The Reserve & National Guard: Fighting the weather over there so they don't have to fight it here

Katrina Devastates the Gulf...uh...the Other Gulf



(Thanks to campskunk for the idea.)

Santorum's Revisionist History

This has been floating around the blogosphere for a few days. I wanted to make sure the loyal readers of 2 Political Junkies got a chance to see it. Lil Ricky's made it onto this week's "Top Ten Conservative Idiots" (he's number 7).

Apparently, our Junior Senator has made public announcements questioning the Iraq war. And how do we know this?

Because he's made public statements that he's made public statements questioning the Iraq war.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

In an interview last week, he said he had publicly and privately raised questions about efforts to contain the insurgency and to limit Baathist involvement in the new Iraqi government. He made his remarks in response to a charge by his leading Democratic challenger, Robert P. Casey Jr., that Santorum has failed to "ask the tough questions" about Iraq.

However (and this is the good part), no one has been able to find any of these public statements.

When challenged by the Inquirer:

Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's office acknowledged yesterday that it cannot locate public statements of the senator questioning the Iraq war, despite the senator's claim last week that he has publicly expressed his concerns.

But Santorum said that doesn't mean he hasn't made the comments.

Hmmm...

Anyone heading out to a public appearance for the good senator? Any chance of asking him where and when he questioned the President on the Iraq war?

UPDATE: Turns out the more intelligent of the 2 of us has already written about this. I missed it because it was 4 whole days ago.

This really only proves 2 things: 1 - She's smarter than me and 2 - but only by 4 days.

The Politics of Hurricane Katrina

"OH GEEEZ!" I can hear some of you thinking now, "Everything is not political -- hurricanes have no politics!"

And you're right, acts of nature aren't political and even Pat Robertson has no control over the path they may take despite what he has claimed in the past.

That said, the resources to combat the effects of hurricanes is ALL about politics. So consider the following:

1. The National Guard is typically used to assist during catastrophic events (their website states: "In times of emergency, whether it be flood or fire, our commitment to the residents of Louisiana remains a top priority." However, as KWTX notes:

The Louisiana National Guard is on alert, but thousands of guard troops from the state are now serving in Iraq.

Nagin (Mayor of New Orleans) said 1,500 troops are immediately available, however, and another 2,500 have been mobilized.

2. From WGNO from the August 1, 2005:

LA National Guard Wants Equipment to Come Back From Iraq

When members of the Louisiana National Guard left for Iraq in October, they took a lot equipment with them. Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad, and in the event of a major natural disaster that, could be a problem.

"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," said Lt. Colonel Pete Schneider with the LA National Guard.

[snip]

"You've got combatant commanders over there who need it they say they need it, they don't want to lose what they have, and we certainly understand that it's a matter it's a matter of us educating that combatant commander, we need it back here as well," Col. Schneider said.

3. And to add insult to injury, from a June 2005 article in New Orleans CityBusiness:

New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces (cuts)

In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.

It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said.

I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district. I think part of the problem is it's not so much the reduction, it's the drastic reduction in one fiscal year. It's the immediacy of the reduction that I think is the hardest thing to adapt to.

There is an economic ripple effect, too. The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.

Money is so tight the New Orleans district, which employs 1,300 people, instituted a hiring freeze last month on all positions. The freeze is the first of its kind in about 10 years, said Marcia Demma, chief of the Corps' Programs Management Branch.

(Hat Tip to the following Daily Kos stories here and here.)

Happening This Weekend

ACTivate Pittsburgh 2005
Saturday, August 27th
Noon at the Brew House (2100 Mary St, South Side)

Background:
Since 1999, Pittsburgh’s GroundZero Action Network has hosted roughly annual Activate Pittsburgh (ACTPGH) sessions. The goals of ACTPGH are threefold: to serve as a forum through which attendees can voice frustration about urban issues and form plans to redress these issues, to give attendees a chance to get plugged into the GroundZero network of ideas-havers, people-knowers, and resource-getters in order to start up their own new projects, and to get people involved with extant GroundZero projects. ACTPGH believes that complaining is valid as long as you’re willing to take action to improve the situation, and exists solely to facilitate that action.

ACTPGH has been the catalyst for such projects as the Urban Hike Project, Busk Pittsburgh, and a neighborhood mural initiative that developed into the Sprout Public Art Community Mural Project. These events regularly draw hundreds of people.

ACTPGH 2005:
The fifth ACTPGH will take place on Saturday, August 27th, at noon at the Brew House (2100 Mary St, South Side).

This year’s event will focus on developing the ideas of the participants into projects. Anyone who attends the event should bring their thoughts on what they believe is missing in Pittsburgh and be prepared to tap into the network with the hope of making something happen.

Need Directions?
Map

Produced by GroundZero Action Network

_____________________________________________________

Kathryn Hens-Greco "Kick-Off Event"
Sunday 8/28/05
Wightman School in Squirrel Hill on Solway Street, off Wightman

Kathryn Hens-Greco, candidate for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, is having a "Kick-Off Event" for her judicial campaign, this Sunday 8/28/05 at 5:00 p.m. at the Wightman School in Squirrel Hill on Solway Street, off Wightman. The building is also called "Carriage House" for the children's center in the first floor.

Fundraiser: on a sliding scale 20.00-$1,000.00.

Homemade lasagne (made by Kathryn & campaign friends).

A fabulous opportunity to meet grass roots people, eat good food, enjoy a fun party, endure limited speeches, and support a great candidate!

Talking points. Simple! Catchy!

As said by Jon Stewart and transcribed at JABBS:

STEWART: (Bush) has developed a sophisticated exit strategy ... for getting out of questions about the war. It's a strategy known as repetition, or "repetition." It's one he'd used with great success many times before.

"But Jon," you ask, "how does it work?"

...

The first step is to let people know you're aware of their questions. Then the president can reduce these nuanced concerns into a simplistic misguided concern that he can easily refute.

BUSH MONTAGE: I also know there's a lot of folks here in the United States that are, you know, wondering about troop withdrawals ... I also have heard the voices of those saying: "pull out now" ... Immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake.

STEWART: See? He knows the concerns that make you look like a pussy. So staying the course in Iraq is the plan. But what about all the violence and chaos we see? Pah! It's not match for a simple eight-letter word. See if you can pick out the one he uses:

BUSH MONTAGE: I am pleased with the progress being made ... we're making progress ... a lot of progress ... I'm please with the progress ... progress ... progress ... Oh I know it's hard for some Americans to see that ...

STEWART: But?

BUSH: ... we are making progress.

STEWART: Yes!

So we're doing the right thing and we're making good progress. So, I guess that means, uh, if I hear you correctly -- we're doing the right thing and we're making good progress -- that soon we'll be able to talk about concrete troop withdrawal?

BUSH MONTAGE: Why would you say to the enemy, you know, here's the timetable ... it makes no sense ... it doesn't make any sense to have a timetable ... an artificial timetable ... there aren't any timetables ... I'm not giving timetables ...

STEWART: One little timetable? No timetables!

Now here's why staying on message with your talking points is difficult: Back when the war began, the talking points for the president centered on weapons of mass destruction. (Laughs) Really drilled that into our heads actually -- it was quite a lot of talk. That doesn't seem to come up so much anymore. But you just know some nasty reporter's always going to ask. So the key for your new war rationale talking point is: delivering them as though the person who asked is retarded:

BUSH MONTAGE: We're defeating them there so we do not have to face them here ... our immediate strategy is to eliminate terrorist threats abroad ... we're fighting the enemy in Iraq ... fighting them in Iraq ... to defeat the terrorists abroad ... so we don't have to face them here at home ... where we live ...

STEWART: (Sarcastically) Duh!

Of course, sometimes, no matter how good your talking points, no matter how many times you repeat them, there are still some dissenters and non-believers. If there only was some way you could shut these remaining people up with some kind of emotional bludgeon:

BUSH MONTAGE: The war arrived on our shores on September the 11th, 2001 ... September the 11th ... September the 11th I made a commitment to the American people ... from September the 11th ... the lesson of September the 11th, 2001 ...

STEWART: You know, if I had a nickel for every time Bush has mentioned 9/11, I could raise enough reward money to go after Bin Laden!

And there you go, talking points. Simple! Catchy!
...

Guide to Wingnut Logic

Very helpful!

blogenlust.typepad.com/law

Why Not Offer a Reward Like they Do for All Those Missing Pretty Young White Women?

In this case, Santorum can offer a reward for his "missing public statements of the senator questioning the Iraq war."

In an interview last week, he said he had publicly and privately raised questions about efforts to contain the insurgency and to limit Baathist involvement in the new Iraqi government. He made his remarks in response to a charge by his leading Democratic challenger, Robert P. Casey Jr., that Santorum has failed to "ask the tough questions" about Iraq.

Robert L. Traynham, Santorum's spokesman, said a search of Nexis, a news database, and the office's press clippings had not turned up any account of those comments. He noted, however, that the office's records are incomplete because the office is unable to record everything the senator says.

"I do a lot of interviews on TV, on radio, with print reporters who don't happen to write everything I say," Santorum said yesterday. "The fact that it hasn't turned up in print doesn't mean I haven't said it."

And while you're all looking for Lil Ricky's missing words, you may want an Easter Egg Hunt for Casey's missing position on this.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer article notes:

Casey faces his own challenges, among them finding a position that portrays him as neither an antiwar defeatist nor a passive war supporter.

On the major Iraq votes - authorizing force and funding the operation - Casey said he would have supported those measures, just as Santorum did. Another Democrat in the race, Bucks County professor Chuck Pennacchio, said he would have voted against the use of force.

In recent weeks, Casey has attempted to differentiate himself from Santorum by chastising the senator for failing to speak out as soldiers die. Casey's latest criticism of Santorum came in the same month that seven Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers were killed in Iraq.

But when asked to describe what he would do differently in Iraq, Casey says the Bush administration has not given the public enough information to make a decision on what to do next.

For someone not afraid to actually state a position on Iraq -- rather than just go negative on Santorum -- click here ("here" of course being Chuck Pennacchio's issues page).

Chimpy's Twisted Logic

For political reasons, the president has a history of silence on America's war dead. But he finally mentioned them on Monday because it became politically useful to use them as a rationale for war - now that all the other rationales have gone up in smoke.

"We owe them something," he told veterans in Salt Lake City (even though his administration tried to shortchange the veterans agency by $1.5 billion). "We will finish the task that they gave their lives for."

What twisted logic: with no W.M.D., no link to 9/11 and no democracy, now we have to keep killing people and have our kids killed because so many of our kids have been killed already? Talk about a vicious circle: the killing keeps justifying itself.

Read Dowd's entire piece here.

Don't wanna be an American idiot

Bill Moyer, 73, wears a "Bullshit Protector"flap over his ear while President George W. Bush addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

I saw this at KOS, who got it from Atrios, who got it from The National Post -- a Canadian newspaper -- because if they published that kind of thing in US newspapers, the war might start going badly. (When will these goddamn hippies stop hating America?)

Pittsburgh Anti-Recruitment Protest Roundup

Pittsburgh Independent Media Center: Includes video, photos, and report by Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG).

Froth Slosh B'Gosh: Includes links to many sources and good discussion in the comments section.

Three Rivers Online: Includes criticism of the mainstream media's coverage of the event.

Santorum Cybergate: Includes pictures of the march not seen elsewhere.


UPDATE: From Progress Pittsburgh Blog

TONIGHT (Tuesday Aug 23) Free Speech Radio News will feature a report from Pittsburgh's own Rustbelt Radio reporters, Andalusia Knoll and Matt Toups. This is a national story about what happened in Oakland at the recruiting station over the weekend. For details about the Police Brutality, check out http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org If you don't know Free Speech Radio News, it is the nationally syndicated nightly news program on over 100 stations, many on the pacifica network - home of Democracy Now The show is on every weeknight at 5:30pm on WRCT in Pittsburgh, 88.3 FM. So tune in tonight at 5:30pm to 88.3 FM , or online at http://www.wrct.org

Bin Laden to Bush: "Thanks, Bro!"

Crossposted at Daily Kos

From the Guardian:

The United States has eased its opposition to an Islamic Iraqi state to help clinch a deal on a draft constitution before tonight's deadline.

American diplomats backed religious conservatives who threatened to torpedo talks over the shape of the new Iraq unless Islam was a primary source of law. Secular and liberal groups were dismayed at the move, branding it a betrayal of Washington's promise to advocate equal rights in a free and tolerant society.

From the Washington Post:

The draft also stipulates that Iraq is an Islamic state and that no law can contradict the principles of Islam, Shiite and Kurdish negotiators said. Opponents have charged that last provision would subject Iraqis to religious edicts by individual clerics.

The Shiite and Kurdish negotiators also said draft calls for the presence of Islamic clerics on the court that would interpret the constitution. Family matters such as divorce, marriage or inheritance would be decided either by religious law or civil law as an individual chooses -- a condition that opponents say would likely lead to women being forced into unfavorable rulings for them by opponents demanding judgments under Islamic law.

Really, he shouldn't have...

Payne Supporters Clean Up on the North Side

Members of Tonya Payne's campaign staff and members of Democracy for Pittsburgh (a group who endorsed Payne's primary run) participated in a Neighborhood Clean Up Day on the North Side recently.

The Central Northside Neighborhood Council and the Mexican War Streets Society partnered with PA CleanWays of Allegheny County for the clean up. In addition to picking up trash and cutting weeds, a survey was taken throughout the Central Northside to determine problem areas that needed attention.

Check out the full story (more pictures too) at Tonya Payne's website. There's also information there on how you can get involved in the next clean up.

Tonya Payne is also on Democracy for America's DFA-List Candidates for America.

This clean up took place on August 13th which was reportedly the hottest day in Pittsburgh in the last five years. Delicate flower that I am (Shut up -- don't say it!), I will fess up to being the least effective person participating and needing to be scraped off the sidewalk after only an hour. The next clean up day is in September and will not be the hottest day in five years.

If you live in Pittsburgh's 6th City Council District:
Don't forget to vote for Tonya in November!


Payne supporters take a break to talk with neighborhood residents.

Ricky's Redskins -- Does Santorum support his home team?

Story and pictures here.

Bush Approval Rating Below 40%

Lower Numbers than Nixon during Watergate
(Nixon had 39% approval)

According to the latest survey from the American Research Group:

Among all Americans:
36% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president
58% disapprove
33% approve of the way Bush is handling the economy
62% disapprove.

Among Americans registered to vote:
38% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president
56% disapprove
36% approve of the way Bush is handling the economy
60% disapprove

One More Thing

I keep hearing how Cindy Sheehan is a "tool" of the Left -- as if she could not speak for herself or come to her ideas on her own. Valerie Plame is called a "Soccer Mom" as if she did not do service for her country.

I have only one thing to say to that (Ladies, feel free to chime in):

FUCK YOU
AND
YOUR
SEXIST
BULLSHIT

Been meaning to say that for a while now. :-D

The Power of Cindy Sheehan's Story

As is often the case, there's an interesting thread over at The Conversation. This time, it's on Cindy Sheehan. I posted the following couple of comments there:

In one sense, no, nothing will satisfy Cindy Sheehan because no one can bring back her baby. And, yes, he is her baby -- even at 26 -- just the same as when my grandmother insists on watching me walk down the sidewalk from her home after dusk until she can't see me anymore even when I remind her that I lived in NYC for 15 years and for five of those years had a job where I routinely left work around 2 or 3 in the morning.

And, of course she does not speak for all members of all Gold Star Familles -- I'm not aware that she claimed that she did.

Does she have any more right to the President's time than any other Gold Star Family member? No, of course not.

So why so much focus on her in the press? Is it because MoveOn is now backing her? ...Because she's supposedly being fed lines by the "Lefty" groups?

I would suggest it's the exact opposite of that. MoveOn didn't send her down there...nor did Michael Moore. Her pain as a parent who lost her baby sent her there. The fact that she thought the war was wrong from the start, that she tried everything that she could do to prevent her baby from being killed in a war which she believed was so much bullshit from the start, does not lessen her grief. She knew it was wrong from the start, and yet, she still could not prevent her own child from being caught up in it -- she could not save him from it.

And saying that she is somehow cheapening her son's service is just repeating the lie of the Right that you cannot support the troops and be against this war.

She has done something which MoveOn could not do. She did not create a crafty meme or slogan -- she told a story. A story which captured the attention of the American public that all the bumper stickers and T-shirts could not:

I am a mother. I bore a son. He died in this war. This war which many now believe was a mistake from the start. I want an answer as to why he died in this war which was based on lies. A war which makes us less safe -- not more. I will take my little lawn chair and sit in the hot Texas sun until I get an answer. I will sit in my lawn chair and wait until the President (arguably the most important man in the world) tells my why my boy (the most important man in the world to me) had to die in this war.

It's a very simple story that rings true to many. It's the story that the Bush Administration has the most to fear from. It is not talking heads, it is not Downing Street Memos that few have read. It is the coffins coming home that the Bush Administration has shielded the press -- and by extension -- the American public from seeing.

It's a story that can survive and surpass any circus that has built up around it.

I need to add one more thought:

You're acting as though the "other side" has had no say in any of this. As though the President has not met with Gold Star family members who approve of the war. As if anchors on Fox do not wear American flag pins to signify their approval of this Administration and its actions; as if Support Our Troops yellow ribbon magnets and decals have not only become ubiquitous, but synonymous in the media with support for the war in Iraq; as if Bush didn't use the troops as so many props during the election; as if there have not been families featured on local and network news who approve of their children serving in Iraq; as if the mainstream media actually really asked hard questions before we entered this war. You're acting as if Bush didn't ask everyone to show their support for the troops (BUT REALLY HIS WAR) by flying their flag on the Fourth of July -- as if we needed his direction and approval to fly it.

Yet, one middle-aged woman sends so many into such a tizzy.

That's the power of Cindy Sheehan's story.

*****************************************
NOTE: Least I be misunderstood, what I wrote above is in no way meant to be any kind of slam at MoveOn or Michael Moore. I am on both of their mailing lists and am fans of both. MoveOn does a wonderful job of both educating people and giving them actionable items to work on and I'm glad that they're helping to spread awareness of Cindy's story. And, one thing that made Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 so compelling was the way he wove the story of another Gold Star mother throughout that movie. She was the opposite of Sheehan as she was a mother who approved of her son fighting in Iraq until his letters to home made her aware of the wrongness of this war.

For more on the "The Neglected Political Power of Story" go here.

Jesus Wept: Pope Asks Bush for Immunity

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Lawyers for Pope Benedict XVI have asked President Bush to declare the pontiff immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas, court records show.

[snip]

Joseph Ratzinger is named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit. Now Benedict XVI, he's accused of conspiring with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to cover up the abuse during the mid-1990s.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Gerry Keener, said Tuesday that the pope is considered a head of state and automatically has diplomatic immunity.

Some may recall that 2PJ wrote back in April how RATzinger threatened excommunication for clergy who warned anyone about pedophile priests.

When RATzinger was still a cardinal and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition) he wrote a confidential letter that was distributed to every Catholic bishop in May 2001. The letter confirmed that RATzinger believed that the Catholic Church had the right to conceal sexual abuse from the proper US legal authorities.

Moreover, it threatened those who would try to behave in a legally and MORALLY responsible way with the ultimate punishment for Catholics: excommunication. The letter came to light in the same Texas civil suit referenced in the Chicago Sun-Times article above.

To sum up:

A former Hitler Youth who actively participated in covering up the sexual abuse of children is asking a sociopathic lying warmonger for immunity for his sins.

Does it get any sicker than this?

Blog Roll Changes

We've added the Progress Pittsburgh Blog to the 2pj local blog roll. It joins the main Progress Pittsburgh website already listed. Check out the blog's pictures from Wednesday's Sheehan vigil in Squirrel Hill here and Froth's pictures from the vigil in Regent Square here.

Another local site added is Santorum Cybergate. Santorum Cybergate has been missing from the list only because I thought it was already there. That blog has not only been the driving force behind the cyber-school and Homestead Tax Exemption issues, it's also a great reference site on Lil Ricky where you can see pictures of his Virginia home and links to the county assessment pages for both the VA and PA properties.

PA for Democracy somewhat stretches the notion of a "local" blog -- it's the group blog for the Pennsylvania coalition of Democracy for America groups.

One blog was dropped. We were hoping that Scooter Blue might morph into something else, but it hasn't and as the blog stopped in April, it's been taken off the roll.

Added to the Links list are Media Matters for America, Liberal Oasis and Santorum Watch.

What is the criteria that I use to add a blog/website to the roll?

I could say something like, "I'm sharing the love and want you to visit these worthy sites," when in reality: the roll exists for my convenience. These are the sites I try to visit daily all listed in one easy place for ME -- but no saying you won't enjoy them too. ;-)

Oh, and the other Political Junkie has to have no objection to them being added. :-D

Psycho killerQu’est que c’est

‘‘And I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say. I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life.''

That statement was made by President George W. Bush on Saturday. He said it while defending why he would not meet with Cindy Sheehan -- the grieving Mom of a soldier killed in Iraq. As anyone who pays any attention to the news must know by now, Cindy Sheehan has been holding a vigil for her son, Casey, in Crawford Texas; the place where Bush is taking a five week vacation.

Bush continued:

‘‘I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy,'' he said when asked about bike riding while a grieving mom wanted to speak with him. ‘‘And part of my being is to be outside exercising.''

‘‘So I'm mindful of what goes on around me,'' Bush added. ‘‘On the other hand, I'm also mindful that I've got a life to live and will do so.''

Bush's schedule that day included in addition to the two hour bike ride: a lunch meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a nap, some fishing, some reading and an evening Little League Baseball playoff game.

Certainly no one can deny that our leaders need time off -- even in times of war. FDR, for example, took frequent trips to Warm Springs, GA.

But Bush's statement, "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life..." reminded me immediately of something his mother, Barbara Bush said during the buildup to the war in Iraq:

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

It reminded me of some other responses Bush has had to events that usually call for at least a show of compassion and sensitivity:

- The way he mocked Carla Faye Tucker. She was convicted of a horrendous crime and had sought a pardon from then Governor Bush while she was on death row based on her conversion to being "Born Again." As reported by conservative Tucker Carlson in Talk magazine Bush mimicked Ms. Tucker: "Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."

- The time that he continued on with his vacation plans even though his teenage daughter, Jenna, was rushed to the hospital for an emergency Christmas Night appendectomy, saying that if she cannot join the rest of the family for a Florida vacation, "she can clean out her room."

- The "cute" joke he made at the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner. As David Corn of The Nation reported: But at one point, Bush showed a photo of himself looking for something out a window in the Oval Office, and he said, "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere." The audience laughed. I grimaced. But that wasn't the end of it. After a few more slides, there was a shot of Bush looking under furniture in the Oval Office. "Nope," he said. "No weapons over there." More laughter. Then another picture of Bush searching in his office: "Maybe under here." Laughter again. Disapproval must have registered upon my face, for one of my tablemates said, "Come on, David, this is funny." I wanted to reply, Over 500 Americans and literally countless Iraqis are dead because of a war that was supposedly fought to find weapons of mass destruction, and Bush is joking about it.

Of course now we know that Bush knew prior to the war that there was no real danger of "the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

Many used to mock Bill Clinton's use of the phrase "I feel your pain," but Clinton was a popular president -- even during his impeachment -- a majority of the public believed that Clinton was a compassionate man who understood them despite his own personal failings.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was able to bring out the best in the American people through the Great Depression and World War II. He inspired people to have both courage and to sacrifice of themselves to get our country through the most trying of times. Bush, on the other hand, continually raised the level of fear during the 2004 Election and has called on the nation to do nothing more than go shopping since 9/11.

Bush cannot call upon the people of this country to sacrifice of themselves because he does not posses that ability himself. He cannot sacrifice his bike riding time to meet with grieving mothers (there are more Gold Star Family Moms there than just Sheehan now). Neither can he sacrifice the time he spends at political fundraisers to meet with them.

Bush cannot sacrifice any time or political capital to be seen at the funerals of any soldiers who he sent to Iraq -- that would make the war too real for those not paying attention.

But the consequences of this war are making it into the public consciousness...the twenty National Guard members from the same unit in Ohio who died in one week...the doubling of the total number of Guard deaths from Pennsylvania the next. The war is getting too bloody to joke over...to "go on with my life" and ignore the pain of those left behind.

But Bush doesn't do pain well. He has no capacity to "feel our pain" and no capacity to summon our courage.

He appears more and more clearly to the public as the smirking frat boy and privileged son of a privileged son that many on the Left recognized him as from the start.

Moreover, to make a statement that, "I've got a life to live and will do so," in reference to why you will not meet with someone whose son no longer has a life to live because of war you started that was based on lies that you told goes beyond mere frat boy arrogance -- it reaches into the realm of sociopathic...of psychopathic.

You start a conversation you can’t even finish it.
You’re talkin’ a lot, but you’re not sayin’ anything.
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.
Say something once, why say it again?

Psycho killer,
Qu’est que c’est
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Psycho killer
Qu’est que c’est
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away

Go here and sign up.

Vigil for Cindy Sheehan

(From Moveon UPDATE: Democracy for America and True Majority are also participating in this.)
Please join us for a candlelight vigil in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan and the Gold Star Families for Peace.

We Rushed to War - Who Pays the Price?
"Blue Slide" Frick Park, Squirrel Hill
Beechwood Blvd. and Nicholson
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Wednesday, 17 Aug 2005, 7:30 PM

To sign up for this event, click here:
http://www.moveonpac.org/event/cindyvigils/3501

If this location is inconvenient, please consider vigils in:

Bellevue: http://www.moveonpac.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=3932
Aliquippa: http://www.moveonpac.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=3967
Butler: http://www.moveonpac.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=3730

If none of these are in your neck of the woods, please consider hosting a simultaneous vigil. Sign up at:
http://www.moveonpac.org/event/events/create.html?action_id=24

If you still don't know who Cindy Sheehan is read here and here.