August 2009 archive

On the heals of  What were they hiding? concerning the torture policies of the cheney/bush administration/CIA/Private Contractors/Military, the George Washington University National Security Archives brings a slew of documents on the CIA and Vietnam conflict years, before our invasion, during and after.

All right, I don’t fully grok what a DFH is in political terms.  I only learned what those letters actually meant around 5 months ago.

But still.

No offense to anyone, but all the “do _____ to make Teddy proud!” touched something off in me.

I have to laugh (in sort of a double-entendre-like fashion) to think of what folks would tell others to do in my memory if I kicked the bucket.  All this talk about Ted put me in a Tom Sawyer’s funeral kind of mood, you see.

Ok, want to read something insufferably pompous to a DFH like me?

Ted Kennedy was a flawed human being.

Well, who gets to judge that?  The human being who has no flaws?  And who might that be?

Sure wouldn’t be me.  Can’t touch that, as MC Hammer once said.

Really.  Fuck that shit.  Seriously.

Me, I’d be happy for someone like … oh, Peter Guralnick, who wrote a two-volume biography of Elvis Presley — to write about Ted Kennedy’s life without that shit about being a flawed human being and moralizing.

His bio of Elvis was the kind of bio where you don’t judge at all because you’re so amazed by the story itself, and Guralnick doesn’t get in the way of that.

Anyway, barring some really talented biographer who actually knows the craft of biography, I’m not going to judge Ted Kennedy’s morality or personal life.

Not that I’m not curious … I’m as susceptible to gossip as anyone.  Heh.

What a brilliant screen he was, though, for a certain generation of us to project our highest aspirations and watch them turn into mandalas of golden light.

(“Did you get a hit?”)

Maybe this isn’t a DFH eulogy, maybe it’s my attempt as a female to do a gonzo eulogy.  Now that would be a laugh.

1. The NY Times reports Widespread fraud is charged as Afghans tally votes. “Accumulating charges of widespread fraud cast new doubts on the credibility of the election” in Afghanistan. “Even as election officials announced the first glimpse of returns, presidential candidates presented a growing bank of evidence of vote rigging. Most of it appeared to favor President Karzai, and in some cases, to have taken place with the complicity of election or security officials.”

   The CS Monitor adds Afghan election fraud allegations mount as Karzai lead widens. “Afghan investigators say they’re scrutinizing all complaints, but since electoral observers weren’t present at many polling places, much fraud could have taken place out of view. Aside from a negligible contingent of international monitors, independent Afghan monitors only covered 60 percent of the polling centers.”

   “Even with partial coverage of the election by observers, at least 1,461 complaints have already been filed with the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). More than 150 of these, if found true, could change the final election tallies. The ECC includes international experts, but its mandate is merely to investigate specific irregularities – not analyze patterns to judge the entirety of the election.”

   BBC News reports Karzai widens lead in Afghan poll. “Karzai has 45% to his nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah’s 35%, with 17% of ballots counted, vote officials say… Widespread accusations of fraud and vote rigging and concerns about low voter turnout have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election.”

   The AP reports Afghan elections seen as a setback for women. “Early reports strongly suggest that voter turnout fell more sharply for women than for men in Thursday’s polls. Election observers blame Taliban attacks, a dearth of female election workers and hundreds of closed women’s voting sites.”

   “At least 650 polling stations for women did not open, according to the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, the country’s top independent vote monitoring group. In the southern province of Uruzgan, only 6 of 36 women’s polling stations opened, the group said.”

   Meanwhile, McClatchy reports U.S. deaths in Afghanistan are headed for another record. More American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year “than in all of 2008, and August is on track to be the deadliest month for American troops there since U.S. operations began nearly eight years ago.”

   “In July, 45 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan, the highest monthly toll this year. So far in August, 40 Americans have died, many in the south, and Pentagon officials say privately that with nearly a week left in the month, they expect August to exceed July’s number. Americans make up the majority of the 63 coalition troops killed so far this month; 75 coalition soldiers died in July. In 2008, total coalition deaths were 294, 155 of whom were Americans; the 2009 total through Tuesday was 295, of whom 172 were Americans.”

   Underscoring the mess we’re in, the NY Times reports on deadly Afghan bombing strikes at foreign agencies. “A huge bomb detonated on Tuesday night in a part of Kandahar where international aid agencies and United Nations offices are clustered, in an attack assumed to be by the Taliban on foreigners in the country.”

   “At least 31 people were killed and 56 wounded in the blast” which came from a single truck bomb and “most of the dead and wounded were civilians. The explosion flattened the headquarters of Saita, a Japanese company engaged in reconstruction efforts, destroyed at least 20 homes and set off raging fires.”

   A witness, Muhammad Anwer, said the devastation was immense. “I thought it was doomsday,” he said. “I saw dead men and children lying on the road.”

   Elsewhere, BBC News reports Four US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. According to Brig. General Eric Tremblay, the four soldiers were killed by a bomb “”while patrolling in one of the most violent areas of Afghanistan”.

Four at Four continues the CIA report, news from Iraq, Australia sending $41 billion in gas to China, and Ted Kennedy remembered.

There’s been rumblings lately among some on the other side of the health care debate that neighbors should take care of each other, and I couldn’t agree more.

You see, Ted Kennedy was my neighbor. He was your neighbor, too.

When my two children were born with autism, a developmental disability, Ted Kennedy was there speaking out about the need for head start, a program that my son used to help him make eye contact and understand that he could communicate his needs with words, and not just with crying: http://www.tedkennedy.com/jour…

Michael Steele Owes an Apology to Veterans

To knowingly and intentionally tell our Veterans such a blatant lie, that their own government is encouraging them to commit suicide, is unconscionable and reprehensible. Only a truly sick mind could make such a statement. Unfortunately, the sick mind making the statement is one of the most prominent members of the Republican Party in the United States………..Read Rest Here