The News...

I apologize in advance for being so damned serious on this blog. I will blog some fun-loving things like Dave does in the near future, I swear.

Anyway, as many of you know.... Actually when I say "many of you" I really don't know who the hell I think I'm talking to. I mean there can't be more than 3 or 4 people that actually read this blog ever. How does that work exactly? Are we allowed to speak on our blog as though we are actually speaking to the vast Internet community, even when, in reality, we know we have a readership of a stout, but paltry, few? I dunno. But I like doing it. [By the way Dr. Mary Kennedy recently informed me that "Internet" must always be capitalized in formal writing. Did any of you Masselink kids ever hear that? It was news to me.]

Ok..so yeah..As many of you probably know the House passed a funding bill this week for the War, that included a timetable for withdrawal. The Senate followed suit yesterday. The unfortunate fact is that "our" President has already emphatically stated that he will veto any bill that involves a plan to get us out of Iraq. And we don't have the numbers in Congress to overide that veto.

So now we have both the Senate and the House, agreeing that we must set a timetable for Iraq. We have 71% of Americans dissaproving of the way Bush is handling the war (including 93% of Dems), and 64% supporting a timetable similar to the one just passed in Congress, 59% approve specifically of the bill just passed, according to a poll conducted by CBS News/NY Times this week. We have all kinds of Iraq war vets, supporting withdrawal. the most recent, reliable, poll from Zogby I could find indicates that overall 72% !! of American soldiers in Iraq supported withdrawal by 2006! The poll was conducted at the beginning of last year. There have been more recent reports of our own soldiers dissaproval of the War effort that I can't find links for right now. Besides all of that the Iraq citizens themselves want us out to the tune of 70%, more than half now feel attacks on U.S troops are justified!!!

So, I mean the bottom line is that support for the war at this point only exists with the President and with those Republicans in Congress too stupid, and too loyal, to realize that he is at the helm of a sinking ship. If Bush persists in vetoeing bills that make plans for withdrawal, which he is very likely to do, the war will go on despite our wishes. And to the detriment of America, Iraq and on some levels the entire world. More Americans will die for a cause that is basically, at this point, nonexistent.

Things are worse now in Iraq than they were under Saddam. And not simply with regard to the level of violence-- even schools and hospitals, and basic utilities are in worse shape. The reasons that the President used to lead us to war have all been debunked, at this point. There was no good reason to go there in the first place and there is no good reason to stay now. The President is undoubtedly worried that failure in Iraq, will mean a failure in his Administration. He has focused all of his energy into one basket, and if those egss break he has nothing. The guy is obsessed with his legacy and still believes that he is a great man, and a great leader. If he has to pull out of Iraq, he might have to face the reality that his legacy will not be a glorious one. I mean think of all the terrible things that have happened on his watch. If he is forced to withdraw from Iraq, his last hope of salvaging anything decent from his presidency will be squashed. For Bush, I believe, it is completely personal now for him. He is using the lives and resources of America to vainly and naively attempt to save his name from disgrace. History will bear witness to the utter and dismal failure of his Presidency, and we will look back on these post-911 years as some of the worst in our nation's history. It is a sad and terrible thing. But the only way to make it better for all of us, is to start doing the right thing again. And start doing it right away. Bush is determined to drag this war out for the rest of his term so he doesn't have to face the consequences of his actions. I fear that the only way we can ensure troop withdrawal is to impeach the moron, or wait til November '08 and make damn sure we vote in a Democrat who is committed to ending the War. I am ashamed to say thats what it has come to. The President will be studied for all time however. Because he has exploited every possible weakness in the U.S. Government system. He has abused his power ever time he was been able to and to this point we haven't been able to stop him. It is really f*cked up that the system is still set up to the point where a rogue leader can so thoroughly control the fate of this once great Nation. I always thought that we were beyond this kind of thing, but I am afraid we are not.

Supporting the troops does not mean supporting the President, it means getting us the hell out of there as soon as possible. If your still not sure, check out VoteVets.org . Here's a sample of one of the most popular vids from the site.






Impeach the President.

Take a stand for Peace, and for responsibility.