Congressional War for Iraq begins

The White House announced that they will oppose any legislation limiting Bush's wartime powers. The Democrats want to revoke the powers granted to Bush by the Senate before we invaded Iraq. In addition, they want to place restrictions on any surge in regard to equipment necessities, rest and training (Murtha's proposal) and limiting their mission to fighting al-Qaeda and training Iraqi forces (Biden's proposal) The final wording of the Democratic legislation limiting the president is not finalized, but the White House has already declared they will fight it. Expect it to be a cross between Murtha's and Biden's ideas.

The House may indeed pass the legislation, but do not expect the Senate to pass it because of the LIEberman factor (and Democratic senator Johnson being in the hospital and unable to vote).

The American Enterprise Institute and PNAC will get their perpetual war, no matter how hard the Democrats try. There is no way around it, Cheney and Bush will get their "surge," and push ahead into Iran. You can bank on it.

American Enterprise Institute wants Iran, we will attack Iran

McClatchy reports on the Iran issue:

"I still believe, at the end of the day, that he will bomb the Iranian (nuclear) facilities," said Joshua Muravchik, a neo-conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank with close ties to the Bush administration. Muravchik, who favors military action, sees Bush's current focus on diplomacy as a prelude to attack.

"When he does it - if he does it - it will be wildly unpopular. He certainly at least wants to be able to say convincingly, 'I tried everything else,'" Muravchik said.

The AEI has spoken, and, with this administration, what AEI and PNAC wants, they get. With no ideas of their own, the solution for this administration is to consult "neo-conservative scholars" to think for them. Regardless of how others in the administration think, including Gates and Rice, AEI and PNAC have the final word.

War, war and more war coming soon to your TV!

Opposition to Iranian conflict

The neo-con cabal is apparently self destructing. We learn from an article from Times Online UK that Tony Blair favors diplomatic solutions to the Iranian problem. More startling is the opposition from Bush cabinet members themselves; Rice, Hadley, and Gates are opposed to any military action against Iran. Can we avoid the perpetual war which the architects laid out in the comfortable offices of the Project for a New American Century? Is the neo-con influence vanishing from America, with only the strongest hawks of Cheney and company remaining? Do they have enough influence to perpetuate endless Middle East war on schedule, with Iran being next?

It is more important than ever for the Democratic Congress to convince those on the sidelines that the Pelosi-Murtha resolution (gradual withdrawal from Iraq, and withholding funds from any future deployments until the troops get proper equipment, armor and training) is the correct way to move forward. This will be especially hard in the Senate because of Bush/Cheney loyalists on the Republican side and (of course) Joe LIEberman. If Rice, Hadley, and Gates are opposed to military action in Iran, why is it such a stretch for the Republican/Lieberman senate to face reality regarding the surge? The surge is a tactic being used to prolong the war and expand into Iran. All you have to do is connect the dots!

Military family speaks out

Unarmoured troops, an ongoing problem indeed. How much more evidence do you need that this administration hates the military? If you are a vet and support the GOP, seriously you just might be suffering from brain damage. This administration HATES YOU. Read what this family has to say about the filthy Bush administration.
............and main stream media shrieks about Obama and hillary.

A smorgasboard of interesting things...

Just tossing some fast (and not-so-fast) links for your perusal...

Bloomberg News reports that military contractors are looking to make billions selling weapons systems to "Middle East monarchies".

The Army finally responds to the Walter Reed situation. How long would they have let this go on had the media not reported it? Don Imus has been killing the Bush cabal about this all week. He's asked the administration to allow him to tour the facility; it should be no surprise to anyone that they will not allow him to have unfettered access.

The LA Times reports the real reason the British are pulling out of Iraq - no surprise here as well, their troops are overstretched. In addition, their presence hasn't made the Basra area any safer.

Dick Cheney thinks that Britain's withdrawal shows progress in the war. CBS' Bob Schieffer knows otherwise.

In Michael Savage Weiner's world, interviewing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes Diane Sawyer a "whore". Her not asking him how he could deny the Holocaust makes her a Holocaust denier as well. There's only one problem... She DID ask him about his beliefs about the Holocaust! Shocking!!!

We'll be LIVE in 5 hours!!!

New podcasts... and a smashed record!

Hey folks!

We've released 4 podcasts over the last 2 days, and we've set a single-day download record more than twice the previous! Thank you all for your support!

Two more podcasts will be released today: "02/12/07: The Scrutiny of Candidate Obama" (our super-long overtime media roundup from that show, including coverage of the Pelosi plane flap) and "02/19/07: John Murtha, True Troop Supporter!" The Murtha segment will lead into a segment on tonight's program for certain.

By the weekend, we should be caught up with everything from last week, and we can start releasing some classic segments from our first 6 months as bonus podcasts.

And, as (almost) always, we will be LIVE tonight from 10:00PM - midnight on Indie Airplay Radio! Look it up in your media player, as their website is still down.

-Ralph

Rudy: exploiting 9-11 for personal gain

MediaMatters examines how "America's mayor" is making millions from speeches all around the country where he babbles on about 9-11. If MediaMatters can see the man exploiting 9-11 for personal gains, will the highly paid "reporters" on TV notice this disgusting trend as well? Or will they continue to report on the fictional friction between Obama and Clinton????

Liberal Media? Give me a break!!!

Army and Marines agree with Murtha on equipment needs

Military officials went before Congress with a laundy list of equipment needed for the Iraqi war, which were earlier denied by the administration in their last budget. This includes (as we discussed on our show on Monday) the technology needed to intercept the improvised explosive devices; $153 million is needed for this system, yet the "support the troops" GOP has denied this to our troops!

This is further proof the Republican party (particularly its PNAC neo-con wing) does not support the troops, and Murtha and the Democrats do.

Vice president smearing Murtha like no tomorrow

From the demonic bastard's interview in Japan yesterday:

Q: Because Congressman Murtha and Speaker Pelosi have made it clear that what they would like to do is they would like to stop the surge. Can they do it? Do they have the power to stop the surge?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't think so. The question is whether or not they have the votes. Jack Murtha is an old friend of mine. We've done a lot of business together over the years. When I was Secretary of Defense, he was perhaps my closest ally on Capitol Hill. Jack clearly has a different perspective. With respect to Iraq, I think he's dead wrong. I think, in fact, if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we'll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy. The al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people -- in fact, knowing they can't win in a stand-up fight, try to persuade us to throw in the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit.

I think that's exactly the wrong course to go on. I think that's the course of action that Speaker Pelosi and Jack Murtha support. I think it would be a huge mistake for the country.

Q: Now you just made a very clear statement in your speech saying the American people do not support a policy of retreat.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I believe that.

Q: Is that policy that we hear from the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi -- from other Democrats, is that a policy of defeat?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q: So the American people don't stand with the Democrats, what the Democrats are trying to do?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think the American people want to see first and foremost success in Iraq. I think the preference would be -- even those who are not happy with the current situation, given a choice would prefer a situation in which we succeed in Iraq in terms of being able to deal with the security situation, turn things over to the Iraqis so the Iraqis can govern themselves. But I think to do what Nancy Pelosi is suggesting -- and she's made it very clear on many occasions that she, in fact, wants to get out -- that that's exactly the wrong medicine. It's the wrong course of action. It will do nothing but encourage the terrorists. And it will have the devastating long-term consequences in the global war on terror.

You can't look at Iraq in isolation. You've got to look at it in terms of its impact, what we're doing in Afghanistan, what we're doing in Pakistan, what we're doing in Saudi Arabia. All those areas are part of the global battlefield, if you will, and you can't quit in one place and then persuade all your allies who are helping you in all those other theaters, if you will, to continue the fight. So the thing we need to do is to let the President's strategy have an opportunity to work. The Senate just confirmed Dave Petraeus unanimously -- not a single vote against him -- and then you've got a lot of senators turning around saying, but, we don't want to give you the resources you need to do the job we've asked you to do for us. So I do think that the important thing here is that we support the troops and we support the strategy, that we give it a chance to work, and that we not lose sight of the fact that our ultimate objective has to be victory.

Right Wing hacks tout pro-Iraqi war poll

Yesterday, the filthy NY Post's front page headline on their "news"paper read: "America Says Let's Win Iraqi War". FOX News covered the same poll with the same claims. This makes perfect sense, as FOX owns the NY Post.

There is only one problem with the poll - it came from a self-described "Republican polling firm". Right wing talk show hosts all parroted each other, bragging about the flawed poll as well. Pure Hackery!

Coalition of the willing (to leave Iraq)

Tony Blair announced he plans on withdrawing British troops to around 5000 by the end of the summer. Let's first keep in mind how few troops other countries have been willing to contribute to the PNAC Iraqi war for resources and profit. There was hardly EVER a coalition of the willing, more like a coalition of mercy. The whole world rejected Bush's war from day one; some of our allies, in order to appease the Bush crime family, contributed small amounts of soldiers. America is suffering 90% of all casualties. Bush, as usual, boasted this "coalition" to his functionally retarded base and they lapped it up!!!

To make the matter even more bizarre, enemy of the state Dick Cheney thinks we are making progress because Britian is withdrawing!!! If we are making progress, and the British reduction is a positive sign, why the "surge"??? Why do we need 21,500 more troops, if Britian removing over 2,000 troops is a sign of progress??? This is some twisted logic, and yet the Bush base and the mentally sick parrots on talk radio are fine with this; instead, they are blaming Murtha and the Democrats for the lost war because they are against a surge without proper equipment, training and rest for the troops!!!

Most Republicans will embrace anything with the letter "R" attached to it, but all they can say about the opposition is "Democrats are stupid". Cheney could urinate in their face, and these Republicans will drink it up and say, "Yum, freedom juice!" Yet corporate media gives over 200 submissive neo-con sheep a forum on radio and television every single day.

Fallout from Walter Reed story in Washington Post

Tony Snow apparently lied when he stated the administration had been aware of the conditions at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. The White house added an addendum at the bottom of the transcript of yesterday's lie fest hosted by Tony Snow, declaring the White House became aware after reading the Washington Post story.
It would make sense that the president never knew about it, he never visits the wounded, except for a 2 second photo-op. Considering the White House is a few miles away from the hospital, this is embarrassing for a war time president who " supports the troops".

If Bush knew and did nothing(as Snow originally stated) that is a disgrace.
If Bush had no idea about the conditions, that is a disgrace

Either way, this administration shows comlete lack of interest on our troops, they simply do not care.


Part two of the Walter Reed story: Here

Military Times explains how the Army tries to screw the wounded from benefits: A must read

Small Towns suffer greatest losses in the Iraq war: AP reports

Thinking about the Civil War, and the reality of why it was fought

I was listening to the podcast of our recent show, and Ralph drew a comparison between the American Civil War and the Iraqi civil war. Yes, both of them were groups of people within the same country fighting one another, but something I neglected to bring up at the time is the reason why America fought the Civil War. It was a lot more than to "free the slaves," as Ralph indicated.

"I have no interest in making blacks equal to whites, they are of a lesser quality and this I am sure of." -Abraham Lincoln

The public schools teach the simplistic idea that the north wanted to free the slaves... creating the heroic moral vision of the North. Let's not forget the South came to Boston to purchase the slaves, so the north indeed made $$$ from slavery.

Why did the North want to free the slaves? They did not want to free the slaves because of moral reasons, this is a plain LIE. Politicians and factory owners of the North wanted to end slavery for one big reason - cheap labor. The Industrial Revolution is the reason why the North wanted to free the slaves. Before the Industrial Revolution, when the North depended on the South for goods, there was no problem with slavery.

With the Industrial Revolution in full swing, the folks with the money in the North could use the cheap labor for their factories. The northerners themselves did not want this to happen; they did not want the freed slaves coming to the North to take the jobs.

Another reason the Civil War was fought was over the northern tariff. The federal government imposed a large tariff for the South to pay in order to fund the Industrial Revolution. The South felt this was unfair, and wanted to leave the union. In 1860, 87% of tariff revenue was paid by the South, which strengthened the Industrial Revolution and blocked imports from other countries. The South was ready to leave the union.

At this point, Lincoln stepped in to stop the South from leaving, which would have caused funding for the industrial revolution (by means of the tariff) to end. The North joined the cause because of powerful figures envisioning the cheap labor that could be gained from the slaves of the South.

Money was the reason for the Civil War, not the North's "compassionate desire to end slavery because it was inhumane"

One thing I cannot stand is people buying into the storybook history presented to Americans every single day in classrooms across this nation. Things are always more complex than they seem.

Jared

Ralph adds: We should keep in mind that history is always written by the victors. The North - and thus the U.S. - ascribed moral certainty to their fight, and, over the years, it has turned into a "storybook". The danger of any history, regardless of where or how it is learned, is that it is always colored as its authors see fit, and the further we get from it, the harder it is to know the truth. The one advantage we have, moving forward through the Digital Revolution, is that we can preserve our history in perpetuity, as such making it somewhat harder to alter the past based on the tastes and wishes of those who control the "official" pens.

Podcasts are now up!!!

It's about time. After some confusion as to "who put what file where," your friendly neighborhood Evil Liberals are back on iTunes!!!

Two episodes are new for you to download. First, we have "Intelligence... Served Well Done," our first segment from last Monday's show, as a prelude to tomorrow's podcast from yesterday's show. Second is the first segment from last night's show, "Terrorists Vote Republican!"

The next two podcasts can be expected around 5PM tomorrow afternoon.

Right wing hypocrite flashback; Kosovo 1999

Here is what some of the leading right-wing mouthpieces were saying about Clinton's Kosovo military operation in 1999. Some of these are astonishing. You would think these quotes are from someone talking about the Iraq War today!

If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy.”
-Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of presidential candidate George W. Bush

“No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That’s why I’m against it.”
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/5/99

“I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning…I didn’t think we had done enough in the diplomatic area.”
-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

“You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo.”
-Tony Snow, Fox News 3/24/99

“Well, I just think it’s a bad idea. What’s going to happen is they’re going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years”
-Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

“I’m on the Senate Intelligence Committee, so you can trust me and believe me when I say we’re running out of cruise missles. I can’t tell you exactly how many we have left, for security reasons, but we’re almost out of cruise missles.”
-Senator Inhofe (R-OK)

“I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarifiedrules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

“Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?”
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”
-Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

“This is President Clinton’s war, and when he falls flat on his face, that’s his problem.”
-Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

“You can support the troops but not the president”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

“This has been an unmitigated disaster … Ask the Chinese embassy. Ask all the people in Belgrade that we’ve killed. Ask the refugees that we’ve killed. Ask the people in nursing homes. Ask the people in hospitals.”
-Representative Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

This is your Republican party. Politics over America, "R" over America. Astonishing!

Equipment, rest and training for the troops = not supporting the troops

John Murtha has found a way for the Democrats to limit Bush's surge plan, and further deployments, by simply demanding accountability and standards. In order for Bush to have his "surge," the troops would be required to have proper equipment, rest and training before being deployed. In other words, if the standards are met, Congress can give the green light to Bush. The right-wing media has already begun its assault on Murtha, with Novak, Hume, the Beltway Boys, and others smearing him with the typical "defeatist Murtha" and "Murtha is clueless".

At the time of last night's show, this was not so much orchestrated, just a smear here and there.

As of today, right-wing hack Hugh Hewitt and Republican Representative Sam Johnson began a campaign to smear Murtha, website and all!

Be prepared for an all-out assault on equipment, rest and training for the troops!!! These sick right-wing monsters are against these 3 basic requirements for deployment. I have never heard of something so sick and degenerate.

Republicans do not support the troops, they support a sick, Anti-American neo-con PNAC ideology.

A podcast about Murtha will be on iTunes shortly!!!!

Contempt for wounded soldiers and veterans (neo-con style)

Walter Reed hospital is set to close by 2011, yet, with the large amount of soldiers returning home from severe injuries from Iraq (who are flown directly to Walter Reed), you would imagine this administration has made drastic improvements at the nation's top army medical facility.

Sadly, they have not. Check out the story in the Washington Post by Dana Priest and Anne Hull. Our nation's wounded heroes are facing poor conditions and horrible administrative organization (sometimes resulting in the hospital not even knowing who exactly is being treated) at Walter Reed. If you still believe this administration "supports the troops," this story may just open your eyes.

To top it off, the Bush administration is calling for veterans benefit cuts in order to balance the budget by 2012. Funny how they want to balance the budget on the backs of veterans! Maybe they should have not given a blank check of $10 billion to the private contractors. These corporations got away with murder at the expense of our tax dollars and, now, at the expense of our veterans.

No oversight, no accountability, just smears and lies. This administration makes me want to throw up. Last night on the show, I almost ruptured a vocal cord screaming about these degenerates.

Look for the podcast on iTunes soon!!!

Jared

Republicans are the terrorists

Need proof?????

These filthy little neo-con scumbags will continue to call Democratic congressional members like John Murtha "defeatists" and claim they are "aiding the enemy". These enemies of America wanted this war since before 2000. PNAC members run this administration, and they got their war. They got their chance to experiment with "democracy" in the Middle East. Their Rebuilding America's Defenses, written in 2000, called for American empire building in the Middle East to secure America's economic and defense security; this doctrine failed. Rumsfeld, Armitage, Abrams, Bolton, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Libby were all members of this think tank. This is not conspiracy, this is FACT. Even though this idea has failed, this administration will push on with the plan, and Iran is next.

This experiment has nothing to do with fighting terrorism! It was scheduled to go before 9-11. These freaks will cast aspersions on anyone that disagrees with them. The proof is right there, and a couple of interesting news articles further strengthen the argument that GOP supporters are the TERRORISTS (some knowingly, some unknowingly).

Recently, a N.Y Republican donor was arrested on charges of giving financial aid to the terrorists. Not only was this enemy of America a Republican, he donated $15,000 to the Republican party itself!!! Why would a terrorist sympathizer subscribe to the Republican ideology??? This individual was celebrated by the GOP as the New York State Businessman of the Year in 2003... maybe because out of this war come huge profits, and aid to the terrorists helps prolong the war!

Yet, on the TV, they will call Murtha the traitor...

Worse yet, a story ignored by the media from December, Bush himself invited a radical Shiite, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, to the White House. This individual has done everything possible to create friction among the Sunni and Shia; in other words, he is against a unified Iraq. al-Sadr is not the most dangerous individual on the Shia side in Iraq, it is this man, and Bush had an enemy of America visit the White House in December. Why??? Out of chaos comes a prolonged war, and increased presence in the Middle East means increased profits.

Last night, we covered this issue on the live broadcast. Look for the podcast on iTunes shortly.

WE WILL BE LIVE TONIGHT

Yes, we are going to be live tonight once more!

The blog has been down, and the podcasts have not been updated, due to internal issues. There is still one issue unresolved at this point: to listen tonight, you will have to tune in via iTunes. Indie Airplay is listed under "Alt/Modern Rock" in the iTunes Radio section. As of this post, the Indie Airplay website is still down, but the station is still alive.

We will have plenty to talk about tonight!!! Do not miss the show, 10:00PM-midnight EST!

Mocking the right... Exposing the right!!!

Addendum from the webmaster: Our problem stemmed from the combination of a problematic upgrade of functionality to the nextbighit.com website, and a subsequent necessity to switch hosting companies to one that could handle said functionality. There was also a delay in the DNS updating the new location of the Next Big Hit site. We will have no chat room tonight, as that function is still down. In the near future, we will be using the Indie Airplay website for our blog and chat room... Look for it soon!

The podcast issue has been resolved, as well. Our XML file, obviously, could not be accessed until the domain issue resolved. The next podcast will be dropped after tonight's show, and I will bring up some podcasts from last Monday's show during the week.

Long story short: We are back in business with a vengeance! Look for regular updating of the blog starting tomorrow!

Peace and love, folks, and talk to you at 10:00PM Eastern LIVE tonight!!!
-Ralph