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December 29, 2005
Friday, January 07, 2005
Friday's Links
Activism
Send a letter of support to Barbara Boxer. She stood up and voted for what she thought was right - debate on the validity of the Ohio vote. Read here statement here. Did anything come of it? Well, the vote still went through, as expected, but at least there was discussion, for once. Maybe this will lay the groundwork for future reform. Regardless, she was the only Senator to object (final vote: 74-1), and she deserves your support for sticking to her guns and fighting to have every vote counted, even if it wasn't politically convenient. Write her a letter telling her you're impressed, and while you're at it, write YOUR Senator and tell them you're upset they didn't voter with Boxer.
News
Pentagon Scales Back Arms Plans. Hey, that silly war costs a lot of money! And it's money that could be paying for advanced weapons development, and modernizing our troops, but instead it turns out the troops need basic supplies like armor. (It's about time they started supplying that.) Our favorite quote from the article is from a former member of Rumsfeld's team: "No one had anticipated that the cost of Iraq would continue to grow like [this]...clearly they are concerned about the deficit on one hand and Iraq on the other." If only people had had the foresight to see that Bush's policies would result in a growing deficit and an expensive, never-ending war. Oh, wait, some people did, but who needs people like that running the country? You know, people who have a coherent plan for defending the nation? Here at Still Fighting, we like to call those people "leaders", but clearly there's no room for them in the White House. Heaven forbid our military is needed to fight on another front right now.
White House memo: Pitch Social Security doom. This article (and this one) just confirms what we've known to be Bush and company's M.O. for quite a while now: 1) Have a hidden ultra-conservative agenda. (Kill Saddam, Eliminate Social Security.) 2) Make up some impending catastrophe that is remotely related to that agenda. (WMDs, Fiscal Insolvency). 3) Lie to the American public nonstop about the likelihood and urgency of said catastrophe. 4) Carry out agenda, ultimately weakening America. How can we stop them? By fighting tooth and nail, and making sure our representatives remain unified against this absurd plan.
General Says Army Reserve Is Becoming a 'Broken' Force. But, hey, Donny Rumsfeld is doing a great job! There are no excuses any more. It's all out in the open - our military is being stretched incredibly thin as a result of this ill-conceived war, but worst of all, there doesn't seem to be any plan for adjustment. As we mentioned above, should our Reservists (there are 37,515 out of 200,366 soldiers remaining) be required to, say, fight for an extended time in North Korea, or Iran, or Syria, somewhere else, what would we do? How is Bush going to fix the Army without extra money? Something's gotta give - fiscal solvency, the war in Iraq, or the security of our country. Anyone have a good answer? How about admitting there's a problem, for one?
Editorials
Remember when you were a kid, and someone would tell you something you didn't want to hear (for example, "Time for bed!"). You'd throw a tantrum, maybe even cry. And your parents would put you to bed regardless, and eventually, you learned that there are some things you just can't complain about, because they are facts. Well, maybe George H.W. and Barbara should have more strongly enforced Dubya's bedtime, because he doesn't want to hear bad news. You read that correctly. According to the Nelson Report, via Al Franken, the leader of the free world, and arguably the most powerful person on the planet, does not want to hear that something isn't going his way. We don't even know where to begin with this - clearly, you cannot just avoid information. Then again, maybe he can. He's only here for another four years. Maybe he's just hoping that the "bad news" problems will go away for a little while, and he won't have to deal with them. In the words of a wise sage, this is "ridonkulous."
Ah, Thomas Friedman. Where would we be without your objectivity? In his latest column, he makes a sensible argument for maintaining the date for the January 30th elections. He doesn't say that it will be easy (and we all know it won't, especially with the U.S. airlifting all of the election materials and equipment a mere ten days before the election), but the alternative is worse. Bush has squandered every chance he's had to show the Islam world the "good" America, from Abu Ghraib, to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, to terming Iraq an "occupation," to his initial stinginess with relief funds for the tsunami disaster. Ensuring that elections will go on as scheduled on January 30th may be one small step in the right direction.
And speaking of disaster relief, Richard Cohen has a new article up, detailing why Bush is so unloved around the world. He says that it is not because of our stinginess, but rather our policies. The terrorist attacks were a response to our policies in the Middle East, and not because radical Islamics cannot abide our freedom. Wesley Clark (Prez in 2008?) was on Hardball this week, and he discussed how disaster relief is not a partisan issue - in this, Bush represented the country, not Republican interests, and he failed miserably. We find ourselves hard-pressed to disagree with him. This was yet another opportunity for Bush to show unity in the country, to "reach out to the whole nation," as he said in his acceptance speech last November. Yet, once again, the President could not, or would not, rise to the occasion. We can only hope that the rest of the world realizes that while Bush may speak for America, he does not speak for all of us. Special thanks to Juan Contreras for this link.
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December 29, 2005
Friday, January 07, 2005
Friday's Links
Activism
Send a letter of support to Barbara Boxer. She stood up and voted for what she thought was right - debate on the validity of the Ohio vote. Read here statement here. Did anything come of it? Well, the vote still went through, as expected, but at least there was discussion, for once. Maybe this will lay the groundwork for future reform. Regardless, she was the only Senator to object (final vote: 74-1), and she deserves your support for sticking to her guns and fighting to have every vote counted, even if it wasn't politically convenient. Write her a letter telling her you're impressed, and while you're at it, write YOUR Senator and tell them you're upset they didn't voter with Boxer.
News
Pentagon Scales Back Arms Plans. Hey, that silly war costs a lot of money! And it's money that could be paying for advanced weapons development, and modernizing our troops, but instead it turns out the troops need basic supplies like armor. (It's about time they started supplying that.) Our favorite quote from the article is from a former member of Rumsfeld's team: "No one had anticipated that the cost of Iraq would continue to grow like [this]...clearly they are concerned about the deficit on one hand and Iraq on the other." If only people had had the foresight to see that Bush's policies would result in a growing deficit and an expensive, never-ending war. Oh, wait, some people did, but who needs people like that running the country? You know, people who have a coherent plan for defending the nation? Here at Still Fighting, we like to call those people "leaders", but clearly there's no room for them in the White House. Heaven forbid our military is needed to fight on another front right now.
White House memo: Pitch Social Security doom. This article (and this one) just confirms what we've known to be Bush and company's M.O. for quite a while now: 1) Have a hidden ultra-conservative agenda. (Kill Saddam, Eliminate Social Security.) 2) Make up some impending catastrophe that is remotely related to that agenda. (WMDs, Fiscal Insolvency). 3) Lie to the American public nonstop about the likelihood and urgency of said catastrophe. 4) Carry out agenda, ultimately weakening America. How can we stop them? By fighting tooth and nail, and making sure our representatives remain unified against this absurd plan.
General Says Army Reserve Is Becoming a 'Broken' Force. But, hey, Donny Rumsfeld is doing a great job! There are no excuses any more. It's all out in the open - our military is being stretched incredibly thin as a result of this ill-conceived war, but worst of all, there doesn't seem to be any plan for adjustment. As we mentioned above, should our Reservists (there are 37,515 out of 200,366 soldiers remaining) be required to, say, fight for an extended time in North Korea, or Iran, or Syria, somewhere else, what would we do? How is Bush going to fix the Army without extra money? Something's gotta give - fiscal solvency, the war in Iraq, or the security of our country. Anyone have a good answer? How about admitting there's a problem, for one?
Editorials
Remember when you were a kid, and someone would tell you something you didn't want to hear (for example, "Time for bed!"). You'd throw a tantrum, maybe even cry. And your parents would put you to bed regardless, and eventually, you learned that there are some things you just can't complain about, because they are facts. Well, maybe George H.W. and Barbara should have more strongly enforced Dubya's bedtime, because he doesn't want to hear bad news. You read that correctly. According to the Nelson Report, via Al Franken, the leader of the free world, and arguably the most powerful person on the planet, does not want to hear that something isn't going his way. We don't even know where to begin with this - clearly, you cannot just avoid information. Then again, maybe he can. He's only here for another four years. Maybe he's just hoping that the "bad news" problems will go away for a little while, and he won't have to deal with them. In the words of a wise sage, this is "ridonkulous."
Ah, Thomas Friedman. Where would we be without your objectivity? In his latest column, he makes a sensible argument for maintaining the date for the January 30th elections. He doesn't say that it will be easy (and we all know it won't, especially with the U.S. airlifting all of the election materials and equipment a mere ten days before the election), but the alternative is worse. Bush has squandered every chance he's had to show the Islam world the "good" America, from Abu Ghraib, to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, to terming Iraq an "occupation," to his initial stinginess with relief funds for the tsunami disaster. Ensuring that elections will go on as scheduled on January 30th may be one small step in the right direction.
And speaking of disaster relief, Richard Cohen has a new article up, detailing why Bush is so unloved around the world. He says that it is not because of our stinginess, but rather our policies. The terrorist attacks were a response to our policies in the Middle East, and not because radical Islamics cannot abide our freedom. Wesley Clark (Prez in 2008?) was on Hardball this week, and he discussed how disaster relief is not a partisan issue - in this, Bush represented the country, not Republican interests, and he failed miserably. We find ourselves hard-pressed to disagree with him. This was yet another opportunity for Bush to show unity in the country, to "reach out to the whole nation," as he said in his acceptance speech last November. Yet, once again, the President could not, or would not, rise to the occasion. We can only hope that the rest of the world realizes that while Bush may speak for America, he does not speak for all of us. Special thanks to Juan Contreras for this link.
|
December 29, 2005
Send a letter of support to Barbara Boxer. She stood up and voted for what she thought was right - debate on the validity of the Ohio vote. Read here statement here. Did anything come of it? Well, the vote still went through, as expected, but at least there was discussion, for once. Maybe this will lay the groundwork for future reform. Regardless, she was the only Senator to object (final vote: 74-1), and she deserves your support for sticking to her guns and fighting to have every vote counted, even if it wasn't politically convenient. Write her a letter telling her you're impressed, and while you're at it, write YOUR Senator and tell them you're upset they didn't voter with Boxer.
News
Pentagon Scales Back Arms Plans. Hey, that silly war costs a lot of money! And it's money that could be paying for advanced weapons development, and modernizing our troops, but instead it turns out the troops need basic supplies like armor. (It's about time they started supplying that.) Our favorite quote from the article is from a former member of Rumsfeld's team: "No one had anticipated that the cost of Iraq would continue to grow like [this]...clearly they are concerned about the deficit on one hand and Iraq on the other." If only people had had the foresight to see that Bush's policies would result in a growing deficit and an expensive, never-ending war. Oh, wait, some people did, but who needs people like that running the country? You know, people who have a coherent plan for defending the nation? Here at Still Fighting, we like to call those people "leaders", but clearly there's no room for them in the White House. Heaven forbid our military is needed to fight on another front right now.
White House memo: Pitch Social Security doom. This article (and this one) just confirms what we've known to be Bush and company's M.O. for quite a while now: 1) Have a hidden ultra-conservative agenda. (Kill Saddam, Eliminate Social Security.) 2) Make up some impending catastrophe that is remotely related to that agenda. (WMDs, Fiscal Insolvency). 3) Lie to the American public nonstop about the likelihood and urgency of said catastrophe. 4) Carry out agenda, ultimately weakening America. How can we stop them? By fighting tooth and nail, and making sure our representatives remain unified against this absurd plan.
General Says Army Reserve Is Becoming a 'Broken' Force. But, hey, Donny Rumsfeld is doing a great job! There are no excuses any more. It's all out in the open - our military is being stretched incredibly thin as a result of this ill-conceived war, but worst of all, there doesn't seem to be any plan for adjustment. As we mentioned above, should our Reservists (there are 37,515 out of 200,366 soldiers remaining) be required to, say, fight for an extended time in North Korea, or Iran, or Syria, somewhere else, what would we do? How is Bush going to fix the Army without extra money? Something's gotta give - fiscal solvency, the war in Iraq, or the security of our country. Anyone have a good answer? How about admitting there's a problem, for one?
Editorials
Remember when you were a kid, and someone would tell you something you didn't want to hear (for example, "Time for bed!"). You'd throw a tantrum, maybe even cry. And your parents would put you to bed regardless, and eventually, you learned that there are some things you just can't complain about, because they are facts. Well, maybe George H.W. and Barbara should have more strongly enforced Dubya's bedtime, because he doesn't want to hear bad news. You read that correctly. According to the Nelson Report, via Al Franken, the leader of the free world, and arguably the most powerful person on the planet, does not want to hear that something isn't going his way. We don't even know where to begin with this - clearly, you cannot just avoid information. Then again, maybe he can. He's only here for another four years. Maybe he's just hoping that the "bad news" problems will go away for a little while, and he won't have to deal with them. In the words of a wise sage, this is "ridonkulous."
Ah, Thomas Friedman. Where would we be without your objectivity? In his latest column, he makes a sensible argument for maintaining the date for the January 30th elections. He doesn't say that it will be easy (and we all know it won't, especially with the U.S. airlifting all of the election materials and equipment a mere ten days before the election), but the alternative is worse. Bush has squandered every chance he's had to show the Islam world the "good" America, from Abu Ghraib, to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, to terming Iraq an "occupation," to his initial stinginess with relief funds for the tsunami disaster. Ensuring that elections will go on as scheduled on January 30th may be one small step in the right direction.
And speaking of disaster relief, Richard Cohen has a new article up, detailing why Bush is so unloved around the world. He says that it is not because of our stinginess, but rather our policies. The terrorist attacks were a response to our policies in the Middle East, and not because radical Islamics cannot abide our freedom. Wesley Clark (Prez in 2008?) was on Hardball this week, and he discussed how disaster relief is not a partisan issue - in this, Bush represented the country, not Republican interests, and he failed miserably. We find ourselves hard-pressed to disagree with him. This was yet another opportunity for Bush to show unity in the country, to "reach out to the whole nation," as he said in his acceptance speech last November. Yet, once again, the President could not, or would not, rise to the occasion. We can only hope that the rest of the world realizes that while Bush may speak for America, he does not speak for all of us. Special thanks to Juan Contreras for this link.
