ALL NIGHTERS

A thousand more new wildfires roared to life since Monday as dry lightning strikes found fertile tinder across the sun-scorched dry-bone American West prompting besieged firefighting crews to seek reinforcements from international sources-- 68 large blazes charring the grasslands, the sage, and the timber as well as homesites across 12 western states--300 fire-threatened homeowners under-statedly would more than likely no longer moniker themselves kin to their home division's appellation in and about Happy Camp in the Klamath National Forest-- California's Peachtree Canyon denizens augur dread under an evacuation order as the Zaca fire with advancing potential of several miles per hour sights in on their endangered dreams with forecasts for continued high temperature and more winds--

The 6.8 earthquake that rocked Japan earlier this week inflicted considerably more serious damage to a nuclear power plant than the now profusely apologetic industry and government officials first reported resulting not only in a sizable up-tick in the anxiety quotient of ordinary Japanese citizens, understandably concerned for their immediate physical health and safety, but also added to the disquiet concerning the long term repercussions surrounding the less than energy-rich Japanese apprehension over future resource availability in an increasingly oil and gas hungry region of the world--

Havoc ran roughshod on Lexington Avenue at 41st street near Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan yesterday as an 83-year-old underground 24 inch diameter steam pipe exploded, geysering huge steam clouds, roiling, rumbling brown water 120 feet high into the busy city air-- Panic led evacuees from the Chrysler building to charge down 43 flights of stairs wildly presaging death-- Pedestrians some covered in ash, mud and street soot, some pelted by pebbles and dislodged concrete and some anxiously crying at the perceived terrorist attack sprinted for cover-- Memories of 9/11 vividly enveloped the scene as 200 firefighters and dozens of siren blaring fire-engines and ambulances converged on the area cratered with a 20 foot mud hole-- Rumors of building collapse, asbestos contaminated smoke, hurricanes, and bombs permeated the rush hour--

Wall Street may have avoided the panic in Mid-town but many there are expressing frayed nerves about the visible exposure of banks and lenders caught in the downward squeeze of the sub-prime market-- Fed Chairman Bernanke recently removed his pollyannish dome from a theoretically academic realm long enough to forewarn all those interested that the sub-prime crisis could lead to staggering losses somewhere in the 'contained' vicinity of $100 billion-- Bernanke also lowered the Fed growth forecast as well as testifying before Congress that the mortgage meltdown could spread to the healthy loan sector and could get worse before better-- Welcome to reality, Ben, where were you last month???-- Brent crude has danced around the $78/barrel level for the best part of July and Ben boy now surmises overextended consumers/debtors may be peering down the proverbial barrel of a cocked shooting iron-- Not to worry, Ben, consumers have employed your easy credit for quite some time now and for many of them a necessary purchase ingredient may have been, Ben, ....a semi-automatic weapon of choice-- Believe it, Ben, they are already locked and loaded and the object of their aim is what should keep you awake nights--

Foreclosures already at record highs continue to spike pummeling homeowners currently besieged by spiraling gasoline prices and an added upsurge in food costs--Bear Stearn's two troubled hedge funds found little salvation from their recent bail-outs, one now being touted as completely valueless and the second nearly moribund-- Scattered across the country lesser-named funds are closing their doors with destabilizing frequency-- Everyday there is a new headline featuring another state or another megalopolitan region suffering a major drop in home sales and/or home prices, this morning California weighed in/down with sales hitting a 12 year low while Las Vegas home sales fell 42%-- Meanwhile those who did manage to sell their house found the sinking value of the crumbling dollar cookie almost a hidden tax, if you will, eroding the purchasing stature of their profit-- A glass of Coke costs the lowly American tourista about four Euros on the continent-- Imagine, (and please don't ask 'why?', it's simply a mundane way of spelling out the immediacy of the oblivion our currency faces) paying 35 bucks for an egg MacMuffin breakfast and another seven-fifty for a coffee-- Our money,......... sucks!!!!

A few days ago 80 people in the city of Kirkuk were killed and several hundred more were wounded-- Scores of cars destroyed, buildings and apartments damaged beyond repair-- Suicide bombers assaulted the Red Mosque complex in the capital of Pakistan and tallied 37 dead including police and citizen bystanders while northwest and southern Pakistan played host to the metastisizing violence region-wide-- In Iraq the government sits in paralytic stupor and void of any urgency before their August recess while al-Sadr, the savvy hoodlum from the slums of Sadr city, strengthens his political prowess and wins the very hearts and minds the anti-insurgency tactics of General Petraeus were intended to secure-- Sadr's crew dispenses protection, social services and money to the ragged poor, and used the downtime produced by Bush's Surge into his poor Shiite-homeboy turf to extend the reach of their armed militias to areas the under-manned Surge couldn't possibly cover tactically-- Sadr repeatedly creates fresh tactical elements and simple strategic maneuvers that consistently confound the political leaders of both Iraq and the US-- The General Petraeus meanwhile is purported to be searching for yet another tide-turning tactic to replace the dismally stalemated Surge, while the White House spends its precious energy concocting faux rationales to defend defenseless tactics no longer capable of producing results large-scale enough to produce optimum leverage against the insurgency-- Whatever new strategy Petraeus advances demands an authentic criteria which, of course, either the on-time insurgents or both Cheney and Bush, weeks and miles behind current events, have the wherewithal to overrule--

Yes, the same Surge the President positively declared had 'surprised' the insurgents even after advertising the ballyhooed strategery for six months in every major media outlet in the world including Al Jazeera-- Now 16 agencies comprising the National Intelligence Estimate, which even esteemed presidential contenders find insufficient time to read, agree that Al-Qaeda as an organization is now stronger, broader and better organized than ever while the isolated president thinks he has these same Qaedas on the run-- Defense department deadwood prognosticate their increasing fear that spectacular attacks mirroring the '68 Tet Offensive in Vietnam are in the offing even imminent while seven Sunni insurgent organizations and their leaders begin formation of a public political alliance anticipating potential negotiations as the daunting scent of withdrawal permeates the frustrated killing grounds-- Sparking my curiosity and raising a question concerning coincidental intent, headlines acknowledged the US recently called for more face-to-face talks with Iran--

Be that as it may, this somewhat cursory perusal of a few pertinent news postings concerning prominent ongoing world events was dealt a savage blow, one the winds of rumor barreled up the boulevard bringing word the demies had left their feeble shame on the dugout bench and were actually going to step up to the plate-- That's right!!!-- The same demi-Party that couldn't possibly lose to Joe Lieberman and did, was now lugging the heavy lumber to the batter's box-- Repo-men weakened by high profile defections were said to be quaking in their guccis-- No sniveling little leveraged buyouts here-- No, this would be hammer-and-tong, hand-to-hand, face-to-face, knock-down, drag-out, fight-to-the-finish, last-man-left-standing but when former-boxer and demi-captain Harry Reid unveiled his strategic schema, it smelled a lot more like salad than demi-Surge--

Not even jack-rabbits and dead bucaroos in the parched deserts of Nevada could cotton something this lame-- Alcohol ravaged Joe McCarthy deserved less shame than this silly sham-- Al-maliki could never have proposed something this profoundly insipid-- Jerry Bremer?,.... maybe-- Winning elections may be heady and grand but failing to deliver the goods, especially when failing to ascertain the true nature of the goods in the first place means your credibility is in hock to trouble-- Shuffling back to the inane popularity of their office with an air of resignation, the demies, uncertain and chagrined are simply void of new workable ideas-- Even if more repo-men favored defection from further Bush idiocy, the demies offer nothing to which good-faith renegades might ally themselves-- This is not leadership-- The country is going nowhere--

A (bleeping!!) all-nighter????-- Un-(bleeping)-believable!!........ And then it flops............. 'Big Time'--

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ABSENT QUORUM & THE OIL LAW

Widely reported last week as another positive breakthrough in the ongoing Iraq debacle, the contested oil bill finally traversed its way from the al-Malicki cabinet to the Iraqi Parliament where the optimistic momentum, created by the less than ubiquitous true-believers still aboard the Neocon Iraq Express, immediately mired itself to the same reality-based morass that envelopes the entire country-- Lacking a complete quorum the Parliament cannot convene and therefore cannot even begin the debate-- This breakdown is not the result of blind chance or haphazard insignificance--

Mainstream media have never challenged the equitable tenets of this hastily and poorly conceived conundrum-- If equal distribution of less than moderate oil profits to the three disparate groups, the Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, could accomplish its oft stated and supposedly only intention of enriching the Sunni group enough to encourage it to cease the sectarian mayhem and actually participate in the Iraqi Government as a full fledged partner to a common peaceable future, then the oil bill might already be a fait accompli--

But, as the bill has been written, nearly the entire oil industry of Iraq must be controlled and directed by US Oil companies to whom must go the lion's share of oil contracts and resultant profits-- Why are the Sunnis, the prime intended beneficiary of this wildly disproportionate bill, the most reluctant to even begin debate on it??-- Why are the Kurds so seemingly complacent for so long concerning the current state of affairs now grumbling their considerable discontent with a proposal promising less oil than they already claim for themselves in their own previously announced and then world-ignored independent Kurdistan??-- Even al-Sadr has given thumbs down to the oil draft--

Obviously something is amiss over the disparate expectations these groups once had and were once led to believe were etched in the stone of America's word and the extant proposals now being mandated by the same Coalition Authority that once patently denied oil was a raison detre for our occupation of Iraq in the first place-- All of which is congealing into serious resistance from the point of view of all involved participants--The Shites, the impoverished majority Shia, were oppressed by Sunnis empowered under Saddam and understandably, in terms of real politik, do not favor enforced enrichment of the Sunnis-- The Sunnis can't trust US proposals having experienced the duplicitous alliance of the US during the early years of Saddam's US-aided rule-- One example, the Sunnis have not forgotten US Ambassador April Glaspie's green light('The US takes no position on inter-Arab border disputes'--rough quote) Saddam then took to imply permission to invade Kuwait-- The Kurds remember Bush's Father endeavored them to overthrow Saddam, after the first Gulf War, promising overwhelming military support should they need it-- Well, need it they did and thousands of Kurd families lost love ones to Saddams' slaughter of the failed coup attempt while the elder Bush basking in the faux glow of short-lived victory lifted not a finger-- There are strong precedents for this glaring mistrust--Americans may have forgotten but the Kurds haven't and won't anytime soon-- Their 'Kurdistan', they believe, has tacit approval from an America that still owes them blood debt upon which America, the Kurds now fear, intends to renege-- There are consequences for not living up to your word--

Trouble belies the placid calm of Northern Iraq now as Turkey injected a couple of troop forays across the Iraq border ostensibly chasing Kurdish PKK rebels seeking sanctuary-- Turkey denied the incursions ever happened and the media chose to bury story but couldn't prevent Oil prices from catapulting into the $73/bl range-- Add to this jumbo-cluster of aggravation and false promises Australian Defense chief Brendon Nelson who publicly admitted 'resource security' otherwise known as oil supplies are defining component of Australian troop deployment in Iraq and was quickly downplayed by his Aussie boss PM John Howard-- Cat's, too late, out of the proverbial bag-- Ooooops!!!


The snarled oil bill reflects the internecine political complexities of everyday life and death in the Iraq killing zones as well as the particular life-pace of the people involved-- The US, without ever knowing much about the cultural habits and preferences of the Iraqi people except that, of course, narcissistic canard they absolutely craved liberation from such inherent restrictions-- Now the US wants its cake immediately and the tantrums, our self-serving politicians mouth-off in abject contagion across the full political spectrum, echo their sullen refusal to accept any responsibility for the rigors of both guerrilla stalemate and potential anarchic collapse alternatively struggling in the power vacuum region-wide--

Over 450 Baghdad corpses were found in various states of blindfolded bondage and lethal torture in June considerably outstripping pre-Surge number levels of last January-- One puzzling factoid to which the Media is so persistently reluctant to give much air is this: The Greed Zone receives incoming mortar fire every night and is now incapable of removing its own garbage from the zone-- Is this a self-induced siege or what??-- The bureaucratic denial of this lack of control cannot be maintained for a South Korean eternity of say 30 more years-- Each fictitious milepost of ever more complex success is almost immediately shot down by simple insurgent operations on ground they control only when they want to--

The Surge is having difficulty because it cannot win the people it once might have-- The US no longer has the wherewithal, even if debate-ably it ever did, to provide the necessary security to insure stability-- Too much precious time was lost flaccidly debating for over a year the existence of an extant insurgency that then and now never skips a beat-- Recouping trust lost by heavy-handed tactics designed by blind administrators far too distant from the the boots on the ground battlefield and hard facts they attend-- Lost time is not found again even by well intentioned and supremely intelligent generals and, less so even by electioneering politicians (Speaker Pelosi--'We(demies) have many arrows in our quiver and we are sharpening them') playing only for time and praying the voters don't hold them accountable for the entire mess--

Something must be rotten in the state of DC-- So, too, The Greed Zone-- Take a whiff!!!--

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BACKING DOWN

Once more, the demies have have thrown in the towel on the Iraq funding bill-- Once more, the most weakened major political leader in the entire world subtracting Anthony (Poodle)Blair busy publicizing himself rock-star style with a farewell resignation-tour, and, of course, the ever irresponsible Ehud (3%) Olmert and possibly, according to recent open-source intel out of Pakistan, the popularity-challenged Pervez Musharrif, Mr. Bush has manage to cower the less than laughing-stock demies into abject surrender with a veto threat leaving no datelines for troop pullout in the immediate offing-- That a man incapable of whipping the Euro-liberals at the World Bank decimates these demies with such remarkable ease is strange testimony to the power vacuum enveloping the entire DC echelon--


Forty-seven Republicans, one independent and 19 Democrats voted with Jimmy Carter's favorite Prez, none of whom on the nominal demie's side were presidential candidates but chairman of the Armed Services Committee, the Israeli Senator from Michigan, Carl Levin kept the faith with his AIPAC handlers siding with the Lieberman ilk-- Harry Reid had the unmitigated temerity to denounce the Republican plan as weak and timid-- Non-binding demie cowardice hard at work-- No wonder positive congessional poll numbers of late have sunk like a stone--

Meanwhile fifteen more American troops had their young lives snuffed out over the weekend last-- The Sunni insurgents continue their Surge options more effectively than most American officials willingly admit-- Hundreds of bystanders have recently been slaughtered by insurgent car bomb attacks plied with increasingly sophisticated technique and for all intents and purposes a relative impunity that openly mocks the Bush security plans-- Iraqi security forces manning evermore checkpoints reportedly stop certain vehicles and beg for more bullets--


Market bombs which killed 140 people have an illustrious tendency to force reports detailing incessant mortar attacks against important targets such as The Green Zone or the Airport off the home pages of most news sites-- Few politicians see any hope of building a name for themselves invoking lines of cautious optimism once so prevalent at the Surge's initial foray into the slums of Baghdad-- How long can Moqtada Sadr order his militia to stand down while under-manned under-armored American forces fail to prevent ongoing Sunni butchery??-- The facts on the ground speak way beyond the charade of political dogma so rife in DC and they do not currently bode success much less chosen Victory-- How many months into the Surge so far??-- A Colonel struggles with the double-bladed logistics of faux optimism and reminds everyone the Surge is not yet 'fully-staffed'-- Well,........ Why not??--


The air of futility, the demies' maladroit skill engenders to display in broad daylight, reverberates across the dispirited country mirrored by the cloud of exhaustion and acute despair permeating the disintegration of Iraq-- Not just a country at singular civil war but one enduring multiple civil wars locally, regionally, and in some cases, inter-tribally-- The Iraqi government, strangely enough being supported by both Iran and the US, is increasingly irrelevant across much of its own terrain-- No government earns legitimacy by failing to deliver security and services-- The Iraqi government lacks real authority and it is incapable of serving its own people-- The canard that chaos will overrun the country should we pull-out belies the intense pervasive chaos and lack of structural, political and social cohesion manifesting already-- Accepting extant reality doesn't appear to be an option--

PRETENSE NO LONGER SERVES TO FURTHER

John McCain's stroll through one of Baghdad's successfully surged neighborhood markets wearing a visible bullet proof vest and a look of focused concern is either a disingenuous campaign promotional photo-op designed to burnish his pro-surge bona-fides or a feeble exercise in self-delusional idiocy or more than likely some of both-- To the right of the command coterie in the news photograph are a group of Iraqi men watching the US officials on parade two of whom exhibit countenances closer to pure hatred than Chamber of Commerce welcome wagons--

Locals later claimed the area was teeming with dozens of armed US soldiers who arrived in heavily armored Humvees while numerous gunship helicopters hovered and circled overhead-- Locals later disputed a statement from McCain's group that the stroll was no different than a Sunday trip to an outdoor market somewhere in Indiana citing the constant threats of possible insurgent attacks at any time-- People may now wear bullet proof vests to Sunday markets in New Orleans but.........Indiana????-- Not yet, by a long shot!!!!--

The Surge may have shifted execution style killings away from Sadr City and other violent Baghdad neighborhoods but the number of killings country-wide have not diminished and lethal car bomb explosions everywhere have multiplied to record highs in both February and March-- The Sadr Shiites are not going to battle US soldiers toe to toe in a decisive formation they know in advance would fail-- The Shia have more than a healthy fear of the desperate Sunnis and if the US is unwittingly willing to take the fight to those Sunni insurgents on their behalf, the Sadr Militia is more than willing to allow it-- Hence, it is certainly not surprising the Shia, knowing full well Father Time is still currently on their side, would lie low and not openly challenge the US surge into their territory-- If McCain and his ilk read this superior position as a sign of weakness on the part of the Shia or as a sign of imminent full scale success on the part of the Surge chances for a sane conclusion to this fatal mis-adventure offer absolutely no hope--

Never say Die!!! is most often a commendable attitude but if it burnishes the sagging morale of abject congressional dimwits and oblivious has-been Neocon tank-thinkers while executing the destruction of an entire Army through imperial dissipation, bankrupt sloganeering and willful politcal refusal to cogitate harsh facts on the ground, what will it ultimately have wrought??-- Myopic security concerns of a piecemeal nature this late in the game have counterproductivity written all over it--Is Baghdad security so important that other areas are allowed such negligent security support they become cauldrons of everything the surge attempts to prevent in Sadr City-- Bloodletting mestastasizes as Baghdad becomes an island of temporary restive calm surrounded by an ocean of seething shrieking violence elsewhere??-- Who but posturing politicians could label this success??-- Wake up, Mr. McCain!!!!!--

Had the skillful intelligent Petreaus been in charge of the CPA at the beginning instead of Bremer his asymmetrical expertise may have been used to optimum effect but at this late stage he still obviously doesn't have the manpower to police the entire country all at once, nor are there troops enough here at home or around the world to fill this aching bleeding void-- The hearts and minds lost at the outset and during the ongoing torturous years Rummy and Company devoted to denial first of insurgency and later of outright civil/sectarian conflict won't give Petraeus the full scale second chance his plan would need-- Over a million, some say two, talented Iraqi civilians have opted for refugeedom and have left the arena-- Lost time is not found again-- Even as the Sadr militia melts away rampaging Sunni car bombers fearlessly ply their deadly attacks in the vacuum-- Wherever American Officials pronounce even minor success insurgent attacks pounce to dispel it as false and the Middle Eastern media are there in force to disseminate the continuing flaming chaos and its ugly truth-- The tempo and terrain belong to the natives everywhere but the Greed Zone--At the precipice of defeat pretense no longer serves to further---