Friday Cattle Dog Blogging

"You're bothering me, dad!"

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Unbelievable

River as a new post up. Iraqis think as much of (p)resident Dicknose's speech as I do:

"Not only can they not find WMD in Iraq," I commented to E. as we listened to the Bush speech, "But they have disappeared from his speeches too!" I was listening to the voiceover on Arabiya, translating his speech to Arabic. He was recycling bits and pieces of various speeches he used over two years.

E., a younger cousin, and I were sitting around in the living room, sprawled on the relatively cool tiled floor. The electricity had been out for 3 hours and we couldn’t turn on the air conditioner with the generator electricity we were getting. E. and I had made a bet earlier about what the theme of tonight's speech would be. E. guessed Bush would dig up the tired, old WMD theme from somewhere under the debris of idiocy and lies coming out of the White House. I told him he'd dredge up 9/11 yet again . . . tens of thousands of lives later, we would have to bear the burden of 9/11 . . . again.

I won the bet. The theme was, naturally, terrorism- the only mention of 'weapon' or 'weapons' was in reference to Libya. He actually used the word 'terrorist' in the speech 23 times.

He was trying, throughout the speech, to paint a rosy picture of the situation. According to him, Iraq was flourishing under the occupation. In Bush's Iraq, there is reconstruction, there is freedom (in spite of an occupation) and there is democracy.

"He's describing a different country . . ." I commented to E. and the cousin.

[. . .]

Do the Americans continue to believe such speeches? I couldn't help but wonder.

"They'll believe anything." E. sighed. "No matter what sort of absurdity they are fed, they'll believe it. Think up the most outrageous lie . . . They have people who'll believe it." [my emphases]

[. . .]

My two cents on Journalist/Source Privilege

I support journalistic privilege in maintaining the confidentiality of sources up to a point. In the case of someone wanting to get some info out to the press about crimes, corruption, malfeasance in office, or corporate shenannigans, Hell, yes, their identity should not be disclosed. I think one reason that D.C. does not have a shield law is to protect politicians by dissuading folks from talking about government and Congress' fuck-ups by threatening possible jail time for doing so.

However, in the Plame case, there are unusual factors that make me believe Cooper's and Miller's sources should not only be revealed to the court, but to the public as well. Here they are:

1.) The leak itself was a Federal crime, i.e. to disclose the name of a covert agent.

2.) The leak was a partisan political act in retribution for Mr. Wilson's calling the president a liar.

So what we basically have here is someone, probably in the White House itself, who committed a Federal crime involving National Security in order to get back at someone who exposed a presidential lie, and used Bob Novak, a Republican operative in the guise of a journalist, to do it. The damage they may have done to intelligence gathering throughout the world is incalculable

I think Novak is being protected at the highest level. He did their evil bidding, he's gold.

I think Mr. Cooper and Ms. Miller are honorable in refusing to name their source, but, in this particular case, misguided. The nation deserves to know their source so we can get to the bottom of who thought so little of selling out intelligence agents and their sources that they would pull a cheap trick like that for political revenge. I think his initials might be K.R., and no, it's not Knox Rover.

Oy!

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MSNBC Breaking News
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NASA: Space shuttle Discovery is 'go for launch' on July 13

Note to Astronauts: Better you than me. I wouldn't fly in that piece of shit.

Vets Say Support For Bush's War Is Gone

An article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports on Bush's speech as viewed by members of VFW Post 2500 in Hollywood, Florida.

About 30 people were around the bar drinking, chatting, smoking as the president talked. "Does it have to be so loud?" asked Barbara Flint as she sat next to Jerry Giblock, a visiting Vietnam veteran.

"He's running scared," said Giblock, 63, a former Post 2500 member who lives in Anchorage, Ala. "His poll numbers are so low, he's got to say something, but the support is gone. It's gone. I don't think there's anybody in here who's behind him."

These veterans have fought in foreign wars and struggled after them, which makes them more than eligible to comment on the ongoing war in Iraq.

Howard Fay, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, ladled meatballs in the kitchen.

"I don't like this war at all," he said. "Saddam wasn't doing anything to us. The one we should have been going after with everything is Osama bin Laden."

These veterans know war is never simple or easy, and they say this president, who never saw combat, overlooked these things in his rush to invade Iraq and install democracy.

"I have no respect for this president," said Bud Lynch of Hallandale, a Korean War veteran. "He's just trying to finish Daddy's job. That's all this was about. There was no nuclear [expletive] or WMDs to begin with ... If it were my son who was being sent over there, I wouldn't let him go."

Gee, ya think he's an old hippie?

Bush heard applause as he finished at Fort Bragg, but there wasn't a ripple at Post 2500.

Members of Veterans' organizations are pretty generally thought of as being conservative, particularly so in South Florida, I would think. Bush was only able to pull the wool over these guys' eyes for so long, and that time is past, it seems. I wanta see what happens if the administration calls these Vets traitors for not supporting his imperial criminal enterprise. I think they'll wish they hadn't.

If Bush has lost the Veterans, he's lost. Good.

A personal note: I'm a Life Member of the VFW, and a member of my local Post 2675, the Levon P. Joseph Post, named after a local WWII Vet. I have never been in combat, except at the Enlisted Men's Club. The only time I was ever shot at by a hostile force, it was the U.S. Navy, and luckily, that day they couldn'ta hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle. I got close enough to the Dominican Republic once to qualify for an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, a real pretty campaign ribbon, which is the minimum requirement for membership in the VFW. Mostly we do civic-minded stuff like a Memorial Day ceremony at the marble orchard, or painting the flagpole at the local Vets' Hall. The last one took about three years to wend its way through the bureaucracy before they'd let us do it. We're sorta like the Elks with guns 'n ammo.

The End . . . starting now

Just go see The Heretik.

Chickenhawks Cluck

Go read all the lame excuses the College Republicans use to rationalize their non-participation in Bush's War that they so desperately love, in The Nation. All your favorites are there helping them express themselves - Horowitz, Norquist, Coulter, etc.

In interviews, more than a dozen conventiongoers explained why it is important that they stay on campus while other, less fortunate people their age wage a bloody war in Iraq. They strongly support the war, they told me, but they also want to enjoy college life and pursue interesting careers. Being a College Republican allows them to do both. It is warfare by other, much safer means.

I chatted for a while with Collin Kelley, a senior at Washington State with a vague resemblance to the studly actor Orlando Bloom. Kelley told me he's "sick and tired of people saying our troops are dying in vain" and added, "This isn't an invasion of Iraq, it's a liberation--as David Horowitz said." When I asked him why he was staying on campus rather than fighting the good fight, he rubbed his shoulder and described a nagging football injury from high school. Plus, his parents didn't want him to go. "They're old hippies," Kelley said.

"Oh, I would mos' def love to kick some raghead ass but Mommy won't let me" seems just a little lame, but that's just me. Whatever works. Those old hippies are savin' your worthless life, dipshit.

Chimpeach

It's time.

Yes it is, ladies and gentlemen. It's time for us to push the 'High Crimes and Misdemeanors' angle. My esteemed colleague Froggy has been for a while, but the lack of any new content in the Chimp's speech Tuesday night should have us drawing parallels between the Clinton Impeachment and Bush's fuckups.

Clinton:

1) Had an affair with a WH intern and lied about it.

Bush:

1) Depraved Indifference for Human Life - through his ineptitude or willful disregard, he allowed 3000 Americans to die in some of the most horrible ways imaginable.

2) Fraud - He lied to Congress about the prewar intelligence and willfully misled the American people.

3) Murder in the First Degree - A separate count for every U.S. serviceperson killed in the Iraq War. The (p)resident and his henchmen planned to enter into conflict with Iraq knowing the true state of affairs on the ground in Iraq with regard to WMD. In effect, Bush and Co. planned the deaths of our people and should be in front of a firing squad for it. The number of counts on this charge is nearing 2000. I don't think anyone with 5000 lives on their hands should be given the option of life in prison.

Time to get this out there. We should not have to wait until '08. We should refuse to be led by a criminal organization. With the revelations of the DSMs, the federal RICO statutes should be available to prosecutors. Maybe our congressional candidates in '06 can push this meme as well. I WANT INDICTMENTS!

Really Good Christians

RJ Eskow:

Wonder why it is that you never hear about it when these Christians - representing millions of members - speak out? The National Council of Churches is circulating a petition for the Fourth of July that protests the war in Iraq as an immoral act:

[. . .]

This is what Jesus would do, you wingnut morons.

Terminator IV: Election Day

Well, well, well...it looks like California's unemployment rate may rise by one.

The Chairman

Howard Dean is on The Fat Moron's Show Hardball tonight.

And on another note, JRH might have the right idea.

Change the emphasis

Since Bush likes invoking 9/11 so much, let's turn it around on him. Instead of trying to break Chimpy's linkage of Iraq and September 11th, let's pound the fact that the man who masterminded the 9/11 attacks is still on the loose. 9/11 = Justice Not Served. We were promised Osama 'dead or alive', I say we demand nothing less and the Wingnuts' 'War on Terra' will never be won without it. Now go read Oliver Willis.

Exit Strategy Redux

I don't agree with everything in this piece at Tom Paine.com, but it's definitely food for thought.

Comparisons between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq are coming fast and furious now, so let's consider one more. There is an apt parallel between the way we got out of Vietnam and the way that we will get out of Iraq - sooner or later.

Go read.

Here's a ground level exit strategy from Back to Iraq:

When I was in Ramadi, I found the morale to be lower than expected. It wasn't rock-bottom among the Marines of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, but it wasn't great. Most of the ones I talked to weren't confident they were doing anything worthwhile, and were instead focused on getting home alive. If a few Iraqis had to die to make that happen, well, war is hell.

Those Marines probably have no idea of the parallel in their thinking to that of their forebears in my generation. I do, and it causes an icy feeling in my spine because I agree with them 100% and it's not nice.

Just when I think I've seen everything...

From The Smoking Gun. You wouldn't believe me. Go see for yourself.

Update: Here are the lyrics to "The Zamboni Song" by the Gear Daddies.

Clear mission

John at Blogenlust says we heard it all before:

How do you know that our mission in Iraq is in disarray? Because the President repeatedly catapults the phrase "clear mission" whenever he has the chance (see also, Clear Skies Initiative, Healthy Forest Initiative, etc.).

[. . .]

Bush's Speech

To help save everybody some time so they can do more important things, I think Juan Cole sums up last night's speech beautifully. Short and to the point:

There was nothing new in Bush's speech, and most of what he said was inaccurate.

A coupla syllables less and that could be an all-purpose haiku for this administration.

Testing

Just testing out this Blogger picture thing. That's me, by the way, standing at the border between Germany and Austria atop Zugspitze, the highest Alpine peak in Germany. Altitude there is about 15,000 9000 feet (so I can't convert meters to feet. sue me).

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Criminal

Think Progress via RUFNKM:

[. . .]

The Bush administration had claimed on multiple occassions that the current budget was enough to provide full care. Back in February, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson testified that he was "satisfied that we can get the job done with this budget." Later, when Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) tried to add funds into the VA budget, Nicholson wrote her a letter assuring that the VA did not "need emergency supplemental funds in FY2005 to continue to provide timely, quality service that is always our goal."

Yet today, even after the administration's misleading claims had been exposed, and despite brand new data showing that demand for veterans health programs had grown twice as fast as the VA predicted earlier this year, House conservatives still voted to block any additional funding for veterans' care. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Yup, I just love it when the Repubs say they 'support our troops'. The 'support' ends when the troops can no longer carry a rifle. Then they're just 'human compost'.

Balls

Democrats.com Urges Bush to Apologize, Exit Iraq - and Resign or Face Impeachment.

[. . .]

Democrats.com also urged Bush to resign from office by New Year's Day, along with Dick Cheney. "There is only one reason we invaded Iraq, and that is because George Bush and Dick Cheney made up their minds to do so, even before they stole the White House in 2000," Fertik said. "As conservatives who champion 'personal responsibility,' George Bush and Dick Cheney should take a dose of their own medicine and resign by New Year's Day, to let a new team put American on a new road to security and peace," he added.

If Bush refuses to resign, Democrats.com promised to build the largest grassroots impeachment movement in the nation's history. "George Bush claims the 2004 election was his one and only 'accountability moment,'" Fertik said. "But as Bush himself recently said, 'there's nothing farther from the truth.' The Constitution gives Congress the power to impeach the President for 'treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.' There can be no clearer case of an impeachable offense than lying to Congress and the American people about war and needlessly sending 1,744 young Americans to their deaths," Fertik concluded.

[. . .]

This is the kind of talk we need. "Bush/Cheney '04 - Resign or be Impeached."

Thanks to the Sister for the link.

Baby bullshit

How low can the Repubs go? Observe:

Major League Baseball hasn't narrowed the list of the eight bidders seeking to buy the Washington Nationals and some Republicans on Capitol Hill already are hinting at revoking the league's antitrust exemption if billionaire financier George Soros , an ardent critic of President Bush and supporter of liberal causes, buys the team.

[. . .]

How crybaby, whiny, vindictive can you get. There is no bottom for these people.