Although I agree with Obama on a bunch of things, I could not disagree more with him when he confessed to Papa Bear O'Really that 'The Surge has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams!"

Really?

McCain, himself, has put so much faith into the myth of the Surge that he now proposes a surge to fix all problems;

Global Warming? A surge in alternative battery research.
Urban Crime? A surge in police activity.
Bank Closings? A surge in Treasury printing activity.

But what was the Surge? The original idea was to send a bunch of additional troups to Iraq to overwhelm the insurgents with additional military force. Like a Hurricane Surge. On top of that, they turned strategic management over to an expert in counter-insurgency tactics. At the same time they flooded the country with additional troops, they hired the inSURGEents as security forces, and commanders and Maliki were authorized to walk around handing out money to people on the street--up to 8k. Millions and millions of your money and mine was handed out to pacify crowds.

The violence diminished from previous levels--but there is no evidence that there is a cause and effect relationship between the original Fantasy of the Surge, and the increase in ground forces--and that decrease in violence. Many other factors emerged, concurrently, which may have operated as strange attractors to channel the chaos into manageable patterns of order.

And according to Bob Woodward's new book, he believes the biggest factor  was careful US intelligence activity

Woodward claims  that "groundbreaking" new covert tactics provided US military and intelligence officials with the information needed to locate and kill insurgent leaders and other key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008 claims the Bush Administration ran a spying operation against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, his staff and  the Iraqi Government.

<a href='http://www.theage.com.au/world/us-spies-not-surge-reduced-iraq-violence-book-20080905-4app.html'>click here</a>

Some people, like John Kerry, and many other experts in intelligence, have suggested for many years that military force is the wrong approach to take in dealing with organized violent extremists--that was is needed is covert intelligence gathering, and operating quietly behind the scenes. Kerry was derided and belittled for 'reducing' the War on Terror' to 'police work'. But he was right. And history proves it.

Of course, the cooling of violence in Iraq is a welcome development, but it hasn't dissipated entirely, as daily news reports demonstrate. And the political equation still has not moved beyond stalemate and gridlock.

But there is no evidence that 'the surge worked beyond anyone's wildest dreams'. This is an unprovable claim, and a worthless opinion, yielding no useful lessons.

Watching Obama interacting with OReally, his body language, to me, suggested that he was starting to squirm under the relentless assault of Billo the bully: SAYIT, SAYIT damnit! But it was a trap. And Sarah Palin, the Barracuda/Pit Bull/lipstick hybrid, was beating up Obama with it the very next day. But Palin was wrong, and mistated the facts, consistent with her record in the public eye, thus far.

Obama's original perception about the efficacy of the Surge was correct--it yielded no political solution. And McCain is not only wrong, but mono-maniacal about the mythical Surge. And Sarah Palin is some kind of new model of Stepford Wife, chatty Cathy--you tape some attack slogans, upload them to her head, take her out on the campaign trail pull her string, and she dutifully mouths the words, without the slightest understanding or consciousness of what she is saying.

I heard them playing Highway to the Danger Zone at that All Hat, No Cattle RNC hate-fest--and it suddenly struck me(I am slow--I'm a special needs adult) that MAVERICK is the character from that--difficult to suspend one's disblief--film about daring Naval aviators called Top Gun.

Ok--McCain was a Naval Aviator. He destroyed 4 of Uncle Sammy's plane and was locked in the Hanoi Hilton for 5.5 years, but he WAS a Naval Aviator.

So, where did the IDEA to brand him as a 'Maverick' come from, anyway? Was he trying to capitalize on the collective unconscious association with the daring, handsome Maverick charcater played by Tom Cruise? Is this more subliminal marketing 101? And what is so great about a Maverick, anyway? For cattlemen, they are a pain in the ass--cause they stray off from the herd and require extra effort and manpower to round up--but in the end, they arrive at the abatoire just like the rest of the Republican herd, following their Judas goat to the slaughter. They still end up a slab of meat on somebody's plate, probably a millionaires.

Thomas Szasz once wrote that the study of history reveals two types of great minds, those who would attempt to control the common people, using fear and the techniques of authoritarianism(mythification, mystification, reification) and those who attempted to liberate the common people with simple 'truths'.

I believe we have an example of what Szasz was writing about in the campaign between McCain and Obama.

I think history shows that the public at large are willing thralls, and are best controlled with occult symbols, myths, strawmen, and pleasing lies. Also demonizing your opponents and elevating yourself to sainthood is efficacious. This whole, the people are grownup--the people have critical reasoning skills--is truly revolutionary. The Vatican made Galileo retract, consider.

Obama has decided to try to talk to voters like adults, and expect them to be able to see through all the bogus talking points offered up by the other side. Will this work? IS the public capable of pulling the wool from off of it's eyes--OR is America forever destined to be yet one more expression of Plato's Parable of the Cave?

Sarah Palin tried to auction the Official Jet of Alaska on Ebay twice, but nobody met the minimum, so she took it to a broker and they ended up taking about a 500k loss.

I just heard George Macaca Allen bragging about how she sold it on Ebay. It did not happen folks. Get over it. Nice folksy story--flat wrong. A broker sold it.

There are easy code techniques to manage a cgi interface to prevent multiple postings of a form submission. This is old hat.

In addition to the fine strategic analysis of the Palin Pick I have seen by Jay Rosen over at HuffPost.com, there is another strategic vector that I have not seen discussed, which is this:

By picking someone, solely for her appeal to the pentecostal base--they could be laying the groundwork for the endless culture war which could continue in the event of an Obama win.

Suppose that McCain is, in this sense, setting the stage for a future insurgency. He gives  the 'base' what they want, today, suspecting that they will have an insufficient coalition of voters to carry the day, on Nov 4. The base is energized. But Obama actually wins. The base feels robbed, and vows to fight on and oppose the Obama administration at every turn.

One of the memes that Obama has propagated is a desire to end the culture war by transcending the tire old hippie/redneck archetypes. But by giving Palin as a symbolic touchstone to the base, he guarantees endless culture war should his ticket fail to secure the White House.

I don't know if this is what they might be thinking. But I heard Tom Delay this morning say he was voting for Sarah Palin, not John McCain. And that is telling.

In the days of my youth, I drove locomotives for the B&O Railroad. I used to get this simple minded, bible thumping brakeman on the head end from time to time.

I used to argue with this bible thumper back in the days when I was stuck on an engine with him, waiting to get in or out of a freight yard.
 
'I would never tell a lie' he would claim. Never, ever, I would ask? Never, ever,  he would assert.

I used to tell him that, if we had lived in Poland during WWII, and I had Jewish children to hide, I would pass over his house. Why? he asked. Cause if the Nazi's came to your door and asked you, are you hiding Jewish children here? What would you tell them?

I could not tell a lie. I would tell them yes.

Even though it meant the death camp for them?

I could not tell a lie.

That is why I would not ask you to hide children from the Nazis.

But when Sarah Palin, and John McCain, and George Bush lie, is it to protect Jewish children from the Nazi's? Obviously, no.

Then WHY do THEY lie? What is the point of their deception? Is it to obtain your consent under false pretenses? When they know that if you knew the truth you would never give your consent or approval?

Doesn't this make them Frauds? Doesn't this make them Organized Criminals? Are they not, in fact, conspiring to defraud the American Public, every time they tell a calculated lie?

I realize that the party faithful attend these conventions. But let's face it, until McCain's announcement on Friday, Palin was unknown on the national scene except to those Republican insiders who track regional politcs.

She has a thin record, on paper, yet what is there paints a picture, largely of ambition and political opportunism, and a great sense of political timing.

Yet when she came out to deliver the speech that had already been penned by other professionals, for *.candidate, with only minor tweeks to fit the actual instance of the candidates personal bio, the Republicans rose to their feet and hooted and hollered and cheered enthusiastically for 3 to 4 minutes.

Think about it--all they knew about her, besides the fact that John McCain selected her--was that she was pro-gun and pro-life.

And yet they went NUTS for her. All the other candidates in this race thus far have been vetted by the press, the voters, a long record of public statements and public behaviors. Yet 5 days after arriving on the national scene like she sprung forth from the thigh of John McCain, she gets a prolonged standing ovation. No doubt, no reservations, no questions, no testing. Just stand and deliver. They would follow her anywhere. But where would she take them????????

What do these things tell us about Republicans?

Sorry, server messing up...

Here is where I am coming from. I like the idea of free speech--and I like the idea of petitioning your government to redress your grievences.

So, when somebody uses soaring rhetoric to declaim some government action or inaction policy or lack thereof, I am generally sympathetic to where they are coming from. They have a complaint. Sometimes the complaint is reasonable, sometimes it isn't. But I think it is fair to hear them out.

To me, what the Rev Wright said may be politicaly toxic to the mainstream, but it wasn't offensive to me, because I understood where he was coming from: a love of justice, and hunger for righteousness. And if the Tuskegee Experiment had never happened, there would never be such conspiratorial thinking about Aids. I'm just saying. But Rev Wright was denounced for reminding America of its original sin of slavery, terrorism against black people, and black pain, frustration and anger in a society that has pledged its sacred honor to truths it holds to be self evident, that all men are created equal. White folks mostly don't like to be reminded of this history. And they resent any messenger that brings the subject up. Modern white folks didn't do these things, that was back in the day. Don't try to put that buring tire around MY neck. So, to hear an angry old black man saying the words---it resonates down the smoky corridors of memory and fate.

However, these secessionist Alaskans echo down a different corridor--the same corridor that birthed the Confederate States of America and the KKK. The notion of rejecting a country that must be a melting pot of people you cannot stand, whose alien ideas you cannot tolerate, is something to which, unfortunately, many, many Americans can relate.

So--"I won't be buried under their damn flag." Does not have the same meaning as "God damn America, it's in the Bible".

In a strictly legal, language parsing sense, it sounds very similar--but these sentiments pluck very different chords in the American soul.

Here is where I am coming from. I like the idea of free speech--and I like the idea of petitioning your government to redress your grievences.

So, when somebody uses soaring rhetoric to declaim some government action or inaction policy or lack thereof, I am generally sympathetic to where they are coming from. They have a complaint. Sometimes the complaint is reasonable, sometimes it isn't. But I think it is fair to hear them out.

To me, what the Rev Wright said may be politicaly toxic to the mainstream, but it wasn't offensive to me, because I understood where he was coming from: a love of justice, and hunger for righteousness. And if the Tuskegee Experiment had never happened, there would never be such conspiratorial thinking about Aids. I'm just saying. But Rev Wright was denounced for reminding America of its original sin of slavery, terrorism against black people, and black pain, frustration and anger in a society that has pledged its sacred honor to truths it holds to be self evident, that all men are created equal. White folks mostly don't like to be reminded of this history. And they resent any messenger that brings the subject up. Modern white folks didn't do these things, that was back in the day. Don't try to put that buring tire around MY neck. So, to hear an angry old black man saying the words---it resonates down the smoky corridors of memory and fate.

However, these secessionist Alaskans echo down a different corridor--the same corridor that birthed the Confederate States of America and the KKK. The notion of rejecting a country that must be a melting pot of people you cannot stand, whose alien ideas you cannot tolerate, is something to which, unfortunately, many, many Americans can relate.

So--"I won't be buried under their damn flag." Does not have the same meaning as "God damn America, it's in the Bible".

In a strictly legal, language parsing sense, it sounds very similar--but these sentiments pluck very different chords in the American soul.

John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin may have generated much attention and interest in politics as spectacle, but it has also 'incited' many to wonder if he had lost his marbles, maybe suffered from dementia. But considering his lifelong nickname, 'McNasty', I suspect he may simply be having a huge laugh at the Republican's expense.

Incitatus was Caligula's favorite horse. The horse was attended to by eighteen servants, fed grain mixed with gold flakes; according to Suetonius, Incitatus had a stable made of marble, an ivory manger, purple blankets,  a collar of precious stones. Caligula nominated Incitatus to be a Roman Senator. Caligula even procured him a wife, a mare named Penelope. Caligula claimed his horse a 'combination of all the gods' and to be worshipped as such.

The horse would  "invite" dignitaries to dine , and had a house with full complement of servants to entertain such guests.

Was this crazy? Or something else?

Some historians ascribe Caligula's treatment of Incitatus as a way of ridiculing and angering the Senate, rather than  proof of  insanity. They suggest that later historians like Suetonius were prejudiced by their political orientation; their histories distorted by the desire to include more colorful, less reliable sources.

So there you have it. Either he is--like Caligula--completely insane--OR--he's giving the Republican establishment the finger, and mocking the WHOLE process of selecting a running mate. Maybe he got pissed off when THEY wouldn't let him pick his wing man Joe Lieberman. I don't see any other interpretation. Either he's crazy, or he's saying F.U to the Republican 'controllers'.

When asked if Sarah was the best qualified person in a nation of 300 million to be one heart beat from the Oval office, McCain did not hesitate to say: Oh yes! Absolutely. With a straight face.

I used to live in a town of 8,000 in WV. If I watched a kid had gro up there, attending the local school,  marrying her high school sweetheart, and becoming Mayor, then Governor, then Vice President of the US--I would think that Aliens had taken me to the Bizarro Planet through the Trans-dimensional Creamo...pass the Caribou Hot Dogs, please! Damn I'm hungry, got any left over Mooseburgers in the fridge, hon?

Am I the only one who thinks he has become trapped inside a living comic strip? Did I die and end up in a sick, twisted version of Hell?

Gustav, by the way, is old Norse for Staff of the Gods...