Shlonkom Bakazay?

HA! BEE BEE C: (or baby, look...)...wa'lek shooooof!

UN criticises "limited" Iraq elections.

Surreal...when you have Rumsfeld, Bush, and Allawi mention, (as if it were) off-handed, that the elections in Iraq won't be perfect, but hey, that's ok. Iraq doesn't need to be a democracy right away. It can be a dictatorship again for a while. And it'll be just fine and slide into democracy later on.

Riiiiiiight. Sure, and I'm supposed to believe this whole staging of Allawi wasn't meant to win Bush some Iraq-points. Good style, but no substance or correllation to reality.

What a pile of smelly and scorching BS smothered all over and flaming up his slacks when he says only 3 of 18 provinces will perhaps not be able to vote. Baghdad, a city with 5 million people will probabIy end up being one of the 3. Sistani exististani! Al-Sistani is an awoken giant. It was smart for the piece (linked below) to come out in the Times the day of Allawi's speech. Whether this was intentional or not, who knows. But well done...



I'm going to take a page out of Bagnewsnotes and interpret what a couple pictures are really attempting to say in the NY Times.

1) Bush is thinking, "What kind of bird is that in the sky? Maybe it's not a bird."

2) Bush is thinking, "What am I doing here? When's lunch."

3) Bush is concerned, "Aye-Yad better remember to use the word limited like Karl told him to."

4) Bush wonders, "What is Aye-yad holding in his hand? I hope he doesn't kiss me like last night."

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of Iraq was embraced by Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, after addressing a joint meeting of Congress. "I stand here today as the prime minister of a country emerging finally from dark ages of violence," Dr. Allawi said.

1) Connecticut is for kissers

2) Lets take a closer look at that...


3) Cultural Exchange

4) Allawi is snoggling a republican for the other 17 Billion on the condition he gets a 10% finders fee

5) Allawi says before smooching, "Ya Hella Beek, Mr. Representative...let me show you how this Iraqi loves his brother"

* * *
Herbert and Krugman pack a steel-knuckled 1-2 punch in the Times today
+
an Editorial.

wah-dah tOWWW!

Update with magnanimous weight: River posted. Check out some of her sweetness, light, and insight.

Continuing the reBlogification of SB¿:

To my chagrin, I've been paying little attention to Professor Lessig this past week.



He notes that Robert Greenwald has fortunately released the interviews for his film Outfoxed under a creative commons license.

If you're a film-maker, you can now take all this original footage and do whatever you like with it. The beauty of copy-left.


On that note, check out the fantabulous Professor Eben Moglen and his website with all of his writing for free.



He's a very cool and approachable guy with a lot of interesting things to say about IP law.

I saw the headline, "Syrian Troops Leave Lebanon"...and I thought, maybe!! ...no, no...only 60 trucks of troops.



And yes, I'm for Syria leaving Lebanon right now. It's very complicated to explain, but I have certain loyalties that I cannot relinquish. I do see all sides of it, though. That would be pompous to say...actually, I see many sides of the situation. I am for Palestinian self-determination. I don't like Sharon OR Arafat. That gets that straight. I am also for Lebanese self-determination. And right now self-determination is marginal in Lebanon.

I saw the shape Lebanon was in very recently and I believe there needs to be a change in the status quo. Even though things look better downtown each day because gulf Arabs are flocking there and buying the joint up, I want Lebanon to maintain its Lebanese-ness. So, one way to shake things up is for Syria to leave and for there to be REAL elections. Not like this will ever happen, but I hope it will. Lebanon is kind of like Iran in the fact that it essentially appoints leaders. What it really needs is more jobs and it needs to stop being messed with by everybody: US, Syria, Iran, everybody damnit. Leave the Levant alone!

It's very unfortunate that it has to be one of the countries that suffers from the regional syndrome of political chicanary on steroids. Both of it's leaders are extremely corrupt: Lahoud and Hariri. But you wouldn't know that any of this phases the Lebanese if you went there. No matter what the circumstance is, we know how to party and live a good life. If you throw some bombs on us, we'll have a party in the bomb shelter. But don't get me wrong. The last thing Lebanon wants is war. But that's the last thing most people want, isn't it?

Stop messin' with Lebanon you walking-abortions.

Terrific. A bird just shit on my screen. We say that it is good luck, or rather that you'll get money, if a bird relieves itself on you. I wonder what it means when it relieves itself on your computer.

Cool, I can talk about a musician I actually like. pleeeeeease, enough about Cat Stevens already... Jello Biafra wrote Colby of 'My War' (or my prefered title-'Fear and Loathing in Iraq'-)a letter. And it rocks that he posted it. So go check it out.



Here's a sample to wet your appetite:

As long as people in the field speak up we have a chance of preserving the truth. Otherwise it's the bullshit gospel according to Fox News and The Bush-Croft regime and people'sown memory being erased even more than we've got now.

The Un Ponte site has some breaking information in Italian. Yes, I'm fluent in Italian. It seems as though the latest update was at 3.15am and they say that it's been a little time since the last update (at 1.51) with nothing new. They found out around 1am. And they believe the message up until this point is a little reliable. Speriamo. or We hope. Then, they say they'll need time for verification. "Now we return to silence and work. Until we are certain we will not have peace." ...

Let's hope for the best. Also, they mention that there was no word about Ra'ad and Manhaz in the message. And what's more important they noted the website posting the terrible message has been unreliable in the past. So we have both hope and some verifiable reality on our side still.

Update: Check on the Free Our Friends blog, or Un Ponte site. There's been a second claim from a different website.

'A selfish, market-driven society is eroding our very humanity'

The central site of intimacy is the family - as expressed in the relationship between partners, and between parents and children. Intimacy is a function of time and permanence. It rests on mutuality and unconditionality. It is rooted in trust. As such, it is the antithesis of the values engendered by the market.

When you lose mutuality and unconditionality from family, they seem less important. The principle of cause and effect is simple. Read the persuasive article by Martin Jacques.

I'll write more on this topic later.

This is probably an important article that you'll want to read. Let me just say that I am really sick of exiles having domination over the political process. And I agree with Ayatollah Al-Sistani's critical stance and caution regarding this matter. And I'm Christian.



We need stability and security. And these groups of exiles having a monopoly on political power will not help. Proper representation will. Imagine Sistani calling the people to the streets to overthrow the current government and destroy the occupation. Well, it is not far from the realm of possibility.

I don't wish for an Islamic state for Iraq. (And I don't believe Ayatollah Al-Sistani does either.) But I believe al-Sistani is one of few people that can possibly steer Iraq toward security, so he needs to get more involved. He's too respected to not get involved. But he should be wary of being used by Negroponte and Allawi to meet their ends.

People like New Zealand's Prime MInister Helen Clark are very hard to come by.



I heard an interview of hers on the BBC and it was remarkable. I wish there were more female leaders like her. She is pulling NZ out of Iraq by Saturday. All 61 army engineers will be back in their homes with their families. My, how that coalition-of-the-willing is-a-dwindling.

Vote for a woman in the next election.

I command you to.

The world will be a much better place if you do.

Bush's speech was directed at an American audience. He's trying to win political points in a really sick manner with invoking Sergio de Mello's name. What an asshole. Also, apparently, Iraq and Afghanistan are the two newest democracies in the world. That's another bullshit phrase. And it went on and on.

Kofi, meanwhile, took the chance to deftly voice his disdain for America avoiding international law. (txt) Although he spoke circuitously, his words were potent. And yes, it's a bit late, but Kofi is a good guy in a difficult situation. Imagine being the diplomat of diplomats. I have mixed feelings about the UN, but I'm now convinced Kofi didn't want this war. Therefore, he's aiiight.



And he really embarrassed Bush today. It seemed like the only person to acknowledge Bush during his speech was Hamid Karzai. Can you say client state boys and girls? Everybody else sat aghast at the ideological brick-brack coming out of Dubya's mouth. Fascinating.

Here's a good link for you. During a photo OP with Allawi, Bush was caught in a lie. Ah, always good to see that. But this time it wasn't John Stewart doing it. Peter Freakin' Jennings of ABC. So, why do people believe this guy? [the print story of this lie being caught]

Also, Juan Cole, with 'If America were Iraq, What would it be like?' is a must read.

Well, election time is almost here. And the panic is palpable in activism circles. But the people are polarized because of mixed psychological messages (i.e. the fear-mongering by the administration) and general ignorance of the historical and political. Reality is being totally avoided by Bush Inc., while more and more air raids are taking place to reduce American casualties heading into 2 November.

We'll see. It won't really matter for Iraq. The damage has already been done. But it will matter for the region and the rest of the world. So, it could indirectly matter...Ahhhh, I don't want to get into it.

out,
liminal

I would like to congratulate Tom Ridge and President Bush for preventing Cat Stevens from landing in Washington. I mean, really, good job guys. I see why we have the new measures in place now. America is safer, isn't it? You diverted Islam from arriving in D.C.! I mean that guy's fucking crazy...with his peace train re-release last year before the war. I mean, come on, his name is Islam. Isn't that what you're fighting Mr. President?

Oh, no...I remember now, you said Islam is a religion of peace...but that we should destroy the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in order to allow Iraqis to become a democracy. Oh, wait...you said Iraq was a democracy already yesterday. And that was actually McCain talking about Fallujah...and Fallujah's not a holy city, right? So it can be sacrificed to make America even safer than it already is. But Iraq is a 'crucible of terrorism' according to Tony Blair. Then let me get this straight. So, it is right that you divert Islam in order to destroy the crucible so that peace can come out of religion? Isn't it?

No, wait, I'm confused.

Are you trying to stoke the fires of extremisms Mr. President? Now, be careful, you're really going to piss off some people in Iraq because you detained Islam. You could have at least censored the press from releasing this damaging report having to do with some hippy turned devout orthodox muslim, Cat Stevens.

He always thought it was a wild world. And I bet when the morning broke, he didn't believe he would be taking the peace train to bangor, maine.

All in all, I think creating the massive beuraucracy of the Department of Homeland Security, passing the Patriot Act, and having this war on Iraq has really made America (and the world) safer in diverting Cat Stevens, aka Yusuf Islam, from D.C.

Congratulations for fending off the dangerous spectre of Cat Stevens and not allowing the peace train to land from the sky into the bosom of the holy capitol of this most civilized of all nations.

___

[gag gag EKKK...(loud thud)]

who's there?!

[crash!...another loud thud, and a door slams]

OH, that was my evil twin brother, subliminal.

that bastard is cramping my style.

peace everybody,
limAHnal

---

Update: Professor Cole sets the record straight as far as Cat Stevens deportation goes. You learn something new everyday.

...I have a hard time rushing to Yusuf Islam's defense because I never forgave him for advocating the execution of Salman Rushdie in 1989. He endorsed Khomeini's "fatwa" or death edict against Rushdie for the novel, Satanic Verses. He later explained this position away by saying that he did not endorse vigilante action against Rushdie, but would rather want the verdict to be carried out by a proper court. These are weasel words, since he was saying that if Khomeini had been able to field some Revolutionary Guards in London to kidnap Rushdie and take him to Tehran, it would have been just dandy if he were then taken out and shot for having written his novel. In my view, that entire episode of the Khomeini fatwa showed how sick some forms of Muslim activism had become, and served as a foretaste of al-Qaeda's own death warrant served on a lot of other innocent people.

And, the disavowal wasn't even consistent. AP reported on March 8, 1989, that "Cat Stevens Endorses Rushdie Death Sentence Again," writing:


' Former pop singer Cat Stevens reiterated his support for the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie, saying the author's treatment of Islam was "as good as stabbing Moslems in the heart." . . . "It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again," Stevens said in an interview with the television show "World Monitor," produced by The Christian Science Monitor . . Stevens, who said the novel's treatment of Islam was "as good as stabbing Moslems in the heart," suggested that Rushdie should repent writing the book. "If he manages to escape (the death sentence) he still has to face God on the day of judgment," he said. "So I would recommend to him to sincerely change his ways right now." '


At the time, Rushdie's life was in imminent danger, and Cat Stevens was skating pretty close to inciting to murder. (What else is the "deterrent" he is talking about?)

So, to steal from Bill Maher:

NEW RULES: If you advocate the execution of novelists for writing novels, you and John Ashcroft deserve one another.

Michelangelo Antonioni is perhaps one of the most thought-provoking directors to ever come out of Italy. The art of film in the 1950s would have been dull if it weren't for such a fresh take. When it seemed as though every convention in film was used up, the likes of Antonioni and Fellini convincingly created new ones. They explored spaces and took the viewer to places that have never existed.

So, type his name then watch a movie of his.

I'm sorry, I think I missed that.

You said yesterday Kerry "prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy". Where is the hope in Iraq when violence seems to be a downward spiral? And don't you think there would be hope if there was security?

There is no security in Iraq, Mr. President.

Why?

Why is electricity still a problem, Mr. President?

Why is water supply still a problem, Mr. President?

Why is Iraqi unemployment so high? It is easier to destroy a country than rebuild it, isn't it?

Mr. President, why has nobody accepted any responsibility at all for the torture and abuse in Iraqi prisons?

And why have you invited foreign terrorists inside Iraq with this invasion, Mr. President, and decided it has made America safer?

You are playing right into Al Qaida's hands, Mr. President.

And they want you to win the election Mr. President.

How does it feel to have such an ally in politics, Mr. President?

It makes no sense to me. Seems like nothing has changed in Iraq since Saddam's potential threat--that gave neo-conservatives penis-envy--was eliminated by humiliating, killing, wounding, and alienating a whole population to get to one sick bastard. Creating new threats that have torn the fabric of civic life in Iraq to the point where people fear walking out on the streets has been a specialty of the CPA, IGC, and now, the Iraqi Interim Government. Thanks for making tax-payers dollars switch Saddam out, for an American version of practically the same damn thing. The blind-fold? The sexual assault? I'm glad that she wasn't killed.

I know Rove and Wolfowitz are admirers of Machiavelli. (And wasn't Saddam?) Well, if they read it a bit closer they'd understand that this is the wrong way to go about occupying a country. So here are some excerpts of the appalling account of Ms. Huda Alazawi...do you want to know why she's in this situation? Not just a few bad apples, but very bad intel & counter-intuitive and demented methodology. And I'm supposed to believe this is an isolated incident? See Seymour Hersh's "Chain of Command" for a more plausible explanation.

Alazawi says that US guards left her sitting on the chair overnight, and that the next day they took her to a room known by detainees as "the torturing place". "The US officer told us: 'If you don't confess we will torture you. So you have to confess.' My hands were handcuffed. They took off my boots and stood me in the mud with my face against the wall. I could hear women and men shouting and weeping. I recognised one of the cries as my brother Mu'taz. I wanted to see what was going on so I tried to move the cloth from my eyes. When I did, I fainted."

Like most Iraqi women, Alazawi is reluctant to talk about what she saw but says that her brother Mu'taz was brutally sexually assaulted. Then it was her turn to be interrogated. "The informant and an American officer were both in the room. The informant started talking. He said, 'You are the lady who funds your brothers to attack the Americans.' I speak some English so I replied: 'He is a liar.' The American officer then hit me on both cheeks. I fell to the ground.

Alazawi says that American guards then made her stand with her face against the wall for 12 hours, from noon until midnight. Afterwards they returned her to her cell. "The cell had no ceiling. It was raining. At midnight they threw something at my sister's feet. It was my brother Ayad. He was bleeding from his legs, knees and forehead. I told my sister: 'Find out if he's still breathing.' She said: 'No. Nothing.' I started crying. The next day they took away his body."
...
Alazawi is reticent about the question of sexual abuse of Iraqi women but says that neither she nor any of the other women in Abu Ghraib at the time were sexually assaulted by US guards. In his subsequent report into the scandal, however, Major General Antonio Taquba found that at least one US military policemen had raped a female inmate inside Abu Ghraib; a letter smuggled out of the prison by a woman known only as "Noor", containing allegations of rape, was found to be entirely accurate. Other witnesses interviewed by the Guardian have said that US guards "repeatedly" raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who was held in the block last year. They also said that guards made several of the women inmates parade naked in front of male prisoners.

That's remarkable enough for me to say something. I have a rekindled hope that some of what I thought would not come out, will indeed come out. "You can hide from the truth, but the truth is all there is..." - Handsome Boy Modelling School

I had a feeling that this was what it was all about: Getting rid of the potentiality of Saddam's will. I want to say my feeling has been confirmed with Novak's article. This has got to be a news leak from administration officials...similar to the one that leaked Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife's name. Here's a few sentences from it.

This prospective policy is based on Iraq's national elections in late January, but not predicated on ending the insurgency or reaching a national political settlement. Getting out of Iraq would end the neoconservative dream of building democracy in the Arab world. The United States would be content having saved the world from Saddam Hussein's quest for weapons of mass destruction.

The reality of hard decisions ahead is obscured by blather on both sides in a presidential campaign. Six weeks before the election, Bush cannot be expected to admit even the possibility of a quick withdrawal. Sen. John Kerry's political aides, still languishing in fantastic speculation about European troops to the rescue, do not even ponder a quick exit. But Kerry supporters with foreign policy experience speculate that if elected, their candidate would take the same escape route.

I have nothing to say about politics for a while, unless something pretty remarkable happens. What election? In Iraq? In the U.S.?

And the human consequences will have to be dealt with for a long time to come. Included, there will be the disappointment of the Iraqi people and of the American people who have lost too much while gaining too little.

Senator John McCain proved he's about just as dumb as Bush Inc. is when it comes to the situation in Iraq when he made comments that amounted to saying that Fallujah needs to be attacked in order for there to be national elections in Iraq. Professor Cole and a nytimes article I read earlier (but can't find now) drew my attention to the senator's comments on FOCKsNews.

This kind of logic is extremely foolish (yet par for the course) and isn't going to be received well by Iraqis. He was right about the looting after the initial fall of Baghdad, though. But yet again another politician is patting himself on the back with hindsight 20/20. It's like making spaghetti out of silly putty. Iraqis like me can't cook or eat that...so it's a waste of your time hehhhbeebi. Oh, I forgot it's an election year and you've gotta play tough to make sure people know that Boosh is the mukh'tar for the American people on November 2nd. Can't show any cracks in the armor now, can we? That ain't how we play says Johnny 'too good' McCain.

Republicans can continue to be wrong about things and still receive the support of the American people. It's remarkable to me. My wish is to comprehend who is accountable for Abu Ghraib and the inane assaults that kill more civilians than bad guys. My list of things that must be held accountable for is long of course, but that's the short of it.

I wish Kerry Edwards was actually a really hot woman, instead of those two useless muppets miserably trying to beat Cheney Bush. If Kerry doesn't snap out of it, he's going to really embarrass himself come November.

NOTE: Newshounds.us is the website that churns out a fair interpretation of the lies that appear 24hrs/day on FoxNews. I was going to put up a link to Fox News (lies) on the sidebar, but now I'll put up this site instead.

And try to check out "OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism". Again, it was made by the same people who made "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War".

I am toying with the idea that the military draft is coming back in the US. I can't quite put my finger on the pulse of the possibility, though. Soon enough...what do you think? Perhaps it will make America more accountable in its foreign policy? And that's a positive consequence.

out,
LIM

A plant, an animal, the orderly arrangement
of the cosmos -- presumably therefore the entire natural world
-- clearly show that they are possible only according to ideas,
and that though no single creature in the conditions of its
individual existence coincides with the idea of what is most
perfect in its kind -- just as little as does any human being
with the idea of humanity, which he yet carries in his soul
as the archetype of his actions -- these ideas are none the
less completely determined in the Supreme Understanding,
each as an individual and each as unchangeable, and are
the original causes of things. But only the totality of things,
in their interconnection as constituting the universe, is
completely adequate to the idea. If we set aside the
exaggerations in Plato's methods of expression, the philosopher's
spiritual flight from the ectypal mode of reflecting upon the
physical world-order to the architectonic ordering of it
according to ends, that is, according to ideas, is an enterprise
which calls for respect and imitation. It is, however, in regard
to the principles of morality, legislation, and religion, where
the experience, in this case of the good, is itself made possible
only by the ideas -- incomplete as their empirical expression
must always remain -- that Plato's teaching exhibits its quite
peculiar merits. When it fails to obtain recognition, this is due
to its having been judged in accordance with precisely those
empirical rules, the invalidity of which, regarded as principles,
it has itself demonstrated. For whereas, so far as nature is
concerned, experience supplies the rules and is the source of
truth, in respect of the moral laws it is, alas, the mother of
illusion! Nothing is more reprehensible than to derive the laws
prescribing what ought to be done from what is done, or to
impose upon them the limits by which the latter is
circumscribed.



But though the following out of these considerations is
what gives to philosophy its peculiar dignity, we must meantime
occupy ourselves with a less resplendent, but still meritorious
task, namely, to level the ground, and to render it
sufficiently secure for moral edifices of these majestic
dimensions. For this ground has been honeycombed by subterranean
workings which reason, in its confident but fruitless search
for hidden treasures, has carried out in all directions, and
which threaten the security of the superstructures.



Our present duty is to obtain insight into the transcendental employment
of pure reason, its principles and ideas, that we may be in a
position to determine and estimate its influence and true value.
Yet, before closing these introductory remarks, I beseech
those who have the interests of philosophy at heart (which is
more than is the case with most people) that, if they find
themselves convinced by these and the following considerations,
they be careful to preserve the expression 'idea' in
its original meaning, that it may not become one of those
expressions which are commonly used to indicate any and
every species of representation, in a happy-go-lucky confusion,
to the consequent detriment of science. There is no lack
of terms suitable for each kind of representation, that we
should thus needlessly encroach upon the province of any one
of them. Their serial arrangement is as follows. The genus
is representation in general (repraesentatio). Subordinate to
it stands representation with consciousness (perceptio). A
perception which relates solely to the subject as the modification
of its state is sensation (sensatio), an objective perception
is knowledge (cognitio). This is either intuition or concept
(intuitus vel conceptus). The former relates immediately to the
object and is single, the latter refers to it immediately by means
of a feature which several things may have in common. The
concept is either an empirical or a pure concept. The pure
concept, in so far as it has its origin in the understanding alone
(not in the pure image of sensibility), is called a notion. A
concept formed from notions and transcending the possibility
of experience is an idea or concept of reason. Anyone who
has familiarised himself with these distinctions must find it
intolerable to hear the representation of the colour, red, called
an idea. It ought not even to be called a concept of
understanding, a notion.

1.Invitation

Take a chance and try my fare!
It will grow on you, I swear;
Soon it will taste good to you!
If by then you should want more,
All the things I've done before
Will inspire things quite new.

2. My Happiness

Since I grew tired of the chase
And search, I learned to find;
And since the wind blows in my face,
I sail with every wind.

more of these later...

now,

Consciousness.— Consciousness is the last and latest development of the organic and hence also what is most unfinished and unstrong. Consciousness gives rise to countless errors that lead an animal or man to perish sooner than necessary, "exceeding destiny," as Homer puts it. If the conserving association of the instincts were not so very much more powerful, and if it did not serve on the whole as a regulator, humanity would have to perish of its misjudgments and its fantasies with open eyes, of its lack of thoroughness and its credulity—in short, of its consciousness; rather, without the former, humanity would long have disappeared! Before a function is fully developed and mature it constitutes a danger for the organism, and it is good if during the interval it is subjected to some tyranny! Thus consciousness is tyrannized—not least by our pride in it! One thinks that it constitutes the kernel of man; what is abiding, eternal, ultimate, and most original in him! One takes consciousness for a determinate magnitude! One denies it growth and its intermittences! One takes it for the "unity of the organism"!— This ridiculous overestimation and misunderstanding of consciousness has the very useful consequence that it prevents an all too fast development of consciousness. Believing that they possess consciousness, men have not exerted themselves very much to acquire it—and things haven't changed much in this respect! To this day the task of incorporating knowledge and making it instinctive is only beginning to dawn on the human eye and is not yet clearly discernible—a task that is seen only by those who have comprehended that so far we have incorporated only our errors and that all our consciousness relates to errors!