Lead religious right group does music video: "God hates the world"

This is for real. It's from one of the most vocal conservative Christian churches in the country. We all know that this is what the religious right thinks of us, thinks of the world, but it's interesting to see them actually admit it. Seriously, watch this. And of course, the irony is that these religious right nuts are the same people who have a problem with gay people having kids. Check out THEIR kids in this video. These are the religious right leaders who oppose passing civil rights laws protecting people from being fired simply for being gay. Is it any wonder they want the right to discriminate? This is what they think God and Jesus stand for.

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In 2004, Bush said we can't win the war on terror

All the feigned outrage from Republicans (and Joe Lieberman) over Harry Reid's accurate assessment of Iraq is really beyond annoying. They're such hypocrites. The opposite of losing is winning. Yet, not one of those Republicans (or Joe Lieberman) can say that we're winning the war that Bush started.

And since we're talking hypocrisy, let's not forget that is was George Bush who said in September of 2004 that we can't win the war on terror:

Lauer: You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war on terror in the next four years?

President Bush: I have never said we can win it in four years.

Lauer: So I’m just saying can we win it? Do you see that?

President Bush: I don’t think you can win it.

Here's a crazy idea for those in the traditional media who just parrot GOP talking points: Do some research. That statement sure gave a lot of aid and comfort to our enemies -- the enemies who actually attacked us on September 11th -- not the enemies we created with Bush's war in Iraq.

And a big shout out to JM for pointing out this particular Bush hypocrisy. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Orchid Blogging

Phrag China Dragon

I don't own it, it's not mine, was at a show, but it's quite pretty. Nothing else to add, I'm heading to dinner. Gnite. Read the rest of this post...

Is Gonzales resigning shortly?

Joe thinks he's gonna resign tonight, the old late Friday move. I'm hearing rumblings from others that it might be this weekend. So who are they gonna get to replace him? Any former Senators come to mind? Read the rest of this post...

Media, please ask every Republican the following question: Do you think we're winning in Iraq?

The Republicans are so upset, we're to believe, that Harry Reid said that Bush has lost the Iraq war. Fine. Then they've opened the gates to the question as to whether they think we've won the war, or at least are winning.

I think it's time for every Republican member of Congress, starting with GOP Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, and every senior Bush administration official from the president through the Pentagon on down, to say publicly if THEY think we're winning in Iraq. I want them on the record, publicly, in front of their voters saying that they think we're winning the war in Iraq. Then let's see if they get re-elected or laughed out of the room. They're so brave, answer the question.

A friend has compiled a list of not-so-happy quotes about Iraq from Bushies and others:

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI): Mr. Gates, do you believe that we are currently winning in Iraq?
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: No, sir.
(Armed Services Committee Hearing, 12/4/07)

Debate Over Who Lost Iraq Already Begun. James Dobbins, a former assistant U.S. secretary of state and special envoy for Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, directs the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation: "As Iraqi and American public opinion pushes the United States inexorably toward the exit, a debate over who lost Iraq is already gaining momentum." [The International Herald Tribune, 4/17/07]

Editorial: President Has Lost the War and His Honor. "The president might win this battle, but he already has lost the war in Iraq -- and the one for his honor." [Editorial, Santa Fe New Mexican, 3/24/07]

Military Expert Says View Around the World Is that the U.S. Lost the War. "Military expert Anthony Cordesman concludes that even if the current U.S. troop increase is a success and creates some degree of stability and political unity, the perception of most Iraqis and others in the Middle East and Europe will be that the United States 'lost' the war in Iraq. " [Washington Post, 4/13/07]

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift: "The Iraq war was lost long ago, probably at Abu Ghraib" [The McLaughlin Group, 3/30/07]

Commander of 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq Says U.S. in Danger of Losing in Iraq. "Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who spent much of the year in western Iraq, said he believes that at the tactical level at which fighting occurs, the U.S. military is still winning. But when asked whether he believes the United States is losing, he said, 'I think strategically, we are.'" [Washington Post, 5/9/04]

Iraq Exhibits Dangerous Parallels to Vietnam, Says Army Strategist. "I lost my brother in Vietnam," added Army Col. Paul Hughes, a veteran Army strategist who is involved in formulating Iraq policy. "I promised myself, when I came on active duty, that I would do everything in my power to prevent that [sort of strategic loss] from happening again. Here I am, 30 years later, thinking we will win every fight and lose the war, because we don't understand the war we're in." [Washington Post, 5/9/04]

Reagan NSA Director See Similarities to Vietnam in Iraq Conflict. General William Odom, who served as President Reagan's head of the National Security Agency, said the Iraqi insurgency parallels Vietnam. "I see a lot of similarities to Vietnam. It seems to me the persons who have the greatest interest in the U.S. being in Iraq are Osama bin Laden, Iranians and other radical movements in the Middle East. We made Iraq now safe for those kinds of movements and they're breeding them rapidly." [NPR "Morning Edition," 4/15/04]

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Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 4/20/07

Another Week. More preposterousness to report.

Another week where Republicans prove that they've become the party of marauding, molestation and intellectual mummification. As I am in the "final throes" of writing a manuscript on McCain--you know, your friendly Baghdad market-dweller--we'll have to keep the next few of these fun pieces brief. But a week like this certainly merits some comment. So, in any case, here's what I learned:

1) Being a Republican means being manly enough to criticize victims of a massacre at Virginia Tech for not pounding a man with both a 9 mm Glock and 22 caliber handgun as hard as you pound the keyboard in your basement. It also means you cancel debates with real progressives because you're actually a coward.

2) Being a Republican means using the word "we" to describe the fight in Iraq, even though the closest you've come to combat is sexually harassing the waitress at a Medieval-joust theme restaurant.

3) Being a Republican means having your office or home raided by the FBI, and showing said manliness by blaming it on your wife.

4) Being a Republican means still backing a president who has long since proven himself unable to speak English, but wanting to require everybody else to speak it by law.

5) Being a Republican means trying to turn back the clock to 1964 or doing your best Mugabe so you can stop people you don't like (preferably black ones) from voting. And being in the same party as Abu Gonzales no matter how hard you try to publicly run away from Heckuva Job Gonzo.

6) Being a Republican means calling for more guns as an antidote to gun violence, because, you know, that's worked really well for Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Dick Cheney.

Ahh, yes, the Republicans, leave it to them to solve any problem by creating more. If I didn't know better, I would almost think they didn't want goverment to work or something?

For more on this and other stories, go to cliffschecter.com. Read the rest of this post...

McCain thinks we all need a sense of humor about bombing Iran

McCain just likes to have fun. It's the rest of us who are too uptight when he jokes about bombing Iran:

The Arizona Republican was asked for his reaction to any negative response to the joke when he arrived in Las Vegas for a fundraiser Thursday night.

"Please, I was talking to some of my old veterans friends," he told reporters. "My response is, Lighten up and get a life."

Think Progress points out that wasn't exactly McCain's response to John Kerry's botched joke last fall.

MoveOn's response was an ad about McCain recklessness -- because it's not funny:

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From "they stand up, we stand down" to "we never stand down"

After all that talk about the Iraqi army replacing our troops, the claims that Iraqi forces were just about ready, the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi troops "trained" and fully capable, it turns out, well, not so much:

Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces.

No no NO! Our troops in Iraq have neither the manpower nor the strategic direction necessary to crush the insurgency. Every expert worth talking to, including top military officials, say that the conflict in Iraq won't end without a political solution. The more we try counterinsurgency, the more the population hates us, the more Iraqis are mobilized and trained in what has become Terrorism University, and the more likely we are to stay bogged down indefinitely. And once again, we have a complete and total reversal from what the administration has been claiming for years.

There is no strategy. Dumping in more troops isn't a strategy. Clapping harder isn't a strategy. Pretending things are the way you want them to be isn't a strategy. So what is the plan? According to a quoted State Department official, "Our strategy now is to basically hold on and wait for the Iraqis to do something." Oh. My. God.

But fear not! Apparently the decision that Iraqi forces can't help so we're just going to pacify the entire nation starting now -- because I guess we just weren't really trying before, or something -- isn't such a big deal. "We are just adding another leg to our mission," [Col. Gary] Keck said, referring to the greater U.S. role in establishing security that new troops arriving in Iraq will undertake." That's right, a switch from turning over security to Iraqis to trying once again to crush the entire (growing, expanding, learning) insurgency by ourselves is just "another leg" of the mission. Well, then.

The mind reels. Read the rest of this post...

As GOPers attack Reid over Iraq, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) supports withdrawal from Iraq

Yesterday, Majority Leader Harry Reid said what a lot of Americans are thinking -- that George Bush lost the war in Iraq. In response to that realistic assessment, Republicans are attacking Harry Reid today, because that's what they do. Instead of dealing with the Iraq issue, the Republicans attack their opponents. The opposite of losing is winning. So, how many Republicans will go on the record saying that George Bush is leading us to victory in Iraq? That might be a question for reporters to ask Republicans today. Instead of just parroting GOP talking points that smear Reid, ask if we're winning.

Meanwhile, another Republican Senator is finally admitting the U.S. needs to have a plan to get out of Iraq. Olympia Snowe has been something of a Maine maverick (unlike her counterpart Susan Collins who consistently sticks with Bush). Snowe is the third Republican Senator to acknowledge that we need a withdrawal plan:

In another sign of Republican unease with the president's Iraq policies, a third GOP senator expressed support Thursday for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq under certain conditions.

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe announced she would sponsor a bill to require American commanders to plan a withdrawal within 120 days of the bill's enactment, unless the Iraqi government meets a series of benchmarks.

"The Iraq government needs to understand that our commitment is not infinite," said Snowe, a moderate from Maine who frequently departs from the party line.

President Bush has insisted that Congress not impose any limits on his conduct of the four-year-old war. But Snowe has taken issue with that view.

"It is our business as well," she said Thursday.

So, when does Olympia Snowe start getting trashed by the loyal Bushies? And where is Susan Collins? Why is Collins still supporting Bush on Iraq? Read the rest of this post...

Bush still has "full confidence" in Gonzales

White House spokesperson Dana Perino was out spreading the word today. Bush has "full confidence" in Gonzales. Lying is not a disqualifying factor for George Bush. It's actually a required for the loyal Bushies:

Click To Play

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Friday Morning Open Thread

Yesterday was interesting and instructive. Harry Reid told the truth about Iraq and got pummeled by the loyal Bushies. Meanwhile Alberto Gonzales, the ultimate loyal Bushie, lied about the U.S. Attorneys scandal and got high praise from the his boss. In the bizarro world of George Bush, telling the truth is unacceptable in every situation. Now, again, the question is why the traditional media puts up with that.

Start threading the news. Read the rest of this post...

Yahoo! being sued in Chinese political prisoner case

Considering the past cases of extreme eagerness by Western companies to do business in China at all costs, Yahoo! could be in trouble. Unfortunately when I look around at recent actions in the US with phone, internet and even prescription medicine records, the Bush administration appears to be making serious efforts to create yet another police state that has internet access for all and individual rights and privacy for none. Hooray.

In a brave legal action against the great firewall of China, a jailed political prisoner and his wife have sued Yahoo! in a US court, accusing the internet firm of contributing to torture by helping authorities identify dissidents who were later beaten and imprisoned.

Wang Xiaoningwas imprisoned in September 2003 for 10 years for the crime of "incitement to subvert state power" after he emailed electronic journals calling for democratic reform and an end to single-party rule in a Yahoo! group in 2000 and 2001.

He was arrested by Chinese police in September 2002 and claims he was kicked and beaten during his detention.

Mr Wang and his wife Yu Ling claim the Hong Kong unit of Yahoo! provided mainland police with information linking Mr Wang to the postings, a claim that Yahoo! denies.

It is going to be interesting to see how much or how little Yahoo! has provided to Chinese government authorities. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Trying to learn to make bread. It's not so easy. Finally managed to make a pretty good oatmeal bread tonight, healthy and surprisingly tasty. Having it as toast for breakfast with some amazing apple jelly I bought in Normandy at a Calvados farm/winery. Read the rest of this post...