today is TAKE BACK THE BLOG day

Take Back the Blog!

what is this you may ask (in case you don't know)

it's to remind everyone - women have a right to do whatever they want (you know what i mean. not murder and the like) WITHOUT threats or scorn or stalking or harassment or intimidation or violence. yes, that even includes blogging or otherwise working on the internet.

we are EQUAL citizens of the world. we are your mothers, wives, partners, employers, employees, aunts, teachers, nurturers AND friends.

(don't piss us off please)

from the armed forces journal, an article by lt col paul yingling

he is seeing things through different eyes than mine. his beliefs are different than mine. EXCEPT we both agree on one thing. IRAQ IS A MESS AND IT WILL CONTINUE TO BE A MESS AND WE ARE RESPONSIBLE

A failure in generalship

By Lt. Col. Paul Yingling
"You officers amuse yourselves with God knows what buffooneries and never dream in the least of serious service. This is a source of stupidity which would become most dangerous in case of a serious conflict."- Frederick the Great

For the second time in a generation, the United States faces the prospect of defeat at the hands of an insurgency. In April 1975, the U.S. fled the Republic of Vietnam, abandoning our allies to their fate at the hands of North Vietnamese communists. In 2007, Iraq's grave and deteriorating condition offers diminishing hope for an American victory and portends risk of an even wider and more destructive regional war.
These debacles are not attributable to individual failures, but rather to a crisis in an entire institution: America's general officer corps. America's generals have failed to prepare our armed forces for war and advise civilian authorities on the application of force to achieve the aims of policy. The argument that follows consists of three elements. First, generals have a responsibility to society to provide policymakers with a correct estimate of strategic probabilities. Second, America's generals in Vietnam and Iraq failed to perform this responsibility. Third, remedying the crisis in American generalship requires the intervention of Congress. ................

so are we to forget our men and women

who are serving in the SURGE in iraq until september? are we not going to count their numbers until september? (not even counting how many iraqis will be killed, wounded or displaced)

why are we letting this continue? king george and his court (i guess) are now figuring if they wait long enough, SOMETHING good will happen. well i do NOT want to wait. i do NOT want ONE MORE of our men or women put in harm's way in this war.

The White House Scales Back Talk of Iraq Progress (they are 'scaling back'???? shite, there IS NO iraq progress)


By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: April 28, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 27 — The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush’s top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited, according to senior administration officials.
In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of President Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year. ..........

uh oh

Rice Deputy Quits After Query Over Escort Service
Randall Tobias Oversaw U.S. Foreign Aid Programs


By Glenn KesslerWashington Post Staff Writer

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.
Tobias resigned after ABC News contacted him with questions about the escort service, the sources said. ABC News released a statement last night saying Tobias acknowledged Thursday that he had used the service to provide massages, not sex..........

question: when is an 'escort' NOT an 'escort'?

answer: when she gives you a 'massage' silly!!!!!!

..........."I'm sad today," said one person close to Tobias. "The president loves him and Condi absolutely loves him."................

appointment after appointment going down IN FLAMES. i shouldn't feel as i do. i feel good every time one of 'em gets caught. no, not caught. many have gotten caught and NOT made to pay. i mean when they get backed into such a corner they can't get out. big randy tobias was not one of the big fish. i'm waiting until we start THAT fish fry

this is a REAL story. i am NOT making it up

some dude in arkansas is suing a library because his two sons, aged 14 and 16, WHILE LOOKING FOR A BOOK ON MILITARY ACADEMIES came across 'the whole lesbian sex' book. apparently they were SO disturbed by what they saw, they couldn't sleep. i've seen the cover and the title is right on it. IF lesbians are SO disturbing to the two 'boys' WHY did they pick the book up?

by the way, do you know any 14 or 16 year old boys (gay, straight, bi or trans) that would experience sleeplessness (well perhaps they're busy doing OTHER THINGS) over seeing that book? i sure as shite don't.

read the whole article, it's not that long:
Arkansas Dad Sues Library Over Lesbian Book
Christian Values Against Homosexual Literature

by Emil Steiner

In today's internet age, books are almost a forgotten commodity in public libraries, but if you look hard enough you can still find some gems. For example, two teenage boys in Bentonville, Arkansas unearthed a hefty tome entitled "The Whole Lesbian Sex Book" while "browsing for material on military academies" -- or so they told their father. Although the sex guide by Felice Newman has been "deemed suitable for all public libraries, according to the Library Journal," the dad, Earl Adams, was so perturbed by its contents that he is suing Bentonville for $20,000...............

tid - no i mean BUSH bit

Since George W. Bush became president, OSHA has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say. It has imposed only one major safety rule. The only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court.

( OSHA Leaves Worker Safety in Hands of Industry By STEPHEN LABATON)

a damn fine op-ed by e j dionne jr

Bush's Non-Argument


By E. J. Dionne Jr. Friday, April 27, 2007; Page A23
President Bush and Vice President Cheney cannot make the case that their Iraq policies have succeeded, so they are doing one thing they do very well: taking a serious argument over the future of American foreign policy and turning it into a petty partisan squabble.
This is not really an argument over the "surge" of troops into Iraq. It is a fight over whether we want to make an open-ended commitment to keeping combat forces in Iraq for many years or whether we anticipate pulling most of them out within a year or two.............

bill moyers journal

you may watch it here

"Buying the War" Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. Despite profound questions and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. How did they get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 continue to go largely unreported?

'exceedingly complex'

is that another phrase for 'we're f**ked'?

seems like it is

when even the top general says it's a mess then will the masses do something?

or

how much longer are we going to wait? how many more of our troops are we going to allow to die? how many iraqis are we going to allow to die? how many are we going to allow to be displaced? and FOR WHAT?

(of course the general and i think we should proceed in different directions. or, maybe we don't. maybe he just can't say how he really thinks we should proceed)

U.S. surge fails to stem Baghdad violence, general says
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, said Thursday that the surge of U.S. and Iraqi troops into Baghdad hadn't reduced overall violence in the country and that the situation was "exceedingly complex."
The newly named commander echoed the warnings of those who'd preceded him, saying things could get worse before they get better. He spoke of threats emanating from Syria and Iran but said that al-Qaida, which has taken responsibility for a spate of car bombings, was "probably public enemy number one."
Petraeus' sober assessment made clear that while he thinks he's making progress, Iraq is a long way from stability and will require a long-term commitment from the United States.
"The level of violence has generally been unchanged" since the troop buildup began Feb. 15, Petraeus said at the Pentagon. Throughout the country, "there was a dip for a while. It was coming down and (then there were) these sensational attacks of the past couple of weeks." .........

no one - do you hear me NO ONE suffers MORE

than YOUR president and me according to laura 'i'm not living in reality" bush. no one that is other than the families and friends of the 3,333 men and women who have died in this UNJUST WAR BASED UPON LIES. no one that is other than the familes and friends of the TENS OF THOUSANDS (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of the families and friends of all of the iraqis who have been killed. NO ONE that is other than the iraqis themselves who have had to become refugees living in poverty.

i don't just blame laura for being allowed to spew this steamin' tripe. i blame ann curry for NOT being a real journalist and NAILING laura's ass over this

'No One Suffers More Than the President'

By Dan Froomkin Special to washingtonpost.com (this is actually a VERY good analysis)

First Lady Laura Bush said this morning that "no one suffers more" than the president and she do when watching television footage of the carnage in Iraq -- potentially opening her up to charges that the first family is too removed from the anguish of American troops and their families.
The first lady was on NBC's Today show mostly to talk about the president's malaria initiative, but at one point Ann Curry showed some video from Iraq and asked Bush, in a hushed, solicitous tone: "You know the American people are suffering, watching --".........

Laura Bush on Iraq: 'No one suffers more than their president and I do'

Ron Brynaert
..............Curry then asked, "What do you think the American public need to know about your husband?"
"Well, I hope they do know the burden, the worry that's on his shoulders every single day for our troops," Bush said. "And I think they do. I mean, I think if they don't, they're not seeing what the real responsibilities of our president are."
The first lady admitted that "it's absolutely hard" to watch her husband "in this."
"I know that what's also hard for you now is watching the real strain that your attorney general is going through," Curry said. "I know that he's a good friend of yours and has been for many years."
Laura Bush said that not only was Gonzales "a very good friend" but that also "been a very good attorney general."..................

us, BULLIES? not us

we're just in deep deep deep shite. there is no shovel available. instead of GETTING a shovel, we're just asking for MORE crap

Baghdad's Fissures and Mistrust Keep Political Goals Out of Reach

By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, April 25 -- U.S. military commanders say a key goal of the ongoing security offensive is to buy time for Iraq's leaders to reach political benchmarks that can unite its fractured coalition government and persuade insurgents to stop fighting.
But in pressuring the Iraqis to speed up, U.S. officials are encountering a variety of hurdles: The parliament is riven by personality and sect, and some politicians are abandoning Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. There is deep mistrust of U.S. intentions, especially among Shiites who see American efforts to bring Sunnis into the political process as an attempt to weaken the Shiites' grip on power
Many Iraqi politicians view the U.S. pressure as bullying that reminds them they are under occupation...........

b o b

an unusual and VERY disturbing story

it doesn't have a fairytale storybook ending. it's just sad and odd and most likely run of the mill for those in iraq.

A Grisly Problem, Grateful Iraqis and a Grim Outlook
Unit Planning Outpost Confronts an Obstacle Known as 'Bob'


By David Finkel Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 25, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD, April 24 -- The soldiers called him Bob, and for the past several weeks, until Tuesday morning, he was the biggest obstacle to the success of an important mission in a small but crucial corner of the Iraq war.
"We can't get anybody to get Bob out. No one wants to do it," Army Maj. Brent Cummings, executive officer of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, said with worry one recent morning as Bob's story began unfolding. Cummings was looking at an aerial photograph of an area in east Baghdad called Kamaliya, where there was an abandoned spaghetti factory with a hole in the courtyard, a hole in which some of his soldiers had discovered Bob...........

roses are red, violets are blue

if you have darker skin, well then f**k you!


or so it would seem.

Culture of Fear: Poetry Professor Becomes Terror Suspect

By Kazim Ali, New America Media. Posted April 24, 2007.
A poetry professor in a small college in the Northeast decides to recycle old manuscripts and becomes an object of suspicion.

On April 19, after a day of teaching classes at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, I went out to my car and grabbed a box of old poetry manuscripts from the front seat of my little white Beetle, carried it across the street and put it next to the trashcan outside Wright Hall. The poems were from poetry contests I had been judging and the box was heavy. I had previously left my recycling boxes there and they were always picked up and taken away by the trash department.
A young man from ROTC was watching me as I got into my car and drove away. I thought he was looking at my car, which has black flower decals and sometimes inspires strange looks. I later discovered that I, in my dark skin, am sometimes not even a person to the people who look at me. Instead, in spite of my peacefulness, my committed opposition to all aggression and war, I am a threat by my very existence, a threat just living in the world as a Muslim body.
Upon my departure, he called the local police department and told them a man of Middle Eastern descent driving a heavily decaled white Beetle with out of state plates and no campus parking sticker had just placed a box next to the trash can.............

i like to leeve in aaaaah-mare----reeee-caaaaaaaaaaaaaa

if they were afraid a certain new mexico national guard unit was chuck full o' gang members (i.e. people who are what i like to call OFF WHITE, i.e. hispanic) shouldn't they have checked them PRIOR to allowing them into the service and PRIOR to shipping them off to probable danger in the middle east?

these men and women are putting their lives on the line. it is RIDICULOUS and wicked bad for morale to have them strip down to their shorts when they are THOUSANDS of miles away from home

when you're a jet you're a jet...........
Congressman calls for probe after report of 'degrading' gang tattoo search of Guard unit

Amid cries of racism, a Democratic Congressman is calling for a probe into a report that a National Guard unit from New Mexico was forced to strip in Kuwait to prove that they didn't have any gang tattoos.
"Calling the incident 'unfortunate and degrading,' Rep. Tom Udall said he wants a new Army investigation into a search of a New Mexico National Guard unit for gang tattoos," Thomas J. Cole reports for the Albuquerque Journal. "Other members of the state's congressional delegation said they also want to know more about the search in which dozens of members of Task Force Cobra were forced to strip down to their athletic shorts."
The New Mexico congressman added, "This doesn't appear to be the type of behavior that is supportive of our troops."............

..............Sunday's report added that the "search was based on an uncorroborated allegation made by a soldier from Wisconsin that Task Force Cobra was rife with gang members.".............

wednesday 4/25- 3:30 to 5:00 hartford hospital

For Immediate Release
Contact: Justin Goodman
April 24, 2007 860-882-2492/Justin_goodman@sbcglobal.net

Medical professionals, activists decry live animal trauma lab at Hartford Hospital Hartford -- Local animal rights campaigners are planning a demonstration at Hartford Hospital on Wednesday afternoon to denounce the use of live pigs in surgical training exercises. Date- Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Time- 3:30pm-5pm Place- Entrance to Hartford Hospital, 80 Seymour Street, Hartford,CT Hartford Hospital, in concert with the UConn School of Medicine, administers a program called the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course (ATOM). ATOM includes a 3-hour lab session during which surgery trainees and practitioners manage fourteen different traumatic injuries that are intentionally inflicted in live adult pigs. The animals must suffer through penetrating injuries such as stab wounds to numerous organs in the abdomen and chest, including the kidney, pancreas, stomach, diaphragm, and heart. Hartford Hospital uses five pigs per month in this series of highly invasive surgical procedures. Those pigs who survive the traumas and surgeries are killed at the end of the exercises. According to documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the facility regularly confines over 100 pigs for use in this program. They also use numerous mice, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits and sheep in various other forms of experimentation. Justin Goodman, a local animal rights campaigner, stated, "Pigs are highly intelligent, sensitive individuals who are very easily stressed. Studies at US and UK universities show pigs to be more intelligent than three-year-old children. And confining, mutilating and killing them for these kinds of exercises is not only morally wrong, but scientifically unjustifiable." He continued, "Regardless of how many pigs these doctors operate on, some human patient in the ER is still going to have to be their first. Why waste the state's resources and the lives of these animals training surgeons on anatomically incorrect models, especially when there are so many promising ethical alternatives that could be used instead?" The promising alternatives Goodman cites include the work of Dr. Emad Aboud and his colleagues at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. They have developed a model for conducting surgical training exercises that utilizes donated human cadavers and could completely eliminate the need to use live animals for trauma exercises. His method entails circulating artificial blood through the vessels of the cadaver using a mechanical pump to simulate a live human being. Added John Pippin, M.D., Senior Medical and Research Adviser for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: "The surgery training paradigm has moved beyond the use of live animals. More than 95 percent of American medical schools have eliminated the use of animals to teach surgery skills, the majority of Advanced Trauma Life Support courses do not use animals, and the American College of Surgeons no longer uses animals in its own courses or in its revised surgery curriculum." "In the interest of upholding their duty to practice ethical medicine, doctors and researchers should be abandoning these flawed animal models in favor of pursuing human-relevant, humane alternatives," Goodman said. -------------- On Wednesday, activists will also be protesting animal experimentation at the UConn Health Center (Farmington) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (Wallingford). Call Justin Goodman at 860 882 2492 or email justin_goodman@sbcglobal.net for more information.

Hartford Hospital is hell for animals AND THEY NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

We recently learned that Hartford Hospital, in concert with the UConn School of Medicine, administers a program called the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course (ATOM). ATOM includes a 3-hour lab session during which surgery trainees and practitioners manage 14 different traumatic injuries that are intentionally inflicted in live adult pigs. The animals must suffer through penetrating injuries such as stab wounds to numerous organs in the abdomen and chest, including the kidney, stomach, spleen and heart. Hartford Hospital uses five pigs per month in this series of highly invasive surgical procedures. Those pigs who survive the traumas and surgeries are killed at the end of the exercises. According to documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the facility regularly confines over 100 pigs for use in this program. They also use numerous mice, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits and sheep in various other forms of experimentation. Pigs are highly intelligent, sensitive individuals who are very easily stressed. Studies at US and UK universities show pigs to be more intelligent than three-year-old children. And confining, mutilating and killing them for these kinds of exercises is not only morally wrong, but scientifically unjustifiable. Regardless of how many pigs these doctors operate on, some human patient in the ER is still going to have to be their first. Why waste the state's resources and the lives of these animals training surgeons on anatomically incorrect models, especially when there are so many promising ethical alternatives that could be used instead?Your can read more detailed info about the Hartford Hospital campaign at:www.uchckillsmonkeys.com/harthosp Act now!Tell Hartford Hospital to end live pig trauma courses!! Dr. John Meehan President and CEO Hartford Hospital 80 Seymour Street Hartford, CT 06102 Tel: 860 545-2100 Email: meehan [at] harthosp.org ****Sample letter/talking points****Dear Dr. Meehan:Thank you for your time. I am writing as a concerned citizen to express my opposition to a program at Hartford Hospital called the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course (ATOM). ATOM includes a 3-hour lab session during which surgery trainees and practitioners manage fourteen different traumatic injuries that are intentionally inflicted in live adult pigs. The animals must suffer through penetrating injuries such as stab wounds to numerous organs in the abdomen and chest, including the bowel, bladder, kidney, ureter, pancreas, duodenum, stomach, diaphragm, liver, inferior vena cava, spleen and heart. Pigs are highly intelligent, sensitive individuals who are very easily stressed. Studies at US and UK universities show pigs to be more intelligent than three-year-old children. And confining, mutilating and killing them for these kinds of exercises is not only morally wrong, but scientifically unjustifiable. It is a waste the state's resources and the lives of these animals training surgeons on anatomically incorrect models, especially when there are so many promising ethical alternatives that could be used instead. More than 95% of American medical schools have eliminated the use of animals to teach surgery skills and the American College of Surgeons no longer uses animals in its own courses or in its revised surgery curriculum.In the interest of upholding their duty to practice ethical medicine, doctors and researchers at Hartford Hospital should be abandoning these flawed animal models in favor of pursuing human-relevant, humane alternatives.I look forward to hearing from you.Sincerely,(name)(address) ACTION ALERT!Yes, the cruel monkey experiments being conducted by David Waitzman at the University of Connecticut Health Center have been terminated. However, the school has yet to agree to a permanent ban on the use of nonhuman primates in experimentation. In recognition of World Week for Animals in Labs, and in solidarity with the millions of animals who are suffering as you read this, please take a moment to write, call, or fax the UConn Health Center administration (even if you already have) and let them know you'd like to see this publicly-funded monkey torture ended forever.For more info on our campaign: www.uchckillsmonkeys.com/campaignTo contact UConn now, see below or visit: www.uchckillsmonkeys.com/takeactionBlock of all available email addresses listed below:deckers@nso.uchc.edu, Philip.austin@uconn.edu, dfriend@alvarezandmarsal.com,goldberg@nso1.uchc.edu, rhennessey@oscient.com, gerard.burrow@yale.edu, james.abromaitis@po.state.ct.us, j.robert.galvin@po.state.ct.us, bcarlson@adp.uchc.edu, walter@nso.uchc.edu, lalande@uchc.edu, sarmstrong@uchc.edu, yas@pobox.upenn.edu, paplauskas@adp.uchc.edu, jlorenzo@nso2.uchc.edu, pohl@uchc.edu---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- sometimes people ask me why i don't eat meat. i never tell anyone why. well, not the real reason.

i'm not judging anyone. the decisions i've made are my own and are RIGHT FOR ME.

i think there is something VERY wrong with eating (much less wearing and experimenting upon) animals. i've felt this way since i was a child. i always had problems and issues when my plate had a big hunk o' meat on it. if it had a bone too, forget it, that just wasn't going to happen. as with many things i think we can comfortably share our lives with animals (the domesticated ones of course). my feelings on the subject go very much deeper than this. i don't wish to share more of them, at least at this time.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE ok ok ok, based on the following sentence ALONE

you should RUSH to your phones, computers, writing desks (to contact your congressional reps and senators) and DEMAND king george be impeached

"President Bush said his confidence in Alberto R. Gonzales has grown as a result of the attorney general's testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as the administration moved to end speculation that Gonzales would step down after a performance criticized by senators in both parties."

Bush Asserts Increased Confidence in Gonzales


By Michael Abramowitz Washington Post Staff Writer

"The attorney general went up and gave a very candid assessment and answered every question he could possibly answer, in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday. "Some senators didn't like his explanation, but he answered as honestly as he could."..........

IT IS NOW WORSE

White House Admits Bush Never Watched Gonzales Testimony he claimed "Increased my Confidence

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT Now we know why President Bush was the only person who had anything positive to say about Alberto Gonzales' testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee: he never watched it! A White House press conference Monday revealed that Bush only "got regular updates" and then maybe "saw some news coverage of it later that day:"
Q But did the President actually see the testimony?MS. PERINO: He got regular updates from us while we were on the road -- we were on the road that day, on the way to Ohio.Q So how can he say he has increased confidence if he got updates from other people? So he didn't actually see the testimony, himself, because --MS. PERINO: He got updates from us, and I think he saw some news coverage of it later that day.Q But as Jim noted, I mean, Arlen Specter yesterday said that it was "very, very damaging to his own credibility." So what did the President see -- well, he didn't see the testimony, but what did he hear that he --MS. PERINO: What the President knows is that the Attorney General answered honestly, truthfully and was as responsive to Congress as he could possibly be during hours of testimony and in turning over all the documents, and then making people that work for him available to the Congress in order to answer their questions............

how the hell can tim ngo be considered (only) 10% disabled?

his skull was blown up by a grenade in iraq while he was serving his country. part of it had to be removed. yet the military didn't disable him enough so he could get disability benefits and WORSE, he is not eligible for military insurance coverage. why aren't we making the king and his court account for tim ngo? the king SENT him to iraq to 'fight the war on terror'. then the king just kicks tim ngo to the curb when he returns?

Injured Troops Struggle to Get Health Care by Joseph Shapiro All Things Considered, April 20, 2007 · When service members are forced to leave the military by war injuries or illness, they face a complex system for getting health and disability benefits. Sometimes, health care gets cut off when new veterans find they need it most. Some retired soldiers and their families say they are worried that the Pentagon won't spend enough money to give the injured the care they deserve. '10 Percent Disabled' Tim Ngo almost died in a grenade attack in Iraq. He sustained a serious head injury; surgeons had to cut out part of his skull. At Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he learned to walk and talk again.......... ............But here is the part that is in dispute: The Army says Tim Ngo is only 10 percent disabled............ ..........When a service member is retired for medical reasons, the military's disability rating makes a difference. If Ngo had been rated 30 percent disabled or higher, he would have gotten a monthly disability check instead of a small severance check. He also would have stayed in the military's health-care system. Instead, Ngo enrolled with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Typically, there's a waiting period for the VA. In October, while he was uninsured, Ngo had a seizure, caused by his war injury. ...............

we should NOT have to be reading this

Iraq Blast Kills 9 GIs, Injures 20 At Outpost
Suicide Attack in Diyala Among Deadliest of War

yet, we ARE reading it. i cannot believe ANYONE thinks this war is 'justified'. i cannot believe ANYONE thinks we entered into this war for a 'good cause'.

sure, they're killing us now but they sure as heck weren't killing us BEFORE we started this war


BAGHDAD, April 24 -- A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged truck into a U.S. military outpost near Baqubah on Monday, killing nine soldiers and wounding 20 in one of the deadliest single ground attacks on U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq, military officials said early Tuesday. Suicide attackers rarely penetrate defenses that surround American troops, but a 10-week-old U.S. counterinsurgency strategy has placed them in outposts and police stations that some soldiers say have made them more vulnerable.........

........As fighters have fled an ongoing security crackdown in Baghdad, attacks have risen against American and Iraqi forces in Diyala, where the U.S. military is sending more than 2,000 additional troops to battle the insurgency. U.S. soldiers have recently moved into at least seven small outposts in and around Baqubah.........

why is the world falling apart?

because there are FAR too many idiots in it

(and i'm not even being funny. i MEAN it)

Hunters kill one of last surviving Amur leopards

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Hunters in Russia's Far East have shot and killed one of the last seven surviving female Amur leopards living in the wild, WWF said on Monday, driving the species even closer to extinction.
Last week environmentalists said there were only between 25 and 34 Amur leopards -- described as one of the most graceful cats in the world -- still living in the wild. (Full story) ............

i think it's important we ALL read the words of sgt jim wilt

In Article, Soldier Urges That Troops Be Honored Like Virginia Tech Dead

KABUL, Afghanistan An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in Iraq.In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades' deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were."I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," Wilt wrote.
He noted that Bagram obeyed President Bush's order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself."I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases' flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies," Wilt said.............

harry reid AND this us sergeant - they are both speaking

THE truth

and now for a bit of comedy

like they needed a new study to determine this. ask ANY employer. just ask 'em. they'll tell you they pay their male employees MORE than their female employees. a study? we don't need no stinkin' study!

Stark pay gap for US women graduates

By Rebecca Knight in Boston

College-educated American women working full time earn dramatically less than male colleagues in the same field even just one year out of university, according to a new report.
The report, released on Monday by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, a Washington, DC-based group, said that one year after receiving a college degree, women make 80 per cent of what their male counterparts earn.
"By looking at earnings just one year out of college, you have as level a playing field as possible," said Catherine Hill, the director of research at AAUW. "These employees don’t have a lot of experience and, for the most part, don’t have care-giving obligations, so you’d expect there to be very little difference in the wages of men and women. But we find that women already earn less – even when they have the same major and occupation as their male counterparts."...............

i take umbrage with them calling wicca (UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE)

a 'neo-pagan cult'. it's NOT an effing CULT AND it's been around a LOT LOT LOT longer than judiasm and christianity and islam and the lot

at any rate, the armed services is now 'allowing' pentacles on headstones (and of course it's about time) in military cemeteries

'Wiccans' win place in US military cemeteries

Adherents to the neo-pagan cult Wicca soon will be permitted to place their symbol the pentacle -- a five-pointed star inscribed inside a circle -- on headstones in military cemeteries, US officials said Monday.
After months of legal wrangling, the US Department of Veterans Affairs agreed to allow Wiccans to place the symbol on headstones, as do adherents to the Christian, Muslim and Jewish and other faiths. The policy change will go into effect in the next few months, officials said.
"VA will be adding the pentacle to its list of approved emblems of belief that will be engraved on government-provided markers," said Matt Burns a spokesman for the federal agency...........

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

a MUCH better article where 1) they don't call wicca a CULT and 2) they mention how wicca is sometimes MISTAKEN for devil worship

Use of Wiccan Symbol on Veterans’ Headstones Is Approved
By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: April 24, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 23 — To settle a lawsuit, the Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to add the Wiccan pentacle to a list of approved religious symbols that it will engrave on veterans’ headstones..................
..........Though it has many forms, Wicca is a type of pre-Christian belief that reveres nature and its cycles. Its symbol is the pentacle, a five-pointed star, inside a circle.
Until now, the Veterans Affairs department had approved 38 symbols to indicate the faith of deceased service members on memorials. It normally takes a few months for a petition by a faith group to win the department’s approval, but the effort on behalf of the Wiccan symbol took about 10 years and a lawsuit, said Richard B. Katskee, assistant legal director for Americans United.
The group attributed the delay to religious discrimination. Many Americans do not consider Wicca a religion, or hold the mistaken belief that Wiccans are devil worshipers...............

the white house spokesperson is saying how important it is

to be up front with the american peeps. yes, she really DID say that - with a straight face i must add.

how dare they

Refusing to play 'Whac-a-mole,' White House fires back at Reid

Josh Catone

During a White House press briefing today, Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino had some pointed words for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Responding to comments Reid made this morning at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars about President Bush being in a "state of denial" about the war in Iraq (RAW STORY's coverage is here), Perino fired back that "a quick glance in the mirror" would show that the Democratic senator from Nevada is actually the one in denial..........

...................When asked if verbal sparring between Reid and the White House was appropriate and helpful, Perino replied that the White House would not play "whac-a-mole."
"Look, far be it from us to let us be 'Whac-a-Mole,' and get whacked about the head and not respond. We're going to respond, because it's important for the American people to understand that where we are coming from," she said.
Perino added that the White House was not questioning Reid's patriotism, but had no qualms about resorting to "harsher language" to get its points across..............

and y'all wonder why i hang

here

(my new friend eric after a softball game)

PLEASE CHECK OUT THE TEAM NAME

hat for baby 'n'

(ann norling pattern)

fema, the doj and now the fda???

what the hell...........

it's like we're living in some third world country

FDA Was Aware of Dangers To Food
Outbreaks Were Not Preventable, Officials Say

(NOT preventable????????)


By Elizabeth Williamson Washington Post Staff Writer
The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.
Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents..........

.............."This administration does not like regulation, this administration does not like spending money, and it has a hostility toward government. The poisonous result is that a program like the FDA is going to suffer at every turn of the road," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the full House committee. Dingell is considering introducing legislation to boost the agency's accountability, regulatory authority and budget............

to wall or NOT to wall

'if we keep the bad guys out................'. fine and dandy but who ARE the 'bad guys'? how does one tell a 'bad guy' from a 'good guy'?


'Gated Communities' For the War-Ravaged
U.S. Tries High Walls and High Tech To Bring Safety to Parts of Baghdad


By Karin Brulliard Washington Post Staff Writer

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military is walling off at least 10 of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods and using biometric technology to track some of their residents, creating what officers call "gated communities" in an attempt to carve out oases of safety in this war-ravaged city.
The plan drew widespread condemnation in Iraq this past week. On Sunday night, Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki told news services that he would work to halt construction of a wall around the Sunni district of Adhamiyah, which residents said would aggravate sectarian tensions by segregating them from Shiite neighbors. The U.S. military says the walls are meant to protect people, not further divide them in a city that is increasingly a patchwork of sectarian enclaves..........

............."If we keep the bad guys out, then we win," said 1st Lt. Sean Henley, 24, who works out of an outpost in southern Ghazaliyah, a Sunni insurgent stronghold on Baghdad's western edge that is among the first of the gated communities..............

we ARE the american people

(you giant pile of steamin' shite). sheryl and laurie were a LOT nicer than i would have been.

rove is evil incarnate. he just is

(i happened to see laurie and sheryl on one of those talk shows and they mentioned this incident. again, they were a LOT nicer than i would have been in the description)

Karl Rove Gets Thrown Under the Stop Global Warming Bus

Laurie David and Sheryl Crow

Last night Thelma and Louise drove the bus off the cliff or at least into the White House Correspondents Dinner. The "highlight" of the evening had to be when we were introduced to Karl Rove. How excited were we to have our first opportunity ever to talk directly to the Bush Administration about global warming.
We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there...............

.........In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, "Don't touch me." How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, "You can't speak to us like that, you work for us." Karl then quipped, "I don't work for you, I work for the American people." To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, "We are the American people."At that point Mr. Rove apparently decided he had had enough. Like a groundhog fearful of his own shadow, he scurried to his table in an attempt to hibernate for another year from his responsibility to address global warming. Drama aside, you would expect as an American citizen to be able to engage in a civil discussion with a public official. Instead, Mr. Rove was dismissive, condescending, and quite frankly a bully...............