Monday, January 29, 2007

Common Ground

No, this is not about the charity Common Ground, but about some common ground between the US and Iraq.

It seems that as different as the two nations are in many aspects, they do have some things in common, and not necessarily in a good way.
The US has its Dispensationalist Christians that want to 'immanentized the Eschaton' who want to accomplish the same via proxy via Israel or directly with US military invlovment in the Middle East. I long thought that this was a phenomenon was limited just to certain US religious circles. It seems that Iraq has at least one group that wants to do their own 'immanetizing of the Eschaton'. The group that recently attacked Najaf wasn't just some Shia group out to wreack havoac on Shiites, but were in fact memers of a messianic cult bent on bringing about the rise of the Islamic Messiah:
NAJAF, Iraq (CNN) -- Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other top Shiite religious figures were the apparent targets of a plot by a Muslim messianic cult intent on seizing the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraqi officials said.

The plot was thwarted by an intense battle that began early Sunday when Iraqi police and troops were dispatched to go after the insurgents. U.S. forces took the lead Monday as the fighting wound down, an Iraqi police official said.
The cult believed their plan to seize the Shiite holy city and assassinate top Shiite clerics would bring about the coming of the Mehdi, a Muslim messiah, the official said.
Col. Ali Jraiwi said the insurgents detained after Sunday's fighting told Najaf police they are members of a group called "Soldiers of Heaven" and are a mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Cult Plotted Attack on Shiite Clerics, Iraqis Say


(Note the last bit "a mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims". Well, at least there is something that the two groups can agree on.)

A big difference between the American and Iraqi 'immanetizeres' is that the Iraqis are willing to die for their immanetization, but the Americans are just willing to get others killed for their END resutls

For more about Immanetizing the Eschaton, read:

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Must be nice to live in a state of denial

Veep-creep Cheney says that there have been NO blunders in Iraq.

Now, I can understand a desire to paint things as rosey as they can, but does this man really believe that there have been NO blunders in Iraq???
Cheney: Talk of blunders in Iraq is 'hogwash':
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, conducted a day after Bush delivered his State of the Union address, Cheney was asked to respond to some Republicans in Congress who "are now seriously questioning your credibility, because of the blunders and the failures."

To that, Cheney answered, "Wolf, Wolf, I simply don't accept the premise of your question. I just think it's hogwash."

Come on, 'dead-eye' Dick, can't you even admit that the blanket removal of ALL Baathists from their government posts was an abject failure? This damage done with this move is still felt throughout Iraq? Can't you even admit that the move to boost the # of troops should have been done at the start of the war??? I KNOW you'd never admit that the intel was a bungled fiasco!

What is scary, is Cheney claims that Saddam would be in a nuclear arms race right now if he were still in power. Um, Veep, don't you understand, you need more than just a few irrigation pipes to build a nuclear program, let alone developing nuclear weapons.

These guys just won't let go of this whole "Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction' bit. It has been debunked repeatedly, Dick. Pay attention to news other than your buddies at Fox every once in a while...

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

MORE TAX CUTS FOR ME!!!!

Yes, great news for me and my family of 5. WE GET A TAX CUT! Just because I have health insurance through my job (as does my wife)!!

Damned, makes me feel so special! Another 15K of my income will be TAX FREE! yippie!

For those who missed it, Bush's solution to the health care crisis is to give americans a new DEDUCTION to take when we fill out our tax forms! Oh, that just makes me feel so warm and fuzzy all over!
From Bush's speech:
Tonight, I propose two new initiatives to help more Americans afford their own insurance. First, I propose a standard tax deduction for health insurance that will be like the standard tax deduction for dependents. Families with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $7,500 of their income. With this reform, more than 100 million men, women, and children who are now covered by employer-provided insurance will benefit from lower tax bills. (Watch Bush propose health care initiatives Video)

At the same time, this reform will level the playing field for those who do not get health insurance through their job. For Americans who now purchase health insurance on their own, my proposal would mean a substantial tax savings -- $4,500 for a family of four making $60,000 a year. And for the millions of other Americans who have no health insurance at all, this deduction would help put a basic private health insurance plan within their reach. Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making health care affordable for more Americans.


Just how the heck is it supposed to help the millions of Americans get health insurance is beyond me! An uninsured family of 4 making $60K will get an extra $4500 in tax savings. BUT, this sounds like it will only come at tax time. How will that help a family pay the FULL premium for health insurance every month???

All that Dubya's plan does is give tax breaks. It does nothing to help stem the rising costs that Americans are paying.

My random thoughts during the speech.

OK, here are my random thoughts while the speech was in progress. Forgive grammar and spelling issues. A more coherent post will come later:



The State of the Union.

Not as smug look on his face as last year at this time.... interesting how a dish of humble pie served up by the voters this past November can change a man!

Sucking up to the women and the Democrats right out of the gate.

Nice touch, mentioning Johnson and Norwood. I do hope they both make a speedy recovery.

Determined enemies... on and on with that theme.

Economy on the move, but for whom! Wages up, but healthcare costs rising faster.

Oh, Now he wants to balance the budget...... took him 6 years but he realizes there's a problem!

Eliminates the Federal deficit in 5 years?? BULLSHIT, not with billions being spent in Iraq. Earmarks increased with the Republicans.

McCain looks smug as ell as if HE wrote that....

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid reform.
NCLB getting a lot of attention, but his budget proposals have made major cuts the past two years.

NCLB and tons of unfunded mandates. Will he fund it now?? No mention of funding for NCLB, just reauthorization..

Healthcare: TAX DEDUCTIONS!! Is that his answer to everything??? How does a tax deduction help!

Price transparency??? how about some transparency in how the Whitehouse handles the creation of public policy!


Immigration: Temprary worker program.... that won't go anywhere. Enforce at the workplace, (but only at certain companies)

Resolve status of illegal workers without animosity and without amnesty.....

Stable supply of energy.. and a stable supply of $$ for his friends.

CLEAN, SAFE NUCLEAR POWER??????

Reduce gasoline usage by 20% in 10 years..... (not a very lofty goal for such a long period of time)

More research on Alt fuels...
Oh, the congressman from Ohio loves it.. more profits for corn farmers, (but corn-based ethanol is NOT very efficient)

Oh, climate change... how about signing the Kyoto Accord!!

Fair and impartial: sure, how about recinding the patriot act for starters.

Protecting America: “to win the war we must take the fight to the enemy” (then why the frick are we in Iraq???)

OK, PROOF of these alleged plots!! I bet he has the same level of proof for these acts as he did for Iraq having WMDs!


He is turning this into a war against Islam with this rhetoric of Sunnis this and Shias that..


He still misses the point about what drives people to joining the terrorists.

Not the fight we joined but the fight we are in... how about calling the fight we helped to create!

And didn't he just describe a civil war?? (re comments about Sunnis bombing Shia mosque and the Shia retaliation and the continued escalation)

he still doesn't get it. Al Qeada would NOT be in Iraq if WE hadn't gone in their first!!. HE created this problem. We should have focused on Afghanistan and fought the terrorists THERE, not create other battlefields for them.


He keeps saying the Sunni's are allied with Al Q, but Bin Laden wanted the Sunni rule in Iraq to END!

Support the troops... great rallying cry that means NOTHING. He labels ANY dissent to his policies as NOT supporting the troops.

Building up the number of US troops... 92K increase. Questions:
1: where will the $$ come from to pay and equip them?
2: Where will the recruits come from??? They can't meet quotas now!

So, he wants a sort of volunteer corps??? To me, it sounded like an antithesis of the PEACE CORPS..

Fund the Millennium challenge, supporting democracies where democracy increasing and corrupting retreating.... wow, money for Washington DC!!

and over.....


OK, Money for AIDS, malaria, a larger military, money for alt fuels research, money for emerging democracies, another tax deduction, no increase in taxes, and a balanced budget to boot!!

Prepping for the State of the Union Address

Well, here it come! Domestic issues to be the focus of the speech, including asking the nation to curtail use of gasoline. by 20% in 10 years. Imagine all of the gas we could save if we didn't have to keep flying wounded soldiers out of Iraq to Germany and the US.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

WAR:GOOD! MEDICAL RESEARCH: BAD!!!!


So, acting on the WILL OF THE PEOPLE, the House passed the stem-cell bill. Now, GWB is threatening to veto the bill. Kind of Ironinc that a man who just last night asked this nation to send 20,000 more troops into Iraq to kill and/or be killed is against medical research that hs the potential to improve and or save lives.

So the Bush administration, which claims that human life is sacred, is willing to sending MORE troops into the middle of a civil war to be potentially killed and the lives of the millions of lives to be saved from stem cell research are not worth anything.

Rice and Fox sitting in a tree....


K-I-S-S-I-N-G......
First comes Iraq, next Syria
then come georgie bombing North Kor-eea!



Condi Rice love Fox News!
Rice 'loves' Fox News

Ok, so it is not really news. I mean there is a mutual love kinda thing going on between Fox and the BuSh administration. (recall Veep Cheney's requirement that ALL tvs in his hotel room be turned to Fox News) But for the Secretary of State to say: "My Fox guys, I love every single one of them" is just somehow not very dignified, not to mention a public servant of her stature stating her prefernce for one news organization over another.

Deer in the headlights?

George W. TRIED to make his case for increasing the # of targets available to Iraqi insurgents last night. I say try, because he clearly failed to make a convincing case. He started off by talking about what his plans were for 2006 and how they failed miserably. Now he expects us to believe that this new plan is a well designed one, designed to bring us victory. Who is he kidding?At times it looked like he didn't even believe his line of bullshit.This so-called surge is an INCREASE: an increase in insurgent targets, an increase in the profits of the contractors supplying the US Military, and increase the number of families left without a loved one.