The senate republicans blocked another chance to change our course of the Iraq war once again. It's interesting to note that the republicans tried to pass their own funding bill which was 20 billion more than the democrats bill and it failed by a much higher margin in the senate. Afterwards the senate minority leader Mitch McConnell complained about the democrats "inability to accomplish anything here in the senate." Well I hate to remind you Mitch, but you are part of the senate and your actions blocking bills in the senate aren't accomplishing anything either.
If we are grading the senate democrat's "accomplishments" we also need to grade the senate republican's on their "obstructions". If you are the group obstructing bills in the senate then you don't get the right to complain about the democrats lack of accomplishing progress. The senate republicans are not listening to the broad public outcry to bring this war to a close. They continue to blindly follow a failed presidency and are dragging this war out for political reasons. They want the next president to have to deal with a war situation and they think the american people will vote republican if there is still a war on. The situation sickens me to think that anyone in our government would knowingly use our troops for political gain. Toying with our troops lives and well being for years in a deadly war zone by the senate republicans is deplorable. The facts are clear. The democrats are trying to steer our troops out of harm's way while the republicans are using our troops for political leverage. They love to claim that we won't "surrender", but what they are really calling for is our troops to "suicide" or be used as "sacrifices" for the republican effort to scare their way into power.
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/16/war.funding/index.html
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
The Real Terrorists
Homeland Security is pushing another security threat brought to us by your friendly Al Qaeda office somewhere out in Afghanistan. Or is that Pakistan. No, no, Cheney says it's in Iraq. Maybe tomorrow it will be in Iran. Forgive me for being sarcastic as this administration still hasn't even located Osama Bin Laden, so trusting them to get the facts straight on who is a threat to whom is certainly suspect. Their latest theoretical target that Al Qaeda wants to strike next is our malls. Interesting that they didn't say which one? I guess they thought any old one would do in a pinch. Maybe if the mall is too far away they would simply attack one of the strip malls instead. A little less shopping targets to hit, but at least it might scare some would-be shoppers into a tizzy and lower the local J. C. Penney's sales targets for the week.
Now in the middle of all this sarcasm is a fairly large fact. Why would Al Qaeda suddenly think that it is a wonderful idea to attack your local Macy's, Sears or Walmart this time of year? It's been six years since they hit us in New York City. I guess they are aiming a little lower nowadays. Or maybe they wanted to lull us into a false sense of security so they could spring this latest diabolical plan on us. The real problem is that the Homeland Security people are eating up every little "threat" aka "joke" that is being leaked at their expense. Does Al Qaeda have to blow up anything to make us react in fear? Not with Homeland Security on the job. They might as well be Al Jazera spokesmen. The fact is the target of these people is our fear. They don't have to kill a single person to do this. They already have the Bush administration and the GOP destroying our way of life in America through the Patriot Act, Domestic Spying and Guantanamo. Not to mention all the trillions of dollars that we have spent on these mistakes both inside and outside of the United States. I hate to say it, but I saw this coming right after 9/11.
Right after 9/11, our government recoiled in terror and quickly destroyed our countries values all in the name of stopping Al Qaeda in their tracks. We can't stop terror, by reacting in total fear everytime these people hint at some attack. We need to continue believing in our values that this country was built upon. Liberty, Freedom, and Justice. We cannot dilute them and still remain the country we were on 9/10. We must get back to the rule of law and stop bending and breaking the law in the hunt for terrorists. As the Bush Administration has followed this path to secure our country they have done what no terrorist could ever do, the destroyed our form of government. The real terrorists are those that claim to know whats best for us. It's time to get on with our lives and take back our country from those that would have us all inspected, documented, cleared, reviewed, and stamped with approval from three or four neighbors that could vouch for us being good people.
CNN Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/fbi.malls/index.html
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Now in the middle of all this sarcasm is a fairly large fact. Why would Al Qaeda suddenly think that it is a wonderful idea to attack your local Macy's, Sears or Walmart this time of year? It's been six years since they hit us in New York City. I guess they are aiming a little lower nowadays. Or maybe they wanted to lull us into a false sense of security so they could spring this latest diabolical plan on us. The real problem is that the Homeland Security people are eating up every little "threat" aka "joke" that is being leaked at their expense. Does Al Qaeda have to blow up anything to make us react in fear? Not with Homeland Security on the job. They might as well be Al Jazera spokesmen. The fact is the target of these people is our fear. They don't have to kill a single person to do this. They already have the Bush administration and the GOP destroying our way of life in America through the Patriot Act, Domestic Spying and Guantanamo. Not to mention all the trillions of dollars that we have spent on these mistakes both inside and outside of the United States. I hate to say it, but I saw this coming right after 9/11.
Right after 9/11, our government recoiled in terror and quickly destroyed our countries values all in the name of stopping Al Qaeda in their tracks. We can't stop terror, by reacting in total fear everytime these people hint at some attack. We need to continue believing in our values that this country was built upon. Liberty, Freedom, and Justice. We cannot dilute them and still remain the country we were on 9/10. We must get back to the rule of law and stop bending and breaking the law in the hunt for terrorists. As the Bush Administration has followed this path to secure our country they have done what no terrorist could ever do, the destroyed our form of government. The real terrorists are those that claim to know whats best for us. It's time to get on with our lives and take back our country from those that would have us all inspected, documented, cleared, reviewed, and stamped with approval from three or four neighbors that could vouch for us being good people.
CNN Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/fbi.malls/index.html
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Musharraf Following in Bush's Footsteps?
It's interesting reading about the events going on in Lahore, Pakistan the past couple days. You've got your Activist Judges and Lawyers being incarcirated for going against the will of the President. And you are seeing the Supreme Court being used somewhat as a tool to affect an election. You have the media being blocked and indicted as being an accomplice to the opposition. It's all reminiscent of Bush's tactics over his past years as president. He has used the Supreme Court system to put himself on the throne, so to speak. Whereas Musharraf silenced the Supreme Court from deciding on his situation of running for president again and being head of the armed forces.
All comedy aside, it is quite interesting that Bush's same complaints about Congress, the Activist Judges and even the Media are being played out in a similar, yet more militaristic manner in Pakistan. These two dictators have the same thoughts and game plans in mind. I wonder how many times Bush has thought about following through where Musharraf has acted already. Can you imagine Bush dissolving our government and claiming himself president for a third term without an election? It's possible given the laws on the books. But it would tear our country apart in the process.
Let's just hope that Bush doesn't pull the pin.
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
All comedy aside, it is quite interesting that Bush's same complaints about Congress, the Activist Judges and even the Media are being played out in a similar, yet more militaristic manner in Pakistan. These two dictators have the same thoughts and game plans in mind. I wonder how many times Bush has thought about following through where Musharraf has acted already. Can you imagine Bush dissolving our government and claiming himself president for a third term without an election? It's possible given the laws on the books. But it would tear our country apart in the process.
Let's just hope that Bush doesn't pull the pin.
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Executive Power Corruption by Bush
Another week and another threat by Bush. Now he is warning the Senate Judiciary Committee that unless they approve Mukasey for AG he will do so with a recess appointment. Well, he didn't come right and say it, but the message was received loud and clear in his statement Friday. The problem is that Congress is listening and responding by allowing an obviously weak AG candidate get approved for the office. The normal method of dealing with this is a back and forth process with the White House to find an appropriate candidate. But with this president abusing his Executive powers in using recess appointments for almost every troublesome office it's fairly quickly destroyed the entire vetting process.
So when will Congress take Bush to court over his recess appointments? Or anything else for that matter? His abuses in office appear to be continuing all the way up to his final days in office. It's time for this Congress to push back. If it takes a government shutdown, then so be it. I was a government employee during the last shutdown and while it was difficult to deal with it is sometimes necessary. If you are faced with a corrupted Executive power, you need to use extraordinary measures including a shutdown of the government to put a halt to their abuses. We all agree that we need to support our troops, but allowing a corrupt official to continue to push his own agenda over the majority of Congress is unlawful and should be dealt with.
CNN Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/01/bush.speech/index.html
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
So when will Congress take Bush to court over his recess appointments? Or anything else for that matter? His abuses in office appear to be continuing all the way up to his final days in office. It's time for this Congress to push back. If it takes a government shutdown, then so be it. I was a government employee during the last shutdown and while it was difficult to deal with it is sometimes necessary. If you are faced with a corrupted Executive power, you need to use extraordinary measures including a shutdown of the government to put a halt to their abuses. We all agree that we need to support our troops, but allowing a corrupt official to continue to push his own agenda over the majority of Congress is unlawful and should be dealt with.
CNN Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/01/bush.speech/index.html
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Bush's Scary Thought Process
Well George Bush is at it again. Another dose of his expert decisionmaking this time on SCHIP. This is the same man who thought a land war in Iraq would be easy and we are still looking for those WMDs you lost George. You'd think he would take the hint that his record on decisions ain't so good. He has an AG getting into trouble during his supposedly easy confirmation in the Senate. For some reason that is going south because he doesn't want to state that "Waterboarding" is an illegal form of torture. You also have Bush's head of the Consumer Product Safety Commision, Nancy Nord, under attack for not being aggressive enough in stopping unsafe toys from being imported by China. She claims to be overburdened and worried about harming these companies that are openly violating our safety laws more than she is about protecting kids from being harmed by lead-tainted toys. It could be because she only hired one tester for all the millions of products coming across into the country. Seems "The Decider" has not been very good at anything lately. And we should now trust him to judge what is the right way to protect our uninsured kids? Not a chance.
The sticking point with Bush isn't the amount of funds going to covering low income families children. It's that it's not "his" idea. Talk about being an obstructionist. So since it's not his bill, it isn't allowed to become law? It's time to tell Bush that we are done letting him run "our" country into the ground. He hasn't made one good decision since he came to office. It's time to let the Congress do the People's work. They have the Will of the People in mind, not Bush.
He would rather us spend an even larger amount of money on this so-called Emergency Spending Bill for the Iraq War. Which by the way, has had it's scope broadened by the Pentagon to include everything but the kitchen sink. It used to be that these Emergency Spending Bills could ONLY contain items that pertained to the immediate war in Iraq and Afghanistan such as resupplying them with equipment and additional services. Now the Pentagon has stated they can add anything on their "wish list" including "R&D" projects that are five to ten years out to be available. Some of these items are for equipment and programs that were either previously halted by Congress or are still in development. It's Pentagon Pork at it's best! So Bush would rather sneak in his favorite contractor's expensive R&D project instead of making sure American Children are given the health care they deserve. This is America by the way, not some third world country, Mr. Bush. Time to get your hands out of our Halloween Candy!
CNN Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/31/bush.schip/index.html
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
The sticking point with Bush isn't the amount of funds going to covering low income families children. It's that it's not "his" idea. Talk about being an obstructionist. So since it's not his bill, it isn't allowed to become law? It's time to tell Bush that we are done letting him run "our" country into the ground. He hasn't made one good decision since he came to office. It's time to let the Congress do the People's work. They have the Will of the People in mind, not Bush.
He would rather us spend an even larger amount of money on this so-called Emergency Spending Bill for the Iraq War. Which by the way, has had it's scope broadened by the Pentagon to include everything but the kitchen sink. It used to be that these Emergency Spending Bills could ONLY contain items that pertained to the immediate war in Iraq and Afghanistan such as resupplying them with equipment and additional services. Now the Pentagon has stated they can add anything on their "wish list" including "R&D" projects that are five to ten years out to be available. Some of these items are for equipment and programs that were either previously halted by Congress or are still in development. It's Pentagon Pork at it's best! So Bush would rather sneak in his favorite contractor's expensive R&D project instead of making sure American Children are given the health care they deserve. This is America by the way, not some third world country, Mr. Bush. Time to get your hands out of our Halloween Candy!
CNN Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/31/bush.schip/index.html
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Lou Dobbs misses the point?
I watched as Lou Dobbs verbally took apart a representative of NY Gov. Spitzer last night over his proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. And at first I thought this was some kind of faux news article, but watched as Mr. Dobbs became frustrated with the person and simply walked all over him. He probably deserved it as he was flailing around trying to make some vague point throughout the time alloted, but he never was able to get there as time ended.
I thought to myself, why in the hell would anyone even want to go there. So I looked up more information on this and discovered that it all came from the Dept. of Homeland Security's demands for a Real I.D. of everyone in the United States. Now that explains part of it. Chertoff has been chomping at the bit as every state in the union has pretty much pushed back at this act as some sort of invasion of privacy. And I can imagine it is. We all know that there was a terrible act that took place on 9/11/01, but many of our representatives in government use this as a reason to throw out the Constitution and Civil Rights and do what "they" think we need to protect us. Sometimes this is well intended, but in most it's overkill as in the case of Real ID.
Now seeing Chertoff in the picture I understood what started it all. But why did it end up with illegal aliens getting driver's licenses? And then it hit me. This is New York State. They likely have over a million illegal aliens in that state alone as some estimates have it. And what do you think those people are doing to survive? Hitchhiking to work everyday? Sleeping in alleyways next door to their place of work? Nope. They went out and got themselves a driver's license albeit illegally. And New York, knowing that these people are most likely already in their system, are trying to keep people that "are" working and driving to their legal one million jobs today can still do so tomorrow. All the while meeting the mandated requirements of the Real I.D. process Chertoff demands of the states. Seems simple enough until you note that what they are doing is labeling one million existing licenses as those held by illegal aliens. Oops!
As one person pointed out, no one will voluntarily request one of those new illegal alien licenses as that will put the spot light on them for INS. So it's a foregone conclusion that once you include the Immigration Laws into the equation this idea falls flat on its face. So Gov. Spitzer, while trying to gallantly protect the workers of the state (even the illegal aliens), has walked right into a problem of someone declaring themselves as an illegal alien to the INS. Not a very swift idea. But it does pose a very glaring problem. What can be done? Well, Mr. Dobbs just wanted to scream about it as an idiotic idea giving illegal aliens documents, but there is an issue here that needs to be addressed. The problem of what do you do about one million illegal aliens that are current holders of driver's licenses and are working at legal jobs throughout the state?
Do you void their licenses and start rounding them up a few thousand at a time over years? Sounds like a disaster of epic proportions ready to happen. I can't imagine what would happen if NY State suddenly had one million unemployed and undocumented people to care for all of the sudden. It would bankrupt their state in less than a month.
So then do you inform the populace that those that are not able to upgrade to the new license can still drive and go to work even as an illegal alien? But of course this puts them in the crosshairs of the INS. This is generally what Gov. Spitzer has done. Actually, it's quite a logical plan when you think about it this way. First, you are avoiding the massive strain on NY State's coffers as illegal aliens stop working and start draining resources of the state system to stay alive each day. And two, you can take your time processing the people through INS that are still on those older licenses as needed.
In this way, it sounds like Gov. Spitzer is on to something. That is unless you are strongly against anything supporting the illegal aliens of this country. That is one thing I find idiotic. The Tancredos of our country all want a black and white response to illegal immigration. "Off with their heads!" But as New York has shown us, there is a lot of gray out there. And we need a realistic approach to it.
Cnn Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/30/Dobbs.Oct31/index.html
Sorry Lou, I see his point.
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
I thought to myself, why in the hell would anyone even want to go there. So I looked up more information on this and discovered that it all came from the Dept. of Homeland Security's demands for a Real I.D. of everyone in the United States. Now that explains part of it. Chertoff has been chomping at the bit as every state in the union has pretty much pushed back at this act as some sort of invasion of privacy. And I can imagine it is. We all know that there was a terrible act that took place on 9/11/01, but many of our representatives in government use this as a reason to throw out the Constitution and Civil Rights and do what "they" think we need to protect us. Sometimes this is well intended, but in most it's overkill as in the case of Real ID.
Now seeing Chertoff in the picture I understood what started it all. But why did it end up with illegal aliens getting driver's licenses? And then it hit me. This is New York State. They likely have over a million illegal aliens in that state alone as some estimates have it. And what do you think those people are doing to survive? Hitchhiking to work everyday? Sleeping in alleyways next door to their place of work? Nope. They went out and got themselves a driver's license albeit illegally. And New York, knowing that these people are most likely already in their system, are trying to keep people that "are" working and driving to their legal one million jobs today can still do so tomorrow. All the while meeting the mandated requirements of the Real I.D. process Chertoff demands of the states. Seems simple enough until you note that what they are doing is labeling one million existing licenses as those held by illegal aliens. Oops!
As one person pointed out, no one will voluntarily request one of those new illegal alien licenses as that will put the spot light on them for INS. So it's a foregone conclusion that once you include the Immigration Laws into the equation this idea falls flat on its face. So Gov. Spitzer, while trying to gallantly protect the workers of the state (even the illegal aliens), has walked right into a problem of someone declaring themselves as an illegal alien to the INS. Not a very swift idea. But it does pose a very glaring problem. What can be done? Well, Mr. Dobbs just wanted to scream about it as an idiotic idea giving illegal aliens documents, but there is an issue here that needs to be addressed. The problem of what do you do about one million illegal aliens that are current holders of driver's licenses and are working at legal jobs throughout the state?
Do you void their licenses and start rounding them up a few thousand at a time over years? Sounds like a disaster of epic proportions ready to happen. I can't imagine what would happen if NY State suddenly had one million unemployed and undocumented people to care for all of the sudden. It would bankrupt their state in less than a month.
So then do you inform the populace that those that are not able to upgrade to the new license can still drive and go to work even as an illegal alien? But of course this puts them in the crosshairs of the INS. This is generally what Gov. Spitzer has done. Actually, it's quite a logical plan when you think about it this way. First, you are avoiding the massive strain on NY State's coffers as illegal aliens stop working and start draining resources of the state system to stay alive each day. And two, you can take your time processing the people through INS that are still on those older licenses as needed.
In this way, it sounds like Gov. Spitzer is on to something. That is unless you are strongly against anything supporting the illegal aliens of this country. That is one thing I find idiotic. The Tancredos of our country all want a black and white response to illegal immigration. "Off with their heads!" But as New York has shown us, there is a lot of gray out there. And we need a realistic approach to it.
Cnn Article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/30/Dobbs.Oct31/index.html
Sorry Lou, I see his point.
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Republican Spin Cycle
I've been pretty quiet this past month as all the presidential candidates have invaded the New Hampshire countryside giving every person they can pull aside an earful of rhetoric. Thankfully, I haven't been one of those unlucky folks. Not to say that I don't wish to hear their speeches firsthand. I just don't want to stand out in the cold only to hear alot of hot air that has been said a dozen times already by another candidate. It's a verbal assualt on our common senses, not just our ears. Take Rudy for example...
Rudy is taking up the mantle of Bush's War Policy and stating that we were right to go into Iraq, even though a majority of the public now says it was a mistake. So we were right to vote for the war in Iraq, before we were wrong? Well that straightens everything out. So Rudy is saying we were right all along to attack Iraq and get us stuck in an endless cycle of insurgent attacks, IEDs, and religious civil unrest. I hate to see him when he's wrong. It seems that every Republican candidate is fighting to one up the other to appear in some way MORE conservative than the others. Last week it was the appealling to the Christian Evangelists as everyone seemed to run to Bob Jones University to be annointed their next saint. Now it's a race to see who can appear more militarily gunho for the Gun Lobby and the Military Rightwingers.
But the problem here is that they are missing what is truely important to the public at this time. They are following the Bush Jr. playbook instead of the Bush Sr. playbook.
1). Did Bush Sr. want to get into a land war in Iraq? NO.
2). Did Bush Sr. want to appear strong on national defense? YES.
3). Did Bush Sr. want to go on a pre-emptive war streak through the Middle East? NO!!!!
4). Did Bush Sr. lose his re-election on his war stance? NO.
5). What did Bush Sr. lose his re-election to? "It's the economy, Stupid!"
The people are scared, this is true. But moderate measures are needed now. Not the pre-emptive war measures put forth by the neocons. That is what got us into a two-war scenario with our troops being overburdened with multiple tours of duty and extended stays in-country. What we need now is a moderate warhawk not an gunho warmonger. Get it right Conservative Candidates!
As for the domestic concerns of healthcare, social security and S-CHIP, its as if the Republican candidates have forgot that they were once the fiscal conservatives. We are porkbarrelling the Iraq War spending bills with R&D for programs that are years off or killed by Congress years ago. But of course we can spend a little extra to help children get health coverage on the home front.
In the end, its obvious that the Republican Leadership doesn't get it and that will be their downfall next year.
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
Rudy is taking up the mantle of Bush's War Policy and stating that we were right to go into Iraq, even though a majority of the public now says it was a mistake. So we were right to vote for the war in Iraq, before we were wrong? Well that straightens everything out. So Rudy is saying we were right all along to attack Iraq and get us stuck in an endless cycle of insurgent attacks, IEDs, and religious civil unrest. I hate to see him when he's wrong. It seems that every Republican candidate is fighting to one up the other to appear in some way MORE conservative than the others. Last week it was the appealling to the Christian Evangelists as everyone seemed to run to Bob Jones University to be annointed their next saint. Now it's a race to see who can appear more militarily gunho for the Gun Lobby and the Military Rightwingers.
But the problem here is that they are missing what is truely important to the public at this time. They are following the Bush Jr. playbook instead of the Bush Sr. playbook.
1). Did Bush Sr. want to get into a land war in Iraq? NO.
2). Did Bush Sr. want to appear strong on national defense? YES.
3). Did Bush Sr. want to go on a pre-emptive war streak through the Middle East? NO!!!!
4). Did Bush Sr. lose his re-election on his war stance? NO.
5). What did Bush Sr. lose his re-election to? "It's the economy, Stupid!"
The people are scared, this is true. But moderate measures are needed now. Not the pre-emptive war measures put forth by the neocons. That is what got us into a two-war scenario with our troops being overburdened with multiple tours of duty and extended stays in-country. What we need now is a moderate warhawk not an gunho warmonger. Get it right Conservative Candidates!
As for the domestic concerns of healthcare, social security and S-CHIP, its as if the Republican candidates have forgot that they were once the fiscal conservatives. We are porkbarrelling the Iraq War spending bills with R&D for programs that are years off or killed by Congress years ago. But of course we can spend a little extra to help children get health coverage on the home front.
In the end, its obvious that the Republican Leadership doesn't get it and that will be their downfall next year.
Telling it like I see it,
Wynter
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