The Evil Twins Talk Fear...

This is uncanny and sad in how simplistic it is and how well its worked. But then, apparently our representatives heard a little buzzing outside the windows after their fax machines crashed along with their websites and phones (silly technology!) and went back to work on the bailout.


...Scared yet?

Mike Boettcher Takes Flight With No Ignoring! Truth Through Risk!

Our good friend, Mike Boettcher, of No Ignoring!, has reportedly completed preproduction and headed back to the sandbox. He headed out yesterday and is currently in Kuwait at Ali as Salim Air Base. He is now scheduled for an early equipment draw and then an air movement into Baghdad's Green Zone, followed by a Rhino Ride to Camp Liberty. At Liberty the team has a production trailer from which they will jump headlong into the dangerous project that they have spent months preparing for via a boot camp-like preproduction situation. The time in Baghdad is approximately 7 hours ahead of us here in New York City, and as he is duplicating the experience of the soldiers in the field, we can expect that by now Mike and his team are exhausted.

In the coming weeks, Mike will be providing us with information and stories from the battlefield to the field camps of Iraq. He and his team will be living alongside the soldiers and showing their experiences as soldiers, members of their platoons, and as human beings far from home, doing a job that is as difficult as it is terrifying and heartbreaking.






At the same time, Mike will be co-teaching a groundbreaking class, "War and Media,"at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, along with the Gaylord College of Journalism. Mike will appear weekly via video link to interact with students and give them an on the ground experience of what goes into war reporting. More on that here.

Vocabulary and Doubt..... Propagandizing the Word "Victory" as the New Patriotism...

Remember back when BushCo was pushing us into Iraq, when the UN was still over there, and we were waiting on reports to find out what was really going on? My sister slapped a bumper sticker on her minivan that said "Bomb Iraq? NO!" I was with her in the sentiment, as anyone who has seen my car bumper through the years will attest to, but I was wary of the language, because I wasn't quite sure what the outcome of the UN inspectors was going to be and I was still in denial that America would do something as crazy as actually divert our troops from Afghanistan to Iraq and in fact "bomb" them ("back to the stone age," as the survivalist working at the local video store said, spittle flying.)

Back then, as the Rovian spin machine began to blend the terms of 9-11, Afghanistan, and Iraq into easily digestible sound bytes with a threatening undertone and the fear of being viewed as un-American somehow for questioning our leadership, I was overcome with defiance. From the Impeach lawn signs that grandpa used to crawl up the steep rocky slope to pull down (because it only takes one crazy with a moltov cocktail!...not that he disagreed, you understand,) to my "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" bumper sticker addressing the bold twisting of the power of belief, and using the framework of religion to sell their war. I read a study years ago that people who commute in cars or just drive alot actually learn quite a bit from bumper stickers. I forget the exact numbers, but I remember being impressed enough to consider my bumper as a teaching opportunity, regardless of if I felt frightened of how others might react. So far I get alot of thumbs up for my " My Child is an Honor Student, But My President is an Idiot!," and the like, though lately I had an Obama sticker taken off the car in Manhattan (I'm hoping because it was unusual and someone wanted to use it!) and Ive gotten a few fingers on the highway. Am I un-American for expressing my disgust with the state of things? Should I be frightened because my words might cause some people to act violently towards me?

9-11 sent us all into a spiral of what might have been national shock, fear, or depression, and the Bush White house, with Karl Rove in the wheelhouse, manipulated and played that up to great effect with the undercurrent message being a warning that we must support the executive without question or risk death at the hands of terrorists or worse: being labeled un-American.

In April of this year, BushCo began circulating memos that warned of the power of the use of certain language because of its ability to inflame religious tensions and, according to MSNBC

U.S. officials may be "unintentionally portraying terrorists, who lack moral and religious legitimacy, as brave fighters, legitimate soldiers or spokesmen for ordinary Muslims," says a Homeland Security report. It's entitled "Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims."

"Regarding 'jihad,' even if it is accurate to reference the term, it may not be strategic because it glamorizes terrorism, imbues terrorists with religious authority they do not have and damages relations with Muslims around the world," the report says.

Further, just as of this year apparently, words like "jihad," which beyond the U.S.'s common use of it to imply the waging of a holy war, supposedly means to do good, and "mujahedeen," which are just those involved in a jihad, are supposed to be cut from any official discourse. Likewise, "violent extremist," "terrorist," and "Islamo-fascism" have been deemed inappropriate as highly inflammatory. The reports also note that use of these terms increases the star power of terrorists and inflames relations with regular Muslims, who have nothing to do with terrorism and don't much like their religion attached to what amounts to fringe groups.

Too little, too late, you say? The British published similar reports last year, and I don't think I would have to Google far to find these and many other inflammatory terms used by our very Commander in Chief...often...lately...on television from the rose garden...from the oval office...while dropping his Scotty on his head from Air Force One...When has the man NOT used these talking points again and again to inflame and frighten the American people, while apparently breeding more contempt and new baby terrorists all the time?

This is just another pathetic example of the use of language as a propaganda tool to start and continue unrest and to germinate fear and blind obedience in the people of a nation. Loose lips sink ships, but what if those loose lips are your President's? I know that he is gonna be viewed for all of history as a dummy, but look at how frequently the dummy repeated what the ventriloquist fed into his backflap...look at how insidious these few words have been...and wonder, as I am, how many innocent people died because of a couple of very smart guys who decided to use deep psychological manipulation on a lulled and frightened populace, in order to achieve a goal that will likely play out to be one of stone cold self enrichment.

A week or so ago DINO-republo-freak Joe Lieberman appeared on Faux News Sunday representing the republican point of view in a debate against real democrat Evan Bayh. In one of those unreal exchanges about the war old Joe threw around the talking points and buzzwords shamelessly, referring to victory and how the surge had worked, when it must be clear to all thinking Americans by now that victory is a relative term that can be used in any number of ways, and the effectiveness of the surge is questionable at best. Not one interviewer or pundit seems to be able to ask the question of what victory would look like exactly because the term seems to be attached to supporting the troops. In my estimation, this is some sort of leftover plug from the "cut and run" days and it really does a disservice to the troops because it implies that anything less than victory is not acceptable. If victory, as it has been historically viewed, is really not possible in this theater then the troops are damned to failure.



OK, I get it that Joe is caught up in the talking points and is working with a deep neocon belief in the cause of "spreading democracy," (aka. controlling the oil for mid-east domination, fun and profit,) or whatever flavor of kool-aid they were passing out that day, but as a Connecticut voter and someone who worked on the Lamonte campaign, I have to say that what he is saying does not represent me or anyone I know. Not even CT Republicans are onboard with this pap, so where does he get off heading into territory that betrays all that he ran on and even every other more conservative viewpoint in his state? This man so clearly lied to his constituency to get into office. He used the fear and lies of the vocabulary just as surely as he is following at the heels of John McCain and whispering the new jargon into his hearing aide. Joe Lieberman is delusional and so is John McCain, but they are using the new talking points to great effect.

McCain implies that we would be cowards to withdraw, and that there is some sort of shame in ending this war without achieving its objective. The thing is that the objective has been stated and restated a few times by the Bush administration without anything concrete that one might hang onto, and there remains, even in the face of the Iraqi government asking for us to set a timeline, no clear way to declare victory or mission accomplished, or even just get the hell out of there without the leadership of this country deciding that they are going to make it OK to end this thing. There will never be an easy withdrawal, and even in Obama's best case scenarios we are looking at a long drawn out process involving much loss of life, and probably tremendous heroics of the brave soldiers who are tasked with this nearly impossible task.

What does victory look like? The Iraqi people waving flowers and candy at us as we ride our tanks out of town and into the bellies of huge transports? Can we ever go home?
From the White House's Victory page itself comes this confusing bit:

* Short term, Iraq is making steady progress in fighting terrorists, meeting political milestones, building democratic institutions, and standing up security forces.
* Medium term, Iraq is in the lead defeating terrorists and providing its own security, with a fully constitutional government in place, and on its way to achieving its economic potential.
* Longer term, Iraq is peaceful, united, stable, and secure, well integrated into the international community, and a full partner in the global war on terrorism.

None of these goals are even close to being accomplished, nor are programs in place that even seemingly function in the general direction of an orderly return to self governing. The next section gets really bizarre:

* Iraq is the central front in the global war on terror. Failure in Iraq will embolden terrorists and expand their reach; success in Iraq will deal them a decisive and crippling blow.
* The fate of the greater Middle East -- which will have a profound and lasting impact on American security -- hangs in the balance.

Impossible to accomplish, as far as I can see...and really scary if we don't! I suppose that if we replaced the "Iraq" with "our huge embassy serves as our base as a central front in the war on terror and controlling all oil production in the region..." oh wait, our presence creates more terrorists, so no matter how many stinking embassies we build over there, we cant stay if we are serious about stopping it's growth....hmmmm....

The concept of retreat, defeat and/or victory do not apply to what is going on in Iraq. The more that Bush apologists are allowed to throw these phrases around, the more America believes in the fairytale unattainable goals of fighting them over there so we don't have to here. Further, these words should offend us every bit as much as the anti Muslim words and the words that increase the star power of terrorists that are in the memos being sent around now by the white house....now, after Bush has used the terms a million times...and how many times will John McCain imply that our troops are somehow less than brave if they leave without the indescribable and unattainable victory that he...er, Rove... has in mind.

Our acceptance of these words from the likes of John McCain or George Bush, and their surrogates, is the first step down the path to submission and the very real unAmerican act of not demanding full disclosure and accountability from those that we elect to represent us not only in our own government but to the world.

RIPCoco
Brilliant at Breakfast

A Real Voice From Iraq Prepares for the Journey of a Lifetime; Mike Boettcher Launches No Ignoring

I don't have many heroes left in my life. It seems like alot of the specific people who I embraced when I was younger have turned out to be disappointing in one way or another, and others have twisted what it even means to be a hero into this odd form of narcissism that is going around these days. Most of the real heroes of our time would hardly call themselves that. They are those who rely on their gut feeling about things, with empathy, and ethics, and a sense of mission that rises above career and riches and even security. These people aren't following themselves with one eye in the mirror sizing up how their actions look on them; they just go and do what needs to be done.

Mike Boettcher has been, for the longest time for me a sane voice in the rubble. He has reported steadily from war zones at home and abroad, covering just about every major disaster and conflict on the ground, regardless of the danger, and as a voice of reason who works shoulder to shoulder with the troops in order to get the real story out. This is not the breathless wonder of Mick Ware, (though, I am fond of him too, in his spectacularly, magnificently, gigantic way of reporting a roller coaster ride,) but rather its this person who is woven into the fabric of our beings, like the trusted anchor who we lost sight of in the age of information, and the real journalists who uncovered stories by actually digging, regardless of what it would do to their access.

This guy, with his blond mop of hair, scraggy beard, and world weary eyes, delivers real news from places outside the green zone, where the M$M no longer treads. I was thankful that he was there just about every day of this occupation in Iraq, and worried about him as well because it was clear that he was on the move all the time, in the dark, past the line, beyond the curfew. He is well beloved among the troops, with full access to places where most reporters dare not go.
Mike Boettcher is but one of the many heroes in this war, but he is one who really stands out in that he is setting off on his own to deliver to us the truth of what is being done in our name and what its like for our young men and women out there who are so brave in serving their country in such a difficult time. I'm sure that he considers the soldiers the real heroes in this, and himself merely the messenger, but, to me, Mike is a real true hero.

As our window to the Iraq war has closed as tightly as the window onto the skeleton of Afghanistan War had, Mike realized that there is a huge gap in the reporting that is being made possible by our media. So, he has gone off on his own and created a mission for himself, his crew, and his 21 year old son, to do a 15 month tour of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, reporting on their own dime, independently, and from the soldier's point of view. There will be a website that will provide real time, on the ground, information and stories that you will not find anywhere else. This is really dangerous work, but this is something that Mike feels he has to do, and as, in fact, done all along, as much as his corporate bosses would let him; tell the soldier's real stories in a non-partisan way, and remind us what a real hero looks like once again.
I will be following this project as closely as possible, and looking forward to the launch of the website(which is not up yet.)

Al Tompkins had a chance to catch up with Mike at the NAB convention, and asked Mike about his plans and his upcoming deployment, in this clip:



Godspeed Mike, and thanks for being our eyes and ears on the ground there.

Theres Plagues and then Theres Plagues....

Is David Petraeus Dirty? Ted Westhusing Said so, and Then He Shot Himself...Why Has This Been Kept Quiet?

Ted Westhusing, was a champion basketball player at Jenks High School in Tulsa Oklahoma. A driven kid with a strong work ethic, he would show up at the gym at 7AM to throw 100 practice shots before school. He was driven academically too, becoming a National Merritt Scholarship finalist. His career through West Point and straight into overseas service was sterling, and by 2000 he had enrolled in Emory University to earn his doctorate in Philosophy. His dissertation was on honor and the ethics of war, with the opening containing the following passage: "Born to be a warrior, I desire these answers not just for philosophical reasons, but for self-knowledge." Would that all military commanders took such an interest in the study of ethics and morality and what our conduct in times of war says about our development as human beings. Would that any educational system in this country taught ethics, decision making, or even political science that's not part of an advanced degree anymore.

Ted Westhusing, the soldier, philosopher and ethicist, was given a guaranteed lifetime teaching position and West Point by the time he had finished with his service and his education. he felt like he could do more for his country by trying to shape the minds coming out of the academy that were the ones that would be military commanders. He had settled into that life with his wife and kids, when in 2004 he volunteered for active duty in Iraq, feeling like the experience would help his teaching. He had missed combat in his active duty and it seemed like an important piece for someone who not only philosophized about war, but who was also preparing the military's future leaders.



But more than that, he was sure that the Iraq mission was a just one; he supported the cause and he bought the information that was put in front of him. Considering that vials of powder were being tossed around hearings by the highest level of military commanders how could he not? This was a man who was so steeped in the patriotism of idealistic military fervor that he barely could fit in regular society. His whole being was dedicated to this path, and he was proud to serve his country.

Once in Iraq, he found himself straddling the fence between a questioning philosopher and an unquestioning soldier. Westhusing had thought he was freeing a country in bondage, keeping America safe from a horrible threat, and spreading democracy to a grateful people. But the reality of what was happening in this out of control war was too much for him. His mission was to oversee one of the most important tasks left from the war; retraining the Iraqi military by overseeing the private contractors that had been put in charge of it.

As the assignment went on he found that everywhere he looked he was seeing corrupt contractors doing shoddy work, abusing people, and stealing from the government. These contractors were being paid to do many of the jobs that would normally be done by a regulated military, and they bore out the worst fears of those who don’t believe in outsourcing such vital work. He responded to the corruption that he saw by reporting the problems up the line, but the response from his commanding officers was disappointing. He had, for much of his career, idolized military commanders, and in that assignment he found himself with some of the military's most famous faces, doing the most important job, but he was terribly disappointed and alarmed to realize that they were greedy and corrupt themselves.

The wall of silence about this was impenetrable and the reality of the situation turned his entire belief system upside down, making him question everything that was going on, and his role in it. Having envisioned the top military commanders to be the most honorable that America has to offer, he was crushed to find out that ascending to power in this military could be more due to cronyism than expertise and that these men who he had aspired to be like were greedy and corrupt themselves. Upon reporting to his commanding officers, he realized that not only did the problems stretch to the level above him, but that they were systemic.
To these commanders the only real problem was the fact that they had a deeply honorable soldier in their command that was likely to rock the cash cow. Westhusing was so bereft at the realization of his part in this breakdown in the military's code of conduct, and the atrocities carried out in America's name, that he became despondent and finally in June, 2005, he shot himself. It was called a suicide, though there have been some questions raised about it.

He’s not the first Iraq suicide, though he was, at the time of his death, the highest ranking one. He was an oddity; a thinking soldier in a war that requires blind obedience, and unwavering dedication. The black and white world of Bush's military doesn't allow much for the grays that come into the picture when one is, at heart, a philosopher...and even in the face of seeing the reality of war, how can anyone come to terms with the revelation of corruption on this scale? More crushing was the realization that the leaders that he idolized, and the honor that he held as being the very foundation of his entire world as a military officer, were all a lie, and stories told to cadets at West Point that didn’t bear out in reality. The leaders in this war didn't care, and many were, as he outlined in his 4 page suicide letter, that was addressed to General's Fil and Petraeus, his direct commanders, only out for their own selfish enrichment.

Thanks for telling me it was a good day until I briefed you. [Redacted name]—You are only interested in your career and provide no support to your staff—no msn [mission] support and you don’t care. I cannot support a msn that leads to corruption, human right abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more. I didn’t volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. I trust no Iraqi. I cannot live this way. All my love to my family, my wife and my precious children. I love you and trust you only. Death before being dishonored any more. Trust is essential—I don’t know who trust anymore. [sic] Why serve when you cannot accomplish the mission, when you no longer believe in the cause, when your every effort and breath to succeed meets with lies, lack of support, and selfishness? No more. Reevaluate yourselves, cdrs [commanders]. You are not what you think you are and I know it.

COL Ted Westhusing

Life needs trust. Trust is no more for me here in Iraq.

What troubled Westhusing was not just the death and destruction all around him, the obvious looting of the country, and the human rights abuses, but the seeming lack of attention to the problem by his two of commanding officers, General Joseph Fil, and General David Petraeus. Yes, that David Petraeus. So focused was he on the destructive role of these two, that his suicide note was written to them. Westhusing's widow said that her husband's death should serve to bring out the truth of the corruption that her husband saw. Author and journalist, Robert Bryce was recently able to get documentation of interviews with Westhusing's wife and many other bits of correspondence and Investigation documents through the freedom of information act. They leave more questions open than they answer, especially in light of the media's blackout on information about Petraeus' part in this...even during a week that he is center stage at hearings being conducted on the war.

The book Blood Money, by T. Christian Miller, relates in depth, the deep convictions of Westhusing, and his drive towards a sort of noble honor and how that ended with his death. His favorite saying was by Socrates from Plato's Phaedo: "Those philosophizing rightly are practicing to die." It’s more than a little disconcerting to find that he had acted detached and despondent for days or weeks before he committed suicide, often standing around looking at his gun closely and lost in thought, not paying attention to what was happening. In a war where there are a record number of cases of suicide and PTSD, is there no awareness training of the trouble signs going on? He exhibited all of the signs of depression and despondency, and it’s a mystery why no one stepped up and tried to help him. But this is the culture of the military, and this is probably what worked out better for his commanding officers, who were no doubt looking at a loose canon who was raining on their good deal out there in the desert. Was there more to Westhusing's death? There is quite a lot of speculation out there that something was amiss at the death scene, and about who found him, (a contractor who reportedly tampered with the scene,) and that things don’t add up exactly.

General Petraeus is appearing before congress this week to try to defend his "surge" and to stop any further troop withdrawals. He is also making the case for an additional 100 billion dollars.
The surge is not working, no matter how it’s spun. If we keep combat troops in Iraq there could arguably be a reduction of violence, depending on many factors, but if its actually "working," as in helping Iraq to be more self sufficient and to end our participation in the problems there?...well, that depends on your definition of "working."

The fact that Petraeus has a long history of being wrong in his assessments of Iraq, and the fact that when directly questioned about current violence, he tends to defer blame to Iran, aside, at some point you have to question how much Petraeus' risen star and earning potential is tied to this war and its continuation. To say that this administration is in any way even a little translucent is laughable. Never has there been such an almost psychotic grab for all encompassing power with no body overseeing the actions of a few in power. Never has there been an attitude that the executive is above the law and the need to somehow document that for some sort of long range plan.

At some point the level of spending and loss of funds is so incredible that we must be compelled look at management, even if it’s unseemly in a time of war. At some point the American people have to demand an accounting. You would think that America had never run a war before. Surely it must be embarrassing when the top military officer has to get up in front of congress and try to explain some very small incremental improvement at such a huge cost. These improvements can also be easily explained away by so many factors, such as payments to a certain faction to stand down, ethnic cleansing having actually worked, and just the fact that more troops might put off the inevitable civil war that will happen now or in 20 years once the US security forces are pulled out. None of that speaks to a lasting improvement or even a partial repair of what we’ve done there.

A lot of this is common sense, and the fact that all Americans want so badly to feel like we've won, or that this was a just cause and not just some construct of Imperialism and the oil wars...much less, plans that happened in some conference rooms above the rule of law and our governmental checks and balances...well, we may be just caught in a nightmare here and waking up is not an option for those in power. We must realize that at some point we're doing more harm than good, and that may involve admitting that we are not necessarily on the side of right. But that's the rub here, and that's where we get back to Westhusing; any action in life comes with the possibility of a later realization that what you were positive about at one point could have been wrong.

Real strength of character involves being able to admit to wrong, even if that realization is terrible. In some societies the idea of having made mistakes brings dishonor on entire families. In our society the military culture is such that honor is everything; or it was. This administration has pulled the heart and guts out of any such code of honor in favor of allegiance to their plan for domination and their version of "right." But that too depends on your definition of "right."

The fact that much of what they espouse has to do with their Christian religion, and that a new culture of religious intolerance and pressure has grown up in the military academies of America, is no secret. When the love of country and honor...ideas, decision making, and weighing things... is replaced with allegiance to an ideology represented by a very powerful minority, ruling with fear rather than strengthening our collective will by reminding us what our American values are, we are no longer the America of the founders. Westhusing subscribed wholeheartedly to the credo of Honor or Death. He embraced the ideals of this country to the point that they were woven into his being. The realization that so many representatives of our country, of us, were not only corrupt, but committing atrocities, and the realization that the commanders had no intention of doing the honorable thing and stopping these abuses, was too much for him.

Was Westhusing murdered? Well, conspiracy theorists out there have some information and I suppose that one could make a case for further investigation. But one thing is for sure; He was a man of honor, he was despondent over corruption involving his direct commanders and said as much in a suicide letter addressed to them, and regardless of who pulled the trigger, he got the information out. I will leave the energy for trying to convict a lesser employee of a subcontractor to others who like to dig these things out. No direct connection will ever be found to Petraeus. It just doesn't work that way.



The implication is there, but the bigger implication is about the man whose finger will never be physically placed on the trigger; David Petraeus. This is the man who would immediately stop the very slow withdrawals that Bush began last year. This is the man who would continue to pour good money after bad into a situation that cannot even be basically stabilized after so many years. Today, All Spin Zone covers the hearings and asks that if Petraeus were a CEO or any top management in any business, wouldn't he be fired for this poor performance? What does someone have to do to get fired in this administration? At some point, aren't we going to question the implications and accusations floating around this man? At some point doesn't he lose all credibility as someone implicated in so many failed plans? Where is the honor in this leadership and where is the honor in this war?

RIP Ted Westhusing, and everyone else who has given their lives in this farce...RIP.

c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

John McCain's "Slip" is More than Just That...Its Part of a Talking Points Campaign to Talk Iraq Into Iran. Stop the Insanity! End the War!

We have to nip this kind of propaganda in the bud. This talking points campaign is aimed at the news byte conscious. The retraction is usually on page 20, unless its caught in such an embarrassing light, as in this case.
This tragic week marks our 5th year in Iraq, and the occasion has been used as a propaganda tool for everyone in this administration, from the top on down, to get us ready for the NEXT war! Just as you're thinking that it couldn't be possible, and how could they think that America has the will or strength to enlarge our presence in the middle east, think again. These people don't care what you or I think. They care only for their bottom line and for their own best interest. They will expand this war, lying all the way, until they are stopped. And its up to us, as Americans, to stop them.

Winter Soldier Against the War

Listen to them!



Happy anniversary to us...what a sad day! Stop the War...Stop John McCain! Lets get on with getting out of Iraq!

Meet President McCain!The Real Danger!

I'm juggling drafts here at the Rooster Ranch and while most of the incoming stuff seems to be of the Hillary vs. Obama variety show, in which the democrats once again shoot themselves in the foot while working out their very dysfunctional childhood tragedies as the repugs sneak in and blow up the Acme surprise box. Look, I know that they've had shit for candidates on the other side, but at least they have coagulated around one turd. Maybe its the batcrap craziest of 'em, and the one least able to maintain his facade, but so be it...the rub is the presentation by the huge advertising machine that has it's big gears turning underground as I type this. While we squabble about tit and tat they are getting ready, as usual...and as usual, we are locked in battle with ourselves.

From the Daily Kos "writer's strike," (h/t Skippy) where Hillary supporters feel overwhelmed by hate comments, to just about every mainstream media outlet, the story is the big fight between the 2 rarities that the democratic party has managed to put up for scrutiny. The story goes that the world will end if one or the other candidate becomes the general favorite and we are all caught up in the spectacle until WE become the story; the split party! This thing has reached the narcissistic stage, and I, for one, am gonna refrain from taking sides until we get to the general or unless something is real news. I'm also gonna encourage all democrats to do the same. Vote in your primary and then shut up except to go after the republican candidates in all races. The party needs to take the reins and stop the insanity now. Until they do we are in danger of a McCain Presidency. There is nothing to see here folks; move on by.

I'll talk about McCain, the general election, other races, and any real news that comes down the pike about Clinton or Obama (and I don't mean he said-she said,) that is progressing towards a conclusion to the primary season, but otherwise, I'm finished with the argument about who would be better for the country. The truth is that John McCain would be disastrous, and I'm frightened enough to want to urge the democratic party to get a move on so that we can all get behind one candidate and stop the McCain machine. If a miracle happened and John Edwards came roaring back with a billionaire backer, I'd be right up front carrying a sign, but its not gonna happen so... back to reality:

President McCain.
Lets all ponder the concept of that for a while. The fact that he is dangerously wrong on the issues is one thing...Oh, maybe he is better than Romnuckabee on one thing or another, and maybe he is a little less planet friendly or less pro-choice here or there, but the main problem that we have from the get-go, before we even begin to sort out the niggling things about spinning into the sun and who is really a real conservative, is the fucking war! McCain's issues page, "Iraq Victory" subsection begins with the following:

A greater military commitment now is necessary if we are to achieve long-term success in Iraq.

He doesn't mean have a draft and then send in a quarter million troops and get this thing over with...no he means the same old crap of trying to train the security forces there and stay until they can totally take care of themselves in a democratic way, whatever that is when filtered through the Haliburton/Blackwater government that's been in charge.There is really no need to read further at this point because there are just too many active and former military specialists who have been saying that our military is stretched too thin and that we cant possibly continue like this, much less start another one. The fact that McCain seems oblivious to the very real problems faced not only on the front lines of this war, but stateside, should be enough to make any thoughtful American reconsider a vote for McCain. The fact that the war is impacting our economy in such a devastating way is more cause for worry, and for the more self centered of Americans, that should be enough....see, even if we currently don't have to make personal sacrifices for this war, the financial difficulties caused by it are going to find each and every one of us on one level of another. If gas prices are bad for the average American now, just wait! $4 per gallon is right around the corner, and with it comes higher prices for everything that relies on fuel. The truth is that under a McCain presidency, or any Presidency that will continue the existing war and compound it in any way, we will likely be forced into a draft, a war tax, and sacrifices the likes of which we haven't previously seen. If this war doesn't touch you now, it will shortly. In order to follow McCain's plan we have to have a draft.

McCain admits himself to being a bit weak on economic issues, even as he tries to tap dance out of that admission, while at the same time aligning himself with the dawn of Reaganomics. Its enough to make your head spin.




A quick look at McCain's own issues page, reveals a troubling pattern of corporate economic incentives that seem to be more of the same old thing. He pays lip service to tax cuts for the middle class, but what is apparent is that his focus is still on the trickle down, but does not address the loss of jobs to outsourcing and the CEO payout. How does McCain think that the health care system should be reformed? Increase competition between providers, of course!
Its all some sort of fantasy, as far as I can see; promises that don't have any concrete plan. How would one increase competition between medical providers exactly? In what world can you mess around with the content of provider's care in medicine without serious regulation, (the type which that McCain is completely against...or is he?)

With a 10 percent corporate tax cut and the dream that it will result in a raise in American wages, (complete with footnotes!!)McCain is all over the place. Cut, cut, cut...and where is the money coming from as we fight on in the middle east until we're victorious? Add to that his pie in the sky plan to strengthen our borders and stop illegal immigration, with some nod to America being some "shining city on the hill" to the rest of the world, and NO PLAN.

Its all there, or not there, as I've said, and we don't have the luxury of letting another crazy work out his mommy or torture (take your pick) problems on the country. Americans who insist on believing the unfounded line that we can somehow pull off a victory in Iraq, bomb Iran, and/or somehow help Colombia with their growing problems, without a huge change in our current lives, are dreaming. The fact is that our version of "help" tends to create more problems, unless we begin with a quick hit and run plan, and a huge amount of troops. We also usually throw alot of aid at 'em immediately, as I recall from previous strikes. There is no doubt that we have created more terrorists with our "War on Terra" just by how it has been carried out, and that we are in much bigger danger from the toll of continuing our activities in Iraq than of the terra itself. Hell, if some other country did to us what we've done to Iraq, I'd be joining the rebel army myself!

If the idea of a full blown depression and a broken military doesn't give you pause, try this:

John McCain agrees with retired Army General Jack Keane that there are simply not enough American forces in Iraq. More troops are necessary to clear and hold insurgent strongholds; to provide security for rebuilding local institutions and economies; to halt sectarian violence in Baghdad and disarm Sunni and Shia militias; to dismantle al Qaeda; to train the Iraqi Army;



So, I'm assuming that this is on top of the surge troops that are "working."How long have we been trying to train the Iraqi forces and clear and hold strongholds? This is a war without end, and the longer we stay in it, the more we self destruct. There is hardly a passage in McCain's Issues section that doesn't spell some sort of destruction of whatever American way of life is left when thesewingnuts are done with us. Instead of Issues, why not call them Delusions?

Deluded is what John McCain is. He has some incredible deficit in his emotional control, with that about to blow persona, and who knows what resentments are hidden there after his failed election bids, not to mention his actual real-life torture, that he seems to use when its convenient and dismiss when its an issue of possible mental health concerns. Any of us can Google this and get many, many different stories and ideas about McCain's fitness to take the highest office in this
country, but it seems like it is very obvious that he is someone who does not have a good grasp on his emotions some of the time, and perhaps that should be something that we consider carefully.

I suppose that it would be politically incorrect to say that McCain also has cancer. Malignant Melanoma is an aggressive and deadly form of cancer, as the the New York Times reported when McCain had his first major relapse in 2000. According to statistics, melanomas caught in stage 1 or 2 can be cured pretty easily, but later stages along with thickness/size of tumors and recurrence sites, along with the general fitness of the person, make the survival rates fall. This is measured in 5 and 10 year increments. Because McCain is someone who has had recurrences and those recurrences were spreading of original cancers along with new cancers, it may be impossible to figure out his exact chances for long term survival unless he comes out and talks about it beyond the "I'm cured" line. He may be "cured" of those particular cancers, but he really cant say that the next one, and there will be a next one, wont be more aggressive that the ones before. I guess I'm saying that the republican party had better look hard at McCain's running mate...harder than usual.

The folly of running John McCain for President is something that we dems haven't had a chance to revel in because of our own problems. At some point we have to set aside our differences and start chipping away at this guy. He is so full of faults that ...well, I imagine still that if there is a way to hand the election to him, we will...but lets surprise ourselves, one soul at a time, and turn away from the propaganda about the left and towards the task at hand.

Welcome to the general election, in which we are at war with John McCain, and our candidate, whoever that may be, is as good as we can do right now...lets get to work!

c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

The Cost of the Iraq War

Because every moment counts....

The War May Well be the Least of Our Problems: Suicide in the Military; CBS Reports

Despite the best efforts of the department of defense, stories of a surge in veteran and active duty, in country, soldier suicides have plagued this war since we settled in for our long, long stay. Many have been presented as anecdotal, even though they really represented an alarming trend in what amounts to lack of treatment and understanding of what the problems of soldiers are going to be as this war winds on. Most Americans cant seem to focus for long on much these days, and the inability to view even a people magazine article as an indicator of a trend, leaves most regular people unprepared for the real sacrifices that are going to be necessary and the ground work being laid. Surely the care of thousands of depressed and PTSD citizens is not part of the grand budgeting for this war.

In this new world, where we are told to go shopping rather than make any vague sort of sacrifice, where we are not allowed to see even photographs of caskets being offloaded from military transports, where most communities are ill-prepared for their damaged brothers and sisters return to normal life, something is gonna have to give.

Now comes word that CBS has done that rare thing which we see so seldom these days from our media conglomerates; they actually did some research and dug up some information ...and then even reported a real story. So odd was this phenomenon that the method is part of the story, in that they first took the numbers from the states, then took the military numbers...then...then...Its all very fascinating and I hope that it gets huge ratings so that other M$M reporters might look up from their daily briefing from the White House, get off their asses, and look critically at some independent statistics.

According to Alternet CBS has uncovered some hidden statistics that the counters would prefer that we not know in this time of "the surge is working," (if you don't count the "crime" shootings in the front of the head, or was that the sectarian shootings in the back of the head?) Our brave soldiers are committing suicide at an alarming rate. We are talking about 120 dead per week, which is an average of 17 every day!

Anyone that has ever dealt with mental illness of any sort; PTSD, depression, or suicidal ideology, can tell you that an attempted or completed suicide comes from a place of complete and utter pain, such despair and desolation, a break from reality, and that it is not a situation usually where someone hasn't at least tried to get some relief in other ways. Blame it on the anti-malaria drug, the war, or any number of factors, the numbers are going up and regardless of the cause, its a problem that belongs to us all.

The fact that the veterans administration is not prepared for the physical injuries that this war has wrought is well documented, but the real rub here is going to be the numbers of psychologically damaged soldiers returning on top of those that are here already, that are not being treated properly, if they can be treated at all, and who are going to overwhelm a system that is unprepared for this. With the VA backlog already in the millions, how is this problem going to play out in our cities and towns? There is no money for this...there are not enough trained professionals at the ready, there is a lack of mental health care on the ground in Iraq, when some of this could be caught early, and the line snakes around the corner and back again.

The hot career path of the future may well be in mental health, folks. This is not the stuff of take a Prozac and feel better. This is not social anxiety like on the commercials. Its debilitating and disabling, and the cure is not simple. The numbers are bad enough right now, but the stories of the government propping up and shipping out anyone who isn't actively cutting their wrists on their way to the airport, are troubling, to say the least.

Meanwhile, many of those who are able to get enough help to at least document their problems, are dismissed as having "personal problems" rather than any reaction to the war, violence, long deployments and redeployment's, and a different type of percussive head injury that is probably not fully understood yet. I could also imagine that anyone in the position of having volunteered as a reservist and then realized that they were going into war, untrained for the most part, unequipped, and that the tours have been extended and are going to be repeated, might feel quite a bit of helplessness and despair. Add to that the ongoing grind of an ill conceived war that has had our forces clearing one area and then moving on, only to have to come back to the same area again...in other words, there are not enough forces there to hold any part of what they are able to clear.The frustration of risking your life every day for a policing operation that never ends, is some sort of nightmare; you roll the boulder up the hill and it rolls back down...forever...At some point it must be nice to be someone who can embrace the talking points and follow orders blindly, but it must be pretty damned hard for anyone over there right now not to see whats happening on the ground.

We can only extrapolate from CBS's numbers that many, many active duty soldiers are feeling really badly...and I mean that in a dangerous sense. How many depressed and suicidal soldiers are out there as important parts of squadrons on patrol? How many armed veterans are walking around at home with unaddressed despair?
Our unpreparedness and obvious inability to treat the epidemic of PTSD and depression in the military is not only inhuman treatment of society's bravest members, but it is actual torture. What are we going to do when the military, lacking resources to deal with this problem, is flooded with returnees? What of the outsourced army who definitely have the same sorts of problems? What are we gonna do?

Veteran's Day- The Graphic Truth

The warning on HuffPo is that the images may be too graphic for us to look at; and they are. But how can we NOT look? The comments say it all.
Do we need to know how many have died on our side?
Do we need to know that this war was unnecessary? Experts, Former Presidents, and the former US representative to Iraq, all agree, and have for years. There are too many of these to link to.

The crime that must be remembered on this and every Veteran's Day is that these horribly injured soldiers who fought for nothing more than a lie and the enrichment of a certain group of old white men in the war and oil businesses, will come to find that there are not adequate support systems in place for any of our veterans, much less those who have a new type of injuries that have been born of this war. Head injuries and PTSD might not be as spectacularly horrible looking as these photo-oped ones that the Bush administration have sent out to the world, but they will flood our already overburdened system.

Our veterans are the brave heroes, who have put their lives on the line for freedom, whether it was a lie or the truth is not the issue. They went and they fought for us and for our ideals. That's why it is so important for us to support them. That is why I cringe at the photo-op of these brave people being pimped out by Bush and his publicity team.

So, I don't cringe because the injuries tell a story of pain that we could not imagine and lives that are changed forever, that they are too graphic for my delicate sensibilities, but because this guy...this President of ours has the balls to look these brave soldiers in the eye and pretend that they will be able to get care for the rest of their lives.

Here is the NY Times Editorial Page's answer to the fallacy that Bush projects every time he appears in public:

November 12, 2007
Editorial
The Plight of American Veterans

As an unpopular, ill-planned war in Iraq grinds on inconclusively, it can be a bleak time to be a veteran.

There is little outright hostility toward returning military personnel these days; few Americans are reviling them as “baby killers” or blaming them for a botched war of choice launched by the White House. Indeed, both Congress and the White House have been hymning their praises in the run-up to Veterans Day. But all too often, soldiers who return from Iraq or Afghanistan — and those who served in Vietnam or Korea — have been left to fend for themselves with little help from the government.

Recent surveys have painted an appalling picture. Almost half a million of the nation’s 24 million veterans were homeless at some point during 2006, and while only a few hundred from Iraq or Afghanistan have turned up homeless so far, aid groups are bracing themselves for a tsunamilike upsurge in coming years.

Tens of thousands of reservists and National Guard troops, whose jobs were supposedly protected while they were at war, were denied prompt re-employment upon their return or else lost seniority, pay and other benefits. Some 1.8 million veterans were unable to get care in veterans’ facilities in 2004 and lacked health insurance to pay for care elsewhere. Meanwhile, veterans seeking disability payments faced huge backlogs and inordinate delays in getting claims and appeals processed.

The biggest stain this year was the scandalous neglect of outpatients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a sluggish response to the needs of wounded soldiers at veterans clinics and hospitals. Much of this neglect stemmed from the Bush administration’s failure to plan for a long war with mounting casualties and over-long tours of duty to compensate for a shortage of troops.

Thus far, more than 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, many more than died in the almost-bloodless Persian Gulf war, but only a fraction of the body counts in Vietnam (58,000) or Korea (36,000). A higher percentage of wounded soldiers are surviving the current conflicts with grievous injuries, their lives saved by body armor, advances in battlefield medicine and prompt evacuation. A study issued last week estimated that the long-term costs of their medical care and disability benefits could exceed the amount spent so far in prosecuting the war in Iraq.

To their credit, Congress and the administration have poured billions of added dollars into veterans’ programs and streamlined procedures in a scramble to catch up with the need. That is only appropriate. The entire burden of today’s wars has been carried by a voluntary military force and its families. The larger public has not faced a draft, paid higher taxes or been asked to make any other sacrifice. The least a grateful nation should do is support the troops upon their return.

****

We all need to look at the graphic truth of this war. This is our war; we own it along with the casualties and crimes that come along with it. So, while some people avert their eyes, lets remember that this is America, and we are only as strong as our weakest citizen...only as healthy as these guys are.

Lets just hope that those veteran's programs continue to grow and be funded properly. lets just hope that not even one brave soldier falls between the cracks of this flawed system. And lets demand that we pull out of Iraq as quickly and safely as humanly possibly.
I hope that Bush and Cheney and their cohorts will be held fully accountable for their crimes. But no matter what, the record will reflect what we will be yelling about forever...the truth is that we have all been bamboozled and we have to take care of our soldiers while we search for justice.

Petraeus on the New Theory of Relativity...

...cause everybody knows that an ant can't move a rubber tree plant...

I Don't Like Mondays...

Ok, so now what?

MODERATOR: Unfortunately, the question is for Senator Edwards. Senator Edwards, if General Petraeus has indicated that there was some success of these troops, would you still be in favor of withdrawing [from] Iraq in a few months?

MR. EDWARDS: I'm absolutely in favor of America leaving Iraq. What I'm concerned about, about the Petraeus report, is that it will be basically a sales job by the White House, that it'll be a PR document -- (applause) -- because that's what we've continually gotten from this administration, throughout the course of the war.

And it will be focused on this benchmark or that benchmark than whether some minor progress has been made on one particular benchmark.

The underlying question that has existed the entire time that we've been in Iraq is, have the Sunni and Shi'a moved toward some sort of serious political compromise? Because without that compromise, there cannot be peace or stability in Iraq. It cannot happen.

And I think we know the answer to that right now. The answer to that question is there has been no political progress. In fact, the Iraqi parliament went on vacation for three or four weeks while American men and women were putting their lives on the line in Iraq.

Here's what I believe. I believe no political progress means no funding without a timetable for withdrawal. And if the president vetoes a bill that has a timetable for withdrawal, the Congress should send him another bill with a timetable for withdrawal and continue to do it until he's forced to start withdrawing troops. (Applause.)

MODERATOR: Senator Clinton, the same question: For the -- in the next few days, we'll have a report from General Petraeus. If the troop surge has had partial success in Iraq, would you still withdraw from Iraq?

SEN. CLINTON: I was against the surge when it was first proposed. And I believe that nothing which General Petraeus or Ambassador Crocker or anyone else coming before the Congress will say next week will in any way undermine the basic problem: There is no military solution. That has been said for years now. And that is why I believe we should start bringing our troops home.
That however does not in any way suggest that our young men and women in uniform have not performed magnificently and heroically, because they have. (Applause.) They were asked to do what they do best, which is to try to provide some amount of stability or security to give the Iraqi government the time and space to do what the Iraqis must do. Unfortunately despite the heroism of our American forces, the Iraqi government has not reached any kind of political reconciliation. Therefore we need to quit refereeing their civil war and bring our troops home as soon as possible. (Applause.)

MODERATOR: Senator [sic] Richardson, what would you do with the troops?

GOV. RICHARDSON: What I would do with the troops is I would bring them all home -- every one of them. And you know, there's a fundamental difference that I raised in the last debate with Senator Obama, Senator Clinton, Senator Edwards. Under their plans, under their website, they leave either 25 or 50 or 75 troops behind. I'd bring them all home within a period of time of six to eight months, because our troops have become targets.

You can't bring reconciliation to Iraq, or an all-Muslim peacekeeping force or a partition, without getting all our troops out. Our kids are becoming targets. They are dying -- the last three months, the highest total. Iraqis are dying.

And I -- there is a basic difference between all of us here that I mentioned, involving, what do we do about leaving troops behind? Some say they want to leave combat troops behind. They don't want to leave them --

MODERATOR: Thank you very much.
...
We want to go to Senator Dodd. The question: The question isn't that in the past things haven't been done right, but what would you do differently to capture Osama bin Laden -- something that hasn't been done?

SEN. DODD: Well, first of all, I think in this debate about the forces in Iraq -- what time they come out, how many come out, and when they come out -- the underlying question is the safety and security of our country. We're running for the presidency of the United States. The first obligation and job of an American president is to keep this country safe and secure.

I would argue that today presently our troops in Iraq are doing just the opposite of that. We're more vulnerable, less safe, more insecure today as a result of the presence there because we've turned Iraq into an incubator for jihadists and terrorists.

And so it's important, I think, that we do begin that process. And I'll strongly support in the coming days efforts here to terminate that participation based on firm deadlines.

Then we ought to be taking those resources and putting them into Afghanistan here so that you have a serious effort here to go after Osama bin Laden. We failed to do that. As we went into Iraq here, we lessened our participation in Afghanistan, and as a result, we've seen the resurgence of the Taliban and the reemergence of Osama bin Laden.

If we focus our attentions there, return there, then I think we can make a huge difference and apprehend Osama bin Laden and also rebuild the coalitions necessary to have the kind of cooperation to deal with international terrorism that we're not getting today because of our military -- continued military participation in Iraq. I think that's the danger. (Applause.)

Oprah's Bone-dentity, Petraeus and the American Public, and New Rules...

Americans have grown so frighteningly apathetic that as Petraeus gives his report on the Iraq Surge, there will be a mechanical background hum of daily life as gears grind and stock tickers tick in the gray world...and in some sort of 1984 Macintosh commercial, the big screen in Times Square will show a picture of the uniform with the mouth moving, as if in an Olbermann/Letterman/O'Brien/Snuffleupagus weekly funny. Why do I feel so numb about this report?...even though I've waited for it, painfully aware of every death reported since we were put off through the summer...

According to...well, just about every major news outlet, pollster, and blog out there, the majority of the American people feel that this report is full of shit and that Petraeus is less than trustworthy when it comes to his view of the success of the surge in Iraq. Though it does appear that everyone is going off the same wire report for the percent of Americans who are disgruntled, I still believe it holds true across the board.

Even Petraeus himself seems to be trying to get a coded message out by frantically blinking his eyes in Morse:

In a letter to US troops ahead of his testimony, Gen Petraeus conceded that the ”tangible political progress” expected from that the surge was supposed to spur had ”not worked out as we had hoped”.

The tragedy is that once you've sold your soul, that's it. Its not like Petraeus and his ilk cant go on to write their books and make their speeches.... but forget the legacy and respect that might be due a guy like this. I just don't believe that a career officer can deliver these dummied up talking points, while clearly trying to backpedal here and there, and not be somehow haunted by it forever.


I dont even have hope that the senate will surprise us with a major smack down, and yet we know that what he is going to say is likely to put a positive spin on a grim situation. This is the kind of thing that would have made me salivate back in the days of hope, but the realities of such a close majority in the Senate, and the tendency of people in office to have a troubling amount of respect for the uniform, (which I understand, but which also must be questioned in a situation like this,) makes it almost certain that this may be a flat reading of a White House script, written weeks and months ago by the Rovian spinners who are no doubt still in the office finishing up the architecture job for the boss.

Ill be watching most of it with interest, if for nothing else, for the psychological implications of this time in history, and the arrested development of our country.

Bill Maher had a fantastic show last night, and all I can say is that if you've got HBO on demand, have a look at it. If not, check out the HBO page and look at the videos there, as well as YouTube. I also watch AfterHours online, streaming from the HBO page. That also turns up on YouTube. But in the meantime here are this week's New Rules, just for a little of the funny before a hard week to come:



Oprah Winfrey....hmmmm...
I don't much go for the overly black girlfriend thing that she does sometimes, and even though I respect her and what she has done, I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see her corralling Hollywood and throwing down for a guy who is inspiring but ultimately not experienced enough to WIN. I'm not saying that I wont vote for him if he is the nominee, but I doubt very much that he will be the nominee. I also feel like he puts on certain airs, and I'm not 100% sure what it is that he stands for exactly. I say this from a place of having seen him debate live and watched him on TV alot...and Ive also read most of his site from the beginning because I find him somewhat compelling in a futuristic sort of way.












In any case, I appreciate that Oprah wants a black guy as president, and that women want a woman...I don't take it very seriously right now, because I am so pleased with our field...but I do wish that she had thrown her formidable power behind the democratic nominees in 2000, and in 2004. In the world of life and death that the Bush administration has created for us, it seems to me that in the past she donated money but remained largely above the fray, because she was trying to be a news person. I'm glad to have her voice out there...but wary at the same time. Oprah Winfrey is a cultural phenomenon, who has certainly tried , against all odds, to raise the level of the culture. But we don't really know what she stands for, and she wields quite a bit of power.


Jezebel has a lighter view of Oprah's huge splash into the pool of presidential campaigning:

The woman, the black, the black, the woman, the woman, the black... OMG IT'S LIKE A REALITY DATING SHOW. We like Hillary and all, except we kind of don't want to vote for her, and neither, it turns out finally, does Oprah Winfrey, who after extensive focus-grouping and analysis of the candidates' respective adherence to the Law of Attraction (i.e. coin-flipping) yesterday , finally decided to come out and endorse Barack Obama. (UPDATE: Okay, so she had endorsed him already, but then she decided to start raising serious bank for him yesterday, and that's the important part.)...and Barack is black, and Oprah's black, and Oprah's from Chicago, but so are Barack and Hillary, but Hillary left, so that must have been it, right? Because it's not like you'd vote for somebody based on a thorough evaluation of their policies, priorities, voting records and level of beholdenness to various entrenched interests? We don't know, because we lean towards Obama, but some of us are fairly Caucasian. So what did to black women have to say? We searched far and wide for two undecided black women voters who would speak their minds.

And upon asking around:

Which settles it. Identity politics are over. It's all about bone-dentity politics. Personally, we're leaning towards Obama, but only by the transitive property of being hot for Ludacris.

C/P from RIPCoco

Petraeus' Fluff Ball, Krugman's Hardball, Congressional Softballs, and Rudy Guilliani Has No Balls!!

Today Paul Krugman joined the well deserved pile-on urging Congressional Democrats to take a stand and act like they have some balls when General Petraeus testifies about the white house penned report on Iraq this week. It is unreal that we are at a point where we are looking at our representatives as cowards who are afraid, not as much of what we might think of them, but of the political bubble-world of Washington DC that seems to be so hermetically sealed that any statement of dissent is treated like a huge achievement. I think that these politicians might do themselves a service by taking a look around outside of the beltway, because Americans are disgruntled, to say the least. According to Krugman, we should plan on the report to be a bunch of bullshit, twisted facts, and numbers:

Here’s what will definitely happen when Gen. David Petraeus testifies before Congress next week: he’ll assert that the surge has reduced violence in Iraq — as long as you don’t count Sunnis killed by Sunnis, Shiites killed by Shiites, Iraqis killed by car bombs and people shot in the front of the head.

Here’s what I’m afraid will happen: Democrats will look at Gen. Petraeus’s uniform and medals and fall into their usual cringe. They won’t ask hard questions out of fear that someone might accuse them of attacking the military. After the testimony, they’ll desperately try to get Republicans to agree to a resolution that politely asks President Bush to maybe, possibly, withdraw some troops.

This report is just a piece of fluff which cherry picks information down to the smallest detail, but clearly overlooks the secondary (or, hell, primary at this point,) effect of this occupation on what is left of Iraqi society; in that we might perhaps expect an increase in crime, not just because there is an increase in crime but because we are there and have disrupted everything...of course we have to count those deaths!

Its clear at this point that Bush likes to have something going on that lets him feel like he is "kicking ass," but alot of us have known for a long time that he is a sociopath riding a hobby horse, and even the doubters are beginning to realize the truth, so why are these white house Rovian operatives allowed to shape the debate? How dare any of them call Democrats who question this clearly erroneous report unpatriotic? And where do our representatives get off backing down after promising to go and deliver a strong and brave message for us. The founders would spit on the way that their hopeful plans have been twisted by this crowd. What kind of cowards do we have running this country?I hope to hear something from someone, maybe even a question that makes sense, but I'm not hopeful.

Krugman notes that Petraeus "...has a history of making wildly overoptimistic assessments of progress in Iraq that happen to be convenient for his political masters." And if its true, as Krugman believes, that the democrats will be accused of being unpatriotic no matter what they say or what happens, then I would hope to hear some all out probing of this report and perhaps even some dissent and protest. One thing we can be sure of is that this report is not likely to hint at the very real need for, and the strong possibility of, a draft.

So why bother with this piece of theater? Because Americans like to see committees and circumstance, and guys in suits acting like they are actually solving problems. Americans also like symbols...like, um...Osama Bin Laden, as the universal bad guy killer. Its a shame that Fred Thompson chose now to belittle the importance of the Bin Laden symbolism to American culture, considering that the government already has the pre-release of Bin Laden's yearly 9-11 commemoration tape, and the outrage is already palpable, even all these years later.

Thompson would do well to pull himself up by his bootstraps, get out of his limo, and try to take the pulse of the American people a little more carefully. What the hell is this guy doing talking about where he thinks Bin Laden is? We haven't caught him because we are in the wrong place doing the wrong thing, and the last thing we need is the suggestion that we should invade another country for the hell of it, when its clear that the guy moves around pretty easily in the Middle East and its gonna take good intelligence work to find him.







In other disgusting news, apparently Joementum Lieberman is co-chairing a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Monday. Again we are in a position where this pseudo liberal "I" who is supposedly caucusing with the Democrats, (but always threatening to flip to the other side,) is going to be the one representing the left side for balance...I have alot of trouble getting my mind around this! This guy gets to keep all of his committee posts and chair all sorts of meetings...representing US!...and who will ask the important questions about our security? No one...forget it.
Its gonna be a clown parade, with Skeletor Chertoff leading other top officials in making assessments about our security and how safe we are..,or not.... The clear fact that we are not safer now than we were before 9-11 points to more of the same; especially knowing how the reports are presented and how afraid our representatives seem to be to make waves.

Its been another day in the car listening to news, podcasts of Ring of Fire, and an old Majority Report rant by Janeane Garafolo about cognitive dissonance, (which has long been one of my favorite subjects.) She was talking about the woman who had the face transplant and the story of how she lost her face: passing out from drugs and alcohol and waking, but not realizing that the dog had removed her face for some reason...that is until trying to light a cigarette and, oops, what the fuck?? Janeane likened the strange shocky feeling of having just had your face eaten off by your dog to what has been going on in this country. Its strange how well some of those Air America shows from over a year ago still hold up...and sad that they still apply, even though the truth is out. Everyone knows that this is all wrong, but they just look uncomfortably at each other and hide their cowardice in some sort of idea of respect for the office and protocol. Fuck that! The feeling of embracing the lie because one can't come to terms with the fact that one was wrong in the first place, or over-identification with the lie, is the only way that some people can live with themselves. Its a form of mental illness that drives itself, in that the stress caused by conflicting belief and evidence needs to resolve so the truth is actively shifted in order to relieve the stress....and then there you are; your dog just took a bite out of your face...but it all makes sense because....because...because...it does!

Here I am in my house of cement pouring, alarm going off, firemen swarming, and contractors moving piles of my laundry round the basement, strangely quiet...for a minute...seeing what it might be like to feel like everything was OK out there...but then, on the news comes Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, who is, against all odds, holding his own in the weak Republican field...the debate, ugh...the news ugh....How did this happen? How did he manage to plow under his extreme weakness as a human being and a leader? His popularity is not dropping the way it should, which worries me, and makes me think that the American people are, as usual, not paying attention.

That Rudy has the nerve to say that he is not a perfect person but was a strong leader in NYC is just laughable. The idea that he could even fill the position of dogcatcher is incredible; but then...look what we have now!
The reign of Rudy in NYC was a strange time of knee jerk over-reaction to Dinkins and his PC liberalism. The swing was not so much to the right, because Rudy is pretty left on social issues, but more towards the Reich.

Among other insanity the homeless folks that were all over the place were hassled all the time and told to move on, with no place to go, and it was said that a large number of them had moved underground into old subway stations or were given one way tickets to places like Bridgeport, CT. I kept wondering where those people went...it was like they were just loaded on trucks one day and removed. The idea of just jostling sleeping people over and over is sort of inhumane, and the lack of real programs to help people made the whole exercise rather abusive.

Rudy set about defining the rules of what he felt was right, as if he was the arbiter of all things social, artistic and monetary. His people were less than sophisticated, and the whole thing echoed a strange mafia novella with goombas and good-fellas. Yeah, Rudy played tough, and he reversed some of Dinkin's soft policing measures, but his real focus was not on infrastructure and safety, but on surface and shine. This was not good management and it alienated many, many people...real New Yorkers for one, were disgusted, and many people who work to make the city work were disgruntled. He didn't solve problems so much as to sweep them away and make things look pretty. But, as we know about those shiny apple Republicans these days, the core is rotten, and sooner or later the worm is gonna crawl out. I'm just waiting for Rudy to blow. He not only lacks the personality for the office but he is rotten to the core.

Rudy left us in a very vulnerable position while he shined up his command center that was in the middle of his universe...with a big target on it. For anyone who doubts that Rudy absolutely sucked as a leader, and for anyone who thinks that it might make sense to have a strong guy like him at the helm, take a visit to The Real Rudy and lift the rock on old Rudy. I don't say this lightly: for anyone who might ever consider giving this guy a job with big responsibility, do some research. Your life may depend on it!

Mazel Tov....Stumbling Round Israel....Tripping Over Joe Lieberman...Again...

Why can't we discuss Israel? because its a big pain in the ass, thats why.
Greetings from the hell pit that my life has been lately, and my recovery day from the wonderful bar mitzvah yesterday of a fantastic kid who I have watched grow into a really great person. It was touching and funny and I really enjoyed it. But because I'm somewhat of a "negative" person or something, (I prefer a sort of Woody Allen before-the-fall, neurotic-ish, realist, NYC, outlook...thats not all that negative is it?) My perception of things is always about what is happening between the lines, inside the message, and I agonize so much about all this organized religion stuff. But this temple and rabbi always get me because the Israel issue is BIG...and that sticks in my craw a little...and why? Because the ideas that are swirling around this community and this country, and what people end up feeling and acting on regarding the hardest issues that we face these days involve a sort of stark fear..

Liberals pussyfoot around this issue because its such a sensitive spot and it seems to hit every soft spot of emotion and fear possible. The passion involved makes it impossible to argue it, much less fight a war over it. In dealing with something that inevitably leads to religious issues, I've found that its best to not set foot in that taboo land of god.How could I possibly understand faith? Its something that I lack, for better or worse...except for a faith in nature and certain people...far fewer these days and ever dwindling. I also don't know as much as I should about the political details of the holy land, probably, because I reject the idea of religious war and I don't believe that any god that exists gives a shit about land and temples or shrines and governing entities deciding who gets what . I think that if there is a test to being human and gaining entrance into whatever heaven might be, and if its in the scriptures or written in the skies, it must concern how easily a soul is able to let go of these earthly things, and understand that there is no control over anything, much less who gets the rights to one holy place or another. It also must be somewhat about how we treat our worst enemy and the weakest among us...right? And something about looking within and questioning our motives and the societal standards and rules set up around those motives.

If we can't see ourselves in every person out there and have empathy for the struggles of others, then what good is it if we own the ground that god's son walked on? Its only a piece of dirt...how does that compare to a life? Or is life really that cheap?
The human animal has always migrated, and there have always been wars, along with barbaric behavior, in order to gain control of whatever the Spice resource of the time is.
Today at part 1 of the epic bar mitzvah, of the guy with the turtle above, sorta like a young man now, I saw a bunch of people that I've known for more years than I can remember passing me by. And again I was in that pew wondering about what goes into this wonderful community thing that unfortunately also includes giving up a certain amount of logic and reason and accepting the feeling of a very definite line of separation between these people and...others outside of this place. These are the chosen people, after all. I'm not denying that. I think its good to have a well developed ego and feeling about purpose in this life, but what of the rest of us...the...er...left behind...what about us?
Who was I and how did I get through all of everything for all of these years? Who are these young adults and how did they get so big? The boys were shrugging off their mothers fixing their hair or patting their shoulders; the girls were in little cliques and talking in code, holding their phones, and flipping that young shiny hair around. Its all so young and fertile and...scary....because the time really did fly by like nothing. But still, we've all been busy, busy, so its not yet porch and rocking chair time. We still have weddings to go through and grandchildren too, I suppose (though I have been notified by my young alien that he intends to give me NO grandchildren....whatever...I'm beyond trying to reason with the creature until he is at least 18...because he knows everything! And he can see the future!)

During all of that hugging of people I hadn't seen in so long, and measuring all the kids against my vaguely changing self, (at least I hope I'm not changing as fast as they are,) the "liberal-politics-blogger" and how is it going thing came up over and over...to which I had to explain that I've been away and so crazy busy, etc...and that this blog of not much content, is not what I do usually, and all that...yeah, not much posting going on lately....
Along came a dad who I guess I have known since nursery school in the little schoolhouse up the road, and we have met the family again since Will has joined the son in a different school. I was talking about blogging, with some friends, and especially a friend who started a business/bakery that makes snacks for kids with food allergies, and who is adding a blog to her site, when dad piped in that he is a friend of Joe Lieberman and worked on his campaign and has been involved in politics himself. Silence. Should I go there?
Don't do it Melina! Don't jump! But, you know me....
"I have to say...well, you must know... that Joe is not my favorite person in the world, though I would like to talk to him, if I can find him."
So, my friend with the food allergy site glazed over and moved on to say hello to other friends. My other friend just sat there glazed and unbelieving that I was actually going there, and looking to the side for escape possibilities. I bit:
"I actually was just in Chicago with Ned Lamont. I worked on his campaign. I LOVE him! I hope he runs again for anything."
And then I went on to say that I know that Joe has a great voting record, and that he has been not so bad for us. But the problem is that he thinks that his skewed view of the Iraq war is compelling enough, against the views of all the experts and in siding with a view that only George Bush and Barney the dog support anymore, to tear the Democratic party apart, not respect our wishes, and threaten over and over to take his vote to the republican side. This goes against what his constituents want and we have made that clear. The majority of us don't want him to be doing what he's doing, and yet he keeps speaking out in favor of the war...at the same time speaking to us in a condesending, paternalistic fashion, which makes clear that he believes that we are children who dont know our own minds.
I then took a breath.
To which he said: "Well then, how do you feel about Israel?"
Hmmm...How do I feel about Israel?
I was trying to say that it was complicated and that I don't believe in war for land...that perhaps it has a strategic purpose in the Middle east, and that I really don't know enough about all the details to speak on some of these issues....
And, fuck it, I'm a PC liberal...and we don't talk about this subject.
But heres the rub: Joementum Lieberman uses the psychology of fear about the Holocaust/Israel, and it somehow bleeds into a line about Iraq and Iran, and how the Middle East is "gonna blow up," and how unsafe we are. I felt myself mouthing that "be afraid, be very afraid..." line....That mushroom soup with the puff pastry mushroom floating on top could soon be a mushroom cloud!

Part of this is just Joementum talking points , and there is a pretty big fear of the middle east, in general, going round. What it would mean to us if it "blew-up," which seems pretty selfish somehow, because if it blows up (and I think that this rhetoric line involves wars and civil war and Iran taking over Iraq and becoming that much more powerful,) but mostly what it comes down to for many, many people is this myth that Joe is somehow holding Israel together all by himself.
And we don't talk about Israel...or do we?
Supporting Israel is to honor the fallen Holocaust victims. I hear this alot.

I finally said to the woman next to me (a very smart woman, I should add,) that America is NOT deserting Israel no matter what any of us think. And she said that she was not so sure. She said that some of the women at her synagogues had said to her that if Obama got in they were worried about America's continued support of Israel...and also said that if he was the nominee, even as vice, that they would vote republican! Republican!!

She didn't say that she felt that way, but I was sort of plunged into another reality, almost a splash of cold water, shaking my head to try to wake up...
I was tired...it was a long day...and I couldn't see any of this ending well or helping anyone come to any great conclusion. So, I ended the long night of part 2, disco party/sit down dinner, by talking to a friend's husband who I had never had a chance to really talk to...and we had alot in common and he was fun to talk to...so there...I had to flee to a sympathetic and agreeing listener...and talk tech, agreement politics, and recovery.

OK, here is my point: Do I know enough about Israel? No...not enough to know the ins and outs of the legal wrangling. But, I really don't believe in war, especially in the name of "god," whatever that means anymore.
What I really don't believe in, is American children being taught that they are in danger of another genocide and so they should always know that they are really wedded to another country that they are supporting from afar. I think that American children need to be raised American, and that they have to know that if there is another attempted genocide, we will all stand up and say NO! This would presumably be part of the superior American education system that is teaching decision making and philosophy and ethics...oh, wait a minute...never mind....

To this, I've heard " Well, they didnt stand up and say NO last time, did they?"
But you know, genocides have been going on since the beginning of time and even more recently since the Holocaust, and there is even one right now in Darfur. Why is it that the Jewish genocide was worse, and deserving of a country of its own?
At one point the dad said that (well, you're a Jew, right? ...No, my mom isn't, so I'm not, Oh...) hadn't I ever experienced antisemitism?...
Uh-Oh.... there I was with a black kid who lives part of the time in the "inner city," such-as-it-is, of my town, and please don't tell me that antisemitism is worse than the racism that people of color experience all the time. They can't even hide their difference...so don't tell me that you are saying that this piece of the barbaric human experience is any more poignant and deserving of a separate state than that; not for the antisemitism reason anyway. Its all bad and its all the very vilest of human nature to attack those who don't look like them, worship like them, live like them...fill in the blank....is Israel purely about reparations?
As I looked around the synagogue that morning, I noted that there was but one girl of color, a light skinned African-American girl. Why is that? Why is it that no black people can afford to live around here? Someone actually said to me that there are no black Jews, to which I said, ...um...NO?!

And anyway, this synagogue experience is supposed to be all about welcoming anyone in the community who wants to drop in for services and a bite. Its really quite nice and welcoming with kids running around and people whispering and shuffling. Its like a microcosm of real life minus racial diversity and plus a cantor. The rabbi is a cool guy who is a rabid Red Sox fan, and often uses baseball metaphors to make his point. It's just unfortunate that the mass transit system here is totally unreliable and on the weekends its worse...so its not like many people of color are walking down the street. No, they tend to be pretty much corralled down by I-95 where they were put in the first place.

The thing is that this sort of racism is still a huge problem here in America; and its your America where you need to direct some of your attention... because this meddling in the middle east in order to ensure the safety of Israel ,(and the oil...don't forget the oil,) and something about terraists, is only making us less and less safe here...and more and more fearful of people who look different and live differently than we do.

Call it a series of strategic military outposts, call it our need for oil, call it anything, but don't call it anti-semitism or say that its your real country. Your actual country is here under your feet, until you move over there and take citizenship or dual citizenship. Most people I know wouldn't think of moving there permanently, but they have this blind support thing going on. Its a nice place to visit and it makes them feel closer to God, so who am I to question?

I am all for that actually. Faith is a fantastic thing.... But how many people do you want to have died in a civil war in a country that will never right itself until we are out of there, and how many kids should die to protect a country that was created as a deal with a people who needed or wanted a land of their own...? Here is where I don't know enough...
My big question of the night was : And how will you all get there when the next holocaust comes? Airlift? Ship?...whats the plan?

In desperation, the dad parried with a "But If we pull out of Iraq, it will be carnage."
Thrust: "If we stay its carnage."

"God wants us to have Israel...no shit...its in the Torah."
"God wrote that?"
"Yes!"
"On paper?...they didnt have paper back then. On leaves? On rock? God told man??"

So man, in his imperfection, has translated what he heard in his head??? And a zillion years later we are still living by those rules? Oh please....I was saying something about metaphor and the study of theology and the guy wanted to know exactly-which-scrolls-and-bibles-I-have-read...so as to...you know...argue them with me, point by point...but I was finished already when we were talking about how the thing came into being in the first place...there IS no argument past that on the content...is there? Its a matter of faith..which I don't possess....sorry...Its really tragic for me, I know...
See, at this point I start to go all Marc Maron, internally. I want to assure you all out there that this was in no way loud, and it happened over a 12 hour period of time, in that certain people were seeking me out to finish, and I was ducking...here was a full grown man, and a hall full of people for that matter, who, at the root of this whole thing, believe in a theory that relates back to a story told to man by a being who is rather invisible and who flies...then the man wrote it down...miracles...more magic...and here we are!

I'm not putting down anyone's belief because I know it brings comfort, but its at moments like this that I know that I am one of those Sun God folks...In that early man worshiped the sun because it was a tangible thing that they could see and it gave them food, warmth, and light; that makes sense to me. In the same way, I am in awe of the nature that I am surrounded with, and the unplanned way that grandpa has kept this place somewhere between wild and falling down, has given me a real respect for how the forest can send its tentacles into your walls and take your house down very quickly, just as a buck (deer, not my dog, Buck,) will stand outside my back door and stomp his hoove at me rather than run away.
Is that a physical ecological cycle or is it magic made possible by god?

Whatever gives anyone comfort in this world is a good thing, just don't use it to launch wars on my dime and with the kids from my country, unless there is really, really good reason...and Im sorry, there just isn't enough reason here.
Just like anything else, we are supposedly learning in our religious practice, and it goes in cycles that could be hearkened to the political cycle. So, If you elect the cowboy who you would like to have a beer with; if you dumb down education; if you don't care enough to get up from the couch during Who Wants to be a Millionaire, (at least to turn on Olbermann or Jon Stewart so you can learn something,) then this is what you get. If you raise your children to think that they are of an embattled people who are always in danger, you might not like what you get ultimately. Its all an experiment in human psychology because this holocaust stuff is pretty new in the scheme of things. In a hundred years everything will be different and if the planet still exists they will surely look back on this little episode as nothing more than insanity that gripped a powerful nation and caused many deaths/did alot of damage before things swung back the other way. So what does it matter anyway> Am I making some big point or something by just being there and being the one who people talk to about this stuff?

I guess that it was the Joementum thing that really got me. Here it is mathematically:

If Joe=Security for Israel=Security for the Middle East=keep the Iraq War Going=Bomb Iran=Vote Republican for SECURITY..because you should be afraid, very afraid...well, something is wrong....because the whole things equals that we are LESS FUCKING SECURE!! And no one can deny that; not even Joe.

Will the American people go for it again? I don't know. Some of this stuff is knee jerk with this crowd, but there is a whole world out there, and especially in the inner city who are wondering what Joe has done for them. Because, let me tell you, the all-children-in-Connecticut-have-health-insurance line is bullshit. Most of them may have something, but no one accepts it except for some downtown clinics, and you have to be a Rhodes Scholar with alot of time on your hands to get something like an operation approved...unless you go to the emergency room...and even then, you can be billed later if its not pre approved. But at least the hospital has a deal with the Husky plan and there is someone there who has gone to school to know how to deal with this stuff. And I would like to hear Joe speak to the unregulated utilities, and the public housing...the list goes on, folks...lets get Chris Shays in here too...he rides around on this magic carpet just as much as Joe....

One more thing, and this is for Ned Lamont who is one of my heroes, and who I would gladly support again: Two families were standing and talking and laughing about how proud they were of their kids getting involved in Joe's campaign and really working hard at rallies and with the signs, yelling. And I said, (I am such a kill-joy...they must just cringe when they see me coming...)
You know, where I go in the inner city, Joe sent big vans down and he hired black kids for $60-80 per day...sometimes a 12 hour shift...to wear a Joe T-shirt and be transported to rallies (often Ned Lamont rallies,) and cause a commotion and raise hell. I saw a bunch of them running up and down Greenwich Avenue. I also saw some of them instructed to push their way to the front of a crowd when Weicker was giving a speech for Lamont, and hold signs for Joe in front of the TV cameras. In doing that they also pushed and stepped on some pretty old and feeble people, not to mention ME. Now I am pretty strong and tall, but some of these kids were huge and more than a little menacing!

The thing that I found totally outrageous is that Joe's campaign was paying these kids money to support a cause that they didn't know about at all. I asked them if they knew what Joe stood for, and the few that I spoke with didn't, nor did they care, they just needed the job.
But the rub is that these kids live in a complex where very few people can get ahead in Lieberman's Connecticut. If the utilities are unpaid they are cut off. The utility companies have a 3 strikes, non negotiable policy these days. Once they cut off the utilities, the project starts eviction proceedings because its in the lease that utilities must remain on or the tenant will be evicted. If a tenant falls behind even one payment on their utilities they lose the option to pay by the budget plan, and they start getting hit with huge bills...and let me tell you from my side of town, these utility companies need some sort of regulation because they have a monopoly, no matter how much lip service they pay to offering an alternative...its not happening...and they keep raising rates. This cluster housing is a shining star that Joe and his people hold up as Connecticut's great advancement in helping the poor, but they give people an apartment a shoddily constructed house that looks nice form the outside but is made literally of plastic and they adjust the rent according to the income of the tenants, the lack of jobs and whatever is going on...BUT, the offer little help in the way of helping people understand how to balance a budget, how to have a checking account, how to pay bills, and they have no way of helping all of the families that need help when it comes with the utilities. The one social worker who helps the 230+ families in this complex works through a community center that is funded privately by one donor who saw a need and made this a permanent fixture. But I'm not seeing the city government stepping in regarding the fact that this one social worker cant possibly help everyone in the complex, and that the utilities have adopted a zero tolerance policy. I also see things like the supermarket being moved a couple of miles away, across the street from another big new supermarket...city planning at its best...and that the free WiFi provided to all of downtown stops at the edge of this community, so few people have access to the Internet unless they go to the community center. One emergency, one Dr bill, one mistake, and its over...

It is these kids who will eventually have to join the military for a signing bonus in order to bail their family out, bail themselves out, or just survive...

This is Joe's war...and they didn't even know that they were supporting the war by earning those few bucks wearing a T-shirt and handing out fliers.
I found that more perverted than any wide stance or page scandal. $60 or $80 a day doesn't go far, and neither does and additional 25 grand signing bonus when you think that someone could maybe go to college and earn a lifetime's worth of income....and that is nothing compared to what these lives might be worth if they had hope for the future beyond throwing themselves to the military because there are no jobs, and anyway, who can make it on minimum wage?

How much is a kid from the inner city worth these days? Apparently not much to Joe Lieberman and the people who he is scamming with the fear card.
So Joe is keeping us safe using these children...and its not working, but lets throw some more bodies in there just to see if we can turn it around against all odds...using these very children. But hey, they got a free T-shirt.

So, maybe they hate me, or just roll their eyes when I come around. maybe I HAVE to talk about this stuff because I cant do that "oh it's just to stressful for little me" thing. I don't see where politics stops and life begins. At what point do we get in our SUV's and drive away from the problems? I can't, because the people who are struggling to get by in this world, whether they have learned to work the system so are scam artists, or are honestly trying to get ahead, are all part of our society and all a product of the programs that we have created and canceled, for better or worse. So, there is no way to just go on with life and say "no talking politics tonight because its just too much for me" These people are us...aren't they? Couldn't each one be our brother or sister?...thats how we have to look at this.
What else is there?