Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, January 22, 2006
"We think the price is worth it"
Good morning Mickey and the Expendables, Hi JOS.
I’m glad you touched on the topic of water in Iraq; it’s another fact of which we need reminding. (inumerable are the ways in which their populace has suffered long before the official invasions) Knowing family of friends who perished due to the embargos and restrictions on the most basic living requirements; can we imagine doing without water even if all our other amenities were undisturbed?
I’ve always like Peter Ustinov (not always agreed with him) for the eccentric manner through which he would say such quotable things as you noted.
Madeleine Albright - the corporate power mold that takes women like her and Margaret Thatcher and Condolizzard makes them less women and more - cyborg. There’s something that makes me cringe so - even at the sight. At least one of them hasn’t bred yet. I shudder at the thought.
Jim from yesterday - I have yet to go and catch up, so maybe I’m repeating something already said, but the Osama / CIA connection is obvious to me. Frightening how well the ploy works for most though.
Mudge - I hope the completed move has gone smoothly and hope to see you again as soon as you can.
Now I’m off to enjoy the morning after catching up on all I’ve missed. “Back” later I hope.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/22 at 09:35 AMps: MZ - Any need for Dalai Lama action in exchange for the Momo’s?
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/22 at 09:44 AMGood Morning, Empress. No Dalai action last night...but it did get confusing when I kept asking for Mo’ Momos.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/22 at 09:51 AMGood morning Mickey, Amelopsis...Water is important. Yesterday, many in my part of the world were reminded of that. Thanks for reminding us of the war crime with the water in Iraq. Later, when some Quakers applied for permission to send chlorinators to Iraq, permission was denied by the USA. This has very much been a war against civilians. The numbers prove that. Also, I always think of that whole invasion of Iraq into Kuwait and then the USA response as the “bait and switch war.” The April Glaspie transcript gave Saddam permission to go into Kuwait.
I am happy to be back after a night of adventure. I spent last night in the 18th century. Massive power outage left everyone who does not have their own generator without lights, heat, water, or indoor plumbing. My house got down to 45, brrrr. Today, power is back and sun is shining.
Mudge, welcome to your new home. Tell us more.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/22 at 10:13 AMHi Amelopsis, RMJ, Mickey, and JOS!
Saddam is often blamed for the death of the Iraqis. ‘if he didn’t build all those castles, the iraqis would not have starved’ we often hear or read. because he was building his castle with foodstuffs, aspirins and ekg machines. not because important items were forbidden under sanctions. in the report IRAQ WATER TREATMENT VULNERABILITIES there’s no mention of Saddam just cold facts about what would happen to the iraqi infastructure and the population if Iraq was not able to purify it’s water. definitely a war against civilians. to the American public Saddam is the bad guy the Nagy article wasn’t the front page headline of The New York Times. if the u.s. ever goes after karimov they will announce “this is the guy who boils his people.” as if they didn’t know. shouldn’t we compare saddam to churchill? saddam also had to pay for trying to kill bush’s daddy.
The Nagy article: http://tinyurl.com/8bwpv
scroll down to read the dia report on iraq water treatment: http://tinyurl.com/asvw6
Posted by tm on from earth 01/22 at 01:24 PMHello all...by the way, I really appreciate the shout outs and support. I’ve got three weeks clean today and I am feeling GOOD.
The price? One half of a million children. I wonder if they still think it was worth it.
We may have caused the deaths of a quarter of a million more in our current occupation...I do not think that is an exageration. There are many more deaths to come.
We are escalating the air war and our presence IS the reason for the daily car bombs and suicide attacks.
It seems to me that an Iraqi life is worth less in our eyes than the paper our daily headlines are printed on: “120 dead today in Baghdad.”
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park, IL (Birthplace of E. Hemingway) 01/22 at 01:52 PMJOS - bloody well done mate! Fantastic news.
Less pleasing news - an army interrogator has been found guilty of “negligent homicide” for smothering an Iraqi general to death. Sounds more like cold blooded murder to me. Would Othello have been able to plead “negligent homicide” had he not the honour to take his own life after “negligently” ended Desdemona’s?
Some details about Iran - in 2000, with the immigration crisis, they took in one immigrant for every 36 citizens. Pakistan took in one for every 75, Germany one for every 456 and Australia one for every 1,138 (no offence, Helga!).
We should remember the good things Iran has done before we, through inaction, authorise many innocent deaths in Iran through war. I’m delighted MZ has reminded us of the substance of Spins, although the book has such rich & fantastic detail I would most certainly still consider it necessary reading.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/22 at 02:24 PMCongratulations, fellow James, glad to hear it!
And here’s this about Google, recalling the discussion from a few days ago:
So they’re fighting the government some on this, or is it just a show? Btw, it was on through the google news svc that I found this link… and they still keep records of searches for a long time regardless of the gov’t order-- “why”?
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/22 at 02:42 PMGreetings all. Just wanted to mention this about the Google business. Google can fight the US gov’t all it wants regarding saving search records of individual users. Expendable Michael (of tub thumping fame) posted something nice a few days ago on his blog about corporate vs. military hegemony. Whether or not Google (or anyone) hands this stuff over is not the point in my opinion. It’s that they keep it at all. Also, in connection with the last post at my own blog, I’m thinking of ways to act rather than react. There’s this dissonance in using tools developed for military and corporate dominance in order to diminish military and corporate dominance. I have no theories, just this pit in my stomach. (Could also be the Chinese take-out I just housed for dinner.)
Mickey, love the 7 Deadly Spins excerpt.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/22 at 02:53 PMHello All. JOS: Bravo, my friend. Excellent, excellent news.
RMJ: Sorry to hear about the power outage. In NYC, it’s another unseasonably warm day.
Great points, re: Iraq, Iran, war, etc. from TM, Chris, JOS, Keir. Captcha sez: “leaders.” Yeah, right.
As for the Google situation, let’s not forget that Yahoo, AOL, and MSN have already rolled over and are providing info to the gov’t. Just this morning, some joker sent me an e-mail. The subject line read: “Your site is being closely monitored.” The body of the e-mail contained one word: COINTELPRO.
Not very funny...if you ask me.
I’ll be back later. Thanks, Expendables.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/22 at 03:21 PMYes, about Google, that’s what I was thinking-- if they’d just stop retaining the searches, they’d have nothing for the government to demand from them in the first place. In the meantime, when I search online for new vegan recipes, the feds can help themselves to whatever I find.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/22 at 03:35 PMCorporate hegemony is military hegemony - why do you think they call them Chief Executive Officers?
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 01/22 at 03:44 PMMornin’ All.
Congrats JOS. You’re gettin’ free, Man, FREE!Thanks for the 7 Spins excerpt, Mickey. Telling to the point of damning.
The Google stuff is more bullshit for the front stalls. As James insightfully points out , if they didn’t keep the stuff there’d be nothing to hand over. Checkmate.
Taking a lead from yesterday about looking at the evidence staring us in the face and ignoring the deliberately confusing verbiage, if you looked at the Iraq/Middle East recent history as simple genocide then events become remarkably consistent from dirty water to massive DU contamination.
The questions to ask are:-Are there people on earth who hate Arabs and Muslims enough to do this?
Who would these people be?
Are these people in a position of sufficient control to attempt to carry it out?
How would they go about it i.e. how would they disguise their intentions/behaviour?
Thanks for the immigrant figures, Chris. I have felt for a long time that the Aust Govt is going to bring some bad shit down on our heads. It could have been so easy to do the right thing but it simply isn’t in these peoples’ (polies) natures.
In the George Harrison song ‘Beware of Darkness”, there’s the line “Beware of greedy leaders, they’ll take you where you shouldn’t go”
AAaahhhh! Oracle says hell!
Can I have an Amen!!!
Posted by Jim on from 01/22 at 04:56 PMAnother great post, Mickey! Have to play catch-up as I did not surf the Internet yesterday (Sunday in Australia). Re the effect of the Iraq sanctions imposed between 1991 and 2003, Norman Solomon wrote this very moving column in September 2002 (and the Leslie Stahl interview gets a mention as well)
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2204
Here’s what happening in Victoria and other parts of Australia even while I type:http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1552763.htm
We had a real scorcher yesterday - about 104F, and the same temperatures are forecast for Thursday which happens to be Australia Day.
And a really warm ‘hello’ to all of you MZ’ers/expendables!
Thanks for all your comments, links, graphics ..Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/22 at 05:57 PMHere’s what I am listening to at the moment:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/
Book Show which deals with a book called ‘Gore Vidal’s America’ written by an Australian academic who once lived in the US, Dennis Altman. Go listen if you want to ..
And so interesting what you say about certain women’s rise to power, Amelopsis. Could not agree more!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/22 at 06:08 PMHello Helga, Jim, James, Owen, et. al.
“Boy,” it’s slow today. Has everyone read Fight Club?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/22 at 08:14 PMI’m going to go grab a copy tomorrow...I’ll read fast. Good night all.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park, IL (Birthplace of E. Hemingway) 01/22 at 10:00 PMGreat news, Big Country..."both" that you’re gonna read Fight Club and that you’re gonna join the discussion.
Good night, Expendables.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/22 at 10:14 PMExpendable Helga is back! And unfortunately ‘The Fight Club’ is not available in Daylesford, but on my next visit to Melbourne, I’ll buy it. That’s a promise, Mickey.
And it seems the s..t has hit the fan in Canada, although at least Mr Harper does not have a majority in his own right. Amelopsis, what’s your reaction?
Good night from Daylesford to the US, Canada and ‘old Europe’.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/24 at 01:12 AM
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