The Rest of the Story

House Resolution 375, proposed by the Honorable Barbara Lee (D-CA), calls for Congress to exercise its Constitutional oversight of the executive branch, by investigating the communication that took place between the USA and the UK in the run-up to the Iraq War.  Although this is unlikely to go anywhere, given the yellow-hammerlock that the Republican Party has on Congress, it is a serious matter nonetheless.  

If our President indeed lied to the American people prior to the war, that would be a High Crime, by any definition.  Recall that he stated, on numerous occasions, that the decision for war had not been decided until a few days before hostilities began.  The gravity of the situation was underscored by the nation-wide recognition given to the Downing Street memos.  This is analogous to the situation with the 16 words about "uranium from Africa."  Those words were contained in a State of the Union Address, which is a Constitutionally-mandated official report to Congress.  Knowingly including a lie in report to Congress is no small matter.  Ol' Cranky at The Disenchanted Forest has the latest on that.

One of our servicemen, Rob, posting at The Online Magazine formerly known as Rob's Blog, provides us with an easy way to speak up:

If your Representative is not a co-sponsor, we need you to ask him or her to become a co-sponsor of H.Res. 375. Many, even possibly some Republicans, will co-sponsor this, but they have to be asked.

The link goes to a page at Democrats.com, and it provides a form that simplifies the process of sending an email to your congresspersons.  It even figures out the appropriate recipients, based upon your own zip code.  

Submarines have always fascinated me.  The Ohio-class Trident II-bearing boomers are, arguably, the most powerful killing machines ever devised.  Despite that satanic distinction, it is entirely possible that it was our superiority in undersea warfare that prevented the Cold War from killing us all.  Accordingly, I have a certain kind of ambivalent respect for submariners.  Rob is one of them, although I don't know what kind of boat he mans.  

In fact, one of our horses, Vivid October, was named after the submarine in The Hunt for Red October.  Well, at least the name was inspired by the fictional sub.  His mare is named Vivid April Maiden.  Yvonne's birthday is in April; mine is in October.  April is female; October is male.  Yvonne was not fond of the other proposed names: Trident, etc., but she could live with October, and it sort of made sense, for the reasons noted above.  

Nostalgic tangents aside, I sometimes think that certain political figures fancy themselves to be as powerful and as secretive as the Ohio-class SSBN's, as they rove the halls of the West Wing.  HR 375 may well torpedo that fantasy.  

Others fancy themselves to be bucking stallions.  I think this is a more accurate depiction:


Kinda reminds you of a certain joke told by the First Lady, about our President, doesn't it?