I read this Monday, while sitting on top of the web covering the RNC riots.  It’s exactly what some people have been predicting and/or fearing.  From the UK Telegraph:

The Dutch intelligence service has pulled an agent out of an “ultra-secret operation” spying on Iran’s military industry because spymasters in Netherlands believe a United States air attack was imminent.

After I read this, I heard a quick blurb about it on the radio; essentially high-level Dutch intelligence has led them to believe that a U.S.-Israel strike on Iran is planned for sometime in the next 60 days (pre-election, notice) and their spy operation in Iran would have been at risk of being at one of the potential targets, so they yanked him/her.  I’ve been predicting this one- a bomb attack on Iran just before U.S. elections- for over a year, but what I’m suprised about really: the Dutch have high-level spies in Iran?  The Dutch have spies?  That wasn’t in any of the James Bond movies I saw.

Slightly more seriously, it is possible that this is psych-ops aimed at Iran coming from high levels of the CIA or NSA.  Also, it is possible that these wackos are actually getting ready to run bombing missions over Iran (which, I predict, will draw-in Russia quickly, which begs the question of China, which, well, yuck…..)

(Cross posted on Broadsides.org)

Let’s do Sarah Palin. Wait. That didn’t sound right. So, make that: Let’s consider Sarah Palin. I’ve been pondering words about Palin all weekend but every time I tore myself away from the unbearable relaxation of the holiday weekend and thought I was going to string two or three thoughts together, the terms of the discussion would change. I mean, how fast did the discussion morph from Palin’s “fake birth” (thanks, Kos!), to her daughter’s real birth? Nanoseconds.

And, of course, we only have the Internet and the self-important liberal bloggers to blame for the whiplash-like speed to which the Palin story has been changing.

If, as they like to declare, the Denver Dem-lovefest was their “finest hour,” the Palin coverage in the days that followed has certainly been the liberal blogosphere’s darkest hour. No sooner than they were able to unpack and frame their “official” passes to the Dem Party in Denver, the lib-blogs snarled at the gentle rain on their parade that the McCain campaign provided by picking-say what?! – a goddamn woman.

Ouch. There’s nothing that pisses a liberal off more than having a politically-correct trump card played before they’ve even had time to clean up from the mess of their premature victory ejaculation. Dude!

But the Palin card was played and the response was u.g.l.y. – just as the McCain folks were certainly hoping. Sure, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the Republicans, but I’ll bet the upper-tiers of the McCain campaign are happy that the initial Palin attacks were largely blown away by the coverage of Hurricane Gustav.

There is, after all, nothing more ugly than liberals beating up a woman, a mother of five, an elected (and popular) governor, and, by all accounts, a hyperkinetic outsider who has reached the top in what is certainly considered to be a real man’s state. Good luck with that.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to attack when it comes to attacking Palin. You know, things like THE ISSUES. But the lib-dips have taken the McCain bait and, instead, decided to run with breathless (and untrue) stories about her “fake pregnancy,” her faux-scandals (trooper-gate, snore), flying while pregnant, and her connection with an Alaska independence party that believed in localism and – yes – independence. Gasp! The silliest aspect to the lib-dip coverage was its use of rightwing Alaska Republicans’ quotes about Palin. Yo, fellas – because, they are mostly fellas – the rightwing Republicans hate her because she pulled the rug out from under the self-proclaimed “good ole boys” that ruled the roost before she chased them from office.

Like I said, stick to the issues. You know, things like her anti-choice position, her pro-drilling position (no pun intended – hey, she IS a mother of five), and her disastrous environmental record that can be summed up by three words: Fuck the bears. Well, not literally. But you get my point.

And, please, stop with the “experience” nonsense. Do the Dems know how many women and thinking men that the “no experience” argument is totally and completely pissing off – especially in an election cycle that has been monopolized by Barack Obama’s helium-filled balloons of “change”? Warning: Palin will eat the wine glass lib-dips alive with that accusation if she ever gets the chance.

Speaking of experience, here’s a fun little snippet from Dennis Perrin (http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com), one of my newly found favorite bloggers:

Watching the libsphere in hysterics over Sarah Palin has been entertaining, and no attack on her is considered too low or too coarse to post in a comments section. Apart from her reactionary positions, the main lib beef, as I recently noted, is with her inexperience. Liberals demand seasoned insiders like Joe Biden to help guide the empire, someone who can properly manage the machinery of state, bomb the right countries, spy on the right people, and above all, normalize imperial matters after eight years of “wrong” turns. Palin is an affront to their sense of professionalism. Thus the constant abuse.

Bingo.

Damn, I miss the issues. But, unfortunately, we’re all stuck in some kind of nightmarish sitcom-like presidential campaign, whereby the issues are damned while we take thoughtless swims in the varnish that will – hopefully – fend the scuff of meaning away for at least another four years.

After an entire day of protests, civil disobedience, and rioting, the St paul Police (with federal agents and the National Guard) have entirely sealed off downtown St Paul and are making mass arrests.  Legal observers, street medics, and journalists (including Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman) are among those arrested.

From my coverage over at Integral Psychosis:

1:15 (EST)/12:15 (CEN): A handful of demonstrators have breeched the security fence around the convention center; pepper spray being used heavily; busload of 50 National Guard troops has arrived inside the security perimeter around the Xcel Center.

1:45 (EST)/12:45 (CEN): Protesters have one major intersection held, including a police bus blocked in! cops are regrouping around them.  Journalists (including MSM), clearly marked with credentials, on the streets being pepper sprayed en masse by roving bike cops.  Break-away “Funk the war” march approx 300 people.

2:00 (EST)/1:00 (CEN): A second intersection is being successfully blocked by locked-down protesters; heavy street fighting between cops and black bloc, with at least one officer reported “down”- National Guard and riot cop reinforcements arriving.  Horses being used to ram into folks blocking an intersection (and holding a police bus).

2:30 (EST)/1:30 (CEN):  Intersections of Kellogg & Summit, 7th & Wall, 8th & Wall, Kellogg & Cedar, and possibly more all entirely blocked; there appear to be at least half a dozen fairly well coordinated and tactically organized anti-authoritarian blocks throughout downtown St Paul.  Delegate buses are being blocked from getting to the Xcel Center, with one bus having its windows smashed in.  Heavy street combat between black bloc and riot cops along John Ireland St.  Legal observers now being detained.  Cops in complete disarray and running in odd formations, sometimes right past blockades without even stopping.

3:00 (EST/2:00 (CEN):  Most intersections have been cleared by riot cops; over 100 arrested; delegate buses re-routed out of St Paul; several roving anti-authoritarian blocs continue; cops charging on horses, rubber bullets, tear gas, and tasers being used all over; National Guard arriving at heaviest clashes with concussion grenades; police now driving squad cars into crowds; total fucking chaos in Saint Paul!

Watch it all live (1 minute delay) from the UpTake.

3:15 (EST)/2:15 (CEN):  On-scene lawyers and legal observers being detained and taken away; cop cars being destroyed; rubber bullets and tear gas everywhere; bricks being removed from buildings and thrown at windows.  Injured protester pepper sprayed while down, is detained and being denied medical attention.

3:45 EST)/2:45 (CEN):  Most RNC events & speeches cancelled for the day, Bush cancels RNC appearance, McCain possibly canceling appearance (perhaps acceptance speech will happen in Gulf Coast).  Of course, Hurricane Gustav is being blamed for all this, though many (including some in the MSM) are doubting that’s the only reason.  The permitted anti-war march, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, is underway with approx 10,000 people.  Some intersections still being held.  

4:45 (EST)/3:45 (CEN): Clashes in the streets continue; lawyers being denied access to Ramsey County Jail (where most people are being held); the hospital nearest the protests is on “lockdown” after being inundated with people seeking medical attention from pepper spray and rubber bullets.  Metro Transit services into Downtown St Paul have been suspended.  Convention delegates who were being moved towards the Xcel Center on foot came into face-to-face confrontation with a group of protesters.  Several intersections still being blockaded and black bloc vs riot police and National Guardsmen confrontations continue throughout the city; 300 people are on the receiving end of a horse stampede; street medics are being targeted for arrest.   Unconfirmed reports of live ammo being fired near the Exel Center.

5:45 (EST)/4:45 (CEN):  Very heavy street fighting continues; cops have now blockaded all Northern bridges out of the city and appear to be moving in a highly controlled, “pincer formation” through the city, pushing everyone to the SE towards Kellogg Park.  I’ve now read & heard several MSM reports that “a small handful of protesters turned violent” and that “20 people have been arrested”.  Also, a woman has just been run over by a car (apparently not a cop car, but just a jackass right-winger).  She is in need of serious medical attention, the cops are standing by doing nothing.

6:00 (EST)/5:00 (CEN):  An entire bloc of protesters has been pinned into an intersection and is being arrested (approx 40 folks)- police making the arrests are beating people senseless as they do so, including Democracy Now! journalists.  Tin Can Comms, one of  several live feed demo newslines, is not responding and may be raided has been raided; nine people arrested and charged with “conspiracy to incite riots”; legal observer on hand was denied being shown the search warrant; computers, etc, seized.  Concerns now for other on the ground update centers who may be raided.

7:00 (EST/ 6:00 (CEN):  Police and National Guard have entirely sealed off Downtown St Paul and are making mass arrests, including DN! host Amy Goodman.

Yep, its true. There are a lot of good posts today, and I don’t wanna bump ’em any further down the page, so click on “there’s more” if you’re curious.

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Cool, huh?

According to Washington Post Blogger Chris Cillizza (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/bristol_palin_is_pregnant.html) Palin said,

“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us,” said Sarah and Todd Palin in a statement. “Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.”

The news comes just 72 hours after Palin was introduced by John McCain as his vice presidential nominee. In the time between the pick and Palin’s statement today, rumors had grown louder and louder that Palin’s youngest son, Trig, was actually her grandson and that it was Bristol who had given birth to the young boy.

According to Reuters, McCain campaign officials knew about Bristol’s pregnancy during the vetting process and that the rumors surrounding baby Trig’s birth made an announcement necessary.

Reuters’ Steve Holland writes: “McCain officials said the news of the daughter’s pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called ‘mud-slinging and lies’ circulating on liberal blog sites.”

To say my head is spinning is an understatement at this point:

To rebut rumors, Palin says daughter, 17, pregnant

Tim Ashe is a Democratic Party candidate for State Senate in Chittenden County. He is also currently a Progressive Party elected official, serving since 2003 on the Burlington City Council.

What gives?

According to Ashe, simple pragmatism. Seven Days broke out the candidacy in its issue last week and surfaced some points of interest.

Making his political positioning especially dexterous, Ashe is also seeking the Progressive nomination for a Senate seat as a write-in candidate. But because running as a Prog would perpetuate the partisan divide he’s trying to bridge, Ashe said he would decline the party’s endorsement and sit out the November general election if he does not gain Democratic backing in the September 9 primary.

“The third-party box isn’t something I’ve ever been comfortable with,” he said. Unlike many fellow Progs, he added, “I’m not obsessed with the concept of a third party per se.”

If Ashe looks at political parties as a means to an end, that’s nothing I, for one, would argue with. Many in the Democratic and Progressive Parties see their respective institutions as ends in themselves, and it’s that kind of parochialism that mediocrity thrives on. Clearly he does not share the view that I (and some others on this site) espouse; that the system is hardwired in such a way that it will only accommodate two parties, but neither, it would seem, is he doctrinaire about the 3rd party in which he’s been successful.

But to some, it smacks of a threat. From the same article:

Democratic State Senator Jim Condos of Chittenden County said he is troubled by “what looks to be a Progressive move to hijack the Democratic Party.”

Hm. If by “hijack,” one means run as a Dem, get elected by Dems as a Dem, and participate in the political process as a Dem, I suppose myself, Condos, and everyone else with a ‘D’ by their name is guilty of hijacking. Last I saw, that’s usually called “Democracy.”

Look, this is exactly what a lot of us would like to see happen, and given his progressive record on the issues, he would likely be on my short list if I were a Chittenden County voter. I don’t see how we can complain that people like Ashe are working against our mutual interests by staying away from the Democratic party, and then castigate them when they engage with a straight face. I suspect what at least partly is in play is institutional “pecking order”; an implicit sure we want you to come over, but you should take your place in the back of the line. Yuck. And if by being afraid of “co-opting,” there are Dems who are saying they don’t want to see the Party moved to the left, well obviously I have no patience for that either.

In other words; welcome aboard, Tim.

(Side note… there are some interesting, even extraordinary statements in the article from Progressive Party Chair Martha Abbott that get us into a whole ‘nuther topic that’s equally worthy of discussion… more on that soon)

If you make your living reading palms, casting horoscopes, or some other manner of mystical fraud, St. Johnsbury is open for business.

That's right, folks, back in July, without much notice, St. Johnsbury repealed its ordinance prohibiting its ban on soothsayers, psychics, and other “practitioners” of mystical and nontraditional methods of divination.

The problem? Practitioners of new-age irrationality, like tarot card reading and feng shui, didn't like the idea that they couldn't ply their trade in the city limits. Now, if you feel uncomfortable visiting that spooky fake Gypsy lady with the crystal ball, you can visit her hippie granddaughter upstairs from the health food store.

A supporter of this move is quoted by the Times Argus as saying: 

“The government has no power to determine whether or not these people are committing fraud.”

Too late for Carlo Ponzi, but it looks to come up trumps for the New Irrationality here in Vermont.

I know there are all kinds of people who believe in this stuff, and probably a good number of them come here. We also know that the Northeast Kingdom has traditionally been receptive to superstitions like dowsing. Nevertheless, I think we're taking a step backward when we decide that anyone who wants to take money from unsuspecting dupes by convincing them that they have mystical powers is entitled to do so.

I also think the Times Argus is missing out by uncritically repeating  the backers of this move. For instance, here's a quote from the article:

“We have people who predict what the stock market is going to do. We have people who predict the weather and get paid for it,” said Haynes.

Is there any difference between predicting the weather and predicting people's fortunes based on feng shui? I can think of one: predicting the weather isn't infallible, but it's based on the laws of physics and it can be evaluated based on the evidence; feng shui, on the other hand, is based on the study of forces that nobody has ever shown to exist.

But if you're a practitioner in these things, and you think they actually work, James Randi has a million bucks for you if you can actually do it.

In more evidence that Palin was a last minute, minimally-vetted choice to be John McCain’s running mate, bloggers are just scratching below the surface to find that her political allegiances likely include the Alaskan Independence Party, yet another partner organization of the Second Vermont Republic (shown here on the list of allies complied by Kirkpatrick Sale’s “Middlebury Institute”). In fact, Dexter & Lynette Clark, listed as Vice Chair and Chair, respectively, appear on SVR’s roundly criticized “advisory board,” viewable here.

Details below the fold with some You Tube clips of SVR Advisory Board member Dexter Clark praising Palin as an ally and (until recently) a member, as well as discussing the need to infiltrate the major parties (and major hat tip to Liz Arnett at dKos for turning these up).

At about 6 minutes into the following clip from the recent AIP Convention: “Our current governor who I mentioned at the last conference, the one we were hoping would get elected, Sarah Palin, did get elected… and there was a lot of talk about her moving up. She was an AIP member before she got the job as mayor of a small town… but to get along, to go along, she eventually joined the Republican Party.”

Here’s another clip where the SVR Advisory Board member states that secession organizations need a “plan,” which apparently includes getting involved in the major political parties such as Palin has done; “the problem remains you have to be at the table in the existing political realm – you have to a demipublican or a republicrat is what we call it…”

(Note reference to the “secessionist conventions” held in “cities with brick buildings”)

Clearly, this is a more interesting group as a standalone entity than the League of The South, and in fact in the second video, you’ll hear much of the anticorporate rhetoric consistent with SVR and VT Commons. Nevertheless, their beachhead into mainstream politics (and the Vice Presidency) is a creationist, anti-choice social mega-conservative, which puts the values and goals of the organization into a disturbing light. Here’s Palin’s “welcome” message to the AIP’s convention:

I don’t know what can be concluded from any of this at this point, but the connections are interesting and certainly eyebrow raising. What an odd choice.