Remember the Iraqi Information Minister in 2003? “There are no U.S. troops in Baghdad,” he said as you could see the smoke rising behind him from the U.S. invasion. Americans found this guy completely entertaining.

I think of that moment often when Clueless George and others insist that all is well in Iraq and Iraqi troops are preparing to take over the jobs currently covered by U.S. troops. Apparently some people aren’t looking beyond the great and powerful Oz to watch the video and read the stories coming out of Iraq. In particular, a video on The Guardian (UK) shows bored U.S. troops doing little more than drawing fire then running around trying to figure out who shot at them from Iraqi police and government positions. Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar on Democracy Now this morning talked about the violent revenge against coalition forces by Iraqis.

How many administration officials or government spokespeople will come forward with their truth before those in power acknowledge the gravity of the failure that is Iraq?

At some point, we just need to look over Bush’s shoulder to see the smoke rising in the distance.

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PoMo is here. That’s Post Month. National Blog Posting Month.

Every year I think I will participate in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. It’s only 50,000 words. Not so tough. So far, I have not written past the first week for five years.

Fussy is encouraging those of us who “lack the imagination, stamina, and self-destructive impulses required to write a novel that quickly” to post to our blogs every day in November. It’s only 30 entries. We start blogs to write. This encourages us to write. This is good. Clearly one who abandons a blog for a month at a time needs some external motivation. I accept.

During the month of November, I will post every day. I do not promise to be smart or funny, though I will strive for some kind of relevance.

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That’s what Keith Olbermann said in his commentary this past week. It seems I won’t be the only local there. Wear the shirt. Meet before you arrive in Cuba. You’ll be easier to round up if you’re already wearing orange.

(This is, of course, if O’Lielly does get us all first with his hand grenade. Is it seriously OK to threaten to use a weapon like this but not OK to tell Cheney you disagree with his policies? Yes, I know the answer.)

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When I need to get my blood pumping, there are several ways to go about it. Most predictable is to go to the “Political” section of my music files. I have it shuffling on continuous play right now so I can listen to:

• Michael Franti, “Yell Fire” - I met Michael Franti when he was opening for Billy Bragg in Washington DC about 15 years ago. He was an angry, articulate teenager. Smart ass, smart man. He’s still angry. “They’re telling you to never worry about the future.” He very nearly throat sings in this song. I aspire to throat sing. Mother Jones Magazine chose this as one of its In Tune songs last month. You can listen / download at Anti. “Revolution nevers comes with a warning.”  The thing is, when there IS a fire, you have to yell fire.

• Black Crowes, “Soul Singin’” Rocky Anderson vs. Black Crowes remix from Head On Radio - “Holy shit!” I said when I first heard it. “I know that voice. That’s my minister.” There is Tom Goldsmith from First Unitarian Church introducing Rocky Anderson. (Unitarians = all of the church and none of the religion. I didn’t figure Tom was listening to the Black Crowes regularly, so I sent it to him. “What a kick,” he said. Hip dude.) I was there, and I’ve heard the speech many times since, but listening to this song does it for me. This speech certainly has made Rocky Anderson a popular guy. So what if he has ego. Anyone willing to get into politics really has to have massive ego, even if they disguise it. I think he may be pulling an Obama by spreading his approval around across party lines. I know Utah Democrats aren’t happy about this, but I suspect it’s part of his broader strategy. I’m not saying that works. I am just saying I listen to this speech, and I know I want to hear this man speak up on the national stage.

• Steve Earle, “The Revolution Starts Now” - I need to leave my ancestral condo and walk my 5% Democratic precinct to encourage registered voters to walk down the street to the church to vote. I made a map of my precinct showing where all of the voters are — masses of little red dots for registered Republicans, even more pink dots for the Unaffiliated, an impressive number of black dots for Unknown, four American Constitution Party, and two lonely Greens. Altogether, there are fewer than fifty Democrats. I made a map so I could see them clustered together. When I listen to this song, I think about my precinct. “I was running down the street in the town where I was born. . . .” I want to believe they would make community with those who live among them–with ME. I want to believe that we can work together if the disaster we’ve trained for comes. But, look, I say “them.” I can’t say “us” even though this has been my how since before I reached adolescence. “Revolution starts now, in your own backyard, in your own hometown.” Maybe my experiences with neighbors have deflated my high ideals of local community. “They all brought what they could bring, nobody went without.” A demographer for a national Utah campaign told me, 1) I live in the most reliably Republican-voting district in the Redest state, and 2) wouldn’t I be happier in Sugarhouse? Damn. Probably. I heard a nice Unitarian say he was single-handedly integrating Bountiful. I think of myself doing that in my town. I need my soul singing to be able to do this.

OK. Deep breath. Ask myself what’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding, then go encourage my neighbors to vote.

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Beginning of the End of America. That is the title of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment this week. “We have lived as if in a trance. . .” he began.

Do you find that phrase as alarming as I do–or did? “Beginning of the end of America.” Gradually, the more I let climate change sink in and I resist the growing fascism, I find the idea of the fall of American civilization less alarming. It seems closer to inevitable. I stop wondering whether my own children and their children will survive. The question I have been asking are will civilizations survive? Will humanity survive?

Like so many people, I listen to Keith Olbermann’s weekly Special Comment. When I can stand the clownish context, I watch on television. When I miss it, I watch online–usually. Also like so many people, I wonder how long he will be able to do this. Even if this is the most popular spot on NBC or MSN (the only one I bother watching, for sure), can this go on? When voicing one’s opinion of Dick Cheney to his face is an act of terror, how can Keith Olbermann speak so directly week after week? Does the fact that nearly 70,000 people have watched the commentary on You Tube alone in the past couple of days give Olbermann any measure of protection?

The man is not going to be quiet as habeus corpus begins to die in Bush’s signing of the Military Commissions Act. I don’t know why they let him keep talking in this growing climate of fascism, but I listen and I talk about it. Keep talking. Face-to-face communications will always be free. Exercise your rights.

Full transcript on Common Dreams.

Full transcript and video on MSNBC.

Video on You Tube - 86,206 views, 1755 comments and counting. The number of views went up by 18,000+ in the several hours it took me to finish this post. That’s 0.0006% of the now 300,000,000 population of the U.S. (as if all views came from the U.S.).

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