another straw man from a Republican

This Republican is pretty extreme, so I don't think I should use him to speak about all Republicans. David Horowitz does speak for many, though, and he has enough big Republican money behind him to get some attention. Here's his latest straw man argument about Democrats:

if only America left Iraq and focused on killing Osama bin Laden, the Islamic jihad would be over.

Of course he can't actually quote any real Democrat saying something so simplistic. I can quote him, here, confusing Sunni jihadists and Shi'ite jihadists (notice that they are killing each other in Iraq, with our troops in the middle) as "the Islamic jihad" in his blog entry.

Given Horowitz's obvious intelligence, and history of Communism, he's probably making a deliberate misrepresentation of what Democrats have been saying. Still, it's nice to know that we're having some effect, and that they can't just accuse us of supporting the terrorists anymore. Well, some Republicans will always do that, but Horowitz seems to want to be believed in his lies.

This lie is disturbing, though:

Those who attack us from within without offering a constructive policy for winning are helping the enemy. They are not criticizing the Administration; they are sabotaging the war. I have yet to come across a single Democrat who has a plan to prosecute the war more effectively.

If he hasn't "come across a single Democrat who has a plan to prosecute the war more effectively" it's his own fault for not visiting Wesley Clark's "Securing America" site. He's more likely lying again, and setting up Democrats to become inmates of the American Gulag his Republican friends are building.

National security? I don't think so.

Ever since he was in college George W. Bush talked down Social Security. He thought it would be his legacy to turn back the New Deal, especially it's cornerstone, the Social Security program. And it looks like he won't give up. Here's the latest:

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said Republicans can hold their congressional majority by focusing on national security and the economy, and that he will return to overhauling Social Security as a top domestic priority for his last two years in office.

He thinks that being a War President gives him "political capital" and that then he gets to spend it. The sap doesn't understand that you don't spend capital, you invest it. That's what makes capital different from money. This president doesn't even get the basics of capitalism. No wonder he wants to abolish Social Security. He doesn't realize that it saved capitalism, because he doesn't understand capitalism.

Could Bush secretly be a Communist? No, I think he's just a little dense. After all, even intelligent Communists understand the difference between capital and money. They've read Das Kapital.

The Ox-Bow President

Does anyone else remember when America stood for the rule of law, for justice and fair play? Does anyone else remember when our wartime movies, even the ones that didn't have Nazi villains, even the ones that weren't overt propaganda, featured the kind of values that made the United States the last best hope of earth? Not anymore. Habeas Corpus has been flagrantly abolished without even a pretense of invasion or rebellion to justify it.

From the New York Times editorial:

While the Republicans pretend that this bill will make America safer, let’s be clear about its real dangers. It sets up a separate system of justice for any foreigner whom Mr. Bush chooses to designate as an “illegal enemy combatant.” It raises insurmountable obstacles for prisoners to challenge their detentions. It does not require the government to release prisoners who are not being charged, or a prisoner who is exonerated by the tribunals.

The law does not apply to American citizens, but it does apply to other legal United States residents. And it chips away at the foundations of the judicial system in ways that all Americans should find threatening. It further damages the nation’s reputation and, by repudiating key protections of the Geneva Conventions, it needlessly increases the danger to any American soldier captured in battle.

In the short run, voters should see through the fog created by the Republican campaign machine. It will be up to the courts to repair the harm this law has done to the Constitution.

I think a Hollywood writer said it far better in the darkest days of World War II, when the US and the world faced an enemy far greater than al-Qa'ida and Usama bin Ladin:

A man just naturally can't take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin' everybody in the world, 'cause then he's just not breaking one law but all laws. Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It's everything people ever have found out about justice and what's right and wrong. It's the very conscience of humanity. There can't be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody's conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived?

I agree with what he said, but I can't defend his right to say it

General Dannatt wants British troops out of Iraq immediately:

The point that I'm trying to make is the mere fact that we are still in some places exacerbates violence from those who want to destabilise Iraqi democracy.

I've always been amazed at two types of people: those who said it was inapproriate for retired generals to speak out against the war, and those who complained that no serving generals spoke out against it. No serving generals spoke out because such speech is insubordination and a breech of discipline. If you're in the service and you want to criticize any higherups in the chain of command, you have to get out of the service. It's called military discipline.

It feels strange to say this, but I agree with what the general said, but I have to oppose his right to say it. Billy Mitchell was right about Air Power, too, and today everybody knows it. We have an Air Force, an Air Force Academy, a Department of Defense and everything else he asked for. We even know that he was right about the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor. But he shouldn't have said it without resigning from the military first, and the court martial was right to convict and punish him.

If you've ever seen an insubordinate, undisciplined military you would understand what I am talking about. It's dangerous.

Wes Clark says what needs to be said!

and he says it so well. Listen for yourself:



Here's more from coverage of his speech in Alabama:

Bin Laden’s strategy, Clark said, is to encourage the U.S. to invade Iran and Syria.

“His strategy is to create zones of chaos and savagery," Clark said. “He wants more Iraqs … where he can go in and emerge with leadership.

“Why do we want to play his game, when it is totally against our interests?"

I only hope his voice holds out until the 2008 election.

Fair and balanced? How?

Faux news claims to be fair and balanced, but here's what they did in a report on what they called

Vanderbilt Univ. discussion on 9/11 turns into a Bush-bashing festival

There was no chance for any of the faculty members to defend themselves, only the prosecution, and a witness for the prosecution. Faux News did have their punching bag "liberal" to make some mealy mouth comments that were supposed to be a defense of something (free speech?) but the accused were not given a chance to defend themselves, nor were any witnesses for the defense allowed to testify.

That's Faux News for you! Liberals are guilty, guilty, guilty of treason, treason, treason!

And the idea of debate between two sides is a quaint relic of liberalism. Which means freedom.

Remember, the president says the terrorists hate us become we are free, so as soon as we become unfree the terrorists will stop hating us and the GWOT will be over. Unless we try to become free again. So don't even think about freedom anymore. Much less a fair and balanced debate.

It's all Clinton's fault!

I don't believe these people. When Bush finally leaves office in 2009, they will still swear that everything bad that ever happened during his eight years was Clinton's fault. I guess the "Party of Personal Responsibility" was the party of other people's personal responsibility.

Et tu, McCain?

Yes, John McCain blames Clinton, too:

Sen. John McCain, a likely 2008 U.S. presidential contender, blamed former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday for failing to stop an unfolding nuclear threat from North Korea in the 1990s.

The Arizona Republican also took a swipe at Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York senator and possible Democratic rival for the White House.

It's time for Bush to take responsibility for his own policies and their failures. Clinton's policy on North Korea wasn't perfect. What policy could be for a country that expects to be applauded for its nuclear test? But Bush's policy is clearly worse, and if Bush won't admit making a mistake with it, McCain should be adult enough to tell him to change course again.

And blaming Hillary is really low, even for a Republican.

How to get the Usama clock?

Colorado Bob, who runs "Thank you, Keith Olbermann" among other blogs, wants to know where to get the Usama clock. I just copied and pasted the source code from another blog. I suggest everyone else do the same.

I rewrote the shpiel, and changed the spelling. There are only three vowels in Arabic (a, i, u). The other two vowels (e, o) are written in Roman script to to try to show short vowels, but I think it's confusing. There's no good method of showing vowel length in English. But I digress. You can write "Osama bin Laden" if you want.

Put up the clock and edit it yourself. I don't think we can remind enough people that this is the first time in American history that it has taken more than four years to catch the people responsible for an attack on the US and put a stop to their activities. The Confederates and the Japanese military were both out of action four years after Fort Sumter and Pearl Harbor, respectively. We can't let bin Ladin get away!

The president's voices

are getting stranger and stranger. "The President hears what he wants. . . . He hears things that only he can hear." I couldn't have said it better than Keith Olbermann: Watch here!