View from the End of the Year

I have taken an unplanned sabbatical from posting on VIEW FROM THE MOON as a few days of procrastination grew into weeks. The longer I was away the less I felt like focusing my mind on the horrific results of U.S. policies. I had already begun to feel that if readers of this blog had not been persuaded to see the influence of the Israel Lobby on U.S. foreign policy, then more months of the same message would not open their eyes. If they could not see by now that American “news” omitted information essential to understanding the truth of what was going on, they would never see it. All it takes to penetrate the propaganda smokescreen are a few basic truths – which have been repeated again and again in VIEW FROM THE MOON – and some easy observation and analysis.

I was further discouraged because I realized I was generally preaching to the choir rather than the unenlightened. How many people began reading my blog as hypnotized parroters of propaganda and became independent thinkers willing to search for truth in the world of forbidden ideas? How many people are actually capable and willing to think outside the walls of their societal training? I suspected that the people who feared the truth to begin with were continuing to fear it, while those who accepted it were not learning anything from me which they did not already know.

If a writer like me feels that his words are not bringing about changes in the world, not altering people’s thinking, a sense of futility sets in, followed by, “Well, let them stew in the pot they’ve chosen.”

As I return to this blog I look over the period since I left and see that things are about the same as they were when I found more fulfilling creative activities in “Second Life”. I don’t think the situation would be any different had I continued posting. Cosmetic reshuffling in the Bush administration has had no significant effect. The Democrats have become even more spineless and ineffectual than I would have believed possible. I thought that because the Zionists had accomplished their war purpose of turning Iraq into a chaotic wasteland they would permit the newly empowered Democrats to wind down the U.S. presence there to some extent – instead of giving Bush everything he wanted without so much as a convincing growl. The timorous toadies of Congress remain interested in nothing except retaining their jobs in future elections.

In Palestine the legally elected Hamas government remains sealed into a small area and left to starve except when Israel tanks and troops invade to hasten their demise – while the U.S. applauds and pretends that the Palestinian usurpers who overthrew the Hamas legitimate government are able to “negotiate” for the Palestinians in the never-ending “peace process.”

The only area where there is even an appearance of improvement is Iran – because Iran is still at peace and not blown to pieces by U.S./Zionist bombs and missiles. I’m sure that the Israeli designs on Iran have not changed, but even a lessening of the bombastic threats is welcome.

If there should be any doubt about the ultimate Israeli aim to neuter and dominate Iran, it is shown in what must be the most ludicrous American performance of 2007, after the highest U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously declared that Iran had ceased any effort to develop nuclear weapons several years ago – contrary to the steady stream of lies emanating from the U.S. during those years. Instead of praising Iran, the American government (with the meek collaboration of Democrats, after Bush had personally consulted with the leader of Israel) declared that the cessation of a weapons development program was cause for renewed alarm!

I may continue to post here when something inspires me, but with the conviction that I’m merely amusing myself rather than helping improve the world.

Bush Library Catastrophe

This is so funny I had to post it. The person who sent it didn't tell me where it came from:


TEXAS FLOOD DESTROYS PRESIDENT BUSH'S LIBRARY

Crawford, Texas - A tragic flood this morning destroyed the
personal library of President Bush. The flood began in the
presidential bathroom where both of the books were kept.

Both books have been lost. A presidential spokesman said the
president was devastated, since he had almost finished coloring the second one.

The White House tried to call FEMA for aid, but there was no answer.

I Didn't Do It! I Didn't Do It!

Just after considering a break from MOON, I can’t resist remarking about the latest Washington perfidy.

It is becoming clear from the statements of President Bush and Republican as well as Democrat politicians that a clear strategy for getting out of Iraq is being evolved: Blame the mess on Iraqis.

If you’ve created a disaster (and all the Americans mentioned in the first paragraph are guilty), just pretend that somebody else is responsible.

In this case you keep saying that the Iraqi puppet government you’ve created and sheltered in your U.S. Green Zone is to blame for all of Bush’s failures. We’re beginning to hear an astonishingly unified chorus in Washington that even if the Bush military efforts (The Surge in particular) give the impression of some success, it will do no good because of those useless Iraqis, who have only themselves to blame for the hell they’re in.

Think of it: Suddenly, in light of this new lie, Bush has waged a successful war and must withdraw his troops from Iraq only because he cannot (and of course should not) control Iraqi politics. The generals look good for "winning" militarily, even Bush looks a bit better than a two day old piece of road kill, and the Democrats have an excuse for shucking Iraq after one of them becomes president – which must be why Hillary is suddenly heard singing in Bush’s choir.

Beneficial as this new lie is to the American warmongers and those who live with their snouts in the tax-fed trough, it heaps additional disgrace on the infamy of the invasion of Iraq and the complete failure of the U.S. to create any positive results from that carnage.

After all, look at all we’ve done for the Iraqis: Destroyed their country, their infrastructure, their army, and their police force, not to mention their irreplaceable ancient treasures. Murdered most of their leaders who had succeeded in creating a stable and prosperous Iraq, an almost miraculously unified Iraq considering the obvious difficulties now in plain view. Killed tremendous numbers of citizens. Reduced a once well-off people to poverty, hunger, and misery. Unleashed a civil war which would not have occurred except for the American occupation.

In spite of all those good things, the Iraqis ignominously persist in killing Americans and one another, while their U.S.-pampered politicians fail again and again to bring back the pre-war peace and stability. How can they be so incompetent? How can they be so ungrateful? They even have the effrontery to take vacations, something unheard-of in Washington, D.C.

To me this latest propaganda campaign is the most inexcusable since the “weapons of mass destruction” lies. The burglar breaks into your home, ransacks and vandalizes it, and then lectures you on your failure to repair the damage and clean up the mess.

The future Big Lie we can expect, around the next big turn in the road, is that the Americans have left Iraq when they actually have not left.

Is It Clear to All What is Happening Here?

I don't mean to underestimate my readers, but many Americans do not comprehend what is happening in the Middle East, and so I am posting this.

1. Bush/Israel push for free elections in Palestine, thinking their pet Palestinians (Abbas/Fatah) will be elected.

2. Oops . . . Palestinians elect wrong group to run their government. They elect candidates of honest and efficient Hamas instead of corrupt Fatah. (What is “wrong” with Hamas is that it represents Palestinian interests rather than the interests of Israel and refuses to accept the Israeli occupation as legitimate.)

3. Despite the free and fair elections and formation of a stable, popular government under Hamas, Bush/Israel move to cut off funds from the Palestinian government and people in order to undermine the elected government.

THE LEADERS OF US/ISRAEL CARRY THE TORCHES OF DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM

4. Bush/Israel aid an effort by Abbas/Fatah to overthrow the legitimate government by force, but Hamas beats back Fatah and continues to control Gaza, leaving Abbas/Fatah forming a Bush/Israel backed illegitimate “government’’ in the West Bank, contrary to the election results. (The US press reports this in reverse, indicating that Hamas “seized” control of Gaza.)

5. Bush/Israel seek to bolster the unpopular and illegitimate West Bank faction by resuming some funding, freeing some unlawfully withheld funds which were due to the Palestinians long ago, and making a show of cooperation and generosity . . . all directed exclusively at the phony West Bank “government” instead of the elected government.

(Latest bulletin on Israeli good will: ‘CAIRO, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Israeli authorities have stopped a convoy of trucks carrying UN humanitarian aid to Gaza at Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing near Egypt. Under the United Nations World Food Program, vital humanitarian aid has been entering Gaza through the Karem Shalom crossing under an agreement between Israel, the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas to facilitate the movement of supplies. The small, crowded Gaza Strip is heavily dependent on outside aid, and has been increasingly isolated. Over 15 trucks carrying sacks with wheat flour destined for Gaza were diverted earlier Tuesday to a warehouse in Egypt.’)

6. Suddenly Israel is ready to release some of its 10,000 plus Palestinian political prisoners to the obedient Fatah. ‘A committee of Israeli Cabinet ministers has Tuesday approved a list of 250 Palestinian prisoners to be released this week as a gesture in support of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.’ (Voice of America)

7. Recently booted British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- a loyal pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian, Bush lapdog – becomes European “envoy” to aid the mythical “peace process”.


THE BOYS PREPARE TO HELP THE PALESTINIANS

8. Bush now announces a grand Mideast Conference in which Abbas/Fatah will negotiate the future of the Palestinian people who refused to elect them and are still loyal to Hamas. Of course all of the Palestinian representatives to the conference will be hailed as “respected”, while the uninvited elected officials will be styled “terrorists”. US media -- even habitual critics of Bush -- hail Bush’s announcement as a sign that Bush is finally going to do something about the “peace process”.

‘BUSH ANNOUNCES MIDEAST PEACE CONFERENCE
U.S. pledges $190 million in direct aid to Fatah government’

‘AP WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday announced an international conference this fall to include Israel, the Palestinian Authority and some of their Arab neighbors to help restart Mideast peace talks and review progress in building democratic institutions. . .

‘Bush said the conference would include representatives from Israel, the Palestinians "and their neighbors in the region" and said participants would include just those governments that support creation of a Palestinian state. [Read: “those governments that support creation of a docile Palestinian entity conforming to Israel’s wishes”.]

‘He said Abbas and his new prime minister, Salam Fayyad, "are striving to build the institutions of a modern democracy."’
[That is probably the most outrageously hypocritical lie VIEW FROM THE MOON has ever quoted.

‘Bush also pledged increased U.S. aid to the Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas and called for the convening of a meeting of "donor" nations to consider more international aid, including the Arab states of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.’

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan are the “moderate” Arab states whose leadership has been bought by the US. They will obediently support Israel’s interests while performing a show of concern for the Palestinians. The idea that “just” those bribed governments support creation of a Palestinian state is a stomach-turning bit of verbal acrobatics meaning just the opposite: The Palestinians want a Palestinian state. Lebanon and Syria and other Muslim states (including Iraq, if the US had not destroyed it) want a Palestinian state. The qualification for attendance at Bush's conference isn’t to want a Palestinian state, but to approve a toothless Palestinian mock-state subservient to Israel.

Libby and Law

I imagine that the blogosphere is lit up like a Fourth of July night sky with posts about Libby, and so here I’m going to comment strictly on the legal aspects. This might be helpful to some people. I remember how little I knew about such things when I entered law school.

(I’ve been writing about Libby for some time; please look at my Labels.)

The presidential power to pardon is granted under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution:

"The President ... shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."

A “reprieve” reduces the severity of a punishment without removing the guilt of the person reprieved. A pardon removes both punishment and guilt. In constitutional language, President Bush has granted Libby a reprieve.

The Constitution gives the President almost unlimited power to pardon or reprieve in the case of federal crimes. Certainly, however, the framers of the Constitution never foresaw that a president would himself break the law and then promise an underling such as Libby that the underling would be pardoned if he would lie under oath to protect the president.

My analysis is that while President Bush unarguably had the constitutional right to commute Libby’s sentence, he did not have the constitutional or legal right to engage in a deception in which he used the pardon power to hide his own crimes or those of his vice president by, in effect, bribing a witness before the witness testified. It seems obvious that Libby was informed by Bush and Cheney from the beginning that he could lie as much he pleased under oath because the commutation of any prison sentence was guaranteed. It’s worth noting that if the promised commutation had not been forthcoming, Libby could have done serious damage by belatedly telling all.

A legal act may be part of the evidence of a criminal offense, even though not in itself illegal. A legal act may, for example, be essential to the success of a criminal conspiracy.

A criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to achieve an illegal goal through legal and/or illegal actions, or to accomplish a legal end through illegal actions. For example, planning to rob a bank (an illegal act) in order to raise money for charity (a legal end) is a criminal conspiracy because the parties agreed to use illegal means to accomplish the goal. On the other hand, conspiring to set up a charitable organization (a legal act) in order to unlawfully launder money (an illegal end), is also a criminal conspiracy. Likewise a presidential pardon of a felon (a legal act) in order to hide crimes and obstruct justice (an illegal end), may also be considered a criminal conspiracy.

The crime of obstruction of justice includes crimes committed by judges, prosecutors, attorneys general, and elected officials in general. Obstruction of justice in the United States refers to the crime of offering interference of any sort to the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other (usually government) officials.

Alexander Hamilton wrote in “The Federalist #74” concerning a constitutional provision for a presidential pardon: ‘The reflection that the fate of a fellow-creature depended on his sole fiat, would naturally inspire scrupulousness and caution; the dread of being accused of weakness or connivance, would beget equal circumspection, though of a different kind.’

Alexander Hamilton didn’t know What-Me-Worry Bush did he? “Dread of being accused of weakness or connivance” for pardoning Libby? Bush considers all accusers so far beneath him that their outcries could never beget circumspection in that blockhead.

Bye Bye Blair? We Should Be So Lucky!

Showdown in the Vatican

I recently watched “The Trial of Tony Blair” on the BBC, a film in which Blair resigns, converts to Roman Catholicism, and is whisked away on a plane to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes in the International Criminal Court.

Would that real life were so satisfying. But those of us who despised the Blair-Bush warmaking coalition do have the satisfaction of knowing the former prime minister must have felt like a naughty schoolboy being hauled into the principal’s office when he made a much-heralded visit to the Pope at the Vatican. Instead giving Blair his blessing, the Pope blessed Blair out. (If that’s an unfamiliar colloquialism, it means “The Pope cussed Blair out,” or “The Pope severely chastised Blair.”) That black smoke seen angrily billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel had nothing to do with the election of a new pope! The Vatican described the exchanges between the Pope and Blair as a "frank confrontation," which in diplomatic language translates as a “profound disagreement”, or, some say, “complete disaster”.
There had been strong rumors that Tony Blair was going to visit the Pope as a step toward his acceptance into the Roman Catholic Church, but instead of welcoming a new convert the Pope criticized Blair for having pushed policies directly contrary to some of the strongest policies of the Church.

A spokesman for Blair had said last week he would discuss with the Pope not only interfaith questions but also world issues such as peace in the Middle East. As it turned out, the discussion apparently consisted mostly of the Pope blasting Blair for his “best supporting actor” role in starting the Iraq War.

Very shortly before Blair’s audience with the Pope, Blair’s spokespersons – aware of looming trouble – toned down the conversion process and said that Blair was going to talk mostly about spreading harmony between Christianity, Islam and Judaism. If he did indeed dare present himself to the Vatican as a man qualified to talk about that subject, he must have increased the papal disapproval tenfold. If Jesus made one thing clear, it was that he hated hypocrites.


A New Job for Tony?

It has been reported that not only President Bush but also Europe's most senior officials have given their support to a plan to make Tony Blair a Middle East envoy. Bush is pressing Blair to become a representative of the Quartet of powers that supposedly are to implement the “road map to peace” between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel’s neighbors.

“Nevertheless some European diplomats are worried that Blair's participation in the U.S.-led war in Iraq make him too controversial a figure in the Arab world.” How understated can an understatement be? Next to George Bush and Vice President Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, who could be more hated in the Arab world than Tony Blair, and who could be less likely to lead the way on a “road map to peace” – already the least heeded piece of paper in the world next to last year’s grocery ads? Under Blair, Britain was as responsible as the United States for fabricating false evidence and stories designed to justify the invasion of Iraq.

As I was preparing to write about Blair’s conspicuous lack of qualification as an envoy to the Middle East, I found that The Guardian had already done a clever job of it.

This is the great opening statement from The Guardian:

'Many jobs have been touted for the outgoing prime minister. It's hard to say which of them he's most unqualified for.'

Excerpts:

‘Special envoy to the Middle East is the most ridiculous of all these touted jobs. The idea that Blair should become a peace envoy in the Middle East, in what the New York Times calls a "visible attempt at laying the groundwork for a Palestinian state", is in a class of its own for sheer absurdity. That is not less so for President Bush's support, nor for the fact that Blair has already applied for the job.’

‘After Iraq, the culminating events came last summer. With Israel bombarding Lebanon, with most Labour MPs wanting an immediate ceasefire, and with barely a fifth of British voters thinking the Israeli action justified, Blair would not budge an inch from his support for Bush and Ehud Olmert.’

It was reported elsewhere that Blair said to Bush last year while Israel’s American-equipped jets were razing Lebanon, and Blair was joining in delaying a ceasefire so that even more Lebanese could be murdered, that he could go to the Middle East ahead of Condoleezza Rice "if she needs the ground prepared as it were ... Because obviously if she goes out, she's got to succeed, as it were, whereas I can go out and just talk".

A fine admission for a future envoy to the area: “I can go out and just talk.” Just what Israel wants in an envoy.


Marc Sirois, of the Beirut Daily Star, wrote that the prime minister had "sacrificed what credibility he ever had in this part of the world" by abdicating any responsibility he had toward the conflict. Blair couldn't possibly act as an honest broker, since "he is identified so strongly by Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular as somebody who supports the policies of the Bush administration. George Bush might be hated here but at least he's respected. Tony Blair doesn't even have respect."

Less respected than G.W. Bush! Tony Blair’s niche in history is assured.



Tony Blair Update, June 28: Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in Gaza that Blair's appointment as envoy 'is not acceptable to Hamas nor to the Palestinians. He will not
do anything to support the Palestinian interests but will do everything to
support the Israeli occupation.'

Brain Envy?

Could there be a secret motivation behind President G.W. Bush’s condemnation of various other national leaders as “evil”?

Could it be brain envy?

George II is stupid, as sensitive as a fencepost, and as articulate as a hog. If given a choice he would no doubt prefer to see himself in the role of the fraudulent wizard in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” who thrived on lies and special effects, than in the role of the scarecrow who begged the wizard to supply him with a brain, but I see Bush in both characters – the fraud and the brainless scarecrow.




It occurred to me that Bush, like the scarecrow of Oz, might envy those who actually have brains. I asked myself if he comes up with ridiculous slanders like “evildoers” and “Axis of Evil” because he lies awake at night wishing he had the brains and creativity of the men he makes his enemies?

I looked up the intellectual achievements of the leaders whom Bush loves to hate as best I could in a short time, and I offer you the results today. Meanwhile, I tried to find comparable information about Bush: He was a cheerleader at Philips Academy. At Yale (entry courtesy of his super rich father), he was “an average student” at best. His known writing consists of a letter to his father from Yale: “Dear Dad, can you spere another $1000 to get me through the month?” His presidential speeches are written by other people, and he has demonstrated that he has difficulties even reading the words and sentences aloud correctly. If he attempts to make a statement extemporaneously he produces a frightening impression of an open-mouthed bullfrog staring at a car’s headlights.

By comparison, here are those he envies:


HUGO CHAZEZ, President of Venezuela

Hugo Chavez, before becoming President of Venezuela, had a professional military career in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel; he held a series of teaching and staff positions at the Military Academy of Venezuela, where he was praised for his fiery lecturing style.

He is the author of several short stories and poems: "Vuelvan Caras" (published in “El Nacional” newspaper, to which many of the recognized Venezuelan writers have contributed written works), "Mauricio", and "El Genio y el Centauro" (theatrical work which won third place on the National Historical Theater prize in Cañafístola, in 1987.) He wrote a famous poem dedicated to the late Lieutenant Colonel Felipe Acosta Carles, who was one of the founders of Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario 200. In addition to his writing, Chávez has also sculpted, producing such works as the 1980 “Sombra de Guerra en el Golfo” ("Shadows of War in the Gulf").

I think there is more wit, intelligence, and sincerity in one of his speeches – for which he is himself responsible -- than in all of Bush’s mechanical utterances since he went into politics. One of my favorites is Chavez’s address to the U.N. General Assembly in September 2006, from which this is taken:

‘Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals . . . this is one of his most recent books, “Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States." [Holds up the book and waves it. Here already is a striking contrast to G.W. Bush, who has never voluntarily picked up a book.] "It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet. . . .

‘I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own house.

‘The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

‘And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [Crosses himself.] "And it smells of sulfur still today." Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.’

KIM JONG-IL, National Leader of North Korea

G.W. Bush made Kim Jong-il a charter member of the Bush “Axis of Evil” -- a ludicrous bit of verbiage which in itself is a glaring revelation of childish stupidity. Some say that Kim Jong-il was given the honor simply because Bush’s puppetmasters wanted to distract attention from the obvious fact that the other two members of the Axis – Iraq and Iran --were named because Israel wanted them destroyed.

Although he has been routinely smeared by Bush and the U.S. propaganda machine, Kim Jong-il has in real life shown himself to be infinitely more intelligent and creative person than the American president.




Kim Jong-il has always had more than a mere viewer’s interest in films. He is the author of book titled “On the Art of the Cinema”. It is alleged – but disputed -- that in 1978 he ordered the "kidnapping" of famous South Korean film director Shin Sang-ok and his actress wife Choe Eun-hui in order to build a North Korean film industry. Whether the couple came voluntarily or were “kidnapped”, one might say that Kim Jong-il’s heart was in the right place – a promoter of the arts who would go to great lengths to realize his dreams.

In 2006 he was personally involved in the production of the movie “Diary of a Girl Student”, depicting the life of a girl whose parents are scientists. Kim "improved its script and guided its production".



Additionally, Kim Jong-il has written a book on the “Art of Opera”, and has written an opera himself, “The FlowerGirl”, the tale of a saintly peasant girl. Early in the film her family is beaten up by a greedy landlord. In what Kim describes as his favorite moment, peasants look toward the nighttime sky and reflect on how the moon, though seen by everyone, might find some people miserable and others happy.

I’m going to quote passages from a published book, and I will leave it to you to decide whether G.W. Bush or Kim Jong-Il wrote it:

"Language is extremely important in literature. Words must be filled with meaning and should always be clear and easy to understand. A lengthy crude or intricate jumble of difficult words which lack real meaning is quite useless."

"Just as form is inconceivable to content, so is content without form. The content determines and restricts the form and the form follows and expresses the content. The content can only be expressed correctly thru an appropriate form and a good form that suits the content positively reacts back on the latter by expressing it clearly."

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, President of Iran

Ahmadinejad is another leader in the “Axis of Evil”. The son of a blacksmith, he took Iran's national university entrance exams to gain admission into one of Iran's top universities. His test score ranked him 132nd among more than 400,000 participants that year. He studied engineering and received his doctorate in engineering and traffic transportation planning. He has taught engineering at a university where he studied. Someone wrote in a blog, “He was the teacher everybody likes--friendly, laid back, cheerful, and an easy grader! He taught my cousin's traffic engineering course, while his bodyguard would sit outside.” Ahmadinejad has taught Ph.D. candidates as well as undergraduates, thus showing, unlike Bush, that he actually learned something in school.

Ahmadinejad’s attitude toward his personal safety and comfort also contrasts strongly with that of George W. Bush. When Iraq attacked Iran, Ahmadinejad rushed off to fight on the western front rather than seeking safety at home. Even after he was elected president, Ahmadinejad continued living in a simple apartment flat and ate meals in his office which were brought from home.

In spite of his engineering orientation, President Ahmadinejad has shown an interest in poetry, saying that poetry is the emotional expression of justice-seeking, God-worshiping, and love as the three divine and human exalted values. He discussed the importance of poetry and exalted values in addressing a group of scholars attending a seminar in Tehran to honor Iranian classical poet Beedel Dehlavi.

The impressive display of honesty and articulate reasoning in Ahmadinejad’s speeches, as well as in the long essay-letters he has sent to Bush pleading the cause of peace and cultural understanding, greatly outdoes anything even Bush’s speechwriters have been able to come up with. Indeed, they couldn't even come up with a reply to Ahmadinejad's historic letters.


SADDAM HUSSEIN, former president of Iraq, murdered by G.W. Bush.



The third, and now departed, member of the “Axis of Evil”, Saddam Hussein, wrote four novels, the best known of which are “Zabibah and the King” (2000) and “The Fortified Castle” (2002). “Begone, Demons” was his fourth and last novel, finished the day before U.S forces invaded his country on false pretenses, One of his daughters managed to get the manuscript out of Iraq, and it was published in Japan in 2006 under the title, “Devil’s Dance”. In case you wonder why it hasn’t been published in the United States, “Begone, Demons” revolves around a Zionist-Christian conspiracy against Arabs and Muslims.



“Saddam appreciates and promotes Iraqi poetry, art and literature,” according to Abdul Wahid, a famous Iraqi poet, who believes that had Saddam not become a politician, he could have been a professional literary critic or a writer.

Even while in American captivity, Saddam wrote poetry. In these short excerpts he was addressing the people of Iraq:

“Unbind your soul. It is my soul mate and you are my soul's beloved.
No house could have sheltered my heart as you have.
. . . .
We never kneel or bend when attacking
But we even treat our enemy with honor. “


George Bush certainly couldn’t have written that, especially the last line.

NOW We Have the Proof!

“Bush Says Iran Is Source of Deadly Bombs”


On February 12, ”Not Paying Attention” I (and a few million other people) expressed doubts about the “evidence” exhibited by anonymous American officials that Iran is supplying the Iraq resistance with weapons.

Must we now reconsider our reaction? The Highest Source has spoken on this very day. I am emphasizing his proofs with capital letters.

NYT
“WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 -- President Bush said today HE IS CERTAIN that elements of the Iranian government are supplying deadly roadside bombs that kill American troops in Iraq, even if the innermost circle of the government is not involved.

“Mr. Bush said IT HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED BEYOND A DOUBT that a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps known as the Quds Force is supplying Shiite groups inside Iraq

“WE KNOW THAT,” Mr. Bush said at a White House news conference.

“Mr. Bush rejected the idea that the intelligence about the Quds Forces might be no more reliable than that about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, which turned out not to exist. “I CAN SAY WITH CERTAINTY. . . blah, blah, blah.”

Yes, the Highest Source has spoken, but without an iota of evidence. Unfortunately, he is the Highest Source of Lies, not the highest source of truth. I wish some historian would tell me if Bush is not the most prolific and persistent liar in the history of the American presidency.

His administration is a fountain of lies, and yet his lies are so easily seen through and so easily shown to be false that most eight year olds can get away with their clumsy falsehoods better than Bush can . . . and yet he’s still doing it!

He is one of the great practitioners of the Big Lie, which I discussed on my other blog, FLIGHTS OF PEGASUS, January 12. (Sources are given there.)

The “Big Lie” technique consists in telling a lie so colossal that no one would believe anybody would have the nerve to try to pass off such a monstrous fabrication as the truth. The lie is so big that it must be true. The masses of people more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed and afraid to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even when the facts which prove a Big Lie to be a lie are brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. “For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world.”

Add to the Big Lie analysis what I wrote in “Not Paying Attention”: The main reason that Bush is able to float his lies on the sea of American public opinion is that most Americans don’t pay attention. They parrot the slogans they are told are respectable, and they believe in a few simple “facts” which are usually falsehoods.

So, while those of us who pay attention marvel that a man who has been repeatedly exposed as a liar can have the effrontery to stand up and lie again, and even to expect us to take him at his word as he has done in previous lies, there are plenty of Americans who even now are nodding their heads and parroting what he says.

Misleading Headline, Missing News

What’s missing from this USA Today headline from yesterday?

MARINE HELICOPTER MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN ANBAR LAKE

Answer: Four Marines were killed.

(Journalists used to be taught that the most important facts go in the headlines.)
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I heard on television last night that a new blog is created every second, and that each blog has an average of one reader. Not very encouraging, especially when I add my own impression that most of the blogs which aren’t of the “washed my hair this morning” or “fuzzy photos of the Barfs’ concert” varieties are for the purpose of commenting on the news, thus putting them in competition with me.

Well, maybe not, since I’m trying to focus on what is NOT in the news, while many of the “current events” blogs I’ve seen just copy and paste other people’s published columns and make fun of them. Let somebody else do all the work, add a couple of smart-alecky comments at the end, and – voila – you’re right up there with Jon Stewart.
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My eagle eye for what’s missing from the U.S. news has come up with this: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez – who endeared himself to me with his U.N. “smell of sulfur” speech in which President Bush was appropriately cast as the devil – has done some newsworthy things with Venezuelan oil during the past year or so . . . either giving away oil to the needy or selling it at a discount.

Those stories are pretty easy to avoid reporting in the United States as long as U.S. citizens aren’t the objects of Chavez’ bounty. It seems they’re also pretty easy to avoid reporting even when U.S. citizens are the beneficiaries. When I tried to educate myself about Chavez’ oil generosity toward North Americans with a Google search, I found not one U.S. news source in the first two screens of search results.

What I could learn about Chavez selling cut-rate oil to Americans in 2005 came from Australia and England.

“Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, has pulled off his greatest public relations coup yet in his campaign to irritate the Bush Administration with a deal to supply cheap fuel to thousands of poor residents of Boston and New York. To the anger of many in Washington, Citgo Petroleum Corporation, a company controlled by the Venezuelan Government, will supply more than 45 million litres of oil at 40 per cent below market prices. The deal is one of the most spectacular moves yet in Mr Chavez's attempt to market his '21st-century socialism' using his country's oil wealth.”

Would Washington have been happier if Venezuela had raised the price of oil? Some people you just can't please.

I thank President Chavez not only for angering many in Washington by helping poor people, but also for holding up a copy Noam Chomsky’s “Hegemony or Survival” in the U.N., leading me to read some of Mr. Chomsky’s books and watch some of his DVDs for the first time.