The Bush neocon empire is collapsing. Most Americans now oppose the war. Most Americans think Dubya is a liar. The rot is probably terminal, the end probably near. Even his supposed allies want nothing to do with him.
 

In the red state of Arizona, Republican congressman J.D. Hayworth was asked the other day whether he would welcome Bush’s help on the stump; he replied, "In a word, no." And last Tuesday, Senate Republicans rebuked the White House by requesting in an amendment that Bush’s war team become more accountable to the chamber.

His power is ebbing. It won’t come back. Here’s a Polizeros prediction. Bush will not last out his term.

So that’s means great things for the Dems, right? Well, not really. Polls have shown the evaporating support for Republicans has not translated into gains for the Democrats. Which is not surprising considering they are no different on the war, and, um, have been known to lie a bit themselves.

If the Dems genuinely opposed the war, they would have called the Republican bluff yesterday and voted en masse to bring the troops home now. But instead, there were a mere three Yes votes, these from Representatives McKinney, Serrano, Wexler. Hey, that’s some kind of iron resolve the Dems have, you betcha. Sheesh.

The US is losing the war. This fact is finally, dimly, being recognized by the rulers. And they don’t know what to do. You see, this wasn’t in their plans. They were going to grab control of the Middle East and the oil, waltzing in as grateful Iraqis tossed roses in their paths. Instead, those ungrateful upstarts fought back.

Remember back in the quaint early days when the insurgents were only throwing rocks and the occasional grenade? Now there’s hundreds of thousands of them, they are well-armed, growing in numbers fast, and no matter how skilled Pentagon liars spin it, the insurgents are winning and the US is losing. Meanwhile at home, Plamegate, which is just more blowback from the war, has badly damaged the Bush Administration and will unquestionably inflict much more.

Will the Democrats who replace Dubya do any differently? Will they reverse the decades-long US foreign policy goal of hegemony over the Middle East? Will they bring the troops home?

Only if the people force them too. There’s been thousands of protests and vigils these past few years opposing the Iraq war. They’ve had a huge effect. Congress would not be debating the war had they not happened. Let’s keep the pressure on and keep organizing. 

Tag: Valerie Plame

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Neocon apologist Charles Krauthammer skewers Intelligent Design in this Op-ed. Interesting. He sees no conflict between evolution and religion. Neither does the Catholic Church for that matter.

Let’s be clear. Intelligent design may be interesting as theology, but as science it is a fraud.

How ridiculous to make evolution the enemy of God. What could be more elegant, more simple, more brilliant, more economical, more creative, indeed more divine than a planet with millions of life forms, distinct and yet interactive, all ultimately derived from accumulated variations in a single double-stranded molecule, pliable and fecund enough to give us mollusks and mice, Newton and Einstein? Even if it did give us the Kansas State Board of Education, too.

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Woodward’s disclosure was motivated not by a sudden pang of conscience, as it turns out, but by the sudden necessity of testifying under oath before a federal grand jury. Along the way, he incidentally revealed not only that he had concealed this information from his editors and readers for fear of subpoena, but also that he had in the interim gone on several television shows to trash the special prosecutor investigating the affair. Moreover, it now emerges, the reporting that went into his last best-selling book, "Plan of Attack," involved the submission of written questions in advance to Vice President Dick Cheney, a fact he never bothered to share with the book’s readers.

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Richard Becker, west coast organizer of the ANSWER Coalition and PSL leader, spoke at a PSL Forum in LA last night on US attempts at, and plans for, regime change in Syria.

He details the history of colonialization and imperialism in the Middle East starting with World War I, and how hegemony over that area has been a primary goal of US foreign policy for decades, regardless of which party is in power.

All of which is quite relevant today, at a time when ranking Democrats (and some Republicans) are finally opposing the war. Yet, he explains, they aren’t opposing it on moral grounds, heaven forbid. Rather, they are opposing it because it has been a failure, because the US is losing. And that is splitting the ruling class.

The neocons are getting desperate. They may, like cornered rats, try to destablize Syria to buy time and show a success. Look for reports of "terrorists inside Syria", that’ll be the tell.

Oh, the first use of poison gas on civilians was against the Kurds in 1925 and was ordered by Winston Churchill. This history of imperialism (and resistance) goes back for decades.  

MP3 (47:22, 16.2 MB)

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From DJ Mitchell, who ived in Sri Lanka for several years working with Sarvodaya, an organization working for peace.

Mahinda, Chanrika’s choice for successor, won the election.

Interestingly, he won because the LTTE forced a boycott of the election by Tamils. He is seen as a hardliner whose position is the opposite of what the LTTE wants.

The media suggests this is a defeat for the LTTE.

I suggest the LTTE wants the cease-fire to end, and this is their best way of saving face. Elect someone who will be intransigent. Then they have an excuse…

This is not all that different from the Bush Administration/Al Qaeda relationship. They may be enemies, but they need each other.

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From the press release: 

Zach de la Rocha, Members of Ozomatli, Quetzal and others join 350 families in South L.A. to defend community farm.

Concert to save the community farm @ 41st & Alameda.Tuesday, November 22nd event will mobilize the community in Support of the South Central Farmers

Who:South Central Farmers
What: Concert at the Farm
When: Tuesday, Nov. 22nd , 8:30 p.m.
Where: 41st St. and Long Beach Ave.

For 13 years, 350 families have tended a 14-acre community farm in the middle of South L.A.’s gritty industrial belt. Growing their own cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes and other staples has helped make good nutrition affordable. Traditional crops like chipillin, alachi, quelite and pipicha have helped keep traditional cuisine and folk-medicine alive.

The City of L.A. acquired the land in the late 1980s, but abandoned plans to build a trash incinerator after community protests. In 1994, officials transferred title to the Harbor Department, which contracted with the L.A. Regional Food Bank to operate a community farm on the property. In 2003, the City Council agreed to sell the 14 acres back to the original owner, private developer Ralph Horowitz, who wants to demolish the garden and build a warehouse.

The 350 families – organized as South Central Farmers – have camped out in the field for weeks to prevent Horowitz from grabbing the land.

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