Friday, July 25, 2008

I sound too much like Barack Obama Sr.

"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.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

I'm losing TR status on D-Kos

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

Saturday, July 12, 2008

To prosecute or not to prosecute?

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.

Monday, July 07, 2008

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

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?

Friday, July 04, 2008

Bush is NOT sending MORE troops to Afghanistan!

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.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Why I love General Clark

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.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Clark clarifies

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