Sen. Allen: Sorry,...macaca!

In case you haven't heard about Sen. Allen's (R, VA) racist remark describing a young American of Indian descent while the young man was observing his remarks as a volunteer for the Democratic challenger, below is an excerpt of an article at AP.
Aug 24, 9:45 AM EDT
Sen. Allen Apologizes for 'Macaca' Jibe

Sen. Allen Under Fire for Controversial Remark

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Sen. George Allen personally called an opponent's aide and apologized for singling the man out almost two weeks ago with an obscure comment that has cast a shadow over the senator's White House ambitions, his campaign said.
S.R. Sidarth, a Democratic volunteer of Indian descent, was videotaping an Allen campaign event when the senator pointed to him and twice called him "Macaca." Macaca is a genus of monkeys that includes macaques, and is also considered a racial slur in some parts of the world.
"This fellow over here with the yellow shirt - Macaca or whatever his name is - he's with my opponent," Allen said.

Interesting selection of slurs, macaca, to describe a dark-skinned human being. As if monkey hasn't been used as a pejorative for dark-skinned Americans before. Every effort should be expended to capitalize on this unguarded moment for the obviously racist Senator of, gasp, the Republican party. Hard to imagine such an important office as U.S. Senator occupied by a racist minion of the GOP. Certainly plenty of forgiveness will be directed Allen's way by fellow GOP ideologues since they share similar points of view on such the issue. At Republican functions, there's a lot of wink-wink action on race going on. I should know, I've been to some of those Republican meetings in the past. The damnable enemy, at least in the Southern manifestation of the New Republican movement, is always tinged with a racial undertone in the assumed nature of behavior and ideas the party officially hate. The premise that the nation has gone to hell since integration(and certainly the New Deal and Great Society legislation, which essentially saved the South from starvation and total ruin), for instance, and their desire to wreck ALL public schools the way white Mississippi residents did in response to forced integration by pulling their kids from public schools and setting up a remarkable private school system. These are some of the folks truly clamoring to push the voucher idea down our collective throats to the chagrin of the children of the rank-and- file. No way taking money out of a public educational system would spell doom for most kids, despite the alluring idea that ALL kids can easily pick up and attend the private school of their choice. I've heard such utopian talk before and there is no way the public will benefit from such a disastrous legal theft(tyrannous majority) of public funds.

In other words, white Republicans certainly have their own code-language as they accuse "politically correct-inistas". I'm no fan of the so-called "political correctness" movement. Allen's remark was highly inappropriate and it's too bad he didn't choose someone who would knock his block off for the insult. That's the way things are solved in the South, Senator. Or so I've heard from the GOP Congressional delegation who have pushed us headlong into this disastrous war who largely don't want THEIR children serving in combat(unless you count McCain's son's latest entry into the military). They don't want their top donors to experience loss, so no draft without exemptions for this war of "survival" for the U.S. If our survival were at stake, I would imagine every 20-something would be called to serve the nation in this time of crisis. The true crisis is the mismanagement of America and Sen. Allen is part of that syndicate of doom threatening the very survival of our Constitution. The Constitution has survived since 1787 and I want it to last another 220 years.

All I know is practically ALL rank-and-file Americans decided conservatism was a bankrupt, faulty movement after their lack of response to the Great Depression in saving Americans from the hopelessness and privation of people in those days. I hope it doesn't take yet another economic cataclysm for Americans to once again see conservative politics(apologies to George will, who would disagree that I'm lumping traditional conservatives into the morally flawed neo-conservative movement) for the serious flaws it has exhibited in history and learning yet another hard lesson. What do Republicans offer? Oh great, a tax cut for a nation $8 Trillion in debt fighting a bleeding ulcer of a war that could needlessly bleed America dry(homage to David Sanders, resident AR economic spinster). Most folks don't really understand that we are merely a temporal beacon of republican democracy if we don't take care to preserve our values and our Constitution while still effectively combating the forces of Islam who seek our destruction as well as that of western civilization. Bush and Allen's faction has placed us in a more precarious position than I remember in my lifetime(two generations) and arguably since WW II and its immediate aftermath. Since our erstwhile WW II ally and Cold War opponent USSR has dissolved as a nation, some Americans have decided that diplomacy was a failed art. I know for a fact that the Cold War was not won on a battlefield. Diplomacy and a wiser deployment of military assets than we have experienced with Rumsfeld/Bush's war the past 3 1/2 years ultimately won the Cold War, along with the fundamental flaw of a controlled economy. Also, the USSR was the last place Marx or Engels expected a Marxist revolution, since Russia was hardly an industrialized giant like UK and Germany. The Marxist model was meant for an industrialized nation, not an agrarian peasant nation.

I have a million reasons to believe another decade of Republican dominance will be quite capable of destroying our nation. I do not wish to see this brilliant form of government die by collective suicide. The stakes are too high for any of us to take our duty to participate in the republican democracy for granted. In terms of parliamentary government, the key is to oppose this reckless, self-serving horde and choose the opposition in this election cycle.

Bush AWOL again

I couldn't find the video feed, but I just witnessed Andrea Mitchell of NBC News reporting that President Bush just called PM Olmert of Israel on the telephone after a month of conflict in Lebanon. Bush called off his vacation to the "Western" White House (such a ridiculous looking placard behind the lectern at the Crawford gym) after a record for fewest days on his August vacation (10 days). Since 2001, the U.S. have provided approximately $20 Billion dollars in military aid and Bush feels no need to actually have a talk with Olmert about repercussions of the decision to destroy a nation the Bush administration touted as a success story in democratic nation-building after they demanded the Syrian army and intelligence services vacate Lebanon after Hariri's assassination was determined to have been aided by Syrian agents? Ridiculous, isn't it?

Tacit approval for destroying the infrastructure and killing a large number of innocent civilians of a Lebanon success story in democracy is hardly the signal one wants to send to what moderates are left in Lebanon at this point. Hopefully, Lebanon can find its counterpart to a war weary Sadat back in 1978, but I doubt it at this point. Shiites throughout the new "Shia Crescent(courtesy George W. Bush's reckless decision to invade Iraq), a newly abused term by neo-con media hacks for the new state of affairs in the old Fertile Crescent where Shiites inhabit and now rule a swath of land from Iran, thru Iraq, into Syria and Lebanon(which excludes the Shiite enclaves along the eastern part of Saudi Arabia) since Sunni strongman and beat-down Middle East figure Saddam was removed from power allowing Iran to claim a 31st province. Iran is certainly driving its recipient of aid Hezbollah to launch the missiles and do stupid things like kidnap an Israeli soldier as goons from Gaza did a few days before.

Bush has shown no leadership in regard to our ally Israel and has obviously offered no personal perspective directly to Olmert. Certainly Secy. Rice has called on Olmert. Not good enough Dubya. Once again, you're AWOL when leadership is demanded much as he did on September 11 continuing a photo op at an elementary school in Florida instead of displaying immediate leadership. Crowing thru a bullhorn after you went into hiding in Louisiana and Nebraska didn't cut it Mr. President. Refusing to speak to an important figure like PM Olmert until a month of what could grow into a military disaster both for Israeli and American troops and which has already been a disaster for Lebanese civilians (who can hardly be blamed for accepting Hezbollah largess, since there are no service providers for the poor of Lebanon other than Hezbollah's de facto government in Lebanon).

Unfortunately, a Sadat figure will hardly be capable of emerging in this climate, particularly in Lebanon where no politician will dare speak out against Hezbollah both for fear of retribution from the terrorist organization or the voters who can keep that person in office in the next round of elections. Folks in Lebanon who may have had a more favorable view of America despite dislike and distrust of Israel are few and far between. The level of jeopardy our soliders face seems to increase by the hour as the Israeli conflict widens to the point that Israel threatened to raise 30,000 troops for the effort in Lebanon. Hopefully, the new U.N. deal can be effective, but I wouldn't hold my breath. According to reports, 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers will assist Lebanese troops in south Lebanon to take control when Israeli troops vacate their hard-fought ground.

One month of this conflict may have caused irreparable harm to prospects for a stabilization of the wider Middle East crisis. Iraq is still a bloody war for Iraqi civilians and American troops and is still a prime training ground for future murderers of westerners and rival Islamic faithful(for whomever the trained assassins do their dirty work of murder and mayhem). Iraq will be the great destabilizer in the region for years to come. Is there much of a difference from Saddam's heyday before the Gulf War of 1991 knocked him off his pedestal for good after Iran dealt him a massive blow in the eight year war that ended in 1988? The answer is the region is more unstable and more dangerous because of Dubya's decision to invade Iraq. Iran's major enemy has been deposed and is awaiting the end of his trial and subsequent execution. Things are mighty fine inTehran, you have to believe. They have influence in the region as never before. Congratulations Mr. President. You've managed to be AWOL for most of your 5 years in office. Why should we have expected any different approach to governance in dealing with our closest ally in the region (who by the way was responsible for 25 American NSA personnel deaths on the Liberty in 1967 as they listened to a massacre of Egyptian troops over the airwaves at the time of the 6 Day War--sorry, I love to remind Christian Zionists of who they're dealing with)? Don't get me wrong. Having a European country in the Levant can be a wonderful asset, so I don't begrudge all the near $20 Billion dollars in aid since 2001. I do begrudge a world leader who is too goddamned lazy to pick up a telephone and talk to one of his nation's strongest allies about a potential disaster unfolding over 30 days.

Israel should not have destroyed Lebanon like it has. Hezbollah should not have fired hundreds of missiles into northern Israel or kidnapped the soldier, but two wrongs don't make a right. Since Israeli officials and defense wonks all seemed to agree that little good was done from the air to disable Hezbollah's capacity to fires missiles into Israel I hardly see why they should have continued to bomb the hell out of much of Lebanon(not just the south) and create more radical enemies of the U.S. and Israel. Oy vey!

Free speech: Republican jackass style

Dana D. Kelley, Republican idiot columnist from Jonesboro, hired as a counter to ol' right wing pal from Lyon College in Batesville Bradley Gitz(must be one of those D. James Kennedy hard right fundamentalist Presbyterians, assuming he shares the faith of his employer). Kelley and Gitz are fellow right wing opinionists for what has become of the once highly esteemed AR Gazette since the Democrat, long an outlet of the right wing agenda to destroy America for Americans, bought it out during the news wars years ago. Leave it to Kelley to choose the one time to champion free speech in championing the cause of the Ku Klux Klan and its event held in support of anti-immigration policies. Warwick Sabin commented on his AR Times blog and it's really no shock to see Kelley defending the right of the Klan to deliver a "message" to (WHITE) America about immigration in Amarillo, TX(of all places---GEE!):

"Here in America, we usually aspire to not shoot the messenger when hard truths have to be tackled. It’s worrisome that now, in the depths of the chasm into which civility and Voltairean stateliness have sunk, it’s becoming acceptable to kill the message. "

Despite the fact that we've heard the Klan's view on keeping immigrants out of America, why shouldn't counter protesters attempt to drown out the same old "message" we've heard from the Klan before? I suppose the difference between Gitz and Kelley respectively are now hard right nutjob and harder right wing nutjob. Congratulations Dana Kelley. What a frickin' moron! Give us a White Power chant for old times sake, Dana. "White Power!!!!!! " The Democrat(don't let the name fool ya--it was a GOP rag long ago) has really turned the civil rights work of the Gazette on its head. Faubus would be damned proud to hear the old racial passions stirred in AR again. Is Kelley considering a run for the AR Legislature? He's following the Faubus Formula, tried and true from 1954-1966. Geez Kelley. Another GOP opportunist who hides behind a civil rights argument just to gain a measure of revenge over civil rights legislation or poverty net programs or any of a number of New Deal reforms that have survived to this day and were correctly implemented. The fact that wages haven't increased much in 36 years doesn't seem to phase the increasingly more reactionary American voter(I'll believe polling of the level of fatigue of Americans with the GOP assault on ordinary Americans when the bastards are put back on the street to return from whence they derived their venomous hatred of America's brand of freedom).

Amazing!

Lieberman blowback in AR?

What does the Lieberman loss in the Democratic primary in Connecticut do for Arkansas? Not much. Lincoln and Pryor are still formidable Dems for the GOP to defeat, though a Huckabee/Pryor match-up could prove intriguing, except Pryor seems adept at controlling the debate in his previous campaigns. As the disaster of the Bush administration finally registers with a majority of actual voters, Pryor will be able to hang Huckabee with his Bush rope, though lately, Huckabee seems intent to place some distance between himself and the national GOP(guvs association news today) so he can posture as an anti-beltway Republican. He wants very little to do with their disastrous policies except to continue the encouraging words for the war on "terror"(or the war to create as many suicidal terrorists as possible to kill westerners). The Lieberman "blowback" in Arkansas will be barely negligible, since a Democrat who prevailingly voted with fellow Dems, except for his unapologetic support for neo-con fiascoes,in a moderate state has lost so not much will change with Lamont, except he will unapologetically reject neo-con foreign policy theoretics.

Nationally, it would seem that the Lieberman blowback could be an issue to follow this fall and in the '08 election cycle. What effect his loss in a generally moderate to liberal state is hard to judge in the heartland or the Sun Belt(sorry to quote Kevin Phillips, but he wrote the book on the Southern (and Western) strategy for the Nixonites). Only when an anti-war advocate wins a major race in states like Ohio, Florida, Texas, or Missouri, i.e., states away from the middle Atlantic and New England coastal shelf will a definitive blowback be discernible by moderate (to right) Dems and right-wing GOP candidates. Dems shouldn't get too excited just yet; a lot of work is yet to be accomplished before we can rest in our labor to retake America and perhaps grant us a reprieve from total collapse that seems to loom larger by the day. If Americans fail to reject GOP governance this fall, our Constitutional democracy might not survive another 219 years.

Gen. Pace waxes Pollyannic(sort of)

Times Online: "General John Abizaid, the head of US forces in the Middle East, told the Senate committee that the sectarian violence was “probably as bad as I have seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war”.
The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Peter Pace, backed him up. “We do have the possibility of that developing into civil war.” He went on to say: “Shi’ite and Sunni are going to have to love their children more than they hate each other.”
If there was any doubt about the enduring nature of the conflict, Pace came up with the very same phrase that Golda Meir, the former prime minister of Israel, used in frustration about the attitude of “the Arabs” towards her young nation. That was in 1957 and, as the fighting in Lebanon demonstrates, there is still no peace in the Middle East.
The statistics in Iraq tell their own grim story. Over the course of the year, the number of violent killings of civilians has risen from 1,178 in January to 3,149 in June, the latest period for which figures are available. "

In the spirit of the self-described "manly" political phrasing by the GOP, Gen. Pace sounds downright pinko, commie, leftist, tree-hugger, since the muscular militarist approach has completely failed and have cost the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans(it's actually 2600, but pay attention by the end of summer--it'll be 3,000). Pace reflects an Israeli prime minister of the 60s and 70s to describe the state of affairs in the Islamic world and he acts as if it was a surprise. The only surprise here is how incapable the Bush White House has proven its capacity to anticipate obvious problems with their whole Middle East strategy(speak of "liberal" use of the word strategy). It's as if the GOP foreign policy and military wonks were dropped from the sky one day in 2000 when they likely planned this whole disaster(certainly earlier) and disregarded practically the entire history of Middle East relations. Not to forget that the major wars of Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973 were fought by Islamic armies that had little support from Iran, since the American puppet Shah was in charge after an American coup against Mussadiq, an elected prime minister of Iran in 1953. Now, virtually every Islamic government provides some sort of aid and comfort to our terrorist enemies, including old stalwart friend and peace partner of Camp David, Egypt. Mubarak plays both sides of the fence, encouraging radicals on one hand and preventing them from inclusion in the governance of Egypt on the other. Saudi Arabia definitely supports the populist radical Islamic tide as our other great friend UAE and their exploitation of the American effort in Iraq to effect a pan-Islamic rapprochement between Shiites and Sunnis as exemplified by the Lebanese crisis and Sunni and Christian acceptance of Hezbollah as a legitmate political, humanitarian, and armed force through the widespread Islamic media outlet financed by the emir.

Armageddonists don't get to claim that a global cataclysm which could certainly result from the misguided invasion of Iraq as a prophetic event since they deliberately took the reins of the American ship of state and forced the issue. Self-fulfilling prophecies hardly qualify as legitimate Biblical prophetic events. Maybe some more of our millennialist, armageddon-worshipping jackasses can send their sons and daughters to the recruiting stations to sign up for this war. If you get killed, you have God's blessing. You shouldn't be afraid to die, since you have such good relations with the man upstairs. Tim LaHaye for secretary of state and Pat Robertson as defense minister. Pat's first act: Planning the rescue of good friend and notorious war-criminal Charles Taylor from a Dutch jail. Second act: a full-scale invasion of every Middle Eastern nation we haven't invaded. We could certainly have a lot to watch on the 24 hour cable channels with all that bloodshed to report.

About Paul Eells....

I was lucky enough to have met Paul Eells years ago when he was a speaker at an athletic banquet I attended in Little Rock back in the late eighties and I must admit I will miss hearing his voice on Razorbacks broadcasts. He was a first rate gentleman, a rarity these days, and the fans of the Razorback program are never going to see the likes of such a gentleman again. At the banquet, Paul told some of his trademark "corny" jokes, but I never heard the group of 17 and 18 year old young men say a disparaging word about our speaker. He's an original and I hope his family and the family of Billie Jo Burton of Dover, who also seems to have been a beloved member of her community and her young athletic charges on her softball teams she's coached over the years, will be able to overcome these difficult losses of two fine human beings.

Hitler and Mel: Brothers in Arms

"In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and with it that of the whole nation, and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevizing of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!"
Adolf Hitler - January 30, 1939


Does this speech sound a bit familiar? Hitler blamed the Jews for their loss in WW I. The "back-stabbed" theory was the bill of goods he sold his nation after their bitter loss in the cataclysmic First World War and they needed a scapegoat that could be isolated as not quite German. Gibson's contention with the deputy along PCH that Jews cause all wars certainly doesn't differ much from Hitler's infamous "Final Solution" speech. Jews had "caused" the First World War and naturally they have begun all wars, as Gibson and Hitler seem to have similarly contended. Sound reasoning is something Gibson lacks and likely will ever be his undoing. Try reading Mein Kampf and a history book about WW II to discover Hitler's inability to reason soundly. Mel's career should end for his neurotic drunken rant at an officer who clocked him at 87 mph in a 45 mph zone. He's lucky he didn't get a baton against his self-righteous skull if it's true he tried to flee. I wouldn't have been a recipient of such weighted treatment, particularly with revelations that Mel has had similar run-ins under similar circumstances of alcohol use and high speed along PCH near his home in Malibu.

Mel Gibson is a jackass and deserves to fade from view. I rather doubt his career is over, but I hope he takes a beating from which he never fully recovers in the public sphere. His reckless unfounded beliefs should be granted no quarter among decent human beings.