A Blank Check for W

The Democrats are preparing to give George W. Bush a blank check on Iraq. In 2006 Nancy Pelosi stood before us and said the days of a "do nothing" Congress are over along with her counterpart Harry Reid. The Democratic Congress has failed to stop the war effort by the Rethuglicans, but have at least promised no more blank check. Yet, Roll Call reports a blank check is exactly what may be given. Despite their rhetoric about not wanting to hand President Bush another “blank check” for the Iraq War, Democrats appear poised to give him exactly that — enough cash to keep the war going full steam for as long as six months, no strings attached.

Democratic leaders continue to fear GOP attacks that cutting off or slowing funds would hurt the troops, despite anger among the Democratic base over the party’s failure to use Congress’ power of the purse to end the war," reports the Capitol Hill newspaper's Steven T. Dennis.

As adamant as they say they are about tying war funding to deescalation timetables, Democratic leaders appear even more firmly against an overall cut-off of war funds, which critics say may be their only recourse to actually effect a draw-down of troops from Iraq.

"Sure we have the power on anything to stop the money ... but the thing we have to do is make sure we do it the right way," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on a liberal radio show last month. "It's not a question of all or nothing; it's a question of making sure we do the right thing."

Congress approved billions in extra funding and stopgap spending resolutions after Gen. David Petraeus' testimony on Capitol Hill in September. Next up is the regular Defense spending bill, which Democrats are crafting to allow funding to be diverted from regular Pentagon accounts to fund the war, according to Roll Call. Appropriations Chairman John Murtha (D-PA) told the paper that the Defense Department would be able to maintain the war "until May or June" with the extra flexibility.

This says it best: "As long as leadership is not willing to challenge the way the president is hiding behind the troops," the aide said, "they're going to continue to get rolled." We were hoodwinked in November. There is no other way to say it. If we want this war to end the Democrats have proven they are not the messenger.

Live From New York It's Saturday Night: Barack Obama

Manny Being Manny:

While the Democrats were Caving ABC News Reported the White House Own Counsel Considered Waterboarding Torture: Assclowns

This is shocking. I saw this last night on Olbermann. He discussed it with Richard Wolfe and then John Dean. A high ranking official in the justice department then-acting (2004) assistant attorney general Daniel Levin was so concerned about the administration’s use of waterboarding that he went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure himself.

Levin took over Jack Goldsmith when he resigned and immediately began reassessing the administration's interrogation techniques. Levin released a memo that torture was abhorrent. What is even more shocking, Levin was so concerned with "waterboarding" being used and experienced the procedure himself and told the Whitehouse it could be considered torture.

After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn’t die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning. Of course we know as Glory to the Union pointed out, one cannot simulate drowning, you are either drowning or you are not.

Levin, who refused to comment for this story, concluded waterboarding could be illegal torture unless performed in a highly limited way and with close supervision. And, sources told ABC News, he believed the Bush Administration had failed to offer clear guidelines for its use. Shortly, thereafter Levin was forced out by new AG Alberto Gonzalez.

This post is not meant for Mukasey or for the administration, but is meant for the democrats. When is enough - enough for them. While Feinstein and Schumer were caving this report was being released. Will this change thier minds? Probably not, but it is baffling that an opposition party provides no oppostion whatsoever.

See the ABC report below:

Assclowns of the week: the Democrats

vive la france!

in honor of the SG's upcoming trip to france (and because malraux is one of my favorite french writers--check out the dashing, wind swept photo):

November 3, 2007

Andre Malraux

On this date in 1901, writer and freedom fighter Andre Malraux was born in Paris, France. Malraux studied Asian language at the Ecole des Langues Orientales. Not completing his studies, he traveled to Asia as a young man, becoming a noted critic of French colonial rule in Indochina. He cofounded the Young Annam League and founded the newspaper, Indochina in Chains. His first novel, The Temptation of the West, was published in 1926, followed by The Conquerors (1928), The Royal Way (1930), Man's Fate (1934), Days of Hope (1937), and The Walnut Trees of Altenburg (1943). After joining archaeological expeditions to Iran and Afghanistan in the 1930s, Malraux cofounded the International Association of Writers for the Defense of Culture. During the Spanish Civil War, Malraux flew on missions as a pilot for the Republicans, and was wounded twice. He also traveled to the United States to try to raise money for the Republican cause.

"Man defines himself by what he does, not by what he dreams," he wrote. A fictional account of his experiences, (L'Espoir) was published in 1937, and a movie followed in 1939. During WWII, Malraux joined the French Army, was captured in 1940 during the Western Offensive, escaped and joined the French Resistance. In 1944, he was captured by the Gestapo, and, following a mock execution, was rescued by the Resistance. He then joined the Free French and fought at Strasbourg and the takeover of Stuttgart. He was awarded the Medal of the Resistance, the Croix de Guerre, and the British Distinguished Service Order. Gen. Charles De Gaulle appointed Malraux his minister of information in 1945-1946. During the 1950s, Malraux wrote about aesthetics and art. He served as minister of cultural affairs in 1960-1967. His autobiography, Anti-Memoirs, was published in 1967. D. 1976.

“To the absurd myths of God and an immortal soul, the modern world in its radical impotence has only succeeded in opposing the ridiculous myths of science and progress.”
-- Andre Malraux, cited in Who's Who In Hell edited by Warren Allen Smith

Freethought of the Day is courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, PO Box 750, Madison WI 53701. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) working to keep church and state separate since 1978. For more information, go to http://www.ffrf.org.

Take a Presidential Quiz: Which Candidate is Right for You?

A new website called Glassbooth has an on-line Presidential quiz. It is pretty interesting. First go to the quiz and rate issues that matter to you. You have 20 points to distribute and rate. For instance I rated civil liberties and Iraq high, but did not give credence to drugs. Then click at the bottom after you distribute the 20 points and take the quiz.

My candidate: Dennis Kucinich - I agreed with Dennis on 93% of the issues.
Second candidate - Mike Gravel - I agreed with Mr. Gravel on 91% of the issues.
My third candidate - John Edwards - I agreed with Edwards on 83% of the issues.

I would be very interested to see what SG readers score on this quiz. Take the quiz and report back.

Scorecard on the Mukasey Nomination

Just to add to Glory to the Union's post below, here is the current scorecard on the vote for Mukasey. Patrick Leahy has just announced his opposition to the nomination and could have derailed his confirmation for good. Let us hope.

I know waterboarding is torture - because I did it myself

I seldom direct people to read the New York Daily News, but there was a powerful Op-ed piece that ran yesterday. "I know waterboarding is torture - because I did it myself" by Malcolm Nance speaks the plain facts about waterboarding on which the administration, Michael Mukasey, and even Congress have waivered. If you read the piece and peruse his bio, you will see Mr. Nance speaks from authority because he speaks from experience. He has administered waterboarding, but he has also experienced it.

I wonder if Mr. Mukasey and members of Congress, the administration, and the courts for that matter, would be willing to submit themselves to the practice of waterboarding as a way of helping themselves determine whether or not it is torture. Forgive the awful pun, but I am not going to hold my breath to wait and find out.

No End in Sight

This is the devastating documentary just released on DVD - No End in Sight. It is an expose' on how not to run a war and it should be a message to anyone even contemplating war with Iran.

Organize a house party and watch this film. Here is a review from the New York Times. A.O. Scott says of the film: If failure, as the saying goes, is an orphan, then “No End in Sight” can be thought of as a brief in a paternity suit, offering an emphatic, well- supported answer to a question that has already begun to be mooted on television talk shows and in journals of opinion: Who lost Iraq? On Mr. Ferguson’s short list are Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and L. Paul Bremer III. None of them agreed to be interviewed for the film. Perhaps they will watch it.

John Edwards: the People's Candidate? You Decide

The first video John Edwards asks how do we bring about real change?


An analysis of campaign finance records by the Center for Responsive Politics for the Times showed that Democrats received about $6.5 million from the industry while Republicans raised almost $4.8 million. With $2.7 million in donations through the end of September, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has collected the most, "despite her calls for broad changes to the health care system that could pose serious financial challenges to private insurers, drug companies and other sectors." Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) raised about $2.2 million, putting him in second place, while Republicans Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, former New York City mayor, were in third and fourth place, raising $1.6 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Democrats are outpacing Republicans in raising money from every sector of the health care industry, including "pharmaceuticals, insurers and health maintenance organizations, doctors, hospitals and nursing homes," reports the Times.

Again Mr. Edwards asks do we want real change? And how does Edwards fair? How does he fair? He raised less than 5% of all the donations from these industries, a meager $600,000. This is a good clip from the debate the other night.


Most of this post I took from a Daily Kos diary because I am beginning to think that John Edwards is the democrats only hope for real change. He does not claim to be holier than thou, but knows that this system needs to change and no one in this field is talking about this including Kucinich, who if pressed would most certainly agree, but Edwards is the person pressing for our system to be reformed. His latest commercial:

S A R A H T A K E S O N N E W J E R S E Y

sarah in nj, perfect together! fun interview. i'm thrilled to read how she loves ruth gordon (my favorite too-- harold & maude, my bodyguard, rosemary's baby) and wants to dominate the garden state!

Sarah Silverman looks to dominate N.J.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

By CHUCK DARROW, Courier-Post Staff

Who's the reigning Queen of Comedy?

It says here it's Sarah Silverman, whose slash-and-burn comic stylings currently have her rocketing to stardom.

In case you can't place her, Silverman's the one who, during the recent MTV Video Music Awards, famously busted on Britney Spears after the tabloid darling's train wreck of a performance on the broadcast.

She's also the creator-star of the Comedy Central series "The Sarah Silverman Program," a quintessential love-it-or-hate-it affair which has no qualms about making light of any subject up to and including racism and abortion (it is also the most pro-marijuana effort since Cheech & Chong's 1970s heyday).

Although she's just hitting the big time, Silverman, who on Saturday headlines two shows at Borgata, is anything but an overnight sensation. She was a "Saturday Night Live" cast member in the early 1990s and you may remember her in her guest role as the girlfriend whose "jimmy legs" caused sleep issues for Kramer on "Seinfeld."

Silverman, 36, also was the one who stole the spotlight from dozens of higher-profile comics when she deadpanned a (false) accusation about being sexually assaulted by New York City television icon Joe Franklin in the 2005 documentary "The Aristocrats."

In an increasingly coarse and shock-proof world, Silverman has emerged as one of the performers who still can push people's buttons. Which is one reason why she has gone from mid-level stand-up to A-list multimedia celebrity.

While the Bedford, N.H., native is open to doing interviews, she insists on conducting them by e-mail:

Q: Considering the nature of your work and your persona, it's easy to assume you grew up in New York City or some other urban area. How did Bedford, N.H., produce the notorious Sarah Silverman?

A: I don't know. Even before I ever went to NYC people would ask if I was from there and I would be, like, "What? No, I'm from here!" But I moved to NYC when I was 18 and felt like I was finally home.

Q: How different is the offstage Sarah from the one we see on stage and on camera?

A: Off stage I'm Mexican.

Q: When you were young, there weren't many female stand-up comics and even fewer who were doing any kind of real envelope pushing. Who were your influences?

A: I loved Ruth Gordon. Not a stand-up but a brilliant comic actress and writer. I would love to be like her someday. I grew up in love with Steve Martin. And then was so lucky to meet and work with Garry Shandling, who I learned so much from on so many levels. I owe him a lot.

Q: I once heard you described as the reincarnation of Lenny Bruce. Does that description work for you?

A: I can't say I agree, but I realize it's very flattering. He lived at a time where being risky actually meant RISKING SOMETHING. I'm not going to let myself believe that I'm anywhere near that. I mean, really, I do poop jokes.

Q: You are definitely one of pop-culture's "It" girls these days. Does that worry you? Scare you? Make you laugh? Cry?

A: Yes. I don't like it. Because I think that directly after "it"-ness inevitably comes backlash. I'm happiest on the periphery.

Q: Is "dominate show business" on Sarah Silverman's things-to-do list?

A: Nope. My things-to-do list is fill windshield wiper fluid tank; buy Cottonelle wipes; dominate New Jersey (specifically the Borgata in Atlantic City).

Show times are 8 and 11 p.m. Admission is $50. Call (866) 900-4849 or visit http://www.theborgata.com/.

Quote of the Day: Inner City Schools

“Attempting to fix inner city schools without fixing the city in which they are embedded, is like trying to clear the air on one side of a screen door. Educational change in the inner city, to be successful, has to be part and parcel of more fundamental social change” - Jean Anyon -

Bill Moyers Journal: Big Media

This is possibly the best news show on television.

Lieberman is (of course) for the Nomination of Mukasey

See at Talking Points Memo the chart on who plans to vote for Mukasey as A.G. and who is still undecided. In my mind doing the opposite of Senator Lieberman is a good measure of what one should do. But, here is the reason this neocon wannabe should not be confirmed. Waterboarding is Torture. Torture is unacceptable. Period. There are certain lines we should not cross and this is one of them.

Bush is saying now that if Mukasey is not confirmed, then there will be no Attorney General. Sounds good to me.

Edwards New Ad in Iowa - Heroes

Edwards is seeking to capitalize on his performance from Tuesday with a new ad. In the ad, which goes up in Iowa today, Mr. Edwards refers to the moment when he and his wife Elizabeth made a decision after getting results that her breast cancer had returned, to pursue his campaign for the Democratic nomination.
“If you are looking for heroes,” Mr. Edwards says, “Don’t look to me, don’t look to Elizabeth. We have support, we have health care, we have the American people behind us. Look to them; they are the ones that we speak for,” he said, referring to American workers. The ad has a definitive lack of diversity (because of the state Iowa I am sure), though it is effective.

Rumsfeld's Evil Mind and the Military Industrial Complex

In a series of internal musings and memos just released to the Washington Post, to his staff, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued that Muslims avoid "physical labor" and wrote of the need to "keep elevating the threat," "link Iraq to Iran" and develop "bumper sticker statements" to rally public support for an increasingly unpopular war.

Rumsfeld issues directives quite often at the Pentagon sometimes up to 6o per day. These directives were called "snowflakes" and regarded anything from Iraq to internal policy. It is a look into a man that has nothing, but contempt for the American people and democracy.

In one "snowflake" he wrote, when a series of retired generals denounced him and called for his resignation in newspaper op-ed pieces, "Talk about Somalia, the Philippines, etc. Make the American people realize they are surrounded in the world by violent extremists," he wrote.

The only man to hold the top Pentagon job twice -- as both the youngest and the oldest defense secretary -- Rumsfeld suggested that the public should know that there will be no "terminal event" in the fight against terrorism like the signing ceremony on the USS Missouri when Japan surrendered to end World War II. "It is going to be a long war," he wrote. "Iraq is only one battleground."

Based on the discussion with military analysts, Rumsfeld tied Iran and Iraq. "Iran is the concern of the American people, and if we fail in Iraq, it will advantage Iran," he wrote in his April 2006 memo.

The memos or snowflakes are disturbing and have nothing to do with the safety of Iraq or the American people, only that we need to win the war, though nearly every expert thought his policies of de-bathification and the war strategy were entirely flawed.

It indemnifies the perception that this administration was completely incompetent, arrogant and set on doing anything to achieve their goals, which seems is to privatize the entire government.

In a related point the site truthdig has a piece on the get rich schemes of military contractors and the profit of war. I have excerpted a few paragraphs from the article that is much more compelling to read the entire article and you should.

Lockheed Martin, the nation’s top weapons manufacturer, reaped a 22 percent increase in profits, while rivals for the defense buck, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, increased profits by 62 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Boeing’s profits jumped 61 percent, spiked this quarter by its commercial division, but Boeing’s military division, like the others, has been doing very well indeed since the terrorist attacks. As Newsweek International put in August: “Since 9/11 and the U.S.-led wars that followed, shares in American defense companies have outperformed both the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s stock indices by some 40 percent. Prior to the recent cascade of stock prices worldwide, Boeing’s share prices had tripled over the past five years while Raytheon’s had doubled.”

Thanks to bin Laden and Bush’s exploitation of “war on terror” hysteria, the taxpayers have been hoodwinked into paying for a sophisticated military arsenal to fight a Soviet enemy that no longer exists. The Institute for Policy Studies calculated last year that the top 34 CEOs of the defense industry have earned a combined billion dollars since 9/11; they should give bin laden his cut.

It sparked crooks and liars to post the video below of Eisenhower's fairwell speech that warned of a growing "military industrial complex." He warns that the defense industry could take over the spoils of war and make war for profit purposes. This is not a liberal mind you, this is the greatest general in American history who made his life's work on war. It is as prophetic a speech as you will ever find.

Where are Progressives on Iraq?

A day after the Democratic Presidential debate I find myself wondering where is the activism among these candidates? And why the confusion on Iraq? Why are we not talking about getting the F*** out of there as soon as possible? Instead we have Hillary saying "vigorous negotiation," Barack Obama saying - hey if I was in charge I would make them come home. The only respectable position is Dennis Kucinich - as usual.

Today, from the Center for American Progress, a memo has been released that warns these candidates to stop the confusion. While conservatives refuse to give in and have increasingly beat the drum for war with Iran progressives need a plan and we as citizens need to demand it. Casualties are down in Iraq, there is no question about that, however there is a report by the respected GAO that this is due to tragic ethnic cleansing. The political reconciliation in Iraq is as far away as possible (the reason for the surge), all the while the Kurds and the Turks begin their own drumbeat to war.

The new memo from the Center for American Progress says:

Several leading foreign policy thinkers and security institutes–some of the same ones who were wrong about going to war in Iraq in the first place and wrong about how to deal with the war’s first four years–have helped build the case that aided the country’s slide into strategic drift. Instead of offering plans that clarify the current drift, they have perpetuated it by triangulating against supposedly “irresponsible” withdrawal plans. Just as conservatives in Congress have done, they have failed to question the flawed premises at the heart of the administration’s Iraq strategy.

Some progressive candidates have defaulted to policies of strategic drift because of legitimate fears about what might happen in Iraq, focused on three main concerns: terrorist sanctuaries, regional war, and humanitarian catastrophe. Yet ironically, strategic drift forestalls the actual hard work needed to avoid these potential dangers and does little or nothing to prevent them. Keeping tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq until the end of the next presidential term not only serves to prolong these problems but also creates new ones.

The Memo goes on to say “Progressives should start with a firm statement that America will undertake a strategic phased redeployment of its troops in a defined period of time,” the memo says. Without taking such a definitive stand, progressives risk drifting along with a policy that will have “severe consequences” for America’s security. Read the full memo here.

I truly believe the lack of any idea on what to do here and timidity on the part of the democrats is because of corporate funding. The democrats are outraising the Republicans 2 to 1 in corporate donations and these donations impede democrats from independence of freeing us from this disastrous war. And is also leading us into a path to war with Iran. The same people who have been wrong about the war, the plan for war and everything else are still controlling the argument and the democrats just feed right in. Tuesday's debate was like a Republican talking points debate, or course this happens when the debate is run by the very conservative MSNBC.

There is no reason to continue this war for any reason. It is time to leave. If we do not Republicans, neocons, theocons will have us in another war with Iran and Pakistan waiting in the wings.

New York Joining Ban on Plastic Bags?

A proposal introduced on Monday requires stores in New York City larger than 5,000 square feet to set up an in-store recycling program and sell reusable bags. New York is seeking to follow an international trend and hopes that this will be a model for other cities.

Some 700 food stores plus large retailers such as Target and Home Depot would have to collect used bags and provide a system for turning them over to a manufacturer or to third-party recycling firms. Stores would be required to use bags printed with a reminder to consumers: “Please return this bag to a participating store for recycling.”

Environmentalists say plastic bags are a scourge and take years to biodegrade and contaminate soil and water.

The bill was expected to come to a vote within several months.

In 2002, Ireland introduced a tax on plastic bags, reducing their use by 90 percent. Some communities in Australia have banned them in retail stores since 2003.

In March, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets and the state of California enacted a law in July that requires large stores to take back plastic bags and encourage their reuse.

Americans use an estimated 84 billion plastic bags annually, and the production of plastic bags worldwide uses over 12 million barrels of oil per year, the council said.
Recycled bags can be used to produce new bags plus a variety of plastic products, including furniture.

Estimates vary widely for how long it takes plastic bags to decompose, and some environmentalists say it is impossible to know because plastics have only been used commercially in recent decades.

Lars and the Real Girl

This is one of the sweetest, most gentle films I have seen in a long time. A movie partly about mental illness, pain, family, but mostly it is about community and how we deal with one another. When someone needs us will we be there?

color bomb: "fall is here"

a perfect image and feeling for fall... by john f., daddydan's brother. see more of his art here.

described as a "color bomb" online for the tree in his backyard, created in early november. mixed media on graph paper.

thanks john, for a lovely vision to start the day.