whoops

McCain lamented having to "withdraw in humiliation" from Somalia in 1993, but failed to mention his own role:

McCain: We went in to Somalia as a peacemaking organization, we ended up trying to be – excuse me, as a peacekeeping organization, we ended up trying to be peacemakers and we ended up having to withdraw in humiliation.

What McCain isn't saying is that he led an attempt to force the Clinton administration to withdraw more quickly. After the First Battle of Mogadishu (immortalized in the book and film "Black Hawk Down"), Clinton proposed a six-month plan for withdrawing combat troops. Then-Sen. Phil Gramm complained that the plan was an attempt to "save face," and McCain introduced an amendment to cut off funding for combat in Somalia and force an immediate withdrawal. The amendment was tabled and the Senate backed Clinton's plan. In his 2002 memoir, "Worth the Fighting For," McCain called his amendment "hasty" and wrote that he "regretted" what he came to see as "a retreat in the face of aggression from an inferior foe."

no shame

Permitting fees are WAY up. That must be part of the 16.5% increase in charges for services that they are projecting for the next fiscal year. Fees and licenses are projected to increase by 5.9% also in the coming year. How else to minimize the 1.5 MILLION dollar deficit for next year? They have thrown away HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our tax dollars on the CC and the bathrooms, and now want to cover their butts on the backs of the working residents and small businessmen. They have NO remorse, no sense of guilt or embarrassment, and no shame in coming back to us to pay for their colossal mistakes. The only two significant increases in money goes to the City Manager (22.3%) and the City Clerk (25%). All this s to be taken with a grain of salt, of course, because we dont REALLY know if these numbers are accurate or not. DOZENS of the 05-06 numbers on the City website were erroneous by up to 185k. We need an OUTSIDE independent audit badly to discern which of the numbers posted are the correct ones, if any. Can it be that the City has TWO sets of books and numbers? We wont know until an audit is done. TWO years later and all we have is guesstimates about the revenues that were taken in and dispersed. Incredible incompetency, all the way up the line.