Gold Star Mother's Day 2007

This post guest blogged by Karen from Gold Star Mom Speaks Out

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 115 of June 23, 1936, has designated the last Sunday in September as "Gold Star Mother's Day" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in its observance.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton proclaimed that we should "honor women whose sons and daughters have pledged their lives to securing for all Americans the blessings of liberty. These mothers have made tremendous sacrifices, the most painful being the loss of their children, and deserve the respect and recognition of the nation."

In 2007, George Bush proclaimed

The gift of liberty is secured by heroes who have answered the call to serve when America needed them most. On Gold Star Mother's Day, we honor the mothers of the service men and women who have given their lives in the defense of our great Nation.

America's Gold Star Mothers are remarkable patriots who serve their communities by demonstrating good citizenship, providing support and services to our troops and veterans, and helping comfort the families whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice. Their sense of duty and deep devotion to our country inspire our Nation, and we thank them for their compassion, determination, and strength. Though they carry a great burden of grief, these courageous mothers help ensure that the legacy of our fallen heroes will be forever remembered. On this day, we offer our deep gratitude and respect to our Nation's Gold Star Mothers; we honor the sons and daughters who died while wearing the uniform of the United States; and we pray for God's blessings on them, their mothers, and their families.

As a Gold Star Mother, I do not find comfort in this cold President's words; they do not ring true. His meetings with Gold Star Mother's are arranged to include only women who support his ruthless, endless war and more death. Where is his compassion and sense of patriotism to those mothers who disagree with him and work diligently to end the war and to bring our troops home?

Gold Star Mothers Day is not a Hallmark holiday to send flowers or cards; there is no happy in this day. Gold Star Mothers Day 2007 should be a day for sober reflection about how President Bush set in place a new generation of Gold Star Mothers when he sent our children to fight his illegal war in Iraq. These new Gold Star Mothers will be his legacy as the war president, he proudly claims himself to be.

The current president says we must honor the sacrifices of fallen soldiers by completing the mission and achieving victory. How will more bloodshed and more dying honor my son, who was killed in Iraq more than 3 years ago? This president can prevent the creation of new Gold Star Mothers. It is time for president Bush to remove the burden from the military and work to find some kind of political solution that would allow us to bring our troops home.

We will never forget our loved ones; they will live forever in our hearts. And we must not forget the Iraqi Gold Star mothers who suffer so much from this war that came to their front door step unwelcome and unnecessary.

Today, the citizens of this country must remember our sacrifice and consider the human cost of this war. That and our broken hearts are something that Gold Star Mothers live with forever.

I am the proud Gold Star Mother of 1Lt Ken Ballard.

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Aerial Banner to Display Impeachment Message Before The All Star Game

How cool is this? Nick Juliano of RawStory is reporting

Online activists raised enough money in two hours Monday afternoon to fly a banner encouraging the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over AT&T Park in San Francisco before Tuesday's baseball All Star Game.

A facebook.com group called The Nationwide Movement to Impeach Cheney and Bush has, with the help of AfterDowningStreet.org, raised the money necessary to hire a plane to fly the banner calling for the impeachment of both the President and Vice President. Because of security regulations instituted after 9/11, they will not be able to fly over during the game, but folks arriving an hour before the first pitch will know that there are others who want to impeach the President and his imperial VP.

San Francisco, hmmmm, I wonder if Nancy will attend the game?

It looks like the impeachment movement is picking up steam regardless of the tender sensibilities of either the media or Congressional Democrats.

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Senate Crushes Bush's Hopes For Legacy

The AP is reporting that "the Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections." Charles Babington writes that

The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.

Senators in both parties said the issue is so volatile that Congress is highly unlikely to revisit it this fall or next year, when the presidential election will increasingly dominate American politics.

This means the President's legacy of legislative accomplishments will be limited to first term tax cuts. Of course, his string of Presidential failures is legendary.

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Presidential Scholars Protest Violations Of Human Rights

The President endured an unusual penetration of his "double plus good happy bubble" during a Monday meeting with this year's Presidential Scholars. According to the AP, one of the young scholars handed President Bush a handwritten letter. The letter, signed by 50 of the scholars, stated "(w)e do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants."

Dana Perino, the deputy press secretary, told reporters, "the president enjoyed a visit with the students, accepted the letter and upon reading it let the student know that the United States does not torture and that we value human rights."

I wonder if Dick Cheney has told him the truth about America's treatment of detainees. Just because the David Addington says it isn't torture doesn't mean it isn't torture. At this point it is entirely possible the President is the only person left in America who doesn't realize that America's "enhanced interrogation" of detainees is considered torture by civilized people everywhere.

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Just-ish

"Our enemies aren't respecting the laws of war, so you can't expect the President to respect any laws." Steven Colbert invents a new word--"Just-ish."



Watch Tony Snow's clip. I get the feeling the guys in the White House are close to jumping off the deep end. Fortunately at 26% I don't think they can take the country with them.

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In A Bold Move The Comander Guy Neutralizes Ron Paul--Fox News Elated.

Mark Jeffrey says

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is far and away the most popular on the Internet. Yet, despite his massive online lead, the mainstream media has barely managed to cover him at all.

On 5/14 and 5/15, Ron Paul was the #1 most-searched-for term on blog search engine Technorati. On post-debate polls on ABC.com and MSNBC.com, Ron Paul was voted the winner of the debate by a wide margin.

Steve Clemons reports that Paul's spike in popularity has led a Michigan GOP Leader to try squeezing him out of future primary debates. According to Jim Davinport of the AP

Michigan party chairman Saul Anuzis said he will circulate a petition among Republican National Committee members to ban Paul from other debates. At a GOP candidates’ debate Tuesday night, Paul drew attacks from all sides, most forcefully from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, when he linked the terror attacks to U.S. bombings.

Well, the "trusted" political site "the Spoof.com" believes Karl Rove has come up with a way to make the Republican party establishment safe from the surging candidate.

In a bold move that has surprised many political analysts and pundits, President George W. Bush has announced his decision to have Congressman Ron Paul recalled to active duty by Executive Order #2008STOPRONPAUL.

"Congressman Ron Paul previously served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard thingy, which I was kind of in for a few days, too," said President Bush. The President continued by saying, "As the Decider, I have decided to give him another chance to serve his country. I guess he is one of them obgyn thingies, and so I have ordered Congressman Ron Paul back to active duty to practice his...love with women all across the military."

Congressman Ron Paul has been ordered to report back to active duty effective immediately. He will be stuck on active duty at least through the next election, pursuant to the Executive Order.

The Spoof.com quote is satire. I think.

The parts about Paul surging and neo-con types trying desperately to deny him a voice are all too real.

Paul might be a kook but I think he is on to something. Americans of all stripes are fed up with the belief tank daydreams of empire that seem to dominate the modern Republican party leadership. If they want to have any chance of winning, Republican candidates need to back away from the neo-con Fox News wing of the Republican party.

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May 1, 2003

Mission Accomplished

NOT

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