And Here Lies Somalia... Iraq... er...

What?

Extend NeoConCo's immoral hegemonistic game plans to include Africa as well as the Middle East? Encourage the Bushi'ite militias to attack even more sovereign nations? Kill even more people for the sake of even more oil monopolies and even more war profiteering?

Naw. G'wan. You must be pulling our legs.

Pardon me, but I don't have time for this kind of silliness. I have to go vote for a Republican now.

This is why, to me, taking the threat of impeachment off the table was such a mistake.

You have to take the reigns from the headless horses ass.

Ellen of the Tenth has a good thread up about impeachment.

http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/2007/01/above-all-shall-that-man-be-above-it.html

"As John Kerry continues to weigh his options about making another run for the White House, recent FEC reports show that his leadership PAC, "Keeping America's Promise," gave more money to 2006 candidates and committees than any other individual PAC in the country. Contributing $4.3 million, Kerry gave more than double the amount of money than the second most generous PAC, Mark Warner's "Forward Together PAC" which contributed $2 million to 2006 candidates and committees."

More grounds for impeachment?

Did the President Declare "Secret War" Against Syria and Iran?

Washington intelligence, military and foreign policy circles are abuzz today with speculation that the President, yesterday or in recent days, sent a secret Executive Order to the Secretary of Defense and to the Director of the CIA to launch military operations against Syria and Iran.

The President may have started a new secret, informal war against Syria and Iran without the consent of Congress or any broad discussion with the country.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/

Posted by: madame defarge at January 12, 2007 11:00 AM

So, now it's "War By Executive Order"?!?!? That's some chutzpah for the 'unitary executive' who has assumed dictatorial powers....!

I'm sending this to my Rep. and Senators. (If the House's web site would let me, I'd send it to the other reps from my state, most of whom are totally against this current escalation, but I don't live in their accepted zip codes - and, oddly enough, even the neoCon senator is against the current escalation.)

Monkey's absolutely right. They have to take the reigns from the headless horse's ass....

AND the House members MUST WAKE UP to the fact that the MUST, for the sake of We The People and the Republic, PUT IMPEACHMENT BACK ON THE TABLE!!

To hell with the Twelve Steps, all we really need are the Four Steps:

Step 1: INVESTIGATE

Step 2: INDICT

Step 3: IMPEACH

Step 4: IMPRISON

disarm the bushi'ite militias,
Otter

disarm the bushi'ite militias,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at January 12, 2007 11:52 AM

Agreed. No imperialistic secret wars.

Investigation can start right now.

AND the House members MUST WAKE UP to the fact that the MUST, for the sake of We The People and the Republic, PUT IMPEACHMENT BACK ON THE TABLE!!

Posted by: NonnyO at January 12, 2007 11:52 AM

I previously said that impeachment can wait until the Dems get the government back in order.

I correct myself. The investigation necessary for charges of impeachment can, and must, start as soon as possible.

I think questions need to be asked of Casey TODAY by Congress. This is an opportunity that should not be missed.

Watching Helen Thomas take Tony Snow to task over this now on C-SPAN 2...

Gates says "Iraq is four wars in one".

Correction on the 12:52 post - meant to say gates, not Casey. My bad.

Here's the full page ad that appeared in today's NYTimes (and possibly in USAToday & other printed editions of newspapers around the country)...

http://www.impeachbush.org/site/DocServer/impeachbush_2007_NYT1.pdf?docID=121

And here's some real comforting info from Count Novakula, of all people...

Republicans in Congress, who do not want to be quoted, tell me the State Department under Secretary Condoleezza Rice is a mess. That comes at a time when the U.S. global position is precarious. While attention focuses on Iraq, American diplomacy is being tested worldwide — in Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Korea and Sudan. The judgment by thoughtful Republicans is that Rice has failed to manage that endeavor.

http://www.creators.com/opinion/robert-novak.html?columnsName=rno

A must-read diary from dailykos on the pending Griles indictment. This is the diarist who runs the wampum blog.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/12/9643/93313

The pending Griles indictment: It's bigger than you think.

I'd recommend checking out these diaries as well:

The Terrorist Witch Hunt Shifts to Corporate Law Firms [A KosLaw Diary] by AlecH

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/12/131228/251

2006 meant something: Look at our Senate Foreign Relations Committee in action by beachmom

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/12/91818/9030

Oh, dearie dear. This is just such I huge shock that I am simply beside myself. How could such a nice man possibly change horses in mid-stream like that??

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

McCain Defends Bush's Iraq Strategy

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain defended President Bush's Iraq plan on Friday as difficult but necessary, parting company with lawmakers fiercely resisting the military build up.

"I believe that together these moves will give the Iraqis and Americans the best chance of success," said McCain, R-Ariz., a leading presidential contender for 2008.

McCain also took a shot at Democrats who say the United States must bring some troops home within four to six months.

"I believe these individuals ... have a responsibility to tell us what they believe are the consequences of withdrawal in Iraq," he said. "If we walk away from Iraq, we'll be back, possibly in the context of a wider war in the world's most volatile region."

[snip]

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070112/D8MJU9Q00.html

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

I may have to take to my bed with an attack of the vapours,
Otter

Does McCain have any idea of where reality IS? Or is he still in another time zone, like, uh, 2002?

What is all this talk about Condi and augmentation, anyway? I've seen pictures of her in a tight jacket, and there just ain't no way.

Although, come to think of it, she may have had her boots surgically enhanced...

tempest in a d cup,
Otter

I took my above comment and wrote more and sent this email to both my Dem and neoCon Senators and my Dem Rep. If you see any sentence(s) you think you can use and want to send a similar letter to your Congress Critters, feel free to plagiarize with my permission.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/
Did the President Declare "Secret War" Against Syria and Iran?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207B.shtml
Governors Lose in Power Struggle Over National Guard

Open Letter to my Senators and Representative:

So, now it's "War By Executive Order"?!?!? That's some chutzpah for the 'unitary executive' who has assumed dictatorial powers - thanks to MCA '06 and the rest of the bad legislation passed in the last six years that desperately needs to be repealed immediately by the 110th Congress....!

The House MUST, for the sake of We The People and our Republic, PUT IMPEACHMENT BACK ON THE TABLE!!! The Senators MUST support the Representatives if they finally do what's right and start impeachment proceedings!!!

Congress, as a whole, MUST, for the sake of We The People and our Republic, regain their co-equal authority as mandated by the US Constitution! We The People have had more than enough of BushCo's lies and false justifications for his private war to gain control of Iraq's oil fields for his corporate cronies in the oil business, and now he wants to expand his war. This insanity MUST stop!

If Congress, as a whole, cuts off supplemental funding for Bush's escalation (which seems to have already started), the majority of the people of this country will support such an action. Leave Pentagon spending where it is, keep the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere supported with equipment and supplies AND grant monies to bring them home, yes, but deny supplemental funding to escalate the current illegal and unconstitutional war based on lies for oil. You (and all members of Congress) have my full support to vote 'no' to supplemental monies to keep Bush's private war going. (Besides, how can Congress find money for domestic programs when BushCo keeps spending us into further debt for his insane war?!? First, Congress must stop the war; then Congress must free government programs from the control of multiple corporations who are bleeding our treasury dry.)

The invasion of Iraq was a war crime to begin with under the Geneva Conventions, so there is no 'victory' to be had. It's always been a lose/lose situation. AUMF was NOT authority for Bush to start a war, since only Congress has the authority to declare a war under our Constitution. The war in Iraq was lost before it began. And BushCo most certainly did NOT have dictatorial authority to open a concentration camp at a US military base at Guantánamo and hold prisoners illegally, nor did he have the authority to sanction torture in our names, counter to the Geneva Conventions, our Constitution, the Bill of Rights and US law. Congress needs to close Gitmo and send the prisoners home. If Bush spreads his war to Iran and Syria (and who knows where else), the US will have NO allies. Don't congressional members realize how universally the Bush administration is hated and distrusted throughout the world? When this latest escalation goes bad (and it will), no one from any other nation will help us out of BushCo's quagmire in Iraq and/or the rest of the Mideast. BushCo has broken too many laws and too many treaties and they are too universally hated.

I have a personal interest in seeing the regular US military forces redeployed, and guard and reserve troops immediately brought home where they belong, and I believe the control of the national guard units must be returned to the governors of each state. My youngest nephew is in Afghanistan with a guard unit and he was due home in March where he has a wife and two very young sons and the rest of his family waiting for him. Now it seems the Pentagon could potentially cancel his coming home and send his unit to Iraq.

I want my nephew and all of the rest of the guard and reserve troops brought home immediately where I hope each and every one of them will live a full and rewarding and useful life, and die at a very old age from natural causes, not be killed for the sake of lies for oil during the commission of a war crime under the auspices of a man who has now assumed dictatorial control of this nation.

Thank you.

William Rivers Pitt | Politics in the Service of War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207J.shtml
William Rivers Pitt writes: "In a sense, there was a time when the war in Iraq seemed to serve American politics, albeit in a gross and cynical manner. The war served the politics of those who knew that fear, uncertainty and rampant nationalism would help them win elections. The war served the politics of those who knew their radical policy ideas would never see the light of day without that fear and uncertainty. The war served to distract the populace from a series of mistakes and deliberate misdirections, thus defending the political standing of the perpetrators. It worked, for a time, until the inherent flaws within the DNA of these cynical abuses of power overwhelmed the whole."

Robert Parry | The US-Iran-Iraq-Israeli-Syrian War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207L.shtml
Robert Parry writes, "While some observers believe Israel or the Bush administration may be leaking details of the plans as a way to frighten Iran into accepting international controls on its nuclear program, other sources indicate that the preparations for a wider Middle Eastern war are very serious and moving very quickly."

US Activists Campaign to Block Iraq Troop Increase
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207N.shtml
Anti-war activists took to the streets of US cities on Thursday for the first of what organizers promised would be thousands of protests against President Bush's plan to send more US troops to Iraq. Angered by what they described as Bush's defiance of a public that has turned against the Iraq war, activists said they also planned a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign on the airwaves and the Internet to pressure Congress to deny funding for the planned troop increase.
{{{Two articles about protests/protesters/protesting on this one link.}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_eu/iraq_shrinking_coalition_1
U.S. boosts Iraq force; allies pare down
VIENNA, Austria - The Italians have left, and the Slovaks are about to. Britons want to start getting out, and so do Danes and South Koreans.
{{{More on link.}}}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/11/condi-gets-grilled-on-escalation/
Condi Gets Grilled on Escalation

{Interesting... After you listen to this whole thing, hear that not one single neoCon senator on that particular committee supports this escalation ("augmentation" is what Sleazeball called it), then hear the guy say the fellow who planned the filibuster won't even get support for that... well, this one falls under the category of "things that make me go hmmmm...." I KNOW the neoCon senators are looking forward to '08, fearful of losing any elections they may be running in, but they gotta know that they painted themselves into a corner by supporting DimWit, and if they don't support the voters who want an end to this war, and end it now (preferably yesterday!), the neoCons ARE gonna lose in the next elections.}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/11/john-dean-on-the-return-of-fred-fielding/
John Dean on the Return of Fred Fielding

{Olbermann interviewing John Dean regarding Harriet Miers' replacement... Fielding goes back to Watergate.}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070112/pl_nm/bush_medicare_dc_2
Bush would veto Medicare bill: White House

Governors Lose in Power Struggle Over National Guard
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207B.shtml
To the dismay of the nation's governors, the White House now will be empowered to go over a governor's head and call up National Guard troops to aid a state in time of natural disasters or other public emergencies.

{{{MUST Read!}}}

Greg Palast | Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207E.shtml
Greg Palast writes: "There's always a problem with giving a junkie another fix. It can only make things worse. Our maximum leader says that unless he gets to mainline another 21,000 troops, 'Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons,' and terrorists 'would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people.' Excuse me, but didn't we hear that same promise in 2003?"

{{{Palast thinks Saudi Arabia is pulling Georgie's and Dickie's strings....}}}

FROM THE SEVENTH SENSE:

Is The Whole "Surge" Plan A Set-Up?
Andrew Sullivan wonders:

This paragraph, buried by the NYT, leapt out at me this morning:

A Shiite political leader who has worked closely with the Americans in the past said the Bush benchmarks appeared to have been drawn up in the expectation that Mr. Maliki would not meet them. "He cannot deliver the disarming of the militias," the politician said, asking that he not be named because he did not want to be seen as publicly criticizing the prime minister. "He cannot deliver a good program for the economy and reconstruction. He cannot deliver on services. This is a matter of fact. There is a common understanding on the American side and the Iraqi side."

Views such as these — increasingly common among the political class in Baghdad — are often accompanied by predictions that Mr. Maliki will be forced out as the crisis over the militias builds. The Shiite politician who described him as incapable of disarming militias suggested he might resign; others have pointed to an American effort in recent weeks to line up a “moderate front” of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political leaders outside the government, and said that the front might be a vehicle for mounting a parliamentary coup against Mr. Maliki, with behind-the-scenes American support. [My italics.]

If this is the case, this president is lying to us once again. It's one lie too far. If all of this is a ruse to depose Maliki and attack Iran, the constitutional consequences of a runaway, duplicitous president are profound.

Of course, there's considerable discussion about whether the President can constitutionally attack Iran absent a Congressional authorization. Clearly he can't. But constitutional limitations have not stopped this President before, and it's pretty clear that the Bush Administration thinks it is not constitutionally required to get Congressional approval -- a scary abuse of power that exceeds even the worst from the Nixon Administration.

Washington is full of rumors that Bush has already ordered a "secret war" against Iran. I tend to doubt that, but I happen to agree with Pat Buchanan and others who say that Bush is trying to provoke an attack from Iran, in order to launch a war there. After all, if Iran attacks us, then Bush can, under the War Powers Act, attack Iran without Congressional approval.

http://www.americanprogress.org/cartoons

US Forces Detain Six Iranian Envoys
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207T.shtml
Iraqi Kurds, among America's staunchest supporters, condemned the detention early Thursday of six Iranian diplomats during a raid by US forces on the Iranian Consulate in the Kurdish city of Irbil.

{{{More prisoners on the way to Gitmo, maybe? Well, that ought to bring out the "peaceful" rhetoric from Iranians who want nothing more than to kow-tow to Bu$hCo and give them all the oil they aren't taking from Iraq.... (Snark)}}}

Matt Renner | Congressman Acts to Revoke Iraq War Resolution
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207R.shtml
Congressman Sam Farr introduced legislation that would strip President Bush of the authority to continue using force against Iraq. Matt Renner discusses the congressman's reaction to Bush's new plan.
http://www.farr.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=6938&type=Home
Sam Farr is from CA Dist. 17.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/12/driving_the_hearse_blindfolded.php
Driving the Hearse Blindfolded
In case you missed it the other night, George Bush took no responsibility for plunging the U.S. and Iraq into a catastrophic war from which there seems to be no exit. To some observers, he appeared to shoulder the onus, but he didn’t.

Early in the speech, Bush praised American troops for bravery and following orders, and then added, “Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.” He didn’t say that he made any mistakes, only that someone had…maybe. In other words, he is taking the blame for the unspecified mistakes of others, presumably one of the people he recently fired or demoted, if they happened at all.

But that was merely one sentence. What followed was a litany of accusations against Iraqis and their neighbors—pretty much all of them, excepting the innocent, many of whom are already too dead to hear themselves exonerated by the American president. He blames Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias, al-Qaida, Iran, Syria, various foreigners and unidentified murderers. By implication, he blames the Iraqi police and army, since he again has to bail them out with a fresh infusion of American troops.

At no time does he accept, or even recognize, that the reason Americans and Iraqis are dying in Iraq is because he ordered an invasion. And since the reasons for the invasion have been proven to be, without any doubt whatsoever, spurious, he has a lot more to atone for than tactical mistakes.

Instead, he blathered on about freedom and the white man’s burden, currently being fulfilled by our armed forces, “as they work to raise up just and hopeful societies across the Middle East.” It seems like just yesterday that were doing the same for American Indians, and in much the same fashion—minus the technology.

Our military, then, is just there to help the downtrodden. For some reason he didn’t mention the some 100,000 contractors who are there not to help Iraqis, but to help themselves—to some of the $400 billion poured into the still-recumbent semi-nation. We wouldn’t get into these messes, he intimated, if we weren’t so doggone good-hearted. Fooey.

{More on link.}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070112/pl_nm/iraq_usa_dc_3

Withdrawals could start if Iraq plan works: Gates

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States could start withdrawing forces from Iraq this year if the additional troops being sent to Baghdad reduce violence significantly, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

"If these operations actually work you could begin to see a lightening of the U.S. footprint both in Baghdad and Iraq itself," Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee

{{{More on link. Anyone else see the ludicrousness of this headline and Gates' statement?!? "IF... IF...." Yeah, right. And IF I go buy a lottery ticket I might win, IF I actually get the right numbers, too....}}}

U.S. policies have made Israel less safe, experts say
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/world/16448718.htm

After years of supporting the Bush administration's policy in the Middle East, a growing number of Israelis are openly criticizing the United States for creating more, not less, danger for Israel.

Israeli experts contend that American policies have destabilized Iraq, emboldened anti-Western forces from Iran to Lebanon and paved the way for militant Islamists to gain control of the Palestinian Authority.

"The threats to Middle East security and stability worsened in 2006," experts at Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies recently warned. "The American failure in Iraq has hurt the standing of the U.S. in the Middle East."

Perhaps most strikingly, in their annual evaluation of the situation, the Israeli analysts concluded that it was better for the United States to get out of Iraq than to add troops, as President Bush is proposing...

If anyone wants to visit the irc around 8:30ish pm EST then I'll catch you in there later.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Iraq FM defends detained Iranians

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_us/bush_library
SMU faculty members oppose Bush library
DALLAS - Negotiations to build George W. Bush's presidential library at Southern Methodist University have divided the campus, pitting the administration and some alumni against members of the liberal-leaning faculty who say the project would be an embarrassment to the school.

Some professors have complained that the combined library, museum and think tank would celebrate a presidency that unnecessarily took the country into a war.

{More on link. Golly, where will The Cretin put his copy of "The Pet Goat" if SMU refuses to house his library...?}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/12/the-daily-show-analyzes-bushs-escalation-speech/
The Daily Show Analyzes Bush’s Escalation Speech

U.S. Preparing for Trials of Top Qaeda Detainees
NYT: http://tinyurl.com/y97tjj

The Bush administration has set up a secret war room in a Virginia suburb where it is assembling evidence to prosecute high-ranking detainees from Al Qaeda including the man accused of being the mastermind of the September 2001 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, government officials said this week...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq

GOP, Democrats skirmish over Iraq plan

WASHINGTON - Senators who back President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq tried Friday to bolster support for the unpopular strategy while Democrats plotted ways to derail the increase and force changes in war policies.

Excerpt:

Bush is expected to ask in February for $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His plan to add troops is estimated to cost an additional $5.6 billion.

Bush struck a defiant note in an interview to be televised Sunday by CBS on "60 Minutes." Asked if he believes he has the authority to send additional troops to Iraq no matter what Congress wants to do, Bush said: "I think I've got — in this situation, I do, yeah. And I fully understand they will ... they could try to stop me from doing it, but, uh, I've made my decision and we're going forward."

{More on link.}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iran
Administration: No plan to strike Iran
WASHINGTON - U.S. officials said Friday there was no immediate plan to strike targets in Iran, but they also wouldn't rule out military action.

{More on link.}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/argentina_isabel_peron
Spain arrests former Argentine president
MADRID, Spain - Former Argentine President Isabel Peron was detained Friday at her home in Madrid as part of investigations into the South American country's past human rights abuses, police said.

{Hmmm.. well, maybe Spain would be a country where Bu$hCo people can't hide....}

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16585614/site/newsweek/
Bush’s Best Democratic Buddy
Joe Lieberman gives the president a pass on Katrina.
Jan. 11, 2007 - Sen. Joe Lieberman, the only Democrat to endorse President Bush’s new plan for Iraq, has quietly backed away from his pre-election demands that the White House turn over potentially embarrassing documents relating to its handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

{More on link.}

Depressing email:

From Portland -
Greg Palast writes: "There's always a problem with giving a junkie another fix. It can only make things worse. Our maximum leader says that unless he gets to mainline another 21,000 troops, 'Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons,' and terrorists 'would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people.' Excuse me, but didn't we hear that same promise in 2003?"

From Oklahoma City-
Military Contractors were major proponents of Afghan and Iraq War. WMD's & Al Queda ? - Not a chance.
"At night Bruce Jackson is president of the U.S. Committee to Expand NATO, giving intimate dinners for senators and foreign officials. By day, he is director of strategic planning for Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world's biggest weapons maker."
http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/lockheed/

From Davis, CA-
Five years ago today:
On 11 January 2002, the first detainees from Afghanistan arrived at the US Naval Base of Guantnamo Bay, Cuba:
http://noise.amnesty.org/site/?c=adKIIVNsEkG&b=2394703

Otter:

Condi augmented??? I hope there was a money-back guarantee on that!

Chuck in Houston (running and ducking)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iran

Bush approved raids on Iranians in Iraq

WASHINGTON - An order from President Bush authorized a series of U.S. raids against Iranians in Iraq as part of a broad military offensive, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.

Bush issued the order several months ago, Rice told The New York Times as she prepared to visit the Middle East. She said the president acted "after a period of time in which we saw increasing activity" among Iranians in Iraq "and increasing lethality in what they were producing."

~~~~~

In his speech Wednesday, Bush chastised Iran and Syria for not blocking terrorists at their borders with Iraq. He specifically blamed Iran for providing material support for attacks on American troops.

"We will disrupt the attacks on our forces," Bush said. "We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

On Friday, White House spokesman Tony Snow called the suggestion that war plans were under way an "urban legend."

"What the president was talking about is defending American forces within Iraq, and also doing what we can to disrupt networks that might be trying to convey weapons or fighters into battle theaters within Iraq to kill Americans and Iraqis," Snow said.

{More on link. So... any bets on the date of the actual invasion of Iran next? Or do you think MAYBE our Congress Critters will actually stop the madman in the nick of time...?}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_us/hamilton_s250th
Founding Father turns 250 years old
NEW YORK - If there is such a thing as immortality, it may be having people gather to celebrate your 250th birthday.

Alexander Hamilton met that standard on Thursday, as a group of descendants, along with latter-day admirers, convened to mark the anniversary of his birth in 1757.

The setting for the event, to quote another famous American, was altogether fitting and proper — the Manhattan churchyard where Hamilton was buried after being killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr in 1804, in the shadow of Wall Street towers that symbolize his role as the Founding Father who best understood high finance.

{More on link if you like historical trivia.}

We need a James Brown thread. Even Elvis had a little James Brown in him.

Chuck in Houston

Oh, and sit down for this amazing news....

I was channel surfing for weather on in-state 10 p.m. snooze, and became light-headed with shock... the local ABC affiliate whose owner donated money to a VA organization that swiftboated MN candidates last fall actually had a segment on the anti-war protesters in the Twin Cities today.

Felt like I was watching a minor miracle to see anti-war protesters on what is a neoCon local network....

Since we're currently going through a cold snap and it's likely to continue for another week with temps in the single digits and wind chill temps much colder, and a couple of inches of snow expected in the next two days, I really admire the people doing the protesting....! I hope someone is giving them hot cocoa and providing places for them to warm up at times.

http://kstp.dayport.com/viewer/viewerpage.php?Art_ID=171335

Oh, and as proof - this must have been from Thursday, because I've only ever seen that particular anchor on during the day, and I know she wasn't on tonight's broadcast. That means they've broadcast info on anti-war protesters for two days in a row. Amazing.

This is why, to me, taking the threat of impeachment off the table was such a mistake.

You have to take the reigns from the headless horses ass.

Posted by: monkey at January 12, 2007 10:25 AM

This is surely what we expected with impeachment out of the way! So, the president sometimes has to make decisions the people won't like. At the rate he's antagonizing the world, there won't be many left to care. I'm glad I went on that learning excursion with a local Aboriginal group.

AND the House members MUST WAKE UP to the fact that the MUST, for the sake of We The People and the Republic, PUT IMPEACHMENT BACK ON THE TABLE!!

Posted by: NonnyO at January 12, 2007 11:52 AM

......and locked into his handcuffs and shackles. Shut him in Guantanamo - hand him over to the inmates there.

disarm the bushi'ite militias,

Posted by: Otter at January 12, 2007 11:52 AM

Somehow, anyhow ......... PLEASE stop him before he sets the entire powderkeg of nuclear capability amok.

Here it is. From the Iraqi government. Bush has the thumb-screws tightened down on Maliki's thumbs and still screwing. Hence the reluctance for interview. IMHO

Baghdad lukewarm about Bush's plan for more muscle
John Burns and Sabrina Tavernise, Baghdad
January 13, 2007

Iraq's Shiite-led Government has offered only a grudging endorsement of President George Bush's proposal to send in more than 20,000 additional troops to try to regain control of Baghdad.

The tepid response has immediately raised questions about whether the Government would seriously prosecute the new war plan.

Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki failed to appear at a news conference and avoided any public comment.

He left the Government's response to an official, Ali al-Dabbagh, who gave what amounted to a backhanded approval of the troop increase, and emphasised that Iraqis, not Americans, would set the future course in the war.

More ........
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/baghdad-lukewarm-about-bushs-plan/2007/01/12/1168105181433.html

Oil on the fire, say American foes

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice takes questions from reporters in Washington — she is sure to face even tougher ones on her tour of the Middle East, starting in Israel today.

Ian Black, London
January 13, 2007

Iran and Syria have angrily denounced US plans to send more troops to Iraq, complaining that it will only prolong the "occupation" and extend insecurity in the wider Middle East.

America's closest Arab allies are yet to officially comment on the plan, but there are signs of popular hostility.

Continued ..... http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/oil-on-the-fire-say-american-foes/2007/01/12/1168105181430.html

Soldiers present a reality check

US President George Bush at a ceremony to honour marine Corporal Jason Dunham, killed when he jumped on a grenade to save his fellow marines in Iraq.

Peter Baker, Fort Benning, Georgia
January 12, 2007

The pictures were just what the White House wanted: a teary-eyed President George Bush presenting the Medal of Honour posthumously to a slain war hero in the East Room, then flying to Fort Benning to join soldiers as some of them prepare to return to Iraq.
There are few places the President could go for an unreservedly enthusiastic reception the day after unveiling his decision to order 21,500 more troops to Iraq. A military base has usually been a reliable backdrop and so Bush aides chose this installation in western Georgia to promote his revised strategy to the nation while his cabinet secretaries tried to sell it on Capitol Hill.

Assuring there would be no discordant notes, base commander Major-General Walter Wojdakowski banned the 300 soldiers who had lunch with Mr Bush from talking to reporters.

If any of them harboured doubts about heading back to Iraq, many for the third time, they were kept silent. "It's going to require sacrifice, and I appreciate the sacrifices our troops are willing to make," Mr Bush told them. "Some units are going to have to deploy earlier than scheduled as a result of the decision I made. Some will remain deployed longer than originally anticipated."

Continued: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/soldiers-present-a-reality-check/2007/01/12/1168105184802.html

America is making conflict more likely

January 13, 2007

Rather than easing tension, the US is making Arab countries increasingly concerned, writes Amin Saikal.

PRESIDENT George Bush's decision to augment American troop deployment and give security a top priority in Iraq once again is unlikely to work. The Iraqi resistance has a wider base of support within and outside the region than the President has been willing to admit. The manner and timing of the hanging of Saddam Hussein, who may have deserved to be punished for his crimes against humanity, has widened this base of support and deepened the Sunni-Shiite divide not only within Iraq but also throughout the Muslim world. It has caused greater legitimacy problems for Iraq's Shiite-dominated Government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the US in stabilising Iraq and soothing the anti-American Muslim anger that has swept the region and beyond.

Continued .......
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/us-makes-conflict-more-likely/2007/01/12/1168105178340.html

January 13, 2007
Official Attacks Top Law Firms Over Detainees
By NEIL A. LEWIS

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 — The senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism said in an interview this week that he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation’s top firms were representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and that the firms’ corporate clients should consider ending their business ties.

The comments by Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, produced an instant torrent of anger from lawyers, legal ethics specialists and bar association officials, who said Friday that his comments were repellent and displayed an ignorance of the duties of lawyers to represent people in legal trouble.

“This is prejudicial to the administration of justice,” said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University and an authority on legal ethics. “It’s possible that lawyers willing to undertake what has been long viewed as an admirable chore will decline to do so for fear of antagonizing important clients.

“We have a senior government official suggesting that representing these people somehow compromises American interests, and he even names the firms, giving a target to corporate America.”

Mr. Stimson made his remarks in an interview on Thursday with Federal News Radio, a local Washington-based station that is aimed at an audience of government employees.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/washington/13gitmo.html

TAKE ACTION ON TORTURE:

http://tinyurl.com/y32sd5

This is Amnesty International's effort to send hundreds of thousands of emails to the White House in the hope of waking folks up.

Please pile on. The more we flood, the louder we speak.

NonnyO
It's great the Minneapolis protests were covered on the news!
Here is an article about the two protests held in one day, covered by Kayakbiker with a whole lots of cool photos. The one of the detainees in orange suits descending the escalator is priceless!

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2007/01/two_actions_in_.html#comment-27702692

Chuck
Scroll down further and you'll see my James Brown tribute. We would appreciate comments. Our blog is good and we put alot of work into it but very few people read it because there are millions of blogs on the internet. Still, hope you like it!