“The river rose all day,
The river rose all night.
Some people got lost in the flood,
Some people got away all right.
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemine:
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.
“Louisiana, Louisiana,
They’re trying to wash us away,
They’re trying to wash us away….”
— Randy Newman, Louisiana 1927
The destruction of New
Two stories from the Guardian today give blazing illumination to the death-dealing ignorance of that hideous conglomeration of bagmen and fanatics known as the Bush Faction.
First, Bush’s hypocritical pandering to religious extremists is killing people in Africa, as the UN’s special envoy for AIDS reports:
Bush Accused of AIDs Damage to Africa
Next, Bushist bagmen for Big Oil are cracking down, Joe McCarthy-style, on leading climate change experts:
Republicans accused of witch-hunt against climate change scientists
In Africa, Bush’s extremist “base” is throttling condom distribution, thus crippling one
While the fawning White House press corps chit-chats with Bush about baseball ‘n kids at an intimate get-together on his fake ranch, here’s what happens to real reporters who are out there reporting real news:
US Sniper Kills Reuters Soundman in Iraq (AFP)
Excerpt:
US forces in Baghdad shot dead a Reuters television soundman and wounded a cameraman, Iraqi police said…..
Two Iraqi colleagues who arrived on the scene minutes after the shooting were also briefly detained, then released, Reuters said. They said that Khaled was still alive when they reached him, and that US troops refused
Jim Crow is back in the catbird seat:
Justice Deparment Approves Georgia Voter ID Law. (AP)
The problem for which this law was ostensibly designed is, of course, non-existent; i.e., huge numbers of illegal voters showing up at the polls with fake non-photo IDs.
But the problem for which this law was really designed is, of course, all too real: i.e., huge numbers of legal voters of dusky hue showing up at the polls and voting against Republicans.
Bush’s Secret Dinner — With the Press (WP, among many others)
Anyone who is a journalist — anyone who has ever been a journalist — anyone who ever reads journalism — should be ashamed of this. These monstrous suck-ups would brown-nose Hitler himself if they thought it would help them keep their cozy perch in the gilded media cage.
Published Aug. 26, 2005, in The Moscow Times
In his inaugural speech last January, President George W. Bush repeatedly invoked images of unbridled, ravaging destruction as the emblem of his crusade for “freedom.” Fire was his symbol, his word of power, his incantation of holy war. Mirroring the rhetoric of his fundamentalist enemies, Bush moved the conflict from the political to the spiritual, from the outer
From Juan Cole:The New York Times says that President Bush called Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite leader. But the call seems to have been to no avail if the Shiites did not come to Barzani’s home for negotiations. The Americans are annoyed that the Shiites recently came up with this demand for a southern confederation and are urging them to compromise with the Sunni Arabs, fearful that any other course will prolong and exacerbate the guerrilla war. Poor Bush, who once ordered mighty armies into war and tampered with the US Constitution through his Draconian “PATRIOT” act, now is reduced
Jonathan Scharwz tells “A Funny Little Story About the Media” — and reveals a mountain of truth about the way the American Establishment really operates in this remarkable post on his excellent blog. (And for laughs — albeit the bitter laugh of painful truth — check out this earlier posting: We Must Protect Our Precious Creek-Based Fluids. The title alone is worth the price of admission.) We won’t excerpt the media story here; you should read the whole thing.
If you’re white, you’re all right. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was….
Terror From the Right
Southern Poverty Law Center (via Buzzflash)
Ten years after the Oklahoma City bombing left 168 people dead, the guardians of American national security seem to have decided that the domestic radical right does not pose a substantial threat to U.S. citizens.
There’s a very interesting debate going on right now at Informed
Comment, where Juan Cole – one of the most important and indeed
informed voices throughout the entire Iraqi debacle – has laid out his
strong case against an immediate end to the U.S. occupation. Cole made many good points, well worth serious consideration. He has now gallantly posted a respectful but powerful rebuttal to his case,
from Gilbert Achcar. The whole exchange is a good example of the kind
of debate that should be taking place throughout the American power
structure – not just in the blogosphere.
For