Ooo-ooo That Smell!

Um, can I please take a look at that Kyoto thingy again? Um, uh, I may have ovelooked something.......

Just Say No!

Reuters reports that John Kerry is deciding whether or not to run for president in '08. Senator Kerry, ponder no more! You are a wonderful statesman, and a dedicated public servant. And you'd probably make a very good president. But you blow as a candidate. Don't subject us to that, or another humiliating defeat again.

Tweak!

It would be amusing if it was not so sad. The guy whose only other job before the current one was as the governor of a state. And now he's trying to effectively deal with rabble like this. God help us every one.

BTW, is this a bad wig or a bad comb-over??

Flotsam and Jetsam

We have a mixed bag today. Among the gems:

• W pretending to "shake things up"
• Scotty Mac is tired of lying
• "Ahm the desahder!" (dejavu from the Iraq invasion runup)

I originally had 5 items, but decided one might be offensive to our female readers and the other was immature: letting a rabid regressive lure me into his lair of anger and hate (in other words, "their" comfort zone). Enjoy!

"I think we need a fresh start..."

There seems to be no end to the supply of retired military generals lining up for their turn at the microphone to lambaste Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's performance leading the Pentagon, and the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Just as the buzz on the airwaves and blogosphere was reaching a fevered pitch this afternoon over yesterday's Washington Post article quoting Maj. General John Batiste as saying (among other things) "I think we need a fresh start", CNN reports that Maj. General Charles Swannak has told them that "I really believe that we need a new secretary of defense because Secretary Rumsfeld carries too much baggage" in this interview today.

To my knowledge this is way beyond unprecedented. This makes 6 or 7 retired military commanders who have made highly critical public statements about how Rumsfeld has prosecuted this war, (and in some cases have questioned the war itself) and have called for the removal of him and those he surrounds himself with. And the fact that this man has claimed to have twice submitted his resignation to W, and was twice turned down, if true, implicates the president in this mismanagement as well.

Remarkably, of the three military leaders who have spoken out in Rumsfeld's defense over the last year or so, two still reported to him at the time they did so. And essentially all they say is that he works hard, is smart & efficient, and knows a lot of stuff. Sounds like the perfect sole qualifications for a guy leading a $500B+ (annual) military operation. They do not speak to the charges of poor judgement, not listening to the guys who know how this business works, and unhealthy cronyism.

I can't even in my wildest imagination think of how the wing nuts on the right are going to spin this.

UPDATES: New York Times weighs in, and, another day, another general

Planning Armageddon

Question: What's more dangerous than a deranged, deceitful leader that is up for re-election? Answer: A deranged, deceitful leader that isn't.

In a new story in the New Yorker, an investigative journalist with a near impeccable track record dealing in truth tells us that the smash & pillage crowd currently in the West Wing are seriously planning a military attack on Iran, allegedly to try and terminate their nuclear weapons program. The real kicker? According to Seymour Hersh (who brought us, among other things, the first news of the Abu Graib parties) part of the plan involves the use of tactical nuclear (or "nucular" as they'd say) weapons against Iran to accomplish this.

Unlike the invasion/occupation "freedom's on the march" style operation a la Iraq (how's that one going again?), this would involve clandestine special forces and airstrikes only. I realize this crowd acts solely on single-minded, blind ideology and does not learn anything beyond political lessons. But I hope and pray that there will be enough representatives in congress who recognize that this action will only make the US and the world a more dangerous, not a safer, place for us all and will muster the mettle to stop it.

Here's another view from the Washington Post.

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead (or "Tommy, We Hardly Knew Ya!")

Or is he? Is he more dangerous (& wealthier!) in private life without those pesky ethical roadblocks and whatnot?
He obviously expects to be caught up in his little sleeze web eventually, what with the plea bargains and all. Amazing how quickly the regressives got snared in their absolute power corruption. And the "national security" lemmings would probably vote for them all over again.

Weighing General Opinion

In yet another sobering interview, former CentCom commander General Anthony Zinni offered his assessment of the Iraq invasion and occupation again, this time on yesterday's Meet the Press (click on page 5 and scroll down to get to the Zinni transcript, McCain the chameleon is first). It wasn't pretty. A sample:

MR. RUSSERT: I want to bring you back to a book you co-wrote with Tom Clancy called “Battle Ready." And you wrote this: “In the lead-up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw, at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption.” That’s very serious.
GEN. ZINNI: Yes.

And:

"I saw the—what this town is known for: spin, cherry-picking facts, using metaphors to evoke certain emotional responses, or, or shading the, the context. We, we know the mushroom clouds and, and the other things that were all described that the media’s covered well. I saw on the ground, though, a sort of walking away from 10 years worth of planning."

I'm sure the rightie airwaves are buzzing today with talk from claims of "the liberal media", to allegations about Zinni preferring woman's underwear, to "al Qaeda must be smiling with this support". Discredit both messengers, but never, ever have an intelligent, civil discussion about the subject.

But I challenge any regressive (or anyone who "supports" the war) to consider the following: General Zinni is at least the 4th or 5th retired high-ranking American general to publicly criticize the Iraq war for either it's wisdom, execution, or both. These are the guys who understand fully both the political and practical aspects of war. I am unaware of any similar individual who has spoken out publicly in support of the invasion and its execution.

I would also challenge you to read the interview in it's entirety (and the 60 Minutes one cited below) with an open mind. At that point try to make a cogent argument about the flaws in these leaders' positions. And let's forget red herrings, like he's trying to sell a book, it's the liberal media, etc., etc. The only constructive, factual, areas we should concern ourselves with in refuting this piece are the following:

1. Has MSNBC somehow edited his comments so as to have presented them out of context or contrary to his intentions?
2. Is General Zinni qualified to make such assessments?
3. Are these just the personal opinions of 4 or 5 disgruntled former generals, and do not reflect the real situation?

Given the above (as well as this transcript from a 60 Minutes piece 2 years ago), if you can make a sound, rational, logical counterargument based upon provable fact, then I'm all ears.....

Note: One could plausibly argue that W was honestly misled by his advisors. I don't buy that, but think its a valid supposition. However, one can't argue that the war has been botched, and that the guy solely responsible for its success or failure, Donald Rumsfeld, still has his job. And that failure rests squarely on one man's shoulders.

WATCH IT HERE

I'm So Sorry!

I've been neglectful of late about my posts, many distractions. There's lots going on, and will post one or more of the ideas I've been developing tomorrow (let me know if you have one or two ideas). In the meantime, look at some of the crazy things going on. Or, the archives, plus my favorite past month of postings.

Thanks for your visit, and, as always, I am grateful to get your comments below.