Drip, Drip, Drip: Defections Continue to Rise

Our nomination for Headline of the Day, this one courtesy of The Huffington Post:

Another Day, Another GOP Leader Break With Bush on Iraq

Today's defecting leader is Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. Her reversal on the war is one more sign of the impending collapse of Republican solidarity on the President's "stay the course" policy.

If this keeps up, the defections will eventually break the dam and sweep away some of the die-hard pro-war Republicans.

Oklahoma's senators and representatives might want to take a look at where stand, lest they are the ones in the path of this flood.

Moore's 'Sicko' Reveals a Broken System

You don't have to be a fan of filmmaker Michael Moore to realize that the man has something important to say in his new film, Sicko, now showing at Tulsa's Circle Cinema and at AMC Southroads.

It's a scary film, and not because of Moore's commentary or his occasional grandstanding. What's scary here are the stories Moore collects from ordinary Americans about their battles with the health care system, especially their treatment by the insurance companies.

Watching the film's testimonies from a variety of Americans, you quickly realize that me, you, and almost everyone we know is just one medical catastrophe away from bankruptcy. For Americans diagnosed with serious diseases who happen to lose their jobs, there's little other choice.

Even employed folks with full medical coverage find themselves denied treatment in many cases. Why? The answer, Moore discovers, is no big secret: it saves the insurance company money to deny their costumers expensive medical treatment. In support of this indefensible practice, Moore interviews former insurance company employees, including an M.D., who publicly confess their part in such denials of medical service.

As you can guess, Sicko is not a happy story. But it's an important and deeply humane story that needs to be told. As Moore makes clear, we live in a great and generous nation, a country that prides itself on its democratic values. In a rich country, all Americans, you might think, deserve first-class medical care, care that is sorely lacking for those of us unlucky enough to get seriously ill and not have the deep pockets to afford effective treatment.

Go see Sicko. If nothing else, it will make you mad. Better yet, it might make you aware of a medical system in need of serious reform.

Cartoonist Marlette Killed in Car Accident

Tulsa World political cartoonist Doug Marlette has been killed in an automobile accident in northwest Mississippi. He was 57.

Marlette, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his political cartoons, was a native of North Carolina. He came to the World as a cartoonist in 2006.

Although he was best known for his cartoons, Marlette was also an accomplished writer. His most recent novel, Magic Time, was published to good reviews and sparked interest in Hollywood.

We met Doug a couple of times and found him an amiable and engaging man. Just a couple of weeks ago, in fact, we had a pleasant talk with Doug, admiring his Southern accent and gentle manner.

Marlette's time in Tulsa was far too short. Rest in Peace, Doug Marlette. You will be missed.

Thompson's Past Takes Center Stage

Headlines we like, this one courtesy of MSNBC:

Fred Thompson Aided Nixon on Watergate

But wait, there's more: Nixon's White House tapes show that he referred to the young Republican lawyer as "dumb as hell."

White House in "Panic" Over Senate GOP Defections

ABC News is reporting today that the White House is in a "panic" about Republican defections concerning its Iraq war policies.

All we can say is, it's about time.

As we noted in our last post, high-level GOP opposition to the war is steadily increasing, driven no doubt by the public's increasing disenchantment with the war.

Republican senators Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar were among the first to call for a new policy on Iraq. Other prominent Republican senators to join the effort include Oregon's Gordon Smith, Ohio's George Voinovich, and New Mexico's Pete Domenici.

Don't look for Oklahoma's Republican senators to join this list anytime soon. As far as we can tell, Sen. Jim Inhofe would rather drink a gallon of Arkansas River water than say anything slightly critical of Bush and his war. Inhofe is nothing if not loyal to the pro-war fringe of his party.

As for Sen. Tom Coburn, a physician and politician likely to quarrel with a fence post if he thinks he's right, you would think he could deliver a principled anti-war position at some point in the next, say, five or six years. (Yes, we'll still be in Iraq in five or six years.)

But we won't be holding our breath.

$12 Billion a Month for War

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service is out with a new accounting of the cost of Bush's war in Iraq—a mere $10 billion (that's with a "b") a month.

Throw in the Afghan war, and the Bush military machine is burning through a cool $12 billion each and every month.

Even in the surrealistic world of federal spending, these are big numbers. We keep waiting for Oklahoma's Congressional leadership to get riled up about the blood and treasure we are expending in Iraq.

As AltTulsa has previously noted, Republicans are increasingly critical of the war and its prosecution. Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, for example, has been a fierce critic of the war. More recently, Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, a respected voice on foreign policy, has joined the rising chorus of Republican criticism.

One of these days, someone's going to have to wake up Oklahoma's Republican leadership.

The Lure of War: Photojournalist Ponders Iraq Violence

Photographer Ashley Gilbertson has spent years photographing the war in Iraq. The experience was so intense, Gilbertson writes, that "Iraq had become my identity" (emphasis in original).

In a revealing and deeply personal article this summer in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Gilbertson contemplates his role as a Iraq war photojournalist. On one hand, the war gave him a reason to carry on his career: "In Iraq, I had a purpose, a mission: I felt important."

On the other hand, Gilbertson was battle-weary. He didn't want to return to Iraq, but he needed the war for a completely wrong reason: "I wasn't ready for it to end."

He returns to Baghdad, covering the U.S. troop surge in hostile neighborhoods. On a IED-clearing mission, he photographs a sergeant guarding the street. Gilbertson runs back to the Humvee for safety and lights a cigarette to calm his nerves.

Suddenly a huge explosion rocks the vehicle. An IED has killed the sergeant. Gilbertson is shocked again. Moments before the sergeant was alive and all was well. "I ended up being the guy who engaged him in his last conversation," Gilbertson writes. "I took the last photograph of him alive." The VQR article, accompanied by numerous Gilbertson photographs, goes on to describe other incidents of violence and suffering.

For Gilbertson, this last trip to the war proves unsatisfactory. The cruelty is too much and his sense of mission begins to fade.

Covering the war used to make me feel like I was doing something important, but I have grown to accept that Americans will not stop dying because I take their pictures….

Gilbertson's story can be found at the Virginia Quarterly's website, www.vqronline.org.

One Small Step for Talk Radio

Scanning the web today, we found this completely predictable headline:

Washington Talk Radio Station Drops Bill O'Reilly

Our man Bill-O will be replaced by a sports talk program.

The Bush-Cheney Slide Continues

Speaking of polls (see AT's last post), new numbers out today paint a bleak picture of the public's confidence in the current administration. The poll found that 45 percent of adults supported the impeachment of President Bush.

The numbers were even worse for Vice President Dick Cheney. A full 54 percent of the adults surveyed supported Cheney's impeachment. Ouch!

Tulsa voters will recall that Tulsa's own top Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe, brought Cheney to town a few weeks ago to help the senator raise money for his 2008 reelection bid.

We suspect the Cheney fundraiser was a big success. But it will take more than deep pockets for Bush, Cheney and Inhofe to overcome a six-year legacy of arrogance and incompetence.

Public Disapproves of Libby's Free Ride

President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's 30-month prison sentence is not playing well in Peoria.

Contrary to the pronouncements of the conservative talking heads, the public not only knows who Scooter Libby is, they also disapprove of the President's commutation by a whopping 69 percent.

'Tulsa Today'—Stenographer to the President

President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence is controversial in many quarters.

Democrats point out, correctly, that the President has something to gain from the commutation—protecting someone who protected the administration. Libby's commutation doesn't pass the 'smell test,' they say.

Even some Republicans don't like the commutation. They think Libby's prosecution was a political sham and that Mr. Bush should have given Libby a full pardon. There was no underlying crime, they say—though a federal prosecutor, a jury and a judge seemed to think otherwise.

So what does the Tulsa Today blog have to say about the commutation? Instead of criticism or commentary, the site published—and we are not making this up—the official White House statement explaining the president's action.

We had no idea that Tulsa Today was so devoted to stenography.

Another Republican Senator Defects on Iraq

New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici is the latest Republican legislator to call for a change of direction in Iraq. The opening line of Domenici's statement makes his position clear:

I want a new strategy for Iraq.

One by one, Bush's allies on the war are turning.

Fourth of July Holiday Reading

An AT reader suggested a book a few weeks ago that we want to recommend for summer reading. It may be especially appropriate as Americans celebrate the birth of independence and the legacy of freedom.

The book is not about the U.S. or its history. But Philip Gourevitch's We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, is an extraordinary testament to the dignity of individuals and the collective need for the rule of law and the protections of a civil society.

Gourevitch's book, published in 1998, is a detailed and chilling reconstruction of the Rwanda massacres of the early 1990s. More importantly for American readers today, it's a contemplation of the nature of truth and the tenuousness of morality in the modern world.

As some readers may recall, Rwanda, a small mountainous nation in central Africa, suffered under decades of corrupt colonial and home-grown leadership. By the 1990s, the main two tribal groups, the Tutsis and the Hutus, were at the boiling point and the nation exploded in a violent frenzy.

Gourevitch explains that most of violence involved enraged Hutus killing every Tutsi or Tutsi sympathizer they could find, including women and children. He also explains that the cause of the violence was not as simple as depicted in Western media reports.

Even worse, in some ways, Gourevitch details the impotence of the UN, western governments, religious groups, and humanitarian groups when faced with violence and disorder on a national scale. It's a damning portrait that will make any sensitive observer question the efforts of well-intentioned people and organizations in an international setting.

We haven't finished the book yet, but we can see why many readers of We Wish to Inform You have been profoundly changed by the book. For us, the Rwandan story has been a reminder of why we care so deeply about the rights and responsibilities of democratic self-government.

Happy Birthday, AMERICA.

News Flash: BBC Reporter Released in Gaza

Finally some good news out of Gaza: BBC reporter Alan Johnston was released today after four months of captivity.

We know he's not a U.S. citizen, but that's a great way to start the July 4 holiday. Kudos to the Brits and all those organizations that kept the faith and kept up the pressure to gain Johnston's release.

As Scooter Slides, So Do Bush and Cheney

Our nomination for Quote of the Day on the President's Scooter Libby commutation, courtesy of Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo:

The deeper offense is that the president has used his pardon power to short circuit the investigation of a crime to which he himself was quite likely a party, and to which, his vice president, who controls him, certainly was.

McCain Cuts Staff As GOP Support Drops

Those of you watching the ups and downs of the Republican presidential race will want to take note: Arizona Sen. John McCain is taking hits and may be down for the count.

McCain's poll numbers have been sagging for some weeks now and his fundraising is also lagging behind other GOP hopefuls. As a result, McCain is cutting at least 50 staff positions.

Not so many months ago, McCain was a GOP golden boy, a refreshing alternative to George W. Bush and his Republican rivals. Tough and outspoken, the former pilot and POW was considered a front runner for the 2008 Republican nomination.

It was too good to last. McCain has been hurt by his continued support for the Iraq war and by his support for the comprehensive immigration reform plan, a plan supported by the president but wildly unpopular among the right-wing portion of the Republican Party.

AltTulsa's take: McCain is not yet toast, but he's close. The red-meat conservatives are in an uproar over McCain's support for the immigration bill and we don't think they will forget between now and the primary season.

Next up for the GOP: Paging Dr. Fred! Paging Dr. Fred! Will Dr. Thompson please report to the Right Wing of the GOP Ward and help save this party.