Blood Storm: Re-making Babel 30 May 2007
Posted by marisacat in Beirut, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, WAR!.trackback
[F]atah al-Islam is comprised of Sunni radicals who were recruited from the other Gulf States to counterbalance Hezbollah. Now, it appears, they have outlived their usefulness and the Lebanese warlords have decided to eliminate them.
According to independent journalist Franklin Lamb, who is reporting from the battered Bedawi refugee camp, the charges against the group are purely fabricated. “There was no bank robbery” and “no heads were cut off”. The allegations in the western press were merely a pretext for restarting the fighting. The siege of Nahr al-Bared is probably just Phase 2 of Israel’s 34 Day War— a conflict in which “Israel’s air force, armed with U.S.-manufactured and -fueled F-16s, went on a rampage with more than 14 combat missions every single hour of the war, destroying, among other things, 73 bridges, 400 miles of roads, 25 gas stations, 900 commercial structures, two hospitals, 350 schools and 15,000 Lebanese homes.” (Dahr Jamail)
The US-Israeli goals in Lebanon have never really changed. Israel wants a reliable client to its North and access to Lebanon’s water supplies. They also want to crush their main enemy, Hezbollah, the Shiite resistance organization which has routed the IDF twice in the last 15 years.
Bush, on the other hand, is trying to destabilize the entire region using the madcap neocon strategy of “creative destruction”. He thinks that if he can erase the traditional borders and create a fragmented Middle East, the transnational corporations will be able to control the region’s vast resources.
Washington’s allies in Beirut like the idea, too. Walid Jumblat, Sa’ad Hariri and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora”all believe that the outbreak of violence will only strengthen them politically.
More:
According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Diyar:
“NATO has decided to join the Lebanese territories to North-African & African coast military region, to establish Military airbases”. … .
“American-German-Turkish military delegation toured and surveyed Akkar region, reported to the NATO headquarter in Brussels, mentioning that the military bases will contribute to the development and the economic recovery in the region, advising the government to focus on the financial aspect and positive reflection on the population of the region, giving the bases a name “Lebanese Army and Security training centre”.
So, it looks like northern Lebanon has been chosen as the site for further NATO expansion in the Middle East. That means that NATO-planners must have agreed on a credible justification for evacuating the people who presently occupy the land. That’s where Fatah al Islam comes in.
The hobgoblin of terrorism always provides the perfect excuse for state sanctioned violence—in this case the group is being used to conceal a massive ethnic cleansing operation.
Somewhere in the middle of the article Whitney includes these lines:
“If you want to reconstruct a country, you need to eliminate its people and start anew right?
Like restoring the virginity to the land so you can build better and stronger fortresses. A brand new Iraq with a brand new population. A total Babel makeover.
You know, like the ones you see on these American TV reality shows. Revamped, relooked, redone…beyond recognition”.
(Layla Anwar, “Aliens in Babel” An Arab Woman’s Blues)
*****************************************************
Counterpunch has the Franklin Lamb article mentioned in the Whitney piece above, as well… he is unsure the camp will be fully destroyed, but really, does it matter:
[W]ho will not benefit from the building boom will be the 40,000+ Palestinians from Nahr al-Bared which is literally next door to the anticipated project These refugees, who were driven from their homes a in Palestine in 1948 and 1967, from Telezatter by the Phalanges in 1975, and others who came as a result of Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996, and 2006, will gain no work from Kleiaat.
The reason is that the 70 top trades and professions in Lebanon are denied to the Palestinians under Lebanese law.
Even if the 20,000 Palestinians displaced by the current conflict with Fatah al-Islam are allowed to return, which I expect will be the case, and even if Palestinian fears that the Camps will be demolished are unrealized, as I believe, they will remain destitute, according to UNWRA who considers 10,000 of them ‘special hardship cases”.
As reported by the NATO headquarters in Brussels, as well as by residents in Bibnin Akkar on May 28, 2007, an American-German-Turkish military delegation toured and surveyed Akkar region. US Embassy ‘staff’ have reportedly visited Kleiaat airport earlier this year to look over the site. David Welch also had a quick look at the site during his recent visit.
A Lebanese journalist who opposes the base commented on May 28, 2007,
“The Bush administration has been warning Lebanon about the presence of Al Qaeda teams in northern Lebanon. And the base is needed to deal with this threat. Low and behold, a new “terrorist group” called Fatah al-Islam appears near Kleiaat at al-Bared camp“.
******************************************
5 GIs killed in Afghan chopper downing
In Hebrew ‘Ba’ means father and ‘Bel’. It is argued that Babel would be the name for ‘The city of God’. It is an interesting confusion in language that now it means babble – a confusion of language.
Derrida actually argues that the tale of Babel signifies a striking down by God of the effort toward ethnic purity [symbolized by the tower] – because ‘the city of God’ is actually common to all languages – all tribes…
An interesting reading. Not quite sure how it’s pertinent to the current situation, but could resonate on either side of the current expropriation of land.
That should read ‘Bel’ means lord [the Babylonian God].
Jam-fuse, that is a great song in the last thread – send it in to Hillary – she’s holding a contest for what song she should use for her campaign.
Mitm, from the last thread also, thanks for the quotes re ‘why they stay’.
SV, funny stuff from Barry on the NY subways ….
Ms xeno, you have been vindicated, over and over again, re the two party system. I know I was among those who hoped that Dems would be better, so had we met back then, I would have known you were probably right, but it was too awful a concept, (that there was no hope to stop this administration) to contemplate so like so many others, I went along with increasing misgivings each time, until they finally won in 2006. Now, there is no doubt left that you were 100% right.
Oh, and we have a venue for Yrly Vags but true, we do need funding. Kos didn’t get a great reception for his SF fundraiser. He actually came into the thread to challenge someone who said we need to reach a point where we do not need fundraisers. Lol, it is so obvious that dk is all about money.
As for the anger subsiding from last week, I don’t think it has. If you look at those who are attempting to keep the Dem myth alive, it is always the same people. As for MB’s little poll (no doubt they are desperate) it’s exactly what people have said, there is a total of about 2,000 people who will donate on that site now. Not much considering it is THE ‘Liberal’ site on the internet according to the media.
As for their little attractions, they should never have banned Miss D who is a genius when it comes to marketing ideas. We are so lucky they did though!
yvw, Sabrina. I picked up “His Dark Materials” looking for a good time-gobbling fantasy series, and happily found some like-minded social commentary (the bad guys are a pleasant surprise). Highly recommended.
oops, “bad guys” is the link … I can’t type tonight.
I burst out laughing at this great comment in a BDT thread at TL.
I love that his rep was so effing mindless as to write the truth, one line from her letter to her/him:
I would not have voted for this measure if I thought it meant the war would end soon.
the commenter posts the entire letter.
And I was already pretty amused by this from Drahma Tent in his post:
So, like, you were never interested in pushing the program at Dkos? LOL He just went along to get along?
Cuz you know the war is 5 fucking years old. among other things.
I felt truly embarassed for whoever thought up their “Beast of the Show” fundraiser: you take a poll as to what our favorite animal is and send $5. It’s a notch above a creepy person panhandling.
wow, big tent donklephant sounds like a pale version of things I was posting three years ago.
well imo part of what is going on is same old same old, talk aobut “caging votes” (great framing!), they are caging up dissent.
Keep it to the periphery of the core. Core being Daddy Kos and aligned cages.
Miss D, I haven’t heard of ‘Beast of the Show’ – lol! I’m still absorbing Lanyards!
Maybe, since dk is so into being pragmatic and all, we should offer them our services, which they would have to admit are far superior to anything they’ve come up with so far, and then use the money to fund Yrly Vags?
Then again, we here do have principles. Still, we could always delude ourselves, as they do, into pretending that taking ‘dirty money’ is a fine progressive principle since it will be used for a good cause! I always have to laugh when they drag out that excuse for anyone who asks about kos’ practice of taking blood money to fund his lifestyle.
This Texas Blue person is a piece of work. He/she is the same person who bitched at inday Sheehan in her resignation diary. She responded to him/her there by saying that her children are in their 20s, support her efforts, have their education paid for and that she used every “available” cent she had for her cause. But that wasn’t good enough for this pondscum:
What the hell is wrong with people like Texas Blue?
And a big FUCK YOU to you too. She didn’t undermine her sacrifice. Assholes like you try to though – every chance you get.
(Sorry for the little outburst. The holier-than-thou attitudes drive me nuts.)
From the diary about Cynthia McKinney running for president as a Green Party candidate. The usual haters are there, along with Meteor Blades who fails, once again, to stand up for a true progressive. The hatred for these women, McKinney and Cindy Sheehan, who stood up to Bush from the beginning and have been right about almost everything they claimed, among DK enforcers is sickening.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/30/142419/681
This is hilarious from Luscious Vagina ….. so, the Greens lost their soal because they accepted Republican money. Lol, but, kos says accepting Republican money is a great strategy. I suppose the Greens using the same strategy is somehow different? More DK twisted logic.
LOL If they are not pushing the poor [asin, how much they helped] they are pushing the peace.
gagworthy
Long piece, they quote Silverstein of Harper’s, Dixon of BAR and Cynthia McKinney.
Of course Andy sits on the board of a Blahg benefactor (prizes and parties and receptions for Kos and Glenn Greenwald) Drum Major Institute (DMI) among other things…
So the slams are saved for CMcK… not for Andy:
someone emailed the link (thanks)
Her youngest child is in her last quarter at UC Davis. The other two are out and owrking. One is a professional of some sort here in SF iirc and the other daughter is a massage therapist.
From the last thread:
The Collage Diety must be appeased.
Oh and Miss D, don’t be taking off because, in the words of Jerry Maguire: “You complete me”.
(sorry…lol)
If the Greens lost credibility it was that nader did not join the party and he re wrote the platform. The national one, iirc.
Platforms may be a joke but if you write them a committe from the party should do it. It may not be much but Kucinich people hung in there in 04 and worked on the platform.
#14. Who is this “Mia Dolan” who keeps recommending those crap comments?
Yes Miss D, glad to see you commenting.
=^..^=
(cat courtesy of ms xeno)
somebody who read the site in 2006 will be needed for Mia Dolan….
anyone?
well, like I frequently have to say “the name is familiar, but I don’t associate it with any particular qualities”
whereas, I immediately remembered catnip as the “brazen hussy” from a few exchanges in 2004.
Mia Dolan is probably a “former” Republican (I hate even to use the word “former” with these people). She shows up in every Nader diary and trashes Nader and generally trashes leftists and progressives in general. She’s as bad as some of the worst Israel apologists in terms of the hate speech she uses, she gets called on it occasionally, but less and less, I noticed in the last months.
She’s a huge Dem apologist over there. Party line all the way. The racism in that McKinney for Green diary was horrifying. PhillyGal, also a republican. And like it said above, Meteor Blades sitting on his ass in there doing NOTHING to defend a true progressive.
Suicide in Gitmo.
If you can’t torture them to death physically, might as well do it psychologically. No doubt some Pentagon wingnut will call this a “publicity stunt’.
Marisacat,
I’m not sure who Mia Dolan is (that might be her real name), but I read some of her comments last year. Any time someone said anything to defend the Green Party, she would try to abuse them into silence. Her entire argument consisted of insults and profanities. She struck me as the dumbest, the crassest, and the most vicious of all of the Orange Guards.
I made a point of posting a link yesterday that the kidnap target ws a BearingPoint “employee” (BP’s word)…
If you scroll down about an inch at thsi site, a load of info on BP. From an Electronic Iraq article to masses of info on BP
In 2003/4 (I might be off a year) a group or several groups declared they would kidnap and kill leaders, executives of firms critical to the war. I remember one ws an executive of one of one of the manufacturers of a gunship used in Iraq, killed in Egypt iirc.
When I heard of this kidnap it seemed, up and running (still or again).
whereas, I immediately remembered catnip as the “brazen hussy” from a few exchanges in 2004.
You sure had me pegged!
thanks etm and VAGreen….
am I right in remembering that MDolan claims to be from GA, so she can trash McK with impunity?
Oh yeah PhillyGal was a Reagan voter, I remember tha well.
I ordered the Welsh rarebit, dammit!:
“LONDON – A British artist has eaten chunks of a corgi dog, the breed favored by Queen Elizabeth II, live on radio to protest the royal family’s treatment of animals.” (Reuters via MSNBC)
irresistable dumb joke du jour.
Who is this “Mia Dolan” who keeps recommending those crap comments?
She is a piece of chicken fried shit from Georgia. My interactions with her have been mainly in threads when the subject of Cynthia McKinney (or the Georgia Democratic party) comes up and the Deliverance wing of Daily Kos arrives.. Mia appears to be mentally handicapped and very stubborn. For instance she places the entire responsibility for the failure of the Dems to impeach George Bush on the shoulders of Cynthia McKinney and becomes quite abusive when one attempts to reason with her.
I really appreciate Mia Dolan because she exemplifies what is wrong with the Democratic party in GA (and the rest of the deep south).It’s run by very racist white trash.
“The Green Party lost all credibility in 2000 (1+ / 0-)
Recommended by:Mia Dolan
when they ran Nader. They lost their soul in 2004 and 2006, when they accepted Republican money.
What else is left?
In order to find his equal an Irishman is forced to talk to God.
by Lucius Vorenus on Wed May 30, 2007 at 12:43:36 PM PDT”
Nader…was…not…our…candidate…in…2004. Try doing a little research on a topic before taking such strong opinions on it.
Carl Romanelli took money from Republicans to get on the ballot in 2006, because no minor party in Pennsylvania could get anywhere close to the ridiculous 67,000 signatures needed for a statewide petition drive. From this single data point, we are supposed to extrapolate that the ENTIRE Green Party is compromised by Republican money? This guy went to law school?
well the law school was very third tier… I forget now which one.
LOL I only found out when I posted his picture (with no name or moniker or law firm identified, but I did call it the face of Tammany Hall, LOL) and they went crazy that he had failed the DE bar three time.
Maybe PA has an easy test.
LOL
Catnip is a brazen hussy, but sadly, she is not the only one! Lol! is there a name for males who are brazen btw?
The ACLU filed a lawsuit today on behalf of several people who were tortured by the US today. Not a word from Democrats on passing laws immediately that make the use of torture a felony. Abu Gonzales is still the AG. There is no move to impeach him.
Mitm, it is funny to see Armando taking the position of those he so disagreed with in the past. But what will he do when he has to choose a candidate (after the primaries)?
Re Mia Dolan, she is a certified nutcase and hater. She shows up like a moth to a flame in any diary that mentions Cynthia McKinney, eg, and spews Republican talking points, along with foul language and personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with her.
She survives despite being a genuine troll, as do all rightwingers on that site, while decent progressives like Thistime eg, are banned. I had many run-ins with her when I first encountered her – she is a vile human being if you can judge anyone by their online persona. It’s interesting that she has never been reprimanded by the troll kops.
Opol has a nice diary on Cindy Sheehan on the rec. list. He is clearly being left alone now. None of the usual Liberal haters have been in his diaries for a while ….. we will know that things are getting really bad if they make him a FPer next year. Last year when he was nominated by many people, the MissLauras et al nearly had collective heart attacks. DHinMi and Hunter will have to be tranquilized if it comes to a point where such a ‘pragmatic’ move becomes necessary to hold on to the liberals before the election.
Too bad to think that he probably would accept it were it offered to him.
While I was at the Berkowitz articles at Media Transparency I saw this… Funny how Luntz sounds so much like Adam B (or any of a handful, he just was up selling Santorum):
Thanks for the info about Mia Dolan. She’s obviously on a mission. No wonder she’s in lust with the thugs.
WTF??
I am actually reading the article, partly to find if they mention our esteemed mayor, Newsome. We completely cut out GA, General Assistance (I don’t know what they call it different places) whihc is a small cash stipend from a county (in our case City and Co of San Francisco) for people who have NOTHING. No welfare, no disability, no unemployment insurance, etc. it is roughly around 400.00.
One reason I have always opposed him… other than he is a shit and bona fide DLC (back when they still were public aobu their lists, he was one of the “up and coming DLCers”, LOL)
He has run on it for years, called Care Not Cash. After a court declared it unconstitutional in part he had to revamp it.
Funny how Luntz sounds so much like Adam B
Hilarious. Although most of the DHinMI crowd tout the ‘success’ of welfare deformation. What they mean by ‘success’ is the successful marginalization and demonization of women trying to raise one or more children by themselves with no help from anyone. The demonization of single mothers allowed our society to deny any sense of responsibility for them or their children. Not even the father is held responsible.
The new enemy of society, is ‘illegals’. Now that fat, smug little shits like AdamB and Carlos jacinto have ‘successfully’ sold single mothers as the demographic responsible for high taxes and high crime rates (and may they rot in hell for that) the new scapegoat is ‘illegals’. One of the reasons I believe that this culture and all it’s major institutions deserve nothing but contempt is that they blame the most vulnerable and innocent for their greed and their ugliness and their manifold failures. Men like AdamB make me long for real justice.
The cat smiley above reminded me of this interesting thing I read not long ago:
oh, wordpress turned the traditional keystrokes into an ACTUAL smiley, so …
: – )
you get the idea.
No welfare, no disability, no unemployment insurance, etc. it is roughly around 400.00.
The provincial Conservative gov’t here set the welfare rate at $400/mth for a single person eons ago – they’ve been in power for what seems like forever – and is absolutely loathe to increase it. They figure everybody should just get McJobs and try to live on minimum wage in a booming oil economy with a sky high cost of living. Thus we have thousands of homeless people who they don’t give a shit about either.
One of the past ministers in charge of that portfolio actually said he knew all about food banks because he had driven past one and, of course, our former drunk of a premier, Ralph Klein, is now infamous for this stunt:
Welcome to Alberta.
Via The Guardian:
I remember the controversy that erupted when this type of boycott came up in 2005.
Sanctions on Iran. Sanctions on Sudan. Israel has to face some international consequences eventually. Enough is enough.
I have a line I have used for decades about welfare… I guess ever since Reagan… that it is cash, straight into the economy. It is not shipped out to the Caymans, nor socked away. Here, I feel pretty sure it goes directly to Safeway, mostly. They have the most supermarkets in the city and environs between all the labels. Vons, Albertsons, and about 6 others.
For those with cars, ti goes to the big box stores.
But.. in CA the largest lobby, from what I read, is the prison guard lobby. SO it is not going to go well in this state.
The Guardian’s commenters are underwhelmed (to say the least) by Richard Perle’s neocon propaganda – not that he stuck around to read them. The man should be in jail with his other war criminal buddies.
I read an article that all the global Jewish aid agencies championed the sanctions on Darfur. And the single largest one had been lobbying for the sanctions.
I meant to post the article here and it slipped my mind.
Dirty to the elbows in this one. iN league with the christians and with designs for AFRICOM for the US mil.
A few days ago I read an article iwth a graph that showed interest in darfur in the media has fallen off sharply after a high in 2004.
I guess you can only win the rigged “media lottery” for so long.
The Save Darfur campaign said simply that it’s too little, too late. And, of course, it’s no accident that Bush nominated Zoelick(er) – or however you spell his name – to head the world bank since he was heavily involved in dealing with Darfur. It’s all window dressing.
Civilians keep dying in Afghanistan:
The other white war.
if you really want to see mia dolan’s handiwork, check out the diaries on the maryland senate primary in 2006, over at dKos. yeesh. the animus she had for kweisi mfune was boggling, as was that of jiacinto, who like mia, never failed to jump in to bash a black liberal democrat. mckinney got the worst of it, barbara lee the next, and mfune after that.
Holy crap:
Damn intertubes!
Bizarreness ensues at MLW where they can all choose to change their screen names again. Hmmm…
Must read yet another “progressive” thread on Daily Kos…
Plan Parenthood writes about a phrama fundie refusing to dispense ordinary birth control… and the majority of the thread agrees… go someplace else or buy online they say.
progressives my ass.
Perhaps they forget about the the Kerry/Clinton/Sanatorum bill that would have allowed phrama bigotry.
Mr cuntbitchwhore discovers compassion and finds he can turn it into a message about not ditching the Dem party.
Drove me to tears, I tell ya…
(snort)
well I am lsitening to Charlie Rose shore up that shit Wolfowitz.
And you know, the World Bank is ALL about helping the poor.
And Wolfowitz’s great mission at the WB was to help AfricA.
On and on and on and on and on.
it’s Gerth and Van Atta, but this is a several page extract from their book on Hillary in the NYT Mag.
I have it set to the single page version, so think it is around page 2/3/4 but they h ave several grafs on her speeches after 9/11 and before and after the AUMF vote, Oct 10,2002. And Graham, the NIE and so on.
Ghastly ghastly horrible woman.
Forgive my late night lyrics…
For Fred Thompson, Luscious Vagina, Mr. Moriarty and all the other assholes who try our ears with their righteous Catholic feign of morality:
Copyright Kirsten Hersh, 1992
From consciousness to acceptance, to ignorance.
The path we have seen since the original ERA.
The path we have seen since the assasinations.
The path we have seen anything left co-opted by power,
transforms ‘truth’ to power.
WE HAVE A BACK LIKE MARIE
“The path we have seen anything left co-opted by power,
transforms ‘truth’ to power.”
That should read “The path we have seen since anything left has beeen co-opted by power, to transform ‘truth’ to power.
Antiwar to the Corps:
Nice to know that our military brass have so little to do they can waste time on a soldier, supposedly fighting for ‘our freedoms’ actually taking advantage of what he was supposedly fighting for. Too bad they don’t have the time to look into, eg, Walter Reed’s treatment of the wounded.
From the link from Marisacat to the TL armando thread on the war, a comment from Talex, who spends his/her time on dk spewing the same idiocy, and apparently going to TL to try to defend the indefensible:
A fine example of a DK ‘progressive’. At least they are revealing themselves in their desperation to keep the ‘liberals’ they so obviously despise, contributing $$$ to the useless Dems. In another comment he bemoaned the fact that in MB’s poll, half of the respondents said they were abandoning the Dems. Lol! He wants them to keep believing that ‘next time’ it will get better, although better now means staying in Iraq forever.
They need a better representative. Maybe Spineless who wrote the most ridiculous diary about his important job of finding out what people (naturally NOT the base of his own party who don’t count much, but those fundies that DK is so in love with) are thinking.
This is ‘thereisnospoon’s’ contribution to the effort to convince straying ‘liberals’ that, yes, there is still hope, next time. Same theme as the rest of the ‘me, look at how wonderful I am’ blahgers, iow, ‘I am so superior to the rest of you, you all really should pay attention to my breathless declarations and my incredible, although deceptive, discoveries about the thinking of fundies’. He tells us the fairy tale that the Republicans are in BIG trouble! Lol!
First he wants us to know how ‘skilled’ he is …. lol! Well, after reading what he is so excited about, I am brilliant in the field of talking to Repubs, and without pay!
http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=16971
If only they could still use the ‘ABB’ weapon that worked so well in the 2004 election! He must have forgotten, Bush is not relevant in 2008 for one thing, and second, now we have seen what a Dem majority will actually do.
So dramatic, so condescending and self-serving while pretending otherwise. He pretended to be just an interested by-stander to these people. Very deceptive, just as his diary is deceptive in pretending that he’s ‘amazed’ at what he found out about these Republicans and what the means to those of us who have abandoned the Dem. Party. Iow, we should return to the fold now. Lol!
What I want to know is who is paying him? I too have talked to many Republicans, although no one paid me to do so, so I really didn’t need to wait with baited breath for ‘spineless’s’ amazing findings, that Republicans are angry at their party (77% of Americans are angry about this war, no need to interview anyone to know that this crosses party lines!)
What I also know is that the majority of them will NOT vote for a Dem, especially if that Dem is Hillary Clinton. In fact, I have tried to help them with their dilemma by suggesting Ron Paul.
Lol, he is so excited that this one woman said she might have to put aside her principles and vote for a Democrat! One woman!
Suggestion for ‘spineless’ – try wondering what the actual base of the party is thinking. Or, if it is the fundi vote you want, then go for it but stop with the idiocy that we ought to be thrilled that those who made Bush et al possible, are being invited into this Big Tent in greater numbers. We’re not interested in sharing space with them.
thereisnospoon needs to rename to thereisnobrain. he goes from fool to idiot. This is the guy who said communists vote for Democrats.
I mean match that up with the deathless declaration from lunatic Jason M that Edwards is a communist…
you get a feel for the sort on hand here…
gah.
Wow:
Well, thereisnospoon, I must say that you have been successful in “creating” an opinion of mine, which is that you are a pompous ass with no clue.
That diary goes in the same category as Bowers’ “I Luv Revolution” piece: poorly-written crap with no coherent thought behind it – merely a vehicle for vapid egotism.
Lol, true, marisacat, he really ought to stop! And dk’s habit of rec’ing his every idiocy isn’t helping their tarnished image either.
His brother probably beat him in the idiocy dept. with his own diary yesterday on Cindy Sheehan’s decision. The hubris of these two and the rest of the ‘big blahgers’ is simply stunning. I don’t know who told them their opinions are so important, but whoever did so did them a great disservice.
His brother likes to post what he thinks will be ‘controversial’ diaries (lol, it’s like watching a bunch of pre-schoolers vying for attention) and they all think that ‘tough’ means saying ‘criticize me, I can take it’. More laugh-inducing tripe. As if whether someone on a blog can take criticism is an important issue.
One thing about all of these ‘boyz’ is how enamoured they are with themselves, and how all of them are in this only for what they personally can gain from it.
They have ruined, or attempted to, the real potential strength of the Internet, which is the dissemination of information that the media will not cover by ordinary citizens who are not interested in self-promotion or in making a career for themselves. I find them all to be obnoxious, unpleasant and definitely not the kind of people I would be influenced by. It’s actually laughable to think they think we should be.
The most striking aspect of spoon’s “analysis” is most of it was conducted in an establishment that served alcohol. No self-respecting fundamentalists would get within a block of such a place, even he got they get drunk every night. The church people might hear of it.
So spoon’s focus group was representative of folks who are not part of the Republican religious core. Further, the people whose home s/he visited were at least acquainted with spoon’s bias, making his entire “study” in that regard equally meaningless.
But have no fear; the base is sick of the Republicans! Spoon, don’t you get it? The Democrats are no different, that’s the real problem.
In my sampling of liberals, who are formerly die hard Democrats; they are even sicker of their own Party then any Republican is of her own. The former Democrats don’t see much of a difference between the parties. So there you have it spoon, we cancel each other out; it’s time for another choice.
thereisnospoon needs to rename to thereisnobrain. he goes from fool to idiot. This is the guy who said communists vote for Democrats.
He should spend more time reading his voter’s pamphlet.
This is the guy who said that the notion of equality between the sexes was a feature of the ‘authoritarian left’. I hate it when the boys confuse their unresolved issues with their mothers with real life politics.
I’m horrified that someone hired spoon to run a focus group.
I was then involved in the discovery of opinions, rather than their creation
And that is a very revealing statement, SV. Not that we didn’t know they, dk et al, are engaged in ‘creating opinions’ which his worthless diary is another attempt at. But to admit it so openly means he’s not even good at what he is hired to do.
His conclusion, that because some woman who is part of the problem we are faced with, is willing to put aside her ‘principles’ and maybe come into his ‘big tent’? His silly proclamation that this woman’s words (anecdotal btw, and I thought he belonged to the fact-based community) should sound loud alarm bells for the Republican Party, is simply laughable.
I’m horrified that someone hired spoon to run a focus group.
Colleen, me too. Not only because of him, but I will ask my representative next time I call, if he is basing any of his decisions on what ‘rightwing focus groups’ think of the issues, or on what his constituents think. Come to think of it, I have never been asked what I think of anything.
I’m also stunned that what he ‘found’ was news to him. Every Republican and religious fundy I know is furious at the Republican party. Many because of the war, but for the wrong reasons, not for any moral reason, but because we didn’t win, didn’t crush those ‘ragheads’. They are also furious because abortion is still legal, eg. So, where is the great ‘discovery’ he’s so excited about?
This is what is going to happen, imo, after my very thrilling talks with Republicans. The Repubs know they have angered the base. They are smarter at strategy than Dems. In the fall, or a little later if it takes that long to get what they want out of the Iraq War (oil), it will be Republicans who will move to end the war!
The dimwits on DK boast that by Sept Repubs will ‘join Dems’ in ending it. Lol! They will not, they will lead the way by introducing their own bills. These bills will not end the occupation but spineless et al will try to ‘shape public opinion’ that the Dems were right, and that Repubs have finally seen the light. The Repubs will make sure they get credit for the scam and Spineless’s fundies will cave and vote Repub in 2008. Just my worthless opinion, but if I were a Repub operator, that’s what I would be planning to do.
LOL Don’t miss the breathless campaign strategerie, neatly elucidated POST CASEY, SHULER and others new to congress who voted against stem cell from already existing in vitro material.
[bold is mine]
LOL what a HOOT! Late, late to the party!. And puts the stem cell at greater value (and greater political viability) than a woman’s life and health, as there is no word that the party should only recruit those who believe in equality for women..
And does so in heartbeat.
Three cheers for my adopted state!
This idea that by fall some ever mythical group of R in senate and house will “join the Democrats” in ending the war is sick fallacy.
And Obama, in particular, pushes it relentlessly.
We are so fucking fucked.
a very important move forward
That diary from Booman is ridiculous. Not one word about reproductive rights. Not ONE FUCKING WORD! Nor any mention of attempting to recruit women to run for office.
Fuck him and all his stupid wannabee-party-hack pals. Losers all.
The nice thing about New England is that there aren’t many religious wackos around.
LOL they think “privacy” covers it.
The blogs have been doing that for over two years.
SOme of us were just discussing refractions of the argument, that you can use different aspects in argument with different groups. In a thread at OrangeRot. One was privacy. Not an end all, but a PART.
early summer 2005.
Whammo! Monday am, Kos had a piece up about privacy being the argument. And they all prattled it like sick automatons stuck on a single word. ESPECIALLY Armando who ws always one of thsoe dispatched to pat the wimmens down.
And here we are, with a single word Boobus Americanus thinks he covered it.
Who is spoon’s brother?
spoon’s bro is hekebolos. Apparently they were both homeschooled. Badly.
MCat: oh yes, PRIVACY. So humiliating for them to mention anything to do with wimmens.
Thanks SV.
MOB shares his stunning brilliance:
I.did.not.know.that. I thought different people were bad. I am so glad I read that diary. Now I can relax. Finally.
/end o’ absolutely fucking clueless person’s reaction
#59 SB Same theme as the rest of the ‘me, look at how wonderful I am’ blahgers
You really have to watch this it’s oldie but goodie from last year:
Listen as Horsefucker Hunter intimates about “exploring the edges” of the politics. I suppose the edges of which I/P debate are verbotten. About the only exploring Hunter has been doing is a personal digital journey into his own rectum. More group therapy, dude.
In a clip of Markos signing books, the only evidence of the avante garde is the music track briefly dubbed in. For all I know, the lyrics say “We going to fuck these fools out of all of their money.”
Not even going near Martha Mitchell. The -god love her- “really trippi” sweatheart.
I think perhaps the funniest part is when mcjoan does Lauren Bacall , I’m mc_jhoane she exhales, actually expecting her doyenne’s fix of fan worship. Of course, she gets it from a babbling idiot who doesn’t. You have to watch it all the way through but move all liquids away from your hardware. Mcjoans condecension is a hoot.
Kos’ Trekkie convention 2.0 coming up in Chicago in August.
he’s on a roll. And pushing candidates for 08.
A couple of days ago Singer at MyDD had a piece up, rather too unequivocal, that Duckworth will likely run again (IL-6). All he said was that he hoped she had “learned” from the last run.
they only want women they can control. And she had let it slip out that she was not opposed to pro life judges. Plus lots of other conservative hits. A Rahm recruit. used for tons of national exposure on the media. Large gobs of money to her runs, lots of promises from DC to the boys that she would win big over Cegelis when she barely squeaked in. Boyz was shocked.
But they hope she has learned.
WRONG CANDIDATE! WRONG BOYZ WRONG RAHM
Lol, catnip –
If anyone wants to wade through hekebolos’ diatribe, here’s a link:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/30/19656/7999
He positively has apoplexy when anyone dares to criticize the US. He started a firestorm after Opol’s ‘Calling Busllshit on America’ diary, accusing everyone who rec’d it of being ‘anti-American etc. Same reaction as any rightwinger who cannot bear the thought that we may not be the ‘greatest country on earth’.
I caught the first 10 minutes of Glenn Beck’s radio show (his theme song is so fucking catchy it always sucks me in). He opened with a bit from Shrum’s book. It is a story about Edwards climbing on to the slab at the funeral home and hugging the corpse and swearing to help people. He was telling this story to Kerry and said he had never told anyone before. Shrum recounts that Edwards tells this story all the time always prefaces it with “i have never told anyone this”.
This left me with about 50 questions. I dont even know where to start.
Frecklebulbous in Orange shirt refers to himself as a “blogger on the national scene.” (about 40 seconds in.)
Refers to the amazing things we can accomplish.
I suppose that would be Electing A Democratic Majority who took Impeachment off the table and reauthorized funding for An Unjustifiable No WMD War . No Impeachment either for a Geneva Convention Shredding , National Security Breaching, Domestic Spying, Department of Justice Perverting, Treasury Looting Administration. They should have prepared articles of Impeachment on Katrina Handling alone.
We have another impaction, but I’m off call on this one.
Enjoy your limelight frecklebulbous and has-no-clue.
At least they’ll have the cheesy orange short to swap when clubbin’ in a vain attempt to get laid. Kinda like Dan Akroyd and Steve Martin in that old SNL skit. Two “Wild and Crazy guys”, those Atkins brothers.
One guy could wear the shirt, The other could be a little more risque, going topless except for the faux- hair chest of velcro for attaching their most secret weapon of an aphrodisiac- a nerd pocket. This is the future of CA’s Democratic Party?
well everyone rnning is a winger, imo. There is NO divergence from ‘America The Greatest’.
we just stumbled a bit (OOops !! the race track was wet! Not our fault!) and mismanaged. Oops! there goes the republic! Oops!, we’re the new nazis on the earth. Ooops! a racist aggressive invasion and occupation. Ooops!
We made mistakes. Not a problem even tho we don’t even admit to anything.
a sovereign nation is nothing more than cheap crockery on sale at Pottery Barn. People are doodads. Oops!
well if you are a good googler (and I am not) there are quite a few very gooey, cringemaking tales of his “lawyering” from the -3/04 run.
I have not tracked it here as the work of googling would be too much. (but anyone else is welcome, believe me, I have utter and compete disdain for all the “coulda been a contendahs”)
In one he posits his closing as tho he is the unborn speaking from the womb.
Beyond cringemaking.
Sorry, I was never impresed with the spin on his lawyering. PI work is often a predatory business, both sides of the aisle.
Excellent piece re Cindy Sheehan and Andrew Bracevich up at Counterpunch entitled “Appropriate Disillusionment”:
I must say that thereisnospoon has an awfully skewed sense of what he does for a living (assuming he’s telling the truth, which I doubt): “I’m a focus group moderator by trade, one of those oft-vilified creatures in politics and corporate advertising who talks to regular people, finds out how they feel about specific issues, and relays that information to my clients to help them craft better messaging.” Translation: “I’m a focus-group moderator, and I get people to expose their ill-informed prejudices so as to help my clients devise advertising and political propaganda that will trick them into buying their useless products or voting for candidates and/or supporting policies that are contrary to these people’s best interests.”
It is all the politics of personal ambition within the DP, which is so easily divided and conquered by the GOP. I’ve said it before. The D’s will lose seats in the House in 08, and have a much longer night than they might expect for the White House. A race that should be a blowout will be marked by every bit of concilliation to the right and render any eeked out victory as a walking on eggshells Presidency. That’s if they win… Remember Kerry? Remember Gore?
I think they’ll actually pick up seats in the Senate but no where near where they might have if they were authentic.
BHHm, Sabrina, heckofabolus is some kind of party operative here in California and appears to be looking for even higher ground than that in his “political” career. Translation: Willing to sell out in any way necessary for his own personal gain.
He got a bit of a smackdown in that diary, but the true lefty and progressive voices really are fading on that site overall.
ROTFLMAO!! I hadn’t seen that YK video before. What a howl. Thanks, BHHM.
Ooh, what bad vibes from their body language. They give the impression of brittle, snotty, pretentious people. McJoan in particular looks like she’s practicing her “Locust Valley lockjaw”. These are the kind of people I steer clear of at cocktail parties. They are the namedroppers and the social climbers – boring and unpleasant. Much like the Welches in Lucky Jim.
However, Elisa, Mrs. Kos, seems nice and real enough. Too bad she’s married to such a jerk and seems to be relegated to her own “female ghetto” blog.
You really have to watch this it’s oldie but goodie from last year:
Oh my, that was so exciting. I damn near wet my pants!
(Those lanyards are nothing compared to the ones I’m crocheting for y’all. Nothing, I say!)
Thanks for the video, Bhhm – I can’t hear anything on this computer, but I’m sure I’ve heard it all before.
As for the great things we can accomplish, lol! I wonder how they’ll spin this in Chicago. Just exactly what has been accomplished? All I see is that things are worse now than before. But I’m sure hek et al will, as spineless said ‘shape opinion’ as they are hired to do. Or at least try. Good luck trying that now is all I can say.
Btw, since Dems were supposedly so scared of being accused of surrendering if they insist on bringing the troops home, it seems the Military isn’t worried.
I just heard on the news that top US commanders in Iraq are trying to talk with the insurgents to see if they can arrange a cease-fire to stop the violence. Seems like a good idea. So, does this mean that the ‘surge’ is not working?
Well, the news is also reporting that Petraeas says he may not be able to give an assessment of their success in September after all! Lol!
And in other news, Lieberman went to Iraq and is reporting that he sees ‘progress’! When asked about May’s death toll of US troops, well, he’s sad about that, but it means that the troops are not just sitting around, they’re out there, doing their jobs! I’m paraphrasing, don’t have a link, but that’s the gist of Lieberman’s happy report on the occupation of Iraq.
And to think that the Dem leadership gave him a standing ovation after he won the election having refused to accept the primary results.
Is anyone pretty informed about the World Bank? I am wondering why its up to the US President to appoint thehead and why other nations don’t have a problem with that. Why isnt it done by a board?
I think the spin will be what it always is, a swift gloss over present realities (110th is a fucking nothing, they fought for spitballs from Bush – as in min wage) and
promise promise promise.
Other nations DO have a problme with it, as they make up, iirc, 87% of shares. That was supposed to be what thsi battle over Wolfohorror was about.
The old system, we picked WB head, others picked IMF head.
But as we see…………………
what happened with that kos sf fundraiser that didn’t deliver the funds?
maybe kos might figger out that the real progressives of the bay area aren’t going to show up for a chevron arnold branding cheerleader…
i wonder what all of you think of this campaign commercial:
this is from a mayoral race last year in alexandria, louisiana.
Frecklebulbous is in the no doubt booming California market for 20 some year old philosophy grads. Where every unemployable or uninspiring twit with email is a founder or “owner” of something in this ownership society. Seek Patronage, my son, seek Patronage.
He got himself elected to footmen’s Party slot which he’s looking to parley into local dog catcher first on a platform of “wanting to give back”. I suppose he identifies with the effective cradling of others balls in his mouth.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/8300718
More merciless derision for this shnoob:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/8/114612/658
Check out the pick with Dean, followed by these hero worshipping hair primping words of wisdom:
but that’s me. ME, ME, ME, …
Do they have any idea how (literally) ridiculous they are? He is one of the more visible ninkompoops I recall plastered on the site. Not so much of a hostility tripper, but just a total fucking putz.
Narcissus spent less time on himself than this kid.
I am wondering why its up to the US President to appoint thehead and why other nations don’t have a problem with that. Why isnt it done by a board? Revisionist
Revisionist, I heard on the news that the US is the biggest financial contributer to the WB and that is why they get to name the head of the organization.
It’ll be fun watching Dems vote Bush’s neocon nominee and for his latest judicial choice. I’m bebinning to think they let him do these recess appointments so they don’t have to take responsibility for anything. From what I’ve learned, knowing he will use this method of getting through his nominees, they can prevent it.
Marisacat, they may try to gloss over the disastrous first five months, but even the military seems to be unable to do so and are getting ready to ‘surrender’ if the ‘enemy’ will agree. I doubt it will work, although at Yrly Kos who’s going to question the spin?
Lol, just saw Hunter – exactly as I imagined him ….
SV, you nailed it. They are exactly the kind of people to avoid at a party …. but then we knew that from their online personalities. Anyone who takes themselves as seriously as these people do, with nothing to warrant it, are definitely not the type to hang with anywhere, even on a blog.
I’ve met them at education conventions, and learned to go to the nearest beach or something to avoid their ‘forums’, as there really is nothing to learn from them, lots of hot air and badges and committees, but not much for the actual children nor even much mention of them.
i hear yearlykos will be sponsored by chevron and feature keynote speaker arnold to talk about slipping through the gates…
Don’t know if this has been noted here:
SB:
Oh yeah, absolutely, they are there to bolster their resumes and find some new victims to bloviate at.
One of my English teachers in high school was an old pompous ass. I went to his retirement party and asked him if he would miss teaching. “I’ll miss everything about it but the students,” he said.
Well, many of them felt the same way about HIM!
The pretentious-snob thing reminded me of this little exchange I had with mcjoan, after she had faux-complained about being such a “lily-white chick” (oh dear, how boring to be privileged):
LOL, her overt snobbery made me laugh. Her family’s “conundrum”: how to prove to the Society that they really ARE Mayflower descendants and deserve to remain as members! My estimation of her went waaaaay down after that exchange.
LOL
louisianagirl and BHHM both were released from Moderation.
BHHM not sure why you keep falling in there, but WP sends me to Spam.
Hey louisianagirl, I see you’re still reading Marisacat! How voyeuristic of you.
I think WP ate a comment of mine.
I answered Revisionist with a little that I had read recently on the WB and choosing who leads it. Will see if I can find the comment.
****************
New Thread
Oh really?
There have to be millions of Mayflower descendants in this country . . .
There were at most 150 people on the Mayflower when it reached the area of present day Massachusetts, and more than half of them died in the four months they lived on the ship prior to finally being able to disembark. If they’ve got millions of descendents, they would have to have procreated at a rate that rabbits would have found excessive.
it chopped off my comment, New Thread:
LINK
JJB – yeah, mcj whipsawed herself. She wanted to put me down – she’s the Most Special Whitest Chick of them All, going back to William the Conqueror or whatever – but ended up blowing it with the Mayflower Society stuff.
I mean, if there are “millions” of the Mayflower descendants, then your imperiled membership in the Mayflower Society doesn’t mean a hell of a lot, and shouldn’t be presenting your family with a “conundrum”.
Silly snobby bullshit.
Those vids are priceless aren’t they? SV, catnip, SB, colleen et al, consider it payback for all the times I’ve had to Heimlich myself after a hilarious chunk of you and all your co-conspirator’s commentary gets lodged in my windpipe here.
Anyways back to jam.fuse reminder that we live in a country that abuses prisoners in isolation to the point that suicide is a relief for them. Back to a reality SB notes in which the allegedly best and brightest across our political spectrum all profess a desire to end the war yet it takes over FIVE YEARS to mention the words “cease fire”.
In retrospect ,the absolutely crooked realpolitik path of Henry Kissinger towards “peace” looks almost candid and linear in comparison… “Cease fire”, what an original concept! Did anyone in charge take Diplomatic Studies or Mil Sci 101?
yeah but these are the grubby people one avoids at parties and receptions.
LOL Here is a laugh, way back at LSF, right after el ABB magnifico lost, I was asking her about Idaho voting. She said she was a 4th or 5th generation … her father had been a Dem strategist or consultant or whatever.
And i had out the CSpan break down of Idaho. LOL I actually thought she’d talk about what the fuck is the mess there. Because certain mid-west, upper plains, etc., are harder to crack then the south… if one analyses it.
LOL of course she did not want to cop to whiteness. Which is the problem in Idaho Utah Wyoming and so on. Republican, basically, whiteness. Democratic whiteness.
And so on.
Silly me, parsing percentages county by county…
what a laugh.
We know a medical couple (doc married to nurse) who lived in Idaho for years and they say it’s chock-full of Mormons. At least, where they lived, not far from Sun Valley.
She said she was a 4th or 5th generation …
Pretty funny with this bloodline and snobbery thing. The ones who moved away from “blueblood” country are often the snobbiest and most uptight about such stuff. There was a statue of Nathan Hale in our neighborhood in St Paul MN – put up in the early 1900s. I couldn’t figure out why they would care about Hale, so it was a mystery to me! Then a local historian explained that there were a lot of wealthy Easterners who moved to Minnesota for business reasons and settled that neighborhood. They wanted everyone to know that they were not the lowlife “covered wagon” type of transplant – they were from the posh East Coast families, with money and “class”. Hence the tribute to Hale.
Amusing.