From his cushy air conditioned chair, Killer Kyl enjoyed destroying Iraq so very much he wants to do the same to Iran ...

A very blood thirsty man is Killer Kyl.

What we're trying to do here eventually is to get a regime change with a group of people in there that are more representative of the Iranian people -- who we really can talk with in a way that might end up with a good result. I think it's very difficult to do that with the current leadership, and especially with the elected President.

Regime change. Seem to remember hearing that term before. One of the many euphemisms for murder isn't it? Kyl wants to select a group of people to represent the Iranians. Throw in a little verbiage about women's rights, democracy, freedom and Kyl's on his way ...

Obama does some things right ...

If only he would get the Republicans and DINO's out of his administration. Why, oh, why would we want BushCo remnants managing the same areas they corrupted so thoroughly. Obama is not clear sighted or, most likely, lacks progressive ideals in the economic realm.

"The Muslims have said either we kneel or they're going to kill us.''

If we assume that an idiot such as Col. Bud Day who is quoted in this post's title represents all of the citizens of the United States then those outside the US would be justified in assuming that all US citizens are idiots. But Bud Day does not represent us and we are not all idiots such as he (though all humans seem to have some brand of idiocy in varying degrees).

Some Moslems do apparently believe that forceful conversion or death is the only options for dealing with non-believers but it's rather obvious that not all do believe so. (Christians are not so innocent in this regard either, by the way.)

And even if all Moslems did believe this way, what idiot thinks that before we invaded Iraq they had any chance of accomplishing such a feat. Before we invaded Iraq we could have just laughed in anyone in Iraq that claimed such a preposterous goal. We could have taken steps to protect us from the few crazies. We could have used old fashioned detective work to find those who actually did threaten us or did act out on those threats. And right after 9/11 we would have had the worlds support in going after those who actually planned and engineered 9/11.

After invading Iraq without cause and without benefit, we are weaker than we were (though 'the people who matter' are much, much richer). And if the Bush gang continues down this road and invades or bombs Iran we will be weaker still. We are collecting the hate of the world. We, as a country are very, very stupid. And too few of the non-stupid are in power at present.

Link: McCain backer's comments anger Muslims by Marc Caputo and Beth Reinhard, The Miami Herald

ADDED: Just think, we placed Americans in Iraq as handy targets for any who would like to take a shot at them and then proceeded to treat the country in such a manner to increase the number of people who, and not necessarily for any reasons having to do with religion, want to kill and humiliate as many of us as they can. It's called hate and the monkey in the White House, George W. Bush (a self proclaimed Christian who evidently believes he is doing Gods work), is very, very good at engendering hate, cruelty and all that is base about humanity. What a legacy.

ADDED II: Speaking of God. Since the Moslem, Christian and Jewish God are the same God wouldn't 'believers' begin to wonder if they have understood the message correctly? Either this god is very much like George W Bush(cruel, vindictive, petty, and shallow) and deliberately setting his 'children' at each others throats for some cruel purpose of his own (which I'll admit I am unable to fathom) OR based on the more uplifting teaching of these same religions many are perverting the true teachings OR there is no god and those in power manipulate the message to whatever works to keep and increase their power.

Ya think?

After more than 7 years of lies and deceit ....

... why would anyone take anything the Bush mafia says at face value?

Iran: Engagement, Finally

Really think so? On what basis would you judge their objectives? Their word?

So, if we can't even effect the outcome of FISA how can we do anything about a war with Iran ...

Prefatory Thoughts on the Enablers of Evil

War has always been and will always be the most crucial means by which repressive, tyrannical government cements its massive powers and acquires still new ones. The consequences of an attack on Iran will be huge and certainly irreversible, at least in our lifetimes, both at home and abroad. It's an interesting question: why all these fired-up activists will take on a battle such as the FISA one, while they are absolute in their refusal to try to stop the drive to war with Iran.

This Enablers of Evil post has interesting responses to digby's post Talk to the Hand. His knowledge of history adds an important perspective for those who are trying to figure out how best to address what's happening to our country. I've thought for sometime now that we've already lost though like with Obama and FISA I do keep hoping I'm wrong. It's very easy from hindsight to list the steps that led to catastrophe, but it not so easy to know which is the fatal step when you're on that downward staircase yourself. It's apparent to many that we've taken most of the step that lead to fascism (corporate/government authoritarianism, if you prefer). Can we step back? I don't know. The steps get easier and easier, specially with the 'Democratic' Congress and the 'Democratic nominee' cooperating so thoroughly.

Even though history shows us the pattern, outcomes do vary.

It's not that simple ...

Arthur Silber asks:

So what is your choice? Do the world -- and your life, and the lives of those you love -- mean so little to you, that you will risk losing them all? Is that what you want? Do you still choose to do nothing?

Do you?

He's says we should do something more than writing letters. We should do something like they did in the 60's. If I remember rightly, and I'm definitely not a historian, the impetus for the civil rights marches started with churches and college students. And those marches, and other forms of civil disobedience, were reported and televised.

Today, churches seem to be on the side of authoritarianism. Rights and justice just don't seem to interest them. I don't know where college students stand today but I think they are quite aware that the protests against the Iraq war were hardly reported or televised. All that effort went down one big black hole.

In addition it's much easier, and more immediate, to look around you and see the injustices of segregation than to look into the future and understand what will happen if/when a criminal US attacks Iran. Specially when the media, the medium we depend upon to help inform us of facts, instead weaves fantasy while sending those facts down another big black hole.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

I’m getting seriously impatient with the execrable excuses for this appallingly weenie political behavior. One could guess—one has to, you know, since neither candidate can lead on it—that Clinton doesn’t want to offend New York money and that Obama won’t take on the fight, calling out these crooks and defining elements that must be combated for societal success just doesn’t fit in with an optimistic campaign.


US Guest Worker program in action? ... ... Nearly 100 Indian workers say they were enticed to come to work at the company’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., where they say they were held in modern-day slavery.



A most unpleasant reading of current events ... However, even if Bush does hold off for some reason, the processes that Polk describes will almost certainly lead the next president into war with Iran, especially as the three remaining major candidates have forcefully pledged to keep "all options, and I mean, all options on the table"


... The vast majority of remote-sensing algorithms are based on vision, he says, so if the sonar algorithm can be perfected, one of its advantages will be the ability to function in low light or darkness. ... Bat-like!


Shifting sands ... Unfortunately for our candidates their macro strategy was hatched 18-24 months ago, while present political and environment reality has drastically altered underneath their feet in two critical facets since then: current economic problems are demanding far more change than their current careful approaches, and the nomination process didn’t produce a winner.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Kos makes it clear that he's a supporter of an Obama Civil War within the Democratic Party:
... she [Clinton] doesn't deserve "fairness" on this site [dailyKos] ... ... a lot like with Republicans; we're not supposed to believe our lying eyes as they accuse the Clinton camp of doing what the Obama camp (and the dailyKos crowd) are doing themselves.

Hope you weren't expecting optimism:
Things fall apart, and the center doesn’t exist.


... ah, nothing plus nothing produces books about nothing:




The Western US may be the only place in the world where the connection between trees – or more precisely upland forests – and water supply is not recognized. ...


Solzhenitsyn did speak frankly, and now from our vantage years later we can fully appreciate his powers of observation. He said, for one thing: A decline “in political courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party . . .”



Curriculum to actually support physicians as moral and ethical leaders in society are largely absent ...

... in the concentration camp in Guanatanamo Bay: the slow, deliberate murder of an innocent man, who is being killed with the collusion of oath-breaking physicians. ...

Anyway, better late than never.... perhaps.

As for Iraq, after the president’s rationale(s) for the war in Iraq fell apart, the White House crafted a post-hoc rationalization for the invasion — the United States was committed, above all else, to spreading democracies and toppling dictators across the globe. He didn’t mention any of this before the war, but only because he was really busy. Or something.

I take it back ...

... maybe Hilary is being 'counseled' by the moron [ADDED 092707: that's the moron in the White House, just in case anyone is confused].

Hillary said months ago that she would support legislation to rescind the 2002 AUMF, and yet she voted for this today, giving this administration what they wanted. Can someone explain to me how Hillary can come out just last week against further funding for the Iraq war, and then today vote in favor of military action if necessary against Iran? What was new in Ahmadinejad’s appearances and comments over the last two days to convince Hillary that Iran was suddenly a threat that required such a vote, especially after al-Maliki said yesterday that Iran’s threat to Iraq was overstated?

So 60 minutes interviewed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ...

I didn't see the show and the clip isn't available yet in QT, but from reading this C&L post I have to ask: Why didn't 60 minutes send an intelligent and real journalist to interview an intelligent and real president of Iran?

I know that in the US only idiots, malingerers and their imitators deal with our White House resident, Mister Bush, but is 60 Minutes so dumbed down now that they don't remember a time of real interviews, real questions and real dialogue?

I don't know what Ahmadinejad's objectives are, but he is not a moron like Bush and he has had the spectacle of BushCo's treatment of Iraq and of Sadaam to warn him of how honorably this administration treats the world.

Instead of bomb, bomb, bomb Iran ...

John McCain could have shown himself well informed, straightforwardly honest, politically responsible and able to lead:

A wise statesman might have told the audience that the problems of the Middle East are complex and that we must question "well documented" claims suggesting simple solutions. A true political maverick might have pointed out how quite recently, it had been "well documented" that the "real problem" in the Middle East was Saddam Hussein and that "regime change" in Baghdad would bring not only utopia on the Tigris but an "arc of democracy" throughout the region.

There really are no Republicans who are qualified to be President, Senator, or Congressman. Instead they qualify as some of the best con-men there ever were ...