October 2, 2007 archive

Dodd Fights To End The Iraq Debacle Now, And That Gives Him A Chance In Iowa

Chris Dodd’s campaign is based on one major issue – that the leadership we will want in our next President is demonstrated by the leadership a candidate shows now on the major issues of the day. The biggest issue is, of course Iraq, and Chris Dodd is fighting to insure a Democratic Congress does not fund the Iraq War without a date certain for ending the war. This fight is attracting notice in Iowa:

Yepsen: 1st-tier Dems’ timidity on Iraq may create opening

Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd is the longest of long-shot candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. But he doesn’t seem too agitated about that. He’s an experienced politician. He knows how the caucus game often breaks late. Because of his 33 years of experience in Congress, he also knows something about U.S. foreign policy and the war in Iraq.

He does get agitated about that, particularly when the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination appear to be in no big hurry to get out. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama all declined in last week’s debate to say they’d have U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of their first term – in 2013. “I was stunned, literally stunned” to hear them say that, Dodd said in
an interview for last weekend’s Iowa Press program on Iowa Public Television. “It was breathtaking to me that the so-called three leading candidates would not make that commitment. That’s six years from today.”

“The one issue that gave us the majority in the House and Senate last year was Iraq. It’s the dominant issue in the country. We’re spending a fortune, $10 billion a month. Reconciliation is no closer today. I think for anybody out there wondering whether or not Democrats get this at all, or not … to stand up and say six years from now, I will not make the commitment that U.S. forces will be out of Iraq, I found breathtaking.”

Chris Dodd is showing leadership now.

Beware the Nats of Burma

Prior to Theravada Buddhism, the Burmese were animists who worshiped a series of nature spirits called Nats. The term Nat derives from the Pali-Sanskrit, natha, meaning lord or guardian.

There are 37 officially recognized Nats (inside Nats), each with its own history. The Nats are spirits of natural forces, such as water, wind, stones and trees and take many guises. All Nats are  ghosts or spirits of heroes.  There are many lesser nats (outside Nats) that are characterized as mischievous when they are disturbed.

…Some were martyrs, people who had been betrayed or had suffered a premature and frightful death. One had died of diarrhea and was reputed to inflict that on those who displeased him.

Regardless of their origins, they were easily disturbed, given to making a fuss when they were not treated with respect.

~Amy Tan, Saving Fish From Drowning, a novel combining Myanmar politics, Burmese superstition and spirituality, plus a touch of humor.

Let Blackwater Stay Bring Home The Troops

subtitled: America, the militia with corporate sponsorship.

We all know that Blackwater is made up of American militia members, often addicted to crystal meth, known for their racial hatred and itchy trigger fingers.  We also know that Exxon and other oil firms have been using Blackwater for some time now.  So I say let a few guys from Exxon and all of Blackwater stay to guard their precious oil and let everyone else come home.  This is the Exxon War after all, so let’s let a few tweakers go down in flames in Iraq and bring back our honorable soldiers.

Now let’s take a look at a few other corporate sponsors of the Exxon War below the fold.

WaPo/ABC Poll: “Helpless Dem” Story Working

BarbinMD alerts us to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, which indicates that 70% of Americans want the $190 billion war allocation reduced.  That’s good news.  Unfortunately, there’s some less-good news in there, too.

I wanted to point out some numbers in the raw data from the WaPo/ABC poll that are both interesting and deeply frusterating to those who want Democrats to be more assertive in confronting the Bush administration.

It seems to me that the obvious reading of these poll numbers — or at any rate an easily available reading of these numbers, and a reading which will surely be adopted by many Democrats in the captial — is that the “helpless Dem” narrative is working like a charm.

Pony Party

Pony Party, Stop the War

On October 27th, United for Peace and Justice is organizing 11 coordinated demonstrations in Boston, Chicago, Jonesborough (no event details are listed for Jonesborough), Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Seattle. (In Los Angeles, this protest is being coordinated with A.N.S.W.E.R)

This is a WesPAC site dedicated to stopping the rush to war in Iran.  You can send a form email (and we all know I always do what Wes♥Clark tells me to).  The campaign is apparently a joint venture by Wes’s Securing America and the Vote*Vets PAC.

This image is from AfterDowningStreet, not WesPAC or VoteVets, but I’m putting it here anyway…

The Green Party of Michigan’s Stop the War Slate is coordinating anti-war leafletting at polling places on election day.

Google ‘stop the war’ and you will get 146,000,000 options…. 😉  Or go directly to a place like DemocracyRising or the Iraq Moratorium site and find millions more ways…

Roman Nose and the Sand Creek Massacre of Nov. 29th, 1864 (Part 1)

Source

“…Roman Nose made his record against the whites, in defense of territory embracing the Republican and Arickaree rivers. He was killed on the latter river in 1868, in the celebrated battle with General Forsythe.

Roman Nose always rode an uncommonly fine, spirited horse, and with his war bonnet and other paraphernalia gave a wonderful exhibition. The Indians used to say that the soldiers must gaze at him rather than aim at him, as they so seldom hit him even when running the gantlet before a firing line…”

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Blackwater involved in 195 Iraq shootings
By Sue Pleming, Reuters
45 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Security contractor Blackwater was involved in at least 195 shooting incidents in Iraq since 2005, said a congressional report on Monday that also panned the State Department’s oversight of the company.

State Department contractor Blackwater, under investigation for the shooting deaths of 11 Iraqis on September 16, will answer questions about that incident and others at what is expected to be a testy congressional hearing on Tuesday.

Senior State Department officials will also be grilled by the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform examining whether the growing use of military contractors undermines U.S. efforts in Iraq.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

Can realism avert global catastrophe?

This is an attempt to unmask the paucity of thought implied in political “realism” as typically portrayed on DKos and elsewhere.  It concludes with a plea for “unrealism” in politics.  Realism has punted in Iraq, civil rights, health insurance, and education; can we expect it to do any better with climate change?

(crossposted @ DKos)

The Clintons and Gores: Not So Peaceful Coexistence

crossposted at Daily Kos and Truth & Progress

Bill Clinton is the consummate politician.  The man remains wildly popular with many constituencies in the Democratic Party.  Some even remember his presidency fondly, given the nightmare of what has followed him.  With his wife Senator Hillary Clinton seeking to become the 2008 Democratic nominee, Bill is enthusiastically campaigning for her. 

Will someone new emerge to challenge Hillary in 2008?  This from the New York Times blog ‘The Caucus’

But perhaps the biggest takeaway from it all is a meta-story – that Vanity Fair‘s editor, Graydon Carter, apparently seemed to think that Al Gore was going to jump into the ’08 race sometime soon.

Mr. Gore could still enter the race, of course.  But this is the second major Vanity Fair piece this fall that attempts to dig deep into Goreworld.; the first piece assessed the media’s coverage of Mr. Gore during the 2000 campaign, reminding readers of the Vice President’s press problems way back when and ruminating on how he would fare with the Fourth Estate if he were to run again.

Music REVOLUTION!!!

cross posted at Dailykos.com

Just thinking about the amount of change that our country needs to return to an actual Democracy is extremely taxing mentally, spiritually and emotionally.

As I have read these diaries I have almost decided to stop even bothering with politics or believing in social change.  It seems that we are stuck in a society that feeds upon human blood, takes advantage of the poor, and begins war out of a desire for quick profit for the rich, while keeping it out of the eyes of a media dazed public…AND NOBODY CARES. 

DailyKos must make this information from this website available to the world.  Some have taken to the streets in D.C.  Others make documentaries, post things on our car windows, houses and etc. 

These things will attract more attention, however, we need a complete revolution of conciousness if change is to occur.

In the hope that seeds of vast change will blossom before we are screwed 30 years from now with even more war, death, poverty, overpopulation; I suggest the soothing, meditative qualities of music to bring us back to the present challenge.

So music lovers of DKOS:  What songs are most enlightening to you right now as you seek change?

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