After a spring and early summer dominated by the Iraq war, congressional Democrats are at last pounding out accomplishments on the domestic front, hoping to boost dismal approval ratings for Congress and avoid a “do-nothing” label as they head into the August recess.

Last week’s achievements in agriculture, lobbying reform and homeland security will give Democrats something positive to bring up with voters during the month-long break. The $286 billion farm bill passed Friday by the House continues popular crop subsidies and provides new funds for nutrition programs.

Somewhere I suggested this about a month ago. They just kept try to play the Iraq card and it failed and failed and failed and failed again. Now that they must go back home and face voters the dems jump on the Domestic program bandwagon. They have got to have something positive or they will shoot themselves in the foot. OK, the ethics bill will probably get watered down just so it will pass. In other words, not a damn thing positive in reality, only in politics is it a positive thing.

In closing, the congress will go into the August recess with very little accomplished and what is accomplished is only a shell of a good bill. BTW, I believe that Iraq’s parliment is going into recess until about Labor Day. Please, remind me why this is a bad thing? Oh yeah, our troops do not get a recess. Then if it is all that important, why does not the US Congress stay in session? Oh yeah, sorry, my bad–there is an election coming and that is more important than the lives of our troops.

CHUQ

In the last week or so I have heard three different people say that they have been in Iraq’s al Anbar province and it was so safe that they walked around Ramadi without body armor. The last one was Pollock from the Brookings Institute. Is this true? I have seen no evidence of it being that safe. There are no photos of these guys walking around town without body armor. You would think that these people would bring back photos or footage to help illustrate the point. I have seen nothing!

I think it is more that the Bush admin are using these people to bolster their positionb when the ambassador and the general come to town for their report. This appears to be setting the stage for that report, IMO. They want to keep US troops in country for awhile longer and they are pumping up the only good news they have. That being the sunnis are doing a good job of whacking AQ’s pee-pee.

So I say this is not really good news. It is manufactered news only to help Bush and his gang get what they want in September.

CHUQ