Body of War trailer

A few days ago I wrote about Body of War, a documentary about Tomas Young, an Iraqi War vet who is now paralyzed from the chest down after being struck by a bullet while serving in combat. Anyway, I found the trailer and wanted to bring it to you. I love it when lies and distortions are preserved for all eternity on video tape, and when said footage comes back to bite a politician in the arse. Looks like this movie contains plenty of that; the more the merrier.

The big question I have is where does the right wing come down on Young, Phil Donahue and this movie? Are these guys unpatriotic? Where is Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh? I would love to hear them criticize this man the same way they bludgeoned Cindy Sheehan on an almost-daily basis during the summer and fall of 2004. What's more, Young still has a brother over in the Middle East. Tomas Young deserves nothing short of our complete and unconditional respect. Something tells me he's not going to get it from Faux News and all its puppets. And he shouldn't care one bit, either.

Thoughts on Gore's Nobel Prize

One of the saddest things about the political discourse in this country, specifically from the right, is its inability to even acknowledge the accomplishments of its opponents in any meaningful, respectful way.

For instance, my first thought when I heard that Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize was, "I wonder what the scum on the right will do to try and smear Gore with this time." You may recall that after Gore's movie on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, won Oscars and received international accolades, the radical right, the very next day, came after Gore for his electric bill. (And I'm sure it was a total coincidence that the attacks occurred less than 24 hours after the Academy Awards, right?) Also, never mind the fact that the organization that went after Gore is completely funded by right-wing blowhards. (Amazing how little press that received.) Anyway, more on Gore's electric bill Here.

Anyway, it didn't take me long to find out if the right would come after Gore once more following his Peace Prize win.

The most notable feckless rhetoric came from OxyContin spokesman Rush Limbaugh, who whined on his radio show Friday after Gore won it (from The Politico:

"So now 'Algore' will join Yasir Arafat among the list of noble Nobel peace laureates," Rush Limbaugh said with much sarcasm at the top of his broadcast today. The Norwegian committee, Limbaugh said, has "rendered themselves a pure, 100 percent joke."

Citing Arafat, the former Palestinian leader, and former President Jimmy Carter's award in 2002, Limbaugh added that "The Nobel committee has lost all credibility since long before they awarded this award to 'Algore.'"

I love it - yet another institution responsible for recognizing a prominent Democrat who really wants to drive positive change in the world that gets vilified by right-wing blowhards. People like Limbaugh can't handle the truth - that Gore has done more to promote goodwill and positive change around the world in the past year than Bush has done since he was appointed president.

However, Limbaugh isn't the only one who can't handle success and recognition of a liberal. Laura Ingraham had this to say about Gore's win (again, from the Politico):

"I confess, I have been in a bit of a funk after learning of the Gore/Nobel news," conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham said in an e-mail. "I really thought Cindy Sheehan should have been recognized."

Yea, considering Sheehan might not have been a bad idea. I know this - Gore and Sheehan both deserve a great deal more recognition for promoting peace and progress in humanity than anyone, anyone, in the Bush administration.

Of course, Limbaugh had a few suggestions of people who should be considered for the award. His suggestion? "I call on Albert Arnold 'Algore' to redirect his Nobel Peace Prize to genuine agents of peace."

Rush had an idea of who that could be - Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. troops in Iraq. "If there has ever been an engine of peace, it’s the United States military," Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh must be bucking for a comedy act with that comment. Surely a career in comedy would last longer than his career at ESPN, which lasted about as long as a Twinkie on his breakfast table. Our military during the Bush presidency has wrought more death and destruction than arguably any other military on Earth. I don't fault the military specifically, because they are doing what they are told, but to even suggest that our military and its leaders should be awarded the Peace Prize makes Limbaugh fit for a straight jacket. Limbaugh may have been saying that quote tongue in cheek, but with him, is it out of the question that he wasn't?

And by the way - that Nobel Peace Prize? If war criminal Dr. Henry Kissinger could win it, just about anyone is fair game. I'd rate his winning it a few levels above Gore winning it on the outrage scale.

Ex-Bush aide: Kerry was right

This was pretty big news this past weekend - ex-presidential aide Matthew Dowd has spoken out against President Bush, and in a very unequivocal, public way.

Dowd, a former Democrat who was not happy with many things during the Clinton Presidency, was taken in by Bush's messages of "restoring honor and integrity to the Oval Office" and bringing bipartisanship and cooperation to Washington. Dowd switched parties and remained with Bush for the next six years, serving as Bush's chief campaign strategist during the 2004 election.

However, many events began to change his mind - Abu Gharib, Bush's refusal to meet with Cindy Sheehan, the decision to keep Donald Rumsfeld on after a number of missteps, and the renomination of former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.

"I really like him, which is probably why I’m so disappointed in things," he said during an interview with The New York Times. He added, "I think he's become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in."

During his NYT interview, Dowd stated his faith in Bush's ability was misplaced, and he called for a withdraw from Iraq. In retrospect, Dowd says his faith in Bush was misplaced. You've got plenty of company, Mr. Dowd.

He asserted in the interview that Bush "still approached governing with a 'my way or the highway' mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides." What a surprise.

Dowd said he decided to go public with his disagreement with the administration because his disappointment was so great. He also reasoned he felt an obligation to speak out now because he played a part in Bush's electoral victories.

The most powerful passage from the Times article comes here:

Mr. Dowd, a crucial part of a team that cast Senator John Kerry as a flip-flopper who could not be trusted with national security during wartime, said he had even written but never submitted an op-ed article titled "Kerry Was Right," arguing that Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 presidential candidate, was correct in calling last year for a withdrawal from Iraq.

"I'm a big believer that in part what we're called to do — to me, by God; other people call it karma — is to restore balance when things didn’t turn out the way they should have," Mr. Dowd said. "Just being quiet is not an option when I was so publicly advocating an election."

Even more outrageous, and in retrospect, sad, it what Dowd had to say in the interview about Kerry's qualifications to lead a strong national defense:

In television interviews in 2004, Mr. Dowd said that Mr. Kerry’s campaign was proposing "a weak defense," and that the voters "trust this president more than they trust Senator Kerry on Iraq."

But he was starting to have his own doubts by then, he said.

He said he thought Mr. Bush handled the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks well but "missed a real opportunity to call the country to a shared sense of sacrifice."

The two events that hardened Dowd's resolve to speak out against Bush happened during the summer of 2005, said Dowd: the president's poor decisions regarding Hurricane Katrina, and Bush's refusal to meet with Cindy Sheehan around the same time that he was entertaining Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong at his Crawford ranch, said Dowd during the interview.

His thought process was further influenced by working with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during his 2006 campaign, which had a theme of broad, bi-partisan appeal. (I can relate to Dowd's thinking here - Arnold is most definitely a Republican I would consider voting for were he eligible to run for president, which he is not.)

"I think we should design campaigns that appeal not to 51 percent of the people," said Dowd, "but bring the country together as a whole.

"If the American public says [it's] done with something, our leaders have to understand what they want," Dowd said. "They’re saying, 'Get out of Iraq.'"

Pretty powerful statements from one of Bush's inner circle. This is by no means a crippling blow, but it comes at a time when Bush needs as few of these stories as possible in the media.

While it's about three years too late, I applaud Dowd for his courage - it's not a stretch that Bush's Rasputin, Karl Rove, will avenge Dowd's change of heart in whatever way he can.

Photos from AP via The Huffington Post

A lil' more CPAC love

I wanted to bring you a little more Conservative Political Action Conference love before I move on to other stuff. Today's Washington Post carries a story about CPAC that has some interesting tidbits [with the Coulter quote buried nice and deep] about the Republicans spreading the love, and the diversity.

Read for yourself:

In the session preceding Romney, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.) said of Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq: "She's an idiot." In the session after Romney, Ann Coulter used an anti-gay slur to describe John Edwards (the line drew applause) and asked: "Did Al Gore actually swallow Michael Moore?"

When a questioner asked Coulter why she praises marriage but broke off so many engagements, she responded by calling the questioner ugly.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) got the crowd cheering early in the day. "I have been called -- my kids are all aware of this -- dumb, crazy man, science abuser, Holocaust denier, villain of the month, hate-filled, warmonger, Neanderthal, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun," he announced. "And I can just tell you that I wear some of those titles proudly."

Inhofe repeated his view that man-made global warming is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," and he quarreled with a Bush administration proposal to list polar bears as a threatened species. "They're overpopulated," he declared. "Don't worry about it: The polar bear is fine." His staff handed out supporting documentation, including the claim that "MARS HAS GLOBAL WARMING DESPITE ABSENCE OF SUVs."

Someday, maybe long after he's gone, or at least when his career in the Senate is over, who would be surprised if it was revealed that Inhofe received large sums of money from Big Oil? In some ways, he's a dumbed down version of Ann Coulter. (Take that comment literally or figuratively - it works either way.)

Cindy Sheehan up for Peace Prize

I bet Stephanie Miller won't be on Fox News anytime soon. And I bet she doesn't give a shit, either, nor should she.

It seems that Cindy Sheehan has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. If I had a say, she'd certainly get my vote. I defy you to name one other person in America who has done more to promote the idea of peace this past year. Yea, I can't think of anyone else, either.

I don't always agree with Sheehan's methods or choice of words (more on that in a minute), but it's easy for me to say I disagree with her methods; I didn't lose a child in this misguided, dishonest war - she did. And she's not taking her loss lying down, nor is she lost in a cloud of self pity. To that I say bravo. She's suffered an incomprehensible loss, and she's proof positive that our losses in Iraq don't have to be for nothing - out of terrible suffering and loss can come some good.

Earlier I referred to her methods - to say that she wishes she could go back in time and kill President Bush is despicable - I don't support using that kind of language under any circumstances. Hey, we're Americans, but we're supposed to be a decent, rational people, even when we fervently disagree. Here, she clearly crosses a line.

In the Fox piece above, Stephanie Miller reasons that the whole sentence/clip wasn't played, and that Sheehan goes on to say that she wouldn't kill anybody. Okay, fair enough, if that's true. But, Sheehan should know better. When she goes off irrationally like that, she takes away from her very poignant message and she loses her credibility.

Keep fighting, Cindy, but for heaven's sake, no more talk (even if hypothetical) of harming the president- it makes you sound like a heretical lunatic.

Letterman vs. O'Reilly, Part II

Bill O'Lielly was on David Letterman earlier this year (I think, or late last year), and the two went round and round, about Cindy Sheehan (more on her in a post later today), the War in Iraq, President Bush, etc., and it was pretty entertaining.

Naturally, I was pretty happy to hear that there would be a Round 2. Well, it didn't disappoint. To be fair, O'Lielly got in his licks, too, and brought up a few good points, but I'd give this one to Letterman in a split decision - it was no knock-out, though. Bill's a good debater, and he knows how to handle Letterman; it's obvious O'Lielly was well prepared. But, Letterman stood his ground and isn't intimidated, and that's no small feat against a brow beater like Bill. O'Lielly is a lot like President Bush - guys I'd very much like to like, but I just can't because of their ideology.

But, in the end, these two guys engaged in spirited but largely civil political discourse, and it seems like that's in short supply these days. Well done, men.