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Last updated on March 6th, 2018 at 12:31 am
* Iraq has a new government. (Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is currently described at news.com.au’s main site as “a nonsense outsider with a brave agenda”.)
* Hugo Chavez: the Daily Kos of South America!
* Howard Dean: “No American should be subjected to discrimination because of his or her race, ethnic background or religious beliefs. It is our obligation as Democrats and as Americans to speak out against such discrimination, whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.” How dare this lookist bastard discriminate against the ugly. We’re just as God made us, sir.
* J.F. Beck continues his torment of Tim Lambert.
* A fake-but-true Democrat impersonator?
* Monkeys can speak. Sort of.
* Antony Loewenstein puts it best—or as best as he can, anyway: “There is a growing awareness towards food companies – not unlike tobacco companies in years past – that responsibility lies in the quality and health of its products.” (ed: get this guy another book contract!)
* D. Quinn Mills is worried.
* Gail Hapke: “Need I say how much I would like to have baby kookaburras on MY deck?”
* London’s traffic cameras are racist.
* Peter Costello on Labor’s leadership: “We take whoever the Labor Party throws up. They had Beazley, then they had Crean, then they had Latham, then they had Beazley, now they’ve passed over Gillard, they’ve given away Rudd and they’re on to Shorten.”
- Would baby kookaburras be tasty as a sammich ingredient?Posted by ushie on 2006 05 20 at 01:04 PM • permalink
- From the article on D. Quinn Mills’ book on the coming “civil war”: “To warn America about this gathering storm, Mills has written a novel titled Blue! Red! (available online here) and is conducting a sparsely attended online seminar on the subject for the Harvard community. I assume the civil war is likely to be “sparsely attended”, too.
Egghead Mills worries about the possibility of more razor-thin and heavily disputed Republican victories moving Democrats to violence. Sorry, Donks, but the liberals’ fear of the second amendment is going to leave them armed with . . . what, exactly? I suppose Ted Kennedy’s arsenal of empty vodka bottles would make for a hefty supply of molotov cocktails, and there’s always John Kerry’s lucky hat, but I really don’t think the chances are very good for ultimate success.
Far more likely, in my opinion, are acts of violence stemming from unregulated immigration, which is an issue that has been poorly handled by both major parties. But I doubt this will become a civil war; at least, I believe the situation is still open to reasonable approaches to solving the problem.
- In other news:
“Shell craters and dead branches torn off the trees by explosions mark the places in the mountains of northern Iraq targeted by Iranian artillery firing across the border in a serious escalation of the confrontation between Iran and the US.”
As the bombs fall, Iraq’s Kurds have ‘no friends but the mountains’
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 20 at 04:50 PM • permalink
- Attention all you unattached gals, Mr. Donato is “Single and Looking”. Modest and self-effacing, too (not unlike our own Stoop Davy and paco:
I am a College Democrat activist and I am right on the money when it comes to the issues that most affect students and citizens in this country.
College Democrats is a great organization and it is my goal to make it even greater, these pieces of neocon garbage know I am coming for them.
I kick republican @ss 24 hours a day, no job is too big for me to handle.
Oh yeah, pieces of neocon garbage need not apply.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 05 20 at 06:56 PM • permalink
I would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 05 20 at 07:16 PM • permalink
- How could we have missed this . and it upset the french.Posted by Pat Patterson on 2006 05 20 at 07:18 PM • permalink
- What’s this, the Democrats are going to put a Muslim on their ticket? HoHo Dean:
Likewise, as part of Democrats’ national outreach efforts, it is no longer enough to say that Muslim Americans should have a place at the table; more importantly, we must have diversity on our tickets.
Does Hillary know about this?
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 05 20 at 07:26 PM • permalink
- Crikey! There are pencil-necked geeks in physics labs who would be ashamed to show themselves in that outfit.Posted by Evil Pundit on 2006 05 20 at 07:27 PM • permalink
- And congratulations to the people of Iraq. You (and your government) have your work cut out for you.Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 05 20 at 07:28 PM • permalink
- Thanks. I hate Yahoo image links. Anyway, it’s just a slightly bigger version of that fake-but-accurate Democrat impersonator.Posted by Evil Pundit on 2006 05 20 at 07:51 PM • permalink
- I like what Dean said about not allowing discrimination. Therefore I expect the Democrats in Congress next week to introduce bills outlawong preferential treatment for people in hiring and university admissions on the basis of race, creed, color, ethnic background, and sex, what is commonly called Affirmative Action. The reason is that these programs are discriminatory against people who are not part of the government’s priviliged classifications. Therefore, according to what Dean says, they are programs the Dems will oppose.
What, you tell me they like those programs and support them? You mean Dean was LTING?
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 05 20 at 08:44 PM • permalink
- “A fake-but-true Democrat impersonator?”
Please god tell me that picture is a joke….
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2006 05 20 at 08:53 PM • permalink
- Kyda
I kick republican @ss 24 hours a day, no job is too big for me to handle
Yeah right…LOL. Mr. Donato by the time you unsnapped your suspenders, some one would have tossed you into a cement mixer.
Oh nice glasses, too. What an asshole…LOL.
———–
MentalFloss
Ummmm needless to say….be extremely careful up there.
- First DFAT interview when I get back from CA in June, El Campeador. Don’t see as it’s any o’ there business, but apparently required. (actually, I think it will be a spook asking the questions but it doesn’t really matter)Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 20 at 09:22 PM • permalink
- #9: If Stoop Davy were here, I’d naturally ask him to go first, but since he’s out somewhere (probably arm wrestling somebody in a bar to see which one’s the most humble), permit me to “get ahead of the news cycle” on Mr. Donato. Let’s jump forward about 30 years and see how his site would read:
Yahoo ID: Proud_Substitute Social Studies Teacher_Philadelphia_Cracked Bell Middle School_Democrat
Nickname: Gramps
Marital Status: Still single and
lookingOccupation: Writer; author of “Iraq: How George Bush’s Foreign Policy Created an Economic Colossus That Now Threatens U.S. Jobs”, “Bang! Who Really Put the Nitro in Fidel’s Montecristo?”, and other unpublished works of leftwing analysis.
- MentalFloss
As you mentioned and I agreed, the Kurds are tough, but the Persians lobbing ammo in…should be stopped…like carpet bombing 100 miles on the inside of Persian border.
The Persians are really inadequate fighters, eight years against Iraq…and the gained back two feet of their own territory. You can put lipstick on a pig, but you still have a pig with lipstick, regardless their weaponry.
As I mentioned in a post recently…they have NO Darius or Xerxes to lead them.
- Mental Floss:
Doesn’t this tie in with their yo-yo diplomatic maneuvering? They are extremely active all over the map; militarily on the ground, in their statements to the UN and to the media, and in both their provocations and their supposed willingness to “settle things reasonably”?
For all of the insanity, they have the focus of purpose and I get the feeling that everything that is happening is happening for that purpose–to take on the US.
Do you go soon? Take my best thoughts with you whenever it is.
- Near as I can figure, the OZ Labor party has this big Lazy Susan in their office. Every Monday the janitor comes in, gives it a twirl, and whoever gets chucked off last gets to be Labor’s Leadership Hopeful for the Week…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 21 at 12:32 PM • permalink
- <b>Red! Blue!</i> — Good Lord,it’s like The Turner Diaries for people who sip white wine…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 21 at 01:27 PM • permalink
- To say that Iraq ‘has a new government’ defines the concept ‘having a government’ down to . . . I dunno, not quite Somalia levels, but pretty far down.Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 05 21 at 04:11 PM • permalink
- On racist traffic camera’s, there was a story a while ago (cant find the story now) out of the UK, where the government crime database was considered to be racist, because the majority of recorded offenders were blacks – the ignorance is amazing, why not solve the reason for the stats instead of just blaming the stats?.
- So what, paco, do we need a new category—‘failed embryo state’?
It’s fair to cut the Iraqis a lot of slack, and their system isn’t closely modeled on ours, but if a newly elected US president were to come along in May (four months after inauguration) to name his Cabinet, but said, ‘Sorry, we cannot fill the positions of Secretary of Defense, Attorney General or National Security Adviser yet’, what would you think?
Is that a functioning government, or isn’t it?
Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 05 21 at 09:08 PM • permalink
- #35: The only point I’m trying to make is that there appears to be a difference in orders of magnitude between the political organization of Somalia and Iraq. Yeah, it’s taken Iraq a long time to get its government together, but at least it has one. Somalia is a true patchwork of unrecognized “wannabe” states, autonomous regions, uninhabited war zones, etc. Somalia cannot be said to have even a nominal national identity at this time.
- Harry Eagar — We’ve had numerous instances in the past (more recently lately what with Dem obstructionism) where elected Presidents have had prolonged delays in seating Department Secretaries. Guess we shoulda guv the place back to the British.Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 21 at 11:29 PM • permalink
- We have?
Besides, your example is not parallel. The Iraqi prime minister has not presented candidates who were unconfirmed. He is not presenting candidates.
I’ll come clean. I don’t believe Iraq is a nation, nor that Arabs have any interest in democracy. I’d like them to prove me wrong, but so far, they’re not.
Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 05 22 at 12:56 AM • permalink
- I’ll come clean. I don’t believe Iraq is a nation . . .{/i]
It would be hard to dispute that it’s an artificial nation: a collection of ethnic groups, religious sects and political factions that do not have anything like a history of getting along together. The road is going to be difficult. Not impossible, but very difficult, there’s no denying it.
- Is Iraq a more artificial nation than, say Iran, where half the population is non-Persian? How about Switzerland, which has two major religions and four native languages? I can think of one mahjor nation that is an amalgam of an enormous number of disparate people, many of whom have very little in common in their origins. That’s why the Frogs don’t think the USA is a real nation.
Hell’s Bells, they’re coming off 45 years of savage and murderous tyranny, the last 24 the worst, and damn little political experience before that. They don’t even have a King Juan Carlos to guide things for them, as he did in Spain coming off 36 years of Franco. In most of the countries of the Arab world an argument over who was going to direct the Army and the Police would be settled by gunfire.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 05 23 at 02:06 AM • permalink
- 9 Kyda
Modest and self-effacing, too (not unlike our own Stoop Davy and paco:
That Mr Paco, he’s not so modest like he says. He doesn’t just look at the tops of his shoes, either; I’ve caught him peeking at my shoes many a time. Way I can tell is, I look at my belt-buckle and it’s shiny enough to spot him.
And furthermore, not that it’s my style to go on an on about this like some guys would, but furthermore, as for him being the Genghis Khan and Muhammad Ali of humility, hah, well, oh yeah, well I’m the King Kong AND Godzilla of modesty so there. Meekness too.Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 05 23 at 09:54 AM • permalink
- Uh, Michael, I believe gunfire is how it’s being done in Iraq, too.
Is Iraq more artificial than Iran? Yes, of course. Iran isn’t, perhaps, much of a standard to shoot for, though.
Muslim tradition is to be governed by kings, and there are not many instances of Muslims staging national revolts against dynasties (in contrast to the infidel subjects of Muslim dynasties). The non-Persion minorities in Iran have a long tradition of acquiescence (at the least) to rule from Tehran.
Perhaps, over time, that would break down without a dynasty to cement community feeling. I suspect not, given the placid response of the Bam region to the inefficient (or worse) reaction of the central government after the earthquake there.
Switzerland is an odd example to pick for a contrast. Its organization is far more federalist than anything the US is willing to accept in Iraq, it doesn’t have the religious problems Iraq has and it doesn’t have the problem of allocation of natural resources that make it so difficult to govern Iraq either centrally or as an association of regions.
A few people in Iraq self-identify as Iraqis, but not many. That could change. 150 years ago, nobody self-identified as Romanian, and just 50 years ago, nobody self-identified as Palestinian; but no one would deny the nationhood of either group today.
It’s hard to imagine that the Iraqi Kurds would ever self-identify as Iraqis, slightly less difficult to imagine Sunni and Shia Iraqi Arabs as eventually coming to regard themselves as co-nationals. (After all, the German Jews were pleased to think themselves German even if the German Christians were not pleased to agree with them). But there isn’t an Iraqi nation now, and it isn’t clear to me why any Kurd or Arab living in Iraq would want to form one now. What’s in it for them, compared with regionalism?
Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 05 23 at 01:42 PM • permalink
there isn’t an Iraqi nation now, and it isn’t clear to me why any Kurd or Arab living in Iraq would want to form one now. What’s in it for them, compared with regionalism?
1/ If they form a cohesive nation, they get to maintain military and economic parity with hostile neighbor Iran. Regionalism doesn’t offer that incentive.
2/ If they form a cohesive nation, they presumably get to say goodbye to the occupying coalition troops. And the o.c.troops won’t likely be leaving if it looks like they’ll be leaving a regionalized Iraq behind. Which I guess is a roundabout way of waying that it’s not really up to them. That’s because of point 3:
3/ Before they can claim to have formed a cohesive nation, they have to eradicate their infestation of “minute-men / Zarqaweenies / insurgents / banditos / and/or terrorists,” which is worth doing on its own merits. Because it’s only worth getting rid of the occupying coalition troops if they’re pretty sure of NOT replacing them with something worse, like occupying Persian troops, for instance.Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 05 23 at 01:58 PM • permalink
- Not at all clear that the southern Shia Iraqis are opposed to Iranian penetration.
Your other points are worth consideration, though.
So why aren’t the people there considering them?
Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 05 24 at 01:47 AM • permalink
- It’s not clear to me that those considerations are going unconsidered in Iraq.Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 05 24 at 10:45 AM • permalink
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