Barack's plan to solve the economy

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARACK OBAMA MET WITH THESE REPORTERS TODAY TO DISCUSS HIS LATEST NOMINEE WITH A TAX SCANDAL, RON THE FAILURE KIRK.   YES, BARACK ADMITTED, RON OWES BACK TAXES BUT HE HAS PROMISED HE WILL FINALLY PAY THEM.    IT WAS THEN THAT BARACK REVEALED TO THESE REPORTERS THAT THIS HAS NOT BEEN A BLUNDER ON HIS PART, HE HAS INTENTIONALLY SELECTED TAX CHEATS TO NOMINATE.   WHY?   "IT'S PART OF MY EFFORTS TO MAKE SURE ALL AMERICANS PAY THEIR TAXES," BARACK DECLARED.  "PEOPLE LIKE TIMMY GIETHNER AND TOMMY DACSCHLE AND EVEN RONNIE KIRK DON'T PAY TAXES BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO RESPECT FOR AMERICA.  BUT BY MY NAMING THEM AS NOMINEES, THEY ARE FORCED TO PAY THE TAXES THEY HAD PREVIOUSLY IGNORED.  IT'S ALL PART OF MY MASTER PLAN TO SOLVE THE ECONOMIC CRISIS."   FROM THE TCI WIRE:   Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division-North Soldier died from injuries sustained during an indirect fire attack in Mosul, Iraq, Mar. 3.  The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the U.S. Department of Defense."  The announcement brings the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4255.   The deaths continue to mount because the illegal war continues and that's because a War Hawk is in the White House.  That last one was George W. Bush, the current one is Barack H. Obama.  Jack A. Smith (Dissident Voice) observes:     In the last two weeks of February, President Barack Obama -- upon whom so many peace supporters had counted to change Washington's commitment to wars and militarism -- delivered these three blows to his antiwar constituency: 1. By ordering 17,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan Feb. 17, President Obama is continuing and expanding George W. Bush's war. It's Obama's war now, and it's getting much bigger. 2. By declaring Feb. 27 that up to 50,000 U.S. soldiers would remain in Iraq after "combat brigades" departed, President Obama is continuing the war in a country that remains a tragic victim of the Bush Administration's aggression and which has taken the lives of over a million Iraqi civilians and has made refugees of 4.5 million people. 3. By announcing Feb. 26 that his projected 2010 Pentagon budget was to be even higher than budgets sought by the Bush Administration, President Obama was signaling that his commitment to the U.S. bloated war machine -- even at a time of serious economic recession -- was not to be questioned. Whether or not Obama's actions will revive the peace movement is another matter. Antiwar activism during the election year was minimal. And now that a Democrat is in the White House it may be further reduced, since most peace backers voted for Obama. The movement's strength will be tested at the demonstrations in Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities on the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war March 21.   The actions are being led by   The National Assembly to End the Wars, the ANSWER coalition, World Can't Wait and Iraq Veterans Against the War. From IVAW's announcement: IVAW's Afghanistan Resolution and National Mobilization March 21stAs an organization of service men and women who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, stateside, and around the world, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War have seen the impact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on the people of these occupied countries and our fellow service members and veterans, as well as the cost of the wars at home and abroad. In recognition that our struggle to withdraw troops from Iraq and demand reparations for the Iraqi people is only part of the struggle to right the wrongs being committed in our name, Iraq Veterans Against the War has voted to adopt an official resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people. (To read the full resolution, click here.)    To that end, Iraq Veterans Against the War will be joining a national coalition which is being mobilized to march on the Pentagon, March 21st, to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and further our mission and goals in solidarity with the national anti-war movement. This demonstration will be the first opportunity to show President Obama and the new administration that our struggle was not only against the Bush administration - and that we will not sit around and hope that troops are removed under his rule, but that we will demand they be removed immediately.For more information on the March 21st March on the Pentagon, and additional events being organized in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orlando, to include transportation, meetings, and how you can get involved, please visit: www.pentagonmarch.org or www.answercoalition.org.   In his Dissident Voice article, Jack A. Smith goes on to cite two polls which may or may not be enough to determine public sentiment but what is known is that when gatekeepers grab the rulers and slap the wrists of the people, it takes longer for the ball to get rolling.  For example, in August 2001, Bully Boy Bush was a joke.  Then came 9-11 and, with it,  the self-appointed guardians of discousre.  They're out in full force again and this time their names include Tom Hayden.  They can try to slow the awakening that's coming, but that's all their cheerleading and garbage will do, slow the awakening.  Smith lists multiple cowards and also notes a recent column, Justin Ramondo's "The Silence of the Liberals" (Anti-war.com; this is the column Marcia highlighted last week): Not by a long shot. Has anyone noticed Obama's vaunted 16-month withdrawal-from-Iraq plan has already stretched into 19 months – and the "residual force" he kept talking about during the campaign, as if it were a mere afterthought, turns out to be 50,000 strong? Originally, none of those "residuals" were supposed to be combat troops – yet now we are told "some would still be serving in combat as they conducted counterterrorism missions." You have to go all the way to the very end of this New York Times report before you discover that, according to Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, "A limited number of those that remain will conduct combat operations against terrorists, assisting Iraqi security forces." In short: we aren't leaving. The embarrassing, aging tool Tom Hayden showed up yesterday to tell the world he still loves Barack.  And that's fine, Tom-Tom but don't confuse your love and lust with actual activism.  As we noted at Third on Sunday:   So to Tom-Tom, Carl Davidson, Jeffy Cohen, Leslie Cagan, Medea and all the other wet-pantied, lovesick fools, we urge you to declare your love for Barack, to work towards bedding down with Barack and to stop pretending you are a part of -- let alone a leader of -- the peace movement.                   Just walk right up to him and say, "Barack, this circus ride goes round and round with you or without you but it'd be cool if you'd hop on and give a spin.. You won't regret it." Who knows what will happen? But, lovelies, we'd caution to be sure Michelle's not in ear shot when you proposition Barack.                     And we again remind you . . .               Just wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'        Plannin' and dreamin' his kisses will start        That won't get you into his heart               The sooner you start openly working on what . . . excuse us, on who you want and stop pretending to give a damn about Iraq, the better it will be for the real peace movement.   Who knew that in 2009, the tired and deceitful 'leaders' would attempt to pass drooling off as 'action'?  ("Wishin' And Hopin'" written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, most famously sung by Dusty Springfield.)  While Tom Hayden rushes around with his tongue out and his hands down his pants, Alan Bjerga (Bloomberg News) reports not everyone's thinking with their loins, George McGovern's actually speaking out:   McGovern, 86, said he supports Obama's plan to increase spending to stimulate the U.S. economy, while faulting the president for his willingness to keep troops in Iraq.    Obama's plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 makes him "exactly the same" as former President George W. Bush in his conduct of the war and continues to spend money needed for economic recovery.       "What's the change?" McGovern said. "Guys are still dying over there. Guys are coming home with mental and emotional problems that will linger on for years."     As Ruth observed last night, "Poor Tom Hayden. George McGovern could not have chosen a worse time to speak out for Tom Hayden. Mr. Hayden is spit polishing Barack's knob today as per usual. (My grandson Jayson will love that I have included that phrase in the previous sentence.) And along comes George McGovern who is everything Mr. Hayden wanted to be but never managed to pull off. Poor Tom Hayden. Believe your daddy just sent you to your room without dinner."  Or as Rebecca put it, "tom hayden, what an embarrassment.  and he looks all the more childish when mcgovern can do what hayden won't. mcgovern endorsed barack. he didn't just endorse barack, he took back his endorsement of hillary to endorse barack. and here mcgovern is calling out barack while tom hayden wonders whether to let barack go balls deep or not."   The country's got more than a bunch of aging bobby soxers like Leslie Cagan, Tom Hayden, et al getting all wet-pantied for Barack.  In the real world Barack's draw down has resulted in some showing a spine.   John Yaukey (Gannet via Honlulu Advertiser) reports that US House Rep Neil Abercrombie told CNN that US forces on the ground in Iraq need to "be leaving faster than President Obama has ordered" and the quote is, "I think it can be done faster." Yaukey observes, "Abercrombie's comments signal what could become a growing rift between some Democrats and Obama on policy in Iraq." Abercrombie also questioned Barack's claim that the 'surge' was a success stating, "we Bribed people. We paid people not to kill us." Abercrombie is not lying. He is not being inflamatory. He is repeating what US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and General David Petreaus repeatedly told Congress in the days of testimony back at the start of April. (Here, we called Petreaus and Crocker's 'logic' the fork-over-the-lunch-money-so-no-one-gets-beat-up policy.) On the same topic, Mark Johnson, Ryan Beckwith and Steven Thomma (McClatchy Newspapers) report on some of the Democrats speaking out including US House Rep Lynn Woolsey ("I am deeply troubled by the suggestion that a force of 50,000 troops could remain in Iraq. This is unacceptable.") and US House Rep Dennis Kucinich ("You cannot leave combat troops in a foreign country to conduct combat operations and call it the end of the war. You can't be in and out at the same time. We must bring a conclusion to this sorry chapter in American history."). Senator Russ Feingold is also quoted but that's the statment we quoted three times last week.   With another perspective on the Iraq War, Endy M. Bayuni (Washington Post's Post Global) offers: It took years for Americans to realize that it was a war they could not win. Nixon and Kissinger agonized over whether to cut the country's losses and leave Vietnam, or stay and maintain America's integrity, pride and international standing. In the end, it was public opinion in America that forced the United States government to swallow the bitter pill of defeat. It was not so much the thought of the Vietnamese death toll as the rising death toll of young Americans drafted into the military that turned the public opinion against its own government. Americans suffered the humiliation of a war defeat as it never had before. One would expect that that trauma and scar would have been enough to prevent the United States from launching another war in a foreign land. Bush and Cheney did not read history well, and they took America to another war some 40 years later, which is where we are today: a war America cannot win, and an ethnic war just waiting to erupt as soon as American troops pull out. The real question to ask is not whether the United States should send the soldiers back if ethnic strife returns in Iraq. The problem of Iraq is for the Iraqis to solve, and for its immediate neighbors to help. Unless Americans are still thinking of controlling Iraq's oil, they really have no business meddling in Iraqi politics.   Bayuni is the chief editor of The Jakarta Post.   And in this age of Barack the War Hawk, the US military breathlessly announces: "A team of Soldiers from Alpha Troop, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, made history Feb. 23 when the unmanned aerial vehicle they were operating became the first armed Warrior Alpha unmanned aerial system to fire missiles in combat."  Staff Sgt. Jerry Rhoades is quoted stating, "We neutralized both targets" and those targets included "insurgents."   What a proud moment for Barack.  Some presidents can just hope for creating long lasting global tensions like a cold war but Barack can take pride in the fact that more ways of death destruction are being discovered on his watch.   RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Shutting Down The Domestic Arts Czar" "Iran and Iraq increase ties" "The failures of the Tom Haydens" "CBS says US citizens "carried" by the military" "The difference between Tom Hayden and a turd" "suck on it, tom hayden" "Comics and Iraq" "Comics and music" "Comics, Iraq" "Luke Cage, Sunday comics, more" "The Charm Offensive" "Comics and Oprah" "Comics and Chris Hedges and Third" "Barack and his cabinet of tax cheats" "THIS JUST IN! BARACK'S LATEST TAX CHEAT!"