The U.S. Is A Known Historical Supporter Of Terrorism…

An editorial in The Kansas City Star states that the U.S. is a "known historical supporter of terrorism in Pinochet's Chile, Batista's Cuba and Rios Mont's Guatemala."

Why do Americans think they deserve a pass?

Forget What I Said Before...

I don’t see why Geraldine Ferraro’s comments are so controversial when it is clear that Obama has the support of much of the black community and politicians of all persuasions hash and rehash the demographics and tailor their message to these specific groups. I am not sure if I am a Clinton supporter but I do feel that this country is not as ready for a woman president as one would hope, as evidenced by cartoons depicting Hillary as a nag and a wicked witch, and then, “Iron my shirt!”

The Effects Of The War

I recently had an e-mail discussion with someone who is a contributor to americanthinker.com, which is almost as bad as townhall in its shrillness. I do not have permission to reprint the correspondance so I will just say that she/he indicated that the media, once again, was ignoring the "good news" from Iraq.

She indicated that she supports the troops but is against a draft, that the establishment of Israel was a "consolation gift" for the Holocaust and that the problem today is due to the simple fact that other Arab nations are somehow responsible for taking in the displaced Palestinians.

Among my responses:

I am not sure that my young nephew, who is a U.S. Marine, would have learned in school that the U.S. was once a supporter of Sadaam Hussein as well as other dictators and even terrorists, when it suited us. He certainly is not old enough to have done anything to contribute to the situation and I find it appalling that the people who did, will not acknowledge it.

Of course, I have no problem with my loved ones - I am also to be married to a Missouri National Guardsman who has served in Iraq - fulfilling their duty. I find the Republicans fervent opposition to a draft to be no different than the war protesters, both past and present, except that the war protesters don't want anyone to go while you people just don't want you to go.

Meanwhile, the Iraq war has diverted much attention and resources from the war in Afghanistan which you acknowledge has gotten worse and with the situation in Pakistan is more dire than ever. I fully supported that war but I am also aware of the continuing problem with women's rights as well as incidents like the recent death sentence for blasphemy of a reporter. "A young journalist in the north of Afghanistan faces the death penalty in what observers say is a well-orchestrated campaign of intimidation against the media."

The expectation of an American-style democracy in both Iraq and Afghanistan may not be entirely realistic. The mission should have been kept to hunting down Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.

As for my knowledge of history, I am not a scholar, but I have spent much time studying my religon and I have a special interest in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict because, to me, I just find it incredible that anyone could read the Bible and not wonder about all of that outright slaughter. Do you honestly consider a Palestinian life to be as valuable as an American life? An Iraqi?

Honestly, I have found William Dalrymple's comment about simple-minded bigots to be quite appropriate when considering the remarks made on right-wing blogs. I do not judge your comments to be honest or convincing.

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Whatever. You go ahead and believe that you "support the troops." My local paper has reported - War? What war? - that the number of high-quality recruits has continually dropped since the Iraq war started.

The Bush administration is sending "strong signals" that the troop reductions will slow or stop altogether this summer (multiple tours - even longer than 15 months?) because the recent security improvements are "tenuous," and top U.S. commanders predict that the battle for Mosul will be a "grinding campaign" that will require more firepower from both the Pentagon and Iraqi allies.

That's OK, there is no limit to what you will ask of the troops.

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Also, this from TIME:

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. military isn't ready for a catastrophic attack on the country, and National Guard forces don't have the equipment or training they need for the job, according to a report.

Even fewer Army National Guard units are combat-ready today than were nearly a year ago when the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves determined that 88 percent of the units were not prepared for the fight, the panel says in a new report released Thursday.

The independent commission is charged by Congress to recommend changes in law and policy concerning the Guard and Reserves.

The commission's 400-page report concludes that the nation "does not have sufficient trained, ready forces available" to respond to a chemical, biological or nuclear weapons incident, "an appalling gap that places the nation and its citizens at greater risk."

"Right now we don't have the forces we need, we don't have them trained, we don't have the equipment," commission Chairman Arnold Punaro said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Even though there is a lot going on in this area, we need to do a lot more. ... There's a lot of things in the pipeline, but in the world we live in — you're either ready or you're not."

You Got The Government You Deserve

What I’ve been trying to say is that townhallers only look out for themselves. From your attitudes about “entitlement” programs to your mistaken belief that America has done no wrong, never has, never will – it’s your inability to look at anything from a perspective other than your own. You people are supremacists. You twist everything around until it suits you and you can look straight at the facts and only see what you want to see.

There are two very distinct groups of people here. The “religious right” types pretend that the “hateful redneck” types do not exist and vice versa. Come to think of it, the “religious right” types do display some “hateful redneck” tendencies, maybe that’s why it works. At any rate, I know from personal experience that the two groups do not even like each other. The beer-drinking, profanity-spouting, intolerant rednecks do not think much of the “Bible-thumping,” holier-than-thou Jesus-freaks. Mighty strange bedfellows.

What do you expect? Your government is the government you deserve. The Republicans you elect are RINOs and do not do what they say they will do, what you want them to do, because THEY are only looking out for themselves. They get elected and suddenly they forget the little peons even exist.

Did our representatives invent greed, graft? Maybe they ARE truly representative.

Religious Right Has Some Mighty Strange Bedfellows

The religious right has some mighty strange bedfellows.

JD's Handsome Son says that liberals tell you where you can live, who you can live with, who you can associate with? I thought it was the "social conservatives" who want to tell people what they can and cannot do. John Edwards "legally steals" his money but rich Republicans who game the system are just good ole boys, I guess.

He says,"Being partly an indigenous aborigine, (all of us born here are native Americans, check your Webster's dictionary), does not give you license to make rules for the rest of us. I know this shocks you communists who've been raised on an ethnic entitlement mentality. Trust me, I'm white and I'm right. (How do you like that ethnic arrogance? How does it feel?)"

It feels like you are a snotty-nosed spoiled little brat. How contemptuous of our own much more recent history but try talking to him about Israel and he will probably spout off about the Islamo-fascist towel-head, camel-jockey, jihadi threat.

What about the threat that comes from an arrogant, smug, know-it-all populace that has nothing better to do but wallow in their hatred and have never learned to think for themselves?

Where Would "W" Be Without Daddy?

wildwest writes: Tuesday, January, 22, 2008 5:31 PM
delusional lilly
you still refuse to accept thaqt the missus clinton acquired everything after college based on her marriage to a hick politician who became president. Without bubba she would have never acquired the positions she achieved. Without being bubba's long suffering victimized wife she would have had as much chance of of becoming senator as a snowball would last in a blast furnace. Without bubba she would have never been considered for president. To insist otherwise is total fabrication. She is now relying bubba's phony popularity to save her run for president. Without bubba oblahma would find the way to defeat her.

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Excuse me, without Bush Sr. where would W be? At least Bill Clinton chose his wife for certain attributes whereas W is just an accident of birth unless you believe in dynasties.

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lilly writes: "In addition to being First Lady (tea parties?) Hillary Clinton has worked in social policy law for 35 years. She has a distinguished law degree (Juris Doctor) from one of the most prestigious law schools in the world (Yale)."

At Hateful Townhallers

JD's Handsome Son writes: Saturday, January, 26, 2008 9:40 AM

JD's Handsome Son writes:Saturday, January, 26, 2008 9:40 AMDualityMr. Gates sits atop a $100 Billion estate and looks down at us to say we should sacrifice, forgo our pleasures and give to others.John Edwards lives in a 28,000 sq. ft. clear cut remote mountain top resort in North Carolina that he acquired from legally stealing from others and tells us we are selfish greed heads and must sacrifice for others.Al Gore cruises the stratosphere in Gulf Stream IIs, jetting off to exotic locales to cavort with other wealthy elites when he looks down and sees we still warm our meager homes and drive to work. This upsets him and he scolds us for destroying the planet. He tells the world it has to sacrifice and the inhabitants of the Earth really should just go away and die to save the whales.Our ruling elites are chauffeured in plush limousines with armed guards with automatic weapons, but they want us disarmed to face the criminals their foolish progressive laws have created and enabled.Liberals push for laws to control who we hire, fire and promote, where we live, who lives with us, what words we can and cannot say, and who we can associate with. After work they hop in their Volvos, BMWs, and Lexus vehicles to their homogeneous white exclusive non inclusive gated communities where they point their bony fingers of blame at us for being insensitive.Hypocrite evil despicable liberal sons a b****es!
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A little bitter, are we, a little envious? You people are just hateful.

I was born into a free country. People who came before me had established what is considered the greatest democracy in history.

They had already built much infrastructure, schools, government facilities, community buildings, fire departments, police departments, health departments, defense departments and on and on.

They established programs whereby ordinary people, who would have previously been laughed out of the banks, could buy homes, establishing a middle class who could then send their kids to college.

I find it very odd that the very system that has enabled so many to become successful suddenly becomes unnecessary once they do.

I was born in a beautiful city with numerous parks, fountains and boulevards (Kansas City, Missouri, the city of fountains) .

I also have Native American heritage and so I feel that people who are born here or come here have an obligation to give back and to work as a society to make this a better place than they found it.

Maybe you should be asking yourself what you can do for this country, not what it can do for you.

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JD's Handsome Son writes:
Saturday, January, 26, 2008 2:30 PM
Ick odd nuto
You did not comprehend what I posted above. I do not begrudge successful people in this country. I resent them when after they've succeeded, they arrogantly and hypocritically assume they've been chosen to govern the rest of us. They conspicuously violate and disregard the rules they issue to us.Being partly an indigenous aborigine, (all of us born here are native Americans, check your Webster's dictionary), does not give you license to make rules for the rest of us. I know this shocks you communists who've been raised on an ethnic entitlement mentality. Trust me, I'm white and I'm right. (How do you like that ethnic arrogance? How does it feel?)And I have and continue to give back to this country. I pay lots of taxes to underwrite the existence of many non-productive Americans and illegal citizens of the world who come here to get free food, housing, medical care and in state tuition, then turn around and pi$$ on the country that invited them and cop a victim entitlement mentality that you've shown above.Your posts are ignorant and degrade the high level of discourse here in Townhall. You should leave and not come back.

Republican Women Are An Insult

Glenn McCoy’s cartoon (1-21-08) where Hillary is being heckled by men, “IRON MY SHIRT,” and her husband, “STARCH MY SHORTS,” is insulting – to Republican women. Why these women would remain in a party where such attitudes are rampant is beyond me. Disgraceful.

The "Jena 6"

Jason Whitlock, a black sports writer, is clearly guilty, himself, of bias in his deliberate attempts to discredit any “cause” that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton involve themselves with. His Sept. 30th column on the “Jena 6” doesn’t address the attempted murder charges, at all, and he still proclaims that the nooses incident had nothing to do with it - his words, not the words of the young men involved.

I am not sure of what relevance it is whether the boys go to church or not and who they were living with at the time. Just because people like Alan Bean, Jackson and Sharpton make a scene doesn’t mean there is nothing to the story. And the fact that a teenager has been in trouble with the law before is not reason to dismiss everything he has to say, throw him in jail and throw away the key, along with all of his friends.

How is it to Whitlock’s credit that he, being more mature and accomplished, can so easily disregard the pointed intent of nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree? Maybe it is this callousness that got him where he is today? Does his apparent embarrassment over these media circuses entitle him to speak for everybody else?

As reported on Friday, black babies born here in the U.S. are twice as likely to die as infants and there seems to be no explanation except “the stressful effects of racism,” according to a new series of studies from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ Health Policy Institute.

It says the causes of black infant mortality can be attributed to poverty, poor nutrition, inadequate prenatal care, teen pregnancy, heredity, high blood pressure, stress, obesity, low birth weight and prematurity. But, over the past few years, it has become clear that whether rich or poor, well educated or barely literate, African-American women were still more likely than white women, first-generation, poor Hispanic immigrant women and foreign-born black women to have premature and low birth-weight babies.

Some things are not so easily explained away.

A Proper War Memorial

I found Michelle Malkin’s comment, concerning the airliner crash in Pennsylvania on 9/11, that a “proper war memorial should stir to anger and action” to be offensive. As a Kansas City, Mo, native, I have always admired our very own Liberty Memorial that is the only monument entirely dedicated to WWI in the country.

The Great Frieze on the north terrace wall depicts “progress from war to peace,” carved in stone that stretches 400 feet across and stands 13 feet high. The following is taken from the Liberty Memorial Museum’s website:

“In honor of those who served in the world war in defense of liberty and our country.” The quote best depicts the reasons and emotions behind the raising of the Liberty Memorial Monument. World War I (1914-1918), which ended on the Western Front in Europe on November 11, 1918, had dramatically changed the world and deeply affected future generations.

After the guns were silenced and the huge celebrations had died down, concerned citizens in the United States reflected on the past War and on the losses sustained. What could be done to honor and remember, they wondered. Just two weeks after the Armistice, a meeting of Kansas Citians brought forth the idea and need for the creation of a lasting monument to all men and women in the war and to those who died.

A community-based fund-raising drive in 1919 raised over $2,500,000 in less than two weeks through public subscription in Kansas City and around the nation. This staggering accomplishment reflected the passion of public opinion about the Great War, which so recently ended.

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Malkin was also incensed about the use of a red crescent of trees. A quick web search on the red crescent provided many links to an organization similar to our own Red Cross and a web page that explores the history of the crescent as a symbol of Islam.

It states “the crescent moon and star symbol actually pre-dates Islam by several thousand years.” It goes on to say that the symbol was chosen to honor the goddess Diana or “to a battle in which the Romans defeated the Goths on the first day of a lunar month.” At any rate, it is “essentially an ancient pagan icon. It is certainly not in uniform use among Muslims.” The article lists countries whose flags depict the symbol and notes that “The majority of these countries are not Arabic-speaking, but rather are part of the greater Muslim world.”

9-25-05

The Surge Has Failed? - Need Better Writers Than Michelle Malkin & Her Ilk

Michelle Malkin is ridiculous with her broken-record bleating about “moonbats,” fear-and-warmongering. Does she have any knowledge, whatsoever, about the U.S.’s foreign policies, past or present? Does she have any understanding of Middle Eastern history and Western civilization’s involvement in it? Has she any idea of other perspectives - how people in the Middle East view the modern day establishment of Israel, for example, and how that has gradually grown into the extremist behavior we see today?

There are so many talented and knowledgeable writers out there – Fred Kaplan is the “war stories” writer for Slate. There’s Joseph Galloway with McClatchy Newspapers who General H. Norman Schwarzkopf said was, "The finest combat correspondent of our generation — a soldier's reporter and a soldier's friend."

Paul Krugman is a no-nonsense business writer who doesn’t mince words when it comes to evaluating the effects that Bush’s policies and the Iraq war has wrought.

He reported on the oil deal by the Hunt Oil Company of Dallas with the Iraqi Kurds. Ray L. Hunt, the chief executive and president of Hunt Oil, is one of Bush’s cronies and is a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. This makes him especially aware of the state of affairs in Iraq and in making the deal he is essentially undermining the efforts for the oil-revenue-sharing legislation that everyone has agreed is vital to a united Iraq, Krugman says.

“Follow the oil money, which already knows that the surge has failed…Indeed, he’s effectively betting against the survival of Iraq as a nation in any meaningful sense of the term…

…Here’s how I see it: At this point, Mr. Bush is looking forward to replaying the political aftermath of Vietnam, in which the right wing eventually achieved a rewriting of history that would have made George Orwell proud, convincing millions of Americans that our soldiers had victory in their grasp but were stabbed in the back by the peaceniks back home.

What all this means is that the next president, even as he or she tries to extricate us from Iraq — and prevent the country’s breakup from turning into a regional war — will have to deal with constant sniping from the people who lied us into an unnecessary war, then lost the war they started, but will never, ever, take responsibility for their failures.”

America Is Sick

America is sick. Blind patriotism is just another way for these soulless people to take credit for something they didn't do. I have been regularly censored at townhall.com which is full of delusional freaks. They claim to be the defenders of free speech - prayer in school, ten commandments in courthouses, etc., but just you say anything that would cause these hicks cognitive dissonance and you are censored and locked out faster than you can blink an eye. Frauds. You present them with facts and they just write their own reality. They all think they are so cute and clever. Everything is funny, just like the Daily Show. Clowns. Everything is a joke except their foolish pride.

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The Buzz - Osama bin Laden Joke? 9-17-07

Wed, Sep 19, 2007 at 6:44 PM

To the Kansas City Star: You have no class, whatsoever. I can't belive you have the nerve to ask my loved ones to put their lives on the line for you. Osama bin Laden is the man behind the thousands of deaths at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania. He is the reason this country is at war in two foreign lands.

This is sick, whoever finds this funny is sick.

America You Are A Fraud

What I want to know is where are all the badasses who were frothing at the mouth to start this war?

According to Fred Kaplan - writer of "War Stories" for Slate - the Army has a hard time getting 7,000 NEW recruits a year.

That's NEW recruits, not reenlistments:

Guilianni says that we need ten more combat brigades:

"Ten combat brigades translate to 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers. The Army has a hard time recruiting 7,000 new combat soldiers a year. Does Giuliani have any ideas on how to get more?"

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2172285/

Cowards. The people of America had enough information - that it would take several hundred thousand troops to occupy a country the size of Iraq, according to a four-star general - not to start this war but they all knew they would not have to fight it. America is a fraud.

They have sat there and let this thing drag out for five years, they get on the Internet and talk real big. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong, and still they just talk, talk, talk. What big men.

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Here are a couple of responses to this paper that I posted at rightwingnews.com. These people have no class, whatsoever - they are clowns:

Heh trolls are cute

Posted by Christopher_Taylor
September 15, 2007 11:48 AM
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NoSoSmart,

"According to Fred Kaplan - writer of "War Stories" for Slate - the Army has a hard time getting 7,000 NEW recruits a year.

That's NEW recruits, not reenlistments."

You and Fred had better check your sources. To claim that the Army is having difficulty "getting 7,000 NEW recruits a year" is only off by a factor of 10. According to the official DoD Recruiting report, for the 11 months ending on 31 Aug, the Army had recruited 71,987 so far this FY, 102 percent of their goal of 70,500.

I attended a brief by the Army Vice Chief of Staff, General Cody, this week and he stated that all services will probably reach their recruiting goals, with the possible exception of the Air National Guard. They are currently recruiting at 93% of their goal. The Marines (you know, those guys who are "First to Fight") are at 109% of their goal.

It is sad that Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray and Sgt. Omar Mora died in a TRAFFIC ACCIDENT. Our condolences to their families. Would this have been news if they had not written the od-ed and had died in a TRAFFIC ACCIDENT at Ft Bragg? What about the hundreds of other service members who died in TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS? Aren't they news?

In case you are missing my point, they died in a TRAFFIC ACCIDENT. They could just as easily died in a TRAFFIC ACCIDENT at Ft Bragg, in their home towns, or elsewhere.

You are a fraud. If you are American (which I doubt), you are a traitor. If you aren't American STFU (Shut The Fuck Up).

Posted by A-10
September 16, 2007 9:47 AM
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My nephew is a U.S. Marine, you scumbag, and he REENLISTED. They can extend tours to 15 months and talk about extending them to 18 months and you cowards who started this war would still not go fight it.

Because they were killed in a traffic accident while on duty in Iraq - this makes a difference? The army is a dangerous thing, people get killed all the time in training and exercises. You didn't get in a traffic accident in Iraq simply because you did not put your life on the line. And why not? What is stopping you, loser?

Posted by NoSoIncognito
September 18, 2007 9:44 PM

http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2007/09/john_kerrys_startlingly_dishon.php?comments=show#comment-85018

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And this would break your heart, if you frauds had one:

Why the deaths of Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora are particularly galling.
By Fred Kaplan

On Monday, while Gen. David Petraeus prepared to testify before two House committees about the successes of the surge, seven of his soldiers died when their transport vehicle overturned in a highway accident west of Baghdad.

Two of those soldiers, Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, 26, and Sgt. Omar Mora, 28, were part of another group of seven—the seven noncommissioned officers of the 82nd Airborne Division who wrote a brave, well-reasoned op-ed in the Aug. 19 New York Times, calling the prospect of victory "far-fetched" and appraisals of progress "surreal."

It is galling that so many pundits and legislators touted a Times op-ed by two Brookings scholars who spent eight days in Iraq and came away persuaded that the war might be won—but paid virtually no attention to the far more unusual, even unprecedented, op-ed by seven active-duty soldiers still based in Iraq, some on their second or third tour of duty, who dared to step forth and argue otherwise.

http://www.slate.com/id/2173860/

Also:

war stories

Deceptive or Delusional?
Bush's appalling Iraq speech.
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, at 11:42 PM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2173902/