Yellow Dog

Thank goodness, as Dick Cheney reassured us, the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes."

Tell that to the six U.S. soldiers killed today when a suicide bomber slammed into a US military convoy in Fallujah and to the 13 marines who were wounded.

In other news, "President Bush will deliver an address to the nation from Ft. Bragg, N.C., Tuesday at 8 p.m. Mr. Bush will be speaking to troops about the importance of completing the mission in Iraq, the White House said."

Looks like Bush--who will no doubt refer to this recent rash of car bombings as "makin' progress"--is in the "last throes" of his credibility as a "war president."

CBS News | 6 U.S. Dead In Iraq Convoy Attack | June 24, 2005 17:01:05

Something ate all the leaves off the hibiscus plant last weekend.
Leafless and defiant, it bloomed this morning.



What it's supposed to look like!

Scumbag Karl Rove is right: Democrats and Republicans do have different philosophies when it comes to fighting terrorism, and this list captures the differences perfectly:

Democrats
Believe capturing the person primarily responsible for the attack should be a top priority.

Republicans
It's been four years, and Osama bin Laden is still free, even though Bush's CIA chief says he knows where he is.

Democrats
Investigate the intelligence failures that led to 9/11.

Republicans
Do everything in their power to block the 9/11 Commission from doing its work.

Democrats
Propose creating the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans
Push tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Democrats
Believe we should have stayed the course in Afghanistan, not allowing the Taliban to resurge, the warlords to take power, and the opium trade to skyrocket.

Republicans
Ignore Afghanistan as the situation worsens.

Democrats
Believe that we should be honest with our troops about the reasons we go to war, give them everything they need to be safe, and make sure we go in with an exit plan.

Republicans
Manipulate intelligence to trump up reasons to go to war, don't give our troops the support they need, constantly mislead the public about the direction the war is going, and fail to make an exit plan. And turn Iraq into the ultimate terrorist training ground.

DNC: Kicking Ass - Rove is right: there are differences

Who are the Chickenhawks? Those who talk tough about fighting wars (and those who start wars) but have avoided fighting when they had the chance. Those like Dick Cheney, who when he had the chance to fight in a war, claimed he had "other priorities" at the time. Or those like George W. Bush, who used his Daddy's connections to avoid combat service and then never finished his national guard duties.

Steve Gilliard goes after the Chickenhawks and makes this challenge:

"If you will not serve in Iraq, and no one you know will serve, stop expecting someone else to do what you will not. Therefore, it is time to stop calling for more troops, or the US to make Iraq safe. We cannot do this and even Americans are refusing to join the fight. It is time to look at your actions and realize, that despite your ideals, you oppose continuing this war. In practical terms, you have decided that this war is not worth your life or anyone you know. And million of Americans have joined you in this decision. So, with this fact evident, it is time to call for US troops to withdraw from Iraq. Not save it, not add more boots on the ground. You have already voted by your actions. It is time that you match it with your words."

David Sirota adds this strategy for yellow dogs:

"...it is time for Democrats to finally go for the throat and make clear that if you are going to vehemently advocate sending more and more innocent Americans to die in Iraq, you better be prepared to back up that rhetoric with some sacrifice of your own.

And that goes especially for the inside-the-Beltway neocon crowd who makes decisions and spouts off opinions from the confines of the well-guarded cocktail party circuit, and thus never has to deal with the blood-and-guts ramifications of what they're talking about. If you are willing to ask others for sacrifice but evaded such sacrifice when you had the chance, and aren't willing to make any sacrifice yourself now - then sit down and shut up."

Supporters of the War in Iraq: Enlist or Shut up!

Sirotablog: Attention Chickenhawks: Enlist, or shut up

Under Bush--the CEO of the US--it's government by the corporations, of the corporations, and for the corporations. And never before has so much money changed hands between government officials and corporations.

Josh Micah Marshall explains:

The Republicans are running the most corrupt Congress in any of our lifetimes. I don't care if you're a hundred years old. Still applies. I'm not just talking about law breaking -- just as much, it's the practices that are actually legal but no less corrupt for that.

On Wednesday, the Post's Jeff Birnbaum had a story on the explosion in the lobbying trade since 2000. If the Dems want their knock-out campaign cudgel for 2006, Jeff provided it: "The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750 while the amount that lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent."

In explaining these developments Birnbaum writes: "The lobbying boom has been caused by three factors, experts say: rapid growth in government, Republican control of both the White House and Congress, and wide acceptance among corporations that they need to hire professional lobbyists to secure their share of federal benefits."

In Washington today, everything is for sale so there are a lot more salesmen. And there's so much to sell they're all getting higher commissions.... That's why there are so many more lobbyists. The whole place is corrupt to the core. It's Tammany on the Potomac.

Bush might as well put an ad in the newspaper: FOR SALE: YOUR GOVERNMENT.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 19, 2005 - June 25, 2005 Archives

Maybe Bush is right: there is "progress" in Iraq--if your idea of progress is creating "an even more effective training ground for Islamic extremists than Afghanistan was in Al Qaeda's early days."

According to a new classified report by the CIA, the war in Iraq has produced "a dangerous legacy by dispersing to other countries Iraqi and foreign combatants more adept and better organized than they were before the conflict."

Congratulations, George, for using the "war on terror" to create a new breeding ground for terrorism by creating the exact conditions that led to the rise of Al Qaeda in the 1980's and 90's. To the Fox News-impaired, W's creation of a greater terrorist threat by launching an unnecessary war based on lies can only mean one thing: we're winning the war on terror!!! Dumb asses.

We should all be terrified as we wait for a better trained Osama bin Laden, cultivated by the hatred around the world that our dear leader has helped to breed.

Iraq May Be Prime Place for Training of Militants, C.I.A. Report Concludes - New York Times

This is a terrific idea: a challenge to college Republicans to fight in the war that they support. Here's the rationale behind OPERATION YELLOW ELEPHANT, according to General JC Christian, Patriot:

"I learned in the last presidential election the importance of turning a weakness into a strength. I think we were all amazed to see a man who had gone AWOL from an undeployable National Guard unit defeat a decorated war hero because he was perceived to have more credibility as a military commander. We can do the same for the College Republicans.

Their greatest weakness is their almost pathological reluctance to fight in the war they demanded. It makes them look cowardly and hypocritical. That's especially true now that our military is suffering a manpower crisis. It'll take bold action on their part to change that perception. That's a tall order. Boldness is an alien trait to Hawks who are too timid to fight. We'll need to provoke them into defending their honor.

By attacking them for their war hypocrisy, we are prodding them to stand up and defend themselves. Our assault will provide them with a need to speak publicly about their acts of bravery on the home front, and before long, they'll be seen as the real heroes in this war."

Draft Young Republicans!!!

Jesus' General

From the Salt Lake Tribune, Yellow Dogs Write Letters:

Secret memos (the Downing Street Memo and others) being leaked from the British government, but barely mentioned by our own press, have now confirmed that, “war was inevitable because President Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action, and intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
   Further, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the case for war was “thin” because “Saddam was not threatening his neighbors and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.”
   ...[T]he turkeys are coming home to roost on this one. More than 1,700 of our brave young men and women dead; according to Lancet, more than 100,000 Iraqi men, women and children dead; terrorists have turned Iraq into their personal hell on Earth and we've already blown a cool third of a trillion dollars on this fiasco.
   Bush's big lie, to justify a war against international law, then stuffed down our collective throats, makes the cases for impeachment against Nixon and Clinton seem like child's play by comparison.
   
   Lisa Hunter
   Salt Lake City,

Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion