Motley Moose – Archive

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

A look at a memorable May, 1968 night in Boston – and the three men whose actions forty-six years ago helped that city avert a night of violence that afflicted many other US cities, after the jump ………….

Found on the Internets …

Fareed Zakaria: Who lost Iraq? The Iraqis did, with an assist from George W. Bush

But how did Maliki come to be prime minister of Iraq? He was the product of a series of momentous decisions made by the Bush administration. Having invaded Iraq with a small force – what the expert Tom Ricks called “the worst war plan in American history” – the administration needed to find local allies. It quickly decided to destroy Iraq’s Sunni ruling establishment and empower the hard-line Shiite religious parties that had opposed Saddam Hussein. This meant that a structure of Sunni power that had been in the area for centuries collapsed. These moves – to disband the army, dismantle the bureaucracy and purge Sunnis in general – might have been more consequential than the invasion itself.

How Iraq Turns Into Vietnam Before Our Very Eyes

And what happened to The Future Of Iraq Project which, whatever you might think of its ambition and the assumptions on which it was built, one of which is the now self-evident proposition that we pretty much suck at nation-building, at least was an attempt to construct a future beyond candy-and-flowers, and which at least had as its fundamental principle that, having wrecked Iraq, we had something of an obligation to fix it for the Iraqis? Donald Rumsfeld happened to it. Dick Cheney happened to it. The utter incompetence of the administration of C-Plus Augustus happened to it.[…]

Who-Lost-Iraq? sadly will become an issue in the midterm elections that are upcoming in the fall, and that it will do so before the country has been honest with itself in answering the question, “Why Iraq At All?”

Sunk Cost

A sunk cost is a cost that an entity has incurred, and which it can no longer recover by any means. Sunk costs should not be considered when making the decision to continue investing in an ongoing project, since you cannot recover the cost.

Sweep up the shards, shed some tears … and move on.

More news …

Good morning, Moosekind. TGIF!

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

Tuesday night, the tea party wing of the Republican Party turned on one of their own. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost his primary to Dave Brat, a professor who teaches Ayn Randian economics to college students. Brat spent $122,000 to Cantor’s $5 million.  

Tweets …

@imillhiser: “The Tea Party’s been a tremendously positive input, I think… certainly for our party, you see the benefit.” -Eric Cantor, Nov. 10, 2010

@JuddLegum: Lesson GOP will take from Cantor’s loss: Kill immigration reform. Real lesson: No matter how much you pander to Tea Party, it’s never enough

@DanaHoule: This shows a resurgence of the Republican establ…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

@lizzwinstead: ERIC CANTOR IS TOO LIBERAL FOR THE REPUBLICANS IN VIRGINIA! #murica #YourPartyIsCurdled

The Republicans made a deal with the devil and released the hounds of hell … who are biting them in the hinder.

Good morning meese! Happy happy Wednesday!

The common Moose, Alces alces, unlike other members of the deer family, is a solitary animal that doesn’t form herds. Not so its rarer but nearest relative, Alces purplius, the Motley Moose. Though sometimes solitary, the Motley Moose herds in ever shifting groups at the local watering hole to exchange news and just pass the time.

As a black woman, I’m used to living with racial hatred against me and mine. It’s just one of those things that is part of the wallpaper of my life. When you are black it just “is”. It doesn’t take over my life, and I don’t worry about it daily. It’s just the the way my world is ordered-with an underlying malaise you start learning to live with as soon as you are old enough to know you are somehow “different”. Have lived through segregation and Jim Crow signs, seeing the Klan up close, and being spit on, beaten and jailed when fighting back. I’ve had partners and friends shot down by racist cops. I deal with racial microaggressions daily.

I also know that on the left that we have white allies against racism, and that’s important. But too often that alliance is to stop racism against blacks, or latinos or asians or native americans, and there is not enough discussion about how racism and white supremacy affects white people.  

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

Good morning Motley Meese! Hope your weekend was lovely. The above is another shot from my fabjabulous new camera.