CITIZEN ALERT v1.88OCTOBER MISS!

I have a feeling THIS was supposed to be Bush's October surprise, but he missed. But he didn't miss the reported 80 innocent people that died in the blast. Now, Pakistani protest groups have promised "squads of suicide bombers".

VIOLENCE CREATES MORE VIOLENCE!

FULL STORY

CITIZEN ALERT v1.87AMERICANS

Watching Bush lie once again over the weekend about DEMS not having a plan for Iraq still made me mad when Biden has a freaking website up and running on the subject and has been talking about his plan for quite some time.

Check out: www.planforiraq.com

What I'm really tired of is REPUBS "plan" of fighting them over there instead of fighting them over here. Hey, I don't want them over here either, but what's the difference in lives? Have one of them explain that to you. An American is an American whether they are civilian or soldiers. So, having Americans die overseas is better than having them die in Philadelphia or Bakersfield?

Why is that? Could one of the many reasons be that those lives are easily forgotten, so you can go back to eating your pizza and watching "Desperate Housewives"? It's easier to manipulate a war when the horror of it is so far removed from the public eye.

More to come on this...I'm out the door.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.86CALL FOR CHANGE

CITIZEN ALERT v1.85NOVEMBER SURPRISE?

For the past several weeks, all the pundits hither and tither have been trying to guess what Rove's "October Surprise" is going to be.

My best guess would be two possiblities that are in plain sight but would have the news media coverage that I think Rove would want.

1) Gas prices are continuing to slide down. The surprise could be gas below $2.00 led not by Rove but as discussed below with interested parties, namely Big Oil. Not a BIG October surprise but a sneaky one.

2) Saddam Hussein's trial is scheduled to end Nov 5th I believe. We've known since the day he was captured that he was doomed to be executed. This ridiculous trial has been solely for dramatic effect. Now, I don't know Iraqi law, but I know that part of the world has a very different view of the death penalty appeals process than we do, so though a long shot, it wouldn't surprise me if we weren't looking at a November surprise of Saddam being executed right before the election.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.84AN ARREST IN LOS ANGELES

From the SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS WATCH:


The shocking event that galvanized opposition to the U.S. relationship with Central American death squads and that sparked the movement to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas is making headlines again. Former Salvadoran army officer Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos, convicted for the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, a housekeeper and her 14-year-old daughter, was arrested by federal agents on October 18 in Los Angeles, California.

Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos, a sub-lieutenant in the notorious Atlacatl Battalion, took part in the November 16, 1989 massacre at the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador. Less than a year before the brutal killings, Guevara Cerritos received military training at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia.

In 1991, a jury in El Salvador convicted Guevara Cerritos for instigation and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. The convicted terrorist escaped with minor consequences, being released in 1993 after less than two years of house arrest.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, Guevara Cerritos entered the country illegally in January 2005. He is now being held at a detention facility in California.


FULL STORY

CITIZEN ALERT v1.83GAS PRICE MANIPULATION

Here's a quick article by NOMI PRINS I was reading yesterday in THE NATION about gas price manipulation that puts things in prespective I think. I've always noticed gas prices rising and falling in regards to elections so I thought it naive for Tony Snow to say that no one has any control over gas prices.

Plummeting gas prices have been good news for the motoring public. They also raise the questions: Why? How? Since their August highs, oil prices dropped from $77 to $60 per barrel. Gas prices have fallen from an average of $3.04 to $2.25 per gallon. In a September USA Today poll 42 percent of Americans thought there was a direct connection between the Republicans wanting to keep control of Congress and gas prices falling.

Free-market types went to town. Oil is set by market forces, not Washington, rang the unified voice of analysts. "If only Bush had that kind of control," mused White House spokesman Tony Snow. But subtle manipulation is a form of control.

Let's back up. In July, legendary investor Jim Rogers--who got his start with George Soros--and other Wall Street analysts were saying that within the scope of the bull market, oil prices would head over $100. This would translate to roughly $4.00 to $4.50 per gallon at the gas pumps.

Meanwhile, the White House was evading blame for gas prices having doubled like Olympian dodgeball champions. It's not us. It's unrest in Iraq. Nuclear threats from Iran. Growth in China. Economists said, It's supply and demand, stupid.

Following their logic, and giventhe second-fastest drop in gas prices ever, we'd expect a noticeable reversal of those factors: an end to the war in Iraq, perhaps; India and China halting production; the Iranian president warmly embracing Bush and the home team. None of this happened. As far as supply goes, this spring US crude oil inventories were at their highest point since May 1998.

Manipulation can be physical or psychological. No, Bush wasn't calling his broker to short the market and Cheney probably wasn't conversing with oil execs to back it up. But long-term mutual back-scratching relationships are potent. An overly speculated market like oil (the most traded commodity in the world) picks up on subtle signs. Just as traders push the market up, they can take it down, depending on those signs.

If detectives from CSI were investigating the plummet in oil prices, they'd look for motive and method. Motive's obvious: strategically important midterm elections. With Iraq and swarming allegations that the Administration has created more terrorism than before, there's not a lot the GOP can control. According to Doug Henwood's Left Business Observer study, there's a 78 percent correlation between the direction of gas prices and approval for the GOP.

Republicans have been pleased to focus on what they can manipulate, if not overtly control. Big Oil gave the GOP 81 percent of its $63 million in campaign contributions since Bush took office. Republicans are giving Big Oil a $5 billion helping of tax breaks. Last November the Republican-led Senate Commerce Committee, headed by Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, gave oil companies a post-Katrina break to keep their exorbitant profits. Democrats called for windfall profits. Republicans didn't.

After Katrina oil companies like Exxon, which also happen to own the major oil refineries in the country, increased their refining profits, which had direct implications on the price of gas at the pumps--that made them higher than the rising price of crude oil would dictate.

In September the difference between the cost of crude oil and the price of gas after the refining process (called the "crack spread" in the markets) has narrowed substantially, meaning oil refiners are extracting less profit because they're charging proportionately less at the independent gas station pumps.

Just as Enron and others could manipulate, if not directly control, California prices by closing power plants at will, so can oil companies reduce refining profit margins (which were gigantic) to keep their friends in power. That's easier to control than futures where other players are in the market, and it's something retailers pass on to drivers. This is not conspiracy, but self-preservation.

Other strong messages came from Washington. My favorite is the one that came directly from the Federal Reserve. For two years, the Fed has been raising interest rates due to inflationary pressures (such as the high cost of gas). Then, it stopped--the day after gas prices reached their August 7 peak of an average $3.04 per gallon. The next day, the Fed said that despite high energy prices, inflationary pressures would "moderate."

The market slide started that day, not a sudden change in supply or demand. On September 20, the Fed again left rates unchanged, saying energy prices were in check, causing a further slide. Global crude oil prices fell, but gas prices fell faster.

Wall Street analysts, traders and hedge funds don't care about any of these reasons. They just don't want to be caught behind the ball, so they sell the market, causing further price drops. Yes, those are market forces--but they are market forces with a lot of push from Washington-related signals. Why now? To say the election has nothing to do with it would be naïve. To say gas prices won't be up again afterward would be wrong.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.82A NIGHT IN IRAQ

From Iraq the Model blog:

Looks like there's something big going on in Baghdad to night.
Flares are filling the skies and fighter jets are striking targets in the city.

In the last 30 minutes I could see several aircrafts launching missiles and within seconds explosions would follow.


I will try to keep you updated once I learn more about this.

11:20 pm

No further explosions can be heard now but the jets of the US airforce still maintain heavy presence over the east, northeast parts of the city.

11:55 pm

Air activity has faded...seems that what happened in the past hour was likely a limited operation in sectors of Baghdad in and around Sadr city.
What I still can't figure out is the thing with flares. Flares usually indicate that ground forces are involved but so far there have been no reports on ground action.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.81WEAPONS IN SPACE

For an unsettling morning, you should check out this 1997 report from US Space Command:

Vision for 2020

It proposes a weaponization of Space by 2020 to control trade. With the technology marching on with more countries getting into space flight, the space elevator, and the private industry getting into space flights as well, the U.S. sees space as the next frontier that will see trade therefore we need a lot of guns there. The page 17 illustration is a little disturbing with a "laser beam" coming out of a satellite pointed at Earth.

I'm still researching the authentication of names on this report like General Estes who supposedly retired in 1967. What he's doing on this report I have no idea. Rumsfeld merged USSPACECOM with USSTRATCOM back in 2002 I think, effectively masking it from having a website. I know from past reports that Mr. Tech Head - Rumsfeld is pretty gung ho about putting weapons in space, so it worries me that this stuff has been shoved under the radar.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.80STEP UP TO THE PLATE,PRESIDENT CANNON FODDER

As the election day draws closer as well as the day the DEMS take over the House and possibly the Senate, I await not the election results on Nov 8th, but the official start of the Presidential race for 2008.

Who will be first out of the box? Sen. Joe Biden is already out there which makes him my first choice. And I'll tell you why by saying this, whoever doesn't run in 2008 and makes plans for a go at the Whitehouse instead in 2012, don't expect my vote.

This country is in dire straits, and the Republicans and Bush know the mess they've put us in with their foriegn policies. Their ONLY way out of it is to pass it on to a new administration so that they can sit back and write themselves out of the story. They are betting we'll remember who quit the war not who started it in the first place.

And the potential candidates know that the 2008 race is as appealing as the pox ridden blankets we gave the Native Americans. Whoever gets the job has an enormous potential for failure. I think that's why some reports have Hillary Clinton just "thinking" about 2008 - maybe looking to 2012. No way, I say. Any candidate who looks to 2012 is only thinking of their own career not this country. They are skipping the hard part and the next administration will be the hard part. It will not be an easy task and the person who gets the job may in fact go down in flames, but to me they will be a true patriot for even trying. They will be a true patriot for putting their country before their own political career by throwin themselves onto the land mine that is the awaiting Whitehouse.

Cheers to anyone who gives it a go be they Republican or Democrat.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.79MAXWELL MURDER

No, Citizen Alert today. I was at the Rancid concert last night and I'm tired!! They were awesome though but they only played for 65 minutes!! Are you joking?!! 65 minutes!! Pat Boone plays longer than 65 minutes!

Tomorrow though we talk about space - the final frontier!

CITIZEN ALERT v1.78YOU CAN BANK ON ME

I received my absentee voter packet the other day and I started voting last night. I'm still going over a few things though. I love it; it's like a take home test! Instead of reviewing all the issues and then making notes before going to the polls or just trying to remember everything, I can look everything up and really check everything out. Plus, I'm banking my vote for my party ahead of time. One less vote they have to worry about spending time and money to get.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.77SPEND WISELY BIG SPENDER

My Congressman, Xavier Becerra, has posted in his lastest newsletter a reminder of what we could have spent the nearly $300 billion dollars on that the Bush administration has thrown at Iraq instead. Take a look and tell me if any of these alternatives appeals to you.

THE BECERRA BULLETIN

In election news, we're halfway through October with no Karl Rove "October Surprise" yet. It seems the only surprise is how many REPUBS are suddenly popping up in the news under investigation.


WASHINGTON — FBI agents raided the homes of a Pennsylvania congressman's daughter and her business partner Monday as part of an investigation into whether Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., helped them secure lucrative lobbying contracts.

"What I find ironic, if there is an investigation, is that no one would tell me until three weeks before the election. This incident was 2½ years ago," [WELDON] told the Associated Press.



Come on, you know the DEMS are behind some of this. Looks like Dean told them how to win elections. Go to the mattresses.

And by the way, I think the only "October surprise" that Rove could pull out of his hat that I can think of is convincing Condi Rice to announce she'll run in 2008.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.76KERRY TAKE 2 in '08?

John Kerry the Democrats failed presidential nominee in the 2004 election says he deserves a 2nd chance in 2008.

"Americans give people a second chance. And if you learn something and prove you've learned something, maybe even more so." says Kerry.

Does Kerry deserve a 2nd chance ahead of Biden, or Clinton in 2008? No...no he doesn't. The Democrats mistake in '04 was not running a governor against Bush. If you want to oust an incumbent, you use a governor, not a Senator with a voting record!

Now with the 2008 election wide open with no incumbent in sight it will most likely be Senator vs. Senator and Kerry is not the Democrats best Senator for that race.

Sit this one out John.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.75DIME

The world continues to advance their knowledge in better ways to kill each other.


Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME)

CITIZEN ALERT v1.74BE A CITIZEN

What it takes to BE A CITIZEN:

1) a CITIZEN votes

If 18, you must be registered to vote and vote in all elections

2) a CITIZEN participates in their government

You must keep your 2 Senators and Representatives phone numbers on your cell phone. These can be found at www.vote-smart.org. Call them regularly to give them your feedback on votes they make that you feel are important. Positive or negative, doesn't matter.

3) a CITIZEN volunteers

You must volunteer 2 hours of your week to helping others whether on your own or through a non-profit or charity type service.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.73IMPEACHMENT

So, I'm listening to the pundits and talk show hosts yesterday talk about how in the middle of the Foley chaos, Republicans were black mailing Foley into staying in office. He wanted out so he could "retire" to K Street and join the lobbyists, but Karl Rove put a stop to that saying his company would be worthless unless he stayed for another term.

You see, the Republicans feared that losing another seat in congress would further increase the chances of two years of congressional hearings - meaning if DEMS won they would impeach the President.

Let's put a stop to this right now. The DEMS are NOT going to impeach the President. It would be insanely stupid. I know all of you out there would really like to see Bush get thrown out of office. I see your posts, and read your fantasy rants all the time, but have you ever stopped to think who would be taking over if Bush was thrown out?! Hello! President Cheney. No thank you!

But, what no one is talking about is the DEMS taking over congress and IMPEACHING THE VICE PRESIDENT for manipulating intelligence to get us into a war in Iraq. That would be the smart move. Remove the puppeteer and the puppet becomes useless.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.72FAIR IS FAIR

Lest anyone think I won't take a crack at the DEMS from time to time. The AP released an exclusive article today on Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid collecting $1.1 million dollars in a land deal on some property he owned in Las Vegas, parts of the deal which were not reported to the Senate's Ethics Committee.

Now, I will reserve full cracking for now until Reid fully responds and some kind of investigation unfolds all the facts because to be honest the deal is a little confusing. I'm quite sure at this point the "rezoning" aspect of it is what disturbs me most, but overall, I couldn't tell you exactly what went down from start to finish where you'd understand it.

For this reason I think that it will make it a hard sell for Republicans if they think this will buy them some leverage at the polls in 4 weeks. I will be curious to see if they can condense this land deal into some quick talking points without facts being misrepresented and having the whole thing blow up in their faces.

It doesn't always come down to what he did wrong, but can you explain what he did wrong? Explaining federal land swapping, development rezoning, taxes and profit loss to Middle America is a lot tougher than saying "he's a pedophile" or "he's in jail for taking a bribe". The Republicans have their work cut out for them and I'm curious to see if they actually do run with it. They didn't seem to be on Wednesday but the story came out late in the day and everyone was focused on the plane crash and North Korea. We'll see what happens today.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.71THE BLAME GAME

I'm tired of hearing it. You're tired of hearing it. They must be tired of having to use the same excuse over and over to cover their own incapacity to govern.

Bush is out in the Rose Garden now, blaming North Korea's nuclear test on the Clinton Administration. McCain came out over the past couple of days blaming the problems with North Korea on the Clinton Administration. They blame 9/11 in fact on the Clinton Administration because Bin Laden was not caught or killed when they got into office.

Let's get two indisputable FACTS clear right here. North Korea tested a reported nuclear weapon ON BUSH'S WATCH. Al-Qaeda flew planes into the World Trade Center ON BUSH'S WATCH.

The Bush administration keeps reminding people that since 9/11 we haven't been attacked inside the United States in 5 years and that they are solely responsible for that. After the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 during the Clinton administration, we weren't attack inside the United States for 7 years - that is until the Bush Administration came along, and ignored warnings laid before them. Yet, they blame Clinton for the attack.

North Korea acquired 1 to 2 nuclear bombs during the Bush I administration. During the 8 years of Bill Clinton, they lied and stalled and tried to advance their weapons program with help from neighboring countries like Pakistan, but no bombs. No plutonium was extracted, enriched, what have you. Now, with the current administration, North Korea has reportedly set off a nuclear bomb on the Korean peninsula. Who's to blame for that? George W. Bush is to blame for that.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.70PROTEST SCHEDULEDAT FORT BENNING, GA

Join thousands at the gates of Fort Benning to stand up for justice. Speak out against violence and domination and for the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA).

Contrary to the Bush administration’s “War on Terrorism” propaganda and the President’s statement that “every known terrorist training camp must be shut down”, the United States government has been training terrorists at a camp in Georgia for years - and is still at it.

The Fort Benning based School of the Americas (SOA), renamed in 2001 the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” (WHINSEC), has been pumping out assassins, dictators and death squad leaders for the dirty work in Latin America since 1946.

The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.

The SOA/ WHINSEC has trained over 64,000 Latin American soldiers in courses such as counterinsurgency, psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. Graduates of the school have been consistently linked to human rights violations and to the suppression of popular movements in the Americas.

Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared”, massacred, and forced into refuge by those trained at the School of Assassins.

People's Movements across the Americas are becoming increasingly more powerful. Military "solutions" to social problems as supported by institutions like the School of the Americas were unable to squash their voices, and the call for justice and accountability is getting louder each day.

Add your voice to the chorus, demand justice for all the people of the Americas and engage in nonviolent direct action to close the SOA and change oppressive U.S. foreign policy.

Visit www.SOAW.org to learn more about the November Vigil, hotel and travel information, the November Organizing Packet, and more.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.69FREE SPEECH IN ACTION

The Minutemen Project tries to speak at Columbia University last Wednesday. Student protesters rush the stage.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN RUSSIA NOT SO FREE

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on Saturday at her apartment block in central Moscow, police said.

"According to initial information she was killed by two shots when leaving the lift. Neighbors found her body," a police source told Reuters. Police found a pistol and four rounds in the lift.

REST OF STORY...

CITIZEN ALERT v1.68A MODEL COUNTRY TIS OF THEE

Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist just returned from a week of travelling in Afghanistan and had this to say about how to stop the recruitment of Taliban fighters:

...we must win the hearts and minds of the Afghans targeted for recruitment through job creation and government provision of enabling services such as education and health care. A government that is free, democratic and respectful of human rights and that at the local level creates jobs and a better life ...

Holy smokes! What country is he talking about?! I want to live there! Can we get some of that here please?

CITIZEN ALERT v1.67FREEDOM ON THE MARCHEXCEPT IN COLORADO

In a further example of how our Democracy here in America is hypocritical and by in large a lot of it just propaganda, Steven Howards, an environmental consultant who lives in Golden, CO., found himself having the rare opportunity of meeting Vice President Cheney, outside a mall during a public outing.

He calmly walked up to him and told him "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible". Ten minutes later he was arrested by the Secret Service for ASSAULTING the Vice President! A state judge later dismissed the charges, but not until Mr. Howards had spent three hours in jail.

He and his lawyer have filed a lawsuit against the Secret Service.







REPUBLICANS continue to blame gays for the congressional page scandal and not their leaders.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/03/foley-anti-gay/

CITIZEN ALERT v1.66ONE OF THE RELIGOUS RIGHT'S HEAD IDIOTS

Bob Geiger let loose on the Religious Right on Tuesday commenting on how “strangely quiet” they had been during the past few days of the Congressional Page scandal. He took a quick jab at Tony Perkins as well over at Family Research Council for not speaking out on the matter.

Perkins had actually made a post on Monday regarding the issue and what did he talk about? Did he call for the resignation of the Speaker? Call for a full investigation of the House Leaders? Nope. He took the opportunity to “remind us” that the real issue was the “link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse”!

While pro-homosexual activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two.

Now, Perkins is probably getting his “evidence” from the Paul Cameron study that has been discredited as many times as its been sighted by religous groups, but he further went on to explain that the reason the Republican leadership “discounted or downplayed earlier reports concerning Foley's behavior” [was] “probably because they did not want to appear homophobic", blaming the whole situation on “pro-homosexual political correctness”.

Are you kidding me?! I’ve never known a Republican that was afraid to speak out against the gay community!!

Perkins was then on CNN’s “The Situation Room” telling host John King such crazy things like "tolerance and diversity" is what got us into this situation and that this incident is certainly "inconsistent with the values Republicans represent". Again and again he blamed the slow response time of the Republican leadership on the fact that they thought they'd be seen as gay-bashing which means he's, in effect, blaming us. If liberal America wasn't so tolerant of these gays that his science has proven are all child molesters to begin with, then the Republicans would have acted quicker to put a stop to him.

I could have gone the rest of the week with the religous right remaining strangely quiet.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.651000 PEOPLE A DAY

On the same day that a senseless tragedy struck the Amish community in Pennsylvania, Oxfam International released a report entitled Arms Without Borders - Why a globalized trade needs global controls.


Oxfam is confederation of NGOs that fight poverty and poverty related issues like: trade with their Make Trade Fair campaign made popular by the gentleman from Coldplay and arms control with their Control Arms campaign.

The report stated that "The globalization of the arms industry has opened up major loopholes in all current arms export regulations, allowing sales to human rights abusers and countries under arms embargoes."

It should come as no surprise that the US makes quite a bit of money as one of the leading suppliers of arms to the world. Oxfam's report revealed:

that US, EU and Canadian companies are among those able to circumvent arms regulations by selling weapon components and subcontracting arms manufacturing overseas. The report details how weapons, including attack helicopters and combat trucks, are being assembled from foreign components and manufactured under licence in countries including China, Egypt, India, Israel and Turkey.

The report shows how these or similar weapons have ended up in destinations such as Colombia, Sudan and Uzbekistan where they have reportedly been used for the killing and displacement of civilians, highlighting the urgent need for global rules to regulate an increasingly globalized industry.

The two major loopholes that countries like the US, UK, Russia, Germany and France are using are 1) selling the parts instead the whole weapon and 2) selling it from a different country. These five countries accounted for 82% of all conventional arms transfers in 2005. Want another stat? 1000 people a day die from armed violence. This is our export. This is our contribution to the world. Armed conflict. Death and destruction.

Irene Khan the Director General of Amnesty International along with Oxfam has called for an Arms Trade Treaty to prevent arms transfers into conflict zones while allowing the responsible transfer of weapons for policing, defense and peacekeeping.

I urge you to take a look at the report and see what the Control Arms campaign is doing to help stop the armed violence around the world.

CITIZEN ALERT v1.64TRANSPARENCY

After watching Woodward's interview on 60 Minutes this weekend along with interviews with Bush administration officials on Meet the Press, I've really gotten tired of all this timetable talk on Iraq. The press needs to start asking the next question to get to the real agenda behind both parties. Let's spell it out right here.

DEMOCRATS - They want a timetable - they need a timetable in order to bring the war to a close before the 2008 elections. When you hear DEMS speak of a timetable, if they do speak of it, they usually mention it in 1 and 2 year terms. That's before they think they'll be taking over. It is in their party's best interest to have the war concluded before they take over so they can blame it all on the Republicans.

REPUBLICANS - Do not want a timetable because as President Bush has said in speeches before, the future of Iraq will be determined by future Presidents. The Republicans need the war to continue past 2008. If they lose the Whitehouse, dumping the war on the Democrats is their Plan B to take back control. Doesn't matter if they caused the war in Iraq, doesn't matter if they screwed up the war in Iraq; as long as they can pass the buck in 2008, the Democrats will be blamed for the conclusion of the war in Iraq.

What do we get out of this from either side? NO PLAN! With the exception of Biden on the DEMS side, neither party is pushing a real strategy on Iraq, they are only positioning their parties for the future election by positioning the future blame.