Hopefully everybody had a Merry Christmas. Mine was merry and bright, but not white, sadly. It was rainy on Christmas Eve, but dry on Christmas Day, which is always nice.
As everyone knows by now, former President Gerald Ford, the only man never to be elected to either the Vice Presidency or Presidency, has died at the age of 93. He held out just long enough to claim the record of longest living former president from Ronald Reagan. If you are hoping to see a sweeping article about Ford's interesting presidency, you've come to the wrong place. I'll leave the news outlets to that sort of thing. I wasn't around yet when he was President, so I don't really have any firsthand knowledge of how he did his job.
Moving on to the world's biggest former annoyance, Saddam Hussein...
Saddam could be executed in a matter of hours, tomorrow, or by Sunday, depending on which Iraqi minister who wants his 15 minutes you want to believe. Supposedly, "key legal issues" have been hashed out, which has cleared the path to Saddam's hanging. One course to the news outlets has the Iraqi P.M. still talking to judges and other political figures, trying to figure out when this will take place.
Whenever that may be, it'll do to things. 1) it will shut up that bearded fool (who would look like Mel Gibson if he grew his beard out longer) and we won't have to hear about him anymore and, 2) his execution will more than likely piss off his "followers" (i.e. the al-Qaeda branch who uses his removal as a reason to finally kill their enemies) to the point that a massive surge of violence will ensue, causing many deaths. Of course, to counter the massive surge in violence, President Bush will want to add more troops, and go against everything that everybody is telling him...
...If you give a mouse a cookie.
-Adam
Friday, December 29, 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
The Generals Who Couldn't Get Through
The President is set to decide in the next few days whether or not it would be a good idea to increase the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. This, obviously is not a good idea, given the fact that Iraqi insurgents stepped up attacks last time there was a troop increase in Baghdad, and for once I have U.S. generals to back me up. What Bush has decided to do, however, is increase the size of the Army & Marines.
Bush seems to be standing alone on this one. However, being the determined fellow he is, he's sent newly-appointed Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Baghdad to get military leader's opinions on the subject. General John Abizaid, who commands all the U.S. soldiers in the middle East, does not agree with the idea of an increase in troops, as he told a Senate Committee last month. Interestingly enough, Gen. Abizaid, along with Gen. George Casey (commender of all U.S. troops in Iraq) are planning to resign in the coming months. While CentCom says that Abizaid's resignation has been a long time coming, I have to wonder whether or not it was "encouraged", especially after he came out and disagreed with an increase in boots on the ground. In the interest of fairness, he also disagreed with a decrease in troops.
Former General & Secretary of State Colin Powell also disagrees with the Presidents proposal to a troop increase. Powell says that the military is overextended and "about broken". However, being the ever-loyal soldier, Powell hasn't gone as far as saying something along the lines of "We've screwed up", "The President didn't think before he leaped", or "Oops!"; hopefully he will before too long, especially at the rate he's speaking out.
I really, really hope Bush doesn't go out on his own, forging ahead with out listening to the military officers who actually know what they're talking about. But Bush will be Bush.
-Adam
Bush seems to be standing alone on this one. However, being the determined fellow he is, he's sent newly-appointed Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Baghdad to get military leader's opinions on the subject. General John Abizaid, who commands all the U.S. soldiers in the middle East, does not agree with the idea of an increase in troops, as he told a Senate Committee last month. Interestingly enough, Gen. Abizaid, along with Gen. George Casey (commender of all U.S. troops in Iraq) are planning to resign in the coming months. While CentCom says that Abizaid's resignation has been a long time coming, I have to wonder whether or not it was "encouraged", especially after he came out and disagreed with an increase in boots on the ground. In the interest of fairness, he also disagreed with a decrease in troops.
Former General & Secretary of State Colin Powell also disagrees with the Presidents proposal to a troop increase. Powell says that the military is overextended and "about broken". However, being the ever-loyal soldier, Powell hasn't gone as far as saying something along the lines of "We've screwed up", "The President didn't think before he leaped", or "Oops!"; hopefully he will before too long, especially at the rate he's speaking out.
I really, really hope Bush doesn't go out on his own, forging ahead with out listening to the military officers who actually know what they're talking about. But Bush will be Bush.
-Adam
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Senate May Hang In The Balance
Senator Tim Johnson's (D-SD) possibly life-threatening illness, which required him to have brain surgery on Wednesday could put the Senate in Jeopardy. If by some horrible means Senator Johnson doesn't recover enough to carry on his elected duty in the Senate, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, is empowered with the gut-wrenching ability to pick a replacement, who will finish the remainder of his elected term.
Naturally, the most important thing is that Johnson lives, since this is potentially life-threatening, and hopefully he'll be alright and God-willing fully recover, even if he cannot continue his term.
If Johnson has to resign, Rounds will more than likely choose a Republican, which would knock the Senate back to a 50-50 split, this giving Cheney veto power. I urge the Governor that, if he is forced to pick a replacement, he respect the voters' opinions and pick a Democrat with similar views as Senator Johnson.
Will he do that? Most likely not, at the probable urging/threatening of the GOP. It would show his trust in th voters, and is naturally the best thing to do. It would be hard, but I hope the petty partisan bickering can be put aside for one moment, and the Republicans face the face that this is life, life isn't always fair, the voters weren't happy, and they need to try again in 2008.
But when the last time Republicans actually tried listening to the people?
-Adam
Naturally, the most important thing is that Johnson lives, since this is potentially life-threatening, and hopefully he'll be alright and God-willing fully recover, even if he cannot continue his term.
If Johnson has to resign, Rounds will more than likely choose a Republican, which would knock the Senate back to a 50-50 split, this giving Cheney veto power. I urge the Governor that, if he is forced to pick a replacement, he respect the voters' opinions and pick a Democrat with similar views as Senator Johnson.
Will he do that? Most likely not, at the probable urging/threatening of the GOP. It would show his trust in th voters, and is naturally the best thing to do. It would be hard, but I hope the petty partisan bickering can be put aside for one moment, and the Republicans face the face that this is life, life isn't always fair, the voters weren't happy, and they need to try again in 2008.
But when the last time Republicans actually tried listening to the people?
-Adam
Friday, December 08, 2006
One Year Old; Senator Angered Over Iraq; Rep. Pushing Impeachment Bill
Editor's note: This blog turned one year old on December 7th. A big thanks to everybody who's taken the time to come here.
So many things have happened since my last update (Rumsfeld resigns, Gates confirmed as new DefSec; Iraq Study Group reveals results which Bush doesn't like; North Korea says U.S. hiding nukes in South Korea; V.P.'s lesbian daughter pregnant, you know, the important stuff.) I've been somewhat busy and somewhat more lacking at drive to write. But I'm over my block, so here we go.
For the record, I think that Gates will make a good Defense Secretary. At least better than Rummy, anyway. There's a reason he was voted in 95-2 (the two against being two Republican Senators, faithful-follower Rick Santorum being one of them.)
Senator Angered
Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR, one of my Senators) took the floor of the Senate Thursday night, the eve of the last day of this sitting Congress, and made a sweeping speech denouncing the Iraq war & how President Bush carried it out. Smith, who until Thursday officially was a "good soldier" and supported the war, said that he wouldn't have voted for the war if he knew the intelligence was as faulty as is has been proven, and that whether the U.S. "cuts and runs or cuts and walks" just as long as the troops are brought home.
I'm proud of you, Senator, for looking at the situation objectively, arriving at your own opinion, and not allowing your party's official policy to drag you through the mud. Most of the American people agree with your speech, and have already reached "the end of [our] rope" with this pathetic, poor-excuse-for-a-policy policy, and no longer support Bush and his leadership.
God, please let the President actually read a newspaper or turn on the T.V., just once (not FOX) so he can see how many American people hate it. The American people, Senator Smith, and a well-known, very conservative, unnamed Senator who came to Smith's office after the speech and tole him that he "felt the same way", no longer support the war, the direction of this country, and especially this fool I get to see on T.V. everyday behind the Presidential podium.
Rep. Pushing Impeachment
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), the headline grabber who felt that putting on her Congressional pin or stopping to tell the guard who she was, and instead decided to take a swing at him, has taken a last stand (after losing her House seat) against the Bush administration by introducing a bill Friday to impeach the President... yes, impeach.
I'm really not keen on impeaching our national mistake of electing Bush, not only because I don't want the Democrats to fall to the level the Republicans were on back during Clinton's term, but also because she's only doing it to grab more headlines, and go down in flames.
Bush has not defended the Constitution as well as he swore he would, but McKinney's last-ditch effort is completely absurd. This bill, not to mention McKinney herself, is a waste of breath by the news anchors; the bill will not pass. Even incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said she refuses to entertain the idea of impeaching the President.
She needs to go away from the public limelight, instead of overly embracing it (she's joined groups urging to look into government knowledge of 9/11 before it happened), just like President Bush should do in 2008.
-Adam
So many things have happened since my last update (Rumsfeld resigns, Gates confirmed as new DefSec; Iraq Study Group reveals results which Bush doesn't like; North Korea says U.S. hiding nukes in South Korea; V.P.'s lesbian daughter pregnant, you know, the important stuff.) I've been somewhat busy and somewhat more lacking at drive to write. But I'm over my block, so here we go.
For the record, I think that Gates will make a good Defense Secretary. At least better than Rummy, anyway. There's a reason he was voted in 95-2 (the two against being two Republican Senators, faithful-follower Rick Santorum being one of them.)
Senator Angered
Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR, one of my Senators) took the floor of the Senate Thursday night, the eve of the last day of this sitting Congress, and made a sweeping speech denouncing the Iraq war & how President Bush carried it out. Smith, who until Thursday officially was a "good soldier" and supported the war, said that he wouldn't have voted for the war if he knew the intelligence was as faulty as is has been proven, and that whether the U.S. "cuts and runs or cuts and walks" just as long as the troops are brought home.
I'm proud of you, Senator, for looking at the situation objectively, arriving at your own opinion, and not allowing your party's official policy to drag you through the mud. Most of the American people agree with your speech, and have already reached "the end of [our] rope" with this pathetic, poor-excuse-for-a-policy policy, and no longer support Bush and his leadership.
God, please let the President actually read a newspaper or turn on the T.V., just once (not FOX) so he can see how many American people hate it. The American people, Senator Smith, and a well-known, very conservative, unnamed Senator who came to Smith's office after the speech and tole him that he "felt the same way", no longer support the war, the direction of this country, and especially this fool I get to see on T.V. everyday behind the Presidential podium.
Rep. Pushing Impeachment
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), the headline grabber who felt that putting on her Congressional pin or stopping to tell the guard who she was, and instead decided to take a swing at him, has taken a last stand (after losing her House seat) against the Bush administration by introducing a bill Friday to impeach the President... yes, impeach.
I'm really not keen on impeaching our national mistake of electing Bush, not only because I don't want the Democrats to fall to the level the Republicans were on back during Clinton's term, but also because she's only doing it to grab more headlines, and go down in flames.
Bush has not defended the Constitution as well as he swore he would, but McKinney's last-ditch effort is completely absurd. This bill, not to mention McKinney herself, is a waste of breath by the news anchors; the bill will not pass. Even incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said she refuses to entertain the idea of impeaching the President.
She needs to go away from the public limelight, instead of overly embracing it (she's joined groups urging to look into government knowledge of 9/11 before it happened), just like President Bush should do in 2008.
-Adam
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