Widgets For Peace

Please post this widget around your personal web world. The code is available here. This is a great educational tool to continue rallying support for Senator Feingold's plan (endorsed by the CU College Dems) to end the war in Iraq.




Perhaps another example of the Dems' superiority on the web.

No Go for Joe

As a Sabbath-observant Jew myself, I have nothing but respect for Senator Lieberman's (I-CT) decision to put his faith first over the years, refusing to, among other things, campaign on the Sabbath, and voting in Congress only when absolutely crucial - that is, to say, when lives are on the line. You can imagine my dismay, then, when I read that this past Saturday "Joementum" walked to the Hill to cast a vote against allowing for debate of a non-binding Senate resolution symbolically opposing the McCain-endorsed escalation of the War in Iraq. Apparently, Lieberman feels so strongly that any Congressional debate of our increasingly murky mission in Iraq would give comfort to the enemy that he's willing to violate the sanctity of the Sabbath to keep his colleagues from so much as opening discussion as to the efficacy of an American mission that has left 3000 of our own servicemen and women dead, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children. For shame, Joe, for shame.

Nadler: Use the Power of the Purse

Representative Nadler gave a long speech against the war, the escalation, and the pathetic lack of resolve from Congress on the floor of the House today. Crooks and Liars has video, as usual.

" In the Supplemental Budget we will consider next month, we should exercise the only real power we have - the Congressional power of the purse. We will not cut off the funds, and leave our troops defenseless before the enemy, as the demagogues would imply, but we should limit the use of the funds we provide to protecting the troops while they are in Iraq and to withdrawing them on a timetable mandated in the law. We should provide funds to rebuild the army and to raise our readiness levels, for diplomatic conferences in case there is any possibility of negotiating an end to the Iraqi civil war, and for economic reconstruction assistance, but above all, we must use the power of the purse to mandate a timetable to withdraw our troops from Iraq.

"We must use the power the people have entrusted to us. The best way to protect our troops is to withdraw them from the middle of a civil war they cannot win, and that is not our fight.

"I know that, if we withdraw the troops, the civil war may continue and could get worse. But this is probably inevitable, no matter how long our troops remain. And if the Iraqis must fight a civil war, I would rather they fight it without 20,000 more Americans dying.

"Yes, the blindness of the Administration is largely to blame for starting the civil war in Iraq, but we cannot end it. Only the Iraqis can settle their civil war. We can only make it worse, and waste our blood and treasure pointlessly."

Another element of the war...

One problem with the war that has received a great deal of attention with the forward-thinking Dems body as we discussed our unified position on Iraq is that of regional instability. The war itself has led to enormous regional instability, and we felt that any plan we endorsed would have to address that. It is, therefore, sadly inappropriate that--on the very night that we chose to endorse a position--news of just such instability came out of Iran. A bus bombing killed eighteen people a few hours ago in Iran. Yes, that's IraN. Bush's mishandling of this debacle seems to be pushing us ever closer to a protracted regional conflict in a region prone to disastrous conflicts. Whether Douglas MacArthur really said it or not, the Princess Bride was almost certainly right about the follies of a land war in Asia.

Gallup: People want Congressional action

Gallup has a new poll out showing that the majority of people would like to see a binding timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, just like the Columbia Democrats. Not surprisingly, they also give a decidedly lukewarm response to the idea of a "nonbinding" resolution (feckless is a more appropriate adjective) that effectively does nothing to bring the troops home. Clearly, the American people are sick of useless, symbolic gestures of disapproval from all involved and are ready to see Congress take legislative action to stop the war. A majority has long thought that the war itself was a bad idea; now they want the Democrats in Congress to find a way out, and that is just what they are going to do.

Direct from the Quagmire

What to do, what to do? Democrats won the elections in the fall largely because of the whole country being so fed up with the hideous Republican strategy for democratizing Iraq. But I am really concerned over the lack of concrete action that has been taken. This past week, the Dems were being a "symbolic, nonbinding resolution" criticizing the White House's usual lack of responsibility and common sense. Why is it that the Democrats haven't pushed anything significant through? It's my sincere hope that next week--during the 36-hours allotted for discussion which allows every single Democrat to talk about Iraq for 5 minutes--some type of conclusion will be reached. There's not enough time to waffle around on this issue, for every day gets the USA more and more involved in an irreconcilable ethno-religious conflict.

At least the Dems realize that they need to get their act together, with Pelosi stating the obvious:

The people “called for a new direction,” Ms. Pelosi said, “and no place do they want that direction to be more clear than in the war in Iraq.”

But then there's always the concern of getting whatever materialized resolution through to the executive branch before Bush vetoes it. The Republicans are on to this:

“They are now in the majority,” said Representative Adam H. Putnam of Florida, the chairman of the Republican Conference. “They finally have the opportunity to change policy and they are putting up a sense of the Congress resolution, which is worth about as much as the parchment it’s printed on.”

Welcome to politics, ladies and gentlemen. The sad fact is that anything coming out of the house is unlikely make it all the way though. The Senate seems even more unsure about what to do. Then what's to do? Hold out on the financing. The power of the purse seems to be the only realistic approach for the time being, as Rep. Nadler highlights,

“The president is not going to listen to anything we have to say,” Mr. Nadler said later in an interview. “There’s nothing we can do to stop him unless it’s the real consequence — the power of the purse.”

And does that really accomplish all that much?

McCain a tool and other Republican nonsense

It looks like next week is the battle royale for Iraq policy. After Obama's orgasmic speech rallied all of us yesterday, here comes the parade of idiots to bring it all down. And who's leading the march? Why no other than Sen. McCain!

While the lollygaggers aren't voting on Obama's in the works binding resolution, they're planning on voting down the non-binding resolutions. Why? Well, “We all know the world is watching,” said Senator Saxby Chambliss, Republican of Georgia. Go drink your mint julep and shut up. Yes, the whole world is watching. And yes, the whole world will think that that you all are still the most short-sighted, out of touch, idiotic party around. Looks like it's going to be chaos in the halls of the Senate come next week. Expect intense debate and wonderful speeches from presidential candidates.

Hooray democracy.

Obama - US Out of Iraq by Apr. 2008

For those who claim the Democrats don't have a plan on Iraq, Senators Obama and Feingold proved today that we've got at least two.

Obama today offered a comprehensive bill that would mandate a phased redeployment of our combat troops in Iraq, to begin no later than May 1, 2007 and to end no later than March 31, 2008. Full text isn't up yet, but Obama's senate site has a nice summary, including the bill's aim and proposed benchmarks. The bill also (thankfully) prevents any escalation by capping the number of troops in Iraq and the number there on 1/10/07. My favorite part is something so gosh-darn common sense, it's almost criminal that it has yet to be enacted as law:

Congressional oversight: Requires the President to submit reports to Congress every 90 days describing and assessing the Iraqi government's progress in meeting benchmarks and the redeployment goals.

Expect to see more on Obama's plan as the week unfolds.

Senator Feingold is taking a bit of a different tack, proposing (though not offering) a bill that would end all financing for combat operations in Iraq effective six months after the bill's passage. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of this approach; while it certainly forces the President to act, it seems like a bit of a cop out to set a ticking clock and then just walk away. There's definitely some appeal to telling Bush, "You made the mess, so you clean it up", but can we really trust the Blunderer-in-chief to put the pieces back together on his own?

Speaker Pelosi, fresh off her trip to the region, chimed in today in favor of a rapid redeployment of US troops in Iraq. While not a plan, per se, this is definitely a promising development.

No matter who comes out on top, one thing is looking increasingly certain - sooner rather than later, our boys are coming home. (And women, of course. But it's an expression, ok?)

A little thing called history...and other protest observations

One of the more amusing and satisfying parts of the protest on Saturday (by the way, I do not believe the police crowd estimates. I bet there were a little over 100,000 there, but what do I know: I just was in it, that's all...) was the counter-demonstration on one side of the Capitol. About 15 counter-demonstrators were present as we walked by, holding up signs with rather generic slogans like "Hippies Smell." However, the funniest part of the counter-demonstration were the posters that had a picture of Saddam Hussein hanging. The caption? Sic Semper Tyrannis.

Sic Semper Tyrannis is the state motto of Virginia, and translates from Latin as "thus always to tyrants." To history students, though, the phrase is much better known as the words John Wilkes Booth shouted after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln (that first Republican tyrant who tried to, you know, free the slaves). Note to protestors: if you have a catchy Latin phrase, try Googling it first to see its meaning before you slap it on a poster.

In other protest news:
1. About 30 minutes beforehand, a group of anarchists marched past a group of us, going down seventh street. They had their customary black outfits...and a black and pink flag (call the fashion police!). They were led down 7th street, completely away from the White House which they claimed to be going to. It was a rather amusing sight, and I hope they all fell into the Potomac.

2. I would have to echo Bwog's sentiments: who cares about Jane Fonda? It seems to me that if she hurt the Vietnam anti-war movement with her ditzy dumbness, then she probably isn't gonna do this anti-war movement any favors.

3. And in parade route news, the original route called for the entire march to make a U-Turn in front of the Supreme Court (behind the Capitol). Not only is it rather silly to expect a whole march to turn around in the middle of the block, but it seems the Judicial Branch

General message to snobbish old protestors who complain about us compared to '68: if you're gonna be idiotic enough to not only invite Jane Fonda, but also expect a parade to make a u-turn, then stop organizing these things and let us take over. Young people deserve to have a voice at these events, and instead we got stuck listening to by-gone preachers, insufferable actors, and generally boring speakers. How can you expect a person to express him or herself if you give them no voice to do so?

Protest Coverage

Washington Post article on student anti-war coalition building and the Saturday protest. There's a nice mention of the Columbia University contingent with a quote from David Judd. Bwog also covered our trip. There is a great video of the protest on youtube.

The Senate Foriegn Relation Committee voted on quite the partisan resolution yesterday. In a move to show how much they dispise the escalation plan in Iraq, they actually voted on a resolution to condemn President Bush's plan. The best part? It passed 12-9, with Sen. Hegel joining the the rest of Chairman Biden's Contingent for the Force of Good, ie Democrats.

Meanwhile with Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room, none other then Cheney was being interviewed about Iraq. Blitzer described him as "in a word, defiant, saying about the idea of any kind of resolution from the Senate, quote, 'It won't stop us.'" Here's a money quote from Cheney, "We are moving forward. The Congress has control over the purse strings. They have the right, obviously, if they want to cut off funding, but in terms of this effort the President has made his decision and I think it's far too soon for the talking heads on television to conclude that it's impossible to do."

Give me a break. Sorry that your grand strategy failed in its beginnings, failed in its mission, and continues to fail today. Such failure would normally mean a change in a policy. It's like the Bush administration is a kid that keeps touching a hot stove, but never learns that the stove is HOT. It will burn your hand. So either quit touching it or get an oven mitt. It is amazing how out of touch these people really are.

Lukewarm reception ahead

Tomorrow night Bush will give his State of the Union Address, but how will the Congress and Americans respond? Judging from the election results, end of the 100 Hour Plan and Bush's overwhelming opposition to the will of the American people, it looks like the response is set to be cool.

Aside from Democrats being in control of both chambers of Congress, Republicans aren't exactly excited about their leader's political tactics. Case in point: the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which saw Senators Snowe and Hegel siding with Democrats over the ridiculous troop surge idea. Standing ovations should be rare. And having Speaker Pelosi sitting behind Bush in the direct view of the camera will be awesome--opposition will be there for all viewers to see at all times.

Apparently Bush is set to discuss alternative energy (nuclear, ethanol (BOOOO), hybrid cars, etc). I suppose he finally went back on his prediction that the war in Iraq would make oil prices cheaper.