There have been so many Menes and viral themes in this primary season to leave one spinning in a sea of bullshit. But there is one in particular that continues to be emphasized that it makes me want to vomit buckets of green monkey shit.

The DCCC has targeted several districts for this year's election. They have not targeted FL-07, John Mica's district. Since the Democratic Party is winning all special elections, why not target an important district like ours? The I-4 corridor is especially important in the Presidential election, as we all are very familiar with.

Why John Mica needs to go.

Twice in the past 6 months, I have written friends and family members of my concerns about the current Administration's apparent intentions to launch an attack on Iran.  After the first, the third Carrier Group sent to the region was called back.  The second came in the wake of Admiral Fallon's resignation.  

Apparently, and to my great relief, I am not alone with that concern.

Rep. Conyers has written a strong letter to President Bush, warning unequivocally that he faces the prospect of impeachment, should he go ahead with any such plan:

So I'm listening to the car radio and the news was reviewing the $289 billion Farm Bill that just passed the House by a 3 to 1 margin. A spokesperson for the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition described the bill as a mixed bag, but better than current law. She described  new incentives for biofuels, land conservation, and organic farming as reasons to see this bill as progress from the status quo. And then she mentioned that the Bill adds $10 billion over ten years for nutrition programs.

And then that unfathomable number of 12 billion a month popped into my head.

I hope I will be forviven for borrowing from Megadeth - but the question posed in this title essentially summarizes the last seven years which have followed the tragic day of 9/11.

The following likewise summarizes these same last seven years:

"Violence is the last refuge of incompetence" - The Sixth Principle of Incompetence.

Reading these new remarks, jaw-dropping even for this knuckle-dragging president, I am reminded, strangely, of the scene in Monty Python's Life Of Brian, when the commandos of the Campaign For Free Galilee and the People's Front of Judea meet each other in the palace of Pontius Pilate, having each conceived and launched exactly the same kidnap plot at the same time.

BRIAN: Brothers! Brothers! We should be struggling together!

FRANCIS: We are!

BRIAN: We mustn't fight each other! Surely we should be united against the common enemy!

EVERYONE: The Judean People's Front?!

Times like these, when a president of the United States is not descended upon by a team of psychoanalysts after he actually talks about how he responded to the grief of parents who lost children in his meaningless war in Iraq, by making his own sacrifice - golf - remind me that surely even in this time of internecine Democratic struggling, we should be united against the Common Enemy.

So tonight, for the first time since Valentine's Day, I'm offering a Special Comment on Mr. Bush, previewed below.

The soldier who graced the cover of National Review for Rich Lowry's now infamous "We're Winning" cover story was just killed on his third tour in Iraq.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/...

The rules say I have to write more, but this pretty much speaks for itself.      If there had been fewer Rich Lowry's to churn out endless propaganda to keep the war going for another six months, we would have more soldiers like Staff Sgt. Ronald Blystone.

The NY Times has already posted an important long piece by Matt Bai which will appear in this Sunday's magazine.

Whatever their disagreements on policy, United States senators, even in today’s hyperpolitical climate, are reluctant to impugn one another’s motives or integrity.

That’s doubly true among those who experienced combat in the Vietnam War, a group that now includes four sitting senators — the Republicans John McCain and Chuck Hagel and the Democrats John Kerry and Jim Webb — as well as former colleagues like Bob Kerrey, Max Cleland and Chuck Robb. These men share an obvious bond, and over the years they have more readily crossed partisan lines than other senators, constituting, in some ways, a party unto themselves.

Last year, First Lady Laura Bush infamously said of the costs of the Iraq war for the American people, "no one suffers more than their President and I do."  Now we know why.  While U.S. troops were sacrificing life and limb in the battlefields of Baghdad, President Bush sacrificed...golf.

As the GOP suffers its third straight major territorial loss, and Obama locks up the nomination with the promise of big coat tails in Republican districts, it is time for us to consider the future, and ask ourselves: What will we do with power, how to use it, how not to squander it, and how we can keep corruption from sapping our moral authority?

I hope that this discussion can be incorporated into the architecture of a plan that I call (with no small hubris) A 12 Step Plan to Save America.

San Francisco organizers are taking it to the streets -- their ironing board, that is.

Here's what they're suggesting as an Iraq Moratorium activity on Friday, the ninth monthly Moratorium action:

Make a difference - join us in neighborhood outreach! Stand at an ironing board at a busy location with a partner to help you and speak to that frustrated, angry person who doesn't know what to do. Get them to write a message on a postcard to their congressperson or presidential candidate. It's fun, people are so appreciative and eager to speak out! In an hour or two you will reach 50+ people. Please help, choose a time and location of your choice, we have materials! Locations: Golden Gate Park, City Hall, Farmer's market, 9th and Irving, City College, Tenderloin and more.

One woman who's tried it out lately says that is an effective way to engage people and get them to do something.  Why an ironing board?  They're portable, quick and easy to set up, and allow people to write standing up.

Donald Rumsfeld’s short lived Office of Strategic Influence spawned a termites’ nest of truth ministries; the Office of Special Plans, the Information Operations Task Force and the Iran Directorate are just a few of the ones we know about.  

The Pentagon’s latest information warfare effort involves a network of foreign language web sites that promote U.S. interests.  I doubt whether anyone at the Pentagon seriously thinks foreign language web sites are going to win over any foreign hearts and minds, but foreign language web sites could be neat placea to plant covert propaganda that can migrate into the domestic press without anyone knowing it originated at the Pentagon, huh?

Thursday May 15th at 6am Pacific - 9am Eastern - 01:00 GMT Repeated this Saturday May 17th at 9am Pacific - 12 Noon Eastern - 16:00 GMT Click Here to Listen and or save for thursdays hearings, also on graphic below.

If you have ever doubted the existence of the Military Industrial Complex this article in the Washington Post should end those doubts convincingly. The article Gates Urges Military to Focus on Current Wars, contains several important underlying concepts about the thought process that occurs inside this institution of war. There is a surreal quality that runs through your mind as you read the text. The most glaring question is why exactly Gates has to remind them about Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sure, countless amounts of people worldwide have suffered for the mistakes of our fearless leader.  But has anyone taken the time to consider what he's been through?  The sacrafices he has made?  I didn't think so.  More after the jump...

(Author's note: calypigian diaried this a few hours ago, but it didn’t get enough attention.  vermont buffalo did as well, indirectly, but I’m afraid people might not know what that diary’s about--though it deserves to be on the Recommended List.  I just think this comment by the President today merits our full attention.)
::
::
With the ghosts of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower looking down, President Bush finally admitted today that he has been touched by the true cost of war:

For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families: He has given up golf.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Jayne Stahl recently conducted a Q & A with me related to my new book on Iraq and the media and the results are posted at Alternet.org.  The link is below.

We get into some of the key issues in the book, relating to all sorts of media failures, as well as the toll on civilians and veterans, lessons not learned (not so far), and much more.

Here's a brief excerpt.  

This is my first time posting to Kos!  Being an armchair politician as well as a daydreamer, I often find myself thinking: "If I were President, I would..."  Today, it would seem, is no different.  With all the talk about stop losses, deplorable conditions, casualty rates, and GI Bills, I felt like proposing my own legislation to honor those who serve this country.  

With so many promises made, and so few of them kept, it’s time we establish the honor that we proclaim, by serving those who so nobly serve us.  I am hereby proposing my own legislation to whatever body politic will give it consideration (knowing full well that a lack of consideration is not only the possibility, but also the likelier).  Herewith is what I am calling: The American Honored Service Act: