Daniel Cody - “Left on the Lake”

Timelines? Timelines?!

U.S. officials said Tuesday Iraqi leaders have agreed to develop a timeline by the end of the year for progress in stabilizing
Iraq, and Iraqi forces should be able to take full control of security in the country in the next 12 to 18 months with “some level” of American support. - AP

But if we set timetables the terrorists will just wait us out!!!

If we set timetables we’re just announcing when we’ll leave to the terrorists!!

A vote for a timetable is a vote against the War On Terrorism!

We can’t let artificial timetables be set by politicians in Washington, D.C!

Timetables are the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

Why does President Bush want the terrorists to win??

At least, that’s the latest proclamation from our president.

President Bush asserted Friday that critics who claim the Iraq war has made America less safe embrace “the enemy’s propaganda.”

So now, not only does Bush insinuate that Iraq supported the terrorists, but that any critic of the war on Iraq also supports terrorists. Trying to justify his war through lies is bad enough, but to suggest that his critics harbor terrorist sympathies goes well beyond too far.

What else can you do when you’ve just released a government document that purports an increase in terrorist recruiting thanks to the war? Here’s a suggestion: admit the mistake. If not that, then he at least ought to apologize for today’s statement. To associate criticism with treason flies in the face of all that is moral, and he should be ashamed.

This is just sad. It’s also what a slippery slope looks like. In addition to destroying the last bit of moral standing we had in the world, it will also lead to torture of Americans in the future. In fact, here’s a few ways how:

-Many US Soldiers (not just special forces) are required to have a pair of “sterile” BDU’s, which are worn when operating in sketchy border areas or overtly in hostile countries
-Even if US troops are wearing proper uniform, what’s to stop troops from another country (say, Syria) from simply going across the border and grabbing a couple of our guys, then saying they “were acting unlawfully”
-A US Soldier captured in civilian clothes while on vacation or off-base is transported to a very hostile country (almost like rendition) where a confession is tortured out of him, he is put on trial with secret evidence, and executed

And those are just a few of the obvious perils to the military. The fact that we will soon have suspended habeus corpus with no court review sounds an awful lot like something we fought against for 40 years. You know, that thing called communism.

Our Enemies Have Not Succeeded In Launching Another Attack On Our Soil,

Oh really! Assuming Bush has read a newspaper or listened to a newsbroadcast in the past few years, this is the biggest lie ever told, and sadly accepted without question. A quick perousal of major headlines in the past few years tells a different story.

Officials look for tie between terrorists, anthrax- October 9, 2001

They stopped looking, by the way

Syrians fight off attack on U.S. Embassy, September 12, 2006

Drive-By Shooting at a U.S. Consulate, January 22, 2002

Hmm, well, I guess if you disregard the fact that the anthrax attacks, and the fact that American embassies are technically American soil, Bush could almost be telling the truth.
However, let’s look at some other headlines I’m certain you didn’t see:

Over 1,000 lbs of explosives stolen in Virginia

An improvised explosive device (IED) detonates at a train station in Illinois

A drug raid in Texas yields over a dozen weapons and improvised explosive devices

A man attempted a suicide incendiary attack at a womens center in Iowa

A Californian discovers a pair of IEDs under his car, as well as one in his residence

These incidents all have on thing in common: they all occurred THIS MONTH! And this is just a random sampling. Because of Iraq, IEDs are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. The theft of explosives in large quantities (hundreds of pounds) is now a bi-weekly affair, because there isn’t standardized security criteria that is effective. Hell, I can literally buy ready to use (just mix) explosives off the internet for $70. If I add a little bit of aluminum powder, the resulting mixture is cap sensitive and more powerful than TNT :(

I place the blame squarely on Bush and Co. The reason is simple, they have done as little as possible to secure the homeland. Agencies can’t talk to each other (which is huge!), federal laws on the purchase and storage of explosives and hazardous materials is crap, and the one institution that can quickly respond to a major attack (the military) is either overseas or left with no equipment. I mean, I’m not even asking them to spend a lot of money to most of this stuff. A lot of it is simply hammering out laws, and codifying agreements.
Unfortunately, these are all things that must be dictated from the top down. And until Congress spends more time on the floor and less on the fundraising circuit, even simple paperwork is too much to hope for.

George W. Bush won’t acknowledge that global warming is a real threat, but he’s going to solve it - singlehandedly! - anyways:

It’s a debate, actually, that I’m in the process of solving by advancing new technologies, burning coal cleanly in electric plants, or promoting hydrogen-powered automobiles, or advancing ethanol as an alternative to gasoline” - President George W. Bush

Thank God for President Bush. Is there anything he can’t claim to fix?

When President Bush picked John Roberts as his choice for the Supreme Court last Summer, I wondered out loud how qualified the guy could be after being a judge for only 2 years. Apparently, that wasn’t an issue as he sailed through the confirmation hearings and is now the Chief Justice of the court.

Sadly, it appears the bar will be set no higher with the nominiation for the second open seat on the Court since Pres. Bush nominated Harriet Miers today.

Apparently, you have all the qualifications in the world for being on the Supreme Court and deciding the future of American society if you: 1.) were or are a lawyer at any point in your life 2.) come from Texas 3.) chaired the Texas Lottery Commission 4.) served as the President’s assistant 5.) are or have ever been the President’s personal counsel.

I mean seriously, we’re now appointing political cronies to the bench… I thought we shipped all of them to the really critical roles in the administration like running FEMA? She’s even taken money from a Bush election campaign for Christ’s sake!! Shouldn’t that of all things disqualify her automatically??

Is the best thing for the country right now to have a personal political buddy of the President sitting on the highest court in the land? Never mind that she’s not qualified, she’s an administration loyalist and insider. Hardly the best qualifications for the Supreme Court in my opinion.

Talk about lip service. From the Houston Chronical:

“We have got a lot of work to do” - George W. Bush 8/30/05 referring to the damage done by the hurricane along Gulf Coast areas.

By popular demand, more pictures of Emerson:

More in her picture gallery including her first state fair and stumping for the Milwaukee County Dems :)

Good news on the State level, the Wisconsin State Assembly today failed to override Gov. Doyle’s veto of a bill that would have required citizens to present a photo identification card in order to vote.

Not only would it have been unfair to the poor, elderly, and college students (none of which coincidently are key Democratic demographics) it would have been nearly impossible for poll workers to enforce. It was a 61 to 34 vote, but supporters of the bill fell short of having a two-thirds majority of 66 votes to override Doyle’s veto.

Tradgedy averted for now….

Good to be back after a somewhat long break!

Just another quick example of ‘moral values’ and ‘compassionate conservatism’ from the another out of touch GOP congressman, this time Rep. Jim Gibbons of Nevada:

I say we tell those liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and their music and whine somewhere else - Elko Daily Free Pass

ZING!

Nothing spells freedom like “GET THEHELLOUT IF YOU’RE DIFFERENT THAN ME”!

Roll Call (The capitol hill newspaper that requires a subscription, hence no link) is reporting that a Louisiana Represenative wants GOP lawmakers to dip fingers in purple ink to show solidarity with Iraqis during the State of the Union speech tonite.

Clearly this is a step in the direction of freedom. 1,400 soldiers have died, ten thousand injured, and tens of thousands of Iraqis died so GOP congressmen and congresswomen could politicize the Iraq situation with a symbolic gesture like having ink on their fingers. I can hear someone in Iraq while watching this, “I stood in line and put my life in danger to vote so these assholes in Washington could put ink on their fingers??”

This is brought to you by the party that wore purple band-aids at the GOP convention last Fall to mock the purple heart medals that were awarded to John Kerry for his service in Vietnam.

No guarantee it’s going to happen of course, but I’ll be on the lookout now.