War is in our DNA. On a Saturday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese, two boys play the hi-tech fighter jet video game "After Burner Climax," and a couple plays a shoot 'em up target game in the background.
If Sen. Chris Dodd and Congressman John Larson sought to replicate the Top Gun glory of Maverick and Goose, standing together to drum up support to save funding for the F-22 Raptor, they ended up looking more like Laurel and Hardy.
Suave Maverick Dodd and goofy Goose Larson have been shilling for the threatened F-22 since April. This past Monday, July 14, they lined up their talking points before a 1:15 p.m. press conference phone call.
A press e-mail from Dodd advertised special guests John Harrity, Connecticut Machinists Official and President of GrowJobsCT and Gen. Mike Dunn, a retired three-star Air Force commander.
Both the Senator and the Congressman hit the high points of their arguments for shielding the F-22 Raptor from President Obama's budget ax.
The F-22 Raptor is an aptly named Cold War dinosaur. But Maverick and Goose argued to maybe eight press people on the phone that the single-seater stealth fighter will help the United States maintain global air superiority, deter our enemies and maintain the production line.
The production line, which represents more than 1,000 subcontractors and 25,000 workers spread across 44 states, needs to stay active for three years until the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter comes on line, lest production of that weapons system be slowed.
Panhandling for the war machine falls onto Dodd and Larson because Hartford-based United Technologies manufactures the super hi-tech jet engines for the F-22 through its subsidiary of Pratt and Whitney. The engines mean 2,000 jobs for Middletown.
Aside from the $339 million price tag per F-22, Bush/Obama Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to cut the F-22 because the radar-invisible fleet of F-22s has not seen a day of action in Afghanistan or Iraq.
The $6 billion for 20 new planes could be better spent on a more mobile military, Gates claims. Obama has an ally in Sen. John McCain, who sees the program as worthless.
Dodd led off the presser by stressing the critical importance the F-22 has in our arsenal.
"This is essential to national security and our competitiveness in this world," Dodd said. "I wouldn't be making a case to you on the basis of a parochial issue."
Of course not, Senator. It's a corporate issue. UTC chairman George David needs his puppets in Congress to help finance his massive legal bills from his messy divorce, and his spoiled brat countess ex-wife's $53,000 a week lifestyle.
Dodd has his own spending habits, and he needs corporate moguls and unions to finance them. A few hours before the conference call, Dodd announced a $1.2 million haul for his campaign war chest in the second quarter of 2009.
While the FEC contribution chart listed nothing from either the Machinists or UTC, other unions like firefighters, electrical workers and boilermakers gave healthy sums and defense contractors like Raytheon contributed to Dodd as well.
The whole thing seems like a charade to me anyways. Obama wants to appear like he is challenging the military-industrial complex and reigning in military spending while expanding a costly war, and then blame this on Congress. The members of Congress will face no electoral repercussions because they brought the bacon home.
The Chairman's responsibilities and Jurisdictions will include real oversight concerning failures of the Bush administration in providing security to our nation during times of war, illegal invasions, ongoing occupations, and natural disasters, as well as overseeing the bloated budget and operations of the largest branch of government ever to be created in the US governments' history through legislation authored under the Republican controlled Senate and House, and signed by the Republican pResident of the time.
Your main and immidiate responsibilities will include holding the needed hearings, directing sub-commitees and legislation needed to avoid repeating the previous disasters, corrupt practices, and failures that will be found with the propper direction and oversight of a NON-PARTISAN and ethical Senate leader.
(1)Minorities such as moderate Republicans having no ties to far-right-wing radical organizations like the Neoconservative movement, the American Enterprise Instute, The Heritage Foundation, Energy Corporations, or the Bush administrations most recent policy proposals that are doomed to failure, are encouraged to apply to Senator Harry Reid for any consideration concerning this soon to be available position.
(2)Note to applicants: Please mark the subject of the Email as "Homeland Security" and refer to this x-posted Blog diary in the opening paragragh of the application. You will be contacted shortly before I post an "I told you so!" diary covering the flawed positons, election statement lies, and propaganda of the far-right-wing radical Neoconservative Joe Lieberman.
President Bush got it exactly right today when he warned about the threat of Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. It is imperative that we reject the flawed and naïve thinking that denies or dismisses the words of extremists and terrorists when they shout "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," and that holds that - if only we were to sit down and negotiate with these killers - they would cease to threaten us. It is critical to our national security that our commander-in-chief is able to distinguish between America's friends and America's enemies, and not confuse the two. - LIEberman
Zak Kirwood and the Amity High School New Democrats Club are hosting a Peace Vigil and Rally on March 19th
Marking the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, there will be a Rally at 7 pm at the front entrance of Amity Regional Senior High School with Special Guest Speaker Ned Lamont, 2006 candidate for Senator, anti-Iraq war activist.
5th anniversary of the War on Iraq
Support the Troops!
End the War!
Support the Students: Attend the Rally!
Wednesday, March 19th
7 pm
Special Guest Speaker Ned Lamont
Amity Regional Senior High School
25 Newton Rd., Woodbridge, CT, 06525
just North of the Wilbur Cross Parkway
between Rimmon Rd and Amity Rd
The "Psychological Kevlar Act" is being sponsored by Democrat Patrick Kennedy from neighboring Rhode Island, but does he realize the enormous implications this has? I still remember from back in the day what people would freely do after taking Qualludes, and then their regrets the next morning...
The DoD is flirting with the idea of medicating soldiers to desensitize them to combat trauma -- will an army of unfeeling monsters result?
I have thought a lot about the implications of "psychological Kevlar" -- what kind of "preventive and early-intervention measures, practices or procedures" might be developed that would "reduce the likelihood that personnel in combat will develop post-traumatic stress disorder." How would a soldier with a shield against moral response "five times stronger than steel" behave?
I cannot convince myself that what is really being promoted isn't a form of moral lobotomy.
I cannot imagine what aspects of selfhood will have to be excised or paralyzed so soldiers will no longer be troubled by what they, not to mention we, would otherwise consider morally repugnant. A soldier who has lost an arm can be welcomed home because he or she still shares fundamental societal values. But the soldier who sees her friend emulsified by a bomb, or who is ordered to run over children in the road rather than slow down the convoy, or who realizes too late that the woman was carrying a baby, not a bomb -- if that soldier's ability to feel terror and horror has been amputated, if he or she can no longer be appalled or haunted, something far more precious has been lost. I am afraid that the training or conditioning or drug that will be developed to protect soldiers from such injuries will leave an indifference to violence that will make them unrecognizable to themselves and to those who love them. They will be alienated and isolated, and finally unable to come home.
Between this and the use of military robots, we could be headed toward a very grim future.
The AP reports on Veterans who commit suicide.
The stats are shocking.
The report quotes Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee:
"As many Vietnam veterans have now committed suicide as died in the original war. That's over 58,000."
This is almost to terrible to contemplate. And then you need to think about the people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan:
Veterans Health Administration mental health officials estimate 1,000 suicides per year among veterans receiving care within VHA and as many as 5,000 per year among all living veterans.
This is important enough that I have posted the entire AP story below the fold. (Edited to protect AP's copyright - Jon K.) I have no knowledge of the accuracy of the report.
The Pledge
I believe in the immediate withdrawal of all foreign combat troops from the nation of Iraq. I believe in using my blog, in whole or in part, as a tool toward this end.
Brian David Anderson was arrested in Spain in March, but you don't hear a thing as his ties to the card carrying Republican Al Qaeda terrorist Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari are going unreported in the American MSM. Hundreds of people defrauded, MILLIONS in fraud, terrorism ties, BUT nothing from the MSM.
A Canadian under investigation in British Columbia and Ontario for allegedly scamming millions from investors was arrested in Spain yesterday for his suspected role in financing terrorist training camps.
Spanish police said they had arrested businessman Brian David Anderson at a Madrid hotel for his alleged involvement in financing terrorist camps in Afghanistan.
The arrest followed a joint investigation led by the FBI, which arrested Mr. Anderson's business partner, Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari of New York, on terror financing charges last month.
The Chairman's responsibilities and Jurisdictions will include real oversight concerning failures of the Bush administration in providing security to our nation during times of war, illegal invasions, ongoing occupations, and natural disasters, as well as overseeing the bloated budget and operations of the largest branch of government ever to be created in the US governments' history through legislation authored under the Republican controlled Senate and House, and signed by the Republican pResident of the time.
Your main and immidiate responsibilities will include holding the needed hearings, directing sub-commitees and legislation needed to avoid repeating the previous disasters, corrupt practices, and failures that will be found with the propper direction and oversight of a NON-PARTISAN and ethical Senate leader.
(1)Minorities such as moderate Republicans having no ties to far-right-wing radical organizations like the Neoconservative movement, the American Enterprise Instute, The Heritage Foundation, Energy Corporations, or the Bush administrations most recent policy proposals that are doomed to failure, are encouraged to apply to Senator Harry Reid for any consideration concerning this soon to be available position.
(2)Note to applicants: Please mark the subject of the Email as "Homeland Security" and refer to this x-posted Blog diary in the opening paragragh of the application. You will be contacted shortly before I post an "I told you so!" diary covering the flawed positons, election statement lies, and propaganda of the far-right-wing radical Neoconservative Joe Lieberman.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling said US generals had failed to prepare their troops properly and had misled Congress about the resources needed for the war.
Writing in the Armed Forces Journal, he said the US had repeated the mistakes of Vietnam and so faced defeat in Iraq."
More excerpts BELOW... But I suggest you read the entire thing here at the Armed Forces Journal instead of the BBC "Readers Digest" version.
The Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony Tuesday that increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps may not resolve severe and growing personnel problems. There was even talk of returning to the draft to fill the ranks.[..]
"If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft."[..] (H/T C&L)
There's a reason Garry Trudeau was the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer for editorial cartooning: Some days, Doonesbury is all you need to read. This Sunday, Trudeau had the whole "who supports the troops" issue absolutely nailed.
Over the next few weeks, the congressional
Democratic majorities must decide how scared they still are of George W.
Bush and his right-wing attack machine. Or put differently, can a weakened
President still intimidate Democrats by questioning their patriotism or
doubting their support for the troops?
Bush has
thrown down the gauntlet with his demand for another $105 billion in war
funding without “strings” attached. He also has warned that he would
veto any measure that seeks to limit his discretion over how to fight the
war in Iraq.
With that question firmly in mind, we wondered whether Democrats would hold
firm on their pledge to include an ammendment to the Iraq war funding measure
which would require Bush to seek permission from congress before
launching any attack on Iran. It didn't take Bush and his radical right
minions long to start slinging mud
and issuing threats at the Democrats:
The White House has issued a veto threat against the measure, and Vice
President Dick Cheney attacked its supporters in a speech, declaring they
“are telling the enemy simply to watch the clock and wait us out.”
Top House Democrats retreated Monday from an attempt to limit President
Bush's authority for taking military action against Iran as the leadership
concentrated on a looming confrontation with the White House over the Iraq
war.
Lies Bush's Emissary Spouts to Connecticut Constituents
We no longer write to the "independent" senator from Connecticut, as we are disgusted by the pat, impersonal, defensive responses and his arrogant pronouncements often at odds with prior statements - as if these remarks were drawn from an Orwellian part of his brain that enables him to lie, confabulate and dissemble without regard to truth and reality. In fact, his reality has become the reality created and nurtured by the Bush Administration - one adulterated by neither facts, nor truth. An acquaintance of ours, perhaps not so worn down by the constant barrage of mendacious statements, recently wrote to Lieberman and received a response, parts of which we would like to share with you, along with some commentary.
(This needs to be drilled in people's heads everyday. - promoted by ctblogger)
So, do you guys remember one of the main reasons why Ned ran against Lieberman? Well, the war still rages on and our Junior Senator is still a hawk. Senator Lieberman sure is smug now that he knows the people in Connecticut support the war . . . right?
On March 17th we all have a chance to show him, once again, that he is wrong. CT Opposes the War hopes to host a rally the likes of which CT hasn't seen in a long time, if not ever. With that, we need your help. Please go to www.ctcow.org and download the flyer for the March 17th rally. We need thousands to show up to convince the media and our legislators that this is the real deal.
March 17th: the fourth anniversary of the war
3 - 4:30 PM at the Old State House in Hartford.
We need people to hand flyers out everywhere. Stick them in your car window, hand them out at the grocery store, at your kids school - anywhere you can think of.
We really need to show this administration that they cannot silence us with threats and bullying. Please do everything you can to spread the word and help build crowd for the rally. Thanks!
UPDATE (ctblogger): As an added bonus, I'm re-posting to video report from the COW meet-up in Bethel featuring a word of support from Senator Chris Dodd.
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