Ron Paul Talks About Blowback
On Fox Noise Channel much less.



Chalmers Johnson wrote a book about it, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. Here's a Nation article he wrote on it, Blowback. A recent article by Chalmers Johnson, Chalmers Johnson, Ending the Empire.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 1:14 PM

 
Strange Bedfellows?
There are several stories about the suits filed against the NSA that include the words strange bedfellows. This one, Strange Bedfellows v. Bush and Cheney from Salon says this:

A motley crew that includes Christopher Hitchens, Larry Diamond and Greenpeace is suing the NSA, claiming that Bush's wiretap program is inhibiting free speech.

I say fighting for your civil liberties is an American thing to do and to me, these people joining forces to protect there rights, there's nothing strange about it.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 7:18 AM

 
Cheney falls flat in Iraq
Cheney Fields Tough Questions From Troops:

Facing tough questions from battle-weary troops, Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday cited signs of progress in Iraq and signaled that force changes could come in 2006.

[...]

"From our perspective, we don't see much as far as gains," said Marine Cpl. Bradley Warren, the first to question Cheney in a round-table discussion with about 30 military members. "We're looking at small-picture stuff, not many gains. I was wondering what it looks like from the big side of the mountain - how Iraq's looking."

Cheney replied that remarkable progress has been made in the last year and a half.

"I think when we look back from 10 years hence, we'll see that the year '05 was in fact a watershed year here in Iraq," the vice president said. "We're getting the job done. It's hard to tell that from watching the news. But I guess we don't pay that much attention to the news."

Another Marine, Cpl. R.P. Zapella, asked, "Sir, what are the benefits of doing all this work to get Iraq on its feet?"

Cheney said the result could be a democratically elected Iraq that is unified, capable of defending itself and no longer a base for terrorists or a threat to its neighbors. "We believe all that's possible," he said.

Although he said that any decision about troop levels will be made by military commanders, Cheney told the troops, "I think you will see changes in our deployment patterns probably within this next year."

About 160,000 troops are in Iraq. The administration has said that troop levels are expected to return to a baseline of 138,000 after the elections, but critics of the war have called for a significant drawdown.

More than 2,100 troops have died in Iraq since the U.S. invaded in March 2003.

The round-table with the vice president came after hundreds of troops had gathered in an aircraft hangar to hear from a mystery guest. When Cheney emerged at the podium, he drew laughs when he deadpanned, "I'm not Jessica Simpson."

Shouts of "hooah!" from the audience interrupted Cheney a few times, but mostly the service members listened intently. When he delivered the applause line, "We're in this fight to win. These colors don't run," the only sound was a lone whistle.

If at this date the troops still don't know what the benefits of all this work in Iraq will be, that's a failure of leadership, at every level.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 11:27 AM

 
Congress Never Declared War
The sick thing on this story is that Bob Barr is making sense on this issue. You can read and view it at the two links below. Here is the point I want to make though:

BARR: Bob, during wartime, you give some powers to the presidency you wouldn't give in peace time. BARR: Do we have a declaration of war, Dana?

ROHRABACHER: You don't have to do that.

BARR: We don't? That makes it even much easier for a president.

ROHRABACHER: No, you just have to make sure that the people of the United States understand that we are at war. They understand that al Qaeda slaughtered 3,000 of our citizens -- more people than the Japanese slaughtered at Pearl Harbor.

I've said this many times before but I'm going to say it again. If the President is such a "man" why doesn't he go to the Congress and make his case and have them declare war, on terror. Maybe then the American people would see how inane all of this is. When will terror be defeated and the President cede these powers. Read the whole transcript, this Rohrabacher is an idiot.

Crooks and Liars has the video, Bob Barr: The president violated the law

Barr via Atrios.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 9:44 AM

 
More On The Katrina Disaster
Has anyone heard how the President's investigation into the problems with hurricane Katrina are going?

Last week Atrios posted an editorial by Rick Perlstein that no other media would publish. He never had this problem before:

Rick Perlstein wrote this in the second week of September, and sent it to various major newspapers for submission. Rick has had great success in placing such things. It was rejected or simply ignored everywhere he sent it, including one major newspaper he's never been rejected from. There are times when being wrong gives your more credibility than being right, apparently.

Here is the editorial. It's about rumor, fear mongering and paranoia. After you read that, read this, No evidence backs up reports of rescue helicopters being fired upon. People's lives were at stake and this kind of crap was going on. I'm sure the President's investigation will be informing all about this soon. Who's on that commission looking into that?
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 1:43 PM

 
The Guardian Nails It!
The war of unintended consequences :

During the past century the United States has faced two brutal assaults. Within four years of the first, on December 7 1941, the US and its allies had mobilised, taken on and defeated two powerful enemies, Japan and Germany. Four years after the second, on September 11 2001, what real progress can the US and its allies honestly claim for the war on terror?

What a great comparison.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 2:21 PM

 
I Don't Think Daddy And Bill Can Bail Him Out Of This One
There are many things that happen when tragedy strikes but when times get tough a separation occurs. Some rise to the occasion and other's shrivel. When the President read off of his grocery list yesterday all I could think was that this man is an empty vessel. This time there is no one to invade and no one to blame. It is a situation that screams for leadership which this man incapable of providing. It seems simple enough to me, GET THE PEOPLE OUT OF NEW ORLEANS! NOW!

The New York Times says it all, Waiting for a Leader:

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

Our President has been in over his head for a long time now and it's really starting to show now.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 2:51 PM

 
E-Mail This Article
Just so we don't have to go through this again I want everybody to see this:

Traces of bomb-grade uranium found two years ago in Iran came from contaminated Pakistani equipment and are not evidence of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, a group of U.S. government experts and other international scientists has determined.

"The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated with these conclusions," said a senior official who discussed the still-confidential findings on the condition of anonymity.

Oh yeah, and this is good too, My Private Idaho:

"We owe them something," he told veterans in Salt Lake City (even though his administration tried to shortchange the veterans agency by $1.5 billion). "We will finish the task that they gave their lives for."

What twisted logic: with no W.M.D., no link to 9/11 and no democracy, now we have to keep killing people and have our kids killed because so many of our kids have been killed already? Talk about a vicious circle: the killing keeps justifying itself.

- posted by Mom/Dad @ 8:11 AM