It's Not About Opposable Thumbs

Somewhat apropos for SOIL...

Army Planning for 4 More Years in Iraq
(08-20) 14:49 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

The Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years, the Army's top general said Saturday.

In an Associated Press interview, Gen. Peter Schoomaker said the Army is prepared for the "worst case" in terms of the required level of troops in Iraq. He said the number could be adjusted lower if called for by slowing the force rotation or by shortening tours for soldiers.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/20/national/w123300D15.DTL

Like Mother, Like Son

Why doesn’t President Bush feel obligated to meet with Cindy Sheehan during his vacation?

Remember this statement by his mother, Barbara Bush, on Good Morning America in March 2003:

Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it’s gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?

The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/19/like-mother-like-son/

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at August 20, 2005 05:25 PM

This was a hilarious post from that blog. I had to cut and paste it as I couldn't stop laughing

I git fidgity when I got nothin' to do. Lance idn't due for another few hours and the Cabinet is locked behind closed doors and are pretendin' they don't hear me knockin'. Rummy brought me a present that he told me to open while the grownups were talkin' bidness.

Oh, Sweet Republican Jesus, it's just what I wanted! Too cool! It's a minaturized Active Denial System! Laua promised me one for Christmas but she and Condi must have worked on Rummy (I don't wanna know) to get it early cuz of my fidgetiness. Heh heh heh heh heh.

The Twins just got up after partyin' hearty. You're only young once, well, except for me. They told me they'd play Paint Ball with me today. (F' you Michael Jackson, I have a better Neverland than you, nyah nyah). Hehh hehh hehh, then Paint Ball it will be FOR YOU, my darlin' daughters.

We all suited up in our camo and drew straws as to who gets to be Michael Moore and Hillary. I'm the pretend President so I get to play the President. Sweet. The girls started whining as soon as Jenna or Barbara ( I getta em mixed up just like everyone else) broke a nail. I told em to come out with their hands up. Then I took a bead on em with my Active Denial System ray gun. I was aim'n for right between the eyes but I'm not a real cowboy so they took the shots right IN the eye. Gee whiz, what a coupla babies, it's not like I killed them. Laura came out when she heard them screaming and told them to shut the F' up (she works blue at the Ranch just like at that funny dinner) and if they didn't shut the F' up she was gonna ship them up to Big Bar. You coulda heard a pin drop. Then she turned on me and threatened the same thing. I shut the F' up too.

I'm not gonna put this incident in the paper Cheney assigned to me, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" cuz it makes me look pussy whipped which I am not just because I don't want to make Laura mad because of what may happen if I do.

Anyway it's all good as the kids say cuz I got Julio to take a picture of me and Barbara/Jenna in our camouflage. With the bandages covering their eyes it makes them look like war heros and that'll shut the MSM up. I'm gonna award them Medals of Honor and that'll make me look good. Karl says I'm a sandwich short of a picnic but I'm not. I'm more like Frodo or is it Fredo?

Where's Lance? I wanna ride my bike.

Does anybody know if Lance Armstrong stopped at Camp Casey?

Madame,

Actually, I have to find the link, but I saw that George Bush Sr said the similar thing during the Golf War.

They love their vacations and so hate being inconvenienced by their wars.

Does anybody know if Lance Armstrong stopped at Camp Casey?

Posted by: oncall at August 20, 2005 07:16 PM

Don't think so. They rode this morning and I haven't found anything from any of the regular "Cindy Sources" that report that he stopped.

Here's a report from the Lone Star Iconoclast about today at Camp Casey 2
http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/33news20.htm

Here's a report about Biking with Bozo:
http://tinyurl.com/ao6s6

oncall,

I don't know.

After yesterday's discussion, I thought this was worth posting:

Sen. John Kerry Blisters Republicans

SEATTLE - Sen. John F. Kerry (news, bio, voting record) told state legislators Friday the Democratic Party doesn't need to undergo an extreme makeover, saying "the last thing America needs is a second Republican Party."

After blistering Republicans on everything from Iraq to health care, Kerry said Democrats have an opportunity to rebuild nationally by simply addressing the concerns that affect people's daily lives — energy, transportation, health care and security.

"We have to go out and fight for the real issues that make a difference in the lives of the American people and we don't need some great lurch to the right or lurch to the left or redefinition of the Democratic Party," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "The last thing America needs is a second Republican Party."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050820/ap_on_go_co/john_kerry;_ylt=At.AiPxKAYxV1NLpy_gus6uyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

I only saw what looked like two men in speedo type outfits and helmets riding together on CNN. I have to assume that one of the men was our President. That was on the ranch, of course.

(Oh, my eyes....................)

Diebold hires a former top Dem to help "reframe" the issue.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_2958901

The "Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan".

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/opinion/21rich.html?ei=5089&en=6c0954bcc1bcb9a0&ex=1282276800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1124584258-286hZ/hulyLecTAIZz47BA

Does America get it yet? Now that "Swift Boating" seems to be the new favorite American pastime next to baseball and applepie.

Oncall,

There are times when I'd be happy with 4 or 5 strong, honest and noncorrupt parties. I strongly feel that the moderate Republicans of 15 years ago are now dems. And the "Republican" party as it stands now is extremely more conservative than it was during the 70's.

Army Planning for Four More Years in Iraq:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050820/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_chief_interview

Hi all,

Go here to read Cindy laying it on the line today:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005X.shtml

She is a phenominal woman!

Victoria,

They must think they're at a Bush rally and the slogan got stuck in their head.

Posted by: suz at August 20, 2005 08:40 PM

I agree, but like I said, our system seems designed to function nearly as only a two party system.

Carol,

I loved that article. Go Cindy Go! Right?

She is absolutely awe inspiring, honest, compassionate and she says what needs to be said.

Bush is terrified of this broken hearted women. And the "left", "liberal", or "anybody" doesn't need to change one thing about her.

What they DO need to change are the factors that have NOTHING to do with her but which she honestly speaks about: false war, false media, corrupt President, and the loss of too many cherished children because of selfish greed.

Nope...she doesn't need to change at all!

Gene Ellis reporting for The Iconoclast

Regarding the condition of Cindy Sheehan's mother, there is guarded optimism. At this point, it seems that the stroke may not be as serious as was feared. Cindy is hoping to return on Sunday, but nothing is definite.

The original Camp Casey is not going to be dismantled. The Vets and certain other supporters are planning to remain in that location. Families, especially families with children will spend much of their time at the new camp that is in a field rather than in a ditch. Much emotion has been invested in the first Camp Casey, and many do not want to leave. A support group has been established there, and the same is expected to happen at the new camp.

Camp coordinator Ann Wright said, regarding the new location, "President Bush can't leave his ranch without passing one of the camps on the way out." Wright was in the military for 29 years and in the Foreign Service for another 16.
http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/33news20.htm

Sparrow,

I am close to several people who think our problem is that we are all too weak and nice and limp wristed in how we conduct ourselves, and that we will never beat the other side that way. I will send them that post from Cindy to show them that she is no shrinking violet, crying about the war. She is one tough cookie, and I loved reading that, too.

She's an inspiration. For those who didn't read her note from today, I'll post the link again - it's worth the read!

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005X.shtml

Carol,

Thanks for posting that. I have read it and sent to my e-mail list. That is one tough woman. I would like to see her in a room with Rush Limbaugh. She would eat him up and spit him out.

Posted by: madame defarge at August 20, 2005 09:14 PM

Great photos from Camp Casey! Thanks for that link, MD!

Sparrow:

The op-ed by Rich that you linked to above is utterly fantastic. And Cindy Sheehan continues to inspire--amazing, considering all she's been through, all she's going through.

If you haven't seen or heard it you might find this entertaining.

Hear Rush Limbaugh sing
Give it time to load.
http://www.pixelred.com/rush/

Polly Sigh

Yeah as Ted Bundy said, "People disappear every day."

I can't believe all these examples of "compassion" from the ruling dynasty.

Truth Shall Prevail

Please not Bush in Speedo!!
At our booth today one of our "products" was a Bush paper doll magnet set - he was wearing only a red white & blue fig leaf and had Jesus and Pope costumes & also a Louis the XIV one with long curls. Several passers-by suggested other costumes (these were college lads) for when he gets bored, both for famous antiheroes.

Does America get it yet? Now that "Swift Boating" seems to be the new favorite American pastime next to baseball and applepie.

Posted by: sparrow at August 20, 2005 08:35 PM

This cartoon was posted last night, but it is appropriate still. Re: the "swift boating of Cindy Sheehan".

http://www.sacbee.com/ips_rich_content/51-0819babin.gif

At our booth today one of our "products" was a Bush paper doll magnet set - he was wearing only a red white & blue fig leaf and had Jesus and Pope costumes & also a Louis the XIV one with long curls. Several passers-by suggested other costumes (these were college lads) for when he gets bored, both for famous antiheroes.

Posted by: DiAnne at August 20, 2005 09:58 PM

LOL, cracks me up. I wouldn't mind having a set of those.

Re: Bush and speedo. No, in looking back on a picture posted earlier, our fearless leader was wearing a white t-shirt and shorts, and had a funny helmet on that made him look more primate.

I think Madame D. had that link posted, but, alas, I can no longer get into it. As the story goes, a special t-shirt was made for the occassion, and the bikers were given special presidential seal riding socks.

This is courtesy Pamela Leavey, who posted this to a Yahoo group that I belong to but only check about once a month so I have over 800 unread messages. Anyway, John Kerry was just in Seattle & I didn't get to see him OR John Edwards a couple of days before, since I'm forced to save my very limited vacation time for my "vacation."

Anyway, I talked to several people today who had seen him/them & I was curious. I happened to see this & this is a great link for those who like to see photos of John Kerry. I am not surprised to see that the inimitable Marjorie G discovered it before I did!

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=289

Swift Boating like Willie Hortoned need to become verbs in our lexicon. It puts everything in perspective.

With Ally's concerns about CA's ethnic population vulnerable to the polarizing social issues of their homeland pushed by the GOP and Ken Mehlman increasing, Schwarzenegger's redistricting, former DNC chair Joe Andrews brought in to reframe electronic voting for Diebold because of the state's tossing out the machines due to tests that failed 20%, I say watch out for CA to be the next OH and FL.

Also, I say bring aid and comfort to the enemy charges for Andrews.

Yes, DiAnne, my cfk status intact.

Evening falls on the west coast and I have finished my 1st of two days of volunteering at our "grassroots" booth at Hempfest, where we were sandwiched between the ACLU and the Libertarian Party and had the potential to reach over 100,000 people, as this is the largest festival of its kind in the world presently.

We are a completely volunteer group who met during the 2004 election cycle. Our goal is to computerize our statewide database and to make our voting system fair, without relying on party or political candidate leadership, though we can be useful to them later on. We would like to attract people who might be apathetic toward the political process or attracted to well-meaning but unelectable third party candidates, at least by the general elections. We take an approach of being open to many of those ideas though and encourage people to try to get their elected officials to represent them.

Our table was festooned with flowers and books for discussion (such as Black Box Voting, Worse the Watergate and Don't Think of an Elephant). Our free and/or inexpensive products included:
- voter registration forms
- volunteer forms
- www.worldcantwait.org info
- letter to send politicians re Patriot Act
- local Air America info
- OnLine Resource list (with special attention
to Bradblog and RawStory)
- League of Women Voters pamphlets
- Vets for Peace pamphlets
- info on medical malpractice law
- Bush paper dolls
- hats (Don't blame me)
- poster (Keep Washington Blue)
- bumper stickers (Liberal and Proud of It,
Save Social Security, Bring Them Home,
Peace is Patriotic, I'm a Reformed
Capitalist, Bush - Robin Hood in Reverse,
Hate is Not a Family Value
- buttons (Silence is the Voice of Complicity,
Who Did Your Voting Machine Vote For,
Proud Progressive Activist, Free Judith
Miller - Jail Karl Rove, Investigate Plame-
gate, Jail Novack, One Nation Under Sur-
veillance, Better Dead than Red, Bush es en
Dandejo, War Costs Who Pays, Bush Lies,
Red is Toxic (and more)
- ribbon magnets (blue: Give Peace a Chance,
rainbow: Support Diversity, Green: Support
Our Environment

We registered lots of voters, especially young people. We had many comments reflecting great skepticism about electronic voting. We had people wanting to know if there was any chance they could ever vote, if they had been convicted of breaking the law. (The answer is that it depends on their situation and their state, and that they should investigate it). We were told again and again variants of the following: that our lawmakers needed to show more "backbone", that they should not resemble domestic violence victims who are too fearful of repercussions, that we all needed more self esteem and that pursuit of truth was most important.

We gave out websites and information and we were given them in turn (eg. http://www.factcheck.org, http://iraqbodycount.org). We attracted young people from both high school and college political organizations and we had a number of Republicans and Libertarians as well as Democrats, Greens and Socialists. We were given information about the City-Wide Student Walkout on November 2nd, and the AntiWar demonstrations in Washington DC (& elsewhere) on September 25 and invited to several barbecues and parties.

"Peace if Patriotic" was our most popular sticker, with "Hate Is Not a Family Value" running a close second.

We had people from all over the US - places such as Kentucky. Many had come here for a couple of important progressive events taking place in Seattle this weekend (fundraisers & launch of a liberal think tank, to be discussed shortly).

I was happy to meet Angel Bolanos, who is running for city council after moving here 13 years ago from Ecuador, at which time he knew no English. What a charming man!

We also had a number of police stop by to chat, including some who expressed skepticism about reliability of electronic voting and who gave us thumbs up and took informtion on Air America. I am not surprised as last summer they were constantly asking for Kerry/Edwards buttons (ncluding rainbow ones), for when off-duty.

I enjoyed very much talking to the Libertarian Party head - he pointed out that many people feel they have the right to their guns but same people don't feel that others have a right to control their own bodies - then there are those who hold the reverse position. We talked alot about overlap of ideas and "common ground" areas such as skepticism about certain elements in the Patriot Act.

I also wandered around later and was able to hear Jim Hendrix' brother Leon perform and also heard some very good speeches. One 70 year old guy who started a famous commune in the '60s talked about self-reliance, strength of numbers and moral hypocrisy, with a good deal of wisdom.

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow, when I'll be doing the same thing (though no two days are ever the same when doing this sort of thing).

I want to thank Elizabeth, who is coordinating events for our grassroots group, and who is indefatiguable. She was also wearing a very elegant Backbone Campaign t-shirt, with their platform on the spine which ran down the length of her back. http://www.backbonecampaign.org
I love those guys.

Sorry about the length of this - I am doing it as a comment, not an article. More tomorrow.

If California goes, we're toast.
It can't happen.

Posted by: DiAnne at August 20, 2005 11:26 PM

Hi DiAnne

We've got 2 Kerry threads actually and a Max Clelands Dem Radio Address today, which got some good coverage on CNN. JK's speech also got good coverage on CNN, it seems. What's up with that?

Kerry: http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=288

Cleland: http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=293

Waving "hi" to everyone!

Oh and I see Marjorie talking about Arhnold here and CA ...

Has everyone heard about Arhnold and the Stones tickets - Schwarzenegger’s Rolling Stones Fundraiser Violates Massachusetts Ticket Scalping Law - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=294

Waving "by" to everyone!

Thanks again for your help yesterday Karen!

11:59 PM

Didn't say they'd suceed at CA electorally, although with e-voting, strange shifts do occur. And they are bold in their taunts. Think Swifities, Tang memos on CBS, hiding their cheating in plain, obvious, sight.

Just that nothing is safe, all the while we dither with the purist death wish.

Pamela
Thanks!

Posted by: DiAnne at August 20, 2005 11:56 PM

DiAnne, if you see this before you go to bed, could you check your email?

I hadn't heard about these "war backers" setting up camp near Bush's ranch. Pathetic.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5223640,00.html

Also:

Two War Protesters Injured During March

Sunday August 21, 2005 5:16 AM

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Two women protesting the war in Iraq were taken to a hospital Saturday after police broke up an unauthorized march involving about five dozen people on a busy one-way street near an Army recruiting station.

David Meieran, who helped organize the protest, accused police of ``inappropriate and excessive force.''

Sgt. Clint Winkler, a supervisor on duty, told The Associated Press that one woman who would not leave was subdued with a Taser. He also confirmed that a police dog bit another woman on the leg when she refused police orders to disperse.

Both women and a man involved in the march were arrested, Winkler said.

``They were told to disperse, peacefully disperse, and failed to do so, so we started down the sidewalk - officers in front, K-9's behind us, and started pushing the crowd down the sidewalk,'' Winkler said. He said the march broke up after the arrests.

The recruiting station was not open at the time.

-- Stock in Tasers (stun guns) has gone up lately.

Didn't say they'd suceed at CA electorally, although with e-voting, strange shifts do occur.

Just that nothing is safe, all the while we dither with the purist death wish.

Posted by: Marjorie G at August 21, 2005 12:20 AM

And don't forget... California does have its conservative streak at times. The Conservative Revolution started here, with Proposition 13 which passed in 1978 (which capped property tax increases - that sounds good, until you find out what it did to our public schools). Both Nixon and Reagan were Southern Californians.

In recent years we passed Propositions 209 (ban affirmative action), 227 (English only), 21 (anti-youth initiative), and 22 (gay marriage ban which has recently been found unconstitutional). Depending on your opinion on immigrants, you may also want to count 187, which set up a police state against illegal aliens and has been stopped by the courts.

The way things are going, we will pass an anti-union proposition this year, and a constitutional ban on gay marriage AND repeal of domestic partnership next year. I will do everything possible to derail these. And I sincerely hope the California Democratic Party wakes up and stops taking the ethnic populations, and Los Angeles, for granted.

Oh, good. DiAnne is picking me up a set of Bush paper dolls, with a Jesus outfit and a Pope outfit. I know just the people to give them to for Christmas.

First Sergeant Jefferies | You Mowed Down His Cross
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005A.shtml
Mr. Northern - I know little about Cindy Sheehan except that she is a grieving mother, a gentle soul, and wants to bring harm to no one. I know little about you except that you found your way to Crawford on Monday night in August with chains and a pipe attached to your truck for the sole purpose of dishonoring a memorial erected for my friends and lost Soldiers and hundreds of others that served this nation when they were called.

Roberts Scoffed at Promotion for O'Connor
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005C.shtml
As a lawyer in the Reagan White House, John Roberts scoffed at the notion of elevating Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to chief justice as a way to close a political gender gap, calling it a "crass political consideration."

Hagel | 'Let's Talk to Iran'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005H.shtml
Republican Party foreign policy expert Sen. Chuck Hagel is calling for the United States to open talks with Iran's new president and has dismissed President George W. Bush's talk of a military option against Tehran as an empty and foolish threat.
{{{ Amazing. Chuck Hagel (Repub) talks about the Iraq/Iran situation as if he has some common sense...! }}}

The Trillion Dollar War
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/20/opinion/20bilmes.html
If the American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan lasts another five years, the total cost of the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion.

First Sergeant Jefferies | You Mowed Down His Cross
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005A.shtml
Mr. Northern - I know little about Cindy Sheehan except that she is a grieving mother, a gentle soul, and wants to bring harm to no one. I know little about you except that you found your way to Crawford on Monday night in August with chains and a pipe attached to your truck for the sole purpose of dishonoring a memorial erected for my friends and lost Soldiers and hundreds of others that served this nation when they were called.

Roberts Scoffed at Promotion for O'Connor
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005C.shtml
As a lawyer in the Reagan White House, John Roberts scoffed at the notion of elevating Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to chief justice as a way to close a political gender gap, calling it a "crass political consideration."

Hagel | 'Let's Talk to Iran'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005H.shtml
Republican Party foreign policy expert Sen. Chuck Hagel is calling for the United States to open talks with Iran's new president and has dismissed President George W. Bush's talk of a military option against Tehran as an empty and foolish threat.
{{{ Amazing. Chuck Hagel (Repub) talks about the Iraq/Iran situation as if he has some common sense...! }}}

The Trillion Dollar War
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/20/opinion/20bilmes.html
If the American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan lasts another five years, the total cost of the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion.

By Perry Jefferies, First Sergeant, USA (retired) t r u t h o u t Letter
Thursday 18 August 2005

Mr. Northern:

I am a Veteran of the Iraq war, having served with the 4th Infantry Division on the initial invasion with Force Package One.

While I was in Iraq, a very good friend of mine, Christopher Cutchall, was killed in an un-armored HMMWV outside of Baghdad. He was a cavalry scout serving with the 3d ID. Once he had declined the award of a medal because Soldiers assigned to him did not receive similar awards that he had recommended. He left two sons and a wonderful wife. On Monday night, August 16, you ran down the memorial cross erected for him by Arlington West.

One of my Soldiers in Iraq was Roger Turner. We gave him a hard time because he always wore all of his protective equipment, including three pairs of glasses or goggles. He did this because he wanted to make sure that he returned home to his family. He rode a bicycle to work every day to make sure that he was able to save enough money on his Army salary to send his son to college. At Camp Anaconda, where the squadron briefly stayed, a rocket landed inside a tent, sending a piece of debris or fragment into him and killed him. On Monday night, August 16, you ran down the memorial cross erected for him by Arlington West.

One of my Soldiers was Henry Bacon. He was one of the finest men I ever met. He was in perfect shape for a man over forty, working hard at night. He told me that he did that because he didn't have much money to buy nice things for his wife, who he loved so much, so he had to be in good shape for her. He was like a father to many young men in his section of maintenance mechanics. They fixed our vehicles with almost no support and fabricated parts and made repairs that kept our squadron rolling on the longest, fastest armor advance ever made under fire. He was so very proud of his son-in-law that married the beautiful daughter so well raised by Henry. His son-in-law was a helicopter pilot with the 1st Cavalry Division, who died last year.

Henry stopped to rescue a vehicle belonging to another unit on what was to be his last day in Iraq. He could have kept rolling - he was headed to Kuwait after a year's tour. But he stopped. He could have sent others to do the work, but he was on the ground, leading by example, when he was killed. On Monday night, August 16, you took it upon yourself to go out in the country, where a peaceful group was exercising their constitutional rights, and harming no one, and you ran down the memorial cross erected for Henry and for his son-in-law by Arlington West.

Mr. Northern - I know little about Cindy Sheehan except that she is a grieving mother, a gentle soul, and wants to bring harm to no one. I know little about you except that you found your way to Crawford on Monday night in August with chains and a pipe attached to your truck for the sole purpose of dishonoring a memorial erected for my friends and lost Soldiers and hundreds of others that served this nation when they were called. I find it disheartening that good men like these have died so that people like you can threaten a mother who lost a child with your actions. I hope that you are ashamed of yourself.

Perry Jefferies, First Sergeant, USA (retired)

Link Here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001046.html
Refusal to See Sheehan Is Second-Guessed
A Decision Characteristic of Bush Has the Potential to Be a Consequential Act
{{{ Oh, this is actually funny without intending to be.... The lame rationalizations and justifications for why Bu$h hasn't (and won't) meet with Sheehan.... :-) }}}

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082000950.html
Pentagon Defends Consolidation of Bases
Commission Plans to Start Voting This Week on Plan Involving 837 Facilities
{{{ Question: Since there is a decrease in enlistments, doesn't it make good economic sense to close bases? True, surrounding communities would take an economic hit with the decrease in military populations shopping in those areas, but overall, wouldn't it slim down the Pentagon budget (in theory) to close bases due to lack of personnel since enlistments are down??? Or am I missing something?}}}

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at August 21, 2005 01:55 AM

truth,

You crack me up!

Oncall,

You too! (from prior thread.)

London Observer (weekend Guardian supplement):

Mother tips the balance against Bush

Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside the President's ranch has galvanised the anti-war movement - and provoked a vicious political slanging match. Paul Harris reports

Sunday August 21, 2005
The Observer

Candles were lit all across America last week in one of the largest single anti-war protests in recent US history. At more than 1,600 vigils tens of thousands of protesters gathered in solidarity with the woman who has been the catalyst for the rebirth of the anti-war movement: Cindy Sheehan.

Her remarkable one-woman stand outside George Bush's Texas ranch has turned into a national phenomenon - and one of the most vicious political slanging matches in recent US history. On the pro-war side, Sheehan has been derided as a traitor to America, betraying her dead soldier son's memory. On the anti-war side she has become a secular saint, laden with the powerful imagery of the avenging mother roused to action. For them, she is the lone soccer mom who is taking on Bush - and winning.

Either way, Sheehan is the most talked-about woman in American politics. She might also be Bush's worst public relations nightmare. For months Washington has been awash in speculation of a 'tipping point', when the majority of American public opinion turns finally and permanently against the war. Many now believe that Sheehan has provided that final push. 'It has definitely tipped now,' said Professor Steve Zunes, a political scientist at the University of San Francisco.

READ THE REST AT http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1553345,00.html