The Bush Watch

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch

This is one of the more stupid proposals of the current White House. Now Dubya wants the US government to spend $100 million on a special federal work team that could be dispatched to foreign countries in crisis, as a way to spread "freedom and democracy".

If this isn't the most blatant attempt to shove OUR values down the throats of other countries, then I don't know what blatant is!

Again, the White House is assuming that our way is the best way for every country and culture. Only a nimrod living in the 19th century when we were in the midst of empire building would still believe this. Sheesh. Can we please find something that would be an impeachable offense soon? Before the Lone Ranger from Texas kills off all of us who still can think independently?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch

Scott McClellan, as the "Voice of the White House" has on 2 occasions (yesterday and today) held press conferences chiding Newsweek for its erroneous reporting of the abuse of the Koran at Gitmo.

The journalistic gauntlet has now been thrown down to the establishment press. If this is a free country, then information should be disseminated freely. If errors are made, retractions are made. I have never ever heard of any Administration prior to this current one that has come out and tried to publicly dictate what a member of the media should do to correct an error.

Neener neener! The International Red Cross complained in 2003 about the abuse of the Koran at Gitmo. Why isn't the White House asking that organization for a retraction? Hmmm?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Two points for Laura Bush

Heeheehee. Maybe Laura Bush isn't such a "Stepford Wife" after all. On her way to the Middle East on a fence mending trip, Laura said Newsweek wasn't to blame for the killings in Afghanistan, and that she believed her husband should have been notified immediately when the private plane breached the no fly zone over Washington DC last week. I bet those comments caught the Prez and his minions off guard bigtime.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch

Well, maybe a little pebble of a thought will turn into a landslide. There is a website that has a draft of Articles of Impeachment of George Bush and some members of his Administration. More explanatory notes on the Articles of Impeachment.

Interesting...

Miulang

[Miulang]

No Draft: No War

It's a given now that we will be in Iraq for a long time, at least for as long as we occupied Vietnam, and that was 7 long years.

This time, though, there is no rush of able-bodied young people to the recruiters' offices to sign up. Could it be because of the certainty of being assigned to Iraq and being rotated in and out of that hellhole more than once?

A draft is highly unlikely at this point, according to this article, because of the unpopularity of the idea. But how do we keep our forces strong enough to be shipped to countries where freedom is just another word?

We went to a sneak preview of a movie that was written, produced, directed and acted in by a local guy, Lane Nishikawa. It's called "Only the Brave" and it tells the story of some of the Nisei from Hawai'i and from Manzanar and Gila Bend and how they came to be the rescuers of a battalion of soldiers from Texas (the "Lost Battalion"). the 442nd was the most highly decorated battalion in the European Front. The story is fictional, but it was easy to appreciate how much the Nisei sacrificed during World War II...the internment (Order 9066) was a horrible ordeal for many Japanese American families on the Mainland.

As we sat there and watched the movie, I became struck by some interesting parallels between what happened during that period and what's happening today. Back then, it was the "yellow skinned" Japanese who were thrown into internment camps; today, it's "brown skinned" American Muslims and Arabic Nationals who are thrown into cells after being accused of being terrorists, and held for months without benefit of legal advice, often without relatives knowing their whereabouts.

Why were the Nisei, even though their families were pushed to live in tar paper roofed shacks, driven to volunteer for Army duty? Shouldn't they have been bitter about the treatment they and their families were given? Why did they become the most decorated unit in the European front?

Why didn't young Americans rush out and join the military right after 9/11? We all know Pat Tillman gave up a lucrative pro football contract to serve. And what did he and his family get out of all of this? He was shot to death by his own troops, and then the Pentagon lied to his family about how he was killed and proceeded to make him an American martyr when they knew the truth!

Heh. Maybe our kids are smarter. They know that signing bonuses and promises of college and careers mean nothing. The only kids who can't afford not to join the military are those who by luck or birth, ended up in less fortunate financial circumstances than most. The other kids who sign up are those society doesn't want...the mentally challenged, society hating misfits who love the idea of picking up a weapon and killing someone.

If indeed our military strength is being diminished because fewer young people are willing to risk their lives, then maybe we as a nation can give up the notion of the US Empire...strong militarily, but stupid in mentality.

Miulang


P.S. Lane says there will probably be more sneak previews of the film in Hawai'i soon. They still need to raise money so they can do a film cut of the movie and are looking for a national distributor. If you have the opportunity, please go see it when it's shown again. There aren't any really graphic war scenes per se; the movie was made on less than a shoestring...about $700,000 and was shot in 18 days. It was a labor of love to honor all the Japanese American families who sacrificed so much so that we all can live free today.

[Miulang]

Gold Star Moms exclude foreign moms from ranks

Gold Star Mothers, the national organization of mothers of sons and daughters who were slain in combat, need to revise their membership rules. In a test case, a permanent resident who has lived in the US for the past 20 years had a son killed in Afghanistan. When she applied to become a member of Gold Star Mothers, her application was denied because the current rules of membership state that the mother must be an American citizen.

Wake up and smell the coffee, Gold Star Moms. In this current war, we have outsourced our soldiering. There are many noncitizens who are fighting our battles for us. They are doing so for the opportunity to be considered for American citizenship. A mother's grief at the loss of a child in battle is universal. There should be no reason why mothers who live in this country as legal aliens cannot be afforded the same honors as American mothers. Both have given their children for an unjust war.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Bush in favor of base closings

As he addressed graduating cadets at Annapolis earlier today, the Prez stated that closure of military bases in this country would be a requirement for saving billions of dollars.

What he DIDN'T say is that the closures will cost many civilian jobs in this country. What he also didn't say is that his Administration is still planning to beef up US bases on foreign soil to get our troops more strategically placed to be dispatched more quickly to hot spots around the world as part of its war on terror.

What his administration is going to do is cut jobs here in the country, while pouring dollars into the economies of places like Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc. Despotic "friends" of the US government will be lining their coffers with our money.

First it was the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, then some service industry jobs (ever tried talking to Dell customer service?) and now some defense jobs as well.

Miulang

[Miulang]

The confessions of a recovering neocon

Maybe there is some hope for a percentage of these neocon believers after all.

Miulang

[Miulang]

"I" is for Impeachment

Well, maybe a little pebble of a thought will turn into a landslide. There is a website that has a draft of Articles of Impeachment of George Bush and some members of his Administration. More explanatory notes on the Articles of Impeachment.

Interesting...

Miulang

Now Ralph Nader has jumped on the impeachment bandwagon, and the White House still hasn't explained fully that smoking gun British memo that clearly stated that Dubya had already decided to invade Iraq in the summer of 2002, even before it was discussed in the halls of Congress. Over 80 members of Congress have gone on record asking the Prez whether or not he had his intelligence services falsify reasons for invading Iraq.

This is way more serious than Billy Boy's little indiscretions with Monica. And he got impeached for that. At least Billy Boy's dalliances didn't cause over 1,600 US soldiers to be killed in a foreign country. At least his infidelity didn't cause the economic ruin of a whole country, or anger most other nations over our foreign policy.

Miulang