Wow! What a dynamo that Condi is...

BUSH: We share the same urgency of trying to stop the violence. That's why Condi Rice went out there very quickly.

Her job is to -- first and foremost, was to make it clear to the Lebanese people that we wanted to send aid and help, and help work on the corridors necessary to get the aid to the Lebanese people.

In the transcript of the Preznit 2stupidt2believe and Yo! Tony! Presser, it looks like they invoked "September the 11th" no less than six times.

From today's news conference with his pet Poodle. Thus spaketh Preznit No Grey:

...There's a lot of suffering in the Palestinian territory because militant Hamas is trying to stop the advance of democracy. ...

de·moc·ra·cy Audio pronunciation of "democracy" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-mkr-s)
n. pl. de·moc·ra·cies

1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
2. A political or social unit that has such a government.
3. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
4. Majority rule.
5. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

Hamas won 74 of 132 seats in the January 2006 Palestinian legislative election and is now the majority party of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Its vehemently anti-Israeli rhetoric has found a receptive audience amongst Palestinians, some of whom perceived the preceding Fatah government as corrupt and ineffective. Hamas has also established an extensive network of welfare programs throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, further adding to its popularity. Since Hamas took control, the Palestinian territories have experienced a period of sharp internal conflicts, known as Fauda, in which many Palestinians were killed in internecine fighting.

We were not exactly big fans of the Soviets, and their form of government, but successive Adminstrations from Truman on worked with them slowly and incrementally to end the Cold War. We certainly were no more the ideological soul-mates of the Communists than we are of the Islamist Arabs, but we all have to live on this one planet.

Unless of course, Fearless Leader is planning manned missions to Mars using Hamas and Hezbollah volunteers.

From a Kos Diary.

What was it that Charleton Heston's character said at the end of "Planet of the Apes"?

The 1600 Crew economic policies at work. I guess that Beloved Leader's promise to "jawbone" the House of Saud into keeping oil supplies and prices in check turns out to be just another line of Texas BS from the penultimate Transplanted Texan himself.

U.S. economic growth slowed and inflation rose in the three months ending in June, the government reported today, confirming earlier signs that consumers are hunkering down in response to higher energy prices and interest rates.

Businesses also spent less on home building and on equipment and software, while federal-government spending dropped in the second quarter. All totaled, the nation's gross domestic product, which measures the value of all goods and services produced, rose at a below-average 2.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter, a sharp drop from the rapid 5.6 percent pace of the first quarter, the Commerce Department said.
...
Much of the inflation in the second quarter was due to rising energy prices, as oil shot above $70 a barrel and gasoline averaged close to $3 a gallon. And oil and gasoline prices have moved higher since June, suggesting price pressures remain strong.

More troubling to many economists were signs that more businesses are passing their energy costs on to consumers, and are finding it easier to raise prices generally. So-called "core inflation," which excludes volatile food and energy items, rose at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the second quarter, according to the Commerce Department's measure, which is favored by Fed policymakers. That was up sharply from the 2.1 percent rate of the first quarter, and well above Bernanke's preferred range of 1 to 2 percent.

It's gonna just get more interesting. Every day it's something, and not too often is it good. I think people are finally starting to figure out you get what you vote for.

Here it is, in black and white. The lawn order republican congresscriminals voted for something and now they are against it. Or at least the 1600 Crew is...who'da thunk it?

An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.
...
Some human rights groups and independent experts say they oppose undermining the reach of the War Crimes Act, arguing that it deters government misconduct. They say any step back from the Geneva Conventions could provoke mistreatment of captured U.S. military personnel. They also contend that Bush administration anxieties about prosecutions are overblown and should not be used to gain congressional approval for rough interrogations.

"The military has lived with" the Geneva Conventions provisions "for 50 years and applied them to every conflict, even against irregular forces. Why are we suddenly afraid now about the vagueness of its terms?" asked Tom Malinowski, director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch.
...
The War Crimes Act, in contrast, affords access to civilian courts for abuse perpetrated by former service members and by civilians. The government has not filed any charges under the law.

The law's legislative sponsor is one of the House's most conservative members, Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.). He proposed it after a chance meeting with a retired Navy pilot who had spent six years in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton," a Vietnamese prison camp. The conversation left Jones angry about Washington's inability to prosecute the pilot's abusers.
...
The law initially criminalized grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions but was amended without a hearing the following year to include violations of Common Article 3, the minimum standard requiring that all detainees be treated "humanely." The article bars murder, mutilation, cruel treatment, torture and "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment." It applies to any abuse involving U.S. military personnel or "nationals."

Jones and other advocates intended the law for use against future abusers of captured U.S. troops in countries such as Bosnia, El Salvador and Somalia, but the Pentagon supported making its provisions applicable to U.S. personnel because doing so set a high standard for others to follow. Mary DeRosa, a legal adviser at the National Security Council from 1997 to 2001, said the threat of sanctions in U.S. courts in fact helped deter senior officials from approving some questionable actions. She said the law is not an impediment in the terrorism fight. my emphasis

Our Glorious Decider-in-Chief loves to dress up in the uniforms he disgraced back in the 70's when he could not even obey a simple order to get a mandatory Flight Physical. Perhaps his attorneys, from Abu Gonzales on down are telling him that his role as Asshat-in-Chief might leave him open to prosecution in the Hague for War Crimes even under existing US law, and that he better cover himself retroactively as long as he's got a rubber-stamp Congress to do it with.

The military did the right thing in accepting an imposition of higher standards for itself. Too bad that their current civilian leadership in comprised essentially of self-serving invertebrates and sycophants whose ideas of patriotism is sending the other guy's kids off to die in misbegotten adventures, so theirs can stay home and make a buck or six million.

This certainly goes to the solemnity of the violence in the Middle East. I'm glad that Kinda Lyin' just has Brahms in her soul.

In keeping with her mood and to reflect the world crises she tackles daily, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to play a somber piece of music to her Asian colleagues in Malaysia this week.

The Association of South East Asian Nations has a tradition of ministers performing usually silly skits at a gala dinner, but Rice, an accomplished pianist, said she was more at ease playing a serious, reflective piece, possibly by the composer Brahms.

“It is not a time that is frivolous. It is a serious time. I will play something that is in accordance with my serious mood,” said Rice, who had just attended a conference in Rome aimed at helping resolve the Lebanon crisis.

Rice said she would not be comfortable singing show tunes.

“I trust my piano playing more than I trust Karen’s singing,” joked Rice, referring to her public diplomacy chief, Karen Hughes, who is also in Kuala Lumpur. Hughes quickly shot back: “She’s right, I can’t even hum.”

That might make the christofascists ecstatic, the world would end shortly after Karen and Condi performed, having violated the commandment concerning "Love thy Neighbor" one time too often.

Well, here's a bit-o' blast of the obvious headed for the ears of the oblivious...

The federal government will need to either cut spending or raise taxes down the road to pay for extending President Bush's recent tax cuts, the Treasury Department said in a report released yesterday, dismissing the idea popular with many Republicans that such sacrifices can be avoided.
...
But the Treasury's view reflects "a recognition the federal government has to finance the tax relief" to avoid a rise in government debt, Robert Carroll, deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis, said in an interview.

The report stressed that the economic effects of extending the tax cuts "depend crucially on whether they are financed by lower spending or higher taxes in the future."

Any third-grader would have been able to tell the republicans that eventually the bill would come due. The question is, why would they listen to a third-grader when they all listened instead to a Harvard MBA who had no clue?

This is even more amazing looking at how Treasury tries to justify toeing the administration line and keep the tax cuts in place in perpetuity...

The Treasury report was its first using "dynamic analysis," an approach that looks at how tax changes alter consumer and business behavior in ways that affect the economy's growth.

A reduction in income tax rates, for example, might initially reduce the government's revenue, but over time might encourage more people to work, and to put in longer hours, increasing tax payments to the government over time.

See? It all works out in the end...

I'm not a big follower of events in the Middle-East, meaning Israel. I know that I am in awe of what the Israeli people have carved out of the deserts of the region, how they have managed to bring their country along as democracy in a region infested with ancient feudal governments and how they have managed to move on after the collective horrors inflicted on them in all the centuries leading to the Holocaust and the years of that genocide. As some might say; "It's all good", but now with their country being threatened again by some of the same people who can't seem to get over the reality of Israel, I have to wonder if the bombing of Lebanon is not crossing a line they might regret later.

Do the Israelis have right to defend themselves? Not even a question. Are they justified in bombing Beirut and other places because they suspect that Hezbollah forces occupy civilian areas? I'm not sure that falls into the scope of defensive action, as I understand it.

Military action to attempt to find and take out the rocket launchers in range of the border is an understandable and explainable objective. Strafing ambulances, and bombing apartment buildings in Beirut and destabilizing the government of a fledgling Democracy, well perhaps somewhat less supportable.

I also see the lack of involvement of the 1600 Crew until day 12 of the current crisis as being nothing short of accomdationist to the Israeli version of Six-shooter Diplomacy as practiced by Preznit Shower Boi. So is it any surprise that Condi the Would-be Dominatrix of Diplomacy is having a tough time inserting herself into the process this far down the road?

The United States and Britain opposed the push for a quick cease-fire, saying any truce should ensure that Hezbollah no longer is a threat to Israel and should ensure a durable peace.

Palestinian officials said after their private meeting with Rice that she presented nothing new on their dispute with Israel. Separately, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, whose Hamas party was not present at the session, said from what he heard about Rice's conversation with President Mahmoud Abbas, it "doesn't augur well" for a solution to the Middle East crisis.
...
"I have no doubt there are those who wish to strangle a democratic and sovereign Lebanon in its crib," Rice said. "We, of course, also urgently want to end the violence."

Somehow the reality of the use of terrorism as a political tactic, which can be countered long-term by political means as has been conveniently overlooked by those who seem to think that frontal assaults of military forces will win the day. It's evident that the macho nonsense of the Neo-cons and PNAC have again won the day in influencing policy from the Oval Office. I suspect that had the occupant of the Oval Office been anyone other than Shower Boi, the G8 meeting would have had a predominant subtext of beginning a peace process in the Middle East, and not one of making jokes about Chirac's gastronomical preferences and massage therapy for Angela Merkel.

It's a mess, and I have to suspect that even Daddy Bush is pissed that Junior is making as mess of it in a way that may become irreversible for a generation or more.

Newsweek does a kind of interesting profile of Preznit Drunken DEKE at the G8 Summit. While it does have some of the slavish Finemanian/Woodwardian praiseprose:

Onboard, Bush is demanding constant updates from his national-security adviser Steve Hadley, who is holed up in a staff cabin, speed-dialing officials around the world to get a better read on the situation. "Let's find out more of what's going on about the Israeli plan," Bush tells Hadley. The president reminds his staff that this time last year, when he was in Scotland for another G8 summit of world leaders, suicide bombers struck the London subway. It becomes a grim joke: another G8, another crisis. Bush's day has barely begun and the region he has tried so hard to reshape and rebuild is on the verge of all-out war.

"Sometimes, in order to get others to act with us," he says, "there has to be conditions on the ground that make the case better than I can make it." It hasn't always turned out that way: in Iraq, conditions on the ground have long conspired against Bush and driven allies away.

Bush has a full day ahead with Putin, but first his aides have a long list of subjects to cover with him. In a prebriefing session they try to cram him with talking points on a vast array of issues. Bush, who hates to get bogged down in the weeds, has heard enough. "How long do you want this list to be?" he snaps. At least he doesn't need to make small talk; last night's dinner has dispensed with that. "It makes it easier to sit down and get right to the subject," Bush says. "You don't have to break ice and establish rapport."

Bush doesn't know that Putin has been readying a joke of his own. When asked a predictable question about the state of Russia's democracy, Putin pounces: "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly." There are guffaws from the Russian media and gasps from American reporters. Struggling to hear the translation, Bush joins in the laughter before catching himself. "Just wait," he snaps back, and his smile fades.

Now, as he prepares for yet another press session, this time with Blair, his aides remind him of the complete wording. Bush is annoyed by his errors and frustrated that he must repeat the whole thing: the entire explanation runs to 190 words. "It was a reminder to him that you have to make a full case," says Bush's counselor Dan Bartlett. "You can't just give one assessment. You have to touch all the bases."

If the press questions are painful, Bush finds the lengthy summit sessions almost unbearable. The negotiations were concluded long ago, and all that's left is a procession of windy statements—which some of the other leaders endure better than Bush. After one working lunch that runs late, the president returns to his cottage and staggers through the door as if he's exhausted. It's only halfway through the first full day of the summit. For someone who usually spends no more than one night in a foreign country, the four-day trip to Russia seems like an eternity.

That afternoon the leaders are promised they will see the final text of their statement on the Middle East, which calls on Hizbullah to end its rocket attacks and then urges Israel to end its military strikes. But the document fails to arrive at the promised hour of 4, and it's still not there at 5 o'clock. Bush has had it. "I'm going home," he says to the room full of presidents and prime ministers. "I'm going to get a shower. I'm just about meeting'd out." Some of the leaders suggest they should all work out their differences together. But Bush can no longer keep up appearances. "I thought that was a lousy idea and so did others," Bush says later. "It would lose focus and everybody would then have an opinion."

1. More fun with the Presser Quotes
   
2. Same Song
   
3. Stupid like him
   
4. Send this to Peter Beinert
   
5. More economic goodness
   
6. An Ultimate Flip-Flop?
   
7. Mrs. Nero? In the House!
   
8. Duh
   
9. Forward into the Past?
   
10. C-Plus Augustus does Diplomacy