Yes, it is now a trend — the media are reporting that more and more Americans are getting fed up with the war Bush pompously declared was over, and how we are handling it. Here is the latest:

Aug. 23 — Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the U.S. mission in Iraq, saying the United States should reduce its spending and scale back its efforts there, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll.

SIXTY-NINE PERCENT of Americans polled say they are very concerned (40 percent) or somewhat concerned (29 percent) that the United States will be bogged down for many years in Iraq without making much progress in achieving its goals. Just 18 percent say they’re confident that a stable, democratic form of government can take shape in Iraq over the long term; 37 percent are somewhat confident. Just 13 percent say U.S. efforts to establish security and rebuild Iraq have gone very well since May 1, when combat officially ended; 39 percent say somewhat well.

It’s invigorating to see that Bush’s popularity has plunged 18 percent since April to 53 percent, indicating that a healthy number of Americans have maintained their critical faculties despite the noise and fireworks of the Bush propaganda machine.

Bush attack dog Andrew Sullivan is still on vacation, and I look forward to seeing how he spins this when he returns. He always placed great importance on Bush’s high ratings, proof that his imaginary “fifth column” would be vanquished and marginalized. He has to face the fact that Bush, his shining soldier, has lost the trust and the respect of much of the population. One thing’s for certain: he’s going to try to blame someone, and it will most likely not be Bush. (Based on past behavior, candidates would be Bill Clinton, the BBC, Paul Krugman and the rest of the SCLM.)

While browsing through Singapore-related blogs, I came upon one that instantly stood out. I wondered for a moment whether I’d come upon my lost twin brother, at least in terms of style, love of music, and a bitter-sweet perception of the earth and its inhabitants. A sample:

As I was walking by the canal, I had that familiar feeling that my life was indeed a mediocre and insignificant one. Perhaps, I would have been gravely perturbed a few years ago but it seems that over time, I could think on this with a certain detachment, that even if it caused me to be mildly upset, I could attach to it no greater importance than the other fleeting emotions that might seize upon me occasionally, as if they were the strangers that wandered past the glass window of the cafe, sometimes peculiar enough to merit a second glance, yet largely indistinguishable from the general atmosphere. It is hardly the life of a poet. We do not have the luxury to indulge in our feelings, to taste its subtleties, to discover the myraid possible causes that might have led us to such a state, yet now and then, we find ourselves unexpectedly caught up in reverie, as if while transversing through a gallery, we find ourselves attracted to an exceptional painting, a painting that I have seen several times over the years and from its initial rawness of beauty, I have applied to it an intellectual understanding, so much so that I no longer separate cause from effect: its beauty and the artistry that produces it become indivisible, a complete appraisal of the genesis of the thought. However, on some occasions, when suddenly confronted, the original senseless impact of the thought is renewed afresh, and it would become unbearable, that life seems to treat us indifferently.

Definitely not your typical Singapore blog. Check it out and dig around.

I am always intrigued by the way politicians and media talk, the way they language their points. Today, Josh Marshall has a terrific post on how Bush’s vagaries and all-but-empty platitudes reflect the mess that is today’s War on Terror.

He starts by describing Bush’s latest radio address, weighted in the vacuousness that has become Bush’s signature:

I understand what the president’s saying. I recognize a general truth in it. But the generality, vagueness and abstraction is the problem. They are becoming the engines of policy incoherence and the cover for domestic bad-actors who want to get this country into fights few Americans signed up for.

[….]

Just as vague and abstract language makes for bad prose, it is also the handmaiden of bad policy and the abettor of buck-passing.

All this talk about civilization, totalitarianism, fascism and terror is just preventing us from looking at what’s happening and recognizing what are own interests are. They also make it possible for some people to convince themselves that it’s not a screw-up that we’ve turned Iraq into a terrorist magnet. After all we’re at war with ‘the terrorists’ and it makes sense that ‘the terrorists’ would attack us anyway, if only in a new venue. And we always knew it would be a long fight, a long twilight struggle, and yada, yada, yada and the rest of it. Same with the mumbo-jumbo about totalitarianism.

[….]

But the White House is being run by men and women who’ve already made a lot of really stupid mistakes that are going to cost a lot of American lives, money and credibility. And now they’re trying to hide from accountability in their own idiot abstractions.

Marshall’s been getting increasingly aggressive in his attacks on Bush. He started off in favor of the war and now seems totally disillusioned with our post-war bungling. Like Mark Kleiman. Like me.

It now seems that the one good thing to come out of the war on terror, along with the fall of the Taliban and Saddam, may well be the defeat of Bush in the coming election.

It’s swell that the Taliban and Saddam fell, but, to use Ronald Reagan’s language: Are we better off (in terms of national security) than we were a year ago? Two years ago? Are we safer and more secure when it comes to terrorism?

Terrorism has been moving full-speed ahead, far faster and more lethal than pre-911, as witnessed in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bali, Jakarta and, just last Tuesday, the UN blast in Iraq, not to mention the suicide bombings in Israel despite the much-ballyhooed “roadmap.”

And our great victory in Iraq more and more resembles a true quagmire. mainly because we decided leadership there had to be on our terms, and because we paid infinitely more attention to the oil pipeline than we did to the people’s lack of water and electricity. How could we be so stupid, alienating just about everyone with our incompetence and lack of fundamental sensitivity?

Sorry for wandering a bit off-topic there.

Hilarious, wickedly funny article on why the new GWB Aviator Doll makes a perfect gift. Here’s how it starts:

Country’s in shambles and economy’s gutted and schools are shot and Iraq’s a violent bloody mess and joblessness is rampant and it’s a proud time indeed to be an American, and hence you might be asking yourself, what, pray what, can I give the hardcore lockstep pseudo-Christian homophobic Republican on my gift list?

What can you give the one who just loves bogus wars and BushCo’s lies and thinks SUVs are way bitchin’ and believes every bile-filled opinion crammed down their throats via Fox News and Hannity/Coulter/Limbaugh et al., hates them damnable gays and libs and environmentalists and has one hand over his heart while the other gropes the cat?

It only gets funnier. And I mean much funnier. The writer definitely has a streak of genius.

Via tbogg — thanks!]

Three separate road accidents have killed at least 34 people in China over 24 hours.

In the worst of the incidents, 27 people were killed in north China when their bus plunged down a 30-metre deep ravine late on Friday, Xinhua news agency said.

I used to be amazed at the number of traffic deaths commonly reported in the newspaper in China; it wasn’t the number of accidents, but the sheer number of lives that would be lost in a single one, often involving buses. Having taken a couple of bus rides outside of Beijing and in South China, I wonder why there aren’t even more accidents. You wouldn’t believe the condition of some of these roads, and the way drivers abuse them. Anything goes.

Shocking. And the White House brushes it aside in the name of “national security”:

WASHINGTON – At the White House’s direction, the Environmental Protection Agency (news – web sites) gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no health risk from the debris-laden air after the World Trade Center collapse, according to an internal inquiry.

President Bush (news – web sites)’s senior environmental adviser on Friday defended the White House involvement, saying it was justified by national security.

The White House “convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones” by having the National Security Council control EPA communications in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to a report issued late Thursday by EPA Inspector General Nikki L. Tinsley.

“When EPA made a Sept. 18 announcement that the air was ‘safe’ to breathe, the agency did not have sufficient data and analyses to make the statement,” the report says, adding that the EPA had yet to adequately monitor air quality for contaminants such as PCBs, soot and dioxin.

In all, the EPA issued five press releases within 10 days of the attacks and four more by the end of 2001 reassuring the public about air quality. But it wasn’t until June 2002 that the EPA determined that air quality had returned to pre-Sept. 11 levels — well after respiratory ailments and other problems began to surface in hundreds of workers cleaning dusty offices and apartments.

[….]

Andy Darrell, New York regional director of Environmental Defense, an advocacy group, said the report is indicative of a pattern of White House interference in EPA affairs.

Tell me one reason I would want the Bush White House to go on for another four years (aside from the fact that, at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a better alternative).

Yes! Fox News loses its idiotic lawsuit against Al Franken over use of the term “Fair and Balanced.”

In rejecting Fox’s argument, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin called the network’s lawsuit “wholly without merit, both factually and legally.”

A fair and balanced decision. Al Franken summed it up with a pithy soundbite:

“In addition to thanking my own lawyers,” Franken said after the ruling, “I’d like to thank Fox’s lawyers for filing one of the stupidest briefs I’ve ever seen in my life.”

I wonder what Bill O’Reilly thinks about Franken’s book rising today to #1 bestseller over at Amazon. A classic exercise in stupidity, and accomplishing exactly the opposite of what you set out to do.

[Via Eschaton]

China has responded defensively to allegations by the US that it is “backsliding” on human rights.

Reacting to his American counterpart, Richard Boucher’s statement on China’s alleged “backsliding” on human rights promises, Kong said the Chinese government rejected the US charge.
Kong claimed that the human rights situation in China has made “great progress” in the past few years, which has also received wide acclaim from the international community.

[….]

Last December, China pledged during talks with the US to allow UN investigators to look into allegations that China jails people without due process, tolerates prison torture and restricts religious freedoms.
“Those visits have not yet taken place,” US State department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

I guess Kong missed the recent articles on the kind and gentle treatment of AIDS victims and the recent infamous ten-year prison terms for Internet essayists. Maybe he’s right, maybe there have been great strides. There’s also a ways to go, and it appears, unsurprisingly, that several specific promises were not kept.

I’ve been waiting for this article to appear for some time now, and only wondered why it took so long. With the horrific bombing of the UN building in Iraq last week, I guess it’s time had come.

As far as I can tell from 12,000 miles away, there has been a real shift in just the past few weeks, with the UN bombing accelerating the process dramatically — a shift in the belief that Bush has proven himself invincible in restoring a sense of national security after September 11.

Just compare the mood today to that on the day he made his Top Gun landing and declared the combat in Iraq to be over. It is a shame that the combat isn’t over. But it’s also a shame that Bush chose to glamorize our great victory — as though it were a done deal — with such hubris. And he may pay a heavy price.

Here is how the article begins:

The wave of violent death this week in Iraq, Israel, Gaza and Afghanistan brought to the fore a reality that President Bush has been reluctant to discuss: Peace is not at hand.

A confident Bush stood in the Rose Garden less than a month ago, saying, “Conditions in most of Iraq are growing more peaceful,” boasting of “dismantling the al Qaeda operation” and pronouncing “pretty good progress” toward Middle East peace and a Palestinian state within two years.

Those sunny characterizations may yet prove true, but Bush allies and foes alike are coming to the conclusion that the progress may not be noticeable by the time Bush faces the voters again in 15 months. For a president who has staked his reputation on making “a tough decision to make the world more peaceful,” this could be a big problem.

We’ll probably see more and more of this if gloomy news keeps emanating from Iraq. After all, with the economy in shambles, unemployment at its worse in recent memory, and America’s image tarnished in the eyes of just about everybody overseas, what is Bush going to point to as his great success?

It looks like the progress in human rights in China, so loudly trumpeted a year ago, was just a lot of noise over nothing. The US today accused China of “backsliding” on the issue.

“Despite the progress in 2002 we’ve been disappointed to see the negative developments in 2003,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

[….]

Mr Boucher said “backsliding” in this context consisted of a number of “troubling incidents” including the execution of a Tibetan activist without due process.

In January, activist Lobsang Dhondup, 28, was put to death following a series of bomb blasts in southwestern China, on what supporters say were politically motivated charges.

Mr Boucher also cited the “arrest of a number of democracy activists, the harsh sentences that were laid down for Internet essayists, labor protestors and a number of other things that constitute backsliding.”

Of all the sins committed by the Chinese government, contempt for human rights is the most unpardonable. I don’t understand how they can allow it to happen at the same time they are striving to be a world economic leader. They have so much going for them, with the 2008 Olympics, ascension to the WTO, a (seemingly) strong economy — why ruin it all by treating your citizens as though you’re still in the Dark Ages?

The answer lies in China’s history, where one finds a disdain for human life that goes back thousands of years and was epitomized by Mao’s indifference to the great famine (and every other atrocity he fomented, each of which was paid for with the blood of the people).

Many societies have episodes of brutality, even genocide, in their history. But today, we expect that only from backward, uneducated societies, not from a country pulling all the stops to be seen as the world’s leading economic engine and a model of improvement in every way. China has to wise up: if it wants international respect, it has to live up to international standards. They clearly haven’t gotten this yet, and in fact are now heading in the exact wrong direction.

Update: Maybe I need to clarify this, as some have misunderstood my point. Brutality is not unique to China, and it is probably safe to say all or certainly most societies have had their ample share of it. My point is that, unlike the countries that grew out of their long periods of brutal, repressive government, much of the old mentality remains in China, as manifested in the huge number of executions, the documented human rights abuses, the total inability of “the little man” to receive justice, the rampant corruption, and the violence that goes with it. The arrests and long prison terms of essay writers. Also the viewpoint that women are mere trinkets, which is still alive in much of the country today, as witnessed by the continuing infanticide of baby girls and the widespread selling of young girls by their own families into slavery and/or forced prostitution. Some of these things were way worse under the Nationalists than they are now (they used to simply shoot suspected Communists on the streets in front of everyone), and China has made strides in the right direction. But Mao’s attitude of the low value of a human life is legendary, and not dissimilar to that of rulers during the warlord days. As other nations in the 20th Century embraced what we call “modern-day civilization” and a greater respect for human life, China got stuck somewhere along the line. My simple point is that this attitude is grounded in a pattern of the way the “common mass of people” has been treated in China throughout much of its history. It isn’t new. Mao didn’t invent it. He just took it to shocking extremes (though less extreme than his contemporaries Hitler and Stalin). So I am not branding China as having a more brutal history than other countries — just as still being under the effect of the spirit and psyche of brutality long after many (most) other civilized nations have come to recognize the value and necessity of justice and equality. South Africa and Russia were able to end long-ingrained behaviours. Now it’s China’s turn, at least if they expect to win the respect they so crave.