Update: See ya! Y’all go on blaming America for the all world’s problems without me. I’m sure my departure won’t cause you to miss a blame America-first beat! The idea that any American could suggest the United States is evil is simply mind-boggling.

Meaningless drivel….this way…

Obama’s Epic Fail. The Wapo is scathing:

President Obama helped broker a climate deal with a group of leading nations that provides for monitoring emission cuts by each country but sets no global target for cutting greenhouse gases, and no deadline for reaching a formal international climate treaty.

I Claudius and Caligula’s Victory over Neptune. The UK Times ridicules President Peace Prize for making the same bombastic claims. The Times made no effort to blunt the scale of the President Puff-ball’s defeat:

The United Nations climate change summit ended last night without setting any emission reduction targets.

President Obama forged a non-binding agreement with his counterparts in China, India, Brazil and South Africa but it was unclear whether all 192 countries would accept the compromise text….

The agreement merely repeated an aspiration to keep the global temperature increase to 2C without explaining how that would be achieved. The final text also failed to mention any deadline for turning it into a binding treaty.

Obama’s climate accord fails the test If you thought the right-wing press was harsh, check out Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor of the reflexively right-wing Independent.

…the accord is not legally binding, merely a political statement.

The key timetable for turning it into a legal instrument by this time next year, which is what the world desperately needs so that cuts in CO2 emissions really are carried out, was dropped from the text during the immensely difficult and seemingly-intractable talks which lasted all day and late into the evening. In effect, that makes it toothless.

Copenhagen ends in failure Hey, wait a minute, I thought this an unprecedented breakthrough, an historic agreement. What’s up with the Guardian?

Lumumba Di-Aping, chief negotiator for the G77 group of 130 developing countries, said the deal had “the lowest level of ambition you can imagine. It’s nothing short of climate change scepticism in action. It locks countries into a cycle of poverty for ever. Obama has eliminated any difference between him and Bush.”

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: “The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport.

Dropped from the text Gee, where have we heard that phrase before? Oh yeah, from the LA Times: “After days of secret talks, Senate Democrats tentatively agreed tonight to drop a government-run insurance option from sweeping health care legislation, several officials said, a concession to party moderates whose votes are critical to passage of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.” Our champion is now back in Washington to take on the snowstorms sweeping the eastern seaboard. Mr Obama himself admitted that a binding deal would be “hard to achieve”.

No kidding.

The Globe and Mail reports that the cover-up is usually worse than the crime. University of East Anglia CRU climate scientist Mike Hulme worries that denying the academic dishonesty and shabby efforts of fellow climate scientists to destroy CRU data will “set back climate science back twenty years”. Phee-yew! And that’s criticism from inside the tent.

The first thing I did this morning was grab a bucket and scoop the water out of the bathtub and pour it by hand in the washing machine. My wife ordinarily does this and has, cheerfully, for years. She’s the heavy-lifter environmentalist chez kidneystones. The temperature inside our new home in Tokyo right now in December is about 55 degrees. The windows are open to let in the sunshine. I’m wearing a turtleneck and a warm-up jacket as I type. We don’t own a car, don’t own an air-conditioner and turn on the electric heat in winter only when a hat and extra sweater won’t suffice. We recycle assiduously whenever we can. In short: we’re into environmentalism.

We defend environmentalism easily. The savings from recycling water appear on our water bill. We have hard data we share willingly with neighbors. The work I do in the social sciences includes history of science. That, too, I publish and share. Good work withstands scrutiny. A few people I respect, however, are currently making the case that science cannot withstand scrutiny and that breaking into computers to get access to data matters more than what is discovered.

The break-ins are very likely part of a larger effort to discredit climate science. Why? Because climate science appears to be pure bullshit and there appears to be clear evidence of collusion to control access to core data. For years, climate science skeptics, critics, deniers: call them what you will, have petitioned the CRU for access to the raw data. They were stone-walled at every turn. Fact or fiction?

Prof. Jones wrote that climate skeptics “have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send it to anyone.”

How can anyone defend Jones? We shouldn’t need to remind anyone of the Bush efforts to conceal WH email, or the challenges critics of the war have faced trying to get information about who knew what and when. Real questions exist about the core samples and the methodology underpinning climate science claims.

Rather than bring the data to the light of day, climate scientists threatened to destroy or delete their work. Had Jones and company simply allowed all-comers access to the core data underpinning their claims there would have been no ‘criminal’ hack. Why wouldn’t Jones and company let others see their core work? The only plausible explanation, IMHO, is Jones et al knew their work would not stand up to aggressive examination.

When so-called ‘progressives’ defend stonewalling, data-deletion, and academic dis-honesty, environmentalists know that there’s even more reason to bring the facts, all of them, to the public. The cover-up and the CRU fraud both stink.  

“For a President, the unit of measurement is real life.” Der Speigel rips apart the tissue of lies served up to an increasingly incredulous public. The once pro-Obama daily called the speech his ‘least truthful address’. Boink. When we’re talking about politicians, ‘least truthful’ is saying a lot:

For each troop movement, Obama had a number to match. US strength in Afghanistan will be tripled relative to the Bush years, a fact that is sure to impress hawks in America. But just 18 months later, just in time for Obama’s re-election campaign, the horror of war is to end and the draw down will begin. The doves of peace will be let free…It was a dizzying combination of surge and withdrawal, of marching to and fro. The fast pace was reminiscent of plays about the French revolution: Troops enter from the right to loud cannon fire and then they exit to the left. And at the end, the dead are left on stage.

This speech did not, however conjure up images of Jimmy Carter, or George H.W. Bush, although those comparisons will be made. Lebanon, battleships, high-jacked airliners, truck-bombs and dead marines, instead flooded back: pilots and passengers imprisoned in the heat.

Just how much damage this feckless narcissist is capable of wreaking on the world has yet to be seen, but even Republicans concede he’s off to a good start. Cheney isn’t yet content and doubtless won’t be until US planes are flying missions over Tehran, and maybe Islamabad.



Blackwater mercenaries on the US payroll approved by a Dem Congress, with Dem oversight. The Dem White House authorizes private snatch and grab teams operating in Pakistan. This and the violence that 30,000 more US troops can generate will have to suffice. Of course, with all the firepower and troops on the ground, it’s hard to imagine a sudden outbreak of peace, but that could still happen. Well, it could..

The Taliban have a clear deadline when the US is planning to turn over power. Whether or not that deadline is binding is another question. Will the ‘situation on the ground’ compel merely a delay in withdrawal, or another surge, or perhaps even the draft. God knows Americans need jobs.

Republican Ronald Reagan took US Marines off the safety of their ships while launching broadsides from refitted ‘battle wagons’ cruising off the coast. Alert locals decided the right response would be to send a truck or two filled with explosives straight into the Marine barracks. Ronald Reagan needed to look tough and a whole lot of US troops ended up dead. But at least that part ended quickly.

Not my guy, Dems say. I oppose the Afghanistan surge, Dems say. Demonstrate against the surge, Dems say. The fact remains: Dems control the Senate and House. Republicans shut down government. Will Dems show similar backbone over war? I think we all know the answer to that question. The ‘progressive caucus’, tough on Fox, will bow and scrape; posture and preen in an orgy of pure CYA.

The speech at West Point truly was an historic opportunity. The speech could have been a clarion call to arms: we go in and stay to finish the job no matter how long it takes. He could have taken the boldest step and proclaimed: Campaign rhetoric is one thing, American lives are another; as President I’m authorizing the immediate withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan and Iraq. The days of the US being the region’s policeman are over. That didn’t happen Der Spiegel froze reality in time. The moment has come and passed. Even Eugene Robinson admits another US president stood before the American people and lied his face off.

No defense exists from a US President who can’t stand the thought of being seen as weak. And for that, I suspect, once again over the next three or four years we’re all about to pay a very heavy price.

Hello folks!

Congratulations to buhdy for making the site work. Really. No thanks to me. I pulled out right about the time I was predicting that “occupant” could not possibly win, no matter what. Well, there you have it. Never underestimate the importance of the novelty factor which (it would be churlish to dwell on) appears to have pretty much worn-off.

But that’s not why I’m here. I’m back to congratulate the winners and to wish one and all well. I sincerely do hope that rationality and critical thinking will prevail as we learn more and more about the cobbled-together pseudo-science underpinning Al Gore’s awkward adventure, otherwise known (cruelly) as the ‘dog ate my data’. The environment is in trouble and devoting so much time and energy away from real problems, like the amount of plastic we produce and ingest, has cost enough already.

You folks elected McCain-lite and for that I’m sure you’re all suitably proud. I would have much preferred the real thing and a frank statement confirming the US would stay in Afghanistan and Iraq for as long as it takes to bring stability to both countries.

You’ve opted for the worst of both worlds, instead: a pack of Bush-like promises to ‘Finish the job’, whatever the fuck that might mean on any given day, with enough cannon-fodder to piss off all the locals but not provide any real security, all under the command of a general who sees little wrong with outsourcing rendition, assassination and ‘snatch and grab’ teams to Blackwater.

Good thing, McCain lost. Because there’s not much chance he would have done much more than build a few nuclear power plants and allow the climate-science cranks to perpetuate their lies a few years longer. Take a bow.

Sarah Palin makes bacon from Barack Obama and his phony message of change. Jim Pinkerton claims conservative feminism is sweeping the land. Elitism pours forth from the Obama campaign and from his water carriers in the press. The Weekly Standard has the details.

What are Dems going to do with Barack Obama? Clarence Page claims Obama needs a game-changer, and help from the Clintons, btw, right frigging now.  At the NYT, Tommy Friedman argues that Republicans are actually trying to make America stupider, Bob Herbert warns dimwittedness may prevail, and Maureen Dowd sneers that Governor Palin is an idiot.

As enjoyable as the current panic is, the fight I’m really looking forward will come after the election, when Dem dreams collapse into dust and the media dogs turn circle for a full-throated attack on Obama.

Will P. Diddy be wearing his ‘Obama or Die’ designer shirt? Which media lizards will we find slithering around the candidate and his wife? How long before the serpents sink their fangs? What will analysts be saying about the folks who shoved the most formidable politician in the Democratic Party to the back of the bus; and then lost?

Anyone think the simmering rage over the sexism of the Democratic primary has disappeared? Figure those accused of racism have  forgotten?  Think Hillary voters and all the Dems who even now face a resurgent Republican party rejuvenated by McCain-Palin at the top of the ticket are going to extend a hand of good-will to the supporters of the candidate whose feckless posturing, faux temple, excellent European vacation, dumb ‘presidential’ seal, and political meanderings allowed a moribund Republican party to rise from the dead?

Blame it on Hillary? When hasn’t blaming a Clinton sounded like a plan? Course, losing the election to a geriatric war-hero and his bubble-gum chewing side-kick will make it a lot harder to blame Hillary for a race she didn’t run. Plenty of Dems are sure to try, however, especially if the alternative is admitting you and your candidate fucked-up a gimme. 18 million Dems warned all along that Obama might not be able to close the deal. Proven right, Hillary supporters aren’t likely to accept any responsibility for the Chosen One’s defeat.

A year ago I shared space with a young Democratic activist. I was impressed by his ethics, his intelligence and his energy. Even when we’d disagree on detail or policy, the one point upon which we could both agree was that there was next to no chance whatsoever that a Republican would follow George Bush into the White House.

Sixty days before the election it appears that maverick Republican John McCain and a one-term Republican governor named Sarah Palin will be sworn in as President and Vice-President of the United States.

When President John McCain and Vice-President Sarah Palin take office Democrats will look at each other in disbelief for about sixty seconds: then tear each other to shreds. It’ll be hard not to laugh, given all the hoopla Dems have served up about a ‘different kind of politics’. The screams and howls will make the primary battles seem like a summer picnic.

I’ll bring popcorn.

FT: “Democratic jitters about the US presidential race have spread to Capitol Hill, where some members of Congress are worried that Barack Obama’s faltering campaign could hurt their chances of re-election. Party leaders have been hoping to strengthen Democratic control of the House and Senate in November, but John McCain’s jump in the polls has stoked fears of a Republican resurgence. A Democratic fundraiser for Congressional candidates said some planned to distance themselves from Mr Obama and not attack Mr McCain.”

RealClearPolitics reports McCain beats his opponent in the polls, on favorables, and on Intrade. But that’s not the most worrying news facing Dems: the generic congressional gap has closed to 3 points, as even the popularity of George W. Bush continues to inch upwards, although Dubya is still loathed at a rate of roughly 2:1.

Dem internals are probably far worse. This week saw the candidate of hope scrambling to spin an ‘innocent’ version of his ‘stinks like old fish’ remark, lining up one of his celebrity buddies to find a place for him. Letterman clearly didn’t get the job done cause a second appearance on Saturday Night Live follows this weekend. That may have been the plan all along.

Or the candidacy may be cratering. Smooth to slick to creepy is not the transformation the campaign had in mind, but Obama’s famous smile seems increasingly forces and there’s a tension in his strut that suggests the writing on the wall is coming into sharper focus. Obama has been pandering to the Republican base. Young people are famously fickle. Time to shuffle the deck.

Goofing for the camera; and abasing himself for a few cheap laughs may add some temporary lustre to a campaign clearly gone stale and cold. What comes after that? Another temple? More insults? Obama has nothing new to say, although it seems clear a large number of Americans are still waiting for a message. Therein lies the tension. Obama has nothing new to say other than ‘I’m cool’. So what?

With no meaningful response to offer, other than ‘we’re cool, together’, enthusiasm for the Obama campaign wanes. The ‘what ifs’ are endless. Had the press decided not to protect John Edwards a different candidate might have won the Dem primary. But the real blame can be placed on the shoulders of the candidate himself, who continues to alienate voters with his arrogance, his elitism, his breezy condescension and his volatile impatience with any who question his honesty and integrity.

Dems are paying attention and are genuinely fearful of finding themselves on the wrong side of a President America trusts and admires.

Domestic and foreign policy concerns meet on the questions of energy and Iraq. Jobs, government expenditures, national security and the environment are all affected.

An American victory in Iraq is necessary and achievable. Victory means political stability, with bases for US troops who will remain the ME fulfilling the mission of the Carter doctrine. Complete support for US troops and their families is the cornerstone of McCain’s policy. Service merits nothing less. A ticker-tape parade or two is likely in the offing as well.

Nuclear energy is America’s only option if Americans are serious about reducing dependence on foreign sources of carbon fuels. McCain will build 45 new nuclear plants, creating energy and jobs. McCain’s pro-nuclear position and clear specifics stands in stark contrast to that of the Dems.

President John McCain and Vice-President Sarah Palin, along with a reformed and genuinely chastened Republican party are ready to lead America into the reality of the 21st century. The alternative is a dream.

Hello, douchebags!

Not exactly a winning way to start a conversation, is it?

Yep. Too bad Dems haven’t learned a fucking thing about dis-respecting folks on the basis of gender.’Beauty queen’, ‘virgin’, and ‘no-nothing’ from `bum-fuck` Alaska is how a mother of five is being greeted by many of the morally and intellectually superior souls ‘transforming’ America for the better.  Faking a down-syndrome pregnancy? Openly comparing Gov. Palin to older porn stars? The bumper crop of crap at Huffpo is my favorite.

Change for the better?

If that means Andrew Sullivan on the front page of the Good Ship Lollipop insulting Governor Palin  as a ‘beauty queen’ you can keep it.

Forget that fact that Sarah Palin almost certainly knows a lot more about firing a gun than Sully. Or that Sully’s notion of ‘taking on the elements’ is a day on a P-Town beach without sunscreen; or an afternoon of rugby in wet underpants that really bunch.

Andy also seems to have forgotten that the last candidates he deemed fit to lead America created Abu Ghuraib. Not exactly a record of objective judgment to be proud of. Silly Sully still creams at the mention of murderous Maggie Thatcher and the man who did so much to bring the bomb to Pakistan: Ronald Reagan. But I digress.

Sarah Palin is a Governor for fuck sake. And Gov. Palin enjoys an 85% approval rating from her many constituents, which is a lot better than the candidate for change and the grandfather he drafted to butch up his campaign with ‘experience’ and ‘bare-knuckle’ toughness.

Governor Palin is a flake? Well, the flake sure is generating a lot of ink for a soul so light and facile. And if Dems are breathing an enormous sigh of relief, they’re doing a stupendous job of hiding it.

Given the enormous amounts of energy expended attacking McCain’s game-changing VP pick in just the last 48 hours, it seems Dems finally understand that McCain just might win the White House fair and square, unless Dems can make the charges of ‘racism’ stick. Dems may have already gone to the well once too often with that canard.

I was never going to support Obama. The cynicism of all three leading Dem candidates was a wake-up call for me. Edwards lied his fucking face off about banging his campaign staff while using his wife’s cancer as a shield to fend off pesky reporters, all the while bilking good, honest folks out of their nickels. Talk about a new standard in low.

Forget 75,000 screaming fans. America already has. The point is: Gov. Palin has shaken the Dems to their core. Dems can’t wait to pile on, and pile on the manure. Nice temple, btw.

Everyone is talking about Gov. Palin and the twist she puts in the race. You can smell Dem fear and the reason is simple: paint Gov. Palin as you like: Sarah Palin still represents a side of American life many of us love, respect and admire.

Gov. Palin is John McCain’s Dan Quayle? Maybe, but not quite yet. Truth be told, Gov, Palin still has to live up to that ‘high’ standard. Which makes the current panic all the more telling.

At first glance Gov. Palin more than fits the bill. Gov. Palin looks and sounds the same as Dan; and will definitely appeal to many of the folks who supported Hillary Clinton. The only one around here who really seems to understand the dynamics, and to be willing to talk openly about the threat Palin poses is Jay Elias. No surprise there.

As for the rest, whistling past the ice-cream stand, ask yourself this: how exactly did Dan Quayle spend the years 1988-1992? And if Palin really is McCain’s Quayle, what does that say about grandpa Biden, his thirty years in Congress, and the message of change?

Crack off about McSame all you like. That kind of comment hasn’t dented McCain’s support a bit; or raised Obama’s numbers.

Planning to volunteer in Obama’s wars to restore America’s image abroad in Pakistan or Afghanistan? Better give that one some thought, cause preaching peace Obama ain’t. More people are likely to end up dead with Obama trying to act tough than with McCain.

One thing for sure, should team ‘change’ carry the day: Obama’s daughters and family aren’t going to get any closer to combat than Dubya’s did. That job will fall to you or your kids.

McCain and Palin will stay the course and provide the support the Carter doctrine demands for US troops in the Middle East. Obama and Biden will tell Americans that the war in Iraq is over/lost and that American troops are leaving Iraq.

Problem is Obama and Biden will be sending US troops straight into Afghanistan and beyond.

Suck on that.

I don’t know how many folks here have actually met racist bigots who happen to be a color other than pale. I’m fucking surrounded by them out here in Asia.

When I don’t have to contend with the governor of Tokyo prating on about the threat posed by ‘dangerous Chinese or Koreans’, I get to deal with the everyday regional bigotry of ‘what’s wrong with Osaka people and their appalling manners.’

Travel south to Australia and we’ve got all kinds of ‘white pride’ clowns. And I’d be remiss if didn’t mention that native Canadians populate Canadian jails, welfare rolls and mortuaries in numbers that can not be defended or explained as anything other than racism made manifest. So much as you might like to think Americans are exceptional, bigotry knows no bounds.

Pandering to bigots is fine old political tradition and when folks are caught on camera ‘hating the other’ as George Allen was, then it seems to me that sensible folks ought to stand up quick and scream blue murder, not stick a finger in the wind to see how the whole mess may play out.

If I heard that the wife of the nominee has evidently been caught on camera pandering to bigots I’d want that shit blasted on the front pages, not swept under the rug. And like it or not, the candidate for change keeps some extremely slimy company.

Ayers, Wright, and Rezko didn’t get pulled out of a hat. Obama hung with these pricks and relied on them to fuel his political career. Ayers provided key support early on. Rezko bundled cash and Wright helped win a guy with a white mom a firm place in an African-American church. Big-time support and bonds. It’s only in the last year that Michelle and Barack started cutting them loose.

If there is a tape showing Michelle Obama spewing racist trash inside Trinity Church why aren’t Dems screaming to see it? If the tape doesn’t exist, why are bots like slinkerwink posting sanitized transcripts of the non-existant tape on MyDD?

Larry Johnson has been banging the drum about that tape for weeks. Like most I figured to give Michelle the benefit of the doubt, not that she or the Obama folks extend that sort of respect to others very often.

Booman and slinkerwink, both Obama fans, pushed the sanitized version of the tape I was willing to ignore. If Booman and slinkerwink are blowing smoke about the tape, Booman and slinkerwink are the ones folks should be ripping.

Booman and slinkerwink have pushed the tape into our debate. Dems should be demanding the Obama campaign produce the tape, not cowering under the bed hoping there’s no truth to the story. Michelle and Barack Obama have built a political dynamo by making friends with some pretty un-savory people and if Michelle is on tape raving about “Whitey” she deserves to be called on it. Let’s see the version of the tape Booman is referencing.

Obama has his hand on a big cash tap.

No wonder.

Booman elevates the debate about the future facing America’s electorate with another incisive analysis of the major issues of the day.  

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My own ideas are always welcome as long as I don’t make the purveyors of truth, light and joy seem anything but divine.

Dem’s peering into a former President’s pants? Would never, ever happen. Dems are better than that. Only Republicans would fixate on the sexual apparatus of a former President.

Did you hear McCain actually wants to prolong the Iraq war 100 years?

Meanwhile Booman reminds us that only a Republican could ever be caught on camera engaging in a two-minute racist hate session.

Don’t Forget To Stand During the National Anthem.

Any egregious lie, mis-truth and mis-representation of any Rethuglian position is welcome! The more outrageous and rage-inducing the better!

See ya!