arse poetica

Worst.President.Ever.

Harper’s: “Worst. President. Ever.”

“It would be difficult to identify a President who, facing major international and domestic crises, has failed in both as clearly as President Bush,” concluded one respondent. “His domestic policies,” another noted, “have had the cumulative effect of shoring up a semi-permanent aristocracy of capital that dwarfs the aristocracy of land against which the founding fathers rebelled; of encouraging a mindless retreat from science and rationalism; and of crippling the nation’s economic base.”

[snip]

“No individual president can compare to the second Bush,” wrote one. “Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world’s goodwill. In short, no other president’s faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large.”

“With his unprovoked and disastrous war of aggression in Iraq and his monstrous deficits, Bush has set this country on a course that will take decades to correct,” said another historian. “When future historians look back to identify the moment at which the United States began to lose its position of world leadership, they will point—rightly—to the Bush presidency. Thanks to his policies, it is now easy to see America losing out to its competitors in any number of areas: China is rapidly becoming the manufacturing powerhouse of the
next century, India the high tech and services leader, and Europe the region with the best quality of life.”

I don't even know who to shake my fist at first.

Sometimes I Cannot Believe What We Have Allowed to be Done in Our Name

For about 12 minutes db and I tried to watch "24." We like spy-type shows (too bad "24" isn't produced by the BBC; then I'd probably watch it), and it'd been recommended countless times by many folks, so we tuned in. Good lord, that is a load of tripe! Firstly, it's completely nonsensical, which can be OK in a mind-numbing teevee kind of way--but if that's all it is, it needs to be a lot funnier for me to stick w/ it.

"24" is not so funny--not intentionally anyway--it's superficial and posturing and underwritten and had, for the short time we watched it, this odd macho, right-wingish thing working, and I simply have no time for fictionalized versions of that when our current gubmint is replete with multiple redundant examples of disastrous macho posturing.

We cannot see the backs of these criminals fast enough. If there is any justice on earth, they will have to answer for their crimes. And I don't just mean the Bush madministration. Journalists, j'accuse!

How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the (Ticking) Bomb

I discovered that when I gave interviews to major media on this subject, any time I used the word “torture” with reference to these techniques, the interview passage would not be used. At one point I was informed by a cable news network that “we put this on international, because we can’t use that word on the domestic feed.” “That word” was torture. I was coached or told that the words “coercive interrogation technique” were fine, but “torture” was a red light. Why? The Administration objected vehemently to the use of this word. After all, President Bush has gone before the cameras and stated more than three dozen times “We do not torture.” By using the T-word, I was told, I was challenging the honesty of the president. You just couldn’t do that.                                                                                                              

In early 2005, I took a bit of time to go through one newspaper—The New York Times—to examine its use of the word “torture”. I found that the word “torture” was regularly used to described a neighbor who played his stereo too loud, or some similar minor nuisance. Also the word “torture” could be used routinely to describe techniques used by foreign powers which were hostile to the United States. But the style rule seemed very clear: it could not be used in reporting associated with anything the Bush Administration was doing.

So yeah, Scott Horton found that what used to be the tool of the enemy--that is, torture--is now the tool of Jack Bauer. This he finds troubling, as do I.

We should start with a frank question: has “24” been created with an overtly political agenda, namely, to create a more receptive public audience for the Bush Administration’s torture policies? I think the answer to that question is now very clear. The answer is “yes.” In “Whatever It Takes,” Jane Mayer has waded through the sheaf of contacts between the show’s producer, Joel Surnow, and Vice President Cheney and figures right around him. There is little ambiguity about this point, namely, if the torture system introduced after 9/11 can be traced back to a single person, it is Vice President Cheney. He pushed relentlessly for use of the tools of the “dark side,” and he ruthlessly took out everyone who stood in his way. He also worked feverishly to disguise or cloak his intimate involvement in the entire process. I take it as a given that Surnow is working to develop public attitudes which are more accepting of torture; to overturn centuries-old prejudices against torture. He is a torture-enabler.

Jeebus H.

Why, Yes, It *is* for Lack of Trying

Damn you, Twitter! You killed my blog! It's easier to write (and think) in snippets, I won't lie. Coupled w/ the holiday crush and a deadline push, not a lot of extra brainspace 'round these parts. And as always, the insanity of our political reality inspires more catatonia than logorrhea.

For a long time I didn't miss the blog, didn't even care, over it. What the hell else could be said about my hate for Donald Rumsfeld? (Given the endless depths of his venality, a lot probably.) Then as my deadline passed from memory and I was able to relax into reading other things, enjoyable things, articles and essays and fiction -- real, honest-to-god fiction! -- and, as always, it made me want to record a little something here and there. A week later, here I am.

Anyhoo, still alive. More latre as the inspiration (or frustration) comes. In the meantime, here's a pretty picture to further signify the unspeakably boring shoegazey nature of this post:

My shoe, my pal JM's coffee table.

Close Gitmo

Happy New Year, friends!

I don't own anything orange--nothing obvious anyway--so I'll be wearing one of db's shirts tomorrow.

American Civil Liberties Union : Close Guantánamo.

Emoticons During Wartime

Haha...ha...argh.

Shouts & Murmurs: Emoticons During Wartime.

:-)

No new attacks reported today.

:-(

New attack reported today.

=|:-)=

This e-mail is being monitored by Uncle Sam for your protection.

:-x

I’d rather not say in an e-mail that’s being monitored for my protection.

:-w

Our current leader speaks with forked tongue.

*:o)

Our current leader is a bozo.

/:-=(

Our current leader in some ways resembles Adolf Hitler, at least in his disregard for civil liberties during wartime.

:-o

Uh-oh, what was that?

:-@

I hear screaming.

B)

Now donning protective goggles.

Where's the icon for "losing soul in a crumbling democracy"? >:-/

[via]

In Which I Only Had It in Me To Chuckle Half-Heartedly

Ha...ha...bleah.

Waterboarding To Feature In 2012 London Olympics.

London, UK -- U.S. Olympic Commission Director Bob Famous announced Friday that waterboarding has been added to the 2012 Summer Games, which are scheduled to be held in London, England. Weather permitting, events will take place on or near the River Thames; expected categories include team, relay, and freestyle waterboarding. All scoring will be based on well-established "sudden death" criteria.

[snip]

In Beijing, Chinese Olympic waterboarding team captain and seven-time national champion Xiao Yin Zhang responded to the news with characteristic vigor.

"Tell those weak and puny Americans to bring their best game," said Xiao. "The People's Republic will give the United States a waterboarding lesson, you bet. My country has been waterboarding since long before the Pilgrims landed in California."

"I will admit," added the feisty Chinese athlete, "those Pilgrims would have been formidable foes. That Salem team was fanatical."

The Bush Madministration Hates Itself or Murka or Something

Why is the Bush madministration siding with dirty hippie libruls, I'd like to know.

Press Briefing by Dana Perino.

Q Is it ever reasonable to restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism?

MS. PERINO: In our opinion, no.

Wow. Really? What's all this then?

Pay No Attention to That Diplomat in the Bullet Proof Vest

We're obviously winning the war. It's so obvious to all of us who are not Murka-hatin' libruls. Like the diplomat corps.

Some US Diplomats Angry Over Iraq Posts.

Several hundred U.S. diplomats vented anger and frustration Wednesday about the State Department's decision to force foreign service officers to take jobs in Iraq, with some likening it to a "potential death sentence."

In a contentious hour-long "town hall meeting," they peppered officials behind the order with often hostile complaints about the largest diplomatic call-up since Vietnam. Announced last week, it will require some diplomats _ under threat of dismissal _ to serve at the embassy in Baghdad and in so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams in outlying provinces.

Many expressed serious concern about the ethics of sending diplomats against their will to serve in a war zone, where the embassy staff is largely confined to the so-called "Green Zone," and the safety outside the area is uncertain while a review of the department's use of private security contractors to protect its staff is under way.

"Incoming is coming in every day, rockets are hitting the Green Zone," said one who identified himself as Jack Crotty, a senior foreign service officer who once worked as a political adviser with NATO forces.

He and others directly confronted Foreign Service Director General Harry Thomas, who approved the move to "directed assignments" late last Friday to make up for a lack of volunteers willing to go to Iraq.

"It's one thing if someone believes in what's going on over there and volunteers, but it's another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment," Crotty said. "I'm sorry, but basically that's a potential death sentence and you know it. Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?"

His remarks were met with loud and sustained applause from the approximately 300 diplomats at the meeting.

Hmm. Well, then.

[photo credit]

Life Under Bush

It's just too hard sometimes:

Bolton: I ‘Absolutely’ Hope The U.S. Will Attack Iran In The Next ‘Six Months’.

White House Manual Details How to Deal with Protestors.

White House Fights Disclosure (of "Deleted" Emails).

Poll: White Youths Happier Than Others.

[photo credit]

The Next F.U.

Continuously mistaken millionaire war profiteer Thomas L. Friedman wants to strangle his critics. (Or maybe he's imitating a pompom motion as he cheerleads The Endless War.)

ThinkProgress has a nicely done graphic of the never-ending "next few months" in Iraq, of which Friedman is BushCo's most faithful pollyanna. These "next few months" started in 2003 w/ arch fiend Donald Rumsfeld lying, "It could last...six days, six weeks. I doubt six months," and have continued to present day.

Iraq Timeline: The Broken Record on "the Next Few Months".

"The Next F.U."? Yup, one big long F.U.