PM backed invasion despite illegality warnings
Plan to disguise US jets as UN planes
Bush: postwar violence unlikely

Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was “solidly” behind US plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion’s legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war published today.

A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

“The diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning“, the president told Mr Blair. The prime minister is said to have raised no objection.

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You just got to love rogue Brahmins, those members of the ruling elite who break decisively and irrevokably from their class. They know how the game is played, where the bodies are buried, and more often than not, can’t be bulldozed.

Check out this piece by a seriously rogue Brahmin on the SOTU address and where the US is going.

The US no longer earns enough from high tech to cover any part of its import bill for oil, autos, or clothing.

This is an astonishing development. The US “superpower” is dependent on China for advanced technology products and is dependent on Asia to finance its massive deficits and foreign wars. In view of the rapid collapse of US economic potential, my prediction in January 2004 that the US would be a third world economy in 20 years was optimistic. Another five years like the last, and little will be left. America’s capacity to export manufactured goods has been so reduced that some economists say that there is no exchange rate at which the US can balance its trade.

Globalization is wiping out the American middle class and terminating jobs for university graduates, who now serve as temps, waitresses and bartenders. But the whores among economists and the evil men and women in the Bush administration still sing globalization’s praises.

The state of the nation has never been worse. The Great Depression was an accident caused by the incompetence of the Federal Reserve, which was still new at its job. The new American job depression is the result of free trade ideology. The new job depression is creating a reserve army of the unemployed to serve as desperate recruits for neoconservative military adventures. Perhaps that explains the Bush administration’s enthusiasm for globalization.

By Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review.

Hat tip to Lefti on the News

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Prefab has come a long way. These homes are quite nice and well-designed. Some are microscopic in size, others range up to 1500-2000 sq ft. The first one is made from shipping containers…

From Sue:

Shipping container housing. Any color you want as long as it’s “rust.” But you get a grass roof with that.

Flatpak - pricey but amusing If you don’t want to pay extra for seismic bracing, etcetera for earthquake zones, can they interest you in a nice plot of land in Minnesota?

The wee house. Very c. 50’s for $45 k.

More pre-fab - california style this time

People in glass prefab houses Shouldn’t stow thrones. This one a bit more room, and a bit more pricey, at $175 per sq ft. But oo la la!

Backyard retreat? Camping gear? Home sweet home?

“Specifications: About 75sf, 11’ x 7’ x 11’, 4000lbs

Because the exterior dimensions of this structure are well within the legal limits for travel on U.S. roadways, the XS-House can be taken almost anywhere. The porch and awning fold up for added convenience. The Oscoz

interior features a retractile table and vanity, a desk, 100 cubic feet of storage, a cathedral ceiling, a six gallon water heater, a shower, toilet, stainless steel counter, refrigerator, sink, heat stove, a double burner, and a vented sleeping loft for two.”

Including one you can build yourself, a 280 sq ft guest house.

The Small House Society

This is political. Where will people live is a political question.

[tags] prefab houses [/tags]

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