MORE OF THE SAME IN 2006

More from Progressive Daily Beacon:

Rest assured, Bush's 2006 'ambitious agenda' will be more of the same
By: August Keso - December 31st, 2005

According to the New York Times, President Bush is making ready a very ambitious agenda. Sadly, it won't be anything new: Bush plans to trumpet his supposed economic successes -- avoiding oils huge 40% increase over last year, and the fact that his economic policies have placed the nation on the verge of deficit induced economic destruction -- the election in Iraq -- pretending an Iranian style government isn't about to take ... more

Another good read...repeat previous request.

NEW YEARS ADVICE FOR NEOCONS

From Progressive Daily Beacon:

Offering our Republican friends a little advice for them to ponder in the New Year
By: August Keso - December 31st, 2005

Republicans have had a pretty tough time of it in 2005. In the spirit of George W. Bush's election 2000, promise to return cooperation to Washington politics, we offer our Republican friends the following tips, which should ensure they have a better 2006: 1 Dick Cheney: You requested and received 5 Vietnam deferments. Nobody believes you've suddenly gained a great deal of respect for the troops - you refused to serve with the "troops" ... more.

A good read....soooo read it.

SOMETHING WE ALL WOULD LIKE TO SEE

HAPPY NEW YEAR KIDS

Just under nine hours...my time... until 2006. Amazing! I didn't think this year would ever end. It's been a very rough year for the Mrs...cancer, chemo, and every rotten thing that goes along with it.

Now, we all look foward to a new year and hope this one will be better then the last one. There are things which we all wish to see occur this year.

I took the liberty to list a few of the things I would like to see come to pass.

1) The impeachment of George W. Bush.
2) The impeachment of Dick Cheney.
3) The withdrawl of all US troops from Iraq by midnight December 31st, 2006.
4) The election of enough Dems/Progressives/Liberals to gain control of both Houses of Congress thru HONEST elections.
5) Freedom, liberty, and prosperity for all of us.

Now I challenge all my readers to post five things they would like to see happen during the coming new year.

To those of you who will be going out to party to-nite...party safe. Let somebody more sober then you drive. (That means anyone other then you, Fixer....and you too Gordon.)

We'll be stayin' home. First Anniversary on New Years Day. Besides, I'll more then likely be asleep by 9pm....I guess that happens when ya get up at 2:30am every day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR KIDS...make it a safe one.

THE TWINS

HERE'S MY STORY...AND I'M STICKIN' TO IT

In a previous post...yesterday...I DONE BEEN TAGGED...TWICE...I let you all know that I had been "tagged". I also mentioned that I would be posting this request.

I had one small problem. Ya see, the two people who "tagged" me...Econ at Trying To Maintain Rationality and Fixer at Alternate Brain...both used different formats. So, what I decided to do was combine the two and use what I wanted.

Well here ya go guys...you know who you are.

Four jobs I've had: construction, shop foreman...twice, bartender, father.

Four things I want to do before I die: move Mama and I to Montana, witness world peace, visit Canada, live long enough to enjoy great-grandchildren.

Four things I say alot: huh, what, holy fuck, fuckheads.
*For those of you who don't like the language...Fuck Off!*

Four of my favorite foods: steak, oysters, lobster, crabs legs.
*Doesn't mean I get to eat this stuff.*

Four people I'd like to curse: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, a neighbor.
*Not necessarily in that order.*

Four things I don't trust: liars, most of corporate america, neocons, ex #3.

Four people from history I'd like to meet: Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, JFK.

Four people I'm taggin': Tina at Fuzzy And Blue, Helen at Just Ain't Right, Karena at Karena's Blog, and Tiny at Tiny Little Dots.

Welcome aboard kids!



PS: to Fixer and Gordon.....happy now?

AMERICA'S LAST STAND

While I was reading the posts at Alternate Brain this morning, I came across a link to a post by Chris Floyd at Empire Burlesque that Fixer had put up.

The Last Stand of the American Republic:
"How will the Establishment deal with this direct challenge? The past few years give little grounds for hope: the Democrats spineless, conflicted, co-opted and corrupt; the Republicans slavish, bellicose, cruel and criminal; the media timorous, witless, corporate-controlled; big business absolutely rolling in gravy from the autocrat's larder; academia cowed, silenced, ignored, demonized; the military acquiescent in criminal aggression, top-heavy with time-servers currying autocratic favor. Only the courts provide some stray sparks of hope, although they too are now loaded with political sycophants, corporate bagmen and knuckle-dragging throwbacks produced by the Right's decades-long devolution of American jurisprudence. Prosecutors like Patrick Fitzgerald and Elliot Spitzer "keep hope alive," but their efforts will mean little in a system where lawlessness at the top has been countenanced by the rest of the Establishment. And in any case, the outcome of their work lies ultimately with the Supreme Court -- the same court that shredded the Constitution in awarding power to Bush in the first place, and which is now led by a Bushist apparatchik."

"Still, you don't go through a constitutional crisis with the Establishment you want; you go through a constitutional crisis with the Establishment you have. And this sad, sick crew, ladies and gentlemen, is all we have. If they swallow the spy scandal, if they don't push back now -- and I mean really push back, not just make a lot of harrumphing noise or hold a few toothless hearings or get a couple of underlings offered up as ritual sacrifices to save the Leader -- then we will have well and truly and finally lost the Republic that Franklin, Jefferson and Madison gave us so long ago."


THIS IS DEFINITELY A MUST READ, MY FRIENDS!!

WEB SPYING BY THE GOV'T

I'm sure this isn't the first time either.

From the BBC:

Privacy slip on official US sites
The White House and NSA sites trip up on official US guidelines that prohibit the tracking of web users.

From the AP via Yahoo News:

U.S. to Probe Contractor's Web Tracking

Go read 'em.

All I've got to say is ASSHOLES!

A VET'S VIEW OF BUSH

This goes along with the previous post PUSHIN' THE WAR.

From Doug Thompson at Capitol Hill Blue:

The Rant
A vet speaks out about Bush
By DOUG THOMPSON
Dec 30, 2005, 06:34

Tim Abbott is a Vietnam veteran who lives in the Southwestern Virginia town of Hillsville, a conservative, blue-collar community that tends to vote Republican and bleed red, white and blue.

But, like an increasing number of veterans, Abbott is fed up with President George W. Bush.

“Bush talks a lot about freedom, courage, transparent government and the rule of law. He talks,” Abbott says. “His speeches are carefully choreographed before audiences of his faithful -- often Christian fundamentalists or, to paraphrase Bush, Christian-fascists -- and they must sign loyalty oaths to Bush. He speaks before audience after audience of soldiers and sailors who cannot speak except as directed by the White House.”

Normally, such comments would be risky in a mountain town where Patriotism rules supreme but Abbott expressed his views this week in an op ed article for The Roanoke Times and found many people agreeing with him.

“When I think of Bush, I do not think of liberty and courage, compassion and justice. No, I think of arrogance, greed and lies,” Abbott wrote. “He is a thug, a buffoon and a coward. Not only is he incompetent, he is corrupt.”

In normal times, these would be fighting words and Abbott would do well to avoid lunch at the Hillsville Diner, the Main Street eatery where the locals gather to discuss politics. But George W. Bush’s times are not normal times and Abbott is greeted warmly on the streets of Hillsville.

“In his Mission Accomplished foray, (Bush) wore a military uniform, something no president has done since Washington, and Washington only wore the uniform to quell a rebellion,” Abbott says. “Around the world he has replaced the Soviet Gulag with the Bush Gulag, where men may be tortured.”

Abbott’s comments come when this web site revealed that the Pentagon has ordered soldiers home from Iraq for holiday leave to give pro-war interviews to their hometown newspapers and television station. This does not surprise a veteran who learned about military duplicity in Vietnam.

“Others before whom he speaks may ask no questions. He runs from journalists, as we have seen in China, even on those rare occasions that he speaks before them,” Abbott says of Bush. “Even worse, he has paid journalists to say good things about him and his policies. He also produces propaganda from government offices that he offers as news reports. And any protests against his policies are diverted well away from his sight and hearing.”

In recent weeks, I’ve spoken with dozens of vets of Vietnam, Desert Storm and the present invasion of Iraq and most speak with anger towards Bush and his policies.

Soldiers serve under a code of honor, something they say Bush lacks.

“Bush is of a kind with the dictators; a strutting, sanctimonious buffoon who talks democracy but acts like Saddam Hussein,” Abbott says. “Bush might differ in degree from Hussein, not having been in power as long, but in behavior, with torture and the corruption of government, they are of a kind.

“While al-Qaida is an enemy of the values and principles of the United States and Western civilization and must be confronted, it can do no more than kill people and destroy property.

“Bush can subvert our principles and institutions. He is the greater enemy.”

PUSHIN' THE WAR

During World War II soldiers came back from tours in Europe and the South Pacific and promoted the sale of War Bonds.
That was then and this is now, and a different type of selling is going on.

From Capitol Hill Blue:

CHB Investigates. . .
Pentagon propaganda program orders soldiers to promote Iraq war while home on leave
By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
Dec 29, 2005, 05:44

Good soldiers follow orders and hundreds of American military men and women returned to the United States on holiday leave this month with orders to sell the Iraq war to a skeptical public.

The program, coordinated through a Pentagon operation dubbed “Operation Homefront,” ordered military personnel to give interviews to their hometown newspapers, television stations and other media outlets and praise the American war effort in Iraq.

Initial reports back to the Pentagon deem the operation a success with dozens of front page stories in daily and weekly newspapers around the country along with upbeat reports on local television stations.

“We've learned as a military how to do this better,” Captain David Diaz, a military reservist, told his hometown paper, The Roanoke (VA) Times. “My worry is that we have the right military strategy and political strategies now but the patience of the American public is wearing thin.”

When pressed by the paper on whether or not his commanding officers told him to talk to the press, Diaz admitted he was “encouraged” to do so. So reporter Duncan Adams asked:

“Did Diaz return to the U.S. on emergency leave with an agenda -- to offer a positive spin that could help counter growing concerns among Americans about the U.S. exit strategy? How do we know that's not his strategy, especially after he discloses that superior officers encouraged him to talk about his experiences in Iraq?”

Replied Diaz:

“You don't. I can tell you that the direction we've gotten from on high is that there is a concern about public opinion out there and they want to set the record straight.”

Diaz, an intelligence officer, knows how to avoid a direct answer. Other military personnel, however, tell Capitol Hill Blue privately that the pressure to “sell the war” back home is enormous.

“I’ve been promised an early release if I do a good job promoting the war,” says one reservist who asked not to be identified.

In interviews with a number of reservists home for the holidays, a pattern emerges on the Pentagon’s propaganda effort. Soldiers are encouraged to contact their local news media outlets to offer interviews about the war. A detailed set of talking points encourages them to:

--Admit initial doubts about the war but claim conversion to a belief in the American mission;

--Praise military leadership in Iraq and throw in a few words of support for the Bush administration;

--Claim the mission to turn security of the country over to the Iraqis is working;

--Reiterate that America must not abandon its mission and must stay until the “job is finished.”

--Talk about how “things are better” now in Iraq.

“My worry is that we have the right military strategy and political strategies now but the patience of the American public is wearing thin,” Diaz told The Roanoke Times.

“It’s way better now (in Iraq). People are friendlier. They seem more relaxed, and they say, ’Thank you, mister,’” Sgt. Christopher Desierto told his hometown paper, The Maui News.

But soldiers who are home and don’t have to return to Iraq tell a different story.

“I've just been focused on trying to get the rest of these guys home,” says Sgt. Major Floyd Dubose of Jackson, MS, who returned home after 11 months in Iraq with the Mississippi Army National Guard's 155th Combat Brigade.

And the Army is cracking down on soldiers who go on the record opposing the war.

Specialist Leonard Clark, a National Guardsman, was demoted to private and fined $1,640 for posting anti-war statements on an Internet blog. Clark wrote entries describing the company's commander as a "glory seeker" and the battalion sergeant major an "inhuman monster". His last entry before the blog was shut down told how his fellow soldiers were becoming increasingly opposed to the US operation in Iraq.

“The message is clear,” says one reservist who is home for the holidays but has to return and asked not to be identified. “If you want to get out of this man’s Army with an honorable (discharge) and full benefits you better not tell the truth about what is happening in-country.”

But Sgt. Johnathan Wilson, a reservist, got his honorable discharge after he returned home earlier this month and he’s not afraid to talk on the record.

“Iraq is a classic FUBAR,” he says. “The country is out of control and we can’t stop it. Anybody who tries to sell a good news story about the war is blowing it out his ass. We don’t win and eventually we will leave the country in a worse shape than it was when we invaded.”

I DONE BEEN TAGGED...TWICE

When I was a kid...which seems like eons ago now..."tag" was a game we played with our friends. I think it was invented by a parent with alot of kids who had way too much energy and needed them to burn it off. Hell, all ya did was run around trying to smack somebody, or try to keep from being smacked.

Later, the same word...in different forms; tag, tagged, tagger...was used to discribe someone who spraypainted the sides of buildings, railcars, freight trailers, and road signs. Some of those "taggers" were very good artists.

With the advent of the personal computer, the word "tag", or "tagged", takes on a different meaning. Now you're supposed to post things about yourself. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing...just a little different.

Ya see, I'm relatively new to the world of blogging...hell, computers in general. I didn't even have a computer until November of 2004, and didn't start blogging until April of this year...and that took some time to get going. So as far as I know this "tagging" could have been happening off and on for a long time.

Now to get back to where I was going with this.

I've been tagged this week, twice.

The first was Econ at Trying To Maintain Rationality, and then Fixer at Alternate Brain smacked me. Both of these fine gentlemen....I'm using that last word there very losly there guys (you know who you are)....did what was requested of them and posted things about themselves. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. It does let all of us get to know each other a little better which can be a good thing.

I've been having some reservations about responding to the two requests I received. I wasn't too sure I wanted to post more about myself then I already had in my profile and in posts and comments. I know some of you may be thinking "Just post anything", but I'm too honest and have to post real stuff.

I have decided to do what has been requested of me. It may be a day or two...or three or four...but I will get it done. Ooooohhh, the suspense!

Later kids,
Grandpa Eddie

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE

To all my faithful readers,

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Winter Solstice, or whatever you may be celebrating!

May this be a happy, peaceful time with loved ones, family and friends.

May the coming New Year bring us all good health, good times, prosperity, and honest elections.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy days to stop by and read my rants.

HERE'S TO A BETTER YEAR!

THANK CONGRESS FOR THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT

From American Progress:

WHY SPYING WORKS...ACCORDING TO PREZNIT NUMB-NUTZ

From Buzz Flash:

TERROR CONECTIONS by Tony Peyser

FEMA THUMBS IT'S NOSE AT A BLUE STATE...AGAIN

Back in September and October I wrote two posts...9/23/05 and 10/20/05...about how FEMA had turned down Wisconsin's request for help after several tornados wrecked havoc on an area in the south-central part of of the state. While Wisconsin's request was turned down, Wyoming's request for help after one tornado was immediately answered.

FEMA has done it again. It turned down the second request made by Gov. Jim Doyle.

From a local station:

FEMA Denies Aid to Tornado Victims...Again

FEMA Denies Aid...Again

Updated: 6:36 AM Dec 21, 2005

Victims of the August tornadoes that struck Dane, Richland and Vernon counties hit yet another road block.

FEMA has denied another appeal by the Governor for federal disaster assistance.

The first request for aid was submitted on Aug. 25, it was denied.

On Oct. 18, a second request was made citing unmet financial needs in both the public and private sector.

The governor says FEMA is "turning their back on the people of Wisconsin who were affected by the devastating tornadoes of Aug. 18."

STEALING VOTES

We all know or have heard of the voting irregularities...ie. vote theft...in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

Here's some information from Shea at Constantly Amazed that everyone should read.


---> 20 Amazing Facts about Voting in the USA <---

"I urge everyone to go to that site, please, and review it, please, and spread it around the blogosphere, please. Americans who don't already know, need to know. The whole world needs to know. Nothing else matters if the neocon regime and their ilk continue to subvert and poison our most precious national resource."


Bonus Video

Click the link and go read the post...if you are interested at all about what's happening to our right to an honest and free election.

DISREGARD FOR THE LAW

I recently posted on how the Emperor Chimp refered to the Constitution as "...a goddamn peice of paper."

Here's a little more that can go along with that from Gordon at Alternate Brain.

Dissent? Go to jail

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying

Go see Gordon and see what he has to say. It just might shock some people to find out what this administration really thinks of our rights and liberties.

HOLIDAY POEM

From Congressman John Dingell, (D) MI, by way of Gordon at Alternate Brain:

Dingell’s HOLIDAY Jingle for O’Reilly and House GOP

Washington, DC - Congressman John D. Dingell (MI-15) recited the following poem on the floor of the US House of Representatives concerning House Resolution 579, which expressed the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected. “Preserving Christmas” has been a frequent topic for conservative talk show hosts, including Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly:

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House

No bills were passed ‘bout which Fox News could grouse;

Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,

So vacations in St. Barts soon would be near;

Katrina kids were nestled all snug in motel beds,

While visions of school and home danced in their heads;

In Iraq our soldiers needed supplies and a plan,

Plus nuclear weapons were being built in Iran;

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell;

Americans feared we were on a fast track to…well…

Wait--- we need a distraction--- something divisive and wily;

A fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly

We can pretend that Christmas is under attack

Hold a vote to save it--- then pat ourselves on the back;

Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger

Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger!

This time of year we see Christmas every where we go,

From churches, to homes, to schools, and yes…even Costco;

What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy,

When this is the season to unite us with joy

At Christmas time we’re taught to unite,

We don’t need a made-up reason to fight

So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter, and those right wing blogs;

You should just sit back, relax…have a few egg nogs!

‘Tis the holiday season: enjoy it a pinch

With all our real problems, do we honestly need another Grinch?

So to my friends and my colleagues I say with delight,

A merry Christmas to all,

and to Bill O’Reilly…Happy Holidays.

THE CHIMP'S LEGACY

From Buzz Flash:

RIBBONS, RIBBONS, AND MORE RIBBONS

Ribbons. We've all seen them. On cars, on trucks, on SUV's, on almost anything that a magnet will stick to.

There are yellow ones, red white and blue ones, stars and stripes, even camouflage...all in support of the troops. There are others out there...pink for Breast Cancer is just one example. You don't see many of those. What you see the most is those yellow ribbons with "Support the Troops" on them. Buy the ribbon and support the troops...all while lining the pockets of American importers and some guy in China.

It's gotten to the point that everytime I see a ribbon on a vehicle I expect it to have "Support the Troops" on it...until this past weekend.

The Mrs. and I were in the town where I work...about ten miles from where we live...on Saturday. I had been there, at work, and...now don't laugh too hard, you might choke on something....I locked my keys in the van. I'll pause so you can get that laugh out of your system. OK, thats long enough.

Anyway, the Mrs. came with her keys to rescue me...thanks to the cell phone she recently bought for me. Never had one before and didn't think I needed one. Glad I've got one now.

But I digress. Let me get back to the subject of ribbons.

We decided to stop at one of the restaurants and get something to eat. While we were crossing the street to get to the restaurant an SUV went by slowly. I noticed a ribbon I had not had the opportunity to see before. It was as if someone had taken two ribbons. cut them in half down the middle, and put a half from each together to make one ribbon.

One half was yellow with "Support the Troops" on it. The other half...which was the Stars and Stripes...had something which pleased me to no end. On it were the words "Bring Them Home." I would love to see more of these ribbons on more vehicles. Hell, if I knew where to get one, I'd buy a couple and slap them on the van and the Mrs. car.

Now let's put those two phrases together.
"SUPPORT THE TROOPS BRING THEM HOME."

To George W. Bush, all his cronies, the Republican party, the 101st Keyboardists, and the rest of the chicken-shit chickenhawks that support the war and not the troops I say FUCK OFF! Just because we do not support your war of occupation does not mean that we don't support the troops...because we do and we do it with our hearts and minds, physically and "spiritually." And we do it one hell of alot better then you assholes do.

BIG BROTHER SAM'S CHRISTMAS WISH FOR US

From Buzz Flash:

GODDAMN PIECE OF PAPER

Here's more proof that Bush and his cronie assholes don't care about this country or what it is really supposed to stand for. From Doug Thompson at Capitol Hill Blue:

The Rant
Bush on the Constitution: "It's just a goddamn piece of paper."
By DOUG THOMPSON
Dec 9, 2005, 07:53

Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”

Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine – in the end – if something is legal or right.

Every federal official – including the President – who takes an oath of office swears to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the Constitution a “living document.”

“"Oh, how I hate the phrase we have—a 'living document,’” Scalia says. “We now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete's sake.”

As a judge, Scalia says, “I don't have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it's better than anything else.”

President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a “union between a man and woman.” Members of Congress have proposed some 11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion.

Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss of rights.

“We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones,” Scalia warns. “Don't think that it's a one-way street.”

And don’t buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush, something that undermines the Constitution of the United States.

But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just “a goddamned piece of paper.”

UPDATE: This today from Doug Thompson at Capitol Hill Blue. Click the link and read his column.

The Rant
Where there's smoke, there's ire
The firestorm over Friday’s column quoting President George W. Bush’s obscene outburst over the Constitution continues to grow with our email box overflowing from outraged readers who think the President should be impeached along with pro-Bushites who want my head on a platter.
Dec 12, 2005, 08:33

TWENTY-ONE WHITE FLAGS

This was a Buzz Flash reader contribution that I found today. It's kind of long, but it's a good read. I think the writer nailed it.
It’s Not Our White Flag Mr. Bush

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by A BuzzFlash Reader
An American Still Fighting for His Country

It’s yours. It’s your war. You decided to start it, we didn’t. You decided to lie to congress and the American people to get your war. We are not surrendering Mr. Bush, you are:

You surrendered the claim that there were WMD in Iraq. Perhaps you’d like to resurrect it? After all, it is how you “justified” all of this.

You surrendered your claim that the revenue from oil would pay for the reconstruction. Perhaps you’d like to return several hundred billions of dollars back into the United States treasury? No? Now you’ve waved two white flags in front of the world. But there is more. A lot more.

You surrendered your claim that there was a link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. You admitted there wasn’t, before you continued making the claim through your proxies. What do we call someone who waves a white flag and then has someone else start shooting again? Three white flags.

You surrendered your administration’s claims that we’d “probably be out of Iraq in 12 weeks.” Three months has turned into three years. The price has been the lives of more than two thousand two hundred of our children; the ones you lied to. Four white flags, yet the bodies of our children still stack up every week like grotesque firewood on the kindling of your lies.

You surrendered our economy; you surrendered a multi-trillion dollar surplus to the communist government of China, whom you’ve placed the American people in debt to for trillions more. Five white flags.

You surrendered the honor of the fallen in Iraq; refusing to let the American people see their sacrifice, choosing to hide their funerals from our sight. This is the shame of any murderer. This is now six white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered in Afghanistan; you withdrew 80 percent of our forces when they had not achieved victory by your own definition; Bin Laden was not captured or killed, and YOU quit the mission. Seven white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered America’s reputation as a decent nation to the entire world Mr. Bush. You were repeatedly warned, and you valued your diabolical blood lust and messianic delusions of grandeur more than the United States' good name. Eight white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered our constitution and Bill of Rights to the 9-11 hijackers after September 11th. Nine white flags Mr. Bush.

Speaking of 9-11, you surrendered New York City immediately, choosing to spend your time after you knew we were under attack, sitting in a kindergarten room reading “My Pet Goat.” 3,000 US citizens died horrible deaths on international television as you did…..NOTHING. Ten white flags Mr. Bush.

You did it all again when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and Mississippi. Maybe you were trying to be consistent; You sat on your useless a$$ on vacation after you were warned, and again, our people died. And even their daily deaths did not move you to take command until the damage was complete; Like New York. Like Iraq. Eleven white flags now Mr. Bush.

You surrendered the Geneva Convention Mr. Bush; saying “we do not torture.” After you tortured, again and again, and were caught. This you said as you said you’d veto any bill banning … torture. A dozen white flags for what you have surrendered Mr. Bush.

You surrendered America’s war on poverty. You actually cut funding to pay for school lunches for poverty stricken children too poor to actually eat properly. You surrendered this to less than one fifth of one percent of the people; billionaires. Thirteen white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered our borders after 9-11; you even went so far as to attempt to grant amnesty to foreign nationals who’d committed the crime of breaching our borders. This you did after you claimed you were going to make us safer. I guess shredding the Bill of Rights was your preference Mr. Bush. Fourteen white flags.

You surrendered every American’s right to privacy. In its place you put a slogan with the word “patriot” in it. Fifteen white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered a chance to build an actual coalition to deal with the supposed “threat” presented by Saddam Hussein. Oh you called it a “coalition of the willing.” You even claimed it was “bigger than your [sic] father’s.” Of course it wasn’t. You went so far as to list Micronesia as a member. I suggest that the reality is that compared to your father, it is tragically “micro” Mr. Bush. Perhaps this has been the problem all along? Has America been held hostage to little George’s personal shower trauma from childhood? Sixteen. white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered you own opportunity to actually fight for your country; You argued that Vietnam was "just” and that the United States “had to win.” Then you had your Dad get you into a unit of the Texas Air National Guard which insured you’d never have to see combat. Maybe we should have started with this one; it’s one of your first white flags as a so-called man. But we’ll call it number seventeen here; seventeen white flags of surrender you’ve waved Mr. Bush.

You’ve surrendered America’s war on pollution. You’ve chosen to supposedly believe that “global warming” is “a myth”, and to let industry dump millions of tons of toxic waste into our precious rivers and air. Eighteen white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered our public education system; You created a law called “No child left behind” which demands students test higher or teachers would be penalized, and then you provided no funding for the phony mandate. It appears that you loath the people who teach our children. I wonder why. Nineteen white flags Mr. Bush.

You surrendered in Saudi Arabia. Usama Bin Laden demanded that “American infidels leave the Holy Soil of Medina and Mecca”; you pulled the troops out. You surrendered to Bin Laden’s demands that Saddam Hussein be removed as Iraq’s ruler, and that Iraq become an Islamic State; You did just as he asked, and now alcohol, “western music,” and unveiled women are gone from Iraq, its formerly secular government replaced by one based on Sharia; Islamic law. That is Twenty white flags Mr. Bush.

As for the twenty-first white flag, this one you refuse to finally wave; You get to avoid waving it, so long as our children continue to die by the dozens for nothing; our own children are now “presented” in death as “flags”; you call it “honor.” We call it a disgrace to all that is decent, a crime against the military, a crime against everything this nation once stood for, the principles of which you’ve surrendered again and again and again.

Let me be clear with you Mr. Bush: This is not our white flag. We are not surrendering to our enemy. Not in the least. What you have failed to understand is who the enemy is; It’s you. You are our enemy. You are the enemy of America. We have not surrendered to you Mr. Bush. We are intent upon driving you and your kind from our midst. We’re sick of the surrendering of our country by the likes of you. The twenty-first flag will be waved by you Mr. Bush. I have it on twenty to one odds.

Sincerely,

A BuzzFlash Reader
An American Still Fighting for His Country

LIEBERWORM

From Buzz Flash:

Lieber-Rumzy by Steve Bradenton

DOWNTIME

As you can see, I haven't posted anything for almost a week. I haven't done much cruising around to all the other blogs I like to read either.

We've had some downtime here at the homestead. The Mrs. decided she was tired of the build-up of dust and smoke residue in the house and started doing the spring cleaning a few months early.

She also set out to rearange the furniture as well. This meant shutting the 'puters down and moving them, too.

Everything is up and running again and I'll get back on course here real soon.

Thanks for being patient during this time.
Grandpa Eddie

A POEM FOR GEORGE

Found at Buzz Flash:

Putrid and ugly are words that you'll hear,
Regarding this man, and his wicked career.
Evil! Dishonest! Unswervingly vile!
Simple and Stupid; a Bucket of Bile,
Isn't afraid to lie like a dog,
Doesn't perceive that he lives in a fog.
Eyes that remind me of Alfred E. Neuman,
Never once stopped a buck (take THAT, Harry Truman!).
Turd-Blossom Rove tells him just what to do:

Gifts for the wealthiest, nothing for you.
Even his college profs doubt his maturity.
Old people fear for their Social Security.
Reads nothing at all, except "My Pet Goat,"
Gave up on bin-Laden, took Iraq by the throat.
Environment doomed, 2000-plus dead.

World is appalled, economy bled.

Bully, tyrant, oil racketeer -
Uncurious George: Peddler of fear.
Surely the moment has finally been reached:
He's a failure, a criminal, and must be impeached.

Todd Lockwood
Bonney Lake, WA

TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS....DONE

I posted earlier about the problem a reader was having loading this blog in Internet Explorer.

With the help of my wife/tech Mary, we were able to find the cause of the problem. There was a post that I had put up that we think was the trouble. There may have been a bad link in it that was screwin' things up, or it could have the post itself.

Anyway, Leftist Grandpa is opening fine in IE now.

Thanks again Shea.

WHAT MAKES US RIGHT ABOUT IRAQ?

I found this at Information Clearing House this morning.

Freedom? What Freedom?

War -- Guns, tanks, chemical weapons, killing, devastation, inhumanity.

By Monica Benderman

12/01/05 "ICH" -- -- Why do we go to war? Why does anyone pursue another to the point of war?

Forget who instigated it. At war – both sides kill. Soldiers are told their side is right – they are given guns and ordered to kill as many on the other side as possible because the “other side” is wrong.

WHO exactly tells us we are right?

Who is it that has decided that our side is right?

Some blame a president. Who made him right?

Some blame a congress. Who made them right?

Who are these people that three hundred million Americans have allowed them to lead us into something so very wrong as war – with the illusion of their being right?

They are members of a political party – in this great country, we seem to be controlled by TWO. Who made them right?

Who gave the leaders of these two parties the authority to handpick those candidates that the rest of America would have to choose to lead them? What made their choices right?

WHY are American citizens allowing anyone at all to tell them what is right without question and without verifiable proof?

America – The Land of the FREE.

People tell me that we are only free because our soldiers are willing to sacrifice their lives to keep us that way. What makes them right?

If we have to die to preserve our freedom, then something is very wrong.

If people are willing to die at our hands to defend their right to their own freedom – something we claim to be so significant in our actions – then how can we tell them they are wrong?

Freedom means having the right to live as one chooses – and that right is earned because the choices one makes do not disrespect the choices of others, which may be different than ours. Who is right?

Don’t tell me our soldiers are dying in Iraq to keep us free. We are more imprisoned now than we ever have been – because our soldiers are dying in Iraq.

We invaded Iraq because our country thought it was right, and Iraq was wrong. The Iraqi people maintained their standards. They did not invade us, they did not threaten us – even though many felt that America was wrong.

We say they are wrong now, because they attack us for being in their country. They are defending themselves – what makes them wrong?

We have sacrificed everything we ever had that made us free – we sacrificed everything that was right about America on the day we invaded Iraq.

We sacrificed this country’s integrity, its principles, and its moral courage on the day we invaded Iraq.

We sacrificed ethics, concern for humanity, dignity and honor.

Freedom? What freedom?

We have freely built an arsenal to surround ourselves with. Every weapon man could imagine – closing the doors on our freedoms.

War is the total loss of freedom. War confines, war dictates, war destroys. War demands that one control another – and yet no one is in control.

Freedom means controlling oneself so that no one else can control you. Freedom does not mean imposing your “rightness” on another.

Freedom is respect – respect that has been earned because we know the value of that freedom – hard earned, not by killing others. Freedom is earned by staying committed to a standard, a set of principles. Freedom means that no one, regardless of what they do, will allow us to fall from the standard of integrity that we have chosen for ourselves. Moral Courage.

Freedom looks at another, not as an enemy because he thinks differently and not to give us the right to tell him he is wrong . Freedom looks at another and understands the value of what he has earned – his differences – his being RIGHT – for himself – and Freedom honors those differences because they were hard earned – because he holds himself to his own standards.

Freedom allows differences – for without differences how would we ever grow stronger in our humanity? How would we ever remain free?

America is not free. Americans don’t know freedom. Americans know fear –and so America goes to war. We will continue to imprison or destroy anyone who disagrees – as long as we fear facing the question of being wrong.

Who made America right? What will it take to make America free?

Sgt. Kevin Benderman is currently serving a 15-month sentence at Ft. Lewis WA, as a Prisoner of Conscience, for declaring himself a Conscientious Objector to war against the Army’s wishes. Please visit www.BendermanDefense.org and www.BendermanTimeline.com for more information. Monica may be reached at mdawnb@coastalnow.net

TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS

I have been told that some of you may be having problems with this blog opening in Internet Explorer. I work with Firefox and don't use IE, so I didn't know until Shea from Constantly Amazed let me know he was having problems with it.

I'm not sure just what is causing the problem...a post I put up, or a link in a post...but I'm working on it with the help of my wonderful wife...AKA my tech.

I'm very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone. We'll keep working on it until we've got it solved.

Thanks for your patience....and thank-you Shea for letting me know, pal.

TERRORIST TRAINING: A BYPRODUCT OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

I know I haven't posted anything for a few days, and some of you may have wondered if I quit. Been busy with OT at work and all the holiday stuff.

Well I'm here to tell you that I haven't quit...and I'm still pissed off at all the Bush/Cheney/Republican BULLSHIT!!

I found this a couple days ago at Information Clearing House, but didn't have the extra time to post it until now. I think you'll find this interesting.

With detainees, We're training terrorists

By Marie Cocco

11/29/05 "Newsday" -- -- When I created the folder several years ago, I shook my head as I tucked it into my filing cabinet. "U.S. Human Rights Violations," I wrote on the tab.

The earliest newspaper stories, reports by human rights groups and interview notes in the folder date to 2002, when the Bush administration began to defend its policy of holding hundreds of people incommunicado and indefinitely, without showing evidence against them. By March 2003, the file's progression shows, U.S. military coroners in Afghanistan had ruled as homicides the beating deaths of two detainees in American custody at Bagram Air Base.

The file grew thicker. I added subsections. "Torture," one of them is labeled. The most recent addition is marked "Secret Prisons." It holds the new accounts of a clandestine CIA prison system across the four corners of the world, most notably in what The Washington Post called "a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe."

Jose Padilla always has had his own file.

He started out as the alleged "dirty bomber," a terrorist supposedly so dangerous Attorney General John Ashcroft interrupted routine business in Moscow to announce that Padilla's capture at Chicago's O'Hare airport in May 2002 had "disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot" to explode a nuclear device on U.S. soil. After holding Padilla, a U.S. citizen, for two years without charge or evidence, the government changed its story to say that he'd plotted to blow up apartment buildings by using natural gas lines. Finally last week - days before it was due to submit arguments in a Supreme Court case challenging the president's policy of holding American citizens without trial or charge - the Justice Department indicted Padilla as a supporter of a terrorist group that was already under criminal investigation.

The ultimate word on the administration's detention policy for alleged terrorists is not just immoral. It is incompetent.

Four years into the "war on terror," the Bush administration is still making up the rules as it goes along. It has now treated one U.S. citizen - Padilla - far differently than it did another, Yasser Essam Hamdi. Hamdi was held for three years without charge until the Supreme Court ruled that he had the right to challenge his detention. The Bush administration then released him to his family in Saudi Arabia without bringing charges.

The administration still holds hundreds at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, yet it has designated only a handful of them for trial by military tribunals. The tribunals themselves are under legal challenge. The fate of those who will never be charged is unknown. If the past is a guide, you can expect some sudden, seat-of-the-pants policy change that the administration will try to pass off as a well-considered plan.

Just how the administration intends to extricate itself from the business of running covert prisons overseas is, fittingly, opaque. Why did the CIA believe it could indefinitely operate such a network? The only way to keep a dungeon secret forever is to kill off all who've been kept there.

From the beginning, the Bush administration's policy of detaining people without charge or any legal recourse, and loosening the standards for how they are treated while in custody, has been both wrong and wrongheaded. It is wrong because it is morally unacceptable for the United States to violate the most basic rules of conduct - sweeping even its own citizens into a lawless no-man's-land, where they are held as if on the whim of an autocrat.

It is wrongheaded because we now are a paragon of hypocrisy, promoting the rule of law and denouncing human rights violations among others while systematically breaching them ourselves. So blind is this administration to the consequences of its actions that it has now jeopardized its East European allies, who are under scrutiny by the European Union for violating human rights laws if they allowed the CIA "black sites" to flourish.

And what of those who will, one day, be released simply because we have exhausted all excuses and worn out our rationales for holding them?

Perhaps there are terrorist training schools more skilled at turning out recruits seething with bitter hatred for the United States. But it would be hard to find any better than those we've created ourselves.

Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.