NIGHTMARE IN THE ROSE GARDEN

“The Constitution is an outdated document.”

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

Spiegel Online: So what are the options in Iraq?

Seymour Hersh: There are two very clear options:

Option A) Get everybody out by midnight tonight.

Option B) Get everybody out by midnight tomorrow.

The fuel that keeps the war going is us.

October 1, 2007

Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

DOUG THOMPSON
CAPITAL HILL BLUE

It is doubtful that America's demise will occur any time soon.

But we are witnessing her death throes.

When I voted for the Democrats I had hoped that they would do some right things:

GET TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ, and re-deploy American military power to areas where the terrorists ARE ACTUALLY LOCATED, like Afghanistan; use the billions and billions and billions of dollars that are being wasted in Iraq to guarantee America's own protection; to repair schools; to repair and build bridges; to provide health care for infants, the elderly, and for anyone who needs medical care who currently does not have it.

But none of the presidential candidates is going to rescue and save America from Bush's Wreck in Iraq.

Only promises...promises...promises...

Of a different kind of rose garden.

But the nightmare in the rose garden shall remain.

Only the names and colors of the roses will change.

Roses:

The Flowers for Funerals.

Every one of the candidates, if elected, will still get their orders from the MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, the Pentagon, and all of the corporate powers who gave them lots of money to become president of the United States.

When Dick Cheney and George W. Bush attack Iran, the attention will then be focused on this new war.

Johnny won't come marching home, but

Christian soldiers will continue to march onward and forward

INTO HELL.

It's the oil stupid!

ON JOHN BOLTON

Under the principles of the Nuremburg Trials at the end of World War Two, Bush would be indictable for all four counts established back then:

1. Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of crime against peace;
2. Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace;
3. War crimes;
4. Crimes against humanity.

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, told Tory delegates today (September 30, 2007) that efforts by the UK and the EU to negotiate with Iran had failed and that he saw no alternative to a pre-emptive strike on suspected nuclear facilities in the country.

Words in Italics are those referring to or by John Bolton himself . Mad Plato's comments are in bold letters.

I think we have to look at a limited strike against their nuclear facilities.

NOT JUST LOOK.

BUT REALLY BOMB.

HOW LIMITED IS LIMITED?

THE DIPLOMATIC TOWEL HAS ALREADY BEEN THROWN IN BECAUSE BOLTON WANTS NOTHING OTHER THAN AN ATTACK ON IRAN.

NO WAITING.

NO NEGOTIATIONS.

BOLTON IS A MOUTH PIECE AND SHILL FOR President Bush AND Dick Cheney.

THE PLANS FOR ATTACKING IRAN ARE BEING OILED AND PRIMED.

GET READY FOR THOSE HIGHER GAS PRICES…

AND WORLD WAR IV.

I don't think the use of military force is an attractive option, but I would tell you I don't know what the alternative is.

ALTERNATIVE?

HOW ABOUT MORE DIPLOMACY.

NOBODY THINKS THAT MILITARY FORCE IS ATTRACTIVE…

FOOL!

Because life is about choices, I think we have to consider the use of military force. I think we have to look at a limited strike against their nuclear facilities.

YOUR CHOICE IS FOR MORE DEATH.

ATTACKING IRAN IS CERTAIN TO PRODUCE WORSE THINGS IN THE SHORT RUN.

BUT LIKE IRAQ, THIS WHITE HOUSE AND ITS CORPORATE FRIENDS NEED TO FIRE THOSE BULLETS AND BOMBS SO THAT MORE CAN BE MADE.

He added that any strike should be followed by an attempt to remove the source of the problem, Mr. Ahmadinejad.

RIGHT.

JUST LIKE IN IRAQ WHEN SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS REMOVED.

LOOK AT HOW WONDERFUL IRAQ IS NOW!

If we were to strike Iran it should be accompanied by an effort at regime change...The U.S. once had the capability to engineer the clandestine overthrow of governments. I wish we could get it back.

AT LEAST YOU DON'T HIDE YOUR REPUGNANT IDEA FOR COVERT TOPPLING OF GOVERNMENTS.

THIS IS WHY THE U.S. IS SO DISLIKED AROUND THE WORLD.

AMERICA...

THE WORLD'S POLICEMAN AND ENFORCER!

DEMOCRACY?

The fact that intelligence about Iran's nuclear activity was partial should not be used as an excuse not to act, Mr Bolton insisted.

OF COURSE NOT.

OUR INTELLIGENCE AND LACK OF IT THEREOF DIDN'T STOP BUSH FROM BOMBING IRAQ.

Intelligence can be wrong in more than one direction.

RIGHT.

MAYBE EVEN WRONG FROM THE DIRECTION FROM WHICH AN ATTACK IS BEING MADE.

NUANCE AND FLEXIBILITY HAS TO BE GIVEN TO FUCKING UP AS WE DID IN IRAQ.

He asked how the British government would respond if terrorists exploded a nuclear device at home.

It's only Manchester?...Responding after they're used is unacceptable.

NO SIRREE BOB...I MEAN JOHN.

PRE-EMPTIVE BOMBING IS WHAT BUSH DOES BEST.

Mr Bolton, now a fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute and the author of a forthcoming book called Surrender is Not an Option, was applauded by delegates when he described the UN as fundamentally irrelevant.

TOO BAD THERE WAS APPLAUSE.

THE U.N. IS BEGGED FOR HELP AT TIMES, THEN THROWN TO THE DOGS WHEN IT DOESN'T DO THE BIDDING OF THE U.S.

WHO BOMBED THE U.N. PERSONNEL IN IRAQ?

Defending the decision to invade Iraq, he mocked the Foreign Office's "softly softly" approach to Iran's imprisonment of 15 British sailors accused of straying into Iranian waters in April this year.

THAT'S RIGHT.

NO PUSSIES OR WIMPS ALLOWED!

There is too much of a view in Europe that you have passed beyond history. That everything can be worked out by negotiation…Democrats or Republicans, we don't see it that way.

HELL NO!

WE BOMB AND THEN ASK QUESTIONS.

AND ADMIT MISTAKES WERE MADE!

However, he praised the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his forthright criticism of Iran in recent weeks.

THE FRENCH DIDN'T SUPPORT OUR INVASION OF IRAQ, AND WE CASTIGATED THEM.

NOW THAT WE HAVE THE FROGS ON OUR SIDE---CROAKING TO BOMB IRAN...

THEY ARE OUR BUDDIES ONCE AGAIN!

Raising the spectre of George Bush's "axis of evil", Mr Bolton said that Kim Jong-il's regime in North Korea was akin to a "prison camp" and that he would "sell anything to anyone".

EVEN WAX FOR YOUR UGLY M0USTACHE.

However, the threat to world peace did not come from neoconservatives but from the perception that we have passed beyond history.

YOU HAVE NOT PASSED BEYOND HISTORY...

YOU’VE JUST PISSED ON IT!

THE HILLARY AND BILL SHOW

Bill Clinton appears as if he's running again for president.

Of course HE IS NOT.

It’s his wife who’s running.

Bill is just campaigning for her.

The Sunday News shows show-cased Hillary's gravelly voiced husband.

Bill was effervescent, smiling, and looking very snazzy and natty.

Très beau & muy guapo.

It is quite obvious that the Clintons are the ones that the powers-that-be want back in the White House.

With or without Monica.

With plenty of Big Macs and Pizza.

But it would be painful to have to listen to Hillary's voice, like our own mother's, berating us or others for this, that and other things.

I don't want the Clintons together again in the White House.

Once was enough.

I don't want any more Bushes there either.

I don't want Giuliani there.

Or McCain.

Or Romney.

Maybe Britney Spears.

FISHING AND FIGHTING

FISHING

Every summer there was a fishing derby for kids in Denver's City Park.

I can't remember now whether fishing poles and bait were provided, but I think that kids had to bring their own.

Because my father was an excellent river (trout) fisherman, I am sure that he made sure that we---his sons---had the best bait, the right hooks, the correct test of fishing line, and sturdy fishing poles.

I preferred to use a pole with no reel.

I wanted to keep it simple.

Plus, there was no need to cast the fishing line.

The fish swam in ditches that were only about five feet wide.

Some were wider.

The depth of the water was about two feet.

All that had to be done was to put the fishing line and baited hook down into the flowing water.

There were plenty of fish to be caught, and fish were tagged with different prizes that could be won.

Some prizes were just small bags of candy and trinkets, but other prizes included fishing gear…

And bicycles!

This derby was more exciting than going camping in the mountains, something that I did a lot every summer.

I wasn't a very good fisherman.

But the derby allowed me to easily catch fish...

And win prizes.

FIGHTING

I never liked to fight, but my father, who had competed for the Golden Gloves in Denver, and who claimed that he had beaten every fighter that he ever fought on his naval ship in World War II, showed me a few tricks of the trade.

I remember (before fights were televised) the night that my dad and I listened to the radio as Sonny Liston fought an unknown fighter named Cassius Clay.

The radio made pictures in my mind. There was no incessant jabbering from TV pundits while the fighters were trying to kill each other.

I didn't have too many fights in school.

In sixth grade I was "chosen" to fight in the parking lot of my elementary school by Tommy Fish.

I remember he had a baseball bat, and that his face was peppered with freckles.

I said, "This isn't baseball."

He agreed and replied,

"O.K. Let's fight."

I was taller and thinner than Tommy Fish.

I was much faster, too.

I did a lot of jabbing, connecting now and then with a few solid punches.

We stopped when Tommy's nose started bleeding.

Then Tommy's older brother Jimmy said:

"You have to fight me now."

I said no, but someone pointed to the baseball bat.

I knew that I had no choice.

Jimmy was about as tall as I was and just as thin.

I knew he would be a better boxer than his brother Tommy.

We began throwing punches.

He was quick, so I speeded up my punches and increased their number, and got more through his defenses than his did through mine.

Now it was Jimmy's turn to have a bloody nose.

We stopped and said goodbye.

I almost said,

"Thanks. It was nice fighting both of you."

I felt good about myself, but (strange I know) I also felt a little sad that I had "beaten" both brothers.

I was still in fifth grade the afternoon that Del Shimpf and his boys chased me all the way to my house.

As I got near to the backyard of my house, I started yelling for my mom.

She yelled back,

“What the heck are you yelling about?”

And when I told her I was being chased, she said,

“Don’t you chicken-out! Fight back!”

That was easy for her to say.

I yelled back that there were about four of them chasing me.

She said,

“O.K. Climb over the fence and get in here.”

It was then that I realized that my mom had some good sense.

I didn't have any more fights until I was in the eighth grade.

My much bigger brother was a ninth grader at the same school, Belmont Junior High, and he had a reputation as being the toughest kid in school.

I guess that Del Shimpf (yes, he was still bullying me) didn't know this fact, but he soon found out, and quit bothering me (except for that one time when he found me with Joann Babbs at Lakeside Amusement Park. I wrote about that experience on Friday, March 16, 2007:

BUMPER CARS COTTON CANDY AND THE LAUGHING LADY.

In ninth grade I was in the locker room when Dick Height started fighting Greg Feazell.

Dick threw some Tuf Skin on Greg when Greg was in the shower.

Greg came running out and tackled Dick.

I never liked Dick, but Greg was a sweet and polite kid, at least until now.

I jumped between the two.

Dick started punching me.

I didn't appreciate this and let him know it with a quick right hook.

Dick fell to the floor and started bleeding.

I remember the shirt that I had on that day.

It was an ugly yellow, long-sleeved shirt.

I was glad that it was this shirt that got covered with Dick's blood and not one of my other shirts.

Mrs. Adams the vice-principal called Dick and I into her office one at a time to give her our story.

I forget if she talked to me or Dick first, but after I told her what had happened, her face turned as red as a tomato, starting at her throat.

The blood’s red color moved up her throat like it was a thermometer. I was worried that her head was going to explode.

But I knew one thing for sure, and that was that Dick was in bigger trouble than me.

He was suspended. I didn’t get any punishment.

My one and only other fight was my choice.

I didn't even know the other kid.

He just looked like a good fighter, and I wanted to find out.

I was a block away from my house.

I said to him

"I want to fight you.”

He shook his head to indicate that he would not turn me down.

One punch later and I had a painful chipped tooth.

End of fight.

End of story.

NUMB NUTS

“Is our children learning?”

George W. Bush

March 29, 2001

"Childrens do learn."

George W. Bush

September 26, 2007

Bush made his latest grammatical slip-up at a made-for-TV event where he urged Congress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, the centerpiece of his education policy.

The face grimaces and grins and is coated with smug pride.

It is a countenance of overweening pride that was and is dangerous, and is becoming more dangerous with each passing day of the mission accomplished.

It is the look of one who once joked about finding WMD in his office.

These are the WMD that were fabricated by liars in order to carry out an unnecessary, Pre-Emptive, illegal and insane war.
That war whose lies told by the liars have killed and murdered thousands of our American soldiers, and thousands and thousands and thousands of Iraqi families.

The countenance is of one who was inconvenienced when he was asked where Osama bin Laden was, and answered with this smirking and proud pride:

"I don't know where bin Laden is.

I have no idea and really don't care.

It's not that important."

G.W. Bush

3/13/02

This is not the pride of a leader who is comfortable and confident with his ethics.

This is one who has his own ethics which are abetted by his self-chosen God unknown to many of us.

THIS PRESIDENT HASN’T LEARNED A THING.

It's the oil stupid!

ABOUT NEWT GINGRICH

Don't be surprised if Mr. Frankly runs for president.
Mr. Frankly---and I call him that because he so frequently uses that word---is as scary as our current president.
Well...not quite that scary.
But Halloween is approaching, and Mr. Frankly appears to be as well.
Sean Hannity, as usual, was lavishing arse-kissing adulations upon Mr. Frankly.
Mr. Frankly was saying how the Republicans would decrease government and reduce taxes.
Yeah, just look what they did under the Decider Bush's reign.
Mr. Frankly told us that he was a Reagan man.
Yes, Reagan.
What a conservative.
Very little trickling occurred.
But the National Debt of the United States of America increased in the trillions with Mr. Gipper's Tricks and Treats.
Didn't his administration's (scapegoats) also illegally conduit (i.e. sell) arms to our current axis-of-evil partner Iran in order make a a lot of money in order to try to overthrow a government in Central America?
Big government?
Mr. Frankly is as likely to spend less money or give America a smaller government as Dracula is likely to stop drinking blood.

ALLAH AKBAR!

SHORT & UGLY!

ALLAH AKBAR!

SHORT & UGLY!

ALLAH AKBAR!

I'M NOT A BAD MADMAN!

I’M NOT IN A BAD MOOD!

I AM NOT A KOOK!

I DON'T NEED NO NUKE!

I AM ONLY MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD!

AH...AH...AH...

ALLAH AKBAR!

EVO MORALES

I have just heard some very moving, intelligent and rational words.

Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, was on The
Daily Show.

He stated in so many (yet few) words that the world must begin working to save itself.

That humans---governments---leaders---should live to save life and not destroy life.

I hope that George W. Bush and Al-Qaeda were taking notes.

We haven’t (and shouldn’t) hear the last from Evo Morales.

A FEW THINGS THAT HILLARY CLINTON AND RUDY GUILIANI WILL DO AS YOUR PRESIDENT

HC: I will bring the troops home and give health care to all Americans.
RG: I will bomb Iran and win the Global War on Terrorism.
HC: I will make Bill bake cookies.
RG: I will stop putting on dresses.
HC: I will keep my cleavage covered.
RG: I will keep my teeth covered.

WAR SONG WRITTEN BEFORE LISTENING TO Bach's Air for the "G" String and Beethoven's Adagio from "Moonlight" Sonata

GOD OF WAR by junkart

We love wars.

We are whores.

We fight for gold.

We fight for power.

We fight for profits

And for more

Power and

Profits to hold.

We are whores.

We love wars.

We are humans.

We love wars.

We are whores.

We fight for gold.

We fight for power.

We fight for profits

And more

Power and

Profits to hold.

We love wars.

We are whores.

HALLUCINATIONS

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient
etherized upon a table.
T.S. Eliot


At about the time that LSD was being discovered, I was having my own hallucinations.
I was getting a tonsilectomy.
The noxious ether entered my nose, mouth and brain.
Then began the horrible hallucinations.
Galaxies were spinning inside my mind.
These colorful and spinning spirals seemed to go on and on.
When I finally woke up I had an enormous headache.
I was rolled out in a wheelchair.
It was hell for me to swallow.
For years I remembered the effects of that ether, and I never needed to go on any LSD "trip".

READING BETWEEN THE LINES

"Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil."
Former US deputy defence secretary
Paul Wolfowitz
2003

“I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”
Alan Greenspan
2007

Address by the President to the Nation on the Way Forward in Iraq
September 13, 2007
Oval Office


THE PRESIDENT:

Good evening.
In the life of all free nations (And this one has become less free with me as your president), there come moments that decide the direction of a country and reveal the character of its people
(And their president).
We are now at such a moment.

In Iraq, an ally of the United States is fighting for its survival. Terrorists and extremists who are at war with us around the world are seeking to topple Iraq's government, dominate the region, and attack us here at home
(Don't ask me to show you any intelligence).

If Iraq's young democracy can turn back these enemies, it will mean a more hopeful Middle East and a more secure America. This ally has placed its trust in the United States
(Just as we have placed tons of radioactive Uranium dust from our depleted uranium weapons into their air, soil and water.)

And tonight, our moral and strategic imperatives are one: We must help Iraq defeat those who threaten its future and also threaten ours.
(Even though 70% of the remaining Iraqi people want the U.S. to leave their country, and 60% support killing American troops.)

This week, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testified before Congress about how that strategy is progressing. In their testimony, these men made clear that our challenge in Iraq is formidable. Yet they concluded that conditions in Iraq are improving, that we are seizing the initiative from the enemy, and that the troop surge is working.
(Even though there are higher numbers of Iraqis dying than one year ago, and our American soldiers are dying every day.)




One year ago, much of Baghdad was under siege. Schools were closed, markets were shuttered, and sectarian violence was spiraling out of control. Today, most of Baghdad's neighborhoods are being patrolled by coalition and Iraqi forces who live among the people they protect. Many schools and markets are reopening. Citizens are coming forward with vital intelligence. Sectarian killings are down. And ordinary life is beginning to return.
(Even though most citizens will not go outside for fear of being killed, and there is very little water, food or electricity.)

One year ago, much of Diyala province was a sanctuary for al Qaeda and other extremist groups, and its capital of Baqubah was emerging as an al Qaeda stronghold. Today, Baqubah is cleared. Diyala province is the site of a growing popular uprising against the extremists. And some local tribes are working alongside coalition and Iraqi forces to clear out the enemy and reclaim their communities.
(We just hope that these same tribes don't turn on us once they gain control.)

One year ago, Shia extremists and Iranian-backed militants were gaining strength and targeting Sunnis for assassination. Today, these groups are being broken up, and many of their leaders are being captured or killed.
(But more militants are certain to replace the captured and killed ones and this will require that we stay in Iraq for years to come.)

These gains are a tribute to our military, they are a tribute to the courage of the Iraqi security forces, and they are the tribute to an Iraqi government that has decided to take on the extremists.
(And I'll take some of that tribute, too.)

Now the Iraqi government must bring the same determination to achieving reconciliation. This is an enormous undertaking
(Just as I have become an enormous Executive Undertaker)
after more than three decades of tyranny and division.

Yet Iraq's national leaders are getting some things done.
(They have completed their vacation. I know a lot about vacations.)

Our troops in Iraq are performing brilliantly.
(This isn't a play. Why did my writer write performing? Oh well, I just read 'em, I don't write 'em.)

The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is "return on success."
(Kind of like those profits that the Pentagon and the oil industry get a return on.)

The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home.
( If we aren't successful, troops will have to stay.)

Americans want our country to be safe and our troops to begin coming home from Iraq. Yet those of us who believe success in Iraq is essential to our security, and those who believe we should begin bringing our troops home, have been at odds.
(Just as I am odd and have been ever since I started this tragic and needless war.)

Now, because of the measure of success we are seeing in Iraq, we can begin seeing troops come home. The way forward I have described tonight makes it possible, for the first time in years, for people who have been on opposite sides of this difficult debate to come together.
(But not too together, because there's an election coming.)

This vision for a reduced American presence also has the support of Iraqi leaders from all communities.
(Vision? Sounds kind of Biblical.)

At the same time, they understand that their success will require U.S. political, economic, and security engagement that extends beyond my presidency.
(I didn't pre-emptively bomb and invade Iraq just so that American soldiers could leave under the watch of a new president. This engagement will become a long-lasting marriage).

These Iraqi leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America. And we are ready to begin building that relationship -- in a way that protects our interests in the region and requires many fewer American troops.
(Up is down, black is white, war is peace...the new way forward is the way to hell and back, forever and ever.)

The success of a free Iraq is critical to the security of the United States. A free Iraq will deny al Qaeda a safe haven. A free Iraq will counter the destructive ambitions of Iran. A free Iraq will marginalize extremists, unleash the talent of its people, and be an anchor of stability in the region. A free Iraq will set an example for people across the Middle East. A free Iraq will be our partner in the fight against terror -- and that will make us safer here at home.
(Damn, this sounds too good to be true. My writers are something else.)



If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened.
(Just as more and more strains of Cholera have been kindled in thousands of Iraqis.)

Al Qaeda could gain new recruits and new sanctuaries.
(As they already have from my invasion and occupation.)

Iran would benefit from the chaos and would be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region.
(Even though Iran is benefiting from the chaos of the civil war right now.)

Extremists could control a key part of the global energy supply.
(Therefore, more blood, blood, blood...for oil...oil...oil!)

Iraq could face a humanitarian nightmare.
(Right now it's just a very bad dream.)

Democracy movements would be violently reversed. We would leave our children to face a far more dangerous world.
(But not much more dangerous than the world I have left them.)

And as we saw on September the 11th, 2001, those dangers can reach our cities and kill our people.
(Ah..9-11...my scare and trump card!)

Whatever political party you belong to, whatever your position on Iraq, we should be able to agree that America has a vital interest in preventing chaos and providing hope in the Middle East.
(That's why I bombed Iraq! To prevent chaos and give hope!)


To the Iraqi people: You have voted for freedom, and now you are liberating your country from terrorists and death squads. You must demand that your leaders make the tough choices needed to achieve reconciliation. As you do, have confidence that America does not abandon our friends, and we will not abandon you.
(America does not cut loose from where the oil is!)

To Iraq's neighbors who seek peace: The violent extremists who target Iraq are also targeting you. The best way to secure your interests and protect your own people is to stand with the people of Iraq. That means using your economic and diplomatic leverage to strengthen the government in Baghdad. And it means the efforts by Iran and Syria to undermine that government must end.
(Or Uncle Sam will start bombing them too!),

Good night, and God bless America.

THE DECEIVER SPEAKS

“An estimated 4.2 million Iraqis have been uprooted from their homes, with the monthly rate of displacement climbing to over 60,000 people compared to 50,000 previously.

Many are barely surviving in makeshift camps, inaccessible to aid workers for security reasons.”

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis

According to the ORB poll, a survey of 1,461 adults suggested that the total number slain during more than four years of war was more than 1.2 million.

ORB said it drew its conclusion from responses to the question about those living under one roof: "How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003?"

Based on Iraq's estimated number of households -- 4,050,597 -- it said the 1.2 million figure was reasonable.

ORB said its poll had a margin of error of 2.4%. According to its findings, nearly one in two households in Baghdad had lost at least one member to war- related violence, and 22% of households nationwide had suffered at least one death. It said 48% of the victims were shot to death and 20% died as a result of car bombs, with other explosions and military bombardments blamed for most of the other fatalities.

The survey was conducted last month.

WE ARE FIGHTING THIS WAR FOR THIS MAN...

THE PRESIDENT

Chris Matthews after the remarks by George W. Bush on September 13, 2007.

My back hurts like heck.

My brain is waiting for the Decider to once again tell us how well we are doing in Iraq; how well we must do; how long we must continue to do well...

You get it.

I am so tired of this president’s artifice and folly.

He is speaking as I write:

Seizing the initiative...lasting reconciliation...surging diplomatic resources...provincial reconstruction teams...

clear out the enemy...transitioning to the next phase...our mission in Iraq will evolve...adjust our military...provide a fresh assessment of Iraq...return on success...the more successful we are the more troops that can come home...protect our interests in the region...realizing this vision will be difficult...our diplomats believe we can succeed...Iraq could face a humanitarian nightmare...work for peace in the holy land...let us come together on a policy of strength in the Middle East...it is never too late to advance freedom...

Realists in military circles reckon the overall situation in Iraq is worsening, from the point of view of the United States; that by next spring, as one puts it, “the active-duty Army and Marine Corps will start to break under the current load”. Forces will decline, unless Bush orders a real surge next year in involuntarily mobilized reservists. He won’t do that. The war is lost, but like many a lost war, it will last a very long time.
ALEXANDER COCKBURN

RUFUS AND SNOWBALL

D.H. Lawrence

Born:

	11 September 1885(1885-09-11) Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom Died:
	2 March 1930 (aged 44) Vence, France

I named my cat Frieda.
At the time---well, for some time---I was enamored with the writing of D.H. Lawrence.
Frieda was the name of Lawrence's wife.
They did not want to get married, but eventually did.
She left her German professor-husband---and her children---and ran away with Lorenzo---gadding about all over the world.

I didn't like Lawrence's short stories or novels as much as I liked his poems.
They had Beauty and Brevity.

I got my kitten, Frieda, from a buddy-muscian-poet, Paul Santoro.
His cat, the mother of Frieda, was a Calico.
Paul said before handing over little Frieda,
"Now take care of her."
And I said that I would.

One winter I left Frieda with some friends so that I could traipse off to a warmer place.
I asked my friends to take care of Frieda.
"Don't let her go outside."
When I returned from my wanderings a few months later, Frieda had given birth to two kittens.
One friend said to me,
"We tried to pull her apart from the other cat, but we couldn't do it."

I gave names to the two little fur balls.
One I named Rufus.
He had a little mole on his nose.
The other kitten I named Snowball.
She was as cute as any kitten can be.

I could barely feed myself, and really didn't want to take care of Frieda's brood.
So one summer day I put notes around the necks of Rufus and Snowball.
"PLEASE GIVE ME A HOME."
I left them in the alley behind my apartment.
I returned to the alley a few hours later, and there was Snowball, trotting behind a lady, with her tail pointed to the sky, happy as a lark.
Rufus returned to the apartment that night.
He entered through one of the window panes of the skylight on top of the apartment's roof.

Frieda ran away.
I never saw her again.
I thought that this was appropriate, knowing that her namesake had done the same thing.
The Calico mother was picked up by a hawk while Paul was coming back across the desert from California.

THERE'S NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE

PuRgE!
SuRgE!
MeRgE!
ScOuRgE!
EmErGe!
SpLiSh-Splash!
TaKe a BaTh!
FrEeDoM iS sLaVeRy!
SuRgE!
PuRgE!
MeRgE!
ScOuRgE!
EmErGe!
WaR iS pEaCe!
Up Is dOwN!
WrOnG iS rIgHt!
PrOpAnE!
InSaNe!
GaSoLiNe!
WaR!
MoRe!
WaR!
MoRe!
TiMe!
MoRe!
DeAtH!
MoRe!
MoRe!
MoRe!

It's the oil stupid!

THE BODY POLITIC

A politician is one that would circumvent God.
Shakespeare

Man, proud man, drest in a little brief authority... like an angry ape, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, as make the angels weep.
Shakespeare

I'm sorry, but you have terminal
cancer.

Many of your tumors have been removed:

Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove.

But your cancer still exists.

The days of your country are numbered.

How did you get this cancer?

With your

Lies

Lies

Lies

Lies!

Your cancer is the worst possible kind of cancer.

It has spread.

You have been destroying your own country.

Not just Iraq.

You might as well have been smoking fifty packs of cigarettes every day.

There is not much time.

Today, tomorrow...soon...the cancer will stop, and so will you, and so will the nation that you have misled with your lies.

Or perhaps not.

Then this nation will have an opportunity to heal itself.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!