SHIP OF STATE: RUDDERLESS

While the democrats seek proof from the voters they deserve to take back the House based on their risk-averse agenda-less campaign Nancy Pelosi rumored to have already picked out a new office for her freshly ordained Speakership dismissed the recent inquiries into whether she was planning to impeach Mr. Bush as a first order of priorities-- Harry Reid Senate leader of the demies disappeared from the campaign recently seeking some cover from his own real estate windfall scandal but hardly anyone noticed the milktoast leader of the phantom opposition was MIA-- Campaign distorted nuance and the increased negative quality of this election cycle's political advertising top the chatter classes priorities--

Truly missing in action is not the grovelling obeisance to politics as usual but the ability of political antennae to register how marrow deep the dissatisfaction of the body politic truly goes and how intense the anger roils just below the surface-- Not the petty Red vs Blue conceptual contrivance but the serious angst that compels the public (numbering way more than the elitist political echelon find comfort admitting) into believing our Nation and its future is being or has already been derailled-- Such somber realizations already inflicted on many sectors of the working and middle-classes found an ally last week in the GAO's top dog David M. Walker who publicly and loudly revealed that the economic ship of state has charted a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of ruin if nothing is done to remedy the bleak situation: "The best we're going to get in the next couple of years is to slow the bleeding," says Walker--

What Walker doesn't say is that most candidates don't appreciate the danger and don't even begin to comprehend the economics behind the gloom-- Most see their job once elected as bringing home the bacon the ledger of economic health be damned-- Nobody is elected really to right the ship of state--Re-election occurs through accountability deficit disorder-- Now there's a disease in need for a cure and hey maybe we can get some federal funding to allay our research costs-- The complicit media seem less informed than the candidates but then again their main role is beneficiary...to pocket the cash corporate and other donors conduct through the candidates in the form campaign contributions -- Each election cycle is like Christmas season for national retailers-- If the candidate proves himself a capable fundraiser he attains sacred cow status in the netherworld of television media-- Win-Win for everyone involved-- The media enriches itself, the donors buy their own legislation which enable acquisition of more wealth(money) and the candidate wins access to K-Street and the high stakes perks accorded to them from lobbyist largesse-- The media then paints the elected candidate as a statesman which enhances his future fundraising prowess-- All he has to really deliver his home district is a big slab of bacon made from the collaborative consensus of broken budgets-- The last thing the media will demand is accountability-- The voters seem dutifully and willfully duped but who cares if the district's children then wind up with the bill--

Not only are the children going to get stuck with the bill for the deficit closer to $700 billion than the $350(odd) billion advertised there's not going to be enough quality jobs for them to even think of paying off their less than frugal parent's debt-- Add this item to the economic confidence-- The rate of teenage employment has plunged. In the 1990s over 50% of those 16-19 year olds had jobs while only 40% do now-- Only the largest drop on record-- Reasons for the drop the article states is a bit of a mystery-- Industries that trend toward youth employment have shown growth lately but the jobs that used to employ their parents have been outsourced overseas in dramatically higher numbers ostensibly due to cost cutting and not as the fantasy hogs would have it...innovation-- So now children are competing against their parents for the same low paying services jobs-- The future ain't what it used to be--

SLOW ROAD TO RUIN

The battered American economy is faltering and everyone knows it-- The Gross Domestic Product grew below 2% last quarter and a month or two down the line will more than likely be revised downward-- So proximate to such negatively desperate hysteria surrounding and engulfing both parties in the high-stakes midterm elections all the numbers currently coming from the markets and the governments world wide must of necessity be held in suspect for their politically repercussive effects but there is no mistaking those most certain facts repeatedly gaining credibility by slapping us across the face-- How sane can either party be to seek political authority with the mega-meltdown waiting in the wings??-- Eavesdropping on the conversation of two grandmotherly matrons privileged to live 'on the island' both ladies in tones of resignation lamented the gone world of easy wealth and how their grandchildren will suffer through the blight of the coming wake-up call-- They see it also-- Maybe our congressional hacks are so institutionally insulated from the disturbing nature of current data that they will be the last to know-- Current campaigning is a game anyway vulgar, rude, unctiously moneyed and so embarassingly devoid of prescriptive thoughtful debate it seduces itself and stains everything it touches--

No longer capable of being denied the Housing Bubble is bursting in dramatic ways-- -- Sharply falling new home prices dumbled down last month by amounts not seen in 35 years-- Owners have been starkly warned and are bracing for further carnage-- Sellers looking for short term quick-fixes shouldn't go there unless pain is a pleasurable option-- Those builders not sidelined in desperation continue to build toward oblivion adding to the paralytic inventory-- More price declines in both new and used homes are expected throughout 2007 echoing the freefalling dissolution of the Great Depression-- Markets that reveled in hyper-increases will pay the piper with more severe reductions as the slow road to ruin unwinds its way downward--

Are corporate earnings showing enough muscle to be truly optimistic??-- Are their numbers accurate -- Or is this a 'build-it-and-they-will-come' hollywood-type fantasy market??--Last Chance Gulch....step right up!-- Bubble??--You need Bubbles??--The recent stock market run-up into the ethers of Dow Jones record breaking levels have masked the continuing poor performances (Sony's profit plunged 94 percent for the quarter) of some blue chips-- Collapsing housing prices and sales indicate it will be hard times for everyone from construction companies to the top heavy home finance and real estate occupations as existing inventories extend outward to 6 to 8 months--For example, Caterpillar can expect slowing sales of bulldozers and truck engines which further hemorrhages the Not So big Three before extanding outward to auto parts suppliers and purchasing managers etc.-- Wallmart reported seriously disappointing sales in September-- Coca Cola diddoed-- Intel motherboards took it on the chin--

The uncertainty extant the world economy over whether American consumers will continue to buy ad infinitum thereby fending off recession is too late by a half-- Easily accessible credit is like heroin therapy for savings-challenged consumers who obviously couldn't care less where their hard earned coin ends up or whether their children will have to clean up their indulgent mess-- They have been spending money they haven't earned for so long it works like addiction-- Name any addict rich or poor who gives a rat's eyelash what becomes of their kids and their future when the hunger for a theraputic fix descends-- The politicians at the fed won't pull the plug anywhere near an election if at all--Only in Great Britain was Santa Klaus ever nervy enough to actually put a lump of coal into the Christmas stocking-- Consumptive jaded Americans hang their stockings up year-round but immunity to fatigue even the Fed cannot guarantee--

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan may or may not believe Christmas should celebrate the birth of Jesus but donning the monicker of Scrooge would have meant going even farther beyond the pale-- He did iterate however this week something quite ominous in its factual simplicity, "We're beginning to see some move from the dollar to the euro, both from the private sector ... but also from monetary authorities and central banks,"-- Some of those in the private sector include the world's Dope Lords who find the dollar a lot less macho than it used to be-- Not that the powers that be would desire such, but if you add a diminishing dollar to a collapsing housing bubble to a lower worldwide oil production to the potential defeat possibly imminent in the incendiary cauldron of blood-soaked Iraq it is quite easy to see why no one at any stage of this long-in-the-tooth cycle in any position of real authority is willing to risk facing the rough music of reality just around the corner and level with the American people about it-- Not even Obama our newest celebrity saviour--

Now for more bad news -- Word out is that Golf as a pastime is flailing--

The Big O: WAR MINUS ZERO

The Politics of Hope as played by the message-challenged Democrats has morphed by media-blitz (the subtext pleadingly yearns 'Save Us from..... Hillary!!!') into a one word hysterical elixir......Obama!!.....-- Attempting to win congress back this fall, by default really, from an imploding scandalized Republican party not averse to a little hysteria of its own-- Polls inside the campaigns must suggest voters prefer a timeline or deadline for troop re-deployment from Iraq at the very least a position the weak-kneed also scandalized Demies half-heartedly embrace with its trepidatious finger always to the wind these days-- The demies inability to strenuously argue for a troop pullout of Iraq reflects its 'good liberal' hubris the likes of which Mr. Clinton sent into Somalia where not only did the mission fail to sort out the food distribution jumbo-mess at the expense of downed Black Hawks and extinguished lives of our underarmored soldiers but the potential millions so ordained by liberal hubric for a destiny of starvation saved themselves without our heavy handed expertise-- The Demies don't believe the Iraqis are capable of sorting out and establishing an history of their own--We have destroyed an entire country, both a government and its economy that was once built by the very Iraqis whose competence our imperial hubris blinds us from comprehending-- That there will be more bloodspill if we leave is true-- There will be continued bloodspill if we stay-- Pretending it can be avoided is political cowardice-- Does either party's paradigm reflect the real world??---

So we have a clearly beleaguered White House sending out one of its spokesmen named Mr. Bartlett to blatheringly attempt to outflank the flimsical minority party with its own media frenzy outlining the change of course coming in Iraq that's not really a change of course because stay-the-course somehow in spinspeak never really was our course and at any rate the demies are still 'cut-and-run', of course.....-- Hearing this confusing or confounding disemblage and the half dozen or so deadlines or at the very least timelines strewn across political battlefields by the likes of Senators Warner and Clinton poor old one-foot-in-the-grave al-Malicki has probably been bidding on E-bay for an escape hatch and a parachute-- Apparantly though in a Bush initiated telephone call Malicki was reassured by the president that the US was not in the process of pulling the rug out from under him-- Would a US condoned coup of al-Malicki strengthen the American hand in Iraq and the wider Middle East??-- If Bush' statements to him reflect the reality of the US position then all this timeline jive is simply election year posturing in which the president uses this opportunity to portray himself with a new-found charade of 'in-charge' flexibility cynically responding to the critics call for ever changing needs and new tactics on the ground-- Tony Snow says then that there is no change of plans for Iraq--The strategery of course Mr. Bush refuses to alter--

The contradictory rhetorical obfuscation being spewed from the White house is so desperately pervasive many questions arise 'Is anyone here in Charge?' and 'How can we all arrive at the same page??'-- If the dismally savage facts on the ground now are so unambiguously and inarguably stark (When General Caldwell called the US attempt to stem the tide of sectarian slaughter in Baghdad a 'disheartening' failure no public challenge or rebuke so much as peeped from the White House or the DOD) so as to preclude plausible deniability on the part of the administration and that those facts denote an immediacy too intense to delay until after the election and in fact portend end-game probabilities the expertise of both Henry Kissinger and James Baker come into play though both are also conspicuously expert at the vagaries of electioneering-- Kissinger disengenuously announced 'Peace is at hand' on the October eve of the 1972 election hoping anti war sentiment would mute long enough that Mr. Nixon could secure a second term-- Worked like a charm although Nixon's victory insured down the line an ignoble end to his White House occupancy-- Mr. Bush owes his first presidency at least to Baker's germane work in the Florida recount debacle-- Exit-strategy in Iraq commingling with midterm election skullduggery may be counterproductive in the end but Baker has so far publicly expressed a willingness to engage Syria and Iran as potential aides in hammering out a solution to quagmiring-on ad infinitum which certainly spells out serious intent-- Publicly airing, or was it leaked deliberately, this 'speak-to-your-enemies' tenet likely did not go over very well with Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, who speaking of the bedfellowed politically strange, attempted to solidify his decrepit position in the polls by adding a right wing adjutant to his team known mostly for championing dis-enfranchisement for all non-jews living in Israel and for demanding execution for any Israeli political leader who speaks with a member of Hamas-- Olmert spent last week yammering at Vladamir Putin on the need for intimidating Iran into some form of nuclear issues' surrender-- Is Israel seeking a coaliton of the willing to endorse an intense Israeli air campaign against Iran??-- This would be an October/November surprise threatening civilization magnitudinously beyond even Kissingerian proportions but politicians down on their war luck have not always been the most rational of creatures in such extremis--

BAGHDAD TET

Acknowledging the parallels of Vietnam and Iraq and linking the failure of the US effort in recent months to stem the tides of ruthless sectarian butchery in Baghdad with the shocking violent events surrounding the 1968 countrywide Tet Offensive, Mr Bush denied on ABC News that the rising number of Iraqi and US military deaths in Iraq meant the campaign there was failing-- Out of speculative curiosity is this the tutelage of Henry Kissinger coming to the fore of Bushspeak??-- Tet 1968 entailed coordinated attacks against American Troops not just anywhere but everywhere in country and all at the same time ultimately extinguishing 'the light at the end of the tunnel' ('stay-the-course' of its day) and dooming the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson as well as the American misadventure in Vietnam-- If the Green Zone embassy fortress in Iraq were under round the clock siege resembling Khe San the linkage might be more pertinent-- Tony Snow was quick to spin the Bush statement into one tiresomely etched in Churchillian resolve--

If October so far has not produced the most monthly American casualties of the entire conflict it's not far off with The Day of the Dead and All Soul's Day aptly more than a week away-- No wonder Major General William Caldwell expressed "disheartening" morale as the US military admitted expectations aimed at lowering Baghdad's brutal sectarian mayhem had failed-- 'Failed' is not a word used lightly at any juncture of a military conflict but certainly one used here to fit unambiguous facts-- That the murderous chaos in Iraq has become uncontrollable is no longer as a fact susceptible to the smear tactics of politicized doubt--

As the list of valid options dwindles at the speed of Mach3 comes the rumor of The Coup-- Al-Malicki's prime ministership is Dead Man Walking and though his life has always been in danger, the danger is that much closer and clearly more severe-- Subjected to a series of most likely blood-curdling ultimatums from the likes of Senator Warner and scattershot leaks from the Baker Plan more than hinting that the present tense will not be maintained much past the midterm elections which are themselves already beginning to bear the tint of fiasco, an indeed rattled Malicki needed a Bush initiated phone call to reassure him of continued support-- Robert Dreyfuss posted an interestingly provacative piece about the coup rumors swirling around DC's intel houses and it's end-game punditocracy-- If it occurs the nod always as good as a wink to a dead horse (al-Malicki)will come from the Bush war cabinet's gapingly open pandora's box -- According to Dreyfuss' sources those waiting to step into the Chamber of Carnage haven't been determined but a former-Bathist contender tops their wish list-- Former Iraqi Army Generals under Saddam living in Jordan have been approached by our coupmasters, according to Dreyduss report, with some adamantly opposed to the idea but others interested--The Iraqi Government purple-fingered into inception by a fantasia of neocon hubris is about to be be-headed (Isn't this what al-Zarquawi was attempting to do???) and scrapped entirely in the process-- The proposed coup idea if that option were chosen would then provide the US an exit-strategy, an excuse to leave-- The fabulous Baker boys top-secret report clearly not immune to deliberate leakage for election purposes may propose re-deploying troops to regional bases beyond Iraq but still close enough to respond with aid to their coup of choice-- If Bush opts for the Bathist cabal, Al-Sistani the de-facto leader of the Shiite majority as well as al-Sadr's Mahdi Army will be less than pleased but the Baker boys appear to be maneuvering if not grovelling for help from both Iran and Syria-- Why would Iran and Syria be willing to aid the installation of a Sunni Bathist is not explicated by the leak??-- Money??? Arms for hostages??-- Susurrant intonations from the supplicant Doctor of Real Politik and his angst-supported ghost of Peace with Honor beggar for a second chance to refight Vietnam from the misnomered Tet of Iraq-- One thing is very clear, the sustained relentless and effective insurgence in Iraq with such increasing ferocity may demand immediate implementation of some proposed decisions once back-burnered for post election consideration-- Ultimatums, timelines and deadlines all aswirl in the sense of immediacy seeping beneath the ordinary radar of White House spin(the latest being 'We were never "stay-the-course" '), but the indecipherable element appears to be which political party most fears this corrosively charged election--

BLAIR & THE GENERALS: ENDGAME

General Sir Michael Rose ex-UN commander in Bosnia favors impeachment of the British PM Tony Blair saying, "To go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from."-- If being held accountable for one's actions is half as difficult in England as it is in the US, PM Tony 'Yo' Blair will walk-- There is less than little interest if any in the west to confront or acknowledge the war crimes of its leaders and moreover much less to actually bring them to trial especially so since the theatre of operations where these crimes find such bitter and malevolent response still finds itself embroiled in flames and the outcome seriously in doubt--

General Sir Richard Dannatt , an active duty high official has leveled serious concerns about the Army's predicament in Iraq-- Worried about the unrelenting danger to and the demoralization of his troops and what the future effects this bitterly contested deployment will have on the strained army itself Dannatt iterated the Brits should leave Iraq soon-- Uninvited in the first place Dannatt recognizes publicly “we kicked the door in” and as such the British presence“ exacerbates the security problem” and has overstayed its fictional welcome-- The General admits the British are no longer policing Iraq if they ever were, but mostly guarding bases only occasionally risking patrols that provide high-profile sitting duck target practice for mujahideen snipers. Obviously the General refuses to dispute the obvious and for that has reaped condemnation from ministerial higher-ups in the royal government who sprang instantaneously into a jumbo cluster of magisterial spin and damage control--

The authority of Tony Blair was portrayed notably as 'battered' by the active-duty General's unprecedented comments which also set off the spin alarms in DC's denial battered State and Defense Departments-- Tony Snow Bush's press secretary spun the teapot's tempest as if no rift at all had taken place and that the allies are all still on the same page but DC's nerves were most likely frayed by this and their sleep made fitful-- This US spin certainly stood in sharp contrast to the Army(British)'s unofficial weblog which rocked with support from hundreds of multi-ranked soldier blogs hailing the General's salty dust-up with the Home Government as stand-up Truth-telling-- But the man whose authority really battered the skids belongs to fictional Iraqi government's 'leader' Mr. Malicki who was vehemently reassured in a telephone call initiated by Bush that he wasn't on the verge of being abandoned or being subjected to the potential Senatorial timelines bandied about DC this week by John Warner and Chuck Hagel-- Nevermind that Green Zone employees native to Iraq still inquire about potential US evacuation plans and whether that might include them the Iraqis-- Remember when South Vietnam's President Thieu was so reassured by President Nixon's US support he decided to leave the country so overloaded with his country's gold reserves his escape plane failed liftoff on the night darkened runway--

Maj Gen Richard Shirreff, the British officer commanding Multi National Division South East, has denied any talk of imminent end game preparations and that the stiff upper lipped Brits will stay the course "until our major coalition partner, our principal ally, the Americans, declare game over in the centre in Baghdad" but some plans for redeployment of the British forces to the airport and away from their current cities which their presence has 'exacerbated' into hotspots are making the rounds of the rumormills and most input from the soldier blogs indicate the troops are certainly ready for that end game so many are aware of but so few, except of course those violent insurgents demanding their vote be counted, will confirm-- Say your prayers, Mr. Blair--

THE SOUTH

Far longer than one's great great grandfather's memory The South has held a deeply intense affection for, an inspirational affirmation of, an advocacy of heartfelt respect for and loyalty to all things dear to Military culture and it enduring traditions-- Often chided sometimes impugned for their wear it on the sleeve patriotism and readiness to serve, those in government could always count on the South when trouble arose overseas-- Sharply troubling then are stories reflecting a unusual descent into a solemn disaffection on the rise-- Battered by widely scattered military base closings a process that more often than not means economic devastation to all things contingent upon such economy such as the health and education of the entire town if not the entire county coupled with the hellaciously slow and generally inadequate response of Government at every level and lack of meaningful follow-up to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, The South to put it point blank, without even mentioning the sharply downward thrust of the Housing sector and its effect on Blue Collar, is suffering-- Federal photo-ops of the Commander in Chief doling out homilies of compassion were staged largely to reassure the rest of America that in the aftermath of their acute incompetence the government was still in charge and The South was not in danger of total collapse-- Now more disturbing news for the administration, support for the war in Iraq is deteriorating across The South and may be much deeper there than elsewhere in the US--

Injuries to U.S. troops in Iraq soaring and more often than not in previous wars sons and daughters of The South have borne more than a proportionate share of those casualties-- Words like Honor and Duty seem to have always resonated a little more deeply in the South-- If The South is losing faith in the war, the reasons for it certainly cannot be laid at the feet of its soldiers and the sacrifices they are making daily-- Soldiers who, as nearly everyone across the entire country now knows, have been asked by gutless incompetent politicos to accomplish a dauntingly difficult if not impossible task without the necessary means to effect that achievement-- Although Hollywood loves to portray The South as redneck and stupid, men and women of The South are quite like most everyone else, at least in one respect. At a minimum they do not particularly relish being lied to and they have a right and a duty to refrain supporting those calculated lies and the casualties they continue to induce especially when their sons and daughters are the ones most affected and when 'plain-as-day-as-anyone-can-see' arrives in an atmosphere of economic stress they have a right and a duty to be angry-- The South too knows by its own history the difficulties and dangers of invasion, occupation and defeat and what pressure that puts on all participants and are perhaps because of that history more cognizant of the signposts of surfacing defeat--The South too isn't oblivious to Congress cutting funds to Veterans Hospitals and Veterans' Benefits while setting aside $20million bucks for a victory gala that, sorry, ain't arriving anytime soon-- Even dogs are allowed to bite the hand that feeds them poison--

JAMES BAKER: COURSE CORRECTION

Is James Baker consigliere extraordinaire of the Bush Family Dynasty really riding to rescue Sonny from his misadventure in Iraq or is his propositional change of course in Iraq simply a trial balloon??-- Maybe a trojan horse aimed at the midterm election the entire blathersphere has now posited into the win column for the demi-crats due to the hysteria surrounding the latest scandal at the pageboy club-- If Mr Bush is the stay-the-course, progress-is-around-the-proverbial-corner automaton programmed to stubborn repetition in order to reinforce and invigorate a flagging base of ardent war supporters('catapulting the propaganda'), then Mr. Baker arrives Tea for Texas-smooth and soothingly offers the undecided voters, who find the dDemi-proposals indecipherable or easily eviscerated by Rove's boys as misinformed and unattainable, a moderate sounding plan Change of Course (viable or not!) in a month or two disingenuously casual and equally as vague and hopeful as the original but at least its a plan--....... Whatever!!!

The US Army Chief of Staff points out that our troops will be in Iraq until 2010 which is longer even than Bush himself has stated-- Problematical to the Baker plan??-- Not too!-- Everybody has a plan and tomorrow the blathersphere will have largely forgotten all of todays' contradictions, all the objections and all the haphazard opinions emanating from DC because tomorrow there will be a fresh plethora to dissect and ruminate on but it does reflect the blatant fact the Iraq War is getting more bloody and more violent--

The facts are the facts on the ground in Iraq and despite the media obeisance paid to Bush, Baker, Kissinger, Cheney (now in the backseat), Rice (sidelined but rested and ready), and of course Rumsfeld (dutifully still at the oblivious lectern), someone must admit sooner or later that these leaders are not in control of those facts-- Beyond this incontrovertible dictum, great gobs of time, energy and resources go into fruitless efforts to keep from acknowledging the negative news publicly -- 300 US Troops wounded last week and nearly fifty killed thus far in October, both stark increases, is palliated into Baghdad becoming 'safer'-- Nevermind that even if this canard were true no goverment high official will acknowledge that the insurgent activity in the very dangerous Anbar Province from which American troops withdrew to reinforce Baghdad has troublesomely increased-- To help douse one fire we are forced to allow many others to ramp up-- Who determines whose plan or what course the administration chooses and when it wishes to is open to speculation and media odds but the entity with the most operative votes currently is the Iraqi insurgency opposing US Troops and all the sectarian warriors opposing each other, add in also the foreign mujahideen devoted to jihad in country-- They currently control the time and terrain on which they battle our troops with definitely increasing effectiveness--

The progress the administration intones for votes is a complete canard-- One course so far not publicly ballooned up this election season is the ominous albeit a currently longshot possibility that any Change-of-Course will fail to stave off outright defeat should the Shiite majority including southern Iraq decide to oppose the occupation en masse-- Contrarily Al Quaeda types to borrow a Cheneyism are purported to desire a continued US presense for jihadic propaganda purposes but soldier blogs portray an American Army stretched thin and demoralized-- The Mahdi Army was reported to have been ordered by Moqtada al-Sadr to temporarily lay down their weapons and cease engaging American forces-- A temporary reduction in US casualties would enhance the reelection chances of Repo-man stay-the-course types akin to the 2004 Bin Laden endorsement of Bush-- Casualty counts mounting higher over the past ten days would argue against the efficacy of the al-Sadr strategery if indeed it has been employed-- The news is still not good--

Fareed Zakaria longtime hawk prominently declared recently “it is time to call an end to the tests, the six-month trials, the waiting and the watching, and to recognize that the Iraqi government has failed. It is also time to face the terrible reality that America’s mission in Iraq has substantially failed.” Zakaria like Baker and those many others on the right that not only read the handwringing on the wall but comprehend the full measure of this looming disaster can only cringe at the prospect of what awaits them in congress should the agenda diminished demi-crats gain the investigatory power that goes with committee chairmanships should the repo-men lose the midterms-- The reticence to level with an American public that already knows the war is irretrievably gone(the information is too available) is a way of denying the no-confidence vote the non-voters will display in early November--They will reap what they have sown one way or the other .....perhaps, both--

BLEAK & MORE BLEAK: DC & THE GREEN ZONE

Senator John Warner one of the three rebellious Republican lawmakers who cavorted into the realm of principle lately only to capitulate to the White House in it's bid to redefine torture and retroactively grant the president immunity for potential war crimes he may have already committed and rewrite Habeus Corpus out of the Constitution must have been so embarassed by his calumnious cave-in that he sought strange but temporary refuge in a committee junket to Iraq-- He returned clearly dispirited and confused by what he saw on his trip to the GreenZone and offered a bleak assessment of current conditions most critical of the Iraqi government's continuing inability to contain or diminish an ever increasing mayhem and offer real security to Baghdad-- What was he expecting to see..... Progress ?!!-- Oil production is up (not to pre-war levels yet but improving) 'but so many communities are without drinking water or sanitation' failing to mention the lack of electricity nearly everywhere-- Basically Senator Warner offers more stay the course (at least through the midterms and of course Christmas season) but knowing full well that for all the progress touted by the Baghdad Bob spinmeisters of the Bush War Cabinet less and less of Iraq is safe enough even to entertain the armored-up travels of a US Senator on a robust and redemptive fact finding tour-- Hoping things will improve in the months ahead 'or else', as the Senator threatens from the security of a DC media conclave, is not a real glorious plan-- Or else what?!!-- Wake up!!!--

A government incapable of providing basic services like electricity and water is an illegitimate government no matter how many votes, assurances or promises they make or receive-- Freedom becomes a dismal abstraction if it means no water, no electicity and raw sewage on open streets once middle class--The entire government group is housed and protected inside the luxurious(by comparison) U.S. Green Zone Fortress and has little if any contact with those we would label constituents-- The only time the government ventures out of the Zone is to leave the country-- They would not last fifteen minutes in downtown Baghdad and wouldn't deserve to-- They have failed completely-- That they will miraculously stiffen their spines and immerge victorious over an insurgency already deeply embedded in the government not even in charge of itself is simply a mirage-- Under these exceedingly dangerous circumstances here comes a jumbo blustering no-nonsense United States' Senator promising unspecified 'Bold Action' (more bombs?) if things don't change within 2 or 3 months-- If the fatally flawed Mr. Malicki (rumored to have refused tutorials from Hezbollah) can't assert his leadership Warner boldly warns "we will have to assert ours"--

Which means what, Senator??--We have not been able to stop the insurgency either, using state of the art weaponry, state of the art technology and state of the art training of a new Iraqi Army in a determined bid to assert ourselves with a shock that certainly failed to awe--Our soldiers have been given an impossible task by gutless professional politicians too loathe to admit their mistake-- American troops according to the Pentagon Assessment both Rumsfeld and Cheney attempted to suppress from public consumption are sustaining nearly 800 attacks per week.... on average that's one every fifteen minutes-- The report went on to predict worse conditions in 2007-- Warner whines that troop withdrawal would look to the world(always the image important beyond the fact) like the terrorists have won-- Well, haven't they??-- This question can be abjured by the sanctimonious posturing of callow party members challenged by midterm elections but those not in the crosshairs of corrupt electioneering can run but they shouldn't be allowed to hide-- How many more of our underprivileged volunteer soldiers would the good Senator, a Gentleman from Virginia, along with his blindered ilk, feed through this wheelhouse of slaughter in order to keep up illusionist world appearances??-- Denial of defeat is the coin of the realm these days and Senator Warner has become one of its more artful practitioners despite being slapped in the face by it --

Where are the Democrats???-- Aside from Sen. Warner's bi-partisan travelling companion Illinois Senator Durbin's essential corroboration of Warner's dire assessment differing only by calling for immediate re-deployment(belittling the difference?--not!!) of American troops most other demies reveled the morning away as the jumbo-cluster of media overkill (doing penance for their cowardly lack of war coverage) surrounding the deFoleyation of the Repo-party trained their sights on the sharks of defeat circling Coach Hastert-- What rich and uncanny irony..... the gay friendly party through their allies in the media impaling the leader of the non- gay friendly party for covering up an overly gay-friendly congressman-- The Repo's reap what they have sown in the Lewinski affair which was payback for the 11th hour sex smear of Clarence Thomas the Demi's had engineered for who knows what absurd slight of yore--

Like a dysfunctional fraternity house devoid of both the ethics and the sobriety they espouse DC may well share the fate of Rome sooner than anticipated-- Would Senator Warner offer DC as a redemptive role model for Malicki and his misbegotten Iraq?-- As the feeding frenzy of the sordid pageboy tale envelopes DC and further sours whatever remaining faith the American people once had in their leadership, one troublesome factoid emerging from this week's effluence stands starkly out-- Congress budgeted $20 million dollars for a gala Iraq War victory parade to be held if Mission Accomplished occurred in 2oo6 at the same time cutting funds for and benefits at Veterans Hospitals-- The parade money has been re-budgeted for dreamtime 2007-- Fat chance!!-- The Empire has no clothes--

HARBINGERS

Saudi Arabia recently said it could live with oil at $50/barrel now aims this morning to cut production by 300,000/barrels per day driving oil prices back above $60/barrel-- Not exactly a kiss on the cheek from the Prince of Saudi Oil to George Bush and his drive to avoid the odds long possibility of earning lame duck status via the midterm elections still a month away-- The fear driven inflationary run-up of oil prices over the past several years have given the citizens of the OPEC world a comfortable boost in income to which they have most probably grown accustomed-- Any cuts to such new found comforts obviously could lead to an endangerment of the well-being of those at the ministerial levels of Royal governing or at least a fear thereof adding to the incendiary cauldron of tension that seems in no hurry to depart the Middle East--

Goodyear Tire and Rubber workers 15,000 strong have struck 16 plants as talks have failed-- Analysts expect Goodyear will lose upwards of $43 million per week during the walkout but they appear game to bring down costs at the expense of American workers-- Union members may see temporary workers hired in what they see as a last stand to prevent further plant closures in America and the continued outsourcing of middle class jobs going overseas-- If sales of gashog SUV's ride the downward slide and more and more auto plants shut down as planned at the Big 3 whose factories are going to order new rubber anyway??-- In the mounting evidence of an economy enterering an undeniable slowdown not mild in magnitude , these labor struggles presage a troubling development in the body politic-- Since neither party robustly defends American labor workers should probably not entertain hope for help via the ballotbox this fall-- Since many thousands upon thousands of workers are having difficulty keeping up with mortgage payments the management/labor wars once of the past may soon be rekindled anew and to a higher and more violent caliber--

Fed Chairman Bernanke sees the Housing sector undergoing 'a substantial correction' which means the fed will probably not interrupt its cessation of higher interest rates even though the threat of inflation continues its worrisome spectre-- Some abysmal numbers from August haunt the realm of Real Estate--California = 30% drop in sales-- Florida = 50% drop in sales as well as 6% drop in median prices-- Massachusettes = 20% drop in sales followed by *5 decline in median prices-- Compounded by declines in mortgage applications as well as serious declines in orders for durable goods-- Spending growth and higher personal income failed dismally to materialize-- This statistic is beyond ominous

Profits from current production (corporate profits with inventory valuation and
capital consumption adjustments) increased $22.7 billion in the second quarter,
compared with an increase of $175.6 billion in the first quarter.
Current-production cash flow (net cash flow with inventory valuation and capital
consumption adjustments)--the internal funds available to corporations for
investment--increased $1.1 billion in the second quarter, compared with an
increase of $125.3 billion in the first--

Goldilocks has been bitten by one of those nasty bears-- There are no headlines announcing new hirings in the tens of thousands--The numbers for September won't be available until later in the month but trend reversals don't seem to be the order of the day-- By then we could all be out On TheNickle--

MORE DENIAL

Coach Hastert now fighting for survival as Speaker of the House opts for D.C.'s latest weapon of choice.... more denial-- Lack of any disciplinary action due to fear loathing exhaustion forgetfulness or any litany of excuses could pertain to why he didn't act soon enough to head off the e-mail scandal now threatening to engulf and defoliate the entire Republican Party and any chance it may have had to hold on to power in congress-- Republican operative Vin Weber implies the scandal is resonating sheer disgust among Christian evangelical groups who will probably not stampede to the midterm polls in support of the imploding Republicans-- If Weber were not so loathe to dispute the obvious he might acknowledge the sound he hears belongs to the blade of a guillotine being sharpened-- Then, again acting in consort, denial is the coin of the realm these days-- Something is rotten in the state of Denmark-- Everything is rotten in D.C.--

George Will's take on Woodward's State of Denial denies the book 'demonstrates that the president is in a state of denial' but the administration's spin doctors have effected such a huge effort to deny the denial that given the repetitive nature of todays frantic news cycles only perpetuates the question and further denial or even affirmation for that matter only serves to add fuel to the fire-- Clearly Bush's War Cabinet exudes a public facade of denial over the worsening mayhem ripening to potential defeat in Iraq even while Woodward points to the repeated highly specific and disconsolingly negative briefings Cheney and Rumsfeld have received-- The question one should ask is not so much whether Bush is in denial but whether or not he is in contact sufficiently often enough and interestedly deep enough to understand the increasing severity of this situation on the ground-- If all his attendant sycophants refuse to bear him the bad news, news potentially of possible implosive failure, what realities can the leader even begin to inquire of his messengers-- The President is in dire need of someone trusted and brave enough to compel him to face facts, rough music or not--

One particularly disturbing scene in Woodward's book has exiting CPA Chief Jay Garner briefing Rumsfeld on what would soon become three hugely tragic mistakes Mr. Bremer executed in post-Saddam Iraq and how they could potentially bode mission failure only to have Rumpot, the omnipotence of his deadly lectern now missing in non-action, dismiss him saying in effect 'Well there's nothing we can do about them now'-- Garner is then ushered into the Oval Office where Bush greets him jocularly much like he greeted poor old Hurricane Brownie obviously in a "Bring it on!!!!" mode inquiring whether Garner wants "to do Iran next?"-- Garner jokes that he would prefer Cuba for their quality rum and more beautiful women but he doesn't press for an opportunity to counsel the Decider over his trepidatious concerns and sadly Bush shows no inclination to delve into Garner's experience--

Will goes on critical of Bush's mistaken 'almost exclusive and increasingly grating reliance on the rhetoric of unwavering resolve'-- Sorry, George, it may be all he has to offer... adhering, perhaps at one of Kissinger's Kurtzian behests, to ideologically illusionist prescriptions and riding bicycles while the Middle East sinks into the scourge of flames-- A sidebar question here asks if Kissinger was on board in an advisory role to Bush aiding and abetting the stupidly over-aggressive and criminal Israeli attack on Lebanese civilians and its incompetently botched ground incursion against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon??-- 'Victory is the solution to the insurgency' so says Doctor K.-- 'I love the scent of napalm in the morning. It smells like......Victory!!' so said Wild Bill Kilgore the hollywood Wagnerian chopper-commander in the film Apocalypse Now-- The only problem.....Vietnam may have smelled like victory but it never resembled real victory except for North Vietnam and neither does Iraq and all the Denial in the world will not make it so--

Bush poised on the precipice of defeat of such magnitude the ship of state increasingly flounders militarily and economically and may soon run aground-- The Democrats at a loss for a salvageable agenda of its own....something with a salutary resonance hides in the dugout waiting for the other team to fail refusing to send its players onto the field-- Did America deserve the treat of this spectacle?..... Bill Clinton four years too late and three dollars shy entreatingly and whiningly confessional...Sure I failed but my failure was less than Bush's failure and them meanie republicans......-- Hoping to blunt full bore damage from Woodward's disturbing portrait of an out of touch White House embunkered in (yes, capital 'D'), Denial, Will disingenuously borrows one of Clinton's slick oft-employed media canards when damaging information surfaces simply claiming there's nothing new in the charge-- It may lessen the immediate commotion dusting up the blathersphere but fails to confront how portentiously it may define a predicate of objective disaster-- Will is correct though to echo his hideous dismay in Bush's oblivious question 'Where's the Leader????'--