Bobby Darin
This Could Be the Start of Something Big

Maureen Dowd from the NYTimes Select, via Welcome to Pottersville

Dick Durbin went to the floor of the Senate on Thursday night to denounce the vice president as “delusional.”

It was shocking, and Senator Durbin should be ashamed of himself.

Delusional is far too mild a word to describe Dick Cheney. Delusional doesn-t begin to capture the profound, transcendental one-flew-over daftness of the man.

Has anyone in the history of the United States ever been so singularly wrong and misguided about such phenomenally important events and continued to insist he’s right in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

It requires an exquisite kind of lunacy to spend hundreds of billions destroying America’s reputation in the world, exhausting the U.S. military, failing to catch Osama, enhancing Iran’s power in the Middle East and sending American kids to train and arm Iraqi forces so they can work against American interests.

Only someone with an inspired alienation from reality could, under the guise of exorcising the trauma of Vietnam, replicate the trauma of Vietnam.

You must have a real talent for derangement to stay wrong every step of the way, to remain in complete denial about Iraq’s civil war, to have a total misunderstanding of Arab culture, to be completely oblivious to the American mood and to be absolutely blind to how democracy works.

In a democracy, when you run a campaign that panders to homophobia by attacking gay marriage and then your lesbian daughter writes a book about politics and decides to have a baby with her partner, you cannot tell Wolf Blitzer he’s “out of line” when he gingerly raises the hypocrisy of your position.

Mr. Cheney acts more like a member of the James gang than the Jefferson gang. Asked by Wolf what would happen if the Senate passed a resolution critical of The Surge, Scary Cheney rumbled, “It won-t stop us.”

Such an exercise in democracy, he noted, would be “detrimental from the standpoint of the troops.”

Americans learned an important lesson from Vietnam about supporting the troops even when they did not support the war. From media organizations to Hollywood celebrities and lawmakers on both sides, everyone backs our troops.

It is W. and Vice who learned no lessons from Vietnam, probably because they worked so hard to avoid going. They rush into a war halfway around the world for no reason and with no foresight about the culture or the inevitable insurgency, and then assert that any criticism of their fumbling management of Iraq and Afghanistan is tantamount to criticizing the troops. Quel demagoguery.

Continue reading at Welcome to Pottersville

“Bottom line,” Vice told Wolf, “is that we-ve had enormous successes, and we will continue to have enormous successes.” The biggest threat, he said, is that Americans may not “have the stomach for the fight.”

Kabul, Afghanistan · Each morning, the policewoman puts on her uniform, goes to her precinct office, sits behind a bare desk. And waits.

She is one of several officers appointed to make it easier for women to report domestic violence. Her job ought to be one of the busiest in the district. Instead, Pushtoon, who goes by one name, has one of the loneliest.

“Last week we had one woman. Before that there had not been anyone for several weeks,” she said, twisting hands left scarred by her attempt at suicide years ago in a Taliban jail. “Women are afraid to come, but we are not allowed to go to them.

“The police chiefs will not let us. They say it is unsafe for women officers,” she said.

Five years after the end of Taliban rule, there are new opportunities for women, and efforts are under way to make their daily lives better, especially in Kabul, the capital. Improving the status of women has been a core goal of U.S. policy here.

But conversations with dozens of women suggest that each step forward has been a struggle. Afghan society remains deeply uncomfortable with the idea of women gaining independence and authority.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel

A Florida woman who says she was raped by a colleague while working for Halliburton Co. in Iraq has sued the mega-government contractor, claiming the firm did not do enough to protect female employees from such attacks.

The Tampa woman, 41, states in her complaint that an intoxicated male co-worker obtained a key to her living quarters from an unlocked storage box on the night of the rape.

According to the suit pending in Palm Beach federal court, Halliburton failed to screen employees for violent tendencies, did not provide adequate security at the installation and did not enforce policies barring the possession of alcohol.

“It’s rather shocking, given the billions of dollars Halliburton has been paid for contracts in Iraq, that they did such a shoddy job of protecting this particular woman employee,” said Miami attorney John Spiegel, who filed the suit.

The complaint, which seeks unspecified financial damages, was filed in South Florida because Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc. has a Miami office, he said. Halliburton moved the case to Palm Beach federal court Jan. 25.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

DETENTION FACILITY TO WELCOME DELEGATES, CONVICTED
The Republican party has recently announced its decision to hold its 2008 convention at the prison facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, currently being used to detain terror suspects. The unexpected choice of location beat out other contenders such as Chicago, Phoenix and Houston.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, GOP spokesman Hal Atosis announced the decision handed down by senior Republican party members, including the Leader himself. “It has been decided that the 2008 convention will be held at Guantanamo Bay, in order to show our support for the War on Terror, as well as accomodate any Republican delegates who might also be serving time concurrently.”

Indeed, the decision has been described as “brilliant” and “visionary” by cable news pundits such as Bill O’Reilly. The decision to use the Guantanamo facility “provides a boost to the Republicans strong anti-terror stance, and will provide lodging for all the incarcerated Republican lawmakers who are in federal detention facilities,” said Republican activist Stew Pidasse. “We thought this might be an ideal situation, as the speakers could address both delegates and inmates at the same time.”

However, the Guantanamo facility has recently come under fire from those who would like the terrorists to win against the United States. Some Democrats and members of the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) have denounced the facilities, saying that there is no reason terror suspects cannot be dealt with in the American judicial system. Moreover, they claim, the Leader has purposely created the Guantanamo facility in order to operate outside US jurisdiction, thus allowing torture, forced confessions, military tribunals and executions without proper oversight.

“Rubbish,” said Pidasse. “These guys are terrorists, and you’re telling me we have to use the same standard of justice as any American is supposed to have? Don’t you realize these guys are dangerous terrorists? They are lucky they are even getting such good treatment to begin with. And our 2008 Guantanamo Convention will enlighten all these pro-Islamic factions, like the ACLU and the Democrats, who continue to cheer the terrorists on.”

Read more here

GULFPORT, Mississippi (CNN) — A federal judge Friday rejected a proposed settlement agreement involving nearly 35,000 homeowners affected by Hurricane Katrina.

U.S. District Judge L. T. Senter Jr. said the bargain between State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. and the Mississippi attorney general did not establish “a procedure that is fair, just, balanced or reasonable.”

But Senter left the door open for a new settlement agreement, rejecting the proposal “without prejudice.”

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said Tuesday, when the proposed class-action settlement was announced, that it could mean up to $500 million in payments to property owners in coastal Mississippi who were dissatisfied with their insurance payouts after Katrina.

The settlement, Hood said, resolved the civil lawsuit he filed against State Farm on behalf of the company’s Mississippi clients and ended a criminal investigation of State Farm’s claim-handling practices.

But, Senter wrote in his opinion, “In the absence of substantially more information than I now have before me, I am unable to say, even preliminarily, that the proposed settlement establishes a procedure that is fair, just, balanced or reasonable.”

In response to Senter’s ruling, State Farm issued a statement saying, “We look forward to addressing Judge Senter’s concerns.” It added that it believed Senter might be persuaded to change his mind.

The Scruggs Katrina Group, which represents hundreds of State Farm policyholders and is participating in the settlement, pointed out in a statement on its Web site that while Senter refused to grant preliminary approval, “he made clear that the plaintiff’s lawyers are ‘in a position to address the concerns expressed in (his) opinion.’”

Hood issued a statement saying that while his office did not negotiate the terms of the proposal, he did have “reservations about some of the terms.”

“Nevertheless, I knew that Judge Senter would make sure that the class was a fair procedure for all,” he said. “I am confident that Judge Senter will make the plaintiffs and State Farm fix the problems he has raised in his order.”

More at CNN.com

From United For Peace and Justice:

IT IS TIME FOR CONGRESS TO ACT!
With support from True Majority, Working Assets, the RainbowPUSH Coalition, the National Organization for Women and hundreds of other national and local groups, word about the Jan. 27th antiwar mobilization is reaching far and wide. Momentum is building and people from all walks of life and every corner of the country will be marching on Washington, DC, on Saturday, Jan. 27th.

Our message will be clear, our voice will be strong: End the war in Iraq, Bring all the troops home now! We urge you to join us!

On Mon., Jan. 29th, we will take our message directly to the new Congress during our lobby day. Click here for more info and to register for the lobby day.

Coverage on C-Span

Let’s hope they don’t try out their new rayguns on this crowd!

H/t SN for the link!

Robert Gates has decided disagreeing with the decider in charge of deciding is emboldening the enemy. What a shock. Well, congress rubberstamped this guy…..you get what you ask for.

From YahooNews

“It’s pretty clear that a resolution that in effect says that the general going out to take command of the arena shouldn’t have the resources he thinks he needs to be successful certainly emboldens the enemy and our adversaries,” Gates said Friday.

“I think it’s hard to measure that with any precision, but it seems pretty straightforward that any indication of flagging will in the United States gives encouragement to those folks,” Gates said, referring to the anti-government forces in Baghdad. He added that he was certain this was not the intent of those who support the congressional resolution, “but that’s the effect.”