King George’s palace

Former governor Bush would be chastened if he could read Shelley’s poetry which is somewhat more complicated than The Fuzzy Caterpillar or My Pet Goat:

“‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The U.S. is in the process of building what will be the largest embassy in the world. Where else but Baghdad?

As has been clear from the outset, Bush and company conducted an illegal invasion to take control of the second largest oil field in the world, but more importantly, to control the flow of all the oil in the Gulf region. Empire is what they’re after.

For a clear-eyed look at the project check out TomDispatch.

“Far beyond our poor power to add or detract …”

A Memorial Day sadder than many in my half century of remembrance. The last time there was this much senseless slaughter of U.S. soldiers going on it was my peer group who were the targets. The peers whose names appear on the wall in Washington.

Today the war criminals in the White House are ordering more soldiers to their deaths while they pretend to lament the loss and claim to “honor” the heroes.

There is only one way to honor those people serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and 750 other bases dotted around the globe as part of the modern, militaristic American empire: Bring them home.

And listen to Keith Olbermann’s dead-on commentary.

The vegan challenge

Back in the 1980s and into the 90s, I attempted to be a vegan—for the uninitiated, the term refers to those who eschew animal products. I was more or less successful at removing meat and dairy products from my diet. Successful at home, but less so when visiting friends or family. It is difficult to be a jerk about one’s own preferences when someone who loves you forgets and puts an egg in your birthday cake, for example.

I eventually relaxed about my diet, principally due to medical advice. And I gave up trying to find non-leather work boots or belts that were worth a damn. But along the way it became clear to me that veganism is one part good intentions and five parts pretense. Endless quibbling by letter writers to periodicals across the U.S. has led me to frame “the vegan challenge.”

Here ’tis:
Okay, you’re a vegan.
Have you found substitutes for the following goods which contain meat or dairy products?
Cellophane tape, insulin, paint, photographic film, sheetrock, tires.

Have you vetted your home for the following goods which may contain such products?
Floor wax, crayons, shoe polish, pocket combs, textiles, antifreeze, wallpaper, linoleum.

Do you eat food grown by farmers with tractors? Farming with hoe and shovel kills a lot of earthworms, insects, arthropods and smaller soil creatures, but machine farming also kills birds, mammals and reptiles.

Do you use paper? Loggers are more destructive of biota than farmers.

Do you use electricity? Don’t look too closely at whatever fuels your generating station.

If you can’t satisfactorily answer those few questions, how can you possibly dare to publicly criticize people who differ from you on one tiny piece of your lifestyle? A modern American by definition cannot live a truly vegan life. But some uber-righteous people pitch a fit about what others put in their stomachs without thinking twice about the impact of their own lives on the rest of the living world.

Camus suggested that suicide was the only philosophical question worthy of consideration.
In regard to veganism, he is surely right.
The only true vegan is a dead one.

While Dems back down, Bush surges

The little surge announced by former governor Bush following the November election, when the decider decided to thumb his nose at the American public (again) is being followed by an unannounced surge in troop numbers. A much bigger increase.

This boost will push the total of U.S. soldiers above 200,000 by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Congressional Dems dropped withdrawal from the current funding bill and say they will attempt to end the war by other means. Like what? They gave the decider more money than he asked for this time around, in order to demonstrate their loyal support for the troops. And he’s using it to send more new targets into Iraq while keeping other targets there longer.

So, we’ll have more flag-draped coffins arriving at night, more kids with arms and legs and eyes blown out, more Iraqis pissed off at more troops more present in their sovereign territory. We did the same damn thing in Vietnam, and learned absolutely nothing.

Perhaps little George hopes that his wall in on the Mall will be longer than Nixon’s?