Bush's rhetorical problems are based on the fact that he still intends to control Iraqi oil and establish permanent bases in Iraq, the same reasons he started the war for.   The only reconstruction funds going to Iraq are for the bases.  Of course Bush would like to Vietnamize the insurgency to reduce American casualties.  He's probably ordered the American troops to hole up in their bases until the 2006 elections are over.  The goal was to stay in Iraq forever from the begining.

"War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at March 12, 2006 10:06 AM in response to Strategy for Victory or Recipe for Disaster?

The occupation of the West Bank  is  illegal.  The settlements are  illegal.   Israel's treatment of the Palestinians  amounts to war crimes.

If Israel was part of the Nonproliferation Treaty, it wouldn't be such a pariah.  Why should Iran comply when Israel does't?

"War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at March 8, 2006 10:04 AM in response to "The Accidental Empire" – What kind of Israel do you want?

I think you are exactly right that universal healthcare should be structured like Medicare, as it increases the risk pool to the entire nation.  Secondly, a single payor system would greatly reduce the administrative costs associated with the multitude of plans that now exist.  Of course, this would put the insurance companies  out of business except for supplemental  insurance that would go beyond the basic program.  It would also reduce the profits of Big Pharma because of the bargaining power a plan covering the entire country would yield.  The insurance companies and Big Pharma would fight tooth and nail against it. 

"War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at March 8, 2006 9:57 AM in response to FIND THE SALAMI

I think the tensions in the Mideast would be greatly reduced if Israel returned to its 1967 borders and destroyed it's nukes.  Returning to the 1967 borders would reduce the appeal to become a jihadi and would eliminate the strawman the Arab countries make of Israel in lieu of making political and economic changes.  I nukeless Israel would reduce the desire of other Middle Eastern countries to have their own nukes.

"War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at March 8, 2006 9:16 AM in response to "The Accidental Empire" – What kind of Israel do you want?

What of the states that require perscriptions for Plan B and let pharmacists choose not to fulfill the prescriptions on ethical grounds?  Is it really a national victory?

But I agree with the present composition of the Supreme Court, more and more issues important to progressives are going to be fought state-by-state. 

"War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at March 7, 2006 8:55 AM in response to Plan B: How State Laws Changed WalMart's National Policies

The global political economy increasingly produces greater and greater inequities in income and wealth.  The US and China are two of the most inequitable nations.  At the same time, there is an increasing reduction in essential resources.  The US invasion of Iraq is the start of a new age of barbarism.  The liberal veneer of the US has been washed away by Bush.  Even before Bush, there were polls where a majority of Americans disapproved of the Bill of Rights.

The trick will be how the elites of each militarized or economically strong nation is able to keep the loyalty of its increasingly impoverished citizens to do battle with one another.  If the world survives the new age of barbarism, there will be another era of the Dark Ages.

"War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at March 7, 2006 8:42 AM in response to Identity and Global Conflict

The war on terror never had anything to do with catching any terrorists responsible for 911.  It was politically motivated from the start to divert attention from Bush's failure to stop 911 by killing some people by bombing them.  Since then it has been used as a means to divert attention from all of Bush's failures, establishment of a police state, war in Iraq and class war for the ultra-rich.  

"War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at March 7, 2006 7:26 AM in response to General Confusion?

On Air America today they had an expert from some university who thought that Cheney's shooting was part of a trend in the US.  There has been an alarming increase in seemingly friends shooting each other for perceived minor insults.  Shooting his companion at close range in the face fit the pattern.  Cheney appparently fit the stereotype of the shooter.  He predicted that Cheney would shoot someone else. 

'War is a Racket." Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler

Posted at February 15, 2006 11:57 AM in response to Go F**k Yourself America?

Daschle said Bush tried to include domestic authority in the AUMF and was specifically rejected.  Gonzales said they did'nt go to Congress to get the FISA changes they wanted because they knew Congress would not had agreed.  So they just broke the llaw and violated the Fourth Amendment.

"Be just and good." John Adams

Posted at February 7, 2006 5:31 AM in response to The Betrayal of Valerie Wilson

And Katrina illustrated how much Bush has done to protect the homeland.  Still no single frequency for first responders. Still no disaster relief protection.  No protection of the thousand of sites with dangerous chemicals.  Virtually to inspection of the containers coming into our ports.

Bush has done nothing to promote homeland security and his quest for terrorists is a joke.  One recent released Gitmo said he ended up in Gitmo because of a bounty and was eventually released when they sent the bounty hunter to Gitmo.  This former detainee suggested that 80%  of those at Gitmo were innnocent which falls in line with what the military told the Red Cross at Abu Ghraib that 70-90% of the detainees are 'mistakes.'  At Gitmo, what would you expect if the detainees were turned over for a bounty by the drug/war/tribal lords we bribed to fight the Taliban?

Bush's GWOT' s goal is a police state in the US and permanenet war for profiteering and expanding his dictatorial powers.

"Be just and good." John Adams

Posted at February 7, 2006 5:14 AM in response to The Betrayal of Valerie Wilson