Losing with consequences

James Fallows in The Atlantic Monthly writes about the failed effort to "stand up" an Iraqi Security Force, the critical task Bush has repeatedly stated must be achieved before we can leave Iraq. Here are a few quotes from the article:

"The current situation will NEVER allow for an effective ISF [Iraqi Security Force] to be created," a young Marine officer who will not let me use his name wrote in an e-mail after he returned from Iraq this summer. "We simply do not have enough people to train forces. If we shift personnel from security duties to training, we release newly trained ISF into ever-worsening environs."

"A growing number of U.S. military officers in Iraq and those who have returned from the region are voicing concern that the nascent Iraqi army will fall apart if American forces are drawn down in the foreseeable future," Elaine Grossman, of the well-connected newsletter Inside the Pentagon, reported in September.

"U.S. trainers have made a heroic effort and have achieved some success with some units," Ahmed Hashim, of the Naval War College, told me in an e-mail. "But the Iraqi Security Forces are almost like a black hole. You put a lot in and little comes back out."

"I have to tell you that corruption is eating the guts of this counter-insurgency effort," a civilian wrote in an e-mail from Baghdad. Money meant to train new troops was leaking out to terrorists, he said. He empathized with "Iraqi officers here who see and yet are powerless to stop it because of the corrupt ministers and their aides."
"On the current course we will have two options," I was told by a Marine lieutenant colonel who had recently served in Iraq and who prefers to remain anonymous. "We can lose in Iraq and destroy our army, or we can just lose."

"In Vietnam we just lost," the officer said. "This would be losing with consequences."

The Big Lie

Frank Rich, in Sunday's New York Times, makes an important point about the cost of the Iraq war. Aside from its ruinous effect on our military, and on our prestige in the world, and on our democracy, the failed war in Iraq and its dishonest presentation by our president have worked to reduce American will to fight the real war -- the war against Islamic jihadism.

Although the Times has put its columnists behind a $50/year subscription, you can read the article here.

Here's an excerpt:

One hideous consequence of the White House's Big Lie - fusing the war of choice in Iraq with the war of necessity that began on 9/11 - is that the public, having rejected one, automatically rejects the other. That's already happening. The percentage of Americans who now regard fighting terrorism as a top national priority is either in the single or low double digits in every poll. Thus the tragic bottom line of the Bush catastrophe: the administration has at once increased the ranks of jihadists by turning Iraq into a new training ground and recruitment magnet while at the same time exhausting America's will and resources to confront that expanded threat.

We have arrived at "the worst of all possible worlds," in the words of Daniel Benjamin, Richard Clarke's former counterterrorism colleague, with whom I talked last week. No one speaks more eloquently to this point than Mr. Benjamin and Steven Simon, his fellow National Security Council alum. They saw the Qaeda threat coming before most others did in the 1990's, and their riveting new book, "The Next Attack," is the best argued and most thoroughly reported account of why, in their opening words, "we are losing" the war against the bin Laden progeny now.

Running out of time in Darfur

Excerpt below comes from a piece by Eric Reeves, appearing in The New Republic (11/28/05) that describes the "now or never" predicament of 3.5 million people of Darfur in Sudan, for whom time is running out. It is estimated that 400,000 have already died in Darfur; one wonders whether the "culture of life" rhetoric of the present administration will be backed by the action needed to prevent hundreds of thousands more from dying in this tormented land. If there is any true Christmas spirit here, I hope it will be expressed in the rescue of our brothers and sisters in Sudan.

There is considerable evidence that many humanitarian organizations are on the brink of withdrawing from Darfur--or at least suspending operations. An upsurge in violence against humanitarian workers has pushed many groups to the very limit of tolerable risk. The consequences of such a withdrawal will be stark: hundreds of thousands dead. As a result, the reality facing America and its allies is simple: If we really believe that something should be done to save Darfur, then we have to do it now. Soon, it will be too late to do anything at all. [..]

Eighty-one NGOs and thirteen U.N. agencies currently operate in Darfur, according to the latest U.N. data. These groups have evacuation plans defined by varying contingencies and thresholds for implementation. A year ago, for example, Save the Children UK withdrew its non-Sudanese staff and suspended all operations in Darfur following the deaths of several workers.... But no matter what the threshold for evacuation, the precipitating scenarios are daily becoming more likely. [..]

The first to die will be malnourished children under five years of age, especially those who presently require the assistance of specialized feeding centers. But these casualties will only be harbingers of greater death, both in the overcrowded camps, which are again swelling because of new violence, and throughout the vulnerable rural areas where people are increasingly unable to feed themselves......

Two months ago Jan Egeland, head of U.N. humanitarian operations, warned that if
insecurity "continues to escalate, if it continues to be so dangerous on humanitarian work, we may not be able to sustain our operation[.] ... It could all end tomorrow--it's as serious as that." A year ago, when there were a million fewer conflict-affected people in Darfur, Egeland warned that in the event of humanitarian evacuation as many as 100,000 could die every month..... Hundreds of thousands of people are already beyond humanitarian relief, and the population is weakened by almost three years of intense conflict. The number without assistance may climb to over a million by year's end.

As humanitarian evacuation becomes more likely, the day draws near when the West will have to make its final decision on Darfur. African Union forces have failed to secure the region; and without security, there can be no humanitarian relief. Either America and its western allies put troops on the ground in Darfur soon, or the time to act will have passed. Perhaps 400,000 people have died in Darfur already, but after humanitarian workers leave, those numbers will swell quickly and considerably. After all, while humanitarian workers have an evacuation option, Darfur's residents do not.

Drawing Without an Eraser

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.
-- John W. Gardner

The object of art is to give life a shape.
-- William Shakespeare

In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love.
-- Marc Chagall

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

I think there is wisdom in each of these quotes. Gardner sees life as a risky sort of enterprise, in which our expression of ourselves is an art form not unlike free jazz -- purposeful but improvised, and at its essence a creation that cannot be amended or revised. If art imitates life, then I suspect many of us eraserless wanderers have produced a sorry form of art indeed. But sometimes, in the right light, we do have our sublime moments. The trick is to make more of them -- but how?

Shakespeare has an answer to that question.

He speaks to the purpose and power of art in our lives -- the way in which the experience of art in our lives inevitably forms who we are as human beings. He is of course one of our great artists of literature, and the self-expression and creation of beautiful and insightful art must have shaped his life in ways that were obvious and remarkable to him. Though it may be beyond the limits of our gifts to equal a Shakespeare, we can each of us explore the art of others, and seek the grace that is found in its contemplation.

We can invest ourselves in our own art and allow the spirit of that practice to influence our lives as well. Why shouldn't we seek to be shaped by beauty, and by the free creative expression of our spirit? What is the art that moves us? What music touches our hearts? We need to embrace the possibilities of art in our lives if we would make our lives into beautiful imitations of the finest art.

Finally, Chagall speaks to the implicit question -- what is the essence of the finest art? He talks to us of the power of love in art and in life. The presence of love in our art, and in our lives is the golden strand of meaning that holds together all the many aspects of our lives -- the noblest influence on the shape of our lives.

I think Chagall is right, and yet I feel he missed something out -- time. I think time is part of this equation. Mindfulness of this moment. Memories of moments past. Hope in a future moment. Love that is nurtured over time. Patience. Devotion to one's friends and family and art. Love is not a color splashed suddenly on life's canvas.

When I try to make sense of my life, and I do this more often than it is comfortable to acknowledge, I find that love is the only attachment to meaning, and the only portal onto whatever plane of artistic expression I may ever hope that my life would attain. And I do want to make a work of art of my life. I want it to mean something. I want it to be imbued with some small touch of beauty and harmony and coherence.

But I know myself. Coherence is elusive, and chaos seems too vital and alluring. The spontaneous and potentially dangerous impulses tug at me, and hold the promise of insight and brilliant clarity. I am afraid to plod along like some plow-horse with blinders. I have found the sharp edge of reality and do not wish to see it dulled or rusted. I wonder if I have what it takes to give birth to my own dancing star. I wonder if a man can hold onto the chaos and still find coherence. Is this the creative tension in my life, or a fatal flaw? Is it the key to unlock my own art, or a distraction?

I have no eraser, few gifts and very little time. But I can seek to bring more art into my life, and to make art of my own. I will not live forever, but in the time I have, I can choose my own palette, write my own words, and play my own theme.

For years now, the path has been unclear and I have been stalling for time, hoping for a revelation. At last, it is clear that no revelation is to be expected. We are on our own.

Our life-art is like a Tibetan butter sculpture. It is art to be enjoyed in the making, but not for the lasting appreciation of others. If it is a true and courageous expression of my love, then this art will satisfy, and I will have my own dancing star, if only for one sublime moment.

-- Neil

What Next?

So, I went to Washington and joined in the march. I didn't get arrested, or beat up, so I consider the day a success.

I was interviewed by a reporter -- he claimed to be from NPR and asked me some good, challenging questions. I thought I handled them well enough to be on the radio, but haven't heard myself on the airwaves yet...

Was it important that I showed up? Yes, I think it was -- at least to me. I needed to do something positive with my anger about this war. I needed to stand up and be counted. I needed to support those who stood up, and those who rode in wheel chairs, and all those who are stuck in Iraq and could not come to DC to stand for themselves. Yeah -- it was important.

Will it make a difference? Yes, I think it will. For too long, Democrats have figured they have more to lose than to gain by opposing this war -- so they have done nothing. That will have to change now. Even Republicans are becoming vocal -- the Democrats are being shamed by the example of Chuck Hagel. They are being shamed by the Raging Grannies and the Pink Women for Peace and the Veterans and others who marched on Saturday. It will indeed make a difference.

The NY Times put the story on page A26, but our story was told on the streets of our nation's capital. Between 150,000 and 300,000 people filled the streets for hours -- believe me it was impressive.

We arrived at the gathering place, not far from the Washington Monument, around 12 noon. The march was scheduled to start at 12:30. We fell into the crowd in the street, and waited till almost 2pm without any movement at all. Finally, knees stiff from standing still in that great throng, we found our way to a small space of open grass and sat for half an hour, until the marchers by us began at long last to move.

The crowd was enormous, but the first moment that I realized how large it might be is when I looked up a side street and saw that the crowd in front of me and behind me was matched by an immense crowd that filled the other streets in the area. This march was spread all over the place and was obviously many times larger than I had imagined.

I realized we were way more than 100,000 people -- probably twice that many. Maybe more.

That was a good feeling.

The frustration of the past five years is not washed away, but in some small way, the march helped mitigate it. Knowing there is something you can do, and actually doing it, is the key to power.

So I ask myself. What next?

For Gen

Truth is a stream of compassionate consciousness,
a babbling brook of good intentions and best efforts
that leads from parent to child
from me to you to someone not yet born
passing over falls of experience and revelation
and arriving gradually at a fertile delta of wisdom,
resolving every mystery as it empties into
the infinite sea
that is you and me
and everyone who ever knew the joy
of truly, authentically, enthusiastically,
being oneself.

This American Life

Sometimes words are worth much more than a thousand pictures.

The spoken word is magical, and this most ancient, basic and straightforward medium of human communication is sometimes the only way to tell a story.

Some of the most moving and insightful coverage of the Katrina disaster has been on the radio. A good friend insists that you had to see the pictures on TV to grasp what was happening, to sense fully the enormity of the situation.

But I have been reading the paper and listening to the radio; I understand how horrible and how sad these days have been for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. And I have come to two conclusions: TV is good if you want to see people in difficult situations; Radio is better if you want to hear from people in difficult situations.

I have come to the conclusion that TV is not a medium for me. And I think, if you try "This American Life", you will switch from TV to radio too. At least sometimes. Maybe.

"This American Life", from WBEZ in Chicago, is a regular program on public radio (Public Radio International). Hosted by Ira Glass, the program runs an hour each week, with a different theme each week. Beyond that very general description, it is very hard to categorize it, except to say that it is well worth checking out.

Today, I was listening to the program, titled "This is not my beautiful house". The show follows its usual structure -- a series of short segments linked by a common theme. One segment was taped in a shelter in Houston, and included an interview in which two young girls and their mother; the girls mention that they have not seen their brother and sister who were left in New Orleans with their father. The girls and their mother evacuated the day before Katrina hit.

The girls were confident their siblings were okay, because their mother was acting confident. And I thought how hard it must be to put up a front like that for your children.

Another segment included interviews with women from one of the shelters who were looking for apartments. They line up for hours and then take a bus to the outskirts of Houston and endure frustrations and anxiety and humiliation. One woman is pregnant. She is due any day, and is dilated 3 cm. Still she lines up and gets on a bus to look foran apartment.

She is having a contraction while she is looking for a place to live -- all she wants is a place she can bring her baby home to, other than a cot in some arena with a couple thousand other people.

Another segment presents a woman who stayed in her one-story home in New Orleans -- in five feet of fetid water. She spent 8 days on a mattress that remained afloat, though partly submerged. She lived on a little cheese, some juice and a gallon of water.

This little synopsis does not do the program justice.

You can catch the show on your local public radio station this week, or listen on-line next week if you prefer. Right now, last week's program "After the flood" is available on-line. That program includes some astonishing, shocking, personal stories about the days of hell in New Orleans.

Listening to people tell their stories is amazing. It is intimate and deeply moving. No mountain of images can compare to the spoken testimony of these people who survived Katrina.

Turn off your TV, and give radio a try. Listen to people tell their stories. You won't need a TV to get the picture.

Neil

Normalcy

Yesterday was September 11. The emotional power of that day lives on, even though we have long ago returned to "normalcy".

Sunday. I drove past a church in New Jersey on my way to the city. There were a dozen fire trucks and emergency vehicles parked out front. A fire at the church? No, the mind catches up with the scene and quickly corrects the mistaken impression.

A Memorial Mass for a NYC fireman who died in the World Trade Center. John Collins, a hero. Grew up in this parish -- served at Mass; his folks still live there.

Continued my trip, and waiting on the platform at Journal Square for a PATH train around 3pm, a train coming from NY pulled in and stopped. The first car was filled with men in kilts and their bagpipes. No, it isn't St Patrick's Day.

I start to feel very guilty for traveling into Manhattan to see a movie. The day before, I had wondered for a moment if it was smart -- would someone blow up the train? No, I reasoned. Too few people on the train on Sunday -- it will be tomorrow, or some other day. Not quite comforting, but we move on.

On to the PATH stop at West 9th Street and Sixth Avenue. A short walk from there to the Cinema Village. Just in time to see "Music from the Inside Out", which profiles the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The documentary explores how these musicians think and feel and live with their art and their vocation.

The movie and the music is uplifting, exhilarating, joyous. Really.

One scene: a street musician playing an accordion. Vivaldi's "Four Seasons: Winter". Ruslan Slinko is his name. See the movie -- if only for this one performance. It is amazing. When the movie ended, the director held a Q&A session, and in response to one question he described Slinko as a "starving musician".

I thought to myself that life can be difficult and painful sometimes, but there is always music.

Last night I was far from the City. I knew the memorial lights were shining above Lower Manhattan, but I did not go outside to look.

I get into my car this morning and the radio is tuned to WNYC, as always. Someone is ringing a bell, solemnly. Recordings edited and joined together to capture some of the memorial programs acrossthe City yesterday. Reading aloud the now-familiar names of the dead. Voices choking. A choir singing "The Star Spangled Banner". A recording of "Imagine".

At 6:39am on the NJ Turnpike, the sun is rising over Lower Manhattan. Big, orange, and beautiful. Just about where the twin towers of light were shining last night, in my mind's eye.

On the bus, I read some more about the flood. About 500,000 Americans seeking new jobs, schools, places to live, peace of mind. Which of these will prove most elusive?

An article considers the problem of evacuating New York City. As if we do not already know the obvious truth.

As I emerge from the subway at Grand Central Station, five policemen are set up at the turnstiles to search knapsacks and other suspicious packages. They are not interested in me -- I am on my way out and onto the street.

On to work, and a normal day in this life at the edge of normalcy.

-- Neil

Reasons to be Cheerful

How you see the world is more important than how the world actually is.

The lives of happy people and the lives of unhappy people are often only different in their own eyes. If we look objectively at the facts and circumstances of the lives of these two groups of people, we will find much that is common to both groups.

Illness and economic hardship, divorce and failed romances, disappointments, losses, pain and bad luck will be found in every life, whether its owner has a half-full or half-empty disposition.

It may be true that some of us have more bad luck than others and have therefore acquired a less than sunny view of life. It may also be true that those of us who tend to be cheerful enjoy better health and more rewarding relationships.

However, it is clearly not true that cheerful, optimistic, positive people are freed from the suffering and disappointments of human existence. Even the most fortunate among us must face ageing, disease, the loss of loved ones and, eventually, our own death.

What is important about how we view the world is not that our viewpoint changes the reality of our lives -- it is not that we will be healthier and have more friends. What is important about how we view the world is that this is the center of our identity.

As a person, our identity is largely defined by how we view the world, what we assume about others, our capacity for compassion, our habits and practices, what we expect of tomorrow, and how much we pay attention to the present moment. But it starts with that world-view. It isfundamental.

I see much that is wrong in the world. In fact, the world is a terrible mess of injustice, poverty, disease, needless death, and constant suffering. But the world is also a place of great beauty and joy. I am always interested in meeting people because there are so many wonderful people in this world, even if there are many more who are not so wonderful.

I choose to be a person whose view of the world does not overlook its flaws, but never loses sight of its many wonders -- a view centered in an appreciation of the gift of this irreplaceable present moment, married to a hopeful attitude towards the future.

-- I wrote this a little more than a year ago, in the AOL journal that was the precursor to this one. I took that journal down a few weeks back, and have recently re-posted some photos from that journal. It made me think of looking back for some of the thoughts I had captured there, and gave me an opportunity to reconsider some of what I had written. I enjoyed doing that, and thought I would share this bit.

By the way, the picture was taken at Camp Sawyer in the Florida Keys a few years ago.

It happened this day....


60 years ago today, America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The term "Ground Zero" referred primarily if not exclusively in our minds for the next 56 years to this place of great sorrow. Today, we remember. And we hope with all our might that such terrible grief and devastation will never again be visited upon any people, in any place, again.

40 years ago today, America responded at last to the rightful demands for full political participation of persons denied the right to vote because of race. The Voting Rights Act enforced Constitutional rights under the 15th amendment that had been denied in some states (with the passive acquiesence of the federal government). Many suffered, were intimidated and attacked, and some were killed in the effort to prevent this fulfillment of the promise of democracy. Today, we remember. And we hope that the vision of brotherhood and of a great and democratic society will be realized in our lifetime.

18 years ago today, my youngest child was born. He shares this day with the terrible and great events of history. But he is of today and tomorrow; the hope I feel for our future is a hope for him and a hope that will only be realized through him and his generation.

Today, I remember. I remember so many moments, but mostly I remember how good my life was when I woke up every morning in the company of my children. Of course, today I remember with special warmth and joy the many ways that my youngest child filled my life with happiness.

He's not a baby anymore. He has grown to become a fine young man. In the last few days, after 7 years as a Boy Scout, he completed his Eagle Scout service project and submitted his application for promotion to Eagle Scout. He is admired by his Scout leaders and other parents, and loved by his friends.

He is an idealist, and a pacifist. His world view and personal values are clear and strongly held. He is inclined to be more liberal and more principled than I am. He is decent and kind and funny, and I have never seen him angry.

He amazes me, and I am so very proud of him.

The world is in good hands.

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Thinking of Ireland

So the IRA are disarming and renouncing violence.

Right now, we are preoccupied with Islamic terrorists and probably will not appreciate the significance of this development. Even among Irish-Americans there has hardly been a ripple on our consciousness. In the age of Osama, Gerry Adams seems a bit of a leprechaun.

I heard someone on the radio last night -- BBC News -- saying that 3,600 people lost their lives in 30 years of violence -- the Troubles. Loyalist paramilitaries, IRA soldiers, British Troops, the RUC -- killers and defenders and avengers of 800 tragic years of British hegemony in Ireland.

Donald Rumsfeld thinks we'll be in Iraq for 15 years. I wonder how long the Brits thought they would stay in Ireland?

Why have the IRA decided now to lay down their arms? Have they finally exhausted the support of the Catholic people of the north? Or do they expect an imminent victory by political means? What gives?

I don't know and I don't care why the IRA have decided to stand down. All that matters now is that the people of Ireland have taken a step towards a lasting peace.

They have their future now in their own hands. My family have been here in America too long for me to claim much of a connection to a country I have never seen, but my heart is with the Irish today.

As the Irish lay their claim to peace, I am left hoping that some of that spirit may catch fire in the hearts of people elsewhere in the world. The Irish have saved civilization before; perhaps it is not too much to hope that small nation will show the way to peace.

Wishing peace for Ireland and for all of us,

Neil

Music on the 7

Friday rush hour, at the bottom of the escalator to the 7 train platform, at 42nd St and Third, a man on a stool plays electric jazz guitar, accompanied by a recorded drum and organ. He's playing "Can't Buy Me Love" and I am still singing the song today. Last week, he played something by Stevie Wonder, perhaps it was "Ordinary Love"?

The man can play -- I wanted to stop and listen but had to keep moving -- places to be, etc.
Funny how music stays in our minds and rolls over and over. Have you ever heard a familiar song, performed in a fresh and original way, and been astounded?

I am listening to Cassandra Wilson singing the U2 song, "Love is Blindness". Nice arrangement, but the thing that grabs you is Wilson's vocal interpretation -- so unlike Bono that it seems like a new and different song. It's on her recording "New Moon Daughter", if you're curious.

It's a quiet Saturday afternoon. Listening to music, relaxing. Thinking about other U2 songs.

Here's one I like, from "All You Can't Leave Behind". I don't believe in a life hereafter, except in the sense that life and the world will get on without me long after I am gone. But it would be nice to think our love lives on -- that somehow it is not lost or left behind.

It is futile to cling to the things of this world, yet there is no other world; useless to cling to life even though there is no other life to come. Even the people we love are here only for a short time as are we all.

Who can afford to waste time on foolishness and heartache, on pettiness and misunderstanding, on fear and resentment?

Thoughts on a languid summer afternoon.

WALK ON by U2

And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring...
And love is not the easy thing...
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind

And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for a second you turn back
Oh no, be strong

Walk on, walk on
What you got, they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight...

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
Youcould have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

Walk on, walk on
What you got they can't deny it
Can't sell it or buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight

And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on
Home...hard to know what it is if you never had one
Home...I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the heart is

I know it aches
How your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on
Leave it behind
You've got to leave it behind

All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme...

Bartleby at DHS

Do you miss Bernard Kerik?

I heard Michael Chertoff (head of DHS -- Dept of Homeland Security) on the radio this morning talking about how the states and cities of America are basically on their own as far as protecting mass transit systems from terrorism -- the feds have no money for this Blue state problem.

Meanwhile New York's MTA -- who run the buses and subways here -- are being chided for having spent about 10% of the $500 million they actually did get from Washington....

Between indifference and incompetence, nothing gets done.

I find the intersection of these stories with the news from London to be much more disturbing than the President's non-response to that August briefing about bin laden planning to attack. After all, here is a very specific threat -- the kind public officials are always complaining they never get -- and not only is nothing being done, but the guy who runs our DHS is on the airwaves saying, in essence "not my job, man".

Chertoff made a point of bemoaning the fact that people riding the MTA system are not responding to the message that they should be vigilant about suspicious packages left in trains and buses and in related public spaces. He was saying how important it is that people are vigilant and observant and ready to report anything out of the ordinary. Can you imagine what it would be like if New Yorkers started phoning in everything they saw that was strange or suspicious? Is he seriously suggesting that people on the train have to take responsibility for security, as if we were in some wild west frontier town without a sheriff?

I thought he and Bush were the sheriff? Did they quit, or as in the case of dear old Bartleby, is it simply their preference not to do their jobs?

Meanwhile, the story from London is that the attacks were perpetrated by suicide bombers who did not leave a bomb lying about in a suspicious package, but carried the bombs on their persons. So all this crap about keeping an eye out for a stray package is rather odd -- at best an incomplete and inadequate response, and more than a little insulting.

Chertoff may not have been paying attention, or maybe as he passed the funding problem to the states and cities, he suddenly realized he needed to dump some responsibility on the poor slob on the train too.

Great strategy, Mike. If my train blows up tomorrow, I will know it's not your fault.

Maybe Mikey would like to go to the UK -- I'm sure the families burying their dead will enjoy hearing from him. At least they will be comforted in the knowledge that their homeland security efforts are not in the hands of such incompetents...

--- Neil

See also my earlier post at The Blue Voice on this subject...

Private Personal Accounts

I have been trying to make sense of the President's proposal on social security. Originally, I heard there was going to be an ownership society and social security was going to be privatized.

Of course, I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded very good on TV -- you know those ten second clips they play..."The President campaigned in East Homophobe, Missouri today and was cheered by a large crowd who may have been left way behind at some point in their sorry-ass lives -- here'a a brief clip":

(picture flags waving and a band playing something patriotic -- now cut to the podium where the President is struggling to be heard above the din)

"...Ownership Society...blah blah blah...it's your money...blah blah blah....nukular weapons....Saddam Hussein,,,mushroom cloud...a man and a woman....9/11.....private accounts".

Everybody cheered. I don't really know for sure, but I think they mostly cheered because he wasn't that geeky guy from Massachusetts. Anyway, I don't think anyone there understood privatization, or personal accounts either, for that matter.

What I still don't understand is why he had to go and explain it to us now. He was doing so good up to that point.

It's like Iraq. He was doing so good with the whole Taliban thing in Afghanistan. Okay -- so he didn't get Osama, but nobody seems to care anymore. So why did he have to go and fuck it all up by attacking Iraq?
I don't get it at all. But there you go.

So now we know what he wants to do with social security, and basically what that is is a huge fucking disaster -- even worse than Iraq, I think. He seems determined to go down in history as the biggest moron not actually from Texas in our nation's short history.

And that is my privatized personal opinion.

Arbusto the Destroyer

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it, is it Bush's fault?
You have to ask?

New Rule Opens National Forest to Roads
- By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, May 5, 2005

The last 58.5 million acres of untouched national forests, which President Clinton had set aside for protection, were opened to possible logging, mining and other commercial uses by the Bush administration on Thursday.

New rules from the U.S. Forest Service cover some of the most pristine federal land in 38 states and Puerto Rico. Ninety-seven percent of it is in 12 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Governors can submit petitions within 18 months to stop road building on some of the 34.3 million acres where it would now be permitted or request that new forest management plans be written to allow the construction on some of the other 24.2 million acres.

Many officials made it clear much of the land will remain untouched.
"We have no plans to build roads in the roadless areas of the national forests in California. ... Areas are roadless here for a reason," said Matt Mathes, a regional spokesman for the Forest Service in the state.

....Right, they have no plans. And no plans to make plans. But they are really glad to have this restriction out of the way. But don't worry -- remember, they have no plans.

They do however have a history, a record, and it isn't reassuring. In short, for people with no plans, they sure do like to rip up the woods to build roads.

It is a little known fact and unfortunately a tragic bit of trivia, that the Forest Service has built more miles of road than any other entity, public or private, in the world.

As implausible as this may seem, the numbers do not lie. So far, the Forest Service has constructed 343,000 miles of road on our national forests. This alone is eight times the entire mileage of the United States Interstate Highway System.

The figures are astonishing and exceed any imaginable need or justification, aside from the gratification of a perverse lust for paving a path through America's most natural and undisturbed woodlands and wilderness areas.

In the hilarious book "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson included a very funny critique of this destructive fetish of the Forest Service for laying asphalt roadways in our (somewhat) protected wilderness areas.
Reading this AP story tonight, I was struck not so much by the typical antipathy of the Bushies to trees and nature and all that environmental crap the liberals always whine about, nor by the glaring dishonesty of the Forest Service spokesman, but by the observation that Bush has succeeded in dulling our senses to the evil and incompetence of his policies.

He has pushed us so far, so hard, for so long, that we have all but ceased to notice the daily regress of our civil rights, our environment, our economic and national security. It has gotten so bad that a story like this one is likely to slide right through without comment or protest -- or at least nothing Bush needs to worry about.

-- Why does a guy named Bush hate trees anyway?

By the way, if you like hiking and have ever considered through-hiking the AT, check out Bryson's book. It is a good read.

Neil

National Priorities

What should be our priorities for the next four years? I wonder if we considered those priorities, how this thinking might affect the election now just a few weeks off?

What do you think we should focus upon?

I invite you to list the five most important issues -- and your suggestion of our best policy for each. I also invite you to state which of the candidates for President is aligned with your priorities and related policy positions.

To start us off, here are my own top five:

1. Preparedness for Terrorist Attacks in America: My policy in this area would call for investment in the necessary human and physical resources (police, fire, emergency services, antidotes/medicines, public health facilities) and the plans and drills necessary to ensure readiness when needed. It would also require legislative and regulatory action to toughen-up security around our chemical plants, nuclear reactors, sensitive bio-chem facilities, ports and other border security, cargo inspection, and transportation security. Finally, it would include coordination and cooperation in readiness drills for response to terrorist attacks between all state, local and federal agencies to ensure that these elements are truly prepared to work together quickly in the actual event. Implicit in this is that the Department of Homeland Security must be an actively leading and supporting all of this activity.

2. Elimination of Al Qaeda and Islamic Terrorism: My policy would require the massive allocation of our military and intelligence resources to flush-out and destroy Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Yemen, Chechnya, The Phillipines, and elsewhere (including, now that we have destroyed its own army, police and internal security structures, Iraq). This will require a larger military and increased intelligence resources, as well as alliances with Muslim governments to aid in the prosecution of this war on terror.

3. Reestablish American Global Leadership: Restore America's moral leadership around the world and draw people of goodwill to our side for the long struggle to discredit and destroy terrorist organizations. The limits of our own intelligence capabilities and the need to counteract the recruitment efforts of Al Qaeda combine to push us toward multilateralism and to seek allies among the leaders of nations with Muslim populations. This also implies that we will move away from the unilateralist impulses that led America to walk away from a long list of treaties and agreements that enjoyed the support of the vast majority of our allies and other friendly nations. In short, we need to embrace the world and move it to work with us to achieve our global objectives.

4. End the Occupation of Iraq: Move 100,000 troops to Iraq from around the globe and crush the resistance forces through the unrestrained application of all resources at our disposal. Get it done. Arm the Kurds to the teeth so that they can defend themselves after we leave. Then get the hell out of the place. Timeline: no more than 6 months.

5. Strengthen America: Repeal the Bush tax giveaways and invest in basic access to healthcare, military and homeland security resources, and deficit reduction. Build non-partisan solutions to our priorities. End the extremism of the Bush domestic program and remove political leaders who don't get with the program -- on both sides of the aisle.

In my view, this all sums up to a vote against Bush -- and therefore I will vote for the other guy.

Vote for Kerry!