Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

US soldiers in Baghdad have complained the Iraqi troops are among the worst they've ever seen, even to the point that the Iraqis are working against them.
US troops have seen their barriers dismantled by Iraqi troops who don't show up when they're supposed to and in other cases, they let armed bands of militas pass by in ambulances, as per a report by CNN.
Complaints to Iraqi officers go unanswered and little, if any, corrective action appears forthcoming from the Iraqi government.
"When the Iraqis stand up, the US will stand down", George W Bush, President and commander-in-chief...

A Mitsubishi car dealer declared "Jihad" on fellow dealers with "Fatwa Fridays" and free swords for the kiddies along with burqas for the sales reps is said to be inflamming local Muslim leaders.
The ad campaign is now on hold...

For you out-of-towners, California is ablaze, specifically in the Los Padres National Forest. The fire is called the "Day Fire" because it began on labor day and it has steadily gained momentum ever since it began as an illegal bon fire of burning trash. I would expect any american citizen proven guilty to face charges for initiating this fire along with jail time, payment of restitution, etc but that's not going to happen in this case. But that's not the theme of my post.
To give you an idea of the size of the fire, it has consumed 140,000 acres and is larger than the size of the northern California city of Fresno. It may not be extinguished until late October or possibly December.
The premium dark sky site of Mt Pinos lies in the path of the Day Fire. If you google pine mountain club and click on the web cam, you won't see the 9000 ft mountain, you'll only see the smoke. The entire area looks like a thundercloud cap of a tactical nuke strike.
Our governor has a motto,"build, build, build", ie develop, develop, develop. It's similar to the situation in Flagstaff AZ wherein a California developer took advantage of a burned area in the forest and purchased it for pennies on the dollar and is now in the process of building condos for megabucks.
The governor has declared the Day Fire area a disaster area, making it eligible for millions of dollars in aid. Aid for what?
Are they going to purchase trees from nurseries to reforest the forest? I don't think so.
Are they going to replace the flora or fauna? I don't think so.
Are they going to replace the wildlife that's been torched alive? I don't think so.
The attached picture demonstrates the idea of fighting this fire with what a fire captain called an "active approach". Well, if you call a single helicopter with a single water bucket dangling from it an "active approach" from day one of the Day Fire, then you've got an "active approach."
I ask you if this were the rugged mountains and valleys of the Republican enclave of, say, San Clemente California, would you not see the skies brimming with tankers, helicopters, and the President of the United States?
I bet the developers can't wait to feast on spoils of the Day Fire.
You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie, er- ah, I mean Arnie...

Overheard on tonight's CNN broadcast: there's alot of private talk in Washington that the Bush administration is planning to move three additional US divisions into Iraq AFTER the November elections. The Bush administration has already increased US troops in Iraq to 140,000 or more, up from the 130,000 or so at the beginning of the year.
If true, Bob Woodward may very well be correct in his assertion that the violence in Iraq will be much greater next year. In addition, if the assessments from the intelligence community are correct, the Iraqi war will continue to fuel terrorism at an accelerated pace...

Wishful thinking...

The latest Newsweek poll has Bush's approval rating at 33%, reportedly one of the lowest, if not the lowest, rating he's ever received.
It appears the Foley scandal is spilling over to the Republicans in general and Bush in particular. Not even lower gas prices can help them.
"HAPPY AND CLUELESS": That's how the LA Times described Condy Rice in today's Sunday edition, It seems her plane had to circle Baghdad airport for an hour before it could land due to incoming rocket and mortar fire. Once on the ground, she had to board a helicopter to avoid the roads because of they were full of IEDs. Then, when she managed to meet with the so-called "president" of Iraq, her meeting was delayed because the power was cut-off. When the meeting finally occurred, it appeared the issue of the Kurds wanting to formally secede from Iraq over a dispute involving oil remained unresolved.
Unfazed, she then held a news conference to proclaim all of the "progress" being currently enjoyed by Iraqis in Iraq!

The CNN website is reporting breaking news that states North Korea has conducted a nuclear weapons test.
Last week, a Bush adminstration official said the US will not live with a nuclear North Korea. I guess we're not going to live.
But wait, there's still hope! Elect Republicans in November and they'll be sure to save us all. Afterall, there's never been an attack on US soil with George W Bush at the helm,...er,ah excluding 9/11.
PS The fact that North Korea has conducted a nuclear weapons test is all Clinton's fault, just like 9/11.
End result: it's a whole new ballgame with a new terror threat with the Republicans sure to jump on top of it. Foley who?!

This must mean the the downfall of the GOP is imminent.
Even the American soccer mom is finally, after years of indecision following fanatical allegiance to the Republicans and George W Bush, acknowledging, in their own words, "things are pretty scary out there."
A concise and candid assessment of those in the know.
A new poll shows soccer moms with their kids munching on McDonalds stopping to give their opinion on the GOP.
Well, their opinion of the GOP is that it pretty much stinks, and then some.
As we know, a soccer mom never shuts up so their flowing opinions of Bush and company went on for hours, apparently after the poll takers packed up and left.
Well, they're never at a loss for words.
Don't they know that the GOP is dedicated to keeping them burqua-free? Actually, if the GOP loses and soccer moms find themselves wearing burquas, it will be a major improvement for 90% of them. Not only will it shut them up, it might also attentuate the constant tendency for habitual self-feeding. That way, they might actually keep two hands on the wheel when they drive since there's no need for a cell phone in one hand and a big mac in the other.
So there's still some hope for the average American soccer mom. In my neck of the woods we call them "Saugus sows and Castaic cows". But with burquas in place, who can tell?
I don't how any guy can reproduce with a typical soccer mom. I didn't know any guy could be THAT HARD UP. Must be the viagra. On second thought, with burquas in place, the birth rate might actually go up and viagra sales will go down. So even the drug companies will be POd at the GOP...

Akira,
I had similar thoughts after reading "The American Conservative". One of the articles dealt with Iraq and the Bush strategy of "don't cut and run" The article noted that no matter how powerful and logical the evidence might be to the contrary, the rovian strategy of appealing at the emotional level with such a statement simply overwhelms those who are susceptible to it. Even so, that number seems to be decreasing...albeit too late.

McCain just had to point the finger at Bill Clinton for North Korea's apparent nuclear test. I say "apparent" because the US reportedly think "something went wrong" with the test because it wasn't as strong as somebody expected it to be :S
At any rate, McCain is blaming Clinton, and everybody knows Clinton's the one.
So what if Dubya has had how many years at it?
So what if Kerry points out that McCain is just flat "wrong" because we were at least talking with the regime when Clinton was around, had inspectors there, and we at least knew where the fuel rods were located. Now we don't know anything except something blew up and now nobody's sure of anything execpt...it's Clinton's fault!!!