Why Are These Guys Even Still Around?

Because we went into Iraq instead of taking care of them.

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Tuesday Blogroll!!

I’m off work today (Happy Harry Truman Day!), so it’s time to see what our impeccable (and growing) blogroll is coming up with...let’s get to it!

Being that it is Harry Truman’s birthday, I guess we should mention that not everybody agrees on, shall we say, the level of his greatness (Existentialist Cowboy).

For a second or two, I actually thought this was real (Skippy)...that’s a bit of an indictment of myself, but that’s an even bigger (I hope) indictment of how much I think of my president’s decision-making abilities.

Garance Franke-Ruta’s horrid “You can’t lift up your shirt till you’re 21!” proposal is getting justifiably slaughtered. Roy at Alicublog is happily up to the task of addressing this stupidity, as is Avedon, and Mannion (for that matter, so is non-blogroller Jon Swift). Echidne takes a more measured tone. So does Scott at LG&M. Me? I’m just glad that the country has started to realize that electing people who would create laws based on what makes them feel all icky inside might not be a good idea. Still a ways to go, of course, but...yeah. How about we enforce the laws we have (i.e. underage drinking) and see what that does first? Just a thought.

I knew I was going to link to somebody’s post about how the Kansas National Guard (and equipment needed to help repair the Kansas town that was 95% wiped off the map this weekend) is in Iraq and unable to help with the full force they normally would...I just couldn’t decide who would get the honors. We’ll give the honor to Steve Soto at Left Coaster.

What’s worse...a) that we have something that could be even reasonably considered concentration camps, or b) that we won’t let the UN in to take a look at them (Alter Destiny)? USA! USA!

Oh, and those levees? 100% fixed. Honest (Attytood).

House Dems unveil their new Iraq plan (BooMan). Not bad. No mandatory withdrawal date, but it requires the issue to come back onto the table soon, which I’ll take. Talk Left shares some thoughts as well.

And speaking of ‘not perfect, but not too shabby,’ Grist discusses Obama’s recent speech about CAFE standards.

April consumer credit is way up (CorrenteWire). But everything’s fine. Nothing to see here.

George Soros is one of the most FEARED MEN IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!! (C&L)

Overton Window = the Scientology of think tank strategy (Demosthenes).

Conservatives have only been feminizing liberals for 200 years (Digby...and FDL)...let’s keep being really reasonable with them and hope they end up seeing things our way. Isn’t that right, mainstream media? And speaking of media, the KC Star takes some, shall we say, creative liberties (Fired Up! Missouri) with a McClatchy story and makes it just a wee bit more GOP-friendly. And nobody so vividly illustrates the media’s faults better than Glenn Greenwald. You mean Brit Hume isn’t a serious journalist?? Wha??? So...why exactly does the media suck (Dana B.)?

So how long until people notice that Afghanistan is no longer under our control (First Draft)?

Tom Wolfe says Bushnev is relatively well-read (Wolcott). Well that settles that!

Liberal Oasis has your Sunday talk show wrap-up. You’ve been warned.

Phoenix Woman at Mercury Rising talks about the past, present, and future of the progressive blogosphere.

David at Debate Link details yet another way that a Democratic DOJ will have to make significant repairs.

And you knew I couldn’t go without at least one link to the fact that 3 of 10 Republican presidential candidates don’t believe in evolution (Pandagon), didn’t you? And one who does believe in evolution doesn’t really believe that having a BFF with mob ties is really a problem.

The discussion thread in this Upyernoz atheism post is very much worth reading. I don’t consider myself an atheist (I know what I’m not more than I know what I am), but most of the atheists I’ve known/read have explained their position very well. And I’ve seen too many examples of them trying to win anybody over until confronted. I respect that too.

Let your asthma flag fly (Susie Madrak). I like this.

And finally, this is fantastic (TBogg). Never say liberals are too shrill for humor.

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Happy Mission Accomplished Day!

Maha Barb has been doing some high-quality writing recently, and today's Mission Accomplished Day post is pretty much the only one you need to read.

Iraq has become, for us, a nearly perfect lose/lose situation. If we stay and fight, we serve bin Laden’s interests. If we retreat, we serve bin Laden’s interests. The only Iraq policy we might have adopted that didn’t serve bin Laden’s interests would have been to leave Saddam Hussein where he was.

Those are among the several thousand reasons why talk of “winning” in Iraq is absurd. Even if we destroyed every single militant in Iraq who so much as hurls raspberries at us or the Iraqi government, that would not accomplish the purported “mission” of making America safer from terrorist attack.

As retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom says, “The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place.”

In today’s New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jeff Zeleny write that Democrats are planning a special ceremony this afternoon when they send the timetable-laden Iraq war funding bill to President Bush, who will veto it.

It's gotten to the point where I was happy to see Bushnev go on TV to 'justify' his veto of Iraq funding this evening. Every time he opens his mouth to justify his decisions, he justifies the opposite. His squinty, 'looks concerned, but is really just struggling to read the teleprompter' delivery, polished off by his cocky, 'heckuva job, Brownie' smirk, just reaffirmed to 60+% of the country that the Democrats are the ones on the side of truth and, well, logic. It would be encouraging if the whole thing weren't so disgustingly depressing.

And if you decide to read a second MA Day post, try this one from digby:

He truly believed that he could force the rest of the world to come in and help pay for his misdaventure after the fact with troops and money. I don't know why any country would want to take on such a moral hazard, and they very obviously didn't, but Bush had so bought into his own hype that he believed he was not only the undisputed and sole leader of America, he thought he was Emperor of the world.

The American people must understand when I said that we need to be patient, that I meant it. And we're going to be there for a while. I don't know the exact moment when we leave, David, but it's not until the mission is complete. The world must know that this administration will not blink in the face of danger and will not tire when it comes to completing the missions that we said we would do. The world will learn that when the United States is harmed, we will follow through.

The world will see that when we put a coalition together that says "Join us," I mean it. And when I ask others to participate, I mean it.

As if the problem was that the world didn't think he meant it. The problem was, the world knew he meant it.

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Truth to Power

My granddad was in Patton's troops in WWII, and I got whatever knowledge of the military I have from him. One thing I remember him telling me was that, the more you spoke your mind, the less likely you were to climb the promotions ladder. Because of the need to get things done, there was a meritocracy up to about the Lt. Colonel level. Then the ass-kissers and blowhards separated from the herd, making just about anyone above that level someone who, if you shook their hand, you better check for your watch. My own experience with lt. colonels convinced me that they were about the straightest-shooting and realistic folks I've ever been around. Think about that as you read this piece on an accomplished lt. colonel in Iraq who has just lowered the boom with a journal article on "General Failure."

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"The war was the hard part...

...and it gets easier. I mean, setting up a democracy is hard, but not as hard as winning a war."

"I will bet you the best dinner in the Gaslight District of San Diego that military action will not last more than a week."

Good times.

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