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Must-Reads & Weekend Open Thread

By SusanUnPC on September 8, 2007 at 3:27 PM in Current Affairs

From the Los Angeles Times today: “Amid civil war, reports mean little: Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds all want something that U.S. military strategy and ‘reconciliation’ can’t accomplish in Iraq.”

You’ve never seen Joe and Valerie Wilson like this. I found all the readings powerful and deeply moving when I caught this on BookTV a few weeks ago: “A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer,” a collection of writings about violence against women. “Several of the essays were recently performed by Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Val Kilmer, and Valerie Plame Wilson in this event from the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe.” (Video/audio at BookTV.org)

Then there was the story from Baghdad in the USAToday I picked up in the hospital lobby on Tuesday:

Generator breakdowns keep mechanic hopping (with photo)

BAGHDAD — Power blackouts in a summer of extreme heat, plus a flood of poorly made generators to power air conditioners, add up to one thing for mechanic Ali Wadi — plenty of business.

Wadi, 50, was an auto mechanic before the U.S. invasion in 2003, but then power shortages began, and hundreds of thousands of generators started to sell in Iraq.

[...]

The generators sold in Iraq are designed for family picnics or a two-hour blackout, he says, “not to run 16 hours a day.”

The supply of power in the Iraqi capital has decreased since the invasion mostly because of sabotage and the assassinations of technicians and engineers.

Also, provincial governors have taken their power stations off the national grid, says Electricity Ministry spokesman Ibrahim Zaidan.

“Baghdad is paying the price for this,” Zaidan says.

Power generation nationally meets about half of demand, according to the U.S. State Department. Many parts of Baghdad get only a few hours of electricity a day.

Poor-quality generators, mostly made in China, sometimes last only three hours, Wadi says. Spare parts often break within a few hours of making repairs. The fuel has too much lead, which ruins engines. And there is no longer a government regulating agency capable of enforcing standards, he says.

“If the government were watching the generators that are imported like before, no bad generators would enter the country,” Wadi says. …

READ ALL (it’s quite a story).

(Emphases mine.)

I am furious that China is selling crappy generators to desperate people in Baghdad that last three hours, and that there is no Iraqi government entity anymore to monitor imports. I go to lengths these days to buy products not made in China. A recent Time magazine featured a drive to put “China free” labels on merchandise. I’m all for it. Yes, bad products come from other countries, even the U.S. But not to the same staggering degree. And it worries me greatly that the generic drugs I’m being forced to buy are, more and more of them, made in China and India. Wish I could buy the brand name drugs.

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    Of note: Joe Wilson was particularly good in his dramatic reading, which comes towards the end of the program. He’s a much better actor, with greater nuance and depth, than Fred Thompson. He should consider a career in acting. After all, before the Gulf War, he did a brilliant acting job in standing up to Saddam Hussein, when most of us would have been scared out of our minds.

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    Speaking of Fred, C-Span is airing his Iowa speech today at 2pm ET, I think. If it’s anything like the Iowa speech I saw on C-Span a few weeks ago, I’ll tape it to use as a substitute for Ambien,

    ALSO, via Memeorandum.com:

    Hagel is calling it quits — WORLD-HERALD BUREAU, COPYRIGHT 2007 OMAHA WORLD-HERALD — WASHINGTON – Chuck Hagel will announce Monday that he is retiring from the U.S. Senate and will not run for president next year, people close to the Nebraska Republican said Friday.

    (Steve Clemons is going to be very verklempt. Steve, bless his heart, has a “thing” for Chuck Hagel’s foreign policy views. Which is fine, but Hagel’s ultra-conservative domestic views need to be factored in too.)

    And: Thompson Calls bin Laden “Symbolic”; Draws GOP Fire — ABC News’ Bret Hovell and Jennifer Parker report: Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., has only been an official Republican presidential candidate for a day. But his comments are already drawing fire from his GOP rivals.

  • Sandy

    Susan, we appreciate these posts and all you do here. How are you feeling? Are things getting any better for you, medically? Hang in there! We appreciate you!

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Thank you, Sandy! It’s all moving along. Passed my EKG, bloodwork, etc. with flying colors. (Been trying hard to eat very healthy and organic; hope it helped.) Essential pre-surgery dental work done, for now (need a lot more but it can wait until this winter or next spring). Surgery soon. I’ll be AFK (away from keyboard) for a bit, but the blog is in great hands with Larry and Leslie and Moses.

      • PrchrLady

        Sandy, I too, appreciate everything Susan does for all of us here at NQ… I also wanted to let you know that I forwarded your mail on to Susan. I don’t know if it has arrived yet… get posts and comments…

        • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

          Sandy, thank you so much! PrchrLady is sending it along to my daughter’s address so it arrives safely. Will try to let you know as soon as I am able – no ‘puter for a while.

          And thank you to Larry, Leslie, PrchrLady, Shirin, and everyone who pitched in and who sent me kind words … I’d “id” you all by your handles but I couldn’t tell from some of the names at PayPal who was who. It’s been an enormous help and will continue to be. From large to small items. Got a couple items my insurance won’t pay for, including a shower chair that my daughter’s set up so I can use it when I get home. And my daughter is going to pick up a couple pieces of clothing that the Phys. Med. people recommend for the rehab phase.

          Hugs to all. Be well, all of you. Keep up the essential fight!

  • http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Leslie

    Bush may cynically withdraw 3,000-4,000 troops next year in order to push the “progress” propaganda. Did anyone track how much media attention the “Bush knew Iraq didn’t have any WMD” has received?

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      I read it on a blog and I saw it on Olbermann. Maybe CNN? But that’s about it. It should have led every newscast for days, with experts on to discuss what that means. Maybe this blog should feature it.

    • Shirin

      Well, a few weeks ago some Democrat – don’t remember who at the moment – was proposing a similarly cynical “withdrawal” of 5,000 troops to be completed by the end of the year. I recall commenting on it at the time, I believe on this blog, that the only people likely to be impressed by it were the 5,000 troops and their families.

      And no, except for those directly affected, it is NOT better than nothing. Deception, even when transparent, is never better than nothing.

      You have to wonder just exactly how stupid they think we are.

  • Teaeopy

    Where is that statement about Bush’s knowledge that there were no WMDs? I’d like to read it. Those who went along with the invasion might not care to know too much about what Bush knew; they’re still hiding behind what he, Cheney, Rice, and Powell said.

    • http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Leslie

      Here’s a report in Think Progress.

      “The president had no interest in the intelligence,” a CIA officer disclosed. “Bush didn’t give a f**k about the intelligence. He had his mind made up.”

    • Sara Williamson

      The article is by Sidney Blumenthel in Salon.

  • Fred C. Dobbs

    Determining whether the generators are Good or Bad is certainly not a proper function of gummint; it is up to a Free and Open Marketplace to establish these things. As well as the regulation of Imports! There should be NONE! Read your Federalist Papers…see anything there about Government Regulation of Iraqi Generators?

    Isn’t that why there are 160,000+ US troops in the place? To, “Get the government off the backs,” of the Iraqi people?

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Brilliant, Fred. So the mothers who buy toys at Toys R Us should have a laboratory in their purses so they can test the paint on toys to make sure it doesn’t contain lead. Or me, who takes generic drugs — both my doctor and I should have at-the-ready laboratories to test each drug with countless tests (at the least $150 per ingredient) to make sure it isn’t adulterated or that it contains what the label says. Then there’s that my doctor and I won’t know what to be looking for — just as it took professional laboratories weeks to figure out that it was melamine in pet food that was killing pets, because they had to begin testing without any ability to know what might be in the food so they had to conduct innumerable tests to figure out it was melamine. But that’s cool … just let the pets die until somebody somewhere with the big bucks pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to figure out what killed their dog or cat.

      Sounds like a plan.

      God knows that’d work better than having an independent government agency vetted to conduct those tests in a professional laboratory. That’d be so stupid, wouldn’t it.

      • Bill Keyes

        Susan

        I understand you point to Fred, but where do you draw the line in a democracy between for profit sales of anything let the buyer beware as versus the government regulating everything?

        Why shouldn’t there be a corporate consciousness that while making a profit does it responsibly?

        I am a small contractor who builds and fixes things for people. I could easily rip them off by substituting inferior materials, but I don’t.

        Why?

        Because I have a moral conscience and a moral center that is based on what is right and wrong.

        The problem with our country is that while there may be lots of small contractors and small businessmen like my self, large corporations are run by people who either have no moral center or have convinced themselves that they are only doing their job and they are not responsible for the results of the corporation’s actions. There is no “buck’ stops here. There is no one who takes responsibility for the actions of a corporation, it is souless and has no conscience. Look at Ken Lay of Enron he should have fallen on his sword but instead he passed the buck to his lawyers to get him off.

        As to government it might have had a regulatory role that keep unscrupulous corporations and individuals in line in the past, but now due to massive deregulation governments role is severely diminished and has largely become ineffective. The government employees who probably have moral centers and who try to do their job to protect the people of this country are over ruled by immoral political leaders who are wined and dined by corporate lobbyists to do whatever is necessary to make sure their make sure their corporate masters make more money.

        Congress which should be the balancing act between these competing interests has long ago abrogated its responsibility and fell under the spell of corporate lobbyists so as long as all this exists nothing is going to change.

  • bjobotts

    This country is perfectly capable of supplying generic drugs at an affordable cost if the industry were regulated as it should be.

    btw***does it seem that our troops are more and more like illegal aliens willing to do jobs no one else wants to do and for far less wages. Difference is our troops are probably praying to be deported back to their own country.

  • Philip Henika

    Substitute UFO sightings for “unthinkables” and you
    may have an accurate assessment of the accumulation of this week’s oddities.

    In the case of German bomb plot, we have a Uzbek
    Islamic militant group who may have been organized by
    the Uzbek government to suppress Muslims. We have
    less-than-adequate training in Pakistan for a
    less-than-adequate ‘Al Qaeda Prime’ e.g. the poor
    choice to use TATP for a car bomb and, finally, we
    have the Germans sneaking in and diluting Al Qaeda’s
    peroxide vats to end the threat.

    This was odd but not as odd as the “accidental”
    transport of 6 nukes via B52 across the US from North
    Dakota to Arkansas. It was considered “accidental”, I
    presume, because of the numerous violations of safety
    protocols for the transport of said nukes and no
    offering by the White House as to who actually ordered this to be done or why (correct me if I am wrong).

    Now we have a busted Israeli Neo-Nazi group – the
    epitomy of home-grown terrorist group in terms of
    operational capacity and historical motivation (1).

    Perhaps I should go back to the study of UFOs for want of explaination.

    (1) Police: Israeli neo-Nazi ring busted
    By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer
    Sun Sep 9, 7:25 AM ET

    JERUSALEM – In a case that would seem unthinkable in
    the Jewish state, police said Sunday they have cracked a cell of young Israeli neo-Nazis accused in a string of attacks on foreign workers, religious Jews, drug addicts and gays.

    Eight immigrants from the former Soviet Union have
    been arrested in recent…

  • Philip Henika

    Substitute UFO sightings for “unthinkables” and you
    may have an accurate assessment of the accumulation of this week’s oddities.

    In the case of German bomb plot, we have a Uzbek
    Islamic militant group who may have been organized by
    the Uzbek government to suppress Muslims. We have
    less-than-adequate training in Pakistan for a
    less-than-adequate ‘Al Qaeda Prime’ e.g. the poor
    choice to use TATP for a car bomb and, finally, we
    have the Germans sneaking in and diluting Al Qaeda’s
    peroxide vats to end the threat (I think it was Jack Bauer).

    This was odd but not as odd as the “accidental”
    transport of 6 nukes via B52 across the US from North
    Dakota to Arkansas. It was considered “accidental”, I
    presume, because of the numerous violations of safety
    protocols for the transport of said nukes and no
    offering by the White House as to who actually ordered this to be done or why (correct me if I am wrong).

    Now we have a busted Israeli Neo-Nazi group – the
    epitomy of home-grown terrorist group in terms of
    operational capacity and historical motivation (1).

    Perhaps I should go back to the study of UFOs for want of explaination.

    (1) Police: Israeli neo-Nazi ring busted
    By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer
    Sun Sep 9, 7:25 AM ET

    “…JERUSALEM – In a case that would seem unthinkable in the Jewish state, police said Sunday they have cracked a cell of young Israeli neo-Nazis accused in a string of attacks on foreign workers, religious Jews, drug addicts and gays…”

  • Philip Henika

    Substitute UFO sightings for “unthinkables” and you
    may have an accurate assessment of the accumulation of this week’s oddities.

    In the case of German bomb plot, we have a Uzbek
    Islamic militant group who may have been organized by
    the Uzbek government to suppress Muslims. We have less-than-adequate training in Pakistan for a
    less-than-adequate ‘Al Qaeda Prime’ e.g. the poor
    choice to use TATP for a car bomb and, finally, we
    have the Germans sneaking in and diluting Al Qaeda’s
    peroxide vats to end the threat (I think it was Jack Bauer).

    This was odd but not as odd as the “accidental”
    transport of 6 nukes via B52 across the US from North
    Dakota to Arkansas. It was considered “accidental”, I
    presume, because of the numerous violations of safety
    protocols for the transport of said nukes and no
    offering by the White House as to who actually ordered this to be done or why (correct me if I am wrong).

    Now we have a busted Israeli Neo-Nazi group – the
    epitomy of a home-grown terrorist group in terms of
    operational capacity and historical motivation.

    Perhaps I should go back to the study of UFOs for want of explaination.

    (1) Police: Israeli neo-Nazi ring busted
    By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer
    Sun Sep 9, 7:25 AM ET

    “…JERUSALEM – In a case that would seem unthinkable in the Jewish state, police said Sunday they have cracked a cell of young Israeli neo-Nazis accused in a string of attacks on foreign workers, religious Jews, drugaddicts and gays…”

  • Centrocitta

    I just learned of a cause for breast cancer that makes more than perfect sense. It’s the daily use of Anti-Perspirants and Deodorants. Squeaky clean American women are setting themselves up for mutilation or an early grave by shaving their armpits and then dousing them every day with chemicals that attack the lymph nodes.

    In Latin countries where the presence of some hair on the female body and/or a slight scent of sweat is considered naturally feminine and sexy, there is much less occurrance of breast cancer. In general, Europeans have healthier lifestyles and greater longevity than their antiseptic American counterparts who think they have all the answers.

    • Shirin

      Centrocita, that is a myth that has been debunked over and over again. There is no evidence that anti-persperants and deoderants cause breast cancer.