THIS MORNING'S FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF INDICTMENT BY THE PENTAGON of the six "masterminds" behind the Unfortunate Events of 9/11, for which the death penalty is being sought some 3,000 fold, methinks suggests that His Fraudulency's Great Within must be desperate for some sort of credibility in the closing year of his Administration as would translate into anything remotely resembling a legacy.

The which, if anything, could provide plenty of opportunity for challenges galore to His Fraudulency's bill of charges, in particular that which contends the "confessions" were procured through torture or duress (as witness the charges of "waterboarding" being used to procure the confessions) and, hence, cannot be admitted into evidence.

Not to mention where said Great Within (howbeit privately) wants convictions desperately to avoid the likelihood of their facing charges of Crimes Against Humanity before an international tribunal, let alone "prevent further acts of terrorism" by way of a warning. This notwithstanding the likelihood that the terror threat can exist as much from within as from without, and not so much from Muslim extremists as from home-grown terror movements like the Ku Klux Klan.

The National Alliance, or what remains of it.

The Minuteman movement.

Illicit or otherwise questionable "militias" as are fronts for agents provocateur in the race war department.

Pseudochurches practicing the false doctrines of "Christian Identity" or "Creativity," both known to invoke Holy Writ for racist purposes.

Even such as call for "lone wolf" approaches to avoid suspicion.

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MEMO TO THE SO-CALLED "PATRIOTS" AMONG YOU WHO READ THIS PATHETIC(?!) EXCUSE FOR A BLOG: If, judging by the preceding, you get the impression that I am somehow "giving aid and comfort to Our Sworn Enemies"--theoretically holding me liable for treason by your Weltanschauung--may I ask that you please "show us your facts" to support your obviously feeble argument.

Besides, I am beholden to no paymasters vis-a-vis the opinions I express through this blog, in case you have any ideas along those lines with an eye towards questioning my loyalty or True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command.

Remember what James Boswell had to say in his Life of Samuel Johnson on the matter: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

As well as Josiah Quincy's reminder that "Liberty is not safe where the people are not watchful."

*************

AS IF THE FALTERING NATO CAMPAIGN IN AFGHANISTAN IN SERVICE TO THE UR-RAHOWA AGAINST TERRORISM wasn't already bad enough for the Afghan people and nation, this winter has been particularly rough in the mountainous regions thereof.

To date, some 750 people in mostly isolated or remote villages have died from hypothermia, exposure or starvation aggravated by colder-than-average winter weather, heavy snowfalls blocking mountain passes and highways for days on end and sharp winds worsening drifting conditions.

Is the NATO command in Afghanistan, perhaps, too preoccupied with the American mandate towards "complete and final elimination of International Terrorism***by whatever means necessary" to consider food and medical-supply air drops in the affected areas?

*************

LET'S JUST HOPE IT WASN'T NORTH KOREAN SABOTEURS as put the flametorch to Seoul's 610-year-old (and, hence, historically-significant) Namdaemun ("Great Southern") gate (a/k/a Sungnyemun, "the Gate of Exhalted Ceremonies") yesterday, with much in the way of wholesale national sorrow ensuing.

Let alone so-called "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il watching with sadistic glee and delight the live coverage from South Korean television back in Pyongyang, laughing all the while--especially considering where his official palace must be on standby generator power while the rest of Pyongyang is in deliberate blackout ahead of their version of Hate Week.

*************

REMEMBER PAT "700 CLUB" ROBERTSON CALLING FOR THE CIA TO DISPATCH VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ a couple of summers back, thereby attracting considerable condemnation and a rather awkward apology?

WELLLLLL--!!!

Expect there to be a reiteration of such advice (excused, no doubt, as being necessary for G-d, Country and Cheap Gasoline, not to mention Socioeconomic Stability) in response to Chavez' latest threat to cut off all oil supplies to the United States in case ExxonMobil goes ahead with its threat to sue the Venezuelan Government (or reasonable facsimile thereof) for "just compensation" ove rand above that which Caracas had offered for its Venezuelan oil fields in consequence of the nationalisation of their oil and gas industries.

Caracas, for its part, contends where the compensation paid ExxonMobil was adequate enough--"take it or leave it," in other words.

How do we know His Fraudulency's Great Within isn't secretly plotting designs to open a further front in the ur-RAHOWA Against Terrorism in Venezuela, using Guantanamo Bay Naval Station as a staging point, in the wake of these fresh developments in paranoia?

*************

A NEW PILL FOR XENOPHOBES, ESPECIALLY SUCH OF THE LYNDON LaROUCHE PERSUASION seeing Britophobia as "healthy" and @ once "patriotic:"

Newly-published estimates reveal that, for the first time since perhaps the reign of Queen Victoria, the average per-capita income between Land's End and John O'Groats for 2007 is actually higher (if slightly so) than that of the "morally superior" (or so we're expected to believe) United States.

No doubt attributable to the warped socioeconomic delusions of His Fraudulency's Great Within suggesting that low taxes=jobs creation=sustained socioeconomic stability=Prosperity for All, conditioned by the "unswerving" acceptance of free-market capitalism with American characteristics as Great White Father of the Lower Classes in particular.

No doubt translating further into the importance of Indecision 2008 to our national and soverign identity as much as the maintenance of socioeconomic stability. Not to mention the danger that elements weird and unwholesome could endanger the elections, and the fairness and transparency thereof. 

THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY (ASA) IN GREAT BRITAIN IS NOT ONE TO TAKE KINDLY to advertising claims as invoke faith in targeting the vulnerable in particular.

Witness the following recent adjudication involving British (pseudo)religious broadcaster Passion TV as illustrates what American such may want to avoid, and why--and PLEASE, spare us your platitudes about "Christian Persecution" all the while:

Ad
A long-form direct response ad for a series of religious books was broadcast on Passion TV. Rebecca explained that a doctor had told her that she had a brain tumour. Rebecca said "I was like this in the out-patient praying, praying with this book, you know, that says The Power That The Witchcraft Cannot Prevail. When I went in, the man look at the scan and said to me there is no tumour in your brain ... there is no tumour in your brain.  This is the results that came out.  I said are you sure? He said yes, there is no tumour. It could be a misunderstanding but initially the blood test shows that I did have a tumour. From then, when Bishop said never you leave this church again, I said God help me that I should never leave this church again ... always be in the house of God ... only God will protect you from any danger from any trouble or any witchcraft powers ... We black people are struggling in this nation so its good to be in the Lord you know. When you are in the Lord, there is nothing that can touch your life."  On-screen was a close-up of the book "Receive Your Healing Now In Jesus Name".  "Just believe in God and I pray that I continue to believe and trust in God.  I encourage anybody that is watching this programme to believe in God. Get these books and it will help your life.

The presenter said "that was Rebecca who was healed from a brain tumour. And, with Receive Your Healing Now In The Name of Jesus, we always tell our viewers that every book that we send to you Bishop Deya himself will actually pray for them as a point of contact. Which actually happened to Rebecca as she was going through things. The Bishop actually prayed over the issues she was going through. So Receive Your Healing Now £7.99, The Power the Wicked Cannot Prevail Against is also £7.99. Call in for the books now ... This is teleshopping with a difference that will actually change and transform your life ... Call now and it will change your life ... If you are sick, if you are going through issues, theres a lot of people that are calling us because of different kinds of sickness. The book you need that will actually help you to go through what you are going through is Receive Your Healing Now cos [sic] healing is meant for you and the Bible actually confirms that. If I were you I would order these books written by this great man Archbishop Gilbert Deya and The Power The Wicked Cannot Prevail Against and The Power Is In The Name Of Jesus.
 
The presenter said "in my hands we have a lot of testimonies of people that are being changed by this book ... A family in Italy, they had a son who had a brain tumour just like Rebecca ... and then they started praying with Dangerous Prayers and the tumour started disappearing ... All the books that we are sending to you will be personally signed by Archbishop Deya to confirm to them that he has touched it, he has prayed for it. And then, when they come to you, they will actually have a meaning and then it will be a point of contact for your miracle. So, if I were you, I would start to believe a miracle and start ordering the books right now ... These books are meant for you; they are not feel-good books but they are anointed, anointed books that will actually turn and transform your life ... Order it now I beseech you and this something a powerful powerful, powerful, powerful investment ... I will just read something that is in one of the books. And I want you to listen carefully cos it will change your life. And the Bible says in Deuteronomy, every book that we have there is a scripture in it and a scripture reference ... it actually says just as the Lord your God promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He will give you a land with large and prosperous cities which you did not build [shows Faithful Ways to Success book]. Houses will be full of good things which you did not put in them and there will be wells that you did not dig and vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant ... God is said to prosper you; God is said to make a difference in your life and it is for you and it will transform your life.  It will turn you from zero to hero, from nothing to something; it will turn your test into a testimony ... I know there is some people that are working three jobs, two jobs, struggling but nothing is happening. Especially here in the UK you cannot see an answer. Nothing is actually happening in your life. Here is a book that will transform and change your life.  Prosperity is set for you ... here is a book Dangerous Prayers To Destroy Satan's Forces and your life will never be the same ... And actually you will discover a whole load of things that will transform your life. Order these books that transform your life ... We bring loads of people from different backgrounds, from different countries, whose lives were actually transformed.  It actually shows that whatever we have here works and it will work for you ... Order now and get your life changed ... Order now and get the help that you need and that is necessary for you ... Archbishop Gilbert Deya will personally touch and pray for every book before it reaches you. He will sign it and you will know that it is come from his desk and he has actually touched it and a bottle of oil will be sent to you also as a point of contact.  If I were you, I would start to expect a miracle ...The teleshopping that changes people, real people, real lives and God is changing and transforming their lives."

Issue
Monitoring staff challenged whether:

1. evidence substantiated the testimonial and the references to people who had been healed as a result of ordering the books;

2. evidence substantiated the claim that peoples financial circumstances would change as a result of ordering the books;

3. the references to healing were benefit claims that were prohibited by rule 10.10 (Benefit claims);

4. the ad exploited the hopes and fears of vulnerable people.

Response
Passion TV did not respond.

Assessment
1. Upheld
In the absence of evidence to prove the efficacy of the books, the ASA concluded that the claims were misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleadingness), 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.4.4 (Testimonials).

2. Upheld
In the absence of evidence to prove the efficacy of the books, we concluded that the claim was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleadingness) and 5.2.1 (Evidence).

3. Upheld
We considered that the references to being healed as a result of believing in God were benefit claims associated with a doctrine and we concluded that that was unacceptable.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 10.10 (Benefits claims).

4. Upheld
We considered that, by referring to people who had been healed of brain tumours, the ad exploited the hopes and fears of vulnerable people.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 10.13 (Vulnerable viewers).

Action
The ad must not be shown again in its present form and the books should not be advertised in a similar way without adequate substantiation for the claims made for them.

And speaking of "teleshopping with a difference:"

This weblog is pleased to offer "online shopping with a difference" themselves--in particular, plans to donate part of the proceeds so generated to Reduction of the National Debt.

THE FOLLOWING ITEM FROM THINK PROGRESS, revealing as it does the depths of socioeconomic doublethink prevailing in His Fraudulency's Great Within, is enough to prompt Your Correspondent to wonder what planet His Fraudulency is really on--or if he's returned to Al Cohol's companionship:

In January, the U.S. economy lost nearly 17,000 jobs, "the first time in nearly 4-1/2 years that U.S. payrolls shrank." The report of January's losses came just after President Bush triumphantly declared in his State of the Union that "America has added jobs for a record 52 straight months."

Today, on Fox News Sunday, President Bush was asked about the shape of the economy and said that his "experts" are suggesting that the U.S. is not in a recession (emphasis in original--Your Correspondent):

WALLACE: Mr. President, what are the chances that we're either in a recession or headed for one?

BUSH: I think the experts will tell you we're not in a recession, and they will tell you that there's a lot of uncertainty. And therefore, the question is what do you do about it.

While Bush's advisers may give him rosy assessments, Americans are feeling the effects of the economic slowdown. According to a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll, "sixty-one percent of the public believes the economy is now suffering through its first recession since 2001."

A recent ABC poll reached similar conclusions. Sixty percent "think the economy's already in a recession" while "two-thirds doubt that a government stimulus package will soften the blow." In total, 81 percent said the economy is "in bad shape, the most since 1993."

And many "experts" agree. According to a recent survey of economists by USA Today, more and more economists are predicting a recession:

Even Bush's Fed Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is privately saying that the economic situation is much worse than the Bush administration is stating publicly.

As if that weren't enough, the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities has gone on record (thanks to Faithful Progressive, ultimately via Crooks and Liars, for the hat tip) as suggesting that His Fraudulency's just-released Fiscal Year 2009 budget is nothing short of a National Moral Disgrace.

And yet His Fraudulency claims to be defending family values!

Might I suggest that His Fraudulency read the CBPP's report and realise what an error he is making by placing his droogs from "the Four Hundred" above the interests of working-class families. Don't come crying to me, however....

*************

MEMO TO MIKE HUCKABEE: Crooks and Liars notes in passing about your Meet The Press interview yesterday where

To further deflect from his disgraceful defense of [evangel Kenneth] Copeland, Mike takes a cheap shot at MoveOn and says they need to be investigated as well as all non-profit organizations.

Investigated for what, may I ask? (Otherwise, such a suggestion raises questions of whether the real desire here is nothing but cheap reprisal to distract public attention from The Emerging Scandal.)

But then again, the revelations of the Huckabee Presidential campaign having a notorious interconnexion with one of several pseudoreligious evangels under Congressional enquiry for misusing viewer donations by diversion for personal use speaks volumes galore for someone who sees the Presidential role as one of superdivinity--"Prophet, Seer and Revelator," as it were.

Howbeit, perhaps, powered by drugs and/or alcohol aggravting potentially serious emotional disorders rather than sincerity of faith. And besides, taking Holy Writ literally can only risk serious mental harm--or what exactly is your defence to this claim?

En 'n Ander Ding:

Given the nature of Mr. Huckabee's homophobia (which he justifies on Scriptural grounds), how do we know he isn't really some class of a closet queen reluctant to come to terms with his homosexual tendencies?

*************

FOR THOSE OF YOU (HOMESCHOOLING ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS ESPECIALLY) SEEING LeTOURNEAUISM as one with Clear and Present Moral Danger Threatening the Integrity and Confidence of Public Education, you might be interested in the following "WaiWai" item per the Mainichi Daily News from out Tokyo way (the credibility of which is open to speculation, know) as speaks for itself:

A man wearing a woolen hat, his face covered by a surgical mask, leaped over the fence of the elementary school yard in suburban Tokyo and brandished a knife at the junior high schoolboys playing there.

"What are junior high boys doing here? This is an elementary school," Friday (2/15) quotes the mysterious man as saying.

Startled, the eight schoolboys were too scared to move. The mysterious assailant waved his knife about and demanded the group's leader reveal himself. When the boy did so by running away together with another of the young lads there, the mysterious stranger snatched hold of another teen.

"Now," the weekly quotes the stranger saying to the boys, "Take off your pants."

Terrified, the young schoolboys obeyed, only for him to bark out another command.

"Now your underpants!"

The boys initially refused, but the mystery man grabbed one of them and ran his knife along the child's neck, drawing blood. The boys quickly removed their underwear.

Once they had stripped half-naked, the mystery man gathered up the teens' underwear and trousers, forming a bundle that also contained two mobile phones and ¥5,100 in cash. His arms laden with booty, the mystery man fled the scene on foot.

In his rush to get away, however, the mystery man dropped his glasses in the schoolyard. They proved the key to tracking him to his apartment, located just across the road from the school where the incident had occurred.

Police were shocked to discover the mystery man who'd allegedly robbed the schoolboys of their trousers and underwear at knifepoint was Takayuki Yamamoto, a 28-year-old sixth grade teacher at a public elementary school in the Tokyo suburb of Hamura.

"Most of the media reports of the incident made him out to be a pedophile teacher because he stole the boys' underwear and used one of the mobile phones to make prank calls to one of the boy's homes, but the reality was actually a little different," a news desk editor from a national daily tells Friday. "Apparently, what happened was that he was annoyed by the noise the kids were making outside his home, but he thought because they were junior high students they wouldn't listen to him, so he took a knife out with him to scare them. He says he stole their pants off them as a punishment."

The principal of the school where Yamamoto taught was astonished by the development.

"He told me how he wanted to work with kids for the rest of his life, so never wanted to have to take on a desk job or become a principal," the head of the school tells Friday. "He was an incredibly enthusiastic teacher, he even got in with the kids during recess to play dodgeball."

During the school's practices for a dancing competition, Yamamoto was a standout for joining in to dance along with the pupils, while his colleagues merely stood by and barked orders. Many remarked on his keenness for teaching.

But Yamamoto did have a darker side. Residents tell horror tales of how he frequently screamed obscenities at the top of his voice and threw things around his apartment, even though he never appeared to booze. His tantrums behind closed doors caused enough concerns among his neighbors that some complained to their landlord about him.

Nonetheless, the general opinion of Yamamoto was that he had been an excellent teacher since receiving his first appointment back in 2004. But one of his former students suggests the stress of looking after kids make have been a bit much for him.

"If you did something wrong, he'd tell you off, but I never heard him scream at anyone," the past pupil tells Friday. "But I get the feeling he was trying too hard to be cheerful all the time and held in what he was really thinking. I guess he must have been really stressed out."

Now, imagine the perpetrator being a homeschooling parent following the Nasionale Christen Opverdoing-model syllabus endorsed by the Pseudoreligiopolitical Right ... and the target being their children, with the parents unwittingly selling the ensuing photos to child pornographers.

Where would the outrage be under these circumstances? 

TALK ABOUT BOASTING OF "HAVING FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES," AND THEN SOME: RawStory.com hath the following about someone in a (presumed) position of confidence and trust within the State of Florida's welfare agency not only boasting of connexions with Governor Crist--but also caught accessing kinderporn via the Information Stuporbahn:

Floridians were shocked last week when police announced that the spokesman for the state's Department of Children and Families had been arrested and charged with peddling child pornography. But buried in news accounts of the case was a curious detail: the official in question had listed the state's current Republican Governor, Charlie Crist, as a reference when he applied for his post in 2005.

Gov. Crist returned to the news as the nation awaited the outcome of the Republican presidential primary in Florida. The Sunshine State's governor's endorsement of Sen. John McCain late in the campaign may have helped push McCain across the finish line to take the state's 57 delegates. Crist's endorsement also contributed to ending the campaign of Rudy Giuliani, who had heavily courted the governor's thumbs up.

Just after the Florida electoral contest, Tampa Bay police announced the arrest of Al Zimmerman, the spokesman for the state's Department of Children and Families. Zimmerman, a former TV reporter, was charged with 8 child pornography counts after taking photos of two underage boys performing sexual acts. Some evidence indicates that he may have met one of the boys on the job, and that he may have had additional victims. He could face up to 120 years in jail.

While the news prompted state officials to say they were reviewing the personnel files of state employees for red flags, Zimmerman appeared to have come highly recommended when he was appointed to his post in 2005. Among the five references he listed, one of them was Crist, then the state Attorney General under Gov. Jeb Bush.

Crist's office has implied that the governor had little direct connection to Zimmerman, and that the listing of top state officials as references was a routine matter.

An AP report noted that the governor, "does not recall authorizing a recommendation for Zimmerman, but added that he often is asked to give them, spokeswoman Erin Isaac said Sunday."

But according to some earlier accounts, Crist was directly aware of Zimmerman and his work as on-air talent for a Tampa-area TV station.

"A spokeswoman for the governor said Crist knew Zimmerman through his reporting job in Tampa Bay but does not remember being asked to be one of his references," according to a Sunday report in the Palm Beach Post.

Regardless of how well Zimmerman and Crist knew one another, state officials made it clear that Crist was never formally contacted prior to the spokesman's hiring in 2005.

Prior to his appointment as a spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families, Zimmerman appears to have had a colorful past. News reports indicated that he faced an outstanding warrant in Texas for theft. Additionally, he was arrested on DUI charges in Georgia in the 1990s. In 2003, he was arrested for passing a bad check in Florida, but the case was dropped.

As a reporter, Zimmerman also made waves. According to the Tampa Tribune, a report that Zimmerman completed called "Perverts in the Park" provoked controversy when it aired in Texas in 1996. The TV report focused on a public restroom in a park in San Antonio where gay men met for trysts. And when the news item was broadcast, Zimmerman forgot to digitally blur explicit sexual images recorded with a hidden camera.

It also appears that Zimmerman may have contemplated a career in online pornography as far back as the 1990s. News reports indicate that he and his brother bought the URL, "boxersorbriefs.com," but never began using it.

While Zimmerman appears to have engaged in illicit activity online, he also created a public trail that might have exposed him to controversy had it been uncovered prior to the his arrest. On his MySpace profile, Zimmerman describes himself as not only a "Government Employee," but also as a "Swinger." He remarks that he's looking for "Someone who hates to cuddle afterwards," as well as, "a friend that likes to pay for everything."

The profile furthermore lists Zimmerman as straight, but a friend joked in his comments section that he was gay, prompting another friend to remark, "if we all stopped commenting on everyone's sexual persuasion, maybe the press wouldn't have anything to report."

So much for the GOP being the supposed defenders of family values, so making this one reason more why you shouldn't vote Republican come November.

And, for that matter--if you're already a card-carrying member of the GOP--why you should consider resigning from same posthaste.

*************

DR. JAMES "FOCUS ON THE FAMILY" DOBSON'S "ENDORSEMENT" OF GOP PRESIDENTIAL WANNABE MIKE HUCKABEE as G-d's Chosen Presidential Candidate (or so he thinks) seems, methinks, to border on sheer desperation trying to save any shard of hope for the Huckabee Presidential campaign trying to appeal to a broader audience than the poor, undereducated and easily-influenced as make up the Religiopolitical Right's biggest base of support, financial as much as moral.

Not to mention setting himself up as what the British would call an "aunt sally"--an easily target for attack satirical by the ilk of David Letterman, Jay Leno and Triomf die Beweldig Komies Hond--if the following item from People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch blog can be trusted @ par:

There was an article in Time last week wondering if James Dobson's political clout was fading.  Citing shrinking contributions, revenue, distribution, and audiences, the article suggested that Dobson was reluctant to "back a candidate so early in the game [because] backing a losing horse could devalue the worth of any future Dobson anointment.

Judging by his latest round of news-making, one has to wonder if Dobson has intentionally set out to make himself the object of ridicule and irrelevance.  A few weeks ago, it was noted that Focus on the Family Action's post-South Carolina primary political analysis was conspicuously flattering toward Mitt Romney, and while all involved denied that it could be construed as an endorsement, it was pretty obvious that Romney was their candidate of choice.

Then Dobson suddenly emerged from his headquarters in Colorado Springs after Super Tuesday to tell the world that his conscience would not allow him to support John McCain and that he was seeking a million voters to pledge to do the same, seemingly with the aim of mobilizing support behind Romney.

But Dobson's efforts came too late, and Romney dropped out, leaving only McCain and Mike Huckabee.  And so Dobson, being ever-bold and principled, has decided to endorse the only remaining candidate he hasn't publicly repudiated:

I am endorsing Gov. Mike Huckabee for President of the United States today. My decision comes in the wake of my statement on Super Tuesday that I could not vote for Sen. John McCain, even if he goes on to win the Republican nomination.  His record on the institution of the family and other conservative issues makes his candidacy a matter of conscience and concern for me.

That left two pro-family candidates whom I could support, but I was reluctant to choose between them. However, the decision by Gov. Mitt Romney to put his campaign "on hold" changes the political landscape.  The remaining candidate for whom I could vote is Gov. Huckabee.  His unwavering positions on the social issues, notably the institution of marriage, the importance of faith and the sanctity of human life, resonate deeply with me and with many others. That is why I will support Gov. Huckabee through the remaining primaries, and will vote for him in the general election if he should get the nomination. Obviously, the governor faces an uphill struggle, given the delegates already committed to Sen. McCain.  Nevertheless, I believe he is our best remaining choice for President of the United States.

Nothing reeks of desperation more than announcing a halfhearted endorsement in the middle of the night when it is obvious that you are only supporting the candidate because you hate his opponent.

Dobson's primary purpose in deciding to throw in with Huckabee only after the cause was lost is presumably to give himself cover for not voting for McCain in the general election. After all, if the one GOP candidate who truly holds "unwavering positions" on the importance of faith, marriage, and the sanctity of human life can't win the Republican nomination, then what choice does Dobson have but to stand by his principles and refuse to support the party's candidate?

Of course, considering that Huckabee's "unwavering positions on the social issues" on which Dobson has built his entire career have been the centerpiece of his campaign, you'd think he would have endorsed him months ago … which is exactly what Huckabee has been saying all along. Had he done so, perhaps Huckabee wouldn't be facing the kind of "uphill struggle" he faces now which makes it increasingly unlikely that he'll actually be the nominee.

But doing that would have required taking a stand on principle when it actually mattered and supporting the one candidate who epitomizes the values Dobson claims to represent instead of hedging his bets and trying to shape the race through subtle signals, un-endorsements, and craven, late-night political calculations.

No wonder Mike Huckabee is as desperate as he wants to be to recast the Presidential role as one of a superdivine "Prophet, Seer and Revelator," with consequences likely to rival those of Japan when the Emperor was seen as a superdivine himself.

Raising questions as well as to whether this presumed superdivinity would require achieving the supposed aura thereof with the likes of narcotic, hallucinogenic or otherwise habit-forming drugs--and the steps the Administration would be pressed to take to avoid attracting unwelcome suspicions.

TALK ABOUT IRONY GALORE:

Your Correspondent makes note of this item from Crooks and Liars about the so-called "Westboro Baptist Church" picketing a Mike Huckabee Presidential rally in Topeka yesterday--and I say "irony galore" inasmuch as Rev. Fred Phelps and Mike Huckabee share a common thread of homophobia pro Deo et patria.

As in harbouring discredited beliefs about homosexuals being no better than sufferers from a Serious Mental Aberration which explains their leading an Immoral, Depraved or Perverted Lifestyle to be seen as no better than a Clear and Present Moral Danger to the United States and Its Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity.

=============

RECOMMENDED READING ALONG MUCH THESE SAME LINES: Omar Sacribey's essay in the February number of The Progressive entitled "The Religion Card," which discusses the GOP's fondness for using the G-d and Country card to whip up Islamophobic feelings among the Park & Flush Trailer Park/Fox Noise crowd.

(The article, sadly, is not available on their website; hence, you'll need to go to such newsagents willing to take the risk in stocking what The Oxycontin Cow and his droogs call "subversive literature" such as The Progressive. Or, failing that, your Public Biblio.)

*************

PERPETUATING DISCREDITED PSEUDOSCIENECE AS AN ARTICLE OF FAITH for "winning of hearts and minds" among the poor, undereducated and easily-influenced seems to be stock-in-trade for Fox Noise.

Especially when it comes to contempt for homeless veterans (blaming their homelessness on such things as "alcoholism" and "mental illness" unlikely to have been aggravated by combat, "not watching Fox News" on a regular basis and suchlike Mickey Mouse) and the poor in general, to cite recent examples exposed to air and sunshine by the Fox Attacks project @ Brave New Films.

As a matter of fact, repeated studies of poverty and its effects on the poor will show for a fact that "moral weakness" has nothing to do with why the poor are in such circumstances, or are otherwise thus reduced; on the contrary, it's socioeconomic factors more than anything, combined with lack of access to decent education, lack of salable and realistic job skills (and, in some cases, race), that all conspire to prevent the poor from any viable hope of empowerment, no matter how hard the Neocon/Fascisti propaganda line suggests otherwise. Just do a Google to see for yourself.

*************

OVERHEARD ON THE BBC WORLD SERVICE (VIA XM SATELLITE RADIO) by Your Correspondent this morning in a report explaining why the Khurdish regions of northern Iraq have managed to remain socioeconomically stable and free of the sectarian violence aggravated by the ur-RAHOWA Against International Terrorism predominating around Baghdad and areas to the south:

An interesting allegory explaining the basic differences between the three dominant Muslim sects in Iraq:

• Sunnis look all the more @ the past and fear the future;
• Shi'as look all the more towards the future and look back in anger; and
• Khurds fear both past and future, preferring instead a "let's live for today" approach to the situation.

Never mind where the central government's Oil and Energy Ministry in Baghdad has expressed reservations @ the Khurdish regional government's negotiating separate oil and gas exploration concessions without consulting Baghdad beforehand ... let alone continuing fragile discussions over the status of Diyala, which Khurdish Muslims consider as sacred as all Muslims regard Mecca and Medina.

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BEFORE YOU CONSIDER GETTING LASIK CORRECTIVE EYE SURGERY TO IMPROVE YOUR VISION and throw away the glasses in the end, you might want to reconsider when you hear where several who undertook Lasik eye surgery wound up suffering episodes of depression resulting in suicide or suicidal tendencies.

The which are prompting the FDA to open enquiries into the likelihood of such an interconnexion--enquiries which His Fraudulency's Great Within will likely suspend under mysterious circumstances as involve the ur-RAHOWA Against International Terrorism (the fact of which isn't openly made clear, alas!).

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SHAVING BRUSHES
SOON YOU'LL
SEE THEM
ON THE SHELF
IN SOME MUSEUM
BURMA-SHAVE

THUS WENT AN EARLY BURMA-SHAVE SIGN IN VERSE as explained the advantage of its brushless formula being much better than the old-school badger-bristle shaving brush.

I mention this as insight to Polaroid's announcement that it will stop manufacturing its instant-picture films within measurable distance, closing its three remaining plants (in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands) and giving all 450 employed between them their cards, having ended manufacture of the cameras just last year.

Changing technology trends, in particular digital photography, are cited as the reason for the end of instant-photography production which Polaroid introduced to the world 60 years ago this year.

(Polaroid will produce digital-photography cameras, and is looking for someone who would be willing to continue manufacture of the iconic instant-photography film under licence to meet the needs of their fans.)

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MEANWHILE, BACK HERE IN THE MINNWISSIPPI, it looks as if Your Correspondent is about to see some seriously cold weather towards the overnight hours on top of some snow as just fell while he prepared this item for this blog.

Which could wind up being blown broadcast all over the place by sunset and well into the overnight hours, along with sharply cold weather that could mean a number of church-service cancellations in rural areas especially.

And it was only a week ago today that Sun Prairie Jimmy didn't see his shadow, meaning spring will be all the more imminent if the related legend is to be believed!      

FROM TIME TO TIME, YOU MAY HEAR ON THE NEWS ABOUT RESTAURANTS in major Chinese cities being raided, and subsequently shut down by, police for being too popular--as in sneaking in opium seeds, pods and paste into their dishes just to keep diners coming back for more, and then some.

As witness suspiciously long lines outside certain restaurants @ the expense of others in certain trendy districts just waiting for tables, even well into the night.

I bring this up because it seems, based on the experience of Your Correspondent, that Nestlé may be making their Toll House Ultimates White Chocolate Chunk with Macadamia Nuts rather irresistable to exercise temperance and moderation, giving new meaning, methinks, to the global slogan of the Swiss-based foods conglomerate: "Good food. Good life."

(Basically, Toll House Ultimates are sheets of refrigerated cookie dough pre-scored so that you break the cookies apart, place them on a baking sheet, and bake. They're in the refrigerated section of your local supermarket.)

OK: On a couple of recent occasions, after buying packets of said Toll House Ultimates White Chocolate Chunk with Macadamia Nuts, and preparing such according to directions, Your Correspondent could not help but get carried away on the finished product, consuming the lion's share within an hour or so of their coming out of the oven ... and finishing them off within 24 hours.

And I wonder why that could be.

Has anybody encountered a similar set of circumstances? Feel free to leave them in the comments section.

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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: The preceding was based solely on the personal experiences of Your Correspondent with the product in question, and was not in any way influenced or paid for by Nestlé USA, Inc., or Société des Produits Nestlé, S.A., Vevey, Switzerland.

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WHAT THE GOP'S "DIRTY TRICKS" OPERATIVES MUST SECRETLY BE ENJOYING OF LATE in readiness for Indecision 2008:

News footage (including such per YouTube) of post-election rioting and ultraviolence across Kenya following recently-disputed elections as have reduced same to a state of chaos and disorder, including the firebombing of a church into which 50 innocent people sought refuge, all of whom were burned to deaths.

In particular the sort where Kenyan police officers and paramilitaries acted the role of agents provocateur to whip up all the more mayhem, as civil-rights watchdogs are alleging.

The desire of all this? None other than looking for a few good mentally-disturbed types and others weird and/or unwholesome who can be stupid enough to act as agents provocateur for election-related "rioting" or "terrorist acts" for no useful purpose other than to maintain a "natural monopoly" on power, invoking Divine Right and Majesty all along.

Offering those dumb enough to play the roles "redemption for value," as it were--and expecting them to remain all the more dumb enough so as not to give the Secret History thereof away, along with substantial amounts of cash and liquor.

So when will the GOP formally start distancing itself from, and disassociating themselves with, the Elmer Gantry Institute of Religiopolitical Theology? And can we expect them to do so in good and sincere faith?

Or what stands in the way otherwise?

NOW THAT MITT ROMNEY HAS GIVEN UP ON HIS GOP PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS FOR THE TIME BEING, many political commentators and pundits are suggesting that John McCain could be all the more likely to take the GOP Presidential nod this summer up in the Twin Cities.

Unless, however, Mike Huckabee (who sees the Presidential role as being, in effect, a superdivine "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" acting as intermediary for Divine Revelation from G-d A-mighty, regarded as the One True Leader of the American Nation and People) manages to pull a few fast ones in the upcoming round of primaries and caucuses, especially among the Elmer Gantry crowd.

Who, for the most part, tend to be from the ranks of the poor, undereducated or homeschooled and easily-influenced (especially where emotional disorders come into play, not to mention the overzealous influence of the Low Church stylee upon the Religiopolitical Right's base of support).

As for the so-called "Ron Paul Revolution," his racist and neo-Nazi message packaged as one of "freedom, peace and prosperity" doesn't exactly sit well with voters, so explaining Paul's near-bottom standings in primaries and caucuses to date notwithstanding his desire to keep up the campaign (yet all the while wanting to avoid a third-party or otherwise independent bid).

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WHICH COULD ONLY MEAN THAT INDECISION 2008'S "WINNING OF HEARTS AND MINDS" PHASE can only get all the nastier, and then some.

Witness remarks made by Democratic Presidential wannabe Barack Obama in the wake of Super Tuesday about the GOP preparing to dish out all manner of dirt on whoever manages to win the Democratic Presidential nomination. As in "swift-boating," more than likely.

Fortunately, though, the good people @ Brave New Films have fired the opening salvos with two sites (both mit Video) revealing the "real" John McCain for what he is. Just go to The Real McCain and/or Less Jobs, More Wars and see for yourself--especially if you're still the kind of Zealot and/or True Believer in John McCain's campaign.

Whether you'll wind up reconsidering in the end, only the Fates know for sure.

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ANTI-GOVERNMENT ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS IN THE XTREME (AND THEN SOME) are no doubt going to be dancing in the streets over the news of a massacree @ last night's City Council meeting in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood as saw five city officials martyred and two (including the mayor) wounded seriously and now in a serious condition in hospital.

The assain, a small-time contractor of colour by name of Charles "Cookie" Thornton, was himself shot by police before the massacree got all the more out of control.

That last fact right there should be of especial interest to such specimens of anti-government Zealotry and True Belief whose articles of faith include "patriotic" racism and bigotry.

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SPOT THE INHERENT IRONY IN THE FOLLOWING:

Certain specimens of conservative Zealotry and True Belief (especially so those in a "winning of hearts and minds" vein) have been known to invoke the name and depravity of Venezuelan quasi-dictator Hugo Chavez in attacking real or suspected Liberals or Progressives and their articles of faith--especially if the aim is one of questioning, Joe McCarthy-stylee, the loyalty and True Patriot Love (or supposed lack thereof) among Liberals and Progressives.

(As if said True Patriot Love was conditional on maintaining a hard-wired, "stay-the-course" complacency vis-a-vis the Greater Conservative Agenda and its articles of faith requiring, in effect, an unyielding and @ once deliberate brand of stupidity which can be excused as "goodthought"--orthodoxy per Orwellian Newspeak--and can be appealed to as required.)

Ironically, though, many of these same hyperconservative Zealots and True Believers in question are more than likely anti-Semites of the highest order, howbeit preferring to keep their anti-Semitism below radar (and deliberately), especially if and when "outed." As if that weren't enough, the Anti-Defamation League has come out with a blistering new report (read it and weep, boys and girls) suggesting that the Chavez regime is playing up anti-Semitic canards and patsies as part of its greater political agenda of "popular socialism," not to mention associating with radical Islamists, especially so such known to associate with International Terrorism, and others weird and/or unwholesome.

Witness these specimens of anti-Semitism from the very lips of Chavez himself, via the ADL's press release announcing the report's release:

• "Israel was committing genocide in Lebanon and its leaders should be held responsible and should be judged by an international tribunal … The Israelis criticize Hitler but have done something worse." – August 25, 2006.
• "This fascism is something similar to what Hitler did: bombard cities, kill innocent children, women and men, and destroy the infrastructure of people." – July 26, 2006
• "… The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendents of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia.  A minority has taken possession of all the wealth in the world …" -- December, 24, 2005.

Other specimens of anti-Semitic propaganda from the Chavez regime's propaganda documented by the ADL as are worthy of note:

• "Those who are upset with Ahmadinejad's visit to Venezuela are the gangsters of the local Jewish mafia; the terrorists who control the Confederations of Israelite Associations (CAIV) and other criminal organizations of similar reputation."  -- Los Papeles de Mandinga, September 19, 2006
• "It was to be expected.  The profound humanistic conviction and moral solidarity of Commander Chavez for denouncing the atrocities that are systematically committed by the state of Israel against Arab people have bothered the cancers of the inferno – international imperialism and Zionism." – Diario Vea, September 14, 2006
• "Zionists, the destructive sect of radical Jews, are again impregnating the Jewish community with its animosity towards humanity.  The genocide they executed in Palestine and Lebanon is similar to the Holocaust which the Nazis executed against them, and they will undergo another Holocaust because of the global hatred they are accumulating."  -- Diario Vea, July 4, 2006.

Besides, liberalism and Progressivism hold dear among their articles of faith a firm belief in diversity, tolerance and multiculturalism, in effect seeing anti-Semitism as one with racism, bigotry, intolerance, xenophobia and jingoism--i.e., intolerable, anathema and un-American.

Given this evidence, what have you to say now, ye who invoke Hugo Chavez as a bête noire to question the loyalty and patriotism of Liberals and Progressives, let alone perhaps being closet anti-Semites yourselves?

And have you any evidence to suggest that these remarks may probably be what you would call "forgeries"?

Until you can provide a logical answer, remember: You only have yourselves to blame for where you are now, so don't come crying to me.