cognitorex

.
Re: (fromSalon) "Experts see a continuing pattern that began long ago: A Bush White House seizing greater executive power to the detriment of democratic principle."
Today's executive branch more closely resembles a Communist form of government than a form espousing democratic ideals.
The Bush style, motivation and form of government continues to appear modeled on establishing a Commissariat.
Place a commissar, (an official in any communist government whose duties include political indoctrination, detection of political deviation, etc.), at the head of as many agencies and functions as is possible.
The product of America's science agencies is vetted and amended by commissars. Now, after a massive firing of well qualified but politically suspect U.S. Attorney Generals, justice will be need be blessed by Bush's commissariat.
Under communism, reality is what the commissariat says is reality. In terms of business management, the marketing division takes control of the corporation. Sales may be plummeting, the engineering division in total disarray, financial resources hemorrhaging and investor confidence at an all time low but, but by controlling all public relations' releases, the CEO is free to promulgate a false reality.
I was once invited to participate in a boar hunt in Eastern Europe. I asked my prospective host; "if under communism all citizens are equal how does one rationalize that a peasant class would be beating the woods while we sat with shiny loaded weapons waiting for the boars to appear?"
He smiled and said, "ah, under communism some citizens are simply more equal than others."
The 'have' class allied to Bush feel entitled to lead America. If controlling the message that emanates from America's government branches and agencies includes elevating political imagery to primary goal status, uncircumscribed by truth, then establishing a network of inexperienced, hack commissar-like appointees is the way to go.

.
A just released Washington Post ABC Poll (here) shows that by a two thirds, one third margin American voters are against deploying increasing numbers of troops to Iraq.
I don't believe that Americans are truly voting against this military option. I believe they are, in numbers approaching shock and awe proportions, voting for new leadership.
Ask me if I am against the surge and increasing troop numbers in Iraq and I will vociferously say yes.
Ask me to sign a petition, demonstrate or take a poll and I will gladly lend my name that no escalation should be forthcoming.
Do I believe that I have sufficient information to intelligently second guess anyone on military tactics in Iraq?
No, no and emphatically no.
Then, you might ask, why are you willing to go to the length of demonstrating miles from home if you don’t feel qualified to second guess the decision to surge in Iraq.
Answer: I oppose the surge because I am vehemently opposed to a continuation of George Bush et al as the military and policy leadership of my country and my military.
My ‘No-surge’ vote is a vote of no confidence in our present leaders.I believe most Senate and House votes against escalation are in essence a no confidence vote for the President; a political statement first, a military tactics’ statement only by default.
I suggest a polling question that would illuminate my proposition that the no surge vote is a political no confidence vote rather than a strong feeling on how to proceed in Baghdad would useful.
To wit:
Part A: Do you support or oppose the President’s plan to send 40,000 additional troops to Iraq, the surge plan?
Part B: If the Iraq war military decision making leadership was turned over to a new commander in chief who had strong military and foreign policy credentials would you then support or oppose a similar surge plan if backed by this new leadership?
(Yes? No? Undecided?)
Voting against surging in Iraq reflects a deep desire for competent and accountable leadership. Or did you know that already?

Labels: escalation, Iraq, surge, vote of no confidence

Dear Laura Bush:

You care deeply about children and children's literacy. U.N. statistics show that 2 years ago 75% of Iraqi elementary age children were in school. Today only 25% are in school. Through inexperience, incompetence or greed (oil) your family has removed from millions of children the right to a safe environment and the opportunity of an education. If there is anything you can do to help, including your personal prayers, I'm sure these children will be grateful. Also, please don't say that much of Iraq is stable. Political statements that are dissonant with the tragic facts of Iraq today belittles you, me and America.

Labels: children's literacy, Iraq school attendance, Laura Bush

A recent return to meditation has caused an important shift in my relationship to the 'oneness'.
One pleasant result of this is that I feel excited to have a near term hobby of getting up to speed on the history of Eastern religion to intellectually circumscribe the personal knowledge from the meditation.

"I keep going to book stores and asking for the ' No-self Help ' section. So far I have only received quizzical stares at best but I feel I'm on a mission."

Craig Johnson

Labels: Meditation, nirvana, peace

(reprint from October 2005)

If emulation is the highest form of flattery, Dick Cheney should feel most flattered.

Right and left leaning politicians, pundits and journalists ask, in the aftermath of Scooter’s indictments, “ Why ..what could possibly be his motive for continuing to make (false) statements so at odds with the facts, even at odds with his own notes?”

The “Daily Show” has run clips of Cheney ferociously denying having made a certain statement, followed by archive footage of Mr. Cheney saying exactly that. Don Imus, of “Imus In The Morning” smilingly quips, referring to the V.P., “His lips are moving, so you know he’s lying.”

(Mr. Cheney’s hairdresser, one Miss Mila Darcey* who is well known for haircuts in the oilpatch, adoringly opines that people don’t get it. She argues that Dick Cheney, in actuality, is the most honest pol in Washington because he lies so totally, blatantly and obviously. Other politicians at least infer that they are telling the truth. Dick Cheney makes no such effort when he promulgates his oft repeated fatties.)

Having thus been home schooled in the Veep’s contortion of a values’ system, it may well be that Scooter was simply confused.

Craig Johnson

Labels: Cheney, Libby

There is ample evidence that the INC of Chalabi and Habib (they who brought us "Curveball", nuclear evidence , etc,) duped the US into attacking their enemy, Saddam's Iraq.
Feith, et al, were of course so smart, as they circumvented our intelligence community, that they accepted misinformation from Iran, transmitted top secret plus information to Iran and paid out tens of millions of dollars as they were being played by Iran.
Under what I call "Rules of the Playground" it would serve Iran right if the egoistic fools they lured into Iraq now set their cannons on Iran.
The fact that this administration first decides what it wants to do and then sets out to collect only the data that supports that mission should scare the living crap out of Iran.

(background data below)

"Iran used Chalabi to dupe U.S., report says"
By Knut Royce, 5.22..04, Newsday

WASHINGTON — The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that for years Iran has used a U.S.-funded arm of Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC) to funnel disinformation to the United States and to collect highly sensitive American secrets, according to intelligence sources. "Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the United States through Chalabi ...(and Habib who furnished false info to the US including "Curveball" and top secret plus info to Iran ) ....by furnishing through his Information Collection Program (ICP) information to provoke the United Sates into getting rid of Saddam Hussein," said an intelligence source who was briefed on the conclusions of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Labels: criminal incompetence, Feith, Iran, Iraq/ foreign policy, Neocons

.
"My guess is that ..the forces that we liberated by invading Iraq were so powerful and so uncontrollable that virtually nothing the United States might have done,...would have effectively prevented this (present) disintegration." (JOHN BURNS)

History of Planning: The Generals were forbade from writing a comprehensive post war plan under threat of being fired. The State Department's 15 Volume post-war plan and analysis was effectively trashed.

Since day one of the Iraq fiasco my mind frequently offers up what I call the "Einstein Exception." All time is relative.
Whether the mission in Iraq was to install a friendly government by force thusly cementing a US presence in hydrocarbon central or to vanquish a threatening regime it makes no difference. What makes a difference is that the amount of time available to plan a successful liberation was in no way constrained.
The speed at which the invasion was executed, which precluded comprehensive post-war planning, was itself the greatest element of incompetence.
I strongly argue that John Burns' argument is revisionist hogwash. It ignores major significant facts in evidence and is therefore, as a cogent argument, null and void.

(reference below to post war planning debate)

RUMSFELD FORBADE PLANS FOR POST WAR IRAQ.
Original news report, Daily Press, Virginia.
Paraphrased, General Scheid said that preparing a Phase 4 Plan as to handling the aftermath of defeating Saddam was not allowed, not even to be discussed on punishment of being "fired."A Phase 4 Plan would have tipped Congress and the public that Iraq would be or could be a very murderous multi-year extended engagement. Rhummy et al apparently considered that they could only tell the voters more palatable news that we would be warmly welcomed and that it would be a short engagement if no one planned for or was even allowed to outline the obvious and known probable downside contingencies.
The message, again paraphrased, was "Shinseki's honest estimate of troop needs and all normal post occupation planning are (to use a good fascist word) verboten. The lie that the Iraq mission will be easy, complete with flowers from the liberated, will be sold to the public and we do not want any negative scenario planning documents to see the light of day."
"The book "Assassin's Gate" tells the same story, i.e. that the State Department could not get a direct charge for preparing a post invasion plan and what was prepared by way of Phase 4 by the Army, de facto, never saw the light of day.
To summarize: the leadership of the United States prevented our entire Military and each and every one of our now dead or disabled troops the benefit of a normal, complete and required invasion plan in order that their hyped story for the public would not be subject to "smoking gun" evidence that they fully knew of the issues embodied in the maelstrom of post invasion Iraq.
Thousands of our troops and tens of thousand Iraqis are now dead in the service of deliberate and malicious lies. I can not remotely imagine the searing anger and bitterness a parent might feel if their child was now dead due to this act of calculated incompetence.

(Hat Tip Shaun Kikoshouse for Burns reference)

Labels: criminal incompetence, Iraq/ foreign policy, John Burns

Gulliverb's post concerning Bush's incompetent status as an international negotiator is so on the money.
I personally closed commercial banking deals exceeding a billion dollars in Europe, Eastern Europe (thru interpreters) and in the "oil patch" of SouthWest USA. To think that my knowledge of or relationship to any client or borrower went beyond their commercial interest would embody dangerous naivety. Bush is not stupid, he is simply a rank beginner in dealing with foreign nationals. To think that a "babe in the woods" such as Bush could penetrate to any level the machinations of a man who rose to the top of a nation through its secret police apparatus is incomprehensibly unthinkable.
When GW proffered Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, which was a seldom in a lifetime chance to affect the course of American jurisprudence for decades, he again displayed his dense narcissistic naivety. This too was pornographically incompetent as has been perhaps all of his foreign policy decisions.
Eschewing an attempt to impeach this clearly incompetent commander in chief(CIC), the legislature should construct a bill that defunds all mideast military engagement by a time certain unless the CIC position is placed in the hands of new executive body.
Given the damage to US interests world wide already extant and the unthinkable possibilities of what this CIC might unleash upon us and the world in his remaining 2 years, how could a hiatus to his reign not be the superior choice?

Labels: Bush Admin, impeachment, vote of no confidence, White House

Amoral Mary recently op-eded the GOP mantra that you can't support the troops unless you support the mission. Yet here are evil Dick and her venomous Mom supporting her in opposition to primo Republican hate propaganda.
That they are right to support their child even while they all embody global scale pornographic moral values sorta twists my brain a little.