"pretty distressing" conditions???

WE should be treating our returning from iraq and afghanistan men and women like KINGS AND QUEENS NOT like welfare-hotel residents. they put their lives on the line for their country. they came back not whole. we owe them. we owe them BIG
(i don't believe the post attacked any part of the inpatient hospital progam at all. they focused on the outpatient programs some of which included facilities that housed wounded troops and their families )
stop being defensive and start FIXING THE PROBLEMS NOW

Walter Reed Stories Factual But Unfair, Medical Chief Says


By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, February 23, 2007; Page A03
The Army's surgeon general yesterday criticized stories in The Washington Post disclosing problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, saying the series unfairly characterized the living conditions and care for soldiers recuperating from wounds at the hospital's facilities.
"I'm not sure it was an accurate representation," Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, chief of the Army Medical Command, told reporters during a news conference..........


.........While acknowledging "pretty distressing" conditions in some rooms at Building 18, Kiley said the problems were neither widespread nor symptoms of a system that allows soldiers to languish. The building is not "emblematic of a process of Walter Reed that has abandoned soldiers and their families," said Kiley, who was commander at the hospital before becoming surgeon general in 2004........

Tech Tags: walter+reed wounded+vets kevin+kiley

i think oprah is full of steamin'

shite. she makes me want to scream (like the time a friend called me to tell me to turn her on. she had my OTHER favorite person on, bono. i thought my head would explode). THIS proves it

Oprah, what gives?

By: John Amato

Oprah Winfrey devoted a show to kidnapped children and some of the consequences that they face. One segment included a story about a man named Todd, who was abducted and spent 18 horrifying months in the clutches of Terry Roy Holman. Read about it here.
Download (1658) Play (1214) Download (1072) Play (688)
Why Oprah would have on Bill O'Reilly to discuss any facet of the Shawn Hornbeck case is beyond me. Didn't her staff know that Bill blamed Shawn for sticking around with his abductor because he just wanted to have some fun? You know, it was a lot cooler to stay with his captor than go to school. She seemed to know that O'Reilly spoke out about that case. To allow O'Reilly to give millions of Oprah's fans the impression that he's an expert on Shawn's case after he trashed him so despicably was shocking to me. (see this, and this also.)...............

Tech Tags: oprah+winfrey bill+o'reilly shawn+hornbeck abducted+children

offensive?

VERY!!!

they just don't 'get it'. i was going to say their parents are paying all this money to send them to school, but they aren't learning a thing. they're simply wasting their parents money. then i thought hmmmmmmmmm i'm guessing their parents MAY have been role models in this.....


N.Y.U. Student Republicans Mount Jaunty (Racist?) “Immigrant” Hunt

By Tom Zeller Jr.

They’re not exactly descending upon Washington Square Park with horse and hound, but members of the College Republican club of New York University have certainly managed to offend some rather more proletarian sensibilities with their “Find the Illegal Immigrant” challenge, scheduled for today between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
From The Associated Press:
[M]embers of the club who present their N.Y.U. identification become immigration agents looking for an illegal in the crowd. The agent who successfully identifies the illegal immigrant wins a gift certificate.
Students have sent club officials e-mails calling the the event “racist” and “disgusting.” But the club said it is about stoking debate on the issue of illegal immigrants.
(Further clarification — it seems that an “actor” will play an “illegal .........

Tech Tags: racism immigration new+york

my friend jean sent me the link to this little video

Couple roleplays the political way
no nudity BUT still not really safe for work. it IS a hoot though

my favorite musical artist of all time is

van morrison

and he's getting an oscar!!! an oscar wilde oscar!!!

'Wilde' party in Oscar town

Veteran singer and songwriter Van Morrison is about to receive an alternative Oscar.
The Belfast born star will be honoured with an Oscar Wilde award at the Wiltshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles for his contributions to cinema.
His songs have formed the back drop to nearly 50 films, from Martin Scorsese's The Departed to Thelma and Louise.
Some of the biggest names in the American and European film worlds will be present at Thursday's ceremony.
Actor Al Pacino will present the award, Helen Mirren plans to attend and controversial film maker Michael Moore is to make a speech.
The event is the second annual Oscar Wilde: Honouring Irish Writing in Film event. ..............

Tech Tags: van+morrison academy+award

whole foods is going to buy wild oats

of course i do NOT go to wild oats at bishops' corner (west hartford) because of the whole cheese 'n stuff fiasco (cheese and stuff was a cool 'natural' foods store in hartford. it had been a neighborhood mainstay for MANY years. all of a sudden wild oats came along and bought it. they SWORE up and down they WOULD NOT move that store. the FIRST thing they did was move the store from hartford to west hartford. that left MANY hartford residents with no grocery store. hartford does NOT have many grocery stores by the way. why? i don't know. they just don't. anyway, i boycotted the store). i do shop at whole foods in west hartford center. i try to go at off hours so i don't run into the 'west hartford type crowd'. if they change the wild oats in bishops' corner to a whole foods, i'll shop there as well. i've yet to get to a trader joe's. there is one in the area as well. i hear good things about that too. Whole Foods Agrees to Buy Wild Oats; Profit Declines By Josh Fineman Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Whole Foods Market Inc., the largest U.S. natural-foods grocer, said it agreed to buy rival Wild Oats Markets Inc. for $565 million after reporting its first profit decline in five quarters. Whole Foods will pay $18.50 in cash for each share of Boulder, Colorado-based Wild Oats, 18 percent higher than its closing price today. First-quarter net income fell 7.8 percent to $53.8 million, or 38 cents a share, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods said today. Earnings missed analysts' estimates. Buying Wild Oats will help counter slowing growth at Whole Foods, which faced competition from Safeway Inc., Trader Joe's and other grocery stores selling organic and prepared food. First-quarter sales at Whole Foods stores open at least a year rose 7 percent, down from 13 percent a year earlier. ............ Whole Foods Buying Rival Paying $565 Million To Acquire Wild Oats By DAVID KOENIG, Associated Press .......Both chains have markets in Connecticut, most notably in West Hartford, where they are in direct competition. Company officials said they would evaluate which stores might close after the purchase is completed in April. The West Hartford Wild Oats store has a special notoriety, scorned by many local shoppers for the company's role in closing a beloved local natural foods store in Hartford's West End. On January 29, 2000, Cheese & Stuff, which had been a fixture in the West End since the mid-1970s, was closed after being bought by Wild Oats, despite promises to the contrary. David Barrett, president of the West End Civic Association, greeted news of Wild Oats' buyout with a sense of justice and some glee...... Tech Tags: whole+foods wild+oats hartford trader+joes

methinks thou doth protest TOO EFFING MUCH

remember this is the dude who wrote the 'penguin' column (calling one of those dancing penguin movies a promotion for the homosexual lifestyle. as if it REALLY was, as if a kid could TURN GAY by watching a movie featuring animated penguins). IN SAN I TY

NOW the ass (wipe) is comparing homosexual basketball players with PROFOUNDLY UNATTRACTIVE MORBIDLY OBESE WOMEN. no one likes either. no one wants to be around either. ALL homosexual basketball players and profoundly unattractive morbidly obese women should be WIPED OFF OF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. (by the way, i am NOT skinny). hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Conservative columnist backs homophobic athlete, says NBA 'love machines' wouldn't shower with gays or 'morbidly obese women

Mike Sheehan

A columnist known for his conservative stance on morals writes that former NBA star Tim Hardaway was right to some degree in his harsh dismissal of homosexuals, and says most basketball players wouldn't want gays showering with them any more than they would want "profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women."
"Recent comments by retired basketball star Tim ('I hate gay people') Hardaway did serious damage to his image and career," writes Michael Medved at Townhall.com, "but also unwittingly raised serious cultural issues about sexuality and gender."
Medved argues that "many (if not most) Americans no doubt share [Hardaway's] instinctive reluctance to share showers and locker rooms with open homosexuals."
"That reluctance," he adds, "also explains the controversial Defense Department policy that prevents out-of-the-closet gays from serving in the United States military.".........

Tech Tags: michael+medved homophobia nba tim+hardaway obese+women

it's NOT as if ms hall were that wanton criminal

ken krayeske or anything.....

do you REALLY believe a white woman would have gotten TWO YEARS for tossing a paper cup full of ice (where NO ONE was hurt)???

i sure don't believe that. PLUS her military husband IS IN IRAQ FOR HIS THIRD TOUR. PLUS she served nearly two months (for that paper cup full of ice).

yes, a judge finally let her out (suspended the rest of the sentence pending five years good behavior) but now she is a CONVICTED FELON. yes, a cup of ice. perhaps she didn't use the best judgment. BUT FIVE YEARS AND a convicted FELON? no, it's not right

Judge Cuts Sentence In Flying Cup Case
Freedom Delayed By Miss. Warrant


By Theresa Vargas Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 22, 2007; Page B01
Less than an hour after a judge decided yesterday that Jessica Hall had been punished enough for hurling a McDonald's cup full of ice at another driver, her family stood outside the jail, pacing near a white door on which a single word was written in black: RELEASE. It seemed more of a promise than a label.
Hall was supposed to walk through that door at that moment, was supposed to see her relatives excitedly waiting, was supposed to go home with them after spending nearly two months in jail. But she didn't, and because of yet another legal woe, the 25-year-old mother of three most likely won't be released until today................

Tech Tags: jessica+hall mcmissile+case ken+krayeske

from mother jones - something we already know

but it doesn't hurt to keep pounding it in the heads of those that support king george and his court (of jesters)

The Iraq Effect: War Has Increased Terrorism Sevenfold Worldwide

i have always known there were dinosaurs on noah's ark

and i would burn in hell if i didn't accept jesus as my saviour

why is this teacher STILL allowed to teach? what kind of crap are they (in new jersey) teaching those kids?

what is MOST disturbing is the school district appears to NOT be doing very much to help the student. what is MOST disturbing is the other students appear to be on the side of the teacher

Student, 16, Finds Allies in His Fight Over Religion

By PATRICK McGEEHAN
NEWARK, Feb. 19 — A Kearny High School junior on Monday drew some legal heavyweights into his battle with school officials over a teacher’s proselytizing in class.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the People for the American Way Foundation and a partner from a large Manhattan law firm stood beside the student, Matthew LaClair, as he and his family threatened to sue the Kearny Board of Education if their complaints are not resolved. Last fall, Matthew, 16, taped the teacher, David Paszkiewicz, telling students in a history class that if they do not believe that Jesus died for their sins, they “belong in hell.”
On the recordings, which Matthew made surreptitiously starting in September, Mr. Paszkiewicz is heard telling the class that there were dinosaurs aboard Noah’s ark and that there is no scientific basis for evolution or the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe.
Since Matthew turned over the tapes to school officials, his family and supporters said, he has been the target of harassment and a death threat from fellow students and “retaliation” by school officials who have treated him, not the teacher, as the problem. The retaliation, they say, includes the district’s policy banning students from recording what is said in class without a teacher’s permission and officials’ refusal to punish students who have harassed Matthew. ......

Tech Tags: matthew+laclair evolution intelligent+design new+jersey david+paszkiewicz

somehow i'm not the least bit surprised by this

i am not surprised by ANYTHING any more (that comes out of this administration). i know most everything they release to the public is a big fat lie. so, it comes as NO surprise to me they counted MARRIAGE FRAUD as terrorism (in order to get a bigger cut of the budget or to scare us more or who the hell knows what else)

Audit: Anti-terror case data flawed

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 even though no evidence linked them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit said Tuesday
Overall, nearly all of the terrorism-related statistics on investigations, referrals and cases examined by department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine were either diminished or inflated. Only two of 26 sets of department data reported between 2001 and 2005 were accurate, the audit found.
Responding, a Justice spokesman pointed to figures showing that prosecutors in the department's headquarters for the most part either accurately or underreported their data — underscoring what he called efforts to avoid pumping up federal terror statistics................

Tech Tags: justice+department terrorism

it's nice news tuesday

so nothing but nice

don't you just LOVE dogs? i sure do

Rescuer: Dog May Have Saved Climbers

By SARAH SKIDMORE Associated Press Writer February 20 2007, 12:25 AM EST GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. -- Three climbers who tumbled off a ledge on Mount Hood were taken away in an ambulance after they hiked down much of the state's highest peak with their rescuers -- and a dog who may have saved their lives. "We're soaking wet and freezing," said one of two rescued women as she walked from a tracked snow vehicle to an ambulance. One of the women, whose name was not released, was taken to a Portland hospital and being treated for a head injury, said Jim Strovink, spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff's Department. .............

..........."The dog probably saved their lives" by lying across them during the cold night, said Erik Brom, a member of the Portland Mountain Rescue team. He described the wind in the canyon as "hellacious." ...................

of course since the earth is only a few thousand years old...

these people have obviously made an error about their find being MILLIONS of years old....

Photo in the News: Ancient Tree Frog Found Encased in Amber

Aalok Mehta

February 17, 2007—A miner from Mexico's Chiapas state has made the find of a lifetime—a tiny tree frog preserved in amber that could be 25 million years old, a scientist recently announced (map of Mexico).
The block of amber, or fossilized tree resin, encasing the 0.4-inch (1-centimeter) frog was unearthed in 2005 and sold to a private collector, according to the Associated Press (AP). The collector then lent the piece—seen in this photo released on February 14—to scientists.............

Photograph from AP/Gerardo Carbot-Instituto de Historia Natural y Ecologa

hyperactive..........

GREAT song and GREAT news

Thomas Dolby plans spring tour, album

February 16, 2007 02:53 PM
by Kym Kilgore LiveDaily Contributor
The reaction to Thomas Dolby (tickets music)'s return to the music industry last year has inspired the synth-pop icon to write his first album of new music since the early '90 and hit the road for another round of spring dates.
So far, Dolby has scheduled a handful of March shows in California and Texas, including a March 15 performance at Austin's South by Southwest music festival. Details are listed below.
The spring touring ensemble will feature real-time looping on a computer laptop along with The Jazz Mafia horn section, which comprises San Francisco jazz players Adam Theis on trombone, Rich Armstrong on trumpet and Ron Cohen on tenor sax.
The gigs follow Dolby's co-headline run late last year with fellow electronic pioneer BT..........

Tech Tags: thomas+dolby

stop by cv rick's

and read his five parter on his friend weird harold

some great stuff.......................

an' it harm none, do as you will

do you know what that is? that is the 'witches crede'. what does it mean? it means THE SAME THING the golden rule does.

people who are wiccan are no different than anyone else. there are good ones and there are bad ones. there are saints and there are indeed sinners.

people who practice earth beliefs such as wicca do NOT sacrifice babies in their basements (as some think i do i would imagine). they do NOT worship the devil (personally, i don't even believe in the devil. i think the ONLY evil on this earth is that which WE ourselves are responsible for)
i am stregha
by the way WE were here FIRST

blessed be don larson.............i am truly sorry this happened to you

For Gods and Country
The Army Chaplain Who Wanted to Switch to Wicca? Transfer Denied


By Alan Cooperman Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, February 19, 2007; Page C01
SCHERTZ, Tex.
The night wind pushes Don Larsen's green robe against his lanky frame. A circle of torches lights his face.
"The old gods are standing near!" calls a retired Army intelligence officer.
"To watch the turning of the year!" replies the wife of a soldier wounded in Iraq.
"What night is this?" calls a former fighter pilot.
"It is the night of Imbolc," responds Larsen, a former Army chaplain.
Of the 16 self-described witches who have gathered on this Texas plain to celebrate a late-winter pagan festival with dancing, chanting, chili and beer, all but two are current or former military personnel. Each has a story. None can compete with Larsen's.............
.............Larsen's private crisis of faith might have remained just that, but for one other fateful choice. He decided the religion that best matched his universalist vision was Wicca, a blend of witchcraft, feminism and nature worship that has ancient pagan roots.
On July 6, he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, setting off an extraordinary chain of events. By year's end, his superiors not only denied his request but also withdrew him from Iraq and removed him from the chaplain corps, despite an unblemished service record................

Tech Tags: don+larsen wicca army+chaplain stregha

from

drinking liberally in new milford we find this VERY interesting tidbit.......................

Republican Al Qa'eda Terrorist... No Joke

Ok... So the terrorism part first:


Terrorism charges brought Friday against the administrator of a loan investment program claimed that he secretly tried to send $152,000 to the Middle East to buy equipment such as night vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.


But would you really believe me if I told you he was a Republican?.......

justice is blind

and (in this case) appears to be deaf, mute and an asshole too

a robber gets life for a parole violation of smoking A joint. a MURDERER gets off for a parole violation of cocain. justice? you tell me (oh, guess what color skin the robber has and guess what color the murder has???)

black history month (is it still 1950?)

Here's Some Black History For Ya


The story of Tyrone Brown, sentenced to life in prison in 1990 for violating his probation by smoking a joint, is gaining steam. Sixteen years after his initial incarceration at the age of 17, Brown is one Texas Governor away from freedom.In one of the most painfully ironic illustrations of the unequal treatment of black's in America, Brown's case may never have gone beyond a local story had Brooks Egerton of the Dallas Morning News not caught the story on The November Coalition's website. His groundbreaking piece entitled Unequal Justice ran with the following by-line; Two very different men commit two very different crimes. When both violate probation, there are wildly different results: The robber gets life; the killer remains free.................

Tech Tags: skin+color american+justice tyrone+brown brooks+egerton alex+wood

it is our DUTY

to make sure we care for each and every man and women returning from deployment (or even any duty assignment). THEY volunteered. THEY deserve only the VERY BEST care. CONTINUING CARE

instead of the KAZILLIONS of dollars king george keeps wanting to direct to iraq, HOW ABOUT INVESTING IN THE CARE AND UPKEEP OF OUR VETERANS AND MILITARY HOSPITALS???


why don't i hear king george talking about this? why don't i hear mccain talking about this? why doesn't cheney talk of this? what about rice? and my personal favorite, DA LIEBS. i can't recall the last time i heard him speak of the care of our returning troops.

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility


By Dana Priest and Anne Hull Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, February 18, 2007; Page A01
Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.........

and more on this also from the washington post via americablog (part ii)

(sit down because if you're standing, it will KNOCK YOU RIGHT OVER)


By Anne Hull and Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, February 19, 2007; Page A01

................Perks and stardom do not come to every amputee. Sgt. David Thomas, a gunner with the Tennessee National Guard, spent his first three months at Walter Reed with no decent clothes; medics in Samarra had cut off his uniform. Heavily drugged, missing one leg and suffering from traumatic brain injury, David, 42, was finally told by a physical therapist to go to the Red Cross office, where he was given a T-shirt and sweat pants. He was awarded a Purple Heart but had no underwear.
David tangled with Walter Reed's image machine when he wanted to attend a ceremony for a fellow amputee, a Mexican national who was being granted U.S. citizenship by President Bush. A case worker quizzed him about what he would wear. It was summer, so David said shorts. The case manager said the media would be there and shorts were not advisable because the amputees would be seated in the front row.
" 'Are you telling me that I can't go to the ceremony 'cause I'm an amputee?' " David recalled asking. "She said, 'No, I'm saying you need to wear pants.' "
David told the case worker, "I'm not ashamed of what I did, and y'all shouldn't be neither." When the guest list came out for the ceremony, his name was not on it.......................

Tech Tags: walter+reed building+18 military iraq afghanistan

believe me mccain

IF you could get pregnant, you'd have a far different view.

even 'conservative' women. women who outwardly say NO to roe v wade, have secretly had abortions. catholic women (practicing) have had abortions. women you'd least expect have had abortions

MCCAIN ABSTINANCE DOES NOT WORK. it NEVER has and it NEVER will. yes, it should be taught. i have no issues with that. along side it CONTRACEPTION AND BIRTH CONTROL MUST be taught. wake up

McCain: Roe V. Wade Should Be Overturned

By JIM DAVENPORT

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.
"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.
McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."
The landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose an abortion to terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court has narrowly upheld the decision, with the presence of an increasing number of more conservative justices on the court raising the possibility that abortion rights would be limited..............

Tech Tags: john+mccain abortion contraception abstinance