You won't find Larry Craig here!

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What was the purpose...

...of (Democrats in) Congress calling for a report by Gen. Petraeus?

Is it the role of Congress to manage a war? To decide how troops should be rotated? I don't believe so.

Is it the role of Congress to investigate how funds it authorizes are being spent? You betcha.

When it comes to government programs created by Congress, it is up to them to decide whether to change those programs.

I believe when it comes to war Congress has two roles:

1. Authorize military action or declare war
   

2. Fund it. Or not.
   

Thus, if Congress, having authorized war (or not), does not believe it is in America's interest to continue the war as conducted by the Commander in Chief, they need to stop funding it.

Saying that this can't be done without endangering the troops is bullshit. I think if you remove the troops from Iraq, they will be in less danger. We're not talking about taking away their armor (you know, the armor that Bush and Rumsfeld didn't give them).

There is only one candidate for president currently in Congress who has had the balls to vote against funding this war, Dennis Kucinich. Mike Gravel and Bill Richardson have also called for pulling all troops out of Iraq. These are the only candidates for president taking this position.

We know the Democratic leadership can't muster enough votes to end the war. But trying to monkey around with it won't help. This is not a place for pragmatic compromise or tricks to try affecting the conduct of the war. Either take a real position or don't bother.

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Don't call it that!

I'm sick of hearing politicians, and reading editorials, decrying the spending of American "blood and treasure" in Iraq. Oh yes, it's a very poetic phrase. Google "'blood and treasure' + Iraq" and you'll get a quarter million hits. Everyone just loves that phrase.

It plays into the unreality of a war orchestrated by people who don't live in the real world I inhabit, funded by a Congress that, ditto.

Call it what it is --

LIVES: Lives lost, lives interrupted, lives forever altered.

MONEY: My money, your money. I don't have any "treasure." I have money. And less of it.

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Rudy Jumps Down, Spins

Rudy logic:

• MoveOn is critical of General Petraeus.


• Hillary Clinton is critical of General Petraeus.


• Ergo Hillary is defending MoveOn

My logic:

• Rudy put the NYC emergency commend/control center in a complex (WTC) that had previously been attacked by terrorists


• Rudy oversaw a city whose police communication system couldn't talk to the fire communication system, resulting in more mayhem and deaths on Sept. 11


• Rudy took no action to anticipate or deal with potential health problems of salvage workers at ground zero


• Rudy put forward a corrupt candidate for Director of Homeland Security


• Ergo, Rudy is about the last person in America we should trust to protect us
  

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If You Hate Us

I passed this uniquely American megachurch on the way to the Dayton airport this afternoon. Flying, on September 11, from the town where the Wright Brothers worked, made me reflect on this country and what it means to me.

Are we imperialists? Capitalists who put money ahead of our environment and safety? Overfed whiney childlike adults? The land of excess? Sure. But we are so much more that is good for us and the world. And, fuck it, it's my country.

So, please, criticize and protest, whether a US citizen or a world citizen. But if you hate us so much that you would wish us harm, please:

• Get off my internet. My military created it with my tax dollars.
• Stop using GPS. My military created it with my tax dollars.
• Don't use airplanes -- we invented them.
• Don't use telephones - we invented them.
• Don't look at TV - we invented that.
• Oh, yeah, don't turn on the light. You guessed it.
• No McDonald's for you.
• And for God's sake, don't wear Nikes and NBA jerseys while you're shouting "Death to America." It makes you look pathetic.
  

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