House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office has a new blog, called appropriately enough, The Gavel. Today there are lots of videos (via C-Span via YouTube) of house members giving speeches about the war.
I also noticed the Comments Policy:
Due to staffing constraints, we regret that we are not capable of monitoring, moderating, and responding to comments at all times. Instead, we will open up comments on selected posts when we, or our guest-posters, have adequate time to give your input the time and respect it deserves. We appreciate your patience and understanding, and we will be sure to give advance notice when the comments are open. Always feel free to contact us via e-mail with any concerns or input you might have.
…which seems reasonable enough. And then there's the JFK, which I'm hotlinking to below:
I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU AGREED WITH JEFFERSONS APPOINTMENT. THIS CROOK IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION. BUSH REALLY HANDLED YOU ON THIS ONE. I AM DISSIPOINTED IN YOU.
A RETIRED VET, A UPSET X REPUBLICAN,
CLAY BARRITT
Does anyone have any idea which blog the previous comment was intended for?
I just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Nancy Pelosi on becoming Speaker of the House. Never before have I been more proud to be a Pelosi. Most of the time I believe that I am the only Democrat residing in Williamson County, Texas, but occasionally I am surprised when finding out that we are really out there. Again . . . good luck to you, Nancy! Aren’t Pelosi men great? My husband’s family comes from Newcastle, Pennsylvania but got to Texas as fast as they could.
When are we going to go after Bush, Cheney and Halaburton for stealing our tax dollars? From the begining we should have put the Iraq’s to work rebuilding their Country. Could we still do that? I think it would give Iraq a reason to stop fighting, then we could leave. We”d have to give up privatising the OIL, wouldn”we? OIL- We need a 100% alternative, MADE IN THE U.S.A.
Dear Madam Speaker,
Please take the time to meet with General Petraeus and his command on how they can turn this mess in IRAQ around. I think the firing of Rumsfeld is adequate proof enough that the war was being prosecuted in an unhealthy way. I believe you need to experience first hand with a face to face in Iraq with the troops from top to bottom and get a real leaders opinion of what you should do. You are third in line to become President of these great UNITED STATES. Please take some time and reflect what you would do. Do we turn our back on the KURDS who have supported us for more than 20 years? Do we allow Turkey to go after the KURDS in another CIVIL WAR? GENOCIDE?
The Sunni’s and Shia may have their CIVIL WAR but at what cost? I believe General Petraeus is your last best hope because no matter how it ends up, if we leave too early or stay too long, you will be accountable every night when you go to sleep and ask for GOD’s FOREGIVENESS. Take the time and please address this in a manner that leaves out the political rancor that appears to consume all of WASHINGTON politics these days.
My son-in-law served in IRAQ and wakes with night terrors all too often. He saw the loss of troops lives that he commanded as well as those of the SUNNI in the ANBAR Province. Please do not make his service and his sacrifice a waste. Find out the RIGHT THING and DO IT!
Thanks and May God Be With You,
Gerry Williams
The situation our “leaders” have gotton our country and its troops in harm’s way for false reasons, causing thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths and suffering, resulting now in all-out civil war with no end in sight. There is no accounting for the billions of tax dollars spent on the rebuilding Iraq so obviously our monies have gone into the wrong pockets (i.e. Haliburton?) because water availbility, electric generation stations are still in shambles, and the poor that cannot escape the country like the people with means have done, are being killed and maimed daily without any recourse. Please place “impeachment” back on the table, as you took it off the table in your effort to show that you will “work” with this President to get us out of this morass. Guess What? I feel your show of “help” was taken as a sign of weakness by Bush Jr, as now he and his cronies think that NO ONE CAN STOP THEM NOW. You should have learned by now that you cannot reason with a complete fool. If you let this fiasco continue, our country’s reputation, now in shambles, will be irreparable. We can say the Democrats we elected watched this country “go down” while they worried about their “bottom line” and their ability to keep their job. The country had no choice by elect you and others in an unexpected turningpoint in our countries history. If you and Max Baucus with Jon Testor’s help can’t live up to WHY you were elected now, then we will never be able to trust our elected officials to represent the will of the people. Be strong in your convictions as I know you can be, and save us by impeaching this total fool AND the puppeteers above the stage who are pulling his strings.