Month: November 2005

with love to Tom Waits and cross posted from dembloggers and my blog

You’ve all been there:  you’re bored, a tad unfocused because you’re not exactly awake, but not yet ready for bed.  Now is not the time to go back and finish reading Naomi Klein’s “Baghdad Year Zero,” nor should you be trying your hand at Plameology.  It’s a night for brief and witty, not for deep and pithy.  

You daydream of what might be on the cover should someone figure out how to package the internet’s allmighty powers in magazine format.  Sure, cursory reading is cursory reading, but magazines are easier to explore.  Plus, they end eventually.  But since you can’t exactly thumb through the internet, you do the next best thing:

Blogroll Roulette

Send your browser to a blog – your favorite, the first one that comes to mind, whatever – just to get a blogroll in front of you.  Pick a blog name that strikes your fancy, click away and hope to land on that perfect post for late-night reading.  If you at least liked what you found, pick a random blog from their blogroll.  And so on and so forth.  Hyperlinks count and the posts don’t have to be humorous to count as a “win;” the important thing is that they’re not overly intricate.  

Serious and succinct works quite well, which is why this post was definitely a winner:

To The Warmongers

I’m back again from Hell
With loathsome thoughts to sell;
Secrets of death to tell;
And horrors from the abyss.

Young faces bleared with blood,
Sucked down into the mud,
You shall hear things like this,
Till the tormented slain
Crawl round and once again,
With limbs that twist awry
Moan out their brutish pain,
As the fighters pass them by.

For you our battles shine
With triumph half-divine;
And the glory of the dead
Kindles in each proud eye.

But a curse is on my head,
That shall not be unsaid,
And the wounds in my heart are red,
For I have watched them die.

– Siegfried Sassoon, 1917

Do read the whole thing; there’s a lot of background info on Sassoon, and Once Upon a Time is just a great blog anyway.  And no; I don’t say that just because of the name.  This is the second time blogroll roulette has landed me there and I must say I feel lucky for it.

Imus Smacks down Joe Lieberman

Crooks & Liars has the video. “Don Imus had a long talk with Joe and pounded him with questions about his latest article in the WSJ,” writes John Amato. Among the priceless moments that John spotted:

Imus: “You’re the only person I talked to who thinks things are going well there…”

At one point Imus says:

Imus: “Somebody’s got something on you, this is crazy.”

Go get ’em, Don. P.S.: Mr. Sanity, Jack Murtha, was just on MSNBC’s Hardball. It’ll be replayed at 4pm PT/7pm ET. At the end, Murtha told Tweety that the one thing he most regrets is that he didn’t speak out sooner.

Cross-posted at Daily Kos from European Tribune

I got this e-mail last friday from Ray McGovern, and obtained his permission to redistribute it on Booman’s Tribune, so here it is for your enjoyment. Hopefully it will have a higher impact here than on ET or DKos.

November 24, 2005

Will the US Seize the Opening for Troop Withdrawal?

By Ray McGovern

The surprising degree of consensus reached by the main Iraqi factions at the Arab-League orchestrated Reconciliation Conference in Cairo last weekend sharply undercuts the unilateral, guns-and-puppets approach of the Bush administration to the deteriorating situation in Iraq.  The common demand, by Shia and Kurds as well as Sunnis, for a timetable for withdrawal of occupation forces demolishes the administration’s argument that setting such a timetable would be a huge mistake.  Who would know better–the Iraqis or the ideologues advising Bush?

Read the rest after the fold.

Ray McGovern is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).  He worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, and now works for Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC.

An earlier version of this article appeared on TomPaine.com

November 24, 2005

Will the US Seize the Opening for Troop Withdrawal?

By Ray McGovern

The surprising degree of consensus reached by the main Iraqi factions at the Arab-League orchestrated Reconciliation Conference in Cairo last weekend sharply undercuts the unilateral, guns-and-puppets approach of the Bush administration to the deteriorating situation in Iraq.  The common demand, by Shia and Kurds as well as Sunnis, for a timetable for withdrawal of occupation forces demolishes the administration’s argument that setting such a timetable would be a huge mistake.  Who would know better–the Iraqis or the ideologues advising Bush?

Withdrawal of Occupation Forces

From the final communiqué:

“We demand the withdrawal of foreign forces in accordance with a timetable, and the establishment of a national and immediate program for rebuilding the armed forces…that will allow them to guard Iraq’s borders and to get control of the security situation…”

It is no accident that pride of place is given to the demand for withdrawal and that rebuilding the armed forces comes second.  The Bush administration has insisted that it must be the other way around; i.e. e., that rebuilding the Iraqi army is precondition for withdrawal.

Also no accident was the conference decision to differentiate sharply between “legitimate” resistance and terrorism, and to avoid condemning violence against occupation troops:

“Though resistance is a legitimate right for all people, terrorism does not represent resistance.  Therefore, we condemn terrorism and acts of violence, killing and kidnapping targeting Iraqi citizens and humanitarian, civil, government institutions, national resources and houses of worship.”

For good measure, the final communiqué also demanded “an immediate end to arbitrary raids and arrests without a documented judicial order,” release of all “innocent detainees,” and investigation of “allegations of torture of prisoners.”

The communiqué’s feisty tone was facilitated by the conspicuous and unexplained absence of US representatives.  By shunning the conference, administration officials missed the beginning of a process that has within it the seeds of real progress toward peace. In addition to over 100 Shia, Sunni and Kurdish participants, the conference was attended by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran, but no US officials.  The gathering was strongly supported not only by the Arab League but also by the UN, EU, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

All in all, the various Iraqi factions, including interim government officials, displayed unusual willingness to make the compromises necessary to reach consensus on key issues–like ending the occupation.  Key Sunni leader Saleh Mutyla had set the tone shortly before the conference, even though the US chose that time to launch “Operation Steel Curtain,” the largest foray into Sunni territory this year.  Mutyla nonetheless indicated that the resistance would agree to a ceasefire in exchange for US withdrawal.  (link)

Reaching out to the Sunni

One main purpose of the Reconciliation Conference was to engage the Sunni parties in the political process, and several of the Sunni participants have close ties with nationalist Sunni insurgents. Agreement that resistance is a “legitimate right” and the decision not to apply the word “terrorism” to attacks on occupation forces were two significant olive branches held out to the Sunnis.  In recognizing the right to resist the occupation, the conference severely undercut Bush administration attempts to paint Sunnis as Saddam loyalists or al-Qaeda collaborators. In contrast, the Sunnis were made to feel like full-fledged partners in this newly begun search for a peaceful solution sans occupation.

Underscoring that point, Iraqi Interim President Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, made an unprecedented offer:

“If those who describe themselves as Iraqi resistance want to contact me, they are welcome…I am committed to listen to them, even those who are criminals…”

…and from Washington? Pouting

The administration’s initial reaction seemed designed to put Talabani and other negotiation-welcoming Iraqi officials in their place.  On Monday, addressing the issue of troop withdrawal, State department spokesperson Justin Higgins said:

“Multinational forces are present in Iraq under a mandate from the U. N. Security Council.  As President Bush has said, the coalition remains committed to helping the Iraqi people achieve security and stability as they rebuild their country.  We will stay as long as it takes to achieve those goals and no longer.”

Tuesday, another State Department spokesperson sang the same mantra.  She also gave lip service to US support for “the ongoing transitional political process in Iraq,” but offered no explanation as to why Secretary Condoleezza Rice decided not to send representatives to the conference in Cairo.  Is she still taking instruction from what former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff calls the “Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal?”

With a full-fledged peace conference scheduled for February, and elections in mid-December, Washington has little time to waste if it wants to influence the peace process begun at the Reconciliation Conference in Cairo. The demand for the withdrawal of occupation troops creates an opening. But with the “cabal” and neo-conservative policymakers still in charge, and jittery Democrats only slowly seeing the light, it is doubtful that the administration will seize the opportunity–even though doing so would probably enhance Republican chances in next year’s mid-term elections.

This may change, however, because other pressures are mounting.  America’s front-line Army and Marine battalion commanders in Iraq LINK to yesterday’s piece// have gone behind Rumsfeld’s back to spill their guts to Senate Armed Forces Committee Chair John Warner.  (link)  And Congressman John Murtha, retired Marine and a leading defense advocate on the Hill, has introduced a bill calling for troop withdrawal “as soon as practicable.”

Taken together, that initiative, the mini-mutiny among field-grade officers, and the outcome of the Cairo conference could conceivably break the Gordian knot in Congress. In calling for withdrawal, Murtha has made a critical bridge from the hawkish center to a majority of Americans and to progressives on the Hill.

A New Chapter? Maybe

These recent events could open up a new chapter in the history of this war. Iraqi politics, U.S. public opinion and military necessity all argue for the US to lend its support to the national reconciliation process.  Yet, even faced with such an obvious chance to climb out of the Iraq quagmire, there is still little sign that the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal will be able to veer from the prevailing predilection to self-destruct.

It remains sad fact that the president’s current advisors are the same ones who brought us Iraq–and for reasons other than those given.  It will take very strong pressure to get them to relinquish their twin vision of permanent military bases in Iraq and predominant influence over what happens to the oil there.  The president is not likely to argue with the ideologues around him, nor has he shown any willingness to broaden the circle of his advisors.  The only realistic hope may lie in the chance those Republican congressional candidates who already have beads of sweat on their foreheads can break through the White House palace guard and argue persuasively against the increasingly obvious folly of “staying the course.”

Current Straws in the Wind

It is too early to tell whether there is any substance behind recent statements by senior US officials expressing hope that US forces can be withdrawn sooner rather than later.  The only straw in the wind with possible substance seems to be the unexplained delay in deploying the 1st infantry division brigade from Fort Riley that was earlier earmarked for arrival in Iraq before the December 15 election.

For all intents and purposes, the administration position remains the same.  Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, keeps warning of the consequences of a “precipitous pull-out,” repeating:  “I’m not going to get into a timetable.  It will be driven by conditions on the ground.”

But, you say, Secretary Rice told FOX news on Tuesday “those days are going to be coming fairly soon when Iraqis are going to be more and more capable of carrying out the functions to secure their own future.”  Is there not hope to be found in this?  Might this be PR preparation for a drawdown sooner than foreshadowed in earlier, more rigid statements?

Not necessarily.  By all indications Rice continues to take orders from the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal.  She is as weak a secretary of state as her predecessor.  Even if she let herself be persuaded by seasoned professionals at State that, in present circumstances. she ought to be pressing for a troop drawdown driven by bargaining at the negotiating table rather than “conditions on the ground,” she would almost certainly feel it necessary to get permission from the cabal before taking this novel idea to the president.  She would probably even have to get them to sign off on any plan to send official representatives to the February meeting in Cairo, should she come to realize that it makes sense for the US to insert itself into the emerging political process with Iraqi and other key players.

As for Rumsfeld’s relatively optimistic spin on recent talk shows, there is little to suggest that this has any purpose other than to assuage growing pro-withdrawal sentiment in Congress and the population at large.

Ray McGovern is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).  He worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, and now works for Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC.

An earlier version of this article appeared on TomPaine.com

Emily at Powell’s and I have been e-mailing back and forth. Turns out I wasn’t the only person who wanted to feature The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor–And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!
by Tim Harford.

Both the publisher and the distributor for the book got slammed with orders, and are hurriedly printing more copies! (The book is being featured in promos for this coming weekend’s C-Span2 / BookTV.org.) Powell’s nabbed five copies this morning which Emily promises you’ll get at the promised 30% off. More are coming to Powell’s, and you’ll be put on a waiting list if you don’t get one of the last five copies.

Here’s the link to my original story about this intriguing book by a Financial Times columnist who helps everyday people figure out the guerilla marketing techniques of Whole Foods, Starbucks and Amazon that make us tend to spend more than we knew we were — along with my ode to Emily’s excellent customer service, which is such a rarity in today’s Internet businesses.

So, this is my first post over at the Trib since leaving Chuck Pennacchio (thanks for the support with that!) and Sherrod Brown/Paul Hackett. Before I get into Governor Dean’s op-ed in The Hill today, I just wanted to say what’s up, and let you know that they finally let one of us (the folks generally holding the pitchforks and torches outside the gate) into the DNC.  That said, know that I am here for all of you should you have questions/concerns/ideas: tagarist — at — dnc dot org. Consider me a voice for all of us on the inside. — Tim

Dean in Short:

The future of the Democratic Party is organizing on the local level, funded by everyday Americans, standing together, and working towards things that matter like: providing jobs and health care for all Americans, a strong education system, and holding those accountable who are responsible for the culture of corruption in Washington, D.C.  Because of this, we will win House and Senate seats in 2006.

Ken Mehlman in Short:

War is peace, stay the course, laws protecting individuals filing for bankruptcy and seeking protection from creditors are “outdated,” terror terror terror, WMD, cut and run, fight the terrorists in Iraq and not here, Samuel Alito and legislate from the bench.

Governor Dean’s full text in the extended entry.

2005 has been a good year for Democrats. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has trained and hired local organizers on the ground in 49 states. These organizers are critical to our victories in 2006 and beyond.

We’ve shattered the 2001 post-presidential-year fundraising record, despite not being able to collect soft money. Through our grassroots Democracy Bonds program, we’ve doubled the number of monthly givers to the DNC.

Our leaders in the House and Senate stuck together on issues such as fiscal responsibility and Social Security, and they continue to pressure the administration for the truth about manipulating prewar intelligence, sending a strong message that Democrats will fight for what is right.

And for the first time in recent memory, the DNC, the Democratic House and Senate leadership and Democratic mayors and governors are sitting at the same table to create policies and strategies for restoring honest government and fiscal responsibility to America.

The early results in California, Virginia and New Jersey are good. Local races in St. Louis, Parkersburg and Minnesota, where we picked up seats that had been Republican for up to 58 years, are even better.

This is a solid beginning, but there is more we must do. Cutting the fundraising advantage the other party enjoys from 3-1 to 2-1 is good but not good enough. Sticking together on the budget and supporting Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) great courage are good starts, but we need to continue to work together on judicial nominations, environmental legislation, trade and jobs to send effectively the message that we are again ready to lead the American people with purpose and in a fundamentally new direction.

In 2006, Democrats will take back the House and the Senate. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have done an excellent job recruiting strong candidates, and we are already investing in the local infrastructure to ensure they win. But the key to winning is running a national campaign based on our different vision and the themes that Democrats around the country have put forward.

Americans of all political persuasions are tired of and worried about the culture of corruption that Republicans have brought to Washington and to so many statehouses around America. We will offer real ethics reform and election reform so that the Government Accountability Office can report in three years that we can have confidence in our voting machines.

We will offer a program for American jobs that stay in America and for energy independence that will create jobs and wean us off of foreign oil.

The only president to balance a budget in the past 37 years was a Democrat. We will do that again.

We will offer a real tax-reform program that helps the middle class pay for it by eliminating the shocking waste and giveaways the Republican Congress and president have added to the budget and subtracted from revenues in the past five years.

We will join the 36 other countries that manage to include all their citizens in their health-insurance systems while simultaneously balancing their budgets.

We will provide a strong public education system by avoiding bureaucratic federal mandates and taxpayer-funded puff pieces. We will rely on local control while requiring real standards that work nationally.

We will offer Americans real security. We all agree that 2006 must be a transition year in Iraq. While we may have different ideas about tactics and timing, it’s clear we must change course. The vision of strategic redeployment set forward by Brian Katulis and former Reagan Defense Department official Lawrence Korb offers a likely roadmap to success that we can coalesce around.

We will offer the American people a government that is honest in preparing for any deployment of American troops and honor their sacrifice when they come home.

Most important, we will talk about Democratic values, which are America’s values.

The vast majority of Americans believe it is immoral to lets kids go hungry. We agree. The other party cuts school lunches (they just can’t seem to leave that one alone.)

Americans believe it is immoral that not everyone has some kind of health insurance. We agree.

The vast majority of Americans believe that government overreaching into personal and family decisions is wrong. We agree.

Americans believe that it is immoral to leave huge debts to our children and grandchildren. We agree.

Americans believe that using issues to divide us as a country to win elections is bad for America. We will restore America’s sense of community.

Together, America can do better. And in 2006, the Democrats will lead America to do just that.

We have all heard about buying blue and supporting companies that support Democratic Ideals.  We also need to be supporting companies that support Equality.  HRC has an index where they use different measures to score companies.  The measures include such things as non-discrimination clause for sexual orientation and gender identity, diversity training, charitable contributions and GLBT advertising.  Since I know everyone doesn’t belong to HRC, I decided to share their letter.  Please pass this information on to anyone who believes in Equality for All People.

(cross posted @ refinish69,My Left Wing, Booman Tribune,Daily Kos)

The holiday season is upon us, and as many of us head to the stores and the shopping malls, we’d like to give you a very tangible way to support equality with every dollar you spend.

The Human Rights Campaign’s Buyer’s Guide gives you the information you need to support companies that support equality. The guide utilizes the groundbreaking research and advocacy of the Human Rights Campaign’s Workplace Project to give you the tools to effect corporate change in your everyday life.

Shopping at Banana Republic or L.L. Bean? Filling up the tank at Shell or Exxon? Fighting the mid-afternoon snacking urge with a Balance Bar or a Power Bar? Our buyer’s guide will let you know which products and companies to support and which to avoid. Click here to download your complimentary buyer’s guide before you begin your holiday shopping.

We are proud to say that corporate America is leading the way to fairness and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in offices and boardrooms around the country. By offering domestic partner benefits and implementing inclusive anti-discrimination policies, workplaces are rapidly becoming a fairer place for all employees.

However, it is still legal in most states to fire a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employee for no other reason than who they are. Many companies still have a long way to go toward equality for all employees. You can help turn the tide by making informed decisions about the products you purchase and the companies you choose to support, especially during this busy shopping season.

Together, we can help effect real change in workplaces across the country.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
Human Rights Campaign President

While most of the country is tuned into the War in Iraq, there’s another war going on right in the good old U.S.A.  Rule by rule, regulation by regulation, law by law, the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress are rolling back as many environmental protections as they can. The latest victim is a fish. A salmon to be more precise.  There are no pictures of this fish in a uniform, and no tape of its grieving mates.  However, the fish is certainly a victim, just as we are victims of the “Not-so-Clean Air Act,” and the “Not-so-Clean Water Act.”  

For more about just what’s going on with Larry Craig (R-ID) versus the fish, and a suggestion for action we can take–please read on below the fold.
The Situation  Once upon a time northwestern fisheries and Native American tribes derived income from salmon fishing. Fishing/Guide services made money offering recreational trips to the Pacific NW. All this for a fish. However, competition between the fish and the utility companies has been a losing proposition for the fish in question, the Coho and the Chinook:

From the Natural Resources Defense Council
“Once abundant from Alaska all the way down to Santa Barbara, populations of chinook salmon have been declining steadily. Human modification of natural water flow for dams, hydropower and agriculture has cut into salmon habitat. Nine regional subgroups of chinook salmon are listed as threatened or endangered.

“Coho salmon went extinct in the Snake River in 1985. All five remaining species of Snake River salmon and steelhead are listed under the Endangered Species Act, headed toward the same fate unless we act now. Biologists say that, collectively, the four lower Snake River dams in southeastern Washington are the primary threat to salmon. These dams and reservoirs now lie between the inland streams where salmon are born and the ocean where they spend most of their lives.”
Sierra Club

The Problem The Bush Administration has engaged in foot-dragging and out right fighting the implementation and enforcement of fisheries improvement from day one.

The League of Conservation Voters puts it this way:

“Indeed, his (Bush) administration has fallen short of targets required under a plan inherited from the Clinton administration for improving salmon habitats and water quality. Wild salmon are still well below the levels necessary to ensure their long-term survival, and a judge has ordered the entire rescue plan redone.”  

The Wild Salmon Center offers more details:

So, how does Mr. Craig (R-ID) fit into the picture? Mr. Craig is not happy about the way the fish are being counted. In a manuever calculated to delight his supporters from the hydroelectric power industry who gave him $145,436 for his campaigns since 2001, he inserted one sentence into a provision for energy spending: “…Craig blocked this funding mechanism (for the Fish Passage Center) by inserting a sentence in an energy and water spending bill that says, <u>”The Bonneville Power Administration may make no new obligations in support of the Fish Passage Center.”</u&gt

Why would Mr. Craig do this? The Washington Post catches and lands him:  Washington Post

Now where have we heard this before: “Kill the Messenger!”  Any agency, no matter how small, that enrages the industrial donors to the Republican Party will find its budget slashed, or in this case eliminated.
What do the CIA and the Fish Passage Agency have in common? They both told the White House and the Republican leadership in Congress things they didn’t want to hear?

If you’d like to make your voice heard there’s a letter to Congressional Representatives Take Action here.

At the very least you’ll make a bear happy?

Just a quick reminder that Howard Dean will be appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this evening.

The photo you see below is from Howard’s appearance on David Letterman on October 12.

For anyone who hasn’t seen this yet, I recently redesigned Howard-Empowered People, and created a permanent space in the left sidebar for announcing Howard Dean’s upcoming appearances. In that space I have posted the e-mail address you can use if you know of an upcoming appearance that is not yet listed.

Finally. Nancy Pelosi says she’s going to support Rep. Murthra’s resolution to end the war.

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – House of Representatives Minority leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday backed a call by Democratic Rep. John Murtha to quickly start the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

“I will be supporting the Murtha resolution,” Pelosi said of Murtha’s resolution calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq at the earliest practicable date.

Pelosi, of California, said she believed a majority of House Democrats “clearly supports Mr. Murtha,” but she said she would not press for a united Democratic position on the issue.

Pelosi was speaking in response to george’s address to his friends this morning. Murtha’s plan is not, of course, as simple-minded as repugs would like to think. She says “she would not press for a united Democratic position on the issue,” but I think it’s high time we stand in solidarity with Murtha, who is concerned about the well-being of the troops. If you missed it, here’s the full text of Rep. Murtha’s resolution, courtesy of Steve Clemons:

RESOLUTION

    Whereas Congress and the American People have not been shown clear, measurable progress toward establishment of stable and improving security in Iraq or of a stable and improving economy in Iraq, both of which are essential to “promote the emergence of a democratic government”;

    Whereas additional stabilization in Iraq by U, S. military forces cannot be achieved without the deployment of hundreds of thousands of additional U S. troops, which in turn cannot be achieved without a military draft;

    Whereas more than $277 billion has been appropriated by the United States Congress to prosecute U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan;

    Whereas, as of the drafting of this resolution, 2,079 U.S. troops have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom;

    Whereas U.S. forces have become the target of the insurgency,

    Whereas, according to recent polls, over 80% of the Iraqi people want U.S. forces out of Iraq;

    Whereas polls also indicate that 45% of the Iraqi people feel that the attacks on U.S. forces are justified;

    Whereas, due to the foregoing, Congress finds it evident that continuing U.S. military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the people of Iraq, or the Persian Gulf Region, which were cited in Public Law 107-243 as justification for undertaking such action;

    Therefore be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,That:

Section 1. The deployment of United States forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date.

Section 2. A quick-reaction U.S. force and an over-the-horizon presence of U.S Marines shall be deployed in the region.

Section 3 The United States of America shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.

Surely more Democrats will come forward to support this measure, but I’m taking no chances. I’ve asked my representative to support Mr. Murtha, but it’s much more impressive coming from the Democratic leader. Go, Nancy!

(Cross-posted at the big orange)

Promoted from the diaries by Steven D (with minor edits), because we can never have enough reminders of why we’re fighting so hard against Bush and his “Stay the Course” insanity.

This diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters

cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.

An Iraqi boy mourns over the body of his father, at the morgue of a local hospital in the city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad. The boy’s father is one of eight Iraqi employees at a US base that were shot and killed as they boarded a minibus in the village of Abu Saida northeast of Baquba. Iraqis working for US forces are regularly targeted by insurgents.
(AFP/Ali Yussef)

Sgt. William B. Meeuwsen, 24, of Kingwood, Texas, shown in an undated photo released by the U.S. Army, and Staff Sgt. Aram J. Bass, 25, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., died Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005, in Baghdad when they came under direct fire during combat operations, the Army said. The deaths are being investigated as possible friendly-fire incidents, the Army said Monday, Nov. 28.
(AP Photo/U.S. Army)

Poem and links are after the fold . . .

Birdland
by Patti Smith
from the album Horses

His father died and left him a little farm in new england.
All the long black funeral cars left the scene
And the boy was just standing there alone
Looking at the shiny red tractor
Him and his daddy used to sit inside
And circle the blue fields and grease the night.
It was if someone had spread butter on all the fine points of the stars
’cause when he looked up they started to slip.
Then he put his head in the crux of his arm
And he started to drift, drift to the belly of a ship,
Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it
And saw his daddy ‘hind the control board streamin’ beads of light,
He saw his daddy ‘hind the control board,
And he was very different tonight
’cause he was not human, he was not human.

And then the little boy’s face lit up with such naked joy
That the sun burned around his lids and his eyes were like two suns,
White lids, white opals, seeing everything just a little bit too clearly
And he looked around and there was no black ship in sight,
No black funeral cars, nothing except for him the raven
And fell on his knees and looked up and cried out,
“no, daddy, don’t leave me here alone,
Take me up, daddy, to the belly of your ship,
Let the ship slide open and I’ll go inside of it
Where you’re not human, you are not human.”

But nobody heard the boy’s cry of alarm.
Nobody there ‘cept for the birds around the new england farm
And they gathered in all directions, like roses they scattered
And they were like compass grass coming together into the head of a shaman bouquet
Slit in his nose and all the others went shooting
And he saw the lights of traffic beckoning like the hands of blake
Grabbing at his cheeks, taking out his neck,
All his limbs, everything was twisted and he said,
“i won’t give up, won’t give up, don’t let me give up,
I won’t give up, come here, let me go up fast,
Take me up quick, take me up, up to the belly of a ship
And the ship slides open and I go inside of it where I am not human.”

I am helium raven and this movie is mine,
So he cried out as he stretched the sky,
Pushing it all out like latex cartoon, am I all alone in this generation ?
We’ll just be dreaming of animation night and day
And won’t let up, won’t let up and I see them coming in,
Oh, I couldn’t hear them before, but I hear ’em now,
It’s a radar scope in all silver and all platinum lights
Moving in like black ships, they were moving in, streams of them,
And he put up his hands and he said, “it’s me, it’s me,
I’ll give you my eyes, take me up, oh now please take me up,
I’m helium raven waitin’ for you, please take me up,
Don’t let me here,” the son, the sign, the cross,
Like the shape of a tortured woman, the true shape of a tortured woman,
The mother standing in the doorway letting her sons
No longer presidents but prophets
They’re all dreaming they’re gonna bear the prophet,
He’s gonna run through the fields dreaming in animation
It’s all gonna split his skull
It’s gonna come out like a black bouquet shining
Like a fist that’s gonna shoot them up
Like light, like mohammed boxer
Take them up up up up up up
Oh, let’s go up, up, take me up, I’ll go up,
I’m going up, I’m going up
Take me up, I’m going up, I’ll go up there
Go up go up go up go up up up up up up up
Up, up to the belly of a ship.
Let the ship slide open and we’ll go inside of it
Where we are not human, we’re not human.

Well, there was sand, there were tiles,
The sun had melted the sand and it coagulated
Like a river of glass
When it hardened he looked at the surface
He saw his face
And where there were eyes were just two white opals, two white opals,
Where there were eyes there were just two white opals
And he looked up and the rays shot
And he saw raven comin’ in
And he crawled on his back and he went up
Up up up up up up
Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
Sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
We like birdland.

– – –

read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story

view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)

take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)

support Veterans for Peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support Iraq Veterans Against the War
support Military families Speak Out
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read This is what John Kerry did today, the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day