Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Rose Colored Glasses Aside

Life in Iraq

From the Embassy, a Grim Report

Washington Post-June 18, 2006

Although electricity is still in short supply, it has recently been reported that oil production has increased, and that schools are filling up.

While this is encouraging news, the security situation is so bad it eclipses each bit of progress we make.

It's kind of like that Clash song...

...One day is fine and next it's black
So if you want me off your back
Well, come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go

Should I stay or should I go now
Should I stay or should I go now
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go

All I see us accomplishing by staying is prolonging a bad situation. As the bodies piling up in the Baghdad morgue will attest, Iraq is already in a civil war, so our presence has not prevented this outcome.

We have not clearly defined "victory", and the Republicans, in lieu of a plan, walk in lockstep while repeating their party mantra - "stay the course."

In the meantime, the violence becomes increasingly more shocking and heartbreaking, and the flag draped coffins continue to be flown into Dover Air Force Base.

It's time for some leadership damn it!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Crossing the Line

Ann Coulter has joined the ranks of those knotheads who protest at military funerals in the name of Jesus.

What is this woman thinking? I know it's fun to push the envelope, but it's time for this shrill, angry pseudo-pundit to ratchet down the caffeine, pump up the anti-depressants, and find a new way to sell her pointless and divisive books.

What I find even more unbelievable than her scathing personal attacks on the 911 widows, (why shouldn't she employ the same Rovian tactics that got president "I am a Uniter not a Divider" elected), is that her misguided media-hoar antics actually titillate millions into purchasing her cult-like rhetoric. Mission Accomplished!

Brutally insulting people who have suffered an unimaginable and very public loss is not only unconscionable, it's un-American.

Coulter:

"I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much,"

Refers to her prey as as... self-absorbed, limelight-seeking "harpies."

"These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis," Coulter writes. "And by the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy ..."These self-obsessed women seemed genuinely unaware that 9-11 was an attack on our nation and acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them."

Hmmm...
Self absorbed. Limelight-Seeking. Harpie. Broad. Millionaire. Lionized on TV and in Articles About Them. Reveling in their Status as Celebrities. Shelf Life is Dwindling. Better Hurry Up and Appear in Playboy. Self Obsessed. Genuinely Unaware. Happened to Only Them.

I don't know Ann. Sounds like you should be great friends with these women. You have so much in common...

These ladies have just as much right to question the Bush administration's judgment as any American. Let's remember that these women did not seek the spotlight in which they now exist, and also, that they had to fight an unwilling Bush administration to get a 9/11 commission investigation started. They are not the only people out there challenging the incompetence and indifference of the Bush administration, yet Ms. "greed-arazzi" accuses liberals of making them party icons of victimhood who "can't be attacked by conservatives."

Coulter is an icon of her own making. She has become the ultimate representation of everything we need to change in this country in order to bring some degree of civility, decency and intelligence back to our public discourse.

No matter what motivates the activism of Kristen Breitweiser, Lorrie Van Auken, Mindy Kleinberg and Patty Casazza, the 911 widows at which Coulter spews her demonic vitriol - they have sacrificed. They fought for government accountability and improvements in national security. They have made a positive difference in this country.

Coulter has also sacrificed. She has sacrificed her self respect for greed and vanity.


God Bless America, huh Annie?