The warmongers are following Bush’s line and saying our troops will be needed in Iraq for years to come. Petraeus told congress today that this war is not a mathematical exercise. While touting the “success” the war has gone through recently they showed how the violence has reduced in the last few months. Not taking into account the cease fire by Iraqi rebels they gave all of the credit to the surge and presence of US troops there. Of course the reports were prepared before the cease fire started to unravel a couple of weeks ago. There was little mention of the renewed escalation of deaths and maimings in the war ravaged country.

In the past 2 days at least 12 more US soldiers have been needlessly killed. Hundreds of Iraq citizens, either armed or civilian have been killed in the past couple of weeks. Many more soldiers, who the United States have armed, defected and took their weapons with them to be used against the very people who gave them the guns and ammo. Yeah. Thats success. But for who? Nobody is winning and the United States is losing big. More every day.

From the AP;

“I do not want to keep our troops in Iraq a minute longer than necessary to secure our interests there. Our goal — my goal — is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops,” McCain said in a nine-minute statement. “And I believe we can achieve that goal, perhaps sooner than many imagine. But I also believe that to promise a withdrawal of our forces, regardless of the consequences, would constitute a failure of political and moral leadership.

————-

The FAILURE OF MORAL LEADERSHIP HAPPENED LONG AGO !!!! The liars that got us into this war failed. The ones who keep us there failed. Those like John McSameoldbushit have failed. They are continuing with the failure at a huge cost to you and me but big profits for them. I wanna tell McSame that the political and moral leadership he aspires to is already a failure and that he will just continue the failing. Not bringing the “surge” troops on schedule is another failure.

As a man who says he doesn’t know much about economic things, even McCain must see how this war is affecting our economy. The american people do. Besides all of the outsourcing of jobs to other countries, rising unemployment and more businesses failing here at home, huge foreclosures in housing, the war is costing us dearly. I shudder to think of the burden this administration, and the McSame administration if for some reason he is elected, is leaving for future generations here.

Thats enough of my anti McSame rant for now. Petraeus also said to the Armed Forces Committee, “We haven’t turned any corners, we haven’t seen any lights at the end of the tunnel. The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and is reversible.” 

He said an Iraqi operation earlier this month to stop Shi’ite militias in the southern city of Basra, which President George W. Bush had called a “defining moment” for Iraq, was a disappointment and not adequately planned or prepared.

More proof that the Bush plan isn’t working. How could Bush place an inadequate General in charge if his operations can’t be planned or prepared properly. Oh! I guess it’s because of the way Petraeus pukes the Cheney/Bush plans for political advancement. This war is tumbling around Bush’s feet just like every thing else he and his administration touches.

Before long the posturing was in full swing. But so was the posturing in Iraq. During the Q and A going on in Wahington, Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr threatened to unleash his Mahdi Army militia against U.S. and Iraqi forces. Threatening to lift the cease fire declared in August Sadr said, “If it is required to lift the freeze (cease-fire) in order to carry out our goals, objectives, doctrines and religious principles and patriotism, we will do that later and in a separate statement”. This all is in the aftermath of the failed attempt to disarm opposition militias in Basra 2 weeks ago.

Both Clinton and Obama were claiming to have plans to start withdrawing the troops soon after they take office. While there are naysayers that say this would be bad because the factional fighting would grow it seems that the factional wars are going on even though our soldiers are there. The withdrawal of our troop, however gradual, seems like a good idea to me. Why do we feel some need to have our kids in harms way when the wars are going to continue. The United States has no business being the worlds police.

So with the liars talking about successes and the rest of the world looking on in disbelief it looks like the war has just begun. I don’t think our soldiers have any place in this war and really am looking forward to the new presidency. There is a possibility that the disaster started by this administration could be stopped. Well, maybe not stopped but less American troops would be lost to the civil war that we have no chance of stopping or changing. Our leaders helped get this civil war started by removing the tyrant that kept it quelled without a plan to keep it down. Now that it’s un fixable by a western power it seems too late.

The troops need to come home.

Although I have been remiss in being a proper blogger and haven’t been posting diligently, most of the others have been. Now on Saturday night I have a feeling of non-productivity so I have tried to get something done. But…(dadgum buts)…I can’t get any clear thoughts out so I am going to try to pass some other folk’s creativity along. Bear with me for a bit and I will get my wind back. For now follow these links for news and commentary of the week.

Last Sunday The Political Cat told us her opinion about the links between Cheney, Bush and Nouri al Maliki. Even though she has been changing routines with her meds she was able to point out the costs of this war in lives, money and extending tours for our troops and how the leaders are behind it.

ViceZilla brings us the stink from San Francisco, the birthplace of my favorite band the Grateful Dead, where they are considering naming a fitting monument to George W.Bush.

Stephen was drinking liberally in New Milford when he passed along rumors of Hillary suspending her campaign and added the beer back to his whiskey with a link to a funny video called Mrs. C.

Buzz gave a moving non Believers tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King over at Buzz Daly Sez.

The Grateful Dissident talked about the “Million Man March” in Iraq.

Alicia who lives somewhere near the Last Left Turn Before Hooterville, shared what they are talking about in the beauty shop.

Fade over in the House Of The Rising Sons brings us links to Montel calling for real support for our troops especially the wounded ones.

Gordon with the Alternative Brain brings us a letter from Iraq.

Dusty shows us its her right to be left of center by showing us pictures of Georgie playing by himself.

I wonder if he is shunned because of his ineptitude dealing with the dignitaries. Do you think maybe he is also alone because of the fact he supported the liars who led America and the rest of the world into this huge debacle that has cost so many lives, limbs and dollars? I think the fact the death toll is so high in Iraq because of the lies was the reason he was greeted the way he was when he threw the first pitch of the season for the Washington National’s last Sunday. I love this footage as I believe the sentiment shown will also be shown in November to Senator John McSame.

Taken off of the internet. No informing the media. Making it hard to get the facts about the lack of any connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Just more of the stifling of truth in this WOT.

Does the WOT stand for War On Truth?

ABC’s Article.

While Dickhead Cheney heads off to talk peace in the Middle East Ted shares how Israel is trying to defy peace by building illegal housing.

Stephen at Drinking Liberally In New Milford talks about how the Hillary campaign is stealing from donors.

David at The Moderate Voice passes on this letter from a nine year old boy being held in a prison in Texas that just wants to go home. Follow the link at the end of the post for more about this letter and the prison he is being held in.

The House Of Cats (I don’t speak Spanish so I can’t even spell la casa de los gatos) has an excellent article about how Bush is wiping his butt with the Constitution.

ViceZilla talks about New York’s Governor adding himself to the list of shame already occupied with the likes of Idaho’s Craig and Louisiana’s Vitter.

Morrigan gives us a Dungeons and Dragons view of the presidential candidates over at Alternate Brain.

The Grateful Dissident talks about more congress members signing on to Cheney’s Impeachment.

And finally Clark brings us a grand version of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Folsom Prison Blues from 1959

The peace sign

turns fifty today. It was first used for a march on a nuclear weapons facility. For a story about it with links to a newspaper article go to our friend Ted’s Page.

A little something from crappco.com.

“Armageddon On Your Mind”. Crappco’s parody of “Heaven On Their Minds” from Jesus Christ Superstar.

edited because I posted the link wrong. My apologies to the folks at www.crappco.com.

Dick Cheney babbled about how much progress has been made in national security yesterday in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference. “The absence of another 9/11 is not an accident”, he gushed praising Bush. “Its an achievement”.

He obviously was puking rhetoric about the violations of our constitution concerning domestic spying and other loss of rights under the Patriot Act and the administrations lawbreaking. We really are not all that secure when it comes to our airports according to the House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson. “We remain vulnerable because we have not kept up with technological innovation”, according to the Washington Post.

Just more propaganda from the Dickman trying to prop up the utter failure of security while taking away our rights. The airports are where the bombers of 9/11 got their weapons of mass destruction. With better use of technology they may not have gotten through to hijack the planes. If they can see our every movement from space then why cant they have better security scanners? Why are people required to remove their shoes and subject themselves to even more invasive searches if they fit some kind of twisted profiling? Why can’t we just put our bags on a belt, walk through a scanner and be on our way? The technology is there and could be implemented if they would just spend some money on it. They have the ability to afford it, obviously, as they can afford to spend billions on killing innocent citizens of Iraq in this “War On Terror”.

Instead we hear crap about how we are winning against terror with FISA, invasive checks at the airport and surges of troops in Iraq. Throwing money away on things we don’t need instead of spending it on things that would make everyones lives easier.

Under the thin guise of trying to catch folks that are stealing copyrighted music AT&T announced they are going to begin monitoring online traffic. Texas lawmakers are trying to regulate and monitor use of prepaid cell phones. And the Department Of Homeland Security staged a mock disaster drill that targeted hackers, reporters and bloggers.

Bloggers?? Bloggers?? WTF?? While they promote “freedom” in the Middle East they are attacking reporters and those of us that have an opinion and share it over the internets. What about freedom of the press? What about freedom of speech? What about the bloggers implied rights to use the net to share? I guess we are all a threat that the government considers should be targeted to prevent disaster.

Well, I don’t consider the writings of the blog world as a threat. I see the use of the internets to share ideas and ideals as a great thing. When we are seen as a disaster threat we will lose more rights and freedom.

Thats the real disaster.

The street sweepers are washing the pavement in the alleys and streets of the French Quarter. New Orleans bar workers are mopping up the funk that comes from days of revelry while the bar owners are counting their riches. Catholic faithful are going to masses to have some ash smeared on their foreheads. Lent is here and in the next 40 days leading up to Easter the city will relax. Almost rest.

But Ash Wednesday in New Orleans is also the day of the Louisiana Primary. There will probably not be as big a cleanup as one might think. The election results from todays primaries and caucuses show McCain is the only candidate that cleaned up in the polls. The Democrats are still pretty much on the same level when it comes to their peoples support.

McCain’s overwhelming win of delegates is due to the “Huckabee Factor”. Mike has taken a lot of the “liberal” Republican vote from Mitt much to Romney’s chagrin. His whining today just alienated more of his would be supporters giving John McCain more of an advantage. That scares me.

With McCain the probable Republican candidate for president America is facing a strange future. His stance on the war in Iraq along with his hinting at future wars, Iran probably, could make or break him. Especially if his Democratic opposition remains weak on their demands to withdraw our troops from Iraq. If the Democrats can’t show strong we may be facing Johns proposed 100 years there.

New Orleans, and much of Louisiana, has a large black Democrat population. The strength of the black vote became clear in 1992 when Democrat Edwin Edwards, a known criminal and liar, was running against Republican racist David Duke for Governor. More black people registered and voted than any time in Louisiana history. The crook won in a landslide even though the Republican Duke got a huge turnout of white voters.

Obama and Clinton are running neck and neck. Clinton has only 100 more delegates then Obama. The primaries in the weeks to come can change that. There are more delegates yet to be chosen and Barak may overcome Hillary in the polls. With only 56 delegates at stake there Louisiana wont be a deciding factor in the final outcome but will probably bring the race closer. I think Obama will take the state today.

The really surprising state for Obama was Idaho. Such a huge amount of their votes going to him there shows me the race card is fading in this campaign. When I was a kid growing up in Idaho there was an underlying racism that welcomed many white supremacy groups  to build compounds and enclaves all over the state. I was pleased to see that the old days are going away and people are starting to think clearer.

So as the post Carnival cleanup continues in The Big Easy the cleanup in the polls wont come. The democratic candidates will have to really duke it out. Lets hope the mudslinging doesn’t start too bad. Thats a mess that may cause McCain to clean up in November.

We can’t have that.

Barely Political aired this report about the 2008 elections.

Special thanx to MAHAKALA

Kieth Olbermann has his say on Big Brother watching our communications.

With 17,000 jobs lost in January Georgie is waking up to the fact that the economy is worse than he talks about. The stimulus package he is touting will only be a drop in the bucket for what is needed. If Americans spend the money they will receive on American made goods it may be a good thing. If they spend it on electronics or other products made in foreign places it won’t be worth a thing for the economy.

Maybe if we bring our troops home and quit spending so much in Iraq the economy could heal quicker.

Bush spewed the rhetoric his handlers told him to. Story here.

The State Of The Union Address sounded like the last 6. Kinda like a KC and the Sunshine Band greatest hits album. The same old shit with new names. You know, like K-Tel’s offerings in the ’70’s and ’80’s TeeVee ads. Nothing thinking people want to hear. Just sappy drivel that may sell to the mentally challenged.

While babbling the reruns he tried to sell America that the State of the Union is strong. Issues addressed were tired old things like reforming Social Security, No Child Left behind and vouchers for schools. He called them “Pell Grants For Kids” but they are still just vouchers that will divert even more money from already underfunded public schools and giving the elite an upper hand.

Surprisingly he called for more support of clean energy and reducing dependancy on oil. I think this was just pandering to the green thinking populace and he really doesn’t care. Reducing the need for oil may hurt his income so I think it was just B.S..

Reforming “entitlement spending”, or social security, seemed to me to be about reducing benefits for those who have payed into this fund for life. Doesn’t sound at all like entitlement. Just getting back what you payed in.

Doubling federal border agents on the Mexican border and more fences were his solve all for immigration. He said we should take measures to make America unappealing. I wonder if that means lowering wages here so people wouldn’t want to come here to work.

When he started calling for more defense in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan Speaker Nancy Pelosi started to read disinterestedly. Watching Cheney and nancy sitting behind Bush was more enlightening than any of the crap spewing from his mouth. She showed disdain by her reading and I thought Dick was going to have heart failure from all the standing and sitting he endured. If he would have died it would have saved him the shame of impeachment. Now to get on with that. I hope.

While sending 3200 Marines to Afghanistan he called the elections there a success. I noticed that congresspersons on both sides of the aisle applauding. It’s not their kids over there fighting so I guess they can praise this louder. The surge in Iraq is working, he said, so we are bringing 20,000 soldiers home in the next few months. He seemed proud of this like he actually was bringing our kids home. Even with 20 thousand coming back there will still be too many US troops staying.

After he renamed the Iraq conflict “Protective Overwatch Mission”, basically admitting a long occupation is planned, his threats to Iran weren’t a surprise. If we keep soldiers there it will be easier to attack Iran short range. The attacks threatened because America will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf.

We need to “defend America’ by monitoring the peoples communication, he said. We will be in “great danger” if congress doesn’t reapprove the spying on America crap that expires February first. Heckuva way to protect us.

He claimed a 95% increase in veteran benefits funding in the last four years. To “meet the needs of a new war” says they are planning a new conflict. Probably with Iran.

All in all it was just rehash of the crap we have heard since the Bushman took office. Old babble mixed with not so new rhetoric. alQaida on the run, Katrina hero’s from ‘05, 2005’s Iraq elections (2503 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the “freedom” came in those elections) and the rehashing of “stopping terrorist plots” in 2002/03.

Just a talking head spewing his “greatest hits”.

Hits that didn’t sell the first time.

Like KC and the Sunshine Band there was no substance.

Tonight, President Bush will issue what will thankfully be his final State of the Union address; but, little of what he says can be trusted.

For the past seven years, we have watched as America has moved steadily backwards. We have become a nation that is less free and less fair. We have become a nation that no longer values the right to privacy and has tragically retreated from our cherished foundations.

Nothing George W. Bush says tonight will change the sad reality of the America he has given us:

- Our economy teeters on the edge of recession while property taxes spike and homeowners are losing their homes at record levels;

- Our educational system is broken and our teachers are abandoned;

- Our roads and bridges languish in disrepair, while our borders and ports remain under-inspected and insecure;

- Our most basic ideals about law and justice have been tossed out, as our President uses fear to pursue his reckless agenda; and

- We remain mired in Iraq – a war built on lies and manipulated intelligence.

Nowhere in American history - not even Watergate - have we been confronted with an Administration so ambivalent about the truth and established law. A recent nonpartisan study found that the Bush Administration lied over 900 times in the prelude to the Iraq war, misleading us on nearly every critical issue.

It is time that we reclaim this country and undue the damage wrought by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Democrats in Congress must stand up and lead – no matter the cost.

Dennis Kucinich is revoicing the call for impeachment today in the house. Maybe this time impeachment will be “Back On The Table”. Mike Gravel praised Kucinich in this report from Huffington Post.

Dennis Kucinich will again call for impeachment tomorrow. The State Of The Union is a lie. Msnbc Video.