May 2011

Memorial Day is nice, I suppose. Veterans Day is all right. Patriots Day can be fun. Yellow Ribbon Day’s not bad. But you will be pleased to hear that on Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted, in pure bipartisan harmony, to add the following gem to the big war-funding, war-expanding, bill that now goes to the Senate:

“The President shall designate a day entitled a National Day of Honor to celebrate members of the Armed Forces who are returning from deployment read more

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives backed eternal worldwide war and imprisonment powers for all future presidents, but blocked any ground troops in Libya (except for the ones already there, since the measure included no consequences for its violation).  The House also unanimously created a new national holiday to celebrate the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.  It defunded the US Institute for Peace (saving the cost of 5 hours in Afghanistan).  And it required that all suspected read more

The White House has put out a statement expressing its disapproval of various bits of H.R.1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. Here’s the most interesting, if not the most adamant, objection:

“Detainee Matters: The Administration strongly objects to section 1034 which, in purporting to affirm the conflict, would effectively recharacterize its scope and would risk creating confusion regarding applicable standards. At a minimum, this is an issue that read more