Which tall, gaunt guy was responsible for Kerry's loss?

Kerry blames Osama; Naomi Klein blames Kerry. I'm with Naomi. Here's what Kerry was saying yesterday:

Senator John Kerry said on Sunday that the attacks of Sept. 11 were the "central deciding thing" in his contest with President Bush and that the release of an Osama bin Laden videotape the weekend before Election Day had effectively erased any hope he had of victory.

How lame a candidate Kerry really was if a last-minute reminder of Bush's inability to protect the country from terrorist attacks or to catch a criminal for three years actually HURT Kerry in the polls.

Here's some of what Naomi Klein said:

First of all, I believe that an anti-war campaign could have won the election. But even if you think I'm crazy, I believe that an anti-war campaign would have done a better job at losing the election (laughs). Elections are also moments where issues get put on the national agenda. If there had been (an anti-war) candidate with courage, for instance, it would have been impossible for Bush to name Alberto Gonzales as his candidate for attorney general. It was Kerry's silence more than Bush's win that allowed Bush to make such a scandalous appointment.

When the siege in Fallujah happened (days after the election), and the violations of the Geneva Convention were at a completely new level, there were no questions raised in the mainstream press. The New York Times reported these incidents without even an editorial or interview of experts on international law about whether it was legitimate to attack all the medical care facilities and so on. This to me is Kerry's legacy. I blame Kerry for this more than Bush because we expect this from them. We expect them to do whatever they can get away with. And Kerry let them get away with it. An election campaign was the one time there was a real opportunity to put the war on trial. And even if a principled anti-war campaign had lost, these issues would still be on the agenda.

Boy, I wish I'd said that!

Deja Vu All Over Again

United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

That's from the NY Times, September 4, 1967, via Daily Kos, who has more. The Vietnam War intensified early the next year with the Tet offensive, and went on for nearly eight more years.

A Team Effort

Jonathan at A Tiny Revolution lists the seven people most responsible for killing Iraqis over the years: Bill Clinton, Saddam Hussein, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Leonid Breshnev, George H.W. Bush, and Helmut Kohl. I think he's probably right (he usually is), although I'm totally ignorant of Breshnev's and Kohl's contributions. I also suggested in a comment to Jonathan that he might be leaving out some important contributors:

Subordinates don't count? Certainly Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Norman Schwarzkopf, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Uday, Qusay and others deserve at least dishonorable mentions. Powell's and Cheney's contributions to both wars might raise them up into the top seven, don't you think?

Update: Jonathan responds:

I don't know. There's so much talent in this field, and so much commitment, that even some incredible performers can't break into the top ranks.

Election?

Actually, I don't want to always be a "nattering naBOB of negativism," to steal Spiro Agnew's term. If the Iraqi election yesterday wasn't a farce, as the Washington Post and CNN scream from their headlines, it is definitely good news. The Iraqis will get a government with the clear authority and almost certainly the desire to tell the US troops to get the hell out.

But I know from history--the buildup to the war, the triumphalism of the initial battles and the toppling of the statues, to the killing of Saddam's sons and the capture of Saddam himself, that our mainstream media has always been ready to overhype anything remotely like "success" in Iraq. So the current triumphal reports should probably be taken with a huge grain of salt on this basis alone. But from the mainstream reports I didn't have a lot to go on to question the story.

Fortunately, the World Socialist Web Site is there once again with a good summary of the many reasons to doubt the official story. Here are some excerpts:

George W. Bush emerged from the White House briefly to make a triumphal statement hailing the vote. The US media carried wall-to-wall, gushing coverage all day Sunday. But even the combined propaganda powers of the US government and the corporate-controlled media machine cannot transform an election held at gunpoint and under military occupation into a genuinely democratic event.

Initial reports on voter turnout were driven by the political imperative to put the best possible face on the election and influence public opinion in the United States, which is increasingly turning against the war. The turnout figure began at 90 percent plus—numbers reported, naturally enough, on Fox News. Then an Iraqi election official put the figure at 72 percent nationwide. This was subsequently lowered to 60 percent nationwide, then to 60 percent “in some areas.”

The compliant US media dutifully swallowed all these numbers in succession, never challenging their accuracy or questioning how each figure could be so quickly supplanted by a lower one as the day wore on.

The 72 percent figure, for instance, issued just before the polls closed, was inherently improbable, given that most polling places did not even open in the Sunni Triangle. With the vast majority of Sunnis, some 20-25 percent of Iraq’s people, boycotting the election, turnout among the rest of the population would have to be near-unanimous to bring the total up to 72 percent.

The reports on turnout were supplemented by television news footage of happy Iraqis celebrating their new-found freedom to vote, praising the American military, and thanking President Bush. There is ample reason to believe that these scenes were largely staged for the benefit of the media—like the scenes of Iraqis tearing down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square after the US invasion nearly two years ago. (Similar scenes were a hallmark of the Baathist dictatorship as well, with cheering crowds vowing to sacrifice their lives for Saddam.)

According to Robert Fisk of the Independent, a major British daily newspaper, “The big television networks have been given a list of five polling stations where they will be ‘allowed’ to film. Close inspection of the list shows that four of the five are in Shiite Muslim areas—where the polling will probably be high—and one in an upmarket Sunni area, where it will be moderate.” Sunni working class areas were entirely off limits, he noted.

In some cases, the media reports were literally military propaganda handouts. ABC News, for instance, reported thousands of voters in Fallujah, the city virtually destroyed by the US military onslaught last November. The source for this report of surprisingly high turnout was the US military command in the shattered city. Meanwhile, other news outlets put the turnout in Fallujah as minuscule, on a par with the other predominantly Sunni cities where few polls opened and few voters turned out.
...
More fundamentally, the entire election process is fatally tainted by the US military occupation. The regime that conducted the vote was appointed by the US occupation authorities, with the United Nations giving its rubber-stamp approval. The timing and procedures for the election were determined by US officials. And it was President Bush who decided earlier this month to reject the pleas of a majority of the Iraqi cabinet and oppose any postponement of the vote so as to allow for increased Sunni participation.

January 30 saw an unparalleled display of American military power on the streets of Baghdad, Mosul and other Iraqi cities. The 150,000 US troops were out in force, backed by hundreds of armored vehicles, and supplemented by another 150,000 US-trained Iraqi police and soldiers. Even the American media could not disguise the spectacle of Iraqis filing in to the polls through rolls of barbed wire, being frisked three separate times under the eyes of US snipers, while US helicopters and war planes roared overhead.

It was not a scene of freedom, but one of occupation and brutal subordination.
...
Within the United States, the government-backed media blitz on the triumph of democracy in Iraq is aimed at intimidating opponents of the war and US occupation. But this propaganda campaign only intensifies the contradictions in the Bush administration’s political position. If the Iraqi people have “taken control of their country,” as the White House claims, why must 150,000 US troops remain there? Why can’t 25 million Iraqis defend themselves from the small bands of foreign terrorists and Saddam Hussein loyalists who supposedly make up the resistance?

“Democratization” is merely the latest pretext for the US occupation, following the now discredited claims that the US invaded Iraq to destroy Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction or because of Saddam’s alleged connections with the terrorists who perpetrated the attacks of September 11, 2001. The democracy pretext, too, will be exploded by events.

Just a Reminder

For thorough, in-depth blogging, the kind I occasionally do but not that often, remember to check out Michelle's You Will Anyway. So many scandals, so little time! Just don't click on the "greatest music video" link. Trust me on this.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

From the NY Times:

Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other Bush administration officials have complained heatedly to Qatari leaders that Al Jazeera's broadcasts have been inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.

And these are the experts on inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.

The Night Before Voting

'Twas the night before voting, and all through Iraq
Folks wonder if voting will get them attacked
Why they are voting and for whom they're don't know
Many don't even know where they should go

The bombs are all placed by the boxes with care
In hopes that some voters soon will be there
Curfews and GI's with guns let them know
This talk of democracy is really all show

The freedom to cower, the freedom to die
Those are the freedoms that came from Bush lies
From Baghdad to Mosul, Ramadi Tikrit
Nowhere's less safe than an Iraqi street

Allawi, Zarqawi, Sistani, al-Sadr
The Iraqi inferno will keep getting hotter
Until the poor soldiers of the men who deceive
Give up the lie, and get up and leave.

(This is a sequel to The Night Before Baghdad, which I first wrote about 2 1/2 years ago and updated a few times.)

From Corky Trinidad.

From Ed Stein.

From Walt Handelsman.

From Chris Britt.

From Boondocks.

Competition continues to die

If the merger between Proctor & Gamble and Gillette goes through, all of the above deodorant brands will be made by the same company. The top three are currently made by P&G; the bottom four by Gillette. That the main benefits of the move are to eliminate jobs and stifle competition aren't even concealed in the story:

The deal will mean about 6,000 job cuts, or about 4 percent of the combined work force of 140,000 employees. It said most of the cuts would come from eliminating management overlaps and consolidation of business support functions.
...
But beyond the job cuts, the deal would give the company even more demand over the shelf space at the nation's retailers and grocers, real estate that is at a premium.
...
Those increases in leverage and cost efficiency are expected to put pressure on smaller rivals to eye deals of their own.

I'm sure that the illusion of competition will be maintained, just as it is in the other aisles of the supermarket.

What They're Saying About W, part deux

Michelle has a lengthy selection of quotes to add to my What They're Saying About W post. Some selections:

"He was goofing around, and there's only one way to interpret that kind of behaviour just seconds before announcing war on Iraq: the man is an idiot." Kevin Lowe, 03.30.03
...
Yet infinitely worse, every decision he makes -- in that it is coming from that place of ego-driven insecurity -- is the exact opposite of the reasoned, compassionate, measured, rational response the world desperately needs. And confounding the problem even further, he has neither the knowledge, expertise, nor the abstract reasoning ability -- irrespective of his flawed personality profile -- to make the correct decision. Never in my lifetime have I witnessed a president, time after time, make the exact wrong call on every single issue. Lately I'm afraid to pick up the morning paper for fear of yet another foolhardy decision from the blundering Baron of Brinksmanship. --Ogi Overman

The White House announces a press conference in the morning. After the announcement comes the news that 31 Americans died in a chopper crash in Iraq (6 others died today in seperate incidents). The president takes the podium fresh with the knowledge of that tragedy--and radiates a cheerful disposition bantering with the press about senior citizens and their faulty memories.

Freedom is going, going, Gonzales

From Common Dreams:

[Gonzales] refused to be drawn into a discussion of tactics that might constitute torture. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., asked him about reports from FBI agents, recently released, that some detainees were bound hand and foot to lie in their own urine and feces for 18 to 24 hours.

"I found those e-mails to be shocking and deeply troubling," Gonzales responded. "I do not think it would be appropriate for me to address reports of interrogation practices discussed in the press and attempt to analyze whether such reported practices are lawful."

In that case, I do not think it would be appropriate for the Senate to even consider confirming this monster to be Attorney General. Just nominating this creep should be sufficient grounds for aWol's impeachment.

True Conservatives Bash Bush the Best!

Led by Bush, the Republican Party now stands for detainment without trial and war without end. It is a party destructive of all virtue and a great threat to life and liberty on earth.

-- Paul Craig Roberts, yet again. And, once again, Roberts' bio:

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of "The Tyranny of Good Intentions."

What they're saying about W

"The hubris-filled megalomaniac in the Oval Office has promised the world war without end." -- Paul Craig Roberts

"George Bush is a very simple, very violent person with very extreme views, as well as being very much an ignoramus." -- Uri Avnery

"Do millions identify with Bush because he screws up?" -- Saul Landau

"If reporters only ask about stuff Shrub knows took place, press conferences would be very short affairs indeed." -- WIIIAI

"These are very, very serious problems we can blame on that moron in the White House ... the US has a long history of murders and failed coups and the more aggressive Bush and the neocons get the bigger the backlash they will get, not only from Venezuela but also throughout Latin America." -- Bob Chapman, from an article e-mailed to me for which I don't have a link, writing about the oil arrangements that Venezuelan President Chavez has been making with the rest of South America, and with China.

And, finally, check out the first minute-and-a-half or so of the Daily Show from Monday (click on the picture above "Phoner"). Bush spoke to an anti-abortion rally in front of the White House--by phone. Jon Stewart sums it up: "Regardless of your position on this controversial issue, it's good to know that on an issue that our president feels strongly about, he has the moral courage to literally phone it in."

Quote du Jour

From an dentist in Baghdad, quoted in the NY Times: "The Americans, they are part of the terrorism."

Losing Feith

Neonut chieftan Douglas Feith is resigning from the Pentagon, effective this summer. WIIIAI has some good comments.

The circle closes

Back in the early 1980's, the breakup of AT&T through anti-trust action was a big story. Well, it has been undone, one step at a time. Michigan Bell joined with Illinois Bell to become Ameritech, which then joined with a couple of other baby Bells to become SBC Ameritech, and then SBC. Now, SBC is trying to buy the shell of the old parent:

SBC Communications, the second-largest regional phone company in the nation, is in talks to buy AT&T for more than $16 billion, according to executives close to the negotiations.

A deal, if reached, would be the final chapter in the 120-year history of AT&T, the first technological giant of the modern age and the original model for telecommunications companies worldwide. A deal would be a reunion of sorts, putting back together some of the largest pieces of the Ma Bell telephone monopoly, which was broken up in 1984.

From David Horsey.

From Bill Schorr.

Train Wreck

For those of us who've been watching season four of 24, today's headline is a bit disconcerting. The latest report says that the commuter train crash in Glendale, CA this morning was caused by a man parking his SUV across the tracks, then getting out and watching the collision. Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams says they'll charge the guy with murder, even as he makes the defense's case for an insanity plea very easy: "This whole incident was started by a deranged individual who was suicidal."

"I think he was intent at that time of taking his own life, but changed his mind prior to the train actually striking his vehicle," Adams said.

The collision and derailment was not an act of terrorism, the police chief said.

Of course not. People who destroy gas-guzzling Hummers without killing anyone are terrorists. People who destroy efficient mass transit are not.

Good Question

From WIIIAI:

Several bloggers have asked just how Iraqi voters are supposed to know where their polling stations will be. I’m rather curious about this myself. Follow the sound of gunfire? The trail of blood?

From Ed Stein.

From Chris Britt.

Smart Aliens Choose Other Planets

From Don Wright.

From Mike Lane.

31 Dead in Chopper Crash

From CNN:

Thirty-one Marines were killed in a helicopter crash near Iraq's border with Jordan, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed Wednesday to 36 -- the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq.

Reading the rest of the article, it appears as though this has been an unusually bloody day even without the helicopter crash, even for Iraq.

To honor those killed, the Senate is expected to confirm Condiliar Rice as Secretary of State, whose lies contributed directly to the deaths.

See what a little pressure will do?

Responding to intense scrutiny from this blog, and possibly some other sources, authorities now say that the A and C lines of the New York subway can be returned to full service in six to nine months, not the three to five years previously estimated. One still gets the feeling, however, that both estimates were just pulled out of someone's butt. Unfortunately, the new estimate seems to be based on replacing the burned 1920's-era relays with exact matches, rather than taking the opportunity to do long-overdue modernization of the system. I can't believe that the system is so complicated that the only way they can figure out how to do it is just to copy what was done 80 years ago. A finite number of track segments, a small number of trains--don't let two trains on the same track segment at the same time. The engineers have complete access to the track and the trains, so they can install as many sensors and transmitters as they need to monitor the system. Much more complicated control problems are solved daily by engineers and programmers around the world. The safety and reliability required by a subway system surely drives the cost up, but still--the basic control function could probably be handled by your cell phone's chip.

The NY Times editorializes on the problem, saying that homeless activists and the cops need to clear the subways of homeless people, need to communicate better with confused passengers, and (I like this part) lays the blame on Republican Governor George Pataki.

FUBAR

From CNN:

Iraqi security forces are committing systematic torture and other abuses against people in detention, the pressure group Human Rights Watch says in a new report.

"Tolerance of the abuse of detainees by government agencies remains high," says the 94-page report released Tuesday.

International police advisers, largely funded by the U.S. government, "have turned a blind eye to these rampant abuses," it says.

Could it get any worse? Most likely. Just watch.

Paul Craig Roberts again

He has probably already been kicked out of the country club; if not, this should do it:

Can you believe this administration's insanity? Bush intends to rise from the ashes of defeat in Iraq by invading Iran, a country three times the size in population and geography? Does it remind you of Adolf Hitler who, unable to invade tiny England, marches his army off into Russia?

Here's a reminder of the bio of this latest radical to compare Bush to Hitler:

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

Arundhati Roy is a smart woman

From Sharon Smith on Counterpunch:

Award-winning Indian writer and global justice activist Arundhati Roy got to the heart of the issue in a San Francisco speech on August 16: "It is absurd to condemn the resistance to the U.S. occupation in Iraq, as being masterminded by terrorists," she said. "After all, if the United States were invaded and occupied, would everybody who fought to liberate it be a terrorist?"

If we are waiting for the "ideologically pure" movement--assuming the unlikely scenario that all those opposed to the war could agree on one--we could be waiting forever.

As Roy explained, "Like most resistance movements, [the Iraqis] combine a motley range of assorted factions. Former Baathists, liberals, Islamists, fed-up collaborationists, communists, etc. Of course, it is riddled with opportunism, local rivalry, demagoguery and criminality. But if we were to only support pristine movements, then no resistance will be worthy of our purity.

"Before we prescribe how a pristine Iraqi resistance must conduct their secular, feminist, democratic, nonviolent battle, we should shore up our end of the resistance by forcing the U.S. and its allied governments to withdraw from Iraq."

Now would be a good time to remind the sleazebags in Congress that more money won't make things better in Iraq--pretty much every dime the U.S. has ever spent destroying or otherwise inflicting its will on Mesopotamia has made things worse. Call your congresscritters today and tell them not to support the request for the waste of another $80 billion. Call 800-839-5276 and ask for your representative or senator.

New York Subway Update

The NY Times has a more informative article today than yesterday, understandably enough. Apparently the impact of the relay-room fire is even greater than reported before:

The A line will run roughly one-third the normal number of trains - meaning that riders who used to wait six minutes for a train might now have to wait 18 minutes - while the C train will cease to exist as a separate line, at least for the time being.

Apparently, the three to five years estimated for repair is because of this:

Officials said they believed that there were only two companies in the world that were able to repair the signals. One is based in Pittsburgh, and the other in Paris.

The fixed-block signaling system has been in use since the New York subway's inception in 1904. The transit agency has invested $288 million on its first computerized signaling system, scheduled to make its debut on the L line in Brooklyn and in Manhattan in July. Computer-based train operation has been a goal for decades, but since 1982 the transit agency has focused its capital spending on basic maintenance.

Apparently somebody had the same thought that I did:

An expert on the city's subways expressed amazement that a single fire in a confined space could have such a long-lasting impact. "It seems astonishing that a single signal room would be so central to the operation of the line that it would take five years to recover from," said Clifton Hood, a transit historian at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. "That's about as long as it took to build that entire line of the IND."

The first segment of the Independent Subway System, of which the A and C are a part, opened in 1932. The city's three subway divisions were unified in 1940. Professor Hood noted that four stations that were closed after Sept. 11 were reopened in a year.

The shutdown of C and slowdown of A is causing havoc with commuters:

Yesterday morning, the first commute since the blaze gave a taste of the irritation that awaits riders in the days and weeks to come. "All I can do is wait here and hope for the best," said Ana Reyes, 51, a medical receptionist from Boerum Hill who had waited half an hour for the A train at the Jay Street station in Brooklyn. "Nobody tells you anything, so I just follow everyone else. If a train comes, I'm getting on it, and I don't care where it goes."

Other subway lines buckled from the added load of passengers from the A and C lines. At the Atlantic Avenue station, a major hub in Brooklyn, Patrick Joseph, 40, a construction worker from Crown Heights, was unable to board a crowded No. 2 train. "This is the second train I can't get on," Mr. Joseph said, adding that he was in his fourth day of a new job. "I'm definitely late. I've been on the train for an hour and 10 minutes and I have only traveled from Eastern Parkway."

The snow and cold weather may have contributed to the problem, because the fire was thought to have been started by a homeless person trying to keep warm. Apparently there are hundreds of homeless people living in the NY subways. A few more fires like Sunday's, and the economy of America's largest city may go in the tank, further swelling the ranks of the homeless. If anyone in Washington or Albany has any sense at all for physical or economic security, it would seem as though a real "Manhattan Project" is called for here. I'll bet just a small fraction $80 billion could get the job done in a few months--not just fixing the fire damage, but upgrading the operation and security of the subway system. And build or buy plenty of low-income housing besides.

Intolerant of Tolerance

From the magazine Extra! via Left I on the News:

At first it sounded like a bad joke, but it turned out to be true: CBS and NBC both rejected an ad from the United Church of Christ because they deemed the ad's message of tolerance 'too controversial.' The ad emphasized that the church welcomes everyone, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance, or sexual orientation. According to a statement from CBS, the network regarded that as unacceptable because it 'touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations.' If that makes you scratch your head, another reason cited by CBS for rejecting the ad was because 'the executive branch has recently proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.'

From Boondocks.

$80 billion here, $80 billion there--pretty soon you're talking real money!

Actually, after reading The Creature From Jekyll Island, I don't think there is such a thing as "real money." There's just debt. And aWol wants to make a whole bunch more of it to waste on his horrid wars.

From AP:

The Bush administration plans to announce Tuesday it will request about $80 billion more for this year's costs of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional aides said Monday.

The request would push the total provided so far for those wars and for U.S. efforts against terrorism elsewhere in the world to more than $280 billion since the first money was provided shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, airliner attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

That would be nearly half the $613 billion the United States spent for World War I or the $623 billion it expended for the Vietnam War, when the costs of those conflicts are translated into 2005 dollars.

And what are we getting for all this money debt? Well, the destruction of Fallujah resulted in some 6000 killed and 200,000 refugees. Meanwhile, both the power AND the water are out in Baghdad. As Riverbend says, "Water is like peace- you never really know just how valuable it is until someone takes it away." Our handpicked thug sees Saddam's legacy not as appalling, but as a challenge. And the elections are on schedule, without, apparently, any independent outside observers. Oh, and Afghanistan is back in the opium business in a big way. That's what our $200 billion has gotten us so far, along with some 1500 dead Americans. Who knows what they can do with another $80 billion?

Of course, the Democrats are going to put up a fight:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday it was Congress' "highest responsibility" to provide the money that American troops need.

Actually, Nancy, all the money they need is airfare home. I'll repeat that Jon Stewart quote from last week: "Democrats: a moment of resistance, a lifetime of capitulation." Although word has it that this time John Kerry plans to vote AGAINST the $80 billion before he votes FOR it.

Progress?

From the NY Times:

A subway fire that gutted an underground communications room has crippled two of New York City's busiest subway lines, the A and the C, and full service may not be restored for three to five years, officials announced today.

The Sunday afternoon fire at the Chambers Street station was apparently set by a homeless person and is being investigated as an act of arson, according to Lawrence G. Reuter, president of New York City Transit.

The A train has been running at two-thirds of its normal frequency, meaning that riders face a wait of 8 to 12 minutes. Service on the C line, which normally runs from 168th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, to Euclid Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, has been suspended indefinitely.
...
Much of the equipment dated to the construction of the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad, nearly all of which was built between 1924 and 1937.

Three to five years? To rebuild one control room which was a small part of a major subway line built in 13 years 80 years ago? The article doesn't explain why it should take this long--it strikes me as a "black box" problem. There should be some point in each direction that the fire didn't reach. At these points there would be mechanical or electrical connections (cables, wires) which transferred the information in and out of the communications room. Chances are that your typical Palm Pilot has more than enough computing power to handle the computing chores of that communication room--a ordinary PC could certainly do the job. Converting the mechanical and electrical signals into data for the computer (and back) would take some work, but it should easily be within the capabilities of hundreds of engineering firms. Something is very wrong if it's going to take three to five years to fix this problem.

I see from the MTA subway map that the C line is basically just a local version of the A line. It has a shorter run on the same tracks in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, but stops at more stations. At rush hour, it appears that the A train normally runs every 5 minutes and the C train every 10. So, for most trips, three trains come by every ten minutes. That is now down to one, and apparently will be for some time. I would think that restoring full service would be a top priority--why would it take three to five years? (If anyone has any answers, let me know.)

The story also gives some insight into how far "homeland security" has progressed in America's prime target city since 9/11:

Near the charred ruins of the signal equipment, investigators found 2-by-4-foot wooden blocks in a shopping cart, according to Assistant Chief Henry R. Cronin III, the commanding officer of the transit bureau of the New York Police Department. The investigators surmised that a homeless person had ignited the blocks to try to keep warm.

"I don't think it was an intentional act of arson," Chief Cronin said.

Mr. Reuter acknowledged that the fire highlighted the delicate nature of the subway system. Its carefully calibrated signals and lines rely on decades-old mechanical equipment. "We've said all along the system is extremely vulnerable, all the time," he said.

A transportation authority board member, Andrew B. Albert, asked Mr. Reuter at the public meeting whether fireproofing of signal equipment was possible.

"I don't think there's an easy solution to stop these types of fires," Mr. Reuter responded. He said that the relay room had been locked and that the shopping cart was found in an area that is clearly off-limits to the public.

Global Warming

A hand-picked Bushie favorite told an international conference

that he personally believes that the world has "already reached the level of dangerous concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere" and called for immediate and "very deep" cuts in the pollution if humanity is to "survive".

50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2004

The Beast has compiled their latest list, from which I steal too many:

45. John McCain:

Crimes: Survived years of torture in Vietnam only to become a bend over buddy for a sheltered rich dunce. McCain could have bolstered his largely unearned air of credibility this year had he stood against Bush, but instead chose to show us all that that no principle is too fundamental to humanity to be overlooked in the name of party loyalty. We can only hope that they’ve got something on him, something big.

Smoking Gun: Returned to criticizing Bush as soon as it didn’t matter anymore.

<>Punishment: Vice President under Rumsfeld.
...
40. Laura Bush

Crimes: Oh the first lady, what an inspiration she must be to android researchers everywhere. Smile, nod, smile, (look interested) nod, put on $50,000 dress, suck off the president and there you have a typical day for the first lady. Corporate yes-wives like her will hasten the coming of mandated burkas for American women. Actually looks related to George, which might explain their mongoloid children.

Smoking Gun: She married George Bush.

<>Punishment: Chugging a gallon of stem cells on Fear Factor.
...
32. Lynndie England

Crimes: The ultimate “ugly American,” England represents everything people hate about us—ignorance, perversion, racism, and denial. The most authentic trailer trash to enter the public spotlight since Anna Nicole, complete with illegitimate baby by an abusive ex-boyfriend and experience in the meat processing industry. Described by her no doubt horrific mother as having been “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Smoking Gun: The pictures, duh.

Punishment: Gang-raped and devoured alive by all of the hysterical Republican pundits who defended her.

---

31. Al From

Crimes: Founder and CEO of the detestable Democratic Leadership Council, the lead organization for the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” wing of the Democratic Party. From’s appeasement strategies have lead directly to tragic losses in the last three elections. Responsible for the inability of serious people to fully respect the Democratic Party.

Smoking Gun: Said Dean couldn’t win; backed Joe Lieberman.

<>Punishment: President Nader.
...
26. Terry McAuliffe

Crimes: Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Said, "This is the best election night in history" on November 2, 2004, just before 8pm EST. Not only presided over the pathetic Kerry defeat, but held the same position in the 2000 fiasco. A driving force in the Republicanization of Democrats, he personally saw to it that the charismatic Dean campaign was crushed to make way for Kerrybot. Doesn’t understand that winning is not necessarily about copying what winners do, but more often not doing what losers do.

Punishment: Hillary Clinton as a cellmate for life.

<>Smoking Gun: Said the party will spend "whatever it takes" to study complaints from Ohio voters that included uncounted votes, long lines, shortages of ballots, understaffed polling stations and voting machine errors. Still studying, apparently.

24. Ronald Reagan

Crimes: The greatest monster in recent American history. Reagan’s excruciating sanctification during his agonizingly protracted funeral was enough to make anyone with knowledge of his true legacy blow up a radio tower. Newspaper columnists performed astonishing feats of selective memory in canonizing Reagan, disregarding any inconvenient evidence of supporting terrorism, ripping off taxpayers for outrageous defense programs, or introducing crack cocaine to America, because we need our heroes.

Smoking Gun: Responsible for telemarketing and infomercials.

<>Punishment: Reanimated and killed again.
...
15. Condoleezza Rice

Crimes: The phrase “politics is show business for ugly people” has never had so fine a foil. Smirks condescendingly at senior Senators when they ask her silly questions about gross negligence in the area of national security. Winner of the Beast award for most likely to make Grover Norquist’s dick hard. Promoted for feverishly licking Cheney’s boot for four years.

Smoking Gun: Gets to sleep in the big house now.

Punishment: thrown into the arctic from the Exxon oil tanker that used to bear her name.

---

14. Tom Delay

Crimes: The worst Congressman alive. Being the most corrupt member of the House is a hell of an achievement. Delay is so brazen even lobbyists have expressed reservations. Compares the pathetic, castrated EPA to the Gestapo. A self-obsessed misanthrope in the guise of a Christian.

Smoking Gun: According to Danny Yatom, former head of Israel’s feared Mossad: "The Likud is nothing compared to this guy."

<>Punishment: Outed by Barney Frank.
...

6. George W. Bush

Crimes: Too numerous to mention. The worst piece of shit ever to run this country, including King George III; when’s the last time a president made half his country want to move to Canada? Lays claim to the legacy of Jesus Christ as he hungrily sucks what little life-essence is left from the world. Appears to be only dimly aware that he is destroying the future, but seems to think it’s kind of funny.

Smoking Gun: Too numerous to mention.

Punishment: To have his fortune stolen from him by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle and Wolfowitz, and be denied Medicaid.

---

5. John Kerry

Crimes: Managed to lose to the most hated president in American history by virtue of his total inability to convincingly portray himself as a human being. Didn’t even have the balls to show up during the Ohio election challenge in the Senate. So thoroughly vetted that he appears inhuman, incapable of speaking without repeating the same hackneyed phrases incessantly and gesticulating like a poorly operated marionette. Cursing his daughters with his frightening profile.

Smoking Gun: Actually did vote for the $87 billion before he voted against it.

Punishment: Quality time with wife and kids.

---

4. Dick Cheney

Crimes: So loathsome his own party is frightened of him. Manages to deliver stunning lies with an air of sneering authority. Shamelessly employs scare tactics in order to strip the federal government of any resemblance to the one described in the constitution. So visibly evil that all of the documented evidence against him is superfluous. The kind of guy who starts talking cannibalism the minute he steps on the lifeboat.

Smoking Gun: Managed to make his own shame at producing gay offspring into a negative for Kerry.

Punishment: Hacked to death by Mexican migrant workers.

---

3. You

Crimes: You gaze idly at the carnage around you, sigh, and go calmly back to your coffee and your People magazine. You can’t stop buying useless crap, though you’re drowning in a deepening pool of debt. You think you’re an activist because you bitch all day on the internet, but you reelect the same gangsters at a 99% rate. You consider yourself informed because you waste a significant portion of your life watching the same three news stories cycle over and over again on your gargantuan, aerodynamic television set while you eat processed food. You really thought everything would be okay if Kerry won. Not only do you believe in an invisible man who magically farted out the universe, you also excoriate and marginalize those who disagree. You have a poorer understanding of your country’s foreign policy history than a third world peasant, but you can’t wait to see what Julia Roberts will be wearing at the Oscars. You cheer as Ukrainians challenge an election based on exit poll data, but keep waiting around for someone else to fix your problems. You can’t think, you can’t organize and you won’t act. This is all your fault.

Smoking Gun: You’re fat.

Punishment: You’re soaking in it.

---

2. Donald Rumsfeld

Crimes: At least Herman Goering knew how to conquer people. Rummy is the richest person in the white house, a former auto and pharmaceutical CEO and the one who nurtured Dick Cheney’s career. So rife with corruption and fascist desire he makes dirt look clean. Carries himself in press conferences like a cranky grandfather who is sick of hearing his daughters whine about how he molested them every now and then.

Smoking Gun: Abu Ghraib.

Punishment: Abu Ghraib.

---

1. Kenneth Blackwell

Crimes: The greasy, rancid piece of crap who delivered Ohio for Bush by any means necessary, and then bragged about it in a recent fundraising letter. A black man who has no reservations about screwing over his own people in his lust for power and money. Blackwell is the kind of soulless traitor without whose complicity no nefarious evil plot ever goes down. In step with the future of global elections.

Smoking Gun: Phony recounts, media lockouts, intentional misallocation of voting machines, you name it.

Just Punishment: Dissolved in barrel of acid.

Listserv infiltrators?

Our local peace listserv, which is a Yahoo group, has a "member" going by the name of "Peace25." Peace25 only posts messages with a subject beginning with "URGENT," and they usually request that we immediately contact Congress about something. These frequently have to do with China, generally supporting the Chinese government. The most recent, however, is in support (!) of the Condi Rice nomination.

My guess is that a Chinese government office has created automated "members" of listservs as a way to get their messages out to activist types. I know that many of my readers are members of similar listservs. Do you recognize "Peace25" as a frequent contributor (although never responder) on your listserv? I've also seen one going by "Peace27." E-mail me if you have. Thanks.

From Daryl Cagle.

From Jen Sorensen.

From Ted Rall.

Why I don't read Thomas Friedman

His column yesterday starts out:

There's only one thing you can say about the elections in Iraq: They are either going to be the end of the beginning there or the beginning of the end.

First off, that sounds like two things, not one. Secondly, if that is/are the only thing(s) you can say about the elections, Thomas, what are all those other paragraphs in your column about?

Happy New Bus Route Day!

I was so happy last week to see that the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority had changed my bus route, I was beginning to wonder "How pathetic am I?" But, putting my rationalization skills to good use, I realized that the new route, with stops much closer to my office than before, will give me an additional 20 minutes or so each day for working, blogging, sleeping, whatever! Another hour and a half each week! So I should be happy. The new route also goes from my office fairly directly to the gym, so I should be able to easily make up for the reduced walking. Locals who have haven't found the bus to be convenient before should check the new shedules; there are a lot of changes, and they've coordinated with the UM bus system better.

What Condi should have said...

"Nobody could have possibly forseen that Abraham Lincoln and SpongeBob SquarePants would be outed in the same week."

Everybody's nuts now!

Jonathan at A Tiny Revolution that will have you laughing and/or screaming (judging from the comments on the first, it will be mostly screaming if you haven't sold your soul to the Microsoft devil).

The first links to a wmv file which should convince you that filming a beheading video is anything but easy (and watching it is impossible without Windows). The second post employs a little history to satirically illustrate how truly crazy the neocons are. I especially liked Jonathan's very cynical note in his comments:

politics at a high level is generally a battle between the sane evil people and the insane evil people. And you have to pray the sane evil people win.

The sane evil people are those like Scowcroft, Powell, Albright, etc. They do make some sort of rational, if evil, cost-benefit calculation.

I assume the insane evil people currently running the US are making some kind of cost-benefit calculation in their minds. But it's certainly not rational.

As Harry says, they're not (just) profiteering. They really have some sort of grand vision of a purified world. You can see this even with Social Security, where they may try to borrow trillions of dollars to accomplish their ideological goals... even when doing so would risk crashing the US economy, thereby costing their benefactors far more money than they'll get looting SS.

That's why they're so scary. You really can't predict how far they'll go, because they've already shown they'll risk destroying themselves. (And us, of course. But that's irrelevant, both to sane and insane evil leaders.)

From Lalo Alcaraz.

From Mike Keefe.

Share with the class

I was going to do some blogging today. However, a couple of feet of snow fell here overnight, and I had a few other things to do around the house in addition to shoveling. When I did get to the computer, I spent most of my time answering two e-mails from readers. Since my answers were probably better thought out than my typical blog post, I think I'll share them here.

First, Dena from New York asked me to comment on remarks from General George Casey Jr., the current disaster manager in Iraq (he replaced Abizaid, who replaced Franks). Dena had the remarks forwarded to her from a right-wing friend of hers; they had been edited from the original, which was a press conference Casey gave on December 16. In the press conference, Casey was pretty upbeat about Iraq. In the e-mail, he was practically halucinatory, since any hints of doubt had been removed. In any case, the e-mail basically quoted Casey as saying that things are pretty much wonderful, the insurgency is being crushed, elections will be held and will fix everything, blah blah blah. Dena was asking me for a response she could send back to her friend. Here's what I wrote:

There seems to be a blitz of such talking points coming out of the military recently. A few days ago, Michelle quoted extensively from a Lt. Col. Tim Ryan (US Army), who said many of the same things.

Obviously, I'm in no position to contradict every claim. I would point out that Gen. Casey's career future, like that of Col. Ryan, depends on him saying what he's supposed to say. Officers who play the game can look forward to lucrative careers in the weapons industry or in government (see Powell, Colin, for example). Those who deviate from the talking points can look forward to years of being outcasts and branded as traitors (Zinni, Ritter, Shineseki, Kwiatowski).

One of the talking points that Michelle has pointed out repeatedly is this blather about 14 out of 18 provinces being quiet. The four other provinces are the biggest ones in Iraq, with more than half the population, and include Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul. It's like saying that America has never had a mass-casualty terrorist incident in 48 out of 50 states (although what has happened in places like Baghdad, Najaf and Fallujah has been far more deadly and destructive than the attacks in Oklahoma and New York).

I'm sure the general is right about lots of people putting shovels into the ground. But I'll bet that most of the time they're digging graves, and most of the rest it's for making a bomb shelter.

He says that, historically, insurgencies take a long time to defeat. What he doesn't say is that in most cases they aren't defeated. The Vietnamese fought against the Japanese invaders in WWII, and then had to fight the French colonialists for nine years, and then the American imperialists for another 20. They suffered setback after setback, but in the end their "insurgency" triumphed. Similarly in Algeria. Filipinos rebelled against the Spanish colonialists, then the American colonialists, then the Japanese imperialists, and then against the American puppet regime of Marcos. Perhaps the wisest act of Jimmy Carter's presidency was not sending US troops to prop up the Shah of Iran. Probably the stupidest act was goading Saddam Hussein to attack Iran as our proxy. (We've had some awful national security advisors--Kissinger, McFarlane, Powell, Rice--but Carter's NSA Zbigniew Brzezinski was as bad as any of them.)

But I guess the core argument, one that should carry some weight with a libertarian, is this: What right does the US have to come in and impose any sort of government on Iraq? Suppose that the US president was someone your friend despised--Kerry, Chomsky, Rather, Manson, Bush, whoever. And suppose that the European Union, Russia, China and some other countries had decided to revive the League of Nations due to their frustrations with the US veto at the UN. The League of Nations decides that the US president is in violation of League resolutions, having used weapons of mass destruction, invaded neighbors, and was in general posing a threat to its neighbors and the world. Suppose that the League's intelligence agencies have determined that America's homeland security is, in fact, as worthless as 9/11 seemed to suggest. Each League member donates a certain number of airliners, which are then flown by remote control into most major command and control facilities of the US military and government. This is followed up immediately by an invasion from both coasts by League forces. Would your friend, or General Casey, immediately collaborate with the invaders who were "liberating" him from this awful president?

I doubt it--in fact, I suspect that he would call anyone who did so a traitor. There is a word which is commonly used to describe natives who oppose invaders. The word isn't "insurgent;" it's "patriot."

Even had the wild claims about WMD's and ties to al Qaeda been true, invading Iraq was a crime and would have been opposed by millions of Iraqis. Under the circumstances, for someone like Gen. Casey to pretend to occupy the moral high ground in this situation is lunacy.

Next, Mike from British Columbia asked me to comment on this article by Victor Thorn attacking Michael Ruppert for selling out the 9/11 conspiracy movement, or something. Here is my response to Mike:

I bought the "Ruppert Package" back before Christmas. I took the DVD with me on the train, but left the hefty "Crossing the Rubicon" at home. I did read David Ray Griffin's "The New Pearl Harbor" on the train, which I found very interesting and pretty convincing--and probably better written than either Ruppert's or Thorn's book. (I've now read about 70 pages of Rubicon, and my judgment of Thorn is based on the diatribe you sent.)

Exactly what goal Thorn is trying to reach by quibbling with Ruppert I don't know. He has certainly been living in a cocoon for a couple of years if he actually believes this: "Well, no one is denying that war games took place on the morning of 9-11, and no one is denying that our military stood-down. No one is even surprised that Dick Cheney was one of the individuals behind it." No one, that is, except for the vast majority of the population that has never heard of Michael Ruppert and isn't even aware that there are flaws in the official explanations of 9/11. Ruppert has been doing a pretty good job of getting people into that room--if all they hear when they get there is holier than thou conspiracy theorists arguing, they'll probably run back out of the room and never come back.

If you have the quote from Ruppert that Thorn cites in context, I'd be interested in seeing it. My guess is that Ruppert is saying that if the 9/11 questions could have made headlines before November 2, they might have changed the election. But they didn't, and clearly the Democrats aren't about to take a stand on anything. ("Democrats: a moment of resistance, a lifetime of capitulation." -- Jon Stewart) So, perhaps, Ruppert is now suggesting going in a different direction. Thorn may not approve, but it hardly means that Ruppert has sold out or whatever. I'm pretty sure that he does have a big ego--that seemed pretty obvious from the video. It sounds like Thorn does, too. It takes an ego of at least a certain size to accuse the vice president of the US of mass murder!

BTW, there was another article complaining about Ruppert--from Kurt Nimmo on Counterpunch.

I got an e-mail about a week ago from a right-winger. I had quoted from a letter to the editor he had written last year, and he found my blog when he googled his own name. I've since exchanged a couple of e-mails with him. One thing he said he didn't like about liberals was that they stifle debate. I told him that, while I could understand where he was coming from with some of his comments, he clearly knew nothing about liberals if he thought we don't debate!

Back in my spiritual questing days, one of the best books I read was "Mere Christianity," by C.S. Lewis. I remember him saying that the point of his book wasn't to make the reader into a Catholic or Baptist or Lutheran. The idea was just to get him into the big room--mere Christianity. I hope that Ruppert and Thorn and Griffin and Nimmo will focus on bringing people into the big room where it's okay to question 9/11 (and government actions in general), rather than having a shootout in that room that scares people away.

Two more things. One--I watched the film 9/11 twice during my trip, once on the train, once with my brother. It was filmed by two French brothers who were making a documentary about a rookie NY fireman. It has extensive footage from inside WTC 1 from shortly after it was hit by the plane until after WTC 2 collapsed. I highly recommend it. For this discussion, the interesting thing is the one scene when the firemen are back at the station on the afternoon of 9/11, discussing what they saw. One described the collapse of one of the towers (approx. quote): "It just went pop, pop, pop, all the way down, just like a demolition."

The other thing. In my opinion, the quickest way to get someone into the big room of doubt is to focus on the Pentagon. How is it possible that a plane could have crashed into what should be the best-guarded building on the planet? If they try to go all Condi on you, saying nobody could have seen that coming--suggest that that may have been a remote possibility an hour earlier. But after the second plane hit the WTC, everybody, even Bush, knew that the nation was under attack. That the Pentagon was undefended, even unevacuated, 34 minutes later is outside the realm of possibility if one believes that our government is good and pure. I almost think the Pentagon attack was like the second bullet in Gary Webb's "suicide:" A message to the nosy that these are very serious dudes running this show. They want their complicity known to those who look and think closely--and they want those people to believe that they can't be stopped.

Good Riddance

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will reportedly announce his resignation on Friday, according to an article on the Wall Street Journal editorial page. The FCC could not immediately be reached for comment. Selected four years ago by President Bush, Powell has pushed to introduce more free-market principles into federal policy on communications law. Yet his tenure was marked by several controversies, particularly in the regulation of speech and media-ownership rules. One of the top candidates to replace Powell is Rebecca Klein, a Gulf War veteran and former head of the Texas Public Utility Commission. Other possibilities are current FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin and former Bush telecom advisors Michael Gallagher and Janice Obuchowski.

While his father will likely move on to a lucrative post at the Carlyle Group, I'm willing to bet that Mikey will be rewarded for his many gifts to corporate media with a high-paying job at Disney (ABC), Viacom (CBS), GE (NBC), NewsCorp (Fox), or ClearChannel. Or maybe Carlyle will take care of both father and son--Mikey's predecessor as FCC Chairman, Clinton appointee William Kennard, is already on the Carlyle team. One of Colin's SecState predecessors, the hideous James Baker III, is Senior Counselor at Carlyle (a firm in which Bush 41 and the Binladen group were charter investors).

So close, Juan, why'd you have to ruin it?

In a pictorial commentary, Juan Cole points out how the first four years of aWol's reign directly contradict the opening sentence of his coronation speech, which included the phrase "we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution." Cole is very clear about what needs to be done:

Bush has sworn an oath to uphold the US Constitution. He won't. But Congress can. It should insist that the sunset provisions of the so-called "Patriot Act" (which should be called the "Abrogation of the Constitution Act") be allowed to expire in 2005 and that the extremely dangerous "Patriot Act II" be completely defeated. Republicans who care about the Constitution should join Democrats who care about the Constitution in putting a stake through the heart of this abomination.

But then he turns the gun around and points it at his own credibili