Is Iran getting anywhere near the nuclear-bomb capacity Chimpus Maximus et al are claiming?  No, not according to the U.S. intelligence community.

There are serious technical obstacles presented by the Iranium uranium itself.  (Not least of which: “Iranian uranium” is too much fun to say out loud.)

This also leaves aside the Rube Goldberg status of their centrifuge capacity.

So, um, except for the uranium and the centrifuges, I guess, well, Iran is practically ready to go…

Treating
this as an imminent threat would get Bush laughed out of the White
House if we had a functional media and a system of checks and balances
that actually worked anymore.

Instead, if Bush isn’t stopped, the pointless disaster could be Iraq x 10.  At least.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, using nuclear warheads to attack bunkers, as is reportedly under discussion, would kill innocent people — possibly millions — and yet not actually accomplish anything. 

Want to see why?  Click the link.  They made a cartoon, so even CNN and Fox News can understand.

(Shlit.  I cannot believe we are trying to stop more pointless megadeath with frickin’ cartoons on the Internet.  I mean, fluuuuuck.  But that’s where we are…)

In any case: Possibly millions of innocent people killed.  Let’s get this clear.

And
according to counterintelligence czar Richard Clarke, who is privy to
most of the wargaming the U.S. has done on the subject in the last
decade, the aftermath has no victory scenario — none
— and would likely (a) drive the Iranian people deeper into the arms of
their own lunatic leaders, (b) destabilize Iraq even further, and (c) result in
massively increased terror attacks on the U.S. all over the world —
including here.

So, let’s see: no upside, unimaginable horrible downside for all concerned.  Genius. 

And
for what?  FOR WHAT?  Chimpus Maximus’s ego?  So the 30% of America
who are too goddamned misinformed and proud to realize they’ve been royally had can spend another year or two not admitting their mistakes?

Careful going down those steps…

I suspect I will feel this way when my taxes are done.

Sent by alert reader Jane, source unknown, copyright holder hugged. 

A dear friend of mine actually had the chance to ride this thing on a private, supervised tour as a paid consultant for EPCOT.  She said it was one of the most unpleasant experiences of her life.  One of the engineers told her straight-out that when the ride was under development, it made 100% of the people who rode it sick.

Now, another death.  Hardly a surprise.

In addition to the two deaths in the last 10 months, 10 people reported serious illnesses or injuries since the ride opened in summer 2003, according to reports Disney filed with the Florida Bureau of Fair Ride Inspections. That’s the worst record of all the Disney attractions and doesn’t include more than 130 other “Mission: Space” riders who sought medical attention, according to ambulance records.

And yet the minute the thing opened, people lined right back up to get on.  Never mind the public record of human lives seriously messed up by this thing.  Never mind the thirteen signs warning of various hazards.  Never mind that it had just been closed because — let’s not miss this fine point — somebody just died while riding it. 

People lined right back up.

Why?

Because they liked how it made them feel.  They had a greater attachment to the emotions of excitement and anticipation and getting their money’s worth than to anything most people would consider common sense.

Now Bush is starting to try to lie us into another unnecessary war, this time with Iran.  And millions of people will convince themselves that he is telling the truth.

Why?

Because they like how it makes them feel.  They have a greater attachment to the emotions of pride and their false self-perception of strength in the face of persecution than to any fact-based analysis, not to mention common sense.

How can their minds ever be changed?  The phony WMDs didn’t do it.  Katrina didn’t do it.  The admitted crime of warrantless domestic spying didn’t do it.

This is not because these people are less logical or dumber than everyone else.  Hardly.  Everybody has emotional attachments which cloud their judgment.  Jeebus, I still root for the Cleveland goddam Indians, people.  The Cleveland.  Goddam.  Indians.

But let’s be clear on what has to happen for the national discussion to move.  Almost two-thirds of the electorate seems to understand, finally, that Bush is a lying incompetent with no concern for the constitution and a propensity for getting a lot of people killed.  Changing the minds of that last third will not be the result of an intellectual discussion.  It will be about finding a way to disconnect ego-identification and emotional attachments.

How that happens, I have no freakin’ clue.  But just saying. 

That may be the single most enjoyable entry title I will ever write. 

I am so not making this up.

The Hindi jingle for Dermi-Cool.  

Picked up the virus watching the Oz/Bangladesh cricket test.  Damn thing ran almost every commercial break.

The product itself seems to be sort of a talcum-like anti-itch powder.  Ad starts with a guy frantically scratching his back against a pole, twitching like he’s receiving some sort of fluctuating current.  Then he dumps about a pound of Dermi-Cool on his shoulder, grins, and next thing you know he’s throwing open his shirt in a doorway, revealing a comforting white glaze of Dermi-Cool applied evenly to his entire torso.  Thus he can smile and greet the day.

Just wish they made some sort of anti-itch powder for my brain.  I need to scratch this jingle.  I don’t even know what the words mean.  And yet I cannot stop singing them.

If anyone from India knows how to make this stop, please tell me.  For the love of god.