Cheney slams Obama for projecting 'weakness'

Damn! Ain't this rich coming from Mr. Deferment, himself? What really did have untold consequences is the BuCheney administration's decision to let Osama go, cut and run like hell for Iraq where Rummy thought their were more buildings to blow up, or some such stupidness. Of course everyone knows that it was all about O.I.L......Oil, Israel and Logistics. (For the NeoCon wet dream of re-ordering the middle east....again.)  When I say oil, I do not mean cheap oil. Surely we all understand that by now. Certainly not with two oilmen in the White House will the objective ever be cheap oil. By: Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei  December 1, 2009 12:22 AM EST

MCLEAN, Va. — On the eve of the unveiling of the nation’s new Afghanistan policy, former Vice President Dick Cheney slammed President Barack Obama for projecting “weakness” to adversaries and warned that more workaday Afghans will side with the Taliban if they think the United States is heading for the exits. In a 90-minute interview at his suburban Washington house, Cheney said the president’s “agonizing” about Afghanistan strategy “has consequences for your forces in the field.” “I begin to get nervous when I see the commander in chief making decisions apparently for what I would describe as small ‘p’ political reasons, where he’s trying to balance off different competing groups in society,” Cheney said. “Every time he delays, defers, debates, changes his position, it begins to raise questions: Is the commander in chief really behind what they’ve been asked to do?” Obama administration officials have complained ever since taking office that they face a series of unpalatable — if not impossible — national security decisions in Afghanistan and Pakistan because of the Bush administration’s unwavering insistence on focusing on Iraq. But Cheney rejected any suggestion that Obama had to decide on a new strategy for Afghanistan because the one employed by the previous administration failed. Cheney was asked if he thinks the Bush administration bears any responsibility for the disintegration of Afghanistan because of the attention and resources that were diverted to Iraq. “I basically don’t,” he replied without elaborating. Obama will announce a troop buildup in Afghanistan in a speech Tuesday at West Point, and he’s expected to send at least 30,000 more U.S. troops to the country. The White House also has said that Obama will outline a general time frame for the United States to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan. But Cheney said the average Afghan citizen “sees talk about exit strategies and how soon we can get out, instead of talk about how we win. “Those folks ... begin to look for ways to accommodate their enemies,” Cheney said. “They’re worried the United States isn’t going to be there much longer and the bad guys are.” During the interview, Cheney laced his concerns with a broader critique of Obama’s foreign and national security policy, saying Obama’s nuanced and at times cerebral approach projects “weakness” and that the president is looking “far more radical than I expected.” “Here’s a guy without much experience, who campaigned against much of what we put in place ... and who now travels around the world apologizing,” Cheney said. “I think our adversaries — especially when that’s preceded by a deep bow ... — see that as a sign of weakness.” Specifically, Cheney said the Justice Department decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, in New York City is “great” for Al Qaeda. “One of their top people will be given the opportunity — courtesy of the United States government and the Obama administration — to have a platform from which they can espouse this hateful ideology that they adhere to,” he said. “I think it’s likely to give encouragement — aid and comfort — to the enemy.” The former vice president is splitting his time among his houses in Virginia, in Wyoming and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, with a place at each for working on his memoir, to be published in the spring of 2011. His eldest daughter, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Liz Cheney, is collaborating on the writing and overseeing research. During the campaign, Cheney recalled, he saw Obama as “sort of a mainline, traditional Democrat — liberal, from the liberal wing of the party.” But Cheney said he is increasingly persuaded by the notion that Obama “doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism — the idea that the United States is a special nation, that we are the greatest, freest nation mankind has ever known.” “When I see the way he operates, I am increasingly convinced that he’s not as committed to or as wedded to that concept as most of the presidents I’ve known, Republican or Democrat,” he said. “I am worried. And I find as I get out around the country, a lot of other people are worried, too.” Cheney said his worries extend to Obama’s domestic agenda: “He obviously has a very robust agenda of change — health care system, cap and trade, redistribution of wealth. I rarely hear him talk about the private sector.” Cheney charged that Obama’s plans for Afghanistan are based on political calculations by “a guy who campaigned from one end of the country to the other, saying Afghanistan was the good war ... so that he could come across as somebody who’s not against all wars.” “Now, things have changed. Iraq’s going significantly better because of the decisions we made in the Bush administration — the surge and so forth,” the former vice president added. “And he’s having to deal, sort of up close and personal, with the Afghanistan situation. And it’s tough — it’s hard. ... Sometimes I have the feeling that they’re just figuring that out.” Looking ahead to 2012, Cheney said the likely midterm congressional losses for Democrats next year “point in the direction of a very competitive situation in 2012 — a very respectable shot for the Republicans of taking back the presidency.” “There’s a lot of churning and a lot of ferment out there in the party today, and that’s basically a healthy thing,” he said. “Our adversaries — our Democratic adversaries — like to be able to portray the Republican Party as a bunch of wingnuts — narrow based, always have some agenda that’s not attractive to the public. ... That’s easier for them, and more fun, than dealing with their own problems. And I think their problems are significant.” Cheney said “it’s far too soon to be handicapping” his party’s presidential nominee. “We’ve got a lot of folks, I’m sure, who will want to pursue it. I haven’t committed and don’t expect to anytime soon,” he said. “I think we’ve got a lot of interesting people in the Republican Party.” Cheney at first declined to make any comment about Sarah Palin, but finally said: “I like her, personally. ... She’s charming, engaging. She’s got as much right to be out there as anybody else. Will she be a candidate at some point? How would she do as a candidate? Those are all questions that only time will tell.” And what does he think about the movement to draft him to seek the top job himself? Cheney says he sees no such scenario. “Why would I want to do that?” he replied. “It’s been a hell of a tour. I’ve loved it. I have no aspirations for further office.” Join the debate on this story in The Arena.

© 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC

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Let The Sun Shine In......

Senate report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'

By CALVIN WOODWARD
The Associated Press
Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:33 PM



WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.

The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.

More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.

"Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism."

The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."

On or about Dec. 16, 2001, bin Laden and bodyguards "walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," where he is still believed to be based, the report says.
Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.

"The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines," the report said.

At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location.

He Lied, he lied and don't be letting W and Vice off the hook so easily, either. It almost caused me whiplash, the speed with which we changed enemies from Osama bin Laden, whom we are told attacked us on our own soil, to Saddam Hussein who could not have caused an traffic accident in Manhattan.
---
On the Net:
The report:http://foreign.senate.gov/





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Let The Sun Shine In......

Bush Intentionally Lost bin Laden

I've been saying this for a very long time, for many of the same reasons. Iraq was certainly one of the reasons, but it can't have been the only one. Read the PNAC Document. Certainly, it had been a Neocon wet-dream for decades to re-order the middle east to better suit U.S. interests, as they saw them. 


One must also factor in the Bush family ties to the bin Laden family; financial ties that go way back. W, himself, was bailed out, financially, by Salim bin Laden, Osama's eldest brother. 


It would be very difficult to create another boogie man quite like Osama; super-wealthy, religious fanatic and madman who declared war on the U.S. for purposes of scaring the American people apparently witless.

By: Andy Barr  November 30, 2009 07:29 PM EST

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) on Monday accused former President George W. Bush of “intentionally” letting Osama bin Laden escape during the American invasion of Afghanistan.  “Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan, how we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away,” Hinchey said during an interview on MSNBC. “That was done by the previous administration because they knew very well that if they would capture al Qaeda, there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq,” the Democratic congressman continued. “There’s no question that the leader of the military operations of the U.S. called back our military, called them back from going after the head of al Qaeda.” When host David Shuster followed up to ask if Hinchey really thought Bush “deliberately let Osama bin Laden get away,” the congressman responded: “Yes, I do.”  “I don’t think it will strike a lot of people as crazy. I think it’ll strike a lot of people as being very accurate,” Hinchey said. “All you have to do is look at the exact circumstances and see that’s exactly what happened.”  “When our military went in there, we could have captured [the Taliban],” he insisted. “But we didn’t. And we didn’t because of the need felt by the previous administration, and the previous head of the military, that need to attack Iraq.”

© 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC

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Let The Sun Shine In......

What Happened to American Intelligentsia?

This article by Sirota is ever so right on.  

It seems that in this particular moment in our history, the last thing we want is a president, any president, to do is act without considered contemplation of all the facts he can attain when it comes to decisions about war;  deployment and possible deaths of troops and the spending of treasure we don't even have.

We have been in Afghanistan, as far as the public is concerned, for 8 years. During that time, no one in the Bush White House seemed to be able to articulate a policy at all. We all assumed that the policy was to capture or kill as many Al Qaeda members as possible and pour out tons of wrath on their protectors, the Taliban. Can't be so sure now, because when they had the chance to capture the guy who had declared war on the U.S. at least a year before, Osama bin Laden, central command called our troops off. Yes, that is what it amounted to to pull U.S. troops out of the hunt.   

 Intelligentsia Against Intelligence

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/intelligentsia_against_intelligence_20091119/

Posted on Nov 20, 2009

By David Sirota

In the parlance of our times, the term idiocracy means a nation run by idiots—and the term idiot is defined by the dictionary as “an utterly foolish or senseless person” who exhibits “a mental age of less than three years old.”

There are obvious reasons to believe America is becoming an idiocracy—a series of horrendous government and business decisions strongly suggests that we’ve seen the ascension of utterly foolish, senseless people, many with the mental age of infants (yes, W., I’m looking at you). And if there remained any flicker of hope that we aren’t turning into a full-on slobbering idiocracy, that hope was snuffed out last week by two of the Washington intelligentsia’s most respected voices.

First came a now-famous column about Afghanistan by The Washington Post’s David Broder. The “dean” of the press corps attacked President Barack Obama not for choosing any particular policy, but for simply taking time to meticulously consider his options in the Central Asian quagmire. “The urgent necessity,” Broder asserted, “is to make a decision—whether or not it is right.”

This was followed by Jackson Diehl, the Post’s foreign policy “expert.” He wrote that the White House’s assiduous Afghanistan deliberations are not a sign of reassuring prudence after the bring-it-on Bush years, but instead a “compelling cause for unease about this president.” Diehl’s rationale for such an incendiary statement? He alleged (without proof, of course) that “there is unanimity in the Pentagon and considerable agreement in Congress and among the NATO allies” that a military escalation has to happen—and therefore Obama “knows [the pro-escalation] course he must take” but “can’t bring himself to embrace it.”

Let’s set aside the nauseating spectacle of two well-heeled journalists, comfortably protected far away from the front lines, demanding a president immediately send thousands of soldiers to their potential deaths without regard for blood-and-guts consequences. Let’s just, if we can, put that grotesque immorality in a corner and pretend it’s not important—and let’s go to the deeper, even more disturbing message.

As leading opinion makers, Broder and Diehl are paid to carefully ponder issues and then offer their considered thoughts. That’s not part of what they’re supposed to do—it’s what they are singularly employed to do. It’s how they earn their living and credibility—indeed, it’s their entire raison d’etre. And yet, these leading lights of the intelligentsia are overtly preaching anti-intelligence, insisting the president must avoid taking time to think through his actions.

This isn’t interpretation—it’s what these Beltway sages are literally saying. Broder is explicitly demanding Obama make a knee-jerk decision—any decision—even if it has catastrophic consequences. Likewise, Diehl is calling for Obama to immediately risk thousands of American lives simply because that’s what Diehl believes the Establishment wants.

Let’s be clear—these are just two of many similar examples. Today, screeds calling for leaders to prioritize lightning-fast decisions over measured deliberations are increasingly commonplace in the Washington intelligentsia, even after an Iraq debacle brought on by the same ideological know-nothingism.

The trend is deeply disturbing. It’s one thing for talk-show-host wannabe Sarah Palin or carnival-barking provocateur Glenn Beck to glamorize willful ignorance—that’s been the narcissistic act of celebrity court jesters since the dawn of history. But it’s an entirely different thing when hostility to intelligence and to the basic process of thinking itself emanates from the very professional thinkers who lead the nation’s intelligentsia.

When that happens—when the supposed guardians of political cognition and empiricism begin publicly flaying leaders for taking time to fully evaluate potential decisions—it’s a sign our country is becoming the ignorance-deifying idiocracy we should all fear.

David Sirota is the author of the best-selling books “Hostile Takeover” and “The Uprising.” He hosts the morning show on AM 760 in Colorado and blogs at OpenLeft.com. E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com. 

© 2009 Creators.com
U.S. Marine Corps / Sgt. Mark Fayloga
Members of a rifle detail perform a 21-gun salute during a memorial service.


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Let The Sun Shine In......

My Head May Well Explode!

Which Temple, Robert? These people are all worshipers of the Golden calf and always have been. Where your heart is, there will be your treasure. Wall Streeters are heathens. Treat them as such.

Throw The Money-Changers Out of The Temple

Posted on Nov 19, 2009
Wall Street profits are an obscene affront to Scripture, as Robert Scheer details in an interview with Amy Goodman on “Democracy Now!”
Democracy Now!:

Partial rush transcript from Democracy Now!:

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to the latest on the economy. A pair of new government reports released this week paint a startling picture of where the country is, more than a year after the economic meltdown. On Tuesday, the New York Comptroller’s Office said Wall Street profits are set to exceed the record set three years ago. The four largest firms—Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase—took in $22.5 billion in profits through September. The top six banks set aside $112 billion for salaries and bonuses over the same period. In a recent interview, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, defended the bank’s massive profits, saying Goldman is, quote, “doing God’s work."


Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has revealed that far more people are going hungry in the United States than previously the ought. The Department estimates 50 million Americans, including a quarter of all children, struggled to get enough to eat last year. The number of children who live in households in which food at times was scarce last year stands at 17 million, an increase of four million children in just a year. 


Our next guest has been closely following the impact and causes of the economic meltdown. Robert Scheer, editor at Truthdig.com, author of many books, including The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America. His latest column is called “Where Is the Community Organizer We Elected?” He joins me here in Burbank, California. 


Welcome to Democracy Now!, Robert Scheer. OK, just talk about these figures, from hunger to Goldman Sachs. 


ROBERT SCHEER: Well, first of all, I mean, the whole thing about the profit of Wall Street that makes it particularly obscene is that we gave them that money. Your previous guest talked about how China is carrying $800 billion of our debt. We’re running up a $1.4 trillion deficit. And what happened was, we threw a lot of money at Wall Street. In particular, in relation to Goldman, we had this buyout of AIG, $180 billion. We’ve guaranteed the toxic assets of these enterprises. And that money, in a really truly shameful way, was passed on directly to the very companies that you mentioned that are giving themselves profits. So there’s something—yes, I’ll use the word “obscene.” 


It’s also interesting that he should say he’s “doing God’s work,” Blankfein, the head of Goldman Sachs. And my goodness, if Scripture is clear on anything, it’s condemnation of those who take advantage of the poor. 

You know, after all, Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. Scripture is devastating in its condemnation of usury, the immorality of usury. And yet, in your promo, you mentioned Chris Dodd is trying to get a bill passed that would cap interest rates. You know, where is the Christian right? Where are the Christians? Where are the Jews, for that matter? Or the Muslims? At least the Muslims, in their religious practice, don’t believe in interest as a principle, but the idea that we’re jacking up credit cards to 30, 35—this is loan sharking. And we can’t even get a bill passed through Congress that would cap interest payments. 


The other thing is, their rationalization is they’re somehow saving the economy. It’s the old blackmail thing. 
They ruined the economy; they got the legislation, the radical deregulation they wanted, that permitted them to become too big to fail—Citigroup and these companies; and then they turn around and say, “If you don’t throw all this money at us, the economy is going to go into the Great Depression.” But they haven’t solved the main problems. Mortgage foreclosures this month are higher than they’ve been in ten months. We have the commercial housing market exploding, you know, apartment building rentals exploding, going into mortgages. And so, you know, they are not dealing with the fundamentals. What has happened is an incredibly expensive band-aid was put on this. And these people don’t even have—they’re not even embarrassed. 


And the reason I wrote that column is they’ve also captured the President. And, you know, I voted for this president. I even contributed money that I didn’t have to his campaign. You know, I still feel great that he’s the President. You know, I’m biased. I like the guy, you know. I like everything about him.


AMY GOODMAN: Yet you ask, where’s the community-organizer-in-chief?


ROBERT SCHEER: I am appalled. This is not a minor criticism. I think the guy is betraying—betraying—his own presidency, the promise of his presidency, because he has taken these thieves—and I use the word advisedly. You know, I think people like Lawrence Summers, who pay themselves—you know, maybe he’s not legally a thief, but, you know, a guy who pays himself, or gets paid from hedge funds and other people, $15 million in ’08, while he’s advising Obama about the economy. And he’s the guy who, more than anyone else, when he was Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration, pushed through the radical deregulation that allowed these businesses to get in all this trouble and refused to regulate derivatives and all that sort of thing. And then these guys are made the head of the—what? They’re going to save us now? 
 

Continue reading

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Let The Sun Shine In......

Thankful Progressives

With some of my reasons for thankfulness added in dark red....

THANKSGIVING

27 Reasons To Give Thanks

We're thankful President Obama is thinking long and hard about committing more troops and money to Afghanistan.

(and I will whole-heartedly support a huge increase in troops under the following conditions: 1) There is a policy regarding our involvement in Afghanistan and what victory would look like; how does Obama and his war team define it. Part of that policy had better say whether or not we have (or ever had, for that matter) a policy to capture or kill the people whom, we are told, are responsible for the worst attacks on American soil since the war of 1812 and I'm not talking about KSM. OBL and the crazy Egyptian corn-ball who speaks for him these days. The policy must also include an exit strategy and a time-line created in conjunction with our allies. The attacks on 9/11/01 affected the whole world, not just Americans. However, what we would beg Obama not to do is to commit just enough troops to keep the war going so the Goopers won't call him a wimp but not enough to accomplish the only goals ever articulated to the American people and "our" Congress; to get the guys who conspired to hit us on 9/11, the elimination of Al Qaeda, world wide.)

We're thankful President Bush feels liberated now.


(I'm not so sure I feel that way. Heaven only knows what kind of nightmarish crimes the next administration will feel comfortable committing since nothing happened to Bush or to Cheney or to any of their brother trolls and murderers! Trust me, the failure to bring to justice the war criminals who committed crimes against the constitution and, therefore, against the people of the U.S., will lead to an even worse nightmare for many more of us in the not too distant future.)

We're (not) thankful Dick Cheney has elected to move from his undisclosed location to the media spotlight.
 

I find that having Old Dick out of his hidey hole is a good thing. He is a constant reminder to many of us old, moderate independents why we went screaming to the left of center early in the BuCheney administration. The man is terrifying on so many levels it just ain't funny, but here's what it all boils down to: Either Vice is still trying to scare the crap out of the American people for purely political reasons, if not personal financial reasons as well, or the old fool really believes the psychotic babble he keeps spewing and he really needs the rest of us to be scared witless with him. The latter is certainly understandable in a setting other than on TeeVee news where he is labeled the "former vice president of the U.S." So far as it goes, the label is correct, but if that's as far as it goes, then the label in incorrect. "Former vice president of the U.S., thank God," would be as correct as one could get.

Some knotheads in this country actually believe that God,  no matter what  it's called, should be thanked that Dick The-extremely-paranoid Cheney was our v.p. on 9/11.  I'm not here to argue that point one way or the other, though I fail to see how it mattered one way or the other since there is no official record of Cheney having done anything to prevent any of attacks that happened nor none that might have happened on that day.

I would, however, state my strong belief that having him as v.p from inauguration day, 2001 until he and George walked out of the Capital Building, free as birds, on inauguration day, 2009 is probably the most god-awful thing we've had inflicted on us as a people, a nation, since the civil war. 

Let Cheney speak!!! Please allow it to be obvious to all that Cheney is still wanting to have that fight again. No matter what they tell you, Kidos, the civil war in the late 1800s was about slavery. The current civil war is as well. What's changed is the ease with which one can be identified as a slave. It was easy telling black people from white people back in the day.

Not so much anymore, as slaves come in all colors. In these days, un-free people come in all colors and exist across several socioeconomic levels. What's worse is that corporate America has learned ways to enslave the peoples' money. Take, for example. all of the retirement "schemes" which have left soon-to-be-retirees looking at working for as  far into the future as the eye can see and people who were retired on a modest income having to try to return to the work force. All we need now is for the slaves with their "slave/ very insecure" money to wake the hell up to their own identity. Then, I will be thankful.

We're thankful Al Franken has gone from playing self-help guru Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live to helping rape victims receive justice from their employers.

(Damn time someone did!!)

We're thankful for the healing power of beer.


(And wine and coffee in Amsterdam.)

We're thankful there are some on the right who think Glenn Beck is "incoherent," "mindless," "erratic," "bizarre," and "harmful to the conservative movement."


(Not enough people, unfortunately. We are playing seriously loose and free with our sanity, these days. I would be thankful if more Americans demanded that all news media be more honest and do their damn jobs for a change.)

We're thankful for long hikes on the Appalachian Trail.




(Not me. I will never think of the Appalachian trail again that I won't have to also think about that goofy governor and his goofy affair. )

We're thankful Michael Steele understands that he can't "do policy" and that no one has any reason to trust his "words or actions."



(Hey, what up with dat? Steele has yet to figure our that he is just another GOP lawn jockie. A man I actually did admire, Colin Powell, found out the hard way.)

We're (not) thankful for "birthers," "deathers," "tenthers," or "tea baggers."

(Yep, I am of two minds on the a fore mentioned nutcases. TeeVee news seems to want us to believe that these people are having a positive affect, in that more independents are moving to the right. I would disagree with that. Those people make me want to move to Cuba. Not really. Exaggeration for effect. )

We're (not) thankful conservatives believe they love America so much that they can root for our President to fail and for our nation to lose out on hosting the Olympics.


These people have proven that they are not Americans but Rethugs.

We're thankful NFL players refused to "bend over and grab the ankles" for Rush Limbaugh.

Me to!

We're thankful six companies have resigned from the Chamber of Commerce due to its denial of climate change science.

(Me to, but only six? Geese!)

We're thankful Falcon "Balloon boy" Heene wasn't actually in the balloon.

(I wish the entire family and all the anchors who breathlessly reported the story for hours had been in the balloon. We have become Rome.)

We're thankful Lt. Dan Choi and Lt. Col Victor Fehrenbach bravely spoke out against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

(Me too. Hope it matters.)

We're thankful Shep Smith doesn't always drink the Fox News kool-aid.
  
Me too. Can't watch him because I don't watch Fox anymore. Haven't since December 2001. I did tune in for the Beck experience just to see what all the fuss was about. Scared me so bad I have almost given up TeeVee altogether or watch SyFy. Sy Fy can't top the on-going saga of a man who has, for some reason, been given a big old microphone in the form of his own TeeVee show while he has a mental meltdown on live bers of people who tune in to watch this?TeeVee. We have become Rome! Look at the numbers of people who tune in to watch this? 

We're thankful more than 80 companies refused to lend their sponsorship to Glenn Beck's hateful rants.

(Damn, only 80? Who the hell supports this guy? They must be punished in the only way they understand. $$$$$$)

We're thankful there are progressive organizations in D.C. lobbying for a two-state solution in the Middle East.


(They might want to think about a two state solution for us. )

We're (not) thankful for the filibuster.

(But we will be when we are in the minority again. In the meanwhile, I want the entire debate televised live so the less informed among us can see what a filibuster is and how much we are paying for our senators to read the phone book. )

We're thankful that more than 20,000 of you stood up to Bill O'Reilly's harassment machine and called for impeachment hearings against torture advocate Jay Bybee.

Me Too!!!

We're thankful that Iran's authoritarian rulers live in fear of their own population.


Me Too. Just wish the authoritarians over here were as afraid as the ones in Iran.When the government actually fears the public, Democracy is arriving.

We're thankful we'll no longer have to listen to nativist rhetoric on CNN and global warming skepticism on ABC News.


Didn't listen to it to begin with?.

We're (not) thankful for bailed out CEOs who think they're doing "God's work" by doling out billions in bonuses.


(Me either. Actually, I won't be thankful until said CEOs are working their butts off for minimum wage, living in a run down trailer park, with no healthcare.)

We're thankful for the legacy of the Liberal Lion.


ME TOO. Still sad at his passing.

We're thankful Bill O'Reilly won't be following us home for Thanksgiving.
 
He had better not be anywhere aroud me. I consider him armed and dangeorus.


We're thankful a "wise Latina" sits on the Supreme Court.

I'll reserve judgement. I want to watch her for a few sessions before I say I.m grateful for that.

We're thankful our boss helped rescue imprisoned American journalists in North Korea.


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Let The Sun Shine In......