Agendas

The Big Story (sorry, Mr. Gibson. It won’t happen again.) on memeorandum today, in various and sundry permutations, is how the Bad Men in the Rethuglican party are perpetuating the war-machine, preventing the kindly, paternalistic (maternalistic, too!) Democrats from taking the first steps to Bring Our Kids Home! On the other hand, could it be the Media mischaracterizes Senate Resolution vote?

Contrary to the implication of these "news" reports, the Democrats are attempting to end debate on a single resolution (and need 60 votes to do it) and force a vote on that single resolution without allowing others to be considered. By opposing cloture (which would stop debate), the Republicans are actually keeping debate open.

Or, said another way, Democrats want to prevent other resolutions from being considered. Republicans are attempting to keep debate open to force Democrats to consider and debate other resolutions and amendments.

Agenda? Does the MSM have an agenda? Quelle horreur! Who’d a thunk it… But, back to the issue… As I read somewhere: “Welcome to the majority, Senator Reid.” We can slow-roll you, too.

Further on Richardson’s speech at the DNC this past weekend… David Broder writes in the WaPo:

The stars of the weekend, judging from reactions in the ballroom and the lobby, were not Obama and Clinton but former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

Both of them played to the antiwar sentiments of this liberal-leaning audience by demanding that those now in Congress do more than pass resolutions decrying President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq. Edwards wants to pull out 40,000 soldiers now; Richardson said that Iraq "is not worthy of one more lost American life."

[…]

Unlike Edwards, Richardson dwells on his varied experience as a member of Congress, ambassador to the United Nations, energy secretary, diplomatic troubleshooter and now a reelected governor. Others may talk about extending health care, improving schools, creating jobs; he says he's already done it. Vilsack made a similar claim about his eight years as governor of Iowa, but Richardson could give him lessons in speech-making.

The full text of Billy’s speech is at the “Richardson said” link above. Here’s the meat:

You would think that when the Congress realized they were lied to, they would have done something about it. Well, they still can.

Once our troops are gone, we still have a role to play. We have a moral responsibility to bring the Sunni and Shia together in a national reconciliation conference. And we have a strategic interest in organizing a regional conference with all of Iraq’s neighbors, including Syria and Iran, to help stabilize Iraq.

But more than anything else, we have a moral obligation to those Americans who have laid down their lives.

Some say we cannot let their sacrifice be in vain. But you will never convince me that those slain patriots would have wanted a single additional life to be lost just to validate their own sacrifice.

Instead, the moral obligation is to honor their service by bringing their mission to a close. By ending the bloodshed … and finally letting the Iraqi people set their own course.

Those would be the principles of my presidency. And those would be the ideals I would seek.

Oh, Bill. You are SO wrong.

So, a mere three days after posting a link to the “War and Peace” of food healthy eating articles, I’m gonna let you in on a secret: I love this stuff. And this stuff, too. If you chase the links, you’ll note the nutrition info says a serving is a “half-cup.” What they really mean is half of a four-ounce container, a mere two ounces, at 150 calories per serving. Eat the whole four ounce “cup” and you get 300 calories. I think this is why I like this stuff so much…it’s rich—rich like Mom used to make. Real eggs, real sugar, real milk, no sweeteners, no artificial or substitute anything. Damn, it’s good!

Today’s Pic: Lotsa motorhead talk going on over at Lex’s new collaborative blog adjunct, including posts from Kris and SJS. And, in that vein, I’ll offer up a pic of one of my favorite cars. I’m tempted to say this one is the best car I’ve ever owned…but I’d be excluding that ’96 Impala SS (mine was black), the ’82 Beemer 320i, the ’67 Chevelle SS396, and, of course, The Green Hornet. Decisions…

Rochester, NY. January, 1999.

Update: For the googlers who come around looking for Impala pics, there's a 1996 Impala SS brocure here.