"...we're willing to stand up and say what so many policy makers know, that the first step to bringing our troops home is to send Donald Rumsfeld home."
Rep Charles Rangel-NY
Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
Monday, November 10, 2003
Condoleeza Rice: ''Most of this country is stable...''
WHERE HAVE WE HEARD THIS BEFORE?
PRESIDENT BUSH: ".. Well, first of all, we're just starting in Iraq. And a lot of Iraq is stable, and the life of the Iraqi people are better now than it was prior to the war.."
Speech at G8 summit May 29, 2003
RIGHT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a July 8th, 2003 Washington Post editorial "Facing Reality in Iraq", Dick Cheney began: "Most of Iraq is stable..."
RIGHT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 23, 2003
"Wolfowitz said that despite repeated attacks against U.S. and coalition forces, commanders on the ground report that the entire North and South of Iraq is stable."
Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample
American Forces Press Service
RIGHT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THERE IS COMMENTARY FROM THE WISE AND SKEPTICAL:
COMMENT FROM BUZZFLASH:
Subj: Iraq Stability
Every administration official comes out and says that most of Iraq is stable and quiet. Or, that problems are concentrated in the Sunni Triangle. I guess this is supposed to make us feel better about the occupation. Kind of like a doctor comforting a patient by telling him that the malignant brain tumor only affects 15% of his brain.
Turk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MAYBE THIS SEEMS STABLE....
BUT FRANKLY, NO ONE LIVES HERE.
NOW, ON THE OTHER HAND, THESE GALS ARE TRIANGLE GALS
WHERE PEOPLE EXIST, WE'RE TENDING TO SEE INSTABILITY.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
THEN THERE'S THE TOTAL MISINFORMATION THAT ALWAYS FOLLOWS:
Exhibit A: " Most prefer to concentrate on the violence taking place in the Sunni-triangle areas, which is Saddam's stronghold. By the way, the sunni-triangle area constitutes about 1% of the entire country of Iraq. *(see my note below*) Despite that American troops are being shot at in this area, the rest of Iraq is stable...."
Exhibit B: "-Most of Iraq is stable. Almost all U.S. casualties have happened in a part of Iraq(Sunni triangle) that makes up only 5 percent of the country..."
From : KEYS TO THE WHITEHOUSE site, 8-31-03
RIGHT!
*My Note- 20% of the Iraqi population lives in the Sunni triangle.
Iraq is not "stable" anywhere.*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frist freezes Intelligence Commitee Investigation on Iraq
Frist finds a way to protect his real master - The People be damned.
The People are supposed to be Frist's primary charge and consideration in his important position as Senate majority leader.
But, nooooo....
Frist is using petty politics to provide the usual escape-from-accountability for the Bush administration.
This is just another case of abuse of power and an abrogation of responsibility to the People.
Pat Roberts looks like nothing more than a drama queen.
I hope people are smart enough to call their Congresspersons to tell them this:
What we suspect the Bush administration has misled us about is far more serious than Pat Roberts' damned PRIDE.
~~~~~~
"It's a very grave issue if the president is manipulating and distorting intelligence. There must be high anxiety about this in the intelligence community, because they are chatting to the press."
Ivan Eland, senior fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California
June,2003
~~~~~~
Lives are being lost in the twisted tangle of the Sunni triangle while these drama queens play partisan politics.
Good People of this nation:
If you aren't outraged, you simply aren't paying attention.
If Frist cannot lead, he should get out of the way!
Frist Freezes Senate Probe of Prewar Iraq Data
By Walter Pincus and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 8, 2003; Page A18
Angry about a leaked Democratic memo, the Republican leadership of the Senate yesterday took the unusual step of canceling all business of the committee investigating prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) called on the author of the memo -- which laid out a possible Democratic strategy to extend the investigation to include the White House and executive branch -- to "identify himself or herself . . . disavow this partisan attack in its entirety" and deliver "a personal apology" to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Only if those steps are taken, Frist said, "will it be possible for the committee to resume its work in an effective and bipartisan manner -- a manner deserving of the confidence of other members of the Senate and the executive branch."
Roberts followed Frist on the floor and said that unless the Democratic members "properly" address the issue, "I am afraid that it will be impossible to return to 'business as usual' in the committee."
A committee meeting scheduled for yesterday was canceled, and none has been scheduled for next week, according to a senior committee staff member.
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), the committee's ranking Democrat, said he was "really disappointed" with the Republican action. "Whose advantage is it to derail asking the tough questions on prewar intelligence and the use and misuse of it?" he asked.
The GOP move follows a month of extraordinary maneuvering by Democrats and Republicans to take political advantage of the committee's look at how the intelligence community collected and analyzed intelligence on Iraq over the past decade.
FULL TEXT HERE
The People are supposed to be Frist's primary charge and consideration in his important position as Senate majority leader.
But, nooooo....
Frist is using petty politics to provide the usual escape-from-accountability for the Bush administration.
This is just another case of abuse of power and an abrogation of responsibility to the People.
Pat Roberts looks like nothing more than a drama queen.
I hope people are smart enough to call their Congresspersons to tell them this:
What we suspect the Bush administration has misled us about is far more serious than Pat Roberts' damned PRIDE.
~~~~~~
"It's a very grave issue if the president is manipulating and distorting intelligence. There must be high anxiety about this in the intelligence community, because they are chatting to the press."
Ivan Eland, senior fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California
June,2003
~~~~~~
Lives are being lost in the twisted tangle of the Sunni triangle while these drama queens play partisan politics.
The Dems have NOTHING to apologize for - the memo was completely straightforward in laying out Democratic options to get to the truth while the Republicans are trying to WHITEWASH the Bush's administrations treasonous manipulation of Iraq intelligence.
Good People of this nation:
If you aren't outraged, you simply aren't paying attention.
If Frist cannot lead, he should get out of the way!
Websites worth visiting--often
I found a couple sites today which I found interesting.
I wanted to share them with you.
Sinister Swing, also known as 'The Left Wing of the Web',
is a fantastic collection of current news articles, as well as left-related activism and information. Well-done.
Patriots for Peace is another site that's new to me..and one I highly recommend.
Al Gore: An Intelligent Democrat
the Power Grab and the
Crisis-Exploiting Tactics of the Executive
What a contrast between the man who so aptly gave today's Moveon.org/ACS-sponsored speech at the packed
DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC and the bumbling idiot who has reduced our nation to
a shred of what she was since he robbed the steering wheel in 2000.
Sunday, November 09, 2003
President Dean
Vice President Clark
Whoops...heh-heh.
Uh..you caught me thinking ahead.
*sorry
Howard Dean Offers New Declaration
Two centuries ago, our founders brought into this world a new republic. This republic brought to the world a new era of self-government. It ensured the rights of the citizenry and gave them the vote to elect representatives.
Throughout this nation’s history, the American people have struggled to keep their rights and make their government work for them. We have seen the populists, progressives, women, labor, and civil rights movements.
Today our government has become overrun by special interests. Working with President George Bush, they have turned our government into a system that works for the profit of the few not the benefit of the many.
They have in the last two elections flooded our politics with over 5.1 billion dollars in contributions.
They have walked into the Vice-president’s office and written energy legislation that keeps us shackled to fossil fuels.
They have written health care legislation denying access and affordability, and keeping prescriptions away from seniors.
They have purposely misled this nation into an unnecessary war.
WE, therefore, the architects and builders of Dean for
America, appealing to the Wise Judgment of the American people on our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these United States, solemnly Publish and Declare, the People of these United States are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT CITIZENS, they have full Power to participate, deliberate, pursue the common good, protect their own interest from corruption, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT CITIZENS may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other to write letters, knock on doors, organize our neighbors, self- fund this effort, and vote.
Signed,
Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
Lanya Shapiro
Aldon Hynes
Kim Hynes
Jasper Hendricks
Peng Her
Susan Hudgens
Jerome Wiley
Add your signature to the Declaration
Today On "ABC This Week"
There was an excellent conversation between Richard Holbrooke and Richard Perle facilitated by "ABC News' This Week" today.
The look on Richard Perle's face while Richard Holbrook (assistant secretary of state and ambassador to the United Nations under President Clinton) pointed out the bare truth to him on the
failed (or ignored) pre-Iraq war / Imad Hage peace-negotiations ..the look on that man's face said it all. Perle really doesn't have a poker face.
He looked down, appeared to be turning a shade of ashen green. Was it shame?
Perle-prince of darkness- ashamed?
Perle called Hage's attempt to stop the war "a trap" due to oil concessions.
Oil. Oil. Oil. Oil. Oil.
Oil.
OIL.
Did I say oil?
With the slithery, slippery assistance of George W Bush and Dick Cheney, oil has killed almost
400 American troops in the interest of American corporations.
Oil was the very reason Perle discounted an effort to head off an unnecessary war.
We need to be outraged.
If we're not outraged, we are not paying attention.
If I hear Perle call the Iraqi resistance "bitter-enders" one more time, I think I'll become nauseous.
What kind of "bitter-end" (or ANY end, for that matter) is anywhere near in this war?
The resistance has escalated like a wild fire this past month.
They succeeded in killing so many of our fine young troops...took down a Chinook and now TWO Blackhawk-downs (Where's Mark Bowden and Ridley Scott?)
"Bitter-beginners" may be a more fitting term.
I Love Rock 'n Roll
Put another dime in the jukebox, baby.
"....Andras Simonyi, Hungary's ambassador to the United States, spent an hour Saturday night discussing the impact of Western songs on Eastern European politics before an invitation-only audience of 250 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."
~~~~~~~~~~~
One of my new favorites in music...Polyphonic Spree.
I also recommend the group Buffseeds.
Their website sports the great Woody Allen quote:
"My one regret in life is that I am not someone else."
And there's Alexi Murdoch.
Hear him live on Morning Becomes Eclectic / KCRW.
And Ben Kweller...
"....Kweller writes epidemically catchy songs and has a ridiculous gift for melody. One listen to "Falling" or "Family Tree" should cement that fact..."
Jesse Malin, too.
To hear Jesse Malin live, go to Laura Cantrell's radio show and fast forward to this time: 2:10.
Saturday, November 08, 2003
John Edwards
I ran into this post from John Edwards' campaigners.
I would still welcome any discussion about the Edwards campaign.
He's a good man.
He's still in my own 'top-tier' of the Democratic field.
Even though Edwards is from the South and I hail from the North, my own Grandfather worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania in his youth and went on to send his
children to college so they could have a better life than he did.
Our stories are much the same.
I can identify with the place from which Senator Edwards has come and I appreciate his view of where
he thinks we should be headed.
I think he made a mistake recently in his comments to Howard Dean during the "Rock the Vote" debate, but I can
understand why so many of the contending Democrats feel the need to take the front-runner down a few pegs.
I don't think, however, we should make suspicion-generating statements about our geographic differences
when we are talking about leadership and cooperation.
Senator Edwards should emphasize we're in this together.
I look forward to seeing what Senator Edwards has to say on Meet the Press with Tim Russert this Sunday.
Bottom line, it's mostly about public perception.
People are easily swayed to believe all is suddenly rosy wth our economy.
Most people do not have a good understanding of the economy and rely upon Greenspan, Buffet,
brokers and talking CNBC heads to drive their opinions.
I heard Ron Brownstein on CNN yesterday chatting manically about the latest news as if we hadn't lost
2.7 million jobs in the last two years and that the news of 126,000 jobs (mostly McJob quality) was the ticket for a Bush reelection in 2004. (That's 126,000 jobs nation-wide..there are 50 states..58 counties in California alone..average out 126,000 jobs amongst 50 states and then by county).
Brownstein's a professional...he should know better than to mislead CNN viewers.
How disappointing.
Most people do not understand what this huge defecit will eventually mean for them personally if we do not turn things around.
From the article:
"...The train wreck that has been arranged for the day when the government's ravenous appetite for IOUs to finance unheard of red ink collides with both the capital needs of a recovering economy and the huge cost of my generation's impending retirement will come after next year's election. It will come, but deficits do not matter politically the way they mattered in 1992 when they were an obvious factor in the stagnation that hurt Bush's dad.."
"...There is not going to be a repeat of the third quarter performance. The latest round of tax cuts has been mostly spent, imports will go back up, there is a much smaller volume of mortgage refinancing to provide extra cash, and states and localities have only just begun slashing services and jobs.
Nonetheless there has been an unprecedented amount of budgetary and monetary stimulus applied to the US economy over the last 30 months and at some point it is going to respond. The political question is partly how much, but it also involves whether the output recovery is perceived by people as actually improving their standard of living.
For the perception question to be answered favorably for Bush, there have to be a lot more jobs producing more after-tax, after-inflation income for people who live off their paychecks and pension checks..."
~~~~~~~~
Another note on the subject.
Check out the headline:
DISASTER FOR DEMS
By JOHN PODHORETZ
NY Post
I would imagine "Great News for Americans" would be a healthy title...even though I don't
agree that the news is all that great.
I don't believe that Podhoretz considers Democrats to be "American".
There was a word I used to like to use as a kid to describe the attitude of people like those at the NY Post..
the word was "skeevy".
I looked the word up..it was actually in the dictionary.
It said:
Skeevy:
Adjective; Personal attributes that may arouse nausea an another.
Used in a sentence: "From a distance he's suave and debonair; but when he gets close, you can see he's all skeevy with his greasy hair, unshaven face, and mix of body odor and cheap cologne."
I suppose that sums up the way I view the NY Post. The cover looks inviting,
but when you get close, they're pretty skeevy.
Here's the line Skeevy Podhoetz used to end his ninth-grade-reading-level column:
"That's pretty impressive, even before you think about the 7.2 percent growth figure. The dark lining in this silver cloud is, of course, the loss of 2 million jobs - but that will be ending. Even if growth slows down to a less sizzling pace of 4 percent or so, there will be sustained job creation throughout 2004.
And if that does happen, it's almost a certainty that one person will be keeping his job: George W. Bush"
Wait until growth comes down to a fizzling pace.
I shake my head increduously and wonder how people can be so gullible.
Sanitizing the truth may become Bush's downfall
It's time to remove your news filters, Mr. Bush
This opinion rings of so much truth.
Bush has obviously been avoiding the subject of casualties in his speeches. He's attended no funerals or memorials for soldiers. I heard a father of a deceased troop stating that Bush never called him. Shouldn't a father of a
troop who gave all expect that call?
In public, Bush has been making strong and unrealistic suggestions to the American media, suggesting they self-censor when it comes to the news that isn't "pretty".
Bush's reliance upon a rarely-used rule allowing him to censor
the media's showing of the dead as they return from overseas is causing many Americans who may have been shakily supporting him to now think of him as a leader without a lot of empathy or character.
How do I come to this conclusion?
I talk with people.. everyday Americans like you and me.
"Time to remove your filters, Mr. Bush. It's a messy world out there, but we all have to live in it."
Civil Rights Attorney to Dean: "Confederate Flap: Stand Firm, Howard Dean"
By Constance L. Rice, LA Times
"Go for it. And you don't need to apologize."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giant union throws its weight behind Dean
~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean: Brutal Ruler Doesn't Justify Force
Friday, November 07, 2003
Frist proving to be worse than Lott in taking lead/uniting Senate
Leadership and uniting Senate are obviously not his strong points
Current Senate train wreck:
Frist Accuses of Democrats of Undermining Intelligence Panel
By Ken Guggenheim Associated Press Writer
This is about a a Democratic memo leaked this week that outlines a strategy for exposing contradictions between intelligence reports and Bush's claims about Iraqi weapons programs.
The memo in question was apparently STOLEN...then leaked.
Jay Rockefeller's capability as an effective Senator has been in much doubt as of late, IMHO,
judging from what I've seen from him on recent FOX interviews. Rockefeller was totally
careless in allowing something like this staff-memo to fall by the wayside.
The paranoid Pat Roberts is whining that Democrats are "plotting against him".
Roberts went on with his paranoid complaint (which may actually be a deceptive way to pull the plug on a
decent investigation), saying:
"The memo said that at some point the Democrats could 'pull the trigger'. When I read that, I felt like they're going to pull the trigger on me."
Dirty business all around.
This is a clarion call to elect a President in 2004 who is outside the sloppy and jaded Washington loop.
I'm convinced that few of them hold the people's interest as their priority.
I'm especially convinced that these GOP-ers would sell their mothers to Saddam Hussein to steal power
from Democrats.
The Dems don't owe them an apology...they owe them a gobulous spit in their thieving slanderous faces.
If the Bush administration hadn't abused intelligence and misled the people so many times while troops continue
to die, it never would have come to this sad state of affairs in the Senate. The Republicans on the Intelligence
Committee are in a pickle. How long can they continue to cover for the worst President in American history while attempting to slander their political Democratic brethren in Congress?
They're beginning to look ludicrous.
Here is the most ludicrous statement of them all...not to mention insulting to the intelligence of the American people:
From NewsMax:
"Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Thursday that Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., was right to charge this week that a memo outlining plans by Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats to politicize Iraq war intelligence borders on "treason."
Oh, please. Someone get Orrin Hatch a valium or a lollipop. He's going off again.
MUSIC BREAK: Go here to hear Orrin's
lovely and inspirational recording of "Heal Our Land". Then start praying we obtain a real leader
who will do just that.
I hope this committee investigation derailment orchestrated artfully and stealthily by the GOP members of
the committee will speed us toward a full and independent investigation.
This memo could never be a bigger scandal than the scandalous reason the Committee is there in the first place--
a President who misled (perhaps criminally) the people of America about the reasons our sons and daughters would meet horrendous
conditions..horrendous injury...horrendous death.
Now THERE'S the scandal.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Cowardice violations can be punished by death
Luckily, the Army dismissed a cowardice charge and filed a lesser count against an Army interrogator who sought counseling after he saw the body of an Iraqi man cut in half by American fire.
The poor fellow won't have to die because he got upset and sick over a bloody mangled corpse cut in half.
Oh, goodie.
How awesome of the Army to not kill him.
I'm feeling warm and fuzzy..how about you?
There's a great recruiting come-on...
"Join us and we just might not KILL you for puking when you see someone's guts blown all over you."
The bogeymen are allegedly stalking American cities
'Mwuhahahaha!'
MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, is reporting a message titled "A Warning to Muslims in America". It's an alleged directive which was issued by the previously unknown "Islamic Bayan Movement" and first ran on the Global Islamic Media Web site this past Monday.
I wonder--is this a deliberate scare tactic on the part of MEMRI (who has shown unusual bias against the Arab world in the past) ...or our own government?
I trust them so little these days that I wouldn't put it past them.
FOX is always a seemingly willing and avid participant in the dissemination of dramatic and terrifying information.
Maybe it's just fundamental Islam f*king with our minds.
All I know (and/or believe) is this--
1. There's a hell of a lot more good people in this world than there are terrorists.
2. We have never come close to meeting the objective of bringing Saddam or Osama Bin Laden to justice.
Where are they? If we were really going to be tough Texas-troopers, why weren't a couple of cheap-ass bullets to the back of the head used to remove Saddam and Osama instead of hundreds of American troops' lives and hundreds and hundreds more troops' limbs (while we still don't have them?)
3. We haven't come close to meeting the objective of 'draining the swamp' of terrorists. The bogeymen are still
taunting us (or at least we're being told they are) and they are multiplying like baby rabbits since we hopped on the Iraq war-wagon.
4-With righteous and simple, decent leadership, we could turn this mess around.
Who's the Enemy?
Have you seen this theory?
Do you buy into rumors and suspicion when you consider that in the Middle East, November 9th is written as "9-11"?
Are you going to let this stop you from shopping?
Will you still keep that Broadway show on your intinerary?
A great cross-section of Politics in the real America
General Discussion at American View is one of the best cross-section representations of the real America.
This is a group of people who are decidedly diverse in their political affiliations.
They have known eachother for several years and through all forms of heated argument, have found a way to
stay together and talk it through..and walk away when necessary.
This is what America's all about.
The view cannot possibly be more American than this.
Unbelievable: Executive privilege seen as leak-case option
Shielding material is not ruled out
Beyond belief.
Filthy treason may be upheld and shielded under the name of Executive privilege.
I'd say "only in America.." but this kind of thing would happen in any nation in this world where
the people are corruptly barred from justice.
Without a special prosecutor, there will never be any justice...let alone any fruitful investigation.
"Despite President Bush's repeated pledges of full cooperation, administration officials yesterday refused to rule out invoking executive privilege to shield some documents from Justice Department investigators looking into whether someone in the White House illegally leaked the name of a CIA operative...."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)