Sanctimonious, Contemptible, Nauseating, Despicable
a rose Hypocrite by any other name...


"One might also argue," Vice President Cheney said in a speech on Monday, "that untruthful charges against the commander in chief have an insidious effect on the war effort." That would certainly be an ugly and demagogic argument, were one to make it. After all, if untruthful charges against the president hurt the war effort (by undermining public support and soldiers' morale), then those charges will hurt the war effort even more if they happen to be true. So one would be saying in effect that any criticism of the president is essentially treason.

Lest one fear that he might be saying that, Cheney immediately added, "I'm unwilling to say that" -- "that" being what he had just said. He generously granted critics the right to criticize (as did the president this week)."[source(this is an excellent article and you should read it if you have the time)]

Well shucks damn, ain't it nice of them to generously grant us the right to practice our Constitutional right to free speech!
Of course Cheney and Bush don't have to make the accusation that any criticism of the president is essentially treason, they have more than a few of their fellow republicans to make that assertion for them.
The arrogance of these people is unfreaking believable. They go around spouting their BS about wanting to spread democracy and freedom to the Middle East (actually that only applies to countries who's leaders are not bosom buddies with BushCo) and they have the audacity to assume they have the right to generously grant the citizens of this country that very same freedom and democracy.
posted by wanda at 1:56 AM

Happy Thanksgiving
from Podunt to your corner of the world



May your day be filled with love, peace, compassion, family and friends.
May your mind, body, and soul, be filled with the love you've so kindly shared with me.

There are many things for which I have to be thankful, not the least of which is all the wonderful people who so have so kindly and generously visited my little blog, and who've allowed me to be a part of their blogging community. I want you all to know that I value each and every one of you, and your opinions (okay, maybe some more than others). I hope you all will have a very blessed Thanksgiving!
posted by wanda at 3:22 PM

Their Finest Hour
the chickenhawks dance


This past weekend we saw Republicans at their best. The administration has been under serious pressure for the past few weeks to come up with some kind of realistic plan for an exit strategy for our troops in Iraq. The emergence of Rep. John Murtha (D. PA) and his demand that the administration come up with an immediate withdrawal plan (immediate meaning within the next six months) prevoked House Republicans into pulling an unprecidented 'showdown' stunt (an they call democrats 'drama queens'). Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced a measure called House Resolution 571 which called for the immediate termination of the deployment of US troops in Iraq. Take note here it was a REPUBLICAN who introduced this resolution, not a Democrat. While Murtha had introduced a detailed measure that called for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq "at the earliest practicable date,", Hunter's measure was a 'stunt' and was designed to embarrass Murtha and critics of the war. And like the measure itself, it failed. In fact what it did do is rip away the 'veneer' of so called patrotism of the republicans and allowed the world to see that for this administration/party it's all about their in your face, we got the power attitude.
When Rep Jean Schmidt stood on the House floor and said that Rep Danny Bubp (R.OH) a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves, told her to tell U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do." She was booed off the House floor. I guess Ms Schmidt and Mr Bubp failed to do their homework before making their accusations (although later Bubp was said to be distancing himself from Ms Schmidt's remarks). Had they done so they would have known that Murtha is a decorated Vietnam veteran, a veteran MARINE Corps Reserve Colonel, and the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. Not a wise move for one Marine to call a fellow Marine a coward. Espcially when one of the two is a decorated war hero while the other is a mere 'reservist'.
Not that decorated war hero's are off limits to Republicans. In fact, decorated war veterans seem to be a prime target of this chickenhawk adminstration/Republican party. I will never forget the slander and trash talking the Bush campaign waged against John McCain in 2000. They called him unstable, claiming his years as a POW had left him with an uncontrolable temper. They claimed a child adopted by McCain and his wife ( a black child) was actually McCain's 'love child' from an illicit affair. All of it LIES. Of course I don't have to remind anyone of the lies and halftruths that were slandered against John Kerry during the Presidential campaign. Nor of their smear campaign against former Georgia Senator Max Cleland. No, it's very clear what Republicans think of those who were too stupid to get themselves deferments (some got as many as FIVE) or have rich daddies and mommies who could get them cushy jobs in the 'Guard' so that they wouldn't have to risk life and limb in Vietnam.
I suspect years from now when some soldier who's currently putting his/her life on the line in Iraq, comes home and runs for public office, they will find a way to discredit his/her time in the military as well. Oh wait, they already did that. That's how [that bitch] Jean Schmidt (QUEEN of the CHICKENHAWKS) got herself elected.
The way I see it, the message republicans are sending to the troops is, "stay over there as long as WE (the CHICKENHAWKS) think you need to be there, fight for your life (and limbs), give all you have to give, and then give some more, and when you do get to come home, don't expect us to honor you and treat you like some special kind of war hero (whether alive or in a pine box). And if you should decide at some point to go into politics don't think for a minute that we won't use anything and everything we can against you, including your 'military service'."

Yep, I'd say this is the Republican Party's finest hour.
posted by wanda at 3:39 PM

Thank You For Being A Friend

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who sent such inspiring messages my way.
I have no idea how it happened but somehow the comments moderation option was activated in my haloscan account. I should have known something was wrong when there were no comments from Chris! After all he can't resist an opportunity to 'set me straight'. Thanks so much to Gypsy for the email that made me realize something was rotten in Denmark haloscan. And again thanks to all of you for your encouraging comments.
posted by wanda at 10:36 PM