Support The Troops

McClatchy Washington Bureau, on Joe Lieberman's (R. Conn) visit to Iraq. (if you thought Dukakis looked funny in a helmet....)

Spc. David Williams, 22, of Boston, Mass., had two note cards in his pocket Wednesday afternoon as he waited for Sen. Joseph Lieberman. ....
The night before, 30 other soldiers crowded around him with questions for the senator.

He wrote them all down. At the top of his note card was the question he got from nearly every one of his fellow soldiers:

"When are we going to get out of here?"

Next to him, Spc. Will Hedin, 21, of Chester, Conn., thought about what he was going to say.

"We're not making any progress," Hedin said, as he recalled a comrade who was shot by a sniper last week. "It just seems like we drive around and wait to get shot at."

But as he waited two chairs down from where Lieberman would sit, Hedin said he'd never voice his true feelings to the senator.

"I think I'd be a private if I did," he joked. "It's just more troops, more targets."

Fanning the flames.

“They want to bring down the West, particularly us,“ Romney declared. “And they've come together as Shia and Sunni and Hezbollah and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, with that intent."

So says Mitt Romney, first tier Republican candidate for President.

Just for the record, if you want to be a Muslim, you're probably going to be Shia or Sunni. (Sunni, more than likely) Kinda like, if you want to be Christian, you're going to be Catholic or Protestant. Linking Shia and Sunni with Hezbollah and Hamas is like suggesting that the IRA and the Catholics are one and the same. Except, they're not. One is a subset of the other. It would be nice if our candidates understood this subtle nuance. (Sarcasm intended.)

In Other News.

Jeff Sessions, a southern conservative, said this yesterday: "By September, ... I think most of the people in Congress believe, unless something extraordinary occurs, that we should be on a move to draw those surge numbers down."

It looks like congressional Democrats lost the battle, but are winning the war.

And yes, I linked to Fox news. Just for the amusement factor.

Saints Preserve Us

President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit the Episcopal Church outside Washington as part of his campaign to restore his pathetic poll standings.

His image handler made a visit to the Bishop and said, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity because of the president's position on stem cell research, the Iraq war, hurricane Katrina, and the Veterans Administration.

(And Walter Reed, Gonzales, Wolfowitz, and that's just this week.)

We'll make a $100,000 contribution to your church if during your sermon you will say that the President is a saint. The Bishop thought it over for a few moments and finally said, "The Church is desperate for funding - I'll do it."

Bush showed up for the sermon and the Bishop began: "I'd like to speak to you all this morning about our President. George Bush is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel. He took the tragedy of September 11 and used it to frighten and manipulate the American people.

"He lied about weapons of mass destruction and invaded Iraq for oil and money, causing the deaths of tens of thousands and making the United States the most hated country on earth.

"He appointed cronies to positions of power and influence, leading to widespread death and destruction during Hurricane Katrina. He awarded contracts and tax cuts to his rich friends so that we now have more poverty in this country and a greater gap between rich and poor than we've had since the Depression.

"He has headed the most corrupt, bribe-inducing political party since Teapot Dome ."The national surplus has turned into a staggering national debt of 7.6 trillion Dollars, gas prices are up 85%, which the people of America cannot afford, and vital research into global warming and stem cells is stopped cold because he's afraid to lose votes from religious kooks.

"He is the worst example of a true Christian I've ever known.

"But compared to Dick Cheney, George W. Bush is a saint ."

Could it get any worse?

The George Bush administration combines the corruption of Warren Harding and the foreign policy feather touch of Lyndon Johnson.

Charlie Savage's Pulitzer Prize winning reporting.

McClatchy Newspaper's reporting on the US Attorney Scandal.

Marilyn Young on Iraq.

Scenes From My Childhood

I wasn't sure which of these pictures to use to celebrate mother's day...

Reagan is a role model?

I guess, given the incumbent, that the Republican candidates are forced to go back in time to find a role model they can align themselves with, but Reagan? I'm (true to form) not a fan. But here's a quote that sums it up nicely:

Although there was much more to the amazing scandal that nearly ended Reagan’s presidency—including the starring role of neoconservatives who have since masterminded another and worse disaster—the basic outline is clear: Terrorists killed our troops, and Reagan responded by retreating from Lebanon, kowtowing to the terrorists’ sponsors, meeting their demand for advanced weapons and pleading for the release of our hostages.

In case you needed 15 more minutes of SpinalTap.

I just like the idea of a MSN Video-hosted video featuring Macs so prominently.

(Thanks boingboing)

Progress is Steady, But Not Linear

LWJ and I were at Dos Coyotes last night. I brought up the Republican debate, wherein three of the candidates said they didn't believe in evolution.

LWJ, the perfect foil for this post, was aghast. Why, I replied, would you be aghast when half the American public doesn't believe in evolution.

There I am, in a restaurant, having to provide chapter and verse (irony intended) on the ignorance of the American public.

Frankly, I don't care if they believe in evolution any more than I care if they believe in gravity. It is what it is.

And ignorance doesn't have to be permanent. Progress is steady, but not linear.

A hundred years ago, children worked the mills of this country. Women couldn't vote, nationally, until 1920. And today, some folks are still trying to disenfranchise voters. And of those three Republican candidates opposing evolution, none were among the top tier. Even if a Republican wins in 2008, we will make progress.