Shoe on other foot

Funny to see how the Freepers cry when they realize how they've been played for fools.

Late for work. See yas ...

Babies ...

The score:

Subpoena Scoreboard
Investigating The Clenis' blow jobs and bad real estate transactions, Rep. Dan Burton: 1052
Investigating a Soviet-like take-over of our country, Rep. Henry Waxman: 3

...

Note to Rethugs who whine about 'Bush bashing': Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

What we have wrought ...

This didn't happen under Saddam:

MARABA, Syria — Back home in Iraq, Umm Hiba’s daughter was a devout schoolgirl, modest in her dress and serious about her studies. Hiba, who is now 16, wore the hijab, or Islamic head scarf, and rose early each day to say the dawn prayer before classes.

But that was before militias began threatening their Baghdad neighborhood and Umm Hiba and her daughter fled to Syria last spring. There were no jobs, and Umm Hiba’s elderly father developed complications related to his diabetes.

Desperate, Umm Hiba followed the advice of an Iraqi acquaintance and took her daughter to work at a nightclub along a highway known for prostitution. “We Iraqis used to be a proud people,” she said over the frantic blare of the club’s speakers. She pointed out her daughter, dancing among about two dozen other girls on the stage, wearing a pink silk dress with spaghetti straps, her frail shoulders bathed in colored light.

...

These are the people who invented the fucking wheel. We've managed to destroy any hope these people will have for generations. We should turn Bush, Cheney, and the neocons over to the Iraqis and let them do what they will.

Interview With Our Mom

By way of background, That Colored Fella once called me 'n Fixer "the love children of Frank Rich and Randi Rhodes". A high compliment. It's the first time I've liked being called a loudmouth bastard!

A BuzzFlash interview with Randi Rhodes:

Yes, Randi Rhodes did serve in the military, so unlike Dick Cheney -- let's say -- she can tell you a thing or two about what it means to be in the Armed Forces.

As you will see in the interview, we don't think Randi is a flaming liberal at all. She's a gal from Brooklyn who just applies common sense and the facts to what she sees. And applying common sense to the blinded, destructive zealotry of the Bush cabal can infuriate a person.

You get the feeling that if George Bush had to spend five minutes alone in a room with Randi Rhodes, he'd end up wimpering in the corner and crying out for mercy.

So would I, but for different reasons...pardon my incestuous thoughts!

BuzzFlash: Let me ask a Barbara Walters question here. If we were at a bar, would it be the same Randi Rhodes that I hear on the air?

Randi Rhodes: Yeah, except drunk. Except drunk and really horny.

That's our Mom!

It's quite a long interview, and in no way can I do it justice here. Please go read.

What Congress Really Approved: Benchmark No. 1: Privatizing Iraq's Oil for US Companies

Ann Wright

On Thursday, May 24, the US Congress voted to continue the war in Iraq. The members called it "supporting the troops." I call it stealing Iraq's oil - the second largest reserves in the world. The "benchmark," or goal, the Bush administration has been working on furiously since the US invaded Iraq is privatization of Iraq's oil. Now they have Congress blackmailing the Iraqi Parliament and the Iraqi people: no privatization of Iraqi oil, no reconstruction funds.

No other nation in the Middle East has privatized its oil. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iran give only limited usage contracts to international oil companies for one or two years. The $120 billion dollar "Support the Troops" legislation passed by Congress requires Iraq, in order to get reconstruction funds from the United States, to privatize its oil resources and put them up for long term (20- to 30-year) contracts.

What does this "Support the Troops" legislation mean for the United States military? Supporting our troops has nothing to do with this bill, other than keeping them there for another 30 years to protect US oil interests. It means that every military service member will need Arabic language training. It means that every soldier and Marine would spend most of his or her career in Iraq. It means that the fourteen permanent bases will get new Taco Bells and Burger Kings! Why? Because the US military will be protecting the US corporate oilfields leased to US companies by the compliant Iraqi government. Our troops will be the guardians of US corporate interests in Iraq for the life of the contracts - for the next thirty years.

With the Bush administration's "Support the Troops" bill and its benchmarks, primarily Benchmark No. 1, we finally have the reason for the US invasion of Iraq: to get easily accessible, cheap, high-grade Iraq oil for US corporations.

Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army and US Army Reserves and retired as a colonel. She served 16 years in the US diplomatic corps in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Micronesia and Mongolia. She resigned from the US Department of State in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq.

The takeover of Iraq's resources by 'privatization', a fancy word for 'theft', is Bush's last chance at a 'legacy': to be forever enshrined in corporate boardrooms as the man who bravely sacrificed America's military and treasury in the name of profit.

His position will be assured as well if he can keep the cheap labor flowing northward pretty much unencumbered, while making it look like he has 'solved' the illegal immigration problem. So far, it looks to me like Bush will just charge them to come here, maybe turnstiles in the desert. Pay up, get a lunchroom pass Guest Worker card that legally entitles the bearer to be underpaid and abused.

That's a whole 'nother subject.

Trust and Betrayal

Paul Krugman. Today's 'must read':

"In this place where valor sleeps, we are reminded why America has always gone to war reluctantly, because we know the costs of war." That's what President Bush said last year, in a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Those were fine words, spoken by a man with less right to say them than any president in our nation's history. For Mr. Bush took us to war not with reluctance, but with unseemly eagerness.

The question was whether the public would ever catch on. Well, to the immense relief of those who spent years trying to get the truth out, they did. Last November Americans voted overwhelmingly to bring an end to Mr. Bush's war.

Yet the war goes on.

But Osama is back: last week Mr. Bush invoked his name 11 times in a single speech, warning that if we leave Iraq, Al Qaeda - which wasn't there when we went in - will be the winner. And Democrats, still fearing that they will end up accused of being weak on terror and not supporting the troops, gave Mr. Bush another year's war funding.

Democratic Party activists were furious, because polls show a public utterly disillusioned with Mr. Bush and anxious to see the war ended. But it's not clear that the leadership was wrong to be cautious. The truth is that the nightmare of the Bush years won't really be over until politicians are convinced that voters will punish, not reward, Bush-style fear-mongering. And that hasn't happened yet.

Here's the way it ought to be: When Rudy Giuliani says that Iran, which had nothing to do with 9/11, is part of a "movement" that "has already displayed more aggressive tendencies by coming here and killing us," he should be treated as a lunatic.

When Mitt Romney says that a coalition of "Shia and Sunni and Hezbollah and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda" wants to "bring down the West," he should be ridiculed for his ignorance.

And when John McCain says that Osama, who isn't in Iraq, will "follow us home" if we leave, he should be laughed at.

But they aren't, at least not yet. And until belligerent, uninformed posturing starts being treated with the contempt it deserves, men who know nothing of the cost of war will keep sending other people's children to graves at Arlington.

These clowns are pandering to the wrong bunch, a minority (at last, thank God) who can't elect them. Let 'em.

They're just pathetic. I like that.

Not just numbers ...

Real people with real lives.

And while 'I wuz in Main & Central, stealin' Lurch's links', I came across his treatment on the article about the troops disillusionment in Iraq.

...

Those of us who have actually done the deed have been insisting for years that our Army is stretched too thin, tasked too hard, and bleeding too much. Those who have sat on their dead asses have called us traitors. It’s not a painful accusation once you consider the source.

Mr Kamber points out that younger troops, those on their first tour, don’t necessarily feel the same sense of frustration.

...

A grizzled man would wonder whether their attitudes might change after months of patrols, ambushes and IEDs in the same area, day after day, especially after loading a few helicopters with their buddies.

...

When the senior NCOs bitch, you know there's something wrong.

... The fact that a career NCO like SFC Moore has had enough is a signifier that no one should miss ...

Now, fortunately or not, I never had experience with a sustained combat situation, not many of us who served between Vietnam and Iraq 2 have. When we went, it was for a specific op, whether it was extracting a Company weenie from a tight spot or dealing with a South American drug dealer's secret airfield in the Andes, it never lasted more than a couple weeks. Even our deployment to Grenada was less than 3 weeks. We never got into a patrol routine, hell, generally no one even knew we were at a location, let alone be out looking for us. The locals we came in contact with stumbled upon us by accident. We never had to pacify anything and people only knew we were around when shit started blowing up.

For the guys in Iraq it's different; day in, day out of people trying to kill them, the blistering heat of summer, never knowing whom among the locals they can trust, and never being able to decompress . It's bad enough doing it for a year, let alone coming back 3 and 4 times. I'd be sick of it too. I'd be really pissed that I was in the situation thanks to a buncha idiots who thought they'd be getting a quick, large payday by kicking over Saddam and taking his oil.

Our guys are fighting to stay alive. The senior guys know what's happening, know they're fighting a delaying action now. Bringing 'freedom and democracy' to Iraq went out the window for these guys and all they care about is staying alive until the politicians decide it's time for them to come home.

Ask the Vietnam guys about that.

When Will We Ever Learn . . .?

Military Cemetery (Soldatenfriedhof), Retz, Austria.

I was raised believing that the people in these graves were the enemy. But, you know what, they are just like you and me, only we were luckier. The great majority of them died fighting a war that they probably little understood. They were ordered to don a uniform and shoulder a gun. And they did. For love of country. Misguided or not. And they died.

When will we ever learn. . .?

Click image to view larger version.

R.

A musical prayer

Chicago Sun-Times. Even a wingnut fishwrapper is useful sometimes.

The venerable tradition of playing live taps at veterans' funerals and memorial services is making a comeback.

Bugles Across America, founded by an ex-Marine from Berwyn, has enlisted more than 5,000 volunteers to play the haunting, 24-note bugle call.

Since 2000, Bugles Across America volunteers have played taps at 60,000 veterans' funerals, said founder Tom Day.

After World War II, the military eliminated the position of bugler to save money, Day said. Consequently, taps was played at fewer and fewer funerals.

Day founded Buglers Across America in 2000 to recruit volunteers from high schools, colleges, honor guards and drum-and-bugle corps. Volunteers now play taps at about 1,000 funerals a month. The service is free, but the buglers accept tips.

Nevertheless, at many funerals, taps is still played on a boom box, or not at all.

Day, 67, estimates he has played taps at about 5,000 funerals. Each time, he strives to play it with emotion. He hangs out the notes, especially the last one, which softly fades away.

"I regard it as a musical prayer," Day said. "Every time you lift that horn slowly to your face, you have to be in a certain zone."

Day approaches each performance as if it were an Olympic competition. If he makes a mistake, he explains, "there's no do-over."

I think Bugles Across America is doing a fine thing.

'Taps' was played as part of the military honors at my brother-in-law's funeral last year. On this day of remembrance, please go read it and also please pardon me for blowing my own horn, pun intended.

Arlington West

AFP

Volunteers set up the Arlington West display of war memorial crosses for US military personnel killed in Iraq, on Santa Monica Beach in California. Eight more American soldiers have been killed fighting in Iraq, the military reported

About five miles inland from this display is the Los Angeles National Cemetery. There are over 85,000 veterans interred there. Tens of thousands of people drive past it each day. I wonder how many even know it's there.

"May George Bush and Dick Cheney rot in hell for what they've done..."

From Politics Plus, along with a "Memorial Day Message" video and a quote from Thoreau:

This can be a difficult day for people who hate Bush's war for oil and conquest, as I do. The 28 percenters always use military holidays to challenge the patriotism of those who dissent. They claim that we do not support the troops. That is a lie. They are not the mission to which they have been assigned. Supporting or opposing that mission reflects on the authors of that mission, not the troops. If the mission is illegal, immoral and unwinnable the most patriotic thing we can do to support the troops is to demand their withdrawal.

The title of this post is from 'comments' at the site. I wholeheartedly concur.

Voices ...

The Mrs. and I were at Long Island National Cemetery this morning, paying our respects to those who've served before and after I did. We do this most every year but this morning was unique.

On Memorial Day, all of the graves are decorated with small American flags, placed by volunteers. As we walked through, I noticed a flag on one of the graves had fallen over and went to right it. It was then I heard it, nothing mystical, just a voice in my head.

Hey, Sarge, pick mine up too.

And I saw one in front of the grave of a Navy corpsman. And I made it right.

Hey, lady, what about me?

And I saw the Mrs walk over to right a flag near the headstone of a Coastie.

Yo, Wingwiper, I heard an old Marine say. I'm not squared away either, light a fire under it.

Hey, honey, me too, an Army Air Corps pilot said and Mrs. F moved on.

Hey, brother, don't forget me, an Air Force troop, who was stationed at the same place on the DMZ I was, said.

And we went on, row to row, an unintended, unspoken mission, and after an hour we'd covered an acre, and moved on to the next. And when we finally finished with the small area of the cemetery, we walked back to the car, hand in hand, the stains of tears on both our faces.

"You heard them?" Mrs. F asked me when one of us felt we could speak.

"Yeah," I said.

And I realized our mission was a futile one for there were just two of us and 175 acres of marble headstones, row upon row of those who fought and sacrificed, row upon row of small American flags.

And today the mission in Iraq seems the most futile of all. There will be many more headstones, many more small American flags, and many more memorials to the fallen, to those who have served and sacrificed, to those who have fought and died in the service of the nation I love.

The warmongers and the clueless in this nation see the headstones, just as we do, but they don't hear the voices. They somehow don't get or don't care there is a voice attached to each marker. There was a person with hopes and dreams, family and friends, someone who had opinions and beliefs and a sense of duty. They see faceless automatons with rifles. As faceless as the plain, white headstones.

There should be a law in this country that any President who wants to go to war must first spend a day walking through a military cemetery, listening to the voices. They must read the headstones, the names, the branch of service, the battles; Cuba, the Bulge, Remagen, Iwo Jima, Coral Sea, Anzio, Seoul, Inch On, Khe Sanh, Tet, Hue, I Trang, Panama, Grenada, Kosovo, Srebrenica, Baghdad, Fallujah.

There are too many headstones, too many voices ...

Blowin' in the Wind

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
—Bob Dylan

R.

Quaint ...

This from a man who never put his ass on the line for anything in his life. I know a lot of guys who had "better things to do" during Vietnam and came home in boxes because they couldn't weasel one deferment, let alone five:

...

The standards of this Academy only highlight the deepest and most fundamental difference between the United States and our sworn enemies. A month ago, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Pace, spoke to this class about each officer's duty to follow a moral compass in all of his or her actions. In these four years you have learned the rules of warfare and professional military ethics. You've studied the tenets of morality. You've reflected on the seven Army values: of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. You have lived by a code of honor, and internalized that code as West Point men and women always do.

...

Who in Hell let him speak to the Cadet Corps anyway? Were I one of them, I'd take being lectured on "loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage" by Vice President Cheney as an insult. As a former enlisted man, I can't help but laugh at the irony.

Memorial Day ... again

Yes, I'm on this today. If you read any posts about Memorial Day, I want you to read these two:

Kitchen Window Woman (and fellow scholar of the American Patriot Institute):

...

Years later, my nights were sleepless once more. Despite all that I taught him, the recruiters had convinced my son to Be All That You Can Be in the Army. The thread that connects so many mothers and sons, the invisible umbilical cord, was in my case knotted with fear for well over a decade while my son served in various combat zones overseas. My eldest son survived his fourteen year stint of obliging the Masters of War but he has vomited daily since serving in Iraq during Gulf War I. He's undergone two surgeries on his ankles, and is awaiting a second surgery on his shoulder. I sleep better now but he doesn't. Night terrors from PTSD keep him awake into the wee hours.

...

Commander Huber:

...

When it comes to direct experience with fallen comrades, I got off pretty easy. Great wartime leaders like Dwight Eisenhower and Chester Nimitz lost millions of men and women under their commands--sometimes tens of thousands in a single day. One war story says that after one of the big island battles of World War II, Nimitz was so distraught over the number of Marine casualties that he briefly considered resigning and turning control of the entire Pacific war effort over to Douglas McArthur.

...

Operation Freedom From Iraqis

Daddy Frank

When all else fails, those pious Americans who conceived and directed the Iraq war fall back on moral self-congratulation: at least we brought liberty and democracy to an oppressed people. But that last-ditch rationalization has now become America's sorriest self-delusion in this tragedy.

But his silence about Iraq's mass exodus is not merely another instance of deceptive White House P.R.; it's part of a policy with a huge human cost. The easiest way to keep the Iraqi plight out of sight, after all, is to prevent Iraqis from coming to America. And so we do, except for stray Shiites needed to remind us of purple fingers at State of the Union time or to frame the president in Rose Garden photo ops.

The message is clear enough: These ungrateful losers deserve everything that's coming to them. The Iraqis hear us and are returning the compliment. Whether Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is mocking American demands for timelines and benchmarks, or the Iraqi Parliament is setting its own timeline for American withdrawal even while flaunting its vacation schedule, Iraq's nominal government is saying it's fed up. The American-Iraqi shotgun marriage of convenience, midwifed by disastrous Bush foreign policy, has disintegrated into the marriage from hell.

Please read the rest.

Epitaphs

Some of these may be on the headstones in Fixer's sobering post.

From Epitaphs of the War, 1914-1918 by Rudyard Kipling.

AN ONLY SON

I have slain none except my Mother.
She (Blessing her slayer) died of grief for me.

BATTERIES OUT OF AMMUNITION

If any mourn us in the workshop, say
We died because the shift kept holiday.

THE BRIDEGROOM

Call me not false, beloved,
If, from thy scarce-known breast
So little time removed,
In other arms I rest.

For this more ancient bride
Whom coldly I embrace
Was constant at my side
Before I saw thy face.

Our marriage, often set-
By miracle delayed-
At last is consummate,
And cannot be unmade.

Live, then, whom Life shall cure.
Almost, of Memory,
And leave us to endure
Its immortality.

The one that applies least to Bush's War:

"EQUALITY OF SACRIFICE"

A. "I was a Have." B. "I was a 'have-not.' "
(Together.) "What hast thou given which I gave not?"

And one that applies to all wars since time immemorial and, sadly, will until the planet crumbles to dust:

COMMON FORM

If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.

Memorial Day

As you stuff your face this weekend, try and remember what this holiday is all about.

Pics courtesy of Arlington National Cemetery.

There is a family behind each one of those headstones. Think about that the next time you casually speak of war.

Incredible

Following quickly in the footsteps of Conservapedia and QubeTV is the Creation Museum (Good God!). We'll let Mustang Bobby tell you about it:

- Meet the Flintstones: A new museum in Kentucky explains how the universe began with two naked people and a talking snake.

Cat wisdom ...

Fred the Cat comes up with some good stuff, common sense mostly. He has a great post up on picking our Presidents:

If you guys were wise when you choose your presidents, you would look to their resumes. That’s what large successful corporations do when they hire their CEOs. You wouldn’t ask who you would like to have a beer with and you wouldn’t look for “rock star” qualities. You wouldn’t worry about their religion, sex, or race.

...