Lindsay Beyerstein Has The Story On Marcotte and McEwan

In the end, Amanda and Shakes were hounded out of their jobs by a right wing mob baying for blood. The Edwards campaign agreed to keep them on, but there was nothing they could do.

Bill Donohue had already decided to take down two young feminists and the right wing blogosphere was only too happy to help him do it. The fact that Donohue kept up his campaign against McEwan after Amanda left shows how venal and frivolous Donohue is. Melissa was guilty by association simply for being young feminist blogger who was hired at the same time as Amanda. I'm sure we all look alike to Donohue.

The elite media seemed almost smug at the downfall of bloggers. The general sentiment seemed to be that Amanda, Shakes, and the Edwards camp were just asking for it.

Majikthise : Why Amanda Marcotte quit the Edwards campaign: In her own words

I'm just very sad and angry over the whole episode. These bloggers didn't deserve what happened to them. Donohue is a bigot, and he learned from Karl Rove that the best way to defeat your opponent is to accuse them of having your own faults. Do it loud and often enough and some number of idiots are bound to believe it.

This is how the wingnuts win, they wear us down with their lies and platitudes. It doesn't make sense and that's exactly the way they want it. They no how much illogical ramblings frustrate us and throw us into despair of ever convincing them of anything that is true and rational. And we can't change their minds. As Claire Graves always reminded us, you can't tell an (Egomaniacal Reactionary) anything; they have to learn by ramming their heads into the wall of their own delusion. He thought people would learn after seeing Nixon go down in flames, but Congress and Ford wouldn't let the scene play itself out. He pardoned Nixon so the nation could "move forward," thereby depriving the public of it's spectacle of extreme political punishment in response to high crimes and misdemeanors.

Because of this misguided softening of the socialogical blow that should have occurred, the extreme right learned only that they should not get caught or if caught should not be punished and they went about the task of corrupting the entire country. They didn't get the chance to see that their dogma led to disaster, and now they are bringing the whole world down with them.

Congress continues to make the same mistake in response to BushCo's high crimes and misdemeanors today. Bush and Company deserve impeachment and imprisonment for their crimes against humanity and the planet. If people don't see them properly punished, they will just take away the lesson that nothing matters but winning, nothing counts but money, nothing wins but power.

technorati tags:BushCo, Majikthise, Donohue, Marcotte, McEwan, impeachment, Congress, Claire Graves

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Excellent Reasoning For Cutting Funding Of The War In Iraq

Daily Kos: Cut the Funding: I'm a Soldier and I Approve this Message

Read it now. The Angry Rakkasan know of which he speaks, having been there as a soldier. He addresses all the talking points arguing the funding cut, and I have to say he's convinced me. See if he can do the same for you.

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Hooray for Oberstar!

My Way News - Oberstar Finally Passes Solar Panel Bill

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We're Doomed!

My Way News - Bush Softens Rhetoric on Iran Relations

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One Less Thing To Worry About?

My Way News - N. Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament

God! Let's hope so. Right now it sounds too good to be true. Maybe the administration had a bad hair day and just had to let go of something. Whatever the reason, it's a good step. Let's hope BushCo doesn't fumble at the one-yard line as usual.

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NYT Editorial; Oh, snap!

Iran and the Nameless Briefers - New York Times

If Mr. Bush is truly worried about Shiite militias killing Americans in Iraq — and he should be — he needs to start showing this evidence to Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. He needs to demand that Mr. Maliki stop protecting the militias and make it clear that there will be serious consequences if he continues to refuse.

If Mr. Bush is truly worried about Iran fanning Iraq’s ever more bloody civil war — and he should be — he needs to stop fantasizing about regime change and start trying to find a way to persuade Iran’s leaders to help rein in the chaos in Iraq.

And if Mr. Bush is worried that Americans no longer believe him when he warns of mortal threats to the country — and he should be — he needs to start proving that he really understands who is most responsible for the Iraq disaster. And he needs to explain how he plans to extricate American troops without setting off an even bigger war.

This administration cannot learn from its own failures because it will not admit to them. They will never learn as long as they are in power. Impeachment cannot come too soon!

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Of Course They Do

Now, I'm not sure about all of this myself. I would expect Iran to help it's fellow tribesmen in Iraq to expel foreign invaders, and to meddle in affairs in the Middle East, which is their neighborhood. In point of fact, this is relatively mild (supplying weapons to insurgents) compared to what we have done in the past concerning Vietnam, Cuba, Columbia, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kosovo, Korea, Philippines....

Skeptics Doubt U.S. Evidence on Iran Action in Iraq - New York Times

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A "Worrisome Pattern"

BushCo wants a war with Iran, and by-golly they're going to cause get one!



Blowup? America’s Hidden War With Iran - Newsweek: World News - MSNBC.com

The Iranians have reason to feel paranoid. In recent weeks senior American officers have condemned Tehran for providing training and deadly explosives to insurgents. In a predawn raid on Dec. 21, U.S. troops barged into the compound of the most powerful political party in the country, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and grabbed two men they claimed were officers in Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Three weeks later U.S. troops stormed an Iranian diplomatic office in Irbil, arresting five more Iranians. The Americans have hinted that as part of an escalating tit-for-tat, Iranians may have had a hand in a spectacular raid in Karbala on Jan. 20, in which four American soldiers were kidnapped and later found shot, execution style, in the head. U.S. forces promised to defend themselves.





Some view the spiraling attacks as a strand in a worrisome pattern. At least one former White House official contends that some Bush advisers secretly want an excuse to attack Iran. "They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something [America] would be forced to retaliate for," says Hillary Mann, the administration's former National Security Council director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs. U.S. officials insist they have no intention of provoking or otherwise starting a war with Iran, and they were also quick to deny any link to Sharafi's kidnapping. But the fact remains that the longstanding war of words between Washington and Tehran is edging toward something more dangerous. A second Navy carrier group is steaming toward the Persian Gulf, and NEWSWEEK has learned that a third carrier will likely follow. Iran shot off a few missiles in those same tense waters last week, in a highly publicized test. With Americans and Iranians jousting on the chaotic battleground of Iraq, the chances of a small incident's spiraling into a crisis are higher than they've been in years.

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When PR Rules The World

The Carpetbagger Report » Blog Archive » Axis of stupidity

Think about the story here: the president’s chief speechwriter in 2002 fully acknowledged that he and the Secretary of State created the “axis of evil” line as a purely rhetorical exercise. Merit, diplomacy, and common sense were irrelevant.

The State of the Union could have just mentioned Iraq, but that would have made it appear that the administration was focused on an invasion (which, of course, it was). Instead, Gerson and Rice added Iran for purely rhetorical purposes, which in turn, led to a deteriorating relationship.

And all of this was acceptable to the president, of course, because “axis of evil” was reminiscent of “evil empire.” As if that was a good reason to antagonize Iran and utterly destroy promising diplomatic negotiations.

Both Bush and Cheney have refused to negotiate with other nations that have attempted to open themselves to outside scrutiny and even offer to help us in the war on terror. Isn't this a form of treason in and of itself?! They have diminished our chances for victory!

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Shakespeare's Sister has more on the Iran "involvement"

Shakespeare's Sister

General Pace said he was not aware of the Baghdad briefing, and that he
could not, from his own knowledge, repeat the assertion made there that
the elite Quds brigade of Iran's Republican Guard force is providing
bomb-making kits to Iraqi Shiite insurgents.



"We know that the
explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran. What I would
not say is that the Iranian government, per se (specifically), knows
about this," he said. "It is clear that Iranians are involved, and it's
clear that materials from Iran are involved, but I would not say by
what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."

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Two Cocks On Their Respective Dunghills

U.S. Says Arms Link Iranians to Iraqi Shiites - New York Times

In a news briefing held under strict security, the officials spread out on two small tables an E.F.P. and an array of mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades with visible serial numbers that the officials said link the weapons directly to Iranian arms factories. The officials also asserted, without providing direct evidence, that Iranian leaders had authorized smuggling those weapons into Iraq for use against the Americans. The officials said such an assertion was an inference based on general intelligence assessments.

That inference, and the anonymity of the officials who made it, seemed likely to generate skepticism among those suspicious that the Bush administration is trying to find a scapegoat for its problems in Iraq, and perhaps even trying to lay the groundwork for war with Iran. --(emphasis mine)

You know, I wouldn't have any trouble believing that certain interested parties in Iran would provide aid and armaments to their "brothers" in Iraq. Many peoples in that area value allegiance to the tribe over nation, and Iran probably sees a chance to increase their influence. What gets me about this story is, where do we get off involving ourselves in Iraq in the first place, seeing as how none of the supposed reasons for going to war in Iraq were true?

Bush and Ahmadinejad are like two peacocks preening and strutting before an audience that can't stand either of them, trying desperately to attract birds of a feather with their ambitions. They prop each other up in vanity as they rattle their sabers more and more loudly.

Can the people and congress see through this charade in order to stop these mad men from starting what could be World War III?

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Hooray For The Dixie Chicks!

E! News - Grammys Make Nice with Chicks - Red Hot Chili Peppers | Justin Timberlake | Carrie Underwood

The Chicks won every Grammy for which they were nominated, including best album and best song. It's about time they got the recognition they deserved and sweet revenge after being black-listed for exercising their first amendment rights during the run-up to the Iraq war.

I have to admit I was not a big fan of theirs before the remarks that got them in trouble with the country crowd (I'm not in that crowd), but I came to admire their courage and strength of character in the aftermath of their "coming out" against the war and BushCo. I hope this latest victory for them shows their former fans that speaking out against bullshit is not a handicap but is rather a sign of maturity and integrity.

You go, grrrrrls!

technorati tags:Dixie Chicks, Grammys, courage, integrity, victory

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