To Quote Donald Rumsfeld, ‘Hey, Stuff Happens.’ I Guess This Is What He Meant By Freedom Being Untidy…

(Think Progress) George Will: “This Is A Civil War”

Even George Will has recognized that Iraq is in a state of civil war. He puts the issue nicely: “Now, does Iraq have a government? Let me just postulate the question. A government exists when it has a reasonable monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. As long as the militias are out there, the existence of an Iraqi government is questionable.” The quote I italicized is a standard sociological definition of one of the chief powers of government, the monopoly on legitimate violence–one may break it down as keeping the internal peace and providing defense from external threats. All governments, good or bad, have this monopoly. Not only is there now rage against the American occupation, which was not envisioned by our brilliant administration, but sectarian violence threatens the newly born “government,” also unenvisioned. The CIA, the Pentagon brass, all warned the administration what it was getting into. The American public is the loser for it. WE are the ones who will have to pay for this bull****, and not just in money. Yes, the Iraqis are their own worst enemies–but WE are the ones they and the rest of the Arab world will blame. When even that warmonger Bill O’Reilly starts to wonder if we should pull out … perhaps it’s time for coit*s interruptus.

Dub, Dub, Dubya, Dubaiiiiiiiii!

(AP) Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement

(AP) Bush Port Defiance Fuels Bipartisan Anger

(Reuters) Bush unaware of Dubai ports deal before approval

(Reuters) Bush defends ports deal, threatens veto

Lemme see, the idiot-in-chief, who’s never vetoed a single piece of legislation, has threatened to veto any legislation blocking a deal that he wasn’t even aware of delivering the running of US ports by a country that gave material aid to the alleged 9-11 hijackers (if you believe the official story). 9-11 families are mad. Congress is mad. Arab-Americans think that the reaction is anti-Arab (well, yes it is, but DUH!). However the icing on the cake is from the (ahem) notoriously lefty NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (hahaha)! Breaking news update: Bush shrugs off objections to port deal–WASHINGTON – The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House…One is Treasury Secretary John Snow…Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush’s cabinet. The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World’s European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Did anyone get my Toot-toot Tootsie reference?

Apologies To Stephen Colbert, But Today’s Topic Is … Bears!

(NatGeo) Polar Bears Being Considered for U.S. Endangered List

(NYTimes) Bush’s Chat With Novelist Alarms Environmentalists

(WorldNetDaily) A GREEN GOSPEL–Poll: 70% of evangelicals see global warming threat

In the Gospel According to Dubyus, global warming is, of course, something to be “studied” rather than something that needs anything DONE. That’s because there’s still money to be made by polluting the environment by Big Oil, money to be made by felling trees by Big Lumber. Business’s idea of alternative fuel is coal or nuclear power. But the polar ice caps are shrinking. Evangelical Christians are not known for their stand on the environment, but many of them have come to the conclusion that if God has given man stewardship of the earth, then we have an obligation to each other and the rest of God’s creation not to destroy His handiwork by our own carelessness and greed.