Life in OUR America, Volume 5, the Livyjr Files Options

[jeffmoskin]

Mr. Tasini is a one-issue candidate, or quite close to it.

Not even.

Who wrote this piece of sh*t?

Tasini is an "old-fashioned DEMOCRAT", more interested in public service than in private enrichment.

He has been a political organizer most of his adult life.

New York would be very well served by elecing him.

Oh, he could use a few million bucks.

Doctor Dean, calling Doctor Dean.

You are wanted in emergency. We have a patient needing blood. It is urgent.

[Snuffysmith]

Email from Dr. Justin Frank:
Something I wrote about George and Joe and Reggie (of Archie comics) might interest you.

Best,
Justin

We don’t choose our parents. We do choose who represents us in government (when there are no Diebold machines).

Too often our representatives forget who they work for and in stead begin to treat constituents as children, as protectees rather than as thoughtful concerned citizens who chose to elect them.

Soon these representatives decide what information to give their “employers” (us), for a variety of reasons. And when information is withheld, informed political participation becomes impossible. A deeper effect of withheld information is that the voting populace becomes infantilized both in the perception of elected officials and eventually in their own sense of how impotent they feel when trying to get answers or even to be heard. Many develop the need to be told what to do and think.

We have been treated like children by a child President. Information has been withheld from us as it is from him. Our reality and experience – death and destruction of beloved families in Iraq, the disappearance of an entire city on our own now-eroded soil, astronomical gasoline prices, shamefully grand disparity between corporate heads and their employees, negligence in so many areas of social welfare and health – is not only uncontained; it is unrecognized. As of August 8 the USAT reported that Congress is cutting funds necessary to treat veterans of Iraq who suffered head injuries. Those acts leave one speechless.

At the same time, we the children remind our faux parent-leaders that we can think - that when presented with opportunities to think we can do so. And Lamont beat Lieberman. And the stupid Kansas educators who prefer superstition to thought were beaten.

Patriotism had become patronization. No more was questioning authority seen as a responsibility and virtue – it had become, rather, akin to adolescent rebellion and talking back to parents.

And a central adolescent characteristic is contempt for the “other” – be they parents, authority figures, the press, or citizens in general. Who gets treated this way depends on the adolescent’s particular vertex. The other is stupid, beneath contempt. Parents and teachers got no respect, as Rodney Dangerfield used to say. That attitude is the psychological core of reactionary populism described so clearly by my namesake Thomas Frank. Rebellious hatred of authority becomes a caricature of itself, and devolves into slavish devotion to any anti-authority authoritarian.

George Bush is the adolescent in chief. And he treats those not in his peer group, his gang, as dunderheads worthy of contempt. He can say anything he wants to justify his behavior. He feels so superior that he is free to change his story at the drop of a hat or whenever his explanation for being caught with a six-pack (or no WMDs or levees) is challenged. That is how he’s dealt with the press.

Lieberman was too much like Bush in this regard – puffed up and isolated and out of touch. And until the last week he fought like the Bush/Rove organization, using TV ads impugning .Lamont's fitness to hold office (he is independently wealthy and therefore out of touch) rather than facing the substance of his challenge. Interestingly, it has just been disclosed that Rove has been in contact with Lieberman.

Transparency is the name of the game. But it’s not a game. Just ask families of the dead in Iraq – families too poor and marginal to have any voice or political clout. As of August 8 the USAT reported that Congress is cutting funds necessary to treat veterans of Iraq who suffered head injuries. Those acts leave one speechless. Their voice, now represented by Cindy Sheehan, is disgracefully dismissed by those in power.

Bush and his gang remind me of Reggie Mantle, the 17 year-old wise guy from the Archie comic strip. Reggie is the ultimate wise guy, always looking to pull a fast one on anyone he can find to victimize. He will be the first to tell you how handsome and cool he is, and that he is a great athlete. None of these things is true, though he is not bad looking. But his arrogance and self-involvement keep him from getting many dates – his 64 year-old clone lost in CT, while the most prominent Reggie ended up marrying his local librarian who never had a date herself? Most girls soon pick up on “what a louse he is.” He is continually pulling pranks which drive everyone else crazy – whether grabbing Chancellor Merkel or running as an independent.

Jokes about “sore Loserman” are re-emerging. We have to remember that the unconscious prevails at the oddest moments – especially when we become our nemesis. This is what I feared when writing the book, that I would become like Bush – jumping to conclusions, seeing the world in simple terms, blaming people. I think Lieberman has become like Ralph Nader – a crank who puts himself above the needs of our nation, let alone those of his Democratic values. He runs on a platform of self-righteous arrogance, something long ago eschewed by the subtle Karl Rove – the link between the two Reggies called George and Joe.

[Livyjr]

Not even.

Who wrote this piece of sh*t?

Tasini is an "old-fashioned DEMOCRAT", more interested in public service than in private enrichment.

He has been a political organizer most of his adult life.

New York would be very well served by electing him.

Oh, he could use a few million bucks.

Doctor Dean, calling Doctor Dean.

You are wanted in emergency.

We have a patient needing blood.

It is urgent.

Tasini is simply an unknown quantity, here in New York State, jeffmoskin ....

For whatever reasons that may be ....

But that is changing rapidly ....

Now that Lamont has beaten "SLAMMIN' JOE" Lieberman ....

Just next door ....

In Connecticut ....

And so ....

The problem with Tasini ....

Is that he is not all FLASH ...

And PIZZAZ .....

Like the real PLAYERS up here ....

The Eliot Spitzer's ....

And MS. Hillary, herself ....

Who Tasini could potentially romp ....

If they get to debating this issue ....

Of George W. Bush's WAR GONE REALLY WRONG ...

More publicly ...

Here in the State of New York ....

Where George W. Bush ....

Is about as popular ....

As a mangy, chicken-killing dog .....

Hanging around a chicken farm ....

Because MS. Hillary is not all that popular ....

Here in upstate New York .....

Largely because she comes across as a cold, crass, calculating person .....

Out for herself .....

And get out of her way ....

She's comin' through ....

And she'll go right over the top of you ....

If you don't scramble out of her way ....

And so ....

As to Dr. Dean ....

And the mainstream Democrats giving money to Tasini ....

So that he could whip MS. Hillary .....

And take her spot on the ballot .....

That could happen, I suppose ...

The money part of it, anyway ....

From the Democrats ........

But pigs might have wings ....

First ....

And fly like eagles ....

Before that happens ....

Because MS. Hillary has clout in the Democratic Party .....

And outside of you knowing him ....

Tasini is largely unheard of .....

Here in New York State .....

And so ...

And thanks for speaking up on this, jeffmoskin ....

I wouldn't mind seeing MS. Hillary gone ....

From the United States Senate ....

And if Tasini can do it ....

Beat her in a primary ....

And get himself on the ballot ....

Well ...

Whoever does know ....

But having someone who believes in public service ....

For the sake of serving the public ....

Serving in OUR United States Senate .....

Is preferable .....

To being stuck with someone ....

Like MS. Hillary ...

Who is in there ...

Serving herself ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And this morning ...

On the Legislative Gazette radio show .....

Here in New York State ....

Which can be picked up "on-line" .....

Between 6:00 A.M. and about 6:50 A.M. EST .....

Sunday mornings ....

By going to http://www.wbkk.org .....

And clicking on "listen live" ....

They had on Dr. Alan Chartock .....

Who is a political scientist up this way ....

And he was asking the directer of Siena Research .....

Why they were not including Tasini's name .....

On their recent poll ....

For statewide office ....

And what that guy said .....

Was that it already takes a lot of time ....

To do those polls over the phone ....

And since nobody knows who Tasini is ....

They just leave his name off ....

For the sake of keeping their polling questions ....

Within a certain time frame ...

And so .....

Being largely unknown ....

At least in politics up here ....

Almost guarantees .....

That you will remain unknown ....

If you don't have the cash ....

To buy name recognition with ....

And someone like Tasini ....

Who is not in it ...

"FOR HIS POCKET" .....

And is not rich ....

Like Eliot Spitzer ....

Isn't likely to have the cash .....

That will give him some FLASH ....

Like Eliot Spitzer has ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

As of August 8 the USAT reported that Congress is cutting funds necessary to treat veterans of Iraq who suffered head injuries.

Those acts leave one speechless.

I am a Viet Nam combat veteran .....

Who was wounded in the head .....

Twice .....

And so .....

I have had some experience .....

Being a disabled veteran over here ....

In perfect America .....

With a head injury ......

From combat .....

The jeers that gains one ...

The mockery ....

Perfect people pointing at their own heads .....

And making little circles ....

With their fingers ....

As if a head wound made you into an imbecile ....

When pointing you out to others .....

Like them ...

Perfect in every way ....

Because they never went themselves ....

And so ...

I have to say ...

That if you can avoid the experience .....

Of getting a head wound in combat ....

Well ....

You should certainly consider it ...

Because the experience itself ...

And especially the part of it that would require dealing with the useless VA Hospital system ....

Once you have your head wound ....

Isn't really all that much to crow about .....

And I can't see ....

Where there is much ....

To recommend it ....

To anyone else ....

And so .....

If you have a head wound ....

From combat ....

And you are coming back to here with it ....

Well ....

Good luck ....

Because the United States government isn't going to give a damn about you ....

Not because you have a head wound, anyway ....

From my experience of it ......

As one who has two ....

And since there is no real cure ....

For a head wound ...

Once you have one ....

Outside of dying of it ....

And getting yourself gone ....

The Congress is going to pretend that there is ....

A cure, I mean ...

By setting aside funds .....

As if there were .....

And so ....

It's too easy over here ...

For them to toss disabled veterans .....

With head wounds ....

Into the ****-can .....

Because perfect American people ......

Are queasy about people with head wounds .....

And they would rather just see them gone ....

And the Congress knows that ...

Because it feels that way itself ....

Being perfect in every way ...

As it is ....

Since it is the AMERICAN CONGRESS ....

Which is THE CONGRESS of a nation, perfect in every way ....

Except for those with head wounds ....

Hanging around over here ....

Waiting to die ....

To end their misery ....

Who nobody sees ....

Because they are hidden away ....

Out of sight ....

Out of mind ...

Let them suffer on their own ...

We're much too busy with other things of more importance than them ....

And so ....

It's a thing of cost/benefit analysis ....

Disabled veterans ....

With head wounds .....

Just aren't worth ....

Putting any money into ....

Because you don't get nothing back for it ....

They are disabled for life ....

Whether you spend a dime on them ....

Or not ....

And nothing is really going to change that equation ....

At least in our lifetimes ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

And speaking of "SLAMMIN' JOE" Lieberman .....

And his SOUL-MATE, Dick "I-AM-INDEED-A-THUG-AND-PROUD-OF-IT" Cheney ....

And ATTACKS .....

On Lamont ....

Who beat "SLAMMIN' JOE" ......

By Lieberman and Cheney ....

In tandem ....

Or in thrall to each other, perhaps ....

We have .....

"Lamont: Lieberman sounded like Cheney"

By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:56 p.m., Sunday, August 13, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Senate nominee Ned Lamont, the anti-war candidate who toppled Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary, says he was surprised by Lieberman and Vice President Dick Cheney's claims that his victory could embolden terrorists.

"My God, here we have a terrorist threat against hearth and home and the very first thing that comes out of their mind is how can we turn this to partisan advantage."

"I find that offensive," Lamont said in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press.

After British officials disclosed they had thwarted a terrorist airline bombing plot on Thursday, Lieberman warned that Lamont's call for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq would be "taken as a tremendous victory" by terrorists.

Cheney suggested Wednesday that Lamont's victory might encourage "the al-Qaida types" who want to "break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task."

Lamont said Lieberman's swipe at his candidacy "sounded an awful lot" like Cheney.

"It surprised me," he said.

"It seemed almost orchestrated."

"It's sort of demeaning to the people of Connecticut."

"... I thought the senator and the vice president were both wrong to use that attack (strategy) on the voters of Connecticut."

The Lieberman camp Sunday brushed aside Lamont's comments.

"All Lieberman did was point out an important difference between his approach to national security and Ned Lamont's, which is what campaigns are all about," said Lieberman spokesman Dan Gerstein.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said Lamont was the one seeking to score political points with the terror war.

"Sounds like he's the one playing politics at a time the president is trying to build national unity and cooperation in fighting a determined and murderous enemy -- an enemy whose tactics and hatred we got to glimpse again last week, an enemy that continues to plot in the shadows and to probe weaknesses," McBride said.

Lamont's upset victory last week, fueled in part by liberal bloggers, was viewed by many as a referendum on Iraq and President Bush's handling of the war.

The debate has placed his candidacy in the national spotlight.

Lamont, who was in Washington for appearances on two Sunday TV news talk shows, is reaching out to the Democratic Party establishment for help in what is expected to be a bruising general election fight against Lieberman.

Many top Democrats, including national party chairman Howard Dean and leading senators, have abandoned Lieberman, the party's 2000 vice presidential nominee.

They have lined up behind Lamont in the general election, a three-way fight that also includes Republican Alan Schlesinger.

Some Democrats are urging Lieberman to drop his independent bid to clear a path for Lamont.

"It would be better for the Democratic Party, it would be better for the people of Connecticut, it would be better for the country" if Lieberman got out of the race, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said on ABC's "This Week."

Lamont said he had no idea whether Lieberman might reconsider his candidacy.

"It's not helpful," he said of the possibility Lieberman could play the role of the spoiler.

Lamont also said he doubted that Republicans would find a stronger candidate than Schlesinger, who trails far behind both Lamont and Lieberman in recent polls.

"My hunch is they're not going to do that," Lamont said.

Lamont's previous political experience was serving in local offices such as selectman in Greenwich, Conn.

He said he had no plans to tailor his campaign message in the fall race to appeal to independents or moderates in both parties.

"I'm not changing my message one iota now," Lamont said.

"It is a message that resonates."

"It's not just Democrats who think that we need real change in Washington, D.C."

Lamont, 52, is a great-grandson of the former chairman of JP Morgan & Co.

He has estimated that he's worth $90 million to $300 million.

In 1984 he founded a company that wires college campuses for cable television.

Lamont spent about $4 million of his own money in the primary.

He said he doubted he would have to provide a similar-sized cash infusion for the general election, but he vowed to remain competitive in terms of fundraising.

"We're not going to be badly outspent," said Lamont.

Lieberman has about $2 million in campaign funds for the fall race after spending roughly $5 million during the primary, according to campaign spokesman Gerstein.

"We will raise enough to win," Gerstein said.

------

On the Net:

Ned Lamont: http://www.nedlamont.com/

Joe Lieberman: http://www.joe2006.com/

Alan Schlesinger: http://www.schlesinger2006.com/

end quotes

Dick Cheney .....

As a real ULTRA-RIGHT-WING CONSERVATIVE .....

Seems to be operating from the level of his brain stem right now ....

Or maybe his reptilian brain .....

But no higher than that .....

Locked into "FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT" SYNDROME as he seems to be .....

Dick just can't see going forward .....

To him .....

There is only doing what we are doing now .....

Which is nothing more .....

Than thrashing around .....

And running amuck ....

Like a snake ....

That just had its head crushed .....

By a semi-trailer ....

OR GOING BACK ...

To what we were doing before .....

We started acting like a snake ....

That just had its head crsuhed ....

By a semi-trailer .....

And so .....

Being driven by his reptilian brain ....

All Dick Cheney knows right now is ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK SPIT VENOM, ATTACK, SPIT MORE VENOM, ATTACK AGAIN .... .....

And "SLAMMIN' JOE" Lieberman seems to have the same disease as Cheney does .....

Which is making them both ...

Foam at the mouth ...

Like rabid dogs ....

And gibber ...

Like a pair of idiots ....

And so ...

[jeffmoskin]

I am a Viet Nam combat veteran .....

Who was wounded in the head .....

Twice .....

And so .....

I have had some experience .....

Being a disabled veteran over here ....

In perfect America .....

Livyjr, I am truly sorry you got wounded in that awful war in that awful place that another AWFUL TAIXHAN said he would never send American boys to.

I saw a photo a few days ago of the commander in theif, jogging with a veteran.

Only the veteran was jogging on steel legs.

Made me weep.

Franklin was right: "There is no such thing as a good war or a bad peace."

This post has been edited by jeffmoskin: Aug 13 2006, 05:57 PM

[Snuffysmith]

I applaud that veteran with the steel legs, but I'm sorry he doesn't realize that he is being used by the Bushman for a photo op. I know it was the vet's dream come true - but I wonder how he must feel about the experience after the fact. If Bush can run with a vet, the least he could do is attend a funeral.

Liv - I'm sorry about the head wounds. I didn't know. Justin Frank is a friend of mine. He wrote Bush On The Couch. I am appalled with the Congress ratcheting back veterans benefits. Absolute appalled. It is beyond sinful. Its downright evil.
The Snuff

[Livyjr]

Liv - I'm sorry about the head wounds.

I didn't know.

Justin Frank is a friend of mine.

He wrote Bush On The Couch. 

I am appalled with the Congress ratcheting back veterans benefits.

Absolute appalled.

It is beyond sinful.

Its downright evil.

The Snuff

In here, Snuf ....

I am of course nothing but aether .....

Since in here ....

We are but virtual .....

And so ....

In here .....

I have no head wounds ....

Not having a head .....

In here .....

To be wounded in ...

In the first place ....

And so ....

And in my own experience of it ...

There is much in life that is evil ...

And the point of the exercise .....

So far as I can see it anyway ....

While we are down here on earth, anyway ....

IS TO NOT BECOME A PART OF IT ....

Between the time we get here ....

And the time that we leave ....

And so ....

All else is simply happenstance ....

And I do alright with my head wounds ....

Since the other alternative is to be miserable and in pain all the time ....

And so long as I stay away from the VA Hospital ....

And its doctors .....

And perfect people ....

Who point at their own heads ....

And make little circles with their fingers ....

As if a head wound received in combat .....

Made you into into an imbecile .....

Or an idiot of some kind ....

When pointing me out to other perfect people ....

Who never went to combat ....

And so ....

Missed out ...

On what is an excellent opportunity ....

To get their own heads ...

Blown right off their shoulders ....

As was mine ....

I do alright for myself ...

And so ....

How is it?

A bit of moderation in life goes far?

Works for me, anyway ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

I applaud that veteran with the steel legs, but I'm sorry he doesn't realize that he is being used by the Bushman for a photo op.

I know it was the vet's dream come true - but I wonder how he must feel about the experience after the fact.

If Bush can run with a vet, the least he could do is attend a funeral.

The Snuff

"The vet's dream come true ..."

Powerful words, Snuf ....

Powerful words .....

And what an empty dream that just might be ...

Tomarrow ...

And tomarrow ...

And tomarrow .....

But what the hey .....

This is America ....

And what you do with your life ...

After your legs have been blown off ...

In a damn fool war ......

Based on a pack of lies .....

Is your own business ....

Just as it ought to be ....

In a LAND OF LIBERTY ....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

Today ....

At 4:00 P.M. ....

I turned on CLEAR CHANNELS WORLDWIDE .....

To hear what the weather was going to be tonight and tomarrow ....

According to their STORM TEAM DOPPLER people, anyway ....

And the first thing that I heard ....

When the radio came on ....

Was Sean Hannity ....

Making a pitch ....

For something called a Temperpedic mattress ....

Which apparently is what he sleeps on .....

To make him the way he is ....

And what he was saying .....

And it made sense ......

When you heard it ....

Was that EVERY AMERICAN DESERVED A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP .....

And all I could think of, was "By God, I bet that is what this is really all about" .....

Sean Hannity's CONSERVATIVE AGENDA, I mean .....

It's about giving every American ....

And not just some ...

But every American ....

The chance ....

For a good night's sleep ....

And for that ....

Why ...

We need free enterprise .....

And these extremist Muslims .....

Well ....

They are against our way of life .....

Which has to mean .....

That they are against every American getting a good night's sleep .....

Which has them square up against Sean Hannity and Temperpedic Mattresses ....

These extremist Muslims .....

Are against us getting a good night's sleep here in OUR America ....

Which is why they are getting George W. Bush and Isreal all upset ...

So that George W. Bush and Isreal will get us all upset in turn ....

And then we won't be able to sleep on our present mattress ....

At which time ....

We will hear the soft, crooning voice .....

Of Sean Hannity .....

Coming out of our radios .....

And what he will be saying ....

Because I heard him today .....

Is that, yes, all of this **** going on in the world .....

Bothers him too ...

Probably more than most ...

Because he has a radio show ...

And he has to talk about this stuff ...

EVERY DAY, TOO ....

Which means that he gets no rest .....

Whereas most of America just has to listen ...

Which is a passive activity ....

Not requiring .....

The massive amounts of energy .....

That he has to put out ......

Talking on and on like he does ....

But despite that ....

Despite the massive amounts of energy that he has to expend ....

And despite the TAY-RIST'S best efforts .....

To disrupt Sean Hannity's sleep .....

Sean Hannity is just too smart for them .....

Being the CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOW HOST that he is ....

Here in OUR America ...

He has this Temerpedic Mattress to sleep on .....

And he sleeps like a baby .....

Despite the threat of some TAY-RIST gonna murder him in his sleep .....

And if we just call this toll-free number .....

We can order a Temperpedic Mattress off of him ....

And he won't nail us too bad on his commission .....

Because we're all Americans after all .....

And we have to hang together .....

And when this Temperpedic Mattress comes .....

And now ....

We are sleeping better than our neighbors ....

Who don't have one .....

Just tell them to call Sean .....

And he will get them hooked up with one .....

And then they will be sleeping better .....

And so .....

You figure there are three hundred million people in America ......

Sleeping say, two or three per bed ....

That's still a hundred million mattresses ....

And so .....

I don't exactly know what Sean Hannity's cut is .....

But you know, a famous guy like him .....

It's probably ten percent per mattress sold .....

Or something like that anyway .....

So if this Sean Hannity peddles enough mattresses ......

He's going to be a rich man .....

Here in OUR America .....

And so .....

No wonder this wave of TAY-RAH has been going on for so long now ......

Sean Hannity still has millions of mattresses to sell .....

Here in OUR America ....

And he is going to stay the course .....

Until he achieves total victory .....

On that score .....

And when the going gets tough ....

Sean Hannity don't cut and run .....

He don't switch brands .....

Just because someone wants a Sealey Posturepedic instead ....

And is willing to debate him on that score .....

No .....

Sean just denounces them ...

And their brand ....

As being weak on TAY-RIZM ....

Because they are against the TEMPERPEDIC MATTRESS .....

And the promise it holds out .....

Of a good night's sleep .....

For every American .....

And not just some .....

Like the YUPPIES who buy Sealy Posturepedics .....

And then drink lattes on them ....

While watching nature specials .....

On their wide-screen TV's .....

About the rape of the rain forests ....

By American corporations .....

That Sean Hannity is for .....

And so ....

Oh, by the way ....

Some rain tonight, perhaps ....

Clearing tomarrow ....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

Today ....

At 4:00 P.M. ....

I turned on CLEAR CHANNELS WORLDWIDE .....

To hear what the weather was going to be tonight and tomarrow ....

According to their STORM TEAM DOPPLER people, anyway ....

And then ....

When Sean Hannity got done pitching Temperpedic Mattresses ......

As the cure for what ails America .....

Next .....

On came FOX FAIR AND BALANCED YOU DECIDE .....

And what they had on ....

Was George W. Bush .....

Growling like he always does .....

And he was speaking like he is the President of Isreal ....

Like Isreal is his country .....

And how Hezbollah invaded Isreal .....

And made war on it ....

And tried to stamp out Isreal's democracy .....

But Hezbollah lost to George W. Bush and Isreal .....

And so .....

It reminded me .....

Of one of these guys .....

Who is married to different women .....

In different cities ...

With families all over the place ....

All at the same time ...

George W. Bush ....

Being the president .....

Of America ....

And Isreal ....

And Iraq ...

And Afghanistan ....

All at the same time ....

And so .....

What a man that George W. Bush must be .....

To handle a plate-full like that ....

Without spilling .....

No gravy .....

Or beans ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And speaking of George .....

Why .....

Here he is .....

Running his mouth as always .....

Fomenting more trouble .....

For the innocent people of the world ....

Who he cares nothing at all about killing ....

And destroying their property .....

And possessions ....

As though he were GOD ....

And these life-and-death decisions ....

Were his to make ....

And so ....

"Bush says Israel defeated Hezbollah"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:06 p.m., Monday, August 14, 2006

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, just hours after a cease-fire took hold Monday, said Hezbollah guerillas had suffered a sound defeat at the hands of Israel in their monthlong Mideast war.

"There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," Bush said, referring to plans for the Lebanese government, backed by an international force, to reassert control in the area that has been dominated by Hezbollah fighters.

The president also said the war was part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror, and he blamed Iran and Syria for fomenting the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

"We can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks," the president said.

Bush said Iran and Syria were the primary sponsors of Hezbollah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers, igniting the battle with Israel.

More than 900 people were killed in the fighting, and there was massive destruction in southern Lebanon.

Bush said the "responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah."

The president spoke at the State Department after conferring with his national security team, first at the Pentagon and then at State.

He was flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Bush said the U.N. cease-fire resolution was "an important step forward that will help bring an end to the violence."

"We certainly hope the cease-fire holds," he said.

"Lebanon can't be a strong democracy when there is a state within a state and that's Hezbollah."

"Hezbollah attacked Israel, Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis," the president said.

"The reason why is, this is because there's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon, and that's going to be a Lebanese force with a robust international force to help them seize control of the country."

"It will take time for people to see the truth, that Hezbollah hides behind innocent civilians," Bush said.

In the Mideast, there were competing claims about who came out on top in the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the war had shifted the strategic balance in the region and eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah, restoring Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.

But Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said his guerrillas achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.

Bush, taking questions from reporters on a variety of topics, said the United States still believes that al-Qaida was behind last week's disrupted plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners from Britain.

"It sure looks like it."

"... It looks like the kind of thing al-Qaida would do," he said.

But he said the United States has not made a definite conclusion about the sponsorship of the plan.

Asked if there might be any U.S.-based participants, Bush said, "Any time we get a hint that there might be a terror cell in the United States, we move on it."

While Bush praised the Mideast cease-fire, he said Israel would have the right to defend itself if it were attacked by Hezbollah.

"We don't advise Israel on its military options," the president said.

"As far as I'm concerned, if somebody shoots at an Israeli soldier ... Israel has a right to defend herself."

"They have the right to suppress that kind of fire."

Bush rejected criticism that the United States was slow to support a cease-fire and allowed the violence to continue.

"You know it's going to be a painful process," the president said.

"Diplomacy can be a painful process."

He said that if a resolution had been reached quickly without addressing the root causes, then "everybody would have felt better for a quick period of time."

"Then the violence would have erupted again."

end quotes

And the violence will erupt again .....

It always does ....

And George W. Bush coddling Isreal .....

And praising it ....

For the wanton destruction that it rained down on the innocent people of Lebanon ....

Making Lebanon burn ...

While George W. Bush ....

Just fiddled around ....

Coddling Isreal ....

While spitting in the faces .....

Of the people of Lebanon ....

Who were being killed wholesale by Isreal ....

Isn't going to do doodly-squat .....

For the peace process over there .....

Which is as much a bunch of BULL **** .....

As is this WAR OF TERROR ....

That George W. Bush is visiting on .....

Women and children in the Middle East ....

As he searches ....

In vain, so far ....

For his TOTAL VICTORY ....

Because George don't cut and run .....

Not when there are still some women and children left to kill ...

Oh, no .....

George W. Bush .....

Stays the course ....

And so ....

Don't expect no peace over there, anytime soon ....

Is my thought on the matter .....

Because George W. Bush don't want peace ....

He wants TOTAL VICTORY .....

Which means more people have yet to die ....

For George to achieve his goal .....

OF TOTAL VICTORY ....

OVER ALL THE WORLD .....

And all of its peoples .....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

"Bush says Israel defeated Hezbollah" 
 
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:06 p.m., Monday, August 14, 2006

WASHINGTON -- "You know it's going to be a painful process," the president said.

"Diplomacy can be a painful process."

Especially if you are an American soldier .....

Destined to spend .....

The rest of your natural life .....

Fighting for George W. Bush .....

And PEACE .....

In war-torn IRAQINAMISTAN ....

Which is a real mess these days ....

Thanks to George ....

And his inability ....

To get done ....

What needs to be done over there ....

If OUR troops ....

Will ever have a hope ....

Of seeing their homes ....

And their families .....

In their lifetimes ....

While George searches ....

In vain ....

For his TOTAL VICTORY .....

Over something, anyway ....

If only he knew what it was ....

And so ....

"Army recalling 300 troops to Iraq"

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:56 p.m., Monday, August 14, 2006

WASHINGTON -- About 300 Alaska-based soldiers sent home from Iraq just before their unit's deployment was extended last month must now go back, the Army said Monday, setting up a wrenching departure for troops and families who thought their service there was finished.

The soldiers -- all from the 172nd Stryker Brigade -- are among the 380 troops who had gotten home to Fort Wainwright when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered the unit to serve four more months.

The remaining 80 will not have to return to Iraq.

Army officials have sent a team of personnel and pay experts to Alaska to help sort out all of the soldiers' vacations, school enrollments and other plans torn apart by the decision to return them to Iraq.

The unit is now being stationed in Baghdad, one of the most violent parts of the country.

Lt. Col. Wayne Shanks, a service spokesman, said the Army fully realizes the hardships triggered by the move and is "bending over backward to accommodate" the families.

The bulk of the 172nd Brigade was still in Iraq when Rumsfeld extended their deployment as part of a plan to quell the escalating violence in Baghdad.

Overall, the brigade has about 3,900 troops.

Another 300 soldiers from the unit had left Iraq and gotten to Kuwait, and were about to board flights home when they were called back.

Before Monday's announcement, the troops who had already returned home to Alaska had been told that decisions on their fates would be made on a case-by-case basis.

Army officials said they don't recall another time during the three-year-long Iraq war when the Pentagon so quickly recalled soldiers who had served a year on the battlefront and gotten home.

Other units have had their deployments extended anywhere from a week or two to a few months.

The 300 soldiers recalled from Alaska on Monday got to spend between three and five weeks at home, and will head back to Iraq in the next two weeks.

Most of the brigade is expected to leave Iraq by the end of the year, although Army spokesman Paul Boyce said Monday there are no assurances the unit's stay will not be extended again.

A second extension, however, would be very rare.

For some, the return to Iraq may mean they will miss the holidays or much-anticipated vacations.

For others, it means rescheduling military or civilian college classes, or postponing long-planned moves out of state or to different Army units.

Soldiers who serve more than 365 days on the warfront will receive $1,000 more per month -- $800 for incentive pay and $200 for additional hazardous duty pay.

Last week eight Army officials went to Alaska to meet with the soldiers and their families to work out scheduling conflicts and other problems brought on by the sudden change.

Hotlines also have been set up to assist family members.

About 50 of the approximately 80 soldiers who do not have to return to Iraq were the advance team that headed back to Alaska early to prepare for the unit's return.

They will stay in Alaska and plan for the unit's eventual return late this year.

The other 30, said Boyce, were allowed to stay in Alaska based largely on their individual duties and needs of the brigade.

Sectarian violence has rocked Baghdad, bringing it to what some believe is the brink of civil war.

In response, U.S. and Iraqi military leaders have shifted thousands of troops into Baghdad, targeting four critical regions wracked by attacks between Sunni insurgents and Shiite extremists.

The new offensive has driven the number of U.S. troops in Iraq up to 135,000 --reversing a trend of declining personnel levels that had begun earlier this year.

And, the increased level dampens hopes of a significant withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of the year, just as members of Congress returned to their home districts to voters growing increasingly weary of the war.

Rumsfeld must approve any deployment that is longer than a year on the ground in Iraq.

------

On the Net:

Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil

[Livyjr]

And speaking about not getting done ....

What needs to be done ....

Over there in IRAQINAMISTAN .....

Where OUR American troops ....

Are destined to stay forever .....

Because George W. Bush don't cut-and-run .....

We have .....

What George W. Bush calls .....

"STAYING THE COURSE" .....

As he ....

AND THE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS ....

Have set it out to be ....

And so ....

"Iraq has worst fuel shortage since '03"

By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:35 p.m., Sunday, August 13, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Under a scorching sun, Baghdad taxi driver Sameer Abdul Razzaq wraps a wet towel around his head and waits for gasoline in a line stretching a mile.

"I've been here since 6 a.m.," he said Sunday.

"If I'm lucky, I'll get to the end of the line by sunset."

I actually think I might end up spending the night here."

This is the capital of what should be one of the world's great oil producers, but corruption and insurgent attacks have Iraqis mired in their worst fuel shortage since Saddam Hussein was ousted, with black market gasoline costing as much as $4 a gallon.

The official price is $1 a gallon, but the fuel is often unavailable, forcing most Iraqi drivers to shell out the higher price to streetside vendors or wait in long lines at gas stations.

The shortage affects other petroleum products too.

A cylinder of cooking gas costs about $18 on the black market -- double the price a few months ago.

All that causes ripple effects that compound problems facing an Iraqi public weary of bloodshed, sectarian strife, the presence of U.S.-led forces and the government's inability to restore peace.

Taxi drivers have quadrupled their fares.

Higher delivery costs for food and other essentials are passed on to consumers -- many already living on the margin.

"We're going to switch to a small kerosene stove instead," housewife Amaal Ahmed Jabbar said after paying premium prices for cooking fuel.

The irony is especially bitter in a country that sits atop the world's third-largest proven petroleum reserves.

Iraq's estimated 115 billion barrels are exceeded in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries only by Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iraq has been plagued by periodic fuel shortages since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

But the current crisis comes amid higher demand for fuel to power generators and air-condition homes and offices, with summer temperatures topping 115 degrees.

The shortage is so bad that even a gas station inside the Green Zone, home of major Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy, ran out of fuel Sunday afternoon.

The government blames the problem on insurgent attacks on pipelines and other infrastructure, which snarl the distribution system.

"I realize that people are really suffering from the lack of energy and electricity," President Jalal Talabani said Sunday.

"But this is not the fault of the government ... terrorists have blown up many power stations as well as the pipeline" that delivers crude oil from the northern fields around Kirkuk to the main refinery in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

The Beiji facility had a prewar capacity to refine 2 million to 2.25 million gallons of gasoline a day.

It is now producing less than 260,000 gallons of gasoline a day, Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said, citing electricity shortages and threats to refinery operators as the main sources of the problem.

Last week, the main oil storage facility in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, had to shut down after workers received death threats.

More than 250 Oil Ministry officials, workers and security guards have been killed since the collapse of the previous regime, according to the ministry.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that 315 major attacks have struck pipelines, electricity plants and other energy infrastructure between April 2003 and June.

The attacks have left the country struggling to restore oil production to prewar levels of about 2.5 million to 3 million barrels a day.

As of May, production stood at about 1.9 million barrels a day, U.S. officials said.

The International Relations and Security Network, a Swiss group that promotes exchanges of information among security professionals, also blamed widespread corruption within the Oil Ministry.

Last year, 450 Oil Ministry employees were fired for illegally selling oil and petroleum products.

In an April report, the Oil Ministry's inspector general Ali al-Alaak estimated about $4 billion worth of petroleum products were smuggled out of Iraq last year, including gasoline and crude oil siphoned from pipelines.

All that has added to the deep sense of pessimism among Iraqis.

"The ministers are busy with one thing only, and that is touring the world as we wallow here in the Middle Ages," said lawyer Ahmed Mohammed Ali, 55.

"Everyday I take a container to the gas station to get some fuel to run my generator."

"It takes me up to five hours and sometimes all I get is humiliation by the security personnel in charge of the station."

Last month, Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani predicted that Iraq's oil production would double over the next four years to 4 million barrels a day -- a forecast that some petroleum experts thought was overly optimistic.

Hassan al-Jubouri, who runs a ceramics workshop, says he's going broke.

"My workshop is closed because I cannot run the generator," he said.

"My family is without a source of living due to this shortage."

------

Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.

end quotes

I'm amazed .....

That anyone here in America .....

Thinks ....

That the man ....

Who could not take care of one city .....

Here in OUR America .....

During a hurricane .....

Can do anything ....

For anything bigger .....

Like a country .....

Like Iraq ....

Or a country ....

Like OUR America ....

Which is betting ....

That the man ...

Who could not even protect one city ....

Is the man ...

To trust OUR whole national security to ....

And so ....

Take a real good look at the mess in Iraq right now .....

And that is OUR future that you are looking at .....

If you leave the REPUBLICANS in power in the CONGRESS ....

SINCE THIS IS THEIR MESS YOU ARE LOOKING AT ....

A MESS .....

THAT STEMS FROM THEIR INEPTNESS .....

AND THEIR INABILITY .....

TO GET THE JOB DONE ....

AND DONE RIGHT ....

ON TIME ....

UNDER BUDGET ....

WHICH IS NOT ....

THE CORRUPT REPUBLICAN WAY ....

AT ALL ....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

And as George W. Bush .....

Climbs up ....

Onto an old stump ....

And rears way back .....

And yells out .....

In as loud a voice as he can ....

"BRING IT ON" ......

To Hezbollah ....

While thumping his chest ....

With both fists ....

Like a gorilla .....

"Hezbollah claims win as cease-fire holds"

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:27 p.m., Monday, August 14, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Tens of thousands of Lebanese jammed bomb-cratered roads Monday as they returned to still-smoldering scenes of destruction after a tenuous cease-fire ended 34 days of vicious combat between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lines of cars -- some loaded with mattresses and luggage -- snaked slowly around huge holes in the roads and ruined bridges.

Hezbollah fighters hugged each other and celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted in Beirut when the Islamic militant group's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claimed a "strategic, historic victory."

Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert also claimed success, saying the offensive eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah group and restored Lebanon's sovereignty in the south.

In northern Israel, residents emerged from bomb shelters, hopeful that the barrage of nearly 4,000 Hezbollah rockets that had rained down on towns and villages since July 12 had ended -- for now.

Stores shuttered for weeks reopened and some people returned to the beaches in Haifa, which suffered most from guerrilla attacks.

President Bush said Monday that Hezbollah guerillas suffered a defeat at the hands of Israel and he blamed the guerrilla group for the devastation.

"There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," he said.

The conflict left nearly 950 people dead -- 791 in Lebanon and 155 on the Israeli side, according to official counts.

The truce that took effect at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) largely held through its first day, although six Hezbollah fighters were killed in skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah that illustrated the fragility of the cease-fire.

The odds of a durable end to the fighting depended on the quick deployment of the Lebanese army and an international force into the 18-mile-deep band of south Lebanon between the Litani River and the Israeli frontier.

A United Nations force that now has 2,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon is to grow to 15,000 troops, and Lebanon's army is to send in a 15,000-man contingent.

Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr said Lebanese forces would be ready to deploy north of the Litani River this week, but that was unlikely to satisfy Israel, which wants a force along the border to rein in Hezbollah.

Murr also said the current U.N. peacekeeping force would assume positions vacated by Israel before handing them over to the Lebanese army, and he expected international troops to begin arriving within the next 10 days.

The French commander of the current U.N. force known as UNIFIL, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, told The Associated Press that additional troops were needed quickly because the stability of the cease-fire was fragile.

The region is "not safe from a provocation, or a stray act, that could undermine everything," he said.

France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, have signaled willingness to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are needed on the force's makeup and mandate.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Italy's troops could be ready within two weeks.

In Jerusalem, officials said Israeli troops would begin pulling out as soon as the Lebanese and international troops start deploying to the area.

But it appeared Israeli forces were staying put for now.

Some exhausted soldiers left early Monday and were being replaced by fresh troops.

While Israel claimed to have flooded south Lebanon with 30,000 soldiers in its final offensive, an AP reporter who drove Monday from Tyre to the Israeli border and through several destroyed villages along the frontier saw only one Israeli tank.

Humanitarian groups sent convoys of food, water and medical supplies into the south, but the clogged roads slowed the effort.

U.N. officials said 24 U.N. trucks took more than five hours to reach the port of Tyre from Sidon, a trip that normally takes 45 minutes.

Israel urged Lebanese to stay out of the conflict zone in south Lebanon, saying it was still dangerous because Israeli and Hezbollah fighters were in the area.

"Of course, the army would not open fire on civilians in the area," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman.

The rush to return home came despite a standoff that threatened to keep the cease-fire from taking root.

Israel threatened to retaliate against any attacks, while Nasrallah said the militia would consider Israeli troops legitimate targets until they leave.

But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that aside from the isolated skirmishes that killed six Hezbollah fighters, the cease-fire was holding and could have implications for future relations with Israel's neighbors.

Both sides appeared under strict orders to avoid confrontation.

The slain militants "were very close, they were armed, and they posed a danger to the troops," Dallal said.

"We're going to shoot anybody who poses an imminent threat to the troops."

The mayor of the largely Christian town of Marjayoun said Israeli forces pulled out Monday after blowing up part of the Lebanese army barracks in the city.

Israel occupied the town Thursday.

Hezbollah was believed to have suffered heavy casualties -- it reported only 68 fighters killed, but Israel said the number was closer to 400.

Olmert claimed his army largely destroyed the Hezbollah arsenal.

But the guerrilla organization emerged from the conflict with far broader support in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world than it had going into the fight, meaning it will be harder for the Lebanese government to enforce international demands for Hezbollah's disarmament.

Now was not the time to debate the disarmament of his guerrilla fighters, Nasrallah asserted as he claimed victory after his forces stood toe-to-toe against Israel's vaunted military, able to fire rockets to the very end and blunt attempts by an overwhelming Israeli ground force to wipe out guerrilla positions.

"The Lebanese army and international troops are incapable of protecting Lebanon," he said, sitting in front of Lebanese and Hezbollah flags.

But Nasrallah said he was open to dialogue about Hezbollah's weapons at the appropriate time.

He also credited his group's weapons with proving to Israel that "war with Lebanon will not be a picnic."

"It will be very costly."

The militant Shiite Muslim group, sponsored by Iran and Syria, claimed to have killed vast numbers of opponents.

The Israelis said they lost 118 in combat.

For the first time in more than a month the skies above Lebanon were free of attacking Israeli jets and drones.

Artillery fell silent and Hezbollah halted its massive rocket bombardment, which saw the guerrillas strike deeper into Israel than ever before using what Israel said were Iranian-made Khaibar-1 rockets.

The civilian toll was enormous -- 692 in Lebanon and 39 in Israel -- and damage to Lebanese infrastructure was sure to run into billions of dollars.

Whole towns and villages in the south were largely flattened, especially along the border with Israel and a broad swath of the Hezbollah dominated suburbs in south Beirut.

Bridges and roads throughout the country were destroyed and the Beirut airport remained closed.

Israel said it would continue its blockade of Lebanese ports but was no longer threatening to shoot any car that moved on the roads south of the Litani.

Jamila Marina screamed and collapsed when she saw her destroyed home in Yaroun, a mainly Christian village a few miles south of hard-hit Bint Jbail.

"Why did this happen."

"What have we done to deserve this!" she yelled.

Rosetta Ajaka, also just returned, found her badly damaged home had been used as a Hezbollah outpost.

A rocket launcher still sat in the front garden.

The political fallout was significant.

The unity that has governed Israeli politics was expected to quickly fracture.

Three Knesset members were ejected from the parliament during an Olmert speech Monday for heckling and several others had called for a commission of inquiry into the offensive.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora faced the threat of a government collapse as well, given the task of disarming Hezbollah fighters.

The group has two Cabinet ministers and 14 votes in Parliament and could easily undo government unanimity when a vote is taken on the Hezbollah disarmament issue -- as is demanded by the international community.

The dangers for Lebanese civilians were great as well.

At least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded by ordnance that exploded as they returned to their homes in south Lebanon, security officials said.

Many of those filtering back in looked dazed, unable to recognize their neighborhoods.

"I just want to find my house," said Ahmad Maana, an old man who wandered back on foot after spending more than a week hiding in the nearby hills.

Hezbollah fighters -- rarely seen in earlier visits to southern villages -- also appeared more openly.

Two young men in khakis were spotted carrying semiautomatic rifles, and others talked into two-way radios.

A few carloads of young men screeched into Kafra and jumped out of their cars, kissing waiting comrades on each cheek.

end quotes

"BRING IT ON", eh, George ......

I think maybe they are going to "see you" ......

And then ...

Raise you ten ....

Which means US ....

Thanks to you ...

And your mouth ...

From which the world's misery now stems ....

And so ......

Stay your course, George ....

And pretty soon .....

All the world .....

Will be ....

As big a mess ....

As is IRAQ ....

And the Middle East .....

Thanks to you .....

And so ....

[Snuffysmith]

Terrell Arnold sent this to me. It just made me very angry. I wish Ricks, who wrote FIASCO would have gone after this as well as the other military blunders in Iraq.


http://www.rense.com/general71/cctro.htm


Ameriraq - The New
Colonial Frontier
By Terrell E. Arnold
6-3-6

The United States is now building a striking diplomatic complex on the bank of the Tigris River in Baghdad. It is more than a mere replacement for the traditionally modest US Embassy in that city. When finished, it will cost more than a billion dollars and consist of 104 acres of grounds, offices, living quarters, eating places, athletic clubs and community facilities. Reminiscent of 19th century "international settlements" such as in Shanghai, China, the new "Embassy" will be a completely self-contained enclave, the largest and most elaborate the United States will have anywhere in the world. The plot of ground reportedly was ceded to the United States for this purpose, although it is not clear whether the US paid for the site. Under normal diplomatic protocols, that means the entire facility will be US territory, self-powered, self-watered, self-sanitized, surrounded by high walls and blast-deflecting berms, protected by American security personnel, and subject only to US laws. Only selected Iraqis will ever see the inside of it.

This diplomatic mission, when operating, could be the leading edge of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's "transformational diplomacy". Her stated goal is to change the United States role in the world. As reported in the Washington Post, that means "not just accepting the world as it is, but trying to change it."

Virtually every American government has had such an idea planted somewhere in its agenda. But changing the world has never been the central goal of diplomacy. That egoistic motif is hard to resist, but the driving truth up to now has been that no government has had enough qualified people to seriously tackle transforming another society, let alone transformation of the whole outside world.

The central purpose of diplomacy perforce has been to conduct civil relations with other governments, regardless of who they are or represent, on matters of mutual interest. Getting other governments and societies to accept American goals, objectives and political or economic systems and approaches is a different kettle of fish. The hardest part of transformational diplomacy is getting a government you like, even out of a successful process of meddling in somebody else's affairs. The Hamas victory in Palestine virtually says it all.

The model for this diplomacy is an Embassy that will be big enough in size and complex enough in staffing to meddle in all the internal affairs of Iraq as well as those of all surrounding regions. How does this immodest pending facility compare with US diplomatic missions in the major capitals of the world? For comparison purposes, Iraq is a country of 437,072 square kilometers that contains roughly 25 million people. When last we had an Embassy in Iraq, before Gulf War I, the entire American staff did not exceed 25 or 30 people.

By comparison, in Brazil, a country of 8.5 million square kilometers, three major cities and a population of 188 million, the US has less than 70 key Americans and total American staff of less than 250 people in three major diplomatic and consular posts plus smaller ones. Sao Paulo State, for example, consists of 247,898 square kilometers, containing 33 million people, with 18 million of them living in the City of Sao Paulo. US Consulate General Sao Paulo has 35-40 people to conduct relations with the Brazilians and support the largest US business community in Latin America. Closer to Iraq, in Egypt, the US has 250 or so people to conduct relations with the most important country of the region that consists of over 1 million square kilometers and 80 million people, and controls one of the world's main waterways, the Suez Canal.

Why such an elaborate concept for the US Embassy in a country of 25 million people? According to initial reports nearly 700 official Americans plus their families will live in the new compound. Those people will represent a dozen or more US agencies, including State, Treasury, the FBI, Homeland Security, Interior, Energy, Defense, Transportation, Commerce, CIA, DEA, and Agriculture for starters. These organizations will not be limited to the conduct of ordinary bilateral relations. State, for example, is now busily seeking recruits to help Iraq rebuild the infrastructure that largely has been destroyed by US/Coalition bombings and ground warfare. Agriculture, for example, could be charged with seeing that the Iraqis live up to part of L. Paul Bremer's final dictate to plant only US certified seed, meaning stop using local and traditional varieties of grain and other foodstuff.

Energy no doubt will plan to play a big hand in the development of Iraq's remaining undeveloped oil resources. The new Constitution, jammed down Iraqi throats by Bremer on departure, requires that any new wells to be drilled will not be developed by Iraq but by outside (read American) oil companies. Whether Iraq will get an OPEC-like share of revenues from those wells is not clear, but the odds are against it if US companies develop the fields. A weak and internally divided Iraqi government has little chance of negotiating a favorable deal on this, so the lion's share of any new Iraqi oil revenues is likely to go abroad.

Iraqis have not been asked to lead much, if any, of the American-sponsored enterprises. Ever since the occupation began, Iraqis have complained that US and Middle Eastern contractors have been brought in to do work the Iraqis could do and, in their own interest, should do. The new US Embassy itself is being built by a Kuwaiti prime contractor with Kuwaiti and mainly Asian labor, the alleged reason being to avoid having Iraqis know too much about how the compound is designed and protected--the obvious assumption being that outsiders either will not remember or will not blab.

The more striking, and from the Iraqi perspective more offensive assumption behind not using Iraqis to work on the new Embassy is that the Iraqi people will always be so opposed to the Americans that any Iraqi knowledge of how the new Embassy is put together could be dangerous to American health. Thus, a "we-they" psychology that now drives the US and Coalition force behavior in Iraq is being designed into the future layout of the American presence. A colony of American officials and families inside a totally protected compound will only reinforce such psychology. With this as format, the future of US/Iraqi relations looks bleak indeed.

The next big question mark concerns Defense. No doubt, DOD will have a large Defense Attaché cadre in the new Embassy, but the bigger issue concerns military bases. Early on after the invasion it was reported that Defense was building four permanent bases in Iraq, and that still seems to be the magic number. With complete candor, the US team in Iraq could admit that instead of rebuilding the Iraqi infrastructure destroyed mainly by aerial bombardment, the US is putting the energy and the money into those four bases and the new Embassy. Little work in the meantime has been done to restore basic infrastructure such as power, water and sanitation systems. Softly enough to escape notice, Bush has recently backhandedly admitted plans for bases by asking Congress for funding--over and above the annual budget, the costs of war-fighting, and the new Embassy construction. This may look like mafia bookkeeping to some, because money originally appropriated to rebuild Iraq appears to have been devoted to American bases and operations.

One of those bases was reported early in 2003 to have been planned for the site of ancient Babylon. The site was actually occupied, but archaeologists complained about the damage to this site caused by paving over parts of it with asphalt, using artifact laden materials from the site to fill sandbags, contaminating the site with sand and gravel from outside, as well as bulldozing other areas. However, in light of massive objections from the archaeological community, the US handed the site back to Iraq in early 2004.

Each of four proposed bases, with two mile runways and associated operations, maintenance, living and recreational facilities, a miniature of hometown USA--each a military counterpart of the Embassy in size, or larger-- will mean that Iraq will host by far the largest official American presence outside the United States. But the missions of those bases will be Middle East regional, starting with four large US military facilities looking down the throat of Iran. Iraq, de facto, will become the center of a new American empire. Supplying those bases and maintaining their in-place as well as enroute support networks will become the most demanding operational missions of the US military.

Getting to that point requires that the US-led Coalition squelch the Iraqi insurgency. Few, if any resources will be free for other missions until that is accomplished. Keeping the Iraqi insurgency from reigniting at some future point becomes a vital priority. The first key to success on that is avoiding the emergence of any charismatic new leadership. In turn, the key is to eliminate or frighten into exile any well-educated and well-motivated individuals who might assume future leadership positions. That also is the key to assuring that the matter of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction never arises again. Reported assassinations of scores of Iraqi academics and intellectuals indicate that the process of dumbing down Iraq is well under way.

What will emerge from this process, if all goes as apparently planned, is a docile Iraqi population under an innocuous Iraqi leadership that does the bidding of its American sponsors. That, in fact, is the only profile of a future Iraqi society that is compatible with an American presence on the scale contemplated by the giant new Embassy and four sprawling military bases. The predictable future model is an Iraq subservient to American dictates: Ameriraq.

**********

The writer is the author of the recently published work, A World Less Safe, now available on Amazon, and he is a regular columnist on rense.com. He is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer of the US Department of State whose immediate pre-retirement positions were as Deputy Director of the State Office of Counterterrorism, and as Chairman of the Department of International Studies of the National War College. He will welcome comment at wecanstopit@charter.net.

[Livyjr]

Terrell Arnold sent this to me.

It just made me very angry.

I wish Ricks, who wrote FIASCO would have gone after this as well as the other military blunders in Iraq.

Fear is a mind-killer, Snuf .....

And anger is a wet blanket ....

Thrown over the fire ....

Of clear thinking ....

It just smokes things up quite a bit ....

And stings the eyes ....

And makes you cough ...

And the fire goes out ...

And your coffee water never boils, as a result ....

And that gets you real mad ...

So that you kick the embers all over the place ....

And one of them goes down your boot ....

And gets to burning your foot ....

Which gets you to yowling pretty good ....

And hopping around on one foot ....

And it just goes downhill from there .....

IF ALL OF THE MILITARY BLUNDERS ASSOCIATED .....

WITH THIS REPUBLICAN INVASION AND SUBSEQUENT OCCUPATION OF IRAQ .....

Were to be put down on paper .....

You and I together .....

Wouldn't have enough lifetime left to us .....

To read them all ...

And so ....

Consider that the mess in Mogadishu chronicled .....

In the book Blackhawk Down .....

Took place really in a mere matter of days ....

And that took a whole book to tell that tale ....

And then consider .....

That this Iraq FISACO .....

Is like a whole continuing series of stupid mistakes and monumental blunders .....

That makes the SHEER STUPIDITY ....

Chronicled in Blackhawk Down .....

Look like pure military genius in comparison ....

Day after day after day after day of it ......

Well .....

You begin to get the picture .....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

Well ....

You have to give FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED YOU DECIDE some credit for persistence, anyway .....

In keeping the BUSHCO PROPAGANDA flowing .....

Which is what FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED YOU DECIDE is in existence for ....

This morning .....

They had on once again ....

George W. Bush ....

Growling away .....

Just like he was hour after hour yesterday ....

In his capacity as a SPOKESPERSON .....

AND APOLOGIST ....

For Isreal ....

About how it was Hezbollah this ...

And Hezbollah that .....

And Hezbollah some othet thing, as well ...

And Isreal is good .....

And Isreal is innocent ...

And Isreal has a right to kill anybody that it wants to kill ...

But no one else has a right to defend themselves from being killed by Isreal ....

Or George W. Bush .....

Or Tony Blair .....

Over there in Great Britain ....

AND ISREAL WON THE WAR .....

AND OF COURSE .....

HEZBOLLAH LOST .....

While FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED YOU DECIDE .....

Is one of the best ORGANS OF PROPAGANDA .....

That the BUSHCOS have .....

It is very clear .....

That George W. Bush .....

IS AN EVEN BETTER PROPAGANDIST .....

FOR HIS MASTERS IN ISREAL .....

And so ....

"No clear winner in 34-day conflict - Hezbollah is likely to face criticism for starting war, Israel is diminished by its failure to crush militants"

By STEVEN GUTKIN and KATHY GANNON, Associated Press
First published: Tuesday, August 15, 2006

JERUSALEM -- The war in Lebanon has badly bruised the Israeli government and boosted Hezbollah's standing in the Arab world.

But Israel says it has made some gains -- the Lebanese army, backed by international troops, is to take control of south Lebanon.

And Hezbollah, despite its public confidence, also is likely to face criticism from scores of Lebanese civilians who lost everything in the attacks.

A cease-fire that took effect Monday seeks to end the 34-day conflict that was fought to a virtual draw.

Developments on the ground will determine the war's ultimate winners and losers -- whether Hezbollah will be pushed back from Israel's border and eventually disarmed, whether Israel will be able to prevent Iran and Syria from funneling weapons to Lebanese guerrillas, whether Islamic radicals everywhere will be propped up by Hezbollah's successes.

For now, neither side can truly declare victory.

Hezbollah's ability to withstand more than a month of Israel's punishing assaults while firing an uninterrupted stream of more than 4,000 rockets has given its fighters heroic status on Arab and Muslim streets.

But having joined the Lebanese government, the guerrillas are likely to pay a steep political price for provoking Israel's wrath.

On July 12, they captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a daring cross-border raid, sparking a war that killed more than 790 Lebanese and left much of that country in shambles.

And even if Israel achieves its goal of pushing Hezbollah away from its border, it, too, has suffered great losses, with 155 dead and hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes or seek refuge in bomb shelters.

Israel failed to achieve its original goal of destroying Hezbollah or the group's fearsome array of Iranian- and Syrian-provided rockets.

Israeli critics are warning that Israel's deterrence may have suffered a life-threatening blow, giving archenemy Iran an opening to pursue its stated goal of destroying Israel.

"A couple thousand Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters kept Israel at bay for over a month," said Chuck Freilich, Israel's former deputy national security adviser who is now a senior fellow at the Kennedy School of Government.

"This now shows that irregular forces with Iranian support can be effective against a large and sophisticated conventional army."

In a speech Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the cease-fire deal had eliminated Hezbollah's "state within a state" in Lebanon, and restored the Lebanese government's sovereignty in the south.

That's no small achievement for Israel, which has been trying in vain for six years -- ever since it withdrew from south Lebanon following an 18-year occupation -- to get Lebanon to implement a U.N. resolution calling for the central government to take control of the whole country.

During his speech, however, Olmert acknowledged "deficiencies" in the way the war was conducted, and promised to "do better" in the next war.

His government is coming under intense criticism for failing to break Hezbollah or secure the release of the two kidnapped soldiers -- and for holding off on a massive land invasion that many believed was necessary to win the war.

That invasion finally came last weekend in the war's 11th hour, when the U.N. Security Council was about to approve a cease-fire.

The U.N. resolution sets the stage for 15,000 Lebanese troops and 15,000 foreign troops to be deployed in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah declared that his guerrillas achieved a "strategic, historic victory" over Israel.

But President Bush said Hezbollah was defeated.

The President cast the fighting as part of a wider struggle "between freedom and terrorism."

Bush made clear that he blames Hezbollah and its patrons, Iran and Syria, for igniting the conflict.

"We recognize that the responsibility for this lies with Hezbollah," Bush said.

"Responsibility lies also with Hezbollah's state sponsors, Iran and Syria."

Bush warned Tehran to stop backing militias in Lebanon and in Iraq, where U.S. officials have long accused Iran of feeding the sectarian violence.

"In both these countries, Iran is backing armed groups in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold," Bush said.

"The message of this administration is clear."

"America will stay on the offensive against al-Qaida."

"Iran must stop its support for terror, and the leaders of these armed groups must make a choice."

"If they want to participate in the political life of their countries, they must disarm."

end quotes

Outside of having no credibility left to him ....

And outside of not seeming to really have much of a grasp of history .....

Or reality ...

Or human nature ....

I guess you could say ....

That in some arcane ....

And undecipherable way ......

That George W. Bush .....

Is doing a real good job .....

As president of OUR America ....

Although I really have no idea what that could be ....

Because outside of making OUR America ....

And all of us ....

Look like real stupid THUGS ....

As if we all were really REPUBLICANS ...

And firmly in his fold .....

Which I sure am not .....

I can't see where George W. Bush has done ....

Even one thing .....

That makes OUR America .....

More secure for the future .....

Which seems real bleak ....

And getting bleaker by the moment ....

Each time that George W. Bush ....

Opens his mouth ....

And pours yet more gasoline ....

On an already burning fire .....

IN OUR WORLD ...

That he wants to turn into a real conflagration ....

And so ...

Give credit where credit is due ....

Is my thought for this morning ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

And speaking about "GOD'S OWN PARTY" .....

Down here on this earth of OURS .....

And cause for hope in the future ....

"For GOP, Bad Gets Worse in Northeast - Incumbents Shy From Party and President"

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 14, 2006; Page A01

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. -- When it comes to President Bush and the Republican Congress, Rep. Jim Gerlach says voters in his suburban Philadelphia district are in a "sour mood."

That's why when it comes to his reelection, the two-term incumbent says "the name of the game" is to convince those same voters that he can be independent of his own party.

He has turned his standard line about Bush -- "When I think he's wrong, I let him know" -- into a virtual campaign slogan, repeated in interviews and TV ads.

"It is a combination of things, from the war in Iraq to gas prices to what they are experiencing in their local areas," Gerlach said of the surly electorate whose decision he will know on Nov. 7.

The Iraq war and Bush's low approval ratings have created trouble for Republicans in all regions.

But nowhere is the GOP brand more scuffed than in the Northeast, where this year's circumstances are combining with long-term trends to endanger numerous incumbents.

Sounding very much like Gerlach, state Sen. Raymond Meier, a Republican running for an open seat in Upstate New York, observed:

"People around here are anxious and concerned not just about the national state of affairs, but also their personal state of affairs."

"As a Republican candidate, the challenge is to show you have even a clue about what their lives are like."

Also sounding very much like Gerlach is Rep. Rob Simmons.

His eastern Connecticut seat is the most Democratic-leaning district in the country still held by a Republican.

"My friend calls me Salmon Simmons . . . because I am always swimming upstream" against a Democratic current, he said.

Last week's defeat of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut moderate who has supported the Iraq war, in the Democratic primary gave Republicans a vivid look at some of the same angry currents likely to buffet them this fall.

A Washington-Post ABC News poll this month found Bush's approval rating at 28 percent in the Northeast -- 12 points below his national average.

The Republican Congress fared no better.

Republican losses in the region could echo well beyond the 2006 campaign.

Because much of the region is tilting Democratic, history suggests Republicans would find it hard to recapture seats once lost.

That is why GOP operatives in Washington are alarmed not just about Gerlach's predicament, but about that of two congressional neighbors in suburban Philadelphia: Reps. Michael G. Fitzpatrick and Curt Weldon, both in tough districts.

In Connecticut, Republican Reps. Nancy L. Johnson and Christopher Shays -- like Simmons -- are in highly competitive contests.

And several New York Republicans are facing their most difficult reelection fights ever.

One reason Republicans understand the risk is that they were beneficiaries of a strikingly similar regional upheaval a decade ago.

Before the 1994 elections, when Republicans won control of the House for the first time in 40 years, Democrats held dozens of Southern districts in which the electorate had been gradually growing more conservative.

That year, Republicans picked up 20 of those Southern seats, including several held by Democratic incumbents who -- like Northeast Republicans today -- tried to distance themselves from an unpopular White House and Congress controlled by their party.

Many of those Southern seats are afterthoughts in elections today because the districts are so solidly Republican.

Simmons, who plays up his connections to organized labor, a traditionally Democratic interest, said a similar purge of Northeast Republicans would only exacerbate the polarized Washington environment.

"For every one of us [moderates] who loses, the Congress becomes more partisan," he said.

GOP moderates have long felt marginalized by the conservative-dominated House Republican Conference.

Late last year, however, Republican leaders realized they needed to soften some of their proposals or risk losing Northeastern seats.

They reluctantly added money to the 2006 budget for job training and other programs pushed by the most liberal Republicans in Congress.

They held a vote to expand stem cell research, a popular idea among moderates that was vetoed by Bush.

Last month, Republican leaders passed a $2.10 increase to the minimum wage, a powerful political issue in the struggling industrial towns.

It was defeated in the Senate because it was linked to a cut in estate taxes.

"Our Republican conference needs to do more to put forward an agenda on health care, education and the environment," Gerlach said.

"Those are important issues in the suburbs."

Here in Pennsylvania's 6th District, Democratic candidate Lois Murphy is a case study in how her party is trying to make campaigns about an unpopular Bush and Congress.

On Tuesday, she traveled to the banks of Schuylkill River to rail against the "Bush energy bill," which she blamed for high gas costs and a dirtier environment.

Standing on a boat landing at a recent campaign event, she planted her shoe in a gob of melted gum.

But she quickly went on to stick Gerlach with something the candidate's internal polls suggest is worse -- alleging the incumbent "has been a reliable vote for the Bush administration . . . and not stood up for the 6th District."

C. Ray Kalbach, 81, lifelong district resident, is receptive to the appeal.

"My total commitment is to unelect all incumbents, period," said Kalbach, a self-described independent.

He said he is fed up with Gerlach and "words spoken in one manner and actions done in another."

The district is a microcosm of other suburban areas in the region, a mixture of wealthy, GOP-leaning communities in West Chester and middle-income, working-class families in places such as Reading.

Like many of the areas surrounding Philadelphia, it has been trending Democratic in recent elections, serving as the political base for Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D), the favorite to win reelection this year.

Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, won the district by three percentage points.

This the second time Gerlach is facing Murphy, a lawyer and mother of two children, and a skilled campaigner.

In 2004, Gerlach beat her by about 6,400 votes (51 percent to 49 percent).

Both candidates have raised about $2 million, plan to raise at least $1 million more, and are going for the jugular in campaign speeches and television ads.

Murphy's issue conflicts with Gerlach are somewhat amorphous, apparently by design.

She would repeal some of Bush's tax cuts, including those for people earning $200,000 or more, but support others.

Murphy slams Gerlach for "utterly failing" to stand up to Bush on the Iraq war, but she said her only policy difference is that she would force the president to come up with a "plan for success."

Pressed, she said Democrats "start from maybe worse than a blank slate" when it comes to having a national security plan.

"Voters do not feel that they have that definition."

She calls herself a moderate, more a "Rendell Democrat than a Pelosi Democrat" -- drawing a bit of distance from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a liberal.

"Political conversation has become so polarized, so emotional," said Susan Bolton, a computer professional in the district.

"When people liken Bush to Hitler, I see a lot of similarities myself."

Bolton has stopped discussing the race here with Republican friends and said she will definitely turn out to vote for Murphy.

Others are unfazed.

"It is the lesser of two evils," said Jerry Cobb, a Republican retiree who has lived in the district for 45 years.

"I am not a Gerlach man, but I will probably vote for him" because of -- not in spite of -- his ties to Bush.

"They are having a good old time bashing George Bush," but it won't work on him, he said.

Most voters interviewed in the area seemed unaware of the race -- or uninterested.

The Gerlach campaign calls the Democratic candidate "liberal Lois" and warns she will raise taxes if elected.

Amy Bonitatibus, who took a leave from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's office to assist Murphy, said the charge, while not true, "resonates" with many voters here.

Gerlach, who served in the state House and Senate before winning his seat in 2002, has said the two biggest issues are gas prices and immigration -- two areas in which he highlights differences with Bush.

Still, for Democrats to pick up the 15 seats needed to take control of the House, they may need the discontent to spread beyond the suburbs and into the conservative towns and rural communities of Upstate New York.

Meier, 53, is struggling to hold a seat that has gone Republican for a half-century.

New York's 24th is not the kind of suburban, well-to-do country that is causing problems for the GOP elsewhere.

It is more like the industrial Midwest, where once-vibrant cities bleed jobs, population and money as the economy moves away from factory dominance.

Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert, an influential moderate Republican who chairs the Science Committee, has represented the district since 1982.

Several times, he beat back conservative primary challenges by convincing voters that his ability to win funding for pet projects -- such as turning Griffiss Air Force Base into a technology center -- was more important than such social issues as his support of abortion rights.

In a normal environment, Boehlert's decision to retire this year might open the door for a more conservative Republican, such as Meier, to lock down the district, where Democrats have 40,000 fewer registered voters.

But Meier said there is nothing normal about 2006:

"It's a challenging year as a Republican."

In a break with the GOP election-year strategy, Meier said he is largely avoiding wedge issues such as same-sex marriage that party leaders are promoting in Washington and playing up his ability to compromise and create jobs.

"People here are not ideologues," Meier said.

Michael A. Arcuri, 47, is the district attorney from Utica, the district's largest city in a county that accounts for about 30 percent of its voters.

Handsome and articulate, Arcuri is running a campaign seemingly focused on one thing: tethering Meier to an unpopular Bush and Republican Party establishment.

"He is one of the extremists," said Arcuri, between sips of coffee at a Friendly's restaurant.

To emphasize this point, Arcuri is running as a "Boehlert Democrat," highlighting how he shares the retiring GOP congressman's views on abortion, stem cells, tax cuts and energy policies, which are not coincidentally different than Bush's.

"There is a huge difference between Boehlert and Meier," Arcuri said.

Reba L. Taylor, a former Democrat who serves as the Republican mayor of Dryden, said there is widespread frustration with Republicans in the area.

"They have been a complacent, ruling party too long," she said.

"A lot of them have not been touchable for a long time."

But Taylor said she is sticking with Meier because she believes he is the best person to help win funding and assistance for her town and the district.

Said Boehlert: "It will be more of a challenge than in the past, but it won't be insurmountable."