Friday, March 31, 2006

Critiquing A Critique Of The Iraq War Critiques


When Cynicism Meets Fanaticism: Critiquing The Critique Of The War In Iraq by Victor Davis Hanson

I just bumped into a blog post where Hanson of the Hoover Institution takes the war critiques to task. He summarizes the main points of the critiques and then proceeds to demolish them. These are the eight empty vessel arguments of the anti-war people, he claims:
1. Saddam was never connected to al Qaeda, the perpetrators of 9/11.
2. There was no real threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
3. The United Nations and our allies were justifiably opposed on principle to the invasion.

4. A small cabal of neoconservative (and mostly Jewish) intellectuals bullied the administration into a war that served Israel’s interest more than our own.

5. Saddam could not be easily deposed, or at least he could not be successfully replaced with a democratic government.
6. The architects of this war and the subsequent occupation are mostly inept (“dangerously incompetent”) — and are exposed daily as clueless by a professional cadre of disinterested journalists.

7. In realist terms, the benefits to be gained from the war will never justify the costs incurred.

8. We cannot win.
Then he offers his counter arguments. They can be summarized as follows:
    1. Saddam might not have behind 9/11, but he was connected to Al Qaeda, like Germany and Japan, so different from each other otherwise, were part of an alliance.
    2. The WMD worries were real. It does not matter that they were not found, but more than one intelligence agency, including Iraq's own, claimed they were there. They were not there, but Iraq could quickly have produced them: Saddam had the resources and the intent.
    3. The UN opposition to the war lacks ground since the UN was embroiled in the food for oil corruption scandal. Europe also had business interests in Iraq. So they too had little moral ground from which to speak.
    4. Some say it was Israeli security that was the number one reason. But Bush, Cheney, Rumsfelf, Rice, Powell, none of them are Jewish, and our ambassador in Iraq and a top Commander are both Arab.
    5. Instead of a quick victory, things could have started much uglier. And the sacrifice has been worth it for the tens of millions that have now voted there.
    6. There has not been another 9/11. The Arab world is witnessing a democracy tsunami across the region. Europe is finally waking up to the Iran threat. If there has been ineptitude, it has been on the part of the western media.
    7. Leaving Iraq now would be like walking out of World War II in 1943.
    8. As to we can't win, that is still in the future. But we have a strong military, we will win for sure.
I must say I appreciate the attempt at comprehensivity on the part of Hanson. Other than that the work reads like so much propaganda, rather than a disinterested academic analysis.

Saddam, 9/11, Osama

Saddam and Osama never were allies. Actually Saddam was a secularist, Osama dreamt of a theocracy in Iraq like everywhere else. It is not possible Saddam might have liked the idea. If anything they were competitors to the same land, though never directly.

40% of Republicans believe Saddam was behind 9/11. That is mindboggling. Republicans like Cheney have cynically used 9/11 to great effects.

Weapons Of Mass Destruction

You have to start at the end. None were found. The intelligence agencies were so far off the mark, they intended to go to the moon, and ended up on Mars. The error was huge. But the error was that the agencies did not come up with a categorical statement that the WMDs did not exist.

What is worth noting though is there was tremendous White House pressure upon the agencies to cut the corners to show certainty where none existed so as to bolster the war cause. The decision to go to war preceded the marshalling of the intelligence.

A Small Neocon Cabal

It is so obvious a handul of neocons proved decisive. There might not have been a Jewish lobby, and I don't hear many anti-war folks suggest as much, but there sure was a neocon lobby, too married to their strong on defense ideology, too addicted to campaign contributions from the military-industrial complex that stands to make money every time there is war.

The process by which the decision to go to war was reached sure was faulty. War got seen as the weapon not of last resort, but first. Intelligence was marshalled with a clear intent to make a particular case. The congressional vote was to exhaust the non-war options first, but Bush misread it on purpose.

Democracy

Toppling a dictator was not the stated goal. That came much later, after the dictator had already been toppled, and no WMDs were found.

This is important to point out.

And if the idea is to spread democracy, the Iraq way would be a ridiculous way to do it elsewhere: $240 billion, 2300 American lives, 30,000 Iraqi lives and counting. This model can not be replicated. The US would go bankrupt, many more Americans would die, the draft will have to be reinstated, and you will end up killing larger numbers of people with the pretext of coming to their aid.

Incompetence

This part is so true. Katrina proved it beyond doubt.

Benefits

It is good Saddam is gone. But has the cost been worth it? And what about the other Saddams of the world? Why did the Iraqi Saddam deserve the favor?

There has to be a non-violent, progressive way of spreading democracy in the rest of the Arab world, a war with communications technology way, one that organizes the Arab Americans in places like New York City to be cutting edge soldiers for democracy rather than demonizes them.

Deciding On Withdrawal, Defining Victory

Mission Accomplished was not victory, we came to learn that rather fast. But the American troops do have to come home. So what is victory? A stable, democratic Iraq? An Iraqi army that can fend for itself?

The withdrawal has to happen sooner rather than later.

It is not about if Americans can win in Iraq. It is about if Iraqis can. That is extra true in the rest of the Arab world.

Is it possible to design a $10 billion war with communications technology method to "invade" another Arab country, say Egypt or Saudi Arabia, the Arab Americans taking the lead? I think yes.

The point being the Iraqi misadventure can not be replicated. There has to be a better model.

Can't Take Back Congress Without Strong On Defense
Rahm Emanuel: Big Ideas For America
Long War
Iraq Intel: The Spy Who Failed Me
The Larger WMD Question And Iran
Complicated Iraq
Nepal Message To Top Democrats
Pentagon, Hexagon
The Saudi Royal Family Has Got To Go

Democracy Spreading Mechanism
The Demosphere Manifesto

In The News

US military deaths drop in Iraq San Jose Mercury News, USA
US military deaths in Iraq drop as Iraqis targeted Washington Post
General: Training, confidence reducing US deaths in Iraq Stars and Stripes
Iraqi Security Forces Succeeding Against Insurgents Washington File
BBC faces protests over 'Iraq bias'
Guardian Unlimited, UK
Inquiry into secret guns-for-Iraq deal
Times Online, UK
Buckley Says Bush Will Be Judged on Iraq War, Now a `Failure'
Bloomberg
Americans won’t tolerate another three years in Iraq Fort Wayne News Sentinel
Bush takes potshots at messenger Seattle Post Intelligencer
The Conquerors Dance: War Feasting with the Bush's PEJ News
Kidnappings forecast to rise in Iraq San Jose Mercury News
'Good Day' in Iraq for Freed US Journalist Los Angeles Times
Rice says 'thousands' of mistakes made in Iraq
Guardian Unlimited, UK
Rice: US policy in Iraq riddled with mistakes Jerusalem Post
Uganda: Northern Situation Worse Than Iraq's - NGOs
AllAfrica.com, Washington
Uganda death rate higher than in Iraq: Report Indian Catholic
Cleric urges US to remove Iraq envoy
Financial Times, UK
Iraq leaders resume cabinet talks BBC News
Iraq Shi'ite ayatollah demands US fire envoy Reuters AlertNet

Visitors

31 March12:33Princeton Review, United States
31 March13:09Y.NET, Yemen
31 March13:12The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States
31 March13:20Hampden-Sydney College, United States
31 March13:36Government of Canada, Canada

31 March13:50Northwestern University, Evanston, United States
31 March14:03Optimum Online, Milford, United States
31 March14:17Level 3 Communications, Chicago, United States
31 March14:21The University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
31 March14:22Paramount Pictures, United States
31 March14:34NextGenTel AS, Norway


31 March14:50Collin County Community College District, United States
31 March14:50Baltimore City, Baltimore, United States
31 March14:52University of Texas, Austin, United States
31 March15:18RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
31 March15:18Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany
31 March15:21The City of New York, New York, United States
31 March15:22Princeton University, Princeton, United States
31 March15:24Fortis Communications Inc., Englewood, United States
31 March15:28University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States
31 March15:34American University, Washington, D.C., United States
31 March15:47Comcast Communications, Royal Oak, United States
31 March15:47United States (mn.us)
31 March16:03Comcast Communications, South Bend, United States
31 March16:11University of Florida, Gainesville, United States
31 March16:13University of Illinois, Urbana, United States
31 March16:22Sony, United States
31 March16:39United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., United States
31 March16:44Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, United States
31 March16:48Verizon Online, Reston, United States
31 March16:49DePaul University, Chicago, United States

Busiest day so far31 March 2006

Page views158

31 March17:04Sonera Plaza, Finland
31 March17:09Cablelynx, Little Rock, United States
31 March17:11Temple University, United States
31 March17:13Comcast Communications, Elkridge, United States
31 March17:34Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, United States

Busiest day so far31 March 2006

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31 March18:01Ecolab, Saint Paul, United States
31 March18:05Montgomery College, United States


31 March18:27Level 3 Communications, San Francisco, United States
31 March18:28U.S. Senate, United States
31 March19:20OptusNet, Australia
31 March20:00Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom

Busiest day so far31 March 2006

Page views240

31 March20:03NPG Cable, Inc, Saint Joseph, United States
31 March20:12Intel Corporation, United States
31 March20:25Davis Polk & Wardwell, United States
31 March20:40Government New Zealand, New Zealand

Busiest day so far31 March 2006

Page views255

Busiest day so far31 March 2006

Page views359


Obama Votes Nay


“Ironically, after learning today that Jack Abramoff will spend nearly six years in prison, the Senate passed a lobbying reform bill that does little to change the culture that allowed him to abuse the system in the first place. The Senate has missed a once-in-a-decade opportunity to clean up the way we do business in Washington. This bill fails to create an independent enforcement mechanism to investigate misconduct by members of Congress. It fails to stop lobbyists from currying influence by flying lawmakers on private jets. And it does nothing to prevent members of Congress from negotiating for jobs with the very industries they’re supposed to regulate.”
So it goes the way of Washington. Obama's first major effort in the Senate did not carry the day. It is like health care and the Senate. It is a big issue for the Americans across the country, but the Senate never talks about it. There is this democracy disconnect between the people and the rulers. The kings on Capitol Hill don't like the idea of oversight, if it is an oversight over them.

They don't vote it down, they water it down, give it a good name and then vote yes. So it was yes to lobbying reform if you read the surface. It is like Bush and the No Child Left Behind Act. He names it no child left behind, and then leaves most children behind. Bush weakens regulations for industry and calls it a Clearn Air Act. Some thing like that. Dems be learning the game.

Obviously Obama is more popular in the country at large than in the Senate. Call it a democracy disconnect. But it is more the bill than Obama.

Maybe the Dem bosses who got Obama take the lead on this one knew this is how it will end up. Let Obama taste some humble cake.

Let the Senators vote the way they do, and let the people know.

Maybe Obama can learn from McCain's efforts for Campaign Finance Reform. McCain did not succeed on first attempt.

Cleaning up democracy is an ongoing business. Beyond lobbying reform is the bigger issue of public financing of elections. Private financing creates many distortions.

It took an Enron to get campaign finance reform passed. Abramoff is not enough, it seems. Wait for a bigger scandal.

Obama, Ethics Reform, And White Dems
blac
Pan American Desi Caucus: Brown Is Beautiful
Obama Was In Town And I Missed It
Dean-Hillary-Obama Ticket

In The News

Obama: Senate missed ``once in a decade'' chance for ethics reform ... Chicago Sun-Times, United States
Sweet Column: Senate new ethics and lobbying bill falls short. No ... Chicago Sun-Times
Picture perfect: Is Barack Obama too good to be true?
Helena Independent Record, MT
Sen. Barack Obama is not the savior of Democratic Party
The Olympian, WA
A Rising Star Visits Hartford Hartford Courant
Obama rallies state Democrats, throws support behind Lieberman Newsday
Flubbing Lobbying Reform
Washington Post, United States The leading advocates of reform, including the parties' two designated point men on the issue, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), all voted against it.... If the Senate bill is disappointing, though, the House is poised to do even worse.
Victory For K Street TomPaine.com The Senate measure, which passed on a 90-8 vote, bans lobbyists’ gifts and meals and tightens some rules for special legislative projects called earmarks. It faces an uncertain future in the House, where new Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been busily downplaying prospects for significant changes....... there might be a silver lining in the continuing scandals, which was shared with a laugh by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who joined Obama in opposing the bill: “The good news is there will be more indictments, and we will be revisiting this issue,” predicted McCain........ comprehensive public financing of elections based on working models in Maine and Arizona
Short on reform News & Observer
Washington weak Boston Globe
Liberal Blogosphere on the Senate's Lobby Reform Lite
About - News & Issues, NY
Barack Obama Podcast: 21st Century Education for 21st Century ...
ProgressiveU.org, CA
Enough already, with the all-hail-Barack-Obama talk
Houston Chronicle, United States
Sen. Barack Obama rallies Kansas Democrats
Kansas.com, KS

Visitors

Busiest day so far26 March 2006

Page views146

26 March16:42NTL Internet, London, United Kingdom

26 March17:52Rogers Communications Inc., Canada
26 March18:06Road Runner, Kansas City, United States
26 March20:04Level 3 Communications, Chicago, United States
26 March20:07Calpine, Houston, United States
26 March20:32Qwest Communications Int., Phoenix, United States
26 March21:18Covad Communications Group, Chicago, United States
26 March22:44Core Communications, Inc., Philadelphia, United States
26 March22:57The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States


27 March05:46@Home, Tilburg, Netherlands, The


27 March06:30Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd., Nepal


27 March07:05Road Runner, Cincinnati, United States
27 March08:14Level 3 Communications, Atlanta, United States
27 March08:48XS4all Internet B.V., Netherlands, The
27 March09:07Washington Manual, United States
27 March09:36Verio Inc., United States
27 March09:55Bank of America, Concord, United States
27 March10:37Indianapolis, United States (ind.net)
27 March10:39Cygate Corporation, United States
27 March11:33Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, United States
27 March12:00Suffolk University, Boston, United States
30 March15:50Georgia Institute of Technology, United States


30 March16:11Department of State, United States
30 March18:52Road Runner, Kansas City, United States
31 March10:50The Cath. Uni. of America, Washington, D.C., United States
31 March10:53National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
31 March11:04Government of Canada, Canada
31 March11:23United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., United States
31 March11:32Avantel, Mexico
31 March11:45Yale University, New Haven, United States


31 March11:58Maine Medical Center, Portland, United States

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Hate Speech, Free Speech: Europe Needs To Learn The Difference



EU leaders want all immigrants to take an entry exam Times Online, UK could eventually be extended to all 25 EU members ..... aims to ensure that immigrants accept Western values ...... a new integration contract that the ministers from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland proposed ..... contract would test their knowledge of Western values, and of the host country’s language and main institutions ...... was first raised by Nicolas Sarkozy ........ possibility of introducing English language tests for any immigrant wanting permanent residence in Britain ...... the growth of parallel communities that feel alienated from the West...... This month the Netherlands began applying some of the world’s toughest entry laws, requiring potential immigrants to take language and culture exams and study up to 375 hours in their home country before emigrating....... To prepare them for Dutch liberal values, they will also have to watch a film with scenes of a topless woman and featuring gay men kissing.
The Jyllands Posten Muhammad Cartoons Controversy
French Society: No Easy Solutions
Sick Sarkozy
Riots In France

These Europeans are going berserk.

There should be designed a course or many courses that all leaders at all levels of government in all of Europe, as well as all journalists at all levels of media, especially in editorial rooms, will be required to take that will teach them the difference between hate speech and free speech, to teach that hate speech might not be illegal, but it sure is wrong, and not something to be protected and be proud of. Those who practice and protect and express pride in hate speech are inherently inferior as human beings. That should be taught.

The cultural fault lines between the West and the Muslim world are being further exacerbated by these ignorant Europeans.

The topic is not that the Arab world does not have democracy, and it needs to get it. Of course democracy is good for all countries in the Arab world. But instead of seeing lack of democracy as a happenstance of socio-economic development, or lack thereof, rather, these Euros see it as an entire group of people being inherently inferior.

Long War

The Dutch example is obscene. Is that "movie" out to suggest that there is not a single Dutch who is homophobic? I can't imagine that being true. So why single out Arabs? Forcing people to watch movies is an expression of a supposition that perhaps that entire crowd is inferior.

There are obvious racist suggestions being made.

The western democracies are inherently inadequate. They need to expand. And that task is as acute as the task of spreading democracy in the Arab world. The west's reluctance/inability/hardships when having to become more accepting of cultural diversity should help the west understand why spreading democracy and the associated values is not easy for Arabs either. If free people can not do it, what chances have the people under the thumb of oppressive regimes often suppoted by the west?

Europe has sinned. These tests are designed to humiliate a people who took offense at humiliating cartoons that were clearly offensive and overtly racist.

This is precisely the wrong way to be waging the so-called War On Terror. White Europeans are out exhibiting their ignorance, if not outright prejudice, which obviously is deep and widespread and infects the highest levels of power.

And this twist only further exacerbates the Middle East conflict. The wounds are real. They need to heal. But instead these people are adding fuel to the fire.

On The Web

Wired News: Europeans Outlaw Net Hate Speech
EXAMPLES OF HATE SPEECH
The truth is "hate speech" only to those who have something to hide
Hate speech - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religious Right Hate Speech
Policies on Hate Speech and Defamation
Townhall.com :: Columns :: Hate speech from the left by Jeff ...
Spinsanity - The Republican assault on "political hate speech"
Hate Speech
WorldNetDaily: 'Bible as hate speech' signed into law

In The News

Hate Speech Filters in MO Libraries Draw Lawsuit Library Journal, NY
Let memory of soldier drown out hate speech MaineToday.com, ME
S. African hate speech decision delayed Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY
False Accusations ... Wrapped in 'Hate Speech' MichNews.com, MI
White House 'Hate Speech' Takes on Life of Its Own Media Channel, NY
A Remedy for Hate Speech Pennsylvania Independent, PA
On a serious note... HATE SPEECH questions Represent, South Africa
Father, daughter found guilty of hate speech Independent Online, South Africa

Visitors

26 March13:18Rockefeller University, New York, United States
26 March14:11Cox Communications Inc., Oklahoma City, United States
26 March14:36Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, United States
26 March14:54Comcast Communications, Sacramento, United States
26 March15:18EarthLink, Charlotte, United States

Bill Frist's Ancestors Came From The Moon

"I've Been To Europe Once, And That's Enough"

My ancestors are from India, they stayed there, I came to America. Bill Frist's ancestors, on the other hand, came from the moon. That immigration was so thorough noone lives on the moon no more. But memories be fleeting. Frist does not remember. He has now come forth with a highly hostile bill that would make immigration a crime. This guy is nuts. It is like making your own birth a crime, if you could only go back.

Bill Frist is part of the crowd that fantasizes every day to turn abortion into a crime. Now they have turned their guns on immigration.

This is reason for the pro-choice and the pro-diversity forces to seek common ground so as to scuttle Frist's presidential aspirations. The guy had no chance in the first place. His future now only got dimmer.

The anti-choice and the anti-diversity people are one and the same.
Kiss Me, I'm Illegal New York Times "terrorists." ... "illegal aliens." .... "economic refugees." ... "illegal immigrants" .... "undocumented immigrants." ..... To give a person, an act or a group its name is to define it, assert a measure of control over how it is perceived....... Guest workers ..... Willing workers ..... Permanent temporary residents..... a contest for the public mind...... felon ..... in the most restrictive version, it is perhaps a little like the homey status of the political prisoners in Frank O'Connor's short story "Guests of the Nation." The prisoners are treated like friends of the family until one is ordered executed in the national interest....... Guillermo Gómez-Peña, a performance artist and writer born in Mexico known for his observations about the cultural life of the border, has coined his own term for the movement of people, legally or illegally, temporarily or permanently, willingly or not, from south of the border to the north. In a recent performance, he mordantly referred to it all as "original sin."
QUICK HIT Immigration reform: whose bill says what Kentucky.com McCain .. Kennedy Illegal immigrants who pay a $1,000 fine and pass a criminal background check could apply for a six-year work visa allowing them travel in and out of the country. They later could apply for permanent residence.
Los Angeles sees second day of proimmigration rallies Boston Globe, United States
500,000 Cram Streets to Protest Immigration Bills Los Angeles Times
Frist bill cracks down on employers Mohave Valley News, NV
Securing America's Borders Act - A New Immigration Bill by Frist About - News & Issues, NY
Workers, growers concerned about immigration Yakima Herald-Republic, WA
As Senators Debate Immigration Bill, Frist Offers His Own
New York Times, United States
Bill Frist's Double
Washington Post, United States
Frist Immigration Bill Would Target Bosses
CBS News
Frist Immigration Bill Would Target Bosses
San Francisco Chronicle, USA

McCain, Feingold, Iraq
McCain, Feingold Air Views In Iraq Washington Post ..... said they had come not to air their divergent views but to urge Iraqi politicians to speed up the process of forming a government...... Several visiting politicians, including McCain, have warned that the American public was turning against the war and urged Iraqi leaders to move more quickly in building a coalition government...... Feingold .. said he was dismayed not to hear any of the military commanders he met with mention al-Qaeda as a source of the problems in Iraq
McCain sounds good on campaign finance reform, on lobbying reform, on broadband, on immigration. If these two can at least agree on a future course for Iraq, their past differences might not get in the way. Could McCain be thinking McCain-Feingold for 2008?

Russ Feingold And 2008


Talk Of The Moon
US Planning Base On Moon To Prepare For Trip To Mars Washington Post ..... Bush in 2004 announced to great fanfare plans to build a new spaceship, get back to the moon by 2020 and travel on to Mars after that..... moon ... is a lethal place, without atmosphere, pelted constantly by cosmic rays and micrometeorites, plagued by temperature swings of hundreds of degrees, and swathed in a blanket of dust that can ruin space suits, pollute the air supply and bring machinery to a screeching halt..... moon .. 250,000 miles away, while Mars is 34 million miles from Earth ...... if the United States does not return to the moon, others will..... Could we bypass the moon and go to Mars while India and China are going to the moon?
Looks like Bill Frist's ancestors' desendants want to go back to the moon where they came from.

I think the idea is Bush' poor attempt to imitate Kennedy. This idea has not been thought through, it is too expensive.

If and when a mission to Mars happens, it will be a global and not an American effort. Only makes sense.

Universal broadband, and universal spread of democracy are more worthy goals than a trip to Mars, and both are technological challenges, just like a trip to the moon.

Visitors

25 March14:29Telecommunication Company of Iran, Iran
25 March19:03@Home, Tilburg, Netherlands, The

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Can't Take Back Congress Without Strong On Defense


The Dems are within striking distance of taking back both the House and the Senate. The momenutm is there. It is definite. But 2006 will be yet another lost opportunity if foreign policy is neglected.

(1) Recognize that this War On Terror is genuine, it exists. Think of it as the Long War.
(2) The only way to win it is by spreading democracy into every country in the Arab world.
(3) Spread democracy the progressive way. Come up with a Hexagon (Pentagon, Hexagon). Come up with a concrete $10 billion program to spread democracy through a war with communications technology. Yes, that is 10 billion dollars in spending, but then it is $190 billion saved.
(4) Counter the insurgency, not like they were a traditional, standing army, but like the guerrillas they are.

So far this vision has not entered the Democratic mainstream. The Dems have been like Labor in Britain during the Cold War, for unilateral disarmament, and constantly losing elections.

Rahm Emanuel: Big Ideas For America
Long War
Iraq Intel: The Spy Who Failed Me
The Larger WMD Question And Iran
Complicated Iraq
Nepal Message To Top Democrats
Bush Shows Strategy for Keeping Hill Majorities: Democrats Assailed On National Security, As Well as the Economy Washington Post ...... his two-front strategy for protecting the Republican congressional majority ...... hammer Democrats on national security and the economy, and raise millions of dollars for embattled GOP candidates ......... this is a nation at war" against terrorists intent on striking America again ...... Democrats will raise taxes and harm the economy ...... Republicans paid $1,000 for the buffet lunch and presidential speech; $10,000 if they wanted a picture snapped at a private reception afterward....... fundraiser that was expected to net half a million dollars for Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) ....... president dogged by sagging poll numbers and an unpopular war ....... Republicans could lose seats, if not their House and Senate majorities ....... "The Democrats' plan for 2006? Take the House and Senate, and impeach the president," Ken Mehlman ....... Bush remains popular with the Republican base ........ Cheney portrayed the entire Democratic leadership as wobbly in the fight against terrorism .... If they're competent to fight this war, then I ought to be singing on 'American Idol.' ........

Attacks On Hillary

There are sexists among us. Will Hillary run in 2008? I don't know. But the prospect of her running exposes sexists among us. And several of them are people who call themselves liberals, Dems, progressives. This is obscene.
Loving To Hate Hillary Richard Cohen Washington Post In order to understand what's going on with Hillary Clinton, it helps to recall a woman who lost her head and therefore her life in 1793: Marie Antoinette........ More than 30 books have been written about Clinton ...... They have questioned Hillary's honesty, sexuality, parenting, wifing and just about everything else....... Hillary has come to personify all that is wrong with Bill, the Democrats, liberals, working women, independent women and women of a certain kind -- which is any kind you don't happen to like....... Since we do not know our own marriages, we cannot know anyone else's. This engenders endless speculation about the distribution of power and the importance of pillow talk......... now that she is a public official in her own right, even more mystery attaches to her. Who is she? ...... In the last month alone, though, The New York Times has mentioned her about 60 times compared to 45 for her more senior colleague, Sen. Charles Schumer ....... Some of the Times' stories are merely about her existence ... and in this they are similar to those in other papers....... for one person to be so loved, so hated, and of such compelling interest -- so much more a celebrity than, say, John McCain -- suggests that more than politics is involved ........ Hillary has emerged as the repository of so many fears, so much dread, such aspirations -- so much good and bad ..... something deeply Freudian is at work....... "What do women want?" Now -- some fear, others hope -- we may finally have the answer. The White House.
This Post article touches upon some elements to do with how Hillary gets treated.

If you dislike the idea of a Hillary 2008, then disagree with her on policy, analyze and criticize her leadership style. Try to show she has been a failure in the Senate, if you can. Bring up when she tried to reform health care, and the whole effort bombed because Newt said of the president, "His wife should not be making policy."

But instead people make overtly sexist comments. Like Karl Rove claiming Hillary is brittle. But then Rove is on the other side. It sucks big when people from our own camp start sounding like Rove.

Karl Rove, Hands Off Hillary
Hillary In Person
Primitive Liberals Need To Stop Attacking Hillary
Race, Gender, Progressive, Conservative Divides
The Spectrum On Gender

One thing is for sure, if Hillary runs, she can not talk about the weather and expect to make progress on gender relations, and there is no avoiding gender relations, and one great way would be to beat the boys on the substance, on style, and of sheer execution.

Impeach Bush
Impeachment Whispers Getting Louder Washington Post Three of this state's 10 House members have called for the investigation and possible impeachment of President Bush. ..... residents in four Vermont villages voted earlier this month at annual town meetings to buy more rock salt, approve school budgets, and impeach the president for lying about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and for sanctioning torture..... "I was really upset about 9/11 -- so don't lie to me." ...... there are just 33 House co-sponsors of a motion .. to investigate and perhaps impeach Bush, and a large majority of elected Democrats think it is a bad idea . ...... "The value of a powerful idea, like impeachment of the president for criminal acts, is that it has a long shelf life and opens a debate" .... A Zogby International poll showed that 51 percent of respondents agreed that Bush should be impeached if he lied about Iraq, a far greater percentage than believed President Bill Clinton should be impeached during the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal...... if he lied to get America into a war, I can't imagine anything more impeachable ...... ..... .....Bush's approval ratings in polls are lower than for any president in recent history. With midterm elections in the offing, Republican leaders view impeachment as kerosene poured on the bonfires of their party base...... The argument for an impeachment inquiry -- which draws support from prominent constitutional scholars such as Harvard's Laurence H. Tribe and former Reagan deputy attorney general Bruce Fein -- centers on Bush's conduct before and after the invasion of Iraq in 2003...... "Downing Street memo" that Bush officials were intent on fixing "the intelligence and the facts . . . around the policy.""Bush is saying 'I'm the president' and, on a range of issues -- from war to torture to illegal surveillance -- 'I can do as I like' " ....... "The Clinton impeachment was plainly unconstitutional, and a Bush impeachment would be nearly as bad""He picks and chooses his information and can't admit it's erroneous, and he annoys me" .... This is far more serious than Clinton and Monica. This is about life and death.
Taking back the House and the Senate and then the White House is a better idea, perhaps. On the other hand, the country does need to know if Bush deliberately lied about WMDs. I know Cheney did.

The "I" Word: Monica And Saddam

Another "I" Word: Immigration

Immigration Debate Is Shaped By 2008 Election Washington Post Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), whom Bush helped elect as party leader, is threatening to bring a new immigration bill ..... would tighten control of the nation's borders without creating the guest-worker program ....... John McCain ... is promoting Bush's call for tougher border security and the guest-worker program ....... Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) is garnering support for a long-shot presidential bid with his fierce anti-immigration rhetoric ...... Hillary Rodham Clinton ..jumped into the immigration debate Wednesday ...... For Republican presidential candidates, immigration offers up a difficult choice: Appeal to conservatives eager to clamp down on illegal immigration who could buoy your position in the primaries, or take a moderate stand to win independents and the growing Latino vote, which could be vital to winning the general election. ........ 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States........ Harry M. Reid .. promised this week to filibuster Frist's enforcement-only bill........ In recent months, under pressure from GOP lawmakers, Bush has retreated from focusing mostly on the guest-worker program to giving equal billing to border security........ a bill co-sponsored by McCain and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy... breaks with Specter's proposal by offering an easier road to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.......

Immigration is about slowly moving towards citizenship. What is this guest worker program? If the immigrants are working and paying taxes, they should logically move on to be able to vote. No taxation without representation.

"I've Been To Europe Once, And That's Enough"

Visitors

23 March13:26National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, United States
23 March13:32Road Runner, New York, United States
23 March16:04Smart Telecom Holdings, Ireland
23 March16:07Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, United States

24 March08:15Experian, United Kingdom
24 March15:02Columbia University, New York, United States
24 March17:15Qwest, Denver, United States
24 March18:10Visionary Communications, Lander, United States
25 March10:39State University of New Jersey, United States
25 March14:29Telecommunication Company of Iran, Iran
25 March19:03@Home, Tilburg, Netherlands, The