Too little, too late, Traitor Joe

With the election looming and his atrocious behavior about to come back and bite him in the ass, Joe Lieberman is trying to throw some cash at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in an effort to retain his gavel as chair of the Homeland Security committee. To that end, he has written two $100,000 checks to the DSCC in the last year.

We have no doubt that Chuck Schumer appreciates the recent outpouring of largess, but something tells me that it is going to take more than a hundred grand to get out of the doghouse with most Senate Democrats. He is most likely going to be the keynote speaker at the republican nominating convention, for Christ's sake, and he has been filling the role of attack-dog for months, and people have been paying attention to his warmongering rhetoric. We were paying attention a couple of months ago when Obama pulled him aside and called his ass out.

When Harry Reid was asked about Lieberman's chances of retaining his gavel after January he basically told the reporter asking the question to wait and see what next year brings, and moved on.

Joe should have maybe put down the shovel and stopped digging a long time ago. Whatever he does now is going to be too little, too late. Hell yes, he should be stripped of his chairmanship, and he should be kicked out of the Democratic caucus. I am even willing to take it a step farther. I am in favor of censuring him publicly from the well of the senate and in full view of all stripping him of every perk and trapping of the senate. You chose to be a man without a party, Traitor Joe. Lie down and sleep in the bed you have made, asshole.

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He's Not a Democrat (and that's no joke)

We're talking about Joe Lieberman, of course. Brave New Films has launched a “Lieberman Must Go” petition drive. The fine folks at BNF say Joe Lieberman has overtly supported and defended President Bush and John McCain’s key policies. He therefore no longer deserves a chairmanship or leadership role in the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Lieberman is NOT a Democrat. He did NOT win the Democrat nomination for his re-election bid in 2006 and had to run as an independent. Why the Senate leadership ever allowed him to remain part of the Senate Democratic Caucus is beyond me.

Brave New Films has an excellent video up. Go watch it and sign the petition. Let's make room for a TRUE Democrat.

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The Package?

President Bush, today in Canada:

There's all kinds of speculation about the size of the package, this, that and the other.

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Webb Calls Out Lieberman

Yesterday, Senator James Webb of Virginia offered an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill for 2008 that would require that all service personnel have at least as much dwell-time as they do in the war zone.

Joe “More War” Lieberman denounced Senator Webb’s imminently reasonable amendment. “Give the American soldiers a break,” Lieberman said. “It’s as if the American troops have the enemy on one side and Congress is sniping at their heels on the other side.” He added that Congress is advocating a “defeat, retreat strategy.”

Senate conservatives have announced that they will filibuster the bill.

(I say let them. In fact, I dare them.)

Yes – mandating dwell-time to keep these people from just running them all the way into the ground is anti-soldier. I’ll just note that Senator Lieberman, in spite of being born in 1942, did not serve in the armed forces, and certainly received at least one (confirmed) draft deferment, but the blogger Connecticut Bob speculates the number is much higher, and I think so too, given the years he would have been in college and of draft age, 1960-1967; while Jim Webb certainly did step up when he was called upon to do so, and led a rifle company in Vietnam. Service is not a requirement to serve in elected office – I read Starship Troopers, and I don’t like that idea of citizenship. But when a politician opens him – or her – self up to such criticisms and comparisons the way Lieberman has – well, can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, as a real Democrat once said.

Today, Jim Webb swung back, and hung one of Lieberman’s chin. He reminded one and all that he was warning anyone who would listen – for the last five years - that we were “heading for trouble” if we went to war in Iraq:

I was warning about the consequences of invading and occupying Iraq well before we went in. … I don’t know where Sen. Lieberman gets his opinions about how well we’re doing. […]

You have a government in Iraq that has no power. It has very little power — it cannot compel action and it’s surrounded by armed factions that retain the power. That is not a situation we’re going to resolve without the interaction of all the countries in the region in a positive, proactive diplomatic way. And that’s what I’ve been saying for three years.

Center for American Progress senior fellow Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense, released a statement in support of the bill on the ThinkProgress website:

Regardless of whether a member supports a phased withdrawal of American forces from Iraq or continues to support President Bush’s latest escalation, he or she should support the Webb-Hagel amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill.

It takes two full years at home or after a one year deployment for a unit to become fully combat ready. Spending a year at home after a year in the combat zone is barely enough time to get themselves marginally ready physically and mentally for the next deployment. Giving them last time would mean sending units and individuals into battle who are not combat ready.

Members cannot vote against Webb-Hagel and claim they support the troops. Sending people back for another tour without the same amount of time at home as the length of their tour is wrong strategically and morally. (emphasis mine.)

Folks, here is the link to the U.S. Senate home page. Call and/or email your Senators and demand that they support Webb-Hagel. Just for good measure, here is the page that lists the Class II Senators, those up for reelection in 2008. If your Senator is one of the obstreperous few, and on that list – remind him or her of that salient fact when you contact their office.

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Massive bomb blast in Iraq kills at least 117

A boy is taken to a hospital in Kirkuk, Iraq,
after a suicide bomber attacked a village market.

A massive suicide truck bomb, loaded with two tons of explosives, detonated today in an outdoor market in Amerli, a village predominantly populated by Shiite Turkmen and Kurds, about 100 miles north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province, near Tuz Khurmatu . At least 117 are dead, and at least 265 were wounded. Witnesses said the truck looked like it could have been an Iraqi military vehicle.

Two Iraqis who survived the blast spoke with the AP “Some are still under the rubble with no one to help them. There are no ambulances to evacuate the victims.” Said one witness. “I saw destruction everywhere, dozens of cars destroyed, about 15 shops and many houses, even some more than 700 meters (yards) away," another witness told the reporter. (CNN has video of the aftermath)

Salaheddin province has been relatively restive in the past, experiencing sporadic violence, not approaching the levels seen elsewhere, and certainly nothing like todays attack.

My heart goes out to all the victims of the violence unleashed on Iraq, and to the families of the fallen, and to the wounded and to all of the victims of George Bush's splendid vanity war.

It is time to listen to the Generals who are not beholden, the ones who have been there, who understand the context, and who have determined to speak out and demand an end to it. Who do you trust? John Batiste, Antonio Taguba, and William Odom; or George "Mission Accomplished" Bush, Lindsey "I bought five rugs for five dollars" Graham and Joe "Dukakis Moment" Lieberman?

For the sake of the gene pool, I hope you didn't have to think about the answer to that question.

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With Kiley gone, the fate of a task force is in limbo

Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday, stating their concerns that the Defense Department’s Mental Health Task Force report due in June will be delayed in the wake of the resignation of Army Surgeon General Kevin Kiley; a valid concern as Kiley was the co-chair of the task force. He was forced into retirement earlier in the month because he was the General Officer who let Walter Reed happen on his watch.

The task force in question was created from legislation written by Senator Boxer, and is supposed to deliver a report to Secretary Gates in May. It was announced today that Surgeon General of the Navy, Vice Admiral Donald Arthur, has been nominated to replace Kiley on the investigative body.

The panel was created to assess strategies for assuring the delivery of mental health services to all veterans who need them, especially the veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many veterans have lost their driving privileges because of traumatic brain injuries the have resulted in seizure disorders (NPR did a piece last week on just such a case.) Or they have physical limitations that they have not yet overcome to the point they can resume driving. Some are just so wracked with PTSD that they don’t or won’t drive.

Too many have lost their vehicles to repossession while they wait for benefits to start.

“We are concerned that his departure could delay the completion of the task force report.” They wrote. “Service members cannot be forced to wait for care because of a shortage of mental health providers. Tragedies have occurred because service members did not receive the care they needed.”

The Senators raised explicit concerns about veterans in rural areas where services are not readily available and VA centers might be hours away. For whatever reason, if a Veteran can’t get to the services, the services need to get to him. Or her. Period. There is simply no discussion to engage in on that topic.

They also wrote about the need for pre and post deployment mental health screenings, comprehensive education about mental health issues such as depression and PTSD, and the need to take steps to eliminate the stigma associated with seeking mental health services that some members of the military have expressed. (If I made the rules, discrimination against and the hazing of those returning from combat with readjustment issues would be a career ender and a pension forfeiture.)

The task force should not let the sacking of Kiley sideline them. They should continue working, and the confirmation process for Admiral Arthur should move quickly and, if he is suitable, confirm him promptly.

The issues faced by our veterans – who have really gotten a lousy shake all the way around – will continue to need services they are not getting. God knows that the US government is not going to do anything on spec and suddenly start taking care of the Veterans and war wounded they have created.

No, that requires an official report from a task force; signed by all members, notarized and in triplicate.

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