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Monday, April 30, 2007 - 10:00pm Death Toll For American Soldiers Rising For those of you who think the troop surge is working and the violence is subsiding in Iraq, think again. As the month of April comes to a close, the number of U.S. soldiers killed in the war has passed 100, making it the worst month this year. Officially, there have been 104 American troops killed this month. In addition, there were thirteen coalition soldiers killed, bringing the total to 117.
Unfortunately, April marks the deadliest month for U.S. and coalition troops in over two years. In addition, all four months this year have experienced at least seventy five deaths. This is the only year where that has been the case. In all of the previous years, the numbers have been significantly lower.
There have been six individual months (out of fifty) where more than 100 Americans have been killed. Three of those six months have been since October of last year. So as horrible as you thought the war was going last year or the year before or the year before, it is even worse today.
Some people (see McCain, John) would like to spin a story that the security situation in Iraq is improving and the country is slowly stabilizing, but you can see that it is not the case. These people would like us to wait until August or September to see if this troop surge is effective, but we already know that it won't be. There aren't enough troops to secure the country. It's that simple.
The only question now is how long it will take the members of the GOP to join the Democrats and stop this White House from sending more soldiers off to their death. If the Congress does not step up, we will see this war continue without end. Hundreds more soldiers will die as these politicians worry only about positioning themselves for the next election. Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 10:00pm Obama Wins First Presidential Debate! I'm a little biased. Can you tell? Ok, I must confess that I didn't watch one minute of the Democratic debate tonight. My (cheap) hotel does not get MSNBC and no respectable bar/restaurant would be playing a 2008 presidential debate in April, 2006.
However, I did my homework and was happy to hear that the candidates spent an extensive amount of time on gun control. Of course, they should ban handguns completely in this country, but I doubt any candidate took that stance. Like John Kerry, most Democrats are deathly afraid to take a strong position on gun control. Five of the eight candidates have kept guns in their house at one point. Lovely!
Joe Biden would be a great candidate if he stopped putting his foot in his mouth in other settings. He is the strongest Democrat on foreign policy, including Iraq. He is the only politician on either side of the aisle who has proposed a viable solution to the conflict in Iraq. His proposal to divide the nation of Iraq into three separate federations (Sunni, Shia, Kurd) is the only way the violence will subside.
Much of the debate centered around Iraq, with Barack Obama making the key quote of "We are one signature away from ending this war", a reference to the bill that is set to come before President Bush. Obama scored well with that comment and with many others. He clearly was more substance than style.
Hillary Clinton stood by her terrible Iraq war vote, with John Edwards saying she should search her conscience. Hillary ducked and dodged, stating that the question is what we do now. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a good answer for that either.
All that said, this debate really didn't matter. Like me, very few people were watching it. It took place late on a Thursday night in April. The first primary is still nine month away. Considering nobody made any major mistakes, nothing really changed. Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 10:20pm Giuliani Hoping Fear Gets Him Votes Some people think that you win elections by striking fear into the American people and then telling them who's to blame for it. That appears to be the strategy of Rudolph Giuliani. The former mayor stated that electing a Democrat as President would place the United States at risk of another 9/11 attack. These moronic comments are reason number 8,246 why Rudy Giuliani should never be president.
This fear and blame tactic is a classic strategy of slimy, scumbag politicians. The public becomes so afraid that they vote for the guy doing the finger pointing. President Bush used similar remarks back in 2004 and 2006. Not coincidentally, that happened to be during the election cycles. Fortunately, the statements were far less effective the second time around. I guess Giuliani didn't get the memo.
Future President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were quick to strike back at Rudy's delusional commentary. Obama rightfully said that Americans would reject those kind of politics. I just hope he's right. In the past, many voters have bought into the fear. Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 2:25am Sorry for the long delay in posting. I am in the process of moving to the liberal bastion of Massachusetts and have not touched the blog. A lot has happened since my last post, but the news has been dominated in the last week by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I could rail against the lack of gun laws in this country that helped allow this to happen, but it seems to always fall on deaf ears, so I will not get into it.
Instead, I'll focus on pure political news and the barrage of lies told by Alberto Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. I lost track, but can someone tell my how many times the Attorney General claimed he could not recall information? No wait, I found a source. It was 71 times!!! In case you're wondering, that is a classic phrase attorneys tell their clients to repeat in order to cover their arse. It really is a blatant lie, but it's impossible to prove that a witness cannot remember specific events.
The Senators chastised Gonzales, but they did little to actually remove him from his post. In the end, the Judiciary Committee proved to be a weak, grandstanding group of old men. Only six Republicans have asked for Alberto Gonzales to resign thus far despite many others condemning his actions. Even Arlen Specter (R-PA), who grilled the AG intensely and seemed to not believe a word he said, refused to call for his resignation.
This issue shows that the White House still has the GOP members in Congress under their thumb. Time and time again, the Republicans have talked tough, but when push comes to shove, they do nothing (please note that the Democrats never do anything either).
Once upon a time, the executive and legislative branches were considered separate branches of government, but those days are long gone. Today, the White House exerts enormous pressure on Congress to bow to their wishes and for some reason, it continues to work. Monday, April 16, 2007 - 10:55am I suppose we should've expected this from Torture Boy. In a 25-page prepared statement from soon-to-be former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, he asserts that his memory is cloudy about his involvement in the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. This is, of course, another bold-faced lie by TB. He has been evasive and untruthful over and over again and this statement is no different
In the end, it is up to the Republican Senators to press TB during his testimony. The Democrats will grill him, but they hold very few cards if they can't bring some Republicans onto their side. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have been talking tough, but they have done so before, only to fold to this corrupt White House numerous times.
Torture Boy is hoping this entire story goes away. Thanks to Don Imus and the morons in mainstream media, he may get his wish. With the way the MSM covers Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, and Don Imus, you can be assured that government officials will be getting away with a lot more. The media will simply move on to other stories and the uproar will subside. Friday, April 13, 2007 - 8:30am White House Destroying E-Mail Records It seems that Karl Rove went out of his way to personally delete emails directly off the server and was forced to stop in 2005. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is now looking for over four years of e-mails from 2001-2005 as they investigate the Bush administration. Of course, such behavior by Rove is typical, but it makes one wonder what was so secretive that he had to delete it not only from his personal account but from the server itself.
As I'm sure he knows, e-mail almost never dies. It doesn't necessarily matter that Rove deleted them off his server. Every email he sends would be on the recipient's server as well. Karl Rove may have made the job of investigators far more difficult, but not impossible.
The new revelations give new life to the story of the secret White House email accounts. The White House set up secretive accounts to avoid inquiries from Congress, which is questionable at best and illegal at worst. Senator Leahy wants to issues subpoenas to get at these accounts and I hope he does before they try to destroy them.
Just imagine how much unlawful activity would be uncovered if Congress was able to get their hands on four years worth of emails from Dr. Evil himself. Karl Rove is the criminal mastermind of the Bush administration and thus far has been able to keep his buffoon in power and himself out of jail.
If Congress can get those e-mails, Rove might finally go down. I'm not holding my breath though. Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 7:55am I am convinced now that the mainstream media has no desire whatsoever to report real, actual news. For days we have seen wall-to-wall coverage on Don Imus and what to do about his racist and sexist remark. I can't take it any more! It's on every channel. It's even covered on ESPN because Imus directed his comments towards a women's basketball team.
There are American soldiers dying in Iraq every single day, but do you think the networks cover that with the same fervor? Of course not. Tabloid television has taken over and there is no end in sight. If they're not talking about Imus, they're discussing Anna Nicole Smith, a no-talent, drugged-up junkie who did nothing in her life.
Please tell me that these television networks have more respect for themselves than what I'm seeing lately. Please tell me that it will someday get better and they will get back to reporting news. I'll have to stop watching the "news" entirely if they can't.
P.S. If you missed what Don Imus had to say, please tune your television to MTV where you can hear the same remarks every day. Monday, April 9, 2007 - 8:40am Bush and Democrats Push Weak Immigration Plan President Bush has stepped up his rhetoric on the illegal immigration front, hoping to create a guest worker program for illegals and give them a path to citizenship. His immigration plan is considered to be extremely liberal and has been met with disappointment and disgust from people in his own party. He is traveling to Yuma, Arizona on the border with Mexico to make his case.
Rather than send illegal immigrants back home where they belong, the President would like to reward the people that break the law by crossing into this country. He has proposed granting work visas to illegals which would allow them to stay in the United States legally. If these workers would like to become permanent U.S. residents, they would have to return to their home country and pay a large fine to return.
Despite taking this incredibly lenient approach, thousands of illegals marched through Los Angeles this weekend in protest. If you ask me, they should keep marching all the way back to their own country! If you are not even in the United States legally, you have no rights and nothing to protest.
The only reason these folks have not been deported is because Bush is in the back pocket of big business and corporations love cheap labor. If not for that fact, Bush would take a much harder line.
The only positive legislation that has come out so far is the approval of 700 miles of border fencing along the U.S./Mexico border. Of course, the border is over 2,000 miles long, so 700 miles will only protect about 1/3 of the area. However, fencing has proven to work in the parts of the country where it currently is in place. The continuous flow of illegal immigrants in those sections has abated.
If the Democrats had a clue, they would bow to conservatives on this issue. For once, the conservatives are correct. The left has absolutely no idea what they're doing on this issue and they never have. Democrats want to allow anyone and everyone into this country without paying any attention to the effects. They scream about healthcare reform, but ignore the fact that illegal immigrants are crippling hospitals and medical services throughout the country.
The GOP minority needs to hold firm. If weak legislation is passed or none at all, the problem of illegal immigration will continue to get worse. Saturday, April 7, 2007 - 2:30pm As Expected, British Hostages Speak of Forced Confessions The media has been giving the captured British soldiers a hard time for the statements they made while in Iran about their ordeal. Now that they are in a free country able to speak freely, the truth has come out. The Brits were blindfolded, threatened with death, lied to, isolated, and forced into making bogus statements on camera. Of course, if you know anything about the animals in the Iranian government, you would know this already.
It's disappointing that the media made little mention of the obvious coercion in their statements. Granted, the soldiers could have refused to say anything other than name, rank, and serial number, but when you have a gun to your head, you do whatever you must to survive. The media, sitting in their cushy offices, decided to jump all over the Brits for caving to Iranian demands. However, they would likely have done the same under similar circumstances.
A commenter pointed out that the waters the British were captured in were disputed and not recognized by Iran as international waters. However, that is hardly the point. Iran easily could've turned the lightly armed British sailors around and back into other waters, but instead decided to hold them hostage for two weeks.
None of this is to say the British and American governments treat their prisoners well. As I have documented over and over on this blog, the CIA has been allowed to torture prisoners thanks to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others. If you're going to protest that treatment though, as the Iranians do, it helps if you don't do it yourself.
One frightening aspect of this conflict is that the British could have easily gone down shooting, even though they likely would've all been killed. They were about to captured by a hostile nation in what they considered to be international waters. That would be all that was needed for both sides to declare full-scale war against each other. Fifteen dead Brits and a number of dead Iranians would've escalated us into World War III.
If Iran is at war with the British, they are at war with the United States as well. That would also bring Syria, Hezbollah, and Israel into the mix. It is scary how close that came to reality.
With these countries patrolling the same waters in the Persian Gulf, how long do we really think we can avoid a shootout and another war as a result? Wednesday, April 4, 2007 - 11:55am Barack Obama Raises a Stunning $25 Million! While Hillary Clinton set the all-time record for fundraising in the first quarter with $26 million, Barack Obama is hot on her heels with $25 million. The two candidates are a solid $11 million ahead of John Edwards, the next closest challenger. With many states moving their primaries up on the schedule, money is a big, big deal in determining the next President of the United States.
In the last month, Hillary Clinton has slid in the polls and Edwards and Obama have narrowed the gap. Perhaps she is sliding because she is a complete phony who refuses to offer an opinion until she sees which way the wind is blowing first. Her biggest advantage has been having more money and now Barack Obama is matching her.
I would much rather see the Democratic primary come down to John Edwards and Barack Obama. Both of them are much better candidates than Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama has opposed the war in Iraq from the start and John Edwards has admitted his vote to authorize the President to go to war was a mistake. Hillary, on the other hand, refuses to acknowledge the greatest mistake of her life.
As for the Republicans, the money is not flowing in at the same levels. Mitt Romney was able to pull in $20 million in the first quarter, but much of that was due to his Mormon connections. He was not able to raise a great deal of money outside of Utah. After Romney, Rudy Giuliani came in with $15 million and John McCain stumbled in with $12.5 million.
In the past, Republicans easily outpaced the Democrats on the money train. What you're seeing now is the exact opposite. The vitriol toward the Republican party is so strong that the funds are going in the other direction. If this hatred of the GOP keeps up, no Republican will stand a chance in the general election. The Democrat that wins the primary will become the next president. Tuesday, April 3, 2007 - 10:15am Moderate Republicans Giving Bush Until Labor Day Many Republican Senators have publicly supported Bush's troop surge, but that may all change at the end of the summer. It has been reported that General David Petraeus will deliver a progress report in August to a Republican caucus and if nothing significant has changed, the GOP will stop supporting the President.
Of course, nothing will change on the ground in Iraq by August. These politicians are kidding themselves if they think there will be. It's been over four years and no progress has been made. None! The United States simply does not have enough troops to improve the situation. The new general is also delusional if he honestly believes he can control this civil war in Iraq in five months.
The important thing to note here is that Republicans will soon abandon this president. I don't know if September will be the breaking point for the GOP, but it will come before the elections. The closer we get to the 2008 elections, the less support this administration will receive. Bush's approval rating is in the low 30's, so any Republican up for re-election knows they can't support him or the war too strongly.
The Democrats are mostly united in terms of setting a date for withdrawal from Iraq. The likely target dates are March or August of 2008. Right now, they do not have enough votes to overturn a veto, but they will in five months if only 1/3 of the Republicans join them.
Vote to bring the troops home or lose your job. That is the decision these Republicans have to make. I'm betting they all want to stay in power. Monday, April 2, 2007 - 8:55am Straight Talk Express Veers Off the Road When John McCain was running for President in 2000, his campaign bus was called the 'Straight Talk Express' because of how honest and truthful he was. Those days are long gone now. Today, John McCain is a bumbling, stumbling, old man who refuses to acknowledge the obvious with regard to Iraq. Speaking from Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, McCain declared that Iraq was much safer and that Americans were not getting the full picture.
This followed comments McCain made a few days ago telling Wolf Blitzer to "catch up" on the security picture in Iraq. Unfortunately, McCain just does not get it. Politically, he does not want to change his pro-war position for fear of being labeled a flip-flopper. He is running for President again and needs to look very conservative to attract the support of bible-thumping, jesus-freaks on the far right. If he dares to speak the truth about the war in Iraq and acknowledge the disaster that it is, he believes he will not receive the Republican nomination.
McCain cited this increase in safety on a day when six American soldiers were killed. Hundreds more Iraqis have been murdered in the last two weeks. McCain even had the gall to claim that it was safe to walk the streets in Baghdad. Of course, he did this walk inside the Green Zone surrounded by dozens of armed soldiers. When he left the Green Zone, he wore a bulletproof vest in a convoy of armored Humvees. Sounds pretty safe to me.
Seven years ago, John McCain spoke the truth and garnered the respect and admiration of many Independents (like me) as well as folks on the left and right. However, in recent years he has decided to pander to the lunatics of the religious right and has lost all sense of direction. If he wasn't running for President, perhaps he would go back to being the maverick Senator from Arizona who was brutally honest no matter what. My hope is that he drops out sooner rather than later and gets back to the man he was and not the disgrace he has become.
Political Critic - political blogs, conservatives, vlog, liberals, democrats, republicans, video blog, political opinion. |
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As gruesome as it is to discuss deaths in numbers, it is necessary to
establish whether or not the United States is making progress in Iraq.
If the country is to stabilize, the number of troops being killed must
decline. There are other factors to be sure, but this is one of
the major issues.
TB has been preparing for his testimony before Congress with five hour a
day sessions. I guess it takes a long time to remember all your
lies and cover each one fluidly. My father once told me to always
tell the truth, in part because it's easier to remember.
Unfortunately, TB never learned that lesson. There would be little
need for five hour sessions if he simply spoke the truth. He
claims to have "nothing to hide", but we all know better. He's
been hiding and lying about this entire situation for months now.
An
old, rich, white guy making racist comments is not news anymore.
It happens every day. It shouldn't, but it does. It
certainly doesn't warrant being the leading news story for five days
straight. Not to mention that nobody even covered it when the
remark actually happened. Don Imus made his comment last
Wednesday. He apologized on Friday and the story should've been
over.