Sunday, December 31, 2006

1000 hits!

Oh, there may be a few less, since I didn't hit that 'don't count my server' switch for a while, but hey! 1005 according to my latest Sitemeter report!

Thanks to all!

Starting in August, I made a resolution to post every day. Since then, I've been decent - a good start and then a falling away. Still, about 5 posts a week.

I want to thank Wege at Norwegianity, who is responsible for many of my peak days, as well as Melissa at Shakepeare's Sister.

Oh - I'm going to be dropping my nicotine monkey into the permanent (I devoutly hope) incinerator tomorrow (i.e., I'm quitting smoking) so I'll either 1) post more, 2) post less, or 3) post increasingly bitter and lunatic flights of withdrawl angst. Just be warned.

And besides this, Bush abdicandum est*.
(*Bush must resign)

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

More on the Strib buyout

nihilix and Braniac4 discussing the Strib buyout:

They want to make more money on the Strib. If I had it, I'd cut it's size drastically and market to the niche of people who want good media. Since not too long ago, the Strib made 87% of it's money on adverstising, they have to increase their sale of ads. Since as Brainy says, they can't sell so many ads that the paper weighs 10 pounds and they need a new set of trucks to deliver them, how else do they make money?

One of my worries is that they will try and sell their news content - or what they call the 'news hole' - so you effectively get more ads in the same place. This includes things like poorly-marked 'adver-news' suppliments (oooh! one about the new fucking stadium!) or even more of the press-release driven journalism about new medical devices or whatever the fuck goes in where Camp Snoopy was.


And besides this, Bush abdicandum est*.
(*Bush must resign)

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Star Tribune bought. Layoffs to come?

Oh gods. First the news that Anders Gyllenhall leaves the Strib - and now they're sold.

To someone called 'Avista', which is bad, because companies with bullshit made-up-word names are there to screw SOMEONE. (Xcel. Qwest. Enron.)

Let's see what their website says about their media holdings...

"Avista targets companies that have strong, often proprietary, positions...
(...we like buying monopolies)
in attractive niche sectors...
(...that cater to rich people)
of the content-creation, content-packaging and content-distribution segments of the media industry.
(We don't really care about what they do - it's all just product for us
.)
These businesses are characterized by stable cash flows, attractive margins and low capital-expenditure and working-capital requirements.
(OK - we like stuff that makes money, makes good money, and doesn't take much money to set up or run. Hmm... Fond of running a tight ship... is that a layoff I smell?)


Avista prefers media businesses with lower technology risk...
(We aren't too dot-commie...)
and those that offer the opportunity to capitalize on Avista's operating expertise to build more robust revenue growth.
(... and give you the opportunity to make money on our expertise in squeezing the most blood out of every dollar.)
In addition, Avista has particular interest in well-branded companies that can exploit additional and emerging distribution channels and/or improve the geographic reach of their content.
(We're also going to be increasing our brand advertising and our monopoly power and drive out other competition. We won't be buying the Pioneer Press and shutting it down. No sir.)
Avista believes attractive investment opportunities will be found in niche markets and mid-sized companies that are not the focus of most mainstream media investors.
(Thar's money in fanatics and under those little stones.)

WELL! I feel relieved, don't you? They want to make more money on the Strib. If I had it, I'd cut it's size drastically and market to the niche of people who want good media. Since not too long ago, the Strib


And besides this, Bush abdicandum est*.
(*Bush must resign)

Hope everyone is merry...

Muslims are in the Hajj - thanks to a lunar calendar, things move around a bit according to our solar year, so this time around the crazy times in Mecca are December 31 to January 2. Hope all goes smoothly this year - there's a lot of pissed-ness in the Islamic world. Something about being used and abused and discriminated against.

Haven't had access for a couple of days - wonder if Virgil Goode has been repudiated by the White House. I'm not holding my breath.

And another counter-carol; we're still in the 12 days of Xmas, the 5 days of Saturnalia, and it's the first day of Kwanzaa (Unity, if I recall correctly)

Wal-Mart the Corporate Monster
Tune: Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer
New Words: nihilix and LeighAnne

Wal-Mart the corporate monster
Has a lot of sweat shop stuff
And if you call them on it
They begin to lie and bluff

All of the Wal-Mart workers
Get their health from Medicare
And if they’re feeling sickly
They’re no longer working there!

Then one muggy May the 1st
Joe Hill came to say
Workers now unleash your rage
Force them to pay living wage!

And they all formed a union
Kicked Sam Walton in the ass
That really showed ol' Wal-Mart
You can't stop the working class!


And besides this, Bush abdicatum est*.


(Bush must resign)

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Little Hummer Boy

Spent some time caroling at the anti-war demo in Uptown Minneapolis today... realized that I've got tons of seasonally-appropriate content ready to go!

CounterPropaganda Carolers present:
Little Hummer Boy
Tune: Little Drummer Boy
New Words: nihilix

I use lots of gas
In my SUV
And on the roads I pass
In my SUV
you must look out for me
And my SUV
because I must drive free
In my SUV… my SUV… my SUV

My mileage is so vile
In my SUV
I'm in complete denial
In my SUV
Gas will be cheap once more
For my SUV
Good thing we've got a war
For my SUV… my SUV… my SUV

Let's fight that war for oil
And my SUV
Blood on Iraqi soil
For my SUV
Lets drop s'more bombs now
For my SUV
It might bring back the Dow
and my SUV… my SUV… my SUV…

Waste en-er-gy

And besides this, Bush must resign.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Blog Block

Ehh - holidays, more holidays, work crappyness (due in large part to the holidays), and more means very little blog posting. Sorry!

And besides this, Bush must resign.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Blair, Brits knew WMD was a lie.

There's a great line in this article about Tony Blair trying to "draw a line" under the justification for the illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Problem is, each time he draws that line, the blood seeps down and obliterates it.

This is from the Independent, and here's the whole damn thing.

Diplomat's suppressed document lays bare the lies behind Iraq war
By Colin Brown and Andy McSmith
Published: 15 December 2006

The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

A devastating attack on Mr Blair's justification for military action by Carne Ross, Britain's key negotiator at the UN, has been kept under wraps until now because he was threatened with being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act.

In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did HMG [Her Majesty's Government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."

Mr Ross revealed it was a commonly held view among British officials dealing with Iraq that any threat by Saddam Hussein had been "effectively contained".

He also reveals that British officials warned US diplomats that bringing down the Iraqi dictator would lead to the chaos the world has since witnessed. "I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms during our discussions with the US (who agreed)," he said.

"At the same time, we would frequently argue when the US raised the subject, that 'regime change' was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos."

He claims "inertia" in the Foreign Office and the "inattention of key ministers" combined to stop the UK carrying out any co-ordinated and sustained attempt to address sanction-busting by Iraq, an approach which could have provided an alternative to war.

Mr Ross delivered the evidence to the Butler inquiry which investigated intelligence blunders in the run-up to the conflict.

The Foreign Office had attempted to prevent the evidence being made public, but it has now been published by the Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs after MPs sought assurances from the Foreign Office that it would not breach the Official Secrets Act.

It shows Mr Ross told the inquiry, chaired by Lord Butler, "there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW [chemical warfare], BW [biological warfare] or nuclear material" held by the Iraqi dictator before the invasion. "There was, moreover, no intelligence or assessment during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack against its neighbours or the UK or the US," he added.

Mr Ross's evidence directly challenges the assertions by the Prime Minster that the war was legally justified because Saddam possessed WMDs which could be "activated" within 45 minutes and posed a threat to British interests. These claims were also made in two dossiers, subsequently discredited, in spite of the advice by Mr Ross.

His hitherto secret evidence threatens to reopen the row over the legality of the conflict, under which Mr Blair has sought to draw a line as the internecine bloodshed in Iraq has worsened.

Mr Ross says he questioned colleagues at the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence working on Iraq and none said that any new evidence had emerged to change their assessment.

"What had changed was the Government's determination to present available evidence in a different light," he added.

Mr Ross said in late 2002 that he "discussed this at some length with David Kelly", the weapons expert who a year later committed suicide when he was named as the source of a BBC report saying Downing Street had "sexed up" the WMD claims in a dossier. The Butler inquiry cleared Mr Blair and Downing Street of "sexing up" the dossier, but the publication of the Carne Ross evidence will cast fresh doubts on its findings.

Mr Ross, 40, was a highly rated diplomat but he resigned because of his misgivings about the legality of the war. He still fears the threat of action under the Official Secrets Act.

"Mr Ross hasn't had any approach to tell him that he is still not liable to be prosecuted," said one ally. But he has told friends that he is "glad it is out in the open" and he told MPs it had been "on my conscience for years".

One member of the Foreign Affairs committee said: "There was blood on the carpet over this. I think it's pretty clear the Foreign Office used the Official Secrets Act to suppress this evidence, by hanging it like a Sword of Damacles over Mr Ross, but we have called their bluff."

Yesterday, Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons who was Foreign Secretary during the war - Mr Ross's boss - announced the Commons will have a debate on the possible change of strategy heralded by the Iraqi Study Group report in the new year.

The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

A devastating attack on Mr Blair's justification for military action by Carne Ross, Britain's key negotiator at the UN, has been kept under wraps until now because he was threatened with being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act.

In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did HMG [Her Majesty's Government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."

Mr Ross revealed it was a commonly held view among British officials dealing with Iraq that any threat by Saddam Hussein had been "effectively contained".

He also reveals that British officials warned US diplomats that bringing down the Iraqi dictator would lead to the chaos the world has since witnessed. "I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms during our discussions with the US (who agreed)," he said.

"At the same time, we would frequently argue when the US raised the subject, that 'regime change' was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos."

He claims "inertia" in the Foreign Office and the "inattention of key ministers" combined to stop the UK carrying out any co-ordinated and sustained attempt to address sanction-busting by Iraq, an approach which could have provided an alternative to war.

Mr Ross delivered the evidence to the Butler inquiry which investigated intelligence blunders in the run-up to the conflict.

The Foreign Office had attempted to prevent the evidence being made public, but it has now been published by the Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs after MPs sought assurances from the Foreign Office that it would not breach the Official Secrets Act.

It shows Mr Ross told the inquiry, chaired by Lord Butler, "there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW [chemical warfare], BW [biological warfare] or nuclear material" held by the Iraqi dictator before the invasion. "There was, moreover, no intelligence or assessment during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack against its neighbours or the UK or the US," he added.

Mr Ross's evidence directly challenges the assertions by the Prime Minster that the war was legally justified because Saddam possessed WMDs which could be "activated" within 45 minutes and posed a threat to British interests. These claims were also made in two dossiers, subsequently discredited, in spite of the advice by Mr Ross.

His hitherto secret evidence threatens to reopen the row over the legality of the conflict, under which Mr Blair has sought to draw a line as the internecine bloodshed in Iraq has worsened.

Mr Ross says he questioned colleagues at the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence working on Iraq and none said that any new evidence had emerged to change their assessment.

"What had changed was the Government's determination to present available evidence in a different light," he added.

Mr Ross said in late 2002 that he "discussed this at some length with David Kelly", the weapons expert who a year later committed suicide when he was named as the source of a BBC report saying Downing Street had "sexed up" the WMD claims in a dossier. The Butler inquiry cleared Mr Blair and Downing Street of "sexing up" the dossier, but the publication of the Carne Ross evidence will cast fresh doubts on its findings.

Mr Ross, 40, was a highly rated diplomat but he resigned because of his misgivings about the legality of the war. He still fears the threat of action under the Official Secrets Act.

"Mr Ross hasn't had any approach to tell him that he is still not liable to be prosecuted," said one ally. But he has told friends that he is "glad it is out in the open" and he told MPs it had been "on my conscience for years".

One member of the Foreign Affairs committee said: "There was blood on the carpet over this. I think it's pretty clear the Foreign Office used the Official Secrets Act to suppress this evidence, by hanging it like a Sword of Damacles over Mr Ross, but we have called their bluff."

Yesterday, Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons who was Foreign Secretary during the war - Mr Ross's boss - announced the Commons will have a debate on the possible change of strategy heralded by the Iraqi Study Group report in the new year.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

The Bush Regime - in pictures

All of this is gleefully credited to BAGnewsNotes. Great site for digging into those worth-a-thousand-words pictures that we don't usually see on the internets. There's a great analysis of a White House photo up there now - and here's the money quote:

It's President Bush, self-styled Leader of the Free World, who takes the prize for transparency: we can see right through him, and there's nothing there. Forget the shirt collar that's getting a little bit loose, or the cords beneath his chin that have started to pop in the past month or so.

It's the utterly blank stare that stops us. He's not looking at anything at all (this was the day before Hashimi brought up the light off in the distance.) He could be thinking of lunch, clearing brush or waiting for Santa Claus. It's that look of someone showing up at a funeral who's forgotten the name of the deceased, of a blind man without his guide dog.

...and here's the link to the story....

...and here's the photo itself.



And here's the rest of the commentary.

Light At The End Of The Corridor
by Chris Maynard

Sooner or later, someone was bound to bring it up.

Finally, on the afternoon of December 12, the "L" word was used in Washington. Tariq al-Hashimi, the vice president of Iraq, in direct view of President Bush, said that his country faces "a hard time, but there is a light in the corridor." The last man to talk of distant lights in narrow passageways was Lyndon Johnson, who had enough shame, and sense, to leave office in 1968.

The trio above has made a show of taunting anyone who even mentions sense and shame. On Monday they left the State Department, stopping only for a brief statement to the press, taking no questions. The answers were, visually, quite obvious. Vice-President Cheney, head lowered as usual to avoid looking at lesser mortals, appears to be folding up notes, or perhaps a cheat sheet with only the word "No" scrawled across it. Secretary of State Rice looks even glummer than normal, her chin diving toward her collarbone. Suddenly the years of staring down anyone impertinent enough to question her are over, and the world is tired of her rigged version of Musical Chairs.

It's President Bush, self-styled Leader of the Free World, who takes the prize for transparency: we can see right through him, and there's nothing there. Forget the shirt collar that's getting a little bit loose, or the cords beneath his chin that have started to pop in the past month or so.

It's the utterly blank stare that stops us. He's not looking at anything at all (this was the day before Hashimi brought up the light off in the distance.) He could be thinking of lunch, clearing brush or waiting for Santa Claus. It's that look of someone showing up at a funeral who's forgotten the name of the deceased, of a blind man without his guide dog.

The lid seems to be pretty tight on the meeting itself, with no mention of who exactly was there or what exactly was said. For this administration that's business as usual, but given the release of the Iraq Study Group report there might be some interest in what's going on in private. Tough luck for democracy, but government can be messy that way.

It could be a look of resignation, of finally biting the bullet and asking for help but that's pretty far-fetched. The deadlines are already slipping; his response to the study was originally scheduled for "before Christmas" but now the talk is of "early January."

"Their money spent, their wine gone sour," what's another couple of weeks, or months, or even years?

(hat tip: Gary. image: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times. December 13, 2006. nytimes.com)

Sunday, December 10, 2006

O is for Oil. I is for Iraq. L is for Lies.

No debate about the future of the American occupation of Iraq is honest if it does not deal with oil.

To be sure, there are a couple of other important things - being the crossroads between ol' Persia and the rest of the Middle East, and having important water resources (which the neo-theo-cons will be starting wars over in 2020) but for right now, the big big big thing is the oil.

And not just Iraqi oil - it's having the troops nearby in case we need to, say, prop up the Saudis, or assist the poor struggling real-live-atrocities-as-seen-on-TV Iranian Resistance Fighters, or once again make Kuwait safe for western interests.

The total absence of oil politics in the current discussion of Iraq is one of the Big Lies of the Middle East. (The imbalance of power created by Israeli nukes is one of the other ones.) But the debate in the corporate media is like a two-legged stool. The Democrats, of course, won't bring it up if they don't have to, since so much of their party is based on the old 'multi-lateral' imperial system. This means instead of the US using it's military to wage aggressive war (that's the neo-con model) , the US and Europe and Japan get together and thug around the rest of the world, and just threaten to use military force. So when they talk about 'over the horizon' military force, about a pliant Iraqi government that can sustain and defend itself, they all mean 'we still get to call the shots on oil.'

The Iraqis know it's about their oil. From a post on the Booman Tribune:
"I love Americans but hate your military," says a college professor turned insurgent. "Americans have come here because you want our oil and because of your support of Israel. You bring democracy, but the Iraqi pays the price."
The Acting President, Dick Cheney, knew it was about oil. His secret energy meetings detailed our imperial interests down to the letter. From an old post on Counterpunch:
Judicial Watch... along with the Sierra Club, had argued that both the membership of the Energy Task Force chaired by Vice-President Cheney and the proceedings of its meetings should be made public and had sought the information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) since April 19, 2001. The Vice President had vigorously opposed this opening up of its activities and so a lawsuit was filed. On March 5, 2002 the US District Judge ordered the government to produce the documents, which was finally done by the Commerce Department just recently.

The Judicial Watch press release states that these released documents "contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts." The documents, which are dated March 2001, are available on the Internet at: www.JudicialWatch.org."

The press release continues: "The Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) documents likewise feature a map of each country's oilfields, pipelines, refineries and tanker terminals. There are supporting charts with details of the major oil and gas development projects in each country that provide information on the projects, costs, capacity, oil company and status or completion date."
For a long while, I've wondered what it would be like were there to be peace plans that included an honest discussion of oil. The issue is skirted in the partition plans, when people point out that the poor middle province would not have any oil, and that you need a strong central government to ensure the oil profits are spread around. George Bush made reference to the oil a couple months ago, when he said we don't want 'the terra-rists' to control the oil. But do Murtha, or Pelosi, or any of those folks talk about it? Nope. We get the Iraq Oil Lies, is what we get.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Bush Must Resign

I've been thinking about impeachment, about the Democratic dance around it.

Forget impeachment. Bush must resign.

The Bush government, and the forces that support it, are dangerous to most of the world. While changing parties in Congress will neuter this danger to some extent, that is not enough. The entire constellation of the ruling elites who back the Bush Regime - corporations, a section of the evangelical right, the hereditary wealthy, portions of the military and intelligence services - must be broken up, and denied access to the levers of power.

This will be a major shift in power dynamics in the US. Major shifts in power dynamics have been happening for a while - and the election of 2006 is one representation of this. But we cannot be satisfied with lukewarm reform - with surface change. Just as some parts of the business/corporate community bought into the New Deal until they could undermine it, the corporations and the rich and the military will want to minimize any shifts. Any radical can see this. Any progressive who takes their views to their logical conclusion will see this. Surface change is not enough - we need major change. Corporate power must be seriously cut back. People power must be mobilized. Media power must be busted from the trust that now holds it.

George Bush should resign. Frankly, Congress has better things to do (like taking care of the above list) to bother with impeachment. He should just resign. George Bush should resign.

Bush should be hounded out of office by the populace like the charlatan he is. The Acting President, Dick Cheney, will have to front for the crap he's been shovelling behind closed doors. The Neo-Liberal Neo-Con agenda should be chased from the public square with choruses of boos, tarred and feathered and a target of derision.

George Bush should resign. Congress can get to the business of cleaning up some of the dog turds that the Bush Regime has laid across the landscape: repealing the Patriot Act, actually fucking rebuilding New Orleans, getting the hell out of Iraq and closing that blot on the Constitution called Guantanamo Bay. We can save things like single-payer health care for after 2008, when the repealed tax holiday for the rich and the ultra-rich has had a couple years to stanch the flow of red ink out of the budget.

Bloggers must begin to call for Bush's resignation. The causes are ample; the man (or rather, the government that is fronted by George Bush) has committed enough atrocities against his office that the only honorable thing for him to do is leave it.

Join me in this call. George Bush should resign. George Bush must resign.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Aaarrrgh...

I'm tired of hearing about how Jose Padilla was brutalized. I'm tired of reading the UCLA Bruin as people try to rationalize tasering a student repeatedly. I don't give a rip about Daddy Bush getting all teary-eyed (over Junior dragging the family name in the mud, I bet... and the Gnomes of Wall Street telling him Jeb is no longer elegible for the Presidency...)

I want to hear about green growing things; I want to hear about love and laughter.

Maybe I should spend more time taking care of the houseplants and watching good comedies.

Grrr.

Monday, December 04, 2006

The APPO lives!

But it's taken a big hit...

Oaxaca seems to be in the shit right now. The PFP - the Federal Mexican police - have seized the city center. They've been beating people, disappearing them, beating them more once they're disappeared, gone into hospitals looking for injured protesters. Fucking third-world gang shit - and what the Bushies wish they could do to their political opponents. (Minutemen to the rescue!)

They may have also gotten the radio station - and that's big shit. I hope they get back on the air.

Fuckin' Obrador better start getting some left-party irons in this fire to pull the PFP out, or he's full of shit. The Zapatistas have been all over the support, however. And check this crazy shit out from Subcommandante Marcos:


Marcos: “We Are On the Eve of Either a Great Uprising or a Civil War
Calderón Will Begin to Fall from the Day He Takes Office, Warns the Rebel Leader

By Hermann Bellinghausen, La Jornada
November 24, 2006

Bagdad, Tamaulipas, November 23: December 1, the day that Felipe Calderón takes office, will be “the beginning of the end for a political system that, since the Mexican Revolution, became deformed and began to cheat generation after generation, until this one arrived and said, ‘Enough,’” warned Subcomandante Marcos during a press conference. Calderón, he added, “will begin to fall from his first day.”

Joining the Blorg

I've joined the Blorg - the blogger-borg that is Google. By signing up to the Blogger Beta, I fall under their TOS and grant them a licence to shovel for free my meanderings into their Content Channels.

Now, the Blorg seem very benign. They give me email for free with gigs of storage, they let me put up a spreadsheet for free, they will give us books for free. All for free! But they grow...

Nice Google! Funny little things you do with your logo!

Nevertheless, when you peel back the layers of geek chic, of caring company, of innocent startup - when you get to rending the cells to get to the DNA of the Blorg, of Google, you find a publicly traded corporation.

Sadly, like Sauron's Ring, which corrupts you if you have it, the genetic information that makes a publically traded corporation in America right now - that information is corrupt. The corruption spreads through the marrow, and you can see it in things like Google in China, or Google vs. the US Security Apparatus. (What? They were good? How good were they?) Or reading my email to sell my eyeballs to content-driven web ads.

So, I'll likely start another blog in some safer corner of Our Internets, and maybe switch. Who knows. Nothing for now - it's the holiday season and I've had a cold for like a freaking week. Sucks!