« Prague Plays, Plots, and Prays | Main | A Common Sense Road to Peace »
Is There A Hearing Problem?
The American Generals are not the only ones calling for the troops to leave Iraq; the British Generals have officially joined in. The Generals from both sides of the pond who actually went to war and have witnessed Iraq's devastation even use parallel language.
General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British Army, dropped a political bombshell Thursday night, saying that Britain must withdraw from Iraq "soon" or risk serious consequences for Iraqi and British society.
In a blistering attack on Tony Blair's foreign policy, Gen. Dannatt said the continuing military presence in Iraq was jeopardising British security and interests around the world.
"I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them," he said in comments that met with admiration from anti-war campaigners and disbelief in some parts of Westminster.
In an interview with the [London] Daily Mail, Gen. Dannatt, who became chief of the general staff in August, said we should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems".
They are greeted in exactly the same way too.
Deaf ears...and attacks against their patriotism.
Yet, one is left wondering why anyone thinks it's patriotic to run a war campaign on propaganda and ignore the voices of your military leaders who keep telling their own Commander in Chief that his publicity campaign is hurting the troops. War is more than just words and it's time for a carefully planned exit strategy.
Max Cleland knows what he's talking about when he said:
CLELAND: Get out. Redeploy. Take care of our own troops. I think that's what we're talking about here. We do not have a plan to win. Stay the course is no strategy. It is no strategy to win, it is no strategy to exit. We're just getting kids blown up. We've lost 2,700 kids over there, we've got 20,000 wounded, 10,000 wounded for life, maimed for life, and it's time to end this thing. Now the Iraqis are going to settle their differences. One way or the other. They've been at this for 5,000 years. Let them have it. Iraq it is not our 51st state. We've got to take care of our country - we've got to bring the Guard and Reserve home to take care of our country, we've got to focus our active forces - active covertly and overtly, on killing or capturing Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist cadre. They are the real threats to America right now.
...CLELAND: If people don't understand that there's a civil war going on there, and more than 100 Iraqis die every day and that 3 out of 5 Iraqis want to kill Americans, then I can't make this point any more clearly. It is time to redeploy our forces from Iraq and bring them home and refocus on the real enemy.
In 2004, the electorate, like George Bush, was deaf to dissenters. Less than 25 days away from the 2006 elections, are our calls still falling on deaf ears? Are the voices of the Generals being heard yet?
What words and actions are you taking to pull the ear-plugs out and take off the blinders?
I had gotten so tired of seeing cars with oval W sticker, I purchased an oval W sticker with the the W followed by the letters P and E. Underneath those letters are the words, "Worst President Ever." I know it is not very much, but it is the least I can do.
I also actively engage people in conversations about how satisfied they are with their government. I have found very few people who are comfortable with how we are doing as a nation.
Unlike many of you, I really don't have the time to participate in rallies. As small as my efforts seem, I am comforted by Howard Zinn who said, " The essential ingredients of these struggles for justice are human beings who, if only for a moment, if only while beset with fears, step our of line and do somethning, however small." You Can't Be Neutral On a Moving Train, Howard Zinn, 2002
My comment above can be easily misinterepreted. What I meant to say is, "Unlike many of you, I have not participated in rallies and other organized efforts. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time."
oncall
When I have time, I give time.
When I have money, I give money.
LOL
About those Generals .. didn't I just yesterday hear Tony Blair on BBC Radio .. agreeing with the generals? Doesn't Mr. Bush always say to listen to the Generals on the ground?
Well then he should do it!!
Yeah, well, DiAnne makes us all look bad when it comes to that, oncall.
*bigottergrin*
Yes, but that depends on what the meaning of the word "ground" is.
Apparently, whichever generals it is that Shrub is listening to these days are not very well grounded.
The British officer said: 'We are now just another tribe'
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Basra
Saturday October 14, 2006
The Guardian
"We cannot substantially influence the situation. Our powers are diminishing," said a British civilian contractor attached to the British embassy. "The army is holding the ring and they are buying us and the Iraqis time, but the talk of the troops is misleading. There can't be a military solution to what is happening in Iraq."
In the sweltering back seat of a Warrior, sweat running down his face, 2nd Lt Matt Lamber said he couldn't afford to get distracted by the general's comments. "I try not to think of that. I try to look at the smaller picture of what we are doing, and enjoy the small victories on the ground, the bad guys we arrest."
On unofficial military web forums, meanwhile, other soldiers were more willing to speak out in support of Sir Richard. "A man in the right position saying the right things NOW," one soldier serving in Iraq wrote on the British Army Rumour Service website. "We should be happy to have such a man in place who is on side and supports the army."
Another wrote: "The most impressive comments I have heard from someone of his seniority for a long time."
A third added: "I am thoroughly heartened by this and have the beginnings of a thaw in the cynicism which has dogged my service thinking since 2003."
An internet poll conducted by the website showed overwhelming support for the general, with 76% saying he had been "absolutely right" and 16% saying he was right from a military point of view. Just 2% said he had been "rather wrong".
But one soldier calling himself Merkator criticised Sir Richard's media appearances, which followed his newspaper interview yesterday. He said: "You claim to be standing up for the men and women that serve under you, but your backtracking this morning has dispelled that notion."
· Additional reporting by Matthew Taylor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1922331,00.html
Three people sent me this Kos diary this morning, so even though I'm trying to get out of the house, I read it.
None other than James Baker says we may have no choice but to leave Iraq - with our heads down (in so many words)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/14/53359/686
Excerpt:
Today the NY sun published a story titled "Baker's Panel Rules out Iraq Victory". The results are, quite frankly, nothing short of devastating:
WASHINGTON -- A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft policy options shared with The New York Sun by commission officials.
Currently, the 10-member commission -- headed by a secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush, James Baker -- is considering two option papers, "Stability First" and "Redeploy and Contain," both of which rule out any prospect of making Iraq a stable democracy in the near term.
The commission report notes how at this point in the war we basically have a choice between two different options. The first option: Make nice with the insurgents, stay in Iraq, and hope for the best. The second: Get the fuck out of Iraq ASAP. Follow me below the flip for more...
redhaze's diary :: ::
...the commission is headed toward presenting President Bush with two clear policy choices that contradict his rhetoric of establishing democracy in Iraq. The more palatable of the two choices for the White House, "Stability First," argues that the military should focus on stabilizing Baghdad while the American Embassy should work toward political accommodation with insurgents. The goal of nurturing a democracy in Iraq is dropped.
Political accommodation of the insurgents? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the insurgents part of the "enemies of freedom" that Bush has resolutely committed to destroy nearly every time his lips move and manage to form semi-coherent words?
I like this so much I sent it to myself.
They tell us we're making progress in Iraq and that there is no civil war. That is a lie. There is a civil war and it is costing American and Iraqi lives every single day and we must change course in Iraq....
They tell us the Congressional Page scandal is a Democratic plot to win the mid term elections. That is a lie. This issue is here because of a Republican cover-up. And those from the Party that preaches moral valuesthat covered this up, have no right to preach moral values any more....
They say we must support the war in order to support the troops. I say the best way to support the troops is to oppose a course that squanders their lives, oppose a course that dishonors their sacrifice, and oppose a course that disserves our principles. They say we would dishonor the lives that have been lost by changing course in Iraq. How immoral and shameful to use lives already given as an excuse to take even more. How immoral to say that more must die because others already have. When soldiers suffer and die on the altar of an Administration's stubborn pride, when they lose limbs because of the incompetence and arrogance of mere politicians, then the only patriotic choice is to take back the moral authority abused by those in high office - take it back and throw them out....
Let me tell you, presidents and politicians may worry about losing face, or losing votes, or losing legacy - I believe we ought to worry about young Americans who are losing their lives....
It's immoral for old men to send young Americans to fight and die in a conflict without a strategy that can work - on a mission that has not weakened terrorism but worsened it....
Well I think Americans see through this charade. Americans now know the truth:
We have a Katrina foreign policy -blunders and failures that have
betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it....
We deserve leaders who know we have "nothing to fear but fear itself" not politicians who have nothing to offer but fear itself....
No Democrat should be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan, a do nothing policy in North Korea and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq. We need to stand up to them because staying the course isn't far-sighted; it's blind. Leaving our troops in the middle of a civil war isn't resolute; it's reckless. Remember: half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion....
We need to once again start treating our moral authority as a national asset that does not tie our hands but extends our reach. We must never excuse an Abu Ghraib or a Guantanamo. And let me say it plainly: No American president should be for torture before he's against it....
So more than anything, we need to make America, America again -we need to restore America's moral authority in the world and the United States needs to make some friends on this planet....
-- There is more. Probably it was discussed yesterday when I was at work, and some will ask why this speech wasn't made a couple of years ago. I like it though. It's great. I forgot to say who wrote it, but you all know who wrote it. John Kerry. Everybody needs to know who wrote it, not just people in a hall in New Hampshire or political junkies watching C-Span or nerds like me reading the transcript.
Good header, Suz!
I don't know what it will take for the *administration* to actually get the message people have been sending them since before they started their bloody unconstitutional and illegal war in Iraq. What part of 'can't win a war that was unconstitutional and illegal to begin with' don't they get? The invasion and occupation are war crimes. The illegal incarceration and torture of prisoners are war crimes. How is that "winning" anything?!?
Sending more kids to get killed for no good reason other than the same LIES they've been telling us since '01 makes no sense whatsoever. It's certainly NOT "patriotically supporting the troops" to send more to get killed for LIES - and for oil. Making war does not promote peace; killing more people for no good reason does not make anyone feel safe or secure. No matter what angle one looks at the situation, it's all one huge mistake... and for what? It only benefits PNAC and huge oil corporations, certainly no one else.
I don't know why our "leaders" didn't just simply push for research and development of alternate energy sources. I don't know why they didn't push for making smaller cars (the big cars just aren't selling now and car corps are losing bunches of money - like they didn't see this coming years ago?!?). There was no need to go to war - the economy would have been better off with peace, no illegal activities, and who knows how many years of oil reserves were wasted with the big gas-guzzlers they foisted on us all in the intervening years, and still advertise - I haven't heard any car manufacturers come out with any statements saying they're going to build smaller cars with better mileage, like what happened years and years ago when small compact cars and common sense were vogue.
There is just no common sense in the rarified air of the Beltway Bubble, it seems.
The problem with expecting the car corps to produce more smaller, fuel-efficient cars is that nobody here wants to buy them. The only reason said corps produced as many as they did for as long as they did is that they were legally forced to do so.
And since there is no big-business money to be made by not selling more oil, and no corn-country votes to be bought by not pushing the energy-environmental disaster that is bio-ethanol, the Repo men have systematically dismantled that smaller-is-better fuel-economy legislation over the last decade.
And, of course, the problem with common sense is that it is rarely either. But you already knew that.
and shrub is still a doink,
Otter
Posted by: oncall at October 14, 2006 10:53 AM
Pulling the earplugs off involves more than rallies or canvassing which you're right is time consuming. Talking to people, sending a message on a bumper sticker, posting a sheet about the 14 signs of facism, and painting rocks...all of those are wonderful actions Oncall.
And remember each time we put ourselves out there to raise awareness out and to get another person to pay attention and vote is an important step in the right direction.
Our 'leaders' will hear us when we get involved doing whatever we can.
Posted by: NonnyO at October 14, 2006 12:05 PM
Thanks NonnyO.
Now I'm off to canvass for today. It's cold and miserable here!
Posted by: oncall at October 14, 2006 10:56 AM
Kindly do not beat yourself up by thinking you don't do enough! None of us feels like we're doing enough - but I suspect that's because we see so few people seem to care one way or another about what's going on politically in this nation when we see that Lamestream Media does nothing to keep the citizens of this nation informed (not to mention the unconstitutional, illegal, unethical, immoral, and dishonorable way the current administration and the rubber stamp Congress has dealt with us and with the rest of the world, none of which seems to make the evening snooze). Lamestream Media gives us infotainment and spin, and spin about infotainment, but since the giant media corporations are raking in big bucks, it's to their benefit to keep silent about the sorry state of affairs. And, as someone pointed out a few threads back, some people are too busy working overtime or working two or three jobs just to keep their heads above water financially, and they just don't have time to pay attention, even when they do care.
Like the others on this blog, you have a distinct talent for written communication. If you don't have time to march in any demonstrations, your effectiveness is with your words... to newspapers, to politicians, to local TV stations, on blogs, wherever. If you're as good in conversation as you are with writing, that's another way of relaying truth to people. Literally every word that communicates the truth counts, and since Lamestream Media has failed us so badly, communication is essential and vitally important!
Like you, I can't do much physically, but for a different reason since I'm hampered with a disability. I can, however, write... and I do. My rep also has a local office and I phone with my praise or criticism. And I write to senators, my own and those in other states - the reps web sites won't take my emails if I'm not from their state or their district, dagnabit. And I write to media and I blog (here and elsewhere). Deconstructing the lies is tedious, just as it's tedious to point out the oxymoronic statements contained in those lies..., but necessary...!
So, use your talents to the best of your ability as time permits. It counts. "In the beginning was the word..." Words count. Truthful words count more because they're so vitally important at this moment in history...!
"The language of truth is unadorned and always simple." Marcellinus Ammianus
Posted by: suz at October 14, 2006 12:32 PM
Velbekomme! Good luck, and be sure to bundle up and stay warm!!! Wish I could be available to give you a nice big mug of hot tea when you're done.
And KNOW that what you do is very important!!! We know it, and I want you to know it, too...!
Following thru on NMP's link, I tracked down to this one, which is well worth the time it takes to read it:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=24644
(And no, I'm not going to intro it or excerpt it here, just give you the link and trust you to click on it. Every now and again you just have to take some things on faith.)
and you can have faith in me because I'm always right and I never lie,
Otter
Posted by: Otter at October 14, 2006 12:17 PM
I concur.
On a different tack that has people in this state a bit riled up:
The neoCons have been paying entirely too much attention to this state for a few years now and they've imported so much slime and sleaze it's gotten much too revolting for normal "Minnesota Nice."
We are likely luckier in this state than most. Easy voter registration (including being able to do so on election day itself), paper ballots statewide (even if most larger places have electronic scanners, we still have paper ballots for recounts in contested races). And, if the in-state polls are correct, it seems Dems will be taking most of the seats, locally and nationally - the open seats, as well as the ones currently held by neoCons, like the governor's office, too, since the last poll shows the Dem almost 10 points ahead of the current gov.
With any luck, the RNC may well regret their decision to hold their '08 convention in the Twin Cities! This state has been traditionally the bluest of all for at least half a century (only once did it go to neoCons, and I think that was for that monumentally senile Reagan; otherwise it's almost always been a Democratic state). Too, the PBS station in the Cities has an in-state TV show called Almanac which airs every Friday evening and it gets broadcast to other PBS stations throughout the state, and they do keep up on in-state politics and always have segments on politics within the state. For the last week the local PBS station up here has pre-empted the early evening air time with political debates for in-state candidates for state or local offices, and the League of Women Voters runs the debates. If one is paying attention, one can stay informed about local politics in this state.
In the past, MN has had a higher voter turn-out rate, even in mid-term elections, than elsewhere in the nation. We take voting even more seriously than our (in)famous potluck dinners. We may prefer to be "nice" about things, but there's just no budging a quietly stubborn Minnesotan once she or he has dug in her or his heels about injustices! It would be easier to move a mountain....
I can't *wait* to hear Garrison Keillor broadcasting his ever-populist "Prairie Home Companion" show from St. Paul during the RNC occupation... it really otter be something to remember!
pay no attention to that guy beside the curtain,
Otter
notmypresident or others if you would like to help this weekend on a Virginia phone bank please email me for instructions can't go into details here but its a virtual system on your computer.
Posted by: Otter at October 14, 2006 01:16 PM
Yeah, Kellior is rather good with understated satire... ;-)
Might have to record his comments in '08....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061014/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear
U.S.: U.N. reaches N. Korea resolution
UNITED NATIONS - The United States, Britain and France overcame last-minute differences with Russia and China on a U.N. resolution imposing punishing sanctions on North Korea, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Saturday.
"We are very pleased at this outcome and look forward to the council's imminent adoption of the resolution, co-sponsored by all 15 council members," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters after a brief closed council meeting.
The Security Council was expected to approve the resolution unanimously Saturday afternoon.
{{{Now... the big question in my mind is... WHAT kind of unpleasantness did BoltHead shove down the throats of the other nations over the "differences"... and what's in the fine print that we don't know about yet...? I'm heartily sick of these secretive closed-door meetings on national and international levels where all the coercion and blackmail on the part of the Bu$hCo administration seems to take place - they certainly don't practice what they preach about 'open democracies'....}}}
Actually, Nonny, what the current administration believes in, practices, and endeavors to write in stone at every opportunity is a classic form of what political historians call 'totalitarian democracy'-- check out the info under that heading at Wikipedia, and see if you don't agree:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarian_democracy
you don't have to be a furriner to be totalitarian in this country anymore,
Otter
C-SPAN 2 @ 4:30 Eastern
John Brady Kiesling - Former US Foreign Service officer who resigned US Embassy position in Athens to protest Iraq invasion (2003)
Diplomacy Lessons
Former US Foreign Service officer John Brady Kiesling talked about his book Diplomacy Lessons: Realism for an Unloved Superpower, published by Potomac Books. Mr Kiesling, a twenty-year veteran of the foreign service, publicly resigned his position as political counselor to the US Embassy in Athens in February 2003 to protest the Bush administration’s impending invasion of Iraq. He believed that the security, economic, and moral costs of this war, including the blackening of America’s image abroad, would far outweigh any benefit to the American people. In his book he urged people to remember that US power does not rest on military might alone and that anger at America has real consequences for US national interests. After his presentation he responded to audience members’ questions.
Posted by: Otter at October 14, 2006 03:41 PM
Agreed.
Actually, it's about the same as the Roman Empire's rule. Invade, colonize, make nominal citizens of the population when enough time had elapsed that the occupied area got used to the Roman way of doing things... and voila! The occupied territory was absorbed into the Roman Empire as part of it, not 'occupied' territory... and centuries later, megalomaniacal "leaders" still follow the Roman Empire's example - after much propaganda and hoopla.
Lamestream Media just hastened the process in this nation after 9/11. Legislation was rushed through Congress so fast that no one had a chance to even read what they were voting on, and the WAY "news" was worded it was as though Dumbya had the full support of the entire nation for his wars. Back in those days I had not yet discovered political web sites or progressive news web sites and wondered why the lies that were so patently obvious to me were being repeated endlessly as the gospel truth, and opinions only a few people had were aired in evening snooze as that of all people in this nation. It never made sense to my brain. I could never figure out why snooze anchors didn't dispute the obvious: Iraq didn't have a damned thing to do with 9/11, and we all knew that in those first few weeks. Then, suddenly, Iraq and Saddam Hussein "may have" had something to do with it; the early speeches were very carefully worded to only imply connections, not actually say there were any (I actually paid attention to evening snooze back then). Lamestream Media didn't pay any attention to the carefully crafted sentences. They ran with the story as factual.
Still, what I predicted in my journaling during the 2000 debates happened: Dumbya started a war in Iraq... after he had flatly stated during the debates that he wouldn't do any 'nation building' - those words came with bold body language to indicate he was lying...!
If Dumbya had his way, he'd make US states of each of the nations of the Mideast..., just as colonization of the Hawaiian Islands and the Alaska Purchase eventually led to statehood for those territories....
FBI Probes Whether GOP Rep. Weldon Secured Deals for Daughter
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101406Y.shtml
The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to a report in McClatchy Newspapers. Two Russian companies and a Serbian foundation with ties to Slobodan Milosevic each hired a firm co-owned by Weldon's daughter, Karen, for fees totaling nearly $1 million a year, public records show.
{{{Keep it up, neoCons. Your criminal behavior will get you voted out of office on Nov. 7... at least in areas where no e-voting machines have been installed....}}}
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6049620.stm
'Guantanamo abuse boasts' probed
Excerpt:
The US has meanwhile rejected a call by British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to close Guantanamo Bay.
Ms Beckett is the highest ranking British official to attack the US over the camp, where hundreds of "war on terror" suspects are being held without charge.
She said the US detention camp did as much to radicalise extremists as it did to promote security.
"The continuing detention without fair trial of prisoners is unacceptable in terms of human rights, but it is also ineffective in terms of counter-terrorism."
{See link for more.}
AMERICAN FASCISM IS ON THE RISE
By Stan Goff, Truthdig
The precursors of fascism -- militarization of culture, vigilantism, masculine fear of female power, xenophobia and economic destabilization -- are ascendant in America today.
http://www.alternet.org/stories/42884/
The New York Times: Science Ignored, Again
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101406X.shtml
"The Bush administration loves to talk about the virtues of 'sound science,' by which it usually means science that buttresses its own political agenda. But when some truly independent science comes along to threaten that agenda, the administration often ignores or minimizes it. The latest example involves the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to reject the recommendations of experts inside and outside the government who had urged a significant tightening of federal standards regulating the amount of soot in the air," writes the New York Times.
And the "biggie" that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand out....
American Prison Camps Are on the Way
By Marjorie Cohn
Kellogg Brown & Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, is constructing a huge facility at an undisclosed location to hold tens of thousands of Bush's "unlawful enemy combatants." Americans are certain to be among them.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15290.htm
Some of the people writing in the Comments section for this article provided the following links....
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B62C8724D-AE8A-4B5C-94C7-70171315C0A0%7D&dateid=38741.5136277662-858254656
http://simurl.com/tt-qq-NN (If the above link doesn't work.)
http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php?story=20060323160601448
http://www.infoshop.org/prisons/public_html/article.php?story=2006041818015129
http://infowars.com/cc_archive.htm
Several links as you scroll down the page.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dJBxdRIQx7Y&mode=related&search=
Concentration Camps being built for U.S citizens
http://www.friendsofliberty.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1062
FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS: Locations and Executive Orders
The YouTube video shows the Indiana facility in the alpha-list of states.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/28/211326/096
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/camps.htm
Lots of links, too. This goes back to when Ashcroft was AG.
http://www.halliburton.com/default/main/halliburton/eng/news/source_files/news.jsp?newsurl=/default/main/halliburton/eng/news/source_files/press_release/2006/kbrnws_012406.html
Aide says White House mocked evangelicals
· Administration accused of cynical ploy to win votes
· Bush adviser denies he called supporters 'nuts'
A former senior presidential aide has accused the Bush administration of using evangelical Christians to win votes but then privately ridiculing them once in office. The allegations by David Kuo, the former deputy director of the White House office of faith-based initiatives, come at a devastating time, when the administration is counting on born-again Christians to vote in sufficient numbers to save the Republicans' hold on Congress in the November elections.
(snip)
"National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ridiculous, out of control, and just plain goofy," Mr Kuo wrote, according to MSNBC television, which obtained an early copy of the book. In particular, he quotes Karl Rove, the president's long-serving political adviser and mentor, as describing evangelical Christians as "nuts".
(snip)
Jim Towey, Mr Kuo's former boss at the office of faith-based initiatives, told the Los Angeles Times: "I had marching orders from the president to keep the faith-based initiative non-political, and I did."
However, Mr Kuo now says the administration did not fund its faith-based initiatives properly. "Unfortunately, sometimes even the grandly announced 'new' programs aren't what they appear," he wrote on a religious website. "This isn't what was promised." He blamed the failure of the faith-based initiative to address poverty on Democratic hostility to the blurring of the line between church and state, and the "snoring indifference" of congressional Republicans. But he said that "minimal senior White House commitment" helped to kill the initiative.
The former head of the office of faith-based initiatives, John DiIulio, resigned after a few months and later gave Esquire magazine an indictment of the functioning of the White House. "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus," he said. "What you've got is everything - and I mean everything - being run by the political arm."
(snip)
Whistleblowers:
John DiIulio The former head of the office of faith-based initiatives told Esquire magazine in 2003 that the administration had "a complete lack of a policy apparatus"
Paul O'Neill The ousted treasury secretary said in a book of 2004 that some officials were determined to go to war in Iraq from the moment they took office
Richard Clarke The counter-terrorism expert used his 2004 book to accuse Mr Bush of ignoring the al-Qaida threat before September 11
Colin Powell The former secretary of state said he was pushed out of his job because of opposition to the war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1922408,00.html
Wow - the person I made calls for today is liveblogging at Kos!
The problem with expecting the car corps to produce more smaller, fuel-efficient cars is that nobody here wants to buy them. The only reason said corps produced as many as they did for as long as they did is that they were legally forced to do so.
And since there is no big-business money to be made by not selling more oil, and no corn-country votes to be bought by not pushing the energy-environmental disaster that is bio-ethanol, the Repo men have systematically dismantled that smaller-is-better fuel-economy legislation over the last decade.
Posted by: Otter at October 14, 2006 12:17 PM
The REAL issue is that Americans are willing to buy small cars, but the Big Three didn't feel that there was money to be made off of them (i.e. at most $700 per Ford Escort as opposed to $10K per Ford Exploitation), so they did crappy engineering and crappier quality control.
I had a Ford Contour that only lasted 7 years and 120K miles. All the smart people who bought a Honda Accord or some other Japanese car are all laughing at me. Accords easily last 20 years and 300K miles. (Now, I drive a used Accord that is good as new at 75K miles.) And Accords and their competitors are the best-selling car class in the nation, still, so there is a huge market out there, one that Ford and GM are neglecting.
Thanks to the shortsighted policies and the resulting crappy engineering and quality, Ford has lost yet one more customer - me.
As for ethanol-based fuels, they are not even available where I am. Hybrids and diesels are much better, proven technologies anyway - because they actually CUT consumption.
Eh? You mean you're not driving a Kia these days?
Posted by: oncall at October 14, 2006 10:53 AM
You're not alone in not being as active as you'd like. I am in the same boat as you. Between working 7 days a week and living in a household/community that is better given up than fought for, I don't expect to be politically active until I get my own place in a bluer community and start re-building my social networks.
Eh? You mean you're not driving a Kia these days?
Posted by: Otter at October 14, 2006 08:50 PM
Who told you I had a Kia?
I also have a low-end luxury car (a BMW 3-series), but it's parked for the time being due to its pathetic gas mileage in the city (17MPG). On highway though, it does get easy 30MPG.
BMWs are very expensive and finicky things though, so I will recommend them only to driving enthusiasts. Sadly though, here in SoCal, the "you are what you drive" forces many non-enthusiasts (including those who shouldn't even be driving AT ALL) to waste their time and energy on BMWs and other luxury cars.
Ally, Willie Brown is a jerk. Sorry, I have been wanting to say that all week long. Hope he has no future California political plans.
I remember when Vietnam started to blow up in everyone's faces. It became impossible to rah-rah-rah about it any more. The same thing is happening with Iraq. My son got injured at work (but will be ok) and I felt especially thankful that he's here when I talked to my mom. A guy that she has known since he was a baby has been wounded in Iraq and his family doesn't know the extent - just that it could be a head injury as well and that he's in a hospital, somewhere.
The Lancet figures on Iraqi civilian death were disputed - in this country mostly, it appeared - today I read figures on how many Iraqis actually displaced -some phenomenal number & I'll post it when I see it.
Meanwhile, in The Observer (The Guardian's weekend paper):
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1922881,00.html
It's time to say sorry for Iraq's agony
(shortened - read full version at the link - please email author)
History will forgive the war on Iraq. Or so Tony Blair told the US Congress in July 2003, as the first cold shadows fell on the invasion. The Prime Minister also warned of 'many further struggles ahead'. He cannot have imagined that these would include being gunned down by the head of the British army. By calling for a pull-out from Iraq, General Sir Richard Dannatt has reversed the view of the French wartime leader, Georges Clemenceau, that 'war is too serious a matter to entrust to military men'. In Dannatt's view, it is too vital to be left to the sofa warriors of Downing Street. His men have had enough, and he has said so.
The military can barely hide their glee. The previous head, Sir Michael Jackson, was seen by soldiers as Blair's puppet. Now they have a leader who puts the army first. Dannatt may not share this jubilation. Naivety, or every general's tendency to rank himself just below God in the cosmic line management structure, led him into an unintended row.
As he must know, Iraq is rarely kind to generals. In April 1915, General Sir Charles Townshend had a nervous breakdown on the road from Basra, shortly before his troops were decimated. His successor, General Sir Stanley Maude, died of cholera. Almost a century after the last, doomed British invasion, another general decides that the game is almost up.
Blair, briefed throughout the night as the mutiny unfolded, has smoothed over the cracks, but Dannatt has been warned to stay out of trouble. Ever since Caesar defied the Senate and crossed the Rubicon, politicians have been wary of over-mighty soldiers. Another outburst, and this one would have to go.
Many war-brokers bend their constitutional roles. Blair has behaved as an unanointed commander-in-chief: Dannatt has adapted the role of General MacArthur, fired by President Truman for trying to declare war on China. Unlike MacArthur, Dannatt has become an all-purpose hero, feted not just by soldiers but by troops-out campaigners.
Be wary. The general is talking about preserving the army, not the fragile lives of Iraqi citizens. British soldiers in the south have been better able - and may still be - to help stave off social collapse than their counterparts in Baghdad. But when troops are failing to protect citizens' lives or hinder the slide towards civil war, they have to leave. That line may well have been crossed. The results of a disastrous invasion should be debated in Parliament. They should have dominated Labour party conference. How shameful that the gravest of all foreign policy issues has been left to a soldier speaking out of turn.
The promises of a better tomorrow are in ruins now. Our troops will be off shortly, possibly barring a small presence in the south. Professor Paul Rogers, of Bradford University, doubts that a British force will be in place in 12 months' time. There would be no schism. Blair would leave office first, allowing his successor to profess allegiance to George W Bush's strategy while hiving troops off to fight in Afghanistan, which is still winnable. (Quite how, when the obstacles are greater, the terrain harder, the insurgency more vicious and the track record of invaders even worse than in Iraq, neither Dannatt nor the government can explain.)
Any rift with US foreign policy would be airbrushed out, just like the Dannatt outburst. The PM wants British troops out of Iraq. The general says withdrawal must be 'soon'. What's one small word of difference between friends, ask the semanticists of Downing Street? If only the fissures in Iraq could be filled in so easily.
On Friday, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) issued its bleakest assessment. Conflict has displaced 1.5 million people inside Iraq; a tide of refugees swells the 1.6 million living outside the country. The Lancet's estimate of 655,000 deaths since the conflict began is not only in a different stratosphere from Bush's ballpark figure of 30,000 'more or less'. It is also evidence of the asymmetry in the death roll of the war on terror.
In contrast to the attrition in Iraq, no US citizen has died in an Islamist attack on US soil since 9/11. Neo-con certainties about gun-barrel democracy have perished, naturally, and the graveyards of political theory bristle with their memorials. But, like a headless chicken, the strategy stumbles on. Dig in for victory. No British exit is likely to change that course any time soon.
Even all-out anarchy would be unlikely to dislodge the US, which would impose martial law, according to Amyas Godfrey, a strategic expert and former aide-de-camp to a British general in Iraq. No Republican administration, and possibly no Democrat one, would dare risk the ripple effect of a collapsed state.
Meanwhile, the fate of Iraqis grows more hideous. A road-sweeper says he works with 'his soul in his hands'. Stand on the Syrian border and you will see, each day, 1,000 refugees fleeing Iraq. They drive Mercedes and Chevrolets, these doctors or engineers driven out by kidnap, rape and brutality from streets where muggers kill for a mobile phone.
A middle class is on the move, to Syria, Jordan and to Europe. Such itinerants are not poor, but they soon will be. Their host countries will grow weary of a diaspora sinking into destitution. The UNHCR believes this exodus is the biggest displacement in the Arab world since the flight from Palestine in 1948. Meanwhile, those without the means to leave stay home and die.
This is what British troops and up to one in 40 Iraqis died for. It is the closing chapter and the legacy of the invasion the Prime Minister commended to history. It is the scandal from which ministers avert their eyes, muttering how pleased they are that Saddam is gone. Obviously it would be wrong to deny all hope. The Iraqi government and institutions may live on, long after Dannatt's troops have gone, but the chances of peace are diminishingly slender.
The general has spoken far beyond his remit and snatched power a soldier should never have. But he has, at least, punctured the public weariness that lets politicians gloss over disaster. At this bleak crossroads, British invaders can plough straight on to nemesis, or turn and walk away. Both routes are marked 'Betrayal'.
Maybe the best that can be done is to help the refugees and to resolve never again to fight a war like this. If so, it is time to admit it. It is time to say sorry for the folly and the carnage, not to pretend, as a nation is eviscerated, that all can be redeemed and excused. The Prime Minister may forgive an army general. History will not be so merciful to Mr Blair.
mary.riddell@observer.co.uk
The shocking figures re the exodus from Iraq that I referred to are contained within the amazingly-written article above. I did email the author.
Now the generals say half of UK troops must be pulled out of Iraq - to go to Afghanistan where there is half a chance.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1922989,00.html
That is not to say the situation in Afghanistan is not tragic.
If we embark on any more military adventures, it is the end.
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make
A simple-minded general stirs internet mutiny in the ranks
Simon Jenkins
Who dares speak truth to power? The answer last week was General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff and head of the army. Like every top soldier he knows that his job is about hand shaking, desk hopping, point scoring, fence mending and spinning. This is normally done in secret.
When Dannatt summoned the Daily Mail, of all papers, for an in-depth interview on Iraq he was either daringly brave or totally naive. Opinion is divided on which. Dannatt is a moralistic man, deeply Christian and without guile, who has pondered swapping his uniform for the pulpit.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-2404365,00.html
This article is also amazing. This is galvanizing me for more phone bank work tomorrow, to stop the party in power from remaining so "for the foreseeable futures," which as a commenter to the Seattle Times pointed out - is the same as DICTATORSHIP (rather than balance of power).
The courts have been stacked, the faith-based initiatives are in place, and this administration STILL DID NOT DELIVER much to the religious right - they never intended to. We need these people to stay home.
ANOTHER Republican is under investigation for illegal activities! My God...these corrupt Republicans procreate faster than rabbit's do!
Rep. Curt Weldon faces FBI investigation By KIMBERLY HEFLING and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 53 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The FBI is investigating whether Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., used his influence to secure lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, two people familiar with the inquiry said Saturday.
The inquiry focuses on lobbying contracts worth $1 million that Weldon's daughter, Karen Weldon, obtained from foreign clients and whether they were assisted by the congressman, they said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the criminal investigation.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061014/ap_on_go_co/congressman_investigation
7 pager - really big deal - written up in Time magazine already.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/15/ndannatt115.xml
This is a watershed questioning of authority (General Dannatt) - we could lose an ally. He's being compared to Douglas McCarthur.
from above article - wow - just wow - on top of Foley, North Korea - this. How is Bush not having a nervous breakdown - "He's too stupid," says my husband.
Fighting for his army
If there was alarm in Whitehall, it was echoed in Washington. The White House first became aware of the brewing storm on Thursday night. Calls were put through to the British embassy seeking clarification on exactly what Gen Dannatt had said, followed by overnight messages from the White House to 10 Downing Street.
As far as the Bush administration was concerned, the timing of the general's comments could not have been worse. "It's three weeks from an election in which Iraq is a major issue, recent US casualties have been piling up, the Bob Woodward book [see next page] is a serious blow to the White House, and now a British general says this," said a senior US political appointee who served in the Coalition Provisional Authority that ran Iraq after the fall of Saddam.
Meanwhile, over in the Pentagon, the reaction was one of shrugged shoulders and "so what?".
Damn - they're making him retract it. Well the Genie is out of the bottle, Pandora's box has been opened.
http://www.npr.org - current mainpage
British General Refines Remarks on Iraq Pullout
Britain's most senior soldier has backed away from his remarks that the British Army's presence in Iraq "exacerbates the security problems." Gen. Richard Dannatt was quoted by The Daily Mail as saying that troops should be withdrawn from Iraq "soon."
His statements, which appeared to run contrary to British government policy, sparked a political storm. Gen. Dannatt says that he meant that a phased withdrawal over two or three years is needed.
The Daily Mail, known for its frequent opposition to the government, has refused to issue a transcript of its original interview with the general. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he fully supports Gen. Dannatt, though he said he agreed with the interviews the general gave this morning, not the one that appeared in the newspaper.
(hear it by clicking on the "All Things Considered" link - this General is a Christian and straight-talking, thinking of the troops. Why should they make him cover their butts?!)
It just doesn't stop!
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1873831.ece
Britain is so short of helicopters in Afghanistan that military chiefs are being forced to scour the world for civilian aircraft to support its troops after the US rejected a plea to help plug the shortfall.
An ageing fleet of just eight Chinooks is working around the clock to supply and reinforce soldiers in remote outposts facing waves of Taliban attacks. The only Chinook in the Falklands was taken away for use in the campaign.
The revelations come in the wake of the outburst by General Sir Richard Dannatt, the army chief, against the Government's military strategy last week.
Making myself read North Korea stories. Please can John Bolton just go - after January 2007. His time is up.
Well I'll be .. Mitt Romney under investigation
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/14/20350/685
Ray McGovern is here tomorrow night
Former CIA Analyst
"SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER:
Holding our government accountable and responsible for actions it takes in our name, with a special emphasis on truth in government as we approach November"
Please can John Bolton just go - after January 2007. His time is up.
Posted by: DiAnne at October 14, 2006 10:16 PM
Amen!
Mitt Romney's goose may be cooked in more ways than one. He's being roasted at redstate blog and get religion blog - not only did he fail to inspect loose tunnel bolts but the Bible belters who might consider him 2008 material consider his Mormon religion as alien to the Bible Belt as Scientology.
One down.
Ok I know I'm a nerd but this is the height of surrealism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6052270.stm
Canadian military are having a hard time finding the Taleban, who hide in the 10 foot tall marijuana forests.
The photo is especially amazing.
Ally, Willie Brown is a jerk. Sorry, I have been wanting to say that all week long. Hope he has no future California political plans.
Posted by: Bubba at October 14, 2006 09:18 PM
Down here in SoCal, he's considered just another Frisco left-wing loonie.
Brown is not good, but there are plenty of worse politicians, especially down here.
Good Morning from Vienna,
I had tears in my eyes leaving Prague, but a Viennese cappucino and croissant this morning helped a lot...Unlike anything I have ever had before--melt-in-the-mouth...mmmmmmmmmmmm...
My sister's friend's son Josh met me at the train station last night and graciously carried my bags (including the huge bottle of vodka the faculty at the Drama School in Prague had given me; so I gave it to him! I could not imagine schlepping that home, especially since Dick and I would not be drinking it...He can use it to throw parties in his Viennese apartment!)I write this so mkh can inform Josh's mother that he seems to be doing well and is behaving properly to his elders!
As I sit here in a Starbuck's (only internet access I could find!), I am looking at the Opera Haus and thinking of Matt, who would love this city, It is elegant and formal, unlike rollicking magical Prague or still-slightly-Soviet and restrained Bratislava. Mozartiana, Straussiana, all kinds of baroque music references are everywhere. I have a whole day ahead of me to wander, eat exotic pastries, and think. Matt, I do wish you were here and I am sending images of refined buildings and complex ornate music.
I read up thread about oncall and others thinking about how much each of us is able to actually do to contribute to change, and I have to say, I agree that none of us ever does "enough". (Look at me, my plans today are about gluttony and self-indulgence!)
But as I talk with people on my travels, I think about ripples and seeds, and Gandhi touching just a small group in the beginning and how today, each of us is touched by him. I believe that each of us contributes to the whole in ways we will never know. I believe that this little online community, tiny and seemingly important only to its members, does make a difference to the vast ocean of possibilities.
Even if Nonny's letters are ignored or tossed aside, even if oncall's postings in the doctors' room are taken down regularly, even if I work my ass off for protests and events attended by few, traveling and looking at us from afar has convinced me that no matter how light or brief the touch, people are changed by encounters with truth, especially truth shared through dialogue.
I used to think that it was the dialogue I had with strangers that made the difference, but I think now that it is the dialogues we have here that make it possible for me to bring a sense of truth and conviction to those encounters with strangers.
I know I stand with all of you, and for democracy. That's pretty powerful.
Tomorrow I begin my 14-hour journey home. Maybe I can get back online before I get home, but if not, see you (online) stateside.
Love,
October 15, 2006
One in 10 Indonesia Muslims Back Violent Jihad: Poll
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:04 a.m. ET
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Around one in 10 Indonesian Muslims support jihad and justify bomb attacks on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali as defending the faith, a survey released on Sunday showed.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, with 220 million people, 85 percent of whom follow Islam, giving the Asian archipelago the largest Muslim population of any nation in the world.
``Jihad that has been understood partially and practiced with violence is justified by around one in 10 Indonesian Muslims,'' the Indonesian Survey Institute said in a statement.
``They approved the bombings conducted ... in Bali with the excuse of defending Islam,'' it added, saying the percentage of such support ``is very significant.''
While the vast majority of Indonesia's Muslims are relatively moderate, there has been an increasingly vocal militant minority and political pressure for more laws that are in line with hardline Muslim teachings.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-security-indonesia-poll.html
Ahem.
As Ally already knows -- or certainly already *should* know -- people who use the nickname "Frisco" to refer to cities in Northern California, or for that matter any city other than the eponymous town of Frisco, TX, are generally considered to be clueless lusers and frequently are from Baja California to boot.
And that is a Good Thing, because it's Sunday and it's foggy outside and warm inside and I have a qat on my lap and I need to ramp up slowly into an appropriate three-weeks-from-election-day high dudgeon rather than just jumping right into the fray at full cry.
:0)
oh yeah well so's yer old man,
Otter
And Karen, that is a lovely missive from abroad and it is much appreciated. But please do not ever feel guilty for taking the time to be good to yourself. All of us need to do that sometimes, though few of us allow ourselves to do it; and that is, as they say, a Bad Thing. Be still, be peaceful, and fret not. Things here proceed apace, so enjoy your well-earned respite without qualms.
luvyababe,
Otter
Karen
Have a good trip home (smooth)