makes ya wanna

go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

EXCLUSIVE: FBI AGENT WHO INTERCEDED IN ANN COULTER VOTER FRAUD CASE, ALLEGED TO BE HER FORMER BOYFRIEND!

.............The Ann Coulter Voter Fraud case, which we've been covering for more than a year (see our Special Coverage Page here, including her fraudulent Voter Registration Form, the complaint that started it all, and much more) has taken several bizarre twists this morning as Palm Beach Post columnist Jose Lambiet once again steps up with several fresh scoops in the matter, and The BRAD BLOG, who, as of today's article, has now become a corollary in the story, has an exclusive detail or two of our own to offer on the heels of this morning Post report.................


Coulter Cleared of Vote Fraud, but FBI Agent's Role Gains Notice

NEW YORK Ann Coulter has been cleared of allegations that she falsified her Florida voter registration and voted illegally -- after a high-level FBI agent made unsolicited phone calls to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to vouch for the conservative pundit, according to a Friday piece by Jose Lambiet of the Palm Beach Post. Lambiet wrote that when the FBI heard about the calls, it immediately launched an internal review of Supervisory Special Agent Jim Fitzgerald's involvement. "We're looking into it," FBI spokeswoman Ann Todd told Lambiet, while declining to say whether Fitzgerald acted on his own behalf, as an FBI agent, or on someone else's orders."This doesn't bode well in terms of the public's impression that celebrities receive preferential treatment," said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Arthur Anderson. "I'm curious about how anyone can justify the FBI's intrusion.".......

i think it's a stupid rule

don't ask/don't tell

i think (in all walks of life) one should be judged on one's actions, intentions, work history and ethic, convictions and the like.

there are plenty of incompetents out there - and guess what, MOST of 'em are STRAIGHT
(i think he was done in by the publicity. if this story didn't get out, i think petty officer second class jason knight would STILL be in the navy).


Navy to discharge gay sailor recalled to service

by PageOneQ

The United States Navy will discharge Petty Officer Second Class Jason Knight less than one month prior to the end of his commitment, reports the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Knight was recalled to duty in 11 months ago and recently completed a tour in Kuwait, where he served as a Hebrew linguist. Knight was repeatedly praised by those who worked alongside and was out of the closet to his commanders and fellow officers.
Navy commanders became aware of Knight's story when he gave an interview to Stars and Stripes. The interview may be read here.........

i'm SHOCKED,

SHOCKED i tell ya! (not)

it's like the keystone cops, the coen brothers, laurel and hardy, martin and lewis and the three stooges all rolled into one. only it's NOT FUNNY because it's real and because so many are dead, wounded and displaced.

could the shite that is going on get much worse?
(and of course how much longer are WE going to allow this to continue)

Billions in Oil Missing in Iraq, U.S. Study Says

By JAMES GLANZ
Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq’s declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, according to a draft American government report.
Using an average of $50 a barrel, the report said the discrepancy was valued at $5 million to $15 million daily.
The report does not give a final conclusion on what happened to the missing fraction of the roughly two million barrels pumped by Iraq each day, but the findings are sure to reinforce longstanding suspicions that smugglers, insurgents and corrupt officials control significant parts of the country’s oil industry.
The report also covered alternative explanations for the billions of dollars worth of discrepancies, including the possibility that Iraq has been consistently overstating its oil production.
Iraq and the State Department, which reports the numbers, have been under relentless pressure to show tangible progress in Iraq by raising production levels, which have languished well below the United States goal of three million barrels a day. Virtually the entire economy of Iraq is dependent on oil revenues..............

ms blanco is right about at least ONE THING

you expect some HUMAN reaction to a natural disaster. not even a who is right and a who is wrong one. all we got (well all those on the gulf coast) was a POLITICAL response.

it's YOUR fault, no, it's YOUR fault, no it's HIS fault, no it's HER fault and on and on and on. yet there are STILL tons of people suffering.

(and mr capehart, what's with the jerry springeresque lead in to this article anyway? would you have set it up this way - girls fighting/hold my earrings - if the governor of louisiana was a MAN? i think we both know the answer to that)

Fed Up in Louisiana


By Jonathan Capehart Saturday, May 12, 2007; Page A15
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) went off. Not in a girls fighting, "Hold my earrings!" kind of way. But in a blunt manner befitting a chief executive who endured the worst natural and engineering disaster in U.S. history, who continues to battle Washington for federal assistance, and who is not running for reelection.
We met in Blanco's imposing office on the fourth floor of the state Capitol in Baton Rouge on Wednesday. After watching her testify pleasantly before state legislative committees on behalf of her insurance reform package and for an expansion of Louisiana's Child Health Plus program, I was floored by her "bring it on" forthrightness as she talked about her dealings with Washington after Hurricane Katrina............

someone is softly blowing on that house of cards

i of course think they should huff and puff and BLOW THE DAMN THING DOWN

somehow i get the feeling this is the FIRST time king george is actually taking notice of the rumblings of his subjects. all the time he has been in office, he hasn't given a flying yoo hoo. all of the deaths he's responsible for. all of the pain. he will NEVER understand that. he cannot relate to us. he can only relate to having his hand slapped back. he knows that may be in the works.

i think he should be in jail. not just removed from office. i think he's a criminal. no ifs ands or big ol' butts

House Approves Revised War Bill
Two-Part Funding Faces Veto Threat


By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Write rFriday, May 11, 2007; Page A01
The House last night pushed through its second plan to fund the Iraq war and reshape war policy, approving legislation that would provide partial funding for the conflict but hold back most of the money until President Bush reports on the war's progress in July.
Coming only a week after the Democrats' first war funding bill was vetoed, the House's 221 to 205 vote defied a fresh veto threat and even opposition from Democrats in the Senate.........

.........White House political adviser Karl Rove, furious that Republican moderates had divulged a confrontational meeting they had on Tuesday with Bush on the war, started yesterday with an angry conversation with the meeting's organizer, Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.), according to several GOP lawmakers. Dan Meyer, the White House's chief lobbyist, called the other participants to express the administration's unhappiness.
But Bush struck a more conciliatory tone, pledging to include benchmarks of success for the Iraqi government in a final compromise on war funding legislation..............

the united states may be protecting a terrorist

no, he's not al qaida but he is most likely a terrorist (he hasn't yet been tried for killing 73 people on an airplane. why? because not only will we NOT extradite him, WE LET HIM WALK). why? BECAUSE HE WORKED FOR THE CIA. that's why. what's the difference between this man, someone who places a bomb in a women's health facility and a member of al qaeda? in my eyes there IS not a difference. they are ALL (alleged in luis posada carriles case) terrorists.

if it walks like a terrorist, talks like a terrorist, smells like a terrorist and has a black heart and no soul like a terrorist, well then.............


US Lawmaker Asks Bush to Arrest Anti-Castro Bomb Suspect

by Agence France Presse staff
WASHINGTON - A US lawmaker on Wednesday called on President George W. Bush to detain the Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, after a US judge freed the alleged airplane bomber.
“The world will conclude that this administration has a double standard when it comes to fighting terrorism unless President (George W.) Bush takes swift action to detain Posada,” said House Democrat Bill Delahunt.
Venezuela and Cuba want to try Posada in the 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner, which killed all 73 civilians aboard.
Rather than extradite Posada, a judge in El Paso, Texas dropped felony immigration charges and released him on Tuesday.
US authorities refuse to honor extradition requests from Cuba and Venezuela.
Delahunt’s statement was in a letter to Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales calling Posada “one of the Western Hemisphere’s most notorious killers.”
Detaining Posada “will prevent him from fleeing the country while the administration determines how and where he can stand trial for his crimes.”...........

...........Declassified US documents show that Posada worked for the CIA from 1965 to June 1976. He also reportedly helped the US government ferry supplies to right-wing Contra rebels who waged a bloody campaign to topple the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s.................

misrepresented?

isn't that another word for out and out LIED?

they (the king and his court) are so covered in stinkin' scheist i can smell it from here

Administration Withheld E-Mails About Rove

by Murray Waas
The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove’s, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.The withheld records show that D. Kyle Sampson, who was then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, consulted with White House officials in drafting two letters to Congress that appear to have misrepresented the circumstances of Griffin’s appointment as U.S. attorney and of Rove’s role in supporting Griffin.
In one of the letters that Sampson drafted, dated February 23, 2007, the Justice Department told four Senate Democrats it was not aware of any role played by senior White House adviser Rove in attempting to name Griffin to the U.S. attorney post. A month later, the Justice Department apologized in writing to the Senate Democrats for the earlier letter, saying it had been inaccurate in denying that Rove had played a role.
Brad Berenson, an attorney for Sampson, said in an interview that his client did not intend to mislead Congress..............

ANOTHER exemplary king george nominee

whatever else he does, that king sure has a good eye for winners, doesn't he?

New Bush nominee found to have race-baiting past

Michael Roston

President George W. Bush's pick for a top position at the State Department may have failed to follow through on a commitment she made to African-American and Latino lawmakers to address diversity issues in America's diplomatic corps.
Henrietta Holsman Fore, the current Undersecretary of State for Management, was nominated Monday to serve as Deputy Secretary of State and Administrator of the US Agency for International Development. But one Congressman was concerned that racially insensitive remarks she reportedly made 20 years ago could call her fitness to serve into question...........

.................The Times reported that Fore, then known by her maiden name of Henrietta Holsman and owner at the time of a manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, remarked in a lecture that "she had trouble keeping black assembly-line workers from going 'back to the street to earn more money' selling drugs."
Furthermore, the Times reported that Fore had also said "she had found Hispanic workers to be lazy, white workers resentful of having to work with machines, and Asians, while very productive, likely to move on to professional or management jobs."..............

why wait until the fall

if someone does something wrong, why stick up for them JUST because you're in the same political party? i'm not talking a gaffe like winking at the queen. i'm talking thousands of deaths of OUR men and women in iraq (not counting what we did to the iraqis themselves). i'm talking katrina. i'm talking global warming and i'm talking lie after lie after lie.

if something is rotten you TOSS IT OUT, don't you? i know i do (unless of course you're a forensic scientist)

Moderate Republicans warn they could desert Bush on war

"Moderate Republicans gave President Bush a blunt warning on his Iraq policy at a private White House meeting this week, telling the president that conditions needed to improve markedly by fall or more Republicans would desert him on the war," the New York Times leads on Thursday's page one. Story still restricted; excerpts follow............

Moderates in G.O.P. Warn Bush on Iraq

By CARL HULSE and JEFF ZELENY
Published: May 10, 2007
WASHINGTON, May 9 — Moderate Republicans gave President Bush a blunt warning on his Iraq policy at a private White House meeting this week, telling the president that conditions needed to improve markedly by fall or more Republicans would desert him on the war
The White House session demonstrated the grave unease many Republicans are feeling about the war, even as they continue to stand with the president against Democratic efforts to force a withdrawal of forces through a spending measure that has been a flash point for weeks.
Participants in the Tuesday meeting between Mr. Bush, senior administration officials and 11 members of a moderate bloc of House Republicans said the lawmakers were unusually candid with the president, telling him that public support for the war was crumbling in their swing districts. ..........

Bush Told War Is Harming The GOP
A Warning on Eve Of Vote on New Bill


By Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, May 10, 2007; Page A01
House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.
The meeting, which ran for an hour and a half Tuesday afternoon, was disclosed by participants yesterday as the House prepared to vote this evening on a spending bill that could cut funding for the Iraq war as early as July. GOP moderates told Bush they would stay united against the latest effort by House Democrats to end U.S. involvement in the war. Even Senate Democrats called the House measure unrealistic............

i could NOT resist

A Sweet So Sour: Kool-Aid Dills

Photo: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

ass

mother's day for peace

in all fairness

i wanted to post a total opposite view from my own. no, i've NOT changed my mind about anything. i just wanted to link up to another point of view (with facts, lots of them).


from: in from the cold

A Little Loven for Sebelius

well after all most (if not all) of the terrorists that were responsible for 9/11

had connections to saudi arabia. yet we invade iraq? the saudis have money in their pockets that's why they're our buds otherwise (and don't be fooled or misled) they'd have been bombed to smithereens LONG ago. i'm not an advocate of bombing anyone. i just want justice AND peace and i want those who are guilty to be held accountable and those that are innocent to be protected.

Ricks of 'Wash Post': Media Focuses on Iran's Aid to Iraqi Insurgents -- But Not Saudi Money

By E&P Staff Published: May 08, 2007 2:40 PM ET
NEW YORK For several weeks now, newspaper have been filled with warnings about Iranian weapons allegedly being used in increasing numbers against Americans in Iraq. But little has been said about Saudi money purportedly flowing to the insurgents. Why? Is it the media's fault? Is it simply because Iran is an enemy and Saudi Arabia an ally?Thomas Ricks, the respected Washington Post military reporter, was asked just that today in an online chat at www.washingtonpost.com.*Austin, Texas: We often see the press repeat the White House talking point about Iran supplying the insurgents with weapons, but we hardly ever see the press actually ask about the pretty well-known trail of money that leads from Saudi Arabia to the insurgents so they can buy those weapons. Is the press afraid of offending Saudi Arabia? Does that go against some establishment policy? Are they unwilling to investigate the source of insurgent funding for that reason?Thomas E. Ricks: Your question goes to one of the vulnerabilties of journalism. There was a lot of quiet talk among US officers in Iraq about the role Iran was playing in Iraq, especially with sophisticated bombs, but you didn't see much talk in the media about the Iranian role until top US officers and and the Bush Administration started talking about it. .........




thomas ricks

so we have to wait one more whole year

until april of 2008 to see results? no. that's insane. absolutely insane. how many (MORE) of our men and women will die between today, may 9, 2007 and april 1, 2008? ONE is too many. that is not even counting the number of iraqi lives lost and the number displaced, made into refugees.

no no no. this has to stop and it has to stop NOW. get our TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ

Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08
Pentagon to Deploy 35,000 Replacement Troops


By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, May 9, 2007; Page A01
The Pentagon announced yesterday that 35,000 soldiers in 10 Army combat brigades will begin deploying to Iraq in August as replacements, making it possible to sustain the increase of U.S. troops there until at least the end of this year.
U.S. commanders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that heightened troop levels, announced by President Bush in January, will need to last into the spring of 2008. The military has said it would assess in September how well its counterinsurgency strategy, intended to pacify Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, is working.
"The surge needs to go through the beginning of next year for sure," said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the day-to-day commander for U.S. military operations in Iraq............

beach bum and cv rick

(from ramblings of a lexington parrot head and cv rick ninja writer respectively) here is yet another article on the state of greensburg kansas, governor sebelius and how it is HER fault a tornado blew through her state and wiped that little town right off the map.

we all know ms sebelius is correct. the response to the disaster not only COULD HAVE been quicker but SHOULD HAVE been quicker. it couldn't be though since many kansas national guard members AND their equipment are in iraq. YET, it's still HER fault.

when we the rest of the united states wake up to the fact we're sinking so low we may NEVER crawl back up to see the light of day

Kansas Tornado Renews Debate on Guard at War

By SUSAN SAULNY and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: May 9, 2007
CHICAGO, May 8 — For months, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and other governors have warned that their state National Guards are ill-prepared for the next local disaster, be it a tornado a flash flood or a terrorist’s threat, because of large deployments of their soldiers and equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Then, last Friday night, a deadly tornado all but cleared the small town of Greensburg off the Kansas map. With 80 square blocks of the small farming town destroyed, Ms. Sebelius said her fears had come true: The emergency response was too slow, she said, and there was only one reason.
“As you travel around Greensburg, you’ll see that city and county trucks have been destroyed,” Ms. Sebelius, a Democrat, said Monday. “The National Guard is one of our first responders. They don’t have the equipment they need to come in, and it just makes it that much slower.”
For nearly two days after the storm, there was an unmistakable emptiness in Greensburg, a lack of heavy machinery and an army of responders. By Sunday afternoon, more than a day and a half after the tornado, only about half of the Guard troops who would ultimately respond were in place. ...............

walls wars shia and sunni

and it was NEVER our bid-nez.

except now it is. now we stirred the pot and it's boiling over

But There are Still Corpses on the Streets
The Great Wall of Baghdad Rises

By PATRICK COCKBURN
The first thing Said, a small contractor, did on visiting a military prison in west Baghdad was to pay a $2,000 bribe. The money went to an officer in return for a promise not to torture Said's brother and business partner, Ali. The main payment comes later. For Ali's release, Said will pay a further $100,000.
The brothers are Sunni, and the police commandos who arrested Ali are Shia. What happened to him explains why the US military "surge", the dispatch of 20,000 extra troops to Iraq announced by President Bush in January, is failing to end the Sunni-Shia sectarian civil war in the capital..........

.................The American relationship with the Iraqi government is a mixture of genuine support and contemptuous neglect. President Bush phones Mr al-Maliki once a fortnight, though government members complain the Prime Minister never passes on the contents of these conversations............

women at work

in south korea

Alcohol damages for Seoul woman

A South Korean woman pressured by her former boss to drink alcohol at company dinners has been awarded damages by a court.
The unidentified woman's ex-employer was told to pay her 30m won (£16,275) by the Seoul High Court.
"It's a violation of human dignity to force one to drink against his or her will," Judge Kang-Young-ho was quoted as saying by the Associated Press (AP)........

............Her employer, according to AP, once threatened he would get a male colleague to kiss her if she did not take part in the drinking sessions. He also pressured her to drink when she was suffering from stomach problems, the agency reported. ....................

abusing women is by NO means

just an 'islamic thing'. we all know it's not. we all know it goes across color lines, religious lines, ethnic lines, social lines. we all know it happens everywhere from shanty towns to town houses.

it's especially hard for a women from another culture living in america though. not knowing the language and perhaps not knowing their rights here.

there are groups of muslim (men) who are trying to change some of the underculture of the relationships of wives and husbands. just like there are other different groups (of men) who are trying to change THEIR undercultures regarding the treatment of women.

sisterhood is powerful and i mean that

For Some Muslim Wives, Abuse Knows No Borders
Traditional Pressures Can Persist in U.S.

By Pamela Constable Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, May 8, 2007; Page A01
One was a shy, slender young woman who spoke no English when she was brought from Pakistan to enter an arranged marriage with a stranger in Virginia. The other was a self-confident professional, born in Turkey but raised in the United States, who thought she knew what she was doing when she married an educated Muslim man in Maryland.
Yet both women fell under the sway of the same powerful pressures that sometimes reach around the globe to keep Muslim wives in the Washington region imprisoned in abusive marriages, unable to fight the gossip and shame that come with defying their culture and religion, isolated from help that is just a three-digit phone number away...........

..............For many years, our community did not face these issues. Women suffered in silence and fear. Even today, many imams think it could never happen in their mosque," Khan said. "Islam gives equal rights to men and women, but there are myths in Muslim society that men are superior and violence is permitted. This is wrong, and it needs to be said."
Khan and others are also trying to bring men into the debate by forming a group called Muslim Men Against Domestic Violence. But they said recruiting participants is not easy. Even when taken to court on charges of abuse, several experts said, many Muslim men will argue that they were within their rights or are being victimized by vindictive spouses..........

shouldn't this be the last straw?

the rescue efforts in kansas are severely hampered because MUCH of the needed equipment is in iraq with the kansas national guard.

there was NO excuse for the giant f**k up that was katrina. now, THIS is an excuse? i don't know what's worse.

no excuse or life saving equipment for dorothy and toto being in iraq

at any rate, let's do what we can for the people of kansas

Greensburg focuses on rebuilding


GREENSBURG, Kansas (CNN) -- Federal officials arrived Monday in ravaged Greensburg to survey the damage caused by the weekend's tornado-packed storms.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius expressed concern that rescue and recovery efforts were being strained because much of the needed equipment has been sent to Iraq.
"When the troops get deployed, the equipment goes with them. So here in Kansas about 50 percent of our trucks are gone. We need trucks. We are missing Humvees, we're missing all kinds of equipment that could help us respond in this kind of emergency," she said.
The weekend's storms killed 11 people in Kansas -- including nine deaths in Greensburg, one in Stafford County to the northeast and one in a separate storm in Ottawa, Kansas.
Previously, officials said 10 people died in Greensburg, but authorities said they had apparently counted someone twice, according to City Administrator Steve Hewitt.
Hewitt also said a man reported to be a survivor found in the rubble had actually returned to the town to retrieve some papers and was not rescued..........

by the fall?

dang, it's ALREADY been FOUR YEARS

how much MORE time are we going to give the king? it should be NONE. no more time. bring our men and women home NOW

Republican congressional leader acknowledges party nervousness about US troop increase in Iraq

WASHINGTON: The Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives said Sunday that his party's support could waver if President George W. Bush's Iraq war policy does not succeed by the fall.
Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner said Bush's troop increase deserves a chance and that funding should continue even if benchmarks for success are not met. A senior House Democrat said it would be "ridiculous" not to condition war money upon a troop withdrawal.
"We don't even have all of the 30,000 additional troops in Iraq yet, so we're supporting the president. We want this plan to have a chance of succeeding," Boehner said.
"Over the course of the next three to four months, we'll have some idea how well the plan's working. Early signs are indicating there is clearly some success on a number of fronts," he said...........

sunday: (at least) 8 us troops, 95 iraqis, 1 journalist DEAD

yeah, the surge sure is bringing GOOD news

NOT

stop this insanity NOW.
Bombs Kill 8 American Soldiers in Iraq

By ROBERT H. REID Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Roadside bombs killed eight American soldiers in separate attacks Sunday in Diyala province and Baghdad, and a car bomb claimed 30 more lives in a wholesale food market in a part of the Iraqi capital where sectarian tensions are on the rise.
In all, at least 95 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide Sunday, police reported. They included 12 policemen in Samarra, among them the city's police chief, who died when Sunni insurgents launched a suicide car bombing and other attacks on police headquarters.
The deadliest attack against U.S. forces occurred in Diyala, where six U.S. soldiers and a European journalist were killed when a massive bomb destroyed their vehicle, the U.S. military said. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded, the military said. The U.S. did not identify the journalist............

and this: (where a senior commander is saying we should look for HIGHER casualties). THIS HAS TO STOP NOW

8 U.S. Troops Killed In Iraq Bomb Attacks


By Sudarsan Raghavan and Karin Brulliard Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, May 7, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD, May 6 -- Eight American soldiers were killed in roadside bomb attacks Sunday, one of the highest single-day death tolls this year. They were among 12 U.S. service members whose deaths were announced on a day when car bombs killed scores of Iraqis across the country, threatening to deepen sectarian tensions.
A senior U.S. commander said Sunday that the military was bracing for a rise in the casualty rate in the coming months, as an ongoing security offensive attempts to tame the devastating violence and stabilize Baghdad.............

and this: which has a HIGHER DEATH COUNT. but it doesn't matter. ONE is too many

U.S. casualties will rise in next 90 days, commander says

By Leila Fadel
McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military announced the deaths of 11 U.S. soldiers killed in combat along with an embedded journalist Sunday, and Iraqi officials said 163 civilians were killed or injured across the country.
But still more carnage is likely over the next three months as additional U.S. forces arrive in Baghdad under President Bush's troop "surge" because "we're taking the fight to the enemy," a top U.S. military commander warned.
Six of the American soldiers and a journalist working for a Russian publication were killed in Diyala Sunday when a roadside bomb struck the vehicle in which they were traveling, the U.S. military said in a statement. No other details were immediately available.
"There are going to be increased (U.S.) casualties during this surge because we're taking the fight to the enemy," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, 3rd Infantry Division commander who oversees four of the five surge brigades. "We're going to do everything we can do to preclude that from happening."
But he added: "This is indeed combat operations. This is indeed war. And it's against a lethal enemy." .................

uh oh, wonder how long gates is going to last

seems like HE may have the semblings of a brain (and for that matter a soul)

Gates appears to break from Bush playbook on Iraq

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates' message on Iraq has recently seemed to conflict with the White House line, writes the Los Angeles Times.
"During a recent trip to the Middle East, Gates told the Iraqi government that time was running out and praised Democratic efforts in the U.S. Congress to set a timetable for withdrawal, saying it would help prod the Iraqis. He reiterated that point during a meeting with reporters last week," report Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes.
A spokesman for Gates says that the Defense Secretary shares the views on troop withdrawal held by the White House and General David Petraeus, who commands US troops in Iraq. ......

in their own words

which of course we may not be able to hear and read any longer

ah, but we won't let that happen will we? our soldiers have voices and they should NEVER be silenced

we all know they are NOT worried about troops giving away 'sensitive information'. they are indeed worried about the troops feelings about the fiasco that is iraq


Tighter restrictions on military blogs anger US soldiers· Ban aimed at curbing critics of Bush, say troops· Pentagon moves to stop spread of intelligence

Ewen MacAskill in Washington

US troops in Iraq have reacted angrily to Pentagon restrictions aimed at curbing internet postings from war zones.
The Pentagon cited the risk of providing sensitive information to insurgents. Blogs and emails from troops in the field can often be extraordinarily vivid and indiscreet. One last weekend from a soldier in Iraq advised a trooper in the US who was about to deploy in Iraq on ways to watch for and detect explosive devices planted by insurgents.


The Pentagon said blogs had to be cleared first with officers, and that soldiers would be punished if they publicly revealed troop movements, planned raids, travel itineraries, photographs of casualties, new technology or material that could compromise their location.
Reacting to the ban, soldiers said the real reason for the curbs were their negative comments about the war, including scepticism about George Bush's claims about progress. Soldiers in the field and former soldiers, in blogs posted on sites such as Black Five, an unofficial site run by former paratrooper Matthew Burden, said the regulations would be inoperable with most troops obeying the rules but dissidents finding ways round the ban..........

White House Weighs in on Milblog Flap

In a press conference this afternoon, White House spokesman Tony Snow called our story about the Army's new information regulations "overreported." But then, immediately afterwards, Snow said he wasn't sure he knew what he was talking about. Here's the exchange, with the Washington Times' Jon Ward:........

whoops, THERE IT IS!!!

how it's even 28% is beyond my comprehension. how ANYONE can support king george and his court is ludicrous.


The Elephant in the Room
George W. Bush has the lowest presidential approval rating in a generation, and the leading Dems beat every major ’08 Republican. Coincidence?

By Marcus Mabry
Newsweek
May 5, 2007 - It’s hard to say which is worse news for Republicans: that George W. Bush now has the worst approval rating of an American president in a generation, or that he seems to be dragging every ’08 Republican presidential candidate down with him. But According to the new NEWSWEEK Poll, the public’s approval of Bush has sunk to 28 percent, an all-time low for this president in our poll, and a point lower than Gallup recorded for his father at Bush Sr.’s nadir. The last president to be this unpopular was Jimmy Carter who also scored a 28 percent approval in 1979. This remarkably low rating seems to be casting a dark shadow over the GOP’s chances for victory in ’08. The NEWSWEEK Poll finds each of the leading Democratic contenders beating the Republican frontrunners in head-to-head matchups.............

wow, a step in the RIGHT direction perhaps?

we can only hope so

Discharged gay sailor is called back to active duty

By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Sunday, May 6, 2007

On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had fought against for years: he was gay.
Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he’d married. And when it came time to explain his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.
But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.
Since promoted to petty officer second class, Knight is finishing a scheduled one-year tour in Kuwait with Naval Customs Battalion Bravo. And, already kicked out of the Navy once, he sees no need to hide his sexual orientation...........

another problem for our deployed reserve service members

just when you think you've heard it all. you haven't. now, some in the reserves, are having their children taken from them.

this shouldn't be happening. NONE of this should be happening. yet, NO ONE suffers more than your president and i (according to laura 'i'm not of this world' bush)

Deployed troops battle for child custody

By PAULINE ARRILLAGA, AP National Writer

She had raised her daughter for six years following the divorce, handled the shuttling to soccer practice and cheerleading, made sure schoolwork was done. Hardly a day went by when the two weren't together. Then Lt. Eva Crouch was mobilized with the Kentucky National Guard, and Sara went to stay with Dad.
A year and a half later, her assignment up, Crouch pulled into her driveway with one thing in mind — bringing home the little girl who shared her smile and blue eyes. She dialed her ex and said she'd be there the next day to pick Sara up, but his response sent her reeling.
"Not without a court order you won't."
Within a month, a judge would decide that Sara should stay with her dad. It was, he said, in "the best interests of the child."
What happened? Crouch was the legal residential caretaker; this was only supposed to be temporary. What had changed? She wasn't a drug addict, or an alcoholic, or an abusive mother............

and i thought there were problems caring for OUR wounded

(and of course there are problems caring for our wounded) but NOTHING like the care of wounded iraqi military.

military hospitals are now non-existant (they DID have them BEFORE we invaded the country). the wounded must pay for their own care (if any). doctors and other medical professionals are leaving the country at alarming rates (i just read somewhere - not in this article- how medical licenses are now being held by the government so doctors CANNOT leave).

sad sad sad conditions for all. us and them

For Iraqi Soldiers, A Medical Morass
Lack of Facilities Leaves Wounded To Seek Own Care


By Karin Brulliard Washington Post Staff Writer

BAGHDAD -- Mohammed Mizher Massen was a different man on the morning of Feb. 21. His muscles filled out his Iraqi army uniform. His posture radiated the confidence of a soldier who had helped capture insurgents. And his heart swelled: In a few hours, after his unit finished its shift guarding a Baghdad construction project, he was going to propose to his girlfriend.
Then the bomb in a cooking oil can on the roadside blew up, shredding his left leg and marking him with a constellation of shrapnel.
Now 1st Sgt. Massen, 22, is a one-legged man whose brothers carry him from his bed, where he has dreams of loud explosions, to his computer, where he researches prosthetic legs. He spends his $460 monthly soldier's salary on the $3,400 in medical expenses that he has accrued..............