Listen to Good Reporting

Tonight's TV highlight might be the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals game (especially here in Boston), but the cable news networks are abuzz with their sensational campaign news story of the day. For them, Barack Obama's meeting with Senator Clinton tonight serves as an opportunity to pull out live camera shots and a handful of political experts who purport to know what no other American not directly involved could know—what is going on behind closed doors.

However, if the Obama-Clinton meeting doesn't satisfy your newsy cravings and you have an hour to devote to the soothing radio tones of WAMU's The Diane Rehm Show, the best political commentary of the day comes from NBC News correspondent Richard Engel. Particularly noteworthy is Engel's presentation of what he sees as the "five wars" that have taken place in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. Listen to the segment HERE, and skip ahead to the end of minute 17 to hear Engel's "five wars."

The heyday of network news might be over, but there's no question that the best correspondents—Engel included—continue to report with an intelligence and insight that make their reporting a waning form of art.

Lost in the Valley

I sat silently in front of the television on Sunday night as the end credits began to roll. I could do little more than stare blankly into the darkness of the living room and massage my eyes.

The final ten minutes of In The Valley of Elah left me saddened, frightened, moved, and shaken to the core on a level I hadn't felt since watching The Pianist as a young teenager.

I have an understanding with myself that I don't like to discuss how I liked or disliked a film until I've sat on it for a day or so and let my feelings solidify. Instead of talking, showering, checking my email, or doing anything else, I headed for bed and picked my iPod up on the way. I thought I'd have a song or artist to listen to whose music would tap into the way I was feeling.


I scrolled down from A to M and found songs of patriotism, rusty old Ford pickups, death, and anarchy (though not very many of those). Nothing I listened to connected with me in the way I needed. Alan Jackson and Rushlow Harris' tribute songs to soldiers were difficult to handle after the brutal stories from Elah, but Neil Young's words of protest or Wyclef Jean's diatribes against President Bush and foreign wars seemed similarly inappropriate.

Over the past day or so I've spoken with a few people about In the Valley of Elah and it has become clear to me that it is a film absorbed differently by everyone who watches it.

I still haven't figured out how to put my feelings down in words, but this morning I found a song buried on my iTunes that chips away at the deep personal inquiry that Elah has stirred in me—

"War" by Haunt. (listen HERE)

A Crazy Day: Gary Ackerman, a Red Torch, and Accountability

(This is the first of a new style of blog post I plan to do occasionally. We all mine through dozens of news sources to find the most interesting stories on a given day, but I figure I might as well present the stories I've been struck by every so often and offer some of my own commentary on the day's news. Enjoy!)


1) Something's missing!

That would be your tax dollars. Read the Government Accountability Office report released today on spending abuses by government officials regarding charges to "government-wide purchase cards." Read it HERE.

Notable: "We also found that agencies could not provide evidence showing that they had possession of, or could otherwise account for, 458 or 1,058 accountable and pilferable items. The missing items were valued at over $1.8 million, out of over $2.7 million tested" and "a cardholder at the Department of Agriculture fraudulently paid over $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend....for personal expenditures such as gambling...." See, GAO Report, March 2008, "Results in Brief," pp.5-8.


2) The Olympic torch is getting pushed around the globe while China plays dumb/oppressive

Things are so bad I don't think I'd even be able to bear watching the torch pass by if it were in Boston. I saw the torch run by on a winter night in Boston in 2006 before it jetted over to Turino and I remember how awe-inspiring the moment was. Now the torch's light is exposing the atrocities of the Chinese government not just in Tibet, but in Burma, Sudan, and in China against the nation's own population.

Notable: (from CNN) Liu Jingmin, vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, said the Olympic torch has been "warmly welcomed by the local people" in each city.


3) Petraeus goes to Washington...

...and we all focus on how Obama, Clinton, and McCain looked or didn't look "presidential" during Senate hearings yesterday.
There's nothing wrong with Senators running for President, but when important business—with expenditures in the trillions, deaths in the thousands, and shock-waves around the world—turns into a presidential job interview as the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing did yesterday, nobody wins.

Notable: The House Committee on Foreign Affairs, under an impressive Chairman Howard Berman, held a very civil discussion with Petraeus and Crocker this afternoon. Though the House is the House and comes with its fair share of interesting characters arguing for or against every side of the Iraq situation in a different way, Representative Gary Ackerman of New York stood out today in his moving and direct outlook on the war. Ackerman spoke of the "redo" that Congress has given to Petraeus and the Pentagon to fix the situation in Iraq, a redo that the families of over 4,000 dead American soldiers will never have. Bravo.

As Far as Predictions Go...

I'm not an Obama fan, but I'm a big fan of the new video his campaign has put together of his speeches in opposition to the Iraq war dating back to 2002.

As far as predictions of troublesome conflicts go I'd be a lot happier with Obama than I am with Dick Cheney. There's flip-flopping and then there's ignoring everything you once believed:

Freedom Facts?!

For some reason I ended up on the Operation Iraqi Freedom homepage today and couldn't help but notice the "Freedom Fact" on the right side of the page.


Man, I'm just overjoyed that the Army Corps of Engineers has been so successful in getting Iraq's oil extraction capacity up to 3 million barrels a day! I'm sure the citizens of New Orleans will be rolling with happiness to have cheaper gas prices the next time their levees crumble and they need to evacuate again.

Also, since when was one of our goals for success in Iraq "increasing crude oil infrastructure"?

"Desperate for Bipartisan Success" sounds a lot better

So here I sit--sick for the fifth straight day, stuck inside the house for 48 consecutive hours, repeatedly hearing the "ping" of new emails as midnight approaches.

"Update from HQ: 10 hrs. left!"
"Big news"
"Tonight at Midnight"
"Less Than 5 Hours"
"A Special Request"
"Closing in on Our Goal"


God forbid an email asking for money should brag about something other than staggering campaign donations by people richer than me, how selfish I am for not wanting to save our country, or how Hillary's $1000/plate dinners are so terrible compared to the contributions from every millionaire trial lawyer.

Of all of these URGENT REMINDERS, only one message managed to stay out of my trash folder.


Joe Biden's campaign has been touting the Senator's recent Iraq amendment calling for U.S. policy to encourage a new federal system in Iraq. It would divide the country up into regions according to religious affiliation instead of pursuing a plan of uniting the whole country under a central government. In recent months Biden hasn't been all over the airwaves promoting whichever Iraq policy seems most popular at the time, instead he's been working behind the scenes to pull together a plan that would eventually get the kind of bipartisan support that Nancy Pelosi can only dream about: a 75-23 vote of approval.


What's most encouraging is that Biden co-authored the bill with Republican presidential nominee Sam Brownback. Isn't it nice when a Democrat and Republican can rally support around the same thing without having to attack anyone else?

I can't help but noticing that one of Biden's Democratic competitors, Governor Bill Richardson, seems to like Biden's proposal a great deal. Richardson says, "I would also study Senator Biden's federation [proposal]. I think that may be ultimately the right solution." [Christian Science Monitor, 9/27/06]

Funny that Richardson's official Iraq strategy is summed up in three headings on his website: "Remove ALL Troops," "Withdraw as Quickly as Possible," and "A Diplomatic Surge."

Shows that taking time to develop a viable strategy works a lot better than rushing on the scene with some clever, yet naive bullet points.....

Move On and Out

While today's debate over General David Petraeus' Iraq report was sure to be filled with partisan calls for continuing the surge or pulling out ending the war--and many from both sides angling for the most election-savvy position to take--MoveOn.org's carelessness just adds to the mess.


Though MoveOn.org is not the Democratic party, it's easy for Republicans and supporters of the Iraq war to tie the two together as just another example of the Democrats' "surrender" mentality and lack of respect for our commanders on the ground in Iraq. I wasn't too confident that the Democrats would change their strategy based on a positive report by Petraeus (which he more or less provided today), but I hoped they would at least pretend to listen and consider what he had to say.

When the Democrats criticize President Bush for not listening to opinions that contradict his, their words carry less weight when they appear to listen just as little as he does.

MoveOn's actions are so harmful because Democrats never coordinate with each other and because they don't enjoy the modern theatrics now required to combat media pressure. The GOP leadership in Washington is calling loudly for Democrats to denounce MoveOn's ad, and while I think such demands are absurd, it will end up hurting the Democrats in the eyes of talk-radio Americans when they don't condemn the advertisement.

If only MoveOn had held off until tomorrow...

The Good, the Bad, and the Uncertain Future: John McCain and the Iraq War

Whether or not you've been opposed to the Iraq war since the start or are determined it should end or continue, it's hard to prove that public opinion isn't begin to swing back in favor of Bush's surge strategy. Compared with polls taken one and two months ago, the number of Americans who believe the surge is improving the situation in Iraq has risen by nearly 10%, and a similar increase in percent now say America was right to take military action against Iraq (43% now vs. 35% in May). (CBS News Polls)


If the military and security situation is improving on the ground in Fallujah and across Iraq, the long term result of America's presence in Iraq is uncertain. Presidential candidates have, with varying degrees of clarity, staked out their positions on the war and the "surge," and it's yet to be seen which Democrat or Republican can turn changing public opinion into higher poll numbers. Even more, can a swing in public opinion on the war swing the voting public towards the GOP field in 2008? These are questions with few answers at the moment.

I remember watching Colin Powell's address to the United Nations and the warnings of mushroom clouds and vials of dangerous explosives and chemicals. At that moment I was scared, and I supported Bush's move towards military action against Iraq. Every day since the invasion, however, my support for the war has dwindled, and until recently I've maintained the belief that every day the United States is in Iraq is a day too long. And now we see Democrats such as Brian Baird of Washington supporting the surge and Hillary Clinton's recent statements announcing that progress is being made. While I haven't been won over enough to believe that the situation in Iraq is completely better and we need to recommit to a long-term engagement in the country, my support of Senator John McCain's steady position on the war has risen.


Now that we've seen Hillary Clinton announce success and failure, Barack Obama go from opposition to voting for troop funding bills, and a number of other candidate's doublespeak on their positions, John McCain's unapologetic support of the war is strangely refreshing. McCain sees Iraq as being an issue above politics--one that concerns our standing in the world and the survival of our nation--just as he speaks of issues such as immigration as a national priority--more serious than the cries of "sanctuary cities" by his opponents. Instead of jockeying for position on every issue like Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, McCain has stated where he stands and held true. Unfortunately for him, Rudy vs. Mitt attacks are more interesting to listen to, and McCain has been ignored of late.

It would be a shame for America if the Senator's mismanagement of campaign funds and personnel is what dooms him in 2008. Instead, I'd like to see McCain go down with the honor that so defines him--if the war he so believes in turns sour and he's the last man standing.

Unlike his competitors, McCain is the only man with the guts to remain standing.

(all photos: © 2007 by Luke N. Vargas. All Rights Reserved.)

Roll Up Your Sleeves

"There's hope in every message of his. He doesn't talk about all the negative things, he'll inspire us with positivity instead."

After a Barack Obama event in downtown Manchester, I was searching to comprehend the content of Obama’s speech and the audience’s reaction, and that line is a part of what I heard as a group of volunteers gathered afterwards.

I don’t usually have to search for clues to the meaning of a speech. I spend most of the time at such events taking photos and moving around the location, I’ve always been able to absorb a large portion of whatever the candidate says. I try to be safe, however, and I always take an audio recording of every speech, question, and answer. Reviewing the speech is as easy as playing a file on iTunes, but I’ve never needed to go back and try to find out more.

Now I faced an entirely new situation: I couldn’t remember Barack actually laying out new policies or letting us know about anything he's working on in the Senate. To be fair, I do remember him receiving a substantial amount of applause for saying he would do away with the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the military, but my mind was hazy on any details beyond that. One particular moment that I especially remember was when a woman asked the Senator about his health care policy; she had filed for bankruptcy due to the cost of successive medical treatments and procedures. I've heard Senator Edwards respond to situations like that, and he does it by outlining his plan for universal health coverage.


Obama can, and only did so much. He engaged the crowd and the woman by asking her to explain the details of her story. He sympathized with her and acknowledged the severity of the problems in the health care system. The Association of Health Care Journalists has a page on each candidate and their health proposals. Barack Obama's page is one line, filed under "Health care plan highlights," which sums up how I feel Obama's campaign is running at the moment: "Provide affordable, comprehensive and portable health care."

What that line from the AHCJ doesn't end with is, "for everyone." Obama's plan would establish a national health care plan and give Americans another health care coverage option--more honest and less money-driven than the HMOs of today--but only offering another option instead of making some real changes.

Other Democrats running for President (those apparently less "focused on a united message of hope" than Obama) are bolder and have some real highlights on their pages: "Ensure universal affordable quality coverage by creating a Health Care General Fund to serve all Americans. Then, require employers to either cover their employees or contribute to the fund." I won't hide the fact that I think Chris Dodd is one of those bold, solution-oriented politicians that is seemingly so unpopular in America--too old and thus out of touch with modern-day needs and concerns. A successful politician, however, is marked by a three-step cycle that I like to refer to: 'Optimism-Opposition-Resolve.’ The first step—the one Obama enjoys tapping into—is the most glamorous, youthful, and..."hopeful" of the three, but it only goes so far.


A voter asked Senator Obama what he would do in the coming months in the Senate to put an end to the war. It's a shame that I can't remember a word of Obama's response. But I'm pretty sure that had it been a powerful declaration of purpose and commitment to doing what it takes to work with or without Republicans and make a concerted effort to bring the troops home, I would have remembered. For now, he's just another member of the Democratic Congress that only 25% of Americans approve of. Obama, unlike others who have committed themselves to seeing their ideas through to completion, Obama is still stuck on 'optimism,' and yet to move beyond any 'opposition.'

As someone who put my faith in Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats this past election I'm ashamed not because the war isn't over—Republican opposition to a withdrawal will pose a mountain of opposition for the foreseeable future—but because that unguided optimism and promise of progress in ending the war sucked us into believing that we'd see a change.

The Democrats swept the 2006 election with a passionate opposition to the Iraq war. But instead of following through on their promises and forging ahead through opposition, legislators like Barack Obama have done little more than criticize the President and whoever votes to continue the conflict. Moreover, Obama continues to rewind to 2002 and brag about his opposition to the war while he was a member of the Illinois Senate, often claiming that it sets him apart from the Senators and Congressman who were fooled by Bush into supporting the war. His opposition back in 2002 should not be entirely overlooked, but having not received any of the intelligence reports from the Bush administration, he is certainly not worthy of as much praise as he claims for himself.


Good stock brokers or fund managers are characterized by an extraordinary ability to see the winning investment in the long run, but they sink fast if they can't scrap a plan together in a hurry if things start to go wrong. Now that things have been very wrong for a few years , Barack Obama hasn't put his career on the line to defend the war he says he so opposes. He knows as well as anyone what he'd like to see in Iraq, but I wonder how he can change the course of action we’re currently on.

Barack Obama's vision for America may be 20/20, but I'm worried he doesn't see what it takes to reach the results he always talks about.


While I have my doubts about Obama, it’s hard to deny the energy he’s bringing to the Democratic party. The excited spirits are back—they are young and old, men and women, students, families, or veterans. In large numbers they are setting their sights on a brighter day and conjuring up their dreams for a better country and world. His campaign workers and staffers smile more than they sweat as they hit the road to spread the word. It is, undoubtedly, the excitement that Barack and his campaign add to events such as the gathering in Manchester that will move voters towards his camp in 2008. Even I can't deny the possibility of one day being sucked in by that energy.

I’m sure any regular watchers of CSPAN have seen the reaction of Nancy Pelosi whenever the House passes one of its non-binding or futile attempts to block war funding or bring the troops home bills: a nice big grin, maybe some raised-arm cheers. To be honest, it’s a pretty sickening sight. If the Democrats could work as hard in seeking an actual end to the war as the Republicans have worked towards convincing the world progress is being made in Iraq, maybe we’d see some real results.


It's 2007 and there's still plenty of time for Obama to use his support to highlight some important issues and move towards ending the Iraq war—I just hope that's what he does. Given the problems we face now, having more ideas without any plans to get things done is no better than what we’ve got now.

Barack, roll up your sleeves and get down to work. We trust you. Take a risk.


(all photos: © 2007 by Luke N. Vargas. All Rights Reserved.)

Really, CNN?

It's comical how often the media downplays some of the damage done in Iraq.

I've seen 'damaged' cars before, but this doesn't look like one to me. Call AAA?

Photo of the Week

http://www.redstate.com/stories/war/seen_in_iraq