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03/07/2003 Archived Entry: "Kiesling's letter of resignation"

On the Political Front:

John Brady Kiesling's letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell is an eloquent statement of dissent on Iraq. Kiesling is/was a member of Bush's Foreign Service Corps and Political Counselor to the American embassy in Greece.

For a much-needed humor break...

...from the spoof site whitehouse.org comes a "Statement by Press Secretary Fleischer Introducting Revised Federal France-Bashing Standards & Guidelines." Why are such standards necessary? "On White House orders, America's right-wing commentators and talk-radio junkies have been busy attempting to come up with clever insults to ridicule that nation of fussy-yet-filthy pansies. Unfortunately, even their best taunts have thus far been embarrassingly banal and puerile."

This is the same site that has come under fire for its spoof biography of Lynne Cheney. In response to a letter from Lynne's hubby -- a/k/a Vice President Dick Cheney -- written on official stationery, the site has posted a disclaimer, "the editors of WHITEHOUSE.ORG are confident that any rumors about Mrs. Cheney formerly being a crystal meth pusher are 100% likely to be absolutely untrue. Similarly, any stories about her penchant for licking Brandy Alexanders off the hirsute belly of her spouse are all lies, lies, lies!"

Not to be outdone, the Onion offers a decent satire, "Bush Offers Taxpayers Another $300 If We Go to War".

meanwhile, the US is punishing Turkey for not voting to allow US troops to use its bases for a Northern invasion of Iraq. A story in the Times Online observes, "Without ceremony, Turkey was removed from the list of beneficiaries in a trade Bill before it was passed on Wednesday, an act of legislative sabotage that lifts the lid on the furious horse-trading surrounding the build-up to war with Iraq." I am trying to find the spoof that reports on the world's reaction to Turkey passing on the "billions bribe" offered by the US. The snippets I've heard are: for the same money, France has offered to invade Turkey; Saddam has offered to invade himself but Bush claims it is a deceitful ploy because Saddam intends to lose the war.

The economy is still sinking under the weight of the war on terrorism and the impending invasion of Iraq. Reuters states that "American motorists should prepare to
pay an average $1.76 per gallon for gasoline in April -- a new record high" and a high that does not factor in an increase if the US goes to war. The stock continues to fall, unemployment continues to rise. And Lew Rockwell offers a very nice piece on "the longstanding canard that war is good for the economy."

On the Personal/Movement front:

Kudos once again to my former co-worker at Free-Market.Net Thomas Knapp for his article "The life of the Party: The Party and war". Without histrionics or ad hominems, Tom analyzes the various positions within the LP and writes, "There's no way the impending invasion of Iraq can be squared with the LP's platform or Statement of Principles. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada." Nice job.

Brad and I have decided on a strategy of escapism for the next few days. I intend to do my blogging and "newsing" in the morning and, then, dive into work during the day and into feckless pleasures at night. Otherwise, the war is too much with us. Last night, I cracked open my Christmas present from our much-loved friend Gordon: the first season of "Angel" on DVD. We watched the first two episodes and were pleasantly surprised because the spin-off is as good as the original, probably because Whedon is intimately involved. Both of us are Buffy fans, tho' it was a few years after its inception that we watched our first episode. I guess we are not trendy sorts. But Gordon kept telling us that the scripting was superb, the acting great, the plots surprising...everything was better than the movie, which we enjoyed. Now we're buying the Buffy DVDs as they come out. We are also retreating into comfort foods. Yesterday I made a chili meatloaf, this morning I baked bread...which sounds more impressive than it is since I have a breadmaker that takes all the work out of the process.

Well...must tend to ifeminists. For those of you who watch the news, there is a daily newsfeed on the front page that you might want to check out.

Best to all,
mac