And now, in this corner...

Elizabeth Pearson of Elmhurst, Illinois goves us this gem:

I don't understand why so many feel the war in Iraq unnecessary and unwinnable. It is of greater import than any we have ever been engaged in to date. While our forces fight overseas against a more ruthless enemy than we have ever known, we extend our freedoms here. More important than assisting a beleaguered country is our ability to keep our fanatical enemy engaged in lesser pursuit before it enters our shores, which it is eager to do, with more loss of life than can be imagined, far greater than our loss to date, soldier and civilian. Our enemy has successfully intimidated former allies, who shrink from our battle. The stakes have never been higher for the entire world and the goal of our warriors never more important, worthwhile and noble. If we cut and run, with our tail between our legs, we just hasten the escalation of this conflict on our shores and nuclear weapons are inevitable. Some may have to eat crow when they discover our president not so naive after all.

Wow, that is one extra-crispy bucket of stupid. How do people get like that?

We're fighting "a more ruthless enemy than we have ever known?" Hmm, a few thousand Sunni rebels and a couple renegade Shi'a militias are more "ruthless" than the Nazi Wehrmacht? And "we extend our freedoms here?" By illegal wiretapping? Declaring people to be "enemy combatants" and denying habeas corpus? By turning the Justice department in to a virtual Republican secret police?

Lizzy says we're "assisting a beleaguered country." I suppose so, if you define "assisting" as invading without cause, drstroying the infrastructure, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands, imposing a stooge government looting the natural resources and maintaining a hostile occupation.

And finally, "Some may have to eat crow when they discover our president not so naive after all." Naive? No. Stupid, incompetent, venal, cruel, soulless, mendacious, petty, shallow, etc. etc. yes, but naive? Nah. So Lizzy, in a word..

Off to D.C.

Well, I'm off to our nation's capital for a few days. First, a conference for physics teachers and then a few days visiting friends. On Thursday mornings when the Senate is in session, our Illinois senators have a gathering for constituents who want to come by and ask questions, so we'll meet up with Durbin and Obama and see what they're up to. I hope to get a chance to ask Durbin why he voted for the continued funding of our occupation of Iraq.

On the other hand, I have no expectations that I'll be in a room with Chimpy or Shooter, so I'm not packing a bat.

You lookin' at me?

From Rep. Henry Waxman's site (you know, the chairman of the House committee on oversight and government reform, part of that whole "checks and balances" nonsense)

Vice President Exempts His Office from the Requirements for Protecting Classified Information

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

Yeah, who needs those pesky vice-presidential records?

Amidst the talking points, a kernel of truth

We previously mocked Sen. Mitch McConnel's "Face the Nation" appearance where he mouthed the GOP talking points and blamed the Iraqis for not capitalizing on the wonderful "opportunities" we "gave" them. Amidst the nonsense, though, some of the GOP's version of truth slipped out:

The Iraqi government, so far, has been a big disappointment. They've not done the things that they know they need to do to hold their country together, things like the new oil law

Ah, the new "oil law." The law that will hold their country together by giving control of Iraqi oil to western companies and fulfilling a Bush-ite wet dream of ending OPEC hegemony. My pal Joshua Holland over at Alternet has been all over this for a LONG time, here, here and here.

Yes, Mr. President. We're making progress--progress toward looting and permanently occupying an Arab country.

On Morality and Hypocrisy

Well, once again the president has found his veto pen on stem cell research. We've been all over the ideology trumping science, and how these "lives" not used for research will end up down the garbage disposal with yesterday's leftover pizza. What is so galling is this man's hypocrisy, when he smirks that "America is also a nation founded on the principle that all human life is sacred."
Hmm, I would initially doubt the historical veracity of that statement (Alex, may I have "Slavery" for $500, please?) Beyond that, though, it is too repulsive to watch the ex-governor who giggled with glee when presiding over executions, the most of all the states during his tenure, and a president who started a murderous war for sport and profit, speak of the "sanctity" of life.

He finished this bizarre carnival (again, complete with human props) with

This science which does not cross ethical lines requires money. I believe it is a good use of taxpayers' money to spend money on this kind of science and research. And Michael [Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services] is going to expedite it, that's what that means -- it's a fancy paragraph for saying he's going to get it done.

(Ladies and gentlemen, President Larry the Cable Guy.)

Nor-mal (adj.)

Normal (adj)--Conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

I guess some people's idea of "normal" is different from others. On Face the Nation, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Clueless) said

We've given them an enormous opportunity here over the last four years to have a normal country, and so far they haven't been able to take advantage of this opportunity.

Let's see. They were invaded without cause, and had their social, political and economic infrastructure destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and maimed, an outside western power imposed an alien form of "government" on the country in a way guaranteed to exacerbate ages-old sectarian tensions, a foreign army is occupying the country while building permanent bases and an embassy the size of Rhode Island.

If that is normal, I'd hate to see abnormal.