Monday Morning Cheer

The weekend news coverage has been full of the article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker. It is terrifying to think about this possibility, but has crossed my mind before. With the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton approval ratings so low, starting another war probably seems to be the perfect solution. After all, that’s what pumped their popularity before. I hate to say it, but they are just that crazy.

Reuters is reporting this morning that the U.S. military has been conducting a propaganda campaign to inflate the importance of al-Zarqawi in destabilizing Iraq. Raw Story is reporting that Monday’s front page of the Washington Post will carry a story citing intelligence officials who question the military’s use of Zarqawi for "propagandistic" purposes.

The Post article also, reportedly, notes a "selective leak" which was given to a New York Times reporter regarding the importance of Zarqawi in Iraq. But, true to form, the military is dutifully denying that they tried to manipulate the press. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt is quoted as saying: "We trusted (the reporter) to write an accurate story, and we gave him a good scoop."
For the Raw Story article, go to:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Some_military_intelligence_officials_question_propagandistic_0409.html

This campaign to control the media has been a priority of the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton administration. Manipulation in Iraq only matches the manipulation of ideology in the U.S. Oh, has anybody finally started calling it a "civil war" yet?

Due in part to the focus on Iraq and the Middle East, Latin America has gotten some breathing room and has been electing leftist governments. Reuters is reporting that Ollanta Humala, who "vowed a revolution to redistribute Peru’s wealth to the Andean poor" was doing well in the three-way race for president. Go Ollanta. See the story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060410/ts_nm/peru_election_dc_16

In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez is threatening to throw out the U.S. ambassador.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4894478.stm

The immigration debate is still in the news this morning given the organization of various demonstrations all over the country. Grass roots organizing is grass roots organizing and demonstrations are demonstrations. It can’t, or shouldn’t make the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton crowd happy to see all this mobilization. People on the streets. My, my. Mobilizing begets mobilization.

The typical American "anti furriner" sentiment is on display this morning from callers to CSPAN.

One caller complained that when he went into Walmart, the employees wouldn’t speak English. "It sounds like a bunch of chickens chattering." He said.

Texas is "infested" with Mexicans, said another. This was from a Mexican-American. So, even self-described Mexican Americans are now anti furriner?

It is so much easier for people to focus their aggression and frustration on an identifiable group - the outsider - than it is to read and study and realize that the people who are f...... up their lives are in power.

Speaking of which...the current Bush/Cheney/Halliburton dodge about the Libby leak is that Bush authorized Libby to declassify information but did not authorize him to leak it to reporters. Right. Well, that satisfies me.

David Broder, columnist for the Washington Post, is on CSPAN this morning. He is making the point that because of redistricting, fewer and fewer Congresspeople have to worry about their voting records. As Mark Crispin Miller pointed out over the weekend, the Republicans have to cheat to win because their policies are so goddamn unpopular. With all this redistricting, they have the freedom to please the interests who are funding their campaigns. I, for one, am hoping that this mobilization will change some of that.

To the best of my knowledge, Phil Gingrey (read the bastard) is still running unopposed in the 11th district in Georgia. I have emailed the Democratic Party in Georgia to complain with no response. Where are they?

Well, I have to go do my taxes, figure out how much of my money is going to help rich people buy vacations and buy furniture for congressmen and fund an illegal war that I disagree with and help Halliburton make higher profits. I get so mad at tax time, my husband threatens every year in April to leave home. We do not make $500,000 a year and so didn't get any tax cuts from the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton criminal enterprise.