March, 2008 archive
Cause–>Effect, Reprise 1
A while ago, I explained how conservatism is morally and intellectually bankrupt, pointing out that, when conservative policies fail, conservatives claim that X (the policy-maker waving their flag) must not be a “true conservative” and therefore must be responsible for the failure.
Comes now a true believer to demonstrate a corollary to that postulate (not a theory, a postulate, that is, a fundamental truth from which flows the remainder of reasoning):
When conservative polices fail, it is not because they were wrong, well, from the git-go, but because they were betrayed by Bad People who, ergo, must not be “true conservatives.”
Douglas Feith, one of the architects of the of the War in Iraq, has delivered himself of a mighty tome in which, according to news reports, he blames everyone except Donald Rumsfeld and, natch, himself, for the debacle in Iraqcle.
These people never made a mistake for which they took responsibility.
In the world of conservative ideology, the failure of their polices is always someone else’s fault, because they are always right; they are never wrong.
Just ask them.
Among the disclosures made by Feith in “War and Decision,” scheduled for release next month by HarperCollins, is Bush’s declaration, at a Dec. 18, 2002, National Security Council meeting, that “war is inevitable.” The statement came weeks before U.N. weapons inspectors reported their initial findings on Iraq and months before Bush delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Feith, who says he took notes at the meeting, registered it as a “momentous comment.”
Although he acknowledges “serious errors” in intelligence, policy and operational plans surrounding the invasion, Feith blames them on others outside the Pentagon and notes that “even the best planning” cannot avoid all problems in wartime. While he says the decision to invade was correct, he judges that the task of creating a viable and stable Iraqi government was poorly executed and remains “grimly incomplete.”
Contemporary conservatism is not an ideology. It’s a circle of jerks.
Darlington 1
(For the NASCAR challenged, Darlington is a race track.)
I was listening to yesterday’s Talk of the Nation, which had its regular Wednesday “Political Junkie” feature.
One of the callers asked an interesting question.
She pointed out that, in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, supporters of the Clinton campaign have brought up race three times.
Supporters of the Obama campaign have not brought it up (except in response to comments from the other side).
Her question was (paraphrased, because I’m not going to listen to the entire podcast over again once more redundantly just to get an exact quote), “What does that tell you?”
Well, indeed, what does that tell you?
Primary Redux 0
Phillybits sums it up.
Campaign Round-Up 0
Josh Marshall:
Not Only Is Experience Not Everything, It’s Just, Well, Not 0
I’m behind on my Fact Check dot org postings since my server crash, but I’m catching up with this one. Follow the link for the full analysis (emphasis added to highlight hypocrisy inconsistency:
- Clinton claims to have “negotiated open borders” in Macedonia to fleeing Kosovar refugees. But the Macedonian border opened a full day before she arrived, and her meetings with Macedonian officials were too brief to allow for much serious negotiating.
- Clinton’s activities “helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.” Irish officials are divided as to how helpful Clinton’s actions were, and key players agree that she was not directly involved in any actual negotiations.
- Clinton has repeatedly referenced her “dangerous” trip to Bosnia. She fails to mention, however, that the Bosnian war had officially ended three months before her visit – or that she made the trip with her 16-year-old daughter and two entertainers.
- Both Bill and Hillary Clinton claim that Hillary privately championed the use of U.S. troops to stop the genocide in Rwanda. That conversation left no public record, however, as U.S. policy was explicitly to stay out of Rwanda, and officials say that the use of U.S. troops was never considered.
- Clinton’s tough speech on human rights delivered to a Beijing audience is as advertised, though Clinton herself has been dismissive of speeches that aren’t backed by solutions.
Bushonomics 0
At the pump, gas prices surged 2.1 cents overnight to a record national average of $3.267 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices are likely to rise much higher this spring; estimates range from about $3.50 a gallon in the Energy Department’s latest forecast to $3.75 or even $4 a gallon according to some analysts.
Remember that, at the start of the War in Iraq (which the Great Minds in the Current Federal Administration claimed would be paid for by Iraqi oil), oil was running at about $25 a barrel.
Meanwhile, CEOs take their toll:
The Horsham-based builder of luxury homes did not disclose how many votes came out in favor of the plan. But a shareholder activist group said executives disclosed at the shareholders meeting that it was at least 50 percent. Media were barred from attending the event.
CEO Robert Toll didn’t get a bonus for 2007 as the housing market slumped. But under the new CEO bonus plan, the company said, he would have received $6.56 million.
The CEO bonus plan “pays him simply for existing,” said Jennifer O’Dell, deputy director of corporate affairs for the Laborers’ International Union of North America, a union whose pension funds own at least 200,000 shares of Toll Brothers. “You should pay CEOs for performance.”
It Is Difficult Not To View This News with Glee 0
I would say he fit right in. After all, one is known by the company one keeps.
But, you know, every dollar the NRCC lost is another dollar they cannot devote to further undermining the Constitution of the United States of America and to making the rich, richer and the poor, poorer.
The fellow should have a nice future at KBR.
The NRCC launched an internal probe and contacted the FBI in January after learning that Ward “apparently fabricated and submitted 2006 financial statements to the NRCC’s bank,” according to a memo issued by the committee today. Some details of the probe have been reported previously, but today’s memo and press briefing by a lawyer retained by the committee marked the fullest public accounting so far of the unfolding scandal.
Compact Flourescent Bulbs Prevent Waste 0
They do!
I bought three of them six months ago, and I haven’t had an incandescent bulb burn out since!
Wheels 0
Put down that Transformer and back away slowly:
He started decorating his 2007 Ford Mustang last summer to look like the police cruiser in the “Transformers” movie because his 7-year-old son, Thomas, was fond of the film.
“My intent was to re-create the movie car,” said Vigil, a 35-year-old disabled veteran from the war in Iraq. “When I came back from Iraq, I tried to spoil him. I wasn’t the best dad before.”
He said he called the district attorney’s office beforehand and spoke to Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Ulibarri, who tried to discourage his decorating scheme but couldn’t find anything in the law that would stop Vigil as long as he didn’t impersonate an officer.
A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation 1
Some persons who either do not know or who choose to lie about the history of the United States of America are fond of saying that the United States was founded as a Christian nation.
It was not. The only excuse for making such a comment is ignorance. The only reason for making such a comment, knowing that it is false, is perfidy.
Check out this interview with Steven Waldman, founder of Beliefnet, who has recently written a book on America’s religious history.
Spitzer (Updated) 0
No, I’m not going to comment on Elliot Spitzer’s problems. (He’s not the first, won’t be the last, but at least it wasn’t in a restroom with a strange guy or a Senate page.)
Today, though, I listened to yesterday’s Talk of the Nation (I love my mp3 player), which had an excellent episode on “Why do rich smart powerful people do such stupid things”?
It’s worth a listen, particularly the segment with Peter Sagal. From the website:
Sagal wanted to get a perspective on the indulgences of others and report back to the rest of us.
In light of Monday’s surprising allegations that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was involved in a prosecution ring, Sagal weighs in on the correlation between power and vice.
“It goes back in history that powerful people get to break sexual rules,” Sagal says — those in power are “immune from the sexual rules that bind down the poor rest of us.”
Addendum, Later That Same Evening:
I said I wasn’t going to comment on Spitzer directly.
But am going to point you to Jon Swift, who comments incisively and lengthily (and, when you consider what those two words mean, to combine them in one essay is, actually, a heck of an accomplishment):
Excerpt:
Drumbeats 0
There was a lot speculation in Left Blogosphere that Admiral Fallon’s resignation was a prelude to more war from the Bushie War Machine.
(Interestingly enough, many of the same Left Blogospheristas speculated, when the good Admiral was appointed, that his appointment signaled preparations for carrier-based air assaults on Iran, since he was an Admiral of the Navy, rather than a General of the Army. Here is one such speculation.)
Dan Froomkin has a thorough analysis of the situation and the possibilities and reaches the following conclusion on the fourth page of his post today:
It’s still not really beyond Bush and Cheney to order a full-scale preemptive attack on Iran. But the more likely scenario is that there will be an asymmetrical U.S. response to a (possibly trumped up) Iranian provocation. And the most likely scenario is that the U.S. will encourage (or certainly not oppose) an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities — which in turn would lead the U.S. to come to Israel’s defense should Iran strike back.
I suspect he nailed it. The War Mongers in the Current Federal Administration know that they can’t market another war. So, if they have the opportunity, they will happily resort to trickery.
Because they like war.
(And, I suspect that, since none of them have been personally touched by it, they think it’s more like this than like this. It’s something that happens to other people. Like my son.)
Just as they like torture.
Sing we all together now: “Gulf of Tonkin.”
Here is William Arkin’s take on the situation.
Roll of Infamy 0
The list of those who voted against overriding the veto of the Torquemada Bill.
Let us hope there is water in their future.
