CNN: McCain says he could support 16-month Iraq timetable

Yikes! This poor fella can't catch a break! You have to understand the context of this headline: If the commanders on the ground think it will work...

This statement is bound to be pounced upon by the Obama camp.

Yes, obviously McCain was billed as the 100 year war man. What he meant was that he could see a military presence in Iraq for 50 to 100 years, just like we have in South Korea today.

Now let me be clear: I want us there only if the Iraqi government and (more importantly), people want it. And only in the smallest number of troops and personnel possible to aid this fledgling nation. Obviously, the American people and the Iraqis are getting impatient. With record budget deficits at the ending of the Bush presidency, I don't see how this 10-Billion-a-month war can continue much longer.

Just one (not so) little thing...

Obama's recent overseas trip appeared to go well... But there is one visit he left out... he should have stopped in to visit wounded troops in Germany. He claims he was advised not to make the visit because it might appear political. Well, uh sure it would. But the whole danged trip was political! If he cared about the troops, he wouldn't care what people would think and visited them anyway. Perhaps it was just an oversight.

It may be my top issue, but it will certainly be one of the handfull of top issues: that is how we take care of the numerous veterans returning home from the war.

So far, we are doing poorly in taking care of the vets. The current administration should have thought about this before getting so heavily involved in these conflicts.

Yes, I expect McCain to make as much political hay out of Obama's omission as possible. But THAT's politics!

How will this all play out????

As expected, Barack Obama met with Iraqi P.M. al-Maliki. No problem there, but then he issued a statement following saying they had agreed on an aspirational timeline for redeployment of U.S. troops by, say, 2010.

The criticizm comes because Obama is interpreted as acting presumptive as "Commander in Chief".

Don't get me wrong, I am generally pleased that the Iraqis are starting to talk about us leaving. At some point they have to hold their country together on their own.... or at least with very little assistance. I just wonder if it is correct to telegraph this to the media to score political points.

al-Maliki is not the strongest leader... He may just be trying to raise his popularity by saying they are ready to run the country on their own. I hope they are and I hope the idiot terrorists wake up and realize that the country as a whole could make a lot of money if they just got together and shared the oil money. I don't know what exactly Bush wanted out of this deal, but I want these proud people to step up to the plate and take over!

Well, I'm not sure how Obama's statement to the press will play out. He shouldn't be presumptive, yet he has to be prepared for the possibility he could get elected.

McCain's rejected op-ed peice...

Now, dangit, I read the rejected NYT editorial and there was nothing wrong with it!!! It was McCain's opinion on how we need to win the war in Iraq. It did not really contain anything new as we know where the Senator stands and where Senator Obama stands.

Yes, I know McCain's article criticized Senator Obama's approach to Iraq. So what? It also talked about how McCain wanted to succeed there and how Obama was ignoring the facts on the ground. So?

McCain was encouraged to resubmit the piece. I think the reason stated was for him to talk more about his ideas and have less criticism of Obama. But it comes across to me as censorship of McCain's views by the liberal New York Times. Gosh, don't they have enough liberal columnists to counter Senator McCain's editorial???

Personally, I'm not sure exactly what the truth is about Iraq. Some improvements have occurred for sure. In fact it has improved to the degree that the Iraqi government is now talking about U.S. forces leaving at some point. So this all could be a mute point IF things go well.

Bush lifts ban on offshore drilling...

I'm not totally against this. But it is best to examine how to remove the oil without fouling the environment. Somewhere I read something about how Bush said the rigs should be a certain distance from shore, say out of sight. I am NOT one of those who says:"rape the environment at any cost to get my gas prices down!"

Certainly since the Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969, technology has improved a bit, hasn't it? If people want to advance the cause of drilling in the Artic and drilling offshore, they need to demonstrate how oil can be extracted cleanly. Oh, I know it is not totally clean, nor will it ever be, but they should do their best.

Short term, of course, drilling and exploration will not have any impact. I believe more can be achieved near term, by more fuel efficiency and people cutting back on driving, etc. They may well be forced to at these gas prices.

Barack binLaden????

Ah, let's just have a sense of humor here! With all his faults, I don't see much of a resemblence between Barack and Osama. Yet such satire gets 'em all upset. I'd like to get that cover of the New Yorker! It's bound to be a collecter's item for sure!

Olmert: Peace deal never been closer....

My administration is about to be brought down by corruption scandals - so now is the time to get a peace deal going.... Yeah rrrriight! Lay the groundwork for a peace deal and hopefully the new Israeli PM and American President will be able to follow through.

Of course Bill Clinton tried like hell to ink an agreement before he left office. It was a legacy thing, for sure. Then Bush came in and had a hands-off approach for six to seven years. Now, is HE worrying about HIS legacy??? Forget it!!! Just keep us out of WWIII and I'll be happy.

Uh, can we wait till the next Pres takes office???!!!

Missle tests by Iran. Response to Israel's earlier tests. Threats and sabre rattling... Stop it already!!! Morons in the White House. Asshole president of Iran. Both need to go! Israel needs to cool it!

O.k., we get the point! Stop it already!

Tried in the press....

I wasn't there, I told myself, so how the hell would I know who murdered Jon Benet Ramsey??? But I do know that Patsy and John went through hell. The interviews with them were a bit awkward and suspicious, I'll admit. But so what??? I'd be nervous as hell on tv and look guilty as hell, too! John and Patsy were probably trying so hard to convince people they were innocent that they looked suspicious.

Then, throw in the tabloid garbage and you have everyone presuming guilt. The recent DNA finding only goes to show you that you shouldn't judge the "book" by it's cover. Gawd, poor Patsey's cancer was probably advanced due to all the heartache over the death of her daughter!!!!

Iraq proposes timeline for withdrawl of U.S. forces...

Hmmm, interesting! There are some security conditions, but it sounds like the time is coming. I just think it would be impossible to not follow their wishes if we are to call Iraq a sovereign nation. The rest of the world would see us even more as occupiers.

How does this play out with the U.S. presidential candidates? Well, Obama stock would seemingly be up and McCain down. However it is much better for the Iraqi's to propose such a timeline than the Americans. The Democrats would have imposed a timeline regardless of the wishes of this supposedly sovereign nation.

All considered, we have a pretty good track record as occupiers. Japan, Germany and the Philippines can all attest to that. All three are stable functioning democracies. But it took a lot of patience to get to that point.

I hope they can get the U.S. forces out of the cities first. Keep bases in the desert to train and equip Iraqi forces... at least for a while.

What do they drive where gas is 40 cents a gallon???

Not sure about that figure, but I've read that the litres to gallon equivalent in Tehran is 40 cents per gallon! Of course the Iranians don't have great refining capacity so they've had to ration gas at times. But videos I've seen of Tehran show them driving Honda Accords and other small cars, as well as scooters and motorcycles. Still, the smog is bad so there must be a lot of traffic.

We hear a lot about China and India consuming a lot more gas because people are attaining a higher standard of living... But I've seen videos of Chinese and Indian cities and you don't see anybody driving around in the kind of HUGE trucks and SUV's that are mentioned in my previous post. And, of course gas is not as cheap there as in Tehran. Even my Ford Ranger would be too big for most of the roads in China and India or Tehran for that matter.

The U.S. is still leader in oil usage. Gawd, I look forward to the day these "dinosaurs" disappear! I just wish that for once the U.S. would take the lead in energy conservation and innovation. For now, all people can do is downsize and drive less. For those that don't (like my neighbor in the previous post), I hope they go bankrupt!!!

Ventillation is good!

Bring it on!!!! $5 gas??? Well, I have no control over what the price of gas does, but there is a silver lining to all this. Also a downside. I am noticing fewer big trucks and suv's on the road. People have slowed down somewhat on the road, though I see Toyota Prius' whizzing by. Fine with me - those can get like 50 mpg!

But, alas, there is my place in Nebraska. Maybe they felt like this is the last gasp, but these neighbors of mine spend all day driving around in these huge trucks, hauling huge boats with their kids driving around on the gravel roads in ATV's... They are kicking up all kind of dust and eatin' up all kind of gas. I finally got up enough gumption to introduce myself to them. Coloradans from Littleton. He drives a huge truck with company logo on it, so maybe he uses his company's gas for play time. They another huge truck and a couple of ATV's that they drive around the gravel roads kicking up dust.

Thank god these fucks only come up on weekends. Well, I had to wet down the trees to prevent some idiot from lighting off a pop bottle rocket over the 4th of July and burning those cedars down. It is soooo much better in the spring and fall, when there are just locals there. THEY come up and introduce themselves and make conversation!!! Yeah, a few have a big trucks, but they don't flaunt it like these wealthy Coloradans and they also wave when they drive by.

The downside??? Well, if the Denver folk stop coming, the little convenience store may have a rough time and have to close. So, my compromise is that I'll set up some kind of automatic watering under the trees to wet them down AND stay the hell out of there on those holiday weekends!!!! But in general I prefer the Nebraska folk and I can live without people from Denver. Glad I run around with NE plates on my little Bronco... Nice to pretend I'm a local!

I'll hang on to this place till the market allows me to sell it. Get a place in town where there is nothing BUT Huskers!

Just to be fair...

A few posts back, I put McCain's picture up when he appeared in front of this group. So, I suppose it is mandatory for all candidates to go there with bended knee. To be fair, many American Jews are somewhat liberal. McCain can't count on everyone from that faith to vote for him.

Many American Arabs and Muslims are bound to vote for Obama. What else can they do after the way Bush has performed? But all I hope for is a fair-minded policy in the Mid East. The less influence from these P.A.C.'s, the better.

The Black National Anthem????

What??? Some kind of song, "Lift ev'ry voice and sing" (nicknamed the Black National Anthem) was sang at the Mayor's annual State of the City speech event. The (real) National Anthem was never sang. I have been slow to criticize the goofy-lookin' Denver Mayor Hickenlooper... But because the real anthem is expected at these events, I would really like the Mayor to come out and apologize for not it not being included in the ceremony. They sing the Star Spangled Banner at sporting events and all sorts of other venues. So no excuses!!! If you are going to have a guest open a government event, please use the real anthem. A Denver Post article indicates that the the tune for this "alternate" anthem is the same as for the real one. Not good!