Oh boo fuckin' hoo!

The GOP can go piss and moan about GENERAL Wesley Clark calling it like it is all they want so long as it is out of my earshot.

Try it around me and get a face full of claws.

They opened that can of worms with this stunning display of respect for the sacrifice of those who serve. We know exactly what they think - service is only to be respected if a republican offers himself up, Democrats are just phony soldiers.

Well, Fuck them and their faux outrage.

When the GOP condoned this and didn't condemn it - on the floor of their convention - they lost all right to pretend to be outraged when that big, fat chicken came home to roost - and now it's crapping all over the car parked underneath the tree. I say "so fucking what?"

The Chickenhawks made their fucking featherbed. Let them lie in it.

~~BG

Hey, can I join in? Because there's no shortage of wingnuts out there who opened this can of worms up a long time ago...well, not so long ago.



And, well, what's one Veteran criticizing another Veteran worth to ya?

Let's not forget what old Bob Dole had to say:

Aug. 25, 2004 Yesterday, Bob Dole joined Republican critics who claim that Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry doesn't deserve the Purple Hearts he won in Vietnam. Dole said, "three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds." But is bleeding even necessary? How do you earn a Purple Heart?

Yeah, I think the wingnuts can tamp down on their faux outrage here...

--WS

Max Boot and the Tendencies of Chickenhawks

Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall points out the idiocy of Max Boot:

It's sad to see articulate and intelligent, if terribly misguided, writers still trying to justify their Iraq catastrophe by claiming its no different from World War II and our decades' long stationing of troops in Germany and Japan.

Today we have the instance of Max Boot ...

I could just imagine an Andrew Sullivan of the 1940's writing something similar about Harry Truman's crazy idea to station troops in Germany and Japan without an exit strategy: "In fifty years' time, the West Germans will not be able to defend themselves against the Soviet Union? Or East Germany? Please." As it happens, the West Germans wouldn't have been able to defend themselves against a broad array of enemies without a long-term American troop presence. That presence has served other important goals too, namely reassuring Germany's neighbors that it would never threaten the peace of Europe again and fostering Germany's internal democratic development. But just because we've had troops in Germany and Japan for 60 years-and in South Korea for more than 50 years-doesn't mean we're occupying those countries. We are there are the request of democratically elected governments.

I wouldn't include Max Boot in the "articulate" or "intelligent" groups because he's clearly just another wingnut trying to tap into that feel-good sentiment about the only war we're allowed to admire. That's why the wingnuts also love comparing everything to the War of Northern Aggression. Max Boot is a wingnut welfare candidate--if it wasn't for the newspaper paying him, some wingnut organization would cobble together a salary for him and simply ask him to put up with smelly guys in cheap suits who sound a lot like Ron Paul. Nothing he says stands up to any kind of informed scrutiny. If you've just watched Saving Private Ryan, you can read what he's said and yell your approval and wait for the next war movie to come on AMC.

What I want to add is this--conservatives are informed by movies and television programs, not by experience. A scarce handful have seen military service while the rest avoided military service when their nation needed them. Those "chickenhawks" are able to squawk because they're in no danger of having to serve. The media is full of chickenhawks--and that amplifies the message of other chickenhawks. If the media actually were "liberal" you'd hear viewpoints that the media was comfortable presenting to people. Instead, you have a social strata of men in this country who control the media who deliver a message to the American people that help absolves them of their inherent chickenhawk tendencies. Fred Hiatt, are you listening? They can comfortably sit on their collective asses and sell their war by the turn of clever marketing--make THIS war just like World War II and, by extension, make THEM the the heroes of the war they feel like they should be because they sat on the dead asses and advocated it.

It's time to restore sanity in this country, and we need to stop listening to men who have never served calling for war. It should be a no-brainer. I won't be satisfied til these men are laughed out of the discussion every time they pipe up.

--WS

American Legion chastises Congress, comes out in favor of Jim Webb's GI Bill legislation

This is one of those things that came on the wire feed while I was off at the convention that needs a post of it's own.

The American Legion has come out strong in favor of S 22, the GI Bill legislation offered by Senator Jim Webb (D,VA) in January 2007.

"When The American Legion championed the original Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, even some veterans groups complained that it would 'break the treasury,'" National Commander Marty Conatser said. "Instead, the GI Bill transformed the economy and has been widely hailed as the greatest domestic legislation Congress ever passed. The critics were wrong then and they are wrong now."

Conatser pointed out that while the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill, S-22, would cost $51.8 billion over 10 years, "it is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the sacrifices made by America's servicemembers and their families."

The debate over the cost for the original World War II-era GI Bill was unpersuasive to its author, American Legion Past National Commander Harry Colmery. "If we can spend 200 to 300 billion dollars to teach our men and women to kill, why quibble over a billion or so to help them to have the opportunity to earn economic independence and to enjoy the fruits of freedom?" he asked at the time.

Over the decades, the GI Bill has enabled millions of veterans to attend college and is estimated by some economists to have returned $7 to the economy for every $1 in cost. However soaring tuition and decreases in program benefits over the years has left higher education out of reach for many current veterans.

Concerns that the new GI Bill, proposed by Sen. James Webb, D-Va., would hurt military retention are unfounded, according to The American Legion. "This bill would encourage young men and women to join the military," Conatser said. "As far as retention goes, the CBO estimates that a simple $8,000 bonus to personnel at their first enlistment point would increase reenlistments by 2 percentage points. Another way to encourage mid-level servicemembers to stay in the military is to transfer GI Bill benefits to family members so the servicemember can remain in the military and still benefit from the program."

Conatser had a suggestion to critics who believe the GI Bill is too expensive. "Visit Walter Reed. War is expensive indeed and the bulk of that cost is paid for by the men and women who wear the uniform. Benefits are just a small, small cost of war."

"The GI Bill is important enough to stand on its own merit," concludes Conatser. "I have faith in the American people that they will demand that Congress pass the GI Bill, which truly expresses the thanks of a grateful nation for service above and beyond that of normal citizenship."

The support - or lack thereof - of the American Legion will go a long way in a lot of republican congressional districts this fall. The organization has nearly two and three quarters million members who have served in foreign wars, and every year more and more men and women become eligible to join. The republican party pisses off the veterans constituency at their own peril. Personally, I hope they continue on this self-destructive path. The sooner we put two behind the ear of the myth that the republicans are the party that best represents the military interest, the better off we will be.

As The Fighting Rages in Sadr City...

...young Republicans put on their bow ties and sit this one out.



That's OK guys, our troops are doing the best they can. You need to sit back and chill. Better yet, stick an extra Hot Pocket in those overfed, overprivileged fat little Republican cheeks and get back to us when you have the chance to do something for your country, other than blog and watch 24.

Talk about a gathering of pathetic young men who have never been laid...jeeebus.

Notice anything?

Generation Chickenhawk



The First Member of the Royal Family to See Combat Since World War I



Angelina Jolie in the Al-Waleed Refugee Camp, Iraq



If a member of one of our own "royal" families was secretly in Iraq or Afghanistan defending this country, and Drudge revealed it and put their life in imminent danger, would anyone care?

UPDATE - By Blue Girl

Ted Nuisance: Not just insane, but a pathetic, pissing coward, too!

By now you have all seen the YouTube of Ted Nuisance strutting across the stage brandishing a machine gun and telling Hillary and Obama to "suck on this" and he calls Obama a "piece of shit" and a "punk."

Ted maybe ought to exercise a little care when throwing around terms like "punk" - especially when the public record shows him to be a draft-dodging punk of the first order. When it was his time to step up and wield a machine gun for real, he pussed out, big time.

Richard Roeper at the Chicago Sun-Times has the details of the Motor City Madman's unrivaled cowardice:

[W]hen it was time to register for the draft during the Vietnam era. By his own admission, Nugent stopped all forms of personal hygiene for a month and showed up for his draft board physical in pants caked with his own urine and feces, winning a deferment. Creative!

Sean Insanity of Faux Noise defends the jingoistic jackass and his 'right' to make terroristic threats against two sitting United States Senators (both of whom have Secret Service protection).

Funny thing, that. I certainly do not recall him being so magnanimous and in favor of the First Amendment when Natalie Maines said she was embarrassed that Bush was from her home state of Texas.

"Buffalo 'em"

My husband is working on a book treatment and the subject matter is the era of the Plainsmen - Tom "Bear River" Smith, the 7th Cavalry, Wild Bill Hickok.

He said that it is time to "Buffalo" the chickenhawks.

I did not know what that meant, so he explained. A buffalo would stand there and let a man walk up to him and hit him in the head with a club.

When a man got buffaloed, he was marked, physically. Usually, it involved a pistol-whipping that left a scar on the mans face. It was a warning to the person on the receiving end..."I see your face again, I'm shooting you dead."

I'm not advocating violence, no matter how desperately some of these no-mind, fraidy-cat, reactionary, reptilian-brained piss-ants need their asses kicked.

My version is a loud "Shut the fuck up."

If you are carrying water for this fuck-up, and you are making excuses for the inexcusable, and you are not serving or encouraging your kids to go "drive around until we get shot at or something blows up" (what a concept for a mission!) I am not going to waste my time and listen to you. You are not worth my attention nor my time. You're a lost cause, and I despise you for willful, complicit ignorance.

Chickenhawk mother-fuckers, you have been buffaloed: Shut the fuck up.

The one where I break a taboo

There are a few phrases that are sure to induce eye-rolling every time I hear them. I hate them as only a scientist with a social sciences background can. Anyone who utters “aesthetically pleasing” or “develop a new gestalt” or “paradigm shift” is immediately going in my “pretentious dickhead” category, and remain there until I am satisfied it was a grievous error.

I tell you that because I am going to use one of them, and feel free to mock the mocker. I deserve it for not being able to come up with a synonym for “paradigm shift.”

But that pretty much sums up what has happened with the narrative of the war supporters.

Have you noticed?

The whole meme has changed recently. There is no longer talk of what it will mean to win. Democracy, stability, rule of law…

Those out-of-reach ideals are no longer getting play.

Nope. They are now using terms that couch it as anything short of a wide-spread regional war is success. If the whole damn Middle Eastern powderkeg can be kept from blowing up, then it was a catastrophic success!

Now the hook they are trying to peddle is “defeat in Iraq would result in wide-spread death and destruction all across the middle east and even in America, too!”

What that translates to is this: Basically - any scenario in which an unfriendly neighboring state or a group claiming to operate under a terrorist banner can't claim victory will do. (I know - that isn't a real victory, at least not the way it has been defined in any manual I ever picked up; but then, this isn't a real commander in chief, either, so...)

But here is all the proof you need to know Iraq is lost...the Dolschtosslegende is already being floated. Once again, those who support an unjust war but who are not fighting it – and neither are their children – and 52 months in, it is high time we start calling these bloodthirsty chickenhawk traitors on this part – these mendacious soulless fucks are attempting to blame the roughly 75% of their fellow citizens who get it as gutless, and we “won’t let the troops win.” Never mind the four-plus years of military failure. That has nothing to do with it. It's the folks back home who don't have the stomach for the fight, and we are causing the troops to lose.

Fuck those jokers. Hard.

I’ve had it with those chickenhawk mother fuckers, and I'm not playing nice any more.

The likes of them do not get to say one fucking word to me. How fucking dare they?

If you support this shit, and you can not produce a DD-214, or show me your children are serving…shut the fuck up. Assholes like Bill the Bloody Kristol are not fit to even speak to anyone who ever took that oath.

Y’all just work on that Dolschtosslegende. See how that works for you.

As for me and the rest who have been right all along…let me just clear something up for you...We are not stabbing anyone in the back, cowardice is your gig. We are, however, coming at you from the front.

We want you fucking cowards to see our faces.

But even more…we want to see the fear on yours.

ABC goes 'Inside the Surge.'

From Think Progress: ABC goes 'Inside the Surge.':

Last night, ABC’s Nightline aired a segment capturing a rare view from the ground of the fighting that mires U.S. troops in Baghdad. Through the lens of an embedded reporter, ABC followed several U.S. soldiers for two weeks in May, watching them encounter roadside explosions that kill their fellow soldiers and embark on often futile hunts to root out “insurgents.” Watch the segment:

Approaching his fifteenth month in Iraq, one soldier made a personal challenge to President Bush: "I challenge the President or whoever has us here for 15 months to ride alongside me. I’ll do another 15 months if he comes out here and rides along with me every day for 15 months. I’ll do 15 more months. They don’t even have to pay me extra."

Lindsey "I bought Five Rugs for Five Dollars" Graham? You out there, Son?

I think that Soldier was talking to you, and the deluded few (26% now, I believe) who still support this clusterfuck.


How the hell can any of them - most of whom have never sacrificed anything - keep demanding that so few keep giving, more and more and more, and it is never enough and it is never going to be enough.

How dare they. They truly have no shame. They have to be utterly devoid of a moral core. Do they even have reflections when they look into a mirror?

After the revulsion passed, I came up with a challenge...

Within a day of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, John Derbyshire was impugning the victims as cowards for not fighting back (we don't know they didn't, and we know one professor did die saving the lives of his students, by telling them to flee as he tried to block the door).

The bodies had not all been identified, and this joker wrote this:

Spirit of Self-Defense [John Derbyshire]

As NRO's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.

At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.

Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes—and like most cliches. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy.

Here is my challenge for Mr. Derbyshire, and I am not impugning his bravery, just offering him a scenario where he can test his mettle:

He should contact a local police department and arrange to don body armor and protective gear and then he can run toward a trained police officer who is shooting at the ground in front of him, not even at him.

And he should v-log it.

Still a Bug Hunt

After two days of heavy fighting in Diwaniya, American airpower was called in to quell the violence.

Members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army (they are no longer abstaining from engaging Americans) have relocated to Diwaniya in recent weeks as the American troop presence has increased in Baghdad - because, well hey, the Americans can't be everywhere, now, can they?

The fighting started on Friday after American and Iraqi forces sealed off neighborhoods and started house-to-house searches, looking for members of the Mahdi Army. When such an operation results in two days of heavy fighting, it is quite obvious that all did not go swimmingly.

Iraqi police confirmed that seven rebel fighters were killed, fifteen more were wounded and dozens were arrested. No American casualties were reported.

I am disturbed by this stand-their-ground posture that Iraqi forces have been taking. A posture that seems to hold until airpower is called in, by the way.

I look at this through a different lens than most everyone else.

I see reason for caution. I see a resistance that is adapting and getting stronger.

I see the potential for a very, very bad day as American forces leave the hardened bases and spread out into the neighborhoods.

Thats not defeatism talking, that's realism talking. George aWol Bush is unwilling to deal with reality - and here is the real bitch of the whole deal - He isn't the one who has to deal with the reality of Iraq.

That unpleasant task is left to the 18-year-old rolling through Ramadi looking for IED's in a Hummer that may or may not have adequate armor. Oh, and the parents who bury him when Bush's grand scheme literally blows up in his face, of course.

Wanker of the Week: E. Thomas McClanahan

Mr. MBG, this ones for you...

The cloying fly in the editorial ointment at the Kansas City Star struck again last Sunday. But then, at our house, we say “If it’s Sunday it must be McClanahan!” Then we start making fun of him. (He just makes it so easy!)

The Democratic Party is full of defeatists, you see, because we have the ability to perceive reality.

When the WMD’s became histories first proven negative, victory in Iraq became unachievable. When the lies that launched the war became obvious to all save McClanahan, reasonable people realized that as objectives had ever been clearly defined, they couldn’t be realized.

He is quite chuffed at the lack of enthusiasm for the fight among those with something to lose – like life, limb or loved one. Hell, he’s still pissed off that we didn’t sacrifice a few thousand more in southeast Asia.

He simply refuses to get it. Iraq is embroiled in a multi-faceted sectarian civil war, and we don’t get to win it.

I opted not to reproduce a snippet of last Sunday’s column, but really, every McClanahan column of late is a variation on the same theme. He is quite obsessed, to the point of pathology, it would seem, with the notion that all Democrats are quite simply traitors and cowards. If he isn't yammering about that, he's pissed off because he dislikes the architecture in the midtown revitalization that has made my property values soar. He's frankly a pedantic fuck no matter the topic.

I am not going to waste bandwidth to repeat his idiotic ramblings, but feel free to click here if you want to wade into the festering swamp for a sample of McClanahan’s fevered "mind" at “work.”

I will, however, give you some background on E. Thomas.

He is a chickenhawk of the first order. He went to Viet Nam – but he never saw the brush except when he flew over it. His pasty white ass was sitting in an air-conditioned office sending missives about “defeatocrats” back home even then. He is perhaps the original keyboard commando; and frankly a pathetic, contemptible and sad little man.

McClanahan is so ginned up for the fight, and thinks the troops can get by just fine without a year off between year-long deployments, he should find out first hand, and not from an air conditioned office this war. McClatchy should send him to Anbar to embed with some Marines immediately.

For a year. Then send his ass back in seven months to do it again.

Until he puts his own skin in the game to report from the front, I simply can not take a single word he writes about war seriously, including “and” “the” and “of”.