Statewide Prop One – Roads and Transit – Vote Yes
Prop One is one of the most important ballot measures we’ve seen in recent years. In addition to funding the expansion of mass transit, it provides funds for key infrastructure improvements.
After the disappointing and untimely demise of the Seattle Monorail, the region is getting a second chance at mass transit with light rail.
If the Seattle metropolitan area is to succeed in becoming a world-class city, we have to start building mass-transit systems.
Our current freeway system is maxed out. It can’t handle the traffic that currently exists, much less handle the anticipated growth we’re likely to experience in the coming years.
Mass transit is one of the answers.
I was in San Francisco while they were building BART in the early 70’s. The disruptions were terrible. Market Street, downtown was torn up for several years. It was a real mess. And the expense to taxpayers? Horrible. People bitched and moaned for years. It really was terrible.
But now 30 years later, on an average weekday BART has over 340,000 riders. That’s 340,00 people who did not have to take the freeway.
The Seattle area needs something like that – soon. If the Monorail wasn’t the answer, then apparently light rail is.
Mass transit is a must for this area.
It’s Official: Dino Rossi’s Doing It Again!
Dino Rossi made it official yesterday: he’s running for Governor of Washington state again, against his perennial nemisis, Christine Gregoire.
Pictured yesterday at the right with his head up his ass, Rossi commented, “I’m gonna smoke that bitch this time.”
I’m sure we all can’t wait.
Petraeus Plan is Good Fiction
Well I for one was completely surprised when George Bush came out publically in support of General Petraeus’s plan for Iraq.
Yeah, right.
Petraeus’s plan is nothing more than Bush administration propaganda designed to justify prolonging the war in Iraq. And Petraeus himself is nothing more than a figurehead, a puppet doing Bush’s bidding.
The 30,000 troop “drawdown” Petraeus proposes is a meaningless gesture designed to appease critics of the war. It’s not in any way a genuine move to end American involvement in Iraq.
The only words you will consistently hear from Bush and his cronies are, “more time.” The idea is that if the US has more time in Iraq to stabilize the situation, then everything will be roses. They’ll embrace the democratic form of government, and we’ll have a new stable ally in the mid-east.
This is a futile dream. It’s no more achievable than the goals we had in Viet Nam,
The French colonized Viet Nam in the late 1800’s. They were there 67 years, only giving it up as a lost cause finally in 1954. The US became involved at that time, and spent another 21 years and over 58,000 American lives in pursuit of the hopeless dream of turning South Viet Nam into a democratic nation.
Sunday Morning Musings…
Al Qaeda are coming!!!
I was watching Meet The Press this morning – Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was on, pushing the company line for the Bush administration. What a shit-for-brains idiot!
It’s all, al Qaeda, al Qaeda, al Qaeda! The surge is working! We must stand firm! Our national security is at stake. If we leave, al Qaeda will win. Blah, blah, blah. al Qaeda. He must have said “al Qaeda” 10 times in maybe a minute.
It’s like Bush and his cronies figure that if they say the magic words – “al Qaeda” – then everyone will stand at attention and go along with anything they say.
And then if Bush and his buddies really want to get our attention, they’ll invoke the ghosts of “9/11.”
Cheney Plays Nuclear Card
Now we’ve heard it all.
Today Vice President Dick Cheney told America that the threat of terrorists detonating a nuclear bomb in an American city: “It’s a very real threat … something that we have to worry about and defeat every single day.”
And then he went on to warn that if the United States withdraws from Iraq, then basically we’re just paving the way for terrorists to plant such a bomb in some US city.
So let’s get this straight. According to Reichsmarschall Von Cheney:
US stays in Iraq = US safe from nuclear terrorism
US leaves Iraq = American cities go boom!
What a bunch of unmitigated bullshit!
Cheney actually expects anyone to buy this kind of tripe? And this coming from the people who brought you Iraq’s wonderful “Weapons Of Mass Destruction” and Saddam Hussein’s much vaunted nuclear program.
Yeah, right!
This is obviously a last desperate card being played by the Bush administration. An empty attempt to salvage their position on the Iraq war-funding bill.
They figure if they can scare the holy living shit out of people, then the voters will play along with their program.
Now this approach did work rather well for the first few years of the war. All the orange, yellow, purple and mauve terror alerts. People were on edge, off balance. Suspicious and distrustful. Let’s buy some duct tape and tape up all our doors and windows in case of a chemical or biological attack. Right now!
And Bush and his buddies kept America that way – all to their advantage.
The bitch is, eventually people have come to see through the farce.
All the justifications for the Iraq war have been proved to be false – there were no WMD, no nukes, no ties between Saddam and al Qaeda – no nothing. No rational or practical basis for invading Iraq. None. Saddam as it turns out, wasn’t a menace to anyone outside the borders of his country.
Bush Administration Must Be Held Accountable
The controversy over the firing of the eight US Attorneys continues to percolate in Washington DC, amid new charges by President Bush of partisan politics and democrats leveraging for political “show trials.”
House and Senate Judiciary committees are now preparing subpoenas for senior Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove and Harriet Miers.
President Bush has counter offered to have Rove and Miers testify “informally” in closed door sessions with the committees, where they would not be under oath, and no transcripts would be kept.
If Bush is worried about having them testify under oath, and have a transcript kept of the testimony, there’s only one thing he could possibly be worried about: being caught in a lie – where later, Rove and Miers might face perjury charges is the truth does prevail. Continue reading “Bush Administration Must Be Held Accountable”
George Bush: Next Stop Tehran!
Anyone remember Colin Powell jumping up and down at the UN, holding a vial of what he said was something that proved Iraq was manufacturing Weapons of Mass Destruction? Oh, yeah!
Well that information was given to him by the very same people that are now claiming that Iran is providing Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) to Iraq.
And the information is likely about as good as the old WMD charges.
The news media has been busy digging, looking for sources to confirm the validity of the Iranian ties, but to date, not one single substantive tie has been made.
Even some of Bush’s own military commanders dispute the charges. As General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in an interview with the Voice of America, “We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran,” Pace told Voice of America during a visit to Australia. “What I would not say is that the Iranian government, per se, knows about this.” Link to Voice of America article.
Impeach George Bush Now!
George W. Bush: Man or Moron?
So George Bush gives us platitudes, pats us on the head and tells us daddy knows best: the only way to succeed in Iraq and make America safe from the menace of al Qaeda is to increase troop levels there and send more American kids off to their deaths.
What a load of tripe!
I can’t believe he’s still peddling the tired myths about al Qaeda.
Let’s get this straight: before we got involved in Iraq, there was no link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Sure, they were both Sunni Muslims, but to say that they were even on speaking terms is a fantasy – Saddam was a secular Sunni; bin Laden is devout. Politically, theologically, philosophically and otherwise, bin Laden and Hussein were diametrically opposed.
To suggest that they were buddies because they were both Arabs is like saying Hillary Clinton and Jerry Falwell are best friends because they’re both Americans. Ludicrous at best.
By invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein, we created an opportunity for al Qaeda to fight us head to head, in a territory where (once Saddam was out of the picture) they had friends.
Our invasion of Iraq is the best thing that ever happened to al Qaeda – because now they’ve got people beating down the door to volunteer to fight the “Crusaders” as they call us.
Let’s Fire George Bush
It’s been over a week now since the release of the Iraq Study Group report. The basis of the report is that the situation in Iraq is “grave and deteriorating,” and that there is no workable military solution. The report states that the only path with some potential for success is a joint diplomatic/political venture involving Iraq’s neighbors. Iraq Study Group Report
The bipartisan panel includes heavy-hitters from both sides of the aisle: a former Supreme Court Justice, two former Secretary of States, a former Attorney General, a former Defense Secretary, a former White House Chief of Staff.
Study Group CompositionAccording to recent polls, the public is firmly behind the findings of the report.
In the results of a Washington Post/ABC News poll released today, 46% of all Americans support the findings of the report, while 22% oppose it. 52% of Americans believe we’re losing the war in Iraq, and 79% favor putting American troops in support, not combat roles. And most importantly, 69% of all Americans believe all US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq by early 2008. Poll Results