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BushCo Tries To Pull A Swiftie on the SFRC
Two Bush-appointed nominees for full-term ambassadorships come up before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this afternoon. One of them is thoroughly qualified for the position he's been nominated for. The other guy? Well, not so much.
One the one hand, we have: Curtis S. Chin, of New York, to be United States Director of the Asian Development Bank, with the rank of Ambassador.
According to this 2006 Wall Street press release:
Chin is a public affairs & policy specialist with extensive experience working with corporations, not-for-profit organizations and the public sector in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere around the world. ... Chin has worked in the firm’s Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and New York offices. He also served in the Administration of President George H.W. Bush as a special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. During the Administration of President George W. Bush, Chin served on the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy.
Wow. That's a pretty strong set of credentials, don't you think? Sounds like Chin would be a good choice for the Asian Bank gig.
But then, on the other hand, we have:
Sam Fox, of Missouri, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium.
And that is just all kinds of wrong.
Why? Well, let's let these guys tell you about Sam Fox in their own words:
"... a reputation as one of the nation's most reliable GOP fundraisers." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Fox brought in heaps of cash for George Bush’s presidential campaigns."
-- Slate Magazine"I call him Foxie. Foxie, thanks for your friendship."
-- George Bush (at a $2.8 million fundraiser led by Fox)
Sam Fox has no foreign policy background and no experience working in the government. He admits this himself, along with the fact that he can’t speak Dutch or French proficiently either. What he knows about Belgium you could probably fit into one Wikipedia entry, and it's likely to be equally accurate as well.
Fox is a big-money GOP donor and old buddy of Bush's with no other qualifications for the job, and now he's being handed a cushy berth as ambassador to a small country where people don't hate us or blow things up. That's a bit sleazy, but hardly shocking -- people have been trading money for political patronage jobs every since the country was founded. So where's the problem?
For one thing, Sam Fox isn't just a big donor and fundraiser -- he's a really, really big donor who has taken blatant advantage of every possible dodge and legal loophole in the campaign finance laws to funnel soft money to, through, and around the Bush/GOP campaigns for many years.
Fox donated more than $600,000 to Bush-Cheney and other conservative candidates and GOP party committees for the 2000 election cycle, and he hosted an April 2000 gala that raked in $21.3 million for the RNC as well. He donated hundreds of thousands more for BushCo in 2004, and raised several million more to help celebrate his old buddy Bush's second trip to the Inaugural Ball.
But Sam Fox has absolutely no experience and no qualifications for the job of ambassador to Belgium (where, by the way, we do have U.S. missions to NATO and the European Union as well). But once again BushCo has shamelessly chosen to ignore the facts and to reward its wealthiest-1% friends and corporate profiteers with trophy jobs while jeopardizing our foreign policy, our security, and the success of our relationships overseas.
You can practically see Bush standing in front of the cameras with Sam Fox, shaking his hand and telling him, "You're doing a heck of a job, Foxie." And that's the worst part of this sordid little story right there -- because the last job Foxie did for BushCo was one heckuva hit job.
Sam Fox was one of the guys lurking behind the scenes with big bankrolls and bad bargains back in 2004, when he and a few of his buddies put up the money for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear campaign. According to campaign finance records, he kicked in $50,000 apiece to the Swifties and to the Progress For America GOP soft-money 527 groups (and that's just the part we know about).
In fact, Fox even gave the $50K to the SVBT after its claims had already been totally debunked by the MSM, just to keep the bogus GOP smear machine spinning away like a well-oiled top until the last votes were cast.
And if that's still not enough, Sam Fox is also a founding member of the Scooter Libby Legal Defense Fund, raising millions of dollars to help keep Libby and his ex-boss Dick Cheney out of prison. The man has no scruples whatsoever, just stacks and stacks of money to spread around in order to ooze his way into the highest levels of the BushCo White House.
And now, if the Senate confirms his nomination today -- which one can only hope they're smart and sane enough not to do -- he's going to be fiddling away in Belgium while Rome burns at home.
Which is why having to call him "Ambassador Sam Fox" would be just all kinds of wrong.
If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium. Wish I could say our foreign policy were as harmless a piece of fluff as a movie.
And now for the play-by-play...
I was watching the hearings on steamed video just now, and I got to tell you, it was a beautiful piece of SFRC theatre. Kerry got Fox and played him like a cat with a mouse.
He started by drawing out the obvious fact that Fox had no friggin clue about anything he was supposed to know about foreign policy, anti-terrorism, Belgium, or anything else that counts.
And then he took off the gloves, put on his glasses, and slowly, carefully pinned Fox down like a moth on cardboard on the whole SVBT /527 business until he all he could do was squirm, and squirm, and squirm.
Other senators watched raptly and kept yielding their time to Kerry until he was totally through with Fox and squished him like a bug. JK wasn't mad or blustery about it -- just cold, quiet, and firm, like the career prosecuting attorney he was back in the old days.
And then Coleman made a few necessary points about how this wasn't just a personal thing, it was very significant as to whether or not Fox had the integrity, character, and personal judgment for such an important posting.
And then Obama, who was presiding today, got in some very stern words to Fox for several minutes as well before he wrapped the session up for the day.
There is no friggin *way* anybody could dare vote to confirm that lying clueless rat bastid after this afternoon's performance.
It was one of the best half hours of political theatre I've seen in many years. As soon as the streaming video's up on Kerry's site, I'll come back here and post the URL so y'all can sit down and savor it too.
More popcorn, please! And another Coke!
[P.S. -- our buddy beachmom has her own killer diary about this up on dKos now too, with lots of extra details and embedded links to all the juicy bits for you hard-core fact wonks out there:]
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/27/125733/060
Payback is so sweet. Great You Are There theatre, thanks.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=273x126435 Also the diary of TV watchers at DU.
Thanks for the update on this issue.
This reminds me of another contentious ambassador nomination hearing back in the Clinton days. It was James Hormel, appointed by Clinton to represent the US in Belgium's neighbor Luxembourg.
The Republicans considered Hormel unfit too, but their reason was not even close to being job-related. See, Hormel was gay.
If Hormel could cause such firestorms and force Clinton to post him in a recess appointment, Sam Fox must be blocked at any cost.
Video of this afternoon's ambassador-nomination hearing is up on the SFRC website:
http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/hearings/2007/hrg070227p.html
Click on 'Nominations', it opens up a RealPlayer-format streaming video window.
Kerry vs. Sam Fox segment starts around 1:33 in, he shifts into the SVBT questions around 1:51 after wearing down Fox's credibility on Belgium first.
Enjoy the show -- the Kerry-vs-SBVT smackdown is long overdue indeed.
Anyway, the Kerrys are good friends of former Belgian ambassador couple who were REAL ambassadors. They know the difference. Can't wait to watch this when I get home.
Meanwhile, just read that this was the worst stock day since 9/11. When China sneezes, the whole world catches a cold.
Posted by: DiAnne at February 27, 2007 07:56 PM
Here too DiAnne.
Aussie share market tumbles
Colin Kruger
February 28, 2007 - 10:21AM
Australian stocks joined the worst sharemarket rout since September 11, 2001 amid fears that China's boom might be over.
Australia's major indices fell by more than 3 per cent when the markets opened this morning.
Australia's All Ordinaries Index plunged by 212 points to 5773 at the 10.15am open today, wiping about $45 billion from the value of the Australian stockmarket.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index had dropped 206.9 points to 5786.9.
The White House is nervously watching financial markets, after Wall Street and European bourses plummeted dramatically.
Cont. .....
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/aussie-share-market-tumbles/2007/02/28/1172338659896.html
Olbermann is busting the supposedly non-partisan think tank that spread convenient untruths about Gore yesterday, which btw has direct ties to the American Enterprise Institute also -- big surprise, huh?
Posted by: Otter at February 27, 2007 08:37 PM
Well, the phrase "free market" was a giveaway.
Good work, Keith.
And hey, the story in this threader made it to the MSM already!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_go_co/ambassador_swift_boat_1
(See, NonnyO, sometimes the MSM actually does get it right.)
Well, Richard and I enjoyed dessert tonight: Fox a la Kerry. A little tart, with a dry crust, but quite satisfying.
Oh, I do love the man.
Meanwhile, Richard is trying to find Sam Fox's phone number. He seems to be a very generous guy, and no questions asked either!
In the thread above, it said Fox would be sent to a place where people don't hate us (Belgium) - well, that may be, but I took a photo of some pretty jaw-dropping graffiti when I was in Brussels. It's a big star, and in the middle it has a little comment about America. If you click on my name in a few minutes, you will be able to see it. Refresh browser first.
By 'grilling', the yahoo story missed the deftness, or that the contribution was well after the group's lies had been revealed.
Interesting, too, that Kerry said $4 million SBVT expenditure that last week in Ohio alone. Adding Blackwell, a campaign would have to be far better to withstand all that. Too bad McAwful isn't mentioning the challenge on his road show. Heard $22 million SBVT campaign overall.
Was he brilliant, respectful and classy, or what? Absolutely tart and dry.
Karen Hughes as Fox's mentor?
I got it to work - had to download a new version of Real Player - had to move the cursor a ways into the video to get it to start.
Amazing - to see Kerry in that mode. Put me in a really wierd mood. It was some kind of justice that Kerry would go head to head with one of these guys, like good vs evil.
Still, our country has been robbed, of Gore, of Kerry - we have been robbed of our dignity, our youth, and now our economy.
Posted by: not my president at February 27, 2007 10:34 PM
Thanks for sharing the photo!
WOW!!!!!! A BOMBSHELL!!!! A MUST SEE!!!!!!
I watched ABC's Bob Woodruff Reports "To Iraq and Back" earlier tonight, and it was one of the most honest pieces I have seen on the truth of how many soldiers have been injured in the Iraq war, and the poor treatment many of them get from their government when they get back.
Bob Woodruff was the co-anchor of ABC's Nightly News when he went to Iraq to do a story and his vehicle hit an IED, giving him a massive brain injury. It is a story about his journey and thousands of others who are coming back from the Iraq war maimed.
It is shocking and sad. I cried.
On the program they outed the fact that the U.S. Defense Department had issued gag orders so that no one would tell the truth about how MANY soldiers were being injured.
To watch this moving and bold piece for yourself, just go to ABCNews.com and it will be played starting a little later this morning.
Also, here is what the New York Times had to say about it this early a.m.:
"To Iraq and Back" is remarkably compelling, mostly because the documentary, while moving, is not just a heart-wrenching portrait of one man's courageous struggle. Mr. Woodruff and his wife, Lee, have published a book about their experience, "In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing," and will soon be telling their inspiring tale to Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey and others.
~snip
Like celebrities who battle cancer, H.I.V. or Parkinson's disease, Mr. Woodruff decided to put his fame and experience to public use. And like so many people fueled by a sense of mission, he SEEKS GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY.
The film notes that the Department of Defense puts the number of men and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan at about 23,000, while the Department of Veterans Affairs has recorded treating more than 200,000 veterans of those two wars. Paul Sullivan, the director of programs at the advocacy group Veterans for America, says, "What you have are two sets of books."
http://tinyurl.com/3d4auc
Bombings in Iraq had killed four U.S. soldiers during the previous 24 hours, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. The number of U.S. military personnel killed in the Iraq war stands at 3,153; seven civilian contractors of the Defense Department have also been killed.
Truth Shall Prevail
Thanks for the report - I have been wanting to see that.
Let's all ask Sam Fox for money.
He gives it out.
No ?s asked.
Transcript of the Foxie-vs.-kerry political celebrity death match smackdown yesterday's nomination hearings is available here:
http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2007/02/kerry-versus-swift-boat-benefactor.html
So call the members of the Foreign Relations committee to tell them to keep Foxie out of Belgium (one of my very favorite countries).
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/committees.tt?commid=sfore
For want of a dentist
Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain
By Mary Otto
washingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON - Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.
If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.
By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.
Deamonte's death and the ultimate cost of his care, which could total more than $250,000, underscore an often-overlooked concern in the debate over universal health coverage: dental care.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17372104/
How many more reasons does this nation need to be ashamed of itself?
Who was that mystery official with Cheney?
WASHINGTON (AP) - Who was the mystery official on Vice President Dick Cheney’s plane? There were plenty of clues about his identity if you read a transcript of his remarks.
The rules were simple. The official who briefed reporters on Cheney’s plane could be identified only as a senior administration official. But the high-ranking official wasn’t very careful about concealing his identity as Cheney wrapped up his round-the-world trip with surprise stops in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pay attention to the pronouns — me and I — that the official uses in describing the vice president’s mission.
“The reason the president wanted me to come, obviously, is because of the continuing threat that exists in this part of the world on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border,” the senior administration official said Tuesday.
The White House distributed a text of the official’s comments on Air Force Two as Cheney flew from Afghanistan to Oman before beginning his flight back to Washington. The transcript did not spell out why the official on Cheney’s plane would not be quoted by name.
There had been reports in some newspapers that Cheney, who was back in Washington Wednesday, was going to tell Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, that he needed to be more aggressive against al-Qaida operatives and Taliban fighters in the lawless border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Let me just make one editorial comment here,” the official said. “I’ve seen some press reporting says, ‘Cheney went in to beat up on them, threaten them.’ That’s not the way I work. I don’t know who writes that, or maybe somebody gets it from some source who doesn’t know what I’m doing, or isn’t involved in it. But the idea that I’d go in and threaten someone is an invalid misreading of the way I do business.
“I would describe my sessions both in Pakistan and Afghanistan as very productive. We’ve had notable successes in both places. I’ve often said before and I believe it’s still true that we’ve captured and killed more al-Qaida in Pakistan than anyplace else. And I think we’re making progress in Afghanistan.”
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17379953/
WTF???
Here's the link to ABC News' front page. You can find the Woodward video on here today.
http://abcnews.go.com/
I'm home until noon today because of the snow, but then it looks like I will be called in. So if someone finds a better link for that story would you please be kind enough to post it? Thanks!
It looks like they have broken the video into segments, but each is compelling.
(You're welcome, NMP. I was so excited I had to give a report, but you can't get the full impact unless you watch it for yourself.)
Posted by: monkey at February 28, 2007 11:20 AM
I know.
If I were them, I'd be ASHAMED to have the CIA admit that there were so many of Al Qaeda left in Pakistan.
Smells desperate. Hello, Base?
Posted by: monkey at February 28, 2007 10:31 AM
Those compassionate conservatives give more meaning to the words "Kill them with kindness."
Now journalists have to be escorted by a public affairs person to any place on the campus.
---
Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.
“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
It is unusual for soldiers to have daily inspections after Basic Training.
Soldiers say their sergeant major gathered troops at 6 p.m. Monday to tell them they must follow their chain of command when asking for help with their medical evaluation paperwork, or when they spot mold, mice or other problems in their quarters.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/TNSreedinspect070...
Truth Shall Prevail
Yes, someone I work with just saw the Woodward thing last night & we've worked together in head injury rehab off & on. I persuaded her to vote for Kerry & she had definitely grown up on the other side.
Libby jury to judge: Forget we asked
Panel rescinds request for clarification on one of five charges
Updated: 15 minutes ago
AP
WASHINGTON - Jurors briefly stumbled over some legalese in the CIA leak trial but before lawyers and the judge could craft an answer Wednesday, they said forget it and resumed deliberating.
Jurors passed a note to U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton at the end of the day Tuesday asking him to clarify one of five charges against former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Attorneys for both sides proposed answers, but Walton said he was confused and asked jurors for clarification late Wednesday morning. But by then, they had moved on.
"After further discussion, we are clear on what we need to do," jurors wrote. "No further clarification needed. Thank you. We apologize."
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17378601/
I presume your comment otter was of Senator Norm Coleman. pparently he is now trying to suck up to Minn. Dems b/c of his race with Franken, hope Minnesotans don't fall for his pandering.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003586542_mcdermott26.html
Give Department of Peace a chance
U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott
In a world torn by conflict, I can't think of a better time, or a greater need, for America to act as a force for good at home and around the world.
A bill recently was reintroduced in Congress that will go a long way toward bringing peace both at home and abroad. The measure would create a Cabinet-level Department of Peace.
The proposed department will give voice to the latest research and expertise on peaceful efforts in many areas — from safe schools to international arms control.
The legislation, which I am co-sponsoring, would fund, support and coordinate programs already in existence — in schools, prisons, police departments, educational institutions, charitable organizations and elsewhere — that are proven to reduce domestic and international violence and enhance the security and health of all Americans.
I believe a Department of Peace represents the ideals on which this country was founded. Our legislation, HR 808, embodies the dreams and aspirations of Americans to live in a nation that uses its great strength to support the cooperative efforts of people throughout the world to create peace.
In my years as a congressman and as a physician in the U.S. military, I have recognized repeatedly that the interests of the one cannot triumph over the interests of the many; that the security concerns of the United States are best served by diplomacy and cooperation rather than brute force.
A Department of Peace won't be just another top-heavy bureaucratic organization. Much like the Environmental Protection Agency, it will provide a uniting framework for existing organizations scattered throughout the U.S. currently working to bring peace to our communities and the world.
The department will research, propose and facilitate practical, field-tested solutions to reduce conflict, providing financial and institutional heft to our current ineffectual efforts to deal with all forms of domestic and international violence and discord. And it will help develop curricula to educate students in grades K-12 on how to resolve conflict peacefully.
Internationally, a Department of Peace will advise the president and Congress on the most innovative techniques to establish and promote peace among nations, and will research and analyze the root causes of war to help prevent conflicts from escalating to the point of violence.
It will create a Peace Academy, on par with the Military Service Academies, to train civilian peacekeepers and the military in the latest nonviolent conflict-resolution strategies and approaches. And it will provide a direct voice at the president's table to offer peaceful solutions to conflicts before they disintegrate into violence.
The president's recently proposed federal budget would allocate more than $439 billion to our military, an increase of more than 5 percent. A Department of Peace will cost a small fraction of that, or approximately $8 billion a year. That amount is less than we currently spend each month for the war in Iraq.
Clearly, a Department of Peace will be a bargain — and, it will be money well spent. It will save dollars — and, more importantly, it will save lives.
As the globe shrinks, as the peoples and countries of the world become more entwined in both commerce and security, our consciousness has expanded.
I've learned there's something about the human spirit, about the spirit of Americans everywhere, that strives for cooperation rather than domination. We all yearn for peace, and for the prosperity that peace brings. We all yearn for a better world for our children and our children's children. We want for them the best education possible; health care that encompasses and embraces everyone; a retirement secure from the plagues and worries that come with inadequate income and support; a healthy environment; and a world freed from the horrors of war.
By reducing the immense costs of violence both domestically and internationally, a U.S. Department of Peace will help secure these essentials. It will demonstrate to our citizens and to the world that the United States is committed to using its great strength in partnership with all peoples to work for, and champion, peace. And, it will provide a beacon of hope for everyone that the peace we yearn for is not an unachievable dream, but an obtainable reality.
As President Bush correctly noted, Americans are a peace-loving people. Now is the time to put these words into action.
U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, represents the 7th Congressional District of Washington state. For more information about the proposed U.S. Department of Peace, go to www.dopcampaign.org
Pakistan denies bin Laden is regrouping there
U.S. has not backed up claim with evidence, interior minister says
Updated: 1 hour ago
AP
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan on Wednesday rejected a claim by the U.S. intelligence chief that Osama bin Laden and his deputy were hiding in northwestern Pakistan, and that al-Qaida was setting up camps near the Afghan border.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told The Associated Press there were no al-Qaida training camps in his country and U.S. officials had not provided any intelligence suggesting there were.
"We will act on any such intelligence, but so far they have not" provided any, he said.
Sherpao's comments came a day after Mike McConnell, the new U.S. intelligence chief, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that al-Qaida was trying to set up operations in largely ungoverned parts of Pakistan's northwest, along Afghanistan's eastern border.
"It's something we're very worried about and very concerned about," McConnell said. U.S. intelligence officials believe that bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, were trying to establish an al-Qaida base in the region, he said. McConnell noted the camps are in an area that has never been governed by any state or outside power.
On a visit to Pakistan on Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to seek his aid in foiling an anticipated spring offensive by the Taliban and al-Qaida against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Cheney was accompanied by Deputy CIA Director Stephen Kappes, suggesting that the U.S. officials were prepared to buttress their allegations about al-Qaida operations with intelligence data.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17380397/from/RS.4/
Sounds like they are cookin' up a case in the face of conflicting statements of those actually there... again.
..like they still have any control over it ..
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Pentagons_number_two_suggests_terror_war_0228.html
Pentagon's number two suggests terror war will end in Oct. 2008
The Department of Defense's number two official appears to imply in a memo that the Global War on Terrorism will end just in time for the presidential election in November 2008. The contents of the document are outlined in a column in today's Washington Post.
Al Kamen, who writes the Post's "In The Loop" column, cited a pair of memos written by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England in today's paper. The first memo was written Dec. 6 and sent to top military and civilian officials. It identifies eight priorities for the coming fiscal year, and the first of them is to "Win the Global War on Terrorism."
In a second memo from Feb. 15, England writes that "to ensure that warfighters and taxpayers receive maximum benefit from on-going initiatives, it would be highly desirable to complete current projects by the summer/fall of 2008."
England then provides a quarterly grid with the same eight priorities from the December memo and "expected milestone conclusion dates" for each one.
As Kamen points out, the first priority of winning the global terror war from the earlier memo is included on the grid, and "looks to be over around October 2008."
The next presidential election will occur in November 2008, a month later.
Kamen's full column can be accessed at the Washington Post's website.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702109.html
What an age of disinformation we live in.
First someone says something will occur or did occur or is true (an important official, high up in the Adminstration or the Pentagon or a four-star general) and shortly thereafter, someone of equal stature issues a denial.
Now Condi Rice proclaims that there will be a potluck of various neighbors, including Iran and Syria and it is, of course, Iraq's idea. Two weeks ago, Bush was declaring that it would never happen unless Iran completely abandoned its nuclear ambitions.
It makes my head spin.
Listening to Seymour Hirsch last night, he summarized what I'd been thinking. We took down a Sunni government in Iraq, and now we are fighting the Shiite militants and funneling help to Sunnis. So we are allies of the Arabian Gulf States (UAE, Saudi Arabia etc) against the Persian Empire. We can fight both of them now. Then we help the Kurds, who have great oilfields, but ask Turkey if we can use their airspace, discounting that the Kurds in Turkey could join with the neighboring Iraqi ones we're working with.
We seem to be simultaneously issuing weapons to all sides and then fighting them, as well as training them to fight each other.
& we are miraculously going to turn this "off" at some point?!
I presume your comment otter was of Senator Norm Coleman. pparently he is now trying to suck up to Minn. Dems b/c of his race with Franken, hope Minnesotans don't fall for his pandering.
Posted by: Bubb at February 28, 2007 12:31 PM
It's only certain in-state media who suck up to Norm Coleman, particularly the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul (KSTP) which is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, and the owner gave money to one of the 527 groups who ended up trying to smear Klobuchar and other Dems who were running in '06. (Klobuchar won; she's the first female US senator from MN, and she was always ahead by 15 points in the polls pre-election day.) The 527 group is based in Virginia, so it's unknown why Hubbard gave them money.
The rest of us... NOT.
Norm Coleman is a pathetic excuse for a human being. He once was a Dem, switched sides while holding local or state offices. Last year Coleman's elderly father and a younger woman (unknown if an acquaintance or if she was a hooker) were caught having sex in broad daylight in the parking lot of a family pizza parlor. Yeah. Some "family values!" Coleman was on record (sound byte) as saying his father was the example of a good man he looked up to. Additionally, at the '06 RNC in NYC, Coleman's wife who is an amateur actress passed out photos of herself in skimpy bedroom lingerie. Talk about pandering...! I suppose she was aiming to be asked by a NY producer of plays to act on Broadway. Years ago before he had his teeth fixed, Coleman had a gap between his two front teeth, and after that was fixed, he wouldn't allow any old photos of him to be shown from his past. Totally tasteless and tacky, no matter how one looks at Coleman or his family members.
I forget if it's Minneapolis or St. Paul, but the surname of the mayor of one of them is also Coleman (and he's a Democrat), although there is no biological relationship to the cretin Norm Coleman (that's FYI, in case the neoCons don't catch the fact that there's no biological relationship during the '08 RNC). The surname of the other mayor is R.T. Ryback.
There's more than one Democrat who has thrown his hat in the ring for Coleman's seat in '08, but the only one getting any publicity is Al Franken. Unless something comes up that I have to change my mind, I plan on supporting Franken. At least he can express himself cogently....
Posted by: not my president at February 28, 2007 12:31 PM
Sorry, but I just cannot support yet another money-eating governmental department.
Department of Peace reminds me of Orwell's 1984.
Bad enough there's a money-eating department called 'Homeland Security' - and I think that should be abolished, too.
The mountains of bureaucratic bull*!t in too many 'departments of whateve'r make government less effective, not more effective. By the time people wind their way through all of the red tape, and now the fact that so much of the government is outsourced to corporations who take the money and run with it, nothing useful gets accomplished and money for people like Katrina victims gets sucked into corporations, and very little of it gets to the hurricane victims.
It will create a Peace Academy, on par with the Military Service Academies, to train civilian peacekeepers and the military in the latest nonviolent conflict-resolution strategies and approaches.
Posted by: not my president at February 28, 2007 12:31 PM
THIS tells me "corporate mercenaries" and it's what DimWit proposed in his last SOTU speech!!! That's NOT how to promote PEACE.
British humour: Cheney
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,,2023150,00.html
NonnyO
Unfortunately, the Department of Peace stuff seems idealistic and symbolic, but someone has to propose it in a world where there are so many departments of War.
It seems to me alot of them would have to also be abolished. I don't think Kucinich or McDermott meant for anything to be implimented in the way Bush did in the SOTU. Citizens may mean people like you and I, in the ideal Department of Peace.
Even corrupt Zimbabwe has a Minister of Music (I went to school with him). It's all about priorities and ours are screwed.
McDermott is my Congressman and I happen to think he walks on water, so that informs some of my bias.
Really good blog by Tariq Ali
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tariq_ali/2007/02/the_khyber_impasse.html
on our doomed mission
I was in Belgium once. We were in Luxembourg and I rented a car and drove to Bastogne because my mom's cousin was in the 10th Armored Engineers in Bastogne in December 1944.
The Ardennes reminded me a lot of Western Oregon.
Chuck in Houston