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Action for Contingent Vote on Iraq Funding

Action for Contingent Vote on Iraq Funding

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You can use True Majority’s easy system to send a message to my Senators and Congressional representative, letting them know that you want a clear exit strategy from Iraq before they approve spending any more money for the war.

http://truemajority.kintera.org/Iraqexit

Note: This alert is from Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan (USN, ret.), who served in combat in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam and commanded the North Atlantic fleet.

When Congress refused to continue funding the Vietnam War, that spelled the end of the U.S. campaign there. Based on thoughtful analysis by both conservative and progressive analysts, this alert is the first step in the process of getting out of Iraq.

Next week, the House of Representatives will vote on the president’s request for $82 billion to pay for the ongoing military occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s a lot of money. It is enough to feed the world’s starving people for five years or more, and would save the lives of millions of kids.[1] Aside from how that money could be better spent, a toll continues to be taken on the Iraqi people, our own service members, and America’s image throughout the world.

Yet even as the quagmire in Iraq worsens, Bush continues to refuse to (1) specify when we will exit the country and (2) make clear that America will not establish permanent military bases there.

Proud to be working with you,

Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan (USN, ret.)

Carter administration national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said: “I do not think we can stay in Iraq in the fashion we’re in now… If it cannot be changed drastically, it should be terminated.” He also confirmed that it would take 500,000 troops, $500 billion, and the resumption of the military draft to ensure adequate security in Iraq.[2]

Conservative military analysts increasingly urge an end to the occupation.

“We have failed. The issue is how high a price we’re going to pay… Less, by getting out sooner, or more, by getting out later,” said retired army lieutenant general and former director of the National Security Agency William E. Odom.[3]

In a detailed plan for a careful withdrawal published in the respected journal Foreign Affairs, Edward Luttwak, a national security counselor to former President Reagan, writes that the “…best strategy for the United States is disengagement. This would call for careful planning and scheduling of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from much of the country.”[4]

“Our large, direct presence has fueled the Iraq insurgency as much as it has suppressed it,” said Michael Vickers, longtime senior Central Intelligence Agency official.[5]

“The end of the foreign occupation will seriously undermine the terrorists’ claims that their acts of violence against Iraqis are somehow serving the interests of Iraq,” according to the article “Exiting Iraq,” which was published by the conservative Cato Institute. Moreover, “The occupation is counterproductive in the fight against radical Islamic terrorists and actually increases support for Osama bin Laden in Muslim communities not previously disposed to support his radical interpretation of Islam… Staying on the current course, looking at the trends, is not going to work.” [6]

Citations:

1) Bread for the World describes what it would take to end global hunger at www.bread.org/hungerbasics/index.html

2) Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal’s January 7, 2005, article “Scowcroft Skeptical Vote Will Stabilize Iraq” by Dana Priest and Robin Wright. To view the full article, visit www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54680-2005Jan6.html.

3) ” Former General Sees ‘Staying the Course’ in Iraq as Untenable,” Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2004. See www.dangerouscitizen.com/Articles/1131.aspx

4) To view “Time for Disengagement,” a specific plan for how to exit Iraq written by former President Reagan’s national security advisor and originally published in Foreign Affairs’ January/February 2005 issue, visit
www.californiapeaceaction.org/capa/index.php?option=com_news&task=view&Itemid=82&id=271.

5) To view “Hawks Push Deep Cuts in Forces in Iraq,” originally published in the Boston Globe on November 22, 2004, visit www.truthout.org/docs_04/112304A.shtml.

6) To view a conservative analysis on the need to withdraw from Iraq, visit http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3526.

75 Reasons to Reexamine George W

75 Reasons to Reexamine George W

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This was originally titled 75 reasons not to hire Georgie, but I think it’s a little late for that now. I’m sure this has been circulating around for a bit, but it was still interesting. Here’s some of what we know, what is out in plain sight. Assess this resume again.

Past work experience:

1) Ran for congress and lost.
2) Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
3) Bought an oil company, but couldn’t find any oil in Texas, company went bankrupt shortly after he sold all his stock.
4) Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using tax-payer money.
5) With fathers help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.

Accomplishments:

6) Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America.
7) Cut taxes, and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
8) Set record for most executions by any Governor in American history.
9) Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of his daddy’s appointments to the Supreme Court.

Accomplishments as president:

10) Attacked and took over two small, helpless countries. Slaughtered over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children.
11) Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
12) Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
13) Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any twelve-month period.
14) Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
15) First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
16) First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
17) First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
18) After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history (911).
19) Set the record for more campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
20) In his first two years in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
21) Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any other president in US history.
22) Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a twelve-month period.
23) Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any other president in US history.
24) Set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president since the advent of television.
25) Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other president in US history.
26) Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history, and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
27) Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history, and refused to use the national reserves, as past presidents have.
28) Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
29) Set the all-time record for most people worldwide simultaneously to take to the streets to protest against him (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any one person in the history of humankind.
30) Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
31) His presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
32) Members of his cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The ‘poorest’ multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has an Exxon oil tanker named after her).
33) First president in US history to have all 50 states simultaneously go bankrupt.
34) Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
35) First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation. Many American boys and girls were lost to his greed, and countless civilians.
36) Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States. How can he make government even bigger? Perhaps by establishing a Bureau for Acceptable Sexual Practices!
37) Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending-increases – more than any president in US history. His tax-giveaways to the very rich alone might require three million million dollars!
38) First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.
39) First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
40) He removed more checks and balances, creating less Congressional oversight, than known by any presidential administration in US history. Now, no one knows his plans until they are already accomplished!
41) He took from sound programs that helped people, and gave the money to the richest people in the world.
42) Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
43) Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
44) Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war.
45) So, by default, he no longer abides by the Geneva Conventions. These have been mocked by his appointed puppet, Alberto Gonzales.
46) First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the twenty-oh-two US elections).
47) All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
48) His biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
49) Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
50) First president in US history unilaterally to attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
51) First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying that the enemy had the code to Air Force One).
52) First US president to establish a secret shadow government.
53) Took the enormous, overflowing sympathy of the whole world for the US after 911, and in less than a year, made the US the most resented and despised country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
54) With a policy of “disengagement,” created the most hostile Israeli-Palestinian relations in at least 30 years.
55) First US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view his presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
56) First US president in history to have the people of South Korea feel more threatened by the US than by their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
57) Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
58) Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
59) Failed to fulfill his pledge to get Osama bin Laden “dead or alive.”
60) Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months he had no leads and zero suspects.
61) In the 18 months following the 911 attacks, he prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
62) Removed more freedoms and civil liberties from Americans than any other president in US history.
63) In a little over two years, he has created the most severely divided country, where people used to stand in unity. This is possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the Civil War.
64) He entered office with the strongest economy in US history; and, within less than two years turned every single economic indicator south.

Records and References:

65) At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available for public inspection).
66) AWOL from National Guard.
67) Deserted the military during a time of war.
68) Refused to take drug test.
69) Refused to answer any questions about drug-use.
70) All records of his tenure as governor of Texas have been mysteriously spirited away to his daddy’s library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
71) All records of any SEC investigations into his insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
72) All minutes of meetings for any public corporation in which he served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
73) Any records or minutes from meetings he (or his VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
74) For personal references please speak to his daddy or uncle James Baker (They can both be reached at their offices at the Carlyle Group for War-profiteering.
75. Last but not least, he has taken very important and significant steps to transform the United States into a truly fascist country.
(“Fascism” is sharing governmental power with corporations.)

Thanks Richard as always!