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Two Funerals and A Waiting
(Times-News photo of Laura Buchan by Vivian Johnson)
Erie, Pennsylvania is a small city on the edge of a great lake. It is a quintessentially American community -- so much so, in fact, that it was designated an All-American City by Richard Nixon in 1972. Like many such cities, it has gone through some painful changes over the last few decades as its old industrial economy gradually gave way to a 21st-century technology/service/tourism economy instead. But Erie still typifies what most Americans look for in their home towns: wide streets, good schools, low crime rates, affordable housing, and a generally pleasant quality of life for its citizens.
And like the residents of most American home towns outside the Beltway and between the polarized left and right coast megalopolises, people in Erie are basically centrist by nature. They may differ widely on specific individual issues, but for the most part they share common values and common beliefs with each other and with the hundreds of millions of other Americans who live in what is sometimes referred to as "flyover country."
Politics is something that people do care about in Erie, at least when it impacts their daily lives in some particular way, but they don't obsess about it. They may lean left or right, but they do so with their feet planted firmly in the middle of the road. During the 2004 race, George Bush's single largest campaign-rally audience was in Erie. But in 2004, Erie voters chose John Kerry over George Bush by a solid margin. Professional pundits and politicians and prognosticators do well to pay attention to what happens in Erie, because it is and always has been a bellwether burg for how the American electorate looks at the world.
That's why today, while Senators on both sides of the aisle are busy debating and voting on the Levin-Reed Amendment to the Defense Authorization Act that would begin to put the brakes on the Bush administration's ongoing escalation of its dishonest war in Iraq, it's appropriate for us to look at the human costs of making war as seen through the eyes of quintessentially average Americans, as told in the words of four reporters for the award-winning Erie Times-News newspaper.
Two funerals in two weeks. Two flag-draped coffins. Two men who gave the last full measure of devotion for the country they chose to serve. And one mother of two sons in harm's way, waiting and hoping and praying that they come home alive this time.
As Times-News reporter Erica Erwin wrote on July 4,
Alan Sargent stood on the tarmac at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and placed his hand over his heart.
Fifteen yards away, Northwest Airlines Flight 1740 had rolled to a stop outside gate C6.
Sargent watched, waiting, while members of the ground crew crawled through the plane's belly into the cargo hold.
Minutes passed before he saw the flag-draped coffin pass from the hold onto a conveyor belt.
"There he is," Sargent said to himself. "There he is."
[...]
Travelers walking through the C terminal at Cleveland Hopkins paused, pressing their faces against the window panes as a military honor guard marched in lock step to the plane and carried the coffin to a waiting hearse.
Passengers, asked to stay onboard, watched from their seats above.
A baggage handler dressed in shorts and a fluorescent green vest joined police, fire and airport officials in saluting as the coffin passed by.
And as Times-News reporter Andy Boyle wrote in a follow-up story on July 8,
Nancy Donald looked down when the three rifle shots rang out at the Girard cemetery Saturday. Those shots originated from an old military custom of halting the fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield.
That's just what happened to Donald's uncle, U.S. Airman Sgt. Richard Sargent.
[...]
Spectators lined the streets, some standing in front of motorcycles holding American flags and dressed in biker gear. Others were wearing high school ROTC garbs or veteran hats. Lawn chairs were set up and people were watching from their porches.
The bikers came from New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland. A couple were from Florida. They were the Patriot Guard Riders, about 80 strong, and they came to pay their respects.
"It's a little sad, but also joyous," said one rider, David Cullen. "He's finally coming home."
Sargent's flag-draped casket was taken out of the funeral home and put onto a horse drawn carriage. The police signaled for traffic to stop, and the final leg of his long sojourn home began.
He traveled down Church Street. Family, veterans and Patriot Guard followed him on foot.
Men and women on the sides of the street snapped to salute as Sargent passed. Others took pictures with cell phones and cameras.
He entered the cemetery to strains of John Williams "Hymn to the Fallen." The music fit -- it's from "Saving Private Ryan."
Daniel Edder, the funeral director, said he remembers what was going through his mind when the casket came off the plane in Cleveland.
"It's been such a long road for Richard," he said, his voice wavering in front of the cemetery crowd. "Amen -- he's home."
The honor guard lifted the flag off the casket. They started to fold it in slow, deliberate movements, making sure it was packed tight. It had to be perfect, with one honor guardsman stating, "This flag represents duty, honor, custom."
The flag was to be given to Donald. An honor guardsman inspected it, making some final touches and pulling it tight.
Then he slipped in three rifle shells from that old military custom of firing. One last inspection, and then the slow, deliberate walk to Donald.
Donald nodded as he handed her the flag. Her eyes welled up.
Her uncle was finally home.
Those compelling descriptions of a fallen warrior's long last ride home sound all too familiar to Americans by now. Over 4,000 men and women have made the same sad journey home from Iraq and Afghanistan in the past six years. Richard Sargent came home to a hero's welcome, but there's one important difference between him and those 4,000 others. His last ride home was a lot longer than theirs could ever be.
Richard Sargent was a flight engineer on a B-24 Liberator bomber that went down in the trackless mountain jungles of New Guinea in April of 1944. The wreckage was finally discovered in late 2001, teams from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command began excavating the site in 2002, and the last of the remains were finally identified this past April.
It took 63 years to bring Richard Sargent home from New Guinea to Girard, a small town halfway between Erie and the nearby Ohio border. But bring him home they did. He was laid to rest with full military honors, surrounded by friends and loved ones. His sacrifice deserved no less than that.
And Raymond Buchan's sacrifice deserved no less than that, too.
As Times-News reporter Amanda Palleschi wrote on July 14,
There were the rituals expected at military funerals.
The flag waving at half-staff.
The leather-vested motorcycle riders from the Patriot Guard.
The measured steps of uniformed members of the 99th Regional Readiness Command in Pittsburgh, carrying the silver coffin.
The crisp white gloves. The folding of the flag that Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond R. Buchan died protecting.
Then there were the moments at Buchan's burial on Friday that no one choreographed.
The soldier who buried his face in a tissue.
The gifts for Buchan's family -- rosary beads wrapped in a plain, white plastic bag, because "Ray wouldn't have it any other way."
The friends who sat waiting outside the funeral home, nervously smoking cigarettes, clutching tissues, not saying a word.
Bob and Jane Zawadzki, standing in their yard on Vista Drive behind Dusckas Martin Funeral Home, arms crossed, watching at the foot of their driveway with their flag hung at half-staff.
Laura Buchan might remember those moments from the day she buried a husband and father, a man whom Maj. Gen. David Huntoon called a "clear and decisive leader" who put the needs of others before his own.
[...]
Raymond R. Buchan, 33, was killed July 1 when insurgents opened fire on his unit in Ta'meem, Iraq, just west of Baghdad. He served with the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, part of the 1st Infantry Division.
He spent four years as an Army recruiter in Erie, where he met his wife, Laura, 27, an Erie native. The couple lived in Germany, where he was based, with sons Hayden, 8, and Andy, 1.
[...]
Huntoon presented Laura Buchan with her husband's Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, honoring his valor in a time of war.
"He was both tough and compassionate. He was courageous in this fight, and even more courageous when the fight was over," Huntoon said. He recalled how Buchan listened to everyone who approached him and made friends with Iraqi police officers.
"He made any task look effortless with his smile."
[...]
As the procession assembled around the tent with the coffin and the soldier and the flag, Laura Buchan sat at graveside, her hands cupped over her mouth as they lowered her husband's body. She held the folded flag close to her heart and walked up to say goodbye.
Raymond Buchan's long last ride home took less than two weeks -- a much shorter trip in time than Richard Sargent's 63-year journey, but the same lifetime's length of loss for his wife and children and loved ones.
In another small town just south of Erie, Dawn Lackovic is hoping and praying that she won't be the next one to receive an American flag folded into the shape of a triangle. That's all she can do.... except to wait. And wait some more.
As Times-News reporter Robb Frederick wrote on July 16,
No, she didn't see the news.
Men with air-conditioned haircuts second-guessing her sons? Talking cut-and-run before Iraq is free, its streets safe, its people grateful? She doesn't need that.
If something bad happens -- something gather-the-family bad -- the Marine Corps will come for her. Dawn Lackovic will watch them drive up the dirt road, past the pond with the lazy paddle wheel, past the fence she decorated with ribbons cut from a dollar-store tablecloth, and she'll know before the first word.
Until then, the news is just a nuisance.
"The less I know, the better off I am," Lackovic says, settling into a porch rocker on a quiet morning in Cambridge Springs.
That's not to say she doesn't worry. She does. The boys had trouble after their first deployments. Their tempers coiled, poised like cornered diamondbacks. Their dreams were bad.
During a visit with their father -- in an Arizona town called Baghdad, if you can believe that -- one of them got drunk and a little mouthy and was shot with the hot end of a police Taser. He spent the night in jail.
And now they're back in Iraq. Pfc. Bryan Gregory, 22, works in light-armored reconnaissance. Sgt. Nathan Gregory, 24, is a communications officer. This is his third trip.
"People say that God won't give you more than you can handle," Lackovic says. "Well, I told him: I'm at my limit."
[...]
She knows the risks. Bryan Gregory suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and struggled with an inner-ear problem after a bomb exploded under his transport, ripping into his backpack. Nathan Gregory left a 2-year-old at home.She talks to her mother, Ann Haight. She flies the flag, too.
"I've kind of swayed a little," Haight says of the war. "But when my grandsons tell me they are making a difference, I have to believe them. They're the ones who are over there."
Bryan Gregory is due home in October. His brother will follow him out in March.
Lackovic will keep the flag out.
"Don't get me wrong," she says. "I would love for my kids to come home. But if they come home before it's done, before they finish the job, everything they've sacrificed, and everybody who has died -- it all will be wasted."
She sits on her porch, and she rocks a while longer. The television stays off.
A small city on the edge of a great lake. Three families, three stories. Two funerals and a waiting. All-American moments being played out against the backdrop of an unjustified, untenable war, like thousands of others just like them across the country every day the Bush administration is allowed to keep putting American sons and daughters in harm's way, surrounded by the lethal chaos of an Iraqi civil war a half a globe away.
In Erie, citizens pondering the fate of our troops and the Iraqis around around them struggle with their conscience and try to their reconcile their longtime belief in the fundamental rightness of America with their growing awareness of the fundamental wrongness of the Bush administration's failed policies in the Middle East. All across the United States, in flyover country and on the coasts, in sleepy small towns and bustling big cities, average Americans are watching and waiting to see what happens in Washington this time.
And in Washington, as the Senate addresses the Levin-Reed Amendment today and both houses of Congress continue to address similarly-purposed legislation in the days to come, the Buchans and the Lackovics and all the others like them who've lost or still risk losing loved ones in Iraq are just so many small faces in a very large crowd.
Fortunately for all concerned, the First Amendment is still in effect and good writers in small cities still write strong stories for regional newspapers that keep the focus right where it belongs: on the individual average Americans who are paying the real-world cost for the Bush administration's illegal and immoral war in Iraq.
And that is a war that must be ended now. Every day the war drags on, more people are asked -- and ordered, and forced -- to die for a mistake. And their blood may be on the hands of the neocons who lied us into this misbegotten quagmire in Iraq, but their ghosts will still haunt each and every one of us for a long, long time to come.
"But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts us absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many lifeless bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas."
-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Very powerful Rick. It touches my heart so deeply.
I think Kurt got it just about right.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/18/31231/3332
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/02845/5864
Tick Tock Tick Tock: Subpoena Watch
On June 27, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy issued subpoenas to the White House, Vice President and the Justice Department for documents about warrantless surveillance. The deadline for compliance is July 18.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Nowhere_to_go_but_up_Pentagon_0717.html
Pentagon starts spin unit to target talk radio, bloggers
Thank you, Rick.
Yesterday, the Iraq Vets Against the War began a new campaign, going into Congress with folded flags, and the message:
FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS. Adam Kokesh spoke about how embarrassed he felt even saying that slogan: Isn't it OBVIOUS?
As they go into Senate and House offices, they are bringing folded flags and delivering their message. They find that staffers do not stand, do not know how to accept the flags or the message. The vets are gentle, but somewhat horrified that they even have to do what they are doing, while instructing people who should know better.
The Rev. Yearwood spoke about how he can't sleep at night anymore, and his red-rimmed eyes are proof. He is being discharged from the Air Force because he is considered a danger to the cause of warfare, which, of course, he is. He has embraced peace and life and, thus, he cannot sleep at night.
Patricia, who came here two weeks ago to fast in Congress until the war ends, went home to the San Juan Islands in Washington State. She stayed with us for a week, dutifully going into the Senate and House galleries every day, bearing quiet witness to the deaths that continue and continue. Patricia is 68 and robust, but she was not allowed any water inside the galleries. As she left she said to us, "I don't know why I thought they would listen to me; they don't even listen to each other."
Rick, this is a beautiful piece, as usual. But the situation is so deeply dire. We are engaged in a struggle for democracy unlike any we have seen before. I cannot stress enough that everyone needs to call Congress, every single day. All day. Use the Iraq Vets message: FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS. Lather, rinse, repeat.
WE HAVE ONE WEEK. That's it folks.
Rick, this is such a powerful piece. Hard, very hard, to read. And so important to read. Every afternoon I watch the PBS newshour that screened in the US almost 24 hrs earlier. At the end of each program they show the names and pictures of those who have died. At first, I made myself look at each face and read their age - 23, 20, 25, 25, 31, 22 and on it goes. Every day I sat sobbing as I tried to see the names and faces. Happy, hopeful faces. Young, smiling faces on the brink of adulthood.
It distresses me. I can't bear to watch. I turn away from the faces. There are truckloads of tears to be shed for many years by the friends and families of every single person pictured. Whether they come home in a casket, or they come home damaged, the child who went to war will never be the child who returns.
The obscenity of war is that it's not just the wounds that hurt, it's the witnessing of the darkest side of humankind. It's the sights and sounds and smells of hell.
At such times they will find within themselves greater courage than they ever believed possible. And they will witness this courage in their comrades. They don't get the choice that I get. They can't turn away.
The other night I heard a young American medic, saying that his tour had been extended for the third time. He had a wish. "I want the president to come here and spend 3 months with me. We will do everything together. He will be right here. Until he does that, he will have no idea what madness this is and he will keep sending us back." The journalist was embedded with this group for a few days or weeks.
Another young soldier said that you have to live with your whole body and mind wound up tight all the time. There is no down time, because even when you sleep you are tense and alert and awake. He was so exhausted. He went on, despairing, "When you've had a few restless hours you have to go out and do it again."
I think we become desensitised to the lunacy when we see it in every newscast. Familiarity breeds contempt. Kind of like the 9/11 shots that we are still seeing.
Every day I grieve for all the American mothers who have lost children in Iraq or Afghanistan. To a mother they are always children. I know that the loss is great for the fathers, too. But I can only experience that of a mother. Such a loss must rip an enormous hole right through each mother's very soul. I also grieve for the Iraqi and Afghani women who have lost their children.
How dare we sacrifice young lives when we don't have the guts to go and do it ourselves? How dare we ask this of our children?
Soldiers are dying for the lying...
Industry's role in Cheney energy report emerges
Many meetings held with companies before environmentalists approached
By Michael Abramowitz and Steven Mufson
washintonpost.com
At 10 a.m. on April 4, 2001, representatives of 13 environmental groups were brought into the Old Executive Office Building for a long-anticipated meeting. Since late January, a task force headed by Vice President Cheney had been busy drawing up a new national energy policy, and the groups were getting their one chance to be heard.
Cheney was not there, but so many environmentalists were in the room that introductions took up "about half the meeting," recalled Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth. Anna Aurilio of the U.S. Public Interest Group said, "It was clear to us that they were just being nice to us."
A confidential list prepared by the Bush administration shows that Cheney and his aides had already held at least 40 meetings with interest groups, most of them from energy-producing industries. By the time of the meeting with environmental groups, according to a former White House official who provided the list to The Washington Post, the initial draft of the task force was substantially complete and President Bush had been briefed on its progress.
Names long withheld
In all, about 300 groups and individuals met with staff members of the energy task force, including a handful who saw Cheney himself, according to the list, which was compiled in the summer of 2001. For six years, those names have been a closely guarded secret, thanks to a fierce legal battle waged by the White House. Some names have leaked out over the years, but most have remained hidden because of a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that agreed that the administration's internal deliberations ought to be shielded from outside scrutiny.
One of the first visitors, on Feb. 14, was James J. Rouse, then vice president of Exxon Mobil and a major donor to the Bush inauguration; a week later, longtime Bush supporter Kenneth L. Lay, then head of Enron Corp., came by for the first of two meetings. On March 5, some of the country's biggest electric utilities, including Duke Energy and Constellation Energy Group, had an audience with the task force staff.
British Petroleum representatives dropped by on March 22, one of about 20 oil and drilling companies to get meetings. The National Mining Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the American Petroleum Institute were among three dozen trade associations that met with Cheney's staff, the document shows.
The list of participants' names and when they met with administration officials provides a clearer picture of the task force's priorities and bolsters previous reports that the review leaned heavily on oil and gas companies and on trade groups -- many of them big contributors to the Bush campaign and the Republican Party. But while it clears up much of the lingering uncertainty about who was granted access to present energy policy views to Cheney's staff, it does not entirely explain why the Bush administration fought so hard to keep it and other as-yet-unreleased internal memos secret.
Why secret?
Contacted over the past week, several people who met with the task force's staff described their meetings as part of a normal "interagency" review of major domestic policy and expressed bewilderment that the White House and Cheney labored to keep the deliberations out of the public eye.
"I never knew why they fought so hard to keep it secret," said Charles A. Samuels, outside counsel to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which participated in a March 13 meeting to discuss the idea of tax credits for super-efficient appliances. "I am sure the vast majority of the meetings were very policy-oriented meetings -- exactly what should take place."
Provided a copy of the list, Cheney's office said he would not comment on it. "The vice president has respectfully but resolutely maintained the importance of protecting the ability of the president and vice president to receive candid advice on important national policy matters in confidence, a principle affirmed by the Supreme Court," spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said by e-mail.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who unsuccessfully pushed for details of the meetings, said it is "ridiculous" that it has taken six years to see who attended the meetings. He described the energy task force as an early indicator of "how secretively Vice President Cheney wanted to act."
Waxman said he was not surprised to see the prevalence of energy industry groups on the list of meetings. "Six years later, we see we lost an opportunity to become less dependent on importing oil, on using fossil fuels, which have been a threat to our national security and the well-being of the planet," he said.
The development of a new energy policy was Bush's first major initiative after he took office. He turned over responsibility of it to Cheney, a former chairman of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based energy services firm.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19817580/
Has the vote already happened in DC...?
I just woke up so I'm not really hip at this moment.
Did it pass, fail, what is the count?
I created a facebook group for the DCP, in the hope that we can encourage more to get active.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2839481240
Please join it. Facebook is designed for youth, but grownups can be guides.
CALL CONGRESS: FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS!
Karen
Joined and also the local network which has 60,000 plus and has discussions plus a place for posting events. Good idea you had!
Rick,
Great piece! I will be thinking about it all day. It's really powerful with the photo, comments, obituaries.
Christy,
There is info on the last thread about the vote. Thanks to TSP for staying up late to watch Kerry. It might be Kerry Vision or his site! (People were wondering) Looked like someone working at a hospital who could only follow via blogs found us too. It wasn't me - I was sleeping and will head to the hospital to work now.
I am reading news but obviously I must be confused.
I am reading the repells blocked it, that the dems passed it, that nothing happened yet cause they are still debating.
I have no idea wtf is going on.
Christy
News can't keep up and procedure is complicated. I'm hoping NPR will have a good analysis as I drive, with excerpts from speakers, explanation of procedures and predictions. I'll have 35 minutes for the business news and part of Morning Edition, then park. It's my main news source off the internet.
Up All Night, by Senator Tom Harken
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/12557/4643
In an extraordinary display of fealty to President Bush and his failed Iraq policy, Republicans are literally refusing to allow a vote on an amendment to bring home our soldiers and reduce the U.S. involvement in Iraq.
The American people deserve to know where every Senator stands on the most important issue facing Congress. We must not allow Republicans to block an up or down vote with procedural semantics.
I wanted to make sure my colleagues knew where Iowans stand on the issue. So earlier tonight, while on the floor, I read some letters that I have received from Iowans, including Iowa soldiers and their families.
I hope that this one sleepless night in the U.S. Senate will awaken Republicans to the reality that their loyalty belongs not to the President, but to the American people.
I am so sick of these damn republicans that are just urging us to TRUST GEORGIE yet not one of them can give us a single sane reason why we should.
If you refuse to call someone a liar, then you can just keep up the pretense he must just be honest then.
They make me gag.
Here you can see a photo of some others who kept all-night vigil outside the Capitol, and I think I see some women in pink.
http://www.democracyarsenal.org/
Vote Vets blogger on the Hill
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/1532/70854
Yes, nmp, I see Desiree and Medea and Kathy is filming. I saw them all earlier last evening and they said they were doing the vigil.
Amazing women.
Warning about Administration using Pavlov's Dog type of Propaganda on us to get us to be afraid enough to support fighting, and then I must head out.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_reporter_Bush_AlQaeda_warnings_come_0717.html
Most read article at The Guardian has been the one about Cheney wanting war with Iran before he and Bush leave, scaring yet more people without even trying.
I can not even see women in pink anymore without going 'OMG! Are they concealing pink pistols under there?'
Then I question my own sexuality.
And then I burst out laughing.
If you refuse to call someone a liar, then you can just keep up the pretense he must just be honest then.
They make me gag.
Posted by: Christy at July 18, 2007 09:33 AM
That's how GW has always operated, remember? "If your not with us, you're with the terrorists." "If you care about the troops you will provide the funds they need."
Amazing women.
Posted by: karen at July 18, 2007 09:41 AM
You all are amazing women, Karen.
And then I burst out laughing.
Posted by: Christy at July 18, 2007 09:48 AM
Oh gad Christy. Me too!
Do you know what the repells on the floor sound like to me?
People DESPERATE to put off the blame. People who are afriad of going to prison, or being exposed as war criminals.
Even if this bill fails, we still win.
It is ALLLLLLLL on the table now.
Nothing they can do now but beg us not to blame them but wait to blame someone else.
They sound SCARED to me.
Most read article at The Guardian has been the one about Cheney wanting war with Iran before he and Bush leave, scaring yet more people without even trying.
Posted by: not my president at July 18, 2007 09:43 AM
NMP
I watched the best Australian journalist I've ever come across tonight. He's been in Iraq - and not hiding away in the Green zone but out and about with the enemy as well as the coalition forces. I respect what he has to say. He seems to have aged about 5 years every time I see him. His view about where we're at and the Iranian involvement now is very scary. Yes. I can imagine Dubya and Cheney bombing Iran - or at least getting Israel to bomb Iran.
If the troops don't get pulled out soon - they'll be there for many, many years. Depressing. Let Dubya and Cheney fight the Iranians if they want. Get the troops home.
Is Micheal Ware an Aussie? Were you speaking of him? If not him too, looks 5 years older somehow every time you see him.
Beautiful man, I pray he makes it out of there alive.
"Equally quick to insist that the NIE should not be taken too literally, Ware said, "We must be aware of the spin, the smoke and mirrors from the administration, trying to reshape the message on Iraq being specifically about al Qaeda ... trying to evoke some Pavlovian response from the American public to fear them into again supporting the war. That doesn't quite hold water."
Blitzer asked Ware about the statement by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that he has seen a "sea change" in the security situation on his current visit to Iraq.
"With the greatest of respect ... I think the general, unfortunately, is suffering from the luxury of distance," replied Ware. "I think he's expecting far too much to be able to peer through the US bubble of protection."
Ware pointed out, for example, that attacks against US forces by al Qaeda in Anbar Province may have dropped significantly, but only because "America's subcontracted out the fight against al Qaeda to the Baathist insurgents and the tribes."
"Is there a sea-change in Baghdad?" Ware concluded. "Well, if he's seeing one, I'm afraid I'm not. Maybe you can see it from the Green Zone, but you can't see it out here in the Red Zone where Iraqis live."
With video.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_reporter_Bush_AlQaeda_warnings_come_0717.html
BUSTED BUSTED BUSTED BUSTED!!!
HAHAHAHA!! HAHA HAA! BUSTED IN THE WAPO!
White House Had Drug Officials Appear With GOP Candidates
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 18, 2007; A08
White House officials arranged for top officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy to help as many as 18 vulnerable Republican congressmen by making appearances and sometimes announcing new federal grants in the lawmakers' districts in the months leading up to the November 2006 elections, a Democratic lawmaker said yesterday.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said documents obtained by his panel suggest that the appearances by the drug control officials were part of a larger White House effort to politicize the work of federal agencies that "may be more widespread than previously known."
Waxman cited a memo written by former White House political director Sara M. Taylor showing that John P. Walters, director of the drug control office, and his deputies traveled at taxpayer expense to about 20 events with vulnerable GOP members of Congress in the three months leading up to the elections.
In a letter to Taylor, Waxman also pointed to an e-mail by an official in the drug policy office describing President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, as being pleased that the office, along with the Commerce, Transportation and Agriculture departments, went "above and beyond" the call of duty in arranging appearances by Cabinet members at campaign events.
"This recognition is not something we hear every day and we should feel confident that our hard work is noticed," said the e-mail, written by Douglas Simon, the drug policy office's White House liaison. "The director and the deputies deserve the most recognition because they actually had to give up time with their families for the god awful places we sent them."
The drug control office has had a history of being nonpartisan, and a 1994 law bars the agency's officials from engaging in political activities even on their own time.
Continues..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071701892_pf.html
I bet that is why they recalled Taylor to reappear.
Yup.
"He said the panel wants her to explain a memo she wrote indicating that Walters and his deputies made trips at the behest of the White House political office in the months prior to the crucial midterm."
Christy,
I didn't realize it before but one of the dkos bloggers who's at the Capitol is from Louisiana.
Says so right at the end of this diary.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/1532/70854
Check it out.
" And finally, to all my friends, family, and fellow bloggers in Louisiana, I talked to Tom Matzzie of MoveOn.org and did my best to convince him that, at heart, Louisiana is still a blue state. "
I am proud of Louisiana, but politically we are desperate, we have to literally BEG people to care. We have to 'convince them' that is is in their best interest, that we really are BLUE enough to be important.
I am not sure why, but it makes me more sad than bitter.
Beautiful piece, Rick.
Thanks for sharing the stories from Erie.
If we read thread headers and then read comments from the top down before posting, we will stay more on-topic and also avoid posting something someone has already posted. Things will flow better. I am going to start with myself but I am not the only offender.
I just read the vote will be at 11 am. DC time.
That is just a few minutes away.
Christy
I read an article about how New Orleans has changed since Hurricane Katrina. There are twice as many Hispanics and half as many blacks. The city is up in arms about taco wagons but people are taking to the food pretty well, as it is spicy and tasty. Need to think about working on a good "blue" new voter bloc and try to avoid the thing Ally cautions about where new and immigrant voters may be pulled into conservative positions that will end up working against them in the end. The right is well aware that they can suck them in with wedge issues or by creating infighting between groups.
American demographics will change regardless of immigration policy because of the larger baby boomer group retiring and the differing birth rate depending on group, income, region etc. Then there is the crafty redistricting and the fact that we still use the electoral system, and the fact that even depopulated states such as South Dakota get two full Senate seats.
Lieberman's speech was awful yesterday.
Filled with paranoia: we've got to stop Al Qaeda; we've got to stop Iran; we've got to stop Iran from taking over Iraq; we've got to stop Al Qaeda from taking over Iraq; we've got to stop the Islamic caliphate; Al Qaeda is everywhere, from London and Madrid to Kabul and Baghdad.
I think Lieberman's speech was close to 45 minutes long - they just let Joe let her rip..
MOVE ON EVENTS? I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS:
While the issue was momentous - a war more than four years in duration, costing more than 3,600 U.S. troops their lives - the proceedings were thick with politics.
MoveOn.org, the anti-war group, announced plans for more than 130 events around the country to coincide with the Senate debate, part of an effort to pressure Republicans into allowing a final vote on the legislation. A candlelight vigil and rally across the street from the Capitol was prominent among them, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., among those attending.
Republican Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon and Olympia Snowe of Maine appeared with Democratic supporters of the legislation at a news conference. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., was also expected to endorse the measure.
"We are at the crossroads of hope and reality, and the time has come to address reality," said Snowe, who said the Iraqi government was guilty of "serial intransigence" when it came to trying to solve the country's political problems.
Smith, who is seeking re-election next year, said Iraqis appeared focused on "revenge, not reconciliation," and that the administration needed to change its approach. "The American mission is to make sure that Iraq doesn't fall into the hands of al-Qaida," he said, rather than referee a civil war.
The polls are showing that young people are swinging to the dem side 3 to 1.
Dems need to not only accept that but make it their main focus. The youth in the Deep South are not interested in their grandpas politicking.
They are ready for a very large and serious change. But they have to be LED THERE.
I was thinking the other day the difference between older generations and the young people coming of age, the different perspectives on impeachment.
To the older generation, impeachment is this huge big godawful thing that will just suck away our precious energy.
But to my generation and the one after me... Impeachment-smeachment.
We GREW UP impeaching a good president. And the sky did not fall and America did not slide into the ocean.
We could impeach them all and it is really no big deal. Yall taught us that.
BUT, the older generations are not only in control of everything, and they do not realize that those of us behind them have ALREADY come of age.
We ALREADY know what we need and want.
The older generations need to truly gear up to pass the torch onto a whole new kind of American youth.
One hardened by violence, corruption, war, election fraud, and betrayed by our own elders but still willing to do the right thing.
If I could do any one thing regionally to accomplish all our political goals, it would be very simple and probably cheap too.
Print up the US Constitution and pass it out to everyone that will take it. Put it on windshields, and telephone poles.
Once they actually have it in their hands, there is no longer any reason NOT to read it. They could take it home and take their time with it.
You could completely change the voter profile of that region in 2 years.
Christy,
Robert Byrd's office gives out little copies of the Constitution and so do several others. The problem is that they give it to US, the visitors. Several Members of Congress appear to be deeply unfamiliar with it. THEY need copies---and a pop quiz.
Join the DCP Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2839481240
Senate Republicans defeat Iraq withdrawal bill
Democrats fail to get 60 votes needed to advance Iraq troop reduction bill
Updated: 3 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans defeated an effort to vote on legislation ordering troops home from Iraq Wednesday and forced Democrats back to the drawing board in their bid to end the war.
The Senate debated the protracted war in Iraq in an all-night session. The speech-making marathon ended with a 52 to 47 vote to oend debate and move to vote on legislation that orders troop withdrawals within 120 days.
"The amendment tells our enemies when they can take over in Iraq," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.
Story continues below ↓
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The bill "is the wrong approach at the wrong time," he added.
"We have to get us out of a middle of a civil war" said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. A political solution must be found "so when we leave Iraq, we don't just send our children home, we don't have to send our grandchildren back."
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19797695/
The vote is so sad--especially because the conversations have not evolved. At least a few more have joined the rational side. But the stubbornness of mind continues.
I hope Reid does not give up. Next round needed.
MEANWHILE, call all those offices and tell them: FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS.
sorry for not editing out the advertisment bullchit...
Land of the Free-advertising, Home of the Lame
And this just in:
Today tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Basra, Iraq, in opposition
to the Oil Law that the US government is pressuring the Iraqi Parliament to pass.
Led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), this demonstration -- one of the
biggest demonstrations of Iraqi citizens since the occupation began -- charged that
the proposed Oil Law surrenders Iraq's economic sovereignty to multinational oil
companies and demanded that the Iraqi Parliament reject the new Oil Law.
The people of Iraq are united in opposition to the Oil Law but the Iraqi Parliament
continues to face intense pressure by the Bush Administration to pass the Oil Law,
which would open two thirds of Iraq's oil to foreign control through contracts that
could last as long as 30 years. Originally written with the assistance of US
officials and contractors, adoption of the law is also one the benchmarks imposed by
the US that the Iraqis must meet in order to receive continued reconstruction aid.
Drop the Benchmark!
Take action in solidarity with the people of Iraq!
Please call or write to your elected officials today and tell them to drop the oil
law benchmark and cease all U.S. pressure on the Iraqis to pass the Oil Law. Tell
them it is unacceptable that the US has any role in determining the future of Iraq's
oil industry-especially when it is being written to primarily benefit US companies.
Use this link http://action.priceofoil.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6978&t=wide.
to email your members of Congress, or you can reach your members by calling the
Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking for your member's office.
If you are outside of the United States, ask your elected officials to apply
international pressure on the U.S. government to stop pressuring the Iraqis to pass
the Oil Law and to Drop The Benchmarks!
Wherever you are in the world - Visit! Call! or Write! your elected officials and
let them know that you support protestors in Iraq in their opposition to the
U.S.-imposed Oil Law.
The people of Iraq took a bold step today by standing up against US pressure and
saying that they will not allow an occupying force steal their most valuable natural
resource. If the Oil Law is enacted, its disastrous effects will be felt for
generations to come. We must stand with the Iraqi people and do everything we can
to have this law removed from the benchmarks and ensure that they will not again be
pressured to enact a law that goes against their national well-being. Thank you
for taking action today.
For more information on the oil law and an update on its status, read Antonia
Juhasz's article, "Benchmark Boogie". http://www.alternet.org/story/56672/
I hope it's quiet here because everyone is calling Congress and not because that long post did you all in...
Hmmm... a highly opinionated partisan article on what happened this morning and last night.
Opinion strong=
accuracy=weak
But that's just my little ol' opinion.
~~~
Senate scuttles troop withdrawal bill
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans scuttled a Democratic proposal ordering troop withdrawals from Iraq in a showdown Wednesday that capped an all-night debate on the war.
The 52-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate under Senate rules. It was a sound defeat for Democrats who say the U.S. military campaign, in its fifth year and requiring 158,000 troops, cannot tame the sectarian violence in Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070718/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq
(Not one word on how rare it is that a simple majority doesn't pass bills anymore. And a 'sound defeat'? Uh..uh!!! No way. Just last year, 1/2 of Congress refused to even admit that the spin out of DC was spin.)
Posted by: woz at July 18, 2007 08:18 AM
Woz, I have a friend's relative who has served two tours and is called for a third. This friend's relative is already into advanced stages of alcoholism.
NMP,
I didn't stay up late to watch, I went to bed quite early last night as I had a full day of company and running around. Woke up and got on the blog then turned on C-Span 2.
Can anyone tell me? Why did Harry Reid change his vote to "no" on procedural reasons?
Reid Pulls Defense Authorization Bill Off The Floor,
Vows To Return To Iraq Redeployment Legislation
After forcing conservatives to stand all-night and filibuster the Levin-Reed Iraq redeployment bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has pulled the entire Defense Authorization bill from consideration on the Senate floor.
Following this morning’s vote against ending debate, Reid argued that the Defense Authorization legislation should not be considered until the Senate is prepared to offer a future course for Iraq.
Cont.
http://thinkprogress.org/
Wow! Too bad timing on this leak didn't happen earlier.
~~~
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/18/123757/513
The WaPo article notes that although some of names of people who attended task force meetings have leaked, most have not. This list (drawn from the article) includes:
James J. Rouse, "then vice president of Exxon Mobil and a major donor to the Bush inauguration"
"Longtime Bush supporter Kenneth L. Lay, then head of Enron Corp."
Representatives from British Petroleum (including an off-the-calendar meeting with John Browne, "then the chief executive of BP")
Members of The National Mining Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the American Petroleum Institute (including Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute)
Charles A. Samuels, "outside counsel to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers"
Jack N. Gerard, "then with the National Mining Association"
Eli Bebout, "an old friend of Cheney's from Wyoming who serves in the state Senate and owns an oil and drilling company"
The Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (connections to Gayle Nortin, Grover Norquist, Italia Federici, and Stephen Griles)
J. Robinson West, "chairman of the Washington-based consulting firm PFC Energy and an old friend of Cheney's"
Daniel Yergin, "chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and author of "The Prize," a history of the oil industry."
As for who ran the meetings:
From the beginning, it was clear that Cheney was running the show, chairing meetings of the task force -- made up of about a dozen Cabinet officers and senior officials -- in his ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Much of the task force's work was done by a six-person staff, led by its executive director, Andrew D. Lundquist, a former aide to Republican Sens. Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski of Alaska. In 2000, Lundquist was the Bush campaign's energy expert; Bush nicknamed him "Light Bulb."
Please call Congress today and tell your reps that FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING TROOPS. It's short simple and has the added benefit of being true.
Posted by: Christy at July 18, 2007 01:02 PM
They should put the bill on the floor one item at a time.
1. Troop pay increase
up or down vote.
2. Benchmarks...
Up or down vote
and so on...
Posted by: Christy at July 18, 2007 01:02 PM
T.Y. Christy.
Now that is totally freaking creepy.
Study finds 'stealth ads' in newscasts
A 4-month study by a University professor and former student revealed the presence of ads during newscasts
http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2007/07/18/News/Study.Finds.stealth.Ads.In.Newscasts-2924797.shtml
Hey, remember I said Louisiana dems need you?
Here is a good way to do it
Call her and encourage her, thank her for what she did last night.
Senator Mary Landrieu
DC
Voice: (202)224-5824
Fax:(202) 224-9735
New Orleans
Voice: (504) 589-2427
Fax:(504) 589-4023
Baton Rouge
Voice: (225) 389-0395
Fax:(225) 389-0660
Shreveport
Voice: (318) 676-3085
Fax:(318) 676-3100
Lake Charles
Voice: (337) 436-6650
Fax:(337) 439-3762
I just posted this on David Corns WaPo rebuttal to bill kristol.
"The Downing Street Memos makes it very clear that 'The Americans are fixing the facts around the policy'
Let's quit being coy about Mr. Kristols role in all this.
He certainly must have known the facts were being 'fixed' because he was and is one of the 'fixers'.
He and Judy Miller both.
Kristols arguments are not some deluded fantasy he has just replaced reality with.
He knows very well that WAR CRIMES have been committed. He helped commit them. The only way out for him is if we all believe the deluded fantasy he invented to negate his own TREASON.
Let us quit trying to paddle around the waterfall. What has happened was not about ideology, it was about MONEY.
Trillions and billions of dollars that could be funnelled this way or that, or outright taken and no one will even notice. TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE MISSING.
Men like Kristol do not even need the money they will do it for greed and the God-like power of life and death over others alone.
Ofcourse Bill Kristol says georgie will win, because look how many will HANG FOR WAR CRIMES if he does not win.
Kristols own head will be on that chopping block if he fails to convince us.
Like most men drunk too long on their own potency, Bill Kristol has at some point convinced himself that everyone else must really be stupid. Stupid enough to believe the lies he peddles. Lies already told a thousand times and proven every time to be a lie.
Do not think for a moment Bill Kristol does not understand his own role in helping to start a global war. Over six hundred thousand are dead for no apparent reason at all.
His words are absolutely obvious in their desperation. He has no choice but to declare bush a winner. Otherwise it would be a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.
When bush is impeached and tried FOR WAR CRIMES.... Kristol will have a very hard time staying out of the same cellblock.
Right now though, he thinks you are too stupid to realize that.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071701456_Comments.html
Ralpheh
I enjoyed your summary of paranoid Joe.
He exposed himself for exactly who he is.
FYI, since it was the subject of significant discussion in last night's comments during the wee small hours, it's appropriate for me to point out here that an independent media bloggers' site called KerryVision has posted video footage of the overnight Levin-Reed debate speech by John Kerry in its entirety:http://www.kerryvision.net/2007/07/an_iraq_policy_that_makes_sens.html
More Kerrycentric content -- yeah, yeah, I know, Ralpheh, but DiAnne and I post these press releases here because Kerry's people have us on their email lists, if Conyers or Lewis or Dodd or any of the others had us on their email lists we'd post their stuff here too...
-------------
WASHINGTON D.C. -– Senator John Kerry today issued the following statement on the Levin-Reed-Kerry amendment to set a deadline for troop redeployment from Iraq. The vote failed 52-47, short of 60 votes needed for passage. Kerry has advocated a deadline for troop redeployment since last June, when he introduced legislation with Senator Feingold to set a firm date to bring American troops home.
“Today a few Republican Senators chose to stand with their President over voting for a policy for our troops that honors their service and sacrifice,” Senator Kerry said. “How much longer will some in this Congress fail to vote their conscience and do what’s right to bring about change in Iraq? No number of Republican filibusters and politically motivated votes change this fact: without real deadlines to force Iraqis to compromise, they will not compromise. No American soldier should die for Iraqi unwillingness to solve their differences. Again a majority in Congress has spoken, and we will not rest until we have a policy that sets a deadline to bring our troops home.”
Senator Kerry spoke at 6 a.m. this morning on the floor of the United States Senate during the all night debate on Iraq. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
-----
It’s late. Not just late in the evening, when tradition dictates that we would ordinarily be at home —- but late in this war, late in a failed policy, when good sense told us long ago that our soldiers should begin coming home too.
Every day we spend in Iraq, we are emboldening our enemies, creating new ones, and diverting our best efforts from the real fight against the real enemy: al Qaeda.
Today, we received a National Intelligence Estimate which confirmed this. While we remain bogged down in Iraq, -– and I quote -- Al Qaeda “has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability” -— its ability to hit us here -- including a safe haven in the Pakistani tribal areas, its operational lieutenants, and top leadership.
The report gave the lie to the hollow slogan, so often parroted by supporters of this President, as if simple repetition would make it true, that we are fighting them over there so that we don’t have to fight them over here.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Fighting over there has been a recruitment poster for terror. It has attracted jihadists to Iraq. Fighting them over there in Iraq –- where there was no Al Qaeda until we invaded -— has not protected our homeland: Where there was no threat, in Iraq, we have created one. Where there was a very real threat, in Pakistan and Afghanistan, we have not done nearly enough to end it. And still, I wonder why, if fighting over there is the key to avoiding terror at home, why is Secretary Chertoff’s gut telling him we’re about to be hit?
Meanwhile, if the escalation is working, what does the violence in Northern Iraq this week tell us? The truth is, it highlighted the core reality of our involvement there: there is no American military solution to an Iraqi civil war.
This week, the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk saw its worst violence since the war began —- with a massive truck bomb and two smaller attacks killing over 80 people. As an ethnically mixed city in an oil-rich area, Kirkuk lies at the intersection of two of Iraq’s toughest political issues —- federalism and oil laws.
It should come as no surprise that, while Americans have died to give Iraqis, “breathing room,” Iraqi politicians haven’t done anything to resolve these issues. No oil law, no de-baathification, no movement toward resolving disputes over Kirkuk—no reconciliation and no progress.
Here is the sad but simple truth: Without political progress, our military gains -— however hard-won, however welcome -— will be temporary at best. The only real solution is a political solution.
Not even the escalation’s most resolute supporter could say it has succeeded at its ultimate mission: to enable Iraqi politicians to make the tough political compromises necessary to end their civil war. They are no closer to doing so today than they were when the President announced the escalation in January, and 532 American soldiers have given their lives in that period.
The bill we’re debating tonight is a bill we should have passed more than a year ago.
Last June, Russ Feingold and I came to the Senate floor and asked our colleagues to impose meaningful deadlines to force Iraqis toward political compromise and leverage those deadlines with legitimate diplomatic effort.
That was one year ago. We got thirteen votes. People said they weren’t ready. They said, “I’m not there yet.” Well, a thousand Americans have died since then. What about now? Are you ready now? Or will it take another thousand?
Those thirteen votes have grown to more than fifty votes today—but still the policy is the same. So today I stand with Senators Levin and Reed of Rhode Island, with virtually the entire Democratic caucus, with my brave Republican colleagues Senators Hagel, Smith and Snowe, in demanding a change of policy. Now. Not in September. Not when we have sixty votes. Not after we leap through procedural hurdles -— now, tonight.
Tonight we put votes on the record, because there can be no more splitting the difference. Private hand-wringing won’t suffice: It’s time to speak one’s conscience publicly —- not privately in the cloakroom or committee -- and vote for a dramatic change of course, otherwise one is acquiescing to —- supporting -— the current strategy.
Many have held back from demanding a change of course because they are concerned about the consequences of redeployment. Let me assure you: All of us are concerned. None of the bills before the Senate constitute a “precipitous withdrawal”—none abandons our interests in the Middle East, none abandons our allies, and none loses sight of our responsibilities to the Iraqi people or the fight against terrorists.
When we’re not losing sleep on the Senate floor trying to pass a change in strategy, many of us are losing sleep over how to redeploy responsibly —- and have been for some time.
There are broad areas of bipartisan agreement available for those willing to work to build consensus. First, most of us would like to see some residual troop presence even after redeployment next spring. None of us want to redeploy in a manner that only draws us back into the conflict at a later date -– and we all ought to be working together now to lay the groundwork for not just the next few months but several years down the road in Iraq.
All of us are extremely concerned about Al Qaeda in Iraq. The recent NIE warns that the Al Qaeda we know -- Bin Laden and Zawahiri —- will seek to leverage Al Qaeda in Iraq’s contacts and capabilities. The President treats Al Qaeda in Iraq as reason enough not to redeploy a single soldier. This is not just backwards thinking—our presence there is a major recruiting tool worldwide -— it’s also misguided. Let’s be very clear about something: our bill keeps in place those troops necessary to deny Al Qaeda a sanctuary in Iraq. None of us are ready to give up the fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq —- and none of the bills we propose would do so.
Instead, the bill being debated would refocus our mission on what ought to be our core objective: fighting terrorists. American troops should be hunting and killing Al Qaeda, not being killed on patrol through the streets of Baghdad. Iraqis -– not Americans -— should be patrolling Iraqi streets. We must refocus our mission on preventing this war from spreading into a regional conflict and deterring foreign intervention, not —- as some in this body have suggested—starting that regional conflict ourselves with military strikes into Iran.
Where’s the political effort to accompany our military effort? Where’s the diplomatic surge to accompany our military surge?
We will redeploy troops eventually —- make no mistake -- all that we are debating here is when and how, and whether we will do so responsibly or wait until we reach a breaking point. But we must redeploy responsibly -- and that requires major, immediate diplomatic outreach to resolve the political differences between Iraqi factions and restore America’s credibility across the Middle East.
We must refocus our mission in Iraq, and we must refocus our strategy worldwide away from Iraq and toward a larger, more comprehensive and sustainable fight against terrorists. Today’s NIE revealed the fruits of our neglect -— what our own government is now calling a “safe haven” in Northwest Pakistan. This week, other top intelligence officials said that Al Qaeda is better prepared to strike us than it has been at any time since 9-11.
Redeploying responsibly from Iraq is vital to our national interests, but we can’t lose sight of the rest of the Middle East -— a region that could soon fulfill King Abdullah’s dire warning of three civil wars. The Lebanese government is hanging on by a threat as it fights Sunni extremists in the north and Shia extremists in the south. Iran and Syria have stepped into the vacuum, leading reconstruction efforts after the last war -- and now re-arming Hezbollah for the next one. The Palestinians have just fought a brief civil war that has left an emboldened Hamas in control of Gaza -– and again, Iran and Syria stand poised to take advantage.
These too, like Al Qaeda’s safe haven in Pakistan, are the fruits of our neglect -— all predictable, all predicted. In each case, we failed to seize the diplomatic initiative. When it comes to exploiting opportunities for a diplomatic breakthrough, this Administration has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Not with Iran, not with Syria, not when it came to strengthening President Abbas to stave off a Palestinian civil war. Time and again, we seem to be taken by surprise when events on the ground spin out of control, left scrambling to patch together an ad hoc response from half a world away. This cannot continue.
It’s not too late for us to do better. It’s not too late for us to work together to avoid repeating or deepening the mistakes of the past. Instead of losing sleep on procedural maneuvers and legislative roadblocks, we could be working together to craft a wise and sustainable Plan B for a surge that has already failed.
If we don’t do this now, we will only be forced to do it later -— with fewer good options, and many additional lives lost. We must face reality —- and we ought to face it together, united in our love of country and commitment to getting this right -- instead of divided by a failed policy.
---------------
This is the text of his remarks as prepared for delivery. The actual as-delivered transcript will be available via the Congressional Record website tomorrow morning. And judging by TSP's real-time remarks in the previous thread that she posted while watching him in real time, not to mention what can be seen on the KVT video I linked to above, The Tall Guy was on a real roll in the wee small hours of this morning. So the as-delivered version ought to make for some pretty good reading, I reckon...
shrubiana delenda est,
Otter
Thanks Otter. Appreciate it very much.
I hope it's quiet here because everyone is calling Congress and not because that long post did you all in...
Posted by: karen at July 18, 2007 12:51 PM
==============================================
Busy today, but followed the link and emailed my reps. Karen, you rock.
YI, since it was the subject of significant discussion in last night's comments during the wee small hours, it's appropriate for me to point out here that an independent media bloggers' site called KerryVision has posted video footage of the overnight Levin-Reed debate speech by John Kerry in its entirety:http://www.kerryvision.net/2007/07/an_iraq_policy_that_makes_sens.html
Posted by: Otter at July 18, 2007 03:40 PM
I can't wait for LevinVision AND LandrieuVision !!!
You have GOT to watch this video. Max Blumenthal infiltrates the College Republican convention.
Hilarious, but also disturbing in that these young people are BREATHTAKINGLY STUPID. Inarticulate, parroting the talking points, sad really....
and bonus cameo by Tom Delay positing the belief that if we hadn't allowed all those abortions over the years, those babies would now be holding the jobs that illegal immigrants are taking. Not kidding.
Watch, laugh and cry.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/generation-chickenhawk-t_b_56676.html
I can't wait for LevinVision AND LandrieuVision !!!
Posted by: Ralpheh at July 18, 2007 05:35 PM
Here's ClintonVision for you.
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/7/18/1638/44873/9#c9
Rick, this is a beautiful piece, as usual. But the situation is so deeply dire. We are engaged in a struggle for democracy unlike any we have seen before. I cannot stress enough that everyone needs to call Congress, every single day. All day. Use the Iraq Vets message: FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS. Lather, rinse, repeat.
WE HAVE ONE WEEK. That's it folks.
Posted by: karen at July 18, 2007 08:03 AM
@@@@@@@
TARGET LIST FROM UFPJ:
This amendment would begin to bring some troops home, but would not end the occupation. It highlights the need for continued pressure from the anti-war movement to call for a complete, immediate withdrawal of all troops and contractors . Senate staff tell us that passage of this amendment would open the door to votes on stronger troop withdrawal amendments. If the amendment fails, the Senate will consider weaker measures on Iraq, or none at all.
Bi-partisan co-Sponsors of the Levin-Reed amendment: Smith (R-OR),Hagel (R-NE), Snowe (R-ME), Obama (D-IL), Kerry (D-MA), Biden (D-DE), Clinton (D-NY), Durbin (D-IL)
Target Lists:
Republicans - Alexander (TN), Bennett (UT), Coleman (MN), Collins (ME), Gregg (NH), Specter (PA), Sununu (NH), Warner (VA)
Democrats- Baucus, Bayh, Bingaman, Carper, Casey, Conrad, Dorgan, Landreiu, Lincoln, McCaskill, Nelson (both FL and NE), Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Tester, Webb
(I would add Republicans Sens. Lugar, and Voinivich)
Ralpheh
I enjoyed your summary of paranoid Joe.
He exposed himself for exactly who he is.
Posted by: not my president at July 18, 2007 02:24 PM
@@@@@
You know I was going to turn C-Span off when I heard that Lieberman would be speaking but he has this arrogant calmness about his voice which kind of lulled me into listening. In his very calm voice, Mr. Lieberman proceeded to lay out the scenario that if we failed in Iraq we would be facing armegeddon and the destruction of Western Civilization (later, I thought, if these were the high stakes, why not send another 200,000 troops to Iraq and assure total victory?). He has a tone of voice like he is telling you a children's story - a bed time story!!!
Then as his story unfolded, I started to analysis his paranoia - how far would Lieberman go? what awful terror would he introduce into the debate? Then Lieberman made a big strategic blunder in his argument: he started quoting extensively from the recent statements from Zawahiri and Bin Laden.
BINGO!!! WAKE-UP, JOE!!! Al Qaeda's two top men are still alive and plotting AND THEY AREN'T IN IRAQ!!! 6 years after the 9-11 attack, the Bush administration has failed to bring them to justice...
Lieberman is obsessed by Iraq - he is Captain Ahab going after that White whale...
Ralpheh
We need to repeat that fact to anyone who will listen. It's been obvious for 6 years but people were so blinded by fear that they allowed the madness to go on.
Lieberman was so blatant because he is also completely blind to his own extensive biases and prejudices and so he put them on display for the whole world to see, a window into the neocon mind.
Posted by: Ralpheh at July 18, 2007 05:35 PM
I am holding out for Ralphehvision.
All in good fun.
Posted by: Ralpheh at July 18, 2007 05:35 PM
Here's ClintonVision for you.
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/7/18/1638/44873/9#c9
Posted by: x at July 18, 2007 05:44 PM
@@@@@@@
YIKES!!!! ClintonVision?!?!??!... it's like something out of "Brave New World" If Clinton is elected, am I to be designated as a "Beta" or worse a "Delta"???
CODE PINK AMBUSHES SEN. WARNER:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Sen._Warner_press_conf._ambushed_by_0716.html
btw does anyone have a link to some good still photographs of the debate last night. I heard that Code Pink was there and Veterans for Peace were in the Senate Gallery...
Ralpheh
I don't know but in the Brave New World I want access to plenty of soma.
I did post a photo earlier today that showed some Code Pink people out last night. Scroll up toward morning. It was from Democracy Arsenal (speaking of an Orwellian name!)
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beautious mankind is!
O brave new world
That has such people in't!
Shakespeare
Monkey
by Lloydene F Hill
2001
Monkey, monkey on my back, should I make you hit the rails clickety clack.
Hit the rails, this time for real, clickety clack, how does it feel, to be the one being made to sqeal.
Scratching, itching, gnawing at truth, and you're the one who's calling me uncouth.
Watching, waiting, and deciding if, when, and how, should I tame this monkey, or let it drown.
If I should let the monkey drown, then will I be, confident, calm, and settled down?
Or will I wander, constantly, looking, and waiting, for another monkey to drop down and land on me?
When back-monkeys are outlawed, only outlaws will have back-monkeys.
Larry Flynt Says He’s Found Five Hookers ‘So Far’ Who Had Sex with Sen. Vitter in New Orleans
Vitter is also rumored to have a diaper fetish, and sources say he fathered a child with one of the prostitutes
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/07/18/larry-flynt-five-hookers-for-vitter/
Why, why, why, of all the senators in the world, I get a man with a diapered body....?
EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW.
Christy...for you..
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Jon_Stewart_Scientific_basis_for_irrational_0718.html
Because I can not get the image of man-pampers being rubbed all over a leopard print dress out of my mind...
I am going to do something I almost never do.
I'm going to go drink heavily.
How is it possible I can get drunk off less than half a can of beer...?
I am the most pathetic drinker that ever lived.
Well it's bad enough to have Man on Dog Preoccupied or Diaper Boy Senators, but what's troubling me is the Slimy Snake Ideas of Condi Rice that I heard on the way home. Colin Powell sounded downright reasonable after hearing her, as did even a reporter from the soon-to-be Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal! Condi Rice was completely in lock-step with the stuff Lieberman was spouting last night.
Victoria Ellen:
That link on "Posted by: Victoria Ellen at July 18, 2007 05:38 PM" is awesome. Great bumper sticker at the end.
Christy:
You know, when you get older, you start to think more about things not to do rather than things to do. Lot's of other cultures are very differential to age. Speaking as an old 46-yer-old, I am beginning to see the wisdom in that. It's like the story of the old bull and the young bull my dad used to tell me. But I guess that old anecdote isn't ready for prime time.
Karen:
On the Iraqi petroleum law, and speaking from experience, when major international oil companies invest, the results are usually much better for the host country (better wages, better health and safety and environment, more transparent funding of the national government)than when the (usually) very corrupt national oil company is in charge. Better pruduction too. With all due respect, I beg to differ on that.
Chuck in Houston
Oops -- in my above, "differential" = "deferantial".
Chuck in Houston
Oops again -- in mean "deferential"
BAD KEYBOARD! BAD!
You know, my keyboard is a pain-in-the-neck. It types everything just the way I hit the keys, rather than the way I wanted it to come out. What to do?
Ralpheh:
I honestly don't get it (Posted by: Ralpheh at July 18, 2007 07:23 PM) -- what's the big deal with Senator Clinton? But to answer your question -- when (if) she become POTUS you will continue to be what you are today -- a human being and (I presume) a citizen of the USA.
Chuck in Houston
PS: Apologies if I presume too much.
Posted by: Chuck at July 18, 2007 09:57 PM
You crack me up Chuck in Houston!
You sure you're not drinking Christy's beer tonight?
Well, it's not beer exactly....
Just had a long day at work I guess.
But it's legal.
No beer for me.
I just got on the scale.
Silent Surge in Contractor "Armies"
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/18/2618/
Mercenaries.
Depressing post-work email.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1374127
was arrested along with EB, DB, GC, SC, MK, and ET in the Hart Senate Office Building on Thursday March 29, 2007. We went there one hour after the Senate voted to continue to fund the war. We set up cardboard tombstones with pictures of soldiers and Iraqis who have died in the war since the Democrats took control of Congress in January. We began to read their names. After about 20 minutes, we were arrested by Capitol Police and charged with unlawful conduct.
We were arraigned on Friday morning after four of us spent the night in jail. We all pleaded not guilty and since the charge carries a possible six months in jail we requested a consolidated jury trial.
We began planning our trial, and as in the past, we were going to be representing ourselves as pro se defendants. MG graciously agreed to be our attorney advisor. He has had a great deal of experience in this kind of work. I was so grateful to have him on our team. We each had a role to play in the trial. I was to give the closing statement.
I flew from Madison, WI to Washington, DC on Sunday July 8. While sitting in the airport, I was thinking about what I was doing and feeling scared, but I reminded myself that if the most important thing is that I don’t go to jail, then I wouldn’t have gotten arrested in the first place. No – the most important thing is that I speak out when my government is doing something that is illegal and immoral. The seven of us, along with MG, met on Sunday night to go through the trial. He said that our primary defense is the tourist standard which is applied in unlawful conduct charges. What this means is that we were no more disruptive than an equal size group of tourists. The test is the impact of how disruptive we were, not the activities we were engaged in.
This would be my first experience with a jury trial and I was feeling very anxious. I certainly don’t continue to risk arrest and go to trial because I enjoy it. But with the suffering that continues in Iraq, and with families of US soldiers in Iraq, I feel called to continue to do this work.
(SNIP)
THis is a sign the right is getting worried about YearlyKos so maybe it's going to be big. It's attracting all the Dem 2008 candidates, for one thing. & I was there last year and media was crawling all over it, including FOX.
from Center for American Progress http://www.americanprogress.org
On Monday night, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly aired a segment full of misleading, inaccurate claims attacking the upcoming YearlyKos blogger convention, its namesake DailyKos, and one of the event's sponsors, JetBlue. In his "report," O'Reilly cherry-picked an extreme minority of reader comments and diaries from the hundreds of thousands on DailyKos, claiming them to be representative of the community website and the greater netroots movement that will be gathering in Chicago from Aug. 2-5, 2007 for the progressive convention. Calling the netroots "the radical left" and DailyKos "hatemongerers" like "the Ku Klux Klan" and "the Nazi Party," O'Reilly compared YearlyKos to "a David Duke convention," calling it "one of the worst examples of hatred America has to offer."
Hey All:
Off to watch "Standing in the Shadows of Mowtown"!
Check in later!
Chuck in Houston
How To Create An Angry American
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfzqulvhlQ
Christy,
This underlines the fact of the lying.
Off to the gym.
No beer for me, I said.
"It was always the Funk Brothers"
I created a facebook group for the DCP, in the hope that we can encourage more to get active.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2839481240
Please join it. Facebook is designed for youth, but grownups can be guides.
CALL CONGRESS: FUNDING THE WAR IS KILLING THE TROOPS!
Posted by: karen at July 18, 2007 09:12 AM
Thanks for the great idea!
Re: calling Congress - sorry couldn't do. I was at a class in San Diego all day, and barely came back now. I'll try calling/writing tomorrow.
calling it "one of the worst examples of hatred America has to offer."
Posted by: not my president at July 18, 2007 10:34 PM
Hatred? YearlyKos?
ROTFLOL
Seriously, it's so ridiculous it's funny.
Ally
Well I don't have alot of hatred in me but I hate O'Reilly so in that way he is right. I hate Mann Coulter right back. I hate the neocons.
Elvis Costello: "Opportunity." What's so funny about peace love and understanding anyway?
Chuck in Houston
Bush Government to Poor Voters: We Don't Want You to Vote
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071807C.shtml
"State welfare offices across the country are not offering millions of
low-income Americans the opportunity to register to vote when applying for public assistance, despite a federal law requiring them to do so, according to an analysis of a recent federal voting registration report and experts who say the Department of Justice and states are to blame," writes Steven Rosenfeld of Alternet.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_reporter_Bush_AlQaeda_warnings_come_0717.html
Posted by: Christy at July 18, 2007 10:16 AM
Thanks Christy. Yes, Michael Ware is an Australian Journalist. Probably our best. And I certainly hope he survives too. You can always trust that he's saying exactly what he's seeing. He doesn't colour it to suit other purposes.
Posted by: not my president at July 18, 2007 10:34 PM
Heh.
That can only bode well for DailyKos, and with any luck perhaps some "moderates" will see the light. Like most progressive blogs, it has tons of people armed with facts, figures, authoritative voices of experience who know how to counter the talking points of the Cult of Bush that Rushie McLimpDick mimics.
Hmmm.... One can only ask what Rushie is so afraid of regarding dKos? Or any other progressive blog, for that matter...? Afraid of people learning how deconstruct lies and ask logical questions?
Still, heh.... :-)
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/18/thank-you-senator-landrieu/
Thank You Senator Landrieu
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/18/colbert-pulls-an-all-nighter-with-the-senate/
Colbert Pulls An All-Nighter With the Senate
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/18/daily-show-senator-david-dc-madam-vitter/
Daily Show: Senator David “DC Madam” Vitter
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/18/colberts-w%c3%b8rd-on-senator-vitter-victimcrite/
Colbert’s Wørd on Senator Vitter: Victimcrite
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/18/daily-show-bushs-new-homophobic-anti-science-surgeon-general/
Daily Show: Bush’s New Homophobic, Anti-Science Surgeon General
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/18/larry-flynt-says-he-has-30-more-names/
Larry Flynt says he has 30 more names!
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003612271
Scaife-Owned Newspaper Calls for Iraq Troop Withdrawal -- Questions Bush's 'Mental Stability'
By E&P Staff
Published: July 16, 2007 3:29 PM ET
NEW YORK The Pittsburgh newspaper owned by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife yesterday called the Bush administration's plans to stay the course in Iraq a "prescription for American suicide."
The editorial in the Tribune-Review added, "And quite frankly, during last Thursday's news conference, when George Bush started blathering about 'sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved,' we had to question his mental stability."
{{{Ya Think?!?}}}
when major international oil companies invest, the results are usually much better for the host country (better wages, better health and safety and environment, more transparent funding of the national government)than when the (usually) very corrupt national oil company is in charge. Better pruduction too. With all due respect, I beg to differ on that.
Chuck in Houston
Posted by: Chuck at July 18, 2007 09:50 PM
Ok Chuck, We'll send word to the Iraqis that they should come and take over the most valuable resource the US has. What is that? They'll pay your wages and everything will be perfect.
Iraq protests Turkish shelling of Iraq
July 19, 2007 - 7:39PM
Turkey's army has heavily shelled Kurdish rebel targets just inside the border of northern Iraq, Kurdish officials said.
Iraq's government condemned Wednesday's shelling of its semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and urged Turkey to hold talks to resolve Ankara's concerns about rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who are based in the border area.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Iraq-protests-Turkish-shelling-of-Iraq/2007/07/19/1184559950052.html
Christian court watchers keep tabs on judges
Frustrated with drug abuses, volunteers take interest in law enforcement
MANCHESTER, Ky. - John Becknell enters the courtroom and finds his usual spot in the front row, just behind the prosecutor’s table.
Becknell — a devout Christian known to many as “Brother John” — pulls out a pen and an inch-thick docket, mostly of drug and alcohol cases. For the next three hours, he takes diligent notes on the judge’s actions, the attendance of police officers, repeat offenders making another appearance, and so on.
The purpose? To make sure drug offenders in eastern Kentucky are getting what they deserve.
Frustrated with widespread drug abuse — especially of easily accessible prescription painkillers — a handful of mountain churches are moving away from their traditional role as a refuge for the poor and addicted. Now they’re more interested in law enforcement.
The Community Church of Manchester is leading the way through “Court Watch,” a program in which volunteers attend court hearings to monitor judges overseeing drug-related cases.
“It’s kind of a new position and very controversial,” said Becknell, who also runs his church’s local Christian television station. “A lot of churches shun getting involved in politics or going to court.”
The Rev. Doug Abner, pastor at Community Church — whose slogan for a 2004 anti-drug march was “get saved or get busted” — said the presence of Court Watch volunteers puts “mild pressure” on judges “to do the right thing.” The volunteers collect information for a database and look for trends in drug crimes.
The program concerns some other people of faith, who say it cuts against Christian values.
“The churches have traditionally been the humanitarian influence in society,” said the Rev. John Rausch, director of the Catholic Committee on Appalachia.
Churches should focus on drug counseling and ministering to inmates, he said, citing part of the Gospel of Matthew (25:36) concerning the final judgment: “When I was in prison, you came to see me.”
“It isn’t, ‘I was up for charges and you made sure they threw the book at me,”’ Rausch said.
Abner said his church hasn’t neglected its prison ministry or other counseling programs. Still, he added, “we believe in giving people chances, but how many chances do you give them?”
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19833349/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/19/14913/8683
It's All About the Oil
http://www.bushagenda.net/article.php?id=369
Who's Oil Is It, Anyway?
Who's Oil Is It, Anyway?
Posted by: NonnyO at July 19, 2007 08:46 AM
http://tinyurl.com/ynpcja
Bush declares Marshal Law.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/235042/926
McCaskill, Webb call for war profiteering investigations.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/203629/401
Posted by: sparrow at July 19, 2007 08:52 AM
Sadly, not a thing has changed. Why would he change his behaviour? He's managed to get by without being stopped so far. He's simply grown in confidence at his Absolute Power. Yes, he is a tyrant. It's hard to imagine the cleanup after he's gone. Both at home and abroad.
I couldn't bear to watch McCain speaking last night - does he really believe that people want this war to continue. And then vote for him to be president. It makes me want to throw up just thinking of that possibility.
On July 13, 2007, I visited Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, where the bodies of American soldiers killed in Iraq were freshly interred. Afterwards, I headed across the street to the Sheraton National Hotel, owned by right-wing Korean cult leader Sun Myung-Moon, to meet some of the war's most fervent supporters at the College Republican National Convention.
In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called "war on terror" as nothing less than the cause of their time.
Yet when I asked these College Repulicans why they were not participating in this historical cause, they immediately went into contortions. Asthma. Bad knees from playing catcher in high school.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/generation-chickenhawk-t_b_56676.html
Bush declares Marshal Law.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/235042/926
Posted by: sparrow at July 19, 2007 08:52 AM
I suppose he thinks that makes him Sheriff.
I'm sorry, I had to....
I Shot The Sheriff
by Bob Marley
I shot the sheriff
But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!
I shot the sheriff
But I didn't shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, oo-ooh.
Yeah! All around in my home town,
They're tryin' to track me down;
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the killing of a deputy,
For the life of a deputy.
But I say:
Oh, now, now. Oh!
(I shot the sheriff.) - the sheriff.
(But I swear it was in self-defence.)
Oh, no! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!
I say: I shot the sheriff - Oh, Lord! -
(And they say it is a capital offence.)
Yeah! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!
Sheriff John Brown always hated me,
For what, I don't know:
Every time I plant a seed,
He said kill it before it grow -
He said kill them before they grow.
And so:
Read it in the news:
(I shot the sheriff.) Oh, Lord!
(But I swear it was in self-defence.)
Where was the deputy? (Oo-oo-oh)
I say: I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in selfdefence. (Oo-oh) Yeah!
Freedom came my way one day
And I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden I saw sheriff John Brown
Aiming to shoot me down,
So I shot - I shot - I shot him down and I say:
If I am guilty I will pay.
(I shot the sheriff,)
But I say (But I didn't shoot no deputy),
I didn't shoot no deputy (oh, no-oh), oh no!
(I shot the sheriff.) I did!
But I didn't shoot no deputy. Oh! (Oo-oo-ooh)
Reflexes had got the better of me
And what is to be must be:
Every day the bucket a-go a well,
One day the bottom a-go drop out,
One day the bottom a-go drop out.
I say:
I - I - I - I shot the sheriff.
Lord, I didn't shoot the deputy. Yeah!
I - I (shot the sheriff) -
But I didn't shoot no deputy, yeah! No, yeah!
"McCaskill, Webb call for war profiteering investigations. "
ABOUT FREAKING TIME!
Follow the MONEY!
I'm supposed to be washing my hair and brushing my teeth.
Just watch the video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/generation-chickenhawk-t_b_56676.html
DRAFT COLLEGE REPUBLICANS
man, I thought you said follow the monkey!
back off jackwards
Then join Facebook.
Woz,
We are looking at the very real possibility that georgie will not be leaving in 08. He does not need votes to stay.
He is revamping Martial Law....to declare Martial Law.
There was a reason he got rid of Posse Comitatus.
Ralpheh:
I honestly don't get it (Posted by: Ralpheh at July 18, 2007 07:23 PM) -- what's the big deal with Senator Clinton? But to answer your question -- when (if) she become POTUS you will continue to be what you are today -- a human being and (I presume) a citizen of the USA.
Chuck in Houston
PS: Apologies if I presume too much.
Posted by: Chuck at July 18, 2007 10:05 PM
What's wrong with Hillary??
See Molly Ivins column:
Not. Supporting. Hillary.
for starters...
Remember all those No. 2 al-Qaeda guys they keep claiming to have found? Well, it turns out that some of those AQ guys never existed...
U.S. Says Insurgent Leader It Couldn’t Find Never Was
BAGHDAD, July 18 — For more than a year, the leader of one the most notorious insurgent groups in Iraq was said to be a mysterious Iraqi called Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.
As the titular head of the Islamic State in Iraq, Mr. Baghdadi issued incendiary pronouncements. Despite claims by an Iraqi Interior Ministry official in May that Mr. Baghdadi had been killed, he appeared to have persevered unscathed.
On Wednesday, the chief United States military spokesman here, Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, provided a new explanation for Mr. Baghdadi’s ability to escape attack: he never existed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/world/middleeast/18cnd-baghdadi.html?
Bush declares Marshal Law.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/235042/926
Posted by: sparrow at July 19, 2007 08:52 AM
I suppose he thinks that makes him Sheriff.
Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2007 09:11 AM
The Keystone Kops. You have to laugh. But - still - he gets away with it again, and again, and again.
Another "Hillary Problem" that just came up after the Libby pardon:
Hugh Rodham and Tony Rodham receiving between $200,000 and $400,000 for "consulting services" from Mark Rich.
btw: just remembered this one:
Hillary's fundraiser for 2000 indicted
BTW, if you go read the full order...this Declaration is intended to go after AMERICAN WAR PROTESTERS.
"(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited. "
SON OF A B*TCH.
We are looking at the very real possibility that georgie will not be leaving in 08. He does not need votes to stay.
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 09:25 AM
Huh? How can he stay when he's done his 8 years? Has he managed to change that law too?
Posted by: woz at July 19, 2007 09:38 AM
Woz,
He makes up the laws as he goes. It's like playing Risk with someone who doesn't follow the rules in the game and just tells you it's how it is now 'cuz that's how he's always played it.
Remember all those No. 2 al-Qaeda guys they keep claiming to have found? Well, it turns out that some of those AQ guys never existed...
Posted by: madame defarge at July 19, 2007 09:27 AM
Well that's a surprise. And the lies keep rollin
He makes up the laws as he goes. It's like playing Risk with someone who doesn't follow the rules in the game and just tells you it's how it is now 'cuz that's how he's always played it.
Posted by: sparrow at July 19, 2007 09:41 AM
Will people really put up with that? Even republicans surely, would think that's not fair play. Surely?
Martial Law Woz.
All he has to do is declare a 'national emergency' and he can cancel any election he wants.
"(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited. "
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 09:31 AM
Christy this is so vague it was obviously put together by a low intellect Attorney General - the amnesiac running the legal show for the WH these days.
The republicans will find it unfair, sure, but, when have you ever known a republican to care about 'fairness'...?
Even if they do find it too unfair to support, it does not matter, it is too late. He needed them to attain enourmous power. He has that power now so I doubt he has any more use for them.
I have said so from the beginning.... He will never just give it all back. He will never just simply hand it over and go away.
Why would he?
Vague yes, but enough to put every single one of us here in prison with no charges and sieze all of our assets.
Christy until I got to watch JK in action every afternoon before the 2004 election, I found US politics so hard to figure out. It's not much better now but at least for your last 2 elections I was hoping for the right person at least.
Actually, is there a section of the constitution that allows the president to continue on in time of war? Britain and Russia are expelling diplomats on a daily basis right now so GW has a couple of years to completely destabilise the middle east while Britain is distracted elsewhere.
More on the Hillary Problem:
#1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2007062101
THE HILLARY DILEMMA
What Should Democrats--and the Country--Do?
NB: Essay on pros and cons of Hillary for prez. Ending paragraphs (you'll have to go to the web site to see where Sabato has highlighted some sentences in bold print):
A much more reasonable criticism is directly related to the dominating presence of Hillary Clinton in this election cycle. The population of the United States now exceeds 300 million, and the talent pool of the world's only superpower is deep and rich. How is it that the country is on the verge of filling its highest office for the sixth consecutive term from one of two families? That every President from 1989 to 2017 may be a Bush or a Clinton is a national disgrace. What has happened to the American Republic? How does it differ from a banana republic--where a couple of dominant families often run everything for generations? Have we driven the vast majority of the potentially best Presidents out of the contest because of the high personal and professional costs of running for office? Are we the voters responsible because we are too lazy to go beyond the simplistic attractions of familiarity and high name identification? Or, most disturbing of all, has our political system become ossified, so that we are too fearful of change to seek out the most outstanding leaders among us for the toughest job in the world?
We don't pretend to have the answers. But we are shocked and dismayed that more people aren't even bothering to ask the questions.
#2
from Code Pink:
http://www.listenhillary.org
tell Hillary where she has gone wrong...
The Constitution clearly regulates WAR to CONGRESS.
All this 'I am the decider cause I am the president' is bullsh*t.
The whole problem is, he is deliberately trying to DISMANTLE the US Constitution, and he has pretty much succeeded. Congress aided and abetted it.
And we are well and truly f*cked.
Posted by: karen at July 18, 2007 11:37 AM
Karen, I'm hoping the GetUp website that gets into issues will take up this campaign too. I didn't email the government, I emailed the shadow ministry who will be the government before year's end. We hope.
All he has to do is declare a 'national emergency' and he can cancel any election he wants.
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 09:50 AM
Oh that is creepy! No way! The whole world is counting the days until he's gone.
Here is something most people do not know.
You know that fence line repells want so bad on our southern border?
When georgie signed it law, the law clearly states that any act committed by Homeland Insecurity on that border in pursuit of that wall, is EXEMPT from ALL LAWS of the United States. Civil and criminal.
Which means they can literally murder people, and are completely immune from prosecution.
The law basically means in order to uphold the Constitution, the Constitution must be ignored.
Then he did away with Posse Comitatus.
The law that has kept American Presidents since the Civil War from using our own soldiers on our own people.
Why would ANYONE seek such power, and then just give it all back...?
There is very little chance in hell we are getting out of this intact as a nation.
Impeaching the bastard would help, but it does not remove him from power.
Vague yes, but enough to put every single one of us here in prison with no charges and sieze all of our assets.
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 09:55 AM
Oh Christy. I emailed our AG yesterday and told him that I've given away simcards too - so he should send the AFP to arrest me. They haven't arrived yet! The government was playing the fear card by revoking the visa of a guy who was granted bail by the courts. So, the government jumped up and through him in detention because he's a bad person and we don't want him here. He is a terrorist after all.
That's what the Attorney General said about this guy. So, one of the lawyers published the entire Federal police interviews of this man. And now the government's crying foul. Sometimes I really hate politics and the sickos who get to play the leads.
The more I read the Executive Order, the more FREAKED OUT I am getting.
OMG people, we are in trouble.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.html
Do you realize with this he can arrest congressmembers because they 'Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq " by trying to withdraw our troops....?
Bush declares Marshal Law.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/18/235042/926
Posted by: sparrow at July 19, 2007 08:52 AM
=================================================
You ain't kiddin, honey... Here's a copy of an email I sent out back in May about another really frightening, and completely ignored "Presidential Directive."
In light of yesterday's new Executive Order, you'd have to have a learning disability not to see the pattern of this effort. These guys are systematically dismembering the entire system of checks and balances. They're working for TOTAL authority. Period. Kind of puts Michael Chertoff's little "gut feeling" episode last week into perspective doesn't it? They know what's coming.
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From May:
This little bombshell was quietly released by the
White House on May 9th, and has received virtually NO mainstream media attention. This "presidential security directive" signed and created solely by
George Bush, was created to "ensure the continuation of constitutional government." The method for said continuation is that in the event of a "National emergency",(getting the theme yet?) the President of the United States shall become the SINGULAR LEADER of not just the executive branch, but ALL THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT. And just so you know, that can cover everything from a hurricane to a terror attack. You think he knows something that we don't? I've included the Truthout article link, as well as the White House link with the actual text of the directive.
Please pass it on.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052107T.shtml
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html
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God Save the United States of America.
Now She tells us
From Maria Bartiromo's interview of Condi Rice in the current issue of BusinessWeek:
MB: Would you consider a position in business or on Wall Street?
CR: I don't know what I'll do long-term. I'm a terrible long-term planner.
--David Kurtz
I would still like more feedback on the video at this link. I would watch it again but it's blocked here. The "interpretive dancing" sequence is just the best!!
Just watch the video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/generation-chickenhawk-t_b_56676.html
DRAFT COLLEGE REPUBLICANS
I have also put it up on our site. I heard from Kayakbiker. He lost fifteen pounds on the "native diet" and his wife stepped on a scorpion and killed it. He photographed a bunch of rice harvesters and then found out a few days later, rival groups of them got into a brawl and several were killed, with those long hooked knives they use to cut plants (like sickles). Yikes! But I envy him for the distraction from all this crap and wonder what kind of things he's hearing over there?
I forgot to say where - Phillipine Islands.
Also, YearlyKos is soliciting questions to ask the presidential panel. Including Hillary, so Ralpheh, this is your chance. I will take your question to her personally.
I still have not taken a position and won't til I have at least heard them and reviewed their entire past.
Max obviously made a mistake with the interpretive dance moment on that video, nmp. He should have gone for a rhythm tap number--something staccato-ish.
He could have had the whole room on his side. Add beer and you're there.
My heart went out to the young man who has prayed about being gay. I cannot tell you how many young men and women I have counseled over the years who feared they were gay, and who were addressing their concerns with prayer. Some eventually decided they were gay and had to leave the church and some still struggle. A fortunate few have managed to decide they are who they are, they love who they love, and the church needs to adjust to reality.
That young man reminds me of the ones who had a huge internal struggle in front of them.
Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2007 11:20 AM
You're a much better person than many of us -- or at least me. I have made my decision as to whom I'm backing. I've done enough homework on the candidates to know who I think will make the best president.
"You know, when you get older, you start to think more about things not to do rather than things to do. Lot's of other cultures are very differential to age. Speaking as an old 46-yer-old, I am beginning to see the wisdom in that. It's like the story of the old bull and the young bull my dad used to tell me. But I guess that old anecdote isn't ready for prime time."
Posted By: Chuck
Chuck I was taught to be differential to my elders. I was taught to NEVER talk back, and I was taught the hard way.
I understand it becoming more about what not to do, but now is not the time to try to preserve our energy.
We do not have much time left before tyranny turns the lights out on this place. Now is not the time to grow weary, tired, or just...aged.
Now is the time to fight like hell and throw everything we got at these bastards. It is time to trust in WE and be ready to die for it.
It is interesting because I think our two generations is where the fissure opens. You are not my elder by much, but we experienced radically different times.
I was a young adult when Clintons impeachment proceeded. I had not yet learned restraint or maturity so in many ways the end of my adolesence was shaped by the fact of it happening, and our nation emerging actually stronger for it.
You being older, yall could see the pitfalls, watched the traps spring shut, agonized over what was happening and dreading the outcome.
Us kids had faith in the system, and our nation held. The Constitution held. Clinton was rebuked for lying and still expertly guiding our nation. We did not dread it nor share your agony.
Impeachment became a reality that just exists for us, and I find it interesting all the elders are still thinking it is somehow taboo or unapproachable.
I know bushes impeachment will not go smoothly, not like Clintons, simply because the difference between war crimes and a blowjob is obvious.
But... I still remember when I had blind faith in the MECHANICS of the US Constitution, and it worked.
If it does not work, then it will be mostly the younger generations that will die for it.
The only thing left for georgie to do, is tip off civil war. Not over there. Right here. No war. No war profits.
He will become a literal dictator within MINUTES of the first shot being fired.
Just to let you all know--we are not joining any of the campaigns this time around. We have our thoughts and feelings about each candidate, and, in the end, hope for the best for whomever is still standing.
We have friends working in each campaign; people we deeply respect and who are devoted to their candidates. Some of them are in DCP, some are our neighbors; most worked for JK/JE in 2004.
It is an extraordinary time and much is required of all the candidates. They have to be inclusive and brave. They have to be authentic and innovative. As Richard likes to point out when we speak with our friends here in DC, whoever takes the Oath of Office in January 2009 is going to the parade, maybe the Balls and then directly into the War Room. There will be no honeymoon.
Also, as you know, I am sometimes asked to comment on the nonverbal aspects of candidates. In 2003-4 I did not comment publicly b/c we were working for the JK campaign; Richard as a staffer and I as a volunteer. This time around I want to be able to comment as needed, with a modicum of objectivity.
SO you won't see me engaging in the candidate frenzy online. I encourage all of us to work for the person we think can best handle that direct-to-the-War-Room scenario and to work hard for him/her. That is what democracy looks like. And we need as much of that as we can get--democracy being somewhat out of fashion these days.
And remember, DCP cannot endorse anyone. But we can and do encourage activism, engagement, education, and creativity!
But Karen, you can tell us who is cuter...
Edwards or Obama ?
I am still hopelessly undecided.
Game. Over.
Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout
Leaders of Iraqi groups say attacks will go on until Americans leave
Seven of the most important Sunni-led insurgent organisations fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a public political alliance with the aim of preparing for negotiations in advance of an American withdrawal, their leaders have told the Guardian.
In their first interview with the western media since the US-British invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the insurgent groups - responsible for thousands of attacks against US and Iraqi armed forces and police - said they would continue their armed resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq, and denounced al-Qaida for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against civilians.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2129675,00.html
But Karen, you can tell us who is cuter...
Edwards or Obama ?
I am still hopelessly undecided.
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 12:43 PM
Now Christy, you KNOW that cuteness is in the eye of the beholder!
They are each cute, in their own way...
I prefer slightly gawky wonky guys with glasses who toil behind the scenes...much easier to deal with!
Posted by: Christy at July 19, 2007 12:43 PM
I can tell you who's the cutest.
Hillary. :)
Even though I won't be voting for her.
Also, YearlyKos is soliciting questions to ask the presidential panel. Including Hillary, so Ralpheh, this is your chance. I will take your question to her personally.
I still have not taken a position and won't til I have at least heard them and reviewed their entire past.
Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2007 11:20 AM
@@@@@@@@
I have called Hillary's various offices (Washington, New York etc..) and none of them have answered any of my questions nor do I expect them to. Hillary's people have taken lessons from Bush with regard to openness - Just don't answer the difficult questions, and eventually the press and the people will get tired and give up.
Well I don't have alot of hatred in me but I hate O'Reilly so in that way he is right. I hate Mann Coulter right back. I hate the neocons.
Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2007 12:21 AM
Agreed with you there. Especially when it comes to Moon and the Mann.
Bush Government to Poor Voters: We Don't Want You to Vote
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071807C.shtml
Posted by: not my president at July 19, 2007 01:06 AM
Further attempt, along with the rigged immigration system, to tilt the electorate.
The W cabal's attempts to play above the law continue to amaze me.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at July 19, 2007 01:39 PM
Ya mean the Mann in the Moon?
Coult Cuts