Making A Difference, Ciro Rodriguez Edition

That makes 30!!

..but thrown a brick through your screen .. because MSM is linking Obama to Muslim extremists on the basis of his name, which is racist.

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/dec/12/cnn_puts_obama_in_split_screen_with_bin_laden_and_hussein

If anything, given the world situation, it's a good thing to have diversity in background etc.

Bush may talk about "moving forward" but it's Orwellian again. We are moving backward. The Civil Rights movement was in the 1960s. We appear to have learned nothing.

Then someone tried to sell me modest clothing - you know - to cover up?! The new Taleban only these were Mormon (like Mitt Romney).

HEY HEY HEY

Isn't this the same dufuss that helped pimp the Niger Forgeries..? I think it is...

A FORMER Italian spy chief was arrested overnight on suspicion of involvement in an illegal espionage ring that prosecutors believe snooped on Italy's elite, including Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Marco Mancini, once the head of counter-espionage at Italy's SISMI military intelligence agency, already faces possible indictment on separate charges of helping the US Central Intelligence Agency kidnap a Muslim cleric in Milan.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20920328-1702,00.html

It IS him!!!!!

They just arrested the man responsible for the Niger forgeries.

Holy Wow Cow Batman!!!!!

Boston:

JOHN KERRY TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE RE MIDDLE EAST TRIP

Today, before leaving for Iraq and his Foreign Relations Committee trip through the Middle East, Senator John Kerry will hold a media availability in his Boston office. Kerry’s Middle East itinerary includes stops in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Israel.

Now THAT is a miracle. And it's a miracle that the people can make happen.

More of that, please.

Posted by Casey Morris at December 13, 2006 09:15 AM

Now that's what I been talkin' 'bout!

Americans think U.S. losing war in Iraq
Most support Iraq Study Group’s ideas, poll shows

By Peter Baker and Jon Cohen
The Washington Post
Updated: 1 hour, 34 minutes ago

Most Americans think the United States is losing the war in Iraq and support a bipartisan commission's key proposals to change course, according to a poll released yesterday. But the Iraq Study Group's report has become a political orphan in Washington with little backing from either party.

Nearly eight in 10 Americans favor changing the U.S. mission in Iraq from direct combat to training Iraqi troops, the Washington Post-ABC News survey found. Sizeable majorities agree with the goal of pulling out nearly all U.S. combat forces by early 2008, engaging in direct talks with Iran and Syria and reducing U.S. financial support if Iraq fails to make enough progress.

Yet neither President Bush nor Democratic leaders who will take over Congress in three weeks have embraced the panel's report since it was released last week. Bush set it aside in favor of his own review, but, faced with conflicting advice within the administration, the White House said yesterday that plans to announce a new Iraq strategy by Christmas would be delayed until January. Democrats remain undecided and kept their distance while trying to pressure Bush.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16160872/

I tuned in to an 11 a.m.- noon news program on an in-state ABC affiliate today (thinking to check on weather forecast). I really should know better. Lamestream Media "news" (local, national) only makes me ticked off when they screw up FACTS so badly. One of the anchors for the morning and noon "news" also has an in-state 'political news' show on Sunday mornings.

Anyway, this is what I wrote to their news departments, with a cc to the two anchors who were reading the "news":

Subject: Kerry's Trip to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel & Iraq

Could you possibly trivialize your infotainment "news" any further? Kerry’s Middle East itinerary includes going to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. Hauser's teaser before the 11 a.m. news only made mention of Kerry's botched joke (which anyone with an IQ above a rock got in the first place, and we knew it was a direct slam against only Bush, not the troops!). Reading the "news," Sawkar's blurb after your "news" started ONLY talked about Kerry's botched joke in connection with the trip, and no mention was made about the rest of the trip, other stops Kerry will be making, who he will be seeing or why, nor any mention of the other senators going on the same trip. Yet all national and local news can write or talk about is one stupidly botched joke Kerry told before the election?!? (There was an AP print story about the botched joke in connection with the trip, too. I fail to see why the botched joke is still making news. That's a total diversion from the broader aspect of the junket. More than one senator will be on the trip, too.)

This is a prime example of why people who only want the essential FACTS about news turn to the internet and foreign media to get genuine news, not to American TV or print media for FACTS. Give your viewing public the essential 'who, what, when, where, how, and why' of things. Those of us with any critical thinking skills can figure things out for ourselves, and we certainly don't need spinmeisters telling us how to think, what opinions we're 'supposed' to have. We don't need any more propaganda from the White House or Pentagon telling us yet more Bu$hSpeak (a dumbed-down version of Newspeak), and we don't give a rat's patootie about a stupid botched joke told by anyone many weeks ago.

The MORE interesting aspect of the Kerry junket that should be talked about is WHY Kerry's nine-day trip includes visits to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Israel, as well as Iraq, WHO he is going to see in those countries, WHAT they're going to talk about.... Yet, about all of that, there is tomb-like silence! Shame on you!!!

Kerry told one botched joke before the election, the punch line was only about Bush, not the troops, and we all know it. Get over your Rovian obsession about it already!

Thank you.
Sincerely,

P.S. Seriously... if you want to talk about botched lines, pick any speech given by Bush in the last six years, pick any of the lies he's told and deconstruct the lies that got us into an unconstitutional and illegal war for control of Iraq's oil. I notice no one's talking about the fact that the Iraq invasion itself is a war crime, not to mention the Bush-sanctioned torture that's a war crime.... No mention in Lamestream Media about all of Bush's botched lines, mispronounced words, mangled sentences, but plenty of spinmeisters explaining away his essential stupidity and trying to make him sound more intelligent than he is, re-interpreting every slip of the tongue he has to explain away his gaffes.... The troops are fighting and dying for Bu$hCo lies and oil, yet no one in American media is talking about that, either. There is no "victory" to be had in Iraq, for the simple reason the invasion and occupation are war crimes. The war was lost before it began.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/12/13/notes121306.DTL&nl=fix

America Loses Another War
Iraq: a shameful ass-whupping, or just a pathetic trouncing? Ugly disgrace? Choices, choices
- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

The good news is, we're all back in harmony. All back on the same page. No more divisiveness and no more silly bickering and no more nasty and indignant red state/blue state rock throwing because we're finally all back in cozy let's-hug-it-out agreement: The "war" in Iraq is over. And what's more, we lost. Very, very badly.

Sure, you already knew. Sure, you sort of sensed from the beginning that we couldn't possibly win a bogus war launched by a nasty slew of corrupt pseudo-cowboys against both a bitterly contorted Islamic nation and a vague and ill-defined concept that has no center and no boundaries and that feeds on the very thing that tries to destroy it. It was sort of obvious, even if half the nation was just terrifically blinded by Bush administration lies and false shrieks of impending terror.

But now it's official. Or rather, more official. Now it's pretty much agreed upon on both sides of the aisle and in every Iraq Study Group and by every top-ranking general and newly minted defense secretary and in every facet of American culture save some of the gun-totin' flag-lickin' South. We lost. And what's more, we have no real clue what to do about it.

After all, it's not easy to accept. It's the thing we do not, cannot easily hear, the thing most Americans, no matter what their political stripe, just can't quite fathom because we're so damned strong and righteous and handy with a gun and we are the superpower and the God among men and the bringer of light to the world and therefore we never lose. Except, you know, when we do.

{Click on link for more.}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/12/12/cafferty-the-decider-has-decided-not-to-decide/
Cafferty: “The Decider Has Decided Not to Decide”
Cafferty: "Instead of a Christmas present to the nation and the people of Iraq in the form of a way to stop the insanity, the decider has decided not to decide until January."

Video.... {I liked the phrase "The F-word Network."}

Just talked to a mom I know who has been very against the war and her son is going to Afghanistan and Iraq. He knows how she feels but thinks he can get good benefits and provide for his family and that it'll help him be a police officer when he comes back. She said he figures he'll be dropped down into Bagdad by helicopter following special training, to help secure it and start all over. Madness.

KInd of a coincidence .. just talked to another mom whose son is in the air force & his wife is in personnel - she got wind she would be sent to "lead a convoy" - in Baghdad. So she's getting out while she can. They're desperate - air force can get out early or change to Army, which is having a hard time recruiting enough people for what they want to do. She agreed the whole thing is sick.

Casey,

Thanks for the story. No, I hadn't heard of him, but I agree. The point is not just Dean. It's us. And it's about perseverance and not giving up.

Christy, thanks for the Nigerian link above.

I've been pretty swamped lately and have lurked to read our blog, but I am usually too tired to post.

Signed...
Still connected and still lurking
Sparrow

Now I see why I got an email from a source I didn't recognize this AM. It had to do with this.

John Kerry is endorsing & encouraging participation in the Al Gore "An Inconvenient Truth" house parties this weekend & related efforts such as a million signatures on a petition to go to Congress.

You will probably get a copy of this or similar. I've seen the movie but now will probably go to a house party. Conference call from Al Gore too.

--

Like you, I share Al Gore's grave concern about the environmental threat posed by global climate change. Teresa and I go way back with Al in our engagement on this gathering crisis. Now, within the next decade, if we don't deal with global warming, our children and grandchildren will have to deal with global catastrophe. It is time to stop debating fiction writers, oil executives and flat-earth politicians, and actually do something.

That's why I'm asking the johnkerry.com community to join MoveOn, the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and others in sponsoring nationwide house parties crucial to our environmental future. It's all built around the DVD release of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

On Saturday, Americans will get together at house parties all over the country, watch the film on DVD, have a national conference call to discuss next steps, and start seriously mobilizing people. Participants will get a chance to talk to Al Gore and ask him questions.

Bush: 'I will not be rushed' into strategy change

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Wednesday he would "not be rushed" into a decision on a strategy change for Iraq, saying that in a round of consultations he heard both some interesting ideas and some "ideas that would lead to defeat."

"And I reject those ideas," Bush said after meeting with top generals and Defense Department officials at the Pentagon. He said those ideas included "leaving before the job is done, ideas such as not helping this (Iraqi) government take the necessary and hard steps to be able to do its job."

Bush spoke with reporters after wrapping up a round of high-level talks on revising his Iraq war policy. Earlier he spoke by telephone with two Kurdish leaders in Iraq as part of what the White House called efforts to forge a "moderate bloc" behind the shaky central government in Baghdad. (Watch how a balance of power is integral to success in Iraq )

Standing with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bush said he and the nation's top military commanders had "a very candid and fruitful discussion about how to secure this country and about how to win a war that we now find ourselves in."

Bush made it clear that "there has been a lot of violence in Iraq. The violence has been horrific."

Although the White House had initially suggested that Bush would deliver his speech on Iraq strategy before Christmas, he has decided to delay it until early next year.

Defending that decision, Bush said, "I will not be rushed into making a difficult decision ... a necessary decision."

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/13/bush.iraq.ap/index.html

Jason Leopold | Army Targets Truthout for Subpoenas in Watada Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306J.shtml
In a case that cuts right to the heart of the First Amendment, a US Army prosecutor has indicated he intends to subpoena Truthout Executive Director Marc Ash, a Truthout reporter, and two of the nonprofit news organization's regular contributors, to authenticate news reports they produced and edited earlier this year that quoted an Army officer criticizing President Bush and the White House's rationale for the Iraq War.
~~~~~~~~~

Besides the military prosecutors wanting to use media info to help prosecute Watada, I see this as an attempt to censor media to write only favorable stories about the military, and to try to coerce media sources into writing stories against people who object to Bu$hCo's Iraq war....

Army, Marine Corps to Ask for More Troops
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306M.shtml
The Army and Marine Corps are planning to ask incoming Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Congress to approve permanent increases in personnel. In addition, the Army will press hard for "full access" to the 346,000-strong Army National Guard and the 196,000-strong Army Reserves by asking Gates to take the politically sensitive step of easing the Pentagon restrictions on the frequency and duration of involuntary call-ups for reservists, according to two senior Army officials.

{Okay. What was that about withdrawing troops again? DimWit will just "listen" to all those boring people telling him to end his stupid war based on lies for the sake of oil and then go ahead and do what he wants anyway. I don't know why Lamestream Media tries to pretend it's going to be otherwise....}

Source says Saudi king "read riot act" to Vice President Cheney about Iraq

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has warned Vice President Dick Cheney that Saudi Arabia would back the Sunnis if the United States pulls out of Iraq, according to a senior American official.

The official said the king "read the riot act" to the vice president when the two met last month in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The New York Times first reported the conversation Wednesday, saying Saudi support would include financial backing for minority Sunnis in the event of a civil war between them and Iraq's Shiite majority.

Violence between the two sects has exploded in waves of revenge killings since February's bombing of a revered Shiite mosque in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

The White House dismissed the report.

"That's not Saudi government policy," press secretary Tony Snow said in Washington, according to The Associated Press.

"The Saudis have made it clear that they're committed to the same goals we are, which is a self-sustaining Iraq that can sustain, govern and defend itself, that will recognize and protect the rights of all, regardless of sect or religion," Snow said, the AP reported.

Cheney's November 25 visit marked his fourth trip to Saudi Arabia as vice president. An official with Cheney's office said the one-on-one meeting lasted two hours.

The Saudi king told Cheney that his country would be forced to step in and support "like-minded Sunni Arabs" if the situation in Iraq fell apart and the Sunnis' safety was in jeopardy, the senior U.S. official said.

The monarch said he would "intervene aggressively on one side absent an American presence," the source said.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/13/saudi.sunnis/index.html

John Borowski | World's Largest Science Teachers' Organization Awash in Denials
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306O.shtml
"The refusal by the National Science Teachers Association to distribute Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth' has ignited a firestorm of controversy and an avalanche of inquiries that the NSTA continues to mishandle," writes John Borowski.

Bush to Sign India Nuclear Deal Into Law on Monday
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306P.shtml
President George W. Bush will sign into law on Monday a civil nuclear cooperation deal that allows the United States to sell nuclear technology to India. Some in Congress say the legislation, which helps clear the way for India to buy US nuclear reactors and fuel, will undermine efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons.

Democratic senator had a stroke.

The very balance of the senate once again hangs in the balance.

God help us.

Control of the senate hangs in the balance.

Sorry Im DUH right now.

Senator Tim Johnson reportedly suffers stroke; Senate power seen in the balance

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Senator_Tim_Johnson_reportedly_suffers_stroke_1213.html

OMG

If Johnson were to pass away, or be forced to retire, the US Constitution delegates the task of appointing a replacement to South Dakota lawmakers, who in turn, often turn that task over to the Governor. The Governor of that state, Mike Rounds, is a Republican, and both houses of the state legislature are dominated by Republicans.

However, there is nothing in South Dakota law about the govenor being able to appoint someone in the event of incapacitation. There must be an actual vacancy.

The Senate Historian's office cites several examples of a senator being incapacitated for years and remaining in office.

Most recently, Sen. Karl Mundt (ironically, also from South Dakota) suffered a stroke in 1969 and was incapacitated, but he refused to step down. He remained in office until Jan. 1973 when his term expired. Mundt was pressured repeatedly to step down during his illness, but he demanded that the governor promise to appoint his wife. The governor refused, and Mundt remained in office.

Another example was Sen. Carter Glass, D-VA. Sen. Glass had a heart condition that prevented him from working for most of his last term after his re-election in 1942. Yet Glass refused to resign, and finally passed away from congestive heart failure in his apartment at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC in May of 1946.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16191212/

Diplomatic Mystery: Saudi Ambassador's Sudden Exit
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306D.shtml
Prince Turki, a former head of Saudi intelligence and a powerful player in the Saudi royal family, had only been in Washington for 15 months when he gathered his staff on Friday and announced that he would leave his post.

The New York Times | Without Deliberate Speed
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306C.shtml
The editors of the New York Times write: "Mr. Bush has no more time to waste on 'listening tours' and photo ops. The nation is in a crisis, and Americans need to hear how he plans to unwind the chaos he has unleashed in Iraq. If the president is delaying because he is searching for a good option, he can stop. There are none."

Leahy Vows to Guard Privacy Rights
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306F.shtml
The incoming Democratic chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee promised on Wednesday to combat what he denounced as President George W. Bush's war-time trampling of American rights.

Michael Winship | 109th Congress: Goodbye and Amen
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121306B.shtml
Michael Winship writes: "Not much was accomplished during the 109th, but there was the usual manic flurry of activity the last couple of days, sort of like those sudden deathbed confessions at the moment of reckoning that keep you from going to Hell."

Casey this story about Ciro Rodriquez is why I have been harping on the wonders of virtual calling. Act Blue set up a virtual call bank that may have made the difference in this low turnout election.Hispanic voters did not trust Bonillas who turned on his district's progressive values. We spoke to many San Antonians who had to be nudged to vote and show up and vote 3 weeks after the general election. Also it was a product of the resurgence of the Texas state democratic party. First they should be congratulated for fighting and winning Tom DeLay's seat,in the 22nd District, by Nick Lampson by their perserverance in challenging Tom DeLay and the state Republican Party up to the US Supreme Court when he tried to hand pick his replacement. The Texas Democratic Party was also able to get the Supreme Court to redraw Bonilla's District which Delay had turned from a progressive Hispanic district to a marginally Republican District. Additionally our wonderful governor attempted to limit early voting to 3 days but again he was forced by the courts to keep early voting open for 7 days. Nothing down here in Texas is easy but apparently our state party has a new spring in their step with 2 back to back Congressional wins.

Now lets pray that Senator Johnson is OK.

... MSM is linking Obama to Muslim extremists on the basis of his name, which is racist.

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/dec/12/cnn_puts_obama_in_split_screen_with_bin_laden_and_hussein

Posted by: DiAnne at December 13, 2006 10:58 AM

This blatant bigotry will simply multiply Obama's supporters. I hope he can understand, withstand and recognise those few votes he would never wish upon himself.

Sen. Tim Johnson Suffers Possible Stroke
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301509.html

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) suffered a "possible stroke" today, and the prognosis for his recovery remains unknown, according to his office...

December 13, 2006 05:22 PM
continued o_O

Should Johnson be unable to serve when the 110th Congress convenes in January, it could mean a 50-50 split in the Senate. Gov. Mike Rounds (R) would be tasked with appointing a successor to Johnson -- presumably a Republican. That could effectively put the Senate, which is slated to switch to Democratic control in January, in Republican hands because Vice President Cheney would cast the tie-breaking vote.

However, in modern history the Senate has never declared a seat vacant as a result of a senator's physical condition.

December 13, 2006 05:22 PM

Sorry--just saw that Christy already posted this story...

Hoping Democratic Senator Tim Johnson has a good recovery from his possible light stroke.

Posted by: DiAnne at December 13, 2006 06:01 PM

Amen

U.S. confidence at new low on Iraq war
NBC/WSJ poll: 53 percent say no obligation to killed troops to stay in Iraq

By Mark Murray
Political reporter
NBC News
Updated: 53 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - As the White House searches for a way to move forward in Iraq after the midterm elections and the Iraq Study Group's recent recommendations, the American public has grown increasingly pessimistic that the war there can be won, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds.

Nearly seven in 10 respondents say they feel less confident the war will come to a successful conclusion. What's more, two-thirds believe the United States is already doing all it can to reduce the violence there. And a majority even says the U.S. doesn't have an obligation to killed or wounded American soldiers to remain in Iraq until the mission there is completed.

"For the public, there is no confidence left," says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican Bill McInturff. "It is just not going to happen — that we're not going to be victorious, that we're not going to be able to stay the course, that we're not going to be able to have a successful conclusion to the war."

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16189893/

The Associated Press is reporting that a spokesman for the Senator said he "did not suffer a stroke or heart attack, contrary to initial reports." Political Wire's "Insider" blog additionally reported that Johnson "is speaking and is expected to be fine."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Senator_Tim_Johnson_reportedly_suffers_stroke_1213.html

Nice try, neocon press.

A spokesman for Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson said the politician did not suffer a stroke or heart attack. (my Comcast homepage)

- It could be alot of things. I think if I were a Senator I'd get a food taster or use alot of Purell, like Cheney.

He is 60 years old - could be a med reaction even. I'm not feeling too swift myself today (cognitively) after having been woken up at 4 AM by high winds. & "stuttering" on his words - I'm a speech pathologist. Anyone tired or under stress will see a decrease in speech fluency.

America Loses Another War
Iraq: a shameful ass-whupping, or just a pathetic trouncing? Ugly disgrace? Choices, choices

The good news is, we're all back in harmony. All back on the same page. No more divisiveness and no more silly bickering and no more nasty and indignant red state/blue state rock throwing because we're finally all back in cozy let's-hug-it-out agreement: The "war" in Iraq is over. And what's more, we lost. Very, very badly.
Sure, you already knew. Sure, you sort of sensed from the beginning that we couldn't possibly win a bogus war launched by a nasty slew of corrupt pseudo-cowboys against both a bitterly contorted Islamic nation and a vague and ill-defined concept that has no center and no boundaries and that feeds on the very thing that tries to destroy it. It was sort of obvious, even if half the nation was just terrifically blinded by Bush administration lies and false shrieks of impending terror.

But now it's official. Or rather, more official. Now it's pretty much agreed upon on both sides of the aisle and in every Iraq Study Group and by every top-ranking general and newly minted defense secretary and in every facet of American culture save some of the gun-totin' flag-lickin' South. We lost. And what's more, we have no real clue what to do about it.

After all, it's not easy to accept. It's the thing we do not, cannot easily hear, the thing most Americans, no matter what their political stripe, just can't quite fathom because we're so damned strong and righteous and handy with a gun and we are the superpower and the God among men and the bringer of light to the world and therefore we never lose. Except, you know, when we do.

It's not like we were overpowered. We weren't outmanned or outgunned or outstrategized and hence we weren't defeated in any "traditional" kick-ass take-names sign-the-peace-accord way.

Nor was it because our beloved, undefeatable, can't-lose military doesn't have the latest and greatest killing tools of all time, the biggest budget, the most heroic of baffled and misled young soldiers sort of but not really willing to go off and fight and die for a cause no one could adequately explain or justify to them.

We still have the coolest, fastest planes. We still have the meanest billion-dollar technology. We still have the most imposing tanks and the most incredible weaponry and the badass night-vision goggles with the laser sights and the thermal heat-seeking readouts and the ability to track targets from two miles away in a dust storm. It doesn't matter.

What we don't have is, well, any idea what the hell we're doing, not anymore, not on the global stage. We lost this "war" and we lost it before we even began because we went in for all the wrong reasons and with all the wrong planning and with all the wrong leadership who had all the wrong motives based on all the wrong greedy self-serving insular faux-cowboy BS that your kids and your grandkids will be paying for until about the year 2056.

Maybe you don't agree. Maybe you say wait wait wait, it's not over at all, and we haven't lost yet. Isn't the fighting still raging? Can't we still "win" even though we're still losing soldiers by the truckload and thousands of innocent Iraqis are being brutally slaughtered every month and isn't Dubya still standing there, brow scrunched and confounded as a monkey clinging onto a shiny razor blade, refusing to let go and free us from the deadly trap, ignoring the Iraq Study Group and trying to figure out a way to stay the course and never give in and "mission accomplished" even as every single human around him, from the top generals to crusty old James Baker to the new and shockingly honest secretary of defense, says we are royally screwed and Iraq is now a vicious and chaotic civil war and it's officially one of the worst disasters in American history? Oh wait, you just answered your own question.

Yes, technically, the "war" is still on. The fighting is not over. And yes, you can even say we (brutally, tactlessly) installed ourselves with sufficient ego to give us a modicum of violent, volatile control over the Gulf region's remaining petroleum reserves -- which was, of course, much of the point in the first place.

But the nasty us-versus-them, good-versus-evil ideology is over. Ditto the numb sense of Bush's brutally simpleminded American "justice." Any lingering hint of anything resembling a truly valid and lucid and deeply patriotic reason for wasting a trillion dollars and thousands of lives and roughly an entire generation's worth of international respect? Gone.

What's left is one lingering, looming question: How do we accept defeat? How do we deal with the awkward, identity-mauling, ego-stomping idea that, once again, America didn't "win" a war it really had no right to launch in the first place? After all, isn't this the American slogan: "We may not always be right, but we are never wrong"?

It's still our most favorite idea, the thing our own childlike president loves to talk most about, burned into our national consciousness like a bad tattoo: We always win. We're the good guys. We're the chosen ones. We're the goddamn cavalry, flying the flag of truth, wrapped in strip malls and Ford pickups and McDonald's franchises. Right?

Wrong. If Vietnam's aftermath proved anything, it's that we are incredibly crappy losers. We deny, we reject, we evade and ignore and refuse responsibility until it becomes so silly and surreal even the staunchest warmonger has to cringe in embarrassment. At this point, it seems nearly impossible for America to accept defeat with anything resembling perspective and dignity and the understanding that maybe, just maybe, we ain't all that saintly and ain't all that perfect and maybe God really isn't necessarily on our side after all, because if God took sides she wouldn't actually be, you know, God.

But what happens to a country if they lose the thing that supposedly defines them most? If we don't have our bogus "victory," if we don't always win, if we don't have a sense of righteousness so strong and so inflated and so utterly impenetrable that even when it seems like we've lost, we still stumble through some sort of offensive end zone victory dance, well, what's left?

What, conscience? Humility? Humanitarianism? Or how about the realization that we could maybe, just maybe learn to be defined by something other than rogue aggressiveness and the vicious need to win? Something like, say, a mindful, flawed, difficult but oh-so-incredibly-essential move toward that most challenging and rewarding of human ideals, peace?

Yeah, right. Who the hell wants that?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/12/13/notes121306.DTL&nl=fix

Just listening to RINO Chafee on Fresh Air - he admitted he couldn't switch parties because it wouldn't be politically expedient. Of course, a traditional fiscally conservative Republican in a state like Rhode Island wouldn't be a neocon & he in fact blocked several dangerous Republican agendas repealing Clean Air Act or keeping Bolton longer.

Headlines say Clinton & Giuliani lead and it's of course too soon to make much of that, but polling also showing new Congress more popular than Bush even if public has fairly modest expectations (having been burned before.

I notice Bush says he must deliberate for a long time before being the Decider on Iraq and he musn't rush - well why was he in such a goddamn hurry to go in there then?!!

Christy
Yes we did lose another war. I listened to the NPR reports on Bush's meeting with Generals and Greybeards - the best scenarios were still only guesswork. Some of the Generals favor a buildup and surge whereby they keep those who are there now longer than expected, and then also send in those who are being trained to go but faster than expected. Then they admit it may not work out but they must try. Which means alot more die and for nothing. Who would want their kid (or their husband, wife, parent, cousin, neighbor etc) to be the last one to die for an experiment with shitty odds?!

I mentioned earlier an email I got in which a friend summarized the reason why Cheney was summoned to Saudi Arabia - the Saudis don't like Iran becoming more powerful vis a vis Iraq and would potentially go so far as to help the Sunnis, since Saudi Arabia is Sunni, Iran has a Shiite government, Iraq had a Sunni government but is now headed toward Shiite. The feat is that Iran's influence may start to be felt in the Gulf States, such as Bahrain, which like Iraq was, has a Sunni government but a Shia majority. Yet in Iraq, the insurgents from outside tend to be Sunni & the same types who want to overthrow the King in Saudi Arabia, who is old and not healthy - if he were to be gone other forces might come to power in Saudi Arabia.

Oh what a crazy killer beehive of anarchy and destruction we have unleashed!

What the generals were proposing confirmed the anecdotal reports I had from two mothers today who are seeing their young relatives go into Iraq - it looks like escalation, hopefully followed by reduction if troops if all goes well, but even the experts expect it to be a gamble.

Re Saudi Arabia:

Mark Barrett has a good memory. (http://www.thepremise.com)

Dick Cheney, during the 2004 vice presidential debate with John Edwards:

We heard Senator Kerry say the other night that there ought to be some kind of global test before U.S. troops are deployed preemptively to protect the United States. That’s part of a track record that goes back to the 1970s when he ran for Congress the first time and said troops should not be deployed without U.N. approval.

Leaving aside Mr. Cheney’s perpetual inability to tell the truth, the premise of these remarks was that neither George Bush nor Dick Cheney would allow themselves to be pushed around by foreign interests when it comes to what’s best for America’s security and America’s troops. Unless, apparently, that country is Saudi Arabia.

From the Washington Post, November 28th, 2006:

Saudi Arabia is so concerned about the damage that the conflict in Iraq is doing across the region that it basically summoned Vice President Cheney for talks over the weekend, according to U.S. officials and foreign diplomats. The visit was originally portrayed as U.S. outreach to its oil-rich Arab ally.

From CNN, December 13th, 2006:

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has warned Vice President Dick Cheney that Saudi Arabia would back the Sunnis if the United States pulls out of Iraq, according to a senior American official.

The official said the king “read the riot act” to the vice president when the two met last month in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Now, if Democrats acted more like Republicans, Democrats would be ripping Dick Cheney and the Bush administration to shreds for cowering in the face of the Saudi insistence that we stay in Iraq so they don’t have to get into the fight. Because that’s what just happened: the Saudi royal family summoned Dick Cheney to their country — rather than traveling to ours — and told the U.S. not to withdraw.

Meaning the Saudis have a veto over the withdrawal of American troops in Iraq.

It seems to me somebody ought to say something about that.

– Mark Barrett

The Associated Press is reporting that a spokesman for the Senator said he "did not suffer a stroke or heart attack, contrary to initial reports." Political Wire's "Insider" blog additionally reported that Johnson "is speaking and is expected to be fine."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Senator_Tim_Johnson_reportedly_suffers_stroke_1213.html

Posted by: Christy at December 13, 2006 07:44 PM

Republican wishful thinking perhaps?

New York Times says Johnson undergoing surgery at this time; sounds serious.

THE GOVERNMENT'S ASSAULT ON PRESS FREEDOM
By William Bennett Turner, San Francisco Chronicle
The United States government consistently undermines democracy by eroding the media's ability to report.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/44978/

GOVERNMENT SPYING GOES GLOBAL
By Maureen Webb, AlterNet
The government is tracking your transactions to help find terror suspects -- a move that makes about as much sense as assigning guilt based on Google keyword searches.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/45285/

US staying the course for Big Oil in Iraq
By Pepe Escobar
Washington at large and President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in particular may apply every contortionist trick in the geopolitical book to save their skins in Iraq - and the reasons are not entirely political.
http://snipurl.com/14w3e

Computers 'could store entire life by 2026' :
A device the size of a sugar cube will be able to record and store high resolution video footage of every second of a human life within two decades, experts said yesterday.
http://tinyurl.com/yyyc36

"The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs, when he first appears he is a protector." -- Plato (429-347 BC) Source: The Republic

{Lamestream Media spinmeisters have been "nursing" DimWit into "greatness" since 2000 when they first said he did well in the debates (I thought they were joking at first, couldn't believe my ears when spinmeisters gave him kudos!).... And DimWit keeps telling us he's "protecting" our rights every time he forces the Congress Critters to pass new and more restrictive laws that take away our rights and privileges.... And yet, men like him have been known about and written about for some 2500 years. Too bad the writings of the old philosophers aren't taught in high school.}

Hicks faces new hurdle

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-faces-new-hurdle/2006/12/14/1165685810192.html

Jane Holroyd
December 14, 2006 - 3:49PM

David Hicks' fight for freedom from Guantanamo Bay has been dealt another blow after a US federal court judge upheld a law passed recently by the Bush administration that stops foreigners in overseas military prisons from challenging their imprisonment in US courts.

Yemeni national Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since mid-2002, lost a bid to challenge his detention after US District Judge James Robertson ruled today (Australian time) that he no longer had jurisdiction to hear Hamdan's case.

Judge Robertson said that the new Military Commissions Act was designed to keep such challenges out of US courts.

"This is the first time in the history of this country that a court has held that a man may be held by our government in a place where no law applies," a US lawyer for Hamdan said in response to the loss.

David Hicks' Adelaide-based lawyer David McLeod said the ruling was another "bump" along his client's road to justice.

He said Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock had repeatedly referred to the US courts as a safeguard for Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detention.

"Now that safety net no longer exists," Mr McLeod told theage.com.au.

"(This) is another bump on a long road to restoring rights and the rule of law."

David Hicks' father Terry said he was disgusted by the Military Commissions Act, signed by US President George Bush in October.

"(It's) absolutely disgusting," Mr Hicks told theage.com.au.

He said the new law was designed to rush his son and other Guantanamo Bay detainees into trials before military commissions, which he said were unfair.

"It's like they're saying, 'Let's just make this ruling regardless that puts them back into the field of the commissions, and find them all guilty and jail them for the rest of their lives'."

"They're not worried about the David Hicks or the others in Guantanamo Bay," Mr Hicks said.

He said Judge Robertson's ruling quashed habeas corpus - the right to go before a court and to not be detained indefinitely.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, formerly a driver for Osama bin Laden, had earlier won a historic Supreme Court ruling that struck down the legality of the military commission system created by Bush.

But the Military Commissions Act authorised by Congress in October established new military commissions.

theage.com.au, with AP

more on Senator Johnson

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400379.html

How come it's taking Pat Robertson so long to tell the world exactly why Sen. Johnson is ailing?

Yahoo says Johnson is in critical condition.

What will happen if the worst case happens?

Sen. Johnson critical but stable after brain surgery

Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:20am ET

Democratic Senator Tim Johnson's condition critical but stable after brain surgery, a source said. More to follow...

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Never mind my question. Saw the info on Dianne's link.

sparrow,

There is every possibility Johnson will recover--GWU Hospital is a very good place to have this kind of brain surgery.

And I am sure the Dems would make sure he has the BEST recuperative therapies available!

It's good he has been stabilized. I also heard on NPR that there have been several cases where Senators were not able to perform their duties for months and did not lose their positions.

South Dakota is one of the states where the Governor may choose (like royalty, as The Nation says) - in some states, there must be a special election.

It's good Senator Johnson has been stabilized.
On NPR they were reporting that he could have further surgery if it were determined that it was needed, and that GWU is the hospital where Reagan went after he was shot and where Cheney has his bypass stuff.

Here's some info that may be pertinent

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Aneurysm?open

This is more specific - need not be a massive cerebral bleed with this type of congenital malformation. There could be many types of outcomes.

http://www.brain-surgery.com/bsicavm.html

A few interesting comments in here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/12/14/82653/682

I did read that SD law tracks the Constitution and a Senator must die or resign to be replaced, not be "incapacitated" - there are precedents even in SD, such as Senator Karl Mundt

Now back to work but I will be listening to what nurses and Drs. may say about this.

I liked the last comment: (from Daily Kos site)

In the middle of all this discussion, about what he was suffering from, and how it would affect the Senate blah blah,

I stopped seeing this man as a "democratic senator" and started seeing him as a man with a family undergoing major and critical surgery, basically to save his life.

And we all waited anxiously, and I can't imagine it was all about freaking politics.

I'd never heard of him before. And then I saw his picture, and saw things he did for South Dakota (ironically legislating for money for neurological and stroke research, for example).

And it just started to matter to me that he be okay, for his family, for S.D.

Sure, for the Senate, for us, but I know we found within ourselves a way to put that second.

Posted by: DiAnne at December 14, 2006 11:29 AM

I've been thinking that all morning.

Rodriquez win a rebuke for Delay and a sliver of hope for Texas politics.Believe me we need some hope here in Texas.

House Win Adds Insult to Injury for DeLay

By Sylvia Moreno and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writer and washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, December 14, 2006; Page A04

"AUSTIN, Dec. 13 -- Former congressman Ciro Rodriguez's victory in a House runoff election Tuesday in Texas not only allowed Democrats to pick up their 30th seat of the 2006 elections but served as a final rebuke to one of the architects of the Republican House majority: Tom DeLay."

"The former congressman from Texas was the mastermind of a 2003 redrawing of congressional lines in the state that led to the removal of six House Democrats in the 2004 elections."

Ciro Rodriguez's win, and Tom DeLay's departure, may signal a new day for Democrats in Texas. (By Eric Gay -- Associated Press)

"Two years later, DeLay's fortunes have suffered a near-total reversal, as the redistricting map that once seemed certain to cement his legacy and GOP majorities for years has instead led to the end of that career and may well be a building block for a reenergized Democratic Party in the state."

"The genius of Tom DeLay is now seriously in question," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. He added that the overall result of the DeLay-led redistricting plan was, "at best, a wash for Texas."

May God Himself be with you Senator.

PLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIE.

Has anyone yet said what happened to this man and has his office been checked for traces of polonium yet?

PLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIEPLEASEDONTDIE

How GOP Got Blindsided in TX

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1569665,00.html

implications for 2008 & Hispanic vote

There isn't a national flag burning amendment - yet - but there is a national coin burning ban, which is new.

It you were to melt down your pennies and nickels and sell them for scrap metal, they would have been worth more than they are at face value.

On the frontpage of CNN.com...

What the hell happened to Christianity?

By Jay Bakker and Marc Brown
Special to CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- What the hell happened? Where did we go wrong? How was Christianity co-opted by a political party? Why are Christians supporting laws that force others to live by their standards? The answers to these questions are integral to the survival of Christianity.

While the current state of Christianity might seem normal and business-as-usual to some, most see through the judgment and hypocrisy that has permeated the church for so long. People witness this and say to themselves, "Why would I want to be a part of that?" They are turned off by Christians and eventually, to Christianity altogether. We can't even count the number of times someone has given us a weird stare or completely brushed us off when they discover we work for a church.

So when did the focus of Christianity shift from the unconditional love and acceptance preached by Christ to the hate and condemnation spewed forth by certain groups today? Some say it was during the rise of Conservative Christianity in the early 1980s with political action groups like the Moral Majority. Others say it goes way back to the 300s, when Rome's Christian Emperor Constantine initiated a set of laws limiting the rights of Roman non-Christians. Regardless of the origin, one thing is crystal clear: It's not what Jesus stood for.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/13/bakker.brown.commentary/index.html

Editor's note: Jay Bakker, son of former Praise The Lord leaders Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner, is minister of Revolution Church and subject of a new documentary series, "One Punk Under God," on Sundance Channel. Marc Brown is a Revolution staff member.

Monkey
Yeah young Bakker isn't too bad - he's kind of a punk rocker. Evey old Tammy Faye kind of became a gay icon after realizing that God (if there is one) would have to be inclusive. The biggest problem I have with religion as generally stated is that is isn't descriptive enough of natural phenomena and comes across really arrogant and human-filtered. That & the idea that any one religion is the be-all-and-end-all (and they all think they are). It's a lose-lose situation when it's like that. The most spiritual people I've met tend to be physicists & astronomers.

Likewise, some of the most spiritual people I've encountered are musicians. I mean, it ain't called soul for no reason.

Crosscut Saw

Monkey
When I was reading the book about James Brown, he cited Willie Nelson as someone who really feels his music and lives his values. I thought that was pretty cool.

Senator Johnson is responding to both voice and touch and at this time no further surgeries are required.

By all reports, South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson is doing well after emergency brain surgery last night. "The first 24 hours are the first main hurdle and he's come through that and he's doing well, next two to three days will be telling, we're saying a lot of prayers and we're at the point where no news is good news," said Julianne Fisher, communications director.

Fisher says Johnson's family has been with him the entire time and they are doing as well as can be expected.
" They are a remarkable family very close, very supportive of one another," said Fischer.

Johnson's hospital room and office have been inundated by flowers, food and emails from people across the country wanting to wish Senator Johnson and his family well, to let them know, they're in their thoughts and prayers.
"It's such an honor to work for Tim, he's such a nice guy, but when you see other people see that as well or value that as much as you do, it's heartwarming and it makes you feel a little better," said Fischer.

Johnson's staff hasn't gotten much sleep, but Fischer says they're doing everything they can to keep the office running. In the meantime, Johnson is at George Washington University Hospital, the same hospital that treated vice president Dick Cheney and president Ronald Reagan.

"I think he's in the best spot where you can have him right now, they'll take it one step at a time," said Fischer. Fischer says Johnson's office has gotten so many flowers they're asking people not send anymore, but rather donate them or the money to their favorite charity.

from http://www.keloland.com in South Dakota

Looks like WH likes to stifle Senatorial fact-finding missions, but I'm not sure it's their perogative to do so. We the people want to know what's going on and are for the most part willing to try diplomacy.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16240993.htm

If you would like to send Senator Johnson a get-well note you can do it by visiting:

http://giveemhellharry.com/

Blair was questioned by police today.

Police question Blair on honors charges

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair has been questioned by police investigating allegations that government honors, such as seats in the House of Lords, were bestowed in return for political contributions, Blair's office said Thursday.

Snip

Blair has been forced to acknowledge some supporters who offered the loans were later nominated for seats in the House of Lords.

His office said that during the interview, which lasted more than 90 minutes, the prime minister explained why he had nominated certain individuals for government honors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061214/ap_on_re_eu/britain_honors_scandal

Top general: Army 'will break' without more troops

December 14, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As President Bush weighs new strategies for Iraq, the Army's top general warned Thursday that his force "will break" without thousands more active duty troops and greater use of the reserves.

Noting the strain put on the force by operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the global war on terrorism, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker said he wants to grow his half-million-member Army beyond the 30,000 troops already added in recent years.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/14/us.iraq.ap/index.html

Bolton seeks charges against Iranian leader
U.N. ambassador says Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust remarks incite genocide

NEW YORK - Outgoing U.S. U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and former diplomats from Israel and Canada called on the United Nations on Thursday to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with inciting genocide.

The U.N. International Court of Criminal Justice should charge Ahmadinejad for his threats against the United States, for calling for the destruction of Israel and for instigating discrimination against Christians and Jews, the group said.

“It’s important that if we are in this stage where we’re being given early warning, unambiguously, on what his intentions are, then it’s time to take action,” Bolton told a Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations symposium.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16209844/

We all have Senator Tim Johnson in our prayers, I just wanted to share this story about a local hero and how he survived an aneurysm. Our former Astros manager Larry Dierker collapsed in the dugout in a crucial game against the San Diego Padres in June 1999. He had a grand mal seizure from a condition called ACV which medically sounds like the same neurological condition that Senator Johnson had. There was a hush in the crowd of 50,000 when he was taken off in a stretcher. Two days later they performed neurological surgery to relieve seeping blood on the brain. They interviewed Mr. Dierker on our local stations tonight and he acknowledged how serious his condition was but stated that within 3 weeks he was on the golf course and he expects a full recovery. Senator Johnson's condition may be more serious, but this story is heartening.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9721

The congenital symptom is called AVM (not ACV)but I urge all to read of this recovery by Larry Dierker.

Hi all,

Not to change the subject, but I watched Scarborough Country a little bit ago and witnessed this amazingly candid and un-inflamed conversation about the very real possiblity that Waxman will find some indictable and possibly impeachable evidence in his investigations.

They discussed what would happen if the stuff that is uncovered is so bad that the democratic base demands impeachment, since Nancy P. has said it's off the table.

The guest (not sure who it was) said he thought that was unlikely, but Joe sure was talking like he thought that was a distinct possibility.

It was quite refreshing to hear this conversation on MSM - even if it was Scarborough. Or maybe especially since it was Scarborough!

Posted by: DiAnne at December 13, 2006 10:16 PM

Re the Saudis putting the nix on us pulling out of Iraq, TSP version.

I think it's B.S., propaganda, and a ruse. Aren't our oil powers in cahoots with the Saudi oil powers?

(Yes up VERY late tonight "chunking" my hair blonde, which is turning out to be QUITE A PROJECT since it's not lightening very fast.
Taking way longer than I expected it to. Wrapping Christmas presents while I'm at it.)

And here I was thinking that I'm the only person around right now. It's kind of nice to know you're there TSP - not sure about the blonding process at 3 a.m. though.

December 15, 2006
Editorial
A Gag on Free Speech

The Bush administration is trampling on the First Amendment and well-established criminal law by trying to use a subpoena to force the American Civil Liberties Union to hand over a classified document in its possession. The dispute is shrouded in secrecy, and very little has been made public about the document, but we do not need to know what’s in it to know what’s at stake: if the government prevails, it will have engaged in prior restraint — almost always a serious infringement on free speech — and it could start using subpoenas to block reporting on matters of vital public concern.

Justice Department lawyers have issued a grand jury subpoena to the A.C.L.U. demanding that it hand over “any and all copies” of the three-and-a-half-page government document, which was recently leaked to the group. The A.C.L.U. is asking a Federal District Court judge in Manhattan to quash the subpoena.

There are at least two serious problems with the government’s action. It goes far beyond what the law recognizes as the legitimate purpose of a subpoena. Subpoenas are supposed to assist an investigation, but the government does not need access to the A.C.L.U.’s document for an investigation since it already has its own copy. It is instead trying to confiscate every available copy of the document to keep its contents secret. The A.C.L.U. says it knows of no other case in which a grand jury subpoena has been used this way.

The subpoena is also a prior restraint because the government is trying to stop the A.C.L.U. in advance from speaking about the document’s contents. The Supreme Court has held that prior restraints are almost always unconstitutional. The danger is too great that the government will overreach and use them to ban protected speech or interfere with free expression by forcing the media, and other speakers, to wait for their words to be cleared in advance. The correct way to deal with speech is to evaluate its legality after it has occurred.

The Supreme Court affirmed these vital principles in the Pentagon Papers case, when it rejected the Nixon administration’s attempts to stop The Times and The Washington Post from publishing government documents that reflected badly on its prosecution of the Vietnam War. If the Nixon administration had been able to use the technique that the Bush administration is trying now, it could have blocked publication simply by ordering the newspapers to hand over every copy they had of the papers.

If the A.C.L.U.’s description of its secret document is correct, there is no legitimate national defense issue. The document does not contain anything like intelligence sources or troop movements, the group says. It is merely a general statement of policy whose release “might perhaps be mildly embarrassing to the government.” Given this administration’s abysmal record on these issues, this case could set a disturbing and dangerous precedent. If the subpoena is enforced, the administration will have gained a powerful new tool for rolling back free-speech rights — one that could be used to deprive Americans of information they need to make informed judgments about their elected leaders’ policies and actions.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-karel-bouley/warnings-warnings-the-w_b_36270.html
Warnings? Warnings? The Words Shove It Come to Mind.

{{{Excerpt... Click on link for more. Entire article is a "must read."}}}

Where do I begin? Saudi Arabia has TOLD the Bush Administration...King Abdullah CONVEYED that message to Vice President Dick Cheney...Cheney's whirlwind visit (read SUMMONS)...STRONG OPPOSITION to diplomatic talks between U.S. and Iran (dictating our foreign policy is he?)....The Saudi WARNING...

OK, 24 hour rule. Go to bed, then finish this article. Too angry right now, maybe a cooler head will prevail.

Wake up, President Bush is on TV saying absolutely nothing about the way out of Iraq. But during the ten minute fluff piece President Bush says, "My FRIEND the King of Saudi Arabia has TOLD me he wants a unity government in Iraq..." And continues to blather, discount the Iraq study group and say that he, the great decider isn't going to decide a thing for some time, although Americas are dying. Geez, you mean, you're staying in Iraq like the Saudi's want.

OK, now I've had enough. I'm about to say something I don't write often, because it's a vile, disgusting word and I'm sure editors will take it out. But fuck the Saudi's. Let me say it again, FUCK the SAUDIS. I am sick to death of this backwards woman-hating oil-rich nation dictating our foreign policy because they've got the drug to which we are addicted and they have long standing ties with the Bush Administration. I am SICK of the United States acting like they are our best friends, our President skipping through a garden with their King, Bandar Bush on the balcony of White House smoking cigars and watching the Pentagon burn. Their families being ushered out of the country before any Americans could fly after 9/11.

To be clear, Americans, a majority of the 9/11 hijackers, remember 9/11? Well, to be clear, a majority of the 9/11 hijackers were from where? Saudi Arabia. And then there's the public enemy #1 that we could care less about these days, Osama Bin Laden. Wait, where was that "terrorist" from? That's right, Saudi Arabia. And where did he get his funding? The Bin Laden family construction company, and where did they and do they still get their money? Oh yes, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia.is home to the Wahhabi madrasas, the schools where they teach fundamentalist Islam, the same type of Islam that says go out and kill Americans. According to a June 14, 2004 article in The Guardian, "Yet if more of the Muslim world is now open to a newly intolerant and violent strain of Islam, no force has been more responsible than Saudi Arabia. Ever since the 1930s, the Saudis have promoted Wahhabism, the most severe incarnation of Islam. After the oil boom of the early 1970s this became a fundamental tenet of Saudi foreign policy, and a sizeable slice of the country's vast oil revenues has been devoted to promoting Wahhabism at the expense of more tolerant forms of Islam. The Saudis have provoked a clash of civilisations, not so much between east and west as within Islam itself."

In other words, the war on terror that Bush talks about is a war on fundamental Islam, and who is schooling these fundamentalists? That's right, Saudi Arabia.

I have always wondered why it wasn't Saudi Arabia that we attacked after 9/11. The attackers came from there, Osama came from there, funding came from there, they school future terrorists there...oh ya, the oil.

"We are bowing it with Hispanic voters", says Texas Republican strategist. Bill and Hillary are rock stars in South Texas with Hispanic voters.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1569665,00.html?cnn=yes

Judge: Immigrant Detainees' Treatment Unconstitutional
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121406R.shtml
In the first legal decision on a federal law that denies access to US courts to detainees in the war on terrorism, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that foreign prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could not sue for freedom. But, in a split decision, US District Judge James Robertson also ruled that the law's denial of that right to the more than 12 million legal immigrants living in the United States was unconstitutional.

Tough Chemical Law Passes in Europe With Impacts on US
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121406EB.shtml
On Wednesday, the European Parliament approved the world's most stringent law aimed at protecting people and the environment from thousands of toxic chemicals - legislation that will have a far-reaching effect on industries and products worldwide, including in the United States.

{{{Hooray! Now maybe some of those smelly chemical things that give me instant migraines will go away, along with some of the carcinogenic chemicals in things like makeup (formaldehyde comes instantly to mind, and that's the primary ingredient in embalming fluid). It's vastly "amusing" to me that the author of this article, and others, talk about 'costs' involved. It seems to me that taking the dangerous chemicals OUT of some of these products would reduce the costs involved, not increase costs, since the list of ingredients to include would be shorter, thus, in theory, reduce the costs to make some things. With fewer ingredients, the cost has to come down, yes? Oh, neffer mind. Profit margins of corporations are all the Americans care about, not the health of the people buying their products....}}}

Jason Leopold | Truthout's Sarah Olson Subpoenaed in Watada Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121506J.shtml
"A US Army prosecutor subpoenaed Truthout contributing reporter Sarah Olson Thursday morning, seeking her sworn testimony at the court-martial of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada. The 28-year-old Army officer refused deployment to Iraq earlier this year. His trial is expected to begin in February," writes Jason Leopold.

Fitzgerald Mum on Cheney in Leak Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121506K.shtml
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Thursday that he does not expect any government officials to refuse to testify in the CIA leak trial, but he did not specifically say whether Vice President Dick Cheney or other top White House officials were on his witness list.

Army Chief Seeks More Forces, Reserves
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121506L.shtml
The Army is developing plans to accelerate the creation of two new combat brigades. General Peter J. Schoomaker said he wants to increase his half-million-member Army beyond the 30,000 troops already authorized in recent years.
{{{Anyone besides me wonder if DimWit will take control of the Guard and Reserve away from the governors and put them under his command...? We know he won't voluntarily withdraw any troops from Iraq or Afghanistan....}}}

Truth Shall Prevail
Well the Saudis had reportedly said they'd back the Sunnis, and that's what Saddam was. They were minority in Iraq yet controleld the government, as is still the case in some countries such as Bahrain. Typically the Shiites are poor and very religious and lackign in power. They are getting the upper hand now that we're in Iraq, which isn't what the Saudis want. So it's not just about whether we leave Iraq or don't - it's about who we do or don't prop up. I think the Saudis worry about revolution or civil war in their own country, as Bush's friends are royals.

Snow will not deny that Chalabi may be our man to reach out to Syria? Isn't Chalabi wanted by the Jordanians for bank fraud?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002159.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6182125.stm
Blair defends Saudi probe ruling
Tony Blair has hit back at claims a corruption probe into a Saudi arms deal with BAE Systems was dropped after commercial and political pressure.
The Serious Fraud Office's sudden decision to wind up a two-year inquiry was in the national interest, he said.

Pursuing it would have damaged the UK's relationship with a key ally, he added.

The Lib Dems say the SFO was forced to drop the probe after reports the Saudis were threatening to pull out of another BAE deal to supply Eurofighter jets.

The SFO was investigating claims that Britain's biggest defence firm BAE had paid bribes to secure an arms deal with Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. BAE has always denied the claims.

{Click on link for more... and just how many ways does Saudi Arabia (and the Bush crime family) have "leaders" of various countries blackmailed???}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061215/ap_on_go_co/johnson

Johnson shows signs of surgery recovery

{{{IMHO, the neoCons can stop circling like drooling vultures....}}}

We had like a hurricane and the Governor asked people not to be out driving around unnecessarily because there are fallen trees, power outages, sink holes, mud slides. So of course everyone is out shopping. My work was cancelled and I feel really guilty even though I'm squandering a vacation day.

Company Building US Border Fence Snared for Hiring Illegal Immigrants
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121506U.shtml
A Southern California fence-building company and two executives pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and agreed to pay a combined penalty of $5 million (3.79 million euros). The executives could also go to prison.

Iraq is a disaster: old warriors have their say

Nick McKenzie
December 16, 2006

SOME of the nation's most senior military figures from the past two decades have delivered a blistering assessment of the US-led coalition's strategy in Iraq, saying Australia must urge the Americans to change course.

Eight former military chiefs and the present RSL president said the coalition strategy had failed and must be overhauled.

The Age surveyed all military chiefs since 1985. Eight responded in detail, making up a third of those who have led the army, navy, air force and Australian Defence Force in that time. Their views vary, but all paint a far bleaker picture of the conflict than the Federal Government. Most urged the Government to be more candid about the extent of the failure in Iraq and to use its influence more aggressively in Washington.

While most favoured a staged multilateral troop withdrawal, there were calls for an ongoing military commitment and greater engagement with regional players such as Syria and Iran.

"It is time the Australian Government came clean and acknowledged that this is unwinnable and we have to get out before we get hurt and get our tail kicked," said former navy chief Vice-Admiral Ian MacDougall. "Small as we are, we are probably much more important than the contribution we are making in a military sense and therefore we are in a position to influence and say 'This is unwinnable'."

His predecessor, Vice-Admiral David Leach, said Iraq was "a confused and a hearty mess", while Air Marshal Jake Newham labelled the American-led strategy "terrible" and called for a gradual withdrawal.

Another former air force chief, Air Marshal Ray Funnell, said those denying there was civil war in Iraq were "not facing up to the reality" and that Australian troops should withdraw as their tasks were completed. General Peter Gration, Defence Force chief in the first Gulf War, said that given "the coalition has clearly failed, (Australia) should stop re-enforcing failure". He said a multilateral staged withdrawal could begin by the middle of next year.

Another former Defence Force head, General Sir Phillip Bennett, described the Iraq occupation as "a disaster from the word go".

All the chiefs interviewed advised against unilateral or immediate withdrawal and said Australia must maintain a core force to guard its embassy. But General Bennett said that while Australia should continue to support the US-led coalition, the recently flagged withdrawal of British and European forces gave Australia a "golden opportunity" to "thin our forces down".

More: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/iraq-a-disaster-senior-military/2006/12/15/1166162320234.html

I have not sent Holiday cards since the stolen 2004 election.
Today I unexpectedly didn't work (because of the unseasonly near-hurricane, due to global warming). Since I had extra time, composed a generic Holiday letter and included in my mailing list the Republican relatives I have boycotted since the first stolen election of 2000. I mentioned the weather and global warming trends, and that Al Gore was right & should certainly have been President. I also put "Impeach Bush" stickers on each envelope.

Fleeing Iraqis trade homes for their lives

Forced moves: Violent incidents, such as this car bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad, have driven tens of thousands of Iraqi families from their homes.
Photo: AP

Paul McGeough, Baghdad
December 16, 2006
Page 1 of 3 | Single page
THERE is a broken man behind the steel door in al-Salam City.

Until early this year, Raad Chasep was a prince of the farming plains in the Abu Ghraib area of the Euphrates Valley, west of Baghdad. Today he and his family are paupers, displaced and distraught as civil war tears Iraq apart.

On the verge of tears, the 39-year-old described the rural mansion they swapped last week for a two-room hovel in this Shiite quarter of Baghdad's north-west: "We had three reception rooms, nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms. We had our own meat, vegetables, milk … but tonight we have no dinner."

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