Sic Semper Tyrannis 2008

"Turbulent Priests"

"Chicago's top Catholic leader condemned Pfleger's comments. Cardinal Francis George said in a statement that Pfleger had promised him not to publicly mention any candidate by name this summer and fall and that he would abide by the "discipline common to all Catholic priests."

George said Pfleger's words crossed a line. "Racial issues are both political and moral and are also highly charged," he said. "Words can be differently interpreted, but Father Pfleger's remarks about Sen. Clinton are both partisan and amount to a personal attack. I regret that deeply."

Pfleger's maverick style has set him apart from Chicago's Catholic clergy dating to his seminary days, when he protested the Vietnam War and befriended Black Panthers.

But it also helped the priest turn a dwindling South Side congregation at St. Sabina into a thriving, predominantly African American parish. More than 2,100 parishioners call the church their spiritual home. In his three decades of ministry, it has been Pfleger's first and only assignment.

He turned things around at St. Sabina by highlighting black church traditions, hanging African art on the walls and featuring a black Jesus with his hands outstretched above the altar."  LA Times

------------------------------------------------------------------

To paraphrase TS Eliot, "Who will rid me of these turbulent priests?"  Obama has not said that, but it would be understandable if he did.

Wright and Phlegar are representative of the same phenomenon, religion as politics, religion as  revolutionary philosophy.   

The Catholic Church in the United States does not wish to be a church solely devoted to the needs of middle class people.  The ministry to the poor and deprived is an old tradition.  There used to be "national parishes" of Irish, Italian, French, etc., immigrants and their children where services were held in the vernacular of the people who inhabited the parish.  This tradition continues on a smaller scale.

A friend of mine is an auxiliary bishop in a major city.  His ministry is to the inner city poor there.  I wonder how he would deal with this priest.

Father Phlegar has now been reprimanded by his ecclesiastical superior and has evidently promised to behave appropriately.  The Catholic Church is not a democracy.  Its structure, traditions and governance are those of the late Roman Empire in the West.  Diocletian might find that amusing.  For the diocesan clergy, there is no doubt at all as to who is in charge in a bishop's territory.  It is he.  For Francis Cardinal George to say he "regrets deeply" something that one of his people has said or done is to declare to that priest and the world that this behavior must not be renewed or therapeutic action will be taken.

Nevertheless, the damage is done.  The image of Phlegar's racist rantings will circulate endlessly on the internet.  The MSM are now powerless to prevent the dissemination of information no matter how much they try.   Then there is the continuing effect of Wright's similar ravings.  There are also rumors of yet more video waiting to be released at well timed moments, video involving Mrs. Obama.

None of this indicates a happy future for the Democratic Party in the presidential race.  America is probably ready for a Black president if the candidate is someone who inspires the confidence of the generality of white people.  If the candidate does not inspire that confidence, then...

We could easily have a situation in 2009 in which the Democrats have large majorities in both houses of Congresses but John McCain with all his evident emotional difficulties is president.

If that happens then Obama's "friends" will have much to think about.  pl

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pfleger31-2008may31,0,6551455.story

Birthday Salutation

On the occasion of my birthday I send you all greetings.  To quote my father, "if I had thought that I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself..."  pl

"There Will be Blood" Part 2 - Futures speculation and the price of crude

"The commission said it is investigating potential abuses in the way crude oil is purchased, shipped, stored and traded nationwide, but did not reveal details. Also on Thursday the agency announced a handful of other initiatives designed to increase transparency of U.S. and international energy futures markets.

For example, the trading commission said it will immediately require monthly reports from institutional investors who manage funds designed to mimic the price of crude oil and other energy futures. The goal, the agency said, is to identify the amount of such index trading and to "ensure that this type of trading activity is not adversely impacting the price discovery process."

The agency also said it has reached an agreement with its British counterpart and with InterContinental Exchange Inc.'s Futures Europe to expand surveillance of energy futures contracts with U.S. delivery points, including the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude, which trades on the Nymex."  SFGate

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have thought for some time that the recent catastrophic rise in crude prices is not directly related to long term supply and demand issues, although those are certainly there in the background.

No, there is a short term supply problem caused by politically motivated regional suppliers who have found it easy to toy with the spot market enough to encourage traders of one kind or other to drive up prices of future deliveries in what can only be described as a "tulip" scenario.  The announcement of increased surveillance of these traders and their allies in the business intelligence world will stress the "skin" of the bubble and we will see something interesting.  It has already begun.  pl

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/29/BUMG11068I.DTL

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/38914.html

War Against the American People - McClellan Speaks

"...in a chapter titled "Selling the War," he alleges that the administration repeatedly shaded the truth and that Bush "managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option."

"Over that summer of 2002," he writes, "top Bush aides had outlined a strategy for carefully orchestrating the coming campaign to aggressively sell the war. . . . In the permanent campaign era, it was all about manipulating sources of public opinion to the president's advantage."

McClellan, once a staunch defender of the war from the podium, comes to a stark conclusion, writing, "What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary." "  WAPO

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

" "If I had served my God", the Cardinal said remorsefully, "as diligently as I did my king, He would not have given me over.." " (Wiki)

Change a couple of words and this probably will serve as an epitaph for Scott McClellan.  Perhaps if McClellan had had the welfare of his country closer to his heart than the idea of service to his emperor then fate might have been kinder to him.  Or perhaps not; duty is a hard thing.   "Duty is the most sublime word in the English language"   Apparently, McClellan has only recently developed a sense of duty that the epigramist would have understood.

McClellan's book will be believed by those who have known or suspected the truth of the massive and continuing propaganda campaigns waged by the Bushies and the Jacobin flatheads.  It will not be accepted by those who still believe that Saddam hid his nuclear program in a lake somewhere, or in Syria or maybe in Ruritania.  In the end his book will have little impact.  I hope it makes him a few dollars.  He will need them.  In Texas where the easily deceived seem legion, he will find it hard to go home again.

I recommend meditation in the Rothko Chapel in Houston as a kind of way station on his journey to the future.

The administration manipulated the "sources" of public opinion?  Really?  Can that be?  (irony alert)  The administration and its Ziocon allies systematically drove truth speakers out of the public square? Really?  Well, folks, the American people were stupid enough and gullible enough to have allowed that....  Are we to believe that the American people have become smarter and more discerning in the eternity of the last years?

The media?  Has the catastrophe of our foreign policy changed the media?  Let us see how much "play" McClellan's book receives.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052703679.html?hpid=topnews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Wolsey

http://www.rothkochapel.org/

"I will never surrender in Iraq! Never! Never!" McCain

"The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously, said last week that that the US plans an  air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The air strike would target the headquarters of the IRGC's elite Quds force. With an estimated strength of up to 90,000 fighters, the Quds' stated mission is to spread Iran's revolution of 1979 throughout the region.

Targets could include IRGC garrisons in southern and southwestern Iran, near the border with Iraq. US officials have repeatedly claimed Iran is aiding Iraqi insurgents. In January 2007, US forces raided the Iranian consulate general in Erbil, Iraq, arresting five staff members, including two Iranian diplomats it held until November. Last September, the US Senate approved a resolution by a vote of 76-22 urging President George W Bush to declare the IRGC a terrorist organization. Following this non-binding "sense of the senate" resolution, the White House declared sanctions against the Quds Force as a terrorist group in October. The Bush administration has also accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program, though most intelligence analysts say the program has been abandoned."   Asia Times

----------------------------------------------------------------------

McCain said today that "he will never surrender in Iraq!"  What the hell is he talking about?  Surrender to whom?  To Al-Qa'ida? (alkayda) They have been beaten to a pulp by the Sunni rising against them and Petraeus' new-old tactics.  McCain would have to find Al-Qa'ida before he could surrender to them and then everyone else in the country would have to go along with the idea.  This is unlikely.  Surrender to Muqtada al-Sadr?  Have I missed something?  "Mooky" is now the leading Shia factional leader in the country?  I guess you never know...  Maybe the Mahdi has anointed him.  Surrender to Maliki and actually let him run the country?  I have had a couple of people (American) say to me recently things that demonstrate a reflexive idea that we are going to "call the shots" in Iraq indefinitely.  Is that what McCain means?

And then there is the matter of the IAEA's plaint today that Iran has not yet answered all its questions.  That's what it said, folks.  Read it.  This was immediately seized upon by McCain as proof that the Iranians are intent on bomb making.  Then that was followed quickly followed by a CNN lady anchor who asked Christiane Amanpour what the IAEA statement had said about Iranian INTENTIONS.  Sweet Jesus, save us from these people. Iranian intentions? 

Bush/Cheney will bombs things in Iran?  Well, why not?  At least that would be consistent with the stupidity of the rest of their reign.  Things have come to an interesting pass when Olmert appears to be a real statesman by comparison.  pl

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs

Download IAEA_Iran_Report_May2008.pdf

"SUNRISE AT OMAHA" Sidney O. Smith III

Like the rest of us, none of these soldiers wanted to die.  None of them wanted to fight a war.  In fact, these men despised war as much as any generation.  In their hearts, they wanted to be back home, in America, with their families and loved ones.  Yet, at sunrise on June 6, 1944, when they crossed the stormy English Channel headed for a French beach code-named Omaha, they certainly knew they were going to their slaughter.  Only God truly knows the anguish of their prayers. But even in this agony, when their landing crafts finally ran ashore and the ramps splashed down into the waves, these Americans did not hesitate.  They all headed straight into a violent death and left us what is now an eternal scene – dead bodies floating in the water, cries of the young dying, and dark red blood soaking the sand.

Yet amazingly, this eternal scene – this passion at Omaha – was just one drop of blood in a generation's sacrifice, for blood was spilled the world over.  The number of casualties staggers the mind.  At Omaha Beach alone, America suffered over 8000 casualties.  By war's end, nearly 300,000 Americans had died – white Americans, black Americans, Americans of all heritages.  France and the British Commonwealth each sustained over 500,000 deaths.  Poland suffered 120,000 battlefield deaths and, incredibly, over 5 million civilian deaths.  And then there was the USSR, where the suffering becomes unimaginable.  20 million killed, 7 million of whom were civilians.  In China, 13 million people died, 10 million of whom were civilians.  And certainly in the heart of this sacrifice was the innocent Jew – 6 million men, women and children gassed.  All told, Allied deaths reached 44 million. 

This kind of suffering is impossible to fully comprehend, but it does establish forever that this generation was one of supreme sacrifice.  Like few others, the WWII generation saw its darkest moment during the prime of youth – a time when other generations enjoy the most life has to offer – weddings, families and careers.  So, some sixty years later, when you step back and see the sacrifice endured, you can't help but wonder if during this most tragic time, when so many good people were dying the most horrible of deaths, their silent cry was, "My God, why have you forsaken me?". 

"Dear Hearts Across the Seas" - Memorial Day

“ For 14 hours yesterday, I was at work—teaching Christ to lift his cross by the numbers, and how to adjust his crown; and not to imagine he thirst until after the last halt. I attended his Supper to see that there were no complaints; and inspected his feet that they should be worthy of the nails. I see to it that he is dumb, and stands before his accusers. With a piece of silver I buy him every day, and with maps I make him familiar with the topography of Golgotha.”

Captain Wilfred Owen, The Manchesters
Killed in Action, Nov. 4, 1918

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=4817

Habakkuk on BAE, the Saudis and the Slush Fund

I think Harper is absolutely right in suggesting that, important though the corruption story may be, the political element -- centering around the 'slush fund' -- is the really significant element in this story. I am curious about, and slightly surprised by, his calling this a 'MI6 slush fund'. From what little I know of the story -- and I have not followed it closely -- it seems quite likely that we are dealing with linkages involving elements in Saudi Arabia, Britain, and the United States. Looking back at the coverage of the 'Welch Club' and related matters on this blog and elsewhere from a year back, I recalled a comment quoted in Seymour Hersh's 'Redirection' piece, from a 'Pentagon consultant'. There were, the 'Pentagon consultant' remarked: 'many, many pots of black money, scattered in many places and used all over the world on a variety of missions'. Given the involvement of Bandar both in Iran-Contra and recent hi-jinks, as well as Al-Yamamah, there certainly seem grounds for suspecting that one of the functions of the contract, from the outset, may have been to create such 'pots of black money'. An interesting discussion of the 'slush fund', in an article in the Financial Times last July by Stephen Fidler hardly dispels these suspicions. (See http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?sortBy=gadatearticle&queryText=yamamah+fidler&y=7&aje=true&x=15&id=070702000587&ct=0.)

More on BAE in the news

"A Department of Defense Inspector General [DoD IG] report, unearthed yesterday and first reported by DANGER ROOM, said that "the advanced aviation and weapons technology for the JSF [Joint Strike Fighter] program may have been compromised" because procedures for securing classified material weren't fully followed. In particular, the report called into the question the relationship between BAE and government overseers from the Defense Security Service. The civil servants failed to identify a number of "security weaknesses" at company facilities, the audit alleges. And BAE rebuffed Defense Security Service attempts to examine their internal security audits."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a pattern of sloppiness in the way this company (BAE) has administered contracts given to it by the US Department of Defense.

The FBI and DoJ career people have become very aggressive in the last few years in prosecuting cases that they have been building for long periods of time.  The AIPAC espionage case comes to mind as another example.  There are others and the only thing many of these cases seem to have in common is civil service frustration over an inability to prosecute them earlier.  I have the impression that these public servants have been frustrated for a long time because politicians of both parties have blocked prosecution of some of these cases.  Why now?  I do not know, but there has probably been some "horse trading" in deciding what will be allowed to be prosecuted and what not.

Several commenters have made off hand comments to the effect that they think American companies routinely bribe overseas officials to obtain defense contracts.  On the basis of many years of listening to such companies complain bitterly of how much they are disadvantaged by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and by subsidies provided by many overseas governments to their manufacturers, I doubt that it is true that US defense contractors do this.  pl

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/stealth-fighter.html

BAE in the News

"Col Lang,

I wanted to flag your attention, and the attention of your readers, to some new dramatic developments in a story you reported last year. The U.S. Department of Justice is agressively pursuing their case against BAE Systems, the British arms company, which is accused of paying billions of dollars in bribes to Saudi officials, including the former Ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar. Bandar alone is said to have received over $2 billion in BAE kickbacks, for his role in the "Al Yamamah" deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia (I hear that the actual figure paid to Bandar and some of his henchmen was closer to $10 billion). On May 12, two top executives of BAE, Chairman Mike Turner and an outside director who is also vice chairman of Barclay's Bank, were detained by U.S. officials as they arrived at Houston and Newark airports, respectively. They were handed grand jury subpoenas, and had their laptops, cell phones and papers temporarily confiscated. The latest from the DOJ is that the career prosecutors are so furious at the British government's stonewalling, that they are threatening RICO prosecutions against BAE. Remember, that the real story behind the BAE "Al Yamamah" scandal is that, under the arms-for-oil barter deal, the British accumulated well-over $100 billion, in off-the-books, offshore funds, that have been used to finance covert operations, for the past 23 years (the deal was first signed in 1985, and has been regularly updated ever since). The other nagging matter around the BAE case is that Prince Bandar "inadvertently" helped finance the 9/11 attacks, through funds provided by him and his wife to two Saudi intelligence operative in California, who, in turn, bankrolled two of the hijackers. This sordid tale is spelled out in Philip Shenon's admirable expose of the 9/11 Commission investigation, in the 2008 book, The Commission--The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation. My own sources have independently corroborated much of what Shenon reports. For their part, the Saudis and the British are not at all happy about what is going on at the DOJ. The Sunday Telegraph and other British papers have been ranting about the "heavy handed" treatment of the BAE execs, and they worry about a deeper rift, going into the upcoming G-8 summit in Japan in early July. A treaty is pending before the U.S. Senate, that would give British arms manufacturers equal access to Pentagon contracts, and a hearing was held this past week on the treaty at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden, Lugar and Feingold all expressed apprehension over the treaty, and there is fear that the BAE flap will further complicate its passage. Again, the biggest aspect of the BAE/"Al Yamamah" story is the offshore fund. To summarize: BAE delivered about $40 billion in arms and services to Saudi Arabia. BAE padded the bills substantially, up to nearly $80 billion. The pad was used, in part, to bribe Saudi officials who helped swing the deal, including Bandar and Prince Turki bin-Khaled, a top official of the Saudi Ministry of Defense. That part is fully detailed in the Guardian and other British coverage of the BAE scandal, going back three or four years. What is not covered in the British press is the fact that Saudi Arabia paid for the arms with oil. The oil was sold on the spot market, and this generated an estimated (in current dollars) $160 billion in cash. I am told by former U.S. Treasury Department officials that the funds generated from the oil sales, after BAE got their cut, went into offshore bank accounts. Those funds were invested by the usual hedge funds, etc. in places like the Cayman Islands, BVI, etc., and the profits over the past 23 years from those investments, multiplied the size of the fund tremendously. I look forward to any comments on this very big story, that has never gotten adequate media or Congressional attention, in my humble opinion.

Harper"