Posted in Uncategorized on January 24, 2008| 16 Comments »
By- Suzie-Q @ 6:25 PM MST
Kucinich ends presidential bid
In an interview with Cleveland Plain Dealer editors and reporters today, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) announced that he “is dropping out of the Democratic race for president.”
Kucinich will make a formal announcement tomorrow at a news conference in Cleveland.
Posted in Uncategorized on January 24, 2008| 1 Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized on January 24, 2008| Leave a Comment »
anthony @ 19:48 GMT
There exists, within the political class of Washington, DC, an open secret that is too momentous and too awful to tell. Though it is well known to academic historians, senior reporters, former cabinet members and exdiplomats, it has never been summarized all at one time in any one place. The reason for this is, on first viewing, paradoxical. The open secret is in the possession of both major political parties, and it directly implicates the past statecraft of at least three former presidencies. Thus, its full disclosure would be in the interest of no particular faction. Its truth is therefore the guarantee of its obscurity; it lies like Poe’s “purloined letter” across the very aisle that signifies bipartisanship
Here is the secret in plain words. In the fall of 1968, Richard Nixon and some of his emissaries and underlings set out to sabotage the Paris peace negotiations on Vietnam. The means they chose were simple: they privately assured the South Vietnamese military rulers that an incoming Republican regime would offer them a better deal than would a Democratic one. In this way, they undercut both the talks themselves and the electoral strategy of Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. The tactic “worked,” in that the South Vietnamese junta withdrew from the talks on the eve of the election, thereby destroying the “peace plank” on which the Democrats had contested it. In another way, it did not “work,” because four years later the Nixon administration concluded the war on the same terms that had been on offer in Paris. The reason for the dead silence that still surrounds the question is that, in those intervening four years, some twenty thousand Americans and an uncalculated number of Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians lost their lives. Lost them, that is to say, even more pointlessly than had those slain up to that point. The impact of those four years on Indochinese society, and on American democracy, is beyond computation. The chief beneficiary of the covert action, and of the subsequent slaughter, was Henry Kissinger.
From The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens
Posted in Uncategorized on January 24, 2008| Leave a Comment »
by Geezer Power …9:23 am
Cheney goes a Stumpin’ for Telecom Immunity!
from Crooks & Liars
By: John Amato @ 6:38 AM – PST
Cheney gets his stump on for the Telecoms that broke the law and helped BushCo implement the warrantless wiretapping program.
Cheney:…for those who assist the government in tracking terrorists should not be punished with lawsuits. We’re asking Congress to update FISA and especially to extend this protection to communications providers alleged to have given such assistance anytime after Sept., 11th 2001. This is an important consideration because some providers are facing dozens of lawsuits right now. Why? Because they are believed to have aided the US government in the effort to intercept international communications about al-Qaeda related individuals.
Posted in Uncategorized on January 24, 2008| 3 Comments »
by Bob Cesca @ 8:30 ET
It’s called the MRAP, or “Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle.” With a price-tag of as much as $1 million each, these new armored transports are designed with a wedge-shaped hull in order to deflect explosive blasts away from the cabin, therefore shielding the soldiers inside.
And much like the surge, it doesn’t appear to be working.
On Tuesday, an American gunner was killed when his MRAP vehicle hit a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. His comrades inside were wounded despite the MRAP armor. Reports didn’t say whether or not the bomb was what’s called an “explosively formed penetrator” or EFP roadside bomb which critics have warned has the power to rip through an MRAP’s armored hull.
We make better armor — they make deadlier bombs. Don’t be afraid, though. Six months from now we’re going to win the shit out of this war. But wait! Don’t nobody move! Newsweek‘s Fareed Zakaria, says the war has ended!
The Democrats are having the hardest time with the new reality. Every candidate is committed to “ending the war” and bringing our troops back home. The trouble is, the war has largely ended, and precisely because our troops are in the middle of it.
Okay. The war has largely ended because our troops are — huh what? The war is over but if our combat soldiers come home, the war won’t… be… over… anymore? The only thing I can make sense of here is that this is exactly the Bush Republican position on Iraq: The surge worked, the war is over, but no-one can come home because the surge worked and the war is over. Hooray for God’s America!
And — nyuck nyuck! — this really has the Democrats flummoxed. Ya’ think? I can’t imagine why this Bush Logic would confuse people. It’s not unlike being flummoxed by your roommate when he suddenly insists he’s a reptilian Sleestak creature; then demands that you make linguistic sense of his constant Sleestak hissing. There’s no sense to be made here other than the utter lack of common sense.
What’s more disturbing is that The Very Serious Mr. Zakaria defined this as a “new reality.” Maybe by “new” he meant “not a” or “I’m about to make shit up about [reality].”
Nevertheless, we can clearly gather that there are now two Iraqs.
Posted in Uncategorized on January 24, 2008| 3 Comments »
GEF @ 6:08 AM MST
Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich caused a stink on the House of Representatives floor this morning during a speech where he announced he’ll introduce articles of impeachment against President Bush on Monday, Jan. 28, the day Bush delivers his State of the Union speech.
“We already know the State of the Union,” Kucinich says in his speech, which has been posted on YouTube (see above) . “It’s a lie.”
Republicans objected to Kucinich’s statements, and the Cleveland congressman returned to the floor a few minutes later to withdraw his “offending words.”
Florida GOP Rep. Cliff Stearns called Kucinich’s statements a “clear and egregious violation of House rules” but said he’d accept Kucinich’s request to withdraw his remarks.
“Both sides here attempt to restore civility, calmness here with legitimate debate and not utter personal accusations,” Stearns said.
UPDATE: In a statement issued to The Plain Dealer this afternoon, Stearns explained his objections to Kucinich’s remarks:
“This morning, Rep. Kucinich used the House floor to launch a personal attack against President Bush and Vice President Cheney and accused them of lying to the American people. He also said that the House was ‘living a lie.’ His outburst was a violation of House rules and I asked that his remarks be taken down and the Speaker upheld my objection. Kucinich withdrew his remarks rather than have his words struck down, which would have forced him to leave the House floor for the day. After he decided to withdraw his remarks, I stated that I would not object ” ‘with the understanding that these egregious accusations are in violation of the House rules and his statements must stop for the civility of the House and debate.’ “
Posted in Uncategorized on January 24, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Sudhan @11:15 CET
Highly touted increase in U.S. troops impetus for surge in civilian casualties
Richard Walker | American Free Press, Issue No. 3, January 21, 2008
While the Pentagon and White House, as well as many in Congress declare the “surge” in Iraq a success, little is said about the fact that as many as 24,000 Iraqi civilians died in 2007, representing the second highest casualty figure since the invasion in 2003.
Most of the dead were from areas outside of the capital, Baghdad, where the surge has been concentrated, obscuring a drastic increase in violence in other parts of the country. While the surge has reduced high levels of sectarian deaths in the capital, there is a drastic increase in killings elsewhere.
The problem with representing the surge as a major success is that the overall picture of life in the country is obscured and the level of human tragedy minimized.
In comparing last year’s death toll with that of 9-11, Iraqi civilian casualties in 2007 were 800% higher. That does not include civilians injured and maimed for life, or the dead and wounded within the ranks of the U.S. military and its coalition partners. In 2007, there were close to 900 U.S. military deaths and 5,648 wounded. Forty-seven British soldiers were killed. Those figures hid another statistic: the number of soldiers evacuated from Iraq for treatment related to behavioral and psychiatric issues.
Some reports suggested that close to 1,000 soldiers from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated at the Army medical facilities at Landsthul in Germany. Most were from Iraq and fell into the category of victims of “mental trauma.”
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