For the Record

U.S. run by corporations, hysterical lunatics; administered by craven capitulators

The latest bit of evidence here.

A welcome statement

Clinton says that Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian lands is illegitimate.

Michael Moore, voice of reason

Very smart and obviously correct.  Warning: involves repeated pwnage of braindead bloviator Wolf Blitzer.

This about sums it up

Richard Gwyn, in today's Toronto Star, has an excellent "opinion" piece on the prospects for regulation and reform in the U.S.  The short cut:

[T]o really understand what's going on, follow the money. The American political system has become its hostage.

This is interesting

Sotomayor on corporate personhood, one of the deep roots of U.S. evil.

Whitewashing Blackwater

The old site, and the new site.

Wired is helpin' out with a new logo contest.

Hat tip to Lisa Rivera.

Bush wars to cost 40 times estimates

8K for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.

US income inequality worst since 20's

Among the stats released by the IRS (and you know, girlfriend, that the rich have all kinds of ways of hiding their income, so things are undoubtedly much worse than these stats indicate):

-- The top 1% earned 21.2 percent of all income in 2005, up from 19 percent in 2004.

That is, the top 1% gets more than 1/5 of all income.

-- The bottom 50% earned 12.8 percent of all income in 2005, down from 13.4 percent.

That is, the bottom 50% gets about 1/8 of all income.

One of the interesting things about keeping track, to whatever small degree, of things like this is seeing the same old ludicrous and empirically disconfirmed excuses wheeled out over and over by Bush et al.   So last time stats on inequality came out, Bush was all about his "the income gap was an education gap"; now it's that "skills gaps yield income gaps".  Whatever.

Tutu barred from speaking for speaking up against Israel: updated

How very tiresome that reactionary members of Zionist lobbies (how many profit from, or are friends with those who profit from, the arms and munitions industry, I wonder?) persist in persecuting rational observers of the continuing human rights abuses of the Israeli government against the long-suffering (40 years and counting) Palestinians.  Not content with hounding top-flight academics like Norman Finkelstein (who was "retired" from his position at DePaul University) and Juan Cole (whose offer from Yale was withdrawn), pro-Israel-no-matter-what attack dogs have now scuttled a talk  at the University of St. Thomas---thanks to the helpful interference of University President "Father knows best" Dennis Dease---by Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace prize, among other accolades.

As if this supression of reasoned observation weren't outrageous enough, the cancellation was accompanied by the removal of Cris Toffolo, the chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program (which had sponsored Tutu's talk), from her position as chair, for "the way she questioned the administration's decision".  Toffolo has tenure (thank heavens) but no longer heads the department.

Muzzlewatch has further details and the means to write a letter of protest here.

UPDATE: Facing widespread condemnation for its decision to block a speaking invitation to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the University of St. Thomas announced Wednesday that he would be welcome on the campus after all. While many on the campus said that they were pleased with the reversal, some also questioned whether the university was doing enough to undo damage from the incident.

http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/10/11/tutu

George Bush is an idiot

For the record, George Bush is an idiot.   Not just an idiot---the kind you feel sorry for---but a complete and unabashed idiot---the kind you rightly despise.

"My job is a decision-making job. And as a result, I make a lot of decisions," the president said.

He elaborated on that point later.

"I delegate to good people. I always tell Condi Rice, `I want to remind you, Madam Secretary, who has the Ph.D. and who was the C student. And I want to remind you who the adviser is and who the president is.'

I got a lot of Ph.D.-types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, `Mr. President, here's what's on my mind.' And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device (sic), I decide, you know, I say, `This is what we're going to do.' And it's `Yes, sir, Mr. President.' And then we get after it, implement policy."

Astonishing.   A complete, unabashed idiot of the magnitude of George Bush is---get this---president of the U.S.  Even ignoring all the destruction and devastation he and his fellow right-wingers have wrought on the U.S. and any country or people in their sights, the fact that---by whatever hook and crook---such a complete, unabashed idiot became president of the U.S. is itself enough to establish that the U.S. has entered its period of ultimate decline and fall.

And who are the compliciters saying "Yes, sir, Mr. President" to this complete, unabashed idiot?

Where did all the good people go?