Iraq Dust Up!

Sunday morning political shows recap:

"Meet The Press" featured a heated discussion between Senators Webb and Graham about Iraq policy. Andrew Sullivan has a link to the video on his web site. It was interesting.

The other big discussion was about John McCain, and whether he can make a comeback from the free fall that his campaign is in. The jury is out on that one. I say good riddance. Now if we can get rid of the other backward candidates....about a dozen of them....

Jim

Playing "Whack-A-Mole" In Iraq

It's been busy here in Cherry Grove this weekend, but I did get a chance to watch a couple of the political shows on TV this morning. There was lots of talk about a Pentagon report that says that the "Surge" has not lowered the overall level of violence in Iraq, it has only tamped it down in the area where the additional troops have been sent. This prompted Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet The Press" to ask the US ambassador to Iraq if we were in effect, playing "whack-a-mole" in Iraq, since when we hit one pocket of violence, another pocket springs up somewhere else. The ambassador, a smooth talker that Bush is lucky to have, admitted that this was happening, but went on to say that the situations is not all negative, or some such. All the analysts I listened to seemed to feel as though September is make or break for the "Surge" policy. We've heard this sort of thing before. Bush seems determined to prolong the war until he leaves office. I think that no matter what General Patreous says in September, Bush will stubbornly "stay the course." I hope I'm wrong, but how can the congress stop him short of cutting off funds for the war, which would be difficult to pass?


Photo: a perennial, like a Hibiscus, that is trying this year to come back in the garden. Last year it also tried but the bugs got it. I hope it makes it this year.

Jim

Petraeus: The Fox Is Guarding The Hen House!

I read on AmericaBlog that ABC News is reporting that General Petraeus, the commander of our forces in Iraq, has already determined that "The Surge" is a success and that he is planning for hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for the long haul. This is a surprise? The general reports to Bush. What did we expect, for him to say that Bush's plan was not working? The Democratic led congress should have used the spending authorization bills to insist on an independent evaluation of whether or not "The Surge" is effective. Bush could then ignore that just like he ignored the Baker-Hamilton commission report, but at least it would be one more factor in favor of ending our involvement in Iraq. It's too late for that now, so in September we'll no doubt get the General's rubber stamp of approval on "The Surge."

On a happier note, I had a session with my cardiologist yesterday and the report is good. I have this valve issue, but it hasn't gotten significantly worse in the past three years, so he was happy and so am I!

Photo: The new arbor I installed this year. The Hydrangea (left) was a gift from friends in Philadelphia almost a decade ago. Right: Lilac in its third year.

Jim

Monday, Monday

7:00 AM: In the news this bright, sunny Monday morning: Hillary Clinton is beginning to pull ahead of Barak Obama in key states. Her husband and former president Bill Clinton will play a more public role in her campaign. Obama needs to add substance to his campaign. Obama says he'll roll back Junior's tax cuts on the very wealthy. A Taliban leader is killed in Afghanistan. Oh, and 124 people are killed in Iraq over the weekend with the worst incident occurring in Kurdish controlled northern Iraq. I knew we were not going to be able to get started this morning without some additional horrible news from Iraq. Yesterday, Senator McCain was asked why he has persisted in his support of the war given the fact that the U.S. Congress AND the Iraqi Parliament have voted in favor of timetables for a U.S. withdrawal. His answer, because I know better. So much for democracy. Gas prices continue to rise with prices approaching $4.00 a gallon in some areas. U.S. automaker Chrysler is being acquired by a financial group that specializes in fixing troubled companies. To this we've come - the U.S. auto industry is in serious trouble. Finally, be sure to add a $0.02 cent stamp to that $0.39 cent stamp you have in your drawer, because postage rates go up today.

Out here on Fire Island it was a beautiful weekend. Sunday was almost like a summer day at the beach. The wind was out of the North, so temperatures on the island were relatively warm. I saw people sunbathing in the nude on the beach for the first time this season, and someone actually went swimming in the ocean, although water temperatures are still a bit chilly for most of us. Bradley went swimming, but he's been "in" since April!

Photo: red fox cub taking a late afternoon snooze just outside his den.

Jim