It’s still there, isn’t it? al Qaida doesn’t run the joint and they’re not flying suicide airliners into the oilwells. By Bush’s definition that counts as a big win. Sure, thousands are dying every month, but it’s never been about the people, people.

Bush launched the War on Terrorism because of the damage done to property, (aka: wealth) on 9/11. Lives can always be replicated at a lower cost. That’s Economics 101.

And look at the good he’s achieved in Iraq recently. The Green Zone’s safer than ever and bombings are rare. The Surge has caused a drop in fatalities from 64 per day to a mere 61. And even displaced Traqis and refugees are no longer a problem.

Best of all, he’s finally won over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi populace that he’d previously lost at Abu Ghraib.

He made an example of Saddam Hussein that has reverberated across the globe. Intimidated by Bush’s willingness to use our military might, terror attacks are way down and civil wars are being resolved diplomatically.

In the violent frontier of Waziristan - the part of Pakistan where the Taliban and Osama have used as a hideout, peace has been restored. Pakistan’s religious schools that used to train deadly jihadists are now helping orphans learn and aiding senior citizens with their daily chores.

And best of all, Pakistan now can see the benefits of democracy and has decided to shift from the rule of military dictatorship to democracy, with complete US support.

Kabul, the pacified capital of Afghanistan, has become as quiet as Kansas wheat field.

Iran has responded by permitting complete UN oversight of its peaceful nuclear power production operations.

And their salute to the British Navy has also shown how much they respect the freedom and might of great western powers.

Nearby, in Africa, Somalia’s become a tranquil island of calm. Darfur, in Sudan, has been drawing plaudits from the UN for the tranquillity that has replaced the genocide there.

Even troubled Zimbabwe has gotten on the Peace and Love Train.

Former foes of the US that have become strong trading partners no longer support violence as a means of settling disputes. China is a model of benevolence and successful capitalism, which is reassuring since they control our national debt. And Bush’s good friend in Russia, Vladimir Putin, has reformed their once infamous prison system and turned it into a virtual set of summer camps.

In the most troublesome areas of the Middle East, all of Iraq’s neighbors are tight with Bush and working on agreements that should solve everything, including the Israel-Palestine war.

And our intelligence system is operating better than ever.

Best of all, the groups and businesses providing funds to terror organizations have been completely shut down by Bush’s exemplary Justice Department:

The Chicago Tribune reported on Thursday that Colombia’s chief federal prosecutor, Mario Iguaran, has formally requested from the US Justice Department documents relating to Chiquita’s payment of $1.7 million to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known as the AUC, by its Spanish initials) a group that the United States labels a terrorist organization.

Chiquita pleaded guilty Monday in US federal court to making payments to the AUC, and agreed to pay a $25 million fine, payable over five years. As part of the plea agreement, the US government will not publicly identify the senior Chiquita executives who approved the illegal payments.

Speaking in Bogotá, Mr. Iguaran denied Chiquita’s claims that the payments were made under duress.

“The relationship was not one of the extortionist and the extorted but a criminal relationship,” Iguaran told a handful of foreign correspondents in an interview.

“It’s a much bigger, more macabre plan,” he added. “Who wouldn’t know what an illegal armed group like the AUC does . . . by exterminating and annihilating its enemies,” Iguaran said. “When you pay a group like this you are conscious of what they are doing.”

And the prosecution of terrorists is going swimmingly, as well.

It’s also noteworthy that Bush has done more to advance equal rights in the US than anyone since Martin Luther King, Jr. Because of him, the most powerful woman in our government’s history exists, and she’s making real strides in foreign diplomacy where Real Men fear to tread.

His critics can be damned, as Bush’s popularity and place in history are secured, according to the latest numbers.

Tomorrow’s April Fools Day, but nearly 30% of the country celebrates it all year.

He would have been 80 today, but we lost him at 66. Cesar Chavez was as big a hero as Martin and Bobby to those who benefitted from his work, his sacrifices and his heart.

Three years younger and 10 days later, Dolores Huerta was born. She continues her advocacy for Latinos, women and other progressive causes today.

Interestingly, Chavez opposed illegal immigrants who wouldn’t unionize as he understood they threatened newly won worker rights and wages. Huerta now fights federal attempts to crack down on illegal immigration.

Without context, that sounds like they held different positions. But in view of the motivations of lawmakers today, I think Cesar would share her position. The xenophobia present today is thinly veiled as a law-and-order stance. With NAFTA, the concept of national borders has become practically obsolete and the struggles for equal rights and worker rights have to be global.

These days, I hear some compare Barack Obama to these heroes, mostly because his speeches inspire. I understand why some old civil rights era leaders feel the man hasn’t paid his dues. He hasn’t.

But while we honor backwards, we can only grow forward. Maybe Obama can help inspire more to join us in that walk. Maybe he’ll prove he can walk that talk.

Not many elected officials do.

Cesar did. He performed backbreaking labor in pesticided fields for less than the minimum wage. He fasted and marched to provoke positive changes.

I feel sad only that younger generations don’t always grasp how hard the struggles were and how people like these shone for all they endured while building hope. Because their struggles were shared, they truly represented millions.

There will be new heroes. I hope you can see your struggle in their works which is the difference between heroes and mere celebrities.

Willy Donohue, the wanker behind the Catholic League for Civil Rights for Straight Catholics Only, has his rosary in a twist over a sculpture of Jesus made out of an unapproved material (chocolate) and showing an unapproved body part (the, er, willy). According to Donohue, the sculpture is “”one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever,” apparently ranking right up there with the Holocaust, slavery, Darfur, and, probably, even the actual crucifixion itself.

Now if an anatomically-correct Jesus is so offensive, perhaps we should ask Donahue where he stands on all those medieval representations of Christ crucified without a loincloth. Like this one. In fact, as Leo Steinberg documents extensively in his classic treatise The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and Modern Oblivion, Renaissance artists frequently depicted a crucified Christ showing the part that Donohue dare not name. Sometimes, mostly during the sixteenth century and in the Low Countries, those depictions were — how shall we say it? — quite turgid. Where, I ask, is the Catholic League on this? Why are they not flooding museums with phone calls, outraged emails and threats of boycotts? Maybe it’s just the chocolate. Or maybe it’s just the dark chocolate; white chocolate might have been okay with these folks.

Of course, the other great thing about a chocolate Christ is the opportunity it provides Donohue to take a swipe at Muslims:

All those involved are lucky that angry Christians don’t react the way extremist Muslims do when they’re offended

Or are they?

The hotel and the gallery were overrun Thursday with angry phone calls and e-mails about the exhibit. [Matt] Semler [the gallery’s director] said the calls included death threats over the work of artist Cosimo Cavallaro, who was described as disappointed by the decision to cancel the display.

“In this situation, the hotel couldn’t continue to be supportive because of a fear for their own safety,” Semler said.

(Cross-posted at Outside the Tent.)

Islamic countries pushed through a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday urging a global prohibition on the public defamation of religion — a response largely to the furor last year over caricatures published in a Danish newspaper of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. …

The resolution, which was opposed by European and a number of other non-Muslim countries, “expresses deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations.”

It makes no mention of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism or any other religion besides Islam, but urges countries “to take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement and religious hatred, hostility, or violence.”

This is another great example of why Blue Gal’s upcoming Blogswarm Against Theocracy is so timely. I don’t care that this resolution singled out Islam as the only victim of “defamation” mentioned. I would oppose this power grab if it had been done by the World Council of Churches and only mentioned Christianity. The problem is not the intended beneficiary of this censorship, but the assault on the rights of its victims.

Each of us has an absolute right to defame, deride, denounce, decry, and generally dispute any and all religions (including, and even especially, our own, if any). If it is “hate speech” for me to say some religion’s beliefs are utter nonsense and its practices are criminal acts against humanity and civilization, then consider me guilty of it. Not a one of the world’s biggest and most prominent religions is free of such horrors, either historically or, in all too many cases, still today.

Any respect I have for the adherents of such faiths that strive to reform such madness and repair its damage, does not extend far enough to make me dishonest or silent about history or ongoing oppressions, no matter which deity’s will is claimed for support. Bring on your “prohibition”, and I’ll be proud to burn at your stake. But be warned — I don’t believe in turning the other cheek, and I’m a pretty good shot.

A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday after Cardinal Edward Egan and other outraged Catholics complained.

From the point of view of those seeking to increase church membership, this is an obvious mistake. What could bring out more people to regular mass than chocolate communion wafers? Furthermore, this would continue an old theological tradition. The very plants used to produce chocolate are quite rightly known as Theobroma cacao, or “food of the gods”. The ancient Aztecs not only drank it, but regularly sacrificed it to their gods.

The real reason this statue so upset vile Cafeteria Catholoholics like Bill “bash the bloggers” Donohue is not the delicious raw material, but the nudity of the depiction. He ranted “They wouldn’t show a depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. with genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn’t show Muhammed depicted this way during Ramadan.” I’m not quite sure just what religion he thinks Martin founded; perhaps he is confusing the civil rights leader (who probably would approve of at least the chocolate color of the sculpture) with the horrible heretic he was named after.

For some reason, none of the stories I’ve seen gives measurements, but if the organ displayed is sufficiently monumental, this might be yet another way to appeal to more converts among both straight women and gay men — which may be what frightens the patriarchalists like Donohue. But this, too, is part of an old tradition for the divine dessert. In pre-Columbian Mexico, “The cacao beverage as ritual were (sic) used only by men, as it was believed to be toxic for women and children.”

The impending attack on Iran (as pointless in the long run, and self-destructive in the short, as any of the many invasions attempted by the Roman and Byzantine empires) is being driven by delusional fanatics, who think their imaginary friend wants them to start the last world war. As one small act of defiance, some bloggers are going to post about the nonsense that leads to such idiocy:

Blue Gal has the details at The blog against theocracy blogswarm.

Marc D. Falkoff is a Professor of Law at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb Illinois; Professor Falkoff is co-counsel with the national law firm of Covington & Burling in the representation of 17 Yemeni nationals held as detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. On March 28, 2007, I had the privilege of interviewing Marc Falkoff by telephone; what follows are my interview notes as corrected by Professor Falkoff. [I first interviewed Mr. Falkoff together with his then colleague at Covington & Burling, David Remes, in February 2006; that interview has not been published.]

The Talking Dog: Thank you for speaking with me again. I usually start with this question because a surprising number of people I’ve interviewed were in downtown Manhattan on that morning and within a hundred yards of the World Trade Center (as were my brother and I). So, where were you on September 11th of 2001?

Marc Falkoff: I was in Denver clerking for a federal judge. When I went to the court house, I had heard that a plane had flown in to the World Trade Center. It occurred to me that at that very moment my wife was on a plane into New York, from London on a business trip. At that moment, we had no idea how many planes were involved, or which planes. I later learned my wife’s plane had been diverted to Canada. I was pretty much a wreck from all that.

The Talking Dog: Please tell me the current status of your 17 Yemeni clients? Have any been released? Have any of your clients been designated for trial by military commissions?

Marc Falkoff: All 17 of our Yemeni clients are still at Guantanamo. A total of 107 Yemenis have been held at Guantanamo; prior to 6 weeks ago, when 6 Yemenis were returned, only 2 Yemenis had been repatriated from Guantanamo in 5 years. None of my clients have been designated for the military commissions.

The Talking Dog: Did you– or your clients– know the Yemeni(s) who committed suicide last year?

Marc Falkoff: Certainly, our clients knew about the suicides. We haven’t asked them directly whether knew him (I believe there was only one Yemeni suicide)… they certainly knew of him. I haven’t had any specific conversations on the subject.

Of relevance, three of our clients are on the Defense Department’s “transferrable list”… there are 80 or 90 detainees overall on that list, eligible to be transferred out of Guantanamo as soon as a receiving country agrees to take them. The list is from both earlier Administrative Review Board and other earlier determinations… as you know, the ARB’s began in late 2004. This is somewhat subtle, and no one seems to understand this, but what it means is that some of these men have been eligible for release– determined by our own military to present no threat whatsoever– for a period of several years, but instead, they languish at Guantanamo. Three of my clients are sitting at Guantanamo even though the United States military has determined them to be of no danger whatsoever.
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It was perhaps because she was inimitable that none of Vigée-Le Brun’s pupils seems to have been able to carry on where she left off. … Yet, of all her generation, she was the only one whose art had celebrated from its very birth the new qualities of the human spirit that the Revolution had striven to liberate.
–Germaine Greer, The Obstacle Race

The Boston Globe reports with a stright face:

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman had some tough words Friday for embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales….

“I think it’s time for Attorney General Gonzales to really look into his own heart and soul, as tough as it is, and ask whether he should continue in this job.”

That would be tough for Joe to do, since it would require him to have a soul which he hadn’t already sold for scrap. This is really bad news for The Last Republican President Ever. If the poll-panderer supreme starts knifing you in the back, you’re totally toast.

Some say the best defense is a good offense. The new wave of Democrats in D.C. and the states is reviving the long-assumed dead Equal Rights Amendment. This is great if only because it forces the enablers of patriarchy to fight on ground they have taken for granted. Shakespeare’s Sister has the details.

I am the very model of a heroine barbarian;
Through Herculean efforts, I’ve become humanitarian.
I ride throughout the hinterland — at least that’s what they call it in
Those sissy towns like Athens (I, myself, am Amphipolitan). …

Five soldiers a day are seeking early discharge or are deserting from the all-volunteer American military.

No tangible figures are available as to how many have been Gitmotized^TM during the period studied. A couple of stories tend to stand out, though…

Deserters can also fare like Agustin Aguayo. For three years the Army medic has struggled to be recognized as a “conscientious objector” (CO), someone whose beliefs prevent him from taking part in war. In the meantime, the Mexican American spent a year treating broken comrades and bloody civilians in Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit — without a loaded weapon, even on dangerous patrols.

Now Aguayo, 35, sits in a military prison; on March 6 he will stand before a court-martial in Wurzburg.

[snip]

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The Courant reports:

Unable to overcome the wrath — and opposition — of key Democrats, the White House today withdrew the nomination of St. Louis businessman and major Republican donor Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium. … Fox had become the target of Democratic scorn because he gave $50,000 to the Swift Boat veterans group in 2004, a group that tried that summer and fall to discredit party presidential nominee John Kerry.

… Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent, took the extraordinary step last month of appearing before the committee to offer strong support. Fox is highly regarded in St. Louis for his philanthropic and civic activities, and Lieberman praised Fox as an example of “what America is all about.”

The really good news is that people may start to finally recognize Joe’s Bi-directional Kiss Of Death. It works whether you kiss him or he kisses you.

When you start talking about universal, single-payer healthcare, it’ll take about three minutes before a person opposed to joining the rest of the civilized world’s healthcare model, will bring up rationing.  It’s a scare tactic meant to make you think that you’ll die from cancer, infection, heart disease … before you get to see a GP’s assistant about that lump in your breast, lesion on your forearm, persistant headache, fainting spells, shortness of breath, axe in your skull etc … 

If you’ve researched the issue, then you know what a bunch of nonsense the argument is and you know that we already ration healthcare dramatically in this country.  The difference is who benefits from that rationing.  Here the exclusive beneficiaries are the insurance companies.  If you need proof, then simply carry this NYT story around with you to wave politely in the face of anyone who tells you that for-profit health care is the path we need to stay on.

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Since October of last year, The Coalition for Voting Integrity has been producing a radio show - available on WNJC1360 AM and the Internet - devoted to the exploration not only of the impact of electronic voting but also the nature of Democracy and our role in it as American citizens.   

The list of guests has been nothing short of astounding.  From a Pulizer-Prize winning historian to national experts on the issues and science behind electronic voting, every week has brought a wealth of information to the public.   

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The story posted just two below this one (“Prepare For War”) is scary, and could even be true, but one needs to carefully consider sources before giving in to panic. Its leading link is to an article headlined “Operation Bite - April 6 Sneak Attack By US Forces On Iran Planned - Russian Military Sources Warn”. Frightening — at least until you examine that site further.

The page is posted by Rense.com. Look over the type of ads on that home page and judge its audience for yourself. More importantly, look at another title prominently linked on that page: “Historian Irving Refutes Claims Of Auschwitz Gassings”. The article (an Associated Press story on Newsday) is actually headlined very differently, as “British Historian Denies WWII Gassings”. Needless to say it provides no proof of the long-refuted claims of that convicted holocaust denier. The Rense site retitled their link to appeal to someone they assume does (or that they want to) read their site. I think we know who that is; if not, scroll through the archives at Orcinus and read about those people.

This is not a swamp decent people want to step in. Bush may well be planning this attack, and even on that date. Russian sources (despite their notoriously corrupt, intimidated, and unreliable media today) may actually have revealed facts and not just speculation. Under no circumstances should we assume this to be true on the basis of such a web site as that one.

A Good Friday attack on Iran? It’s being reported by a Russian source.

And others say ’soon’.

Yet before I read any of these reports, my friend - an Iranian ex-patriate - was telling me ‘next Wednesday, April 4th.’ He based it on reports he received that Russians were leaving the country. He had no specific knowledge of an exact date, but felt a premonition about that one. But he’s certain it’s very very close/

It sure would distract Congress from its current concerns.

Now we now how it feels to be the Soviet Union.