Something about Perle, Toucan Sam (he of fruit loops), the abilty to smell the flavor of fruit, wherever it goes.

And no, it has NOTHING to do with Keith Haring.

In any state, a government has three functions. These are the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary….

You see, I take it as a matter of faith that the Republican agenda (“Republican” herein being defined as the US political party of those who want a return to pre-Gilded Age times) is to do away with every reform of the US system of government since Theodore Roosevelt; to reduce the Working Man to a state of peonage that would make an 1880 coal miner’s life seem utopian; to destroy the judicial system of the US as a means of redress of grievances of the citizenry; and to, generally, show us un-washed working types just who Runs The Show.

Their Agenda assumes a zero-sum game: they cannot be happy unless we are miserable. They cannot succeed individually unless we fail individually.

The PNAC’ers have found the Republican party to be the perfect vehicle to advance this agenda.

What the PNAC folk fail to understand is a simple fact of biology, to wit: a successful parasite does not destroy its host organism.

So long as the body politic slumbers, lulled with visions of turbo-charging AND intercooling in their next sled, scoring a great deal on a Sub-Zero for their drywall Fuck Box in the ‘Burbs and concerns itself with the gamboling of heiresses, athletes and entertainers who, at large with their dogs and drugs in their Maybachs, would not swerve to avoid running down a small child, the PNAC’ers will likely prevail.

And, since they are so determined to trash their own citizens, it’s not hard to envision them as self-appointed Masters of the Universe, reducing the rest of the planet to serfdom.

Particularly the denizens of places where the taxes are low, the land is cheap, there’s no snow and the Locals Know Their Place.

But, that’s just me. Mao said that all political power comes from the end of a gun. I think that political reform in this country should come at the end of a rope. No blindfold, no cigarette.

This is an unfortunate delusion caused, primarily, by half a century’s belief in the tenets of that, “…goddamned piece of paper…” with which our Most Glorious Decider cleans his fundament.

An old Zionist dream: the partition of Iraq
By Gabriele Zamparini

Finally the Imperial Senate calls for Iraq’s partition.

US lawmakers voted Wednesday to split Iraq into a loose federation of sectarian-based regions and urged President George W Bush to press Iraqi leaders to agree.
The proposal came from Senator Joseph Biden, the smart-ass who heads the chamber’s foreign relations committee and is running for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination.

A few months ago, Sen. Biden, interviewed by Shalom TV, an American mainstream Jewish cable television network, called Israel “the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East”. “I am a Zionist,” stated Senator Biden. “You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.”

We know the Israel Lobby is not a very convincing thesis, at least for Noam Chomsky. So, let’s talk about coincidences.

In 1982, Israel Shahak, a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, wrote:

The idea that all the Arab states should be broken down, by Israel, into small units, occurs again and again in Israeli strategic thinking. For example, Ze’ev Schiff, the military correspondent of Ha’aretz (and probably the most knowledgeable in Israel, on this topic) writes about the “best” that can happen for Israeli interests in Iraq: “The dissolution of Iraq into a Shi’ite state, a Sunni state and the separation of the Kurdish part” (Ha’aretz 6/2/1982). Actually, this aspect of the plan is very old.
Israel Shahak’s The Zionist Plan for the Middle East is based on Oded Yinon’s A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, an essay originally appeared in Hebrew in KIVUNIM (Directions), A Journal for Judaism and Zionism; Issue No, 14–Winter, 5742, February 1982, Editor: Yoram Beck. Editorial Committee: Eli Eyal, Yoram Beck, Amnon Hadari, Yohanan Manor, Elieser Schweid. Published by the Department of Publicity/The World Zionist Organization, Jerusalem.

Here two passages from Oded Yinon’s A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties:

(…) Iraq is, once again, no different in essence from its neighbors, although its majority is Shi’ite and the ruling minority Sunni. Sixty-five percent of the population has no say in politics, in which an elite of 20 percent holds the power. In addition there is a large Kurdish minority in the north, and if it weren’t for the strength of the ruling regime, the army and the oil revenues, Iraq’s future state would be no different than that of Lebanon in the past or of Syria today. The seeds of inner conflict and civil war are apparent today already, especially after the rise of Khomeini to power in Iran, a leader whom the Shi’ites in Iraq view as their natural leader. (…)

(…) Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate for Israel’s targets. Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel. An Iraqi-Iranian war will tear Iraq apart and cause its downfall at home even before it is able to organize a struggle on a wide front against us. Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shi’ite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north. It is possible that the present Iranian-Iraqi confrontation will deepen this polarization (…)
Just coincidences, of course…
http://www.thecatsdream.com/blog/2007/09/old-zionist-dream-partition-of-iraq.htm

Well, I concluded some time ago that the “collateral damage” wasn’t collateral damage; it was the whole point.

For Dubya, thinking is work, and having to think about different places and different ideas and different peoples makes him unhappy, so his middle east foreign policy seems to be simply “Kiil ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/heard04252006.html

There are certain drives which I assume, as an American. These include (but are not limited to):

Extension of American hegemony;
Maintenance of extra-continental sources of supply of extracted resources;
Overwhelming need to stick our noses in others’ affairs;
Blind defense of Israel, irrespective of its actions and/or their motivation;
Empire maintenance.

There are several things I omitted, such as being sure that whoever wins in the Caliph Derby is beholden to the USA, and the desire to make certain that all other consumers of petroproducts pay the same price we do.*

What did I miss?

* Mentioning and delinating these drives should not be considered an endorsement or condemnation of them. After all, even your sainted Grandmother has bad breath now and then.

It also occurs to me that , given that those same unscrupulous oil magnates are allowed to maintain a “constant” percentage of the profits , no matter how bad off the situation is (a proven FACT) , it follows that they would also (unjustly) profit from any and all disruptions in the flow of oil (and the subsequent price hikes).

The cold , hard fact is that , they have an interest (demented , as it may be) in “seeing to it” that their emissaries (Cheney & Co.) “do their bidding” and create as much “turmoil” as possible in the Middle East (& step on anybody that gets in the way). “THEY PROFIT FROM WAR” (among other things). It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it turned out that these were the topics discussed by Cheney and the big oil reps. in their “secret” Whitehouse meeting (in 2001 , as I recall).

You know , we are in a LOT of trouble here folks. A lot more than the public chooses to admit. The Bush- Cheney- Big Oil- “fascist” state (per Wikipedia definition) is so thoroughly entrenched in Washington , that its hard to envision anything short of “__________________” (you fill-in the blank) , getting us back where we “used” to be (before Bush).

Makes you understand the (extremely important) reasoning behind the “Monopoly” , “Price Fixing” and “Conflict of Interest” laws. Some control over their “profit margins” in times of emergency and hardship would be in order here as well as , punishing them for “war profiteering”.

They have built-in interest in seeing to it that we are “ALWAYS AT WAR” , forever. By God , we have to make this STOP ( or as history has proven , somebody will stop it for us ).

Also heavily intertwined in all of this is the concept of the “Signing Statement”. As it is , it wouldn’t make any difference if all these problems were fixed with new laws (& enforcing existing laws) by the Legislator. Bush would just “sign” it away. Check “signing statement basis” at Wikipedia for the history and propriety of this , now abused , Presidential option. It seems that , the 140,000 member ABA as well as , even some Republican Senators (Spector etc.) “strongly” feel this option is contrary to the principles of “law” itself (its nowhere to be found in the Constitution) and should be banished.

This Presidency has shown us all how very “fragile” , Democracy really is — the weaknesses are being exploited to never before envisioned heights — loop holes are the word of the day — our President and his hence-mouth Cheney have appointed themselves as KING (or Emporer , like Napolean) . And , the only way this will EVER be fixed is “IF” a consciencous and “truly” patriotic soul is elected to the Presidency and “voluntarily” allows the Congress to Amend the Constitution to correct these injustices. I have a hard time seeing that “ever” happening ———- the Pandora’s Box effect !!

Too bad — Democracy was a good idea — “WHILE IT LASTED”. We are all witness to its demise. Thankyou for that , “Red States”.

I for one , think they’d ( the Bushies) be perfectly happy in shutting down the oil flow out of Iran and Iraq , all-together. Example: There seems to be “no rush” in getting Iraq back on-line. Every time I hear a status report on this , there seems to be “much less” oil coming out of Iraq than before the war and no great push to correct the situation. Thats not to say the Texans wouldn’t be more than glad to take possesion of any petroleum holdings they can get their hands on (legal ,or not).

I don’t think its as important to them , whether we have oil or not — as much as it is in “controlling the flow”. In a demented way , it would make sense that they know that the world-wide oil reserves are running low and as a means of maximizing their profits out of what is left , they create a “forced rationing” of what is left. That way , they can drag-out the inevitable over a longer period of time and at the same time , create bigger profit margins as a result of this “manipulated” supply and demand.

Just as with the previous “bogus” shortages in the 70’s & the last 7 years , created by big oil (known to all as , price-fixing) , this unfolding long-range scenario would further enable their ultimate goal of “more money for less oil”. Think about it , if you were a cold-hearted unscrupulous oil magnate (see; the Enron tapes) and think of the vital needs of your own countrymen and other innocent parties (survival) as an “opportunity” to take un-due advantage of them (with no mercy) , it might occur to you that all the elements listed above create a “win-win situation”. Hell , the fat bastard that runs Exxon , holds the public in “utter contempt” (a far cry from the 50’s “Service Station”). Its as basic as: $3.– for 1 gallon vs. $7.– for 1 gallon (current cost in Iceland). More than twice as much money for less than half as much oil. And all the while , they take the same “cut” (percentage) of profits , no matter the end cost and hardships created as a result (sometimes , the death of innocents). Ya’ these guys are a “real piece of work”. Real “loyal” to their own country and never mind “the difference between right and wrong” (that would make them “sociopaths” , right ?).

Now WHO was it that is supposed to be “the enemy” here ??

When the US dollar ceases to be the reserve currency of choice, the US becomes a vast, over-extended version of Belgium, but without the great diversity of beer.

The American government has come to resemble the characters in The Wizard of Oz. We have the Cowardly Congress, a president without a brain, and a foreign-policy establishment without a heart

We are like all empires in their final stages. We have grown soft. We like our comforts. We don’t wish to be inconvenienced. We like poor Mexicans to do our stoop work and poor Americans to do our fighting, provided they do it far away so we won’t be disturbed by explosions and screams. We enjoy our decadence, and there are always people in the media who can rationalize anything, no matter how sick and revolting it is.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese399.html