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Ward and June al Cleaver and their two sons, Walli and Beav al Cleaver shown here in their Baghdad home.
The photo above is said to depict the President's vision of "the typical Iraqi family in the "post Saddam era,
by that I mean the era that is after Saddam," the President is reported to have said. The photo was leaked exclusively
to Worldwide Sawdust by an anonymous but highly placed source who told this reporter that "this will be the

Watching congress do whatever it is that they do is like watching my screen saver, a lot of movement, a bit of color, a little cheap entertainment but ultimately a waste of time.

I would like to have 10 percent of the monetary value of the man hours expended by members of the House, the Senate, and their respective staffs that was piled atop the redolent heap of history's wasted gestures in the recent exercise in futility that was the fight over the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill.

Reflecting the desperation of the Repub warmongers who want to be President, yesterday Rudy Giuliani told New Hampshire Republicans that electing a Democrat in 2008 will result in another 9/11-type attack by terrorists.

Saying that America will be safer with a Republican in the White House and that, with a Democratic President "we will have more losses and it will go on longer", Rudy ginned up the Repub crowd and, shockingly, reached the conclusion that he, Rudy Giuliani, would be the best choice for a safe America.

Despite the similarities between the conflicts in Iraq and Darfur, "the violence in the two places is named differently. In Iraq, it is said to be a cycle of insurgency and counter-insurgency; in Darfur, it is called genocide. Why the difference? Who does the naming? Who is being named? What difference does it make?"

Perhaps if White westerners are perpetrators, we must name it "insurgency/counterinsurgency", but if the "bad guys" are Arabs, we name it "genocide" - this makes it a morality play, a simple story of good v evil.

Twice a week I have a physical therapy session at the Dayton VA Hospital. I had a heart attack last March 15, (beware the ides?) in October they referred me to cardio pulmonary therapy to build me up for whatever years may lie ahead. They have done an excellent job and I am pleased with my future prospects.

I have been treated at the Dayton VA several times over the years, have volunteered there performing Veteran's memorial services as part of an honor guard, and three years ago said good bye to my father who died in the VA hospice at the age of 80.

Bring Them Home “NOW”! http://pdamerica.org/petition/mcgovern-petition.phpSign Listen to Rep McGovern live from Camp Democracy: http://pdamerica.org/... Progressive Democrats of America has been working and organizing support for HR 4232 since Rep. McGovern introduced this important bill in November of 2005. Rep. McGovern spoke at the PDA "Get out of Iraq" Town Hall meeting the day after he introduced HR 4232. We continue to work for its passage as a top legislative priority. We urge you to continue organizing support for HR 4232 and to ask your Congressional member to co-sponsor the bill. PDA is committed to cutting off all funding for deployment of US troops in Iraq and for the removal of all funding for the occupation of Iraq. The PDA will be collecting 100,000 signatures over the upcoming weeks so Rep. McGovern may deliver them personally to House and Senate leaders shortly after the November election.

Blog: Citizens' Talking Points

Iraq Debate: What Fighting Democrats Would Say

This will be short and sweet. It doesn't take much to see that Democrats are wasting their chance to hammer back on Iraq, and take down the talking points Republicans have been using from the start to generate support for the Iraq war: -The choice is to stay in Iraq or "cut and run and wait for them to regroup and bring terror back to our shores." ( Dennis Hastert) -A timeline sends the message to the terrorists that if they persist long enough, they can take over the country. -If we had left Iraq when the cut-and-runners wanted us to, we wouldn't have killed Zarqawi. SHARP, CLEAR REBUTTALS: -It's not cutting and running, it's getting the war on terror BACK ON TRACK, by securing the victory in Afghanistan, focusing on bin Laden, and getting our troops out from the middle of a civil war. Our presence in Iraq is LOSING the war on terror, not winning it.

Like a child caught lying, that when pressed stubbornly insists on repeating the same lie, President Neuman reiterated that Iraq is not in a state of civil war. But...by almost any objective measure the numbers simply don't add up.

Let's take two examples of acknowledged civil wars from the 20th century: One of the longest running, the Guatemalan Civil War and one of the bloodiest, the Bosnian secession from Yugoslavia.

Read the rest at Blognonymous and find out why Bu$hCo is full of sh*t!

The saga of the four Christian peace activists taken hostage by the Iraqi Resistance several months ago, one of whom was killed by the captors, and three of whom were recently “freed” by “coalition” forces under highly suspicious and mysterious circumstances, is a study in the interconnections and the complicity between imperialist propaganda and media distortions.

The media expect the former captives to be grateful to the “coalition” forces. What, exactly, are they to be grateful for? Are they supposed to be grateful to the ultimate causes and creators of their suffering, not to speak of the suffering of millions of Iraqis?

The media have offered a false paradox: Opponents of war have been freed by soldiers. But there is no paradox here. As long as there are wars, there will be active opponents of war, who themselves are more likely than the average non-participant to become a victim of war. Hence providing an opportunity for the warmongers to “rescue” them and try to justify the unjustifiable. Had there been no war on Iraq, would any of this have happened?

Leaders perforce establish the tenor of their times, whether it be a "peace and prosperity" outlook, like Clinton's and Carter's, or the aggressive, fake macho, feckless, reckless, "gloves off," anything-goes outlook of Lawless George Bush.

When torture is ok, then massacres become ok. And all the rest.

See more here.

The Times does its second hit piece on the Donald this time by Paul Eaton a retired Major General who was in charge of training Iraqi troops:

Mr. Rumsfeld has put the Pentagon at the mercy of his ego, his cold warrior's view of the world and his unrealistic confidence in technology to replace manpower. As a result, the Army finds itself severely undermanned — cut to 10 active divisions but asked by the administration to support a foreign policy that requires at least 12 or 14.

Here is the headline of a piece in the WaPo written by Josh White:Detainee in Photo With Dog Was 'High-Value' SuspectOne might get a sense that maybe just a little torture might be okay if he really was a "high-value" suspect, eh? The second paragraph reads like this:

Although officials characterized the other detainees who appeared in the Abu Ghraib photographs as common criminals and rioters, the orange-clad detainee seen cowering before the dog was different. Detainee No. 155148 was considered a high-value intelligence source suspected of having close ties to al-Qaeda. According to interviews, sworn statements from soldiers and military documents obtained by The Washington Post, Ashraf Abdullah Ahsy was at the center of a military intelligence "special project" designed to break him down, and was considered important enough that his interrogation was mentioned in a briefing to high-ranking intelligence officials at the Pentagon.

Gee, I feel my resolve weakening, maybe just the dogs, but nothing more okay? At least he was a "high-value" suspect so he had it coming.

I currently have a PTSD claim in action... Well the VA has it not much action has taken place. It has been 5 months and all I am hearing is "We are still gathering Medical records." I know that Iraq is nothing compared to the war in Nam. But sometimes you run across a soldier who experience there is very traumatic. I was only there for 8 months in 2003. My tent neighbor was shot and killed. His Nco told me crying when he got back to camp. Copt teal was a pretty close friend of mine until he got killed. Sgt fahrian one of the guys the volunteered to go over there with me is on permanent disability due to his encounter with an IED. I was shot at with small arms a few times. Had more than a few close calls with incoming rounds and my entire section was wiped out in one day by a mortar round. I think it was 12 people... I was naked taken a shower and the first or second round landed about 15-20 ft from me. I freaked, kneeled down started praying. I got my self together and got dressed. Walked over to the hanger and by the time I got to the other side all my friends in my s-3 section were screaming and bloody. I froze.... I'm still froze.... My trip home consisted of a space A flight with human remains. Are camp was pounded with mortars on almost a daily basis. We had no cover... Just Coleman tents that reached about 130-140 degrees everyday. I had some kind weird disease over there too. I don't recall the name but I was quarantined for like a week.

Did Israel plan and carry out the bombing of the Askari (Al-Askariya) Mosque in the city of Samarra, possibly through local agents in Iraq? The bombing was reminiscent of the destruction wrought in 1984 on Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, in the city of Amritsar by orders from Indira Gandhi (who paid for it with her life less than five months later).

Yes, I know, the appearances are different. Amritsar's Golden Temple was destroyed by regular (foreign/Indian occupation) armed forces, whereas the Askari Mosque has been destroyed by "terrorists." Yet, who are these "terrorists"?

I think a strong circumstantial case can be constructed for Israeli involvement in the bombing of the Askari Mosque.

I would rule out Al Qaeda involvement. Contrary to the White House generated propaganda that has been pounded into people's brains for the last five years, Al Qaeda's targets are not selected at random. Rather, they have included two types of targets, and only two types: (1) American interests, and (2) what I would call "American mercenaries." By "American mercenaries" I mean anyone who works for US interests, whether directly or indirectly. This includes, for instance, all collaborators in Iraq, such as Iraqi police forces and their recruits, Iraqi armed forces and their recruits, and so on, not to speak of members of the Iraqi "government."  (Cont'd)  http://alse.blogspot.com

Another US soldier, Iraq vet with PTSD, commits suicide after waiting 2 years for his VA treatment benefits to kick in. Thanks, Bubble Boy. Thanks, Rummy. Way to go.

Washington, D.C.---Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced today that the United States will reduce Troop levels in Iraq between 5 and 9 thousand by the spring of 2006. Rumsfeld, who admitted to being accidentally injected with truth serum while inspecting an Iraqi prison, stated that the reason for these reductions at this time was so the U.S. Administration could claim to be "withdrawing troops from Iraq" thus fooling the American people once again. He went on to say that he knows that the number of troops that will be re-deployed is miniscule and insignificant but it makes for great Headlines in the American corporate media, especially on Fox. The Secretary continued as his aides tried to pull him away from the podium---"Those American pundits who are apologists for the President and his foolish policies can now argue that the President is listening to the People."---"It's also a way to trick the Iraqis into believing that the United States has started what will be a complete withdrawal from their country."---"The fact that the United States will never leave Iraq is hidden somewhere in the murky waters of psy-optic propaganda."---" All that matters is that the American people can feel good about something during the Christmas Holidays, and when the American people feel good they go shopping."---"I like to feel good"---"My Doctor makes me feel good, but I don't like it when people interupt the voices in my head, I think it rude, Rude I Say!"---"I like killing things, little things like bunnies and children".

From the thread "Pat Robertson says something stupid, again"

"a man this vile has a platform in the most powerful state on the planet" ~ Marduk

Don't believe the hype mate. The basis for the claim that the US is the most powerful nation on earth has been fallacious for some time. It is based on the seeming potential power of the american economy, however as recent events have proved, even the dollar's value being artificially propped up by the fact that it is the currency OPEC chose as the standard for the sale of oil (thus like a magic chequebook, in that the redeemable value would never be required to be payed by the Federal Reserve), has not prevented a massive Trade Deficit ($650 billion, i believe).

The domestic economy is in such poor shape that the President was forced to levy a %30 import tax on foreign steel imports not long ago, in an illegal (by the standards of the WTO) effort at protectionism, this despite the sheer hypochrisy of that, whilst at the same time championing 'Free Trade'.

The domestic motor industry is so unable to cope that the big 3: Ford, GM & Chrysler successfully negotiated a freeze on the application of law which would require their vehicles to meet minimum standards for fuel efficiency (so called CAFE law) for at least 3 years running, this despite that the required mpg was something like 27 point something for cars and 20-ish for light vans. Can you imagine European customers, never mind environmental lobbyists, standing for anything so piss poor?

Oh yeah, but it's ok because gasoline is so cheap in the US, right? In 2000, foreign imports of oil topped %50 as the source of domestically produced petroleum products, at a bill of a staggering $110 billion/year, at the time 1/4 of the Trade Deficit, as it was.

The speech sounded like a constant plea for us to believe we're not losing in Iraq. Which means we are losing in Iraq. What did the president offer to convince us we're winners in Iraq today? An admission that he has made life-taking errors and his word that he has learned from those dreadful mistakes. Soon, the Pentagon will ask for another hundred billion dollars from Congress. Was this speech worth another one hundred billion of our tax dollars? Not if you ask me. The Oval Office has proven itself to be incompetent.

President Bush needs to internationalize this effort - making his plan for the  defeat of terror in this world a multilateral goal - a unified front with alternatives to military occupation rather than a unilateral war-only goal. This Middle East intervention was never meant for America to handle alone. We're currently looking at a small, well-paid coalition of limited nations that has grown smaller and will likely disappear in 2006. With that coalition dissipated, we are looking at a future of severely impractical goals for our troops to handle alone. If we love those troops and if we want their morale to soar, let's tell them they're coming home. Let's create a vision to end terrorism that the world will rally around. Let's talk about a success we can all get behind.

The Grindstaff Chronicles

Summary:
John McCain won an anti-torture battle yesterday, and immediately, the administration started to scuttle it. When George Bush and the guy who browns his nose, Dick Cheney, said they wanted to keep torture, they meant it, and they haven't stopped this insane war with John McCain. They are already adding a secret addendum to the Army Filed Manual. Nice people, those Bush people. Whew, if we could just have them on the ranch for one day they'd be singing a very different song.

The Grindstaff Chronicles
Catholic or Calvinist, Europeans Put Bush-Cheney to Shame

Many years ago, the Belgians arrested and brought to trial 18 men connected to Al-Qaeda. Tonight, we don't wish to go into the labyrinthine details of these arrests and trials. Why? Because we have only one point to make tonight: the Europeans are finding, arresting, and bringing to trial terrorists legally, without the American perversion of torture. The Europeans don't need to resort to medieval or Nazi methods, as Bush and Cheney seem to. Of course, the Europeans don't have a horrendous, toad-like Azteco-american Attorney General frothing at the mouth, just dying to by proxy use his obsidian knife to cut out the still-beating hearts out of the "terrorists" who under the system designed by the Devil's spawn cannot have valid, in the open to the world trials in a humane, timely manner.