Good news for the male cousins in my family who have graduated recently, or will do so shortly ... the government may give you a big assist in deciding how a large portion of your life will be spent.<snark>

AUDIENCE MEMBER: If we don't reenact the draft I don't think we will have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

JOHN MCCAIN: Ma'am let me say that I don't disagree with anything you said.

Hat tip to the Jed Report. (with video)

This is an amazing compilation of McCain's lusty war talk, and while you don't need to watch it in its entirety, doing so is an interesting experience. I felt like Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange" during the scene where his eyes are propped open and he's force fed images.

The 2008 election is SO clearly a vote for either war or peace.

UPDATE: His last quote in the video is potent. When asked when will he do what the American people want and get out of Iraq, he says, "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want."

Sweet Jesus.

Choose your own order and try not to puke.

6. The U.S. military cannot use Wal-Mart-like tactics to bring vendors to their bloody, corpulent knees.

5. Private contractors to the U.S. military get paid to cook food they don’t feed soldiers.

4. They are immune from any kind of prosecution, including murder and rape, while representing U.S. taxpayers.

3. They don’t have to go where they’re needed, unlike actual U.S. soldiers.

2. They don’t have to fix hazards they create, things that end up electrocuting Green Berets

Drum beat …

1. The three members of my family serving in the U.S. military make less money combined than one private contractor in the same year.

This information and ideas are derived from an excellent piece of consumer war reporting in Forbes Magazine, that liberal, left-wing rag <snark>.

"Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely. It is commercial, imperialistic, ruthless. It tolerates no opposition. It is just as arrogant, just as despotic, in London, or in Washington, as in Berlin. The American Jingo is twin to the German Junker…. If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another."

- Robert M. La Follette

NEW YORK - The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

This story was originally reported in the Israeli press two weeks ago, right after Bush's visit.

Congress seems to understand the seriousness of this possibility.

So, in a few short months, we'll find out if this is tinfoil hat stuff, or reality ... and either way, we'll go back to watching "American Idol" reruns and putting our houses up for sale.

UPDATE: Here's some information about negotiations with Iran to help stabilize Iraq.

With Gen Fallon's retirement there is a greater fear of war with Iran in many peoples minds.  We are already deeply mired in Iraq and a war with Iran would be cataclysmically stupid.  British M.P. George Galloway debates with a caller regarding the matter. (7 min)

An excerpt from President Clinton's speech 8-20-1998 concerning the attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan.

"THE PRESIDENT:

Good afternoon. Today I ordered our Armed Forces to strike at terrorist-related facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan because of the imminent threat they presented to our national security.

I want to speak with you about the objective of this action and why it was necessary. Our target was terror. Our mission was clear -- to strike at the network of radical groups affiliated with and funded by Osama bin Laden, perhaps the preeminent organizer and financier of international terrorism in the world today.

The groups associated with him come from diverse places, but share a hatred for democracy, a fanatical glorification of violence, and a horrible distortion of their religion to justify the murder of innocents. They have made the United States their adversary precisely because of what we stand for and what we stand against."

.....Sound familiar..?  (Funny how Osama's always right around the corner but by hook or by crook we can't find em') 

A short 6 min. video of American foreign policy in Iran.  JustForeignPolicy is a non profit organization working to effect a grassroots change in America's foreign policy.

JustForeignPolicy: "Stephen Kinzer, the award winning author and former foreign correspondent for the New York Times rejects this argument. He, along with a diverse group of other experts on Iran, Congressional leaders and military experts are traveling across the country to counter the message from Washington and to present options for a more rational foreign policy towards Iran."

February 19: Chicago, IL
6:30 pm at the Northwestern University Chicago Campus in Thorne Auditorium, Arthur Rubloff Building, 375 E. Chicago Avenue
Sponsored by The Pluralism Fund, the North Suburban Peace Initiative, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the No War on Iran Coalition. 

Check out this NYT piece on how Berkeley is opposing the Iraq War.  

It's past time for municipalities to ramp up war resistance in as many creative ways as possible.

###

- via MAL Contends

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli Air Force is training to bomb Iran.

That's great, the air strike, predicted by many in the reality-based community, is likely to kill many innocent civilians in Iran and destabilize much of the world.

But the neo-con Israeli and American hawks know from experience that war works well, right?

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been training on long-range flights, including refueling in mid-flight, in preparation for potential strikes against Iranian nuclear targets.

The training program has been taking place for some time but has only been released for publication Friday, the Ma'ariv daily reported.