Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Random News & Views Roundup

- In an interview with MSNBC's Brian Wiliams, Bush reveals his political strategery: 'The key for me is to keep expectations low'. It's working. Nobody expects he knows what the hell he's doing or that he ever did (except his happy, deluded kool-aid drinkers.)

- And just how much kool-aid do you have to drink before you fall into the endless pit of denial known as CSI: Bloggerville? Don't those wingnuts have candidates to shill for or something? Sheesh. It's amazing those guys even manage to get away from their computers long enough to vote on election day.

- Two scathing criticisms of Israel's actions in the war: by Israelis.

Nasrallah for Prime Minister - of Israel
Can you really not see?

No doubt those Israeli journalists have already been labeled as anti-semites by someone.

- Transparent Bush:

NASHVILLE, United States (AFP) - US
President George W. Bush will launch a campaign of speeches, helped by world leader visits, to defend his handling of the global war on terrorism and the conflict in
Iraq.

The thrust comes as many of Bush's Republicans worry that the rising death toll and price tag from the unpopular war in Iraq may cost them control of the US Senate and House of Representatives in November 7 elections.

"They're not political speeches," Bush insisted after a political fundraiser in Arkansas Wednesday.

Right. They just happen to coincide with the run up to the November elections but, hey, if Bush says they're not political then they're not political. Got that?

- Well, this should piss off the Israelis and Bushco since the Italians have played a major role in establishing the peacekeeping force in Lebanon and were supposed to be Israel's new best friend:

ITALIAN Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said today that Iran's desire to develop nuclear energy is "legitimate" provided the goal of the program was for "peaceful purposes".

- Meanwhile, despite the fact that almost every Iran expert and his nuclear-sniffing dog has projected that Iran might have a nuclear bomb in ten years, the Pentagon is now saying, via the Washington Times in order to reach its bed-wetting base, that the likely timetable is 5-8 years. Well, that does it then. They are obviously an imminent threat and must be attacked in October in time for the mid-term elections.

But the sources said that while the five-year window provides President Bush additional time to decide on whether to launch military strikes, they suspect it underestimates Iran's determination to build a bomb as quickly as possible.

Case closed. Might as well sign up for service now, 101st Fighting Keyboardists, before you end up being drafted. Oh, and here's a new phrase to describe diplomacy:

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a prominent proponent in Washington of air strikes against Iran, said that whether the estimate is five years or 10 years, the time span instills complacency in war planning. He said that Mr. Bush is now following the State Department's diplomatic path, without a clear policy.

"Everyone is in the Jergens lotion mode -- 'woe is me.' Wringing our hands," the former fighter pilot said.

At least they all have soft and incredibly supple hands.

- The Iranian government isn't all that worried about possible UN sanctions while Russia and China are still refusing to agree to those sanctions anyway. More as this unfolds on Thursday.

- Why George Allen should never be US president. Read it. And, speaking of possible '08 presidential candidates, Bill Frist may be fined for trying to renew his medical license without having taken the required upgrading. Frankly, he should have been kicked out of the profession when he diagnosed Terry Schiavo as not being in a persistent vegetative state after looking at just a few minutes of video. Maybe if he would have taken the required classes, he would have learned exactly how stupid that was - or maybe not.

- While American media have been fixated on tropical storm Ernesto (click on that link) because it makes for exciting teevee viewing on the anniversary of Katrina, there's been very little coverage of the category 3 hurricane that's terrifying Mexicans right now. But they're not Americans, so they don't count.

- Dispatches: The Killing Zone (video) - 'Dispatches reporter Sandra Jordan and producer Rodrigo Vasquez risk their lives to reveal the shocking level of daily violence and murderous hate in the Gaza Strip.'

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