May 31, 2014

"You go to war with the army you have" Donald H. Rumsfeld 2004 to complaining troops.

Remembering Rumsfeld: "You Go To War With The Army You Have---not The Army You Might Want Or Wish To Have At A Later Time.

Army Spc. Thomas Wilson: Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles? And why don;t we have those resources readily available to us?

A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers in the cavernous hangar who assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense.

Rumsfeld: It isn't a matter of money. It isn't a matter on the part of the army of desire. It's a matter of production and capability of doing it. As you know, ah, you go to war with the army you have---not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.---You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up..

Rummy went to war on the cheap. The Republicans are refusing in spite of these two wars to properly fund the Veterans' Administration.

Therefore General Shinseki resigned. Problem solved.

May 31, 2014

2004 The General who got it right on Iraq.

The General Who Got It Right on Iraq

Rumsfeld and Shinseki clashed from the start.

Their philosophical clash became public when the United States went to war against Iraq. The preemptive attack relied on overwhelming air power and deployed a bare minimum of ground troops. Asked by a Senate committee to estimate the number of troops needed for the operation, Shinseki said "several hundred thousand." Rumsfeld's office immediately denounced the number as "wildly off the mark." But the disastrous experience in postwar Iraq has proved the general right: Security remains elusive because the numbers of U.S. and coalition forces on the ground are inadequate.

In a speech at Pomona College, he outlined his policy for a post-Cold War Army equipped to deal with a multitude of duties.

Here some some of his comments:

• Military occupation: "If your forces are in Baghdad, you own it. And that means you own the water, the electricity, the public buildings — and public order. If the task is to create a secure environment, troops on the ground are needed."

• Multilateralism: "Unilateralism as a stated policy is bad. The U.N. and this country have had our differences, but we need its cooperation and support."

• Threats and complicators: "In the Bush administration's first appraisal of defense needs, reference was made to 'asymmetric threats transcending geography.' Little was said about the kinds of 'complicators' that those of us who lived abroad in the 1990s were watching. These complicators — the best term we could find at the time — included transnational criminal organizations, international narco-trafficking, the surge in terrorist incidents involving Muslim extremists and the suspicion of ongoing proliferation of weapons-of-mass-destruction technology. The nagging question for which the Army had no answers was, 'What happens if the four complicators merge into a larger transnational threat? Whose responsibility will it be to deal with that kind of danger?' "

The author ends with " Some 20 months after the fall of Baghdad, Iraq remains in pieces, with anti-American fervor strong and our military victory tarnished by a stubborn insurgency and the needless brutalities at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. If this is what Rumsfeld's idea of "transformation" has brought us, it's a pity we didn't try Shinseki's."

May 31, 2014

I was surprised so many Democrats called on Shinseki to resign. From the Atlantic Wire today.

A Running List of Everyone Who Wants VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to 'Move On'

Since the GOP has habitually voted no to improved funding of the Veterans' Administration, I thought that would play a bigger role. That would be hard with so many in both parties saying for him to go. Guess there was no choice? Makes me kind of sad.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki took to the opinion page of USA Today on Thursday to outline everything he's doing to fix the "reprehensible" scandal plaguing his department. It's a start, but probably not enough to stop the growing list of members of Congress calling for his head. (Update: Shinseki has resigned.)

As soon as Wednesday's preliminary report from the VA's Office of Inspector General found that delayed medical care to veterans and cooked books is "systemic throughout" the nation's VA hospitals, many members of Congress who were on the fence quickly called for Shinseki to step down. Here's a list of every member of Congress calling for him to resign, or for President Obama to force him to resign. (Updated Friday 11:37 am)

None of the Republicans surprised me, so just listing the Democrats.

Sen. Mary Landrieu

Sen. Mark Begich

Sen. Al Franken

Sen. Tim Kaine

Sen. Jeff Merkley

Sen. Tom Udall

Sen. Martin Heinrich

Sen. Kay Hagan

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

Sen. Mark Udall

Sen. John Walsh

Sen. Mark Warner

Rep. Tammy Duckworth

Rep. Peter DeFazio

Rep. Julia Brownley

Rep. Derek Kilmer

Rep. Suzan DelBene

Rep. Ron Barber

Rep. Bruce Braley

Rep. Jerry McNerney

Rep. Rick Nolan

Rep. Scott Peters

Rep. Collin Peterson

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema

The comments of some are posted. I am just posting the comments of Tammy Duckworth about her former boss.

Duckworth, a former Veteran Affairs official and veteran, said Friday her former boss should step down to direct the conversation back to veterans:

Our first priority should be the veterans and at this point whether Secretary Shinseki will stay or go is too much of a distraction. I think he has to go. He certainly loves veterans, but it's time for new leadership, it's time to get someone in who will put veterans first. We've moved away from veterans being the primacy of the conversation. It's now a political discussion and that's now where it should be when it comes to our nation's heroes.

May 29, 2014

This afternoon the judge kicked media out of Florida redistricting trial. GOP operatives testifying.

It seems the GOP gets to confess their deeds in private.

Leon County judge kicks media out of Florida redistricting trial

TALLAHASSEE – A high-stakes trial over the fate of Florida’s congressional redistricting plans was closed to the public Thursday as top Republican operatives testified about their insider roles in trying to influence the final maps.

Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis ordered media to leave the courtroom at 1:40 p.m. in order to comply with a Florida Supreme Court decision earlier this week to allow a closed review of emails, maps, documents and other evidence pertaining to GOP operatives Rich Heffley along with Pat Bainter and his company, Data Targeting.

Bainter has argued in court for the last year that more than 500 pages of records are protected trade secrets, and the state’s high court ordered Lewis on Tuesday to close the court to the public when that evidence was presented. Bainter is still fighting use of the records in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court his lawyer filed on Wednesday.

Several media organizations, including the Orlando Sentinel, the Associated Press, the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post, objected to the order to clear the court.

“So noted,” Judge Lewis said.

May 29, 2014

I'm no good at "gotcha" stuff. Don't know how to respond to it.

I have great respect for both President Obama and Maya Angelou. I do strongly disagree with the president's education policy. So did Maya Angelou. However she respected and supported the president also.

I never expected to be accused of misusing her legacy by posting this. It is her love of literature for children, and my love of it as a teacher that prompted the post.

She and the other 120 childrens' authors who signed the letter to the president realize that there will be little time left after testing practice for the teachers to read to the little ones.

My primary classes had reading time every day when I or a parent read a book or story to them. It was the highlight of their day in most cases, especially in the impoverished area where I taught my last few years.

Children's books were all around the class at all times. It was part of our days.

I was just reading California Peggy's great post about the place of DU in her life.

It has meant a lot of many of us through the years, and I have been here since 2002. That's almost 12 years.

But I don't know how to cope with knowing that I must await the inevitable stuff I call "gotcha".

May 29, 2014

Maya Angelou supported Obama, but she blasted his school reform policies.

It's possible to do both, and she did that. She joined 120 other authors in signing a strong letter to President Obama urging restraint on Race to the Top and high-stakes testing.

When Maya Angelou blasted Obama’s school-reform policies

The legendary poet and author Maya Angelou, who just passed away at the age of 86, was a big supporter of President Obama, and in 2011, he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. But she also was a critic of his school-reform policies, raising her voice last year to blast his signature education initiative, Race to the Top, and expressing concern about the impact standardized testing was having on children.

Angelou was one of the more than 120 other authors and illustrators of books for children who signed a letter last October to Obama and said they were “alarmed” about the impact his standardized test-centric school-reform policies were having “on children’s love reading and literature.” The letter, organized by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, said in part:

We are alarmed at the negative impact of excessive school testing mandates, including your administration’s own initiatives, on children’s love of reading and literature. Recent policy changes by your Administration have not lowered the stakes. On the contrary, requirements to evaluate teachers on student test scores impose more standardized exams and crowd out exploration.

She later appeared on MSNBC and further explained her opposition.

A week later, she appeared on the MSNBC show “Andrea Mitchell Reports” and responded to questions about her opposition to Race to the Top, a multibillion-dollar competition run by the U.S. Education Department that allowed states and later individual school districts to vie for federal funds by promising to enact education reforms favored by the administration. Critics have charged that Race to the Top has led to increased high-stakes standardized testing because it requires states that win funds to evaluate teachers in part on student standardized test scores. She said:

“Race To The Top feels to be more like a contest … not what did you learn, but how much can you memorize.”

Here are excerpts from the letter signed by the writers, and following it a list of the signers.

Top authors — including Maya Angelou — urge Obama to curb standardized testing

Dear President Obama,

We the undersigned children’s book authors and illustrators write to express our concern for our readers, their parents and teachers. We are alarmed at the negative impact of excessive school testing mandates, including your Administration’s own initiatives, on children’s love of reading and literature. Recent policy changes by your Administration have not lowered the stakes. On the contrary, requirements to evaluate teachers based on student test scores impose more standardized exams and crowd out exploration.

We call on you to support authentic performance assessments, not simply computerized versions of multiple-choice exams. We also urge you to reverse the narrowing of curriculum that has resulted from a fixation on high-stakes testing.

.....This year has seen a growing national wave of protest against testing overuse and abuse. As the authors and illustrators of books for children, we feel a special responsibility to advocate for change. We offer our full support for a national campaign to change the way we assess learning so that schools nurture creativity, exploration, and a love of literature from the first day of school through high school graduation.

Then the complete list of signers follows.

May 28, 2014

Newtown Parent Says Father of Isla Vista Victim Is Now Part of 'Extended Family'

From an Education Week blog today:

Newtown Parent Says Father of Isla Vista Victim Is Now Part of 'Extended Family'

A 22-year-old man killed seven people, including himself, in Isla Vista, Calif., Friday, and he wounded 13 others. In the time since, Richard Martinez, the father of slain University of California, Santa Barbara, student Christopher Michaels-Martinez, has been an outspoken advocate for tougher gun laws.

....Mark Barden, whose son, Daniel, was killed in the attacks, wrote:

"We have not met, but you are now part of our extended family. It is not a family we chose, but a family born from the horrible circumstance of losing a child to gun violence—one that's only growing each day. My heart breaks for you because I know just a little about the long road ahead of you. We have reached out to you privately but publicly we wanted to say to you and those feeling the sorrow, anger. and frustration of this week's shooting, you are not alone. It has helped me, and some of the other family members who lost children and family at Sandy Hook Elementary, to come together and advocate for common sense solutions to expanding programs for mental wellness and gun-safety solutions. You will find your own path down this difficult road. But know that we are here for you and all of you who have been touched by this tragedy. Together, we can and will build a safer world for all our children."

Here is the website of the Sandy Hook Promise

It seems there are 488 comments, an amazing number. You have to click the comments link to see them.

I wonder sometimes if our politicians are fearful only of losing the campaign money they might get for refusing to add any type of gun control? Or if they are fearful of public opinion? Why are they so afraid to do what is so obviously needed?

There is a post in the comments section not very far down from an Australian. Very powerful.

I am so proud to live in Australia and be an Australian right now too! After our last massacre (Port Arthur, almost 20 years ago) our Govt acted immediately to outlaw all automatic weapons and started a buy-back scheme of all guns. The entire country got behind this. We have never NEVER had a mass shooting since. The thought of living in such a fear and paranoia based society as the USA, where you never really know if your kids are going to survive the school day, sounds so far from 'freedom' to me, it's not funny. The whole world sits and watches, horrified and in utter disbelief, as massacre after massacre happens in the US and still the government seems paralysed and totally controlled by the NRA and their ghastly propaganda. No other country in the world is waging such a hideous civil war, whilst constantly spouting on about 'freedom' and 'the right to bear arms'. Really? And exactly how does all this freedom work on a daily basis, when you can't go to a shopping centre, a cinema or school without running the risk of an urban shoot out. What a desperately sad way to live. Thank god for all the wonderful, like-minded people on this site. Our hearts bleed for you.

May 26, 2014

Last night's HBO The Normal Heart reminded: Why the President Ignored AIDS. 2003 article.

On a thread last night about the HBO movie The Normal Heart, some of us commented about remembering Ronald Reagan's deadly denial of that disease...how he did absolutely nothing from 1981 to 1987 when he first publicly spoke about it.

This article from The Forward from 2003 mentions some happenings that should be totally devastating to the Reagan legacy.

Rewriting the Script on Reagan: Why the President Ignored AIDS

The writer asks how could Reagan not do or say anything on the subject. Many of the same narrow minds from the 80s are still just as narrow today.

But the public scandal over the Reagan administration’s reaction to AIDS is complex and goes much deeper, far beyond the commander in chief’s refusal to speak out about the epidemic. Reagan understood that a great deal of his power resided in a broad base of born-again Christian Republican conservatives who embraced a deeply reactionary social agenda of which a virulent, demonizing homophobia was a central tenet. In the media, men such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell articulated these sentiments that portrayed gay people as diseased sinners and promoted the idea that AIDS was a punishment from God and that the gay rights movement had to be stopped. In the Republican Party, zealous right-wingers such as Rep. William Dannemeyer of California and Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina hammered home this message. In the Reagan White House, people such as Secretary of Education William Bennett and Gary Bauer, Reagan’s domestic policy adviser, worked to enact it in the administration’s policies.

The writer mentions that Jesse Helms amended a federal appropriations bill to prohibit AIDS education efforts.

Throughout all of this Reagan said nothing and did nothing. When Rock Hudson, a friend and colleague of the Reagans, was diagnosed with AIDS and died in 1985 (one of the 20,740 cases reported that year), Reagan still did not speak out as president. When family friend William F. Buckley, in a March 18, 1986, New York Times opinion article, called for mandatory testing for HIV and said that HIV-positive gay men should have this information forcibly tattooed on their buttocks (and IV-drug users on their arms) Reagan said nothing. In 1986 (after five years of complete silence), when Surgeon General C. Everett Koop released a report calling for AIDS education in schools, Bennett and Bauer did everything possible to undercut and prevent funding for Koop’s too-little-too-late initiative. Reagan, again, said and did nothing. By the end of 1986, 37,061 AIDS cases had been reported; 16,301 people had died.

My students ask me how all of this could have happened. They are all smart, they understand politics, they understand the fear of AIDS, they understand how complicated — and confusing — history and life can be. But they cannot understand such indifference, even when politically motivated. I told one of my students that the most memorable Reagan AIDS moment for me was at the 1986 centenary rededication of the Statue of Liberty. The Reagans were there sitting next to French President Francois Mitterand and his wife, Danielle. Bob Hope was on stage entertaining the all-star audience. In the middle of a series of one-liners Hope quipped, “I just heard that the Statue of Liberty has AIDS but she doesn’t know if she got it from the mouth of the Hudson or the Staten Island Fairy.” As the television camera panned the audience, the Mitterands looked appalled. The Reagans were laughing. By the end of 1989 and the Reagan years, 115,786 women and men had been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States, and more than 70,000 of them had died.

That is unbelievable to me that a sitting American president would laugh in public at an ugly poor taste joke by Bob Hope.

At least French President Francois Mitterand and his wife, Danielle, looked appalled.

May 26, 2014

Video of Elizabeth Warren's speech at The New Populism Conference last week.

From the Campaign for America's Future website:

The New Populism

No transcript yet, but here's more about the Populism Conference.

The New Populism Conference is an all-day event focused on strategies for educating, energizing and mobilizing around an agenda for economic change that strong majorities of Americans already support, including:
• Investing in good jobs to achieve full employment
• Ensuring that anyone who works full time should not be in poverty
• Breaking up the banks that are “too big to fail”
• Increasing, not cutting, Social Security benefits
• Recognizing that America is not broke; the rich and big corporations are not paying their fair share.
• Rejecting the Supreme Court’s view that corporations are people, and refusing to let big money buy our democracy.

In addition, critical sessions throughout the day sharpen the progressive principles that will unite and galvanize America’s new populist majority.

There is another video at the link, which says about 9 hours long. Includes other speakers.

May 25, 2014

America soldiers who lost their lives since Revolutionary War, to be remembered.