Friday, December 1, 2006

Baker Puts Bush in a Corner




From my "Capital Games" column at www.thenation.com....

It's crunch time for George W. Bush.

He has to decide whether or not to change his Iraq policy, as James Baker, his father's secretary of state, weighs in with a report that applies much pressure on him. According to Friday's edition of The Washington Post, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group chaired by Baker and former Democratic Representative Lee Hamilton will recommend next week that Bush withdraws nearly all US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008. Baker's group attaches qualifiers to its call for this redeployment, noting such a drawdown should occur only if circumstances on the ground permit it. (And this pullout would be accompanied by moves aimed at enhancing US support of Iraqi military units, such as embedding US troops within Iraqi units.) But even Baker's conditional call for disengagement is a sharp retort to Bush, who has repeatedly dismissed the notion of withdrawing troops until, as he puts it, "the mission is completed." The commission's report--if the leaked accounts are correct--will send a message to Bush: Iraq is not working, you must shift strategies.

The simple question is, will he? Doing so would be an admission that he has botched the job. Bush may not be willing to--or able to--concede that difficult point. But his father's crowd--and their Democratic partners on the panel--is telling him straight-up that his Iraq project (the defining element of his presidency) is failing. Can Bush process this?

The congressional Democratic leadership has been much helped by Baker's panel. Though the Democrats have not forged a consensus position, most have backed some version of withdrawal. The Baker report will provide them plenty of political cover. After all, can Karl Rove attack Baker and fellow commission members Edwin Meese III (Ronald Reagan's attorney general), Sandra Day O'Connor (a former Supreme Court justice nominated by Reagan), and Alan Simpson (former Republican senator) as cut-and-rum wimps who want the terrorists to win? Talking about withdrawing US troops (and transforming the mission in Iraq from combat to support) is now perfectly respectable. Bush, Dick Cheney and administration aides have been nudged into a corner.

The Iraq Study Group "embraced everything we asked for," gloats one Democratic Senate staffer. During the group's deliberation, Senator Harry Reid, the incoming Senate majority leader, and Senator Carl Levin, the Democrat who will assume chairmanship of the armed services committee, met with Baker and the commissioners. Reid and Levin presented them with a memo that called for starting a phased withdrawal, initiating a regional diplomatic initiative, and appointing a special envoy. "It looks like the Baker report is an endorsement of our position," this Senate aide says. "It's aligned with our call for a change in direction. Baker-Hamilton will add to the momentum for change."

As conditional as the commission's withdrawal recommendation might be, its report is indeed a slap at Bush. It also undermines conservatives--such as Senator John McCain--who have proposed sending far more troops to Iraq, and the report undercuts neocons who have dismissed the idea of engaging Iran and Syria in the effort to stabilize Iraq.

The Baker-Hamilton commission has not come up with a roadmap to success. Pulling out US combat troops could be accompanied by greater chaos and conflict in Iraq--and perhaps in the region. (In a Washington Post op-ed several days ago, Saudi adviser Nawaf Obaid warned that Saudi Arabia might intervene in Iraq to protect Sunnis--even if this could lead to war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.) But Baker has rendered a harsh judgment on the son's war. He has shifted the debate. Withdrawal--of some kind--is now the majority position.

Will Bush acknowledge this new reality? Or might he become a Captain Queeg-like character, isolated in his adherence to a discredited and failing policy of muddling through? Bush does remain the commander in chief. Until congressional Democrats become bold enough to challenge his conduct of the war by withholding funds for it (a point that most Democrats are not yet near), Bush gets to call the shots in Iraq. He and Cheney can ignore Baker's advice. But now that the Baker report is out, Bush has a fundamental choice: to admit he has messed up and change direction or to stay the course (even though he's no longer allowed to use that term). For whatever faults the Baker report might have, Baker deserves credit for pushing Bush the Younger--whose presidency Baker enabled by winning the Florida recount battle--to this moment of reckoning, even if it's a moment Bush refuses to recognize.

******

NEW INTELL CHAIR: On Friday morning, House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi named Representative Silvestre Reyes chairman of the House intelligence committee. There's nothing objectionable about Reyes, but she missed an opportunity to make a stellar choice by picking Representative Rush Holt for the post. To learn why, see my recent column on this matter here.

Posted by David Corn at December 1, 2006 12:02 PM

95 comments:

capt said...

Mr. David Corn,

I think Bush put himself into the corner. Baker is only confirming that fact.

"(Pelosi) missed an opportunity to make a stellar choice by picking Representative Rush Holt"

I too was hoping for Holt (after I read your piece).


Thanks for all of your work.


Kirk

kathleen said...

Capt and others, I sure enjoy going back and reading all of the other post and links from everyday during the week. While I value what Corn has to say, I encourage folks to go back and check out the previous days. Saladin's, Capt's and others links are treasures!

CARTER WILL BE ON C-SPAN THIS SUNDAY FOR THREE HOURS!

Saladin, the article about Thomas Friedmann sure nailed pro-war Friedmann's arrogant and elitist thinking to the wall!

Put on your uniform Friedmann you are not too old to serve and show the world that you are willing to put your ass on the line for what you believe!

Corns latest on Bush's response to Baker (we can thank Baker for this mess in Iraq too), Hamilton, and the rest of the commission demostrates that the Bush administration may just ignore the intervention that the "old school" conservatives are attempting to conduct.


I strongly suggest that people go listen to the Diane Rehms Friday round-up. It took one and a half hours before the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was discussed. It does not matter how often we hear that the I/P issue is the root cause of the conflicts and tension in the middle east!

In the last 20 minutes of the two hour round up show it was finally brought up that this past week both Carter and King Abdullah had brought up that the I/P conflict is the "core issue" to be dealt with in the middle east.

When one of the callers expressed an opinion against Israel's illegal actions and the U.S. unbridled support of Israel. Both Sebastion Mallaby from the Washington Post and Steve Roberts(syndicated columnist) went into rants about how Israel has done everything they possibly could do to resolve the problem. It was utterly disgusting, one sided and a perfect example of what Carter has been saying all this week. That the MSM in the states seems incapable of dealing with this conflict fairly.

Diane Rehm did not really tackle or seriously challenge any of the participants when they completely defended Israel's illegal actions! Sebastian said "what can Israel do?' Diane did not say How about starting by abiding by UN Resolution 242 and all of the other Un resolutions that they Israel is in violation of.

Or how about stopping with the expansion of ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS!

Not one of the guest made any suggestions or had any criticisms of Israel's illegal actions, Diane sort of squeaked out an itty bitty challenge,barely a squeak!

One listener e-mailed in that the program sounded like the "Israeli Propaganda" hour. They should have e-mailed that it sounded as if this was the "Israeli propaganda" 5 minutes. That is about how long they discussed the "core issue" in the middle east. Go listen to the two hour program yourself!

FAIR and other media watch groups could take these two hours and use it as a prime example of just what Carter has said! The majority of media outlets in this country are part of the problem not the solution in regard to the I/P conflict!


Diane Rehm and her producers should listen to this program themselves and evaluate and determine whether they think this was fair, balanced and accurate coverage on the I/P issue. If they determine that they were fair and balanced there is no hope even for the Diane Rehm show! Go listen! herself as a journalist. She rolled over and barely challenged!


Did anyone hear NPR's Daniel Schorr's analysis of the poisoning of Alexander LItvinenko this week? Go listen!

Schorr judged, tried and convicted Russian President Vladimir Putin in his analysis on Nov.29th, without any "hard" evidence. Another example of that fair, balanced and accurate reporting on NPR. Hogwash!

Talk about a conspiracy, I have heard other comments this week on Day to day, Talk of the Nation all convicting Putin of this crime before Scotland Yard!

capt said...

Kathleen,

Thanks - I too love to read old threads. Some posts are very spot on and others (some of my predictions) are silly and funny!



capr

Saladin said...

Kathleen, I'm afraid the Israeli propaganda machine has done it's job all too well. Israel is the eternal victim and all Muslims, particularly of the middle east squatting on the Zionist God given land variety, are always and forever the "terrorists." No thinking required, they have done all your thinking for you. Move along now.

Saladin said...

Rick, just read the Greenwald article, apparently there is a proper and improper way to slaughter 600,000 + innocent souls. He is a disgusting person, Greenwalds article was very good, though not quite as colorful as Floyds. All in all they both hit that nail squarely on the noggin! And the NY Times is supposed to be a LIBERAL paper?? God help us.

capt said...

Glenn Greenwald ROCKS!

Saladin said...

Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel
Project Vote Smart

The following ratings are based on point system designed by the organization. Points were assigned for actions either in support of or in opposition to the organization's position.
============
Now, this is VERY interesting. Nothing objectionable about Mr. Reyes eh Mr. Corn? Well, I disagree, not only are his biggest contributers war profiteers but now he is given a -4 rating by this peace group. Check out the rest, telling indeed. Correlate the scores with AIPAC contributions, I bet that would be informative as well. I would like to add that Ron Paul is given a +7, the second highest I saw on the chart. Most were given a negative score.

Saladin said...

Portland City Council passes resolution against Iraq war
Oregon Live.com

The Portland City Council unanimously passed a long-discussed resolution today calling on the Bush administration to immediately withdraw U.S troops from Iraq.

Commissioner Randy Leonard brought the measure forward after months of talks with metro area peace and social justice activists. It also calls on President Bush to take conciliatory steps to restore U.S. standing in the eyes of the world and to induce cooperation to bring safety and security to Iraq.

It suggests that the money being spent to conduct the war should be redirected to address urgent needs of the most vulnerable U.S. citizens — especially on education, health care and benefits for returning troops.

During an afternoon hearing, the five council members heard from more than 60 people, from mothers whose children are fighting to union officials criticizing the war as being fought at the expense of working-class soldiers.

Leonard’s leadership on the issue is a reversal. In early 2003, he voted against a resolution proposed by Commissioner Erik Sten urging Bush to stay out of Iraq.
============
HOORAY FOR MY HOME TOWN!!

kathleen said...

Saladin.. "Iraq Burns, Americans shop and shop and shop"...but while I stay in the states I am going to keep pushing for justice. I know (and so does everyone else in the Corn world) that your desire to witness JUSTICE is your driving force!






Take Action

National Call in Day Hold Congress Accountable to the Mandate for Peace
Monday, December 4th
Tel. 202-224-3121 Congressional Switchboard

Call your Representative and Senators and tell them:
The voters issued a Mandate for Peace! That means, bring the troops home now!

Members of Congress return to Washington on Monday, December 4. Let's greet them
with a flood of phone calls, because, as incredible as it may seem, many still don't
get that the troops need to come home from Iraq.

Since the elections, the carnage in Iraq has only gotten worse. Our 140,000 troops
in Iraq are unable to stop the ever deepening spiral of violence. Last week we
witnessed the bloodiest attacks since the U.S. invasion almost 4 years ago.

Yet congress and the administration sit and wait... for the Baker-Hamilton Iraq
Study Group report, for the Pentagon study group report, the White House study group
-- for anything they can hide behind.

On November 7, the people gave Congress a mandate for peace. Congress has the power
to end the U.S. occupation on Iraq -- they control the purse strings and can stop
this war -- and if it fails to do so, we will hold them responsible for the
continued violence in Iraq.

Call your Representative and both Senators tell them:
I insist that Congress act immediately to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq NOW!
The Congress has the power to stop this war. Use your power or you will be held
responsible for the continuation of this war.

Call the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Or call your Representative and Senators in their district offices. You can find out
who your Representative and Senators are and also look up their district office
phone numbers here:

David B. Benson said...

Now that sounds to be a god script! Americans and Brits, others, LEAVE NOW! Then let the Saudis and the Iranians provide the security forces in their respective 'spheres of influence'.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S.A., as soon as Representative Pelosi is sworn in as Speaker, Bush and Cheney decide that, for their continued health, they need to travel to a country without extradition treaties, incidently dropping off letters of resignation att the aircraft door. Dear Mrs. President...

... and then I woke up ...

David B. Benson said...

Oops. I meant 'good script', but maybe it is better as it stands?

O'Reilly said...

Get Ready for a Reversal?

Here's a possibility that I suspect you'll be hearing a lot more of in the coming days: That Bush's recent talk is insincere bluster in anticipation of an abrupt reversal (at which point, he will try to argue it wasn't a reversal at all).

In other words: That he's lying.

Marc Sandalow writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: "It would be reasonable to conclude after watching President Bush in the Middle East this week that the administration has no plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

"'This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all,' Bush said at a news conference Thursday morning in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"Yet some experts say it would be foolhardy to assume, just because Bush said it, that the statement is true.

"There is mounting evidence that the world of public Bush-speak -- from his vigorous support for al-Maliki and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to his rejection of direct diplomacy with Syria and Iran -- bears little relation to what goes on behind the scenes.

"Senior White House officials even tangled this week with reporters who suggested that al-Maliki had snubbed Bush at a dinner with Jordan's King Abdullah. A three-way dinner had never been planned, the officials insisted -- until the reporters forcefully pointed out that it had been on the president's public schedule for nearly a week.

"At a time when Bush is under increasing pressure to significantly modify his Iraq strategy, it is difficult to know whether his public rigidity is a sign he is ignoring calls for change or simply putting a resolute -- some would say stubborn -- face on a policy about to undergo significant alterations."

As Sandalow notes: "[T]here is also evidence that Bush feels little compunction to tell the truth if he believes a purpose is served by not doing so."

- Froomkin

kathleen said...

The Greenwald piece on Friedman was "chickenhawk" on!

This line by Friedmann was especially telling "I have to admit I've always been fighting my own war in Iraq."

Oh Friedmann if only you were or your children were fighting in Iraq! YOu yellow bellied, white assed chickenshit!

Lawrence O'Donnell says it best

"It takes a very special kind of combat coward to advocate combat for others".

Friedmann is so very special!

kathleen said...

"Graceful" is not a word anyone should choose to use in regard to Iraq!

Iraq Burns..Americans Shop!

O'Reilly said...

More Dan Froomkin... this time about his fellow WaPo Opinion colleague George Will and Will's column about Freshman Senator Jim Webb's visit to the White House and little chat with Mr G W Bush.

Will v. Webb

George F. Will's Washington Post opinion column yesterday, accusing newly elected Virginia Senator Jim Webb of acting like a "boor" when he didn't respond warmly to Bush's question about his son, a Marine in Iraq, has inspired furious response in the blogosphere and among washingtonpost.com readers, who have posted more than, 1,500 comments at last count.

Nora Ephron writes on HuffingtonPost.com: "Washington is a place where politics is just something you do all day. You lie, you send kids to war, you give them inadequate equipment, they're wounded and permanently maimed, they die, whatever. Then night falls, and you actually think you get to pretend that none of it matters. 'How's your boy?' That, according to George Will, is a civil and caring question, one parent to another? It seems to me that it's exactly the sort of guy talk that passes for conversation in Bushworld, just one-up from the frat-boy banter that is usually so seductive to Bush's guests. . .

"So finally someone said to George Bush, Don't think that what you stand for is beside the point. Don't think that because you're President you're entitled to my good opinion. Don't think that asking about my boy means that I believe for even one second that you care. If you did, you'd be doing something about bringing the troops home.

"George Will thinks this is bad manners.

"I don't.

"I think it's too bad it doesn't happen more often."

O'Reilly said...

Exit Strategy - PIC

Gerald said...

Bad Manners?

Is it okay for Hitler Bush to flash the birdie? Is it okay for Hitler Bush to murder and maim people?

Hitler Bush will be granted repect when he, in turn, shows respect for other human beings. Hitler Bush is a low life weasel who has not earned the respect from our human population.

capt said...

"In other words: That he's lying."

Right on!




capt

Gerald said...

George Will is a pompous self-centered ego maniac. No self-respecting person will care what George Will says.

Gerald said...

Will, you are a hypocrite

Yes, a pompous hypocrite!!!!!

Gerald said...

Yesterday's mendacity was nothing for George F. Will, however. He has been a disgrace to his once-honorable profession for a long time. His sleazy behavior in years past helped pave the way for the debased media of today.

Gerald said...

Will, you are a sleazy hypocrite.

Gerald said...

George Will, you make me want to puke!!! Yes, a torrent of volcanic puke!!!!!

Saladin said...

Rick, I like Greenwald's writing just fine! Floyd just manages to make me laugh even when he writes about something awful, he is SUCH a smartass, something I can appreciate!
Kathleen, when I have to go grocery shopping at this time of year I just cringe when I hear all that stupid, designed to make you buy, buy, buy, Christmas music. It doesn't make me want to buy, it makes me want to get in and out ASAP!

Gerald said...

This kind of behavior is okay by me!!!

Some behaviors must be acceptable

Gerald said...

More Troops?

Gerald said...

The fact that Washington is seriously considering sending more American troops to Iraq illustrates a common phenomenon in war. As the certainty of defeat looms ever more clearly, the scrabbling about for a miracle cure, a deus ex machina, becomes ever more desperate – and more silly. Cavalry charges, Zeppelins, V-2 missiles, kamikazes, the list is endless. In the end, someone finally has to face facts and admit defeat. The sooner someone in Washington is willing to do that, the sooner the troops we already have in Iraq will come home – alive.

Gerald said...

George Bush wants more troops in Iraq because he is in ecstasy at the sight of dismembered human body parts. He must relish the sight of a flying arm in one direction, a leg in another direction, and the head rolling down the street like a bowling ball.

capt said...

A centralised democracy may be as tyrannical as an absolute monarch; and if the vigour of the nation is to continue unimpaired, each individual, each family, each district, must preserve as far as possible its independence, its self-completeness, its powers and its privilege to manage its own affairs and think its own thoughts.": James Anthony Froude (1818-1894) Author and historian Source: Short Studies on Great Subjects

=
Good men will never lack good laws nor allow bad ones: - William Penn in 1681, America, Character Counts

=
"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." -- James Bovard - 1994 Source: Lost Rights. The Destruction of American Liberty (St. Martin's Press: New York, 1994), p. 333

=
"The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he's the victim and make the victim look like he's the criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press." . . . . "If you aren't careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." "At the Audubon, December 13, 1964." In Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements, ed. George Breitman, 96-114. New York: Ballantine Books, 1964, 101

===
Read this newsletter online http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

Saladin said...

Capt, the democracy we supposedly have cannot even be considered mob rule, as some believe. It isn't a mob, it is a small minority of big money corporations buying off the politicians and calling the shots. "We the mob" don't have jack shit to say about it.

Watch what's coming. Think your vote counts? We'll see when the North American Union takes the place of American sovereignty and the Amero is the new currency. There won't be a vote, you will swallow it or else. Where the fuck are the democrats? Think this is incompetence? Well, the incompetent ones are laughing all the way to the bank, that you CAN count on. Keep on hoping, as someone used to say, hope (or wish) in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first. Hope is all well and good, but don't tuck it under the mattress thinking it will save you in the end. Preparing for the harsh reality while keeping the hope alive is the only practical solution.

David B. Benson said...

Tom Engelhardt is certainly persistent regarding impeachment. Hope this actually pans out in a few months...

uncledad said...

Saladin said:
"Hope is all well and good, but don't tuck it under the mattress thinking it will save you in the end. "

Better to tuck hope under the mattress than shit, at least hope don't stink!

Saladin said...

uncledad, that's a good one! Hope doesn't stink, but shit is usually what we get. Maybe we should tuck roses under the mattress to diffuse the smell!

uncledad said...

Here's the latest addition to the c-student in chief's anti-terrorism toolkit!. It seems they can tell if you’re a terrorist by monitoring your in-flight food menu choices!

uncledad said...

Saladin:
I’m not sure the roses would work. Look on the bright side. Eventually everything will stink like shit so it won't matter anyway! Our only hope is the incoming democratic house and senate? Senator Leahy says he’s concerned about the feds keeping track of our in-flight habits, maybe that’s a start? Although the fact that he went public with his concerns on a Friday makes me wonder. As I’m sure you know these people (our leaders) like to make announcements on Friday with hopes nobody will give a shit by Monday. (More shit)

I don’t understand why they (the feds) are only concerned about international flights? It seems to me in order to attack the U.S. from a plane the plane would have to be flying over the United States. That’s called a domestic flight right? They must know something that I just don’t understand. Oh well time to go shopping now.

Saladin said...

Gosh uncledad, what if I were to order a vegetarian meal, as I am likely to do, on my way to Chili? Could I be charged with the new animal rights terrorist law? Maybe I should just bring a can of vegetable soup and a can opener, can you get that on the plane? Maybe the soup but not the can opener? Or, is it possible to blow up a plane with vegetable soup? Maybe if I mix it with some vaseline or Channel #5? How could I terrorize the people with a can opener? Let me think about it, I'm sure I could at least OFFEND someone!

capt said...

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.

An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.


~ H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

capt said...

A bird gets caught in a snowdrift and is freezing to death. An ox comes by and decides to save the bird, but the only way he can do this is by defecating over the bird so the ice would melt and the bird would be warmed.

After the ox does this, a fox comes by and carefully cleans the feces off of the bird ... and then eats the bird.

The moral of the story: not everyone who dumps shit on you is your enemy and not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

Saladin said...

Democrat Side of War Party Calls for More Mass Murder and Misery in Iraq

Kurt Nimmo
Another Day In The Empire
Friday, December 1, 2006

“Although the Democrats are very uncomfortable with the way the Iraq policy is being executed, they are at pains not to appear that they are shortchanging troops in the field,” Loren Thompson, CEO of the Lexington Institute, yet another “think tank,” this one connected at the hip to the neocon infested Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Associated Press. “This is their opportunity to show that they, too, are pro-defense,” that is to say pro-killing Iraqis in prodigious numbers with an inventory of truly heinous weapons.

In order to test the loyalty to the neocon ethic of ever ballooning “defense” (i.e., invade small countries) appropriations, the “Bush administration is hammering out its largest-ever appeal for more Iraq war funds—a record $100 billion, at least, and that figure reflects cuts from wish lists originally circulating around the Pentagon,” a “wish list” no different than one submitted by a heroin addict, forever increasing his dosage and thus requiring more and more money, to the ultimate ruination of family and friends.

The neocon-haunted Pentagon is bankrupting America. In 2006, the Pentagon spent around $120 billion killing Iraqis and wrecking their country, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Next year, they estimate they will need $200 billion to sustain the same level of terrorism.

Not a problem for Democrats.

“Despite widespread discontent over the Iraq war and President Bush’s handling of it, Democrats are expected to grant the vast majority of the request. Yet evidence is accumulating that the figure the White House sends to Capitol Hill will not be limited to dollars critically needed for troops and war-fighting,” the Associated Press continues. “There is much sentiment among Democrats to protect troops and fear about being portrayed as unsympathetic to men and women in uniform. These factors probably would overwhelm any efforts by anti-war Democrats to use the debate over the Iraq money to take on Bush’s conduct of the war.”

In short, don’t expect any significant changes while Democrats are in the saddle. In fact, Democrats represent nothing more than a few minor changes in the management team.

“Democrats want to win the war, which is why we want to change the strategy,” Chuckie Schumer declared after fusty neocon apologist Elizabeth Dole attacked Democrats as soft on spending outrageous amounts of taxpayer money on killing Iraqis and wrecking their country. “He said if Democrats gain the majority in the Senate, they would push for new policies including withdrawing troops for deployment elsewhere and adding forces for counterterrorism such as pursuing Osama bin Laden,” the Associated Press reported two days before the midterm elections.

Of course, as we know, and as the Iraq Study Group of neolib and neocon insiders recommended, the U.S. military will be in Iraq at least until 2008. Call it Iraqization, as the “US role would change from leading the fight against insurgents and terrorism to supporting Iraqi government forces in the conflict,” according to the Washington Post.

Obviously, the neocons and their complaisant, even eager, Democrat collaborators are looking to make to make the duration of the “war” twice as long as World War 2.

Naturally, come 2008, there will be yet another excuse issued by a “study group” of neolibs and former Iran-Contra criminals to keep our “men and women in uniform” on the ground in Iraq, that is if they are not killed off in large numbers after the neocons attack Iran and our soldiers are hemmed in by incensed Iranians.

In the meantime, Democrats have to keep up appearances...
==========
Want to read the rest? Go to Prison Planet. Our only hope is the incoming democratic house and senate? What kind of hope is that? I'm also hoping UFO's will come and save us, or maybe Jesus. Fat fucking chance.

capt said...

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right.

I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office.

The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.

We are here and it is now. Further than that all human knowledge is moonshine.

A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.

Creator: a comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh.

Imagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable.

Democracy: The worship of jackals by jackasses.

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.


All ~ H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

uncledad said...

"Gosh uncledad, what if I were to order a vegetarian meal, as I am likely to do, on my way to Chili?"

That may not be considered an international flight, but possibly an intra American union flight, so you would probably be ok ordering anything you want, with the assurance that the might and will of the U.S. constitution is behind you. Assuming the constitution does not apply outside the U.S. under new laws? GITMO, Cuba? Commonly referred to as a U.S. territory.

The ABA (American Bar Association) held a very informative conference yesterday and today. Much of if was broadcast on C-span. Sorry to report that the neoconsuperfratboys were winning most arguments, on the surface. At least for the cameras. You know those damm liberals that insist on reciting the constitution; they just want the terrorists to win. They want to preserve our (constitutional) government and all it stands for while the vast islam-o-fascist network erodes us from within. Those liberal do gooders, that talk about constitutional rights will not be happy until our authoritative government takes them all away. If the liberals would not be so liberal, the government would not be so authoritative. Why do the liberals try to stop the war on terror? The liberals are to blame for the overreach of right wing power? O.K. sounds good to me.

Saladin said...

Which liberals are trying to stop the war on terror? All I've seen so far is a lot of arm waving and finger pointing about how bushco has botched it. So far not one has came out and said it's nothing but a scam and a lie. If I missed one of them saying that I apologize.

capt said...

Keith Olbermann Proves That Dissent Has An Audience



MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has become the first cable news host in years to tell it like it is, and his soaring ratings prove the American public does have a taste for real news and honest dissent.

If you picked up the New York Times on October 18, you'd have had little reason to think it was a particularly significant day in American history. While the front page featured a photo of George W. Bush signing a new law at the White House the previous day, the story about the Military Commissions Act -- which the Times never named -- was buried in a 750-word piece on page A20. "It is a rare occasion when a President can sign a bill he knows will save American lives" was the first of several quotes of praise from the President that were high up in the article. Further down, a few Democrats objected to the bill, but from the article's limited explanation of the law it was hard to understand why.

But if you happened to catch MSNBC the evening before, you'd have heard a different story. It, too, began with a laudatory statement from the President: "These military commissions are lawful. They are fair. And they are necessary." Cut to MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann: "And they also permit the detention of any American in jail without trial if the president does not like him."

What? Did the Times, and most other outlets, just miss that?

Indeed, they did. Olbermann, who decried the new law as a shameful moment in American history, went on to proclaim that the Military Commissions Act -- which he did name -- will be the American embarrassment of our time, akin to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 or the 1942 executive order interning Japanese-Americans.

It was a perfect story for the bold and eccentric host of Countdown With Keith Olbermann, which airs weeknights on MSNBC. A former anchor for ESPN's SportsCenter, Olbermann likes to call the news as he sees it -- especially when almost everyone else in the media seems to be ignoring a critical play. As it turns out, that tack on the news is increasingly popular these days, upending the conventional wisdom that incisive analysis and intelligent critiques don't win viewers on mainstream television.

More HERE

Saladin said...

The Abnormality of Unity
by Paul Hein

Lew Rockwell

The subjugation of people to the procession of rulers has traditionally been accomplished by violence – the use of which is sanctioned by governments for their own purposes. A simple ploy by which governments gain the loyalty of their subjects is by assuring them that without government protection, they will be seized and ruled by some other group with a different language and different – and repellant, of course – customs.

The picture is different today. One might almost conclude that military skirmishes that so fill our airwaves constitute a diversion, a distraction from the real conflict, which is: who shall issue the money for the unified world? Make no mistake: the intention to bring more and more people under a single government’s control – the One World Government – is the desire of ambitious men. If it is good to govern 50 states, why not 100? And it can be accomplished without firing a shot, by manipulation of the currency. First it was the dollar vs. the yen; the dollar won that battle. Now the dollar battles the euro, and is doing badly. But the yuan has come on strong, and may overwhelm both. Perhaps, in the background, the rupee is waiting its turn. The winner will be the banking system whose fiat survives longest.

The words of President James A. Garfield shed light: "Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce." Master, in other words, of everyone, directly or indirectly.

Have you heard of the Amero? It has been proposed as a new currency for Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Who made the proposal? Robert Pastor, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of "Toward A North American Community." The U.S. Congress would be replaced – not by nothing, unfortunately!!! – but by something even worse: a "North American Parliamentary Group." And who would control the "volume of money" in this union? The creators and issuers of the Amero. It would enter the ring to do battle with the yuan and the euro. The winner would be "absolute master of all industry and commerce" in most of the industrialized world. The centralization of power would have taken a giant step toward totality.

Reginald McKenna, once Chancellor of the Exchequer of England, also sheds some light: "Those who create and issue money and credit direct the policies of government and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people." The real rulers work behind the scenes. You can’t vote for them; you don’t even know their names. That’s bad enough when they are local, and at least theoretically influenced by local opinion. It’s worse when they are national; it’s truly horrific when they are international, distant, remote, and totally unaware of your existence, much less concerned about it. The proposed Amero is a step in that direction. Does anybody care? How about those buffoons in Washington who are, theoretically, there to protect our rights? Are they more readily influenced by you and me, or by the creators of "money?" A rhetorical question!
=========
20/20 hindsight? Nope, not even that. I have developed a theory as I've followed the progress of this North American Union scam with it's new currency the Amero, could it be that our economy is being purposely undermined to make way for this new fiat money? If everyone ends up bankrupt because the dollar has sunk into oblivion what choice will we have but to accept this new and useless form of cash? We won't have a choice and the powers that be will have succeeded in their quest without firing a shot. They may even end up looking like heroes to the masses for saving them from the very condition they themselves created, like the depression of the 30's. They did it before. What's to stop them from doing it again? Especially if most everyone is completely clueless about what's going on?

Saladin said...

Note to WRH:

Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) just said in an interview on CSPAN that we "...will not leave Iraq until the insurgent groups are under control..." and that he looks forward to working with Bush as a fellow Texan.
=========
Looks like after all the bullshit posturing pelosi got exactly what she wanted. I do not believe a word she says, I have NEVER trusted her, even when I considered myself a democrat.

capt said...

Time is on the Taliban's side



US President George W Bush failed to achieve twin objectives of fewer restrictions and more troops for Afghanistan at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Riga this week, shifting focus back to Iraq, where he refuses to draw down military forces. The implicit message to Taliban insurgents and their backers: time can erode an already faltering alliance in the long run.

NATO, in its first-ever mission outside Europe, now has about 32,000 troops in Afghanistan battling an unexpectedly robust Taliban across the southern and eastern back country. To the dismay of the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands - member states that have borne the brunt of the fighting - other countries have put caveats on how and where their troops can be operate as militants continue to make headway.

More HERE

kathleen said...

It is not enough that the Bush administration has lied about WMD's, illegally invaded, tortured and killed tens of thousands of people in Iraq to have him impeached!

Would someone please give Bush and Cheney blowjobs so that we can impeach them!

kathleen said...

The Bush Administration gettting things under $$control$$ in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record
U.S.-Backed Efforts At Eradication Fail

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 2, 2006;

Opium production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world's heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday.

In addition to a 26 percent production increase over past year -- for a total of 5,644 metric tons -- the amount of land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand in the southwest and Oruzgan in central Afghanistan, was up by 132 percent.

White House drug policy chief John Walters called the news "disappointing."

The administration has cited resurgent Taliban forces as the main impediment to stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, and the U.S. military investment has far exceeded anti-narcotic and development programs. But U.S. military and intelligence officials have increasingly described the drug trade as a problem that rivals and in some ways exceeds the Taliban, threatening to derail other aspects of U.S. policy.

At raw story

kathleen said...

COMBAT COWARDS STILL PUSHING FOR MORE TROOPS!

Perfect Failure
The Iraq Study Group has reached a consensus.
by Robert Kagan & William Kristol
12/11/2006,
In the frenzied final week of the Iraq Study Group's deliberations, co-chairmen James Baker and Lee Hamilton took time out to pose for a photo spread for a fashion magazine, Men's Vogue. This might seem a dubious decision given the gravity of the moment and their self-appointed roles as the nation's saviors. The "wise men" who counseled Lyndon Johnson during Vietnam and the members of the Kissinger Commission who tried to reshape Ronald Reagan's Central American policies did not sit for Annie Leibovitz in the middle of their endeavors. Nor did they hire a mega-public relations firm to sell their recommendations (supposedly intended for the president) to the public at large, as Baker and Hamilton have done.

But we think the chairmen's self-promotion and big-time product marketing are perfectly understandable. They have to do something to distract attention from two unpleasant facts.

The first is that after nine months of deliberation and an unprecedented build-up of expectations that these sages would produce some brilliant, original answer to the Iraq conundrum, the study group's recommendations turn out to be a pallid and muddled reiteration of what most Democrats, many Republicans, and even Donald Rumsfeld and senior military officials have been saying for almost two years. Thus, according to at least six separate commission sources sent out to pre-spin the press, the Baker-Hamilton report will call for a gradual and partial withdrawal of American forces in Iraq, to begin at a time unspecified and to be completed by a time unspecified. The goal will

be to hand over responsibility for security in Iraq to the Iraqis themselves as soon as this is feasible, and to shift the American role to training rather than fighting the insurgency and providing security. The decision of how far, how fast, and even whether to withdraw will rest with military commanders in Iraq, who will base their determination on how well prepared the Iraqis are to take over. Even after the withdrawal, the study group envisions keeping at least 70,000 American troops in Iraq for years to come.


Weekly Standard

Over at Weekly Standard there was not one article (that I could find) about Carter's new book. They obviously think that ignorig what Carter is saying will make the facts go away!

David B. Benson said...

Cambone, the last of the Rummies, is resigning his position as Intelligencer for DoD. Has no future plans beyond the standard 'more time with his family'...

What is going on in the Pentagon?

Saladin said...

David B, rats fleeing a sinking ship? One can only HOPE!

Saladin said...

Homeland Security assigns terror scores to travelers
POSTED: 10:10 a.m. EST, December 1, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Without their knowledge, millions of Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assigned scores generated by U.S. government computers rating the risk that the travelers are terrorists or criminals.

The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years.

The government calls the system critical to national security following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some privacy advocates call it one of the most intrusive and risky schemes yet mounted in the name of anti-terrorism efforts.

Virtually every person entering and leaving the United States by air, sea or land is scored by the Homeland Security Department's Automated Targeting System, or ATS. The scores are based on ATS' analysis of their travel records and other data, including items such as where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered.

The use of the program on travelers was quietly disclosed earlier this month when the department put a notice detailing ATS in the Federal Register, a fine-print compendium of federal rules. The few civil liberties lawyers who had heard of ATS and even some law enforcement officers said they had thought it was only used to screen cargo.

The Homeland Security Department called the program "one of the most advanced targeting systems in the world" and said the nation's ability to spot criminals and other security threats "would be critically impaired without access to this data."
=========
When are the people going to realize what is happening? 9/11, 9/11, 9/11. That date has sure been a boon for the govt. snoops and general erosion of privacy and civil liberties. A coincidence no doubt, politicians are WAY too incompetent and inept to EVER pull something like that off! Only a bunch of ragtag, cave dwelling Muslamiacs had any kind of chance, just serendipity that the Military Industrial Complex and the big oil guys benefitted a lot more than any terrorist. Bad luck for them.

David B. Benson said...

Greider, in the latest issue of "The Nation", offers some cogent advice for the Demos. Rather uplifting and heartening reading, methinks...

I've just experienced one of the more amazingly beautiful and spectacular sunsets ever (outside of New Mexico). Let's see, something about "Red sky at night, blogger's delight..."?

Saladin said...

Don't worry David B, it's just global warming! ;-)

capt said...

Is the old adage "Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning" true, or is it just an old wives’ tale?



In order to understand why "Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning" can predict the weather, we must understand more about weather and the colors in the sky.

Usually, weather moves from west to east, blown by the westerly trade winds. This means storm systems generally move in from the West.

The colors we see in the sky are due to the rays of sunlight being split into colors of the spectrum as they pass through the atmosphere and ricochet off the water vapor and particles in the atmosphere. The amounts of water vapor and dust particles in the atmosphere are good indicators of weather conditions. They also determine which colors we will see in the sky.

During sunrise and sunset the sun is low in the sky, and it transmits light through the thickest part of the atmosphere. A red sky suggests an atmosphere loaded with dust and moisture particles. We see the red, because red wavelengths (the longest in the color spectrum) are breaking through the atmosphere. The shorter wavelengths, such as blue, are scattered and broken up.

Red sky at night, sailors delight.
When we see a red sky at night, this means that the setting sun is sending its light through a high concentration of dust particles. This usually indicates high pressure and stable air coming in from the west. Basically good weather will follow.

Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.
A red sunrise reflects the dust particles of a system that has just passed from the west. This indicates that a storm system may be moving to the east. If the morning sky is a deep fiery red, it means a high water content in the atmosphere. So, rain is on its way.


More HERE

capt said...

Here Come the Armani Democrats: America's Progressive Nightmare



We are already beginning to see the results of the "blue wave" which occurred in our recent elections. Lobbyists are retooling to accommodate their favorite Democratic politicians. Harry Reid has promised to increase the military budget by $75 billion. Impeachment is "off the table," not to mention trials for war crimes. And Democrats have pledged to raise the minimum wage to a whopping $7.25 an hour. That's a total income of $15,080 a year, before taxes. Members of Congress will give themselves that much in automatic cost of living increases alone over the next five years. Let's face it, the power elite have successfully executed a changing of the guard.

The "progressive" community wasted the last two years and countless resources sponsoring corporate lackeys for election to a fascist system of government. (Fascism was originally defined by Benito Mussolini as a partnership between government and corporations.) Congratulations. There still is no serious anti-war or anti-militarism movement in this country. The corporatists won—peace and social justice lost, again. With progress like this, who needs habeas corpus?

As I did before this recent lemming vote-fest, I suggest we spit out the electronic pacifier of the masses and begin a program of vaccination for "chronic voter's syndrome." We should recognize the corrupt system of electoral madness for the farce that it is and implement a boycott of elections, local as well as national. As long as we agree to participate in an Alice-in-Wonderland system of governance we will continue to be ruled by corporations. We will continue to see unlimited manufacture and exportation of arms around the globe. We will continue to witness the wanton destruction of our planet by sociopaths in Armani suits with sound-bite smiles. (Yes, that was an Armani Nancy Pelosi was wearing at her first press conference following the election. No kidding.)


More HERE

Saladin said...

Capt, you are SO HOPELESSLY NEGATIVE!!! But GOD, that was funny, even if it was painful. The truth hurts, they don't say that for nothing! If we can't laugh we are certainly doomed.

Saladin said...

I will close out the evening with this quandary.

Why Not Invade Vietnam Too?
by Jacob G. Hornberger

Lew Rockwell

Amidst all the comparisons of the Vietnam War with the occupation of Iraq, people seem to be ignoring an important question: Why not invade Vietnam too?

After all, everyone knows that Vietnam is not a democracy. In fact, unlike Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial regime in Iraq, the Vietnam dictatorship is communist, and as U.S. officials reminded us throughout the Vietnam War, communists are committed to burying America. Moreover, let’s not forget that the Vietnamese communists killed almost 60,000 American men – that is, many more Americans than Saddam ever killed and, in fact, 20 times the number of Americans killed on 9/11.

Wouldn’t an invasion of Vietnam not only spread democracy in that country but also avenge the deaths of tens of thousands of American men?

So why was President Bush recently visiting Vietnam and shaking hands with its communist dictators instead of leading a U.S. invasion force into Vietnam in his capacity as commander in chief?

By shaking hands and partying with the Vietnamese communist dictators, Bush was implicitly conceding that the issue of regime change in Vietnam properly lies with the Vietnamese people, not with the U.S. government. By his actions, he was saying that the U.S. government would have no more right to invade Vietnam and liberate the Vietnamese people than the Vietnamese government would have to invade the United States to liberate the American people. Regime change – whether through the ballot box or through violent revolution – properly lies with the citizenry of each particular country, not with foreign governments, especially since the price of such regime change is oftentimes extraordinarily high in terms of death and destruction, as the people of Iraq have involuntarily discovered.

Bush’s refusal to invade Vietnam is not much different from how U.S. presidents treated Eastern Europe during the Cold War. As miserable as the citizens of Eastern Europe were after U.S. officials delivered them into the clutches of the Soviet communists at the end of World War II, the issue of violent regime change properly lay with the Eastern Europeans, not with the U.S. government. They chose peaceful means, even though it took almost half a century to throw off the shackles of Soviet tyranny. Who is to say that Eastern Europeans would have been better off with a U.S. invasion that would have killed hundreds of thousands of them and left Eastern Europe a wasteland?

Why did Bush invade Iraq rather than travel to Baghdad and shake hands with Saddam, as U.S. envoy Donald Rumsfeld did during the 1980s on behalf of the U.S. government, and as Bush himself recently did with the Vietnamese communist dictators?

The answer lies in a very simple fact: U.S. presidents use their standing army, which loyally and obediently follows presidential orders, to attack weak and relatively defenseless Third World countries, such as Panama, Grenada, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and only when U.S. casualties are expected to be low. With Iraq as with Vietnam, it’s obvious that they simply miscalculated a bit.

As the Iraq debacle continues to spiral downward, sucking ever-growing numbers of people into its death throes, all too many Americans continue to judge the invasion and occupation of Iraq by how many U.S. troops have been killed. But from a moral standpoint, Americans should also be asking themselves two important questions: (1) Under what moral or legal authority did the U.S. government invade Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the process? and (2) If the U.S. government invaded Iraq to spread freedom and democracy, as U.S. officials maintain, why is it cozying up to such totalitarian regimes as the communist dictatorship in Vietnam?
==========
Why not? We seem to be invading everyone else.

Saladin said...

HEMP SEED: THE MOST NUTRITIONALLY
COMPLETE FOOD SOURCE IN THE WORLD



...One out of two Americans will die from the effects of cardiovascular disease (CVD). One out of four Americans will die from cancer. Researchers believe cancers erupt when immune system response is weakened. Pioneers in the fields of biochemistry and human nutrition now believe CVD and most cancers are really diseases of fatty degeneration caused by the continued over-consumption of saturated fats and refined vegetable oils that turn essential fatty acids into carcinogenic killers. And if this is not scary enough, more Americans are succumbing to immune deficiency diseases than ever before. Sadly it is ignorance of human nutritional needs that will cause this overwhelming majority of Americans to die slowly from these afflictions -- the greatest killers in affluent nations.

The body needs the necessary kinds of amino acids in sufficient quantity in order to make proteins such as the globulins. Proper quantities of the right kinds may not be available to the body much of the time. So even though the body has enough essential amino acids available to prevent deficiency diseases, it may not have enough to build quantities of immunoglobulins necessary for the immune system to repel infection.

The best way to insure the body has enough amino acid material to make the globulins is to eat foods high in globulin proteins. Since hemp seed protein is 65% globulin edistin, and also includes quantities of albumin, its protein is readily available in a form quite similar to that found in blood plasma. Eating hemp seeds gives the body all the essential amino acids required to maintain health, and provides the necessary kinds and amounts of amino acids the body needs to make human serum albumin and serum globulins like the immune enhancing gamma globulins. Eating hemp seeds could aid, if not heal, people suffering from immune deficiency diseases. This conclusion is supported by the fact that hemp seed was used to treat nutritional deficiencies brought on by tuberculosis, a severe nutrition blocking disease that causes the body to waste away. [Czechoslovakia Tubercular Nutritional Study, 1955]
===========
Very interesting article, sheds light on another reason why this miraculous plant is kept illegal. Last night I watched a documentary called "Grass" the history of the war on marijuana. Not only was it entertaining but also very informative. Anyone who is interested in this subject should check it out, I got it from Netflix but it is probably available from your local video store.

O'Reilly said...

Axis of Weevil

Glenn Greenwald directs our attention to this astonishing column from ubercon David Frum, in which the master of disaster essentially recants four years worth of views on the wisdom, necessity and feasibility of invading Iraq -- without, of course, ever admitting that he is doing so.

David [Frum] should be proud of the role he played in making this foreign policy triumph possible. He should give himself a manly pat on the back. And then I think he ought to take a 45 caliber pistol, lock himself in his office, and "do the right thing."

http://billmon.org/archives/002584.html

O'Reilly said...

The architects and advocates, such as Frum, for this misbegotten and anti-american war in Iraq that has killed over one-half milion people are the most objectionable people involved in this travesty.

Propagandists like Frum, who believe their own bullshit, weighted by the merit of their elite educations have done a great harm to Iraqis, to the citizens of the United States and to the interests of the United States.

Their war, their bold agressive unjustafiable war, was the progeny of a broken foriegn policy process which rested firmly upon the foundation of a pack of carefully construed lies and was sold, not sold foisted upon a trusting american public with threats of smoking guns that would be mushroom clouds. Fuck you neocon assholes. A fatal self-inflicted .45 head wound would be too easy for you loathful motherfuckers.

capt said...

Mmmmmm hemp seeds

O'Reilly said...

Here's the Sunday Talking Head line-up for today:


This Week (ABC): National security advisor Stephen Hadley; Sen. Evan Bayh; Gov. Tom Vilsack; George Will, Martha Radditz and David Corn; actor Richard Dreyfuss.

Did anybody see Corn on This Week? What did he talk about?

capt said...

"A fatal self-inflicted .45 head wound would be too easy for you loathful motherfuckers."

Tens if not hundreds of thousands of dead would all agree.

"War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation. It's peace that's wanted. Some better peace than the one you started with."
~ Lois McMaster Bujold, "The Vor Game", 1990


capt

capt said...

Millions Affected By Delay On Tax Proposals



WASHINGTON -- Millions of entrepreneurs, teachers and parents with kids in college have a financial stake in whether Congress, in the dying hours of Republican rule, revives tax breaks that expired 11 months ago.

If Congress fails to act, teachers no longer will be able to deduct up to $250 for the books and supplies they pay for out of their own pocket.

Residents of Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming - each without an income tax - will miss out on an average $1,500 deduction for state and local sales taxes.

Lawmakers have tried all year to renew the diverse mix of targeted tax breaks. Ironically, it is their popularity that has stalled passage.

The breaks, which expired last Jan. 1, enjoy wide support in both parties. Precisely because of this, lawmakers have sought to add them as a "sweetener" to contentious legislation in hopes of getting that legislation through.

Before the election, Republicans tried unsuccessfully to link the tax cuts to a bill that would reduce the estate tax, which most Democrats find unacceptable, and raise the federal minimum wage, which many Republicans dislike.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Says more about the "power" of the GOP than anything. They should push this through and give a few people a break.



capt

capt said...

Our Sinful Economy



George Bush likes to tout the success of the economy, citing recent job growth, and until Monday, the climbing stock market.

But most Americans can see through that mirage.

You know you’re wallet isn’t any fatter, and your bank account’s no healthier.

A story on the front page of The New York Times business section on November 28 spells out the problems.

Average real incomes fell by 3 percent between 2000 and 2004.

Looked at over the past 25 years, things don't get any better. From 1979 to 2004, 'the bottom 60 percent of Americans, on average, made less than 95 cents in 2004 for each dollar they reported in 1979,' the Times reports. For those on the top 95th to top 99th rungs of the income ladder, the past quarter century was splendid: Their income went up 53 percent. And those on the top 0.1 percent rung? Their income went up 348 percent.

That is obscene.

We have a plutocracy in this country, not just of the rich or the very rich but of the unbelievably rich. This 0.1 percent are the ones who benefit most from the George Bush economy.

As he once put it, "Some people call you the elite. I call you my base."

Meanwhile, the poorest 60 million Americans "reported average incomes of less than $7 a day."

Seven bucks a day! That barely gets one meal at McDonald’s.

Our economy is a sin.

We cannot call ourselves a moral people and let this kind of maldistribution continue, particularly when it brings suffering to millions and millions of people.

I do believe we should have higher taxes on that top 5 percent, and especially on that top 0.1 percent.

I do believe in preserving, or even increasing, the estate tax.

But I’d settle simply for a floor of decency, so that no one has to go hungry or survive on only that one McDonald’s meal a day, no one has to go without health care coverage, no one has to cut prescription pills in half to make the medicine stretch, no one has to work 50 or 60 or 80 hours a week just to take care of family.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

The "floor of decency" should be a given.



capt

capt said...

Mideast allies near a state of panic



U.S. leaders' visits to the region reap only warnings and worry.

[…]

The allies' predicament was described by Jordan's King Abdullah II last week, before Bush arrived in Amman, the capital. Abdullah, one of America's steadiest friends in the region, warned that the Mideast faced the threat of three simultaneous civil wars — in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. And he made clear that the burden of dealing with it rested largely with the United States.

"Something dramatic" needed to come out of Bush's meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to defuse the three-way threat, Abdullah said, because "I don't think we're in a position where we can come back and visit the problem in early 2007."

The only regional leader to voice unqualified support for the Bush administration has been Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has gone so far as to say that the Iraq invasion contributed to regional stability.

To Middle East observers, Bush can no longer speak for the United States as he did before because of the domestic pressure for a change of course in Iraq, said Nathan Brown, a specialist on Arab politics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"He can talk all he wants about 'staying until the job is done,' but these leaders can read about the American political scene and see that he may not be able to deliver that," Brown said.

The Bush-Maliki meeting Thursday, closely watched around the world in anticipation of a possible change in U.S. strategy, produced no shift in declared aims. Rather, it resulted in diplomatic stumbles that seemed to belie the leaders' claims that their relationship was intact.

On the eve of the summit, a leaked memo written by Bush's national security advisor, Stephen Hadley, showed that U.S. officials questioned Maliki's abilities. But the memo also was a reminder of dwindling U.S. influence over Iraq. Some of the steps that Hadley said the Iraqis should take, such as providing public services to Sunni Arabs as well as Shiites, were moves that the Americans had demanded for many months, without success.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

I think some of the most dire predictions were understated. There are no good options, no bad options just horrible options.

Looking at the whole mess I have to ask myself who benefited? Is it just monetary profit for the energy oligarchs? That cannot possibly be the whole picture.



capt

capt said...

Obama could spoil a Clinton presidential bid



If Barack Obama runs, would Hillary Clinton stay out of the race for the White House?

On Fox News Wednesday night, the chairman of Iowa’s Democratic party said Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y., is not laying the adequate groundwork for a presidential campaign in the first caucus state.

What’s more, he said many are starting to speculate she might not run if Sen. Obama, D-Ill., enters the race.

Said Iowa Democratic Chair Rob Tully: "She’s been quiet and, you know, there’s a question that we all hear — is that she may not get in this if Barack Obama gets in. I have never seen a reaction other than Bill Clinton in terms of the excitement that people have to meet Barack Obama. Some people just wanted to touch him."

One other possible reason: The Quad City Times of Iowa reported that former Democratic state party chairman Dave Nagle is concerned candidates might choose not to visit Iowa with Gov. Tom Vilsack in the race, graciously giving him a win in his home state. Vilsack is the only Democrat so far to declare as a candidate.

Others speculate Clinton is waiting to declare so she can feel the love of being asked — a groundswell of warmth for a Clinton candidacy. Being coy wouldn’t hurt her, experts say, as she would have no trouble making up for lost fundraising time.

On Friday, however, various media sources reported that members of Clinton’s team had quietly begun interviewing Democrats for senior and mid-level campaign team positions.

Obama, an inspiring speaker, was the year’s most sought-after Democratic campaigner this year, according to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Some think that puts Clinton at an immediate disadvantage.

"Hillary Clinton had a good year, but Obama had an unbelievable, rock-star year," said University of Virginia politics professor Larry Sabato. "Obama is the really big winner ... He eclipsed her."

So what would be the difference between candidate Obama and candidate Clinton?

If last month’s vote was a nationwide primal scream about Iraq, as many analysts believe, Obama seems better positioned with dove-ish Democratic primary voters, who still hold Clinton’s October 2002 pro-war vote against her. Obama opposed the invasion but was not elected to the Senate until 2004.

And Obama is setting himself up as the real progressive to counter Hillary’s centrist tendencies.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

So far I think Obama is an inspiring speaker, HRC is not. It would take much more than that to convince me either one is right for the job.



capt

O'Reilly said...

"Auntie Em, Hate you, hate Kansas, took the dog."
-Dorothy

capt said...

Swedes Guard Christmas Goat From Vandals



STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- For 40 years it has been torched, vandalized, had its legs cut off and even been run over by a car. But officials in the Swedish city of Gavle are guaranteeing that this year's giant straw Christmas goat - the victim of Sweden's most violent yule tradition - will survive unscathed.

The 43-foot-high goat - a centuries-old yule symbol that preceded Santa Claus as the bringer of gifts to Swedish homes - has been burned down 22 times since it was first set up in Gavle's square on Dec. 3, 1966.

But for its 40th anniversary Sunday, officials think they have finally outsmarted the resourceful vandals by dousing the battered ram with flame-resistant chemicals normally used on airplanes.

"It is impossible to burn it to the ground this year, although you might be able to singe its paws," said Anna Ostman, a spokeswoman for the committee in charge of building the goat. "After 40 years, we think we finally found the solution."

The company providing the fireproof treatment is so sure of its resilience that its spokesman Freddy Klassmo told newspaper Aftonbladet that "not even napalm can set fire to the goat now."

For those who want to follow its fate, a 24-hour Web cam has been set up to film the straw goat where it stands on the central square in Gavle, 90 miles north of Stockholm. However, the security guards that have watched over previous versions have been called off, Ostman said.

"We can sleep very soundly at night now," she said. "The goat can too."

While the origins of the Christmas goat are unclear, the symbol is believed to date back to Norse mythology and the two goats that drew the carriage of Thor, the god of thunder.

Many Swedes place a small straw goat underneath their Christmas tree, or hang miniature versions on the branches.

Since 1966, just 10 of Gavle's giant goats have survived beyond Christmas Day. Aside from being burned, several were beaten down and the 1976 goat was hit by a car.

The vandals are seldom caught, but the 2001 culprit - 51-year-old American Lawrence Jones - was convicted and spent 18 days in jail.

The 2005 vandals - who witnesses said were dressed up as Santa Claus and the Gingerbread Man - remain at large. The pair fired flaming arrows at the goat, reducing it to its steel skeleton.

More HERE

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Talk about attacking Christmas?



capt

capt said...

Fla. Overtakes Mich. As No. 2 in AP Poll



Florida passed Michigan and returned to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 and the coaches' poll on Sunday.

While the Gators had a slim lead of three points over Michigan in the AP poll, they were 26 points ahead of the Wolverines in the USA Today poll - a margin that could help get Florida into the national title game.

The coaches' poll is one of three components used in the Bowl Championship Series standings, along with the Harris poll and a compilation of six computer ratings.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Go Gators!



capt

O'Reilly said...

The free press is free to say what it wants to say. If they want to support the president's war, that is their right.

In this instance, the press was corrupted by the White House Iraq Group,AKA George Bush's policies. The corruption took the form of leaking false intelligence and punishing reporters who printed unfavorable pieces.

Justice should investigate the use of tax payer dollars to buy favorable opinion for Bush policies in the domestic press, including the feedback loop where the WHIG leaked the aluminum tube story on a Friday and cited is as evidence of WMD on a Sunday.

The press is an essential part of the democracy. It is their job to say BULLSHIT. If they choose to broadcast bullshit White House talking points unquestioned, they should be held to account in the marketplace.

If the White House knowingly releases false evidence to Congress and the american people, it should be held to account by the laws of the Untied States.

The problem with the press is that they failed to provide the counterbalance to the extreme radical and criminal war-making policy of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the neocon cabal. Their radical aggressive and dishonest policy cost the lives of over one-half million people. May the willful, murderous and misguided policy-makers rot in hell for the deceptions they perpetrated and the lives it cost.

capt said...

Scientist Fights Church Effort to Hide Museum's Pre-Human Fossils



Famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is giving no quarter to powerful evangelical church leaders who are pressing Kenya's national museum to relegate to a back room its world-famous collection of hominid fossils showing the evolution of humans' early ancestors.

Leakey called the churches' plans "the most outrageous comments I have ever heard."

He told The Daily Telegraph (London): "The National Museums of Kenya should be extremely strong in presenting a very forceful case for the evolutionary theory of the origins of mankind. The collection it holds is one of Kenya's very few global claims to fame and it must be forthright in defending its right to be at the forefront of this branch of science." Leakey was for years director of the museum and of Kenya's entire museum system.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.
~ H. L. Mencken



capt

O'Reilly said...

Domestic intelligence-gathering on U.S. citizens

by Glenn Greenwald

Robert S said...

The Onion had a Headline:

Kansas Outaws Evolution!

Maybe they'll outlaw gravity as well...

Anyway, it has been interesting, of late. The Democrats seem to be falling all over themselves in order to avoid the obvious ramifications of the the Wush's headlong bloodlust rush to invade Iraq. I just received from my Representative Xavier Bacerra "franked" frank letter detailing the details of what an impeachment entails (which I am more than well aware of) and how he was "monitoring" (very non-comittedly, mind you) the progress of Congresscritter Conyer's House Resolution about forming a committee to explore the matter.

Might I remind everyone that investigations are needed in order to determine known "unknowns" to quote Rumsfeld, but the facts in this matter are already established and documented, The Downing Street Minutes are already out. We don't need an Alexander Butterfield to reveal the existence of the tapes, as it were.

Senator Feinstein emailed me back, rather than a letter in the mail, the summation of which is that impeachment is politically inexpedient. May I remind her, and everyone else, that prosecution of War Crimes is not now, and should never be, a matter of political expedience.

Tomorrow is a day that is being organised to contact your Senators and Reps and let them know how you feel about the War and Impeachment. It might be wise to reference former US Attorney Elisibeth de la Vega's excellent work, The U.S. vs. BUSH et. al. excerpts available at Truthout and Here.

Cheers!
Robert Schwartz

Saladin said...

Massive anti-government protests continue in Lebanon
The demonstrators filled the roads surrounding the center of Beirut, where the prime minister's office is located, effectively shutting down the capital. Hezbollah gave every indication that it is prepared for the long haul: setting up long rows of tents, portable bathrooms and handing out cups of water and sandwiches. Groups of men tended charcoal pits to keep a regular supply for their hookah pipes.
=========
OH, I see what they're up to! They're keeping the people STONED!! Damn terrorists! Probably giving away hemp seeds as well. That's how they get them to protest against the US backed Lebanese govt! Maybe we should try that?
Robert, where ya been?

capt said...

"Justice is as strictly due between neighbor nations as between neighbor citizens. A highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang as when single; and a nation that makes an unjust war is only a great gang": Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin Vaughan, 14 March 1785 (B 11:16-7)

=
If... the machine of government... is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law: Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobediance, 1849

=
Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may: Mark Twain

=
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." ~Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Why We Can't Wait, 1963

=
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. ~Bishop Desmond Tutu

=
Write on my gravestone: "Infidel, Traitor." --infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people.: Wendell Phillips

===
Read this newsletter online http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

Saladin said...

"Write on my gravestone: "Infidel, Traitor." --infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people." Wendell Phillips
=========
I REALLY like that one!

David B. Benson said...

"Triple Cross", by Peter Lance(?): the reviews seem very good. So much for the competence of the FBI and CIA. But then I have thought such for decades...

Saladin said...

Ah yes, incompetence, covers a world of hurt because by golly, they just DIDN'T KNOW! How could anyone ever guess the outcome of all this bad decision making? It isn't like we have ANY history to draw on, we are just babes in the woods, and so are the FBI and CIA! Perfect excuse to pass the buck. And all the gullible people will swallow it once again. Let's just blame it on Al-CIAda, or maybe they were clueless too? Excuse me while I CHOKE on the irony! Another 9/11 anyone? They have already destroyed 3 buildings in one fell swoop, and the people believed it, well, maybe not so much anymore, maybe next time they can break the record for incompetence!

capt said...

If the universe is everything, and scientists say that the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?

~ Stephen Wright

capt said...

John Bolton resigns as ambassador to U.N.



President accepts resignation; Bolton to step down when appointment ends


WASHINGTON - Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his recess appointment expires soon, the White House said Monday.

Bolton’s nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican who lost in the midterm elections Nov. 7 that swept Democrats to power in both houses of Congress, was adamantly opposed to Bolton.

President Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily in August 2005, while Congress was in recess. But the appointment expires when Congress formally adjourns, no later than early January.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

This is a good day if for no other reason.



capt

capt said...

JIMMY CARTER ALOFT



Carter has evolved into a professional writer. "Most of my income comes from writing," he said. He writes when he’s at home, in Plains, Georgia. "I’m a farmer still: I get up at five o’clock. I will write until I get tired, until ten or eleven o’clock. Then I have a woodshop twenty feet away, and I go there and I build furniture, and I paint."

The plane had been delayed by an hour. When it took off, Carter reached across and lowered the window shade. He kept talking, over the announcements from the flight deck, about the privations of the Palestinians, each grim factual citation made in a clipped but doleful manner that he has perfected over the years. (It is the antidote to his famous grin, which is now deployed in rare instances of mirthful circumspection, such as when he is asked why it might be that, as he put it, "you won’t read any of this stuff in the New York Times." Cue smile: "I need to ask you that.") As he lamented the West Bank wall, he drew a map of it on the cover of an in-flight magazine.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

A do not miss - albeit a short piece.



capt

kathleen said...

O'Reily said

"The architects and advocates, such as Frum, for this misbegotten and anti-american war in Iraq that has killed over one-half milion people are the most objectionable people involved in this travesty.

Propagandists like Frum, who believe their own bullshit, weighted by the merit of their elite educations have done a great harm to Iraqis, to the citizens of the United States and to the interests of the United States.

Their war, their bold agressive unjustafiable war, was the progeny of a broken foriegn policy process which rested firmly upon the foundation of a pack of carefully construed lies and was sold, not sold foisted upon a trusting american public with threats of smoking guns that would be mushroom clouds. Fuck you neocon assholes. A fatal self-inflicted .45 head wound would be too easy for you loathful motherfuckers."

Hit the psychopathic killers/liars on the head with your powerful words, O Reilly. Thank you!

capt said...

Guess It’s Not Terror If You’re Not Muslim




This didn't even make the front page of the local paper. What War on Terror are we fighting? Um…Mainsteam media? Is it only important to cover if the terrorist in question has a "foreign" name?

Orcinus: (h/t Gregory)

Imagine, for a moment, what would have happened if a Muslim extremist with an apparent hatred of the American government had been apprehended in, say, Tennessee, and charged with plotting to blow up Congress with a briefcase bomb.

Do you suppose that the case would then be relegated to the back pages of the local papers? Do you suppose it would go unmentioned by the 101st Keyboard Kommandos in their ever-vigilant search for proof that the War on Terror is right here in our midst?

Of course not. You can be certain Fox News would have splashed the case across its broadcasts, and Michelle Malkin and Little Green Footballs would have been all over it.

Now consider the case of Demetrius "Van" Crocker, who just happens to be a white right-wing extremist:

Demetrius "Van" Crocker of McKenzie, convicted in April of attempting to obtain a chemical weapon and possession of stolen explosives, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday by U.S. District Judge James Todd in Jackson.

Crocker, who told undercover FBI agents of his desire to explode a briefcase bomb while Congress was in session, was found guilty by a jury in about 90 minutes in April.

The 40-year-old farmhand and father of two was convicted of accepting what he thought were ingredients to make Sarin nerve gas and a block of C-4 explosive from undercover agents in October 2004. Read on…


More HERE

kathleen said...

Corn's latest title "Baker Puts Bush in a Corner". The corner of a prison is more like it! No how about the whole wing of a prison for this group!


Could there even be a possibility that Cambone, Bolton, Feith, Cheney etc. could actually be held accountable for their criminal actions by this congress?

O'reilly,

Frum, Cambone, Feith, Woolsey, Kristol, Bolton, Cheney, Wolfowitz all fit under Lawrence O'Donnell's perfect discription for such special people!

"It takes a very special king of combat coward to advocate combat for others".


How did that "alleged" comment about Cambone by a Pentagon official go? "If I had one bullet left I'd save it for Stephen Cambone"

Saladin said...

Capt, Mike Rivero brings up a good question about bolton's sudden departure, what does he know that the rest of us don't?

kathleen said...

Carter was on C-Span book T.V. for three hours yesterday! It was really worth it to watch the complete interview.

Carter is so skillful at speaking the truth about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

capt said...

Smiting the infidels



Gen. Boykin, the Bible-thumping crank who said Bush "was appointed by God," is at the center of the Abu Ghraib scandal.

By Sidney Blumenthal

[…]

Cambone is universally despised by the officer corps for his arrogant, abrasive and dictatorial style and is regarded as the personal symbol of Rumsfeldism. A former senior Pentagon official told me of his conversation with a currently serving three-star general who remarked, "If we were being overrun by the enemy and I had only one bullet left, I'd use it on Cambone." Cambone set about to cut out the CIA and State Department from the war on terrorism, but he had no knowledge of special ops. For this the rarefied civilian relied on the gruff soldier -- a melding of "ignorance and recklessness," as a military intelligence source told me.


More HERE

kathleen said...

Could it be that the NSA transcripts that Biden, Kerry, Kennedy, Chaffee and Boxer were demanding during the Bolton nomination hearings.

"Allegedly" intercepts that may prove that Bolton and others were spying on Colin Powells negotiations with Iran.

Maybe Bolton actually thinks that congress may now have the power to access those NSA intercepts

kathleen said...

REMEMBER!

December 4 , 2006

Take Action Today!

Join thousands across the country in a National Call in Day to hold Congress
accountable to the Mandate for Peace: Tel. 202-224-3121 Congressional Switchboard

Call your Representative and Senators and tell them: "The voters issued a Mandate
for Peace! That means, bring the troops home now!"

Members of Congress return to Washington on Monday, December 4. Let's greet them
with a flood of phone calls, because, as incredible as it may seem, many still don't
get that the troops need to come home from Iraq. Since the elections, the carnage in
Iraq has only gotten worse. Our 140,000 troops in Iraq are unable to stop the ever
deepening spiral of violence. In the last week we have witnessed the bloodiest
attacks since the U.S. invasion almost 4 years ago. Yet congress and the
administration sit and wait... for the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report, for
the Pentagon study group report, the White House study group -- for anything they
can hide behind. On November 7, the people gave Congress a mandate for peace.
Congress has the power to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq -- they control the purse
strings and can stop this war -- and if it fails to do so, we will hold them
responsible for the continued violence in Iraq.

Call your Representative and both Senators tell them: "I insist that Congress act
immediately to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq NOW! The Congress has the power
end this occupation. Use your power or you will be held responsible for the
continuation of this war."

Call the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121, or call your Representative and Senators
in their district offices. You can find out who your Representative and Senators are
and also look up their district office phone numbers here
(http://capwiz.com/fconl/directory/congdir.tt).

Please make 3 phone calls: to your Representative and to each of your Senators.

Background: The United States has now been engaged in Iraq for longer than our
engagement in WWII. Violence in Iraq has again spiked to ever-higher levels. It is
impossible to say how many Iraqis have died during the war and occupation, but Johns
Hopkins University estimates 650,000. We know that over 2,890 U.S. troops have died,
over 21,000 have been maimed or wounded and over 9,500 have deserted. The
Constitution gives the Congress the power to end this war through the power of the
purse. Sen. Robert Byrd has described this as "the fulcrum of the people's
leverage...to shackle the hands of an overreaching chief executive." Congress must
use this leverage to bring occupation of Iraq to an end. For more information about
the Mandate for Peace campaign, a joint effort of dozens of peace and community

Working together we will end to the US occupation in Iraq and bring our troops home.
Please call TODAY!

capt said...

Saladin,

Nothing these slugs do will surprise me. I used to think they would only stoop so low and had a little self-respect. They have convinced me I was wrong to ever give them the slightest benefit of doubt.

Each time I think they can't get any lower or any more nefarious and despicable they do so in leaps and bounds.


UGH!


capt

capt said...

New Thread

kathleen said...

The interview of Hadley on Russert's Meet the Press was terrific! Russert finally nailed someone!

MR. RUSSERT: But in terms of trying to bring the country together, to bring Democrats—who now control Congress—to the table, could the president step forward and say, “I acknowledge we were wrong about WMD, we were wrong about troop levels, we were wrong about the length of the war, we were wrong about the cost of the war, we were wrong about the financing of the war, we were wrong about the level of sectarian violence, we were wrong about being greeted as liberators. We made some fundamental misjudgments, and they were wrong, but now we’re all in this together”? Could he do that?

MR. HADLEY: He’s done a lot of that. He’s acknowledged that...

Hadley just lied through his teeth once again.

Who thinks Hadley might be one of Fitzgerald's targets? I do!

kathleen said...

Capt
Compulsive liars and psychopathic murderers feel no shame! The only hope for our country or the rest of the world that needs to be protected from these very dangerous criminals is a corner in a prison or a state mental institution!