Of course not, don't be silly! But this article does have a rich quote from Maliki:
"I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007," Maliki told ABC television after meeting President Bush on Thursday in Jordan.
Alrighty then!! We can pack up the Hummers and leave right? Wait..Bush's response at the same press conference was:
Bush said he wanted to begin troop withdrawals “as soon as possible. But I’m a realist because I understand how tough it is inside of Iraq.”
Oh My God..he is a realist? Give me an F'n break!!!!!! Lying sack of bat shit that he is. Another interesting remark was when Maliki stated to Condo that the Shite militias are really no "big deal"..I almost shat myself when I read that one.
The whole article is full of bullshit and bravado my dear reader...nothing new really, other than Maliki's announcement that as soon as the US gives him lots and lots of 'fire power' the Iraqi Army will be ready to start their ethic cleansing...I mean start taking care of their own country.
Yeah right.
tags: Politics, Bush, Iraq War, Same shit different day
Crossposted at Bring it On!
May 30, 2007
Gitmo detainee commits suicide..or so they say.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Saudi Arabian detainee died Wednesday at Guantanamo Bay prison and the U.S. military said he apparently committed suicide. Critics of the detention center said the death showed the level of desperation among prisoners.
Also Wednesday, a Canadian detainee fired his American attorneys, leaving him without defense counsel ahead of his trial, his former U.S. military attorney told The Associated Press. The detainee, Omar Khadr, is still to be arraigned and is one of only three of the roughly 380 Guantanamo prisoners to be charged with a crime.
The military did not identify the detainee who died or describe the manner of death. There are about 80 detainees from Saudi Arabia held at Guantanamo.
Guards at the U.S. Naval Base in southeast Cuba found the detainee unresponsive and not breathing in his cell Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. military's Southern Command said in a statement.
"They tried to save his life but he was pronounced dead," said Mario Alvarez, a Miami-based spokesman for the command.
Lawyer Julia Tarver Mason, whose firm represents eight Saudi detainees at Guantanamo, said she has tried so far without success to learn from the government if the apparent suicide was by one of her clients.
"They are in the care of the United States government and that should mean that deaths should not occur," Mason said.
It would be the fourth suicide at Guantanamo since the prison camp opened in January 2002. On June 10, 2006, two Saudi detainees and one Yemeni hanged themselves with sheets.
A spokesman for detention operations, Navy Cmdr. Rick Haupt, declined to comment, referring questions to the Miami-based Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Defense attorneys said the death was likely an act of desperation at a prison camp where detainees are denied access to U.S. civilian courts and isolated in their cells for up to 22 hours a day.
"You have five and a half years of desperation there with no legal way out," said Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. "Sadly, it leads to people being so desperate they take their own lives."
Marc Falkoff, who is part of a team of attorneys representing 17 men from Yemen, said the suicide should be expected given the conditions at Guantanamo.
"We've said all along that the guys are going to try to take their lives and that appears to be what happened here," Falkoff said. "It's just incredibly sad and it wouldn't happen if these guys were just given their day in court."
A cultural adviser was helping the military handle the remains. "The remains of the deceased detainee are being treated with the utmost respect," the military said.
The death came as the U.S. military prepared to try Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni, in military tribunals set up by Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a previous military trial system, calling it unconstitutional.
Their arraignment is scheduled to proceed Monday at Guantanamo as planned, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said late Wednesday.
Khadr was 15 when he was captured in a firefight with U.S. troops in
Afghanistan during which he allegedly killed a U.S. Army special forces soldier with a grenade.
"He doesn't trust American lawyers, and I don't particularly blame him," said U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who was taken off the case Wednesday. "The United States is responsible for his interrogation, and his treatment under a process that is patently unfair."
Vokey was excused as defense counsel by Col. Dwight Sullivan, chief defense counsel.
"I'm definitely disappointed," Vokey said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I wanted to go the distance for Omar."
Khadr is now represented by only two Canadian lawyers, who are known as foreign attorney consultants because they have not been cleared to be full-level attorneys, Vokey said. Under new rules for military tribunals adopted last year, the detainee is permitted to represent himself.
The apparent suicide Wednesday came despite the military's best efforts.
The military tightened security at the prison camp following the previous suicides and an uprising last spring, removing access to light fixtures and other possible makeshift weapons and taking away bed sheets in the daytime.
About 380 men are held at the isolated prison camp on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. Many have been held for five years.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is conducting an ongoing investigation into the three previous suicides.
The former commander of the detention facilities, Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris, described those suicides as acts of "asymmetric warfare" — an effort to increase condemnation of the prison.
Oh yeah Harry..they commit suicide for fun and profit. Isn't it possible its also to show the world what rotten son's of bitches you torture-loving fools are or perhaps he just could not take anymore after GOD knows how long? Just a thought there Rear Admiral...
Tags: War on Terror my Ass, Gitmo
Also Wednesday, a Canadian detainee fired his American attorneys, leaving him without defense counsel ahead of his trial, his former U.S. military attorney told The Associated Press. The detainee, Omar Khadr, is still to be arraigned and is one of only three of the roughly 380 Guantanamo prisoners to be charged with a crime.
The military did not identify the detainee who died or describe the manner of death. There are about 80 detainees from Saudi Arabia held at Guantanamo.
Guards at the U.S. Naval Base in southeast Cuba found the detainee unresponsive and not breathing in his cell Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. military's Southern Command said in a statement.
"They tried to save his life but he was pronounced dead," said Mario Alvarez, a Miami-based spokesman for the command.
Lawyer Julia Tarver Mason, whose firm represents eight Saudi detainees at Guantanamo, said she has tried so far without success to learn from the government if the apparent suicide was by one of her clients.
"They are in the care of the United States government and that should mean that deaths should not occur," Mason said.
It would be the fourth suicide at Guantanamo since the prison camp opened in January 2002. On June 10, 2006, two Saudi detainees and one Yemeni hanged themselves with sheets.
A spokesman for detention operations, Navy Cmdr. Rick Haupt, declined to comment, referring questions to the Miami-based Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Defense attorneys said the death was likely an act of desperation at a prison camp where detainees are denied access to U.S. civilian courts and isolated in their cells for up to 22 hours a day.
"You have five and a half years of desperation there with no legal way out," said Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. "Sadly, it leads to people being so desperate they take their own lives."
Marc Falkoff, who is part of a team of attorneys representing 17 men from Yemen, said the suicide should be expected given the conditions at Guantanamo.
"We've said all along that the guys are going to try to take their lives and that appears to be what happened here," Falkoff said. "It's just incredibly sad and it wouldn't happen if these guys were just given their day in court."
A cultural adviser was helping the military handle the remains. "The remains of the deceased detainee are being treated with the utmost respect," the military said.
The death came as the U.S. military prepared to try Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni, in military tribunals set up by Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a previous military trial system, calling it unconstitutional.
Their arraignment is scheduled to proceed Monday at Guantanamo as planned, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said late Wednesday.
Khadr was 15 when he was captured in a firefight with U.S. troops in
Afghanistan during which he allegedly killed a U.S. Army special forces soldier with a grenade.
"He doesn't trust American lawyers, and I don't particularly blame him," said U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who was taken off the case Wednesday. "The United States is responsible for his interrogation, and his treatment under a process that is patently unfair."
Vokey was excused as defense counsel by Col. Dwight Sullivan, chief defense counsel.
"I'm definitely disappointed," Vokey said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I wanted to go the distance for Omar."
Khadr is now represented by only two Canadian lawyers, who are known as foreign attorney consultants because they have not been cleared to be full-level attorneys, Vokey said. Under new rules for military tribunals adopted last year, the detainee is permitted to represent himself.
The apparent suicide Wednesday came despite the military's best efforts.
The military tightened security at the prison camp following the previous suicides and an uprising last spring, removing access to light fixtures and other possible makeshift weapons and taking away bed sheets in the daytime.
About 380 men are held at the isolated prison camp on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. Many have been held for five years.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is conducting an ongoing investigation into the three previous suicides.
The former commander of the detention facilities, Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris, described those suicides as acts of "asymmetric warfare" — an effort to increase condemnation of the prison.
Oh yeah Harry..they commit suicide for fun and profit. Isn't it possible its also to show the world what rotten son's of bitches you torture-loving fools are or perhaps he just could not take anymore after GOD knows how long? Just a thought there Rear Admiral...
Tags: War on Terror my Ass, Gitmo
An Interview With David Iglesias
Watch the video of the interview here.
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Wednesday 30 May 2007
Last week, a day after Monica Goodling testified before Congress about her role in the US attorney scandal, I sat down for an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with David Iglesias to discuss the implications of that testimony.
Iglesias, the former US attorney for New Mexico, was one of eight US attorneys fired in December for reasons that appear to have been motivated by partisan politics. Goodling is the former White House liaison for the Justice Department.
Iglesias discussed Goodling's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, and how what she told lawmakers about the scandal may lead to a criminal investigation against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Goodling accused both men of misleading Congress during their testimonies earlier this year. Iglesias told me the Congressional investigations may lead to a criminal probe that could net Gonzales and McNulty on perjury and/or obstruction of justice charges.
McNulty has announced that he will resign later this summer.
Iglesias told me that, while we still do not know how he and his colleagues were placed on the termination list, he does believe a "smoking gun" exists that will lead directly to Karl Rove and blow the scandal wide open.
"I believe somewhere on an RNC computer - on some server somewhere - there's an email from Karl Rove stating why we need to be axed," Iglesias told me in an hour-long interview.
Iglesias said Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and perhaps other officials are likely responsible for placing his name and the names of his colleagues on a list of US attorneys to be fired, because he refused to launch federal investigations and prosecute individuals purely for partisan reasons.
"If the Justice Department didn't have anything to do with placing presidential appointees such as me and my colleagues on a list to be terminated, the only other possible place would be the White House," Iglesias said. "Harriet Miers, Karl Rove or some of their underlings."
Iglesias also told me that, beginning in 2005, his office came under pressure when a close confidant of Karl Rove alleged there was widespread voter fraud in New Mexico. Iglesias said he investigated those allegations tirelessly and found zero evidence to back them up. He added that, based on evidence that has surfaced thus far and "Karl Rove's obsession with voter fraud issues throughout the country," he now believes GOP operatives wanted him to go after Democratic-funded organizations in an attempt to swing the 2006 midterm elections to Republicans.
Tags: Politics, GonzoGate, Hatch Act, David Iglesias
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Wednesday 30 May 2007
Last week, a day after Monica Goodling testified before Congress about her role in the US attorney scandal, I sat down for an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with David Iglesias to discuss the implications of that testimony.
Iglesias, the former US attorney for New Mexico, was one of eight US attorneys fired in December for reasons that appear to have been motivated by partisan politics. Goodling is the former White House liaison for the Justice Department.
Iglesias discussed Goodling's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, and how what she told lawmakers about the scandal may lead to a criminal investigation against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Goodling accused both men of misleading Congress during their testimonies earlier this year. Iglesias told me the Congressional investigations may lead to a criminal probe that could net Gonzales and McNulty on perjury and/or obstruction of justice charges.
McNulty has announced that he will resign later this summer.
Iglesias told me that, while we still do not know how he and his colleagues were placed on the termination list, he does believe a "smoking gun" exists that will lead directly to Karl Rove and blow the scandal wide open.
"I believe somewhere on an RNC computer - on some server somewhere - there's an email from Karl Rove stating why we need to be axed," Iglesias told me in an hour-long interview.
Iglesias said Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and perhaps other officials are likely responsible for placing his name and the names of his colleagues on a list of US attorneys to be fired, because he refused to launch federal investigations and prosecute individuals purely for partisan reasons.
"If the Justice Department didn't have anything to do with placing presidential appointees such as me and my colleagues on a list to be terminated, the only other possible place would be the White House," Iglesias said. "Harriet Miers, Karl Rove or some of their underlings."
Iglesias also told me that, beginning in 2005, his office came under pressure when a close confidant of Karl Rove alleged there was widespread voter fraud in New Mexico. Iglesias said he investigated those allegations tirelessly and found zero evidence to back them up. He added that, based on evidence that has surfaced thus far and "Karl Rove's obsession with voter fraud issues throughout the country," he now believes GOP operatives wanted him to go after Democratic-funded organizations in an attempt to swing the 2006 midterm elections to Republicans.
Tags: Politics, GonzoGate, Hatch Act, David Iglesias
GIs in Iraq are no longer buying what BushCo is selling
As we all know, the war isn’t going so well to put it mildly. We keep telling ourselves that somehow this nightmare will come to a screeching halt sooner or later. The odds are this war won’t end until a new President is sworn into office, but in the mean time…
What about the soldiers that are there now? What about those in the midst of being sent back or training for their first trip into the bowels of hell?
There was an IHT article I read late Sunday evening when my spine was screaming at me to take a pill and lay down. The article was from the soldier’s perspective; soldiers that are there now and are on deployment number two or three. It broke my heart. They are now losing patience and faith in the “mission” and not because of anything our dear leaders are or are not doing. They are losing faith in the Iraqi’s that are supposed to have their backs..the ones they have been training and arming. The Iraqi army is trying to kill them. I am sure this isn’t news to some, but when you actually hear it from the mouth of one of our own…it takes your breath away.
The article started out with the story of an insurgent who was killed as he attempted to plant a roadside bomb. As they went through his clothing, looking for identification, they came across a badge…a badge that identified him as sergeant in the Iraqi Army. As one soldier put it:’
“We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.” “If we stayed here for 5, even 10 more years, the day we leave here these guys will go crazy,” he said. “It would go straight into a civil war. That’s how it feels, like we’re putting a Band-Aid on this country until we leave here.”
This soldier is in Delta Company. I have heard many times how Delta Company is the cream of the crop, the A-team so to speak. The article goes on to state that of the soldiers they interviewed for the story, they gleaned this pov from the majority of them:
“But in interviews with more than a dozen soldiers over a one-week period, most said they were disillusioned by repeated deployments, by what they saw as the abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces and by a conflict that they considered a civil war, one they had no ability to stop.”
The Iraqi security forces are militias beholden to local leaders, not the Iraqi government. They most likely signed up to get a paycheck to feed their families and possibly to provide Intelligence to the insurgents leadership. One soldier was quoted, as saying he thinks over half the Iraq army personnel are insurgents in his estimation.
The rightwingers will tell you that the soldiers are proud of the job they are doing, they care about upholding our government’s goals, and they care about the ‘mission’. The sad truth, which we won’t hear about on the evening news, is that the soldiers are only beholden to their brethren. They just want to keep each American soldier safe until his or her tour is over and they can go back to their lives as Americans. They have “each other’s back”. They no longer believe in the mission or trust the Iraqi that is standing at their side. In the words of one soldier interviewed for the story:
“I don’t want any more of my guys to get hurt or die. If it was something I felt righteous about, maybe. But for this country and this conflict, no, it’s not worth it.”
This is the unkindest cut of all. That they know their mission is futile. It makes the horror all the more intolerable for me. I have really, in some twisted inner vision, wanted them to believe they were making a difference. I want them to believe in what they did when they were blown to hell, that it was worth it. I would rather have them be at peace with all they had done and seen when they died in the sand so friggin far away. The thought that one of these soldiers will die knowing full well he is a piñata in a civil war makes me wild with anger. Simultaneously I want to cry…. a long, low wailing cry that helps all the pent up mental anguish I feel about this shit escape into the darkness of the night.
With my niece in harms way in Afghanistan, I have the right to feel this way about George Bush’s War on Terror and what it is doing to every man and woman that is fighting it. Their only goal is to keep their friends alive. They have the noblest of intentions.
And Bush shits on them daily, every time he opens his piehole and talks about supporting the troops. What balls this man has. How can one man and his cadre of chickenhawks be so ruthless with so many lives and lie to them? Lying to me is one thing but sweet Jesus, lying to them is criminal.
Crossposted at Bring it On! and The Blue Republic
Tags: Politics, Iraq, War on Terror, Federal Fuckwits at the Helm,
May 29, 2007
Cindy Sheehan has left the anti-war movement
And no matter how you feel about her personally, we all are worse off in our fight to end this miserable warmongering. Below are her finals words to us. I hope she finds peace within herself now that she isn't giving her heart and soul to the anti-war movement. My dear friend Robert who has spent time with Cindy at the Crawford "Camp Casey" compound has a moving tribute to her here. Bless you Cindy for giving up your comfortable life to make us all aware. I will treasure your words dear lady..and pray I never have to suffer the loss of my niece who is fighting in Afghanistan as I type this.
"Good Riddance Attention Whore"
by CindySheehan
Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT
I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
* CindySheehan's diary :: ::
*
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."
I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?
I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.
The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.
I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.
Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.
I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.
Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.
This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.
Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.
It’s up to you now.
Politics, Cindy Sheehan, Iraq War
"Good Riddance Attention Whore"
by CindySheehan
Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT
I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
* CindySheehan's diary :: ::
*
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."
I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?
I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.
The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.
I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.
Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.
I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.
Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.
This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.
Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.
It’s up to you now.
Politics, Cindy Sheehan, Iraq War
May 28, 2007
Corrupt Politician? Handle it like the Chinese!
BEIJING - China's top drug regulator was sentenced to death on charges of corruption and negligence, state media said Tuesday, the latest development stemming from growing alarm over the country's poor food-safety record.
Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted and sentenced "on charges of taking bribes and dereliction of duty" at the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, the Xinhua News Agency said in a brief dispatch. No other details were given.
Zheng was fired in 2005 on charges he took up to US$780,000 in bribes to approve medicine that had not been tested to ensure its safety.
Check out the rest of the writeup here.
This would perhaps curb those nasty politicians who think graft is part of the perks of the job no? Even if he is only a scapegoat..it sure would put a different slant on political corruption and how to deal with it.
Memorial Day means living on War Time for some of us.
I have a beautiful, intelligent, college-educated niece who is stationed in Afghanistan. To be specific, she is stationed in one of the hotspots in Afghanistan, a base outside Qalat. She will be coming home to us for two precious weeks starting next week. We will have a party in honor of her birthday and take her to Las Vegas because in her short 22 years of life, she has never been there.
I know that today is supposed to be a day when we honor those killed in action. I pray I will never have to honor my beloved niece that way. With over 3400 dead soldiers in Iraq alone, we will have many American's honoring family members who have died in George Bush's wars today around these United States. I find myself sitting and waiting for her emails every evening when I know its daytime in Afghanistan. It's living on War time for me..and apparently I am not the only one that thinks that way.
Please take the time to read a NYT editorial written by a father who's son died protecting others in the Iraq War. A short two paragraph excerpt is below:
EVERY evening at 10, beeps emanate from the top drawer of my dresser. The sound comes from a watch that has resided there for just over three years. The 20 beeps signify that another day is dawning in Iraq. The watch belonged to my son, Specialist Martin Kondor, who was killed in action with the Army on the morning of April 29, 2004, in the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad. Martin was 20 years old.
Since his death, three Memorial Days have come and gone, and while most people think of Memorial Day as just a day off from work, an occasion for a backyard cookout or a chance to score a good deal at a spectacular sale, for families like mine, Memorial Day has a more somber meaning. For us, the day is a further reminder that our loved one is gone forever.
Tags: Iraq, Memorial Day
GIs in Iraq are no longer true believers
What about the soldiers that are there now? What about those in the midst of being sent back or training for their first trip into the bowels of hell?
There was an IHT article I read late Sunday evening when my spine was screaming at me to take a pill and lay down. The article was from the soldier’s perspective; soldiers that are there now and are on deployment number two or three. It broke my heart. They are now losing patience and faith in the “mission” and not because of anything our dear leaders are or are not doing. They are losing faith in the Iraqi’s that are supposed to have their backs..the ones they have been training and arming. The Iraqi army is trying to kill them. I am sure this isn’t news to some, but when you actually hear it from the mouth of one of our own…it takes your breath away.
The article started out with the story of an insurgent who was killed as he attempted to plant a road side bomb. As they went through his clothing, looking for identification, they came across a badge…a badge that identified him as sergeant in the Iraqi Army. As one soldier put it:’
"We're helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us." "If we stayed here for 5, even 10 more years, the day we leave here these guys will go crazy," he said. "It would go straight into a civil war. That's how it feels, like we're putting a Band-Aid on this country until we leave here."
This soldier is in Delta Company. I have heard many times how Delta Company is the cream of the crop, the A-team so to speak. The article goes on to state that of the soldiers they interviewed for the story, they gleaned this pov from the majority of them:
“But in interviews with more than a dozen soldiers over a one-week period, most said they were disillusioned by repeated deployments, by what they saw as the abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces and by a conflict that they considered a civil war, one they had no ability to stop.”
The Iraqi security forces are militias beholden to local leaders, not the Iraqi government. They most likely signed up to get a paycheck to feed their families and possibly to provide Intelligence to the insurgents leadership. One soldier was quoted as saying he thinks over half the Iraq army personnel are insurgents in his estimation.
The rightwingers will tell you that the soldiers are proud of the job they are doing, they care about upholding our government’s goals, they care about the ‘mission’. The sad truth, which we won’t hear about on the evening news, is that the soldiers are only beholden to their brethren. They just want to keep each American soldier safe until his or her tour is over and they can go back to their lives as Americans. They no longer believe in the mission or trust the Iraqi that is standing at their side. In the words of one soldier interviewed for the story:
"I don't want any more of my guys to get hurt or die. If it was something I felt righteous about, maybe. But for this country and this conflict, no, it's not worth it."
tags: Politics, Iraq War, The Surge Sucks
May 25, 2007
Richardson rebukes Dems on Iraq and immigration
From the Seattle Times By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter
Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said in Seattle on Thursday that fellow party leaders in Congress are wrong to abandon a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq and wrong about an immigration bill that he said would split up families.
It was the New Mexico governor's first stop here since officially entering the Democratic primary. He made it clear he knows he has an uphill fight against better-known and better-financed opponents.
He didn't mention them by name. But in a clear reference to candidates Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, Richardson said, "This race should not be about celebrity status or money or legacies."
Richardson is a former congressman, U.S. energy secretary and ambassador to the United Nations. He says the race should be about qualifications and experience.
That experience, he said, convinces him that Democratic congressional leaders are taking the wrong approach to Iraq. He said that with timetables for withdrawal now out of the equation, Congress should instead vote to "de-authorize" the war, essentially repealing the Iraq war authorization.
"Since there are no weapons of mass destruction, there is no support of the American people for this war, you de-authorize this war," Richardson said.
Both houses of Congress passed a $120 billion emergency war-spending bill Thursday that will not require U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn. Just 86 Democrats in the House and 37 in the Senate voted for the full funding package.
Several times in his speech and in answers to reporters' questions, Richardson expressed his unhappiness with congressional leaders.
"I'm not in a good mood on this because I love my party," he said in response to a question from state party Chairman Dwight Pelz. "I love [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid. I love [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi. They've done a great job."
He said some in Congress are "worried about being called weak. But people want this war to end. This is what is singularly dividing this country more than anything."
Luke Esser, chairman of the state Republican Party, praised Democrats for passing the war-funding bill Thursday without timetables for withdrawal.
"Bill Richardson and the far left may not be happy, but the Democrats did the right thing," Esser said.
On immigration, Richardson said he couldn't support a bill like the one Senate Democrats propose that includes a guest-worker program with no labor protections for those workers.
Temporary workers should have health-care benefits, a right to join unions and the protection of worker-safety laws, he said.
Richardson also doesn't like the provision that would require illegal immigrants now working in the United States to go back to their home countries and obtain a visa before being able to return here legally. That would split up families, he said.
Pelz asked the 100 or so people at the Richardson speech how many had come from outside King County, and about half in the room raised their hands.
Jeff Smith, a veteran Democratic Party activist and former party executive director who attended the event, said that support from the outside-Seattle crowd is a big part of Richardson's appeal.
"He plays well, very well, in Eastern Washington and not just with Hispanics," Smith said. "To all those people who are looking for a Democrat, they can feel good about voting for, he's really the best candidate."
Smith has not yet committed his support to any candidate, but he said Richardson is among his favorites.
Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, attended, too, and said she backs Richardson. Prentice said that on his first day as president, Richardson could change the direction of the country more than any other candidate.
A Hispanic, Prentice said her support was not about sharing a heritage with the candidate.
"It's not about skin color," she said. "But it doesn't hurt."
Seattle Times chief political reporter
Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said in Seattle on Thursday that fellow party leaders in Congress are wrong to abandon a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq and wrong about an immigration bill that he said would split up families.
It was the New Mexico governor's first stop here since officially entering the Democratic primary. He made it clear he knows he has an uphill fight against better-known and better-financed opponents.
He didn't mention them by name. But in a clear reference to candidates Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, Richardson said, "This race should not be about celebrity status or money or legacies."
Richardson is a former congressman, U.S. energy secretary and ambassador to the United Nations. He says the race should be about qualifications and experience.
That experience, he said, convinces him that Democratic congressional leaders are taking the wrong approach to Iraq. He said that with timetables for withdrawal now out of the equation, Congress should instead vote to "de-authorize" the war, essentially repealing the Iraq war authorization.
"Since there are no weapons of mass destruction, there is no support of the American people for this war, you de-authorize this war," Richardson said.
Both houses of Congress passed a $120 billion emergency war-spending bill Thursday that will not require U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn. Just 86 Democrats in the House and 37 in the Senate voted for the full funding package.
Several times in his speech and in answers to reporters' questions, Richardson expressed his unhappiness with congressional leaders.
"I'm not in a good mood on this because I love my party," he said in response to a question from state party Chairman Dwight Pelz. "I love [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid. I love [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi. They've done a great job."
He said some in Congress are "worried about being called weak. But people want this war to end. This is what is singularly dividing this country more than anything."
Luke Esser, chairman of the state Republican Party, praised Democrats for passing the war-funding bill Thursday without timetables for withdrawal.
"Bill Richardson and the far left may not be happy, but the Democrats did the right thing," Esser said.
On immigration, Richardson said he couldn't support a bill like the one Senate Democrats propose that includes a guest-worker program with no labor protections for those workers.
Temporary workers should have health-care benefits, a right to join unions and the protection of worker-safety laws, he said.
Richardson also doesn't like the provision that would require illegal immigrants now working in the United States to go back to their home countries and obtain a visa before being able to return here legally. That would split up families, he said.
Pelz asked the 100 or so people at the Richardson speech how many had come from outside King County, and about half in the room raised their hands.
Jeff Smith, a veteran Democratic Party activist and former party executive director who attended the event, said that support from the outside-Seattle crowd is a big part of Richardson's appeal.
"He plays well, very well, in Eastern Washington and not just with Hispanics," Smith said. "To all those people who are looking for a Democrat, they can feel good about voting for, he's really the best candidate."
Smith has not yet committed his support to any candidate, but he said Richardson is among his favorites.
Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, attended, too, and said she backs Richardson. Prentice said that on his first day as president, Richardson could change the direction of the country more than any other candidate.
A Hispanic, Prentice said her support was not about sharing a heritage with the candidate.
"It's not about skin color," she said. "But it doesn't hurt."
May 24, 2007
We Gave Them Our Hearts, They Gave Him A Blank Check
From David Sirota..it pretty much says what I feel about the war Vote today, not to mention that getting sold down the fucking river by more Democrats than I figured...really fucking hurt:
By David Sirota
Today was a dark day in our nation's history. That sounds melodramatic - but it is true. Today America watched a Democratic Party kick them square in the teeth - all in order to continue the most unpopular war in a generation at the request of the most unpopular president in a generation at a time polls show a larger percentage of the public thinks America is going in the wrong direction than ever recorded in polling history.
The numbers are not pretty. First, 216 House Democrats cast the key vote to send a blank check Iraq War funding bill over to the Senate. As I reported at the beginning of the day and as the Associated Press now confirms, the vote on the rule was the vote that made it all happen. As the AP said: "In a highly unusual maneuver, House Democratic leaders crafted a procedure that allowed their rank and file to oppose money for the war, then step aside so Republicans could advance it." Nauseating.
In the Senate, we saw lots of promises and tough talk from senators telling us they were going to do everything they could to stop the blank check. Some of them bragged that they were going to vote against the bill - as if that was the ultimate sign of heroics. Then, not a single senator found the backbone to stand up to filibuster the bill a la Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Apparently, Senate club etiquette comes even before the lives of our troops. The blank check sailed through the upper chamber on a vote of 80-14 with 38 Democrats (the majority of the party) voting yes. In all, at a time when 82 percent of Americans tell pollsters they want Congress to either approve funds for the war with strict conditions or cut off all funding immediately, 90 percent of House and Senate Democrats combined voted to give George W. Bush a blank check.
The worst part of it all was the overt efforts to deceive the public - as if we're all just a bunch of morons. Democrats have the nerve to continue insisting the blank check they helped ram through the House was all the Republicans doing, and that a sham vote on a GOP amendment today - which most Democrats opposed for show - was the real vote for the war. But, again, as the AP reported, it was their parliamentary motion - passed so quickly and under the devious pretenses of mundane procedural necessity - that showed their calculated complicity. Now, tonight, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is actually sending out fundraising emails, claiming that "the House just passed legislation that will go to the White House that includes critical issues Democrats have been fighting for including canceling the President's blank check in Iraq." Beyond nauseating.
I'm not a purist nor am I a "pox on both their houses" kind of guy. I have worked to elect Democratic politicians and I supported Democratic leaders when they pushed an Iraq funding bill that included binding language to end the war. But what happened today was perhaps the most stunning travesty I've seen in a decade working in Democratic politics. A Democratic Party that six months ago was elected on a promise to end the war first tried to hide their complicity in continuing the war in the House, and then gave a few token speeches as the blank check sailed through the Senate club. And it all happened, as the New York Times reported today, because these Democrats believed criticism from President Bush - the man who polls show is the most unpopular president in three decades - "seemed more politically threatening to them than the anger Democrats knew they would draw from the left."
Democratic politicians, Capitol Hill staff, political consultants and all their lobbyist friends sitting comfortably tonight in their Northwest Washington homes believe the public thinks Democrats are "weak" because they don't more strongly support leaving American troops to be killed or maimed in the middle of a bloody civil war in a country half way around the globe that had no WMD and had nothing to do with 9/11. What they seem unable - or unwilling - to realize is that the public has believed Democrats are weak not because some in the party have opposed the war, but because many in the party refuse to wield the power the public entrusts them with on all sorts of issues. At least on Iraq - the biggest issue of the day - the public's perception has proven right. As I wrote to one congressional lawmaker in an e-mail correspondence we had today: "The spoils go to those who use the power they are entrusted with, while infamy goes to those who squander it."
In the movie "Say Anything," John Cusack famously laments after being dumped that "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen." The American people gave Democrats their heart in November 2006. In return, Democrats gave George Bush a blank check in May 2007. We gave them our heart, they gave him a blank check. That will make May 24, 2007 a dark day generations to come will look back on as the moment Democrats in Washington not only continued a war they promised to end, but happily went on record declaring that despite our "democracy," they believe in their hearts that government's role is to ignore the will of the American people.
Tags: Bush, Iraq, Politics, Democrats have no balls
By David Sirota
Today was a dark day in our nation's history. That sounds melodramatic - but it is true. Today America watched a Democratic Party kick them square in the teeth - all in order to continue the most unpopular war in a generation at the request of the most unpopular president in a generation at a time polls show a larger percentage of the public thinks America is going in the wrong direction than ever recorded in polling history.
The numbers are not pretty. First, 216 House Democrats cast the key vote to send a blank check Iraq War funding bill over to the Senate. As I reported at the beginning of the day and as the Associated Press now confirms, the vote on the rule was the vote that made it all happen. As the AP said: "In a highly unusual maneuver, House Democratic leaders crafted a procedure that allowed their rank and file to oppose money for the war, then step aside so Republicans could advance it." Nauseating.
In the Senate, we saw lots of promises and tough talk from senators telling us they were going to do everything they could to stop the blank check. Some of them bragged that they were going to vote against the bill - as if that was the ultimate sign of heroics. Then, not a single senator found the backbone to stand up to filibuster the bill a la Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Apparently, Senate club etiquette comes even before the lives of our troops. The blank check sailed through the upper chamber on a vote of 80-14 with 38 Democrats (the majority of the party) voting yes. In all, at a time when 82 percent of Americans tell pollsters they want Congress to either approve funds for the war with strict conditions or cut off all funding immediately, 90 percent of House and Senate Democrats combined voted to give George W. Bush a blank check.
The worst part of it all was the overt efforts to deceive the public - as if we're all just a bunch of morons. Democrats have the nerve to continue insisting the blank check they helped ram through the House was all the Republicans doing, and that a sham vote on a GOP amendment today - which most Democrats opposed for show - was the real vote for the war. But, again, as the AP reported, it was their parliamentary motion - passed so quickly and under the devious pretenses of mundane procedural necessity - that showed their calculated complicity. Now, tonight, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is actually sending out fundraising emails, claiming that "the House just passed legislation that will go to the White House that includes critical issues Democrats have been fighting for including canceling the President's blank check in Iraq." Beyond nauseating.
I'm not a purist nor am I a "pox on both their houses" kind of guy. I have worked to elect Democratic politicians and I supported Democratic leaders when they pushed an Iraq funding bill that included binding language to end the war. But what happened today was perhaps the most stunning travesty I've seen in a decade working in Democratic politics. A Democratic Party that six months ago was elected on a promise to end the war first tried to hide their complicity in continuing the war in the House, and then gave a few token speeches as the blank check sailed through the Senate club. And it all happened, as the New York Times reported today, because these Democrats believed criticism from President Bush - the man who polls show is the most unpopular president in three decades - "seemed more politically threatening to them than the anger Democrats knew they would draw from the left."
Democratic politicians, Capitol Hill staff, political consultants and all their lobbyist friends sitting comfortably tonight in their Northwest Washington homes believe the public thinks Democrats are "weak" because they don't more strongly support leaving American troops to be killed or maimed in the middle of a bloody civil war in a country half way around the globe that had no WMD and had nothing to do with 9/11. What they seem unable - or unwilling - to realize is that the public has believed Democrats are weak not because some in the party have opposed the war, but because many in the party refuse to wield the power the public entrusts them with on all sorts of issues. At least on Iraq - the biggest issue of the day - the public's perception has proven right. As I wrote to one congressional lawmaker in an e-mail correspondence we had today: "The spoils go to those who use the power they are entrusted with, while infamy goes to those who squander it."
In the movie "Say Anything," John Cusack famously laments after being dumped that "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen." The American people gave Democrats their heart in November 2006. In return, Democrats gave George Bush a blank check in May 2007. We gave them our heart, they gave him a blank check. That will make May 24, 2007 a dark day generations to come will look back on as the moment Democrats in Washington not only continued a war they promised to end, but happily went on record declaring that despite our "democracy," they believe in their hearts that government's role is to ignore the will of the American people.
Tags: Bush, Iraq, Politics, Democrats have no balls
May 23, 2007
Today is Monica-day up on Capitol Hill
Around 7 AM pacific time TODAY..the hearing will commence my dear reader.The House Hearing with Former White House Liaison for the DoJ, Monica Goodling will be available on TV via CSPAN3. If your at work or outside the U.S., you can watch it online at the CSPAN website here. If your workplace has scrooge-like qualities and you can't watch streaming video..then you can listen to the proceedings via CSPAN radio here.
Also, TPMmuckraker will provide us with the important grilling, I mean questioning via their live-blogging AND YouTube videos..God, I simply love them for that. I will probably post them here as the hearing progresses. I CAN NOT WAIT for Henry Waxman to get his shot at her, it better be worth the build-up and the hype. She is already trying to withhold documents..DoJ documents I might add.
So pop some popcorn, get comfy if you can and lets see what this witch has to say, after all..they had to cough up immunity to get this bible-thumping, wannabe lawyer to testify.
Tags: Politics, GonzoGate, Monica Goodling
May 22, 2007
The 'second surge' is coming..get ready
From SFGate:
(05-22) 04:00 PDT Washington -- The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.
The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there.
The actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades.
Separately, when additional support troops are included in this second troop increase, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 -- a record-high number -- by the end of the year.
The numbers were arrived at by an analysis of deployment orders by Hearst Newspapers.
"It doesn't surprise me that they're not talking about it," said retired Army Maj. Gen. William Nash, a former U.S. commander of NATO troops in Bosnia, referring to the Bush administration. "I think they would be very happy not to have any more attention paid to this."
The first surge was prominently announced by President Bush in a nationally televised address on Jan. 10, when he ordered five more combat brigades to join 15 brigades already in Iraq.
The buildup was designed to give commanders the 20 combat brigades Pentagon planners said were needed to provide security in Baghdad and western Anbar province.
Since then, the Pentagon has extended combat tours for units in Iraq from 12 months to 15 months and announced the deployment of additional brigades.
Taken together, the steps could put elements of as many as 28 combat brigades in Iraq by Christmas, according the deployment orders examined by Hearst Newspapers.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Carl S. Ey said there was no effort by the Army to carry out "a secret surge" beyond the 20 combat brigades ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
"There isn't a second surge going on; we've got what we've got," Ey said. "The idea that there are ever going to be more combat brigades in theater in the future than the secretary of defense has authorized is pure speculation."
Ey attributed the increase in troops to "temporary increases that typically occur during the crossover period" as arriving combat brigades move into position to replace departing combat brigades.
He said that only elements of the eight additional combat brigades beyond the 20 already authorized would actually be in Iraq in December.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command, based in Norfolk, Va., that tracks combat forces heading to and returning from Iraq, declined to discuss unit-by-unit deployments.
"Due to operational security, we cannot confirm or discuss military unit movements or schedules," Navy Lt. Jereal Dorsey said in an e-mail.
The Pentagon has repeatedly extended unit tours in Iraq during the past four years to achieve temporary increases in combat power. For example, three combat brigades were extended up to three months in November 2004 to boost the number of U.S. troops from 138,000 to 150,000 before, during and after the Jan. 30, 2005, Iraqi national elections.
Lawrence Korb, an assistant defense secretary for manpower during the Reagan administration, said the Pentagon deployment schedule enables the Bush administration to achieve quick increases in combat forces in the future by delaying units' scheduled departures from Iraq and overlapping them with arriving replacement forces.
"The administration is giving itself the capability to increase the number of troops in Iraq," Korb said. "It remains to be seen whether they actually choose to do that."
Nash said the capability could reflect an effort by the Bush administration to "get the number of troops into Iraq that we've needed there all along."
(05-22) 04:00 PDT Washington -- The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.
The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there.
The actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades.
Separately, when additional support troops are included in this second troop increase, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 -- a record-high number -- by the end of the year.
The numbers were arrived at by an analysis of deployment orders by Hearst Newspapers.
"It doesn't surprise me that they're not talking about it," said retired Army Maj. Gen. William Nash, a former U.S. commander of NATO troops in Bosnia, referring to the Bush administration. "I think they would be very happy not to have any more attention paid to this."
The first surge was prominently announced by President Bush in a nationally televised address on Jan. 10, when he ordered five more combat brigades to join 15 brigades already in Iraq.
The buildup was designed to give commanders the 20 combat brigades Pentagon planners said were needed to provide security in Baghdad and western Anbar province.
Since then, the Pentagon has extended combat tours for units in Iraq from 12 months to 15 months and announced the deployment of additional brigades.
Taken together, the steps could put elements of as many as 28 combat brigades in Iraq by Christmas, according the deployment orders examined by Hearst Newspapers.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Carl S. Ey said there was no effort by the Army to carry out "a secret surge" beyond the 20 combat brigades ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
"There isn't a second surge going on; we've got what we've got," Ey said. "The idea that there are ever going to be more combat brigades in theater in the future than the secretary of defense has authorized is pure speculation."
Ey attributed the increase in troops to "temporary increases that typically occur during the crossover period" as arriving combat brigades move into position to replace departing combat brigades.
He said that only elements of the eight additional combat brigades beyond the 20 already authorized would actually be in Iraq in December.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command, based in Norfolk, Va., that tracks combat forces heading to and returning from Iraq, declined to discuss unit-by-unit deployments.
"Due to operational security, we cannot confirm or discuss military unit movements or schedules," Navy Lt. Jereal Dorsey said in an e-mail.
The Pentagon has repeatedly extended unit tours in Iraq during the past four years to achieve temporary increases in combat power. For example, three combat brigades were extended up to three months in November 2004 to boost the number of U.S. troops from 138,000 to 150,000 before, during and after the Jan. 30, 2005, Iraqi national elections.
Lawrence Korb, an assistant defense secretary for manpower during the Reagan administration, said the Pentagon deployment schedule enables the Bush administration to achieve quick increases in combat forces in the future by delaying units' scheduled departures from Iraq and overlapping them with arriving replacement forces.
"The administration is giving itself the capability to increase the number of troops in Iraq," Korb said. "It remains to be seen whether they actually choose to do that."
Nash said the capability could reflect an effort by the Bush administration to "get the number of troops into Iraq that we've needed there all along."
May 21, 2007
Impeach Gonzo..watch the video first
Robert Greenwald has created a little video of Alberto. After you watch it, go to the website Impeach Gonzales and sign the petition.
Tags: GozoGate, Robert Greenwald
Tags: GozoGate, Robert Greenwald
Justice Thomas Asks No Questions During Entire Court Term
From Law.com:
Justice Clarence Thomas sat through 68 hours of oral arguments in the Supreme Court's current term without uttering a word.
That's saying something -- or not -- even for the taciturn justice.
In nearly 16 years on the Court, Thomas typically has asked questions a couple of times a term.
He memorably spoke up four years ago in cases involving cross burning and affirmative action, the Court's only black justice in the unusual role of putting his race on display through questions to lawyers.
But the last time Thomas asked a question in court was Feb. 22, 2006, in a death penalty case out of South Carolina. A unanimous Court eventually broadened the ability of death penalty defendants to blame someone else for the crime.
Thomas has said in the past that he will ask a pertinent question if his colleagues don't but sees no need to engage in the back-and-forth just to hear his own voice.
A recent tally by McClatchy Newspapers underscored this point: Thomas has spoken 281 words since court transcripts began identifying justices by name in October 2004. By contrast, Thomas' neighbor on the bench, Justice Stephen Breyer, has uttered nearly 35,000 words since January.
The Georgia-born Thomas also has chalked up his silence to his struggle as a teenager to master standard English after having grown up speaking Geechee, a kind of dialect that thrived among former slaves on the islands off the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coasts.
A new book about Thomas, "Supreme Discomfort," by Washington Post reporters Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher, devotes an entire chapter to Thomas' courtroom reticence, calling it "one of his signature characteristics as a justice and a subject of ongoing fascination -- both in the legal community and among the public at large."
tags: SCOTUS, Justice Clarence Thomas
Dr. Laura son linked to lurid Web page
From the SLTrib:
The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called "repulsive."
The MySpace page, publicly available until Friday when it disappeared from the Internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned "My Sweet Little Habib"; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets.
The site is credited to and includes many photographs of Deryk Schlessinger, the 21-year-old son of the talk radio personality known simply as Dr. Laura. Broadcast locally on 570 KNRS, "Family Values Talk Radio," the former family counselor spends three hours daily taking calls and offering advice on morals, ethics and values. She broadcast a show from Fort Douglas, in Salt Lake City, last week.
Military leaders have long grappled with how to balance positive publicity and operational security with technological opportunities for troops to tell their personal stories.
The Pentagon last week shut down access to a variety of video-sharing and social networking Internet sites, including MySpace, on its computer systems worldwide. Officials said the change was made to enhance security and protect a strained bandwidth, but critics worried that it might close a public window into the lives of deployed U.S. troops, some of which can be raw, frightening, violent and revealing.
"Yes . . . F---ING Yes!!!" said one blog entry on the Schlessinger site. "I LOVE MY JOB, it takes everything reckless and deviant and heathenistic and just overall bad about me and hyper focuses these traits into my job of running around this horrid place doing nasty things to people that deserve it . . . and some that don't."
Deryk Schlessinger joined the Army in 2004, telling a crowd of Santa Barbara, Calif., Army reservists gathered for an appearance by his mother that he resented the way Americans criticize the war without recognizing soldiers' sacrifices.
"Real people were fighting, and I wanted to be part of that," the younger Schlessinger said, according to The Associated Press.
Since Deryk Schlessinger deployed earlier this year, his mother's talk show increasingly has been focused on the battles being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan and the wars' effects on families back home. Meanwhile, the radio host has taken to referring to herself as "the proud mother of a deployed American paratrooper" and speaks frequently about her soldier son before military audiences nationwide.
Deryk Schlessinger did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment from The Tribune.
Mike Paul, spokesman for Laura Schlessinger, released a statement which said, in part, "We hope all news media outlets will respect his privacy for his safety and the safety of those serving with him." In an interview with The Tribune, Paul suggested that the page could be a fake.
That was a contention echoed by Army spokesman Robert Tallman, who said "it may be possible that our enemies are actually behind this.
"Our enemies are adaptive, technologically sophisticated, and truly understand the importance of the information battlespace," Tallman continued. "Sadly, they will use that space to promulgate and disseminate untrue propaganda."
MySpace is an online social network in which users link pages together through like interests and shared friendships. The Deryk Schlessinger page included nearly a dozen "friends," including a number of soldiers in Afghanistan, several of whom were linked back to Schlessinger's page and some of whom had additional photos of, and comments from, Schlessinger on their sites.
Deryk Schlessinger's Web site indicated the 21-year-old soldier is stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where, the site's author writes, "godless crazy people like me," have become "a generation of apathetic killers."
The site indicated Schlessinger's team has survived numerous mortar, rocket and roadside bomb attacks. It also included several graphic cartoons. In one of the stick drawings, a top-hatted man laughs as he rapes a bound and bleeding woman in front of her family.
In another depiction, a man forces a boy to perform oral sex at knifepoint as the child's mother pleads for her son's life.
It's unclear who created the cartoons, but Army spokesman Robert Tallman said the drawings "are repulsive and not anywhere near being acceptable," for a soldier's personal Web page.
The Tribune learned of the Web page earlier this week from a former schoolmate of Deryk Schlessinger. Army officials said they were unaware of the site until alerted to its presence by the newspaper Thursday.
David Accetta, public affairs director for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, said the Army "will investigate thoroughly and impartially."
In an e-mail to 82nd commanders, Accetta asked to see "how the site is being administered and if we can shut it down." By Friday morning the site was offline, but officials didn't immediately respond to questions about who took it down.
Accetta said the pictures and writings he reviewed from the site were inconsistent with the values of Army special forces soldiers.
J.P. Borda, who administers an online index of thousands of personal military Web pages, said military guidelines and common decency are respected by "the overwhelming majority of military bloggers in Iraq and Afghanistan."
"There are a few bad apples and they have soured the whole bunch," said Borda, who began his site - www.milblogging.com - during his first tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2004.
Laura Schlessinger's appearance in Utah last week included a visit with Army families at Fort Douglas. In an interview with The Tribune, she said, "We raised our son to be a warrior."
After her Utah visit, Schlessinger received criticism for telling The Tribune that she didn't want to hear the complaints of military wives whose husbands are deployed. "He could come back without arms, legs or eyeballs, and you're bitching?" Schlessinger said. "You're not dodging bullets, so I don't want to hear any whining.
"
Schlessinger later wrote on her Web site - www.drlaura.com - that she was trying to communicate her belief that military spouses shouldn't complain to war-deployed family members, who have more pressing concerns. "I never whine to my son when he is able to call between missions," she wrote.
Interesting if true. This also shows, if true, that sociopaths do enlist in our Army. You might not be aware of this but Dr. Laura isn’t a psychologist, she used the “Doctor” title because she has a PhD in exercise physiology, I think. She also has counseled her callers that their children grow up a mess because they worked instead of staying home and raising them..which of course didn't apply to her I guess.
Tags: Dr Laura, Sociopaths in the Military,
May 20, 2007
Sarkozy names 7 women to 15-member cabinet
From WaPo:
PARIS, May 18 -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy named women to nearly half of his cabinet positions Friday and designated the founder of Doctors Without Borders, a Socialist, as his foreign minister.
The appointments reflect Sarkozy's pledge to diversify the top echelons of the French government with greater numbers of women and representatives from opposition political parties. More than half of the cabinet members are familiar political faces who served as ministers in President Jacques Chirac's government.
The 15-member cabinet -- seven women and eight men -- is half the size of previous governments, part of Sarkozy's efforts to streamline the bloated French bureaucracy.
The cabinet held its first meeting within hours of being named, in keeping with Sarkozy's plan to bring more dynamism to a government that had become sluggish and unresponsive to the public.
Tags: Politics, Sarkozy, French Cabinet
PARIS, May 18 -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy named women to nearly half of his cabinet positions Friday and designated the founder of Doctors Without Borders, a Socialist, as his foreign minister.
The appointments reflect Sarkozy's pledge to diversify the top echelons of the French government with greater numbers of women and representatives from opposition political parties. More than half of the cabinet members are familiar political faces who served as ministers in President Jacques Chirac's government.
The 15-member cabinet -- seven women and eight men -- is half the size of previous governments, part of Sarkozy's efforts to streamline the bloated French bureaucracy.
The cabinet held its first meeting within hours of being named, in keeping with Sarkozy's plan to bring more dynamism to a government that had become sluggish and unresponsive to the public.
Tags: Politics, Sarkozy, French Cabinet
May 19, 2007
When Big Business and the MSM love it, you know we are getting the shaft.
A quote from the Bill Moyers show last friday night on the new and improved "free trade agreement":
"Take a look at who embraced it: the media, the pundits, the elites - the heads of banks and of investment banks, and the leadership of the two parties. That's not the people. The people are sold this idea of free trade over and over again, as though it were good for them," explains MacArthur in his interview with Bill Moyers.
This is crap..pure unadulterated crap. The top Dem's sold out the people and we bitch about the Repub's?
According to Sirota's new blog post this evening, the Dem's are actually letting BushCo write the final bill. Watch the Moyers interview on this bullshit here with John R. MacArthur.
Tags: Politics, Secret Trade Deal
"Take a look at who embraced it: the media, the pundits, the elites - the heads of banks and of investment banks, and the leadership of the two parties. That's not the people. The people are sold this idea of free trade over and over again, as though it were good for them," explains MacArthur in his interview with Bill Moyers.
This is crap..pure unadulterated crap. The top Dem's sold out the people and we bitch about the Repub's?
According to Sirota's new blog post this evening, the Dem's are actually letting BushCo write the final bill. Watch the Moyers interview on this bullshit here with John R. MacArthur.
Tags: Politics, Secret Trade Deal
Secret Trade deal sucks and the Dem's know it
Bill Moyers talked about it last night and today I read David Sirota's blog article about it:
This is another in a series of ongoing posts following the announcement of a secret free trade deal on May 10, 2007 between a handful of senior Democrats and the Bush administration.
Looks like the Democratic hierarchy is selling us down the river doesn't it?
Tags: Politics, Secret Trade Deal
This is another in a series of ongoing posts following the announcement of a secret free trade deal on May 10, 2007 between a handful of senior Democrats and the Bush administration.
Six days after the press conference announcing a secret free trade deal between Democratic congressional leaders and the Bush White House, a full-scale revolt appears to be brewing on Capitol Hill. Rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers have demanded an immediate debate about the deal, and Democratic leaders have responded by rejecting such a request. A top Democratic senator says K Street is receiving a "wink and nod" from the White House that the final legislative language - which has not been made public - will allow the Bush administration to avoid enforcing any of the much-touted standards in the deal. GOP leaders, meanwhile, are signaling that the deal will not be incorporated into the core text of trade agreements at all. And, of course, almost every news outlet has refused to report that top K Street lobbyists have said they have received "assurances" that the deal's provisions on labor and the environment will be unenforceable. Here's today's full news report.
EMANUEL NIXES DEMS' DEMAND FOR OPEN DEBATE ON THE SECRET DEAL: As first reported on this website yesterday, Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) nixed a bid by rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers to hold a Democratic Caucus meeting to discuss the secret trade deal. The request, first made by lawmakers in a letter to Emanuel last week, was initially "rebuffed," then accepted, and then at the last minute, Emanuel pulled the plug. Emanuel was one of the key players in pushing NAFTA through Congress as an aide to President Clinton in the early 1990s. Responding to the reporting of this story, a spokeswoman for Emanuel's office this morning emailed me to say that the cancellation of the trade debate occurred because of "time constraints" and that Emanuel has now promised the caucus "we would continue with our plan to have a trade-focused caucus meeting soon." He did not set a date certain for that meeting.
GOP AND WHITE HOUSE SAY TRADE DEALS WILL NOT BE RE-WRITTEN AS PROMISED: Yesterday afternoon, industry newsletter Inside U.S. Trade reported that House Ways and Means Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA) "said it is his preference and that of U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab that the new obligations for free trade agreements announced last week not lead to a reopening of the Peru free trade agreement." This follow's McCrery's claim yesterday that the secret deal can be completed "in a way that does not require Peru's political system to revisit the deal all over again." In laymans terms, the enforceability of the promised labor and environmental provisions hinge on the Peru and Panama free trade agreements being reopened so that their texts can be modified. As NAFTA has shown, so-called "side agreements" that are not written into the text of the actual trade texts have proven entirely unenforceable because they are not part of the core agreement. If the Peru and Panama deals are not, in fact, going to be reopened and renegotiated, then the highly touted promises of adding enforceable labor and environmental provisions to the core texts of trade agreements appear to be in question. This may explain why the Bush-connected head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has told reporters he has received "assurances that the labor provisions [in the deal] cannot be read to require compliance."
KOREAN GOVERNMENT SAYS IT WILL REFUSE TO RENEGOTIATE: The Korea Herald reports that "South Korean negotiators are not going to give in to a possible request by U.S. trade negotiators for renegotiations of their recently concluded bilateral free trade agreement." The secret deal would supposedly require South Korea to add labor and environmental provisions to a previously negotiated - but not yet ratified - trade agreement with the United States. But "the Korean government firmly says renegotiations are out of the question." An official with the Korea-U.S. FTA Negotiation Division at the Korea Trade Ministray said, "The Korean government is adamant about having no renegotiations." Korea currently abides by just one of the seven ILO core provisions. Will the U.S. back down in the face of such bullying?
BROWN - K STREET IS GETTING 'WINK AND NOD' FROM WHITE HOUSE: In an exclusive interview with CNN's Lou Dobbs on Tuesday, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) said he is most concerned with the secret deal's lack of teeth, saying "I see no sign yet that [the Bush administration] wants to enforce" the labor and environmental standards supposedly included in the deal. Responding to comments by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers who have said the stasndards will be unenforceable, Broown said "they're kind of getting a wink and a nod" from the White House that the standards "are not going to be enforced." Brown is the author of the book "The Myths of Free Trade" and ran his successful Senate campaign against lobbyist-written trade deals. He is considered one of Congress's top leaders on trade, yet was kept in the dark about the details of the deal.
WSJ - FAIR TRADERS "LOST" IN THE DEAL: The conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal applauded the secret deal, saying it represents a major defeat for the progressive movement. Fair traders ""wanted the U.S. to abide by the core principles of the International Labor Organization" and "wanted third parties -- such as the AFL-CIO -- to be able to file trade complaints" but "they lost on both counts." The deal asks the White House "to abide only by...general aspirations about curtailing forced labor and the like, rather than specific legal obligations." International tribunals, which have the power to overturn U.S. local/state/federal environmental and consumer protection laws when corporations file suits, will "have no power to alter U.S. law" when similar complaints are brought up on labor concerns.
MSNBC - OBAMA "SOUNDS WARY OF THE DEAL": MSNBC reports that in public appearances this week on the presidential campaign trail, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "sounded wary of this deal." He said, "We haven't actually seen the details". I want to wait and see what exactly the language is and make sure the union provisions are strong and enforceable."
MACHINISTS OPPOSE DEAL, SLAM SECRECY: In a press release, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) announced "it will vigorously oppose any trade deal that fails to fully incorporate internationally recognized labor standards as defined by the International Labor Organization." IAM President Tom Buffenbarger said, The actual text of the agreement has not yet been made available and widely varying reports of its contents raise serious and troubling questions." IAM said it "is highly suspicious that the trade deal is seriously deficient" not only because of its potentially unenforceable standards, but because of other "procurement and investment issues." The Politico reports that "several unions are already mobilizing to defeat" the deal.
CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION SIGNALS CROSS-OVER OPPOSITION TO CURRENT TRADE POLICIES: Public Citizen reports that the Hermiston, Oregon City Council unanimously passed a Resolution to Retain Local Jobs last night, in a vote of 7-0. The resolution calls on Congress to oppose international trade agreements that facilitate to the offshoring of Oregon jobs and to replace Fast Track trade promotion authority with democratic and inclusive trade policymaking procedures. Area residents, many of whom had lost jobs when the Simplot processing plant moved abroad under the North American Free Trade Agreement, testified in support of the resolution at last night's City Council meeting. Loaded Orygun notes that "Hermiston is nestled in Umatilla County, which is a very RED area of Oregon" represented by archconservative Rep. Greg Walden (R) - "a willing participant in voting yes for these free trade agreements." Could 2008 be another year where complicity in our current trade policy proves to be a critical election issue?Looks like the Democratic hierarchy is selling us down the river doesn't it?
Tags: Politics, Secret Trade Deal
May 17, 2007
Murtha accused of rules violation
From Politico.com:
Tags: Politics, Murtha, Corruption, Federal Fuckwits at the Helm
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) threatened to deny any further spending projects to a Republican who challenged him over an earmark, his antagonist has charged -- a potential violation of House rules.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) had challenged money that Murtha inserted into an intelligence bill last week.
Rogers turned the tables later that night by saying he would propose a reprimand of Murtha for violating House rules.
The Republican is planning to insert a transcript of their exchange in the Congressional Record to document the potential violation.
The privileged resolution will also require a House vote to reprimand Murtha for his comments, according to a copy received by Politico. Rogers is expected to file it on Monday.
It does not call for an investigation by the ethics committee.
'The way I do it'
According to the draft resolution, Murtha shouted at Rogers on the House floor Thursday for offering a motion last week to expose $23 million Murtha requested in an intelligence bill.
Murtha had requested the money to prevent the administration from shuttering the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa.. in Murtha’s district.
“I hope you don’t have any earmarks in the defense appropriations bills because they are gone, and you will not get any earmarks now and forever,” Murtha told Rogers on the House floor, according to the draft transcript given Politico.
“This is not the way we do things here -- and is that supposed to make me afraid of you?” Rogers replied.
“That’s the way I do it,” Murtha said.
Members are not allowed to threaten earmarks or tax provisions.
The showdown occurred on the Republican side of the aisle, in the so-called Ohio Corner, in front of numerous GOP lawmakers who witnessed the episode, one member present said.
Murtha could not immediately be reached for comment.
If it took place as alleged, Murtha’s tirade would violate House rules.
Lawmakers “may not condition the inclusion of language to provide funding for a congressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit in any” legislation, according to House rule XXIII, clause 16.
Tags: Politics, Murtha, Corruption, Federal Fuckwits at the Helm
Mrs. Betty Bowers' Eulogy for Rev. Jerry Falwell
From the best Christian on earth, Betty Bowers:
Dear Bereft Brothers and Sisters in Mourning:
Verily, I am crying as I type. You can imagine my shock in hearing that Reverend Jerry Falwell had been found dead, lying in a pool of his own gravy. First Anna Nicole, now Jerry. Frankly, the Lord seems to be on a fat, attention-whore killing spree! I’d stay indoors if I were Rosie O’Donnell. Well, on second thought, if I looked like Rosie O'Donnell, I'd be running through the streets screaming, "Here I am Lord! Come and get me!"
Gossipy paramedics told me that Jerry died of a faulty heart. Frankly, my only surprise was that he had one at all. Nevertheless, his yammering mug finally being silenced because he had a failed heart seems marvelously fitting. After all, while he was alive, this obscenely wealthy miser's heart seemed to fail him at even the most mundane opportunities. Jerry never gave anything to anyone other than an interview. Indeed, so parsimonious was this vain, oily swindler, in the aftermath of our nation's great tragedy on September 11, 2001, the only thing Jerry thought to give those who grieved was blame.
I first met Jerry when he swooped down on Heritage
When CNN called, Jerry would drop everything except pounds for a chance to squeeze much of his face into unforgiving aspect ratio of pre-HDTV television. With his smarmy smile and affable facility for slapping a perfunctory "but I love him in Christ" at the end of even the most vicious, artless insults, he was rather effective in putting a charming, folksy face on demeaning other human beings and their children.
To us in the booming Christianity industry, Jerry was our Bill Gates, only he made his money marketing the actual bugs instead of the patches. So fleet was his ability to turn any sorrow or situation into an opportunity to tout the politics of self-satisfaction, he never seemed to get bogged down in all those many words Jesus blathered, long before America, when Christians were surprised to have a house, not disappointed not to have a beach house.
The type of Christians Jerry spoke to where rich people looking to get richer -- or poor people stupid enough to give what little they had to make those rich people's selfish dreams come true. While Jesus commanded that we help the poor, Jerry was a man less preoccupied with poor helpings than second helpings. Frankly, Jerry was always more devout when it came to the GOP than the GOD.
The Gospels were written with a canny eye to a crucifixion-crazy Roman government that jealously patrolled power. As such, they are rather careful to direct Christians not to meddle in government. Before you go and accuse Mr. Falwell of intentionally disregarding these Gospels, the jury is still out on whether he ever got around to reading any of them in between the all-consuming demands of both media and meals. In any event, Reverend Falwell's legacy is the marvelously cunning idea of having a democracy run by people who think only their voices matter. Perhaps, thinking "render onto Caesar" was simply a delicious admonition to pile more anchovies on a salad, Jerry, in helping to move America from republic to theocracy, rather deftly countermanded not only those troublesome Enlightenment Founding Fathers, but also that inconveniently socialist, pacifist called Jesus.
When it comes to people who distort Jesus' message of charity and austerity to make an enormous pile of cash from credulous people with televisions, I hate to speak ill of the competition. But it takes admirable courage and nimble logic to devote your life to issues Jesus completely ignored (abortion, global warming, tax breaks and homosexuality) while completely ignoring issues Jesus told you to devote your life to (love, charity, nonmaterialism -- and not devoting your entire life to being judgmental prick, I mean prig). Frankly, ignoring the worshipped is a wonderfully dexterous approach to worshipping. And what a streamlined, busy-girl-on-the-go approach to Christianity it is to slough off words Jesus said in favor of simply saying the word "Jesus" as your only sign of faith!
Believe me, you get more cash stuffed in offering plates and envelopes from the "Support our Troops" crowd when you turn a blind eye to the words of Jesus than when you turn a slapped cheek to the words of enemies. And speaking of enemies, Jerry's death calls for the one thing that fell most easily from his lips: that is, blame. (And I bet you thought I was going to write something about that time he tried to eat a whole jar of pickled-pigs-feet in one gulp!)
Frankly, I blame the homosexuals, abortionists, liberals, feminists -- and Hormel -- for Mr. Falwell's death. The Lord apparently lifted His mercurial veil of protection, saw how truly hideous this obese con artist had become and slapped the self-serving glutton into a place where his self-aggrandizing wickedness would go relatively unnoticed. After all, to Jerry, Hell will be any place without media attention -- and a buffet.
After Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, Ted Haggard, Jerry Falwell and sundry other greedy frauds, it's a wonder the Lord hasn't pulled the licenses on all of His American franchises. But the 2,000-or-so-year delay in the perennially postponed Second Coming (to say nothing of sitting out that whole Holocaust thing) proves that the Lord is in no particular rush to do much of anything. Nevertheless, even the laziest deity must grow increasingly exercised (and trigger happy) in the face of someone devoting his entire life to giving that God a bad name. So, let's face it: when the Jerry said the Lord had revealed to him that he was living in the Final Days, a follow-up question for more specifics might not have been remiss.
Who knows what final straw caused the Lord to reach down and finally wipe Mr. Falwell from the airwaves. I suspect the Lord's patience reached a breaking point while eavesdropping on Jerry's recent conversation with Christiane Amanpour. Jerry told that troop-hating, Rory Gilmore-flattering, liberal pawn of the Mainstream Media: "If I have 20 more years, I will be able to accomplish my vision." I suspect that was a threat of such certain devastation even a Lord who played canasta throughout Katrina was moved to act.
As for the final destination on Jerry's journey, well, who amongst us mortals is to say for sure? Well, me, of course. Indeed, I performed a fairly reliable exercise in prognostication during lunch, almost more out of genuine curiosity than any anticipatory gloating. I had my help try squeezing a mildly anorexic camel through the eye of a generously wide needle (I am, if nothing, a fair woman when wishing ill on others). Alas, the results of this messy undertaking did not bode well for dear Jerry.
So close to Jesus, I toyed with telling Jerry, "That's enough bacon, dear" the day before,
Mrs. Betty Bowers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)