Shhh.... Don't Tell But, Rumsfeld Must Go.

Donald Rumsfeld should have retired a year ago when Bush rejected his resignation. Rumsfeld intimidated senior military officers like General Eric Shinseki, who in early 2003 told Congress it would take 300,000 troops to garrison Iraq safely. Rumsfeld fired him while no one except Army Secretary Thomas White came to his defense. Rumsfeld fired White too. Now some retired officers regret not speaking out earlier and confronting Rumsfeld’s mistakes. Rumsfeld is hard to work with and a poisonous atmosphere has developed at the Pentagon. This culture of dissatisfaction has created two different stories: one official story where all is going according to plan and another, candid story told to friends and relatives that is more pessimistic. Unfortunately, the paranoia growing amongst the senior military ranks is quelling even these candid opinions. A Secretary of Defense under so much fire cannot do his job.

From the very beginning, Rumsfeld challenged his military advisors by reducing troop numbers and by not working to keep the Baathist dominated army, (except the senior officer corps,) intact. Now there are less than half the recommended troops, and no Iraqi army whatsoever. Some might argue that the Iraqi army had already disintegrated by the time the provisional authority officially disbanded it but I will bet if they offered $200 a head, they could have rebuilt a majority of it in 2 months or less.
Rumsfeld, as well as Wolfowitz, were concerned that the public would not support a war and reconstruction that cost as much as the estimates suggested. Rumsfeld reduced troop numbers while Wolfowitz engaged in fantasy economics suggesting that Iraqi oil reserves would more than pay the estimate reconstruction costs of $1.5 billion. Wolfowitz ignored analysis that suggested it would be years before Iraqi oil production would return to pre-war levels, let alone pay for reconstruction. The cost so far is over $200 billion and the oil fields remain idle.

Spokane's River Park Garage Accident

I am not a construction engineer but the collapse of a retaining wall on the fifth floor of Spokane's River Park Square parking garage smells like shoddy construction to me. On Saturday, April 8, 2006, Jo Savage managed to drive her Subaru though a 5-inch thick section of wall and plunge to her death. The photo in the Spokesman Review shows a five-foot section of preformed concrete broken and hanging from rebar. What seems odd to me is that there was no damage to the sides of the dislodged piece as if there were no interconnections between the panels. By failing to connect the wall together the retaining strength is reduced dramatically with disastrous results. Ms. Savage should have spun her wheels to the rims instead breaking through a ‘retaining wall’.

An Unhealthy Quest for Perfection

I worry that everyone thinks I'm lazy and always making mistakes. I'm not, I know, but still I worry. The work I do is praised by my customers and supervisors, and yet they frighten me, why?

Away from work I am confronted by the real world which is deteriorating into some strange Cyber-McCarthyist "Fear Factor" camp. The Feds now want to look at our web browsing and see if we fit a deviant lifestyle suitable for harassment, imprisonment, and deniable torture.

One by one I defend my rights as a citizen!
1. I defend my right to practice my religion, free from any government standards, or faith-based legislative guidelines. My religion shall never be corrupted by any government. I say what I want, when I want, about what I want, and I defend the same rights for my neighbor, and I fight the government if they try to abridging these rights. I hang out with who I choose and discuss our government’s mistakes and pursue my representatives for answers and remedies to our grievances. Such behavior should label me a civic leader, not a radical.
2. I defend my right to own a gun, not just to repel foreign invaders, but also to defend myself, my family, and my friends from a government that no longer supports these rights.
3. I shall not quarter any soldiers who do not support all the rights listed here.
4. I shall not allow mine nor my neighbor’s house to be searched without warrant and a description of what they expect to find.
5. I reserve the right to bear witness; I will not be a ‘Nark’.
6. I will demand to confront my accuser and have a speedy trial if legal action is brought against me.
7. I will defend my right to have legal disputes decided by a jury of my peers.
8. I shall defend against unreasonable legal fines and punishments.
9. There are vast multitudes of other rights I retain and will defend for others.
10. In the end, rights belong to people, not governments, and we retain them.

I don’t think these are radical notions, and I don’t think the Bush administration should treat us like a bunch of suspects.

...And Out the Other

I don't wanna do my laundry. I don't wanna do my laundry. Why don't you do it for me. Baby, baby, baby, baby please.
Thanks to Pepper for starting me on this blog thing.