Where’s the Outrage?

I was up most of last night so I’m to be sleeping most of the day. Here’s a very stories that I thought were interesting.

I didn’t blog much about the Pervez Musharraf trunce with tribal fighters along the border. Personally, I didn’t think that there was much that he could do. This was a part of Pakistan that was really out of his control. Well, the “peace” has broken down. The Taliban has grown in the area. It looks ugly.

North Korea has shut down its nuclear reactor. Maybe diplomacy can work.

Remember that Russ Feingold has been fighting to get us out of Iraq for over 2 years. No other democrat that I know of has been right on so many issues as Senator Russ Feingold. The new Levin-Reed Redeployment bill is almost exactly what Russ proposed 2 years ago.

It looks like the Bush Administration is setting up General Patraeus as the fall guy as I mentioned earlier. They have set up Generals before and it looks like Patraeus will be next.

Tags: Al Qaeda, Bush Administration, Pakistan by ecthompson
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My good friend, Ohio State Representative Tyrone Yates, is just back in Cincinnati from the 2007 NAACP convention in Detroit. Tyrone is at current President of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. Here is his report from the convention.

I recently attended the 98th NAACP National Convention in Detroit where I was a delegate. Detroit, contrary to opinion, is very dynamic and very safe downtown and business district. Detroit has hosted the NAACP 7 times in its 98 year history.

As a Delegate to the NAACP Convention, I found it more democratic and delegate friendly than the 2004 Democratic National Convention where I served as a delegate from Ohio. If I voted on the Democratic Platform I don’t remember it and it certainly was not a deliberate process that the delegates participated in. At the NAACP Convention, I witnessed participatory democracy in its finest form

Over three days, over eight hours, NAACP Voting Delegates from the 50 states, US territories, and the District of Columbia thoughtfully discussed and debated issues stretching from Voting Rights to International Affairs. Every delegate had the right to speak to the many Resolutions considered or to amend them from the floor. The Presiding Officers, either a brilliant preacher or a first-rate legal mind, ran the Public Legislative Sessions with unrivalled skill and unperturbed patience. [Read more →]

Tags: Domestic Issues, Race by Texas Liberal
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We discuss progressive radio.  Recent Supreme Court rulings and the right turn that the court is taking.  I take a couple of calls from the listeners.

 

 The Errington Thompson Show 6-23-07 [54:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Legal, Podcasts by ecthompson
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What happens if the White House continues to defy Congress?  Nice explanation here.

Tags: Bush Administration, Congress by ecthompson
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Polling is interesting.  If you ask Americans how is the president doing his job.  I think that’s a good question.  Everyone in the US should have an opinion of how the president is doing.  Even if that opinion is based on bad information.  On the other hand, the War in Iraq is a complex matter.  How many Americans are keeping up with the different insurgent groups?  How many Americans know that Al Qaeda in Iraq is not the same group as Al Qaeda of Bin Laden fame? Al Qaeda in Iraq was not trained by Bin Laden instead they are a terrorist group with a great “brand” name.

Many Americans at the time of this poll were probably not aware that US troops were ambushed by Iraq police, that we trained, and insurgents.   Training the Iraq police force is now a problem.  Are we training folks who are going to work with the insurgents to kill us?

We need an immediate withdrawal of all US combat forces from Iraq.   We need to engage Iraq’s neighbors including Iran.  They have to be part of the solution.  We need to send a large number of our troops to Afghanistan.  There will be violence in Iraq after we leave.  There is violence now.  There is a lot of violence now.  After we leave Al Qaeda will be driven out by Shia, Sunni and Kurds.  There will be a struggle for power.  It is unclear if democracy will survive in Iraq but we must leave.  We can no long afford to stay.

 

 Newsweek Poll [3:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Domestic Issues, Iraq by ecthompson
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I just bought, well, the bank just bought, a new car for me so that I can pay them even more money. It comes with Sirius Satellite. I noticed that Sirius labeled their “liberal” talk channel Left but labeled their ….well read Rick Perlstein’s post below.

——

I just was a guest on Mike Feder’s show SIRIUS Satellite Radio show and learned something deeply, deeply offensive.

The liberal channel is called “SIRIUS Left.”

The conservative channel is called “SIRIUS Patriot.”

SIRIUS Satellite Radio doesn’t think you’re patriotic. This is an obscenity.

SIRIUS’s media relations representative for talk radio is Hillary Schupf. Her email is hschupf@siriusradio.com. Her phone number is 212-901-6739. Let’s start with her. Share what she says in the comments. This cannot be allowed to stand.

Tags: Blogging issues, Other Political Thoughts by ecthompson
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So, Senator Jim Webb and Bush buddy Senator Lindsey Graham are on Meet the Press. You already know the questions. Tim Russert didn’t ask one single thoughtful question. The only decent question which was very predictable was about Al-Maliki’s statement from the other day that the US forces could leave at any time. [Read more →]

 

 MTP - Webb Graham [6:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq by ecthompson
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