Egoboo from EgoSurf

This is apparently bogus. I found the link via Presurfer and entered my screen name and blog name. There is no way my traffic is anyway near the Presurfer's. Something's fishy about the system.



Here's the link in case you want to try for yourself.

True English Nerd


You scored 89 erudition!


Not only do you know your subjects from your objects and your definite from your indefinite articles, but you've got quite a handle on the literature and the history of the language as well. Huzzah, and well done! The English snobs of Boston salute you.





You scored higher than 93%
on erudition

Link: The Are You Truly Erudite? Test written by okellelala on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Hissy Fits are funny

Via American Leftist, I found a link to an Empire Burlesque post about the latest media pimping being done by Paul Bremer. He was the first U.S. colonial kahuna in Iraq and now he's worried he's gonna be blamed for the fucked up mess the U.S. has created. He has written a volume to add to the long list of apologia's by middle managers in government who are willing to slurp up all the privileges of power but just hate to have to take any responsibility once the blame gets doled out.

The article is preaching to the choir, of course, and won't change any minds. But the writing had me laughing out loud:

The Highly Informative Hissy Fit of L. Paul Bremer III

Tuesday, 10 January 2006

We need shed no tears for Paul Bremer, the former satrap of Iraq who now claims that he was set up by the Pentagon as the "fall guy" for the Bush Regime's bloodsoaked folly in Iraq. No one put a gun to his head and forced him to take up the colonial overseer's baton, and if the Bushists, in their usual manner, used him up then spit him out, that's just too damn bad. Anyone who cast their lot with this wretched enterprise deserves everything they get, in spades.

But that doesn't mean that there isn't much useful information to be gleaned from Bremer's whiny new memoir, especially the insider confirmation that neither the Bush warmongers nor their corrupt Iraq collaborators ever had the slightest idea of what to do with the country once they ripped it to shreds -- other than just loot it and kill people.

As the Financial Times puts it: "What emerges clearly from the diary is that there was no detailed postwar reconstruction plan, that the US lacked decent intelligence to deal with an insurgency it failed to predict, and the naivety of Americans who were shocked at the dismal state of Iraq's economy and infrastructure after years of sanctions.

"Mr. Bremer accuses Pentagon officials of setting him up to take the fall for the postwar failures in Iraq, even though the decision to disband the army was personally approved by Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defence secretary, and cleared by Mr Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush….

"A Pentagon spokesman on Monday confirmed that Mr Bremer had sent Mr Rumsfeld a memo based on a report by the Rand Corporation consultancy that recommended 500,000 US troops would be needed to pacify Iraq -- far more than were sent. But Mr Bremer's advice was rejected by military leaders and Mr Rumsfeld."

In the time-honored fashion of bootlickers everywhere, Bremer hastens to heap praise on Bush personally -- saving his ire for well-placed barbs at the murderous incompetence and bureaucratic hugger-mugger of Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith and other masters of disaster. Yet at the same time, the hapless viceroy is desperately trying to signal that the final responsibility for the FUBAR fiasco lies with the dimbulb in the Oval Office. It's not my fault, Bremer screams through the lines on every page: I vas only following the orders of mein Fuhrer!

There is of course an egregious amount of butt-covering in all of this. Bremer presents himself as a gosh-darn good egg who just wanted to do what's right but ended up as the tragic victim of vicious circumstances. Yet the fact is that Bremer played a key role in creating those circumstances, and at every point assidiously carried out his primary duty: laying open the ruined nation to the rapacious appetities of Bush's corporate cronies. He is, to put it bluntly, a war criminal like the rest of them, although he would perhaps be ranged with the second tier of defendants in that new Nuremberg Tribunal of our dreams.

But even butt-coverers can tell the truth -- inadvertantly, letting bits of it poke out from behind their comfy quilt of rationalization and justification. And Bremer's hissy fit confirms once more that the ultimate responsibility for this illegal invasion of Iraq -- and all the stomach-churning horrors that have followed in its wake -- does indeed lie with the tinpot tyrant in the White House: George Widowmaker Bush.

Sami is returning to Minnesota!

My good friend Sami Rasouli is returning to Minnesota after spending several months in Iraq working with the Iraqi human rights teams and helping his family to rebuild. I just made the flyer for his report back. It will be great to see him again.

Ten reasons why you should never accept a diamond

Found via metafilter, this article is a short, concise guide to the problems with diamonds and has links to longer articles.

I've never understood the fascination with diamonds, so this is one of those "political" decisions that is an easy "sacrifice" for me. It's like the decision I made to stop shaving when I was in my teens. I have very light and very sparse hair. You'd have to get awfully close to my legs see my political statement. Making the politically correct decision under these circumstances hardly counts.

On the other hand, life is hard enough. Nothing wrong with taking the "easy" road every once in a while!

New Year's Inventory Meme

1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Bought a newer (good) used car rather than a crappy used car.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes/I've made enough for this year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My grandson was born on February 16.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes.

5. What countries did you visit?
Canada

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
More time with friends.

7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 24. The huge anti-war march in Washington, D.C.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving with my sense of humor intact.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Losing my sense of humor on occasion.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing permanent. Knock wood.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
The car.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Those who protested the war.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Our so-called "leaders."

14. Where did most of your money go?
The car.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Mizna's Third Annual Midwest Arab Film Festival

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Can't think of any.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you more or less relaxed?
The same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Gone to more movies.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Dishes.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?
All over again. He's the one.

22. How many one-night stands?
None.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Crossing Jordan

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
It's pretty much the same.

25. What was the best book you read?
The Book of Salt by Monique Truon

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Can't think of one.

27. What did you want and get?
More time with Ravenhub.

28. What did you want and not get?
A perfectly clean house.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Crash

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Had a party for myself. Had a wonderful time.

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
The overthrow of capitalism.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Comfortable.

33. What kept you sane?
Friends and drugs (not those kind, you ninny).

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Vandana Shiva

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The war in Iraq.

36. Who did you miss?
Activist friends who moved out of town.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Vandana Shiva (see above)

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
To laugh. At myself, at reality, at the universe. I have to relearn it every year. (Sometimes every day....)

Two Events



This ad for the MLK weekend event will run in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.



The above flyer is for an event the same weekend at Mayday Books. Author Cathy Sultan will speak about her new book, A Beirut Heart.

Busy busy busy!

Our priorities suck

We've got thousands of people trained to remove manicure scissors from carry-on bags so that business people can jet around the world, while people just trying to make a living are dying undreground.

For an excellent overview of the situation of coal miners, check out Twelve of 13 miners found dead after false rescue report at the World Socialist Web Site.

Wherever Mother Jones is now, she's pissed and spoiling for a fight.

Movies!

Yesterday I went to see "The Squid and the Whale". What an amazing movie. Jeff Daniels plays a character very much like my own father. The film covers the divorce of a family. The parents are both writers with advanced degrees in literature. The two boys are dealing with adolescence as well as the breakdown of the family. Sounds like a boring movie, but, in fact, there are parts of great humor and intense pain. Mostly there are spot-on characterizations of people and the massive disappointment we feel as children when we discover our parents are human and make tons of mistakes.

Jeff Daniels plays the father and he is amazingly self-absorbed. He is a successful writer whose current writing is being rejected. He is pompous, spouting opinions on anything and everything. He is concerned entirely with himself and his view of the world, which is both cynical and self-aggrandizing.

The oldest son has coped by turning himself into the adoring audience for his father. The son asks questions about culture, allowing his father to spout his cynical pronouncements. The son then memorizes the answers and spouts them back in an attempt at conversation. The youngest son is less imprinted, less able to cope and therefore harder hit by the problems that arise.

The mother is a writer who is just coming into success, something that is clearly a major problem for the father. She seems more interested in the lives of her children than their father, but, to their detriment, she chooses to have affairs with people she has met through her children including a school psychologist and her son's tennis teacher.

The family lives in a comfortable brownstone in Brooklyn. When the break-up happens, the father moves into a decrepit apartment "across the park". The walls are splotched with holes, the furniture is minimal. The father apparently steals one of those chair/arm desk pieces from school and proudly presents it, but fails to notice that it is for left-handers and his kids are right-handed. He proudly proclaims he has a ping-pong table, but he is the only one interested in playing the game. Again, with the self-obsession on Daddy's part. Over time, he demands to keep "his nights" with the kids and makes it a competition between himself and the mother, even though he does little for the kids themselves.

To a large extent, the movie does a great job of portraying the pompous intellectual caricature we've all heard about. Mostly, he is just a pathetic father. Years ago, I pegged my father fairly well by saying he was a man who always wanted offspring but never wanted children. I see the same in the Daniels character. He has nothing to give to anyone around him, especially his children who have no choice but to need and want more than they can possibly receive from him.

I'm not sure the break-up of the marriage is hurting or helping this family, since it was already so geared away from the needs of the children and so wrapped around the mighty ego of the father. The mother's attentions are too unfocused to compensate for that hole in their life and the sons are in for some painful and embarrassing experiences while they struggle to learn how to cope with life's issues without any support from the people whose job it is to help them.

In the last moments of the movie, the father has suffered an accident and tells his son how much he will need him around more to see to the father's needs. In a hopeful moment, the boy pulls his hand out of the grasp of his father and makes his way out of the hospital, preparing to deal with his demons on his own. I like the movie because it portrays what can happen when a man is allowed to be spoiled and self-absorbed and makes the grave mistake of having children he can't care for.

In the past year there was a study I found fascinating and logical. People who are incompetent at their jobs are also incompetent in judging how good they are at their jobs. This father is positive he is a good father, fighting for his children, although he is no help to them at all. There is a terrific scene when he tells his wife how hard he tried in the last year of their marriage. "Remember, I made hamburgers once!" It doesn't help matters that the wife, and we, find the statement to be hilarious. There's just no way this guy will ever "get it."

------

I took a half hour break after "The Squid and the Whale" and then saw "The Family Stone." What a shock to the system, this film was. The commercials emphasized the humor in the movie, but it was fundamentally not funny. Instead, it tugged at our heartstrings, taking every opportunity to wring sentimentality out of a not very interesting situation. The plot was stupid, the people were mean-spirited, the resolution was inauthentic and the ending was tacked on. It was definitely a major waste of my time. More than that, it was mean spirited and amazingly cynical. Again, we have a disgusting "liberal" family who somehow are unable to be tolerate anyone outside their insular clan. Kind of the opposite of the concept of "liberal" if you ask me.

Spoiler ahead! This time, the mother was the self-absorbed whiner whose picture is in the dictionary next to the term "inappropriate behavior." But, alas, she's dying of cancer, so we must feel sympathy for her. Honestly, I say good riddance, bitch.

Save your money.

Happy New Year

I'm hoping this day has found you in health and among people who make life interesting and fun for you! I am definitely enjoying just such a day myself.

Attribution Sag

Eli over at Left i on the news has an interesting post today. Scroll to the headline The "forgotten" history of Ahmad Chalabi (scroll to December 29 at 6:30 a.m.). He notes how the major papers are re-writing their descriptions of the puppet wannabe. He is now being described as a former "American protege" while omitting that he was invited to sit with the Bushes at one of the State of the Union speech.

I'm thinking it might be useful to provide a graphic indicating the arc of U.S. government friendship to villification. How long does it take a particular asshole of a human being to go from being labelled by the U.S. government as a "freedom fighter" or "friend of democracy" into the latest euphemism of "oops, we backed an asshole again." Cue Peter Lorre saying he's "Shocked! Shocked!"

Chalabi could join a long line of U.S. friends turned enemies, not the least of which is Saddam Hussein. We could show the same arc with Suharto, Noriega, the Shah or Iran, Marcos and on and on. If I get a spare moment, I'll try my hand at the graphic.

Bah humbug!

Last weekend, I took my Mom book shopping at Uncle Edgar's, an independent mystery bookstore in Minneapolis. At 81, and with a couple of broken bones recently, Mom is having a hard time standing up for any length of time. I tried to run and fetch books for her, but I also managed to scope out a folding chair behind the counter and commandeered it for her use. Since she drops a couple of hundred bucks each times she shops, I figure the store would forgive my presumption. Well, low and behold, the woman staffing the store went out of her way to help my Mom in her book choices and also in making her feeling comfortable as she sat in her chair for checkout. Highest praise to independent bookstores!

The Bah Humbug portion of this post has to do with a book I picked up from mystery writer Donna Andrews. I saw that the author was a multiple award winner and was known for her humor. So I found the first novel in her series, Murder with Peacocks and purchased it. I read it over the weekend and what a supreme disappointment. The reigning queen of humorous mysteries is Janet Evanovich with her Stephanie Plum series. Her books succeed with an indomitable heroine and a cast of loony characters to back her up.

Andrews' characters suffer by comparison. For one thing, loony characters who endanger their fellow man are a lot more humorous when they are working class, as are Plum's cast of crazies. Andrews are upper class, smug, self-assured and pretty damn disgusting in their rectitude.

The plot suffers from the "idiot" syndrome: our heroine has to be an idiot to ignore major clues dropped along the way. The evil characters are detectable from the get go and the reader simply has to slog through a couple of hundred pages in order to see these nasties get what they deserve.

It's odd to have award winners turn out so crappy. Gotta wonder what the heck is going on in the mystery writing genre these days.

January 14 Antiwar Event

Here's my latest leaflet. It is for an anti-war event to be held on the weekend honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Activists and dirty laundry.

The antiwar movement, faced with increasing antiwar sentiment and a ruling class undecided whether to continue its imperiliast course in Iraq, has decided to turn against itself.

In a statement issued on December 12, the United for Peace and Justice organization rejected any further coordination of activities with ANSWER.

Answer responded.

So now, grassroots antiwar activists are faced with the issue of which national antiwar organization to support as we work to end the racist imperialist U.S. attack against the people of Iraq.

I say let's not make a decision. I honestly don't believe that Iraqi families give a flying fuck what the personal political alliances are of any particular U.S. citizen who is working to end this bloody violence against the people of Iraq.

If our movement is going to grow, we we increasingly come into contact with people who have different ideas about a whole lot of issues than many of us long-time activists share. There is no ideologically pure antiwar movement. There is just us in all our confusing glory.

Update

Some online discussion can be found here:

IndyMedia discussion

Burningman's analysis -- be sure to read the discussion in the comments.

Enjoy the holiday!

Happy Hannukah

And immerse your self in a Cute Overload this weekend!

Recent Reading

Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. This is a collection of short stories about Indian women dealing with the culture of the U.S. either by immigrating or in their relations with those who have emigrated to the U.S. The writing is quite beautiful and evocative, but the message is generally depressing. With so many strikes against them, it seems women from India have very little chance of happiness in our culture.

The Bell by Iris Murdoch. Dense language and conflicting passions make this novel fascinating. A failed wannabee priest who is attracted to young boys (I'm sure this reads completely different now in light of the Catholic church scandals) tries to make out the difference between ideals and human actions. Although the book is fascinating, I was struck by the incredible self-centeredness of almost every character. Perhaps that is Murdoch's point.

61 Freezing Protesters in Minneapolis

On Saturday, 61 plus hardy Minnesotans stood on a busy street corner holding banners against the war. The majority of passers-by supported the effort. Cars honked, passengers gave the thumbs up message and even pedestrians responded by saying "honk! honk!" as they passed by a large banner saying "Honk for Peace!" The high temp for the day was in the teens.

A small group of folks from the Counterpropaganda Coalitionsang a series of fun antiwar carols. An example:

12 Lies of the Media (12 Days of Xmas)

For the first time this morning the media lied to me...

Give your rights up for more security.
Second -- Torture is OK now
Third -- The economy is thriving
Fifth -- We can't end this war
Sixth -- Terrorists are lurking
Seventh -- NPR's impartial
Eighth -- Fox is fair and balanced
Ninth -- Democrats are different
Tenth -- Halliburton's honest
Eleventh -- Taco Bell is healthy
Twelfth -- Wal-Mart loves its workers.

This evening, G.W. Bush gave a speech on Iraq attempting to offer only two ways of looking at the war in Iraq. Either his way or the loser's way. You either believe in U.S. victory in Iraq or are a defeatest who believes the U.S. is losing. Too bad his simple equation doesn't include the Iraqis and what they want.

I'll take my raise now!

This test found via The Countess

Masculine You scored 53 masculinity and 46 femininity!

You scored high on masculinity and low on femininity. You have a traditionally masculine personality.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 30% on masculinity You scored higher than 8% on femininity

Link: The Bem Sex Role Inventory Test written by weirdscience on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Get your feminist bloggers here

I'm getting caught up on the Carnival of the Feminists. Here's their intro:

The Carnival of Feminists is held on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Hosted by a different blogger for each edition, it aims to showcase the finest feminist posts from around the blogsphere. Posts will usually have been made in the period since the last carnival. (Only one nomination per blog please!)

Please sign the petition for the release of the Christian Peacemakers Team

Below is a statement from Sami Rasouli regarding an appeal for the release of four members of the Christian Peacemakers Team taken one week ago in Iraq.

Sami was on Democracy Now earlier this week discussing the situation.

_______________________________________________

SIGN THE URGENT APPEAL: PLEASE RELEASE OUR FRIENDS IN IRAQ

Arabic version

Sign the petition at Free the CPT

Four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams were taken this past Saturday, November 26, in Baghdad, Iraq. They are not spies, nor do they work in the service of any government. They are people who have dedicated their lives to fighting against war and have clearly and publicly opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. They are people of faith, but they are not missionaries. They have deep respect for the Islamic faith and for the right of Iraqis to self-determination.

C.P.T. first came to Iraq in October 2002 to oppose the US invasion, and it has remained in the country throughout the occupation in solidarity with the Iraqi people. The group has been invaluable in alerting the world to many of the horrors facing Iraqis detained in US-run prisons and detention centers. C.P.T. was among the first to document the torture occurring at the Abu Ghraib prison, long before the story broke in the mainstream press. Its members have spent countless hours interviewing Iraqis about abuse and torture suffered at the hands of US forces and have disseminated this information internationally.

Each of the four C.P.T. members being held in Iraq has dedicated his life to resisting the darkness and misery of war and occupation.

Convinced that it is not enough to oppose the war from the safety of their homes, they made the difficult decision to go to Iraq, knowing that the climate of mistrust created by foreign occupation meant that they could be mistaken for spies or missionaries.

They went there with a simple purpose: to bear witness to injustice and to embody a different kind of relationship between cultures and faiths.

Members of C.P.T. willingly undertook the risks of living among Iraqis, in a common neighborhood outside of the infamous Green Zone. They sought no protection from weapons or armed guards, trusting in, and benefiting from, the goodwill of the Iraqi people. Acts of kindness and hospitality from Iraqis were innumerable and ensured the C.P.T. members' safety and wellbeing. We believe that spirit will prevail in the current situation.

We appeal to those holding these activists to release them unharmed so that they may continue their vital work as witnesses and peacemakers.

Signed,**
* Arundhati Roy, author, The God of Small Things
* Tariq Ali, author, Bush in Babylon
* Denis Halliday, former U.N. Assistant Secretary General and Head of the U.N. Humanitarian Program in Iraq (1997-1998)
* Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey Sheehan
* Noam Chomsky, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Haifa Zangana, Iraqi novelist
* Kamil Mahdi, Iraqi economist and anti-occupation activist. Lecturer, University of Exeter
* Mahmood Mamdani, "Herbert Lehman Professor of Government," Columbia University
* Rashid Khalidi, "Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies," Middle East Institute, Columbia University
* Cindy and Craig Corrie, parents of Rachel Corrie, killed by Israeli military
* Hasan Abu Nimah, Permanent Representative of Jordan at the United Nations (1995-2000)
* Ralph Nader, former independent presidential candidate
* James Abourezk, former US Senator
* Howard Zinn, historian
* Naseer Aruri, Professor (Emeritus) University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
* Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence/Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
* Naomi Klein, author/journalist
* Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights
* Rev. Daniel Berrigan, poet
* Jeremy Scahill, independent journalist
* Mazin Qumsiyeh, author, Sharing the Land Of Canaan, board member US Campaign to End the Occupation
* Milan Rai, author, War Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons Against War on Iraq
* Sam Husseini, writer
* Dahr Jamail, independent journalist
* Ali Abunimah, Co-founder, Electronic Iraq/The Electronic Intifada
* Nigel Parry, Co-founder, Electronic Iraq/The Electronic Intifada
* Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice
* Eve Ensler, author
* Jennifer Harbury, Director, Stop Torture Permanently Campaign
* Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Detroit
* Anthony Arnove, author, Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal
* Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange
* G. Simon Harak, SJ, War Resisters League
* David Hartsough, Co-Founder and Capacity Building Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce and Executive Director of Peaceworkers. Nonviolent Peace Force
* Blase Bonpane, Office of the Americas
* Carol Bragg, Coordinator, Rhode Island Peace Mission
* Rev. Richard Deats, former Executive Secretary and Fellowship Editor, Fellowship of Reconciliation
* Omar Diop, Président de la Coalition Sénégalaise des Défenseurs des Droits humains
* Jim Forest, Secretary, The Orthodox Peace Fellowship
* Thomas C. Cornell, The Catholic Worker
* David Grant, Nonviolent Peaceforce
* Ted Lewis, Global Exchange
* Charles Jenks, Chair of Advisory Board, Traprock Peace Center
* Jeff Leys, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
* Andréa Schmidt, independent journalist
* Michael Albert, ZNet
* Richard McDowell, Senior Fellow for Iraq Policy, Friends Committee on National Legislation
* Dave McReynolds, former Chair, War Resisters International
* Peter Lems, Program Associate for Iraq, American Friends Service Committee
* Kevin Zeese, Director, Democracy Rising
* Sunny Miller, Director, Traprock Peace Center
* Dave Robinson, Director, Pax Christi USA
* Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, National Coordinator, Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq
* David Swanson, Co-Founder, After Downing Street, Board Member Progressive Democrats of America, Washington Director Democrats.com
* Mary Trotochaud, Senior Fellow for Iraq Policy, Friends Committee on National Legislation
* Michael Birmingham, activist
* Barbara Wien, Co-Director, Peace Brigades International/USA
* Bishop Gabino Zavala, President, Pax Christi USA
**Organizations and institutions are listed for identification purposes only. Contact: freethecpt(at)gmail.com
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