Bob Burnett wrote in today's Common Dreams ( http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1026-28.htm ) an article outlining a general direction for positive change after the Mid-term election (provided that it's not simply stolen). Riffing on that, here (in blue) are some slightly more specific plans to follow his lead:
1. The American people are the best defenders of the United States. Therefore, Federal budget priorities must be changed. Funds should be shifted from the defense and security sectors to programs that strengthen the citizenry, such as healthcare and education. America spends too much on the military and this is weakening our democracy.
30% reduction in Pentagon spending, focused on procurements of useless, big ticket projects, Star wars, f-22, bunker buster nukes, etc. would fund all of the domestic programs that have been looted or slashed and stop the raid on Social Security
2. The United States is not engaged in an international arms race, but rather a competition in the global marketplace that we are losing. Therefore, America requires a new vision in order to regain its competitiveness. Federal leadership is needed to provide this strategy.
Actually, armaments are our strongest export sector and should be curtailed (but that's another article for another day). The new vision we need is to stipulate that goods imported to the US, whether by foreign or domestic companies, must conform to American standards in worker wages and conditions, environmental impact and product safety and labeling. End the race to the bottom.
3. A cornerstone of this new vision for America is recognition that Democracy is best served by placing limits on capitalism. The interests of big business are not always consistent with the common good, such as protection of the environment and the rights of working people. The Federal Government must intervene to insure that Democracy is not subverted by big business.
End corporate personhood. Repudiate Buckley vs Valeo, money is NOT speech. Corporations do not have the right to drown out the People.
4. Fiscal solvency is another, essential component in a new vision. Federal leadership is required to balance the budget and stop America's addiction to debt financing.
Ending our occupation of Iraq, withdrawing our troops from the seventy or so countries where they are stationed and calling off the specious(and totally failed) war on drugs would be a huge start in the right direction. Just eliminating the DEA would reduce the size of government by 11 000 employees and save $3 Billion per year. (that's about $30 billion down the tube so far, but that, again, is another story for another day)
5. Finally, the security and solvency of America requires a nation-wide program for energy independence. While development of non-carbon-based sources of energy should be part of this effort, a vital component will be conservation. Federal leadership must motivate Americans to engage common sacrifice, reduce fossil-fuel consumption for the common good.
A new energy infrastructure based around solar/wind/tidal energy will create business opportunities and plenty of jobs. Conservation retrofits likewise. Governments at all levels can get into the act whether they call it energy security or a jobs program.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Yesterday's News
NPR news is my "other" source after the web. There's no Tv in the dojo. So it's anoying when the reasonably centerist, public news source goes Fox.
Mangling an old quote: The only true facts in the Newspaper are the box scores on the Sports page, everything else is opinion.
Scott Simon NPR News
Mr Simon,
I'm a longtime listener to NPR (member of KCRW, WSHU, WLIU...) and a fan of yours. Some of the wack little things you throw in crack me up and your handling of sensitive, tragic events preserves the victims' dignity and has moved me to tears.
That's why I was so peeved when you had Frederick Kagan on this morning.
Kagen is the frontman (at least in this interview) for the gang of thugs that have hijacked our government and engaged US in not one, not two, but four wars (and counting), Afghanistan, Iraq, Paraguay/Andes and now Lebanon/Syria/Iran. He was identified as a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, which, technically, he is. But he (along with his brother, Robert) is also one of the promulgators of the PNAC and if memory serves me, the Netanyahu paper: A Clean Break.
These two documents and a raft of others, some public and some not available to the public, argue for and outline the disastrous path America and Israel have been put on since Bush/Cheney siezed the WhiteHouse and Sharon took the Knesset.
The Kagens, along with Wolfowitz, Perle, the Wormsers, Gaffney, Feith, Woolsey (and the list goes on, find it at AEI) and most importantly, Cheney, Libby, Addisson, Bolton, Gonzales and Yoo, are responsible for the arrogance, the cooked Intel, the full court press for war that took us totally the wrong direction after 9/11. Following the trajectory they have US on, they have made US a rogue state. And one that is creating more "Failed States" that are the breeding grounds for terrrrrrrsm. Their "Plan", particularly in SouthWest Asia is energizing a massive hatred for US, not for "Our Freedoms" but because of our actions.
They were wrong.
Way wrong.
And lots of people have died and are dying as a result.
Their beligerant "philosophy" has created War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, it has shredded our Constitution and torn up the Geneva Conventions. They lie to Congress, they lie to the People and what they don't lie about, they try to keep secret. In the eyes of many, they should stand trial.
And yet, here is Kagen on NPR, spouting the Party line, cheerleading the illegal invasion of Lebanon, ducking your one tough question (which I noticed you didn't follow up).
This man is a criminal, his gang are raising Hell in the world in our name (all those Jets and Helicopters, Rockets and Bulldozers are Made in America and everyone in SouthWest Asia knows this).
His insinuation that we should back Israel all the way to Tehran is one of the worst possible stands in this situation. (could be worse: Just nuke Iran 'til it's a glass parking lot)
While I don't believe that every story must be "balanced" with an opposing viewpoint, there was no indication in your segment that this thug was not just wrong but criminaly so. All people heard was that he is a "scholar" at a "respectable" think-tank. It gave tacit endorsement to him and his spew that most of America rejects, that ALL of America would reject if it wasn't so slickly packaged and sold to US by people we respect and rely on for the truth.
Granted that NPR has for a long time had a clear pro-Israel bias, Linda Gradstein is infuriating in her slant, but this is worse than just ignoring the human-ness of Arabs, Kagen and his gang are actively engaged in subjugating the Arab world by force and you gave him a platform to shout from.
Please, Scott, you are a man of Peace, don't let bloody warmongers use you.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
American Ideal
In the GOP style
Just say, for the sake of argument, that the GOP controlled all three branches of government and could re-invent America to their specifications, what would that look like?
Women, er, girls, back to the kitchen! The Workplace is just too dangerous and complicated for you. And you can forget that Planned Parenthood ever existed.
Since nearly everyone with a Spanish surname was rounded up and deported (even the ones born here, 'cause their parents were probably illegal and they don't talk English too good) It's been hard to find cheap labor so everything is outsourced, We export Jobs and Dollars and Import everything else.
Medicare and Social Security got too expensive since SDSI, Corporate, Capital Gains & Estate Taxes were eliminated and Income tax was capped at $1 million, but axing them was out so the age of eligibility was raised to 80.
The combination of drastic tax cuts and the Conquest of SouthWest Asia had depleted our Treasury to the point that most of the functions of Government were disassembled. Most folks don't even remember FEMA. Or the EPA or the USDA or the NLRB...
But Homeland Security and the Military are well stocked! In fact, that's where you could get a job. In the NEW National Guard. These aren't your old-school weekend warriors and sandbag fillers, nope. These are crack troops, trained in urban counter-insurgency, that patrol all our major cities and towns. When local police forces balked at implementing provisions of the Patriot lV Act, particularly the forced collection of DNA from everyone in the country and the installation of surveillance gear giving universal coverage in any space, public and "private", they were stripped of their firearms and relegated to foot patrols and traffic direction and the NG stepped in. Now the NG presence is felt everywhere, they are the guys (and they are almost all white guys) on the streetcorner with assault rifles and flak jackets. There are 6 million of them nationwide, almost 2% of the population.
Did I mention the state of constant war that we are engaged in? Even before we had seized half of the Middle East, we had engaged in South America, a campaign to undo Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution. Several little wars got hot and we are in the process of securing that region as well. Keeping out the flood of deportees and the deluge of new refugees required building a "militarized" border, a wall that made the Israeli wall look puny and the Berlin wall look understaffed. All of this takes troops. Since a draft was about as likely as ending Social Security, a backdoor draft ensured that we had enough bodies to stand 10 million men at arms.
By backdoor draft I mean the "War on Drugs".
Judges were given instruction to dispense stiff sentences with a join-the-army option, for even the most minor possession. Some recruiters, pressured to perform, set kids up that they weren't able to convince otherwise. This has kept the Military supplied with new recruits, many of them minorities. Typical "drug enlistment" was six years plus reserves and from time to time, stop-loss orders kept some of these guys in for 15.
That is, if they survived. Occupying a dozen countries from fortified positions, under constant siege, outnumbered 100:1, relying on armor and intimidation to get through, this was tough duty. The actual number of casualties we sustained was classified but it was in the hundreds per month.
Of course, none of that is ever mentioned on the Tv News. At first, after the takeover, Media was just all happy-talk, titillation and fearmongering "Reality" Shows, but soon, the Decency in Media Act made sure everyone's shirt was buttoned right up and everyones' roles were biblically Correct. Between the DiM Act and the privatization of the Internet into subscriber-only commercially censored fiefdoms, the collapse of Print Media and the sell-off of the USPostal Service, it was nearly impossible to find out what was happening in the world, or to find others who believe anything other than the Party Line.
But some things fell so badly apart that they couldn't be swept under the rug, like the MadCow outbreak in the Chicago area or the Jet collision at Dulles that killed several Senators and several hundred others in the Air and on the ground. Each disaster was proof that the Terrrrrrrsts were still active among US and demonstrated the need for increased vigilance.
And patience with the astronomical cost of gas.
If you could get it, Gas was over $10/gallon! If you could get any. For months at a time, Non-essential vehicles could not fuel up. Deciding what was essential was a process of pleading and pulling strings that most people had no leverage to pull.
Advancing militarily from Mesopotamia into Persia had united the world against US. Even England refused to sell US any Oil during the WorldWide Embargo. Our Economy took a huge hit, but so did the rest of the world's, they realized that if the Giant fell down, everyone would be squashed, so the Embargo didn't hold, but Oil was no longer traded in Dollars and traders held out for exorbitant prices for their crude. Supplies became erratic, causing ripples that kept US just off balance, but not a Tidal wave that would take US down.
Not since the great depression has this country had such scenes of poverty and destitution. People were literally starving to death in American Cities, Businesses collapsed and Unemployment went through the roof (though the Military and HSA soaked up some).
(to be continued)
(this is an unfinished piece, I could spend another day on it, but things are happening too fast)
Just say, for the sake of argument, that the GOP controlled all three branches of government and could re-invent America to their specifications, what would that look like?
Women, er, girls, back to the kitchen! The Workplace is just too dangerous and complicated for you. And you can forget that Planned Parenthood ever existed.
Since nearly everyone with a Spanish surname was rounded up and deported (even the ones born here, 'cause their parents were probably illegal and they don't talk English too good) It's been hard to find cheap labor so everything is outsourced, We export Jobs and Dollars and Import everything else.
Medicare and Social Security got too expensive since SDSI, Corporate, Capital Gains & Estate Taxes were eliminated and Income tax was capped at $1 million, but axing them was out so the age of eligibility was raised to 80.
The combination of drastic tax cuts and the Conquest of SouthWest Asia had depleted our Treasury to the point that most of the functions of Government were disassembled. Most folks don't even remember FEMA. Or the EPA or the USDA or the NLRB...
But Homeland Security and the Military are well stocked! In fact, that's where you could get a job. In the NEW National Guard. These aren't your old-school weekend warriors and sandbag fillers, nope. These are crack troops, trained in urban counter-insurgency, that patrol all our major cities and towns. When local police forces balked at implementing provisions of the Patriot lV Act, particularly the forced collection of DNA from everyone in the country and the installation of surveillance gear giving universal coverage in any space, public and "private", they were stripped of their firearms and relegated to foot patrols and traffic direction and the NG stepped in. Now the NG presence is felt everywhere, they are the guys (and they are almost all white guys) on the streetcorner with assault rifles and flak jackets. There are 6 million of them nationwide, almost 2% of the population.
Did I mention the state of constant war that we are engaged in? Even before we had seized half of the Middle East, we had engaged in South America, a campaign to undo Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution. Several little wars got hot and we are in the process of securing that region as well. Keeping out the flood of deportees and the deluge of new refugees required building a "militarized" border, a wall that made the Israeli wall look puny and the Berlin wall look understaffed. All of this takes troops. Since a draft was about as likely as ending Social Security, a backdoor draft ensured that we had enough bodies to stand 10 million men at arms.
By backdoor draft I mean the "War on Drugs".
Judges were given instruction to dispense stiff sentences with a join-the-army option, for even the most minor possession. Some recruiters, pressured to perform, set kids up that they weren't able to convince otherwise. This has kept the Military supplied with new recruits, many of them minorities. Typical "drug enlistment" was six years plus reserves and from time to time, stop-loss orders kept some of these guys in for 15.
That is, if they survived. Occupying a dozen countries from fortified positions, under constant siege, outnumbered 100:1, relying on armor and intimidation to get through, this was tough duty. The actual number of casualties we sustained was classified but it was in the hundreds per month.
Of course, none of that is ever mentioned on the Tv News. At first, after the takeover, Media was just all happy-talk, titillation and fearmongering "Reality" Shows, but soon, the Decency in Media Act made sure everyone's shirt was buttoned right up and everyones' roles were biblically Correct. Between the DiM Act and the privatization of the Internet into subscriber-only commercially censored fiefdoms, the collapse of Print Media and the sell-off of the USPostal Service, it was nearly impossible to find out what was happening in the world, or to find others who believe anything other than the Party Line.
But some things fell so badly apart that they couldn't be swept under the rug, like the MadCow outbreak in the Chicago area or the Jet collision at Dulles that killed several Senators and several hundred others in the Air and on the ground. Each disaster was proof that the Terrrrrrrsts were still active among US and demonstrated the need for increased vigilance.
And patience with the astronomical cost of gas.
If you could get it, Gas was over $10/gallon! If you could get any. For months at a time, Non-essential vehicles could not fuel up. Deciding what was essential was a process of pleading and pulling strings that most people had no leverage to pull.
Advancing militarily from Mesopotamia into Persia had united the world against US. Even England refused to sell US any Oil during the WorldWide Embargo. Our Economy took a huge hit, but so did the rest of the world's, they realized that if the Giant fell down, everyone would be squashed, so the Embargo didn't hold, but Oil was no longer traded in Dollars and traders held out for exorbitant prices for their crude. Supplies became erratic, causing ripples that kept US just off balance, but not a Tidal wave that would take US down.
Not since the great depression has this country had such scenes of poverty and destitution. People were literally starving to death in American Cities, Businesses collapsed and Unemployment went through the roof (though the Military and HSA soaked up some).
(to be continued)
(this is an unfinished piece, I could spend another day on it, but things are happening too fast)
Friday, July 07, 2006
An open letter to Barbara Boxer
Sen. Barbara Boxer,
First let me thank you for your principled stands on so many issues, I cant even keep track. Several times we've looked up to see the lone voice in the chamber is our Barbara. I lived in LA and worked for your first election to the Senate when you came and joined forces with APLA and you haven't let me down. That's more than I can say about any other politician I've ever voted for.
But I moved. I'm a CT voter now and I ask you, please before you embarrass yourself backing Joe Lie berman, meet Ned Lamont and talk with him, dig in and see if you can trust him, can work with him. I know you will be pleasantly surprised.
Hapless Joe no longer represents CT Democrats, he's become a Beltway animal, completely out of touch with his constituency and his party. He has been the FigLeaf of "Bi-partisanship" that has greased the way for Bush/Cheney's agenda. His votes have benefited the Bush Thugs and their cronys in the Corporate Boardrooms (the ones that pay his way, we guess) and hurt his constituents.
He is one of the reasons that the Democratic Party is considered rudderless, every time anyone tries to steer us back on course, Joe throws the tiller overboard. There is no party without at least some party discipline.
Now, he's decided that his seat is too important (to him) to work within the Party system, that is, he basically quit the Party. Good Riddance.
Please rethink your support for Hapless Joe, meet with Ned Lamont while you are in Connecticut.
Monday, June 26, 2006
...and what if...
Not enough to be food for thought, but it's a nibble, right?
Rove reads the polls and sees that everyone wants out troops brought home, magically, in October, We WON! YAY! Half (of the recently increased number) of our troops are coming home! If they get enough polish on the turd and it lasts long enough, they might be able to retain control of the Congress.
Don't be fooled. It's not over, 50-60 000 troops permanently stationed around Iraq backed by an Air War for who knows how long. That's not Peace.
Don't accept anything they try to sell you at face value.
Rove reads the polls and sees that everyone wants out troops brought home, magically, in October, We WON! YAY! Half (of the recently increased number) of our troops are coming home! If they get enough polish on the turd and it lasts long enough, they might be able to retain control of the Congress.
Don't be fooled. It's not over, 50-60 000 troops permanently stationed around Iraq backed by an Air War for who knows how long. That's not Peace.
Don't accept anything they try to sell you at face value.
Well now, isn't this special
So, last week asking for a timetable or a plan to end the occupation of Iraq was considered treason by the Thugs and their wingnut chorus in Congress. Blood&Guts Frist was calling Kerry and Murtha and all the other sane folks Cowards. All over the Republican bench there were hoots of "waving the white flag" et cetera.
Today, NPR informs me that no less than Gen. George Casey, our top guy in this mess, has suggested exactly the same thing, a timetable for withdrawal of our forces.
And amazingly, he is in agreement with the new Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki.
Of course, polls taken in Iraq, in our Army and across America show that 80% of our troops think this thing should be ended ASAP, 85% of Iraqis agree and so do 60% of Americans. The Democratic "Leadership" is slowly waking up to find that the rank and file are way out ahead of them and they'll have to run to catch up.
With one notable exception. Joe Lie berman thinks it's OK to sacrifice more young Americans for a non-realistic goal. He uses the words Premature Withdrawal. Does that mean that he has seen the plan?
Joe, I got news for ya, till you show US the planned withdrawal date, we have to assume that there is no such thing (inevitable, yes, planned, no). So stop calling it Premature, in fact, stop talking, in fact, RETIRE.
Today, NPR informs me that no less than Gen. George Casey, our top guy in this mess, has suggested exactly the same thing, a timetable for withdrawal of our forces.
And amazingly, he is in agreement with the new Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki.
Of course, polls taken in Iraq, in our Army and across America show that 80% of our troops think this thing should be ended ASAP, 85% of Iraqis agree and so do 60% of Americans. The Democratic "Leadership" is slowly waking up to find that the rank and file are way out ahead of them and they'll have to run to catch up.
With one notable exception. Joe Lie berman thinks it's OK to sacrifice more young Americans for a non-realistic goal. He uses the words Premature Withdrawal. Does that mean that he has seen the plan?
Joe, I got news for ya, till you show US the planned withdrawal date, we have to assume that there is no such thing (inevitable, yes, planned, no). So stop calling it Premature, in fact, stop talking, in fact, RETIRE.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
The Bottom Line of a Deadline
So we can't bring the troops home NOW, right this minute.
Just technically, it would not be possible to evacuate 135 000 troops and sundry civilians (and God knows how many mercenaries) this afternoon.
Politically it is also not gonna happen with the GOPigs in charge of all three branches. The wingnuts have ramped the rhetoric up to the point where they can't climb down. Hell, they think things are going well in Iraq, why leave now? Anyone that questions the misAdministration's "plan" (that no-one will enumerate publicly) is branded a traitor and trashed in the media.
But the reality is that we will eventually leave Iraq. The questions are: When and How?
Scenario 1: We build huge military bases around Iraq including one in Baghdad that we call an embassy. 50 to 60 thousand of our troops are based there permanently and only travel from one base to another in heavy convoy, everywhere else is injun terrrrrrtory. Our bases would be in a constant state of siege, the insurgency growing to eventually include the entire population and foreign fighters recruited worldwide. Our Ambassador dictates to the Iraqi "Government" what it's policy is, making sure to keep tight control on the oil spigots.
This is the scenario most likely to bring on large scale terrorism, particularly here in the US, on the idea of hitting US here so we will stop hitting them over there.
Scenario 2:
As November draws near and the GOPigs prospects look grim, Rove needs a new war, Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice decide to take out Iran's nuclear facilities with bunker-buster nukes. The entire world reacts in horror. The US is embargoed even by England. No-one will sell US a drop of Oil. Foreign Investors call their paper and won't or can't buy our debt. Our Navy is denied ports of call and our Airforce denied overflight and landing rights. 135 000 troops in Iraq are suddenly faced with, not just 20 000 insurgents they face today, but better than half the 30 million Iraqi people. Pinned down, outnumbered 1000:1, no fuel, no airlift, no troop ships, we'd be lucky to extract half of our troops alive, nevermind all the equipment we would leave behind. (that equipment, like the stuff we were forced to leave behind in VietNam, would become the basis for whatever militant force organizes out of the effort to expel America from Iraq, and like VietNam then goes on to raise Hell in the region for a decade.)
The economic collapse in this country resulting from embargo would bring about a second revolution in America. Removing the Thugs from office will be the only way that the rest of the world will start to alleviate the pressure. Putting them on trial (if they survive the removal) for their crimes against humanity will be the condition under which we can rejoin the civilized world.
Scenario 3: We set a timetable for withdrawal starting now with all of our forces out of Iraq by January of 2007 or July 2007 at the latest. That puts the political leaders of Iraq on notice as to when they will be responsible for running their country, that is: true sovereignty. It gives them a timetable to plan their transition on. We redeploy our troops, mostly home, some to Kuwait, some to Turkey. What happens next is up to the Iraqi people. It could be an intensification of the threeway (or fiveway or sixway) civil war that is already underway. It could be partitioning, with or without "ethnic cleansing". It could actually work out to a secular federal democracy (highly unlikely) or it could become some form of Theocracy. Whatever happens, it will not be helped by our intervention, we've already intervened far too much.
Just technically, it would not be possible to evacuate 135 000 troops and sundry civilians (and God knows how many mercenaries) this afternoon.
Politically it is also not gonna happen with the GOPigs in charge of all three branches. The wingnuts have ramped the rhetoric up to the point where they can't climb down. Hell, they think things are going well in Iraq, why leave now? Anyone that questions the misAdministration's "plan" (that no-one will enumerate publicly) is branded a traitor and trashed in the media.
But the reality is that we will eventually leave Iraq. The questions are: When and How?
Scenario 1: We build huge military bases around Iraq including one in Baghdad that we call an embassy. 50 to 60 thousand of our troops are based there permanently and only travel from one base to another in heavy convoy, everywhere else is injun terrrrrrtory. Our bases would be in a constant state of siege, the insurgency growing to eventually include the entire population and foreign fighters recruited worldwide. Our Ambassador dictates to the Iraqi "Government" what it's policy is, making sure to keep tight control on the oil spigots.
This is the scenario most likely to bring on large scale terrorism, particularly here in the US, on the idea of hitting US here so we will stop hitting them over there.
Scenario 2:
As November draws near and the GOPigs prospects look grim, Rove needs a new war, Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice decide to take out Iran's nuclear facilities with bunker-buster nukes. The entire world reacts in horror. The US is embargoed even by England. No-one will sell US a drop of Oil. Foreign Investors call their paper and won't or can't buy our debt. Our Navy is denied ports of call and our Airforce denied overflight and landing rights. 135 000 troops in Iraq are suddenly faced with, not just 20 000 insurgents they face today, but better than half the 30 million Iraqi people. Pinned down, outnumbered 1000:1, no fuel, no airlift, no troop ships, we'd be lucky to extract half of our troops alive, nevermind all the equipment we would leave behind. (that equipment, like the stuff we were forced to leave behind in VietNam, would become the basis for whatever militant force organizes out of the effort to expel America from Iraq, and like VietNam then goes on to raise Hell in the region for a decade.)
The economic collapse in this country resulting from embargo would bring about a second revolution in America. Removing the Thugs from office will be the only way that the rest of the world will start to alleviate the pressure. Putting them on trial (if they survive the removal) for their crimes against humanity will be the condition under which we can rejoin the civilized world.
Scenario 3: We set a timetable for withdrawal starting now with all of our forces out of Iraq by January of 2007 or July 2007 at the latest. That puts the political leaders of Iraq on notice as to when they will be responsible for running their country, that is: true sovereignty. It gives them a timetable to plan their transition on. We redeploy our troops, mostly home, some to Kuwait, some to Turkey. What happens next is up to the Iraqi people. It could be an intensification of the threeway (or fiveway or sixway) civil war that is already underway. It could be partitioning, with or without "ethnic cleansing". It could actually work out to a secular federal democracy (highly unlikely) or it could become some form of Theocracy. Whatever happens, it will not be helped by our intervention, we've already intervened far too much.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Cut the Jargon
Stop for a minute and think.
The slogans are flying thick and fast: Stay the course, cut and run, finish the job... But they don't clarify things. How about a little de-jargonning, hmmm?
Finish the job. We've heard this meme coming on for a year now. What job? What are we employed at? What are we building? I mean really, not some fantasy about Jeffersonian Christian Democracy flowering across SouthWest Asia. That ain't happening. If the Occupation is the Job, you finish it by bringing your troops home.
An alternate phrasing is Complete the Mission. What's the mission? Every reason that was spouted for invading and occupying Iraq has been specious. The plans that many people suspect: permanent bases, puppet government, US control of Oil and Gas production, have been categorically denied by the misAdministration. But they have never put forward a plan or set a goal that was genuine. And Congress has handed over more than $300 000 000 000, that's three hundred BILLION dollars, no benchmarks, no strings, no timetable. Where is all our money going? Wasn't this going to be the "Accountability Administration"? Of course, Arthur Anderson was still a respectable accounting firm when Bush was appointed.
So if there is no plan, no agreed upon goal, there is no Job to finish.
Stay the course has become the ChickenHawks' rallying cry.
The course of the Occupation has been terrible, 2500 US troops killed, 35-40 000 more injured, untold thousands of Iraqis, most of them civilians, dead and over one million wounded. Life was tough in Iraq before Shock&Awe, now it's worse. Over 1000 people turn up in Bagdhad's morgue every week. No one is safe on the streets, services like water, sewer and electricity are intermittent or not working at all and women have lost any rights they had as Hardline Clerics exert control. This course we are on is unsustainable and the last stretch of it could be right down the same Highway to Hell where Gen. McCaffrey slaughtered retreating Iraqi forces in OilWar1, since that would be our only way out to the troopships. Dunkirk, anyone?
But what of this Cut and Run business? The Thugs and their enablers are spraying that term all over anyone that questions our engagement. To cut and run was a desperate maneuver in Fleet operations where one side is caught at anchor by the other side and set upon with warships. You cut your anchorlines to get underway immediately, the better to position your ships for the onslaught and then take the fight to the raiders. It has nothing to do with retreat or surrender, it actually means quickly Turn and Fight. Maybe they thought they heard Cut Your Losses and couldn't bring themselves to admit that there are losses.
So to anyone that says Finish the Job, ask What Job?
There is no mission to accomplish, it's time to cut our losses.
The slogans are flying thick and fast: Stay the course, cut and run, finish the job... But they don't clarify things. How about a little de-jargonning, hmmm?
Finish the job. We've heard this meme coming on for a year now. What job? What are we employed at? What are we building? I mean really, not some fantasy about Jeffersonian Christian Democracy flowering across SouthWest Asia. That ain't happening. If the Occupation is the Job, you finish it by bringing your troops home.
An alternate phrasing is Complete the Mission. What's the mission? Every reason that was spouted for invading and occupying Iraq has been specious. The plans that many people suspect: permanent bases, puppet government, US control of Oil and Gas production, have been categorically denied by the misAdministration. But they have never put forward a plan or set a goal that was genuine. And Congress has handed over more than $300 000 000 000, that's three hundred BILLION dollars, no benchmarks, no strings, no timetable. Where is all our money going? Wasn't this going to be the "Accountability Administration"? Of course, Arthur Anderson was still a respectable accounting firm when Bush was appointed.
So if there is no plan, no agreed upon goal, there is no Job to finish.
Stay the course has become the ChickenHawks' rallying cry.
The course of the Occupation has been terrible, 2500 US troops killed, 35-40 000 more injured, untold thousands of Iraqis, most of them civilians, dead and over one million wounded. Life was tough in Iraq before Shock&Awe, now it's worse. Over 1000 people turn up in Bagdhad's morgue every week. No one is safe on the streets, services like water, sewer and electricity are intermittent or not working at all and women have lost any rights they had as Hardline Clerics exert control. This course we are on is unsustainable and the last stretch of it could be right down the same Highway to Hell where Gen. McCaffrey slaughtered retreating Iraqi forces in OilWar1, since that would be our only way out to the troopships. Dunkirk, anyone?
But what of this Cut and Run business? The Thugs and their enablers are spraying that term all over anyone that questions our engagement. To cut and run was a desperate maneuver in Fleet operations where one side is caught at anchor by the other side and set upon with warships. You cut your anchorlines to get underway immediately, the better to position your ships for the onslaught and then take the fight to the raiders. It has nothing to do with retreat or surrender, it actually means quickly Turn and Fight. Maybe they thought they heard Cut Your Losses and couldn't bring themselves to admit that there are losses.
So to anyone that says Finish the Job, ask What Job?
There is no mission to accomplish, it's time to cut our losses.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
It's called Occupation
Our one remaining local independent daily newspaper ran a question for readers this week:
"President Bush feels optimistic about Iraqis securing their nation and setting up a functioning government. How do you feel about the war?"
I don't know if they will print this:
The pResident thought Brownie was doing a great job, he reads people's souls by looking in their eyes. Clearly, George W Bush is off his rocker. He thinks God talks to him and he decides with his gut.
But let's pick this apart regardless.
How do you feel about the war?
The War is over. We Won! Two and a half years ago, remember? Mission Accomplished? There are no more WMDs threatening US from Iraq, nope. And that bad man, Saddam, he's out. And we got his sons, too. So that's done. We Won, Yay!
So why didn't our troops come home? Why are our kids still getting killed and maimed? What are we doing over there?
It's called Occupation.
...Iraqis securing their nation
To Occupy is to take hold of; to make use of; to take up room or space.
In otherwords, to seize and hold. We invaded their country, blew it to bits, looted it's treasure and set up a puppet government that pleases no-one. Now we patrol the streets in armed and armored convoys, looking to all the world like conquerors in our new colony.
Add in the religious element; The majority of Iraq is Muslim, like most of SouthWest Asia. Bush has loudly declared his Christianity and so have many of the people around him, including several Generals. We are seen as Crusaders, Bush even used the word. In Arab culture, there are few words more charged. Religious zealots across the Muslim world use our occupation as a rallying cry and some foreign fighters are drawn to the chaos. A whole new generation of Jihadists are being trained in Iraq now. Our occupation has increased world terrorism and introduced it to Iraq where it hadn't been before.
Occupied people fight back. It's asymmetrical warfare, we hid behind stonewalls dressed like farmers, sniping, while the Redcoats came in rows and columns, the US forces have tanks and cruise missiles, the resistance has IEDs and abductions. Anyone that works for the Americans or their puppet government are collaborators, that is, fair game. Anyone that gets too close to our patrols or moves too fast can end up blasted to swiss cheese by our overwhelmed troops.
As long as our troops are there, they will be a destabilizing force and ready targets, close at hand.
From an Iraqi point of view, securing their nation means first expelling our troops.
...and setting up a functioning government
Unfortunately, our invasion and occupation has set off a civil war along three large faultlines, each fractured by divisions within. Peace is not likely to come soon to Mesopotamia. The idea that we could impose democracy, at gunpoint, on people that have lost so much ground in the past two decades was delusional from the start. It will be quite interesting to see what forms of government emerge from the rubble after we've left.
Meanwhile, we are constructing a massively fortified palace in Baghdad and a dozen other huge military bases around the country, most notably in the oil producing regions. Bush and the Chickenhawks refuse to even consider a timetable for withdrawal because they don't plan to leave. They keep mumbling "Complete the Mission" and "Finish the Job" but they have never honestly answered what the mission is.
If their plan is, as they have recently stated, to keep upwards of 50 000 troops incountry for many years, occupying these bases and that would be to manipulate the local government, to control the flow of oil and natural gas from that region, that plan is also delusional. The vast majority of Iraqis want US to be gone yesterday, another three, five, ten, years of grinding occupation and the insurgents won't be hiding among the civilians, the civilians will all be insurgents.
We, the People of the United States must exercise our democracy and rein in our out-of-control executive. We must establish a date for an orderly end of the occupation and stick to it. The People of Iraq will create a real government of their own only after we butt out.
"President Bush feels optimistic about Iraqis securing their nation and setting up a functioning government. How do you feel about the war?"
I don't know if they will print this:
The pResident thought Brownie was doing a great job, he reads people's souls by looking in their eyes. Clearly, George W Bush is off his rocker. He thinks God talks to him and he decides with his gut.
But let's pick this apart regardless.
How do you feel about the war?
The War is over. We Won! Two and a half years ago, remember? Mission Accomplished? There are no more WMDs threatening US from Iraq, nope. And that bad man, Saddam, he's out. And we got his sons, too. So that's done. We Won, Yay!
So why didn't our troops come home? Why are our kids still getting killed and maimed? What are we doing over there?
It's called Occupation.
...Iraqis securing their nation
To Occupy is to take hold of; to make use of; to take up room or space.
In otherwords, to seize and hold. We invaded their country, blew it to bits, looted it's treasure and set up a puppet government that pleases no-one. Now we patrol the streets in armed and armored convoys, looking to all the world like conquerors in our new colony.
Add in the religious element; The majority of Iraq is Muslim, like most of SouthWest Asia. Bush has loudly declared his Christianity and so have many of the people around him, including several Generals. We are seen as Crusaders, Bush even used the word. In Arab culture, there are few words more charged. Religious zealots across the Muslim world use our occupation as a rallying cry and some foreign fighters are drawn to the chaos. A whole new generation of Jihadists are being trained in Iraq now. Our occupation has increased world terrorism and introduced it to Iraq where it hadn't been before.
Occupied people fight back. It's asymmetrical warfare, we hid behind stonewalls dressed like farmers, sniping, while the Redcoats came in rows and columns, the US forces have tanks and cruise missiles, the resistance has IEDs and abductions. Anyone that works for the Americans or their puppet government are collaborators, that is, fair game. Anyone that gets too close to our patrols or moves too fast can end up blasted to swiss cheese by our overwhelmed troops.
As long as our troops are there, they will be a destabilizing force and ready targets, close at hand.
From an Iraqi point of view, securing their nation means first expelling our troops.
...and setting up a functioning government
Unfortunately, our invasion and occupation has set off a civil war along three large faultlines, each fractured by divisions within. Peace is not likely to come soon to Mesopotamia. The idea that we could impose democracy, at gunpoint, on people that have lost so much ground in the past two decades was delusional from the start. It will be quite interesting to see what forms of government emerge from the rubble after we've left.
Meanwhile, we are constructing a massively fortified palace in Baghdad and a dozen other huge military bases around the country, most notably in the oil producing regions. Bush and the Chickenhawks refuse to even consider a timetable for withdrawal because they don't plan to leave. They keep mumbling "Complete the Mission" and "Finish the Job" but they have never honestly answered what the mission is.
If their plan is, as they have recently stated, to keep upwards of 50 000 troops incountry for many years, occupying these bases and that would be to manipulate the local government, to control the flow of oil and natural gas from that region, that plan is also delusional. The vast majority of Iraqis want US to be gone yesterday, another three, five, ten, years of grinding occupation and the insurgents won't be hiding among the civilians, the civilians will all be insurgents.
We, the People of the United States must exercise our democracy and rein in our out-of-control executive. We must establish a date for an orderly end of the occupation and stick to it. The People of Iraq will create a real government of their own only after we butt out.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Razzle-Dazzle Distract-a-Rama!
Here we go again.
What's the most important issue that America is grappling with? OK, what're the top ten? Gay marriage on the list? I didn't think so.
So why are the pResident and leaders in Congress going on and on about it? Even when they know that they can't gather enough votes to pass a constitutional ban, why tie up Congress and suck up all the media time on this loser of an issue?
Does the word "Haditha" mean anything to you? Or Estate Tax elimination, the Paris Hilton Tax Cuts?
Keeping the media focused on an issue that energizes Bush's Wacko Base serves several purposes, none of them good for US.
There is a mid-term election coming up. If the Democrats retake the Congress, the thugs on Pennsylvania Avenue will lose the bulletproof cover that the GOP Congress has given them. Once the Thugs no longer control the Congressional Agenda, some Democrats might, might find enough courage and decency to prevent further atrocities in our name. There are even Democrats running on ~Gasp~ Impeachment!
So turn up the noise machine, bring out the wingnuts, it's a Karl Rove Extravaganza!
More immediately, there is a move in the Senate to make the temporary reduction in Estate taxes not just permanent, but to eliminate them altogether. Really great for the top half-of-1%, really bad for all of the rest of US. We have a record deficit already, due to reckless tax cuts and even more reckless wars, we've cut Medicare, Medicaid, Pell grants and a pile of other programs that help poor and middle-class people as a result of those deficits, now they want to make sure Paris Hilton receives all of her billions of dollars in inheritance and not a penny less.
But if they weren't screeching about gay marriage, maybe the media would be covering this shameless robbery of the poor by the rich.
Meanwhile, back in Iraq, the massacre of 24 civilians at Haditha by US Marines is only the tip of the Iceburg. American forces have been killing civilians since Shock & Awe. In fact, Poppy Bush's Oil War1 and the sanctions that followed had already killed half a million Iraqis before W and Vice let loose. This entire enterprise has been an atrocity and now it's coming out.
So crank up the distract-o-matic, Karl, gotta hold on 'til the pardons at the end.
Monday, June 05, 2006
What's needed is some symmetry
How can you start negotiations with anyone by insisting on your final goal as a precondition? Seems to be the standard method for the Right-Wing.
We won't even start to talk to Iran about their nuclear program until they prove that they've dismantled it. Why would anyone play along with that? They give away the only chip they have at the start, for what? They have no incentive to negotiate.
Same thing, little different in Israel.
After 38 years of illegal occupation, the Palestinian People elected Hamas to form a government out of the Palestinian Authority. The US and Israel immediately moved to choke Palestine economically and strategically, freezing assets and disrupting aid flows, closing the border crossings and stepping up air assaults. As a precondition to talks, we are insisting that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence, lay down weapons and turn over Hamas officials that Israel calls terrorists. Unilaterally. Before any negotiation begins.
To comply with those pre-conditions would be political suicide for Hamas and damn bad bargaining. Once they have given Israel everything they want, there is very little else that Hamas could negotiate for and no incentive for Israel to negotiate.
What's needed is some symmetry: If Israel wants Hamas to renounce violence and disarm, then Israel must do the same. If Israel wants a "right of return" for Jews around the world, many of whom have never been near Israel, then it must recognize the right of return for Palestinians driven from their land over the last sixty years. If Israel wants to try Hamas officials as terrorists then they must turn over the Israelis that have terrorized the Palestinians for the past sixty years, that would be most of Likud, including Sharon, Ulmert, Netanyahu, Mofaz and a host of military brass that have ordered and/or stood by and watched while Palestinians have been slaughtered from Sabra and Chatila to Ramalla and Gaza.
We won't even start to talk to Iran about their nuclear program until they prove that they've dismantled it. Why would anyone play along with that? They give away the only chip they have at the start, for what? They have no incentive to negotiate.
Same thing, little different in Israel.
After 38 years of illegal occupation, the Palestinian People elected Hamas to form a government out of the Palestinian Authority. The US and Israel immediately moved to choke Palestine economically and strategically, freezing assets and disrupting aid flows, closing the border crossings and stepping up air assaults. As a precondition to talks, we are insisting that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence, lay down weapons and turn over Hamas officials that Israel calls terrorists. Unilaterally. Before any negotiation begins.
To comply with those pre-conditions would be political suicide for Hamas and damn bad bargaining. Once they have given Israel everything they want, there is very little else that Hamas could negotiate for and no incentive for Israel to negotiate.
What's needed is some symmetry: If Israel wants Hamas to renounce violence and disarm, then Israel must do the same. If Israel wants a "right of return" for Jews around the world, many of whom have never been near Israel, then it must recognize the right of return for Palestinians driven from their land over the last sixty years. If Israel wants to try Hamas officials as terrorists then they must turn over the Israelis that have terrorized the Palestinians for the past sixty years, that would be most of Likud, including Sharon, Ulmert, Netanyahu, Mofaz and a host of military brass that have ordered and/or stood by and watched while Palestinians have been slaughtered from Sabra and Chatila to Ramalla and Gaza.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Al Gore, sniper
"If you have a renegade band of rightwing extremists who get hold of power, the whole thing goes to the right." Al Gore describing our current predicament.
He's got a new movie out, it's a horror documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. I haven't seen it but it's scaring the hell out of people who have. How high do you live above sea level?
Al says he's not running for '08. We'll see. He'd be preferable to Hillary or a Kerry re-run, he did win in 2000. But for now, he's free to speak his mind and he has one. He's free to be funny, as he was last week on SNL. And he's free to speak out against the "renegade band" that is pillaging our nation and the world.
Thanx Al, keep up the covering fire, we'll work our way around behind 'em.
He's got a new movie out, it's a horror documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. I haven't seen it but it's scaring the hell out of people who have. How high do you live above sea level?
Al says he's not running for '08. We'll see. He'd be preferable to Hillary or a Kerry re-run, he did win in 2000. But for now, he's free to speak his mind and he has one. He's free to be funny, as he was last week on SNL. And he's free to speak out against the "renegade band" that is pillaging our nation and the world.
Thanx Al, keep up the covering fire, we'll work our way around behind 'em.
Monday, May 22, 2006
I have to ask
When troops are sent
to war for lies
then come home
to find the VA slashed and
the cold, homeless streets
are all that's available
to people we call heroes
I have to ask
if that yellow magnet
on your SUV
has any meaning
to war for lies
then come home
to find the VA slashed and
the cold, homeless streets
are all that's available
to people we call heroes
I have to ask
if that yellow magnet
on your SUV
has any meaning
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Blowback from the War on Drug Users
If you are a manufacturer of, say, wire and you make wire for government contractors, you are required to drug test your workforce. But, what do you do when drug testing eliminates most of your labor pool?
Wire machine operators work in a harsh, industrial environment, the money is better than working at the mini-mart, but it aint real phat. Turnover is relatively low. And Unemployment is officially, relatively low, but many people are under employed and/or undercounted. So why can't you fill the Operator openings on your shop floor?
Drug testing.
Wire machine operators work in a harsh, industrial environment, the money is better than working at the mini-mart, but it aint real phat. Turnover is relatively low. And Unemployment is officially, relatively low, but many people are under employed and/or undercounted. So why can't you fill the Operator openings on your shop floor?
Drug testing.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Open letter to Simmons, my misRepresentative
Congressman Simmons,
Recent revelations of telephone snooping and data mining by the NSA are troubling in the extreme. Warrantless searches are so intrusive onto peoples' lives that the Founding Fathers specificly ban the government from doing them under the fourth amendment to the Constitution. As a former member of the intelligence community, you must know how serious and how heinous domestic spying is. There is no legitimate reason for circumventing the FISA court. There is no covering policy that allows the misAdministration to put 200 000 000 Americans under surveillance with the rest to follow when the technology gets worked out.
And yet, it has been going on since 2001 and continues to this day. Despite Congress voting to kill Total Information Awareness (TIA) that program still lives, though no longer at DARPA and no longer run by disgraced ex-admiral John Poindexter.
--------------------------------------------------------------
What is your position on NSA domestic spying?
--------------------------------------------------------------
While NSA developed and implemented the domestic spying operation, Gen. Michael Hayden was in charge. Now he's nominated to replace Porter Goss at CIA. Gen. Hayden is still Active Duty, he is taking a job that is usually held by a civilian, making the Agency subordinate to the Pentagon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Do you support Hayden's nomination?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Many people in this country and particularly in this state, are very concerned that our most central liberties are being threatened, not by terrorists, but by our own Executive Branch. We have seen enough disturbing facts to want some questions answered. There is an election coming up this year and the people of Eastern Connecticut need to know where you stand on these crucial matters.
I encourage you to represent the people that elected you.
Recent revelations of telephone snooping and data mining by the NSA are troubling in the extreme. Warrantless searches are so intrusive onto peoples' lives that the Founding Fathers specificly ban the government from doing them under the fourth amendment to the Constitution. As a former member of the intelligence community, you must know how serious and how heinous domestic spying is. There is no legitimate reason for circumventing the FISA court. There is no covering policy that allows the misAdministration to put 200 000 000 Americans under surveillance with the rest to follow when the technology gets worked out.
And yet, it has been going on since 2001 and continues to this day. Despite Congress voting to kill Total Information Awareness (TIA) that program still lives, though no longer at DARPA and no longer run by disgraced ex-admiral John Poindexter.
--------------------------------------------------------------
What is your position on NSA domestic spying?
--------------------------------------------------------------
While NSA developed and implemented the domestic spying operation, Gen. Michael Hayden was in charge. Now he's nominated to replace Porter Goss at CIA. Gen. Hayden is still Active Duty, he is taking a job that is usually held by a civilian, making the Agency subordinate to the Pentagon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Do you support Hayden's nomination?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Many people in this country and particularly in this state, are very concerned that our most central liberties are being threatened, not by terrorists, but by our own Executive Branch. We have seen enough disturbing facts to want some questions answered. There is an election coming up this year and the people of Eastern Connecticut need to know where you stand on these crucial matters.
I encourage you to represent the people that elected you.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
I received a spam from Hapless Joe Lie berman
Just like they taught us in high school civics, I write to my Congressmen. Sometimes they write back, more often than not, it's a form letter. Here's the latest from NoMoJoe:
(Lie berman in black, my comments in blue)
May 10, 2006
Dear Mr. V:
Thank you for contacting me about the escalating situation in Iran concerning its nuclear program. (I contacted you to encourage you to resist the thugs' drive to another stupid, bloody, criminal war. Your response indicates that, once again, you are on the wrong side of an issue)
As you know, the accession of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President of Iran has increased the concern of the United States, as well as our allies, due to his recent remarks regarding the annihilation of Israel and the United States, as well as his support for Iran's nuclear program. President Ahmadinejad's declaration that Iran had enriched uranium in defiance of a call by the UN to halt its nuclear program further complicates an already troubling situation. (That's one factor)
U.S. sanctions currently in effect ban or strictly limit U.S. trade, aid, and investment in Iran and penalize foreign firms that invest in Iran's energy sector, (although Halliburton is exempt) but unilateral U.S. sanctions do not appear to have materially slowed Iran's weapons of mass destruction programs or shaken the regime's grip on power. (You have no credible evidence or information about the Iranian WMD programs, you have no way to know if they are slowed down, speeded up or if they even exist) Over the past two years, the Bush Administration has been engaged with our allies, (trying to sabotage would be more accurate) particularly European nations and Russia, to curb Iran's nuclear program. Unfortunately, the Government of Iran has responded by reneging on multiple treaty obligations and other pledges, and continuing to push forward with their nuclear program. (one word: Israel)
The International Atomic Energy Agency gave formal notification to the United Nations (UN) Security Council of Iran's nuclear program by saying it lacked confidence in the intentions of Iran's leaders (NO! Really?) and believes Iran has (may have) violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Earlier, the five permanent members of the Security Council agreed that Iran should appear before the council. This action should lead to further world involvement under UN auspices to induce Tehran to abandon its aspiration for a nuclear arsenal (by threatening them with nuclear annihilation). However, should the efforts at the UN fail, then we in the transatlantic community must be ready to apply a cohesive regime of sanctions against Iran in an economic coalition of the willing. (No, not that again. Sanctions have helped to solidify resistance to the US everywhere that we've applied them)
We cannot, and must not, stand on the sidelines while Iran (or India, Pakistan, Israel, Korea, Taiwan...) continues to develop nuclear capabilities and threaten the security and stability of the world. I strongly believe the United States must work diplomatically with our allies as well as the UN to alleviate this situation. (try opening talks with the Iranians, we've alienated all of our allies) I believe all options for dealing with Iran's quest to develop nuclear weapons should remain on the table. (take OUR nukes off the table, in fact take bombing of any form off the table.)
Additionally, we must engage in more vigorous outreach to the Iranian people, who hear only the official drumbeat of a nuclear program as a source of national pride. (try National Defense) We must support assistance to pro-democracy dissidents inside of Iran, and the dedication of far more resources for broadcast and electronic outreach to the Iranian people, who by all accounts, remain alienated from the fanatical clique that rules them. (It would also be a good idea to listen to the Iranian [and the American] people. They don't want a war and neither do we. Moreover, our belligerent posture and the proximity of our forces on nearly every border have made Ahmedinejad and the Mullahs more credible and much more powerful.)
As your Senator, please be assured I will continue to monitor the situation closely. (you ceased to be "My Senator" years ago even though I've voted for you every time you've run. You misrepresent me and the rest of the people that put you in office. Your positions on extremely important matters have been diametrically opposite those of the majority of your constituents (and not coincidentally, right in line with the BushCheney gang and the corporate interests that pay your way). You won't get a chance to misrepresent us again, you are retiring this year.)
Sunday, May 07, 2006
An(other) Open letter to Senator Dodd
Dear Senator Dodd
Before BushCheney&Co launched Shock&Awe, I wrote to you, urging you to do what you could to stop the atrocity before it started. I was not alone in my conviction that invading and occupying Iraq would be a bloody disaster. I don't know how many of your other constituents wrote to you, but you ignored us, misrepresented us in supporting the use of force as a first response. It made me and most of the Democrats here in Connecticut question whether we'd made the right choice in voting you into office and re-electing you. Could you really be that gullible? Or is it a lack of good information? (How could you possibly have less intel available to you, a Senator, than I, a Farmer, have online?)
Since then, the War has taken 30 Connecticut soldiers lives and wounded an unknown number of others (why is that number secret?). The completely ridiculous way the supplemental has been used to fund the War has allowed the WhiteHouse Thugs to evade the Congressional oversight that the Constitution prescribes, that is your duty. The illegal occupation of Iraq has cost Americans over $15 000 each, every man, woman and child, so far, with more to come.
And you did nothing.
And Joe Lie berman did worse.
You are both in your last terms as Senators.
Bush and his Gang are gearing up for another insane military blunder, this one with MUCH more serious consequences. Bombing Iran, even with conventional bombs, would be a fatal mistake. We have already united much of the world against US, this would make it unanimous.
Iraq was our Sudetenland, a gimme. The world gave us the benefit of the doubt, the British Prime Minister went along with it.
But Iran is a bridge too far.
The rest of the world WILL try to stop US. They have to.
Do not let the madmen start World War 4.
The 60% of our oil that we import? Goodbye. Ditto 65% of our Natural Gas. And all that Debt underwriting? Poof! The oil that we can't get will no longer be sold in dollars either. Basically, kiss our economy goodbye for the rest of your life and mine and probably the lifetimes of your kids. No more visas, no more travel out of our country. Overseas corporate assets seized. Airbus beats Boeing forever.
But that's just money.
Our Military has been led out into the desert, undermanned and unprepared and is struggling to make it as it is, if we bomb Iran, the Shia majority in Iraq will have 150 000 hostages and all their equipment. And that is the core of our military, better than one third of our men and women in uniform. Without them, we don't have a credible defense against the combined forces of the rest of the world.
George Bush retains only 24% support in Connecticut, 33% nationwide. Supporting his wars would not be a good re-election strategy. Resist this atrocity at all costs.
Before BushCheney&Co launched Shock&Awe, I wrote to you, urging you to do what you could to stop the atrocity before it started. I was not alone in my conviction that invading and occupying Iraq would be a bloody disaster. I don't know how many of your other constituents wrote to you, but you ignored us, misrepresented us in supporting the use of force as a first response. It made me and most of the Democrats here in Connecticut question whether we'd made the right choice in voting you into office and re-electing you. Could you really be that gullible? Or is it a lack of good information? (How could you possibly have less intel available to you, a Senator, than I, a Farmer, have online?)
Since then, the War has taken 30 Connecticut soldiers lives and wounded an unknown number of others (why is that number secret?). The completely ridiculous way the supplemental has been used to fund the War has allowed the WhiteHouse Thugs to evade the Congressional oversight that the Constitution prescribes, that is your duty. The illegal occupation of Iraq has cost Americans over $15 000 each, every man, woman and child, so far, with more to come.
And you did nothing.
And Joe Lie berman did worse.
You are both in your last terms as Senators.
Bush and his Gang are gearing up for another insane military blunder, this one with MUCH more serious consequences. Bombing Iran, even with conventional bombs, would be a fatal mistake. We have already united much of the world against US, this would make it unanimous.
Iraq was our Sudetenland, a gimme. The world gave us the benefit of the doubt, the British Prime Minister went along with it.
But Iran is a bridge too far.
The rest of the world WILL try to stop US. They have to.
Do not let the madmen start World War 4.
The 60% of our oil that we import? Goodbye. Ditto 65% of our Natural Gas. And all that Debt underwriting? Poof! The oil that we can't get will no longer be sold in dollars either. Basically, kiss our economy goodbye for the rest of your life and mine and probably the lifetimes of your kids. No more visas, no more travel out of our country. Overseas corporate assets seized. Airbus beats Boeing forever.
But that's just money.
Our Military has been led out into the desert, undermanned and unprepared and is struggling to make it as it is, if we bomb Iran, the Shia majority in Iraq will have 150 000 hostages and all their equipment. And that is the core of our military, better than one third of our men and women in uniform. Without them, we don't have a credible defense against the combined forces of the rest of the world.
George Bush retains only 24% support in Connecticut, 33% nationwide. Supporting his wars would not be a good re-election strategy. Resist this atrocity at all costs.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Moussaoui gets Life
Zakarias Moussaoui was no where near New York City on 9/11. He was not in a plane. He did not hijack a plane and fly it into a building. He didn't help the people that did fly hijacked planes into buildings that day. He couldn't have done these things, he was in jail.
Moussaoui is either stupid or crazy or both. Listen to him for a few minutes and it's obvious. Nobody would trust him to hold up his end of a secret plan to attack America. Or even know the plan. He didn't spill the beans before the attack because he didn't have any. He hasn't enlightened US much since the attack. He doesn't know.
He may have actually been recruited by Al Qaida, he may have thought that he had a mission, he may have been deluded or misled with some messianic vision of a divine call to action. But he hadn't been told what it was.
If anything, he was a liability to the plotters, maybe a loose cannon, certainly a loose end. And in such a high stakes exploit, a disgruntled volunteer, turned away at the gate, could bring it all down if he cries on the wrong shoulder. So let him think he's on his training and get him out of the way. Flight school in the US was too exposed, he got grabbed. He's in jail, but he can't hurt them much. Stupid git.
He associated himself with a group that attacked US. He was not part of that plot. How is he guilty of conspiracy? Even if he had intent, he didn't have a plan and that is a pre-requisite for PRE-Meditation.
Now he's had a long time to cast himself, at least in his version of reality, as a Martyr. He's been held in the Great Satan's Dungeon, awaiting execution for four years now. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain by identifying himself with the 9/11 plot. He can romantically die challenging Satan in his lair! He'll go down in history with Saladin!
Only he was sentenced to life in prison. No hero's death. No glory.
This was a wise sentence, considering the smell of blood in the air. It demonstrates the strength of our judicial system, that someone associated with such a heinous crime, but not responsible for it, would be punished as a criminal, not elevated to Martyrdom.
Moussaoui is either stupid or crazy or both. Listen to him for a few minutes and it's obvious. Nobody would trust him to hold up his end of a secret plan to attack America. Or even know the plan. He didn't spill the beans before the attack because he didn't have any. He hasn't enlightened US much since the attack. He doesn't know.
He may have actually been recruited by Al Qaida, he may have thought that he had a mission, he may have been deluded or misled with some messianic vision of a divine call to action. But he hadn't been told what it was.
If anything, he was a liability to the plotters, maybe a loose cannon, certainly a loose end. And in such a high stakes exploit, a disgruntled volunteer, turned away at the gate, could bring it all down if he cries on the wrong shoulder. So let him think he's on his training and get him out of the way. Flight school in the US was too exposed, he got grabbed. He's in jail, but he can't hurt them much. Stupid git.
He associated himself with a group that attacked US. He was not part of that plot. How is he guilty of conspiracy? Even if he had intent, he didn't have a plan and that is a pre-requisite for PRE-Meditation.
Now he's had a long time to cast himself, at least in his version of reality, as a Martyr. He's been held in the Great Satan's Dungeon, awaiting execution for four years now. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain by identifying himself with the 9/11 plot. He can romantically die challenging Satan in his lair! He'll go down in history with Saladin!
Only he was sentenced to life in prison. No hero's death. No glory.
This was a wise sentence, considering the smell of blood in the air. It demonstrates the strength of our judicial system, that someone associated with such a heinous crime, but not responsible for it, would be punished as a criminal, not elevated to Martyrdom.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
2400 Dead Soldiers
For at least thirty blocks, several thousand people per block from Midtown to Foley Square, Cops I talked to guestimated between 150 000 and 300 000 people. Not one heckler.
Bush may have seen the futility of continuing the Occupation, they've called in James Baker, a sure sign that W is being rescued. No details yet, just a passing mention in M, Dowd's "Uncle Rummy", but when the shit hits the fan in Little George's life, Poppy sends Baker and a suitcase full of money and George skates away from the wreckage, unscathed. Frat boy.
An article in The Age (Australia) trumpets the Headline: US 'allowed Zarqawi to escape'. The Age is the more honest, or at least not the Rupert Murdoch paper in town and the story was picked up on Buzzflash.
Folks, I think this is a plant.
In order to accept that we 'let Zarqawi escape' you have to accept that there were terrrrrrrst bases in Iraq before we got there, that Zarqawi was operating a training base in Iraq.
That is not true. So the other is not true.
Bush may have seen the futility of continuing the Occupation, they've called in James Baker, a sure sign that W is being rescued. No details yet, just a passing mention in M, Dowd's "Uncle Rummy", but when the shit hits the fan in Little George's life, Poppy sends Baker and a suitcase full of money and George skates away from the wreckage, unscathed. Frat boy.
An article in The Age (Australia) trumpets the Headline: US 'allowed Zarqawi to escape'. The Age is the more honest, or at least not the Rupert Murdoch paper in town and the story was picked up on Buzzflash.
Folks, I think this is a plant.
In order to accept that we 'let Zarqawi escape' you have to accept that there were terrrrrrrst bases in Iraq before we got there, that Zarqawi was operating a training base in Iraq.
That is not true. So the other is not true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
