Good evening. This is President Mike McKinnon, live from DC. I'll start out with Democracy Now!
Bush Vows to Stay in Iraq
In a major address delivered at the Pentagon on Thursday, President Bush said clearly that US forces would not withdraw from Iraq "on my watch, saying that would give terrorists the chance to "claim an historic victory over the United States". Bush also attacked the growing chorus of people in the US and across the world calling for the US to pull out of Iraq:
"Their position is wrong. Withdrawing our troops would make the world more dangerous and make America less safe. To leave Iraq now would be to repeat the costly mistakes of the past that led to the attacks of September the 11th, 2001".
Bush's speech comes just days ahead of what is expected to be one of the largest anti-war demonstrations in US history, planned for this Saturday. And as he spoke a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll was released showing that 55 percent of Americans believe the US should speed up withdrawal plans, while only 21 percent say the United States definitely would win the war in Iraq, while more than a third of people say they considered the war unwinnable. In his address, Bush also publicly acknowledged that more than 1,900 US soldiers had been killed in Iraq and he said that some 18,000 US troops serving in Afghanistan had not yet finished their mission.
I'm going with one item and asked C.I. too as well because Bully Boy is full of crap and with the activities this weekend, I hope this item will make all of us across the nation push that much harder this weekend to be heard.
I'm encouraging every American to speak out. My fellow Americans, I've crowned myself the president this weekend since I am in D.C. and Bully Boy has flown the coop. :D Rebecca and I have been joking about that today. She says she is the president now.
Bully Boy didn't go to Texas to do anything. He "cut and run" to get the hell away from the protests. And, as we discussed this afternoon, to provide photo-ops to circumvent the stories of the press coverage.
It's so cool to visit DC. Ma was always coming because she wanted to take part but Dad wasn't sure about coming because my sister had a presentation in her class (she's in high school) so she couldn't miss that and Dad wasn't sure he could get time off. But Jess's parents were coming and they talked to him and Dad figured that we could try counting on my older bro to watch my sister this weekend. He's house sitting and I told him, "Stay out of my room!" :D
Nina's here too which is so cool. I'm glad I'm the boyfriend to such a politically smart woman.
So early this morning, we drove to Jess's parents and then got in the car with them because Jess's Pop knows all the backroads and short cuts. We were on the road at like 2 and it was deserted. Like a ghost town most of the way.
Jess's folks are really cool. And good for Dad, like him Jess's mother smokes. So Jess's father did stop so they could have their smoke breaks. That gave the rest of us time to stretch our legs and to hear about wherever we are at that minute. Jess told me that summer vacations were big with his family and all but they've gone everywhere in the country.
We were headed for the place that we're all staying but Ma asked if we could see a DC site or two on the way and Jess's Pop was all like 'Can we? Here comes the tour!"
That was so great. I was taking pictures and just looking around. I really didn't know what to expect of DC. On TV you see the White House and a few other things but that's about it. The two biggest surprises for me was how heavily armed and guarded everything was and how much poverty is in D.C. I wonder what visitors to this country think when they see this? You look around and it's like seeing the "American crumble" before your eyes.
We got there and everyone was cool except Rebecca who greets us with, "Where have you been!" :D She'd hired some people to come in and cook Chinese for lunch as a gift for C.I. (See our interview from Wednesday.)
We have a party to go to tonight that Ava's parents got us invited to. So this is more of the fun day for a lot of us. C.I. ate lunch and ran but hopefully will attend the party too.
So who's here?
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ava, Jess, Ty and Jim plus Jim's Dad and Jess's parents, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man and she's brought her kids, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), and C.I. of The Common Ills. Kat's not up to going to the party so she's told Betty she'll watch her kids. Betty never gets a night out because she spends her evening with her kids. Everybody's pushing Betty to go and Jess's folks and my folks are even saying, "If you don't go, we're not going."
I hope to do another entry later but I'll be posting either Saturday or Sunday. Hope you're taking part in a protest and get the word out.
Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude
Iraq
