Idiots Comment on Iraq

So many of us watched the video of Richard Engel traveling out of Iraq with the last combat troops last week and thought of Vietnam.  The quiet versus the chaos, the calm versus the panic.  When you leave a war, this is the way it should be done.

The Obama administration was understated, to say the least, about this incredible moment.  No "Mission Accomplished" banners here, no strutting, no bragging.

Of course, there was no reason for bragging, anymore than there was when we witnessed the "Mission Accomplished" performance.  The war goes on, an inadequate Iraqi military trying to hold its own for a country whose leaders can't decide who's in charge.

Yet our soldiers will not be fighting in Iraq.  And that is something to feel tremendous relief over.  And, not to be too negative, we can only hope that our remaining "non-combat troops" are safe in a land that continues to be filled with strife.

At least there was comic relief.  John Boehner is thankful to the smaller President Bush.  Because if it had not been for the surge, the war he started would not be over.

John McCain, always ready with a gracious remark and a quick wit, said that if we had listened to Obama we would still be in Iraq.

"No," says Matthew Gannon in The Bostonist,
"If we had listened to President Obama, and Senator Kennedy, we wouldn't even be there."

But for the most part the republicans in Congress are laying low on the subject of Iraq, preferring to bash Obama on the usual idiotic issues, this week's being that Obama's economic team should resign.  Because the small Bush's economic team did so well.


But I think we all need to step away from the sounds of the idiots for a moment, and just be thankful that this could be the beginning of the end of our involvement in this horrible, senseless war.

 

Shakespeare and Palin Aren't the Only Ones

Jim Demint gets apoplectic over what he calls the "Death Tax".  I remember back when it was called the "Estate Tax", because the tax is actually on the estates of the deceased.  Now those of us who don't know too much about the government, myself included, were afraid that when we died, the government would take our homes and every penny we had saved up for our children and grandchildren.

Not true.  The estate tax is only on the very wealthy.  It's called an estate tax because the very wealthy tend to live in "estates". It is a tax on those who have lived well in this country, and have now died well.  I like to think of it as paying it forward.  You know, back to the country that provided the fertile ground for your wealth, and keeping that ground fertile for others.

Now I don't know how many of those houses that John McCain owns that he really needs, but I'll bet after he goes he won't need that many.  But he and Jim Demint are fighting to keep every one of them in the family.

Jim Demint is an ad man.  A very successful one.  He and his colleagues invent phrases like "death tax" to scare us.  It has worked.

Don't let him scare you this time.


Alvin Greene doesn't know a lot of big words.  He doesn't have a staff or lobbyists to help him invent phrases intended to manipulate and control.


Visit his website and add your support:


www.alvingreeneforussenator.com


While you're online, send a message to Jim Demint.  Tell him to stop voting for the wealthy and powerful corporations that hoard their fortunes rather than reinvest in our country and our people, and that pay to keep him in office so that they can continue to hoard their fortunes, even after they're gone.