why george bush is president and how the u.s. got into iraq in the first place

From Miss Teen USA candidate Lauren Caitlin Upton of South Carolina, upon being asked why students in the country have trouble locating the United States on a world map:

"I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa or should help the Iraq and Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us."

the expedience of democracy

So now a host of U.S. politicians are backtracking and saying establishing democracy was the wrong strategy in Iraq. Many--including Hillary Clinton--are saying Iraq Prime minister Maliki should be replaced. Not so long ago U.S. politicians were calling for greater democracy for the Palestinians: after Hamas's free and democratic election all of a sudden they announced they would only deal with (the unelected) Palestinian politicians from Fatah.

So after a decade and a half of American foreign policy apparently aligning away from dictators and claiming to support the establishment of democracy, now it returns to the expediency of supporting whoever it can get it to execute its dirty work.

This will shortly come into a third crisis as American puppet/dictator General Musharraf in Pakistan confronts the possibility of the return of two exile politicians who would surely oust him in elections.

But to my mind the lesson of this exercise in blatant hipocrisy is not to suggest that the U.S. recommit to establishing democracies in its client states.

I find it equally horrifying that who should be governing these other sovereign nations is at all the topic of conversations on the U.S. political scene. How arrogant that U.S. politicians and media offer their suggestions for who should be governing Iraq. How arrogant that they may get their way!

The best thing we in the U.S. can do for the Iraqi people is just get out. The second best thing we can do for the Iraqi people--and the rest of the peoples of the world--is replace our government, our system, with one committed to equality, progress, and freedom. Let's hear it for the revolution.

vietnam was a victory

president bush yesterday spoke to the largely right-wing organization veterans of foreign wars and gave a muddled and confused speech where he compared his Iraq war to the one the US lost in Vietnam and in so doing, thought he was actually defending his politicies.
as the NYTimes put it today, the main lesson Bush has drawn about the Vietnam war is that it didn't last long enough.
the mind, well, boggles. first, that a man who did everything possible to avoid serving in Vietnam would now suggest it should have lasted longer. (Such an alternate history reveals the tantalizing possibility that Bush's name would be etched in that monument wall down in Washington: such a happier world we'd have now if only.)
anyway, the truth is that the mightiest nation in the world was kicked out of Southeast Asia, and the lesson that should be applied to today's conflict in Iraq is that the US has no right imposing itself on the free peoples of the world. While I do not celebrate the victimization of those poor American servicemen drafted to their doom, I do celebrate the defeat of the US by the Vietnamese people. The American attempt to prop up corrupt and brutal neo-colonial dictatorships and inflict its will on the destiny of the Vietnamese was properly rebuffed. Ngo Dinh Diem, Nguyen Van Thieu, Nguyen Cao Cy and all the other stooges of imperialism are not mourned.
the u.s. anti-war movement was a caldron--albeit a failed one, in the end--of domestic social change that gave us a better world here at home even if its agenda was cut short by the same conservative impulses that today channel social change into the laps of the democrats who, once again, will leave us limp with disappointment.
sadly in today's Iraq there are not the kind of revolutionaries like the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam who heroically led their people's resistance. but this doesn't change the fact that a US withdrawal from Iraq will be a victory for the world's peoples just like its stinging defeat was those thirty-odd years ago. May the last U.S. helicopters be airlifting Iraqi collaborators out of the green zone soon.

scarlet menace updates

Here's some new Scarlet Menace stuff. One of my favorite recently-found images is a Chinese poster of revolutionaries in 1965 Santo Domingo, resisting the little-remembered US invasion. I've fussed with it and plastered it all over a bunch of Cafepress stuff and inaugurated my Hasta La Victoria Siempre section of Latin-American related items.

I've expanded the Anti-War section with materials featuring a Chinese poster dating from the Anti-Vietnam-War struggle, with a lot of English in the poster. These items are available with the image plain as shown or backed with the slogan "Iraq Is Arabic For Vietnam." And as promised I've placed the Iranian-based image on a number of items. (In the Axis of Evil section this US Flag design is also available in it's original "Down with the USA" version.

Please buy my stuff!

yasser arafat, gay hero?

I was too sick to post about this when I first heard it, and it seems to be oddly under-reported, but apparently it has been confirmed that longtime Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat died of AIDS. And it seems to be confirmed that this was sexually transmitted, and that Arafat had well-known homosexual proclivities. In my mind this explains much of why Arafat has not been lionized since his passing, which I've always thought was odd since he was such a symbol of the Palestinian struggle during his lifetime.

While much could be said about Arafat and his choices, I choose to remember him as a hero, and now a gay hero. He never gave up, or sold out, the fight for Palestinian freedom: something that could not be said of the current Palestine authority coup leaders/Israeli collaborators under Abu Mazen. He resisted that final temptation to sell out Palestinian dreams to an intolerable ministate in the last negotiations under President Clinton. Although reviled for his refusal to clinch an almost done deal, I think he showed true wisdom and bravery. While many of his actions could be criticized over the years, this last one, and his heroic last stand in the ruins of Ramallah, redeem much of his blustery checkered past.

I am one gay man who welcomes him into the ranks of beloved AIDS dead.

jon lucien, rip

Ack, Jon Lucien has died, age 65.

He was one of my favorite singers. Possessing a deep deep voice with a little island lilt and an amazing musical sense he recorded three classic albums for RCA and two for Columbia in the 1970s, and a string of come-back albums for Verve, Shanachie and other small indies in the 1990s/2000s. The Columbia albums are not in print on CD, though fortunately the three RCAs ones are pretty readily available on a 2-CD set. His recent live album is as good as his old stuff.

At times kind of like a male Flora Purim his music was full of wordless vocals, Brazilian/latin grooves, and a real spirituality-tinged soulful jazz sensibility that was sexy without being cloying and false. Among his songs are an amazing anti-war anthem and a song proclaiming the romantic joys of chanting nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

He will be missed!

no u.s. attack on iran!

I saw a news article on Iran with a large billboard on the side of a building with a really interesting graphic. The scan was very lo-res so I reconstructed the billboard and then changed it around a bit.

I've also recreated a more faithful reconstruction of it which I'll post later. Anyway, here's a "No U.S. Attack on Iran!" jpg. I'll be creating some Scarlet Menace items with this artwork soon.

I'm terrified that Bush's government is actually going to do something stupid and attack Iran. What a recipe for disaster.

yes, more scarlet menace

I'm very proud of my latest batch of scarlet menace items. I've created a Sisterhood Is Powerful section, based primarily on an of Kim Il Sung's wife Kim Jeong Suk and a Spanish Civil War poster. I've created an Anti-War section, including items featuring the "Main Enemy Is at Home" speech from Liebknecht featured below and also my favorite Kathe Kollwitz lithograph. I found some great old KPD newspapers so there's a whole Red Front section. I colorized a beautiful Chinese graphic of Vietnamese fighters standing on a downed US aircraft and added Che's 2-3-many Vietnams quote for the Vietnam War section. There's some nice new African liberation images with Swahili captions on the back; a high-camp picture of Stalin featuring adoring Soviet citizens, and of course the WWCMD line. That's What Would Chairman Mao Do? for your non-believers. There's lots more.

Cafepress is raising some prices here and there which is disappointing, but I'm quite enjoying the creative outlet. And some stuff is actually being sold! Shop away!

dems talk to gays

Last night was the historic presidentjial candidates forum on MTV-owned LOGO, a cable station which aims for a gay audience. (I like LOGO's programming but it has too many commercials and too much editing and censorship). The event was co-sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which gets props for organizing this event though I find them an insufferable bunch of elitist closet-cases: the joke name for them is the Human Rights Champaign Foundation. Anyway, 6 of the 8 democrats appeared. No republicans accepted.

I enjoyed the event. Many of the discussions were a little more in-depth than other events I've seen, and I felt the questioners were intelligent and managed to get all the candidates to reveal something about who they actually were. The main, though not exclusive, focus was on same-same marriage.

Obama. I generally liked him. His answer on gay marriage, while not perfect, does manage to make a compromise that seems to me a principled one. Make all the civil rights of marriage common to all people, make marriage itself the purveyance of the religions that care about it. I wish he had acknowledged the fact that there was a compromise here, but I really liked most of what he said. I liked how intelligent he is.

Edwards. He said some really nice things. But he really came across like a politician. And he opposes gay marriage though like Obama he seems to be in favor of civil unions with some actual merit. I didn't like how much a politician he sounded. But I liked his populism.

Kucinich. He was really excellent. He supports gay marriage. He mentioned his opposition to war and how connected to everything that is. Offered a profoundly humanist point of view. I had zero points of disagreement. I wish he could win.

Gravel. Well, he's a character. I love his position on drugs. He's 100% right on legalizing marijuana and decriminalizing all others. Prohibition didn't work and the war on drugs isn't working either. But he seems a little kooky...like he might any minute say something really weird.

Richardson. I'm not sure what people see in him. He opposes gay marriage and said homosexuality is a choice. He's always seemed uninspired and uninspiring. Sorry, but he should go away.

Clinton. Well I'm hating her less. But it's fascinating to me that she can say the most hateful things and people can excuse them and somehow believe that deep down she actually believes what they do when all along she has she has been sayings omething completely different. She's excellent with connecting with people: she remembers names and faces and tried to make a connection with people that makes them feel they're all on the same side. But listen to what she says: is she really on our side? She said she could sympathize with gay peoples' pain on gay marriage. But, "oh well, those are my personal beliefs" she says about why she opposes gay marriage and then goes on to say she would only delete one clause from the In Defense of Marriage Act. I think she's using us and I don't like it. Listen to what she SAYS.

So Kucinich and Obama give me the most hope still, though I am concerned about some of Obama's tough-talking about fighting so called terrorism. (Not as concerned as I about the republican candidate--Tancredo?--who proposed bombing Mecca, mind you). I think Obama still has my vote, though I voted Kucinich before and I can easily see Obama making an nuforgivable mistake. Will I vote for Hillary in the general election? Hmmm. I don't think so.

The Main Enemy Is At Home

I remembered the gist of this quote but I found the whole article from which it was taken on line. Such prescient clear-thinking. It was written by German communist martyr Karl Liebknecht, one of the brave revolutionaries who, unlike the majority of his socialist party, resisted nationalism and patriotism in the face of world war one to stand on the side of the international working class. Here is an edited section.:

"We have seen how when war broke out, the masses were captured for the
capitalist aims of the war with enticing melodies from the ruling classes. We
have seen how the shiny bubbles of demagogy burst, how the foolish dreams... vanished, how, instead of happiness, suffering and misery came over the
people; how the tears of war widows and war orphans swelled to great currents;
how the maintenance of ...semi-absolutism... militarism, and police despotism –
became bitter truth....
The enemies of the people are counting on the forgetfulness of the masses – we counter this with the solution... learn everything, don't forget anything!...
The absurd slogan "stick it out" has hit rock bottom; it leads only deeper
and deeper into the maelstrom of genocide...
How long should the gamblers of imperialism abuse the patience of the people? Enough and more than enough slaughter! Down with the war instigators here and abroad!
An end to genocide!
Proletarians of all countries, follow the heroic example of your Italian brothers! Ally yourselves to the international class struggle against the conspiracies of secret diplomacy, against imperialism, against war, for peace with in the socialist spirit.
The main enemy is at home!"
--Karl Liebknecht, May 1915

Wow. Inspiring.

life intervenes

Sorry about the long delay between posts. Had some health issues. Let's just say I'm not sure I've enjoyed being accused of looking like Michael Moore but I'm definitely sure I don't like feeling like I'm the subject of one of his movies. Universal health care is a right!

new stuff at The Scarlet Menace

Bunch of new items at The Scarlet Menace. "Visit El Karameh 1968" on tees; "Glorious People's Tractor Factory" on shirts and bags; African Liberation, Jiang Qing, Mao, Electrifying Lenin, lots more.

Democratic Presidential Debate

I finally watched one of the Presidential debates. It was Tavis Smiley's All-American presidential debate on PBS, with focus meant to be on domestic issues, especially those of concern to African-Americans. I have to say I was underwhelmed.

Kookie old white guy Mike Gravel said the bravest things: end the war on drugs, take the money away from the military, make taxation transparent. I really liked most of what he said. But he's a nut. Dennis Kucinich said great things, also constantly tying the issues to the corruption of priorities caused by the war in Iraq. But (and I voted for him in the last democratic primary) he is so anti-charismatic, so unlikeable.

Dodd, Biden and Richardson seemed like the old establishment. All spouted flat rehashed speeches that could have been given by any politician any time in the last 20 years. Somewhat horrifyingly, the only time Biden got emotional was when he suggested the US intervene military in Darfur against the Sudanese government. What a horror these three seem.

Which leaves the three front runners. Honestly, I didn't hate Hillary. Expect for a moment or two of equivocation and then a horrifying hawk-like impulse on Darfur she was concise, well prepared, articulate, and respectful of the time limits and therefore the audience. The war wasn't really a topic so her bad history was set aside. My main problem with her remains that she is so so careful about how she phrases things you just don't trust her. Every sentence sounds like a legal contract you will be expected to understand and remember exactly. Edwards had great energy, if what he said was old hat and self-aggrandizement. But he had some good points. I didn't hate him either. Meanwhile Barack needs to take some geritol. He said some good stuff, and occasionally engaged with the audience. It's really clear that he has a deep commitment to progressive humanistic values and there's something tantalizing about what he says, but he's coming across a little boring. Time to jazz it up. Sadly, he hawked it up on Darfur also, though he then said the real problem is how America engages with Africa. He gets a couple points for bringing up homophobia.

I had some trouble staying awake. The field needs to be winnowed (I suggest Dodd, Biden and Richardson bow out), and then they need to start arguing. If Hillary is gonna be the front-runner I wanna see the others challenge her record. If Obama is gonna keep his poster up in my window I wanna see some inspiration. And if the Democrats are gonna get my vote then they need to start trying to stop the fucking war.

It's gonna be a long year.

Oh yeah, the Supreme Court trie dto roll back Brown vs. the Board of Education today. A sad day for America.

The One-State Solution

I thought this was a really striking article that reflects a lot of my own thinking reported earlier in The Cahokian. Check out The One-State Solution on Al-Jazeera.

is Paris burning?

Ah, some small justice in this world. Back to jail.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

attack of the air-headed skanks

I read an excellent article on The Huffington Post by Marty Kaplan about America and its news: how the majority of passive, entertainment-seeking Americans surely know everything about Paris Hilton but nothing about developments in Iraq that spell continued disaster for both Iraq and the U.S. and more importantly anyone there who might get in the way of a bullet or a bomb. Choosing mostly not to watch network TV and never to watch network TV news, I was somewhat isolated when golddigging air-headed skank Anna Nicole Smith met Glory. Sure, it was amusing internet blog fodder, but it's starting to no longer be funny.

So WTF? What's up with Britney Spears? When I worked for the music biz I used to see all her publicity photos. The earliest ones were the choicest: her handlers decide that this marginally-talented young teen could cultivate a fuck-me daddy persona completely inappropriate for her age and a hair short of child pornography. She becomes a mega-star for mobs of teenage girls desperately training at the Academy of Narcissism. Despite the money and the handlers she ends up acting like a white trash crack whore and melting down in a very public way. What did anyone expect? And America is entertained.

So WTF? What's up with Lindsay Lohan? An actually talented child actress apparently given too much independence much too soon imploding in an orgy of self-destructive addiction and attention-seeking. What did anyone expect? And America is enthralled.

So WTF? What's up with Jessica Simpson? She wonders if chicken of the sea is actually chicken, and people actually pay money for her records and movies?

So WTF? What's up with entitled heiresses like Nicole Ritchie with no apparent talents or social value and we need to be obsessed with her vomiting? And America eats it up.

So WTF with Angelina Jolie and Madonna and the baby-buying sprees in Africa? I actually love Madonna's music but really, is this a sick joke?

So WTF? What is up with Paris Hilton? An unattractive and spoiled debutante and dilettante, a true graduate of the Academy of Narcissism, breaks the law and begs not be sent to jail, where she is sentenced for 45 days. AND SHE SERVES THREE. Unimaginably wealthy, a convicted criminal, and she is then commuted to serving the rest of her sentence under mansion-arrest?

Really, so WTF! Prisoners serving 20 years only to have DNA evidence reveal their innocence? Political prisoners like the Cuban Five and Leonard Peltier and Mumia? People doing years for simple marijuana busts? Random middle-easterners caught up in Guantanamo and held incognito for 5 years? And Paris Hilton serves three days? And that's what America tunes into?

Something is not right. Assata Shakur for president. Cindy Sheehan for secretary of defense. Ariana Huffington for secretary of state. Angela Davis for elder states(wo)man. Lynne Stewart for attorney general. Sonia Sanchez for press secretary. Nikki Giovanni for secretary of education. These are beautiful important women we should pay attention to.

Forget the skanks. And Paris Hilton? Maybe there's a free cell in Abu Ghraib.

danger, will robinson

So president Bush announces he's very concerned about global warming and greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. Then he gets to the G8 summit in Europe and nixes any actionable plans proposed by the European governments. Then he announces plans to place (unproven) anti-missile missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic and Russia's Putin freaks out and threatens to re-aim Russian missiles at Europe. Bush at th G8 says "oh dont be silly these aren't directed at Russia, the cold war is over."

Well here's the thing. Bush is a liar. 6-1/2 years of lies are plainly evident to the world. An entire war and thousands of wasted lives are the fruits of these lies. Given his record of lies and manipulations, the world needs to realize it has a lot to be afraid of.

The bottom lines: Bush is not interested in any global warming initiatives that are not profitable for his pals in industry. His priority is only the most money to his cronies. He's not concerned about anything more or less. That interest includes political and military fronts as well. Which means he's looking for more enemies and Russia can join the list with Iran.

Danger, danger, a liar is on the loose. Lookout, world.

more on darfur

I recommend clicking on over to the left-wing blog Lenin's Tomb for the discussion of Darfur I haven't seen elsewhere. At last some light on the subject that makes sense. The discussion is sparked by new divisions in the mainstream "save darfur" movement over humanitarian concerns v. political/military ones.

Clear-thinking at last:

"It might make liberals feel good to demand the use of force when there are plainly atrocities going on. It certainly overcomes the feeling of helplessness to imagine that the President of the most militarily powerful nation of the world might be on your side. But such a policy is not only impracticable, in that it expects no-fly zones to be imposed over a region almost the same size as France, and not only destructive since it threatens to stop or dramatically curtail aid flights....And it inaugurates de facto, and sustained, military confrontation with the government of Sudan, which would have potentially catastrophic consequences. It is an imperialist policy, that is, not a solution that has been conceived with a view to enhancing the condition of Darfurians on any front..."

i can has revolushun?

Okay, so I'm a fan of lolspeak. I can has cheezeburgers. lolgays. I've seen lol stark trek. even lol porn. It's not just the unbearably cute kittens, it's the near-retarded syntax. I can't help it, it all cracks me up. So the Scarlet Menace introduces its "LOL Mao" line. Three basic designs on shirts and mugs: Two with Mao "I Can Has Revolushun? KThx Bai", "Oh Hai, We'z Fightin' Imperializm," and, featuring Kim Jong Il instead of Mao, "We'z On Ur Shirt (or in Ur Cup) Washin' Yer Brain."

Theez has flavor! Go shop at The Scarlet Menace now!

rotten fish

I've been thinking about one of the things bothering me about the Iraq war and the "discussion" of what should happen in Iraq in the american press and realized the same thing bothers me about discussion of Darfur and all sorts of other world flashpoints.

Darfur is a rotten fish. I wonder what those who call for no flight zones or sanctions or troops or whatever think would really happen if anglo-american-etc. intervention actually occurred?
as near as I can tell, the discussing of goings-on in the Sudan in the drawing rooms of London has been one of the world's problems for near 150 years, and is one of the things that needs to stop. Maybe the American do-gooders are more well intentioned than General Chinese Gordon and the classic British Imperialists of yore who met their match in the Mahdist rebellion in the Sudan in the late 19th century, but maybe they're not. This is not some kind of backyard, some annex to the parlor, some terrain diorama under glass or perhaps a really involved version of The Sims or Second Life.

Americans and English need to stop worrying about saving "good" Africans from "bad" Africans and start worrying how to save the rest of the world from the Americans and the English.

Americans and English need to stop worrying about what the "bad" Iraqis might do to the "good" Iraqis when the invasion forces leave, and start trying to prevent the next paroxysm of imperialist violence, and start materially atoning for the too much that has already been done.

US democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards seems decent enough, with some good positions and currently an anti-war stance. But he calls himsef an expert on fighting poverty while charging tens of thousands of dollars to give a speech (on poverty no less), lives in a millions of dollars estate, and can afford to pay hundreds of dollars for a haircut. Beware of rich people talking about poverty, and beware of imperialists talking about helping out in Africa or the middle east.