What motivates George W. Bush's America: God or greed? Both, according to U.S. political writer Kevin Phillips, in a distinctly unholy alliance that threatens not only U.S. prosperity and geopolitical supremacy, but American democracy itself.

War and terrorism take a back seat in this characteristically erudite, breathless and unrelenting look at trends in recent U.S. politics and economics.

As the book's subtitle indicates, Phillips (American Dynasty, Wealth and Democracy) believes U.S. vulnerability will come at the hands of radical religion, oil and borrowed money.

At first glance, the three would seem to have little in common. True, scholars since at least Max Weber have traced the connections between religion and capitalism, and it will come as no surprise that both play an inordinately large role in shaping the contours of contemporary American life.

Neither will it shock readers to learn that the pernicious influence of oil distorts U.S. policy, both at home and abroad.

The novelty of Phillips's approach, then, lies not in his choice of threats but in his treatment of them. In three separate but loosely connected sections, he illustrates the extent to which God, oil and debt affect one another.   more »

It turns out this idea of the Vice President performing before Randy Jackson, Paula Abdhul and Simon Callow has been embraced by all the White House handlers.

Mary Matalin sat right down, and came up with a list of possible songs for Cheney to perform. The stirring "Defying Gravity" from Wicked was high on the list, but Cheney didn't like it.

He liked the idea of singing "If I Were King of the Forest," from The Wizard of Oz, but was afraid he'd be compared unfavorably to Bert Lahr.

"You're So Vain," "Lay Lady Lay," "On the Good Ship Lollipop," and "O Mio Babbino Caro" were all considered, but the Vice President didn't feel comfortable with any of them.

Finally Karen Hughes, about to hop a plane to explain how wonderful we are to various groups of Muslims, stopped long enough to make the most obvious but also most apt suggestion: the song "My Way." At core, it was pretty much written for Dick Cheney.

He liked the idea a lot, except there were certain lyrics he didn't like. He didn't want to say "regrets, I've had a few." "It's not accurate," he said.   more »

The president has about two years left before he will have to brand whatever corrupt authoritarian regime that emerges in Iraq as "a great victory." A man who lies us into war will not hesitate to lie us out of one.

Then Americans will have to face the costs. After all the thousands of America's finest have been buried, after all those artificial limbs have been attached, all those mutilated faces reconstructed, all those blind given Seeing Eye dogs.

All those mental cases put on a drug regimen, all those billions of dollars added to the $8 trillion American debt, then comes the question, the important question everybody is ignoring right now:

What will we have bought for this terrible price? Another corrupt dictatorship in a still-unstable Middle East.

We had that before the war. Our corrupt political leaders just didn't like their corrupt political leader, so they decided on "regime change."

We certainly will not have purchased a safer America. At the end of this sorry episode, America will be weaker and more hated than it is today.   more »

Contrary to appearances, the elections this week are important, because they will expose the true face of Israeli society and its hidden ambitions.

More than 100 elected candidates will be sent to the Knesset on the basis of one ticket - the racism ticket. If we used to think that every two Israelis have three opinions, now it will be evident that nearly every Israeli has one opinion - racism.

Elections 2006 will make this much clearer than ever before. An absolute majority of the MKs in the 17th Knesset will hold a position based on a lie: that Israel does not have a partner for peace.

An absolute majority of MKs in the next Knesset do not believe in peace, nor do they even want it - just like their voters - and worse than that, don't regard Palestinians as equal human beings. Racism has never had so many open supporters. It's the real hit of this election campaign.

One does not have to be Avigdor Lieberman to be a racist. The "peace" proposed by Ehud Olmert is no less racist. Lieberman wants to distance them from our borders, Olmert and his ilk want to distance them from out consciousness.   more »

The Belarus saga exposes the hollowness of the west's support for human rights and democracy.

In Ukraine, the scene of elections this weekend, the western-backed orange revolution of just over a year ago has also left a bitter taste for many.

For all its talk of spreading democracy, respecting the rights of independent peoples to choose whichever social and economic arrangements they wish really is the last thing the west wants.

When is an election not considered free and fair by the west? Answer: when it delivers victory to a government that rejects neoliberal orthodoxy and refuses to orientate its foreign policy towards Washington or Brussels.

There is no other conclusion one can come to after both the US and the EU announced swingeing sanctions on Belarus after the re-election of President Lukashenko.   more »

The locusts stripping Iraq bare are insulted. General Sir Michael Jackson, a Bloody Sunday criminal, a Kosovo war criminal and now a loyal goon in the mobbing of Baghdad, told ITN that he was "saddened that there does not seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives".

ITN arranged a phone-in programme about the release of Norman Kember and the Christian peacekeepers who were with him.

The question: "Do you believe Norman Kember was right to put his life in danger for the sake of the Iraqi people? Or, do do you believe he's been irresponsible?"

Such a question has its own pre-written answers. It calls upon ingrained cultural prejudices, sullen racism, resentment against do-gooders, those who have the temerity, the audacity, to actually consider the lives of Iraqis worth protecting and respecting.

The answers: "What did he hope to achieve by going to Iraq? Our troops are already there to keep the peace!" "He put the lives of our troops in more danger." "How much has his rescue cost the taxpayer?"   more »

BUSH MAKES THE ULTIMATE COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL: AMERICAN SOLDIERS WILL FIGHT & DIE FOR ISRAEL

It came during the Q&A in his Cleveland speech, in response to a question he never expected to be asked, at least by the lapdogs in the White House press corps.

And was, regrettably, not mentioned by any media report I saw or heard.

Corporate audiences are obviously less-screened than most of Bush's "public" appearances, so someone asked:

Author and former Nixon administration official Kevin Phillips, in his latest book, American Theocracy, discusses what has been called radical Christianity and its growing involvement into government and politics.

He makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse.

Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the apocalypse? And if not, why not?

   more »

26 MARCH

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