Joe Biden To George Bush: Level With Americans about “Troop Surge”
President George W. Bush has indicated his scorn for world opinion by invading Iraq; he has demonstrated his disdain for the Constitution by his warrantless wiretapping; and now he has exhibited his scorn of the American people by his plan to dispatch an additional 30,00 troops to Iraq.
The mandate of the midterm elections was clear: Bring our soldiers home from Iraq immediately! Instead of acquiescing to the clear voice of the voters, Bush is proposing to do just the opposite.
Most Democrats have cajones the size of ball bearings; they are going along with this “temporary surge” of American forces in Iraq.
Democratic Sen. Joe Biden, who is considering running for president in 2008, is one of the few Democrats speaking out against Bush’s insane Iraq policy.
From NBC News:
Biden said President Bush must “level with the American public†that any surge of U.S. military forces in Iraq will likely last for at least 18 months.
It is easy to send troops to their death in Iraq, it’s extremely difficult to extricate them from the Iraqi quagmire. Biden is being much too optimistic, the surge will last for years, not months.
From NBC News:
Biden, D-Del., will assume the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next month. He plans immediately to convene a series of hearings on the Iraq war.
I hope the networks, including Fox News, will provide in-depth coverage of these vital hearings. Our hapless commander-in-chief is set to announce his new Iraq strategy next month. Now is the time for Democrats and responsible Republicans to speak out against sending more troops to Iraq.
I hope Biden compels Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and the other architects of the Iraq war to testify. Let these warmongers attempt to justify their criminal invasion in the glare of the TV cameras.
Hopefully, in a few days Saddam will be hanged, bringing a small measure of closure to the Iraqi people. Hopefully, in a few months Bush will be impeached, bringing closure to the American people.
I write a weekly column for a small town newspaper in Virginia, and I also write for several Web sites. Please leave a comment or send me an email at: rreyes4966@aol.com | More from Robert Paul Reyes
Stumble It!
December 28th, 2006 at 2:16 am
Senator Joe Biden has shown scorn toward American men with his viscious and mendacious VAWA. He should be the one who comes clean, ‘level with the American public’, about his war on American men and their families. How many more men are to be drafted into servitude and penury and for how long? Does he have a ‘temporary splurge’ in mind or a continuation of hostilities until the American public is totally dislocated? It is he who needs impeachment.
December 28th, 2006 at 2:21 am
Amfortas:
Most of the people who read my essays also read the comments, because most love to see me get blasted.
For the enlightment of our readership, in a sentence or two, what’s does “VAWA” stand for?
December 28th, 2006 at 2:55 am
Terribly sorry Robert, old chap, I assumed most would know of the Violence Against Women Act. A sentence or two? Well, an Act that authorises a priviledged position for women with massive amounts of money thrown at them, a presumption of male guilt and a severe reduction in the rights of men to gain justice, due process and equality. We have a similar push over here (Oz is always following the USA around like a faihful puppy) with ads running on the TV declaring “Australia says NO to violence against Women”. It seems in both nations, stopping violence against men mustn’t even be mentioned, let alone occasionally acknowledged – or, Heaven forbid, funded. ( You will have noticed that ‘Australia’ and ‘Women’ are capitalised and NO is shouted). The Office for the Status of Women (caps again) push the ads all the time – and no, there is no office for the status of men, not even in lower case.
December 28th, 2006 at 3:08 am
Now I must go and watch the lead maxies coming around the headland and up the D’Entrecasteux Channel to the finish line in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. (The survivors that is – we lost a few to the deep last night). The spinnakers will be set for a fast run in the fading evening sunlight. I am fortunate in that I get a grandstand view a kilometre up the hill. One of the World’s Great sporting challenges. Very hairy, scary and dangerous. Biden should try it.
December 28th, 2006 at 3:47 am
VAWA is horribly destructive. It encourages false accusations of DV and excessive governmental response. After this happens, usually, any hope of reconciliation is destroyed. It has become almost part of the culture of hetero sexual relationships for the male to be arrested at some point. I hear women openly stating that they are going to have their boyfriends and husbands arrested. It is a tool in child custody and property disputes. It is a tool for revenge and humiliation. The woman need only do something outrageous (e.g. flaunt her infidelity) and when the man inevitably expresses his hurt and anger, then he is arrested (even if his expression is well within acceptable limits). He is then excluded from the home and the children and criminalized. Incredibly, arrests and convictions for DV no matter how minor the supposed DV seem to have greater and more long lasting consequences in some ways than even the most serious crimes. As one example, in this state, a conviction for DV cannot be made confidential in the same way as most other convictions. Further, if there is a conviction or even an arrest without a conviction for DV, all kinds of consequences follow (some completely unexpected).
VAWA is bad enough. It represents bad judgment at best. It gives one class of people the ability to destroy another almost at will and thoroughly violates the concept of equality under the law. It caters to a special interest group (e.g. feminist women and to an extent all women) at the expense of another group of citizens. It destroys marriages and other long term relationships It destroys the population by making a large percentage of the population unemployable, emotionally destroyed, etc. It hurts children.
But, even worse, the most recent hearings over which he presided were a total sham. He prevented any meaningful addressing of these issues. It was a dishonest, corrupt joke. It made a mockery of the legislative process. He refused to allow presentation of the other side of the argument.
He has no business being president. He will never ever have my vote. We need a president who has at least some integrity and understanding that men have rights also. Men are not just objects to be abused. Men are committing sucides at a huge rate particular around the time of divorce. Many men have “checked out” of society — operating in an underground economy, some homeless, and many “hiding” in low profile remote places. I think a significant number have literally left the country. I think this country will soon find itself in the positive of the former communist block (having to close the borders not to keep people out but to keep people in). There is some evidence this is happening. It is already the law that many divorced fathers cannot get a passport (e.g. if they are even modestly behind on child support — this can result from a single illness or a single termination of employment). Also, it is now the law that one who leaves the country even for the purposes of sight seeing across a national park border with mexico (e.g. Big Bend) cvannot legally return without hiking many, many miles to the nearest official place of entry (the ordinary tourist would surely die in the desert if they attempted this) — the net effect is to prevent border many border crossings, etc.
We need a president who can start the healing process between men and women — Biden is not the man, obviously. The rift between and destruction of marital and other relationships between men and women is one of the largest problems facting this country — I believe much larger than the threat of terrorism. Let’s face it. There have been miscellaneous hi jackings and other “terrorist” incidents for hundreds of years. The terminology may have been different (e.g. piracy and banditos and indian attacks and organized crime including some extremely violent) but the events occurred. These incidents are painful and harmful but nowhere near as long term destructive as the destruction of the very foundation of civilization — marriage or you don’t have marriage at least stable relationships.
Biden is not the man and I don’t care if he talks modest sense about Iraq — he is still not the man. He is irrevocably tarnished.
December 28th, 2006 at 4:41 am
Robert Paul Reyes said,
For the enlightment of our readership, in a sentence or two, what’s does “VAWA†stand for?
Answer:
Joe “the plagiarizer” Biden – male feminist lackey who foolishly believes he can become president by pandering to the man hating feminists in the democratic party. The main advocate of the Violence Against Women ONLY Act (VAWOA) which equates to all women=GOOD! All men=BAD!
December 28th, 2006 at 5:30 am
Snootfish wrote:
“Biden is not the man and I don’t care if he talks modest sense about Iraq — he is still not the man. He is irrevocably tarnished.”
Am I right in concluding that for most of MND’s writers a politican’s stance on male/female issues is more important than his stance on the Iraq war?
December 28th, 2006 at 6:08 am
Robert Paul Reyes said,
Am I right in concluding that for most of MND’s writers a politican’s stance on male/female issues is more important than his stance on the Iraq war?
To Robert Paul Reyes,
Our troops are dying to preserve “?fairness & justice?” in Amerika. Of course I will be accused of being biased in this situation but this past August my son was attacked by his girlfriend. According to him, she initiated events by kicking him in his leg (making a large welt). Then sucker punching him in his eye with her ring finger. (she was wearing her ring). She nearly put his eye out. The police were called and HE was the one who was arrested! She didn’t have a mark on her whereas he said he did not touch her. She had been drinking. We (his parents) posted $1040 (cash) bail. We are not rich. He spent $1000 for a lawyer. (He is not rich either). The police took pictures of his leg and his eye. I took him to the hospital after his release on bail.
She was NOT charged with anything! She has a prior history of hitting a former boyfriend in the eye with a beer bottle. She did not even have to show up for the court hearing. He was sentenced to 3 days in jail. He had to pay $395 to the victim’s fund. He has to attend a batterer’s course. He cannot talk to her for two years except for conversations relating to the care of their two year old daughter. These events are totally the result her say so only! Truth, justice …the Amerikan way!
Perhaps you should observe the following ABC video and read the accompanying article posted by John Dias.
ABC video shows woman abusing man, passersby ignoring it
December 28, 2006
Vox Populi
By John Dias
Check out this video broadcast on ABC’s Primetime News:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2754248
December 28th, 2006 at 6:40 am
RPR, I have a young aquaintance who recently, over several months, quizzed me about the military life. He was thinking of joining the Oz Air Force. I have a sound history as a warrior albeit in a far greater force than Oz can muster.! I gave him all the help I could to prepare him for the exams. When he asked my opinion as to whether he should join or not, I could not confirm his choice or even help him reach it. I did ask him if the country which holds him in such poor regard, which is biased against him in every walk of life, was worth defending. I also pointed out the male:female ratio of troops.
You ask if a possible Presidential contender’s view on the war is more important than his view on the male/female issue. The answer is plain. Of course it isn’t. His first responsibility and duty is to the people of his country. Those who elected him and those who didn’t. Men as well as women. If America was invaded, your question may have more relevance. 9/11 was hardly an invasion. Iraq is hardly relevant to the immediate safety of the American mainland.
America is facing a serious deficiency in military manpower which could be solved by woman power. Would Biden draft women into combat? In equal numbers as men? That’ll be the day!
December 28th, 2006 at 7:05 am
The story recited by muchwiser now is not rare.
I was personally involved in a case where a man’s mother in law hit him in the face. This broke his glasses and made a small cut on his nose. He was bleeding. It was not a huge injury but he was injuired. He made the mistake of calling the police. Of course, they arrested him not her. The mother in law admitted that she hit him.
The mother in law never paid a penny. She went home hundreds of miles a way and asked for a protective order. He attempted to defend it. The lawyer he hired quite (keeping his money) because she thought he should just agree to the protective order. The County attorney up there incredibly refused to reschedule a hearing when his grand mother was having life threatening surgery. She accused him of setting up the surgery for the purposes of avoiding the hearing. He was harassed by that County Attorney.
He was tried in a the stupidest crimninal trial imaginable. It was undisputed that the mother in law hit him. The District Attorney argued that he commited assault when he “pushed her away.” Of course, anyone who gets whacked in the nose is going to push the attacker away. Duh.
It took the jury less than 5 minutes to acquit. Any sane person could see the case was stupid. By the time everything was over the poor guy had spent thousands of dollars. She didn’t spend a cent. The government funded everything. I suspect the local governments made money. I know they got various costs and what not in the protective order case. I suspect they got federal funding.
This case is extreme but not unusual. VAWA promotes absolutely insane behavior on the part of police, courts, and prosecutors. Women know what is going on and they use it to their advantage. The system is absolutely shameless.
I know the local DA and One Judge just got back from a joint trip to Boston to learn about DV tactics. God help us. I am sure that trip was funded by VAWA money. Personally, I made the mistake of becoming angry when my wife came home at 3:00 a.m. for the third night in a row and admitted her affair. I did nothing of significance. I did raise my voice and I did push her. Let’s see. She had an affair and brought it into my home (I am sure she was having him into our home). I raised my voice and committed the awful act of a push. She smiled and called the police. You would think the crime of the century had occurred. I to this day am not sure how many officers and cars responded. It was a lot.
You know what she was standing there with not a mark on her smiling and bantoring with the cops. She obviously had not been hurt. The children were still asleep — didn’t even wake up. The cops knew about the affair because they mentioned it first when they spoke to me. They even led me on like they understood why I would be upset. Yet, when they wrote the report, they didn’t even mention the affair. They made it sound like my actions were random without any explanation. I was immediately excluded from the home. Her boyfriend moved into the house before I was even out of jail (a few hours later). Sickening. I am sure everybody involved made money off this.
You ask me whether Biden’s involvement in VAWA is more important than Iraq. My answer is yes. Some 3,000 American Soldiers have been killed in Iraq. That is very serious indeed but the total loss is I think less than what happens monthly due to or related to the VAWA mentality. I think men are literally killed due to the VAWA mentality. I think women know that they will probably get away with murder if they kill their husbands. They just have to claim abuse. He cannot even defend himself — he is dead. One thing is for sure whatever he did — he didn’t kill her. The vaguest excuses unsupported by evidence seem to be enough. I have seen several incidences like this just localally. In at least one instance, the man was a fire chief and was extremely respected. Many spoke up and vouched for his charactera and against her character. I believe although I am not sure that she was never even prosecuted. The injustices are huge.
December 28th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I agree that the VAWA is a badly crafted law, it is inherently unfair to men.
But the Iraq war has caused the death of almost 3,000 American soldiers and over 100,000 mostly civilian Iraqi deaths.
The pric tag of Bush’s misadventure in Iraq and the war of terrorism will soon exceed over a TRILLION dollars.
I think a little perspective is in order here.
December 28th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
[...] Read more of this Men’s News Daily article here. Read about the Biden-Gelb Plan For Iraq here. [...]
December 28th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
“I think a little perspective is in order here.”
Robert, you’ve read these accounts, and you should be completely appalled. The hatred and contempt for the justice system, for the law, for the government at all levels and for the police that’s simmering here just under the surface in our society, should scare the shit out of a right-thinking person.
I’d like to see the day come when the U.S. military can’t get a single male recruit.
December 28th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
RPR, if you love our nation, you have to hate VAWA, the Child Support Crusade, and the gender bias in the court system dominated by Milo Minderbinders.
The troops who went to Iraq and Afghanistan are volunteers. Many of those there now volunteered after September 11, 2001, they knew they were not inducting themselves into a peacetime army.
You may disagree with the policy of going after the Jihad hard and heavy, but apparently, most of the troops whose lives you are so concerned with disagree with you.
That we all have a right to our opinions on these things is the American way.
VAWA, gender bias in the courts, and the Child Support Crusade are not.
That is, if you believe that the Constitution, with its enumeration of rights, is the expression of the American Way.
December 28th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
RPR; If your idea of a hero is joe biden, your in need of serious couch time. You can post all you want about Iraq but understand that when you use bidens name on a mens web site, you will ALWAYS get a negitive reaction from those who use thier head for something other than a hat rack. Yes, you are an intelligent guy, but I am thinking you maybe have had too much influence from your mom and not enough from your dad, assuming the best from your past. For sure, something has effected your way of thinking and your cognitive abilities to understand and disect events and issues from a very decidedly feminine angle. Its as if you get all your info from the same news sources as my ex-wife. No I am not talking about fox news. Try lucianne.com, powerline.com or a dozens of others. Dump the alphabets and your local paper….or don’t. You do a good service anyway because it creates a forum for the ranters(me?). But I could be wrong.
December 28th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
I didn’t realize that Joe Biden was anathema to the men’s rights movement.
I’m not particulary fond of Joe Biden; I just like his stance on the Iraq war.
December 28th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
I am going to express my cynicism.
Biden I think did the VAWA thing in a calculated attempt to appeal to feminist voters.
I think he is now saying some things that appeal to many concerning the Iraq situation in a calculated attempt to appeal to certain voters.
I don’t know the man personally but I think he wants to be president very badly and he will say and do anything to achieve that goal.
I don’t think anything he says comes out of true conviction. It is all a means to his desired end.
Am I being unfair to him? Possibly. I know this though he was unfair to me (and others who believe like me) at the last VAWA reauthorization hearings. He conducted bogus hearings.
A world where a woman can kill and be excused based on vague unsubstantiated claims of abuse and yet a man “never has any excuse” even for minor transgressions is an unjust world. A world where “abuse” is defined so broadly (at least if committed by a male) that in effect the human condition is criminalized is an unjust world (how can you be married for a life time without having an argument at least once — an argument is now an occasion for activation of the SWAT Team). I could continue. This is the VAWA world.
December 28th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Robert,
Mark my words…as soon as Biden chairs his new position he will take a more center stance! Why, you might ask? Inspite of the Democratic majority, it is not a grand majority and he will have to temper his rhetoric to pass or push anything through. This is different from the tact the jackass senator from MI will have to do in the Senate judiciary committee. You state that the vote reflected in effect the voters distaste of the war..and where did you locate that fact. I took the change as the voters distaste for a Republican Congress that violated the publics trust via the gross numbers of pork projects over the last twelve years and Congressional malfeasance, not the least of which was arrogant behavior publicly displayed. The leader of that group is our own VP Chaney. I cannot and will not tolerate a voted official acting or reacting in the manner he did coming out of the Senate several years ago. And in my mind, it is that arrogance that allowed our budget to inflate due in large part to pork projects. I wonder how Bidens district and that jakass from MI made out with pork during the last five or six budgets?
Whether or not we are in Iraq for the right reasons has been debated ad nauseum, but what remains true is that our society has the appearance of (c)rumblings that have little to do with a war. I have not heard anyone raise the issue of preemptive strikes? Why do you believe our President took such a different tact than had been done before? Does it mean that he is wrong? Not exactly. Never before in history have we as a world been in such dire circumstances as we find ourselves at the turn of the milleneum. It could be argued that the Congressional delegates had grossly miscalculated China’s growth and the great and unfortunate politics that would play out for raw materials? Factor in India, and one could argue that noone could have seen the tidal wave facing our economy and its needs. Now, can we factor in a foreign ideology such as islam that has taken its least educated and fomented hatered against our country simply because we answered the call for help from Kuwait and were invited by a ruling government to place our troops on foreign soil. This appears to me to be where our present problem began. So, can we win, which is what wars are about? Yes…provided we do as a power should do when it really wants to win..and that is to tell the civilians to get out, then we bomb the place flat. It works for Israel and even better, it works for Hezbollah and Hamas(they just tell their own people to flee). But, doesn’t that just bring us back to where we started? A weak political will led by peace activists hacks elected to office(alright, powerful hacks)? I’m rambling again, so…
December 29th, 2006 at 3:45 am
“Hopefully, in a few days Saddam will be hanged, bringing a small measure of closure to the Iraqi people. Hopefully, in a few months Bush will be impeached, bringing closure to the American people.”
AND DO WHAT ”
Put a feminist sympathiser liken Biden in the oval office ?
You have got to be joking. Democrates sound like irrational feminist, making totally incomprehensible statements just like the feminists do. Did they train at the same propaganda camp ?
December 29th, 2006 at 6:06 am
Robert Paul Reyes said:
I’m not particulary fond of Joe Biden; I just like his stance on the Iraq war.
Hey, Hitler was an awesome ballroom dancer. So there’s a chance you would like some of his stances too.
Hopefully, in a few days Saddam will be hanged, bringing a small measure of closure to the Iraqi people. Hopefully, in a few months Bush will be impeached, bringing closure to the American people.
You do realize of course, Saddam wouldn’t be hanged at all without GWB’s insistence? Amazing how libs can survive with all that cognitive dissonance bouncing around in their heads.
December 29th, 2006 at 6:10 am
Suiqqy wrote:
“You do realize of course, Saddam wouldn’t be hanged at all without GWB’s insistence?”
Yes, and without Dubya’s insistence on invading Iraq, we wouldn’t have almost 3,000 American soldiers killed and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians killed.
December 29th, 2006 at 7:09 am
Oh please, RPR, play fair. Three thousand Americans have died at the hands of pissed Iraqis who do not want stability and democracy but prefer the benefits they got from Saddam at the expense of all the other Iraqis. The 100,000 Iraqis who have died include a phenomenal majority who want what the dead Americans are trying so hard to bring to them, and at the hands of the first lot of pissed Iraqis.
And you find fault in your own people!! Remember the old adages – the Good that men do, seldom do them any good. No good deed goes unpunished. You sound like you are hell bent on doling out punishment to the good men.
You may see the intent of America as being wrong but it was noble, frankly, even if to some people it appeared misguided. Stand back a little and see what you are saying, man.
Good men often find they have to die as they do Good. Its called selflessness and self-sacrifice. The bad make sure many others die as they do bad. Its called anti-life, evil. Blind Freddy can see that.
Do not let the Princess of Lies subborn you with her honeyed words.
December 29th, 2006 at 10:07 am
But the Iraq war has caused the death of almost 3,000 American soldiers and over 100,000 mostly civilian Iraqi deaths.
Ok, I’m going to mention once that the majority of the Iraqi civilian deaths are at the hands of the terrorist “insurgents”, rather than our military, and that’s all.
What I really want to point out is this: The looming danger of Islamic Jihad was ignored for many years, while it grew like a forest of hornet’s nests. Every once in a while, when the hornets would get restless, someone or some group would get stung. 9/11 made us look up and see the hornet’s nests in the trees, and we have now taken up the job of cleaning them out. Unfortunately, there are other animals in the trees (civilians), so we can’t just burn them out with flamethrowers, we need to get them a nest at a time, and while we are doing that, the hornets are swarming on us and causing many more stings than ever before.
All this damage could have been greatly reduced if we had properly identified the threat in the past. I’m not going to blame anyone, just pointing out that at this point, we are poking hornet’s nests and will continue to get stings until they are all (or nearly all) rooted out, and we can then keep their numbers to a minimum in the future. This level of killing or more was inevitable. It’s just showing up now because we started trying to clean up the problem.
And please don’t try to derail this with “But Saddam and Iraq didn’t have anything to do with 9/11″. Maybe not, but he DID support, aid, and give hiding places to them, and we’re not just going after the hornet’s nest that stung us on 9/11, but ALL of them, so they don’t sting us so bad in the future.
December 29th, 2006 at 10:10 am
That last paragraph should have said that Saddam supported, aided, and gave hiding places to TERRORISTS, not just the ambiguous “them”.
December 29th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Yes, and without Dubya’s insistence on invading Iraq, we wouldn’t have almost 3,000 American soldiers killed and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians killed.
If it weren’t for Democrats getting us into Vietnam (and then forcing us to surrender) we wouldn’t have had 58000 Americans killed for absolutely nothing. Our soldiers in Iraq believe in what they’re doing. But you know better.
Besides, you ignored the other part of what I said – you want So-damn Insane executed, so by default you support the Iraq war. Your logic is twisted (i.e. typical liberal).
December 31st, 2006 at 7:13 am
squiggy… I 100% agree with you. The left advocates retreat and “dialogue with murders” and at the same time shows support for the downfall of Saddam as an evil tyrant. We always say they can’t have it both ways but in reality they do have it both ways, totally supported by the msm. Of course, it works that way because most people worry more about spending money on jewelry and what color their wallpaper should be than how their children and their childrens children will live and die. But I could be wrong.
January 3rd, 2007 at 8:48 am
The reason that Bush is wanting more troops has nothing to do with Iraq and everything to do with attacking Iran.
Bush and his conspirators are domestic enemies and we should call upon our military to do their duty and protect us from the true enemy that we are currently be confronted by.