It’s awful to see the horrific resurgence of Sunni-Shia sectarian war in Iraq, re-splintering that delicate nation. There is, however, one good thing coming from it, namely the chance for you and me to pay proper tribute to those Americans who contributed so much to our involvement there.
I don’t mean the million-and-a-half honorable men and women who were sent into that hellacious and futile war (many for multiple deployments), but the dishonorable deceivers and disastrous dogmatists who did the sending. From their soft nests high atop Washington’s power structures, this flock of craven, neo-con chicken hawks cavalierly sent 4,500 Americans to die in an unnecessary war that has left untold thousands more physically and psychologically battered. The total financial cost is calculated to be some $4 trillion, plus an incalculable cost to America’s global reputation.
We must remember the disservice of these dogmatic armchair warmongers, because – believe it or not – the flock is back! Dick Cheney, Bill Kristol, J. Paul Bremer III, and Paul Wolfowitz are among the names of shame from Iraq I who’re now screeching and squawking for President Obama to send American soldiers back for Iraq II.
These are dangerous and disgusting ideologues without a clue or concern about the horrendous human price of war, perhaps because they never got close to being in one. Cheney, you might recall, assiduously avoided serving in Vietnam by getting not one or two draft deferments, but five of them! He later explained that he “had other things to do.” Yet, without a twinge of conscience, he’s now lambasting Obama for not dispatching other people’s loved ones into the fiery vortex of Iraq’s Sunni-Shia civil war.
The proper show of respect for them is to give ‘em the old raspberry: Ttttbbbbbttt!

“On Iraq, Echoes Of 2003,” The New York Times, June 19, 2014.

“Obama Praises U.S. Troops’ Efforts as Iraq Winds Down,” www.defense.gov, December 14, 2011.

“Cheney’s Five Draft Deferments During the Vietnam Era Emerge as a Campaign Issue,” www.nytimes.com, May 1, 2004.

Howling tea party mad dogs sing the impeachment blues

It’s hard not to ridicule Congress’ tea party Republicans as a group of mad-dog “aginners” who do nothing but run around in circles yapping “no way,” uh-uh,” “we’re agin it!”
But as last, they’ve come up with something they’re for: The impeachment of President Barack Obama. The mad dogs of the right yap that this president is flaunting the Constitution and bypassing Congress by issuing executive orders and making skads of recess appointments.
Two words: Bush-Cheney. Their White House didn’t just use executive orders to raise the pay of working families or extend health care to uninsured Americans, but to send more than a million Americans into a war that was an ideological folly based on executive branch lies. In fact, George W issued more executive orders than Obama has. So did Daddy Bush. And so did Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Ike, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, and Teddy Roosevelt.
Oh, and about those recess appointments that’re causing the tea partiers to foam at the mouth? Obama has made only 32. But George W. Bush made 171 – without a peep of protest from those who’re now thumping the Constitution and demanding impeachment.
The chief reason that Obama has had to use recess appointments is that Republican senators, prodded by their extremist tea party partners, have routinely misused the procedural device of filibuster obstructionism to block the qualified people Obama has appointed. Here’s a historical perspective the yappers won’t mention to you: In less than six years in office, 82 of Obama’s presidential nominees have been filibustered by the Republican/tea party; in the previous 220 years of US history, the other 43 presidents combined had only 86 of their nominees blocked by filibuster.
The tea party, which started with such legitimate outrage, has become ridiculous.

“Many on far right ready, eager to impeach Obama,” Austin American Statesman, July 6, 2014.

“Graphs Show How Obama’s Been Abusing His Power (Or Not),” www.portside.org, June 25, 2014.