Where Blood For Oil Comes From

Order/buy/show The Ground Truth:

http://thegroundtruth.net

Every high school should be showing it. The filmmaker, Patricia Foulkrod, was at Busboys with us last night, and marched with us earlier as well. This film has been a labor of love for her and the amazing men and women who spoke with her. All are saving the lives of young people. But they need our help to do more.

First watch the trailer (it's under Photos and Video). Then order a copy and show it to family and friends. Then find the young men and women in your neighborhood and have them over and show it to them!

It's devastating, and honest, and searing. It's also fighting back on the lies these fine young people were told before they wound up in the middle east.

Good protest, Dianne.

There's a recruiting station near my bank, and I often will check in to see how business is doing for them. Even though it's near the poorer end of the cities (closer to Ypsi than AA), it doesn't really get much business.

The kids at the college have told me that they go up to the college and try to enlist people there. I don't know how well they're doing. Our area is notoriously progressive.

I still think of Eric who went to Iraq last year. I wonder if the recruiter was the one who talked him into giving up his well-paying job to fight "shoulder to shoulder for our country" or if he came up with that type of idealism on his own.

My daughter's friend is considering joining the airforce and she believes because she's airforce as well as a women she wouldn't be sent there. I've told her to never believe the recruiters. She tries to act knowledgable on the subject, but yet how can she still hold the recruitment papers after they told her "You're in perfect health and smart...just what we need!"

I've told her that if she considers it seriously she should call me, so that I can perform an intervention.

Posted by: karen at January 28, 2007 09:04 AM

Um....Karen, I've attempted to watch it three times (different computers), is the trailor suppose to have sound? Because if it is, I haven't heard any yet.

Posted by: sparrow at January 28, 2007 09:12 AM

If you watch it alone in the forest, it has sound, but only you can hear it.

Take THAT with yer Sunday Cup o' Joe!

Morning friends...

The True Cost of War
Newsweek

-snip-

Those looking to put the (Black Hawk) crash into some larger perspective might point out that 10 of those who died were members of the National Guard—the greatest number of guard members killed in a combat mission since the Korean War. Or that the number of U.S. soldiers killed across Iraq that day (25 in all) made it one of the deadliest since the war began. But the most remarkable thing about the crash might be how quickly the deaths of a dozen soldiers can pass into and out of the public's consciousness these days, if they ever register at all.

More than 3,000 U.S. service members have now died in the Iraq war. At first it was difficult not to feel overwhelmed by the number of deaths. After four years, it is now difficult not to feel numb. In a nation without a draft, the emotional connection between the front and the home front is the weakest it has been in a major conflict in recent memory. There are so many news accounts of troops killed in combat that the details blur. The death of one soldier, or 20, loses its power to shock, except to the families of the fallen.

At some point, the way we talk about the war itself changes. We speak less and less about husbandless wives and parent-less children, and instead obscure the suffering in vaguer, more distant and—guiltily—easier terms. We shake our heads and talk about the "losses."

In Washington, the talk is now all about Iraq. Democrats, emboldened by their control of Congress and the president's sinking poll numbers, no longer fear being labeled "Defeatocrats" if they take a stand against George Bush on the war. And some Republicans, including Sens. Chuck Hagel and John Warner, are speaking out against the handling of the war and about the cost in human life. Nonetheless, the president, trying to appear conciliatory and resolute at the same time, is determined to send an additional 21,000 troops to Iraq, no matter what anyone else thinks. If Congress rejects the idea, Dick Cheney told CNN last week, "it won't stop us."

-snip-

Is the president right that the additional troops can turn things around? Or is Iraq lost? These questions are the makings of a serious and long-overdue debate over the war. And yet so much of the chatter turns on the politics of the war. Who is up and who is down for 2008? Is the Bush presidency effectively "over" and will Americans trust a Democrat—and possibly a woman—to be commander in chief? Democrats (and rebelling Republicans) invest their passions in clinical debates over "exit strategies" and "withdrawal timetables," and congratulate themselves for "nonbinding" resolutions that condemn an increase in troops while still allowing them to go into the field. But few seem to be grappling with the fate of those soldiers.

There are, as always, more questions than answers about what to do in Iraq. Honest people can disagree about whether it is more dangerous to stay or to leave. But the 12 Americans who died in the Black Hawk crash offer us a vivid reminder of what is happening on the battlefield, and of the cost so many families are paying when loved ones die in combat. Guard members have taken on much of the burden of this war, and those who died aboard that helicopter were like many others who have lost their lives in the fighting: ordinary people asked to do the extraordinary. They were husbands and wives, parents and even grandparents. Some relied on their faith in God, others, their faith in the commander in chief. At least one no longer believed the war was worth fighting, but carried out his duties. Together, they left behind 34 children and at least a dozen grandchildren.

As we contemplate sending more men and women like them into harm's way, their demise leaves behind perhaps the only question that truly matters in wartime: is it worth it?

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16843652/site/newsweek/

Volunteers shoulder Katrina rebuilding
Charity groups, do-it-yourself efforts fill funding void in Gulf communities

-snip-

A mixed blessing
The fact that now, 17 months after Hurricane Katrina, only a small fraction of the home rebuilding has been completed and that most of it has been done by charity groups is viewed here as both wonderful and disappointing -- wonderful that so many strangers have arrived to help, but disappointing that the federal aid and insurance payouts have proved, for now, so unavailable.

The charitable groups and residents also say they sometimes worry that as the rest of the country forgets about their plight, the flow of volunteers that they have relied upon could shrink.

Several expressed outrage that there was no mention of the hurricane recovery in President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday.

"We still look like a bomb hit us, and then the president in his national address doesn't even mention us?" said Larry Randall, a retired boat captain and a coordinator of relief efforts at the Pearlington Recovery Center. "That really hurt."

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16848353/

BTW, F.U. Bush administration on this one, BIGTIME... all is not forgiven. (... and yeah, the coffee is kickin in, so sue me)

At the rally, 12-year-old Moriah Arnold stood on her toes to reach the microphone and tell the crowd: “Now we know our leaders either lied to us or hid the truth. Because of our actions, the rest of the world sees us as a bully and a liar.”

The sixth-grader from Harvard, Mass., the youngest speaker on the stage, organized a petition drive at her school against the war that has killed more than 3,000 U.S. service-members.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16841070/

Posted by: monkey at January 28, 2007 09:50 AM

I figure you should be more worried about the voices in my head, rather than the sound of silence.

;-)

I've been watching this website where they're dogging Walberg's voting record. You might recall that Walberg was almost completely funded by the out of distict think tank "Club for Growth". And in this milti-million dollar primary, he ousted Joe Schwarz (Republican extroidinaire who voted with Bush 85% of the time) by sending out a barrage of lies and labelling Joe as a liberal. The primaries were so nasty that Walberg won because people stayed home.

So what makes this site interesting is reading the backlash against Joe Schwarz with people saying he should run again--either as a moderate repub. (which he did the first time!) or as a Democrat (with an 85% supporting Bush record that might be a fantasy!)

Also, there's perpetual Democratic candidate Sharon Renier who is underfunded and came within 10,000 votes of beating Walberg.

At anyrate, I have no idea why I'm pointing out this website. Probably becuase the Iraq news, the Iran news, Katrina, the failure of the Senate to pass a minimum wage increase bill... well, I guess I see hope in that small group of people still out there fighting Bush and his minions.

oops I forgot the link. (duh!)

http://walbergwatch.blogspot.com/

Where's that cuppa Joe?

*ding ding ding*

Did somebody mention Katrina?

http://chinmusicpress.com/books/doyouknow/

I do but not as much as those who were there for that when it went down,
Otter

Sparrow
I work with a woman whose son is in the Air Force, went to West Point. She said that the military is trying to get alot of Air Force people to switch branches by offering financial and other incentives. She also said that her son as a female friend who has always worked in Personnel - in the Air Force, usually stateside. She is quitting because if she stayed, as is her option, she would have new orders. She found out she would be "leading a convoy in Bagdad" as part of the surge. Warn girls they are not safe!

See what happens when the President is Democrat and the Congress is Republican? See what hypocrites they are? Look at the names and dates!

"Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."

-Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)
-Commenting on Clinton's' Kosovo engagements

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why theirson or daughter have to give up their life?"
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"You can support the troops but not the president"
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"My job as majority leader is be supportive of our troops, try to have input as decisions are made and to look at those decisions after they’re made … not tomarch in lock step with everything the president decides to do."
-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly."
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Once the bombing commenced, I think then Milosevic unleashed his forces, and then that’s when the slaughtering and the massive ethnic cleansing really started"
-Senator Don Nickles (R-OK)

"This has been an unmitigated disaster … Ask the Chinese embassy. Ask all the people in Belgrade that we’ve killed. Ask the refugees that we’ve killed. Ask the people in nursing homes. Ask the people in hospitals."
-Representative Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

(From 1/17/2007, but apparently it is still news in most quarters)

WOOLSEY TAKES UP PRESIDENT BUSH'S CHALLENGE ON IRAQ

Introduces H. R. 508 -- comprehensive alternative to escalation: plan would bring all US troops home within 6-months

Joined by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Maxine Waters (D-CA), Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) today introduced the Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignity of Iraq Restoration Act of 2007, sweeping legislation which would establish a 6-month timeframe for withdrawal for all US military forces from Iraq, provide a framework for bringing stability back to Iraq, and fully fund the VA health care system.

The proposal is a direct response to President Bush's challenge over the weekend for those who oppose his planned escalation to put forth a plan of their own. Woolsey introduced the bill during a press conference held this afternoon in the Capitol. Below are her remarks, as prepared for delivery:

"Today Congresswomen Waters and Lee and I are introducing a bill that would bring our troops home from Iraq within a six month timeframe.

"The Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act is the first comprehensive legislative proposal to end the occupation and provide a framework to help bring stability back to Iraq.

"Last Wednesday night, President Bush demonstrated to the world that he continues to remain blind to the realities on the ground in Iraq. Instead of putting forth a plan that would withdraw our troops, the President is increasing our military presence, by escalating the number of troops by over twenty thousand. What President Bush fails to grasp is that our military presence is only fueling the insurgency, plunging Iraq further into chaos and civil war.

"The November elections showed just how fed up the American public is with the President's failed Iraq policy. It is time to honor that mandate. It is now up to the Congress to catch up with the will of the American public.

"During his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Bush challenged those of us who disagree with him to offer a plan of our own. Today, we stand before you, and the American public, to take up his challenge.

"The Congress has already appropriated funding that will support our troops and keep this occupation going for at least another six months. That funding instead should be used to finance an aggressive withdrawal plan that brings our troops home to their families. Our bill would do exactly that.

"Our plan will also...

1. Withdraw all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq within six months from date of enactment.

2. Prohibit any further funding to deploy, or continue to deploy U.S. troops in Iraq. The bill does, however, allow for funding to be used, as needed, to ensure a safe withdrawal of all US military personnel and contractors, diplomatic consultations. Funding may also be used for the increased training and equipping of Iraqi and international security forces.

3. Accelerate, during the six month transition, training of a permanent Iraqi security force.

4. Authorize, if requested by the Iraqi government, U.S. support for an international stabilization force. Such a force would be funded for no longer than two years, and be combined with economic and humanitarian assistance.

5. Guarantee full health care funding, including mental health, for U.S. veterans of military operations in Iraq and other conflicts.

6. Rescind the Congressional Authorization for the War in Iraq.

7. Prohibit the construction of permanent US military bases in the country.

8. Finally, we believe that Iraqi oil belongs to the Iraqis. Once the oil is in the international market, the U.S. will certainly have access to our share. That's why our bill ensures that the U.S. has no long-term control over Iraqi oil.

"Our plan, with the exception of Veterans' benefits, will cost the American people pennies on the dollar as compared to continuing the occupation for two more years. It will save lives, bodies, and minds, and it will give Iraq back to the Iraqis. It is an important step in regaining our credibility in the region and throughout the world, and provides the President, and this Congress, with a comprehensive way to respond to the majority of Americans who want our troops to come home."

This bill is co-sponsored by: Barbara Lee (D-CA), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Diane Watson (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Bob Filner (D-CA), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX).

Posted by: Otter at January 28, 2007 11:20 AM

I gots to get that book.

People just don't get what's been lost there.

ReNewOrleans
http://www.reneworleans.com/

Warn girls they are not safe!

Posted by: not my president at January 28, 2007 12:21 PM

And the next thing we know, Don't Ask Don't Tell goes away, and LGBTs are subject to draft as well - equal responsibility without equal rights.

On the other hand, I do like the idea of Mann Coulter backing his rhetoric up with real military service...

To my horror, I realized that there is an Army Recruiting station, there is a Navy Recruiting station and there is a Marine Recruiting station - all in close proximity, in a mostly minority neighborhood. This is where those aggressive recruiters can hope to find those with dim prospects of higher education, with dead-end jobs.

Posted by DiAnne Grieser at January 28, 2007 09:03 AM

Also, don't forget that for some ethnic groups, the US military is ALWAYS a benevolent force, and any US war is a just one.

Just ask anyone in Koreatown or Little Saigon.

The Twin Cities is already getting ready for a "surge" of protesters for the 2008 Republican convention. This was published on the front page of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, without a by-line, so without authorship.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/16558033.htm

For convention protesters, cells will be ready
(snip)
The Republican National Convention in St. Paul is more than a year and a half away, but Ramsey County authorities already are scouting places big enough to handle hundreds, perhaps thousands, of protesters and others who might get out of hand.
(snip)
"I hesitate a little to say this, but I think we are feeling a little
more like we're getting our arms around it," said St. Paul police Deputy Chief Matt Bostrom, who is organizing security preparations.Minneapolis police Deputy Chief Robert Allen called Bostrom the "quarterback" of the local law enforcement preparations for the convention.
(snip)
New York City struggled with busloads of arrested protesters, and police faced accusations of being overly aggressive. Some protesters spent days in jail. Hundreds of those arrested sued, alleging civil rights violations, prompting legal fights that still continue over what police records the city must release.

Twin Cities officials said they've tried to learn from the New York
experience and will be ready to accommodate protesters -- well behaved or otherwise -- expected to greet the 2008 GOP gathering."If we follow the same procedure for other mass protests, there'll be a remote facility where people will be held for a very short period of time, maybe two to four hours, cited and released," Fletcher said. Seriously disruptive or repeat offenders may be formally booked and held for an appearance before a Ramsey County District Court judge. Fletcher said he would need someplace large enough to accommodate a "surge" of hundreds, if not more, arrests.

"But hopefully, it won't come to that," he said. *Protests may depend partly on another "surge" halfway across the globe.
If the extra troops being sent by the U.S. to Iraq bring a swifter end to the war there, protests might not be as large or disruptive as they would be if the Republicans were gathering during this year.* "Who knows what'll be going on by then," Fletcher said.

(Like the 21,000 troops are going to make enough of a difference to influence on election and protest in summer of 2008?!)

Ally
It amazes me that people can leave their home country to come to US looking for better conditions and then be completely uncritical. If anyone would learn to be skeptical about blindly trusting authority, you would think it would be someone who moved to a new country!

I have thought about emigrating and that is exactly what stops me. After my experience here, it's pretty easy to see corruption all over the place, like there is nowhere to run!

It amazes me that people can leave their home country to come to US looking for better conditions and then be completely uncritical. If anyone would learn to be skeptical about blindly trusting authority, you would think it would be someone who moved to a new country!

Posted by: not my president at January 28, 2007 02:32 PM

Honestly, the problem is that some people leave their home country for the US, not for a better life, but to re-create the misery of their homelands and inflict it on the rest of the American population.

Reverend Moon is a perfect example. He truly hates American freedoms.

Si, el Reverend Lunar es mui looney (and that ain't the crack talkin').

Sen. Biden chides Bush’s ‘failed policy’ in Iraq
Dem presidential hopeful says lack of strategy is ‘emboldening the enemy’

Updated: 27 minutes ago
AP

WASHINGTON - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman on Sunday dismissed criticism a resolution opposing a troop buildup in Iraq would embolden the enemy and estimated perhaps only 20 senators believe President Bush “is headed in the right direction.”

“It’s not the American people or the U.S. Congress who are emboldening the enemy,” said Biden, D-Del., and White House hopeful in 2008. “It’s the failed policy of this president — going to war without a strategy, going to war prematurely.”

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16738861/

Cheney cites ‘significant progress’
Cheney said most Republicans “recognize that what’s ultimately going to count here isn’t sort of all the hurrah that surrounds these proposals so much as it’s what happens on the ground on Iraq. And we’re not going to know that for a while yet,” according to a Newsweek interview released Sunday.

Cheney again cited “significant progress” in Iraq and said the war is part of a long-term fight against extreme elements of Islam.

“It’s not something that’s going to end decisively, and there’s not going to be a day when we can, say, ’There, now we have a treaty, problem solved,”’ Cheney said. “It’s a problem that I think will occupy our successors maybe for two or three or four administrations to come.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16738861/

Stupidity, the gift that keeps on giving.

U.S. military copter crashes in Iraq; 2 GIs die
Fighting near Najaf kills 250 militants, officials say; mortars hit girls’ school

Updated: 11 minutes ago
AP

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An American military helicopter crashed on Sunday during fighting near the Shiite holy city of Najaf, and the U.S. military said two crew members were killed. Iraqi military authorities said about 250 militants died in the battle.

Iraqi authorities said the helicopter crashed while providing air support to Iraqi troops battling militants who planned attacks against Shiite pilgrims and clerics during the upcoming Ashoura commemorations.

A U.S. statement said the remains of the crew members were recovered.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16839573/

Cheney again cited “significant progress” in Iraq and said the war is part of a long-term fight against extreme elements of Islam.

Posted by: monkey at January 28, 2007 03:22 PM

What is he smoking?

Plus, we need to fight the extreme Christians too, right within our borders.

All this talk of tokin' reminds me of chant I read about yesterday's march in DC...

"Damn, Bush, Are You Smokin' Crack
Sending 21,000 Troops to Iraq?!"

(Betting odds are 99:1 that he is...)

Still musing on the Civilian Reserve corps...this is, of course, the perfect weapon to use against armchair chickenhawks...because from what I gather, the Civilian Reserve sweeps in everyone that the draft COULDN'T get: regardless of age, medical condition, intelligence or test scores, physical fitness, gender, sexual orientation, etc: no matter who you are, you are eligible to be a volunteer Crusader. So it is the perfect opportunity for all these folks who support the war to go volunteer for it.

I forget who the Clark supporters are/were. Do you remember this being part of his platform? What did you think of it then?

In other news...anyone feel like joining the Coast Guard??? :p

I don't support Cheney's mission - one of the articles above says the Black Hawk, 2nd one downed in a few days, was heading to support those planning to attack Shiite pilgrims & clerics on their way to commemorate a special event & that we are fighting radical Muslim elements - that's a paraphrase.

So now it's really a religious war. It's not about weapons of mass destruction. It's not about spreading democracy. It's not about liberating people Saddam oppressed. Anyway, he's gone. It's a Crusade and he's admitting it. & it's still an oil grab.

So if Cheney says they are having success, that's in his opinion.

Posted by: V at January 28, 2007 05:25 PM

V--the only coast I'm going to is in the South of France.

Sparrow!

Ditto!!

In Iowa, Hillary is Welcomed as a Teen Pop Idol

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2193660.ece

Strange British take on our election

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070128/ap_on_el_pr/clinton2008
Clinton: U.S. out of Iraq by January '09
DAVENPORT, Iowa - Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that President Bush should withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq before he leaves office, asserting it would be "the height of irresponsibility" to pass the war along to the next commander in chief.

"This was his decision to go to war with an ill-conceived plan and an incompetently executed strategy," the Democratic senator from New York said her in initial presidential campaign swing through Iowa.

"We expect him to extricate our country from this before he leaves office" in January 2009, the former first lady said.
~~~~~
"I am going to level with you, the president has said this is going to be left to his successor," Clinton said. "I think it is the height of irresponsibility and I really resent it."

{{{{More on link. Hillary: Woman to Woman, one American to another... you gotta understand that the MAJORITY of Americans want out of Iraq NOW. We do NOT want more deaths in Iraq; too many have already died for lies and oil. It's just that simple. So, what are you and your fellow senators going to do to expedite getting our troops OUT of Iraq even before the end of this year? Pointing fingers at Georgie and his evil minions and tut-tutting them during a powder puff campaign speech isn't enough. What are you going to DO this week, next week, to stop Georgie and Dickie and the rabid neoCons? Would you introduce legislation to put a leash on Georgie (Repeal AUMF 1 & 2, Repeal MCA '06, Repeal the Patriot Acts, close Gitmo, et cetera - essentially, repeal all of the bad legislation Georgie rushed through Congress since he was appointed in 2000)? Would you support any House legislation for impeachment? Would you help prosecute the trial for impeachment in the Senate? You (and the other Senators and Reps) gave Georgie power in record time on those bad pieces of legislation; now undo your bad votes by repealing that legislation in record time! All talk and no action isn't gonna cut it.... If you truly want to be president, you MUST prove you can do more than talk softly and scold Georgie like he's only a misbehaving child. You are not his mother, after all. You are part of the legislative body that has the power to order a legal war, or stop an illegal war that the appointed executive office unconstitutionally started.... If you can't exercise that power judiciously (supported by other congressional members who know full well the MAJORITY of Americans want OUT of Iraq NOW), then you don't deserve to be president either.}}}

BTW, don't know if anyone mentioned today, but...

Space Shuttle Challenger (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, after Columbia. Its maiden voyage was on April 4, 1983, and it made eight further round trips to low earth orbit before breaking up 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members.

R.I.P. Challenger crew

Posted by: monkey at January 28, 2007 09:03 PM

21 years already! Time flies!

I better take a look on Wikipedia.

thanks for the reminder.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=37646

You know, Bush says our military can kill Iranians in Iraq, just as there is a great Shiite celebration which will bring them across the borders we made porous by reducing Saddam's 24 checkpoints down to two.

I've been going to Iranian film nights for years so this comes as no surprise but it did to the person who sent it. Please pass it on. This gives an idea of what Tehran looks like - before we go and mess it up.

http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html

Nonny O,nice response to Hillary and right on the money ! I watched in horror to hear her. I don't see how she's going to survive or weather the next months and two years of a hard sell and slog.
At our protest march yesterday (as we do every Saturday )we made signs of three fingers in protest to "the" finger and it went like this:
TWO FINGERS FOR PEACE and ONE FOR IMPEACHMENT !
Our group will get behind Obama or Kuchinich..enough of Hillary ALREADY and it's only just begun! Words have to speak lOUDER than ALL her dough. she's lousy on the stump. I like her ideas,but not the memories or delivery. I won't be a Hillary supporter..period!

I am back to the 90s. I will vote for which ever Democrat takes the nomination. Sad.

Posted by: Patti F. at January 28, 2007 10:18 PM

You're right. She's a lousy speaker, totally unnatural delivery.

I also can't support Hillary. At my age, I really, really want to be able to vote for a woman so I can see a woman president in my lifetime. But, I can't support Hillary.

1) The neoCons and Lamestream Media have picked her as the Dem candidate (no one consulted the Dems!) and they're shoving her down our throats weekly. That alone gives me the knee-jerk reaction: "F**k Off!*

2) After reading quotes, seeing sound bytes of some of the things she's said, I have not yet heard anything different from what any neoCons have said. That, in my mind, makes her a DINO, just the same as Lieberman was/is.

That alone is two strikes against her.

It makes not one whit of difference to me whether or not a candidate is a man or a woman at this point. If they're not anti-war (unless this Congress can work miracles in the next month and DO SOMETHING about getting our troops home, DimWit will expand his war and keep our troops over there for the duration of this nightmare), they just will not get my vote. Period.

Seriously. The lies we knew about have been exposed, some even talked about in Lamestream Media. It's way past time for any '08 candidates call a halt to the bandwagon patriotism. As campaign rhetoric to garner votes, 'that dog don't hunt no more...'

The drum beat has only begun to roll on Hillary. But the swift boats are acomin'!! Too bad Web isn't running,and maybe we need to draft him in the pool. So far only Web,Kuchinich and Edwards..and Hagel are hearing the call to order.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070128/ap_on_re_us/sebelius_rising

Kan. governor draws national attention

Most of the Kansans who've made a mark on national politics have been Republicans, like Dwight Eisenhower and Bob Dole. Another, Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), is running for president.

But now a Kansas Democrat, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, is generating some buzz with her 58 percent re-election margin, glowing write-ups in national magazines and political chatter about her place on short lists for Cabinet posts should Democrats recapture the White House next year.

Sebelius, who's made her fortune in Kansas politics by winning over moderate Republicans, has even popped up in speculation about potential vice presidential nominees. And this year, she's chairwoman of the Democratic Governors' Association.

"It's hard to imagine that her name's not going to appear on everybody's list," said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster in Washington. "You've got to say Kathleen Sebelius is in demand as a role model, as a political figure, as a governor."

The 58-year-old governor is a self-described "aging rocker" who squeezed a ride in an Indy race car and a Rolling Stones concert into the same day last year. She runs nearly 15 miles a week and regularly attends college football and basketball games.

Her wit occasionally gets her into trouble, as during a 2002 gubernatorial debate when she said driving roads in neighboring Missouri was "much more terrifying to me than the attacks on the World Trade Center."

Her father, John Gilligan, a Democrat, was governor of Ohio in 1971-75, making them the only father-daughter governors in U.S. history. Her husband, Gary, a federal magistrate, was a son of the late Rep. Keith Sebelius, a western Kansas Republican.

{More on link.}

Oh, and what she said about the terrorism... right on the mark - at least to someone like me from out in the boondocks where the most terrifying thing to fear really is either a drunk driver or the idiot talking on a cell phone while driving inattentively. Ter'rist talk may play well in NYC or DC, but out here it goes over like a lead balloon.

Then there are people like me who know that 19 hijackers were criminals who never represented any country anywhere anyway, and a criminal act is not a just reason to invade any country anywhere at any time. Criminals need to be investigated and arrested by law enforcement agencies. If they die during the commission of a crime, there is no one to prosecute, but that's not a just reason to invade another country. (Georgie should have read the Aug. 01 PDB....)

I don't know anything about Sebelius, but because of this article my ears will perk up if I hear or see her name again. My curiousity is piqued.

Posted by: Patti F. at January 29, 2007 12:13 AM

I liked Webb's response to DimWit's SOTU speech.

However, he used the phrase 'war on terrorism' and that's got to be dropped from the national vocabulary. There is NO "war" on terrorism! Never was, is, or could be, becauses criminals do not constitute an army, nor do those individuals represent any country. The very most that can be done is for law enforcement agencies around the world to go after the few thousand criminals who commit terrorist acts, capture them, and try the criminals in a court of law (with habeas corpus intact!).

But someone needs to deliver that reality-based message to all the Dem candidates so they stop using that trite 'war on terrorism' phrase that's totally meaningless, dreamt up by the neoCon fear- and warmongers to try to keep sheeple scared of boogeymen (and voting for them as the patriarchal protectors while they steal our privacy and our freedom and constitutional rights...).

KBR awarded Homeland Security contract worth up to $385M: -
KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co, said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency.
http://tinyurl.com/yxq3fr

Excerpt:

The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs, KBR said. The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster, the company said.

{{{This is on the MarketWatch web site; one paragraph. The stories I've read in the past (nearly a year ago) about 'detention centers' being built on US soil, same dollar amount quoted, said Halliburton, but KBR is their subsidiary. I wonder if this is a new contract under the subsidiary name? Is Halliburton getting double profits, double contracts, for the same prisons, or for more new prisons?}}}

Rep. John Conyers: “Congress Can Fire Bush!”:
In a shot over President George W. Bush’s bow, Conyers said that Bush likes to fire military advisors, who tell him he can’t win the war, but “he can’t fire you [the people]. He can’t fire us [the Congress], but ‘we can fire him.’” With that line a roar went up in the audience. The loud chant began: “Impeach Bush!”
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=19830
{{{Best article about the anti-war rally/march that I've read! He says there were about 400,000 people there, mentions the other speakers (besides Fonda, which is the speaker the AP article focused on), quotes them...!}}}

Daffy Does Doom
By Maureen Dowd
Dick Durbin went to the floor of the Senate on Thursday night to denounce the vice president as “delusional.” It was shocking, and Senator Durbin should be ashamed of himself.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16266.htm

Rumsfeld is still running the War Department
By Mike Whitney
Where’s Rummy? That’s what I’d been wondering ever since the Princeton Warlord resigned his post at the Pentagon last month. In fact, I never really believed that Rumsfeld retired, but that he simply vanished from public view so he could carry out his nefarious plans undercover.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/175/1/

Bush Is About To Attack Iran. Why Can’t Americans See it?
By Paul Craig Roberts
“Within weeks from now, we will see the informational warfare machine start working. The public opinion is already under pressure. There will be a growing anti-Iranian militaristic hysteria, new information leaks, disinformation, etc. . . . The probability of a US aggression against Iran is extremely high"
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/132/2/

Why We Must Have Impeachment
By Dave Lindorff
When impeachment hearings began for President Richard Nixon, a scant one in four Americans thought he should be impeached. During the Clinton impeachment farce, support for the president"s removal from office never topped 36 percent. Yet a Newsweek poll taken last fall found that a remarkable 51 percent of the American public felt this president should face impeachment .
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/131/2/

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070128/cx_nq_uc/nq20070128
Non Sequitur
The punch line.... :-)

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is slavery.
Jonathan Swift : Irish author, 1667-1745

Patti F, NonnyO
Edwards is good on domestic policy but I certainly wouldn't call him antiwar. Check out his ideas re Israel, Iran when he attended the conference in the middle east couple of weeks ago. Hawkish Dem for foreign policy. He wants it bad - 17 trips to Iowa. The stances he's taking may be for the more conservative Jewish vote. Hillary Clinton knows where the money is - Hollywood. But Obama's also the new face in town - why people like Spielberg are having parties for both of them. Realistically, there is always an establishment candidate. That would be Hillary. I support Bill Richardson, by the way, but he won't get it. Best on foreign policy, and Hispanic to boot, but people won't pay attention. He's from the west, strategically good with the demographics right now. Candidates certainly aren't elected in America by the blogs, as moderates don't blog and they pull the weight in the swing states. Just America political reality. I am ready to nose plug again, both nostrils if necessary, because I'm not in a position to move to Canada and anyway they have Harper there, who's not much better. The candidates actually aren't that different for voting record. None of them have the well-rounded experience Kerry or Gore had, but that won't make much difference, not in a country where California has had an actor for Governor twice. Not in a country where an executioner from Texas whose brother is Governor in the state that cheated so he'd be President & whose father was head of the CIA & Preisdent can be President not once but twice. Democracy, yeah right.

Check this out - no one knows who is even fighting who!

Excerpt:

Iraqi and U.S. forces killed several hundred fighters apparently planning to attack a Shiite Muslim shrine in the holy city of Najaf on Sunday, during a daylong battle in which a U.S. helicopter crashed, killing two Americans, Iraqi officials said. The fighting, on the eve of the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashoura, came as the daily civilian death toll again nationwide climbed past 100.

Iraqi security officials offered conflicting accounts of the identity and motives of the heavily armed fighters in Najaf, variously describing them as foreign fighters, Sunni Arab nationalists, loyalists of executed former dictator Saddam Hussein, or followers of a messianic Shiite death cult. Some witness reported the attackers wore colorful Afghan tribal robes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003545907_najaf29.html

Obama
http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Barack_Obama.htm
H Clinton
http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm
Edwards
http://www.ontheissues.org/John_Edwards.htm

They are at almost the same exact place on the political spectrum.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-internet29jan29,0,4114166.story
Attack ads go online and underground
'Viral' Web video spreads fast and far, biting candidates hard - sometimes with their own words.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-conyers/peace-movement-strong-on-_b_39797.html
Rep. John Conyers
Peace Movement Strong on the Washington Mall

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/01/25/libbys-meeting-with-tom-_n_39574.html
Libby's Meeting With Tom Cruise And Penelope Cruz Surfaces In Court Testimony...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/opinion/29mon4.html
Congress, the Constitution and War: The Limits on Presidential Power
Army Probes War Contractor Fraud
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012807G.shtml
From high-dollar fraud to conspiracy to bribery and bid rigging, Army investigators have opened up to fifty criminal probes involving battlefield contractors in the war in Iraq and the US fight against terrorism.

Rockefeller Says He May Subpoena Documents on Spying
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012807D.shtml
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said he may subpoena Bush administration documents on its controversial domestic surveillance program. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), vowed he'll get details on a secret court's approvals of the program that targets suspected al-Qaeda members in the US. "I don't trust what they're doing," Rockefeller said.

On Iran, Bush Faces Haunting Echoes of Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012807C.shtml
As President Bush and his aides calibrate how directly to confront Iran, they are discovering that both their words and their strategy are haunted by the echoes of four years ago - when their warnings of terrorist activity and nuclear ambitions were clearly a prelude to war. This time, they insist, it is different.
Excerpts:

But the debate over whether the United States should stick to diplomacy or take more forceful action is bound to begin right away, and will sound familiar. Democrats, even while accusing the administration of failing to engage with Iran, are positioning themselves to sound tough.

"To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep all options on the table," former Senator John Edwards recently told an Israeli security conference. "Let me reiterate - all options."

{{{That comment will come back to bite Edwards in the @$$. It also makes him a DINO. He does not get my vote.}}}

Posted by: not my president at January 29, 2007 04:04 AM

So far, the candidates who are getting the most attention in Lamestream Media are all middle-of-the-road DINOs. It's like watching a herd of stampeding zebras. Can't tell one from the other by their empty rhetoric.

I admit I don't like having to pay attention to candidates when the election is so far in the future. It's a distraction that's going to bore me silly long before then. It also means that Lamestream Media and the neoCons are going to dictate who the next "leader" of this country will be, and it won't matter if it's a Democrat or a Republican. Pre-election propaganda for two solid years will make voters' eyes glaze over in boredom, especially since Hillary and McCain have been dubbed the darlings of neoCon Lamestream Media long before the last election!

I'd rather concentrate on things that need to be accomplished NOW: ending that illegal and unconstitutional war, closing Gitmo, repealing MCA '06, Patriot Acts, IMPEACHMENT....

Sigh....

THE WASHINGTON IRAQ PEACE MARCH: A PROTEST TO BE PROUD OF
By Karen Houppert, TheNation.com
In a protest event that organizers estimated at almost half a million, citizens of all stripes demanded an end to the occupation of Iraq.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/47339/

http://www.newshounds.us/2007/01/28/a_news_hound_tale_of_protest_united_for_peace_justice_march.php
A News Hound Tale of Protest: United for Peace & Justice March