A pleasant exchange between Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski and some moron named Joe

Leading me to pen my first quote of the Post-Christmas holidays,channeling Donald Rumsfeld...

You get information with the media that you have, not the media that you might want or wish to have at a later time.

Sigh.

Check out the video below, about half way through is this priceless line from Zbigniew regarding Joe Scarborough's understanding of the TABA negotiations--I'd only add that Joe's understanding is unfortunately not a helluvalot better than 90% of our utterly incurious population.

"You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it's almost embarrassing to listen to you."



Thanks Dr. Brzezinski, and a Happy Holidays to you, too.

The poisonous attack on Gaza

I'm horrified by the recent slaughter in Gaza and know that my view will be marginal at best, even among the progressive community. I'd like to point out a few things, but think it better that those living and writing from Israel do the pointing out. Herewith, the words of columnists from the center of the death that reigns down upon a subjugated people.

From Haaretz, Zvi Barel writes: "Six months ago Israel asked and received a cease-fire from Hamas. It unilaterally violated it when it blew up a tunnel, while still asking Egypt to get the Islamic group to hold its fire." Yet the U.S. media refers that only Hamas violated the ceasefire.

Amira Hass, the paper's correspondent in Gaza, reports: "There are many corpses and wounded, every moment another casualty is added to the list of the dead, and there is no more room in the morgue. Relatives search among the bodies and the wounded in order to bring the dead quickly to burial. A mother whose three school-age children were killed, and are piled one on top of the other in the morgue, screams and then cries, screams again and then is silent."

From the lead Haaretz editorial: "[T]he inherent desire for retribution does not necessarily have to blind us to the view from the day after....Israel's violation of the lull in November expedited the deterioration that gave birth to the war of yesterday. But even if this continues for many days and even weeks, it will end in an agreement, or at least an understanding similar to that reached last June."

The Independent, a major daily in London has an eyewitness account, ending with: "These bombs were launched by Israel, as we had known they would be. The world watched the situation simmer then boil over, but did nothing. There are some who believe that hell is divided into different classes. The ordinary people of Gaza have long been caught in the tormenting underworld. Now, if the world does not heed what has happened here, our situation will worsen. We will be trapped in the first class of hell."

A McClatchy dispatch quotes Daniel Levy, a political analyst in Israel who once served as an adviser to Ehud Barak, who is leading the military campaign against Hamas: "I don't see how this ends well, even if, in two weeks time, it looks like it ends well."

Haaretz has just posted this from another columnist, Tom Segev: "[T]he assault on Gaza does not first and foremost demand moral condemnation - it demands a few historical reminders. Both the justification given for it and the chosen targets are a replay of the same basic assumptions that have proven wrong time after time. Yet Israel still pulls them out of its hat again and again, in one war after another."

And this from another columnist, Akiva Eldar: "The tremendous population density in the Gaza Strip does not allow a "surgical operation" over an extended period that would minimize damage to civilian populations. The difficult images from the Strip will soon replace those of the damage inflicted by Qassam rockets in the western Negev. The scale of losses, which works in 'favor' of the Palestinians, will return Israel to the role of Goliath."

I would add, from a personal perspective, there is hardly any moral equivalence in these actions. Israel has claimed more lives in 48 hours than Hamas has claimed in nearly three years of mostly inept Qassam rocket attacks. David and Goliath, indeed. Need the Israel right and it's military might be reminded that God did not favor Goliath?

Dick Cheney on Dick Cheney

"I'm very comfortable with where we are and what we achieved substantively"
--FoxNews, 12/22/2008

Yes, let's list those achievements, shall we?

1 destroyed country
Nearly 4 million people displaced, 2 million internally in Iraq
Approximately 1 million civilians dead
4000+ US Soldiers dead
Terrorism on the rise by almost every measure across the globe


1 destroyed city (New Orleans)
1 un-successfully conducted war, still unfinished in Afghanistan
World wide derision and antipathy


The world's largest economy (USA) destroyed (thanks to the evisceration of regulation pushed through by Republicans--in particular the economic standard bearer for McCain's failed bid -- Phil Gramm and, of course, the Ayn Rand idolizer 'bubbles' Greenspan.)

1 hunting partner's face shot up.

Yes, Dick, it's been a helluva run.

Robert Reich on Paul Krugman

Good stuff...

Paul is correct in arguing for a large stimulus. I can't help wondering, though, if we'll need something more. Keynesianism is based on two highly-questionable assumptions in today's world. The first is that American consumers will eventually regain the purchasing power needed to keep the economy going full tilt. That seems doubtful. Median incomes dropped during the last recovery, adjusted for inflation, and even at the start weren't much higher than they were in the 1970s. Consumers kept spending by borrowing against their homes. But that's over. The second assumption seems even more doubtful: that, even if middle-class Americans had the money to continue the old pattern of spending, they could do so forever. Yet the social and environmental costs would soon overwhelm us. Even if climate change were not an imminent threat to the planet, the rest of the world will not allow American consumers to continue to use up a quarter of the planet's natural resources and generate an even larger share of its toxic wastes and pollutants.

The current deep recession is a nightmare for people who have lost their jobs, homes, and savings; and it's part of a continuing nightmare for the very poor. That's why we have to do all we can to get the economy back on track. But many other Americans are discovering they can exist surprisingly well buying fewer of the things they never really needed to begin with. What we most lack, or are in danger of losing, are the things we use in common -- clean air, clean water, public parks, good schools, and public transportation, as well as social safety nets to catch those of us who fall.

Given the implausibility of middle-class consumers being able to return to the rate of spending they maintained before the bubble, along with the undesirability of our doing so even if we could, and the growing scarcity of common goods, one could conceive an argument for maintaining aggregate demand through continuing government expenditure on the commons. Rather than a temporary stimulus, government would permanently fill the gap left by consumers who cannot and should not be expected to resume their old spendthrift ways. This wouldn't require permanent deficits as long as, once economic growth returns, revenues from a progressive income tax refill the coffers.

Mundatar Al Zaidi Proclaimed Folk Hero

For tossing his shoes at Bush. But it looks like he might face 2 years of prison time for his highly cathartic act. Want to protest? Code Pink has a petition that will be sent to the Iraqi embassy this week.

A few folks online are also shipping shoes to the White House.

I personally don't think I have enough shoes to throw at this administration. I think if they received all the shoes they deserved, we'd all be barefoot in December.

What Not to Put on Your Resume

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- An American anti-kidnapping consultant was kidnapped in Mexico, according to the Houston-based security firm he works for.

Felix Batista was abducted outside a restaurant December 10 in Saltillo, the capital of Mexico's Coahuila state, the firm said.

The former U.S. military officer is a contract consultant for ASI Global LLC and was in Mexico "on personal business," ASI Global President Charlie LeBlanc told CNN.

Science and Facts Please

Obama just moments ago named Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu his pick for energy secretary and Lisa Jackson to be the head of the EPA. "My administration will value science," he said. "We will make decisions based on facts."

Dramatically different from the Republican method of relying on the wealth of knowledge in 2000 year old religious domes and occasionally--if you're Nancy Reagan--taking a gander at the stars. Nice to know our transition team is aiming for something that post dates the enlightenment. Republicans really should give the whole science / rational thought thing a try.

The Shoe President

We had the shoe bomber, now cometh the shoe president.

The Iraqi TV reporter who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush was kidnapped once by militants and, separately, detained briefly by the U.S. military — a story of getting hit from all sides that is bitterly familiar to many Iraqis.

Al-Zeidi's act of defiance Sunday transformed an obscure reporter from a minor TV station into a national hero to many Iraqis fed up with the nearly six-year U.S. presence here, but also fearful that their country will fall under Iran's influence once the Americans leave. Bush was not hit or injured.

Several thousand people demonstrated in Baghdad and other cities to demand al-Zeidi's release. The attack was the talk of the town in coffee shops, business offices and even schools — and a subject across much of the Arab world.

A day after the attack, al-Zeidi's three brothers and one sister gathered in al-Zeidi's simple, one-bedroom apartment in west Baghdad. The home was decorated with a poster of Latin American revolutionary leader Che Guevara, who is widely lionized in the Middle East.

Family members expressed bewilderment over al-Zeidi's action and concern about his treatment in Iraqi custody. But they also expressed pride over his defiance of an American president who many Iraqis believe has destroyed their country.

The phrase "giving him the boot" now takes on a whole new meaning.

Latest Hidden History--Oscar Romero

Bishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador was originally considered a conservative Vatican appointment, but by 1980 he had become so outraged by the spiraling violence in El Salvador’s so called dirty war that he spoke out against it. No doubt that’s why the right wing military of El Salvador found it necessary to assassinate him.
"The peasants you kill are your own brothers and sisters," Romero told the military in a sermon broadcast on radio just days before he was killed. "When you hear the voice of the man commanding you to kill, remember instead the voice of God. Thou shalt not kill."
Romero was assassinated in the middle of conducting a mass. At Romero's funeral, in front of the cathedral where his body now lies, army snipers opened fire on a weeping crowd of 100,00, killing 40. Within weeks, all-out war was on. By the end of the decade, 75,000 were dead, 600,000 had been displaced inside the country, and more than one million had gone into exile.
Reporting for PBS Front Line series, Joe Rubin recently visited Romero's tomb and wrote this account:

“In the basement of the cathedral, a steady stream of visitors make pilgrimages to the coffin every day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., crossing themselves and usually spending a few contemplative moments. Although it would seem a sad place, surprisingly, I noticed a resilient somewhat joyful expression on many of the visitors. I asked one man, who had made a pilgrimage from neighboring Guatemala, why the coffin says in bold letters simply "87 years. " Romero was killed at the age of 64, and I found the discrepancy confusing. "That's how old he is today," the man told me. "But he's dead," I responded. "Not to us," he said.

Check out Hidden Histories every Wednesday and Friday @ 10:00 am broadcast from WRIR 97.3 FM, Richmond, VA.

Out of range? You can stream Hidden Histories here...WRIR

Gilding the non-bailout lilly

Via Michael Moore, who knows a thing or two about Detriot and the auto industry

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers start building only cars and mass transit that reduce our dependency on oil.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers build cars that reduce global warming.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments in their attempts to not comply with our environmental laws.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the management team which drove these once-great manufacturers into the ground resign and be replaced with a team who understands the transportation needs of the 21st century.


Yes, they could have given the loan for any of these reasons because, in the end, to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and throw 3 million people out of work would be a catastrophe.

But instead, the Senate said, we'll give you the loan only if the factory workers take a $20 an hour cut in wages, pension and health care. That's right. After giving BILLIONS to Wall Street hucksters and criminal investment bankers -- billions with no strings attached and, as we have since learned, no oversight whatsoever -- the Senate decided it is more important to break a union, more important to throw middle class wage earners into the ranks of the working poor than to prevent the total collapse of industrial America.

cjallen over at dKos knocks it out of the park:

They voted against millions of jobs for Americans at a time when we desperately need them. They voted in favor of you having to move out of your house because you'll no longer be able to afford it. They voted for you selling one of your cars so you can pay the bills. They voted for you freezing over the winter because you'll not be able to afford to heat your home. They voted for you eating ramen noodles because you'll not have the money for real meals. They voted for our recession turning into a depression. They voted for at least another year of dropping stock markets. They voted for a reduction in your retirement savings of another 50%.

They voted to kill millions of jobs. They voted to kill the American economy. Why? So that foreign automakers who have plants in their states can compete better. Foreign automakers who pay their American employees less than the American automakers. They voted against it so that foreign companies could make more money by paying Americans less.

Bingo.

Lame Duck Senate Republicans Destroy the US Auto Industry

I guess destroying New Orleans, Iraq and Afghanistan just wasn't enough. They've just voted to let the US Auto industry die.

Now I loathe the Big 3 and have avoided American cars for a long time. But I hate union busting Southern politicians more.

Critters like Republican Corker are using this opportunity to kill off Northern competition and destroy a major union (the UAW). But they won't be just gutting the Unions. They'll be gutting 3 million Americans jobs ranging from management at the plants all the way down to the stores that sell the parts.

All the while they'll keep putting money into the pockets of the Japanese car firms manufacturing cars in the South.

You see it helps their constituency to ensure the continued decimation of unions across this country.

As beltane over at dKos noted, LBJ said that with the passage of the Civil Rights bill, the Democratic party would lose the South for a generation. Now it is the Republican's turn to lose the rest of the country for a generation.

The only region left that will think of Republicans without loathing is the poor South. What goes around comes around. The confederate flag in which they've decided to wrap themselves will be a fitting funeral shroud.

Libertarians, take note

Joseph Stiglitz thinks Greenspan is a hack, pure libertarianism is worse than a joke, it's a dangerous delusion that's managed to plunge us into yet one more greed inspired depression.

The truth is most of the individual mistakes boil down to just one: a belief that markets are self-adjusting and that the role of government should be minimal. Looking back at that belief during hearings this fall on Capitol Hill, Alan Greenspan said out loud, “I have found a flaw.” Congressman Henry Waxman pushed him, responding, “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right; it was not working.” “Absolutely, precisely,” Greenspan said. The embrace by America—and much of the rest of the world—of this flawed economic philosophy made it inevitable that we would eventually arrive at the place we are today.

Sounds about right...

From an interview with journalist Michael Ware

“From the moment the first American tanks crossed the Kuwait border, America was in a proxy war with Iran,” Ware says. “The Iranians knew it, but it took the U.S. four years to figure it out. Now the Iraqi government is comprised almost entirely of factions created in Iran, supported by Iran, or with ties to the Iranian government — as many as 23 members of the Iraqi parliament are former members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.”

[snip]

Of the many stories that haunt Ware when he closes his eyes but can’t sleep, this one singes a little more because he caught it on film and CNN refused to air it: It was spring 2007. He was in Diyala province, in a village north of Baghdad, embedded with a U.S. infantry platoon conducting a sweep for insurgents. By the time they arrived at daybreak, the insurgents had fled. The whole thing looked like a bust, but then there was a shot. An American sniper had seen an armed man running toward the platoon and put a bullet in the back of his skull. The soldiers went to look for him. Was he dead? Was he still a threat? When they found him, alive, they dragged him to a secure area.

“When you get to the point where you come home from a bombing, realize what’s on the soles of your shoes, and can wipe it off without a second thought — it takes its toll.”“Then, for the next 20 minutes,” Ware remembers, “all of us just stood around and watched this guy’s life slowly ebb away in painful, heaving sobs for air, rendering him absolutely no assistance or aid. If that had been an American soldier, he would have been medevacked out and in 20 minutes would’ve landed on an operating table. Once an enemy combatant comes into your custody, you’re obliged by the Geneva Conventions to render that wounded prisoner all aid. Even I — with my rudimentary medical training, I don’t think his life could’ve been saved — but even I could’ve eased his passing.

“Instead a towel was laid over his face, making his breathing much more labored and painful, the taunts continued, and we just sat around and watched him die.

“And for some bizarre reason, it was just me and this platoon of soldiers, and I was able to see the dispassion of these kids in the way they just watched his life slip away. I was filming and worrying about the best composition of the shot, and I realized that I too was watching just as dispassionately. There’s no blame to be laid here. That guy was a legitimate target who was rightfully shot in the head. But it made me realize, just once more, that this kind of dehumanization is what happens when we send our children to war.”

Okay, here's your good news for the day...

A Wal-Mart store in Weyburn, Saskatchewan has been granted union certification by the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (SLRB) after years of Wal-Mart legal wrangling and delays, including two Wal-Mart applications to the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn the process.

You read that right, a Wal-Mart store has been unionized in Canada!

Now, let's hope they don't close that unionized store like they did the last one.

Who Said It?

Courtesy Benjamin Sarlin, The Daily Beast

It's time to play Name That Goon! Rod Blagojevich vs. Tony Soprano.

Hands on buzzers: One's a trash-talking thug trying to stay one step ahead of the law. The other was played by James Gandolfini. Can you identify the speaker of the ten quotes below?

1. "Unless I get something real good...shit, I'll just send myself, you know what I'm saying."

2. "What the fuck am I, a toxic person or something?"

3. "Log off, that "cookies" shit makes me nervous!"

4. "They're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them."

5. "You got no fuckin' idea what it's like to be number one. Every decision you make affects every facet of every other fucking thing."

6. "I've got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and I'm just not giving it up for fuckin' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there."

7. "That motherfucker's full of shit. He's shaking me down."

8. "Our recommendation is fire all those fucking people, get 'em the fuck out of there..."

9. "I could have made a larger announcement but wanted to see how they perform by the end of the year. If they don't perform, fuck 'em."

10. "Jesus Christ! The money I've been dropping in here, I could've bought a fuckin' Ferrari."

Answers:
Tony Soprano: 2, 3, 5, 7, 10
Governor Blagojevich: 1, 4, 6, 8, 9

Contra Hildebrand--an interesting squabble in the lefty blogsphere.

A few days ago, Steve Hildebrand offered up a kind of patronizing piece at the Huffington Post suggesting that the snipers on the Left back off criticizing Obama's cabinet posts:

This is not a time for the left wing of our Party to draw conclusions about the Cabinet and White House appointments that President-Elect Obama is making. Some believe the appointments generally aren't progressive enough. Having worked with former Senator Obama for the last two years, I can tell you, that isn't the way he thinks and it's not likely the way he will lead. The problems I mentioned above and the many I didn't, suggest that our president surround himself with the most qualified people to address these challenges. After all, he was elected to be the president of all the people - not just those on the left.

Naturally, this caused no little commotion. Glenn Greenwald has probably the most succinct and snappy retort:

Even in this New Era of Trans-Partisan Harmony, there's nothing wrong with citizens objecting to what political leaders do and trying to pressure them to move in directions that they perceive are better. That's actually called "democracy." As upsetting as that disharmony apparently is to some, it's actually far preferable than the alternative, where everyone lines up behind a leader and agrees to remain respectfully silent and trusting in his superior judgment. Between excessive citizen activism and excessive trust or passivity, the former is far preferable to the latter.

But I rather like Ezra Klein's take , quoting Mark Schmitt and his "theory of change" essay.

The reason the conservative power structure has been so dangerous, and is especially dangerous in opposition, is that it can operate almost entirely on bad faith. It thrives on protest, complaint, fear: higher taxes, you won't be able to choose your doctor, liberals coddle terrorists, etc. One way to deal with that kind of bad-faith opposition is to draw the person in, treat them as if they were operating in good faith, and draw them into a conversation about how they actually would solve the problem. If they have nothing, it shows. And that's not a tactic of bipartisan Washington idealists -- it's a hard-nosed tactic of community organizers, who are acutely aware of power and conflict. It's how you deal with people with intractable demands -- put ‘em on a committee. Then define the committee's mission your way.

This sounds right, and perfectly in line with appointing Hillary et al, to such posts.

Having said all that, I still draw the line at Michael Hayden for CIA director which is what is being floated in this US News & World Report article. The man should be in shackles, not in charge of the CIA.

Furthermore, Obama voted against confirming him for CIA director when his initial appointment came up, stating "as the architect and chief defender of a program of wiretapping and collection of phone records outside of FISA oversight." [he was voting against Hayden] "to send a signal to this Administration that even in these circumstances President Bush is not above the law" and "in the hope that [Hayden] will be more humble before the great weight of responsibility that he has, not only to protect our lives, but to protect our democracy."

You can put some boobs on a committee. You can even appoint some close rivals at agency's whose policies you set, if they are not diametrically opposed to your values or your efforts. But you don't put the Fox in charge of the Hen House. Especially not after voting against said Fox. That's just asking for trouble, or, more specifically, sabotage.

Oh, and Hildebrand, Obama's approval rating is through the ceiling. If the left takes off some of that lustre in an effort to reel in some of the more dangerous appointments, I see no harm. Far worse will be a situation in which Obama's cabinet is over larded with left overs from one of the most regressive and reactionary administrations in this country's history.

Things We Thought We'd Never hear from the WhiteHouse again

According to the Chicago Sun Times President-elect Barack Obama put himself on the side of the workers at the Republic Windows and Doors factory Sunday:

"When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right. What's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy."

Josh Marshall thinks this designates a 'new' day. Certainly, it's a different day. Not of the Bush malapropism nor the nearly 20+ years of conservative fundamentalism that suggested unions and strikers were quasi communist scum and the root of all evil.

But for America I would suggest it's harking back to a fine tradition that began in the progressive movement of the 1800s and lasted well into the '60s. It is a fierce struggle against Babbitry on one side and the ruthless machinations of Capital on the other. For nearly two decades we consistently were lossing that battle and Nixon Reagan and Bush were the ignomonious spoils of the victor. Intellectually obtuse, cynically manipulative for the purposes generally of crony Capitalism and pushing forward a mean spirited social agenda as far removed from America's heart as the infantile meanderings of Sean Hannity.

Voicing support for people struggling to survive is not 'new' to America. What's new is the idea that pond scum like the current conservative movement should have smeared unions for so long and with such vehemence that even now it's difficult to imagine that a union is a good thing and that its collective effort has done more for the working and middle class of America than all the lying Limbaughs, Hannities, Coulters and O'Reilly's rolled into one putrid ball.

But the truly 'new' day will come, when we turn off the radio and flip off the television and instead devote our energies to helping ALL our citizens put their children through school, bread on their table, and shelter their old and infirm.

How Word Should be Tooled

Bah Humbug! Bankers cheating workers of pay on Christmas eve?

Bank of America received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package, but none of that money went to pay laid off laborers a dime of the 60 days severance owed them by law. Instead, Republic Windows and Doors, financed by Bank of America laid off 250 workers with only 3 days notice, without severance packages of any type and without health benefits -- right before the Christmas Holidays.

In a memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our doors." because Bank of America refused to finance the payment of the workers--even as they were paid billions by US taxpayers.

In retaliation, about 250 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts Saturday while union leaders outside criticized the Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.

from AP

Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days' notice required by law before shutting down.

During the two-day peaceful takeover, workers have been shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said.
[snip]
Fried said the company can't pay its 300 employees because its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them.
[snip]
The laborers are not leaving: "We're going to stay here until we win justice," said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours.

Good on them. And one hopes the miserable wretches at Bank of America that made this decision will have a woeful night or two with visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. My only question? Will they even have the barest outline of a soul that managed to save Ebenezer Scrooge after his visitation from Jacob Marley and the three ghosts? Or are they all well and truly damned?

I feel certain I can hear the 'bah humbug' from here, and the tormented howl of Jacob Marley cursing these rapacious bankers to hell.