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US officials said Thursday that US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev plan to meet Friday

Democrats in Washington just can't seem to help it. Even when great opportunities arise that would allow them to look like patriots, they sponsor yet another bill to cut off funds for our troops in Iraq. Last week, Democrats in the House of Representatives voted yet again to fix a firm deadline to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. It was their 40th such vote. Luckily, their motion died in the Senate, where the Party of Surrender failed to muster enough votes to survive a presidential veto. Also last week, House Democrats passed a measure, inappropriately titled the RESTORE Act...

The Democratic presidential candidates had the perfect opportunity this week to demonstrate sincerity in their "we really do support the troops, we just want them to Columnlose" positioning. It would of course be more appropriate to say you support the troops and therefore want them to achieve success in their missions, but these are Democrats we're talking about – and remember they weren't too supportive of victory for the U.S. military during the Cold War or Vietnam War, either. In Cambridge, Mass., city officials banned the Boy Scouts from conducting a troop care package drive – they went so far...

Declaring war "incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ," the bishops of The United Methodist Church called on leaders of all nations to begin an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The bishops also urged against deploying additional troops to Iraq and against establishing permanent military bases in the Middle Eastern country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Friday blocked a Republican proposal to pay $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without strings attached. The 53-45 vote was 15 votes short of the 60 needed to advance. The measure was aimed at countering Democratic legislation that also would bankroll the operations, but would additionally require that troops start coming home in 30 days. The Democratic bill, passed by the House on Wednesday, set a goal of ending combat by December 2008. "We need to get the funds to the troops and we need to do it now," said Senate...

Over the spring and summer, the Democrats tried putting timetables for withdrawal onto funding bills for the war in Iraq. At that time, they claimed that the war had been lost, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explicitly declaring defeat on the floor of the Senate during the debate. In the end, they lost the battle for defeat and retreat as the Bush administration backed them into a corner, even while losses spiked in the early days of the surge. Now, of course, the strategy and tactics of General David Petraeus have proven successful. Violence across all markers has dropped...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will vote as early as Friday on legislation that would pay $50 billion for the war in Iraq but require that President Bush start bringing troops home.

From here: CNSNews.com) - If pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq results in "a bloodbath," the guilt will rest with the Iraqi people and not with the U.S. Congress, according to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a leading proponent of withdrawing troops. "Many have threatened that there will be chaos, a bloodbath, when the United States redeploys from Iraq, and this in fact may be the case," Murtha said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Monday. "If they continue to choose to spill blood, it will not be on the conscience of the United States." And...

American victory in the Cold War looks inevitable in hindsight. It didn't seem that way in the Seventies. And, as Iran reminds us, the enduring legacy of the retreat from Vietnam was the emboldening of other enemies. The forces loosed in the Middle East bedevil to this day, in Iran, and in Lebanon, which Syria invaded shortly after the fall of Saigon and after its dictator had sneeringly told Henry Kissinger, "You've betrayed Vietnam. Someday you're going to sell out Taiwan. And we're going to be around when you get tired of Israel." President Assad understood something that too many...

Evenness of temper has never been one of John McCain’s signature virtues, but yesterday the Arizona Senator had a good excuse for loosing his cool. Henpecked by California’s Barbara Boxer about the poor polling of the Iraq war, of which he has been a resolute supporter, a visibly vexed McCain fired back that “a lot of us are not driven by polls. A lot of us are driven by principle. And a lot of us do what we think is right no matter what the polls say.” Even apart from the deteriorating fortunes of his presidential campaign, McCain was right...

That shrill sound you're hearing isn't coming from the cicadas. It's the cackle of conservatives reveling in war protester Cindy Sheehan's abrupt decision to leave the anti-war movement and return home to California. Typical liberal, they're saying. Cut and run.

Rep. Ron Paul: Running to Win in 2008Dave EberhartWednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 WASHINGTON -- Libertarians and conservatives alike, frustrated by their early options among the so-called 2008 front-runners, may turn to a familiar face in pursuit of the White House: Rep. Ron Paul.Paul, R-Texas, has been a fervent advocate of limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He's now considering taking his no-nonsense show on the road in an under-the-radar run for the White House... (full article at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/30/151713.shtml?s=po) ANNOUNCINGThe formation of the Great Ron Paul Ping List (GRPPL)on...

Recently recvd this message - (chuckle): Time to re-evaluate U.S. involvement Every day there are news reports of more deaths. Why are we still there? We see images of death and destruction on TV every night. Why are we still there? We took this land by force. We occupied it. It causes us nothing but trouble. Why are we still there? Many of our children go there but never come back. Why are we still there? Murderers, Rapists, Pedophiles and Thugs enjoy celebrity status. Why are we still there? Their government is unstable. Why are we still there? Many of...

(2007-02-19) — After failing to pass a non-binding resolution condemning a U.S. troop surge in Iraq, Democrats, reluctant to cut funding for the war, are reportedly studying a host of alternatives designed to show that they support the troops yet oppose the commander-in-chief, President George Bush. “Cutting funding for troops in the field is political suicide,” said one unnamed Democrat senator, “but we think we have some creative ways to accomplish our goal of ending the war, without the perception that we’re anti-troop.” The following is a partial list of the top options now under consideration by Democrat leaders in...

(2007-02-18) — Moments after Republicans in the senate blocked a Democrat attempt to vote on a non-binding resolution expressing disapproval of a U.S. troop surge in Iraq, Majority Leader Harry Reid hailed the non-vote as “perhaps the greatest Democrat military accomplishment of the past 40 years.” “History will celebrate the moment that our brave new Democrat majority forced an unsuccessful cloture vote on the filibuster of a measure that would have symbolically ended the troop surge,” said Sen. Reid. “And in November 2008, when Americans go to the polls, they’ll ask themselves ‘Who stood up for our freedom to express...

After yesterday's 'Non-binding' resolution was passed, the Democrats have sent out an email, received at my throwaway address. Of course, all the self congratulatory stuff and bashing of Republicans is in it. To: "Lew Waters" {Me@I’llnevertell.com} From: "Brian Wolff, DCCC Executive Director" {dccc@dccc.org} Subject: Keeping Our Promise Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:47:15 -0500 Dear Lewis, Democrats campaigned on the promise to take America in a new direction -- both at home and in Iraq. We have kept our promises. In less than 100 Hours, House Democrats delivered: passing legislation to raise the minimum wage, voted to invest in stem...

WASHINGTON - Minnesota lawmakers Friday voted mostly along party lines on the U.S. House resolution on Iraq, but Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad was among 17 Republicans who joined with Democrats to express disapproval of President Bush's plan to increase troops.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid declared yesterday that "it is time to bring the war to a close" and warned President Bush that sending more U.S. troops to Iraq would be unacceptable to the Democratic majorities that have just taken over Congress. Directly challenging Bush's wartime leadership on their second day in charge on Capitol Hill, Democrats Pelosi (Calif.) and Reid (Nev.) sent Bush a letter suggesting that, instead of starting a short-term escalation, he begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces in the next four to six months. The mission of remaining troops,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 -- As President Bush prepares to present his new strategy on Iraq to the American people, Democratic Congressional leaders said today they will fight any approach that calls for deploying more United States troops there. “We want to do everything we can to help Iraq succeed in the future but, like many of our senior military leaders, we do not believe that adding more U.S. combat troops contributes to success,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, wrote to Mr. Bush. “Adding more combat troops will only endanger...

This is in the top banner of ABC News: ABC NEWS HAS LEARNED PENTAGON IS CONSIDERING A MAJOR STRATEGIC SHIFT IN IRAQ, PULLING TROOPS OUT OF DEADLY AL-ANBAR PROVINCE