In a surprise announcement two days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert decided to step down as Israel’s leader. In the last six months, he’s been riddled with scandal over accepting large sums of money from a wealthy American entrepreneur. Not to mention have single digit public support over his handling of the 2005 Lebanon War.
Unfortunately, his speech didn’t exactly help his public image:
It’s a little strange that Olmert and Bush are leaving office at nearly the same time. Olmert will step down after his parties elections in September just before the American general elections voting for Bush’s successor.
Olmert would be losing the support of his jerk-off mate either way. Doesn’t seem like a hard decision to vacate the Jewish throne…
Corresponding from Israel and taking prisoners. hmmm… maybe that was a little out of taste. (Gilad anyone?) No matter because she’s back and ready to bring some news from the the Holy Land. Consider me the veteran who k’vetchs…. the soldier who shmolders… the patriot who, er, now I’m just making the shit up.
Whether we like it or not, Israel has an imense affect on our foreign policy. It’s equally important to know what’s going on in the Middle East as it is to know about national issues (And the article about the 40 lb cat I just read about on drudgereport.com doesn’t count). That’s where I come in!
Maybe it was (President) Obama’s visit to Israel last week that has inspired me. Maybe it was the announcement last night that Prime Minister Olmert will resign as Israel’s leader. Either way, I’m expecting a group hug welcoming me back.
Residents of Flint, Michigan are saying no. So far.
Along the lines of the “Adopt a Highway” programs that many towns run, where individuals or businesses donate funds towards the upkeep of roads, the city of Flint is looking for folks to pony up $30,000 to put their corporate logos on police surveillance cameras so the city can afford the $420,000 it will have to pay for the planned 14 more cameras it would like to put up.
As if we didn’t see it coming, the White House released it’s speculated ‘09 deficit, and it’s a doozy.
The government’s budget deficit will surge past a half-trillion dollars next year, according to gloomy new estimates, a record flood of red ink that promises to force the winner of the presidential race to dramatically alter his economic agenda.
The deficit will hit $482 billion in the 2009 budget year that will be inherited by Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain, the White House estimated Monday. That figure is sure to rise after adding the tens of billions of dollars in additional Iraq war funding it doesn’t include, and the total could be higher yet if the economy fails to recover as the administration predicts.
The administration actually underestimates the deficit since it leaves out about $80 billion in war costs. In a break from tradition — and in violation of new mandates from Congress — the White House did not include its full estimate of war costs
Well now that is just outstanding! Way to go America! Someone call the Guiness Book because we’re setting records here people!
Of course, Bush is leaving soon, so what will the next President have to do to clean up this mess? Well first off, they may have to go back on some of their promises.
“Whoever becomes the next president will have a very, very sobering first week in office,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
McCain promises to renew the full roster of Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 and add many more for businesses and upper income people who pay the alternative minimum tax. The Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2010 and renewing them would soon cost well over $200 billion a year. Eliminating the alternative minimum at the same time would cost almost as much.
Obama would repeal tax cuts on wealthier taxpayers and investors but would leave most of the Bush tax cuts in place while seeking additional cuts for senior citizens, the middle class and the working poor. And he also wants lots of new spending for health care, education and many other federal programs.
“There’s a total disconnect between today’s report and what we’re hearing on the campaign trail,” said Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition budget watchdog group.
It’s amazing that we’ve gone from a record 10 year economic growth and surplus budget, to a record of a different sort in less than a decade. And while it’s taken more minds to build this disaster than can be counted, we still have to give some credit to the man who declared himself “The Decider”. Of course, to know how we got this far, maybe we first need to know how he got this far- so, here’s an added bonus readers…
The trailer for Oliver Stone’s “W.” the bio-flick about our Commander in Chief.
note: I have not seen the movie, I don’t know how good or bad it will be, or how accurate or inaccurate it might be. However, the fact that the movie is even made and being released is newsworthy enough for me.
In Postville, Iowa, a town that likely none of us had heard of until just now, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials hit Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meat processing plant, in May of this year- arresting about 400 people.
Today the families of those 400 plant employees went to Congress to make their voices heard- saying that the raid was handled violently and inhumanely, and that rather than punishing the hundreds of people who just wanted to work, and the hundreds more affected by their arrests, the focus on punishment should be on the plant itself.
Even the Mayor of Postville has stepped up to say that all the raid succeeded in was tearing apart the community.
As of the moment the Congressional panel and the ICE have not returned calls placed by the associated press, but depending on the judgement that falls after this raid, the course for all other immigration issues could be changed from here out.
The Obama world tour that’s been recieving so much media attention in the past week or so, has hit it’s first real glitch, as a visit to wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany was cancelled. At first the reason for the cancellation was unclear with the Obama camp saying it had something to do with the trip being “inappropriate” as it was funded by the campaign and it would’ve been politicized by the Pentagon. But just today the military came forward to state that there had been restrictions placed on Obama and possethat only Obama and his travelling buddies from the Senate could enter the facility. No aides, no press. So basically, without the ability to play the trip up to the media, the whole thing was scrapped, making Obama’s sincerity seem a little questionable. But hey, politicians. When is their sincerity ever not in question?
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential candidate, introduced formal impeachment resolutions in the House of Representatives, listing numerous actions by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, and appeared as a witness at Friday’s hearing:
“The decision before us is whether Congress will endorse with its silence the methods used to take us into the Iraq war. The decision before us is whether to demand accountability for one of the gravest injustices imaginable. The decision before us is whether Congress will stand up to tell future presidents that America has seen the last of these injustices, not the first,” he said.
Standing in the way of formal impeachment hearings are not only the Republican party, but also Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. There are many who argue that for the Prez to be impeached he must have committed some grave offence that represented putting himself before the citizens of the U.S. and that such a thing has not occurred. However, others are saying that the offences committed against the Constitution itself are enough to warrant an impeachment.
As of the moment, it’s all just talk being thrown back and forth in a game of political posturing, but in an age where the past President was impeached for a blowjob that in fact affected no one but his immediate family, surely taking steps such as invasion of privacy, approving the use of torture, suspending habeas corpus, and countless other corruptions of the executive branch whether approved directly by the President, or by members of his hand-picked Cabinet, should be answered for.
If not, as former Congressman Bob Barr said, “If we don’t get a handle on this now, in some form or fashion, the next administration and the one after that, regardless of party, will take these abuses, these powers, these liberties with the fundamental institutions of our government, and take them to even higher and higher levels.”
Impeachment could become a preventative measure, to let the next governing body know that “we the people” will not allow such abuses to occur again.
Will impeachment happen? I have to admit it’s rather unlikely, but hey… I’ve been wrong before.
Today the House Democrats tried to open up 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which presently holds 700 million barrels. The 70 million barrels would only account for a 3 day supply for the citizens of the U.S., however in the past when the SPR had been tapped into it had relieved pressure at the pump in ‘91, ‘00, and ‘05.
The measure received a majority vote, however the proposal required a 2/3s vote to pass. The reasoning behind requiring a 2/3s vote as opposed to majority was so the Republicans could not add on an amendment allowing the off shore drilling proposition that’s been receiving so much coverage on the news lately.
As a result of not receiving the 2/3s vote, the House will now go on a 5 week vacation without having done anything to address our current oil crisis. Of course, had the measure passed the White House (read: Bush) said it would’ve been vetoed anyway.
There have been plenty of movies released in the past few years relating to the wars in the Middle East, from the recently released “Stop Loss” and ”Home of the Brave” for fictional accounts of what war and homecomings carry for our troops, to “Baghdad ER”, “Body of War”, and “No End in Sight” for documentaries ranging from the direct experiences of the men and women of the military, to the policies and backroom dealings that have occured throughout the entirety of the war.
…and people have been avoiding them all like the plague. Even the ones that recieved positive reviews.
I’m not going to speculate on why these have all pretty much gone unseen, instead I’m going to highlight a few things that are being shown right now that should be viewed.
The first is “Generation Kill”. A mini-series on HBO based on the book of the same name in which an embedded reporter joins a group of Marines during the initial invasion of Baghdad and documents his experiences. The book drew some heat on initial release due to the Marines’ outspoken displeasure with their leadership in some instances, but since has been placed as one of the books that “gets” what war is like for the guys on the ground. The series in being touted as staying close to it’s source material and being fair in it’s depictions of the individuals portrayed in both the book and the show.
The second thing that’s being worked on right now comes courtesy of MTV (who also produced “Stop Loss” which many said was one of the least politicized takes on the war in movies to date) and rapper Kanye West, called “Choose or Lose & Kanye West present: Homecoming”. The intent of the series is to highlight recently returned vets by sitting down with them and letting them discuss the difficulties faced in returning home. An extra step being taken in this show is the assistance being given by West and MTV under the name of the Dr. Donda West Foundation (named for West’s recently departed mother) to the vets in the form of student loan repayment, rent coverage, and making up the differences between college costs and the coverage of the G.I. Bill which in certain instances has proven insufficient.
I’ve mocked Kanye West in the past for his lack of internal censor and his outspoken statements (Bush doesn’t care about black people ring a bell? Not that I’m saying he was wrong, just that his delivery could use some work), but I have to say I think if handled correctly this could be a wonderful program, both to view, and for those it will help.
So there you go, things to watch out for while flipping the channels at home.
So, after much prompting and prodding from assorted oppositions, Prez hopeful Barack Obama made his way overseas to check out what’s going on. While meeting with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the topic of troop withdrawls in the face of improving conditions was brought up, and apparently the two men have the same goal in mind, removal of “combat troops” by 2010. Now, given that only 1/3 of all troops in Iraq are in fact “combat troops” what this means for support units is uncertain. So do not be mislead to believe that anyone is talking about us completely leaving Iraq behind, after all… we’re still in Korea aren’t we?
That said, should the troops be drawn back from Iraq, don’t expect them to be out of the clear, as there’s the current escalation in Afghanistan that still needs addressing. But that’s another topic for another time, right now it’s about Iraq, and their future.
As reported previously on this site, there is great pressure on al-Maliki from the rest of the Iraqi gov’t to see American presence greatly reduced in the near future, and so the horse they’re backing in this race, will be the one who’s more likely to do that for them. For better or worse, it’s their country, if they want us gone so they can step up and take care of themselves, why not give them the shot?
