Reprise from below:

Voters are not in an ethereal mood. They are pissed off. They are worn out from the partisan rhetoric and worn down by the weight and grind of political bs upon them.

Voters want simple, clear, bare-bones talk. They want horse sense, not horse shit.

Voters don't want more of the same. They don't want more Republican hating of everyone, and they don't want more Democratic equivocation. They want old-fashioned American take-it-or-leave-it this is what I believe in my gut and here is what I'm going to do about it and if you don't agree with me, it's too fricking bad.

There are fewer real straight talkers in either party now than ever before. We Dems have John Murtha, a reconstituted Al Gore, and stray others here and there. Republicans have Chuck Hagel. The bloom is off the McCain rose, and Hillary's boat is sunk before she can break the champaign bottle on its bow.

The blithering idiot talking heads can tout McCain and Hillary and Rudy and all the other usual suspects until they are exhausted, but it will not change the fact that come 2008, Americans are going to turn to someone about whom we are hearing jack squat right now.

Historically, we are in a time of national paranoia, sold to us by Rove and Bush, and purchased by the media and by most of the people. We are in the 1950's revisited.

But, storm's a comin'. As Viet Nam festered into a boil that needed lancing, so is Iraq, the deficit, healthcare follies, and on down the line.

Americans are not yet in the streets, but they should be in outrage against Bush's Constitutional abuses alone.

McCain and Hillary and Allen and Condi and Rudy and all the rest of the Beltway bullshitters ain't gonna make to the '08 finish line - no matter how much money is hanging out of their briefcases.

Americans are going to give Washington a political enema, and the nation will feel one hell of a lot better.

The question is: Can America wait until 2008?From my POV it's no.

We have a Kleptocracy, with Bush as the top Kleptocrat.

Bush will whine, cheat, lie, and steal, until he takes what he wants. Then he'll do it again.

I do not trust this "establishment" -- unlike the protests of the 60's/70's -- protesting against this administration is useless. The media is part of this new world order. For all the reporting that shows this administration in a negative light, it's not going to matter.

I truly believe the establishment does not care about America -- we are expendable. The establishment cares about THEIR New Global World... they want the world.

What do you think? It sounds to me like the scorch and burn Republicans are afraid to talk postive any more? They say, "It Could, It is Likely to?" Gosh! This is a sign the end is near for Republicans. I am so proud of our people they speak so postive? Quite a change after listening to the Republicans studder! I don't think I have ever heard our Democrats talk like they were not sure of the outcome. The least they would say is; It should turn out thus and so unless something unforseen happens. Oh! What a difference a smart and wise Democrat makes?

Who did not know from the very beginning of this occupation, and demand for a new government, that a Civil War would break out? That 3 very distinct groups could not rule together?

This was just a long time in coming!!!

I truly believe the establishment does not care about America -- we are expendable. The establishment cares about THEIR New Global World... they want the world.

Posted by LL on February 24, 2006 at 01:13 PM

But does this new global economy really belong to the Chinese?

The thing that angers me the most is that the establishment is so short-sighted. They are willing to take short-term profits now and ignore the long-term results of that practice.

Matthews is talking about Ghandi. Hell is freezing over. This an Apocalyptic Day.

Some of our Commanders "on the ground" said from the start that we had up to 18 months to get things back in order, as in an entire INFRASTRUCTURE, or it would break down. And that was before Abu Graib.

I think this is what they warned would happen if they didn't get things back to normal. "Shock and awe" made it impossible to get back to normal any time soon.

This is not a "can't we all just get along" deal.
What's the difference between a "day curfew," and martial law? Not too much.

BAGHDAD, Iraq Feb 25, 2006 (AP)— A car bomb exploded in a Shiite holy city and 13 members of one Shiite family were gunned down northeast of the capital Saturday in a surge of attacks that killed at least 30 people despite heightened security aimed at curbing sectarian violence following the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine.

At least one more Sunni mosque was attacked in Baghdad on Saturday after two rockets were fired at a Shiite mosque in Tuz Khormato, north of the capital, the previous night. Shooting also broke out near the home of a prominent Sunni cleric as the funeral procession for an Al-Arabiya TV correspondent slain in sectarian violence was passing by. Police believed the procession was the target.

The violence occurred despite an extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and three surrounding provinces. Stretched security forces could not be everywhere to contain attacks that have killed more than 150 people since Wednesday's shrine bombing and pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1661197

GEORGE BUSH BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW START THE RE-DEPLOYMENT NOW

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=123&art_id=qw1140872221921B262

By Michael Georgy and Lin Noueihed

Baghdad - A car bomb in a Shi'a holy city and bloody battles around Sunni mosques in Baghdad that breached a second day's curfew on the capital heightened fears on Saturday that Iraq was heading for civil war.

Iraqi Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi called for calm and told a live televised news conference on state television: "If there is a civil war in this country it will never end."

Extending the curfew to Monday morning, Iraqi leaders are scrambling to break the round of tit-for-tat reprisals, sparked by a suspected al Qaeda bombing of a major Shi'a shrine in Samarra on Wednesday. The gravest crisis since the US invasion in 2003 threatens US plans to withdraw its 136 000 troops.

'If there is a civil war in this country it will never end'
The biggest political bloc from the once-dominant Sunni Muslim minority said it might end a boycott of US-backed negotiations on forming a national unity government that Washington hopes can stifle sectarian strife that has killed more than 200 people in Baghdad in three days.

But Iraq's most prominent Sunni cleric, blaming Shi'a police for attacking his home, said live on pan-Arab television during the gun battle: "This is civil war declared by one side."

It seemed that shooting may have been linked, however, to a gun attack on the passing funeral cortege of a journalist killed as she reported from Samarra on Wednesday. The same mourners were hit by a roadside bomb on their return from the burial in western Baghdad. The two attacks left three security men dead.

Thousands of untried, US-trained police and Iraqi troops kept traffic off the roads around Baghdad. The US military said it had a rapid reaction force standing by in the city.

South of the capital, a remote-controlled car bomb killed eight people and wounded 31 in the Shi'a holy city of Kerbala.

RE: from SandyH But does this new global economy really belong to the Chinese?

Don't quite know how you got the Chinese into Bush's Establishment. My guess is he'd like to have them (or has them) lining in his $pockets$ too.

We have: An Out Of Touch Administration, who went into Iraq, and wants more of the world.

Bush is not out of touch, his establishment doesn't care! His actions are blatantly self-serving.

From my POV, we should get out of Iraq. Clinton's administration was concerned about Iraq, passing 3 Public Laws in 1998: 105-338, 105-174, 105-235. Also, read Clinton's February 17, 1998 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON IRAQ TO PENTAGON PERSONNEL. Yes, Clinton was also concerned about Iraq and deposing Saddam... BUT... Clinton followed the rules, and kept us out of Iraq.

Bush did not follow rules, he broke them, by fabricating new facts or stretching the truth. Bush created his own scenarios, using Clinton's words as a starting point.

Bush wants more than Iraq. We will truly have more Apocalyptic Days Involving America as long as Bush is in power.

U.S. Report on Iraqi Troops Is Mixed

By Robert Burns
Associated Press
Saturday, February 25, 2006

The number of Iraqi army battalions judged by their American trainers to be capable of fighting insurgents without U.S. help has fallen from one to none since September, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

But the number of Iraqi battalions capable of leading the battle, with U.S. troops in a support role, has grown by nearly 50 percent. And the number of battalions engaged in combat has increased by 11 percent.

The Pentagon says its short-term goal is to train more Iraqi units to a level where they can lead the fight, because that allows U.S. troops to focus on tasks besides combat and could reduce U.S. casualties....

* * *

I thought the whole idea was to have an independent Iraq. Wasn't our military training them to take over the whole enchillada? Instead the focus now seems to be babysitting those still willing to serve?

I really don't blame the Iraqi army. They are being blown up all over the place by who knows who. Most of them belong to various militias and must feel pulled in two directions.

Since there really isn't ANY Iraqi battalions still capable of fighting insurgents without U.S. help, I suppose they might as well be fighting each other. They have proven in the last few days they are more than capable of handling that...without American backup.

Don't quite know how you got the Chinese into Bush's Establishment...

ll, didn't mean that the Chinese are cooperating with the Republican's globalization plans. They are just taking advantage of the Republicans stupidity while they concentrate on building trade in South America and other developing economies....that Bush has alienated.

The Republicans are selling out our country and investing what little equity we still have left in communist countries that most certainly will nationalize those assets when they are ready.

The Chinese must feel like they died and went to heaven. Bush is making it so easy.

And then they hold all those trillions of dollars in American debt. Wait till they demand that we start paying it back faster or they will forclose.

China is going to inherit the world. Bush might as well formally name them as our heirs.

Not One Penny More for War! National Call-In Day Tuesday Feb. 28
Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard on Tuesday Feb. 28th at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative (or one of your Senators). Give them this basic message in your own words: "I strongly oppose the war in Iraq. I want all our troops brought home safely, without delay. I urge Representative X to vote against the President's $72.4 billion 'emergency' supplemental request for the war." More Info:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/8237

Is There a Case for Impeachment?
March 2, 8 p.m.
A public forum featuring Lewis H. Lapham, Rep. John Conyers, Michael Ratner, Elizabeth Holtzman, and John Dean, moderated by Sam Seder.
Town Hall, 123 W 43rd St, New York, NY
See Flyer . . .

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/8238