Political Rant

Here are my political rants for today. If you are looking for sports go here and Halloween poon go here.

Here are some links from the the Fd up world that we live in.

The Blackwater thugs who opened fire on innocent people in Iraq were initially granted immunity BEFORE they would talk to State Department investigators.

Attorney General Nominee will not call waterboarding torture. It is sad that the moral standing our country has stooped so low that we even have to debate the terms of torture as a method of interrogation.

We drop bombs on villages and innocent people who die are just collateral damage, the CIA kidnaps people and illegally takes them to other countries, the US holds people indefinitely in Guantanamo without charging them, and we use torture techniques on suspects that every civilized country (Geneva Convention anyone?) has outlawed for decades.Who are the bad guys again? No wonder the world hates us.

A Republican Senator has the decency to be against water boarding and the right wing noise machine fires up and wants his head dunked.

What happened to the moderate libertarian, isolationist, fiscally conservative, limited government wing of the Republican party? How did it allow the war/fear monger wing nuts to take over and pollute any real debate on issues? We need solutions to our problems, not more hate disinformation to fit their narrow political agenda. Neocons, Rush Limbaugh, and Holly Rollers are running the GOP's sinking ship.

Iraqi Dam might collapse and kill over 500,000 people.

Billionaire Warren Buffet argues in favor of tax reform, easing the burden on the middle class and raising his own taxes.

Bush says that Congress has wasted time to end the Iraq War.
We do not even discuss anymore the main reason the we invaded a sovereign nation without the world's support in the first place. Why bother with those details? The "war" has been over for over 4 years. We overthrew the Iraqi government, killed Saddam and his sons, held elections and now we are just foreign occupiers in the middle of an ethnic civil war.

7/10 Americans want us of out of Iraq and a new policy. Bush will not allow this because he would actually have to admit a mistake. Weak people admit mistakes not Bush, who is the Smoke Em out, "we are kicking ass in Iraq," strong leader. I am shocked with his denial of reality and awful attitude towards the will of the American people that he has had such record low approval ratings.

All the new generals, rationales for war, different tactics, and more money for bombs will never fix this problem. Our political and military leaders have to truthfully acknowledge to the American people the exact mess that we are actually in before we can solve it. The current crew's credibility for honesty is emptier than a bottle of Ron Burgundy's scotch or as believable as a FEMA press conference.

Once again, I can not wait to kick these neocons out of power so we can have real discourse about America's options out of this middle east clusterfu$ that they have caused. The worst part is that the crazy bastards that blew us up on 9/11 are still at large, hiding in Pakistan, and growing more powerful. Osama even still has time to make tapes. Unbelievable.

I do not envy the next president as they will have to make tough unpopular decisions to heal these self inflicted wounds.

5 or 10 years from now, we will look back in disbelief that we allowed Bush&Cheney to continue this disastrous broken policy for song long, which has killed way too many Americans and innocent Arab civilians.

Pro War Cheerleaders are applauding that death toll in Iraq is down the past few months. It is all semantics and not part of some long term success story where we all of sudden, "WIN". Trust Me. I do not even know what "winning" means at this point. I have a future post coming that proves this is the result of increasing air bomb attacks and with less door to door raids.

I think one death is one too many (remember those days were we CHERISHED American lives, instead of seeing them as pawns for our military war games) and I agree with this soldier, who states 'I Don't Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier's Life.

My heart goes out to the Americans who have to risk their lives everyday to protect the egos of a few men. Here are the faces of our fallen soldiers.

Mac Gs World

Planet BUSH and the Daily Reality in the County that Used to be Known as Iraq

PLANET BUSH!
My man Froomkin summarizes the reality outside of Bush's small world, you know, real life.

In the alternate universe that President Bush occupies, he gave a smashing speech last night.

Over there, the people of Iraq need our help to save them from the al Qaeda terrorists who intend to overthrow their brave and united government on the way to attacking America. It's a battle of good versus evil. We have 36 countries fighting alongside us. And the fight is going very well indeed. Ordinary life is returning to Baghdad.

A few more things about Bush's universe: There, the president can make things true simply by solemnly pronouncing them from the Oval Office. He can reach out to his critics just by saying he is doing so. And people believe him.

But over here in the real world, things are different.

Iraq is mostly ruled by armed gangs, not a central government. American troops are dying in the crossfire as the country continues to violently disintegrate along ethnic and sectarian lines. We're in it pretty much alone. There's no end in sight. And the real al Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan.

President Bush is trying and failing to rally support for a war that the majority of Americans have concluded is not worth fighting. He's not going to change anyone's mind because he's too stubborn to change his own. And in any case, his credibility is shot to hell.

PLANET BUSH


Please Check out this video and this is the type of reporting that we do not hear from our US media at all. It shows how messed up our policy is and we have no long term solutions for the mess at all.


Juan Cole had posted this great video.

You Call that Center?

The President tonight plans on telling the country that the his "Surge" 30,000 troops will be coming home next year but will still leave the same number of troops as before he announced the surge last January.

I can not comprehend this shit anymore. I just want to drop F bombs all over the place. This action is WAY out of touch with what the public wants.

Kids keep dying, Iraqi refugees are fleeing(2mil and rising), Hundreds of separate highly armed Militias control their own individual neighborhoods and could care less what is going on in some inconsequential "Green Zone."The propped up US Iraqi Govt has absolutely no control over them.

Osama is still alive and we keep going further into debt as a nation.

People against the war are continually smeared as unpatriotic, defeatists but pro war supporters are labeled as strong Americans who fight for freedom and want victory.

Against the War= Pussies, Losers, Un American
For the War= Tough, Winners, True Patriots

Being against this war is a pretty main stream idea and no matter how hard the WH spins this "Surge," all it really is more death and destruction for Iraqis/US soldiers. Losing more US life sure does not seem to bother House Minority Leader John Boehner. He was on CNN saying more US troop deaths are a small price to him. Of course, they are not HIS kids or HIS family members. Check out the video here.

Our political debate has sunk to new lows. We can not even admit our mistakes and try to move forward. The policy is a complete failure and has been since the day we disbanded the Iraqi Army. Do not ask Bush about the decision to create large numbers of unemployed, highly military trained insurgents with arms. He can not recall who made the decision. SHOCKER!

"The policy had been to keep the [Iraqi] army intact; didn't happen," Bush told Draper. Asked how he had reacted to Bremer's reversal, Bush replied, "Yeah, I can't remember. I'm sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?' "

The Pro War cheerleaders keep arguing things are not mistakes and that they need more time to prove everyone wrong. Where is the leadership in this country to finally say hey, after 4 1/2 years, 600 bill, 30,000 casulaties that we have no clue to what we are doing. Therefore, it is time to cut our losses and get international help out of this situation.

F BOMB times FBOMBS!

No one wants to abandon what our shitty leaders did to these poor people in the middle east because of our imperliastic hatred of their former dictator. We have to find real solutions for them and us. Political ones and not military.

The people in charge are so vested in to "winning" that they will not face reality.

FBOMBS!

My Man Froomkin sums up our political leaders ignoring the demands of the people up quite well in his column today.

You Call That the Center?
What's a middle-road approach to Iraq?

The White House would like you to believe the middle road is what President Bush will announce tonight from the Oval Office: The possible return to approximately pre-surge troop levels by sometime next summer.

A growing bipartisan movement on Capitol Hill would like you to believe the middle road is Congress agreeing on some modest, incremental, and in some cases non-binding limits on the president's policy.

But what's middle-road for the American public? A sizeable majority wants Bush to bring most of the 160,000 troops home from Iraq in about the same time frame that he is proposing to withdraw less than 30,000. According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, for instance, 55 percent of Americans support "legislation that would set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq by next spring."

On the antiwar extreme, some Americans want all U.S. troops of out Iraq right now; on the prowar extreme, some want those troops to stay indefinitely. But the consensus view is that Americans want out -- starting now, ending soon.

How, then, has the political debate in Washington become so skewed? Why is it so out of step with the will of the people?

One answer, of course, is that most Republican members of Congress are sticking with Bush. But a lot of the credit belongs to the White House, for a public-relations push that flooded the zone starting in early August.

The emphatic and persistent White House message about nominal military successes in Iraq, culminating with Gen. David Petraeus's congressional testimony this week, dominated the airwaves and shifted the inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom about Iraq policy -- while not, interestingly enough, diminishing the public's desire to get the hell out one bit.

Froomkin Column
US deaths are a small price to Boehner
One Sided Political Debate
Who Disbanded the Iraqi Army? We Still Do No Know

A New Way Nowhere (Long Political Rant)

(This is a long political rant on Iraq and does not contain Poon, hot chicks, or sports.)

Down below is a Daily Show segment to get everyone in the mood for today's General Petraeus' expected and most likely "Pro Surge" Iraq testimony in front of Congress this afternoon. I can not even follow this topic anymore and my head is about to explode. Of Course, I still will and it sucks because this is the most important discussion American's will face in our lifetime: What to do about the Iraqi Clusterfuk. All of our options are bad, very bad, and awful.

Congressional Republicans have locked in to letting Bush control their parties destiny by continuing their recent foreign policy platform of nation building/kicking the can down the road and "hoping" things just work themselves out eventually. They steadfastly support this policy no matter the continual cost of our precious blood and treasure. HUGE Mistake for our country and the GOP's electoral future. More on the Republican Party on a another post. I can not let this rant spiral out of control like the national debt or my late night drunken messages on buddy's voice mails.

It is laughable that the Bush administration, who prided themselves in running the government like a business and placed boatloads of CEO's in charge of Cabinet offices and Federal Agencies, would continue to throw unlimited amount of money at a major problem(Iraq) with no concrete results. Typical successful CEOs would look at their flailing stock price, listen to their shareholders, and figure out ways to cut their losses and move on. The inability of the Administration to truly recognize or admit their failures just baffles the mind. It could be one of the main contributors to consistent near record low approval ratings for Bush.

Also, this "Whack a Mole" surge strategy is the biggest joke ever and this cartoon depicts it quite well.

20K more troops in a country the size of California is a "Surge?" I would say 500K troops would be my definition of a "surge" or its correct definition of increasing US forces in an area: "An Escalation."

Are you ready for some popular talking points in the next few days? Drumroll Please:

"6 more months, We need more time, Signs things are working, We can not lose, Al Qaeda is evil" and my personal favorite: "Progress."

I could be on an island beach sipping drinks with umbrellas if I had a dollar for every time progress has been mentioned by the media, White House or GOP officials over the past 4 and 1/2 years. They can barely answer a question on Iraq without talking about a Friedman Unit.

Repeating the word, "Progress" is some gag reflex for pro war politicians. It should be illegal to play any political drinking game where "progress" is a key word. Everyone would black out quickly.

I actually feel like blacking out when I read about US Soldier's Arlington Cemetery funerals in the Wpost. This is the reality of WAR, broken families and shattered lives. Here are some faces and names of our fallen US Soldiers.

Please REPEAT after me:

There is NO military solution in Iraq and we will NEVER EVER "WIN" an occupation. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, Al Qaeda was never in Iraq before we invaded and destroyed the Iraqi government infrastructure and we are in the middle of a century old Sunni/Shiite civil war. REPEAT.

There is no military solution in Iraq and we will NEVER EVER "WIN" an occupation.

The War will continue because the Democrats have no spine or GOP votes to over ride any presidential veto on continuing the Iraqi war funding albatross. It burns my progressive bones to say this but Democrats would rather have the Iraqi War as an issue for the 08 election cycle. They do not want to take a true stance on this issue like Shut the FN government down until Bush caves! Even though it is also the right thing to do for our country, the Democrats do not want to risk their political capital/advantage and open themselves up to the likely "Dems hate the troops" attacks by the GOP. Pathetic.

Welcome to Washington bubble of partisan politics and the two parties never ending tug of war for power. I sometimes believe that I am watching a debate class gone wrong, where no one really cares about the position they are defending but just are arguing to argue. Once again, another blog post for another time.

Back to the Clusterfuk. Even though the an overwhelming majority of the public wants the war to end, the only way Congress makes it happen is if the Republican Caucus splits and starts to vote with the Democratic majority on gradual troop redeployments. I highly, highly doubt this will occur and this is my chilly, pound my head into the wall conclusion:

There are no true plans or momentum to end our occupation in Iraq by either party, PERIOD.

Oh, We are probably going to bomb Iran at some point soon too. Maybe the public will get really pissed when we bomb another country and they will get their fat asses off of their lazy boys. Actually, most Americans are too busy watching a chubby, washed up pop star dance like a mannequin and forget she was lip syncing on national TV to care about our broken foreign policy. Sometimes I do not blame them.

The Media continues to let the president set the terms of the debate too.
Most pundits would have never predicted that the bumbling Governor from Texas dwindling power relevance as president would be his lone access to the Bully Pulpit.

"Dang Gum, The Good Ole Decider is still deciding."

Huffington points the lackluster job of the media and its lazy reporting about Iraq,"The time has come for the media to stop acting as if there are two sides to the story of what's happening in Iraq when there is only one."

Eric Boehlert has an excellent column about the press taking the summer off on reporting about Iraq.

From the cost and length of the war(50 billion&3 months) to the reasons for it (UN/WMDs/Iraqi Democracy/War on Terror/Al Queda), the American people have continually been misled and straight up lied to about Iraq. Every single one of theses "experts" predictions on Iraq has turned out wrong. Why should any American keep believing in the administration or their pro war cheerleaders on this topic?

They long ago lost the benefit of the doubt and it is why I believe this country's next executive leader in 2009 needs to be someone Americans can believe in. This country needs a JFK, a Reagan or a Clinton. Someone to renew their faith in our country/government and reclaim the respect of the world. Americans are good, honest, caring people and I am fed up that a few shitty leaders has made us all look like selfish, greedy, imperialistic pigs. I am too busy worrying about the lives of our US Soldiers to start commenting on the 08 presidential Horse race.

The worst part is that I can not even believe a word these government officials say about Iraq, Iran, or North Korea. They can be telling some truths about these countries but their track record gives them ZERO credibility.

Matthew Dowd, Bush's main campaign strategist in his 00, 04 election victories, no longer believes in anything Bush says about Iraq.

My biggest problem with the policy discussion in Washington right now is that both parties and the media should be talking about answers to the obvious problem in the Mid East. We should be discussing the pros and cons of our bad options out of this hornets nest, analyzing what are the best ways to protect our interests and prevent more US deaths.

Instead, the administration keeps spewing talk of us "winning," and keeping faith in their repetitive hollow promises. I do not have all of the answers nor does anyone for that matter but until the public and media demand a true debate from our political leaders, we will continue to deny the reality of our problem in Iraq. Things only have the chance to get worse and not better.

Now Enjoy this video and I am sorry if you made it to the bottom of my rant. Happy Munday.




The Real Heros in Life, Our Fallen Soliders
Cartoon by Stuart Carlson
Whack A Mole
Dowd NOW disagrees with Bush, thanks Pal
Bush Sets Debate
Dems Folding on Iraq
Our Pointless Pilate Press
Press Blackout Summer
9 US Soliders Died in Iraq

Mac Gs World

This Week in Iraqi Occupation ClusterF^&*!

We have decided to arm the Sunnis in Iraq. We are now training the Shiite dominated Iraqi army and giving arms to their Sunnis. Not only are our troops in a middle of a civil war, we are now giving arms to both sides.

Ice Station