The true nature of House Republicans

After Jack Murtha urged the end to new deployments and a measured withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, the GOP decided to push their typical political tactics into overdrive. Rather than create a dialog about what's best for the troops, best for Iraq and best for America, they pushed Jack Murtha's objective to the extreme -- calling for the "immediate withdrawal" of troops from Iraq.

GOPers on here point to the overwhelming defeat of the bill as evidence that the Democrats won't even stand with their own, or that they don't even hold to their convictions.

Funny thing, only the GOP sheep see things that way. The rest of the country and the world saw a display of scared, nervous Republicans trying to push back against the tide of American frustration with the war effort, the mismanagement of the Bush Administration, and the head-in-the-sand politics of the GOP.

On political blogs is this display in its full regalia. Republicans deride Democrats for a lack of spine because they didn't vote to sink the ship when all that was called for was schedule for decommission. It was just another example of how Republicans can't engage in a conversation anymore. They must simply attack anyone who offers a different view of things.

Well, America was watching. We now have the final proof of the priorities of these Republicans -- they don't care about the troops, about what's best for America, only their own rhetoric and political self-worth. The world saw a shameful stunt, and only GOPers thought it was a brilliant move.

Yes, America was watching and while most didn't like what they saw, there was a sigh of relief. Here was a welcome sign that Republicans were going to begin their immediate withdrawal in November 2006, ushered out by the voting public.

A GEICO Commercial, sort of...

FEMA Director Allbaugh: Mr. President, we had two levees break around New Orleans, sir.

President Bush: Which levees? What are you talking about?

Allbaugh: The ones that were in the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, you know, SELA. They needed additional funds for rebuilding and upgrading pumps, but we cancelled about $250 million of scheduled repairs because of funding for the Iraq war, Homeland Security and Federal Tax cuts.

President Bush: But we didn't cut the funding of SELA.

Allbaugh: Yes, we did, sir. You even demanded that the Army Corps of Engineers budget be cut by 20% for the Lake Ponchatrain project. The levees were never finished, sir.

President Bush: Well, don't worry, Joe. I've got good news!

Allbaugh: What's that, sir?

President Bush: I just shot in the mid 60's for 18 holes, yesterday!

Karl Rove is actually in trouble!

I am disgusted by the antics of Karl Rove as the next guy, but honestly, I never thought that going after him was going to amount to much. Democrats scream for his ouster but they're too shrill themselves.

If they'd only sit back and wait for the press to do their job, we could make this whole political arena less acidic. Of course, having been beat up so many times by Mr. Rove, I can understand why they're out for blood. But they ought to just cool it and wait.

Karl Rove is in a world of trouble. Right wing blogs and the Hannitys and O'Reilly's are constantly going on and on about how Wilson is the real criminal and that Karl Rove didn't commit a crime...except he did. More than one, in fact. Karl Rove, in addition to learning that Valerie Plame's identification was sensitive information (it was indicated as such on a State Dept memo that he had access to BEFORE he ever talked with Matt Cooper or Robert Novak), Karl Rove gave false testimony to the FBI in 2003, claiming no involvement and denying that he divulged Valerie Plame's involvement in Joe Wilson's Niger trip. Such are the facts.

One way or another, the man has serious troubles. It will be interesting to see how quickly he's pardoned by Bush once a conviction is leveled.

The seeds of hypocrisy are being sown

Pro-Life Chemicals...

Oh, I could be very partisan and talk about the hypocrisy surrounding this story:

Unborn babies soaked in chemicals

But the fact is, this information is just being released. The hypocrisy you ask?

The hypocrisy would be that those same individuals who talk about the unborn fetus as a human being with rights also defend the industries that disregard laws allowing pollutants into the environment that harm these same unborn human beings with rights.

But I'm stepping back. There isn't any hypocrisy. At least not yet. If these revelations about how the environment affects the unborn result in no changes towards the legislation of laws related to the EPA, then I would begin screaming hypocrisy. But it's too early to do that with any integrity.

The U.S. DID have a post-war plan.

There are now new allegations by British memos that accused the Americans of little or no post-war planning. I think we all know that is patently false. The U.S. did have a plan. From observation, it can be seen that the U.S. plan was this:

Depose Saddam Hussein from power;

Rebuild the oil production facilities;

Give Iraqis a true sense of freedom by allowing them to enter government buildings, museums and other civic structures freely, and take whatever they needed (or felt they needed);

Allow anti-Hussein and pro-Hussein forces to freely associate within Iraq's cities and regions;

End the war by publicly declaring military operations to be over, and "Mission Accomplished";

Round up un-armed Iraqis, subject them to humiliation and torture in one of Saddam's prisons so they wouldn't get too comfortable with the power vacuum;

Allow Iraq to become truly free ("Freedom is on the march");

Leave Iraq in a truly free anarchic state, and pull the troops out before expectations of a representative democracy can be established.

Given these postwar plans, I'd say the Bush team are about 80% successful. Way to go, America!

UK and US Had PreWar Plans

The bottomless capacity for subterfuge by the Bush Administration would be amusing or laughable if it didn't result in the loss of lives, billions of dollars, and the United State's stature in the world community.

We learn now that there were secret meetings between Downing Street and Bush's Cabinet in July of 2002 that fixed upon a determination to go after Saddam Hussein militarily.

Here's the clinker: [...intelligence and facts were being fixed around policy].

We have the Bush Administration acting exactly like Third World warlords, and (if I were a betting man) most of the public will probably be completely okay with that. Or at least, the media will fail to accurately portray the dishonest and political implications of how this Administration operated -- including timing the military action announcements to coincide with the midterm elections.

This is truly shameful. Just like EVERYTHING ELSE embraced by this Administration.

Goodbye, Tom Morgan.

I just found out that almost a month ago, an old friend, Tom Morgan of the Bay area band Transcender passed away in his home from carbon monoxide poisoning. I don't know if it was at his hand or if it was accidental.

I had lost touch with Tom, but had some difficulty when trying to locate him a few times in the past years.

After his passing, I was able to understand why. For someone so on top of the pulse of artistic creation, Tom was resistant to joining the online community. He earned the nickname "Analog Tom" because he was so late in getting an e-mail address. I would have guessed the Tom would have been one of the first.

I was in a high school rock and roll band with Tom, Stefan, Jim and Joel called The Spies. Tom, Stefan and Joel brought most of the talent at first, and made us somewhat popular in the suburbs of Maryland where we all grew up.

Tom went on to write his own music and create his own artistic persona through bands in Baltimore and in the San Francisco / Oakland area. He even played a couple of gigs with Alex Chilton of Boxtops fame.

As the years went by, Tom would pop in and out of my life, and on the rare occasion that we were both back in Maryland, visiting our respective families, we'd get together. Stefan and Tom shared a bit of musical history at the University of Michigan as well.

I had sort of come to regard him as my untapped connection into the world of the arts. Deep down I knew, as probably many did, that Tom was going to make a name for himself one way or another. I had always imagined hearing news of a new breakout band with Tom at the helm. Well, it sounds like it was almost to be. His band's "Self-Titled Debut Album" seemed to be earning a few accolades from the indie music world. But sadly, Tom won't pilot this rocket.

He was a fantastic musician, songwriter, artist, photographer, and an all-around interesting fellow. If I had to describe my sense of Tom it would be that he was "un-anchored" by the constraints of conventionalism. I'm quite heartbroken to hear of his passing. So long, Tom. I'll miss you.