Darfur Dies While Elites Thrive in Sudan

Here is another reason why the U.S. should not stand idly by while genocide is committed in Darfur. This article from the times shows what is going on in Khartoum in the east of Sudan where the government and its elites are having a good 'ole time while committing genocide in the west.

Madonna and Oprah: The Perfect Match

Where else would Madonna, the biggest publicity hound since Cher and Roseanne Barr, appear to talk about her adoption "shopping trip to Africa"? Oprah, of course.

She can talk, they can hold hands, they can cry. A perfect match.

I hope Oprah will ask her some questions about why Africa and not Gary, Indiana, or Detroit before they start the banal talk about their "feelings" on the matter.

Poor Madonna. I'm sure she must be feeling as though she is being "crucified" for her charitable attempts to help the little boy. Then again, show does a show on that too, doesn't she.

Darfur--Rwanda Genocide Redux

The answer to this problem is so easy it is hard to believe the U.S. lets it continue. One NATO or U.S. tank division to protect the Africans against the slaughter by Arab janjaweed (militia) would stop the genocide in Darfur. Today's New York Times has its umpteenth article on what is happening.

"60 Minutes" had it's umpteenth show on the genocide last night. The Darfur genocide can easily be stopped if the Bush administration cared to stop it. The people committing the genocide are riding camels, for God's sake. How tough can it be for a few Hummers and Abrams tanks to send them running for the hills and establishing a security perimeter around the refugee camps?

It is appalling that Rwanda is being replayed right before the world's eyes and that no country or alliance is coming forward to stop it. It's too bad if the Sudan government doesn't want others to interfere.

If they interfered with a U.S. or NATO intervention, the Sudan government could be taken down more quickly than it took to flush Noriega out of Panama. They already have a civil war they can't handle and we should at least be covertly supporting it.

And here is Boy George at it again. He sent Colin Powell and Condi Rice, his only two African-American acquaintances, out there to express U.S. displeasure. After they left, the killing started again and Bush's position has been to "Let the UN handle it". How cynical can he get?

Normally he derides UN involvement. He's done nothing but bad-mouth the UN since he came into office. He deems it ineffective in dealing with this kind of crisis. And it is. Its force is not crossing the border from Chad into the Sudan to protect the 2 1/2 million refugees because Sudan said they shouldn't.

So why is he expecting the UN to do something he feels they are ineffective at doing? Easy answer. He doesn't care.

One thing we do know. There won't be any post-genocide apology a la Bill Clinton in Rwanda. As we all know, George Bush never apologizes for his mistakes, because he never makes any. Just ask him.

Iraq Timetable? The Bush Blame Game

The New York Times reported in its Sunday edition that the Bush administration poo-bahs, who have us quagmired in Iraq, have drawn up an Iraqi timetable.

Notice that it is not a timetable for ourselves. That's an important part of the "blame game" strategy that the Bushies have formulated. It's not to win the war. It's to blame someone else for losing it. The Iraqis, instead of Bill Clinton, will be blamed this time.

They have set time frames for the al-Maliki puppet governement to accomplish certain things, e.g., disarm militias, and other political and economic benchmarks that they probably cannot attain.

"Although the plan would not threaten Mr. al-Maliki with a withdrawal of U.S troops...the Bush administration would consider changes in military strategy" if the Iraqis didn't sign off on the plan.

Any plan that doesn't threaten withdrawal of troops for non-compliance is a joke. It will be like moving chairs on the Titanic, except much more serious. Those "chairs" will be our undermanned troops being moved from province to province again.

The only other alternative would be for the U.S. to "Fallujah" all of Sadr City and wipe out the Shiite militias, mainly the Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigades, ourselves. We would need a lot more troops, which we don't have.

We would also need the public political will prepared to take many more American casualties. The mid-term elections will show that that political no longer exists due to the disastrous execution of the Bush occupation of Iraq.

No credibility equals no political will, Boy George.

The Iraqi timetables/benchmarks/ guideposts, or whatever they want to call them, will only help Bush play his political "blame game." I can hear Bush now: "We lost the war because the Iraqis didn't meet the benchmarks we gave 'em."

This type of planning is exactly the kind of gradualism that extended the Vietnam War. It accomplished nothing. It did cost a lot more lives.

Sports Police Blotter-Oct.14-20

Juan Uribe-Chicago White Sox shortstop picked up for questioning under an arrest warrant in the Dominican Republic. Questioned about the shooting of two men. Released but remains a suspect.

Sammy Stewart-ex-pitcher for Baltimore Orioles pleaded guilty to being a habitual felon, felony drug possession and failure to appear in court on a felony. He's been charged with more than 60 offenses and sent to prison 6 times since 1988.

Matt Lehr-Atlanta Falcons guard suspended for 4 games for violating NFL substance abuse policy.

Shaun Rogers-Detroit Lions defensive end suspended for 4 games for taking a banned ingredient from an over-the-counter drug.

Sebatian Telfair-Boston Celtics guard under investigation for shooting of rapper Fabolous in the left thigh.

Madonna Adoption Sickens Me

As everyone knows, Madonna went on a well-publicized shopping spree in Malawi, Africa this week. She came back with a little boy who has a father, who put him in an orphanage because his mother was dead.

The picture of her walking down a line of orphans looking for the one she wanted sickens me. It's right out of a Dickens novel. That's the way I once picked out a cat in a barn. The fact that the child still had a father sickens me.

It doesn't matter whether he did ask Madonna to take his son. There were other children in that orphanage with no mother or father. And if she really wanted to help the father, she would arrange to have him immigrate to the UK and at least give him a job on her estate so that he to could escape poverty and be with his son.

By the way, the next time she or Angela Jolie wants to adopt a poor parentless child in order to rescue them from a life of poverty and crime, I can help. I can take them into areas of Gary, Indiana, or Jackson, Mississippi, or New York City and help them find any number of children worse off than the little boy she bought.

They are black, brown, and white; whatever color is "in style" for celebrities the next time they feel like getting publicity. I can guarantee they are in a worse situation than the child Madonna bought on her shopping trip.

Oh My God! I'm a Minority!

How could this happen in America to a white, male or female, baby boomer? I've never been a minority in my whole life. However, my wife and I did something many years ago that has recently come back to haunt us and condemned us to minority status. We got married.

According to a New York Times story, dated October 15, 2006, as a married couple we are in a relationship that for the first time in the history of the country is in the minority. How could we know back then? We were so young!

The Times story reports that living alone, or with other unmarrieds, has overtaken married couples in the majority of households in the U.S. This is according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It makes us very uncomfortable, considering America's past history of treating minorities with less than TLC. Worst of all it might make us a target of Karl Rove and other Republican strategists in the next election cycle.

Everyone knows that Rove, and his Republican predecessors, have made political hay bashing minorities, from blacks, to feminists, and most recently gays. They are also good at identifying a new minority like ours and quickly adapting their political strategy to take advantage of it for political gain.

Thank heavens the news of our minority status comes too late to be used as cannon fodder in the upcoming mid-term elections. But what about in election year 2008? I can see the Republican "attack ads" coming in the run-up to '08 election.

If I, my wife, or other married progressives run for office we'd best be prepared for the Republican onslaught of negative advertising. There's nothing like scapegoating a minority to hustle up a bushel full votes from the Republican base.

Here's what I fear Republican negative advertising against a married liberal would look like:

Voiceover:
"Vote Republican, vote for Joe Right Wingnut this fall. He's the father of three and has been happily divorced twice, just like Newt Gingrich. Joe is presently shacking up with his latest girlfriend.

He is just an average American like most of us. (Insert attractive color film of candidate
Wingnut, his housemate and three children, shot during his visitation weekend). He will lower your taxes by reinstating the marriage penalty on those shameless married couples who flout their relationships in public by wearing wedding rings."

(Switch to an unflattering, grainy black and white picture of the married Democratic candidate, looking out of the side of his eyes, making the candidate look as though he just stole a voter's wallet.)

Voiceover:
"This is Mr. Wingnut's opponent, (insert name). He (or she) wants to cut and run from Iran as well as Iraq. He wants to impose estate and gift taxes on Paris Hilton. If you can believe it, he actually expects business to live up to their pension obligations, and wants to make healthcare available to everyone, even poor children.

(Voice full of ridicule) But what would you expect, from a married person?

Vote Republican this fall. Vote Wingnut. Stop the "married minority" from running and ruining your life."

(Switch back to Wingnut, housemate, and kids, now playing with cute dog on lush green grass in front of a house that he does not own.)

"I'm Joe Wingnut and I approved this ad because my Republican consultant told me to."

Wow! It never occurred to me that those Republicans would smear the opposition party's candidates on a relationship status they used to praise. Until I became a minority. Now our "alternative lifestyle" has my wife and I very worried.

NFL Football Predictions-Week 6-Post-Mortem Updates

Dallas 34-Houston 10-No contest. Houston defensive end, picked 1s in the draft, not exactly having Reggie Bush impact. Was this Charlie Casserly's last bomb before he left to become an "expert" commentator, or was it the new owner? Expect Owens to get the ball a lot more.
Post-Mortem: Dallas 36-Houston 6 As expected. Houston needs to start all over with this franchise.

Buffalo 17-Detroit 6-These teams are so bad, this score could as easily be reversed. It's the "who cares" game of the week.
Post-Mortem: Lions 20-Bills 17 I got the Bills number right. Who cares?

Bengals 33-Tampa Bay 21-New Tampa QB looked good last week. We'll see if he's as good as he looks. I think he is. But Bengals are on a whole different level.
Post-Mortem: Tampa Bay14-Bengals 13 Tampa got the Bengals to play their game; defense.

Redskins 26-Titans 14-Vince Young will survive, but will not win much this year. He's lucky to have Jeff Fisher as coach. A smart coach who will keep it simple for the ingenue until he figures out how to use him effectively.
Post-Mortem: Titans 25-Skins 22 Jeff Fisher is a great coach. Skins haven't mproved much since Gibbs retruned. He'll probably hang it up after this year. Biggest personnel change Skins still need remains change in owner.

Falcons 24-Giants 13-Giants overrated again this year because of NY media. Michael Vick will run wild on weak defense. Vick's new "college option" offense will be hard to stop. Might be the answer to his mediocre throwing ability.
Post-Mortem: Giants 27-Falcons 14-Best I've seen Manning play. Looks like Atlanta is the overrated team. Mora won't be able to get away with firing another coordinator if he goes 8-8 again with the best athlete in pro football. He'll be gone.

Baltimore 17-Carolina 10-Defense, defense, defense. Both teams have great ones. However, Steve McNair makes the difference for this team. Their first real QB in years. Panthers unimaginative offense will hold them back again.
Post-Mortem: Carolina 23-Baltimore 21 No McNair after early concussion. Delhomme's best game ever overcomes coaches inability to call scoring plays twice within inches of Ravens's goal line and fluke catches by Ravens made game closer than it should have been. Despite Carolina coaches, Carolina is starting to look like a Super Bowl contender again with Steve Smith back.

Philadelphia 42-New Orleans 34-Lots of points and flash on both sides. Probably the most glamorous fun game for fans this the day.
Post-Mortem: New Orleans 27-Eagles 24 Pick wrong, but it was the glamor game of the day. Last second field goal to win was only fitting.

Rams 28-Seattle 27-Close game. Rams win due only to home-field advantage.
Post-Mortem: Seattle 30-Rams 28-Another last second field goal lets Seattle slip past Rams home-field advantage.

Jets 24-Miami 14-Miami is hapless and hopeless this year. Daunte Culpepper has the talent, but not the brains. New England not that good this year, but the division has become the weakest in the NFL.
Post-Mortem: Jets 20-Miami 17 Miami proves it can lose a little better with Joey Harrington than with Daunte Culpepper. It will take Saban a while to clean up Dave Wannstedt's "legacy". It took the Bears years to clean up the mess Wannstedt left in Chicago.

Steelers 23-Kansas City 21-Steelers will also win due to home-field, and because Cowher will go berserk if they lose again.
Post-Mortem: Steelers 45 KC 7 Cowher had his players more terrified than I thought. Why KC gave up draft picks to get Herm Edwards, after mediocre coaching career with Jets, is beyond comprehension.

San Diego 40-49ers 13-Rivers is the real thing and Tomlinson makes him that much more effective. Niners are real too; really terrible. A great franchise destroyed by "office politics" of all things. The ghosts of Terry Donohue and Steve Mariucci still haunt this franchise.
Post-Mortem: SD 48 49ers 19 No Surpise.

"Out" all Republican Gays in Congress

The best thing for the whole country is to force the Republican Party to "out" every gay on their side of the aisle in Congress, whether on staff or a politician. This is not a homophobic reaction to the Mark Foley scandal. Quite the contrary, it is to expose Republican hypocrisy and to take the gay issue off the political table.

Every two years since George Bush took office in 2000, Republicans have bashed gays for political advantage. They have quite intentionally misled their social conservative base into thinking that the Democratic Party is the party of homosexuals.

They were getting ready to do it again in this year's mid-term elections. They were campaigning on a theme that Nancy Pelosi would be the next Speaker of the House if the Dems took control. She is the representative from, horror of horrors, San Francisco, Sodom reborn.

Then the Mark Foley page scandal erupted and they were left without a campaign strategy and on the defensive. Does anyone believe that Foley is the only gay Republican? It is well known in Washington that other Congressmen, Senators, and staff are gay. It is coming out in the investigation of the Foley scandal that gays were working for the top leadership in the party.

Yet every two years these deeply closeted gays have had to endure the cynical hypocrisy of the Republican Party denounce gays in order to gain votes. They will have endure it in the future as well, unless everyone knows how many Republican gays are in Conress and what positions they hold.

That will prevent the Republicans from bashing gays every two years and then employing them to advance their agenda until the next election. It will effectively remove the gay issue from the political table, at least as a Republican versus Democrat issue.

Then both parties can admit they knowingly employ and rely upon intelligent and loyal gays in advancing their political agendas. This will only come as news to the followers of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Pat Robertson and Tony Perkins. The Falwells, Dobsons, and Robertson and Perkins's know that there are gay Republicans. They are just as cynical as the Republican Party itself in acting surprised that one turned up.

It will be cathartic for both the Republican Party, and the oppressed gay Republicans that have to stay closeted, to out them all. It will also end a major point of hypocrisy that has become ingrained in the political culture, i.e., gay-bashing rather than discussion of real issues like Iraq, healthcare, and the real War on Terror.

Sports Police Blotter-Oct.7-13

Chris Henry-Cincy Bengals receiver-2 game suspension for violating NFL substance abuse policy.

Stephen Jackson-Indiana Pacers guard, was arraigned on a felony charge of criminal recklessness and two other counts for a fight outside a strip club in which he discharged a firearm.

Steve Foley-San Diego Chargers linebacker, was charged with drunken driving stemming from a confrontation with a police officer in Coronado, California that resulted in Foley being shot three times.

Mark Downs, Jr., the Pennsylvania youth baseball coach accused of offering an 8-year-old money to bean an autistic teammate, was sentenced to two consecutive 6-36 month prison terms for corruption of minors and criminal solicitation to commit simple assault.

Axis of Evil 3-Bush Administration 0

North Korea
Well, the third part of the "Axis of Evil", North Korea, exploded a nuclear weapon yesterday(assuming they're not lying just to test world reaction), and they may have exploded one today.

This despite all the bluster by Boy George and company that we would not "live with it," and other threats of dire consequences. It capped an all-around great week for the Axis.

We've reversed roles with North Korea. They used to bluster and we used to shake our heads at what idiots they were. Now Bush blusters and Kim Jong-il nods his head knowingly.

I never thought that telling a paranoid regime that you were out to get them (as Bush implied in his now infamous State of the Union speech) was a good idea.

IRAN
Iran continues its uranium enrichment program, blithely ignoring other useless and silly threats from a U.S. "superpower", with a military emasculated by Bush's Iraq misadventure. Combine that with a post-modern "War is no longer an option" western Europe and you have the perfect recipe for inaction.

Bush continues to look like Mr. Bluster from the old "Howdy-Doody" show. What an embarassment he continues to be due to the gap between the strident rhetoric and the inablity to act.

IRAQ
The U.S. has no ability to respond to either North Korea or Iran because of the mess Bush made in Iraq, alienating all our allies along the way. Daddy has finally sent in James Baker (rather than Henry Kissinger) to advise little George on how to cut and run out of the occupation of that part of the Axis (without looking like it). Old George doesn't want his son to have to send in helicopters to airlift our embassy employees out of the Green Zone.

UN
Russia and China will make sure that Boy George and "I am the Walrus", John Bolton, who have shown nothing but contempt for the U.N., are unable to get any tough sanctions out of the Security Council against North Korea or Iran.

China considers North Korea to be within its sphere of influence. Putin's "soul" into which stared has turned out to be more pragmatic and enigmatic than he thought.

SUMMARY
The greatest danger in all of this? That Japan will rearm. It could probably go nuclear within a week. China, having suffered terribly by Japan's WW II invasion, would go berserk. And the people we nuked, would have nukes.

Now that would be a real WMD crisis. A nuclear arms race in Asia.

John Mark Karr Walks in California; Society Loses

Karr won't even have to register as a sex offender, because the prosecution lost computer evidence, so the judge had to dismiss the case completely. I don't blame the prosecutors for losing evidence that was over 5 years old.

I do blame the legislators who aren't doing enough to keep guys like this off the street. Even if convicted, he couldn't have been sentenced to more than the time he had already served behind bars back in 2001 when he was arrested.

We know he can't be rehabilitated, and criminal child molesters are serial criminals by nature. They also tend to get more violent with each crime. It's only a matter of time before you'll see him again in the news.

I don't see why a Colorado prosecutor can't prosecute him for giving false information in the Ramsey case as a way of getting him off the street.

A great week for pedophiles, straight and gay.

Foley's New Pedophilia Defense; " I Am a Victim "

The alcohol angle that supposedly made ex-Rep. Mark Foley a congressional male page pedophiliac doesn't seem to be working. Even Peter King (R-NY), one of the main Republican apologists called it a "gimmick."

So Foley has suddenly remembered that he was molested by an unnamed clergyman between the ages of 13-15. He will not reveal the clergyman's identity until after his 30 day rehab (probably to make sure a clergyman is dead and cannot defend himself).

It's an amazing fact that all these oddballs, including Rush Limbaugh, only need 30 days to recover from whatever mentally ails or addicts them. It took me years to overcome my tobacco addiction, and these guys are all "cured" within 30 days.

It's also funny how "family values" politicians like Foley only remember these sexual abuse incidents after they've been caught. That is quite unlike the heroic, sexually abused, Catholic adults who came forward because they were egregiously wronged by their priests.

The right-wing reaction to all this is hilarious. When they're not pointing fingers at each other concerning who did, or should have done what, they're suddenly tacitly defending gay rights and indirectly acknowledging fear of the power of political correctness.

WW III veteran, Newt Gingrich, says that if the Republicans had disclosed Foley's pedophilia back in 2001 when they first learned of it, they would have been accused of gay bashing, so they had to cover it up.

Since when did General Newtie and company worry about PC? And why would Newt worry about such a thing as being accused of gay bashing? He and his friends in the Republican Party do it every election cycle. They don't care if they're called "gay bashers," so long as it gets them votes.

I didn't know Newtie, Matt Drudge, and Bill O'Reilly were such gay rights guys. Why else would they have helped keep it a secret. It turns out that Fox News sat on the same emails for years.

Maybe those three and other right-wing family value guys should all apply for an associate membership for "straights" with the Log Cabin Republicans. Assuming they're not secretly entitled to full membership.

Condi Girl Covers-Up Too

Condoleezza Rice is into her own cover-up these days, thanks to Bob Woodward's new book. Woodward revealed that Condi Girl got a dramatic briefing from George Tenet and an aide in July about an almost certain strike against the U.S. by Bin Laden. She brushed them off.

Her response to Woodward's reporting was typical Watergate-style. It was that she "did not recall" the meeting. That's the old Ehrlichman-Haldeman shtik. She also said it was "incomprehensible" that she was told about an imminent threat from al-Qaeda at that meeting.

She has now gone into Ehrlichman's "modified, limited hang-out" routine. When you are caught in a lie you suddenly remember that part, but then try to minimize its importance.

Caught in that lie by the NY Times, she now remembers the meeting, but the information was "not new" and didn't amount to an urgent warning, her spokesman says, Ehrlichman-style.

To the contrary, intelligence officials say the presentation was a "10 on a scale of 1 to 10...". Let's see, then she received a briefing paper in August that was entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" and still did nothing.

Isn't she the one who was so indignant when Clinton told Fox News that he had done more than the Bush Administration to kill Bin Laden?

The Congrssional Page Cover-Up

They never learn in Washington. More politicians are caught and punished for covering up a scandal then for participating in it. Watergate and Iran-Contra are the most outstanding examples.

Brian Ross from ABC News, who broke the story, reports that ABC is now receiving massive amounts of information from other pages. This will be much bigger than one congressman and one page.

There will be a lot more "outing" of gay Republicans who have been living double lives. Gay Republicans have been toadying up to James Dobson for votes and living a closeted lifestyle. They deserve what they get.

The finger-pointing has already begun. Rep. John Boehner, Republican majority leader from Ohio is already trying to throw Speaker Dennis Hastert under the bus, saying it's in "his corner."

Alcoholism and Homosexuality?

Mark Foley, a Republican congressman who represented West Palm Beach, Florida, was forced to resign in disgrace last Friday. It seems he is a sexual predator who has been sending lewd emails and instant messages to underage male congressional pages.

In a bizarre twist today, he announced that he was going into alcohol rehab. This patently ridiculous ruse raises two questions:

1.) Since when does alcohol rehab change a person's sexual orientation, straight or gay?

2.) Since when does alcohol rehab solve a sexual predator's deviancy?

Is he really trying to say that alcohol made him into a homosexual predator of young boys? That's about as logical as saying a male's sexual orientation is based upon whether he dresses fashionably.

He was on of the many "family values" Republicans who voted to impeach President Clinton. He was quoted at the time as calling Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky "vile."

Last appalling note: He was the chairman of the Congressional Committee on Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.

Bob Woodward's New Book; Henry Kissinger's New War

The new book by Woodward, "State of Denial" confirms what most people have thought about the Iraq War. Things are getting worse and not better in Iraq. It also confirms that there was no pre-war planning for how to set Iraq on a democratic track after the invasion.

What makes Woodward's book the most credible of all that have been written, however, is that he had access to all the actual participants, including Rummy, Rice, Cheney and others. Most importantly, he had access to the Pentagon, where generals spoke candidly about what a terrible job Rumsfeld has done.

The biggest scoop in the book? Not the ghost, but the actual, Henry Kissinger is back. He has secretly encouraged Cheney and Bush to keep fighting (not that they needed much). He's fighting the Vietnam War he lost 30 years ago over again. The result is that we're losing again, and our kids are dying again, thanks, in part, to him.

You remember Vietnam. Henry negotiated such a great peace deal that we had to airlift our employees off the roof of the American embassy as the North Vietnamese entered the embassy grounds. He got the Nobel Peace Prize for that piece of handiwork.

I have wondered why the pro-war rhetoric of the Iraq War is so similar to the rhetoric of the hawks during the Vietnam War. Now I know. Kissinger's involved.

"Vietnamization" was the propaganda slogan used back in Kissinger's days as Nixon's Secretary of State. It meant that as the South Vietnamese army was trained and took over the fighting, the US would withdraw our troops.

Sound familiar? Vietnamization has been repackaged as "we will stand down when the Iraqis are ready to stand up". Get ready for another airlift off an embassy roof. If there is one real war criminal in the United States it is Henry Kissinger. And he is a serial killer, of our children.