I know the Pimp is in the cultural zeitgeist, and what with Hustle and Flow's song winning an oscar, and being set in Memphis and all, it seems like ground zero for political pimpdom. But I have to say, neither of these sites is very pimpin'.

The site attacking Harold Ford Jr. went up first, and the Frist site is a mocking response, but I think Democrats are displaying their cultural tone-deafness when they say FancyFord.com portreys Congressman/Candidate Ford as a pimp.

It's attacking Ford for allegedly living well, and (semi covertly) for also being black at the same time. There's implicit racism in that charge, but it says something about the partisans on our side that the put two and two (upper class + black) together and get Pimp. Politics is about making waves, I know. But come on. Those sites just ain't pimpin'. This is pimpin'.

And anyway, Frist is more of a whore. Corporate, but still a whore.

FRONTLINE: the insurgency: watch the full program.

The Austrailian guy with the copyrights all over everything (Michael Ware) seems like a bit of a boaster, but given the situation for journalists over there it wasn't as though Frontline had a plethora of sources to pick from.

The report tries to be positive, and it would be great if Col. McMaster's point of view had been shared up and down the chain of command from day 1, but given recent events, I don't think we're going to get a happy ending. Even if we dodge the rumbling civil war for another year, the occupation can go on and on for a lot longer and still not work out. The British occupied/created Iraq over a period of 35 years, and they were left with nothing.

I honestly don't see how we can hope to do any better, especially given our occupation's lack of sustainablility. In large part because the war was concieved with a level of due dilligance and objectivity that rivals the planners behind pets.com, and in large part because it's simply a terrifically bad idea to go and invade countries that didn't invade you first, the strategic position we're in is a big-time loser. We're $250B in the hole so far, and the total human toll -- the effects of death, attrition, and future medical care for the wounded --- is going to push that much higher, two to four times higher, even if we could magically pull out right this second.

We simply cannot affort to keep this show running for much longer, and stubbornly pursuing the Tinkerbell Strategy (Clap louder! It'll work out!) is fucking ignorant, not to mention cruel. It's not as morally monsterous as when palace-dwelling generals in Europe fed millions into the trench-war meat grinder in WWI, but it's just about as stupid.

We should be looking at how to bring our occupation of Iraq -- and I would argue the majority of our military presence in the entire region -- to an end. It's going to happen. Empire isn't sustainable over time, and it's not really even the right idea to pursue. The question is whether we redeploy on our own terms or whether we continue burning our future prospects in pursuit of some spectre of Pax Americana.

Heard from some folks at the Oscars that there's an email/forward going around claiming an 9/11 connection with verse 9:11 in the Koran. I want you to just take s guess whether or not it's true.

The answer.

Come on, people. Looking for conspiracies is a fundimentally disempowering way to analyze reality. It's a cop-out. Yeah, the odds are stacked; but that's not exactly a fucking secret, now is it?

And also, while we're at it, although it's clear that there are some unanswered questions about what exactly happened on 9/11, the idea that those events were part of a deliberate plan which was orchestrated by the power-elite of this country is one without a factual basis. Making that accusation, even by inference, without some kind of real evidence is, in my opinion, the height of counterproductivity.

I understand the allure of drama and intrigue (fnord) but this isn't an ok thing to jerk around about. Even Oliver Stone realizes that, you dig?

So give the conspiracy a rest. If you need something to do, get to work on that biodesil algae pond.

This is important stuff. I've previously linked to Net Freedom Now, which has some good background, but doesn't necessarily seem all that active. Common Cause has been a little iffy when it comes to the regulation of political blogging, but it looks like they're trying to make up for it by taking a stand here.

Check it out, get informed, spread the word. I'll be monitoring this and ramping things up.