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01/31/2007
Feingold announces new legislation
From IraqSlogger: Feingold Announces Proposal to Cut Off Funding:
"Tomorrow, I will introduce legislation that will prohibit the use of funds to continue the deployment of U.S. forces in Iraq six months after enactment. By prohibiting funds after a specific deadline, Congress can force the President to bring our forces out of Iraq and out of harm’s way.
This legislation will allow the President adequate time to redeploy our troops safely from Iraq, and it will make specific exceptions for a limited number of U.S. troops who must remain in Iraq to conduct targeted counter-terrorism and training missions and protect U.S. personnel. It will not hurt our troops in any way – they will continue receiving their equipment, training and salaries. It will simply prevent the President from continuing to deploy them to Iraq. By passing this bill, we can finally focus on repairing our military and countering the full range of threats that we face around the world."
FACT SHEET: FEINGOLD PROPOSAL TO END OUR MILITARY INVOLVEMENT IN IRAQ AND SAFELY REDEPLOY OUR TROOPS
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will soon propose legislation to force the President to safely redeploy U.S. troops out of Iraq within six months of enactment.
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will soon propose legislation to force the President to safely redeploy U.S. troops out of Iraq within six months of enactment.
Feingold’s legislation will:
- Prohibit the use of funds for the continued deployment of U.S. Armed Forces to the Republic of Iraq after six months of enactment.
- Require the Administration to report to Congress a strategy for safely redeploying U.S. forces from Iraq within the six months prior to the fund termination date.
- Allow for specific exceptions to the prohibition including to:
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- Conduct targeted counter-terrorism operations in Iraq.
- Allow a limited number of U.S. forces to conduct specific training for Iraqi security services.
- Provide security for U.S. infrastructure and civilian personnel.
Feingold’s legislation will not:
- Prohibit or restrict funds for the safe and orderly withdrawal of the Armed Forces personnel from Iraq.
- Prohibit or restrict funds for the troops remaining in Iraq for purposes listed above.
- Prohibit funds for any department or agency of the Government of the United States to carry out political, economic, or general reconstruction activities in Iraq.
On numerous occasions, Congress has exercised its constitutional authority to limit the President’s ability to escalate existing military engagements. Here are just a few examples:
Cambodia – In late December 1970, Congress passes the Supplemental Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act prohibiting the use of funds to finance the introduction of United States ground combat troops into Cambodia or to provide U.S. advisors to or for Cambodian military forces in Cambodia.
Vietnam – In late June 1973, Congress passes the second Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY1973. This legislation contains language cutting off funds for combat activities in Vietnam after August 15, 1973.
Somalia – In November 1993, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act includes a provision that prohibits funding after March 31, 1994 for military operations in Somalia, except for a limited number of military personnel to protect American diplomatic personnel and American citizens, unless further authorized by Congress.
Bosnia – In 1998, Congress passes the Defense Authorization Bill, with a provision that prohibits funding for Bosnia after June 30, 1998, unless the President makes certain assurances.
Vietnam – In late June 1973, Congress passes the second Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY1973. This legislation contains language cutting off funds for combat activities in Vietnam after August 15, 1973.
Somalia – In November 1993, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act includes a provision that prohibits funding after March 31, 1994 for military operations in Somalia, except for a limited number of military personnel to protect American diplomatic personnel and American citizens, unless further authorized by Congress.
Bosnia – In 1998, Congress passes the Defense Authorization Bill, with a provision that prohibits funding for Bosnia after June 30, 1998, unless the President makes certain assurances.
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So, when the talking heads start in with their jibber jabber: how the measure will endanger the troops, etc., etc. Just roll your eyes and remember it's only further proof that they don't have a clue, don't want a clue and are willing to let more Americans die for a mistake. Gene
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01/30/2007
Presidential lemon law
Buyer's remorse,
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Whoever it was that asked, "Would you buy a used car off of Nixon?" framed an intangible quality of Nixon's persona and made it somehow less "intangible." The fact is, Nixon, was easy to distrust. He appeared to ooze insincerity, or was that sweat? He looked out of place, ill at ease and we've all had a bad used car experience. To transfer the animus that we felt when we were snookered, to Nixon, was one of the finest, "Ah ha!" moments in recent politics. It fulfilled a primal need: the need to understand our fear and distrust, even if that understanding was based on an imaginary scenario.
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He wipes his brow, he smiles a lot, he looks like he needs a drink. He says he has to talk to the manager, he comes back calmer and self assured, he starts to put on the pressure, he tightens the thumb screws. You NEED this war he says, "Don't you want your family to be safe?" he virtually screams.
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His manager creeps out of his hidden office in the back. He is rotund and looks like the Penguin from the Batman series, he quaffs and snides, his smile is crooked, you want him to leave before he infects you with something. They move in unison, like spirits, like demons, they hand you a pen ... "just sign" they say, "just sign."
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You know you'll be driving that used war home, and you know it's no good, that you'll be war shopping again real soon ... You overpaid and under negotiated ... you reach into your bag of tricking yourself one more time and sigh ... maybe this time it will be different. Gene
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01/29/2007
Who wants to break the news about Uncle Joe?
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Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog » Late Nite FDL: “I am So Very Sickened/Oh, I am So Sickened Now…” takes weirdly conservative talking head, author and Fox regular, Michelle Malkin, to task for her reportage: DESTROYED - NOT By MICHELLE MALKIN - Opedcolumnists - New York Post Online Edition based on her recent Iraq visit.
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The trip was proffered and arraigned as a challeng to Malkin by *IraqSlogger in December, 2006. Although her purpose was to debunk the negative slant that she insists exists in the Iraq news coverage, Firedoglake takes exception, as this final quote from the above mention piece demonstrates:
Godammit, Michelle, the only freakin' unanswered question I have at this point is why anyone takes you seriously. You're wrong about everything. You're a wrong sandwich with extra wrong and a side order of super-wrong wrongness smothered in wrong sauce. And yet, you persist!
He also supplies us with a visual. I'm not exactly sure why the digitally enhanced bunny suit works but it does.
Here's a few past examples of Malkin's well reasoned madness:
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Greetings, America-haters. Do you think you could stop raving against our "war criminals" and "killing machines" — and you, Teddy Kennedy, could you stop panting over those Abu Ghraib photos — for a moment and join me in praise for our military's compassion and innovation?
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In her book In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror she defends the Department of Justice's decision to create “internment camps” during World War ll. In 2004. FrontPage magazine.com :: Malkin's Defense of Internment by Jamie Glazov has an Interview with her about her position.
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Eric Muller, an actual scholar had this to say about her book, from So Let Me Get This Straight: Michelle Malkin Claims to Have Rewritten the History of Japanese Internment in Just 16 Months?, he writes:
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Malkin claims to have been inspired to start research on this topic after seeing a blog debate I conducted on the subject sixteen months ago. I can't imagine how she--or, indeed, anyone--could have done the primary research necessary to understand the record, let alone "correct" it in an informed way, as the book claims to do, in five or six years, let alone in one.
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In that same FrontPage magazine.com interview, September, 2004, when ask what she would tell President Bush if asked, she said:
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I would tell him he is doing a fine job waging the War on Terror overseas but that his efforts here at home are seriously deficient. I would advise him to fire Norm Mineta and replace him with John Lehman or someone else who supports racial, religious, and nationality profiling in airport screening. It is long past time to get serious about border security. I would tell him to fire Tom Ridge and replace him with Tom Tancredo. Above all, I would advise him that if he is re-elected he should re-appoint John Ashcroft as Attorney General. Bush should go out of his way to praise Ashcroft. Often.
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Praise John Ashcroft? Here's a good synopsis of Ashcroft's stint as Attorney General by ** Noah S. Leavitt, from: CNN.com - Alberto Gonzales, a gentler Ashcroft - Nov 19, 2004
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But, even John Ashcroft, with his all consuming religious beliefs and general opposition to naked statues wasn't as oppressive as his replacement, Alberto (never met a man that I wouldn't like to torture) Gonzales, has turned out to be.
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Arrogance must be the highest attainment to aspire to for conservative nut jobs like Michelle Malkin and, since they frame every argument in their favor by invoking some imagined ordination from up above or on their insufferable: of course we're always right, mentality, they not only take the easy way out from having to engaging in any actual discourse but they appeal to the simple minded whose faith they so readily abuse and bastardize.
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Let's be generous, she accepted the challenge and went to Iraq, she just saw what she wanted to see. But, to argue over whether or not a Mosque is destroyed because its dome is blown to bits even though it's still standing, misses the point. It's not about buildings, no matter how holy or worthy, it's about families and lives, here and there, it's about people, dead and dying people, disfigured and disabled, the people that have to live the rest of their lives in their own little hells, hells that we should have never unleashed on them. Unfortunately, she defends that too. Gene
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* Some of you have asked what's up with IraqSlogger's invitation to send Michelle Malkin to Iraq. It was a serious invitation, she accepted it, she asked if I'd also pay for her to take along Curt of the Flopping Aces blog, I said yes, and now we're working to arrange the trip. This is an enormously complicated journey to arrange, with safety and security being paramount concerns. This is serious stuff, and I'm taking the conversation with Michelle offline until we have a meaningful advance in the story to share with you.
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01/28/2007
Cultural assimilation or: Proof that I spend too much time on the internet
YouTube - A Wasted Journey: Legos, Star Wars and Monty Python, it doesn't get much better than that. While we're (I'm) on the subject:
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Legos have invaded religion: The Brick Testament, music: Harpsichord, photography:Thoughts About Photography: Medium Format Pinhole Lego Camera and technology:
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Someone even had the chutzpah to make a lego *turing machine: Turing machine. But, the topper has to be, the Lego Concentration Camp from: Konzentrationslager
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Once something is assimilated into our culture it never goes away, like a lego it just keeps morphing and evolving. Legos: the perfect metaphor.
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Boyz Town
From the Los Angeles Times:
SACRAMENTO — Tasty meals! A room with a view! Ping-Pong! Cable TV!
In one of the more unusual marketing campaigns undertaken by state government, California prison officials are asking inmates to bid adieu to their cellmates and transfer to lockups elsewhere in the country.
As part of the recruitment drive, wardens are screening a film extolling the virtues of out-of-state prisons and reminding convicts of the violent, overcrowded, racially charged conditions they face in California.
"You get 79 channels here — ESPN!" one tattooed California felon, now housed in Tennessee, says in the movie. "They talk to us like humans," says another, "not like animals."
And wherever you have a prison, they'll always be a Prison Bitch! Sing along! You know who you are!
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Just found this on the same page as the well-oiled Prison Bitch, It's an oldie but a goodie:
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01/27/2007
The time has come to dispose the dictators and impose the rule of law ... again
IF, we were in a traditional war, you know the type: a WWll Hollywood movie war ...
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IF, we were the altruistic people that we, at times, imagine ourselves to be, or even practical people acting in our COLLECTIVE best, self interest ...
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IF, we had unlimited resources to wage unlimited war ...
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IF, we had responsible civilian governance of the military and not a military, industrial, weapon based economy that serves the few ...
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IF, our government servants understood the wisdom of tough negotiations and diplomacy with WAR being reserved as a last resort and to be regarded as the complete and utter failure of good men trying to do what's best for our country ...
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Then, I might think that there may be some kind positive outcome eventually in the Middle East ...
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BUT, as things stand, I don't believe such an outcome is possible. We, the ineffectual majority, seem to be forever in the position of trying to somehow steer our Commander and Chief towards rationality and away from a policy based on lies, deceit and propaganda. A policy based on psychological one-upmanship and revenge, a policy based on controlling the oil flow and not the death toll.
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To maintain that we must support an ill conceived, mismanaged war and its escalation into Iran and who knows where else because of our obligation to be patriotic Americans, does a disservice to the millions that have gone before us that HAVE died for the things we hold sacred.
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As tragic as 9-11 was, as horrible as another attack on our soil may be, we are NOT justified in what we are doing and how we are doing it.
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We cannot forever play the enforcer, the judge and the jury. We do not have that right. The only obligation that we have to ourselves and our country has to the world, is to NOT participate in the evils of dictatorship and oppression, torture and ethnic cleansing and the one thousand other things that we as Americans should by now, have ingrained in our psyche as counter to our way of life and Constitution.
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The fear was always there, the fear of oppression, tyranny and usurpation, we didn't expect it to come from the right, but it did. We have begun our long journey back to the center, but that journey is being blocked by the bullies that we have given power to, the ones that we have allowed to arise, have encouraged to arise.
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We must now show our support for the ones that seek to dismantle what we have created. It's our duty and obligation, more so because we have been guilty. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884) Gene
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P.S. The above link is easily misunderstood and doesn't completely explain who the people refered to actually are.
This may bring some clarification: George Thompson
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01/26/2007
Meanwhile back in Iraq ...
This is a relatively new developement and a good one. From IraqSlogger: Iraqis Receive 80% of Reconstruction Dollars:
Good News
Iraqis Receive 80% of Reconstruction Dollars
State Dept Official Reveals New Numbers in Hearing
In today's Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Iraq reconstruction, David Satterfield, senior advisor to the secretary of state and coordinator for Iraq, stated that Iraqi firms are currently receiving approximately 80% of the contracts for the reconstruction in Iraq.
In response to a question from Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), who asked what percentage of the reconstruction dollars have gone to American firms, Satterfield said that in the early days of the war the reconstruction program was structured so that the vast majority of work went to American and large multinational companies.
However, Satterfield explained that over the past 18 months the reconstruction has transitioned into relying much more heavily on Iraqis, engendering a total reversal in the investment of reconstruction dollars.
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These guys get my undying respect:
YouTube - Ahkmeds Used Car Lot!!!
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You can find this and more at: IraqSlogger
00:25 Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
01/25/2007
I'd rather we knife Caesar in the Senate than in the back
Hey, I've got an idea! Let's NOT put on a show,
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I've been thinking about hypocrisy, insincerity and dishonesty, they all revolve around the same axis, an axis best defined by what it is not.
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What I'm concerned with: why do we do, say, and exhibit behavior that we know we don't believe or really feel in our hearts, such as: democrats gleefully grasping the presidents hand in the exit line after the SOTU speech and pumping it with the same vigor that should be reserved for being reunited with a long lost brother in arms?
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What has happened to us to make us so docile, so compliant, so willing to make ourselves look like fools? Have we been bred, though patriarchal / matriarchal pressure to "not make a scene," to not cause emotional discomfort out of some misbegotten sense of valuing the comfort inherent to a situation at the expense of the implications inherent to that situation? Is embarrassment that powerful of a force or fear?
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I realize that it doesn't serve anyone's purpose to be blunt or even truthful without restraint, unless you wish to be deliberately offense. That, too, has its time and place but when nothing is at stake, other than a glare or gasp, we often act in opposition to our instincts and usually, only on the surface; getting even exists in a huge, dark subculture of business, politics and society.
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Is that it? We'd rather act after the fact and get even? Do we need the distance that time offers to access and evaluate the damage that has been done to us, to our psyche or to our pride?
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By then, we know that we will have fully appreciated the length and depth of the insult or slight and rallied our self importance to the point of righteousness indignation so that when we do act, clandestinely, it will be amplified by the power of 10.
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It pained me to see Dennis Kucinich and Russ Feingold in that line to congratulate the President, I think I saw Dennis Kucinich in the beginning and at the end of the line. It pained me today to hear one of my talk show icons exhorting people to demonstrate this weekend in Washington while never committing herself to go.
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I know we make compromises and it sometimes becomes necessary to deal with people we hate, or express ideas that we don't completely embrace but when nothing is at stake and withholding our approval costs us nothing, shouldn't withholding that approval be the right course of action?
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Isn't that the reflection of our principled beliefs?
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It's the exceptional man or woman that either withholds their approval or expresses disapproval when something is at stake. I salute you, Jim Webb. He didn't play nicey nice when Bush asked about his son in Iraq, he showed his contempt towards Bush, it was and is warranted.
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Today, in our lives, in our endeavors, whether we are prince or pauper, we spin, we weave, we try to create the face, the persona, that we think best serves us and forget that there's no substitute for the truth whether stated calmly or in a lion's roar. Gene
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01/24/2007
While you were out ...
China shoots micro-missle into Bush's black heart. Cheney abruptly resigns saying he has other options to pursue, Pelosi, the next in line for the presidency urges the military to fast track micro-missle interceptor programs.
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Hugo Chavez taunts US ... Hey gringos, I got oil and you can't have it ... na, na, na, nana.
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Saudi secret plan revealed: to drill laterally into Iraq's vast oil reserves and steal their oil.
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Iran's secret plan revealed: to drill laterally into Iraq's vast oil reserves and steal their oil.
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Other nations, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Kuwait, etc., reveal secret plans to drill laterally into Iraq and steal their oil.
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Geologists theorize that the Middle East could become so crisscrossed with lateral drilling that the entire region will collapses, the: Black sea, Mediterranean sea, Red sea, Caspian sea and Persian gulf will merge and engulf the former Middle East, oil will bubble to the surface and create a vast, readily available ocean of oil, however, the environmental impact will be so severe that a world wide famine will occur as water soars to 1000 dollars a barrel.
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US oil companies divest oil interests in order to form the Great Lakes Water Consortium.
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Hugo Chavez taunt US ... Hey Gringos, I got water too ... na, na, na, nana.
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William Kristol admitted to hospital with a highly advanced case of dry lips, tearfully tells the press he's sorry for his past actions causing world wide pain and suffering, "Until I got dry lips I didn't understand ..." he was quoted as saying.
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Steeler fans poo poo the "Water Crisis" until it's revealed that beer is brewed primarily from water, thousands scammer to local beer distributors causing stampedes and traffic nightmares, one fan is quoted as saying, "You got to fight, for your right, to paaaaarty!"
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In a fantastic breakthrough, making it cheap and feasible, Iran, now operating from a vacant warehouse in Uzbekistan, uses it's nascent nuclear power program to desalinize the oceans, potentially neutralizing the world-wide water crisis.
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Bush's ghost returns and urges the military to bomb Uzbekistan before Iran uses it's nuclear power to solve world hunger too.
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Nancy Pelosi, after ascending to the presidency, hires doubles and triples willing to take a micro-missle for her, CIA loses track of who is who. Nation collapse with leadership in dispute.
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Harry Reid reveals that the REAL NANCY PELOSI has a large mole two inches down from her crouch, on the left and she's ticklish in the center of her lower back.
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Order restored but scandalous accusations fly.
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In what's become known as the "Mole in the White House" scandal, Republicans use little known provision in the Patriot act to evict Democrats from congress and the presidency.
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Tom Delay's declares he's baaaaackkkk, turns Minnesota over to the Chinese as a peace gesture. Minnesota Vikings to become the Minnesota Red Army.
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Newly appointed republican president, Jenna Bush declares, "You got to fight, for your right, to paaaarty!"
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Gene wrote this garbage ...
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SOTU address: All we are saying is give war a chance
Bush fouls out,
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What did I think of the State of The Union speech or the SOTU speech as it's being called? Who cares? What did Think Progress think? Check out their handy dandy, claims vs fact analysis, and see what you think. If you haven't seen Jim Webb's response, it's there too, for a new guy, he did real good.
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In short, no one is impressed and it seems that congress may have the balls and support to thwart the Bush surge.
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Of course, you'd never know it by all the glad handing that went on and it was interesting to watch the clapping, standing and clapping or sit and don't clap battle that went on. I'd like to see a video devoted entirely to that.
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Hillary looked downright scary, that woman's stare could stop an Iraqi suicide bomber dead in his tracks.
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Were democrats following along, eyes downcast, reading the text or were they just asleep? I couldn't tell, especially after I fell asleep.
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I think the hardest thing about being president or even in congress would be remembering names. That, and having enough, off the cuff, clever remarks to go around. Acronyms? Forgetaboutit.
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If it plays out that congress does stop the surge, Bush will have congress to blame for not implementing his last ditch effort, if congress sits on its hands and Bush does get his way, he's going to blame the Iraq government when things ultimately turn to shit, that's his real exit strategy. Gene
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