Speechwriting for W. . .

. . .a typical day in the West Wing:


--Published in The New Yorker October 18, 2004

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Failed Progress on All Fronts in Iraq

Most honest observers know the counter-insurgency and nation-building efforts in Iraq have failed.

The security situation is worse and worse as few will be surprised to hear. This remains true even if one looks below the surface at more detailed indicators, like increasing civilian casualties and an enormous increase in the crime rate, than just the daily military death count.

The economic situation is still bad news overall. No new salient infrastructure (despite America's huge investment- where has all the money gone?), no jobs and growing poverty. Any progress here and there has been too slow to help defuse the insurgency, at all.

The political situation is in greater confusion than since the end of official war. Various opinion polls show that public optimism, in terms of Iraqis' views about their personal and country's future, has greatly diminished. The referendum process has estranged Sunni Arabs even further. They still form the core of the insurgency, and bringing them into a national government seems more unlikely than ever.

The unwarranted American aggression in Iraq and it's incompetent management have created chaos which will not be solved by continued occupation. The Iraqis are going to fight it out amongst themselves one way or another, eventually.

There is no longer reason to hope for progress in Iraq. The time for America to get out and out of the way is now!


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A Signal of Intelligent Life?

SADLY, NO. . .

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Support McCain Amendment Against Torture

The Senate did the right thing when it passed Senator McCain's anti-torture amendment (S. Amdt. 1977) to the FY 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2863) by a bipartisan vote of 90-9, including 46 Republican "yeas." The amendment would prohibit the inhumane treatment of prisoners in the "war on terrorism".

Opposing torture is not a partisan cause. The practice of torture so fully embraces evil it dehumanizes both the torturer and its victim. No just cause can be won if it relies on torture to succeed.

Urge everyone to stand up against torture by doing everything in their power to ensure that Senator McCain's amendment is included in the final FY 2006 Defense Appropriations Act. Vice President Cheney is urging key representatives to allow exceptions to a clear condemnation of torture.

We all need to make sure that when the final bill is passed, the United States will be able to assure the rest of the world that we will stand for freedom and human dignity, not torture.

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Same old, same old.

I just had to make a quick comment on the VEEP's speech today:

This guy is a real pip. He begins by saying how his speech the other day was misunderstood, then he proceeds to spew the same old vitriole and skewed truth. Goebbels would be proud. This administration learns nothing, knows nothing and has nothing left to offer on Iraq.

We need to get out of Iraq, just to save this administration from botching it up more than it already has!

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GOP in Disarray

For years Bush's White House and party enforcers like indicted Tom DeLay have kept repubs in line with an iron fist. The repub Congress slavishly accepted the Bush line, even his revolting conservative contradictions like his massive budget deficits. Dissidence was quelched by the threat of punishment!

Karl Rove connived and Delay enforced adherence has changed, it seems. Lately, the repubs look like the old dems when they were in power. House repubs this past week rebelled against huge budget cuts to the welfare state, including Medicaid, student loans, etc. Tax cuts for the rich were again on the table, particularly in the Senate where repub moderates joined dems to block them.

Undoing the savage inequalities of the Bush regime is in the wind. After recent election defeats and extremely low Bush polls, the repubs are beginning to fear the reality of a dem rout in 2006! Bush can no longer be relied upon as an asset for repub incumbents.

--inspired by an editorial in The Nation

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(Click on the LINK for a corresponding post at Daily Kos)

Daily Kos

Permalinked to a corresponding comment in Planet Patriot's diary at DAILY KOS!

Just CLICK ON THE LINK in this post.

TAKE THE POLL, TOO!

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No to Alito!

For liberals and moderates in the Senate, voting against Alito is an easy decision:

Judge Alito's has a 15-year history of judicial decisions that have advanced the cause of the radical right, by 'legislating' from the bench. Among his many alarming rulings and opinions are those that have made it harder for Americans to:

*sue for sex or race-based discrimination in the workplace.
*fight back against companies that violate landmark anti-pollution laws like the Clean Water Act.
*ban private ownership of machine guns.

He really is the classic 'activist' judge, as defined by the right wing themselves!

And there are more disturbing things about Alito that should raise serious concern. For instance, his close affiliation with the Federalist Society and his 'personal' legal opinion about the right to abortion.

If confirmed to the Supreme Court, Samuel Alito has shown that he's anything but restrained when it comes to interpreting our nation's most important legislative protections and legal precedents. He is a danger to our civil rights and liberty.

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Civil Rights under Attack at Justice

This is the real agenda of the Bush administration!
Read the following article excerpt from The Washington Post, then Click on the LINK for the full story:


The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which has enforced the nation's anti-discrimination laws for nearly half a century, is in the midst of an upheaval that has driven away dozens of veteran lawyers and has damaged morale for many of those who remain, according to former and current career employees.

Nearly 20 percent of the division's lawyers left in fiscal 2005, in part because of a buyout program that some lawyers believe was aimed at pushing out those who did not share the administration's conservative views on civil rights laws. Longtime litigators complain that political appointees have cut them out of hiring and major policy decisions, including approvals of controversial GOP redistricting plans in Mississippi and Texas. . .

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Huffington Has It Right. . .

Ariana Huffington is such a breath of fresh air and honesty on the Judy Miller subject. Everyone else (journalists, pundits, etc.) seems to have an agenda aside from just the straight truth.

It is a shame that you have to be a woman to attack the self-righteous nonsense of a Judy Miller. There is obviously so much more we don't know, and with few exceptions most seem afraid to find out- she surely isn't going to tell us willingly. . . makes one really wonder what goes on between reporters and 'sources' in Washington. It's seems almost incestuous.

Click on the link to read her entire article.

Also, catch her on Democracy Now this week. She is as always delightful and insightful!

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NEW Media on the Sidebar Player

CHECK IT OUT! Great New Liberal Media on the Playlist:

*New animations, New news clips- some really great, funny stuff
for the liberal with a sense of humor!

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