Things to do, things to watch

The illustration's of Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman. We don't know of any Democracy Now! news. We spoke too soon. We were going to say, "This is our standard illustration for this piece so we're using it"; however, C.I. said with Static just out in softcover, Amy Goodman and her brother David Goodman (the authors of the bestseller and the previous bestseller The Exception to the Rulers) would be on the road.



Amy and David Goodman and the DN! team are on tour.

Visit http://tour.democracynow.org for more information.

9/28: Seattle, WA

10/05 New Brunswick, NJ

10/06 Washington, DC

10/11 New York, NY

10/15 New York, NY

10/26 Philadelphia, PA

For more tour information: http://tour.democracynow.org/



Like the note above, we would love to just "Amy and David Goodman"; however, a book review of Static that referred to the two as the "husband and wife team" has us hesitant to do so. We all have at least one brother and/or sister and we do grasp the difference even if the book reviewer did not.



Today on RadioNation with Laura Flanders which will explore the issue of mercenaries:



Now that the world's woken up to Blackwater, will the mercenary army be reigned in? Nation author JEREMY SCAHILL thinks not. Then, economist DEAN BAKER suggests solutions for the popping housing bubble. And, continuing quest for progressive organizing in surprising places, we consider synagogues. Nation authors PETER DRIER and DANIEL MAY have found a new wave of activism stirring in Jewish congregations. Finally, with Israel threatening Gaza with more collective punishment, we sit down with AKIVA ELDAR, author of a new book on settlements, "Lords of the Land," to discuss the malignancy of occupation.



RadioNation with Laura Flanders airs at one p.m. EST Sunday on Air America Radio, XM radio and streams online live.

By the way, an e-mail came in asking us to note another AAR program. Not interested. We'll note Flanders when we know about the program. Even if it's Katrina vanden Heuvel's seventh appearence in less than seven months. (She's Joey Heatherton!) But we're not interested in promoting AAR for a number of reasons including, as Joe noted in an e-mail this week, they now have links at the AAR site and, somehow, they couldn't think of one woman worthy of linking to. We think you have to be pretty pathetic and sexist to devise a list of links at this late date and not be able to think of even one blog run by a woman. Especially appalling, Ava and C.I. add, when one of your links goes to a "Coming Soon" -- to a site not even up and running. Oink, oink AAR, we smell pork.

Two upcoming programs on NYC's WBAI (which streams online) today and tomorrow, times given are EST:

Sunday, September 23, 11am-noon

THE NEXT HOUR

Composer/jazz musician Fred Ho hosts this hour on the 25th Anniversary of his Afro-Asian Ensemble.



Monday, September 24, 2-3pm

CAT RADIO CAFE

Playwright Charles L. Mee and director Ann Bogart on the Siti Theatre Company's 15th Anniversary performance of Mee's "Hotel Casseopeia" upcoming at BAM; and author Foster Hirsch on his new biography of "Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King." Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer.

WBAI Radio/NY 99.5FM

streaming live at WBAI.org

archived at www.catradiocafe.com



Need some video with your audio? Quoting Elaine, "A Matter of Conscience is a new documentary which details Kevin Benderman's feelings about the Iraq War, his decision to take a stand, the trumped up case the US military created against him, and how he and Monica Benderman view the war. You can see a preview of it by clicking here."



And while you're online, you can take a look at the Free Sami Al-Haj petition. (You can also sign it.)



Lastly, in terms of political campaigns . . . For the record, the Green Party does not get enough attention. If a Green e-mails, unless we know we're in strong disagreement on them with something (we can't imagine, for instance, a racist running on the Green ticket, but if that happened and we knew it, we wouldn't note their release here), we do try to note it. If we see it, and we have time, we will note it. Scott Summers is running for Congress and announced yesterday.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 17, 2007

Contact: Scott Summers (815) 403-8411

Scott@SummersForCongress.com



GREENS FIELD A "FRESH START" CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS
McHenry County, IL -- Green Party candidate Scott Summers will announce his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives at a 1:30 p.m. press conference on Saturday, September 22, 2007. The event will take place at the Keeling-Puri Peace Plaza in northeastern Rockford. (The Plaza is just southeast of the intersection of Perryville Road and Riverside
Boulevard.)

Summers, an attorney and community college trustee from rural Harvard, will face Republican incumbent Donald Manzullo and the eventual winner of the Democratic primary for the 16th Congressional seat. The district covers greater Rockford and far northwestern Illinois.

"The nation demands bold thinking and smart solutions," Summers says. "It's time for a fresh start."

Summers' platform includes an expedited military withdrawal from Iraq, coupled with a massive aid program for displaced civilians and refugees and redoubled efforts to provide health care and employment opportunities for war veterans and their families.

Scott promotes common-sense fiscal and trade policies and reconfigured health care and education systems. "We need to put people first," he says. "The key to economic prosperity is a skilled and healthy workforce."

His "microcapitalism" project will help start and grow local businesses. "Home-grown jobs won't be outsourced," Summers asserts.

Scott advocates for personal responsibility. "The turn-around work I do in Washington will merely set the tone," he says. "Sustained societal change means that every American gets involved in little ways every day."

Summers also has staked out views on foreign policy, civil liberties, energy, and the environment. The campaign website, www.SummersForCongress.com, contains more information.

Dona's Thanks

A number of you e-mailed very nice notes of concern so this is a "short post" of the sort I always scream for every edition.



I don't know whether it was a virus or, as Rebecca believes, from whatever the police sprayed some of us with in DC.



Whatever it was, I am fine now.



Other than the non-stop barfing, what stands out to me most is how kind everyone was.



The first hurl landed at the feet of Betty, Rebecca and Elaine and while some of us (maybe even me?) might have reacted with sour looks, theirs were faces of concerns.



I only saw their faces for a second because suddenly I was on rapid fire vomiting. It was probably the fifth or sixth time before I came up for air.



C.I. immediately called a halt to the edition and Jim posted "Note" to explain we'd be late posting. A two hour break took place.



I know that any of those (wisely) using the time to sleep would have given it up if they'd known I wasn't able to sleep. Jim and C.I. got me into bed. (Others may have helped or accompanied me, my stomach was in so much pain, I don't remember.) Almost immediately, I started throwing up again and, though unable to make it to the bathroom, I did have the good sense to angle my projectile aim away from the bed and onto the floor. At some point, probably right after, I had a trash can beside the bed to throw up in. I have no idea how often I threw up but it seems like if I wasn't puking, Jim and C.I. were cleaning it or me up.



When the spell finally passed, my stomach was in such severe pain that I was curled up in a ball and unable to get to sleep. Jim was saying, "Let's get you to the emergency room." I didn't want to go. I just wanted to go to sleep.



But it hurt so bad.



Next thing I knew, C.I. had Jess' guitar and C.I. and Jim were serenading me to sleep. There was Carly Simon's "The Fisherman's Song," Jackson Browne's "These Days" and James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James." There were many others. Some I can't remember and some I was already fading into sleep on.



When I woke up, my eyes weren't yet focused and the hall seemed wobbly as I made it to the living room. Of course, I was the one wobbly, not the hall.



"What time is it?" I repeatedly asked.



We had thirty minutes until Jess, Ava, C.I. and Ty had to catch their flight back to California.



"Do we have the editorial!" I cried.



No, but we had almost everything else.



Looking at the list of what was finished or near completion, I saw that the gang had worked on quite well without me and I thank them for picking up my slack.



I thank everyone who wrote in wondering if I was okay. Unless I missed one, I responded to all of the e-mails on that by Wednesday of last week.

Correction & Update

Correction and Update to "United for Peace and Some Justice?"



Correction:



We wrote: "Just Foreign Policy takes The Lancet study and adds reported deaths to it (reported since the study)."



Actually, JFP uses the reported deaths as a sample to come to an estimate due to the trend of under-reporting deaths. They start with the data from The Lancet study (which ended in July of 2006) and then:



To update this number, we need to obtain a rate of how quickly deaths are mounting in Iraq. For this purpose, the Iraq Body Count (IBC) provides the most reliable, frequently updated database of deaths in Iraq. (The IBC also usefully provides a database of all violent Iraqi deaths demonstrable through press reports and thus relatively undeniable.) The IBC provides a maximum and minimum. We opted to use the midpoint between the two for our calculation.
We multiple the Lancet number as of July 2006 by the ratio of current IBC deaths divided by IBC deaths as of July 1, 2006 (43,394).
The formula used is:
Just Foreign Policy estimate = (Lancet estimate as of July 2006) * ( (Current IBC Deaths) / (IBC Deaths as of July 1, 2006) )





Update:



In the same feature, we noted that a report authored by Phyllis Bennis and Eric Leaver this month, posted at United for Peace & Justice, went with the lower of two figures in The Lancet study that ended in July 0f 2006, well over a year ago, to obtain their "high" figure. On Tuesday, C.I., Elaine and Rebecca were advised that number ("600,000 plus") was no longer being used and that UFPJ would be noting the number of deaths as over one million. Wednesday C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" contained the following:



In other peace news, United for Peace & Justice states they are using the Just Foreign Policy count for Iraqis who have died in the illegal war. The report on the state of Iraq has been updated to note the Iraqi dead during the illegal war is over a million.



We will add "now" to "they are using" (making it "they are now using"). The second half is an update, not a correction.

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, and Wally of The Daily Jot and all highlights selected by us unless otherwise noted.



"Ruth's Report" -- Ruth's tackling the issue of WalkOn and doing it as only Ruth can -- outspoken and to the point. A must read.



"A little bit of reality from Nicky K" -- Betty hates this chapter. Hates it so much we asked, "Are you trying to sound like Ava and C.I.?" (They hate everything they write.) The reasons she hates it are explained in the roundtable. Kat, who heard all the drafts, agrees Betty had to sacrifice tone and a great deal more to work in something but still says it's a strong chapter. We agree. But Betty wants it noted, "After that bit of information from Nicky K, Betinna would not feel chipper."



"Kugel in the Kitchen" -- Trina wasn't sure what she was writing and actually posted this Saturday morning. She and Rebecca were both working on posts Friday night. Trina changed it a bit on Saturday before posting but thought, "Screw it, I agree with every thing I've said." We do as well.



Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Baby War Hawks Dominate Horse Race" -- Isaiah has no idea what he's drawing today. He participated in the roundtable for this edition and had no idea. What we do know is that this was a hilarious comic last Sunday. Check it out.



"Law and Disorder, Jason Leopold, Media Lens" -- Mike's covering a number of topics. Regarding Law and Disorder, Mike says, "If I didn't like it, I wouldn't listen. But I'm not going to say ___ is a great guest if I think he was a sucky guest. If anyone has a problem with that, I'll just stop mentioning the show."



"Pistol slapping of WalkOn.org & Boxer takes a dive" -- Kat's not pleased with her Senator (as she points out, she only has one). We're not either.



"The term is 'bi-racial'"& "THIS JUST IN! JESSE JACKSON IS WRONG!" -- Cedric and Wally's joint-post. They say they never got so much e-mail from people who didn't get the point. Cedric: "This wasn't an attack Jesse Jackson post. We haven't attacked him. He made a comment that Barack Obama was acting White and our point was, 'Big surprise, he's as White as he is African-American because he's bi-racial.' We agree that he emphasizes his White side."



"Hiding the dead" -- We have to bite our tongue here because we know why this was written and where the tip-off came from. C.I.'s noting that Multi-National Forces is discontinuing their death announcements. C.I.'s noting it for a reason (and it had almost immediate effect as the person in the military who asked C.I. to cover the issue knew it would). We think that's all we can say about the backstory. We can note that when it's time to hit hard and hit hard for a reason, no one can top C.I. We think we can note this was one of the most read pieces by M-NF.



"thoughts on/from d.c." -- Rebecca sharing her thoughts on the DC protest from two Saturdays ago.



"It's only a slaughter if the US says so apparently..." & "THIS JUST IN! IT'S THE U.S.' PUPPET GOVERNMENT" -- Cedric and Wally taking on the issue of the Blackwater slaughter last Sunday.



"Silly Phyllis Bennis, facts are facts" & "THIS JUST IN! THE 'PREPOSTEROUS' PHYLLIS BENNIS!" -- Cedric and Wally get three citations because we had a real hard time narrowing them down this week due to the incredibly strong week we had. We were nodding and smiling when we read this originally, then we got Trader Vic's and were laughing out loud. We won't spoil it for you but it is hilarious.



"Isaiah, Free Sami Al-Haj and more" -- We had two things we wanted to note from Elaine. She only allows one to be highlighted. It was close, but this is our pick for her best last week.

Truest statement of the week

But did he actually say that the troops -- my understanding is that he still favored maintaining some US troops in Iraq.



-- Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now! on September 13th of last week after John Nichols had already offered 61 words about Barack Obama's "very strong antiwar stance" and yet still seemed far, far out from the shores of reality. As Gonzalez pointed out, this wasn't a Troops Home Now! speech from Obama. If Gonzalez hadn't spoken the truth, who knows how much longer the tongue bathing of Obama would have continued?

[C.I. note: Juan Gonazalez, not "Gonzales." Our apologies.]

A Note to Our Readers

Hey --

The never ending edition. Dona got sick this morning and we all took a breather. She's better now and thinks it was a virus. (Thanks for asking.)

Here's who worked on this edition:



The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,

Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,

Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,

C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,

Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),

Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,

Mike of Mikey Likes It!,

Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,

and Wally of The Daily Jot

And of course Dallas. Also, Betty's oldest son worked with us on some illustrations we'll be using in the future. We're noting that now in case it comes up at his school (as it did last time).

Here's what we've got:

Truest statement of the week -- Kat and C.I. came to the edition with Juan Gonzalez selected as their choice and nothing else measured up so he was the hands down winner.


Editorial: Stupid is the head that wears the crown... -- The title says it all.

TV: What does it take to cancel this show? -- I (Jim) asked for this when Dona started feeling sick. Ava and C.I. had notes for another commentary. This turned out really strong and builds to a point (and finish) as it moves along.

Book: Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine -- Never again. This is half the book discussion. Dona wasn't feeling well enough to edit. She really edits better than any of the rest of us. We halfed this for two reasons: easier to read and spell check. Spell check didn't work even when halved. "Rush transcript." Enjoy typos. Be smart and get Naomi Klein's new book on Tuesday (unless you get it on Monday because you're attending the NYC event).

Green Party calls for real leadership on Iraq War -- This almost didn't get done. When Dona was finally feeling better, she looked over what we had and noted that we didn't do the Green Party piece (last week, one ran in the print edition, we couldn't get it together to make it worth posting online).

The Peace Resister pretends to be about peace -- This was suggested by people at The Nation. Again, they aren't all vanden Heuvels. Some actually care about the illegal war. Those who do were laughing their asses off as vanden Heuvel attempted to pass herself off as someone who strives for peace.

United for Peace and Some Justice? -- She wasn't the only one playing, now was she? UFPJ and authors Phyliss Bennis and Eric Leaver held a useless party with door prizes awarded to themselves. Ava and C.I. did not work on this feature. They took a pass and used the time to get the book discussion edited.

On Univision Dodd & Edwards play War Hawks -- We'd planned a longer piece on the Univision forum. We may do that next week. The planned one. We're actually waiting on several things there. It will be interesting to see whether they arrive or not and will determine the scope of the feature next week. Look for it.

Does Katrina vanden Heuvel thinks she has testicles? -- Again, suggested by friends at The Nation. How did we miss this? That was the question in a phone call. We really no longer read The Nation. But we agreed it was worth noting here.

Who gets the hate mails? -- This piece on Elaine and Mike shouldn't be up. Dona started throwing up during the writing of this and we dropped the piece. There was no time to pick it back up and finish it. There was no time for a polish. Ty and Ava worked on a quick conclusion. Those who wonder what goes in the print edition, it's like this. Without the quick conclusion.

Highlights -- Mike, Kat, Cedric, Betty, Wally, Rebecca and Elaine worked on this, we thank them.

Note -- When Dona stopped throwing up, C.I. said she needs to get in bed and we need to post a note about a delay. Everyone was supposed to rest for two hours. Reality ended up being C.I. and I were up and taking care of Dona. (We did that gladly. But we're both tired, exhausted and snappy. So this note is quick and the morning or 'morning' entry at The Common Ills will be quick. This did end up being the longest time up for an edition with close to forty hours and counting.)

That's it. If you found something you liked, great. If not, oh well. See you next week.


-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: Stupid is the head that wears the crown

As noted Thursday, if there's one common theme on campuses across the country, it's students trying to end the illegal war wondering, "How stupid do they think I am?"

They is elected Democrats who continue to act as though there's nothing they can do, their hands are tied, they really wish there was a way to end the illegal war, but they don't have a super majority and blah, blah, blah. If only everyone knew as little about how Congress passes (or doesn't) legislation, students might be buying into those lies. Too bad for Congress, they aren't.

"How stupid do they think I am?" was used last week, repeatedly, on campuses by students taking issue with the decision of Phyllis Bennis and Eric Leaver to author a report for United for Peace and Justice that undercounted the number of Iraqi dead. You have to wonder, if the year was 1974, the authors would be rushing forward to undercount the dead in Chile?

We also wonder why, since Bennis has done this before, United for Peace and Justice wasn't at all concerned with her co-authoring their report. Despite what Bennis may think, numbers do matter. Undercounting? That's really something for government officials to practice, now isn't it? Not for activists.

Then there was The Peace Resister Katrina vanden Heuvel insisting that she was for peace and offering, by way of example, that her living in Russia proved it. We look forward to the next declaration that Katrina vanden Heuvel is for public spaces and the claim that her living in Harlem demonstrates this. The good thing about vanden Heuvel is she delivers her own punch lines. Which is how she can insist she's an advocate for peace and then go on to write about the
American Friends Service Committee without ever mentioning war resisters -- the very reason the organization exists.

How stupid do they think we are?

Pretty stupid. They think they can use undercounts and we won't notice and won't question. They think a glorified travel study to another country is supposed to trick us into forgetting that The Peace Resister refuses to cover (or allow her magazine in print to cover) war resisters. They think we're stupid enough to believe the Democrats do not have the power to end the illegal war.

If we believed all that, we would be plenty stupid. Fortunately, the American public is not as stupid as so many seem to think.

They've turned against the illegal war and they will end the illegal war. Those prolonging the illegal war -- either intentionally or unintentionally -- should be very aware that their actions do not go unnoticed. Phyllis Bennis should start using an accurate count quickly because women always get tarred and feathered quicker than males. We had no idea, until last week, that so many students knew her name. Most appear to have learned it as a result of the undercounting in the report she co-authored. There's a great deal of anger towards her. If she's angling to become the national joke that Katrina vanden Heuvel is to students, she's well on her way. If she wants to be taken seriously, she needs to get it together and start using an accurate count. If that's confusing: Hint, a year old count (and the lower figure in the count) may go unnoticed by those who dabble at ending the illegal war. But to students devoting serious time to the issue, they're not falling for it.

And people aren't falling for the Democrats' whine of "Our Hands Are Tied!"

These days, stupid is the head that wears the crown. (For those who need smut, ask Katrina vanden Heuvel to rework that reworked saying into an oral sex 'joke'. We're not working the blue room today.) We're used to that being true in terms of the Bully Boy. The shock was that so many others would rush to prove their own stupidity.

TV: What does it take to cancel this show?

After a few years, most TV shows lose their freshness. A popular cast member or two can leave and the show can become hopeless. Far worse are the programs that never should have made it to broadcast but tend to linger such as The King of Queens and Yes, Dear.







Make Room For Bully is a show that should never have made it on the lineup. Yet, it continues to air. If there's any consolation to be found, we feel the creators have finally grasped the show's popularity is gone and not returning. Though it's aired for ninety minutes and a full hour many times prior, Thursday's episode grabbed less than a half hour in primetime reminding us of when ABC finally wised up to the fact that America had burned out on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and sent the show packing.



We noted the show was cratering in our second look at it (August 2006): "When a sitcom has so many advocating for its cancellation, and has yet to offer a same-sex kiss or some other so-called controversial plot, we think that's a strong indication of how many have just grown tired of it." Finally, the producers grasp the disinterest and, on Thursday, attempted to shake up the formula.



Timothy Bottoms played the role as if the character were drunk and attempting to hide that fact. This explained the oh . . . so . . . slow . . . line readings. While that was an interesting choice and while the key to pulling off drunk scenes is to not overdo them, Bottoms relied solely on the tele-promoter. Not relied "too heavily," relied solely. You could see his eyes dart back and forth as he read off each line in a manner that we hadn't seen since Steven Seagal hosted Saturday Night Live all those years ago.



Faltering ratings have mean budget cuts and reduced the cast (it's also true that many of the extras who once played the press no longer wish to share the stage with him) and that left Bottoms with a non-stop monologue. We do understand that. But we firmly believe that you need to memorize the lines. Stumbling over David Petreaus' name on live television, when the character of the Bully Boy would obviously know the name, struck us as amateurish and not inspired. Similarly, the half-smirks popping up at the oddest moments also seemed ill thought out.



In order to shake things up and attempt to generate interest, the producers went with a single camera. If they were going for the urgency of ER, they should have used a hand-held camera. As it was, the shot was static and expecting viewers to stare non-stop at a closeup for an entire broadcast really requires that someone attractive be used. Bottoms is made up to look ugly and the part, true, but we both agreed the face we saw Thursday night wasn't worthy of a second look let alone a prolonged close up.



Handing the writers a monologue could have resulted in some inspired lines. Instead, it felt like Studio 60 Yada-Yada-Yada. And what didn't strike us as belabored and false, struck as extreme bad writing. "Return on success" was obviously a key phrase but, as catch phrases go, it's no, "Whatcha talking 'bout, Willis?" It didn't just lay there, it was so awkward that it drew attention to itself.



At a time when the American people want a withdrawal to begin before year's end, "Return on Success" sounds a great deal like "Eternal War." It reminded us a lot of how those in charge at The Office think they're being brave by ignoring the fact that Steve Carrell's character is not an audience favorite -- or even interesting -- but Jim is. (NBC is said to have insisted John Krasinski get more airtime this year in a last ditch effort to pump up the dismal ratings.)



The failure to give people what they want goes a long way towards explaining how Make Room For Bully has nosedived. We watched Thursday night with college students on campus. During the broadcast, there were cries of "Impeach him!" and "Admit you lied the nation into war!" The show inspires the most intense negative reaction we've seen outside of The War At Home. That show was (finally) cancelled. But apparently, cancelling this one will require an Act of Congress.



We understand the reaction because, even with the Dark Angel's human incarnate Patty Heaton due to debut shortly, we don't think we'll see anything as bad for the rest of the year. While we can take comfort in the fact that there doesn't appear to currently be any hopes of a spin-off, we do question the wisdom of allowing this show to drag on so long.



The show is so bad that even those who normally do not critique TV have been calling for it's cancellation. At the start of this year, former US House Rep Elizabeth Holtzman renewed her call for cancellation. Even historian Howard Zinn, not known as a pop culture critic, has weighed in and called for Congress to cancel the proceedings. However, as Zinn noted, "Courage is in short supply in Washington, D.C." So apparently either this show will drag on for another year or the people will really have to make their voices heard.



After Thursday night's episode was finished, time was rounded out with a gag reel. Someone portraying US Senator Jack Reed jerked around a lot physically while muttering little-nothing lines that failed to note the illegal nature of Bully Boy's war and, apparently sending up the Democrats non-stop desire to hide behind the US military, had very little to say about democracy. Paired together, the two shows could have been billed as Junta!



The Reed impersonator didn't call for an end to the illegal war or bringing US troops home, he instead issued a call that the US "redefine our mission in Iraq". The last time we checked public opinion, "redefine our mission" wasn't what the people were calling for.



But it's what the parody offered and elected Democrats have no one to blame for the cheap shots but themselves. For over four years now, they've not only hidden behind the US military, they've glorified it as if the point of a democracy was to worship the US Army. We started wondering if churches will shortly begin replacing crosses with shrapnel?



The parody was so spot-on because it perfectly captured last week when the Congress heard from General David Petraeus. Petraues is an employee of the United States. Members of Congress are representatives of the people. But nothing in the proceedings indicated that these basic facts were grasped. We can't imagine, for instance, the Head of Health and Human Services being repeatedly thanked and praised for their service. We can't imagine the agency head being told repeatedly how much respect there is for the agency.



Like that agency, the military is in the employment of the United States. Elected Democrats refuse to make that point. Instead they glorify and build up repeatedly only to be defeated in the spin wars and then whine, "How did this happen?" It happened because they forgot they were not elected to the posts of Groupies to the US Military. They were elected to represent the people. Representation means heeding the will of the people. When they instead prostrate themselves before a section of a branch of government that they are supposed to practice oversight over, they've stripped themselves of their own power. It's really sad that it was John McLaughlin (on PBS' The McLaughlin Group) who semi-jokingly raised the issue of whether what took place last week (with the will of the people being ignored) was a silent coup? But such is the state of TV today.