For the last 24 hours or so, I've been arguing on Plastic regarding alleged lies of the administration re: WMD in Iraq. I'm shocked at how small people are thinking on this. First of all, a negative can't be proven, so really, unless we seriously examine motivations for these supposed lies, this is a lot of wasted effort on the part of the media. I can't help but think this is about getting retribution for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and that this is blinding the left to the actual machinations at work.
Part of what kicked off my suspicion that there's something else going on here was a report I heard on Marketplace the other night. In this piece (which is mostly about copper being stolen from the electrical infrastructure in Iraq), it was claimed that "U.S. Officials say underground Ba'athist militias and Wahabbists are sabotaging the power lines to rile the people and turn them against the Americans." Catch that? We are claiming that the Wahabbists are sabotaging stuff in Iraq. I find that very interesting[1], and I suspect this is not the last time we'll hear this.
If our real goal is Saudi Arabia, it is one that we would have to pursue secretly. The Saudis have more control over us, due to their being a large part of our Current Accouunt Deficit, than anyone likes to admit. Somehow, we need to kill the Wahabi movement in Saudi Arabia. To do this might involve a revolution in Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. economy simply can't afford that kind of a spike in oil prices. If oil topped out over $40 a gallon this fall, you can forget any positive GDP action for the second half.
If, however, we have an assured supply coming out of Iraq, an Iraq permitted to sell all the oil it wants with no U.N. sanctions in the way, we're in a much better position to endanger the oil supply coming from the Saudis. Somehow, we have to engineer a situation where we will be the saviors of the Saudi royals while successfully putting down the Wahabbist revolution forever. This means we have to foment revolution over there, but to make sure it fails in a big way.
We have freed up a lot of America haters by deposing Saddam. These people need a cause and a leader. I suspect they will find one among the Wahabbis, and perhaps there will then be enough of them to attempt a coup, conveniently putting us in the position mentioned above.
I guarantee that the Bushies have not fogotten the nationality of 11 out of 19 of the hijackers. I do think, however, that they are playing this down. There's a reason for all of this. There has to be. I will also guarantee this is not the last you'll hear of the Wahabbis.
[1] I'm unable to find a text link to this statement. I think this is because the key words, Ba'ath and Wahab have multiple spellings that may or may not involve apostrophes. Usually, I'm quite proficient and googling up what I need.
Perhaps it's gallows humor, ultimately, but there is a very funny write-up on a site I read every week, Prudent Bear. It's called "Aboard The Unsinkable U.S.S Economic: A Drama in Four Acts"
An excerpt:
Bush: “Gentleman, I know sailing and I sure know how champagne and ice flows. (Aside to Mr. Rove) Don’t know much about snow, though. Not much of that where I come from. Mr. Rove, get me Chief Engineer Greenspan in the boiler room.”
Greenspan “Yes, Captain?”
Bush: “Mr. Greenspan, how are the boilers fixin’ for the speed we’re goin’?”
(five minutes later)
Bush: “There you go, fellas. Clear as mud. We were overheating but now we’re underheating so all we’ve got to do is overheat the underheat and it’s steady as she goes.”
Go read it. It's good for a giggle. I hear Tino giggling in the other room right now.
Marketplace did a piece on the conference in Boston called "Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic"[warning: pdf]. Silliness abounded.
John Banzhaf III, a lawyer who was at least partially responsible for the giant tobacco lawsuit settled in 1998, has his eyes set on this new big fish. He estimates that the public health costs of the obese amount to $115 billion per year and that "most of it is payed by people who are not obese."
I find that statement particularly interesting because we are told over and over that at least 60% of Americans are overweight. I don't know if you've looked at a BMI chart lately, but the line between overweight and obese looks very thin indeed. (no pun intended. OK, it's intended.)
The good news is that the government is here to help! Federal legislation has been introduced in the House called the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act". The gist of this bill is:
PREVENTION OF FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS- The manufacturer, distributor, or seller of a food or non-alcoholic beverage product intended for human consumption shall not be subject to civil liability, in Federal or State court, whether stated in terms of negligence, strict liability, absolute liability, breach of warranty, or State statutory cause of action, relating to consumption of food or non-alcoholic beverage products unless the plaintiff proves that, at the time of sale, the product was not in compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
I would like to point out that food sold for instant consumption does not require a nutrition label. McDonald's posts "nutrition card" type information on the wall in the restaurant, but this is entirely voluntary. If you're old enough to pay for your super size fry, you're old enough to know it's providing an awful lot of calories. Most people simply don't care. Food is used for comfort in many situations, and most people convince themselves that they "deserve" that supersize Big Mac meal, for whatever reason.
Marion Nestle's (chair of the Food Studies Dept. at NYU) claim that "kids can't tell whether food is healthy or not" just doesn't hold water. Kids don't do the grocery shopping. What kind of parent buys their kids the Chocolate Chip Eggos thinking they are nutritious? Of course they don't think crap like that is healthy; they are "treating" their kids. Perhaps this is parental guilt showing. I know I often think this when I see kids out too late at night allowed to make asses out of themselves in public places like grocery stores and restaurants. Can't spend time with your kid? Show them you love them by making them fat and raising them to be rude and annoying!
Mr. Banzhaf has already figured out that the House bill will keep him from getting anything from McDonald's, Burger King and Yum Brands. He's already decided to go after Pepsi and Coke instead.
Posted by nicole at 06:04 PM