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GAO Report: Iraqis Meeting 3 of 18 Benchmarks
In advance of the much-ballyhooed September 15 report on Iraq that General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are not writing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is due to release its own report. Today, courtesy of the AP, we have a sneak peek at the contents.
The Associated Press has learned the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure the surge of U.S. troops to Iraq are unfulfilled ahead of a September 15 deadline.... [A] July report said the administration believed the Iraqis had made satisfactory progress on eight of the 13 benchmarks.
The administration is already downplaying the GAO's report, claiming the standards the GAO used are far too demanding.
The GAO, however, has been told to "assess whether or not such benchmarks have been met," and the administration plans to assert that is too tough a standard to be met at this point in the surge, the officials said.
"It's pretty clear that if that's your measurement standard a majority of the benchmarks would be determined not to have been met," said one official. "A lot of them are multipart and so, even if 90 percent of it is done, it's still a failure...The standard the GAO has set is far more stringent," he said. "Some might argue it's impossible to meet."
Okay, so we've got a GAO report that says the Iraqis are meeting 3 of 18 benchmarks, and an upcoming Sept 15 report that is destined to say things are going well, or at least, on balance, not too bad. Just more fuel for congressional members on both sides of the issue. I smell a stalemate. A further stalemate, I mean. The liberal's dream of congressional Republicans giving up on the war one by one this fall looks unlikely to come true.
And what happens to the $50 billion, the $147 billion, and the $460 billion?
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What third party? Independent means dependency upon Red or Blue hence nothing new. Unless there was some major Yellow party and alas at least offering the public the primary colors of party politics. Perhaps some day we will achieve a rainbow but as of now it is Red or Blue and neither are true.
I myself am voting for my cat as a write in. I call him Socrates but really I know that this cat is the 30th reincarnation of Aristophanes?hence a true comical aristo-cat. Old karma is indeed difficult to undo, even for talented reincarnations that come back as cats. There is something in this cat's stance upon things that really is politically intriguing?especially while performing acrobatics on the wire fence just outside my home. Sometime he falls to the left and others to right and well its about as predictable as the American elections?50-50 either way without change, which means pure chance, like flipping a coin and calling heads or tails, while its tails the cat is trying to catch, but it is to no avail because either way its either right or left in terms of the fence, tails or not tails?like Schrödinger's cat I suppose, but as opposed to indeterminacy we also achieve a perfectly deterministic political outcome?nothing desirable comes out of the political composition that achieves a Pareto improvement for the majority, it is rather always the 1% minority that get richer while the rest move closer to chaos?meaning Stacy is right, change is necessary but I doubt it will occur before the entire stability we have know for at least since 1929 will give way to an uncontrollable explosion of anarchy?but out of this anarchy whether we will be on the left side or the right side of the fence takes us back to that silly cat Socrates trying to catch his tail on a wire fence who always misses it and falls either to the left or the right?but the object it to catch the tail, like the tiger. Cause it's then you know what you got.
What third party? Independent means dependency upon Red or Blue hence nothing new. Unless there was some major Yellow party and alas at least offering the public the primary colors of party politics. Perhaps some day we will achieve a rainbow but as of now it is Red or Blue and neither are true.
I myself am voting for my cat as a write in. I call him Socrates but really I know that this cat is the 30th reincarnation of Aristophanes?hence a true comical aristo-cat. Old karma is indeed difficult to undo, even for talented reincarnations that come back as cats. There is something in this cat's stance upon things that really is politically intriguing?especially while performing acrobatics on the wire fence just outside my home. Sometime he falls to the left and others to right and well its about as predictable as the American elections?50-50 either way without change, which means pure chance, like flipping a coin and calling heads or tails, while its tails the cat is trying to catch, but it is to no avail because either way its either right or left in terms of the fence, tails or not tails?like Schrödinger's cat I suppose, but as opposed to indeterminacy we also achieve a perfectly deterministic political outcome?nothing desirable comes out of the political composition that achieves a Pareto improvement for the majority, it is rather always the 1% minority that get richer while the rest move closer to chaos?meaning Stacy is right, change is necessary but I doubt it will occur before the entire stability we have know for at least since 1929 will give way to an uncontrollable explosion of anarchy?but out of this anarchy whether we will be on the left side or the right side of the fence takes us back to that silly cat Socrates trying to catch his tail on a wire fence who always misses it and falls either to the left or the right?but the object it to catch the tail, like the tiger. Cause it's then you know what you got.
That's right, but the Democrats that control Congress and the Senate will vote 50billion to put down the rat hole, but they will not vote for health insurance. Do you get the picture folks? There is no difference. Vote Third Party to make you vote stand out. Don't support the war machine of the two parties.
Stacy's right. But the third party will never win.
There is more about life then winning. Integrity of ideas. That is something that the Democratic Party does not have. They just want power like the GOP. The two major parties are dirty and I will not eat their crap. Vote third party.
Stacy, you truly are my new hero! VOTE THIRD PARTY!
Ray, third party candidates will never win as long as YOU are unwilling to vote for them.
Keep in mind what Abe Lincoln's brand new Republican Party managed against older, more entrenched parties.
Not only that, you don't even have to have many candidates that win elections to scare the pants off the established parties, and have them adopt and pass your entire Agenda FOR You!
This is what the Prohibition Party managed to do, long about 80 years ago.
Granted, it was an F'ed Up Agenda they had, but the principle still holds.
Get 'em scared of losing their hold on power to your new party with new ideas (or Old ones, like Obeying the G.D. CONSTITUTION!), and see how long it takes for YOUR ideas to become THEIR ideas.
Democratic fundraiser stole money to contribute. A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge. After reports surfaced this week of Hsu's fugitive status in California, Senator Clinton joined other candidates in returning thousands of dollars he raised, but the allegations distracted her campaign just as it prepared to ramp up for the intense post-Labor Day stretch. This is why I vote Green.
What third party? Independent means dependency upon Red or Blue hence nothing new. Unless there was some major Yellow party and alas at least offering the public the primary colors of party politics. Perhaps some day we will achieve a rainbow but as of now it is Red or Blue and neither are true.
I myself am voting for my cat as a write in. I call him Socrates but really I know that this cat is the 30th reincarnation of Aristophaneshence a true comical aristo-cat. Old karma is indeed difficult to undo, even for talented reincarnations that come back as cats. There is something in this cat's stance upon things that really is politically intriguingespecially while performing acrobatics on the wire fence just outside my home. Sometime he falls to the left and others to right and well its about as predictable as the American elections50-50 either way without change, which means pure chance, like flipping a coin and calling heads or tails, while its tails the cat is trying to catch, but it is to no avail because either way its either right or left in terms of the fence, tails or not tailslike Schrödinger's cat I suppose, but as opposed to indeterminacy we also achieve a perfectly deterministic political outcomenothing desirable comes out of the political composition that achieves a Pareto improvement for the majority, it is rather always the 1% minority that get richer while the rest move closer to chaosmeaning Stacy is right, change is necessary but I doubt it will occur before the entire stability we have know for at least since 1929 will give way to an uncontrollable explosion of anarchybut out of this anarchy whether we will be on the left side or the right side of the fence takes us back to that silly cat Socrates trying to catch his tail on a wire fence who always misses it and falls either to the left or the rightbut the object it to catch the tail, like the tiger. Cause it's then you know what you got.