n a t b s

Here’s a great story that seems to be getting almost no play in the main-stream-media. Apparently all west coast ports were closed today as thousands of dock workers stayed home to protest the war. This is great because it’s a serious protest. This is the kind of protest that gets attention because all the ports on the west coast aren’t functioning today.

Powerful people feel this kind of protest, they feel it in their wallets. If they struck for more than one day it would start to have a serious toll on the country. And frankly, politicians don’t listen to simple peaceful protests. The pre-Iraq-war protest in 2003 was maybe the biggest ever, and it did nothing. We need more people to be brave like these dock workers and then maybe something will actually change in America. Godspeed dock workers, godspeed.

Peace

There’s this new trend lately, to blame the Iraqis for the problems over there, and I think it’s kind of disgusting. This is from an article in BBC News:

Limited patience

The reconstruction of Iraq also relies heavily on US money, while Iraqi oil revenues are growing, with a surplus estimated at $30bn in US banks according to Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat and chairman of the armed services committee.

Democrats want to try to push legislation that would force Iraq to spend those revenues on reconstruction and in that there seems to be unusual bi-partisan agreement. Republican senators also asked why the Iraqis were not using more of their own money.

Republican Senator John Barrasso from Wyoming said: “We’re a generous people but our patience is not unlimited.”

Unless you control a country, you can’t really force it to spend it’s own money can you? But I guess it’s easy when you’ve installed it’s government, occupy it, and have all it’s money in your banks. Hey, why aren’t they using their own money? I mean, we’re generous, but come on.

Also, we’re generous? In some cases we are, but not with respect to Iraq. You can’t say that with respect to Iraq. That’s as absurd as it is offensive. We’re the aggressive invaders who now occupy and control their country with no mandate. Except, of course, that we’re bringing democracy to them as a gift from God. But other than that, no mandate.

It’s just crazy to lay the blame at their feet. They’ve inherited an impossible situation from us. Kind of like the next president is going to from Bush. I hope he can handle it. Speaking of Obama, he just said today: “it is time to bring them home, and to ask the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country.” That’s edging into this territory and it makes me uncomfortable without also adding, “and we need to take responsibility too, and help them with aid” or something. You’ve got to say that too because otherwise, you’re kind of being a dick. Sorry, I love Barack, but it’s true.

So in closing, all the problems in Iraq are the Iraqi’s fault! No need to worry Americans, no blame can be placed at our feet. Even though we did elect George Bush, twice.

And god help us if we elect McCain.

Hillary’s latest desperate move? Trying to define herself as the sole anti-war candidate:

One candidate will continue the war, one candidate only says he’ll end the war, and one candidate is ready, willing and able to end the war [source]

Umm…fuck you. Seriously. This is almost as bad as the “McCain and I are more experienced” line. It’s a little better because she’s not saying McCain is better than Obama in this case, she’s just saying they’re the same. She has to stop giving McCain sound bites for ads, and she has to stop kneecapping her colleague. And this is coming from the woman who voted to authorize the war! She’s just like Bush: say one thing, do another. You know Hillary, if you continually lie about something it doesn’t make it true.

Her basis for that assertion, by the way, is “Senator Obama says he will get American troops out in 16 months, but his advisor[sic] says you can’t count on that.” [source] It is true that recently some of his advisers have referred to his plan as a best case scenario that might not play out exactly as planned, and it is. Getting out of Iraq is going to be very difficult, and if Hillary is trying to suggest that it’s going to be easy than she’s flat-out lying to us. At least Obama’s campaign is honest.

I’ve hated CNN for a while. Wolf Blitzer especially pisses me off. So last night I found another example of them being retarded. The violence in Iraq was a pretty big story yesterday. The type of thing that was the main headline in a lot of places. And this was CNN’s front page:

Obviously “Barista Donates kidney to ailing customer” is more important than “U.S. staff warned as Iraq violence spreads.” It seems like they had this barista story on retainer just waiting for a news day when the needed a distraction. It’s not exactly the type of story that “breaks.” It’s the type of story that’s meant for a slow news day, not a day with a really obvious piece of major news.

What’s with the mainstream media hardly reporting on Iraq? It’s total bullshit. They’re not doing their jobs. They weren’t doing their jobs five years ago either, and that’s how we got into this mess. And because they’re not doing their jobs now, 48% of Americans think this debacle is going well. That’s just about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

The fucking media is seriously screwing us. I don’t get why people take these “news networks” seriously. They’re so childish and stupid and corrupt. Has anyone ever seen Network? It’s a movie made in the 70′s that was very prescient. You see, back then the news divisions of TV networks typically didn’t make money. The networks thought of it as a public service, and the reporters thought of themselves as journalists. And this movie was about a fictional future where the news media started trying to make a profit and thus descended in to a bunch of blowhards yelling at each other all day. So yeah, pretty good prediction.

In news from Iraq, the country was consumed with violence for the third day in a row. From AP:

Tens of thousands of Shiites took to Baghdad’s streets to protest the government crackdown on militias in Basra as heavy fighting between Iraqi security forces and gunmen erupted for a third day in the southern oil port and the capital.

And:

BAGHDAD – Shiite militants are hammering the U.S.-protected Green Zone with rockets and mortars for the fourth day this week.

Thick, black smoke is billowing from inside the heavily fortified home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government.

So yeah, not good. If the Mahdi army cease-fire falls apart, and it’s looking like it might, things are going to get real bad real fast. The cease-fire has been instrumental in the reduction of violence seen over the past six months. The Repubs credit the “surge” (technically, surges end), but a lot of it had to do with this cease-fire. Hopefully it won’t fall apart.

–UPDATE–

More bad news/details from the LA Times:

Scores of people have died since the fighting erupted early Tuesday, including at least 51 in the southern oil port city of Basra, where the Iraqi offensive began. At least 15 people, most of them civilians, were reported killed in attacks today in Baghdad and nearby Babil province to the south. Skirmishes also continued in Basra, where a pipeline carrying oil to the city’s port was hit by a major blast that sent flames soaring into the sky.