"There's been a lot of kidnappings, a lot of assassinations, just in the last couple of weeks," said Col. Jerry L. Durrant of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, who oversees the coordination of the U.S. military with Iraqi security forces. "The government in Baghdad is not recognized by anyone in Al Anbar." -Truthout.com

Rush Limbaugh, along with his minions and others in talk radio have echoed recently that "a defeatist attitude" and "pessimism" along with "dissent" are detrimental to our current war effort. I have heard it claimed that these things are what lost Vietnam, but when the comparison to that mistake is made to the present one in Iraq it is not acceptable to the conservative palate. The sad thing is, Mr. Kerry(the Great Left Hope?!) will not even challenge our foreign policy or the war in a context that would advocate totally changing our current militaristic posture in Iraq or the world. He will not claim that it and everything pertaining to maintaining our current military industrial complex is wasteful and horribly wrong. He will not speak about that pesky international land mine ban we will not approve, or our how our use of depleted uranium(DU) will affect iraq for thousands of years. He wont utter a sound about the fact that WE sold saddam the gas used on the Kurds, and the helicopter used to disburse it. Kerry will not remind the American taxpayer that we provided all the funds necessary to carry all this out. These few alone cry out, but what of the deeds beyond number i have not provided? I need to git-but ill leave with this-the hypocricy on both sides is astonishing at the least, and abhorrent at best. I say that if "dissent"can save lives then i scream it with every breath.

Deconstruct

American administration of reconstruction funds in iraq is an example how a slow moving bureaucracy can cripple an effort with good intentions. Of the 18.4 billion dollars allocated in april 2003 to repairing all that our tax dollars have destroyed with bombs and support of sanctions, just above 3 billion has actually been commited to projects. Less than a third of said money has actually been doled out to the people doing the constrution. "Barton and his organization estimate that less than 30% of the money spent reaches Iraqis. Another 30% appears to be going to security, about 10% to U.S. government overhead, 6% to contractor profits, and 12% on insurance and foreign workers' salaries. The rest, perhaps 15%, may be lost to corruption and mismanagement, they estimate."(truthout.com) The government is hiring on a massive scale in the security sector, but hiring reconstruction workers has not been pursued nearly as fervently by the occupation. I believe their reasoning is "security brings stablility". This may be true, but is not employment part of this equation? A speedy funding process is CRITICAL to the reconstruction efforts in iraq. Immediate funding for materials factories-which exist INSIDE Iraq-must take place.(currently 75 plus percent of all materials-namely cement and steel are currently imported at great expense) This alone will create many jobs, and service companies will spring up to support internal industry, thereby creating jobs as well. The government must also begin hiring workers for massive state sponsored conservation and construction projects, helping to fill the gap in the massive amount of work to be done left by private industry. The effort needed to be undertaken makes the efforts of our government during the Great Depression pale in comparison. Why this did not happen immediately after occupation was complete is incomprehensible and in my mind close to criminal. In fact, the edicts of Paul Bremer-CPA CEO-fired nearly all existing government employees.(they soon realized their mistake and hired some back, but the action was too late and the rebellion had taken hold) I know i have hit on the government hiring(and the level of employment in general) issue several times, but i believe it is the crux of many current problems. So here's what i getfor my tax dollars-bombs that kill, planes that kill, and wasted dollars on our pitiful reconstruction effort. Thank you Congress, for your vigilant checks and balance provided to our militant presidency.

Thank you W and friends(PNAC members, AEI members-basically the heart of his advisory committee) for your well informed decisions on foreign policy during this tumultuous time in american history. psych.

crossing questions

"Fascism is the combination of state and corporate power."-Benito Mussolini
Is this not what exists in America today? Do corporate interests supersede the interests of "We the people"? Does corporate money have undue influence in politics? When the Bush Administration f0rms environmental policy with energy industry executives present during the process, does this have an adverse effect on the very thing supposed to be protected? The answer is likey yes to all. These comprise not even the surface in a stack of problems facing OUR Republic.
The Rubicon is near.

Broadband insurgent behavior

Instant communication, instant insurgency and the daily chaotic life of the iraqi people.

I belive that the rebellion in Iraq is escalating now beyond control. Several things have contributed to this point, namely mismanaging the postwar situation. What led up to our current point will surely be the subject of large books, but I have some thoughts on this point forward and will leave large books to their writers(for now).
instant communication, fed by the proliferation of cellular networks and the exponential growth of internet use by the public, gives insurgents untraceable ways to plan and prepare for attacks and is responsible in large part for the quickening pace of unrest. All things progress faster(yes, even rebellion)with easy access to information and problem solving capabilities. It allows for a huge exchange of information-true and false-within the public arena(unemployment of sixty-plus percent makes for a restless populace). Each news piece about the latest attack with pictures of dead children adds to each Iraqis' grief, fear, and anger-the last of which is directed against the US. Such anger, now that it has blown out of control, can not be thrown back in the vault. No matter our supposed high-minded intentions were, they can no longer be realized in the way that the Bush administration envisioned. Will the Bush administration come to grips with reality and face the problem with an open mind? Not likely.

The Complete lack of clarity on things foreign and domestic

The two most talked about stories surrounding the campaign so far have been "swift boats" and now, the "forged" documents. When will the american people and the media that feeds them lose interest and focus on something that really matters? Probably never. I worry about our Republic and fear no terrorist-ha!-but instead the degradation of our Contstitutional system and the growth of government as a whole frightens me more than anything.

The lack of a real discussion of the situation in the middle east within election rhetoric is a sinkhole on the american policy landscape. In times such as these when information speeds at light to anybody willing to take the time to catch it, american policy is moving at a turtle's pace forward. Neither of the presidential candidates will spout a REAL solution to the problems we now face having occupied two hostile territories. With attacks increasing at an alarming rate, more cities being declared "no-go" zones daily, 60+% unemployment among the populace (who is increasingly being subjected to terror and destruction in their lives), and general unrest among the people, seeing an election in january materialize is not likely. Any such election will be cited as fraud by the insurgents(the logic and accuracy of their rhetoric matters not), giving them new fuel to fight on. It seems to me as i infer from our actions and their results thus far that we are failing. No candidate will offer an answer-Kerry because he has none and Bush because he is wingin' it. No, Bush will be reelected. But guess what-he(and the neocon honks behind him) will not solve the problem in iraq, afghanistan without being bold. (Do)es he(they) have it in him(them) to solve the middle east equation? I dont believe so. Mr. Bush-please take care of our ailing domestic environmental policies and habitat; you must!encourage conservation and ecological priciples througout the globe. (He probably wont do this) Mr. Bush-Please contribute to the PEACEFUL solution to the problem in Israel and Palestine. Thereby he will have sewed what could not be so.(If they(He) is smart he'll do this) Mr. Bush-Take all of our troops from Germany, Okinawa, South Korea and most every person in the 750+ bases that exist in over 125 countries HOME. Do not withdraw from Iraq or afghanistan-SOLVE THE PROBLEM.(i will expound upon this in another post)- Mr Bush-institute and become remebered for completely reforming the campaign finance system and the underlying framework for supporting politics in America. Give us real contribution limits without loopholes and transparency in reporting. Mr Bush-reform our tax system-(corporate!!!! and personal)remove all caveats, and make it simple to understand: just imagine YOU were trying to fill out the form. Mr. BushMr. Bush-DO these things. please. for the survival of american democracy.