Balk Obama

he just had to do it, didn't he? balk on the warren appointment. what a fukkin dipshit. too, too afraid of any conviction whatsoever. fear of the banks? or fear of actually having to stand one way or another? it's not that Obama reneges positions, he does that all the time, it's that he often takes no position at all, apparently trying to hide taking a position. what a sorry ass dweeb.

to the ridiculous counter argument to this reaction: that this is some stealth move to really git 'er in there and shake 'em up. are you fucking kidding? you really believe that obama, fer fucksakes, is going stealth hardass against the banks with the stealthy "appointment" of warren? hope springs eternal.

we shall see.

tepid is as tepid does

How bout them apples:

Americans offer tepid support for much of the Republican Party's domestic agenda, including repealing the new healthcare law and extending tax cuts for the wealthy.

Hence, the lying, the cheating, the gay bashing, the race baiting, the abortion horror show, and election stealing. Which is how they manage to look like anyone would actually vote for the dickweeds.

cracker is as cracker does

"We're not crackpots."*

* Note: Wonder Woman belt buckle.

fade to black

what the fuck is up with this redeem conservatism messaging going on all over the freakin' place? io propaganda shells are landing hither and pointedly yon. first was this jackass, and the cosmic fuckin' "vision" of conservatism. Now, comes along some other as heretofore no name AEI welfare suckling nether dweller, unleashing his painfully pent-up constipation about just how wrong everyone is about the GOP and their racist and race-baiting modern history. Oh, sorry, conservatives.

'course, the very fact that this article exists in the first place, indicates that the GOP knows that it has been busted. Over and over again. They don't have to admit this, of course, until election season, when their racial transgressions might pop up onto the electoral radar. time to fade to black ... .

Well, ya see, all that nastiness, an killin' an lychin' and such, well, that's the just militant wing of conservatism, gettin' a little out of hand. hee haw! them critters do get riled up when ya poke 'em!

But ya gotta think of conservatism as, well, exactly like Hezbollah. the american right wing and Hezbollah are structurally similar conservative movements insofar as there exists both a political and militant wing. Sometimes, the militant wing gets a little out of hand. But then, you kind of like to see that, because a military wing that didn't get out of hand once in awhile wouldn't seem to be, you know, bristling for a fight. Any political leader appreciates bristling in the military ranks.

So, there is a notable current to redeem conservatism from its rather poor reputation. Why now? Part of a larger effort at short term mythologies of the past in order to make voting GOP somewhat more palatable than it might otherwise be. Natch, the Obama White House is helping by vocally praising George Doubleyou Freaking Bush. W T F ?

pump up the saudi arms volume

Back when the "Saudi arms deal" tickled $20 bills, thoughtful folks gave pause, and for rightful good reason. That was under Bush. Now, in the midst of an again faltering "economy," Obama has pushed the deal to $60 billion with nary a peep. Given the obvious economic distress the United States is currently suffering, even the Israelis are making no fuss.

The Obama administration is set to notify Congress of plans to offer advanced aircraft to Saudi Arabia worth up to $60 billion, the largest U.S. arms deal ever, and is in talks with the kingdom about potential naval and missile-defense upgrades that could be worth tens of billions of dollars more.

The administration plans to tout the $60 billion package as a major job creator—supporting at least 75,000 jobs, according to company estimates—and sees the sale of advanced fighter jets and military helicopters to key Middle Eastern ally Riyadh as part of a broader policy aimed at shoring up Arab allies against Iran.

Iran, shmearan. The weapons industry in now one of the sole job growth industries in the US. Certainly, it is the major "good jobs" growth industry.

If this is not what America has become, it appears to be on the path of being both a blunt instrument, and the global supplier of blunt instruments. A weapons mill for the world.

It is a weapons mill society consisting of, presumably, "farmers", possibly just Cargill and Monsanto, who grow some sort of "food", while those not fighting wars in foreign lands are busy in the homeland, making weapons in order to sell weapons to those parts of the world in which, oddly enough, the United States finds itself continually fighting. Of course, once engaged in said and now restive regions, America's war fighters get to amp up the gun fun and blow all sorts of expensive ordinance all over those very same places. Production of these weapons is good the for the economy. More weapons, better economy.

The US is drifting into weapons mill addiction, a place where the only "good jobs" prospect in the country lie in making weapons for second and third world tinpot kingdoms, balkanized satrapies, and newly minted NATO nations in Eastern Europe, among other vainglorious and idle fools. Looks that way, don't it? Making anything else other than weapons has been pretty much shipped out. And the "good jobs" arise in the shadow of a long war.

The swirl continues ...

wango quango

Brits urr all wound up 'bout some "anti-poverty quango" spendin' money all lavish like. on themselves. oh, dear! it's all quite unseemly.

The international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has launched an urgent review of an anti-poverty quango amid reports of lavish expenses claims, it was reported today.

Executives at the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) ran up large taxi bills, stayed at luxury hotels and dined in some of London's finest restaurants at the taxpayers' expense ... .

how dreadfully embarrassing

but i think these chaps have taken the bull by the gold-plated horn, decided to lead the anti-poverty message by example, and in a deeply felt, very personal way:

"Lavish expenses are great! Lavish expenses for all you poor people!"

Ol' Andy there, he's shocked, shocked! to find such ill repute on these premises:

Lavish expenses are completely unacceptable.

Actually, I think they are completely and entirely acceptable, so long as their end was to demonstrate how great Lavish expenses are, and that poor people should enjoy Lavish expenses.

Wikileaks: not your ordinary limited hangout

didn't take much time after holidays, mere hours in fact, before i finally got around to reading somethin' that couldn't help but piss me off: that whole io shiv Wikileaks. geezusaithchkeefukinriste, what a fuckin' Bekeresque episode this has been. But it's been fun to watch, hasn't it?

couldn't do anything but laugh at how the $50+(?) billion a year security complex publicly professed an amazing incompetence and shocking inability to find a freakishly aryan lookin' dude who was showing up in teevee interviews and public appearances hither and yon, likenesses of his villainess everywhere.

back when Wikileaks was publishin' shit like damning internal corporate documents and operational manuals of gitmo (early limited hang out?), it didn't seem to get much attention. did it? can't recall much at all.

and then the attention grabber back in April: the in-house funhouse video of an attack helicopter firing long distance upon Iraqis walking down a Baghdad street.

you know, a war zone: reuters photogs and presumed locals, multiple parties taken out. rescuers ambushed and executed in review, jackass copter clowns pretend to see all sorts of terrible things. long things. that kinna looked like akays, and a couple of actual akays. in fuckin' Baghdad. can you imagine?

alarm! alarm! alarm!

bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam

we shot a little girl. boo hoo. that'll learn 'em.

sure looked bad. boys running the show didn't look too good either. media shields launched:

hey, war is hell,

mistakes were made,

who knew?

that lens sure does look like a big long gun,

why are those reuters photographers hanging out with terrorists?

do you know reuters is run by ... the Canadians?

and you know what they're like!

they bash baby seals.

with clubs.

on the head.

bliedatshit?

so, you see, it's not surprising that reuters photographers are fraternizing with Muslim terrorists.

recrimination and denouncement adhere to the pattern. low levels grunts take the hit, big picture ignored. american justice.

that modified limited hangout was not just saranrap, but had an agenda: establish the unimpeachable bona fides of Wikileaks as an anti-government, anti-American agency. one run by a man who is all over teevee and newspapers, but cannot be found.

let the dumps begin. Wikileaks becomes the font of establishment wisdom on Afghanistan. it is declared the "Pentagon Papers" of this epoch. Babbling bullshit from US government sources and stooges. Iran is implicated as a supporter of "the opposition," those backassward Taliban muthafukkers. which would be new, but ya know, all those godless muslims hate America. Iranians! Nukes!

"the pentagon," whatever the fuck that means anymore, declared Wikileaks a "national security threat."

that was funny.

in retrospect, the celebrity leaker scenario should have been avoided. that's the one that really gave the whole thing away. the front page, impossible to find, international man of mystery thing was risible. Doubt many yanks will have a fukkin clue, as usual.

job's done. doubt you'll hear much more of Mr. Assange when whatever "furor" is left dies down and the war moves on. Or, fuck, who knows? The boys are not easily dissuaded from using the same spigot over and over again. I'm sure Mr. Assange will happily oblige, while the New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel will happily perform as channels. Stay tuned for any buildup.