BUSHIES MAY 'DECLARE VICTORY' AND BUG OUT: Several generals have hinted as much: latest says that IF 'violence stays low' until 2d election (scheduled for end of '05), then large withdrawals of GIs could happen.

[Of course most observers now think that this election, to follow new constitution, will have to be postponed.And violence vs. GIs is not down that much: 35 GIs killed in March./ 1700 GIs killed so far, and at least 12,000 admitted to be wounded (a gross understatement).] FinTimes

What's the point of such vague predictions? Do they seriously think this is the 'timetable'for U.S. pullout which the Sunnis are demanding? Or are they 'sounding the waters' to see what Americans' reaction to pull-out would be?(It seems certain Americans will be delighted!)-----
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Definition of 'bug-out': to pull out troops without a clear victory.On that definition, we have already bugged out of Vietnam, Somalia, Lebanon, and perhaps Korea (that war could be said to have ended in a TIE: MacArthur dumbly provoked China to enter the war directly.Then there was a stalemate at the 38th parallel, and finally a truce--50 years later, STILL NO PEACE TREATY!

Since then, on the one hand, South Korea has flourished economically.On the other hand, an enraged North Korean regime now has nukes, and other missiles & artillery which could ravage South Korea, several cities in Japan, and tens of thousands of our troops in South Korea and Okinawa. South Korea has been called 'the most dangerous place on earth.'

 
POPE: 'CHRONICALLY ILL STILL HAVE FULL HUMAN DIGNITY'--i.e., they must continue to get food & water (perhaps through tubes) no matter what their condition. /GUARDIAN

But suppose they don't WANT to get food and water? Pope would say they are obliged to submit to tubes.That doesn't respect their human dignity as decision-makers. That substitutes Papal decision for theirs.
-----------
Catholics may respond, "People in that situation still have a duty to THEIR OWN dignity! (which means they may not end their lives voluntarily..they must leave that decision up to God.)

With this view, 'human dignity' is a misnomer. We are merely God's PROPERTY, and only He may dispose of us.
-----------
Well, not quite. JP II himself refused to return to the hospital, where sophisticated machines might prolong his life by a few days (as they are prolonging life of Prince Rainier).

So the Papal position is clear: it's murder to pull out the feeding tubes from a person brain-dead already for 15 years; but it's OK to refuse other types of machines that would prolong a wretched life a little for a person who is still conscious. An intelligible position--but odd!

 
RETALIATION: U.S. 'anti-dumping' laws declared out-of-bounds by WTO. So Canada & Eu will impose tariffs worth $42 million each year on U.S. exports. FinTimes

Presumably, other nations will also be entitled to retaliate with tariffs, if we don't back down.

Our exports are already pathetically short of our staggering imports--which will be MORE staggering if oil prices double again!

 
SPAIN SELLS $2 BILLION WORTH OF ARMS TO NAUGHTY, LEFT-WING CHAVEZ of oil-rich Venezuela--thus enraging Bushies, who've been trying to isolate Chavez so they can pick him off. [INDEPENDENT]

Rumsfeld asked, "Where in the world is Venezuela's enemy, so they need 100,000 rifles (more than they have soldiers?)" /Chavez says he has evidence that U.S. intends to assassinate him. REUTERS

It turns out that Bushies, with all their H-bombs, can't control countries like Spain.

Bush's America is a giant, muscle-bound weakling.

 
IRAN BUYING NUKE WARHEADS? That's what exiles say--[REUTERS]--and that makes sense. If Iran tries to produce their own, the plants might get bombed by U.S. or Israel.

But Iran is very rich; they could buy a few completed nuke warheads from China, Russia, North Korea, or Pakistan. These could easily be hidden under mountains.

They have missiles that can reach Israel or our forces in Iraq.This would give them a persuasive second-strike deterrent: they could say to Israel/U.S.: "You could destroy our cities; but our survivors could make you regret it..."

And this is BESIDES the damage Iran could do to the already-staggering world oil market!

However, the Bushies may be too dumb to be scared.

 
U.S. INTELLIGENCE 'DEAD-WRONG on Saddam's WMDs (Saddam's potential for threatening world)--says panel appointed by Bush.Not just wrong, but reckless: they collected precious little evidence; what they had was worthless or misleading.

What's worse, the Bushies had no idea how ferocious and capable would be the Resistance vs. our invasion!

And, said the panel, the flaws in our intelligence are still serious (say about the nuclear potential of Iran).
REUTERS

That doesn't mean that Bushies would hesitate to bomb Iran, with or without intelligence--IF they could get away with it, without lethal Iranian retaliation. (They may bomb anyway; we will all bear the retaliation--e.g., further disruption of world oil supplies..)

On Thursday, oil & gas prices surged up again (oil to $55 a barrel); one expert agency said oil could soar above $100 a barrel! MSN Money

 
BOMBS ON IRAN THIS JUNE? ScottRitter, former U.S. WMDinspector, warns that there are signs that Bushies are ready to bomb Iran this June, to implement Israeli rage about seeming Iranian development of nukes.

Of course Iran is readying various forms of retaliation: perhaps attacking GIs in Iraq or attacking Israel directly. But mainly, Iran is in a position to wreck world oil supplies thoroughly; besides withholding their own huge oil supplies (which are worth more the longer they sit in the ground) Iranians can block the Strait of Hormuz (e.g., with mines) so that oil can't come out from other oil exporters.
[alJazeera,cited by InfoClearingHouse ]

Bushie-supporting SUV drivers are in for much more trouble. So are we all.

 
ATTACKS VS. GIs DOWN 25% since Fall; GI deaths are lower. Boston.Com

More precisely: Last Fall, anti-GI attacks were EIGHTY TO NINETY EACH DAY! A year ago, they were only 10-20 a day. Now they're 40-45 each day. [AssocPress]

 
STALEMATE CONTINUES: Shias & Kurds want a Sunni for the speaker (hoping vainly that would pacify the guerillas!)--but the Sunni whom the Sunni want is rejected as tied to Saddam.They say they'll pick a Sunni Speaker by Sunday, with or without Sunnis' input.

They're also quarrelling over who'll get the oil ministry. (Of course! That functionary will get first pick of bribes from internatl. oil companies.)BBC NEWS
-----------
But a Kurd representative says that the biggest issue is "Who gets [oil-soaked]Kirkuk?" and "How much power will the Shiite clergy have?"This seems to indicate that the Kurds have NOT agreed to postpone these constitutional issues until the prime minister is chosen.

U.S. observers say the delay is quite harmful. USATODAY
==========
LYONS VIEW: The dream of an 'all/Iraq' government is just a dream. Why should Shiites yield to Kurds on these 2 issues, when the Kurds have said openly that they intend deFacto SECESSION, anyway?

The new government's writ will run only over the Southern/Shiite region anyway. So why shouldn't the Shiites hold out for the religious govt. they want in their own region?

(The disposition of Kirkuk will NOT be up to the new assembly. Kurds will grab Kirkuk if they can, and Sunni/guerillas will sabotage oil-production there, if they can. Kirkuk issue will be settled by bargaining between these 2 groups, with the Shiites having no say.)
==========
ECONOMIST notes another issue: Who will be in charge of Internal security (dealing with guerillas)? There are rumors of many guerillas wanting to surrender (if they get immunity), of more Sunnis willing to turn in guerillas.

But Sunni leaders insist they will not stand for top policeman being an exile during Saddam's time, nor anyone who participated in puppet govts. after the invasion--which eliminates practically every elected representative!

Shiite leaders, on the other hand, are upset at the number of Saddamite officers the Allawi regime has already included among militia leaders; these Shiites demand an 'anti-Baath' purge. (It's understandable that Shiites who were earlier persecuted by Saddamites would feel this way!)

If the Shiites & the open Sunni leaders can't compromise, then this window of opportunity for diminishing the insurgency will close.

 
AUSSIES FALLING OUT OF LOVE: Australia has always been a loyal (even dog-like) ally of U.S. (They joined us in silly Viet war!) And 78% still value alliance with America.(Apparently they haven't perceived that this alliance is now pretty useless. U.S. military could protect them from hostile nations. But the threat is now from individual terrorists--against whom the Pentagon is as unable to protect Aussies AS IT IS TO PROTECT AMERICANS!

But otherwise: ll places ranked above U.S. Only 4 places ranked below America in the Aussie poll: Indonesia, the MiddleEast, Iran and Iraq. The ECONOMIST

Bush is a great ambassador of ill-will, around the world.

Americans are foolish to say they don't care what the rest of the world thinks. We have to sell stuff overseas, to pay for our staggering imports.Right now, we're not selling anywhere near enough!

 
ROBOT COUP: (letter to NYTIMES)
Congress is balking at the COST of the new 'DARTH VADER' gadgets the Pentagon wants. (NYT28Mar)

They'd better worry about aspects other than cost. The new infantry robots, if put into mass-production, could enable a small group of Pentagon traitors to stage a coup.
We've always assumed that U.S.soldiers wouldn't fire on Americans. But U.S. robots woudn't hesitate.

(The only black-humor aspect here is imagining our 'handgun army of freedom-fighters' facing a line of robots.)

Once the Pentagon takes over openly, Congress will be reduced to a purely ceremonial role, like the Roman Senate under the emperors.

 
IRAQ STALEMATE: Shiites, Kurds still can't compromise, in order to install new leaders.
Boston.com

It's said that the remaining fight is just over who gets what govt. post. But we DON'T hear yet that Kurds are willing to postpone fight over Kirkuk and peshmurgas, in order to set up govt. now. (They could veto the new constitution later.)
--------------------
It should be remembered that it was U.S. that put in the '2/3' requirement (only thus could new govt..and later, constitution be OKd.) Cash value: the 60% majority of Shiites cannot set up a government. (Unlike U.S., where 51% of voters or legislators can trample the others.)

3 possible views:
---Typical Bushie blunder, rendering 'all/Iraq' govt. basically impossible.
OR: (alternative stupidity) they dreamed that the slate of their puppet Allawi would get a big enough bloc of votes--using expensive TV--to be a factor. In fact, he got only 14%.

--Bushie cunning: they don't want a Shiite Iraq! Also, perhaps they want 3-nation outcome (Shiite South, Kurdish North, middle section ruled by Saddamites).
Oil companies might find it easier to pressure Kurds & Shiites separately for good terms than they would facing a united Iraq. Also, Israel & America would prefer to face friendly Kurds as separate nation.

--perhaps Bushie reasonableness(!) If Shiites & Kurds can't agree, then an 'all/Iraq' govt. is not possible anyway.
However, it was known all along that Kurds intend deFacto secession...?? So a real 'all/Iraq' govt. was impossible all along!
--------
One worry that unites Kurds & secular Allawites is the religious fanaticism of many Shiites. For instance, at least 2 people have been killed by Shiite fanatics for 'sinful picnic'. Barbers have been killed FOR GIVING WESTERN HAIRCUTS! And female students at Baghdad U. are afraid of Shiite 'vigilantes'. GUARDIAN

A possible rebellion may happen WITHIN the 'Shiite' slate of 148 delegates, backing away from agreed nomination of devout Shiite Ja'afri as main honcho prime minister.
The 24 followers of SADR might join the rebellion. GUARDIAN

In that case, all bets are off...and an 'All/Iraq' govt. looks impossible for the near future--disenchanting Iraqis about the idea of democracy.
--------------------
As noted in a piece below, it is unlikely that Iraqi WOMEN in general will be better off after Saddam was ousted. (And they are the majority of Iraqis!)
--------------------
It's very simple: Bushies chatter about introducing 'democracy' into MiddleEast. But majority rule in M.E.
today probably means Islamist fanaticism--and anti-Americanism! Bushie stupidity.
---------
During the negotiations (hiding out in the GreenZone) a couple of mortars fell within the GreenZone.

People were killed in Kirkuk by a bomb, as a Provincial Council meeting was broken up by Turkomen & Sunni/Arabs complaining that Kurds were grabbing power. Of course they are! They alone have a militia up in that region! / NYTIMES

 
BUSHIES DON'T CARE! They are allowing nuclear waste to be stored above-ground in liquid tanks. But a committee of nuclear experts says that makes it easier for terrorists to blow up the waste and make all the neighborhood glow.

The Bushies won't let the report be released, "for fear it would help terrorists'. But an expert says you can bet the terrorists already know.
WashPost, cited by TRUTHOUT

--the people the news is being hidden from are U.S. citizens who just might wake up to Bushie unconcern about protecting Homeland from terrorists.
----------
What's the worst danger to these waste-tanks? Thousands of small planes are in the air over America all the time, unregistered. They are easy to steal.

A small plane, loaded to the gills with high-explosive, could be crashed (by suicide pilot) into a waste-pond at one of our 104 nuke-plants.

I have a daughter & her family living within 10 miles of such a plant, so I'm concerned. (I hear the govt. has exhorted such people to keep a chemical in their medicine cabinets that would mitigate radioactive damage to their bodies while they fled. Big deal.)

It was said that France has reacted this way: it declared a 'no-fly'zone over each of its plants, and stationed anti-aircraft weapons (presumably ground-to-air missiles) at each place. If a small plane ignored warnings and violated the no-fly zone, it would be destroyed in the air.

Whether or not France did that--we could. But we won't, because that's too expensive. As I say, Bushies just don't care.

 
CARDINAL SUGGESTS THAT NAZI 'EUGENIC' MURDER OF 'INFERIORS' WAS SIMILAR TO [no worse than ?] FLUSHING FERTILIZED EGGS. "The Strong decide the fate of the weak." INDEPENDENT

Actually, eating chickens is 'strong (humans) deciding the fate of the weak(non-humans)'..so this formula isn't very helpful. All depends on whether you count the 'weak' eggs as fully human or as pre-human (like sperm & unfertilized ova).

 
WOUNDED FROM HUMVEE DEFECTS: USATODAY story about the scandalous shortage of armored Humvees--this story speculated on how many GIs were killed because humvees were not armored. But a worse price paid was in terms of the GIs maimed or wounded in the Humvees (hardly discussed in the story!)

Even in unarmored Humvees, many GIs had their lives saved by their Kevlar vests. But their legs, arms, and heads (faces, eyes, and brains) were NOT protected. As a result, the number of amputations has been twice as high as in other wars.And the brain-injuries have been called the 'signature wounds' of this war--the most remarkable kind of injury.

If one in four GIs killed died in humvees, and if Pentagon admits to over 11,000 wounded, then we could estimate that up to 3000 GIs have been maimed or wounded in unarmored or defectively-armored Humvees.
-----------
Pentagon spokesman said "To say Pent. has been unresponsive and slow is inaccurate. Everyone's a Monday-morning quarterback!We didn't expect a major insurgency. Commanders in the field were not asking for (armored) vehicles. Who's to blame? I have no idea."

A Dem.Congresswoman commented, "They expected people to throw roses at them, not grenades!"

'Commanders in the field' were not disciplined for 'not asking'. Very likely they were signalled by the Pentagon NOT TO DARE ASK FOR MORE!

Even after it was clear that GIs were at risk in unarmored vehicles, Pentagon didn't increase its order for the armored ones, even though the manufacturer told them he could up production!

They decided to move armored humvees from other bases; sounds sensible--but this took FIVE MONTHS..because they had first to replace the armored humvees at the other bases--which were not in combat at all! (No base commander will give up anything he has without replacements.)
-------------
One black-humor bit of the story is the army claim that one problem was the lack of funding for properly armored humvees.We shovel to the Pentagon over $1100 MILLIONS PER DAY.

 
BELATED PICTURES OF WOUNDED
It's safe now for NYTIMES magazine (27Mar) to run pictures and story about horrific wounds endured by Iraq GIs.(Bush is re-elected already. The best time to release vivid bad news is just after a big election; childish Americans will forget by '08!)

The only real news in the article (which accepts Pentagon underestimate of wounded as 11 thousand--elsewhere it has been said that 25,000 have been medically evacuated)--is that amputations are double the rate of previous wars: risen to 6% of the wounded.

Also, it says vaguely that 'brain injuries are also common'--elsewhere it has been said that brain injuries are the 'signature wounds' of this war, that is the unusual number of wounds compared to other wars.

And it mentions burst eardroms, shattered teeth,and flash-burns to the eyes.

70% of Americans say that the number of casualties is unacceptable. But a small majority thinks 'we' have to stay on for as long as it takes. They are very brave about the suffering of others.

 
BRITS BRACE SELVES FOR AVIAN FLU PANDEMIC: 750,000 deaths are expected. (out of about 60 million Brits).INDEPENDENT

The corresponding U.S. number would be around 5 million deaths. But very likely there will be a HIGHER proportion of deaths here, because our medical system is so awful.

We face already a critical shortage of nurses (with hospitals luring nurses from each other by big cash payments!) In 3.5 years since 9/11, when we've had every reason to expect a germ-war attack by terrorists, Bushies have done nothing to recruit & train enough nurses.

INTERPOL says the most likely form of terrorist attack will be a germ-war attack. Why not? It's so cheap and easy. But Bushies simply don't care much about Homeland Protection.

 
SUNNI LEADERS CALLING OPENLY FOR WAR VS. SHIITE/KURD 'ALLIANCE': Many murders all over Iraq (where the 3 groups are mixed together).
INDEPENDENT

IRAQ VIOLENCE: Insurgents blew up another pipeline in the North, halting oil exports through Turkey. USATODAY
(Oil-rich Kurds and Shiites will have to make a deal with Sunni/Arab insurgents, if they hope to realize the potential riches of their exports.)

Insurgents are killing fewer GIs than before (about 1.7 per day now). This may be because they realize that many Americans at home are pretty brave, willing to bear the suffering of GIs and their families, rather than be humiliated by a quick bug-out.(The families of potential enlistees, however, feel differently.) But all this is pretty stable--now that the Bushies are in power till '08--so upping the GI death-rate won't have much effect.

Instead, the insurgents are assassinating top officers of our native militia, and putting dozens of the militia out of action each week. [44--including 2 GIs--put out of commission just on Saturday. INDEPENDENT]

Suppose the Kurds and Shiites are able to compromise enough to name President, vice-President, and [most importantly] Prime Minister this week.Then these officials will have to huddle helplessly in our GreenZone (just as Allawi's gang had to). There's no reason to think they can control the guerillas any better than the previous regime.(tho there are rumors that some insurgent leaders are willing to 'come out' and surrender if their safety is guaranteed.)

However, since the main function of the new assembly is to write a new Constitution, that can be done in hiding.

 
A GREAT MOVIE ! 'MOTOR-CYCLE DIARIES'/
A story about the early life of the hero/martyr of the Cuban Revolution, Che Guevara.

These 2 young bucks set off on a 'road-story, coming-of-age' trip on an ancient motorcycle, around several countries in South America.Almost penniless, they have many harrowing adventures--to which they react with obscene complaints. However, witnessing awful poverty and injustice, one of these slobs morphs into something quite different.

The key scene, at a leper-colony in Peru, was astonishing: the hero displays physical strength, daring and courage (because he was athsmatic)--and an amazing care for underdogs!

Hagiography (the story of saints) is always difficult, because the human side of a saint is hard to portray.

This movie was derived from the memories of a present functionary of Cuba's revolutionary government, so there is no guarantee of its literal truth. But IF the scenes of the leprosarium were made up, then they display a great and wise creativity!

Anyway, it's an enchanting movie--I understand it's available on DVD.
========
Usually revolutions 'for the common man' fail; but the Cuban revolution has survived. Indeed, Castro has survived a half-dozen U.S. Presidents who wanted him dead.

First, the Soviet subsidized Cuba--when that was cut off, they sank into poverty. But now oil-rich Venezuela has started to subsidize Cuba. Bushies have publicly noted their annoyance at this new alliance--they don't discuss the broader anti-Bush alliance which is forming, to include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia!

 
OUTRAGEOUS FUDGING: A right-wing columnist for FinTimes, one Caldwell, has deliberately distorted the Schiavo case. He says that she is dying, as any healthy person would, only by 'deliberate action'--as if someone is shooting or stabbing her!

Even the Catholic Church has long said that there is no obligation to keep a person alive 'by extraordinary means' (e.g. by respirator). (The present problem is that this Pope recently announced that he doesn't count a feeding-tube as an 'extraordinary' means of prolonging life!
So I believe a Vatican flack has announced that the Mrs.Schiavo is being subjected,though innocent, to CAPITAL PUNISHMENT! )

But even the Pope would not say that pulling a long-comatose person off a respirator would be a 'deliberate action' like that by which a healthy life is ended (e.g., shooting, stabbing)!

There is no limit to the deceptions that right-wing writers are willing to use.
==========
Many years ago, a friend went into a coma. Her husband naively let her be put on machines. When it was obvious that she would not regain consciousness, he said, "Turn off the machines". The hospital authorities informed him that turning off the machines would count as MURDER! (They were making a big profit off the deal.)

I asked him, "Why don't YOU turn off the machines?" He said, "They monitor them; they'd rush in and turn them back on!"

She shrank on the bed to about the size of a large chimpanzee.

Finally the husband said he'd go to court. They demanded he wait a few days: her temperature had dropped so low that they 'couldn't read her vital signs'. So they put an electric blanket over her! Luckily, after 27 awful days, she died unequivocally, beyond debate.
---------------
In Chicago, in the 'bad old days', a husband pulled the tubes out of his comatose wife, then stood there with a GUN to hold off officious meddlers. He was never prosecuted.
-----------
Today it's clear legally that if the patient is conscious, he can demand that the machines (e.g., a dialysis machine) be turned off. And if there is a living will, especially supplemented by a medical transfer of the 'power-of-attorney' to a guardian, the machines can be turned off on a comatose patient. The trouble is that, while Ms.Schiavo told people she never wanted to be kept 'alive' on a machine, she didn't leave a written 'living will'.
Since the Sciavo fiasco, people are RUSHING to get their living wills registered!
----------
In the Sciavo case, EVERY ONE OF THE MANY COURTS CONSULTED has said that the husband--even without a living will--had the right to demand that the feeding tube be removed. But the right -wing pols have rushed in like vultures (forgetting traditional GOP chatter about States'Rights!) to meddle. I understand that Dr.Frist, the GOP Senate leader, has made a DIAGNOSIS FROM TV PICTURES disagreeing with the specialists on site!

(The big losers if sensible 'right-to-die' measures are in place are the billionaire chains of hospitals and nursing-homes. One wonders if they are contributing to right-wing pols.

On the other hand, the powerful HMOs would LOSE from the pointless, EXPENSIVE prolonging of comatose life. It's puzzling! )

It isn't working for Bush: 'W's popularity has plummeted in just one week! However, I hear that right-wingers are getting many extra contributions from their yahoo saps.

The rest of the world must be oscillating between astonished laughter and plain horror at the present condition of our government.

 
NYTIMES finally notices explicitly that there is TOO MUCH CAPITAL in the world--and a shortage of possible profitable investment opportunities!

What's happening: money for decades has been shovelled worldwide from ordinary people (who would love to consume more, if they could!) to billionaires or multi-millionaires, who COULDN'T consume much more.

Also, there has been a surge in productive capacity (a) from super-computers--and also (b) from an army of intelligent, trained, disciplined workers newly made available to world industry from, say, India or China.

But there has NOT been a correspondingly-large surge in the ability to consume. So, for instance, U.S. is now using less than 80% of its factory-capacity--because they couldn't sell more goods even if they produced them.

(There is such a surplus of AGRICULTURAL productive capacity worldwide that nations shamelessly forget about 'free trade', granting subsidies to their own food-exporters and setting up barriers to other exporters.)

There is also a HUGE surplus of productive capacity in TEXTILES--so freeing China from its restrictive quotas in textile-export is wiping out the textile industries of many other countries--and there is surplus capacity in regard to many other products.
--------
At the same time, right-wing propagandists like Greenspan are chattering about 'a shortage of savings for investment' in America--so, they say, we should institute a 'national sales tax' to siphon more money from ordinary consumers to the wealthy 'saver-class' !

If there were investment-opportunities here, capital would FLOOD in from other countries where investment-opportunities are lacking.
--------
DEFLATION and DEPRESSION from excessive concentration of wealth and technical 'progress' are the dangers most threatening the world economy, not inflation.

 
RATING THIS POPE: As he nears death, people are bound to ask "How good a Pope has he been?"

In many respects, wonderful! he pushed reconciliation with the Jews, he cleverly and bravely helped to free Poland from Russ domination (and in so doing, he started the breakup of the Soviet Empire!).

The Pope has CONDEMNED BUSH'S INVASION, several times.

But we should judge any executive by the performance of his team. (For instance, we should hold Bush, as CinC, responsible for the crimes, lies, and blunders of his underlings.)

And J.P.II's team has performed miserably: especially in the selection and retention of U.S. bishops.

Boston's Cardinal Law, for instance, came pretty close to being criminally responsible (as an accessory after the fact) for the child-rapes by many of his clergy--for instance, Paul Shandley, who, it's said, openly helped found the 'Man/Boy' organization--and was still kept on!)

Law was finally forced by Bostonians' rage to resign; whereupon he went to Rome and was appointed pastor of one of the most prestigious churches in Rome!
---------
The Denver Archbiship before Stafford was a nice little man named Casey; he was from Osage, Iowa, stood about 5'3"; he told me the proudest moment for him was NOT making archbishop, but his high-school triumph when his puny Osage team beat the mighty Cresco team in basketball. (Cresco was my home-town; it was a County Seat!)

Casey lived in a humble Denver home (after all, the archdiocese had separate offices).He condemned the Viet war.

When Stafford succeeded him, he insisted on a splendid INAUGURATION, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. He built himself a splendid, expensive new residence; he ordered every parish to pay $100 for a photo of himself.(The Denver Archdiocese hadn't been impoverished by paying huge settlements for child-rapes.)

BUT Stafford turned out a huge crowd for the Pope's visit in Denver. That apparently endeared him to the Rome bureaucracy. So soon he was elevated into that bureaucracy.And so now there he is, subbing for the Pope on worldwide TV.

The new Archbishop Chaput had been a Franciscan friar. Now they are known for emphasizing poverty. And indeed every friar is forbidden to accept a bishopric..but this ban is easily dispensed from.

Now this Franciscan Chaput did NOT sell the mansion and return to a Casey-like humble home.Chaput finally spoke once, quietly, against the Iraq war (he didn't dare keep silent, after the Papacy condemned the war several times.)

But he's most known for his denunciation of gays (he once interfered with a FortCollins vote that would have protected gays in regard to jobs and housing--somehow even that protection threatened 'Christian marriage'! )

And then Chaput intimated that people who voted for Kerry would not be welcome at Holy Communion, without first repenting.

(My wife voted for Kerry, continued to show up for Communion, but quit altogether her generous contributions to the Church--except for charitable agencies like the MISSION.)
-------------
It looks like the current set of Vatican Bureaucrats (we'll hope JPII wasn't really in control) care only about episcopal candidates' firmness against gays and abortions, not about their saintly dedication to human welfare.
--------------
Pope PaulVI appointed really conscientious U.S. bishops. For the first time in 2000 years, I believe, this panel of bishops denounced the main military policy of their own country ('MutualAssuredDestruction', with thousands of H-bombs ready on each side. Carl Sagan said that U.S. & Soviet were like 2 men standing hip-deep in gasolene, worrying that the other guy might have more matches!)

Pope JohnPaul I died too quickly for us to find out what kind of Pope he would have been.
----------
As I said, judging JP II just by his administrative team, he has NOT been a great Pope.

 
OUR NATIVE MILITIA CLAIMS IT CAPTURED 131 INSURGENT SUSPECTS (preparing allegedly to attack Shiite Holy City Karbala during a coming FeastDay).
REUTERS,26Mar
All this might be true: or it might be that (a) it was a U.S. raid disguised as militia raid, or (b) that the effects were exaggerated (as apparently the effects of a previous, similar attack were exaggerated).

The general point is this: don't pay much attention to claims on our side of guerillas put out of action. Pay attention instead to guerillas LEFT IN ACTION: to the number of attacks and the damage done by them.

 
KRAUTHAMMER CRUSHED: Today they finally printed my response to Krauthammer's hawk views, under the title " 'Evils' of Inaction are Appealing!"
RMtnNews

 
IRAN BUYING HI-TECH SMALL ARMS: Rich Iran is buying up huge supplies of hitech weapons (e.g., small armor-piercing rifles).

U.S. for long has imposed 'weapons-embargo' on Iran, punishing foreign companies who sell weapons to Iran.But everyone admits Iran has a big problem cutting down on opium flooding through Iran from nextdoor Afghanistan, into Europe.So Iran (and foreign arms-companies selling to them)can pretend these weapons are for that noble use. Boston.com

U.S. is not going to invade Iran; nor, presumably, is Israel. But they might bomb Iran. Then Iran could give the weapons to Taliban (vs. Americans in Afghanistan) or to Iraq insurgents--or to Palestinian insurgents. That thought--plus the knowledge that Iran could disrupt world oil supplies even further!--might deter Israeli & American hawks.

 
JAPAN STILL IN DEFLATION: Prices have dropped for 55 straight months! With productive capacity worldwide greater than ability to sell goods, this is the future for the world...NOT inflation! FinTimes

Or perhaps STAGFLATION: underconsumption, low wages, but high OIL prices.

 
GOOD NEWS: A Sunni leader who says he's in touch with guerilla leaders says that the Baathist and nationalist leaders want to end the insurgency, if they could be assured of their immunity from harm..NOT the Zarquawi Islamists (who are behind most of the suicide attacks).
But if the others would turn in the Zarqauwiites...
FinTimes

BAD NEWS: Senior General of our native militia assassinated. Also, gun-battle between our militia and Kurdish peshmurgas!

GOOD NEWS: Apparently, Kurds have agreed to name Prime Minister BEFORE 'Kurkuk' and 'Peshmurga' issues are settled. REUTERS

 
BUSH WILL SELL F-16s TO PAKISTAN!
Huge rallies vs. Musharref as pro-American.
Pak. sold nuke stuff to Libya when L. was still counted as 'rogue-state'.
Bush may be arming further a future anti-American, Islamist, nuke-armed State!

But maybe he needed to sell F-16s to SOMEONE (a) to help friendly arms-producers, and (b) to mitigate our Trade Deficit.

 
INSURGENTS BLUNDER: Instead of bombs or drive-by shootings--which work--they're trying conventional attacks--& getting trounced. Boston.Com
---------
SUICIDE VOLUNTEERS STILL AVAILABLE: About 40 GIs and 'collaborators' were put out of commission on Thursday. USATODAY
Also see REUTERS

General said, "U.S. can't leave until.." But the question is, what protection are U.S. troops offering now?
---------
U.S. DEATHS DOWN since election: by 20% (to 1.7 per day) from average over 2 years. However, killings of 'collaborators' has risen. REUTERS

Recruits for our native militia keep coming in. (Partly the money, partly principle, partly young-male-folly.) The question is, how many guerilla-infiltrators are included among these volunteers.

 
RATINGS PLUMMET: Last week, 52% approved of Bush; this week, only 46%.(Biggest drop was among men, conservatives, & churchgoers!)Last week, 35% said they were GOP, 32% Dems. This week, 32%GOP, 37% Dems.

Why? Gas Prices, Soc.Security scam, and Sciavo meddling. 61% said they'd pull feeding tubes in similar situation.USATODAY

U.S. yahoos are ignorant and impulsive, so Karl Rove will probably be able to turn them around by '96 elections.
(Maybe they can get a judge to approve of necrophilia--then they can run against necrophilia.)*

But at least we know that 'W' now has no coattails. They might as well take him off the road; he's not selling his scams.

And Congressional Republicans might be alarmed by the sudden switch from self-described 'Republican' to 'Democrat'. The only hope is that a half-dozen GOP Senators will start voting with Dems to stop or slow down U.S. collapse.
----------
*I'm NOT comparing gay marriage to necrophilia! I'm saying that yahoos might.

 
MERCURY CONNECTED TO AUTISM: A startling recent increase has been observed in awful autism syndrome among U.S. children.Now a study shows that Texas counties with highest MERCURY pollution have highest autism rates: for every thousand pounds of mercury in the environment, an autism increase of SEVENTEEN PERCENT was observed.

Forty-Eight TONS of mercury is estimated to be released in America, mainly by coal-fired powerplants.Bushies are making only token efforts to limit such pollution.
REUTERS

What's amazing about the U.S. middle-class is NOT that they'd sacrifice the safety net for the poor; that could be explained by intelligent selfishness on their part.

The amazing thing is that they'll let the wealthy and the pols who work for them HARM THE MIDDLE-CLASS, e.g. by pollution.

We can't even credit these suburbanites with good sense, let alone decency!
----------
The LATIMES version of this story said that for each 1/2 ton of mercury in air/water, the autism rate went up by SIXTY-ONE PERCENT! (The study will be published in the journal HEALTH AND PLACE.)
========
EPA issued lax mercury restrictions, saying that stricter rules would not be 'cost-effective': i.e., they wouldn't have a big enough payoff in public health to justify the extra cost to industry.

However, a Harvard study showed that stricter rules on mercury would have a HUGE payoff in public health, much greater than the costs to industry. This study was STRIPPED from the Bush/EPA report.
WashPost, cited by TRUTHOUT

Once again, historians will wonder how middle-class Americans of our generation could stand by passively while industry poisoned their children, with the help of our government.

 
GOP VULTURES SWOOP IN: The Schiavo case is perfect for cynical GOP pols; she looks as if she's responding. But she's been in 'vegetative state' for FIFTEEN YEARS!

(Husband has refused offers of millions of dollars if he'd quit insisting she be released.)

Bush flew back to D.C. to sign a bill to open up her case to federal courts, (i.e., to put the tube back in for now). GUARDIAN, 20Mar

A typical tragi/comedy of cynical pols allied with dumb fanatics.
-----------
PUZZLING: I thought at first that Bushies had case arranged to go to one of their puppet judges. Instead it went to a Clinton-appointed judge, who refused to order the tube reinserted.

Why would Bushies go to such ENORMOUS trouble in this case, which they certainly won't win in court?
It's too far from next election in '06 for them to need to curry favor now with goofy fanatics.

Polls show that 70% of Americans think the feeding-tube should come out; 60% think feds had no right to intervene.

The fed.Appeals court just rejected the 'save chiavo' appeal, just as every state court has rejected it.
What the hell are Bushies up to?
--------
This possibility worries me: that for some reason, Bushies want desperately to DISTRACT Americans (using melodramatic Schiavo case) from some caper of theirs coming up in the next week or two!
--------
SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO ORDER TUBE REINSERTED (on 24Mar). This makes the Bushie rush to meddle [Bush himself rushing back to D.C. to sign the meddle-bill!] all the more puzzling; could they have been so dumb they thought the federal courts would intervene, when the case a) belongs in the State courts, and (b) has been so thoroughly explored there before being settled?

It should be over soon (poor Michael Schiavo might have to go into hiding to avoid assassination by right-wing crazies).
-------
Two in Three people who describe themselves as 'evangelicals' DISAPPROVE of Bushie meddling in Schiavo case. Boston.Com

Even more puzzling; are the Bushies now so dumb that they can't even read the opinion of their Yahoo followers?

 
HUGE TEXAS OIL-RIG EXPLOSION 'NOT TERRORISM' say BritPetrol officials
..that is, there is no reason to think it WAS terrorism.

However, the explosion sent world oil prices up--by reminding the world how easy it would be for terrorists to disrupt the world oil supply even more than it has been (e.g., by our Iraq invasion).GUARDIAN

Once again, proud SUV drivers (many Bush supporters!) will be paying for the privilege of looking down on puny little Nissans like mine.

 
INDIV.READY-RESERVE DRAFTED: An army general pooh-poohed the idea that they might restore the draft (because enlistments have sunk markedly); instead, they'll appeal to parents' 'patriotism'.

Informed parents will remember that the Pentagon has still not sent over humvees properly armored to avoid rollover or head-injuries.Remembering also the Bushie shameless neglect of Homeland Protection, these parents would realize that the BUSHIES have no real patriotism at all, and that such appeals are cynical.

Now it turns out the Pentagon is relying again on the 'back-door Draft'. Enlistees who have already served the time they volunteered for are then automatically enrolled in the 'individual Ready Reserve'.These poor saps are now being called up (without any real training!) to serve in Iraq. REUTERS

That ruthless double-cross will of course stiffen the resistance informed parents have to their children enlisting. (Generally, Americans are not informed, of course; but parents of potential enlistees seem to be catching on.)

 
BUSHIE'MISTAKES'? A committee of the Brit Parliament has found that the Bushie/Blair crowd made 'mistakes & misjudgments' in the Iraq invasion: they didn't anticipate the insurgency; they dumbly dismissed the police-force, without being able to replace it; they didn't secure the arms-dumps, letting insurgent-looters get control of huge amounts of weapons to be used against the 'Allies'. ChannelNewsAsia.

About anticipating the resistance: I warned here, before the invasion, that resistance was likely. We had bombed Iraq off-and-on for ten years.We insisted that the sanctions imposed by UN would forbid many medicines from being imported; Saddam blamed a huge number of infant-deaths on us; Bushies just assumed they wouldn't believe him..why wouldn't they?There was a good chance that Iraqis hated us MORE than they hated Saddam.(Newsreels showed that almost every Iraqi had a firearm; this seemed to show that Saddam knew these would be turned on the invaders, not on him.)

At least, the possibility of armed resistance should have been considered--it wasn't.

The arms-dumps were not guarded because dummy Rummy didn't send over enough troops; the army secy. was promptly fired, who said more would be needed.Yet Rummie has been kept on by the top clown, Mr. Bush.

The Baathist police-force was fired on the recommendation of Mr.Chalabi, the exile whom the Pentagon relied on completely for 'intelligence' about Iraq.(They invaded without having a single spy on the ground in Iraq to check their opinion of what was going on there.)Later, Mr.Chalabi was accused of leaking our secrets to our top foe, Iran.He was also convicted in absentia for fraud in Jordan.

One Congressman, earlier a Pentagon honcho, said the invasion was 'the worst strategic error in our history.'
I'd say that the whole invasion was an unforgivable, catastrophic blunder.Nevertheless, 51% of American voters (many distracted by the 'gay marriage' issue!) later re-elected this team of fools and villains.

 
PUZZLE OVER 'INSURGENTS ATTACKED' STORY: Our puppet-government said that our native militia had crushed an insurgent training camp.Then it turned out that when the attackers were attacked, the Americans came in with helicopters. It was said that 85 insurgents were killed, and escape by boat was blocked.

But then it turned out that there are still insurgents at the camp-site (!) who claimed they never left. They said that only a few insurgents had been killed or wounded. Local hospitals said no wounded had shown up. ChannelNewsAsia

 
'IRAQ COMMANDOS KILL MANY INSURGENTS' (ABCNEWS, link not possible).But it turns out they were backed by U.S. airpower. It's not clear what they could do on their own.(Of course U.S. would be delighted if they provided ground troops, and we needed only airpower.)

It makes sense to heed claims of slaughtered insurgents only when insurgents run short of volunteers, so their attacks diminish.

 
RUSSIA & U.S. COMPETING to control oil-rich '-istan' countries in Central Asia. (Russian friends are usually in power; U.S. groups--with money--side with the opposition.)

But a Third Force is rising up: Islamist movements saying 'a pox on both of your godless houses'. Boston.com

 
FELONIOUS NUNS AND OBSOLETE MISSILES: Three Dominican nuns who spread their own blood on the noses of some land-based missiles were sent to prison by moronic Colorado prosecutor, judge and jurors. Then, a Bush-appointed Appeals Court upheld their sentence.


The service they performed for our society is not just a moral one, but a reminder of prudent good-sense.What the hell are those land-based missiles still around for? IF the Russians went mad and decided to strike first at us, the missiles (everyone knows their location) would be their first targets!

Their only possible usefulness would be if OUR government went even madder than it is now, and decided to missile Russia or China in a 'preemptive' first-strike.

Anyway, let us applaud these courageous and sensible nuns. They certainly show up their U.S. Catholic fellows!

More can be read at www.jonahhouse.org

One nun, Jackie Hudson, already released (perhaps temporarily) can be reached at sablao1@yahoo.com

 
VATICAN VS. 'DA VINCI CODE': After the silly book sold 80 million copies, Vatican finally assigned a 'big gun', an Italian cardinal, to point out its historical mistakes. GUARDIAN

When tens of millions are reading books about the coming 'RAPTURE'--and these are from the 'literary elite' who actually still read books!--how could the Vatican dream that sober historical arguments will be heeded?

The point is that the Roman Church is now so distrusted and despised by most people, that they'd believe any charges against her.

She has come back before--e.g., from when there were 3 rival Popes. So she may rise up again.

 
STAGFLATION IS BACK: Stagflation is the worst of all outcomes: high unemployment, low wages, AND HIGH PRICES!

And Fed.Reserve, by raising interest rates, will control prices BY RESTRICTING ECONOMIC GROWTH that might raise wages--(it would have in previous times, but not now.)

The yahoos who voted for Bush because of his noises against gay marriage will now get the suffering they deserve.

The rest of us also will get the suffering THEY deserve!

 
THREAT TO IRAQI WOMEN: 60% of recent voters were women, and 30% of new assembly members were women.But 'liberated women' fear that these elected women are just pawns of the Shiite clergy, willing to vote in the dreaded SHARIA, reducing women to semi-slavery again. REUTERS

It's true that Saddam abused individual women, as he did individual men. But women in general (as were Iraqi Christians)were more free under Saddam than in almost any other Muslim country. Women could pray with the men, even swim with men.

Someone has said, "Under Saddam, his sons raped a few women. Now EVERYONE rapes women!"

The only hope is that secular Kurds would keep nasty version of Sharia out of the new constitution.
But it's not clear that the 'all/Iraq' govt. will ever be formed. (After all, Kurds plan deFacto secession.)

And if the Shiites form their own Southern ministate,then nothing will stop them from returning women to oppression. (This 'women-issue' would be one more reason for the Shiites to go for the 'separate ministate' option.)

The likely new primeMinister, the devout Shiite Ja'afre, points to his wife, an obstetrician, as evidence that he doesn't intend to subjugate women. But even in the strictest Islamist society, women must become obstetricians--because no man can touch a non-wife woman! Also women must be allowed to be college professors, because no man may teach women.

Under the '3-nation' outcome, the Sunni/Arabs might also revert to fundamentalist rules about women.
-----
All along, when people said 'Iraqis' are better off without Saddam, one wondered if they were thinking of the women!

 
SAVE SOCIAL SECURITY? I'm not so concerned to save program to protect old people. Older people vote; they can protect themselves.

I'm much more concerned about Medicaid cuts, that will affect medical care for children!

 
A PUZZLE: Why does Pentagon insist on opening 'permanent' bases all over the world?
--
Benefits? Granted that Pentagon plans a world-empire. However, in case of a war, U.S. has shown it can rush over aircraft carriers and tens of thousands of troops very quickly.

Anyplace on earth can be bombed by B-52s stationed in Kansas. (Drone bombers are now being perfected that can bomb any place without needing any human crew!)

Once human troops are replaced mainly by robot infantryment, it will be even easier to move 'troops' over quickly.
--
COSTS: Nobody discusses the fact that (whether counted as such or not) Pentagon expenditures overseas count as 'IMPORTS', and add tens or hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars to our staggering Trade Deficit.

Also, not using bases in America causes huge losses to local areas where the bases had been, as is shown by the howls of local Congressmen when a U.S. base might be closed!
---------
Possible explanation: these bases count as gigantic covert subsidies to the host countries.True, some places (e.g., Okinawa and Korea) want to get rid of our bases there. But that could be because the unpleasantness of U.S. troop presence there (And, in Korean case, the possibility that N.Korea might wipe out S.Korea while attacking U.S. troops stationed there) outweighs the economic benefit. (In fact, N.K. missiles can now hit Okinawa also.)

I can't think of any explanation (other than 'covert overseas subsidies') for this insistance on forward bases..unless Pentagon thinks that, say, mideast rulers are so primitive that they'd be more intimidated by a base near them than by a base in America.

Forward bases are a nineteenth-century instrument of empire.
--------
A friend tells me that Pentagon IS pulling back from large bases overseas. But this trend is incredibly slow--as far as I know we still have bases in Europe, long after the ColdWar! (We closed the base in SaudiArabia because we had stumbled into committing sacrilege by basing infidel soldiers in SacredArabia!)

So I should ask instead: why are we KEEPING so many needless bases all over the world, and thus worsening our Trade Deficit (also, of course, our Federal Deficit).

 
UNEMPLOYMENT SOLVED? Only 2% of business economists think unemployment is now our biggest econ.problem.It's said that is because 2.2 million jobs were added in '04. USATODAY

However, new workers needing jobs number 120,000 per month, or 1,444,000 over the year; so the net job improvement is only 800,000 jobs in '04.There are now 8 million jobless in America, plus millions more 'underemployed' (e.g., working part-time because they can't get full-time jobs.)So it looks like it would take more than ten 'good years' like '04 to put our jobless to work.

Also, there are something like TEN MILLION 'undocumented foreigners now living here, competing for jobs.

No word has come of increases in wages; employed workers still know that millions of jobless would love to grab their jobs.They don't dare complain about wages or treatment.

So, while joblessness seems less important to Business Economists, it's important for those who care about the ordinary American worker.
--------
What IS the biggest short-term problem facing our economy? The Bus.Econs. agree it is our FEDERAL DEFICIT (actually our PENTAGON deficit; our govt. lives 'within its means' except for the $400,000 millions it shovels each year to the Pentagon.)

 
TEN MILLION 'UNDOCUMENTED' PEOPLE IN U.S.! ChicagoSunTimes
God knows what proportion are foreign terrorists entering U.S. to wreak havoc.

Also: medical authorities warn that our health system is just inadequate for dealing with coming 'avian flu' pandemic.
Let alone the coming germ-war attack!

These are two of the many fronts on which Bushies are simply ignoring problems of Homeland protection.

 
U.S. OPENLY RECRUITING SADDAMITE GENERALS for its new 'All/Iraq' army. BostonCom
Shiites have already denounced 'infiltration' of the new army by Saddamites.

The main result here will be to strengthen resolve of Shiites to forget about 'all/Iraq' fiction, and settle for a Shiite ministate in the South.(with plenty of oil, with Iraq's only exporting port, with friendly Iran next door.)

Kurds still have not yielded on their demands (e.g., for Kirkuk) before they'll join the coalition necessary to form a government--one more reason for Shiites to reject 'all/Iraq'fiction.
-------
More and more it looks like 3-nation outcome: Southern Shiites, Northern Kurds in deFacto secession, and middle Iraq run by Saddamites.

 
OVER 20 CHILDREN SHOT IN MINNESOTA SCHOOL.

Don't panic, gun-lovers. Remember, guns don't kill children;

U.S. children shoot children.

 
WHAT IS FUNDAMENTALISM? There are 3 branches of the 'religion of The Book' (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam).In each branch, there are 'humanistic' believers, who say that odd-seeming-revelations should be interpreted 'rationally', assuming that the Deity is sensible.

For instance, in regard to the Christian scriptures, what to do with Jesus' command that 'if your hand offend, cut it off!'/ or that you should 'hate your father and mother'/ ?
Practically everyone agrees that these passages should not be interpreted literally.

The anti-humanistic (‘fundamentalist’) believers say we should go literally by the written text: the Koran, the Talmud, the Scripture--and, for Catholics, the Papal encyclicals (until they are contradicted by a later Pope!)

However, skeptics have no trouble showing that the Protestant 'fundamentalists' don't insist that EVERY text be followed literally--for instance, Jesus' strong statement forbidding remarriage after divorce.

In Islam the 'fundamentalist' camp has ruled for centuries, with enormous destruction of social potential. (For instance, Mohammed's strong insistence on 'no loan-interest' means that Islamic commerce must go to absurd lengths to pay interest without seeming to.

Also, Shiite wives are bound to resent the fact that, while their husbands must never commit adultery, they can 'marry' a whore for a few hours, then 'divorce' her.)
-------------
In fundamentalist Judaism, there is a rule that you can walk only so many steps out of your 'home' on the Sabbath. However, you can 'fence off' a large area that will then count as 'your home'.

In London, some of these Jews discovered that a huge 'Jewish' area of London was already almost circled by telephone lines, electric lines,etc. They petitioned to have the lines extended to complete the huge circle, within which they could walk on the Sabbath. (The petition was going to be granted by the shrugging City officials, but sensible Jewish authorities stopped it, fearing correctly that it would bring ridicule on the Jewish community.)
----------
In Catholicism, Jesus' ban on 'remarriage' is kept in a way; but recently U.S. bishops have been giving out 'annulments' like candy bars--until the Papacy stepped in.

Back when Catholics couldn't eat meat on Friday, I remember my father standing at the stove at 15 minutes before midnight on Friday, cooking a hamburger to be eaten at 12:01AM on Saturday morning. (This sinful man was asked why he bothered to go to Church on Sunday; he replied, “If I go to Hell, it will be for something a lot more fun than missing Mass!”)

A large consortium was planning to have the Pope declare whales to be fishes; then they could raise whales in bays, and provide steak-tasting ‘fish’ to one billion Catholics on Friday. Finally the situation got so silly that the Popes simply abandoned the 'no-meat-on-Friday' rule. (They could likewise abolish the ban on contraception tomorrow--but so far, they don't seem to mind that hardly any Catholics heed that rule.)

Fifty years ago, Catholics were forbidden to read lots of great books—but they were permitted to read ‘excerpts’ from these books. A devout priest I knew simply bought paperback copies of these books, then ripped each one into several ‘excerpts’, which he then stored in his library. Catholic colleges used to keep these books in a special cage—which, given the reading-reluctance of most U.S. students, was like locking steak away from rabbits.
---------
One of the biggest (often unnoticed now)lurches from Fundamentalism was this: For centuries, Jahweh had said, "DON'T EAT PORK!" But then Paul realized he had a great chance to convert thousands of gentiles to Christianity--only--understandably--they wouldn't buy the pork rule.

Peter insisted on keeping the rule; but then he had a dream, in which an angel said sensibly, "Man is not defiled by what goes into his mouth, but by what comes out of it (nasty words)."

All very sensible--but the result (of one man's dream) was that, after centuries of divine forbidding of pork, suddenly eating pork was OK with God! The Muslims and Jews, who still go by God's former position, understandably ridicule this sudden alleged switch on God's part.
--------------
The LEAST Fundamentalist group, oddly enough, is the Mormons. Their revelation can be revised at will, even today, by the current 'apostles' (bankers, lawyers) meeting in SaltLakeCity.

For instance,Mormons used to believe that any male can be a priest--EXCEPT BLACKS! But then their prize university, Brigham Young University in Utah, fell in love with basketball.

Now, most college basketball teams include many blacks, who--Mormon or not--understandably resented this rule.

Around 1970, the Wyoming team refused to play BYU. Their university promptly fired the team. But then there was likely trouble at Colorado State University.
In fact, at the next BYU/CSU game, a molotov cocktail was thrown--which luckily didn't go off in the crowded arena.

Soon after,the Apostles gathered in SaltLakeCity and received a revised Revelation, that blacks COULD become priests. (Much earlier, they had revised the Revelation calling for polygamy—after a federal army invaded Utah to punish this practice.)
-----------------
There is much comedy involved when fundamentalists from each of these 3 branches of 'the descendants of Abraham' try to reconcile a sensible life in our time with the pretence that they are observing literally every line from these ancient texts.

But there is also tragedy: e.g., when fundamentalist Catholic familes (few as they now are) are ruined by too many children; when Catholic hospitals refuse to tell RAPE victims about the morning-after pill !
—when Jehovah’s Witnesses will let their child die rather than get a blood-transfusion
--or when Muslim women convicted of sex-sins are buried up to their necks in sand, and then stoned to death, or murdered with impunity by their relatives in ‘honor-killing’
--while Shiite men can ‘marry’ whores temporarily.

(Apparently even wise Sistani holds this latter position on men; to check, click on Sistani.org )
=========
Of course the nightmare tragedies come when fundamentalists inject their strange beliefs into politics:
our present crisis is a struggle between:
--binLaden's Islam on the one side, believing that Allah will reward people who blow up innocent people for His sake.
vs. an alliance on the other side, of
--Jewish crazies who say Jahweh gave them the HolyLand 3000 years ago, and will kill and kill to defend that gift,
and Protestant fundamentalists (who used to hate Jews!) who now think that this Jewish land-grab means that Jesus will return sooner.
--The Catholic fundamentalists helped re-elect a goofy, bloody war-criminal just because he made the right noises condemning gay marriage!

God save humanity from the godly!

 
RESULTS OF U.S. MEDDLING:

"U.S.PRESSURE HELPS IRAN CONSERVATIVES" say observers. Some think Bushie war-mongers WANT conservatives in power; this might help justify an attack on Iran.FinTimes,21Mar

U.S. PRESSURE HELPS SYRIAN GOVT, by making opposition seem to be supporting hated U.S intervention in MidEast. GUARDIAN,22Mar

"U.S. fomenting Lebanon division" says Hezbollah. Any locals who happen to agree with U.S. position get blackened with 'U.S.pawn' label.
------------------------------------------------------
One doubts the Bushies are planning these backlashes.
They're just blundering as usual.

 
CHEAP DOLLAR DOESN'T HELP TRADE DEFICIT:
--The cheap dollar was expected to boost U.S. EXPORTS, (which now are cheaper). But our Share of the world market keeps dropping. FinTimes

--Cheap dollar should make our imports more expensive (it certainly is boosting the cost of oil for us!) But U.S. 'consumers' are insatiable.

--Nobody studies how much the Pentagon spends overseas, what with its two wars and its many, many bases overseas. All these expenditures count as imports.

Our federal deficit should be called the "Pentagon" deficit: it is just over $400 thousand MILLIONS per year, and, by coincidence, that's about the size of our yearly Pentagon budget. In other words, our government is pretty well living within its means, except for the $1200 MILLIONS it shovels to the Pentagon each DAY.

But it may also be true that the Pentagon is contributing significantly to our other deficit, our Trade deficit.
Together these deficits, experts fear, will sooner or later make investors back away from our government bonds.
Then we'll have to offer higher interest, because we MUST keep borrowing!

If the result is higher mortgage rates, then home-sellers will be in trouble. Home-buyers buy all the 'house' they can manage; but they can manage to pay less if the interest rates rise.
--------------
RICE NAGS CHINA ABOUT TRADE IMBALANCE WITH U.S. (biggest gap of our imports over our exports with 1 country in history).FinTimes

She fondly thinks that we can cheat by letting our dollar cheapen, without China following suit.Sooner or later, Europe must cheapen its currency also, to protect its exports.Then our cheating will lose any effect; as it is, it hasn't helped our exports much--but it has made our imports more expensive: especially OIL!

U.S. dreams that it can pressure China. Right after Rice nagged them to get tough with N.K., the N.K. representative visited Beijing.

 
45 dead ON 20 March in various locations in Iraq; several GIs killed or wounded.
--------
JORDAN was pinpointed by Iraqis as aiding terrorists. ChannelAsiaNews

(This doesn't mesh with Bushie insistence that it is Syria and Iran who are 'interfering' with our benevolent rule of Iraq. Jordan's king is an ally of ours, pretty friendly with Israel. But he doesn't reflect or control JORDANIANS.)

We count Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, SaudiArabia, Quatar,and Morocco as 'allies'. Yet in every one of these countries, terrorists show up 'big-time'. This shows the folly of Bushie chatter about 'nations harboring terrorists'. Every country 'harbors' terrorists, including U.S.A!

Why do Bushies harp on 'nations harboring terrorists'? Because our glamorous Pentagon is only good at bombing NATIONS. Pentagon is useless for countering thousands of individual terrorists from all around the world.

We COULD defend our Homeland better vs. terrorists (e.g., by inspecting 25,000 huge ship-containers entering our ports each DAY, each possibly containing a nuclear bomb.)

But what with the $1200 millions we shovel each DAY to the Pentagon, and the luscious tax-breaks we're shovelling to the wealthy, we simply can't afford adequate Homeland Protection.
---------
Ayatollah Khameni said that if Iran is attacked, he will die on the front lines with his men--UNLIKE, he said, Bush and Cheney who disappeared right after 9/11. REUTERS

I'll bet he would, too. We've stumbled into a quarrel with one thousand millions of Muslims around the world, many of whom don't much fear death.

 
50,000 GIs kept on in Iraq even with serious ailments?
(acc. to 'Natl.Gulf War Resource Center.')

18 GIs a week now get killed; twice as high as average in first year of war.

from Sydney(AUSTR) Sun-Herald cited by InformationClearinghouse
---------
Pentagon explains neglect of wounded; they're swamped;
15,000 disabled vets came back just last year.
ALTERNET

 
DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN? Tens of thousands of Pakistanis are rallying against the unelected regime of Musharref for being too secular and for being pawns of America. CNN
---------
Rummy just blamed Turkey for our trouble with Iraq insurgents; Turkey refused to let us cross their land to open up a 'second front' in the North. USATODAY

What actually happened was that the GOVT. of Turkey said yes (and was even paid for this)--but then the democractically-elected parliament said NO---and surprisingly, the govt. & army gave in.

Rummy's public blast also shows that we're going to support Iraq Kurds against the Turks, ending an old alliance. (Israel is also double-crossing their old ally,Turkey, to train Kurds militarily.)
--------------
A poll of Iraq youth show that 75% of them want something they call 'Democracy'; but get this:
over 90% see 'essentials' of dem. as living without fear of arrest, a small income gap between rich and poor, equal opportunity for education. (The last 2 items means that U.S. is no democracy!)
---------

2 pol. parties ? only 30% /majority rule? 34% /free speech? 37% USATODAY

Bushie talk about Iraq democracy undermining the Mideast Sultans is just chatter.

 
SHOOT, THEN PAY: Westerners (military or contractors) tend to shoot anyone they think may be threatening. Then, sometimes, if the victim is clearly innocent, they pay compensation of $2500.

A relative of a recent victim was insulted by the offer.
"I'm a trained fighter, and so are my relatives--we will make THEM pay! " FinTimes, 20Mar

 
ANOTHER ANTI-SHIA BOMB IN SUNNI PAKISTAN: FinTimes

Shiites rarely bomb Sunnis. Sunni King of Jordan warned against a 'Shiite alliance' of Southern Iraq/Lebanon/Iran.

Can you blame them for allying, outnumbered as they are about 9 to 1 by Sunnis, throughout Mideast?

Even if Sistani can stop Iraq Shiites from striking back at any Sunnis within reach--can we believe that the elected Shiites (a majority in new assembly) will feel generous enough to offer super-generous guaranteed privileges to Iraq Sunnies--an offer that would be necessary to lure 'moderate' Sunnis into turning over the guerillas?

We can assume that Iraq will split into 3 regions: Southern Shiites, guerilla-dominated middle Sunni/Arab region, and deFacto independent Kurd region. 'All/Iraq' regime (pretence of America) is a myth.

 
TOP COP KILLED IN MOSUL: and then others were killed at his funeral. REUTERS

U.S. still can't protect its top puppets--nor oil-fields--nor the short road to the Baghdad airport--and mortar shells hit within super-'protected' GreenZone during the short meeting of the new assembly.

We can't deliver sewer-systems, nor even gasolene...nor even protect our own troops (4 GIs put out of commission on Sunday).REUTERS

But we can kill lots of Iraqis--no wonder they want us out of there!

 
ANOTHER LIE? HO-HUM! Earlier this year, Bushies told allies that naughty N.Korea had helped create a new nuclear state, by selling nuke material to naughty Libya.

But now they say N.K. sold the stuff to PAKISTAN, our vaunted ally who already has nukes. Then Pakistan sold it to Libya (who later decided against trying to go nuclear--not when their oil is making them rich beyond the dreams of avarice.)

Now Bushies admit there's no reason to think N.K. knew about the 2d transfer. WashPost

The issue is NOT why they lied; they do that instinctively.
But why do they now tell the truth? 2 possible reasons:

a) Libya is no longer a 'bad guy', nor a potential nuke threat. So who'd care now if N.K. sold them nuke stuff?

b) Rice has said we now have 'no intention of attacking N.K.' She could be lieing (we just sent an aircraft carrier into that region); But it could be that sanity has prevailed (since no other country in that region would ever back us in a nutty attack!)...therefore, there's nothing to gain now by telling nasty lies about N.K.

OR it could be that incompetent U.S. intelligence got the story wrong in the first place. But the final moral is clear: who in the world would believe anything the Bushies say?

 
APOCALYPTIC WARNING BY A VERY RESPECTED HISTORIAN (NiallFerguson), in ForeignAffairs[March/April '05], cited in TRUTHOUT.

He sees many resemblances between the rosy (but vulnerable)situation of internatl.trade today with the rosy (but vulnerable) situation of internatl.trade just before WWI.

For us protectionists, that doesn't sound so bad. But the precipitating possible causes: e.g., U.S./China war over Taiwan, anti-capitalist takeover in SaudiArabia--the next terrorist attack on U.S....the collapse of U.S. bonds and dollar...these are upsetting.
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At the beginning of Iraq war, Fergusson advocated American Empire! Then he moved to U.S. and met actual Americans.

 
VIRGINITY PLEDGE NO HELP WITH STDs: Young people who make this public pledge have just as bad rates of STDs as other youths.

Explanation is easy: SUCCESSFUL abstinence is 100% effective,in preventing pregnancy and disease.But a youth can't just decide to SUCCEED at abstinence; he can decide only to TRY to abstain.

And attempted abstinence is very difficult, so it in no way guarantees prevention. In fact, attempters at abstinence, when they do slip, probably don't use condoms.

Also, it's said that they go for oral OR ANAL SEX ! So of course the danger is magnified.

Also, they'd be more ashamed of disease, and less likely to get it quickly treated. TorontoGlobe&Mail
These youths are being manipulated by a coalition of fanatics and cynical politicians. (I've said all this before; I repeat it here to tie in with this new study.)

 
SHRINKING COALITION: 38 nations have contributed troops in Iraq at one time or another. Only 24 now have troops there, and five of these are in the process of withdrawing. GUARDIAN

"Fuck the world!" say Bushie fans here. And the world says, "Fuck you!" back.

The Mideast oil-sultans have us at their mercy. And in the rest of the world, U.S. brands are losing their glamour, as Bush's America looks nastier AND LESS COMPETENT.

Our exports are less and less proportionate to our extravagant imports.
-----------
Honcho of InternatlMonetaryFund says that oil will stay expensive for at least 2 years. Boston.Com

U.S. Bushie SUV drivers will have to realize that this is part of 'the price of Freedom.'

 
KURDS YIELD? A top Kurdish honcho said a) that the government will be picked soon, with requisite 2/3ds vote;
b) that the fate of Kirkuk will be decided later.
CNN
Earlier, the Kurds were demanding that Kirkuk be ceded to them BEFORE they would help form a government.
Maybe they have finally realized that the Shiites would be rational to give up on an 'all/Iraq' government, forming their own Shiite ministate in the South, like that of Kurdland inthe North. So the Kurds don't have that much bargaining power now.

 
EUROPE'S POPULATION WILL SHRINK: and the ratio of young workers to old pensioners will worsen. INDEPENDENT

So what? A huge number of bright, educated Indians and Chinese will be available to Europe as workers, through outsourcing--the top 1% of 1 billion Indians is 10 million disciplined, intelligent workers.

And 'productivity' will surge, i.e., capabilities of robots and computers.

So there will be no problem of producing enough 'value' to support the oldies--IF the rich owners of the computer/robots and the firms doing the outsourcing SHARE the new wealth.

That's the problem; the wealthy are seizing ever higher a proportion of the wealth created. And that would happen even if Europeans bred like rabbits.

In fact, if they did, then there'd be more misery--as there will be in prolific (from immigrant-births) America.

 
UKRAINE SOLD 14 MISSILES TO IRAN in 2001.
They are designed to carry nukes (which Iran doesn't have, yet) and they can reach Israel. FinTimes

They don't have to carry nukes; they could carry gas.
And of course they can reach our GIs in Iraq.

It's hard to see how Israel or U.S. would be rational to attack Iran. Besides, both need imported oil, and Iran could wreck world oil market--still further!

But still...

 
ATTACKS STEPPED UP: Shiite & Kurd negotiators keep talking about a 'deal coming up'.But ordinary Iraqis say that with the political vaccuum, insurgent attacks are 'stepping up'.REUTERS
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2 bombs hit a U.S. convoy Friday; another pipeline exploded. TorontoGlobeAndMail,18MAR.

 
IRAQIS DISCOURAGED: Sampled opinions from Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis show most Iraqis cynical about the new assembly: "the pols are just fighting over ministries."/"Whatever the Americans want is what will happen."/from Kurds: "The pols should come home and form a separate nation."
from NYTIMES, cited by GuerillaNews

 
THE WRETCHED HUMVEE: 6 GIs wounded Thursday; the armored vest protects their torsos, so they don't die;but their arms, legs and heads (eyes, face, brain) are not protected.
Humvees turn over. 39 dead last year, 14 already this year. Instead of sending over humvees properly armed, they ''patch up' humvees with armor, putting them off-balance.

They can't afford to do it right. Pentagon gets only $1200 MILLIONS per DAY.

 
'MORNING-AFTER PILL' TO BE OKd by FDA to be sold without prescription (as it has been for years in Britain.)WashPost

Surprise? not really..the wealthy now realize that ordinary Americans are superfluous, redundant.Automation plus outsourcing means they don't need U.S. workers.

And the new infantry-robots coming on line mean they no longer need ordinary Americans even as CANNON-FODDER!

Of course in Catholic hospitals, rape victims can't even be told about this magic pill !

 
IRAQIS WANT US OUT! A correspondent in Iraq from the beginning says that 85% of Iraqis want us out as soon as possible. TRUTHOUT

59% of Americans want us out this year.

But no--Bush says we'll stay in. He once said we'd stay in until new Iraq militia CAN DEFEND COUNTRY ALSO AGAINST FOREIGNERS! (Two days after Messiah arrives.)

In other words, he plans permanent bases in Iraq, at whatever cost to them , to our GIs, and to our budget.

 
THE GLASGOW 'HOWLER MONKEY' SOLUTION TO ETHNIC TENSIONS:
19th-cent.Glasgow was top ship-builder in world. They needed slaves, so they imported Catholic Irish, who were treated like slaves. But they bred and bred, and now are about half the pop. in Glasgow.Now everyone suffers in Gl. from unemployment. Protestants are called "Scots-Irish'; Catholics in Gl. are called 'Scirish'.

Gl. has 2 soccer teams ('football') as prominent as Broncos here.The Protestant team is the Rangers and the Catholic team (of course) is the Celtics.

I was in Gl.U's phil.dept for a year. The chair, Pat Shaw, though a Prod, was a Celtics fan. He talked me into going to one C/R game.We were searched for weapons, of course; then we stood, not sat.

In 1639, Catholic King JamesII lost his last battle, in Ireland, to Wm.of Orange.The Celtic fans wore a button: "1639: we want a rematch." (They'd probably lose again!)

[Losers are the ones who care about history. A Denver boy told me that until he went to college, he thought 17th-century OLIVER CROMWELL was a contemporary. His Irish father hated him as if he were still alive.]

Ranger fans carried 'Pope on a rope' in soap.
All over Scotland you see graffiti: 'FUCK THE POPE!' (They're the only ones in Europe who take the Pope that seriously.)

In men's room at the Univ. I saw a carefully printed retort: "FUCK THE MODERATOR OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND!" (c'MON--such a dignitary is unfuckable.)

[My wife's great grandfather was a Prot. baker in Glasgow. He fell for a Kitty O'Meara. He had to raise the kids Catholic, but he knew bigoted Glasgow wasn't the place. So, during the FAMINE, he emigrated to Ireland! (Cheap passage going that way.)Actually he was such a good baker he knew he could earn a living even in Ireland, which he did.]

Anyway, at the C/R game, the Prods sang a song promising that they would 'wade again in Fenian blood!" (Fenians were 19th-century Irish nationalists.)

Catholics sang (to a familiar tune: 'Roamin' in the Gloamin':
I'M ROAMIN' IN THE GLOAMIN'
WITH A SHAMROCK IN MY HAND;
I'M ROAMIN' IN THE GLOAMIN'
WITH THE NOBLE FENIAN BAND.
AND WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS--
(shouted) FUCK KING BILLY AND JOHN KNOX!
(sung again):
GEE, IT'S GREAT TO BE--
YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE--
I JUST LOVE TO BE A ROMAN CATH'LIK!

Howler monkeys scream at each other in different trees. So they don't have to fight.
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Each Glasgow sect holds the other in genial contempt. They fight with beer bottles, but they DON'T KILL EACH OTHER!I think Glasgow is the ideal model for ethnic conflict.
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Another memory: The Pope actually visited a suburb of Glasgow. (J.P.II fears nothing!) Whereupon in Easterhouse, the worst slum, a huge banner was hung up:
NO POPE IN EASTERHOUSE!

Right underneath, another banner said simply,
LUCKY POPE!

 
BUSH WILL MAKE PEACE IN IRELAND? He's already the one unifying force between Ulster & Eire: they both loathe him.

U.S. troops were supposed to stopover at Shannon Airport (in Eire). Sabotage forced them to give up that idea.

In Ulster, Bush couldn't land at regular airport (from fears for his safety). He had to land at a special army airport.

 
TORTURE, VIOLENCE MAKES FAIR ELECTION IMPOSSIBLE IN ZIMBABWE. GUARDIAN,17mAR

That's what the Sunnis said about Iraq!

 
U.S.GIs WILL CONTINUE TO BE KILLED, MAIMED, WOUNDED.

While 59% of Americans want troops out this year, general says, "Not until 2006-2008!" (in other words, not until next Pres. election!) GUARDIAN,17Mar

 
BULGARIA PULLING OUT OF IRAQ: 70% of Bulgarian people oppose the Iraq war; yet its govt. has kept 450 troops there.(8 have been killed, the most recent one by Americans!)
Now the govt. is talking of pulling out. REUTERS

On the other hand, Berlusconi is backing out of his commitment to pull out Italian troops. (Practically all Italians oppose the war--especially after U.S. troops killed an Italian hero, then lied about it.) We'll see if Italians let him get away with this.

 
'For the first time in a long time, a U.S. President is doing what he said he'd do!" enthuses an editorial.

Actually, Attila the hun also did what he said he'd do. But he left no legacy behind him except destruction.

 
MORE HANSON DRIVEL: V.D, Hanson, attacking critics of Iraq war, sinks to new rhetorical lows (in RMtnNews17Mar; link not possible).

--He resorts to blatant AD HOMINEM attacks, pointing out that prominent critic George Soros made a mint by betting against the Bank of England..naughty George.Also, Michael Moore lives 'the high life' while attacking the society that has made him rich.
Even if war-critics were villains, that in no way shows their position is wrong.

(On the other hand, the fact that war-defenders may want in--like Haliburton--on what was just called 'possibly the biggest corruption scandal in history' in our Iraq--that doesn't by itself show that defending the war is erroneous.)

--Hanson pretends that any criticism of the crazy Bush-team is an attack on 'America'. But a majority of Americans now see that the Iraq was was 'not worth it', and want us out of there this year. 7 in 10 say our casualties there are 'unacceptable'.

--Hanson points out that the critics of the war are mostly among our 'upper-middle-class' citizens. That may be because they are the most educated Americans, yet not rich enough to share in the war-bonanza ($1200 MILLIONS per DAY goes to the Pentagon, to share with its pet billionaires.)

The 45% of Americans who still think the war was 'worth it' likely corresponds to the moronic 44% who still think some of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis!

--John Kerry is criticized for calling Allawi a U.S. puppet, forgetting that his backers spent $300,000 lobbying in D.C.--not in Iraq--to get him appointed as prime minister.

-- It's not that we war-critics want 'us' to fail in the MiddleEast..what we want is that the inevitable Bushie failure become quickly obvious to everyone.

It's not that we don't care about the welfare of Iraqis--but if this adventure did succeed, the Bushies have other plans to pursue what they call 'WorldWarIV' (mainly against the enemies of Israel): they'd love to attack Iran, Syria, Egypt, SaudiArabia, North Korea and Venezuela! When Bushies fall on their nose in Iraq, some people in D.C. might sober up.

We also think that U.S. troops, with their crude and cruel tactics are doing more harm than good in Iraq. One of our puppet officials just said that in the latter half of '04, Americans killed three times more Iraqis than guerillas did.

Such slaughter is not just wicked, it's dumb: the enraged relatives of our victims are easily enrolled among the guerillas. So we want our troops out of there as soon as possible.

 
SHOCKED BUT NOT SURPRISED: The GOP Congress is rushing through an incredible budget: taking away funds for ordinary Americans and the poor, and shovelling more money to Pentagon and the wealthy.

What Bushies are showing to the world: you can have the CEREMONY of voting, and still dupe the ordinary saps into voting for pols who work only for the powerful.

 
ABOUT OUR 'TRADE' DEFICIT: In 4thqtr'04, it plummeted lower than ever.Partly because imported oil got more expensive (partly because of Bush bluster about attacking Iran.) FinTimes
But notice: a) that nobody expects our oil-imports to go down.U.S. drivers are nutty as ever.Also, Pentagon is burning up a huge amount of oil, with 2 pointless wars continuing.Also, nobody tells how much non-oil imports the Pentagon is causing!

b) Our exports are NOT rising proportionately, even with dollar sinking (which ought to make our--cheaper--exports more desirable overseas.)

 
"(U.S. CONTROLLED) IRAQ COULD BE BIGGEST CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN HISTORY!" says head of Internatl. anti-corruption watchdog agency.
FinTimes

U.S. media harped on how UN officials, before U.S. takeover, profited from Saddam bribes in 'oil-for-food' programs. But not much was said about the $8 THOUSAND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS from the same program that disappeared without accounting after U.S. took over.

 
IRAQ ASSEMBLY COMES TOGETHER Wed.for only 1 hour; nothing accomplished but oath-taking.

Yesterday there was talk that Shiites/Kurds might agree enough to form a govt.But not today.

Despite maximum security in super-protected 'GreenZone', mortar shells exploded only a few hundred yards away. Allawi (unpopular present leader, puppet of U.S.) said 'we have prevailed against the insurgents on many occasions.' (They have prevailed on many, many occasions!)

Allawi will stay in power for now, signifying to Iraqis that they risked their lives in voting--so far, for nothing. NYTIMES,16mar
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"FINALLY, IRAQ HAS A GOVERNMENT!" said a headline in TIME magazine. Not so fast, Charlie.