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Iraq Study Group Recommendations
[Equation for inertia at the moment an object stops spinning: courtesy UC Santa Barbara]
From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 — The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal, according to people familiar with the panel’s deliberations.
The report, unanimously approved by the 10-member panel, led by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, is to be delivered to President Bush next week. It is a compromise between distinct paths that the group has debated since March, avoiding a specific timetable, which has been opposed by Mr. Bush, but making it clear that the American troop commitment should not be open-ended. The recommendations of the group, formed at the request of members of Congress, are nonbinding.
So what are we to think of these findings, which are certain to be criticized as too centrist, so as to be uselessly vague and murky?
And what of the thousand and one questions that the report fails to answer? Doesn't this just complicate matters, giving no real solutions to the very real problem of Iraq?
Actually, I think that the commission's recommendations give me cause for hope. Let me explain...
The commission had only one real task before it, and that was to unanimously agree on something about Iraq. Find a point of shared reality, and state that as the new beginning line (or the new center line, if you prefer), and move the discussion forward from there, as opposed to the same old political fight (stay the course, cut and run, stand still and die, redeploy, let's see what happens in two Friedmans from now...you get the idea).
The spectrum of solutions in this evenly split bipartisan commission ranged from "stay the course forever" to "leave immediately".
What the commission agreed upon as the shared reality was that all discussion from here forward should be started on the basis of we are leaving and not we are staying .
While that is a marked shift in the generally accepted Republican world view reality, it has been the leading point of discussion for top Democrats for well over a year.
Although I could easily make the argument that the commission abdicated its duty to make any specific recommendations, I think it made the only recommendation worth making, which is to center discussion around leaving versus staying.
That, combined with the decision earlier this week by several major news bureaus to start describing the bloodbath in Iraq as a 'civil war', may well provide enough cover for Republicans leaders to change their position on redeployment of US forces from Iraq.
We can only hope. It is, after all, the season for miracles.
Congress is back in session next week. But only for one week.
You know what to do.
Please join me in choosing hope.
Casey,
My first thought when looking at your blog was the cartoon. http://www.webamused.com/blogosophy/archives/002064.html
How apt that you would write: "We can only hope. It is, after all, the season for miracles."
Okay, everybody. Kumbaya moment's over, time to get back to work.
:0)
But Otter, can we take Kumbabya with us? We need it in a back pocket somewhere.
Not a problem, kj. I'm sure that the Google already has plans in the works whereby you can access it over the internets from any PC anywhere and at no charge to the end user except for the viewing of certain unobtrusive targeted advertisements.
*fnord*
Otter, in that case, I'll bring actual books. ;-)
(I don't have the memory of a true bard.)
Side by side headlines:
· House GOP Plans Vote Next Week on Fetal Pain Abortion Bill
· Bill Clinton Launches Pediatric HIV/AIDS Initiative in India
But Otter, can we take Kumbabya with us?
Posted by: kj at November 30, 2006 11:52 AM
Just fer the cd, I dig yer typos the bestest of all.
typos! might as well put them in the backpack as well.
Hi, this is Babya. Any calls for me?
Posted by: Otter at November 30, 2006 02:11 PM
Kum again, Babya?
Casey... your comment "which is to center discussion around leaving versus staying" is almost word for word something I mentioned yesterday to a friend... that is a KEY shift in the tone.
Of course, Frankenstupid will continue to talk tough and say we're stayin for as long as "it" takes.
... and yet, "POOF!" just like that...
Iraq PM: ‘Our forces will be ready by June ’07’
Al-Maliki, Bush agree to speed up security handover
Are you accusing our highly-extremed gubbamental officials of being poof!ters, monkey?
I prefer, "Poofiteers".
None for all, and all for one.
Poofiness is its own reward.
Totally offtopic which never stopped a monkey before, but get a load of the Pickle d'jour...
Abortion drug may thwart breast cancer
Compound in RU-486 blocks growth of tumors in mice
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15972032/
· House GOP Plans Vote Next Week on Fetal Pain Abortion Bill
Posted by: aimzzz at November 30, 2006 01:28 PM
When, oh WHEN, are men (and women) of the religious reich going to stop legislating women's wombs?!? It's not the unborn that men need to care about; it's after children are born when men need to start caring... child support, helping around the house, child care, college funds, participating in the life of the child... and stop these moronic wars that kill the product of women's wombs in the first place. What's the purpose of giving birth to wonderful healthy children and investing all that love and caring for so many years if all that's going to happen to them after their children turn 18 is to see them get killed in stupid wars? Better they don't exist at all (i.e., birth control to prevent conception entirely - I'd recommend young women of child-bearing age use a combination of birth control pills and condoms and spermacides, morning after pills in certain situations, and if all that isn't effective, then abortion as a last resort - and if they really don't want children at all, tubal ligation; better no children at all than to have them be killed for lies of dictators or dictator wannabes who are too chicken$h!t to fight their own battles). (And in all cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother, abortion needs to be an option, with the choice left to the woman whose life is affected by such trauma.)
There was news the other day about a male birth control pill that so far seems effective on a limited basis (it's too new to know long-term effectiveness, if taken properly, since the male pill only has a temporary effect for a few hours, apparently)... and yet, when asked, women said they'd still use their own birth control because they didn't trust men to use the male birth control pill....
"...a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal... The recommendations of the group, formed at the request of members of Congress, are nonbinding."
Posted by Casey Morris at November 30, 2006 11:25 AM
Ah, I'd love to choose hope.
However, I must point out that nowhere in there does it say the US is "leaving" Iraq or Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the article the 'gradual pullback' won't even start until 'sometime next year' (that's only after an increase in troop numbers, so we know it would be a limited 'pullback' to probably current levels) and the do-nothingness amounts to indefinitely 'staying the course' since the 'recommendations are non-binding.' (The Iraq Study Group came to a do-nothing consensus, and they've been "working" on this "problem" since March...? I'd say the collective Iraq Study Group is about as useful as hip pockets on a hog. Seriously. Duh!)
The devil is in the details, and there are no details for anything resembling withdrawal, now or in the future. Once again the dictator who has so terrorized the American people with his fear- and war-mongering has succeeded in getting his way. He will always have some reason for not leaving, whether it's lack of training for Iraqi troops and police, or a new round of increased deaths in the civil war that are still going on which will be his reasons for staying to protect oil wells and other US corporate interests. We're stuck in Iraq unless someone with some kind of common sense and very anti-war gains the office of the president in '08. I don't look for any hope unless an anti-war president is elected and takes the oath of office in Jan. '09 and orders a withdrawal to begin by Feb. '09. It's just not gonna happen before then, if then, and thousands more will die for lies and oil.
The dumbest thing I hear from politicians (Dems and Cons) is "Well, we shouldn't have gone there in the first place now that we know about the lying, BUT now that we're there...." That is THE dumbest excuse, ever, to continue to let our people and theirs be killed for no good reason whatsoever. Sheer folly.
Kumbaya moment over. Sorry, but I see no reason to hope, and I don't believe in miracles. Hard work and doing something about the situation (like major pressure in the form of impeachment proceedings) is the only way anything will ever be accomplished, and it won't happen before Feb. '09..., if then, depending on whether or not we get an anti-war president in office. Under the current administration, the situation is permanently FUBAR, and will only continue to get worse as long as they are not impeached. No one has seen fit to get the current megalomaniacal dictator (and his corporate cronies) to stop the insane power grab, so nothing will be done about troop withdrawal from Iraq (or Afghanistan) and more needless deaths, and more mounting debt (and missing billions that finds its way into corporate coffers in offshore accounts) will continue to be the status quo. I was elated with the Dem wins in November, but as long as they continue to keep impeachment off the table, and as long as our Congress Critters (of all political persuasions) keep passing these "emergency spending bills" to finance Georgie's war, we can only expect more of the same....
Memo to Congress Critters, effective January 4, 2007: DO SOMETHING!!!
I have been putting it off for weeks but I think I've decided I am signing with the NY Literary Agency tommorrow.
Oh Lord, here we go again.
Disregard last post, I've changed my mind.
Homeland Security warns al Qaeda plans to attack and destroy databases of U.S. stock market and banking Web sites, Reuters reports.
GOP wants law to define when fetuses feel pain
November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- While they still can, House Republicans are looking at scheduling a vote next week on a fetal pain abortion bill in a parting shot at incoming majority Democrats and a last bid for loyalty from the GOP's base of social conservatives.
The measure is tentatively on House GOP leaders' list of bills to be considered in a lame-duck session before Democrats assume control of Congress. It has no chance of passing the Senate during the waning days of Republican control. But, with Democrats ascending to agenda-setting roles, passage isn't the point, said one conservative leader.
"Next year, the leadership of the House will be hardcore pro-abortion loyalists," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee. "They will block votes on even modest pro-life measures like this one."
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/30/GOP.abortion.ap/
Posted by: monkey at November 30, 2006 06:39 PM
Hmmmm.... I thought al Qaeda was busy helping "insurgents" and others fighting the US military somewhere in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, or busy being suicide bombers and blowing themselves and others to smithereens. Aren't they too busy to bother with the internet?
Isn't it just a tad bit difficult to destroy computer databases from a desert with no access to the internet or from a cave in some gawdfersaken mountain range with no access to phone lines where no one has been able to find them?
Sounds like a terroristic threat against US citizens to come up with such fearmongering - and a ploy to be able to continue to illegally snoop into the privacy of people using the internet, among other things used to spy on citizens of the US and/or a ploy to hide international monetary transactions lost in a maze via the internet.
Seems like the "homeland security" job is to keep people in the "homeland" totally insecure by putting out propaganda and disinformation and misinformation (and to manipulate people into voting for more neoCons who say they're only trying to protect us). DHS is a white elephant department sucking money into a black hole that should never have been created. All that would have been necessary in the first place to capture international criminals is the ability for federal law enforcement agencies to talk to each other..... (And we all know what happened when FEMA was absorbed into DHS.)
Reading backwards:
Terrorists could lurk anywhere. Therefore the government has its hands tied no matter what it does. Best not to make so many enemies.
When do fetuses feel pain? Well it could be argued that any organism with a withdrawal response feels pain. That takes 3 neurons.
Pro-lifers should not eat meat as that definitely involves pain to animals. They should not participate in military as that definitely involves pain to humans. Torture.
Death penalty.
Poofiteers. Then there are Poofters, like Haggard, Foley etc.
Well back to work, er lurk.
KJ thanks for link on last topic.
mbk great link on Kerry and France - he would make a better President for them than either Royal or Sarko and maybe they deserve him moreso than we. If not for the sinking dollar, I'd be making plans to visit Paris. Alas .. had to get a new roof. Such is reality.
Robert Fisk: Like Hitler & Brezhnev, Bush is in Denial
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2029238.ece
DiAnne, the snow is finally socking it to us. Should have plenty to stomp out a peace sign tomorrow!
Underdog' Vilsack officially launches campaign
The governor begins a five-state tour today to announce his candidacy for president.
Des Moines Register link: http://tinyurl.com/yzqhxa
KJ Great!!!
Canada turns to reality show to pick a PM
· Four former leaders to grill contestants in TV special
· Winner to walk away with £22,500 in prize money
Some countries have elections. Some countries have sectarian violence. Others have civil war. But in Canada, they do things differently.
Next March four former Canadian prime ministers will take part in a reality TV show titled The Next Great Prime Minister. The four will grill contestants on their leadership qualities before picking a winner in the one-hour TV special.
While other former leaders will be strutting the world stage - Jimmy Carter worrying about democracy, Bill Clinton about poverty - former Canadian prime ministers Brian Mulroney, John Turner, Joe Clark and Kim Campbell will be donning their best clothes to question five contestants about the qualities needed to lead the nation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1961335,00.html
Killer's story leaves doubt
Sister feels no peace despite confession to long-ago slaying
By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News
November 24, 2006
When Kathy Cole first found out that a serial killer locked up in Colorado said he murdered her sister more than 23 years ago, she thought it might finally bring her some peace.
Four months later, she has serious doubts about his confession to authorities.
"I'm not saying it wasn't him, but his story has so many holes in it, you could drive an 18-wheeler through it," Cole said. "Do I believe he threw her into the river? No, I do not."
In late July, El Paso County authorities said Robert Charles Browne had provided them enough information in the past four years to link him to 49 murders in nine states and South Korea dating to 1970.
Law enforcement officials from only two states have come to Colorado to talk to Browne, 53.
In September, Louisiana State Police interviewed the confessed serial killer about Cole's younger sister, Faye Aline Self.
Self disappeared from the Wagon Wheel nightclub in Coushatta, La., in 1983, and her body was never found.
Browne said he followed Self from the club to her home. In 2005, he told El Paso County investigators he used a chloroform-soaked rag to knock her unconscious then went next door to his own home to get rope. When he returned, she was dead.
He said he dumped the body off a bridge over the Red River.
"I don't care who killed her," Cole, 58, said. "I'm so sure she's dead, and it happened a long time ago, and I don't even care about the details of how she got dead. I just want to bring her home."
El Paso County Detective Jeff -Nohr, who has conducted the bulk of the interviews with Browne - along with investigator Charlie Hess - said he has "no doubt" in his mind that Browne killed Self.
Michael Allen, a trooper with the Louisiana State Police, is the lead investigator on the Self case. While he said it's impossible to discredit Browne as a suspect, he also acknowledged that there could be other suspects in Self's death.
"Basically, we have at this point an ongoing investigation," Allen said. "We haven't found anything to prove or disprove any of the information he provided. But he was helpful."
Nohr said the only other out-of- state officials to come and interview Browne were the Arkansas State Police, who are trying to wrap up a case involving Lisa Lowe.
However, Nohr said, there are developing complications in that case.
"He told them what he gave us, but they went back to investigate further to determine if it's the right victim," Nohr said.
At one point shortly after the news broke about his links to the string of murders, Browne refused to be interviewed by anyone. He has since lifted that ban, and Nohr said he's been pretty open about talking to law enforcement.
The interviews usually are about 90 minutes long, he said, but Browne hasn't revealed any new information on any cases.
Browne is serving a life sentence for the 1991 murder of 13-year-old Heather Dawn Church in Colorado Springs.
Cole said she wonders whether she'll ever know what happened to her sister.
"Anything that comes up at this point is gravy," Cole said. "But I'll probably never find the answers I'm looking for."
monterod@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5236
Hey All:
Bubba brought this up, and it's sort of on-topic, but you might be interested in reading the comments on George Will's column today in WaPo on my boy Jim Webb's so-called rudeness at the White House. Man, it's crazy -- I have never seen such a volume of comments on a blog on a WaPo editorial -- and running about 95% pro-Webb. I'm probably near the end of the line of those whom Miss Manners should survey, but to my mind it was Bush that was out-of-line. He just pulled his frat-boy ploy on the wrong Marine(s) I guess. Webb answered his questions directly and with dignity. Anyway, you might want to take a look at the blog comments -- like I say, a huge number. And it's kind of on-topic because the point is to re-center this whole discussion.
Chuck in Houston
I've got to turn in, but really, you all might want to check out the comments on the George Will column -- it's up to something like 80 pages! In fact, the format of the webpage doesn't seem to be able to even accomodate that as the window widens with the number of these pages and hence comments scroll of the screen. I checked a few other columns around that one and if it gets two pages it's lucky! Something is going on there. Reminds me of a Buffalo-Springfield tune....
Chuck in Houston
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901267.html
Chuck in Houston
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/11/30/olbermanns-special-comment-on-gingrich-we-fight-for-liberty-by-having-more-liberty-and-not-less/
Olbermann’s Special Comment on Gingrich: “We fight for liberty by having more liberty and not less”
Olbermann: "What a dark place your world must be, Mr Gingrich. Where the way to save America is to destroy America. I will awaken every day of my life thankful I am not with you in that dark place. And I will awaken every day of my life thankful that you are entitled to tell me about it. And that you are entitled to show me what an evil idea lurks there and what a cynical mind. And that you entitled to do all that thanks to the very freedoms you seek to suffocate."
{{{Zing-g-g-g-g-g! I do so love a man of wit...!}}}
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901267.html
Posted by: Chuck at December 1, 2006 12:35 AM
My letter to George Will.....
Dear George -
Do you think Dick Cheney's snarled remark "Go fuck yourself!" was civil? Or do you hold a double standard and think anything a Republican does is off-limits and entirely civilized, even if it is an obscene remark like Cheney made on the floor of the Senate? Did you accuse Cheney of incivility when he delivered that now-famous line?!?
If Jim Webb chooses not to discuss his son with George W. Bush, so be it; it's none of Bush's business, quite frankly. Why did Bush call Webb's son a 'boy'? As a marine, he should be labeled a 'man.' It is grossly insulting when Bush refers to men as 'boys' and women as 'girls.'
Webb's son is in Iraq fighting for the sake of Bush's lies and for the sake of protecting corporate oil interests in Iraq, after all. Webb's son is NOT in Iraq to fight for "our freedoms" - yours or mine - here at home, and those of us with an IQ higher than a rock know the whole 'war on terror' is bogus. We all notice the Bush twins are off partying, while the sons and daughters of other people are fighting and dying for lies and oil; the twins don't have the time or the intelligence to join the armed services and fight in their father's war. The fruit didn't fall far from the AWOL tree of their father.
The invasion of Iraq was both unconstitutional and a war crime, a fact never discussed by rightwingnuttia pundits like you who pander White House fear- and warmongering propaganda. If Webb chooses not to discuss his son's service in an illegal war, it's entirely within his rights to keep his thoughts and his relationship with his son private.
Rather than attack Webb as being uncivil, why not attack Bush and Cheney for their illegal war and the uncivilized lies they told that resulted in Webb's son (and thousands of others) being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan? Sending guard and reserve troops to Iraq or Afghanistan only leaves us vulnerable at home, and certainly does not promote any feelings of security for residents of this country.
For the record, Cheney's foul remark was far less civil than Webb's; and, so far, Bush has done nothing to merit respect for the office he was given (nor has Cheney done anything to merit respect for the office he was given). It's Bush who has demonstrated, daily, what a boorish ass he is; he can't even pronounce 'nuclear' and never manages grammatically correct sentences unless he's reading from a prepared speech, and both Bush and Cheney are full of themselves. People with discerning minds have known that since the presidential and vice-presidential debates of 2000.
Until you decide to criticize Bush, Cheney, and their administration for their lies and illegal and unconstitutional activities, and Bush, in particular, for really bad use of language, you need to stop acting like a priggish little boy defending the boy-king who holds the highest office in this land and acts like a spoiled brat daily.
Webb was being quite civil, and remarkably astute and patient with the great liar and manipulator who holds the office of president.
A blogger would have told Bush 'Go Cheney yourself!'
Sincerely,
Off-topic, but important:
---------------
Hate crime victim Matthew Shepard would have turned 30 years old on
December 1st. He was HIV positive at the time of his death. It is
unknown if he knew his HIV status before he was murdered.
Light a virtual candle at the link below.
Pass this important mesage on.
When you light your candle, please remember hate crime vitctim
Matthew Shepard who was HIV positive at the time of his death, in
addition to all those who have passed away from HIV and AIDS related
causes, and those living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
Bristol-Myers is donating $1 to the National AIDS Fund every time
someone goes to their website and moves the match to the candle and
lights it.
It takes a second to raise a dollar.
https://www.lighttounite.org /
After you light your candle, please pass this important message on.
----------------
...than to curse the darkness,
Otter