This is a great idea...I hope it is not short lived. I am sure Republicans saw the elections of 2006 as nothing important. I am sure Republicans will say to the voters.... "I support our President in Iraq" and realize they will be re-elected...I know that like our President, our Reps and Senators do not pay attention to polls...So please put this pressure on your Republican officials...

I was wondering how a reduction in funding will impact day-to-day operations. For example, during close air support missions, do they arm the aircraft with conventional 'dumb' bombs as opposed to guided munitions? Do they send less troops out on patrols? Are the armored divisions removed leaving only the light calvary?

Obviously the overall goal is to pull troops out of Iraq, but I'm hoping that the above is discussed at legnth before a decision is made.

"Hugh Hewitt is leading this cause - and it's an important one. Tell the Republicans in the Senate..."

Don't forget to show the secret handshake to your friends also!

...and wear your propeller hats when you call the Republican Senators, so they know you mean serious business!

Let's see if the wizzers want to really support the war effort. If you are of enlistment age, go down to your local recruiting center and sign up to serve the noble cause of being a cop in a civil war. Or if you are too old and infirm to enlist, then you must take your kids or grandkids to go sign up.

Signing a petition, I dunno. That sounds like awfully hard work from the comfort of your own home. You might get a blister from blogging too much.

or length ^ maybe.

Tell the Republicans in the Senate that you will not accept their voting for any resolution that does not support our troops or the surge in Iraq that General Petraeus says we need. Although the resolution does nothing to change policy, signing onto it will embolden our enemies.

That's right, submit to the will of the Leader, do not debate, do not disagree. All actions should be predicated on the opinions of terrorists.

Thank you Senator Hagel:

If we don't debate this, we fail our country

Neither of my Republican senators are stupid enough to undermine the President during war.

Neither of my Republican senators are stupid enough to undermine the President during war.

Who are your Senators?

Lee, Nogo and jaku..Thank You all for showing Your support for the effort by signing the pledge!! It is appreciated.

jaku

fdon't know for sure about where his senators are from, but Mississippi or Alabama would be good starting points. The jingoists are rampant down there.

By all means, either sign or don't sign the non binding resolution. All that means is you are passing the buck. It doesn't mean SHIT. Lets leave it to the next president, Repug or Demo to solve.

Wake up people, we are in a war never seen before by industrial nations. Granted Bush and company made mistakes going into Iraq with insufficient forces. Now he has a new plan? What happened to stay the course? Some of the comments make mention about old slogans, ie: stay the course, mission accomplished, etc, etc.

Well, thats exactly what the fuck he and his right wing war mongers have done. Why didn't he invade Iraq with at least 300,000 troops? All the military experts who told him to do that were fired. Why? Shades of Viet Nam all over.

So, lets forget all the above BS and find a way the hell out of there. Forget bitching about Pelosi's eye blinking, McCain falling asleep during the chimps SOTU message, etc.

Start asking why each and every elected employee of ours, yes they are elected employees, Bush, Cheney, Senators and Representatives are. They are suppose to work for the American people, and to listen and act on what the people want.

People have even made comments on how low the unemployment rate is. Well, truth be known, they don't count people who have expired their benefits and are still looking for work. They also count the military into the unemployment roles, this to bolster the employment rate. Add at least 10% to the so called rate and you might be close to the total unemployed in this country.

CEO of Home Depot fired= +200 million package. CEO of GAP fired= +14 million package. God, you gotta love every one of the normal average American citizen who thinks this is OK. Why are the Repugs holding up the raise of minimum wage unless someone else gets a tax break? OH, I know, screw the poor, Business needs more breaks. RIGHT?

Defend that one if you can! Also because some average American belongs to a union, which has fairly bargained for decent benefits, such as wages, retirement, safe working conditions, and health insurance, may; if Chimp has his way with his health insurance bill, will be paying more in taxes because his/her union bargained for medical benefits. Explain that one also.

I think there are many very smart people out there, who could, if they wanted to, put the BS about political party's aside, and start working on solutions for the problems this country has. Very few if any, of our elected employees are doing it, and that really pisses me off. They get paid over $160,000.00 per year! For what? For the last 8 years they have not preformed. Start holding them to do the job they were elected to do. Not what party they belong to, but do what the people want and need!

My senators are Dole and Burr, both thoughtful, decent and honorable people, in contradistinction to Clinton, Biden, Byrd, Schumer, Boxer, et al.

Jaku, let me help out on "if the wizzers want to really support the war effort."

There are two numbers they can call and/or give to their children.

1-800-USA-ARMY

1-800-GO-GUARD

There are also 572 civilian contractor opportunities available in Iraq if they have an age problem with enlisting. They can just go to the Haliburton website.

Kim, As i commented on Lorie's similar thread:

It's always the case, after someone ( eg Bush on Iraq) has totally screwed up US policy and US national interest w/ a war that should never have occurred, and when that insane war policy goes south because it was conceived by fools like Bush, Cheney and their neocon advisers who have not the slightest conception about the nature of the Middle East, then the conservatives chime in to keep feeding our heroic troops into a meat-grinder. All the while, these conservatives roar against the "traitors" and use the lame claim that others give comfort and assisstance to the enemy du jour.

This is not "supporting our troops," it is supporting the further killing of more of our loyal troops.

This always happens, because the fools who contrived such foolish policy and their supporters will never admit that what they started was wrong, wrong, wrong.

So people like you, Lorie,( and Kim) and the idiots you quote in your post rail and howl to support shoveling more of others' loved ones into a lost cause out of some c sense of crypto-patriotism.

Shame on all of you for such bald and bloody (someone else's blood ) jingoism.

Allen -

Not to be snarky - but those elected officials are where they are PRECISELY because they're good at getting elected, not necessarily because they're actually capable and competent. Look at Kerry and Kennedy - what do THEY do that's worth their pay and status? Kennedy's been trading on the family rep (and millions) for decades - and Kerry's such a sock puppet that when he opens his mouth to speak you can see Kennedy's fingers.

Just because they're good at getting elected doesn't mean they're the right people for the positions they find themselves in.

ANY OF THEM - NO MATTER THE PARTY!

Hell, at this point about the only one running for President I'd vote for is Lieberman - and he ain't even running!

J.

CEO of Home Depot fired= +200 million package. CEO of GAP fired= +14 million package. God, you gotta love every one of the normal average American citizen who thinks this is OK. Why are the Repugs holding up the raise of minimum wage unless someone else gets a tax break? OH, I know, screw the poor, Business needs more breaks. RIGHT?

So you want to tell a company what it can pay an executive?

Wow, you'd think government control of the economy would've been proven to be bad by all of the times it failed in the past, but the left just keeps beating that dead horse.

Defend that one if you can! Also because some average American belongs to a union, which has fairly bargained for decent benefits, such as wages, retirement, safe working conditions, and health insurance, may; if Chimp has his way with his health insurance bill, will be paying more in taxes because his/her union bargained for medical benefits. Explain that one also.

Cry me a river for the "poor union guy" who doesn't do a damned thing for his money.

"Fairly bargained for"? Are you f'n nuts?

Unions were once needed. Now they are the appendix of America.

"For the last 8 years they have not preformed."

But BEFORE 1999, it was golden. Times were great, eh? Let me guess, they sucked from 1980 - 1992 too, huh?
-=Mike

MikeSC,

Nice to know you hate unions. Bet you are glad you have a 8 hour work day, weekends off, etc. Poor union guy who doesn't work, etc. Well lets list the poor union members who don't work. Airplanes fly by themselves, stews serving the paying passengers on those planes, ground crews making sure the plane can safely fly, etc.

When you flush your toilet, nice to know your SHIT isn't laying in the gutter, nice to know you may have heat and air condition in your house and work place, not to mention lights, won't mention the education (thats questionable) you and other people have received.

And you ask me if I fucking nuts? No I am not nuts, I face reality every day, something you must not do, or you would not be bitching about unions. Unions have their good and bad, just like the political parties have good and bad.

Now MikieSC, stop and think about saying your trivial BS about unions. Why are federal workers, state and local workers belong to unions, same as teachers, and more and more medical workers joining unions. Real simple answer to that MikieSC, people are tired of getting screwed. I am not saying the union is the correct answer. Go back and read my post that you answered to.

Why haven't you started to come up with some solutions to the problems? My opinion MikieSC, is you are so filled with hate that you try to slam anyone who doesn't agree with you.

Also like I said in the previous post, there are a lot of smart people out there, but from your comments, IMHO you don't fall into that position.

"puke face" to you really think anyone gives a shit what you post. Everyone knows that what you write you has been copied from somewhere else. You can tell by just looking at your posts that you are too dumb to come up with your crap all by yourself. Why do we know this? Because you belong to the "club".

Allen,
The points you make about BIG companies are ones usually are made by people who

a) have NEVER owned a business (small or large) where you are responsible for paying the bills to keep it going, keep the company safe, legal, etc.

b) have hardly any understanding of how basic economics work including markets (oil industry, farming, etc.)

c) have no understanding that even though execs may not "need/deserve" multi-million dollar salaries, that if there salary were cut to $1 removes it would affect, at most, just part of ONE day's work for very large companies.

d) unions have 1) driven up wages to where someone who "pushes a broom" requiring not much education or skill earns $15-$20 hour or more---thus making non-skilled workers expect higher wages than some professions (teachers, etc.) & hurting small businesses who can not pay that kind of wage
2) driven up health care insurance costs, because paying for hospital stays--accidental/major medic al were not enough...you had to have doctor's visits reduced to $10 co-pay & almost free drugs, even though hourly pay/salaries are high enough to pay for the basic doctor's visits. Now insurance is so high--because they pay for too much, it is unattainable for small businesses & personal purchases

e) worry more about what other people are earning instead of worrying about doing a good job, getting more education or taking a 2nd job to improve your money status

f) think most people who make minimum wage are on the street begging for food for their kids, when actually most earning minimum wage are teenagers & people working who are not the main income earners in the family

g) thing raising minimum wage by $2.00 is going to really help. Heck, let's just change it to $20.00 hour

h) believe that just because a majority of Americans think a certain way, our gov't should vote that way. Oftentimes a majority can be WRONG. We are a "republic" not a full democracy.

i)care more about me, me, me than about the good of the whole---whether it's the place of employment or national issues. This is probably the biggest difference traditionally between Democrats & Republicans.

Mitchell said...
Neither of my Republican senators are stupid enough to undermine the President during war.
My senators are Dole and Burr

I think it is clear to say from the meeting we had earlier with--I do not know how many Members were there--45, 50 Senators and half the House of Representatives, that the administration is going to be under great pressure to bring the actions in Somalia to a close.

--GOP Minority Leader Sen. Robert Dole, Senate speech, October 5, 1993

thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r103:26:./temp/~r103f7nxPu::

Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., plans to offer an amendment that would require congressional authorization before troops could be sent to Haiti. ... Dole also has a proposal to require congressional authorization before U.S. troops can be sent to Bosnia.

www-tech.mit.edu/V113/N50/somalia.50w.html

(Yes, I know that it's a different Dole now.)

Holy shit - the chickenhawk argument has got to be the most lazy bunch of bullshit ever.

It's a cry for attention, really.

If those persons (or their children) who don't serve in the military while supporting the troops and their mission where they are deployed are considered chickenhawks; then why can't we consider those, who again, themselves, aren't enlisted in the military but who want to recall or redeploy military units somewhere else chickenhawks too?

If you are an American, please drop the chickenhawk argument already - it makes us all look stupid.

Hey Allen,

Not sure how we got to unions here, but...

When you flush your toilet, nice to know your SHIT isn't laying in the gutter, nice to know you may have heat and air condition in your house and work place, not to mention lights, won't mention the education (thats questionable) you and other people have received.

On Chicago's Miracle Mile, if you are a tenant paying thousands per month in rent, you cannot even change one light bulb, or move a fax machine yourself. It has to be done by a union member, at a minimum hourly rate that's through the roof.

I heard a story recently where the owner leasing an office came in, sketched out where all of the furniture and wall hangings were, and the next time they came in, and a new picture was hung by the tenants themselves, the next call that they made for service to fix a charred electrical outlet took them a month to get a response. Lovely.

On Chicago's Miracle Mile, if you are a tenant paying thousands per month in rent, you cannot even change one light bulb, or move a fax machine yourself.

Ok, I'm not denying the madness of the unions here in Chicago, but I used to work in the Wrigley Building on the Mile and I have to call bullshit. I installed, moved, and tore shit down and nobody said a word. Union boys even loaned me their hand truck a couple of times.

Diane,
You bring up some very good points, and I agree with you on some of them. I was raised on a farm, and know first hand what my parents went through. I also, for a short time had my own business, and due to all the state and federal BS, I shut it down.

I also worked as a union member, and yes, like you said, some are over paid. But would you want a plumber to do brain surgery. (I know far fetched) or a brain surgeon to fix your broken plumbing. Can you honestly blame union workers wanting a decent wage, decent benefits, etc. I will be the first to admit there are some (whole bunch) of union workers that should be kicked out of their unions.
But you can also say that about any profession. Why is it that all the lawyers in the US have to belong to, and pay yearly dues to the ABA, but they say they aren't union, they are a professional association.
What a crock of BS that is. But instead of arguing or discussing unions, or Repugs or Demos, lets start getting a meeting of minds on some good solutions that can be presented to our elected employees that would help the majority of the American people. And we have lost our Republic status a long time ago, or our federal gov't would not be as involved in everyday life of the people.

Here I sit, in the mood to peck, and everything's already been said, except: WHO THE FUCK WANTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE National Republican Senatorial Committee ANYWAY???

I have to call bullshit

Fair enough mantis, but those aren't the only stories from in this particular office, where the employees are primarily women. The managers there have been told explicitly not to move or do any such activities that require union 'expertise'.

And I didn't say that unions are bad or good for certain lines of work, just stated an unusually absurd story about how they are capable of conducting themselves.

And I'm sure that stuff does happen. This,

The managers there have been told explicitly not to move or do any such activities that require union 'expertise'.

does sound like some other stories I've heard. I was just saying that the unions don't have some sort of universal hold over that street.

mantis,

Just to clarify, this is not the company that I work for, therefore they are just examples that I've been told about the unions there. The latest of which pertains to after hours work. The managers say that if they need to come in after hours or on the weekend, they have to call someone to come in to open up the place, even if they have keys to the joint - and they get charged for it! I'm wondering if it's a condition of their lease, but I don't know. Have you ever heard of that?

I'm wondering if it's a condition of their lease, but I don't know. Have you ever heard of that?

I haven't, and it's ridiculous. Especially since most buildings downtown have security to let you in. From what I understand though, if a union has a contract with the building, it'll be a condition of the lease that tenants have to play ball. That's Chicago for you.

Diane @ January 24, 2007 11:27 PM,

This guy that once worked with became fed up with the idea of an absolutely grotesque bonus package plus stock options that our CEO was slated to receive and brought it up directly to him at an all employee meeting - pretty ballsy really.

The answer? "There's the door pal". My buddy still works there, but needless to say he hasn't been promoted and doesn't see one coming.

Once I got past the envy, I realized that there's a lot of competition out there for highly paid executives in that particular industry, and this guy was offered that package at the outset as a condition of his employment at the corporate level. Invariably it was in his interest for the company to do well - and it did - and he did (bastard!).

..it'll be a condition of the lease that tenants have to play ball.

Yup - I hear them complaining about it, but from what I understand, they may as well be printing money so it's not enough to make them leave.

They won't tell me what their rent is, and honestly, I don't think that I want to know.

Yes, yes, yes please have your Senator sign this pledge. Hell, why stop there, have your congressmen and congresswomen, state, local, city even the dog catcher sign this pledge if they want to call themselves a republican. Please I beg you, go for it, make yourselves be heard.

Let me know in a couple of weeks how this worked out for you.

Let's see if the wizzers want to really support the war effort. If you are of enlistment age, go down to your local recruiting center and sign up to serve the noble cause of being a cop in a civil war. by Jaku on January 24, 2007 8:59 PM ::

I won't endorse that idea, but I will ask if you'll sign a petition and send it to Hillary insisting she immediately frog march Chelsy (sp ?) down to the nearest recruitment center.

What! You say it don't work that way!

I figured as much.

Nice to know you hate unions.

Everybody should.

Bet you are glad you have a 8 hour work day, weekends off, etc. Poor union guy who doesn't work, etc. Well lets list the poor union members who don't work.

Our car industry nearly died due to inept union workers. Our gov't union employees do their job in a manner so bad that it makes the French cringe.

As I said, there was a time unions were needed. That time ended LONG ago.

When you flush your toilet, nice to know your SHIT isn't laying in the gutter, nice to know you may have heat and air condition in your house and work place, not to mention lights, won't mention the education (thats questionable) you and other people have received.

Plumbers here aren't unionized.

As for education, if you want to take credit for a system so bad that the biggest supporters of public education won't send their own kids to a public school, knock yourself out.

Now MikieSC, stop and think about saying your trivial BS about unions. Why are federal workers, state and local workers belong to unions, same as teachers, and more and more medical workers joining unions.

The hope for more money with less work.

And, in the Northeast, you HAVE to join a union in certain jobs (that whole "freedom of choice" thing the left claims to support seems to have a very limited application).

Why haven't you started to come up with some solutions to the problems? My opinion MikieSC, is you are so filled with hate that you try to slam anyone who doesn't agree with you.

Am I actually hearing a leftie bitch about complaints without offering alternatives?

My alternative? Remove ALL laws requiring union membership. Yank them all immediately. Given a choice, people leace unions (there is a reason unions have such a hard time winning recertification battles --- the workers VOTE THE UNIONS OUT REGULARLY).

Also, require secret ballots in union elections. Unions, as a rule, oppose that.

And take away the ability for a union to waste your money lobbying politically for candidates you oppose.
-=Mike

Yeah.
Because not questioning the President when he was about to start a war in 2002-2003 worked out so well.

Congratulations. You people really are fuckin' morons.

The blind, thoughtless deference to Bush by some rightwingers is truly breathtaking

The empty, vapid, self-congratulatory, but pointless drivel from the Left on this board is even more breathtaking.

I prefer the Grand Canyon to both.