Headline: Saddam-Era Mass Grave Uncovered!!!!!!
This headline dominated the middle of this week. The story outlines how Saddam's mass grave contained 31 people. The people were likely killed during Saddam's bloody suppression of a Shiite uprising in 1991. What an S.O.B Saddam is!!!! Why would he kill all those Shiite people?

Here is some background that you never hear:
During the Gulf War of 1990-91, when the US and its allies pushed Saddam Hussein's forces back out of Kuwait, Bush 1 called on Iraqis to rise up against the dictator. The Shiites took him at his word, launching a popular revolution in the spring of 1991 in which they took control of the southern provinces. However, Bush 1, fearful of a Shiite Islamic republic, then allowed the Baath to crush the revolution, killing tens of thousands. So those courageous revolutionaries were abandoned by the US, left to be slaughtered by Saddam.

All that said, it is a relevant story that Saddam killed those people. He was a brutal, murderous dictator that should not be defended. Hence, I am not defending that animal. I am simply stating how any story relating to the crushed Shiite uprising of 1991 is not very flattering to the US or W's dad....and any semblance of a responsible media would discuss that part of the story. Since it didn't happen, I felt the need to bring it up.


Unrelated: As this year comes to a close, I am baffled. Bush has rebounded in the polls. He has about a 40% approval. That means that 40% of Americans saw Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina.....and still approve of the guy?!?!?! Shocking.

“What is our oil doing under their sand?” This question has been posted on bumper stickers and posters and is a sarcastic and perhaps less abrasive form of the familiar anti-Iraq-War refrain “No Blood for Oil.” Implicit in these criticisms is the commonly asserted charge that the Iraq War has nothing to do with the safety of Americans and everything to do with profiteering and commandeering control of Iraq’s oil resources. Oil is undoubtedly an important resource to the U.S. and the world, and Iraq certainly has a lot of oil within its borders; but while it is correct to say that the presence of this oil has a lot to do with why we went to war, it is important to understand why this is so, and why the connection between Iraq, oil, and terror relates quite directly to the safety of Americans and the world at large.

A proper conceptualization of what the U.S. is up against is necessary to understand this connection. What the U.S. is up against is larger than Saddam Hussein, and doesn’t require nuclear weapons to be extremely dangerous. The threat is a nebulous group of people who are in control of vast amounts of a region’s and our planet’s resources (a great deal of it being oil) who conceive that their power/wealth absolutely depends on choking off the freedoms of (and in many instances terrorizing /raping/ murdering large portions of) their populations. Unfortunately, that they conceive their wealth to depend on this repression necessarily makes it so. Saddam Hussein was the poster child for this group of people, which includes Assad in Syria, the mullahs in charge of Iran, Bin Laden (if he is still alive), and various Al-Qaeda leaders/financiers throughout the Middle East. To justify their rule, these rulers normalize the situation of their victims by using Islam to paint self-determination as evil. Their subjects know no freedom, and war against freedom gives their life meaning that it could otherwise not have without self-determination. This depravity gives birth to suicide bombers, murderous Baath party officials, Al-Qaeda soldiers, foot soldiers for Afghani warlords and the like... (continued in the comments)

Bush: "Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order," April 20, 2004. There are several other times Bush said this. So Bush either admits: 1) he broke the law, or 2) he lied directly to the American people.

The Iraq Effect: So much for all that "peace in Israel" talk. Just do a Google News search of "Gaza" and there are unlimited stories of chaos.

Poll: 85% of Americans believe they are going to heaven. No shot....unless the 50% of Bush voters repent for their complicity to murder in Iraq.

Torture Update: I am not a big Eminem fan. Actually, if it wasn't for his anti-Bush song in October 2004, I would probably dislike him. But whether you like him or dislike him, this is funny: the US allegedly used Eminem music to "torture" people in Afghanistan.

I wonder what will happen in Cuba when Castro dies. The White House seems to thinking about it too. On December 19, 2005 Secretary of State Rice convened the "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba." She said, "Reconvening the Commission at this time sends an important message to the people of Cuba, the current dictatorship, and our friends and democratic allies: after 46 years of cruel dictatorship, now is the time for change in Cuba." I agree.

Castro responded, "I am going to tell you what I think about this famous commission, for the democratic transition in Cuba: they are a group of shit-eaters who do not deserve the world's respect. In this context, it does not matter if it was the mad woman who talks of transition - it is a circus, they are completely depraved, they should be pitied." Lovely.

I wonder what plans Fidel has in place for after his death? If Castro were to die, it would be a huge opportunity for President Bush and for his brother Jeb in Florida. The capture of Bin Laden or the death of Fidel would be huge boosts to this President. FYI: The Republic of Cuba website.

That's right, start planning now for the big celebration coming June 27th, 2006!