Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for President Bush, AP comes out with a new poll.
SCARBOROUGH: Now you don’t have to have a political doctorate in Political Science to realize it’s never a good sign when you’re outpolled by Lucifer
Good thing he doesn’t follow those pesky polls…
Video WMP
Video MOV (Quicktime)
Regards,
Jim
According to John King, of CNN, ” … to embrace the gloomy verdict of the Iraq Study Group, Mr. Bush would have to concede he got just about all of it wrong.”
But not to worry, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is going to rescue The Decider from his “Mess O’ Potomac.” According to the AEI web site on December 14, 2006, their representatives, “presented a new AEI report, Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, which explains how Baghdad and other critical areas can be secured and held with an increase in combat troops and describes the perilous consequences of failure. The interim report (to be followed by a full report in January) further recommends increasing the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to meet the demands of the War on Terror — a goal that President Bush announced yesterday would be part of his agenda.” The author for this AEI report is Frederick W. Kagan.
Using fear mongering, an authoritarian trait, and economic GDP comparisons, as in ‘mine is bigger than yours,’ the report says, “Victory in Iraq is still possible at an acceptable level of effort. ” Here are their recommendations to the President:
- We must change our focus from training Iraqi soldiers to securing the Iraqi population and containing the rising violence. Securing the population has never been the primary mission of the U.S. military effort in Iraq, and now it must become the first priority.
- We must send more American combat forces into Iraq and especially into Baghdad to support this operation. A surge of seven Army brigades and Marine regiments to support clear-and-hold operations starting in the spring of 2007 is necessary, possible, and will be sufficient.
- These forces, partnered with Iraqi [Shi’a?] units, will clear critical Sunni and mixed Sunni-Shi’a neighborhoods, primarily on the west side of the city.
- After the neighborhoods have been cleared, U.S. soldiers and Marines, again partnered with Iraqis [Shi’a?], will remain behind to maintain security.
- As security is established, reconstruction aid will help to reestablish normal life and, working through Iraqi officials, will strengthen Iraqi [Shi’a?] local government.
It appears that we will be taking sides with this plan and partnering with the Shi’a majority, 60 to 65 percent of the Iraqi population. What do you think the other Sunni nations will think of this partisan approach? According to the CIA World Factbook, the nations that are predominantly Sunni are: Afghanistan (don’t we and some of our allies have troops there?), Algeria, Egypt, the Gaza Strip (that should help our relations with Israel), Jordan (to the east of Israel), Kuwait (didn’t we rescue them from a preemptive invasion a few years back), Libya (I hope that won’t cause them to restart their nuclear and WMD programs), Pakistan (along with Afghanistan, won’t this make it even harder to find Osama), Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria (to the north of both Iraq and Israel), Tajikistan (on the northern border of Afghanistan), Turkey (to the north of both Iraq and Syria), Uzbekistan (also north of Afghanistan), and the West Bank (say goodbye Israel, we’ll be too busy to help you). On the other hand, this approach might appease Iran (89 percent Shi’a) and stop their nuclear program without having to bomb them – yeah, right.
Click on the image for a full view.
As I said in an earlier posting, “be wary of neocons and anything related to the American Enterprise Institute.”
With the AEI Plan for Victory, they prove my point by trying to make a one nation conflict a regional one. How will the Sunni try to extract their revenge? Attack Israel? Minimize the already weak support from Pakistan in our hunt for Osama? Increase the threats to our efforts in Afghanistan? Or, All of the above?
Fugitive Iraqi minister was a Bush campaign donor – An Iraqi minister who is on the run after breaking out of corruption-linked detention in Baghdad donated money to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush
John McCain Hires Communications Director With History Of Lying To The Press
The plan for Iraq that Bush likes may be the one from the American Enterprise Institute. Who is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)? It is a conservative think tank and is one of the leading architects of the Bush administration’s public policy. More than two dozen AEI alumni have served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government’s many panels and commissions. It’s officers include Lee Raymond, ex-CEO of ExxonMobil. Scholars and fellows include Lynne Cheney, wife of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, and Reuel Marc Gerecht, who is the director of the Project for the New American Century’s Middle East Initiative. That’s the group who cooked-up this whole Iraq mess. They were even pressuring Bill Clinton to attack Iraq back in 1998.
Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
Regards,
Jim
Republican Rep. Warns About First Muslim In Congress: “If American Citizens Don’t Wake Up There Will Likely Be Many Moreâ€
Follow-up to the above: Congressman Has “No Intention Of Apologizingâ€
Ask for an apology
Republicans passed 520 tax favors for corporations on the last day of the Congressional session – In the last hours of the last day of Republican control they passed 520 tax favors for corporations. Mostly in the form of tariff relief on individual items purchased offshore ranging from shoes to boiled oysters. That’s another couple of $ billion the middle class will have to make up or borrow from China. To add insult to that injury, the bill makes it even more profitable to buy offshore things that were once made here by Americans.
EPA considers eliminating lead from pollution standards – Just because the Republicans no longer control congress doesn’t mean the party of compassion can’t continue to do damage. The EPA, which under Bush has become the Environmental Pollution Agency, is considering lifting the ban on tetra-ethyl-lead as a pollutant. The single most successful cleanup of the environment and they want to reverse it. Lead was an additive to gasoline to cheaply increase the octane rating.
EPA exempts cement plant’s mercury pollution – How about a helping of mercury to go with your lead? The EPA will exempt cement plants built in 2005 and earlier from mercury pollution standards. Heavy metals are particularly hard on children, which is why lead pigments were banned from paint in 1978. A baby can ingest enough lead chewing paint off the crib to be poisoned. That’s not a lot of lead folks.
“More Money Please,” Say the Rich
Justice Antonin Scalia says you can’t make ends meet on only $165,000 a year. My heart bleeds for him. I guess he’s jealous of the guys on Wall Street who will get bonuses totaling over $100 billion this year. To put that into perspective $100 billion would fund both the Department of Education and the Housing and Urban Development for 2007. How ‘bout that! Just the bonuses could fund two Federal Government Agencies. Yep, the economy is strong and getting stronger, at least for Bush’s base:
the Haves and the Have Mores. Meanwhile middle class income has slipped again.
Scalia can’t live on $165K
Wallstreet bonuses
2007 federal budget
New Global Warming ‘Time Bomb’ – Methane Bubbling Up From Permafrost – Methane a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide is being released from the permafrost at a rate five times faster than thought, according to a study being published Thursday in the journal Nature. The findings are based on new, more accurate measuring techniques. Scientists worry about a global warming vicious cycle that was not part of their already gloomy climate forecast: Warming already under way thaws permafrost, soil that has been continuously frozen for thousands of years. Thawed permafrost releases methane and carbon dioxide. Those gases reach the atmosphere and help trap heat on Earth in the greenhouse effect. The trapped heat thaws more permafrost and so on.
Regards,
Jim
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE SUMMER – Global warming continues to disrupt the traditional winter holiday season. We’ve seen record high temperatures in the US Northeast. Not long before the city of Boston lit their annual Christmas tree, the temperature hit 69 degrees, breaking a 125-year-old record.
High temperatures in Europe have disrupted the ski season, with little snow in the Alps threatening low-lying resorts, as global warming has driven temperatures to their highest in 1,300 years. Global warming is also threatening to put ski resorts out of business in Spain, where nearly all the resorts are closed for lack of snow.
Regards,
Jim
In this fifteenth survey of the web, The WAWG Index group average was down by 4.8 percent from November 2006. Of the fourteen categories tracked, 12 were down, 2 were up, and 0 was unchanged. The cumulative change for the index is up 217 percent since October 2005. The largest decrease for December, at 35%, was for “rampant sexism,†which was last month’s largest increase at 31%. The largest increase this month was for “control of mass media†at 63%.
Through December, the 12 month group moving average for all fourteen categories was at 19.7 percent. It was 19.6 percent last month. Of the fourteen categories tracked, 3 have twelve month averages that were down while 11 are up – unchanged from last month.
EPA Not Acting On Soot Emissions – Thirteen states sued the EPA on Monday for failing to set air quality standards that, according to its own figures, could save up to 24,000 lives a year, and accused the agency of ignoring and suppressing the findings of its staff scientists. Sources of soot include factories and power plants, exactly the sort of corporate polluters that the Bush administration has gone to great lengths to avoid displeasing. The EPA has not offered any explanation for its decision not to act on its own data.
Bush Administration Latching on to Troop Increase for Iraq in Opposition to Advice from Joint Chiefs of Staff – The nation’s top military commanders unanimously disagree with a plan being pushed aggressively by Bush officials that would send as many as 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq. The Joint Chiefs reportedly believe that the White House is latching on to the idea in part because of limited alternatives and have warned that any temporary surge may only set up the U.S. for bigger problems when it ends. The Joint Chiefs think the White House still does not have a defined mission in Iraq.
Bush signing statement on US-India nuclear deal erases Congressional restrictions – Hours after signing an agreement yesterday on cooperation with India on civilian nuclear technology, President George W. Bush issued a “signing statement” insisting that the executive branch was not bound by terms of the agreement approved by the House of Representatives and Senate. President Bush pledged that “As part of the agreement, the United States and India have committed to take a series of steps to make nuclear cooperation a reality, and we’re going to fulfill these commitments. The bill I sign today is one of the most important steps, and it’s going to help clear the way for us to move forward with this process.” However, a reading of the presidential signing statement which came later in the day made unclear the strength of some of those commitments, especially those made to Congress. In all, President Bush took exception to nine full sections of the bill approved by Congress. [Bush makes agreements, then says he won’t abide by them. What do you call that? It’s certainly not a democracy. – JLV]
Conservative Christian groups making money on “War on Christmas” – Invent a war, then sell ammunition. For Conservative Christen groups, this year’s hot gift is a weapon for fighting back in the “War on Christmas,” be it a button, a bumper sticker or a memo with advice to the troops. The Mississippi-based American Family Association says it has sold more than 500,000 buttons and 125,000 bumper stickers bearing the slogan “Merry Christmas: It’s Worth Saying.” The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal aid group that boasts a network of some 900 lawyers standing ready to “defend Christmas,” says it has moved about 20,000 “Christmas packs.” The packs, available for a suggested $29 donation, include a three-page legal memo and two lapel pins. And Liberty Counsel, a conservative law firm affiliated with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, says it has sold 12,500 legal memos on celebrating Christmas and 8,000 of its own buttons and bumper stickers.
Sean Hannity Gets In The Christmas Spirit By “Joking†About Stuffing A Toy “Down A Liberal’s Throat†– Franklin Graham visited Hannity & Colmes last Thursday to promote Operation Christmas Child which provides shoeboxes with gifts and, not so coincidentally, a book of the gospel, to children in developing countries. As he and Hannity reflected on the importance of keeping Christ in Christmas, Hannity held up one of the toys and “joked,†“We can stuff this down a liberal’s throat and shut him – make him quiet.â€
Regards,
Jim
India Helps Iran Build the Bomb, While the White House Looks the Other Way – The U.S. government usually takes a hard line against countries that assist Iran with its nuclear program. In 2006 alone, Washington sanctioned firms in Cuba, North Korea, and Russia for making it a little easier for Iran to develop weapons of mass destruction. But, when the proliferator is a close American ally, the United States seems to take a different approach.
Just after the U.S. House of Representatives voted in July to support a plan to provide India with nuclear technology, the Bush administration quietly imposed sanctions on two Indian firms for supplying Tehran with missile parts. Nor was the White House forthcoming with congress about other blots on India’s proliferation record: In the past two years, two other Indian companies have been penalized for allegedly passing chemical weapons information to Iran, and two Indian scientists who ran the state-run nuclear utility were barred from doing business with the U.S. government after they allegedly passed heavy-water nuclear technology to Tehran. Far from scuttling India’s nuclear deal, the United States seems to have
Bush’s Post-Katrina Power Grab – When U.S. President George W. Bush signed the $532 billion federal defense spending bill in October, there were the usual budgetary turf battles on Capitol Hill. But largely overlooked was a revision of a nearly 200-year-old law to restrict the president’s power during major crises. In December, Congressional Quarterly examined the changes, saying that the new law “takes the cuffs off†federal restraint during emergencies. Rather than limiting the circumstances under which a president may deploy troops to “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy,†the 2006 revision expands them to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident.†In other words, it’s now easier for the federal government to send in troops without a governor’s invitation.
Ostensibly, the move aims to streamline bureaucratic inefficiencies that left thousands of New Orleanians stranded last summer. Yet the Insurrection Act that existed when Katrina struck didn’t actually hinder the president’s ability to send federal troops. He simply chose not to.
Critics have called the changes an opening for martial law. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, one of the few to raise the issue in congress, says that “Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy.†Is martial law more likely than before? Perhaps not. But the fact that the revisions were slipped into a defense bill without a national debate gives ammunition to those who argue the administration is still trampling on civil liberties five years after 9/11.
United States Funds the Taliban – The Taliban’s resurgence brought the ongoing war in Afghanistan back onto the front pages in 2006. From record opium production to suicide bombings, the outlook has only grown dimmer in the past 12 months. What you probably didn’t hear is that some of the money the United States is spending to combat the resurgence of the Taliban is winding up in the hands of . . . the Taliban.
As recently as November, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting revealed that villagers in Afghanistan’s war-torn south were handing over U.S. cash meant for reconstruction projects to Taliban fighters, who then use the money to purchase weapons, cell phones, and explosives. As part of an effort to stimulate economic development in the country, the United States had committed $43.5 million for reconstruction as of September. One Canadian officer charged with helping to distribute cash said that “millions†has already gone missing in the five years since coalition troops arrived. Why? According to the report, local mullahs have urged residents to fight the foreign occupation and hand over the money in the hopes of gaining back the security they’ve lost. Others say it’s simple extortion from Taliban thugs. Either way, the United States may inadvertently be aiding the enemy in a fight that will almost certainly become more costly in the year ahead.
U. S. Tactics in Iraq Are in Opposition to Army Counter-Insurgency Manual – It has been 20 years since the Army published a field manual devoted exclusively to counterinsurgency operations. For the Marine Corps it has been 25 years. The 282-page counterinsurgency field manual seeks to bring together the best practices in fighting sustained insurgencies. It also lists tactics that have tripped up American forces, such as trying to make local security forces act like the U.S. military and overemphasizing killing or capturing enemies rather than providing for the safety of the population.. Most special operations forces in Iraq spend the bulk of their time and resources trying to kill or capture Al Qaeda members and insurgents. But the manual says the best use of those troops is not hunting enemies but training Iraqi security forces or police. Perhaps the most controversial section may be the manual’s warning about large, sprawling bases, the very kind the Army has erected in Baghdad. The manual warns that such military bases could suggest “a long-term foreign occupation.”
Newt Gingrich Says, “I Still Think We Need To Curb Free Speech”
They Call Themselves “Frontiers of Freedom”, but they get one-third of their money from ExxonMobil – Frontiers of Freedom receives money of tobacco and oil companies, including Philip Morris, ExxonMobil and RJ Reynolds Tobacco. They are actually a group of conservatives working to spread misinformation about global warming. They also influence national security policy and claim to be best buddies with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, and Paul Wolfowitz. Watch out for those nice-sounding group names.
White House blocks former official’s Op-Ed based on his CIA-approved report
Focus on the Family’s Leader ‘Seriously Misrepresenting’ Work says Renowned Author/Researcher – Dr. Carol Gilligan said, “I was stunned to hear that James Dobson had quoted me in TIME Magazine. I had no idea. I was mortified, frankly,†Dr. Gilligan, author of several books including, In A Different Voice, said in the video. “It was a completely distorted and unfounded use of my work…it is such a simplification and caricature of my work…for someone who represents morality and the family it is disrespectful.†Also, Professor Angela Phillips sent a pointed letter to Dobson today accusing him of “seriously misrepresenting†her work. Last week, Kyle Pruett, M.D. of the Yale School of Medicine, also expressed concerns that the Focus on the Family leader “cherry picked†his work. Seems to be a pattern here.
Bush Administration Won’t Release Iraq Attack Numbers for Past Three Months – A chart showing insurgent-initiated attacks in Iraq was produced in December, but it’s missing data for the months of September, October and November of this year — a period of increased violence, according to news reports. What gives? Joseph A. Christoff, the GAO official who produced the document said, “I have all [the Pentagon’s] data” for those months. But the military stamped it classified, he said. And despite making weeks of phone calls, he can’t convince anyone there to declassify the numbers. “They give conflicting reasons,” Christoff told me. “For some reason, they haven’t gotten through their bureaucracy.” News accounts from the period indicate that violence has increased since August, and the rate of U.S. casualties has accelerated. October was said to be particularly bloody.
Click the Image for a larger view.
Regards,
Jim
Tom Delay Says, “Fight. Fight. Fight. There Is No Such Thing As Bipartisanship†(Spoken like a true double high authoritarian – Andy)
Laura Bush Blames The Media For Her Husband’s Low Poll Numbers
Michael Crichton Attacks Critic By Writing Him Into New Book As Child Molester
Dick Cheney Holiday Party Sponsored By Kazakh “Snow Queen†Vodka
Dick Cheney is “Bum Steer Of The Year†– Texas Monthly says, ” YOU KNOW IT’S GOING TO BE A GOOD YEAR for Bum Steers when 61 percent of the people vote against the governor’s reelection and he wins anyway. When Kinky Friedman asks, “How hard could it be?â€â€”and finds out. When Tom DeLay steps down as U.S. House majority leader, resigns from Congress, and hands his district to a Democrat he had redistricted into oblivion in 2004. When DeLay’s temporary replacement, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, runs off his holdover staff with a temper tantrum and runs her chance to win the seat in 2008 into the ground. When George W. Bush contributes “thumpin’†to the political lexicon. … But none of these antiheroes measure up to the man we’re here to honor. A politician and a sportsman. A man who’s a real blast to go hunting with, who this year gave the country (and his friend Harry Whittington) a shot in the arm, among other places. He may be number two in the White House, but to us he’ll always be number one with a bullet. Or a pellet. Come out from that undisclosed location, Dick Cheney. You’re our Bum Steer of the Year.” As the cover of Texas Monthly says, “If you don’t buy this magazine, Dick Cheney will shoot you in the face.”
Regards,
Jim
Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth violated the Federal Election Campaign Act
They failed to register as a political committee with the Commission, did not report contributions and expenditures as a political committee to the Commission, knowingly accepted individual contributions in excess of $5,000, and knowingly accepted corporate and/or union contributions. They are being fined $299,500.
In the Texas Congressional District 28 race, Republican Henry Bonilla launched a negative TV ad over the final days of the campaign attempting to link the Democratic candidate to terrorists
Perhaps already knowing that the election was slipping away, Bonilla launched a negative TV ad over the final days of the campaign attempting to link Rodriguez to terrorists. The moved smacked of desperation and unfair play. Add in his staunch defense of indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and Bonilla wound up looking like another tone-deaf Republican who would rather stick by controversial friends and policies rather than bend to public sentiment. The good news: Bonilla lost.
Money Will Get You into Faster Airport Security Screening Lines
Rich people shouldn’t have to take off their shoes.
Right-Wing Christian Video Game In Which Players Must Convert Or Kill Non-Christians
Senior U. S. Military officers using their rank and influence to coerce soldiers and airmen into adopting evangelical Christianity according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation
MeLinda Morton, a Lutheran reverend and former Air Force chaplain said her military career was hurt because she did not adopt evangelical views.
Regards,
Jim
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