The Seventh Sense

Vietnam Redux?

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote: Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3– United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam’s presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

***

A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson’s policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam.

***

Before the results of the presidential election started to come in, the American officials warned that the turnout might be less than 80 per cent because the polling place would be open for two or three hours less than in the election a year ago. The turnout of 83 per cent was a welcome surprise. The turnout in the 1964 United States Presidential election was 62 per cent.

Kudos to BesottedBlog, who prints the full NYT article.

The point being that it would be prudent for many on the right to understand that history has a funny way of not going the way one always hopes. This article was in 1967 -- Vietnam's end was years away.

By the same token, the quick access into Baghdad did not result in the success you once hoped. Neither did the capture of Saddam. And while we can all applaud the fact that our march into Baghdad was relatively bloodless, and that Saddam was captured, and that Iraqis did vote in large numbers, we still are nowhere near permanent peace and democracy in Iraq (much less in the Middle East) . . . or a more secure United States.

Or, as Harvey Keitel said in Pulp Fiction: “Well, let's not start suckin' each other's dicks quite yet.” Let's enjoy the good news, but -- for their sake -- let's keep it in perspective: the election of a transitional governing body only means the beginning of the beginning of something; not a crossing of the goalline.

What Iraqis Want

This is one hell of a fractured country. I'm glad they are going through the mostly symbolic, but still important, act of voting. But that is of course only step one in building a country. The hard work hasn't even begun.

Here are some interesting finds from a Zogby poll of Iraqis:

(76%) of Sunni Arabs say they definitely will not vote in the January 30 elections, while just 9% say they are likely to vote. A majority of Shiites (80%) say they are likely to vote or definitely will vote, as are a smaller majority of Kurds (57%).

Well, that's pretty much what was expected. No surprise there.

Majorities of both Sunni Arabs (82%) and Shiites (69%) also favor U.S. forces withdrawing either immediately or after an elected government is in place.

Confirming what Ted Kennedy said -- we're part of the problem, not part of the solution. Good news for neo-cons who want to invade Iran though.

The poll also found that of Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups, only the Kurds believe the U.S. will “help” Iraq over the next five years, while half (49%) of Shiites and a majority (64%) of Sunni Arabs believe the U.S. will “hurt” Iraq.

Again, confirming Ted. Hey, will there be a day on LGF when we see a post to the effect that "Iraqis are ungrateful and fuck them"? Just wondering . . .

Here's some good news: "Three-in-five (59%) favor a system where citizens are allowed to practice their own religion" . . .

But the bad news coda: ". . . while one-in-three (34%) would prefer an Islamic government."

Does anyone think THAT can be compromised away peacefully?

And finally, another non-surprise:

While a majority of Iraqis believe relations can be improved between Iraq and neighbors Kuwait, Turkey, and Iran, all ethnic and religious groups overwhelmingly rejected improving relations with the State of Israel.

Good Question Re: Iraqi Voting

Anyone know the answer to Thomas Schaller's questions?

Of the 234,000 [Iraqis eligible to vote] living in the United States right now, only 90,000 are estimated to be foreign-born (presumably in Iraq); the remaining 140,000 or so were born here.

At what point does your foreign voting eligibility cease, may I ask?

For instance, if your grandparents were Iraqi refugees, but both you and your parents were born here, should you be eligible? (Sidebar: Notice how conservatives don't talk about first-generation U.S.-born Iraqi children of refugees in that smarmy, they're-draining-our-social-services way that, say, children of illegal Mexican immigrants who are cleaning the baskets for sub-minimum wage off the payrolls are derided.)

I'm no expert in international election law – somebody, please, help – but it seems to me you vote in one country or the other. Are these U.S.-born children of Iraqi defectors, refugees, and immigrants voting in the United States, too?

Everybody's Getting Religion

The United Church of Christ gets it.  Kudos to them.

And Billie Miller, a woman in Ridgecrest, California , lost her religion a couple of weeks ago:

I can't believe the vicious slander of some people who have the nerve to portray or suggest Jesus behaved as a Liberal. Jesus makes his position very clear. The wisdom of an "eye for an eye" would never occur to a Liberal.

Liberals are always talking about peace at any price, when Jesus said: Do not think I have come to bring peace, but a sword.

Liberals hate people who have managed to raise their station in life, and instead insist on giving money away to the irresponsible: Store yourselves treasures for Heaven for where your treasure is, there your heart is also.

but thankfully, she seems to have gotten her religion back:

Jesus was tolerant and loved everyone - especially the poor and outcasts. As a couple of other letters pointed out, I now see that in some ways Jesus Himself was not very like a modern conservative and that has me thinking. I also see that all who are religious have equal rights and no religion can be held above the others, whether in school or anywhere else.

Somebody say "amen".

VP Disgraces Solemn Service

Let's hope he didn't go around telling people to fuck themselves. From WaPo:

At yesterday's gathering of world leaders in southern Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the United States was represented by Vice President Cheney. The ceremony at the Nazi death camp was outdoors, so those in attendance, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were wearing dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots. Because it was cold and snowing, they were also wearing gentlemen's hats. In short, they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event.

The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.

Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults.

Like other attendees, the vice president was wearing a hat. But it was not a fedora or a Stetson or a fur hat or any kind of hat that one might wear to a memorial service as the representative of one's country. Instead, it was a knit ski cap, embroidered with the words "Staff 2001."

It was the kind of hat a conventioneer might find in a goodie bag. It is also worth mentioning that Cheney was wearing hiking boots -- thick, brown, lace-up ones. Did he think he was going to have to hike the 44 miles from Krakow -- where he had made remarks earlier in the day -- to Auschwitz?

New VW Ad

I thought I couldn't be impressed by computer-aided special effects.

I thought I had seen it all. I was wrong. (Quicktime Movie -- takes a while to load -- to truly appreciate, make sure your sound is on)

Is Gene Kelly rolling in his grave?

The Toynbee Mystery

Signs like this one were first spotted in New York and Philadephia in 1996. They appear to be plastic and baked into the street or sidewalk.

The plaques make reference to Stanley Kubrick's "2001" (and perhaps "2010"), but what do they mean?

Some publicity was generated about the bizarre plaques, and it turns out that these signs appear throughout the mid-Atlantic (e.g., Baltimore, Washington, etc.) and (how bizarre) Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.

Read more about the the Toynbee Mystery and see if these signs are in your neighborhood.

Payolagate - Number Three

Another undisclosing White House shill . . .

Even Magalang sez: "This is getting ridiculous". No, honey. It's standard operating procedure.

More Torture Bedtime Stories for Neo-cons

Hey, kids! Press "play" on your recording of Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" and snuggle up to this wonderful story:

Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man's face with fake menstrual blood . . .

I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free . . .

"I have really struggled with this because the detainees, their families and much of the world will think this is a religious war based on some of the techniques used, even though it is not the case," the author, former Army Sgt. Erik R. Saar, 29, told AP.

And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me . . .

The man closed his eyes and began to pray, Saar writes.

The female interrogator wanted to "break him," Saar adds, describing how she removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt and began taunting the detainee, touching her breasts, rubbing them against the prisoner's back and commenting on his apparent erection.

The detainee looked up and spat in her face, the manuscript recounts.

The interrogator left the room to ask a Muslim linguist how she could break the prisoner's reliance on God. The linguist told her to tell the detainee that she was menstruating, touch him, then make sure to turn off the water in his cell so he couldn't wash.

And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today . . .

Strict interpretation of Islamic law forbids physical contact with women other than a man's wife or family, and with any menstruating women, who are considered unclean.

"The concept was to make the detainee feel that after talking to her he was unclean and was unable to go before his God in prayer and gain strength," says the draft, stamped "Secret."

The interrogator used ink from a red pen to fool the detainee, Saar writes.

"She then started to place her hands in her pants as she walked behind the detainee," he says. "As she circled around him he could see that she was taking her hand out of her pants. When it became visible the detainee saw what appeared to be red blood on her hand. She said, 'Who sent you to Arizona?' He then glared at her with a piercing look of hatred.

'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land . . .

"She then wiped the red ink on his face. He shouted at the top of his lungs, spat at her and lunged forward" — so fiercely that he broke loose from one ankle shackle.

"He began to cry like a baby," the draft says, noting the interrogator left saying, "Have a fun night in your cell without any water to clean yourself."

God Bless the U.S.A.!!!

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. -- Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881)

When Right-Wing Bloggers Don't Bother To Fact Check . . .

. . . you get a lot of sound and fury and well, egg-on-faces:

Last week, the University of Oregon asked one of its employees to remove a yellow "Support the Troops" sticker from the state-owned truck he drives.

Since then, it has been taking the heat from talk radio hosts and Internet bloggers who picked up the story and added several surprising twists.

"Magnetic yellow ribbons that say `Support The Troops' have been surreptitiously banned by the administration at the University of Oregon," according to one blog.

"We have the University of Oregon telling employees that they can't display yellow ribbon stickers that say support the troops," another reports.

None of which is true, UO President Dave Frohnmayer said. People are free to express their opinions on campus, he said.

"I've heard that we reprimanded the employee, that we're banning free speech on campus," he said. "We would never dream of telling people what they can have on their private cars or what buttons they can wear."

Read the whole thing.

Will those who overstepped and hyped the yellow ribbon story admit that they overstepped and hyped it?

Can they admit that they shouldn't have urged people to bother the University of Oregon until their facts were accurate?

Or will they dodge, weave, obfuscate, and unapologeticly out-Rather Dan Rather? I think we all know.

"Conservatives -- our agenda outweighs accuracy and truth."

Hat tip: Lizard Queen