Oh please, oh please I hope Billmon is reading and does decided on the odd post or two.
Digby ... you're great. You too dday and tristero. Greenwald ... we are SOOOO glad you are here. We miss you, Steve Gillard, and always will. And many others, of course.
But Billmon. Nothing compared to Billmon.
Posted by Anonny at June 23, 2008 07:03 PMIt’s sick and repugnant, but we all know They Booed at Wellstone’s Funeral Republicans would of course blame Democrats for a terrorist attack, and of course their little lapdogs in the media would carry their water for them and legitimize all the hate and filth.
Sigh. I'm not so sure they're right about how America would react to another attack. The ONLY thing Bush has going for him is that there hasn't been an attack since 9-11-01. Never mind that under Clinton the only foreign assault on US soil was in 1993 -- a small, failed attack, followed by 7 years of peace, including heading off the millenium attack. Nevermind that Bush ignored all the 9-11 warnings and let it happen. Somehow Bush didn't get any blame for leadership failure on 9-11, but has gotten credit for the absence of an attack since then.
However, let another terrorist attack on US soil happen and there will be no one to blame BUT Bush. And, by extension, McCain. "Hey," middle America will say, "you've killed thousands of Americans, destroyed our finances, killed hundreds of thousands of Arabs, and made airplane security checks hell for all of us, and after that you still didn't stop terrorism? And now we have to deal with $4/gallon gas, rampant foreclosures, inflation, job losses, and -- worst of all -- we still have Ann Coulter????? HELL, let someone else try to fix this."
Posted by Anonny at June 23, 2008 07:13 PMparadox,
Billmon? My gut feeling is he went cold turkey permanently. Personal reasons, or a feeling he was repeating himself, or discomfort with adulation or notoriety, or deciding it just really didn't make any damned difference... who knows?
I'd sure like to see the master of the form constructing posts entirely of self-contradictory McCain quotes, though...
We can all see how the Republicans and their media enablers would play a terrorist event. And a false flag operation is entirely within their moral orbit. What's the point of developing an extra-military security apparatus (read: Blackwater) if you don't use it to hold onto power?
I've always thought the best way to deal with it is to defuse it by discussing it loudly and pre-emptively. Black may have unintentionally provided an opening to do that.
We'll know whether Black's remarks were an accident by seeing whether or not the media keeps the topic alive - if they do, it wasn't, and they perceive an electoral advantage.
Fear and Smear. That's all they've got, and 2006 gave me the first glimmer of hope that it wouldn't always work.
Posted by OkieByAccident at June 23, 2008 09:49 PMIncentives are a good thing. Government contracts that reward vendors financially for completing projects early tend to go well. Why not try it with alternative energy?
If any bombs drop on Iran, Iran will retaliate, no doubt leading to Iranian counterattacks both overseas and more than likely inside the United States.
In other words, Black may just be expressing a self-fulling prophecy, a Republican fantasy, based on some insider information Black is privy to, maybe?
More and more evidence is appearing suggesting that the Bush administration (Cheney) is planning some sort of action against Iran, especially following any hardcore, war-hawk Israeli preemptive strike against suspected Iranian nuclear enrichment sites...with about the same degree of verifiability as experienced before the Iraq War was begun over similarly "suspect" WMD sites inside Iraq...and we've all seen how that has worked out.
1) Kristol rolling out the "fear smear" against Barack Obama, claiming that if Obama wins in November, the Bush administration will attack Iran before leaving office in January, giving us a two-fer...elect Obama and Bush will attack Iran by the end of the year, or elect McCain and the attack will take place next year.
2) Israelis reportedly holding training exercises out in the Mediterranean Sea that looked suspiciously like a dry run for attacking Iranian sites.
3) All the military preparations by Bush in the Persian Gulf states south of Iran, with emphasis on U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy forces...because so many of our ground forces are bogged down in Iraq.
4) All the ramped-up right-wing rhetoric about Iran interfering inside Iraq, activity which should come as no surprise to anyone since Ahmed Chalabi, to begin with, had such strong pre-war ties to the Iranian leaders, and with the degradation of Sunni influence in Iraq coupled with the rise of a whole lot of Shia Iraqis betting on increased contacts with the Shia Iranians next door, then Iranians have gained a foothold inside Iraq that they didn't have before Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
5) Black using a "terrorist attack" inside the United States as part of a "Vote Republican" argument, implying that Democrats will be held responsible even though the Clinton administration kept Americans safe inside the U.S. for seven years following the first right-wing World Trade Center attack.
6) Saudi Arabians reportedly increasing their oil production in July...in preparation for any shortages on the world oil market caused by an attack on Iran?
7) Republicans using the same rhetoric they used before Bush attacked Iraq in 2003, with one difference being that instead of a "mushroom cloud" looming over the United States, this "mushroom cloud" scare-tactic has shifted over to Tel Aviv. (In other words, the scare tactic the Republicans are using may not be intended for domestic consumption, but may actually be directed at Israeli citizens and leaders, with the Republicans hoping that war-hawks in Israel will react and launch an attack against Iran, with the Bush administration ready to join in afterward, bypassing completely (once again) the U.S. Congress and any War Resolution before Bush starts hostilities.
Bush and Cheney should both be impeached, but if they start another war, this time with Iran, or join in with the Israels in attacking Iran, they definitely should be impeached and put in jail, no ifs, no ands, no buts.
Posted by The Oracle at June 23, 2008 11:43 PMWhere's the outrage over here on the Countrywide/Bank of America bailout? Where's the everyman stand? Seems Sen Chris Dodd, your favorite on FISA, has some VIP deal with those folks. Seems Dodd, as the Chair, has received some 70K in donations in his short chairmanship, whereas Sen Shelby only received 7K his four years as chair. Doesn't pass the smell test folks. Special interest favors, wasn't that the call with Abramoff? Seems Democrats like to take foreclosure money...Sen Edwards worked for these guys. Other presidential candidates take a lot from these guys...Senators Clinton and Obama far outshine Sen McCain take here...more than double McCain's contributions. The subprime six they're being called...all Democrats in the back pocket of foreclosures! So much for looking out for the everyman.
I read that B of A lobbyist are writing their own bailout? Where's the chosen's leadership here? Come on folks hold your own to the same fire that Republicans seem to get.
Then lets talk about the corn ethanol problem Senator Obama seems to have. Helping Archer Daniels Midland Company out in the Farm Bill. Democrats raising the price of food and gas, keeping the poor poorer.
Posted by peter at June 24, 2008 04:21 AMAhh.... Billmon. I only hope he is writing a book based on the Egyptian train trip. Thanks for bringing his name up. Now if we could just get Gilly back to lay a wee bit o'smack down, then all would be right with the world.
Posted by wilson at June 24, 2008 05:45 AMThe Gov't. Accountability Office, GAO, has release an Iraq report today, finding (and this will be a big surprise) that the Bush White House has been "misrepresenting" the amount of progress being made over there, on any level. And guess what they find as the culprit???? Lack of Strategy. Whoa! what a shock. Don't expect to locate any reference to this report in the Media.....but they have a website...gao.gov. And don't expect any "Journalist" to ask John McBush his opinion of the misrepresentations either, since he is basing his run for president on them.
I hate to disagree, but in terms of energy research we're way beyond garage discoveries. By setting a reward after development, McCain is limiting the field to big-pocket corporations. A better approach would be to fund innovators who lack the millions needed for their future breakthroughs.
Posted by Weedhopper at June 24, 2008 07:59 AMHas Krugman and Friedman misrepresented Iraq too? Network news are closing their bureaus in Iraq...good news isn't news for them anymore. Your measurement for Iraq had been casualties...what was that number last month?
Strategy? Isn't the purpose to turn over Iraq to the Iraqis enough? Anbar will make the tenth region to be turned over soon. Isn't the Iraqi Army perfoming superbly? There's Basra, y'all accepted the media's label that it wasn't working. It's very peaceful there now. Baghdad's Sadr City seems to be defanged...what a picture, all those rifles laid out on the ground. Mosul, hardly mentioned now and Maliki's latest Ammarah, hardly a shot.
Keep trying T2. God bless you.
No one cares about Dodd and his role with Countrywide/B of A?
And when did Tom Delay have his day in court? Where's Ronnie Earl today? Did he get a conviction?
Posted by peter at June 24, 2008 08:03 AM"Isn't the Iraqi Army perfoming superbly?" Not really, peter.
The GAO report said that only 10% of Iraqi security forces are capable of conducting operations independently.
If its so good over there peter, isn't it time for us to leave?
Soon, very soon. Petraeus will be announcing more homecomings in September. GAO is being very conservative. Those folks have come a long way. I wouldn't be surprised to see them helping us out elsewhere soon. They will be able to integrate with our forces easily.
Posted by peter at June 24, 2008 09:44 AMThey will be able to integrate with our forces easily.
Just don't ask any local Sunni council members to help out.
hey pants pissing peter, if things are so great in Iraq then why don't you go there and do some McCain-style shopping?
I fixed The Oracle's sentence: "Bush and Cheney should both be impeached."
Posted by Gay Veteran at June 24, 2008 10:52 AMFix all you want GV. That's not going to happen. Democrats don't have the stomach for impeachment, Congressional Democrats that is. Any type of mischief like that and the electorate would hold them responsible. What was that line Cheney used for our welcome into Iraq? Did they? That would also hold true for those Democrats...the results of a Democratic impeachment of either or both. No appreciation...just revenge at the ballot box.
Posted by peter at June 24, 2008 12:49 PMparadox,
"It’s sick and repugnant, but we all know They Booed at Wellstone’s Funeral Republicans would of course blame Democrats for a terrorist attack, and of course their little lapdogs in the media would carry their water for them and legitimize all the hate and filth."
I think that your capitalization is a bitt off. Also, you may be missing a period between "Funeral" and "Republicans."
No need to thank me. I am just here to help out.
Posted by Bagley at June 24, 2008 05:07 PMI think that your capitalization is a bitt off. Also, you may be missing a period between "Funeral" and "Republicans."
Bitt me.
Posted by at June 24, 2008 05:58 PMWhining? Eh, look who's whining! It's Turkana as usual. The only thing that's more disappointing that Obama's support for the corrupt FISA bill is that you don't realize Clinton will do the same.
They are both Centrists. They are not liberals. They are not progressives. If you want a candidate that would have supported the people and rejected the bill outright, you should have voted for Edwards or Kucinich.
Boom.
Posted by gmknobl at June 25, 2008 06:47 AM