Down the Rat Hole

Here's progress for you. Worse and worse. Don't worry though we are working hard on the gay marriage issue you aren't concerned about.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN)-- Nearly 1,400 Iraqi civilians died in a wave of targeted killings in Baghdad last month, according to a high-ranking Iraqi Health Ministry official.

The figure does not include civilians killed in insurgent bombings, the official said. Even so, the number is the highest monthly death toll in the capital since the war began three years ago.

In May 1,398 bodies were brought to the Baghdad morgue, the official said.

All were killed in attacks; in most cases the bodies were found strewn across the Iraqi capital, shot execution-style, the official said.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Another 112 degree day here in Phoenix yesterday. I sure will be glad when this little gig is over at the end of next week. I can't say that I am a big fan of Phoenix, especially in the summer. I haven't seen the rest of Arizona and will try and correct that week after but so far so bad. It doesn't help that we are working long days in a less than stellar work environment so the mood starts on a low note anyway.
According to the local weather report we will have a "cold snap" today and it will only be 108.
Trying to find time to spend a little time here and elsewhere on the blogs but not having much luck. I did manage to wake at 0430 this morning and get something done.
Later...

American's Concerns

On May 22-24 the Gallup organization conducted a poll where they asked respondents to list their top two concerns about Amercica. Kos has the whole list of concerns or at least those that garnered any significant percentage of the vote. "Moral Values" didn't even get 1% of the vote and yet Bush and the GOP Congress are spending their whole week flogging the gay marriage amendment.

I think this has to backfire at some point. The American people on the whole are not stupid and when they see this administration focusing all their energy on such a meaningless issue as a sop to the whacko right there is going to be backlash.

Here are the top 10 issues Anericans are concerned about and the percentage of the vote.

1.Situation in Iraq/war 42%
2.Fuel/oil prices/the energy crisis 29%
3.Immigration/illegal aliens 23%
4.Economy in general 14%
5.Poor health care/hospitals; high cost of health care 12%
6.Terrorism 4%
7.Education/poor education/access to education 4%
8.Federal budget deficit/federal debt 3%
9.Unemployment/jobs 3%
10.Taxes 3%

6-6-6 today

For all you superstitious types don't overlook that today is 6/6/6. This, of course, is only true if you follow the Julian calendar.

Made famous by the Book of Revelation (Chapter 13, verse 18) it has been studied extensively by mathematicians because of its many interesting properties.
Here are some interesting things about the number from Mike Keith and there are many more...

The number 666 is a simple sum and difference of the first three 6th powers:

666 = 1⁶ - 2⁶ + 3⁶.

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It is also equal to the sum of its digits plus the cubes of its digits:

666 = 6 + 6 + 6 + 6³ + 6³ + 6³.

There are only five other positive integers with this property. Exercise: find them, and prove they are the only ones!

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666 is related to (6² + n²) in the following interesting ways:

666 = (6 + 6 + 6) · (6² + 1²)
666 = 6! · (6² + 1²) / (6² + 2²)

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The sum of the squares of the first 7 primes is 666:

666 = 2² + 3² + 5² + 7² + 11² + 13² + 17²

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The sum of the first 144 (= (6+6)·(6+6)) digits of pi is 666.

Where is the Leadership?

While I don't usually copy other blogger's posts wholesale...every once in a while there is no option. Joe at AmericaBlog reminds us what went on yesterday while Bush and Congress were busy trying to instill bigotry, hate and one religion into the Constitution.
[snip]
While Bush and his GOP pals in the Senate were busy catering to the theocrats by promoting the anti-gay constitutional amendment, everything else Bush has had a role in was unraveling. Here are just a few of the things that took place yesterday as the President was playing hate politics with the lives of his fellow Americans:

Mass kidnappings in Iraq:

Gunmen in police uniforms staged a brazen daylight raid on bus stations in central Baghdad on Monday, kidnapping at least 50 people, including travelers, merchants and vendors selling tea and sandwiches.

The operation was a direct challenge to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's efforts to restore security in the capital, which has been hard hit by suicide attacks, roadside bombs and sectarian death squads.

The usual mayhem in Iraq:

At least 17 killings were reported across the country Monday, including a Shiite school guard and two Sunni brothers who were shot to death as they were driving to college in the capital. Iraqi police found the blindfolded and bound body of a man who had been shot in the head and chest and another body that had been shot in the head in separate locations in Baghdad.

The Dow dropped almost 200 points on inflation fears:

On Wall Street, Bernanke's fresh inflation warning sent the Dow Jones industrials sliding 199.15 points to close at 11,048.72. It had dropped even more, 214 points, two weeks ago on May 17.

Islamic militants prevail against our allies in Somalia:

After months of fierce fighting, Islamic militias declared Monday that they had taken control of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, defeating the warlords widely believed to be backed by the United States and raising questions about whether the country would head down an extremist path.

Katrina residents still can't come home:

Hundreds of displaced residents of public housing have for several days been returning here for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.

Displaced residents in the tents are trying to force the city to reopen their storm-damaged apartments. They are armed with little more than cleaning supplies and frustration, in an effort to force the city to reopen their storm-damaged apartments.

The city, saying the projects are not ready, has refused.

As Chris posted yesterday morning, oil prices rose again: $73.23.
[snip]

The Trouble with the Media

There are some excellent discussions going on over at Digby and Firedoglake about the media and what's wrong with it with respect to we liberals and progressives.

Both are asking for comments on what we need to do about it. Some good reading and provocative links.

From Christy:

What the right seems to want is a pliant media will to spread "the good news" as they and the Administration see it. What we on the left want is not the same — what we simply want is for them to present the truth. Unvarnished, painful though it may be — just the facts, the truth, the heart of the matter. No more tabloid fluff. No one really cares about whether Britney Spears is driving in a convertible with her baby — but we do care about the world in which that baby and all our babies will grow up.

The American public must make decisions at every election which require them to be informed — fully informed. We rely on our press corps to dig out the facts, the truth, the things that the powerful are trying to keep hidden away. Some journalists do this very, very well — and we try to highlight that when we see a good example here on FDL. But for the folks who would rather hang back on the cocktail weenie circuit, let this serve as your notice: the American public is hungry for some truth. And if you don’t provide it — real, honest to God truth, they will pass you by in favor of something else. If the choice is Pravda or Edward R. Murrow, I’d pick Murrow every time.

Crashing the Gate Offer

If you haven't read "Crashing The Gate" yet you should. It really is a must read for those of us on the left that are dissatisfied with the performance of the Democratic Party in the last few elections. Markos and Jerome have done a great job of outlining what's wrong and what we have to do about.

Now that I have finished it and spent the $25.00 I probably won't read it again. I therefore offer free it to the first commenter who sends (the.fallenmonk at gmail.com) me a mailing address and expresses a desire to read it. The only catch being they have to promise to make the same offer on their blog or this blog when they have finished reading it. No other strings.

I am back in Phoenix tomorrow and not back until late Thursday night so it probably won't get in the mail until Friday at the earliest. That's assuming anyone wants to take me up on the offer.

Can We Set Some Priorities? Please?

Here is the bit of the transcript for Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room Friday. You'd think that Bush's handlers would realize that people have a lot on their minds nowadays what with the war and the worsening economic situation. Gay marriage is probably not very high on the agenda of most Americans as something they think is an immediate threat and that should require the immediate attention of the President and Congress and a freaking Constitutional ammendment.

You'd think that the handler's of the king would know that the majority of Americans would see this bull shit as exactly what it is, a desperate appeal to the narrow minded base of the jumped by Jesus crowd in hopes of improving the tanking numbers among the GOP base. It is actually embarrassing to face my friends in other countries when the government of the U.S. is so focused on such crap.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf.

Guess what Monday is? Monday is the day President Bush will speak about an issue near and dear to his heart and the hearts of many conservatives. It's also the day before the Senate votes on the very same thing. Is it the war? Deficits? Health insurance? Immigration? Iran? North Korea?

Not even close. No, the president is going to talk about amending the Constitution in order to ban gay marriage. This is something that absolutely, positively has no chance of happening, nada, zippo, none. But that doesn't matter. Mr. Bush will take time to make a speech. The Senate will take time to talk and vote on it, because it's something that matters to the Republican base.

This is pure politics. If has nothing to do with whether or not you believe in gay marriage. It's blatant posturing by Republicans, who are increasingly desperate as the midterm elections approach. There's not a lot else to get people interested in voting on them, based on their record of the last five years.

But if you can appeal to the hatred, bigotry, or discrimination in some people, you might move them to the polls to vote against that big, bad gay married couple that one day might in down the street.

via Atrios

Barn Door Syndrome

I see that they are going to give the troops in Iraq lessons on the ethics of war. I guess I have trouble with the entire concept. I got the same training in bootcamp as these guys have already had and at the time I had trouble rationalizing it all. If you are at war in defense of your home and hearth then there are certains things which are not considered kosher. There are the things that you do to protect yourself and those that are just violence against your agressor for violence's sake. The latter is wrong in most respects.

The second part of the issue concerns agression. If you are an agressor then the rules change. You have already fundamentally demonstrated your lack of ethics and anything and everything you do is tainted and morally wrong in the sense that you shouldn't be where you are in the first place.

Vietnam showed us how the rules change when the fundamental justifiability of the conflict is in question. I usually go by the rule that if there is any doubt about the morality of a conflict then it is probably wrong. Honor has a hard time maintaining a foothold when there is no bedrock of moral justification for your actions.

I'm Back for the Weekend..at least

Just got home from the airport and Phoenix. Reported to be 112 degress when I left and I won't argue...takes the breath away when you step outside from an air conditioned building. Nice gentle rain falling in Atlanta when I arrived...wonderful.

Quick hunt around to see what 's happening and I stumble upon this at Suzies' place.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The names and credit-card numbers of 243,000 Hotels.com customers were on a laptop computer stolen from an employee of accounting firm Ernst & Young, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Hotels.com, which is owned by Expedia (Research) and Ernst & Young, its auditor, began notifying customers that their information was stolen last week.

I don't use them a lot since I hate paying for my hotel in advance but I have used them once or twice in the last few months. I haven't received any notification yet about whether I'm affected. There is no excuse for this kind of information to be on a laptop computer. I don't care who's it is. There are very simple safeguards that Expedia could have had in place to prevent this information from ever getting out of a secure environment. No excuses.

Quiet...Too Quiet

I know it has been very quiet here for the last week or so but it has been very busy and it seems blogging gets pushed to the back burner. I sat down last night to spend some time here at about half past eight and the next thing I know it was midnight and I was sitting in front of the computer with nothing accomplished. Bad. Another two weeks of Phoenix and long days and travel back and forth then a week of holiday.

Mrs. Monk is flying out in a couple of weeks and we are going to drive up to the Grand Canyon and look around for a few days then it is off to Monument Valley for another few. Just some sighseeing and chilling.

Classic Bush

This is such a classic sympton of the warped reality that has defined the Bush administration and all the powerful Homeland Security that I just had to post it. IF you are the top U.S. targets for terrorist attack... as clearly demonstrated by 9/11... you need less money to prepare:

The Department of Homeland Security yesterday slashed anti-terrorism money for Washington and New York, part of an immediately controversial decision to reduce grant funds for major urban areas in the Northeast while providing more to mid-size cities from Jacksonville to Sacramento.The announcement that the two cities targeted on Sept. 11, 2001, would suffer 40 percent reductions in urban security funds prompted outrage from lawmakers and local officials in both areas, who questioned the wisdom of cutting funds so deeply for cities widely recognized as prime terrorist targets. The decision came less than five months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff unveiled changes in the grants plan intended to focus funding on areas facing the gravest risk of attack.That's classic. Say one thing, do another

This paragraph so completely defines the incompetence of out current leadership that maybe someone should etch it in stone. Amazing.

Something Fishy

The first thing I see when I get off the plane in Phoenix is CNN reporting that 1,500 troops are being moved from Kuwait into Iraq's Anbar province in the west of Iraq. Meanwhile, other sources such as the WaPo and NYT put it at either 3,500, or a full brigade.

I think a key question we should be asking is what another 1,000 or 3,000 Amercican soldiers are going to accomplish that 130,000 haven't managed to do so far. I think this is a very, very bad omen for the conflict in Iraq. If we need additional troops in this number in Anbar province and Ramadi in particular then we haven't been told the whole story and things are going from bad to worse.

I haven't had time to read or research as I am at the client this afternoon. This just feels bad and maybe I can get a better take on it this evening at the hotel.

Away Again

Another travel day tomorrow. Off to Phoenix once again. This is going to be the story for the next couple of weeks so blogging is a lesser priority. I may get some break time in the evenings but don't hold your breath.
I did manage to get all the reservations made for a week of holiday at the end of this stint. Madam and I are going to finally see the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. I have criss-crossed this country hundreds of times and have only managed to see bits of the Canyon. I am going to get up close and personal this time.
Hope to see you on the flip side.

Down the Drain

As another Memorial Day passes we are greeted with the cheery news from Afghanistan. This was supposed to be the crowning achievement of the Bush presidency. Grats dickhead, just another failure to add to the pile at your feet. The thing is... Afghanistan was "doable" if we had put the forces in country necessary to secure the major population areas and actually made an attempt at putting a damper on the poppy business and actually captured Osama bin Forgotten. We would have a viable situation in the country now. Now we have the makings of another shit storm and nothing but clueless yes men to do the right thing. Won't happen... forget about it.

Things are just going from bad to baddest in Iraq. There is no light at the end and no plan to change the dynamic. More death on both sides is the only sign in the cards. Bush's answer:

The enemy cannot defeat us on the battlefield, but what they can do is put horrible images on our TV screens.

I'm sorry but these are the ravings of a madman. No grasp of reality. No grasp of why these images are showing up on the TV other than some paranoid littany against the media about showing the "good things". It is really hard to show the "good things" when you are in critical condition in a Bagdhad hospital.

A CBS News correspondent was critically injured and her two-person crew killed Monday when the Baghdad military unit in which they were imbedded was attacked.

Kimberly Dozier, 39, sustained serious injuries in the attack and underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad, the network reported. She is in critical condition, but doctors are cautiously optimistic about her prognosis.

Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan, both London-based, were killed.

Can we seriously question the damage another 2 plus years of this administration will produce? If something doesn't break soon on the home front I can't even imagine the chaos in Adghansitan and Iraq... not to mention the rest of the area.

Read Pach's comments over at Firedoglake.

"Bushco has enslaved Americans into a psychological reign of "War on Terror" that amounts to a criminal protection racket. We are told we must be afraid. That is, we are told we must live in terror. This is to protect us from. . . terror. Then, because we feel terrified, we must give up our freedom - freedom to write what we believe without fear of reprisal, freedom of due process and habeas corpus protection, freedom from secret intrusion into our private lives by government.

If there were really a "War on Terror," an emotion, Wes Craven would be hiring a lawyer: he scares people. The "War on Terror" is a sham. You know what changed after September 11th? We, the people of the United States, forgot how strong we are. We gave in to fear, when the only thing we should have feared was fear itself. Osama bin Laden wants you to be afraid. So does George Bush....read on"

Sometimes working so hard and traveling in between has it's advantages. I can sometimes go for 24 hours without being reminded of how screwed our once great country is.

Welcome to Summer

This is the official first holiday of summer and I hope everyone is having a nice time. Monk along with his daughter and son in law moved 8 cubic yards of gravel today and spread it evenly along the path that circles the back. I had to bribe them with ribs and strawberry shortcake but it was a reasonable price to pay for that hard work. It would have taken me days to move that much stone.
Tomorrow is definitely a rest day. We have a big Memorial Day do here in Roswell so we'll probably go down to city hall and see the doings. Banks and Shane will be there and they are always a lot of fun. No gravel moving scheduled.

Something for the Weekend

It is refreshing to see that not all of the Christians are ignoring reality and only marching to the GOP drumbeat. This article in Creative Loafing by John Sugg is refreshing.

John Sugg--Global warming and other issues that relate to our stewardship of the planet seem finally to have struck a chord among evangelical Christians.
The ministers, academics and lay activists ... signed the global warming statement encompassed a wide range of beliefs, including 39 evangelical colleges, the Salvation Army and a cross-section of major denominations and churches. As innocuous and as Christian as such a statement sounds, it was a pointed rebuke of the leadership of the religious right and the Republican Party. Up until the declaration, political preachers had dismissed environmental concerns. In many cases, after all, their power relies heavily on claiming the Second Coming is coming soon: Why worry about Mother Earth when you, Tim LaHaye, Ralph Reed and a few others are about to be raptured up to heaven? Such blitheness fits well with the corporate wing of the GOP, which places profits above prophesies of peak oil and environmental disaster from global warming.

Those who refused to sign the global warming statement included America's foremost ayatollahs: Jerry Falwell; the Rev. D. James Kennedy of the mammoth Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in South Florida; James Dobson ...

"There's no surprise at who didn't sign," said Jim Jewel of Atlanta, spokesman for the evangelical environmentalists. "What we did was signal that the evangelical movement has a new cause, beyond just abortion and gay marriage ... This let people know we have more than one voice."

tip to Kos and Happy Birthday DailyKos

Nice Front Page

A great front page on the AJC this morning when I picked it up in the drive way... Guilty on All Counts. The following is from CNN.

Enron former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling and founder Kenneth Lay were found guilty Thursday of conspiracy and fraud in the granddaddy of all corporate fraud cases.

On the sixth day of deliberations, a jury of eight women and four men convicted the former executives of misleading the public about the true financial health of Enron, whose collapse in late 2001 symbolized the wave of corporate fraud that swept the United States early this decade.

Skilling was found guilty on 20 counts of conspiracy, fraud, false statements and insider trading. He was found not guilty on eight counts of insider trading.

Lay was found guilty on all six counts of conspiracy and fraud.

The article goes on to say that the sentencing will be Sept 11. Why is it going to take so long to put these assholes behind bars. I imagine that if you or I were to be found guilty we wouldn't get the summer off. I will be interested to see how long these two stay free or if they ever get put in jail.

Traveling All Day

Meetings this morning and a mad dash to the airport. Should be back in Atlanta around 11pm and home by midnight. No blogging today. See you tomorrow.

Hidden Agenda

Dennis Hastert's loud condemnation of the FBI raid on Congressman Jefferson's office appears to be laced with a soupcon of self preservation. Seems Mr. Hastert is himself the subject of an investigation and has an interest in seeing that Congressional offices are inviolate.

First, Congress, both the Senate and the House, have proved incapable of policing themselves and it is something that is in desperate need of doing. The Constitution doesn't say that Congress is above the law and if there is probable cause that a crime has been committed then I think the FBI should go where the evidence leads them.

Secondly, Congessman Jefferson is wrong to refuse Nancy Pelosi's request that he surrender his committee position. The last thing the Democratic Party needs is a domocratic scandal taking the heat of the GOP corruption. Having the $90,000 found in the freezer effectively wipes him out and there is no upside and no possibility that he will be found innocent of wrongdoing. He should resign immediately from the committe post and Congress as well.