In a diary yesterday titled Police & Puppeteers: New Mission for US Military in Iraq, I analyzed the August 8th Rand Corporation report, "US Policy Options for Iraq: a Reassessment" commissioned by the USAF.  Please read that diary in conjunction with today's.

Today I'll analyze what Anthony H. Cordesman has to say in his report on his recent trip to Iraq, coincidentally released the same day as the Rand Corporation's report.  In a nutshell, Cordesman offers,

From my perspective, the US now has only uncertain, high risk options in Iraq. It cannot dictate Iraq's future, only influence it, and this presents serious problems at a time when the Iraqi political process has failed to move forward in reaching either a new consensus or some form of peaceful coexistence.  Synopsis: Trip Report

The Rand Corporation, an independent think tank that says of itself, "Objective Analysis, Effective Solutions," issued its latest 104-page study yesterday titled "US Policy Options for Iraq: a Reassessment." Objective the report may be, but Rand seems able to deliver what amounts to bad news to the US Air Force who commissioned the study.  In it, a single strong statement of radical shift in US policy in Iraq is recommended and a single pessimistic summation of the military commitment is offered.  In short, the new goal of armed forces in Iraq should shift from making war to building a nation.

Or, to getting the hell out.

The United States should focus its political, security and economic efforts in Iraq toward the single goal of reducing sectarian strife and other violence, but should also start planning now for the possibility that these efforts will not succeed. . .Rand Press Release

If Congresspersons have questions on whether impeachment proceedings against members of this administration who are known to or are highly suspected of having committed crimes should be brought up on impeachment charges, perhaps  some of those questions can be aired here.  For members of Congress who need reminding about their duties and responsibilities, let us recall Barbara Jordan, speaking to the Nation on the Nixon impeachment.

[Note: Also seen on Daily Kos.]

Having taken tacos to task two years ago and winning, Florida's migrant tomato pickers united within the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) are now taking a bite out of burgers.  Burger King burgers to be precise.

"Make fast food fair!" and "It's time for the King to do the right thing!" protest signs read and protesters chanted outside the Miami corporate headquarters of the fast food giant. "Nuestro sudor no es gratis," (Our sweat isn't free) stated tomato-shaped placards held by about 50 Mexican farmworkers and supporting clergy.

What's the complaint?  That practically communist idea in our time that the laborer is worthy of his hire.  Or is that a Biblical idea?  Some workers in Immokalee currently bring in about $8,000 a year.

not in the presidency.  At least, not in 2009.

I have nowhere near the expertise of exposure and investigation that journalists such as David Sirota have as a researcher into the political philosophy and ability of Sen. Obama.  I have only heard him speak once regarding his book, The Audacity of Hope, and my impression is that he is a sincere man, intelligent, educated, and articulate, and who is, like everyone, formed in adulthood by his childhood.

Which would you rather attend to celebrate upcoming events?  Any of the many galas surrounding NFL Championship #XLI, or the really big bash the City of Miami will host in the Orange Bowl the day Fidel Castro dies and the Cuban community of my hometown gets to shout as one, "We won!"

Whatever that means.

Decisions, decisions. . .

Scientists announced that stem cells may be havested from amniotic fluid which hold as much promise as embryonic stem cells.  If this is the case, President Bush would have no reason to veto a bill from Congress authorizing federal funding for stem cell research using such cells.

However, scientists also acknowledge that they don't yet know

exactly how many different cell types can be made from the stem cells found in amniotic fluid. They also said that even preliminary tests in patients are years away.  Miami Herald

The revered Bill Moyers called out to Americans and Democrats for something more than a list of action items in this era of great need to return to representative democracy and to recapture the Great Experiment that has been tortured into an unrecognizable tyranny by the politics and policies of George W. Bush and the neocons.

In gottleib's diary, "Bill Moyers for President," we read

Bill Moyers is not in trying to change the minds of people but reach folks with the story they would embrace if only they were allowed to hear it.

Here is my submission to the dialogue he calls for.  It's short and working its way toward sweet, I think.  I hope the BooTrib Community "hears" it.  I'd like to hear back what my story means to indivdual Froggers -- how do you interpret it? -- whether you embrace this American Story or not.

Americans, we are told, are most generous people.  We give to one another in many ways. Perhaps the most important donations we make are in our loving and kindly interactions with others each day of the year, our lending of helping hands when difficulties arise, our voulunteering in the greater community, and our providing the broken-spirited with a shoulder to lean on.

At this time of year for seasonal as well as financial planning reasons, those Americans who are fortunate enough to be able to do so, execute most of their charitable contributions. Without prying or tooting a self-aggrandizing horn, I thought it would be interesting and enlightening to discuss the giving habits or styles of the BooTrib Community.

The Aristotelian Mean, or "moderation in all things," that is found in the Nicomachean Ethics is defined as the middle ground between excess and deficiency.  Granted Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is viewed by many as an attempt to provide a teological explanation of Nature, that is to say Nature works toward an end goal.  In the modern scientific age we live in, this is known to be erroneous.  Nature is non-moral and completly bereft of "goals." Thank you for demonstrating that to us, Mr. Darwin.

But the Nicomachean Ethics does contain that golden nugget of an idea "The Golden Mean of Behavior," more completely presented yet loosely restated as moderation in all things, excess in none.  That idea does not mean (yet is frequently misinterpreted and misunderstood to mean) that a person can take all things (particularly in re health) with moderation; therefore reasoning that a moderate amount of a bad thing can be indulged.  Wrong!

Here's how my idea of the Aristotelian Moderate Democrats and the philosphy for which they stand is correctly understood.

At least it's the beginning of the end.  America will awake by the dawn's early light this November 8, 2006 renewed to Her original purpose and on the verge of changing the miserable course She's been hijacked to follow by despicable politicians calling themselves Republicans, when they are in fact thugs and killers of the American Dream.

The world is about to become a safer place for Democracy.

So, you think you know politics?  You pride yourself on your knowledge of arcana concerning our national politcal leaders?  You've been huffing and puffing in the wake of all the political scandals, but by god! you're up-to-date and know who's who.

Right?

Okay.  Yesterday I brought you Radar Online's 10 Stupidist Congresspeople.  Today I'm giving you more of what you're longing for -- Rolling Stone's 10 worst.

You remember the drill.  I give you the results below the fold in reverse order.  You don't peek before you try to guess who's No. 1.

Who's head comes to the sharpest point in this Confederacy of Dunces?  Who is the King of Fools?  Whose tee-shirt reading. "I'm with Stupid" has an "error" pointing straight up?  

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who's the dumbest of them all?

Radar Online must be the mirror, 'cause they have the answer.  Want to know the relative ranking among the rankly stupid?

Three guesses who leads the list.  No peeking!

In the case of Antonin Scalia, Justice, SCOTUS vs. Nadine Strossen, president, American Civil Liberties Union, the jury finds that Justice Scolia is a judicial bigot.

Justice Scalia debated Nadine Strossen in a televised debate yesterday.

While claiming,

. . .nothing in the Constitution supports abortion rights and the use of race in school admissions, AP Miami Herald

Scalia went on to defend his position,

"Whether it's good or bad is not my job. My job is simply to say if those things you find desirable are contained in the Constitution," he said.