The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 5: Oh well, on the Streets of San Francisco

One of the laments from conservatives centers around how those dastardly hippies destroyed the American society by bringing down classic authority figures; like Police Officers. So now rightwing #agitprop centers on showing how The Left continues to demonize Police Officers in service to the DemocRAT Agenda of bringing down 'Murica. One of the favorite targets of Rightwing fury is San Francisco; harbor and haven of all that is not Real America.

Well, don't expect the Police of San Fran-Cisco to put flowers... in your hair... because it's more likely they will kill you.

Just before Thanksgiving Deputy Charlie Blount thought he was chasing a stolen car. After a 5 minute chase involving the infamous pit maneuver, Blount's blood was up he and the other LEOs exhibited a complete lack of control and the ability to calmly and cooly analyze what they were dealing with. After drawing down on the driver, repeatedly screaming at him to "Show me your fucking hands", and violently assaulting the driver, Blount eventually choked the man to death.

Another Deputy apparently realized the driver, who was laying dead face down in the street, was the vehicles' owner.

"Oh well," Blount replies...

Oh, well.

Oh, well.

Blount's attorney Harry Stern of course blamed David Ward for Blount being out of control, "Frankly, Mr. Ward caused his own death.."

Stern then went on to list Blount's 40 years of service in the military and police finishing with the pièce de résistance, "His actions during this arrest were entirely reasonable."

Officer's can't access higher brain functions, can't calmly access the situation, get caught in a repetitive verbal loop, lose control over their emotions in high pressure situations and choke a a feeble scared man, with no weapons, no "active resistance", no aggression, to death and it's "entirely reasonable". Oh well...

Not to be outdone on at 830 in the morning of December 7th, SFPD Officer Sterling Hayes and his trainee Christopher Flores responded to an in-process burglary and upon identifying an apparent burglar, the vicious criminal violently assaulted them and they were forced to shoot him.

Or so the Police claimed. In reality, it appears the Officers rolled up on a "usual suspect" and escalated the encounter until it ended in the Officers chasing and shooting the man, Jamaica Hampton. Predictably the body cam worn by the Officers did not capture the initial alleged assault but, independent cameras captured the Officers shooting Hampton in a manner entirely inconsistent with the official police report.

Hampton will apparently survive and beginning 2020 the San Francisco Police use of force doctrine is going to change from "reasonable" to "necessary", thus putting a higher threshold upon the Police to prove the force used was appropriate as opposed to the Officers just deciding to kill the perp.

San Francisco Officers had several questionable shootings in 2018, but of course, this is not some problem confined to San Francisco but, is endemic to Modern Policing. American Police Departments have slowly morphed into Paramilitary Armies of Occupation. Officers don't live in the communities they police and often don't associate their role in a community in accordance with Sir Robert Peel's original 9 principle's of Policing but, view themselves as The Thin Blue Line protecting Real America, and as such... Oh well has replaced to Protect & Serve.

Conservative Domestic Terrorists: The Thin White Line o' Heroes

Oh a gaggle of right-wing buffoons descended upon the DC Mall till the DroneZ began to Roll*

The Truckers Ride to Overthrow Freedom?
The Neoconfederate Second American Revolution led by Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in which Larry Kayman demanded the arrest and lynching of President Obama?
Operation American Spring?

Unlike the Cliven Bundy Insurrection, in which white power conservatives declared their intent to murder Law Enforcement Officers while using women as human shields, most of the Right-Wing "Rallies" have been flacid affairs. The latest convergence of Confederate flag waving, gun humping, right-wing domestic terrorists in Roseburg, Oregon was organized by Casey Runyan, a convicted Drunk Driving, Domestic Battery, and Aggravated Assault felon (i.e. a Conservative) degenerated into the standard conservative rhetoric of Kenyan Go Home, blah, blah, blah, boring...

I used to lament that all of these Trumped-Up Right-Wing Faux Protests got big-time media coverage but, then I realized while it's good to have mounds of evidence of the rabid reactionary right-wingers it alone will never change the minds of mainstream conservatives or old-school Republicans or the soft middle-of-the-road people who have been conditioned by the Media to believe Both Sides Do It.

Republicans have enjoyed playing with the Tea Party fire with their repeated proclaimations Obama is a Tyrant, with the non-stop Faux News coverage of Obama's "unlawfullness", and with repeated mailers warning Obama's coming fer Yer Guns!

But, as more and more Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists follow through and murder Americans the last 16 months of Obama's Presidency may see the full bloody flowering of the Republican Call-to-Arms.

The Republican Southern Strategy was a deal with the devil that ensured electoral victories but, unleashed the most putrid and vile elements of the Right and let them fly their Confederate Freak Flags High.

It seemed a perfect marriage for the GOP, they got the fervor and energy of the right-wing bigots and the Plutocracy got to advance the Agenda of Overthrowing the American Democracy and creating a Neo-Feudal Wage Slave State owned by Plutocrats with the American people shackled in Corporate Bondage.

But, while Republicans have been advancing the Agenda of the 1%, the stark white underbelly of Conservatism has been gaining strength and power. Now, the two terms President Obama have unleashed the Monstrous Id of the Right-Wing White Supremacists.

There is a small, but growing segment of American Society that yearns for open fighting and a new Civil War. This Thin White Line o' Heroes are inspired by The Turner Diaries and seek a Trumped-Up Casus Beli to justify their murder of blacks, gays, liberals, immigrants, and Democratic politicans.

The NRA and Right-Wing Incestuous Internet think the Second Amendment is the most likely rallying cry, but look as well at how these Faux Heroes flock to every right-wing criminal, carnival barker, and con-man looking for the new Shot Heard Round the World which will be the Start of the Right-Wing Revolution.

Many conservatives, like Jerad Miller and Amanda Miller thought The Cliven Bundy Insurrection was that very spark, but President Obama and AG Eric Holder wisely pulled the federal Law Enforcement Officers back. Conservatives then pivoted to declaring the military exercises of Jade Helm, were a covert attempt by Obama to Usurp the Consititution despite the repeated press conferences by the U.S. military.

While the Gun Cultists, III Inchers, Oathbreakers, Unconstitutional Sheriffs, Alex Jones Acolytes and other militias don't think they themselves will be able to defeat the American Military, what they believe is that once the shooting starts some or possibly most of the military, local, state, and federal law enforcement will flock to their banner and aid them in their Revolution. Thus, Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists style themselves the Vanguard of the Revolution. (Hat Tip to BadTux the Snarky Penguin for posting about Ted Cruz's give me money email)

*- Extrapolated from Rudyard Kipling's Tommy -
O it's the "thin red line of heroes" when the drums begin to roll

Oathkeepers? More accurately Oathbreakers and Conservative Domestic Terrorists

"Remember the lesson from my book: It just took a few shootings at Kent State to shut that down for good," - Ann Coutler.

The Oathkeepers were a loose organization of Veterans, Police Officers, Active Duty Military and National Guardsmen which nominally declared they would never "just follow orders" and deprive Americans of their Constitutional Rights, with the motto "Not on Our Watch". Today they have little impact but you can still find right-wing blogs which tout the Oathkeeper Pledge, as conservative blowhard The Bloviating Zeppelin recently did in declaring himself an Oathkeeper.

Originally, following the election of President Obama, the Oathkeepers began coalescing around the time the Department of Homeland Security released their 2009 memo concerning the Rise of recruiting efforts amongst returning service members by violent Right Wing Extremist/Sovereign Citizen/Domestic Terrorist groups. The DHS Memorandum was spurred on by the murder of 3 Pittsburgh Police Officers by Right Wing Extremist Richard Poplawski and noted that the Republicon Recession and President Obama's election presented unique moment in American history.

Additionally, the Southern Poverty Law Center began to document the Re-Rise of the Patriot Militia Movements and the evolving nature of the internet allowed for more dynamic connectivity. Famously, amongst the Oathkeepers former Marine Charles Dyer's skull-masked youtube video set to the soundtrack of The Last of the Mohicans, and the ludicrous videos of Bob Basso pretending to be Thomas Paine dressed in standard 1776 garb became rallying points.

Much of the resulting Oathkeeper History became entangled with the Tea Party, Birtherism, Faux News, fear of the Michele Bachmann/Glenn Beck FEMA Concentration Camps and the Co-opting of the organization's energy by the 1% to direct anger at President Obama and the Democratic Party.

The salient point now is not their manipulation at the hands of the Republicon Party, FreedomWorks or the Koch Brothers but, in light of their 10 Point "NOT" Pledge, the fact The Oathkeepers are little more than another group who wittingly or unwittingly carries the water of the 1% and should more accurately be called the Oathbreakers Militia. This is Pledge #10:

We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

Want to guess what the reaction to OWS and #Occupy was from the Oathbreakers? Infiltration and Destruction.

I occasionally saw the odd Ron Paulian Banner at #OccupyChi, but the Oathbreakers attempt to pass along Alex Jones conspiracy memes at various #Occupy General Assemblies (GA) failed. Occupiers are too adroit (literally) and too well read to fall for that Pablum.

Of course, the failure of the Oathbreakers to successfully "Occupy the Occupation" may explain why when the NYPD, Oakland Police, Boston PD, and every paramilitary Police Force were ordered to beat, tear gas, pepper spray, shoot, destroy personal property, illegally detain and violate the Rights of Americans to Peaceably Assemble and petition the Government there was no outcry from the Oathbreakers. And as Right-Wing websites continued the call for more Police Violence and even as anti-American World Net Daily writer Phil Elmore requested,

"Call out the National Guard. Turn on the fire hoses. Send bulldozers. Bring flame-throwers, for pity's sake. Men and women who give a damn about their country, wearing Hazmat suits and respiratory gear, empowered by the lawful government of this nation, should be marching in ranks on every Obamaville this very moment, prepared to beat with truncheons and shoot with rubber bullets every last filthy hippie. The "occupiers" are criminals and terrorists."

There was naught but silence from the Oathkeepers.

When Richmond Police bulldozers turned the potential into the actual, the Oathkeepers showed themselves to be nothing more than a thinly veiled Militia, exactly what everyone at the DHS knew them to be, A Reactionary Anti-American Band of Pseudo Terrorists, who had no intention of standing for the American people but had the the very real purpose of blaming the Democratic Party and President Obama for the evils committed by Wall Street, the Corporate Plutocrats and the 1%.

Update:
“First amendment rights are not absolute.” Los Angeles Chief Deputy City Atty William Carter said in a public statement. He thinks that the lesson these protesters need to take away from being arrested and jailed for two days is that they were wrong about their rights. According to a LA Times article, Many Occupy L.A. protesters arrested during demonstrations in recent months are being offered a unique chance to avoid court trials: pay $355 to a private company for a lesson in free speech. Carter said the city won't press charges against protesters who complete the educational program offered by American Justice Associates.

You see as long as the Wrong Americans are having their Rights Violated, the Oathkeepers are willing to look the other way.

Jesus! He is Risen! But where is He? Playing QB on the Denver Broncos or a Hedge Fund Manager on Wall Street?

"I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a *christian* quarterback do well. They're interested in *christian* coaches and *christian* quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in *Tebow*, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team." - Racist Limbaugh.

Here's how you know conservatives are willingly blind to racism and bigotry. I altered Racist Limbaugh's derogatory reference from skin color to christian and changed the QB's name from McNabb to Tebow. As is easily observed, any comment about Tim Tebow which is not positive is attacked as anti-christian, yet when Limbaugh made this heinous bigoted statement about Donovan McNabb in 2003 right-wingers rallied to his defense.

The Chicago Bears just lost to Tim Tebow. Dan Bernstein of 670 the Score is quite upset over the tactics He used to defeat the Bears.

For 3 quarters the Bears defense had Tebow flustered. Tebow had completed just 3 of 16 passes had thrown an interception and fumbled. Tebow's passes were off (although 4 drops by his wide receivers wasn't helping) and his normal running style was replaced by a skittish one as Tebow discovered, unlike in college, he couldn't outrun or bowl over the likes of Julius Peppers. Lovie Smith then decided to employ the "Prevent Defense". As Mike Ditka once said, all the Prevent does is prevent you from winning...

But, Tim Tebow is not the first NFL player to make his faith central to his life off or on the field. Reggie White was a preacher. Deion Sanders is a minister and led prayer circles on the football field after games. Troy Vincent was once asked what book everyone should read and he replied, "The King James Bible because it is life."

Even in the Bears-Broncos game Tebow wasn't the only player who makes a big show of his faith. Devin Hester touches his feet, legs, shoulders and points skyward in order to get god's protection, "I just tell god to watch over me from the toes on my feet to the head of my crown."

And Reggie White, Deion Sanders, Troy Vincent and Devin Hester are all African-Americans, Kurt Warner dedicated his Super Bowl victory (but not his two Super Bowl defeats) to Jesus.

So, what is it about Tebow? Do people really believe that Tim Tebow is winning because of Jesus is watching out for him or aiding the flight of the football? I think the Tebow Mania and the way everyone wants this to be an issue is because some christians want to feel they are persecuted. These christians are making Tim Tebow a litmus test for the persecution complex they crave and the war on their religion they are engaged in.

However, lost amongst all this Tebowing, was the is a more egregious religious affront. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who recently conferred upon deadbeat Republican dad Joe Walsh, the title of #1 True Blue Pro-Family status wrote an article declaring Jesus was a Free Marketer not an Occupier.

Of course, the problem that Jesus lived 2000 years before the concept isn't really the issue. Because what Tony Perkins was actually writing about was a justification for the rampant theft and corruption by the 1%. Perkins, overplayed his hand, because the need to mention OWS and the term "occupier" in the title shows how frightened he is christians in this country will begin to side with the poor and correctly view #Occupy as a struggle against Oppressive Power and the corrupt system set up by those who wield that Power.

It's actually an old idea in christianity. The Poor Men of Lyons (Waldenses) were condemned as heretics by the Catholic Church and were eventually anathemamitised because they dared to question the Order of Society. The Waldenses meet the same fate as the Cathars in the early 1200's being chased down and brutally slaughtered by the Guardians of the Powers That Be.

Perkins ends his Jesus wants you to invest in sheep futures with the following:

Yes, we are to "occupy," not by railing against a free market system that rewards diligence, even though it is occasionally abused. Rather we are to occupy by using that system ethically as a means to advance the interests of the one we serve.

Got it? Jesus wants you to accept the Income Inequality, abuse of power and transfer of wealth. Focus instead on ethics, i.e. things which don't challenge the Economic Inequality.

Of course, what Tony Perkins is actually defending is Feudalism. Christianity grew along with Feudalist ideas. It's been a 1000 year struggle by powerful and wealthy christians to massage the meaning of christ into favoring the Rich and Elite. To turn Jesus from a rabble-rousing champion of the poor and oppressed into a scion of the Plutocracy and keeper of the status quo (Behold! The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus).

And today what the religious right have allowed themselves to become the marching foot-soldiers waiting for the opportunity to enforce the will of the 1% and oppress the Occupiers.

#Occupy Protest in a Box

I'm the Dog who gets beat Man in the Box, Alice in Chains

As OWS and the #Occupy Movement continues and struggles to make it through the winter, several factors are going to determine if the energy of the Movement is blunted, re-directed or dissipated.

Currently, the reaction to the Police Brutality is at the forefront of many commentators. The influential feminist Naomi Wolf caused quite a stir with her article on the #Occupy crackdowns over at the Guardian. The article caused big traffic, but while to many it smelled false and smacked of hyperbole it's in line with much of Wolf's thought and dovetails succinctly with her 2004 book, The End of America: Letters of Warning to a Young Patriot. (As an update, it seems the reporter, Rick Ellis, who first mentioned the DHS Conspiracy is full of bullshit.)

Right-wingers continue their mission to destroy the #Occupy Movement. One of their major complaints is OWS and the #Occupy Movement should be working within the confines of the law. Now, of course, this is a disingenuous argument on multiple levels.

First, it's a logical fallacy which the Tea Party should specifically disagree with, since the genesis of their name comes from one of the most celebrated "illegal acts" in US History.

However, it also underscores the pure hypocritical phoniness of the ideological underpinnings of Modern Conservative Thought. Since, the election of Barack Obama a large strain of rightwing commentary has focused on "Natural Law" and the moral rightness of disobeying unjust or immoral laws. But, the Right is two-faced when it comes to such arguments for they apply them only when it suits their purposes, which usually is to undercut and delegitimize the elections of Democrats. But, also in service to the Plutocracy's goals of deregulation and privatization. Therefore, when a protest or movement is outside their keen or control the Right always reverts to calls for Authoritarian Tyranny and the destruction of those movements.

This is why the Tea Party faced no concentrated Police and Govenmental Oppression, the Tea Party always was a Top-Down false-front organization quickly subsumed by the 1% to advance the causes of the Rich. Any energy the movement had outside Plutocratic interests was redirected by Rightwing propaganda and limited to arguing over non-issues which would have no impact on the Establishment.

But, the Tea Party has already gone the way of their ideological forefathers, the Know-Nothings. OWS and the #Occupy Movement do not suffer from the TP defects because OWS is grassroots and made up of working and middle class people who are pointing out the underlying problems caused by the control the Richest 1% have on the Government and Society.

And by going outside the guidelines the Establishment has erected regarding political debate (i.e. issues which won't change the fundamentally unfair and corrupted system) they are facing a concerted rightwing media, lobbyist and law enforcement effort to shut them down.

So, making positive connections with the 99% is going to be paramount to keeping OWS vital and vibrant. Unfortunately, regular bloggers are being irked by some of the #OccupyMovements actions.

In a post from Feminisnt, she vents anger at an #OccupySeattle march which hampered her movements in town. Feminisnt points out the March hampered not only her movements but average everyday poor and working class people whom the 99% Movement is supposed to comprise. She also doubts any of the 1% were affected by the Seattle protest march.

I'm not posting this to pick on her, or issue the divisive You are with Us or Against Us, but merely to highlight the disconnect which the 1% have sewn amongst us to keep the 99% divided.

Libertas and Lattes has a bit more vitriol in his post about #Occupy telling the blog-o-sphere if,

"Any of these pale, rat bearded hygiene-free, Che shirt wearing knuckleheads keep me from getting to my place of employment, of home from said place....my fist might accidentally occupy the same space as their face."

I don't highlight these two bloggers, who I've read before to throw rhetorical jabs at them. But, merely to point out a few problems.

The #OccupyMovement is facing the problems all Movements do, after the initial glow has worn off how do you connect with people and weld them to your side? Protest Marches are good for reminding people your Movement is still around but as we all saw during the run-up to the Iraq War, they don't mean anything once the Powers That Be (PTB) have decided on a course of action.

#Occupy needs to bring more people over, and it's not going to be through media coverage but from positive interactions with everyday people as they make them aware of what the true causes for the Republican Recession, Rightwing generated Income Inequality and the stagnation and dissolution of the Middle Class.

Thus while the Controllers of the Tea Party played pin the blame on the Black Guy it didn't succeed in convincing any Americans, other than those who were already convinced that President Obama is a secret love child of Malcolm X and Karl Marx born in Kenya. While the 2010 elections went the way of the Republicans, Americans quickly learned zero help was forth coming to them.

"Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks," declared Herman Cain. "If you don't have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself!"

But the decades long propaganda effort by FreedomWorks, the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Fund, the Carlyle Group, Faux News has succeeded in creating a sizeable amount of useful idiots who blame Teachers, Unions, the "Welfare Queens" and the unemployed and ignore incidents such as when Former AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg sued the Federal Government for $25 Billion USC. Or that 0.1% - the richest one-thousandth - of American population reap over 50% of the income made on Capital Gains and the executive pay for CEOs has risen to more than 343 times that of the average worker at the company.

Because despite the scoffing at the 99% slogan from rightwingers, who were pre-programed to hate OWS, what they and the 99% need to know is:

1) There is a Club and 2) You are not in it.

Because the average amount the Richest 1% will save from the Bush/Obama Tax cuts ($66,384 USC) is greater than the average salary of the 99% ($58,506 USC).

OccupyOakland as a case study in Shattering the 99%

Uh-huh, this towns full of money grabbers
Go ahead, bite the big apple, don't mind the maggots
Shadoobie, my brains been battered ~ Shattered, The Rolling Stones

"Christ this'll stain the Department for years."
"Decades..." L.A. Confidential

The images from the Police dispersing OccupyOakland apparently with tear gas, "flash-bangs", and shotgun fired beanbags rounds (all of which the Oakland PD deny using) are disturbing. But, not shocking. These actions are what the 1% want from Police across the country. The Police have always been tasked with keeping the Demos in line, mainly with petty criminal statutes but when necessary by mass arrests in sweep and clear paramilitary type operations. So, as in Boston and other cities the Oakland Police Chief and Command Structure have just ensured enmity between Police Officers and People for a couple decades.

As always Police Officers are put in the worst position, just like front line soldiers, because the Rich and Powerful REMFers never, ever place their "skin in the game". Just remember while the 4 am raids are going on, Racist Limbaugh is "Dreaming of Riots in Denver."

Now, the Occupation protests present a huge tactical and logistical nightmare for Public Officials and Police Officers. There is, unfortunately, a likelihood of crime occurring in these make-shift encampments. Plus, when one adds in the waste management and trash disposal issues, not too many cities want a shanty-town to grow up in their midsts. But, the thing that is really driving the massive arrests and violence against American citizens is the message they are bringing;

Stop catering to and enforcing the Whims of the Wealthy. Stop the Classacre upon the Middle and Working Classes.

The Big Picture success of OWS has been the shifting of the focus from austerity measures (i.e. The Massive Transfer of Wealth Upwards) and to addressing the struggle of the 99% and the terrible burden the Entitled 1% have caused with their blatant criminal greed and thievery. OWS has caused a fundamental shift, which the 1% are desperate to shut down.

But, to me the #OccupyRevolutions more impressive accomplishments are how, in less than a month's time, their experiment in direct democracy is succeeding, while also handling the day-to-day issues of food preparation & distribution network, internal security measures, medical services, trash removal and sanitation. As a Police Officer and a Big Government loving liberal I applaud their efforts to regulate, clean up, and police the area.

When I first went downtonw to OccupyChi, I was encouraged because some of those early members had already created a police liasion. It seemed the protesters had at least grasped the idea that working with the Police to accomodate small rules would help them avoid the crackdowns the NYPD and Michael Bloomberg were exerting upon OWS.

I thought eventually the OccupyChi Protesters and the everyday down-in-the-streets Chicago officers could work to ameliorate conflicts. It would bring together a positive police presence in the encampment whom the protesters could learn to trust.

It is my opinion that officers conducting spot checks, watching for plain sight crimes and roving meet and greet patrols, amongst the Protesters while they are on public property or in the early morning hours would have fallen under the standards established by the Courts in the Terry v. Ohio ruling (Terry Stops). It could have kept unsavory or criminal elements away from the Protesters and would not have been a violation of 1st or 4th Amendment Rights.

Well, this of course, was not to be as OccupyChi has twice been cleared from Grant Park after midnight raids from the Police. The repeated raids, sweep-and-clear mass arrests, destruction of property and iron fist tactics are not going to stop.

Now after such over-the-top brutal methods the Protesters will never agree to having small bands of roving officers wandering through their encampments. Once again the 1% have successfully parlayed the Us v. Them Game.

I DO NOT agree with and shall never agree with these type of tactics. Early morning raids, tear gas, mass detentions conducted on the Protesters for what amounts to a Municipal Park District Ordinance Violation is Unconstitutional.

But, what every Police Officer should realize is once the People are crushed, once the Middle Class is forever obliterated, once we are reduced to Wage Slaves chained irrevocably to be cogs in the machines of industry and war, only a small cadre of police will needed, the rest will be disposable.

In New Jersey, about 4,000 police officers have lost their jobs in the past two years (2009-2011), said Anthony Wieners, president of the state’s Policemen’s Benevolent Association.

Drunk man in DC admits to Lying

Bush admitted he lied about Iraq, in an interview with Martha Raddatz, when he said "We're winning" and "We have a plan for victory."

"I thought it was failing, yes, I did," Bush said.

But you see he did it to keep Troop Morale Up! Because I can tell you from personal experience, being deployed in Iraq nothing not:
the terrier sized Euphrates river rats, the 97 days of 100+ degree heat, the sandbag filling details, the base beautification program, the unprotected port-a-shitters, the foul smelling shaving water, the hairy chicken wings, the useless jobless SNCOs, the convoy runs, would have killed my morale than if the president had told the truth..

But, the admission he is powerless in the face of his addicition (warmongering) is the first step. Wild emotional swings are also sign of an addiction. Now, fortunately we know for a fact Bush's warmongering addiction will not cost him any member of his family since no one in the extended Bush family has any intention of serving in the GREAT GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAMOFASCISM.

But...

Do you think it's possible Bush could say in 2010 that he lied in 2008 about the Surge Success?

Nyah...

Al Qaeda in Iraq follies

After the lies which were used to start the War in Iraq were exposed and debunked and the patriotic flag waving war fervor wore off, new rationales needed to be invented to ensure the DoD money train continued.

Two of the foulest reasons used by Bush, Chickenhawks and Warmongers are:
1) When they place the words like honor and noble deaths and scared blood on the lips of the dead and use their deaths to continue the occupation and
2) War is good because the massive destruction and mayhem it causes creates jobs.

Another oft quoted erroneous rationale is the "We're fight'em there so we don't have to fight'em here". Or as Sourcewatch phrases it Taking the fight to the terrorists.

Did we go into into Iraq to free the people from the iron fist of the Tyrant Saddam or did we go to create a sink hole for terrorists to fall into so we could slay them?

As an analogy:

Suppose your neighbor down the street beats his wife and children so you intervene and send in the police to arrest the abuser.

A good act.

But then you leave the police in the house and decide to fight the War on Drugs by inviting all manner of drug dealers in from the neighborhood and allowing them to set up a Meth lab inside the house. Then during the fighting the wife and children you just saved from a brutal tyrant are killed by the dealers or a Meth lab explosion or an errant round from a tac guy.

What did you accomplish?

Of course, I'm giving to much credence to those who believe the Al Qaeda in Iraq stories, usually ignorant Rush Limbaugh listeners or couch-bound commandos who've never been in Iraq. Foreign Fighters never made up more than 5% of the "enemy" in Iraq.

The "enemy" over in Iraq are Iraqis not Al Qaeda. The only Al Qaeda in Iraq prior to our invasion was Ansar al Islam a group of 200-300 guys in the Kurdish Northern Watch No Fly Zone, who hated Saddam and lived in the remote moutains. To think we went to war to kill 300 guys is either ignorant or buffonish.

The War in Iraq is a Racket.

The "Surge" isn't working but it doesn't matter.

Because we aren't leaving Iraq, ever.

The blitz is on, to convince you some way anyway the Surge is working and we are "winning" in Iraq. Winning is, of course, left as nebulous as ever by the Bush Regime.

But, that won't stop the War proponents from claiming, after some have spent as much as a whole week themselves in Iraq, the tide has turned. Bill Kristol is the latest. When he was asked if the Surge was working, "Yes. No one there thinks it’s not..."

Really, Bill? By all of the measure ables; violence is up, security is down, the infrastructure is in shambles, the political situation is as dysfunctional as ever, things don't seem to have improved. But I guess saying it is makes it so.

However, from time to time the Generals on the ground slip up and reveal, no matter what happens with the Surge, the US isn't leaving Iraq anytime soon.

General David Petraeus, "We're going to be engaged in Iraq for some foreseeable future." And "I don't know whether this will be decades, but the average counter insurgency is somewhere around a nine or a 10 year endeavour."

The Top Marine Corps General, Commandant James Conway, The U.S. military needs more time in Iraq than the American public is willing to invest and that difference is "troubling."

General Raymond Odierno endorses a 50 year+ model ala the US presence in South Korea.

All this back and forth over the Surge is a game of 3 Card Monte, with the true goal being the swindling of billions from the American people.