Democrats Roll Over

Congress removes teeth from funding bill.
Shame on the Democrat Congress...Shame on you, you have now rolled over and enabled the "bully" President... yet again, to get his way. Caving in to his demands only feeds the monster. What good does it do to vote for change, and stay the same? I can not believe the lack of courage this Democratic majority has displayed. Arrrggghhhhhhhh. Now what? Another year of bloodshed in Iraq, our children, husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers paying the ultimate price daily in a unfounded and useless war. I HATE THIS! Demand your congressman to bring our troops home. Write Congress today.

Iraq War Spending Bill, Don't Roll Over Congress

As you are all aware, President vetoed a Iraq War spending bill this first of May, that would have provided $124 billion. For only the second time in this administration's history, he vetoed it. What a bully. When Congress attempted to negotiate on another bill, he stated he would not compromise with them. Again, "BULLY". His my way or the highway, is really beginning to wear on the public. I live in an extremely conservative area of the country, and I am amazed at the amount of locals finally speaking out.

I thought the voters sent a clear message in November 2006, "End the War, bring our troops home". I guess Mr. Bush doesn't get it. If our Congress rolls over and sends a bill with no teeth in it, I think it may spur massive disgusts across the nation. You work for us, isn't it time for Congress to truly represent the citizens?

Although I am certain that no one would ever consider advice from a mere citizen, I have a suggestion for the House and Senate.

"Resubmit the original version of H.R 1291 (emergency war spending bill), this bill would have provided 124 billion to fund the war, EXCEPT...make one amendment. For each day that the White House either refuses to sign the bill, deduct $1 billion from the original $124 billion. That way in 124 days or less, either the war would have the funding with a withdrawal of troops scheduled, or the war would be defunded. Either way, our troops would be coming home."

I am growing more and more disappointed with the President as well as Congress, in the handling of this issue. Come on guys, get it together. We the people are the ones who are suffering. Thomas Jefferson is probably rolling over in his grave.

Is the Prseident AKA Vito Corleone?

Good job Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News, for asking the tough questions, the right questions, the appropriate questions. And still, the President started his infamous “duck and weave routine”. He looked to me like a guilty person, but who knows? By the way, does this constitute a high crime or misdemeanor?

Lawyers and historians are still arguing about the exact meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors," dividing into three schools of thought about the appropriate definition: (1) serious criminality evidenced by breaking existing law; (2) an abuse of office, and (3) the Alexander Hamilton standard (Federalist 65) of "violation of public trust."

Regardless, here is a transcript of the O’Donnel/Bush dialogue.

Q: There’s been some very dramatic testimony before the Senate this week from one of your former top Justice Department officials who describes a scene that some Senators called stunning, about a time when the warrantless wiretap program was being reviewed. Sir, did you send your then chief of staff and White House counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program, and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?

BUSH: Kelly, there’s a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn’t happen. I’m not going to talk about it. It’s a very sensitive program. I will tell you that one, the program was necessary to protect the American people and it’s still necessary, because there’s still an enemy that wants to do us harm, and therefore I have an obligation to put in place programs that honor the civil liberties of the American people — a program that was, in this case, constantly reviewed, and briefed to the United States Congress. And the program, as I say, is an essential part of protecting this country, and so there will be all kinds of talk about it. As i say, I’m not going to move the issue forward by talking about something as highly classified subject. I will tell you, however, that the program was necessary. (weave...duck)

Q: Was it on your order, sir?

BUSH: As I said, the program is a necessary program that was constantly reviewed and constantly briefed to the Congress. It’s an important part of protecting the United States, and it’s still an important part of our protection, because there’s still an enemy that would like to attack us, no matter how calm it may seem in America, an enemy lurks and they would like to strike. They would like to do harm to the American people, because they have an agenda. They want to impose an ideology. They want us to retreat from the world. They want to find safe haven, and these just aren’t empty words. These are the words of al Qaeda themselves, and so we will put in place programs to protect the American people that honor the civil liberties of our people and programs that we constantly brief to Congress.

DUCK…DUCK…WEAVE…DUCK

Come on Mr. President, just be honest for a change. Did you send Gonzales and Card to Ashcroft’s room like Vito Corleone would have?
I can only hope we don’t discover a horse’s head in Mr. Comey’s bed.

Spies Like The U.S.

Spies Like U.S.
One would think that the testimony by James B. Comey (former deputy attorney general) an excerpt from a Mickey Spillane novel. Evidently Mr. Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the inquiry into “Gonzogate”, (Alberto Gonzales investigation and dismissal of federal prosecutors).

Mr. Comey who was second in command in the Justice Department testified that that the eavesdropping program was center to a series of events involving Alberto Gonzales, Comey, John Ashcroft, and Andrew Card.

Mr. Comey stated (acting as attorney general because Mr. Ashcroft had been hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery in 2004) that he refused to sign off on a presidential order reauthorizing a program which allowed monitoring of international telephone calls and email of people inside the United States who were suspected of having terrorist ties. He further stated that the events took place over a 48 hour time span.

Here is a synopsis of events:

Evening of March 10, 2004:

Although Mrs. Ashcroft had banned visitors and telephone calls to her husband’s hospital room, she had just gotten a call from the White House telling her that Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to see her husband, Mr. Comey testified. “I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself, but I don’t know that for sure,” Mr. Comey said.

A top aide to Mr. Ashcroft calls to alert Mr. Comey about the pending visit of Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr. Mr. Comey orders his driver to rush him to George Washington University Hospital with emergency lights flashing and siren blaring, with intentions of intercepting the pair. The pair were seeking Ashcroft’s signature because of impending expiration of authority the following day.

Mr. Comey phoned Director Robert S. Mueller III of the FBI, who agreed to meet him at the hospital.

When he got to the hospital, Mr. Comey recalled, “I got out of the car and ran up — literally, ran up the stairs with my security detail.”
“I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that,”

Upon arriving to Mr. Ashcroft’s room, Mr. Comey noted that Mr. Ashcroft seemed out of it, I think his word were “hardly aware of his surroundings”.

During this time, Mr. Mueller phoned Mr. Comey’s security detail and ordered them to not all Mr. Comey to be removed from the room under any circumstances.

A few minutes after this order, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card entered Mr. Ashcroft’s room; Mr. Gonzales was carrying an envelope. Mr. Gonzales then began to discuss why they were there, and asked for Mr. Ashcroft’s approval.

Mr. Comey then testified that Mr. Ashcroft raised his head from the pillow, reiterated his objections to the program, then lay back down, pointing to Mr. Comey and stated it did not matter, because Mr. Comey was the attorney general.

Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card left the room, never making eye contact with Mr. Comey. But within a few minutes, Mr. Card telephoned Mr. Comey and demanded that he come to the White House immediately.

Mr. Comey replied to Mr. Card “After what I just witnessed, I will not meet you without a witness, and I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States.”

Theodore Olson (solicitor general) was contacted by Mr. Comey and arranged to go with him to the White House. Mr. Card refused to allow Mr. Olson enter his office, after a private chat with Mr. Card, Mr. Olson was allowed to enter the office and take part in the conversation.
Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller all threatened to resign over this incident.

Two to three weeks afterwards, the reauthorization was signed.

This seems to resemble strong arm tactics once seen in the mob or in gangster movies. And yet, the President allows Gonzales to continue in his position as Attorney General. This is bizarre and shameful. What happened to honesty in the White House?
Are You Kidding Me?

IT'S AN ILLEGITIMATE FOREIGN OCCUPATION......STUPID

Is Iraq Ready To Kick US Out?

There has been a flurry of articles printed since last week, concerning a vote by Iraq National Assembly that would set a departure date for U.S. troops. It was leaked somewhat quietly to small newspapers and the mainstream media published tidbits on Saturday.

If I am understanding all of this, and pretty sure I am, Baha al-Aaaji (a supporter of radical ant-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr), has stated that 144 members of the assembly have signed a draft law that would set a departure date for U.S. Troops.

It looks like the bill will be non-binding and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would probable blow this off. Rather than being a law, it might survive as a non-binding petition.

Regardless, this looks like it might be an insight to what the Iraqi people might really desire. With only 6000 Iraqi troops sufficiently trained, we might see the citizens actively involved in a political movement to remove all coalition forces from the region. I am uncertain why Maliki is steadfast on the U.S. remaining, unless it has to do with monetary support by the Bush Administration. (But, that is just a hunch)

If the Iraqis want us out, and the U.S. voters want us out, how can this administration justify leaving our troops in harms way? It make me sick every time I hear or read about more troops loosing their lives or being injured. For the love of God, bring them home. PLEASE!

Lies, Lies and More Lies

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Anyone remember the announcement made by Defense Secretary Gates back on April 11? Merely one month ago, Secretary Gates announced that all active duty soldiers will spend 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead of year, and the guarantee that they will be at home for a full 12 months before redeployment. Guess what? ANOTHER DAMN LIE by the government.

According to Stars and Stripes, Members of the 1st Armored Division’s 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, Company A, will be headed back to Iraq in November. That is only 9 months home, after spending 13 months in Iraq.

Evidently, when Gates was asked Wednesday about the situation, he stammered, sputtered, and could not explain why the Army was sending back the company just nine months after its last Iraq deployment.

So, what was once a pledge to guarantee our soldiers more time with their families and the extra training needed prior to redeployment, is now being referred to as “is a goal”, so states Bryan Whitman from the Pentagon.

Don’t feed us more lies and deceit. This is Bush's war. He has never listened to the Generals on the ground, nor the will of the people.

Bring them home, ALL HOME.

My New Hero

Senator Russ Feingold is my newest hero. He never ceases to amaze me with his strength and willpower to carry on the fight for decency, justice, democracy and credibility. Just when I am seriously doubting any person engaged in politics has any credibility, along comes Senator Feingold to provide me with a gleam of hope.

The following is a statement released by Senator Feingold:

The ink on the President's veto is barely dry, and already, a lot of Washington insiders - including some Democrats -- are saying Congress should just give in to the President. Never mind how hard people have pushed to bring Congress to this point, when we are finally standing up to the President's disastrous Iraq policy -- they want to give up on the binding language in the bill requiring the President to begin redeploying troops from Iraq.

We can't keep giving in to this Administration on Iraq. Every time the Administration gets its way, it means that our troops will remain stuck in the middle of Iraq's civil war, and our national security will continue to be undermined. With so many Americans demanding that our involvement in this war come to an end, backing down is not the answer. No one else should die in Iraq to give political comfort to dealmakers in Washington.

I won't support a supplemental spending bill that doesn't have binding language to redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq. There's a lot of talk right now about Democrats getting the President to sign a bill that only has benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet. But we're long past the point when just setting benchmarks was enough. Even if funding for the Iraqi government is conditioned on it meeting those benchmarks, that misses the main point -- which is that, whether or not the Iraqis meet their benchmarks, we need to get out of Iraq so that we can focus on the national security threats we face around the world. And if those benchmarks aren't binding, then they are nothing more than suggestions. The American people aren't asking us to offer suggestions to the Iraqis -- they are asking us to bring our troops out of Iraq.

The next step to ending the war isn't to give in, but to step up the pressure on the President. I'm pleased to be working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on a bill to end our open-ended military commitment in Iraq. Now that the President has rejected the will of the American people with this veto, our bill, or some other proposal to end funding for a failed policy, should be the next step to end the war.

We are in the middle of a real test for the new Democratic Congress. No matter what Washington insiders say about cutting a deal or scoring political points, we need to hang tough to get our troops out of Iraq. The President has refused to budge on his Iraq policy from the beginning -- he has repeatedly gotten his way, and our country has paid a terrible price for that. Today, 150,000 U.S. troops are in the middle of a civil war that is straining our military, and hurting our ability to go after al Qaeda worldwide. Too much is at stake for us to back down -- the new Congress has got to stand firm. It's a time to listen to the American people and finally start to bring our troops out of Iraq. Their lives and our national security depend on it. Senator Russ Feingold

Thank you Senator, for truly attempting to represent The People, and not cronies or corporate lobbyists. Keep up the good fight.

It's True! The Iraq War Is Over

This is a parody.

At 10:00 am CDT, it was announced that the Iraq War is over. Yeah! Finally, peace at last. So I had a friend beam over to Iraq to investigate. (War definition: organized conflict between States). So, did we (U.S.) win? No one seems to know. The press release simply reads "They have surrendered". Therefore, in order to answer the question of "Who exactly are THEY?" I set off on a journey to find out who THEY are and WHERE is the surrender to be signed. Seems to be a reluctance in discussing concessions. My first stop was in Baghdad, one would think this would be the place for such an event to occur. I set up a meeting with the Shia Arab leaders and no one showed. Odd, but not to worry, I made an appointment with some real nice soldiers from the Green Zone, again no one showed. They didn't even seem to know there had been a surrender, therefore it must be taking place elsewhere. I beamed myself to Karbala to meet with the Shia Arab leaders, again no show. This is getting frustrating. But I did meet a nice stray dog, adopted her, and she will continue the journey with me. By the way, her name is "Wilma Mary Diane" (WMD). So, WMD and myself beam to Kirkuk, I waited to make an appointment this time, I'll just find them when I arrive. (smart thinking eh?) We began our search in Kirkuk for Sunni Arab, and Sunni Kurd Big Shots. The locals shrug when I ask where the meeting of the "Big Shots" is to take place. I really searched far and wide to find a Presidential Palace or even an Embassy, all to no avail. Time to beam again. How about Basra? Not a good idea, we just got ran out of town by a bunch of angry Shia Arab all speaking a language I don't understand. Let's get the heck out of here WMD. Beamed by mistake to Al Anbar. Not good, IEDs, mortars, machine gun fire. Nothing but chaos all around us. I tried to tell everyone that the war was over, we almost got hit by a humvee. I called the Embassy in Baghdad, and got a answering machine. Something about "I am sorry we could not answer your call, but we have gone to Jordan on vacation". At last, confirmation that the war is indeed over. WMD and myself need a nap. We decided to beam to Tikrit. We found a lone tree and took a short nap, before restarting our journey. Upon awakening, WMD decided to surrender to the facts that we haven't found who THEY are, nor have we been able to establish where the Peace Treaty is to be signed. WMD finally came to the conclusion that this isn't a war between States, no one actually knows who is fighting whom, why they are fighting, and absolutely "NOWHERE" could be found to sign a surrender. Therefore the War can't be over. And may NEVER be over. Are You Kidding Me?

Just Another Day In Paradise

Aren’t we the luckiest people on earth?

To be represented by a President with such an extensive vocabulary? A President whose grammar could go tit for tat with that of a College English professor?

A President that makes all of our faces shine with pride? Sure!

Only in our dreams does this actually occur!

Here is yet another example of how sad this current administration really is. What a joke!

The president vetoed a $124 billion bill on Tuesday because it included timetables for troop withdrawals, and a House vote on Wednesday fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, with 222 voting in favor and 203 opposing the override.
In a speech to a construction industry trade group in Washington, Mr. Bush said he was “confident that with good will on both sides, that we can move beyond political statements” and agree on a new measure.
But he continued to criticize Congress for trying to use the bill to dictate timelines for withdrawal.
“The question is, ‘Who ought to make that decision, the Congress or the commanders?’ ” Mr. Bush said. “As you know, my position is clear — I’m the commander guy.”

I have just one thing to say about this. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”