Category: politics

politics

Bring Them Home

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I have for a long time subscribed to the “you break it, you buy it” foreign policy in regards to Iraq. We broke it, we bought it, period. However, as it seems that no strides have been taken towards creating any sort of a plan almost 2.5 years after we first went there, I’m starting to think getting the hell out of there as soon as possible is not such a bad idea.

Yesterday, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, rejecting the Bush administration attacks on war critics and raising bipartisan pressure for a new policy. Rep. Murtha, the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party’s top voices on military issues said, “The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It is time to bring them home.”

When one of the biggest Democratic defense hawks, who happens to be a decorated Vietnam War veteran and retired Marine colonel, says something like that, I listen. He said, “The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It’s a flawed policy wrapped in illusion” and I agree wholeheartedly.

This 73-year-old man is a decorated Marine veteran who served as an intelligence officer in Vietnam and is widely respected by his colleagues on military matters. His stance has the potential to influence others in Congress who are nervous about falling public support for the war (I have my fingers crossed). Emotionally, he spoke of his regular visits to wounded soldiers at nearby Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda Naval Medical Hospital. “Our military is suffering,” he said. “The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course.”

I also loved how he rebuked recent Cheney’s scare tactics by making a reference to the draft deferments that kept Cheney out of Vietnam. He said, “I like guys who got five deferments and (have) never been there and send people to war, and then don’t like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done.”

Well said. Well said. I for one have decided that I’m going to be more vocal in supporting the elected officials who I believe are part of the solution. If they are going to stick their necks out for the Republican Scare & Hate Machine to try and chop off, I’m going to get their back. I just called Congressman Murtha’s DC office (202-225-2065) to say that I support him and that I thank him for speaking out. I have a feeling I’m going to dialing Washington alot more in the next few months so that my voice is logged and noted. As I’ve previously stated, these calls and emails DO matter. I suggest that if you agree, you do the same. Enough is enough.

politics

And the Winner of the All Time Best Hall Pass Request Award is…

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… our president of course. He is always winning great awards such as these. I first saw the photo below on Chris’s site and it has been much blogged about. I thought and still think it is hysterical. See for yourself below:

I didn’t want to post it because I wasn’t sure if it was real or not and if I was in a meeting with 180 other world leaders and needed to pee, I’m not sure what I would have done either. Then, Neu swooped in, unknowing, and sent me an article from Photo District News titled “Reuters Explains Photo Of Bush Bathroom Note” verifying it and voila! I love the statement that Reuters gave:

“The photographer and editors on this story were looking for other angles in their coverage of this event, something that went beyond the stock pictures of talking heads that these kind of forums usually offer. This picture certainly does that.”

Indeed. I don’t really has anything else to add on this one.

Via Chris and Neu

politics

He’s Just The Acorn – You’ve Got To Look At The Tree

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From “The Nation” comes a report on Barbara Bush’s Labor Day visit to the Astrodome:

Commenting on the facilities that have been set up for the evacuees — cots crammed side-by-side in a huge stadium where the lights never go out and the sound of sobbing children never completely ceases — former First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out.

“Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them,” Mrs. Bush told American Public Media’s “Marketplace” program, before returning to her multi-million dollar Houston home.

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.

Thanks Phyl for making sure that my anger doesn’t dissipate.

Remember, if you are in need of info on the Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort happening in NYC, go to www.nolareliefnyc.com for all the latest news.

politics

These People Are Not Refugees, They Are American Citizens

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Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick from Detroit, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus just said in a speech aired on CNN,

“We come to you this morning as a sense of urgency. First of all, these people are not refugess, they are American citizens. They pay taxes, they raise their families, they help America grow and I wish the media would called them American citizens and not refugess which relegates them to another whole status.“

Well, well said. I will be noting which channels and media outlets refer to these people as refugees from now on. See also said that Detroit is offering to airlift out 500 families immediately and to house and feed them. That is probably around 2000 people. While that isn’t a whole lot, if a few more cities did the same we would have one issue resolved immediately.

politics

Margins Of Society at Center of Tragedy

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Now this is where the story gets really political: many of those still stuck at the center of this tragedy are people who for generations had been pushed to the margins of society. Poverty exhibits a bizarre sense of equality – the poor, white and black, are now equally suffering. Here are just a few views on this aspect of the southern situation:

  • Mark Naison, a white professor of African-American Studies at Fordham University in the Bronx wrote, “Is this what the pioneers of the civil rights movement fought to achieve, a society where many black people are as trapped and isolated by their poverty as they were by segregation laws? If Sept. 11 showed the power of a nation united in response to a devastating attack, Hurricane Katrina reveals the fault lines of a region and a nation, rent by profound social divisions.”
  • “We tend to think of natural disasters as somehow even-handed, as somehow random,” said Martin Espada, an English professor at the University of Massachusetts and poet of a decidedly leftist political bent who is Puerto Rican. “Yet it has always been thus: poor people are in danger. That is what it means to be poor. It’s dangerous to be poor. It’s dangerous to be black. It’s dangerous to be Latino.””Everything is God’s will,” said Charles Steele Jr., the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. “But there’s a certain amount of common sense that God gives to individuals to prepare for certain things.” That means, Mr. Steele said, not waiting until the eve of crisis. “Most of the people that live in the neighborhoods that were most vulnerable are black and poor,” he said. “So it comes down to a lack of sensitivity on the part of people in Washington that you need to help poor folks. It’s as simple as that.”
politics

New York Protects Its Own

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The New Yorker this week has a fantastic article by William Finnegan titled “The Terrorism Beat” about how the NYPD is defending our fair city, with or without the help of the Federal government. Believe it or not, it makes you feel a lot better about our city’s security (all things considered). I’m 100% voting for Bloomberg, if only to ensure that Ray Kelly stays commissioner. Here is just one snipit from the article, in reference to the way the NYPD has transformed post 9/11:

Some of Kelly’s initatives were incursions into territory normally occupied by the FBI and the CIA. And yet few objections were raised. It was as if the Feds, reeling from September 11th, silently acknowledged New York’s right to take extraordinary defensive measures. Or, as one senior police official said to me, “Do you think anybody in Washington has the balls to tell Ray Kelly he can’t do something he decides to do?”

I created a PDF of the aritcle but its over 15 MB so if you want to read it (its not available online) leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll mail you a copy. Hell, I’ll even pay the postage, that’s how good the article is – if you live in NY you should read it. ‘Nuff said.

politics

How Little Attention We Are Paying To Dafur

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One year ago today, Congress unanimously declared that the horrors unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan — the mass slaughters, forced displacement, and coordinated rape campaigns — amounted to genocide. It seems as if almost everyone has either forgotten about it or thinks that the problem has been solved. For instance:

  • During the entire month of June 2005, the major network and cable news stations broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week aired only 126 segments on Sudan.
  • In contrast, these same stations aired a combined 8303 segments on the “runaway bride”, the Michael Jackson trial, and Tom Cruise.
  • Major news media aired 65 times as many segments on these trivial matters as it did on the fighting and genocide in Sudan.

The Center for American Progress has launched a campaign called Be A Witness to try and pressure various news outlets to stop ignoring this story. Starving children are not pleasing to the eye during dinner. Increased television coverage of the genocide in Darfur does have the power to spur the action required to stop a devastating crime against humanity. I for one am being a witness.

politics

Help Keep Partisan Spin Off NPR and PBS stations

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I received a MoveOn.org email spurring me to call a local PBS station and tell them that “I’m a big supporter of PBS and this station. CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson is demanding more right-wing programming on public broadcasting. Please keep his partisan spin off the air” or something like that. Since I agree and the phone number was there, I thought, “What the hell, I’ll call.”

So I did. I spoke with a nice man in the viewer relations department at Thirteen/WNET New York. He told me how viewer and/or member comments really do make a difference and he urged more phone calls (um, he’s on our side). My phone call and viewpoint has not gone into a blackhole, rather it was recorded, it will be passed on to those that matter and it will hopefully help push back on the recent government interference. He talked about how 7 lines received 500 phone calls yesterday – an unbelievable number – and how he hoped to receive even more phone calls today. What is with those people at PBS and answering phones? Whether its a telethon or in customer service, they just love it!

If you care at all about those phone whores remaining non-partisan, please call or write and let them know that you want the government to stay away from slanting PBS one way or the other. You don’t have to be a member to voice an opinion. You don’t have to give your name, though there is no reason not to. Here’s the info:

WLIW-TV: 516-367-210; viewers_voice@wliw.pbs.org

WNYE-TV: 718-250-5800; wnyemail@wnye.org

Thirteen/WNET New York: 212-560-1313; web@thirteen.org