Don't let Bush's plunging poll numbers lull you into complacency. The Bush administration still plans to attack Iran. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, quoted by Reuters, says that Bush is keeping "the military option on the table" even as his approval rating dips to its lowest ever: 28%.Bush is bogged down in Iraq and at home. But rather than keeping the US out of Iran, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski predicts the deteriorating situation in Iraq will lead inevitably to the planned war against Iran.
Congress tarries dangerously amid reports that the US has already begun a war with Iran.
If there is any hope that Bush may be dissuaded from beginning yet another quagmire, it is the news this week that the GOP is running scared, fearing a disastrous defeat because of Bush's quagmire in Iraq. Fear they should. Dick Cheney has flipped off his party:
Dick Cheney said: “We didn’t get elected to worry just about the fate of the Republican party. Our mission is to do everything we can to prevail...against one of the most evil opponents we’ve ever faced.GOP leaders are as puzzled by the logic as chagrined by Cheney's flip off. Moderate Republicans have, nevertheless, warned that their patience and their support for the surge may be running out. Various numbers are said to be ready to abandon Bush, perhaps even supporting efforts to impeach him.- Vice President Dick Cheney, quoted in the Financial Times
There has never been a better time to impeach and remove Bush. Already more Americans favor impeaching Bush than ever favored the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Admittedly, I have spent little time psychoanalyzing Bush save to say that he is a psychotic moron. What is left to say? Scott Ritter, however, has an interesting take on just why the US occupation failed from the get go. His article is entitled The Good AmericanPolls: Americans want Bush Impeached more now than they did Clinton in '99
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 05/10/2007 - 1:07pm.
A 1999 poll in the midst of Bill Clinton's impeachment trial showed that only 32% of Americans wanted to remove him from office. But a poll this week shows that 39% of Americans want Bush and Cheney to be impeached.So why is all of Congress - save Rep. Dennis Kucinich - just sitting around when Republicans have already set the impeachment bar so low? In 1999, 79% agreed Clinton had actually committed perjury but a majority of those people still didn't think it was enough to ditch him. By contrast, a poll two months ago found that 54% believe the Bush Administration "deliberately misled the American public" about Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
Of course, Clinton's approval rate was 67% at the time - more than twice Bush's current 28%. That's because Clinton was making the nation a better place despite his personal failings, as opposed to Bush making the whole world worse. For example, 89% of Americans thought the economy was in good shape in 1999, and today 65% oppose the war in Iraq.
It’s a shame for these Legionnaires that the Iraqis couldn't have turned out to be blond, blue-eyed Germans who looked like us, and whose women could be wooed with chocolate and nylon stockings by the noble American liberator and occupier. Or, short of that, passive Japanese, who freely submitted their women to the massage parlors and barracks of their American conquering heroes while their men rebuilt a shattered society. The simplistic approach of many of the American Legion’s most hawkish advocates for the ongoing disaster in Iraq seems to be drawn from a selective memory which seeks to impose a carefully crafted past experience dating back to the last “good war” (i.e,, World War II), expunged of all warts and blemishes, onto the current situation in Iraq in a manner which strips away all reality.When Bush talks about the consequences of defeat, he implies "victory" that will expiate our guilt, erase the crimes already committed, a pure ablution achieved by merely staying put another six months, another year, perhaps, forever. I have bad news for Bush. There is no ablution, there is no way to wash away our sins "...in the blood of The Lamb", at a time when Bush should be on the lam.
It turns out that the Iraqis aren’t like German or Japanese people at all, but rather a fiercely independent (if overly complex) nation deeply resentful of a so-called liberation which has brought them nothing but pain and agony, primarily at the hands of those who have, unbidden, “freed” them from their past.
In the differences between Omar Khayyam, the great Persian poet, and George W. Bush, an unlettered barbarian, we find, at last, the very nature of the schism. Khayyam described a vast cosmological scheme over which he controlled only his own actions. Khayyam may have been the first existentialist; he found meaning in the details of his life and took responsibility for them. Bush, a fundamentalist Christian, eschews responsibility for his life in anticipation of a "hereafter" in which his many sins will be forgiven and those of his enemies punished. It is a comforting fairy tale embraced by sociopaths and the philosophically immature.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.- Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Rubaiyat, c. 1120
Never mind that Bush is at odds with Christianity as it has been professed by Saints, clerics, and, indeed, words widely attributed to Christ himself. Bush's version of Christianity is the "pop" version peddled by tent revivalists in the last century and Pat Robertson today. Bush may believe what he will. The world - if it is to survive Bush - simply must deny him the right to impose his personal hell upon humanity and posterity.
Bush has committed capital crimes amid his numerous lies and pretexts. By perpetrating upon the American people and the world a deliberate and deadly hoax, he has committed high treason, an impeachable offense. His innumerable bald faced lies are cited to justify a campaign of murderous atrocities and torture. He has succeeded, thus far, because his opposition is both timid and, itself, compromised by the nature of evil and corruption
In the short term Bush must be impeached, removed, tried and sentenced. And for that much, US criminal codes and the Constitutional prescription of impeachment are sufficient. But, if the US position at Nuremberg is to ever reclaim legitimacy and credibility, Bush must be turned over to the International court to stand trial for war crimes. I am being merciful. If he is tried for war crimes under US Codes, he would be subject to the death penalty.
Think of a world at peace, lived in for the preciousness of fleeting moments, a world free of war mongering beasts of any persuasion, religion, or creed. It was a "Persian" who perhaps gave that fragile vision its most poignant expression:
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,All the world was with us in the few days and weeks following 911. We are now opposed by all the world. Bush has squandered the goodwill of the world.
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse---and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness---
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.- Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Edward FitzGerald's Translation.
And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd
As, buried once, Men want dug up again.
Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,
How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.- Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Rubaiyat, c. 1120
The Existentialist Cowboy
Impeach Bush
War Crimes
War Crimes
Perpetual War
Treason
Notes on the image of the "Persian Princess" above.
First of all the top image is used with a blanket permission given non-commercial use by the original host at: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The "footer" image is, likewise, used non-commercially and, following a temporary server problem, it is now hosted on blogspot. 
Fuzzflash commented:
Does the enchanting and most captivating Persian Princess have an appellation?.I believe that it is, indeed, a depiction of a real person. Based upon some scanty google research, I am tempted to conclude that Fuzz's "enchanting" Persian Princess may not be Persian nor Indian. If so, she is not a Persian princess at all, but a "Mugol" [called Mughal by the Persians]. The picture may be that of the Mughal Princess Zebunnissa. She was a poet. The following lines are attributed to her by one of the visitors to the site linked to above:
O waterfall, why lament?
What grief wrinkles your face?
What pain, that all night
You strike your head
on the rocks and cry?
25 comments:
Shooter wants to do it again!
As acting president he has already manipulated America into an illegal invasion of a country not threatening us. Now - yesterday - still as acting president, he is trying to commit the USA - that's US! - to attacking another country not threatening us! He continues to validate Article III of Kucinich's Impeachment bill H Res. 333! The S.O.B. is a serial war criminal and ought to have been impeached already! Call your Representative today: (202) 225-3121 and tell him how Shooter is driving without either license or registration.
Thank you for this - good contrast between the sublime (Omar Khayyam's writing) and the ridiculous (guess who...).
thank you, t ...you are most welcome. I agree with your use of the word "sublime" to describe the Fitzgerald translation of Khayyam. It just rolls off the tongue.
vigilante, you are right. "Shooter" is not happy unless he plays the role of "harbinger" of death, unless he is killing something for the fun of it. There is no need for Bush.
I've been urging impeachment since 2002, but it ain't going to happen. Other than Russ Feingold, Democrats are still trying to grow cartilage, and by the time they grow a spine, it will either to too late or over.
You describe George Bush as “an unlettered barbarian”, which would imply he doesn’t read books, since book-reading is one of the pre-requisites of being “lettered”.
But if you care to click on to the following article, www.slate.com/id/2162837?nav=tap3 you’ll see that George Bush not only reads books, but lots of them - two a week, in fact.
Since reading two books a week would take up just about all of anyone’s waking time, it would seem obvious that Bush is devoting almost no time at all to his official duties because he’s reading books all the time.
This may be why his administration is crumbling around his ears.
I can only guess that Bush reads books the same way that talk show hosts do.
As for the invasion of Iran, I can only see one real reason to do it. Block the Strait of Hormuz (or make tankers fear to go there), thus driving up oil prices, thus leading to big, fat profits for oil companies (that's on top of the profits being generated by the current "low capacity" of oil refining). That one stinks of Darth Cheney all the way. I hope I'm alive when the truth about those Energy meetings finally comes out.
If an administration were trying to get us nuked, it would do just what Bush and Cheney are doing. I, too, have pleaded for years that Congress remove them from office, and insisted they belong on death row. Then I suggested building a gallows on the mall in Washington and hanging them. This year, I changed my mind and said all that is too good for them. They've earned an ignominious departure from office and this world.
But, there's no doubt that the few survivors in the United States will crawl out of the radiated ashes, gasp a last breath and bleat, "I forgive mah Dubya, he's Bibleman."
Christopher I said...
Since reading two books a week would take up just about all of anyone’s waking time, it would seem obvious that Bush is devoting almost no time at all to his official duties because he’s reading books all the time.
Good one...you no doubt recall his interivew with Brian Williams in which he claimed to have read three histories of George Washington, Camus' "The Stranger" and "three Shakespeares".
Uh Huh!
More likely - he had three beers in Shakespeare's passed out and woke up among strangers and a guy named George.
«—U®Anu§—» said...
the few survivors .. will crawl out of the radiated ashes, gasp a last breath and bleat, "I forgive mah Dubya, he's Bibleman."
Another good one. Bertrand Russell's essay entitled "Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind" was of necessity concerned with various forms of cruelty and thus religion, Christian dogma in particular. Russell, of course, could not have had George W. Bush in mind when he wrote: "...after they achieved power, the slogan 'guns rather than butter' still involved a sacrifice of the pleasures of sense for the mental pleasures of prospective victory - the very pleasures, in fact, with which Milton's Satan consoles himself while tortured by the fires of hell."
One wonders how Bush may console himself in hell.
Russell also wrote: "One of the most interesting and harmful delusions to which men and nations can be subjected, is that of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will."
About whom could that be said today? You get one guess.
daveawayfromhome said...
I hope I'm alive when the truth about those Energy meetings finally comes out.
Hitler and Goering held a similar meeting attended by Krupp von Bohlen, Bosch and Schnitzler of I. G. Farben, and Voegler, head of the United Steel Works. Goering talked about "financial sacrifices" which "surely would be much easier for industry to bear if it realized that the election of March fifth will surely be the last one for the next ten years, probably even for the next hundred years." A deal was made. The "industrialists" loved the idea of the end of elections, democracy, and disarmament. They were assured a steady stream of defense contracts. I suspect that Darth Cheney's meeting of the "Energy Task Force" went down as well with the oil guys and for the same reasons.
The debate among the liberals and progressives has been raging for three years now....
Do we focus our energies on impeaching Bush and Cheney, or, do we use our new found majority status to advance our agenda for the American people?
There seems to be a fear that we will "drive away the moderates" if we pursue impeachment.
I am asking myself, "What Moderates? We have been poloraized beyond repair and impeachment won't make it any worse. Bush's support has shrunk to 28% by some polls and those supporters have barricaded themselves in their American Legion Posts and formed a prayer circle.
Impeachment proceedings would shine a light into the dark corners of this administration and convince all but the most die-hard supporters that they have been used and duped.
I was one who argued that we should just pursue our agenda for the American people but the prospect of these two a-h0les starting another war is too great a risk to take.
hizzhoner
hizzoner said...
"What Moderates? We have been poloraized beyond repair and impeachment won't make it any worse. Bush's support has shrunk to 28% by some polls and those supporters have barricaded themselves in their American Legion Posts and formed a prayer circle.
I'm with, hizzoner. I like the picture you paint --Bushies huddled, praying to to "God" to save them from the beast they created. I think I saw that movie back in the fifties. It might have starred Whit Bissell.
Thanks, Len. Passionate and right on the money.
Unfortunately, I think Bush and gang have a contingency plan that will make his low popularity and high pro-impeachment numbers meaningless. Read Bush orders contingency plans for attack on U.S. These guys have already attacked the U.S. once to drive the American public to accept the invasion of Iraq on 911. There is every reason to believe they are going to do it again to justify an attack on Iran.
From the beginning of the article:
"President Bush issued a formal national security directive yesterday ordering agencies to prepare contingency plans for a surprise, 'decapitating' attack on the federal government, and assigned responsibility for coordinating such plans to the White House."
You can't impeach a president who has managed to grant himself dictatorial powers in response to a "terrorist" attack on the U.S. that might include a nuke going off within the beltway now, can you? Things could get pretty weird around here.
Allen Branson said...
You can't impeach a president who has managed to grant himself dictatorial powers in response to a "terrorist" attack on the U.S. that might include a nuke going off within the beltway now, can you? Things could get pretty weird around here.
That's what makes it so interesting and dangerous. I remember Watergate very well. I covered it. I was in Jones Hall the night Dan Rather "sassed" Nixon. In my opinion, it was Nixon who "sassed" Rather but it was Rather who got "kicked upstairs". Nixon had to resign under pressure from his own party about three months later. There was always the question: would Nixon do something stupid? After all, US citizens had already been fired on and killed at Kent State. Would he refuse the subpoenas? Would he ring the White House with tanks? Would he order attacks ala Tiananmen Square?
That's always the chance you take.
I say go for it. Impeach the traitor!
In the meantime, I suggest that Moveon.org organize a campaign of letter writing, and passive resistance the likes of which this nation has never seen before.
Len Heart said:
"That's always the chance you take.
I say go for it. Impeach the traitor!"
Oh yeah, I agree! I didn't mean to imply that Bush will do something stupid only if impeachment proceedings are under way. My point was more that he and his little cabal are already planning to do something stupid and we'd better wake up and get our butts in gear to do something about it.
Absolutely, Allen! I had hoped the American people and the Democrats would have been awakened to the danger by now. But Nancy Pelosi seemed to have soft pendaled recently. I cannot think of a more dangerous time in American history.
"Reagan, Bush and yoU"
www.ilovepoetry.com/viewpoem.asp?id=92106
The bUcolic road less travelled?
Bush would love to attack Iran---but I wonder if the U.S. military could do this, even if it wanted to. The U.S. military infrastructure has been so badly battered by the Iraq fiasco that it is severely short-handed in Iraq. Which leads me to wonder how the military could spare troops for a ground assault of Iran.
Sincerely,
Marc McDonald
BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com
Marc McDonald said...
The U.S. military infrastructure has been so badly battered by the Iraq fiasco that it is severely short-handed in Iraq.
If, as some believe, the military assisted Bush's 911 coup --then the military has no one to blame but themselves. It is simplisitic and obvious to conclude that this nation faces a crisis of leadership. Where were the dissenting generals when Bush was stroking them off? Where were the dissenting "conservatives" when Bush had them on their knees?
And, lately, even Nancy Pelosi seems to have softened her tone.
Alas, America, I fear for you.
Fuzz sez...
Geez she's beautiful.
Len, Does the enchanting and most captivating Persian Princess have an appellation?
Eat your heart out, Barbie!
Fuzz,
The "Princess" at the top of the page and the "footer" would appear to have been representations of one person. But, this AM, the footer pic no longer shows up. I checked the source site and if they were depictions of a real Persian princess, there is no name given. You can find more Persian art here.
I had "hot linked" as per permission given for non-commercial purposes.
Fuzz,
Been doing some more research re: your beautiful Persian Princess. Despite the almost cartoon-like simplicity of the drawings, there are other drawings that I believe depict the same person. If it is, she is not a Perisan princess at all, but a "Mongol" [called Mughal by the Persians ] The drawing may have been of the Mughal Princess Zebunnissa
Many thanks for visiting my blog and linking the story on Princess Zebunnissa. I am not absolutely sure about the picture but am told that it is a depiciton of this radical seventeenth century princess who led an independent life, was a poet, a builder of gardens, an avid literati, a student of astronomy and sciences and broke many convetions to lead a full life.
Sorry to digress from the main aspect of your post i.e. impeachment of an unwise President!
www.razarumi.wordpress.com
Raza Rumi said...
Sorry to digress from the main aspect of your post i.e. impeachment of an unwise President!
No apology is necessary. You are correct, however. Bush is, indeed, an "unwise" President. As such, he falls far short of the ideal described by Socrates and handed down to us by his disciple, Plato:
"Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race." -(Republic 473c-d)
Fuzz sez...
Raza Rumi and Len,
Thank you for your detective work.
"Aurangzeb’s daughter Zeb-un-Nissa: patron of the arts, poet, and a keeper of several lovers –
A favourite, she was exposed to the affairs of the Mughal court. With a sound education in the arts, languages, astronomy and sciences of the day, Zeb-un-Nissa turned into an aware and sensitive princess."
She thunderbolted me at first glance. No choice now but to take that magic carpet ride,
against time's tyranny to her side.
Guess I'll get to learn how to say;
"There's a line !" in Mongolian.
thanks Len and anonymous:)
cheers, RR
www.razarumi.wordpress.com
Fuzzflash said...
She thunderbolted me at first glance. No choice now but to take that magic carpet ride,
against time's tyranny to her side.
Cheers, mate! Your comments, as always, jump start a thread and, as in this case, often provide a much needed relief from the oppressive nature of the news.
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