The Friends of California Libre...

01 August 2006

Hotter Than Hell and Meaner Too

Greetings, friends,
I was recently beating the global heat by laying on the couch, watching documentaries and getting up frequently to shower (on Monday I took 5!) One vid was about the remarkable Lewis and Clark expedition from St. Louis to the mouth of Columbia River and back. I learned that there is only one physical remnant of this entire expedition, an inscription William Clark carved into a butte near Billings, Montana, on the return journey:
You can see why I was doubly surprised, because yes indeedy, it has now been exactly 200 years since they passed that way. Amazing. There was a party, tsk, that I'd loved to drive up for, I'm sure the potato salad and steaks were something else. You can learn more about "Pompey's Pillar" here:
http://www.mt.blm.gov/pillarmon/

In the meantime, our heat wave is starting to break in Los Angeles. Today it was 92 F here in Los Feliz...not quite 34 C...not even exciting. You might be wondering if a human being can tell the difference between 92 and 102 (or the whopping 119 they had out in the San Fernando Valley...that's close to 50 C) and I can verify, you bet. I'm looking forward to the chilly 80s we're expecting by the weekend. Woo!

Besides the oppressive heat, I've been addled by the cruel and cyclic nature of this world. Not only do the same people make the same mistakes again and again, friends, but you can see them preparing the way for those mistakes in the future. It's depressing. I may not be after killing anyone, like some people, but my personal life is also full of cycles that repeat, recently pricking me right where it hurts, if you get my drift...but we quirkyalones ( http://quirkyalone.net/qa/) would rather suffer alone, as the name implies, then reveal our secrets. Sigh.

Let me focus on how fucked up the world is to still my aching heart, shall I? There's an old diversion. I've been keeping my mind off the hot world and the cold past with treats like Escándalo, maybe the greatest Mexican tabloid show EVER:
http://www.univision.com/content/channel.jhtml?secid=3124

You might laugh, but I have a much gentler opinion of Mexican culture thanks to the three hosts of this show, who dish the dirt and have a generally good time; here they are, for example, with my hero Gloria Trevi:
[]

It was also through the good offices of this show that I discovered that "The Tigress", Mexican soap star Irma Serrano, had turned into another Michael Jackson!
[]

Then I accidentally sat on the channel changer and saw Tyre being destroyed. In order to protest from within, I'm going to jump on this fast 30 and 31 July:
http://www.troopshomefast.org/

Shit, it's tough being part Jewish sometimes. Although only a quarter myself, I've gotten enough grief over the years to feel empathy for them. In Europe I was confronted with a kind of naked curiosity..."Are you a Jew?"...which, no matter how well-intentioned, is still off-putting. As I railed before in these SCREEDS, it's better than the American treatment, however; at least Europeans are open about their racism, against Africans, Jews, Arabs, and the people in the next village down the road. In this country people smile and shake your hand, but behind the scenes the vitriol is bubbling and boiling. I've had Americans who, once they discovered I wasn't "what I appeared" to be, go on anti-Semitic tirades that would have made Adolf Hitler and his friends proud.

I don't speak for all Jews, but I've noted a certain quiet cynicism regarding the German Jews who were exterminated in the Holocaust. My grandfather's parents were Ukrainian, though never will a Ukrainian admit that this; they were "Jews", not "Ukrainians", even though they lived in the Ukraine for centuries and helped defend Kiev against a Polish invasion in the 16th century. (The Poles, I learned, also tried to save the Ukraine from the Soviets in 1920...Stalin got revenge against both of them.) Anyway, Ukrainian Jews like my ancestors knew the score, and they split for Chicago in 1905. The German Jews, according to them, had deluded themselves into thinking they were "German", especially after so many died in World War I. There is never any real acceptance as far as Jews are concerned, and they resist so strongly being made a "sucker" of, they'd rather exterminate their neighbors than see one Jew embarrassed. Stick that in with Arabic pride and see what you get.

To guarantee their own survival, the Jews who run Israel have essentially become a client state of the US. They could go it alone, indeed, against the Arabs, but having us behind them means they can get away with anything. This is not the natural way for anyone to survive.
Norman Solomon The Most Dangerous Alliance in the World
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072006K.shtml
"Embarrassing. Shameful. A travesty. Those kinds of words begin to describe the alliance between the United States and Israel," writes Norman Solomon. "Here are a few more: Government criminality. High-tech terror. Mass murder from the skies. The kind of premeditated action that the US representative in Nuremberg at the International Conference on Military Trials - Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson - was talking about on August 12, 1945, when he declared that 'no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy.'"

For the first time I am in agreement with those who think the Jews are forgetting their own past, and frankly are being used by murderers in Washington to achieve a racist calamity against the Arabs, the Persians, and most desperately the children of the Phoenicians, who have seen their cities destroyed many times over the eons, by Greeks, Romans, Israelis, Turks, French, etc. etc.:
Bush Rejects Lebanon's Call for Cease-Fire
By Tom Raum
The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071506Z.shtml
US Won't Push for Immediate Cease-Fire
By Nedra Pickler
The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072406C.shtml
Britain and US Defy Demand for Immediate Cease-Fire Now
By Anne Penketh, Ben Russell, Colin Brown and Stephen Castle
The Independent UK
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072106B.shtml
FOCUS Bush at Odds With Europe on Middle East Conflict
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072006Z.shtml
The United States faces growing tensions with allies over its support of Israel's military campaign to cripple Hezbollah, amid calls for a cease-fire to help with the mounting humanitarian crisis. The fragile Lebanese government has pleaded for a cease-fire, and France has urged the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for an end to hostilities.
FOCUS Bush Admin. Rushing More Bombs to Israel
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206Z.shtml
The Bush administration is rushing precision-guided bombs to Israel. The request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike. An arms-sale package approved last year allows Israel to purchase from the United States as many as 100 "bunker buster" weapons, GBU-28s developed for penetrating hardened command centers located deep underground.
As Toll Rises, Lebanese Resort to Mass Graves
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206B.shtml
In Tyre, Lebanon, citizens are burying the dead in mass graves. The government hospital had run out of room for human remains by Friday. More than 100 bomb-wrecked bodies were already crammed into poorly refrigerated container trucks, and more corpses were pouring in daily.
Israeli Aircraft Attack Central Beirut
By Sam F. Ghattas
The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071506X.shtml
Israel Says Hundreds of Targets Hit in Lebanon
MSNBC News Services
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071306B.shtml
Hezbollah Rockets Hit Haifa, Israel Attacks Beirut Airport Twice
By Hassan M. Fattah and Steven Erlanger
The New York Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071306R.shtml
Israel Hints at Full-Scale Invasion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072006S.shtml
Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas Thursday as they crossed into Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons for a second straight day, and Israel hinted at a full-scale invasion.

The destruction of Tyre in particular is no small matter; this is one of the oldest cities in the world, the home of the infamous royal purple. The name "Europe" itself originated here:
http://www.middleeast.com/tyre.htm

The end is also not justified by the means, and in fact is more likely to emulate them:
Mutually Assured Destruction in the Middle East
By Chris Hedges
Truthdig.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071506F.shtml

Just when the kind of peace George Bush hates, one brought about with the mind rather than the gun, was in sight:
Hamas Agrees to Israeli State
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062206K.shtml
Hamas has made a major political climbdown by agreeing to sections of a document that recognize Israel's right to exist and a negotiated two-state solution, according to Palestinian leaders.
Israel and Palestine: to understand the choices of the civil society
You can access it at the following url:
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3705&Itemid=110

The Christians in the White House love this violence and confusion. They use it to achieve their plots:
White House Moves to Confirm Bolton to UN Post
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206C.shtml
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced it will hold a hearing with Bolton on July 27 and top Senate Republicans said they would move quickly to confirm President George W. Bush's pick.

Meanwhile, the other borders of the Empire are swarmed by the barbarians:
Afghanistan Close to Anarchy, Warns General
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072306D.shtml
The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan has described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption. The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were "running out of time".
Ethiopia Deploys Troops in Somalia
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206D.shtml
Hundreds of Ethiopian troops rolled into Somalia in armored vehicles Thursday to protect their allies in this country's virtually powerless government from Islamic militants who control the capital.

Even in Israel there are still some attempts to maintain a civil society:
Israeli Women Serve as Checkpoint Witnesses
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/060706WA.shtml
The Israeli women of Machsom Watch keep a close eye on soldier behavior at the roughly 600 Israeli-controlled checkpoints in the West Bank. "We show a peace-loving face to Palestinians who see no other Israelis but soldiers and settlers," said one volunteer.

In American-occupied lands there is no such attempt, or option:
FOCUS Freedom Not Extended to Women in New Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060806Z.shtml
Across Iraq, a bloody and relentless oppression of women has taken hold. Many women have had their heads shaved for refusing to wear a scarf or have been stoned in the street for wearing make-up. Others have been kidnapped and murdered for crimes that are being labelled simply as "inappropriate behavior." The insurrection against the fragile and barely functioning state has left the country prey to extremists whose notion of freedom does not extend to women.
Details Emerge in Alleged Army Rape, Killings
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070306C.shtml
Before leaving, the attackers fatally shot the four family members - two of Abeer's brothers had been away at school - and attempted to set Abeer's body on fire, according to Janabi, another neighbor who spoke on condition of anonymity, the mayor of Mahmudiyah and a hospital administrator with knowledge of the case.
5 US GIs Charged in Iraq Rape-Slaying Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070906C.shtml
Four more US soldiers have been charged with rape and murder and a fifth with dereliction of duty in the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya, the military said Sunday.
Iraq to Ask UN to End US Immunity After Rape Case
By Mariam Karouny
Reuters
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071106K.shtml
FOCUS Report: US Torture Widespread in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072306Z.shtml
Iraqi detainees were routinely subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, stress positions and other forms of abuse by US interrogators, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Sunday that offers first-hand accounts from three former soldiers.
Iraqis Shot "for Wearing Shorts"
BBC News
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052706C.shtml
War in Iraq Is a Deadly Assignment for Journalists
By Marc Santora and Bill Carter
The New York Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/053006G.shtml
FOCUS War's Iraqi Death Toll Tops 50,000
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062506Y.shtml
At least 50,000 Iraqis have died violently since the 2003 US-led invasion, according to statistics from the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies ­ a toll 20,000 higher than previously acknowledged by the Bush administration. Higher than the US estimate, but thought to be undercounted, the tally is equivalent to 570,000 Americans killed in three years.
Leaked Memo Reveals Plight of Iraqis
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062006D.shtml
A leaked cable from the US embassy in Baghdad signed by the ambassador paints a grim picture of Iraq as a country disintegrating, in which the real rulers are the militias, and the central government counts for nothing. The cable, signed by the US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and sent to the State Department in Washington on June 6th, is wholly at odds with the optimistic account of developments given by President George Bush and Tony Blair in their recent visits to Iraq.
"Shoe Bomber" Hits Baghdad Mosque
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061606L.shtml
At least 11 people have been killed and 25 injured in a suspected suicide shoe-bomb attack at a key Shia mosque in Baghdad.
Angered by Fatal Raid, Shiites Exit Unity Talks
By Richard Boudreaux and Zainab Hussein
The New York Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032806E.shtml

Some people in the Federal government are almost happy to see Israel attack Lebanon and Gaza, because it takes attention away from the lost war in Iraq:
In Iraq, Civil War All but Declared
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071906A.shtml
Retaliatory massacres by gunmen and bombers linked to rival Muslim sects have left more than 130 people dead across Iraq over the last two days, the latest casualties of what some politicians now are calling an undeclared civil war.
Sectarian Break-Up of Iraq Is Now Inevitable, Admit Officials
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072406K.shtml
Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, meets Tony Blair in London today as violence in Iraq reaches a new crescendo and senior Iraqi officials say the break up of the country is inevitable.
Turkey Considers Invading Iraqi Kurdistan
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071906G.shtml
Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if US and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there - a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.
Unreported: The Zarqawi Invitation
By Greg Palast
t r u t h o u t Report
They got him - the big, bad, beheading berserker in Iraq. But, something's gone unreported in all the glee over getting Zarqawi - who invited him into Iraq in the first place?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060906A.shtml
Gunmen Kill 20 in Breakout at Iraqi Jail
By Sinan Salaheddin
The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032206Z.shtml

Just like Vietnam, it was our war to lose:
Three Guantanamo Detainees Die in Suicides, Army Says
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061006W.shtml
Three foreign prisoners being held at the US navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, died on Saturday in apparent suicides, the US military said.
"Killing Themselves Was Unnecessary. But It Certainly Is a Good PR Move."
By Suzanne Goldenberg and Hugh Muir
The Guardian UK
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061206K.shtml
Journalists Forced Off Guantanamo
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061506T.shtml
Editors at the Los Angeles Times and two other newspapers protested the Pentagon decision to expel their reporters Wednesday from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the journalists were reporting on the weekend suicides of three prisoners.

But we Americans never give up; at least we don't admit it until the battle is forgotten:
Bush: Troops to Stay in Iraq for Years
By Terence Hunt
The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032206P.shtml
Japan to Withdraw Its Troops From Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062006K.shtml
Japan's government will withdraw its troops from Iraq, ending a mission that broke post-war taboos by sending its troops into foreign combat zones for the first time since 1945.
Peter Laufer The Marine Who Saw Too Much
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061506P.shtml
A former lance corporal explains why he intentionally failed a drug test to avoid going back to war-torn Iraq.
Italian Leader Calls Iraq Occupation "Grave Error"
By Fred Barbash
The Washington Post
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051806A.shtml
Iraq War Set to be More Expensive Than Vietnam
By Rupert Cornwell
The Independent UK
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042806F.shtml
US Iraq War Costs May Rise by $406 Billion by 2016
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071406P.shtml
The Iraq war could cost US taxpayers between $202 billion and $406 billion more over the next 10 years, depending on how quickly US force levels can be reduced, Congressional budget experts said on Thursday.
Report: War-related costs will exceed $500 billion next year
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0606/062706cdam1.htm
FOCUS US War Costs "Could Hit $811 Billion"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042906X.shtml
The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has soared and may now reach $811 billion, says a report by the Congressional Research Service.
The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiraling Costs for Americans
By Keith Garvin
ABC News
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042106A.shtml
US and UK Forces Establish "Enduring Bases" in Iraq
By Andrew Buncombe
The Independent UK
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040206E.shtml
Republicans Sneak In War Bill Allowing US Military Bases in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061006C.shtml
Congressional Republicans killed a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have put the United States on record against the permanent basing of US military facilities in Iraq.
"George W.'s Palace:" A Giant Embassy in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050306D.shtml
The question puzzles and enrages a city: How is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?
US Building Massive Embassy in Baghdad
By Charles J. Hanley
The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041606A.shtml
US Colonel Offers Iraq an Apology of Sorts for Devastation of Babylon
By Rupert Cornwell
The Independent UK
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041506G.shtml

So what will we get, in the end? In this country, another generation of destroyed men (thanks, Mark):
Even the military boys are opting out of Bush's "Third World War..." But in time?
Click to View this Article

'Unit's' military expert has fighting words for Bush

The Iraqis get a ruined, divided country:
Costs to Rebuild Shifting to Iraqis
Click the following to access the sent link:
USATODAY.com*

George Bush gets a huge pension:
Table 1. GSA Allowances for Former Presidents, FY2007 Request
Allowance Ford Carter Bush Clinton
Pension $188,000 $188,000 $188,000 $197,000
Staff Salaries 96,000 96,000 96,000 96,000
Staff Benefits 24,000 2,000 63,000 64,000
Travel 46,000 2,000 55,000 64,000
Rental Payments 105,000 102,000 175,000 498,000
Telephone 16,000 10,000 16,000 77,000
Postage 9,000 15,000 13,000 15,000
Other Services 37,000 82,000 65,000 113,000
Printing 5,000 5,000 14,000 9,000
Supplies 18,000 5,000 15,000 16,000
Equipment 6,000 7,000 48,000 11,000
TOTAL $550,000 $514,000 $748,000 $1,160,000
Source: General Services Administration, June 8, 2006.

And we get the satisfaction of watching all their schemes come to nothing:
The Force Is Not With Them
By Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch.com
The Middle East aflame and the Bush administration adrift.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071706O.shtml

That's all for me, folks...I'm off to Santa Cruz and points north...see you after 9 August!
Vive le screed!

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

Hi, very interesting post, greetings from Greece!

Anonymous said...

Good point, though sometimes it's hard to arrive to definite conclusions

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