<<What this is to me is group think of a cult. I perceive that Bush and the people around as a cult. Bush is the cult leader, and the rest have become him. So the only change that will happen is through elections.They are a merged 'we' and not individual I's. They rarely leave the cult but are punished for disloyalty.

Think about John Snow, the Treasury Secretary. He is delivering bad economic news, and is now persona non grata.

Cheer-up Bush is doomed no matter what. There is no one to continue his policies, once he leaves.>>

Well put. I like this post. Errr... has no-one yet spotted the significance of the very last sentence? Can it be that some alarm bells are starting to ring yet?

By my calendar, we have .... right, EIGHT months to the end of this year. That leaves one whole year for campaigning, fixing, and fraud, and a year to put up a replacement.

But by now, we should have been told who that will be.

Hello? Anyone worried yet?

Often it has been said "follow the money". I believe the other saying is translated into "who benefits". This applies in spades here--answer the question as to who is benefitting from Rummy/Cheney/Bush's little escapade in Iraq and you will have the answers.

All of the above have been getting rich daily on the war, while thousands of American citizens have either paid with their lives or with injuries which are so severe and will handicap the rest of their lives. Also, what will be the results of all the exposure from depleted uranium from those who have done 1, 2, possibly 3 tours of duty over there. We SHOULD be marching in the streets. I wonder how many of the police would end up joining us at this point?

It is time to make industry pay for this war--by all the corporate welfare and elimination of taxes on them, we citizens will end up shouldering the costs for generations to come.

I am curious about Mr. Midwest's last paragraph:

What would work? A long term consumption boycott effective enough to plunge America into Great Depression Two, a Depression Deeper and Greater than the last Great Depression. A Depression so Deep and Great, it will actually exterminate trillions of Upper Class Dollars, and turn America's rich people into paupers. I don't know if we are ready for that, but I promise that it is the only thing which will work. We can't educate the Corporate Fascist Pig Establishment. We can either exterminate it, or submit to its will. So far, I have submitted to its will, just like everyone else. But at least I am stating the dimensions of the problem.

How would you recommend preparing for this depression? And, more importantly, how would you recommend that the poor prepare for it? Perhaps some of us with a bit stashed away in the bank COULD make it through, but with the lack of relief for the poor plus the elimination of any way to get ahead for them, a severe depression might mean the death of them. Just curious. Of course, the poor have been accustomed to doing without, so it just might be that the middle class will actually be worse off than the poor, because they have to make that really big attitude and spending adjustment.

Rumsfailed was NOT a Vietnam Era Navy pilot. The thug served from 54 to 57, one of the rare peactimes in the past half century. He rolled around mats with other sweaty men and learned to be an unyielding prick. I was in the USN during Vietnam, and we would have taken the lowbrowed brute into the jungle and beaten him with a rolled up gay mean's magazine.

A rising tide of military brass

Wants the removal of Rumsfeld’s ass,

From his seat as chief,

Of the armed forces fief.

But can we blame Don,

For all that’s gone wrong?

Iraq’s flames he’s fanned,

Missed Osama in Afghanistan,

Put troops in harm’s way,

For their armor wouldn’t pay,

Ran torture chambers aplenty,

Made crooked contractors wealthy.

The Economist calls him a serial bungler,

Also, he’s not getting any youngler.

Your time has come, Rummy.

While not exactly funny,

Your reign will be seen,

As just one big scream.

Not totally sure about this, but I think WC is a Rush listener and a leftover from the other letters forum responding to Nina Burleigh's article Country Boy.

You should see what's going on in that thread. Rush Hillbilly Heroin Limbaugh posted a link to Nina's article on his website and since then that letters forum has been invaded by Freepers and trolls, and they are hysterical. WC actually used the phrase "lib media" in his letter in that thread. Obviously that shows us how out of touch he really is. For anyone at this point to still believe that this media is "liberal" is just absurd. This pResident has gotten more free passes by the media than all other Presidents combined. Just goes to show you that if Rush is repeating it, no matter how untrue it is, the Ditto Heads will believe him because they cannot think for themselves.

WC deserves to be ignored.

My view: keep the idiot, it can only help to undermine the election prospects of the Republicans in 06 and 08. It will give us fodder and talking points for the next couple of years and perhaps allow us to lance this boil of fascist pus. If anyone is counting>>> OBL the terrorist they love to invoke but can't (wont?) catch killed through his minions 2738 Americans, among a total of 2948. So far the Cheney/Bush cabal has 2662 notches on their war belt. We will probably never know how many others were killed in this adventure of the billionaires. I'm guessing it is more than 2948, and before the rants start about the comparison, I'm pretty sure C/B et al did not give prior notice that we would be bombing the crap out of Iraq at a certain time and on a certain day.

WC has consumed the fool-aid, the ku klux kult of fuxxsnooze PNAC fascists. Being so full of shit, it's fortunate he/she/it is a water closet. Back to Freerepublik, goosestepper.

These are not just any six men "disagreeing" with Rumsfeld. These generals include the former commander of CENTCOM, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division during the invasion, the Commander of the First INfantry division during the invasion, the operations director of the Joint CHiefs of Staff, and the guy who was in charge of training Iraqui security forces after the invasion. THese are not just "some generals" -- these are top commanders with extremely distinguished records who (as far as military experience go) leave Rummy so far in the dust it's insane. They were on the ground in Iraq and have commanded some of the best and brightest our military has. They didn't get into these jobs by being political hacks -- they got there by showing superior leadership capability and extensive tactical military knowledge. To ignore or trivialize their concerns is foolish.

And they are not just saying that Rummy was wrong, they are saying that his wrongheadedness has cost soldier's lives unnecessarily, that he's stretched our military to the breaking point, and he's created a culture within the military that led to the disgrace of Abu Grhaib. That Rummy seems to beleive he's not responsible for his "idiosyncrasies" is a tragedy for our sons and daughters who are giving their lives on the front lines and paying for his mistakes. I assume you "support the troops" -- so why then are you content to defend some yahoo who once flew a plane 50 years ago when he has spent soldiers' lives recklessly and has shamed and gelded the world's greatest fighting force?

As for Katrina, in the first few days of Katrina, Bush had $2000 a plate fundraising dinners in Arizona, strummed a guitar backstage at a country music concert, and didn't realize how bad things had gotten until a staffer showed him newsclips on WEDNESDAY (the levees had been breached on Monday, the storm had hit on Sunday). Whether or not one could call it a "vacation" is academic -- the fact is the guy who ostensibly is "the decider" was completely clueless while one of the biggest disasters in the history of this country was underway.

Then again, he was also reading "My Pet Goat" while our nation was under attack.

Maybe if you stopped watching Faux News and put down the kool-aid for a minute you'd realize that the only people who aren't being honest about the facts is your friendly neighborhood GOP Presidential Administration and their minions.