Good morning, FReeper FRiends. Daisy is soaking up the sun in Hawaii this week and next, but before she left, she and Aquamarine created another of their beautiful Music threads - this time Patriotic Music - and asked if I would post it this week.
You won't want to miss these uplifting graphics and music at a time when we are all showing our support for our President, our leaders, our military....our wonderful USA!
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Thank you.
A big Bush-bot, red, white and blue, hitch-up-the-wagon and Let's Roll Howdy to all Freepers.
I wonder if Saddam's ever read Shakespeares, or knows of the Ides of March...)
Great idea! There was a thread yesterday that listed many FReepers favorite patriotic songs, might be a good place to start.
Conspiracies! Conspiracies! Everywhere Conspiracies!
Following the daily news reports on Iraq, it was clear that, despite all the 'going-it-alone-ism' nonsense from naysayers, Bush's 'Coalition of the Willing' was growing indeed. Big time. No less than 34 nations have signed up, as of last count.
I don't think any of us had an inkling that Rep. John Conyers would be joining any time soon, however.
But he has, amazingly. His late-hour, 'come-to-Jesus' epiphany was quietly greeted by the White House. Why quietly? The Bush team had concocted a clever, covert scheme and didn't want to tip its hand.
If there was any doubt Conyers' pro-war conversion was real, he laid all doubt to rest Tuesday, when, according to the Drudge Report, citing Roll Call, the House Judiciary's "ranking member...assembled more than two-dozen prominent liberal attorneys and legal scholars...to mull over articles of impeachment drafted against President Bush by activists seeking to block military action against Saddam Hussein."
"The two-hour session," Drudge wrote, "took place in the downtown office of a prominent Washington tort lawyer. Participants said Conyers, who hosted the meeting, was the only Member of Congress to attend. 'We had a pretty frank discussion about putting in a bill of impeachment against President Bush,' said Francis Boyle, an Illinois law professor who has been working on impeachment language with [Ramsey] Clark."
Now, are these White House, behind-the-scenes Machiavelli plots brilliant, or what? Can you think of a better way to discredit the peacenik crowd than by this bid for political suicide?
Okay, okay -- so maybe Conyers never really joined Team Bush, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more glittering illustration that the President is blessed by the enemies he keeps.
Meanwhile, Sec. Colin Powell threw cold water on Democrat speculation in recent days that Bush's Iraq policy was some sort of sinister Jewish plot.
Testifying Thursday before the House Appropriations Subcommittee, Sec. Powell noted the policy "is driven by our own national interests" and not "by any small cabal that is buried away somewhere."
"Powell's comments," the Associated Press reports, "came a day after Rep. Jim Moran apologized for making comments asserting that influential leaders of the Jewish community were pushing the country toward war with Iraq."
It's doubtful Powell's testimony will mollify Moran, who sees the Fall of Berlin in 1945 as a 'terrible setback', Saddam's Scud missile attack on Israel during Desert Storm as a 'good start,' and Hitler's Mein Kempf as words of comfort and inspiration to him, especially with Der Fuhrer Saddam's looming defeat.
Indeed, after the hearing, Moran still appeared seized with fear, roaming the gallery whispering, "I see Jewish people...I see Jewish people walking around like regular people in the White House. All the time. They're everywhere."
Then, turning to a visitor in the hallway, Moran asks, "You ever feel the prickly things on the back of your neck?"
"That's them," he says, answering his own question.
Then, in a fit of rage, he shouts, "Please, make them leave!"
A report Thursday on CNN's
Inside Politics likely only fueled the Virginia Democrat's paranoia.
CNN "analyst" William Schneider thinks he's uncovered the nefarious 'Jewish plot.'
"There's evidence," Schneider intones, "the Bush administration was talking about war with Iraq long before 9/11. David Frum, a former White House speechwriter, writes about a meeting at the White House in February 2001, at which the President spoke about his determination to dig Saddam Hussein out of power in Iraq."
David Frum is Jewish.
But the "plot" thickens.
"We know," Schneider says darkly, "that influential neo-conservatives have been arguing for years in favor of an assertive U.S. strategy in the post-Cold War world."
And who are these scheming "neo-conservatives," code for former Jewish liberals who, like Irving Kristol, have since the 60s converted to conservatism?
Schneider answers: "Figures like [deputy Defense Secretary]...Paul Wolfowitz." Ah-ha! A Wolfowitz, eh?! Another Jew in high places -- number 2 at the Pentagon, no less! Can there remain any doubt any longer?
"It's a bold, ambitious, and risky agenda," said Schneider, speaking of this "neo-con" 'con-job', "but it just may be the real reason why America is about to go to war -- Judy."
"Thanks very much," host Judy Woodruff tells Schneider, adding that "People do have those questions."
Hmmm...did she mean, "Jewish Questions," by any chance? I wonder. At a minimum, "questions" is a poor choice of word, given the stench of anti-Semitism permeating Rep. Moran and other Democrats, like Gary Hart, who also insinuated recently in a speech in San Francisco that influential constituencies harboring "dual loyalties" -- code again for 'Jews' -- is the reason for possible war with Iraq.
Indeed, New York Times "reporter" David Carr, even before the flap with Moran, did a big write up of William Kristol, whose Weekly Standard magazine has become "the prime voice of Republican neoconservatives, one of the most influential publications in Washington."
"Mr. Kristol," Carr explains, "has spent 18 years in Washington...He acknowledged that the [magazine] staff he helped assemble seven years ago has made a quick trip from rock-throwing revolutionaries to an amen corner for the administration."
'Amen Corner?' Yet another wonderful choice of phrase. The piece, White House Listens When Weekly Speaks, is sprinkled with Jewish names, among them Richard Perle, David Brooks, Paul Wolfowitz.
And, of course, William Kristol, the subject of the article.
Carr's "point"? 'Them Jews' are exercising 'too much undue' "influence" over this administration. No, he doesn't come out and say so explicitly, he's not that stupid. But that clearly was the thrust of his piece -- what he wanted readers to pick up.
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Meanwhile, further buttressing Democrat theory that "president" Saddam has no link to terrorism, theAP reports that the Iraqi dictator "this week distributed $225,000 to 21 families of" peaceful Palestinian terrorists, "including $25,000 to the family of a Hamas suicide bomber."
How lovely.
"In all," writes Hassan Fattah, "Iraq has paid more than $35 million (count 'em, $35,000,000) to families of militants -- including relatives of scores of suicide bombers -- and slain Palestinian civilians in support of the 29-month-old Palestinian" peace initiative, which has killed hundreds of Israeli Jews.
Fattah adds that "Saddam has not tried to hide" his generosity to Hamas and other violent groups struggling for 'peace', bombing for 'human rights.'
"Checks of $10,000 were handed out" to terrorists "in a packed banquet hall in Gaza City" Wednesday, even as Democrats here insist that Saddam has no terror connections. In the hall, a large banner declared: "The Arab Baath Party Welcomes the Families of the Martyrs for the Distribution of Blessings of Saddam Hussein."
Democrats -- including the French -- say that's still insufficient "evidence" -- no 'smoking-gun!'
The Jewish-blood-for-checks-from-Baghdad "have made Iraq popular among many Palestinians who feel abandoned by other Arab countries," Fattah observes.
'If only we were Palestinians,' poverty-striken citizens in Baghdad are probably saying.
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"The Dixie Chicks are stirring up controversy with a recent negative comment about President Bush while overseas promoting their current album," reported the Associated Press yesterday.
The negative comment? Singer Natalie Maines (the chubby one) said this to a London crowd: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." The audience roared.
The singing trio hails from Texas.
Her affable, friendly remarks towards the President might have been warmly received overseas, but here at home folks aren't terribly thrilled to see their Commander-in-Chief trashed, especially by one of our own, even if Chubby is only an air-head. Her comments have touched off a firestorm, potentially sinking their careers.
Stung by criticism, now the group is back-pedaling.
Well, sort of.
"My comments," Natalie is quoted by KCRAChannel.com as saying, "were made in frustration..." Oh, sure, I bet they were.
But the following should remove any doubt we're dealing with towering intellect here: "While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost," Natalie explains.
So lemme see if I get this straight: We support the troops, even though we detest how they're killing women and children!
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
-------------- In Thursday's editorial, the New York Post observed that "It was six months ago yesterday that President Bush went before the United Nations and warned the world body that it would either 'serve the purpose of its founding' by moving against Saddam Hussein or become 'irrelevant.' Saddam remains in power."
Now Bush "finds himself in" a "humiliating position of begging nations like Angola, Guinea, Mexico and Chile to support yet another resolution. To hell with it."
"Bush needs to quit groveling" and "get on with the dispossession of Saddam Hussein."
Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer Tuesday similarly urged Bush to "Walk away..walk away from the U.N. Security Council...Your wobbles...are undermining" support.
"Why are we dallying..? No more dithering. Every day you wait is an advertisement of hesitation and apprehension."
Krauthammer does have a point.
Proof of Bush's 'wobbles' and 'apprehension' -- his backtracking on using force -- are pervasive.
Indeed, MSNBC provided this disturbing report Thursday: "The United States has begun deploying radar-avoiding B-2 stealth bombers, which pack one of the biggest punches in the U.S. arsenal, for use in a possible war against Iraq, the military said Thursday. They will join a massive potential attack force of more than 270,000 American and British troops, hundreds of warplanes and dozens of ships already gathered in the gulf region...Support crews for bombers began leaving Whiteman [Air Force base in Missouri], where 21 B-2s are based, earlier this week."
Want more proof the war has been called off?
Try this: "Gen. Tommy Franks, the man expected to command any war against Iraq, is currently in Qatar," reports MSNBC.
Heading home, right? Er, nope -- he's staying put.
Okay, how about this NBC bombshell hinting Bush is walking away: "Defense officials tell NBC News they expect about a dozen ships and submarines capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles to begin going through the Suez Canal." On their way home, right? No. Surrender to the French? Nope. Here's the lowdown: The ships, which includes "destroyers, cruisers and submarines," are "to take up positions in the Red Sea" in preparation to strike.
Still not convinced Bush's going 'wobbly,' eh?
This report by New Jersey's Daily Record proves Bush is going 'French' on us: "Marines...departed Wednesday from Picatinny...a total of 221 Marines and seven Navy Corsmen, from Company 2nd Battalion 25th Marine Regiment, were to arrive this morning in Camp Lejeune, N.C." From there, the "unit will await an expected deployment order to..." the U.N.? To Georgia for peace seminars with Jimmy Carter? To Cameroon for sensitivity training? To Angola? Mexico? Er, not quite: Deployment orders will take the unit to "the Middle East, where more than 250,000 U.S. troops are already massed for" war, the newspaper reports.
Two hunches, for what their worth:
1) It ain't Bush but Saddam feeling 'apprehensive' these days.
2) Once all forces are in place, you'll know why.Anyway, that's..
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"
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