vegetarianism made the front page of wapo

well at least the online addition. i have to say, i've never had tofurky. i've had several other prepared vegetarian and vegan foods. some are GREAT and some are not. i have mentioned a few of my favorites before

follow your heart vegenaise is simply THE best vegan mayo out there. i've tried them all. THIS is it

earth balance vegan margarine is also THE best out there. unlike the mayo, there are others that pass though

smartdeli santa fe chick'n by lightlife. it's got some hotness and i like the texture. makes one fine lettuce, tomato sandwich! it's my favorite flavor of their offerings

tofu and tofu salad by the bridge (i don't know if you can get this across the country. it's a connecticut company. their tofu salad is THE bomb

Vegetarians, Meat-Eaters Dig In To Send Sales of Tofurky Soaring

By Ylan Q. Mui Washington Post Staff Writer

Seth Tibbott was just an ordinary hippie living in a treehouse when inspiration struck.
The year was 1986, and Tibbott had hoped for six years that his small business selling vegetarian meat alternatives in rural Washington state would catch on. Success proved elusive -- the treehouse was the only place he could afford to live -- until he developed a soy-based version of the traditional Thanksgiving turkey. He called it Tofurky.

"It's a name that resonates with consumers," said Tibbott, who grew up in Chevy Chase. "We're fine with the fact they think it's funny or they get a smile out of it. You remember jokes." ....

i emailed jan martel AND the board

if you have an extra three minutes why don't YOU email her and them too: (see last paragraph for her and their email addresses)

Bridge Ladies Slammed for Anti-Bush Sign
.......WE DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH." Those words were handwritten on the back of a menu by the US women's bridge team and held aloft during the award ceremony at the world team championships in Shanghai last month. The team had just won the tournament, destroying Germany in the final, and were making what they thought was a small political statement. It wasn't a particularly radical message (who else didn't vote for Bush?), and it was made spontaneously, in a moment of international goodwill and humor. ...........

..................If you're mad as hell and want to support the US women's bridge team--email Jan Martel (President, United States Bridge Federation) at janmartel@comcast.net and the board at board@usbf.org. Left-leaning, free-speech loving bridge players are especially encouraged! ..................

original posting on the shanghai six
and the email i sent:
When over a million Iraqis are displaced, tens of thousands are killed, VERY near 3,000 of OUR men and women are killed, people from the gulf coast storms are STILL suffering, Darfur is allowed to continue, Saudi Arabia is being coddled (they by the way had most ALL of the 9/11 terrorists in their country unlike IRAQ which had NONE of them), our children don't have health coverage, our educational system is in a shambles, even working families cannot afford to eat AND heat their homes, gas keeps rising (for NO real reason) and on and on and on.......you sanction SIX WOMEN for holding up a teeny tiny sign simply saying 'we didn't vote for Bush'. What is wrong with THAT picture?

FREE THE SHANGHAI SIX-- be safe be well dream in colors

huh?

Fighting the War Against Breast and Ovarian Cancer–Fund It Under the DoD

the.......reformed....... pirate: strange dolls#links

the.......reformed....... pirate: strange dolls#links

this is what one of our BEST BUDS does

to women. fuck them FOREVER
(i'm with ms mcewan, nothing i could say could make this any better or worse.)
Saudi Arabia to Punish Survivor of Gang Rape with 200 Lashes and Prison Term
posted by Melissa McEwan
Yes, you read that right. A woman who was raped by six armed men is being punished by our BFF Wahhabists in Saudi Arabia. Huzzah for our awesome ally!The 19-year-old Shiite woman was originally sentenced to receive 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," but after the woman had the unmitigated temerity of not unquestioningly submitting to being tortured as punishment for "getting herself raped," judges on Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council more than doubled her punishment for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media."Her lawyer, human rights activist Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, has been banned by the court from further working on her case, had his law license revoked, and been "summoned by the ministry of justice to appear before a disciplinary committee in December" after he appealed the original verdict—not only because his client was sentenced to receive lashes, but because her Sunni rapists were sentenced to shockingly paltry sentences of one to five years.On appeal, the court increased their sentences to two to nine years. And they gave the women they raped 110 more lashes and a prison term.This case is so horrendous, it makes any commentary about victim-blaming superfluous. If you don't get why it's heinous, I don't think anything I could say will convince you is so horrendous, it makes any commentary about victim-blaming superfluous................

a miracle!

the governor of georgia prayed for rain AND guess what? 24 hours later, HE GOT RAIN! (you can't see me but i just crossed myself)
Cold front brings rain; Governor calls it an 'affirmation'Weather today includes wind advisory
By MIKE MORRIS The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue said Thursday morning that he's not gloating over the fact that it rained a day after he held a prayer vigil at the Capitol.
"This is hopefully the beginning of more," Perdue said from Canada, where he is on a trade mission. "One rain won't refill the reservoirs. It is great affirmation of what we asked for."
Most of metro Atlanta got a little rain overnight ahead of a strong cold front that blew through North Georgia, and a wind advisory was in effect for gusty conditions behind the front on Thursday.
"As we do all we can from a conservation standpoint, virtually all of us know we are dependent on rain. I am just a person who believes it comes from God," Perdue said.
While almost all of metro Atlanta got rain, most rainfall totals were only around a quarter-inch or less............
(like his intelligence. a quarter-inch OR LESS)

'we can do better' says our king george!

was he talking about bringing our men and women home from the middle east? nope

was he talking about health care for children? nope

was he talking about pouring more money into our education system? nope

was he talking about the treatment of people in america effected by natural disasters? nope

was he talking about insuring americans who don't have health coverage? nope

was he talking about restoring our constitution? NOPE

he was talking about FREEING UP MILITARY AIRSPACE IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! WHAT A GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bush Frees Up Military Airspace For Thanksgiving

By Kendra MarrWashington Post Staff Writer
President Bush yesterday announced measures intended to curb airline delays during the Thanksgiving travel frenzy, including freeing up military airspace for commercial use.
"We can do better," Bush said at a White House briefing. "We can have an aviation system that's improved." ............

these women are being castigated for

holding up a TINY hand written sign NO ONE would have know about but for the open frothing mouths of some id-jits?





they did not call him a flaming asswipe or a lyin' weasel or a committer of crimes against humanity or a member of the rather secret evil good ol' white boy network who will do ANYTHING to line their pockets

they did not say they would find out who was responsible for the outing of a covert cia agent and make them pay (and then when a VERY LOWER level member of the court got convicted, pardon him)

they were NOT directly responsible for the 3,864 deaths of us troops in the middle east

they were NOT directly responsible for the 130 deaths by suicide of troops serving or who did serve in the middle east

they were NOT directly responsible for the 15,554 troops wounded (that we can see NOW - we have NO idea how many are wounded inside and don’t show it yet) in the middle east (that returned to active duty within 72 hours) and the 12,831 wounded troops that did NOT return to active duty within 72 hours

they were not responsible for the abandonment of those effected by natural disasters on the gulf coast

they do NOT retreat to Crawford texas at the drop of a hat


THEY EFFING PLAY BRIDGE (and it's not like they said something negative about omar sharif)
free the shanghai six!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anti-Bush Sign Has Bridge World in an Uproar


By STEPHANIE STROM


In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.
At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.”
By e-mail, angry bridge players have accused the women of “treason” and “sedition.”
“This isn’t a free-speech issue,” said Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, the nonprofit group that selects teams for international tournaments. “There isn’t any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them.” .....................






icasualties
picture: swangames.com
From left, Jill Levin, Jill Meyers, Debbie Rosenberg and Irina Levitina of the Venice Cup championship team in Shanghai.

$150,000 a year to join (it's a free country, right?)

a confederate flag in a garage on the property somewhere (why not? the south should have won anyway AND everything that goes with it, right?). women NOT being allowed in the clubhouse (why should they even BE there anyway? shouldn't they be at home, right?). shooting at PENNED UP BIRDS (why not, killing shite IS FUN especially if it really can't get away). well this is our veep, THE BIG DICK

Dick Cheney's Sadistic Passion for Shooting Tame Animals
By Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet
While most people are lamenting the violence in Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan and Iraq, apparently it's not enough bloodshed for Vice President Dick Cheney.
Last month in a caravan of 15 sport utility vehicles and an ambulance -- no jokes, please -- Cheney made his way to Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club, about 70 miles north of New York City, near Poughkeepsie, for a day of controlled bloodletting. .........
..........Still for the veep to pursue his addiction to the "programmed massacre of scores of tame, pen-raised birds" despite all the "negative publicity it has generated for him" suggests a deep psychological disorder, writes Gerald Schiller in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Especially since criminologists have long recognized that premeditated, sadistic treatment of animals is a strong predictor of criminal and homicidal violence. .........

this speaks for itself

Embattled State Dept. official quits Blackwater probe over brother's role
By Warren P. Strobel McClatchy Newspapers The State Department's embattled inspector general suddenly removed himself Wednesday from investigations into security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, after belatedly acknowledging that his brother sits on a Blackwater advisory board.
The revelation came at a House of Representatives hearing that cited allegations from current and former State Department employees — and the Justice Department — that Inspector General Howard Krongard had impeded investigations into Blackwater and the construction of the $740 million U.S. Embassy complex in Iraq.
The allegations before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee added to the questions about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's management of the massive U.S. diplomatic presence in Iraq and of the State Department in Washington.
Krongard initially said that he was unaware that his brother, former CIA executive director Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, had any financial ties with Blackwater...........
WASHINGTON — The State Department's embattled inspector general suddenly removed himself Wednesday from investigations into security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, after belatedly acknowledging that his brother sits on a Blackwater advisory board.
The revelation came at a House of Representatives hearing that cited allegations from current and former State Department employees — and the Justice Department — that Inspector General Howard Krongard had impeded investigations into Blackwater and the construction of the $740 million U.S. Embassy complex in Iraq.
The allegations before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee added to the questions about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's management of the massive U.S. diplomatic presence in Iraq and of the State Department in Washington.
Krongard initially said that he was unaware that his brother, former CIA executive director Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, had any financial ties with Blackwater...........

State Dept. Inspector General Agrees To Recuse Himself From Key Probes

By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer
State Department Inspector General Howard J. Krongard said yesterday that he will no longer participate in high-profile probes of Blackwater Worldwide and of the State Department's troubled construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq, after a House panel confronted him with evidence of conflicts of interest, including his brother's role as a strategic adviser to Blackwater.
Krongard's announcement, made under pressure from House Democrats, means that the top independent investigator at the State Department will recuse himself from examining two of the biggest management headaches facing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has investigated allegations that Krongard impeded State Department probes in Iraq -- including potential criminal activity involving alleged gun smuggling by Blackwater and the awarding of the Baghdad embassy construction contract -- and has harmed his office with a mercurial management style. ...........

i don't know if this is real or not

but it WAS in australia's daily telegraph. i just HAVE to believe it's a hoax story though. please let it be a hoax (but i don't think it is)
Santa fury at 'ho, ho, ho' ban
By Janet Fife-Yeomans and Amanda Grant
HE is an unlikely revolutionary but this Christmas, Santa is a rebel with a claus.
He is having the last laugh on political correctness - and it's a great big fat belly laugh.
Santas across Sydney are rebelling against attempts to ban their traditional greeting of "ho, ho, ho" in favour of "ha, ha, ha".
Recruitment firm Westaff - which supplies hundreds of Santas across the country - has told its trainees that the "ho ho ho" phrase could frighten children and could even be derogatory to women.
Two Santa hopefuls reportedly quit the course because of the hullabaloo of the ho, ho, ho.
One would-be Santa has told The Daily Telegraph he was taught not to use "ho, ho, ho" because it was too close to the American slang for prostitute. He also quit..........

a giant big fat WTF????????????

Ex-Walter Reed chief to run Fort Detrick
Ex-Walter Reed Medical Chief to Command Fort Detrick, Biological Weapons Defense Research
DAVID DISHNEAU
A two-star general who was fired as the head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center amid reports of shoddy treatment of wounded soldiers will oversee U.S. biological weapons defense research as commander of Fort Detrick, the Army said Tuesday. Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, a physician who works in the Army surgeon general's office in Falls Church, Va., will command both Fort Detrick in Frederick and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command there, Army spokesman Paul Boyce said.
Weightman had been at Walter Reed for six months when The Washington Post began publishing stories in February about recovering soldiers languishing in dilapidated housing and their families complaining of inattentive administrators..........
..............Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said it was widely believed that Weightman's departure from Walter Reed had ruined his chances for another prominent command post.
"The way Walter Reed turned out should be a career killer," Rieckhoff said. "If Weightman's getting a second chance here, I think the Army needs to explain why the turnaround happened."..............

is this a keystone cops or buster keaton movie?

nope. it's real. it WOULD be funny except for:
millions of iraqis being displaced
tens of thousands of iraqis being tortured and murdered
thousands of americans being tortured and murdered
our illegal invasion of a country that was NO threat to us
our immoral invasion of a country that was NO threat to us
us spending (now and in the future) more than a TRILLION dollars on this
king george NOT attending ONE funeral for a fallen hero
king george spending veterans day in texas and NOT in the white house/arlington
the treasonous outing of a covert cia agent
and now they have the balls to say something like this:
Iraqis Wasting An Opportunity, U.S. Officers Say
With Attacks Ebbing, Government Is Urged to Reach Out to Opponents

By Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writer
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq -- Senior military commanders here now portray the intransigence of Iraq's Shiite-dominated government as the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al-Qaeda terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias.
In more than a dozen interviews, U.S. military officials expressed growing concern over the Iraqi government's failure to capitalize on sharp declines in attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. A window of opportunity has opened for the government to reach out to its former foes, said Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commander of day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq, but "it's unclear how long that window is going to be open." ...........

geeze, for some reason or another

for the past couple of weeks, i haven't been reading the nyt op-ed page(s). looks like i missed some 'good stuff'
for the record (not that you couldn't guess this or anything), not only didn't i like reagan but i never understood why he achieved god-like status (and still has it)

Columnists War Breaks Out at 'NYT' -- Over Reagan and Racism
By Greg Mitchell
NEW YORK The New York Times Op-Ed page hasn’t been this hot in a long time. Now we are experiencing Columnist Wars, with Bob Herbert today joining in a rapidly escalating battle between Paul Krugman and David Brooks -- largely over an incident involving Ronald Reagan at a local fair over 27 years ago. None has mentioned a colleague by name, while tossing around charges such as "woefully wrongheaded" and "agitprop."Krugman kicked it off with a Sept. 27 column on the Republicans’ continuing problems in attracting minority voters. “Republican politicians ... understand quite well that the G.O.P.’s national success since the 1970s owes everything to the partisan switch of Southern whites,” he declared. “Since the days of Gerald Ford, just about every Republican presidential campaign has included some symbolic gesture of approval for good old-fashioned racism.”......
.........“That won’t wash. Reagan may have been blessed with a Hollywood smile and an avuncular delivery, but he was elbow deep in the same old race-baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon.“Everybody watching the 1980 campaign knew what Reagan was signaling at the fair. Whites and blacks, Democrats and Republicans — they all knew. The news media knew. The race haters and the people appalled by racial hatred knew. And Reagan knew. ...“Throughout his career, Reagan was wrong, insensitive and mean-spirited on civil rights and other issues important to black people. There is no way for the scribes of today to clean up that dismal record. ..........

what a f**kwad

why do people listen to this shite? listen to someone who ADVOCATES getting a gun and blowing away people who disagree with what he thinks and says? who sponsors him, who sponsors his show? i want to know that (and i WILL find out)

Savage: "[L]oving, kind lesbian" is "the type that stuffed ovens in Hitler's concentration camps"
On the November 8 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation, a caller told host Michael Savage that while waiting at a stoplight in Midtown Manhattan, "I'm listening to you with the window open. This mean-faced, clipped-hair, liberal type -- you know, the type you always talk about. ... She comes up to my window and she goes, 'You're listening to hate speech. Why are you listening to that?' " Savage replied to the caller's anecdote by saying, "Well, what does that tell you about the loving, kind lesbian who just assaulted you in your car?" He continued: "She's a -- the type that stuffed ovens in [Adolf] Hitler's concentration camps. Whenever I hear anyone preaching to me about how compassionate they are, I reach for my Glock. That's all I can tell you. They can all drop dead." .........

oh my goddess what an effing crybaby

this ass o'wrongly is.
if you can dish it, you sure as shite better be able to TAKE it too...
(however, i don't advocate going to someone's HOUSE.)
O'Reilly unleashes Fox lawyers in attempt to sink critic's career
Host tries to get aggressive liberal blogger booted from law school
For Bill O'Reilly, ambushing your political enemies with a video camera is just fine, as long as the camera is pointed in the opposite direction.
Blogger Mike Stark has a history of haranguing O'Reilly during his call-in radio show, and he once visited the Fox host's house to mock him over sexual harassment allegations. And now Stark, 39, has become the target of a network executive working on behalf of the combative Fox News pundit. Fox VP Dianne Brandi has written to the dean of the Univeristy of Virginia's law school, where Stark is in his second year, urging an investigation of his conduct.
Stark told RAW STORY his dean has shown him a copy of the letter but would not allow it to be distributed to others. The letter accuses Stark of violating the university's codes of conduct, and it warns that he would have trouble passing the fitness review required for admission to the bar..........

huh, wtf?

the republicans have their panties in a twist because the war actually is costing MORE than what king george and his court are saying? they can't keep it hidden forever. the cost of the crumbling NEW embassy. the cost of the new iraq police station that ended up leaking sewage. the cost of the treatment of returning vets. the cost of the MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of missing dollars AND arms. oh on and on. you know the story. (should we be including the MILLIONS paid to the pakistani government EACH MONTH in this war cost, or is that separate?). if the dems wussy out on this one too, well they ALL both sides (with a handful of exceptions) deserve to be KICKED OUT OF OFFICE
oh one more thing. instead of crying about a F**KING REPORT about iraq. why the f**k don't you DO SOMETHING about the actual WAR IN IRAQ LIKE BRING OUR MEN AND WOMEN HOME

Republicans Seek Retraction of Report on Wars' 'Hidden Costs'

By Josh WhiteWashington Post Staff Writer
Senior Republicans on Congress's Joint Economic Committee called yesterday for the withdrawal of a report by the committee's Democratic staff that argues that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost more than $1.5 trillion.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rep. H. James Saxton (R-N.J.) attacked the report on "hidden costs" of the wars, calling its methodology flawed and asserting factual errors. The report, issued yesterday, said the war has cost nearly double the $804 billion in appropriations and requests for war funding thus far. .......

mine is bigger than yours

this NEVER had to turn into a pissing contest. what i mean to say (i guess) is it never SHOULD have turned into a pissing contest. but it did. king george and his court vs the spineless cowardly dems. while nero fiddles america burns

Bush Veto Sets Up Clash on Budget
Democrats Make War-Funds Threat

By Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writer
NEW ALBANY, Ind., Nov. 13 -- A budget dispute erupted into a full-scale battle Tuesday as President Bush vetoed the Democrats' top-priority domestic spending bill and the party's Senate leader threatened to withhold war funding if the president does not agree to pull out of Iraq.
The long-anticipated clash came to a head as Bush rejected a $606 billion bill to fund education, health and labor programs, complaining that it is too expensive and is larded with pork. Within hours, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) declared that Bush will not get more money to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year unless he accepts a plan to complete troop withdrawals by the end of next year. .............

the onion did what NO ONE else could

Condoleezza Rice displays for reporters one of the many varieties of atoms Iran is believed to already possess.


proof positive iran HAS DANGEROUS ATOMS


uh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


U.S. Intelligence: Iran Possesses Trillions Of Potentially Dangerous Atoms


WASHINGTON—Barely two months after U.N. inspectors in Iran failed to find evidence of an active nuclear weapons program, the Department of Homeland Security uncovered new information Monday proving the Middle Eastern nation has obtained literally trillions of atoms—the same particles sometimes used to make atomic bombs—for unknown purposes.............





........"The threat of atoms in Iran is real," said Chertoff, showing reporters an empty vial to illustrate his point. "Even as we speak, Iranians are turning millions of carbon atoms into a powerful energy source they can use to strengthen their armies, pilots, president, and someday perhaps, a team of nuclear physicists.".............

christine bowman writes one hell

of an editorial. she couldn't speak any truer words

History Lessons -- For Nancy, Jack, John, Jimmy and "the Troops
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS As a college student in the 1970s, I avoided history classes after receiving a mediocre grade in the first one that I did take. Studying Texas history in the Houston public schools for a mandatory three years just hadn't prepared me for Western Civilization 1-2. In retrospect, I wish I had stuck with history.
Water under the bridge. We all make dumb choices when we're 18.
In the decades since then, life has treated me to some first-hand experience of history. I've seen and learned a few things, and time does lend perspective. Veterans Day today has triggered memories, as did the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Memorial Wall last week. Dennis Kucinich's introduction of an impeachment resolution triggered more memories. I'm going to share my memories and lessons learned..........
...........Nancy Pelosi, you sincerely want to do the People's business. Voters want that, too, as all the polls indicate. You want to restore Congress to its proper processes and role.
The trouble is, to do that you must put impeachment back on the table. What else stands between the American people and the steamroller of an unstoppable Executive Branch? As the sadder but wiser Former Counsel to the President has learned, another election won't do the trick.......

luis sinco tries to do something

king george and his court SHOULD be doing. SAVING A VETERAN (ALL veterans)

reporters are supposed to be neutral (photographers as well). i'm glad some of them are NOT. why aren't we as a nation embarrassed? AT THE VERY LEAST, embarrassed........

Rescue operation aims to save a wounded warrior

Despite concerns of overstepping, Times photographer Luis Sinco feels compelled to help the Iraq vet he made famous.
By Luis Sinco : Times Staff Photographer, Second of two parts November 12, 2007
James Blake Miller was in a world of pain, and I figured I should be by his side.A veterans' treatment program in West Haven, Conn. -- arguably the best in the nation -- offered hope. Moe Armstrong, a pioneer in vet-to-vet counseling, had heard of the Marlboro Marine's troubles and sent him feelers about coming for a visit. Despite my reservations about getting too involved, I had flown from Los Angeles to Kentucky to help Miller grab this lifeline. I coaxed him into my rental car and we headed north. I questioned myself. Was this the right thing to do? For Miller, yes. But for me? What awaited us at the end of this journey? I caught Miller's eyes reflected in the rearview mirror, droopy and lifeless. He hadn't slept well, and a long road led from his home in the Appalachian coal country to New England.........

photo: This is the photo that made Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller -- the "Marlboro Marine" --famous. This photo also changed my life. I’m Luis Sinco, a Los Angeles Times staff photographer, and I took it while embedded with his Marine unit in Fallouja. We had spent the previous night in a traffic circle, pinned down by enemy fire, and just before I snapped this photo, a tank had blasted an insurgent position next door to ours. Many people looked at the photo and saw a heroic figure; I saw, in his eyes, a man at the point of breaking. It was how I felt, too.
(Luis Sinco / LAT)
November 9, 2004

no coffins = no deaths

no suffering. no emptiness. our heroes are suffering. both physically AND mentally. they're not getting the help they need. the american public is NOT getting the full story. we don't get to see the dead, the wounded. at the VERY LEAST king george and his court MUST TAKE CARE OF OUR VETERANS

Veterans' Suicides: a Hidden Cost of Bush's Wars
By Penny Coleman, AlterNet
On November 6, the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Bill became law. The bill was named for a 22-year-old Iowa reservist who took his own life eleven months after coming home from Iraq. Though Josh is one of hundreds of combat veteran suicides since the wars began in 2001, it is his name that has become symbolic of the campaign to get the military to take the mental health of America's vets seriously.
With the exception of the unspeakable images of Abu Ghraib, which were e-mailed home by soldiers themselves, for six years Americans have been effectively insulated from the human cost of our wars. This insulation is not an accident; it is policy. Images from the Vietnam years, like the naked child trying to outrun her own burning skin, or the anguished women and children waiting their turn to be executed at My Lai, were catalysts that helped turn public opinion against that war. This time, the government wanted to ensure that would not happen. On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Pentagon issued a directive to the media forbidding any coverage of returning American coffins. No coffins, no funerals, no wounds, no tears. No empathy...............

hey dudes jack from 24 (which i have NEVER watched)

is really kiefer sutherland. son of donald sutherland. once engaged to julia roberts (whom i do NOT like). getter of a dui a little while ago. he's an ACTOR. the son of an ACTOR. 24 is NOT real. you CANNOT BLOW THE WORLD UP WITH A SUITCASE

Fox host 'let down' by implausibility of suitcase nukes
David Edwards and Greg Wasserstrom
After appearing in numerous film and TV programs and even creeping its way into American political discourse, the suitcase nuke, a nuclear bomb small enough to be easily hidden, is unlikely to exist, according to experts. The revelation left the anchors of the Fox News program Fox & Friends more than a little disappointed.
"You mean '24' isn't true," Co-host Page Kelly inquired, referring to Fox's national security-themed prime time hit, starring Kiefer Sutherland as CIA agent Jack Bauer. "'24's my favorite show."
"It is a little bit of a let down," agreed Greg Kelly.............

peace

one country down. how many more to go?
(still and all, i DO wish it wasn't a 'i'll put mine down if THEY put THEIRS down situation)
Céad míle fáilte romhat!
War Ends for Militant Group in Northern Ireland
DUBLIN, Nov. 11 (AP) — The largest Protestant paramilitary group in Northern Ireland on Sunday renounced violence, officially ending the decades of terror it inflicted on the province’s Roman Catholic minority.
The group, the outlawed Ulster Defense Association, said that it was disbanding all of its armed units and would store its weapons beyond the reach of rank-and-file members, but that it was not yet willing to hand over its arsenal to international disarmament officials.
“The Ulster Defense Association believes that the war is over, and we are now in a new democratic dispensation that will lead to permanent political stability,” the group said, referring to the Catholic-Protestant administration established in May under the terms of a 1998 peace accord......................

another one

it's not blackwater THIS time though. same results.
granted we weren't there. granted witness statements may not be accurate. BUT this is THEIR country. WE illegally and immorally invaded it. we have NO RIGHT to be there.

Security Guard Fires From Convoy, Killing Iraqi Driver
By JAMES GLANZ
BAGHDAD, Nov. 11 — An Iraqi taxi driver was shot and killed on Saturday by a guard with DynCorp International, a private security company hired to protect American diplomats here, when a DynCorp convoy rolled past a knot of traffic on an exit ramp in Baghdad, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said Sunday. Three witnesses said the taxi had posed no threat to the convoy, and one of them, an Iraqi Army sergeant who inspected the car afterward, said it contained no weapons or explosive devices.
“They just killed a man and drove away,” Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said in his office on Sunday afternoon. He added later, “We have opened an investigation, and we have contacted the company and told them about our accusations, and we are still waiting for their response.”............

i don't know much about bernie sanders

but from this article alone i'm getting one hell of a GOOD impression. now if only the rest of 'em would grow a set and tell the king he has no clothes..............

Sen. Bernie Sanders: 'Bush clearly does not understand the Constitution'
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stood up to voice his concerns over Judge and then-nominee for Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Thursday.
Sanders found himself "deeply disturbed" by Mukasey's answers on the interrogation technique "waterboarding," not giving a direct answer on whether or not he considered the practice a form of torture. Sanders insists that we need an Attorney General that can match the consensus among the American public and the rest of the world on what waterboarding really is, concurrent with the Geneva Convention.
"For the last six years," says Sanders, "it is clear that we have had a president that does not understand what the Constitution of the United States is about. What this president believes, essentially, is that he can do anything he wants, at any time, against anybody, in the name of fighting terrorism. And he happens to believe that the "war on terrorism" is unending; it's going to go on indefinitely. And I think it is very important that we have an Attorney General who can explain the Constitution to a President who clearly does not understand it.
Unfortunately, Mr. Mukasey is not that person."................