Spring 19 March 2012
Posted by marisacat in Divertissements, France, Paris.66 comments
Paris, France: young women sit in the sun on the Pont des Arts with its fence covered with padlocks left by lovers over the River Seine as unusually warm temperatures hit the French capital | Benoit Tessier/Reuters
has sprung…. 😉
Perched… 22 December 2010
Posted by marisacat in Afghanistan War, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Pakistan, Paris, Total fucking lunatics, WAR!.68 comments
Pigeons in Paris as heavy snow shut Paris Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport and forced the Eiffel Tower to be closed to tourists. [Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images]
I dropped in on Asia Times… and found a good piece by Pepe Escobar… I miss the old Pepe of years ago, especially the Pepe from before 2007, ’08, who had never sold Obama Brand Crap.
But, one takes what one can get.
Just the last section…
It’s a gas, gas, gas
And here’s where The Year of the Drone merges with what the late, great deconstructionist Jacques Lacan would qualify as “the unsayable”: the invisible, dangerous liaisons between the “war on terror” and the energy war, as in the topography of the war on terror matching all the key 21st-century sources of energy from the Middle East to Central Asia.
This implies a key Pipelineistan chapter – the never-ending saga of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, which has been at the very core of the troubled Washington-Kabul marriage since the mid-1990s.
The TAPI inter-government agreement was finally signed in mid-December. Make no mistake; this is Washington in overdrive. The Washington-backed Asian Development Bank is to come up with the bulk of the $7.6 billion (and counting) financial package. The 2,000 kilometer-long TAPI – to be built by an international consortium – should snake through a very dodgy 735 kilometers of Afghanistan and 800 kilometers of Pakistan.
Hype apart, there’s no hard evidence that TAPI will “stabilize” Afghanistan or contribute to India and Pakistan trading kisses instead of insults. AfPak in this case are both transit countries. Most of the Afghan stretch will be underground – much as the US-supported BTC from Baku in Azerbaijan to Ceyhan, Turkey. In theory, local villages will be paid to guard the pipeline. But that still does not guarantee security to a steel serpent crossing western Afghanistan and then going east through Kandahar.
Once again in theory, TAPI is indeed a steel Silk Road between Central and South Asia. If TAPI is ever built – and that’s still a big “if” – certainly it will mark a monster crossover of Pipelineistan with the US Empire of Bases. Because none other than the Pentagon and NATO will provide the overall security. And that means the Atlanticist West forever embedded in AfPak. One can imagine what the Taliban on both sides – not to mention disgruntled Pashtuns in general – will make of that.
And even if TAPI is built, this still does not mean that its key competitor, the $7.3 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, also known as the “peace pipeline”, has lost the battle – much to Washington’s horror. The Indians have said that much – they are now chasing insurance giants of the Lloyds variety. And Pakistan definitely wants both TAPI and IPI.
TAPI theoretically should be finished by 2014. Surprise! That’s exactly the deadline year (for now …) for American troops to exit Afghanistan. No one will be exiting anything. Finally, the whole AfPak imbroglio will be revealed for what it is; a Pipelineistan gambit.
Meanwhile, enjoy the Year of the Drone. And while we’re at it, here’s some breaking news. The 2011 Pentagon/NATO strategy for AfPak is already established: wait for the Taliban spring/summer offensive to see where they’re at. And then drone them to death. Call it Drone Eye for the Bad Guy.
Oh surely by now, for the numbers game of killing, we’ve surpassed Hitler. Unless of course one shoves the Russian dead in his column. Which I imagine we do….
Sound familiar? Love how the boys all chat… 14 September 2009
Posted by marisacat in DC Politics, France, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Paris.57 comments
Le Figaro July 2008
Not just Sarkozy…. a concerted effort across several countries. And of course, Mother Merkel. Then again, no one is rooting for the Banksters. Or the Gov Gangsters, either. Fraudsters Mobsters.
Off with their heads, all their heads!
FT:
[C]hastened bankers have agreed to new curbs on pay in an attempt to quell the storm, but many privately believe that the government is keeping bankers’ pay in the headlines for political reasons.
“There is no doubt in my mind that there is a deliberate plan to direct people’s anger towards the financial community and away from the government,” said one investment banker. “They are clearly looking for scapegoats at which to finger-point and trying to make themselves popular in the public eye.”
…
This general mistrust of wealth is being exacerbated by rising unemployment.
Bankers point out that Mr Sarkozy can afford to be more critical of financiers than the UK or US, since financial services in France are relatively small in relation to the economy. But there are risks to demonising the industry, they warn.
Not only is it unfair, given that French banks have weathered the crisis relatively well – the top three were profitable last year – but it could also undermine the industry just as Mr Sarkozy hopes to poach business from the UK.
The government’s gamble that targeting bankers will fuel its popularity carries another risk. “There is a big danger in stigmatising people. It can lead to legitimising violent behaviour against them,” said one senior banker.
In France this is no empty threat: social unrest has often led to the downfall of the country’s rulers.
Now is not the time to defend the banks, however, as Michel Pébereau, chairman of BNP Paribas, discovered last week. Upon telling his conference audience of medium-sized businesses that the banks were at their service, he was booed. . . . . .
Carry on… (when do they all get together again? Pittsburgh?)
Gone in a heart beat… 23 November 2008
Posted by marisacat in France, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Paris, WAR!.36 comments
Bar Tabac Brasserie du petit coin, Quai du Louvre, Paris [Flickr]
…in truth, they were going, bit by bit, in the 90s… the economic downturn is a big nail.. and I doubt the smoking ban helped…
“Now there’s no one,” she said, standing in a somber room with a few sad holiday decorations, an idle pool table and one young man playing a video game.
“People fear the future, and now with the banking crisis, they are even more afraid,” she said, her eyes reddening. “They buy a bottle at the supermarket and they drink it at home.”
The plight of Ms. Guérin is being replicated all over France, as traditional cafes and bars suffer and even close, hit by changing attitudes, habits and now a poor economic climate. In 1960, France had 200,000 cafes, said Bernard Quartier, president of the National Federation of Cafes, Brasseries and Discotheques. Now it has fewer than 41,500, with an average of two closing every day.
People are drinking less, smoking less and spending less, and even those who drink are newly wary of the local police, who now hover near the bar, especially at night, to test the sobriety of drivers. President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked the police to crack down on drunken drivers.
“Workers don’t take taxis,” Mr. Perrey said, stroking his lavish mustache and laughing. He gleefully showed photos of a small police car wrapped around a tree in his parking lot after an accident, saying, “They had to call the firemen to get them out!”
The cafe, he said, is a kind of public living room, especially in small towns and cities, and it is suffering as habits and laws change.
“We need the cafe to have an equilibrium between the village and the world outside,” Mr. Perrey said. “Without the cafe, you lose the conviviality. You lose your mates. Business agreements are made behind the zinc” of the bar.
“We have to be very careful,” Mr. Perrey continued. “If we standardize everything in France, and we study everything, and forbid everything, we destroy respect for our culture. We need to preserve the cafe bar. What is a village but a cafe, a school, a pharmacy, a bakery and a city hall?”
Somehow I don’t think Sarko is too sad at the stress and loss of business put on shisha tearooms, serving the North African community …
Paris, December 7, 2007 — L’Elies tearoom, one of a dozen thriving shisha bars tucked away off the trendy bar-lined Rue Oberkampf in eastern Paris, is contemplating a quiet death. At weekends the place is full of young Parisians and middle-aged men from the local north African community.
“Our customers come here especially for our white grape tobacco,” said the manager, Samy Boughida, as he rubbed some of the substance between his fingers to release a sweet, syrupy smell. “They sit and smoke for hours.”
and hookah bars, with their following.. Places for smokers and now restricted to building “smoking rooms” of small, legally restricted size, fully enclosed, one fifth of overall floor space and ventilated. Or restricting smoking, as the law permits, to outside terraces, not something small places on small side streets, in French towns and cities, have… impossible in winter, in any case.
Photo: Le Figaro
Ah well, plus ca change, plus ca change.
Crash 18 September 2008
Posted by marisacat in Abortion Rights, California / Pacific Coast, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Italy, Lie Down Fall Down Dems, Paris, San Francisco, SCOTUS, Sex / Reproductive Health, WAR!.82 comments
Dollar Bill Origami Scorpion by Nano
Dollar sinksThe dollar fell sharply Wednesday as Treasury yields collapsed, despite getting a boost from the Fed’s rate-holding decision Tuesday.
“Foreign governments move trillions of dollars into Treasurys, but now they have yields that don’t make up for inflation,” Sousa said. “Everyone is worried about systemic risk, so they are investing in countries that offer higher yields.”
The 15-nation euro cost $1.4349, up from $1.4120 in the previous session. That’s a whopping 1.6% drop – the dollar usually trades in a range of just tenths of a percent on a daily basis. The British pound bought $1.8211, up from $1.7831 Tuesday – a 2.1% drop.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell to ¥104.80, down 0.8% from ¥105.65.
Wall Street’s woes also weighed heavily on the dollar. Investors feared that the rising number of government bailouts will force the government to print more dollars, devaluing the U.S. currency.
“The market is concerned that the Fed will intervene if there is a new AIG,” said Sousa. “Investors are worried that the Fed will run out of cash.”
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ALESSANDRO DI MEO/ ANSA /BGG
And… apropos of nothing to do with Wall St turmoil, but this dicey opinion piece ran in the San Francisco Chronicle. So far, just one comment (pro).
The last grafs:
[A]nd yet, Catholics for Choice has the audacity to challenge the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on the church’s teaching related to abortion. O’Brien’s final line states that “the bishops would better serve American Catholics by acknowledging their true priorities.”
It is the responsibility of Catholic bishops to teach clearly what Christ in his church teaches about faith and morals, and to oppose erroneous, misleading and confusing positions when they are advanced. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, willed either as an end or a means, is grossly contrary to the moral law.”
In matters of faith and morals – proclaimed either “fallibly” or “infallibly” by the Catholic Church – the bishops have an authoritative role as teacher. The faithful have the responsibility of accepting the teaching and adhering to it with a religious assent. The reason for this is eternal salvation. The idea that politicians can usurp this teaching authority is ridiculous.
Vicki Evans is the Respect Life Coordinator for the Office of Public Policy & Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
I don’t even know who is Archbishop of San Francisco anymore*… Our last was Levanda, now ascended to the spot Ratzinger used to hold in the Vatican, global doctrinal enforcement. It was said that Levanda and Ratzy-Nazi are “close”. Levanda was sent to keep a lid on us (because thru the parochial schools here the Church has more power than merely over the Sunday parishoners and collection plate donors). And Levanda’s job was to clean up and clean out the diocese swamp after the Archbishop before him, John R Quinn.
You can search high and low there is no written, accessible record of what Quinn did while in office. I originally heard about it, as it was ongoing around ’91, from gay friends.
Quinn was not a paedophile (well, at least I never heard that he was) but he had a taste for very young looking, tough young men. Not just a passing fancy, or a night out in a controlled and private place… oh no. Quinn had quite a few he kept, several of whom he set up in private homes, dotted around the Bay Area. Why he had a taste for suburban enclaves I will never figure out. But he did. He did not just rent them homes on the Catholic collection plate ticket, oh no. He BOUGHT them homes. Talk about leaving a trail…
Eventually the outflow of monthly cash for mortgages was a visible drain, and a crisis developed, a cash crisis, for the Catholic Church in San Francisco. Much wailing and crying for many months… as what was available to sell to recoup the lost money? Did they sell their investment rental property in some of the poorer parts of the City? Noooooo… they wrangled for months, contentious meetings with parents and priests over which parish properties, some with beloved parochial schools attached, to sell – not necessarily of value in themselves, but large plots in good locations, often on corners.
Quinn had been approaching retirement and had planned, as he was known to be “close” to JPII, to finish his days in ducal luxe at some fabulous ancient property in Italy, was, instead, summarily off shored to………. Oxford. And recently, at least part time, shared a very comfortable home [scroll down] on the premises of a peninsula seminary, south of the City, with a paedophile (oh just “accused”) priest who also consults for the church on abuse cases. Well, no real surprise there!
But.. you know, we should conform to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops… whether or not we are Catholic. Who cares if the pope is Catholic – or Italian or Polish or German – the Supreme Court is.
^^^
Listening to chatter about Morgan Stanley and Wachovia in “talks”, sounds a lot like the Church… all you can do is laugh. I am also hearing Jim Cramer (why is he credible? about anything?), that screaming loon, say, “if you can’t take the pain, it’s OK to sell something”. You “can take something off the table”, just don’t leave the church.
Permission permission. Fucking stop needing their permission.
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* I see it is Niederauer, a former HS classmate of Levanda. LOL Here is a quote from Archbishop Niederauer, via Wikipedia:
“Our belief is that we have to hold up the standard of abstinence, and we do that in all of our teaching about sexuality by saying that sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong. Now that’s a very high bar to set and I understand that. And I don’t regret that – I subscribe to it and I teach it. I understand why people find it difficult and disagree with it. I understand why they do. I don’t agree with them…. What I would say is that people who disagree with us can disagree without being disagreeable.“
Oh I don’t know… I feel like getting out a broad brush of “disagreeable”, Just for .. FUN.
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In my inbox tonight is a beg… yes a beg, from Keenan of NARAL, to please contact congress so that:
Right now, members of Congress are writing next year’s budget bill, and determining what programs get funded at what levels. We need as much political will behind pro-choice priorities as possible, given President Bush’s persistent veto threats.
- Fix the birth-control price crisis. Congress must bring down the price of birth control to $5 or $10 instead of $50 or more for students and low-income women.
- Improve women’s health by increasing funds for the federal family-planning program.
- Cut taxpayer dollars on fraudulent “abstinence-only” programs.
I am pretty sure if I keep reading Kathryn Jean Lopez, that vigilant pro-life Catholic eagle eye, at NRO’s The Corner, I will know more than if I wait for the Dems to “let” me know. It was she who let me know (I read her cackling joy at congress shafting Planned Parenthood funding) that the congress had slashed funds for subsidised birth control as the budget worked its way along…
Everything is working out so well………..
Turkey – carvings on street paver stone indicating the route to a bordello
Passerelle a Paris 23 June 2008
Posted by marisacat in France, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Paris, Viva La Revolucion!.comments closed
Because it came up in a round about way in the last thread (and I am out of ideas, LOL) the newest bridge, a passerelle or foot bridge in Paris, Pont Simone de Beavoir:
It is lit at night from beneath the hand rails, so no lamp post interrupts the curves.
I think the palm tree is an itinerant summer visitor when, for the past several years, Paris Plage (think I am remembering the name right) pops up along the banks.. beach sand, recliners and tropical bars with fusion music, drenched island atmosphere — and a big little break from city life…
Anyhoo as I said, I am out of ideas… 😉
From wikipedia:
Death and afterwards
Beauvoir’s grave at the Cimetière du Montparnasse
Beauvoir died of pneumonia. She is buried next to Sartre at the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. Since her death, her reputation has grown, not only because she is seen as the mother of post-1968 feminism, especially in academia, but also because of a growing awareness of her as a major French thinker, existentialist philosopher and otherwise.
There is much contemporary discussion about the influences of Beauvoir and Sartre on one another. She is seen as having influenced Sartre’s masterpiece, Being and Nothingness, while also having written much on philosophy that is independent of Sartrean existentialism. Some scholars have explored the influences of her earlier philosophical essays and treatises upon Sartre’s later thought. She is studied by many respected academics both within and outside of philosophy circles, including Margaret A. Simons and Sally Scholtz. Beauvoir’s life has also inspired numerous biographies.
In 2006, the architect Dietmar Feichtinger designed a sophisticated footbridge across the Seine, named the Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir after Beauvoir. The bridge features feminine curves and leads to the new Bibliothèque nationale de France.
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Unity Pony – best offer – cash & carry 1 June 2008
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, Democrats, France, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Paris.92 comments
The Pony Chair, designed by [Aero] Aarnio in 1973, is manufactured by Adelta. The frame is made of metal, covered by molded foam and upholstery. It measures 44 inches wide and 25 inches high, with a seat height of 21 inches.
While it is true that the Pony Chair looks like a toy, it wasn’t meant to be one. In fact, Aarnio crafted it in such a way that it can also be used by adults as well as by children. That sure would promote some child-adult bonding at children’s parties!
luv the last couple of lines, perfect for the Democrats.
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UPDATE, 4:25 pm
Yves Saint Laurent has died in Paris
Photo from the David Taboul film: Yves St. Laurent: 5, Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris
b August 1 1936 – Oran Algeria
Hunting for photos, I tripped over this quite charming site, Cinebeats, blog of a cinephile, devoted to the cinema, fashion and style of the 60s and 70s… with a lovely page on YSL – focusing on Catherine Deneuve and his designs for film, in particular Bunuel’s Belle du Jour…
Ah well, all things pass.
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May 10 May 2008
Posted by marisacat in Europe, France, Germany, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Paris, WAR!.89 comments
Gah… I saw this article by Chomsky listed at RCP and thought it might be of interest… I did wrest three grafs from it, but over all a disappointment.
One of the most interesting reactions to come out of 1968 was in the first publication of the Trilateral Commission, which believed there was a “crisis of democracy” from too much participation of the masses. In the late 1960s, the masses were supposed to be passive, not entering into the public arena and having their voices heard. When they did, it was called an “excess of democracy” and people feared it put too much pressure on the system. The only group that never expressed its opinions too much was the corporate group, because that was the group whose involvement in politics was acceptable.
The commission called for more moderation in democracy and a return to passivity. It said the “institutions of indoctrination” – schools, churches – were not doing their job, and these had to be harsher.
The more reactionary standard was much harsher in its reaction to the events of 1968, in that it tried to repress democracy, which has succeeded to an extent – but not really, because these social and activist movements have now grown. For example, it was unimaginable in 1968 that there would be an international Solidarity group in 1980.
^^^^^
Hunting around for Mai 1968 imagery (the above is a poster from the period) I landed on this bracing site for the RESPECT party in Cardiff.
A little ways down the page is a long ramble of graffiti from Paris in 1968… and by ramble I mean it… but it is also loaded with whatever it is there is too little of today… Maybe just sheer exuberance for change. Having nearly killed the word, no big shock that it fails to excite… apologies to those for whom the current edition of change-selling works. As long as it is chorused by “USA!USA!” and molded by soapy religion, marked down for a fast sale, it won’t work.
In the decor of the spectacle, the eye meets only things and their prices.
Commute, work, commute, sleep . . .
Meanwhile everyone wants to breathe and nobody can and many say, “We will breathe later.”
And most of them don’t die because they are already dead.
Boredom is counterrevolutionary.
We don’t want a world where the guarantee of not dying of starvation brings the risk of dying of boredom.
We want to live.
Don’t beg for the right to live — take it. I
n a society that has abolished every kind of adventure the only adventure that remains is to abolish the society.
The liberation of humanity is all or nothing.
Those who make revolutions half way only dig their own graves.
No replastering, the structure is rotten.
Masochism today takes the form of reformism.
Reform my ass.…
By stopping our machines together we will demonstrate their weakness.
Occupy the factories.
Power to the workers councils. (an enragé) Power to the enragés councils. (a worker)
Worker: You may be only 25 years old, but your union dates from the last century.
Labor unions are whorehouses.
Comrades, let’s lynch Séguy! [Georges Séguy: head bureaucrat of the Communist Party-dominated labor union]
Please leave the Communist Party as clean on leaving it as you would like to find it on entering. Stalinists, your children are with us!
Man is neither Rousseau’s noble savage nor the Church’s or La Rochefoucauld’s depraved sinner.…
We refuse to be highrised, diplomaed, licensed, inventoried, registered, indoctrinated, suburbanized, sermonized, beaten, telemanipulated, gassed, booked.
We are all “undesirables.”
We must remain “unadapted.”
The forest precedes man, the desert follows him.
Under the paving stones, the beach.
Concrete breeds apathy.
Coming soon to this location: charming ruins.
Beautiful, maybe not, but O how charming: life versus survival.
“My aim is to agitate and disturb people. I’m not selling bread, I’m selling yeast.” (Unamuno) ::snip::
I really loved this bit, somewhere farther down in the scramble:
We want a wild and ephemeral music.
We propose a fundamental regeneration: concert strikes, sound gatherings with collective investigation.
Abolish copyrights: sound structures belong to everyone.
Anarchy is me.
Revolution, I love you.
Down with the abstract, long live the ephemeral.
(Marxist-Pessimist Youth) Don’t consume Marx, live him. I’m a Groucho Marxist.
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On the left there is Dany Cohn-Bendit, “Dany the Red”, a German national at the core of the foment in France , in the streets of 1968… Seeing his face in photos and posters again, I wondered what was up today, 40 years later… landed on this, he is a member of the EU parliament and leads the Greens.
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Last, still searching for imagery from ’68, I landed, happily by chance, on a soccer site for Paris and found that a sports hall in St Ouen, a suburb of Paris, was named a few years ago for Tommie Smith, (scroll to nearly the bottom) one of the American athletes who raised the black power salute at their medal awards ceremony in Mexico.
During a press conference given by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the former declared : the Whites accept us shen we play jazz or beat records in athletics. But for them the Blacks are trained circus animals. We wanted to protest against the situation of our brothers in the USA where the citizens don’t receive the same treatment. Why should we watch the raising of a flag of a country where Civil Rights are not recognised ? We are not animals without brains …
All this took place thirty-six years ago.
Last year Tommie was asked “Would you do it again ?” during a press conference at the World Championships. Tommie Smith replied : I do it every day. That, it’s me, truly me. When I returned from Mexico, I was looked upon as if I had the plague. There was no-one to meet me at the airport. People avoided me. They were afraid in my company. I was twenty-three years old and I found it very difficult to find a job.
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HA! After I put this together I realised that, phonetically, from the title and the top poster, “Mais, NON!” assembles itself… works for me!
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ffs! [encore ffs!] 16 December 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2006 Mid Terms, 2008 Election, DC Politics, Democrats, Divertissements, France, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Israel/AIPAC, Paris, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Viva La Revolucion!, WAR!.150 comments
It is supposedly a mobile guillotine used in Indre-et-Loire during the period of terror around 1794. The uprights were painted bright red so that the splattered blood could not be seen and it was driven by two coachmen when it had to be transported (always at night) from one city of the administrative department to another. [ Musée Maurice Dufresne – 17, route de Marnay – 37190 Azay-le-Rideau ]
Now be honest, it is actually quite festive looking…
I had to drag out a bit of Revolution to counter this flaming bullshit from the gentleman apologist at the AP, Charles Babington…
[a] new Democratic leadership team overestimated the impact of the Iraq war and the 2006 elections, learning too late they had no tools to force Bush and his allies to compromise on bitterly contested issues.
Both parties seem convinced that voters will reward them 11 months from now. And they agree that Congress’ gridlock and frustration are likely to continue until then – and possibly beyond – unless the narrow party margins in the House and Senate change appreciably.
In a string of setbacks last week, Democratic leaders in Congress yielded to Bush and his GOP allies on Iraqi war funding, tax and health policies, energy policy and spending decisions affecting billions of dollars throughout the government. [affecting people too — Mcat]
The concessions stunned [don’t send this bunch to Casablanca — Mcat] many House and Senate Democrats, who saw the 2006 elections as a mandate to redirect the war and Bush’s domestic priorities.
Instead, they found his goals unchanged and his clout barely diminished.
Smelling salts to the fake battlefield! — and loosen their metaphorical corsets. I do believe they all fainted.
Bush’s scorched-earth strategy may prove riskier for Republicans who backed him, Hess said. Signs point to likely Democratic victories in the presidential and many congressional races next year, he said. [it will not matter — Mcat]
That is the keen hope of Congress’ Democratic leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
They have admitted that Bush’s intransigence on the war surprised them, as did the unbroken loyalty shown to him by most House and Senate Republicans. [his party supported him, stunning! — Mcat]
Empowered by Bush’s veto threats, Republican lawmakers rejected Democratic efforts to wind down the war, impose taxes on the wealthy to offset middle-class tax cuts, roll back tax breaks on oil companies to help promote renewable energy and conservation, and greatly expand federal health care for children. [well… that is one version! — Mcat]
Pelosi on Friday cited “reckless opposition from the president and Republicans in Congress” in defending her party’s modest achievements.
Americans remain mostly against the war, though increasingly pleased with recent reductions in violence and casualties, an AP-Ipsos poll showed earlier this month. While a steady six in 10 have long said the 2003 invasion was a mistake, the public is now about evenly split over whether the U.S. is making progress in Iraq. [bingo! the “surge” was all about domestic politics — Mcat]
Opposition to the war is especially strong among the Democratic Party’s liberal base. Some lawmakers say Pelosi and Reid should have told those liberal activists to accept more modest changes in Iraq, tax policies and spending, in the name of political reality. [don’t worry, they did say FU! over and over… — Mcat]
“They never learned to accept the art of the possible,” said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a former majority leader who is partisan but willing to work with Democrats. “They kept going right up to the limit and exceeding it, making it possible for us to defeat them, over and over again,” Lott said in an interview.
He cited the Democrats’ failed efforts to add billions of dollars to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which Bush vetoed twice because of the proposed scope and cost. A somewhat smaller increase was possible, Lott said, but Democrats refused to negotiate with moderate Republicans until it was too late.
“They thought, ‘We’re going to win on the politics, we’ll stick it to Bush,'” Lott said. “That’s not the way things happen around here.”
Oh it must smart to be lectured to by Lott. Son of the Confederacy.
[D]emocrats should force Republicans into all-day and all-night sessions for a week or two, said Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar for the right-of-center think tank American Enterprise Institute. The tactic wouldn’t change senators’ votes, he said, but it might build public awareness and resentment of GOP obstructionists in a way that a one-night talkfest cannot.
To date, Reid has resisted such ideas, which would anger and inconvenience some Democratic senators as well as Republicans.
hmmm mmm.
Thanks to Madman for the link to The Culture Ghost: The Opposition Party?
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UPDATE, 3:23 pm
FFS! encore!
The Hill-o-raptor (as I call it)…
Gee. That just looks so safe……
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Ride is shut for a few days… 22 November 2007
Posted by marisacat in Big Box Blogs, Border Issues, Culture of Death, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iraq War, Mexico, Paris, Political Blogs, WAR!.comments closed
away for a bit and offline……………..
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UPDATE, 12 Noon
One last thing before I go… a sad tale of woe, The Last Days of Mexican Corn – with an Iraq story tucked inside:
[M]oreover, as farmers from other climes who have resisted Monsanto and refused to buy into the GMO blitz, have learned only too traumatically, pollen blowing off contaminated fields will spread to non-GMO crops. Even more egregiously, Monsanto will then send “inspectors” (often off-duty cops) to your farm and detect their patented strains in your fields and charge you with stealing the corporation’s property.
When Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser came to Mexico several years back to explain how Monsanto had taken his farm from him for precisely these reasons, local legislators laughed that it was a science fiction scenario. “It is going to happen to you,” the old farmer warned with all the prescience of an Aztec seer.
Mexican corn is, of course, not the only native crop that is being disappeared by global capitalism.
Native seeds are under siege from pole to pole. In Iraq, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers come together to form the birthplace of agriculture, one of the very first acts of George Bush’s neo-colonial satrap L. Paul Brenner was to issue the notorious Order 81 criminalizing the possession of native seeds.
The U.S. military spread out throughout the land distributing little packets of GMO seeds, the euphemistically dubbed Operation “Amber Waves.”
To make sure that Iraq would no longer have a native agriculture, the national seed bank, located at Abu Ghraib, was looted and set afire.
so “mismanaged”. Right.
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Marisacat 