what do you need of me.......

MASTER

(that's what it sounds like to me)

apparently the couple AIN'T holier than me (or you)

"It's most important to keep marriage and family together. I am a child of divorce, and it's devastating. I have a 12-year marriage. And the way I see it, the way to an amazing marriage is having sex ... lots of sex. Sex keeps the marriage young. And a woman should maintain herself for her husband and stay attractive. I like to put the kids to bed, have a glass of wine on the patio or by the fireplace, and I ask Craig, 'What do you need of me?'"

Lurid divorce from GOP fundraiser for 'Stars' singer Evans

Country singer and ABC's Dancing With the Stars regular Sara Evans has filed for divorce from her husband of 13 years, failed GOP congressional candidate and party fundraiser Craig Schelske.
According to an article in today's Tennesseean, Evans alleges that Schelske "committed adultery, verbally abused her and frequently watched pornography at home." She has now left the ABC show "to give her family her full attention...............

i am VERY interested to see how 'they' tie this one to clinton

as we ALL know, whatever was done illegally or incorrectly or covertly or maliciously or evilly in the last 200 years, well, bill clinton (or some such democrat) had SOMETHING to do with it. i'm surprised the world hasn't come to a halt because of ALL the shite he's (or they've) done to the entire world. you watch, he'll (or they'll) SOMEHOW get the finger pointed at him (or them) for THIS ONE too. (i love the creativity. 'they'* get an a for effort on ALL of the stories they've blamed on clinton)

Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff


By James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, October 13, 2006; 1:32 AM
Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "appear to have perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday.
The report includes previously unreleased e-mails between the now-disgraced lobbyist and officers of the nonprofit groups, showing that Abramoff funneled money from his clients to the groups. In exchange, the groups, among other things, produced ostensibly independent newspaper op-ed columns or news releases that favored the clients' positions.....

.......A spokesman for Norquist, John Kartch, called the report "political nonsense" pushed by Democrats close to the midterm elections..................

*this particular 'they' used above equates to the republicans

i finally finished my knitted log cabin baby blanket

my original posting on it

i'm giving it to my boss today. whew, now i can concentrate on knitting for holiday gifts.

Tech Tags: baby+blanket log+cabin knitting

cool website of the day

haiku - o - matic

i liked the first one,
the lost world wasn't that bad
but the sequel sucked

all of these men and yeah, MOST of them ARE men

making choices about MY body because they feel i'm not capable of doing it myself. don't tell me what i can and cannot do with MY body

Pro-Lifers' Frightening New Tactic

By Sarah Blustain and Reva Siegel, The American ProspectPosted on October 12, 2006, Printed on October 12, 2006http://www.alternet.org/story/42589/
Next month, South Dakotans will vote on whether to uphold the most radical abortion ban in the nation. Allowing for abortion only "to prevent the death of a pregnant mother," the ban was enacted last March in the belief that the changing membership of the Supreme Court made timely a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. The nation awaits the outcome of this referendum; but in a crucial sense, the damage has already been done.
That's because in enacting the ban South Dakota's governor and legislature gave prominent official endorsement to a claim that's been quietly spreading for decades: that abortion harms women. Asserting that women are subject to coerced and dangerous abortions, the state prohibited the procedure, it said, not only to protect the unborn, but to protect women's choices, women's health, and women's welfare -- new justifications that borrow pro-choice language and infuse it with some very old notions about women's roles. Prohibiting abortion, the movement now emphasizes, protects women's health and choices as mothers........

MORE mind boggling news out of the middle east

the united states is going to shut down what appears to be a VERY successful police training academy for iraqis in jordan. seems they want them to train at other facilities including the one that was just built. it was built SO WELL, shit rains down from the ceilings. yup, makes sense to me

Iraqi cop academy to shut despite surge in violence

BY JAMES GORDON MEEK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU Thursday, October 12th, 2006 WASHINGTON - The Bush administration plans to shut down a highly successful Iraqi police academy in Jordan even as security in Iraq worsens, the Daily News has learned.
The Jordan International Police Training Center near Amman will stop training Iraqi police recruits this year, having already graduated 40,000 cops from its eight-week course since 2004, U.S. officials confirmed.
"The word we have is that JIPTC completes its mission on Dec. 31, and we are proceeding on that basis," said academy spokesman Iver Peterson.
President Bush has said American troops can come home from Iraq when Iraqi forces can secure their own country.
The $120 million Jordan academy is safe and has police trainers from 15 nations. It graduates a staggering 1,800 Iraqi cops and border guards each month. Fewer than 4% have washed out.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) expressed shock when told by The News that the facility will soon close.
"It is mystifying and maddening that they would shut this down while violence in Iraq is spiraling out of control and in the face of an urgent shortage of trained police officers," said Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate subcommittee overseeing Iraq reconstruction funding.
The Jordan academy is located on a sprawling 560 acres, with firing lines, indoor firing ranges, areas where cadets learn to defuse bombs and a mess hall dishing up 12,000 meals a day.
But State Department officials who run the Pentagon-funded academy said Iraqi authorities want all training shifted to eight regional academies in Iraq, including Baghdad Police College - which has to be rebuilt because of bungled construction.
"Moving the functions of this facility to Iraq will add to the cost - especially for security - and subtract from these vital recruitment and training missions," Leahy said.
The Iraqi Police - apart from the paramilitary National Police linked to death squads - are routinely attacked at recruiting centers and stations. By some estimates, 12,000 of the 130,000-man force have been killed or wounded or have quit or been fired.........

cool website of the day

ancient scripts

do you remember reading about and seeing pictures of

the 'disappeared' in some south american countries a while back? the anguish in the mother's eyes? do you remember thinking HOW HORRID to have to live that way. to be afraid of your government and it's dirty evil secrets. to be afraid a family member will be stolen away in the night never to be seen again. do you remember? i sure do

More on "Operation Condor," What Horrors May Await America, Kissinger, and the Disappeared

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 10/10/2006 - 4:21pm. Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS In our editorial that caromed around the Internet, "Torture, Murder, Bush, Kissinger and The Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina: America on the Brink of Horror," we warned that the legacy of U.S. governments – particularly under the Rumsfeld/Cheney/Kissinger/Bush leadership through various GOP administrations – supporting torture and murder to suppress dissent in other countries may be coming to America.
This is no idle conspiracy theory. As we pointed out in our editorial, the U.S. Congress has now given Bush enough legal maneuvering room to declare U.S. citizens supporters of terrorists. Since Bush has openly accused any American who disagrees with his disastrous "war on terror" a "tool of the terrorists," he is legally now able to "disappear" us. This is not idle theory. We no longer have the protection of habeas corpus, if Bush invokes his powers to fight "terror."
One of the key proponents, over the years, of torturing and murdering dissenters in nations that experience strong challenges to their oligarchies or ruling class elite is Henry Kissinger.
Bob Woodward recently told an interviewer that Dick Cheney called him up and swore at him for revealing that Kissinger is now advising Cheney and Bush.
We thought that for the record, we would amplify a bit the comment we made in our editorial that Kissinger avoids traveling to a number of nations because he would face judicial questioning about his role in "Operation Condor."...................

this i just don't understand

i really don't. it seems every single one of 'un are deny-ers. i haven't heard one of 'um STAND UP AND BE A WOMAN OR A MAN and accept RESPONSIBILITY for ANY EFFING thing. finger pointers and the blamers of OTHERS. it's ALWAYS someone else. NEVER THEM.

as i have said over and over. democrats have and will continue to make mistakes. a politician is a politician. they're a different breed. BUT THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS

Push Back: Koreans Stopped Nuclear Moves Under Clinton, So Bush And McCain Blame Clinton?

by Brent Budowsky Oct 11 2006 - 9:04 pm permalink article tools: email print read more Brent Budowsky
Democrats should push back against every dishonest excuse and every evasion of responsibility by the partisan President and his acolytes who have done enough damage to our security for a lifetime.
Lets get this straight: Bill Clinton had a policy towards Korea that worked for eight years that included a strong military, and included diplomacy, and resulted in North Korea holding back from nuclear tests that have taken place on George W. Bush's watch.
Lets get this straight, America's position has deteriorated towards every nation that George W. Bush targeted in his axis of evil. Iraq has turned into chaos and instability and the big winners of Bush's Iraq policy were the terrorists and Iranians. Iran has gone from a very bad government to a much worse government and has strengthened its strategic position in the Middle East under George Bush. And North Korea has exploited weaknesses caused by the failed Bush policies, and done nuclear testing on Bush's watch that were never done on Clinton's watch...............

is this what we call ... irony?

or is it what we call BULL SHITE???



Republicans for Hypocrisy
Ari Berman

You gotta love the contradictions in Washington. The head of a new conservative group named Americans for Honesty on Issues is a former advisor to Rep. Tom DeLay and Enron CEO Ken Lay.
Perfect material for Katrina's "Dictionary of Republicanisms."
According to the New York Times, the group is spending more than $1 million on negative TV ads against nine Democratic House candidates, accusing them of "carpetbagging, coddling illegal immigrants, being soft on crime and advocating cutting off money for troops in Iraq." .........

the decider is really the dreamer AND the denyer

well not dreamer so much as nightmarer. king george IS in fantasy land and it's NOT one full of unicorns and rainbows.

Bush spars with reporters on Iraq, North Korea

Filed by Ron Brynaert

In a Rose Garden press conference, President Bush blasted a new study that estimates 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war since March of 2003 as "just not credible."

Bush also spoke at length about North Korea, defending his record in contrast to that of the Clinton Administration, and commented on the Mark Foley Congressional page scandal.
The new study, undertaken by Iraqi physicians who interviewed 12,801 residents from late May to early July and overseen by epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, estimates that as many as 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S.-led invasion in March of 2003 and that roughly ninety percent of the deaths were directly related to violence, primarily victims of gunfire.
The survey is an update to a prior study compiled by the same group, and many of the same researchers, which estimated that around 100,000 more Iraqis had died in the first 18 months after the invasion than would have died otherwise. Aside from the size of the estimate, which was much higher than other estimates, that study also drew criticism due to its timing – weeks before the US presidential election in November of 2004 – which one of the lead researchers admitted was deliberate.........


654,000 Deaths Tied to Iraq WarHopkins research yields toll far higher than most estimates

the vagina can take a LOT of punishment

(hey I DIDN'T SAY IT). watch this WICKED HILARIOUS daily show interview!!!!

they are NOT just a number or a comma

or an unknown face. they each have a story. some simple some not so simple. they each had a life. they each had families and friends and loves. each 2,747* of them are now dead. i will not forget them

here is the (partial) story of alex


In Marine's Death, Clues to a Son's Life
Mother Finds Answers In Effort to Understand Sergeant Killed in Iraq


By Dan Morse Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, October 11, 2006; Page A01
Gilda Carbonaro pulled her car to a stop inside Arlington National Cemetery, stepping out to visit the freshly dug grave of her only child, Alex.
With her was a broad-shouldered Marine, limping from a leg shattered in battle, who towered a foot over Gilda. The Marine hadn't known Alex well but held precious clues about the person he had become.
Gilda had many questions. She and her husband had raised Alex in a world different from the military's -- the protected streets of Bethesda. Alex graduated from a Quaker high school, then stunned them by enlisting in the Marine Corps.
Gilda trusted he would serve out his initial five-year commitment, come home and go to college. Instead, he reenlisted, earning a spot in one of the Marines' elite reconnaissance units, called Recon, which operate deep inside enemy territory. That took Alex on two tours in Iraq, a war Gilda had spent two years trying to end..........



*number was as of 4 pm yesterday and it represents us military fatalities in operation iraqi "freedom"

cool website of the day

mumbleboy

i LOVE goats

i know i've mentioned them before. i was attacked (in a VERY friendly way that is) by a small herd of pygmy goats at the texas state fair right before that emu SHAT ON MY SHOE. but that is another story for another day

Goats Key to Spread of Farming, Gene Study Suggests

James Owen for National Geographic News
October 10, 2006
Goats accompanied the earliest farmers into Europe some 7,500 years ago, helping to revolutionize Stone Age society, a new study suggests.
The trailblazing farm animals were hardy and highly mobile traveling companions to ancient pioneers from the Middle East who introduced agriculture to Europe and elsewhere, researchers say.
The onset of farming ushered in the so-called Neolithic Revolution, when settled communities gradually replaced nomadic tribes and their hunter-gatherer lifestyles between 8000 and 6000 B.C.
A team of archaeologists and biologists has traced the origins of domesticated goats in Western Europe to the Middle East at the beginnings of the Neolithic period. .........


Goats were key to the spread of early farming from the Middle East into Europe, a new study suggests. The hardy animals accompanied pioneers that first brought agriculture to Europe, ushering in a rapid transformation of hunter-gatherer societies into settled communities.Photograph courtesy Pierre Taberlet/PNAS

new bird; Yariguíes brush finch

isn't he or she BEAUTIFUL? looks like he or she is ready for a sex pistols concert


Photograph by Blanca Huertas, from AP Photo

in da liebs OWN woids

cool website of the day

planet dobro

another gun incident

this one ended without bloodshed. it's a miracle it did. if you read this blog, you know my feelings on guns.

Student, 13, fires assault rifle in Missouri school

JOPLIN, Missouri (AP) -- Fascinated by the Columbine bloodbath, a 13-year-old boy in a dark green trench coat and mask carried an assault rifle into his school Monday, pointed it at students and fired a shot into a ceiling before the weapon jammed, authorities said. No one was hurt.
"Please don't make me do this," he was quoted as telling administrators before police arrested him and thwarted what they called a "well thought-out plan" to terrorize his school.
Police said a note in the student's backpack indicated he had planted an explosive in the school, but no bombs were found.
Lt. Geoff Jones said the boy's motives were unclear. School officials said the student had no major disciplinary problems.
The seventh-grader, whose name was not immediately released, pointed the gun at two students inside Joplin Memorial Middle School but was confronted by an administrator who tried to talk him into putting the gun down, Jones said.
The boy refused and fired a shot into the ceiling of an entryway, police said. He tried to continue firing but the rifle jammed, according to Jones. The student then left the building......

............Jones said the gun belonged to the boy's parents, who kept the weapon in a safe at home. The parents told police their son apparently knew the combination to the gun safe. Farmer said it is not uncommon for people in the area to own assault weapons........

WTF????? why do people in the area need assault weapons? to bring them into schools and start blasting away?

listen to the crap spewing from this dude's mouth

not only does he think he can 'cure' homosexuality BUT he thinks africans WERE BETTER OFF being slaves. this is the sort of person we allow our (well some children are encouraged to listen to this dribble. not all. some parents ARE indeed smarter than that) children to be taught by and encouraged by. the voices should be universally raised to get people like this OUT of whatever positions they are in. when will we wake up?

'Ex-gay' psychologist claims Africans 'better off' as slaves

by Brentin Mock

Oct. 6, 2006 -- A prominent member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is under fire for publishing an essay in which he argues that Africans were fortunate to have been sold into slavery, and the civil rights movement was "irrational."
"There is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America," writes Gerald Schoenewolf, a member of NARTH's Science Advisory Committee. "Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle... Life there was savage ... and those brought to America, and other countries, were in many ways better off."
NARTH is a coalition of psychologists who believe it's possible to "cure" homosexuality, a position rejected by the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. The controversy over Schoenewolf's apology for slavery has battered the so-called "ex-gay" movement with accusations of racial bigotry for the first time. The movement's leaders and their close allies at Christian Right powerhouses like Focus on the Family have failed to condemn Schoenwolf's inflammatory arguments.
Titled "Gay Rights and Political Correctness: A Brief History," Schoenewolf's angry polemic was published on NARTH's website. In addition to his outrageous historical claims about the conditions of life in Africa, he writes that human rights proponents are intellectually stunted. (Schoenewolf draws upon Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget, who theorized four stages of intellectual development, with the most advanced stage consisting of abstract and complex thinking. "[F]ollowers in the Human Rights Movement," have not reached this stage, according to Schoenewolf.)
Schoenewolf, a psychotherapist who lives in New York City, is director of The Living Center, an online therapy center for people in the arts. He has authored 14 books, among them The Art of Hating, in which he writes, "Many people talk about hate, but few know how to hate well." .......

part i of what appears to be a very interesting series

on king george and religion and faith AND the separation of church and state (yeah, it's SUPPOSED to be separate). this makes me so angry (well what doesn't make me angry these days?). we have NO right to force christianity on those who just need help. need food and clothing and shelter and education. those who perhaps ALREADY worship their OWN god(s). i've posted on this before and most likely will again.

Bush brings faith to foreign aid
As funding rises, Christian groups deliver help -- with a message

This story is the first of four parts. It was reported and written by Farah Stockman, Michael Kranish, and Peter S. Canellos of the Globe Staff, and Globe correspondent Kevin Baron.
LAKARTINYA, Kenya -- The herders of this remote mountain village know little about America, but have learned from those who run a US-funded aid program about the American God.
A Christian God.
The US government has given $10.9 million to Food for the Hungry, a faith-based development organization, to reach deep into the arid mountains of northern Kenya to provide training in hygiene, childhood illnesses, and clean water. The group has brought all that, and something else that increasingly accompanies US-funded aid programs: r egular church service and prayer.
President Bush has almost doubled the percentage of US foreign-aid dollars going to faith-based groups such as Food for the Hungry, according to a Globe survey of government data. And in seeking to help such groups obtain more contracts, Bush has systematically eliminated or weakened rules designed to enforce the separation of church and state.
In Lakartinya, a simple hut built with funds from the US government is the first in the area to have a tin roof. It serves as a station for weighing babies, distributing food, teaching health classes -- and, until recently, initiating local people into the rites of Christianity, according to Food for the Hungry staff. Classes begin and end with prayers, and in some cases are followed by Christian services.
For decades, US policy has sought to avoid intermingling government programs and religious proselytizing. The aim is both to abide by the Constitution's prohibition against a state religion and to ensure that aid recipients don't forgo assistance because they don't share the religion of the provider.
Since medical programs are aimed at the most serious illnesses -- AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis -- the decision whether to seek treatment can determine life or death.
But many of those restrictions were removed by Bush in a little-noticed series of executive orders -- a policy change that cleared the way for religious groups to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in additional government funding. It also helped change the message American aid workers bring to many corners of the world, from emphasizing religious neutrality to touting the healing powers of the Christian God.
Bush's orders altered the longstanding practice that groups preach religion in one space and run government programs in another. The administration said religious organizations can conduct services in the same space as they hand out government aid, so long as the services don't take place while the aid is being delivered. But the rule allows groups to schedule prayers immediately before or after dispensing taxpayer-funded aid.
Bush's orders also reversed longstanding rules forbidding the use of government funds to pay for employees who are required to take an oath to one religion. In addition, the president's orders allowed faith-based groups to keep religious symbols in places where they distribute taxpayer-funded aid.
And in implementing the president's orders, the administration rejected efforts to require groups to inform beneficiaries that they don't have to attend religious services to get the help they need. Instead of a requirement, groups are merely encouraged to make clear to recipients that they don't have to participate in religious activities.
Bush made some of the changes by executive order only after failing to get Congress to approve them; the bill faltered in the Senate, where moderate Republicans joined Democrats in raising concerns about breaking down the barrier between government and religion..........

i like what mr shieffer had to say

and i agree with him. we must NOT adopt the actions of those we deem to be our enemies


Schieffer stresses need for free press

Veteran CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, who received the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media at the University of South Dakota, says the nation has never needed a vigorous free press more than now.
"I cannot remember a time when it's been more challenging for journalists," said Schieffer, 69, who has covered Washington for more than 30 years and hosts the CBS interview show "Face the Nation."
He said Thursday the government will always cover up its mistakes if it operates in secret and that it was up to journalists to expose the truth.
"Why does the government need a list of my phone calls?" he asked. "And what business does a democracy have running secret prisons? ... Do you believe that anyone would have known about these secret prisons or what was going on in Abu Ghraib if it had been left to the government to announce it?............

as if we need this

MORE frightening news out of iraq. this is just what WE are hearing. goddess only knows what ELSE is going on we are NOT hearing about

Hundreds of Iraq police fall ill at meal


By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press WriterSun Oct 8, 7:30 PM ET
Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick from poisoning Sunday at a base in southern Iraq after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast, and officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional.
An official with the Environment Ministry said 11 policemen had died. However, the governor of Wasit province — where the poisoning took place — denied any deaths, though he said some of the victims were in critical condition. There was no immediate explanation for the contradictory reports.
Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal, said Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector for the Environment Ministry, who was serving as a liaison in the investigation between the Health Ministry and the base, located in the town of Numaniyah.
"Hundreds of soldiers were poisoned after taking food and water in the iftar," Wasit Gov. Hamad al-Latif told the Associated Press, referring to the meal that breaks the sunrise-to-sunset fast during the Islamic holy month. "Investigations are under way to determine the cause."
Samples of the food and water were being tested "to determine the substance in them" and will be sent to Baghdad for further tests, al-Latif said.
Sunni insurgents who have targeted police and military forces with bombings and shootings have not been known to use poisoning as a weapon. But the suddenness and severity of the sickness raised speculation that the incident could be a new attack. The division is mainly made up of Shiites............

more on mr olbermann

a brief analysis. i agree, msnbc MUST allow mr olbermann to keep on speaking. there are plenty of shows with the 'other' view. very few shows with the view (AND balls) of mr olbermann

Olbermann News Commentaries Target Bush

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) - Keith Olbermann's tipping point came on a tarmac in Los Angeles six weeks ago. While waiting for his plane to take off he read an account of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's speech before the American Legion equating Iraq War opponents to pre-World War II appeasers.
The next night, on Aug. 30, Olbermann ended his MSNBC "Countdown" show with a blistering retort, questioning both the interpretation of history and Rumsfeld's very understanding of what it means to be an American.
It was the first of now five extraordinarily harsh anti-Bush commentaries that have made Olbermann the latest media point-person in the nation's political divide.
"As a critic of the administration, I will be damned if you can get away with calling me the equivalent of a Nazi appeaser," Olbermann told The Associated Press. "No one has the right to say that about any free-speaking American in this country."
Since that first commentary, Olbermann's nightly audience has increased 69 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research. This past Monday 834,000 people tuned in, virtually double his season average and more than CNN competitors Paula Zahn and Nancy Grace. Cable kingpin and Olbermann nemesis Bill O'Reilly (two million viewers that night) stands in his way.
Olbermann stood before Ground Zero on Sept. 11 and said Bush's conduct before the Iraq war was an impeachable offense. "Not once, in now five years, has this president ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space and to this, the current and curdled version of our beloved country," he said.
His latest verbal attack, this past Thursday, criticized the president's campaign attacks on Democrats.
"Why have you chosen to go down in history as the president who made things up?" he asked.........

beyond grim

more horrible news. we have not yet united and used our voices to STOP this insanity. how many more women and men, our sons our daughters our mothers our fathers our sisters our brothers our neighbors and our friends...how many more are we going to allow to be killed or maimed?

American casualties in Iraq rise sharply
Growing U.S. role in staving off civil war leads to most wounded since 2004


By Ann Scott Tyson
Updated: 11:14 p.m. ET Oct 7, 2006

The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq has surged to its highest level in nearly two years as American GIs fight block-by-block in Baghdad to try to check a spiral of sectarian violence that U.S. commanders warn could lead to civil war.
Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since the military assault to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in November 2004, according to Defense Department data. It was the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003..........

can you imagine living in a society where teaching another woman to read can get you killed?

when being a doctor without a penis can get you killed (that is odd too because i believe i recently read male doctors who treat women are being killed. so NO ONE should medically treat women?). the rest of what i have to say on this is very prejudicial and judgemental. perhaps i'll leave that for another day

Hidden victims of a brutal conflict: Iraq's women

Abduction, rape and murder are the punishments for any woman who dares to hold a professional job. A month-long investigation by The Observer reveals the terrible reality of life after Saddam Peter Beaumont in BaghdadSunday October 8, 2006The Observer
They came for Dr Khaula al-Tallal in a white Opel car after she took a taxi home to the middle class district of Qadissiya in Iraq's holy city of Najaf. She worked for the medical committee that examined patients to assess them for welfare benefit. Crucially, however, she was a woman in a country where being a female professional increasingly invites a death sentence.
As al-Tallal, 50, walked towards her house, one of three men in the Opel stepped out and raked her with bullets.
A women's rights campaigner, Umm Salam - a nickname - knows about the three men in the Opel: they tried to kill her on 11 December last year. It was a Sunday, she recalls, and 15 bullets were fired into her own car as she drove home from teaching at an internet cafe. A man in civilian clothes got out of the car and opened fire. Three bullets hit her, one lodging close to her spinal cord. Her 20-year-old son was hit in the chest. Umm Salam saw the gun - a police-issue Glock. She is convinced her would-be assassin works for the state.
The shootings of al-Tallal and Umm Salam are not isolated incidents, even in Najaf - a city almost exclusively Shia and largely insulated from the sectarian violence of the North. Bodies of young women have appeared in its dusty lanes and avenues, places patrolled by packs of dogs where the boundaries bleed into the desert. It is a favourite place for dumping murder victims.............