Open thread

Now that Chris was mean to all the smokers again, we can take a break :-) Read More......

Hawaii is now a no smoking state

Back in November the entire state went no-smoking. What I don't understand is those that are concerned about tourists not visiting because of the no smoking laws. With the overwhelming majority of Americans being smoke free and strong majorities of other world populations being non smokers, is it really that difficult to see that this is more of a positive issue and not a negative?

I don't see any non-smokers arguing that they're canceling their plans for Hawaii because it is now a no-smoking state and I'm guessing that most smokers already see the trends and will just make do, just as they have been doing for years. Why create an issue when there's nothing to it anyway, unless it's just another weak attempt of Big Tobacco to try and cause fear in the market? Big Tobacco, like the Bush administration, has nothing but fear to offer. Read More......

Harry Reid says he supports our commanders on the ground - they don't want more troops, therefore we shouldn't send any more

QED

Frankly, I don't believe that more troops is the answer for Iraq. It's a civil war and America should not be policing a Sunni-Shia conflict. In addition, we don't have the additional forces to put in there. We obviously want to support what commanders in the field say they need, but apparently even the Joint Chiefs do not support increased combat forces for Baghdad. My position on Iraq is simple:

1. I believe we should start redeploying troops in 4 to 6 months (The Levin-Reed Plan) and complete the withdrawal of combat forces by the first quarter of 2008. (As laid out by the Iraq Study Group)

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Open thread

The latest? Read More......

Zogby poll: "Don't Ask Don't Tell" don't work

I wonder how many Christian right activists sneak their way into the military in order to be able to die for their country? More from Zogby. Read More......

Pentagon report - al Sadr - not al Qaeda - is the greatest threat in Iraq

Just like Bush let bin Laden get away, Bush has given a free pass to al Sadr time after time. I don't know if it's because Bush doesn't have the stomach for it, if his botched Iraq strategy has made it impossible for the military, or if he's just plain stupid, but the fact remains that Bush has failed miserably to reign in a deadly and dangerous person in Iraq. Why does Bush continue to give in to terrorists who are killing Americans?

Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army has replaced al Qaeda in Iraq as "the most dangerous accelerant" of the sectarian violence plaguing Iraq for nearly a year, according to a Pentagon report.

Attacks by Iraqi insurgents and sectarian militias jumped 22 percent from mid-August to mid-November, and Iraqi civilians suffered the bulk of casualties, according to the quarterly report released on Monday.

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Van Hollen to run Democrats' fundraising

He's going to head the DCCC. From AP:

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who was elected to Congress only four years ago, will lead House Democrats' fundraising and recruiting efforts heading into the 2008 election, Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday.

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Inflation soared last month

Biggest jump in decades. So, the Republicans have ruined the economy too. Read More......

Joint Chiefs oppose Bush/McCain troop increase plan

Bush keeps saying he'll listen to the military. But the leaders of the military are saying "NO" to the troop surge idea. Increased troops, an idea pushed primarily by Senator John McCain, is apparently being seriously considered by the White House. However, today's Washington Post has a blockbuster article reporting on unanimous opposition to troop increases from the Joint Chiefs:

The Bush administration is split over the idea of a surge in troops to Iraq, with White House officials aggressively promoting the concept over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intense debate.

Sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for a mission of possibly six to eight months is one of the central proposals on the table of the White House policy review to reverse the steady deterioration in Iraq. The option is being discussed as an element in a range of bigger packages, the officials said.

This next passage is probably one of the most accurate assessments of the White House's approach to Iraq:

But the Joint Chiefs think the White House, after a month of talks, still does not have a defined mission and is latching on to the surge idea in part because of limited alternatives, despite warnings about the potential disadvantages for the military, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House review is not public.

The chiefs have taken a firm stand, the sources say, because they believe the strategy review will be the most important decision on Iraq to be made since the March 2003 invasion.

Past chiefs -- notably Richard Myers -- were lapdogs and did not stand up to Bush and Rumsfeld. The military is paying a price for that failure.

The White House is "latching on to the surge idea" because they've got nothing else. The Bush team is willing to send more troops to die to make it look like they're doing something. Bush and his people are out of control. Clearly, the intervention didn't work. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

The report that the Pentagon released yesterday about the out-of-control violence in Iraq tells a stunning story. That is the news. The President claims he's try to learn what's going on over in his war. Reading the latest report (and he claims to be a voracious reader) would be a good start.

Bush will really enjoy the holidays. He's hosting a lot of parties. He's sleeping well. He's ruining our country.

News and comments, please. Read More......

America's biggest cash crop - cannabis - $36 Billion per year

How has this happened in Bush's America? Think about the children!

Decades of government efforts to crack down on both the cultivation and consumption of pot have had a counter-productive effect, since even the most conservative government estimates suggest domestic marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past 25 years. It is the leading cash crop in 12 states, and one of the top five crops in 39 states.

The report's author, Jon Gettman, says it is "larger than cotton in Alabama, larger than grapes, vegetables and hay in California, larger than peanuts in Georgia, and larger than tobacco in South and North Carolina".

All of this without massive corporate welfare too.

Marijuana remains popular with the baby boomer generation, which first experimented with it in the 1950s and 1960s. And its use is booming among teenagers and young adults, especially as alcohol cannot be sold to under 21s. US Marijuana cultivation is worth more than $35bn (£18bn) per year. And that is a conservative estimate, based on government price surveys, Mr Gettman says. Corn, the largest legitimate crop, is worth just over $23bn and soybeans around $17bn. "Despite years of effort by law enforcement, they're not getting rid of it," Mr Gettman told the Los Angeles Times ahead of his report's publication yesterday in The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform. "Not only is the problem worse in terms of magnitude of cultivation, but production has spread all around the country. To say the genie is out of the bottle is a profound understatement."

Marijuana is not for me, but it's about time the country has a grown up debate on this issue because "stay the course" is also failing here as well. Read More......

Bush hits new lows in latest CNN poll

Once you cross a tipping point, there's no turning back.

- support for Bush's handling of the Iraq conflict has decreased to 28% from 34%
- 70% disapprove of Bush's war management (It was actually managed?)
- job approval 36%
- 62% disapproved of his job performance

I'm not hearing any loud call from America to add more troops or stay the course. What I hear is a lot of fed up people who were lied to by the GOP. Read More......

A most unusual gift

For some reason I can't get Ann Coulter out of my mind. Read More......