Fox promises to watch hen house more closely

The Post informs us today that the US State Department has issued a promise to monitor its Blackwater security mercenaries more closely as they attempt to ensure the safety of US diplomats in a hostile civil war zone with bullets. Blackwater corporation is privately owned by wealthy donors to the Bush-Cheney junta, which is why it comes as no surprise that security cameras will soon be installed in all mercenary combat vehicles.

Ethnic Cleansing Becomes New Plank In Bush-Cheney Iraq Policy

Spiegel has all the details in a great interview with Seymore Hersh. And how could any article that uses the terms "America's Hitler" and "Bush's Vietnam" in the first paragraph not turn out to be a great read?

America's Illegitimate President Moves Goal Posts

In a vain attempt to obscure the measurable effects of the humanitarian disaster he has created in Iraq, the de facto but illegitimate president of the United States announced plans yesterday to stop monitoring factors that might make it appear as if His War is anything less than a stellar success.

Iran returns hostage child soldiers to the UK.

Tell Senator Specter to Help End the War

I get a lot of pesky emails from folks like MoveOn, but I put up with them because their goals usually seem worthwhile. Sometimes I even do what they ask or go to the events they're promoting. Today I got one asking me to go to a town hall meeting being held by a group called Pennsylvanians Against Escalation in Iraq where they plan to attract local media to focus public attention on the fact that Senator Specter did the Bush-Cheney junta's bidding by voting against a spending bill that sets a deadline for safely extricating our troops from the sectarian hell that has been unleashed in Iraq by our corrupt and delusional president. [Although they don't say, I'm guessing our newly elected Senator Casey voted to bring our troops home ASAP. Anybody know? Boy, did he drop off the radar. He's probably secretly plotting to extend affordable health care to all Americans or something subversive like that.]

This Thursday—April 5—at 7:00pm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvanians Against Escalation in Iraq are holding a town hall meeting where local veterans and concerned area residents will discuss the overwhelming support for ending the Iraq war. Media will be in attendance and a strong message will be sent to Specter to stop voting against the will of his constituents.

Here are the details—can you join other MoveOn members at Thursday's town hall meeting on Iraq?

Pennsylvanian's Against Escalation in Iraq—Town Hall Meeting
Where: Friends Center, Martin Luther King Room (3rd floor), N 15th St & Cherry Street Philadelphia, PA 19102.
When: Thursday, April 5, 2007—7:00pm

Typical of MoveOn, I receive this email the day before the event. It may be, however, possible for me to attend. As advertised, the location doesn't look like much. However, if the Quakers had anything resembling a central authority, Friends Center could be it. There is a third of a square block right in the heart of Center City that is the Quaker equivalent of the Vatican: a beautifully austere, Midnineteenth Century meeting house (big red roof on map), Friends Select School (taking up another big chunk of land at 17th Street and the Parkway), Philadelphia Yearly Meeting offices, and other offices for organizations like the American Friends Service Committee. I have to give the Quakers credit. They've been peacefully recomending to the rest of us to renounce our barbaric ways for over 300 years, yet they continue to host events like this without completely losing it [which is truly Christian]. They emphasize on their website that all are welcome [which is also strangely consistent with the behavior of Jesus in the Bible book], so maybe I'll see you there tomorrow.

What happens when a Severely Deluded US Senator wants to take a stroll in Bagdad to prove that he's not Deluded?

Over a hundred American troops have to drop what they're doing to secure his perimeter. Thinkprogress is already reporting that snipers have returned to the lucky open-air market our Republican senators chose for their latest installment of political theater [of the absurd].

Here's a blog that's well worth the read. The author is not one of the "bloggers" quoted by Bush last week, saying things are getting better in Bagdad. According to another blog well worth the read, Bush actually quoted an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that he misconfabulated as a blog [he still must be getting used to all this new internets jargon].

Is this a frightening new development or just Republican political operatives trying to plant evidence of chemical weapons being used in Iraq?

If we didn't have such a bellicose, dishonest, manipulated president, we wouldn't have to ponder immediately the veracity of this headline about the increasing likelihood of some kind of military contact with Iran [beyond the small incident involving British soldiers and their wayward motor boat].

Now that's a Texas-sized civilian death count

The BBC is reporting that George Bush has the blood of over half a million innocent people on his hands, and that's only counting Iraqi civilians. Let's not forget the over three thousand American soldiers who have also lost their lives. The study that estimates over half a million deaths was initially published in The Lancet, one of the most respected medical journals in the English-speaking world. Because the number of civilian deaths is so large (and damning), the report was heavily criticised when it was first published over a month ago, so much so, the British government had the study's design and methodology thoroughly reviewed by the chief scientific advisor in the Ministry of Defence. He concluded that the study's design was "robust" and its methods "close to best practice." He also advised them against public ciritcism of the study [because it would make them appear stupid and callous].

It keeps getting worse

In response to the almost complete and utter disintigration of civil order and political stability in Iraq that has resulted from an illegal and poorly conceived US-led invastion and occupation, the Bush-Cheney junta insists on sending more of what made the situation so volatile in the first place–soldiers, threats of further violence, and more deadly violence. The only way to end this war could very well be to remove Bush and Cheney from office as soon as possible. They have proven themselves too pigheaded to admit that they fucked it up "bigtime" and need to change course.

In another horrifying new development, Iraqi sectarians begin using chemical weapons in their civil war that was catalyzed by an illegal invasion and failed occupation.