Catching Up

Events in the meat world having conspired against me, I haven't done much posting for the past few days, but I'm still here. And unfortunately, there's still plenty of scary bullshit out there that needs to be exposed and talked about. For instance, elf-radio over at This Is The Shit posts an excellent piece about Seymour Hersh's recent claims that the Bush maladministration is gearing up for war with Iran and points outbound. Apparently Preznit Armageddon My Jingo On sees his recent slim election margin as a "mandate" and repudiation for his policies in Iraq and Afghanistan and Guantanamo, and now wants to market that product all over the world. The word from neocons like Darth Rumsfailed and Paul "Combsucker" Wolfoshitz is that an aerial attack on Iran will inspire the moderates in that country to rise up against the mullahs and to welcome us as... uh... liberators, I guess. Jeez, where have I heard that one before?

Also, my good pal Marty passes along this link to a story that ought to chill you to the bone if you have any sense at all. I guess it's not just the powers that be that are in favor of less education and of dumbing-down the populace at large, it's the people themselves who are complicit in this anti-intellectualism. I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise, knowing that America has long held people with brains in contempt, but this particular incident represents a new low in fear of education. On a related note, here are some stories from citizens who have been directly hurt by the Miseducation Preznit's policies.

On the brighter side, my brother sends me this link regarding a wonderful plan (inappropriate apostrophes aside) that a blogger known as DarkSyde on a site called Pharyngula has proposed that could make a huge difference in the Iraq War, and right away. He calls it Operation: Heavenly Shower, and it basically involves not much more than flying sorties over Baghdad and Fallujah and Mosul and other strife-torn Iraqi areas while dumping bushelsful of American dollar bills out the window. Really, could that be any more expensive than what we're doing now? I'm certain, too, that it would ultimately prove much more cost-effective and would make many more Iraqi civilians side with us than do presently. (While you're there, check out this excellent posting on moron science creationism by contributor PZ Myers.)

Finally, our esteemed colleague, His Prolific Majesty the King of Zembla has yet another Joe Bageant piece up that combines some of the elements of what I've referred to above and is not to be missed. Says Joe:

"You may not meet them among your circle of friends, but there are millions of Americans who fiercely believe we should nuke North Korea and Iran, seize the Middle East’s oil, and replace the U.S. Constitution with the Christian Bible. They believe the United States will conquer the entire world and convert it to our notions of democracy and fundamentalist Christian religion..."

Go, ye, and be enlightened. Or scared. Or both.