Deborah Van Valkenburgh (who played my sister Jackie on Too Close for Comfort) in this poster from "The Warriors."JOHN DEAN, author of "Conservatives Without Conscience" on BASHAM RADIO TODAY August 17!! Check for times at:
Just found this eye-opening post by JHBUCK at ThorninUrASSumptions
"There is no justification for the loss of 26 hundred of America's highest hopes for the future. Don't feed me this crap about possible adverse effects if we leave Iraq now. I can pull the same time machine out and predict that if we bring everyone home right now, someone whose life gets saved by the withdrawal will cure diabetes. Someone who gets saved by the withdrawal will adopt children who otherwise will be homeless. People can be heroic by living to their fullest potential. Yes, our soldiers are heroes. But so are loving parents. And so are generous friends. And so are honest business people. Why is it vogue right now to be a hero because you are dead? Because an insane "war room" (at the Pentagon) decided to sacrifice lives with no foreseeable end? Isn't this the time for Denzel or Tommy Lee Jones to come out of the background and relieve Mr. Bush of duty? Why is war policy even allowed to be controlled by such a measurable minority? What happened to the idea of politicians representing us in their mountaintop offices? Condi is a parrot. She is having the most brazen affair through sharing power with the man. She is smarter than him, but she says his words. What's wrong with this picture? It's disgusting, that's what!
It's CRIMINAL that's what!! (these are Lydia's words)
Also, please read a brilliant post below (at bottom) by Jude Nagurney Camwell. But first, these enlightening words from one of the world's great spiritual leaders:
"We should remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills, opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a different history, constitution, culture, character, from all the rest...
Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation for everything beautiful, great and good — but with a temper so genial that the friction of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities...with a charity broad enough to cover the whole world's evil, and sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it, — determined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor even when it is, unless the offense be against God (Love, Truth, Life.) Nothing short of our own errors should offend us. He who can wilfully attempt to injure another, is an object of pity rather than of resentment." - Mary Baker Eddy
And of course, we heal our enemies, and take the fight out of them by returning love for hate: by actually NOT fighting them on their terms (with equal violence) but by withdrawing from the fight, seeing them as tragically misguided children of God who desperately need a new view of themselves. Once we remove ourselves from the hotbed, they are left with no one to fight. We disarm them with love. (This doesn't mean we have to personally like these guys, but we must view them differently in order for a change to take place. You can't fight someone who doesn't fight back.
******************************************************
Posted by Jude Nagurney Camwell in reply to Tall Texan's posting of the article calling European countries cowards and appeasers:
"Diplomacy is not appeasement, but Bush's favorite neocons don't want anyone to examine the vast difference.
George never looked Saddam in the eye - not once - before going in and making this mess in Iraq. The opportunity was there, but George wouldn't do it. Why? Because he is a fundamentalist in every sense of the word.
A fundamentalist is "never wrong." Religious and political fundamentalism is characterized by rigidity, domination, and exclusion. Fundamentalists are convinced that they are right and anyone who contradicts them is evil. The fundamentalist feels that they have a unique relationship with God - and that they actually speak for God. When there are serious differences between the U.S. and other nations, we cannot brand those who differ as pariahs or inferiors worthy of despise - yet fundamentalism in foreign policy tends to do just that. It leaves no room for discussing of ideas or for compromise.
George has an opportunity to talk directly with Syria and Iran reagrding South Lebanon. He will not do it. He is following the pattern of assured war by doing so. He is following the pattern of assured war by sitting back (immoral in his failure to speak out) while children die at the hands of a brutal aggressor. When children perish in such a manner, there is no moral person in this world who sees it as "self-defense."
From a non-fundamentalist point of view, when Jesus told us to 'love our enemies,' I really don't think he meant "go and kill them."
Great strength in leadership is found in those who will not rule out any possibility in the pursuit of political goals. Unfortunately, George only wants to use firepower to achieve his goals, neglecting the rule of law and human rights that have been set down in stone for us to see since the days of Hammurabi. George missed some very important lessons in leadership while he partied down and guzzled brew and f**ked up every business he ever had his grubby hands in. Our nation suffers for his weakness." - Jude Nagurney Camwell
LOVE & PEACE! xo, Lydia 2006
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"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
Here is the commercial-free unedited version of the radio show I did in June for Doug Basham's Progressive Talk in Vegas. Doug is one of my favorite people and a fantastic, brilliant host!
EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE
ReplyDelete(Commentary by Mathias Dapfner CEO, Axel Springer, AG)
A few days ago Henry Broder wrote in Welt am Sonntag, "Europe - your family name is appeasement." It's a phrase you can't get out of your head because it's so terribly true. Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their lives, as England and France, allies at the time, negotiated and hesitated too long before they noticed that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to toothless agreements.
Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the rest of Eastern Europe, where for decades, inhuman suppressive, murderous governments were glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities.
Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo, and even though we had absolute proof of ongoing mass-murder, we Europeans debated and debated and debated, and were still debating when finally the Americans had to come from halfway around the world, into Europe yet again, and do our work for us.
Rather than protecting democracy in the Middle East, European Appeasement, camouflaged behind the fuzzy word "equidistance," now countenances suicide bombings in Israel by fundamentalist Palestinians.
Appeasement generates a mentality that allows Europe to ignore nearly 500,000 victims of Saddam's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the peace movement, has the gall to issue bad grades to George Bush . Even as it is uncovered that the loudest critics of the American action in Iraq made illicit billions, no, TENS of billions, in the corrupt UN. Oil-for-Food program.
And now we are faced with a particularly grotesque form of appeasement. How is Germany reacting to the escalating violence by Islamic Fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere? By suggesting that we really should have a "Muslim Holiday" in Germany?
I wish I were joking, but I am not. A substantial fraction of our (German) Government, and if the polls are to be believed, the German people, actually believe that creating an Official State "Muslim Holiday" will somehow spare us from the wrath of the fanatical Islamists. One cannot help but recall Britain's Neville Chamberlain waving the laughable treaty signed by Adolph Hitler and declaring European "Peace in our time".
What else has to happen before the European public and its political leadership get it? There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially perfidious crusade consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians, directed against our free, open Western societies, and intent upon Western Civilization's utter destruction.
It is a conflict that will most likely last longer than any of the great military conflicts of the last century - a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by "tolerance" and "accommodation" but is actually spurred on by such gestures, which have proven to be, and will always be taken by the Islamists for signs of weakness. Only two recent American Presidents had the courage needed for Anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush.
His American critics may quibble over the details, but we Europeans know the truth. We saw it first hand: Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War, freeing half of the German people from nearly 50 years of terror and virtual slavery. And Bush, supported only by the Social Democrat Blair, acting on moral conviction, recognized the danger in the Islamic War against Democracy. His place in history will have to be evaluated after a number of years have passed.
In the meantime, Europe sits back with charismatic self-confidence in the multicultural corner, instead of defending liberal society's values and being an attractive center of power on the same playing field as the true great powers, America and China.
On the contrary - we Europeans present ourselves, in contrast to those "arrogant Americans", as the World Champions of "tolerance", which even (Germany's Interior Minister) Otto Schily justifiably criticizes.
Why? Because we're so moral? I fear it's more because we're so materialistic, so devoid of a moral compass.
For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of additional national debt, and a massive and persistent burden on the American economy - because unlike almost all of Europe, Bush realizes what is at stake - literally everything.
While we criticize the "capitalistic robber barons" of America because they seem too sure of their priorities, we timidly defend our Social Welfare systems. Stay out of it! It could get expensive! We'd rather discuss reducing our 35-hour workweek or our dental coverage, or our 4 weeks of paid vacation ... Or listen to TV pastors preach about the need to "reach out to terrorists. To understand and forgive".
These days, Europe reminds me of an old woman who, with shaking hands, frantically hides her last pieces of jewelry when she notices a robber breaking into a neighbor's house.
Appeasement?
Europe, thy name is Cowardice.
http://auntybelles.blogspot.com/2006/07/scared-german-speaks-to-america.html
Oh and cliffy?
ReplyDeleteBack talking to authority IS NOT "turning the other cheek" no matter how you try to spin it.
(unless of course you're actually TRYING to get the other cheek smitten as well...)
"...who have to be weak because otherwise they will be hard and cruel; for they have to cure the harsher by the gentler forms of egoism."
Actually cliffy, I kinda had you pegged for the above.
Thats also probably why you found a WWII deserter so appealing when you had your great epiphany.
Hey but don't let me hassle you on that one though, it could've been MUCH worse.
You could've had your epiphany over the Rosenbergs or something....
"Lydia Cornell said...
ReplyDeleteCLIF - Stay strong Clif, all these unkind people are just miserable and jealous, so they have to undermine the good. They would never have the courage to actually go to a war zone or put their neck on the line. Only those who have been to war or seen bloodshed up close, have the compassion and courage to say, WAR IS WRONG. It is unnatural.
This is how evil works. Don't give them any power.
10:46 PM"
"Lydia Cornell said...
CLIF - Stay strong Clif, all these unkind people are just miserable and jealous, so they have to undermine the good. They would never have the courage to actually go to a war zone or put their neck on the line. Only those who have been to war or seen bloodshed up close, have the compassion and courage to say, WAR IS WRONG. It is unnatural.
This is how evil works. Don't give them any power.
I am posting a new item so the server doesn't slow down.
7:27 PM"
WOW! Clif is SO insecure that Lyd has a standard "pat on the back" form all filled out for him....LOL
Bush is still the bubble boy
ReplyDeleteby Joe in DC - 8/16/2006 10:49:00 PM
The White House is pretending that Bush is out among the people...learning and stuff. But Froomkin knows better:
I've written a fair amount about the Bush Bubble over the past nearly three years. And it seems to me that, with a tiny handful of exceptions, the bubble is still fully operational.
When it comes to Iraq in particular, Bush has no interest in engaging in genuine dialogue with people who disagree with him -- even though polls suggest those people now represent a large majority of the American public.
He has no interest in actually arguing the merits of his approach, or substantively defending against the increasingly focused critique by congressional Democrats.
Rather, he describes his approach in platitudes, and uses inflated rhetoric to mock the made-up arguments of imaginary opponents. He counts on the skillful use of imagery and human backdrops to deliver his very simple core message -- "I am protecting you" -- without actually making his case.
He hides behind the presidency.
Brilliant analysis of the situation. Every member of the press corps who covers Bush must know this to be true. Yet, they dutifully report that Bush is reaching out....or that he is engaged...or some other talking point foisted on them by the White House staff. They live in their own bubble.
Bush is a disaster. He has no concept of reality. And, a lot of people have died -- and will die -- because of his failed presidency.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/08/bush-is-still-bubble-boy.html
Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War, freeing half of the German people from nearly 50 years of terror and virtual slavery.
ReplyDeleteHardly since it still reigned supreme when Bush 41 took the oath of Office in 1989........the Berlin wall did not come down until Bush was in office for a while and the Soviet Union did not implode until Dec 1991..three years after Reagan left office...
Bush is crap, says Prescott
ReplyDeleteDeputy PM criticises US handling of Middle East, condemning 'cowboy' President at private meeting
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Published: 17 August 2006
John Prescott has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush's administration in a single word: crap.
The Deputy Prime Minister's condemnation of President Bush and his approach to the Middle East could cause a diplomatic row but it will please Labour MPs who are furious about Tony Blair's backing of the United States over the bombing of Lebanon.
The remark is said to have been made at a private meeting in Mr Prescott's Whitehall office on Tuesday with Muslim MPs and other Labour MPs with constituencies representing large Muslim communities. Muslim MPs wanted to press home their objections to British foreign policy and discuss ways of improving relations with the Muslim communities.
Some of the MPs present said yesterday they could not remember Mr Prescott making the remark. He has been at pains to avoid breaking ranks with Mr Blair in public although he is believed to have raised concern about the bombing of Lebanon at a private meeting of the Cabinet. But Harry Cohen, the MP whose constituency includes Walthamstow, scene of some of the police raids in the alleged "terror plot" investigation, said Mr Prescott had definitely used the word "crap" about the Bush administration.
"He was talking in the context of the 'road map' in the Middle East. He said he only gave support to the war on Iraq because they were promised the road map. But he said the Bush administration had been crap on that. We all laughed and he said to an official, 'Don't minute that'." Mr Cohen added: "We also had a laugh when he said old Bush is just a cowboy with his Stetson on. But then he said, 'I can hardly talk about that can I?'
Told that others at the meeting could not recall the words, Mr Cohen said: " He did. I stand by that."
The Deputy Prime Minister's office said last night that the meeting was private and would not confirm or deny his use of the word "crap". " These discussions are intended to be private and remain within the four walls," said one official. "They are private so that there may be frank discussions."
Many Labour MPs have been infuriated by the spectacle of Mr Bush and Mr Blair jointly supporting the Israeli action. The Labour MPs went to see Mr Prescott to lodge their criticism of the Government's foreign policy and some said last night that they would be delighted if he did break ranks over the Bush administration following the outcry at the bombing of the Lebanon.
In the private discussions with Mr Prescott, the Labour MPs representing large Muslim communities pulled no punches in their criticism of Mr Blair for giving his backing to Mr Bush. Another of those who was contacted about the conversations did not deny Mr Prescott's words, but laughed and said: " I can't discuss that." When asked whether he had heard Mr Prescott use the "C-word", he said: "I don't remember that."
The Deputy Prime Minister is said to have made it clear he strongly backed the efforts by Mr Blair to persuade the Bush administration to revive the road map for Palestine and Israel. Mr Blair has given a commitment that he will give the peace process his priority when he returns from his holiday in the Caribbean.
"There was a very robust exchange of views," said the MP. " We had a row about community relations. The Deputy Prime Minister was told in no uncertain terms that the Government was relying too much on the elders in the Muslim community who didn't have the credibility that was needed."
Muslim Labour MPs also told Mr Prescott that they needed to retain their own credibility in their communities, which was one of the reasons why they had signed a controversial letter calling for a change in British foreign policy. They said it was not helpful for the Government to have attacked their letter.
Mr Prescott has been accused in the past of making his feelings known about the Republican administration in the White House. He became friendly with Al Gore, the unsuccessful Democrat presidential candidate in 2000, during the negotiations on the Kyoto treaty and allegedly told Mr Gore after his defeat that he was sorry he lost the race to Mr Bush.
Mr Prescott is also known to have used the word "crap" in relation to political events before. Earlier this month, he angrily rejected claims that he could resign over the row about his links to the bid by the tycoon Philip Anschutz for a super-casino at the Millennium Dome as "a load of crap".
Mr Prescott was left in charge by Mr Blair when the Prime Minister went on his delayed holiday but has largely taken a back seat while John Reid, the Home Secretary, has led for the Government on security and the alleged terror plot to blow up planes across the Atlantic.
Behind the scenes, Mr Prescott had to contend with growing backbench demands for Parliament to be recalled to debate the crisis in the Middle East. It remains an option, in spite of the ceasefire in the Lebanon. Campaigners claimed they had the signatures of more than 150 MPs from all parties for a recall. Significantly, they included Ann Keen, the parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, who is on paternity leave following the birth of his second child. Jim Sheridan, the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, resigned as the parliamentary private secretary to the defence ministers over the bombing of Lebanon.
Mr Prescott has been keen to show Labour MPs that he is prepared to listen to their grievances but has insisted on party discipline to avoid splits. He will be furious at his alleged remarks being repeated, but the signs of dissent within the Cabinet are becoming greater.
Straight-talker's way with words
* Posing with a crab in a jar at the Millennium Dome, while Peter Mandelson was standing for election to Labour's ruling national executive committee, he said to cameramen: "You know what his name is? He's called Peter. Do you think you will get on the executive, Peter?"
* When asked why a car was transporting him and his wife 200 yards to the Labour Party Conference in 1999:
"Because of the security reasons for one thing and second, my wife doesn't like to have her hair blown about. Have you got another silly question?"
* On the Millennium Dome: "If we can't make this work, we're not much of a government."
* "The green belt is a Labour achievement, and we mean to build on it." (Radio interview, January 1998)
* On the Tories at the 1996 Labour conference: "They are up to their necks in sleaze. The best slogan for their conference next week is " Life's better under the Tories" - sounds like one of Steven Norris's chat-up lines."
* When asked by a journalist about Peter Law's decision to quit the Labour Party after 35 years: "Why are you asking me about this? I don't care, it's a Welsh situation, I'm a national politician."
John Prescott has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush's administration in a single word: crap.
The Deputy Prime Minister's condemnation of President Bush and his approach to the Middle East could cause a diplomatic row but it will please Labour MPs who are furious about Tony Blair's backing of the United States over the bombing of Lebanon.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1219716.ece
Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo, and even though we had absolute proof of ongoing mass-murder, we Europeans debated and debated and debated, and were still debating when finally the Americans had to come from halfway around the world, into Europe yet again, and do our work for us.
ReplyDeleteYes, Bill Clinton did take the reigns, even when the repugs howled and squawked all about it.....but Clinton stuck to his approach which allowed Wesley Clark to follow the plan to "free Kosovo" form the terror of Milosevic
How nice of you to point that out Tiny inTellect
Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the rest of Eastern Europe, where for decades, inhuman suppressive, murderous governments were glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities
ReplyDeleteI never knew Churchill who approved Yalta was so soft......
Appeasement generates a mentality that allows Europe to ignore nearly 500,000 victims of Saddam's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the peace movement, has the gall to issue bad grades to George Bush
ReplyDeleteWell since Reagan and Bush 41 coddled Saddam during thius time even selling him weapons. In fact the first time any real action to STOP Saddam was taken was when he challanged the system in the middle east which favored the multinational oil corp's by taking Kuwait and cutting off their profits there....
For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of additional national debt, and a massive and persistent burden on the American economy - because unlike almost all of Europe, Bush realizes what is at stake - literally everything.
ReplyDeleteAt least he realises Bush has undermined the future of the American economy
Back talking to authority IS NOT "turning the other cheek" no matter how you try to spin it.
ReplyDeleteYes it is son it was one of the techniques that gave Ghandi his power...he talked back to the British...and acted in non violent ways which made him more dangerous but less prosecutable..
Martin L King did the same here...and was quite successful hrer also
"...who have to be weak because otherwise they will be hard and cruel; for they have to cure the harsher by the gentler forms of egoism."
ReplyDeleteActually cliffy, I kinda had you pegged for the above.
Thats also probably why you found a WWII deserter so appealing when you had your great epiphany.
**No son I just realised that in some ways the people who carry out the regulations in many wars do about the same things...which means we can be just as bad if we allow ourselves to be...and abu Ghraib is PROOF of that
Hey but don't let me hassle you on that one though, it could've been MUCH worse.
You could've had your epiphany over the Rosenbergs or something....
Sorry son they did give some things away but the real traitor was British which the FBI never caught, and since they were NEVER part of an Combat operation like the trolls here I would not expect you to understand that reality.
Dolty boy said;
ReplyDelete"This pity is a weakness of the mind and senses,--a weakness which may well be beneficial to men of a lower grade of development, who have to be weak because otherwise they will be hard and cruel; for they have to cure the harsher by the gentler forms of egoism."
sorry son that does not apply to me....but the chicken hawks might find something in there about weakness of mind or fortitude
Even the Paula Jones law suit is coming back to bite the repugs in the ass, too funny;
ReplyDeletePlame lawyer plans to force Cheney, Rove testimony
LOS ANGELES, Aug 15 - A lawyer plans to use a legal precedent that allowed President Bill Clinton to be sued while in office to force Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove to testify in a lawsuit brought by former CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband.
California attorney Joseph Cotchett said he will ask a federal court to order Cheney, his ex-chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Rove to testify in depositions about their role in disclosing her classified status.
The civil lawsuit accuses them and others of conspiring to publicly identify Plame as a CIA agent to punish her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for writing in an op-ed piece that the Bush administration twisted intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the Iraq war.
Cotchett, who took over as trial counsel in Plame's case on Tuesday, said legal precedent for whether Cheney and the others could claim legal immunity in the case comes, in part, from Paula Jones' sexual harassment case against Clinton.
In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling that neither Clinton "or any other official has an immunity that extends beyond the scope of any action taken in an official capacity."
In order to be dismissed from the case or avoid testifying, Cotchett said, lawyers for Cheney and the other men would have to argue that they were acting on government business if they are found to have leaked Plame's name to the media.
Federal law makes it a crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert agent.
A hearing on motions to dismiss the case and on immunity for the defendants are expected in a month or two, Cotchett said.
The lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Washington, came after Libby's indictment last October on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury in an ongoing federal investigation into who leaked Plame's identity to the media in 2003. He is so far the only person criminally charged in the case.
The CIA-leak case flared after Wilson accused the administration of leaking his wife's name to the media after he criticized the government in a New York Times opinion piece.
Rove was also named as a source by conservative columnist Robert Novak, who first revealed Plame as a CIA operative.
Cotchett, a longtime Democratic Party supporter and legal adviser, is best known for winning a $3.3 billion jury verdict in a case involving the failure of Lincoln Savings and Loan in the 1980s.
Court documents show that Cheney has hired Emmet Flood, a lawyer from Clinton's impeachment defense team, to represent him in the Plame case.
"The Trail from Munich,"
ReplyDeleteSteven Spielberg's deeply sobering film about the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics draws a trail that leads directly to the attacks of 9/11. This is made clear in the final scene, set across the river from Manhattan, which features the World Trade Center towers in the background. The film suggests that our eye-for-an-eye approach to terrorism began in Munich 30 years ago.
It also shows, with sickeningly convincing brutality, how tragically that approach has failed. The message is that we are still on the road of endless violence and that the War on Terror, no matter how many jihadists are killed, will become our own paralyzing nightmare.
I'm sure audiences will be surprised at how detailed and serious the morality in this film is. The motives of the Black September terrorists are credible: they want their homeland back, they want reprisal for Palestinians killed by Israel, and they want the world to notice them. The Munich massacre served all those purposes. The team of Israeli agents who go after the Black September are equally credible in their motivation: they want vengeance for the murder of innocents, they want to protect the Jewish homeland, and they want to strike a blow in defense of civilization.
But unlike the terrorists, they do not achieve these aims. Avner, the ex-Mossad agent who heads the assassination squad (played with moving fervor by Eric Bana) winds up as an exile without a home, a morally corrupt man who cannot live with his guilt, and a hired gun disowned by civilization. Avner stands for us, the "good" people who set out to destroy the "evil" people, who in turn believe that they are good and we are evil.
"I see no difference between Jews and Palestinians," a naive TV reporter says near the beginning. "They were gradually getting closer, and then this happened to break them apart." What makes this statement naive is that the balance has tipped much further toward making Arabs evil, backward, irrational, bloody-minded, unjust, and barbaric. The subtle message of "Munich," that vengeance ruins the person who wins it, has been lost.
I think that's the real trail we need to follow. It's possible to see equality between Arabs and Israelis, not in terms of right and wrong, but in terms of two opponents equally victimized by hatred. Israel and the Arab states have contributed to the sorrow of the world by carrying the hugest weight of that sorrow themselves. Insofar as right-wing factions in this country drag us into a war against evil, we will also be victimized, and our claim to be civilized will weaken bit by bit.
By films' end Avner succeeds in killing many of his assigned targets, only to realize with anguish that every single one was replaced by someone worse. This is happening now, only instead of a single Osama whose face is known everywhere, we are fostering millions of faceless enemies. We have no idea how many of them will become terrorists, but we can be certain that the stranglehold of hatred is growing tighter. Spielberg's disturbingly dark film is therefore more about our future than about our past.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/the-trail-from-munich_b_13159.html
The Foole said;
ReplyDeleteCliffy who won the debate last night between you and yourself?
No debate foole, just some posts of what I find interesting, and since Lydia has basically said keep it up, well boy, I am.....
Your scroll-by posts are getting really massive; have you broken your old record of 585 pounds of text in a 24-hour period?
Last time I checked bytes of information have no real weight, but do continue to be a wee bit dumb as a rock
BTW thanx a bunch for sharing your intimate knowledge of KY jelly.
Well SINCE you brought it up, I just googled it for you, BTW the Mexican Boy wants his $20 you stiffed him out of.
Kinda ironic that slick willie, your favorite, came from AK not KY, doncha think?
well since he was born ther I guess GOD wanted it that way...don't ya thunk?
Cliffy,Lydia said keep posting all that boredom? My are'nt you a good little boy.It seems to me you're the only left winger left around here,what happened to all your pals? Where's Mike or Larry or Kay or wuffy? Have they all abandoned you? What happened to the "freedom blog?"
ReplyDeleteRusty,
ReplyDeleteWe hafta get cliffy an actual job so he will do something else besides cut-and-paste boring leftist mumbo jumbo 24/7. Maybe he would qualify for something paper hat-related.
Pentagon studying its war errors
ReplyDeleteAnalysts assess tactics in Iraq, Afghanistan
This summer, high-level Pentagon officials ordered a pair of secret studies to pinpoint the military's failures in the two conflicts, and, according to one of the authors, ``the results won't be pretty" when the findings are produced this fall. Last week, the Defense Department invited about 50 of the nation's top counter insurgency specialists to a closed-door meeting outside Washington to critique recent operations and chart a way forward.
The studies, according to several Pentagon officials involved, have found serious deficiencies across the board.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/08/16/pentagon_studying_its_war_errors/?page=1
Cliffy,thank you so much for that last cut and paste,I dont think I could have lived without knowing that.It sure takes a load off my shoulders.What was it again?
ReplyDeletedusty simplex said;
ReplyDeleteCliffy, Lydia said keep posting all that boredom?
Yes
My aren't you a good little boy. It seems to me you're the only left winger left around here, what happened to all your pals?
Maybe they do not have as much time as we seem to have being here everyday,,,
Where's Mike or Larry or Kay or wuffy?
Don't know son since they do not live in Kentucky
Have they all abandoned you?
Far from it son. Unlike repugs progressives do not throw people away like the Bush's are currently trying to throw Kathrine Harris away
What happened to the "freedom blog?"
Lydia must have changed her mind....since it IS her blog she has that particular prerogative.
BTW I did correct your typo's hope it does not offend you TOO much son.....
dusty simplex said;
ReplyDeleteCliffy,thank you so much for that last cut and paste,I dont think I could have lived without knowing that.It sure takes a load off my shoulders.What was it again?
Cliffy, thank you so much for that last cut and paste, I don't think I could have lived without knowing that. It sure takes a load off my shoulders. What was it again?
It is about the review of the wars, you know Afghanistan and Iraq. The pentagon study is basically going to say they are well to put it politely not fought very well. And that changes in tactics are necessary. Changes to the Fiasco that Bush and Dumsfeld have begot in the middle east.
Well foole, just get the VA to approve my request for retraining. As this is what federal VA statutes say they must do. In order to release me. Instead they have placed me in the 100% category. They claim that I am not capable of retrtaining, because of some of my disability, which the social security disability also do.
ReplyDeleteSorry I tried to get retrained, but they never medically cleared me to get retraining.
So let me get this straight Cliffy,you tried to get back to active duty in your beloved army.But,alas they did'nt want you back,even though you had the exact plan to end the conflict in Iraq.Did they know that you,Shinseki and Zinni had come up with the answer and were ready to implement said plan if given the leeway? I mean just what the hell were they thinking,they had success dropped into their laps and they turned their backs on you once again.Those bastards sould burn in hell.
ReplyDeleteI mean this is akin to Gen. Pickett having the correct plan to take cemetary ridge and ole Granny Lee telling him to just bag it and make the damn charge.Foolishness just foolishness.
ReplyDeleteYour anger with those present army pukes is well founded.They screwed you left and right.Damn them to hell.They did the same thing to Shinseki and Zinni.
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteSo let me get this straight Cliffy, you tried to get back to active duty in your beloved army.
**NO son do try to read all the words, the VA retrains a soldier who has been medically discharged...unless the VA declares them 100% disabled.
But, alas they didn't want you back, even though you had the exact plan to end the conflict in Iraq.
**Can't go back son, I no longer can do certain things you MUST do in order to be able to be deployed
Did they know that you, Shinseki and Zinni had come up with the answer and were ready to implement said plan if given the leeway?
**Didn't happen but you can continue to be the simplex here, since your WAY to GUTLESS to go yourself boy.
I mean just what the hell were they thinking, they had success dropped into their laps and they turned their backs on you once again.
**Deciding a vet is 100% disabled is not exactly success, but repugs do attempt to spin things that way sometimes I guess.
Those bastards should burn in hell.
**Which ones, the people who originally treated me? The doctor who diagnosed my problems? The VA adjudicator who decided my case? Who do you rant about boy?
Screw that disengauging unexploded ordnance,you need to find a new,appreciated specialty.Perhaps something to do with improving morale of the soldiers in the field.You could give talks on how the war is being handled wrongly,how they need another 400,000 troops.The need for additional armor.How Rummy is a shitbird chicken hawk.You know stuff like that to really get the soldiers pumped up and ready to fight.
ReplyDeleteThats what I think you would be best at.Maybe you missed you're calling.
ReplyDeleteSomething that will really make you proud to have served.
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said;
ReplyDeleteI mean this is akin to Gen. Pickett having the correct plan to take cemetery ridge and ole Granny Lee telling him to just bag it and make the damn charge.
The charge for cemetery ridge was not possible for success...I know I walked the path during one of my battlefield lessons on tactics and military history. But Lee had little left as he had been beaten back on both the north and south flanks already
Foolishness just foolishness.
Most military tacticians, today, see the assault not the best, but none go quite that far as you do.
You know those young men and women are out there putting everything on the line everyday,I'm sure they'd appreciate a former officer standing before them giving the the "real scoop," you know telling them their country is letting them down,people in america dont care what their doing,their officers dont know what their doing and maybe if all goes well,just like in Nam they can get spit on by your ilk when they reurn home.
ReplyDeleteIts a shame that a so called former officer has such shame and distain for todays army but I guess it really could be expected from a bitter man like you.It would be a shame...no a damn shame if theres a soldier or marine in Iraq reading this blog on his lap top and listening to you crap.
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteScrew that disengaging unexploded ordnance, you need to find a new, appreciated specialty. Perhaps something to do with improving morale of the soldiers in the field. You could give talks on how the war is being handled wrongly, how they need another 400,000 troops. The need for additional armor. How Rummy is a shitbird chicken hawk. You know stuff like that to really get the soldiers pumped up and ready to fight.
Not for me son, as it would involve the very problem that cause me to be medically discharged. It also holds very little interest to me. The troops know if Dumsfeld is doing a good job or NOT. Their third deployment with the Dumb one claiming progress kind of makes that point.
Just for clarity, My job was to disarm, or Render Safe Explosive Ordinance....disengaging is something you do with military units, usually the enemy.
Dusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteSomething that will really make you proud to have served.
I do not need anything to make me proud of my service...I am.
You promote yourself as a 10 year officer but you now turn your back on the services that not only paid for you education and trained you but now supports you and your family.But yet you have no objection in constantly bad mouthing the hand that educated,trained,fed and now feeds you.Whose is the real chicken hawk?
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteYou know those young men and women are out there putting everything on the line everyday,
I know my daughter did from Nov 04 until Oct 05, HAVE YOU?
I'm sure they'd appreciate a former officer standing before them giving the the "real scoop,"
They have a real job to do and do not need you DUMB ideas
you know telling them their country is letting them down,
They learn that coming home and trying to get the benefits they were PROMISED.
people in America don't care what their doing,
People do care, as they have treated me quite well, and especially my daughter. But the government is a whole nother story.
their officers don't know what their doing and maybe if all goes well,
Well it is not the company, battalion or even division level officers. In fact the dunces you speak about actually Start with Dumsfeld and the PNAC fooles he culled into the pentagon
just like in Nam they can get spit on by your ilk when they return home.
sorry son If I see a soldier or vet I treat them with respect, unlike you have done here
but the NAM reference is what they will end up with having fought a war that never should have been started...and fought by the political Hacks instead of LISTENING to the MILITARY leadership who actually knew what needed to be done and how to properly do that.
BTW when you gonna sign up boy?
Cliffy,as I've always suspected you're a phoney.You crap all over todays army because they wanted nothing to do with you and on a much higher level nothing to do with the likes of Shinsiki or Zinni and now you guys are bitter as all hell.
ReplyDeleteAll your B.S. cannot change the vile eminating from you.You do nothing but bad mouth our countrys performance in Iraq while sitting behind your computer sucking on the public teat.You try with a dimwhits like Mike or Larry to make your self out as a military expert when the truth is the corp would just as soom listen to a doorknob as it would you and I think this pisses you off to no end.
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteIts a shame that a so called former officer has such shame and disdain for today's army
Not disdain boy...but an understanding the troops are being asked to do something they never were trained to do, and something no military has ever successfully done....quell an insurgency, against an indigenous population.
but I guess it really could be expected from a bitter man like you.
Not bitter son, just not enamored with the waste of people equipment and finances we are currently doing(like you are). In a place where we were NOT asked to go in the first place...and that fact that the fooles running the war are SOO incompetent.
It would be a shame...no a damn shame if there's a soldier or marine in Iraq reading this blog on his lap top and listening to you crap.
you might be surprised boy. most of them understand that the war is NOT going they way Bush and Dumsfeld claim...Thus they realise that they are doing something that is not being recognized as what is REALLY is...Right now trying to stop a slow boil civil war. and that is never done with foreign troops especially ones who basically have no common customs language or ideals, the troops today have a thankless job which they like the soldiers in Vietnam can not do as it has been designed....they can win every battle, but NEVER subdue the Iraqi's thus are either trapped in this fight for years...or someday(proly sooner that we think) are coming home having done an impossible job heroically but ultimately not successfully destroy the Iraqi will to be free of outside influence
Cliffy,all in all I feel a bit sorry for you.Its obvious the army does'nt want you back...for wharever reason,you call it.You're angry because they never listened to anything you had to say,right or wrong.The army was probly the brightest time in you life and they cast you away,like worn out shoes.You have a right to be pissed at them,you did their bidding,you followed orders,you toed the line,you were a soldier.
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteYou promote yourself as a 10 year officer but you now turn your back on the services that not only paid for you education and trained you but now supports you and your family.
No son I am doing exactly what Col Hackworth did,( he was required reading in my ROTC unit) when HE saw things that were not right he said so. Without regards as to who was President, or secretary of Defense.
As a vet it is the best I have to offer, which is MORE that you do boy.
But yet you have no objection in constantly bad mouthing the hand that educated, trained, fed and now feeds you.
You say bad mouthing, except proper criticism is exactly what is required as the MILITARY even is attempting to change, thus they even admit what they did(the leadership) was not effective. and thus there is a need of people who KNOW something to speak out. Blind loyalty led the German army to Stalingrad...and kept then there LONG after they had lost the battle. Blind loyalty gets many soldiers KILLED, thus a good critique can save lives...and point ways to either win a battle...or even point out that some battles should NOT be fought at all...LIKE the WAR in IRAQ.
Whose is the real chicken hawk?
You son, along with;
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Five deferments. “I had other priorities in the ’60s other than military service,” Cheney told a reporter in 1989.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. “Bad knee.” The man who attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
* “B-1” Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. “Knee problem,” although continued playing in the NFL for 8 years.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.
Pundits & Preachers
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a ‘pilonidal cyst.’)
* Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don’t shoot back.)
* Ann Coulter did not serve ...she just slanders those that do
Cliffy,I'm amazed that sitting on your ass in Kentucky you have your thumb on the pulse of the military morale.How on earth do you get all this done? By reading and posting all those left wing web sites? I dont know I just have a hard time understanding how our military,abet the strongest and smartest in the world can make it through another day without old Cliffy back in uniform and leading the charge up cemetary hill...so to speak.
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteCliffy, as I've always suspected you're a phony.
**Getting testy son?
You crap all over today's army because they wanted nothing to do with you and on a much higher level nothing to do with the likes of Shinsiki or Zinni and now you guys are bitter as all hell.
**sorry son none of us are BITTER, we just want better choices that get less people killed and wounded, and people who made very serious mistakes to OWN up to their FAILURES.
1:49 AM
.
All your B.S. cannot change the vile emanating from you.
**Not form me boy, you the one getting ANGRY here , quite angry
You do nothing but bad mouth our country's performance in Iraq
**I guess the truth hurts you since it is Bubble boy and Dumsfeld who bear the shame for the current Fiasco
while sitting behind your computer sucking on the public teat.
**No son it is called a disability pension for a disability from my service in the First Gulf War.
**Nice to see you do not think a vet who is disabled deserves compensation.
You try with a dimwhits like Mike or Larry to make your self out as a military expert when the truth is the corp would just as soon listen to a doorknob as it would you and I think this pisses you off to no end.
**Your the one getting angry as the tone of this POST shows boy.....real angry and YOU can do NOTHING with your anger BUT rant can you boy?
Cliffy,the day you received your commission as an officer did you ever think the day would come that you would sit at a computer and continually try your best to undermine the service that afforded you the best years of your life?
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteCliffy, all in all I feel a bit sorry for you.
You have a funny way of showing it with all you ranting about me.
Its obvious the army doesnt want you back...for whatever reason, you call it.
It is called a disability that disqualifies me from military service...which I got in a combat zone.
You're angry because they never listened to anything you had to say, right or wrong.
Sorry boy, but your the one who is spewing rage here
The army was probably the brightest time in you life and they cast you away, like worn out shoes.
Actually My college years were quite bright, and my best years have been spent with my younger daughter.....she is the brightest time I have.
You have a right to be pissed at them, you did their bidding, you followed orders, you toed the line, you were a soldier.
I am not pissed, but YOU sure appear that way, especially the couple of posts before this one. I actually bear NO ill will from my time. I am proud of what I did, and have a peace about it that you proly can not appreciate.
I be willing to guess that the other officer candidates in your class would be quite proud of you today.
ReplyDeleteNo Cliffy,you should read your back postings.You do quite a bit of army bashing.I admit,not about the on line soldier your betters.Thats quite typical of the old disgrunteled employee.
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteCliffy, I'm amazed that sitting on your ass in Kentucky you have your thumb on the pulse of the military morale.
**Talking to vets who are assigned to the local military post, and people in my daughters unit. Reading military Blogs. Talking to vets who are in treatment like I am,...and listening to them instead of the TALKING heads.
How on earth do you get all this done?
**JUST a little work son.
By reading and posting all those left wing web sites?
**Far from it son, in fact I get more from soldiers and vets in person than I get online.
I don't know I just have a hard time understanding (much)how our military, abet the strongest and smartest in the world can make it through another day without old Cliffy back in uniform and leading the charge up cemetery hill...so to speak.
**Well that is not in the cards, but you do make a good comparison for me as to what people who HAVE been there say...and what a chicken hawk like your self says....
Dusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteCliffy, the day you received your commission as an officer did you ever think the day would come that you would sit at a computer and continually try your best to undermine the service that afforded you the best years of your life?
**You know soo little. What you call undermining, is simply criticism. The undermining has already BEEN done by the lies to war, faked Intel, poor plan, non phase 4 planning, incompetence at the HIGHEST levels....no son I can do nothing to undermine like they already have done.
Dusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteI be willing to guess that the other officer candidates in your class would be quite proud of you today.
Some would some wouldn't, especially the couple of sycophants we had that let the rest of us know they were simply interested in getting military paper work so when the attempted to run for office they were vets...they never really tried as they were only asking for a national guard commission, and NOT active duty
No Cliffy, you should read your back postings.
I do son, but what YOU call bashing is NOT the ARMY but it's incompetence in the leadership especially Dumsfeld and his minions, and THEY are not the military , but simply people who are occupying an Office that they will leave soon, but NOT soon enough. There is a very REAL difference...which you obviously you can not phantom
You do quite a bit of army bashing.
Wrong son, the leadership is NOT the Army. It is something that today's Army MUST endure, hopefully without major lasting damage.
I admit, not about the on line soldier your betters.
At least you can see that.
That's quite typical of the old disgruntled employee.
Far from disgruntled...I am rather at peace with my relationship with the military. I would have replaced my daughter If I could have, but almost every parent probably would do that.
Hopefully you have vented your rage tonight dusty...and can sleep better.....and can find some peace in your life, as you throw out much anger and even rage at times.
ReplyDeleteCould it be because you see the mess the repugs have made., And how it is coming home to roost in their party and campaigns. Thus setting the stage as the democrats did in 1994.
Dusty, you forgot to declare victory tonight. Hopefully Tiny inTellect ot The Foole will do it for you.
ReplyDeleteLeave it up to the Bush administration and Dumsfeld to be able to cause an Gas shortage in...IRAQ;
ReplyDeleteTo mitigate the Iraqi fuel crisis, Iraq has signed new contract with Syria in order to receive oil products from it, oil ministry official said.
Currently, Iraq is passing through its worst fuel crisis since the US invasion. Lack of gas and kerosene is the most critic issue.
Officials said that it is not clear how Syria, a country with hardly enough refining capacity to meet domestic needs, will help.
Before the U.S. invasion Iraq used to produce up to 20 million liters of gasoline a day. Current production is estimated to be 3 million liters.
Incompetence has NO bounds with these clowns.....
Clif, it's about 7 AM your time. Get some rest; you've got another long day of cutting and pasting ahead.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTiny inTellect how do you know I am not already rested up? Clairvoyance?
ReplyDeleteNo debate foole, just some posts of what I find interesting, and since Lydia has basically said keep it up, well boy, I am.....
ReplyDelete-cliffy, of KY
That is where the KY jelly will come in handy.
65% of British Muslims polled believed that their communities should increase efforts to integrate. The same poll also produced troubling results: 13% lionized the July 7 terrorists and 16% sympathized. [So 29% of British Muslims believe that intentionally killing their innocent countrymen is an appropriate way of expressing grievances].
ReplyDeleteWhether in Britain or America, those who claim to speak for Muslims have a responsibility to the majority, which wants to reconcile Islam with pluralism.
-Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith
Her audio message.
While Western "feminists" and other clueless lib women make apologies for Islamist extremism, Muslim women speak out against misogyny, terror and oppression at the hands of Muslim men whose violent, adolescent minds are stuck in 7th century fantasies while living in a 21st century world. These courageous ladies have my full support.
They try to spread their jihadist message -- a message I call, it's totalitarian in nature -- Islamic radicalism, Islamic fascism, they try to spread it as well by taking the attack to those of us who love freedom.
-George W. Bush
Islamic terrorists, many while shouting "Allahu Akbar", intentionally target innocent civilians around the world.
ReplyDeleteSince the Islamist terror attacks of New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001 through August 12, 2006, there have been at least 4,896 acts of Islamist terror victimizing 58 different countries, killing 28,096 and injuring 54,408 people.
-Islam: Religion of Peace
To be taken seriously, those who advocate an immediate end to U.S. involvement in the Middle East, must understand the motivating reason why these terrorists continue to commit these atrocities.
The fact that there are bad people in all religions, is irrelevant. Similarly, the fact that most common criminals in the West were raised as Christian is irrelevant. Also the fact that Western leaders may be Christian and their foreign policy is controversial is irrelevant.
29% of British Muslims believe that intentionally killing their innocent countrymen is an appropriate way of expressing grievances.
Terrorists, virtually unanimously, state that they intentionally target innocent folks for murder, to glorify Allah and that he has commanded this in the Quran.
The only relevant question is:
Are terrorists corrupting the message of Islam, or does Islam corrupt the humanity of people making them into terrorists?
Each of us has a duty to inform ourselves about Islam in order to intelligently answer this question.
An appropriate response to terror demands our knowledge of the fundamental motivation of Islamic terrorists.
I have studied the Quran and I believe the terrorists. How about you?
Federal judge orders end to wiretap program
ReplyDeleteSays warrantless domestic surveillance program is unconstitutional
AP Updated: 2 minutes ago
DETROIT - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
“Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution,” Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs.
The government argued that the program is well within the president's authority, but said proving that would require revealing state secrets.
The ACLU said the state-secrets argument was irrelevant because the Bush administration already had publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to rule.
By holding that even the president is not above the law, the court has done its duty,” said Ann Beeson, the ACLU’s associate legal director and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
The NSA had no immediate comment on the ruling."
Looks like your little dictators wings were clipped yet again, thats one more for those that love freedom and liberty instead of an authoritarian police state ruled by a megalomaniac dictator.
Clif keep making the fools look follish and poundind the trolls into the ground, i'll be back more probably around Sunday, I just have a lot of stuff to wrap up with the accident.
ReplyDeleteDolt said "Back talking to authority IS NOT "turning the other cheek" no matter how you try to spin it.
ReplyDelete(unless of course you're actually TRYING to get the other cheek smitten as well...)"
Ah I see dolty you finally admitted you are against freedom of speech and the right to publicly express our opinion and dissent, you and your kind support an authoritarian police state where no one should dare disagree or dissent with our leaders............and the only reason for that is that the Bush Administrations lies, poisonous rhetoric, fear tactics and false propaganda could never stand up to the light of truth so thats why you guys want to surpress the right to voice our opinion and question these people and their corrupt evil policies and lies, you guys are afraid od disent or debate, thats why most Reich wing blogs are censored and dont allow comments from libs or progressives and why Coulter is afraid of honest debate with an impartial moderator, all she does is resort to personal attacks, slander and try to talk over and out shout people.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThen there is Facist Fool who pretends to be an intellectual seeking honest debate but has posted more about KY jelly the last two days that debate any real issues with anyone, typical repug if you cant defeat the messenger attack or slander them with lies and self admitted false generalizations.
ReplyDelete10:32 AM
Lets see here last month GWB's defiance of the Geneva Convention was ruled unconstitutional, now this month his illegal warrantless domestic surveillance program is ruled unconstitutional, looks like the public and the courts are starting to wake up and knock the wanna be king off his little hill or throne and put him in his place, now if the Dems can take back Congress in the fall, then all the checks and balances will be functioning again and they can do more than just reign in the little wanna be dictator, they can end his reign of evil and undo all his failed policies and his harmful self serving agenda for the Neo Con elite and restore America's tarnished world image and make us loved again instead of despised and distrusted by most of the world.
ReplyDeletewe need a smart president who inspires trust and loyalty rather than hate, war and death and who designs policies that benefit everyone, not just the insiders and the wealthy elite.
Clif said "Back talking to authority IS NOT "turning the other cheek" no matter how you try to spin it.
ReplyDeleteYes it is son it was one of the techniques that gave Ghandi his power...he talked back to the British...and acted in non violent ways which made him more dangerous but less prosecutable..
Martin L King did the same here...and was quite successful here also'
excellent points Clif I was going to reply to this as well till I saw your post, which echoes my feelings on this almost word for word.
Mike, how would you have dealt with Hitler nonviolently?
ReplyDeleteThe discussion wasnt dealing with Hitler nonviolently Troll Tex, We were talking about speaking out against the Bush Administration and the Powers That Be.........DO TRY TO PAY ATTENTION SON, i'm aware of your ADHD and will try and talk slow and not use big words when talking to you so you can keep up and follow what we are saying better.
ReplyDeleteBTW Troll Tex, how come you clowns dont ever attempt to liberate any poor Asian or African countries with oppressive dictators, how come it is always those countries with lots of oil and gas reserves, also its kind of comical how the original reason for invading Iraq was because of WMD then after the fact it became liberating the oppressed Iraqi's from a mean mean dictator, kind of funny how you guys are totally incompetent and wrong and you just pull the bait and switch and change your reasons like no one will even remember that you lied and spun cherry picked intelligence to justify the invasion then when you looked like fools you pulled the bait and switch.
ReplyDeleteI dont know about you Tex, but where I come from people get fired for complete incompetence, but not the Neo Cons, they attack people who speak out and call them on their incompetence...........wonder how that would play out in the business world if Home Depot or General Motors started attacking customers personally that came in with complaints, see the Bush Administration are public servants they work for us and we have every right to question or criticize them.
Always spinning away Troll Tex, you show me one example where I said I would deal with Hitler nonviolently, now if I was a german citizen, then I would have spoke out against Hitler and challenged his lies and rhetoric early in the game in a peaceful way before he seized ultimate power, just as I am doing now with this corrupt administration.
ReplyDeleteHow would you do that, Mike, without the Internet? You would have to give up your anonymity. Willing to do that? And get hanged by piano wire?
ReplyDeleteTroll Tex said "How would you do that, Mike, without the Internet? You would have to give up your anonymity. Willing to do that? And get hanged by piano wire?"
ReplyDeleteFirst of all TT like I said before try and pay attention, popa ritalin and focus now, I said EARLY IN THE GAME I WOULD HAVE SPOKE OUT AGAINST HITLER, BEFORE HE GAINED THE ABSOLUTE POWER NEEDED TO HAVE PEOPLE KILLED OR IMPRISONED WHO OPPOSED HIM.
as for your second question, who said the Internet gives anonimity, the Internet is monitored just like our phones, and lets call a spade a spade Troll Tex, you clowns know exactly who I am and where I live, but if you or your deluded backwash Reich Wing buddies are even contemplating the thought of trying to hang me with piano wire, I would re evaluate as you would not like the final outcome, if I were you Troll Tex I would stick to being a slimy political operative spinning lies for as long as possible because after the fall elections you just might be out of a job, the public is waking up and getting sick of you guys and your lies and dirt dumb corupt policies that benefit only the wealthy elite instead of the masses, people are sick of your war and want real solutions that secure our borders and make us safer and more prosperous as well as restore our good international image.
always spinning lies and working an angle Troll Tex,its really pretty pathetic that to you honest debate is really dishonestly and falsely reconstructing our positions and arguments so they are easier for you repugs to attack and counter............to you guys honest debate is really dishonest spin and slander, and war is peace, and keeping us safe is really inflaming hatred and making us far less safe.
ReplyDeleteSee troll tex, the internet really provides less anonimity than anonymous articles did back in those days, but do keep spinning away Troll tex.
ReplyDeleteThe Foole said;
ReplyDeleteThat is where the KY jelly will come in handy.
Actually son the Jam the amish make is better on a sandwich...but65 I do enjoy a good PBJ
Seems the Bush house of straw in falling apart....they have to follow the Geneva convention.....they have to follow the constitution in trials for Gitmo inmates.....they must follow the law in regards to FISA...they are LOSING in the POLLS, which scares the piss out of then, (almost as much as the though of serving in the military) too bad soo sad, they have run their CON and have basically gotten caught.
ReplyDeleteThe Repugs in congress, are in a worst position, because they have to defend their position, this FALL. And Bush is a weight around their neckm as they slowly sink below the waves...............too bad soo sad for the crooks and their repug enablers.
Hey clif, thanks for holding down the fort almost singlehandedly the past week, i've been real busy at work and had lots of odds and ends to wrap up from the accident, but I should be back in black on Sunday.
ReplyDelete"You can't fight someone who doesn't fight back."
ReplyDelete-Lydia
I guess you can't. However it DOES make him easier to kill.
Clif, have you considered getting a job at Walmart as a greeter, just to pass the massive amount of time that you don't know what to do with.
ReplyDeleteClif said "The Repugs in congress, are in a worst position, because they have to defend their position, this FALL. And Bush is a weight around their neckm as they slowly sink below the waves...............too bad soo sad for the crooks and their repug enablers."
ReplyDeletethe elections will be interesting, with Congress's approval rating at 18% last I heard, it will be interest to see if they turn on the Bush Administration and do what they are supposed to do and that is serve the public, if 2/3 of the nation is fed up with the Bush administration it would seem reasonable to bend to the will and desires of the public whose job it is for them to serve.....................but in general when do the majority of repugs act reasonable or serve anyone's interests but their own.
"Yes, Bill Clinton did take the reigns, even when the repugs howled and squawked all about it.....but Clinton stuck to his approach which allowed Wesley Clark to follow the plan to "free Kosovo" form the terror of Milosevic"
ReplyDelete-clif
I don't recall much "howling" or "squaking" by the republicans on that.
Never the less, I DO note that Clinton ordered the bombing done from such a high altitude that they were extremely lucky when they actually hit an INTENDED target. (he didn't want to take a chance on bad press if we lost a soldier)
How many "innocent" civilians did HE kill with that strategy cliffy?
As I recall, the Chinese came up missing one embassy.
And wasn't Weaselly Clark the one who tried to order the british to take the rooskies at the airport prisoner?
(I believe the british commanders reply was something to the effect of he "wasn't going to start WW3"...)
LOL cliffy
Great Dolt, you guys support killing defenseless people who arent attacking you, why dont you guys make that into an election slogan or bumper sticker so the masses know how you war and hate mongers really think
ReplyDeleteTT said "Clif, have you considered getting a job at Walmart as a greeter, just to pass the massive amount of time that you don't know what to do with."
ReplyDeleteah personal attacks and insults, typical repug, now your showing your true colors, but since you apparently live in a glass house and you are hear at quite a wide array of hours maybe you could moonlight at Walmart as a greeter yourself.......that is if they would want a slimy political operative as a greeter.
Mike, I pop in now and then, but if you look at the activity on this blog in the last 36 hours, my gues is that 80% of the words come from Clif's cutting and pasting.
ReplyDeleteSo you are the blog regulator now TT, I thought the repugs were the ones who hated regulation.............oh silly me, you dont mind regulating free speech provided the persons whose free speech you want to take away and silence doesnt agree with you!!!
ReplyDeleteWhite House backing new plan to defuse insurrection in Pakistan
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON - A U.S.-backed plan to defeat Islamist militants in Pakistan's autonomous tribal areas has backfired badly, and the Bush administration is working with Pakistan to come up with a new strategy to defuse the insurrection.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf "sees that what he was doing wasn't working," said one U.S. official who's familiar with the new plan. "He really has a mess."
(snip)
Ending the uprising by Islamist militants aligned with Osama bin Laden and Taliban rebels is crucial to American-led efforts to contain the worst surge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan since 2001. The bloodshed is adding to the Bush administration's woes in the Middle East and other fronts in the war on terrorism.
Pakistan deployed 80,000 troops in the areas, which border Afghanistan, at Washington's behest to hunt down bin Laden and his sympathizers and secure Pakistan's side of the border. The Bush administration reportedly has spent nearly $1 billion since 2003 to underwrite the Pakistan army's operations.
But the army's use of artillery and helicopter gunships - as well as U.S. airstrikes on suspected al-Qaida hideouts - has killed numerous civilians and stoked popular ire.
That anger has given rise to a movement for an independent Taliban-style Islamist state. In some parts of the autonomous areas, militants have banned music, set up Islamic courts and executed opponents, including tribal leaders.
The militants continue harboring al-Qaida fighters and providing recruits and refuge to Taliban rebels fighting in Afghanistan against government, U.S. and NATO forces. Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of doing little to halt cross-border infiltration or to close Taliban bases on its soil, a charge that Islamabad denies.
(snip)
Some American officials and independent experts fear that it may be too late to defuse the uprising in two of the seven tribal areas, southern and northern Waziristan.
"I think it's a very shaky situation," Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, the author of the book "Taliban," said in a telephone interview.
(snip)
Previous development efforts have failed because of corruption and the region's lack of infrastructure, trained manpower and security. Moreover, vested interests want the areas to remain a lawless corridor for smuggling foreign products and narcotics.
** Looks like Bush is attempting to help Pakistan just as he helped Afghanistan and Iraq....Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf must be relived to see Bush coming to his aid........NOT.
BTW Pakistan is the country building a Large Heavy water reactor which produces plutonium...enough to build 50 bombs a year.......think Osama is thinking ahead again?
But last I heard it was Lydia's blog not yours Troll Tex, so your opinion is irrelevant........by the way, hows that blog of yours TT did it break 50 comments yet after 4 weeks, wonder how many of those comments are personal attacks and insults and how many are honest debate and discussion??????
ReplyDeleteBTW, the real war on terror is in Afghanistan and NOW Pakistan, it seems.....Osama with nukes should be the FIRST thing we stop. But bushy boy can't see that, as he wasted troops and equipment going after Saddam. and now is bogged down there...while the terrorists go after Pakistan and recapturing Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteYeah Clif, the pathetic Neo Cons keep trying to equate the war in Iraq with the war on terror, how dumb do they really think the American public really is, they keep trying to portray those against the war in Iraq as weak on nationa defense and keeping us safe, when the exact opposite is true, On Meet The Press this past Sunday, eveyone, both repugs and dems said the war on terror and the war in iraq are two distinct things and the war in Iraq is a distraction from the war on terror and from keeping us safe.
ReplyDeleteMike look at the list of those who have been arrested in Pakistan and Bush claims we needed to go to Iraq to fight the terrorists;
ReplyDelete1 A senior al Qaeda commander allegedly tied to the London airplane bomb plot has been arrested in Pakistan, Pakistani intelligence and law enforcement officials have told ABC News. Matiur Rehman, one of the most wanted men in Pakistan, is known to have met with the alleged plot ringleader Rashid Rauf, according to the officials.
Rehman’s capture could provide the most important leads in months to the whereabouts of Al Qaeda’s top two leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. Rehman was believed to be in frequent contact with Zawahiri.
Rehman was taken into custody in the southern Punjab city of Bawalpur, the same town where alleged London plot ringleader Rashid Rauf was arrested last week. ABC News saw a copy of the police report on Rehman, with an attached copy of his photo.
2 U.S. officials confirmed on Tuesday that another significant al Qaeda figure was captured in the weekend raid in Pakistan that nabbed suspected September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Mustapha Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a man who officials say sent cash to lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta through bank accounts in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, was captured ... during the raid that netted Mohammed, al Qaeda's operations chief.
3 Pakistan has captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is sought by the United States as a suspect in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, officials said Friday.
"This is a big success," Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said in an unusual late-night announcement on Pakistan's Geo television network. "More importantly, we are certain of gathering some latest intelligence on al Qaeda from him," Hayat said in an interview later.
The operation to capture Ghailani, who is on the list of the FBI's 22 most wanted terrorists, was supervised by agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and coordinated with CIA and FBI officials, according to an official in Punjab state who was present. The official said 240 Punjab policemen conducted the raid on a rented house in a middle-class neighborhood of Gujrat.
4 Calling it "a critical victory in the war on terror," President Bush today praised the Pakistani government for capturing Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the No. 3 man in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.
"Al-Libbi was a top general for bin Laden," Bush said, before beginning a Social Security address to the Latino Coalition Conference here. "He was a major facilitator and a chief planner for the al Qaeda network. His arrest removes a dangerous enemy who was a direct threat to America and for those who love freedom."
Pakistani security sources said yesterday that al-Qaida's "number three" was behind the alleged plot to blow up several transatlantic flights leaving the UK. [...]
Abu Faraj al-Libbi, who after Osama bin Laden and the Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri, is suspected of being al-Qaida's third in command, has been named by Pakistani security sources as the main planner of the alleged plot, according to Dawn, a daily newspaper. He has also been accused of being in a plot to assassinate Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, and was arrested last year and turned over to the US.
5 A top Al Qaeda leader whose links stretch from Usama bin Laden's training camps to extremist networks in Europe has been captured in Pakistan, a U.S. law enforcement official confirms for the first time.
Pakistani officials also tell The Associated Press that Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a dual Syrian-Spanish national with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, has been flown out of the country to an unspecified location.
Nasar was captured in a November [2005] sting in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta that left one person dead, the American official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The official spoke to the AP late last week.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2006/8/17/155423/877
You'd think that Bush and his idiot minion army would wake up and see the very unrosey picture that Pakistan really is.....and actually start to do something about the REAL terrorists those who have hit the US and keep trying to hit the US
Democrats' Stock Is Rising on K Street
ReplyDelete"Washington lobbying firms, trade associations and corporate offices are moving to hire more well-connected Democrats in response to rising prospects that the opposition party will wrest control of at least one chamber of Congress from Republicans in the November elections.
"In what lobbyists are calling a harbinger of possible upheaval on Capitol Hill, many who make a living influencing government have gone from mostly shunning Democrats to aggressively recruiting them as lobbyists over the past six months or so."
Well if the repugs have lost the LOBBYISTS the really must be in trouble....
Oh and BTW Iraq is getting worse also......
ReplyDeleteBombs Are Mileposts on Road to Civil War
More roadside bombs were planted in July than in any other month during the Iraq war, indicating a sharp rise in violence as the country moves toward all-out civil war. According to data obtained by The New York Times, 2,625 devices either exploded or were discovered in July, compared with 1,454 in January.
New York Times:
The bomb statistics — compiled by American military authorities in Baghdad and made available at the request of The New York Times — are part of a growing body of data and intelligence analysis about the violence in Iraq that has produced somber public assessments from military commanders, administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“The insurgency has gotten worse by almost all measures, with insurgent attacks at historically high levels,” said a senior Defense Department official who agreed to discuss the issue only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution. “The insurgency has more public support and is demonstrably more capable in numbers of people active and in its ability to direct violence than at any point in time.”
A separate, classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated Aug. 3, details worsening security conditions inside the country and describes how Iraq risks sliding toward civil war, according to several officials who have read the document or who have received a briefing on its contents.
Iraq is sliding into a civil war....Afghanistan has the Taliban fighting a renewed war just as they did against the Soviets...and Pakistan has terrorists taking control of parts of it's provinces...Bush and Rove want us to believe this is HOW your STRONG on Security.
Guess they needs a reality check...say about November 7th 2006...and every day after the democrats retake the House.
Good thing they were not what we needed in a real world war...like the onw FDR fought and ...WON. But then again FDR did not have the Neo-cons and PNAC clowns to deal with
White House using liquid explosive detector it refused to install at US airports to protect you and me
ReplyDeleteSince the early 1990s, AS&E has made SmartCheck, a $50,000 low-intensity X-ray scanner that can spot a bottle of organic compounds in a passenger's pocket.
But is the liquid an explosive, or a batch of baby formula? Ahura says its $30,000 handheld laser scanner, the First Defender, can answer the question. The device can ``see" through glass or plastic bottles and identify any of 2,500 different chemical compounds in about 15 seconds. The FBI and New York City police already use the Ahura system, which went on sale about a year ago.
Joe Reiss, AS&E's vice president of marketing, said his company's SmartCheck systems are used at the White House and the US Supreme Court. But they're not widely used in airport security. TSA agreed last year to conduct tests of the system. But Reiss said those tests had not yet begun.
And just let the White House tell us that these systems aren't really proven technology. Then why is the White House using them at all? Bush had the chance to save American lives and chose his own first:
But after this month's foiled terrorist plot to smuggle liquid explosives aboard jumbo jets, the government may not have the luxury to wait. Charles Slepian , founder of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center, a transportation security firm in New York, said that technology for detecting explosives in carry-on bags is well understood and readily available, but the US Department of Homeland Security is reluctant to spend the large sums needed to deploy it at hundreds of airports.
``Now they're embarrassed because they have to say that we have nothing in place," said Slepian. ``Shame on us. We've had the science for years."
Why? Because Bush and the Republicans who control Congress didn't give Homeland Security enough money.
The TSA has not outfitted airports with the devices, in part, because officials have to prioritize where they spend limited dollars, according to Frank Cilluffo, former special assistant to President Bush for homeland security...
We had money for tax cuts, lots of them. $300 billion for the Iraq war, and counting. But not enough to stop terrorists from blowing up US commercial airliners when we knew about this threat ten years ago.
full story
They CUT the money for these detectors from homeland insecurity's budget.......
yes Georgie is strong on security........
and if you believe that ........
he has some social security plans he'd LOVE you to look at come next spring.
AND THE REPUGS ARE WORRIED...BIG TIME;
ReplyDelete...........What I heard here -- and in subsequent interviews at the National Governors Association convention in Charleston, S.C. -- from one Republican after another signaled serious trouble for the GOP across a broad swath of states from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma in key midterm election contests for House, Senate and governor.
The impression these Republicans had is that support for GOP candidates had nose-dived this summer -- in part because of the chaos conveyed by the daily televised scenes of destruction in Iraq and Lebanon and in part because of the dismal reputation built by the Republican Congress that is home to many of the endangered GOP candidates.
It may be that the cease-fire in the Israel-Lebanon war and the shift of focus to the terrorist plot thwarted last week by the British will change the political environment. But Republicans were deeply worried as August began.
I had dinner one night with a group of Ohio Republicans, all with many years of experience in state politics and none directly engaged in this year's gubernatorial race. One of them said, "I'm afraid this could be another 1982," a year when recession pushed unemployment to 15 percent and cost the Republicans the governorship. Another said, "I'd settle right now for another 1982. I'm afraid it will be another 1974," the year of the Watergate election, when Democrats swept everything in sight.
Ohio may be particularly vulnerable because the economy in parts of the state where the auto industry remains vital has been hurt by layoffs, and because a series of scandals has left retiring Gov. Bob Taft with approval ratings in the teens. But similar concerns are voiced across the Midwest.
A leading Minnesota Republican told me that polls there show "the bottom has dropped out" of Rep. Mark Kennedy's challenge to Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic candidate for an open Democratic Senate seat. Kennedy has company among the corps of Republican congressmen who thought this would be a good year to move up. In Wisconsin, Rep. Mark Green is lagging slightly behind Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. In Oklahoma, Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. is far worse off in his challenge to Democratic Gov. Brad Henry. And in Iowa, Rep. Jim Nussle, the strong early favorite to capture the open governorship from the Democrats, now finds himself in a real battle with Democrat Chet Culver.
For all of them, service in this Congress has turned out to be a handicap rather than a benefit to their chances of advancement. The reason was explained in blunt terms by the Republican governor of one of the states where a congressman of his party is struggling for statewide office. "What has this Congress done that anyone should applaud?" he asked scornfully. "Nothing on immigration, nothing on health care, nothing on energy -- and nothing on the war. They deserve a good kick in the pants, and that's what they're going to get."
That prediction is supported by the AP-Ipsos poll released last week. It showed a 33 percent job approval score for Bush and a 29 percent job approval score for the Republican Congress. On a test of voter preference for the midterm congressional elections, Democrats had a staggering 18-point lead, 55 percent to 37 percent. You can see why Republicans are worried.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/16/AR2006081601425.html?
Couldn't happen to a MORE deserving group of crooks.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteClif The repug mantra should be we are the party that "says we are out to keep people safe and protect them.............as long as keeping them safe doesnt interfere with tax cuts for the wealthy or invading an oil rich country that didnt attack us to enrich the elite and the corporate Energy giants.............but in reality the repugs have done nothing to catch the real terrorists who want to do us harm, or to secure our borders or ports, or to adapt technology to keep us safe etc......, its all about money and whats best for them and the wealthy elite that support them.
ReplyDeleteAnd the repugs greatest fear is losing control of Congress because when the congressional hearings and true oversight begins and all the dirt comes to light it will lay bare the republicans self serving agenda as well as the fact that not only have they done nothing to keep us safe and protect us, but they could care less about catching or stopping the real terrorists, 9/11 and all the tough talk and fear tactics and war mongering is about nothing more than opening up the Middle East to Imperial opportunism, the elite and the energy giants will benefit tremendously from overthrowing those govenments in Iran and Iraq that were hostile to us so American energy companies can make fortunes developing their reserves, thats what the bait and switch was about when we forsook the war on terror to invade Iraq.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTiny inTellect said...
ReplyDeleteMike, how would you have dealt with Hitler nonviolently?
Well son....
I am not sure of everything I would have done....
BUT I DO KNOW
I wouldn't have invaded SPAIN to fight the war against the Fascist threat in Europe in 1941........
Especially with the BULK of my deployable military assets...
I would not have taken troops from the fight against Hitler to fight Franco...
But then again Spain does not have much OIL does it ....son?
FF you should write comedy. Seriously, you are quite droll.
ReplyDeleteLydia he does here. ever read any of his essays...they are quite funny, but delusional
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ms. Cornell.
ReplyDeleteI know Cliffy can take it. (I really like him; I mean he's okay for a barking moonbat.)
Clif,
ReplyDeleteWhy is it now, that you are basically the only twit in this blog?
Dolty boy said;
ReplyDeleteI don't recall much "howling" or "squaking" by the republicans on that.
Try this;
or this
and this
here
this too
this
and here
here
this also
here
this
BTW dolty...I only searched CNN archives. Which you fooles claim was FOR clinton. I did NOT search faux which was against clinton, as their list would set a new record for post leanght, besides I do not stock enough Industrial strength disinfectant to go into the Faux archives. Way to much moldy Bullsh*t in there.
BTW dolty boy I found these two gems in there...
ReplyDeleteVirginia's Republican governor, Jim Gilmore, took President Clinton to task Saturday for not clearly communicating the goals of the United States for the NATO military mission in Kosovo.
"Our interests abroad cannot be defended without a clear understanding of what our aims are and without a careful plan for bringing our military might to bear upon an achievable objective," said Gilmore -- a former NATO counter-intelligence agent -- during the Republican weekly radio address.
"This is one of the most simple tests of leadership -- this is a test that I hope President Clinton will pass, but I fear he won't," Gilmore said.
He added that embarking on a military operation without that understanding creates the danger of expanding the crisis, not containing it.
"We, the American people, are eager to rally behind the commander in chief and our troops in times of crisis," he said. "We are doing so today, but President Clinton, in turn, has an obligation to clearly explain his goals, how he will achieve them, and how he will end this crisis."
I wonder why he has been SOOOOOO silent given the fiasco in IRAQ?
Hastert said the American people have several questions about U.S. efforts in Kosovo, including whether U.S. involvement in the region furthers the national, the costs of the action and whether an exit strategy exists.
"The House of Representatives has a duty to discuss these questions and try to find answers," Hastert said. "The American people, through their elected representatives, need to be fully informed about the latest developments in the Balkans and how those developments impact our national interests."
denny too?
how appropriate for what we have today don't ya think?
The USA has and always will be the country that holds the whole world together.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we have to step into other countries to help them bring peace to their nations.
When Mr. Bush decided to go to war, that would be ultimately the biggest decision any human being can make.
When your President calls you to war, you better damn well be prepared to go, otherwise get the hell out of this country, and move to Canada.
Dummicrats are cowardly people, and have cowardly children.
God Help Us All!
dippy said...
ReplyDeleteClif,
Why is it now, that you are basically the only twit in this blog?
Not true...son. Your here, and so is Dusty, and Dolty Boy, and Tiny inTellect, and of course The Foole, you clowns seem to LOVE this place even though you bitch about it all the time.
dippy said;
ReplyDeleteDummicrats are cowardly people, and have cowardly children.
Not true son:
Democrats
* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam. Lost both legs and one arm attempting to pick up a grenade dropped by another soldier.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve,1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier’s Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy. Graduate of Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII.
dippy said;
ReplyDeleteWhen your President calls you to war, you better damn well be prepared to go, otherwise get the hell out of this country, and move to Canada.
I went in 1990 when Bush 41 called me to go.
BTW when did YOU go son?
dippy said;
ReplyDeleteWhen Mr. Bush decided to go to war, that would be ultimately the biggest decision any human being can make.
Right son....
so he should DO every thing that he could NOT to go to war FIRST.....
right boy?
Granted there are some good Dummicrats, but by nature they are not hawks for war.
ReplyDeleteNo US president has ever started a war, but we will be damned if we walk away from one.
We have to let other countries know what's going to happen if they step out of line.
dippy said;
ReplyDeleteSometimes we have to step into other countries to help them bring peace to their nations.
Sometimes we just break them into little pieces......
but fail at the peace thingy......
dippy said;
ReplyDeleteNo US president has ever started a war, but we will be damned if we walk away from one.
WELLL Iraq is not a declared war but Bush certainty started it with the INVASION he ordered.....
Bush gave Saddam every attempt to disengage from WMD.
ReplyDeletedippy said;
ReplyDeleteGranted there are some good Dummicrats, but by nature they are not hawks for war.
No combat veteran is for war First...
That is the gutless chicken hawk position when THEY do not have to fight it, but when it is their turn...NOT SO MUCH, like these cowards show;
Republicans
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Five deferments. “I had other priorities in the ’60s other than military service,” Cheney told a reporter in 1989.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. “Bad knee.” The man who attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year Air National Guard tour of duty; asked for and received an assignment to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
* “B-1” Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. “Knee problem,” although continued playing in the NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.
Pundits & Preachers
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a ‘pilonidal cyst.’)
* Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don’t shoot back.)
* Ann Coulter did not serve ...she just slanders those that do
dippy said;
ReplyDeleteWe have to let other countries know what's going to happen if they step out of line.
yes son ....... but those who act like Bully's, usually have some bad Karma, which always catches up with them.....
dippy said...
ReplyDeleteBush gave Saddam every attempt to disengage from WMD.
1 No WMD found..and david Kay says it was not there.
2 the UN resolution required Bush to get UN approval so the justification of using UN resolutions is Null and Void
So you justification just evaporated like a ......fart in you brain....
ReplyDeleteClit,
ReplyDeleteFYI: 1990 Bush was 40 not 41 as you earlier stated. Fart boy
Clit,
ReplyDeleteFor Gods Sake, get your facts clear.
"Since the Islamist terror attacks of New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001 through August 12, 2006, there have been at least 4,896 acts of Islamist terror victimizing 58 different countries, killing 28,096 and injuring 54,408 people.
ReplyDelete-Freedom Fan
How can this be FF?
I have it on good authority that you can't fight someone who won't fight back.
All these thousands who died or were injured must have been fighting with the terrorists or resisting somehow.
Surely had these victims chosen love over fear they would've been spared?
Innocent civilians my ass! Had they simply turned the other cheek they would have lived. It's all their own fault for not loving the terrorists. What evil people they must have been. They probably deserved to die.
FLFW was a great president and is a great man.
ReplyDeleteBush 41 refers to the 41st president ...STUPID
ReplyDeletetry again little neuron
For you libs, that last post was simply dripping with sarcasm...
ReplyDeleteIn the 1930s Winston Churchill constantly complained about the behaviour of Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany. He argued that it was necessary for the rest of the world to join together to remove Hitler from power. Some politicians believe that Saddam Hussein is as bad as Adolf Hitler. Therefore, by trying to persuade the rest of the world to join with him to remove Saddam Hussein, George Bush is acting like Winston Churchill in 1939.
ReplyDeleteTiny inTellect said;
ReplyDeleteFLFW was a great president and is a great man.
Too bad so sad the voters in 1992 did not agree with ya boy
dippy is delurious when he said;
ReplyDeleteSome politicians believe that Saddam Hussein is as bad as Adolf Hitler.
Yes the PNAC neo-con clown posse....
Dippy said;
ReplyDeleteGeorge Bush is acting like Winston Churchill in 1939.
Acting yes.......
Winston Churchill hardly...
a child yes
Clit,
ReplyDeleteSaddam Hussein is like Adolf Hitler because he has invaded neighbouring countries, gassed his political enemies and tortured his own people.
George Bush, like Winston Churchill, is trying to form an international coalition against a dangerous tyrant.
Clif, he would have won if it weren't for Perot.
ReplyDeleteThe Foole said;
ReplyDeletethere have been at least 4,896 acts of Islamist terror victimizing 58 different countries, killing 28,096 and injuring 54,408 people.
And Bush keep saying they are winning the war on terra?
I hope I never see what he considers losing.....
dippy said...
ReplyDeleteClit,
Saddam Hussein is like Adolf Hitler because he has invaded neighbouring countries, gassed his political enemies and tortured his own people.
Yes son when Reagan and Bush41 were in office, lately not so much
George Bush, like Winston Churchill, is trying to form an international coalition against a dangerous tyrant.
Too bad he is such a suck a$$ at that eh son?
Found this on another BLOG...was a comment that they have reposted quite a bit...and thought Dippy would enjoy it....
ReplyDelete1. And George went down unto the lord, and asked the lord how he shall prevail, and the lord said unto George “Rise George, and take unto thee these tablets.”
And George was confused, for he saw no holy tablets, only slabs of stone with writing on them, so he asked the lord “What tablets my lord? For I see no narcotics upon thine stone bits.”
The lord sighed deeply, and answered “The stone bits are tablets, no don’t try to swallow them you idiot, they aren’t that kind… pull your pants up man, shit here I am giving you the ultimate wisdom of how to maintain and keep your grip on power and I have to explain what a tablet is?
Shit, the guy upstairs never had this problem with Moses.
Look, take those stone things with text on them there, right?”
“Yes…”
“Then take them up to your followers, these are your new commandments, and with them you shall have victory.”
And so it was, that George ascended the great crator of Las Vegas, Nevada, and brought with him the Republican fifteen commandments, and the Republicans rejoiced, for their new age of darkness was upon the world.
The Fifteen Comandments
1: Keep the people afraid at all times.
2: Thought is the enemy, when in doubt, blame the intellectuals, judiciary and opposition.
3: The definition of junk science is science that doesn’t agree with the president.
4: Loyalty is for minions to demonstrate to leaders, not for leaders to demonstrate to minions.
5: The appearance of righteousness is more important then actually being righteous. Never be afraid to thump your bible while lying about its contents.
6: Always remember, whatever you do somebody else has done it too, and really shouldn’t their morality be looked into?
7: Never trust the people. Tap their phones, feed them false information, and if they don’t vote for you, disenfranchise the bastards.
8: People tend not to change presidents during a war. Even if the president started the war.
9: Might is not only right, but also trumps bright. If you are strong but stupid, people will vote for you and not blame you for your misdeeds, if you are bright but weak, people won’t vote for you but will blame you for the other guy’s misdeeds.
10: Never apologise, never admit weakness, and never, ever, take responsibility.
11: But always claim your enemies are arrogant, weak, and incapable of taking responsibility. See 6.
12: The media is like a pet dog, if you kick it it will be on your side, if you let it run free, it will piss on your lawn and bite you.
13: Whenever someone attacks you on the issues, always remember to label them. Environmentalists are for example, tree huggers, peace activists are peaceniks, and anybody mentioning a duty to their common man is a pinko liberal. Get creative, and remember, no label is ever too childish, no matter what the moonbats and the haters say.
14: Diplomacy is another word for calling someone a madman and an idiot in the hopes that they will start the war, thereby giving you really good PR when you squash them.
15: Always remember, the only good leak is a leak that reflects badly on somebody else.
Clit says,
ReplyDeleteShit, the guy upstairs never had this problem with Moses.
Dummicrats have never known, but claim to know Jesus, God will judge the soul of every Dummicrat, so help me God!
Clit,
ReplyDeleteYou and your ilk, don't know your ass from a hole in the ground
Clit,
ReplyDeleteYou are a pussy fart
Turd on the Run
ReplyDeletePosted by James Wolcott
It's the burning question failing to divide America.
Is Bush an idiot?
Is water wet?
Is Colin Farrell stubbly?
After six years in office, the first question pretty much answers itself. Which is not to say that Larry Johnson's yes vote and Taylor Marsh's (at Firedoglake) ruminative assent should go unappreciated.
Unlike other two-term presidents, Bush hasn't grown in office, become an old familiar whose irritating traits and lapses could be accepted almost affectionately, like Reagan's dottiness. He's demonstrably diminished, dwarfed by the reality that he continues to deny and repeating himself in press conferences like a robot whose wiring is on the fritz, for whom words and phrases are nothing more than pre-programmed units of sound. He's more irritating and dangerous than ever before, because he doesn't know anything, doesn't know or care that he doesn't know anything, and yet persists in a path of destruction as if it were the road to salvation. It's finally dawned on responsible minds that Bush could take all of us down with him before he and the neocons are through.
That would explain Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's bull snort that Bush is crap. With Blair on vacation, Prescott's frustration with the bloody follies of the Bush doctrine blew like a manhole cover, expressing what so many in the Labour hierarchy have been keeping under their own lids.
And in Virginia, we have a presidential aspirant who's more crap than Bush, and a bigger idiot, boggling as that may be. I speak of course of the man who henceforth shall be known as Senator Shithead.
Clit,
ReplyDeleteWhere's that homo Mike at?
dippy said...
ReplyDeleteClit says,
Shit, the guy upstairs never had this problem with Moses.
Dummicrats have never known, but claim to know Jesus, God will judge the soul of every Dummicrat, so help me God!
Hopefully son...hopefully, and the Lying cheating money grubbing repugs also eh boy?
Clit,
You and your ilk, don't know your ass from a hole in the ground
Yea we do son...we are the ones that do not keep our heads in our asses...unlike the neo-cons who still believe in the idiot in chief
You two would seem to make good buddies...LOL
ReplyDeletedippy said...
ReplyDeleteClit,
You are a pussy fart
a wee bit testy there little one?
dippy said...
ReplyDeleteClit,
Where's that homo Mike at?
don't know exactly who you reference...you in the habit of checking out homo's...ever been to the Dominican Republic with limpman and HIS bottle of little blue pills?
He only seems to use one pill a weekend so you'd better go alone with him....
ReplyDeletePhone Call Transcript Between Doomed UN Outpost and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)
ReplyDeleteThursday, July 27, 2006
Potfry has uncovered a transcript of the phone conversation between members of the doomed UN outpost in Lebanon and the Israeli Defense Force, as they desperately plead with them to stop bombing so closely.
IDF: “Hello, you’ve reached the Israeli Defense Force Helpline. All of our operators are busy helping other bombing targets. Please hold. Your call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes.”
UNIFIL Employee: “Hello!?! SOMEONE?!”
( Music: The Girl from Ipanema)
UNIFIL Employee: “GOOD GOD, SOMEONE PICK UP! This is the UN calling. That last bomb was way too $%#(@ close!”
IDF: “Please continue to hold. Did you know that you can get most of your questions answered online? Just visit the IDF website and click on "Why are you bombing me?"
UNIFIL Employee: “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HELP! SOMEONE-“
IDF: “Hi, this is Hanah. How can I help you?”
UNIFIL Employee: “Oh, thank God! I’m calling from the UN post near the border. The bombs are getting closer and closer. Please radio your planes and tell them we’re here.”
IDF: “OK, calm down. Did you say you were with the UN?”
UNIFIL Employee: “YES! We’re near the-“ (LOUD EXPLOSION)
“JESUS CHRIST! DID YOU HEAR THAT!”
IDF: “I did. Is that your TV? You should turn it down-”
UNIFIL Employee: “IT’S NOT MY GOD DAMN TV YOU ZIONIST IDIOT. THAT’S YOUR GOD FORSAKEN WAR PLANES BOMBING THE &$(# OUT OF US!”
IDF: “OK. I’ll see what I can do. But first, a couple questions.”
UNIFIL Employee: “What?”
IDF: “How long has UNIFIL been in Lebanon?”
UNIFIL Employee: “Huh? I have no idea. Why are you-“ (LOUD EXPLOSION)
HOLY %&#$!!!! WHAT THE-“
IDF: “The correct answer is 28 years.”
UNIFIL Outpost: “YOUR #$&# MOTHER $%%# GOATS YOU $#&# JEWISH $&#$!! GIVE ME SOMEONE WHO CAN HELP-“
(EXPLOSION)
UNIFIL Outpost: 'ARRGGH, IT BURNS!!! OK, OK 28 YEARS.”
IDF: “That’s much better. Are you ready for Question 2?”
UNIFIL EMPLOYEE: “Look, you sound like a reasonable woman. Please. I’m worried about-" (EXPLOSION)
“SWEET JESUS!! OK, OK, QUESTION 2.”
IDF: “In those 28 years, how many times has UNIFIL prohibited Hezbollah from crossing over into Israel to meance Israelis?”
UNIFIL Outpost: “UH. UM. TWICE?”
IDF: “Wrong answer.”
(EXPLOSION)
UNIFIL OUTPOST: “HOLY #$@& !! PIERRE! YOU ARE ON FIRE! DROP AND ROLL!”
IDF: “The correct answer is never.”
UNIFIL OUTPOST: “KOFI ANNAN IS GOING TO HEAR ABOUT THIS! WE ARE PROTECTED BY UN CHARTER. YOU CAN’T DO THIS!”
IDF: “Hold on….My pilot is asking if you are the building with the large UN painted on the outside.”
UNIFIL OUTPOST: “YES! YES! YES! THAT’S US! SWEET MOTHER OF GOD, TELL HIM-“
IDF: “Yes, he sees you. Thanks for calling the IDF.”
UNIFIL OUTPOST: “Huh? Are we safe now? Can I-“
(EXPLOSION)
from:http://potfry.blogspot.com/
14 Year Old Who Had Sex with Teacher Seeks Medical Attention for Excessive High-Fives
ReplyDeleteThe 14 year old Florida student who had sex with his 25 year old teacher (inset) has reportedly been hospitalized with ligament damage in his wrist and arm from what doctors are calling, “excessive high-fives.”
“We’ve seen this once or twice before,” said Dr. Henry Madison, a specialist at Orlando General Hospital, “but mostly with athletes. This young man is in a considerable amount of pain, but I suspect it’s mitigated by the fact that he’s been bumping uglies with a 25 year old hottie.”
Doctors said that the constant impact of open palms on the young man’s hand, the result of repeated congratulatory greetings from other 14 year olds, had created broken veins, and that the ligaments along his forearm and in his elbow were stretched alarmingly. They are also concerned with the dopey grin on his face, but believe that will eventually go away.
The boys’ father talked briefly with reporters outside the hospital on the condition that his name not be used.
“I’m worried about him,” said the dad. “His arm hangs about three inches lower than it used to. But I guess that's the price you pay when you're a STRAPPING YOUNG BUCK! HOW BOUT THAT BOY! FRUIT OF MY LOINS, GETTIN HOT FOR TEACHER!"
from the same site...
Judge Sides With U.S. in Big Tobacco Suit
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge ordered tobacco companies Thursday to admit they lied about the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes and to warn consumers in advertisements and packaging that tobacco is addictive.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the industry conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking and now must pay to help smokers kick the habit.
Sharon Eubanks, who recently stepped down as the head of the government's tobacco team said of the cigarette makers, "This is the first time they've been found to violate the racketeering statute. For crying out loud that's significant. They're racketeers."
The government had asked the judge to make the companies pay $10 billion for smoking cessation programs, though the Justice Department's own expert said $130 billion was needed.
That reduction in remedies led to accusations that Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum, a Bush administration political appointee, tried to weaken the case. However, an internal Justice Department cleared him of wrongdoing, saying he was supporting a figure he thought could be sustained on appeal.
Tobacco companies denied committing fraud and said changes in how cigarettes are sold now make it impossible for them to act fraudulently in the future.
Civil racketeering laws require a finding that fraud occurred. If a judge does make that finding, action must be taken to prevent it from occurring again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/washington/17wire-tobacco.html?ex=1156478400&en=2934e014c092bd55&ei=5009&partner=MSN_NYTHOME
Good lord clif, cigarettes too?
ReplyDeleteHell people have called them "cancer sticks" and "coffin nails" since the damnned depression.
If the exec's lied about the dangers it really didn't matter. EVERYONE KNEW ANYWAY.
This is all about the government stealing money from corporations marketing a LEGAL product.
If they REALLY cared about the public health they'd ban them outright.
Next thing we know you'll be posting articles about alf.
ReplyDelete(that's the "Animal Liberation Front" NOT the cute little alien from TV)
More from potfry,
ReplyDeleteRepublicans Hint that Self-Immolation Would be More Effective than Anti-War Hunger Strikes
With a host of activists and celebrities planning “open-ended” hunger strikes this Fourth of July Weekend, Republicans have publicly scoffed at the maneuver as “rookie stuff” and quietly suggested that the anti-war movement should elevate their game if they really want results.
“Yeah, the notion of Cindy Sheehan and Sean Penn going hungry for a couple days really has us up nights,” said one Bush staffer derisively. “These guys have really got to step it up if they want to be taken seriously. They need to draw on the heritage of their 1960s anti-war predecessors. I’m pretty sure that if the bunch of them set themselves on fire, we’d take notice.”
Self-Immolation has been practiced as a means of protest throughout history, but was most common during the Vietnam War, when several Buddhist monks and American citizens burned themselves to death.
“If Cindy Sheehan, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and Danny Glover were all simultaneously lit up like torches, we’d probably have the troops home in a couple weeks,” continued the staffer. “I mean, I can’t promise anything, but that sort of…demonstration of commitment…might get us to realize the error of our ways. Hell, if you threw in Barbra Streisand, we might roll back the tax cuts.”
No dolty boy...I was raised a farmer...and belive in treating animals Humanely...but do not believe they should be "free" like alf does.
ReplyDeleteBut Bush can claim ONE good think for the justice department under HIS administration...they won the law suit.
Dolty boy said;
ReplyDeleteIf the exec's lied about the dangers it really didn't matter. EVERYONE KNEW ANYWAY.
not according to the government lawyers and Judge...we now know why dolty has to dispatch trucks eh son?
Dolty boy said;
ReplyDeleteIf they REALLY cared about the public health they'd ban them outright.
Works for ME
A Levantine Solution
ReplyDelete"The Lebanese government ordered the army to "insure respect" for the Blue Line, the U.N.-demarcated border between Lebanon and Israel, and "apply the existing laws with regard to any weapons outside the authority of the Lebanese state."
That provision does not require Hezbollah to give up its arms, but This is General Pellegrini the commander rather directs them to keep them off the streets.
The Cabinet session to implement the cease-fire was twice delayed because two Hezbollah members of the government objected to enforcement of the key U.N. demand that the guerrilla force be disarmed.
Hezbollah's top official in south Lebanon issued the strongest indication yet that the guerrillas would not disarm in the region or withdraw, but rather melt into the local population and hide their weapons. " Yahoo
-----------------------------------------------------------------
How Lebanese! Mabrouk!
Lebanon is a country which remains more of a geographical expression than anything else. Created as a kind of "reservation" for the Maronite Christians by the French, it has never really come together as a nation-state, although the Israelis are making more progress in uniting the citizens of Lebanon than has been seen before.
This will be the solution: The Lebanese Army, 167351_1 the French led UNIFIL+, and the Hizbullah army will co-exist in an unhappy but more or less amicable co-dominium for the foreseeable future. Resolution 1701 will be satisfied and from the point of view of the Lebanese, honor will be satisfied.
Only the United States and Israel will be left to contemplate the frustrations of their hopes and plans in baffled anger.
Will the armed conflict be renewed at some future date? Of course it will. More importantly the strategic deterrent of both Israel and the United States has been badly damaged and from that much evil will come.
How could Israel have been so foolish as to believe what it evidently did believe? After all these years of study of the Arabs and Lebanon...
Pat Lang
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/
Endorsement
ReplyDeleteSenator George Allen called a young American man of Indian ancestry a "macaca" at a campaign function in Virginia this week.
This young man was born in Fairfax County, Virginia and is as American as Allen.
He works for the Jim Webb senatorial campaign and was filming Allen at the time that Allen called him that to the crowd.
Allen was wrong to do this, and more seriously is too stupid to represent Virginia in the US Senate.
I will vote for Webb.
Pat Lang
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/
Of course you're right cliffy,
ReplyDeleteWhy BAN a product that causes so much public misery when you can tax the freakin hell out of it, and then sue the companies for more money in the public name.
Let us pray.
ReplyDeleteNot for a leader who is infallible, incorruptible and occasionally incoherent: Let us pray, instead, for salvation from the ten assclowns below who would see fit to bring about the Rapture (Update: Gee, now they're suddenly hiding their light under a bushel. I wonder why that is?). Let us pray, my children, for all of us who have to live in a country in which the corrupt are feted while Iraqi war veterans and their families are ignored, victimized and even vilified. Let us pray, my liberal flock, for our future in a nation in which the Philistine neocons insist on stacking the deck against us by denying us the press credentials that we give them.
Yes, brothers and sisters, let us pray for our nation and immortal souls while we testify to the exploits of the following: Dr. Nicholas Bartha (4) for his ingenious solution for divorce settlements and urban renewal; Senator Arlen Specter (7) for grandfathering a certain pesky little law for Dear Leader; Stephen Bradbury (3) for telling us that George Bush is “always right” and The Dept. of Homeland Security (1) gets top dishonors for determining that the Hoosier state is rife with terrorist targets.
So let us pray, pray loudly, my children, for the End of Crazy Days as we count down the top ten assclowns of the apocalypse and much, much more. Hallelujah!
http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2006/07/assclowns-of-week-41-infallibility.html
Why is it that neocons and their accomplices have to resort to using standup comedians and science fiction authors in order to debate against global warming? If global warming is such a fallacy, then why can’t they find, you know, actual climate experts who can counter with data of their own? Gee, it wouldn’t be because truth is on the side of liberals and tree huggers for a change, could it?
ReplyDeleteI’m old enough to remember a Saturday Night Live episode from the 70’s in which Rodney Dangerfield was brought in as an expert to explain how huge an irradiated President Jimmy Carter got. It had just that perfect dash of absurdity that assured us that nothing like that would ever happen in real life.
Fast forward to 2006: Standup comedians now assure us from the pages of the Christian Science Monitor, that global warming is a non-issue. Praise the Lord! Of course, if I want to read the latest about global warming, I eagerly go to the Monitor, which published landmarks articles on the subject such as, “Do Trees Share the Blame for Global Warming?” and this contradictory report from 2004 entitled, “An Arctic Alert on Global Warming.”
Maybe, like Pat Robertson, the good folks at the conflicted CSM think that they can just pray bad weather away.
http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2006/07/assclowns-of-week-41-infallibility.html
Dolty, I am for banning the produce that caused the deaths of Both my grandfathers.
ReplyDeleteGeez clif, are you honestly arguing for OUR side now?
ReplyDeleteI figured all along the only way Israel could have peace is to totally defeat Hezbollah.
I even said this truce was BS.
You notice they have peaceful relations with Egypt now after they kicked their asses all the way back across the Sinai...
Peace doesn't come at the end of a negotiation or imposed truce. It comes after COMPLETELY and UTTERLY defeating those who will not accept it.
Too bad you do not read the comments...dolty
ReplyDeleteNo son just pointing out the stupidity of what Israel tried to do, because Bush Failed at the same game was NO reason for Israel not to try after all the Israelis know Bush is an Idiot...every person on the planet knows that.
ReplyDeleteBut even many people inside Israel are questioning why they went to war...and ...exactally what it accomplished
ReplyDeleteThirty three days of war. The longest of our wars since 1949.
ReplyDeleteOn the Israeli side: 154 dead--117 of them soldiers. 3970 rockets launched against us, 37 civilians dead, more than 422 civilians wounded.
On the Lebanese side: about a thousand dead civilians, thousands wounded. An unknown number of Hizbullah fighters dead and wounded.
More than a million refugees on both sides.
So what has been achieved for this terrible price?
"GLOOMY, HUMBLE, despondent," was how the journalist Yossef Werter described Ehud Olmert, a few hours after the cease-fire had come into effect.
Olmert? Humble? Is this the same Olmert we know? The same Olmert who thumped the table and shouted: "No more!" Who said: "After the war, the situation will be completely different than before!" Who promised a "New Middle East" as a result of the war?
THE RESULTS of the war are obvious:
* The prisoners, who served as casus belli (or pretext) for the war, have not been released. They will come back only as a result of an exchange of prisoners, exactly as Hassan Nasrallah proposed before the war.
* Hizbullah has remained as it was. It has not been destroyed, nor disarmed, nor even removed from where it was. Its fighters have proved themselves in battle and have even garnered compliments from Israeli soldiers. Its command and communication stucture has continued to function to the end. Its TV station is still broadcasting.
* Hassan Nasrallah is alive and kicking. Persistent attempts to kill him failed. His prestige is sky-high. Everywhere in the Arab world, from Morocco to Iraq, songs are being composed in his honor and his picture adorns the walls.
* The Lebanese army will be deployed along the border, side by side with a large international force. That is the only material change that has been achieved.
This will not replace Hizbullah. Hizbullah will remain in the area, in every village and town. The Israeli army has not succeeded in removing it from one single village. That was simply impossible without permanently removing the population to which it belongs.
The Lebanese army and the international force cannot and will not confront Hizbullah. Their very presence there depends on Hizbullah's consent. In practice, a kind of co-existence of the three forces will come into being, each one knowing that it has to come to terms with the other two.
Perhaps the international force will be able to prevent incursions by Hizbullah, such as the one that preceded this war. But it will also have to prevent Israeli actions, such as the reconnaissance flights of our Air Force over Lebanon. That's why the Israeli army objected, at the beginning, so strenuously to the introduction of this force.
IN ISRAEL, there is now a general atmosphere of disappointment and despondency. From mania to depression. It's not only that the politicians and the generals are firing accusations at each other, as we foresaw, but the general public is also voicing criticism from every possible angle. The soldiers criticize the conduct of the war, the reserve soldiers gripe about the chaos and the failure of supplies.
In all parties, there are new opposition groupings and threats of splits. In Kadima. In Labor. It seems that in Meretz, too, there is a lot of ferment, because most of its leaders supported the war dragon almost until the last moment, when they caught its tail and pierced it with their little lance.
At the head of the critics are marching--surprise, surprise--the media. The entire horde of interviewers and commentators, correspondents and presstitutes, who (with very few exceptions) enthused about the war, who deceived, misled, falsified, ignored, duped and lied for the fatherland, who stifled all criticism and branded as traitors all who opposed the war--they are now running ahead of the lynch mob. How predictable, how ugly. Suddenly they remember what we have been saying right from the beginning of the war.
This phase is symbolized by Dan Halutz, the Chief-of-Staff. Only yesterday he was the hero of the masses, it was forbidden to utter a word against him. Now he is being described as a war profiteer. A moment before sending his soldiers into battle, he found the time to sell his shares, in expectation of a decline of the stock market. (Let us hope that a moment before the end he found the time to buy them back again.)
Victory, as is well known, has many fathers, and failure in war is an orphan.
FROM THE deluge of accusations and gripes, one slogan stands out , a slogan that must send a cold shiver down the spine of anyone with a good memory: "the politicians did not let the army win."
Exactly as I wrote two weeks ago, we see before our very eyes the resurrection of the old cry "they stabbed the army in the back!"
This is how it goes: At long last, two days before the end, the land offensive started to roll. Thanks to our heroic soldiers, the men of the reserves, it was a dazzling success. And then, when we were on the verge of a great victory, the cease-fire came into effect.
There is not a single word of truth in this. This operation, which was planned and which the army spent years training for, was not carried out earlier, because it was clear that it would not bring any meaningful gains but would be costly in lives. The army would, indeed, have occupied wide areas, but without being able to dislodge the Hizbullah fighters from them.
The town of Bint Jbeil, for example, right next to the border, was taken by the army three times, and the Hizbullah fighters remained there to the end. If we had occupied 20 towns and villages like this one, the soldiers and the tanks would have been exposed in twenty places to the mortal attacks of the guerillas with their highly effective anti-tank weapons.
If so, why was it decided, at the last moment, to carry out this operation after all--well after the UN had already called for an end to hostilities? The horrific answer: it was a cynical--not to say vile--exercise of the failed trio. Olmert, Peretz and Halutz wanted to create "a picture of victory", as was openly stated in the media. On this altar the lives of 33 soldiers (including a young woman) were sacrificed.
The aim was to photograph the victorious soldiers on the bank of the Litani. The operation could only last 48 hours, when the cease-fire would come into force. In spite of the fact that the army used helicopters to land the troops, the aim was not attained. At no point did the army reach the Litani.
For comparison: in the first Lebanon war, that of Sharon in 1982, the army crossed the Litani in the first few hours. (The Litani, by the way, is not a real river anymore, but just a shallow creek. Most of its waters are drawn off far from there, in the north. Its last stretch is about 25 km distant from the border, near Metulla the distance is only 4 km.)
This time, when the cease-fire took effect, all the units taking part had reached villages on the way to the river. There they became sitting ducks, surrounded by Hizbullah fighters, without secure supply lines. From that moment on, the army had only one aim: to get them out of there as quickly as possible, regardless of who might take their place.
If a commission of inquiry is set up--as it must be--and investigates all the moves of this war, starting from the way the decision to start it was made, it will also have to investigate the decision to start this last operation. The death of 33 soldiers (including the son of the writer David Grossman, who had supported the war) and the pain this caused their families demand that!
BUT THESE facts are not yet clear to the general public. The brain-washing by the military commentators and the ex-generals, who dominated the media at the time, has turned the foolish--I would almost say "criminal"--operation into a rousing victory parade. The decision of the political leadership to stop it is now being seen by many as an act of defeatist, spineless, corrupt and even treasonous politicians.
And that is exactly the new slogan of the fascist Right that is now raising its ugly head.
After World War I, in similar circumstances, the legend of the "knife in the back of the victorious army" grew up. Adolf Hitler used it to carry him to power--and on to World War II.
Now, even before the last fallen soldier has been buried, the incompetent generals are starting to talk shamelessly about "another round", the next war that will surely come "in a month or in a year", God willing. After all, we cannot end the matter like this, in failure. Where is our pride?
THE ISRAELI public is now in a state of shock and disorientation. Accusations--justified and unjustified--are flung around in all directions, and it cannot be foreseen how things will develop.
Perhaps, in the end, it is logic that will win. Logic says: what has thoroughly been demonstrated is that there is no military solution. That is true in the North. That is also true in the South, where we are confronting a whole people that has nothing to lose anymore. The success of the Lebanese guerilla will encourage the Palestinian guerilla.
For logic to win, we must be honest with ourselves: pinpoint the failures, investigate their deeper causes, draw the proper conclusions.
Some people want to prevent that at any price. President Bush declares vociferously that we have won the war. A glorious victory over the Evil Ones. Like his own victory in Iraq.
When a football team is able to choose the referee, it is no surprise if it is declared the winner.
As a side note, I see where the French are backing down from their obligations under this resolution.
ReplyDelete(Oh well, such is their nature...)
"United Nations officials scrambled to put together the peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon on Thursday after France sent planning into a tailspin when announcing that it would offer just 200 soldiers.
France had been expected to lead the force with several thousand of its own troops."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/751798.html
Interesting that the raised the white flag before even ONE shot was fired their way.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder the Foreign Legion hangs out in north africa...
The Day After / How we suffered a knockout
ReplyDeleteThe United States' defeat in the Vietnam war started becoming evident when Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of the U.S. forces in Vietnam, started using body counts as an alternative to military victories. When he could not point to achievements on the battlefield, Westmoreland would send a daily report to Washington of the number of Vietcong soldiers his forces had killed.
In the past few weeks, the Israel Defense Forces has also adopted the body count approach. When the largest and strongest army in the Middle East clashes for more than two weeks with 50 Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbail and does not bring them to their knees, the commanders are left with no choice but to point to the number of dead fighters the enemy has left behind. It can be assumed that Bint Jbail will turn into a symbol of the second Lebanon war. For the Hezbollah fighters it will be remembered as their Stalingrad, and for us it will be a painful reminder of the IDF's defeat.
Ze'ev Schiff wrote in Haaretz on August 11 that we had "gotten a slap." It seems that "knockout" would be a more appropriate description. This is not a mere military defeat. This is a strategic failure whose far-reaching implications are still not clear. And like the boxer who took the blow, we are still lying dazed on the ground, trying to understand what happened to us. Just like the Six-Day War led to a strategic change in the Middle East and established Israel's status as the regional power, the second Lebanon war may bring about the opposite. The IDF's failure is eroding our national security's most important asset - the belligerent image of this country, led by a vast, strong and advanced army capable of dealing our enemies a decisive blow if they even try to bother us. This war, it soon transpired, was about "awareness" and "deterrence." We lost the fight for both.
The concept failed again
It does not matter one bit what the IDF's true capability is. There is also no importance to the assertions that the IDF used merely a small part of its force and that its arsenal still contains advanced weapons that did not come into play. What really matters is the image of the IDF - and in fact of Israel - in the eyes of our adversaries in the region.
And herein lies the most serious failure of this war. In Damascus, Gaza, Tehran and Cairo, too, people are looking with amazement at the IDF that could not bring a tiny guerrilla organization (1,500 fighters according to the military intelligence chief, and a few thousand according to other sources) to its knees for more than a month, the IDF that was defeated and paid a heavy price in most of its battles in southern Lebanon. And most serious of all: an IDF that has not neutralized Hezbollah's ability to fire rockets and keep more than 1 million Israeli citizens sitting in shelters for more than four weeks. What happened to this mighty army, which after a month was not able to advance more than a few kilometers into Lebanon? wonder many of those who are planning their next wars against Israel.
Israel's deterrent power was based on the recognition by the enemy that it would pay an extremely heavy price if it attacked Israel. For example, Syria has not fired hundreds of missiles at the Israeli homefront - even during times of war - because it fears a harsh Israeli attack on Damascus and other important Syrian towns. But when more than 3,000 rockets are fired at the Galilee, Haifa and Hadera without Israel demanding that someone pay, Israel's deterrence is damaged. At the next opportunity, someone in Damascus may decide to fire rockets at Tel Aviv to push forward a diplomatic process, since Israel did not only fail to react severely to the rockets fired from Lebanon but also was forced to agree to a UN arrangement that leaves the rocket stockpile in Hezbollah's hands.
The Agranat Commission gave a negative connotation to the term "concept" in the context of military intelligence. The commission of inquiry that now hopefully will be set up will quickly conclude that on the eve of the second Lebanon war, the IDF - and consequently policy makers - were working with two mistaken concepts. First, over the past six years, Israelis came to believe a large-scale fight against Hezbollah would not be necessary: Any military actions in southern Lebanon would be limited and short. Second, if a war arose against Hezbollah, the IDF would dismantle the organization within a few days, break its command backbone and end the fighting under conditions favorable to Israel.
And this is how we entered the war. The army led the prime minister and his cabinet to believe that the air force would annihilate Hezbollah's fighting capability within several days and that thereafter a new situation would prevail in Lebanon. On the basis of these promises, Ehud Olmert set ambitious objectives for the war, which of course were unattainable.
Just as before the Yom Kippur war, there was a destructive combination of arrogance, boastfulness, euphoria and contempt for the enemy. The generals were so certain of the air force's success that they did not prepare an alternative. And when it became clear after about one week that Hezbollah was not disintegrating and that its ability to fire rockets had not been significantly thwarted, the IDF found itself in a state of acute distress and embarrassment. This is the reason for the hesitancy in using force and the lack of determination in the use of the ground forces.
The commission of inquiry will have to examine how the army entered the war without formulating alternative operations or plans to end the war. The failure of the government lies in its adoption of the army's proposal without examining its logic, chances of success or alternatives. The decision-making process that led to the war once again revealed the most serious defect in the formation of national security policy. Since the establishment of the state, no government has had the good sense to set up professional advisory bodies that could assist it in dealing with IDF proposals, or at least to examine them seriously. As in all the other conflicts, the army and not the government decided what Israel should do in Lebanon. The National Security Council - whose job this is precisely - was not asked to look over the IDF's plans and their implications, nor was it asked to provide alternatives.
The missing command
The arrogance and the overconfidence that characterized the top brass left the home front unprotected. If it was clear that the air force would destroy the rocket launch pads within a few days, why call on the residents of the north to prepare the air raid shelters and stockpile food? We know the outcome: More than one million people sat for more than one month in stinking shelters, some of them without food or minimal conditions.
In this context, the inquiry commission should look into the home front command. Millions of shekels were invested in this command. A major general, brigadiers general, colonels and many other officers and soldiers man this command. And what was its contribution to the war? Warning notices broadcast over the radio and televisions about alarms and sirens. That's it. For more than a month, the entire command made do with drafting public notices about seeking shelter and staying in interior rooms. Where was this command over the past six years? Was it not its task to examine and check whether the shelters were satisfactory?
And of course, the intelligence. Once again there were surprises and failures, some of which were based on the mistaken concept of Hezbollah's capacities. The militia's success in surprising an IDF patrol and abducting two soldiers - the catalyst for the war - stems from a military intelligence failure. IDF intelligence did not assess correctly Hezbollah's fighting capability, did not know about the tunnels next to the organization's strongholds, and erred in its assessments of the deployment inside Bint Jbail, and there were many more other intelligence failures.
The navy's intelligence failed because it did not know about the Iranian land-to-sea missiles in Hezbollah's hands, and its assessments about Hezbollah's ability to fire rockets were mistaken. Hezbollah's successful handling of anti-tank missiles also revealed an intelligence failure that resembles to a large extent that of the 1973 war. The Patriot missile batteries stationed near Haifa and Safed were announced by the IDF with much fanfare. The wide media coverage given to these deployments was supposed to quiet residents' fears. Since then we have not heard a single word about that wonderful defense system. As far as is known, not even one attempt was made to knock down missiles fired at Haifa and Hadera. The commission of inquiry will also have to deal with the army's decisions about anti-missile defense. Billions of dollars were invested in the defense systems to combat missiles, but this was unapparent when it came to the test. In addition, the army's decision to stop developing the Nautilus - a laser-based anti-Katyusha defense system - must be examined.
The state allocates some 11 billion dollars annually for the defense budget. Almost 15 percent of the GNP is devoted to security. (The official figure is 10 percent, but this does not include all the investments in security issues). But when the reservists are called up, they discover that they lack basic equipment: flak jackets, helmets, vehicles and even stretchers. Entire units were forced to fight more than 24 hours without food or water. Where did the money go? This will have to be examined by the commission of inquiry. The height of the chutzpah is the hints by senior officers that the dearth of equipment is due to the defense budget cuts. This should be the chance to break the myth about these budget cuts: Not only was the defense budget not cut in the past decade, it actually grew during the years 2002 and 2005. Israel allocates to security more of its total resources than any other democracy in the world (15 times more than Japan and three times more than the U.S.). It should be checked whether there is justification for this.
The Yom Kippur war is remembered as a seminal event that damaged the public's trust in the army. Quite a few years passed before this trust was restored. It is still too early to assess whether the second Lebanon war will be remembered as the turning point at which the public awakes from the illusion about the unlimited might of the Israeli military force.
Now recriminations begin in Israel
ReplyDeleteDean Godson
The failure of the Lebanon campaign may destroy the Kadima party and its leader
EHUD OLMERT’S greatest sin in the eyes of the Israeli public is not that the war in Lebanon was “disproportionate”, but that he did not win it. Now that hostilities seem to be winding down, the debate over the conduct of one of the most unsuccessful military campaigns in the history of the Jewish state has begun with a vengeance. And it could bring about the demise of the Prime Minister and the new, centrist, Kadima party that he led to victory in the election in March.
There is a word in Hebrew for such a reversal: mechdal. It means something along the lines of “culpable failure resulting from inadequate preparation and inaction”. It was last in common currency after the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when the Israeli political and military leadership failed to anticipate the attack by two Arab armies.
*
The initial reverses of 1973 were so traumatic that they triggered a chain of protests. These eventually dethroned the Labour Party, which had dominated politics for three decades, and paved the way for the ascendancy of Likud.
But whatever the difficulties of the opening days of the 1973 war, by its end the Israelis could boast significant battlefield successes, such as crossing the Suez Canal. Even in Lebanon in 1982, whatever the costs to Israel’s reputation abroad, it could accurately assert that the Palestine Liberation Organisation had been ejected from its northern neighbour.
Despite Hezbollah’s (replenishable) losses, no such consolation is possible this time. Contrary to what Mr Olmert told the Knesset on Monday, Hezbollah continues to be state within a state — if not more powerful than the Lebanese Government itself. Although he had vowed to eliminate the Hezbollah leadership, Israel did not “get” Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. That was largely because he spent much of the war in Damascus. Indeed, Mr Olmert conspicuously did not target the two greatest sponsors of Hezbollah terrorism in this conflict — Syria and Iran.
The rocket attacks on northern Israel increased, rather than diminished, as the ceasefire approached. There are anything between a quarter and half a million displaced Israelis within a nation of six million. Another million-plus have had to spend many days in shelters.
Even the original casus belli — the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah — has not yielded their release. And as Israeli reservists return home, expect a rash of horror stories about inadequate equipment and training because of budget cuts in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Nor did the military fully take on board Hezbollah’s style of asymmetric warfare that brought to the fore the “suicide fighter” rather than the “suicide bomber”. In the first 20 days of war, the Israelis took hardly any prisoners.
No wonder that a Dialog poll for the left-wing daily newspaper, Haaretz, at the end of last week found that only 20 per cent of Israelis thought that the IDF were winning — and this in a war supported at the outset by the entire mainstream political class. Mr Olmert’s 48 per cent approval rating was also surprisingly low for an incumbent in wartime.
But then Mr Olmert never wanted to be a war leader. As he observed in June last year: “We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies.” If that last goal could not be achieved by negotiation, then he would act unilaterally. Israel would hunker down and lead a normal Western life from behind the security fence — safe in the knowledge that the IDF were so strong that anybody still daring to shoot at the Jewish state would receive a thrashing.
The Lebanon campaign has dramatically undermined such thinking. In the midst of it, Mr Olmert injudiciously revealed that a successful operation there would make it easier to evacuate more territory. He was forced to retract, and key figures in the Kadima Knesset caucus have made it clear that further unilateral withdrawals are unacceptable. Kadima could fall apart as quickly as it coalesced.
Faced with public anger, some of those who came to Kadima from Likud, such as Shaul Mofaz, the former Defence Minister, may revert to their previous allegiances. Expect also major ructions inside Labour, Kadima’s main coalition partner.
With so much of the political class discredited, to whom might a disenchanted Israel turn? Despite the disappointment with the IDF leadership — amplified by the revelation that Dan Halutz, the chief of staff, took time out to sell his stocks only hours after he knew that the soldiers had been kidnapped — the forces remain the most revered institution in society. In the public mind, one of the few figures to avoid the taint of in- competence and corruption is Moshe Yaalon, the last chief of staff. He is credited with playing a key role in dramatically reducing the number of Palestinian suicide attacks, showing that asymmetric warfare can be fought successfully.
General Yaalon, a Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, has so far been almost as cryptic about his intentions as General Eisenhower was before being drafted to run for the US presidency in 1952. If he wins power, it will be by constitutional means rather than by a military coup — unlike almost everywhere else in the Middle East. But in the current climate in Europe, don’t expect anyone to give the Israeli political system much credit for that.
Cliffy could it just be that Olmert was too wishy-washy and a wuss?
ReplyDeleteThink you'd have the same result if say Netanyahu were Israeli PM?
I don't.
Well dolty it ain't what the French do, but the people of Israel do to Olmert that is relevant here
ReplyDeleteBTW, whattaya think about how the UN tricked Israel into a cease fire?
ReplyDeleteUNIFIL has ALREADY been in Lebanon for 28 years and what have they solved or stopped?
But hey it might be different this time! The French are sending 200 troops...
Son the Israeli military either had to accept Nazi like tactics of killing every person they saw in southern Lebanon...or they were DOOMED to fail.
ReplyDeleteAnd the killing of every person was not what the Israeli's can manage for long until the hundreds of Millions of Arabs pour over their border...they are kind of limited in their options
We really need to just pay 'em off for that ugly building in Manhattan and tell them to get their slimy asses back to Geneva where they're wanted.
ReplyDeleteYeah cliffy? Is that what they did to the Egyptians in Sinai?
ReplyDeleteProly because the Israeli's have such limited options...which they have boxed themselves in the corner they find them selves in right now.
ReplyDeleteBesides that, IF they had killed everyone they saw, don't you think the Arabs would think twice about "pouring" over their borders?
ReplyDeleteYou have to understand the Arab psyche, they respect strength and tend to attack when weakness is shown.
Hello Somalia?
Dolty boy that was 1973....kind of a while ago son...they are trying to live off their Past glory because they got little new.
ReplyDeleteClif, IF they've allowed themselves to be boxed in, it's because of the UN and Europe...
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not much of a box either.
They just need to tell the UN to take a hike.
Doltaire said...
ReplyDeleteBesides that, IF they had killed everyone they saw, don't you think the Arabs would think twice about "pouring" over their borders?
No son it is acalled jihad...and they seem real good at it when they do get riled up.
You have to understand the Arab psyche, they respect strength and tend to attack when weakness is shown.
Hello Somalia?
No son the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980's...and the fight they are taking to the US in afghanistan and Iraq, and how they fought off the Israeli advance soo well that the Israelis never made it to the latini river in 33 days
Fighting a battle against a foe like hezbollah is not easy since Hezbollah's tactics negate the advantage of technology for a good part...and can blend into the surroundings.
ReplyDeleteIt is a box...why do you think they are RUNNING out of Lebanon...right now...even before the new UN force actually arrives
ReplyDeleteBut DO continue to delude yourself like all good reichwingnut neo-con fooles do.
ReplyDeleteBecause the Israelis have not been able to defeat Hezbollah TWICE...during their occupation, (which Is why they hesitated from actually going into Lebanon in the first place) and this time...where Hezbollah fires MORE rockets the LAST dat of the war than the first
ReplyDeleteDolty said;
ReplyDeleteThey just need to tell the UN to take a hike.
Was that not dumbya's complaint about Saddam?
Worked out real good for him eh Dolty.
ReplyDeleteDoltaire said...
ReplyDeleteWe really need to just pay 'em off for that ugly building in Manhattan and tell them to get their slimy asses back to Geneva where they're wanted.
The statue of Liberty is on Liberty Island. Which is quite a long swim from Manhattan. Try it some time son, call me when you do.
Breaking the law has consequences
ReplyDeleteMy overall analysis of today's extraordinary federal court decision on the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program is in the post below, here. I also have an article up at Salon summarizing the importance of this ruling, here. But I wanted to emphasize in a separate post what I think is one of the most important consequences of today's events.
In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (.pdf), the Supreme Court -- as Marty Lederman was the first to note -- rejected the Bush administration's principal defense for its violations of the Geneva Conventions not only with regard to military commissions, but generally. By holding that Common Article 3 of the Conventions applies to all detainees, and a failure to treat detainees in compliance with Common Article 3 constitutes "war crimes," the Supreme Court effectively found that Bush officials have authorized and engaged in felony violations of the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. sec. 2241), which makes it a federal crime to violate war treaties such as the Geneva Conventions. That is why the administration is busy at work trying to change that law so as to retroactively legalize their conduct -- because the Supreme Court all but branded them war criminals, and the consequences of that can be severe.
And now, a federal court in Michigan -- the first to rule on the legality of the President's NSA program -- just rejected all of the administration's defenses for eavesdropping in violation of FISA, effectively finding that the administration has been engaged in deliberate criminal acts by eavesdropping without judicial approval. And as I documented previously, Hamdan itself independently compels rejection of the administration's only defenses to its violations of FISA. Eavesdropping in violation of FISA is a federal crime, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine (50 U.S.C. 1809).
Thus, judicial decisions are starting to emerge which come close to branding the conduct of Bush officials as criminal. FISA is a criminal law. The administration has been violating that law on purpose, with no good excuse. Government officials who violate the criminal law deserve to be -- and are required to be -- held accountable just like any other citizens who violate the law. That is a basic, and critically important, principle in our system of government. These are not abstract legalistic questions being decided. They amount to rulings that our highest government officials have been systematically breaking the law -- criminal laws -- in numerous ways. And no country which lives under the rule of law can allow that to happen with impunity.
UN gets generous offers for new force in Lebanon
ReplyDeleteUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations received substantial offers of troops for Lebanon that may enable it to field an advance force of 3,500 in two weeks, despite France's refusal to provide a large contingent.
"I would say the show is on the road," said Mark Malloch Brown, the U.N. deputy secretary-general, after a meeting of more than 40 potential troop contributing nations on Thursday.
Deployments by Italy, Spain and Belgium, are key because they can move their forces into Lebanon quickly to meet the 15-day U.N. deadline for the advance contingent. All three nations are studying draft rules of engagement presented at the meeting, participants reported.
(snip)
Germany and Denmark offered maritime and border patrols and Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal, among others, offered ground troops, the participants said. The United States will aid in planning and logistical support, Alejandro Wolff, the deputy U.S. ambassador told reporters.
"We have it in quantitative terms but the issue is which battalions we can get there in the timeline required," Malloch Brown told reporters. "Are they the right battalions with the right skills and equipment?"
(snip)
Malloch Brown said the U.N. force would not participate in large-scale disarmament. This, he said, had to be decided in an agreement between the Beirut government and the militia.
U.N. troops might encounter small groups trying to smuggle in arms or carry arms, he said.
"In those cases if they do not voluntarily disarm when confronted by our troops, and if they try to forcefully resist disarmament, then we will indeed employ force ourselves to disarm them."
Germany's U.N. Ambassador Thomas Matussek offered a border patrol, customs agents, aircraft and ships to prevent unauthorized arms from flowing into the country by land from Syria or by sea.
He would not give a figure for what he called a "substantial" offer until parliament approved the deployment.
Denmark offered three ships to patrol the coast.
Bangladesh offered two mechanized battalions, Indonesia a mechanized infantry battalion and an engineering company and Malaysia and Nepal each offered a mechanized battalion, participants in the meeting reported.
A battalion is usually between 600 and 800 troops.
Cliffy said,"you have to understand the Arab psyche,they respect strenght and tend to attack when weakness is shown." Hmmmm...the kind of weakness Jimmy Carter and Clinton showed? Interesting the last two democratic presidents let the terrorist do as they pleased.Carter,well it goes without saying,he was an absolute pussy when dealing with Iran.I mean he was a disgrace..and oh yea,was'nt he one of the ones who served? Clinton let OBL run wild.Remember the Cole? Was'nt it the first WTC bombing? Was'nt it on Bubba's watch when OBL said america was a weakling? Yet you wonder why the majority of americans view the libs as weak on terror,my goodness it should'nt be a big surprise.
ReplyDeleteN.Korea might be preparing nuclear test: media
ReplyDeleteReclusive North Korea, which last month defied the international community by test-firing missiles, could now be preparing its first test of a nuclear bomb, U.S. media cited U.S. officials as saying.
Analysts said on Friday North Korea could be trying an even more extreme form of sabre-rattling to force the international community, and Washington in particular, into making concessions to the poor and isolated state.
But a diplomatic official in Seoul familiar with the communist state's nuclear program was skeptical of the reports and U.S. officials told Reuters they had no new evidence of such a plan.
ABC News on Thursday quoted a senior military official as saying a U.S. intelligence agency had observed suspicious vehicle movement at a suspected North Korean test site.
A senior State Department official, who was also not identified, told the network: "It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility."
(snip)
ABC said the suspected test site was an underground facility called Pungyee-yok in northeast North Korea. The intelligence was brought to the attention of the White House last week, the ABC report said.
Although it aspires to be a nuclear weapons power, North Korea has trouble feeding its own people and experts said flooding last month could push it into famine.
Last year, activity at suspected North Korean test sites led some analysts to believe the secretive state was preparing to test a nuclear device, but nothing happened.
My goodness Cliffy,I'm sure everyone feels so much better knowing the U.N. is on the case.I mean they have been just so successful the past 20 years.You know Cliffy perhaps you should contact them,they might take a blind eye to your disability and I'm sure you'd look rather spiffy in one of those baby blue helmets.
ReplyDeleteUS tries to counter Hizbollah rebuilding efforts
ReplyDeleteConcerned that Hizbollah has an early advantage in rebuilding shattered south Lebanon, the Bush administration is trying to speed up aid and encouraging Arab states to step in quickly, U.S. officials said this week.
The White House is "cracking the whip" on rebuilding efforts so Iranian-backed Hizbollah is not seen taking the lead and winning any more support among the local population, said a senior State Department official.
"I've said we have got to get with this. These guys (Hizbollah) are out there with their own bulldozers and what are we doing? It takes forever for us to start up rebuilding projects," said the senior official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The United States came under heavy criticism from Arab countries and some European governments during the monthlong war between Israel and Hizbollah that halted with a U.N.-ordered truce this week.
Washington was criticized for refusing to back calls for an immediate cease-fire, thereby appearing to give a green light to extensive Israeli bombing in Lebanon.
The United States has pledged $50 million so far to humanitarian aid in Lebanon, half of which has been handed out to aid groups working in the conflict zone. But a senior U.S. official said it was unclear how much Washington would contribute to rebuilding.
(snip)
A senior U.S. aid agency official Bill Garvelink said the near-term focus would be on helping to rebuild people's homes and that American engineers were in the area assessing damage to bridges and roads.
The United States is pushing Arab states like Saudi Arabia to deliver aid fast to southern Lebanon. Saudi Arabia has committed half-a-billion dollars to humanitarian relief and promised another billion for rebuilding.
Israel is nervous that Iranian funding will be used by Hizbollah and is pushing for tight restrictions on such assistance, telling the Bush administration to tighten up any loopholes.
************************************
I wonder if the people of New Orleans are thinking about joining Hezbollah?
Might actually get them a better reconstruction deal.....
dusty simplex said...
ReplyDeleteCliffy said,"you have to understand the Arab psyche, they respect strength and tend to attack when weakness is shown."
actually dolty boy said that dusty...and it is NOT true...in fact the Muslim's have shown a very real willingness to attack a much stronger foe...and take causalities for years..to achieve their goals...like the did in Afghanistan, against the Soviet Union during the 1980's
Dusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteMy goodness Cliffy,I'm sure everyone feels so much better knowing the U.N. is on the case.
At least those not having bombs or rockets crashing down on their homes...
I mean they have been just so successful the past 20 years.
They have a better record in the middle east than BUSH DOES.
You know Cliffy perhaps you should contact them,they might take a blind eye to your disability and I'm sure you'd look rather spiffy in one of those baby blue helmets.
sorry son but my medical treatment keeps me here, especially now
Cliffy I just had a brilliant idea.You should get in contact with both Shinseki and Zinni,then the three of you (in full uniform) march into a security council meeting at the U.N. and volunteer your services.You guys could be like that movie with Steve Martin,you know The Three Amigo's.You guys dress alike,go over to Lebanon establish a peace there and then move on to Iraq,you know each of you already knows what it will take to fix that situation. I'm telling you,I should get at least ten percent of the action for this great idea.What do ya think,you up for it?
ReplyDeleteDusty Simplex said;
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...the kind of weakness Jimmy Carter and Clinton showed?
Sorry son Carter showed no weakness while the SHAH fell, in fact if ha had been weak and refused to allow the SHAH the medical treatment he needed, which was what Khomeini threatend him not to do. If Carter had folded to Khomeini, the embassy would not have been taken...read some history boy...and Faux is very history challanged
Interesting the last two democratic presidents let the terrorist do as they pleased.
Not exactly...but your so delusional you head will explode..or maybe implode when you actually learn the real history of the Area.
Carter, well it goes without saying, he was an absolute pussy when dealing with Iran.
Not really...he had no GOOD options there....given the situation...what would you have done...and I would request you to include the support forces for such a mission
I mean he was a disgrace..and oh yea, was'nt he one of the ones who served?
No disgrace and He was a Nuclear Submarine commander...in Fact if his dad had not died young...Jimmy was going to make a career of the navy
Clinton let OBL run wild.
Not really...far less than Reagan and Bush 41 let Saddam run wild, and BTWQ Reagan funded Osama in the early 1980'2 check out Tim Osman
Remember the Cole?
Yes.
Wasn't it the first WTC bombing?
They perps are in jail remember boy?
Wasn't it on Bubba's watch when OBL said America was a weakling? Yet you wonder why the majority of Americans view the libs as weak on terror, my goodness it shouldn't be a big surprise.
actually boy with Bush's incompetence and the fiasco's he has which he has NO clue what to do about...they are waking up...and it will not be pretty come this Fall for neo-con repugs like yourself
Dusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteCliffy I just had a brilliant idea.
Proly not, but go ahead boy.
You should get in contact with both Shinseki and Zinni,then the three of you (in full uniform) march into a security council meeting at the U.N. and volunteer your services.
I knew it would be dumb, he always is.
You guys could be like that movie with Steve Martin,you know The Three Amigo's.
No son this is real life...I know yoiu get your reality from the TV especially Fox...but that do not work out here with real people.
You guys dress alike, go over to Lebanon establish a peace there and then move on to Iraq, you know each of you already knows what it will take to fix that situation.
Sorry son we were the ones for NOT telling others what to do...unlike you stupid neo-cons
I'm telling you, I should get at least ten percent of the action for this great idea.
How about you HOLD your breathe...we promise to call just as soon as we finish.
What do ya think, you up for it?
Well considering your idea is as dumb as Dumsfelds are....try him first...he might even fall for it.
Cliffy you get so upset at my humerous postings.Chill out,life is a caberet my friend.I'm really sorry about your disability,in fact I dont even know what it is.
ReplyDeleteBut I cant believe even you would defend Jimmy Carter,for christ sake he was hands down the worst president of the 20th century.I know he nailed a couple 2X4's together and all that but the old peanut farmer was a disaster,no if ands or buts.
Carter's legacy
ReplyDeleteInterest rates...21%
Gas lines three hours long
Americans held hostage for over 400 days
Unemployment rate at 9%
Carter says the country is in a "malaise
Dusty Simplex said...
ReplyDeleteCliffy you get so upset at my humorous postings.
Sorry boy ..you confuse stupidity for humor...most reichwingnut's do.
Chill out, life is a cabaret my friend.
I'm chilled, son, which is more than you appear MOST of the time here
I'm really sorry about your disability, in fact I don't even know what it is.
Thanks I think?
But I cant believe even you would defend Jimmy Carter,for christ sake he was hands down the worst president of the 20th century.
No son Hoover holds that distinction...and Bush is already a shoe in for the 21st century.
I know he nailed a couple 2X4's together and all that but the old peanut farmer was a disaster, no if ands or buts.
sorry many people disagree with you on your faux commentary