Blogbits

Is it me, or is this administration incapable of recognizing crisis until it's at least three days old?

Posted by Casey Morris at July 19, 2006 06:03 AM

That's a rhetorical question, right?

They are behind the curve on everything... EVERTHING! Too busy trying to shape the world in their image to care about the actual people in it.

(R)tardy.

UPDATE: Via Nim, this is seriously messed up.

That's absolutely SICKENING!

And they talk about how Arabs are taught to hate Jews. That picture pretty much says it all.

Teach Tolerance and love...not hate!

Casey and Monkey,

Well you know in that social class, it's never appropriate to arrive at a party early or even on time!

It's late or never!

T R U T H O U T has been hacked but they're fixing it.

I have Mark Morford.

Bush Gropes, Planet Cringes
Knead a German chancellor, banter dumbly, reveal global ignorance. It's Dubya abroad!
By Mark Morford

So now we know.

I mean, we sort of thought we knew, before, what kind of guy George W. Bush is, essentially our very own inept, inarticulate ex-alcoholic ex-frat-guy failed-businessman pseudo-leader who famously appeals to the most God-fearin' and least educated and least attuned among us because he is, well, one of them.

We thought we had him pegged: Just a casual and aw-shucks sort of walkin', talkin', war-happy embarrassment to the country who was rumored to be a Genuinely Nice Guy in person but who, when he traveled abroad, nevertheless caused the entire nation to pre-emptively cringe in preparation for all sorts of imminent humiliations and lots of hilarious-yet-excruciating new material for "The Collected Bushisms."

But every so often we get a glimpse of just a little more. Or, rather, less. Of what lies just beneath that carefully controlled sheen of White House spin, what happens when Dubya is away from his handlers and his prefab scripts. We get a hint of just what fuels that clueless amble, that Chosen One bumble, that graceless and decidedly dorky sort of approach to everything from ordering a Diet Coke to comprehending Middle East chaos. ...

(click here to read the rest)

(Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/07/19/notes071906.DTL&nl=fix)

Conservative Anger Grows Over Bush's Foreign Policy

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 19, 2006; A01

At a moment when his conservative coalition is already under strain over domestic policy, President Bush is facing a new and swiftly building backlash on the right over his handling of foreign affairs.

Conservative intellectuals and commentators who once lauded Bush for what they saw as a willingness to aggressively confront threats and advance U.S. interests said in interviews that they perceive timidity and confusion about long-standing problems including Iran and North Korea, as well as urgent new ones such as the latest crisis between Israel and Hezbollah.

"It is Topic A of every single conversation," said Danielle Pletka, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that has had strong influence in staffing the administration and shaping its ideas. "I don't have a friend in the administration, on Capitol Hill or any part of the conservative foreign policy establishment who is not beside themselves with fury at the administration."

Conservatives complain that the United States is hunkered down in Iraq without enough troops or a strategy to crush the insurgency. They see autocrats in Egypt and Russia cracking down on dissenters with scant comment from Washington, North Korea firing missiles without consequence, and Iran playing for time to develop nuclear weapons while the Bush administration engages in fruitless diplomacy with European allies. They believe that a perception that the administration is weak and without options is emboldening Syria and Iran and the Hezbollah radicals they help sponsor in Lebanon.

Most of the most scathing critiques of the administration from erstwhile supporters are being expressed within think tanks and in journals and op-ed pages followed by a foreign policy elite in Washington and New York.

But the Bush White House has always paid special attention to the conversation in these conservative circles. Many of the administration's signature ideas -- regime change in Iraq, and special emphasis on military "preemption" and democracy building around the globe -- first percolated within this intellectual community. In addition, these voices can be a leading indicator of how other conservatives from talk radio to Congress will react to policies.

As the White House listens to what one official called the "chattering classes," it hears a level of disdain from its own side of the ideological spectrum that would have been unthinkable a year ago. It is an odd irony for a president who has inflamed liberals and many allies around the world for what they see as an overly confrontational, go-it-alone approach. The discontent on the right could also color the 2008 presidential debate.

more...
http://tinyurl.com/oa7uu

Menzies Campbell on need for Israeli ceasefire:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/menzies_campbell/2006/07/ceasefire_now.html

Indian bloggers blocked following terror attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1824137,00.html

Bush siding more with Biden than with Frist or Gingrich
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5960930,00.html
so oil prices are down a little

Paradise Lost: Elegy for Beirut
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1185694.ece
I'm looking for full report as I don't subscribe

Soldier in Iraq Loses Family in Fire
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/278040_kirkland19.html
including his children .. he is returning

3149 Iraqis Die in June in Undeclared Civil War
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/278015_iraq19.html
Finally someone said it in print

Sectarian Violence Worsens in Iraq
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003136394_iraqcontrol19.html

Monkey
I don't US has the financial means to be the world superpower so it's getting hard to fake it.

Check out the announcement of performance dates for Fearup at the NYC Fringe Festival here:

http://www.democracycellproject.net/gallery/fearup.shtml

Way to go, Karen!

U.S. response exasperates Americans
(from Anderson Cooper)

The U.S. government says it has evacuated more than 100 Americans, but their efforts are clearly lagging behind those of other countries. The French and Italians have gotten hundreds of their citizens out.

Some of the Americans who have made it out are clearly exasperated with the U.S. response. You see them checking into Larnaca's beachfront hotels tired, frustrated, and a little stunned at what they've been through.

I just finished interviewing one American woman with three young children. The kids were bouncing on the bed of their hotel room, oblivious to the nightmare they just escaped.

Their mother was lucky. She was able to get a spot on a Marine Corps chopper and has a ticket back to New York in a few hours.

"I don't know how they are going to get all those people out," she told me.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/

Monkey
I think we are lacking in money, manpower & organization.
Military adventures tend to deplete resources over time.

& then the poor Indonesians, who once again had no warning of a tsunami, despite enhanced warning systems

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/19/asia/web.0719tsunami.php

We are at risk for tsunamis where I live. This does not inspire confidence.

poignant and heartfelt words by Nance Greggs over at the DU:

Because Someone Has To …
By Nancy Greggs

At the present moment, there are people the world over, as well as here at home, who deserve an apology. I realize that an apology, as heartfelt as it may be, will never undo irreparable harm, will never restore what is irretrievably lost, will never resurrect lives that are forever gone.

I also realize that the people who truly owe these apologies are too arrogant, too self-centered, too willfully ignorant of their own deliberately misguided actions to speak the words, no less express the thoughts that should be inherent behind them.

So, as an American citizen, I will stand up and say I am truly sorry to those who deserve it, cognizant of the fact that I am NOT alone in my thoughts. I am confident that millions of my fellow citizens are with me.

I apologize for the world being a more dangerous place, due not only to the ineptitude of our president and his administration, but due to their financial and political agenda that has put not only my own countrymen, but my global fellow citizens, in jeopardy for decades to come.

-snip-

I apologize to the victims of Katrina, who also turned to their own government in time of need, not only to be rebuffed, but humiliated by a president who found it more important to make self-aggrandizing speeches than to see to their survival.

-snip-

I apologize to all of the citizens of the Middle East who are suffering at this moment, because my government’s leaders are too inept and uninterested to bring warring factions to the table, and engage them in discussion that could hopefully lead to some semblance of peace and conciliation.

-snip-

I apologize to those who will die needlessly in the future, because the boy who has the skill to find a cure for cancer will spend his life pumping gas, unable to afford the necessary education to fulfill his potential, because the girl who had the talent to find a cheap alternate source of energy was gunned down on a Baghdad street last month, because the team that was destined to perfect new ways of feeding the world died of starvation in Africa just an hour ago.

full piece here:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/NanceGreggs/57

Economic news - interest rate rise probably imminent, spike in prices of chickens & eggs & fresh fruit & melons (has to be trucking), and read down - homebuilding enthusiasm way down (being compared to 1991, which is when we had the lst Gulf War). Figures on production cost didn't look good, figures on consumption due out today. If the admin tries to spin this as good news, business people should know better. The Dow is down about 1000 points from what it was not so long ago, maybe 9%? There have been 18 interest rate hikes in a row - very small each time but what if you are borrowing money to start a new business. What about Bush's "ownership society"?

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=115171

Crude oil prices retreated Wednesday as traders took profits from recent price spikes inspired by fighting in the Middle East.

-- I read this sentence in the business news and it seems to confirm the idea of people making money off war. How many of us have the money to speculate in oil?! & it seems so cavalier, like the mentality of those who drive SUVs & consider the middle east to be their own personal gas station.

http://truthlaidbear.com/mideastcrisis_map.php

Ma'an: Nasrallah Will Give Tel Aviv Residents One Hour to Flee
01:00 Jul 19, '06 / 23 Tammuz 5766
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

Arab press sources close to the Hizbullah say that residents of Tel Aviv will be given one hour to flee before the terrorist group launches a barrage of missiles at the city.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=107746

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Deja Vu All Over Again

This morning on the East Coast, we're greeted with: Open confrontation between the Israeli Army and Hizbullah on the Lebanese southern borders.

Ashrafieh was hit with 4 bombs destroying two trucks. Apparently trucks now are military targets and need to be avoided at all costs. I wonder now how humanitarian aid will get to the battered southern villages.

http://lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com/2006/07/deja-vu-all-over-again.html

Hmmmm...and Bush is 'rushing' to send Condi there NEXT week!

Dobbs: Not so smart when it comes to the Middle East
By Lou Dobbs
CNN

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

NEW YORK (CNN) -- We Americans like to think we're a pretty smart people, even when evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. And nowhere is that evidence more overwhelming than in the Middle East. History in the Middle East is everything, and we Americans seem to learn nothing from it.

President Harry Truman took about 20 minutes to recognize the state of Israel when it declared independence in 1948. Since then, more than 58 years of war, terrorism and blood-letting have led to the events of the past week.

Even now, as Katyusha rockets rain down on northern Israel and Israeli fighter jets blast Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, we simultaneously decry radical Islamist terrorism and Israel's lack of restraint in defending itself.

And the U.S. government, which wants no part of a cease-fire until Israel is given every opportunity to rescue its kidnapped soldiers and destroy as many Hezbollah and Hezbollah armaments as possible, urges caution in the interest of preserving a nascent and fragile democratic government in Lebanon. Could we be more conflicted?

-snip

In the Middle East, where is our sense of proportion? Where is our sense of perspective? Where is our sense of decency? And, finally, just how smart are we?

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/18/dobbs.july19/index.html

I apologize if this has already been posted but Meteor Blades has put up an excellent diary which is a 'must-read' in my opinion. If for no other reason than the multitude of links and references he has in it. But in reality, it says more than that.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/18/2189/97172

Enjoy!

DiAnne,

The news about the economy slowing is scarey.

I also just can't help wondering WHY it is REALLY taking so long to get our citizens out of Lebanon?
It is like there is a PALL over our evacuation proceedures in time of emergency. Scarey as hell, actually.

Is America that much in debt, and in the red, and all spent out that we can't even rescue our own citizens in time of life threatening circumstances?

After all the taxes we have paid all these years?
(Yes, I know the tax cuts have contributed to this, but the taxes I do pay and have paid were NOT spent the way I would have done it!)

This should definitely be an election issue too, in my point of view.

Dammit, this my MY country too. When oh when will people care?

And, if conservatives are SO great and responsible with their money and their lives, why are they allowing this to happen? Don't they realize that it could be them waiting for that lone helicopter to arrive when peril is at hand?

End of rant.

Posted by: dwahzon at July 19, 2006 10:57 AM

Great diary Dwahzon.

I read through all the posts on the big thread two down. I've read through at least 50 blogs and news articles too.

My conclusion...no matter WHAT anyone does...Lebanon or Israel, it's apparently the wrong thing!

Israel has clearly made mistakes. And So has Lebanon. I was impressed by one Lebanese site that said, "Our mistake was not in asking for International help earlier to help us rein in Hezbolah."

I was also impressed by one of the links you presented that said that the Lebanese were being driven as refuges to Syria--one place we don't want them to go!

I was also shaken by counter viewpoints that "Israel MUST bomb them because that's the only way to stop attacks in the future..." (paraphrased)

Or there's the comment, "Nobody is allowed to support Israel or peace or be against terrorism...it's simply unspoken..." (paraphrased)

So in the end...my conclusion is that nobody knows how to handle situations like this. We're all guessing!

Woops, sorry DiAnne, that was NMP's post I was answering, not yours. Sorry, NMP.

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at July 19, 2006 11:08 AM

procedures, not proceedures. typo.

Posted by: monkey at July 19, 2006 10:40 AM

Awesome column by Dobbs. It's about time someone began questioning the intelligence of the American people.

Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at July 19, 2006 11:20 AM

I do believe it was a certain swingin' simian that coined "It's The Electorate: Stupid" during the last electoral theft.

It still are too.

Thanks for the great links this morning everyone.

I can't read them all right now, but I am bookmarking this page too, and every time I take a break I will be able to get into them.

Here's a bookmark to add to the spots that you check regularly.

I haven't read too far down the list but here's the title of the site and the tagline:

Nieman Watchdog
'Questions the Press Should Ask'

from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University

http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm

---------------
Here's a snippet from their About Us page:

The premise of watchdog journalism is that the press is a surrogate for the public, asking probing, penetrating questions at every level, from the town council to the state house to the White House, as well as in corporate and professional offices, in union halls, on university campuses and in religious organizations that seek to influence governmental actions.

The goal of watchdog journalism is to see that people in power provide information the public should have.

The Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project grows from this premise and this goal: to help the press ask penetrating questions, critical questions, questions that matter, questions not yet asked about today's news. NiemanWatchdog.org seeks to encourage more informed reporting by putting journalists in contact with authorities who can suggest appropriate, probing questions and who can serve as resources.

What sets us apart.

There are already many very good journalism Web sites. Nevertheless, we think our function at NiemanWatchdog.org – suggesting questions the press should ask – sets us apart.

----------------

There is a discussion section too.

From CNN Breaking News:

Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 12:30 PM
To: TEXTBREAKINGNEWS@CNNIMAIL12.CNN.COM
Subject: CNN Breaking News

-- Lebanon Prime Minister Siniora says 300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks; appeals for immediate cease-fire, according to media reports.

Posted by: dwahzon at July 19, 2006 12:50 PM

Way t'go, Shrub.

Yo, Thou shalt not kill?

Caption: Boys wounded in an Israeli warplane missile attack in Srifa, Lebanon, sit on hospital beds.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/WORLD/meast/07/19/mideast/newt1.mideast.wed.10.ap.jpg

... but by all means, save embryos.

just say No to vouchers:

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republicans on Tuesday proposed a $100 million plan to let poor children leave struggling schools and attend private schools at public expense."

"The Bush administration requested the school-choice plan, but Tuesday's media event caused some awkwardness for the Education Department. The agency just released a study that raises questions about whether private schools offer any advantage over public ones.

"Under the new legislation, the vouchers would mainly go to students in poor schools that have failed to meet their progress goals for at least five straight years."

"Parents could get $4,000 per year to put toward private-school tuition or a public school outside their local district. They could also seek up to $3,000 per year for extra tutoring."

"Voucher programs rob public-school students of scarce resources," said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, a teachers union. "No matter what politicians call them, vouchers threaten the basic right of every child to attend a quality public school."

Meanwhile, Spellings faced questions about her department's handling of a new study comparing students in public and private schools that had been quietly released on Friday.

The study found that, overall, private school students outperform public school children in reading and math. But public school students often did as well, if not better, when compared to private-school peers with similar backgrounds."

Another major problem is the concept that you can enroll your kids into private schools even if you wanted to for $4,000/year. In reality it will just be windfall for the Privatization Gang, and to wealthy families who are already sending their kids to private schools and would love $4,000/kid. Bush will be speaking to the NAACP after 5 years of snubbing them and I am sure he will be repeating this lie, that if we simply dry up funding to our public schools and once more reward his Pioneers, that poor people will have a choice, and will be able to send their kids to better private schools for a mere $4,000. I am sure there is a study out there that reports the real cost of private schools which I am sure is closer to $10,000. Where the heck does he expect poor families to come up with an extra $6,000?

We need to debunk this lie.

The Republican strategy is to push their favorite legislation through when the media and the public's attention is diverted and not paying attention; in this case with Lebanon and Iraq.

Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2006 10:12 AM

It all comes down to the logisticians and the planners....

There are plenty of detailed "mass evacuation" plans out there within DoD, now the question is if they will be executed appropriately - and that is up to the operators and the folks in command-and-control positions.

On another note, I just saw the movie "V for Vendetta" (yeah I realize I'm a bit behind the curve here!). Figured I should given my nickname around here...watched it with someone pretty pro-W too...what a great movie, highly recommended.

Posted by: Veritas at July 19, 2006 01:34 PM

My question is, why aren't those evacuation plans being executed appropriately? Didn't those with power to execute them learn anything in Katrina?

Or is it that it isn't perceived as that big of a threat at the present stage, or is it that they have mis-appropriated all the funds? One can only speculate.

Posted by: Veritas at July 19, 2006 01:34 PM

Pro-W, that's gotta be embarrassing... for more oxymorons, ask Karla Faye Tucker to what extent W knows anything about executing.

The only thing this administration does with exceptional competence is getting innocent people killed worldwide, among other things.

The Execute It Branch

btw, STUPUS is on tv right now explaining why he vetoed stem cell research... and he just fired off one of his trademark "winks" to some poor bastard (aka fawning, drooling, moron groupie) in the audience... and the crowd went wild.

Ah, The One Turd.

WASHINGTON - President Bush readied the first veto of his presidency to stop legislation to ease limits on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.

Bush planned to sign a veto message Wednesday afternoon without any ceremony or photographers to record the historic moment. "He doesn't feel it's appropriate," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

But the president was to speak about the issue later in the White House East Room, surrounded by 18 families who "adopted" frozen embryos that were not used by other couples, and then used those leftover embryos to have children. "The message there is that an embryo can create a human being," Snow said.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13934199/

What a putrid bunch.

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at July 19, 2006 01:59 PM

Truth, I'm no longer in a position to know, I could only guess. I do know that more is going on than meets the eye but suspect that someone (or several someones) is applying the brakes and preventing full execution of the plan. What a tangled web we've woven...

It would be a good response for Democratic leaders to have a dueling press conference at a D.C. Nursing Home and get feedback from ALS, Alzheimer,and from Parkinson victim's families and state we are on their side Mr. President and you have let them and their hopes down.

wow, I must say, I just watched the W on tv for more than 5 seconds, actually made it to 5 minutes before I reached for the Ipicac.

But man oh man, it was just crystal clear to me by listening to His Heinous that they only want to save embryo's so they can: (drum roll please)....

Grow up and spread democracy and freedom to hold the line for decency and morality, in the ethical manner in which this country has become accustomed to since its forefathers, because America is the greatest country ever, and because anyone who doesn't think so can be investigated without notification, because bad people want to get to you, but in ways that only the government knows about, and we'll tell you who you can pray to and when, and the economy is way better than you think it is, and the debt is no big deal, cuz we're saving all these babies to pay higher taxes to make up the deficit shortfall and spread democracy and freedom to all the world through peaceful and ethical DRONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did ya get that? Ok, I was parapharaseesing, but you get the ghrist.

Unbelivable. I am planting my head back in the fronds now, but before I do, I gotta say, I'm just thouroughly embarrassed for this country.

Am I Blue?

Monkey, thanks for sacrificing your equilibrium for those of us not near a television.

I always appreciate your unique spin on events!

ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports that the key "stem cell research bill, H.R. 810, which negates the Bush Administration's 2001 order restricting federal funding only to embryonic stem cell lines already in existence in 2001, passed 63-37 in the Senate. That's four votes short of the 67 that would be needed in the Senate to overcome the promised presidential veto. A veto-proof margin in the House is 291 votes. H.R. 810 fell far short of that when it got 238 upon passage in May of 2005. So don't hold your breath for a veto override."

Our target now needs to be "53 New Congresspeople For Stem Cell Research."

Posted by: dwahzon at July 19, 2006 02:48 PM

You make me ditzy, Miss Listy ;-)

Monkey,

Thanks for the play by play.

Now here's your Ipicac and your bucket. Go lay down and wake up in 3 years. You'll feel better then.

Category: Local Politics
Subject: DeVos $$ Support Youth Political Orgs

For a vivid and current description of the tactics the GOP/religious right wing uses to recruit and indoctrinate high school and college age youth, read a full report in Michigan Liberal. One of my grandsons has described similar behavior at MSU--and his disgust. And a very sweet granddaughter has been recruited for a discipleship by Campus Crusade for Christ.

The right wing minority is determined to expand its base, and our youth is its perpetual target.

Link:
http://www.michiganliberal.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=6C65539F34B0DCFA5889EFD6C6534660?diaryId=6037

Well for those who like a good chuckle along with their stats, here's a fun analysis of the latest 50 State SUSA poll by AdmiralNaismith

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/19/132446/008

John Kerry on Bush Stem Cell Veto

“This wasn’t a pro-life veto. This was a political veto, and I believe Americans will veto this President’s narrow political agenda in November.

“Honoring the sanctity of human life means giving hope to the 100 million Americans suffering today from illnesses that stem-cell research may one day help cure, not vetoing hope. Instead, because of politics, more than 3,000 Americans will continue to die every day from diseases that might one day be treatable because of stem-cell therapy. We can support our scientists, help the sick, and ensure that our legal and ethical boundaries continue to reflect our unshakable sense of human dignity and the value of human life. Today President Bush failed that test. This was not a simple decision, but it shouldn’t have been a close call, let alone the wrong call.

“Instead of vetoing runaway spending or cuts in medical services for the poorest Americans, the president has chosen to veto the promise of groundbreaking research. On this issue President Bush has said one thing and done another. That’s not leadership, it’s playing politics with people’s lives, and it’s unacceptable.”

Ralph...check out this 'spin' from the MICHIGAN LIBERAL website!

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060719/NEWS01/607190345/1001/news

Not very libeal, huh?

Gutknecht gives grim assessment
By Mark Fischenich
The Free Press

— Congressman Gil Gutknecht found the situation in Iraq more bleak than he anticipated during a weekend visit to the war zone, and said a partial withdrawal of some American troops might be wise.

Gutknecht, a strong supporter of the war since it began in March of 2003, told reporters in a telephone conference call Tuesday that American forces appear to have no operational control of much of Baghdad.

“The condition there is worse than I expected,” he said. “... I have to be perfectly candid: Baghdad is a serious problem.”

-snip-

His assessment of the problems facing Iraq and the potential value of removing some American troops comes one month after Gutknecht was widely quoted during a debate in the House about the war.

“Members, now is not the time to go wobbly,” Gutknecht said on June 15. “Let’s give victory a chance.”

While Gutknecht is still not in favor of setting deadlines for the withdrawal of all American troops, he said the situation in Iraq’s largest city has clearly deteriorated.

“Baghdad is worse today than it was three years ago,” he said.

-snip-

The nearly 300,000 Iraqi security forces that Bush administration officials say have been trained have shown little ability to halt the ethnic violence. A top American commander said recently that more American troops may need to be put on the streets to do the job.

Sending additional troops to Iraq would be “a terrible mistake,” Gutknecht said.

Gutknecht compared Iraq to a child learning to ride a bicycle and said America needs to be willing to let the country suffer some bruises as it attempts to take charge of its own affairs.

“I think it’s time to take off the training wheels of their bicycle,” he said.

Gutknecht was in Iraq from Saturday morning until late Sunday afternoon. His time in the country’s capital city was spent almost exclusively within the Green Zone, an area of central Baghdad that is heavily fortified and where all access is controlled by check-points.

“We learned it’s not safe to go anywhere outside of the Green Zone any part of the day,” he said.

The movements of Gutknecht and four other congressmen were carefully controlled by security forces worried about abduction attempts by insurgents, he said.

“They realize people like us are juicy targets.”

Gutknecht’s sobering report contrasts with many of his fellow conservative supporters of the war. The Republican National Committee sends out weekly e-mails to the media called “Iraq Facts” that paint a picture of steady progress toward stability and Iraqi self-governance. And conservative commentators have consistently said that the American people are being provided an overly dire picture of the Iraq war by the mainstream media.

“While a little bit of progress has been made, there’s an awful lot that needs to be done,” Gutknecht said.

Gutknecht was critical of some of the “spin” from Bush administration officials in the Pentagon and the State Department. He specifically pointed to past statements that a few hundred insurgents were causing the violence in the Iraq. Military officials say they’ve captured 10,000 even as the insurgency continues unabated.

“That’s a far cry from what we were told originally,” he said. “... All of the information we receive sometimes from the Pentagon and the State Department isn’t always true.”

The American troops, however, are performing heroically, he said.

“They’re doing a terrific job in enormously difficult circumstances.”

That doesn’t mean that more troops could win the war.

“What I think we need to do more is withdraw more Americans,” he said.

-snip-

He did say that the patience of average Americans might begin to wear thin if improvements don’t come soon.

“Americans are going to start losing faith in this thing,” he said.

more...
http://tinyurl.com/lq976

Interesting...

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11724

Walmart healthcare bill rejected...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/19/155618/486

"Grow up and spread democracy and freedom to hold the line for decency and morality, in the ethical manner in which this country has become accustomed to since its forefathers, because America is the greatest country ever, and because anyone who doesn't think so can be investigated without notification, because bad people want to get to you, but in ways that only the government knows about, and we'll tell you who you can pray to and when, and the economy is way better than you think it is, and the debt is no big deal, cuz we're saving all these babies to pay higher taxes to make up the deficit shortfall and spread democracy and freedom to all the world through peaceful and ethical DRONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
...

Posted by: monkey at July 19, 2006 02:36 PM

Monkey:

It's frightening but I can actually imagine the Bush White House saying something like that.

If we did not leave any spaces between words in the above paragraph it would make much better sense as one big run-on sentence with no point than it would as a paragraph with a legitimate grammatical spacing of words. (The grammatical spacing being the only legitimate thing about it).

The Imbecile makes my hair hurt. (Its gone past my head).

"Americans are going to start losing faith in this thing," he said.

Posted by: monkey at July 19, 2006 03:57 PM

Gee, he catches on fast. (not) Guess he got bit in the asp.

Ed Schultz, "No Democrats have come out for diplomacy...Americans should be calling for diplomacy and no polls! Where are all the polls?" & he's railing that America would have a 'Wait and let the bombs fall..."

I agree with this. Where is a Priest, a rabbi, or anyone to go there to help Israel and Lebanon stop this before we do end up with WWIII.

(I should have added a cleric too.)

Monkey
You may want to insert some 'uh...uh...uh' in there somewhere.

A TPM reader writes in on why Bush's jaw-dropping frat-boy behavior at the G8 is actually newsworthy. Robert Scheer, writing at Truthdig, explores this further. As an aside, I wonder how annoyed the White House is at their experience with warrentless eavesdropping?

@@@@@

One has to use the "Clinton Test" to analyze Bush's idiotic public behavior. Let's say that Bill Clinton came up from behind the seated German prime minister and grabbed her shoulders, and then had said "shit" to the British prime minister into an open mike, over the course of two days. Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Faux News and the Mainstream media would play the story for days: CLINTON'S DISASTEROUS SUMMIT, CLINTON OUT-OF=CONTROL etc..

Bush's sloppy, boorish behavior is newsworthy because it parallels American foreign policy: sloppy, arrogant, ignorant, bullying and boorish. Bush is condescending to EVERYONE, even other heads of state.

Exactly ralph!

I just heard Bush talk about the 'sanctity of life....murder...etc'

I'm joining monkey with the Ipicac. And grab the kleenex too! These people are disgusting! Incorrigible and deceitful and dishonest and shameful! Just absolutely shameful!

The sanctity of life as said by the people who LIED for war and who is ignoring diplomatic options in the middle-east. The same who watched black Americans drown in NOLA and the same who wanted Americans to PAY for their ticket out of a war zone that they refuse to send help to!

They're sick. They're psycho! They're not even human!

Ralph...check out this 'spin' from the MICHIGAN LIBERAL website!

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060719/NEWS01/607190345/1001/news

Not very libeal, huh?

Posted by: Suz at July 19, 2006 03:49 PM

@@@@@@@@@@

Joe is a Demi-God in Calhoun county:

Naval Officer!!!

Doctor!!!

Mayor of a Dying city, Battle Creek

A friend of mine says that Joe has gone to Washington and has drunk the Republican kool-aid. Joe voted with DeLay and the rightwingers on almost every important, controversial pieace of legislation that went through the House Representatives. Joe screwed the the stupid unions (who endorsed him - a Republican!!! - very much out of custom, in THE PRIMARY!!!! two years ago).

The Democrats (Lansing, Brewer, the insiders, the money people) have completely given up on the 7th Congressional district - it is pathetic. The Democratic candidate in the 7th would be very lucky to get 45% of the vote in November.. we usually get in the low 40's.

The Democrats (Lansing, Brewer, the insiders, the money people) have completely given up on the 7th Congressional district - it is pathetic.

Posted by: ralpheh at July 19, 2006 08:42 PM

At least you get low 40s.

My district doesn't even have a Democratic congressional candidate, and I live in a supposed "blue state." Even if a Democrat ran, he/she would get NO support from the state party, and would be lucky to break 30%.

The Democratic Party has conceded my suburban SoCal district completely to the neocon white/Chinese/Korean urban exodus. And the Chinese and Korean parts are such uncomfortable topics in the Dems' PC mindsets that they further refuse to discuss the topic.

Needless to say, the Republicans have completely reframed the issues in their favor, calling themselves the party of pro-immigrant policies due to their supposed support of entrepreneurism. Most entrepreuneurial Chinese and Koreans do believe this crap, considering unions to be dead relics of lazy communists, for example, since "anyone worth their weight in salt would be an entrepreneur." Of course, I know better, since the Republicans are "pro-business" - pro-BIG business only, that is - but nobody seems to listen to me.

I doubt Pres. Kerry would have reacted so weakly to the N. Korean testing.

Posted by: Ira at July 19, 2006 12:14 PM

AFAIK, Kerry would consult more closely with our ALLIES in South Korea, instead of special-interest reactionaries in the Korean-American community, which the Republican Party is beholden to.

We need to debunk this lie.

Posted by: Ira at July 19, 2006 12:37 PM

Another way of the Republicans getting the poor to vote against their best interests, in the name of false hope.

Here in California, a "blue state" that isn't all that blue, attempts to introduce school vouchers were framed along the lines of "dismantling the last bastion of socialism in American government - public schools." Fortunately, no attempt has survived the voter initiative process - so far.

Military adventures tend to deplete resources over time.

Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2006 10:12 AM

Especially ones that are accompanied by a tax cut.

The sanctity of life as said by the people who LIED for war and who is ignoring diplomatic options in the middle-east. The same who watched black Americans drown in NOLA and the same who wanted Americans to PAY for their ticket out of a war zone that they refuse to send help to!

Posted by: Suz at July 19, 2006 08:34 PM

But they care for the unborn fetuses (until birth, anyway), and Terri Schiavo.

The only lives that have sanctity are the ones that fit the neocon agenda.

One of our forum members posted this at DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1675918&mesg_id=1675918

Note that MSM is using the words WWIII more often than not. 300 killed today and counting;this IS bushworld and he's calling stem cell research murder !! They can't even figure out what WW we're fighting as some have even said WW IV or V ! Culture of destruction is upon us as the chimp vetos Stem cell research,throws away ALL what can be good for improving the lives of others??? Livid rages in my blood today as I attended an ihi (institute for healthcare improvement) work shop The findings are stunning, evidenced based data on how poorly this ADM has responded to the needs of citizens of this nation. Only 55% of americans actually get what they need r/t their situations ie diabetes,heart disease,cancer etc.,not to mention that's only among the white population. Too bad if you're poor or black,or other ethnicity as the #'s only get worse. Then we spoke of the challenges and the drain these diseases have on the healthcare system. The "evidence" is out there and we need to work diligently,constantly to get these guys OUT!! Cruelty is NOT a christian value...end of rant !

Imagine Frat Boy finally speaking at NAACP tomorrow, after refusing 5 years in a row. Publicity stunt.

Ally and I are chatting in the IRC if anyone wants to join us.

Posted by: Patti F. at July 19, 2006 09:44 PM

Count me in.

Asian-Americans are also very likely to be uninsured, because they're often self-insured.

The Republicans like to paint themselves as the party of entrepreneurship, the party that opens the American Dream up to the immigrants. If they want to get serious, fix the healthcare issue.

There are people like me, who can't get individual healthcare plans at ANY price, due to pre-existing conditions. And I am sure I am far from alone among the Asian-American (and often Republican-leaning) entrepreneurs.

Asian-Americans are also very likely to be uninsured, because they're often self-insured.

Posted by: Ally McLesbian at July 19, 2006 09:53 PM

I meant self-EMPLOYED!

Race you to the irc!

Patti and Ally,

Forgive me others if I have already posted this.

My father retired from a community service (city) job where twenty years ago his family health insurance coverage was top of the line ~ Premium.
He retired with coverage for himself and my mother.

The past two years I have seen their coverage decline into something just awful. Their insurance providers decided a year ago that they must CHECK in to the hospital themselves by going to and through the emergency room, instead of their primary physician's referral, then checking in upstairs in the lobby where they did previously, without seeing a doctor.

My mother has been ill for some time, but her condition has worsened. I cannot tell you how many times this past year she had very life threatening situations (blood too thin and bleeding internally and externally ~ ended up having five transfusions and two bags of plasma in a matter of 24 hours.) Each and every time they check in they have to sit and go through all the paperwork of checking into emergency, which keeps none of it's previous records, as if it were the first time. Then they have to wait to see the doctor - one time it was at least 8 hours.

This also means that the doctor on call in the hospital that day or night becomes the directing doctor for all their care during their stay in the hospital. Their primary physician has no input whatsoever. Then, whichever doctor is on call at the hospital each day during the hospital stay after that becomes her doctor in charge of her care. Do you know what havoc that wreaks?
They can't figure out how to treat a patient in one day or two days, or often three days, especially when they have never treated that patient before, and have to go on verbal instructions from my father! It is very stressful, and very degrading to my entire family to go through this!

I think it is terrible to treat old people this way. Someone who worked all his life and had his insurance and earned it the hard way.

With all the corruption in the insurance and medical business, too. Boxes of Kleenexes costing ten dollars on one bill.

If we don't get these guys out I predict more than 55% won't be getting their medical needs met once the baby boomers really start aging.

All this and more, in the "richest nation on earth".

Thanks for sharing, Truth... The healthcare industry is truly broken and corrupt. An insurance executive's profit is more important than the lives of the patients involved. Even for the insured, things are looking bleak.

I tell everyone that if there is anything that forces me to leave the US, it won't be W, it won't be the Republican Party, it won't be Dominionist Christianity - it will be healthcare.

This one goes out to Lady Liberty...

Rich Girl
by Hall & Oates

You're a rich girl, and you've gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
Its a bitch girl but its gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Get you too far

And dont you know, dont you know
That its wrong to take what is given you
So far gone, on your own
You can get along if you try to be strong
But youll never be strong

cause

Youre a rich girl, and youve gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
Its a bitch girl and its gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway

Say money but it wont get you too far,
Get you too far

High and dry, out of the rain
Its so easy to hurt others when you cant feel pain
And dont you know that a love cant grow
cause theres too much to give, cause youd rather live
For the thrill of it all, oh

Youre a rich girl, and youve gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
Its a bitch girl and its gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Get you too far

And you say
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
Youre a rich girl, a rich girl
Oh, youre a rich rich girl yeah
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Oh, get ya too far

BLoggers come up with the best presentation of ideas to a grander purpose.

Read this and tell me it shouldn't be a commercial!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/19/18487/8164

I just wanted to thank dwahzon and Suz for the chat tonight... finally, the chat room is showing signs of life again.

We discussed the current issues parallel to this blog's topics, but we also talked about our personal matters in juicy details. :)

I look forward to more of you participating in the evenings to come! I definitely wanna hear from Vic's DCP yearly gathering this weekend - LIVE.

For those of you needing information (evidenced based data )on healthcare and issues r/t your concerns go to the site of the ihi.
http://www.ihi.org
See what the healthcare industry is doing to provide you with a safety net..it's awesome work!!

This from the daughter of Ronald Reagan, with no further comment from me

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13939211/site/newsweek/

The kos info would make a good ad,but we have so many it would be hard to chose just one! How about Tania Faye Tucker pleading for her life when the chimp was gov. and in the background we have the chimp with the words:" but it's murder",as he hides behind the children!

suz we had that discussion here when this site started up about how Progressives needed to reclaim the values argument. Bush just ceded that values arument and handed it to us on a silver platter, hopefully as Schumer said today we will pound the values argument home to Nov voters.
Tom Harkin had it right when Bush drew a line in the sand that destruction of lines after 9 pm when he spoke from Crawford on Aug 9, 2001 was destruction of life but at 8:59 pm that is a different story. Harkin retorted: how about 9:05, or 9:15 or midnight?"
The snowflake organization he touted today have delivered 128 children out of 400,000 embryos since 1997, I guess Brownback's adoption theory isn't working out too well. Taken to its logical conclusion should we not start criminalizing those couples free-will destruction of embryos when they stop paying storeage fees or authorize destruction of the embryos. Is that not murder by this logic.
Any finally Arlen Specter referenced Pope Boniface's VII 13th Century stymied Michael Servertu's research of the human anatomy by papal bull, setting back medical research by 300 year.
Hopefully history will recall this day as George Bush's absurdidity and label it his day of shame.

On this issue,perhaps as absurd as it is,the very fact their weren't enough votes to counter Bush, the public will finally wake up. This will be as horrible as the Schiavo case and this will come back to haunt the reps. Let's hope and pray it does. As one rep woman said to me the other day:"I may be a rep,but I'm not stupid and I know what's going on." She voted OUR way last time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/where-have-all-the-archit_b_25309.html
Where Have All the Architects of War Gone?
Jeff Cohen | Can Al Gore Be Trusted?
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0719-32.htm

Michael Klare | An Imperial Defeatist-- And Proud of It
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0719-22.htm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060720/ap_on_go_pr_wh/stem_cells
Bush's veto of stem cell research risky

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060720/ap_on_go_co/pledge_protection
House OKs bill guarding Pledge from courts
{{{Oy. Back to the pledge of allegiance wording.... again. The original pledge was good enough for me....}}}

http://article.wn.com/view/2006/05/24/India_Norway_join_Spain_in_Cuba_oil_prospect/
India, Norway join Spain in Cuba oil prospect
Aha! Now I know why all the flap about Castro and what happens to Cuba after he dies was flapping in the breeze - the article links to this http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1550381.cms which was actually published 24 May 2006.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laurie-david/stossels-myths-may-be-_b_25322.html
Stossel's "Myths" May Be on the Bestseller List, But They Don't Belong on ABC

Secrecy ruling by judge on Blair-Bush talk :
The public must be prevented from learning the contents of a conversation between Tony Blair and President George Bush about the conduct of the war in Iraq - crucial evidence in a forthcoming official secrets trial - an Old Bailey judge ruled yesterday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14063.htm

Bush Has Killed More Americans Than Were Slaughtered On 9/11
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14074.htm

Maureen Dowd: Animal House Summit :
Reporters who covered W.’s 2000 campaign often wondered whether the Bush scion would give up acting the fool if he got to be the king.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14071.htm

Cindy Sheehan: Me, Hugo and George :
On a recent appearance that I made on MSNBC's Hardball which was being guest hosted by Norah O' Donnell, she introduced me as someone who has been photographed with "dictator" Hugo Chavez.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14070.htm

Posted by: monkey at July 19, 2006 03:57 PM

Gil Gutknecht (R) is a MN Rep... and in someone's link from this blog a very long time ago that had a long list of people who received $$$ from Abramoff, Gutknecht was one of the recipients of money directly from Abramoff. "Only" $250 to his campaign (assuming it wasn't a typo), but still money directly from Abramoff (?and, I think, his wife). I remember sending the info off to two in-state TV stations.

Interesting quote:
The movements of Gutknecht and four other congressmen were carefully controlled by security forces worried about abduction attempts by insurgents, he said.

“They realize people like us are juicy targets.”

{Oh, really? Gutknecht, you silly twerp, you were being manipulated and controlled and guided to see what the administration wanted you to see for propaganda purposes; deal with it! Even if you silly-@$$ed congressmen were targets of kidnapping (which I doubt; that was probably said to scare you, fool), the troops guarding you and letting you see only what The Cretin authorized you to see did save you from being tortured like The Cretin authorized prisoners be tortured at Gitmo and elsewhere....}

“That’s a far cry from what we were told originally,” he said. “... All of the information we receive sometimes from the Pentagon and the State Department isn’t always true.”

{Golly, gee whiz...! Haven't you been paying attention since the debates of 2000 when The Cretin said he didn't plan on doing any 'nation building'?!?!? Wake up, you dumb $h!t!!!}

“What I think we need to do more is withdraw more Americans,” he said.

{Ya Think?!?!?}

“Americans are going to start losing faith in this thing,” he said.

{START?!?! START?!? Gil, Gil, Gil, has your brain been full of fart air, or have you been hospitalized by amnesia since the invasion? You really need to start paying attention to more than Faux Snooze, or White House or Pentagon Propaganda...! More than half of this nation lost faith in "that thing" a VERY long time ago!}

{{{Sorry for the rant, peeps, but his web site won't let me send him an email directly since he's not my rep; I don't live in his district.}}}

"In the President's narrow moral universe: to take these unwanted embryos that are left over at ivf clinics throw them away, flush them down the drain, that's okay. To take the SAME embryos, extract the stem cells, keep them alive, keep them growing, to perhaps discover something that will save someone's life, that's murder?! I don't get it...who gave the President the authority to draw that line? He may be the President of the U.S., but he is not the moral authority for all Americans. I say, Mr. President, you are NOT our moral ayatollah! You don't have that right, you don't have that power."

Senator Harkin's remark after the ResiDunce's veto of the stem cell bill, quoted on DKos from the link above:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/19/18487/8164

I saw a sound byte of this quote and Harkin was so mad he was practically spluttering, and I wondered for a while if he was going to have an apoplectic attack....

For What It's Worth: I suspect Harkin will be hit by Mr. Blossom's Turds over that 'moral ayatollah' part of the above quote. I just hope Harkin has enough brass balls to NOT apologize, since he is (IMHO) so obviously correct in his assessment....

I've spent half the night reading the DKos diary about the stem cell veto, and there are some stories on that link... well, if you haven't read it, grab a box of tissues before reading some of the entries.... The other parts you will agree with. Lots of justifiably P.O.'d people on that particular blog and I agree with them....

GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq

By Jonathan Weisman and Anushka Asthana
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 20, 2006; A01

Faced with almost daily reports of sectarian carnage in Iraq, congressional Republicans are shifting their message on the war from speaking optimistically of progress to acknowledging the difficulty of the mission and pointing up mistakes in planning and execution.

Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.) is using his House Government Reform subcommittee on national security to vent criticism of the White House's war strategy and new estimates of the monetary cost of the war. Rep. Gil Gutknecht (Minn.), once a strong supporter of the war, returned from Iraq this week declaring that conditions in Baghdad were far worse "than we'd been led to believe" and urging that troop withdrawals begin immediately.

And freshman Sen. John Thune (S.D.) told reporters at the National Press Club that if he were running for reelection this year, "you obviously don't embrace the president and his agenda."

"The first thing I'd do is acknowledge that there have been mistakes made," Thune said.

Rank-and file Republicans who once adamantly backed the administration on the war are moving to a two-stage new message, according to some lawmakers. First, Republicans are making it clear to constituents they do not agree with every decision the president has made on Iraq. Then they boil the argument down to two choices: staying and fighting or conceding defeat to a vicious enemy.

The shift is subtle, but Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no longer tenable to say the news media are ignoring the good news in Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war. In the first half of this year, 4,338 Iraqi civilians died violent deaths, according to a new report by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. Last month alone, 3,149 civilians were killed -- an average of more than 100 a day.

"It's like after Katrina, when the secretary of homeland security was saying all those people weren't really stranded when we were all watching it on TV," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). "I still hear about that. We can't look like we won't face reality."

Said Gutknecht: "Essentially what the White House is saying is 'Stay the course, stay the course.' I don't think that course is politically sustainable."

Rep. Jim Gerlach (Pa.), who like Shays is a swing-district Republican facing a tough reelection race, has introduced legislation to create clear measurements of progress in Iraq, in such areas as government stability and territory under the control of Iraqi forces.

On Tuesday, Shays joined U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker in criticizing unreliable cost estimates of a war that is nearly 3 1/2 years old. Shays said the Defense Department has not "had respectful [cost] accounts since the end of World War II," adding that he hopes the agency will withstand an audit in his lifetime.

Gerlach took a similar road.

"Congress needs to be more proactive and aggressive in evaluating what is the progress in Iraq," he said. "The Iraqi government shouldn't feel like it's got a blank check on American lives and American dollars."

Even Democrats say they see a change in tone on the other side of the aisle.

"I think there is a lot less arrogance about the war in Iraq than there once was -- and people are much more sober in their assessment," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.).

more...
http://tinyurl.com/hzk77

"It's like after Katrina, when the secretary of homeland security was saying all those people weren't really stranded when we were all watching it on TV," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). "I still hear about that. We can't look like we won't face reality."

Posted by: monkey at July 20, 2006 07:58 AM

Oh, so we can't LOOK like we won't face reality? What? Only when the people, the constituents, have seen and know the reality, must we "look" like we are facing reality?

It's all in the image? How it looks? Does this mean you would "Snow" them if they were in the dark about the real situation in Iraq?