Bush lacks strategy to wipe out bin Laden sanctuary in Pakistan

Bush lacks. That says it all. The GAO, as reported by McClatcheyNews, says that Bush lacks a strategy to wipe out the bin Laden sanctuary in Pakistan. The article begins:

WASHINGTON — Even as it faces an enduring terrorist threat and rising violence in Afghanistan, the Bush administration has failed to develop a comprehensive plan to eliminate al Qaida and its sanctuary in Pakistan's remote tribal region, the investigative arm of Congress said Thursday.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office's scathing report says that the administration has relied too heavily on Pakistani security forces to deal with a major U.S. national-security problem.

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The fool. The tragedy, the blood, the money wasted by this incompetent man. How does he manage to get up each morning and look at himself in the mirror?

Colombian Flower Workers: Mother's Day Campaign

Show your love for working mothers this Mother’s Day!

Instead of getting your mom chocolates or flowers again this year, think about making a donation in her name to support the basic rights of working mothers in Latin America. The US Labor Education in the America Project (USLEAP) has designed two beautiful Mother’s Day cards, each featuring a photo of a Colombian flower worker and her child. In exchange for a $25 donation to USLEAP’s Flower Worker Economic Justice Campaign, your mother will receive a card in the mail, with a personalized message from you inside.

On the back of the card, she can read about women who work in the flower industry in Colombia, which ships nearly all of its flowers to the United States. About 60% of flowers sold in the U.S. are imported from Colombia, and the majority of workers on Colombian flower plantations are women.

In the weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, flower workers are often required to work 12-15 hour days with few breaks and are subjected to increased productivity quotas. Flower workers routinely undergo repetitive stress injuries, health problems related to over-exposure to pesticides, and humiliating and degrading treatment by management. Workers seeking to form a union in Colombia face bureaucratic hurdles, violence, and harassment, and as a result there are currently no contracts held by independent unions in the flower sector.

Sending this card will say to your mom that you care about her, but also that you care about the rights of all mothers. Place your Mother’s Day Card order now at http://www.usleap.org/mothers_day_card

With your donation, USLEAP will be able to continue our support for flower workers in Colombia, where women are subjected to labor rights violations as well as violations of their rights as women. To read more about our flower campaign, please visit our website:
http://www.usleap.org/

The U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP) is an independent non-profit organization that supports workers who are fighting for a better life for their families and to overcome poverty in Latin America.

The Farce Called Debate

For the first 50 minutes of last night's so-called debate, the clueless moderators asked questions about tin flag lapel pins, the meaning of 'bitter,' and ducking mirage bullets in Bosnia. Pap, pure and simple. Is this what the American voters want to know about the next president?

What a waste of time. Media-driven hype to bamboozle the voters one more time. Disgusting.

McCain Playing Smoke 'n Mirrors on Taxes

They do pander. Throw them a crumb and hope that they won't look too closely at what your other hand is doing. Just like the magician, my friend. First you see it, then you don't.

Taxes. McCain/Bush hate them. They like the credit card, just like Reagan. Charge it! Get a little perk from the company and charge more. Is that what appeals to the American electorate?

John "W" McCain proposed lifting the 18¢ Federal tax on a gallon of gas this summer to 'help Americans with their vacation plans.' Ten gallons = $1.80. Exciting. Where will the family spend that dollar eighty? So many decisions to make.

While throwing this crumb to the dumbed-down electorate, he mumbled, 'And keep the Bush tax cuts permanent.' And, in an almost inaudible voice, whispered, 'And lower the corporate tax 30%.'

Wow! eighteen cents for 3 months, corporate tax cut of 30%, and permanent tax cuts for the richest families in America . It doesn't get any better than that!

Dick Cheney was never a "grown-up"

A piece of the same title by Sidney Blumenthal was posted by Salon.com . The curious title drew me to the piece because I never thought of that angle on the guy who I have labeled the worst traitor in American history. Blumenthal's expose of his thesis is long- three pages- and begins with this opening line: "...[Cheney's] supposedly changed character became a subject of intense speculation. Brent Scowcroft, who had been George H.W. Bush's national security adviser, and had counseled against the invasion of Iraq, told The New Yorker magazine in 2005, "I consider Cheney a good friend -- I've known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore."

Blumenthal goes on to explain Scowcroft's meaning: "Scowcroft's judgment was less about Cheney's temperament than his policy positions. The press, however, sought to disclose the sources of his "darkening persona," as a cover story in Newsweek described it. "Has Cheney changed? Has he been transformed, warped, perhaps corrupted -- by stress, wealth, aging, illness, the real terrors of the world or possibly some inner goblins?" A cover story entitled "Heart of Darkness," published in The New Republic, suggested that Cheney's heart disease had produced vascular dementia. "So, the next time you see Cheney behaving oddly, don't automatically assume that he's a bad man."

Well, Mr. Blumenthal, that is a daunting assumption, one that I cannot swallow. The article continues with this information about Cheney's role in promoting the neocon preemption goal:

The Iraq war was largely a neoconservative production conducted under the guidance of Cheney and Rumsfeld. Cheney took command of the intelligence process, even arranging for Bush to sign Executive Order 13292, written by Addington, giving the vice president the same power over intelligence as the president. The disinformation campaign that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction was a joint enterprise of the Office of the Vice President and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, providing a steady stream of evidence that was later revealed to be false and fabricated.

Blumenthal points out Cheney's dream: Cheney's reliance on neoconservatives was essential in carrying out his long conceived project of creating an imperial presidency, an executive unfettered by Congress or the press, that under the banner of war could enact any policy and obey or ignore any law that it wished. Cheney's use of the neoconservatives to attain his aims -- the core goals of the Bush presidency -- was hardly happenstance or an alliance of sudden convenience.

Here is the concluding statement: Cheney had not changed over the years; on the contrary, he could not have been more explicit and direct about his goals all along. There never was a real mystery about him. Early on, Cheney's notions for an imperial presidency and his relationships with the neoconservatives merged on to a single track. Since the beleaguered Ford White House, he sought out people to develop and implement such ideas, which became the governing policy of George W. Bush's administration. Only through Cheney was the rise of neoconservatism made possible. Now its next phase will revolve around finding a new sponsor to return them to power despite the catastrophic consequences of their ideas.

A new sponsor? I suppose the 'pass the torch to a new genereation' line comes to mind. Pass the torch: ignite the Constitution, bring back the monarchy, war without end. That is precicely why

I called Dick Cheney 'the greatest traitor in Ameircan history.'

Clinton's Dirty Politics a Warm-up For November

Hillary got booed yesterday for playing dirty politics when the audience wanted real answers to the problems of this nation. Undaunted, she kept her one-liners going, even as the audience kept up their negative response. At a forum on manufacturing attended by members of the steelworkers union here, Clinton's comment that "many of you like me were disappointed by recent remarks he made," was met by loud shouts of "No!" When she suggested Pennsylvanians might find Obama's remarks "offensive," again there were loud cries of "No!" Perhaps that's all she's got: spreading the dirt.

YahooNews reports:

WASHINGTON - After days on the campaign defensive, Democrat Barack Obama accused rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday of leveling criticism straight from the Republican playbook and said even so, he will win the White House over John McCain and an "out of touch" GOP. "She's been deploying most of the arguments that the Republican Party will be using against me in November."

You have to wonder if the American electorate wants more of this nit-picking nonsense rather than addressing the frightening array of ugly issues facing our nation. Is it all media hype to sell the story to their audiences? Are the voters once again going to be ill-served by the media who would rather sell a product rather than inform and educate the public?

Of course, we must realize that the media is all about making money- packaging the product to sell to the audience. It reminds me of the package that they helped sell us back in early 2003- the Shock 'n Awe package with awesome live video of the glorious beginning of the bush-Cheney War.

End-Times Package Deal

While shopping on-line for my wife's birthday, I found this ad for a complete end-times package. I thought about purchasing it for her, but figured she'd like the necklace much better. Funny stuff from equally funny people!

My wife enjoys the here-and-now and could care less about all of that nonsense that a certain group of people obssess about. She has a great time with family and friends and believes that the ressurection is right now.

Refereeing Their Civil War

Referees often get a raw deal in sports with athletes and fans screaming at them. More seriously, however, is refereeing a war, a civil war. Our troops are doing just that in Iraq. Today we read the story of how stupid their civil war has become:

YahooNews has this headline: 1,300 Iraqi troops, police dismissed

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government has dismissed about 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted or refused to fight during last month's offensive against Shiite militias and criminal gangs in Basra, officials said Sunday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said 921 police and soldiers were fired in Basra. They included 37 senior police officers ranging in rank from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general.

The others were dismissed in Kut, one of the Shiite cities where the fight had spread.

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So, 1300 trained and armed men are now 'out there' looking to pick off one of the occupying forces, referees, in this ethnic and religious war that George Bush has gotten us into. What kind of nonsense is this? And there are people here in America who still think we are fighting al Qaeda to 'make us safe here at home.'

Their ignorance is astounding.

Racism Alive: Ohio troopers disciplined for KKK photo prank

Racism is not altogether dead; if often raises its ugly head. Here in Ohio, the state with such a wonderful history of equal rights pioneering, racism is smoldering, just under the surface. Is that why Obama lost so decisively here in the March primary? Is that why the central section of Pennsylvania, the so-called Alabama section, thinly supports him? Will this be the scenario he faces in the general election too?

Today I read that two local Ohio Highway Patrolmen thought it funny that one dressed up as a KKK member while the other photographed him and sent the picture to his boss and others as well.

USA Today has the story:

SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — A highway patrolman who was photographed in a handmade Ku Klux Klan costume while on duty the day before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has been suspended without pay, authorities said.

A fellow trooper who transmitted the cell-phone photo of white-masked lawman has been demoted.

Craig Franklin, a 12-year veteran of the Ohio Highway Patrol, is pictured in the Jan. 20 photo with a white cone on his head, white paper mask and a white cloth covering his shoulders, according to a highway patrol report.

Franklin and Trooper Eric Wlodarsky told an investigator that the picture was taken as a joke and was modeled on a television skit by comedian Dave Chappelle.

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A joke. Just a joke, they said. Gosh, can't you people take a joke?

Racism raises its ugly head; but it was just a joke, they said.