Warm welcome, everybody :-)
Pl. help yourself. I'll take a quick shower and will join you laters.
Montana, can you play the gracious host to our fantastic guests in the mean time?
Many hugs to all (((((((())))))))
;-) ;-)
Well, cav...counting the $27.30 I found in kicky's pocket, we have just enough to get him on a midnight flight to Kalamazoo. IF we duct tape his mouth and stuff him into a FedEx box.
Montana, eoe...can you contribute something to the Send-Kicky-to-Tibet fund?
Oh sure I can Eva. I've got some extra funds floating around and it is for a good cause after all ;-)
Count me in. Bye bye Kicky.
Why Tibet? Aahh, I get it...kicky came home drunk one night and his dad said "That's it, one more whiskey-soaked orgy and I'm sending you to Tibet!" Kicky, in his stupor just mumbled "Sherpa."
cavfancier, LOL!
Lounge is filling up I hope. We are going Mexican today. Nachos, tortillas etc. and some Mexican decaf!
But beer lovers should not be afraid. Got crates ful of Corona :-)
Has anyone read a good book lately? Picked up Richard Clarke's and Bob Woodward's latest. Enough of politics for this year. :-(
What are you guys and dolls listening to??????
Coffee.... need coffee...
Coffeewallah, coffeewallah, coffeewallah!
SealpPoet, here you are. A black Brazil brew that is as strong as any. Care for some biscuits to open your eyes to the beautiful world:-)?
Mmmm... Yeah, a biscuit or three would break the fast nicely.
S'nice place Sonny. Glad it's open 'round the clock.
SealPoet, many thanks. I am pleased you like it. Its all about sharing and getting to know each other.
Y'know, I just finished reading this and tried to answer these questions, thinking what would I do if I were in the shoes of Pres.Bush? Tell you. No clue at all.
See if you can find an answer to any of these twelve questions.
Twelve questions for President Bush Meant to Help Strengthen His Remaining Speeches about Iraq
By Chalmers Johnson
1. Please tell us more about your notion of "full sovereignty" for Iraq. Will this be like our returning Okinawan sovereignty to Japan in 1972, when we retained exclusive control over the 38 military bases on the island and the deployment and behavior of American forces on them?
2. Please tell us: If we plan to return Iraq to the Iraqis, why is the U.S. currently building fourteen permanent bases there?
3. Presumably the American troops to be stationed on these bases will remain under the control of the Pentagon and beyond the legal reach of any "sovereign" Iraqi state. Such arrangements are usually covered by a "Status of Forces Agreement" (SOFA) that we normally impose on the government in whose territory our bases are placed. Who will sign the SOFA on the Iraqi side? What are its terms? Will it be binding on the new government you hope the Iraqis will elect early next year?
4. The sovereignty discussion has been focused mainly on the question of who will control the actions of what troops -- Iraqi or American -- in the coming months. But American advisers will be stationed in every Iraqi "ministry"; the new government will evidently be capable neither of passing, nor abrogating laws or regulations laid down by the occupying power; and the economy, except for oil, will remain open to all foreign corporate investors. Please tell us if this really strikes you as "full sovereignty"?
5. You say that we will tear down Abu Ghraib prison if the Iraqis so wish. What if they wish to preserve it as a monument to our cruelty as well as Saddam Hussein's?
6. Your administration has recently confirmed that while captured Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were not, in your eyes, covered by the Geneva Conventions, Iraqi prisoners and detainees were. The acts in Abu Ghraib prison contravened those conventions. We now know that teams of interrogation experts were sent by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, commandant of our Guantánamo prison from Cuba to Abu Ghraib to teach Americans working there "better" interrogation techniques. If these contravened the Geneva Conventions, should General Miller be brought to trial for this? If General Miller acted at Guantánamo and elsewhere on the basis of guidelines and urgings from his superiors in the Pentagon and the military chain of command, should they face the same? Your views on this would be appreciated.
7. If it turns out to be true that some of the acts of torture in Abu Ghraib prison were, in fact, committed by members of the Israeli intelligence services, who were placed in the prison via our independent contractors, does this not further confuse American policy in the Middle East with that of Ariel Sharon's Israel? Is this really a good idea?
8. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the war and occupation in Iraq by 130,000 U.S. troops now costs close to $5 billion per month, or $60 billion a year. So far the war has cost American taxpayers $186 billion in direct military expenses. You've asked for another $425 billion in defense appropriations for the 2005 Pentagon budget, plus another $75 billion for Iraq, $25 billion for the development of new generations of nuclear weapons, and untold billion for such things as military pensions and veterans' health care. Not included in these figures are the multibillions in secret amounts spent on the CIA and other intelligence activities, not to speak of other Department of Defense "black budget" activities kept out of the appropriations process. Where is all this money going to come from? Why is our government putting all this money on the tab for future generations to deal with?
9. Speaking of military pensions and health care, would you please address the fact that something like 30% of the troops who participated in the first Gulf War are now seeking disability payments for illnesses contracted there -- chiefly as a result of our use of depleted uranium shells. Would you please discuss some of these long-term dangers of modern warfare (even when our initial short-term casualties seem relatively modest)? How will our military hospitals be able to care for all the soldiers who are likely to develop cancer or give birth to children with birth defects as a result of the current war?
10. On June 1, 2002, in your West Point speech enunciating your new doctrine of preventive war, you said there were 60 countries that were potential targets for regime change. Would you please list those 60 countries for us, and are you still determined in a second term to proceed down this list?
11. If you are determined to start new wars, or if the Iraq war drags on and not enough soldiers re-enlist, will you reinstate the draft?
12. Why do you usually give your speeches to the American people before audiences of servicemen and women at military academies, on bases, and the like, where they have been ordered by their superiors to attend and to applaud? Why not give one of your speeches -- especially if you're going to propose reinstating the draft -- at a large state college?
Chalmers Johnson is the author of The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic and of an earlier volume, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, among other works.
Hey there, loungers, Sonny San you must be in some oriental location or else you keep really strange hours!!
Well here in England it's time for a midday cool Corona with lime in it. And Mexican snacks - great!
Today I'm about to drive to Bristol to meet my son who has been giving a talk about British politics to Potsdam University students - he's only 20 but my business partner thought he could present it in a lively way - apparently he went down a storm! Then we're staying in Bristol with a friend who is a good cook
Home tomorrow.
The flowers here are stupendous right now, roses, peonies, stocks, lilac, lavender - everything at once.
Clary, hello and welcome. Yup I do keep strange hours ;-)
But thats the fun part. The sad thing is I sleep at odd hours as well.
Wanna guess what I do for living?
<serves Clary a mini bottle of coooooool Corona with a thin slice of green lime>
Have a great trip, BTW!
Great! Tasty beer!
You probably work in IT. Or you're a perpetual student.. they keep very weird hours! Unless you are a night watchman.
BTW I see Olga said she wasn't feeling too happy yesterday. Do you know, that's the seventh person who's said that? I felt out of sorts too. Must be the stars, 'cos I can't blame the weather - Olga's on the other side of the world.
Clary, night watchman? LOL. Nah!
Lets see what others think and then I will tell ya ;-)
Care for some great nachos with fresh mozarella?
Clary, after having a very nice albeit short chat with Olga, I had to go. I did notice she was a bit down so I posted link to this website, to cheer her up.
See if you like it too ;-)
www.dancingbush.com
<enters & looks around>
Hmmmmm, I seem to be the only one here. Maybe I'll just help myself to a wee glass of something.
It's a bit quiet here this morning. There was quite a wild crowd in here last night...hope everyone got home all right.
I think I'll just have a cup of Irish tea, thank you.
It bein' mornin' here in Timberland, I figure some fruit juice and hearty cereal would be appropriate. A shot of brandy, please, with a sturdy dark beer back, if you would, barkeep. That and mebbe a couple cups of coffee stoutly laced with good whiskey oughtta just about cover breakfast.
So I was sitting at the breakfast table eating a big bowl of...whiskey...
Where's Sonny San? Who's going to fetch me something cold and bubbly? I sprained my ankle and require some personalized service.
