Do you feel a draft?

President Bush said yesterday that the war in Iraq would require “difficult choices and additional sacrifices” in the coming year.

For everyone but him, of course.

Bush acknowledged that Iraqis had suffered “unspeakable sectarian violence” over the past year and admitted that it was “one aspect of this war that has not gone right.” One aspect of about 655,000.

But he still insists that “Victory in Iraq is achievable.”

How? By increasing the size of the Army and the Marines, and by sending more of them to die to Iraq. This, despite Bush's assertion that “The most painful aspect of my presidency is the fact that I know my decisions have caused young men and women to lose their lives.”

Right. The only pain those deaths have caused him is the political blowback.

It's too bad General Barry R. McCaffrey isn't president. He knows sending more troops to Iraq won't work. “Victory is not a good word to use. It implies that there is a military outcome in the short term that ends violence, and that’s not going to happen.”

But Bush is pretty sure he will win, and victory will assure him a place in history next to that other George W. “Look, everybody’s trying to write the history of this administration even before it’s over. I’m reading about George Washington still. My attitude is, if they’re still analyzing No. 1, 43 ought not to worry about it, and just do what he thinks is right, make the tough choices necessary.”

For everyone but him, of course.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/washington/21prexy.html

Bush library draws protest

Bush wants to build a $500 million presidential library, and Southern Methodist University (SMU) is among the locations being considered. However, some SMU faculty, administrators, and staff are urging SMU's board to "reconsider and to rescind SMU's pursuit of the presidential library" because of objections to Bush's policies.

In a letter to the SMU board, members of SMU's Perkins School of Theology wrote, "We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends."

It's nice to hear the chorus of Bush detractors steadily increasing in volume, but where were all those voices in November 2000...and in March 2003...and in November 2004?

http://www.texasmonthly.com/community/blog/paulburka/2006/12/protest-at-smu-targets-bush-library.php

Why we shouldn't send more troops to Iraq

In an article titled "Surging to Defeat in Iraq," W. Patrick Lang and Ray McGovern present the most convincing arguments yet as to why we shouldn't send more troops to Iraq. And the authors aren't armchair generals, pundits, or editorial writers with a liberal agenda: Lang is a retired Army colonel who served with Special Forces in Vietnam, as an instructor at West Point, and as Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East. McGovern was an Army infantry/intelligence officer and spent 27 years as a CIA analyst. Both are members of an organization called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

They know what they're talking about, and we all need to listen:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/12/18/surging_to_defeat_in_iraq.php

Bush: Mary Cheney will make a "fine mom"

Last year Bush told the New York Times that a child should be raised "in a married family with a man and a woman." This week he told People Magazine, "Mary Cheney is going to make a fine mom, and she's going to love this child a lot. I think Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child. And I'm happy for her."

So does that mean Bush is happy for all the other lesbians and gays who are raising children? Does it mean he's going to back away from advocating a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage? Or does he simply favor Mary Cheney because she's the Republican daughter of the Republican vice-president?

White House spokesman Tony Snow did his best to spin the apparent discrepancy. He said that Bush stands by his belief about a mother and father but also believes that "every human life is sacred and that every child that comes into this world deserves love, and he believes that Mary Cheney's child will in fact have loving parents."

Ah. So Mary Cheney's child will have loving parents. That clears that up.

But "every human life is sacred...every child that comes into this world deserves love"? Nice words, Mr. Snow, but surely your boss has heard the old adage about actions? Ask 655,000 dead Iraqis (thousands of them children) and 2,900 dead U.S. soldiers how "sacred" and "loved" they feel.

At least James Dobson is honest about his bigotry: "We should not enter into yet another untested and far-reaching social experiment, this one driven by the desires of same-sex couples to bear and raise children."

But Mr. Dobson, we're curious: What were some of those other "untested and far-reaching social experiments"? The abolition of slavery? Giving women the right to vote? Civil rights? Marriage between a man and a woman?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/15/bush.cheney.reut/index.html

The Decider: "I will not be rushed"

Even though he rushed us into the war in Iraq, The Decider says he "will not be rushed" to get us out.

"At the appropriate time," The Decider said, "I'll stand up in front of the nation and say, 'Here's where we're headed.'"

Well, we already know where we're headed, T.D. We're headed into Armageddon because of your disastrous handling of Iraq.

The Decider also said that he and the nation's top military commanders had had "a very candid and fruitful discussion about how to secure this country and about how to win a war that we now find ourselves in."

A war that we now find ourselves in? Don't you mean "a war that I created"?

To his credit, The Decider did admit that "there has been a lot of violence in Iraq." In fact, he went so far as to acknolwedge that "The violence has been horrific."

But not for him, of course.

Which is precisely why he won't be rushed.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/13/bush.iraq.ap/index.html

Soy beans make you gay

At least that's what conservative writer Jim Rutz thinks. In his article "A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals," Rutz says that soybean products - not genes nor any other factor - are what's behind male homosexuality. Of course, he neglects to cite or substantiate any of his claims. Maybe avoiding soybean products makes you lie?

A few highlights from the article:

"When you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you're also getting substantial quantities of estrogens. Estrogens are female hormones. If you're a woman, you're flooding your system with a substance it can't handle in surplus. If you're a man, you're suppressing your masculinity and stimulating your 'female side,' physically and mentally."

(Oh no! Suppressing our masculinity and stimulating our female side! How will we have wars?)

"Research is now showing that when you feed your baby soy formula, you're giving him or her the equivalent of five birth control pills a day."

(Even when you feed your baby just a teaspoon of soy formula?)

"Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality.

(Oh no! Our boys are being feminized! Their penises are getting smaller! Who will rule the world?)

Read the entire article if you dare: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53327

These people obviously haven't read this blog

Today, out of the blue (or was it the red?), we received the following unsolicted e-mail (read: spam). We checked out the "Christian Bloggers" home page, and sure enough, it's chock-full of exactly the kind of reporting we abhor. Think the "Christian Bloggers" could use a little help with their target marketing?

Dear blog author:
We recently came across your site, editor-at-large.blogspot.com, while searching for fellow christian bloggers.

A small group of us have started a new site called Christian Bloggers. Our prayer and intent is to bring Christians closer together, and make a positive contribution to the Internet community. While many of us have different "theologies", we all share one true saviour.

Would you be interested in joining Christian Bloggers? Please take a few minutes to have a look at what we are trying to do, and if you are interested, there is a sign up page to get the ball rolling. We would greatly appreciate your support in this endeavour.

May God Bless you and your blogging efforts. We look forward to hearing from you.

Craig Cantin
Christian Bloggers
info@christian-bloggers.com

Please note: you will receive this email only once. You can join or visit Christian Bloggers at any time, but we do not believe in spam, and will not intentionally send this invite more than once. If you have any concerns regarding our anti-spam policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The Virginian Mary is pregnant!

Mary Cheney, that is (who lives in Virginia). And she didn't, presumably, have sex with a man...because she's a lesbian.

So doesn't that make her kind of a virgin - and thus, the baby kind of immaculately conceived?

It's a miracle!

Well, it would be a miracle, anyway...if Mary's father and his friends would let her marry her lover.

But, as the Center for American Progress reports, "the right wing is already on the attack":

• Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America told reporters the pregnancy was "unconscionable," and that it was "very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father."

• Carrie Gordon Earll of the James Dobson-led Focus on the Family said, "Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea."

• As residents of Virginia, Cheney and her lover will also face discrimination due to state law. According to Equality Virginia, "While there are no specific Virginia laws addressing the custody and adoption rights of gays and lesbians, Virginia courts have routinely discriminated against gays and lesbians by finding that the parent's status as gay or lesbian is not in the 'best interests' of the child." The result, says Jennifer Chrisler of Family Pride, is that Cheney's lover will "have no legal relationship with her child. She can't adopt as a second parent. She won't have her name on the birth certificate." Asked what the couple could do to give Cheney's lover some legal rights as a parent, Chrisler advised: "Move to Maryland."

(Get it? Mary-land?)

Bush's plan to get us out of Iraq

Bush can't speak English, but he can speak code. Yesterday he said in code that he does, in fact, have a plan to get us out of Iraq:

"I know there's a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there's going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq. This business about a graceful exit just simply has no realism to it whatsoever. We're going to stay in Iraq to get the job done as long as the government wants us there."

So his plan is: let the Iraqi government boot us out.

Which is virtually a done deal, in light of the 655,000+ Iraqi deaths we're responsible for.

And short of declaring victory (mission accomplished?), getting kicked out by the Iraqi government is the only way Bush can "honorably" withdraw from his dishonorable war.