Democrats Ignore HR 333 call

To Impeach Bush

Isn’t this in itself TREASON?

DW In-House Historian and Philosopher,

Leonard Carrier says…

Yes! IT’S A FACT,  but members of Congress who won’t support Dennis Kucinich’s HR 333 to impeach Dick Cheney are simply playing politics. They think they won’t get re-elected unless they just stand on the sidelines and let Bush and Cheney continue their self-destructive ways. The fact that they might also be complicit in an attack on Iran doesn’t seem to faze them.

Here were the reasons offered by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (FL, Dist. 20) for saying impeachment wasn’t a good idea. Ms. Wasserman-Schultz is on the House Judiciary Committee and speaks for Nancy Pelosi. First, she says that we have to concentrate on getting out of Iraq. This is sheer blather. She and other Democrats still keep funding the war. Second, she says that there are more important things to do. This is absurd. It is not more important to set up investigative committees than it is to protect our Constitution. Third, she says that the press would “have a field day” in publicizing impeachment proceedings, crowding out all other news. Well, why not? What more important things do the media have to do, besides spreading “feel good” propaganda from the White House? Last, she says that Americans don’t want to have impeachment hearings conducted. She should fire her poll-takers. Most Americans want to know the facts behind Cheney’s and Bush’s lies to the American public so they could go to war and thus curtail our Constitutional liberties. If Wasserman-Schultz can’t read our citizenry any better than this, she should resign from office immediately.

It seems clear that the Democrats in Congress who don’t support impeachment are the “money” Democrats, those who put the interests of corporations and economic globalization ahead of the interests of the people. These are the ones who secretly want to keep those military bases in Iraq, and who want U.S. corporations to profit from stealing Iraqi oil. They want to be known as being “tough on terror,” when all this really means is adopting an “imperialist lite” view of how to conduct foreign relations, speaking out against Bush and Cheney, but still wanting to do the same thing, only better.

When Bush and Cheney threatened Iran with military force, what did Congress do to blunt this irrationality? Pelosi wanted to pass a House resolution to denounce our NATO ally Turkey for genocide–something that occurred in 1915! Hillary Clinton voted to declare Iran’s Republican Guard–part of the Iranian army–as a terrorist organization! Senator Charles Schumer voted to confirm Mukasey as Attorney General, even though Mukasey doesn’t know what torture is! If progressives have to confront this sort of mentality in leading members of the Democratic Party, it’s going to be a long, uphill struggle.

Stop the President
from Attacking Iran!

ATTENTION ALL DI READERS:

Dear DI readers and democratic friends everywhere: 

Let’s make sure we keep that old aphorism (the one Bush continues to mutter but always mangles it) in mind— “Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me three times, shame on ….US!”

We let ourselves and our Congressmen get sucked into wars we’re now clearly losing both in Afghanistan and Iraq because we fell asleep at the switch and didn’t bother to question what the Neo-cons were telling us to make us think this “war on terror” was a “mission possible” in terms of waging pre-emptive war against sovereign Islamic nations, when terror is a tactic and not a corporeal enemy, much less an enemy state.

We can hear the sabers rattling more menacingly every day, and the fascist neo-cons are carefully constructing more mythology to justify yet another invasion in the Middle East. This time, let’s urge our Congressmen to nip it before it buds. If we don’t, it will certainly be primarily our fault.

Senator James Webb and Rep. Mark Udall have introduced a bill, S. 759 / H.R. 3119, to prevent President Bush from attacking Iran without Congressional authorization.

You can use the tool (web link) below—quite easily–to ask your Senators and Representative to support this legislation.

Also, please ask your Senators and Representative to oppose over $90 million for rapid development and deployment of a 30,000-lb “bunker buster” (called the Massive Ordinance Penetrator) that many fear the administration might want to use against Iran.

HERE IS THE WEB LINK TO USE:

DI Editors wish to thank Leonard Carrier for the preceding link….along with all DI staff, editors, contributors and readers…for immediately using it.

Best,

Dusty

11 13 07

 WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

By: Joseph Cione *

      Last March 27, I celebrated the 60th anniversary of my arrival in the United States, and on the 31st of the same month I was delighted to celebrate my 55th year as citizen. Today, as it was then, I can say proudly and loudly that I am privileged to be a citizen of this generous, noble and marvelous land, where  people from every part of the world have continually come in search of a better life.

      In the last 60 years I have seen many elected presidents come and go. Some were great; most of them were good and a few turned out to be unworthy of the  honor or plain incompetent. Presently, the United States of America is under the spell of its 41st president : George W. Bush, who has been occupying the White House for the last six years, going on seven. During this time, Mr. Bush has chosen to carry out his many duties and  responsibilities tightly wrapped within a thick cloud of partisan secrecy and a stubborn attachment to personal beliefs often expressed with a tinge of Texan sarcasm and a conspicuous disdain for the rules of the English grammar.

      But that’s the least of  Mr. Bush’s problems. His main problem is the quality of his character. So far, he has shown to be a bullheaded individual who does not seem to have any difficulty manipulating the truth to his advantage. He also seems to believe that the meaning of justice is totally dependent on a particular success that one wishes to achieve. In other words, if it works, the aim must be “just”. For Mr. Bush, justice has a physical, palpable component that has very little to do with moral consciousness.  Perhaps, the facts listed below will describe Mr. Bush’s character traits more clearly than I could:   

    1. The number of dead American soldiers in Iraq is increasing each month. They’ll be 4,000 by the end of the year. The wounded soldiers are over 20,000, half of whom are permanently disabled. The casualties among the people of Iraq are said to be over 50,000 dead and many more wounded. This number includes innocent men, women and children.  Iraq’s infrastructure has been severely damaged, and the life of its citizens adversely affected.   

    2. As far as the military victory that Mr. Bush has been stubbornly adamant about and still is, no one believes it anymore. The lies that Mr. Bush and his friends have continually disseminated during the last several years have seemingly begun to come home to roost. A number of Mr. Bush’s staunch friends and allies have moved away from their servile allegiance to their leader and have begun to adopt a more independent posture on the subject of the Iraq war. Some of them who aspire to the 2008 presidential election have begun to criticize publicly Mr. Bush’s stubborn stance and illogical points of view.

    3. Mr. Bush after the “victory” of the year 2000 presidential election declared that he would use all his energy to unite the country. ”I would be a ‘uniter’”- he said. He proceeded  to achieve  the opposite. Our country, in fact, has never been more disunited than it is today. Since when have we had a Red America and a Blue America? I don’t recall any other president who has had the gall to say publicly: “If you are not with me you are against me?” I remember very vividly, during my life in Italy, that Benito Mussolini used  the same expression to remind us of his dictatorial rights. What’s Bush’s excuse? Is it possible that in the  midst of his mental confusion, Mr. Bush has completely forgotten that we are a free and democratic country?

    4.Those in the Federal Bureaus who are responsible for the health of the United States’ economy, are presently saying that the economy is in good shape, the inflation is  minimal and the number of those out of work is manageable. Meanwhile the U.S foreign rate deficit has reached billions of dollars as thousands of jobs are being  out-sourced regularly. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In fact, Mr. Bush, as soon as he became president, got hold of the billions in surplus money he had received from the outgoing Clinton administration, and without hesitation, he distributed, as a tax deduction, 80% of it to 15% of the population–those who earned more than $ 200,000 a year, the billionaires, the steady contributors and the generous friends. The 85% of the  population, on the other hand, had to be satisfied with the remaining 20% of the surplus. Meanwhile, in the Congress, the Republican members made sure that the minimum hourly wage of $ 5.25 would never be increased. Thanks to the Democrats’ majority in Congress, the minimum hourly wage was recently increased to $ 7.25.

       The National Debt has risen to approximately eight trillions. The Consumer Debt (credit cards and car loans) has hit a record $ 2.6 trillion. A gallon of gasoline costs  now more that $ 3.00. Mr. Bush does not seem to worry about it. He and his friends are getting richer by the hour. Ask the EXXON’s CEO about the company’s profits. It couldn’t be any better. 

    5. Ever since Mr. Bush, with the blessings of his cronies, Cheney and Rumfeld, decided to thumb his nose at the United Nations organization and all its members,  the word “arrogant” became a label that the rest of the world loved to staple on the forehead of Mr. Bush and the country that he represents. Mr. Bush told the whole world that he decided to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein had WMDs and was ready to use them against the U.S.. As we all know today, Bush had lied through his teeth. Then, when it became evident to him that the WMD fable was no longer believable and acceptable as a valid  excuse for the invasion, Mr. Bush and his cronies changed the tune. The invasion was necessary, they began to blare away for all to hear, because Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator who had abused his own people, and therefore he deserved to be taken out by force.

That part of the world, Mr Bush figured, needed to change its way of life, century- old traditions, culture, laws and, perhaps, even the dress code. Why not? A reasonable dose of our present  a-la-Bush- kind of freedom and democracy could give the Iraqi’s all they need to succeed in the modern world.  Let’s face it, we, the United States of America, have lost face, lots of face, not only with the world in general but even with our friends!

Then came Guantanamo, where the word “torture” started to surface at home as well as overseas. Americans engage in torture? Then came the case of the notorious Iraqi prison Abu Graib, with plenty of photos to boot. “Yes, the Americans are torturers!” shouted all those who saw them.  Mr. Bush, however, and the rest of his  comrades did not seem to be too affected by the avalanche of negative comments received. Yes, America and all the Americans came out of that barbarous mess diminished, severely diminished. To all those who cared, it was like watching the fathers and mothers of all the tortured men throw stones into the Articles of our Constitution. Perhaps, the Statue of Liberty in the New York bay might have felt ashamed and its light might have dimmed a bit when the news of the tortures became known. It might be dimmed still.

    6. It is a widely perceived fact that Mr. Bush is a devout, practicing Christian. He has publicly declared that he is a “born-again Christian”. His favorite role model is Jesus Christ. He prays every day. The famous journalist Bob Woodward, who wrote Mr. Bush’s biography,  writes that before the invasion took place, he (Woodward) asked Mr. Bush if he had asked his father for some advice about the imminent invasion of Iraq. The answer he received was something like this: ” I don’t ask my earthly father for any advice on the matter. I only take the advice of my Heavenly Father. He has already informed me that I am doing the  right thing.”

It must be assumed that Mr. Bush reads the Bible, particularly The New Testament, and most of all what Jesus preached before his death on the cross. I repeat, Jesus Christ was and presumably still is Mr. Bush’s role model of all that is righteous, honorable and moral. Let us not mince words at this point. Mr. Bush’s use of violence against another nation, his addiction to lying, his stubborn attitude over personally-held  convictions, his lack of understanding of what is the true meaning of truth and justice and his lack of compassion for those who suffer make of him an enemy of Jesus Christ, a hypocrite, a Pharisee, one of those who two thousand years ago betrayed Jesus, a God/Man whose life was dedicated to the daily practice of brotherly love, truth and justice. 

So, really, where do we go from here?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE:

*Joseph Cione is an educator and author and this is his first—hopefully of many—contributions to Democratswrite.com.  

Born in Sicily, Joseph grew up during Fascism’s “golden era” and lived in Palermo Sicily during World War II. Together with his mother and 100 other emigrants, he arrived at New York Harbor on March 27, 1947. He became an American citizen in 1953.

Mr. Cione received his Masters Degree (in French Language and Literature) from Hunter College in New York and was bestowed a minor degree in Spanish  at NYU.   Joseph taught Italian, French and Spanish for 27 years in New York between 1962 and 1983. In 1968 he was the only teacher from NY State chosen to attend the intense course of studies hosted by the renown Institut National des Sciences Appliquees in France.

In 1983, Joseph  retired from teaching and began his career as a writer. Since then,

he has authored four books: SICILY ON MY MIND, (Subtitled: “Echoes of Fascism and World War II”) , YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE, GRAINS OF SANDS AND MURMURS OF THE SEA ( Poems and Essays) and RICORDI DI SICILIA (Translation into Italian of Sicily on My Mind), most of which are available through Amazon.com and other on-line sources.

Joseph presently lives in Apex, North Carolina with his wife of 57 years (Sara) and of all his “accomplishments” in his adoptive country, he values most his family, which in addition to Sara includes six thriving children and 18 grand-children.

It is an honor for me (because Joe is a personal friend) , on behalf of DW to thank Joseph Cione for this wonderful expression of intelligent circumspection and insight and to extend to him our sincere invitation and request to grace us in the future with more of the same, as we struggle along with him to “go on from here’.

 PRESIDENTIAL PRETENTIONS…

NEO-CONTENTIONS VI:

A point-counterpoint debate between a neo-conservative and

A Democratic liberal on the topic of whether Bush’s General 

Petreus has Betrayed us, and regardless of that—

Which, in times of war, have told the people more lies…

Republican or Democratic Presidents ?

DW Intro:  I have two friends who are constantly debating between themselves issues of today’s politics, especially those involving President Bush and the war in Iraq. During a recent exchange, my neo-conservative friend, Dan Schwalbe sent my liberal friend, Alan Mackeraghan an article denouncing as traitorous Move-on.org’s recent skewering General Petreus for generally betraying us. With no further prologue, I will here share with you that invigorating (and enlightening) exchange.

Enjoy it!  

Dusty (DW Foreign Policy Editor, Dusty Schoch)

9-24-07

NEO-CON “DAN” TO LIBERAL “ALAN”

Alan,

Would  Moveon.org  call General Jimmy L. Cash a traitor or  does his report just require the willing suspension of disbelief? (Read what General Cash has to say here…)

Dan

LET’S BE SPECIFIC

By Jimmy L. Cash, Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret.
Posted by The Bear under Global War on Terrorism , Politics

Due to the thunderous applause that I received from the far-left over the I Am Tired letter written by one of our troops in Iraq, I thought it prudent to follow up with one last attempt to be very specific about what I have observed and actually personally encountered during my 36 years of service to this Great Country. This will be a one time attempt to reach some of those who are confused by the far-left and their ilk’s unethical rantings and give some insight through my personal experience as a professional military officer over the years. These examples are but a few. In real life there were many more which space and time will not allow.

As a young fighter pilot, flying F-4s in Vietnam, I was stopped in my tracks by the decisions made by Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara. I was young and naive, but even then I knew their daily interference was wrong and would not allow us to win this thing and go home. Decisions like not allowing us to strike enemy aircraft while still on the ground, keeping real targets off the target list, and allowing us to strike only rusted-out trucks made us basically a toothpick factory. However, the big one for me came the day I saw the President Lyndon Johnson on television, forcefully lying to the American people. I’ll never forget the language, I want to assure the American people that the United States of America has never, and will never, bomb or use force inside the borders of Cambodia. On and on he disavowed the reports that this was happening. I was amazed. Guess where I had put several F-4 loads of 750 pound general purpose bombs every day for the past five days. You guessed it, Cambodia!!! So much for Mr. Johnson. The only question in my mind was simply, was it just Johnson or was it the methodology of a particular political party’s I decided to delay answering that question until more experience was gained.

Years passed, and I ignored politics as much as possible, as a good military man should. Then came Jimmy Carter. Our young people don’t remember 18% interest rates and 18% inflation, but I’ll bet someone in your family does. That is one really bad thing Carter did for our country, but it is not the worst. During this period, I was an F-15 Squadron Commander, located at Langley AFB, VA. Jimmy Carter and his democratic party stopped spare parts procurement for almost every weapon system in our military, and diverted the funds to social programs. The F-15 was brand new at the time with leading edge technology designed to provide air superiority anywhere in the world on a moments notice. That was my job. I loved it, but guess what? In a two year period from 1979 to 1981, there was not one day when more that one-third of my assigned aircraft were flyable. It is amazing the lengths we went to in those days, cannibalizing parts, expending twice the time and energy to fix every little item, and still two-thirds of the birds were always broken because of no spare parts. Had this country faced a really serious military threat during that time frame, only Montana Hunters could have saved us. The military had some equipment, but it was all broken. Do you want to know the really bad part for me and the young fighter pilots working for me? Our flying sortie rate was so low that pilot proficiency dropped to dangerous levels. The accident rate tripled. That obviously was totally unacceptable, as we were losing expensive airplanes and highly trained young pilots at a rate comparable to losses seen in actual combat. All of a sudden, even a Texas Aggie like me began to see a trend.

Forward a few years to 1986. I am an F-16 Wing Commander at MacDill AFB, Florida, and Ronald Regan is president. His change in attitude and policy toward the military had time to fix the spare parts problem. We were flying 26,000 flying sorties per year out of MacDill AFB, my aircraft fully mission capable rate (FMC) was above 90%, the aircraft accident rate was below 1.75 per hundred thousand flying hours, fighter pilots were flying and proficiency levels were at an all time high. The United States Air Force was ready to defend this Wonderful Country. Proof of the pudding is simple. Look what the USAF, and the military in general, accomplished in Iraq during Desert Storm. And, they did it in less than 100 hours. Yeah, at this point I was starting to realize there was a difference in mentality between Democrats and Republicans, or should I say the Left and the Right.

Then, came everyone’s favorite – Bill Clinton. If there ever was an individual 180 degrees out of sync with the ideals and the values of the US military, it was Clinton. He was a known draft dodger, military hating, self absorbed, unspeakingly shameless and immoral individual, who the Left managed to elect President of the United States of America. Clinton?s antics in the White House would have brought court martial, conviction, and Dishonorable Discharge had he been a military member. We still suffer oral sex on school buses, because the President told the world it wasn’t real sex, and some of our children believed him. It took a lot of years, but now I became certain. There is a big difference in the right and the left on all fronts, and for the first time I started feeling angry and shamed that the majority of the American people were actually willing to vote for such an individual.

Sometimes, an abstract such as the following tells the story in very simple terms: Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, George Soros, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Nancy Pelosi, Barbra Boxer, John Kerry, Benedict Arnold, and the list goes on. America, wake up. In my opinion, giving in to the likes of these people could allow Abraham Lincoln’s prediction of destruction from within to come true. There is not a country in the world that can be considered a conventional military threat to the United States today. However, this country faces a new kind of threat–one that will not go away. It is a threat even more serious that WWII, because money, industry and technology will not defeat it. It is a threat of defeat from within. It is a threat of a faltering economy because of a lack of resources, or the even the simple threat of such a loss brought on by terrorism. It is a threat created by the American people trusting the inept. It is a threat created by the people wanting change, and perilously believing that the left can successfully deliver that change. Have you seen anything from the left that remotely resembles an answer to the Iraq situation? Have you seen anything more than continued Bush-Bashing? Is that an answer? If there was ever a need for a strong, well trained military, it is now. THE LEFT HAS HISTORICALLY DISMANTLED OUR MILITARY IN THE NAME OF REDISTRUBITION OF WEALTH FAVORING SOCIAL PROGRAMS. We just cannot afford to let that happen now. If we do, the entire country may be bowing to the east several times a day within the next 50 years, maybe sooner.

Now a final thought meant to upset as many as possible on the far-left. As you might guess, I don’t believe in political correctness. So, let’s look at the facts, not far-left rhetoric attempting to empower the democratic party. Initially, I was not a George Bush fan. I am not even a Republican. I normally vote Republican, because of my total despise of Communism, Socialism and the far-left in this country. I am a Conservative. However, during his watch, I feel President Bush just happened to stumble upon the leading edge of the greatest threat this country has ever faced. Mistakes have been made, because of the newness of the threat. Overall, the President has done a superb job dealing the threat, and at the same time held off the constant ranting, raving, deceitful and malicious escapades of the far-left attempting to regain political power. IF THERE WAS EVER A TIME THE COUNTRY NEEDS TO COME TOGETHER AND BACK OUR PRESIDENT, IT IS RIGHT NOW. WITHOUT CONCENSUS WE ARE EMPOWERING THE TERRORIST!!!! I feel the far-left is totally absorbed with a power struggle and regaining control of congress. They could care less about defeating the threat. It literally disgusts me to hear the constant disagreement with everything the President tries to do, all in the name of trying to make him look bad to the voters. Unfortunately, by the time the American people really appreciate how bad the far-left really is, it may too late.

What are the real facts? On the home front this country’s economy is the strongest that it has been in my lifetime. Interest rates are as low as they were when I was in high school forty years ago. Inflation does not exist for all practical purposes. For you youngsters, please remember the Jimmy Carter comments? The Dow is approaching 13,000. Unemployment is nonexistent. Wages are at an all time high. Home ownership is at an all time high. Taxes have been lowered to an almost acceptable level. Because of the surging economy the deficient is under control and projected to go away far ahead of schedule. The far-left is rich beyond its wildest dreams, so Mr. President when are you going to 1Ž2fixŠ all these domestic problems? Give me a break!!!!

On the war front this country has not been touched since 2001. I remember being part of a seminar at the USAF War College in 1983 discussing the terrorist threat. There were some good minds at that table and a lot of disagreement. However, one common thought was that the US would be hit within the next five years. Answers to the terrorist threat were just as hard to come by then as they are now. Well, it took a little longer than the projection, but the attack occurred. For an old military guy like me, the main point here is that it has not happened again. We have suckered the bad guys into entering the fight somewhere other than in our country. To hell with political correctness. The President can’t say this, but I sure can. I smile every morning when I get up and realize that one of our great cities has not been blown away. And, there is zero doubt in my mind that if we pull out of Iraq prematurely, that will happen within a short period of time after our departure. I don’t care what you might think of President Bush personally. He has done the best he can with what he has, and this country is not smoking because of it. So, the anti-American, Bush hating far-left should back off. They honestly don’t have a clue about what they are talking about, and they are doing irreparable damage to our country.

I realize there are different points of view on war, and I do not believe the meek will inherit the earth, at least not in the next few hundred years. To those of the far-left, who will undoubtedly respond to this letter, let me say, this is a strong country! It has survived the uneducated thinking of the far-left before, and I’ll just bet it will again. Regardless of who is President, the people will not tolerate mass explosions on a daily basis, as our good friends in Israel have been forced to do. To protect that position of power, even Hillary will be forced to become a true hawk. To guarantee a few more votes Ted Kennedy may be forced to begin supporting a strong military. One more attack on America might even wipe the giddy, ŒI-am-finally-somebody? grin from Nancy Pelosi’s face, and make her realize that is not about votes and personal power. IT IS ABOUT PROTECTING THIS GREAT COUNTRY FROM ALL ENEMIES, BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.

ALAN’S COUNTER-POINTED REPLY TO DAN

Dan,

You  lose all credibility as a participant  in this conversation when you promote such far right-wing demagoguery .  Just the fact he is still invoking the name of Jane Fonda in his diatribe tells me he is not marching to any drummer I hear.  Your article is jam-packed with lies and falsehoods:
 To begin with, it was not Johnson who ordered the illegal bombing of Cambodia, but rather Nixon. Yes–a Republican. Thus, it was Nixon, not Johnson, who lied to the American people. In fact, his administration was taken to court by (drum roll) a Congresswoman and four Air Force officers, represented by the ACLU to halt the illegal bombing. Here is his exact quote:

 ”There are no American combat troops in Cambodia. There are no American combat advisers in Cambodia. There will be no American combat troops or advisers in Cambodia. We will aid Cambodia. Cambodia is the Nixon doctrine in its purest form….” – President Richard M. Nixon, November 1971.

 By the way, we did not use F-4’s to bomb Cambodia; we used B-52’s. Yet another problem with this story.

 Yes, the economy was in crisis while Carter was in office. But it was precipitated by the OPEC oil crisis in 1973 (while Nixon was still in office). Additionally, productivity had stagnated during the 1970s. The Federal deficit had grown, long before Carter took office. Carter inherited a bad economy and did not make it better. I think it was the Japanese kick the ass that got U.S. industry to focus more on quality and customers, as much as presidential leadership, that turned around the U.S. economy in the 80s.

 As for military spending, that increase began two years before Carter left office. I think it is interesting that the General mentions the year 1986, because that is when spending began to taper off again.

 He also fails to mention the largest draw-down post WWII occurred during the Bush I presidency, when Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense.

 Calling Clinton a draw-dodger when the current commander in chief effectively dodged Vietnam service is mystifying. Why do conservatives continue to defend the preferential treatment Bush received to get into the Guard, and then his failure to report for duty for two years? By the way, are you going to call Dick Cheney a draft dodger too? He got five educational deferments. Rumsfeld never served. Wolfowitz never served; both coasted on deferments.

 Here another great lie: 1Ž2THE LEFT HAS HISTORICALLY DISMANTLED OUR MILITARY IN THE NAME OF REDISTRUBITION OF WEALTH FAVORING SOCIAL PROGRAMS.Š

 Really? What programs is this guy talking about? Education. Que Lastima? Surely not Medicare or Medicaid since I bet he receives Medicare. Hopefully not Social Security since he probably gets that too. If he does enjoy his Social Security, Medicare, and public education for his children he should thank a God-less liberal.

 1Ž2On the home front this country’s economy is the strongest that it has been in my lifetime. Interest rates are as low as they were when I was in high school forty years ago. Inflation does not exist for all practical purposes. For you youngster’s, please remember the Jimmy Carter comments? The Dow is approaching 13,000. Unemployment is nonexistent. Wages are at an all time high. Home ownership is at an all time high. Taxes have been lowered to an almost acceptable level. Because of the surging economy the deficient is under control and projected to go away far ahead of schedule.

 During the nineties, when that Democrat Clinton was in office, the economy experienced it fastest post-war expansion ever. Crime rates dropped nationally. Teen pregnancies dropped, DWI’s dropped. Unemployment reached historic lows. Home ownership in America reached historic highs. When Clinton left office there was a budget SURPLUS.

 For the past 7 years Bush has cut taxes while pursuing a ruinous war in the Middle East. Consequently we now have a multi-billion dollar deficit. Crime is once again on the rise. The housing market slowed more than a year ago. There is a record number of foreclosures. Real wages, what the little guys take home, has remained stagnant. The gap between the richest Americans and poorest has not been this large since 1929. The economy barely registered any growth for the first quarter of 2007. This guy is not so big on facts is he? But then, he probably cannot be bothered with the truth either.

    Put that in your war pipe and smoke it!

 Alan

DUSTY’S ADDENDUM

After adding a hearty “Amen” and “You win hands down!” to my friend, Alan, I’d simply add, in closing that when Move-on.org asked me to write my Congressmen on the subject of whether they should endorse the denunciation of them (Move-on) for characterizing Petreus as a betrayer for his parroting the “we’re winning the Surge in Iraq” propaganda, I immediately wrote  a scatter-gun letter that went to all our Senators and  Reps to the effect that if they went along with any resolution condemning Moveon.org for its exercising free speech to criticize General P for parroting  Bush propaganda, I’d vote against them if they ever have the temerity to run again. General P was not acting in a military capacity when he was preaching those phony stats about the success of the surge. Criticism of him was making fair comment on a soap-boxing political act.  I would not fault him in any way for following orders in the theater of war, but when he’s over here blowing Bush’s “success” smoke up Congressional skirts, he needs to be outed for the betrayer he is. Bush had his little military puppet put out that propaganda instead of Bush because Bush is smart enough to know no one’s listening to him any more. Petreus (at least until he assumed the bully pulpit in Washington) at one time had some credibility. That credibility is gone, thanks in large part to the dedication, determination and increasing power of Moveon.org. 

Best,
Dusty

………………………………………………………………………….

Writer Claims “Left” Has No Answers for Iraq

By Bobby Dees

            The writer claims the “Left” has no answers for Iraq.  The “Left” has plenty of answers for the current mess in Iraq.  The first answer is don’t attack countries unconnected to 911.  The second answer is if you’re going to attack another country you should have a viable military plan in place prior to the attack.  Thirdly, liberals believe it is not feasible to kill every perceived enemy America may have.   Fourthly, we are pissing away two billion dollars a week while 500,000 people die each year from cancer.  What are you doing about that war on terror tough guy?

            The article has several other misstatements. “Wages are at an all time high.”  This is a totally inaccurate statement.  Wages are in fact stagnant and have been stagnant for 27 out of the last 29 quarters.

             “Home ownership is at an all-time high.”  This is another misstatement.  The real truth is that bankruptcies and foreclosures are at an all time high.

             “The deficit is under control and taxes have been lowered by Bush. ’’ Again this is a laughable statement.  Oil prices are at an all-time high with gas prices at three dollars a gallon.  The tax burden is being transferred to the middle class.  The deficit is at all time high.

President Bush’s Endless War

By: Dr. Leonard Carrier, DW In-House Historian and Philosopher

On September 13 we got President Bush’s plan for Iraq. He announced that incremental withdrawals would take place, but that in 2009 we would still have a significant military presence in that country. In other words, he is determined to hand the war off to our next president so that his own administration will not be blamed for losing it. This might be crafty politics, but his strategy is being paid for in the blood of our servicemen and women, not to mention the blood of Iraqi civilians enmeshed in an intractable civil war. What conceivable good can be gained from policing a civil war? There is none. Our occupation is the fuel that keeps the fires of insurrection burning.

What the President has done is to challenge all those in Congress who demand a timetable for leaving Iraq to put their money where their mouths are, or rather, not to put any more money into funding our occupation. Until now, with a few notable exceptions, Congress has been loath to advocate the only means at their disposal for ending our occupation of Iraq, which is to cut off funding. They have not done so because they are afraid of being accused of “not supporting the troops.” This is a groundless fear. They can vote to provide only those funds used to bring these troops home safely. That is the sensible way to support the troops, not by continuing to let them fall prey to daily insurgent attacks.

John Edwards responded to the President’s speech in a commercial on MSNBC paid for by his presidential campaign. In no uncertain terms, Edwards put the pressure where it should have been ever since Democrats won both houses of Congress last year. Given that President Bush will not yield on his plan of our never-ending presence in Iraq, Congress must simply accept Bush’s challenge and cut off funding for the war. Of course, this will take courage, and the President is betting that Congress does not have the will to do it. Because arguments will not sway this president, the time has come for Congress to put up or shut up.

	Dennis Kucinich has outlined a 12-point plan for withdrawing from Iraq, based on the premise that the solution in Iraq must be political and not military. He argues convincingly that it is not credible to oppose the war and yet continue funding it, and so the Administration should be notified now that Congress will not approve further appropriations to continue our occupation.

In brief, here is what we must do under Kucinich’s plan: (1) announce that we will end the occupation, close our military bases, and withdraw; (2) use funds already appropriated to pay for the safe return of our troops and their equipment, while preparing for the transition of an international peacekeeping force; (3) order all U.S. contractors home and turn over contracting work to Iraqis; (4) convene a regional conference to develop a stabilizing force for Iraq, using the UN to organize this conference; (5) work with the UN to mobilize and authorize peacekeeping forces; (6) develop and fund a drive for national reconciliation among Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites; (7) restart the failed reconstruction of Iraq, with the jobs going to local Iraqis; (8) along with Great Britain, pay reparations to Iraqis for causing loss of life, injuries, and damage to property; (9) deny any intention to privatize Iraq’s oil assets, allowing Iraq to have political sovereignty; (10) set out a plan to stabilize Iraq’s costs for food and energy; (11) work with the world community to restore Iraq’s fiscal integrity; and (12) establish a policy of truth and reconciliation between the people of the United States and the people of Iraq.

John Edwards has answered Bush’s plan for endless war with a plea to Congress to bring our troops home now. Dennis Kucinich has a detailed plan showing how this can be done. It is time for members of Congress to forget about the possible political fallout and to stiffen their spines and take action. If they do not do so then they remain complicit in Mr. Bush’s war.

Leonard S. Carrier