In The "Apparently Jail Isn't Exactly A Stay At The Hilton" Department

So all the real news has come to an abrupt halt because poor, poor, poor little billionairess Paris Hilton cried and screamed and pitched a tantrum because a judge sent her back to jail instead of the wildly preferential treatment she was given after just two days in lockup.

As I posted elsewhere, Paris is such a complete and utter oxygen-wasting fuckup that I can't imagine WHY President Bush hasn't appointed her to a key role, such as Paul Wolfowitz's replacement as head of the World Bank, Peter Pace's replacement as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a newly created "Abstinence Czar" (just the kind of irony Bush loves even if he can't spell i-r-o-n-y), or as Secretary of Sleaze.

I learned this week that Paris is a committed Republican. Why does this not surprise me? Moneyed Republicans are famous for demanding tons of laws only to insist that they be held exempt from all of them because, of course, they're special.

American Empire Building Disguised As Legit Aid to Third World Countries

Robb Kidd at Evolving Peace (another blog from my neck of the Vermont woods, Montpelier, still the only state capitol without a McDonald's) has a very solid piece up about the World Bank and the whole new horrific levels of corrupt behavior thanks to President Bush's appointment of neocon-man Paul "He puts the wolf in..." Wolfowitz. Wolfie, of course, was allowed to resign when indictment would be much more appropriate - and not just because Wolfie couldn't control his penis or his penis' playmate.

There seems to be a mood of ecstatic joy in regards to the downfall of Paul Wolfowitz from heading of the World Bank and while many may have noticed that Mr. Wolfowitz had been a chief architect of the Neo-Cons disastrous implantation of the war in Iraq, they now celebrate with glee his down fall with little discussion revolving around the harsh reality that he was perfect for the World Bank position.
The World Bank has nothing to do about raising the quality of living for “the undeveloped world” but for the mere purpose of creating further markets of development. While to the mere outsider the World Bank produces an imagery of wholesome concern; however that is far from the real truth of the matter. The World Bank has been a tool for venture capitalists in further procuring their desires of developing and exploiting the undeveloped world. Instead of using military force the World Bank goes into the “undeveloped world” and installs loans to spur economic development that perpetuates them into system of subservience.

On paper it sounds nice, but in reality these loans subject the population to dramatic changes to their environment and create an environment of greater poverty. In Mexico farmers were discouraged from growing corn due to the abundance of US corn and now with the greater demand for ethanol corn prices have skyrocketed and many Mexicans are left without their most basic staple for food. Mexican peasantry who had left the farms for the promises of greater economic freedom are now in a pinch since corn is no longer cheap to them. Now they are unable to support themselves and are in need of work, so left with little options the opportunities north of the border look good to them.

Catch the rest here.

In The "Haven't The Iraqis Suffered Enough?" Department

ABC News' blog The Blotter says one GOP lawmaker - this the one who was behind renaming "French toast" and "French Fries" to Freedom Coronaries-on-Cheap - thinks disgraced Pentagon official/neocon engineer and even more disgraced head of the World Bank Paul Wolfowitz should be sent to Iraq as a mayor.

I say the Iraqis have suffered enough!

But perhaps we could send Wolf and Rummy and all those numb-minded neocons to Iraq for a day where we let civilians play Whack-a-Mole with their heads and family jewels (that's ball sacks to those of you who hate euphemisms).

At (Wolfo)Witz End: Who's The Next Corrupt Bushie at the World Bank?

The World Bank needs another corrupt, incompetent, crony-loving, misleader to make it even tougher for poor, third world countries to survive.

So who's next, once Paul Wolfowitz resigns while insisting he did NO wrong?

Sadly, the Bush Administration seems to have an endless supply of corrupt incompetents from whom to choose. Keith Olbermann on "Countdown" last night suggested the brain dead Alberto Gonzales. Others have said perhaps Tony Blair for those times when he's not, in retirement, humping his master, George Bush's, leg.

Ideas?

On Eve of Wolfowitz's "Resignation", Bush Says, "Done A Heluva Job, Wolfie!"

NBC News just reported that the resignation deal is complete (which many assume will, as he demanded, will made no admission of wrongdoing) re: Paul Wolfowitz, currently the head of the World Bank, formerly Rumsfeld's assistant at the Pentagon who insisted the Iraq war "would pay for itself."

At the same damned time, President Bush is falling all over himself with praise for "stud" Wolfowitz, whose latest "excuse" for his wrongful deeds at the World Bank is that he was too afraid of his live-in girlfriend whom he gave an unbelievably lucrative salary (with no experience to match it).

Wolfie also had no expertise with money or development or people or.... well, let's just say, President Bush ADORES incompetence and demands all those who work for him (mind you, he thinks he OWNS them although we pay the salary!).

On Wolfowitz and Gonzales: Volunteers To "Resign" Them On The Toes Of Our Boots?

Hey, if we can get rid of the Wolfe at the World Bank and the moronic US Attorney General with just the toes of our (steel-reinforced, please!) boots, I suspect we can find thousands if not millions of volunteers.

First them, then perhaps Rove, Cheney, and Bush!

Maureen Dowd: "More Con Than Neo"

I think MoDo pegged this in her April 14th column I'm belatedly referencing: "con" in the term neocon has never meant conservative but "confidence" operators whose game is to part you from your money, your trust, your possessions, and your good sense (and many other important values). The entire column is here, but I offer a healthy snack-sized portion:

Usually, spring in Washington finds us caught up in the cherry blossoms and the ursine courtship rituals of the pandas.

But this chilly April, we are forced to contemplate the batrachian grapplings of Paul Wolfowitz, the man who cherry-picked intelligence to sell us a war with Iraq.

You will not be surprised to learn, gentle readers, that Wolfie in love is no less deceptive and bumbling than Wolfie at war.

Proving he is more con than neo, he confessed that he had not been candid with his staff at the World Bank. While he was acting holier than thou, demanding incorruptibility from poor countries desperate for loans, he was enriching his girlfriend with tax-free ducats.

He has yet to admit any real mistakes with the hellish war that claimed five more American soldiers yesterday, as stunned Baghdad residents dealt with bombings of the Iraqi Parliament, where body parts flew, and of a bridge over the Tigris, where cars sank.

But he admitted Thursday that he’d made a mistake when he got his sweetheart, Shaha Ali Riza, an Arab feminist who shares his passion for democratizing the Middle East, a raise to $193,590 — more than the taxpaying (and taxing) Condi Rice makes. No doubt it seemed like small change compared with the money pit of remaking Iraq — a task he once prophesied would be paid for with Iraqi oil money. Maybe he should have remunerated his girlfriend with Iraqi oil revenues, instead of ripping off the bank to advance his romantic agenda.

No one is satisfied with his apology. Not the World Bank employees who booed Wolfie and yelled, “Resign! Resign!” in the bank lobby.

Not Alison Cave, the chairwoman of the bank’s staff association, who said that Mr. Wolfowitz must “act honorably and resign.”

Not his girlfriend, who says she’s the suffering victim, forced by Wolfie’s arrival to be sent to the State Department (where, in a festival of nepotism, she reported to Liz Cheney).

And not his critics, who say Wolfie has been cherry-picking again, this time with his anticorruption crusade. They say he has used it to turn the bank into a tool for his unrealistic democracy campaign, which foundered in Baghdad, and for punishing countries that defy the United States.

Wolfie also alienated the bank by bringing two highhanded aides with him from Bushworld, aides who had helped him with Iraq. One was the abrasive Robin Cleveland, called Wolfie’s Rottweiler. The other was Kevin Kellems, known as Keeper of the Comb after his star turn in “Fahrenheit 9/11,” where he handed his boss a comb so Wolfie could slick it with spittle for TV. (Maybe his girlfriend didn’t get enough of a raise.) Like W., Wolfie is dangerous precisely because he’s so persuaded of his own virtue.

Just as Ms. Riza stood behind her man on the Iraq fiasco, so Meghan O’Sullivan stood behind W.

Ms. O’Sullivan, a bright and lovely 37-year-old redhead who is the deputy national security adviser, is part of the cordon of adoring and protective female staffers around the president, including Condi, Harriet Miers, Karen Hughes and Fran Townsend.

Even though her main experience was helping Paul Bremer set up the botched Iraq occupation and getting a reputation back in Washington “for not knowing how much she didn’t know,” as George Packer put it in “The Assassins’ Gate,” Ms. O’Sullivan was officially promoted nearly two years ago to be the highest-ranking White House official working exclusively on Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was clear that she was out of her depth, lacking the heft to deal with the Pentagon and State Department, or the seniority to level with W. “Meghan-izing the problem” became a catch phrase in Baghdad for papering over chaos with five-point presentations.

See Rozius Unbound for the Rest.

Another Bushies Rewards Loyalty Over Competence and Performance

Remember Paul Wolfowitz, formerly DoD Rumsfeld's second-in-demand, who moved on to head (with no qualifications for getting it) the World Bank (aka the way we keep poor countries indebted to and under our thumb)?

Well, read this from Think Progress:

Wolfowitz’ gal pal shown favoritism at World Bank.

Murray Waas reports on an internal World Bank memo alleging that Shaha Riza, Paul Wolfowitz’s romantic interest, “was given a ‘promotion [that] clearly does not conform’ to bank procedures,” and that “she was then given a raise ‘more than double the amount allowed’ by the bank’s rules.” Also, “Wolfowitz reportedly attempted to circumvent the rules so he would be able to continue to work with Riza,” shifting her to work at the State Department’s public diplomacy office “even though her salary was still to be paid by the World Bank.”