So what do educated Iraqis think? This one is an MD and if you read the rest of the comments, angry beyond belief with America and Americans--
"The problem in Irak is the presence of the invaders. It is not possible to even begin to reconstruct until that problem is solved. The violence is because the American invader is there. Not despite it. If as you claim, you want to help, then you tackle the root problem. Which is that your troops are in our country. Until then the violence will escalate. The attacks are to make the country ungovernable and they are working."
Nym: Maryam, in conversation at Firedoglake, my bold
Get out now. Bad as it is, there is no other practical policy.
Kim
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
It can't be said better III....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1qG6m9SnWI
I think I'm gonna have to dig it out and PLAY IT LOUD!!!!
Kim
I think I'm gonna have to dig it out and PLAY IT LOUD!!!!
Kim
I built a pile o' blocks
Last year I would not have been stupid enough to attempt this, but I feel ten years younger. I forgot that means ten years dumber.... When I was at mom's cabin over 4th of July, I took out the sound but rotting landing in the path to the dock, and built the abortion visible in this photo. The lower stairs leaned against the brick wall. Not too sturdy. Needless to say, something had to be done before the paying customers arrive next week. I broke, I fix it.
The first problem I ran into... when excavating for the right side wall foundation from where I intended to start, I ran into a gigantic, unbreakable and quite unmovable rock. Right where the foundation needed to be. I spent all day Saturday figuring a way to bridge across the rock and still build steps. Saturday was thinking, pouring a segmented foundation, building a bridge of block across the rock and then pouring the front foundation, digging out the left side foundation, and I just had time to set the front riser. Sunday I built the left side wall, built the steps, dug out and poured the foundation for the landing and laid the lower course of the landing retaining wall... This left me Sunday night still without a safe and walkable path to the dock for the paying customers, so I had Jen e-mail Denny that I was stuck and needed to take Monday off.
Monday morning I filled the landing with what I had, built the temporary steps up the path and wented home....
All the steps were supposed to look like the top one, but because I had to bridge across the rock, the bottom two steps had to be modified. Well, it works. Everything is built off concrete foundations about four inches wider than the bottom block, the blocks are mortared in place and the whole thing should be just short of earthquake proof. The foundations aren't really thick enough to claim earthquake proof. But it's solid when you walk on it.
I ran out of fill material and blocks, so there is still a lot to be done, but that's just an excuse for another trip to the cabin and the hard work's all done. Pity, isn't it....
Kim
The first problem I ran into... when excavating for the right side wall foundation from where I intended to start, I ran into a gigantic, unbreakable and quite unmovable rock. Right where the foundation needed to be. I spent all day Saturday figuring a way to bridge across the rock and still build steps. Saturday was thinking, pouring a segmented foundation, building a bridge of block across the rock and then pouring the front foundation, digging out the left side foundation, and I just had time to set the front riser. Sunday I built the left side wall, built the steps, dug out and poured the foundation for the landing and laid the lower course of the landing retaining wall... This left me Sunday night still without a safe and walkable path to the dock for the paying customers, so I had Jen e-mail Denny that I was stuck and needed to take Monday off.Monday morning I filled the landing with what I had, built the temporary steps up the path and wented home....
All the steps were supposed to look like the top one, but because I had to bridge across the rock, the bottom two steps had to be modified. Well, it works. Everything is built off concrete foundations about four inches wider than the bottom block, the blocks are mortared in place and the whole thing should be just short of earthquake proof. The foundations aren't really thick enough to claim earthquake proof. But it's solid when you walk on it.
I ran out of fill material and blocks, so there is still a lot to be done, but that's just an excuse for another trip to the cabin and the hard work's all done. Pity, isn't it....Kim
Friday, July 20, 2007
It can't be said better II....
"Rather than offer to brief the congressional oversight committees on this critical issue (Pentagon planning for withdrawal, or if none, why none), Under Secretary Edelman – writing on your behalf – instead claims that congressional oversight emboldens our enemies. Under Secretary Edelman has his priorities backward. Open and honest debate and congressional oversight strengthens our nation and supports our military. His suggestion to the contrary is outrageous and dangerous." (My bold)
Senator Hillary Clinton, 07/20/07
To Secretary of Defense Gates
Note that all Senator Clinton requested was that the appropriate oversight committees in Congress be briefed on what plans the Pentagon had made for any troop withdrawals, and if none had been made, brief them on the reasons for such a policy decision. She's not asking that the plans be implemented, she's not asking for a public discussion, she's not even demanding a commitment to withdrawal.
Instead she gets the Goebbelsian propaganda stance that anybody who questions is a traitor and aiding and abetting the enemy. Anybody still doubt there's a Big Lie here, too? They've been remarkably clumsy though. A healthy majority doesn't believe them anymore.
Kim
Senator Hillary Clinton, 07/20/07
To Secretary of Defense Gates
Note that all Senator Clinton requested was that the appropriate oversight committees in Congress be briefed on what plans the Pentagon had made for any troop withdrawals, and if none had been made, brief them on the reasons for such a policy decision. She's not asking that the plans be implemented, she's not asking for a public discussion, she's not even demanding a commitment to withdrawal.
Instead she gets the Goebbelsian propaganda stance that anybody who questions is a traitor and aiding and abetting the enemy. Anybody still doubt there's a Big Lie here, too? They've been remarkably clumsy though. A healthy majority doesn't believe them anymore.
Kim
Thursday, July 19, 2007
It can't be said better--
Bill in Portland Maine, who blogs a daily humor column on Daily Kos:
CHEERS to George McGovern. Disproving the theory that only the good die young, the former Senator and Democratic presidential contender turns 85 today. If he'd been elected in '72 the Vietnam War would've ended sooner, progressive values would've sunk their roots deeper into the American consciousness, and the integrity of the office of the President would've held fast. Instead we reelected a corrupt loon. Thank god we learned from that experience, huh.
CHEERS to George McGovern. Disproving the theory that only the good die young, the former Senator and Democratic presidential contender turns 85 today. If he'd been elected in '72 the Vietnam War would've ended sooner, progressive values would've sunk their roots deeper into the American consciousness, and the integrity of the office of the President would've held fast. Instead we reelected a corrupt loon. Thank god we learned from that experience, huh.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Why?
Why the French Revolution, you might ask?
I think of it like this. Things in France before the Revolution were a mess. The Bourbon monarchy was basically too ignorant/short-sighted to notice that the people who did all the work were too poor to feed, shelter and clothe themselves. Or if able to do so, barely able while living in and among those who had excess to excess and consumed it conspicuously. Unfortunately, even ignorant and uneducated people can see what is front of their faces. Hence, The Revolution and Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite. When the leaders who came to power abused that power, the people could see who was not helping and eventually turned on the Terror. The goons out of the way, the people could see who was winning battles for La Patrie and who wasn't and hence Napoleon. (Kellerman the elder probably could have done it, too, but I doubt he could have run out the string like Napoleon, which might have been better for France) Overwhelmed by the combined power of Europe and with the Bourbons restored to power, the people could see that Bourbon rule was still not in their best interests, hence the Hundred Days. And even though Napoleon lost at Waterloo, that was still the end of Bourbon rule, because the people can see what's in front of their faces.
What's that got to do with the War in Iraq? Well, in the face of determined propaganda effort, the People have figured out a) THEY have no compelling interest in Iraq, b) we are not fighting terrorists in Iraq and therefor c) a substantial majority (hasn't fallen below 65% since 2006) are of the opinion that we should get out of Iraq. Facing a determined propaganda effort to get us into a fight in Iran, nobody is believing that the Iranians are arming a Sunni Al Qaeda, so if all the violence is from Al Qaeda in Iraq, then Iran is not the problem.... We can see what is in front of our faces, and we are not stupid.
If you want to get us into a war, truth is the only thing that will work, 'cause if you have to lie to get us to go, we are going to quit when we find out and we can see what's in front of our faces.
Kim
I think of it like this. Things in France before the Revolution were a mess. The Bourbon monarchy was basically too ignorant/short-sighted to notice that the people who did all the work were too poor to feed, shelter and clothe themselves. Or if able to do so, barely able while living in and among those who had excess to excess and consumed it conspicuously. Unfortunately, even ignorant and uneducated people can see what is front of their faces. Hence, The Revolution and Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite. When the leaders who came to power abused that power, the people could see who was not helping and eventually turned on the Terror. The goons out of the way, the people could see who was winning battles for La Patrie and who wasn't and hence Napoleon. (Kellerman the elder probably could have done it, too, but I doubt he could have run out the string like Napoleon, which might have been better for France) Overwhelmed by the combined power of Europe and with the Bourbons restored to power, the people could see that Bourbon rule was still not in their best interests, hence the Hundred Days. And even though Napoleon lost at Waterloo, that was still the end of Bourbon rule, because the people can see what's in front of their faces.
What's that got to do with the War in Iraq? Well, in the face of determined propaganda effort, the People have figured out a) THEY have no compelling interest in Iraq, b) we are not fighting terrorists in Iraq and therefor c) a substantial majority (hasn't fallen below 65% since 2006) are of the opinion that we should get out of Iraq. Facing a determined propaganda effort to get us into a fight in Iran, nobody is believing that the Iranians are arming a Sunni Al Qaeda, so if all the violence is from Al Qaeda in Iraq, then Iran is not the problem.... We can see what is in front of our faces, and we are not stupid.
If you want to get us into a war, truth is the only thing that will work, 'cause if you have to lie to get us to go, we are going to quit when we find out and we can see what's in front of our faces.
Kim
Fight disinformation (peace, bro)
The latest (or continuing meme) George Bush self-rationalization of "stay the course" is that if we had had opinion polling during WWII, it would have been just as bad. It's the opinion polls that are the problem, not the policy, because Americans are a bunch of ignorant gits who just don't understand Real War. (That last clause is the unspoken assumption, not what he said...)
Of course, there were opinion polls in WWII and though they are pre-DEWEY WINS! and so they might be a little suspect in methodology, they certainly provide broad truths....
WWII Polls of War Sentiment
You may have to crane your neck to make sense of it, but the gist is that the maximum of the Peace sentiment was about 20 percent when the Allies had taken Italy and all that was left was the inevitable crushing of the Wehrmacht by superior numbers with attendant casualties. It correlates pretty exactly with the Americans who believe we are winning approaching 100 percent. And it fell back to 15 percent from there. Mostly it was around 10 percent after Pearl Harbor until the end was clear. This is not even within potential confidence errors and a ball park for poor methodology of a solid 68 percent against continuing the war in Iraq.
Really, we are not stupid. Never were and never will be. We (as in human beings, not necessarily even Americans) can be kept in ignorance by great effort, but the truth will out, so that is never a winning strategy only a holding action. It hasn't been since, ohh, say the French Revolution. (I have real reasons for choosing that point rather than another, but that's another discussion.)
Of course, there were opinion polls in WWII and though they are pre-DEWEY WINS! and so they might be a little suspect in methodology, they certainly provide broad truths....
WWII Polls of War Sentiment
You may have to crane your neck to make sense of it, but the gist is that the maximum of the Peace sentiment was about 20 percent when the Allies had taken Italy and all that was left was the inevitable crushing of the Wehrmacht by superior numbers with attendant casualties. It correlates pretty exactly with the Americans who believe we are winning approaching 100 percent. And it fell back to 15 percent from there. Mostly it was around 10 percent after Pearl Harbor until the end was clear. This is not even within potential confidence errors and a ball park for poor methodology of a solid 68 percent against continuing the war in Iraq.
Really, we are not stupid. Never were and never will be. We (as in human beings, not necessarily even Americans) can be kept in ignorance by great effort, but the truth will out, so that is never a winning strategy only a holding action. It hasn't been since, ohh, say the French Revolution. (I have real reasons for choosing that point rather than another, but that's another discussion.)
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