Below is the list of Republicans that voted with the majority to rebuke the President’s plan to win the Iraq war.  Names to remember come election time.

Michael Castle (DE), Ric Keller (FL), Timothy Johnson (IL), Mark Kirk (IL), Fred Upton (MI), Jim Ramstad (MN), Wayne Gilchrest (MD), Howard Coble (NC), Walter Jones (NC), James Walsh (NY), Steven La Tourette (OH), Philip English (PA), Bob Inglis (SC), John Duncan (TN), Ron Paul (TX), Thomas Davis (VA), and Thomas Petri (WI).

GOP Bloggers calls them, appropriately, White Flag Republicans.

The TV show ’24’ has raised the hairs on the backs of some libs. Their problem is they watch too much TV.  Anyway, they claim that the show is a bad influence on our troops in the war on terror. They are claiming that the show will influence our troops to commit torture, like the lead character in the show, Jack Bauer. Yeah right.

At the same time, the left steadfastly and indignantly also claims that the ‘non-binding’ anti-surge resolution against the war effort, which is not a fictional TV show,  is supporting our troops, and is not a negative influence on the morale and efforts of our volunteer military.

In response to Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing the United States of undermining global security, Sec. of Defense Robert Gates said ”We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia. One Cold War was quite enough.”

Here Here

Russian President Vladimir (Pooty-poot) Putin has been seen by the 43rd Munich Conference Security Policy complaining about the United States. Putin says the US is undermining global security.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia accused the United States on Saturday of provoking a new nuclear arms race by developing ballistic missile defenses, undermining international institutions and making the Middle East more unstable through its clumsy handling of the Iraq war.

He had a list of “complaints about American domination of global affairs, including many of the themes that have strained relations between the Kremlin and the United States during his seven-year administration.”

He whines about why Russia is not already part of NATO, when other former satellite countries of the former Soviet Union are? And if Russia can’t be part of NATO, “Against whom is this expansion directed?”

Well, NATO members agree to play by the rules, and do. Don’t have to look far for why a Putin’ized Russia cannot be trusted to play by the rules. Who was it that was accused, by the victim, of assassinating a member of the Russian news media? And, who is it that provides and builds Iran’s nuclear reactors? Who is supporting the Iranian regime in terms of nuclear technology, and defending other nations at odds with the US? Oil-For-Food Saddam bribery scandal participant. Who uses natural gas and oil as diplomatic weapons to Russia’s neighboring countries? For starters.

It seems to me that the “against whom” would be nations that refuse to play by the rules. Like Russia.

He resents monitoring of elections in the former Soviet sphere. He resents free elections period, and called those monitors “a vulgar instrument of ensuring the foreign policy interests of one country.” Free and fair elections should be the policy interests of every country, including Russia, don’t you think? Especially a country who wants to join NATO.

Putin criticised the US for developing a missile defense system. Right. Can you say Kim Jong Il? Defense Putin, the word is defense.

Putin said the US is making the Middle East more unstable through its clumsy handling of the Iraq war. How many years was Russia fighting a war in Afghanistan? Wasn’t it something like 10 years before they gave up and went home? Putin doesn’t know what clumsy is. Putin does know he was Saddam’s nuclear supplier. Putin did supply Saddam with missile jamming electronics and missiles. Only Putin knows for sure, the location of banned weapons and technologies that were spirited out of Iraq months prior to the start of the war in Iraq. I’m surprised he missed the fact that we still have not found Bin Laden. The unstable-ness of the war is caused by war. The objective is to make things stable by winning it. And he knows it.

I’ve seen this before in this country. It is a political tactic. Putin, aside from being a communist in democratic clothing, has followed the democratic’s (sic) playbook to a ‘T’ in this way; when what you are doing is screwing things up, blame the other guy for doing it and screwing things up.

Or new low, depending on how you look at it. So your 17 yr old comes home boohooing that he got into a fight and lost. What do you do? Do you give him a pistol and tell him to go get revenge? That’s what one mother did in Mayor Nagin’s city, New Orleans.

A woman accused of giving her teenage son a handgun and telling him to take revenge after he lost a fight was arrested Thursday after another boy was killed, police said.

I think congress needs to step in and put an end to the skyrocketing crime rate. Per capita it’s safer in Iraq than in New Orleans. Here’s what they should do. Put Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Nagin on notice that they have 6 months to get the city under control or the federal government will start removing it’s assets out of New Orleans. This will send them the message that they need to act, positively, now.

There is just too much loss of innocent lives going on and ‘the American people’ are not going to support an inefficient and corrupt regime indefinitely. If they fail to take the necessary actions, then they can expect government funding to be cut off and the National Guard to be repositioned out-of-state. Some in Washington seem to think this method will work in Iraq. Hell, if it will work there, then its sure to work here. Maybe John Kerry will negotiate with France to help train police officers, in the French Quarter of course. But still, they only have 6 months.

MSNBC video

John Kerry on Iraq. . .

“The Congress should tell President Bush to end this open-ended commitment of American troops,” Kerry said. “The United States must get tough with Iraqi politicians – pressure them to meet tough benchmarks. … Congress must push this administration to find not just a new way forward in Iraq, but the right way forward.”