Friday, October 28, 2005
Caption Contest
YahooOOOoooo!!! One down.....
Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, has been indicted on obstruction of justice, false statement, and perjury charges by a grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's identity. No decision on charges for presidential advisor Karl Rove was announced today. However he remains under investigation.To read more, visit http://www.boston.com
UPDATE:
Liddy Indicted on 5 Felony Counts
Libby Resigns
Fitzgerald Extends Grand Jury To Continue Investigation
“Fitzgerald’s spokesman, Randall Samborn, said the investigation will continue but with a new grand jury. The term of the current grand jury cannot be extended beyond today.”
Judd Gregg HATES helping people in need.
Heating programs running out of fundsWith home heating costs on the rise, two programs that help the poor pay their gas and electric bills in
Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday voted against increased spending for the federal home heating program, saying the money wasn't there.
New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, who had voted last week against a program that helps low-income families meet home heating costs, offered an amendment to the federal spending bill that would release nearly $1.3 billion for heating aid. The increase would be paid for by making across-the-board cuts to other department budgets of just under 1 percent in a $146 billion spending bill.
My family qualifies for home heating assistance so, as the author of this article chooses to, you can all now start referring to us as “the poor”.
Calling recipients of need based government programs "the poor" is just another way journalists try to convince us that these programs are bad. They don't help people like "us", regular people. They help “the poor”.
Notice that when journalists do stories on how increasing the minimum wage is bad they don't refer to people who are paid it as "the poor" even though people who make minimum wage fall below the poverty line.
Notice also, in this article, how Judd will ONLY help people in need after cutting aid to other people in need. He is not willing to simply help those in need because it is the right thing to do. Or not do it because it is the wrong thing.
He is a coward but at least he wouldn't be a TOTAL hypocrite if it weren't for the fact that he wants additional tax cuts for "the rich", his people.
Judd Gregg, the same greedy bastard that bought a lottery ticket even though he is already loaded and then said he plans to spend it on personal items for himself. If being one of "the rich" means being like Judd Gregg I am proud to be one of "the poor".
It seems to me in Bush American the words "the rich" and "the poor", as so many others, have been redefined. "The poor" now seems to mean those who sometimes must ask for assistance from others who have more than they do. "The rich" are those even though they have more than they will every need take from others who have much less than they do.
GOP message in a nutshell, “It is right to get as much as you can anyway you can.”
Best Work Enviroments.... if you can get it...
States ranked for best work environments
Rankings of the 50 states and
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
see whole list here @ boston.com
NH Tales of Interest
Supporters picket hearing of doctor accused of racial remark
Supporters of a doctor accused of telling a patient she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men picketed Wednesday outside a medical board meeting on his case.
When can we open our presents?!!?
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Miers is withdrawn HUGE defeat for Bush!!!!
According to the NYTimesUnfortunately is was the Radical Religious Right that beat him, not us....
Harry Reid said:
The radical right wing of the Republican Party killed the Harriet Miers nomination. Apparently, Ms. Miers did not satisfy those who want to pack the Supreme Court with rigid ideologues.The Wingnuts would not even wait for the confirmation process to unfold. The straw the broke the camel's back was, wthout a doubt, the disclosure of Miers' 1993 speech which may have signalled that Miers would uphold Roe. Miers wrote:
The ongoing debate continues surrounding the attempt to once again criminalize abortions or to once and for all guarantee the freedom of the individual women's [sic] right to decide for herself whether she will have an abortion.
full post from daily kos
Now we know what Bush is saying in that picture..."Harriet, that's the supreme court, take a good look because this is as close as you will ever get... eheh eheh hheeh hehe!!"
Miers Withdraws
The withdrawal stunned Washington on a day when the capital was awaiting potential bad news for the administration on another front - the possible indictments of senior White House aides in the CIA leak case. Earlier in the week, the U.S. military death toll in Iraq hit 2,000
Yessirree Bob - pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Nominating Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen in the next 24 hours will surely provide a powerful distraction.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
This Weeks Podcast is ready!!!
Good News
The Bush administration has abandoned ill-conceived plans to develop "a nuclear 'bunker-buster' warhead."from C4AP
Already leaving 2,000 behind....
An American soldier was killed Tuesday in a vehicle accident near Camp Bucca, the U.S. detention center in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said Wednesday, a day after the somber milestone of 2,000 military deaths in the Iraq war was reached.
The soldier, whose identity was withheld pending notification of relatives, was medically evacuated to Shiba Hospital in the city of Basra, where he was pronounced dead, the military said.
Peace Vigils Today
A candlelight vigil at State House Plaza, Wednesday, October 26 at 6pm, will mark the 2000th U.S. military death in Iraq and ask Congress to ensure that "not one more death and not one more dollar" are wasted on the war in Iraq. The local event, organized by NH Peace Action and the American Friends Service Committee, is one of more than 375 events taking place in 49 states across the country.
After being given a list of names of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, participants will circle the State House in a half-hour candlelight vigil remembering the U.S. casualties. After the vigil, people will gather at the State House Plaza to hear several speakers discuss actions that New Hampshire citizens can take to put pressure on Congress to stop funding the war.
New Hampshire contines to pay for the war in Iraq. Eight soldiers from New Hampshire have died in the Iraq war: Adam R. Brooks, Alan J.Burgess, Richard L. Ferguson, Timothy Gibson, Angelo Lozada. Jeremy Regnier, Robert Rooney, and Randy Rosenberg. According to the National Priorities Project (www.nationalpriorities.org), the war has cost New Hampshire taxpayers $863.2 million dollars. Concord taxpayers have spent $24.4 million.
Details on all "Not One More Death. Not One More Dollar" events are available of AFSC's website at www.afsc.org/2000.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
What the Hell is this? Hackett is attacking Brown as too Liberal!!?
from sirota blog
Permanent Minority Watch
From this week on “Meet the Press”: TIM RUSSERT: Based on what you now know today, do you regret having voted for the war?SEN. SCHUMER: Well, no, Tim, because my vote was seen and I still see it as a need to say we must fight a strong and active war on terror.
Are you kidding me? Tying in the original invasion of Iraq with the fight against terrorism and al-Qaeda? Does this guy work for the Bush administration? It’s impossible to be more wrong and more spineless.
Democrats blame the Bush administration for misleading the country into war, and then when given the opportunity to say they would have done otherwise, they refuse. They say they would have done the same thing.
full article @ huffington post
A Rose by any other name.... even stink blossom?
What's the Difference Between a Liberal and a Progressive?by david sirota
Personally I don't think there is a difference between a "liberal" and a "conservative". I do think that Sirota is using these interchange terms to draw an important distinction. He has his the "liberal" advocating spending government money on good programs but unwiling to us governmental power.
I think his argument between liberal and progressive has less to do with ideology and more to do with the fact it is easy to spend tax payers money than to propose and enforce fair laws [especially as regards corporate interests. I do think Sirota's approach is a good way of talking about this issue though.
Here is a sample:
We can see a good example of this hesitation from Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) in his "health care to hybrids" proposal. As the Detroit News reports, Obama is calling "for using government money to relieve Detroit automakers of some of their staggering health care obligations if they commit to improving fuel economy by 3 percent a year for 15 years."
Here's the thing - we all want to see autoworkers' health care preserved, and we all want to see better fuel efficiency standards for cars. But is this really the road we want to go down as a society? I'd say no. The fact is, the auto industry should be forced to produce more fuel efficient cars through higher government fuel efficiency mandates, without taxpayers having to bail out the industry. It's not like those mandates would be asking the industry to do something that doesn't make good business sense - demand for higher fuel-efficiency cars is skyrocketing.
Paying off corporations to do what they already should be doing sets a dangerous precedent - it sends a message to Big Business that they can leverage their irresponsible behavior into government handouts. In this case, the auto industry would be leveraging its refusal to produce more fuel efficient cars and preserve its workers' health care into a giant taxpayer-funded subsidy.
Let them eat cruise ships?
Jack Abramoff, the GOP lobbyist under investigation by federal authorities for fraud, repeatedly sought the help of Bush strategist Ralph Reed to open doors at the White House for his business clients, according to E-mails made public yesterday.
The E-mails show Abramoff pushed for intervention from deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove on at least three occasions since 2001 to promote business opportunities.
The E-mails show that 10 days after the 9/11 attacks, Abramoff promoted a business venture to rent cruise ships to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house rescue workers off New York City.
Responding to Abramoff's request for help, Reed wrote on Sept. 21, 2001: "Put in a tag call to Karl to find out the best contact at FEMA."Why would rescue workers after 9/11 need Cruise Ships? DeLay also wanted to use them during the convention. And they have been used [mostly unused as I posted here] at HIGHER THAN market value in New Orleans post-katrina.
from AP via The News Blog
Bush drinks and swears...
NH same sex marriage commission is almost enitrely evil.
The state's commission on same sex unions dealt several setbacks to proponents of gay marriage Monday. In a series of votes, the panel said it would urge state lawmakers not to allow gays to marry, not to recognize out-of-state same sex unions and not to set up a domestic partner registry for couples who cannot legally marry.
.... the panel defeated his recommendation by a 10-2 vote.
They opted for a broader amendment stating "religious freedom being an essential right in New Hampshire, no person should be required to perform any marriage which would otherwise offend his or her conscience."
The commission ....meetings often have been marked by conflicts over appointments and how to proceed.
Monday's meeting was no different, as an argument between its chairman and another member broke into a shouting match.
Early in the meeting, Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester, distributed a letter to commission members in which he accuses Rep. Tony Soltani, R-Epsom, the panel's chairman, of using homophobic slurs against an openly gay member of the commission.
Shouting and table-pounding ensued as Soltani and Vaillancourt argued.Soltani and Vaillancourt, both Republicans, sit next to each other in Representatives' Hall. Vaillancourt sent the letter to House Speaker Douglas Scamman last week. But Scamman isn't responding to the letter, so Vaillancourt took it to his fellow commission members.
full article @ boston.comNot only should only Heterosexuals [Breeders] be allowed to marry, BUT I think that no one should be required to rent to someone who offends his or her conscience AND that no one should be required to employee someone who offends his or her conscience AND that anyone who offends my conscience should get the hell up and go to the back of the bus.
Race is different from sexual orientation, no doubt, but you have to be stupid or just completely intellectually dishonest not to realize that the laws and rationales used to prohibit gay marriage when applied to any other criteria is plain and simple bigotry.
Though homosexuals were not subjected to the same systematic atrocities and genocide that African American’s endured, that does not some how make their rights any less important or unalienable.
It is this same Majority attitude of self interest [adsorption?] that brought us slavery and then segregation and now the contemporary attitude of dismissal regarding the concerns of woman, African Americans, and homosexuals. It disgusts me that people with such sound and compassionate political outlooks can suddenly display such selfish disregard toward issues that don’t directly affect them.
The difference between Conservative Republicans whose concerns don’t extend beyond their own waist line and Progressive Democrats who interests only include others like themselves is only a matter of degree. Don’t stand on a soap box and tell me about the troubles of workers, the poor, or children if you are unwilling to address all injustice regardless of Race, gender, or sexual orientation.
People who do not support the right of all Americans to marry are no better than the cowardice apologists that wanted African Americans to accept the insane policies of segregation because of their own unwillingness to pay the political price of doing what was right. Unless of coarse they are just straight up bigots like Soltani.
Civil Unions sounds alot like another attempt at a seperate but equal compromise to me, but I am willing to accept it if the gay community accepts it AND if it really is EQUAL.
Holy Crap, how many is that!!!
North Country Tales of Interest.... More toilet humor.....
Potty peeper escapes jail sentence in New Hampshire
A
Alec Baldwin has a potty month
In today's NY Times, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, in reference to the Fitzgerald/CIA leak investigation, is quoted as saying that she hoped "that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars."
If you check the online record you will see that this is the same Kay Bailey Hutchison that voted in favor of both counts of impeachment against Bill Clinton. More disturbingly, she writes in the Congressional record dated February 17th, 1999:"I do not hold the view of our Constitution that there must be an actual, indictable crime in order for an act of a public officer to be impeachable. It is clear to this Senator that there are, indeed, circumstances, short of a felony criminal offense, that would justify the removal of a public officer from office, including the President of the United States. Manifest injury to the Office of the President, to our Nation and to the American people and gross abuse of trust and of public office clearly can reach the level of intensity that would justify the impeachment and removal of a leader."
My question for today is: Why are contemporary Republicans so full of shit? And a follow-up...How did the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and General Eisenhower get taken over by such lying, thieving, self-serving scoundrels?
For God and Empire.....
Since the UN report implicating Syria in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Bush administration claims to be seeking diplomatic solutions. From the 10/21 State Department briefing:QUESTION: Are you discussing or will you discuss military action [with Syria]? This is a nervous capital. People think this Administration resorts to force as a way of solving problems.
MR. ERELI: I think the record of this Administration is clear and commendable, that we seek peaceful negotiated diplomatic solutions to problems. That is certainly the course that has been set forth on this issue and that’s where our focus is.
Actually, the administration is actively seeking to replace the Syrian president and is pursuing military options. The 10/9 Financial Times reported:
[T]he US is actively seeking an alternative who would take over from President Bashar al-Assad, according to sources close to the Bush administration. Washington has consulted its allies in an inter-agency search co-ordinated by Stephen Hadley, the president’s national security adviser. The US is also said to be considering military strikes on the Syrian border in response to its alleged support for Iraqi insurgents.
Hadley isn’t working alone. Condoleezza Rice has also put military options against Syria on the table.
from think progress
Plamegate: Cheney led the effort to discredit Joe Wilson
The New York Times reports Vice President Cheney led the effort to discredit Joe Wilson. According to the Times, Scooter Libby learned of Valerie Wilson’s role at the CIA from Cheney during a June 12, 2003 conversation: The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war.
[Snip]
The notes do not show that Mr. Cheney knew the name of Mr. Wilson’s wife. But they do show that Mr. Cheney did know and told Mr. Libby that Ms. Wilson was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency and that she may have helped arrange her husband’s trip.
Appearing on Meet the Press on September 14, 2003, Cheney played dumb:
I don’t know Mr. Wilson. I probably shouldn’t judge him. I have no idea who hired him and it never came [up]…
Whether or not Cheney is in legal trouble, if the New York Times report is true, it’s clear he misled the American people.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Rosa Parks dies
The Mercury News
DETROIT - Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday. She was 92.
Go now in peace, Sister Rosa - may the spirit of love surround you
Blog Picks.... Niobium's Blog
Currently her first 2 posts are stuff that have been on this blog but scroll down and you will find some more cool stuff. Particularly I like this post:
http://n1obium.blogspot.com/2005/10/hypocrits-r-us.html
and this is an interesting post too:
http://n1obium.blogspot.com/2005/10/guns.html
Recent Congressional Votes
| Recent Senate Votes |
Transportation/Treasury/HUD Appropriations Act, FY2006 - Vote Passed (93-1, 6 Not Voting) The Senate passed this $65.96 billion bill funding the Departments of Transportation, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development for the 2006 fiscal year, setting up a conference committee with the House. Sen. Judd Gregg voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Sen. John Sununu voted Not Voting......send e-mail or see bio |
| Recent House Votes |
| Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act - Vote Passed (306-120, 7 Not Voting) The House voted to prohibit lawsuits blaming the food industry for weight-gain or obesity. Rep. Charles Bass voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act - Vote Passed (283-144, 6 Not Voting) This bill will protect gun manufacturers and distributors from lawsuits stemming from the criminal use of their products. Rep. Charles Bass voted YES......send e-mail or see bio |
Local Legislator to address 4th leading cause of Death.
A New Hampshire lawmaker wants hospitals to report their infection rates.
Rep. Leo Pepino, R-Manchester, said his wife was in and out of hospitals until she died six months ago from cancer.
He said the hospital trips were not always because of the cancer. He said she also had to fight off infections she picked up while in hospitals.
Pepino wants patients to know hospitals' infection rates in the future. He's filed legislation to require them to report on the issue.
Hospital infections [Unrelated for the original aliment!] are now the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease, cancer and strokes, according to the CDC.
Harriet we hardly knew yee.
When President Bush announced the nomination of Harriet Miers on October 3, he called her “a leader of unquestioned integrity.” Much of what we’ve learned since then hasn’t supported Bush’s claim. To review:- Miers was suspended from the DC bar for non-payment of dues.
- Miers was suspended from the Texas bar for non-payment of dues.
- Miers repeatedly had tax liens placed on property she owned in Texas for non-payment of fines and fees.
- Miers received 10 times the market value for a small piece of land she controlled from the state of Texas, awarded by a panel stacked with friends and allies. A mediator ordered Miers to repay $26,000 but she has failed to do so.
These incidents take on added significant because – since Miers doesn’t have any judicial experience – Bush is selling Miers’s nomination to the court, in large part, on her “character.”
UPDATE:
The right wing now has up a withdraw miers webpage http://www.withdrawmiers.org/
Also if you haven't already check out Harriet Mier's personal blog [can they use this in the hearings?] http://harrietmiers.blogspot.com/
Sunday, October 23, 2005
City of Concord hates teachers... and by extension children...
Teachers plan to picket outside city schools over the next few weeks to protest their lack of a new contract. Teachers and school board officials are in negotiations but several issues remain contentious. The school board wants teachers to share the cost of skyrocketing health insurance but teachers don't want to end up losing money.
Negotiations for a new contract have dragged on for almost a year. Teachers have been working without a new contract for the last four months.
The picketing plan calls for teachers to stand outside the schools for about 20 minutes each morning before classes start.
View to a Kill..er Tax
The one-room cabin David Bischoff built in a cow pasture three years ago has no electricity, no running water, no phone service and no driveway.
What it does have is a wide-open view of the surrounding hills -- a view valued at $140,000, according to the latest townwide property revaluation.
The so-called "view tax" increased the value of his property sevenfold, from $22,900 to $162,900, a figure he believes is far more than its actual value. He expects a sharp jump in his $500 annual property taxes as well.
....
Carreiro argues the state's rural character is at stake, because high "view taxes" will force farmers to sell to developers and price rural residents out of homes their families have lived in for generations. Sprawling development also will hurt tourism, he says.
"We're trying to talk about preserving open space in this state," Carreiro told the state Board of Tax and Land Appeals last week. "This is going to destroy the fabric of our communities -- people on fixed incomes, the elderly, young families."
.....
John Lynch, a farmer from Hill, said the "view tax" threatens the survival of family farms. While farmers get a tax break on agricultural land, they don't get one for the farmhouse.
"There's not a farm in the state that doesn't have some type of view," Lynch said. "The assessors say, `We're not assessing farmland. We're assessing the farmhouse.' On a family farm, it's all one unit and you're jeopardizing the farm itself."
John Chandler, a retired engineer and former state legislator who also lives in Hill, objects to paying for a distant view of the White Mountains because he doesn't own it and can't control it.
A revaluation last year doubled the base value of his property, although Chandler said the view is obscured by air pollution much of the time.
Besides, he's legally blind.
"What if the landowner is blind?" he said. "I'm not enjoying that view, at least not as much as Avitar thinks I should be."
There are none so blind as those who can not see.Three simple words.. state income tax!
See our Podcast for more wity banter about the view tax.
Executive Director of NHDP is confident [wink, wink, nudge nudge] Bret Clemons can raise enough money.
The primary goal of Democratic congressional candidate Paul Hodes of Concord is to prove he’s worthy of once again taking on five-term Congressman Charles Bass after a disappointing showing in 2004.
During the last quarter, Hodes took one step toward demonstrating that, raising more money than any federal candidate on the 2006 ballot.....
The only other declared Democrat running from the Second District,
“I don’t intend to spend much money that I do raise for the foreseeable future,” said Clemons, a regional executive with a nationwide greeting card company.
His brother, Democratic Party Executive Director Nick Clemons, is confident Bret will be able to raise enough to be competitive.
“He understands that this is first a race for dollars and the national committees want to see performance in order to consider that candidate viable,” Nick Clemons said.
It Pays to be in the GOP
from seattlepi.com
WASHINGTON -- Texas officials paid Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' family more than $100,000 for a small piece of land in 2000 - 10 times the land's worth - despite the state's objections to the way the price was determined, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported Saturday.
The three-member committee that determined the price included Peggy Lundy, a friend of Miers, and property-rights activist Cathie Adams, Knight Ridder reported. They were appointed to the panel by state District Judge David Evans, who had received at least $5,000 in campaign contributions from Miers' law firm.
Read the whole tawdry story. I hope I get a crony payoff when WJ Cowie gets elected.
Uncivilized Disobedience: A Profile of Great Americans.
Pissing on Nixon's Grave.
Dancing on Reagan's Gravefrom Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog [my new FAVORITE blog!!]
Believing in God is dangerous!!
The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: “Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world."Developing democracies". LOL! Never let it be said that the Journal of Religion and Society is lacking in humor.
“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.
“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”
from Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog [my new FAVORITE blog!!]
Republicans voters are too stupid to notice.
Tom DeLay has been criminally indicted for facilitating the illegal use of corporate funds in Texas campaigns. How did he arrive at his arraignment?: DeLay’s staff disclosed that he flew to Houston on Thursday morning on a corporate jet owned by R.J. Reynolds, a longtime contributor that has flown him to Puerto Rico and other destinations.
When he landed, DeLay held a press conference and called allegations that he allowed corporate dollars to improperly influence the political process “contrived and baseless.”
We are STILL paying "Brownie's" salary.
“Andrews confirmed that Brown is still on FEMA’s payroll as a consultant. She said he works from home, where he is ‘pulling all the documentation together’ to aid in the investigations into the government’s response to Katrina. His original 30-day contract was recently extended for another 30 days, she said.” (Via War & Piece)
from thinkprogress blog
I have heard also that the reason that Mike Brown was put back on the pay roll is that he was leaking information about the Bush administration once he was forced to resigned. We all saw how his resignation story did not match with the Administrations. It is rumored that he was the source for the "Bush is drinking again" story in The Enquirer.
Neo-Cons bored with Iraq, heading for Syria....
Yesterday, in her appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Lincoln Chafee wanted to clarify a simple issue – did the Iraq war resolution passed by Congress restrict military action only to Iraq? Chafee asked, “So would you agree that if anything were to occur on Syrian or Iranian soil, you would have to return to Congress to get that authorization?” Rice responded:
RICE: Senator, I don’t want to try and circumscribe presidential war powers. And I think you’ll understand fully that the president retains those powers in the war on terrorism and in the war on Iraq. …
CHAFEE: So that’s a no.
RICE: Senator, I am not going to be in the position of circumscribing the president’s powers.
The first line of the Iraq war resolution signed by the President on October 16, 2002 clearly states its purpose: To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.
So how could the administration possibly justify any military action against Syria without getting another congressional resolution? Tie it to Iraq, of course. Rice, in a response to a question about Syria from Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), said yesterday:
Senator, our policy toward Syria is on the table. And that is, we want a change in Syrian behavior. We want a change in Syrian behavior on the Iraqi border…
But before Rice gets too far down the track of equating the conflict in Iraq with Syria, perhaps she should recall this previous statement in June 2005:
[E]very situation is different. Syria is not Iraq, and Iraq is not Syria. And I need to emphasize that Iraq was, in many ways, a very special circumstance given all of the problems with Iraq… So Iraq is not Syria, and Syria is not Iraq.
Why is Rice so intent on keeping her options open on Syria? Perhaps because a “shadow struggle” is already under way.
