Impolitically Correct

a must read article on Afghanistan

2009-11-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

By Christopher Booker
Published: 6:47PM GMT 14 Nov 2009

What we are hardly ever told about Afghanistan is that it has been for 300 years the scene of a bitter civil war, between two tribal groups of Pashtuns (formerly known as Pathans). On one side are the Durranis – most of the settled population, farmers, traders, the professional middle class. On the other are the Ghilzai, traditionally nomadic, fiercely fundamentalist in religion, whose tribal homelands stretch across into Pakistan as far as Kashmir.

It may already be the best we can do, to just cut a deal with the Taliban: hand over bin Ladin and his co-conspirators, promise not to attack us, and we'll stop attacking you.

It may already be too late for that. Al-Qa'ida's doctrine of aggressive jihad may have completely won the local hearts and minds away from the more traditional doctrine of defensive jihad. In which case we are stuck, having already taken the tar-baby option.

Obama in Japan, mulling Afghanistan

2009-11-13T00:25:00.000-08:00

This just in from the AP news service:

TOKYO – President Barack Obama aims Friday to shore up relations with a new Japanese government vowing to be more assertive with its U.S. ally, even as he grapples with sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

The good news is that he could be trying to get input from the Japanese, who are important allies of the United States.

The bad news is that the Japanese will not know much. Power behind the throne (very Japanese way of doing things) Ozawa recently said, according to the Japan Times:

Christianity "is an exclusive, self-righteous religion. Western society, whose background is Christianity, has been stuck in a dead end,"

As you can probably imagine, Mr. Ozawa knows even less about Islam than he does about Christianity.

This blog doesn't object to the impolitic nature of his remarks, but it does reject their incorrectness. Bigotry is bigotry, whether directed against Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or Christianity. The really sad part is that bigoted remarks about other peoples are not considered a problem in Japan. When is Japan going to take its international responsibilities seriously enough to learn something about the outside world besides technology and economics?

Japan and the public option

2009-10-22T02:23:00.002-07:00

I'm really tired of hearing all the alarmist nonsense in the US about the public option and the way it will kill American insurance companies and lead to a national takeover of insurance.

Japan has a public option. They also have private plans, union plans, company plans. There are even special plans for foreigners who don't like the Japanese public option but still want insurance. I'm not going to analyze the Japanese system in depth, except to point out that it is a lucrative insurance market that American companies have asked the US government to insist that the Japanese government open to them. Like a lot of other markets in Japan it's protected. This is admittedly out of date, but still significant:

The potential to make money is huge. Shukan Kinyobi once reported that the U.S. government is pressuring Japan to change public health insurance regulations. As it stands, if any part of a patient's treatment involves procedures or medication not covered by public insurance, the entire treatment cannot be covered by public insurance. The U.S. wants to isolate types of treatment so that American insurance companies can sell private insurance to cover treatments not covered by public insurance.

Admittedly, the system in Japan is complex and can be confusing for people who are just getting into it. Such a public option system can be unnerving for people who might move to it. Therefore, US insurance companies, presumably including the same companies begging the US government to get them into the Japanese system, are scaring Americans that the big bad public option is going to take over health insurance.

BULL!

The public option in Japan is what you have to put up with when you can't get insurance through your company or your union. It is the minimum plan to get insurance to people the insurance companies don't want or won't cover. As soon as I could get off it, because I had a regular job, I got off it. You would too. But it is necessary for two reasons:

1. The insurance companies can't, won't, or don't want to cover everyone. They don't now in the US. There has to be an option for people who can't otherwise get insurance. It doesn't have to be compulsory, but it has to be there. It's compulsory in Japan, but it hasn't been enforced, so people who don't want insurance (yes, there are such people) or who don't know about it (and there are too many of those in the foreign community in Japan) won't be on it. But there has to be a public option for even the possibility of universal coverage.

2. Competition with the public option will keep the private companies honest. It won't put them out of business. It just means that if they don't give good value for their money there is an option people can go to. They still make out like bandits.

Personally, I would put up with single payer, but I would prefer the public option.

All right, I'm back!

2009-10-22T02:23:00.001-07:00

I'm going to make this a discipline. And it doesn't matter what I write about. It's just my opinion. I'll do it.

"Does it even matter whether bin Laden is found?"

2009-09-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

from CNN:

Yes, it does. First, there is the matter of justice for the almost 3,000 people who died in the September 11 attacks and for the thousands of other victims of al Qaeda's attacks around the world.

Second, every day that bin Laden remains at liberty is a propaganda victory for al Qaeda.

Third, although bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri aren't managing al Qaeda's operations on a daily basis they guide the overall direction of the jihadist movement around the world, even while they are in hiding.

I shall return

2009-09-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Honest. But in the meantime I couldn't resist the oxymoron of "liberal communists."

Dead Aid: The Wrong Prescription for Africa

2009-04-02T00:34:00.001-07:00

All foreign aid is in the perceived interest of the donor country. Otherwise it wouldn't be given. Think about Lend-Lease and the Marshall Plan. The US didn't give $billions to the USSR because we thought Joe Stalin was a nice guy who was doing wonderful things for his people. We did it to defeat Hitler. We didn't give $billions to rebuild western Europe after the war because we're nice people. We did it because if we didn't, Joe Stalin was going to march in with tanks and take over.

Why does the west give foreign aid to Africa? During the Cold War we did it to prop up friendly dictators, just like we gave Lend-Lease to Stalin. The USSR did the same thing to their friendly dictators. That's life. It's the lucky African country where the people themselves actually see any results from foreign aid.

Foreign aid is never going to develop Africa. If the west wanted Africa to develop they would open their markets to African manufactures. If Africa wants to develop and the EU, US, and Japan won't open their markets, Africans will have to make their market big enough, by combining into a United States of Africa. It really has little to do with foreign aid one way or the other. That issue is basically a distraction.
About Africa
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Where to go from here?

2009-03-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

I admit I've been away too long. I can't figure out where to take this blog. It started out as a desperate scream in the second term of Bush fils. I was just panicked and angry.

Now where should I take it in the Obama administration? Should I take myself public? Does anyone care? Maybe I should just fold the whole blog and walk away from it. Maybe I'd do better to concentrate on something else. I no longer feel the desperate urgency to scream about the insanity of the government. But there's plenty of other insanity.

I'll think about this, and I hope I won't be too much longer.

Watch this space!

And let me know!

So Obama knows the oath better than the Chief Justice

2009-01-20T14:44:00.000-08:00

Here's the oath, from the Constitution:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Note that the Chief Justice added "So help me God." with a question in his tone, and Obama added it in an affirmation. He could have added "YES WE CAN!" instead if he wanted, but he could have said anything, and I think he wants God's help. I'm sure he can use it. They say God helps those who help themselves.

Maybe Obama should have been Chief Justice. It would be nice if he could appoint the next Chief Justice, but only time will tell.

Here's to the first Professor President since Woodrow Wilson! I'm glad he knows the Constitution as well as he does.

Here's to the next four years of America in the world! Here's to President Barack Hussein Obama and his inauguration.

While the world's been watching Mumbai (Nigeria report)

2008-11-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

Crossposted (without the pictures) at Daily Kos.

It looks like even more people have died in clashes in Jos, Nigeria than died in Mumbai. But those people weren't wealthy and weren't western. Most of those killed by terrorists in Mumbai were either wealthy or western. Many were both. So the western media paid more attention to them. Let's look at what's going on in Jos. But first a little background.

Jos is the Capital of Plateau State. It's a colonial town, started around tin mines during the colonial period. It's on a high plateau (as the name of the state implies). Plateau State calls itself "The Home of Peace and Tourism" in Nigeria, and it is unique in Nigeria for many reasons. As an online travel guide says:

Jos is one of the nicest places to visit in Nigeria. It's the capital of the Plateau State and is located at an elevation of 1300 metres above sea level, which means that it is cooler here than anywhere else in the country most of the time.

The main attraction of the town is the Jos Museum Complex, which consists of four separate museums and a zoo. Skip the Railroad and the Tin Mining Museum and head for the Jos National Museum and the Traditional Nigerian Architecture Museum.

If you are spending a few days here you might consider paying a visit to the Rock Brewery. They have guided tours with an all you can drink buffet for reasonable prices.

Jos is surrounded by beautiful hills, the most welknown being the Shere Hills (1800m). Also the Jarawa hills, the Vom Hills and the Gana Wuri. Many tourists choose Jos for trekking and hiking.

Jos is an unusual city in many ways in Nigeria, not just for being a colonial city, when most of Nigeria's cities, except those established as capitals (e.g. Kaduna and Abuja) were already in existence before colonial times. It is perhaps the only predominately Christian city in the heavily Muslim north of Nigeria. The inhabitants of the plateau were largely minority groups chased into the hills by the expansion of first the Bornu Caliphate, then the Hausa states and the Sokoto Caliphate.

All these factors combined to make Jos a city not dominated by any particular ethnic group or religion (despite the preponderance of Christians, they themselves are more divided than Muslims in Nigeria) and people living there tended to adopt a "live and let live" attitude. It was also a very working class city, and one where most people had ties to rural areas elsewhere.

Only very recently has Jos begun having the clashes that other cities in Nigeria, especially in the north of the country, have had in recent years. Jos used to be a place where Nigerians from surrounding states came to take refuge from the violence. No longer is that the case.

Let's see what happened this time:

It's not easy to get accurate reports, and even much of the Nigerian press is either inflammatory or too politically correct to really say what's been going on in this situation. Let's start with the reports that are not much use. Scroll down to the Nigerian press section if you're pressed for time.

The Voice of America says

Gilbert da Costa has been monitoring developments from Abuja and filed this report for VOA.

Translation? "We don't know what's going on ourselves, but we do have someone in a nearby state (actually in the Federal Capital Territory) who's trying to sort out the rumors." It's like covering riots in Baltimore or Philadelphia from DC.

Agence France Press filed from even further away in Lagos, the financial capital of Nigeria. These people do try to get eyewitness accounts, but without actually going there it is difficult to know what's going on. Heck, even with actually going there it is difficult to know what's going on. Without going there it remains impossible. Al Jazeerah doesn't even provide a dateline.

Sheikh Khalid Abubakar, the imam at the mosque, claimed that more than 400 dead bodies were brought to the mosque.

It is also likely that the bodies of Christians killed in the riots were taken elsewhere, making the total number of dead uncertain.

But then neither does the BBC. At least they have good background and links to previous stories, something no other news source does. They even have a video, though without sound, that has scenes of the carnage.

Bloomberg's reporter covering the story is in Paris. :-(

Reports from Jos itself:

Reuters, the AP, and The NYT all have reports datelined Jos itself. Let's take those reports in order.

Reuters carried a report by a Muslim, with death toll figures from the mosque:

Hundreds of bodies were brought to the town's main mosque in preparation for a mass burial.

"I counted 218 dead bodies at Masalaci Jummaa. There are many other bodies in the streets," said a Red Cross official who asked not to be named.

That death toll did not include hospital figures, victims already buried, or those taken to other places of worship, meaning the final count could be much higher, officials said.

The reporter also spoke to the state government, the Nigerian Army, and "one resident" in compiling the report.

The AP also had a report from a Muslim. (I don't want to imply that these sources are necessarily biased, BTW. After all, in Nigeria almost any source that can write or speak English is either Muslim or Christian. This is just FYI, and in acknowledgment of the fact that we all, [you, me them] have biases.)

Sheikh Khalid Abubakar, the imam at the city's main mosque, said more than 300 dead bodies were brought there on Saturday alone and 183 could be seen laying near the building waiting to be interred.

Those killed in the Christian community would not likely be taken to the city mosque, raising the possibility that the total death toll could be much higher. The city morgue wasn't immediately accessible Saturday.

This reporter also spoke with a police spokesman and gave much important background. The story contained some material (background?) from another reporter in Abuja, the capital.

The New York Times is datelined Jos, but is wire service feed from Reuters, but says "from the Associated Press". Go figure. At least it is a different story from the other two. It seems the international news media is floundering.

What about the Nigeria press?!?!?

OK, OK, I'm getting to that.

The Nigerian press has traditionally been the freest in Africa. During periods of relative repression in Nigeria they have competition for that title, but even then they remain one of the freest presses on the continent of Africa.

But remember that free press only means market regulated press. You didn't find any Nigerian newspapers defending South Africa during the apartheid era, because such newspapers wouldn't have sold. What does sell in Nigeria? Sensationalism, scandal, sports, wild charges (sometimes one wonders if they even have libel laws in Nigeria.) The Nigerian press is generally the kind of press that gives yellow journalism a bad name. William Randolph Hearst could have taken lessons. As a matter of fact, Nigeria had its own W. R. Hearst in the person of Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the Pillar of Sports in Africa and last holder of the cursed title, Are Ona Kakonfa. You may know him as the winner of the June 12 presidential elections in Nigeria, who was placed under house arrest for declaring himself president.

But I digress. Just a little background before delving into the Nigerian press.

This Day actually admits its that reports are unconfirmed. They have two reporters, one in Jos and the other in Abuja. Their names are not clearly Christian or Muslim.

Eyewitnesses said supporters of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) allegedly became violent following speculations that their candidate, whom they said was leading the PDP candidate, was about to be “declared the loser.”
The ANPP protesters said they were not fighting people but fighting government “because of their action.” The results of the elections were still being collated when the crisis broke out.

The ANPP (in Jos at least) is the party of the Muslim Hausa, mostly from farther north, while the PDP is the party of the mostly Christian minority groups. Finally we find out what the clashes are actually about.

The Punch, a popular Lagos paper, has more information also from Jos:

Our correspondent gathered that trouble started when an agent of one of the political parties was killed at Kabong, where all the results for Jos North were being collated. The supporters of the All Nigeria Peoples Party candidate for Jos North Local Government, Mr. Aminu Baba, said they suspected that the election was about to be rigged in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Mr. Timothy Buba.

According to the ANPP supporters, their candidate was said to be leading by about 57, 000 votes and the PDP was only expecting 10, 000 votes from the remaining areas where the votes had not been counted. As early as 5.30a.m. the ANPP supporters had allegedly poured into the streets, chanting war songs. In the ensuing confusion, churches were burnt around Sarkin Mangu, close to the old Jos North Local Government secretariat.

Reprisal attacks from the supporters of other political parties then spread to other areas. It first started in Gada Biu, a predominantly Christian settlement.

No sooner than this happened that the riot assumed a sectarian dimension as churches and mosques were being torched all over the city. Indeed, no fewer than five churches and five mosques were burnt in the ensuing melee, according to the police. Sporadic shots rented the air as street urchins, a.k.a almajiri, took over major streets.

Almajiri (singular, the plural is almajirai) are street youths who beg for a living. Technically they are supposed to be studying in Qur'anic schools, but the system has been much abused in recent decades, and many of them are only being exploited by their teachers, who live off the proceeds of their begging. The situation of these almajirai became really desperate under the Abacha government, but became much approved since democratic government has returned.

The Guardian, one of Nigeria's more respectable newspapers, also has two reporters contributing, one in Jos and another in Abuja. Like other Nigerian papers it is careful to point out that its sources remain questionable. It even quotes the international wire service reports above. But its more important information may be the actual words of the state governor imposing curfew:

Meanwhile, the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, while imposing the curfew in his broadcast, said:

"A few hours after close of election, a group of thugs took the law into their hands by attacking residences and destroying houses and property in some parts of Jos.

"The state security council met this morning and directed the police to respond accordingly.

"Unfortunately, reports got to me early this morning regarding the eruption of violence emanating from Ali Kazaure Street of Jos. I want all to note that this problem is restricted to Jos City only.
"I immediately summoned a Security Council meeting again this morning to appraise the situation. Preliminary reports indicated that the crisis was pre-planned, particularly as election results have not been announced."

He added: "Government, therefore, wishes to warn that any further disruption of the peace will be met with drastic action. The security details are under instruction to return fire- for-fire from any person/group disrupting the peace. Government will not allow a repeat of the disruption of peace witnessed in the state some years back.

"All law abiding citizens are assured that government is on top of the situation and should go about their normal lives.

"Government is, therefore, imposing a curfew in Jos, Bukuru and environs from 6 pm to 6 am. Government wishes to advise against any further attempt to test its will to maintain peace on the Plateau."

The Vanguard, another important Nigerian newspaper, has a four page story with comments below.

Two serving army generals, Maj. Gen. U. J. Uwuigbe and Nick Agbogun escaped death by the whiskers as they were shot by hoodlums while returning from Chief of Army Staff conference in Bauchi.

They were injured along with the driver of the Bauchi State Government vehicle detailed to take them to the Jos Airport and were rushed to the Jos University Teaching Hospital for treatment.

The Saturday Tribune carries a story from a reporter in Jos with an obviously Christian name (Nigerian names are often ambiguous.)

THE crisis over the local government election in Plateau state has assumed a religious dimension with several places of worship burnt down by protesters, including personal houses and vehicles while over thirty people were allegedly killed, including one policeman and a soldier.
Meanwhile, the state government has appealed for calm and imposed a curfew in Jos, Bukuru and environs from 6am to 6pm.

The unfortunate crisis started in the early hour of Friday when information filtered out that a particular political party had won in Jos North local government contrary to the expectation of supporters of opposing party.

It was learnt that as early as 5: 30 AM on Friday the inhabitants of the local government mobilised and trooped to the streets to protest the election accusing the state government and the State Independent Electoral Commission of rigging the election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The protest suddenly turned violent at about 7:30 when the protesters armed with dangerous weapons started smashing vehicles, setting houses ablaze.

At about 9.30am, the crisis had engulfed the whole city of Jos and assumed religious dimension with reprisal attacks in various parts of the city. As at the last count, no fewer than 10 places of worship had been razed in various parts of Jos.

More details are in the article.

Let me know what else you can find out. I have friends in Jos and I am following this story in part because I am worried about them.

The next wacky Republican charge against Obama

2008-11-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

The real reason Barack Hussein Obama wants to get into the White is because he's an Islamic suicide bomber who intends to get into the White House so that, after he is inaugurated, he can blow himself up, thus ASSASSINATING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Well, it's no nuttier than any of the other stuff they come up with.

Socialist? Hey, the Labour Party in the UK is Socialist. Remember them, the best friend of Bush when he invaded Iraq to look for WMDs? When the financial crisis hit they just nationalized the banks. Unlike the Republicans who just wanted to hand hundreds of billions of $$$ (borrowed from China) to their Wall Street buddies.

The other charges? He's a Muslim. He's a radical Marxist. He's a black nationalist. He's a liberation theology Christian. He's . . .

PEOPLE! MAKE UP YOUR &%$#! MINDS!!! If you don't keep to one smear, NO ONE is going to believe you.

I sure don't.

Sarah Palin's real gaffe

2008-09-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Which was the biggest gaffe, in her ABC interview and elsewhere?

"Trip of a lifetime" to visit troops in Germany? Well, she certainly doesn't need to be president if that was the trip of her lifetime. She's definitely not ready.

Forgetting how to pronounce "nuclear" correctly? I wonder if Republicans will turn this into a shibboleth.

Was it her still thinking that the invasion of Iraq had something to do with 9/11? Even Bush had never said that.

Was it not having any idea what the "Bush doctrine" was? You're getting warm.

I think it was not realizing that the Constitution gives any state, even Alaska, the right to pre-emptive attacks on foreign countries. From the Constitution Center:

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Did you get that? Let me quote the relevant part again:

or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

In other words, if Russia was massing an invasion force across the Bering Strait, Alaska would have the Constitutional right to take them out, without waiting for a permission slip from Congress.

Why do I bring this up? Not because I think Alaska should do this. We have telephones today, which they didn't in 1787 when the Constitution was written. I bring it up because Governor Palin of Alaska doesn't seem to have much grasp of the United States Constitution. That is shown by her belief that the United States is on a mission from God in Iraq. The Constitution was ordained and established by "We the People" for six specific reasons. It was not set up by "I, God Jehovah" to take out Islam.

I've met people in the service who have taken oaths to defend and protect the Constitution, but who haven't read it. They tried to convince me that God had created the United States to take out Islam. That's what they thought they were doing on their tours in Iraq. Personally, I wish God would make up his mind. I remember when He had supposedly created us to defeat Communism and the Muslims were helping us, because they believed in the same God. Before that, God had supposedly created us to destroy the Nazis and their Axis allies. The Communists were helping us in that.

It really goes back to the War of 1812, when our getting out intact seemed miraculous, but I don't have time for a lecture on that.

My point here is that Sarah Palin doesn't even know her powers as a state governor under the United States Constitution. The possibility of her becoming Commander in Chief and Chief Executive in charge of defending the Constitution that she doesn't understand is frightening. I urge everyone to make a Constitutional law professor president. We need someone who loves the Constitution enough to find out what it actually means to become president, especially after the last eight years.

Republicans attack Charlie Rangel!

2008-09-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

Some of us remember that decorated Korean War veteran (Purple Heart, Bronze Star with Valor) Charlie Rangel was one of the first politicians to endorse General Clark for President. Republicans have never forgiven him for being as effective and outspoken a Democrat as he has been, and they are going after him again, this time for allegedly failing to report $100,000 in income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic. [Reuters]

Republicans are already out on the Internet commenting on this. Congressional Democrats are already hitting back on this. We need to help a friend of Wes when he needs it most. Please get out there and help someone who is not only a great Democrat but was an important supporter of Wes Clark for President in the 2004 race. Here's the Google News link for the story.

This doesn't surprise me

2008-08-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's disturbing to me how many service members have not read the Constitution. I'm not just talking about the 1st Amendment here. The body of the Constitution, Article VI, paragraph 3:

no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Before someone signs a legally binding contract sworn by an oath they should read it.

I'll have more to say about this later.

The difference is clear!

2008-08-16T03:41:00.000-07:00

It was one thing to drop the bombs in 1945, when nobody really knew what they would do, but today, now that their effects are known, there is no excuse for anyone wanting to own such weapons. That's why the very clear difference between Obama and McCain about this issue is very important.

OBAMA:

Toward a Nuclear Free World: Obama will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it. Obama will always maintain a strong deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist. But he will take several steps down the long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons. He will stop the development of new nuclear weapons; work with Russia to take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair trigger alert; seek dramatic reductions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material; and set a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediate- range missiles so that the agreement is global.

MCCAIN:

John McCain strongly supports the development and deployment of theater and national missile defenses. Effective missile defenses are critical to protect America from rogue regimes like North Korea that possess the capability to target America with intercontinental ballistic missiles, from outlaw states like Iran that threaten American forces and American allies with ballistic missiles, and to hedge against potential threats from possible strategic competitors like Russia and China. Effective missile defenses are also necessary to allow American military forces to operate overseas without being deterred by the threat of missile attack from a regional adversary.

N.B. North Korea certainly does NOT "possess the capability to target America with intercontinental ballistic missiles" but they rather possess the ability to hit Japan and South Korea, as well as Vladivostok and parts of China.

And there are reports (I'm having trouble googling them just now) that the US military no longer wants nuclear weapons. They are too dangerous and serve no purpose. Nobody wants nuclear weapons detail, after that little incident of the lost nukes especially.

63 years and counting!

2008-08-09T03:05:00.000-07:00

That's how long it's been since an atomic bomb has been dropped on human beings. Everyone seems to notice Hiroshima Day, and the first bomb. Few people seem to notice Nagasaki Day, the anniversary of the last atomic bomb ever dropped on human beings.

Here are some people who did:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki with a solemn ceremony on Saturday and a call for world powers to abandon their nuclear weapons.

Thousands of children, elderly survivors and dignitaries in the city's Peace Park bowed their heads in a minute of silence at 11:02 a.m. (3:02 a.m. British time), the time the bomb was dropped, to remember the tens of thousands who ultimately died from the blast.

"The United States and Russia must take the lead in striving to abolish nuclear weapons," Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue said at the gathering, which included Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Chris Lugo:

On August 9th, 1945 at 11:01am the United States of America dropped a nuclear bomb on a pre-designated city in Japan killing 80,000 people in the second of two nuclear attacks. This attack was the only time that nuclear weapons have been used as an instrument of war, and it could be the last, if we generate the political will to dismantle our weapons of mass destruction, abide by the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and create a federal level department of peace.

The Mainichi Daily News:

NAGASAKI -- Thousands of people including atomic bomb survivors gathered in Nagasaki on Saturday in a ceremony to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Aug. 9, 1945 atomic bomb attack on the city.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Takashi Nagai (1908-1951), a physician who cared for wounded survivors, or hibakusha, in spite of his own injures. In a Peace Declaration during the ceremony at Nagasaki Peace Park, near ground zero, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue quoted Nagai, saying, "There is no winning or losing in war; there is only ruin."

. . .

In a Peace Declaration read out at the ceremony Taue mentioned that people including former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schulz had submitted an article on steps toward a nuclear free world, adding that the authors were promoting the United States ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The declaration pointed out that Russia and the United States are said to together possess 95 percent of the world's nuclear warheads and said these two countries "should begin implementing broad reductions of nuclear weapons."

Is there still a chance to get Wes for Veep?

2008-08-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

Is there still a chance to get Wes for Veep?

Sign the petition!

Go do Daily Kos and recommend the diaries! HERE! HERE! and HERE!

Then write to the Obama campaign!

Tell your friends and neighbors who think Clark questioned McCain's service that anyone who thinks being shot down is a qualification for president must logically think that President Bush should be shot down, to make him a better president.

I sound too much like Barack Obama Sr.

2008-07-25T03:48:00.000-07:00

"He was a brilliant guy," Obama told biographer David Mendell, "but in so many ways his life was a mess."

Despite his ambition and talent, the elder Obama's career disintegrated amid external forces and personal weaknesses, including the alcohol problem, which led to a string of car accidents. A crash in 1982 took his life.

Friends and family say his career imploded in part because of his brash personality and an idealistic belief, nurtured in America, that the best ideas and smartest people would always rise to the top. Confronted with the reality of corruption and cronyism in Kenya, Obama sank into disillusionment and despair.

All I can say is I don't drink and drive, and I try to take better care of myself than that guy did. He should have gone back to America and been an immigrant. I wouldn't mind going back there myself.

More here.

I'm losing TR status on D-Kos

2008-07-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

over this? WTF? Too many responders don't bother to read what I said, they just react. Is that being reactionary?

To prosecute or not to prosecute?

2008-07-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

President Bashir of Sudan is facing potential charges before the International Criminal Court. His government doesn't recognize the ICC's jurisdiction, but that doesn't seem to make a difference to the ICC. Does this remind you of a certain other head of state who's alleged to be guilty of war crimes but who doesn't recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC? It should.

Some say that would not be politic at the present moment in Sudan. I respect Alex de Waal very much for his knowledge of the area and his writings about it. Here's what Alex and Julie Flint said about it recently:

The chief prosecutor's timing could not be worse. There has been more movement on the north-south Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which provides a blueprint for the democratisation of Sudan, in the past two months than in the past three and a half years; a deal has been signed to end a dispute over the flashpoint oil-rich region of Abyei; and an election law has been passed. In the interests of the people of Sudan, Ocampo should reconsider. It is not too late.

Others are weighing in for various reasons. The AU

expressed its strong conviction that the search for justice should be pursued in a way that does not impede or jeopardise efforts aimed at promoting lasting peace"

but then they also

reiterated the AU's concern with the misuse of indictments against African leaders

so they could be dismissed as just another dictators' trade union, like the OAU.

Even worse, Bashir has asked the Arab League for support. Playing the ethnic card, effectively asking the Arab League to certify that genocide is OK (at least if Arabs do it - don't expect them to OK anything Israel does to the Palestinians) is a new low even for the Bashir regime. But since when has the Arab League even done anything about Moroccan occupation of the Western Sahara? Arab on Arab oppression they are silent about, Ajam (non-Arab) oppression of Arabs they can't stop talking about, but when Arabs oppress some other people? They're all for that! That's what the Arab League is all about, Arab ethnic nationalism, what other African peoples call "tribalism" - a sentiment that should have been left behind in the 20th century.

I would like to propose something that is uncharacteristically politic for me. I would like to propose dual indictments. If Bashir is guilty of breaking International Law, so is Bush. Bush doesn't recognize the ICC, but then neither does Bashir, so they're equally outlaw regimes. There should be dual indictments handed down. There is certainly growing support in the US for indicting Bush. It would put pressure on his domestic opposition to finally do something about him instead of just waiting out his term. This would take care of the Arab charge of double standard and conspiracy against the mythical Arab nation. It would end the charge of hypocrisy. It would kill two birds with one stone. And it might create a precedent for justice in the world. Not victors' justice, the complaint about Nuremburg. Not losers' justice, which has been slow in coming to the victims of the Bosnian Civil War. But justice for all. Which I always pledged allegiance to.

Why can't more people stand up for General Clark?

2008-07-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

This was from someone who's known him for decades:

Europeans are startled that a man of such great distinction, who they know and worked with, would be left in the lurch by those who should be standing behind him. They see it as a character weakness on the part of Democrats that he is not being publicly supported, especially by those who aspire to positions of high leadership. "I find it a distressing sign of weakness that he was not supported by Senators Obama and Clinton, or by any leading Democrat for that matter," a European foreign minister said to me.

An appropriate response to his comments on McCain would have been: Clark has served our country for 45 years. He is a man with experience, with great character. Clark called McCain a great war hero -- a man to whom he and millions of soldiers look up to. I agree with Clark that McCain is a great war hero. I also agree that he does not have executive experience. Questioning McCain's executive experience does not diminish his war record. It is an appropriate question that should be asked. I stand by Clark, who has served our country with distinction.

If the Democrats won't stand by Clark, why should anyone stand by them?

Bush is NOT sending MORE troops to Afghanistan!

2008-07-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Read this crap:

Bush says US to send more troops to Afghanistan

He's extending the tours of American troops who are already there. Here's the real story:

Pentagon extends tour of Marines in Afghanistan

Instead of trying to get more troops, he's taking a military strained to the breaking point, and pushing them over the edge.

Why I love General Clark

2008-07-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier;

He just said the truth, and despite all the shouting in the right wing blogosphere, General Clark spoke the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

He is the most impolitic, but correct, politician I can think of. Impolitically Correct salutes him.

Listen to this garbage:

Then go down and see what Clark really said.

Clark clarifies

2008-07-01T00:21:00.001-07:00

It's so sad that the remark was taken out of context.

Talk about impolitically correct!

2008-06-30T02:42:00.001-07:00

I have to hand it to General Clark. Again. He's just saying the truth. How the media spin it is up to them, but what he said was just the truth.

He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn't a wartime squadron. I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.