From Reuters
Bush to veto defense bill after Iraq objects
CRAWFORD, Texas - President George W. Bush intends to veto defense legislation after Iraq objected to a provision that could freeze its assets in the United States if Americans sue the country, the White House said on Friday.
Iraqi officials raised their concerns with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker about 10 days ago and when administration officials took a closer look at the provision they agreed that it could pose “grave financial risk” for Iraq, tying up assets needed for reconstruction, the White House said.
Congressional Democratic leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the administration should have raised its objections earlier…
The White House said it became more acutely aware of the potential consequences for Iraq and its relations with the United States after Baghdad raised its concerns.
To: President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the Much Respected Government they represent.
From: Adam Felber
Re: Fanatical Apathy
Dear overlords;
I just wanted to check in to make sure that everything I’m doing on this blog is okay, and assure you that I would never, ever do anything to harm any of you - not individually, not your government, and certainly not the people of Iraq.
I admit, sometimes there are things I say in these pages that might seem critical of your government, but please understand it in the context it is meant - loyal opposition, but with the love. Always with the love.
Anyway, if you can see your way clear to make sure you don’t tell your colonial vassals in the White House to curtail the freedoms of the internet (in general) and this blog (in particular), well, that’d be appreciated. I would contact my elected representatives about this, but respect for them and their “process” and their “laws” is clearly now secondary to the whims and vicissitudes of your desires. [And appropriately so, of course! Of course!]
Thank you, again, for letting the sun shine on my home this holiday season.
Yours respectfully,
Adam Felber
Fanny Roborat
34 comments
sharon
December 28, 2007 at 2:02 pm
1I feel *so* out of touch. I didn’t know that *any* Iraqi assets were funding the reconstruction, much less Iraqi assets stored here in the US. I thought American taxpayer dollars were being funneled directly into the accounts of KBR, Halliburton, Blackwater, and various other GOP contributors. Oh, and there was that small matter of the pallet of American currency being sent to Iraq and misplaced.
Murray
December 28, 2007 at 2:58 pm
2Well I’m sure glad that SOMEONE is reading what we put in out bills. Obviously not our congress or White house. I wonder what other mistakes we are making that they will catch. Perhaps after this war thing we can put the Iraqis to work as proof readers. They seem to have a real talent there. (Judging from a lot of emails I get, Americans, (none of the folks here) have lost this talent a decade or two ago).
sharon
December 28, 2007 at 3:00 pm
3maybe we could just cut out the middlemen and -women and let the Iraqis write the legislation, too.
Jake
December 28, 2007 at 4:20 pm
4Okay, who’s got the countdown calendar for how much longer we will be at the mercy of the Bushco incompetence? Does it go on even after these clowns have left office? Say it ain’t so…
sharon
December 28, 2007 at 5:04 pm
5One year, 22 days. The reverberations are likely to go on for a long time, I think.
Jim (OJNTNJ)
December 28, 2007 at 6:05 pm
6We (meaning “the guvment”) woulda left the provision in if it weren’t for this little tidbit:
“Iraq also discussed with the United States the possibility of pulling its assets, about $20 billion to $30 billion, out of U.S. institutions if the defense policy bill became law, a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.”.
Whoops! Our (meaning: see above parenthetical) bad. Please don’t pull your Halliburton et al investments. We didn’t mean it.
Hey Adam, Do you think the Iraqi parliament could
ask fordemand legislation guaranteeing internet residuals for entertainment writers?You might want to look into that.
David
December 28, 2007 at 7:16 pm
7Jim-O (remember, I’m Southern),
I think you’re on to something - now if only the Guild would take note.
I do have one question regarding the $20-$30 billion. If they pull it out and put it somewhere else, doesn’t in immediately drop in value by at least 50%? What are they going to buy with it anyway that they wouldn’t buy here at what are effectively fire sale prices? Wouldn’t it make more sense to convert whatever euros they have, redeposit them in American banks as dollars, and then go on a spending spree for American weapons, munitions, cigarettes, and Jack Daniels? Wonder if J-Boy thought about that. Just speculatin’, of course. Granted, I only halfway understand some of this shit.
Carmel
December 28, 2007 at 10:56 pm
8It makes me more than a little worried that the $20 - $30 billion that the Iraqis may have invested in US financial intruments (read mortgages) may be the last thing keeping the US economy from going into recession from the subprime debacle. Lobster help us if that is the case.
hedera
December 29, 2007 at 9:58 pm
9sharon, don’t - for God’s sake! - give them any more ideas…
cooper
December 30, 2007 at 3:26 pm
10dee, ummmm….I don’t know how to say this, but since you’ve been in Michigan, it’s been raining down here in the piedmont. Yippee! Not that your absence has anything to do with our fortuitously changing weather conditions. No! Nope! I’m not saying that! No way! (Okay, I’m thinking that.) You’ll be up there through New Years, right? Enjoy your visit. You cannot get too much of family, I always say.
DaveD
December 31, 2007 at 3:30 am
11It’s a good thing we have a strong, resolute president with an inflexible backbone who isn’t going to let the international community dictate *our* behavior!
dee
December 31, 2007 at 8:10 am
12cooper — I’ve been monitoring NC weather all week (mostly because it reassures me to know that I’ll be heading home to much warmer temperatures) so I’ve been aware of the blessed rain in The Old North State. Had I known that all it took to end the drought was my leaving the state for a while, I would have taken more time away.
David
December 31, 2007 at 1:20 pm
13HAPPY NEW YEAR to all Felbernauts everywhere, even though either Murray or I can celebrate the Citrus Bowl tomorrrow, but not both of us. So Murray, with all due respect for one of the finest public universities in America, GO GATORS!
hedera
December 31, 2007 at 1:32 pm
14And on the subject of that strong, resolute president and his inflexible backbone, let me do a little blog-whoring here and point to this post, which references a NY Times article on the long term effects of binge drinking during adolescence…
The AnnFan Club
December 31, 2007 at 5:32 pm
15Happy New Year!!!
Whoa! Timmy! Breath mint, dude.
piglet
December 31, 2007 at 5:37 pm
16I just have to note here that the Ducks won the Sun Bowl in beautiful downtown El Paso with their 5th-string, red-shirt quarterback and a running back with turf toe.
That is all.
Ann
December 31, 2007 at 5:55 pm
17Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you’re all making resolutions you can keep. Sorry, gotta go…I hear a spiked vegan eggnog calling my name. Hope to see y’all in 2008, preferably at a Felberpalooza/ presidential-election-victory event.
Kjell Mikkelsen
December 31, 2007 at 8:00 pm
18“Glade Nytt år” for alle meg ny Amerikaneren venner. OK, I forgot - In Engelske colloquial language, you dumb Norgie. “Happy New Year!!!” to all my new Amerikan friends and to “It is Pat!”! How bout this snow, ja?
Honk!, honk!!, honk!!, Adam!
Kjell Mikkelsen
December 31, 2007 at 8:23 pm
19Happy New Year, you knuckleheads! And what’s the new year without a fresh hit of Tom Tomorrow? What say we try, as the human race, to do the right thing by each other and for the planet this new year, OK? Good luck to us all!
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2007/12/31/tomo/
Heather says “Hi to everyone!” I think she wants me to get off the computer and come watch the celebration in Times Square on TV. See ya! …Holy Cow! Dick Clark’s not a teenager anymore, is he?!
gillian
December 31, 2007 at 8:27 pm
20OK, Kjell Mikkelsen, I’m warning you! Cut the crap! BTW, where did you learn computer hacking? I thought you were just a dirt farmer.
Harold
December 31, 2007 at 11:20 pm
21Happy New Year!
Firsties for 2008!
Be safe, everybody!
Harold
December 31, 2007 at 11:21 pm
22Aaaaaand I forgot it ’s a THREE hour time difference from there to here. Oh, well!
Harold
January 1, 2008 at 12:13 am
23OK, NOW it’s 2008!
Kjell Mikkelsen
January 1, 2008 at 6:04 am
24gillian, computer hacking is good trick, ja? Honk! Honk! HAHAHAHAHAHA! It was bonus CD wonz I signed up for the Berlitz Engelske Course. Amerika is good country!
Jim (OJNTNJ)
January 1, 2008 at 9:15 am
25Happy New Year’s Day to all the Felbernauts.
Adam, have you and Jean considered an alliterative name for the incoming Felber? Say, Phineas Fabian Felber? Then the kid wouldn’t have to deal with any of that awful grade-school cruelty other kids such as Suri are sure to endure.
Just a suggestion.
dee
January 1, 2008 at 9:21 am
26Happy New Year, all. We missed a serious storm up here by about thirty miles, although the snowflakes coming down at midnight were as big as oak leaves.
Oh and David, Murray’s not the only Wolverine around here. I’m not holding out a whole lot of hope for a victory, though. And it doesn’t help that I’m watching this amongst a host of Michigan State fans. At least my seven year old nephew is on my side.
Wilberforce Dipshot
January 1, 2008 at 11:41 am
27dee, were the snowflakes the size of a Live oak (Quercus virginiana) leaf or more the size of the larger White oak (Quercus alba) leaf? Snowflakes the size of a Live oak (Quercus virginiana) leaf would be no big deal, literally and figuratively (snicker), but now I’d want to see, weigh and record data of any snowflake the size of a White oak (Quercus alba) leaf. I would also need to put it under a microscope to make sure this was indeed one snowflake and not a number of normal size snowflakes clumping together as they fell through a rare thermal inversion of warm air at 500 to 700 feet above the ground and then refroze as they drifted through the sub-freezing ambient air closer to the ground. Do you think you could go outside, hop into your car, drive to the nearest farmer’s field of at least 150 acres in size, walk out to the middle of the field where no nearby trees would promote a swirling action of the wind that would falsely merge normal size snowflakes into looking like a single snowflake as large as the White Oak (Quercus alba) leaf and when you’re out in the middle of the field, tease out one of the flakes you were talking about, carefully place it into a 2.5 quart Coleman cooler packed with dry ice, drive to the nearest major airport and air ship it to me at the Meteorology/Dendrology School of Science at Duke University, Room 319 Buck Duke Memorial Dormitory, Durham, NC, 27705. If it’s not too much trouble.
My graduate school stipend is not what it should be, so if you could, you know, pay for the shipping, I’ll make it up to you at the middle of the month when my next check comes. I could take you to dinner at this really funky Chick-fil-a near campus where the fountain root beer sodas are out of this world. I could even show you my championship winning Rubik Cube maneuvers (it’s all in the wrist and ring finger on your dominant hand. So don’t believe those other dweebs, who use the index, thumb, and pinky finger in competition. They real losers, literally and figuratively (snicker). I just crack myself up sometimes.).
SeattleDanandTammy
January 1, 2008 at 11:44 am
28Happy New Year! Now we need to go sleep it off.
Wilberforce Dipshot
January 1, 2008 at 3:52 pm
29So, how tight does the webmaster wind the spam filter around here anyway? I hope it wasn’t the “Quercus alba” botanical nomenclature. Maybe it was the address. Jiminy hot-cha-cha!!! Ooh, sorry! My New Year’s resolution is to curse less in 2008. Not off to a good start, am I?
Murray
January 1, 2008 at 5:49 pm
30Whahooo! (Sorry David, but you had your glory year last year). It’s about time we won one or our last 2 games of the year.
White Oak? WTF? Oops sorry.
You know, New Year’s Day is easily the strangest Holidays. On all of the others you do your celebrating on the day. July 4th, Labor day, etc. but here the real celebration is the night before and on NYD basically you just nurse a hangover and hope your team wins. It is easily the quietest holiday. (Ow, not so loud!). They should probably call it Recovery Day.
Amateur Pundit David
January 1, 2008 at 6:06 pm
31Hats off to Piglet’s Ducks and Murray and dee’s Wolverines. I knew the point spread for the Citrus Bowl was absurd. I was amazed at how few commentators understood what Urban Meyer understood: that it was a healthy Michigan team with veteran Michigan athletes who were coming to Orlando. Murray and dee, your guys got it done. Tebow did his job, but so did Chad Henne. And those are some amazing receivers when they decide to play to their potential. dee, I could have told you it was anybody’s game, which is how it turned out, with your guys a bit stronger. The seniors beat the sophomores this time, which is what coaches will tell you is the more likely outcome in a game like this, if there are talented athletes all around. And if we had to lose to anyone, Michigan in Lloyd Carr’s last game was the most palatable, although losing never feels good. Congrats to all the winner Felbernauts.
I’m sort of afraid to check on the Rose Bowl, Dave. A healthy USC is just a bit much for a still developing Illini team. Zook will recruit a Big Ten championship team, and maybe get to stay and coach it.
Ann, yours is a terrific idea. By the way, we have a clear, cold starry night going down here on the edge. It is, as always, exhilirating.
Pope Benny 16
January 1, 2008 at 7:41 pm
32Whew! Thank Gott the holiday season is over! Again yesterday Cardinal Peitre chose der largest und heaviest Miter from the mid 1950’s for my New Year’s blessing from the balcony at St. Peter’s Square. I had to get Father Bruno to come to my study and give me a 30 minute chair massage after that.
The crowds these days are less Caucasian; more Hispanic, African, and Asian, a trend I’ve been noticing since I became Pope. That’s sad. Now Cardinal Bernie says I’ll have to learn SiSwati and Ndebele for future public events. Oh well, what’s 2 more languages, after all. At least I don’t have to master the Xhosa click language. That would be, as the youth are so fond of saying, a bitch!
I know I’m very fortunate to have the famous film director Franco Zeffirelli as my media consultant, but he’s not at all like I thought he would be. He’s helped me tone down my German accent, ja, but I think he is actually the one choosing the Miters. I’ll have to have a word with him tomorrow und also, bring up the matter of the cologne again.
Dave von Ebers
January 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm
33Amateur Pundit Dave, I swear I haven’t been cowering in shame, lo these past three days. I swear. My Illini were duly humbled, as was I, but I can take a drubbing like the best of ‘em. I’m a Cubs fan, after all.
Just one thing, Adam … Isn’t the proper title, “Dear Robot Overlords”? Just askin’.
David
January 4, 2008 at 7:31 pm
34No reason to cower, Dave. I survived the pounding Nebraska laid on my Gators in the first national championship game, but we came back strong the following year. Your Illini will acquit themselves nobly, too. And what would America be without the Cubs? They give baseball a patina without which neither baseball nor America would be the same.