Unrealistic expectations

Bring on the champagne! As of today Morialekafa has been blogging for two years. I cannot believe I have been doing this almost daily for two years. In those still relatively halycon days when I still had a sense of humor, I believe my very first blog had to do with an essay on deodorant (the full horror of the Nighmare Years was not yet so obvious). I'm sure you all missed it as no one even knew about Morialekafa at such an early date. I'm not sure much of anyone knows about it now. But small loss. It's my blog and I like it.

After encouraging Israel to murder as many Lebanese as possible within a finite time it is now apparently time for Bush/Cheney to solve the problems of the Middle East (problems they have ignored for the past six years). Their solution is a "permanent" one that involves first of all disarming Hezbollah (which of course is what Israel desires). This is not going to happen. As Hezbollah is now the only thing that keeps Israel from completely destroying Lebanon it does not seem likely they are going to agree to disarm. Remember, Hezbollah only exists because of Israeli aggression against Lebanon in 1982 (after 18 years of Israeli occupation of parts of Lebanon Hezollah finally forced them to leave). There is simply no way they will disarm, and, short of killing everyone in Lebanon (the citizens of there now almost wholeheartedly support Hezbollah), it will not happen. This does raise an interesting question: why should Hezbollah be expected to disarm in the first place? This is a battle between Israel and Hezbollah. Both sides have legitimate interests in what they are doing. So where does the U.S. get off saying Hezbollah should disarm? Why shouldn't Israel disarm as well? After all, Israel is the aggressor (don't give me this crap about Hezbollah having started it) and still occupies Lebanese land that doesn't belong to them and would occupy more of it if they could get away with it. Hezbollah disarmament is a complete non starter so the U.S. plan is doomed before it even begins.

Furthermore, does anyone believe, even for a moment, that Israel is simply defending itself? They had this plan to invade Lebanon at least a year before this recent outbreak occurred and simply used the capture of their soldiers as an excuse. And why does defending themselves include the mass slaughter of children and other innocent Lebanese? This is not a question of merely defending themselves, it is a matter of destroying Lebanon as a nation, just as they want to prevent Palestine from ever becoming a nation. As long as Israel continues its illegal occupation of Palestinian and Lebanese territory there can never be peace in the Middle East. That is very simple. But, of course, the U.S. is totally under the influence of the Israeli lobby to the point where they cannot even understand there are two sides to the issue. All we hear is that Hezbollah is a terrorist group maliciously attacking Israel at every opportunity. It is as if they have no interest in anything other than just killing Israelis (like trying to defend themselves from Israeli aggression and keeping their land to themselves).

This ridiculous uncritical support of Israel can be seen in the overwhelming vote of the House to support Israel in this latest attack on Lebanon. It can also be seen in Schumer's current (and new) support for Bolton, because he is an all out supporter of Israel (never mind whatever else he stands for and does, like trying to undermine the U.N.).

The absurdity of the Israeli position can also be seen in their latest murder of Lebanese innocents, mostly children. The Israeli spokesman at the U.N. actually said the reason the 60 or so Lebanese were murdered is because Hezbollah had probably forced them to stay where they were (these were mostly children and poor people with not enough resources to get away). This explanation was in addition to their claim that rockets were being fired from that area, so that if you were unfortunate enough to live anywhere near where rockets were being fired you deserved to die. The Israelis even outdo Bush/Cheney when it comes to baldfaced lying.

In 1996 the House and Senate passed a war crimes act that said if anyone violated the Geneva Convention it would be considered a war crime. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and others have clearly violated this act. They have clearly committed war crimes. Even so, our Attorney General is working behind the scenes to convince Republicans to retroactively change this act so Bush/Cheney and others could not be held responsible. If this were to be successful the only conclusion one could possibly draw from it is that Republicans think war crimes are fine. If people have violated such an act why should they not be held responsible for it? Commit a heinous crime, go to jail - but not if you're a Republican.

Impeach a president for a sex act between consenting adults but not for the murder of thousands of innocent people. It's the Republican way.

A worried bunch

It looks like the neocons, especially Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice leading the way, are getting worried about the possibility of being charged with war crimes. Why else would our Attorney General be lurking around the halls of Congress trying to convince our legislators they should change the laws to protect Bush/Cheney and others from being prosecuted for war crimes. There is no doubt they are guilty, no doubt whatsoever. So...the usual Republican solution to the fact they have broken both U.S. and International laws is to try to change the laws. Simple, no? Can they get away with it? Let us hope not. Whereas they might get their sleazy Republican Congressmen and Senators to try to change the U.S. laws they might not have so much luck with the International scene. At the very least this should confine them to base as other countries may well be willing to charge them if they find them on their soil, as is the case with Kissinger.

Senator Kennedy now says that Roberts and Alito deceived us when they were being considered for the Supreme Court. Does this mean he just woke up? Of course they deceived us. Everyone knew at the time they were deceiving us. The Democrats knew this for certain but did little or nothing to keep them from being confirmed. So why whine about it now? Our Democrats have long ago conceded defeat and have all become pretty much useless. Gosh, it's like Kennedy just discovered there is no Santa Claus.

Speaking of deceit, I can't get over CNN news these days. They do things that are somewhat subtle but nonetheless deceiving. Like yesterday, for example, when they announced that Republicans had voted to raise the minimum wage - but neglected to tell us at the same time this was linked to the elimination of the Estate tax. I believe this has to be deliberate. Today, listening to a report from Nick Roberts, when he was talking about the situation in Lebanon, he said something to the effect of Lebanon's "perceived" notion that the U.S. was supporting Israel. To say it is merely perceived is to insinuate that it might not be real. Alas, it is all too real.

Bush was on television today claiming that we "mourn" the loss of life in Lebanon. Do you believe that he mourns? I don't. Remember, this is the governor that sent 152 people to death in Texas with only a cursory examination of each case, and, in fact, mocked one woman who was pleading for her life. This is the same president who eagerly unleashed "shock and awe" on a virtually helpless nation that was no threat to us, has thereby killed and wounded thousands of American troops and probably more than 100,000 innocent Iraqis, and who now has blocked a cease fire in Lebanon so Israelis can go on killing more and more children and other innocents. How can anyone believe he "mourns" for anyone? Personally I doubt he has any conception of mourning.

He now says he wants a "permanent solution" for the Israeli Middle East problem. Perhaps he does. I doubt it. I don't think he cares one way or another if there is ever peace in the Middle East. He has certainly done nothing in almost six years to bring it about. The only way to describe his policy in that part of the world is simply neglect. Whereas the U.S. has always at least pretended to broker peace betweeen Israel and their neighbors, Bush has abandoned any pretense of brokering peace and in fact has committed us to enthusiastic cooperation with the Israeli war criminals. Having rushed more bombs and missiles to Israel in recent days (god forbid they should run out before more innocents are killed) he says at the same time we must send humanitarian aid. His idea of success is the fact that International outrage has finally brought the Israelis to at least stop their genocide for 48 hours (he no doubt credits Rice, the most worthless Secretary of State ever) for this wonderful achievement. Rice, who was told by Lebanon to not even bother to return as there was no point in further talk (or, I gather, more photo-ops so she could continue her incessant smiling while more children die).

Israel is apparently failing miserably in their attempt to crush Hezbollah. Short of killing everyone in Lebanon there seems no way they can "win," whatever winning might mean in such a context. The solution being offered by the U.S. is pretty simple: Hezbollah gives up everything, Israel gives up nothing. Typical. Hezbollah returns the two prisoners, Israel returns no one. Hezbollah disarms, Israel maintains its overwhelming military superiority, etc., etc.,etc. Hezbollah has now demonstrated to everyone that Israel is not invincible. This is going to make a great difference in years to come. Unless Israel literally kills everyone they will eventually have to come to some fair-minded and reasonable settlement with their neighbors, especially the Palestinians and Lebanese.

Somewhere today I saw a Haitian proverb that would seem to be most apt in the case of Israel: "The higher the monkey climbs the more you can see his ass."

Minimum wage

Well, the House voted to increase the minimum wage by a couple of dollars over the next two or three years. Doesn't that make you want to vote for them again in 2006? What a noble gesture on their behalf, generosity beyond belief, truly insuring us a land of milk and honey. But wait, there was a catch. Oh, yeah, the little bit about doing away with the Estate tax. As it turns out if you want an increase in your minimum wage you have to agree that the richest people in America should all get million dollar increases. Gee whiz, these Republicans are so clever. So clever they might well all get voted out of office soon. They have been trying to eliminate the estate tax ever since I can remember and failed every time. Now they think they can link it to an increase in the minimum wage and either people won't notice or will be so desperate to get out of poverty they will agree to anything. Of course if Democrats vote against this they will be accused of voting against an increase in the minimum wage. You can see this already being set up by noticing that the MSM report only that they voted to increase the minimum wage, not that they attached the estate tax elimination. Need I remind you that the media, which is supposed to act as a watchdog over government, has long since gone over to the other side and joined wholeheartedly the Hole-in-the-Head Gang.

This morning was the annual Democratic breakfast fund raiser. Given the time of year I believe it could be considered a success, there were somewhere between 40 and 50 people. Steve Elgar gave a most enlightening talk on the Democratic tax relief plan that is not even being considered by our Republican legislature even though it is far superior to their usual rip-off for business and the wealthy. The Republicans are going to insist on an up or down vote on their plan without even considering anything else. Taxation without representation - you bet. Remember this when you vote. Enough is enough. Well past time for a change.

Bush/Cheney have now committed us to outright participation in Israeli war crimes. But not to worry, Condi Rice is on her way back to the Middle East - to do nothing except pose in her latest fashions and smile. I guess she smiles with satisfaction, knowing that more and more children are being killed daily because "it is too early for a cease fire." Pardon the language, but an old saying comes to mind - "she's as useless as tits on a boar."

The Nightmare Years continue. No one seems either willing or able to stop the carnage and stupidity.

Credibility?

Somewhere today, I think on Buzzflash, there was an article in which the author was concerned that the dirty business in Lebanon might affect our credibility. One might well ask, what credibility? What credibility does the U.S. have left after the invasion of Iraq, the virtual abandonment of Afghanistan (remember, we promised not to leave without rebuilding etc.), the endless multitude of lies that has emanated from this administration non-stop from the beginning, the unprecedented secrecy, and so on. We have no credibility left. It doesn't matter what happens in Lebanon or anywhere else. Furthermore, we have lost any claim whatsoever to any moral high ground and any claim to being an honest broker in the Middle East. In short, Bush/Cheney have now completely blown it. The hatred and distrust we have sown in the Arab world will not change or dissipate for a thousand years.

The latest absurdity to emerge from the Israeli/Lebanon situation has to do with the recent meetings in Italy to discuss the situation. As far as I know every country present wanted an immediate cease fire, except the U.S. and our puppet government in the U.K. The Israeli government seized on this to proclaim that the absence of action on a cease fire gave them authorization to continue what they are doing. This sounds like something that might have come out of kindergarten, which was pretty much recognized by everyone, including at least some in the U.S. How could anyone, in a situtation of this kind, not want a cease fire? As far as I know this is unprecedented. Everyone always wants a cease fire. What is the point of not having a cease fire? Bush/Rice say in order to give the Israelis more time to destroy Hezbollah. In other words Hezbollah and Lebanon have no right to defend themselves at all but Israel has every right to defend itself. Is this not blatantly taking sides in a dispute we are supposed to broker? Bush has decided to change U.S. policy completely so that we are now not even pretending to be a broker and, in fact, have entered into Israeli war crimes as a participant. We will not be forgiven for this.

Apropros of nothing, the minimum wage. House members have given themselves since the last time the minimum wage was raised about $35,000 in raises. The minimum wage has stayed at $5.15 over the same number of years. Apparently Republicans think this is reasonable. I don't know. What do you think? If I were a Democrat running anywhere for any office I would beat this over Republican heads nonstop. This is the most disgusting, unfair, absurd, even unbelievably stupid thing any political party has ever done (except for perhaps stem cell research). How do these Republican jerks even look at themselves in the mirror or sleep at night? What do they do, look at the mirror and repeat "mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most stupid party of all?" Then they answer "Democrats," because they want to raise the minimum wage and drive all businesses in the U.S. out of existence (even though there is all kinds of evidence the precisely the opposite happens when wages are raised).

Speaking of stupidity, it seems that virtually everyone in the U.S., including Howard Dean, Hillary, Schumer, and others suffer from it. They all insist that the problem in the Middle East is terrorism, Hezbollah at the moment being their prime target. Let me make it clear, Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization. It is a grass roots Lebanese political party that came into being as a result of Israeli aggression in 1982. It is true they may sometimes employ terrorist tactics, as there is little else they can do to protect themselves from the overwhelming U.S. supported Israeli war machine. What would you do under similar circumstances? Just give in to Israel's constant demands for more and more land and water, just bow your head and accept daily humiliation and degrading treatment? Do the Palestinians and Lebanese have no right to try to defend themselves? Does only Israel have rights? The Palestinians and Lebanese are not Tasmanians or Australian Aborigines, or American Indians that can just be crushed by brutal, racist Israeli/American colonialism. Neither are Syrians or Iranians. Until Israel and the U.S. can admit this, and treat everyone as equals, there will be no hope for peace in the Middle East, not even a glimmer.

Bush the killer

There is only one person in the world who can stop the killing in Gaza and Lebanon. He could stop it in a single moment. He refuses to do so. Who is this powerful killer? Why, nobody but our own George W. Bush who apparently revels in killing. Remember that as governor of Texas he presided over more executions than any other governor in history. These were executions that were only subject to cursory examination by Alberto Gonzales (our current Attorney General), and even less scrutiny by Bush. Bush is also on record as actually mocking a woman who was pleading for her life. He apparently likes killing. The killing in Gaza and Lebanon is mostly of civilians, including large numbers of children. This is doing nothing whatsoever to create a "permanent solution," which is what Bush and Condi claim they want. In order to achieve this permanent solution they apparently believe it is necessary to kill even more innocents. I guess the best thing to say about this is that it is stupid. There is no reason to go on killing more innocent women and children in order to achieve a permanent solution than to not do so. So why do so? I conclude that they just like killing for its own sake. Oh, you say Israel needs more time to destroy Hezbollah? Well, they are not succeeding very well, nor will they ever, as what they are doing is actually creating more sympathy for Hezbollah and also no doubt increasing volunteers for that organization. In other words this is not only stupid, it is monumentally stupid. The U.S. support for Israel has now reached the point where we are active participants in Israel's genocidal plans for the Palestinians and Lebanese (remember we are supposed to be honest brokers, a role that has now been destroyed forever). What we and the Israelis are doing in Gaza and Lebanon is totally unconscionable and involves war crimes of the most serious kinds. This cannot be undone. It will haunt us and our descendants probably forever.

It appears that Democrats are now trying to outdo Republicans on jumping on the genocidal bandwagon. Hillary, Schumer, and others have boycotted the speech by the Iraqi Prime Minister because he did not criticize Hezbollah sufficiently. Even Howard Dean has jumped on the Israeli bandwagon, condemning Hezbollah as the (in Bush's terms), "root cause" of the problem. The Israeli lobby is powerful indeed. No one on either side of the political spectrum is willing to take it on. They all seem to believe that Israel is completely innocent of what is going on in the Middle East. I remind you that Hezbollah exists only because of Israeli agression in Southern Lebanon in the first place. Hamas exists only to defend legitimate Palestianian interests which have been totally ignored by Israel and the United States. Is it not the case that Israel for years has been illegally occupying Palestinian lands? And also stealing Palestinian water? Is it not the case that they have been repeatedly asked to remove themselves to the original 1967 borders if they want peace? Is it not the case they have refused over and over again? Is it not the case they are building an illegal wall designed to capture even more Palestinian land? Is it not the case they have violated more U.N. regulations than any other nation in history? Is it not the case they are doing so right now? The idea that Israel is innocent and just under attack by "terrorists" is the most godawful bit of B.S. ever. If they want to solve the "problem" they could do so by simply acknowledging that Palestinians and other Arabs are actually people instead of some kind of vermin, that their lives are every bit as valuable and meaningful as Israeli lives. Don't tell me racism isn't involved here. Israel spokesman have come right out and said that 1000 Arab lives aren't worth the fingernail of one Israeli. The Israelis do not want to give up captured Palestinian lands. They do not want a viable Palestinian state. They have done everything they can to make this perfectly clear. And so they complain incessantly about being attacked by terrorists while they are unwilling to make any genuine attempt to negotiate a reasonable settlement.

And don't give me any crap about being an anti-Semite. I don't care if the Israelis are Jews, Ethiopians, or even people from outer space. What they have been doing to the Palestinians is WRONG, and is, itself, the "root cause" of the trouble. There will never be peace in the Middle East until this wrong has been addressed. If Democrats are unwilling to deal with this honestly, as Republicans certainly are not, they will never get my vote. I have been a Democrat all of my life but this is asking too much. If the Democratic candidate, whoever it may be, turns out to be a blind, rabid Israeli supporter I will simply not vote. I know, I know, how can you not vote for a Democrat as opposed to a Republican? Of course I would never, under any circumstances vote for a Republican, but in this case I could not, in good conscience vote at all. Someone has to curb the Israelis.

So what?

A bipartisan committee of the American Bar Association has determined that Bush's out of control signing statements are threatening the very basis of our form of government, eliminating the checks and balances that are supposed to exist, and usurping all power to the executive branch. This is an egregious attack on the constitution. So what? We've known this all along but nothing happens to stop it. This kind of thing has happened repeatedly under the Bush/Cheney administration: a known homosexual prostitute has free run of the White House - so what? Bush is engaged in illegal wiretapping - so what? The elections in 2000 and 2004 were flagrantly stolen - so what? We're torturing captives all around the world - so what? The pre-emptive attack on Iraq is recognized as a terrible war crime - so what? Our present encouragement of Israeli aggresson against Palestinians and Lebanese is another war crime - so what? Karl Rove is obviously guilty of helping to out Valerie Plame, a CIA operative - so what? Bush made an utter fool of himself (and us) at the recent G8 meetings - so what? So they lied to start a "war" and have never stopped lying - so what? The Israelis (our allies) have bombed a United Nations headquarters, perhaps on purpose - so what? It appears that nothing Bush/Cheney do, no matter how illegal, immoral, unconstitutional, sickeningly disgusting, or whatever, makes any difference. Nothing happens. They just continue to do whatever they wish. It is as if everyone in the world has just given up. And apparently we might as well have because it just goes on and on completely unchecked by anyone. And it continues even though apparently fully two-thirds of American citizens disapprove. So what the hell is going on? Would someone kindly explain this to me. This is a situation totally unrelated to my enculturation. I feel I am adrift in a sea of surrealism from which I cannot free myself, a nightmare world unprecedented in my lifetime, an inferno beyond the imagination even of Dante. I said previously I was now ashamed to be an American. That is irrelevant - there is no America anymore. Bush/Cheney have managed to destroy our country. Do not look forward to the future. The future is now and it is fantastically unpleasant.

Dennis Kusinich (remember him), probably the only decent Congressman still extant, is still out there baying at the moon. He wants a cease fire and peace. How silly of him. Doesn't he realize he is totally out of touch in a world gone completely mad with greed, hatred, and idiocy. Someone explain to me again the concept of intelligent design. I just don't get it.

Oh Oh, watch your river

Israel has announced they intend to control Southern Lebanon until if and when an international force can be assembled to act as a buffer between the two countries. Israel has always rejected the idea of an international force but now, it is claimed, they are considering it. Israel wants 20,000 troops to act as buffer which is twice as many as the international community has suggested. As no country so far has volunteered troops for this purpose, and as Israel has the upper hand in the negotiations, believe such a force when you see it. The actual size of the buffer zone has not been determined. Estimates seem to range from two or three kilometers to up to twenty. Watch for the border to be the Litani river, which Israel has coveted for years. Thus they will have taken over Lebanese territory and control of the river. Not bad for a few days of indiscriminate killing and destruction.

It seems that not only is Israel (and the U.S.) engaged in an illegal attack on Lebanon, killing cvilians and children, they may also be using outlawed cluster bombs and even white phophorous, also outlawed. We also know they are attacking cars and vans full of innocent civilians trying to leave southern Lebanon (even though the Israelis have ordered them to leave). There are reports that even ambulances have been attacked. This is a situation so absurd as to beggar belief. The U.S., having given unconditional support for Israel to do whatever it damn pleases, and having rushed more missiles and bombs to them, now wants to provide humanitarian aid. If that is not somehow absurd enough they are complaining that it is hard to deliver the aid because Israel has bombed all the bridges and roads. The Keystone Cops could have done better than this. Israel has also announced that for every missile fired by Hezbollah they will destroy 10 buildings. Great, what in the hell does destroying buildings have to do with anything? What is the point of such pointless utter destruction (other than, of course, to completely destroy Lebanon as a country). Are Israelis and their U.S. backers too stupid to realize they are setting the scene for 1000 or more years of hatred and violence?

To move on. Apparently 50% of Americans still believe Iraq had WMD's. And apparently most of our troops think they are in Iraq because Sadam Hussein attacked the trade center. With an informed electorate like that how can we possibly go wrong? Thank Fox news, Limbaugh, and others for this.

And what is with Senator Inhofe? Is he really that stupid? He has now claimed that everything Gore says in his documentary has been scientifically proven to be false? Where do you suppose he comes by this information? Surely not from the oil companies. He offers no proof of this, of course. So one wonders if he is really stupid enough to just accept what the oil companies tell him, or is he so greedy that he doesn't really care if his claims are true or not as long as he gets his money?

I have never done this before (cribbed from another source) but I think this is just too good not to be further shared:

Bush - Stoned? Drunk? Medicated? Retarded? Presidential Tester for the Pharmaceutical Industry? You Decide........

Created 07/19/2006 - 8:06am
A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Ruth Lopez

Bush is fried. He's either drinking, smoking pot, medicated, or some combination of all of them. [1] Either that or the man has taken a one-way trip to crazy town.

Watch his gibberish at the G8, especially the bizarre stuff about how long the plane flights to various countries are. If you take out the comments of the other leaders (because they actually sound intelligent and not like drunken bar talk) and just read what Bush says, he sounds just like someone who is more than half looped.

"Gotta go home. Gotta do sumthin tonight. Get ona plane. Go home. It's a long flight. How long is your flight? That's a long flight. Your country is big. His country is big too." Retarded or stoned, you decide.

This is the kind of mindless bar drivel that drunks who can't shut up drone on with. They just keep running their mouths, totally disconnected from the non-verbal clues of the people around them.

Watch the press conference where Bush couldn't stop talking about the pig roast. It didn't matter what anyone asked him, he just kept saying whatever his addled brain was looping on, in this case, the pig. Typical stoned behavior. It reminded me of the time Bush went to Canada and couldn't get off the subject of the mouth one of the Canadian Prime Minister's staff members! "You've got a purty mouth." Not once but several times. "You've sure got a purty mouth." And, "Your mouth is prettier than my Scott's mouth." (The poor guy's name was Scott.) Who does this? Outside of bars or institutions, I mean.

Watch Bush's body language at the table with Blair talking over his shoulder. Bush is sitting, almost slouched back in his chair, like a guy at a barbeque on his second or third 6 pack, chomping on his food with his mouth open, and making minimal effort to intelligently keep up his end of the conversation by occasionally throwing in something he mistakenly thinks is sufficient.

Watch the body language of the other leaders and the way they react to him. With the exception of Blair, they act very restrained and controlled around Bush, maintaining a public facade of geniality while holding back from actually being engaged with him. What seems to be obsequiousness from Blair may actually be him simply trying to get through the fog around Bush's brain to penetrate with a little reality without setting him off. Meanwhile, Bush's social modus operandi with everyone, including other world leaders, is to overuse forced jocularity and pretend intimacy to convey a relationship that does not exist.

When he walked up behind the German leader and started giving her an unsolicited shoulder massage, her body tightened up and she actually grimaced. She wasn't enjoying that, she was enduring it. Before that Bush can be seen wandering aimlessly around the room while the rest of the grown-ups were conducting the business they were there for.

This is not normal behavior. Watch him closely sometime when he's having trouble staying coherent and you can see his eyes come in and out of focus. He does it at the table when Blair is speaking to him and he's looking out across the room as he chomps open-mouthed on his food. This is a distinct change from Bush's speech and behavior at other times. In fact, radical variations in his behavior and speech can be seen by watching him when he is unscripted. Sometimes he's coherent, other times he looks like staying coherent long enough to get a sentence out is almost beyond him, (these are the times he seems to get mean-drunk angry when anyone dares to question him), and sometimes he is just off-the-wall bizarre.

I'll say it again; the man is plastered, stoned, or medicated. This goes a long way to explaining how he is so incredibly disengaged from war, disasters and their destructive effects: he is too out of it to relate. Drunks and addicts are incapable of empathy, everything is about them and their next high. When Cheney shot that guy, Bush acted like he had just found out about it days after it happened. Same with New Orleans. Bodies were rotting in the ruins of the city, when Bush had been warned that it could, and likely would happen, happen, and Bush's response was to reminisce about partying.

There are bizarre internet rumors of a personal portable toilet for Bush to use when overseas, (to prevent foreign analysis of his excrement) http://www.rense.com/general72/fexc.htm [2]. Normally I would blow them off as some of the wilder of conspiracy theories, but watching Bush's actions over the last week, I can't help but wonder, to what lengths would they go to hide it if it were true? If he is too incapacitated?

What would they do to keep up the appearance of his functionality? Who could or would step up and do anything about it if he is unfit to serve? The people around him are not people willing to part with the power they have granted themselves, and that's an understatement. And with Bush at the top of the chain and out of the loop, or just plain looped, who is holding anybody below him accountable? His staff? Congress and the Media have abdicated their responsibilities, who will do it?

Hell, they're all trying to give him, and therefore themselves, even more unlimited power than they have already taken. As long as they can keep up the illusion that he's functioning.........you decide.

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION


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Savagery and religion

Savagery: an act of cruelty or violence.

Would you not say that what is going on in Lebanon and Gaza meets the above definition? Is not destroying the nation of Lebanon an act of savagery, savagery beyond either necessity or belief? What exactly is the point of destroying an entire country because one element of that country embarrassed the Israell military by entering Israel, killing eight soldiers, and capturing two? Was this whole campaign not planned a year ago and is just using this latest incident as an excuse to destroy Lebanon? Lebanon is to be destroyed because they cannot control Hezbolla - but everyone knew they could not before the carnage even began. And if Hezbolla is the target why are the Israelis bombing civilian areas, cars and vans, and killing innocent civilians, including large numbers of children? These are acts of savagery beyond doubt. As near as I can see the only difference between what Israel is doing to Beirut and what Genghis Khan did to cities is that they are not piling up the skulls at the city limits. Maybe they haven't thought of it yet.

Now a question about religion, or at least what passes for religion in the U.S. nowadays. You know, I am sure, that there are those who believe in the coming "Rapture." Some of these people (I guess they can be described as people) are urging our government to speed up the violence in the Middle East because they believe the Rapture is imminent and war in the Holy Land has to occur before the Rapture can occur. You know that it is against the law to falsely yell "fire" in a crowded theatre. So why should it not be against the law for these nitwits to goad our country into a devastating "war" because they alone believe in this utter nonsense. Especially when our idiot president may actually believe in this crap himself? Now I am in favor of religious freedom. But only up to a point. When they have influence, and when they are actively attempting to influence foreign policy because of their unique beliefs, and when what they want threatens all the rest of humanity, I don't think they should be permitted to espouse these dangerous (and completely without foundation) beliefs. This is far worse than merely yelling "fire" when it is not justified. If members of the various Churches of the Completely Daffy want to believe in this stuff, let them, but certainly don't let them lead the rest of us into oblivion because of their totally ridiculous beliefs.

Dear Condi, our basically useless but well-groomed pretend Secretary of State, says that what is happening in Lebanon and Gaza is simply "the birth pangs of a new Middle East." What are we to think? What is this new Middle East she has in mind? Does she actually believe that Iraq is going to become a democratic model for all the the Middle East, as Bush continues to want to pretend? Does she mean that after Israel destroys Hezbolla, Gaza, and Lebanon, Israel and the U.S. will be supreme in the Middle East and there will therefore be peace? Does she mean that Syria and Iran will be so frightened of the U.S. they will just capitulate and agree to U.S. hegemony over the entire area? Just what in the hell does she mean? Or does she even have any idea of what she means, which I find more than merely doubtful?" How the foreign ministers she deals with can keep from bursting out in laughter at her pathetic attempts at diplomacy escapes me. Of course it is not all her fault, after all, she has to present the babbling nonsense of our pretend president, he of the full mouth and uncouth behavior. How far the mighty have fallen.

In an interview with a reporter from the Los Angeles Times he said, among other things that I found strange, "Israeli aggression, so-called..." What in the world could be so-called about Israeli aggression? Does he think the destruction of Lebanon and the murder of hundreds of innocents, including children, isn't real, that is just being made up? This is our basic problem here in the U.S. The media is so biased towards Israel that now the entire country believes in Israeli propaganda. Israel is perfectly innocent. The problem is the Palestinians and Hezbolla. Israeli genocide (aided and abetted actively and blatantly by the U.S.) is just "so-called." There is no hope for peace in the Middle East until reality somehow becomes obvious in the U.S. Reality was left behind in 2000 and has yet to catch up. Not to worry, be happy, things are going well - for Halliburton and Cheney.

Israeli/American genocide continues

The Bush/Cheney administration, not content with having lied us into an unnecessary "war," not content to have committed war crimes beyond counting, and not content with having engaged in treason, have now fully involved us in genocide. We are apparently, at this very moment, "rushing" more missiles and bombs to Israel. These I guess are to be used for Israeli to "defend itself." The Israeli defense consists of totally destroying Lebanon and Palestinians living in Gaza. Thus these missiles and bombs will be used to kill more and more innocent civilians, including more children. Some "defense." I suppose we were already complicit in this genocide as we furnished the Israelis with their military hardware in the first place. But now rushing more missiles and bombs as if it is some kind of emergency? At at time when virtually the entire world is insisting on an immediate cease fire? Rice, our incompetent clothes-horse masquerading as Secretary of State says it's too early for a cease fire, we need to wait for a permanent solution. What kind of utter crap is that? An immediate cease fire would save hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives and we could still be seeking a permanent solution (there is no permanent solution on the horizon because the U.S. will not admit where the problem lies). To say the "root cause" is Hezbolla, Hamas, Syria and Iran is such a total fantasy as to be unworthy of serious attention. The root cause is Israel, the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and its ceaseless attempt to gain more and more land and water at the Palestinians expense.

Some might argue that technically what is going on is not genocide. Okay, call it "ethnic cleansing" if that pleases you more. But what is it when an entire country is being destroyed, its lands and superstructure destroyed, along with its people, so there will be no people to return to it, and nothing left to return to? To me that is genocide, pure and simple. And the Bush/Cheney administration is involved in it without question.

Very few Hezbolla members have been killed. Hundred of innocent Lebanese civilians (fully one third of them children) have perished and there is no end in sight. Bush/Cheney have vetoed any attempt to declare a cease fire, saying they want to give the Israelis at least "another week." Another week to slaughter more innocents! Bush/Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, as well as others have blood on their hands. Indeed, they are in blood and gore up to their eyeballs. They will have to be held accountable. There is no other way.

A permanent peace?

Condi Rice, our mostly useless Secretary of State, is finally going to Israel (and Italy, I guess). She is not going to actually do anything as, parroting the Bush line, it is too early for a cease fire (I guess this means not enough children have been killed). No doubt there will be plenty of photo-ops. She says there is no point in a cease fire now as it would not solve the problem permanently (I guess the fact that it might save thousands of innocent lives is not important). I guess this also means she thinks there is a somehow a permanent solution to the problem once Hezbolla and Hamas (along with the Palestinians and Lebanese) are completely destroyed and Israel is given carte blanche to continue to occupy and steal the land and water of others. There will never be a permanent peace until people are willing to admit that Israel is the problem, not Hezbolla or Hamas. The Israeli lobby has done such a fine job Americans will probably never believe Israel is not Little Red Riding Hood being attacked by vicious savage wolves (with virtually no teeth). I pretty much believe this Israel/Palestinian problem, which is at the root of the Middle East situation, will never be solved, no matter what happens now in Palestine or Lebanon (or anywhere else, for that matter).

Bolton's temporary appointment to the UN apparently expires in January. So they are now beginning to get him appointed legitimately. They probably will. The Democrats have surrendered. Bolton has been every bit as disruptive as they wanted. So why not?

It is far too hot to blog or much of anything else. I hope things are better for you than they are here at Sandhill.

Shame! Shame!

I was born in the United States. I have lived here all of my life that, by now, has been quite a long time. I have always been very proud to be an American. I have never, until just now, had any reason to feel ashamed of my citizenship. The House and the Senate have made me realize that I should be ashamed. They voted overwhelmingly to support Israel's attack on Lebanon. In other words, to be blunt, they voted to support Israel's blatant war crimes. I guess once you are guilty of war crimes, aiding and abetting further war crimes doesn't make much difference. It's like murder, once you are guilty of one murder it doesn't much matter if you murder again. We need billboards all across the U.S. that say, "stop us before we do it again." But it's too late for that. We are complicit in terrible war crimes and every day the Israel juggernaught continues to kill innocent Lebanese and Gaza citizens we become more complicit. Let me say it again: killing innocent civilians, including children, is clearly a war crime. Destroying a country by bombing its infrastructure is a war crime. There is no doubt about this. It is just a matter of fact. The suffering that Israel has imposed on Gaza and now Lebanon is inexcusable. Now they have actually invaded Lebanon again, instead of just bombing them back to the stone age. The Lebanese, like the Palestinians, are virtually helpless, certainly no match for the billions of dollars worth of American munitions and military hardware we have given Israel year after year. And what a marvelous system it is: we give them billions of dollars of taxpayer money which they then turn around and give to American corporations for all their military supplies. In other words, we change taxpayer money into corporate profits. Any wonder we support this illegal war unconditionally? The truly sad thing is, there is probably no way to stop this, certainly not as long as Bush/Cheney reign, and quite likely not ever.

Well, Bush finally lost his veto virginity. As you must have heard he vetoed funding for stem cell research even though both the House and the Senate voted for it, and even though the American public overwhelmingly is in favor of it. According to Tony Snow, Bush vetoed it because he "doesn't approve of murder." That is, he doesn't want scientists to use surplus embryos to try to find cures for diseases, because that would be "murdering them." So what he apparently wants to do with the some 400,000 surplus embryos that exist is continue to "discard" them. What does discard them mean? What do they do with them when they discard them? Are they given a proper burial? Does someone say a few words over them? Is there a cemetery devoted to discarded embryos? Or are they just tossed out in the garbage? They certainly aren't brought to term and then adopted (except for a tiny, tiny, number of so-called "snowflake babies"). Is there any provision for saving all these lives through adoptions? Apparently not. Perhaps instead of spending a lot of money on going into space we could build a gigantic artificial womb where all these embryos are brought to term. Then we could create some enormous orphanages to look after them. Then when they become mature adults we could provide them with decent jobs. Even better, we could just train them to work for Wal Mart and McDonalds, or maybe pick strawberries and apples. The possibilities are endless. In the meanwhile Bush can be commended for keeping science in its place (back in the 18th century). Someone said you get the government you deserve. I don't think we deserved this any more than we deserved Iraq and eternal war. Oh, I forgot, things are going well in Iraq and the Middle East.

The Israeli death wish

As what Israel is doing in the Gaza strip and Lebanon is both unconscionable and unforegiveable I am led to conclude that they must have a death wish. It doesn't matter now what happens in the short run in this troubled part of the world, Israel will never live in peace. NEVER! Not after what they have done now. They may succeed in stealing more Palestinian land and water, they may even occupy Lebanon again, but inevitably in the long run they will lose, probably everything. After some sixty years of always responding with overwhelming military might things are just as bad now as they ever were. All sensible people know that the problems between Israel and the Arabs (particularly Palestinians) cannot be solved by force. The only possible solution will have to be political (but quite frankly I doubt that even a political solution is going to happen). As long as Israel is considered innocent in the conflict no soluton will ever occur. Even today, again, Bush claims the "root cause" of the problems is Hezbolla. This is just plain crap (pardon my language). Why does Hezbolla even exist? Because of Israeli militarism and greed in the past, which continues to the present day. Why does Hamas exist? Because of Israel's continuing illegal occupation of Palestinian land. One has to laugh, if not contemplate suicide, when you hear people (like Bush and others) say, "Hezbolla (or Hamas) just has to learn to live with Israel. Why in the hell doesn't Israel have to learn to live with the Palestinians and Lebanese? Why don't they have to recognize a Palestinian state and a democratic Lebanon? The "root cause," as I have said before, is not Hezbolla and Hamas, it is Israel greed and aggression. While they have the world occupied with their illegal and immoral attack on Gaza and Lebanon they are busily solidifying their control of the west bank. If they can they will grab the river that helps separate Lebanon from Israel (the river, the name of which escapes me for the moment they have coveted for years). As long as the U.S. continues to see only the Israeli point of view there is no hope whatsoever of peace in the Middle East. The idea that Israel is innocent and it is all the fault of Arabs is so ingrained in U.S. thought and behavior there is quite likely no hope at all. As long as the Israeli lobby controls both political parties in the U.S., peace in the Middle East is simply not possible. And now, as a result of the latest genocidal attacks by Israel there will be no peace for a thousand years, if ever. Israel has now signed its own death warrant.

Some unnamed U.N. official was quoted today as saying Israel's attacks "could constitute war crimes." What can he possibly mean by saying "could." Israel has without any doubt whatsoever committed repeated war crimes. You cannot kill innocent civilians, many of them children, indiscriminatley, without it being a war crime. Nor can you destroy an entire country for the acts of a few. Israel is guilty of war crimes and the United States shares in that guilt. If there is no change in the 2006 elections there may very well be a new world war. Furthermore, it is not going to be enough just to vote these evil bastards out of office, they are going to have to be held accountable for their war crimes. Will the Nightmare Years end in 2006 or will things just get worse and worse? No one can solve this horrible situation except American citizens. Enough is enough!

Idaho don't need no stinkin' Senators

Returning from the west once again I note that both Craig and Crapo voted against funding for stem cell research. As they are little more than dinosaurs in a world of at least some people still in their right minds, this is not surprising. They always vote for the administration's position. Always. Well, at least 99.99 percent of the time. I don't always pay attention to their votes because I know they can be relied upon to vote with Bush/Cheney. They are, of course, opposed to gay marriage, abortion, flag burning, and salmon. They are in favor of potatoes. They are opposed to eliminating the dams on the Snake River to save the salmon - potato farms are more important. It reminds me of a few days ago when some local farmers were unfortunately losing part of their crops. One of them actually said, "I'm just as important as the salmon." While I feel great sympathy for the farmers, and believe they should be reimbursed for their losses, to say that a few farms are more important than the salmon is simply absurd. But I digress. If we know that Craig and Crapo are going to vote with Bush/Cheney virtually every time there is a vote, what do we need them for? Think of all the money that might be saved if we just gave our Senators' proxies to Dick the Slimy? We wouldn't need any Senators at all and the money could be used for something useful, like improving Idaho's dismal educational situation.

With respect to this latter problem I have a solution to suggest. You know all those billions of dollars that Gates/Buffet have to support various humanitarian enterprises? Well, I suggest they take a bit of that money and purchase the State of Idaho. They'd still have plenty left and they could help humanity (especially Idaho humanity) a great deal. Maybe we could have decent schools, well-paid teachers, up to date textbooks, stuff like that. And maybe this would eventually lead to a legislature that had the best interests of Idaho citizens in mind, instead of just more corporate pork and tax breaks for the already overwealthy. Just dreaming.

Our mentally challenged pretend President really made us proud at the G8 summit. After being accidentally filmed talking with his mouth open and full, and using rather foul language, and saying stupid things, he topped off his performance by coming up from behind to give Merkel a surprising and not well received shoulder massage. He is not only an imbecile, he's also a slob. I guess we're supposed to say, "well, he's a moron, but he's our moron."

Israel continues to exercise its god-given right to defend itself against innocent civilians, especially small Palestinian and Lebanese children. No one cares enough to do anything about it, especially Bush/Cheney, who apparently think its just fine. They can't be bothered to even extend a slap on the wrist. After all, its all the fault of Hezbolla and Hamas. If they would just lay down and accept Israeli desires there wouldn't be a problem. After all, what do they need with land, water, and basic human dignity?

The "root cause"

There will be no morialekafa on tuesday the 18th.

Since the Israelis launched their latest reckless (but carefully planned in advance) genocidal attacks on Gaza and Lebanon there has been (obviously) much talk about the problem. Many commentators keep referring to the "root cause." You now, if we could just get to the "root cause" of the conflict...etc. So just what the hell is the root cause? One might well argue that the root cause has to do with British colonialism that artificially created Iraq where there was no Iraq before. Or, one might argue that the root cause has to do with forcing the Palestinians to give up territory for a "Jewish homeland." Or perhaps the root cause was the six days war. Maybe the root cause is the capture (kidnapping?) of an Israeli soldier. Perhaps it is the capture or two more Israeli soldiers. Perhaps it is because of the price of tea in China. At the moment the best bet for the root cause is the simple fact that Israel has been illegally occupying and stealing Palestinian land for a long time - and shows no signs of ever changing their ways. The only meaningful root cause for the moment has to do with this illegal occupation, with the full and unconditional support of the U.S.

And don't expect to get any rational analyses out of the American Press. The whole thing is so biased towards Israel there is no point in even watching the MSM. You notice they don't hesitate to claim that rockets fired by Hezbolla came from Iran (whether they actually did or not I don't know - they probably did). But they never say the rockets fired by Israel came from the U.S. We (the U.S.) has been providing armaments to the Israelis to the tune of several billion dollars a year for a very long time. They have the most sophisticated weapons available courtesy of the U.S. The Palestinians and Lebanese have little more than sticks and stones (relatively speaking). This blindly uncritical support of Israel is not always in the best interest of the U.S. But, hey, mustn't upset the Israeli lobby. And it is perfectly obvious that Israel does not act in the best interests of the U.S. Right now they are trying to recruit us to do much of their dirty work (like attack Iran, for example, or Syria). What if Iran and Syria are supporting Hezbolla? Why should they not? Why should they just lay down for American/Israeli hegemony over the entire Middle East? Why should they not object to Israel stealing their land and water?

Israel is giving us their story of being constantly attacked by Hamas and Hezbolla. They have a right to defend themselves, they claim. And at one level that is no doubt true. But who are they killing in defense? Hundreds of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese. In Lebanon in the last six days they have killed somewhere between 150 and 250 people (at least), and virtually all of them were civilians, including large numbers of children. Is this who they are protecting themselves from? Children? Innocents? Make no mistake about it, they are not concerned with their captured soldiers, they are out to destroy the Palestinians and those Lebanese who support Hezbolla, and they are not hesitating to punish hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the process. They are committing war crimes on a scale not seen for a long time. And Bush?Cheney are standing idly by apparently relishing what is going on. Israel may have a right to defend themselves but they do not have a right to violate even the most basic canons of international law. They do not have a right to murder innocent children. They do not have a right to doom more than a million innocent residents of Gaza to utter misery and death. The root cause of all this at the moment is Israel (and the collaboration of he U.S.).

Let's move on to the next potential bloodbath. The U.S. is making plans for how we will remake Cuba after Fidel goes. Naturally we are going to impose democracy on the island (everyone must want democracy). I don't think we are actually asking the Cubans what they might want. We know what's good for them. They have plans of their own but we don't care about them. The most amusing thing I read about this recently is that we are not only going to impose democracy but we will also "rebuild" Cuba. I don't know exactly what that means but I guess we want to build on our overwhelming successes in rebuilding Afghanistan, Iraq, and New Orleans. If I were a Cuban and heard this I believe I would "run for the hills" as fast as possible. Having the U.S. rebuild Cuba would apparently be a fate worse than death. We are having so much success spreading democracy around he world why should Cuba be denied this wonderful experience?

George W. Bush is borderline retarded and Dick the Slimy is probably the most evil SOB ever. Makes one right proud to be a 'murican. I sincerely hope Russia will take Bush's advice and become a model for democracy like Iraq.

Madness in the air

There is madness in the air - war madness. Consider Gingrich who says we are already involved in WW111, Bush should admit it, and we should attack everyone in sight. What a great idea. With our military stretched thin beyond belief, the rest of the world not supportive, what we need is more war. Gee, I hope Gingrich will be the Republican candidate for president. We really need another warmonger leading us. Of course Gingrich is not alone in his desire to start (or acknowledge) WW111, at least two Democrats have suggested we attack North Korea and take out their missile facilities. Another great idea. Russia and China, who are against even sanctions on North Korea, I'm certain would jump on our war bandwagon. Where do we find these idiots?

And speaking of idiots. It was suggested to Condi Rice that perhaps our meddling in the Middle East, especially our "war" on Iraq might have something to do with the curent violence, she replied that it was a "grotesque idea." I guess as she lives on the planet "worship George" this is not surprising.

Israel seems to continue downing their stupid pills. After all these years they still seem to believe they will solve their problems with military force. As this has been going on for years and things are just as bad, or worse, now than ever, you might think they would get the picture. Of course Bush/Cheney are using their tactics now so we will have the same problems in Iraq thirty years from now as we are having now. I guess the threat of having a viable Palestinian state and a non-puppet government in Iraq is beyond their comprehension. In spite of their denials there is a civil war raging in Iraq and we are helpless to do anything about it, other than offer target practice to Iraqi snipers and bombers. So why don't we do the only sensible thing and get out of Iraq? Because like the monkey who reaches into the gourd with the banana and is too greedy to let it go, we just can't give up our pipe dream of controlling the Middle East. Don't worry, we'll be giving it up soon enough, permanent bases and billion dollar embassy be damned. In the meanwhile you can thank Bush/Cheney and the neocons for a wonderful experience.

Sliced pig, foot in mouth, head up....

Our mildly retarded pretend President is at it again. He is busily going around the world making an utter fool of himself (and us, too, as no one can understand how we can continue to tolerate this imbecile). In Germany, during a press conference in which he was asked important questions about the Middle East and other things, he kept obsessing on the pig (wild boar) he was going to be served for dinner. He said he was very proud to be asked to "slice" it. Five times he returned to the pig event as he was apparently trying to be funny (I think he did it because he had little to say of importance about anything else).

If that was not bad enough he went on to Russia where he proceeded to tell Putin and the Russians how they should run their country. The fact that he had the audacity to tell the Russians how to run their country was bad enough, but when he told them they should model their democracy on the current Iraqi model, the audience burst into laughter, as they rightly should have. Putin easily put him down. That Bush would have said this betrays a mind so bereft of intelligence and understanding he should not be permitted out of the White House without a nanny. This is not, of course, the first time he has come across as an utter fool. He still somehow has some 35 percent of the American public supporting him. I guess idiots recognize their own kind.

Bush and Israel have much in common. They both pay no attention to laws, treaties, international laws, or anything that constrains them from doing exactly as they wish. Israel has violated international law so regularly and blatantly that apparently no one even expects them to follow the rules anymore. Bush has done the same here in the U.S. No one seems to be able to do anything about it (the only entities that might be able to do something just don't seem to care enough to be bothered). It is not at all clear that this situation will change after the 2006 elections. Certainly nothing will ever happen to free the U.S. from their blind, unconscionable, all out support for the criminal Israeli government. Israel continues to portray itself as this poor, vulnerable country constantly under attack from Palestinian and other terrorists, whereas in fact they are the worst aggressors of all in the Middle East with nothing more on their minds except stealing as much Palestinian land and water as they can. I long since have run out of patience or sympathy for the Israelis. As far as I can see they are the biggest single problem in the Middle East. Pity the Palestinians, fish in a barrel, being systematically destroyed by the overwhelming military superiority (courtesy of the U.S.) of the Israelis. I hate this. It is ruining my health, mental and otherwise.

World War 111?

Well, the Israelis are doing everything they can to start WW 111. Not content to destroy any chance whatsoever for a viable Palestinian state they have now attacked Lebanon. They have also threatened Syria. And they are claiming that Iran is involved in the hostilities as well. They probably are. If the U.S. provides military equipment beyond all responsibility to Israel, that is okay. But if Iran provides weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas that is bad. Very bad. We, of course, think of Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations. Most everyone else recognizes them as legitimate freedom fighters trying to protect their countries from Israel (and the U.S.).

Israel's total overreaction to the capture (what they are calling kidnappings, as if soldiers are somehow kidnapped instead of captured) is to use it as an excuse to destroy Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinians. They are busily overextending themselves trying to get us to join in the fray. Bush is just stupid enough to fall for this and Cheney is no doubt drooling over the possibility of another war and more unnecessary bloodshed (it's good for the military-industrial complex which is where he and his cronies are making their obscene profits).

Israel, as always, is claiming they have a right to protect themselves and their citizens, which, of course, they do. But this is such a gross oversimplification it is almost brilliant in its falsity. Consider that if Israel was not actively engaged in stealing Palestinian land and water, and not illegally occupying Palestinian land, and not illegally building a huge wall to shut Palestinians out of their own land, and not humiliating and killing Palestinians (including women and children) virtually everyday, they wouldn't need to be constantly bombing and invading Gaza. There will never be any security for Israel until they give up their colonial enterprise and racist ways and agree to a viable (and complete) Palestinian state. As they show no inclination to agree to this they will never have complete security. This is their choice. They have made it quite clear what their intentions are (and they are depending upon the blind loyalty and stupidity of the U.S. government to help them out). Nothing would please them more than for us to attack Iran (and Syria and who knows all else if they could arrange it).

There will never be any hope whatsoever for peace in the Middle East until Israel changes its ways. In the meanwhile the rest of the world stands around wringing their hands and whining about the Israelis lack of constraint. Don't expect any constraint from Israel. They have violated U.N. rules and international laws for so long, and so blatantly, we have come to accept it and apparently resign ourselves to it. The U.S. is the key to solving this problem but we have for years refused to curb the Israeli outlaws and, indeed, have encouraged them. You reap what you sow.

Republican ideas

These compassionate Republicans are just full of really good ideas. They just don't carry them far enough. Republican Steve King (IA - although I don't know what state that actually is at the moment) has designed an electric fence for our border with Mexico. He says why not, we do it for cattle all the time. It is pretty obvious that his opinion of Mexicans (and others from South and Central America) is not very flattering. I think an electric fence is a really good idea. But better yet, we could brand them. Well, maybe the Supreme Court would not go for that (don't bet on it). Well, shucks, if we can't brand them we ought to be at least able to put tags in their ears. That wouldn't hurt too much and then we'd know who was who and who belonged to which corporation and etc. I love Republicans. They are so creative.

Valerie Plame is going to sue Cheney, Libby and Rove for conspiring to destroy her career. What a great development. She ought to have a really good case. Except for the fact that the Republicans have managed to load the courts with a majority of Republican toadies who will probably conclude that it was all Bill Clinton's fault. I love Republicans. They are so fair-minded and democratic.

Our poor, pathetic, helpless, marginally retarded and pretty much thoughtless and disinterested chief executive has come out strongly in favor of Israel's attack on Lebanon. "They have a right to defend themselves," he says. I guess by defending themselves he means imposing terrible hardships of one and a half million innocent Palestinians who cannot realistically defend themselves. After all, what do they need electricity and water for anyway? And food, who needs food, especially children? And medical supplies and attention? They should have thought of that before they kidnapped an Israel soldier. Disgusting towelheads, they just don't think ahead. We (the U.S., that is) couldn't possibly do anything to stop this genocidal behavior. We might upset the Israeli lobby. You want to know why they don't attack Iran? Because they are going to get us to do it for them. After all, we are nothing but an extension of the Israeli army. This is compassionate conservatism at its finest. Happily, I don't believe in heaven and hell. If I did there is no doubt in my mind where we are all going to end up. Never forget, we are good and they are bad. That's all you need to know. If you're not with us you're against us. Black is white. Up is down. Right is wrong and vice-versa. It's the Republican way. The concept of war crimes is just "quaint." The President is always right. If he seems to be breaking a law let's just change the law. Anything to stay in power - who cares about either the nation or its citizens? Full speed ahead. Profit before people. Corporations rule. Let's hear it for greed, greed is good. You think we should have universal health care? You stupid socialist bastards! You think people should have a decent wage? Communist finks! You think Congress should have an annual raise? Of course. This is a system in which the more useless you are the more you should be rewarded. I used to love America, and then I grew up.

The Goatherd - short story

The Israelis continue their genocidal war. Now they have moved on Lebanon. What's next? That's right world - DO NOTHING!


To call it a road would be generous in the extreme. The Landcruiser, even in low four wheel drive, barely managed to crawl up the steep slope, over boulders and tree roots exposed by rainwater that had washed down the old logging road for years. Just as we finally reached the crest we saw her. A most unlikely sight for such a remote place. An attractive young woman with unkempt blond hair, five feet tall, well-worn shorts and faded t-shirt, ankle length boots, solidly built but not fat, standing alone in a large meadow, obviously surprised to see us. Behind her in the distance was a herd of goats. Even more remarkable was the holstered revolver that hung from her belt; a heavy old-fashioned, long-barrelled colt .45. It was so long, and she was so short, it hung to just below her knee.
“Hello,” I said. “We certainly didn’t expect to find anyone way out here. What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, in a firm but feminine voice. She clearly felt she belonged and we were intruders.
“We came to look at some land,” I explained. “We were told there was a forty acre parcel for sale up here. Do you know where it is?”
She studied us suspiciously for a few moments and then said, “I’m not sure, but my uncle told me the property line was over there, just on the other side of that gully.” She pointed to the east where a nearby ravine dropped off sharply.
“Your uncle owns this land?” I queried.
“Yes, he lets me stay here and tend the goats.”
“He lets you?” I wondered to myself, as I walked closer to the ravine. It was deep and wide enough at the bottom to accommodate a good-sized spring. There were large cedars and some scrub alder growing on the slopes and along the bottom. A small stream fed by the spring gurgled quietly southwards over moss and smooth stones. I suspected that uncle had most probably decided on a property line favorable more to his desires than reality. It would obviously have to be surveyed. Returning to the girl, who had not moved, I asked, “you stay up here all by yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Where do you live?” My wife asked. “Is there a house or a cabin?”
“Over there,” the girl replied. She pointed across part of the meadow where a crude three-sided shack stood. It was partially filled with bales of hay.
“You live there?” my wife said, with disbelief. “You sleep there? In the hay? Where do you cook and go to the bathroom?”
The girl, perhaps embarrassed , did not answer.
“You always carry that pistol?” I asked. “Why do you need a big pistol like that?”
“Cougars,” she answered matter-of-factly. “And coyotes and bears. There are lots of them here. They come for the goats and sometimes I shoot at them. I think there may be wolves now, too, ‘cause lately the coyotes don’t come around much anymore. That must be because of wolves. Wolves hate coyotes, you know. Where there are wolves you don’t find coyotes. I haven’t seen any wolves yet, but I hear them howling sometimes.” She spoke with authority.
“You ever shoot a cougar or a bear?”
“No, only coyotes a couple of times. I’m a good shot” she said proudly, “but usually they run away before I can kill them.”

It was a lovely spot and an absolutely gorgeous day. A few wispy clouds drifted leisurely across a sky so softly blue you wanted to pull it down and wrap it around you like a gigantic comforter. From the mountainside you looked far down across a wide river valley. On both sides of the shimmering jade green river were fields of alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, corn, canola and mustard, creating a pleasant pattern of order, success and well-being. The farms were well established and had obviously existed on the fertile soil for decades, providing generations of landowners with comfort and security. Surrounding the valley in all directions were high, heavily timbered mountains where populations of elk and deer flourished. Away from the valley floor it was a wild, rough landscape of high snow covered peaks and steep hillsides, hidden meadows, fast flowing streams, waterfalls, and beautiful alpine lakes. Myriad creatures of the forest still lived there in relative peace and harmony, as they had for centuries.

“It’s so beautiful here,” my wife observed, addressing the goatherd. “I can see why you would like it.” The girl simply shrugged and looked away.
“As near as I can tell,” I said, “the property line must run roughly north and south along here. It probably encompasses part of the meadow and then the rest appears to be just timber. I don't know how you’d access it unless you could get an easement through here. Of course you’d have to do something about the road. I don’t know, I think it’s just too much of a job to take on. We’d better keep looking.” My wife gave a sigh of relief, realizing I was coming to my senses.
“Well, thank you, and goodbye,” I said to the girl. It was nice meeting you.”
She did not reply, just stood there watching as we entered the Landcruiser and drove away.
“She certainly was an unfriendly little thing,” I observed.
“Yes, very. I wonder what she does with all her time up here so all alone. I wonder what she eats. I don’t see how she could possibly really live up here like that.”
“I suppose her uncle must bring her food and stuff. I couldn’t live like that. But maybe she just likes being alone. Some people do, you know, but not me. I hate being alone. Anyway, I’m hungry. Let’s find something to eat. We continued carefully down through forests of larch and fir, interspersed here and there with birch and aspen in a delightful kaleidoscope of color and form. Near the bottom a flock of wild turkeys scattered in all directions.

A large sign on the roof simply said “EATS.” In smaller letters it said, “Restaurant Bar and Grocery.” A typical roadside café, it stood at a sharp bend in the highway where you had to slow down anyway, so we stopped and entered. The menu was the usual: hamburgers, pizza, sandwiches, chili, and such. Under Soup of the Day it said “Campbell’s.” The groceries consisted of a few shelves containing boxes of soap powder, toothpaste, toilet paper, mousetraps, sardines, feminine items, and a few cans of beans and soups. We ordered our standard meal in such places, club sandwiches and iced tea.
“Where you folks from,” the waitress asked pleasantly.
“California,” my wife replied. “We’re thinking of moving here someplace. We’ve been looking for property.”
“We just encountered a really strange girl,” I offered. “Way up in the mountains. She was tending goats. Said they belonged to her uncle. She wasn’t very friendly.”
“Oh, yeah,” the waitress replied, “that’d be Sally Mae. She spends her summers up there with them goats. She’s a sad case.”
“How’s that?” My wife couldn’t resist hearing about a sad case of anything.
“Not bein’ from around here I guess you wouldn’t have heard about it. It was a couple of years back. She shot her father.”
“Shot her father!” I exclaimed. “If she shot her father what’s she doing up there on the mountain? Why isn’t she in jail?”
“Well, it’s kind of complicated,” the waitress explained. “The father was a mean old bastard, an abuser. Abused his wife and kids something terrible. Everyone knew about it. Beat his wife regularly. She used to show up with black eyes and bruises all over. The boys was so scared of him they peed their pants when he started yelling at ‘em. Went on for years like that. So…one night when he was drunk and fell asleep on the couch, she shot him in the head. The mother took the blame, said she done it. But everyone around here knew it was really Sally Mae. The mother was a timid little thing, didn’t know one end of a gun from another. But she stuck to her story and saved Sally Mae from having to go to jail.”
“So, what happened?” my wife demanded. “Did she go to jail?”
“No. She was tried and acquitted. Said it was self-defense. No one around here ever woulda found her guilty. Everybody knew how terrible he was, just thought he deserved it. The prosecutor, who come in from another county, was kinda upset and couldn’t believe it. He wanted a new trial but the country couldn’t afford it and no one else wanted it anyway. It was just dropped. The mother and the boys, who were younger, moved away. I don’t think anyone here even knows where they are. But Sally Mae stayed here. Her uncle takes real good care of her, pays her way to college and all.”
“She goes to college?” I asked, incredulous.
“Yeah. Sure. She’ll be a junior this year. Stays up there with them goats in the summer and then comes down in the fall and goes off to school. I heard she does real good, too. I don’t think anybody there knows about her. People here are afraid of her and avoid her. Don’t seem to bother her much though. I don’t know if she ever hears from her mother.”
“Her brother must have a lot of money,” my wife said. “It costs an arm and a leg to send a kid to college nowadays.”
The waitress paused and looked at my wife for a moment as if not sure what to say. Then quietly she explained, “yeah, he’s got money. And he’s a really nice guy. He’s not like his brother at all. Ain’t it weird how two brothers from the same family can be so completely different?”

What's the point?

First, just in to Buzzflash tonight, Robert Novak, Republican operative pretending to be a newsman, has now announced publicly that Karl Rove was his source for the outing of Valerie Plame. Will Bush fire him as promised? Don't bet on it. There apparently is a discrepancy between Novak's testimony, Rove's, and the CIA's. So they will no doubt keep a he said/he said/they said thing going forever and nothing much will happen. Besides, would you expect Bush to keep his word? If so, where have you been for the past six years?

What's the point of giving immunity to the U.S. Military in Iraq? The Iraqis are now going to ask the U.N. to no longer allow immunity from Iraqi law for American forces. But why did they have immunity in the first place? What is so special about the American Military that they should not have to obey laws that all others would have to obey. The result of this exception to the laws of the host country is now coming home to haunt us. Basically, this amounts to no more or less than a license to rape, pillage, and murder. Now with at least five different investigations of American troops flagrantly breaking the law, and military rules as well, we are having to face the consequences of this foolish policy. And remember, the U.S. has twisted arms all around the world to exempt American Military personnel from laws that would apply to everyone else. This is just another example of the absurd notion that we are "good" and others are "bad."

What is the point of anyone having fifty billion dollars of personal wealth? Bill Gates, of course, is the poster child for this ridiculous practice. This is not meant to be an attack on Bill Gates personally, but on a capitalistic system that makes no sense whatsoever. How do you make money in such a system? You make it either by exploiting workers or arranging takeovers of various kinds. In either case it is exploitation pure and simple. Why should Gates personally have fifty billion dollars? Wouldn't everyone be far better off if that money had been more equitably distributed? Why should his employees (including those semi-slave laborists in Asia) not have been paid more? Why should not his prices have been reduced?

Similarly, whey should the top honchos at Disneyland be pulling in a hundred million per year each? Why couldn't they have charged a bit less and thus allowed more happiness for more people. Surely they don't need a hundred million a year for their happiness. Indeed, Bill Gates and other CEO's could easily take a ninety percent reduction in "wages" or "profits" and still have more money than they could possibly ever use. I don't care how hard anyone works, or how creative they are, no one deserves to accumulate that much money at the expense of others (which is the only way it can be accumulated). This is a system so out of control it is disgusting. It is intrinsically wrong and there is no way it can be justified. I believe some people do work harder than others, and some people are more creative than others, and some are just more clever than others, and such people deserve to be rewarded, but there should at least be some reasonable limits on greed.

Machinery and life - essay

I am so upset about the situation in Gaza I simply cannot deal with it at the moment. How people who themselves experienced so much pain and agony cannot empathize with the Palestinians is beyond my comprehension. To punish a million and a half innocents because of one Israeli captive is beyond unconscionable. Will no one ever curb Israeli genocide?

Anyway, perhaps an essay will help take my mind off this disaster. I wrote this when I still lived in Santa Monica and worked in Los Angeles. I am happy to report that here in Bonners Ferry we have only one (1) street light. We have no elevators (there isn't a three story building). Life is simpler but, of course, you can't escape the machines.

An interesting thing about culture (in the anthropological sense of that term) is the fact that we seldom reflect upon our own. We conduct our day-to-day lives virtually oblivious of what we are actually doing and what is happening to us. Consider, for example, the machinery that regulates our lives from morning to night –and consider, too, our awesome dependence upon that machinery.
Although I doubt there are statistics to bear me out, I’m personally convinced that that machine that starts our day, the ubiquitous alarm clock, must surely shorten the life of anyone unfortunate enough to have to employ one for any length of time. What a shock to the system, that awful din that startles one from blissful sleep into anxious activity anticipating assignments, assignations, and other assorted events often with artful anonymous dodgers one is unlikely to see again. This first traumatic event simply begins a serious of encounters of man with machine, not only unprecedented in human affairs but also downright mind-boggling (as we say these days).
Next, depending upon your personal habits, comes the electric razor (although all razors are machines of sorts), followed by the shower. I am ignoring light switches as there are far too many of them. After the shower one has to deal with the refrigerator, toaster, stove, perhaps an electric can opener, juicer, and etc.
Outside the home one is still totally at the mercy of these symbols of human ingenuity, these mute and not mute at all objects that in fact guide and control almost our every movement. The garage door opener without which one would (ugh) be forced to operate essentially the same machine. And, of course, that most stupendous machine of all in the “civilized” world, the automobile. Better hope that it starts. Wonderful invention and helper that offers us more independence than ever before – and perhaps it does – but not when it exists in proximity to the machines that regulate it, those tall or hanging three-eyed sentinels that stand strategically at every corner to tell you and your automobile just what’s what. Heaven forbid that you should just let your poor human judgment allow you to violate their better judgment. Big brother might be watching you on his or her faster and better equipped machine.
If, as is usual, you successfully negotiate these benevolent artificial watchdogs, you may well confront still another example of the genre which will allow you to park only after extorting some form of payment, either on the spot, previously, or sometimes later. Assuming that the code on your plastic card is correct, and further assuming that the machinery that allows the barrier to raise up and down does not malfunction, your arrive at last at your place of work. Not quite, of course, there is still the elevator. Elevators, at least many of my acquaintance, appear to have independent minds. They often come and go as they wish, not necessarily as you need them to. But not to worry, one does typically actually get to the office (I am omitting locks and keys as well as light switches, but this is not meant to denigrate their importance lest I offend and one or the other refuses to work for me anymore (this does happen).
There is probably no place in the “modern world” where one is more at the mercy of machines than in the office. From the water cooler and the coffee maker right through the telephone and the computer your life is either well-organized and efficient or so disrupted as to leave you either apoplectic or speechless, or both. Can there be any more frustrating phrase than “the machines are down again?” This is especially enjoyable in banks.
I have skipped over a whole host of “middle range” or semi-archaic items such as filing cabinets (do the drawers on yours always work), desks, typewriters (remember them), cardex files and etc, and even the more mundane necessities such as toilets, sinks, towel dispensers and the like – life can be pretty miserable when one or more of this totality of machinery breaks down and refuses to cooperate.
Then at last, when the clock on the wall or the watch on your wrist tells you it is time to leave you start going through the whole process in reverse, your final ironic act being – you guessed it, having to set the friendly little round face of that very machine that started you on your day. Who says we are not creatures of free will and determination, rugged individualists, masters of our own destiny? How big is their computer?

Terrorists

There haven't been any terrorist attacks on the United States since 9/11. This must be because the Bush/Cheney administration has done such an outstanding job of protecting us. But lest the threat of terrorism fade, and thereby expose the administration from the phonies they are on this subject, consider the last two terrorist threats which were "nipped in the bud," so to speak.

First there were the seven nutcases in Florida who were said to be plotting to blow up the Sears tower. This was regarded as so important that the Attorney General himself went on television to announce it. Turns out, of course, these "terrorists" had no money, no arms, no connection with other terrorists or terrorist organizations, and quite likely no knowledge of the Sears tower. Their plan was helped along by an undercover FBI agent who bought them boots and cameras (as they were too poor to afford such equipmen) and helped them along with their "plans."

Now we have a report that terrorists were going to bomb the subways in New York in order to flood the city. First, this was apparently something discovered back in April. Second, the plan was totally absurd as there is no way they could have flooded the city even if they succeeded in blowing up anything. Now it turns out that the whole thing was nothing more than internet chat. Once again, however, the Bush/Cheney administration has protected us from these vile "terrorists." The head of Homeland Security boasted as to how we stopped terrorists before they can do anything ("we don't wait until they have lit the fuses," or some such comment). Apparently we don't wait until we actually know anything about these "attacks" before announcing our great victories over them.

You don't think, do you, even for a moment, that the administration would try to use such trivial incidents to help keep us afraid - very afraid, and to demonstrate how efficiently they are protecting us from (nonexistent) terrorists? No, this administration has always been straightforward, honest, transparent, and completely without fault about anything.

By the way, if you still haven't figured it out, they are lying big time about conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Enough is enough (in this case way too much). War criminals belong in jail, not the White House.

Great ideas go nowhere

Almost forty years ago John Kenneth Galbraith (a great and wonderful economist) suggested that the defense industry should be nationalized. This idea which, of course, went nowhere, has resurfaced in an article by Charlie Gray and Lee Drutman (in a Seattle journal somewhere). There is an article by John Stanton on Smirking Chimp today that deals with this. Everyone should read it. Nationalizing defense, what an absolutely marvelous and basic idea. What could possibly more important to the nation than its defense? So why should defense be privatized rather than nationalized? If it were nationalized it would remove wars for profit (like the current "war" in Iraq). Think about it. Who is benefitting from the "war" in Iraq? You? The country? The citizens? Of course not. The only ones benefitting are those in the military-industrial complex - Boeing, GE, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, etc. Why should the defense industry not benefit the nation and its citizens rather than private corporations? Think of the thousands of lobbyists that would (happily, for us) be out of work. They would not be needed, at least not in the obscene numbers that now exist. Is not the defense of the nation something that ought to be important enough not to be left to the vagaries of the marketplace, to those who seek it merely for profit? There are things that are simply too important to be left to the private sector: energy, water, air, education, health care, and defense surely should qualify as things that should be done in the public interest, not the private interests of profit driven corporations. Of course in the current political milieu that wants to privatize everything, nationalization, however sensible and basic, will never happen. First of all they will all cry "socialism," as they have managed over the years to make that a dirty word. When people talk of socialism why don't they think of Norway and Sweden, and now Venezuela, instead of Karl Marx and Lenin? Because they have been brainwashed over the years into thinking things that are just not so.

But think carefully about this. Privatization, in its very essence, is opposed to the national interest, and the primary interests of its citizens. By definition it places the public interest (the public good) below that of private corporations. Everything is to be done for profit, not for the public well-being. Is it not true that for the past almost six years of the Bush/Cheney administration every major decision has favored corporate rather than public interests?

The sad truth is, our major high-level Republican politicians have no interest in our nation or its citizens. They only have corporate interests in mind. Democrats at the highest levels are not much better, although I believe if Democrats had the power they most probably would at least try to pass some form of universal health care and raise the minimum wage - two things Republicans will never do.

Our obscenely bloated national defense budget is a disgrace. The military-industrial complex has taken over our lives, and not in ways that benefit we citizens. Something has to be done. Nationalizing the defense industry would be a wonderful and sensible solution. But who is sensible nowadays?

Is it legal or not?

In August of this year morialekafa will have appeared almost daily for two years. Until now no one ever asked what, if anything, morialekafa means. I have always found that strange. But no big deal. As I had spent some time in the New Guinea Highlands, when I wanted to start a blog I thought I would use a word from Pidgin English. Much to my utter amazement virtually every Pidgin word I tried was already being used one place or another. So I finally settled on morialekafa, a word in one of the New Guinea Highlands languages. I was trying for a time to learn the names of various insects. Most of them had distinctive names. But when I would point to some small bug sometimes it would be called morialekafa. Soon there were a number of small bugs all called morialekafa. I eventually concluded that it must mean "small, insignificant bug with no other name." Perfect for this blog, no?

Lt. Watada, the first officer to refuse service in Iraq, has now been charged (I do not know exactly what the charges are). What I am waiting to see is if he is going to be "railroaded" into the brig without a trial. I believe it is true that as part of his military training he was instructed not to obey an illegal order. I also believe the Iraq "war" is demonstrably illegal. If both of these things are true how can he possibly be found guilty of anything other than doing the proper thing. But who will decide whether the "war" is illegal. The entire world knows it is, but will anyone in the U.S. admit to it? Even the Bush/Cheney administration knows it is illegal, hence their longstanding attempts to get American troops exempt from prosecution for war crimes, not only in Iraq, but around the world. Yes, it's true, the Bush/Cheney war machine wants carte blanche to commit war crimes. Does that make you proud to be an American? This is why they are so frightened of a Democratic controlled Senate or House - they might well be found guilty (indeed, if they are not it will be very strange).

Israel continues its horrific reign of terror against defenseless Palestinians. And the entire world just stands around watching and doing nothing. This is absolutely outrageous. And it is positively inexcusable. Every country on earth should shun Israel, refuse to deal with them, identify them for the pariah nation they are. The United States should refuse to support them with even one more dollar. Don't expect any action from Bush. He likes killing and bloodshed too well.

When, where, how, why?

We are having a gigantic thunderstorm. Our little cat, Ceci, is hidden deep in the basement in the furthernmost corner of the most remote closet in the most hidden box she can find. The first hint of thunder and she is gone. Our other cat, Boo, pays no attention to the storm. He is old. Very old. I think he doesn't even hear the thunder. If he does, he doesn't care. I identify with Boo, whose real name is Boo Oboe Tramp (my wife having told my son that all cats should have three names, after some poet whose name I can't remember. This is bad).

Anyway, I have reached the point where I find I simply have very little left to say. Bush/Cheney and their minions are liars and war criminals (how many times must I say this). Iraq and Afghanistan are absolute disasters. Your children's children will still be paying off our national debt. More than 40 million of our citizens have no medical insurance. The environment is suffering grievously and Bush/Cheney are doing everything they can to make things worse. They have lied so often and so blatantly that we now no longer even expect anyone to tell the truth - and if they ever did, no one would believe them. Israel, with Bush/Cheney's blessings, continues to perpetrate the most horrible war crimes against the virtually helpless Palestinians. The world is a complete mess thanks to Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice, et al. No one seems to care. What more is one to say?

One thing that continues to puzzle me has to do with morialekafa, the blog. Morialekafa is not something that one would just randomly type into the computer (at least I don't think so). And although I do not receive a lot of comments I do receive some. And they come from what I believe are strange places. For example, I had a comment from a woman in India. How in the world would a woman in India have ever found morialekafa? I have had several comments from people in England and Australia. And I have comments from various parts of the United States. I enjoy the comments and I look forward to them, but I do not understand how they located this web site. I think it's wonderful that I receive these comments but I cannot understand how it happens. How can anyone just stumble onto morialekafa? I would greatly appreciate it if those that do would indicate how they did so. The internet is truly a marvelous and, to me, a mysterious thing.

Osama bin Who?

It seems that the special unit charged with finding and capturing (or killing) bin Laden has been formally disbanded. This in spite of the fact that bin Laden has been very vocal of late on the internet. Are we to believe that bin Laden is no longer important? This seems to be at least one rationale I have seen - "al Quaida is no longer being run by any central source." Even if this is true does that make bin Laden any the less wanted? Just what is going on here? I find it impossible to believe that the United States, with their overwhelming military and technological superiorty could not have found bin Laden had they really wanted to do so - even if he is living in a remote cave somewhere in Pakistan (which I rather doubt). Remember bin Laden is (1) a Saudi (his relatives are thick with the Bush clan), and (2) must have been at one time a CIA asset (and may very well still be). I am not much of a conspiracy buff but I find this bin Laden tale truly hard to believe. And what does this mean for bin Laden himself? Is he no longer wanted? Or just not wanted enough to bother about any further? Or is this just an admission that he is far smarter than we are? This whole business stinks.

I gather that at the moment the recount in Mexico shows our leftist candidate with a slight edge. But everyone seems resigned to the idea that it will be stolen from him by the Conservatives (with under the table help from the Bush Administration and the American Press - who have already announced that the Conservative has won). Shades of 2000!

Poor Lieberman! He's not going to be allowd to run as an "Independent Democrat," and will have to be just a plain old Independent. He just refuses to get the message - we don't want you anymore, Republican scum.

On the local scene. Today I went to our small but decent and efficient Post Office. Besides myself there were four women there. All four of them were obese almost beyond belief. Then I visited our small but really super Library. They have computers for public use. On two of them were young men (mid to late twenties), both dressed in obviously home made and pretty primitive deerskin clothing. Each of them also had a large sheath knife fastened to their belts (I guess they must have left their muzzle loaders outside). I have no idea what they were doing so intently on the computers - maybe emailing their mothers? Next I visited our small but still operating Safeway store. On the way in I noticed a Ford 350 parked with its motor running. A small very sweet looking old lady (not quite as old as me) emerged with a case of beer, climbed in her truck and drove happily away. I love Bonners Ferry!