GQ does it for me ... I won't diss the President in this posting!

In adherence to the vows I took (more or less) in the previous posting, I will simply direct you to an excellent article in the March 2007 issue of GQ within which you will find the articles of impeachment for ... not GWB, but Richard Cheney!

My own personal reasons why this might be a better approach than going directly after Mr. Bush are (1) without Mr. Cheney around to tell him what to do, GWB would likely be a much better President and no longer someone whom we would want to impeach, (2) the new VP (if Cheney were removed from office by the Senate after impeachment) would likely be an acceptable Republican who would try to work with Congress and restore dignity to the Republican Party, (3) Cheney appears to be the brains [sic] behind the Iraq war and our oil interests there (as well as Haliburton's), thus deserving to be impeached for the suffering and death brought to so many needlessly and (4) the current Congress has pretty much promised to lay off trying to impeach Mr. Bush directly.

The GQ article make some very valid points, I believe. Also, it lays out several of the real reasons that Mr. Cheney should be impeached.

From the blogger to the "bloggee" (and others) ... I apologize!

I had to be reminded of my most important "roots" yesterday, and the lesson was a rough one. I was jawing off between classes (in the teacher's lounge) about Mr. Bush and made a couple of really stupid remarks like, "He's a jerk!" or "President Bush has an IQ of [I can't recall the exact number I used, but it was low]!"

One of my teaching colleagues asked me whether I would like to be called a "jerk" behind my back. Of course, my answer was "no!"

But that lesson stayed with me through the evening and I tossed and turned almost all night while reflecting on the Golden Rule -- clearly the rule that covers such incidents and serious sin on my part.

I had to ask myself what exactly is at the heart of Christian love anyway? Well Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Uh oh!

Indeed, John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, once wrote, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death" (1 John 3:14).

Further, a Pharisaic lawyer once asked our Lord, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"

Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

According to Matthew's Gospel, the very essence of the Law is to love God and to love others. And we see this term "the Law" used in other places throughout the Gospels. It's in this passage that we find the Biblical definition for love: "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12)

Hmm ... "do unto others as you would have them do unto you!"

Wasn't that what my fellow educator was trying to get through my thick skull?

My apologies to both him and to all of you in the wide Blogoshere who have indured my barbs tossed at Mr. Bush and others who are largely responsible for the Iraq War. The war may or may not be ill-timed and unjustified, but my ugly insults against our President are 100% ill-timed ... at any time!

Yes, I can disagree with Mr. Bush's policies -- and suggest where he is wrong (in my opinion) -- indeed, I wish to be corrected by others (like I was yesterday!), but I really don't wish to have meaningless (but with ugly meaning, sadly enough) barbs sent my way ... especially behind my back in the manner that I tossed a few in the direction of Mr. Bush yesterday.

I will continue to comment on Mr. Bush's activities (good and bad), but will make an effort to be less insulting from this moment forward ... except maybe in the case of a silly joke or funny image/photo (that isn't wholly mean-spirited).

Al Gore "almost" announces his candidacy ...

Al Gore (left) being teased (scripted) by Leonardo DiCaprio (right)

An Inconvenient Truth (directed by Davis Guggenheim) won the Oscar last evening in Los Angeles for best documentary in 2006. And although teased (scripted, of course) by Leonardo DiCaprio to announce a 2008 run for the Presidency, he simply smiled while relishing his moment of triumph -- and even when pushed, he declined to answer the most important question.

Smart man! Wait until all of the others have self-destructed, Al ... and most will over the course of the next year.

Also, you ought to wait and see whether you win a Nobel Peace Prize later in the year ... much better forum for announcing your candidacy!

As a peanut butter sandwich junkie ...

doesn't this look yummy?

From the insane to the mildly inane. That last posting sort of showed a few of us how the world views America; this one suggests how I view my own survival and it is probably in the hands of the same folks that enlightened the dedication to my brother's twentieth wedding anniversary.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has confirmed the presence of Salmonella in peanut butter produced by ConAgra Foods' Georgia plant. They are the sole producer of Peter Pan Peanut Butter. Fortunately, I tend to eat either IGA's brand or Jiffy, but at least two people are believed to have died and hundreds have been sickened in the latest Salmonella scare. Although I don't live in the states wherein persons have died (Pennsylvania, New York, Iowa, etc.), I am a little leery of opening a new jar of peanut butter these days ... peanut butter sandwiches being almost my sole nourishment "up on the hill" where I teach.

Okay, I'm hooked! Is Larry Birkhead the father? Is Britney in rehab? Should Lisa Nowak be tried for attempted murder? Iran? Iraq? Who cares?

It seems clear to me that Rudy Giuliani is the father of Anna Nicole's baby and likely the hypotenuse of the NASA love triangle. Further, he is wearing Britney Spears missing hair.

It's no wonder that the rest of the world is confused by our backward policies in Iraq, our likelihood of attacking Iran and our willingness as a sovereign nation to put up with having our rights taken from us by a president with an IQ of 0.0003.

But the real news of the week slipped under the radar ...



Introducing George W. Bush's secret (until now) lover and love-child!

This posting dedicated to my brother, Richard, in Connecticut who is celebrating twenty years of marriage with his lovely wife, Kristen, this coming week ...

With so much "real news" out there, who wants to bother with thinkng about Walter Reed Medical Center?

Yeh, why not continue to bombard us with stories about Anna Nicole Smith's body decaying in a morgue or Britney Spears checking out of rehab (yet once again) or the continuing saga of the astronaut love triangle and cross-country trips in a diaper?

It's only our wounded veterans whose discomfort is intensified by the sad conditions in Building 18 (and elsewhere across the country) that gets shoved to the back page.

Rats? Cockroaches (one shown above), human feces ... dilapidated walls? huh?

Shameful!

Is there even a comparison between the Guliani-McCain team and Hillary-Obama at this stage (two years early)?

After that last blog, I have to ask myself: Just what is the choice?

Now, if their two camps could stop the silly infighting over campaign monies that seems to be today's news (just behind Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears and some astronaut lady who drove across country a couple of weeks ago in a diaper to allegedly kill her lover's girlfriend) -- but ahead of Iraq, Afghanistan and the National Debt) maybe we could pick the next President - Vice president team now!!



Looking at the last posting, I'd say that the Democrats have a leg up on their opponents to the right.

What think you?

The Republicans are leaving us little choice, me thinks ...

The leading contenders for the Republican nomination in 2008 (yeh, I'm caught up in the way-too-early presidential talk too) have me looking far more carefully at the Dems these days. I heard something on the radio while driving home yesterday that tried to explain why we are all so interested in the 2008 elections so prematurely--something to do with living in denial ... not believing that we really have two more years of Bush & Co. ahead of us.

Now that's a scary thought! Not that we are living in denial but that we really do have two more years of Bush, Cheney, the Iraq War, Guantanamo, no habeas Corpus rights, wiretaps and appointments of right-wing judges.

At my age, it might not be two more years, of course ...

I must defend Senator Mccain as regards the accusation that he is flip-flopping ...

Whether on the left ...

or on the right ... or smack damn down the middle ...


John McCain is John McCain is John McCain and he is a true-blue maverick just as I remember his father (Admiral John McCain) from my days at CINCPAC during the late 60s. I might disagree with the man on just about everything, but he's definitely dogged and almost Clintonesque (and sadly, somewhat effective) in his verbal delivery to crowds of varying political persuasions.

I generally find him to be something of a windbag (a lot like Rudy Giuliani, in fact, in agreement with Gore Vidal's characterization of them both on Air America yesterday) and a bit pie-in-the-sky as regards his desiring the US to beef up its commitments in the Middle East to a strength well beyond what we can realistically support.

But as regards the quotes with which the hosts on Air America were slapping McCain while accusing him of flip-flopping today ... well, they actually sound to be about in agreement with each other.

"We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement -- that's the kindest word I can give you -- of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war," was what Senator McCain (R. Arizona, above right and left and center) told a crowd of under a thousand people at a retirement community near Hilton Head Island, S.C. "The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously."

McCain followed that up with, "I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history."

The hosts on Air America pointed to his comments about Donald Rumsfeld on the day that Rummy resigned.

What he said back in November (specifically) was, "While Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences, he deserves Americans' respect and gratitude for his many years of public service."

That kind of sounds to this old curmudgeon like he was saying, "Rummy is a jerk!" in the politest way he could under the circumstances at the time. Hell, even I didn't want to kick Rummy while he was going through a public and private Hell.

My recommendation to the folks at Air America is that they probably ought to find better quotes than those that McCain has made about Donald Rumsfeld to make their case that he is a flip-flopper.

But even more important ...

Please friends, let's take on the neocons who are still in power and are ruthlessly and mindlessly grinding our military down while pursuing a mistake--the Iraq War!

In other words, focus!

Bash Bush!!! ... and quit kicking dead horses.

The ballots keep coming in ... George W. Bush is the absolute worst!

Al Neuharth, the former Gannett chief, USA Today founder and currently weekly columnist for that same newspaper was either on Air America or quoted on Air America (I subscribed to XM last year -- hooray!) on one of their shows -- I think it was Politically Direct but one of you (see comment) has suggested that it must have been another show -- yesterday while I was driving back from Olympia, Washington. It had to have been on Air America between 4:05 and 7:30 pm (PST) while I was on the road. Since getting the XM receiver installed in my car, that's about all I listen to. Anyway, he (Neuharth), or whoever was commentating, reminisced about a show that he or Neuharth was on about a year ago during which he discussed America's worst presidents. It should be mentioned here that Al Neuharth was a World War II hero who has met every president since Eisenhower. Anyway, at that time (a year or so ago), he listed the five worst presidents as Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon. At that time he said (and wrote in a USA column) "It's very unlikely Bush can crack that list,"

Now Neuharth admits: "I was wrong. This is my mea culpa. Not only has Bush cracked that list, but he is planted firmly at the top." By top, of course, he means bottom.

[Exact quotes thanks to Google!]

Is it no wonder that Brittney Spears' bald head and the ongoing saga of Anna Nicole Smith dominate American (and maybe the world's) headlines? Who, among the corporate media, wants us to hear "Mission Accomplished" or "There is no doubt that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction" or "Stay the course" or "We must fight them there so that we don't have to fight them at home" (replayed on Air America as often as they can stomach playing old tapes of GWB's voice) or "We are embarking on a new direction in Iraq" (again, GWB's voice more recently ... but still referring to Iraq--this time in reference to "the surge")?

Yessiree, Mr. Neuharth! George W. Bush is the worst president EVER!!!

Please, Mr. Bush ... let's let the Iranians themselves do the job!

Iran yesterday ...


Iran today ...

The question is really a strange one. Is the Bush gang in an alliance with Al-Qaeda to topple Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his fundamentalist handlers in Tehran?

Two bombings this week in Zahedan in southeastern Iran are only the very latest in a series of incidents involving armed opposition groups based among the country's ethnic minorities. The most recent attacks again raise questions about the activities of the US military and CIA inside Iran as the Bush administration intensifies its preparations for war. In my earlier posting relating to Haliburton, I suggested that we might, in fact, be participating (perhaps unwittingly) in the attacks upon our own soldiers in Iraq.

A number of Middle Eastern experts are suggesting that we might very well be doing just that by feeding the Al-Qaeda revolutionaries in Iran. Although many Iranians (like le Rouge et le Noir's wife) would like to see Ahmadinejad's demise ... or at least his fall from power, no person in their right minds would want Al-Qaeda involvement in the future of Iran.

The first of the above bomb blasts (about ten days ago) mentioned above killed at least 11 members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) who were travelling in a bus from their housing compound to a military base. After forcing the bus to stop, the attackers triggered explosives packed in a car. Another 31 people were injured in the explosion. A further bombing, followed by sustained clashes between police and an armed group, was reported early last week.

Jundallah, a Sunni extremist group based among Iran's Baluch minority, claimed responsibility for the Wednesday bombing. Iranian police have already rounded up some 65 people allegedly connected to the organization, along with explosives and weapons. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and is home to Iran’s estimated 1-2 million ethnic Baluchis.

According to provincial police chief Brigadier General Mohammad Ghafari: "A video seized from the rebels confirms their attachment to opposition groups and some countries’ intelligence services such as America and Britain." An unnamed Iranian official told the Islamic Republic News Agency last week that one of those arrested had confessed that the attack was part of US plans to provoke unrest in Iran. "This person who was behind the bombing confessed that those who trained them spoke in English," he said.

What we do know about this whole sordid matter is that the Bush administration has boosted its funding for "regime change" in Iran, including support for Iranian opposition groups. That has been in at least two budget proposals submitted to Congress.

We also know another thing for certain and that is that the crumbling Iranian economy and the student opposition to Ahmadinejad and Company will ultimately do the Iranian government in with or without Al-Qaeda/CIA support.

The students are the next generation of leaders in Iran; maybe we should let them do the job ... without ours or Al-Qaeda's help.

What do you think, Andy?

The God Particle -- an image by Winthrow

My friend, Andy -- not to be confused with my cat, Andrew, nor my brother in Connecticut (whose name isn't even "Andy") -- has taken up Field Theory as something to do when he's not knocking on doors (long story) or procrastinating on helping a younger friend get his telescope up and useful without a constant jitter.

Well, he might get some help later this year when the Large Hadron Collider is made (partially) operational and yet later on -- around 2020 -- when the Chinese (with Japanese^*, Haliburton's and others' help) build a 20-mile-long machine in Beijing, China with the goal of finding what's been dubbed as the "God particle." Most of you already know that scientists have long taken issue with string theory because it does not make testable predictions. Researchers have now developed an important test that involves measurements of how high-energy particles scatter during particle collisions.

They believe these collisions will be observable at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN which will be operational later this year.

The test involves how W bosons scatter in high-energy particle collisions.

Oh yes, W bosons carry the weak force.

String theory uses these assumptions: (1) physics laws are the same for all uniformly moving observers, (2) a rather ill-defined smoothness criteria for the scattering of high-energy particles after a collision, and (3) the necessity that all probabilities add to one. Yeesh! That does sound a little like "God," doesn't it?

Anyway, the new test will set bounds on these assumptions and if the bounds are satisfied, it would still not prove string theory correct.

If violated, string theory would need a major overhaul ... or be dumped altogether ... along with at least five or six of the ten (or eleven) dimensions that it requires.

String theory posits that everything consists of strands of vibrating energy in multiple dimensions. These strings supposedly produce all known forces and particles in the universe.

Dissenters argue that it does not make testable predictions.

Tests of string theory have remained elusive because today's colliders were considered too low-powered.

At the same time, scientists announced plans^* last week to build a 20-mile-long machine in Beijing, China with the goal of finding what's been dubbed as the "God particle." [Nobel prize-winning physics guru Leon Lederman helped coin the term "God particle" in a book by that name.] The book describes one of the most mysterious "what-ifs" in physics. What if an as-yet-unseen "something" provides the universe with the physical property called mass? That “something” is associated with the God particle.

Why do we need a God particle?

According to scientists, mass is the amount of matter contained within a physical object. Yet scientists do not really understand what causes objects to have mass. Why, they ask, is there a physical reality to atoms and molecules? In principle, these physical objects could just as well exist as pure energy, in accordance with Einstein’s famous equation:

E = mc²

A possible explanation for the reason that mass exists arose in the 1960s (my hey-day), when physicist Peter Higgs first asserted that all of space – throughout the entire universe – is permeated with an invisible lattice work. It would be a "field" similar to the more familiar field created by electricity, but more broadly highlighted in mathematical Field Theory. Interactions within this so-called "Higgs’ field" may be what produce mass.

Then again, God might.

Which brings us back to Andy.

^*Plans to build the International Linear Collider in China were announced last week by a collaboration of over 1,000 scientists from 100 countries and led by Shin-ichi Kurokawa, of Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (HEARO). The "Asian atom smasher" is expected to be completed by 2020. It’s through these atom smashers that the God particle -- whose presence would reveal the field that is the source of all physical reality -- might ultimately be found.

Keep questioning them them, Mr. Waxman ... the rat is now quite visable!

And just where do we suspect that the largest share of the missing $20,000,000,000.00 has gone? The answer turns out to be quite simple. Thanks to less than three weeks of (admittedly vigorous) hearings and oversight that have been lacking for the past five years, Representative Henry Waxman (D. Calif.) has identified at least two of the corporate culprits during hearings of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The two largest Iraq "rebuilding" contractors were identified as Haliburton and Blackwater, both with longstanding ties to the Administration and various Republican and Democrat members of Congress. In addition to the statements from corporate executives made during the hearings, the Army, which handles most of the Iraq contracting, said last week that it had not even reviewed the latest contract figures.

[As an aside, I should mention briefly that corporations with contracts in Iraq "earn" their stolen billions, both as hired guns and experts at spending little while earning much. Having been a contract employee of a couple of big-money contractors in the Middle East -- both in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- for almost a decade back during and after the first Gulf War, I can surely testify to another blogger's mention of the risks and hazards of Haliburton's and Blackwater's employees in a very, very hot war zone ... and have some sympathy for them as they are suddenly exposed to televised revelations of the profits made by their employers. As the other blogger pointed out, most of these contractors are seasoned veterans of our different services (sad to say and somewhat shame-faced, I am forced to admit that I was only a civilian employee of the services--that is, I never wore a uniform nor did I ever fight in combat as did many of my braver and very patriotic colleagues), and I'm sure, combat tested or at least very well trained. That blogger reminded us all that our regular soldiers and marines there have no option or say-so in regards to their mission.

While they (our servicemen) did volunteer to join their respective service, they are required to serve and die. Now, as the hearings drag on, they are made aware of exactly why they are dying daily.

Where are their wives and mothers when we need them in the front lines opposing this ongoing carnage?]

But back to the subject at hand and lest we forget, almost half of the $20,000,000,000 (the half that isn't in the pockets of the execs at Haliburton and/or Blackwater) has not been identified, but is believed by most to have landed in the coffers of the very people who are blowing up our Humvees and sniping at our soldiers in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq--the various Sunni and Shiite militias who are fighting each other for ultimate control of the oil that we are attempting to steal from them both.

Yeesh!!! Can someone tell me who's on first? Where's my brother who lives in Connecticut when I need him?

Who the hell is this guy, Howard, anyway?

Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard (above left), is a certified jerk!!

What he said exactly was, "If I was running al-Qaida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats!"

Since when does the Chief-of-State of a foreign government that purports to be an ally of the United States make such a hateful statement about one of our finest politicians (above right) and one of the major political parties in our country? Does he figure that his 1400 troops safely positioned in Iraq (compared to our 130,000 plus in combat) gives him some sort of license to become a shit-head (excuse my language) and, quite frankly, a racist (why else would he single out Barack Obama?) ally of the neocons in the Republican Party.

Hopefully, Mr. Bush will denounce this clown quickly and maybe catch a glimpse at what his own insane policies vis-a-vis Iraq are doing to people around the world, even his friends [sic] among world leaders.

And at the very least, the Democratic (Party) leaders whom John Viper-mouth Howard didn't single out, such as John Murtha, Russ Feingold, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinic and John Kerry, all of whom are pretty much in Obama's corner in opposition to the US involvement in Iraq, might say a word or two in outrage. Hell, even Hillary Clinton is rethinking her position (again) as regards the Iraq War and must see the racism implicated by Howard's statement that singled out Barack Obama. Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter are probably better known than Barack Obama in Australia, I would think ... so why Obama ... unless it's his skin color.

Australians: Dump your racist clown of a leader! And while you're at it, get him a calendar; our elections are in November, not March!

"Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone? But that’s exactly what our government did!" (words from Rep. Henry Waxman ...)

As amazing as the facts are as they slowly unravel, we did indeed ship first four billion dollars (cold cash) and then another five billion dollars (in three shipments) to Iraq ... 363 tons of $100 bills in one shipment alone... and guess what? No receipts and no accounting as to how/where the money was spent.

I can't imagine how J. Paul Bremer III was able to keep a straight face as he passed this information to Rep. Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. But then what could we have expected, the words coming from the mouth of a Medal of Freedom holder for his efforts in Iraq before the new Iraqi Government took office.

Interestingly, the last payments were made to the Iraqis the day before the new government took office.

Huh? Why wouldn't we wait until after the new government took office so that some legitimate accounting could be made of the expenditures of the money?

And this nine billion dollars is in addition to the other ten billion that has yet to be found in unrelated bad bookkeeping ...

It's quite likely that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the rest of Bush's gaggle of right-wing robots will find some way to defend even this. But as for the rest of us--and especially this once-moderate-Republican blogger--the loss of roughly ten billion dollars stacked neatly on upwards of 500 pallets offloaded onto small out-of-the-way Iraqi runways takes the cake. Maybe we can't impeach the President and Vice-president for the needless loss of life, but the loss of billions of dollars? Hell, that'll grab the Republicans attention.

My once-Republican brother in Connecticut would even agree with me on that thought.

You need a scorecard to keep track of "who's on first" in the Scooter Libby trial ...

versus



It now appears clear that the (former) Bush-man I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby is in deep kim chee for his leaking Valerie Plame's identity to the press, but who is the real culprit, who is the real victim and ... will Mr. Cheney ever actually testify?

Although I certainly see both Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame as "victims" and yes, "scooter" is one of the culprits (along with Mr. Rove) ... the facts seem clear that Mr. Cheney is the guy who was (and still is) behind the entire affair and it (the leaking of Ms. Plame's name to the press) was done to punish Joe Wilson for his having told the truth to the American public about the primary reason given for invading Iraq in the first place.

The victim -- or victims?

Well, besides the Iraqi civilians who are suffering terribly ... and the American people who are paying for the war to the tune of about a billion dollars each and every day, the real victims are shown in the photo below.



Heroes? Well, Patrick Fitzgerald for one, I suppose. He is clearly one of the most competent prosecutors in the United States and has spent two and a half years working on the case. He's a workaholic who has slept in his office, piled up dirty laundry and fast food leftovers in his file cabinets and is slowly pulling the rat out of its (his) hole by its (his) ugly tail. My brother in Connecticut compares Mr. Fitzgerald to Elliott Ness from earlier, more black-and-white days in America. Of course, the Bush administration is fighting to avoid Libby's conviction and is struggling in these sad February days to avoid at least this one last humiliation -- the conviction of one of its top officials and leaving the lingering specter of a clear and resolute finger pointing at the #2 guy in the country.

And oh yes, that last question ... will Dick Cheney ever testify? Not on your (or my) sweet bippy! Mr. Libby will take the bullet this time without even going hunting with Mr. Cheney.

And our boys and girls continue to die in this awful war at a rate of about three and a half per day ...

And those are human lives!

multivariate pattern recognition was actually something we worked on in the 60s ... but whudda guessed?

For the first time in history (or so I am led to believe) multivariate pattern recognition techniques have been able to determine (translated: ARE capable of determining) a person's future actions from a codified "picture" of the neurons bouncing around whole the synapses fire away ... in your brain.

John-Dylan Haynes from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences was the person who first came up with the repeatable technology (science!!) to do exactly that. The e-mail I received from a buddy, Cam Trenor, in Seattle alerted me to this fact and questions like "what will be next?"

At the moment, the technology does little more than determine whether you are planning on adding or subtracting at the next step in an arithmetic problem ... but science moved fast!

Oh yes, the major use of this for the "near future" is to be able to move artificial limbs (and/or other body parts) with the mind ... with the proper chips implanted in the brain.

It's real, folks! And more abstract thoughts are next, like who you "plan" on voting for in 2008 -- Rudy the Drag Queen or Jeb Bush.

Okay, Serenissima, here you have it!

As a response to the popular demand (thanks, Serenissima), I have allowed myself to post one of the more popular images on the web of Donald Trump hitting on Rudy Giuliani (or was it the other way around?) at a party sometime back.

With Trump's millions/billions, Rudy is a shoo-in to beat whatever the Democrats might throw into the ring in 2008.

Rudy Giuliani is by far the most photogenic of the 2008 candidates ... and he's the leading Republican!

For propriety sake (and because my brother Richard in Connecticut would fly to Ocean Shores, then drag me to Baghdad to see me hanged clumsily), I won't post one of the several photos of Rudy (in drag above) being smooched by Donald Trump.

Imagine, a Republican candidate who's pro-gay rights, pro Roe Versus Wade and dresses in drag when he's not cheating on any of his past and present three wives ...

And he's ahead of McCain by a good nine or ten points today as he signed a "statement of candidacy" and announced to the world that he was gunning for the Republican Presidential nomination for 2008.

Even the editors of the very conservative National Review are excited ...



Or are they?

But for my money, he da man! Look how far the GOP has come in the past century and a half ...

You need your 3-D glasses to even begin to sort out the NIE Report on Iraq (a.k.a. a 4-D Rubics Cube)

Somehow, sixteen intelligence agencies (most reporting to Bush directly or to the Pentagon) have decided that the war/occupation in Iraq isn't just a Civil War -- it's worse ... much worse!

Some of the main findings of only the declassified portion of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq (quoted from a summary of the report itself):

"(1) Growing polarization of Iraqi society, weak security forces and a weak government are driving violence and political extremism.

(2) If new plans for Iraq don't work over the coming year to 18 months, security in Iraq will continue to deteriorate as in the second half of 2006.

(3) Even if the violence lessens, Iraqi leaders will be hard-pressed to stabilize the country by mid-2008.

(4) Iraq faces "daunting" challenges driven by Shiite insecurity after years of Sunni domination, Sunni unwillingness to accept minority status, divided leaders who can't control the groups they represent, a Kurdish movement toward autonomy, an ineffective Iraqi army, extremist groups inside and outside Iraq and problems with refugees.

(5) The term "civil war" accurately describes key aspects of the conflict in Iraq but doesn't encompass all of its complexities. [better stated: It's worse than a Civil War!]

(6) American and international forces play a key role in the country, and the Iraqi army probably wouldn't survive a rapid U.S. withdrawal.

(7) Political developments — particularly Sunni acceptance of the current government, concessions from the Shiites and the Kurds, and efforts to reduce violence in neighborhoods — could help calm the conflict. Having stronger Iraqi leaders would help this to happen.

(8) Iraq's neighbors have some influence in the country and in some cases have intensified the conflict, but they don't play a major role because the sectarian divisions are firmly entrenched and driven by internal political forces.

(9) Other Sunni Arab regimes in the region are reluctant to support the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government and are considering supporting Sunni groups in Iraq. Turkey wants a stable Iraq to keep a Turkish Kurdish terrorist group from finding safe haven in northern Iraq.

(10) The security situation in Iraq could take a sharp turn for the worse if there is a political crisis such as sustained mass killings, a high-profile assassination or complete Sunni withdrawal from the government. If that happens, one of three scenarios might emerge: The central government could disintegrate and lead to a de facto partition of Iraq along sectarian lines, resulting in protracted violence; a Shiite strongman could emerge, or an anarchic pattern of local control could arise, leading to chaos and extreme violence."

Someone remarked that the Iraq War was like "chess compared to checkers." My take on reading the above is that it is like four-dimensional chess with some probability thrown in.

Even my brother in Connecticut would have a hard time untangling this one. The scene of Will Smith in "Pursuit of Happyness" (yes, "happyness" is spelled with a "y") solving the Rubics Cube in only a few minutes suggests that he (or Chris Gardner, the person whom he played) should be hired by the White House to get to work on the Iraq mess.

Jennifer Hudson is my pick for Oscar night

Jennifer Hudson (shown above winning the Golden Globe, I have to assume) was simply brilliant! Her performance as Effie (sp?) in Dreamgirls was beyond even my (usually high) expectations. I can't wait to have the Dreamgirls soundtrack CD playing on the CD-player on my bed and will surely buy the DVD whenever it becomes available. It's a shame that musicals (and/or comedies, it seems) never (almost never, that is) win Oscars, but I enjoyed Dreamgirls far more than I enjoyed The Queen (great, but a bit too British) and Babel looks depressing, quite frankly, and I might not even see it.

All of the girls in Dreamgirls deserve a "joint" Oscar for best actress, but I will gladly settle for Jennifer Hudson winning the Supporting Actress Oscar.

Besides, it would be great to see Simon's ugly face (the "judge" from American Idol) when she walks up to win a much higher award than his stupid AI prizes. I've since seen the "turkey outfit" that the AI dip-shi##s had her wear before she was booted off as a non-winner. Why do Americans even watch American Idol anyway?

She's truly a "queen" and a singer right up there with Roberta Flack and Sarah Brightman, IMHO.

I would be remiss in not mentioning that Beyoncé Knowles was only a hair less fabulous than Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. I've always liked her singing and, well, she is certainly a looker and as curvaceous a singer-and-actress as I've ever known in my short (NOT) life. But she apparently went on a liquid-only diet to slim down for her role as Motown singer Deena Jones in the movie, from all I've read, and doesn't like her smaller physique in the film.

But the bottom line is "See it!!!" You won't be disappointed and a lot of the real "History of Detroit" (my hometown) from the 1960s is included. African American singers and actors/actresses took a lot of abuse that is shown in the movie -- from physical to being cheated by white singers from even reaping the rewards from songs that were written by black artists. Yes, it is based on real people, but is certainly a fictional account (adapted from the Broadway musical) with the usual Hollywood glitter and drama in every scene.

Again ... SEE IT!!

The evidence is terribly convincing ... Bush and Cheney are eying Iran!

I know that Tehran itself is a fairly modern metropolis, but the war will be something akin to the photo above. Just look at the evidence ...

While the US Congress is squabbling over non-binding resolutions relating to whether we should send an additional 10,000, 21,500, 50,000 (McCain), or no additional troops to Iraq and whether we should get out of Iraq as soon as March 2008, December 2007, within two years or yesterday ... the plans to attack Iran continue unabated.

Proof?

Read the newspapers and accounts of what is really going on during the past few weeks through this very minute ...

Increasingly dictatorial powers have been accumulating in/at the White House since about the time of the passing of the Patriot [sic] Act. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has played directly into the hands of the Bush Administration by spouting foolish and nonsense-sounding garbage for the past 18 months.

Bush and Cheney have followed his statements and attempts to build a nuclear power capability with a number of threatening moves: (1) USAF tankers have deployed to (you'll never guess!) crazy places like Bulgaria so as to be in position to refuel B-2 Bombers aimed at Iran; (2) two US carrier groups have been deployed to the Persian Gulf; (3) in Davos, Switzerland, the meeting of the World Economic Forum, a conference where economic globalism issues are discussed, opened January 24 with a discussion of Bush's planned attack on Iran; (4) Iran, Bush has declared, is killing US troops in Iraq; thus, Iran is covered under the authorization for a potential war in Iraq; (5) US attack aircraft have been moved to Turkey and other countries on Iran's borders, (6) Patriot anti-missile defense systems are being moved to the Middle East to protect oil facilities and US bases from retaliation from Iranian missiles; (7) the US administration (a.k.a. George W. Bush) will shortly publish a dossier of charges of alleged Iranian subversion in Iraq; (8) a US navy battle group of seven vessels was steaming towards the Gulf yesterday from the Red Sea, part of a deployment of 50 US ships, including the above-mentioned two aircraft carriers, expected in the area within weeks; (9) the Secretary General of the League of Arab States and bankers and businessmen from such US allies as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates all warned of the coming attack and its catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and the world; (10) growing reams of disinformation alleging Iran's responsibility for the insurgency in Iraq are being fed to the gullible US media -- the most obnoxious being the non-mention of the US's sales/gifts of weapons, etc. to the same militia over the past two years; (11) (and quoted from an article by pat Buchanan) "Tehran is now two weeks into a 60-day deadline to answer a Security Council resolution directing it to cease enriching uranium. While the sanctions are mild, the resolution passed unanimously and gives Bush the UN cover he used to wage war on Iraq. If Iran defies the United Nations, Bush will demand further sanctions. Up the escalator we go."

Buchanan goes on to state: "Bush may be sending signals, but the Israelis are preparing for war. The London Sunday Times reports that Israeli pilots have been making the 2,000-mile run to Gibraltar to train for strikes with bunker-busting nuclear bombs on Iran's heavy water plant at Arak, the uranium hexaflouride facility at Isfahan and the centrifuge cascade at Natanz."

Yeesh!

Isn't it about time that we not spend enormous amounts of time looking into the past events that demonstrate that high crimes and misdemeanors have already been committed? Let's take a quick look at the future and, for the love of God ...

What does the Walt Disney Concert hall have in common with the war(s) in Iraq?

Well, I think you get the idea.

And after the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report revealed (in part) this past week, it looks even worse than the above picture of Walt Disney's Concert Hall in Los Angeles to Secretary of Defence, Bob Gates. He said that we have not one, but four wars ongoing there. In his words:

"First of all, I received the estimate this morning and have not read it. I'll invite the chairman [JCS Chairman, General Tom (even more confused) Pace] to comment. What I have said in my testimony is that I think that the words "civil war" oversimplify a very complex situation in Iraq. I believe that there are essentially four wars going on in Iraq.

One is Shi'a on Shi'a, principally in the south; the second is sectarian conflict, principally in Baghdad, but not solely; third is the insurgency; and fourth is al Qaeda, and al Qaeda is attacking, at times, all of those targets."

But as regards the NIE, they/it stated that the Iraqi situation has devolved to what might be characterized as a "civil war' or at least "major aspects of the war in Iraq could be characterized as resembling a civil war."

Even President Bush seemed unsure as to what is happening. Only Dick (the eternal optimist) Cheney sees the war in Iraq as an unequivocal victory in every way.

What do I think?

Well, add to the above the war between Kurds and Arabs, the arms supplies to specified Shiite militias by both the Iranians and the Americans (through the Maliki government), the police versus the militias, the ba'atists (former supporters of Saddam Hussein) and the Shiite and Sunni supporters of the government and (oh yes) the Republicans versus the Democrats in the US ... and ... well, I think the following painting captures the scene in Iraq perfectly.



And all this without Donald Rumsfeld around to enjoy it. Nice going, Messrs Bush and Cheney!

What's that you were saying about Global Warming, Mr. Bush (and Mr. Limbaugh, et. al.)

This week, the U.N. (as in United Nations!) scientific climate panel said that global warming is both real and man-made! But they went much further in their apocalyptic predictions/statements. The rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere (measured and averaged by SCIENTISTS!) might bring about changes that are, for all practical purposes, irreversible -- or will be within a couple of decades.

It might be worthwhile, Mr. President, if you were to sit and debate the 2,500 scientists from 130 countries who UNANIMOUSLY stated that we are in deep kim chee and that the United States stands at the head of the list of the violators of good ecological/environmental policy as regards GLOBAL WARMING!

When I learned that persons like Mr. Negropante and Ms. Condoleeza Rice are not permitted to even use the two words, "global" and "warming" in the same sentence, I was appalled. What century are you living in Mr. Manic man?

Get real ... before it's too late for your children and grandchildren (at least one is likely now), and mine too!

[quoting from reporting out of Paris meetings: The 21-page summary of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) findings for policy makers outlines wrenching change such as a possible melting of Arctic sea ice in summers by 2100 and says it is "more likely than not" that greenhouse gases have made tropical cyclones more intense. The report predicts a "best estimate" that temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 Celsius (3.2 and 7.8 Fahrenheit) in the 21st century, within a likely range from 1.1 to 6.4 Celsius. Temperatures rose 0.7 degrees in the 20th century and the 10 hottest years since records began in the 1850s have been since 1994. Greenhouse gases are released mainly by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars.]