Introducing the Veterans Against the Iraq War

Amid the good news that Bush's approval rating has fallen to 58%, there is cautious optimism here that the Democrats may be able to restore some sanity to our country if they are able to nominate the right candidate for the coming election. Let's wish them well, for all of our sakes.

Class Warfare Watch

It was the blogger Orcinus who really hit the nail on the Orwellian head (don't you wish we lived in a time when the adjective "Orwellian" wasn't always so apt?), with the pity quote: "Opposing class warfare is class warfare." That is so true.

Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect takes on Bush and his bogus cuts.

Axis of Evil Watch

An excellent article on why calling other countries "Evil" was such a stupid idea, this administration just had to run with it! Turns out, adding North Korea to the list, a move which can be directly linked to the amazing mess we are in currently, with them, was "an afterthought". It's good to know the adults are back in charge. The article also shows how this administration, and Bush in particular, gets the blame for turning a situation getting progressively better in Korea, into one which quickly has gotten very bad. And the not-so-hidden subtext here is that it was done deliberately, to keep North Korea "evil" as a justification for the Missile Defense Shield. Who's evil?

I Can't Believe He Said That Watch

Donald Rumsfeld recently said that a draft for a war in Iraq wouldn't be a good idea, because of the disadvantages of compulsive training. Here is a quote: "And what was left was sucked into the intake, trained for a period of months, and then went out, adding no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services over any sustained period of time, because the churning that took place, it took enormous amount of effort in terms of training, and then they were gone."

That the disadvantages to training and using draftees far outweigh the benefits may or may not be true (see the rest of the transcript), but doesn't this strike you as a crappy way to refer to those very unfortunate souls who were drafted into the Army, and then killed or stripped of their humanity in Vietnam? And for the Secretary of Defense to say it this way is very odd. Here are some responses:

• A letter to the editor of the Washington Post.
• Charlie Rangel's response. (Rangel, it should be noted, was the one who was originally calling for the draft, so that rich and privileged people would have to put their children under the gun of Bush's foreign policy in the same way poor and disadvantaged people - claimed by Rangel to be over represented in the current military - are. That the chickenhawks won't be led into this trap is clear from Rumsfeld's comments.)
• The response of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. These guys are really pissed, no surprise. And I was surprised to read that the VVAF had shared a Nobel peace prize.

Veterans are really pretty smart Watch

More wisdom from veterans: check out the Veterans Against the Iraq War

Humor Watch

This has got to be my all-time favorite piece by the Onion. Enjoy!