This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Antiwar crowd

  • Congress returns ready to battle the President

    I read that headline in the Washington Examiner this morning and the first thing I thought was “how is that news”? They might as well run a headline that says “Man biten by dog” or “Summer expected to be warm”.

    Congressmen returning from their Independence Day break are ready for battle with the White House, with Democrats decrying President Bush’s commutation of former aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence and fighting Bush’s latest claim of executive privilege.

    Both events occurred around Congress’ vacation, inflaming an intense battle between Democrats and Bush over his use of executive power. There was relatively high tension on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as majority Democrats – and increasing numbers of Republicans – challenged Bush’s Iraq war policy.

    In Roll Call this morning, it’s Stephen Dennis’ “Democrats Keep Focus on Libby“($);

    Incensed Democrats plan to use President Bush’s decision to spare Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, from prison to bolster their theme of a GOP “culture of corruption” with hearings this week and on the campaign trail.

    Democrats have few options to strike back at the president, given their slim majorities and the reticence of Democratic leaders to consider impeachment despite an increasing drumbeat from liberal activists and growing support in some polls. The number of Democratic co-signers to an impeachment resolution for Cheney introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is expected to inch higher this week but remains a tiny subset of the Democratic Caucus.

    But that doesn’t mean Democrats won’t try to score political points.

    According to Dennis, Conyers wants to start an investigation of the pardon and subpoena Libby (to what result, I can’t understand), a witness list is supposed to come out today. Wexler wants to censure Bush – what a crock of dung. Wasting time on stupid political popcorn farts. Meanwhile, Emily Pearce ($) writes, also in Roll Call, that Reid probably won’t get any of the spending bills he needs to pass this year;

    While July is often reserved for appropriations bills in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has set aside very little time to complete even one or two bills this month, despite the fact that the chamber’s conservatives appear in no mood to help smooth the way and President Bush is expected to veto the majority of spending measures that reach his desk.

    So, instead of doing their job in Congress, the Democrats are just making noise. Useless, pointless political noise.  

    Ya know what headline I’d reallly like to see? “Congress returns ready to battle terrorists”, or “Congress outraged by al Qaeda connections in Glasgow plot” or “Democrats Keep Focus on the War Against Terror”.

    Since when is it more important for our elected representatives to be more ready to do battle with our other elected representatives than they are ready to do battle with the enemies of our people? Or why is it more acceptable to the American people that the politicians are more focused on “scoring political points” than they are on scoring wins against the enemies that want to destroy us all?

    Me? I’ve returned ready to fight all of the enemies of our people – especially the ones in Congress. 

  • This is why I hate the pompous scum on the Left

    Someone tell Elizabeth Edwards that it’s numbnuts like this Larry C. Johnson who “lowers the political dialogue at precisely the time we need to raise it” not Ann Coulter;

    Preliminary, unconfirmed reports indicate a nuclear blast has occurred at Glasgow’s international airport.  No one has seen the mushroom cloud or heard the blast, but something by God is happening and it must be terrible.  There is smoke and fire.  In fact, a car is on fire.  It must be Al Qaeda.  Only Al Qaeda knows how to set themselves on fire inside a car.  Please.  Flee to the hills (leave you doors unlocked).  Oh the humanity!

    I found the link at Little Green Footballs because I don’t usually venture into the slime that call themselves the great thinkers on the Left. I found this, with a helpful assist from The Conservative Article Annals who trolled the depths of The Daily Kos;

    The Al Qeida or Real IRA wannabes failed.  Chemistry and physics were not on their side.  They did succeed in getting the inept press led by Faux News to to characterize the cars “as bombs that would have killed hundreds of people.”  

    The press managed to scare and terrorize people again.

    Of course, it’s the press that’s terrorizing Britons, not “asians”. I thought the whole idea of terrorism is to frighten people – successful in attaining a large body count of innocents or not, that’s what crashing a flaming car into a crowded airport achieves.

    Yeah, so far UKers have been lucky this year – but the thing about amateur terrorists is that the ones who live, learn from those who didn’t. The intent is just as dangerous with or without the skill.

    John Edwards said the global war on terror is a bumpersticker slogan, Michael Moore repeats “there is no terrorist threat” every chance he gets. The Democrat presidential candidates think that fighting terror is a spigot we can turn off whenever  we want. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi think that the war on terror is just something that gets in the way of their social agenda.

    I’m pretty sure this idiot Larry C. Johnson, on September 10th, 2001, would’ve scoffed at 19 Arabs trying to crash four airplanes into buildings armed only with boxcutters, too. Or a couple of rednecks who parked a truckload of manure in front of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma.

    Just like the bozos on the Left who scoffed at the Dix Six and all of the other cells the feds have rolled up in the last five years. Yeah, Richard Reid was a dope – but he got explosives on a plane. If he hadn’t sweat so much that his matches didn’t light on the first strike, he would have taken that plane out, too.

    Yeah, these terrorists are incompetent morons- somehow the profession of suicidal maniacs doesn’t attract those who might otherwise become rocket scientists – until they get successful, and it only takes once. 

    At least this Canadian fellow, Red Tory, admits it’s a real terrorist attack, but somehow the fact that it happened in the UK, proves that Bush is wrong about fighting terrorists in their own backyards;

    …if nothing else, they point out yet again the fallacy of the Big Fib© still being trotted out by Bush-Cheney about the importance of “fighting the terrorists there so we don’t have to fight them here” or as Stephen Harper put it last month when speaking at Petawawa, “the risk of terrorism here if we do not confront it there.” As has been demonstrated by the al Qaeda-related London bombings of 2005 that killed 52 and the Madrid train bombings that killed 191, and by numerous failed or thwarted plots in recent years, involvement in the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan provide absolutely no defense from terrorism at home. Nothing could be further from the truth in fact and its time the government stopped indulging itself in this fractured fairy tale when attempting to drum up support for the war in Afghanistan.

    So we should just sit there and take it, I suppose, cowering in our basements until the next strike. So, Leftists, which is it? Are they not a serious threat or are they proof that we can’t take pre-emptive measures to stop their attacks? Or are ya’all just so damned smart that any excuse will suffice?

    Mr. Red Tory should take the time read Sergeant Grumpy;

    The Islamists do not simply want us to leave them alone, to live and let live. They want us to submit to the will of Islam, to abandon enlightenment and reason, humanity and civility. To live according to the tribal arabian cruelty that subjugates women, crushes dissent and dialogue, and takes away every freedom we have fought so hard to enjoy.

    Where do they learn such hate? Is it from the American and Israeli gunships? No, it is from two of the most powerful institutions in any culture for shaping the minds of it’s people – religion and education.

    I guess we’ve all forgotten about the bomb in the airport at Ibiza, Spain, earlier today haven’t we? The best details are at Spanish Pundit. It serves to remind us that we need to fight all terrorists, whether they’re al Qaeda or ETA or FARC or whoever.

  • Spineless RINOs give Reid hope

    According to S.A. Miller in today’s Washington Times, Limp-rag Lugar and Voinovich (RINO – OH) have given Dingy Harry Reid hope;

    Ohio Sen. George V. Voinovich yesterday called for a “military disengagement” from Iraq, the second Republican this week to voice doubts about President Bush’s troop-surge strategy while simultaneously discrediting Democrats’ plans for an abrupt pullout.

    Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a speech Monday that the president should “downsize the U.S. military’s role in Iraq” and forge a new Middle East strategy.

    Democratic leaders and antiwar groups seized upon the remarks, especially Mr. Lugar’s, as evidence their plan to isolate Mr. Bush from his Republican allies was working.

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who vows by fall to pass a troop-withdrawal bill, called Mr. Lugar’s speech “a turning point” in the war debate.

    But Mr. Voinovich and Mr. Lugar oppose Democratic alternatives, including pullout timetables they say would undermine U.S. credibility.

    So why’d they even say what they said? As Jules Crittenden wrote “[Lugar] and Voinovich don’t want to be against a U.S. troop presence in Iraq.  They just doesn’t want to be for it.”

    Why couldn’t these two goofballs carry their monkey-asses up to the White House and talk to the President in private instead of shooting off their big, fat mouths in public?

    The lawmakers’ careful moves to challenge Mr. Bush while not outright joining antiwar Democrats highlights the rocky political landscape confronting Republicans as the war they have loyally supported grows more unpopular each day.

    Hey! Dumbasses! War is always unpopular, for Pete’s sake. And the only reason it’s dragged out this long is because stupid morons such as yourselves won’t

    Mr. Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, plan in September to pursue more measures to end the war.

    They backed down last month when Mr. Bush vetoed a timetable to pullout troops by April. Next time, they hope enough Republicans will defect to give them the two-thirds majority vote needed to override a veto.

    Of course, two Republicans don’t mean squat in the Big Scheme of Things, but I’m tired of Leftists who email me these articles about some Republican that the Left thought was the stupidest moron on the planet last week – but suddenly he’s a freakin’ rocket surgeon because he agrees incidently to some goofball Leftist tenet – yeah, I’m talking about you, Bink.

  • Leftist hyperbole on parade

      There was a demonstration in front of the White House yesterday called “Voices Against Terrorism” – sounds like a good reason to protest, doesn’t it? Except the “terrorism” they’re “against” is that which is inflicted (supposedly) on people by the Bush Administration. According to Washington Post’s Jenna Johnson;

    In 1996, [Sister Dianna] Ortiz founded the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International, which brings together survivors and advocates for human rights issues, and she began to travel across the country to tell her story. Participants at this weekend’s vigil, the coalition’s 10th, included 75 survivors from some of the 150 countries the organization cites for practicing and condoning torture.

    “We’re not just telling it — we’re reliving it,” Ortiz said. “We feel like we are back in our cell.”

    This year, survivors and activists had a specific mission: demanding the repeal of the Military Commissions Act, which President Bush signed in October. Coalition members say they think the act is unconstitutional, is a severe violation of human rights and essentially legalizes acts of torture, she said.

    The act establishes procedures for conducting military investigations and hearings for suspected terrorists and combatants. One of the activists, Ray McGovern, who was a CIA analyst for 27 years, said the act ignores prisoner rights established by the Geneva Conventions and the 1996 U.S. War Crimes Act.

    Well, ya know what, I went to the Military Commissions Act (.pdf), known to the legal world as Public Law 109-366, and read all 39 pages. There is nothing in the law that “legalizes acts of torture”. It doesn’t even address torture except to make it a crime and forbid it’s use to extract evidence. It doesn’t violate the Constitution because it’s mandated purpose (948b) is;

    This chapter establishes procedures governing the use of military commissions to try alien unlawful enemy combatants engaged in hostilities against the United States for violations of the law of war and other offenses triable by military commission.

    That’s it - nothing about American citizens, so it can’t be unConstitutional. In fact, it specifically forbids the admisibility of evidence extracted using torture during Military Commission procedings;

    ‘‘§ 948r. Compulsory self-incrimination prohibited; treatment of statements obtained by torture and other statements.
    ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No person shall be required to testify against himself at a proceeding of a military commission under this chapter.
    ‘‘(b) EXCLUSION OF STATEMENTS OBTAINED BY TORTURE.—A statement obtained by use of torture shall not be admissible in a military commission under this chapter, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.
    ‘‘(c) STATEMENTS OBTAINED BEFORE ENACTMENT OF DETAINEE TREATMENT ACT OF 2005.—A statement obtained before December 30, 2005 (the date of the enactment of the Defense Treatment Act of 2005) in which the degree of coercion is disputed may be admitted only if the military judge finds that—
    ‘‘(1) the totality of the circumstances renders the statement reliable and possessing sufficient probative value; and
    ‘‘(2) the interests of justice would best be served by admission of the statement into evidence.‘‘(d) STATEMENTS OBTAINED AFTER ENACTMENT OF DETAINEE TREATMENT ACT OF 2005.—A statement obtained on or after December 30, 2005 (the date of the enactment of the Defense Treatment Act of 2005) in which the degree of coercion is disputed may be admitted only if the military judge finds that—
    ‘‘(1) the totality of the circumstances renders the statement reliable and possessing sufficient probative value;‘‘(2) the interests of justice would best be served by admission of the statement into evidence; and
    ‘‘(3) the interrogation methods used to obtain the statement do not amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment prohibited by section 1003 of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.

    Of course, the Washington Post couldn’t bother to find that section of the law before publishing their story, could they? Nope, they just quote the moonbats – cuz that’s much better copy than some dry old facts;

    “The act needs to be banned for practical and moral reasons,” McGovern told yesterday’s crowd. An opponent of the Iraq war, he accused then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in May 2006 of lying about prewar intelligence during the question-and-answer session of a speech in Atlanta.

    I guess Ms. Johnson couldn’t help but inject a bit of the standard “Bush lied, troops died” meme into her obviously biased “story”. 

    Mr. McGovern would do himself a favor by actually reading the Act instead of going off half-cocked, but that wouldn’t serve his search for fame very well, would it?

    The Act, which grants non-Americans the same Fourth and Fifth Amendment protections as the Bill of Rights, is a reasonable law, under the circumstances. Given that many of the nations from which these suspected criminals come would execute them nearly as soon as they are apprehended, it’s pretty damn civilized.

    I think it’s kind of disingenuous for the Left to be so upset about what they consider terrorism committed by the United States but they wouldn’t dare speak out against Islamofacists who behead journalists for video-fare, send six-year-olds with bomb vests into battle,  and hide under females’ clothing to perpetrate their crimes.

    But the Left, and these want-wits in particular, make wild, unfounded accusations hoping no one will ever have the gumption or the wherewithall to prove them liars. They depend on ignorance and laziness.

    Ms. Johnson concludes her front page piece with a quote from terror victim, Sister Ortiz;

    Ortiz said that the protest and vigil were significant and that her goal is to raise public awareness.

    “When I first came back, very few people were speaking out,” Ortiz said. The torture survivors in this country “believe that we don’t have the right to be silent. We have the moral responsibility to speak the truth.”

    I agree and sympathize, Sister, however, your message is being diluted by Leftist hyperbole and you’ve become a political tool of the anti-Bush moonbats.

  • More Think Progress panty-wadding

    I just thought this was funny from Think Progress. Apparently, the “progressives” are in a snit because they think that Brit Hume’s Special Report panel called them names the other night. The headline reads “‘Fox News All-Stars’ Bash Progressive Bloggers As ‘Pungent,’ ‘Profane,’ ‘A Pox’”

    Let’s start with the “pox” comment – from their own transcript;

    MORT KONDRACKE, ROLL CALL: Well, I think they do. And they are the leftward pressure on the Democratic Party that the right-wing talk show hosts are on the Republican party. And between the two of them they manage to polarize even further an already polarized politics, making it increasingly difficult to get any American problems solved, like health care, or the war in Iraq, or sensible terrorism policy.

    And all of the candidates are pandering to them. I mean, the democratic candidates are pandering to them just as much as the Republicans candidates are pandering to the right. And they were doing it again today.

    HUME: Which group, would you say, is more influential with in their respective party?

    KONDRACKE: No, I think a pox on both their houses.

    Wishing a pox on both Republican and Democrat candidates means that liberal bloggers are a pox, apparently. I don’t know how they arrived at that one – unless it’s just to get the readers pumped up – or they’re fairly illiterate and unfamiliar with the phrase.

    But Charles Krauthammer is the one that really gets their creative juices flowing with this comment;

    KRAUTHAMMER: It is interesting, there are conservative blogs, but I think, at least the ones I read, they are more analytical and restrained. The more liberal blogs are a lot more pungent and profane, but political.

    So to prove Mr. Krauthammer wrong, one commenter in a very reasoned and thoughtful post answers;

    Foxnews has NO CREDIBILITY.

    Except with Nazi azzhole-lickers of MURDEROUS WAR CRIMINAL Bush.

    Just PURE PROPAGANDA, and by the way, Natalie Holloway is STILL MISSING!!!

    Comment by Mr. Bush Goes To Hell — June 20, 2007 @ 12:07 pm

    How could Mr. Krauthammer have been so wrong?

  • Haditha story wrapping up

    I’ve wanted to write about all of the good news coming out of the Haditha investigation, but there’s no way I could do as good a job at it as Robin, my bestest new buddy, at Chickenhawk Express (who recently added me to her Blogroll – thanks, Robin).

    Robin, who also writes at Newsbusters, has been churning out really good updates on the Haditha Article 32 investigation (equivalent to a grand jury) of Lance Corporal Justin Sharrat over the last week or so here, here and here.

    For my part, I’ve been diligently calling John Murtha’s office every morning to ask when Murtha is going to apologize for calling LCpl Sharrat and his fellow Marines cold-blooded murderers. Every morning, I get the same answer – Representative Murtha hasn’t heard anything about the investigation.

    I think that’s funny because he was so sure about the information he had before the investigation began;

    Murtha, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said at a news conference Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an internal investigation will show that “there was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”

    So, why doesn’t he have information that been publicly available? A year ago, he told ABC News;

    Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., told “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” in an exclusive appearance that reports a group of U.S. Marines may have killed 24 Iraqi civilians following an IED explosion in Haditha, Iraq, was “worse than Abu Ghraib,” calling their actions war crimes committed “in cold blood.”

    Murtha, a Marine veteran who six months ago called for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, added, “There has to have been a cover-up. There’s no question about it.”

    Wouldn’t a rational person, who staked their reputation on such an damning statement, want to keep up with the story? I guess we’re not talking about a rational person here, though, are we? We’re talking about a hateful little pussbag, fatass who gives not a moment’s thought to this nation’s security or the lives of the people who defend it. I think it’s time Murtha signed his Form 180, too. I have trouble believing that this coward spent even a minute in the Marine Corps.

    And where are the headlines in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the LA Times admitting they were wrong in their initial accusations?

  • Churchill watch

    A reader (Frankly Opinionated) of my battle buddy COBDanny’s (who emailed me the tip last night) blog at Crotchety Old Bastard wrote to faux-Indian, faux-combat vet, faux-intellectual Ward Churchill, he of “little Eichmanns” fame, criticizing him for wasting our oxygen, basically.

    Well, if you follow the link to COB’s site you’ll notice the famous paratrooper and long-range recon super-stud Churchill, who to his credit answered Mr. Frankly, however, to his discredit, can’t tell the difference between a gold combat star on jump wings (signifying a parachute jump in combat) and senior paratrooper wings. Anyone with more than an hour in the Army knows the difference.

    Well, Danny has written Churchill back and challenged him to verify his military record. I won’t be holding my breath, but I doubt egomaniac Churchill can resist the temptation to take up Danny’s challenge.

    In case Ward-baby googles his own name and finds himself here (as is the wont of most egomaniacs), he can sign his Form 180 (please don’t wait for John Kerry, faux hero of our Christmas ’68 faux-invasion of faux-Cambodia, to do it first) here. 

  • Harry, 19% is all you can get!

    I really hate to keep beating up Harry Reid, especially since so many others are doing it at the same time, but he just makes it so easy. Reading the Washington Times this afternoon I find this article by S. A. Miller who tells us Harry is changing his strategy;

    Mr. Reid began the week Monday by vowing to “push very, very hard” for troop withdrawal from Iraq in a Defense Department budget authorization bill in two weeks.
        The next day — as the Senate began work on the energy bill and tried to revive immigration legislation — the Nevada Democrat and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California sent a letter to the White House imploring the president to heed the Democrat-led Congress’ call for a pullout.
        That same day, Mr. Reid railed against the war and U.S. military leaders in a conference call with a group of liberal bloggers.
        And yesterday, he said the Pentagon’s quarterly report on Iraq shows that President Bush’s war strategy is not working.
        “Attacks on U.S. forces are up, not down,” said Mr. Reid, who with Mrs. Pelosi last month capitulated to Mr. Bush’s demand for a war-funding bill without a troop-withdrawal timetable.

    Attacks are up not down. You sure, Harry? Been to Iraq lately? Karl at Protein Wisdom says otherwise. And besides, the Washington Post tells us that the “surge” was just put in place this morning. So why would he say that attacks are up and not down all of a sudden evaluating a strategy that hasn’t even been fully deployed yet?

       Just 19 percent of voters nationwide had a favorable opinion of Mr. Reid in a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted last weekend — down from 26 percent a month ago and still lower than Mr. Bush’s 35 percent favorable rating. Congress’ job-approval rating also is tanking, down to a 23 percent in polls this week by NBC/Wall Street Journal and Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

    So who does he think is going to approve of him? That other 5% of the hardcare Left that want immediate withdrawal from Iraq? It’s the surrender talk that got him down to that 19% in the first place. Who is advising him? Why is he trying to talk to Americans by going to Think Progress?

       Mr. Reid’s early return to the war debate signals to the party’s antiwar base that it still tops the agenda, a Democratic leadership aide said.
        “That’s what the base is demanding,” the aide said.

    That’s not leadership – that’s pandering.