Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

North Korea: Worth Mentioning?
North Korea may or may not have detonated a nuclear test device, and it may or may not have been successful. Specialist around the world are placing the blast at anywhere form less than a kiloton (about a 4 on the Richter scale) to as much as 15 kilotons (about the size of "Little Boy" dropped on Hiroshima). What will the US do about it? We may or may not talk to them. The concern here, of course, is not just that they have the bomb, but that will probably sell it. Of course our president has said that he would hold NK responsible if terrorists get hold of the bomb. Big whoop. The real lesson here is that Bush said he wouldn't let our worst enemies get the bomb, and with that in mind and under false pretenses, invaded Iraq, not the country that actually made a bomb (or not). Nice one. Not.

Mo' Foley
Since last I wrote, Foley has admitted he's gay, admitted he's an alcoholic, and claimed that he was molested as a child by a member of the clergy. This has given the GoP a bit of fuel to restate that gays and pedophiles are closely linked (they are not) though no one seems to care about the alcohol excuse. I haven't listened to all the talking heads, but I have heard that some of them are repeating the tired old myth that gays reproduce by molesting young boys and turning them gay. That's like trying to make someone white by rubbing white paper on their heads. Moving on, Foley has also admitted having sex with an ex-page who was 21, Dennis Hastert has denied up and down that he knew anything about any of it, and that he would fire anyone who did know about it. There are about a billion investigations going on right now.

Republicans have been using single-issues to lynch their opponents for years, and now they are being hosted by their own petards. They have created an environment where any old corrupt ne'er-do-well can get into office as long as he calls his opponent a baby killer or a dove, and now the people are reacting to the Foley scandal exactly as trained: they have no confidence in the GoP. The latest polls but the GoP below democrats on leadership, moral values, and for the first time since the war, Demos are exactly even on the security issue.

What started out as a glimmer of hope for Dems soon became a tight fight for the election, and with 4 weeks to go is now looking like a sure-thing. But complacency is not an option, yet. We've had Abramoff, Delay, Ney, Allen, Foley, but we can't expect the Republicans to keep hemorrhaging these scandals. We have to get out there, vote, impeach, and move this country back to a place of warmth before we can rest.

Iraq Facts
Let's just say that Bush had not invaded Iraq as a measure to fight terror, and let's just say that because of this, terrorist attacked us again. After all, the Hannity Limbaugh Coulters can’t stress enough that the original WTC attack was back in 1993 under Clinton, and that because Clinton did nothing, 9/11 happened. So, let's see. The time from 1993 to 2001 is eight years. So let's assume we'd be hit again in 8 years. In 2001, 3000 people died, and the total financial impact was about $27.2 billion. That means by 2009 we could expect another $30 billion or so and another 3000 dead, or so. This may be some seriously skewed logic, but it's all I have to work with, so bear with me. In 2006, 5 years after 9/11, we already have 2600 dead American soldiers, 45,000 dead Iraqi civilians, and we've spent over 300 billion. I, personally, don't want anyone to die at all. But it seems to me that even if we accept George Bush's insane premise, that we had to attack Iraq to prevent terrorism, he's done far more damage to us than any kind of good. We have not been protected. We have been prostituted.

Don't Hate the Church, Hate the Players
I read an article on Monday that describes how a catholic woman, an acolyte (nun in training), was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently kicked out of the order. The article did not list any other details, other than that the Mother Superior of this convent decided this poor sister was not going to fit in any more, and so she lost her home and her health insurance. The ex-nun's response was to not bad-mouth anyone, because she still loves the church. The article went on to describe other alleged malfeasance by churches, and how the government won’t do much about it, thanks to the 1st amendment. So here's what I propose that woman do: she should sue the church for divorce. Afterall, she was married to God, and the church forced her out against her will. My take away from all of this was not to hate the church, mind you, because there's no indication that it is Catholic policy to kick the sick away. Nevertheless, it makes you wonder: if we can't trust a congressman, or an Abbess, who can we trust?