According to an AP report today:

CRAWFORD, Texas - A determined mother of a fallen U.S. soldier who has pledged to hold a roadside peace protest near President Bush’s ranch until he talks to her said Sunday that she met with the president shortly after her son died.

Cindy Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, Calif., said she was among several relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq who were invited to meet with Bush in June 2004 at Fort Lewis near Seattle, Wash.

She said her meeting with Bush occurred two months after her son, Casey, was killed in Sadr City, Irag, on April 4, 2004. Since then, she said, various government and independent commission reports have disputed the Bush administration’s claims that Saddam Hussein had mass-killing chemical and biological weapons — a main justification for the March 2003 invasion.

“I was still in shock then,” Sheehan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “It takes about eight or nine months for the shock to subside. Now, I’m angry. I want the troops home.

“All of those reports prove my son died needlessly. This proved that every reason George Bush gave us for going to war was wrong.”

Sheehan has not seen Bush, but she did talk for about 45 minutes on Saturday with Steve Hadley, Bush’s national security adviser, and Joe Hagin, deputy White House chief of staff, who went out to hear her concerns.

Appreciative of their attention, yet undaunted, Sheehan said she planned to continue her roadside vigil, except for a few breaks, until she gets to talk to Bush. Sheehan, who formed a group called Gold Star Families For Peace, has spoken out against the war across the nation.

She alleged that Secret Service agents in Crawford were trying to coerce her into leaving. She said the agents have told protesters that if they stay along the road, about five miles from Bush’s ranch, they may be hit by Secret Service vehicles.

The Secret Service in Washington said it was unaware of any such incidents.

“We respect the right of the public to demonstrate to express their views,” said Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry. “Our goal is to have a safe environment for our protectees — in this case — the president — and the demonstrators who want to express their views.”

End AP:

Let me print this again: Secret Service agents in Crawford were trying to coerce her into leaving. She said the agents have told protesters that if they stay along the road, about five miles from Bush’s ranch, they may be hit by Secret Service vehicles.

Obviously the Republicans think they are above having to abide by the free speech mandated in the constitution. Ever since they have been in power, they have abused it and they are getting more arrogant about it every day.

John Bolton was booed as he arrived at his New York office for the first time. See the video here:

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/boltan booed.wmv

The Yellow Dog Blog shrewdly points out “Richard Holbrooke, who Republicans delayed for 14 months as Bill Clinton’s nominee to the U.N., refused to bypass the Senate with a recess appointment, saying that it would introduce him to the world body with no credibility or authority.”

The Dems have class while Bush again flips off the world. Remind me again, why are they terrorizing us?

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. The Bush Administration has changed it’s vocabulary in order to cast the current war in Iraq as a long-term. In a recent speech Rumsfeld dubbed the war “a global struggle against violent extremism” instead of the old-hat, “war on terror”.

The minions are out in force to justify the change. Administration and Pentagon officials say the revamped campaign has grown out of an evolution in Mr. Bush’s own thinking nearly four years after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mr. Rumsfeld spoke in the new terms on Friday when he addressed an audience in Annapolis, Md., for the retirement ceremony of Adm. Vern Clark as chief of naval operations. Mr. Rumsfeld described America’s efforts as it “wages the global struggle against the enemies of freedom, the enemies of civilization.” Oddly enough the word “war” tickled his tongue during his speech in the place “struggle” should be

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had “objected to the use of the term ‘war on terrorism’ before”. That would be before Bush changed the spin. Myers also stated that future efforts require “all instruments of our national power, all instruments of the international communities’ national power.” The solution is “more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it is military,” he concluded.

Judging from Myers’ remarks, the Bush administration is in a position to beg the support of the world to help clean up the mess it made. In light of this, Bush sends a hardass like Bolton to represent the US to the United Nations. Another shrewd Bush maneuver, but I digress.

Perhaps this is just a typical knee-jerk reaction to new opinion polls that show Americans are increasing pessimistic about the expensive mission in Iraq. Rumors of disersion in the US forces put the dodgers at about 5,000. Those in the military have began complaining that only member of the armed forces are begin asked to sacrifice for the effort. The wealthy class of American has given nothing to the cause – even reaped tax breaks that could have been used to bullet-proof vests and life-saving truck armor.

Americans are also beginning to wake up to the fact that Iraq was not as closely linked to 9/11 as the Bush administration liked to imply. They are starting to realize with the London Bombings, that we need to get our troops home to guard our own soil. Sadly, the recent announcement that pullout will begin in the spring is just a political tactic to lock down the Senate as Republican this 2006 election.

The Bushies don’t give a damn about their country or it’s people, only their power.