The Snow Man, by Wallace Stevens One must have a mind of winter To regard the frist and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun and not to think Of any misery in the sound of the wind, In the sound of a few leaves, Which is the sound of the land Full of the same wind That is blowing in the same bare place For the listener, who listens in the snow, And...

Ignoring my (rather intelligent and sound) advice, Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry were the only votes against Condolleezza Rice’s passing through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a 16-2 margin. My regular readers are aware that my sentiments toward Dr. Rice are probably comparable only to my sentiments towards the President himself. Disdain would be putting it politely. Outright hatred (at a completely visceral and irrational level at that) would probably be more accurate. But that’s not the point. No matter. Senator Boxer gets a pass, here, and actually, she gets my admiration for tilting at windmills: everyone loves...

So sayeth our next Secretary of State, at her senate foreign relations committee lovefest confirmation hearing. We’ll train some Iraqis, and note that the Iraqis problems involve “getting along”, and then we’ll operate in the political interest of the President. “Doctor” Rice assured the Committee that she will be every bit the loyal yes-woman that she was as National Security Advisor, and we can rest assured, unlike that uppity Colin Powell, she will not rock any boats. She wants the Committee to know she serves the man and his interests– and the nation need not worry that its chief diplomat...

First, this link to Sy Hersh’s New Yorker article on the current Bush Administration plans for (literally) world domination, starting with Iran. It would appear that groundwork similar to the invasion of Iraq is now underway at the Pentagon and in the White House. The lessons the White House believes it has learned from the Iraq fiasco? Political. I wonder what that means: arresting protestors? A Pentagon spokesman (Larry DiRita) promptly disputes Sy Hersh’s conclusions. We will see. Hersh has yet to be wrong. The Pentagon has yet to be right. Draw your OWN conclusions.

Our visit to the People’s Daily indicates that the folks in Beijing felt something was important in the Washington Post interview in my post right below that I glossed over: the President rejected Secretary Powell’s statements that there was an Iraqi withdrawal timetable, and it would be well underway (if not complete) by the end of the year. It seems that even with Powell a lame duck pending the ascendancy of Incompetentalleezza Rice to Foggy Bottom, the President continues to delight in treating General Powell as some kind of court jester. It seems that almost without fail, whatever Powell says...

The President gave an interview on Air Force One to The Washington Post. (Hat tip for the heads up to Bruce the Veep and the Daou Report.) The President said his reelection constituted a complete and total endorsement by the American people of everything– EVERYTHING, INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY THE MISTAKES– associated with the Iraq war. While this will constitute liberal apostasy, I agree with him. COMPLETELY. Indeed, Democrats supported the President on this– why else would we have nominated someone who voted for the war if we didn’t think the war was a good and noble thing? Especially when we...

This week’s visit to Pravda gives us this analysis David Galland of Defense Watch called Insurgency 101, Misunderstood, or some of the things I have been saying about why our current strategy in Iraq is doomed. In short– what matters not are Rummy’s “metrics” to show a dim-witted President (and largely apathetic public) that “we are winning” because we have captured… 2/3. 3/4, 99% or whatever of “insurgent leadership” (excepting, oh, Zarqawi, or bin Laden, or, you know, anyone whose names the public knows). What matters is winning hearts and minds. The fact is, having done such a piss-poor job...

Israel considers its response to the Hamas/Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade attack on Gaza’s main checkpoint into Israel proper that left at least six Israelis dead. Newly elected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has not even formally taken office, and already, he is being dissed. Spokesmen for the terror groups insist that the attack is aimed at Israel, and not at Abbas himself. For its part, the Israeli government will, almost certianly, not engage in the usual heavy handed response of a military incursion. Why? To give Abbas an opportunity to get things in order, and internally crack down on, or...

Just 70 days (same number as the virgins…) after achieving the purpose of the Iraq adventure (that would be the successful reelecton of the Imperium), the American government very quietly announced the termination of the mission of the Iraq Survey Group. Simply put: the great snipe hunt for Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist is now ignominiously over. Impressively, the former paper of record that continues to employ Judith “Warmonger” Miller, principal journalistic (so to speak) legitimizer of the “Saddam is really bad and no matter how many Midwestern rubes we kill in the process of removing him...

The gang over at Wampum have nominated this blog for a much-coveted Koufax award (blog most deserving of wider recognition); last year, you will recall, we were up for “best non-liberal blog”… yes, I know. Well, right now, things are looking grim for this blog in that category at press time, so for those of you care enough to vote for this humble source of screeds and rants, well, you will have my gratitude. Those of you willing to contribute to the mammoth dollar cost that Wampum is incurring to run this annual contest, please contribute generously. You will have...