Thank you for contacting me regarding John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.  I appreciate knowing your views.

I support his nomination and voted twice to invoke cloture the nomination because I believe that the Senate should end the debate and proceed to a confirmation vote.  If the Senate returns to the consideration of Undersecretary Bolton's nomination, and should a vote occur, I intend to vote in favor of his confirmation.

Again, thank you for informing me of your views.  If you have any additional concerns, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Very respectfully yours,

MIKE DeWINE
United States Senator

"Foreign forces are not going to repress that insurgency. We're going to create an environment that the Iraqi people and the Iraqi security forces can win against that insurgency," [Rumsfeld] said.

He says that the Iraqi government can win, not will win. So what are the parameters for determining when the environment is sufficently favorable to the Iraqi government? Who gets to decide? Are they perhaps the result of a mathematical function using Republican poll numbers? The lower the polls, the less favorable the environment need be? Maybe, but I don't think so.

Today she wrote about Bush's response to Amnesty International's criticism of Gitmo at his Monday press conference.

"While [Bush] rightfully criticized Amnesty International's hyperbolic report on alleged abuses at Gitmo as 'absurd,' I don't think he defended our detention policies and practices vigorously or articulately enough."

"BAGHDAD, Iraq - The government announced Thursday that a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week to try to halt a spree of insurgent violence that has killed more than 620 people this month.

Yahoo news page

U.S. Investigates Near-Naked Saddam Photos
"Tabloid photographs Friday of an imprisoned Saddam Hussein naked except for his white underwear prompted a U.S. military investigation and condemnation from the Red Cross. President Bush said he did not think the images would incite further anti-American sentiment in Iraq."

Shiites Stage Mass Anti-U.S. Protests
"Thousands of Shiites stomped on American flags painted on roads outside mosques in a show of anger over the U.S. presence in Iraq, while Sunni leaders called Friday for a closure of places of worship to protest the sectarian violence many fear may erupt into civil war."

I think he may be right. There be little more we can do that would incite the Iraqi people to greater anger against the U.S.

It was very depressing to see how far we haven't come, and how many lies still thrive. If I had had articles going back to 2003 on hand, many of them would have looked similar.

The only difference is that there is a sort of government in Iraq other than Americans, but its future isn't looking very rosy.

Some examples below the fold.

Are you participating?

Turner represents southwestern Ohio. His district includes my home in Dayton.

Ohio's 3rd district"

We had our social security stories ready, and our arguments at hand. Up until now, Congressman Turner has voted with the Republican party pretty much down the line. According to VoteMatch he was expected to be strongly in favor of privatizing Social Security.

Mike Turner on VoteMatch

Army Reserve 'broken'

Two comments pointed me to a prior diary on this story.

Chief of Army Reserve Criticizes Policies

I had done a diary search on the word "reserve" before I posted, but the earlier diary didn't come up. And it still doesn't when I repeat the search.

Now I see that a third diary on the subject followed mine last night. It does show up when I search on the word "reserve."

Army Reserve Unable to Fulfill Duties

What is a good technique to follow to prevent duplicate diaries? Any ideas on why the first diary didn't pop up when I searched?

+++++++++

The Army Reserve's ability to regenerate its recently deployed forces is "eroding daily," he added, in part because Reserve troops who finish tours in Iraq and Afghanistan are required to leave substantial amounts of their equipment for other forces and for contractors.

++++++++++

Helmly also referred to a practice, not previously disclosed, of requiring each Reserve soldier who receives a mobilization order with less than 30 days notice to sign a "volunteer statement." From his brief description of the practice it appears that this is done to reduce the number of reported cases of short-notice, involuntary mobilizations.

Chief of Army Reserve Criticizes Policies

--I got the very useful link from another Kos thread
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/wiggins5.html--

and started wondering whether any group of men has ever tried to bring a class action lawsuit based on the unfairness of requiring only men to register for Selective Service. Given that women are serving in all of the armed forces, how can anyone claim that that it is just to require only men to register?

Billionaire Events

Fifth Third Field is a baseball stadium. It was filled, and there were people sitting on the grass outside the field, where they could see and hear the event. The Dayton Daily News estimated the crowd at over 10,000, which seems reasonable.

More than ten thousand attend Kerry rally in Dayton

Kerry looked and sounded energetic and upbeat. His speech didn't introduce anything new and startling, but he got in a nice dig about Bush needing to run away from his record, rather than being able to run on his record.

If Bush brings up that stupid "he can run be he can't hide" remark again, I think Kerry should point out that Osama certainly has been able to run AND hide.

The crowd was loud and enthusiastic, the weather was cool with a mist in the air, but it wasn't actually raining.

This race will be so close in Ohio that it's worth every effort to get the vote out. There is NO WAY that Bush has this state won. I will be working on election day, and the weekend before doing whatever I can to help the Democratic party.

In the press filing center at tonight's debate hall in St. Louis, Kerry spinners have been passing out rose-colored glasses - those kitschy jobs from the old 3-D movies - to illustrate their argument that Bush is out of touch with reality on Iraq and the economy.

Clashing Symbols

September 5, 2003
Scott McClellan: And keep in mind that our enemies are trying to make Iraq a battlefield because of the progress we are making. They are desperate, and their desperation is coming as a result of the progress that we are making.

September 8, 2004
Rumsfeld: And my guess is they see they're losing. Does that mean that the pain is going to go down? Not necessarily. It may mean that it'll go up. It may mean between now and an Iraqi election and Iraqi constitution that they will be even more desperate.

We should probably introduce Prozac into the Iraq water supply to counter the chronic despair.

They will be tabling in Yellow Springs, Ohio from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM today, if any southeastern Ohio folks would like to express solidarity.

BillionairesforBush.com

Thanks