ACTION Alert: Withdraw Bernanke Nomination

Ask President Obama to withdraw his nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Former NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has said, Bernanke is "complicit" in the in the events leading up to the financial collapse. Obama's response to this "collapse" has resulted in a further consolidation of financial power and a historic transfer of wealth from the many to the powerful few.

Tell Obaman that we can't keep papering over the deeper issues; Re-appointing Ben Bernanke is an example of papering over the financial corruption issue. Bernanke's nomination should be withdrawn.

Remember, the US Senate has to approve the President's nomination, so pressure on the Senate is also necessary.

For Your Convenience:

• Contact the White House
  
• Contact the US Senate
  

Sources:

Thanks to the Godless Liberal Homo blog for raising this issue.

Is al-Maliki Part of an October Surprise Whisper Campaign?

One has to wonder if Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and his aides, are staging a propaganda campaign in coordination with Bush and the Republican Party. Calls for troop withdrawals sound fishy to me.

Think of it. Al-Maliki and his aides leak the following message, "We want ALL US troops out by 2011." The Bush administration pretends to be somewhat dismayed. But what is the effect?

If the voting public is led to believe that ALL US troops will be out of Iraq by 2011, regardless of who is elected president, then the Iraq War is no longer a presidential campaign issue. Who benefits? McCain.

Of course, come 2011, with McCain as president, or even Obama, "facts on the ground" change and US troops remain in Iraq. Hello. Am I being too cynical?

Don't put it past Cheney and Rove to engineer this al-Maliki whisper campaign as part of an October Surprise.
Sources:

Pop Obama's Trial Balloon

LibHom recently writes:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might "refine" his timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops.

With the insight of many who have been deflated by the empty words of Democrat candidates, LibHom continues:

Of course, if you have followed past Democratic betrayals, you know that "refine" almost always means "capitulate" when it is uttered by most centrist and conservative Democrats.

Where does that leave us? With advice from LibHom:

Maybe Obama's prior comments were a trial balloon. If so, we need to fight like heck to pop it.

Contact Obama: Let him know there is a large constituency holding his feet to the fire Obama Comment Form Click Here.

Think Thrice about Attacking Iran

Our foreign policy needs to be founded on basic principles. Do those principles include imperialism, in which we use aggressive force to exploit other people's natural resources?

If the answer is "no, we are not imperialists," then we need to get out of Iraq. That should be the moral compass upon which policy and actions are founded.

Unfortunately, Bush Inc. has created "facts on the ground," which are hard to ignore. The most challenging is Shia dominated political power in Iraq. If the US leaves Iraq, Iran will fill the vacuum. This is the real reason US is now unwilling to leave for Republican and Democrat alike. Even the Democrats never talk about 100% withdrawal, with the exception of presidential candidate Richardson who is defining this as an issue.

So, the US strategy options that are unfolding are 1) maintain a presence in Iraq for ever, or 2) attack and weaken Iran before leaving Iraq.

Last summer (2006) the US and Israel conducted a military experiment in Lebanon. They tried to route Hezbollah and failed. That should be a lesson about the risks of attacking Iran, who helped Hezbollah prepare for such an attack.