This story is scary as hell. Even after they come back, Iraq will be with many of our boys forever.

So I’ll be gone again for a couple of days. It was good to be home, but I do miss my other home, too.

In case you’re wondering where the last few posts disappeared to, I wasn’t happy with them; I know I can do better. Thanks for your patience.

He’s sitting in for MoDo, and this is great.

The Spoils of Victimhood
By THOMAS FRANK
Published: August 12, 2006

‘President Bush operates in Washington like the head of a small occupying army of insurgents,’ the pundit Fred Barnes writes in his recent book, ‘Rebel-in-Chief.’ ‘He’s an alien in the realm of the governing class, given a green card by voters.’

Let’s see: These insurgents today control all three branches of government; they are underwritten by the biggest of businesses; they are backed by a robust social movement with chapters across the radio dial. The insurgency spreads before its talented young recruits all the appurtenances of power – a view from the upper stories of the Heritage Foundation, a few years at a conquered government agency where expertise is not an issue, then a quick transition to K Street, to a chateau in Rehoboth and a suite at the Ritz. For the truly rebellious, princely tribute waits to be extracted from a long queue of defense contractors, sweatshop owners and Indian casinos eager to remain in the good graces of the party of values.

(more…)

Too, too funny. As I’ve asked before, does the party really believe we’re going to take this stuff seriously?

It may be a matter of minutes or a matter of days. But it looks like Koizumi does indeed plan to visit the infernal shrine, the source of all the world’s evil.

China has warned Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi against visiting the controversial war-linked Yasukuni shrine. Speculation is rising that Mr Koizumi, who steps down in September, may visit Yasukuni around 15 August, the anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender. Countries in the region say the shrine honours Japan’s militarist past.

Fourteen Class A war criminals are among the 2.5 million war dead commemorated there. China had always opposed the shrine visits, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“This position is clear and consistent. We hope that Japan’s leaders can be highly responsible towards history, the people and the future and change their erroneous ways.”

Mr Koizumi has visited the shrine five times since taking office in 2001, but never on the day of the anniversary.

Brace youself for the next onslaught of Japanophobia as Koizumi commits the great sin. As I’ve said countless times, Koizumi should stop going. And as I’ve also said countless times, those who are offended should focus on the stuff that really matters, and wake up to how the government is using them. China knows full well that in the face of demands like this, Koizumi must visit the shrine, if only to appear not to be giving in. Nothing scares the Chinese government more than the idea of Koizumi not going to the shrine.

No matter what happens, no matter how bad something in reality is for the GOP, it’s always presented as something positive, as something great, as proof that they are winning. Duncan explains.

You see, if we could tear ourselves free of the Wurlitzer’s deafening roar, there would be a whole different reality out there. But we’re slaves to it – we allow ourselves to be deluded into seeing Lamont’s victory as something bad, something calamitous. When Lamont wins, it’s great for the GOP. If he had lost, it would have been great for the GOP. Until we can block out the GOP talking point machine, none of us is safe from infection. Truth is falsehood, ignorance is strength, war is peace. (Where have I heard that before?)

Don’t you get it? Everything that happens is good for Bush, and bad for the Dems. Don’t you wonder about that? It will persist only as long as we allow it to. The surrender of your critical faculties is a choice. As Nancy Reagan would put it, Just say No. These Regimes of Truth exist only as long as we let them. Time to stop letting them. It’s now or never.

Where’s Charles Johnson when we need him? Let’s see how big a deal he makes of this.

Well, I know I just said I was on vacation, but there’s always time for one more post.

It seems China is making great strides in reducing the number of anti-government demonstrations, now down to a mere trickle at 39,000 in the first half of 2006.

The Chinese government, which has battled a surge of social unrest in recent years, reported Wednesday that there were 39,000 cases of “public order disruptions” in the first half of the year.

The Ministry of Public Security said that represented a 2.5% decrease in the number of protests from the same period in 2005, though it offered no explanation of how it had come up with the figures.

China is in the midst of dramatic social and economic transformations that have created a two-tier society separated by a widening gap in incomes. Social discontent has been on the rise in recent years, fueled by income disparities, land disputes, pollution problems and an inadequate legal system that is widely seen as failing to address people’s needs.

Beijing is normally reluctant to disclose negative information, especially about public disturbances that could tarnish China’s international reputation and undermine one-party control. But in recent years, the central government has grown increasingly concerned about the effect of unrest on economic development and social stability.

President Hu Jintao has made the promotion of a “harmonious society” the cornerstone of his administration, hoping to strike a tone of balance in a country grappling with lopsided growth and a rising sense of inequality.

I love the smell of propagandaprogress in the morning. Harmony is on the march, and protests against the magnanimous CCP are in their last throes.

Via CDT.

I noticed that in virtually every news clip here in the land of the free, all the pro-Lieberman people and even most of the newscasters (!) keep referring to Ned Lamont as a “millionaire” (suddenly the GOP hates millionaires). So I did some googling. Wow. How come I never hear “millionaire George Bush” or “millionaire John Kerry” or millionaire anyone? Only Lamont. (Nearly everyone in the Senate is a millionaire.) What a superb job of spoon-feeding a meme to the ever-willing-to-roll-over media. Well done. Would that the Dems could use propaganda in such a masterful fashion.

In case you’re wondering why this place is so relatively quiet. I arrive in Taipei on Monday at 5.30 a.m. and I’m guessing I won’t be in the mood for serious blogging for at least another couple of days. In the meantime, this post sure got me thinking about our terror threat du jour. Was it in response to Lieberman? I’d need a lot more evidence before saying that. But I’ve seen us go insane so many times now, furiously spinning our wheels in concert over the latest breaking threat, and then it all dissolves shortly afterward – after Gonzales or Ashcroft and Bush milk it dry, re-instilling the fear that keeps many convinced Bush must remain in power. (Hey, what else do they have to run on?) Maybe this time it’s different, and we always have to have our guard up. But I can’t help noticing how the game thus far has always been the same, from the dirty bombers and the Lackawana 9 (?-I forget the number) to that awful plot to bomb NYC’s tunnels – all a lot of hot air fueled by hysteria that can be sourced directly to Dick Cheney and the Gang. And the timing is always extraordinary. Meanwhile, I’ll have to leave the toothpaste in the checked baggage this trip, a reminder of how our Homeland Security titans are keeping all of us safe.

Every time I hear the latest fear-inducing hype, my mind keeps going back to that report, Bin Laden determined to attack inside the US, and how Bush went on vacation. The one time we had advance notice of a threat that we really could have prevented, and the president made a snide remark and ignored it.

Okay, now back to my own vacation. There’s a lot of brush I’ve gotta clear.

Update: Oy. Here we go, with accusations the French-like Democrats want to run away while the masculine Republicans will keep us all safe:

US President George W. Bush seized on a foiled London airline bomb plot to hammer unnamed critics he accused of having all but forgotten the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Weighed down by the unpopular war in Iraq, Bush and his aides have tried to shift the national political debate from that conflict to the broader and more popular global war on terrorism ahead of November 7 congressional elections.

The London conspiracy is “a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation,” the president said on a day trip to Wisconsin.

“It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America,” he said. “We’ve taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously we still aren’t completely safe.”

His remarks came a day after the White House orchestrated an exceptionally aggressive campaign to tar opposition Democrats as weak on terrorism, knowing what Democrats didn’t: News of the plot could soon break.

Vice President Dick Cheney and White House spokesman Tony Snow had argued that Democrats wanted to raise what Snow called “a white flag in the war on terror,” citing as evidence the defeat of a three-term Democratic senator who backed the Iraq war in his effort to win renomination.

Yes, we know how things will be in the months ahead. The Wurlitzer has kicked into motion, and the decibel level will be eardrum-splitting as the Bushies stick to their winning formula and the only hope they have: smear the Democrats as weak, cheese-eating hippies who hate America and want to see us give in to terrorism. Only Dick Cheney can save us, just as he did in Iraq, where “the insurgency is in its last throes.”

Final update: For all the dry wit, I really do hate the bastards.