E-mailed to the Speaker of the House...

Humbly submitted by your esteemed Zinfandelfan to Nancy Pelosi's website (www.speaker.gov):

It is being reported in conflicting fashion in several places (DailyKos, TalkingPointsMemo, Fox) that an agreement has been reached with the White House on Iraq war funding and that the funding would be provided without timetables, benchmarks or other caveats which could allegedly "hamper" the President's style.

As someone who went out in the last election cycle and not only contributed significantly for the first time in his life but also phone banked and canvassed, it would be a tremendous disappointment and a rebuke of all the time, effort and financial commitment of everyone who helped bring the Democratic Party to power in November.

While I realize that negotiations are "on-going" with the White House, despite the heat that members of the caucus may be feeling, it is important that we continue to do what the majority of Americans have called for in *every* poll and that is to bring the troops home and to not give the President a blank check with no restrictions or conditions.

No matter how many people continue to be paraded before the podium and the war keeps being packaged as a, "No, really, THIS time it will work;" the fact is that the Administration has lost all credibility and, further, the right to unquestioned fealty in their decision making process.

Do not concede, do not waver, do not yield. Bring our men and women home soon to rest, recover and reconstitute our fighting forces to fight the "Global War on Terror," not play arbiters between factions linked to unstoppable bloodshed.

In much the fashion that contributor Schmidlap put in his message to his guy, I don't think that we can let our elected representatives who were swept to power on a platform that includes doing something different about the war, think that giving der Chimpenfuehrer everything he wants is a "compromise". Somebody once defined compromise (or perhaps it was 'negotiation') as neither party getting everything they want but both parties being satisfied.

Unfortunately for The Decider, his definition of compromise is getting everything he wants and screw everybody else. Well, it is high time that Congress ceases to be the pet of the Executive Branch and that if he gets a bill that gives him all of his money with those "strings" that he threatens to veto, every radio, television, newspaper, billboard and MP3 player should ring with the very clear point that it is THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WHO IS PLAYING POLITICS WITH THE TROOPS AND NOT THE CONGRESS.