Bush and Bin Laden

this interview of bill clinton by wallace is fascinating stuff.. find it here: http://thinkprogress.org/clinton-interview
there's a video of the interview too...

My conclusion has to be that President George W. Bush has little interest in finding Osama Bin Laden. Otherwise his actions make no sense. Primarily of course the diversion of resources from Afghanistan to Irak. We know Bin Laden is not in Irak. My conclusion crystallized during the President's last press conference (a week or two ago) when he was asked if the United States would send troops/forces/whatever (can't remember exact word) to Pakistan if the United States knew Bin Laden was hiding there. Bush responded that we couuld not because Pakistan was a sovereign country. This answer was particularly striking because only minutes earlier the President had criticized the United Nations for not sending troops to Darfur even if the Sudanese government, presumably sovereign, objected.

Why do I think this was an important answer by Bush? Becuase I believe he said what he truly believed without giving it too much thought to what he was actually saying. It is not shocking that he said what is perfectly obvious. After all it has been five years since September 11 and have we made any progress in finding Bin Laden??..By all accounts the trailer is colder than a witches tit. By all accounts we find ourselves further than ever from finding him!!!!!! It is obvious that very quickly after the War in Afghanistan the President began a campaign with single minded focus and tenacity of tying Saddam Hussein to evil while downplaying Osama. At times we have even observed the President, unwittingly, give his hand away when he has mistakenly referred to Osama Bin Laden as Saddam Hussein. Lets face it people: the focus since late 2002 has been Irak. Therefore, what is shocking is not what he said but that he said it at all!!!!!

A few days ago the President was asked about this matter again and this time he replied that of course the US would send forces into Pakistan to get Bin Laden if it counted with intelligence that he was in Pakistan. I believe this was a lie. I believe his advisors said to him after the press conference "Mr. President, whether true or not that is simply NOT the correct answer. Next time say that we willl go in and for God's sake man say it like you mean it!"

I don't get the sense the press has reported too much on this story. I remind the reader that this amounts to what the President says on finding the man that we are told is responsible for killing thousands of americans, the man responsible for turning the world upside down, evil incarnate, etc. Well , what he says about that is hardly news. The AP coverage of the press conference had his incredible revelation somewhat buried in the middle of the story. It did, however, point out the Sudan statement without spelling out the obvious inconsistency.

If i was the editor of a newspaper I would have thought the President's confession would be the cover story!


But its not a cover story. Its not really a story at all is it? The story is that Venezuela's President Chavez called Bush the devil or the story is about what specifically amounts to torture (something I think is incredibly obvious! we all know what would be torture if were being tortured, don't we?)...something like that..we are apparently condemned to debate what is torture and what is interrogation for the next fifty years..what a patently absurd waste of time! we know perfectly well that if the US decides to torture it will torture..end of story..the national security interest of the United States, as determined by whoever is president and his appointees and their employees, will not play second fiddle to some arbitrary definition of what constitutes interrogation and what constitutes torture and whats permissible under the geneva convention and what is not... does anyone seriously believe that? yet the press continues to report on this story and bush seems content to let the story live....one has to wonder whats going on there but its not what i wish to focus on here..

i learn that bush met with Pakistan's leader Pervez Musharaff today (a man who became leader via a military coup)..our "friend" pervez apparently recently negotiated some sort of deal where he leaves the tribes in the northern border of his country alone... of course one can assume this is where bin laden would be hiding..the nature of the deal is not entirely clear.. some say its basically a deal by musharraf not to mess with bin laden/taliban in his country..musharaff claims its the opposite.. and bush said today one of his classic phrases "i looked into his eyes and i believed him.." or some such..( a variation on his statement about putin back in 2001 in a pre-september 11 world if you recall.. putin of whom he said "i looked into this man's eyes and saw a man america could do business with.." or some such...the same putin who recently railed about america being "..the wolf.." etc.. the same putin who by all accounts is quite the autocrat etc..the same putin who does not seem to be america's friend... but i digress......

of course bush is going to say that about musharaff.. after all he's perfectly content with the way things are.. if bush really wanted to find bin laden and by all accounts bin laden is somewhere near the pakistani/afghani border..well if he really wanted to find him wouldn't he say something like "its been five years..we are not happy he has not been found.. we expect more results from our pakistani allies..we would like to take a more agressive role in the hunt for this cold blooded killer"...????? but if he did not want to find him.. if he did not care then i think bush would say just what he said which amounts to "the pakistanis are people we can trust.. musharraf is doing what he can..... thank you"...

i mean by all accounts the US is neglecting afghanistan vis a vis irak... by all accounts the US displaced an enemy of bin laden's.. yes saddam hussein.. one hopes the american people begin to wonder about what is going on.. but with a complicit US press it seems difficult.... recently a richard cohen piece in the washington post (september 12) .. a piece aptly titled "Bin Laden Won" made some very asute observations about how the US was doing exactly what was most convenient for Bin Laden.. i don't think the piece got too much play.... the bushies have been very succesful- unbelievably so- in turning bin laden into yesterday's news and tying him to bill clinton... as if when they arrived the problem already existed and they are not responsible for september 11 happening under their watch and they are not responsible for their failure to find him and punish him....

if i did not see it i would not believe it.

check out this three panel inner gatefold fold out from Dr John's In the Right Place album! the album paintings are by James Flournoy Holmes.. reminds me a bit of one of those Japanese screens... The Meters are supernatural on this album! its really a meters album with dr john as vocalist... the meters were Leo "Breeze" Nocentelli on lead guitar, Arthur "Red" Neville on organ, George "Freak Man" Porter on bass and Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste on drums... Porter and Modeliste are just everything a rhythm section should be.. Modeliste, who although I was a bit familiar with from his stuff with the Meters did not realize was sooo good, shines on this LP

This album from Dr John "In the Right Place" on Atco 7019 is a downright masterpiece. I was more familiar with Dr. John's Gumbo but this one is GREAT! A five star album and my album of the month....

Now playing! Lately I just love the Allen Toussaint/Meters sound and if you're into that you have to check out Dr. John's "in the right place" from 1973 (my most played/grooved to/enjoyed album these past few weeks) and its so called Part 2 "Desitively Bonnaroo" (from which Bonnaroo Festival got its name).. this stuff is fabulous and highlights that very special funky meters sound.. the drummer for the Meters , Modeliste, is to my mind the perfect drummer.. and the bassist is in the pocket all the time...

warming up to the new vegas lounge

heading to the new vegas lounge for the first time in like years...

wonder if they still have the uptown blues band or whatever they're called..

warming up with james brown "sex machine"..previously listened to clarence carter's "patches" atlantic lp from 1970 ..one can tell by 70 soul was a bit played out...

by 72 you had the o'jays "blackstabber" (with love train) setting the pace.... thats pre-disco (gamble and huff) for those of you not familiar.. so you see a big evolution from aretha in say 68 to the philly soul sound (which bowie used as his main influence for young americans lp in 75)

black music is so dynamic..

too bad i lost the tread with modern hip hop...

but james brown..man that mutha could blow the place down!

Moxilla here i come baby!

switched from internet explorer to moxilla firefox and lo and behold its faster cruising around the internet..shockingly so..

not sure why but so far so good..

i've been unhappy with internet explorer for a while what with all its updates and security flaws etc.....explorer seems like a disastrous outdated program but as its the standards people continue to use it....

so spread the new gospel: MOXILLA!

the point passed long ago..

where i could handle discussing politics say at a party.... not sure when it happened exactly..probably in early 2004 when howard dean was villified by the press.... but lately it seems that i have to put up with too much .. i mean last friday someone went off on michael moore and i lost it..tonight someone was actually arguing, brace yourself, that bush has done very well to wean the US from its oil dependence... i, again, lost it.... whats worse is say one has had a few drinks and the inhibitions are lowered.. next thing you know i hear this type of innane banter and i just can't help but get angry... not sure what the solution is but jumping down people's throats probably isn't it...

few people in the rest of the world would posit that michael moore weakened the democrats efforts to reclaim the presidency in 2004 or focus on wether fahrenheit 911 is 100% accurate when we are governed by a presidency of daily mistruths and falsehoods..or that bush is a pro-environment pro-conservation president when his record speaks for itself.... but here in the US thats the sort of thing you have to put up with whether from a bourgeois member of the leisure class who subscribes to the theory that the irak war is necessary to keep the troops sharp so as to rule over the "empire".. or someone who works at the dept of health and human services and must, truth be told, be a political appointee...

now playing

flamin groovies "flamingo"...

thanks enrique for the vote of confidence in these guys.... the lp sounds fabulous... i love the frenetic tempo.. definetly a chuck berry vibe runs through it.. the first side is wonderful.. they do hit a misstep on "childhood's end", "jailbait" and "she's falling apart" though...a big misstep which keeps the album from being the classic it could have been... however, never knock a band who covers little richards "i hear you knockin'"!

the art of being a good host at parties

surely the trick must be to "get things done" so smoothly and efortlessly that it goes unnoticed ....certainly, in an ideal world, no one would notice the host was gone for long spells of time.. this is a hard task to achieve, however, when the party is on the roof deck and your apartment on the sixth floor....

mental note: next year move key apt items to roof deck.

Chloe moves on

picture is obviously of chloe trying to get to the bathroom...

chloe passed away yesterday at around 5:30 pm... we are really broken up over here.. she had a ton of personality! we will really miss her but her suffering is over...

been listening to AC DC a lot... why more bands don't play their mix of raw back to the roots rock'n'roll i cannot understand..this album is just fabulous.. kick ass fun raunchy... "let there be rock" from 1977.... the title tracks tells the story of rock and even pays tribute to chuck berry..these guys had it going on!!!! and what can you say about the better known album tracks such as bad boy boogie, problem child, hell ain't a bad place to be, and whole LOTTA rosie! classics... how modern rock could get so messed up as it is currently is beyond me.. what a boring tripe compared to Bon Scott AC DC.. where is the fun in modern music i ask you?

mmmmmmmmmmhh..yum yum

these converse chuck taylor's ...

i just got are so comfy... YAHHHHHHHH!

last night in buenos aires andres calamaro hoists the gardel prize (argentine grammy) he won for best album for his el regreso live album!

look its baseball!

yup.. MLB is back..not optimistic about the washington nationals and their chances this year....letting loaiza go was crazy.... you don't let great starters like that go.....on top of that getting soriano was by all accounts a mistake.. a troublemaker whose power hitting won't work at RFK..... then on top of that injuries such as to ayala during the world baseball classic..nagging injuries to guillen and a few others players and it would be a miracle if they do make those 72 wins that vegas is projecting..

unless new ownership finally comes on board and invests some money to earn the local fans good graces..


and to boot we still can't even watch the nats games on tv in dc due to some squabble or some such between comcast and angelos.. i don't even really understand how that could not have been resolved yet... seems all parties would benefit from a settlement... at worse there should be a binding forced settlement or the rights to the games should be abdicated to a third party who will show the games...

Eric Lewis at HR57

caught an eric lewis performance at hr 57 this saturday night..boy that guy can play the piano.... absolutely fabulous.... can't wait to catch him again..highly recommended jazz gig.. he's got a web site at www.ericlewisgroove.com ... aparently he knows antonio parker.. i would think them recording together would be absolutely smoking....wonder if they have done it or thought about it?

now playing: emotional rescue..1980 album by the stones..some great stuff here...not sure why this album got so panned upon release.... dance pt 1 is a great tune as are let me go and send it to me....and thats just on the first side..."emotional rescue" and "she's so cold" were the main singles and still get airplay live... "dance" is a great groover..i have two copies of this including the original which came with a huge and i mean huge foldout (like 16 panels) poster of these heatseeking photos.."where the boys go" features some new wave style female backing vocals..hilarious stuff... "down in the hole" even reminds me of dylan with its "will all your money buy you forgiveness.." liness..

now playing

Rolling Stones- Charlotte 1972: the tapes don't lie

mick taylor is just phenomenal on the concerts from 1972 and 1973 that i have voraciously been digging into these past few days....

last nights listening list

rolling stones live boston fenway park 2005 dvd
ac dc live at atlantic studios
faces live at bbc
johnny thunders live at lyceum
black crowes southern harmony musical companion