What is going on with fund-raising?—obscenity, that’s what. Already candidates are breaking the bank and the presidential election is more than a year away. Hillary goes so far as to support lobbying—don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Candidates obviously are for sale and there are simply too many corners—ethnic, religious, bloggers, pioneers, rangers, hill-raisers, unions, corporations—of power that are ready to buy; candidates might just as well put themselves on E-Bay. Is this not known as...

Abandon Iraq Foremost, a plan for the US to abscond from the civil war in Iraq within a year of his/her administration at which time all troops and residuals are home. All military bases there must be swept clean with absolutely no armaments left behind. This withdrawal is to be done unilaterally, though diplomatic efforts such as an appeal to the UN and coöperative efforts from allies and the Arab League will be tested.Aggressive Diplomacy A strong State Department to mend relations with th...

The Webb amendment to ensure that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan get a fair shake in tour rotation is a well-intentioned humane caring for our men and women in combat, but in reality it is but a coward’s ploy to draw-down troops through the backdoor, especially in Iraq. Not least, it capitalizes on the fact everyone knows our armed forces are thoroughly strained and at its lowest ebb. The amendment, moreover, does not specifically target combat units; it assumes that anyone overseas is enti...

O Prometheus! Thou spake so well of man That Zeus suspected fraudulent design.                                 He couldn’t know that thou so gently wise Had vision in creation for its own. For Zeus—when usurpation was in vogue— Did abrogate mortal ken like a common rogue By cringing ’top O...

What is it with these guys who retire from Washington only to write books to insure their legacies? Despite the mystique and oracles on economics and the Federal Reserve, Greenspan felt he had to join the ranks of tell-all volumes. He praises most of the Presidents during his tenure but doesn’t think much of Bush W. For his profligate spending and running up deficits even though he approved of Bush’s tax cuts tearing the heart out of the tentative surplus. Strangely he liked Clinton and praised ...

According to The Washington Post the Dora market, one of Baghdad’s largest, and by pre-war standards had over 850 thriving shops, many opened till midnight. Last December Dora was a war-zone for Sunni, Shia and al Qaeda. Now with the help of the surge and setting up numerous barricades known as “gated,” the number of shops are on the rise as much as 300. Because this was Petraeus’ show piece, the military has been handing out to shopkeepers $2500 incentives each to open up for business. Most o...

If Eisenhower could end hostilities in Korea then why can it not be done in Iraq? General Petraeus should use the surge as an ultimatum to end hostilities among insurgents, both Sunni and Shia and demand an emergency consortium to negotiate a truce with the stipulation that Qaeda forces be denounced as unwelcome intruders and condemnation of any Iraqi or sub cell that coöperates with terrorists. It is expected that insurgents inform on Qaeda leaders and camps in order that a special force consis...

I have been accused many times by some radical JoeUsers for not supporting our troops or for that matter even respecting them even though the bloggers knew I was a WWII Marine, which, however, was no excuse for not “supporting” our fighting men and women. In fact that in itself was all the more reason for supporting them. The problem here is in the semantics of support: it either means let the troops alone to do their job; or question the value of what they are supporting, along with the strat...

 What’s the point of all these politicians going on junket tours at taxpayers’ expense other than for boasting rights that they are concerned for our troops. How many boring statements have you heard proudly announcing their third, fifth, eighth, or fourteenth trip simply to tell us it’s going well or badly? Warner returns concluding that a paltry sum of troops should be home for Christmas. Biden comes up with a partition plan and pushing for it time and time again. McCain has had a lovely ...

I extend my hand to Fred Thompson for admitting he’s not much for church-going; Biden, too, has guts to say that his belief is his own business and no one else’s. The three top tier Democratic candidates seldom let an utterance go by without some reference to their God as though that would make them stand out among the crowd.It seems to me that the most important belief—an oath actually—is that they will defend the Constitution and show depth in democratic principles. One who is a nonbeliever or...

Why do “you people” on the right seem most of the time when arguing the current war to reference ancient history—WWII, Korea and Vietnam—to justify staying the course in Iraq? It goes without saying that troops still in Germany and Okinawa that had been there to protect the West from Soviet menace in Eastern Europe, and from China and Soviet designs on the Pacific rim, but now no longer serve a useful purpose and should be withdrawn but for those as a contingency of NATO inasmuch as the threa...

That a nation bred out of Diaspora would deny refugees entry to their land is ironic. Considering Israel’s paranoia of its predominately European make up becoming a minority particularly with the ominous pressure of Palestinian’s “right of return,” in addition to being a very small country, it is understandable despite the besmirched image. Nonetheless, Israel is allowing 500 from Darfur while deciding to expel 1200 to Egypt, but so far only 48 as Egypt is not keen on the idea, having already 2 ...

Forget about military and political shortcomings; perhaps more important is that only ten Iraqi factories are functioning minimally while the other 190 are still dysfunctional. Obviously this gaping hole contributes to the 70% unemployment, leaving millions to get sucked into the malcontent insurgency. This is in face of millions of American dollars spent on startup funds to industries, not to mention billions of occupation dollars for infrastructure with barely a spark at the end of the tunnel....

Bush’s equation of Iraq and Vietnam was only for the enhancement of the image of the chaotic exodus of the final days of the latter and thereby run fear through America of an inevitable slaughter in Iraq as in any civil strife. This is purely non-sequitur, for in Vietnam the chaos stemmed from thousands of South Vietnamese who feared for their lives under communist rule, and not the withdrawal of our troops which had not been abrupt but had steadily progressed over years. The military strateg...

Democrats should desist from urging the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison and as an alternative propose intensified international organizations to assess conditions there and perhaps suggest more humane conditions along—in the spirit of Nuremberg trials—with prison rights to habeas corpus and right of military or Arab-speaking counsel for swift, but fair military court hearings for alleged violent terrorists. For those cases not clearly involved in violent terrorism should be given civilian trial...