Sunday, August 13th, 2006Previous Entry | Archive Index | Current Blog | Next Entry
You know how in America somebody sends out a e-mail chain suggesting we all not buy gas on one day, and show those oil jerks how mad we are about high prices? And you know how the gas companies have record sales on the days previous to the agreed upon day as people get ready to not buy gas by buying gas? Do you see the analogy? You are going on your diet tomorrow, so pig out today. No wonder no one trusts the sincerity of these cease-fires. And this just after a)el president has decided to send Israel a bunch of M-26 cluster missiles, and b)Britain loses another cabinet minister who is miffed that M-26 shipments are going through England. It may not be the most gentlemanly way of expressing my incredulity, but: WTF? So, a cease-fire tomorrow. That means, what, exactly? Only single-digit deaths among citizen on both sides of the strip? The news gets to focus in Iraq again? And how, exactly does one negotiate a cease-fire with terrorists? I mean, are they even "terrorists" if they agree to something with another government? Stay tuned, world. Actually, you don't really have a choice.
And the result is, of course, huge lines at airport security around the world. Several flights where cancelled, and for all international and many domestic flights, passengers where barred from bringing anything on board except for ID. No phones, nothing with liquid in it at all, such as shampoo, toothpaste, or bottled water. It’s the days after 9/11 all over again everywhere (except New York, of course). Have the terrorists won? They've gotten to us again, just by getting arrested. British authorities have been tracking these people for months-- and airport security was not any different. America's home-grown nemesis, the conservative elite, have used this situation all over again to bolster their claims of being the only ones capable of protecting us. Dick Cheney, who told us Lamont's win in Connecticut would encourage "Al-Qaeda types," all but said "told you so" when news of these arrests hit the US. But Dick, you've known about this for several weeks now. How come you're only talking about it now? Because it's not "talking," it's "pouncing." It's opportunism at it’s finest. It's fear mongering. Look, if I call Dick and Co. terrorists, I'll be labeled a traitor. I'll be dismissed as a whacko, as an insensitive idiot for daring to equate a duly elected official with those who caused so much destruction in 9/11. But, what do terrorists do? They use fear to control people. And what are the neocons doing? They are using these fears to control people. I know, I took a logic class, if A does B and C does B, it does not mean necessarily that A is B. So that's why I won't go right out and call The World's Scariest Man an actual, literal, terrorist. But I have no problem whatsoever with asking folks to compare the two, and draw their own conclusions. Let's just see who's too scared to vote this November.
I was at risk of giving myself some kind of strange muscle strain, so often did I roll my eyes whenever Bill mentioned dad, or his childhood, or his kick-ass background as a kick-ass journalist. No holds-barred, no compromise, right there in the war-zones! And getting dumped on by Dan Rather for it, to boot! Why is Bill so tough? Because he would ask tough questions of Hillary Clinton, if she ever came on his show. Or Jesse Jackson! Or Eminem, gosh darn it! Instead, he gets gansta rappa and malcontent-extreme Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. (Of course, when Bill tries to quote Puff's lyrics, he ends up quoting Lil' Kim instead, but never mind that). The book is supposed to be highlights from intense interviews Bill's done on his show, "The O'Reilly Factor." He calls the arena for these events The No Spin Zone because he don't take no bull, he asks the tough questions. He makes the interviewee answer and no nonsense. Well, if the book is even a tiny indication of what goes on, it's no wonder the man is ridiculed by right and left alike. And these "highlights" are just that: four or five exchanges between Bill and his guest, sandwiched between long rants where Bill describes what's wrong with the country and why he's an amazing journalist and why his childhood and his dad where, just, so much better. I picked up this book, hoping Bill would do better than one star-- he's a moderare, right? He's for the legalization of marijuana, right? Nope, sorry, he's just a self-inflated, pompous ass. Thank goodness he kept it short, at least. And used a big font. And nice little one-sentence segues to guide me between chapters. And said nothing of substance, so that, even though he was spinning his rhetoric like a four-handed DJ at a rave, he was spinning, at the end, nothing.
Are you following this? Chafee is a moderate, or basically a Democrat in everything but name. He votes with the Dems on a lot of issues, so they want him over Laffey, easy. But Rhode Island is a blue state. If Laffey wins the primary, voters may end up picking an actual Democrat over him. All of this really gives one an appreciation for the writing on the first few season of The West Wing, doesn't it? Its was nearly realistic, there for a few years. Gosh.
|
For the past few weeks I've been fed up with the Israel-Hezbollah news, because that's all you get, and this new batch o' fun doesn’t seem to be any different than anything else they've been doing over the past 50+ years. But things keep changing, and so much so, that not blogging about it for a few days leaves me way behind. I already wrote that Israel was planning a full-scale invasion. Then they decided to wait a few days while the UN tried to come up with a piece of paper with sufficient words to make the world go "ooooh," And then Israel agreed to the cease-fire: but it's only effective Monday (tomorrow). So in the mean time it's not only business-as-usual, it's full speed ahead. Massive fighting, soldiers and citizens dying left and right, setting new records.
Democrat representative from Louisiana William Jefferson had his office raided by the FBI last week in an investigation into bribery charges against him and his office. This is a first for the FBI and a congressperson's office, but not a first for, obviously, pre-election corruptions scandals. I'm not going to defend WJ just because he's a Dem; I just want to point out that a host of challengers have jumped into the ring now that Jefferson looks weak. In Louisiana they don't do primaries-- if no one gets 50% of the vote, they go to a runoff between the top two finishers. So vote-splitting won't be the issue, and really these opportunists are in competition with one another, as Jefferson has eight terms under his belt and thus that much loyalty. Then again, he was taken off of Ways & Means as a result of this, so, elections aside, he's a weaker congressfellow than he was before.
Last week I finished reading a book that easily wins the most hypocritical title of the decade award. The No Spin Zone by Bill O'Reilly. Wow. You must recognize that calling it "The No Spin Zone" is, itself, an act of spin. But just that, all by itself, is irony, not necessarily hypocrisy. However, Bill O'Reilly obviously has no appreciation for irony. Perhaps it wasn't approved of by his father, a hard working humorless individual that Bill references, along with his childhood, whenever he wants to compare the nonsense of today with the simpler, more honest times of yesteryear.
Since Lamont beat Lieberman, Dems got behind the primary winner, while Republicans and even the darned white house got behind Lieberman. Why? Because Lamont's win is unifying Democrats in a leftward direction, while Lieberman represents the middle Republicans would like to move rightward. In Rhode Island, the tight Republican primary race is between incumbent, moderate Lincoln Chafee and conservative challenger Stephen Laffey. Hard line GoPers are backing Laffey, (missing the memo on party solidarity), and Dems are supporting Chafee, while secretly hoping Laffey wins so they can win a seat for the party with Sheldon Whitehead.