The Progressive Blog Alliance HQ

Original post at P!

My Dear Friends and Allies:

I was not in the streets of Chicago forty years ago, but many of my close friends were. I will not rehash the details of those days, The Days of Rage that followed, nor the history and context of those times. All that is readily and copiously available.

As you reflect and, I hope, recover from yesterday's events, I urge you to think carefully and choose wisely in these next few days. There is great danger in unchecked emotion and thoughtless action. I hope you will not see martyrdom as an option.

We live in a time and place of ubiquitous mythology. While much of that mythology is recently contrived by the corporatocracy to justify its slash and burn juggernaut, a mythology has also been constructed by the Left to cover its steady demise over the four decades since the fiasco by the lake. I feel it my responsibility to discredit some of that mythology, and I will do it quickly and bluntly. It is best bludgeoned rather than surgically carved.

In spite of the fact that the Chicago Police Department made a fool of itself, more damage was done to the image of the Left than to that of the reactionary Right. Those few days, in fact, rang the death bells for any effectiveness that Port Huron might have hoped for.

So you wanna wage a "war" on terror. Start by banning guns, all guns, all people. Pay attention!

Enough is more than enough. As I write, at least 32 people are dead at VT, the victims of a lone gunman, apparently with an assault rifle.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

OK, look, goddammit . . . it says, "a well regulated militia". Individual gun ownership has nothing to do with a well-regulated militia. And it's obvious that nothing here is well-regulated. We don't at all need a "militia" composed of individuals, except perhaps the National Guard. The Second Amendment was written at a time when individual states had no organized militias. During the Revolution, armies were created (read "bought") to respond to a specific threat, then disbanded when the conflict was over. Our Navy was created later to guard our shores and defeat piracy. Later, with guns in individual and army hands, we perpetrated the genocide of the tribes who first possessed Turtle Island.

The Gun Control Network reports:

Most Mass Gun Killers are also Legal Gun Owners - Research

The following data were prepared in the wake of the shooting in Erfurt, Germany, 26 April 2002.

In the 14 deadliest mass shootings committed in wealthy nations during the past 35 years:

• 79% of the victims were shot with lawfully held firearms (185 of 233 victims)
• 86% of these mass shooting (12 of 14) were committed by lawful gun owners

Many killers, like the 19-year-old who shot 16 people dead at his school in Germany, were previously law-abiding sporting shooters or pistol club members - men whose legal ownership of guns was not questioned by authorities until after the tragedy . . .

In a study of 65 high-profile multiple-victim shootings in the United States during 40 years, 62% of handgun shootings and 71% of long gun shootings were committed with legally acquired firearms (Violence Policy Center, 2001)

Private gun ownership in the 21st century should be a crime. Protecting private property is the police force's job. I remember at least two widely reported incidents in which kids were killed by an armed property owner who objected to their trespassing. Guns for "sport" hunting are an anachronism. Non-human species are enough in short supply without humans killing them for fun.

Here's the history of the "right to bear arms."

Here are some other stats, from he@lth:
# In 1998 (the most recent year for which there are statistics) 10 young people a day died from gunshot.

# Gun homicide is the fourth leading cause of death for young people 10-14 years of age and the second leading cause of death for young people 15-24. [National Center for Health Statistics, 1997.]

# Gunshot wounds are the leading cause of death for both African-American and white teenage males [Journal of the American Medical Association].

# One in six parents say they know a child who accidentally shot himself or herself with a gun [Harvard School of Public Health].

# A youth aged 10-19 committed suicide with a gun every six hours in 1995 -- 1,449 young people in one year [National Center for Health Statistics, 1997].

# At a national level, emergency room data verify that suicide attempts with firearms are almost always fatal -- for every gun suicide, there is less than one nonfatal injury. [Journal of the American Medical Association, 1995].

# Suicide is nearly 5 times more likely to occur in a household with a gun than in a household without a gun. [Kellerman, A.L. et al., N Engl J Med 327, 1993.]

# In 1996, 2 people were murdered by handguns in New Zealand, 15 in Japan, 106 in Canada, 213 in Germany, and 9,390 in the United States. [FBI Uniform Crime Report]

# Nine out of ten young people who are murdered in industrialized countries are slain in the United States [United Nations Children’s Fund report, "The Progress of Nations" quoted in St. Paul Pioneer Press, 9/26/93].

# Guns kept in the home for self-protection are 43 times more likely to kill a family member or friend than to kill in self-defense. [ Kellermann and Reay, N.E. Journal of Medicine]

# Every two years, more Americans die of gunshot than there were American soldiers killed during the entire Vietnam War [National Center for Health Statistics, Department of Defense Almanac].

Repeal the Second Amendment. Down with the NRA. Close down arms makers, dealers, and other merchants of death.

WHAT PART OF DEATH DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, FOOL?

I am homeless. This is the second time in a year that I've been so. It ain't easy.

Just about a year ago, I was laid off from a job I had held for four years. It was a pretty good job, doing research, geographic information systems, and data analysis for an institute at a local university. The layoff was unexpected. I drew unemployment for awhile, had an apartment.

Not long after the layoff, however, I went into a deep clinical depression, was hospitalized for awhile and have needed to spend a time recovering. Financially, however, I was a mess, lost my apartment, and spent several weeks in a local homeless shelter. Boy, did I learn a lot.

I got back on my feet, started looking for a job, got an apartment. I was doing all right, then got hit with another bout of depression and had to be hospitalized again.

Hospital bills, other unforeseen expenses, etc. I lost my apartment again about two months ago. So I'm homeless again, living in a shelter program.

I'm pretty lucky. (What?!! . . . "lucky"?!)

Yeah, lucky. Because the county I live in has a shelter which also provides a lot of services: substance abuse/alcoholism counseling, 12 step meetings, mental health care, including a psychiatrist, a case manager, job-hunting assistance, money management counseling, transitional housing, and connections to other services, like medical care. For free. It's not a great place, of course: dormitory living with people in a very wide range of situations, like real street bums, active alcoholics, junkies, crackheads, mentally ill folks, folks in crisis like me, folks who lost their jobs and can't find new ones, folks who lost relationships and/or got divorced and really screwed because of it, disabled veterans, released prisoners, and just damn unlucky, confused, and lonely folks.

But the place is fairly safe and the staff work hard. It got really fucking cold last week and the shelter crammed in as many folks as would fit. Food, clothing, shelter in a life-threatening situation.

This isn't true in a lot of areas in this country. But you probably know that. I read an article yesterday about a homeless man who was beaten to death by a gang of suburban kids. This has happened often in the past few years. It seems it's a brutal sport.

"Street people" are severely marginalized. Prejudices are still ubiquitous. Once in the circle, it's hard to get out. Many cities and communities either arrest homeless folks or just push them outta town (this is called "passing the trash"). Many places have no shelter or programs, other have just the bare minimum. Charity and humanity is in short supply. I know I'll make it through (with some help), because I'm smart, very employable, and resilient. There's sometimes very little hope for many of my brothers and sisters out here.

There aren't many, but there are some folks on our side:

Just Neighbors . . .

The Just Neighbors Mission

The mission of Just Neighbors is to raise awareness of the root causes of poverty and homelessness.

Just Neighbors brings to its participants a deep understanding of the reality of poverty and a deep empathy for people living in poverty. Congregations, nonprofit organizations, colleges, universities, and high schools are using the program to change attitudes, to recruit volunteers, and to empower them as advocates for their neighbors in need.

The entire Just Neighbors experience is designed to foster a sense of community among the participants. It is an engaging, thought-provoking curriculum that offers a wealth of resources and materials along with the flexibility to make the program work in the widest possible range of settings and organizations.

National Coalition for the Homeless.

The National Coalition for the Homeless, founded in 1984, is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission. That mission, our common bond, is to end homelessness. We are committed to creating the systemic and attitudinal changes necessary to prevent and end homelessness. At the same time, we work to meet the immediate needs of people who are currently experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of doing so. We take as our first principle of practice that people who are currently experiencing homelessness or have formerly experienced homelessness must be actively involved in all of our work.

Core Principles

* Every member of society, including people experiencing homelessness, has a right to basic economic and social entitlements of which safe, decent, accessible, affordable, and permanent housing is a definitive component.

* It is a societal responsibility to provide safe, decent, accessible, affordable, and permanent housing for all people, including people experiencing homelessness, who are unable to secure such housing through their own means.

* All people, including people experiencing homelessness, who are able to secure safe, decent, accessible, affordable, and permanent housing through their own means need economic and social supports to enable them to do so.

* People experiencing homelessness deserve access to safe, decent, accessible, affordable, and permanent housing through the same systems and programs available to people with housing.

* People experiencing homelessness have unique needs and life circumstances that may be addressed through housing programs designed specifically for them.

* All people should have equal access to safe, decent, accessible, affordable, and permanent housing regardless of their unique needs or life circumstances.

* Universal access to safe, decent, accessible, affordable, and permanent housing is a measure of a truly just society.

National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Our Work
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a leading voice on the issue of homelessness. The Alliance analyzes policy and develops pragmatic, cost-effective policy solutions. We work collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity, leading to stronger programs and policies that help homeless individuals and families make positive changes in their lives. We provide data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform policy debates and educate the public and opinion leaders nationwide.

The Ten Year Plan
Guiding our work is A Plan: Not a Dream—How to End Homelessness in Ten Years. The Alliance’s Ten Year Plan identifies our nation's current challenges in addressing the problem and lays out practical steps that can be taken to change its present course and truly end homelessness. The announcement of this plan started a snowball effect that is now felt across the country. The Administration and Congress have adopted significant parts of the Ten Year Plan as policy goals. Opinion leaders have begun to echo the language and key concepts of the plan and communities and states across the nation have taken up the challenge to end homelessness. Hundreds of communities are developing or have implemented plans to end homelessness within ten years. Across the country, the movement is growing. Now more than ever, our nation is poised to end homelessness.

Homelessness is fundamentally an economic problem. These and other groups, agencies, and programs are trying to address this. Especially under the regime of the Doubleduh-Chainey Gang, it seems an impossible task. But we must try.

On a personal note, we're doing a fundraiser here at P!to keep me alive (and in cigarettes and bus fare) as I look for a job. My finances are trashed and I can use whatever help I can get. Please. Just donate what you can, if you can - I'll be more grateful than you can imagine.

Thank you.

Be at peace.

P! has, for several years provided radical and progressive commentary and news in the name of truth, peace, and non-violent revolution.

At present, the founder and editor of P!, ddjango, is going through some very rough times and needs your help to ensure that P! stays alive. To that end, P! is conducting a fundraiser to help ddjango out.

Donations as little as five dollars go a long way. Sine.Qua.Non, a co-editor at P! has issued a matching funds challenge, so your donations produce even more value.

If you can spare any amount, please visit P! and donate what you can. Also, let your friends and network know about this by posting or emailing them.

Thank you and, as always . . .
Be at peace.

Looks like the fat lady won't even have to stretch her pipes.

This from Xinjingbao, in China (reprinted in full):

After Democrats Pick Obama or Hillary, U.S. Election May Be Over

Will U.S. Democrats tear themselves to shreds deciding who to nominate for President? Will the Republican nominee attack Bush and cause internal Republican Party dissention? Who better to ask that one of the most powerful political parties in the world – the Chinese Communists? According to this op-ed article from China's state-controlled Xinjingbao [Beijing News], the Democrats are in such good shape, there may be little need for Americans to vote.

By Mr. Liu, a Scholar in Beijing
Translated By How Xian Neng
February 12, 2007
China – Xinjingbao – Original Article (Chinese)

After Black Senator Barack Obama officially announced his intention to run for the Presidential nomination, the Democratic Party's electoral road map became clear. Even though there are other candidates participating in the battle, a common opinion holds that the Democratic nomination will be a clash between a woman and an African American. Will this unprecedented phenomenon signal an early end to the electoral battle?

After many years of lies, delusions and neo-conservative rule, the American Public can endure no more. [The Chinese characters for neo-conservatives (火神派) stand for Fire-God Faction] Americans no longer wish to live in Bush's shadow, and are looking forward to building a new America. At this moment, two new stars have emerged in the opposition camp. Two have two such fresh faces at once is extremely rare in American history. Whether it's Hilary or Obama, both are full of personal charm – which is in stark contrast to the rigidly conservative Bush Administration. And both candidates have toyed with the same message: “It's time to rebuild America's Image.” Under the banner of doing the People’s will, the Democratic Party's new black and woman stars have become the most popular figures in American politics.

At the same time, last year’s midterm Congressional elections were a sign of things to come. In Congressional races two years ago, Republicans preserved their majority even though the weaknesses of Bush's domestic and foreign policies had already been exposed. But today, the American public has lost its patience with the incorrigibly obstinate neo-conservative Republican faction. The Democrats are far more in tune than the Republicans with the mainstream ideological trends of American society. They look nothing like they did two years ago, when the Kerry campaign stubbornly defended his strongly liberal views. Many of the new Democratic congressmen are more temperate and moderate, which shows that the party has complied with popular sentiment and should find it easier to win elections.

In contrast, not only is the enthusiasm of Republicans at a very low ebb, but they are suffering from a lack of internal coordination [in Chinese, an imbalance of Yin and Yang, 不受欢迎的人] The Republican advantage of depending on a strong executive [the President] has become a distinct disadvantage. Bush has already become persona non grata and makes an easy target, which will put the Republican Party candidate in an awkward position: Only by differentiating themselves from Bush can they hope to win support; but excessive criticism of Bush will cause internal party dissention.

Stricken with the long-term illness of the Bush regime, Republicans are unable to inoculate themselves with a dose of strong criticism like their Democrats counterparts. Instead, they have to quietly swallow the bitter fruit planted by Bush. Even though Democrats have their share of internal disagreement, the disputes of Republicans over key issues like withdrawal from Iraq are much harder to reconcile. Bush's hard-line supporters will give a heap of trouble colleagues who want to abandon him.

The Democrats have much better prospects.

Hilary is a seasoned veteran with tremendous capital, and Obama is young, vibrant and passionate.

Although they will clash before facing a common adversary, the advantages of whoever wins will be sufficient to cause panic in any opponent. If they should decide to team up, the two should perfectly compliment one another.

Polls show that 62 percent of American voters are ready for a Black president, and the Washington Post has stated that Hillary’s candidacy deserves "bipartisan applause." As long as Democrats maintain their advantage over Republicans by putting the interests of the Party first during the primaries, the Democratic National Convention next summer could be the real end of the America election. The only choice Americans may get to make could be between a female President or a Black President.

There began to be evidence a couple of months ago that the '08 election would be different than anything we've ever seen. The ruling elite and their monolithic international financial funders have been working tirelessly, if not so stealthily anymore, to completely dictate (I use that word purposefully) both the candidates and the outcome of US national elections. Roll up the tents, my friends. The game's almost over. My prediction, which I've hinted at for weeks, is that it'll be a Clinton/Obama ticket. The primaries will be so many blue rubber stamp events that the states won't even be able to find a red stamp pad.

Interestingly enough, the left wing in the black community, voiced by the Black Agenda Report and, to a more moderate degree, the Black Commentator, have been raising serious concerns about Obama. Thankfully, they've unerringly looked past his pretty face and JFK charisma, and listened carefully to his words, looked at his voting record, and examined his lack of commitment to not only the black nation, but to the plight of poor and otherwise marginalized, disenfranchised, and poor folks of all flavors and colors.

Very irreverent questions: Did Rahm Emmanuel (the DLC version of Karl Rove) build this guy's legend? Anyone on the hard Left got the cojones to walk back the cat? Except for Kucinich (I hope), are the Illumnati throwing a few Euroes around to the other "candidates" to provide cover or are these cats just running for cabinet positions? Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm just a rabid radical crack head.

Enough has already been said about Hillary Rodham. The fact that she's pro-war, pro-empire, and pro-globalization just doesn't matter. With the kind of money these folks will have, they won't have to just buy the election, they can buy the whole damned country.

One of the then-amusing characteristics of the Soviet system was that, yes, they had democratic elections and even high turnout (in some "member" states, folks were forced to vote). The thing was, y'see, there was only one candidate. Now that we "won the cold war", we're free to implement the same structure. Nothing to see here. Go back to your homes.

All your votes are belong to us.

Brother and Sisters:

As but a single citizen of the United States of America, I raise my voice in sadness and shame at the actions of our government, past, present, and future. I strongly believe that my words and views are shared by a growing majority of American citizens.

Many of us opposed our government's war against Iraq before the first missile was launched and many have joined us since, constituting now a majority of our citizens. At the moment of the attacks in September, 2001, I knew that our President and his administration would opportunistically use the event as justification for all manner of aggressive military action. Although we cannot condone the actions of bin Laden and al Qaeda, we also do not condone our own government's actions. Many of us advocate reconciliation . . . [more at P!]

At P!

This just might be my last post here.

When this Alliance was formed, I was blogging at Net Politik, a fine group political blog. When Nick and another member at NP decided to form PBA, I was one of four or five original members.

I was extremely disappointed, however, that Nick essentially left NP. It quickly sank. Now, last I looked, Karlo of Swerve Left is the only person who posts there.

I had misgivings about the Alliance from the beginning. My goal was to participate in a complex, hard-hitting blog, with true progressives (more hard-lefties). At the time, however, it became clear that liberal Democrats had co-opted the "progressive" tag simply because it was sexier than "liberal", which label they avoided like a vial of polonium. I still had some hope that prospective members would be at least minimally screened. As you know, they aren't. Just before Aldon and Nick decided to pull the blogroll, I tried to count the listed members - I quit somewhere in the four figures.

One of the advantages of that blogroll (and, of course, posting here) was that links were automatically reciprocal (I think) and that gave members who also had another blog a nice leg-up in the blogosphere directories and rating sites. Awhile ago, I put ddjangoWIrE in archive and founded P!. Nick was kind enough to change the URL of my link, and P!, therefore, maintained its ranking. For example, The Truth Laid Bear bases its ratings on links.

A couple of months ago, Google "accidentally" deleted my Blogger account and put it in archive. With the help of some great friends blogging way on the Left, I got it back up. However, in spite of email requests to the management here to once again change my URL to the new location, I got no response. My URL still points to P!'s old URL. My ratings on TTLB, as well as other ranking sites fell off the table. Pretty disappointing.

But there's other stuff, too: there have been many spam posts and comments from members who don't seem serious about anything except spamming and building readership at another blog, rather than actively participating in what could be a powerful site. Next, over the past month or so, except for a couple of old stalwarts (Arancaytar, for example), most of the posts have been mine. Where have all the members gone?

I'm reluctant to get personal. But I have a suspicion that Nick has once again gone on to other endeavors, leaving another blog rudderless. That is extremely disappointing. given what's happening here, I have wondered whether The PBA is about to unceremoniously sink with little protest.

Objectively, I wouldn't want the job of trying to effectively administer this thing. Thank god, I've never been asked. But I do think someone should, at this point, take responsibility to either find new and knowledgeable administrators or decide to end it with thanks and an adequate explanation to both members and readers. At the very least, the integrity of a true "progressive" movement would be preserved - and that's damned important.

I'm not "resigning" per se, but I really don't feel good about posting on a dying blog.

Until this situation is resolved, you can still find me at P! and other places around town.

One Flew East. It must have seemed so simple to them.

Scare them to death with "shock and awe", take Baghdad, capture Saddam, seize the oil fields, disband the army, and turn the economy into a capitalist entrepreneurial free-fire zone. Set up an "interim" administration to assure that Parsons, KBR, SAIC, and the others make millions "rebuilding" the infrastructure and creating a military launching pad. No problem. Just sit back and absorb the adulation from the emancipated Iraqi people and the good people of America. Next?

Well yeah. I guess there'll be a few folks killed along the way. But this is in the service of freedom and democracy. Those broken eggs will make a great omelet - a decidedly western omelet. And we might tell a few fibs in the process, too. The American people wouldn't understand and might be skeptical if we told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The victorious outcome is all they want, anyway. Isn't that what they "elected" us for?

So please don't bother us with irrelevant details. Shi'ites and Sunnis and Kurds? A Muslim's a Muslim, right? Insurgency? You mean a few rabid al-Kayduh types rolling around in battered Toyota pick-ups? No match for American fire power. Not to worry. Anyway, we got God on our side (and a lot of frustrated right-wing Christians, too).

One flew west. Remember duct tape? Didn't you just love the pretty terrorist alert thingy? The President reminded us that, "when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping". Just keep watching "24" and we'll get you a new X Box.

Now look, folks . . . we're gonna have to make a few adjustments here at home to git it done. In support of our common security, we'll have to follow the "if you're not for us, you're against us" line. The Constitution just ain't helpful in situations like these. Everyone's the enemy, guilty until they're proven innocent (yeah, like that's gonna happen).

So don't complain, 'cuz complainers are terrorists (or liberals - same difference). Somebody gets "disappeared", just don't worry, OK? We got some real handy ways of convincin' 'em to 'fess up and rat out their fellow travelers. We got a war to win. Just keep knowing that Saddam masterminded 911, and we're gonna take good care of him.

Oh, yeah. And this is gonna cost a few bucks, too. So we're gonna keep taxes on the rich and on the corporations real low so they can pay for this. Goes without saying that we're gonna have to sacrifice some trees and rivers and po' folks, but good 'Mericans always are willing to sacrifice for their country in times of war. Just don't listen to those gutless ninnies who say that the good ole USA is going bankrupt behind this. After all, the bill won't come due 'til after we're all dead.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest. A couple of weeks ago, watching news clips of Americans trampling and beating other Americans in stores trying to buy the latest popular trinkets and toys, I was hit (again) with a deep, disillusioned depression. Why didn't we see this kind of thing happen at polling places two weeks earlier, with Americans fighting each other to vote? I guess it's because we value the latest video game more than the activity of democracy and self-government.

I could see little difference between these store rioters and fourth-worlders bum-rushing the UN truck when it pulls up with water and powdered milk. Except that the Americans tend to be obese and white, the fourth-worlders skinny and black.

It seems like, to Americans, this government stuff is just a bother, an inconvenience that some (but not all) of us tolerate every couple of years. The only reason most of us show up to vote is that election campaigns have become beauty pageants or survival games just like on "reality TV".

Only a month after the mid-term elections, Americans who did vote have congratulated themselves, washed their hands, and turned on "Who Wants to be a Trillionaire". Democrats are satisfied that they've repudiated the Republican policies. The war will be over soon.

Who notices that the Democrats have already lined up against "a precipitous withdrawal" from a lost war against a ravaged people. Who cares that they have also rejected executive impeachment out of hand? Who understands that Speaker of the House (maybe) Nancy Pelosi is fighting tooth and nail to put conservative party loyalists in leadership positions? Who realizes the implications of this excerpt of "CONGRESS IN TRANSITION: Pelosi hews to middle ground. With eye on 2008, new speaker works to keep Democrats united", from the SF Chronicle . . .

Pelosi may be among Congress' most vocal war critics, yet many Democrats worry that starving the Pentagon is a crude and ineffective way to end the war, with potentially disastrous political consequences. Pelosi has no interest in beginning her speakership with a divisive fight.

Similarly, while Pelosi voted against a GOP measure last week to permit oil drilling off the Gulf Coast, and another requiring that women seeking abortions be told that their fetuses feel pain, she chose not to use her leadership position to defeat the bills, which enjoyed a certain amount of Democratic support (the drilling measure passed; the abortion measure failed).

As the Republicans' 12-year-control of Capitol Hill came to a close, the Pelosi-led Democrats are steadfastly avoiding issues upon which they disagree and presenting a united front on matters from Iraq to congressional ethics.

Pelosi remains focused on a series of bread-and-butter items with broad support among Democrats that she will push when the party takes control of the House on Jan. 4.

"Ms. Pelosi has said many times that she will govern from the middle -- and that's what she is doing,'' said her spokesman, Brendan Daly.

Pelosi's agenda for the first 100 legislative hours of the new Congress includes House ethics, the minimum wage, college tuition costs, stem cell research, subsidies to oil companies and the security recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission. She has pledged to take up each of the issues before Bush delivers his State of the Union address in late January . . .

Er, uh, well what about The USA PATRIOT Act, tax breaks for the rich, critical environmental issues, investigations into the incredible corruption among US contractors in Iraq?

Speaking of the latter, here's a clip from this morning's NYT piece, "Iraq Is Failing to Spend Billions in Oil Revenues":

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10 — Iraq is failing to spend billions of dollars of oil revenues that have been set aside to rebuild its damaged roads, schools and power stations and to repair refineries and pipelines.

Iraqi ministries are spending as little as 15 percent of the 2006 capital budgets they received for the rebuilding — with some of the weakest spending taking place at the Oil Ministry, which relies on damaged and frequently sabotaged pipelines and pumping stations to move the oil that provides nearly all of the country’s revenues. In essence, the money is available — despite extensive sabotage, the oil money is flowing — but the Iraqi system has not been able to put it to work.

The country is facing this national failure to spend even as American financial support dwindles. Among reasons for the problems — like a large turnover in government personnel — is a strange new one: bureaucrats are so fearful and confused by anticorruption measures put in place by the American and Iraqi governments that they are afraid to sign off on contracts . . .

OK, Nurse Ratchett, I'll have that lobotomy now . . . and make it a double-lobe, if you don't mind.

A couple of pieces at Consortium News, which has some of the best commentary and news on Bob Gates' nomination as SecDef, seem to bear out the main theme I've been pounding away at these past couple of weeks - the Democrats are unlikely to change anything.

First a snatch from "Democrats Cave on Gates Nomination" by Robert Parry:
Despite winning the Nov. 7 elections largely due to public anger over the Iraq War, congressional Democrats crumbled in their first post-election confrontation with President George W. Bush on the future direction of that conflict.

[full article at P! . .

It seems that almost everything I've read over the past week or two extols the "triumph" of the Democratic party's victory in the mid-term elections. Even the hard-left blogs and sites are at best rather silent and/or conciliatory.

Not so fast! Although even I feel a certain relief that the American electorate (or at least two-thirds of it) has backed off a bit from the current administration, I think a certain cautionary note is totally in order.

First, and most obviously, the Democrats in the Senate and the House have done little, if anything, to effectively challenge the Bush administration. There has been some rhetoric, but all too often speeches on the floor excoriating the Republican policies have been followed by votes in favor of Republican policies and actions. Although the Democrats have regained a majority in both chambers, none of the incumbent Democratic Members or Senators who have consistently voted with Bush were unseated by more left-leaning challengers.

The Democrats gained power almost entirely by simply saying they were "anti-Bush". We still don't know what they are "for". Even worse, recent statements by Howard Dean and several newly-elected Democrats, to the effect that they will let Bush have his war for the next two years is both saddening and enraging. Does this mean that the Democrats will not move against any other Bush policies? What about tax cuts for the wealthy, the USA PATRIOT Act, habeas corpus, constitutional matters like free speech, political prisoners and other critical issues?

It is my conviction that the Democrats will speak more forcefully against many Bush policies, but the rubber meets the road only when they bring these issues to the floor in the form of specific legislation and then vote on them.

Moreover, there is a built-in weakness in the new Democratic majority. That is that it is just barely over fifty percent. President Bush will very likely veto everything that comes his way. That will require a two-thirds majority in Congress to make the legislation law. It will matter more what the Republicans do than the Democrats say. Although it is accurate to think that many sitting Republicans may distance themselves from the President (he is no longer an asset to either side of the aisles), to think that there will be enough votes to end and roll back the neoconservative gains of the past six years is unrealistic.

It is entirely possible that the Democrats will not repeal crucial anti-democratic laws because in many ways those same laws benefit them. The Democrats have a very good chance of winning the White House in 2008. That Democratic president, however, is likely to be a conservative. If that President is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, or any other Dem front runner, he or she would enjoy the enormous power transferred to the Executive by Bush. Democrats have little history of opposing a president of their own party, regardless of his/her fundamental political stance. And in truth, the Democrats have themselves rarely met a war they didn't like, lest they be accused of being "soft on defense".

For at least four years, we have heard cries for "a return to the old America". But which "old" America to we seek? The Clinton years, when the poor's social support system was emasculated and we relentlessly bombed Yugoslavia? The Carter years, which witnessed the rise of the Trilateral Commission, a doomed Middle East policy, an aggressive US arms buildup, and the unraveling of the Democratic Party? All hope is lost, at any rate, of a rollback to LBJ's or FDR's social programs.

One positive outcome of the Bush years has been the re-emergence of the "true" left, which has been moribund, voiceless, and wandering for decades. We are a potential force for fundamental change in our politics and culture. But history shows that this segment of the Left tends to become more marginalized when the Democratic Party has been in control. Whereas anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-war, pro-socialist voices have been actively considered during this "neoconservative revolution", it is doubtful that the Democratic Party elite will have much patience for it. The Democratic leadership's calls for bi-partisanship, a slow, "reasoned" withdrawal of our beleaguered forces in Iraq, and continued support of neoliberal "free-trade" globilization are dominant.

The American Left, rather than being vindicated in the just-passed election, has once again failed itself. We (for I am one of us) have squandered the best opportunity to gain power we've had in many years. Instead of finding common cause and unity among the fractionalized parties, institutions, and "sects" on the Left, we chose to put much useless effort into things like "reforming" the Democratic Party under Howard Dean, simplistically focusing on whether Bush is crazy or not, demanding the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, and trying to get at the truth about who outed Valerie Plame (it was, in essence, Robert Novak).

Without a Leftist movement unified by values and principles driving positive change toward a a truly democratic society, our voices shouting for ending US imperialism, redefining our foreign "national interests", achieving economic equity for all, challenging corporate fascism, and non-aggressively supporting peace will all go unheard, except by us in our own echo chamber.

This "Left" of which I speak must answer some hard questions. Are we truly antiwar, or just anti-this-war? Are we really willing to sacrifice the comfort that the capitalist system has given us? Do we any longer have the skills and heart it will take to bring the Left together and form a true and effective Third Party alternative? Can we build a tolerant spiritual movement to absorb and/or replace the intolerant religious fanaticism that still grips much of the country? Do we have a clear strategy to return our military home from hundreds of bases to be a truly defensive force? How will we disband the military-industrial-academic oligarchy; return stolen land to the people; create a really representative, accountable government; prioritize our objectives and actions intelligently, refusing to be held hostage by issues subordinate to the long-term goals of the movement?

So many questions. So much work. So little time.

[also posted at P! and American Samizdat]

Take this quiz . . .

Is Preznut Doubleduh:

___ Crazy?

___ Drinking?

___ Receiving messages from God?

___ Dumb as a truckload of cinder blocks?

___ Smoking crack?

___ Just following orders?

___ All of the above?

The answer is at P!. Well, maybe.

(P! has moved. Please change your link URL to this address. Thank you.)

First, the breaking news . . .

Turkey Pardons Turkey; Turkey Doesn't Pardon Turkey. The P! P!seudo News Service (P!P!NS), 11/22/2006 WASHINGTON, DC.

At the nation's capital today, President George W Bush pardoned the Thanksgiving turkey in a traditional ceremony. For the first time in history, however, there was a condition. In return for amnesty, Bush stipulated that the bird go hunting with Vice President Richard Cheney, who could find nobody to accompany him on a planned hunting expedition in Mclean, VA. The turkey, who would only say that he was "Tom, from Passaic, New Jersey" agreed and left the Rose Garden without shaking Bush's hand.

In a press conference in his office on L Street, where he serves as CEO of the lobbying group "International Association of Iquana Eaters", Tom commented that, He's got a lotta damn nerve pardoning me. Who's he think he is, Gerry Ford?" He also stated that he could not in good conscience reciprocate, since he was a war criminal and should stand trial for crimes against both humanity and fowl.

He later followed up his remarks in an interview with Katie Couric ("I feel a strong psychic connection with her"), saying, "I'd call the stupid SOB a turkey, but that would insult all my brethren." He was last seen trying to purchase an Uzi and a Tech-9 in a parking lot in Bethesda.

Wild Turkey or Attempted Turkicide?. The P! P!seudo News Service (P!P!NS), 11/22/2006 WASHINGTON, DC.

Vice President Richard Cheney was admitted to Walter Reed hospital this evening for an undisclosed ailment, after being rushed there by an anonymous citizen in a battered 30 year old Ford 150. The driver sped away after pushing Cheney out in the EW parking lot, and was not available for comment. An eye witness later the described the driver as looking "a lot like Michael Richardson."

P!P!NS correspondent OB Laden, disguised as Ted Koppel, was able to conduct a brief clandestine interview with the Vice President before being dragged from the room by Blackwater Security Forces and dumped in the Potomac. He reports that the Vice President, alternately snarling and grimacing due to what appeared to be shotgun wounds on his face and neck, would only say, "I drank too much Wild Turkey, OK!? Now get the fuck outta here!"

Although the Secret Service maintained that it was unrelated, a scheduled FedEx flight to Crawford, Texas was delayed at Dulles Airport for three hours while agents searched three hundred boxes of Butterball Turkeys. Airport security staff reported that the plane was finally released for take off, carrying fifty boxes of melting turkeys.

Kurds Protest Deadly Turkeybombs. The P! P!seudo News Service (P!P!NS), 11/22/2006 WASHINGTON, DC. Militia in Kurdistan in northern Iraq expressed outrage at deadly bombings of a strip mall bazaar in Mosul and a Citgo gas station in Kirkuk in which forty civilians, mostly American evangelical missionaries, were killed by what appeared to be approximately one hundred frozen Butterball turkeys dropped from a Lufthansa DC-3. The Kurdish militia claimed that KBR private security forces thwarted the ensuing investigation by gathering up the evidence and escaping over the border to Nusaybin.

Rupert Does It Again! In P!P!NS Entertainment News, Manhattan restaurant magnate Rupert dropped a frozen Butterball Turkey over 100 feet from a downtown rooftop into a bucket of used frying grease to win the Nth Annual Late Night Turkey Drop. "Only 140 to go Dave!!", remarked the triumphant deli-man.

On election eve, November 6th, a veteran hard-left blogger, one of the co-founders of the Progressive Blog Alliance, ddjango (of ddjangoWIrE, PBA, NetPolitik, American Samizdat, and P! fame), made a devastating discovery.

Without warning or explanation, he found that his Blogger account had been deleted and his blog, P!, had been stripped and stuffed into a basic Blogger template in inaccessible archive status. Over four years of hard, dedicated work was gone and his voice silenced. Repeated attempts to resolve this with Google went unanswered.

With the help of some friends, notably Dark Wraith, he was able to salvage most of his code from cache. Although some elements had to be sacrificed, ddjango was able to salvage much of the blog and get it back up and running.

If you have a link to P! on your site, please update the link URL to:

"http://ddjango.blogspot.com".

You might want to also post a brief note on this situation . . . Google is transitioning the whole Blogger system into its new Blogger Beta. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, let's say that there are bound to be problems.

Our advice, if your site is on the "old" Blogger, is (1) back up your code, (2) familiarize yourself with the new Beta system, because it's difficult to navigate if you're not up-to-speed with widgets and XHTML specs, and (3) consider finding a more user-friendly blogging host.

Our opinion is that the current Google/Blogger management has abandoned the community-oriented, "do no harm" philosophy that made them so attractive to the netroots community that drove their popularity in the first place.

Please visit ddjango and P! at the new location.

Thank you and be at peace.

From P!: So. If you believe and trust the "polls", which I don't, the Democratic Party might take control of the House and has some sort of shot at the Senate. Do not, however, ever, ever, ever underestimate the je ne sais quois of the Repugnicant Rover. I haven't been watching the gubernatorial "contests" and never have been sure what they mean (having lived in Massachusetts with the likes of John Volpe, Ed King, and Mikey Dukakis, and in California with Jerry Brown).

I live in bright red state and neither Senator is up for re-election. My congressman is a middle of the road classic white liberal running against an absolute idiot who also happens to be black.

The November Surprise predicted in the title will be little, if any, surprise at all: the colors of the graphic may change from red to blue in some states, but there will be absolutely no other change. None. Nada. Ne Rien Pas. Nyet.

The black forces, eager to hide the pea under a different shell for awhile, have simply shifted the flow of money. The bucks are no longer funding Republican neoconservatives . . . now they're buying Democratic neoconservatives. The wars will not end. The march to war against other countries will not drop a step. The gap between rich and poor will not narrow. Tax breaks for the rich will not be repealed. Powerful people in Washington and in the churches will continue to put their hands where they shouldn't: in all sorts of forbidden cookie jars, not to mention chemical stashes.

That The Prince of Darkness has repudiated Bush's invasion of Iraq (implementing The prince's policies), that the military media is calling for Rummy's head (or whatever) mean nuttin' hunny.

The MSM has been given permission to refocus the sheep. "24" may not have another season; "Law and Order" may shrink down to "SVU" and "CCP" (Corporate Creep Patrol).

During VietNam, Country Joe sang, "What are fightin' for?" And now I wail, "What are we votin' for?" . . . [more at P!]

From P!

Imagine that you are a cinderblock. Imagine that all of us Americans are each a cinderblock. And that we are part of a wall. We are stuck in that wall, unable to move, unable to escape.

The mortar binding us all together in this impenetrable wall is an iron-like mixture . . . of lies. We are all bricks in a wall of lies. It's too late to opt out of being a part of the wall - we're already there. In fact, we've become so embedded in the wall, that we're unable to struggle for one tiny nanometer of wiggle room.

We are the wall, impervious, impenetrable. Those of us bricks who do see and hear the truth are unable to act on it. We're stuck.

We haven't always been the wall. But the wall is, in truth, older than we can remember. It certainly wasn't built by the Bush Administration, although they have contributed steely strength to the mortar of lies. The Doubleduh-Cheney Gang would not have been able to perpetrate such lies if the wall was not already fully in place . . . [continue at P!]

From P!:

Oh how I've agonized and remonstrated, wailed and gnashed, shook my poor, tired rhetorical finger in your faceless mugs. If I were to lay awake at night obsessorating (sorry, George) about something, that something would be the dreaded "third party" monster lurking behind the closet door or under the futon.

I actually don't toss and turn about it, but Pliva, Astze, and Wyeth are responsible for that, rather than any left-handed, enlightened political leaders. Um, so maybe they should be our third party? Well, since they and their pharma phriends already own a sizable stable of both elephants and donkies, that ho won't stroll. Sigh.

I'm not, of course, a learned political analyst, 'though I do play one here, so I'm not going to forward a complex and formidable theory as to why we remain stuck, at least at the presidential and congressional level, with just the Dumbocrats and Repugnantcans. Nor will I even mention the argument that these are not really two, but actually only one entity. God forbid. There are really only two factors: stupidity and laziness. How else to explain the Left's reliance on "reforming" the Blue Party through Howard "The Scream" Dean? If you look in the dictionary for the definition of "boondoggle" you get a pic of "Wowie" Howie hiding under a desk with the Illuminati symbol on it. 'Course, this is what the Dumbs have always done best . . . identify and espouse the least effective option, then shoot absolutely everyone involved with it. But I digress. Or do I? [more at P!]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] Diversion and deceit may not be the primary reasons that The Doubleduh-Cheney Gang keeps us in Iraq, but clearly the war is great cover. If you read Part 3 of this series you learned, I hope, that the smog of war does veil the continuing neocon march toward its real goal: the destruction of the United States. In this light, we can see that 9/11's effect was not primarily to allow The Gang to invade Iraq, although it certainly did that. Once there, however, they have benefited from the war's ability to mass-capture the attention and energy of those who might otherwise effectively organize against militant globalization. Leave it not to the Left, but the jingoist, ultra-paranoid militia-types like The Minutemen to see the point . . . [more at P!]

From P!

Most people, even among the realist hard Left, believe that massive internment is at best a remote possibility and that the Supreme Court will declare The Military Commission Act unconstitutional. Don't bet on it. Even with a possible Democratic majority in place.

As regular readers here realize, I'm almost convinced of the likelihood of a contrived "false flag" "terrorist event" in the US prior to the 2008 presidential elections, resulting in martial law and the last brick in the blood-red road to a totalitarian police state.

Even if this doesn't happen and there is a Democratic Party victory this November and in 2008, why do think things will change? Looking at the history of Democrats and war, there is no evidence whatsoever to believe they won't use these terrifying laws and other mechanisms to their own advantage.