First Door on the Left

Here’s The New York Times on yesterday’s “transfer of power” in Iraq…

A Secretive Transfer in Iraq

Two days early, with a veil of secrecy and a tight security lockdown, Washington’s proconsul in Iraq, Paul Bremer III, handed a hollow and uncertain sovereignty to Iyad Allawi, a former Baathist collaborator of Saddam Hussein who spent most of the past three decades exiled in London, the last one of those in the pay of America’s Central Intelligence Agency. It goes without saying that this is not the sort of outcome the nation envisioned when we sent our forces to liberate Iraq last year.

Moving the transfer date was a sensible precaution against anticipated insurgent attacks. But it underscores how arbitrary the original date, June 30, was all along. Rather than being timed to coincide with a growing capacity of the new Iraqi authorities to take on the challenges of running the country and preparing it for democratic elections, the June date was fixed upon last November to ensure at least the appearance of progress as the American presidential campaign got under way. Dr. Allawi was chosen several weeks ago, in a process endorsed by the United Nations, as Iraq’s interim prime minister. But nobody, including Bush administration officials, can seriously believe that Dr. Allawi and his cabinet are now in any position to run Iraq and prepare it for democratic elections.

The emphasis is mine, and really that’s all it was.

I’m not too sure about the final sentences of the column…

Washington cannot shed its responsibility for what happens from here on out. The Bush administration has handed off the symbols of sovereignty. But if Iraq dissolves into dictatorship or civil war, the White House will not be able to hand off the blame.

They don’t seem to have had much of a problem handing off the blame for everything else that has happened since they assumed power.

When the Dean campaign ended and I sat down to write this book, several people asked if it would be a standard campaign memoir, a tell-all with all the juicy behind-the-scenes details about what went right and went wrong during Howard Dean’s dramatic rise and sudden fall.

These people still don’t get it.

The truth of this campaign, the “tell all,” the juicy behind-the-scenes details are these: a woman who sold her bike for democracy and inspired hundreds, maybe thousands of people to do the same; a man who raised $400,000 in one week by himself by doing nothing more than sending out an e-mail; an eighty-nine-year-old man who said that he thought he was done living until the Dean campaign re-engaged his life with meaning and civic purpose.

Yes, this book is the story of a long-shot presidential campaign. But it’s far more than that.

For me, it’s the story of a person who spends his life reconciling two vastly different worlds—politics and technology—and wakes up one morning to find himself standing at the place where they’re about to converge, to crash together and begin reversing fifty years of political cynicism in one glorious explosion of civic re-engagement.

It’s the story of dozens of committed people who waged a political campaign unlike any in history. It’s about the things that we did right, the mistakes we made, and the lessons we learned that can be applied to every election, every product, every issue in America. It’s about the man we rallied behind, a politician who had the courage to stand up and question the country’s path when all the others seemed to want nothing more than to hide.

But most of all it’s the story of people standing up and making themselves heard. It’s the story of how to engage those Americans in a real dialogue, how to reach them where they live, how to stop selling to them and start listening to them, how to make better use of the most revolutionary idea to come along since the first man learned to light a fire.

No, I’m not talking about the Internet. Or computers. Or telecommunications.

I’m talking about democracy.

– Joe Trippi: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

This morning, after taking Giorgio to the vet, I made a trip to the post office. On the way there, this guy in one of those compact pickup trucks started tailgating me. Finally he honked a few times and pulled into the left lane and went around me. As he passed me, he waved and gave me a thumbs-up and pointed to the sticker in his rear window. It read “Bush is a Plant.”

I still have my “Dean for America” sticker on my car. I got a new sticker from moveon.org in the mail today. This one reads “Mission Nothing Accomplished — Defeat Bush in ’04.” I probably should replace the Dean sticker, but I’m having a hard time parting with it. I’m one of those people who just will not have more than one sticker on my car. Heck, it took Howard Dean to get me to put one on there!

Giorgio’s report: we are to continue with the lower insulin dose recommended by the doctor at the emergency clinic for the next week. Next Monday he is going to go in for the day to have a glucose curve done. She also found a couple of little bumps on him which she said are tumors. She said cats gets these all the time and they are usually benign, but she wants to take them off. She doesn’t want to do it though until his glucose levels are stabilized again because she’ll have to put him under general anesthesia. Meanwhile, 3/4 of a 25 mg Benadryl tablet twice a day has been added to his regimen. She says this will help inhibit the spreading of the tumors. Have you ever tried to cut just 1/4 out of a pill which is not really that large to begin with? It isn’t easy!

Giorgio is such a sweet boy, but he doesn’t seem to care much for his veterinarian. Who can blame him? He’s been through quite a lot in that office.

Today, in a 10 minute ceremony attended by about 30 people and held deep inside the heavily fortified American occupation headquarters in Baghdad with no prior announcement, Paul Bremer transferred political authority in Iraq to a select group of Iraqis.

In Istanbul, George Bush and Tony Blair marked the occasion with a handshake and exchanged whispers.

Perhaps they will be able to build the ‘free and democratic’ Iraq they say they want. Time will tell. I wish them luck.

Reuters reports:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that foreign terrorism suspects at a U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba can use the American legal system to challenge their detention, a major defeat for President Bush.

By a 6-3 vote, the justices ruled that American courts do have jurisdiction to consider the claims of the prisoners who say in their lawsuits they are being held illegally in violation of their rights.

The Associated Press reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court delivered a mixed verdict Monday on the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policies, ruling that the U.S. government has the power to hold American citizens and foreign nationals without charges or trial, but that detainees can challenge their treatment in U.S. courts.

The administration had sought a more clear-cut endorsement of its policies than it got. The White House claimed broad authority to seize and hold potential terrorists or their protectors for as long as the president saw fit – and without interference from judges or lawyers.

One says the rulings were a major defeat for the Bush administration, while the other says the rulings were a partial victory for Mr. Bush.

Either way it’s good. Bush can no longer keep somebody locked up just because he thinks they should be locked up. At least now all these people will get their day in court.

This should also put an end to all the screaming from the right about the so-called “liberal press.” Nowadays, you can get your news in just about any flavor you want. Plus, there is always Fox.

Michael Moore has added a section to his website listing some of the e-mails he has received about Fahrenheit 9/11. Some of them are really amazing. Some people even sent pictures.

Here are a couple of the reports from my neck of the woods:

“My family and I went to the 7:50 showing at Grapevine Mills in Grapevine. There were a few theaters to choose from, but I wanted to be with the biggest crowd possible on this one (I normally avoid crowds like the plague), and this was the biggest. The show was sold out, and the audience cheered and applauded all the way through. In fact I need to see it again to catch some comments you made, as I couldn’t hear over the cheering. Some were crying by the end as well, I found it difficult to hold back the tears myself when the Iraqi woman was screaming for God to destroy our homes.”–D.S.

“I have good news from North Texas, the famed Bush country. I live in Denton, Texas and attended the 11:20 a.m. showing of your film at the Grapevine Mills mall in Grapevine, Texas. The show was nearly sold out. At the end of it, the entire audience gave a standing ovation for nearly five minutes. Applause actually broke out twice during the film, but the end simply blew the roof off the place. The second showing I attended was at the same theatre, but at 5:00 p.m. I brought friends, several kicking and screaming. Thankfully, I bought tickets online. If I had not, we wouldn’t have been able to get in as the show sold out. In fact, the remaining six shows for the evening (three per screen) had sold out by 4:30 that afternoon. At the end of my second, sold-out screening, the audience again gave a standing ovation. You have touched a nerve, Mr. Moore.”–S.W.

Frankly, I’m quite surprised at the reception this movie has gotten around here. Given how conservative this area really is I would not have expected it.

It’s looking like it will be sometime this coming weekend before we will be able to see it. I can’t wait!

I got Giorgio home from the emergency pet hospital about 11:00 last night. He seems to be doing a bit better. The doctor there thinks the problem is that we are giving him too much insulin. It is now about 2:45 a.m. and I have to be up at 8:00 a.m. to take him in to our regular vet so she can try to get another glucose curve on him. I guess I should try to get a bit of sleep.

Via Atrios:

Verbatim from Chris Myers (Fox Sports announcer) on today’s race at Pomona pre-race program..

“You think you know Dale Earnhardt Jr.? He advised his crew to go see the Michael Moore movie Farenheit 911. He said hey, it’ll be a good bonding experience no matter what your political belief. It’s a good thing as an American to go see… and it just shows you that Dale Earnhardt Jr. can reach far beyond the steering wheel.”

The reaction from the right has been amazing. You’ll have to read it to believe it. (Just one example: “If we ruined the careers of the Dixie Chicks we can ruin the careers of Michael Moore and Dale Jr.”) They are encouraging everybody to contact Mr. Earnhardt to let him know what a traitor he is. If you want to contact him to thank him for his remarks, you may do so here.

(Update: the Free Republic thread referenced in the above paragraph appears to have been removed.)

The movie itself seems to be doing quite well, thank you…

‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Ignites Box Office Passion

HOLLYWOOD (Box Office Mojo) – Around three million people elected Fahrenheit 9/11 to be the No. 1 movie of America.

Incensing as many as it’s entrancing, writer-director Michael Moore’s Bush bash celebrated over the weekend with an estimated $21.8 million at 868 theaters, Lions Gate trumpeted on Sunday along with co-distributors IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group — the latter quickly formed by Miramax chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein to release the $6 million picture after buying it back from corporate parent Disney. Less than $10 million was spent on prints and advertising, less than a third of the average Hollywood release.

With $21.958 million in the till since its record-breaking debut in New York City on Wednesday, Fahrenheit 9/11 is already the highest grossing documentary of all time — excluding large format, concert and other non-”apples-to-apples” sub-genres – surpassing Moore’s own Bowling for Columbine‘s $21.6 million lifetime gross.

Think maybe somebody at Disney is kicking themselves hard right about now?

Giorgio, our diabetic boy, had another of his episodes yesterday. He threw up everything he had in him and refused to eat or drink. He was extremely lethargic. So we made another trip to the emergency pet hospital with him.

The doctor there said his glucose levels were off the charts. He started pumping fluids in him and said they would keep him for 24 hours or so. He also made the understatement of the year: “Diabetic cats are very difficult to manage.”

I just called and they said he is doing better. He is sitting up and eating and seems to be feeling a lot better. I am to call back about 9:00 tonight to see when he can come home.

This weekend will wind up costing around $700. Dang good thing we love our kids, huh?

If I may be so bold as to offer a suggestion: get Firefox.

A word to some (and you know who you are): denial is more than just a river in Egypt.

If you are still among those who believe that the United States is turning over the government of Iraq to the Iraqis in a few days, it ain’t happening.

As of June 14, Bremer had issued 97 legal orders, which are defined by the U.S. occupation authority as “binding instructions or directives to the Iraqi people” that will remain in force even after the transfer of political authority.

[...]

The orders include rules that cap tax rates at 15 percent, prohibit piracy of intellectual property, ban children younger than 15 from working, and a new traffic code that stipulates the use of a car horn in “emergency conditions only” and requires a driver to “hold the steering wheel with both hands.”

And those are just the tip of the iceberg. There are also rules about how their businesses are to be run, who can and cannot be a candidate in an election, what kinds of sentences courts can hand down, and much more.

George W. Bush has the kingdom he has long dreamed of. He’s not going to let go of it that easily.

King George didn’t like the way he was treated in Ireland, so he decided to hit back:

Angry White House pulls RTE interview

The White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman’s interview with US President George Bush.

And it is believed the President’s staff have now withdrawn from an exclusive interview which was to have been given to RTE this morning by First Lady Laura Bush.

It is understood that both RTE and the Department of Foreign Affairs were aware of the exclusive arrangement, scheduled for 11am today. However, when RTE put Ms Coleman’s name forward as interviewer, they were told Mrs Bush would no longer be available.

The Irish Independent learned last night that the White House told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful.

She also received a call from the White House in which she was admonished for her tone.

And it emerged last night that presidential staff suggested to Ms Coleman as she went into the interview that she ask him a question on the outfit that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wore to the G8 summit.

I guess she forgot to address him as “Your Majesty” and wait for his permission before speaking. Every heart in Ireland is probably breaking tonight because they didn’t get to see the promised interview with Mrs. Bush.