Population Action International's latest documentary "Abstaining from Reality: U.S. Restrictions on HIV Prevention" provides a compelling snapshot of the Bush administration's abstinence-only approach to global HIV prevention.  A short preview of the article is posted here. Watch the eye-opening documentary short that accompanies Tamar Abrams' full story on eye-opening documentary short that accompanies Tamar Abrams' story on RHRealityCheck.org.

Watching congress do whatever it is that they do is like watching my screen saver, a lot of movement, a bit of color, a little cheap entertainment but ultimately a waste of time.

I would like to have 10 percent of the monetary value of the man hours expended by members of the House, the Senate, and their respective staffs that was piled atop the redolent heap of history's wasted gestures in the recent exercise in futility that was the fight over the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill.

Republicans joined with Democrats in making a spectacle of themselves as ineffectual windbags without a cause, proving publicly, once again, that most of them have no respect for this republic, it's people or the business they are paid so handsomely to conduct.

Knowing that the eminently hardheaded little man who occupies the big house on Pennsylvania Avenue would veto any bill which included deadlines for troop withdrawals, and knowing that the same cynical little man would use the pork content of the bill against them, they made him a gift of a bill that he could veto and look "presidential" while doing it. They gave Bush exactly what he wanted.

It's not Baghdad alone where we're witnessing a Bush-inspired surge. The President holds ultimate responsibility for an escalation unfolding in Washington as well: namely, the rapid proliferation of administration scandals and outrages now finally finding the light of day (deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; politically-driven purges of U.S. attorneys; FBI abuses of National Security Letters, and the list goes on and on).

Not surprisingly, today President Bush resists reasonable calls for meaningful accountability and benchmarks on both fronts. But back in his headier days of sky-high approval ratings--late 2001 to be exact--he spoke to an audience of government employees and enumerated the standards by which public servants should be measured. From the White House website (http://www.whitehouse.gov/n ews/releases/2001/10/200110 15-8.html):

The Tuskegee Airmen, a group of brave black pilots who saved many white air crews' lives during WWII, are receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. Learning of that honor reminded me of an essay I wrote about one particular Tuskegee veteran, who spoke out against the Iraq war in 2003.

1st Armored Division Soldiers conduct a combat patrol in Tal Afar, Iraq in their M2 Bradley fighting vehicle.
Photo by Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon

Editors note: The photograph above was taken in February 2006 at a time when Bush was reporting Tall Afar as an Iraqi success story.
I think Bush saw the city as an example of the Iraqi version of "no child left behind."

The headline reads: "Gunmen Go On Rampage In Iraqi City" above a story by Joshua Partlow in this morning's Washington Post. It seems that the Malaki/Bush/Cheney/Hallibur ton Democracy left a few legal and procedural fundamentals out of their Police Academy training manual or perhaps they are using a revised Middle Eastern version of the Chicago Police manual which allows for the summary execution of Sunni suspects following violent episodes.

In the Chicago version you're only allowed to beat them up, in Tall Afar though, this is civil wartime, and the Shiite police and their auxiliaries have gone on yet another orgy of reprisal and revenge, killing as many as 70 Sunni suspects, men, women and children, some as young as fifteen, with a bullet to the back of the head in the Mesopotamian democratic tradition so reminiscent of other great democratic leaders like Saddam and Stalin.

Twice a week I have a physical therapy session at the Dayton VA Hospital. I had a heart attack last March 15, (beware the ides?) in October they referred me to cardio pulmonary therapy to build me up for whatever years may lie ahead. They have done an excellent job and I am pleased with my future prospects.

I have been treated at the Dayton VA several times over the years, have volunteered there performing Veteran's memorial services as part of an honor guard, and three years ago said good bye to my father who died in the VA hospice at the age of 80.

My experiences with VA medical care have been almost entirely positive. The medical staff has been competent caring and willing to communicate with me. My physical therapist (Kinesiologist) whom I refer to as Ms Torquemada has enabled me to return to a relatively normal life and I love her for it. The hospice ward is amazing, they treated my Dad with the dignity and respect he deserved in his final days on this planet and were equally wonderful with my family. The people in the ER and Cardiac Intensive Care wards saved my life which fact may leave me with some bias on the issue at hand.

I have personally witnessed the operations of this facility during the current federal administration as well as during the Clinton years and I have seen a noticeable decline in the state of the physical plant and the attitudes of some employees during the Cheney/Bush era.

What once was a well funded and squeaky clean facility has deteriorated noticeably and budget cutting has caused serious staffing problems. I believe that this decline is due to the penny pinching policies of the knuckle heads who are passing themselves off as our government.

One of the BIGGEST mistakes made during the invasion of Iraq was to go in without enough troops to secure the borders. With the White House touting new evidence that the deadliest weapons killing our troops are coming from Iran, why are we continuing this stupidity - and why haven't the Democrats made this a central theme in their arguments against Bush's surge?

As U.S. troops drove across Iraq during the invasion, commanders on the ground fretted that they were leaving abandoned Iraqi military compounds unguarded, with the potential of massive looting putting arms in the hands of future insurgents.

Donald Rumsfeld ordered the generals to keep moving, and leave the bases to be looted.

Others complained that by dismantling the entire Iraqi army, we were leaving Iraq's borders unguarded, allowing insurgents and arms to flow freely across Iraq's borders.

Paul Bremer didn't listen.

by Donna Crane

Didn't we just finish an election cycle where voters made it clear they were tired of the Bush White House catering to the far right at every turn?  I know that.  You know that.   Anti-choice lawmakers who lost their jobs to pro-choice newcomers on November 7 know that.  But judging by President Bush's budget proposal, released yesterday, apparently he missed the memo from the American public.  

   

For the sixth year in a row, President Bush chose to use his federal budget proposal as yet another opportunity to satisfy his own right-wing base rather than--oh, I don't know--tackle real problems in America like unintended pregnancy.

William Cox is a lawyer who specializes in criminal investigation.  He currently serves as Senior Trial Deputy for the State Bar of California.  Cox previously worked as a prosecutor, a public interest lawyer, and a law enforcement policy analyst.

Cox tackles the Bush Administration in the manner of a skilled prosecutor.  His style is reminiscent of that of Vincent Bugliosi, also a former California prosecutor, in "The Betrayal of America" when he examined the egregious theft of the 2000 presidential election, taking particular aim at the United State Supreme Court majority that stopped an ongoing recount in Florida.

While Bugliosi presented an excellent brief in terms of that groundbreaking election, Cox covers it as well as what led up to Bush's selection, extending forward to a period in 2004 nearing the end of the first term of the Cheney-Bush Administration.

Cox recognizes, as does John Nichols, who wrote about the person really in charge, that Dick Cheney and the neoconservatives are the driving force in the Bush Administration.  He examines the sordid route that brought the neocons to power.  

My life-partner is often the spark that causes the flame of writing to happen. Yesterday, after hearing about President Bush's recent interviews, he quipped "How come every time someone asks Bush if he made mistakes, Bush starts by talking about how wonderful the military is?"

"It's kind of like some mayoral candidate confronted by a gunman grabbing the nearest baby and shielding himself, and saying 'You wouldn't shoot this innocent baby, would you?'"

No one is asking Bush if the troops on the ground made mistakes - they're asking if HE made mistakes.

One of the cornerstones of our great American experiment is that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and each person is entitled to representation by a competent attorney when accused of a crime.

I guess the Deputy Secretary of Defense hates the Constitution and the very principles upon which this country was founded. Why else would he threaten lawyers representing Gitmo detainees? Read on intrepid progressives, because one more nail in the coffin of this great experiment just got pounded on Friday.

In every Presidency there are times when a President must invest personal time, energy, and political capital in diplomacy.

This President for 6 long years has refused to make any personal "diplomacy" investments. Why?

My Hypothesis: He is lazy, scared, and lacks the basic listening skills.  Let me explore each reason. Lazy. Diplomacy must be a 24/7 operation at times to succeed. This President considers his personal comforts to be more important than an all night negotiating session.  Scared.  If he tries and fails he will be crushed, so he does not try.  Lacks Basic Listening Skills.  Successful diplomacy requires a keen understanding of both sides.  A nuanced listening for the little details that makes for openings later in the process.  A sustained commitment for success. He does not possess any of the listening skills.

Who suffers for his unwillingness to represent America in Diplomacy?  Soldiers die, War Costs Increase, The Likelihood of Success diminishes, just about everyone in the world but him.

OK - I'm now officially at the end of my rope. Tony Snow, during a White House press briefing, when asked about Congress pulling the plug on funding for the president's "surge" said the following:

"The President has the ability to exercise his own authority if he thinks Congress has voted the wrong way."

Say WHAT???????????

The Bush administration has developed an amazing ability to exterminate debate by redefining issues through framing techniques. It is akin to a magician using prattle and misdirection to hypnotize an audience to believe the most fantasic illusions.

Abbot: "Herd of cows?"

Costello "Of course I've heard of cows."

Beginning as a child, words always have held a fascination for me. At the toddler stage I was already a bibliophile, forcing my Grandfather to read the same Giant Golden Books to me over and over. My favorite was "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," a picture book with Mickey Mouse stealing a magician's wand and, with it, provoking much havoc. My grandfather would patiently read it to me as many times I wanted -- which was a lot. After hearing the same pages so often, I memorized the words by rote and which page those words were on. One day my Grandfather, who was quite the trickster, had me "read" the book to my parents. At two, my parents thought my Grandfather had performed a miracle in teaching me to read.

After nearly four years of bombings, from the air and from roadside ditches, after four years of blood, death, murder, torture, rape, beheadings, and a host of other unspeakable acts perpetrated on a daily basis by one faction, or militia or clan, or sect upon a rival clan or sect or militia, the Iraq study group is talking of threatening the Iraqi Government with....Ready?...Sanctions?


This from the Iraqi Study Group's "Executive Summary:"

"If the Iraqi government does not make substantial progress toward the achievement of milestones on national reconciliation, security, and governance, the United States should reduce its political, military, or economic support for the Iraqi government," the report's executive summary says.

This, in a country where the electric power is on for maybe six hours a day, clean water is sometimes available, three thousand people a month are being slaughtered, major portions of the physical and social infrastructure have been destroyed ,  remain unrepaired and the National Regatta is a Sunny Saturday spent watching bloated corpses drifting lazily down the Tigris.