Friday Crab Blogging

Sponge Bob Square Crab


Little did they know on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria what lay below ......




Consider the squirrel. Did you ever ponder the fact that one never sees baby squirrels? Maybe squirrels reproduce in some other way?

An excellent rendering of herself. Dr. C. is incognito.
Guitar Hero

Time to Change Course

To the Editor;

We are now five years into the invasion and occupation of Iraq. In spite of assurances to the contrary by the Bush Administration, the condition of civilians in Iraq, particularly children, has gone from intolerable to almost incomprehensible. According to international law : “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the occupying power must ensure sufficient hygiene and public health standards, as well as the provision of food and medical care to the population under occupation.” Clearly, the United States has not come close to meeting these obligations. (The argument that there is an Iraqi government that should be responsible for these tasks is entirely specious.)

The International Red Cross in a recent document (Iraq: No Letup in the Humanitarian Crisis) states that “Five years after the war began, many Iraqis do not have access to the most basic health care.” Furthermore “Of the 34,000 doctors registered in 1990, at least 20,000 have left the country. The Iraqi health-care system is now in worse shape than ever.”

Of all the basic necessities of life, clean water must be one of the most important. Even this staple has disappeared for millions of civilians in Iraq. One result of impure water, a cholera epidemic, raged through Iraq last year. Such an epidemic in the United States would be front page news. From Iraq, it is a whisper.

We are long past the time when we could hope that our occupation would result in a good outcome. It is time to change course and advocate for an international solution to this humanitarian crisis.

Friday Crab Blogging

A decent crab

Perspective, perspective, perspective. It may be everything.

Did not want to be known as a crab drawer.

The Fifteenth Sin

Years ago, we had the seven, deadly:

Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth.

This week we get the NEW seven, deadly:

Polluting, Genetic Engineering (embryonic stem cell research), Being Obscenely Rich, Drug Dealing, Abortion, Pedophilia and Causing Social Injustice.

Mind you, these are mortal sins, i.e., unforgiven (and only by a Catholic priest) and you go to hell for eternity when you die (unless you make an act of perfect contrition, but we won't go into that.)

I would like to add a fifteenth:

Not Wearing Green on St. Patrick's Day!

Comment1: This is getting ridiculous! So, clearly Spitizer, formerly known as "The Gov", falls into the Lust category. But, how's he to be forgiven, since he's Jewish? And doesn't invading a country for no cause other than they tried to bump off your old man sort of like Anger? And what about Obscenely Rich. (Bill, Bill Gates.... paging Bill Gates....). And Social Injustice? Just veto another SCHIP bill, Georgie Boy, and buy buy yourself another ticket to ....

Comment2: We can deal with embryonic stem cell research later. I gotta go.

Israel and Nuclear Weapons

We have known for some time that Israel has numerous nuclear weapons; some estimate as many as 200. Therefore, it came a somewhat of a surprise to learn that China, who surely must be considered the prime target of American nuclear weapons (if you exclude Iran) has only 110-160 warheads!

I’ve read Chinese Military Power and I don’t agree that it says China increased the size of its nuclear force by 1/3. When I do the math, I get basically 110-160 warheads — about the same size as last year or a little larger depending on how many DF-21s have a nuclear role.

At the suggestion of The Growlery, I have been reading the three books by Jeanne DuPrau (The City of Ember, The People of Sparks and the prequel, The Prophet of Yornwood). While written for young adolescents, they once more resurrect the spectre of a nuclear holocaust that we thought had been on its way out with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Union formerly known as Soviet. As we used to say when we were kids, "Dream on, sucker." (Yes, I highly recommend these books for adults since they have a strange, uncomplicated story line that harkens back to those days of the Hardy Boys and Jack London. On, you Huskies.)

Other books that visit this scenario are, of course the 1957 book "On the Beach" by Nevil Shute, "Eternity Road" by Jack McDivitt, "Riddley Walker" by Russel Hoban, and a host of other mainstream and sci-fi post-apocalyptic fiction.

Do you not find it strange that we probably spend more intellectual energy in trying to imagine what will happen after a nuclear "exchange" (sounds so benign, doesn't it) than we do to try and prevent one? Don't you also find it strange that a large number of the Christian Right in the United States look forward to the apocalypse when there will be an Armageddon in the mid East and they will be "raptured" up to heaven intact? How can that be when a nuclear War in the mid East will inevitably wind up involving a nuclear weapons everywhere and all those Christians will be vaporized. Can you rapture vaporized humans? Hmmm...

In any case, I digress. The point I wanted to make is that the tiny state of Israel with 7 million people has almost twice the number of nuclear weapons as China, a state of 1,321 million people. Eventually, weapons sitting on the shelf will not protect Israel from attack. At that point they will use those weapons as sure as I am writing this. Then?



(I make no apology for the use of the word holocaust above. If an official of the Israeli government can use it to describe what he is going to do to the Palestinians I think it is no longer a reserved word.)

Friday Crab Blogging

This is a very realistic rendition. It demonstrates the translation of memory into a drawing, all the more remarkable because it has been at least six months since he has seen a crab!

Now this picture is entrancing. Of course we have a crab, but I bet you can't guess what the rest of the drawing represents? Give? It is a beach scene with a lifeguard chair to the right. I assume there are other bathers to the left but I think they are scared out of their gourd by the size of the crab that is approaching. Oh, and the sun got lost.

This is a fish and, I think, an upside down duck, or Canadian goose. Why upside down, I do not know. Maybe Picasso lurks in this child's brain.

Hard for Hannah to compete with the above, but her crab has charm.

Anything to stop the carnage:

Group of Iraqis asks UN to take over

Iraqi Group Appeals to UN to Put Their Nation Under Its Supervision

RYAN LENZ
AP News

Mar 12, 2008 09:37 EST

A group of Iraqi tribal leaders, former politicians and intellectuals appealed Wednesday to the United Nations to take control of Iraq in a move they say would help U.S. troops leave the beleaguered country.

Both the U.S. administration and the Baghdad government are unlikely to endorse the request, which was addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and delivered to the Cairo offices of the organization.

"We believe that the only opportunity left for Iraq to be saved from a dark, but not inevitable future, is to engage the international community represented by the United Nations," the letter said. "Such a step will allow the American troops to leave and the occupation to be brought to its end."

The group's coordinators include Adeeb al-Jadir, Ahmed Al-Haboubi and Nouri Abdel Razak Hussein, politicians overthrown in 1968 when Saddam Hussein's Baath party came to power and long part of the liberal anti-regime opposition prior to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Opinions

For those who are interested, there are some very pithy comments following a post from below on "This is very sad". It is hard for me to understand how someone who I thought was removed from the actual fray (commenter 1) could harbor such stark feelings about a whole peoples (dubbed the palis for the Palestinians; reminiscent of the North Ireland conflict with its "prods" and "micks.")The fact that he has a son in the IDF, and that his veiws are certainly tempered by this relationship, is disconcerting.

Yes, I must seem shrill at times. And, yes, my sympathies are with the Palestinians because I see that their children are getting the s**t kicked out of them. It is much like Iraq in a way. Palestinians used to be, along with Iraq, one of the best educated Arab populace in the Mideast. Now there is an entire generation of children who have little or no education. But, in any coming world, unless you kill them all as commentator 1 (and others ) advocate, the best hope for peace would be a well educated population. You can't educate children in the wasteland that is Palestine and Iraq.

Furthermore, even if the Palesinians completely capitulated to the Israeli demands, what then? You also can't have a viable country (Israel) in the middle of a humanitarian wasteland that you have helped create. I wonder if commentator 1 would feel any guilt?

Commentator 2, Felix Grant, has an excellent post on this topic here. I mirror his comments in that, while I disagree with some of his points, I find that we still agree on the big ideas.

Friday Crab Blogging

This is very sad

From here:

Hamas claims deadliest attack in Israel in 2 years
By Adam Entous and Joseph Nasr

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip claimed responsibility on Friday for the shooting of eight students in a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, the most lethal Palestinian attack in Israel in two years

There is nothing but condemnation for this. Not only have innocent students been killed, it has also set back the chance of a lasting peace enormously. It makes us realize that there is suffering on both sides of the conflict.

However, it in no way should justify unleashing once again the guns, jets, tanks and soldiers against the people of Gaza. Please, let us mourn for the innocent on both sides.

Without Comment

From here:

“Return to Iraq?” asks 35-year-old Ahmed Alwan, an Iraqi engineer now working at a restaurant in Damascus. “There is no Iraq to return to, my friend. Iraq only exists in our dreams and memories.”

The different sides of the fence

Consider the folllowing:

"Arab identity in the past has been locked into the colonial experience. . . . It is a very good example of [how] a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends. . . . The world did feel sorry for their treatment but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger. . . . The Arab identity in the future appears bleak. . . . We have created a culture of violence (Palestianians and the Muslims are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."

This paragraph could, of course, have been the spouting of any of our media "experts."

The actual paragraph is from here:

"Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the Holocaust experience. . . . It is a very good example of [how] a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends. . . . The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger. . . . The Jewish identity in the future appears bleak. . . . We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."

This, of course, is considered anti Semitism of the worst sort and resulted in the firing of the editor that let the comment (from Arun Ghandi, grandson of the Ghandi) pass. The comment stoked apoplectic outrage in the pro Israel community.

I will leave it to you to decide the validity of the charge.

Is the Surge "working?"

Iraqi civilian deaths on the rise

BAGHDAD: The number of Iraqis killed in February rose by 33 per cent over January, reversing a six-month trend of reduced violence, in a setback to the US military plan to curb the bloodshed ravaging the country.

The combined figures from the interior, defence and health ministries showed that the total number of Iraqis killed in February was 721, including 636 civilians, compared with 541 dead in January.

We continue to converse in an alternative universe here. As if 721 dead (many more wounded) and 541 dead were NOTHING. I just don't understand it. No one around me seems the slightest bit interested in this carnage. It is on another planet. There is no responsibility taken for anything. The absolute magnitude of the humanitarian disaster that we have caused in Irak cannot be comprehended.

What will America do when the blow back really begins?

Israel and Gaza

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has gone on for the last sixty years. In November, in Annapolis, there was once more a furtive effort by the Bush Administration to move the region towards a peaceful settlement. This week, that effort came tumbling down, as has all previous efforts. As the years go one, it is clear that the World, particularly the United States, has become quite jaded to the carnage that periodically results. How can one look at a picture like this:


or this:


and not feel compassion?

And the carnage is always one sided. It is 10 eyes for and eye and 10 teeth for a tooth. And that is a result of this:


and this:



These weapons, along with over 200 nuclear bombs, give Israeli's the power to say:

When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.

Or their Parliament to declare:

During Sunday's cabinet meeting, Vice Premier Haim Ramon asked why the IDF was not directing massive fire at the areas from which Qassams are being launched.

"According to international law, you can do that," he said. "In the Second Lebanon War it was clear that if they shoot from within a village, we can fire on them even if the area is populated."

which leads to more of this:



Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and John McCain are all steadfast supporters of Israel. They all label Palestinians as terrorists. Any one of them as president will continue to pump money into the bloated Israeli defense establishment against which the Palestinians have little more than:



I admire this boy. He has far more courage than I do.

Friday Crab Blogging (on Sunday)

Bad news for crabbers. Apparently the number of blue crabs in the Bay is so low that they are in danger of becoming basically extinct if they are collected at the same rate as years past. Can one imagine summer without crabs? A little hard.

Flirting?

Saudis arrested for flirting with women
Saudi Arabia Investigates Men Arrested After Allegedly Flirting With Women in Public

Staff; AP News Feb 23, 2008 17:00 EST

Saudi Arabia began interrogating 57 men Saturday who were arrested after allegedly flirting with women in front of a shopping mall in the holy city of Mecca, a local newspaper reported.

I'd call this flirting, but then, what do I know...

Friday Crab Blogging

Sponge Bob Crab (whatever that is)

Occupations

Last week there was a power outage in my town. Everything ground to a halt. For about 3 minutes. We really felt inconvienced. For crying out loud, the computers were down!

But then there is this:

IRAQ: The Lights Have Gone Out, Who Cares
16th February 2008, 09:20 am

BAQUBA, Feb 15 (IPS) - Lack of electricity in Baquba has shattered businesses, and the lives of families. Months of power failures has darkened morale everywhere.

And this:

Half of Baghdad without water
15th February 2008, 09:05 pm

Power failures and maintenance have disrupted running water supplies to almost half of the capital, Baghdad, home to nearly 6 million people.

Clearly "The Surge is Working" depends on what your definition of "working" is.

For the effect on the people of another occuptaion, go to here. If you do read this, swear that a shiver didn't go up your spine.

Friday Crab Blogging (on Saturday)

Hegemony

I have been woefully negligent in replying to pithy comments in the Growlery and from Mr. Putnam.

The first set of posts concerns waning American hegemony:
It starts with Jim Putnam's comments: Thoughts From "Goodbye To Hegemony"

Followed by the Growlery: End of Empires

Based on the primary article which is by Parag Khanna and was published in the New York Times, 27 January, 2008. Its title is “Waving Goodbye to Hegemony”

I am really impressed by the dialog between the Growlery, in England, and Jim Putnam just south of where I live, about this Gotterdammerung of America. It is uncanny to me how America in her spiral towards obscurity seeks to parlay our plight off as that War between the Gods. It is Us against the ‘turrists,’ putting way too high a value on both. (Please remember that the original terrorists probably numbered less than 1,000 and the Twin Towers death toll, as sad as it was, was less than 3,000.)

Apparently the original Gotterdammerung story is from the Norse legend of Ragnarok. Here the gods do battle with one another (it is Odin versus the Giants; wait a minute, wasn’t that just the Super Bowl?) and it is foreordained who will kill who (how does a god get killed?) and who will be covered with honor. It is all sort of Calvinistic, and, of course smacking of that old time Religion that makes Huckabee warriors clutch their pearls. It involves all sorts of things that Bush touts but doesn't have, like bravery and honor. Gosh!

Let me summarize: America is in decline. We are about to go into an awfully deep recession and many of the people I know are living paycheck to paycheck. Much of what Khanna predicts will happen in the next ten years.

Khanna has quite a bit to say about the underpinnings of this descent from power. He certainly makes a cogent argument and I guess as an American I should be anxious to try and alter what he sees as inevitable. Ironically, we still believe we are gods and involved in the gigantic clash of the universe. But this descent into Hel (yes the Norse had a hell, but I don’t think Dante would approve) will probably pass unnoticed by History with a Capitol H. We'll keep descending until such time as the average American can’t buy a tricycle let alone an SUV.

What is interesting is how brief our little Camelot was. When I lived in Ireland and travelled in Europe and beyond (1970-72), most people were pretty tolerant of “Yanks.” I do admit that I would claim to be an Australian in the outback of Anatolia. Even then, or especially then, America was pushing its exceptionalism. That was only 25 years since WWII and I guess there was a certain feeling of gratitude to America, though one can be cynical about that. Be that as it may, I certainly felt proud of being a “Yank” even though I was raised in the South. I can guarantee you I do not feel that way now.

Unfortunately, there is one, tiny, little fly in the ointment. Or flies in the ointment. They are called nuclear weapons, and W is itching to use them. Stay tuned.

Friday Crab Blogging

It takes all kinds.

Exhaustion

I must confess to being totally exhausted with the primary season. It has already gone on for almost a year and we have ten months left. I will admit that I was an Edwards supporter and am sorry to see him end his campaign. I truly hope that Clinton and/or Obama can not shoot themselves in the foot because I think a McCain presidency would quickly doom our country, if it isn't so doomed at this point.

I think I will go back to commenting on some of the things that The Growlery and Jim Putnmam have been discussing, including the last (and first) books by Jack McDevitt. Am also reading Iris Murdoch, Gibson's new one, another Trollope, and whatever.

Short but sweet will be the new format.

Torture

Talking Points Memo Muckraker has links to testimony by both Michael McConnell (Director of National Intelligence) and Gen. Michael Hayden (Director of CIA) which confirms what all of us have known for a long time:

The United States of America has used torture on prisoners.

While most people will say, ho hum, no big deal, I contend that this, coupled with our abetting the murder of over a million civilians in Iraq, will be two issues that will never go away. Two issues that have permanently scarred the Escutcheon of our Nation.

Update 02/06:
Today we have:

White House defends interrogation method
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The White House on Wednesday defended the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, saying it is legal — not torture as critics argue — and has saved American lives.

President Bush could authorize waterboarding for future terrorism suspects if certain criteria are met, a spokesman said.

Since when does the White House decide what is legal? How about the Supreme Court.

The Children of Iraq

Everytime I read something about the children if Irak, it is always sad. For instance, the ongoing humanitarian crisis of orphans in Irak just makes my blood boil. Please read the report "Orphans Face Uncertain Future" for background. There may be as many as four million children in Irak that have been orphaned! These children are usually taken in by relatives (if any are still alive), but these relatives are often hard pressed to put food on the table for themselves. They get little or no schooling and their health needs are most certainly poorly attended to.

But no, people in America just don't even see this. It is so far away from their universe that it is incomprehensible, even though we are directly responsible for this state of affairs.

When it comes to the amount of money that BushCo has put in the pockets of their cronies versus the amount that they have spent on these children it is laughable. It does not make any difference how much total money is spent (the denominator), if the numerator (that spent on children) is zero, the percent will always be zero.

Friday Crab Blogging

And last but not least we have our local political statement:

Numbers

935 - Number of times George W. Bush and cronies lied to the American people before invading Iraq

1 - Number of crimes committed by BushCo brought to justice (and this one was commuted)

unknown (but very large) - Number of crimes left to be prosecuted in the next 362 days

Dust - what our Constitution has been reduced to

The Power of Oversight

As usual, Glenn Greenwald hits it on the head. Today he post on the glaring lack of action by the "Democratic" Congress when it comes to exercising their power of oversight of the administration. I think I first picked up on this years ago when bloggers would refer me to Henry Waxman's numerous letters to the administration (e.g. to Colin Powell, Rice, Cheney, Bush, etc.) asking for explanations for their usual, outrageous behavior. I never remember seeing an answer. I still, to this day, do not understand how an official in this administration can ignore such letters. Not only is it rude (ha! ha!) but it subverts, as Greenwald points out, the very basis of our representative government.

Congress is the only check on an "administration gone wild." It is becoming increasingly obvious that BushCo is going to get away with murder. Literally.

Where we are now

Almost everyone I know is in a funk. That certainly includes myself. While a very large number of Americans do not follow world events, I think the bad news still trickles down and affects their lives. I would include most Americans but certainly not Mr. Bush who still acts as if America is in the same position it was in January, 2001, when he took the oath of office. (Swearing to uphold the Constitution; an oath that he has violated on many occasions.) Mr. Bush is destined to remain in his bubble I suspect for the rest of his life.

The largest, most tragic event that wears on us is the occupation of Irak. While not on the radar screen for countless Americans, our leaders both in the military and in politics have now indicated that the United States will continue this occupation for at least the next decade, if not longer. In fact, Bush is attempting to make binding agreements with the government of Mr. Nuri Al-Maliki which the incoming president (who replaces him in January, 2009) will not be able to alter. Furthermore, all of the major candidates for that position, both Republican and Democratic (except John Edwards) basically agree with this, i.e., that The United States will not withdraw its forces in the near future.

Thus, while the majority of Americans, when they think about it, say they want us to leave Irak ASAP, our leaders continue to believe that "victory" is possible. Does this not remind you of two historical dramas? The first would be the senseless mass attacks in the trench warfare of the Western Front in 1916-1918 (particularly the battle of the Somme, July-Nov 1916). The second would be Hitler's refusal to recognize that his army would never take Moscow, destroying it in the process. (I should have included Napoleon's foray into Russia also.) Have our leaders not learned with almost five years of experience that there is no "victory" to be had in Irak? No.

The human situation in Irak must be inhumanly awful. I have not been there, but what I read (e.g. at Gorilla's Guides) or see (in the daily slide show at Yahoo)suggests that this country and its people which we invaded for no good reason has been damaged beyond repair. How the continued occupation by an army that is despised is going to have a good outcome is beyond logic. The situation in Irak is an albatross that America will wear around its neck for years. It is doubtful that in 2040 the situation will resolve like Vietnam has. We have messed it up terminally.

The most ironic thing, though, is that Americans do not seem to blame Bush and his cronies for the disaster they have created. An argument has been made that Nixon was threatened with impeachment not so much because of Watergate (a mere trifle compared to the crimes of BushCo), but because of the Vietnam War. Now, I'm not so sure. There seems to be almost no support for impeachment. If Bush is never held accountable, then we will be left with that unresolved issue, the assignment of responsibility. Some would make an argument that a country must contend with this before it moves forward.

I continue to believe that the reason we are in such a mess, and the reason that the mass of American people have not risen up to confront these evils is that they are not personally threatened. This is particularly true of the youth. It was the youth, who were threatened with the draft and death in the jungles of Southeast Asia that turned the tide of public opinion against the Vietnam War and, eventually, Nixon.

Friday Crab Blogging

A metaphor for those of us soon to be in very hot water.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing like a a happy crab (oxymoron?) for the stress level.

Friday Crab Blogging

I had to drag another one out of the archives for today. Definitely some fresh ones next week:

Notes from a Prol

It is amazing how history repeats itself. The striking similarity between our Government and that of the last Tsar (Nicholas II, 1868-1918) is one instance. OMG, Dr. C., you must have flipped your wig, you say. Well, I was led to that conclusion by Glenn Greenwald this AM in his excellent post on the multiple crimes of Cheney/Bush et al. and how they have out-tefloned Reagan. In particular, the fact that our Country has become a Surveillance State. Actually, I can't say that there is such a a great similarity because, although the oligarchic class does what it wants, our proletariat has not yet become uneasy. And, of course, we have no Lenin. That will happen when the enormous debt that we have incurred (one trillion dollars to China alone) starts coming due. Marie Antoinette was at a disadvantage, she couldn't borrow from anyone to pay for cake. (as some wag has recently said: "Let them eat Yellowcake!")

The similarity is very simple, we have abandoned the rule of Law. We have become autocratic. Again, as long as the proles are well fed (and boy are we well fed!), and have our Wii's and iPods, there will be no problem. But just as soon as Joshua and Brittany get kicked out of their little house because they can't pay the mortage, and then get their credit cards cancelled, there is going to be some awful rumblings in the street. I don't think we will ever storm the Winter Palace (there are too many traffic barriers around the White House), but there may be a move on a certain ranch in Texas, and I don't mean by Cindy Sheehan. Imagine a couple thousand pissed off 30 somethings moving across Texas and upset because their cell phones have been silenced. Hell hath no fury, etc.

What I am commenting on here is the tremendous fence that Americans have put off to shield them from reality. At first this was just passive. By that I mean things like the Today Show, which is watched by millions and millons of Americans, ignoring the carnage that occurs in Iraq on a daily basis to focus on missing white women or a starlet's pregnancy (Spears) or demise (Anna Nicole Smith). I mean, many Iraki men, women and particularly children die horrible deaths by bombing every day while Meredith Viera babbles on incessently about the most inane things. When I ask many people about current events, i.e. something not connected with Hollywood, the most common reply is "What?" Is this a deliberate ploy by the Media to distract people from the awfulness that we have created? (Of course, as we have pointed out here before, BushCo and CheneyCo are in the process of shifting blame to the puppet government in the Green Zone for the fact that Irak is in such chaos.)

So, on the one hand we have a once wonderful country that is now dominated by a lawless group of mostly men (and Condi) who refuse to submit to our most basic laws (e.g. against torture and against violation of privacy), that hide their lawbreaking by denying that it exists, and get away with it by distracting the proles with endless, useless goodies and a media that is focused on trash.

In the meantime, children are dying every day in Irak. Dying horrible deaths in burning, exploding scenes.

Christmas

I hope that you and your family are having a peaceful holiday season. I hope that for a few days all of us can try and forget where we have been as a country over the past year. I, for one, feel totally exhausted in that part of me that responds to the plight of the world's children. What we all need to do is to find something that is moving in the right direction and attach ourselves to it like super glue. I'll have some candidates for myself soon.

Dr. C.

Friday Crab Blogging

Two from the files; slow day on the Bay

Alternative Reality

First we have:

Bush not satisfied with progress in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said Thursday he was not satisfied with the central Iraqi government's record on reconciling the country's rival sectarian groups and carrying out reforms, vowing to press for more progress.

Bush conceded Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government needed to do more work but insisted it is functioning and passing budgets when asked if US troop reinforcements this year had given it enough room to press ahead with reconciliation as well as political and economic reform.(emphasis added)

But if one goes to the daily slide show, we see:



Children are still being injured and dying. So, where's any "progress" at all? It seems to this observer that things are just as bad if not worse for the majority of the Iraki people. Especially the children.

George’s Surge Leaves Iraq’s Children Behind
By: Siun Sunday December 16, 2007 6:05 pm

A number of reports have appeared over the last few days that place the supposed “success” in Iraq in stark contrast with the reality. Just as during the long years of sanctions it was the children of Iraq who suffered the most from our disastrous policies, today – again – they suffer even more.

A few weeks ago I hypothesized that this whole thing with Nuri al-Maliki's government was a scam; that it was designed to get Bush off the hook when we reach next March and the fifth anniversary of the invasion.

It is very dangerous to have a man who is unconnected from reality as President of a country that possess thousands of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. To think that saner heads will prevail in the event of a nuclear crisis is in itself insane; I have no doubt that this man Bush would push the button without hesitating a second.

I never thought I would wind up a radioactive cinder.

Friday Crab Blogging

We start with a quite nice, classic crab:

Then one on the "joie de vivre" side (crab in Santa hat!):

Then a crab to test your imagination:

A montage with Caterpillar

And, to remind us about global warming, a penguin:

What in the **** is going on?

A year ago in November we voted in a new Congress. While not "veto proof" there was still a majority in both House and Senate.

A year later, nothing is working. The SCHIP bill, which enjoys wide support across America has been vetoed twice and the Democrats won't even try to over ride the veto. They won't even make Republican Senators stand up and say they are voting against children!

New taxes on oil companies? Not even attempted since it would be vetoed.

If you thought democracy was dead in Irak, just look in the mirror.

Torture

Torture is much in the news these days. One of the more outlandish defenses of this horror is the one that claims "Our President says that we don't torture; therefore, waterboarding is not torture." Today, I believe that the current director of Intelligence is going before a Congressional Committee. I am cyinical enough at this point to predict that absolutely nothing will come of this.

I posted a letter I had sent to the local paper a month ago. It wasn't printed. This is the second letter that they have refused to print. The one before this was about bombing Iran. I realize that my local paper is strongly Republican, but it seems like a distortion of democracy to put a filter like this on LTE. This is particularly biting since they tend to publish the most amazing right wing loonies.

Many of the bloogers that I follow (like Blue Girl, Red State today and Authur Silber) are much more cynical than I. The idea, and I find it hard to refute, is that we, as a nation, have irrevocably destroyed our legitimatcy by allowing torture. No matter what the excuse.

Food for thought.

All over but the shouting

There is an excellent speech given by Sheldon Whitehouse in the Senate concerning the President and the Constitution. Senator Whitehouse is the junior Senator from Rhode Island, a state I called home for five years. This speech encapsulates in a few well chosen words where America has allowed itself to be taken in the last seven years. It is not pretty. Senator Whitehouse summarizes three opinions generated by the Office of Legal Council (for the President). These are the only three that Senator Whitehouse has been able to get declassified, so you can imagine what other opinions read.

1. An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.

2. The President, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the President’s authority under Article II.

3. The Department of Justice is bound by the President’s legal determinations.

These three opinions I consider to be completely antithetical to the United States Constitution. They basically obviate it in favor of an imperial Presidency. No wonder so many people are running for that office. Who would not want to be King of America?

I am very impressed by Whitehouse. In fact:

WHITEHOUSE FOR THE WHITEHOUSE!

Friday Crab Blogging

I am sorry to report that the Crab Drawers (not to be confused with the Crab Knickers) are still on strike. You will have to do with Sponge Bob.

Book Review

A few books from the last few years:

Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart
White man disturbs paradise; our arrogance is overwhelming
3 Stars

Ackroyd, Peter The Clerkenwell Tales
By the author of “London” sometimes hard to follow
2 Stars

Amis, Kingsley Lucky JimApparently a seminal novel; England from the ashes of WWII; another faculty novel
2 ½ stars

Banville, John The Newton Letter
Trivial stuff
1 Star

Barnes, Julian England, England
A Theme park based on, well, England. Another dystopia novel. Very good.
3 ½ stars

Barnes, Julian Aurthur and George
Sherlock Holmes and racism in late Victorian England. Interesting.
2 ½ stars

Bester, Alfred The Demolished Man
Bester, Alfred The Stars My Destination
Classic Sci Fi. Reading TSMD again after 50 years was a trip. Rewire my nervous system, please.
3 stars

Black, Benjamin Christine Falls
Ireland not only has high tech, it now has junk detective novels. They’re all the same.
2 stars

Burke, James Lee The Neon Rain
Burke, James Lee Heaven's Prisoners
Burke, James Lee Black Cherry Blues
I read them to get a New Orleans experience. Just can’t take the gratuitous violence.
1 ½ star

Butcher, Jim Storm Front
Butcher, Jim Fool Moon
High Tech Vampires and Wizards. Clever but no thank you.
1 star

Caldwell, Ian and Thomason, Dustin The Rule of Four
Absolutely, positively the worst book on the list.
½ star

Chayefsky, Paddy Altered States
From the man who brought you Network. I’m interested in the isolation tank, but he got a little far out. (A little? More like waaaaay far out.)
1 star

Chomsky, Noam Hegemony or Survival
From the man who brought you THE theory of linguistical knowledge. Now a champion of the liberal position. He is actually very good. You can tell that by how badly he is trashed.
3 stars

Clark, Susanna Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
First Harry Potter, now a different angle. An effort to domesticate magic. Not sure it works. Long, long, long.
2 stars

Connelly, Michael The Black Echo
Connelly, Michael The Black Ice
Connelly, Michael The Concrete Blonde
Connelly, Michael The Last Coyote
Connelly, Michael Trunk Music
Connelly, Michael Angels Flight
Connelly, Michael A Darkness More Than Night
Connelly, Michael City Of Bones
Connelly, Michael Lost Light
Connelly, Michael The Narrows
Connelly, Michael The Closers
Connelly, Michael Echo Park
Yea Harry Bosch. I have to say, one keeps coming back and reading him. Quite a bit of development of the main character. I am not sure how real the others are. Most are stereotypes.
3 stars

de Assis, Machado Dom Casmurro
Very interesting Brazilian writer from the last century. Apparently a classic in Brazil.
2 ½ stars

de Kretser, Michelle The Hamilton Case
Now this is a switch. A murder mystery on Sri Lanka, and not by Michael Ondaatje. Absolutely fascinating in its depiction of life there.
3 stars

Dibdin, Michael Ratking
Dibdin, Michael Vendetta
Dibdin, Michael Cabal
Dibdin, Michael Dead Lagoon
Dibdin, Michael Cosi Fan Tutti
Dibdin, Michael A Long Finish
Dibdin, Michael Blood Rain
Dibdin, Michael And Then You Die
Dibdin, Michael Medusa
These are all set in Italy with a single detective. They are pretty bloody and I guess they are true to life. Except Dibdin is an American. Recently expired. Probably worth a read if you like Italy.
2 ½ stars

Dick, Philip K. UBIK
Started it all. What can I say. A little hard to read today.
2 stars

Dideon, Joan Play It As It Lays
Another Hollywood novel. Angst. Angst. Angst.
2 stars

Farrell, J.G. The Singapore Gap
Farrell, J.G. Troubles
Farrell, J.G. The Siege of Krishnapor
Now this guy is great. Why have we not heard more from him? I particularly liked The Singapore Gap. What is best is the wry humor.
3 ½ stars

Fitzgerald, Penelope The Book Shop
Fitzgerald, Penelope The Golden Child
You got to like Fitzgerald. Quirky to the enth degree, but worth every bit of it.
3 stars

Furst, Alan Night Soldiers
Furst, Alan Dark Star
Furst, Alan The Polish Officer
Furst, Alan The World at Night
Furst, Alan Red Gold
Furst, Alan Kingdom of Shadows
All of these are set in pre WWII Europe. They are well written and very dark. I couldn’t finish Red Gold but some were very good.
3 Stars

Galouye, Daniel Dark Universe
Interesting old Sci Fi about people caught below ground until they go blind.
1 star

Galsworthy, John The Forsythe Saga
Finally read this. As you will see, I have high standards in this kind of fiction (Trollope). However, a good read and presages Buddenbrooks.
2 ½ stars

Harris, Sam The End of Faith
The first few pages are great. Then he gets shrill. A little too much blame on the Muslims and a little too much exoneration of us and the Israelis.
2 stars

Heinlein, Robert Starship Troopers
Ouch! I used to really like Heinlein (The Roads must Roll). This is just a pean to militarism. The only people who can vote on this world have served in the army. A high tech army, no doubt.
2 stars

Hornby, Nick A Long Way Down
Not Hornby’s best, but an interesting examination of people’s attitudes towards suicide.
2 stars

Ishiguro, Kazuo Never Let Me Go
He goes weird on us in this one. Raising people for their donor organs? What.
1 ½ stars

Kerrigan, Gene The Midnight Choir
A very dark Irish police story. Not a very satisfying one but since I lived in Dublin once, it was a nice trip around the city.
1 ½ stars

Leon, Donna Death at La Fenice
Leon, Donna Death in a Strange Country
Leon, Donna The Anonymous Venetian
Leon, Donna A Venetian Reckoning
Leon, Donna Acqua Alta
Leon, Donna The Death of Faith
Leon, Donna A Noble Radiance
Leon, Donna A Sea of Troubles
I don’t know why every thinks Leon is the cat’s meow. She has a fairly interesting detective and, like Dibdin above, she is an American living in Italy. But, you got to like Venice, so read them.
2 stars

MacDevitt, Jack The Engines of God
MacDevitt, Jack Deepsix
MacDevitt, Jack Chindi
MacDevitt, Jack Omega
MacDevitt, Jack Odyssey
MacDevitt, Jack A Talent for War
MacDevitt, Jack Polaris
MacDevitt, Jack Seeker
MacDevitt, Jack Eternity Road
MacDevitt, Jack Moonfall
MacDevitt, Jack Infinity Beach
Even if you don’t like Sci Fi, read MacDevitt. He has a very easy style and slips in some of the most interesting questions. Everyone has wondered how we could possibly be “alone” in the universe. MacDevitt explores that.
3 ½ stars

Mankell, Henning Faceless Killers
Mankell, Henning The Dogs of Riga
Mankell, Henning The White Lioness
Mankell, Henning Sidetracked
Mankell, Henning The Fifth Woman
Mankell, Henning One Step Behind
Mankell, Henning Firewall
Mankell, Henning The Man Who Smiled
Another detective series, this time in a small town in Sweden. Very well written and the protagonist is believable human with lots of foibles. Apparently made into a TV series in Sweden. Get them.
3 ½ stars

Mitchell, David Ghost Written
Mitchell, David Number 9 Cloud
Mitchell, David Cloud Atlas
Mitchell, David Black Swan Green
Alright. I admit, this guy writes for people like me. Particularly “Cloud Atlas.” He is all over the map but about as interesting as can be. A particular penchant for Japan in the first three. The last fits in with Julian Barnes genre.
4 stars

Moody, Rick Garden State
A dystopian novel about young adults in New Jersey. Grunge, Grunge and more Grunge.
1 ½ stars

Murray, John A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies
Absolutely fascinating. Absolutely. Short stories done in an exquisite manner
3 ½ stars

O'Brien, Flan At War
Newspaper columns from the Master. During WWII in Dublin.
2 ½ stars

Pagels, Elaine The Gnostic Gospels
Sort of blandly written but what she says will make you think. For someone who had 16 years of religious teaching it will make your hair stand up.
2 ½ stars

Pearl, Matthew The Dante Club
Such a good idea. Such an awful book.
1 star

Sandford, John Broken Prey
This guy can churn out a mystery a day. I read this because I wish I drove a Porsche.
1 ½ stars

Scott, Paul Jewel in the Crown
Scott, Paul The Day of the Scorpion
Scott, Paul The Towers of Silence
Scott, Paul A Division of the Spoils
You want to know about the British experience in India? Read Scott.
3 ½ stars

Sebald, W.G. The Rings of Saturn
This man, who died in an automobile accident at the end of the 90’s, has one of most unusual perspectives on people and the landscape that you can imagine. I’ve read two others by him and they all haunt.
3 ½ stars

Sholokhov, Mikhael And Quiet Flows the Don
How this guy won the Nobel Prize I’ll never know. I guess it was a sop to Stalin. What the Cossacks did in the Russian Civil War.
1 ½ stars

Simenon Tropic Moon
Not his best but gripping. Right in there with “Heart of Darkness.”
2 ½ stars

Simenon Monsieur Monde Vanishes
Didn’t finish it

Skvorecky, Josef The Engineer of Human Souls
A Czech writer living in Canada teaching English and rewriting his experience in WWII. Hard to finish but interesting.
2 stars

Smith, Alexander McCall The Full Cupboard of Life
Smith, Alexander McCall The Sunday Philosophy club
Smith, Alexander McCall Portuguese Irregular Verbs
Smith, Alexander McCall The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
Smith, Alexander McCall At The Villa of Reduced Circumstances
The ultimate in trivial reading (well, maybe not the ultimate). But, I’ll be honest, they can entertain.
2 stars

Stegner, Wallace Angle of Repose
The great American going West novel. Actually quite good. A little forced, and interesting in its comments on the late 60’s culture.
3 stars

Stendhal The Charterhouse of Parma
You got to read this a few times in your life. It’s a rush and then its over.
3 stars

Trollope, Anthony Lady Anna
Trollope, Anthony The Belton Estate
Trollope, Anthony Rachael Ray
Trollope, Anthony The MacDermots of Ballycloran
Trollope, Anthony The Kellys and the O'Kellys
Trollope, Anthony Orley Farm
I never tire of reading this guy. I particularly liked The MacDermots and The Kellys because my ancestors came from Ireland where Trollope worked as a postal inspector or something (he invented the red British pillar mailbox). Somehow these stories in their certainty just fascinate me.
4 stars

Turgenev, Ivan Fathers and Sons
I know, I know, the modern classic. Introduces the blasé revolutionary. Still too Tolstoy for me.
3 stars

Waugh, Evelyn A Handful of Dust
This guy can be very cynical. Not up with Brideshead, but pretty close. Particularly the ending in the Amazon. Reading Dickens. Ah…
3 stars

A Sadness Too Sad to be True

This by Jesse Winchester has always struck home to me. Like it or not, we are animals with emotions (limbic system; evolutionary advantage; large brain; fight, flight or sex; who knows?). Plus that, I'm a Tennessean. Dismembered, but a Tennessean never the less. Even the son of transplanted Yankees dreams of green hills.

How to deal with this on a day to day basis:


How will these children ever learn to live with us in the world to come? What about all the pain and suffering,

and death?

How morbid, Dr. C. Ugh! But this is the reality of what we have created in Irak.
This has become a conflict which is very much going to define us for long into the future. So it gets you thinking. The stunning thing about the American Constitution, as originally promulgated and interpreted by the Citizens, is that all individuals are considered equal. That includes Iraki children.The insidious dismantling of that constitution began long ago, with the advent of American exceptionalism. Rather, the exceptionalism of a certain class of Americans (mostly white, mostly male, mostly Protestant, and overwhelmingly rich). It finds expression in the absolute certainty of the white Southerner that the black man is inferior (when the reality is that it is simply a different concentration of melanin found in the skin that differentiates white from black. The absurdity of using this as an index of superiority was aptly described by Mark Twain in "Puddn'head Wilson.")

The treatment of Native Americans wasn't much different as we see from Wounded Knee:



It is impossible to remove this strain from a population short of violence. At every turn, because of our geographic isolation and our technical skill (especially in constructing nuclear weapons), Americans have been unconsciously reinforced as being superior to other humans. I can say this with certainty about the generation that grew up in the 1950's and early 60's. A dent was made in this ideology with the Vietnam War. But still, America did not shirk from being responsible for the death of up to two million Vietnamese. We had, you see, our Manifest Destiny. The rich of America could not tolerate the meme of Communism (in reality, an extension of the Constitution's embodiment of the "all men are equal.") Even if it meant useless slaughter.

Furthermore the mere fact that we do not mourn the one half million dead and dismembered Iraki children, yet feel that less than three thousand dead Americans on 9/11 have "changed the world," shows that the real basis of our civilization (on oxymoron in this light) remains this exceptionalism belief. If is very plain that we will never learn.

This brings us to the Dissembler in Chief. George W. Bush has existed in a cocoon of exceptionalism since birth. While his age mates were dying in the jungles of Vietnam, he was drinking his way through the politics of Alabama. How such an uneducated man could have passed through Harvard and Yale ranks right up there with some of the better biblical miracles. His tenure as President has been marked by his absolute certainty that he is exceptional. That he can break laws and kill people without thought or remorse. That he needs not justify his actions. That he is unique and needs no conscience.

And he reflects us all as the most perfect mirror.