Open Thread

Thread openly through the night. Read the rest of this post...

In memory of Paul Wellstone

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The only thing on the march is bad foreign policy

Writing in Salon, Juan Cole takes apart the continuing fiasco of the Bush administration foreign policy piece by piece. In particular, the administration has long viewed Turkey and Pakistan as the bookends of its greater Middle East policy, two staunch allies as the anchors of policy.

In the past few weeks, of course, tensions in these two nations have reached new highs, with Turkey furious about terrorist attacks originating in Iraqi Kurdistan and Pakistan's increasingly precarious political situation punctuated by a massive attack against former prime minister Bhutto.

Overall, it's a disturbing and scary picture of an administration that is invested in the Iraq war to the complete exclusion of any strategic approach:

Like a drunken millionaire gambling away a fortune at a Las Vegas casino, the Bush administration squandered all the assets it began with by invading Iraq and unleashing chaos in the Gulf. The secular Baath Party in Iraq was replaced by Shiite fundamentalists, Sunni Salafi fundamentalists and Kurdish separatists. The pressure the Bush administration put on the Pakistani military government to combat Muslim militants in that country weakened the legitimacy of Musharraf, whom the Pakistani public increasingly viewed as an oppressive American puppet. Iraqi Kurdistan's willingness to give safe haven to the PKK alienated Turkey from both the new Iraqi government and its American patrons. Search-and-destroy missions in Afghanistan have predictably turned increasing numbers of Pushtun villagers against the United States, NATO and Karzai.

There's really nothing else to say. Read the rest of this post...

Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 10/26/2007

Another week. More preposterousness to report.

As you may have seen a bit earlier this week, the Murdoch Mod-Squad known as Fox "News" got hotter than Larry Craig upon viewing crotch shots of Dumbledore about the fact that the wildfires in California were the work of Al Qaeda.

Which they got from a memo from 2003. That wasn't taken seriously then. That was talking about Al Qaeda's setting fires in Wyoming and Idaho and a few other interior states, but didn't mention California.

Or as they call it at Fox, just another day at the office.

More interesting, however, is the secret report Fox also received on other potential Al Qaeda methods of attack. It hasn't been shared yet, but I thought I'd present it to the ABLOG faithful. So look out for the following:

1) Al Qaeda masquerading as the Easter Bunny

2) Al Qaeda hiding in John Boehner's tears

3) Al Qaeda dressed up as a flight pilot on an aircraft carrier proclaiming mission accomplished.

4) Al Qaeda in lead-paint based Chinese children's toys

5) Al Qaeda in Mitch McConnell's closet

6) Al Qaeda in Ann Coulter's Adam's Apple

7) Al Qaeda as snakes on a plane (ok, I stole that from a BNF commenter)

8) Al Qaeda hiding in vast empty space where Michelle Malkin's conscience was meant to be

9) Al Qaeda in Rudy Giuliani's old comb-over

10) Al Qaeda living with/texting Mrs. Oral Roberts Jr.

11) Al Qaeda in Dana Perino

12) Al Qaeda as the only ones at town halls who will applaud Fred Thompson without his asking for it Read the rest of this post...

Bush's strategic failure on S-CHIP

The brilliant Amanda Terkel -- of ThinkProgress fame -- takes to the pages of the American Prospect to debunk the Republican spin over Bush's veto of S-CHIP, demonstrating the weakness of the veto in particular and the administration's agenda in general. Terkel incisively sifts through the self-congratulatory Bush administration rhetoric to get at the truth about the veto: It was the act of a weak, failing administration, an ever-lamer duck quacking feebly in an effort to remain relevant.

The current administration simply isn't accomplishing *anything* good, and it's not even accomplishing bad things it thinks are good. A president is supposed to work and compromise with Congress, even (perhaps especially) when it's controlled by the other party. S-CHIP is a stark example of a bipartisan effort being stymied by a petulant ideologue president, and despite Bush's gloating over his veto being sustained (which isn't especially surprising -- it's historically very rare for Congress to override), his success is only in briefly preventing the improvement of the country. Quite an accomplishment. As Terkel says,

Since when did the veto become an indicator of a president's strength? In reality, Bush is playing defense, forced to rely on vetoes and executive orders. The Democratic-led Congress has backed him into a corner, refusing to take up his policy priorities and instead sending him progressive bills he opposes. Congress passes bills, Bush swats them down.

The veto is actually a tool of last resort. As Rutgers University professor Ross K. Baker told the Associated Press, "It's the veto, and the veto alone, that is the last line of defense for a president whose administration's life is waning away." Bush did all he could to threaten lawmakers, but he was ultimately powerless from stopping 69 senators and 265 representatives from voting to expand S-CHIP.

This is a story of Democrats trying to do something good -- so common sense, so obvious, that dozens of Republicans joined the effort -- and a hugely unpopular administration blocking it. The failure to override the veto isn't a problem with Democrats, obviously, and Terkel explains,

The fact that the House was unable to override Bush's veto has no bearing on the chamber's Democratic leadership. Opponents of Bush's veto actually picked up eight extra votes from the original September roll call passing the bill. Forty-four Republicans broke rank and joined Democrats to vote for the override last week, whereas just two Democrats voted to sustain Bush's veto.

Bush has no agenda. He has no mandate. He has only the power to stop progress, and his joy in doing so should only be more motivation for Americans to replace him with someone better. Read the rest of this post...

Lots of new stories about the Obama anti-gay controversy

Washington Blade:

McClurkin is the poster boy for African-American “ex-gay” ministries....

In the highly competitive race for black evangelical votes in South Carolina, McClurkin just might give Obama the needed edge. However, that edge will come at a high price. It reveals that Obama is not only a vote-whore, but a candidate who plays the race card as well....

Obama will continue to speak and write about the special relationship he has with his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, as long as it doesn’t run afoul of his ambitions. When news got out about Wright’s Afro-centric theology and Sunday sermons that disparage whites and Israel, Obama immediately distanced himself. Yet these same sermons were not a problem for Obama when they were spiritually nurturing him into becoming a public figure. And when news got out that Wright was to deliver the invocation when Obama formally announced his candidacy in February, Obama canceled his appearance.....

Once again, Obama is proving that his campaign marketed as “The Audacity of Hope” is really based on the audacity of hypocrisy.

From AP:

"The Obama campaign is trying to bridge real divides and bring people together. Two things are certain: We will never be able to bridge those divides if we are unwilling to listen to voices we don't agree with, and we will never change anyone's mind if we refuse to talk to him," Griffs said in a statement.

Cute. No one said you couldn't talk to him. But putting him up on stage as your mascot in a bald bid for money and votes, that's pretty gross. And pretending that it's not what you're doing, that you somehow decided to showcase a bigot in order to prove how pro-gay you really are, is simply perverse.

From Salon:

Sen. Barack Obama's decision to tour South Carolina with gospel entertainer Donnie McClurkin, a self-proclaimed "former homosexual" who believes it is his mission to turn gays straight, suggests that Obama can't live without the support of the homophobic contingent of the black community and the black church in particular. But African-American politicians have already proved that black support is not contingent on homophobia.

What a horrifying concept. Is that what Obama is really saying, that black support is contingent on homophobia? Wow. If a white candidate had made that assertion...

More from Salon:

Obama's gay advocates obviously support him regardless of this fumble. But his gay critics are right to ask why he thinks getting homosexuals to sit at the same table with antigay and allegedly "ex-gay" Christians represents some kind of balance. Had McClurkin been a Holocaust denier, my money says Obama would be "embracing a change" in his tour's entertainment lineup, lickety-split.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Obama is playing to both sides -- that seems to be what he's best at. He means well, but you know what they say about the highways in hell. However, adding Sidden to the mix without giving McClurkin the shaft was enough of an afterthought to incense the gay community without fixing the problem. Did Obama overestimate the depth of the black community's homophobia and unintentionally solidify the stereotype about him -- that he's the white man's black candidate? Well, if Sharpton refuses to pander to the homophobic faction of the black church, why should anybody else?

Read the rest of this post...

Our people continue to die, and Bush just grins

Keeping a consistent and coherent thought process regarding my experiences in Iraq is quite challenging for me. It was such an overwhelming experience that it takes me a while to nail down just one specific episode and write a piece totally focused on that one event. There are just too many memories and stories to write about the war in such a narrow fashion. So I just let it flow- whatever comes to mind I just write.

I remember having breakfast in the dining facility at Fort Riley, KS in spring of 2004. A friend of mine, Corporal Richardson, was sitting beside me while we watched CNN while eating. Bush was on spitting out his usual crap. Talking like the fake cowboy he always wanted to be. It was bothersome to listen to him speak in such a cavalier manner about the fighting going on in Iraq. On the bottom of the screen a news flash came in that US troops had been killed. Richardson became clearly upset. He said to me that he was so sick of seeing our people getting fu*ked up and Bush just stands there and smiles. I felt the exact same way. Corporal Richardson was killed in action on his second tour in Iraq. (As a side note - Richardson and I never spoke to each other about our political views so I do not know what his position was regarding the war. I can just remember vividly from that conversation that he was not happy with Bush's demeanor that morning.)

Commingled with that sad memory is just pure anger. Why did this happen? How could we let this stooge mislead our nation into this unjust and illegal war? I ask myself these same questions over and over again. I probably have asked myself a thousand times. I don’t want to – and if I could help it I wouldn’t bother putting myself through this. And as much as I wake up everyday and feel like quitting and moving on with life I just can’t.

My need to continue speaking out against this travesty is present at all times. No matter what the circumstance and no matter how unpleasant it’s still always there.

Criticism comes at me from all directions. I often read the replies to my blog posts here and see that readers call me complicit with Bush because I fought in Iraq. They call me a cowardly war criminal because I didn’t throw down my weapon, refuse my deployment, and go to prison like the courageous “war resisters.” The fanatics from the right-wing call me a traitor, a terrorist sympathizer, and insist that I leave the country. A couple days ago I received an email from one of the members of the Philadelphia Daily News Editorial Board telling me that I’m “doomed for perpetual disappointment.”

When you are dealt these blows on a consistent basis it’s not always easy to keep driving on – but I know there is no other option. There will be no inner peace for me until this war is over.

I always wanted to serve my country. Just like the true American heroes from the greatest generation who fought in World War II. I view those veterans with such admiration and respect. They can look back on their lives and feel that they actually fought for something noble and hold their heads up high. I’ll look back with total regret that my patriotism and willingness to fight for my country was used by cowards like Bush to advance a murderous/neoconservative ideology. Serving in Iraq was not serving or protecting my country.

Knowing what I know now – how can I deny that fact?

The only way for me to balance it out is by fighting for an end to this war. I feel that I can serve my country better in that capacity. And in some strange way I feel that I am avenging the deaths of my fellow soldiers who have so tragically fallen.

Our generation is faced with a tremendous challenge. The Bush Administration is destroying us from the outside and from within. Our nation is plunged deep into a war that is not winnable and at home we are deeply divided. Bush and his power hungry gang of thugs have plagued us with hate, fear, and endless lies.

Congress has demonstrated that they are unwilling to stop this madness. So it is up to us now to step up and force change. We have to epitomize the meaning of “we the people.” It is what we inherited from our founding fathers when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They provided us with such a wonderful gift. Unfortunately that gift was taken from us. Now we must fight to earn it back.

Hopefully this war will teach us the lesson that we failed to learn from the Vietnam War – that it will “never happen again.” That is the precedent that I hope I will have helped to achieve along with all of those involved in this struggle.

The last time I spoke with my friend Ron Kovic he suggested that I incorporate this memorable quote from the last scene of the movie Platoon into one of my writings. I think this is the appropriate piece for it. Sorry for those who have not seen the movie.

“I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy; we fought ourselves. The enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, for the rest of my days. But be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again. To teach to others what we know, and to try with what's left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life.”

John Bruhns
Iraq Veteran Read the rest of this post...

Blade editorial on ENDA

Editor-in-chief Kevin Naff had the same experience as I. When you talk to real gays and lesbians, rather than their supposed leaders, there isn't a groundswell to kill ENDA at all:

SUPPORTING GAY-ONLY ENDA has quickly become the opinion that dare not speak its name.

At several cocktail parties and other events over the last few weeks, friends, colleagues and acquaintances have been anxious to chat about the ENDA fight and most seem bewildered by all the controversy.

Of course we should support a landmark gay rights bill pending before Congress, even if it’s not perfect, right? A vocal minority says we should not.

The debate over whether to embrace an all-or-nothing position on ENDA or an incremental approach to new rights has exposed a rift among gays and lesbians, many of whom don’t like to be grouped with transgender people. It’s not a popular topic, but those sentiments are far more common than many would like to admit. Many gays and lesbians simply don’t identify with the plight of trans people or believe that the trans movement hasn’t progressed as far as the gay rights movement has in 40 years.

Read the rest of this post...

Jim Webb calls out the Senators doing Dick Cheney's bidding for a war with Iran

Note to Democrats on the Hill: Senator Jim Webb is one of your best messengers. Get him out there more. He's tough, authentic and believable.

Case in point was Webb's appearance on Hardball last night. Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars has the video and the synopsis. Almost anytime Webb appears, it is must-see TV. This is another one of those times:

On Thursday’s Hardball Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) talked with Chris Matthews about the strong push from Dick Cheney and some members of the Senate — namely Kyl and Lieberman — to move closer to invading Iran. Matthews gets it, by passing amendments condemning Iran, they’re tying to get other legislators on the record so they can come back later and use it to make the case for war.

Matthews: “…But these guys, Kyl - Kyl and Lieberman are not diplomats, they’re hawks.

Webb: “Well, the Cheney element of the administration is well represented in the United States Senate.”

The drumbeat for war gets louder. And, Senators are enabling it. Those Senate resolutions matter to Bush and Cheney's war effort. Read the rest of this post...

Immigrant bashing isn't just rhetoric, it's real

This article in today's Washington Post should make CNN's Lou Dobbs, Rep. Tom Tancredo and the rest of the immigrant bashing Republicans so proud. Their angry, ugly rhetoric against immigrants is being transformed into angry, ugly attacks on immigrants. It's even got a nickname only a Republican could love: Amigo shopping.

The political immigrant bashers want to victimize immigrants. It's happening for real:

Hispanic immigrants are being targeted, often in gratuitously violent attacks by non-Hispanics, because they are thought to carry cash rather than use banks and to be reluctant to report crimes to police, the officials said.

The attacks are occurring with such frequency that police in Prince William County have created a task force, and Montgomery police have assigned a specialized unit to tackle the problem. The crimes are having profound effects in the neighborhoods where they occur, causing some residents to alter their routines.

"Everyone leaves with someone else, in groups of two or three," said Woodbridge resident Joaquin Rodriquez, describing the change that has occurred since the fatal shooting of a Mexican immigrant during a robbery in September 2006.

Authorities say the teenage assailants in that case targeted Serafin "Pedro" Alvarez Negrete after agreeing to "get an amigo." They attacked Negrete, 32, as he walked home from a shopping center.

"Like alligators waiting for the gazelle to cross the river," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John B. Arledge said as one of the men was sentenced last week.

Police say recent immigrants, particularly laborers who return home on foot at night, are most vulnerable. Assailants have been known to lurk between shopping centers, even sometimes outside of cash-checking businesses on payday, police say.

Policing experts expressed concern that attacks on immigrants, already believed to be under-reported, might be reported less and less as local police agencies become increasingly involved in enforcing immigration policy.

So, this is what happens when bad policy is combined with hate rhetoric. Again, Tancredo, Dobbs and the immigrant-bashing brigade must be thinking "Mission Accomplished." Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Woke up to the sound of Condi Rice's voice this morning. Very scary. Matt Lauer was interviewing her about Iran. Condi talked so vehemently -- yet disingenuously -- about "diplomacy" with Iran that it could only mean one thing: WAR. It's 2002 all over again.

Start, please. Read the rest of this post...

The banking industry will never learn

Leave it to the slimey financial industry to create new problems for tomorrow. It only proves yet again that the industry needs heavy-handed regulation from Washington. If they are incapable of regulating themselves - and it's obvious that this is the case - then they're going to have to learn to live with whatever government regulators dish out.

Dick McLane of Seattle discovered last week that a Citibank credit card had been opened in his name when his credit-monitoring service notified him of activity on his account. When he pulled his credit report, a new Citibank credit card account was listed.

Citigroup Inc., which bought Macy's credit card accounts in 2005, sent letters to about 3.5 million account holders in early August telling them that their inactive Macy's department store cards would be switched to a general-purpose MasterCard.

Customers had to opt out in order to decline the offer. Those who didn't opt out got a special MasterCard that could be used anywhere, not just at Macy's department stores.

"It's bordering on fraud when they do an opt-out and say, 'You opt out or we'll open an account in your name,' " said McLane, a retiree who worried about how it would affect his credit score. "I'm appalled that somebody, a legitimate company, would do that."

He continued: "If I got the letter, I must have treated it as junk mail and thrown it away."

McLane said he hasn't received his MasterCard in the mail and can't cancel it because he doesn't know the account number.

Read the rest of this post...

Oil closes at record high on Thursday

Just when I was starting to think $86 per barrel was a bargain, this happens. In Friday trading, prices bounced above $92 in Asia, though have since retreated. Read the rest of this post...

TJX account theft 94 million and counting

It's nice to see that TJX (TJ Maxx, Marshalls) is so upfront about the problem. With a down year in Christmas shopping expected, they help make the choice of where to spend your money a lot easier. How can a company like this be trusted with personal data? Maybe they can put signs on their windows saying "shop at your own risk."

The filings in a bank case against TJX indicated that fraud-related losses involving Visa cards alone range from $68 million to $83 million and are spread across 13 countries. One filing warned that the total will rise as thieves continue to use data from compromised cards.

"These are going to be sold off for a period of time in the future, so it's going to continue for some time out there," Joseph Majka, Visa USA's vice president of investigations and fraud management, said in court documents unsealed late Tuesday.

Depositions of security officials at Visa and MasterCard suggest the breach was far bigger than TJX has indicated. Even before the latest numbers, independent organizations that track data breaches had called the case the largest ever.

Read the rest of this post...