Turkey

Its more than just delicious with cranberries. Aparently Turkey is also a country in both Europe and the Middle East. Turkey invaded Iraq last Thursday to fight the ethnic Kurdish sepratists. The President has called on Turkey to limit the incursion while Turkish politicians use the Bush administrations selfsame rhetoric to support their own "war on terror." I find Turkey's reaction to Kosovo's declaration of independence interesting in comparison to that of Russia. Russia objected to Kosovo's independence because they are afraid international recognition of such states will only encourage other seperatist regions to break away from their mother countries. Which is supposed to be a reference to Chechnya. Turkey, on the other hand supported Kosovo's independence and recognized them as a country. I wonder what they think of Russia's stated reason of not wanting to encourage break away republics.

The Kurdish north has been the most stable part of Iraq since Bush declared "mission accomplished." Which is why neither the US or Iraq wanted to risk destabalizing the regioin by going in and trying to uproot the PKK. It was also the major reason not to pull US out of Iraq. Or at least I thought it was. The scinario painted by people like Sen. Mccain goes something like this. We leave, and with noone holding them back the Sunni and Shiite extremests begin a full scale civil war. The Kurdish north then takes all their trucks and goes home, declaring independence and the existence of a country called Kurdistan. Then the Kurds in Turkey try to take their land and join with the Kurds of the former Iraq and Turkey begins a massive military invasion of the region. This combined with the unfettered influence of Iran, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia in Iraq throws the whole region into utter chaos.

At least, thats the nightmare situation as I understand it. Now that Turkey has invaded Iraq I find it less compelling to support John McCain as a presidential candidate, since my whole reason to back him has veen prevention of Turkey from crossing that line. Admitedly, that has never been one of the planks in his platform but it was my reason. Without the threat of total middle-eastern bedlam, McCain's pandering to the religious zealots and "conservatives" in his party is thown into stark relief. I still have boatloads of respect for the man who is a war hero, and a senator who has managed to keep his integrity while being pragmatic enough to work in politics for so long. He just is no longer appealing to me as a president. Unfortunately that only leaves Clinton who voted for the war, and Obama who I have heard nothing substantial about, or long shot also-rans who I like but are being ignored by the old media.

Oh, aparently the U.S.S. Cole is still floating

A Few Poor Analogies

Congratulations to the New York Giants on what was at times, the second most boring Super Bowl Game ever and an awesome display of athletic ability! Would you take the result of this titanic struggle and equate the upset Giants win as a "good omen" for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming Super Tuesday elections? Considering her years as a Washington insider whose praises cannot be sung enough by the mainstream media, I find that analogy to be thin to the point of microscopic. Hillary, apparently, isn't a fan herself, as no true fan would take a work-related conference call in the middle of the game. Another bad metaphor could potentially be Hillary supports LGBT rights like marching activists.

Another mistaken metaphor would equate everyone's favorite pariah relative-type Presidential candidate, Mike Gravel, with others who have epitomized the Democratic process and fell out of the race due to a lack of money. Sen. Gravel is still alive and well and contemplating an independent run to the White House, but is still at work in the Bay Area in the run up to California's primary, one of 24 on Super Tuesday. Which, of course, brings us to another mistaken metaphor, that the author is liberal like the Clintons. It seems strange to agree with a conservative pundit.

Another potentially mistake metaphor is McCain is as left as Hillary Clinton, as Mitt Romney would have conservative voters believe.

The '08 Election Trail: Dispatch the Bloodhounds

Thanks to Russian TV, here is a Mike Gravel sighting.



For those of you watching at home, there is a second recall in progress, of sorts, in New Hampshire. Despite strange bureaucratic maneuverings on the part of the Secretary of State, votes are being recounted and some strange discrepencies in the voting process and chain of custody are being addressed. Black Box Voting has more. Then, Bill Maher's round table about election fraud with Tony Snow, amongst others. Finally, a ghost of the 2004 election comes back to rattle chains and remind us all why voting in general is, ultimately, fairly useless.

He's Not Your Crazy Uncle

Former Senator Mike Gravel, though cut from the ABC News debates, is keeping himself busy campaigning in the next primary state, New Hampshire.

He's winning acclaim for his opposition to the war. In my reasoned opinion, he's the only candidate on the Democratic side of the Presidential ticket that has any credibility on the issue. My only criteria, of course, being that they have some kind of plan to pull the country out of the war, regardless of Mr. Bush's best intentions.

Another policy worth noting is that he is the only candidate addressing the failures of our representative government, and the secrecy surrounding the Bush administration. Again, he is the only candidate with any credibility on this issue, as he is responsible for making the Pentagon Papers public in the 1970s. They may call him the dark horse of the field, but I might remind that it took only one horse to take down Troy. However, instead of a horde of Greek soldiers, within lies a large group of people who do not typically vote, but are newly motivated by the war and the various other misguided polices of the Bush administration.

I, for one, hope that Mike Gravel continues to campaign (with video goodness!) as though this presidential race matters. So, after the mainstream media pushes Ron Paul and Mike Gravel out of the presidential races on either party ticket, perhaps their supporters can find common cause in an independent Paul/Gravel '08 ticket. "We're more credible than Stewart/Colbert!" So, although Dodd and Biden have dropped out (by the way, Richard Adams of the Guardian, fuck you, because you can't edit this commentary), some will continue to care that Mike Gravel is still out fighting for freedom. $400,000 will go a long way, I am sure.

Here's a list of his upcoming sightings in New Hampshire, along with those of a few other people that feel they can contribute to the national dialogue.

By the way, why did Keith Olbermann fallaciously announce Sen. Gravel's departure from the race? Did he try to FOX News the Democratic race?

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MEDIA_OWNERSHIP?SITE=RIPAW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

There is already too much media consolidation resulting in poor news coverage. There is too much group think among media sources when important stories get ignored because CNN is covering a skiing squirrel or cat fashion show. Or for that matter a human fashion show. You're fucking CNN for fuck's sake! The group think has almost completely ignored the candidacy of viable candidates like Ron Paul.

The old media fucked up big time in the run up to the war in Iraq and during the 2000 presidential election. If they want trust and respect back they better start fucking earning it with real hard hitting investigative journalism, instead of the kind of fluff that bloggers can fill the world with. They like to assume they are more ligitimate than us but I say the burden of proof is on them now. And that burden is one of the preponderance of evidence.

For entertainment purposes I am not so sure media consolidation is that bad. I may be confusing correlation with causation but market saturation and a vast empire seems to have given those like Ted Turner and Disney the freedom to create specialised networks for a narrow audience that would sink a network like NBC who has to stick with bland "entertainment" that appeals to noone but at least doesn't offend most. The increased venues for creativity may also simply be a result of the managment style of the Turner corporation.

Something of a Splash

Over at Youtube today, Mike Gravel's campaign has caused another minor internet sensation. Perhaps the grass roots can cause trouble for the established media system yet.