Posts from — March 2007

Tonight in the US , March 20^th in Iraq, marks the fourth anniversary of the official invasion of Iraq. Of course, we now know that Special Forces teams went in earlier and the air forces of the US and Britain had been doing some “pre-emptive bombing” prior to the missile attacks on possible locations that the Shrubbery’s intelligence services [as opposed to the CIA, NSA, DIA, and the regular intelligence groups] swore contained Saddam Hussein.

For those who have short-term memory problems: Iraq did not have WMDs and, as a result, was not in violation of UN Resolution 1441. The UN weapons inspectors were forced out of Iraq by the actions of the President of the United States, not the President of Iraq. The “intelligence” was selected to support the desires of the White House, not the reality on the ground.

Every problem encountered in Iraq was anticipated, but the warnings were ignored. After four years we are further away from anything that might be considered winning than we were on the day before the war started.

Tens of thousands of innocent people are dead. The infrastructure of Iraq is in tatters. More countries than at any point in our history consider the United States a threat to the world. We are throwing a massive debt onto the shoulders of our great grandchildren. Our military is on verge of breaking, if it isn’t already.

What does it take to get the government to acknowledge that enough is enough?

The position, United States Attorney, is a Presidential appointment. It needs White House approval to go forward, so the White House can’t claim they didn’t know about it. The Attorney General can draw up a list, but the Shrubbery has to sign off on the individuals. They work for the Attorney General, but he has no power to appoint them or dismiss them under current law.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

Over 140 years later and we still have to deal with this crap because some people can’t figure out that it was treason, an armed rebellion against the elected government, and their ancestors lost. They are not going to get their “property” back, and they are not going to receive reparations.

In a report from Tallahassee [the Florida capital] we are told there is a controversy: Confederate Flag Hung From Noose Draws Ire. An artist built a gallows and hung a battle flag of the Confederate Army of Tennessee from the gallows.

Those upset with this are bringing up the stupidity of Florida law, specifically Chapter 256, of Title XVIII, on flags.

The law covers: “the flag or emblem of the Confederate States, or any flag or emblem used by the Confederate States or the military or naval forces of the Confederate States at any time within the years 1860 to 1865”.

256.10 Mutilation of or disrespect for Confederate flags or replicas.–No person shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile, defy, trample upon, or by word or act cast contempt upon the flags of the Confederacy, or replicas thereof, for crass or commercial purposes; provided however nothing contained herein shall be construed to prevent or prohibit the use of such flags for decorative or patriotic purposes.

The Supreme Court has already ruled that such laws are violations of the first amendment to the US Constitution, so any action is going nowhere, but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t going to waste time and tax dollars making something out of nothing.

A Canadian company, Menu Foods, has announced a pet food recall, and has PDF files of the affected products on it’s web site.

These guys produce “wet” food for most of the supermarket and department brands, and Eukanuba, Iams, and Science Diet in cans and pouches. This recall affects both cat and dog food, and primarily the “slices or chunks in sauce” type of food.

There are reports of kidney failure, including some deaths, associated with this recall. If you feed your animals canned food, check the site for the identification information.

Thanks to mergers and acquisitions, companies you never heard of are impacting your lives. When you read the files you will the see the store brands for almost every major supermarket chain in the US.

Note: Whiskas, 9-Lives, and Friskies are NOT on the list of affected brands.

Éireann go Brách!

Well everyone agrees that he died on March 17^th, but the year is subject to debate. This is his feast day on the Catholic calendar. Enjoy as you are wont.

Wikipedia has more on Saint Patrick’s Day, if you need more.

The BBC reports: Mexico police in $205m cash haul.

It was cash, stacks of $100-bills, in a house. It looked like the days of the CPA in Baghdad – stacks of money on pallets.

Litbrit at Shakespeare’s Sister in the post, And The Point Of Having A White House Security Director Would Be…?, notes that there is no record of any investigation of the leak of Valerie Plame’s name.

I guess they might have put a post-it note on the break room fridge asking anyone who outed a CIA agent to call Karl, which would have been the basis of Scotty’s denial that anyone in the White House was involved.

I think it’s long past the time at which journalists need to ask themselves: does access have any value if all you get are lies? Do journalists understand that they are not protecting sources, they are shielding criminals from prosecution? [It is illegal for the government to conduct a misinformation campaign in the United States.]

Road Block

It’s time for scratches.

[Editor: While Sox admits “mistakes were made” and he “takes responsibility” for the litter all over the carpet, he wants his stomach scratched before the vacuum cleaner is used.]

Friday Ark

Karen at Peripetia considers changing her Brand Loyalty based on the news that Chiquita has just agreed to a $25 million fine for hiring terrorists, right-wing AUC and left-wing FARC thugs, in Colombia to protect their crops and deal with labor problems.

Actually this is a step up, as in the old days, the part of Chiquita that was called the United Fruit Company sponsored coup d’états and revolutions to benefit its plantations in Central and South America.

Yes, in the “good old days” you couldn’t be a real Latin American fascist dictator unless you were on the UFC payroll. Why do you think they were called “banana republics?”

In Europe anything longer than two months is considered to be a long campaign, but we hadn’t finished counting the votes from the 2006 elections when people started running for 2008.

Ms Kane presents her platform: How About Campaigning For Shorter Campaigns?

Over half the field has made it to Nome, but the race will continue for a few more days as people push on to finish.

Sigrid Ekran of Norway came in as the first rookie and first woman to finish. She was the 21^st musher to reach the arch in Nome.

Winner Lance Mackey is still concerned about his dog, Zorro, who was diagnosed with pneumonia. As the Anchorage Daily News put it: Zorro didn’t finish, but he left his mark. Actually he was the father of seven of the dogs on the winning team, and is Mackey’s main stud for his breeding business.

Phinky of Ignorant Hussy posted that she is still in Iraq.

She left for Iraq on November 15^th, 2006 thinking she would be gone for three months, but it now appears she will be in-country until June. She is in western Anbar province working for a contractor.

A bad day for empires and emperors.

In 44BCE Julius Caesar was stabbed in the back by Senators. This was the first time, but definitely not the last time this would happen, as the Shrubbery will surely point out when he figures out that the White House staff is all on Capitol Hill talking to Congressional committees.

In 1848 the Emperor of Austro-Hungary discovered he wasn’t the beloved leader of the Magyars, as revolution broke out in the Hungarian side of the Empire.

In 1917 Tsar Nicholas II decided that it was probably a good idea to hand the crown, mace, and scepter to his brother Michael, Prince of Lvov, who promptly turned it down. Unfortunately, Nicky wasn’t bright enough to get out of the country, and received the Julius treatment in the following year.

The 15^th of March is a bad day to be Emperor.