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Staggering, Tragic, Unthinkable, Reality
A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.
The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by other groups, including Iraq's government.
It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times the estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group.
The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media and civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq's mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the war.
This information is due to be published in the highly respected peer-reviwed medical Journal, Lancet, on Thursday.
Not surprisingly, US government officials are questioning the "timing" of the release of this report, saying that it is politically motivated. Equally unsurprising, the media reporting this spin from the government, has neglected to either ask, or receive, any explanation for the what the political motivation behind a British group releasing a study in a British medical journal might be. And again, no surprise here that US government officials making the accusation have not offered any proof whatsoever to validate their dubious assertion.
655,000 Iraqis dead who would otherwise be alive. God help us.
The Today show spent about 18 seconds on this story this morning. They then spent 2 minutes on a new "runaway bride" story.
First the tragedy of the Iraqi deaths, then the disgrace of American priorities on display.
What is being wrought in the name of our country is sickening.
[Note: If you are horrified by the photo accompanying this story, go here to see the one I wanted to use but couldn't resize properly, or go here for the other one I wanted to use. Both of them better demonstrate this story better than the one I used.]
"What is being wrought in the name of our country is sickening".
That's it in a nutshell.
Thanks for this post.
The margin of error of this study, according to Johns Hopkins, ranges from 426,369 to 793,663 deaths. Statistically useless study.
The tragedy is that we can neither do an accurate study, nor have it reported accurately.
kos5678 - Even with the margin of error, the numbers you stated are staggeringly tragic, especially when we've been led all along to believe that the number is under 100,000. But then, why should we be surprised that no one has an accurate count when people "in charge" say things like...
“We don’t do body counts”
General Tommy Franks, US Central Command
"Iraq will be just a comma"
Bush
Thanks for covering the Lancet study - we were talking about it last night, about the credibility of Lancet being high and the fact that it cannot be a matter of election timing.
--I recommend joining Code Pink. There is a powerful letter from Willie Nelson today on their site. He's an Air Force vet and has met alot of people recently who have changed their ideas about the war.
--Just read in Huffington Post (from Washington Post) that the pages who came forward did it to expose Foley & protect kids, not as a matter of timing.
In the wake of the Mark Foley page scandal, Republicans have consistently attempted to deflect attention away from GOP House leadership by painting the timing of the events as a conspiracy of the Democratic party, meant to cripple the opposition just in time for the midterm elections.
But a Washington Post article has confirmed that two of the sources of explicit instant messages have come forward to say that intention of handing materials to the media at that time was to expose Foley, not to aid Democrats in the midterm elections. One former page, a staunch Republican, wrote "I decided that it was in the best interests of kids in general, pages, and my friends specifically that Foley be dealt with quickly and swiftly so that he couldn't hurt anyone else." The same source said that after ABC ran a story about Foley's "overly friendly" emails, he "knew everything I had already known about Foley was finally going to come out." The other source, also a former page, added, "we were reluctant to take on Congress as young politicos ourselves, but when first blows were made, there was no harm in coming forward."
from:
http://thepremise.com/archives/10/11/2006/352
This is so bad that I don’t think most Americans will ever be able to get their minds around the number:
A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.
I can already feel the Republican scum flooding the talk shows and talk radio, picking at the numbers here, questioning the data there, until it all just turns into noise.
So go ahead and assume the methodology has flaws and the data overestimates deaths by 100%. That would still be over three hundred thousand dead. 300,000. One hundred times the number of Americans killed on 9/11.
And for what?
FOR WHAT?
We are losing the war in Iraq.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-10-11T101723Z_01_RAS036706_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-EXPLOSIONS.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-5
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militiamen firing mortars detonated a U.S. ammunition dump in Baghdad on Tuesday night, sparking a barrage of explosions that continued to shake the capital on Wednesday morning, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Residents said the blasts were reminiscent of the aerial bombardment of Baghdad that preceded the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Crazy.
This Rumsfeld program, started under Clinton and continued under Bush, is still going! The overt news says next move is up to US and DPNK will consider sanctions an "act of war." McCain talks big, but behind the scenes ..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia-pacific/1908571.s...
US grants N Korea nuclear funds
Pyongyang threatened to pull out of the nuclear deal
The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace the Stalinist country's own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was being misused.
Under the 1994 Agreed Framework an international consortium is building two proliferation-proof nuclear reactors and providing fuel oil for North Korea while the reactors are being built.
In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.
President Bush argued that the decision was "vital to the national security interests of the United States".
Be sure to read this part twice:
In releasing the funding, President George W Bush WAIVED the Framework's requirement THAT NORTH KOREA ALLOW INSPECTORS to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.
-- Why did he do that?!
-- Why did he do that?!Posted by: DiAnne at October 11, 2006 09:44 AM
The Bush administration has decreased our national security, consistently, on every front. And I think, finally, six tragic years later, people are finally starting to get it.
Posted by: kos5678 at October 11, 2006 08:21 AM
A number is just a number, right?
Well, when I was in DC for Camp Democracy, I met a military representative there who was in the office where statistics were maintained. He said he was ordered to manipulate the stats in 100 different ways so that people would be left off the record.
This includes our soldiers as well as civilians.
Sparrow
Well the methodology of the Lancet study is more sound than the first time they did the study, because families interviewed by doctors had to produce death certificates. It's a highly reputable journal with peer review.
According to the BBC, 2-1/2 percent of the Iraqi population has been killed, about 1/3 by our forces, the rest by the general violence. That would be more than one in fifty people!
NPR had Anne Garrels reporting on the Lancet study, so I lingered in the parking garage as long as I could & I'm going to donate more to NPR, since they're listener-supported.
Am watching Boushis XIV's live press conference even as we type. I don't have Karen's training in body language, but I do still know a goodly bit about acting, actors, and how talking heads work on teevee from a professional standpoint.
In this live appearance the so-called leader of the free world looks and sounds like a nervous, petulant, stressed-out, belligerent, and frequently-confused little boy who's trying to mumble and smirk his way out of trouble because he's been caught telling lies again.
And this is not at *all* the kind of solid, statesmanly image that we want and the world needs an American president to project in these times of global turmoil.
No wonder the rest of the world thinks we've truly been reduced to a paper tiger under this corrupt and inept administration.
and they hate us for our fiefdoms,
Otter
-- Why did he do that?!
Posted by: DiAnne at October 11, 2006 09:44 AM
Because Reverend Moon, as much as he claims to hate North Korea, actually wants to help it. Remember that he, with zero experience in automobiles, outbid Hyundai to build a car factory SW of Pyongyang!
Reverend Moon is precisely the reason why our Founding Fathers required that only a NATIVE-BORN American could be the president. Unfortunately, that provision is of no use when the entire Republican Party takes orders from a primitive Korean immigrant.
Bush doesnt think that many people have died but he applauds Iraqi's for their courage and how much they want to be free. He does not think 600,000 or whatever number they guessed at could be true, but he knows people have lost their lives. That was quoting him.
How did we get him for president again?
Now they re-anylized data and wow they have created more jobs than they first thought. Where the hell are those jobs please please tell me.
I gotta stop listening, this is making me sick to my stomach same sick sick retoric, now Democrats have voted against giving us the right to interogate Al Qada. No they voted for Habius Corpus grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Republicans voted against it.
"Nobody's accused me of having a sophisticated vocabulary, and I understand that."
-- George W. Bush, 10/11/06
"...plus, I couldn't hear what you said but I saw you talking to me."
-- George W. Bush, 10/11/06
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 11:38 AM
Well how about just being able to speak English Mr President?
Oh by the way Mr. President, that was one of those there retorcal questions.
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 11:38 AM
Well how about just being able to speak English Mr President?
Oh by the way Mr. President, that was one of those there retorcal questions.
I can barely listen to this man, Otter has anyone asked him a really tough question and tried to get him to actually answer? I missed some of this.
Now he decide to take a question about N Korea and asked himself a question about Iraq and he is answering himself is that not a first sign of crazy?
To answer your question, April, no - no one has asked him a question that he will actually answer. He's asking himself his own questions, and then following up with his own follow-uo questions. It's insane.
Oh yes, April, the reporters are asking him tough questions. But he's dodging them, distorting them, or simply claiming not to hear them. That, and diverting attention by talking about their suits instead. (I kid you not.)
And George Orwell must be doing the underground horizontal gyroscope thing right now, because Premier Boosh just insisted that "stay the course" means "if what you're doing isn't working, then you change it."
Amazing. Simply amazing. I don't know if his tin-foil hat fell off and aliens have taken over his brain again, but this man has clearly gone completely off the rails.
The question isn't how we got him for president again; we all know the answers to that, and they're as sordid as they are sorry.
The real question is, how the hell do we get rid of him *now* rather than two years from now?
By the time the January 2009 inauguration ceremony comes around, this country won't even have a handbasket left for it to go to hell in.
President Bush must be deposed, and deposed at once. Period, paragraph, page. We simply can't survive two more years of having this incompetent yammering chimp in charge of the White House.
shrubiana delenda est,
Otter
Karen, honey, I know you're in Europe, but you're still on the clock. And I sincerely hope you have access to a complete recording of this morning's press conference, so that you can deconstruct it for us.
Because unless your finely-honed assessment of what I'm seeing on teevee right now differs significantly from my semi-trained one... we are all in *seriously* deep doo-doo here.
jeez what a maroon,
Otter
Otter she can pick up a Video of it on Washingtonpost.com or MSNBC.com later if need be.
I hate that our president terrifies me. It should never ever be this way. You may dislike him, but the President should never scare you. Bush scares the sh*t out of me and not in the way he intends to.
Q: "Is there anything you wish you had done differently regarding Iraq?"
A: "Blah blah blah I had to make tough decisions blah blah blah being president is haaard wurrrk blah blah blah it was the right decision to remove Saddam from power blah blah blah some people who think we'd be better off with him still in power there blah blah blah we need to change tactics to help this young country succeed blah blah blah if we don't stay the course and keep fighting the terrorists over there they will rise up and become organized and attack us again over here blah blah blah *blah*."
Blech.
you can tell he's lying his lips are moving,
Otter
well the fiasco is over and I must run and pay those pesky bills.
Agreed, April.
It's bad enough that our current president is a doink.
But it's *really* bad that our current president is a dumb, delusional, and extremely dangerous doink.
dear goddess please save us from this lunatic,
Otter
All I can say is:
PROTRACTED GENOCIDE.
Joe Klein's article on candidate Joe Sestak in Time magazine's online edition at http://tinyurl.com/egfjv provides us with some good templates to use in our own discussions with undecideds and independents this year. Here's just one example:
---------------
"The military is the institution in our society that best reflects the values of the Democratic Party," says retired Vice Admiral Joe Sestak, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's Seventh District.
This is a wonderful, underutilized political technique, the "Huh? Tell me more!" statement.
And the small gathering of neighbors in Barbara and Charles Blum's Hershey's Mill living room is all ears.
Sestak explains that the military provides universal health-care coverage and substantial educational benefits -- "I was able to get a Ph.D. from Harvard," he says -- and it has also been a pioneer in providing equal opportunity for all, including women and minorities.
"Every military officer is a Democrat because he or she believes in investing in people," he concludes with a flourish.
[snip]
cut-and-run democrats my asterisk,
Otter
Hey All, No way can I watch video on these contraptions. Wireless has not come to Prague yet, so it is cafes and old machines for me...
HOWEVER, I trust you have all picked up enough empathetic observation skills to accurately read what a mess Bush is. The last release I wrote about his movement was subtitled "One foot on the ground" Watch the swaying. It's self-comforting. And he never passes through the midline because he does not appear to have one. At any rate, not lately.
So I believe that you can also feel his pain and do what you will with it.
If only we could get the rest of his supporters to see that he really really needs a very long vacation...
Not to worry, mom. We'll keep track of the video of this morning's gaggle for you to watch when you get back. Even by established Shrub standards it's a real measure of his ongoing descent into the maelstrom to see him the way he was today.
inquiring eyes want to know,
Otter
The Lancet was the publication which produced the 100,000 Iraqi death estimate in a mid October 2004 study, which the major media largely chose to ignore. This estimate was later debunked by authorities who preferred a "body count" approach - which offered a death toll much closer to current Administration numbers.
However, this controversy led me to do a bit of research, and I discovered the methodology used in the Lancet study is one that is used widely. So, if these numbers are considered suspect, then a wide range of numbers must also be wrong - like perhaps the numbers of Iraqis that Saddam Hussein is said to have killed, or the number of people who are said to have perished in Darfur.
This strikes me as yet another instance of the media and the Administration preferring to cherry pick intelligence that suits their agenda - rather than presenting evidence to the American people, with perhaps some sort of warning, and then allowing the public to weigh the evidence as they see it.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- North Korea's claims of a nuclear test establish Pyongyang as a "threat to international peace," President Bush said Wednesday as he pledged to defend U.S. allies and interests in the region.
"North Korea has once again chosen to reject the prospect for a better future. ... Instead it has opted to raise tensions in the region," Bush said.
"The United States reserves all options to defend our friends," he said while reiterating that Washington plans no military response to the current crisis.
*** we still have friends out there?***
*** who has been a "threat to international peace" in the world than the Bush administration?"
I axe you.
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 12:19 PM
Ha ha ha.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
Hahahahahahaha.
That is all.
Axe him a question, he'll tell you all lies.
'America' is not supposed to be a four-letter word,
Otter
Karen, here's what I picked up on body language. I don't know what I'm talking about, of course, but would love to see if you , as a pro, also notice this when you finally see the video:
The reporters were, for once, asking tough questions, but they were doing it with a curious compassion, as if they were doctors or nurses trying to talk with a mentally-not-quite-there, terminally ill patient. Well, of course, they were.
V.,
Are you being cynical about politics, cynical about Democrats, cynical about the military, or cynical about river otters?
I yam so confoozed,
Otter
If only we could get the rest of his supporters to see that he really really needs a very long vacation...
Posted by: karen at October 11, 2006 01:04 PM
I thought he was on one?!?!?
Well, I know this much, he's hooked on SOMETHING other than phonics!
Who puts the DUH in Dubya?
George of the Bungle
Obviously, Mr. Monk, deliberate delusional ignorance must be addictive. Otherwise, why are so many of Spurious George's core supporters still hooked on it?
he's reaching out to his free base again,
Otter
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 01:34 PM
I'd say a Full Ricky Nelson is in order.
Lonesome Town
What the monkey said.
"You can buy a dream or two
To last you all through the years.
And the only price you pay
Is a heart full of tears."
time for shrub to take the last train to smirksville,
Otter
I tolerated about two minutes of that hissy fit in the rose garden this morning before the fellow from my ISP came to install DSL.....
Dumbya keeps talking about "enemies." Will someone PUH-LEEZE ask that paranoid twit who these "enemies" are? I want name, rank, and serial number, and what country these alleged "enemies" are from. We didn't have any "enemies" until he made enemies by illegally and unconstitutionally invading Iraq, and now the Iraqi people DO hate us and consider US their enemies, I'm sure.
snippet of conference up at Crooks and Liars
http://crooksandliars.com/
see October 11
I watched most of the conference, but I somehow missed this amazing sentence: "and I applaud the Iraqis for their courage in the face of violence. I am, you know, amazed that this is a society which so wants to be free that they’re willing to…you know, that there’s a level of violence that they tolerate."
See it for yourself at url above.
NonnyO, you'll probably dig a certain Senator Kerry's reply to Shrubya's wobbly, waffling performance for the press this morning. I think that he and the rest of the Dems That Be might finally be getting the hang of this pesky framing-the-debate business. Here's a transcript for ya:
"Today we heard more hollow attacks from a president acting like campaigner in chief rather than being commander in chief.
"President Bush continues to be profoundly wrong about Iraq. He wraps my strategy in slogans because he's afraid to take responsibility for his Katrina foreign policy that kills and maims our soldiers and weakens America in the fight against terror. Every day we continue the President's failed stay-the-course strategy is another day we play into the hands of the terrorists.
"We must change course in Iraq. This is why I have proposed a deadline for Iraq and a comprehensive plan to end the civil war. We must refocus our military efforts from the failed occupation of Iraq to what we should have been doing all along: tracking down and killing members of al Qaeda.
"This is the opposite of President Bush's stand-still-and-lose strategy. It's a clear alternative from a broken policy of 'more of the same.' Every time President Bush tells the Iraqis we will 'stay as long as it takes,' he is giving squabbling politicians there an excuse to take as long as they want.
"At each step along the way, the Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines. So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet -- a clear deadline of July, 2007 to redeploy our combat troops.
"We also desperately need something else this president disdains: diplomacy. Real diplomacy -- a Dayton-like summit of Iraq and the countries bordering it, the Arab League, NATO, and the Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council. This too will only happen with a deadline to push and prod Iraqis and their neighbors to the bargaining table.
"Today of all days, on the four year anniversary of the vote on the use of force in Iraq, we should be having this debate, openly, honestly, and in a way that honors America's troops and our best traditions."
WTG JK U ROOL,
Otter
I particularly liked this one:
"President Bush's stand-still-and-lose strategy"
Wowzers. Green Day wrote Shrubya's personal theme song. Who knew?
----------------
I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me
Till then I'll walk alone
I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line of the edge
And where I walk alone
Read between the lines of what's messed up
And everything’s all right
Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive
And I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me
Till then I'll walk alone
-----------------
and shrubya being alone for real again can't possibly come too soon,
Otter
Posted by: mbk at October 11, 2006 02:05 PM
Iraqi's want freedom so bad they're putting up with a certain level of violence...?!?
Errrr.... I know this is stating the obvious, Herr Boosh, but the Iraqis didn't ASK anyone to "liberate" them from Saddam... and if you, Herr Boosh, had not unconstitutionally and illegally ordered the invasion and occupation of Iraq, they probably wouldn't have to put up with nearly as much violence as you have imposed on them - to the tune of over 600,000 dead civilians (I'll take other people's estimates above your LIES about civilian casualties any day) - and who knows how many more will die before your erroneous fiasco is over and done with, in the near future and after that as a result of DU?!?
Sounds to me like *someone* needs a REALITY CHECK.
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 02:09 PM
Only thing is, the presidunce has already stated that 'we'll be in Iraq as long as he's the presidunce' and the next president is going to have to deal with getting our troops out of Iraq....
In terms of lives lost and ruined - our own as well as Iraqi citizens - and astronomical financial ruin (altho Halliburton is profiting nicely), "WE the People" can no longer afford to have Herr Boosh as the "leader" of this nation...!
IMPEACH... NOW!
Now that I have DSL, I have watched the clips by Olberman and Stewart without any lag time....
Olberman was right on, as usual...! Stewart can make us laugh through our tears.
I find it "odd" that Herr Boosh has not yet signed the torture bill - yet. I wonder if he's waiting for someone to attack this country before signing it so he can "legitimately" do away with habeas corpus...? Makes me wonder if he's waiting for NK to attack us.
This nation is SO FUBAR as long as Herr Boosh is the presidunce.... We need a Dem majority win in both houses on Nov. 7, and we need the Dem reps to start IMPEACHMENT proceedings the day after they're sworn into office in Jan. '07.... No waffling or waiting around, and I'm perfectly willing to have the entire Congress tied up in impeachment proceedings until the next president takes the oath of office...!
Hmm.
CNN is reporting breaking news that a small plane has just crashed into a building on E. 71st St. in Manhattan.
Eerie.
Typical CNN. Now they're amending their reports to say that the building is actually at E. 72nd & York, and that it might have been a helicopter rather than a small plane per se.
Bear in mind that it is a very foggy day in NYC, with limited visibility, and that aircraft have accidentally crashed into skyscrapers there before without there being any terrorism involved.
But still... the pictures on the tube right now are eerily familiar.
Scanned through transcript of Bush's press conference - touting his numbers on job creation, deficit reduction but skeptical about Lancet study. Predictable.
Posted by: DiAnne at October 11, 2006 03:09 PM
Easily the most predictable person to ever (dis)grace the office. I think we all had an inkling 6 years ago where this was going.
Deja Pew
Shrummy's much-anticipated news conference has been bumped off the MSM feeds by the plaen crash in Manhattan -- which is, yes, an actual accident rather than an incident -- but it's playing on CSPAN anyway and it's well worth watching either now or later on. He's in good form, and the on-podium contrast between him now and Shrubya this morning is quite striking. In fact, watching both in turn leaves very little doubt about who is and who isn't really running things in Washingtoon these days.
he's still the éminence grise in more ways than one,
Otter
And more from the Otterworld Quoted Without Comment Department:
"Next time you're here in Washington, take a moment to walk down to the Vietnam War Memorial, if you haven't done it. As you walk down that path into the center of the V and you stand in the V, you can look up one end and you'll see 1960 -- earlier, 1959 -- all the way through parts of 1968, and then the other side of the wall brings us toward the end. And half the names on that wall, half the names -- stand in the center of it and look up at tens of thousands of young Americans -- half the names on that wall were lost after America's leaders knew and later acknowledged our strategy would not succeed. It was immoral then and it is immoral now to be quiet or equivocal in the face of that kind of delusion. Just think about what that wall might look like for Iraq. Mistakes are no excuse for their own perpetuation."
from JK's mouth to America's ear,
Otter
Monkey
Also read the Army plans to keep troops in Iraq through 2010. Reading some of the comments people write in to various newspapers re what they think of the Lancet figures about deaths in Iraq & methodology. Pathetic to read criticism from people who intend to write "Voila!" and write "Wallah!" - just unbelievable.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea stoked regional tensions Wednesday, threatening more nuclear tests and saying additional sanctions imposed on it would be considered an act of war, as nervous neighbors raced to bolster defenses and punish Pyongyang.
South Korea said it was making sure its troops were prepared for atomic warfare, and Japan imposed new economic sanctions to hit the economic lifeline of the communist nation's 1 million-member military, the world's fifth-largest.
North Korea, in its first formal statement since Monday's claimed atomic bomb test, hailed the blast as a success and said attempts by the outside world to penalize North Korea with sanctions would be considered an act of war.
Further pressure will be countered with physical retaliation, the North's Foreign Ministry warned in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures," the statement, said without specifying what those measures could be.
http://tinyurl.com/fm3my
Wallah-Wallah, WASHINGTON, DC
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 03:45 PM
Otter, I saw this on the Kerry blog as well.
If you haven't read it folks, you should go check it out. This is a strong voice, speaking out for what is right, and taking responsibility for what has gone wrong. John Kerry gets it.
Check it out at http://blog.johnkerry.com/
I'm posting over there as chickadee now.
by the way - Dick is live blogging the JK on Ed Schultz show over on the kerry blog - right now!
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 12:19 PM
But what about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?"
Unless it's repealed, the military cannot reflect the values of the Democratic Party.
Oh wait, maybe it does after all, because it was a Clinton-era policy. No wonder we've got Jeff Gannon and Mann Coulter shilling for the Republicans...
Great Big World
by Blues Traveler
Gauntlets,
Towns one by one
See how,
They run
And when the check doesn't clear
And its time to pay the bill
Some are gonna ride it out
Some cant and they never will
cause its a great big world calling you to take a ride
And its a great big world singing come and see and come inside
Oh yeah a great big world reminding you you're not alone
So hold on this great big world we only get to rent we never get to own
Inches fill a yard stick
Feet slowly walk a mile
Make one move then another
And then you try to live a while
Keep your head and you might make it
But that aint no guarantee
'cause it takes debt and obligation
To fly around so free
And its a great big world calling you to take a ride
And its a great big world singing come and see and come inside
Oh yeah a great big world reminding you you're not alone
So hold on this great big world we only get to rent we never get to own
Whatcha gonna do first
And where will you make your mark
How are you going to get there
And can you find a place to park
Seasons coming slowly
But still they always come
And then it feels like just a second
And then suddenly youre done
And its a great big world reminding you you're not alone
And its a great big world we only get to rent we never get to own
cause its a great big world calling you to take a ride
And its a great big world singing come and see and come inside
Oh yeah a great big world reminding you youre not alone
So hold on, this great big world we only get to rent we never get to own
Just a reminder that DCP is nonpartison and though many here support John Kerry, as you can see by the comments, we are not advocating support for one candidate over another.
So for educational value, here's some other websites to check out.
http://www.senate.gov/~warner/
http://clinton.senate.gov/
http://mccain.senate.gov/
http://oneamericacommittee.com/
http://obama.senate.gov/
Nope.
We're not advocating for a particular candidate, but we are certainly advocating AGAINST a particular failed ideology.... or has that freedom been stripped away by the bully culprit as well?
I Like Spike
United States President George W. Bush today claimed that a less "sophisticated vocabulary" than that used by Democrats justified his characterization of their Iraq policy as "cut and run."
Bush made the comments at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden this morning.
A transcript of the exchange follows:
#
QUESTION: One of the things Democrats complain about it is the way you portray their position --
BUSH : Oh, really?
QUESTION: -- in wanting to fight the war on terror. They would say you portray it as either they support exactly what you want to do or they want to do nothing.
BUSH : Hmm.
QUESTION: We hear it in some of your speeches. Is it fair to portray it to the American people that way?
BUSH : Well, I think it's fair to use the words of people in Congress or their votes. [Laughs.] The vote was on the -- on the Hamdan legislation, do you want to continue a program that enabled us to interrogate folks or not?
And all I was doing was reciting the votes. I -- I -- I would -- I would cite my opponent in the 2004 campaign when he said there needs to be a date certain from which to withdraw from Iraq. I characterize that as cut-and-run because I believe it is cut and run. In other words, I've been using their votes or their words to characterize their positions.
QUESTION: But they don't say "cut and run."
BUSH : Well, they may not use "cut and run," but they say "date certain" as to when to get out before the job is done. That is cut and run. You know, I -- nobody's accused me of having a real sophisticated vocabulary. I understand that. And maybe their -- their words are more sophisticated than mine, but when you pull out before the job is done, that's cut and run as far as I'm concerned. And that's cut and run as far as most Americans are concerned.
And so yeah, I'm going to continue reminding them of their words and their votes.
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Bush_Cut_and_run_rhetoric_result_1011.html
I'm thinking of a few not-so-sophisticated words right now myself.
Earth to fundies...
Christianity is the best image
Remember the Jack Abramoff emails which demonstrated how top-level Republican insiders really feel about their evangelical base? Remember when Abramoff referred to co-conspirator Ralph Reed as "crazy, like other folks in the Christian Coalition"?
You'd think that these revelations would've clued in the Jesus voters.
You'd think that they would understand by now that well-paid advisors brief W on which insider terms to use in order to thrill the hearts of fundamentalists. You'd think that they would notice that "their" president rarely attends religious services. Recent books have portrayed GWB as a foul-mouthed and ill-tempered bundle of resentment, likelier to say "motherf*cker" than "maranatha," likelier to raise the finger than to bend the knee.
Howard Dean described an incident that occurred during a meeting with Bush, when both men were governors. When forced to take a call from a Christian Coalition representative, W stomped off muttering "I hate these people."
Alas, most evangelicals still cling to their hallucinations of Republican piety. Maybe this revelation by Tucker Carlson -- no liberal, he -- will finally awaken the entranced:
CARLSON: It goes deeper than that though. The deep truth is that the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals who put their party in power. Everybody in...
MATTHEWS: How do you know that? How do you know that?
CARLSON: Because I know them. Because I grew up with them. Because I live with them. They live on my street. Because I live in Washington, and I know that everybody in our world has contempt for the evangelicals. And the evangelicals know that, and they're beginning to learn that their own leaders sort of look askance at them and don't share their values.
MATTHEWS: So this gay marriage issue and other issues related to the gay lifestyle are simply tools to get elected?
CARLSON: That's exactly right. It's pandering to the base in the most cynical way, and the base is beginning to figure it out.
http://tinyurl.com/fzzft
YOU DONE BEEN HAD, BUT WE TOLD YA SO!
Posted by: monkey at October 11, 2006 03:20 PM
Yup.... had an inkling it was gonna be bad, knew during the debates that if DimWit got elected he'd start a war in Iraq to finish his daddy's war (the part about the 'nation building during the 2000 debates - knew off the bat he was LYING)....
BUT, my inkling didn't include it being THIS BAD... and it just keeps on gettin' worse.
Diane Rehm today
Iran
With reactions to North Korea's reported nuclear test still unfolding, Diane and her guests talk about Iran: its nuclear ambitions, its government, and how the U.S. and the rest of the world are dealing with the threat Iran may pose.
Guests
Scott Ritter, a top UN weapons inspector in Iraq between 1991 and 1998. He is a former Marine and the author of many books, including "Iraq Confidential."
Robert Kagan, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, monthly world affairs columnist for "The Washington Post," and author of "Dangerous Nation."
page w/ audio links: http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/06/10/11.php#11129
One of BushCo's first acts was to strut into Russia & unilaterally tear up the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, followed soon by announcing their refusal to talk to North Korea or Iran... in the subsequent 6 years they have done nothing to improve the situation. How is it the Dems are responsible for nuclear proliferation?
Chris Matthews hits new low.
Cory Lidle, a 34 year old pitcher for the NY Yankees was killed today in a plane crash in Manhattan. He was flying with an instructor when the plane apparently had a mechanical problem, and a mayday called was placed.
Matthews was on a few minutes earlier with Keith Olbermann, who in a previous incarnation was an ESPN sportcenter anchor, and Matthews asked him if Lidle's performance in the playoffs might have led to the crash. I kid you not. His implication was that Lidle might have been depressed or might have committed suicide.
Tacky, very tacky.
Posted by: monkey at October 11, 2006 04:52 PM
Another question never asked:
Precisely WHAT "job" needs to be finished in Iraq?
If I had to take a 'wild guess'... securing the oil wells under PNAC control would probably be the answer, I'm thinking....
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/10/11/notes101106.DTL&nl=fix
Gay Republicans? All My Fault
I caused it. I did it. Foley, sex, pedophiles and the implosion of the GOP. And I apologize
By Mark Morford
I secretly hoped for it. I secretly prayed for it. Actually, it wasn't a secret at all. I was shouting it from the cosmic rooftops, extolling its virtues to anyone who would listen, tossing shiny pennies of burning hope into karmic wishing wells. Couldn't help it, really.
And I'm here to say: I'm sorry for it.
See, for years, I've wanted in my heart of hearts for some sort of nasty and riotous and well-deserved scandal to rock the GOP, to shake it to its homophobic hypocritical core and reveal these jackals and warmongers and abusers of women's rights and gay rights and human rights as what they really are, to have their glistening masks of sweat and wax and false piety peeled away to expose the rashy psoriatic snakeskin underneath.
More than anything, I wanted all the country and the world to see the viciousness and the duplicity of this particular administration, though to be honest I was hoping at least one of the scandals might somehow involve Sept. 11 and its related conspiracies, for one or more of the many deeply disturbing, still-unanswered questions surrounding the tragedy to finally come to public light and reveal the Republican leadership to be far more complicit in some of those dire events than anyone imagined. ...
[Click link for more.]
William Rivers Pitt: The Loser
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106Z.shtml
William Rivers Pitt writes: "George W. Bush is making some history of his own these days. When all is said and done, he will go into the books as the first American president to lose two wars at the same time."
Stephen Rohde | Military Commissions Act Shames the Constitution and
Weakens America
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106P.shtml
Stephen Rohde writes: "The Military Commission Act is breathtaking in its denial of fundamental rights under the Constitution and international law. The law re-establishes virtually intact President Bush's military tribunals, which were rejected by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional."
Robert Scheer | Dear Leader Brings It On
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106N.shtml
"Over the past six years, our 'my way or the highway' president blew up a crucial nonproliferation agreement," writes Robert Scheer on US diplomacy with North Korea, "and then took every opportunity to personally insult the country’s reportedly unstable dictator because it played well politically at home."
cyrano, tacky but possible.
aimzz: we should just take a deep breath and repeat the phrase personal resonsibility, something this gang knows nothing about. In fact it would be refreshing for our next Presidential candidate to be able to admit yea, I screwed up and I am to blame. Maybe I am naive in thinking that Americans after 8 years will be relieved to hear that. Bush does not believe in any international treaties, we were told that weeks after his inauguration.
Only 831 more days and 5 hours..
Posted by: Ira at October 11, 2006 06:19 PM
I keep forgetting that BushCo ushered in the era of personal responsibility... keep reminding me-- it caused my tea to squirt out through my nose
Gene C. Gerard | Lawsuit to Force Bush Administration to Recognize Constitution
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106G.shtml
Gene C. Gerard writes: "The First Amendment to the US Constitution stipulates that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.' By funding the Northwest Marriage Institute, and other faith-based organizations, the Bush administration is violating the law."
Troops to Stay in Iraq Until 2010
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106A.shtml
The US Army has plans to keep the current level of soldiers in Iraq through 2010, the top Army officer said Wednesday, a later date than any Bush administration or Pentagon officials have mentioned thus far.
FBI Probing Whether Specter Aide Helped Spouse Win Defense Contract
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106B.shtml
The FBI is investigating whether a member of Senator Arlen Specter's staff broke the law by helping her husband, a lobbyist, secure almost $50 million in Pentagon spending for his clients.
Records Suggest Abramoff-Pombo Lobbying Contacts
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106M.shtml
California Representative Richard Pombo has insisted he was never lobbied by Jack Abramoff. Records show the disgraced lobbyist billed a client for at least two contacts with Pombo a decade ago.
War Crimes Report Shows US Violations of International Law
Demands Prosecution of US Military and Civilian Leaders
The violence of the Iraq War, the chaos that has come to Iraq, can be traced directly to the illegality of the invasion and occupation of that country and the illegality of the tactics and weapons being used to maintain the occupation. U.S. War Crimes in Iraq and Mechanisms for Accountability documents these violations and calls on us all to demand investigation and prosecution of violations of international law by military and civilian leaders.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15261.htm
The Mushroom Cloud over the U.N.
By Mike Whitney
The Bush administration has repeatedly rejected North Korea’s appeals for a “non-aggression” pact. Bush believes that he has the inherent right to attack whomever he chooses if it is in the national interest, which is to say, if it furthers his ambitions for global domination.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15271.htm
Torture, Moral Values, and Leadership of the Free World
By Edward S. Herman
In the discussions of the new torture-permissive legislation the media do not bring up Bush's statement of June 26, 2003, that "Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right. Yet torture continues to be practiced around the world by rogue regimes," and that in this struggle "we are leading this fight by example."[6] This display of hypocrisy without limit, and its unintended and unrecognized designation of the United States as a "rogue regime,"
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15270.htm
met 2 different people who formerly thought they "might be redeployed to Iraq" and now "may be redeployed to Korea" - the problem is - they're married - to each other - and parents.
Shays on Foley handling: At least no one died
October 11, 2006
HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Republican Rep. Christopher Shays defended the House speaker's handling of a congressional page scandal, saying no one died like during the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident involving Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy.
"I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day," the embattled Connecticut congressman told The Hartford Courant in remarks published Wednesday.
"Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody," he added.
Shays' comments recalled the Chappaquiddick incident, when Kennedy's car ran off a Massachusetts bridge, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy did not immediately report the tragedy, and he later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.
Last week, Kennedy campaigned for Democrat Diane Farrell, who is locked in a bitter fight with Shays that could help determine whether Democrats recapture the House after 12 years of GOP control.
"This is symptomatic of Chris losing his composure in a tight race," Farrell said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Chris just seems to be lashing out in anger."
Kennedy's office had a terse response.
"This just makes clear the real need for change in November. Beyond that I'm not going to dignify such a desperate attack with a response," said Kennedy spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner.
more ON...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/11/shays.kennedy.ap/index.html
SHAYS, YOU POMPOUS ASS!
AMERICA! WAKE UP! REPUBLICANS DONT GIVE A SHIT!
yeah they had that on the local NPR this afternoon -- what a loonytoon. I think Diane Farrell may win this one.
Listening to Hardball I just heard Matthews repeat that the military has told Bush that he needs to plan on keeping troops in Iraq for the next 4 years. Curious if others heard that.
Now: In the next 28 days how do we get that message out to voters, that Bush plans on keeping toops in Iraq, if left unchecked, through Jan 2009; and then dump that plan on the next president.
831 days and 4 hours to go.
"I know the Senator didn't gloss over a scandal and leave a young person in danger, and then have a press conference the next day," the small-d democratic Otter told the Democracy Cell Project in remarks published Wednesday.
"Dennis Hastert didn't admit anything," he added.
"This just makes clear the real need for change in November. Beyond that I'm not going to dignify such a desperate Speaker with a response," said progressive spokesperson Rimshot DeMonkey.
time to beat retreat for mr. speaker,
Otter
Naval interdiction exercise said planned for Gulf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facing nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea, the United States, Bahrain and other states will hold their first naval exercise in the Gulf this month to practice interdicting ships carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The exercise is taking place as the United States and other major powers are considering sanctions including possible interdiction of ships on North Korea, following a reported nuclear test, and on Iran, which has defied a U.N. Security Council mandate to stop enriching uranium.
The exercise, set for Oct. 31, is the 25th to be organized under the U.S.-led 66-member Proliferation Security Initiative and the first to be based in the Gulf near Bahrain, across from Iran, the officials said.
A senior U.S. official insisted the exercise is not aimed specifically at Iran, although it reinforces a U.S. strategy aimed atstrengthening America's ties with states in the Gulf, where Tehran and Washington are competing forinfluence...
(more)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061011/pl_nm/security_gulf...
..while neocons salivate
Jah Drules.
of course not ..
Bush Sees No Need to Change North Korea Policy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106R.shtml
President Bush reaffirmed his faith in tough, multinational diplomacy to deal with North Korea and declared that the United States had no intention whatever of invading that country.
Monday is gonna be just another barrel of laughs for the folks at the White House, I might buy the book that is coming out myself. One wonders why the Administration thought it could keep people quiet forever. Secrets in Washington are rarely kept for long, I am gonna be watching for the mass exodus of the Christian Conservatives unless of course they are like Bush himself and refuse to admitt they were wrong.
I wont even say we were right all along cause Real Christians knew we were.
The Bush Administration's October Nightmares continue, according to a story I just watching on Countdown. "Tempting Fate" is a new book exposing Bush Administration duplicity with regard to the Religious Right, written by David Kuo, a former member of the Bush Administration's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Kuo reports that Bush Administration officials, like Karl Rove, routinely refer to Dobson, Falwell, and Robertson as "the nuts".
Posted by: Cyrano at October 11, 2006 08:53 PM
And what you wrote was only a slightly bad part it appears Republicans havent been courting Christian Conservatives they have been lying through their teeth to them. The loud flapping sound you are all hearing is the chickens coming home to roost.
Posted by: Otter at October 11, 2006 08:01 PM
28 days to go, time to put the pedal to the mental.
Posted by: April at October 11, 2006 09:02 PM
We warned 'em... beware of wolves in cheats cloning.
Holy Crap
Cheats, Shysters, Liers, con-men, you name it.
Its not like the Democratic party doesnt have its fair share of those kinds of people, but lets face it we have been getting kicked around for being to honest, not for lieing. We've taken hits on our views and feelings on A womans right to chose, on our feeling about live and let live as far as gay rights goes. On our veiws about making sure the playing field is even for our kids (the democrats will raise taxes according to Bush and company never mind his tax cuts were never permenent) Wanting affordable health (we want to socialize health care) and so on. Its nice to see thier feet of clay on these issues coming out.
Moral Values just isnt about Sex there are a lot of other things involved with having moral values sex is just a teeny tiny part of that. But since they wanted it to be all about Sex they are getting their wish since they claim they are the party of honesty they are getting proven they are liers its what happens when you claim to be above everyone else, you fall real hard when you fall and the fall always comes.
For April:
---------------
Well, they tell me there's a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But between the day you're born and when you die
No one ever seems to hear you cry
But as sure as the sun will shine
I'm gonna get my share of what's mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
I said the harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all
I said the oppressors are trying to keep me down
Trying to drive me underground
But they think they're gonna have the battle won
I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they've done
But as sure as the sun will shine
I'm gonna get my share of what's mine
I said the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
I said the harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all
Well, I try to do the things that I want
Cause when you're dead, you know that you can't
I'd rather be a free man in my grave
Than living as a puppet or a slave
So as sure as the sun will shine
I'm gonna get my share right of what's mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Break it down!
----------------
on the edge of a very jimmy cliff now,
Otter
Just saw an ad for tomorrow's Oprah show.
It will be called Truth in America, and it will be all about Iraq, Katrina, the media and whether we are being told the truth or not.
I never watch it because I'm at work when it's on, but sounds like it might be a good one!
Hey! Oprah spelled backward is... um... oh, never mind.
all hail marx and lennon,
Otter
Interesting diary by Michael Schiavo - addresses double standards of Congress & their "moral values" hypocrisy
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/11/1531/9071
He was at Yearly Kos.
‘Too Rigid and Too Crude’
South Korea’s former foreign minister assesses Washington’s handling of Pyongyang’s nuke program and how the test could accelerate a conventional arms race in the region.
By George Wehrfritz
Newsweek
Oct. 11, 2006 - The fallout from North Korea's announcement that it had tested a nuclear device Monday--and hints that it may test another--has been swift and global. United Nations delegates have already begun debating possible sanctions, U.S. President George W. Bush is under fire for failing to prevent a nation he famously declared part of an “Axis of Evil" from building a nuclear capability, Japan is rethinking its long-held commitment to its pacifist constitution and China is smarting from Pyongyang's overt diplomatic rebuff. Yet nowhere is the potential danger greater than in the South Korean capital, Seoul, a city of some 10 million resting within artillery range of the world's most heavily fortified border.
Han Sung Joo understands the risks better than most. In the mid-1990s he served as South Korea's foreign minister at a time when nuclear tensions were also running high. From 2003-2005 he represented his country as Seoul's ambassador to Washington, a posting that gave him a unique vantage on a rancorous policy debate underway within the U.S. government over how best to thwart North Korean strongman Kim Jong Il's nuclear aspirations. With Pyongyang celebrating its nuclear breakout, Han spoke with NEWSWEEK's George Wehrfritz in Seoul about the political, diplomatic and security implications. Excerpts:
-snip-
How big an indictment of the Bush administration's North Korea policy does Pyongyang's nuclear breakout represent?
In 2002, after Pyongyang's disclosure/admission regarding its uranium enrichment program, it was difficult for the United States or other parties not to do anything. There could be debate as to whether the halting of shipments of heavy fuel oil was the right thing to do or not. Generally, I think the U.S. reaction was too rigid and too crude. At the same time, the U.S. never really put down any "red lines" that North Korea should not cross or set time limits for North Korea to do something because it would have been very difficult to make it stick. Time and again, [when they] reprocessed the spent fuel, reopened their five-megawatt reactor, when they declared they had nuclear weapons, the U.S. didn't do anything. The United States did not engage in bilateral talks and insisted on multilateral talks. That rigidity is what tied America's hands and allowed North Korea the time and the excuse to go ahead with its nuclear program.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15226195/site/newsweek/
Bush couches bad news around small talk
Fashion talk with press corps lets president momentarily escape politics
By Dana Milbank
The Washinton Post
President Bush needed to change the subject.
"If I might say, that is a beautiful suit," he told NBC News correspondent Kevin Corke at yesterday's news conference in the Rose Garden.
"My tailor appreciates that," replied Corke, wearing a $1,500 custom pinstripe number by Tom James with bright-red tie and pocket square.
Story continues below ↓
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"And I can't see anybody else who even comes close," Bush added, drawing laughs from the assembled scribes in wrinkled navy blazers.
Then the president spied CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, pointing at her Benetton suit with pink pinstripes. "Suzanne, I take that back," Bush amended with chivalry. Moments later he bestowed on her the day's "best-dressed" honors.
"Kevin and I coordinated," she explained.
CBS News's Jim Axelrod was feeling left out. "My best suit's in the cleaners," he told the commander in chief.
Bush eyed Axelrod's slacks with disdain. "That's not even a suit," he said, before chalking up the whole thing to "high-priced news guys."
It was about the only fun Bush had all morning. North Korea is exploding, Iraq is imploding, and congressional Republicans are self-destructing. Reporters weren't about to let the president forget about that, even if he looked natty in his gray suit and dark-blue tie.
"Do you ever feel like the walls are closing in on you?" Axelrod tormented.
'I've made some hard decisions'
Bret Baier of Fox News asked Bush about "the tide turning, according to several polls, towards the Democrats."
USA Today's David Jackson noted the "shelf full of books" about Iraq and their claims that "administration policies contributed to the difficulties there."
"There's a lot of books out there -- a lot," the president agreed. "I guess it means that I've made some hard decisions."
Actually, the books say he and his aides made a lot of bad decisions: too few troops in Iraq, no reconstruction plan, ignored insurgency warnings, and keeping Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon while pushing Colin Powell out of the State Department.
The underdressed reporters peppered Bush with 15 questions about Iraq and North Korea; only near the end did the Chicago Tribune's Mark Silva mention some guy named Foley. Pressed to defend his foreign policy, Bush instead cited the "stakes" involved in the Middle East and North Korea -- 13 times.
"I understand the stakes," Bush announced. "I'm going to repeat them one more time. As a matter of fact, I'm going to spend a lot of time repeating the stakes."
He made good on that promise. Five times he said "the stakes are high," occasionally adding that "the stakes are really high" and even that, "as a matter of fact, they couldn't be higher."
"I know this sounds [as if] I'm just saying it over and over again," Bush admitted. But repetition is crucial to learning; to that end, Bush also said four times that the enemy is trying to establish a "caliphate."
Bush asks himself questions
Dissatisfied with the reporters' prickly questions, Bush went about answering his own. He said abandoning Iraq would allow terrorists to launch new attacks on America. "How do I know that would happen?" Bush asked himself. "Because that's what the enemy has told us," he answered.
When a questioner asked about the credibility of the administration's threats toward North Korea, Bush said: "I thought you were going to ask . . . 'How come you didn't use military action?' " Bush then replied: "My answer is that I believe the commander in chief must try all diplomatic measures."
"I'll ask myself a follow-up," Bush continued. "If that's the case, why did you use military action in Iraq?" His answer to himself: "Because we tried the diplomacy."
It's dicey for a president to hold a news conference when his support is below 40 percent and there is little good news to share. Bush started off by pointing out that the federal budget deficit has been shrinking faster than expected. But his questioners, perhaps heeding Vice President Cheney's admonition that "deficits don't matter," didn't ask any questions on the subject.
The president's opening statement, though heavily qualified, contained some of his trademark sanguinity: "We're on the move. We're taking action. . . . We accomplished that mission."
But the mood darkened when the first questioner asked "is your administration to blame" for North Korea's getting nuclear weapons. On cue, a sudden breeze sent willow leaves fluttering onto the party.
No, Bush answered, the Clinton administration is to blame.
This provoked a challenge from ABC News's Martha Raddatz. "How can you say your policy is more successful, given that North Korea has apparently tested a nuclear weapon?" she asked.
Off to the side sat four Bush aides who had been with him through his entire presidency: Josh Bolten, Karl Rove, Steve Hadley and Dan Bartlett. Grayer and thinner on top than they were six years ago, they watched expressionlessly as Bush entered with a spring in his step and a wave to the cameras, then as he left an hour later with less good cheer.
"Thank you for your interest," the president said curtly, skipping the usual pleasantries. As he walked back into the Oval Office, he shot a glance in the direction of his aides that showed he was not pleased.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15230633/from/RS.1/
Bush '04 Video Flashback: N. Korea policy 'will work'
by David Edwards and Ron Brynaert
At a debate in 2004, President Bush explained that his policy against bilateral talks with North Korea would be effective in preventing them from becoming a nuclear power.
The president says, "We began a new dialogue with North Korea. One that includes, not only the United States, but now China, and China has a lot of influence over North Korea. Some ways more than we do. As well, we include South Korea, Japan and Russia. Now there are 5 voices speaking to Kim Jong Il, not just one. And so if Kim Jong Il decides again not to honor an agreement, he's not only doing injustice to America, he'll be doing injustice to China as well. And I think this will work. It's not going work if we open up a dialogue with Kim Jong Il."
In 2002, the United States released $95 million to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace its nuclear program.
"In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors," the BBC reported in 2002.
Bush's Presidential determination said that the decision was "vital to the national security interests of the United States."
The directive said that the United States was "continuing to make significant progress on eliminating the North Korean ballistic missile threat, including further missile tests and its ballistic missile exports."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_Bush_04_Flashback_N._Korea_1010.html
Quote for the day:
"Hitler had a good 20 to 30 IQ points on Bush, so comparing Bush to Hitler would in many ways be an insult to Hitler."
- Kevin Barrett, University of Wisconsin-Madison instructor
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/10/11/instructor.sept.11.ap/index.html
Posted by: madame defarge at October 12, 2006 08:12 AM
655,000 killed in Iraq...
Adolt may be gaining on Adolph.
I am so glad I didn't watch that press conference yesterday. I would have had a broken tv by the time it was done.
'
I read the transcript - that was enough.
How about President Dumbasses repeating the "caliphate" over and over... and btw, using it improperly from a grammatical point of view (I know, I know, its that legendary uns'phistigated vokablerry)...
caliphate
n 1: the era of Islam's ascendaancy from the death of Mohammed until the 13th century; some Moslems still maintain that the Moslem world must always have a calif as head of the community; "their goal was to reestablish the Caliphate" [syn: Caliphate] 2: the territorial jurisdiction of a caliph 3: the office of a caliph
"Caliphates? I thought you wuz talking about "calf ates" -- you know, like what them young heifers did when we gave 'em their breakfast this mornin'."
all hat and no cattle,
Otter
The Lancet study is criticized mostly in our own press, even though American scientists were involved.
Sobering story of what it's like in Iraq:
Aura of Fear and Death Stalks Iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/story/0,,1920053,00.html
imagine checkpoints & you don't know if they're government, police, American, militia - you have the wrong papers or say the wrong thing & you're executed
imagine being afraid to go to the morgue to see if family members who have disappeared are there, because there are too many death squads in the area
suppose the Lancet figures are even in the ball park - I heard that puts it into Guatemala territory, Rwanda territory
Also heard NPR broadcast from Kandihar (during commute) - sounds like the local people are still in a quandary about whether to trust the government or hang with the Taleban - after all this time
Sure do not envy the Canadian-accented NATO forces there
Have been listening to the weeklong series on Africa, the forgotten continent. The series today was on HIV and the toll taken on families -not uncommon for grandparents to try to take on grandchildren after the parents are dead & then try to feed them from subsistence farming
Then there's Darfur - time is running out
Haven't got to domestic news yet - afraid to go there
Speaking of fashion, someone should have asked the President to turn around & reveal whether he still has some sort of box inside his suit in the back, like during the debates.
Iraq death toll adds up to one Seattle
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/288436_robert12.html
The number is like a kick between the eyes.
According to a recent study, more than 600,000 people in Iraq have been killed since the U.S. invaded in 2003 to lead Iraqis to peace and democracy.
That's 20 times higher than the figure the White House has bandied about. Many of the dead, say the team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists who conducted the study, would likely be alive today if the invasion had not occurred.
The researchers point the finger at post-Saddam violence as the cause of the deaths, according to news accounts.
Such a toll strikes home because the stunning number rivals Seattle's population, 570,000.
Imagine what our bustling streets would look like if more than a half-million people were suddenly erased by bloodshed. It would be a ghost town.
The toll, too, hits home for one Seattle woman.
Enas Mohamed of Wallingford is an infant mortality researcher for the University of Washington. She also fled Iraq in 1997, later becoming a refugee.Sitting in a library lobby Wednesday, Mohamed, 42, glanced at a printout of a New York Times headline -- "Iraq Dead May Total 600,000" -- and grimaced.
"Horrible," she said. "I get depressed thinking about it." Mohamed says death stalks her loved ones in Iraq. This week alone, a phone call from her sister in Baghdad brought news that something bad had happened to Mohamed's cousin in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
(snip)
According to The Associated Press, those who conducted the research surveyed doctors and households to extrapolate their findings.
The researchers wisely hedged, saying they were "95 percent certain" the exact number fell within a few hundred thousand of the figure they arrived at.
Bush thinks the overall figure is much lower, though he concedes, "a lot of innocent people" have lost their lives.
Mohamed said Wednesday that she believes the number is even higher than 600,000, based on what she has seen during three visits since 2003, and on reports from relatives, doctors and scientists back in Iraq.
The unyielding violence in Iraq, she says, stems from many things: Iraqis fighting one another for their particular vision for the country, religious strife, enemy bands spilling in from other Middle Eastern countries, rampant unemployment, the rise of organized crime and coalition troops who have put innocent Iraqis in gun sights, either by accident or by design.
Mohamed, one of few Muslims in Wallingford, shakes her head over the situation's sheer magnitude.
The death numbers are a crushing metaphor for America's miscalculation and failure in a place where so many Iraqis are said to have died.
Put in perspective, it stands to be a Seattle-sized loss of life in the name of liberty and democracy.
--------------
Comment:
I met an Iraqi refugee woman who is now afraid to call Iraq after having suffered a nervous breakdown. Interpreters tell me they worry about some of the families, who have tv news on 24/7.
Posted by: monkey at October 12, 2006 05:06 AM
Thanks for that link
MSM getting it
(finally)
Saw headline that Bush and Iraqi government dispute Lancet figures. Heard the government official interviewed last night on radio - who is to say that the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq does not have marionette strings?
As for security there, attackers dressed as policemen hit a television station in Bagdad and killed 11.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1920730,00.html
The media here is such as echo chamber - even newspapers now.
Pollster Zogby '95 percent' sure of 650,000 Iraqi death toll
RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday October 11, 2006
Print This Email This
Expert pollster John Zogby is "95 percent certain" that around 650,000 Iraqis civilians have died since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. A new study by Iraqi physicians and Americans from Johns Hopkins University polled 1,800 Iraqis to calculate an approximate number of casualties since the beginning of the war.
In an interview on CNN International, Zogby explains that the methodology used in the study is very reliable. "The methodology, from what I've seen of the survey, is quite good," he remarked. He is also in agreement with the study's estimate of 650,000 casualties, saying, "I can't vouch for it 100 percent, but I'll vouch for it 95 percent, which is as good as it gets in survey research."
At a press conference earlier in the day, President Bush said that he did not agree with the study's results, saying, "I think that methodology has been pretty well discredited."
more...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_Expert_Zogby_95_sure_of_1011.html
Who do you think understands this kind of methodology better, Zogby, or Mr. Fuzzy Math?
Discredit, Datcredit.
I was totally shocked to get an email from Mark Warner a few minutes ago announcing he will not be running for President. I sure hope that Hillary's $75 million is not scaring off competition.
Christopher Shays is losing it. Yesterday he announced that at least Republicans haven't killed anyone.I have always thought of him as a pretty rational Republican. I have learned that is an oxymoron.
I sure hope that Hillary's $75 million is not scaring off competition.
Posted by: Bubba at October 12, 2006 11:33 AM
If she's the nominee, we're fuqued.
... and Shays comments were about as disgusting and despicable as anything I've ever heard.
May the Bluebird of Happiness crap in his Froot Loops.
Yup. It'll be interesting to see how the inevitable Clinton-&-McCain presidential ticket plays out against the Kerry-&-Obama presidential ticket in 2008, hmm hmm?
merely speculating randomly of course,
Otter
Say all the truth about W's bungling of North Korea, but the Korean-American community is still convinced that W did everything right, and it's all the communist front (AKA South Korean government)'s fault for fattening the North Koreans.
I am reading this article today, on American population hitting 300 million:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15212808/site/newsweek/?GT1=8616
I'm reminded more than ever that special-interest immigration, like those for Korean- and Cuban-Americans, must end immediately, to help alleviate our overpopulation problems. Ever wonder why all the xenophobic talk these days somehow doesn't apply to these groups?
an AP story:
White House, NSA staff said to be buyers from online diploma mill
(links to Seattle PI): http://tinyurl.com/y44hrb
Posted by: monkey at October 12, 2006 11:29 AM
What's interesting about these numbers is that this same survey methodology produced a casualty number of 100,000 in October 2004 - and a mere two years later is estimating now 650,000 dead.
A total of 620,000 Americans soldiers are said to have died in our Civil War, two thirds of which died from disease.
"The power of the Executive to cast a man in prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist."
-- Winston Churchill, to Home Secretary Herbert Morrison, 21 November 1943
. . still has some sort of box inside his suit in the back, like during the debates.
Posted by: not my president at October 12, 2006 10:53 AM
funny-- I was just thinking about that yesterday, watching (I must have a masochistic streak) that press conference. I was trying to see if there was anything in his right ear. The TV footage I saw, though, just showed head-on views of him.. I wonder if there are any full-profile or back-views out there. . . (boy, what does it say about this wretched president that such an idea would even cross my mind. . ). .still more than 800 days left. .
Posted by: Otter at October 12, 2006 12:53 PM
Wow its like Churchill knew Bush huh. But then again we have seen a lot of historical statements and warnings come true under this president probably more than anyother time in history. A lot of Washingtons warnings have come true also. To bad so few pay attention to history today.
Posted by: mbk at October 12, 2006 12:58 PM
He was reading from a Script through part of it and refered to it for some of his answers I noticed that.
Gunmen kill 11 in raid on Iraqi Sunni TV station
At least 10 others killed in Baghdad; new figures show worsening violence
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Gunmen stormed the headquarters of a new Sunni Arab satellite television station Thursday, killing the board chairman and 10 others, the second attack on an Iraqi station in the capital in as many weeks.
The people killed in the brazen morning assault were among at least 21 people who died in attacks that centered on Baghdad, including a suicide bomber who slammed into a police patrol on his motorcycle and a coordinated double bombing of a central square.
-snip-
The U.S. command said Thursday that one American soldier was killed and two injured in violence in northern Iraq on Wednesday. The three soldiers were assigned to the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, but no further details were released.
The soldier’s death brings the total number of American troops who have died in October in Iraq to 41.
-snip-
Bloody September
According to new figures from the Iraqi Health Ministry, more than 2,660 Iraqi civilians were killed in Baghdad in September — 400 more than the month before despite an intensified U.S.-Iraqi sweep aimed at reining in violence.
The violence comes not only from Sunni Arab insurgents but also from Shiite and Sunni death squads who kidnap and kill members of the opposing sect.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15232508/
Diane Rehm Show today:
Iraqi Civilians
The conflict's toll on civilian life.
Guests
Hassan Mneimneh, director of documentation, Iraq Memory Foundation
Les Roberts, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, coauthor of a new study in the Lancet medical journal on Iraqi mortality since the 2003 invasion.
Anthony Cordesman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Maysoon Pachachi, founder, Independent Film And Television College in Baghdad
page containing audio link:
http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/06/10/12.php#11450
HOW ROVE TWISTED FOLEY'S ARM:
It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important than confronting him over his extracurricular activities.
But there's more to the story of why Foley stood for re-election this year. Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLIC that in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire from the House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark's a friend of mine," says this source. "He told me, 'I'm thinking about getting out of it and becoming a lobbyist.'"
But when Foley's friend saw the Congressman again this spring, something had changed. To the source's surprise, Foley told him he would indeed be standing for re-election. What happened? Karl Rove intervened.
According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn't, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.
"He said, 'The White House made it very clear I have to run,'" explains Foley's friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist. "I said, 'I thought you wanted out of this?' And he said, 'I do, but they're scared of losing the House and the thought of two years of Congressional hearings, so I have two more years of duty.'"
The White House declined a request for comment on the matter, but obviously the plan hasn't worked out quite as Rove hoped it would.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=47854