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* It was startling to read Dana Milbank's report in the Post about a conservative forum at the Cato Institute. It is questionable whether the tremors of discontent are going to turn into an upheaval. Nevertheless, comments by Bruce Bartlett and Andrew Sullivan make it clear that among some conservatives the disillusionment with G.W. Bush is more than just skin-deep. They sounded almost like....lefties!A few excerpts: Bartlett certainly thought so. He began by predicting a big tax increase "to finance the inevitable growth of government that is in the pipeline that President Bush is largely responsible for." He also said many fellow conservatives don't know about the "quite dreadful" traits of the administration, such as the absence of "anybody who does any serious analysis" on policy issues. Instead, Sullivan was on hand to second the critique. "This is a big-government agenda," he said. "It is fueled by a new ideology, the ideology of Christian fundamentalism." The question period gave the two a chance to come up with new insults. ...

* For lawmakers facing mid-term elections, the Oscar winning song "It's hard out here for a pimp" might resonate. What they wear might be different but some politicians, Republican and Democrat, have a lot in common with pimps. The Democrats have so far failed to capitalize on the woes facing Republicans. With all that is known about the GOP and the Bush administration, the prospects for Democrats in the mid-term elections look far from encouraging. After quickly falling in line to support the decision to go to war and rubber-stamp the Patriot Act, they lack the voice to condemn the abuses and failures of the administration. Their statements fail to stir people. They are making noise but it lacks a beat. The president's popularity rating down to 34% and Republican lawmakers up for reelection are shying away from hanging on to his coattail. And the Democrats are reported to be working on a legislative manifesto! "News about GOP political corruption, inept hurricane response and chaos in Iraq has lifted Democrats' hopes of winning control of Congress this fall. But seizing the opportunity has not been easy, as they found when they tried to unveil an agenda of their own." Enough to make the morning cup taste sour.

Poems by Soen Nakagawa and other Zen Masters*Last night the sky opened up. Woke up a few times to the sound of hard rain. From the look of the clouds, there is more on the way.©Ian Britton, http://www.freefoto.com/Spring approachesthe Pacific Oceanwill be my sitting mat*Sound of mountainsound of oceaneverywhere spring rain *---Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984)Sitting quietly, doing nothingSpring Comes, and the grass grows by itself ---Zenrin KushuI Always think of Konan in MarchPartridges chirp among the scented blossoms.---FuketsuThe long night,The sound of the waterSays what I think---GochikuSource: The World of Zen by Nancy Wilson Ross

Onward Christian Soldiers * Seymour Hersh wrote in The New Yorker: "After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the former official said, he was told that Bush felt that “"God put me here”" to deal with the war on terror. The President'’s belief was fortified by the Republican sweep in the 2002 congressional elections; Bush saw the victory as a purposeful message from God that "“he is the man", the former official said. Publicly, Bush depicted his reëlection as a referendum on the war; privately, he spoke of it as another manifestation of divine purpose." And in England, Prime Minister Tony Blair said during a televised chat show on March 4th: "........that God and history will eventually judge his decision to go to war with Iraq, and says his decision, like much of his policymaking, was underpinned by his Christian faith." "Mr Blair made the remarks in an appearance on Parkinson ........., in which he spoke of the struggle with his conscience to do the right thing because people's lives are at stake." We don't know how God will judge Mr. Blair but, with all the facts that are now public about the lies and deception that went into the decision to go war, history is not likely to be kind.The toll in human terms as of March 3rdU.S. Soldiers 2300UK Soldiers 103Iraqi civilians - Minimum : 28636 Maximum 32270.Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties and Iraq Body Count Faith-based Foreign PolicyGeorge Bush is the darling of the so called Christian right, the evangelicals who consider themselves to be the chosen ones, waiting for the second coming when they will ascend to heaven. In President Bush,a BAC, they have a champion who is mindful of their clout and does everything he can to please them. From anti-abortion measures, sex education, to school prayers, and public display of Ten Commandments, the president is a zealous advocate. Now our foreign policy is being influenced by evangelical Christians. The world has reason to worry about this modern day crusader. He has almost four more years. Howard LaFranchi writes in The Christian Science Monitor: When President Bush recently used a public forum to announce his support for a more robust international intervention in Sudan's Darfur region - catching even some of his senior aides off guard - it was yet another milestone for the rising interest of Christian evangelicals in US foreign policy. In just a few years, conservative Christian churches and organizations have broadened their political activism from a near-exclusive domestic focus to an emphasis on foreign issues.*Enquiry Begins About Coverup of Pat Tillman's Death The army has announced that a criminal investigation will be conducted about the death of one-time NFL player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan in a friendly fire incident. Originally, the army had reported that Tillman died in enemy action. Tillman's family had reasons to question that and pushed for facts.

* Cold morning---cold for us here in the San Francisco Peninsula. Temp. 50°F (about 10°C). Going to be cloudy but no showers expected until tonight. Yesterday, we had snow on the foothills. Unusual for us and it never fails to cause comments and excitement. The powdery snow does not last too long. Had a lot of rain last March. If the weather pundits are right, this year too we have wet days ahead of us before the onset of spring---16 days from now.“"In a way winter is the real spring, the time when the inner things happen, the resurge of nature.”"----Edna O'Brien “"Spring too, very soon!They are setting the scene for it--plum tree and moon”(Haru mo ya keshiki totonou tsuki ume)"---Basho (1643-1694), translated by Harold HendersonMy yard looks colorful. It is a pleasure to see the daffodils, irises and freesias. The freesias are fragrant. Sweetpea vines climbing higher and higher and the branches of gingko trees sprouting new leaves. Unmistakable signs that spring is around the corner. Hiking through Yorkshire Dales (UK) a few years back I came across a nursery that displayed a sign "Sweetpeas are now ready for planting". It was late May! The sweetpeas in my yard had almost finished blooming when I left on my trip. Sunday is Oscar night. I have not seen all the movies nominated for awards and so I shall refrain from picking winners. Among the ones I watched, Truman and Brokeback Mountain are sure to bag some awards. Also liked Good Night and Good Luck and The Constant Gardener. Have not seen any of the five films nominated for the best foreign movie award. Paradise Now, an entry from Palestine and described as a political thriller, has caused some controversy. The French entry Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) is an antiwar film; the story is about soldiers of World War I who observed truce and got together on a Christmas eve.

Covering Your Ass, Passing the Blame, etc. * The ghost of Katrina continues to haunt the president. "Was the president misinformed, misspoken or misleading?" Now we know why the president applauded FEMA's former chief Michael Brown. Being fully aware of his own role--total lack of comprehension and unresponsiveness to the briefing (caught on video) about the impending disaster--the president played the hand that was available and hoped that it would all blow away. The beleaguered White House staff is doing contortions to explain the ten words "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." As to misspeaking, nothing new about that. He has been misspeaking ever since he emerged in the political arena. In hindsight Michael Brown, who became the butt of jokes and was castigated in the media, turned out to be not such a dumb cluck after all.*“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). ---Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898), British author, mathematician, clergyman. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, ch. II, Macmillan (1865).

* George Will, in his column Rhetoric of Unreality, quoted Lawrence Kaplan (New Republic):"With U.S reconstruction aid running out, Iraq's infrastructure, never fully restored to begin with, decays by the hour. . . . The level of corruption that pervades Iraq's ministerial orbit . . . would have made South Vietnam's kleptocrats blush. . . . Corruption has helped drive every public service measure -- electricity, potable water, heating oil -- down below its prewar norm." Is this the Iraq that President Bush talks about? There is a disconnect somewhere. The president's Iraq is a make-believe world created to justify his misadventure. He talks about freedom and democracy for the Iraqis but in reality the Iraqis are facing rule of the mullahs who are using Taleban-like methods. Even under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was secular in every sense of the word. Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute, writing in the Wall Street Journal, reports that Shiite militias "have broken up coed picnics, executed barbers [for the sin of shaving beards] and liquor store owners, instituted their own courts, and posted religious guards in front of girls' schools to ensure Iranian-style dress." Iraq's other indispensable man, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, says that unless the government can protect religious sites, "the believers will." Our soldiers are dying and getting maimed, and we are spending our money for this!

The Named and the Nameless * "Dear America, When Will This Cruel War Be Over?", The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson,Gordonsville,Virginia,1864. "At times I feel like I am a thousand years old---that is what this cruel war has done to me." Regardless of how they feel about the reason for the war in Iraq---just and necessary or a war for the grand plans and hubris of a few---there are many households in America in which the war is forever present because they have family members serving in the armed forces in Iraq. They must feel as Emma Simpson did back in 1864 about the civil war. They want the war to be over and soldiers to return home. Many more Iraqis have lost their lives, the majority of them hapless civilians who got caught in this action by the super powers. The Iraqi civilians deserve our sympathy just as much as our soldiers do.*"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." ---John Donne Garrison C. Avery, 23, Army 1st Lieutenant, Feb 01, 2006Marlon A. Bustamante, 25, Army Specialist, Feb 01, 2006Anthony Chad Owens, 21, Army Specialist, Feb 01, 2006Caesar S. Viglienzone, 21, Army Private 1st Class, Feb 01, 2006Sean T. Cardelli, 20, Marine Private 1st Class, Feb 01, 2006Simon T. Cox Jr., 30, Army 1st Lieutenant, Feb 02, 2006Walter B. Howard II, 35, Army Specialist, Feb 02, 2006Scott A. Messer, 26, Army Private 1st Class, Feb 02, 2006Lance S. Cornett, 33, Army Sergeant 1st Class, Feb 03, 2006Jesse M. Zamora, 22, Army Specialist, Feb 03, 2006Roberto L. Martinez Salazar, 21, Army Specialist, Feb 04, 2006Jeremiah J. Boehmer, 22, Army Sergeant, Feb 05, 2006William S. Hayes III, 23, Army Specialist, Feb 05, 2006Sergio A. Mercedes Saez, 23, Army Specialist, Feb 05, 2006Christopher R. Morningstar, 27, Army Staff Sergeant, Feb 05, 2006Patrick W. Herried, 29, Army Specialist, Feb 06, 2006Orville Gerena, 21, Marine Corporal, Feb 06, 2006David S. Parr, 22, Marine Lance Corporal, Feb 06, 2006Brandon S. Schuck, 21, Marine Corporal, Feb 06, 2006Jacob D. "Jake" Spann, 21, Marine Private 1st Class, Feb 06, 2006Allen D. Kokesh Jr., 21, Army National Guard Specialist, Feb 07, 2006Steven L. Phillips, 27, Marine Lance Corporal, Feb 07, 2006Javier Chavez Jr., 19, Marine Private 1st Class, Feb 09, 2006Ross A. Smith, 21, Marine Corporal, Feb 09, 2006Felipe J. Garcia Villareal, 26, Army Specialist, Feb 12, 2006Andrew J. Kemple, 23, Army Corporal, Feb 12, 2006Nicholas Wilson, 25, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class, Feb 12, 2006Matthew Ron Barnes, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Feb 14, 2006Michael S. Probst, 26, Marine Lance Corporal, Feb 14, 2006Rusty L. Washam, 21, Marine Corporal, Feb 14, 2006Anthony R. Garcia, 48, Army Captain, Feb 17, 2006Amos C. Edwards Jr., 41, Army National Guard Sergeant 1st Class, Feb 17, 2006Charles E. Matheny IV, 23, Army Sergeant, Feb 18, 2006Matthew D. Conley, 21, Marine Corporal, Feb 18, 2006Jessie Davila, 29, Army National Guard Sergeant, Feb 20, 2006Daniel J. Kuhlmeier, 30, Dept. of the Air Force Civilian, Feb 20, 2006Jay T. Collado, 31, Marine Staff Sergeant, Feb 20, 2006Almar L. Fitzgerald, 23, Marine 2nd Lieutenant, Feb 21, 2006Gregson G. Gourley, 38, Army Staff Sergeant, Feb 22, 2006Curtis T. Howard II, 32, Army Staff Sergeant, Feb 22, 2006Rickey E. Jones, 21, Army Sergeant, Feb 22, 2006Christopher L. Marion, 20, Army Private 1st Class, Feb 22, 2006Gordon F. Misner II, 23, Army Sergeant, Feb 22, 2006Allan A. Morr, 21, Army Private 1st Class, Feb 22, 2006Thomas J. Wilwerth, 21, Army Specialist, Feb 22, 2006Dimitri Muscat, 21, Army Not reported yet, Feb 24, 2006Joshua Francis Powers, 0, Army Private 1st Class, Feb 25, 2006Adam J. VanAlstine, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, Feb 25, 2006Clay Farr, 21, Army Specialist, Feb 26, 2006Joshua Pearce, 21, Army Specialist, Feb 26, 2006Source: Iraq Coalition CasualtiesNames of five dead soldiers yet to be released by the DOD.*Jill Carroll, UpdateAccording to an AP report in the Post, she is being held by Islamic Army, the same insurgent group that released two French hostages in 2004 after keeping them captive for four months.

Failure of the Bush-Blair Grand Plan * Is Blair A Bush Clone?* The story of Aldous Huxley's 1955 book Eyeless In Gaza,did not take place in Gaza, Palestine. The name, however, comes to my mind when I read about what is happening in Palestine and in Iraq. The major powers all played their hands and have no reason to be proud of their role. John Kaminski's article in rense.com is noteworthy. Looking at images of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, and reading about the violence raging in that land one sees another plot of the U.S. and the so called Coalition gone awry. We had been playing sectarian politics after toppling Saddam Hussein and lost control of the game. Instead of a puppet regime at our beck and call we have unleashed a monster. Long simmering grudges between the Sunnis and Shias have broken out. As usual, there is a scramble to point the finger at those responsible for destruction of the mosque. Who are they? Sunni extremists? Kurds, insurgents belonging to al-Qaeda? Iraqis are killing each other and whoever else gets in their way. Iraqi civilians under stress of the invasion that began in spring of 2003 now face the dangers of a bloody, full-scale civil war.From USA Today: Democracy faces tests in Iraq, and at home, too In the 13 months since George W. Bush made the worldwide spread of democracy an obsession of his presidency, two compelling truths have emerged. One, the global expansion of democracy, American-style, is stalled in Iraq. The other, individual freedom--the cornerstone of the democratic ideal--is being eroded here and in Britain,where Tony Blair governs like a Bush clone. We might never know the truth why Tony Blair decided to hitch his star to the American president's misadventure in Iraq--to share in the perceived glory of a subjugated Middle East or a vision that appeared when he was praying with George Bush. But whatever the reason he certainly didn't think of being described in history books as "a Bush clone".In the meantime, news from Baghdad makes dismal reading.BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 -- Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media. A stark example of the pitfalls when we invade a country to bring freedom and democracy in the style of G.W. Bush. Read what Iraqi bloggers have to say: Baghdad Burning Feb.23, 2006 Raed In The Middle Feb.25, 2006 Comments Anonymous — 2006-02-28 This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

* There they go again. The Neanderthals are doing their thing--protecting morality of women. These are the same virtuous people who oppose women's right to choose abortion under any circumstances and sex education that includes teaching use of contraceptives! Message to women: Don't have sex unless you want to be pregnant. Pray and take cold showers. And they conveniently have no memory of what they did when they were young. The Taleban mentality alive and well in the red states. The Post: "Expand or restrict access". More than 60 bills have been filed in state legislatures already this year, and that follows an already busy 2005 session on emergency contraception. The resulting tug of war is creating an availability map for the pill that looks increasingly similar to the map of "red states" and "blue states" in the past two presidential elections -- with increased access in the blue states and greater restrictions in the red ones. The FDA's inaction on Plan B has been sharply criticized by most major medical societies and many in Congress, and led to a lawsuit by the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. The federal magistrate judge hearing the case on Friday concluded that the center had established a "strong preliminary showing of 'bad faith or misbehavior' " on the part of FDA officials, and so ordered the case to go forward and ruled that top current and past FDA leaders should be interviewed under oath.