Because the best things in life are free.

 
Collateral Damage

Al Qaeda is running out of targets to attack. Or at least if the British <em>Sunday Observer has accurate depicted the situation in Iraq. After hanging tight and attack the country's infrastructure, the Islamic terrorist network used a car bomb to damage the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. Within a week, another car bomb killed over a hundred Shia Muslims in Najaf. Clearly, the attack on the UN envoy was to convince unaligned European and international aid workers that just because they don't wear American military fatigues that they are seen as invading Iraq too. The subsequent incident in Najaf seems to be an attempt to assassinate important social leaders who have appeased or at least worked with the United States. For the Shias, the end of a repressive Sunni regime was completely welcome and perhaps Al Qaeda either sought to punish the Shias at large or simply plunge Iraq into civil war.

The concern is that, as the Observer explains, Iraq is falling apart. L. Paul Bremer is not home, and may even be evacuated with the fear that Al Qaeda hopes to kill him next. After disabling the oil infrastructure and attacking the electricity grid, Al Qaeda, if behind both of the recent automobile bombings, may have a hard time outdoing itself. Nevertheless, the pressure on the Bush Administration grows, as other nations balk and replacing US military personnel. It may be that Bush has to hand over control to the UN and send the boys home. But the White House and Defense Department will play dumb, at least until the next car bomb.
posted by Thomas at 1:57 AM 0 comments

 
Full Disclosure

The Texas Democrats still aren't coming home to the range, while the Ten Commandments have been chipped and shipped from the Alabama Judicial Center and Fox News even has dumped its suit against Al Franken. So even as the liberals celebrate three more points it would seem this week, there's no denying that Iraq and its discontents are still on the majority of people's minds. How so? Well consider this ominous piece from the Washington Post.

After all, the majority of people without backgrounds in international relations claim that every act the US does in the Middle East has something to do with oil. Western Republicans are eager to think about the possibility of getting exclusive rights in Iraq's supposedly huge cahce of black gold underneath the ground. Apparently, men like Vice President Cheney whet their appetite by telling them just how much they would stand to gain if they got on board the war effort. Remember too that oil companies often operate in dangerous or tumultous regimes, and had OPEC stung the US, many of the petroleum firms would be feeling it. But maybe there's something to be said about it not being about oil. Maybe the concern is that the US military is hobbled by another GOP world goal. In effect, the GOP wants to contract the size of the federal bureaucracy.

Don't laugh, however: the US Armed Forces is the biggest bureaucracy of them all. So Cheney's boys at Halliburton provide an exit, a way to expand the role of the military without relying on more civil servants. The only problem is that the article indicates many of KBR's snafus have cost us in a tangible way. As my congressman Waxman points out, even having to pay insurance premiums is padding the Iraq war bill. Of course, the White House is leaking through the State Department news that it would like more Muslim nations to participate militarily under the US flag. Well that's a neat idea, but quite frankly this is an American-made mess and now the Europeans and Arabs are ready to let Bush hang himself. What's worse...no weapons of mass destruction appear to be in the offing and the longer the petroleum infrastructure is dead the less we can assume that Iraq will begin to pay for itself. But Iraq isn't Vietnam. Vietnam was a proxy war against a Soviet-backed regime. Iraq is nothing more than an attempt to use the sword to strike at the heart of the leverage the Arab-Islamic world has developed over the West in terms of natural resources, Israel-Palestinean relations, and the notion of terrorism. So far the oil problem is still acute, the Colin Powell induced "roadmap" has Abu Mazen asking direction, and by all accounts, Islamic fundamentalists are ramping up attacks outside the US.

And all of this brings us back to Halliburton. They can't carry the sword as soldiers and can't deliver the destruction required to qualify as "victory." In other words, unless Bush and the Carlyle Groups of the world assent to privitizing the army itself the problem will still stand. The budget deficit and current problems aren't caused by school lunches or tax cuts or the stock market. It's that no matter how you try to avoid it, the military is the greatest expense that a national government carries and that no amount of "downsizing" will provide you with the outcome you desire. Just as Ronald Reagen learned in the 1980s...you cannot be a libertarian and an imperialist. In fact, the nation state arose from the need for national armies and permanent taxation. Abraham Lincoln invoked the federal income tax to keep the Union Army afloat during the Civil War. The National Militia have been reorganized in the US into the National Guard. And it doesn't matter what ideas you suggest...Bush won't have them. He won't hire more troops, he won't touch the draft, he refuses to extend benefits for retired and incapacitated personnel. In short, we have an army that has too few people to do the job, and an attitude toward taxation as if wars are paid on credit card. No matter how sophisticated the US military becomes in techonology and training, the system still requires a huge amount of money and it has to be something Grover Norquist can't drown in a bathtub.
posted by Thomas at 10:58 PM 0 comments

 
No End in Sight

Tuesday marks the end of the special legislative session called in Texas by Governor Rick Perry. On the one hand, things don't look like they will change much, as the state has a lawsuit in Travis County due on Monday to determine if they can go into New Mexico to retrieve the derelict lawmakers. Even if they don't all indications have Perry giving the Republicans a break until after Labor Day and then calling an unprecedented third special session about congressional redistricting. After all, the Democrats in the Texas Senate fled to Oklahoma at the traditional close of the Session, only to find the governor, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, and Representative Tom DeLay forming a triumvirate of sorts eager to force the Democrats' hand. DeLay has been eager to see the Texas delegation finally be more accpeting of his political proteges (by stacking the districts), Dewhurst by suspending a two-third rule to vote on something in the Texas Senate, and Perry by continuously calling more special sessions. The only problem is that the sessions continually expire after 30 days, and the Texas Legislature only meets for about five months every two years.

The 11 Democrats in the Senate rolled out of town after Dewhurst suspended the minimum vote for a floor vote to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The GOP has tried everything, and now, it has the chance to either compromise or try to break solidarity among the eleven and get enough back to Austin for quorum and a vote. But don't be fooled, the Senate Democrats won't be back right away. Some are even claiming to stick out to at least Christmas and learn how to ski. But the truth is, the day that Clinton pal and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson (who has welcomed them to New Mexico), the Senators, and Willie Nelson have circled is September 4th.

For on that day, the television trucks descend on sleepy Albuquerque for the first "official" Presidential Debate for the Democratic Party. The event is being organized by Richardson and the Hispanic Caucus. You can imagine that all of the Democratic candidates will at least visit with the self-exiled lawmakers and that when the cameras turn on at Popejoy Hall at the University of New Mexico, one of the candidates will direct the unblinking eye to their presence. This is precisely what Richardson wants and unless the judge in Laredo rules that the Texas Rangers can then swoop in and arrest them, expect the candidates to get on the horn and claim how these "patriots" need your money to keep up the good fight. Dewhurst already wants a break before the next session is called, and Perry is losing political capital by being stiffed. The only person eager to use the smashdown tactics is DeLay who has been ass-mastered this round by Richardson. See you in the Land of Enchantment with the escort, Tom.
posted by Thomas at 11:27 PM 0 comments

 
No Spin Zone

Here I thought it was going to be a pretty boring day with the best news that President Bush once again is trying to gain that elusive Jewish vote by appointing Daniel Pipes to a government commission. I'll get to that in a minute, but first I have to apologize for not at least linking to an update about the Ten Commandments row in Alabama. Here's the link. It is safe to say that Roy Moore might be done in the Alabama judiciary. The folks in Alabama rarely seem to get it, but here's the fact I must explain. The Ten Commandments are not the basis of US Law. English Law and before that, fedual law has minimal links to the Ten Commandments or even the Code of Hammurabi. Of course, given the majority of religious persons in the US are either Jewish or Christian, it's fair to say the Decalouge is the basis of our morality. But as anyone will tell you the First Commandemnt (you shall have no other God but me) and the First Amendment (Congress shall make no law) are hardly complimentary ideas.

But the funnier story has to be Fox News Channel's unfortunate surprise at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan. If the lawyers had to pay for a cab ride, Rupert ought to reimburse them because the story on this is too unbelievable. Basically, Al Franken has gotten under Bill O'Reilly's skin several times (last of which was at the LA Times Festival of Books) for being anything but "Fair and Balanced." Unhappy that Fox was attempting to get many Republican pundits to make outrageous claims of unbias, Franken wrote his most recent work "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" to slam the Ann Coulter crowd of attack dogs. Fox, who owns a trademark on the phrase "Fair and Balanced", attempted to get an injunction on the title, Penguin the publisher released the book early to avoid having to draft a new cover. It turns out to not matter very much.

That's right, when the judge says this is an "easy case" to decide that code to the highly paid lawyers that basically you shouldn't have even brought this motion.


Now on to the whole thing with Daniel Pipes. In case you don't know, Pipes is the fellow who started "Campus Watch" to report on the liberal bias inherent at US university and the implicit "anti-Zion" message being spewed forth. President Bush decided to add Pipes to the US Institute of Peace. This is a valentine to the Paul Wolfowitzs of the world to let them know that in Bush and Karl Rove's eyes, conservative Jews should come in the from cold and know that when people like Trent Lott call them "Christkillers" it's just out of habit. No seriously, Pipes' idea of unAmerican thought at univerisities is pretty ridiculous because nearly a quarter to as many as half of all American academics are Jews. Some of them, like Noam Chomsky, are going to lash out at the Israeli Government verbally. However, the majority of pro-Palestinean fever on campuses I have been to is largely because other underrepresented groups tend to equate the Israel-Palestine conflict as just another front of the developed world's war on the developing world. And sure, when you then take what some professors might say against the United States from time to time and equate that with this Third World partisanship it appears that the whole academic system has gone to rot and that every university student, facutly member, and employee is better dead than red.

What' even more depressing is that the Council of American-Islamic Relations is screaming at this recess appointment. The poor people at CAIR have been forced to act as the main TV presence for America's 2 million Muslims at a time when Roy Moore, Pipes, and Bill O'Reilly are purporting that all Muslims secretly want to be and are martyr's committing jihad for their faith. Of course, that's true, because "martyr" and "jihad" doesn't mean the same thing to Allah. Instead, Muslims believe they must not be swayed from their convictions and struggle to achieve them. That's right folks, "jihad" means "struggle" in Arabic, not "blowing yourself up on a bus". When you consider the religious zeal of fringe Jewish and Christian groups, if you don't get a little worried about mixed messages, you ought to realize that ol John Ashcroft is a Pentacostalist.

posted by Thomas at 4:45 PM 0 comments

 
Not Quite Midnight in Montgomery

Somehow, religious matters seem to outstrip structural ones. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore even managed to make it on the "The Early Show" Wednesday to decry the Supreme Court's decision not to stop the removal of religious display from the Alabama Judicial Building. This didn't stop an army of protesters from showing up all day and even some staying inside after closing time. Thankfully, most of the WHITE protestors did get the famous Montgomery "dog treatment", but they still acted up a storm. Caught in the middle is State Attorney General Bill Pryor who is on Bush's list for a federal judgeship. While it's boundless fun to watch the chaos, it is a shame that the governor Riley finds himself upstaged on a much more pressing issue. Nevertheless, at midnight tonight the penalties will ensue, so we will have an update for you then.
posted by Thomas at 5:13 PM 0 comments

 
A Glimpse into the Future?

When two bombings occur on the same day, what do you generally assume? An afternoon attack in Baghdad is followed by a nightime explosion in Jerusalem. Obviously, resistance in Iraq is emboldened and the usual suspects are stepping up their efforts against Israel. Some will espouse that a sort of conspiracy exists between all Muslim terrorism and resistance, thereby making it seemed planned that whoever committed the Iraq assault on the UN realized there would be a later event in Jerusalem. However, it seems more likely that Hamas or similar organizations responded quickly because they feel that more pressure has to be put via the United States now. If Iraq gets much worse, the Palestineans get put on the back burner again.

Nevertheless, the best question to ask about the killer cement truck will be who did this? The logic answer seems to be the naughty Sunni population in Iraq hoping to engage the US in a war of attrition. CNN asked Peter Bergen what his thoughts were though, and he replied it was likely Saudi men who were flocking to die as martyrs for Islam in Iraq. The whole car bomb bit sounds a little Al Qaeda. The Embassy Bombings in 1998 were car bombs, as were attacks in Tunisia and the bombings in Indonesia by Jeemah Islamyiah. It should be also noted that this sort of attack could be a trial run.

President Bush is going to attend the Asian Pacific Economic Community Summit in Thailand in October. The dates nearly intersect with the bombing of a Bali night club last year. There seems to be little doubt that the Secret Service has that date circled and will do everything it can to protect the President. But maybe, just maybe, the cement trucks will have to wait.
posted by Thomas at 11:37 PM 0 comments

 
We Won't Call it a Crisis Just Yet

Sadly, it took a decade of energy woes and economic doldrums to make America serious about conservation. It's already a fact that the US energy grid is breaking down. Millions of New Yorkers need no reminder how everything fell apart last Thursday. Suddenly, politicians like Spencer Abraham of the Energy Department and members of Congress' energy committees are superstars. We want to know everything about how they are going to fix this. Even President Bush is getting close to promising something for his 2004 presidential bid. After all, didn't you see the hours of coverage of people wandering through the dark streets of Gotham?

The next sign of energy trouble, try Phoenix, Arizona. There aren't any "rolling gas blackouts" here because of deregulation or other assorted bogeymen. A failed pipeline that connects Tucson, Arizona to El Paso, Texas had a rupture on July 30th, and pressure on the market has been building ever since. The pipeline was shut down on the 8th of August, causing a snap in the supply and raising prices. As customer fear the possibility there will not be enough gasoline, the problem snowballs. Anyone alive in the 1970s seemingly can think of only one time they have felt this way before. The ripple effect now has made California's gasoline prices rise, too. And worst of all, there's no timetable when the gas will start flowing again. KinderMorgan has only promised Arizona when it will next test the pipeline for repairs done.

Though Kinder Morgan likely wanted no part of this shutdown, there are now discussions afoot to reform Arizona's gasoline supply system. It looks like though the Bush Administration will at least go to bat for the eponymous Richard Kinder who is decidely pro-Republican and is based in the
GOP's new homeland state of Texas.

And what about Mr. Abraham's previous comments? He appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday and didn't even mention the crisis in Arizona. He instead chose to talk about how the administration has been trying for years to get the energy grids back on track (by charging consumers a premium to fix the grid) and how it's all Congress' fault. Hopefully Bush finds a more qualified man than Abraham to help him stump in energy-sensitive states like Arizona, or else the combination of new state residents, unemployment, energy concerns and the like may push The Grand Canyon state from "Red" to "Blue" in '04.
posted by Thomas at 11:46 PM 0 comments

 
Give to Caesar What is Caesar's

Just when you thought all the cameras were turned on California's recall, the Washington Post uncovers the plight of Southern Baptist Alabama Governor Bob Riley. Gov. Riley was faced with a giant $675 million deficit. He cut spending, but still found the need to quadruple taxes just to break even in accordance with the state's balanced budget requirement. He then decided it was time for a change in how the state raised, managed, and spent revenue. But in Alabama, the tax code is part of the state constitution and requires a referendum to reform it, instead of just legislative action. Riley now has until September 9th to convince voters this change is good for them.

Conservative tax policy guru Grover Norquist is already promising to sic the dogs on Riley, a Republican no less, for equating the GOP with tax increases. Riley responds that as a Christian he finds inspiration in the Bible to do what is he is doing. Norquist will likely gag, but for years, many Democrats turned Republican in the South because they found their socially conservative views to be partnered with the fiscally conservative ideology favored by Republicans in the West, Midwest, and Northeast. Now this is called into question if Nose-twist and the supply-side goons undermine Riley.

And what about God? Turns out the national Christian Coalition gives the Governor an "Amen" while the state chapter is busily opposing it as they try to keep the Ten Commandments up in the Alabama Judical Building. As they gleefully hope that the US Supreme Court will uphold their rights, there's the potential that the federal judge sitting in Montgomery, Myron Thompson, will impose daily fines for not removing the structure. Let's see Grover defend the state wasting thousands of dollars a day to thumb his nose at a federal judge and then call Riley fiscally irresponsible. Wait, he might delegate that responsibility to weekend rally speaker, Alan Keyes.

So while John Giles of the CCA appears to be Gov. Riley's biggest adversary, the Post reports it happens to be blacks, who find just about anything a Republican man says to be untrustworthy. The endorsement of the Alabama Democratic Party is helping to stem this, but it appears the measure is going down in flames, with over fifty percent opposed. So with this most radical of solutions to the nearly nationwide problems with budget deficits among states, why isn't Riley on Fox News Sunday or Meet the Press with Timmy Russert? Do you really think the national political establishments want to turn the deficits into an academic discussion as Riley has done, or keep it more reactionary?

The Economist has shown particular interest in illustrating Alabama's recent constitutional struggles. They went so far as to discuss the failings of the 1901 constitution over one year ago. They also have gone so far as to chronicle the recent shenanigans with characteristic British wit. When Bagehot's Boys beat the American press to a story that's usually a bad sign. Heck, Riley hasn't even been on C-SPAN yet. Of course, national media attention will soon be focused on Alabama. The USC Trojans are coming to Auburn courtesy of CBS. Hopefully, Dan Rather at least mentions this story on the Evening News the week prior. At least that would be giving God what is God's.


posted by Thomas at 7:18 PM 0 comments