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Hussein in the Membrane: Making Lemonade in Iraq

By Matt Taibbi
Created Jan 8 2007 - 9:03am

"The president's view is that in the absence of a U.N. endorsement, this war
will become 'self-legitimating' when the world sees most Iraqis greet U.S.
troops as liberators. I think there is a good chance that will play out."
-- Thomas Friedman, The New York Times, March 2003

I thought of Thomas Friedman over the weekend as I watched the United States
proudly gallop into its 9,598th consecutive gargantuan P.R. fuckup in Iraq,
better known to the rest of the world as the execution of Saddam Hussein. In
fact, I thought specifically of the above-mentioned column of Friedman's,
written right on the eve of the initial invasion almost four years ago.

It was in that particular column ("D-Day," March 19, 2003) that Friedman
long-windedly lamented President Bush's failure to secure broader
international support for his invasion, which he feared would detract from
the legitimacy of the operation. This was a blow to the Iraq war effort, in
Friedman's mind (excuse me: in what passes for Friedman's mind), but in that
"D-Day" piece of his he said that we could all still make things work in
Iraq -- all we had to do, he said, was to "turn these lemons into lemonade."

Tomgram: Nick Turse, Pentagon to Global Cities - Drop Dead

By Tom Engelhardt
Created Jan 8 2007 - 8:58am

- from TomDispatch [1]

In our world, the Pentagon and the national security bureaucracy have
largely taken possession of the future. In an exchange [2] in 2002,
journalist Ron Suskind reported a senior adviser to President Bush telling
him:

"that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,'
which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your
judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something
about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not
the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now,
and when we act, we create our own reality. We're history's actors . . . and
you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

Slowly, step by step, the present White House has found itself forced back
into at least the vicinity of the reality-based community. This week we may,
in fact, get to hear one of the last [3] of this President's great Iraqi
fictions.

Whining GOPhers and a Loose Cannon President

By Mel Seesholtz
Created Jan 8 2007 - 8:46am

Now that the United States Congress is in the hands of Democrats, the GOP
that has run roughshod over everyone for more than a decade is whimpering
and proposing a "Minority Bill of Rights [1]." Tony Auth's cartoon [2]
captured the essence of this hypocritical, pathetic ploy: "Now remember, do
unto others as you devoutly wish they had done unto you."

To be sure, the Republicans and their Christian Right GOPhers do have
something to worry about. Their backward looking, theocratic, special
interest agenda may well be degutted.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set raising the minimum wage and increasing
funding for stem cell research as top priorities. The GOP has always opposed
raising the minimum wage. They prefer pandering to big business and big
profits for corporate execs at the expenses of the workers who actually
create the products and deliver the services. And, of course, there are all
those corporate campaign contributions to be worried about.

Walking the Line Between Justice and Reconciliation

By Zbignew Zingh
Created Jan 8 2007 - 8:22am

The late accidental president, Gerald Ford, was eulogized for being a
"healer," for bringing the nation together after Watergate, and for
pardoning Richard Nixon before he could be prosecuted for his crimes. Those
like Mr. Cheney who praised Mr. Ford the most are, undoubtedly, pressing
their own cases for presidential absolution when Mr. Bush's regime ends.

Conservative reactionaries have also used Mr. Ford's funeral to stroke
American liberals' soft spot for 'peace and reconciliation'. Liberals
beware: it is a ruse to avoid responsibility for the devastation wrought by
America, its leaders and our government.

The only praise that Mr. Ford deserved is for not being as god-awful as his
predecessor. His pardon of Richard Nixon was absolutely not praiseworthy.
Reconciliation can come only after the truth is laid bare. After Mr. Nixon
had been indicted, tried, bared the truth and confessed the errors of his
ways, only then -- perhaps -- could the nation have begun the "healing"
process.

The US did not "heal" after it lost the War in Vietnam because it never got
to the root problem: why was the United States in Vietnam in the first
place? Because the illness was never properly diagnosed...

The People's Republic of Me: Novelist Nick Mamatas declares his independence

By Mickey Z.
Created Jan 7 2007 - 4:02pm

I met Nick Mamatas in 1999 when he edited my first book, Saving Private
Power. Nick was (and is) brutally honest and opinionated. He also wields his
wit like a weapon and is just about the smartest guy I know. Author of six
books (including two novels) and contributor to several more, Mamatas is an
original and creative writer with palpable subtlety, nuance, and social
conscience. His latest novel, Under My Roof (Soft Skull), is a suburban
fable about a family that declares independence thanks to a homemade nuclear
device stored inside a garden gnome. Having just finished reading this
remarkable book, I decided to ask Nick a few questions via e-mail.

Mickey Z.: How would you feel if I said your new book reminded me of Kurt
Vonnegut...and I meant that as a major compliment?

Nick Mamatas: That would feel great. Vonnegut is definitely an influence. I
was handed Slapstick by an indulgent uncle at a young age - I was probably
eight years-old - never looked back. Lots of kids read science fiction, of
course, but they generally start with Asimov or Andre Norton or somesuch. My
"skipping ahead" really did help define my aesthetic.

Weird Coalitions - Or, How to Make Bipartisanship Work for Us

By David Sirota
Created Jan 8 2007 - 4:46pm

Successful movements - as opposed to Partisan Wars [1] - pull their
traditional opponents into coalitions on specific issues, rather than
selling out their principles in the name of the faux "bipartisanship" [2]
that Washington pundits seem to think is the ultimate goal of politics. And
clearly there are many new opportunities for the progressive movement to
build non-traditional coalitions.

Take, for instance, the fight to increase fuel efficiency standards for
automobiles. This is usually seen as a purely Democratic issue, but here's
the Wall Street Journal today [3]:

"Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican known for aggressively advocating
more oil drilling, is pushing a greener proposal: higher mileage standards
for passenger cars. Stevens introduced legislation today that would require
cars to get an average of 40 miles per gallon by 2017...Stevens tied his
support for better fuel economy to the reduction of greenhouse gases."

The War Against Meaning

By Pamela Troy
Created Jan 8 2007 - 4:09pm

A blogger called Spocko recently took on San Francisco's local right-wing
station, KSFO by drawing attention to some of their more - let's just say
"outspoken" - radio personalities. To be precise, Spocko provided
advertisers with audio clips of some of their DJ's riper comments, pointing
out to Britesmile, for instance, that they might not want their product
being pitched by someone who had just finished talking about tracking an
emailer down and "doing something unpleasant to his cojones."
(http://www.glcq.com/sprocko/cojonesbritesmile.mp3 [1])

Brent Budowsky: I Challenge Celinda Lake To A Debate About The Soul, Honor,
and Strategy Of Democrats On Iraq

By Brent Budowsky
Created Jan 8 2007 - 2:09pm

One of the Democratic Party's leading pollsters, consultants and strategists
is quoted in the Washington Post as advising Democrats to avoid taking a
strong stand against the troop surge and escalation of the war in Iraq.

Ms. Celinda Lake is quoted as follows: "people are not looking to their
individual members of Congress to solve the Iraq war." And: advising
Democrats to focus on domestic issues rather than opposing the escalating
war, Ms. Lake is quoted saying this is "the perfect juxtaposition."

It is high time and long overdue that Democrats across America, from the
grassroots to the high levels of leadership in Washington, initiate a
serious debate about both the honor and soul of the Democratic Party on
Iraq, and about the political strategy of a Party that should aspire to lead
the nation and be credible on national security issues.