i wasn't even going to do a posting about

king george visiting walter reed UNTIL i read this:

........."White House spokeswoman Dana Perino called it "an unfortunate characterization" to say Bush was using Walter Reed as merely a picture-taking opportunity. She said it took some time to clear enough room on the president's schedule to spend an afternoon with patients and staff at Walter Reed."...........

what? the men and women he had to clear enough room in his schedule for PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE BECAUSE HE ORDERED THEM TO DO SO FOR NO EFFING REASON OTHER THAN TO LINE SOME RICH WHITE MEN'S POCKETS (and goddess knows what else). they came back from foreign lands no longer whole but broken in same way.

i know i would make it my PRIORITY to clear time on my schedule to see these men and women. to comfort them. to THANK THEM. to make sure they are given the ABSOLUTE BEST CARE POSSIBLE.

yet king george couldn't clean out an afternoon. he has PLENTY of time to go on camera to say (over and over) he will NOT bring the troops home no matter what the house and senate vote.

Bush apologizes for Walter Reed conditions

President Bush apologized for the poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center during a visit to the hospital six weeks after revelations of the facility's dilapidated state, according to an AP report.
"The problems at Walter Reed were caused by bureaucratic and administrative failures," Bush is quoted as telling the hospital's patients and staff. "The system failed you and it failed our troops and we're going to fix it."
Bush continued, "It is not right to have someone volunteer to wear the uniform and not get the best possible care. I apologize for what they went through and we're going to fix the problem."
Some were critical of Bush's visit and handling of the scandal. "I'm convinced he would honor them more if he would refrain from using soldiers as props in political theater," said Ret. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton. "I would be very happy to see him do the Walter Reed visit more like the commander and secondarily as an inspector general, rather than as a politician."................

a shout out to some students and faculty at byu

yup, i DID say byu

heck, i wouldn't want the big dick speaking at my school or my graduation EITHER

BYU students protest Cheney commencement plans

PROVO, Utah (AP) -- A growing number of students, faculty and alumni at Brigham Young University are opposing the selection of Vice President Dick Cheney as commencement speaker.Some students plan to boycott graduation April 26, hold alternative ceremonies off campus or publicly protest the speech, said Warner Woodworth, a professor who is organizing a petition drive.Woodworth and others are hoping the school, which is owned by the Mormon church, will drop the invitation or at least bring a Democrat to campus to counter the vice president."Cheney is of such an unsavory character, that he makes his protege, felon Scooter Libby, who was recently convicted of perjury and obstructing justice, seem as pure as a nun," Woodworth said.
Richard Davis, a political-science professor and adviser to college Democrats, said the student group is considering various types of protests but nothing has been decided...........

please stop by a great blog, cv rick's

and give THIS a read

(i love reading cv rick. i love his stories. i love how he writes. i love his dog sarge too)

i don't agree with everything in his story (linked above and excerpted below). i DO agree with most of it though. rick served his time, i never did. i realize that

The Military vs. Homosexuality
Over at Pam's House Blend there was a post about a military recruiter who sent some totally inappropriate emails to an openly gay man she had contacted through his resume, which he'd posted to an online job board. The conversation went on for three days and the recruiter went off the deep end psychotically with a ranting bigoted diatribe that will undoubtedly get her fired. But in discussing this with another person, I found myself in interesting position of explaining that the military is here to make him feel better about social issues, and the military doesn't have the incentive to put an end to homophobia. What follows is my essay to him regarding this issue.
Warning: It's long.
When did the U.S. Armed Forces become OUR military? When was OUR military last used to protect and defend the Constitution and the rights and promises enumerated within? I'll get back to these questions later, as they're rhetorical...................

more evidence on the safety of iraq hoods (NOT)

i shudder to think some are NOT speaking up when da liebs, da king and da mccain say iraq is becoming SAFER.

safer for whom? NOT our troops. NOT those that actually live and work in the hoods

damn

GET US OUT NOW

Reports on Mass Killings in Iraq Throw Claims of 'Surge' Success in Grave Doubt

NEW YORK With the press filled today with claims by President Bush, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Joe Lieberman and others about the apparent success of the "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq the daily digest of events there put together by Reuters might be worth pondering.It supports claims by many reporters on the ground there that progress has been apparent only in scattered sections. The most recent report, from Reuters, coming from "surge-protected" Baghdad is not even in this summary: "At least 60 people were killed and 41 others were wounded Thursday when two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests self-detonated in a crowded market in a Shiite district in the northeastern part of the capital."Here is the Reuters digest for Thursday. Well, there's some good news. Only one, not two, trucks that exploded contained chlorine gas. *KHALIS - At least three suicide car bombers launched almost simultaneous attacks in a mainly Shi'ite town, killing around 50, police and hospital officials said. The blasts took place in Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad...............


More Than 100 Killed in Baghdad, Nearby Town
Blast in Capital Hits Area Central To Security Plan


By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, March 30, 2007; Page A12

.................The attacks followed two violent days of bombings and reprisal killings in the northern city of Tall Afar and threatened to increase the likelihood of a resurgence of open sectarian warfare despite the heightened U.S. military presence in Iraq..............

the nutmeg grater: da liebs is living in the SAME world as mccain is#links#links

the nutmeg grater: da liebs is living in the SAME world as mccain is#links#links

a shout out to brittany and robbie!

thanks you two (and thanks to your mom and dad as well. they are raising some GOOD kids!)

With a Charity for Soldiers, Youths Make Recycling Pay

By ARIEL SABAR
NORWELL, Mass., March 27 — Their bedrooms are strewn with the everyday flotsam of a teenager’s life: heaps of unfolded laundry and a bottle of “passion” red nail polish, muddy soccer cleats and the box for Madden N.F.L. 2002, a video game.
But after a long day at school, after softball and chorus and cheerleading, Brittany Bergquist, 16, and her brother, Robbie, 15, come home to an extracurricular activity remarkable even among the high-achieving teenagers in this well-to-do Boston suburb: They run a nonprofit — with a hand from their parents — that has raised $1 million for phone cards for American troops overseas.
They started the charity, Cell Phones for Soldiers, nearly three years ago with far smaller ambitions. Before school one morning, a few days after a cousin deployed to Baghdad, they watched a news story on television about a Massachusetts soldier struggling to pay off more than $7,000 in charges for cellphone calls home from the Persian Gulf.

cell phones for soldiers

where have you gone, barbara jordan, our nation turns it's lowly eyes to you

"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."

(if she were still alive, i'll bet she'd be kicking some king george and his court butt right now)

from crooks and liars

get up GET ON UP

justice?

not in this case (if indeed it's true shaquanda's sentence was extended for having the HORRID contraband of an extra pair of socks AND a foam cup)

i don't know if she's guilty of pushing the hall monitor or not. if she is, i agree she should have been punished. BUT A YEAR? then MORE TIME for socks? if her name was buffy instead of shaquanda i don't think i'd be posting an article because i don't think there would be any issues.

Texas Teen's Imprisonment Sparks Protests

By Sylvia Moreno

AUSTIN, March 28 -- Civil rights activists are rallying around a 15-year-old black girl who has been in a high-security juvenile detention center for a year for shoving a hall monitor at her school and whose sentence was just extended for what authorities call possession of contraband: an extra pair of socks and a plastic foam cup.
One of 4,562 juveniles in the Texas Youth Commission's custody, Shaquanda Cotton may have remained incarcerated in obscurity, fretted over by her mother and a handful of supporters in her home town of Paris, in northeast Texas near the Oklahoma border. But a Chicago Tribune article has prompted an inquiry by the Rev. Al Sharpton and spurred several hundred protesters to travel this week from Dallas to the courthouse where Cotton was convicted. ........

..............Cotton and her supports also say a white judge who gave a white 14-year-old girl probation after she was convicted of burning down her family's home treated Shaquanda unfairly.
Representatives of the Paris school district and the criminal justice system adamantly dispute the allegations. Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville, who sentenced Cotton and the arsonist, was not available for comment. But a spokesman for the Lamar County district attorney's office addressed questions...............

the nutmeg grater: sam fox should NOT be an ambassador

the nutmeg grater: sam fox should NOT be an ambassador


and an update: Swiftboat funder withdraws bid to be US ambassador to Belgium

there's no room at the inn

Couple: Hotel Wouldn't Rent to Us Because We're Gay

(Sumter) - A gay couple looking to rent a hotel room say they were turned away because of their sexuality. "She wasn't discreet about it," said Jason Pickel, referring to a hotel employee. "She was not apologetic. She just said, 'We do not rent to gay people.'"For the past two and a half years, Pickel and Darren Black Bear have been in a committed relationship. During a search for a temporary home, the couple says it went to Affordable Suites of America, a long-term stay hotel located on Gion Street in Sumter."We were inquiring about the price, deposits, extra person fee, and she asked who the room was going to be for, and I said for my partner and I,” Pickel said. “She said, 'Oh we don't rent to multiple people of the same sex.' I said, so you don't rent to gay couples? She said, 'No, we don't rent to gay people at all.'"...........

i am not sure this is too very smart

the numbers are dwindling as it is. do they really want to exclude someone simply because he or she has ink in certain places?

they give these young kids guns and teach them to kill. yes, that's what they do (among other things of course. i mean NO disrespect to the marines). yet they're getting all prissy about ink? c'mon now

Marines Ban Big, Garish Tattoos

By THOMAS WATKINS Associated Press Writer Published March 28, 2007, 6:39 PM CDT
OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- Five tattooed skulls stretch from Marine Cpl. Jeremy Slaton's right elbow to his wrist, spelling out the word "Death." He planned to add a tattoo spelling "Life" on his left arm, but that's on hold because of a Marine policy taking effect Sunday.The Marines are banning any new, extra-large tattoos below the elbow or the knee, saying such body art is harmful to the Corps' spit-and-polish image.
Slaton and other grunts are not pleased."I guess I'll get the other half later," grumbled the 24-year-old leatherneck from Eden Prairie, Minn. "It's kind of messed up."For many Marines, getting a tattoo is a rite of passage. They commonly get their forearms inscribed to remember fallen comrades, combat tours or loved ones, and often ask for exotic designs that incorporate the Marine motto, Semper Fi, or "Always faithful."............

see previous story

is THIS one of those safe hoods john mccain is going to go for a walk through?

we ALL know the answer to that

Reprisal killings rock Tal Afar

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Shiite policemen are blamed for a wave of killings Wednesday in Tal Afar that authorities are characterizing as reprisals for two truck bombs that left at least 50 dead a day earlier.
Casualty figures in Wednesday's bloodshed were not immediately available, but authorities said dozens of Sunnis were believed killed or wounded.
Wednesday's violence lasted for several hours, officials said, ending only when Iraqi soldiers arrived in the northern Iraqi town.
Tuesday's bomb blasts targeted markets in the northern and central parts of Tal Afar, Mayor Najam Abdulla said. Another 103 people were wounded in the blasts, which Abdulla said came within a few minutes of each other. .......

i'm in a state of disbelief

seems like all of the news we're reading about iraq is WRONG. it's all lies. there are no bombings, killings, tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes to become refugees in other lands. there are no burned out buildings or threats against humanity.

it's ALL A BED OF ROSES. life is good in iraq. it's SAFE

and here i am with egg all over my face!

Audio: John McCain says it is safe to go for a walk in parts of Baghdad

if you are a terrorist do NOT even think of buying exercise equipment

because your name is on a LIST! that is all well and good BUT if your name is the SAME or SIMILAR to that of a 'suspected terrorist' YOUR name is on that list too and YOU won't be able to get a car, a home, or a good life.........

i know we have to protect ourselves from terror. i know AND agree to that. i also know this is going way too far

Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists


By Ellen NakashimaWashington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page D01
Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.............

................"The law is ridiculous," said Tom Hudson, a lawyer in Hanover, Md., who advises car dealers to use the list to avoid penalties. "It prohibits anyone from doing business with anyone who's on the list. It does not have a minimum dollar amount. . . . The local deli, if it sells a sandwich to someone whose name appears on the list, has violated the law.".................

darn good idea: laptops for the wounded

this is a grand idea!

i would even think if one had a used laptop that was in GOOD working condition, one could go to their local va hospital (call first) and donate it for the benefit of the veterans

Mom Donates Laptops to Wounded Soldiers


By MARY CLARE JALONICK The Associated Press Saturday, March 24, 2007; 7:42 PM
WASHINGTON -- Laura Brown, a mother with a son who fought in the Iraq war, is trying to improve conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center _ one laptop computer at a time.
The 50-year-old from Cody, Wyo., was chatting on the Internet with the mother of a wounded soldier two years ago when the mother mentioned she had to print out her son's e-mails and take them to him at Walter Reed because there weren't enough laptop computers to go around..........

............On the Net:
Laptops for the Wounded: http://www.laptopsforthewounded.com

cyber surveillance

of course we all know it's going on. when we read about it though, with more facts brought to light, it IS rather daunting.

again, north korea? cuba? china? NOPE the good ol' usa!

Private intelligence firm targets The American Monitor


Devlin Buckley, 3/21/07
According to online statistics provided by The American Monitor’s Internet host, a private corporation specializing in online surveillance, Cyveillance Inc., has begun monitoring this site.1
Serving as a private quasi-intelligence-agency-for-hire and backed primarily by ABS Capital Partners,2 Cyveillance “proactively identifies and eliminates” online “threats” to their clients’ interests.3
Essentially, Cyveillance is paid by companies and governments to scan websites, blogs, news groups, auction sites, peer-to-peer networks, message boards, FTP clients, chat rooms, and email messages in search of anything their clients may find relevant—from negative publicity, to copyrighted material, to confidential information, to potential terrorist threats..........

not that it matters

no one seems to be getting up off of their asses and doing anything about the lies, the corruption, the sending of our men and women into harm's way, the destruction of foreign lands, the treason of outing a COVERT cia operative, the non-caring about tens of thousands of united states citizens on the gulf coast, etc etc etc

but one more thing to add to the pile (of steamin' shite)

GSA Chief Is Accused of Playing Politics
Doan Denies 'Improper' Use of Agency for GOP


By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr. Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, March 26, 2007; Page A01
Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates.
With GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan and up to 40 regional administrators on hand, J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan. 26 of polling data about the 2006 elections.
When Jennings concluded his presentation to the GSA political appointees, Doan allegedly asked them how they could "help 'our candidates' in the next elections," according to a March 6 letter to Doan from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Waxman said in the letter that one method suggested was using "targeted public events, such as the opening of federal facilities around the country."..........