http://www.democraticunderground.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:22:44 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:22:44 I'm deeply concerned that the 'public option' is too weak in the House bill and even more tainted in the Senate with their 'opt-out provision. I posted some analysis here which highlighted my objections (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7047453) and th... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1347 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:59:42 I'M of the opinion that our military forces' very presence and activity is ultimately counterproductive and antithetical to even the most modest goals outlined by the president and others in support of our dominant role in the NATO operations there. I don't think the U.S. has demonstrated over the e... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1346 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:27:39 Asked at a news conference in Japan what information he still needed to enable him to make a decision, Obama said it was not matter of awaiting a piece of data.

Instead, he said, "It's a matter of making certain that when I send young men and women into war and devote billions of dollars in U.S. ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1345 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:42:29 In fact, the reports I've seen say that 30,000 troops are still being considered. What appears to be the sticking point for the president is how he will frame (to sell) the mission in a way which promises to lead to some eventual 'handover' to the Afghans. That's still predicated by the military on ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1344 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:55:17 One of the concerns I've had about the president's upcoming decision on his commanders' recommendation to further escalate the Afghanistan occupation is that if we expect him to offer a different course than his hawks proscribe, where (in his administration) will he get that contrary advice and supp... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1342 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:21:45 I saw the Sat. Nite Live skit last night where the pretend president is listing his challenges and marks the major ones as unfinished or undone. MTP played the clip and Gregory asks the panel to comment, and Maddow says it's ridiculous to expect the president to have ended Bush's wars in less than a... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1341 Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:11:35 With the recent flurry of reports of requests by 'commanders in the field' for the deployment of more troops to Afghanistan - and the hesitation by the White House to offer any echo of [link:www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/31/world/international-us-afghanistan.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss|Gen. Stan... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1340 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:44:43 [i]"Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you."[/i] -- Lincoln


THE O... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1339 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:04:23 Stars and Stripes has published a [link:www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64348|report] that the Obama Pentagon has hired the Rendon Group to screen journalists who seek to embed with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Rendon Group is an outgrowth of the controversial, PNAC propaganda tool of... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1338 Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:55:15 [i]Well you know the people running round in circles
Don't know what they're headed for
Everybody's crying peace on earth
Just as soon as we win this war[/i] -Bonnie Raiit


I didn't really expect President Obama to be overtly critical of the American military effort in the Middle East and Asi... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1337 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:41:54
SO the lackey with writing skills who's [link:www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7015371293|playing bin Laden] wants to portray himself and his band of murderous nutjobs as some sort of benevolent protector of Arabs and Muslims against the U.S. military deployment in the Middle East.

The hundred... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1336 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:07:26
http://www.returningsoldiers.us/gardentale.jpg

[i]A garden has this advantage, that it makes it indifferent where you live. A well-laid garden makes the face of the country of no account; let that be low or high, grand or mean, you have made a beautiful abode worthy of man.[/i] -Emerson


IT... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1334 Mon, 25 May 2009 15:09:34
PRESIDENT OBAMA, in an [link:www.newsweek.com/id/197891/output/print|interview] with Newsweek's Jon Meecham Wednesday, spoke about the burdens of office and described his sending of an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan as "extraordinarily difficult" in response to Meecham's question of "what... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1333 Sun, 17 May 2009 13:04:54 http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/31/us/31gitmo.xlarge1.jpg


THEY'RE probably complete with hoods and captors brandishing their weapons over the heads of their wards. That must be why they're being withheld. They make America look just like the ones we like to call terrorists.

Rich... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1332 Fri, 15 May 2009 13:26:01
THE news that Pentagon will replace the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, U.S. General David McKiernan with Rumsfeld buddy, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal was met with speculation that the change represented a shift away from the reckless, scattershot raids and airstrikes which ha... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1331 Tue, 12 May 2009 21:54:43 AFTER nearly a week of denials and counter accusations, an anonymous U.S. military official admitted today that their airstrikes Monday in Afghanistan killed at least 50 civilians. Despite that conclusion, local authorities still insist that as many as 140 innocent civilians were savagely bombed in ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1330 Sat, 09 May 2009 13:46:29 from Roll Call: (http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_125/news/34595-1.html)


HOUSE Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) on Monday outlined a $94 billion war spending bill — $9 billion more than President Barack Obama has requested — without a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq or binding re... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1329 Tue, 05 May 2009 09:54:32 OUR military is still staging arbitrary and ignorant raids on the Iraqi population. Our forces there haven't seen any substantial decrease. The mission is still bogged down in fighting the resistance; claiming as Bush did that there is some national interest in 'succeeding' in their perpetual defens... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1328 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:09:10 The example which is nagging me is within the explanation yesterday for releasing the torture memos.

First, it should be remembered that the administration wasn't actually responding to any of the long-standing congressional requests and demands for the information the Justice Dept. provided. The... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1327 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:53:54 It must be like whack-a-mole at the WH . . . knocking down generals who pop up to insist we're bound to stay longer in Iraq than the administration agreed to.

There was Gen. Odierno who hinted earlier this week that we'd be staying past the agreement deadline. The next day he was dialing all of t... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1326 Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:51:39
THERE are too many forces in government, and in the military leadership and establishment, to rely solely on Pres. Obama to mitigate and smooth-over every obstacle and obstruction to the power and authority of his office. Nor is it credible to expect that the good will and intention of his deputie... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1325 Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:01:00
We're caught up in a dynamic where the republicans are so far off in their criticism of the defense budget that many Democrats have made themselves content with defending the budget against those ridiculous attacks and shying away from any substantive criticism at all.

Many responses to critic... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1324 Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:40:06
The Defense Budget Pentagon Chief Gates outlined yesterday is an invitation to not only buy into his 'irregular war' and counterinsurgency strategy that he's sold President Obama in his decision to escalate U.S. military force in Afghanistan__ it's also a sizable down payment on, and a significant... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1323 Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:35:02 . . . in the fight against al-Qaeda that he identified as his primary reason for continuing and escalating the military mission in Afghanistan.

I think it's significant and revealing that the NATO 'allies' have lost faith and will to continue battling Taliban resistance fighters indefinitely, an... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1321 Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:53:05 President Obama in announcing his Afghan plan:

[i]"I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future. That is the goal that must be ac... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1319 Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:45:24