, his only god.
So he goes up into his laboratory
which he has built in the tower of the castle

to be as near the interplanetary forces as possible,
and puts together the prettiest monster-woman you ever saw
with a body like a pin-up girl
and hardly any stitching at all
where he sewed on the head of a raped and murdered beauty queen.

He sets his liquids burping, and coils blinking and buzzing,
and waits for an electric storm to send through the equipment
the spark vital for life.
The storm breaks over the castle
and the equipment really goes crazy
like a kitchen full of modern appliances
as the lightning juice starts oozing right into that pretty corpse.

He goes to get the monster
so he will be right there when she opens her eyes,
for she might fall in love with the first thing she sees as ducklings do.
That monster is already straining at his chains and slurping,

ready to go right to it:
He has been well prepared for coupling
by his pinching leering keeper who's been saying for weeks,
"Ya gonna get a little nookie, kid,"
or "How do you go for some poontang, baby?"
All the evil in him is focused on this one thing now
as he is led into her very presence.

She awakens slowly,
she bats her eyes,
she gets up out of the equipment,
and finally she stands in all her seamed glory,
a monster princess with a hairdo like a fright wig,
lightning flashing in the background
like a halo and a wedding veil,
like a photographer snapping pictures of great moments.

She stands and stares with her electric eyes,
beginning to understand that in this life too
she was just another body to be raped.

The monster is ready to go:
He roars with joy at the sight of her,
so they let him loose and he goes right for those knockers.
And she starts screaming to break your heart
and you realize that she was just born:
In spite of her big tits she was just a baby.

But her instincts are right --
rather death than that green slobber:
She jumps off the parapet.

And then the monster's sex drive goes wild.
Thwarted, it turns to violence, demonstrating sublimation crudely;
and he wrecks the lab, those burping acids and buzzing coils,
overturning the control panel so the equipment goes off like a bomb,
and the stone castle crumbles and crashes in the storm
destroying them all . . . perhaps.

Perhaps somehow the Baron got out of that wreckage of his dreams
with his evil intact, if not his good looks,
and more wicked than ever went on with his thrilling career.
And perhaps even the monster lived
to roam the earth, his desire still ungratified;
and lovers out walking in shadowy and deserted places
will see his shape loom up over them, their doom --
and children sleeping in their beds
will wake up in the dark night screaming
as his hideous body grabs them.                

Meta Bank of Assassins, Iraqracy, The Ides of Dan May

Clarissa Estes
Dana Milbank
Anthony Weiner

"The Republican Party is increasingly the party of the declining white working class. Non-Hispanic whites are shrinking as a percentage of the U.S. population... To add insult to injury, the Democrats, instead of reaching out to white working-class voters, often have snobbishly dismissed them."  - Michael Lind

"I said it on Wednesday, and I'll say it again: the Republicans really are just a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry... They want to destroy Medicare, shovel money to insurance companies, and screw over the American people." - Anthony Weiner

The first two links above are about Kentucky's Senator Jim Bunning, who is being forced to retire and has been displaying angry, erratic behavior because he has Alzheimer's, or Lou Dobbs Disease, as I like to call it. The other link is to a great rant by Rep Anthony Weiner, just because I have a soft spot for grumpy men. I remember the point where I realized that it was ok to be grumpy myself, quite a liberating moment. I had spent 21 years working where I had to work with the public and always had to show restraint, behavior that was deemed politically correct. After I retired, I remember walking along the outdoor mall in Santa Cruz, California, and had a rather obnoxious street person walk up to me and say hello. This young man was pretty crazy, lived in a treehouse on property at the University, and I had kicked him off of a public bus a few times for panhandling and attempted solicitation of minor girls.

When he walked up to me I then realized that I no longer had to be nice to him, I could walk past him or I could yell at him to leave me alone, or just about anything except say hello back to him. I was so elated that I went and bought coffee for the next two street people I saw, plus a breakfast burrito... It took awhile to be able to say out-loud what I was really feeling, and why I enjoy writing this blog today... rant on, white man, rant on...

I wonder what I would do if I found out that the bank I used was actually a CIA conduit. Would I take my money out and switch banks, or re-apply for a credit card? That may be the dliemma facing customers of Meta Bank, a small, chartered bank based in Storm Lake, Iowa, of all places. Interpol and the police in Dubai have traced plane tickets bought by assassins of the Hamas official in a luxury hotel with credit cards issued by the bank.. Money spent was also traced to another company in New York, called Payoneer, owned by an ex-Mossad agent. It is like Paypal but obviously not as successful, possibly only funding Israeli operators inside of the US.

Two of the assassins fled Dubai and entered the US: "One suspect traveling on a British passport arrived in the United States on Feb. 14; the other used an Irish passport and arrived on Jan. 21. He did not say where the men entered the country, and added that there was no known record of their leaving.


Many of the 26 suspects identified in the case used stolen identities — most of them taken from people with dual citizenship living in Israel — and that appeared to be true of the two men who traveled to the United States, who used the names Roy Allan Cannon and Evan Dennings. On Friday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz identified the real Mr. Cannon as “a 62-year-old, ultra-Orthodox father of six” who moved to Israel in 1983. Irish officials said last week that they believed that Mr. Dennings was also a victim of identity theft.


As foreign citizens, the two suspects would have been photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in the United States, and could therefore presumably be tracked. But in light of the identity theft practiced in the case, it seems possible that the men could have left the United States under false travel documents. Although Interpol is assisting in the investigation and has put out alert notices about the suspects, United States officials have been silent about it. On Monday, the State Department again refused to comment on the case." The State Department's silence may mean that they move slowly when gathering information, or that they have knowingly allowed these people here, or even that they are about to be embarrassed because they can't find the damned records, showing no better security efforts since the December incident of the underwear bomber...

Of course, every ex-spy, government hack, and mid-eastern think tank member have given their opinions, but I cynically cynically like the one by Robert Grenier, who was station chief for the CIA in Pakistan, and head of their counter-terrorism unit: "The simple, cruel truth is that in the end, no one - and here I would include all the governments concerned, including the concerned Arab states - is really going to care all that much, or for all that long, about the fate of one Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Yes, there will be a bit of unpleasantness for a while, but before long, life will go back to normal. Whether or not that is the way it should be is irrelevant; it is quite clear, on the basis of much past evidence, that that is precisely the way it is going to be..."


He is probably right. We can trace these people only so far, until they step behind the curtain and no longer get any co-operation as to their identities. It will depend on how long investigators are willing to spend, what the worth is of any human life compared to the larger geo-political schemes. We are the only mammal on this planet that kills each other for reasons other than for food, and are much more comfortable if behavior like this is confined to an hour long episode of NCIS...


iraqracy...

I have to admit that I'm jealous of the Iraqi way of electioneering.: "Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of the United States Central Command, has offered a special name for it: Iraqracy." Everyone like free stuff, banks and businesses offer stuff all of the time to lure you. But candidates vying for votes in next week's Iraqi elections are kicking it up several notches: "In Babil Province, local candidates have imported sports equipment and thousands of running shoes from China for their constituents. In the southern marshes, politicians travel for hours to pass out toys to children, phone cards to adults and blankets to the poor... Most of the gifts from candidates are utilitarian — blankets for the poor, heating oil, propane tanks, phone cards and food. While residents have reported receiving cash directly, outright bribes are delivered more discreetly."

“I think I will vote for Hashemi,” he said with a smile. “But if someone else gives me something better, I will vote for him. Because after they win the elections, we will never see them or get anything from them. So I don’t care. I will vote for whoever gives me more.”

“We are still receiving many gifts from the parties,” said Mohamed Jumah, from Babil. One of the candidates gave his family $100 in cash, while another gave it food and building supplies. “I have not decided who I will vote for,” 

One government official said that, despite all of the free swag intended to sway the minds of the poor and uneducated: "While acknowledging that many poor people might accept the gifts, he said that their vote remained their own. “The ballot box will be covered,” he said. “Ask your conscience. Ask God.” I know there is a new proverb waiting to be written from this. I'm not sure where the tying your camel up first fits in, perhaps updating it to securing your suicide vest first before entering the voting booth...? Here's hoping that American democracy learns a lesson from our newest imperial conquest, maybe the Colorado Republican Caucus will give me a free frozen chicken for showing up...

mayday, mayday...

We have a newly elected District Attorney, Dan May, who ran for the office because his predecessor was filmed by the local television station drinking beer in a bar during working hours, then driving off in a county car. Then, he denied that what he did was wrong, because he had a strong constitution and could hold his liquor. This manly man was replaced by another conservative, Dan May.

Recently Dan had been getting complaints from his neighbors about a medical marijuana dispensary that had opened up. He says that he decided to file a complaint and this is what happened even though he is the District Attorney: "Filing the complaint against Pure Medical proved challenging, said May, who had to navigate the city’s bureaucracy to do it. He initially went to the city’s zoning office, which referred him to the code enforcement division. He said he called Vice Mayor Larry Small, told him to contact the Police Department. He said he called police Chief Richard Myers, who told him he needed to talk to the City Attorney’s Office.


May said he didn’t know whether Myers takes calls from regular citizens. “I would say that a normal citizen could pick up the phone and call me,” May said. “Of course, maybe the difference is that I’m an elected official.” The police chief is appointed by the City Council. After talking to Myers, May said he talked to Deputy City Attorney Wynetta Massey, who referred him to the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, which directed him back to the Police Department.


“In the end, I think I got treated exactly like any other citizen,” he said." Who says that you can't fight city hall... again, we don't need a smaller government, just a shorter way to process complaints.

This story has caused a local uproar, depending on whose side you are on, because even many evangelicals are stoners in this town, certainly each Libertarian has a completely different take. We'll let Dan have the last word: “It was not my intent to unduly influence,” he said. “Certainly, that’s why I said I was a citizen. It was not my intent to intimidate anybody. It was my intent to file a complaint like any other citizen. That was my entire intent. If I’ve offended somebody, I apologize, but that was not my intent.”

We Won War on Terror, Marijuana in Our National Parks

Thomas Farr
Dexter Filkins
Paul Krugman
John Avlon

"I traced the start of the legislative stalemate crippling Obama's agenda to Limbaugh's now infamous statement, "I hope he fails." It was a criticism. Rush took it as a compliment.


That's exactly what's wrong in America right now." - John Avlon

Many international sources are claiming that al-Qaeda has been hurt by the global financial crisis and that it is no longer a major fount of terrorism. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that AIG and Goldman Sachs had sold financial instruments to al-Qaeda like they did to the governments of Greece, Portugal, and Spain. In the real world, that translates as: "No more extensive militant training camps, travel and lodging costs reimbursed, operations planned years in advance, pricey pilot classes in the United States for would-be suicide pilots."

Not only are the small donations from sympathetic Muslims drying up, but sanctions on businesses, charitable organizations, and religious donations have all come under tighter scrutiny due to the financial crisis. More attention is being paid, and more areas are opening up to find out where money has been flowing. For example, many Swiss banks that previously touted their privacy have opened their files under pressure of supporting terrorists and drug money laundering.

"If you're found to be giving money to al-Qaeda, then you suffer considerably, because your reputation, your business, all goes down the drain"

As for Osama and his band of merry men, they have retreated into survival mode, hiding out from an international manhunt, and not able to make any plans against the Great Satans of the world. According to financial terrorist expert Laura Napoleoni: "Osama bin Laden and (his deputy Ayman) Al-Zawahiri maintain a high profile, they project an image of threat. They are iconic figures, but they don't do anything, except survive. They don't plan attacks, they are icons hiding in Waziristan and that's it. They don't need a lot of money for that."

The few self-proclaimed localized groups that call themselves al-Qaeda have to scramble for funds on their own, reduced to plotting bombs in men's underwear. The Algerians make lots of money by running drugs and kidnapping European businessmen and holding them for ransom. But safe havens are shrinking, even Yemen has claimed to having killed off the al-Qaeda head there.

So, if the war on terror has succeeded against al-Qaeda, do you feel that the world is a safer place? Or has the US gone stumbling around the world like a bull in a China shop, knocking expensive stuff off of the shelves that it can never pay for? With President Obama extending parts of the Patriot Act, do you feel any safer at home, any less paranoid about big brother and federal law enforcement?

"We do not need to conquer one another, but we do need to live together"

Even though the latest offensive in Afghanistan was a military success for the NATO forces of good and light, it cost innocent lives in the recent bombings in Kabul. Unfortunately: "United States government agencies are asking why, after US$7 billion has been spent on training and salaries, Afghan police are still widely considered corrupt and inefficient. In particular, the State Department is accused of failing to oversee private contractors involved in training, and there are questions as to why there is a severe shortage of equipment." - Pratap Chatterjee

The government of Hamid Karzai has not gotten any less corrupt or interested in stability and welfare of the Afghan citizens. As soon as the Western forces leave, the place will fall apart like a house of cards, the Pashtuns being the joker waiting in the wings. Pakistan knows this, and that is why they didn't allow extradition to US custody of Mullah Abdul Baradar, the #2 Taliban head honcho. Also, the US envoy Richard Holbrooke made the rounds to the surrounding countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, letting them know that they still have a friend...


revenge of the coyote people...
It's been pretty difficult for many Mexican illegal immigrants, who risked life and limb to get into the US, only to wait outside of the Home Depot for hours every day hoping that some contractor would hire them for dollars paid under the table. At least until they could afford to buy a Puerto Rican birth certificate... My younger brother was notorious for hiring guys to work for him. He'd buy them some lunch and beer, then drop them back off without paying them, moving on to the next group of men waiting at the next Home Depot...

No need to worry. Some immigrants went back to Mexico, some became dog whisperers. Many have joined the drug cartels and have gone into and taken over our National Forests and Park Lands: "Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, but Mexican traffickers have taken it to a whole new level: using armed guards and trip wires to safeguard sprawling plots that in some cases contain tens of thousands of plants offering a potential yield of more than 30 tons of pot a year.


 Mexican traffickers have "supersized" the marijuana trade... All of the sites are far from the eyes of law enforcement, where growers can take the time needed to grow far more potent marijuana. Farmers of these fields use illegal fertilizers to help the plants along, and use cloned female plants to reduce the amount of seed in the bud that is dried and eventually sold... Many of the plots are encircled with crude explosives and are patrolled by guards armed with AK-47s who survey the perimeter from the ground and from perches high in the trees."


I've written about this before, about a year ago, and seen documentaries on it on the History Channel. Due to budget constraints, lack of knowledgeable personnel, and the difficulty of getting to these farms, maybe about half of them are found and eradicated every year. So, next time you go hiking or camping in your favorite neck of the woods, take along two things: a friend who speaks Spanish and your medical marijuana card... now we know why you can legally carry a gun into the park...

Here in Colorado Springs we've been bitching because we cannot afford to water the parks, and everything will eventually die off, costing us much more when we can finally afford to replant. The solution is right before our eyes: let our local Mexican gangs take over the maintenance of our parks. If they will keep them green and looking nice for the public, we will give them designated areas off limits to the public for their special farms. Heck, the city could even go into business with them, distributing to all of the local dispensaries. A win/win situation, I think. It would solve our financial problems, maybe enough so that we wouldn't need local taxes, and we could adopt a sister city in Michoacan for cultural stimulation...

Thai King, Bruised and Hungry Planet,Puerto Rico Immigrant No More

Niall Fergusen
Marwan Bishara
Mike McConnell

"The United States is fighting a cyber-war today, and we are losing." - Mike McConnell

"I think this is an issue of integrity regardless of which end of the political spectrum that I stand on. I was raised in a family to know right from wrong and politics, whether or not you fall in the middle, the left or the right its an issue of integrity, no matter what your opinion is, and I say that with the utmost conviction." - Miss Arizona

One of the more stable Asian countries will erupt into chaos soon. No, it's not from the recent protests or the recovery of over one billion dollars from the corrupt hands of its ex-prime minister. The King of Thailand has been in the hospital for over the last five months, and the poor old man is going to die soon.

The reverence that people have for the King, who is considered as the head of buddhism, acts as a stabilizing force when factions and emotions get out of hand. In the past, if he made a critical remark about your political movement or your military action in public, it was enough to disband the movement and cool down a bad situation. I liked him because he was born in Boston, Massachusetts and wore glasses. If you got into an argument with a cab driver and tore up the money he demanded and threw it at the driver, you could be put in jail for defacing the image of the King. A true story...

He does have sons, but they are not held in such high esteem, more like arrogant, strutting peacocks. So I don't know who will keep a cool heart for such an emotional country, the whole region could become destabilized from the outcome. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is 82, and the world's current longest serving monarch.

We're having an intense year, weather-wise. The Haitian earthquake was bad, devastation made worse by the length of the quake and bad construction methods. Really intense snow storms have pummeled the East Coast, leaving over 200 thousand without electricity, and horrible storms have raged across Western Europe, killing at least 50. Another set of earthquakes, one in Japan and the other centered in Chile, this one hundreds of times stronger in magnitude than the one in Haiti. And to top it off, a huge iceberg ran into the Mertz ice shelf in Antartica, creating another iceberg over 950 square miles to break off the glacier. The two dueling icebergs could affect the way that colder water sinks to the bottom of the ocean, and further complicate weather patterns over the entire planet. The iceberg contains about 30 percent of the world's water consumption.

I'm not going to get into the silly arguments over whether global warming is natural or man-made, the fact is that changes are occurring. For someone to open their door and look at the snow outside, then declare that there is no such thing, only proves that person is an idiot and needs to pick up a book or three... Hundreds of earthquakes happen every day, most occur where there is little population density, and in faults under the ocean. They are the result of the motion of tectonic plates moving in response to the earth's rate of rotation. And it isn't a smooth rotation, there is a wobble, which is thought to affect the magnetic poles, which occasionally shift.

Another fact is that there are hundreds of lightening strikes per day all over the earth, and scientists still cannot explain why it happens. Sure, we know that there is an accumulation of positive electrical energy that builds up in clouds, and that the earth acts as a negative ground, and that lightening will strike, but we cannot tell you the exact mechanism that triggers the lightening strike. But, I digress...

We are already taxing the amount of food and relief that are being provided to the countries hit by the earthquakes, and with our shortened attention spans, its doubtful that we can accommodate both long term assistance past the next six months. The UN food program has already had to cut back allotments to places like Yemen, which is undergoing a drought along with the Mid East and Northern Africa. I hate to project doom and gloom, but a few more of these major natural disasters will have us choosing who will live and who will have to die. We see it now in the Haitian disaster, where we could only provide food for 2 million people when the original reports said there were three million people in need. Either the calculations were incorrect, the figures were later revised downwards to cover-up, or I sorely need new reading glasses. I sincerely hope that my memory is at error, I can accept that fact more easily than I can accept cold calculations and lack of compassion among those whose job it is to care...


I guess we're all Puerto Ricans now, right John? As of this weekend, Puerto Rico has invalidated all of its birth certificates. If you were born there before this weekend you will have to apply for a new one. The application fee is waived for those over 62, or who are veterans.

At first, I thought that this was another weird twist on the birther theory, and next they were going to say that Barack Obama was actually born in Puerto Rico with a fake certificate, until I realized that: "People born in Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, are U.S. citizens at birth. Anyone using a stolen Puerto Rico birth certificate could enter and move about the U.S. more easily, which could also pose security problems.
Puerto Rico's legislature passed the law after raids last March broke up a criminal ring that had stolen thousands of birth certificates and other identifying documents from several different schools in Puerto Rico. As much as 40 percent of the identity fraud in the U.S. involves birth certificates from Puerto Rico, Kenneth McClintock Hernandez, the commonwealth secretary of state, said he was told by the State Department."

"It's a problem that's been growing, and as the need in the black market for birth certificates with Hispanic-sounding names grew, the black-market value of Puerto Rican birth certificates has gone into the $5,000 to $10,000 range,"

Now I want to present Tom Tancredo with his very own Puerto Rican birth certificate, I'm sure I can pick one up on e-bay now, or at Orly Taitz's web site...

New Jacked Taliban, My Favorite Fatwa

Dana Milbank

Kristen Saloomey
Kevin Connor

"Could I just finish, please?" - John McCain

"Tough shit!" - Jim Bunning

Pakistan seems to be arresting links to al-Qaeda right and left, lately, scoring brownie points with both the US and Iran. Not only have they captured leaders from the Pashtun Afghan Taliban group, who seemed to be living so far from where the action has been, but they also captured Abdulmalik Rigi, the leader of Jundallah, a Sunni insurgent group active in southeastern Iran. This is in contrast of the official story that the plane he was flying in was ordered to land and he was captured by Iranian authorities.

Common wisdom state that not much escapes the Pakistani Intelligence Service, and the recent turn of events may have been because the American military and CIA are now negotiating and bribing Intelligence officials directly instead of going through the civilian government's middle men. Given this cozy relationship, the turning over of Abdulmalik Rigi to Iran is meant to tell the US that Pakistan is not beholden to them, that they have some independence left. Mr Rigi has gone on Iranian television and announced that his group, which also has ties to al-Qaeda, was sponsored by the US and promised that they would get weapons and an operating base in Afghanistan to wage annoying sorties at the predominately Shia nation. This also gives notice on remaining al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan that any day now they, too, could be given up. Al-Qaeda will probably respond with a few more suicide bombers detonating themselves in crowded bazaars, mindlessly killing innocent people. After all, Spring is just around the corner...

To show how there can be many layers to an attack attributed to the Taliban, consider yesterday's suicide bombing in Kabul, aimed at a hotel where many Indian doctors live, on the Prophet Mohammed's Birthday: "The timing is also striking. Yesterday, the first Indo-Pakistani talks after the Lashkar-e-Taiba attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 were yesterday in New Delhi on the foreign secretary level. This possibly is no coincidence. In this connection, today’s attack in Kabul can be read as another attack on Indian targets in Kabul (the Indian embassy here was bombed in July 2008) and -- indirectly -- on initiatives to improve the Indo-Pakistani relationship?


So, why do the Taliban make themselves an instrument of those -- by claiming responsibility -- who do not want to see such an improvement to happen? Does the whole Taliban movement support such a strategy? What about Mullah Omar’s statement of late last year that the Taliban do not threaten any neighboring and also any other country? Does that not apply for India? Does Zabihullah Mujahed speak for Mullah Omar or not?


Or has this attack been carried out by other elements: Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani network or those linked to groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba or al-Qaeda that has declared ‘Hindu’ India a target, too? Are Afghan elements linked to these groups (like the Haqqanis) out of Mullah Omar’s control? This would apply to spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed, too.


What repercussions does that have for the Taliban’s readiness to look for a political solution that was assumed for the Taliban leadership in Kandahar or, at least, elements of it? Possibly, the attack is another element in a development assumed by some observers here that the ISI currently is staging a turn-over in the overall Taliban leadership, away from politically people minded to radical 'hawks,' In this reading, the arrest of reportedly pro-talks people like Mullah Baradar, Maulawi Kabir and former Zabul shadow governor Mohammed Yunos would be another indication that this assumption is true. This would not augur well for chances of a political solution in Afghanistan." In the Great Game, the US is strictly an amateur...

 From a US military handbook that soldiers could keep in their back pockets as they whizzed through the streets of Iraqi cities: "A 2003 handbook for the U.S. First Infantry Division in Iraq exhorts soldiers to 'Do your best to prevent war crimes' and warns that 'when an Arab is confronted by criticism, you can expect him to react by interpreting the facts to suit himself or flatly denying the facts.' Since then, soldiers went on to work and live with Iraqi troops, then withdrawing from all interaction, to where they rest today, practicing their Nintendo skills.

With the increasing use of drones by just about every aggressive country in the world, and new generations being made, we now have to upgrade our GPS satellites so they can receive photos and messages from places like the remote regions of Afghanistan. Here in Colorado, Raytheon is the recipient of an $865 million contract from the Defense Department. As a side-effect, your GPS equipment will soon work better than ever... Back in the 1980's and 90's, my father used to boast that the cameras on the spy satellites could count the hairs on a gnat's ass, they were so good. Just think how optics have improved since then, and what information we will soon receive by installing them on drones and having the capacity to capture the signals without degradation...

my favorite fatwa...
Even though we pat ourselves on the back for all of the progress that has been made in the world up till now, the basic fact is that in most places it just sucks to be a woman. From selling children into prostitution in Thailand to stoning women to death in Turkey, or throwing acid on the faces of women in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the fairer sex has to be extraordinary tough and resilient to survive.

Most of this injustice is from people trying to literally interpret sections of the Bible and Koran into how we must live today. People who know nothing of what religion really is, make proclamations to bolster their own power, intent on telling you how to live, and making up justifications for it in Holy texts. You would think that as time goes on we would have less of these obviously crazy people among us, that they would have been bred out of existence, but somehow they are thriving and getting elected to the US Congress...

The most recent furor over not much at all comes out of Saudi Arabia, where a cleric, Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak, issued a fatwa: "that states that all those who promote the mingling of sexes are apostates that should to be killed."

Needless to say that it has spurred a lot of debate: "Islam allows the mixing of men and women as long as it within the limits of decency and respect, said Sheikh Abdul-Hamid al-Atrash, former head of al-Azhar's Fatwa Committee."It could be considered a sin, but not one that is punishable by death. A woman can go out to work as long as she is modestly dressed and will not deal with men in a way that arouses them" he told Al Arabiya. "Indecent mixing is what should be prohibited." You won't get much argument from certain sects in the US, that also ban music and video games. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia has had their first woman appointed to a Ministerial level, and they now allow women on tv...

"Barrak might have just wanted to stir public opinion. That is why I think there is no point in responding to his fatwa. This will just lead to endless arguments that will eventually boil down to nothing."

And, there other growing opportunities throughout Asia and the Middle East for women who know their proper place: