John McCain Supports a Military Draft

I guess he has no choice. As with W. McCain has always believed war and force are major and viable options to face down an enemy, any enemy, really, whether real or imagined. Indeed, Pat Buchanan of all people said Dick Cheney seems like Ghandi when compared to where McCain stands on the use of force. This is a rather horrifying notion. Certainly the last thing the United States needs is another war monger President and reckless, perilous and irresponsible cowboy diplomacy.

Check out the chilling clip where Pat Buchanan made his alarming observation.



Endless wars will most certainly require a military draft.

According to a piece in Raw Story.com

An audience member at a McCain town hall meeting in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Wednesday indicted the VA's treatment of veterans and expressed worry that unless the draft was reinstituted, the United States wouldn't have the manpower to "chase bin Laden right to the gates of Hell and push him in."

The woman then went on to describe the deplorable conditions for veterans at the VA Hospital in Albuquerque, a four hour one way drive from Las Cruces. (Remember how Republican lawmakers just love to grandstand about how they support our troops.)

McCain’s response:

"Ma'am," the Senator responded, "let me say that I don't disagree with anything you said. Thank you, and I am grateful for your support of all of our veterans."

I wonder what Senator John Cornyn, the Yes Man-in-Chief for Neocon ideologues has to say about a military draft. Let’s hear it from big John.

Are You Ready for A Bush Third Term?

No? Well, don't be duped into voting for John McCain because you think he is a "Maverick." He isn't.



Republicans in Congress who voted with W. most of the time are also yearning for a Bush third term. Think about it.

Someone Call a Doctor, Please! The GOP Has Gone Wacko

From an overdose of its very own sleaze.

Republican madness became more severe last week when it came up with its ridculous and desperate narrative to paint Senator Barack Obama as an arrogant clone of George W. Bush. According to Maureen Dowd in her editorial in The New York Times More Phony Myths last week, Karl Rove said:

“Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.”

Dowd saw right through Rove:

Actually, that sounds more like W.

Sigmund Freud must be rolling in his grave. The party is outing itself. Freud would call such a wacko statement “projection.” Anyone who studied Psych 101 will remember what projection means. If it has been as long for you as it has been for me since you took the course, below is a quick refresher from Wikipedia.

In psychology, psychological projection (or projection bias) is a defense mechanism in which one attributes one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions to others. Projection reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the unwanted subconscious impulses/desires without letting the conscious mind recognize them. The theory was developed by Sigmund Freud and further refined by his daughter Anna Freud, and for this reason, it is sometimes referred to as "Freudian Projection"

Republicans must be suffering from acute, severe and desperate projection b/c they have actually expressed and have done some pretty unacceptable things. And their conscious minds have given free expression to more than a little pathology that may have lurked in their subconscious.

It must really, really tough to be a Republican these days. It is an election year and the party, after 8 years of the worst U.S. Presidential Administration in recent history, is obviously in dire straits. Now that little over 20% of Americans approve of George W. Bush and his Administration, it is no wonder the party has become so desperate and is therefore trying to pin its sins, crimes, corruption and incompetence on Democratic candidates.

The Texas Republican Party is obviously taking its orders from Rove because the state’s party chair recently sent a rather deranged letter to party members. Indeed, the Texas GOP is attempting to protect the W. rubber-stamping, boot licking, do-nothing for Texans Senator John Cornyn by scaring the living daylights out of its membership. The loony letter depicted Rick Noriega as a liberal evil doer who will do everything that is just horrible if he is elected.

Noriega is a liberal’s liberal who believes the federal government knows best, that all decisions should be made from command central in Washington, D.C.

Translation: John Cornyn has been a rubber stamp for George W. Bush for over 7 years and his lack of integrity and courage is one of the reason’s things have gone so horribly wrong for the U.S. and Texas. John Cornyn has supported W. at least 97% of the time. Cornyn, a Vietnam War draft evader, does not have what it takes to stand up to a bullying President who prefers a dictatorship to democracy.

Drunk with power and as arrogant as it can be, the Democrats are convinced that the federal government knows how to spend your money better than you do.

Translation: Senator Cornyn has stood by W. while he has all but bankrupted the U.S. with his and his Party’s horrendous and catastrophic debacle called Iraq. The economy is in sewer and there are 47 uninsured Americans in this country because, thanks to job outsourcing, lost homes and a bad economy, they cannot afford to pay for health care insurance. Senator Cornyn did not lift a finger to ease the burden of his constituents.

It is going to take a rapid response truth team and roving massive Truth Squad to counteract Liberal Democratic Lies with our Conservative Republican Truth.

This is projection gone mad.

It will take a massive media blitz on our part to contradict the ugly lies perpetuated by the shameless, hypocritical and power-crazed Democrats.

Translation: The Conservative Republican Truth Squad is the Lying Squad. Conservative Truth has been Conservative Mendacity. Liberal Democratic lies are Republican lies. The media blitz under way is a Republican one whose sole objective is to scare the living daylights out of the American people. When not fear mongering, the GOP will trot out its character smearing hit men to demonize Democratic candidates.

John Cornyn is a pathetic hypocrite when he says he supports our troops, our children, that he has compassion for elderly and less fortunate residents because he voted against the GI Bill, SCHIP and most recently against Medicare. The Texas Medical Association did not withdraw its endorsement of John Cornyn without good reason.
According to an article in the Houston Chronicle on Saturday:

The Texas Medical Association political committee on Friday withdrew its support for the re-election of Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn because he voted against a bill to stop a planned 10.6 percent cut in doctors' Medicare payments.

Medical association officials said the cut, which is set to take effect July 1, will force them to choose between their finances and their elderly patients.

Cornyn said he voted against the measure because it was a partisan ploy and "election-year grandstanding" by Democrats rather than a real effort to solve the problem.

The physicians group began the day criticizing both Cornyn and senior U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for their votes against the bill on Thursday.

Association President Dr. Josie R. Williams of Paris said they "chose to protect insurance companies profits instead of protecting our patients' health."

By the end of the day, the association's political committee, TEXPAC, had withdrawn its backing of Cornyn, saying its board was "outraged."

I am glad Texas physicians have learned something about John Cornyn that his constituents have known for some time.

A complete break with rationality occurred when the Chair insisted the Democratic candidates will play according to Karl Rove's personal political political play book. This is where the Chair truly outed her own party.

Shadowy 527 groups, sinister PACs and sleazy committees are beginning to hatch dastardly plans. They don’t care what they say, who they ruin or how they win in their quest unchallenged power. Their hateful ads will be so bitter, cynical, desperate and hysterical, they make your skin crawl.

The Texas Republican Party’s Chair letter reminds me of Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth who could not wash the blood from her hands no matter how hard she tried.

The GOP is terrified of its overall record, Cornyn's abysmal voting history and his cozy relationships with corporate interests. It fears Rick Noriega because he is a man of integrity, honesty and substance. Rick Noriega has walked the walk and this scares the Cornyn groupies the most.

As far as creepiness is concerned nothing could make anyone’s skin crawl more than the crimes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Nothing could be more dastardly and hateful than lying to the American people about Iraq. The lie is responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 soldiers, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, including children and thousands of maimed soldiers.

Nothing could be more dastardly and hateful than letting hundreds of Hurricane Katrina victims drown.

Nothing could be more hateful and dastardly than attempts to slash or deny benefits of those who are fighting Bush’s wars.

Nothing could be more hysterical than the GOP’s former and ridiculous color coded fear alerts. As far as ruining people, the GOP did just that to an undercover CIA Agent, Valerie Plame because her husband knew Bush was lying about Iraq. In fact nothing could be more hysterical and desperate than the Republicans themselves.

Chris Bowers of Open Left pretty much nailed what the Party has become.

It must be really scary to be a conservative. To be one, you must live in constant fear of terrorists nuking the United States, of gay people on the verge of convincing you that you really enjoy sodomy, of Spanish becoming the official language of the United States next week, of every African-American voting seven or eight times in the next election, of radical Islam suddenly becoming the latest hip thing among kids across the country, of perpetual lesbian orgies in girls bathrooms in high schools across America, of liberals forcing everyone to become a vegan, of Christians being rounded up into concentration camps, and of Democrats outlawing private property if they were to ever take power again.

The Republican Party has gone over the cliff.

The long and painful tragedy is ending. The curtains are closing. The lights are getting brighter.

You can wake up now if you have been dosing.

We can go home soon and back to the America we once knew.

Hope is in sight but the fight is far from over yet.

Texas Vietnam War Dodger Cornyn Demands Decorated Veteran Noriega’s Military Records.

Now why would our distinguished junior Senator from the great state of Texas want to examine the military records of the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Lt. Col. Rick Noriega?

For what purpose?

I think we all can guess at the reason. Let’s put it this way. Cornyn dodged the Vietnam War when he could have served in the military, but he instead actively sought a way out. Lt. Col. Noriega, on the other hand, enlisted in the National Guard in the 1980’s in response to the Iranian hostage crisis. He later served in Afghanistan as a result of 9/11 and the subsequent war on terror.

But this is an election year and it obviously has dawned on Cornyn that he had chosen to shirk his walk while Lt. Col. Noriega has walked his. And so now we have a threatened and scared Republican Senator who will fabricate smear for the sole purpose of saving his own scared and sorry derriere.

I don’t think any of us will ever forget the relentless and unconscionable swift boating of John Kerry in 2004, who unlike Bush, did serve in Vietnam. And Bush supporters smeared Kerry mercilessly for it. Yes, folks, this is the sick, twisted and toxic manner in which Republicans and their supporters thrive. The pathetic cowards will smear and demonize decorated war heroes. GOP smear mongers have no honor. They don’t even know its meaning.

Like W., Texas U.S. Senator Cornyn did not serve in the Vietnam War. Both men were of military age at the time and as we know, both are right wing war hawks today. And yet neither was willing to fight in a war themselves when they had every opportunity to do so. While W. his behind his Daddy’s clout and buddies to dodge Vietnam, Cornyn bailed out by using a loophole in the law.

Clueless about the hard and real consequences of warfare, an inept Mr. Bush distracted us from the real war on terror by fabricating an unnecessary debacle called Iraq. His equally oblivious and war dodging soul mate, Mr. Cornyn has blindly and routinely supported W. in his irresponsible quest that has undermined our military as well as our national security. 70% of Americans believe Iraq is a mistake and not worth the price. So much for putting chicken hawks in high positions of power that involve decision making about warfare, our military or our national security. Not to mention the inconvenient truth about our now busted and seriously overdrawn national piggy bank.

It is apparently so easy for swaggering war dodging chickens to send others off into the killing and maiming fields and squander our national treasure while the chickens roost safely at home completely insulated by bastions of personal financial protection and fortresses of political power.

A couple of months ago progressive bloggers, Vince Leibowitz, Hal Heitman, and I put our keyboards together to do a little research on Cornyn’s military history, or rather, the lack thereof. We knew given Cornyn’s age that it is likely he had to have participated in the mandatory Vietnam War draft lotteries of the 1970’s During the time in which so many men Cornyn’s age were drafted into military service we wanted to know why the Senator was neither drafted nor did he enlist.

Vince had discovered an article written in the San Antonio Express News on October 20, 2002 (Section A, page 12) that revealed Cornyn avoided the Vietnam War draft by obtaining a student deferment in 1970.

In 1970, Cornyn requested and received a student deferment from the draft, which was abolished shortly before he graduated in 1973.

"There was a lot of soul-searching going on and a lot of questions about our nation's role in the world," he said. "Ultimately, I turned out to be pretty much a chip off the old block."

I’d say there was a lot of soul searching all right. Cornyn chose to shirk the walk. Chip off the old block? How so? According to Senator Cornyn’s web site his father is a former B17 pilot in WWII and he served in the Air Force for 31 years.

Actually, the fact that Cornyn received a deferment in 1970 is kind of odd given that student deferments were supposed to have come to a screeching halt in 1970. The entire rationale for the draft lottery was to even the playing field for those being called into service. Prior to the lottery student deferments were possible for those enrolled full-time in four year colleges/universities who maintained average/passing GPAs.

Our interest in this issue peaked when strangely, as Vince had discovered, the statement in the San Antonio Express conflicted with one written in the December 14, 2007 issue of the Texas Observer by Jan Reid. In the article about Mr. Noriega’s military service (“Boots on the Ground”) the author had stated Mr. Cornyn was too young to have served during the Vietnam War.

Too young? Vince, Hal and I knew better. Hal, like Cornyn, was of military age at the time and he had to participate in the Vietnam War draft lottery himself.

I am also a baby boomer whose own brother, born the year before Cornyn and one of my brothers-in-law, born a year after Cornyn, also had to go through the draft lotteries.

So, what is Cornyn’s story?

Hal dug through the Selective Service archives and learned that Cornyn did indeed go through the draft lottery system in 1971 and he drew number 28, which is a very low one. You see, those with numbers 0-95 were to have been called into service.

Why did Cornyn go through the draft lottery in 1971 if he received a supposed deferment in 1970?

The fact of the matter is, back in the Vietnam War days deferments were next to impossible to obtain for the young men who followed their fathers into the trades, or for those who did not have the financial resources at the time to attend school. These are the groups that bore the brunt of the draft and most were shipped to Vietnam immediately after basic training. Far too many returned home in body bags.

Fortunately there are times in America when people cry out for justice and fairness for all. During those turbulent Vietnam War times the public grew outraged because so many of the working class and poor citizens were shipped off to the killing fields while the wealthier young men could escape that fate by enrolling and remaining in a university or college. Many of our lawmakers at the time had served in the military themselves and they understood the public’s rage and frustration. And so after enormous public pressure, the draft lottery evolved in an effort to add a degree of fairness to the draft. Here is a snippet on its mission and how the lottery was supposed to have worked.

To make the lottery as fair as possible, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed a unique random calendar and number selection program for Selective Service. Using this random selection method for birthdays, each day of the year is selected by computer in a random manner, and that date is placed in a capsule. The capsules are then loaded in a large drum on a random basis. By the same method, numbers from 1 to 365 (366 for men born in a leap year) are also selected in a random fashion, placed in capsules, and the capsules are placed into a second drum. The process, repeated a second time, results in two sets of drums. Official observers certify that the capsule-filling and drum-loading were conducted according to established procedures. This certification is secured to each drum; they are sealed and placed in secure storage. Should a lottery be conducted, one of the first actions would be an inspection of these stored drums and the selection of a set to be used in the lottery.

So much for the NIST’s mission of fairness where Cornyn is concerned.

Because Mr. Number 28 Cornyn avoided the draft.

Last night while writing this diary, I received an email from Hal. As a result of his persistent research efforts he finally discovered how Senator Cornyn had ducked the draft.

According to Hal:

Even though the lottery was instituted in 1969, and meant to level the playing field and deny young men the opportunity to avoid military service by going to college, people were still allowed to apply for and were granted education deferments, aka 2-S deferments, up until September 1971. These deferments did not vaporize, they were held in force after 1971. This is how Cornyn was able to maintain his student deferment while others in his age group went to Vietnam.

So, a man who cowered behind a 2-S deferment has the arrogance to demand the military records of decorated veteran Rick Noriega?

I am convinced that Vietnam War dodging Senator John Cornyn fully intends to swift boat Lt. Col. Noriega and his service in Afghanistan.

If the junior Senator from the great state of Texas thinks that we Texas Democrats are going to let him, Rove and members of the GOP smear a Texas war veteran and demean his military service, these boys and girls have another thing coming.

Texas Democrats don’t let Texas Republican Chicken Hawks smear Texas war heroes.

Texas Democrats, and any revolted and sickened Republican who may be reading this blog, I urge you to go to Lt. Col. Noriega’s website to sign the petition against Senator Cornyn’s swift boat attacks. Let us put a final end to the Republican hate machine that is fueled by personal smear, sleaze and slime. This machine is hostile to us as a people and only serves to hurt. Hate cannot engender anything good, positive, uplifting or worthwhile.

A special note of thanks to Vince Leibowitz and Hal Heitman who contributed research materials for this diary, and to Randy Erb, for his input and for his service and contributions as a Vietnam War Veteran and former draft counselor. And a big thank you and hugs to my brother and one of my brothers-in-law who went through the draft lotteries as full-time college students in excellent academic standing, with no deferments available to them at the time.

Another person whom I don’t even know also inspired me to write this piece. He or she deserves a rather extraordinary applause for his or her heroism, integrity and bravery. Let all of us in the Democratic Party give our deepest and most heartfelt thanks to real hero who donated a portion of his or her re-enlistment bonus to support Rick Noriega.

From a comment posted by a real American hero Daily Kos on February 15, 2008.

just made it a nice round $28,100.

People who never served don't get to swiftboat my brothers and sisters.

I've got about $500 left from my re-enlistment bonus. I was going to save up to build a new PC, but getting Democratic Veterans into office is more important right now. by soonergrunt on Fri Feb 15, 2008 at 04:58:35 PM PST

There was a time, not so very long ago, when Americans used to be more like “Soonergrunt” and less like Cornyn, Bush, Rove and Co.

Republicans to Pump $250 Million into Smear Assault Machine to Attack Democratic Candidates

(This is a synthesis of comments I posted previously on the Burnt Orange Report. The piece is also cross posted on Texas Kaos)

We Democrats are going to have to work very hard to win in 2008, despite the promising opinion poll results for our party and the Republican's abysmal record of failure on each and every level the party has touched. Remember how W. has turned to shit everything he touched when he was in the private sector? Well, now W. and his did the same thing to our very way of life.

To briefly summarize, for those who may have forgotten a fact or two about W.'s terrible legacy, let me provide a crash refresher.

Everyone on the planet on knows that W., enabled by rubber stamps such as our Texas Republicans John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, managed to get us into the worst foreign policy debacle, (Iraq, of course), in recent history. We recently learned that it is Pakistan, not Iraq or Iran, that is the most dangerous place in the world and yet we remain mired down in a war that didn't have to be fought in the first place.

77% of Americans believe our country is headed in the wrong direction now and 64% of us believe we should not have gone to war with Iraq. W. Is at 34% approval - worse than Tricky Dick Nixon.

The economy is a train wreck lurching at rocket speed into a recession, and, thanks to no grown up supervision on the part of our nation's leaders, the banking industry is crashing. Our able leaders did not take notice until their good buddies in the financial markets started hemorrhaging cash; some of it likely belonging to our leaders. Tragically, Americans continue to lose their homes due to the sub-prime fiasco, another result of the appalling absence of government oversight. W.'s global and national credibility is non-existent and so his "stimulus package" failed to convince investors that it would do the trick. The global stock markets continued is downward dive bomb today. We'll see about the U.S. ones tomorrow morning.

We are losing in Afghanistan, thanks to the incompetence of the Bush White House and more of our nation's jobs have been outsourced than ever before. We have no viable immigration policy, no border or national security, either, for that matter thanks to a do-nothing money grubbing Congress 2000-2006. Our nation's infrastructure is falling apart at the seams. Remember New Orleans? It still looks like a war zone thanks to a Bush Administration that obviously despises poor people.

Because of its abysmal failures, the Republicans do not want to loosen their grip on power. This is due to a number of factors, financial outcomes likely loom large, but I suspect the GOP's worst fear is transparency. You see, when the Democratic Party wins a solid majority, the American people will learn the truth about and the far-reaching consequences of the GOP's dirty, sneaky crimes and lies. I'd venture to guess a large number of upstanding Republicans could end up in federal criminal courts. Some may even be tried for war crimes against humanity. Some may get busted for treason. Yes, indeed, the stakes are really high for the crooks in power.

The stakes are so very high that fear must be driving the Republicans to the brink of collective hysteria if not insanity.

What do Republicans do when they are afraid? We know well what they do. The GOP bullies will launch vicious personal attacks based on lies, smear and fear against all who threaten them, namely Democrats.

And so, true to form, some high rollin' Republicans will pump $250. million into their smear attack machine to take down Democratic candidates in state and local elections.

Here is a snippet about the assault machine's players: (The link to the source is below.)

To review the White House connections: the group is headed by Bradley Blakeman, a former Bush White House official, Mel Sembler, a millionaire former Bush admbassador to Italy, and Ari Fleischer, who serves as the group's spokesman. Much of its support so far has come from Sembler and casino magnate and billionaire Sheldon Adelson, the sixth richest person in the world. (The group intends to "broaden its base" as time goes on, Fleischer says.) The group got off the ground with a $15 million effort to support the president's surge strategy in August, but it's sticking around for the long haul.

You see, the GOP is trying to build a protective wall of gridlock within our federal government. With gridlock, it will be tougher to bust the criminals. It will be a fight to roll back the tax cuts to the richest of the rich; end the fraudulent war in Iraq (Halliburton has too much to lose); and implement national health care for all Americans.

This group of high rolling rich and powerful Republicans make the Swift Boaters look like pre-school boys throwing sand in the schoolyard sandbox.

Folks, if you are not involved with the Democratic Party on any level, now is the time to do something. Not tomorrow, not in an hour. NOW. Our local and state elections are going to be crucial this year.

If we do not stand up and fight the thugs in power with all we have, we will deserve whatever the future brings our way. We may not have millions or even hundreds of dollars to donate like high rolling Republicans do. But we do have principles and core values that are far superior to those of the Party of Lying Crooks. More people identify with our values than Republican ones. We are the party with the big tent that truly embraces diversity and altruism.

Our democratic principles are certainly worth the fight, aren't they?

Please help us extinguish the power of the crooks. Let's toss the lot of them out of our districts, our cities, states and nation's Capitol. They don't like us, they don't represent us and they despise the American way of life as we know it. Roll up your sleeves and do whatever it takes to win.

GOP to Pump $250. into Assault Machine to Attack Democrats