Howard Dean is first.

I 2nd that phil!

I see the winds are ok for ya right now. I think that we will do tuesday next week for the BLOGBOOKCLUB, but Greg might suddenly have to do another BBC thing, so he did not want to state exactly what day at this point we would all get together here.

thanks DFA for posting this :-)

In honor of J.C. ( takeyourcountryback.com )

http://www.graphicsforamerica.com/

http://www.takeyourcountryback.com/

http://jcdesigns.blogspot.com/ (check blog archives for a large portfolio of her work)

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06072007.html

Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran

The war in Iraq is lost. This fact is widely recognized by American military officers and has been recently expressed forcefully by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of US forces in Iraq during the first year of the attempted occupation.

Bush has taken every desperate measure. Enlistment ages have been pushed up from 35 to 42. The percentage of high school dropouts and the number of recruits scoring at the bottom end of tests have spiked. The US military is forced to recruit among drug users and convicted criminals. Bacevich reports that wavers "issued to convicted felons jumped by 30 percent." Combat tours have been extended from 12 to 15 months, and the same troops are being deployed again and again.

There is no equipment for training. Bacevich reports that "some $212 billion worth has been destroyed, damaged, or just plain worn out." What remains is in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under these circumstances, "staying the course" means total defeat.

Neocons have convinced themselves that nuking Iran will show the Muslim world that Muslims have no alternative to submitting to the will of the US government. Insurgency and terrorism cannot prevail against nuclear weapons.

Many US military officers are horrified at what they think would be the worst ever orchestrated war crime. There are reports of threatened resignations. But Dick Cheney is resolute. He tells Bush that the plan will save him from the ignominy of losing the war and restore his popularity as the president who saved Americans from Iranian nuclear weapons. With the captive American media providing propaganda cover, the neoconservatives believe that their plan can pull their chestnuts out of the fire and rescue them from the failure that their delusion has wrought.

The American electorate decided last November that they must do something about the failed war and gave the Democrats control of both houses of Congress. However, the Democrats have decided that it is easier to be complicit in war crimes than to represent the wishes of the electorate and hold a rogue president accountable.

The prospect of nuking Iran doesn't seem to disturb the three frontrunners for the Republican nomination, who agreed in their June 5 debate that the US might use nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities.

If Cheney again prevails, America will supplant the Third Reich as the most reviled country in recorded history

One paragraph from 6 bears repeating:

The American electorate decided last November that they must do something about the failed war and gave the Democrats control of both houses of Congress. However, the Democrats have decided that it is easier to be complicit in war crimes than to represent the wishes of the electorate and hold a rogue president accountable.

.......and the so-called "moderate" Democrats, beloved of Tom and others, are all members of the war party.

 The war party needs to be defeated, or the whole world will suffer terribly.

DEMS ARE SUPPORTING "BLOOD FOR OIL" IN IRAQ

http://www.counterpunch.org/zeese06072007.html

The situation in Iraq is coming to a head. Oil workers have been on strike for three days and are being threatened by the Iraqi government and surrounded by the Iraqi military. The Parliament passed a resolution urging an end to the U.S. occupation and has refused to act on the oil law the U.S. is demanding. Both the Democrats in Congress and the Bush Administration have united around the passage of the oil law as the top benchmark for the Iraqi government.

The parliament has not acted on the oil law submitted to them on February 26th despite aggressive U.S. pressure. The Democratic leadership in Congress joined with President Bush to make passage of the law the top benchmark to show success of the government. Both Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Gates have made recent trips to the region to urge passage of the law. But, the parliament is resisting--even threatening to take a vacation rather than pass the oil law.

In Congress, Dennis Kucinich has tried to raise the issue of the unfairness of the oil law in a Democratic caucus meeting. Rep. David Obey erupted in anger and name calling at Kucinich's suggestion that the benchmark requiring passage of the oil law was part of the theft of Iraq's primary resource. Kucinich did not respond to Obey's angry name calling but instead made an hour long speech describing the Iraq oil law and how it would result in U.S. oil companies controlling their market and reaping most of the profits from Iraqi oil.

The "coming out" of oil as the central goal of the invasion and occupation of Iraq is going to make the occupation more difficult. And, coming at a time when Bush is escalating the number of troops to approximately 200,000 it is going to assure more violence, and more death. The chant, mocked at the beginning of the invasion by many, "no war for oil" is now becoming to be seen for what it is--the truth. And it will be a truth seen by the entire world.

The Republicans ousted the Whigs in the 1840's. It's time for a strong third party to oust the Democrats. It can be done if enough of us want it.

19.

Huron John
Thu, 06/07/07
6:18 pm

Reply to this

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06072...

Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran

The war in Iraq is lost....

The prospect of nuking Iran doesn't seem to disturb the three frontrunners for the Republican nomination, who agreed in their June 5 debate that the US might use nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities.

==================
A mushroom cloud ad would be great for those guys, a rerun of the Goldwater waterloo ad in 1964, from his suggestion of nuking the DMT between NVN and SVN to make a contaminated guerrilla barrier.

Anybody who calls the Iraq occupation a "war" is reinforcing the "war on terrorism" theme, meme, etc. The war is between the Sunnis and Shiites. If that were absent, containing Al Qaeda would be a piece of cake there.

Dennis Kucinich, One of the few "good Democrats" on the ripoff of Iraqi oil:

http://democracyrising.us/content/view/929/165/

The following are questions I got inadvance from AGATHA--will pose them to Greg Palast next week, but I thought it would be good to share them now with us.

1. In Armed Madhouse, you predict that Jeb will steal the 08 election. However, Jeb isn't running (for now). Do you think the fix is in for Fred Thompson, especially as caging guru Tim Griffin is gravitating towards his campaign? 
 
2. Having read your books, I can tell you're no fan of Al Gore. However, he has done great work on the environment, and, although I haven't finished The Assault of Reason, so far, he's doing a great job attacking the media and the Bush administration. I'm curious to know if your opinion of Gore has changed and if you think he should run for president. 
 
3. What is your take on Hugo Chavez's shutting down RCTV? 
 
4. Last week, you met with John Conyers to discuss the caging lists. What is Conyers doing about this? Will he subpoena Karl Rove? Will the MSM finally address this critical issue? 
 
5. What on earth will it take to bring down this administration? Failure to do anything about 9/11, lying about the war, the continued fiasco in the Middle East, Osama-bin-forgotten, Katrina, Valerie Plame, stealing elections... the list goes on and on! What can the citizenry do besides vote (and get our votes stolen), protest (and be ignored by the media), call our representatives (and be ignored by them)... the situation is so damn frustrating. 
 
6. On your website, you wrote: "Griffin stated that the purpose of ‘caging’ was to identify 'fraudulent' voters. This contradicts one explanation of the Bush campaign to BBC that the lists were of POTENTIAL DONORS and not in any way created to challenge voters" (emphasis mine). The caging lists comprise mostly of African Americans, the homeless, and soldiers. Just how stupid does this administration think we are?? 
 
7. On the lighter side, do you think thirty months is enough time for Scooter Libby to write a sequel to The Apprentice? 
 
8. Since you made Big Easy to Big Empty, what do you have to report on New Orleans? Is the undamaged public housing still unavailable to its original residents? Can the residents sue the government? 
 

The war in Iraq is lost.

It's amazing if there is actually anyone who needs to be told that. To not realize that it was lost as soon as the first US boot crossed the Iraqi border is one thing, but to think it can still be salvaged is like expecting the Titanic to be raised. 

7.

Huron John
=========
"War" is a self-perpetuating force that give meaning to people's lives and purpose. Once the dogs of war are unleashed it is not easy to reign them in. You must blame the contituencies, as much as those who vote.

It takes 2/3 majority in the senate to end the occupation of Iraq, according to Biden. If we don't end it, and the troops suffer for lack of funding, we could lose our slim majority in the next election.

John wrote ".......and the so-called "moderate" Democrats, beloved of Tom and others, are all members of the war party."

You don't have to say that.  We're discussing tactics, not objectives.  There are no Democratic war supporters, although John Edwards did co-sponsor the Senate measure to authorize Bush's invasion.  I didn't say he was your beloved member of the war party member when you were touting him here, and I haven't offered any vocal support to any candidate or potential candidate except those who have opposed the war from the outset.

9) How did ACORN fare?

10) When the Corporate Party R & D (not to be confused with Exxon's R & D, wait i take that back!), both continue funding the Cowboy Capitalism and the continued efforts for I.D. cards and the North American Highway, don't you think the time is Ripe for a mass mobilization to a party with the 10 KV's of the GP?

Grassroots Democracy

Social Justice

Ecological Wisdom

Non-violence

Decentralization

Community-based Economics

Feminism

Diversity

Responsibility

Future Focus

Will you Join us?

Peace and Joy in the Moment,

take care of the twins, i'm a twin me self!

joni

In Armed Madhouse, you predict that Jeb will steal the 08 election.

The name Bush is too deep in the shit  mud for that. The Bush Mafia will see to it that a loser gets the nomination for a term or two and then put Jeb forward as the savior of the party.

I received an mail from Russ Feingold, asking me to post this on a blog. Here goes, I have no idea what's in it or if it will work. If it doesn't, blame  Russ.

<a href="http://ga1.org/campaign/iraq0407?source=web_iraq0507&utm_source=Widget&utm_medium=Banner" title="Join Russ Feingold to help end the war!" target="_blank"> <img border="0" alt="Join Russ Feingold to help end the war" src="http://img.getactivehub.com/dawn/custom_images/progressivepatriots/ppf_badge.gif"/></a>

Well, it sure didn't work. Shame on you Russ!

~~~~~~~~

If Jeb is an unpopular nationally as he was here in Fla, he wouldn't win a dog catcher's job.

Don't listen to the airspace media though, they will sell you a bill of goods on that fact.

By contrast, we have a Repug governor now to take his place, trying to clean up some of the mess Jeb left. Though Dems don't expect him to be liberal and all that, so Charlie Crist could win the Repug nomination in this state.

Thanks Joan. The link works, but the petition signup doesn't seem to. I'll try again later. 

Al Gore wins Spain's top award for work in defense of the environment
DANIEL WOOLLS The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 06/07/2007 10:59:13 AM EDT

MADRID, Spain -- Former Vice President Al Gore won Spain's most prestigious prize Wednesday for his "decisive contribution to progress in solving the grave problems of climate change which threaten our planet."

Gore won the Prince of Asturias award for international cooperation, considered by some to be a warm-up for the Nobel Prizes, for which Gore is nominated this year in the peace category.

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/nationworld/...

There are no Democratic war supporters

That statement stretches credulity beyond the breaking point.

Sitka wrote "Th[e] statement [there are no Democratic war supporters] stretches credulity beyond the breaking point."

Quite clearly there aren't, so I hardly see how that's the case.  Are we discussing Democrats who stop short of voting against a supplemental funding bill while U.S. troops are on foreign soil?

Just heard on air announcement on AAR that Howard Dean will be on Ed Schultz tomorrow.  Just a heads up.

The Democrats’ Support for Bush’s War

When you all get tired of drinking the koolaide let's be a force for Real Change!

Join the Revolution. Join the Green Party and work within a framework of a Party that not only Relies on the Grassroots but whose very foundation IS grassroots.

 Not a Party that "tolerates" the grassroots as long as they remember their place and can be put in "line" when it's time.

Not a Party that takes the resources of the grassroots and spits out the spirit like so much dispensable "stuff".

Speaking of Synchronicity, this is the first time i've been back on Blog for America in months if not years and who calls me tonight? A DFA'er who wanted my support and what i told him is what i tell you, When DFA breaks the chains of the Democratic Party, Watch out! Then there might Actually be HOPE for Democracy. One thing i learned from the early Dean campaign, before it got co opted by the DLC, is that WE Do Have the Power. If you feel Powerless ask yourself, to whom are you giving Your power?

GPOK Delegate

GPAX Secretary, Codepinker, Voter 4 Peace etc... etc....

 Tell them joni sent you.

Apparently Team Hillary has been doing some push-polling.

That's as I assumed.  As I said, we're discussing tactics, not objectives, but yours is a consensus view here.  I have no alternative.  I have to concede I'm wrong.

It's a struggle in the biosphere.  I'm not sure if it would be useful to leave with a stream of insults like Darryn or follow your example, and issue a plea to see if I can get voted off the island.

I vote myself off this island.

Buh Bye, Good Luck and Thanks for all the Fish

joni

Thanks for dropping by. I see no reason why people can't want to reform the Democratic Party through DFA etc. and want the Green Party to be vibrant too.

And success for the Greens will only strengthen the forces of change within the Democratic Party.

You're welcome Sitka,

DFA, PDA, Kucinich, etc...

People can "want" all they want, yet when you've got the cow, why buy the milk, prepare for your Yoke for '08, I wish you well, i'm going back to work. Good to see some familiar names, Renee seashell and sitka, phil....power on!

Peace and Joy,

joni

"The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet."

 -- Traditional

Bye, joni. Good luck. Me? I'm actually thinking about Canada, lol!

after reading all of the damning of parties, while promoting parties, here's my 2 cents:

parties exist for one reason: to get candidates elected. to make the dem party out to be some bogey man is not intellectually honest, especially while touting the virtue of the greens. many years ago i had considered the greens, went to their web site, read their platform and the fact that they expected you to completely agree in order to join, left, and never went back. meanwhile, who have they gotten elected?

i followed howard's advice and got a delegate slot in the dem party in order to elect a better class of dem's. at that time i could have as easily been persuaded to join a new 3rd party (not the greens,) but no one, including myself, stepped forward to create a viable progressive party.

so, here we are. we've got the dems, the greens, and some other smaller parties. which vehicle will you choose?

perhaps the real question should be not of party but of ridding ourselves of the dlc/centrists so that we can have a liberal/progressive party.

Fred quoted Biden (who as usual is full of crap) as saying that it would take a 2/3 vote in the senate to stop the war/occupation.

It only takes 41 to filibuster a spending Bill. 41 senators with some courage. And please folks, don't give me the Republican talking points about supporting the troops.

 The best way to support the troops is to bring 'em home.

They're killing and dying in an immoral, illegal occupation. No one will ever be able to tell Cindy Sheehan what noble cause for which her son died. There is no nobility in this war. All 3,400+ American troops, probably an equal number of Blackwater thugs, and  hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's, most of them innocent civilians have died because Cheney and Bush were pissing themselves to attack Iraq, and used bogus intelligence an outright lies to get it done, aided and abetted by Democratic members of the war party.

Having started it, they can't stop it without admitting they were wrong.

 And there are damn few anti-war Democrats. Most want to keep funding the war machine at obscene levels.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/01/1608/

The link posted by Sitka

The capitulation of the Democratic Party’s congressional leadership to the Bush administration’s request for nearly $100 billion of unconditional supplementary government spending, primarily to support the war in Iraq, has led to outrage throughout the country. In the Senate, 37 of 49 Democrats voted on May 24 to support the measure. In the House, while only 86 of the 231 Democratic House members voted for the supplemental funding, 216 of them voted in favor of an earlier procedural vote designed to move the funding bill forward even though it would make the funding bill’s passage inevitable (while giving most of them a chance to claim they voted against it).

The claim by Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and other Democratic leaders unconditional funding was necessary to “support the troops” and to “not leave them in harm’s way” is a lie. If they really supported the troops and wanted them out of harm’s way, they would have passed legislation that would bring them home.

Some apologists for the Democrats claim that to not support funding for the supplemental would have allowed political opponents to portray them as “not supporting our troops.” However, three conservative Republican senators—Coburn, Burr, and Enzi—voted against the supplemental because of the $20 billion in domestic, non-war-related expenditures without apparent fear of such charges. So why should the Democrats have been afraid to oppose the measure as well?

And it certainly is no longer the case—as apologists for the Democrats claimed when they supported supplemental spending for the war in previous years—that it would be politically difficult to oppose a key initiative of a popular president now that Bush is one of the least popular presidents in history, a ranking that has come largely as a result of the very war policy for which the Democrats have once again given him a blank check to continue.

20.

Never underestimate the world's ability to influence our presidential selection process. If the world wants Gore, all lights will turn green for him. However only he can decide to take his foot off the brake and drive.

 However only he can decide to take his foot off the brake and drive.

I think he has done that. Put the foot on the gas.
He is intervening in the Vermont political process. He is prominently urging the Vermont Legislature to override Governor Douglas veto to a progressive enviromental law.

Good to hear!

Quiet in here tonight, looks like a lot of folks have left for Dean... I mean, DemFest. I really wanted to go but just can't swing it budgetwise. Anyway, maybe it's for the best for Greg to reschedule after the event.

Meantime, anyone liking a really deep read and great research into the origins and development of modern terrorism, here's a site I really like, Intelwire.

I'll be getting into Dfest Friday night (my flight hits Manchester at 6:26 pm if anyone needs a ride to the hotel :-)).  I need to pick up my rental car and get to the hotel but after that I'm up for a "blogger's dinner".  

>

Thankful and Subway may be there about that time.  I'm not going to make it, but I hope you and everyone who attends has a wonderful time.  Best wishes for a a great Dean inspired weekend.

Thanks for the (jc) link ChrisNYC

@

http://www.takeyourcountryback.com/GFA/torch.htm

has / have

please

Rammstein  Dalai Lama   Reise, Reise      1:04:38

I won't be at Deanfest either, but my heart will be.  Those who are going, have a GREAT time.

 Imn2paine, I don't know exactly HOW to reply to this.

Oh, that's perfect donna.  Sometimes a little is just enough.

This one is instrumental...

B-52s  Follow Your Bliss   Cosmic Thing    2:47:52 (Real | MP3)  

all I ask from the Deanfesters is some live blogging

looks like we will have a lively group here too

http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/23172

Others can sell political real estate. I'll stay independent and support and criticize where I see fit.

fyi - new thread