Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Haditha, Iraq - The Truth, It is Ugly
Initial reports about the massacre of civilians in Haditha were disturbing. There was a sense that something horrible took place there on November 19, 2005. Now it has been officially confirmed that some members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, went on a rampage and shot 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children. Yes, the perpetrators must answer for what they did but trial and punishment of the offenders will not erase the shameful episode, and they will not heal the sorrow and anger of the Iraqis. Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa), who was among those who demanded a release of report of the enquiry, had mentioned attempts to coverup. Coverup at this point is no longer an issue. An editorial in the Post calls for full accountability.
TIME Magazine has the most detailed report,datelined May 28th, about the massacre. "But one morning last November, some members of Kilo Company apparently didn't attempt to distinguish between enemies and innocents. Instead, they seem to have gone on the worst rampage by U.S. service members in the Iraq war, killing as many as 24 civilians in cold blood. The details of what happened in Haditha were first disclosed in March by TIME's Tim McGirk and Aparisim Ghosh, and their reporting prompted the military to launch an inquiry into the civilian deaths. The darkest suspicions about the killings were confirmed last week, when members of Congress who were briefed on the two ongoing military investigations disclosed that at least some members of a Marine unit may soon be charged in connection with the deaths of the Iraqis--and that the charges may include murder, which carries the death penalty. "This was a small number of Marines who fired directly on civilians and killed them," said Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and former Marine who was briefed two weeks ago by Marine Corps officials. "This is going to be an ugly story."
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Tony Blair follows his Master's Voice
Two More British Soldiers died in Iraq
It is ironic that Britain's Tony Blair is described by some as Bush's poodle. An eloquent speaker and intellectually far above the American president, Blair decided to throw in his lot with George W. Bush. And, like President Bush, Tony Blair is paying a price for his role in the misadventure. Interesting to think about how history will judge them. A report in the Post stated that Tony Blair substantially revised a speech he gave on May 26th to appease his friend (master?) G.W. Bush. "LONDON, May 29 -- Prime Minister Tony Blair caved in to White House pressure by sharpening language on Iran and softening it on global warming in a speech he delivered Friday at Georgetown University, according to a British press report Sunday that Blair's office immediately denied."
- According to the Sunday Telegraph, Blair made "significant" last-minute changes to his major foreign policy address and "objections by President George W. Bush's inner circle played a key role in the alterations." An official at Blair's 10 Downing Street office, speaking on condition of anonymity as is standard practice here, said it was "categorically untrue that any White House objective played any part" in the speech.
- Blair is frequently criticized in Britain for his close relationship with Bush, who is extremely unpopular among Britons. The prime minister is particularly faulted for his alliance with Bush in the Iraq war. Critics have complained that Blair seems too eager to please Bush in what many here view as a lopsided relationship that has benefited Bush far more than Britain.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Memorial Day 2006 - The Third Year of War Against Iraq
The Cost in Human Terms - Bare Facts
American Soldiers
Dead in May : 60
Total since the war began March 20, 2003: 2,464
Injured: 8,344
Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties
Robbie Glen Light, 21, Army Corporal, May 01, 2006
Robert L. Moscillo, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, May 01, 2006
Christopher M. Eckhardt, 19, Army Private 1st Class, May 03, 2006
Benjamin T. Zieske, 20, Army Private 1st Class, May 03, 2006
Joseph E. Proctor, 38, Army National Guard Sergeant, May 03, 2006
Brian S. Letendre, 27, Marine Reserve Captain, May 03, 2006
Bryan L. Quinton, 24, Army Specialist, May 04, 2006
Gavin B. Reinke, 32, Army Staff Sergeant, May 04, 2006
Stephen R. Bixler, 20, Marine Corporal, May 04, 2006
Elisha R. Parker, 21, Marine Sergeant, May 04, 2006
Alva L. Gaylord, 25, Army Private, May 05, 2006
Carlos N. Saenz, 46, Army Sergeant, May 05, 2006
Teodoro Torres, 29, Army 1st Sergeant, May 05, 2006
Nathan J. Vacho, 29, Army Sergeant, May 05, 2006
Dale James Kelly Jr., 48, Army National Guard Staff Sergeant, May 06, 2006
David Michael Veverka, 25, Army National Guard Staff Sergeant, May 06, 2006
Leon Deraps, 19, Marine Lance Corporal, May 06, 2006
Matthew J. Fenton, 24, Marine Sergeant, May 06, 2006
Cory L. Palmer, 21, Marine Corporal, May 06, 2006
Emmanuel L. Legaspi, 38, Army Staff Sergeant, May 07, 2006
Gregory A. Wagner, 35, Army Staff Sergeant, May 08, 2006
Aaron P. Latimer, 26, Army Specialist, May 09, 2006
Alessandro Carbonaro, 28, Marine Sergeant, May 10, 2006
Armer N. Burkart, 26, Army Specialist, May 11, 2006
Eric D. Clark, 22, Army Specialist, May 11, 2006
Stephen P. Snowberger III, 18, Army Private, May 11, 2006
Jason K. Burnett, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, May 11, 2006
David J. GramesSanchez, 22, Marine Lance Corporal, May 11, 2006
Michael L. Licalzi, 24, Marine 2nd Lieutenant, May 11, 2006
Steve Vahaviolos, 21, Marine Corporal, May 11, 2006
Brandon L. Teeters, 21, Army Specialist, May 12, 2006
Adam C. Conboy, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, May 12, 2006
Ron Gebur, 23, Army National Guard Specialist, May 13, 2006
Richard Z. James, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, May 13, 2006
John W. Engeman, 45, Army Chief Warrant Officer 4, May 14, 2006
Jamie D. Weeks, 47, Army Chief Warrant Officer 5, May 14, 2006
Robert H. West, 37, Army Master Sergeant, May 14, 2006
Matthew W. Worrel, 34, Army Major, May 14, 2006
Shane Mahaffee, 36, Army Reserve Captain, May 14, 2006
Jose S. Marin Dominguez Jr., 22, Marine Lance Corporal, May 14, 2006
Hatak Yuka Keyu M. Yearby, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, May 14, 2006
Grant Allen Dampier, 25, Army Private 1st Class, May 15, 2006
Marion Flint Jr., 29, Army Staff Sergeant, May 15, 2006
Santiago M. Halsel, 32, Army Staff Sergeant, May 16, 2006
Lonnie Calvin Allen Jr., 26, Army Sergeant, May 18, 2006
Nicholas Cournoyer, 25, Army Private 1st Class, May 18, 2006
Daniel E. Holland, 43, Army Lieutenant Colonel, May 18, 2006
Robert Seidel III, 23, Army Lieutenant, May 18, 2006
William B. Fulks, 23, Marine Corporal, May 18, 2006Benito A. Ramirez, 22, Marine Lance Corporal, May 21, 2006
David Christoff Jr., 25, Marine Sergeant, May 22, 2006
William J. Leusink, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, May 22, 2006
Michael L. Hermanson, 21, Army National Guard Specialist, May 23, 2006
Steven Freund, 20, Marine Private, May 23, 2006
Robert G. Posivio III, 22, Marine Lance Corporal, May 23, 2006
Doug DiCenzo, 30, Army Captain, May 25, 2006
Caleb Lufkin, 23, Army Private 1st Class, May 25, 2006
Adam Lucas, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, May 26, 2006
Iraqi civilians
Dead 37,813 (Min.) 42,180 (Max.)
Source: Iraq Body Count
The Bush Administration went through many spins to justify the war. The current version is that we are there to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqis.
Haditha - A Coverup ?
Congressman John Murtha (D, PA), a former marine, continues to speak out about the killing of civilians that took place in Haditha, Iraq. "A powerful member of Congress alleged yesterday that there has been a conscious effort by Marine commanders to cover up the facts of a November incident in which rampaging Marines allegedly killed 24 Iraqi civilians."
- "There has to have been a coverup of this thing," Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, charged in an interview on ABC's "This Week." "No question about it."
- John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also raised the issue of whether the military chain of command reacted properly and legally.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Bush Resurrects Ghost of Cold War * A Walk in Baghdad by the Bay
Fear is the Key - How to turn the miserable poll ratings * The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
The desperation shows. Earlier in the year, the president tried a series of speeches to justify his war and they fell with a thud. So he tried a new tack, compared the elusive Islamic terrorists with the evil Communists of Cold War era. Would he get a rise out of it ? "WEST POINT, N.Y., May 27 -- President Bush, likening the war against Islamic radicals to the Cold War threat of communism, told U.S. Military Academy graduates on Saturday that America's safety depends on an aggressive push for democracy, especially in the Middle East."
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
It was Herb Caen, late columnist of the San Francisco Chronicle, who described his beloved City as Baghdad By the Bay. Yesterday, a few of us drove to San Francisco to celebrate a friend's birthday. It was a beautiful spring day. The bay sparklingly blue; the Golden Gate Bridge clearly visible. We watched massive container ships heading for the Port of Oakland and hundreds of pleasure boats that dotted the bay. We had brunch at Green's, Fort Mason Center, and then walked to Coit Tower (built in 1933) on Telegraph Hill. After looking at the murals about old California, we walked down to Filbert and saw the famous parrots. It was my first time and I was impressed.
© claudesplace.com
©reelingreviews.comJudy Irving made a great film, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2003), and it is available on video. Recommend the article by Robin Clifford and Judy Clifford about the making of the film.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Haditha - A Few Marines and Slaughter of Civilians
Haditha, Iraq, November 19, 2005
It was not the only incident in which unarmed, innocent civilians were killed but it could not be covered up because of the scale of the massacre and witnesses who came forward. Although findings of the investigation have not been not yet been released by the Pentagon, reports leave no doubt that deliberate killing of Iraqi civilians did take place in Haditha. The action of a few marines will leave a blot on the corps. Ellen Knickmeyer in the Post: "BAGHDAD, May 26 -- Witnesses to the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in the western town of Haditha say the Americans shot men, women and children at close range in retaliation for the death of a Marine lance corporal in a roadside bombing."
*
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
---John Donne, Meditation XVII, No man is an island.
- Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident who said he watched and listened from his home as Marines went from house to house killing members of three families, recalled hearing his neighbor across the street, Younis Salim Khafif, plead in English for his life and the lives of his family members. "I heard Younis speaking to the Americans, saying: 'I am a friend. I am good,' " Fahmi said. "But they killed him, and his wife and daughters."
- The 24 Iraqi civilians killed on Nov. 19 included children and the women who were trying to shield them, witnesses told a Washington Post special correspondent in Haditha this week and U.S. investigators said in Washington. The girls killed inside Khafif's house were ages 14, 10, 5, 3 and 1, according to death certificates.
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
---John Donne, Meditation XVII, No man is an island.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Gallery of Rogues
Lay, Skillings, Ebbers, Kozlowski, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan et al.
Another trial of corporate fraudsters ended with guilty verdicts. Except for the families of Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skillings no one will shed tears for them.
There are more, many more. John Schoen's article in MSNBC sums it up well. "The imbalance between the incentive to cheat and the cost for cheating were so great that you got away with scandals, he said. That balance is closer (today), but it doesnt mean we're going to eliminate scandal. In one mushrooming current scandal, federal authorities are investigating stock options granted to top executives at several companies to determine whether those options were backdated to increase the value of those options."
- Worldwide, losses from fraud rose 50 percent from 2003, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
- Globally, the trend is toward an increase in economic crime, not a decrease, the firm found in its 2005 Global Economic Crime Study.
- The report found that, since 2003, the number of companies reporting cases of corruption and bribery rose 71 percent; those reporting cases of money laundering were up 133 percent and reports of financial misrepresentation were up 140 percent.
Bernard Ebbers, Worldcom Corp.
Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco International
Sanjay Kumar, Computer Associates
Giants of banking and brokerage industries penalized for helping Enron to manipulate earnings:
Citigroup
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce,
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Settlement negotiations continuing with:
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.
Barclays P.L.C.
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Royal Bank of Canada
Deutsche Bank AG
Royal Bank of Scotland Group P.L.C.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
On the Road to 2008 - The Hillary and Bill Show
"The Elephant in the Room"
It came as no suprise that Hillary Clinton gave an almost hour-long speech about energy policy at the National Press Club on May 25th and did so with impressive command of the subject. David Broder's column in The Washington Post covered her speech and more. He brought up the the state of relationship that exists between Bill and Hillary Clinton. "The two sides of Hillary Rodham Clinton -- the opposites that make her potential presidential candidacy such a gamble -- came into sharp focus Tuesday morning at the National Press Club. For the better part of an hour, the senator from New York held forth in a disquisition on energy policy that was as overwhelming in its detail as it was ambitious in its reach. " Broder concluded his column with ".........the elephant in the room went unmentioned."
- But the buzz in the room was not about her speech -- or her striking appearance in a lemon-yellow pantsuit -- but about the lengthy analysis of the state of her marriage to Bill Clinton that was on the front page of that morning's New York Times.
- The article, by Patrick Healy, was anything but unsympathetic. It touched only lightly on the former president's friendship with Canadian politician Belinda Stronach. It documented that despite their busy separate schedules, the Clintons had managed to spend two-thirds of their weekends together during the past 18 months.
As contenders for the presidential race in 2008 are making themselves known, Hillary Clinton is at the head of the pack among the Democrats. Politics is all about cutting deals, compromising. The question is how far right Mrs Clinton would go to make her candidacy viable. There are issues other than energy policy that matter to rank and file Democrats. The current trend is ominous. There is a rush among Democratic leadership to adopt distatsteful Republicans policies to court voters.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The Neocons - Failure has not made them humble
The disaster that is Iraq * In Afghanistan, More "Collateral damage"
Paul Wolfowitz moved away to a cushy job as chief of the World Bank but most of the other architects of the failed policy about Iraq are still around. And despite all the evidence to the contrary, the president and his aides continue to try to justify taking the nation to war. They go through contortions to make their point but humility is a word they don't know the meaning of. Harold Meyerson writes in the Post: "The sharpest irony was their stunning indifference to the need for civic order. When the Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, said that the occupation would require many hundreds of thousands of troops to establish and maintain the peace, he was publicly rebuked by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the administration's foremost neocon, and quickly put out to pasture. When the first U.S. official to take charge in post-invasion-Iraq, Jay Garner, called for a massive effort to train Iraq's police and restore order, he was summarily dismissed. When looting far more widespread than anything the United States had ever known swept Iraq's cities after Hussein's fall, Don Rumsfeld shrugged and said, "Stuff happens" -- a two-word death sentence for the possibility of a livable Iraq."
- And now, just as middle-class Americans fled the cities in the wake of urban disorder, so middle-class Iraqis are fleeing, too -- not just the cities but the nation. In a signally important and devastating dispatch from Baghdad that ran in last Friday's New York Times, correspondent Sabrina Tavernise reports that fully 7 percent of the country's population, and an estimated quarter of the nation's middle class, has been issued passports in the past 10 months alone. Tavernise documents the sectarian savagery that is directed at the world of Iraqi professionals -- the murders in their offices, their neighborhood stores, their children's schools, their homes -- and that has already turned a number of Baghdad's once-thriving upscale neighborhoods into ghost towns.
- Slaughter is the order of the day, and the police are nowhere to be found. "I have no protection from my government," Monkath Abdul Razzaq, a middle-class Sunni who has decided to emigrate, told Tavernise. "Anyone can come into my house, take me, kill me, and throw me into the trash."
Deaths of Innocent Civilians
Claims and counterclaims about dead Afghans are not going to bring them back. Neither will demand for investigation by President Karzai going to put a stop to such incidents. "Afghan President Hamid Karzai is to summon the head of US-led coalition forces for a "full explanation" of a raid officials say killed 16 civilians. "
The numbers of civilian casualties keep climbing both in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is quite clear that we don't give a damn. So what if a few civilians die in our military actions against the evil doers. Women and children among the dead....too bad. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. President Bush is carrying on a mission to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and they ought to be happy. Instead, the Iraqis and Afghans are complaining about dead civilians. Ungrateful lot.
The numbers of civilian casualties keep climbing both in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is quite clear that we don't give a damn. So what if a few civilians die in our military actions against the evil doers. Women and children among the dead....too bad. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. President Bush is carrying on a mission to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and they ought to be happy. Instead, the Iraqis and Afghans are complaining about dead civilians. Ungrateful lot.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Evangelical Christian Democrats !
A Page out of Karl Rove's Game Plan
Votes, votes, we need votes. If that requires kneeling down and speaking in tongues, so be it. A sign of the times or just old-fashioned politics of expediency ? It is becoming obvious that Democratic leaders have decided to turn right. Where then is the difference between them and the Republicans? Just when the tide against the pious hypocrites was turning the Democrats decided to drape themselves in scriptures like those who sit across the aisle. It made me sick to read The New Temptation of Democrats, Ruth Marcus' column in the Post. "When mega-pastor Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church opened last year in its new Houston home, the city's former professional basketball arena, a most unlikely guest was on hand for the celebration: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a minister's son who chairs the House Democrats' Faith Working Group, headed to Dallas a few months later to worship with Bishop T.D. Jakes, an African American Pentecostal minister who's been called "the next Billy Graham."
- This month, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean -- yes, that would be the Howard Dean who dismissed Republicans last year as "pretty much a white, Christian Party" -- went on Pat Robertson's "700 Club," asserting that Democrats "have an enormous amount in common with the Christian community, and particularly with the evangelical Christian community." Randy Brinson, founder of Redeem the Vote (think Rock the Vote meets Jesus), met last week with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.
- Democrats these days are a party on a mission that might sound impossible: to persuade evangelical Christian voters to consider converting -- to the Democratic Party.
So, it comes down to a cynical courtship of evangelical Christian voters. If that is the path my party is going to follow to defeat the Republicans I shall not be proud of being a Democrat.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Eurovision 2006 - The Finns Rocked the World
Euphoria in Finland * A Mother Grieves in Iraq
The Finnish hard rock group Lordi, named after the lead singer, caused a sensation at the Eurovision Song Festival in Athens, Greece. The mask-wearing heavy metal band won the top prize.
©Eurovision TV - http://www.eurovision.tvAs expected, there were comments about satan worship and such weird stuff. One can discount them. Lordi and his group make music....music that is not quite my cup of tea but I am glad for the Finns and Lordi. The competition was fierce and they deserve their place in the sun.
Mothers and Sons. There are many parents here in America and in Iraq who worry about their sons in the combat zone. Some will not come home. Ellen Knickmeyer's article, An Iraqi Mother's Most Dreaded Mission, is a must read. It depicts the anxiety and the suffering of all parents. "Searching for missing loved ones has become a common mission -- especially for Sunni families -- in Baghdad in recent months as sectarian violence has surged. Fahdriya and family members agreed to let a reporter accompany them for parts of their search. Other events were recounted in interviews."
Listening to: Gothic Voices, Sequences and hymns by Abbess Hildegarde of Bingen (1170)
Emma Kirkby directed by Christopher Page
Hyperion CDA66039
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Distant Thunder - Fury on the Right
G.W. Bush and Conservatives * Saudi Arabia and "Unbelievers"
When all is said and done what are the conservative Republicans going to do about their dissatisfaction with President Bush and his policies? The honeymoon lasted a long time but seems to be over. Richard Viguerie writes about Bush's Base Betrayal. Bush and his handlers are doing what they have always done. Principle has nothing to do with it. It is to be seen whether the Republicans will, at the end, forgive Bush and come to the aid of the party. "Republicans were desperate to retake the White House, conservatives were desperate to get the Clinton liberals out and there was no direct heir to Reagan running for president. So most conservatives supported Bush as the strongest candidate -- some enthusiastically and some, like me, reluctantly. After the disastrous presidency of his father, our support for the son was a triumph of hope over experience."
- Once he took office, conservatives were willing to grant this Bush a honeymoon. We were happy when he proposed tax cuts (small, but tax cuts nonetheless) and when he pushed for a missile defense system. Then came the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and conservatives came to see support for the president as an act of patriotism.
- Conservatives tolerated the No Child Left Behind Act, an extensive intrusion into state and local education, and the budget-busting Medicare prescription drug benefit. They tolerated the greatest increase in spending since Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. They tolerated Bush's failure to veto a single bill, and his refusal to enforce immigration laws. They even tolerated his signing of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance overhaul, even though Bush's opposition to that measure was a key reason they backed him over Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the 2000 primaries.
The Wahabi Kingdom Tries a Makeover of Text Books
It does not matter what the Saudis do---how backward the country is about women's rights and its treatment of those who do not practise Wahabism---it has vast reserves of oil and it enjoys a cozy relationship with the president and his father, former President George H.W. Bush. The Clinton Administration,too, did its best to remain friendly with the Saudis. Nina Shea in the Post: "Saudi Arabia's public schools have long been cited for demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews and other "unbelievers." But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis -- that was all supposed to change."
- A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated.
- The problem is: These claims are not true.
- A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels").
- This indoctrination begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year, culminating in a 12th-grade text instructing students that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to "spread the faith."
The Saudis might mount a PR blitz to polish up their image but don't expect meaningful reform.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Saturday Morning Fish Fry
Midterm Elections * Liberal Christians
Is Bush dragging the GOP down ? The much sought-after presidential coattail has lost its appeal for many GOP incumbents fighting to retain their seats. "VIRGINIA BEACH, May 19 -- When some of the country's top political handicappers drew up their charts of vulnerable House incumbents at the beginning of this year, Rep. Thelma D. Drake (R-Va.) was not among them. Now she is."
- President Bush carried her district with 58 percent of the vote in 2004, but strategists say his travails are part of the reason the freshman lawmaker now has a fight on her hands. He swooped into town briefly Friday for a closed-door fundraiser for Drake but made no public appearances.
- Some veterans of the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress see worrisome parallels between then and now, in the way once-safe districts are turning into potential problems. Incumbents' poll numbers have softened. Margins against their Democratic opponents have narrowed. Republican voters appear disenchanted. The Bush effect now amounts to a drag of five percentage points or more in many districts.
Encouraging. If only the Democrats don't get carried away by the polls and lose a sense of balance. When it comes to grandstanding, the Democratic leadership isn't much different than those on the other side of the aisle.
Christianity in America - Emergence of Religious Liberals
According to a report in the Post, liberals in the Christian community are making their presence felt. The conservative Christians found a champion in the White House. The president cynically courted them and together they subdued Christians who felt uncomfortable with what was taking place. "Long overshadowed by the Christian right, religious liberals across a wide swath of denominations are engaged today in their most intensive bout of political organizing and alliance-building since the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s, according to scholars, politicians and clergy members."
- In large part, the revival of the religious left is a reaction against conservatives' success in the 2004 elections in equating moral values with opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
- Religious liberals say their faith compels them to emphasize such issues as poverty, affordable health care and global warming. Disillusionment with the war in Iraq and opposition to Bush administration policies on secret prisons and torture have also fueled the movement.
The winds, they are changing.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Fractured Friday - Slaughterhouse Iraq
2454 and Counting * John Murtha * Homeless Veterans
50 more soldiers have died in Iraq so far in the month of May; The total is 2454. Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties.
What happened in Haditha,Iraq, on November 19,2005 ? Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) stated in a report that innocent women and children were killed in "cold blood" by marines. A criminal investigation is continuing. "WASHINGTON -- Military officials said Thursday that a criminal investigation into a firefight in western Iraq that left at least 15 civilians dead is not complete, but they did not dispute a congressman's charges that the attack by Marines was far worse than originally reported."
Plight of the Veterans
From a report by Daniel Trotta in Reuters-Alertnet
*****
Plight of the Veterans
From a report by Daniel Trotta in Reuters-Alertnet
- On any given night the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) helps 200 to 250 of them, and more go uncounted. They are among nearly 200,000 homeless veterans in America, largely from the Vietnam War.
- Advocates say the number of homeless veterans is certain to grow, just as it did in the years following the Vietnam and Gulf wars, as a consequence of the stresses of war and inadequate job training.
- Homeless veterans have remained in the shadows of the national debate about Iraq, although the issue may gain traction from the film "When I Came Home," which won an award the month for best New York-made documentary at the city's Tribeca Film Festival.
- The documentary tells the story of Iraq war veteran Herold Noel as he lived in his car. It will get a screening in June at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
- U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat, calls it a "national disgrace" that homelessness among veterans has not been solved and held an informal hearing on Thursday to highlight the issue.