The radio appearance went fine (albeit brief). I said my bit in response to Debbie Schlussel, who argued that we needed far more troops than 20,000 (she said more like 200,000) to make an impact. Basically, I pointed out that a) where are we going to find that many troops, and b) there's no political will to send those troops, and no political will to keep them there. So all … [Read more...] about Perles Before Swine
Great Britain To Withdraw 3000 Troops From Iraq
The Telegraph reports: Thousands of British troops will return home from Iraq by the end of May, The Daily Telegraph can reveal today. Tony Blair will announce within the next fortnight that almost 3,000 troops are to be cut from the current total of 7,200, allowing the military to recover from four years of battle that have left it severely overstretched. In what will … [Read more...] about Great Britain To Withdraw 3000 Troops From Iraq
The coming surge against Iran
It may only be a matter of time. … [Read more...] about The coming surge against Iran
Literary Quote of the Day: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Today's literary quote of the day is from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel on Salem: Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. Yet, he went back. Not because he wanted to, but because he had to. As he writes: "it is not love, but instinct" and … [Read more...] about Literary Quote of the Day: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Feingold: Stop the Money Flow
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold's patience has run out: As the president made clear Wednesday night, he has no intention of redeploying our troops from Iraq. Congress cannot continue to accept this. Congress can, by restricting funding for this misguided war, do what the president refuses to do - redeploy from Iraq to refocus on defeating global terrorist networks. Some will … [Read more...] about Feingold: Stop the Money Flow
Center of Attention
Extra attention to a few Centrist blogs. To get it started: PatHMV at Stubborn Facts on Bush's new plan for Iraq. It's 'a pretty in-depth look at the plan and its roots in the Baker Group report', as Pat himself put it and that's putting it lightly. A great read, whether one completely agrees with the analysis or not. After reading Pat's post, go read this article … [Read more...] about Center of Attention
New Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose “Surge”
A new poll offers yet another indication that President George Bush is operating without political support in his plan for a troop "surge" (escalation) in Iraq: Americans overwhelmingly oppose sending more U.S. forces to Iraq, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll that serves as a strong repudiation of President Bush's plan to send another 21,500 troops. The opposition to … [Read more...] about New Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose “Surge”
Fascism and the religious right
Over at The Reaction, co-blogger Heraclitus looks at the development of disturbingly fascistic elements on the religious right. No, this isn't yet another Bush=Hitler analogy. Heraclitus, a McCain supporter, is more troubled by what he calls "the almost total ignorance of the American working class on the part of our political elites". This has allowed right-wing demagogues … [Read more...] about Fascism and the religious right
Uh-Oh. U.S. Troops Raid Iranian Consulate
BBC News is reporting that U.S. forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six members of the staff. The troops raided the building at about 0001GMT, taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials. The U.S. military would only confirm the detention of six people around Irbil. The raid … [Read more...] about Uh-Oh. U.S. Troops Raid Iranian Consulate
Medicare Drug Plan – Is Government Interference Necessary?
Families USA is a national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. They just issued a Report as House of Representatives Is Scheduled to Vote Soon to End Prohibition Preventing Medicare from Bargaining for Lower Drug Price that shows Medicare Drug Plan Prices Are 58 Percent Higher than VA … [Read more...] about Medicare Drug Plan – Is Government Interference Necessary?
Radio Free BBC!
Good morning, Northfield (and everyone else out there)! Just writing to let you know that I should be making an appearance on the radio show "World Have Your Say," which is broadcast from 18:06 - 19:00 on BBC World Service (that's around 1-2 PM eastern, and 12-1 PM central. All other time zone conversions you have to do yourselves). I gather you can listen to a live stream … [Read more...] about Radio Free BBC!
What Americans want
After Bush's "surge" speech last night, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin gave the Democrats' response, and hearing them back-to-back gave me -- for the first time in many weeks-- some clarity about Iraq. This new view stemmed from the most basic of suppositions -- that escalation is not what the Americans voted for; this is not what we want. That's true... but I don't think … [Read more...] about What Americans want
The Islamofascist Weather Channel
WARNING: This post is not about the president's speech. I've had a pretty good case of the ass with the Weather Channel for some time now. My problem is that it's no longer content to merely provide national and regional forecasts, which it gets right more often than not, and is pushing more canned content like Greatest Chihuahua Rescues and live programming that consists … [Read more...] about The Islamofascist Weather Channel
Color Me Blind
We ran this on our Powerblogs site, but many of those links will no longer work, so we're going to re-post some of our favorites. This GREAT short film by Will Drinker, Color Me Blind, won lots of awards: Best Editing Latent Image Film Festival 2005 2nd Place Campus Movie Fest 2005 Haydenfilms.com Finalist Official Selection Woods Hole Film Festival Official Selection … [Read more...] about Color Me Blind
Note: If You Linked To Our Post
If you're a blogger and got a trackback from this post or linked to us, please check the link you put in from this post. We just realized that WordPress operates different from Powerblogs on changing a post's date. On Powerblogs, we could change date and the old link worked. It turns out that when we redated that post it assigned a totally new link to it -- which means it's … [Read more...] about Note: If You Linked To Our Post
Bush Admits He Made Mistakes In Iraq War And Asks For New Support (UPDATED)
NOTE: Due to the importance of this story we are keeping this post at the top out of order. Newer posts are underneath it, so keep scrollilng. President George Bush delivered his long-awaited speech on what had been billed in advance as a "new direction" for Iraq and there was something particularly new. This comment: “Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility … [Read more...] about Bush Admits He Made Mistakes In Iraq War And Asks For New Support (UPDATED)
The fundamental question
I listened to President George W. Bush today (Wednesday) as he discussed the "new" strategy for Iraq. After digesting what I heard (with no notes on the visible body language, which I have heard was rather obvious to any normal observer), the fundamental question that I see is this: How is the proposed strategy any different than the past "surges" run with the mantra "as … [Read more...] about The fundamental question
De Tocqueville’s Terrorists
The trouble with trusting the old White male (this time, the target is de Tocqueville's views on religion in Democracy in America). … [Read more...] about De Tocqueville’s Terrorists
Ode to America
One of my oldest readers, Mark Olson, asks if any of his liberal readers can produce a pro-America ode that does not in any way mention America's flaws: "without the normal put downs, praising 'America as it currently is.'" I'll open the floor to any of our more liberal readers. But for my part, I wonder what purpose such an ode would serve. Why should we privilege a purely … [Read more...] about Ode to America
A True Creep Makes Excuses while Apologizing
There IS no excuse for this man and no way that he can ever make amends for the evil he has done. This is not an "extremist" - this is a murderer. CNN: Anti-abortion extremist apologizes to slain doctor's widow BUFFALO, New York (AP) -- An anti-abortion extremist defending himself against charges related to a doctor's slaying decided not to cross-examine the man's … [Read more...] about A True Creep Makes Excuses while Apologizing