Friday, February 16, 2007

Pelosi Backs Bush and Iraq War

Contrary to what you've been hearing Nancy Pelosi actually backs the Bush war on and occupation of Iraq. Here is what she is quoted as saying in the Washington Post:

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday linked her support for President Bush's war-funding request to strict standards of resting, training and equipping combat forces, a move that could curtail troop deployments and alter the course of U.S. involvement in Iraq."

"'If we are going to support our troops, we should respect what is considered reasonable for them: their training, their equipment and their time at home,' Pelosi said in an interview with a small group of reporters. 'What we're trying to say to the president is, you can't send people in who are not trained for urban warfare . . . who are not prepared to contend with an insurgency.'"

So... the invasion and occupation are fine, she just wants the troops to get more rest, training, and equipment. I guess we aren't going to see any real changes with a Democratically-controlled House. What does that say for the future America?

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Howard Kurtz Needs a Fact and Spell-Checker

In this piece from today's Washington Post, Howard Kurtz refers to the Catholic League's President, William Donohue, as Donohoe, not once, but at least five times. The only place the man's name is spelled correctly is in a quote attributed to Amanda Marcotte, the person whom Kurtz maligns in the piece along with her former employer, the John Edwards' campaign. Kurtz features Donohue's assertions along with support from those other bastions of critical thought, Bill O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin, while "balancing" these with one not-quite-on-point quote from someone who supposedly represents the left on the issue. In the supposed Marcotte quotes one finds "calvacade" instead of "cavalcade" and in the supposed-supporter's quote "though" instead of "through." Were these truly their errors or more of Kurtz's shoddy, slanted stuff (journalism, it's not.)

After this piece, I have come to agree with Roger Ailes: Kurtz is a slug.

Safe from Terrorists? I-Conn?

"In 2004, the Senate endorsed the idea of a strong privacy and civil liberties watchdog to keep vigil as the government launched a full-bore effort to make the nation safe from terrorists," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.)" quoted in a piece in the Washington Post today.

"Full-bore effort to make the nation safe from terrorists"? If that were truly the goal, the first thing they would have done was secure our borders and ports. That still hasn't been done, not because it isn't necessary, but because it conflicts with their masters' desire for cheap labor. Why else tolerate the illegal entry, nay, invasion of our country by more than ten million illegal aliens?

And while we're here, I was just wondering, I-Conn? Israeli from Connecticut? Yeah, yeah, I know, but I can't stand Lieberman. He was never a Democrat. He represents Israel's interests, the interests of the rich, and of corporations.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Secret Frank and Open Discussions??!!

In an AP piece published on Yahoo, we can read about Bush speaking at a House Democratic retreat. We read that:

"After Bush's remarks, reporters were ushered out of the room while lawmakers asked the president a few questions. ... White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the question portion of Bush's appearance was closed to be consistent with his appearances at gatherings of congressional Republicans. At those events, Bush spoke in public but the questioning was closed "to provide frank and open discussion," Stanzel said."

Now, I'm troubled by that. Why is the press, the only possible, though not necessarily good, representative of the citizens of the U. S. excluded "to provide frank and open discussion?" The criminality of this government will not cease as long as we are excluded from the frank and open discussions. I said government because it is quite obvious that the House and Senate are obstructing justice by not bringing actions against this Administration. All we can expect from the secret "frank and open discussions" is that our representatives will seek to maneuver to their own advantage and interests, the Constitution and interests of the vast majority of citizens of the U. S. be damned.

Friday, February 2, 2007

The Ministry of Truth: Bush and the AEI

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI), stuffed with Bush supporters and funded by ExxonMobil, has sent out letters to scientists offering $10,000 and more, if they will write essays critical of the new U.N. report on global climate change, according to a piece in today's Guardian.

I wonder why anyone who would accept one of these bribes should be rightly called a scientist.

I also wonder why The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer has slugs from AEI as commentators on their program so frequently and I wonder why they are not identified as paid shills for ExxonMobil and the Bush Administration masquerading as people of character.