Olbermann says it straight: Dems betray country

I have been livid since I heard that the House Democrats have folded in the face of Bush's threat of a veto over his war funding reauthorization and can't speak or write without sputtering, so I'll let Keith Olbermann do it for me:

Few men or women elected in our history—whether executive or legislative, state or national—have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear:

Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

• The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president—if not the worst president, then easily the most selfish, in our history—who happily blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats “give the troops their money”;
• The Democratic leadership has agreed to finance the deaths of Americans in a war that has only reduced the security of Americans;
• The Democratic leadership has given Mr. Bush all that he wanted, with the only caveat being, not merely meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but optional meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government.
• The Democratic leadership has, in sum, claimed a compromise with the Administration, in which the only things truly compromised, are the trust of the voters, the ethics of the Democrats, and the lives of our brave, and doomed, friends, and family, in Iraq.
  

For the whole video (7 minutes plus) click on the image above.

current-events

Clipper Cutty Sark gutted by fire

The Cutty Sark, the oldest surviving fast tea clipper, was ravaged by fire yesterday, possibly as a result of arson, as she sat at drydock in London while undergoing restoration.

Sydney Morning Herald
Cutty Sark gutted by fire
May 21, 2007 - 5:19PM


A suspicious fire has ravaged the world's last remaining tea clipper, the Cutty Sark, which helped build Australia's early economy by speeding prized wool shipments to London.

The blaze broke out early today as the 138-year-old ship sat in its dry dock in south London, where it had been undergoing a £11.75 million ($28.2 million) restoration.

Police Inspector Bruce Middlemiss said officers were treating the fire as suspicious and a number of people had been in the area about the time it broke out. Officers were examining CCTV footage.

Early reports said damage to the vessel was extensive, but authorities later expressed confidence it could be rebuilt, adding that many crucial artifacts were not aboard due to the restoration work.

The rest of the story here.

And for a bit of the history of this wonderful full-rigged clipper, go here.

current-events