Month: January 2007

Okay. Joe Biden caused some controversy by saying the following about Barack Obama:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Or, alternatively:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American. Who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Either way, it was a bone-headed thing to say that is going to cause Biden grief (both deserved and undeserved). Someone noted the famous riff of Chris Rock, and it definitely bears repeating in this context.

Whenever Colin Powell is on the news, white people give him the same compliments: ‘How do you feel about Colin Powell?’, ‘He speaks so well! He’s so well spoken. I mean he really speaks so well!’ Like that’s a compliment, sh*t. ‘He speaks so well’ is not a compliment, okay? ‘He speaks so well’ is some sh*t you say about retarded people that can talk. What do you mean he speaks so well? He’s a fuc*ing educated man! How the fu*k you expect him to sound, you dirty motherfuc*er? ‘He speaks so well.’ What are you talking about? What voice were you expecting to come out of his mouth? ‘Imma drop me a bomb today’, ‘I be Pwez-o-dent!’.”

Great comedy is made when a funny person makes a really great point that hits home in a painful way and it still makes you laugh. Chris Rock absolutely nailed his point on how blacks are given points just for being able to speak clearly and how that is incredibly insulting. And a lot of people are feeling that same sting from Biden’s remarks. I can’t dismiss those feelings. They’re legitmate feelings. But I gotta say something.

Barack Obama is not articulate for a black man. Barack Obama is one of the most articulate politicians in American society today. If I were to make a list, I would put Bill Clinton at the very top. And I don’t want to strain my brain here, but Obama would come very shortly thereafter. The most striking thing about Obama is his charisma, and his communication skills are the biggest part of his charisma. Yeah, he is nice looking. He has a captivating smile. He has kind eyes. He has a warm and comforting voice. He has a whole package. But his clear enunciation, his excellent syntax, his sentence construction, and his gift of emphasis are all parts of a remarkable oratorical skill. And he’s as good one-on-one on Jay Leno as he is in a stadium before a national television audience. Obama’s speaking skills and charisma are what makes it less than flat-out insane for a two-year veteran of the Senate to have the presumption to run for President.

Anyone that doesn’t mention the articulateness of Barack Obama isn’t expressing the nature of his personality and the root of his power as a national politician.

Obama is not articulate. Joe Biden is articulate. Barack Obama is exceptionally articulate.

And everyone knows this. In fact, the bulk of the criticism I have seen from Democrats about Obama is that his only virtue is his articulateness. People want to see more than nice presentation, they want some details and red meat.

Joe Biden was, first of all, trying to express the appeal of Obama. See…first he gives you the good points and then he tells you why they aren’t good enough. He’s giving us a reason not to vote for Obama, but he is doing it the second part of comment and not in the part being quoted.

Biden is saying that ‘yes, he’s mainstream, he’s black but that isn’t gonna hurt him because he has cross-over appeal, he’s not just some fringe candidate like Keyes or Sharpton, he’s the real deal. He’s articulate. He doesn’t have a lot baggage. He’s not going to get accused of corruption. He’s a great looking guy. I mean…shit yeah…that’s a dreamy combination. How could you not like the guy? But…’

And here’s what Biden said next.

But—and the “but” was clearly inevitable—he doubts whether American voters are going to elect “a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate,” and added: “I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic.”

Biden’s saying that the guy is not up to handling Iraq and that the public is gonna look at him and like him but at the end of the day they are not gonna see Obama as ready for the big time.

Now, I know people are looking at other things Biden has said recently that were less than stellar from a racial sensitivity standpoint. But even taking that into account, I think people are just wrong to attribute some kind a latent racism behind Biden’s remarks.

Any asshole that takes away bankruptcy protection from single mothers is obviously suffering from a lack of compassion for minorities in this country. I am not about to suggest Joe Biden ‘gets it’. He clearly does not. He’s out of touch and he is a joke on urban issues and looking after the poor. But he doesn’t have hate in his heart. He didn’t mean to offend anyone with this remark. He’s running for President. He was trying to explain why Obama is a compelling candidate but that he is a better qualified candidate.

You wanna kill him for it? Go ahead. I just wanna be fair to the guy. I think he is getting a raw deal.

In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re being manipulated toward another war.  The run-up to an attack on Iran is in full swing, and the justification for it is shifting as fast as the justification for invading Iraq did.  And it appears that the media is being as compliant in echoing the Bush administration’s message on Iran as it was in supporting their Iraq propaganda.  
Thanks to Steven D of Booman Tribune for calling our attention to this scintillating piece of propaganda from a CNN report posted on Wednesday:

Iranian-U.S. tensions have been ratcheted up recently, with two U.S. officials theorizing about the possibility that Iran was involved in a January 20 attack that killed five U.S. soldiers.

Two officials from separate U.S. government agencies said Tuesday the Pentagon is investigating whether the attack on a military compound in Karbala was carried out by Iranians or Iranian-trained operatives.

“People are looking at it seriously,” one of the officials said, adding that the Iranian connection was a leading theory in the investigation.

The second official said: “We believe it’s possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained.”

We’ve become so inured to hearing from “unnamed sources” that we hardly question any more why the sources are left unidentified or how credible they are, or what their motivations in talking to the media might be.  

One thing we can be fairly certain of is that the “two officials” cited in this story are not whistle blowers.  Whistle blowers don’t make statements that support administration policies, nor do they couch their language in disclaimers.  Notice how every allegation of Iranian involvement in the Karbala attacks is accompanied with modifying language: the Pentagon is investigating, people are looking at it seriously, we believe it’s possible…

The CNN article later states that “Some Iraqis speculate that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out the attack in retaliation for the January 11 capture by U.S. forces of five of its members in Irbil.”  

Who would those “some Iraqis” be, and who told the author of this article that they speculate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard carried out the Karbala attack?  For that matter, why doesn’t the author’s name appear in a byline?  Yes, big news agencies often publish stories without crediting their staff writers, but this story contains serious political content attributable to no virtually no one.  The only person it specifically cites is Mr. Bush, and that was in a specific reference to a statement he made in a Monday interview with National Public Radio.  It’s kind of hard to quote a public statement the president of the United States and hide the source of the statement.  

“I Believe”

Masters of manipulation who use misinformation, disinformation, false propaganda and other rhetorical means of mass mind control know how to both exploit the abstraction aspects of the communication process and couch their language in a way that covers the territory above their fetlocks.  

They know that as a message works its way through the echo chamber, the qualifying language will fade below the noise threshold while the “message” will continue to reverberate loudly and clearly.  They know that “We believe it’s possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained” will eventually be rebroadcast as “The executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained.”

But by having included the disclaimers in their original statements, they can always disavow culpability for having deliberately misled the public.  Keep that in mind when you hear the likes of Messrs. Bush and Cheney say they firmly “think” or “believe” something to be true about Iraq, Iran or any other “factual” information they use to justify their foreign policy decisions.  

Were irony alive and with us, it would roll its eyes at the mainstream media’s willingness to echo the administration’s pro-Iranian war propaganda even as Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter now testifying in the I. Lewis Libby trial, tries to defend her role in the Bush administration’s media manipulation that led to the Iraq invasion.  

MSNBC just ran a piece by notably unreliable source Jim Miklashevski that talked about claims that Iran is behind all the recent violence in Iraq.  After Micklashevski’s segment, the pretty talking head admitted than nothing Mick had said had been proven, but I doubt anybody heard what she said.  

#

Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Read his commentaries at Pen and Sword.

[promoted by BooMan]

Our local (Fort Worth – Dallas) CBS news just announced the death of the columnist Molly Ivins. She was recently hospitalized with a recurrance of breast cancer. She was age 62.

The world in general and Texas specifically has just become a much less colorful, lively and interesting place.

Damn! I’ll miss her writing. And I never got to meet her.

Show your Support for Lt. Watada as the United States takes him to Trial for Refusing to Obey an Illegal Order, serving in an Illegal and Immoral War!!
Below the information on Lt. Watada you will find information on a Memorial you can Host on your Websites. Sign up Now as the Anniversary of the Illegal Invasion approaches to start hosting this Memorial.

As many of you know, Lt. Ehren Watada’s court martial for being the
first commissioned officer to refuse to participate in the illegal and
immoral war in Iraq starts next Monday. There are three events that
Olympia area people should know about,
1} His last local public talk
before the trial at SPSCC on Wednesday, 1/31/07
2} A Celebration of
Resistance to Illegal War in Tacoma on Sunday, 2/4/07, and perhaps most
importantly,
3} A National Day of Action on the first day of the trial on
Monday, 2/5/07 at Ft. Lewis. Details for all events and links are
below.

This one might be to late to plan for if in the area, but I just received it awhile ago myself.

1} Lt. Ehren Watada Speech
When: Wed Jan 31 2007 07:00 PM
Where: SPSCC KJM Performing Arts Center
What: BRICK presents…

Lt. Ehren Watada
A Soldier’s Duty: The Illegality of the Iraq War
Wednesday
January 31, 2007
7pm-9pm
SPSCC KJM Performing Arts Center

Ehren Watada will be speaking at South Puget Sound Community College on
Wed. January 31st from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The program will be held in
the new Minneart Center for the Arts, Building 21, in the main theater.
Ehren Watada is the first commissioned officer of the U.S. military to
refuse deployment to Iraq. He will be speaking about why the war and
occupation of Iraq is illegal and immoral, and how to build a mass
movement to bring the troops home. He will also be speaking about his
upcoming military Court Martial (Feb. 5) where is facing up to six
years imprisonment. Admission is free to the public. This event is
sponsored by the student group BRICK (Building Revolution by Increasing
Community Knowledge).

For more information on Lt. Watada’s case, see:
Thank You Lt.

2} CELEBRATE RESISTANCE to ILLEGAL WAR!
Welcome Event for Lt. Ehren Watada Supporters

SUNDAY FEB 4th
5-9pm
First Congregational Church
(Pilgram Hall-Downstairs)
209 S J St. Tacoma, WA

Supporters from across the country are mobilizing to the Ft. Lewis area
to
demonstrate support for Lt. Ehren Watada as he faces court martial on
February 5th.

Let’s come together to celebrate our resistance to illegal, immoral war
and Lt. Ehren Watada’s courageous stand on the night before his court
martial. Meet local community members and visiting supporters as they
gear
up to demonstrate outside the gates of Ft. Lewis and also fill the
courtroom with supporters! The evening’s event will include food, music,
speakers and spoken word. A great place to get more information about
the
following day’s event, meet and welcome people.

Performance by:

*Ryan Harvey
member of Riot Folk: http://www.riotfolk.org/ )
*Darrell Anderson
Iraq combat veteran and war resister shares spoken-word
*Dennis Kyne, Ethan Crowell and Michael Cuzzort
Acoustic performance by Members of Iraq Veterans Veterans Against the
War
*Steve and Kristi Nebel
*More TBA!

Speakers include:

*Army Col. Ann Wright(Ret.)
Resigned in opposition to the Iraq war in 2003
*Iraq Veterans Against the War members
*Anita Dennis, mother of Iraq war resister Darrell Anderson
*More TBA!

POTLUCK DINNER:

Members of First United Methodist Church and United for Peace of Pierce County will provide a main course
Please bring a dessert or salad and non-alcoholic drinks or something
else you would like to share if possible.

DRIVING DIRECTIONS:

I-5 S toward TACOMA OR
I-5 N toward TACOMA
TAKE EXIT 133, TACOMA/CITY CENTER and merge onto I-705 N toward CITY
CENTER. IN ABOUT ½ MILE, EXIT RIGHT, ONTO SCHUSTER PARKWAY.
GET INTO RIGHT LANE, AND take the STADIUM WAY exit
Turn RIGHT onto STADIUM WAY S.
Turn LEFT onto DIVISION AVE. (blue “Hospital” sign is on your right) GO
STRAIGHT THROUGH TWO LIGHTS
At the Third stoplight, turn LEFT ONTO I STREET.
THE PARKING LOT IS ON YOUR IMMEDIATE RIGHT.
ENTER CHURCH THROUGH THE ALLEY DOOR.

For more info contact: welcomefeb4@gmail.com

Sponsored by: The Micah Project of First United Methodist Church, United
for Peace of Pierce County, Friends and Family of Lt. Watada, Olympia
Movement for Justice and Peace, Courage to Resist, Youth Against War and
Racism, and Teen Peace Project.

3}National Call to Action: February 5, Lt. Watada Military Court Martial
On Monday, February 5, 2007 take action against the Iraq war and in support of Lt. Watada during his military court martial. As the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq and for publicly speaking out against the Iraq war Lt. Watada faces 6 years in prison.
Stand up with Lt. Watada and speak out against the illegal and immoral war! Join the national movement and organize student walkouts and non-violent demonstrations. Together, let’s build a mass movement in the streets, in our schools, and in our communities to end the Iraq War. On Feb. 5, 2007 rally at the gates of Fort Lewis, Washington or in your local community.
For the full call to action, click here.
For a list of national events, click here.
To endorse the February 5, 2007 National Day of Action email action@ltwatada.org and sign up on our endorsement page

.

And to Honor the Fallen you can Host this Memorial, on the Anniversary of the Illegal Invasion, on Any and All Websites, Blogs etc..

Iraq Veterans Memorial

Gold Star Families Speak Out · Military Families Speak Out · Iraq Veterans Against the War
North Texas Vets · Veterans for Peace · Soldiers of Today and Yesterday
GI Special · United for Peace and Justice · Brave New Foundation
Inspired by the AIDS Quilt, the Vietnam memorial, and the New York Times biographies of the 9/11 victims, Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation, in partnership with numerous Iraq veterans groups, are creating a living online memorial to U.S. soldiers killed during the Iraq war. The Iraq Veterans Memorial will bear witness with the video testimonies of family, friends, co-workers, and military colleagues of those lost.
It will be unveiled on March 19th, 2007 all across the internet.
Contribute your video testimonial | Host video memorial on your site March 19th

this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war

we love and support our troops, just as we love and support the Iraqi people – without exception, or precondition, or judgment

we have no sympathy for the devil

we acknowledge the power to act that is in us

cross-posted at MyLeftWing, BooMan Tribune, and my blog.

images and poem below the fold

Dody Callahan, the widow of Army Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan, reacts as she emerges from St. Charles Church in Woburn, Mass., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007, after the soldier’s funeral. Callahan died Wednesday, Jan. 24 of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was conducting a combat patrol south of Baghdad, according to the Department of Defense.
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

“Now, I know you remember so and so”
by Doris Davenport

meaning somebody who rode through town once, ten
years ago or who lived and died before your birth. They
expect you to remember, to know, just like your mind is
their mind and if you don’t, they might take it personal.
Get so made at you, they can’t get on with the story.

Not like Fannie Mae. She will get all into a story and
catch herself: “But that was before you
were born.” Fannie Mae will pause, grin for emphasis
and say, “And I wish you
coulda seen it!”

not me.
when i get through
when i’m done
won’t be no wishing
you could see.
you gone       see.

Cloture was just invoked on the Minimum Wage Bill on the Senate floor.  The Senate bill differs from the House bill, as the Senate bill includes small business tax relief, a compromise reached in the Senate Finance Committee.  Even though this benefit was included in the bill, some Republican Senators still refused to end debate on the bill.  These Senators, it can safely be assumed, do not wish to raise the minimum wage at all.
And here they are:

NAYs —8
Coburn (R-OK)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Martinez (R-FL)
Vitter (R-LA)

Arizona just raised its minimum wage with future adjustments for increases in cost of living.  Why Kyl would vote against an increase is somewhat perplexing, especially as he had a difficult reelection bid.  The only Senator who must run for reelection in 2008 is Craig of Idaho.  Martinez of Florida is clearly not interested in his low approval ratings, and I hope his opposition to the Minimum Wage Increase is noted.  Vitter’s opposition will hopefully be discussed in the upcoming 2007 statewide elections.  Trying to convert the state of Louisiana into a Republican state, Vitter’s PAC will run Republicans in all statewide and legislative races.  Let us hope his vote will be discussed, and let us hope poor Louisianans will reject his warped conception of “leadership.”  But notice how Vitter’s clone, Bobby Jindal, who will run for Governor in 2007, voted for the bill.  Now we have evidence of Jindal’s election year conversion and of Vitter’s conservative extremism.

There is plenty to criticize in Joe Biden’s interview with the New York Observer. But it looks like Markos and Atrios are going apeshit over this comment about Obama:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

What was Biden trying to say? He was trying to acknowledge that Obama is an attractive candidate with a compelling life-story as a set up to saying that he is too inexperienced to be President. You know…he was doing the build up before the smackdown. Was he trying to say that no black candidates have ever run for president before? No. Was it his intention to suggest that Jesse Jackson and Carol Mosely-Braun are stupid, dirty, unattractive and inarticulate? No. Biden was just running his mouth like he always does. Was it an insensitive remark? Not to me. It was phrased in an unfortunate way. It shows a certain amount of arrogance for Biden to insinuate that Jesse Jackson wasn’t a mainstream candidate. But, did anyone, and I mean anyone ever think Jackson had a chance in hell of winning the 1988 nomination for President? I think Biden was suggesting that Obama has a real shot and that he is the first African-American to have a real shot.

So, I think people are going overboard in their criticism of Biden over this comment. But it points out a very good reason not to support Joe Biden for the nomination. When we elect a nominee, we are putting our hopes and aspirations and issues in their hands. We have to trust them to be good stewards of our agenda. And Joe Biden has a terminal case of foot-in-mouthitis. He always has had that problem and he always will.

He can be a very articulate debater. But you can trust him to make a major gaffe every few months. Maybe it is because he talks incessantly, but he says stupid, politically incorrect shit on a regular basis. So don’t support him because he will only sink himself and takes your hopes down with him.

I’m passing along the full text of Feingold’s most recent press release. We need to support this bill in any way we can.

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today introduced the Iraq Redeployment Act of 2007. Feingold’s bill uses Congress’s power of the purse to force the President to safely redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq by prohibiting funds for continued operations six months after enactment. Feingold’s legislation allows for specific operations to continue in Iraq beyond six months, including counter-terrorism efforts, protection of U.S. personnel and infrastructure, and training of Iraqi security forces. The six-month timeframe provides the President with adequate time to safely redeploy the troops from Iraq.

“By passing my legislation, Congress can respond to the will of the American people and force the President to safely bring our forces out of Iraq,” Feingold said. “With the President set on pursuing his failed policies in Iraq, Congress has the duty to stand up and use its power to stop him. If Congress doesn’t stop this war, it’s not because it doesn’t have the power — it’s because it doesn’t have the will.”

Feingold’s bill is the latest effort in his long record of opposing the President’s flawed Iraq policy. In August 2005, Feingold, who opposed the authorization to use force in Iraq, became the first Senator to propose a timeline to bring an end to U.S. involvement in Iraq. Yesterday, Feingold chaired a full Judiciary Committee hearing where a diverse panel of constitutional scholars testified that Congress does indeed have the power to end a war.

“From the beginning, this war has been a mistake, and the policies that have carried it out have been a failure,” Feingold said. “Congress must not allow the President to continue a war that has already come at such a terrible cost. We have the constitutional authority and the moral responsibility to end our involvement in Iraq so we can refocus on those who attacked us on 9/11.”

FACT SHEET: IRAQ REDEPLOYMENT ACT OF 2007

“…Congress can, and has, used the power of the purse to restrict presidential war power. If members of Congress are worried about American troops fighting for their lives in a futile war, those lives are not protected by voting for continued funding. The proper and responsible action is to terminate appropriations and bring the troops home.”

-Louis Fisher, Specialist in Constitutional Law, Law Library of Congress, in his book “Presidential War Power.”

Feingold’s legislation:

* Prohibits the use of funds for continued deployment of U.S. Armed Forces to the Republic of Iraq after six months of enactment. In other words, the President would have to redeploy troops safely by that date.
* Requires the Administration to report to Congress, within 60 days of enactment, a strategy for safely redeploying U.S. forces from Iraq within the six months prior to the fund termination date.
* Provides specific exceptions to the prohibition for:
o Conducting targeted counter-terrorism operations in Iraq.
o Allowing a limited number of U.S. forces to conduct specific training for Iraqi security services.
o Providing security for U.S. infrastructure and civilian personnel.

* Does not prohibit funds for any department or agency of the Government of the United States to carry out political, economic, or general reconstruction activities in Iraq.
* Does not prevent any U.S. troops from receiving salaries, equipment, training and other resources.

On numerous occasions, Congress has exercised its constitutional authority to end military engagements. Here are just a few examples:

* Cambodia – In late December 1970, Congress passes the Supplemental Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act prohibiting the use of funds to finance the introduction of United States ground combat troops into Cambodia or to provide U.S. advisors to or for Cambodian military forces in Cambodia.
* Vietnam – In late June 1973, Congress passes the second Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY1973. This legislation contains language cutting off funds for combat activities in Vietnam after August 15, 1973.
* Somalia – In November 1993, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act includes a provision that prohibits funding after March 31, 1994 for military operations in Somalia, except for a limited number of military personnel to protect American diplomatic personnel and American citizens, unless further authorized by Congress.
* Bosnia – In 1998, Congress passes the Defense Authorization Bill, with a provision that prohibits funding for Bosnia after June 30, 1998, unless the President makes certain assurances.