“Let us sing thy praises, O’ thou Anti-Christ.”

∞

Yes.

Comment by Jason M. Hendler — December 20, 2007 @ 2:26 pm

Actually, Jason, the Lakota have many reasons to desire independence from the U.S. And just for your information, they and other tribes HAVE been trying to “work things out” with the U.S. government for years. The U.S. has broken dozens and dozens of treaties made with Indian tribes since the BEGINNING. Did you know, for example, that Oklahoma had been “granted” to the Indians as “Indian land until perpetuity” after forced moves from their original homes? I assume you’ve also heard about the Oklahoma Land Rush? Or did you know that the Black Hills were also given to the Sioux (Lakota) forever…until gold was discovered there? Perhaps if you’d ever visited the Rose Bud or Pine Ridge reservations or knew ONE THING about Native American history, you’d be more sympathetic. As for me, I hope the Navajo Nation is next. Window Rock, their seat of government, is pretty nice. The rest of the reservation is as poverty-stricken as any of the worse third-world countries.

I believe the expression you are looking for is “goddamn pieces of paper”.

Here is one unexpected fallout from Bush’s I-ignore-treaties-’cuz-I-can doctrine. The very same these Bush loyalists were quick to applaud when it worked for them, and are now quicker to condemn when it works against them.

Comment by Jason M. Hendler — December 20, 2007 @ 2:26 pm

Uh huh, treaties and policies. So you expect them to live up to their signatures on pieces of paper? How quaint.

Comment by Zooey

He should just insert a catheter and save money in linens and diapers.

Your company may contract with foreign entities within federal regulations, and pay any taxes, duties, etc. Having worked for defense companies, I know there are many limits to what US companies may offer other nations, and vice versa, due to fed policy.

Regardless of whether the Lakotas are driven by religion, nationalism, political idealism, etc., the Lakotas are a defeated nation under treaty within the US. If they have any grievances with the US, they can take it up in federal court, or lobby congress, or the Indian Affairs offices for to adjust policies / treaties. Florida and the feds just worked with the Seminoles on gaming policies, so there is no reason for secession / independence.

#117 yes violence is reduced right now. But why? You and your kind would say the surge is it, only the surge, don’t look any further. But people in the know would say it is a combination of multiple factors. One being that we have chosen to arm the Sunni’s (remember al-queda is Sunni) and use them to govern their own area’s. Another factor is that a lot of the cleansing is over and the Sunni’s, Shiites and Kurds are nearly completely separated, and they were nearly completely separated by the time thhe surge began. Another factor is that the Mahdi Army is essentially on stand down.

What has not happened is any real progress ion reaching the goals of the surge. Also the violence levels are down to 2006 levels and in 2006 the public was raging mad at the administration for the violence level in Iraq. So essentially one year after the public resolutely sent a loud and clear FU to the white house the violence levels are back down to a level previously considered unacceptable by the public. The only reason the public is not raging like they were last year is because this is not an election year and because the press has come darn near close to abandoning Iraq as a story. In Spite of the lower Violence levels, John McCain would still need body armor, 100 troops and helicopter gunship’s circling overhead if he wanted to go out and buy some oranges and carpets in the market. That is the reality of Iraq today.

Comment by Jason M. Hendler — December 20, 2007 @ 11:43 am

Leave it to the bed-wetting wingnut to come up with a massive overreaction.

“That is good news, according to a military analysis of the results. At the very least, analysts optimistically concluded, the findings indicate that Iraqis hold some “shared beliefs” that may eventually allow them to surmount the divisions that have led to a civil war. ”
…
“Conducting the focus groups, in 19 separate sessions organized by outside contractors in five cities, is among the ways in which Multi-National Force-Iraq assesses conditions in the country beyond counting insurgent attacks, casualties and weapons caches. The command, led by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, devotes more time and resources than any other government or independent entity to measuring various matters, including electricity, satisfaction with trash collection and what Iraqis think it will take for them to get along.

“The results are analyzed and presented to Petraeus as part of the daily Battle Update Assessment or BUA (pronounced boo-ah). Some of the news has been unarguably good, including the sharply reduced number of roadside bombings and attacks on civilians. But bad news is often presented with a bright side, such as the focus-group results and a November poll, which found that 25 percent of Baghdad residents were satisfied with their local government and that 15 percent said they had enough fuel for heating and cooking.

“The good news? Those numbers were higher than the figures of the previous month (18 percent and 9 percent, respectively). ”
…

Comment by RUCerious — December 20, 2007 @ 12:47 pm

Happy thoughts don’t require factual truth. They just need to be happy. It’s misdirection. They also ignore the fact that so many Iraqis are dead or have left the country that the violence should subside simply because so many people are gone. If they were all dead imagine how peaceful the country would be.

sounds like the Ex has been consuming more of the managed, fabricated news coming from the US propaganda machine.

I looked up these reporters, and for the most part, they are purveyors of good news, feel warm and fuzzy stories with a few exceptions.

No, God didn’t give the Israeli’s squat. They just took over most of Palestine after WWII as donated to them by the guilt ridden western nations under the UN auspices.

Iraq’s Sunnis celebrate holiday with a renewed vigor
Los Angeles Times
December 20, 2007

BAGHDAD — Thousands of Sunni Muslim faithful bowed their heads at dawn Wednesday in mosques around Baghdad for the first prayers of the Eid al-Adha holiday — a time of renewed hope after months of reduced bloodshed, yet tinged with sadness for those not there to share it.

It was the largest turnout in years at Abu Hanifa, Baghdad’s largest Sunni mosque, where worshipers spilled into the yard and the streets outside. After the service, long lines formed to buy slices of pastry eaten with syrup and cream, a traditional holiday breakfast.

Relatives long separated by the killing that raged in Baghdad’s bloodied streets were reunited again.

“I visited family and friends all over Baghdad,” marveled Sabah Abdul-Wahab, a young chef, who spent last year’s four-day holiday confined with his parents and siblings in the upmarket Karada district. “I also went to Zawra Park, and the place was filled with families having picnics and just relishing the newfound security.”

U.S. commanders say violence across Iraq is at its lowest level since the first year after the 2003 American-led invasion. They credit the deployment of additional U.S. troops, a freeze in activities by a powerful Shiite Muslim militia and the decision of thousands of Sunni Arab tribesmen to resist the insurgents they once backed.

But the relative calm pervading the capital was a stark contrast to the holiday’s start last year, when at least 78 people were killed in explosions across Iraq and sixteen corpses were recovered in Baghdad alone, victims of execution-style slayings. On that day, people woke up to hear the news that Saddam Hussein had been hanged, spreading bitterness, fear and anger among his fellow Sunnis, even as Shiites fired guns into the air to celebrate the tyrant’s demise.

Those days seemed a dark, unpleasant memory as members of Naif Talal’s extended family gathered at his grandfather’s home in the Adil neighborhood, scene of some of the worst fighting of Baghdad’s sectarian war.

And, may I add, spend more money than they take in, requiring us to mortgage our future to the Chinese. How conservative and fiscally responsible is that?

But lets take this in a different direction. Lets view the Indians as being a race of people who have lived through a holocaust. They are attempting to regain sovereignty over a land given to them by God to care for. Sounds a bit like Israel doesn’t it? Should we as a nation allow the Indians to reclaim what was once theirs? What was given to them by God? Should we arm them against those who brought a foreign religion to their land and took the land by force? We seem to have no trouble supporting Israel under those circumstances. Are we a consistent country or not?

This was my post that got Joneser in a hissy fit. Note my last sentence.

You decide…have we ’seen’ yet?