Did I ever mention the Boot Shoot? Watch this space for pics.

I think I can also find a pic of the maximum Leader and Propaganda Minister dancing on a couch wearing only boxer shorts (which makes one wonder about the ML’s opposition to Massachusetts’ marriage laws).

For what it’s worth, I’ve never been a Bush fan. I don’t trust his judgement, and I think he’s a horrible president. I think his cronies are fairly corrupt from Uncle Dick on down. Oddly enough, I don’t think Bush is corrupt. I think he’s a simpleton and a pawn who thinks he’s doing the right thing. I just think he’s incapable of comprehending the complexities of the real world.

For your dose of anti-Bush propoganda, go to Misleader.org.
Now, I was a hawk on the war early on. I bought the party line on WMDs and The Al Quaeda tieshook, line and sinker. Boy do I feel sheepish.

Smallholder brings up an interesting point. Why do people doing dumb things take pictures of themselves doing dumb things?

Also, through an innocent typo, I initially refered to him as “Slammholder.” I think that’s a better name.

Analphilosopher has justly condemned the Ted Rall atrocity of a cartoon.

(Max Leader: I don’t know how to do permalinks. Can you insert one here for me?)

He wonders if any liberals will condemn it.

I’m your huckleberry.

Ted Rall should be beaten about the head and shoulders with his own severed limbs.

Of course, I may not be a “liberal” as Analphilosopher defines the term. I call myself liberal because I believe that the government has a role in improving the general welfare. Analphilosopher defines a liberal as someone who is only after power and hates America. Bad liberals! Bad!

I would also like to second the Maximum Leader’s critique of Analphilosopher’s Fallacies #4 (scroll down to yesterday’s posts). If one does not acknowledge that Animals have the same moral weight as humans, it is entirely consistent to accept the killing and eating of animals while also being desirous of minimizing or eliminating the suffering of our meals-to-be.

I normally find Anne Applebaum a bit too partisan to be persuasive, but I will link to today’s column because she builds (more ably - she’s a professional) on my “why the smling penis-pointing chick is scary” meme that I developed in yesterday’s post.

They also took photographs of themselves, grinning and pretending to shoot at the genitals of their captives, even though the prisoners came from a society that values physical modesty, even though some of the guards were women. Finally, they took photographs of at least one other Iraqi who had, apparently, been beaten to death. Those responsible did not commit these acts because they were Americans, although some will surely say so. But nor did being American stop them.

Read the rest here.

The Propaganda Minister was always opposed to the war.

Smallholder, a T.R. Progressive, supported the war but has come to the conclusio that Bush’s leadeship failings have led us into a catastrophe.

Now the Air Marshall (see below) has also castigated Bush’s insipid middle-management pointy-haried-Dilbert-boss leadership.

Can the Foreign Minister and the Maximum Leader be far behind?

I haven’t been the worlds biggest Tequila fan, but that’s beginning to change. I began my drinking career years ago mostly consuming beer. while I still love beer, I now enjoy spirits, particularly whisky.

Now, while watching the best show on TV, I came accross the episode on Tequila last year. Out of curiosity, I decided to go out and buy a bottle of Anejo, aged sipping Tequila. The bottle I ended up purchasing was Sauza Tres Generations. It’s actually quite tasty, and very pleasant to sip at a leasurely pace. It’s relatively inexpensive too. Under $30 at the local liquor store.

For our recent anniversary, my wife bought me a bottle of Cabo Wabo Reposado. Not only does this make a mean Margarita, but it’s damn good for sipping neat. And, yes, this tequila is Sammy Haggar’s brand. Some fun drink recipies can be found at the Cabo Wabo website.

My favorite Tequila for Margaritas is Sauza Hornitos, however. It’s got a really nice flavor, 100% Blue Agave, yet still has a little bite which I think is necessary to make a good Margarita. FYI, I don’t generally make frozen Margaritas. 3 parts Tequila to 2 parts Cointreau with freshly squezed lime juice to taste. If I have no limes, then I use 1 part sweetened lime juice to the mix instead. Shaken and served in a frozen Martini glass. Sometimes I throw in a dash of Angosutra bitters, or a dash of Grand Marnier. The Cabo Wabo web site suggests adding a splash of Blue Curacau for color. For frozen Margaritas, I just use Cuervo. It’s not too bad, not too expensive, and I’m not wasting something whose taste would get burried under ice and artificial flavor.

For some reason some drinks have a season with me. Scotch will always be best when it’s cold outside. Never seems right on a hot day. Tequila, likewise, seems made for a nice warm evening. Maybe drinks go best with the climate they come from.

One trait I have known among most par or sub par middle managers is the inability to admit a mistake. They stick to their guns until someone above them forces them, grudgingly, to alter course. This has been explained to me by one of the few excellent middle managers I have known. Maybe this is only true in the Military-Industrial sector, which is where I earn my bread. But my former boss said that one of the worst things to be seen as, if you want a promotion, is indecisive. To admit a mistake and shift course is seen as having poor leadership qualities in the military. To stick to your guns is seen as showing character. Then the onus falls on your superior to fix things.

But what happens when you have no superior?

A friend has been in the high powered consulting realm for a while. She says that Bush reminds her of most Harvard MBAs she has come across. They form a strategy, assume it will work. Refuse to consider an alternate path, and stick to their guns with no contingency plan. If it works, they are brilliant. If it does not, they eventually move on, and get another job because, after all, they have an MBA from Harvard. When things go wrong, it is left to the next guy to clean up the mess.

I think it is what we are seeing in Iraq. The assumption was that the Iraqis would welcome us with open arms once Saddam was overthrown, and they would welcome Democracy. How realistic were these assumptions? Given the fractious nature of Iraqis (Sunni, Shiite, Kurds) and the tribal mentality that seems to rule in Arabia, I think these assumptions were naive at best. Now, this is not 20/20 hindsight. A lot of people questioned the lack of a plan on the Administrations part.

And the absolute refusal to consider the consequences is killing us now. No exit strategy whatsoever for Iraq. Our exit strategy that the administration is still holding to is to turn authority over to the Iraqis in less than two months. Realistic? Iraq is a mess right now, and it seems the only think keeping it to degenerate into complete chaos is the presence of the American Military. Coupled with the fact, and I do believe it is a fact, that they are growing less and less tolerant of our presence. We are no longer liberators, if we truly ever were, we are now the occupying force.

So we are in a mess in Iraq. Whose fault is it? The Bush administration. Completely. More and more it appears that an intentional false case was made to go to war in Iraq. It now appears that there was no evidence of either WMDs or an Al Qaida connection. These are fair questions to ask because these two points were the foundation of the administrations case for war. Two conclusions can be drawn. The first is that the administration legitimately believed in the presence of WMDs and the terror connection. The second is that they had ulterior motives, and needed a rationale. Basically it comes down to incompetent or dishonest. Take your pick.

So ow do we get out of the mess we are in now? Maybe I am wrong and things work out. It would be nice, but I do not see it happening. If we pull out, or hand the government over to the Iraqis too early, I see civil war and nation wide violence, with the potential for genocide. If we stay, I see revolution against us, and maybe a growing war with various Arab/religions groups. Either way, I fear well have more violence, and more deaths on both sides.

One path out is internationalism. We would need to enlist the help of a much broader spectrum of nations than we currently have. This is getting harder and harder by the day, as the insurgents make Iraq more and more unfriendly. The UN has downsized its presence. Expect any bold initiatives from Kofi Annan? Forget it. He is good for little other than criticizing the US and Israel. I understand how he feels like he has to stand up for the little guy, but the little guy he stands up for are despots and tyrants who oppress their population. I will punt my anti UN rant to a post script. In any event, internationalism will not be embraced by the current administration, and resentment on the part of other nations toward our unilateralist approach to foreign affairs might stifle any desire to help.

One other potential path would be military domination. Could we enforce peace through military might? In the short term, yes we can. The price is very high, however. The cost of military dominance is the sacrifice of many of our principles. The ruthless nature of imposing rule over an unwilling population runs counter to American principles. We are seeing the cost of this with the current scandal over treatment of prisoners.

So what if we pull troops out. This would result in utter chaos in Iraq. The US would lose face in the Arab world, and it would empower terrorists. Of all the options, I fear this is the worst. I also think this is what we will eventually do.

Here is what I think will happen. I think Bush is taking the middle manager approach. He’s gonna stay the course in Iraq, as long as he’s in power. He won’t admit that he screwed up royally. We’ll set up an Iraqi government. The legitimacy of that government is irrelevant; it will be perceived as a puppet regime, and will be unpopular due to allegiance with us. At some point, we will back out, and it will fall, and Iraq will degenerate into Chaos. Whoever succeeds Bush will be forced to fix, this mess, and blame for the consequences will be laid on the desk of Bush’s successor.

Two more interesting questions. Curious on peoples thoughts.

1. Why did we REALLY invade Iraq? What were the administrations REAL motives?

2. Who are we REALLY at war with? Is this really a war with Terrorism, or is it something more? Or maybe it’s something less.

Disjointed UN Rant

The Saddam regime was an evil mess. And flaunting UN resolutions was its bread and butter. Saddam era Iraq stunk no matter how you cut it. European nations like France, Russia and Germany were probably violating sanctions in dealing with Iraq. The UN, largely useless now, was doing nothing to enforce their resolutions and deadlines. And where is the outrage over the human rights abuses in Iraq, or around Arabia? The UN would condemn The US, or Israel on a regular basis. What about condemning Saudi treatment of women or the regular use of torture in the Middle East?

Here is the Universal Declaration on Human Rights from www.un.org. Here is the Charter of the United Nations. Noble principles. Obviously designed by a Western mind. Now look at the Middle East. Only one nation in the Middle East even comes close to reaching these principles. Israel. It’s really the only nation to even pay lip service to anything resembling Human Rights in the region. So has the UN done anything to address the human rights abuses in that part of the world? I can’t find anything via google, or earching on the un web site. Granted, maybe my searching skills are deficient. Who knows.

I do know that noone in the UN seemed to particularly care about the plight of the Iraqis under Saddam’s regime. Noone in the UN thought it was worth while to do anything in Rwanda. Noone at the UN seems to particularly care about Saudi women. When there was a PR campaign against the treatment of women under the Taliban in the late 90s, where was the outrage? What bugs me is that it seems to me that the UN under Kofi Annan cares desperately for the rights of existing governments. It doesn’t seem to give a rats ass about the legitimacy of said governments, or the people who live under these regimes.

The State Department has a human rights site. Peruse this if you can. Click on “country reports” and read about the world. Granted, we aren’t perfect in the US and we have a lot of work to do. But reading about nations everywhere else puts things in perspective. We’re not all that bad.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was surprised to read this article on the Washington Post on-line: Kosher Meat Plant Sets Off Iowa Feud. Who’da thunk that some nice orthodox jews who are just trying to create jobs and make some Kosher food would stir up so many problems with the neighbours? Quiet Iowa town torn apart by salt! Your Maximum Leader wonders what Kilgore would think about this.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was heartened to read this news. Iraq Shi’ite Political Leaders Try to Contain Sadr. One can hope that this standoff may end well and boost US efforts in Iraq.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was pleased to read that there will not be a strike by the cast of the Simpsons. Thus, the only TV show your Maximum Leader makes it a point to watch EVERY WEEK, will continue uninterrupted. As Reuters pithily comments: ‘The Simpsons’ Cast Returns to Work with More D’oh.

$250,000 an episode. Not bad, not bad at all.

Carry on.

Even conservative columnist George Will, usually a staunch Republican, has reached troubling conclusions about Bush’s intellectual ability to understand, and thus win, our war in Iraq:

This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts.

Read the rest here.

Far be it from me to question our Maximum Leader, but I’m finding the new font size too small for comfortable reading. I would humbly suggest that Maximum Leader impliment some of the designs from this site, which I find very pleasant to the eye.

It doesn’t matter how or why this happened, or what we do to address it, we will never regain credibility among the Iraqi people, much less the Islamic world at large. I believe relinquishing both our political and economic interests to the United Nations is now the ONLY way we can salvage ANY aspect of our mission in Iraq. Visions of a new paradigm in the Middle East are nothing more than a neoconservative wet dream, unable to withstand the harsh realities of actual implimentation. As a nation, we are simply not ready for the responsibility of Iraq. We are shamed, and we will ignore the consequences at our own peril.

The Bush administration threatened to fire Richard Foster, the chief Medicare actuary, if he shared his cost rojections with Congress during the Medicare bill debate; in doing so, they probably violated federal law. I don’t understand how intelligent people can be more worried about what Kerry might do as President than what Bush is certainly doing now.