I hardly want to believe this. These stories coming out of that prison in Iraq, but seemingly there is something to them. Article 32 investigations have begun, which is like the civilian equivalent of a Grand Jury. Six service men and women are already facing courts and a total of 17 are facing some charges including a Brigadier General.

Last month, the U.S. Army announced 17 soldiers in Iraq, including a brigadier general, had been removed from duty after charges of mistreating Iraqi prisoners.

But the details of what happened have been kept secret, until now.

It turns out photographs surfaced showing American soldiers abusing and humiliating Iraqis being held at a prison near Baghdad. The Army investigated, and issued a scathing report.

Now, an Army general and her command staff may face the end of long military careers. And six soldiers are facing court martial in Iraq -- and possible prison time.

If one "aw shit" wipes out 10,000 atta-boys, we're in the hole for 50 years now.

Joe Wilson, the husband of Valerie Plame...you remember her? Just released his book and points fingers at three "senior administration" officials. Crashcart's Chief of Staff, the ever-so-cutely appelationed "Scooter" Libby, Former Iran-Contra Superstar, Elliott Abrams and (here's a shocker) Unka Karl. Of course that fountain of integrity, Scott McClellan has told us it just can't be, cause see, he asked them all if they did it or not.

Last October, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said his conversations with Rove, Libby and Abrams have ruled out their involvement.

I never thought I'd actually miss Ari.

Leaving the Master Marionette Sessions today, Beloved Leader just could not help himself... he had to toss out a whopper.

"We are still vulnerable to attack," Bush told reporters. "And the reason why is al-Qaida still exists, al-Qaida's dangerous, al-Qaida hates us. And we have to be correct 100 percent of the time in defending America and they've got to be right once."

If Preznit 10-Watt actually believed that he was fightning a war on Terra™ we'd be tossing all the men and resources into getting Osama bin Laughin' since 9/11. But no, we're off getting Chimpy's War On all the while those who attacked us run free in Afghanistan. Virtually no one did not support operations in Afghanistan (domestically or internationally), except for some reason the 1600 Crew. Strange isn't it how men, money and materiel got moved ... and it was all Saddam's (and Iraqs) fault in the defective mind of the fratboy? What really happened, did Saddam 'forget' to pay some CheneyBurton invoice and get targeted instead? Seems his credit was OK in the 80's.

Ketchup is a vegetable. Wild salmon are the same as salmon bred in a hatchery. There is no Ozone, and the Earth is 6,000 years old and flat.

Amazingly enough there are folks in the 1600 Crew who believe all that stuff, the latest addition to the list above concerns salmon.

The Bush administration has decided to count hatchery-bred fish, which are pumped into West Coast rivers by the hundreds of millions yearly, when it decides whether stream-bred wild salmon are entitled to protection under the Endangered Species Act.

In the past 15 years, the federal government's effort to protect stream-bred wild salmon has forced costly changes in how forests are cut, housing developments are built, farms are cultivated and rivers are operated for hydroelectricity production. Farm, timber and power interests have complained for years about these costs and have sued to remove protections for some fish.

They are enthusiastic advocates of counting hatchery fish when assessing the survival chances of wild salmon. Unlike their wild cousins, hatchery fish can be bred without ecosystem-wide modifications to highways, farms and dams.

"Upon hearing this news, I am cautiously optimistic that the government may be complying with the law and ending its slippery salmon science," said Russell C. Brooks, a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation, an industry-funded group that has challenged federal salmon-protection efforts in court.

via Blah3, all I have to say about this is: Awesome.

I've got a few words for George Bush and Dick Cheney, who keep telling me with a smirk and a scowl that "everything has changed" since 9-11. They say I need to show compassion and hug my neighbor -- to find somebody out there I can love like I'd like to be loved myself. We're at war, they say, so just shut up and support the troops.

Back off, chickenhawks. I've spent a lifetime supporting my troops -- my beloved field artillery -- hugging them, loving them like I'd like to be loved myself and being overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of hugs and love I got in return. I was there, shaking my head in wonder as boys arriving for basic training clambered off buses -- long-haired, wide-eyed, apprehensive and dishevelled. And I was there, beaming with pride as proud men emerged ten weeks later -- trim, disciplined, confident and eager to serve their country.

Don't look for me to shut up any time soon. I've got battalions of dogs in this fight, and I take the loss of even one of them personally. There is nothing -- nothing -- more red-white-and-blue than American servicemen and women. In spite of what you two seem to think, American military are not trained to die, but to live. Like you, they have lives, families, plans for the future. But, unlike one of you who smirked as he abandoned his post in time of war, and the other who snarled that he had more important things to do than fight for his country, they don't flinch at the prospect of being wounded or even killed if that's what it takes to protect the rest of us.

Dead or alive, every single man or woman who wears the United States military uniform deserves nothing less than honor, support and -- from the top of Echo Mountain -- recognition. These are MY soldiers -- not yours. So don't toss me a yellow ribbon to tie around a tree. Don't hand me a sign to stick in my yard. And don't tell me to shut up.

Once again Andrew for all his maudlin drivel over the average serviceman ("The Proud, The Few, Pray for Them") really wants one thing. For more of his servants to die in combat so Commander Codpiece can keep his job. Dan Drezner in a TNR column points out that Preznit Sock-in-Crotch could benefit from a perception of "bold leadership" in Iraq even if the economy tanks while Iraq goes further down the road to hell.

...The latest Gallup poll shows a 54 percent disapproval rating on Bush's handling of the economy. Bush's best hope for reelection is for the electorate to focus on his leadership abilities--and one way for that to happen is for there to be trouble in Iraq.

Now, before conspiracy theorists start squealing with delight, this does not mean that it's in Bush's interest to purposely fail in Iraq. It's important to remember that Bush's best strategy for reelection remains to succeed both in Iraq and on the economy. That's still a possibility. But just as successes have unintended consequences, so do failures. And it seems more and more likely that one unintended consequence of a failure in Iraq could be a boost for Bush. If so, the conventional wisdom would end up being half right and dead wrong at the same time: Bush's chances for reelection might very well depend on the state of Iraq come November. Just not in the way everyone thinks.

Well, I guess Preznit Short-Pants got his crusade on. Looks like once again the Christians get to try and beseige the hapless (?) middle-eastern people at the Exhortation of their "Christian Leader", invoking the Almighty Hairy Thunderer as his justification no less. No wonder the Vatican-bound rodentia like him so much, he reminds them of a Pope O'Rome, ol' Urban II.

In the year 637 the armies of Islam lead by the Caliph Omar conquered the city of Jerusalem, the center of the Christian world and a magnet for Christian pilgrims. The city's Muslim masters exhibited a certain level of religious tolerance. No new churches were to be built and crosses could not be publicly displayed outside church buildings, but the pilgrims were allowed to continue their treks to the holiest shrines of Christendom (the pilgrims were charged a toll for access). The situation remained stable for over 400 years. Then, in the latter part of the 11th century, the Turks swarmed westward out of Central Asia overrunning all that lay in their path. Jerusalem fell to them in 1076. The atmosphere of tolerance practiced by the followers of Omar was replaced by vicious attacks on the Christian pilgrims and on their sacred shrines in the Holy City. Reports of robberies, beatings, killings, degradation of holy sites and the kidnapping for ransom of the city's patriarch made their way back to Europe. To the Europeans the Holy Land was now in the smothering grip of the Infidel and something must be done.

In response, Pope Urban II called a conference at the city of Clermont, France in 1095, concluding the eight days of deliberation with one of history's most influential speeches. Mounting a lofty scaffold, the Pope exhorted the assembled multitude to wrest the Holy Land from the hands of the Infidel and assured them that God would absolve them from any sin associated with the venture. His words fell on receptive ears as the crowd responded with cries of "It is the will of God!", "It is the will of God!". The Crusades had begun.

Perched atop sandbags and peering through powerful binoculars, Marine officers manning front-line positions around this tense city can see the problem clearly enough, even through the swirling dust that gives Fallujah the sepia hue of a Wild West town: Military-age men in white robes swagger about with impunity, they say, hardening their defenses and resupplying their encampments.

The Marines say the men are Sunni Muslim guerrillas who have taken over this Euphrates River city and transformed it into a stronghold of resistance to the American occupation of Iraq.

But neither here, nor in the Baghdad palace that serves as the headquarters of the U.S. occupation administration, nor in the corridors of official Washington, is the solution to the Fallujah problem clear. Although American officials and Iraq's U.S.-backed leaders agree that the insurgents should be captured or killed, preferably before the Americans hand over limited sovereignty on June 30, no good options exist to accomplish that goal, according to U.S. officials familiar with the issue.

A bit under the weather. Back tomorrow...sorry for the downtime. My maladies are "percaset" free, you'll be pleased to know. Sleep well, hope I can.

If there is not a great SNL skit that coming out from the Two Faux Patriots act in front of the 9/11 Commission, then the SNL folks ought to just hang it up.

President Bush's closed-door testimony to the Sept. 11 commission alongside Vice President Dick Cheney carries political risks for the White House. Leaning too much on Cheney could make Bush look weak, and inconsistencies with other officials could raise new questions.

Trying to head off criticism of Thursday's unusual side-by-side appearance, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that he expects Bush rather than Cheney to handle most of the questions.

The two will meet in a private session with all 10 commission members at the White House Thursday morning, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Members will be allowed to take notes but there will not be a stenographer present. That contrasts with commission interviews with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, which a commission member said were recorded.

I guess that having C-SPAN there would make it too obvious that the Chimperor has not a stitch on, eh? Courage, indeed.

Run Away! Run Away!

I love this. Although it would probably get the paper in Sugar Land, Texas burned down if published there.

It is important in an election year for each American to understand just how to break the code. News media and political pundits are generally wary of the subject.

To help matters, here is a greatly abridged glossary of Republican code that voters can use to decipher the coming barrage of demagogic sound bites from the right wing.

Conservative - Despite the general understanding that a conservative would be one that "conserves," the right is not actually interested in con- serving anything. I've asked nearly every self-declared "Conservative" I've ever met just what it is that he or she wants to conserve, and I've yet to get a straight answer. However, from what I have observed, it seems to have something to do with being white and rich.
...
Family values or Christian values - Probably the most illusive of all Republican code, "family values" is often synonymous with its great grandfather, "conservative." But there are some new connotations too. For example, bigotry, or even outright hatred for homosexuals, is a "family value" in Republican code-speak.
...
Tax cuts - Perhaps the most clever and most effective of all Republican code, "tax cuts" is a cryptic way of saying to middleclass Republicans "We'll give you about $530." It is also a way of saying to a few hundred thousand of the richest Americans "We'll give you many thousands, pos- sibly even millions, of dollars."

When the republican histrionics over Kerry's records started, I was surprised to see that no one pointed out to the republicans this little gem:

When reporters Bill Morlin and Karen Dorn Steele asked the White House about their discovery, they were referred to the Pentagon, which now refuses to answer ANY questions about Bush's military records.

At the National Guard Bureau, now headed by a Bush appointee from Texas, officials last week said they were under orders not to answer questions.

The bureau's chief historian said he couldn't discuss questions about Bush's military service on orders from the Pentagon.

"If it has to do with George W. Bush, the Texas Air National Guard or the Vietnam War, I can't talk with you," said Charles Gross, chief historian for the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C.

Rose Bird, Freedom of Information Act officer for the bureau, said her office stopped taking records requests on Bush's military service in mid-February and is directing all inquiries to the Pentagon. She would not provide a reason.

Air Force and Texas Air National Guard officials did not respond to written questions about the issue.

James Hogan, a records coordinator at the Pentagon, said senior Defense Department officials had directed the National Guard Bureau not to respond to questions about Bush's military records.

As Preznit Always Runs Away parades around dropping chicken-feathers in his tailwinds, he shows that when you have no desire to answer a question the best course is to avoid it altogether.

Mr. Bush did not mention Mr. Kerry's name once. Nor did he address Mr. Kerry's reference to the questions about whether Mr. Bush showed up for some of his National Guard duties in the 1970's. The White House tried to put the questions to rest in February by releasing hundreds of pages of President Bush's National Guard records. But a number of men who served in Mr. Bush's Alabama National Guard unit in 1972 have said they did not recall seeing him there.

“Cleared this base 15 May 1972” According to Lieutenant Colonel William Harris Jr. and Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian in Bush’s annual evaluation , Ellis Air Force Base, Houston. The report makes clear that Bush had “not been observed ” at his Texas unit “during the period of this report” – May 1972-April 1973.” [Boston Globe 5/23/00]

"LTJG Kerry is one of the finest young officers with whom I have served in a long naval career. His combat record prior to becoming my personal aide speaks for itself, and is testimony to his competance and courage at sea.
...
...The detachment of this officer will be a definite loss to the service. He is the dedicated type that we should retain and it is hoped that he will be of further perhaps earlier [sic] greater service to his country, which is his aim in life at this time."

Taking what blah3 and Josh Marshall have said to heart, Preznit Prances on Carriers needs to get out from behind Mommy Hughes skirts and face this one like a man. This is Crap of the first order:

"He only pretended to throw his," Hughes said in a CNN interview. "Now, I can understand if, out of conscience, you take a principled stand, and you would decide that you were so opposed to this that you would actually throw your medals. But to pretend to do so -- I think that's very revealing."

It's never going to be about the men and women of who have gone to Iraq and come home with combat injuries that require lifetime care. It's going to be whether or not the really, really rich have enough tax breaks, the crony corporatism continues unabated as flag-waving corporations take from you with one hand and send their net before-tax profits offshore with the other hand. So....? So this:

"We're just preparing for something a brain-injured person should not do two days out, which is travel to Germany," the neurologist said. He smiled grimly and started toward the UH-60 Black Hawk thwump-thwumping out on the helipad, waiting to spirit out of Iraq one more of the hundreds of Americans wounded here this month.

While attention remains riveted on the rising count of Americans killed in action -- more than 100 so far in April -- doctors at the main combat support hospital in Iraq are reeling from a stream of young soldiers with wounds so devastating that they probably would have been fatal in any previous war.

More and more in Iraq, combat surgeons say, the wounds involve severe damage to the head and eyes -- injuries that leave soldiers brain damaged or blind, or both, and the doctors who see them first struggling against despair.

The Bush Administration's 2004 budget proposed gutting Veterans Administration (VA) services, including health care funding. Proposed cuts included: denying at least 360,000 veterans access to health care; $250 annual premiums; increased pharmacy co-payments; a 30 percent increased primary care co-payments; and increased waiting time for a first medical appointment.
...
The Bush Administration's budget proposal would have under-funded the VA by more than $2 billion. Bush's proposal would have cut the number of employees available to process disability claims, yet veterans already wait more than six months for a review of disability applications. The Bush plan for dealing with the waiting lists at VA clinics and hospitals is to reduce the number of veterans treated by the VA.
...
Last March, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget that included a $28.8 billion 10-year reduction in funding for veterans. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans began a letter-writing campaign to protest the reduction, so a House-Senate conference committee reduced the cut to $6.2 billion. President Bush complained that Congress needed fiscal restraint.

An army of veterans twice the size of that involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom has lost health insurance benefits since Bush took office. As many as half a million vets are homeless. Seven VA hospitals are being closed as part of an effort to "restructure" the Department of Veterans Affairs. Meanwhile, veterans of the Iraq campaign can fall in line with over 250,000 veterans who are already waiting at least six months to see a doctor.

The General Accounting Office estimates that 20 percent of Army Reserve and National Guard personnel have no health insurance at all. Although Bush did not hesitate to send Reservists and National Guardsmen to face death in Iraq, he has consistently opposed any attempt to extend full benefits to them. (emphasis added)

One of the true guiding thoughts of this whole horrible mess in Iraq was from that NeoCon guiding light and big Chickenhawk:

I think the American people are going to have great tolerance for the war taking longer, and they are going to have great tolerance for more casualties.

William Kristol
AEI Breakfast
March 27, 2003

About fifty years ago didn't "Red" America mean something totally different? Or maybe with the PATRIOT Act, it really doesn't. How Tail-Gunner Joe. Really, now.

The republican version of Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) made famous by many entrepraneurs, none so well known for their aggressive marketing than our friends from Ada, Michigan, the De Vos family; die-hard republicans to the bitter end. It's no secret within the organization that being a 'true believer' will propel you to the upper reaches of the ziggurat of succes. And it's also no secret that the organiztion leans so far to the right that they are probably funding genetic research to breed babies with two right hands.

Amway Corporation has often been identified as supporting the US Republican Party and other right-wing causes, but this is not strictly accurate. Amway Corporation, as such, supports no political party. It is true that the co-founders, Rich de Vos and Jay van Andes, are strong supporters of the Republican Party, but this is a personal position, not a company position per se. Many of Amway's best-known distributors, including Dexter Yager, are also self-declared Republicans. Perhaps paradoxically for an organization so widely regarded as right-wing, Amway touts the environmental benefits of many of its products, and in June 1989 it was recognized by UNEP's Regional Office for North America for its contributions to the cause of the environment.

The notion of translating the MLM concept into politics is visionary -- and also a little disquieting. Pyramid-based companies have proved amazingly successful at raising up armies of enterprising Americans; Amway, the world's most successful MLM, has more than 3.6 million distributors. But some MLM's thrive by imposing their own strange and insular cultures on their recruits, and while they offer the illusion of self-employment, those at the top of the pyramid often demand a rigid kind of uniformity and loyalty. Amway has often been compared to a cult -- so often, in fact, that on its own Web site the company feels the need to answer such frequently asked questions as ''I've heard rumors that Amway is a cult; is this true?'' and ''Why do Amway meetings appear to some people like a cult?'' When I met with Ken Mehlman, Bush's campaign manager, in suburban Washington, and suggested that the Bush campaign could fairly be compared to Amway in its approach, he agreed without hesitation. ''Amway, no question,'' he said.

Well, here the 1600 Crew are the "uplines". No matter how shitty the product, they want their true believers to each recruit and be responsible for others down-stream. It's a brilliant concept, and one that better be countered, and quickly by the Democrats, because like my mom, the recruited "down-line" voters won't know that they have a basement full of cheap-ass toilet paper until the bills come due after the election. I think my mom is still paying off the toilet paper. We never discuss it anymore, after she lost all her friends trying to get them to become "distributors". Hey, republicans ... it could happen to you, they'll use you and leave you like a two-dollar hooker after payday!

Andy reports he's getting a "hernia fix", I guess an ego is a terrible thing to weigh. He also mentions he might be blogging on painkillers. And this will be different exactly how?

Update: Spelling must be the first thing to go, or the Duchess is taking a new drug, "percaset". And, your majesty, Rush was on OxyContin not that low-class stuff your physician stuck you with. Call Rush, he can probably give you some pointers on maintaining a permanent ... rush.

Remember those heady seconds when Amurkan believed that there was some fleeting truth to the 1600 Crew pronouncements on eduma-cashun? That in the great state of Tex-ass there had been unparalled successes in elevating the standards of edumacashun to stratospheric levels. Then the truth came out; book-cooking that would have made the Accountant of Enron green with envy and a cabinet-level post for the head chef.

Well, it seems that now that they have all that success, the Texas Lege wants to leave more kids behind. Yes in the The Tom Delay Texas Legislative Incubator and Back-Porch Policy Dumping Ground, Houston, they're proposing to leave 45% of the children behind? How? Well, cut off their funds and you get a whole generation of under-edumacted proles...who probably will never be voters, thuse securing a whole block of "safe" constituents and their non-voting offspring.

The way the state House proposes to fund education would leave 45 percent of the state's students behind, Texas A&M University economists said Saturday.

A majority of school districts would receive only 2 percent more in state money under proposed new funding formulas being considered by a House committee working to craft a new school finance system.

The funding levels are tied to a study that measured an "adequate" education as 55 percent of students passing math and reading tests. Lynn Moak, a school finance expert, testified that the funding levels also accept a 25 percent dropout rate and a 75 percent failure rate on high school science tests.

The study, conducted by economists at Texas A&M, found that it costs more to produce higher levels of educational outcomes. Moak said he hopes lawmakers "look seriously at funding a high level standard."

Watch this one, if they are successful, it's gonna happen elsewhere with the same talking points.

Wanna bet that the reading tests will not include anything from '1984'?

Nader who disingenuously denies being the spoiler in the last election, has started again. He feeds his ego by being the "outsider", and everyone seems to understand the foolishness of his destructive behaviour, except St. Ralph.

The perils for Kerry were revealed last week when Ralph Nader, who may have cost Al Gore the 2000 presidential election, described Kerry as "stuck in the Iraq quagmire the way Bush is."

Nader is no saint. His run for president this year destroys for many nearly all his well-earned credibility as a conscience of America.

But Nader now has a rationale for his campaign. While the antiwar wing is small, it is large enough, if it goes for Nader, to tip the vote Bush's way in a few swing states.

In an election widely seen as a dead heat between Bush and Kerry, any significant leakage of votes to Nader will probably mean defeat for the Democratic nominee.

It seems that the computer bugs that have been plaguing people have finally caught up with me. A malicious Virus? Absoulutely, it's called a Security Update from Microsoft for XP. If you have not installed it, don't. My primary PC is out of service for about the next 12 hours...I wish that the MT interface was a little better (had some of the features available in Windows), I'd never use my stupid PC again to blog.

Anyhow, I was working my way through the Kerry FITREPS I'd downloaded and had taken some notes on them. Sullywatch asked about the guy who says "it wasn't Kerry". I can't find anything in Kerry's FITREPS where LCDR Elliott objects to the awards, any of them. I also wonder who he thinks showed up for the sick call to get some shrapnel pulled out of their shoulder. Hmmmm.

Anyhow, it's all getting more fascinating as the 1600 Crew looks and looks and looks for someone, anyone who will call Kerry a Fraud, conveniently overlooking Fearful Leaders full-time dedication to remaining safely away from anything that looked or smelled like combat, as it would have interfered with pool volleyball, "ambitious secretaries", alcohol and cocaine.

Okay, so I plead ignorance of most of the subtleties of the whole Israel-Palestine situation, but this can not bode well for anyone:

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday that he was no longer bound by a promise to President Bush not to harm Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
...
"I told the president the following," Sharon said. "In our first meeting about three years ago, I accepted your request not to harm Arafat physically. I told him I understand the problems surrounding the situation, but I am released from that pledge."

Does this mean it's now T-10 to the Rapture and counting? Terrific.

The Japanese hostages released in Iraq are having a harder time in Japan than their kidnappers gave them.

The young Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq returned home this week, not to the warmth of a yellow-ribbon embrace but to a disapproving nation's cold stare.
...
"You got what you deserve!" read one hand-written sign at the airport where they landed. "You are Japan's shame," another wrote on the Web site of one of the former hostages. They had "caused trouble" for everybody. The government, not to be outdone, announced it would bill the former hostages $6,000 for air fare.

For a quick primer on the Navy FITREP system (as it was, and I'm sure still is): Fitness reports are subject to huge amounts of "inflation", depending on community (Air/Surface/Submarines (Nuke/Surface/Special Ops) and then every non-Line community ie supply, medical, legal etc.

The language of a FITREP is pretty much boilerplate, and anything truly unique will described that way. So when it says essentially that so-and-so is an articulate officer, that's nice, but meaningless. When it says the officer is a proven leader in combat, that's worth reading. The place to look on Navy FITRPS is in the ratings block, most important are the ones concerning promotion (early is best) and the ratings against their peers. These are used as a direct comparison of an officer against other officers doing exactly what they are doing, i.e. all the other swift boat commanders in the unit. Kerry always seems to be rated as one of top OIC's (Officers in Charge).

Also, unlike AF and Army fitness reports, a Navy Fitrep is written by the officers CO, none of the "rater/indorser" silliness. Also, Navy Fitreps are between the Officer and the CO, the only copies go to the officer, his CO and the Bureau of Naval Personnel; there are no 'local' file copies. A CO is expected to keep them forever (I still have all those I wrote on my officers).

I'm still reading the fitreps, if there's something else there besides the description of a guy I'd want covering my six, I'll blog it. But he seems to have been a pretty good guy. For a blackshoe :)

As Kerry gets to adding to the things to challenge the "National Security" administration on, he ought to start asking "why were the Saudi's and especially two bin Ladens" allowed to leave the country after 9/11 when we have two US citizens locked up in jails right now?

Yet another Top-Secret fubar from the 1600 Crew that needs to get pounded home. I guess that Saudis and especially bin Ladens do get special favors from the 1600 Crew. Or at least so it seems. Why?

I know that the guy, O'Neill or whatever, that the republicans have trotted out to say that John Kerry was a no-goodnik is in fact correct. See, I was attached to VA-46 10 years after John McCain was caught on film running away from a burning A-4D on the flight deck of the USS Forrestal. My service in the same squadron, and second-hand knowledge of then-LT McCains other actions on that day indisputably prove that he was obviously unfit for anything and certainly was never, ever in his career any kind of a "Hero". Damn Naval Academy graduating people like him anyway.

See, there's my rock-solid logic. Please, feel free to try your best to tear it apart.

Alex, I'll take conflation for One Thousand, please.

Please state your answer in the form of a question: "Which surprisingly reactionary right-wing, gay, catholic writer still wants to believe in the so-called 'flypaper' theory of the Iraqi War?"

The Answer is: "Andrew Sullivan?".

Unbelievably, Sullivan is still pushing that "better to fight them there than here" line, forgetting that there was no need to fight them at all in Iraq. One of the most telling things about Sullivan is his (unwitting?) telegraphy of the NeoCon positions on some issues that concern the middle east and Iraq is among the prime examples. Nowhere in his writings anymore do the rationales for invasion include the fabled WMD's. It's always "Bad Saddam" and freedom and democracy for the Iraqi middle-class. It's always the rosy optimism of the CPA briefings, and it's always how we are about to turn the corner, if only the terrorists could be made to understand that Peace, Freedom and the American Way are what they want. After all, Ronnie Ray-gun and Maggie told him so, and it's what he believes.

In the World According to Andrew, we can't lose the Iraqi Middle Class, you know the very folks that the CPA has been terrorizing. Never mind that his fellow republicans bemoan the lack of assasination in their toolbox for dealing with political opponents, which if course sounds suspiciously like what a certain cleric in Iraq stands accused of doing. How far apart are the two, really? Do we invade New Mexico next, because it sounds like that flypaper thing has some real practical application there? Let's see if we can convince them that a good, solid middle-class Jeffersonian Democracy might be just what the doctor ordered. If it doesn't work, let's redeploy any New Mexico National Guard units in the Middle East to Santa Fe, I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

Hey, maybe if Andy gets the revised 'flypaper memo' to Doug Feith, the Guard will be home for Christmas.

The side-by-side comparison of two Yalies of that certain time. See Attached.

Based on comments and from hopping around blogtopia reading things out there, it seems that the common thread that runs through the deaths of the soldiers in Iraq (and Afghanistan too, I'm sure) has been that: "they joined to get money for college".

Yeah. So let's add this: any draft/national service has to include something akin to the Old GI Bill educational benefits, not that contributory piece of shit foisted off on the "all-volunteer" military by successive Congresses and Administrations that wanted to cut benefits and do everything military on the cheap, especially for veterans.

Oh, and it's been even more interesting to see the total lack of comments on any 'major' right-wing blogs about the draft issue. I spent some time today hunting around and found zip, zilch, nada. Gee, wonder if the keyboard commandos are checking out their deferment possibilities like their heros?

Indeed.

So the word has now hit the mainstream. Draft. Only a matter of time, I guess before it came up. Charlie Rangel, a Korean-war vet brought it up long ago, but aside from some media-whore 'ha-ha', the echos of his speechs faded as the republicans clamored for their 'no-sacrifice war'. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, a veteran and I believe a Bronze-star recipient has finally talked about seeing elephants in the room. As I have poked around blogtopia, I find that the consensus is mixed to neutral. Kos.

Unlike most people around these parts, I actually support a military draft (with the option of alternate service for conscientious objectors). I think the burdens of our Democracy should be shared by all. And as a side benefit, the more people serve, the more stake everyone will have in potential military conflicts. It's a lot easier to advocate for war if you don't know anyone who might suffer consequences. It's a lot harder to remain aloof if war may impact your friends, children, or grandchildren.

I have mixed feelings about the draft. Though, the farther away I get from prime draft age the less I actually like the idea. Those 18 year olds get younger every day, and while plenty of 18 year olds are serving and getting killed, there's a difference between those who choose to go and those who would be forced. Plenty of 18 year olds are just not equipped (nor 19 nor 30 for that matter). That's not the only reason, of course.

However, I definitely don't like the idea of what amounts to an emergency draft for a situation which frankly isn't an emergency. The reinstitution of mandatory conscription would fundamentally overhaul both our military and our society. Perhaps if the idiots in Congress and the Pentagon would increase pay and benefits, rather than funneling all that money into wonderful private security costing orders of magnitude more, we wouldn't have people like Chuck Hagel opining about the possible need for it.

I think the fact that the military has become all-volunteer makes it easy for the deaths in Iraq and elsewhere to be overlooked. We can at least partly rationalize away the deaths knowing that the troops supposedly chose to be there. If we were talking about 18 year olds being forced against their will to this country and being murdered, it would be a hell of a lot harder to go about our business. But just because these soldiers chose to serve their country does not make their lives any less valuable or their deaths any less tragic.

The branches of the military don't sell service in a realistic manner. I remember a few years ago, I was just out of high school (or maybe just finishing up high school) and was contacted by a rep for the Navy. I've never had any interest in being involved in the military in any way, so I don't know why I let myself get talked into going in and testing, but I did. I wasn't sure what to do with my life, and I think that uncertainty led me to at least consider the possibilities. I went into the local office and took the entry test. I scored in the 99th percentile and the recruitment officer was all over me. He promised me the world; some easy service followed by a $50,000 college scholarship and a guaranteed job in journalism when I got out of school--basically whatever I wanted. He made it sound like a cakewalk with huge rewards. It was a no-brainer.

You know, for a moment I considered. Then I thought, "What the fuck am I doing?" and came to my senses. I'm a liberal, I'm a vegetarian (how well does that work in the military), and I'd always had a dim view of the indoctrination I believed occurred in the military.
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A draft scares me to death. I am 23 years old; I am draft age. My friends are draft age. I am terrified that our government will attempt to send us to die for a war that should never have been started. This isn't just fair, this is criminal. I shouldn't have to die for George Bush and my friends shouldn't have to die for George Bush. We shouldn't have to die for his mistakes while he makes his goddamn speeches and makes his goddamn attacks and engages in what he believes to be a holy war, all from the comfort of his perfectly safe life. This is a man who has never known sacrifice and never will know sacrifice.

This is a man who, with a draft, would force innocent Americans to go die in a war that he began with lies, and then wouldn't even bother to attend the funerals.

No. I will not go die for that man. My friends will not go die for that man. This cannot happen. It simply cannot happen.

As I said below, one of the reasons I support renewing the draft is because it would act as a deterrent against unnecessary wars of choice by the President. The Framers included such a deterrent in the Constitution by granting Congress alone (not the President) the power to declare war. The thinking was that this provision would force Congress - being the most accountable branch - to think long and hard about commiting to a war.

I understand the dilema which the author of Nightmares for Sale feels. It's natural for anyone to not want to be doing something they feel coerced into, and that's OK on a lot of levels. Offering them and others a viable, honorable alternative to serving in the Armed Forces might be a really good outcome for them, and for us as a country. Everyone has a part, and becomes important for their contribution; within a generation there would be no one who has not had to carry the burden at some level, and be responsible for someone. Hell, it could put the republicans out of business.

Military and national service with limited, limited deferments would not be the worst of things. After all, isn't it worth something to have a voice and make your mark?

But then, no matter how much I find myself in agreement with Kos and others, I find myself sick that I have to write about this at all.

1600 Crew Bastards.

VP Crashcart got to speak in China, where he 'demanded' to speak uncensored on TV. The Chinese government allowed him to do so, and as the NYTimes says "... but not one millimeter more." So is Fearless Leader's Press Secretariat practicing to paper-train the Press Poodles here?

But the broadcast received no advance promotion or even a listing in the Chinese news media and was not repeated. The authorities promptly provided leading Web sites with a "full text" of the vice president's remarks, including his answers to questions after the speech, that struck out references to political freedom, Taiwan, North Korea and other issues that propaganda officials considered sensitive.

I'm with Tom Harkin on this one. Any time a member of the 1600 Crew publically endorses and praises anything, it's usually a death-knell for that program or idea. It seems that the 1600 Crew is now reversing course on the overtime proposals that were brought to the fore by such friends of the working man as the US Chamber of Commerce and others.

The Labor Department will allow workers who earn up to $100,000 a year to be eligible for overtime pay, a substantial shift upward from an earlier proposal that Democrats had promised to make an issue in the presidential campaign.

More low-wage workers would become automatically eligible for overtime under the final rules, due to be released today, according to Labor Department documents describing the regulation. Police, firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and licensed practical nurses will also be assured of eligibility for overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week.
...
"The final rule accomplishes exactly what we intended from the start, which is to preserve and protect overtime rights for white-collar workers," Chao said in a statement last night. "We are pleased to see people recognize the significant gains to workers under our final rule. Now there can be no doubt that workers win.''
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Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a critic of the proposed rules, said in a statement last night: "The Bush Administration simply is not trustworthy on this issue, and I am beyond skeptical about these so-called revisions. This President has gone out of his way time and again to undercut working families' right to overtime pay for overtime work. . . . The Senate will soon have the opportunity to stand up and be counted on this issue, and I look forward to the debate."

No on likes to be lied to. Especially those who are about to (or have) sent their loved ones into danger. The 1600 Crew knowing that, made especially convincing lies and deals with countries and their leaders who were friendly to them, promising them money and maybe even nicknames if they would only join the Coalition of the Bought. Not counting on any actual democracy in action ever happening to rear its ugly head, one of the coalition members went had an election. And surprise, surprinse they're going to go home. Because their new leader promised them that he would do just that if elected.

Spain's new Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, keeping a firm campaign promise, announced Sunday that he was ordering Spanish troops to leave Iraq "as soon as possible."

Just 24 hours after he was sworn in, Mr. Zapatero said he had ordered Defense Minister José Bono to "do what is necessary" for the Spanish troops to return home in the shortest possible time.

The Duchess in a bid to secure her image as coming down on the side of bravery and forthrightness now pleads for McNarummy to apologize to Captain James Yee, the Muslim Chaplain locked up in isolation for 70 days in the Charleston Brig and then dragged around like a one-wheeled horsecart for months as the Army's case fell apart. Hey, I'm pleading for Preznit Convenient Symbol to resign...which of us will get our wish first?

Oh, and the Duchess has also printed the latest RNC blast fax summary...he has been told to be "optimistic" on Iraq. I'm pretty sure that there are some families here in the US who might have a little less optimistic assesment of the situation. Sullivan seeing the battle as all but played out, relys on that most cliche of measures to prove we are winning: the body count ratio.

The ratio of U.S. casualties to insurgent casualties was roughly one to ten. What should have been done very early in the invasion - the wiping out of the Baathist thugs and their Islamicist allies - was finally accomplished.

"When the fighting is over in Fallujah, I will sell everything I have, even my home," said a resistance fighter who gave his name as Abu Taif Mashhadani. He wept as he recalled his 8-year-old daughter, who he said was killed by a U.S. sniper in Fallujah a week ago. "I will send my brothers north to kill the Kurds, and I will go to America and target the civilians. Only the civilians. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. And the one who started it will be the one to be blamed."

Thanks to Roger Ailes for this pointer. Simply A-f****** -mazing. Don't even start me on the Religious Simian thing in the Post article. But this quote is one of the best to ever drop from the mouth of the Dunce.

Asked by Woodward how history would judge the war, Bush replied: "History. We don't know. We'll all be dead.

And I thought Roger was kidding. Sadly, No! (sorry, Seb).

So in late 2001 the 1600 Crew and Preznit Mal Feasance were already lying publically about the invasion of Iraq? From a general who has no real reason to publically dis Preznit Minimal Smarts, Tommy Franks confirms that they were asking him to redo plans to invade Iraq while the campaign in Afghanistan was still hot.

In the Washington speech a month ago, Franks said he told the president at that Dec. 28 meeting that the existing contingency plan for Iraq had called for sending in a half-million troops, an operation so massive it would require a six-month buildup.

Franks said he told Bush that the long-standing plan needed to be redrawn and if the U.S. military did go in, ''We should go all the way to Baghdad.''
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According to Woodward's book, Bush told Rumsfeld on Nov. 21, 2001 less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan to prepare for possible war with Iraq, and kept some members of his closest circle in the dark.

The meeting with Franks on Dec. 28 was apparently the first briefing from him that the president had received since those instructions.
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Among the plan's assumptions were that Iraq would launch missiles against Israel and other neighbors, and that allied troops would be hit with weapons of mass destruction, Franks said.

Well sitting out military service with a deferment can certainly give you a clear perspective on military operations and Combat. More from Woodwards book. From multiple-deferee Angina-boy, who absolutely, positively had higher priorities like getting a bun in Lynne's oven to get that last Daddy Deferment:

Powell felt Cheney and his allies -- his chief aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz; and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith and what Powell called Feith's "Gestapo" office -- had established what amounted to a separate government. The vice president, for his part, believed Powell was mainly concerned with his own popularity and told friends at a dinner he hosted a year ago celebrating the outcome of the war that Powell was a problem and "always had major reservations about what we were trying to do."

Before the war with Iraq, Powell bluntly told Bush that if he sent U.S. troops there "you're going to be owning this place." Powell and his deputy and closest friend, Richard L. Armitage, used to refer to what they called "the Pottery Barn rule" on Iraq: "You break it, you own it," according to Woodward.

So in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks the 1600 Crew appears to have had more warning than what they have admitted to. Preznit 2Stupid2Believe has emphasized repeteadly that if only Osama had sent him a briefing paper with a summary of the attacks, he might have let Condi, Karl or Crashcart brief him on it between Nap and Vacation.

For most Americans, the disbelief was the same. The attacks of Sept. 11 seemed to come in a stunning burst from nowhere. But now, after three weeks of extraordinary public hearings and a dozen detailed reports, the lengthy documentary record makes clear that predictions of an attack by Al Qaeda had been communicated directly to the highest levels of the government.

The threat reports were more clear, urgent and persistent than was previously known. Some focused on Al Qaeda's plans to use commercial aircraft as weapons. Others stated that Osama bin Laden was intent on striking on United States soil. Many were passed to the Federal Aviation Administration.

While some of the intelligence went back years, other warnings — including one that Al Qaeda seemed interested in hijacking a plane inside this country — had been delivered to the president on Aug. 6, 2001, just a month before the attacks.

The new information produced by the commission so far has led 6 of its 10 members to say or suggest that the attacks could have been prevented, though there is no consensus on when, how or by whom. The commission's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, a Republican, has described failures at every level of government, any of which, if avoided, could have altered the outcome. Mr. Kerrey, a Democrat, said, "My conclusion is that it could have been prevented. That was not my conclusion when I went on the commission."

» Preventing Stem Cell research, gotta keep the Christo-Fascist Vote
» Vacation
» Stealing Money from Education
» Naptime
» Missile Defense and funding big defense contractors
» The Next Vacation
» Sending more money to the Taliban for their anti-Opium campaign
» Another Long Weekend
» Get Iraqi Invasion Plans worked out
» Head to Kennibunkport for Vacation

As you can see, they were very engaged. In other things. And of course, on September 11th, Preznit Cowardly Lion did the one thing he does so well and has done his whole life:

» Runnin' Away

A Bold Leader Indeed. [gag]

So Bob Woodward is telling tales out of school. Sounds like he may be keeping Helen Thomas company soon...Woodward who managed to make journalistic history twice, once for Watergate and again for the most egregious journalistic mouth-music ever on the Commanders Codpiece may be redeeming himself with the story about how Preznit Bring'em On got FrankenRummy to blow $700 MILLION mis-appropriated dollars on War Plans for Iraq in the days after 9/11. Of course when Richard Clarke said basically the same thing about the Iraqi Obsession, the rebublican spin machinery made sure that American public thought that Clarke was infected with Martian Brain Syphilis within minutes of his book being released. But now Woodward seems to be re-telling the story we have all known for a long, long time. President Bunnypants was obsessed with invading Iraq.

President Bush secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan and was so worried the decision would cause a furor he did not tell everyone on his national security team, says a new book on his Iraq policy.

Bush feared that if news got out about the Iraq plan as U.S. forces were fighting another conflict, peo