The Darkest 24 Hours in American History

Ted Cruz has declared June 24-25, 2015 as "some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation's history." In my opinion, it doesn't rank in America's top 70,000 darkest days, but let's make some comparisons.

Battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862

In one day, this Civil War battle saw more American combat deaths, 23,000 causalities and 3,700 dead, than any other day in history. More than D-Day, more than any day in any US war.

Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929

While not the largest decline in stock market history, that was October 19, 1987, it marked the beginning of the global economic collapse known as the Great Depression. This day's 12% market drop followed a 13% drop the previous Monday. On this Tuesday the nation's wealthiest including J. D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan tried to prop up the markets. They failed. Poverty, misery, fascism, genocide, and war followed.

The Night Washington Burned, Aug. 24, 1814

The War of 1812 was the first in a long line of stupid wars for the United States. President James Madison thought that, with the mighty British army and navy tied up fighting Napoleon, America could invade and capture Canada. The Canada adventure was an abject failure, then Napoleon abdicated and Britain could focus her forces on the pipsqueak nation tweaking her nose. They captured Washington D. C. without opposition, burned the U. S. Capitol to the ground and set fire to the White House.

Sept. 11, 2001

Really, Ted. Wasn't this a darker day?

Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941

This "day that will live in infamy" damaged or sunk the bulk of the American Pacific Fleet and killed over 1500 Americans.

Black Blizzard, Apr. 14, 1935

So, how about an actual dark day. On this day winds lifted millions of tons of fertile topsoil from Texas and Oklahoma, turning the day darker than the darkest night. This dust storm was so massive it obscured the sun along the Atlantic coast.

It fell across our city like a curtain of black rolled down, We thought it was our judgement, we thought it was our doom. ~ Woody Guthrie

There are also all those assassinations - Lincoln, JFK, RFK, MLK. Continuing health care availability and allowing equal rights for a small minority hardly rank with these truly dark days. But, you know Ted, whatever sinks your boat.

It Was a Very Good Week

Not a great week. A great week would not have seen three black churches attacked by racist arsonists, acts that certainly warmed the fetid cockles of Dylann Roof's heart. Still, it was a good week.

It was a week that saw the nation finally start turning its back on a flag that symbolized a heritage of slavery, rebellion, segregation, and the Ku Klux Klan.

It saw three Supreme Court decisions - one acknowledged that health care is not just a privilege of wealth but a public right, another accepted the principle that gay couples have the same right of marriage as straights, and the most substantive decision stated that discriminatory effects of housing policies are as illegal as overt discriminatory policies. The last decision is important because its logic also applies to voting restrictions that have the clear effect of preventing minorities from voting.

And, because humor is an important component of any good week, we have the delightful sight of Donald Trump rising to the top tier of Republican candidates. The Kenneth Parcell of politics, Bobby Jindal, has officially announced he is a candidate for president while the Fatty Arbuckle of politics, Chris Christie, has announced that he will squeeze into the clown car this coming Monday.

Arbuckle or Christie?

All in all, it was a very good week. 

ACA Decision: Laughter Is the Best Medicine

After Charleston I've needed a good public laugh. The right-wing reaction to the 6-3 SCOTUS decision upholding ObamaCare subsidies is a hoot and a half.

Collectively, wingnuts believe the continuation of marginally less expensive health insurance is Götterdämmerung, the end of civilization. Adding in removing the Rebel flag from public spaces and gay marriage brings them to bemoan that all is lost. Some rank and file comments from various rightwing websites.

• We can't win any more. The IRS is after us. They destroy evidence. No one is punished. They laugh at us and ridicule us.
• There is no stopping this mad rush into our utopian socialist America.
  The republic is dead.
• It feels like living in Germany in the mid 1930s.
• I’m moving to Mexico. (I love this one. They won't let him bring his guns with him and Mexico's public healthcare system serves 55 million people. Not to mention the country is full of brown-skinned Mexicans who speak Spanish.) 

But not all are doom and gloom. Some are again calling for armed rebellion.

• Civil War II is the answer.

The Confederate Flag and Me

A couple months ago an asshole neighbor of mine erected a large Confederate flag in his back yard. My first reaction was, "Oh shit!" My second reaction was acknowledging that he was exactly the kind of insensitive jerk who would do something that disgusting. Then I started thinking about another family living farther down the street - an African-American couple with two teenaged children and I became sick at the message that asshole neighbor was sending. He took it down a few days later because he got tired of everybody telling him how repugnant it was.

Defenders of the flag say it is about heritage, not racism, and if you are offended you just don't know history. Well, I do know history. That flag began its retched existence in 1861 as the battle ensign of the Army of Northern Virginia. The design was so popular it was incorporated as the canton on the official flag of the Confederacy in 1863, the so called "White Man's Flag." The designer of the flag, William Thompson, explained the white field,

"As a people we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause....As a national emblem, it is significant of our higher cause, the cause of a superior race, and a higher civilization contending against ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism. Another merit in the new flag is, that it bears no resemblance to the now infamous banner of the Yankee vandals."

After the South surrendered and Reconstruction began, a movement began among white Southerners to free the South from the rule of carpetbaggers (Yankees), freedmen (former slaves), and scalawags (liberal Southerners who supported racial integration). These "Redeemers" worked to return the South to the days of white rule and black servitude. The Confederate flag became the standard for Rebel reunions and a symbol of the Redeemers. In 1894, after Jim Crow segregation was firmly established, the state of Mississippi incorporated the Confederate ensign into the state flag.

The flag went to sleep at this point only to be reborn when Yankees started "imposing" the hated concept of Civil Rights on the nation. In 1956, Georgia added the Confederate flag to its state flag. Also around this time the Ku Klux Klan replaced the American flag in their marches with the Rebel flag.

And so it is that, except for about eighteen months at the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederate flag has always been a loud and proud symbol of racial hatred in America. The heritage it recalls is one of hatred and racial divide.

Selma, 1965

On the Church Shooting

I've spent the past few days on a desert island (Catalina), willfully unaware of the evils of the world. I come back to discover that pure evil in the form of a young white man with an unnatural love of guns and an unholy hatred of black people had decided to express his politics by murdering innocent people in a South Carolina church.

I got back in time to read all the reactions of Conservatives pretending that deadly attacks on black churches are not a time honored tradition in the Old South.

• The worst comment was from Rick Perry who refused to describe the shooting as a shooting or an attack because that might demean the nobility of the gun used in the murders. Perry calls it an "accident," like the killer was blameless.
• Lindsey Graham ignores the racism motive that the killer claims and pretends the motive was an attack on Christianity. 
• For comic relief we have that clown Eric Erickson who puts the blame squarely on Caitlyn Jenner.
• Several people expressed the opinion that the victims were to blame because they were not carrying firearms to Bible study.
• The NRA singled out one victim, state Senator Clementa Pinckney, as deserving his fate because he had opposed legislation allowing guns in churches. 

As always after a mass shooting, many people worry that laws allowing any wackadoodle with a grievance to buy a gun might be changed. Others are concerned that the shooting is bringing condemnation down on the Confederate battle flag

"Stars and Bars"

that for a century and a half has been a symbol of rebellion, segregation, and hate.

All this is making me want to go back to some island, maybe this time even one without WiFi.  

Thoughts of Rachel Dolezal

I'm not Jewish. Never been in a synagogue, never spoken to a rabbi on religious matters. In fact, I am not at all religious. But, if I were forced to choose a religion by some thug wearing a brown shirt with an armband showing a broken cross, I'd like to think I tell him, "As far as you are concerned, I am a Jew."

I prefer to see Rachel through that lens. She chose to identify with a people who are belabored by generations of racial animus, to see life through their eyes, and to help as best she can. I won't say it was a wise choice (I doubt telling a black-blooded Sturmabteilung I'm Jewish would be a wise choice either) but it is a choice I can respect.

ISISanity

A soldier driven insane in the trenches of World War I.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Albert Einstein

America is sending troops back into Iraq to train a new generation of Iraqi soldiers. Of course, a decade spent training Iraq soldiers failed miserably, but, who knows, this time it may be different. I understand the madness. They don't know what to do so they try again what has always failed (see Vietnamization).

Insanity is knowing that what you're doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can't stop it. ~ Elizabeth Wurtzel

ISIS is supported by American allies in the region. Turkey wants ISIS to kill Kurds and weaken Syria's Assad. Saudi Arabia wants ISIS to kill Shi'ites. Even Israel is, for the moment, backing ISIS as a counterbalance to Iran-backed Hezbollah. All the while American war profiteers are making a bloody fortune selling arms to everyone in the region. This means that alternatives that might be effective (blockades) are off the table.

Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. ~ Ernest Hemingway

So, go ahead. Train Iraqis to uses the new weapons we'll send to replace the old weapons captured by ISIS knowing all the while that corrupt Iraqi generals will again sell the bullets for those weapons to ISIS. For all the good it will do.

For 40 years we have known the ISIS is invincible.

Is America the 'Greatest Nation in History?'

I read conservative websites on the "know thy enemy" theory. Usually, when I read something disgusting (often) I just glance at it and move on. But this article infuriated me not just for its arrogance but blind ignorance.

1. "America Saved the World"

World War I - India, Canada, and Australia all had more causalities in combat than the U.S. Hell tiny Serbia had as many troops in the front lines and almost as many deaths in combat. Sure, America made a big to-do about joining the war and helped the Allies somewhat as the French were running out of men. U.S. soldiers didn't see combat until the Summer of 1918 and only had a decisive effect in one small battle.

World War II - The U.S. did most of the heavy lifting in defeating Japan, so I'll give them that one. But it was the Soviet Union that defeated Nazi Germany. Russia had more combat casualties in one battle (Battle of Kursk) that the U.S. had in the entire European Theater during the entire war. By the time of America's first major battle against Germany (Kasserine Pass, Feb. 1943) the Russians had already turned the tide of the war with its victory at Stalingrad. America's Lend Lease program did provide vital logistics to Great Britain and Russia but we expected to be paid back (we mostly weren't).

2. "America Spreads Freedom"

Augusto Pinochet

Yes and no, but mostly no. First, the good side of the ledger. After WWII, the U.S. helped create democracies in Germany and Japan while the Marshall Plan helped democracies to return to France and Italy.

The U.S. also overthrew democratically elected governments in Chile (1973), Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Congo (1960), and Brazil (1964) and imposed brutal dictatorships. The U.S. also supported dictators in other countries such as South Korea, Spain, and Philippines that only became democracies against the wishes of the United States. Even today, the U.S. supports the slave labor policies of Malaysia.

3. "The U.S. Prevents War."

Really? The U.S. is the leading exporter of war. The list of military actions the United States has engaged in over its short history is staggering. The U.S. has military bases in over 135 countries and is actively attacking people, usually with drone airstrikes, in a dozen countries from Afghanistan to Yemen.

4. "We Aren't Invading Everyone."

U.S. forces preparing to invade Iraq.

Okay, I guess. We haven't invaded Canada in 200 years. But, the Pentagon has drafted battle plans for the conquest of Canada just in case we want to.

5. "We Are Technologically and Economic Superior."
I'll give him that one too. However, the major reason we have not needed to militarily invaded countries is the United States' economic dominance.

 ♠   ♣   ♦   ♥

There is also a lot that Hawkins misses.

6. The American Genocide

The genocide of Native Americans begun by President Andrew Jackson with the Trail of Tears in 1838 killed hundreds of thousands. By death toll, the Native American genocide equals the Turkish Armenian genocide.

7. Slavery

In 1860, 12 percent of the population of the United States was enslaved.  Over half the population of Mississippi and South Carolina were slaves. Mississippi didn't adopt the 13th amendment abolishing slavery until 2013. As the TPP treaty shows, while slavery is outlawed in this country we are more than willing to do business with slavers today.

8. Military Failures
A great nation is marked by its great military successes. 

America invaded Grenada in 1983.

Since World War II, this is the record of United States military operations.
1950-1953 - Korean War - Draw
1959-1975 - Vietnam War - Loss
1961 - Bay of Pigs, Cuba - Loss
1965 - Dominican Republic - Victory - imposed a pro-American dictator
1983 - Lebanon - Loss - ignoble retreat following Beirut barracks bombing
1983 - Grenada - Victory - Very easy as Grenada had no army.
1989-1990 - Panama - Victory - minimal opposition
1991 - First Iraq War - Tactical victory, strategic draw
1992-1995 - Somalia - Loss
1993-1996 - Bosnia - Victory
1999 - Serbia - Victory
2001-2015 - Afghanistan - Draw
2002-2011 - Second Iraq War - Draw (at best)

That's a record barely over .500 and I'm including the war against Grenada which could have been conquered by a Boy Scout troop armed with slingshots. Excluding Korea where we fought against China, these were wars against tinhorn dictators and ragtag rebels. This list proves two things, the United States is not a peaceful country and our mighty and expensive military is horrible at actually fighting wars.

9. Lack of Longevity

Death of Julius Caesar

The Roman Republic lasted for nearly 500 years until finally devolving into an empire. The empire survived for another 400 years in the west and for a thousand years at Constantinople. The House of Commons in England was first seated in 1341 and is the longest lived elected parliament in human history. The Mongol Empire controlled a quarter of the population and land area of the world in the 13th century. The Chinese civilization has a history going back 3,500 years.

The United States ranks in the top ten of great nations, but it isn't number one.

Presidential Horse Race Tout Sheet

I know I said I wouldn't be paying attention until Fall, but in honor of the Belmont Stakes here is an early look at the presidential horse racing odds. British bookies are all over this already.

Hillary Clinton (even money)
I can't give her better than a 50-50 chance. Her negatives are huge, she's a piss poor campaigner, and I can foresee several ways she can lose a long race.

Marco Rubio (5 to 1)
Bookmakers rank him lower but he is the only candidate not drowning in unfavorables. His owner, Norman Braman, is not the richest sugardaddy, he only ranks 1006th on Forbes list of global billionaires, but he's rich enough to buy some smaller primary races.

Jeb Bush (6 to 1)
Bookies put him higher but I don't see it. He is well known, but that just means more people hate him. His jockeys are all famous fuckups.

Scott Walker (10 to 1)
Has a richer owner, the Koch Brothers, than Rubio. His tendency to stick his hoof in his mouth while on the track may give him troubles.

Rand Paul (20 to 1)
Seabiscuit was a small horse too but Rand is no Seabiscuit. Rand's habit of biting everyone who comes near him is making it hard for him to find backers.

Ted Cruz (25 to 1)
Talk about a biter. The bookies are all over the board on Cruz because he tends to look better in the paddock than on the track. He is owned by hedge fund crook Robert Mercer, but Mercer tends to buy losers.

Rick Perry (40 to 1)
Imbecilic Texas governors have a depressing ability to run well on the presidential track. That said, his last time out was truly pathetic.

Lindsay Graham (50 to 1)
His biggest competition is with Jeb Bush over who is the most hated. Gambler Sandy Alderson will probably end up buying him which is the only reason he rates this high.

Ben Carson (60 to 1)
The dark horse in the field. Sorry, that's a horrible joke. His first outing should be a maiden claiming race, not at this level. One of several horses in the race just trying to con folks out of their money.

Rick Santorum (80 to 1)
Last time he ran he finished tenth in an eight horse race. The last race he won was 14 years ago.

Carly Fiorina (100 to 1)
The other filly in the field but Carly runs like a girl and not in a good way.

The others (100 to 1)
Huckabee, Pataki, Jindal, Christie, Trump are all more fitting for a zany comedy than a legitimate campaign. Pictured below are Jindal (the ethnic), Christie (the horse's ass), Huckabee (I wish he were as mute as Harpo), Trump (the con man), and Pataki (the front half of a horse's ass).

I'm not going to rank the other Democrats in the race. I love Bernie Sanders, I don't trust Martin O'Malley, and I don't know Lincoln Chafee. Never bet in a race where your emotions rule.

By the way, those British bookmakers have American Pharaoh at odds of 10 to 11 to win the Triple Crown. That's slightly better than Hillary Clinton to win the Presidency.

May Police Death Toll

May was a good month for US citizens, only 83 were killed by police during the month.

On May 5, police shot an unarmed homeless man in the Venice community of Los Angeles.

Good is a relative term compared to the 101 killed by police in April, 2015. The deadliest states were California (8) and Florida (6). The deadliest day was Thursday, May 21 when police across the country killed nine people.

The youngest killed was 17 year-old David Gaines who was shot by Grand Junction, CO Police on May 19 after crashing the car he had carjacked. The oldest was was 62 year-old Millard Tallant who was shot by a Snohomish County sheriff for unknown reasons on May 26 on a road near Mr. Tallant's home.

California Snow Pack at Zero

Kern River in 2014. It's even drier now.

When the river runs dry, what will we say?
In the twenty first century 
Oh when the river runs dry, what will we do?
 ... 
In the twenty first century
Hope that the earth don't tire, of the way that we're puttin' her down
Hope the universe don't say - stop spinning around
Hope the world don't say that we've got no place to go ~ In the 21st Century by Men Without Hats

The California snow pack is officially at zero percent. No snow in the mountains means no water for the rivers. No water in the rivers means nothing is flowing into the reservoirs.

Lake Oroville is the second largest reservoir in California. It is at 45% of capacity

Lake Oroville had a net outflow of 33,000 acre-feet (10 billion gallons) of water in just the past week. At this rate, and with no prospect of significant rain until later Autumn (if then), it possible the reservoir will fall below the level of the intake pipes. At that point the lake will be effectively empty as it will be impossible to take anymore water out.

Yet in my little corner of the desert (San Diego) my neighbors aren't conserving, we're actually using more water than we did two years ago. Our elites have lush lawns to maintain, swimming pools to fill, golf courses to groom, and sidewalks to wash. And our politicians are whining that the state is being a bunch of meanies by saying that Southern Californians have to cut back like everybody else.

Lady Gaga's Beverly Hills landscaper consumes more water in a week than I'll use in a year.

Killer Heat Waves

New Delhi road melting.

Temperatures in India are exceeding 110^oF, the highest recorded during this heat wave is 117^oF (47^oC). But that is air temperature in an elevated shaded weather station. The ground temperature in full sun, especially black tarmac, will exceed 200^oF, easily cooking eggs and melting asphalt.

And killing humans, over 1100 so far in India. Killer heat waves are an increasing phenomena on this relentlessly warming planet.

• 1980 - US Midwest - Twenty consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 100^oF killed over 1700 people and destroyed over $20 billion in crops.
• 1995 Chicago - Just five days of 100^oF killed over 750 people in Chicago alone.
• 2003 Europe - A massive, once in a millennium, heat wave spread across the continent killing over 75,000 people.
• 2006 Europe - A second, once in a millennium, heat wave struck Europe again. There were far fewer deaths this time in part because of efforts taken by governments to prevent deaths but mostly because many of the most vulnerable had already died three years earlier.
• 2010 Russia - Record shattering heat, a third once in a millennium heat wave even worse than the one that hit Europe in 2003, killed over 50,000 Russians.
• 2013 China - The worst heat wave in Chinese history struck that year. Chinese history goes back 3000 years.
• 2013 India - India had another killer heat wave just two years ago that killed over 500 people.

This is hardly a comprehensive list. Killer heat waves have been hitting Africa but few outsiders have noticed. When a heat wave was killing peasants in Brazil in 2014 it was only reported in the United States regarding the price of coffee. Each year, Australia breaks new heat records. Even Antarctica is seeing record breaking heat, while it is not killing humans there it is killing plankton which feed fish that feed humans.

The Godwin Law Game

Republicans love to call President Obama a fascist communist Muslim. Well, two can play that game.

Ben Carson Is Like Hitler

Ben Carson is a vegetarian. Know who else was a vegetarian? Hitler! Coincidence? Or has Dr. Carson adopted the diet of his hero?

Comrade Walker
Scott Walker is immensely proud of his attack on unions in Wisconsin. He says his experience attacking unions has prepared him to be a wartime president. Know who else banned trade unions? Stalin. 

Il Duce Chris Christie

Chris Christie is Italian. So was Benito Mussolini. They share a similar "fuck you" attitude towards others. There is even a striking physical resemblance, as if Christie is his reincarnated soul.


Marco Rubio is Cuban
Marco Rubio is Cuban. He speaks Spanish. Fidel Castro is Cuban and speaks Spanish too. Rubio's anti-Castro rhetoric could just be a false flag disguising the fact he is a deep plant agent of the Communist Cuba's secret police. Can we take the risk?

Master Orators

Ted Cruz is considered a master debater, just like another famous politician of the past. They both hated homosexuals with an undisguised fury. As shown in the pictures, they shared a passionate and angry speaking style with a strong dedication to a belief in religious superiority. The only difference is that Cruz doesn't speak German. That we know of!

Who Lost Iraq?

I love history. You can see events repeated over and over and over again and, literally, nobody learns a blessed thing. Every decade or so, Americans wonder "who lost (insert name of country)?"

Millions of words are written analyzing the question. Republicans always end up blaming traitorous Democrats while scholars note that the American side has corrupt officials, lost support of the public, and soldiers with no interest in dying for criminals they hate.

Who Lost China? (1950's)

Chiang Kai-shek and his wife.

When Japan invaded China, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek chose to ignore the Japanese and continue his war against Mao Zedong. After the fall of Shanghai and Nanjing, his own people concluded Chiang was an ally of Japan. It took rebellions by his own generals to change his focus to the Japanese invaders. Chiang believed in money first, fight later. Of the $100 million the US spent building air bases in China to fight Japan, more than half was siphoned off by Chiang and his warlord subordinates. FDR's nickname for Chiang was "Cash My Check." Chiang's soldiers were short of provisions and weapons because his generals were more interested in filling their Swiss bank accounts than caring for their men. When faced with numerically inferior Communist forces Chiang's armies ran away leading to the quick fall of his government.

Republicans had a simplistic answer to the question.  They blamed Communist infiltration of the State Department and Pentagon and, led by Sen. Joe McCarthy, began the great Red Scare of the 1950's.

Who Lost Cuba? (1960's)

ITT Corp. and US Ambassador Arthur Gardner gave Batista this solid gold telephone in 1957.

Cuba's murderous dictator, Fulgencio Batista, had friends in the United States. They included Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Santo Trafficante and other American mobsters. He got a cut of the take of their Havana casinos, brothels, and drug running. Batista allowed American corporations to exploit Cubans in exchange for hefty bribes. His secret police would kidnap, torture, and kill people at random to keep the rest of the population oppressed. Batista's army always outnumber the rebels but Batista was hated and his soldiers weren't willing to die to keep Coca-Cola's profits up.

Batista actually protected the small rebellion of Fidel Castro for years because it caused the United States to continue sending millions in foreign aid which Batista would transfer to his Swiss banks. When Batista fled Cuba in 1959 he took as much as $700 million with him.

Republicans continue to blame "liberals" in the State Department for losing Cuba by cutting off the bribes to Batista leading him to lose interest in staying in Cuba.

Who Lost Vietnam? (1970's)

America had every advantage during the Vietnam War. Our forces outnumbered the enemy by 4 to 1 and more. We had massive technological superiority. And the US, in its dumb pride, never lost a battle during the war. The governments of South Vietnam was a succession of corrupt thieves (Notice a trend there). When Nguyen Van Thieu evacuated Saigon he brought with him a "planeload of suitcases containing heavy metal" (i.e. hundreds of pounds of gold). South Vietnamese soldiers had no interest in fighting and dying (trend), that was what American servicemembers were for. Top general Duong Van Minh was described as a "a model of lethargy."

A different was the direct involvement of American troops, a dynamic to be repeated in Iraq. As in Iraq, US forces had little interest in understanding the Vietnamese as a people. We called them "gooks" just as soldiers later called Iraqis "haji." American troops feared that any Vietnamese could be with the Viet Cong and, like in Iraq, believed everyone was a potential enemy. As in Iraq, a counter-insurgency program was begun to "win the hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese that was a miserable failure because, while they appreciated getting stuff they hated that it came from foreign invaders who would also kill or interrogate and torture people.

Republicans, of course, called Democrats traitors for pulling out and if we had simply continued fighting for a few more decades victory would have been ours.

Who Lost Iran? (1980's)

The Shah of Iran

In 1953, the CIA initiated a coup that deposed the democratically elected government of Iran and imposed an absolute monarch on the country. He was a brutal dictator whose secret police (SAVAK) tortured and murdered citizens at will (see Batista above). He was an extravagant spender, in 1971 he spend $100 million of government funds celebrating his monarchy. The Shah was hated by his countrymen as was the United States for putting him in power. When the Shah became sickly revolution became inevitable.

Republicans blamed Democrats for betraying our vicious ally.

Who Lost Iraq?

Have you seen all the similarities? A corrupt regime more interested in pocketing American cash than fighting insurgents. A demoralized Iraqi army betrayed by its own generals that would rather run than fight. A clearly superior American military force that outnumbered the enemy by over 5 to 1, never lost a battle in the field but never won the "hearts and minds" of the people. Funny how killing and torturing people doesn't endear you to them.

Then we have a Republican party that believes if we only continued the war for a few more decades we would have won it all. And, as always, blame the Democrats.

The truth? None of these countries were ever ours to lose.

Jeb, Iraq, and Lessons Not Learned

Poor Jeb has finally closed the circle. In less than a week he has taken every imaginable position on the Iraq War. On Monday he said he loved it, then on Tuesday that he didn't know what to think. On Wednesday he suggested he did have an opinion but was going to keep it secret so as to not "dishonor" the troops. Now, today, he says he would have gone to war. Although that was not a statement of policy but a Jeb saying, "Okay, I'll say whatever you want me to, can we just shut up about it!"

In one week he was pro-war, anti-war, ignorant about it, and secretive about it. That's Olympic quality flip-flopping.

While on his "I won't tell you" part of the week, Jeb said we should focus on "the lessons learned." Of course, he then didn't say what those lessons are because that would require thinking. If we've learned anything this past week it is that all the time it was Jeb who was the most idiot Bush brother.

Lessons Bush learned from the Iraq War
If you listen to former George Bush advisers (see above Venn Chart) the lessons learned are vague and not much. Three advisers wrote articles for World Affairs Journal two years ago. Reading their articles is mostly a lesson in butt covering.

Richard Perle thinks we need a "political strategy" that supports insurgent elements in countries we oppose and have them fight proxy wars for us. Which is exactly what Perle did during the Reagan Administration when we armed and funded the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Contras in Nicaragua. Perle thinks the lesson is to repeat what failed miserably thirty years ago.

Paul Wolfowitz thinks the lesson is to train soldiers for "counterinsurgency, not for peacekeeping." In other words, Wolfowitz thinks the army should become a colonial police force suppressing native uprising wherever they occur.

Michael Hayden actually thought about this question and found four lessons. 1) Don't have blind faith in intelligence. 2) Intelligence is fungible, strategy direct tactics and the reverse. 3) Keep Congress out of things. 4) His fourth lesson boils down to Minority Report was a great movie, anticipating and preventing things are dang near impossible.

Real Lessons of the War
Lots of more open minded people, like Harvard professor Stephen Walt, have drawn lessons from the Iraq War.

• It easy for charlatans to bamboozle the US into war.  Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz and others conned us into the Iraq War because they thought it would be quick, easy, and fun. And we believed them. By the time we figured out it was none of those things we were stuck in quicksand.
• There will always be foreigners (Ahmed Chalabi, Bibi Netanyahu) who will want to finagle the US into fighting their wars for them.
• Invading a country makes everybody in that country hate us. In Iraq, the Shi'ites wanted Saddam removed with bloody prejudice yet they quickly started shooting at Americans because we were a fucking army invading their country.
• Colonial occupations forces inevitably start fighting back against the people they are supposed to protect. It happened in Iraq and Baltimore. They hate us oppressing them, we punish them for hating us which makes them hate us all the more. Atrocities are the natural outgrowth of Wolfowitz's strategy of counterinsurgency not peacekeeping.
• America has more war profiteers per capita than any other country in the history of mankind. The companies that make tanks and missiles and bullets and bombs make no profits in times of peace. They require wars, demand wars, and pay our politicians well to provide an endless string of profitable wars.

The Luis Lang Saga

There are none so blind as those who will not see. ~ Old English Proverb

Luis Lang is the die-hard conservative Republican who refused to buy health insurance because Obama is an evil Kenyan and refused to treat his diabetes because he liked smoking and drinking Coca-Cola (Also, probably, because he figured God would never afflict him with disease). Now, he's going blind from his untreated diabetes, he wants free health care and he's outraged because he can't get it.

His problem is partly because he lives in South Carolina which, for political reasons, refused to implement the Medicaid expansion. But mostly Mr. Lang's problem is himself. He adamantly refused to buy health insurance during the enrollment window when it was available because he believed universal healthcare was a commie plot by that wicked Obama.

Mr. Lang lacked compassion when it was asked of him and is now demanding it of others while still refusing compassion for anyone else.

He showed no pity. He showed no compassion. He showed no mercy. He deserves none for what he chose to do. ~ Kathryn Flicker

Yet, he is being given compassion, but only from the left side of the spectrum.  A GoFundMe site has raised thousands of dollars for his health care but the only ones giving are the "liberal fascists" Mr. Lang continues to despise.

His conservative brethren are ignoring him with the same silent contempt Mr. Lang would show someone else.  I've searched all the major conservative website (FoxNews, Redstate, Daily Caller, Townhall, Drudge), there is not a single mention of Luis Lang. The same community that feted a bigoted pizza maker with $840,000 can't be bothered with even a single paragraph or single dollar for Mr. Lang.

"Compassionless" describes Republicanism more accurately than any other single word.

Mark Halperin Meets His First Hispanic

Halperin is reason #37 why I don't read Time Magazine.

When I was a very small child I was riding on a bus with my mother when an African-American boarded. It was the first black person I had every seen and, in the kind of loud voice only a small child can get away with, I exclaimed that the person was "very dirty." I don't remember much about the incident except that my mother was deeply embarrassed as she explained to me that he wasn't dirty, his skin was simply a darker color.

Back in the 1990's, a young Michelle Tafoya was the courtside reporter for a CBS broadcast of an NCAA tournament game when the play-by-play announcer became ill. Michelle took over and became the first women to do play-by-play of a men's sporting event. The color announcer was an old, retired coach. What I remember most vividly is that old ex-coach had clearly never been that close to an attractive woman before who wasn't a prostitute. Michelle not only did a great job calling the game, better than the man she had replaced, but she also expertly handled the oafish ex-coach as he forgot about the game and awkwardly obsessed on the fact that Michelle was a "girl."


Those were the thoughts that came to mind when watching Mark Halperin's uncomfortable as fuck interview of Ted Cruz. Halperin ignored politics and obsessed on having Cruz display his bona fides as a Cuban-American. Clearly, Halperin had never spoken to a Hispanic before who wasn't a gardener or maid. The highlight of the interview was when Halperin wanted Cruz to prove himself Hispanic by saying something "en Espanol."

You know you're being stupid when even the Daily Caller can successfully make fun of you.

I'd rather slit my wrists and bleed out on the kitchen floor than vote for Ted Cruz for dog catcher. But not even he deserves an interviewer like Halperin.

California Water Wasters Fight Back

I'm looking out my window this morning at the first really good rain storm I've seen in years. No, that doesn't mean the drought is over but it is a relief to know that water can still fall from the sky. I am more than doing my part.

My latest water bill says I use about 25 gallons of water a day. Of my $50 bimonthly water bill, only ten percent is actual water use, the rest of the bill is connection fees. Just 30 miles up the road from me is Rancho Santa Fe where Nouveau riche millionaires on average consume nearly 600 gallons a day per person.

Individual aqua gluttons use a lot more but we can't know the depths of their depravity because California has a law protecting them.  Back in 1991 California was experiencing another drought and public utility records were, you know, public. Newspaper publisher Helen Copley was found to be using over 10,000 gallons a day, more water than I'll use in a year, while San Diego mayor Maureen O'Connor was revealed as a liquid liar. She had claimed to be a dedicated conservationist yet records showed her using 3,248 gallons a day.

After a few good rainy seasons filled reservoirs again, the state's aristocracy quietly set about insuring such embarrassments never happened again. They approached a noted environmental legislator (the Byron Sher Award is still given annually by the Sierra Club for environmental legislative achievement) to write a law declaring the utility bills of rich Californians to be state secrets.

California's elites have been busy in court, too. Recently, judges ruled that charging people higher rates for using more water was illegal and outlawed tiered pricing structures. These judges can keep their massive koi ponds and ornamental gardens at minimal prices.

It is frequently difficult to keep conserving while knowing that every drop of water I save this year will be wasted in a few hours by my "betters." I can't water slut shame the wastrels or even make them pay more per gallon than me.

Lake Mirage Racquet Club in Palm Desert

Sometimes I just want to run my faucet until the reservoirs are completely dry. But, I'm a good citizen. I must be patient. I will polish my guillotine and wait for the revolution.

Short, Violent Takes

Geller Shooting Joy

One of these is Pam Geller, perhaps both.

Nobody is happier about the shooting at the Texas event making fun of Mohammad than crazy bitch organizer Pamela Geller. She was trying to provoke a reaction, hopefully a violent reaction. She would have been sorely disappointed if the event had passed peaceably as had her past attempts at provoking outrage. That her event drew blood and cause the death of two pathetic psychopaths is all the more joyful to her.

Baltimore Police and Race

The tradition was regarded as a technique by aggressive officers to inflict punishment on those they arrested without ever being accused of physically assaulting them with their weapons or hands. For a suspect with hands cuffed behind him, seated on a thin bench in the back of a speeding police van, a sudden stop or sharp turn or a bumpy road can do as much damage as a physical assault. ~ New York Times

Conservatives are crowing that the death of Freddie Gray was not racism because half the cops involved in the "rough ride" leading to his death were black. Maybe yes, maybe no. Police have developed a gang mentality, if one officer initiates a violent incident the others are compelled to participate or risk being blackballed by their "brother officers." Also, many African-American police see poor addicted black men as subhuman animals just like their white colleagues.

April Death Toll

Baltimore police march through neighborhood streets in a show of force, April 27 - Wash Post.

Last month, police killed 101 people. All but two were men. The crimes ranged from growing pot to shooting at cops. At least nine, including Freddie Gray, died while in custody. Guns killed most but several were killed by tasers. The youngest was 17 year-old Justus Howell who was shot in the back by two officers near Chicago. The oldest was 76 year-old Albert Hanson; according to official reports, he was trespassing on a farm outside of Fresno and fired a rifle at two deputy sheriffs.

Symbols of Police Force As Occupation Army

A year ago I wondered what happened to Officer Friendly. It's gotten worse since then.

Back in December the head of the NYPD union declared war on the citizens of the city. Throughout the country in the following months, police have been staging summery executions on the streets of their cities - an average of four a day between April 23 and 27. I  want to look at some of the symbols police have adopted as they have become an army of occupation.

This is the official patch of the Atlanta Police Department SWAT team. The Germanic eagle with a crown, the crossed lightening bolts vaguely reminiscent of the SS logo. It's viscerally disturbing.

Even more frightening is the patch for the Ann Arbor, MI SWAT. It would be more appropriate on the leathers of an outlaw motorcycle gang. This patch shouts, "We're going to fuck you up!"

The last piece of symbolism is the increasing habit of police dressing in camo. There is no practical reason for this. Special camouflage gear in a domestic urban environment is useless and just an expensive fashion statement. Police like them because they look bad ass. Commanders love them because they are part of the psychological conditioning of the officers into unthinking warriors.

You are no longer a cop. Look like a soldier, think like a soldier, behave like a soldier, kill like a soldier.