Rhinocrisy

Okay, first check this out.

Now, I know this is going to rattle some cages, but… what the hell is wrong with those European leaders? Basically they’re saying, “No, you keep terrorizing us, because we won’t stop attacking Muslim countries.” Is it Opposite Day, or something? That sort of reaction is a bit absurd – just because your enemy insists on something doesn’t mean you need to refuse. They needn’t even accept the offer tendered, they could simply emphasize that they are not interested in attacking Muslim countries. Also this “we don’t bargain with terrorists” crap that the Japanese prime minister pulled last week… what the fuck? No one in Japan but for some cynical realpolitik jerks wants to be in Iraq; innocent people’s lives are directly in your hands. Bargain, goddamnit.

International politics seems like so much macho posturing. Castration should be a requirement for high political office. Then machismo will cease to be an issue.

Okay, this is old hat by now (circa January), but still well worth reading: the IMF released an occassional paper on Bush fiscal policy. Or, rather, on Bush fiscal irresponsibility. They give light praise for efforts to switch from a personal- and corporate-incom-based tax system to a consumption-based tax system (i.e. sales taxes) but then come down hard on runaway debt. This is a killer:

The United States is on course to increase its net external liabilities to around 40 percent of GDP within the next few years—an unprecedented level of external debt for a large industrial country

It degenerates from there: their recommendations on how to deal with the resulting Social Security/Medicare crisis range from raising taxes (which they reject as damaging) to fucking over old people (which they don’t seem to mind at all) to privatizing the whole mess (which, commendably, they admit will leave old people twisting in the fierce winds of market fluctuations).

oh no,

say it ain’t so…

U.S. ponders military ties with unlikely ally: Vietnam

Easter is over, so I can safely say: Jesus Christ.

A Guardian story on the quest of the hapless occupying army in Iraq contains this gem:

A hospital official said over 600 Iraqis were killed in Fallujah alone – mostly women, children and the elderly.

Thank goodness that we Americans can all absolve our collective sin merely by shouting “Christ is Lord!”, because I don’t think I would be physically capable of working it off. It’s going to suck when we’re all rolling spiked boulders up and down the side of an enormous mountain in the Circle of Hell for “Sinners Who Let Their Government Commit Atrocities”. Maybe we can mitigate it and end up in the Hell for “Sinners Who Vote In A Slightly Less Evil Government”.

Apparently, Greenland is melting. Over a period of a thousand years, resulting in a 7-meter rise in sea level worldwide. Goodbye, Bangladesh. Goodbye, Los Angeles. Of course, that sort of timescale is ridiculously long. Given the rate at which we’re altering this planet’s environment, it seems likely that something else is going to kill us off long before then.

The battle for hearts and minds is never easy.