The Rational Radical's Weblog

Saturday, May 01, 2004

Hug an Evangelical

Liberals often protest that they would have nothing against conservative Christians if they were not led by hypocritical blowhards who try to impose their Ten Commandments plaques, sexual mores and creationism on society. But that's a crude stereotype, and it ignores the Christian right's accomplishments. Polls show that evangelical Christians are more likely to contribute to charities that help the needy, and in horror spots in Africa Catholics and other Christians are the bulwark of the health care system.

Contributing to charities is very nice to appy the bandaids, but evangelical Christians are the most likely to oppose the kind of real structural changes that would obviate the necessity for the bandaids in the first place.

Jack Clark 4:48 PM [+]   
Post #108345529631169482

Support for War Is Down Sharply, Poll Concludes

Support for the war in Iraq has eroded substantially over the past several months, and Americans are increasingly critical of the way President Bush is handling the conflict, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

After initially expressing robust backing for the war, the public is now evenly divided over whether the United States military should stay for as long as it takes to stabilize Iraq or pull out as soon as possible, the poll showed.

Asked whether the United States had done the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, 47 percent of respondents said it had, down from 58 percent a month earlier and 63 percent in December, just after American forces captured Saddam Hussein. Forty-six percent said the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, up from 37 percent last month and 31 percent in December.

This sounds more like the beginning of the end, not just the end of the beginning.

Jack Clark 4:35 PM [+]   
Post #108345453159212400

Bishops and Politicians  A letter I could have written:

To the Editor:

If the bishops of the United States begin barring politicians who are pro-choice from receiving communion ('Vatican Cardinal Signals Backing for Sanctions on Kerry,' news article, April 24), they had better be prepared also to bar others who are not upholding church teachings in their public lives.

This includes all those who support the death penalty; those who have voted against policies to bring down health care costs; those who have not supported programs to end hunger or to increase housing for the homeless; and those who voted for this disastrous war in Iraq.

In other words, bar all the right-wing pseudo-Christians from communion. Better yet, excommunicate them!

Jack Clark 4:18 PM [+]   
Post #108345348606920995

Diplomacy: Ambassador Nominee Defends Limits on Iraq's Sovereignty

Two Democrats, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Barbara Boxer of California, noted that they had disagreed with Mr. Negroponte when he was an ambassador in Honduras and deputy national security adviser because of the Reagan administration's policies of providing covert aid to anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua in the 1980's. But they said they would set aside those concerns out of personal respect for him.

"Personal respect"??? Boxer and Dodd know that Negroponte did nothing to stop, perhaps even assisted death squad activities in Honduras and the murder of thousands of poor Nicaraguans. What makes people like Boxer and Dodd sell out?

Jack Clark 4:15 PM [+]   
Post #108345330592894935

Did any of you see Chris Matthews the other night interviewing Rumseld? Matthews was having multiple orgasms, cumming in his pants over and over again without even touching himself, so thrilled was he that Rumsfeld granted him an interview. Matthews literally said that it was so great that someone like him, Matthews, could be granted time to interview someone so high up and powerful like Rumsfeld. It was truly a disgusting spectacle. Especially when you compare it to the stiletto dismemberment of right-wingers that Matthews has shown he is capable of, as in his demolition of Ann Coulter.

Jack Clark 4:11 PM [+]   
Post #108345307605133824

A simple question: all these right-wing and even centrist commentators and politicians who keep saying "Well, criticizing the war is easy with 20-20 hindsight, blah, blah, blah..." -- why hasn't anyone called on them the ludicrousness of their statement. The exact stuff that is happening now was predicted by an untold number of war critics. So it's NOT 20-20 hindsight. It was 20-20 FOREsight.

Jack Clark 4:07 PM [+]   
Post #108345284346647830

Viagra and the Battle of the Awkward Ads

For instance, if an ad mentions the product name and what it treats, side effects must also be disclosed - in this case eyebrow-lifters like 'erections that last for more than four hours.'

'My 6-year-old daughter turned to me and said, 'What's a four-hour erection?' ' said Kelly Simmons, executive vice president and chief creative officer at Tierney Communications in Philadelphia, who studies sex issues in marketing. 'How do you explain it?'

And parents are concerned about a breast flash? How come Bill O'Reilly isn't hammering away on this, since the ads appear during times when kids will be watching television? I've got to remember to take note whether any of those (as Bill Maher terrifically labels them) "boner pill" companies advertise on his show.

Jack Clark 9:46 PM [+]   
Post #108338680046571284

Court Historian Woodward Disguises Bush Aims in Invading Iraq

Why is Bob Woodward’s latest book, “Plan of Attack,” is being promoted by the administration? Because it portrays an in-charge President Bush and presents him as genuinely concerned (and seemingly misled) over the threat posed by Iraq’s “weapons of mass-destruction.” Unfortunately, the nation’s most-famous investigative reporter got it wrong.

You would not know from Woodward’s book that the CIA’s National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction – used with Congress to hype the threat - was written several months after the administration decided to make war on Iraq. That decision had little to do with WMD or with supposed ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda. It had everything to do with the imperative seen by Bush’s neoconservative advisers to gain dominant influence over strategic, oil-rich Iraq and to eliminate any possible threat to Israel’s security.

Woodward is disappointing, but then again, what do you expect?

Jack Clark 9:10 PM [+]   
Post #108338465225272180

Iraqi Prison Photos Mar U.S. Image

Photos of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners drew international condemnation on Friday, prompting the stark conclusion that the U.S. campaign to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis is a lost cause.

"This is the straw that broke the camel's back for America," said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi. "The liberators are worse than the dictators."

In case you haven't seen the pix.

Jack Clark 9:05 PM [+]   
Post #108338432334847110

Congress Ignores 'Dirty War' Past of New Iraq Envoy  Negroponte will serve the same role in Iraq he served in Honduras, to use whatever means is necessary, including torture and murder and denying the democratic rights of the citizens of other nations, to ensure that "friendly" (meaning puppet) governments are "chosen" by those citizens.

Jack Clark 9:03 PM [+]   
Post #108338420800884459

Accused Soldiers Didn't Know Geneva Rules

The six U.S. soldiers facing courts-martial in connection with mistreatment of detainees at an Iraqi prison did not receive in-depth training on the Geneva Conventions, which govern the handling of captives, a military spokeswoman said Friday.

Yeah, I guess you need an in-depth training on the Geneva Conventions to know that you're not supposed to sexually abuse prisoners or subject them to mock executions.

Jack Clark 8:56 PM [+]   
Post #108338380942783548

The Year in Review

A total of 307 persons were killed in the attacks of 2003, far fewer than the 725 killed during 2002. A total of 1,593 persons were wounded in the attacks that occurred in 2003, down from 2,013 persons wounded the year before.

These numbers show just how much hyped the "war on terror" is. Every day 30,000 children under the age of 5 die of preventable hunger and/or disease. That's the real terror in the world.

Jack Clark 8:54 PM [+]   
Post #108338364560001217

Bremer in Early 2001: Bush Administration Paid 'No Attention' to Terrorism  Straight from the horse's mouth.

Jack Clark 8:51 PM [+]   
Post #108338346005671761

Reagan's Former Navy Secretary Unleashes Tide of Iraq Criticism

A critical question for citizens and journalists to ask the U.S. government right now is this: "Under what circumstances will the United States military withdraw from Iraq?"

That's according to James Webb, the novelist, decorated Vietnam veteran and Reagan-administration secretary of the Navy, who spoke Wednesday night at Kansas University. Webb says he's never heard a good answer from the Bush administration to the question about troop withdrawal.

"What are the conditions?" Webb asked a crowd of more than 300 people in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. "If you can't answer the question, then you shouldn't have been there in the first place."

...It's disingenuous, Webb said, for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to say that problems in Iraq weren't foreseeable. Webb alleged the Pentagon ignored or brushed aside qualified aides who painted a realistic picture of the problems of occupation...

"There is literally nothing happening in Iraq that was not fully predictable," Webb said.

Man, those commies are good. They've brainwashed yet another heretofore patriotic American into spouting enemy propaganda criticizing one of the greatest presidents in US history. How do these commies do it?!

Jack Clark 5:02 PM [+]   
Post #108336974142530050

More Agents Track Castro Than Bin Laden

The Treasury Department agency entrusted with blocking the financial resources of terrorists has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money, documents show.

Those Florida Cuban-Americans certainly scare the Bushians, don't they.

Jack Clark 4:57 PM [+]   
Post #108336942316105363

Its About Time

So what was so urgent that the world was compelled to act immediately? If the US had not invaded Iraq in March 2003:

--the level of fear would have subsided: it’s nearly impossible to sustain an emotional high of any kind for very long;
--inspections would have revealed the truth: no WMDs;
--the yellow-cake-from-Niger forgery and other misrepresentations would have been further investigated (nothing like a continuing state of crisis to sideline such inconveniences);
--the voices of millions worldwide opposing the invasion would have grown even stronger;
--the US general public might have grasped that the excuses for invasion were lies—aha!

With no hyped-up fear supporting immediate action, there would have been time to think, real diplomacy and the rule of law might have prevailed, and (the “bad news”) control of Iraqi oil and untold billions of dollars in defense contracts—the goals of the 2000 neo-conservative policy paper “Project for a New American Century”—would have been lost. For the Bush-Cheney team and its oil company and defense contractor contributors, time was truly running out.

Very nicely put. I haven't seen it explained quite this clearly.

Jack Clark 4:48 PM [+]   
Post #108336892301942572

Poll finds optimism about what lies ahead Most Iraqis expect life will improve in next few years  What a dishonest spin on the poll results.

Poll: Iraqis conflicted about war, its impact  A more honest assessment of the resuts, but still too optimistic. Even Bill O'Reilly is now saying that if 57% of Iraqis want us to leave within the next few months, that's the end of the ballgame.

Here's something with a link to the best assessment of the poll.

Jack Clark 11:22 AM [+]   
Post #108334936406437292

From what visitors typed into my site's search engine:

- 2 for "neomarksism"
- 2 for "paul baran"
- 1 for "neomarksist"

"Marksism"?!!

Jack Clark 9:48 PM [+]   
Post #108330053547440076

Pulp Fictions Triumph over Truth

[A]ccording to a study by the University of Maryland: 57 % of those surveyed 'believe that before the war Iraq was providing substantial support to al-Qaida', and 45% 'believe that evidence that Iraq was supporting al-Qaida has been found'. Moreover, 65% believe that 'experts' have confirmed that Iraq had WMD.

Unfit for citizenship.

Jack Clark 9:46 PM [+]   
Post #108330036335913159

'Death was a Waste': She Hates the War That Killed Her Son  Damn the Bushians!

Jack Clark 9:31 PM [+]   
Post #108329947846278360

U.S., Iraqi Views of Occupation Converging

One year after President George W Bush declared an end to ''major hostilities'' in Iraq, public opinion there and in the United States is beginning to converge, as people in both countries increasingly agree that the U.S. invasion and occupation might not have been such a good idea after all.

Check the article for some interesting numbers.

Jack Clark 9:27 PM [+]   
Post #108329924135336176

Decade of Democracy Fills Gaps in South Africa  According to a graph which accompanied this article, disposal income for blacks and whites was $1158 and $8562 in 1994, and in 2002 was $1480 and $9555. In other words, in 8 years, black disposable income increased from 13.5% of white disposal income, to 15.4% of white disposable income. Not very good.

Jack Clark 9:00 PM [+]   
Post #108312482523776838

The other night Alan Colmes repeated two times in teasers that "thousands" rallied in DC in the pro-choice march. Why does Colmes do this stuff? There were hundreds of thousands there. Why couldn't he be accurate? Even the Fox news crawler on the bottom of the screen said estimates were between 500,000 and 800,000. Have you even seen Colmes be inaccurate in favor of a liberal position?

Jack Clark 8:53 PM [+]   
Post #108312443847499407

Kerry’s DLC versus The Pirates

After three years of Republican rule, it is madness to say that John Kerry’s DLC rump of the Democratic Party is even remotely equivalent to the rampaging Bush regime. The Bush men have a plan to “change the world”; the DLC have none. The Bush men are driven by a triumphalist ideology; the DLC have their hands out. The DLC attempts to obstruct and co-opt progressive ideas and movements within the Democratic Party; the Bush men are determined to snuff out all who oppose the absolute rule of capital on the Planet Earth, the U.S. included.

...Readers may be surprised to learn that we are not overly concerned about Kerry’s vague promise to send even more troops to Iraq. Kerry is no more capable than Bush of sustaining the doomed U.S. occupation. The Iraqi people will shape their own future, independent of the American electorate, who have no right to a say in the matter. However, Americans do have it in their power to disconnect the Pirates from the reins of power in Washington. That would make a world of difference.

I may be coming around to this point of view.

Jack Clark 9:08 PM [+]   
Post #108303893615264778

What Do We Do Now?  Just about the clearest, succinct piece I've seen.

Jack Clark 9:00 PM [+]   
Post #108303841592145771

Still on Catastrophe's Edge

McNamara: Nuclear War Still Possible; NY No. 1 Target

The threat of devastating nuclear attack by Russia against the United States has not diminished, warns former Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara.

Writing in Monday’s Los Angeles Times, McNamara and co-author Helen Caldicott claim that the threat of a nuclear catastrophe remains real, “whether by accident, human fallibility or malfeasance.”

...[T]he threat remains serious, McNamara and Caldicott argue, because, despite the end of the Cold War in the early 1990's, thousands of Russian nuclear warheads are still pointed at the U.S. targeting many civilian population centers.

This is just what I've been thinking. It doesn't even have to be a war, it could be a command breakdown in the Russian system. I'm a heck of lot more worried about this than Al Qaeda.

Jack Clark 8:47 PM [+]   
Post #108303764272175517

Latin America Losing Hope in Democracy, Report Says

A majority of Latin Americans say they would support the replacement of a democratic government with an 'authoritarian' one if it could produce economic benefits, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday in Lima, Peru.

The report, a harsh self-analysis compiled by Latin Americans, says that the region, which has succeeded in freeing itself from a long history of military coups and dictatorships, is facing a new challenge to democratic rule because of popular disenchantment with its elected governments.

There is no real democracy there. It's a veneer of democracy. The same miniscule percentage of the population that always ruled, still rules. And they rule under the control of the IMF for the benefit of themselves and the multinationals. That's why the people of those countries are fed up.

Jack Clark 10:57 PM [+]   
Post #108295904687274021

World Bank Meeting to Focus on Poverty

With the global economic outlook improving, the top economists at the World Bank said the focus of their annual meetings this weekend would be further reducing poverty.

This is jaw-dropping chutzpah! The World Bank claiming its goal is reducing poverty is like the Nazi Party claiming its goal is reducing anti-Semitism.

Jack Clark 10:52 PM [+]   
Post #108295877444480986

Disappearance of Rightist Unsettles Colombian Peace Talks

A confederation of regional factions with as many as 15,000 fighters, the group eroded support for rebels by killing hundreds of Colombians. Its money has come from ranchers, wealthy Colombians and, the United States says, drug trafficking.

If you don't think the CIA has had a hand in aiding that group of murderers, you're awful naive.

Jack Clark 10:47 PM [+]   
Post #108295845884245112

I got this email today, which makes a good point:

There has only been 1 US-Iraqi war; we never stopped bombing, or the embargo, in the 13+ years. A UN commission estimated (several years ago) that the number of indirect casualties of babies and young children was >0.5M, primarily due to destruction of infrastructure and the embargo. Include the elderly, plus >0.2M battle deaths, and it is highly unlikely the Iraqi dead total <1.0M.

The 1M dead, and the emphasis on the young, is the most important fact of the war. And even if we gave Saddam a Hiroshima nuke and assistance in detonating it anytime, anywhere in the US without warning, it would not do as much damage.

Jack Clark 10:32 PM [+]   
Post #108295757574571546