Tannishblog

Cindy Sheehan has left the Peace Movement. It is as sad as it is inevitable. Her diary entry on dailykos.com exudes defeat, resignation and weariness. No as many people are cheering her "demise" as are saddened by it.

Cindy, you did Good. And you did it well. You kick-started a national awareness movement, and that alone justifies your sacrifices. Only in the face of great adversity will people arise from their self-imposed stupor to pay attention, let alone take action, and to peer around blinking. You started this. Thank you.

In fantasy fiction the largest beats always move slowly. Much energy is needed to more such mass. So, too, the bureaucratic behemoth that is the United States also moves ponderously. Once it does, it moves inexorably. You started it. You’ve done more for America than anyone else by awakening sleeping beast of Democracy. Again, thank you.

Two questions remain: Where will it go? How far will it travel? Only fools will guess. While the entrenched Republic half of our Great Experiment continues, the Demon of Democracy is now alert and pondering. What more can one person do?

You’ve earned your rest. Go home not in defeat, but peaceful in the realization that you, on behalf of Casey, did more for the future of this nation than anyone in recent years. May your years be good ones.

Why should the US troops have all the fun? Let’s bring civilian contractors into the fray.

Twice this week employees of Blackwater USA, a private "security firm" based in Moyock, NC holding over $100 million defense contracts, we involved in confrontations in Baghdad. From Washington Post:

A Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver Thursday near the Interior Ministry, according to three U.S. officials and one Iraqi official who were briefed on the incident but spoke on condition of anonymity because of a pending investigation. On Wednesday, a Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad, triggering a furious battle in which the security contractors, U.S. and Iraqi troops and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were firing in a congested area.

I remember when we weren’t afraid to call these "security contractors" by their real name: Mercenaries. But in these post-politically-correct times of argument framing, a spade is no longer a spade, it’s a "landscape facilitator" (or something.) So a Mercenary soldier is now a "security consultant." Pfeh!

Is this how "the Surge(tm)" is implemented? This carefully planned war that the White House insisted didn’t need as many troops as Central Command suggested, which has redefined the word quagmire, has lasted longer than a Hollywood marriage. Early on, it was assumed that only 5,000 troops would be stationed there by December 2006. Now we’ve got "civilian contractors" playing along.

Blackwater’s security consulting division holds at least $109 million worth of State Department contracts in Iraq, and its employees operate in a perilous environment that sometimes requires the use of deadly force. But last week’s incidents underscored how deeply these hired guns have been drawn into the war, their murky legal status and the grave consequences that can ensue when they take aggressive action.

But quagmires are supposed to be murky, right? I guess the Iraqis have showed us Yanks how to use lawlessness to great advantage. What legal status has a corporate mercenary? How can someone be held accountable for war crimes if that is his job description?

Mohammed Mahdi, 37, an employee at a veterinary drugstore, said the combined American forces unleashed a fury of gunfire near the Amanat, the municipal headquarters located in the heart of downtown Baghdad. Before taking cover in his store, Mahdi said, he saw two people killed and one wounded near the city’s legal registry.

A U.S. Embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Blackwater contractors "did their job," enabling the State Department employees to be extracted without injuries. The U.S. military said no American soldiers were killed or wounded during the attack.

Mahdi said that the battle lasted for nearly an hour and that when he emerged he saw four mini-buses, a taxi and an Opel sedan containing dead and wounded. He said that he saw "at least four or five" people "who were certainly dead" but that he did not know how the people were killed, who killed them or whether they were civilians or combatants.

It gets really opaque when we toss in corporate official-speak rhetoric:

[Matthew Degn, a senior American civilian adviser to the Interior Ministry’s intelligence directorate,] said he was concerned the incident "could undermine a lot of the cordial relationships that have been built up over the past four years. There’s a lot of angry people up here right now."

"Cordial relationship?" So says a "senior civilian advisor". Are we framing again?

Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said the company did not discuss specific incidents. In a statement via e-mail, she wrote: "Blackwater investigates any reports of hostile action in Iraq. Per the terms of our US Government contracts, as a matter of routine, Blackwater is required to file after action reports on any such incidents."

That should take care of that. An "incident report" to the US government is just the thing to appease the families of the dead and wounded. Make no mistake about the realities on the ground in Iraq: war is big business and war profiteering is just another aspect of the American economy.

Doesn’t that make you feel proud?

Aren’t you sick of war yet? Name one conflict between human powers that had any positive long-term results. World War II? We haven’t learned anything from that battle. Some people think that the holocaust never happened, and we’re still playing with nukes. Nothing positive there.

America’s Great Warmonger Bush (GWB, get it?) has plans to "modernize" our "outdated" nuclear arsenal so it can be more "flexible" in the future. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency within the Department of Energy (DOE), has plans for a "Complex 2030", essentially a nuclear weapons factory.

Now what in Sam Hill do we need that for? Let me Guess:

• The world is not dangerous enough yet
• America can cash in on the expanded weapons trade with friends like Pakistan
• There aren’t any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so we’ll send some there.
• With enough nukes, we just might get Osama by 2030
• The world will be a safer place with only white Christians left.
• Because America’s economy is too entwined with arms trade to extricate itself
• Because we’re all mad

Sick of the hyperbole, read some facts:

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Shundahai Network

Peace Action

Navada Desert Experience

Wes Clark

People don’t like this! Anyone out there REALLY think this is a good idea?

One aspect of my job is to make delivery runs throughout four-city quadrangle of Chicago and Rockford, Illinois and Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. I’ve been known to drive to Minneapolis/ St. Paul occasionally. Such experience, as well as constant comments from my out-of-town colleagues, cause me to rename home turf as Gridlock City. I’m sure there are worse cities in the world in which to drive, but for the upper mid-west, Chicago is the toughest commute for your money.

And it takes a lot more money, too. The Chicago Tribune today features Gridlock City’s Number 1 status at the gas pump: we pay the most in the nation for our juice. A separate article tries to explain the whole mess. Refinery problems, local taxes, extra fuel processing to counter act smog - I’m not convinced.

Two things keep creeping into my mind, things the stories don’t cover: War uses fuel, and Unprecedented profits by oil companies last year. Why isn’t that on the table? Hush-hush, closed door meetings between Vice President Halliburton and the energy moguls a few years back might have something to do with why I’m gouged for gasoline every summer.

In Gridlock City, not only will you pay a premium for gas, but you’ll spend more of it while sitting in traffic jams and breathing the brown haze. Such are the perils of modern times.

Columbia, South Carolina hosted another non-debate of Republican presidential fodder - I mean hopefuls. CNN report how they’re "getting feisty," as each tried to one-up the other by shouting what is sure to be the mantra of the 2008 Republican bid: "Abortion, Gun Control and Less Taxes, Amen."

As I noted earlier, what else can they discuss? So many topic are toxic right now. Not only is the above chant hackneyed, but most American’s don’t really give a damn. The attention deficit disorder of the MSM is sure to get bored with repeated recitations of fringe issues. It’ll be interesting to see the tricks played by these intrepid soon-to-be losers to keep their names in headlines for the duration. Keep your barf bag handy.

Do you listen to the radio via the Internet? Enjoy it while it lasts, because it’s doomed:

I like Accuradio.com. They provide the best selections of genres I have found yet. They’re always thinking of new ways to mix the music and appease the eclectic in all of us. Today, I received a desperate email from them:

Dear AccuRadio listener,

We’re organizing a campaign today that may save AccuRadio, and we need your help.

AccuRadio is facing a very serious issue that could silence us forever. As you may know, a recent government ruling has dramatically increased the royalties that Internet radio stations must pay to record labels and recording artists. In our case, it’s an almost 1,200% increase — jumping to about 150% of revenues in 2006 and beyond.

Since no business can survive if it has to pay 150% of revenues for a single expense, AccuRadio and most other webcasters will be bankrupted on July 15th when payment is due. (You can read more about this in a Seattle PI article here or Chicago Tribune article here.)

Fortunately, there is a solution on the horizon! A bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress called the "Internet Radio Equality Act" that would overrule the new rates and keep Internet radio alive.

Our goal today is to flood Congress with phone calls from AccuRadio listeners. Please, click the button below (between 9AM and 5PM ET) and call your two Senators and your Congressman and ask them to please co-sponsor the "Internet Radio Equality Act." (After you type in your zip code, you’ll be given the phone numbers to call and a sample script to use.)

 
Please, if you can, call today and help us save AccuRadio. Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,
Laura Holt
Editor

We’ve all heard about Digital Rights Management, a euphemism for Feed the Fat Cats, wherein entertainment media conglomerates are shaking in their Puss-N-Boots over the freewheeling technologies of the twenty-first century. To protect their market shares, companies like Sony BMG and Time Warner are creatively trying to limit the rights of paying customers to play music and video on any device they prefer. You can’t download from iTunes, burn it to CD to play in your car, nor can you buy Ghostbusters and copy it to your laptop to watch it after hours on a business trip. In order to protect the rights of the "owners" of the media, consumer rights are infringed.

If I remember my civics, free market trade is a cornerstone of Republican values. Regulating commerce in favor of the big guys is the antithesis of a free market. Not only is the White House loading the dice in favor of political contributors, it is betraying a long-held value of its constituents.This is just one of many ways the Bush administration has favored big business over all other considerations: The Best White House Money Can Buy.

Show your support of free markets and call your congressperson on behalf of consumer’s right to chose. And listen to the radio on the Internet, buy from their links and show the Fat Cats that online radio can be their friend.

In honor of Mother’s day. I post a link to last year’s ponderings: “Arise… Women of This Day” Indeed, on this day women are raising voices to the real spirit of the day: Peace.

Every day should be a celebration of peace. This one more than most. Let the sanity begin.

Anyone hoping to be the Republican presidential contender this time around has got to be commended - or crazy. (Why does Rudy Guiliani come to mind?) These intrepid idiotarians are backed into a corner of their own making so tightly their underwear has right angles. As evident by the empty words uttered at their presidential debate, the corner they’re in hasn’t a board left to stand on.

I’m not surprised to read the Washington Post’s report of Mayor Rudy is taking flack for his comments on abortion. John "Kevlar Kommando" McCain, arguably the Republican frontrunner, decries Rudy’s remarks as counter to "the fundamental principles of a conservative." Interesting choice of words from the veteran Baghdad shopper; the word "value" is notably absent.

That’s why it’ll be a murderous campaign for the Republican nomination. They can’t talk about their "values" without heckling from the media. In fact, they can’t talk about:

• Iraq
• US Attorneys
• Health Care
• Education
• Global Warming
• Republican Integrity
• George W Bush
• Tom DeLay
• Gitmo
• Walter Reed Hospital
• Osama Bin Laden

What’s left to talk about? Mayor Guiliani’s support of choice for women, his contributions to planned parenthood in the 1990’s. Naturally, the 101st Flying Keyboarders of Right Blogistan and conservative talk-show hosts are all over it. Their other talking points are as stale as last month’s saltines, their pet projects in the War against Brown People are just as unappetizing. All the while the few congressional Republicans who managed to hold onto their seats are fleeing any association with the White House like rats on a sinking ship. (More a fact than a simile.)

So give these hopefuls some credit. None have a chance in Hell of sitting in the Oval Office anytime soon, but they all have the intestinal fortitude to gamble their political futures on the thinnest of chances. For that they should get a medal for bravery. That or a straight jacket.

Reuters reports a BushCo deal to sell Iraq 400 million rounds of ammunition for a proposed cost of $500 million.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the Iraqi government had asked for up to 100 million rounds of both M855 5.56mm and 7.62mm ammunition for small arms, as well as about 200 million other bullets.

"This proposed sale directly supports the Iraqi government and serves the interests of the Iraqi people and the U.S., as well as offering hope for a more stable and peaceful Middle East," said the agency that handles government-to-government arms sales.

The package would help Iraqi forces "sustain themselves in their efforts to bring stability to the country and prevent overflow of unrest into neighboring countries," a statement said.

Where did the money come from? Iraq’s economy is trashed, the people don’t even have water or electricity, how can the government extract taxes from am impoverished and besieged people? Maybe their buying the bullets with all the millions of wasted and missing money the bush administration lost last year. That would explain much.

And really -

The notice of a proposed sale is required by law. Congress has the power to reject it. The deal could be worth up to $508 million if all options are exercised.

As part of the proposed package, the United States would sell 170,000 40mm HEDP grenades, 80,000 C-4 1-1/4 pound plastic explosive packets and 4.2 million feet of detonating cord.

The deal would also involve up to 75 million gallons (341 million liters) of diesel, 2.9 million gallons (13 million liters) of JP-8 jet fuel and 56.4 million gallons (256 million liters) of motor gasoline, the statement said.

The administration, in a separate notice to lawmakers, proposed to sell to Turkey Raytheon Co.-built AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and related gear valued at up to $71 million if all options are exercised.

- is this the path to peace? I supposed of they’re all dead, rotting in the desert sand and feeding the vultures, it would get mighty peaceful for a while. Later, after a few sandstorms bury the corpses, Exxon-Mobil-Connoco-Phillips-Citgo can move in and - using US troops as industrial security - pump all the oil from the dead ground. In a millions years or two, all the dead Iraqis will become another layer of petroleum themselves. Let the circle be unbroken…

Ahh …the inverse verbosity of the Bush administration: failure equals progress, war equals peace, culture of life equals Department of Defense, Department of Justice equals political cronyism, clean air act equals relaxed pollution controls, patriot act equals erosion of freedom… Had enough yet?

President Bush vetoed the military appropriations bill. The Democrats gave him every penny of the money he asked for, but dared to stipulate a withdrawal timetable and assurances that the Iraqi government become effective as a government. In typical stiff-necked style, the axe fell.

Four years after "Mission Accomplished." Over $8,800,000,000,000 spent at the rate of $1,560,000,000 per day. A casualty ratio of more than 30 Iraqis for every 1 US soldier. Still - WE CAN"T WIN THIS THING!!!!!

Another $124 billion is needed? Where did all the money go? That seems a reasonable question to ask, isn’t it?

Now, though, the money is not the issue. It was so badly needed a few weeks ago, but thanks to the (only) second veto Mr. Bush invoked, the needy military can scratch their bums while the process starts again. No doubt the Republican talking point memos are already circling the "It’s all the Dem’s fault" wagon. But it was the President that nixed the whole thing, so he’s culpable, too.

Nancy Pelosi notes the President "wants a blank check." As if a price point with 13 digits is insufficient. If $8 trillion dollars couldn’t get the job done, another few billion will make no difference. More soldiers will die with or without the money. Mr. Bush says:

"Setting a deadline for withdrawal would demoralize the Iraqi people, would encourage killers across the broader Middle East and send a signal that America will not keep its commitments…. Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure."

Let me break is to you slowly, man. The date with failure was May, 1, 2003. You took her to the movies to see "Top Gun Meets Mission Accomplished." If I remember right, all the Iraqis in the audience cried.