Just like the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf didn’t seem to change the minds of many Congressmen and Senators, the Huge Wikileak dump of documents about the War in Afghanistan didn’t change the minds of many Congressmen and Senators. All but 12 of the Republicans in the House voted for War Funding and we are waiting to see how many Republicans will vote for the Energy Bill since it has been pushed back till after the Summer Recess of the Senate.
From the NY Times on the House Vote for War Funding:
House Approves Money for Wars, but Rift Deepens
The House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday to provide $59 billion to continue financing America’s two wars, but the vote showed deepening divisions and anxiety among Democrats over the course of the nearly nine-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.
The 308-to-114 vote, with strong Republican support, came after the leak of an archive of classified battlefield reports from Afghanistan that fueled new debate over the course of the war and whether President Obama’s counterinsurgency strategy could work.
But Mr. Obama and top military officials said Tuesday that the disclosure of the documents should not force a rethinking of America’s commitment to the war. As Mr. Obama told reporters in the Rose Garden, “While I’m concerned about the disclosure of sensitive information from the battlefield that could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations, the fact is these documents don’t reveal any issues that haven’t already informed our public debate on Afghanistan.”
On a day of continuing political and military fallout over the leaked reports, Pentagon officials said that Pfc. Bradley Manning, 22, an Army intelligence analyst arrested last month on charges of leaking a video of an American helicopter attack in Iraq and charged this month with downloading more than 150,000 classified diplomatic cables, was a “person of interest” in an Army criminal investigation to find who provided the battlefield reports to the group WikiLeaks.
Administration officials said passage of the spending bill, which now goes to Mr. Obama for his signature, showed that the leak had not jeopardized Congressional support for the war and noted that the Senate passed the measure last week with no objection. Democratic leaders in the House said the Congress needed to act to provide the money troops overseas.
“The president is taking a wise and balanced approach in Afghanistan, and it deserves our support,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat and majority leader.
In the House vote, 148 Democrats and 160 Republicans backed the war spending, but 102 Democrats joined 12 Republicans in opposing the measure. Last year, 32 Democrats opposed a similar midyear spending bill. Among those voting against the bill on Tuesday was Representative David R. Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, the panel responsible for the measure.
Some of the Democratic opposition stemmed from the decision by party leaders to strip from the bill money that had been included in the original House version to help address the weak economy at home, including funds to help preserve teachers’ jobs. But some of those voting against it said they were influenced by the leaked documents, which highlight the American military’s struggles in Afghanistan and support claims that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence service were helping the Taliban.
“All of the puzzle has been put together and it is not a pretty picture,” said Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts. “Things are really ugly over there. I think the White House continues to underestimate the depth of antiwar sentiment here.”
More from this article on the confirmation hearing for the replacement of Gen. Patraeus for Central Command, Gen James Mattis and his views on Wikileaks…..
On another part of Capitol Hill, at a confirmation hearing for Gen. James N. Mattis to lead the military’s Central Command and oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee pressed General Mattis about the course of the war.
Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, pointedly asked General Mattis whether he agreed that a July 2011 deadline for the start of American withdrawals from Afghanistan would mean shifting from the current troop-intensive counterinsurgency strategy to an “increasingly important emphasis” on counterterrorism. In other words, should not the United States use the date to begin moving toward a more limited strategy of hunting down insurgents without trying to rebuild Afghanistan? General Mattis quickly agreed.
“I think that is the approach, Senator,” he said.
General Mattis and two Republicans on the panel, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, used the occasion to denounce the leaks, which Mr. McCain said were “simply an extended footnote to a well-known reading of recent history.”
General Mattis agreed with Mr. McCain. “One of the newspaper headlines was that war is a tense and dangerous thing,” he said. “Well, if that is news, I don’t know who it’s news to that’s on this planet.”
In his opening statement, General Mattis declared, “Despite any recent papers leaked to the media, we are remaining in the region; we are not leaving.”
General Mattis, who is expected to be confirmed by the committee and the full Senate, is to replace Gen. David H. Petraeus, whose tour at Central Command was cut short when Mr. Obama asked him to take command of the allied mission in Afghanistan after Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was relieved.
Even with 102 of the Democrats and 12 of the Republicans voting against the funding, it looks like, for now, this war will go on. We need an anti war protest the size of the Viet Nam protest to get through to these “leaders”. And here at home, at least two thirds of this nation is suffering from our economy. Doesn’t make sense. But lately not much does!
Tags: Afghan War, counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, Gen James Mattis, House, Obama, War Funds, Wikileaks
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GrammaLeaks…..
Graham: Prosecute WikiLeaks
if it only were that easy don’t you think the bush and cheney criminal enterprise would be in the hague for war crimes
which by the way would be the only just outcome of these leaks
Deficit-cutting ax may fall on Social Security
The Social Security system today faces a threat greater than the drive for partial privatization by George W. Bush.
Public opinion polls consistently show that Americans don’t want Social Security trimmed. The median retiree benefit at present is about $14,000 a year, hardly lavish. But Altman suspects the commission might sell Congress a plan to cut benefits, along with other deficit-reducing measures, as a necessity, albeit an unpopular one.
Congress, in passing health-care reform, didn’t achieve major cost cuts, says Dean Baker, codirector of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, a liberal think tank in Washington. The medical, health insurance, and drug industries were too powerful, he says. So conservatives are striving to get savings out of Social Security. What’s developing is a spirited battle between right and left. When Alex Lawson, communications director of Social Security Works, caught former Sen. Alan Simpson, co-chairman of the commission, outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building after a recent closed-door session of a commission study group, Mr. Lawson’s video of the exchange caught fire online.
Mr. Simpson said Social Security payments exceeded revenues as of several weeks ago, that the commission was considering 15 options to deal with this problem, and that it wanted to “stabilize” the system, not balance the budget on the backs of Social Security recipients. His use of the term “lesser people” caught the attention of MoveOn.org, a liberal political-action group.
With unemployment high and many jobless choosing early retirement, experts aren’t surprised that Social Security has seen revenues drop and costs rise. Altman points out that payroll tax revenues and interest on the $2.5 trillion Social Security Trust Fund are adequate to cover benefits. Trustees of that fund and the Medicare Fund were due to issue their annual report in the spring, but the US Treasury says it won’t be ready until August or so, because of difficulty in calculating the effect of health-care reform.
Read More
Several House Democrats ask New York’s Rangel to resign
WASHINGTON — Several Democrats in the House of Representatives are calling on Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., to resign instead of facing a public ethics inquiry that could damage the party’s chances at the polls this fall.
Rangel stepped down this spring as the powerful chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee after he was admonished for violating House rules by taking corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean.
Rangel reportedly is in negotiations to settle the charges, but if he doesn’t, on Thursday he’ll face a trial-like session of a special House subcommittee.
The exact nature of the ethics violations he faces won’t be revealed until the subcommittee meets, although Rangel has faced a lengthy probe for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets, improper use of several rent-controlled apartments in his Harlem district, fundraising efforts for a college center that bears his name, and failing to pay taxes on property he owns in the Dominican Republic.
This week, Democratic Reps. Walt Minnick of Idaho and Rep. Betty Sutton of Ohio called on Rangel to quit.
Rangel on Tuesday took time to attend a Congressional Black Caucus briefing on post-earthquake rebuilding efforts in Haiti.
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And they say he may run for President?
SOMEONE BUY THUNE A CALCULATOR….
Politico reported this week that Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is trying to “build up his policy credentials,” in advance of a possible presidential campaign in 2012. With that in mind, the conservative, unaccomplished senator intends to “make a name for himself on budgetary matters.”
He’s off to a rough start.
Mathematically, no.
Thune thinks this approach would eliminate the deficit in 10 years, but he forgot to do the math, so he’s off by an entire decade*. It’s understandable for van Sustern to mess this up — she’s a Fox News personality — but this is the senator’s own plan, intended to give him credibility in advance of a national campaign.
Someone couldn’t let him borrow a calculator?
Arithmetic aside, if Thune’s idea is part of a larger effort to “build up his policy credentials,” the senator might need a back-up plan. His scheme seems like a pretty thin gimmick — task some committee with coming up with ideas to reduce the deficit without raising taxes. At that point, Congress would be free to ignore the committee’s ideas.
The reason it’s hard to take Thune’s national ambitions seriously is that he doesn’t seem to know anything about anything. Think back over the last couple of years — when was the last time you remember Thune saying or doing something noteworthy? There was that time a year ago when he urged President Obama not to pick a gay Supreme Court nominee, which came soon after his argument that economic recovery efforts are bad because $1 trillion, if stacked by $100 bills, would make a very tall pile.
When Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) pushed a measure to protect victims of sexual assault who work for defense contractors — the Jamie Leigh Jones effort — Thune dismissed it as a “Daily Kos-inspired amendment.” Soon after, Thune said a colleague often disagrees with Republicans because he understands policy details.
This guy has presidential ambitions? Please.
* Update: Brian Beutler emails to note that he had a minor math error of his own, and that Thune was off by far more than a decade. Using Thune’s model, it would take 43 years to get deficits down to 1% of current levels, making his observation that much more incorrect. (And as some of you have also noted, if one reduces a debt by 10% a year indefinitely, it’s impossible to ever eliminate the total altogether.)
—Steve Benen
I got some good news today that my Dad passed the audition and will be moving into the dementia program in a different home. My sister thought that they were preparing to transfer (railroad, warehouse) him to what is unaffectionately known as the ‘drool ward’ at his current home. Seems as though he dazzled on some mental tests with a carefully placed pun here and there. I can hardly wait to change his voter registration since he will be returning to Eric Cantor’s district (I think).
I don’t think I heard anyone mention BRR heart throb Chris Hayes sitting side by side with Pat Buchanan on Morning Circle Jerk this morning.
@Zeek: BRR heart throb Chris Hayes
missed him; not even this powerful heartthrob will get me to tune in to that vile show; but i certainly do hope to see him again tonight at the rachel maddow place
speaking of which
wasn’t he cute yesterday? talking to his father in law! little porkchop…
wasn’t he cute yesterday? talking to his father in law! little porkchop…
I believe it is Lambchop Mire
@mire: Speaking of his father-in-law. I’ve met him. He was a reporter on our local NBC station for awhile and then he moved to ABC. Actually I met him at the airport cafeteria. We were both going for coffee. I just started to talk to him and we had a nice conversation. I don’t think he knew that I knew who he was. I just talked to him like he was a regular person and never even hinted I knew he was a tv reporter.
@mhappenow: sorry, yeah you may be right, michele, though i don’t see a big difference, cute either way
@toniD: yes toni, he seemed like a nice guy, which brings up, niceness seems to run in families
this father in law is more like our age group, let’s face it, the little porkchop could be our son
@mire: Reality bites, don’t it?
Kate Anne:
July 28, 2010 at 6:07 pm
…Yep, Prick of the Week is much more to the point then Wacko of the Week…
—————
It’s a tad sexist, which I’m mentioning because you didn’t (where’s a feminist when you need one?).
It is especially sexist in its full form, “Toni Dee’s Caveman Prick Of The Week.” However, the title is true to its origin, and its origin was spawned from a combination of toniD’s twisted mind and a jelly-filled caveman doll she should have re-gifted years ago. Oh, and a pin. I still don’t understand the jelly-filled aspect, but no matter.
Anyway, on those rare occasions when the Caveman Prick Of The Week is female (or, in the case of Ann Coulter, alleged female), it would be proper to alter Caveman to Cavewoman or the omnigender Caveperson. The prick part should remain the same. It’s as much verb as noun.
I strongly suggest that the intro music on the weekly BRR segment should be a clip from “You Do Something To Me” if maggiesboy can sneak around the royalty issue.
Here’s Ella singing the caveman’s part to toniD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wa0u2OFT08
(2 minutes, 20 seconds)
Lamb Chop:
Lamb Chop – A shy, soft-spoken, fleecy little lamb sock puppet with a voice of a child and a penchant for wisecracks featured on THE SHARI LEWIS SHOW/NBC/1960-63. Lamb Chop was born according to Shari Lewis, when her father said “If Mary had a little lamb, why not Shari?” In 1957, Shari Lewis first appeared with Lamb Chop on CAPTAIN KANGAROO, as the niece of Mr. Greenjeans. Lamb Chop was once described as a “6-year-old girl, very intuitive and very feisty, a combination of obstinacy and vulnerability….you know how they say fools rush in where wise men fear to go? Well, Lamb Chop would rush in, then scream for help.” In the 1980s Shari Lewis created a video featuring Lamb Chop called “Have I got a Story For You” about the art of teaching and telling stories. The character Lamb Chop has been immortalized in the shape of a huge balloon that first floated over Santa Ana , California, in the 2nd annual “Toys on Parade” which boasts the only giant balloon parade west of the Rockies. The 65-foot balloon took over two years to build. Constructed of rubber-coated nylon cloth, the balloon is covered with over 30 gallons of paint. Lamb Chop hands are 7-feet long and her buttons are five-feet across. In the 1990s Lamb Chop returned to TV in the motivational half-hour children’s program LAMB CHOP’S PLAY ALONG/PBS/1992.
@Crank Bait: You mean the
“Do do that voodoo that you do so well” part. We could possibly just cut that clip and call it “fair use”.
(I inadvertently posted this under the other older topper, so I repeat it.)
@toniD: My issue are peace (member of FOR.org), healthcare (aux./activist member of PNHP.org), the environment (Riverkeeper, Nature Conservancy, others), BuyAmerican/Jobs, plus others, too — FOR is interfaith and progressive (we agree to disagree on abortion) and besides being for peace and nonviolence was active in the early Civil Rights Movement (one of the FOR people trained MLK on nonviolence) and peace touches MOST/all of the other issues. Bottom line, it is ALL connected. No justice, no peace. Know justice, Know peace. Amen. Peace hugs!
@Crank Bait: It’s not jelly filled! It’s like those little red fish candy in texture.
I have to take a picture of the caveman so you can visualize him.
To be honest, I don’t know where I got him. It’s like he showed up one day when I was going through my divorce and he reminded me of my ex. He was caveman like, thus the resemblance.
@Zeek: Good for your dad. Not so good for Cantor.
@Crank Bait: Feminists sometimes use the combination term “pritch” — it sounds itchy, bitchy, witchy and we know where the pri-comes from
@mire: I love Chris Hayes, too — and sweet lamb chop was getting a little tongue-tied.
mire – did you play the clips?
Chris, er Lambchops was just a victim of Teleprompter failure. I think he did great for a part timer.
@Zeek: I didn’t know that there was a Dementia Program. That’s good. If they can help your dad in any way, even better!
My aunt had dementia and at first, I think she knew there was something wrong and would get very frustrated. If there had been a program back then it might have helped her.
BRR is such lovely background music when reading the blog….
For mire:
http://wikibin.org/articles/list-of-terms-of-endearment.html
(Note the absence of porcine references.)
@Kate Anne: Finally! Someone gets it! The music is not brr specific, I affectionately call it Muzak for Surfing the Net
Of course if you don’t know that Muzak is a music service known for playing the most painfully bland music ever, you won’t get the snarky irony.
Barney Frank reminds me of Mr. Magoo for some reason. He’s cartoonish!
@Crank Bait: I’m changin’ my nic to Loverpants.
I have no idea what it means but it just sounds cool as in “C’mon over here Loverpants“.
@toniD: tD, not to get too mired in the oily marsh grass but earlier this year my Dad was offered a new situation at his home that was supposed to key on helping with their dementia residents. More attention and activities to provide stimulation which is supposed to arrest the progression. It is a work in progress and a little too group and female oriented since there are more older women around than men. My sister thought that they were about to move him out to the last ‘resort’ and looked for a new situation that would not take away all of his remaining freedom and dignity.
He will be going into a new place that has worked with the dementia issue for a long time and on a more individual level. I think they will also not be moving him to the drool ward. The other place means well but it looked like there was an end game agenda starting to be executed.
@mb: That’s the line, you crafty DJ you.
Damned near everybody covered the tune at one time or another. I leave it to your Jockey sense to decide if it’s worth the trouble and which artist’s rendition to use.
When toniD first mentioned perforating her caveman doll, the “Do do that voodoo that you do so well” line popped into my head.
@mb: what clips? do you mean the msnbc from morning joe? no, my computer won’t let me; says i need to update the player and then it won’t let me update the player
yes, poor baby, felt sorry for him, but i’m sure he’ll survive; happens to the best of them; i remember when it happened to rachel when she was first starting and very nervous
@Crank Bait: terms of endearment: Man in the Pickle Suit
uh?
i’ll stick with my porcine; we have them in italian; “porcellino” is “sweet little pig” to messy babies, or any messy person we like
@toniD: always looks like he has a problem with denture
also no upper lip, and a slurred speech; maybe it is all due to poor dentures
@mire: No check your email.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzak_Holdings
…On 10 February 2009, Muzak Holdings LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection…
…On January 12, 2010, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the plan to reduce Muzak’s debt by more than half, allowing Muzak to officially emerge from bankruptcy…
…Channels available on Muzak via Satellite…
Frequency (Club/Dance)
Groove Zone (Current Dance) **Available only in On-Premise line-up**
Metro (Indie Electronica)
NuJazz (Acid Jazz)
NuLounge (Lounge)
Strobe (Electro Pop)
————————————–
The list is much longer and stranger than the excerpt above. If the Otis is rockin’, take the stairs.
Kate Anne:
July 28, 2010 at 9:18 pm
…I love Chris Hayes, too — and sweet lamb chop was getting a little tongue-tied.
—————-
He must have said Wikileaks ten times before he said Licky Weeks. He hesitated, couldn’t figure out what he’d said wrong, and moved on. He won my empathy after I stopped laughing.
@mire: I heard “My little piglet” around the house when I was a kid. Not sayin’ to whom it referred.
I pulled my Muzak smack.
@mire: I’ll stick with the porcini. Does that have anyting to do with truffle hunting pigs?
@Zeek: Glad your dad’s in good hands now. Let us know how things go.
I’m off for the night. Fading fast here.
Night all.
No one blogs at 4 a.m. anymore.
[sigh]
This Arizona Immigration law….
All the talk from the Arizonans are talking about border security, but there is nothing that I found, so far, in the Arizona law that addresses the border. It’s all about illegal aliens that are already in Arizona.
Headline I’m expecting to see:
Will Charlie Wrangle A Deal?
mb:
July 29, 2010 at 4:20 am
No one blogs at 4 a.m. anymore.
[sigh]
———–
Vampire bloggers rule the night. Sunshine is deadly to their paranoid rants and Professor Van Helsing searches the blog crypts by day, wielding a tin foil stake.
@Crank Bait: or
Will Rangel Wiggle Out Of Trouble?
Rangel Dangles On Ethics Charge
Verily alas I don’t have a million of ‘em
New Thread is up.
Now I have to go get ready for a Dr’s appt.
@mb: i’m probably alone in saying this, but right now i really don’t give a rat’s ass about what charlie rangel did or didn’t do. if they can let the bush administration slide without hanging someone for war crimes, anything charlie did isn’t noteworthy. factor in the deep crud that this country is in and the way the republicans and conservatives are doing everything they can do make it worse and its hard to say that rangel even makes for a good sound bite.
@dan-: The only thing it’s good for is it makes fodder for bad jokes.
@Zeek: gee i don’t know zeek, never thought about it; porcini must come from the “pig” root of the word but no idea why, lemme look it up, that’s an interesting question (and i do love porcini mushrooms)
this is all zeeks fault
i couldn’t find any reference to the origin of the word “porcini” but zeek may be right (the pigs that go look for truffles, which also happens in the same regions, same woods at the same time more or less)
so now zeek not only scoops me on new orleans stuff, he seems to know more than me about these in-grown italian subjects as well
http://italianfood.about.com/library/rec/blr0090.htm
Boletus edulis is one of God’s great gifts to humanity, a rich, heady, meaty mushroom that is amazingly versatile, delicate enough to give grace to an elegant stew or sauce, and yet vigorous enough to stand up to something as flavorful as a thick grilled steak accompanied by a good Barolo,
Porcini even look the way a mushroom should: A corpulent firm white stalk and a broad dark brown cap — if you’re out walking in a European forest and come across a clump under a chestnut tree, where they’re often found, you may well think you’ve stumbled into a fairy tale and look about for gnomes…
how i wish i was back in Tuscany; we used to go mushroom and chestnut hunting in the woods
http://italianfood.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.seetuscany.com/food/shrooms.htm