Swift Boat Supporters Being Rewarded

Raw Story:
President George W. Bush circumvented Senate opposition today and recess appointed a controversial nominee as Ambassador to Belgium. Sam Fox, who donated thousands of dollars to the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans For Truth before the 2004 Presidential election, received the nod from the White House in a quiet personnel announcement this afternoon that caught Senate Democrats off guard.

President Bush had formally withdrawn Fox's nomination last week when it appeared likely that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would reject it and prevent him from receiving a full vote on the Senate floor. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) issued a strong response shortly before boarding an airplane late in the day, questioning the legal basis for the action.

"I seriously question the legality of the President's use of the recess appointment authority in this instance," said the senior Senator from Connecticut, and presidential candidate. "This is underhanded and an abuse of Executive authority - sadly this behavior has become the hallmark of this administration."

Senator John Kerry (D-MA), who squared off with Fox in a February confirmation hearing, offered similar words, comparing Fox's appointment with Michael Brown, the former FEMA head who mishandled the response to Hurricane Katrina.

"When it comes to getting body armor for our soldiers or relief for New Orleans, they're AWOL, but they'll move heaven and earth to reward a smear," he said. "Today's move shows it is wedded to the politics of personal character assassination that they are willing to take unprecedented steps to reward donor Sam Fox with an Ambassdorship."

Kerry also assailed the legality of the move.....

Also, from Raw Story:

Using membership dues paid in part by federal tax dollars, the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) hired the Washington, DC, public relations firm, Creative Response Concepts, best known for the 2004 "Swift Boat Veterans" ads against John Kerry, to launch a public relations effort supporting the failedunpopular abstinence only education policies. and

Without a proven proactive program of their own to reduce STDs and unintended pregnancies, NAEA is likely to attack supporters of successful public health methods, like comprehensive sexuality education. While progressives are promotiong Prevention First and Responsible Education About Life, social conservatives once again will use fear and smear to distract voters, evidenced in the hiring of Creative Response Concepts (CRC), to exagerate the influence of the fewer than 1-in-5 voters who support failed abstinence education efforts.....

Bush continues to reward his buddies and we continue to pay for it.

Republicans Forgot to Mention

While the White House criticized the overseas trip of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the administration forgot to mention that Republican lawmakers made the same trip last weekend to Syria. Why do they forget to tell us the details?

When the righties condemned a picture showing Pelosi in a scarf while in Syria, they failed to talk about Mrs. Laura Bush in a similar scarf when she visited a mosque (China Daily) May 23, 2005 in Jerusalem.

Rudi, Judi, and John

Thrice married Rudy Giuliani wants the press to give his wife, Judi, a break. However, after reading this story, I'm finding it impossible to do.
NY Post: Judith Giuliani once demonstrated surgical products for a controversial medical-supply company that used dogs - which were later killed - in operations whose only purpose was to sell equipment to doctors, The Post has learned.

"It was a horribly cruel, outrageous program," Friends of Animals President Priscilla Feral said about the demonstrations of medical staplers on dogs conducted by U.S. Surgical Corp. employees during Giuliani's tenure there in the late 1970s.

Feral said U.S. Surgical's demonstrations on hundreds of dogs each year through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s were done to boost sales, not for medical re search or testing.

The dogs were "either put to death following the sales demonstrations because they can't re cover from them, or they die during them," Feral said.....

....(Judi) Giuliani spent four years at U.S. Surgical.

The company, now part of Tyco Healthcare, has long acknowledged its salespeople routinely demonstrated staples on anesthetized dogs as part of sales pitches to doctors.

Then-CEO Leon Hirsch defended the practice in the 1980s, saying there was no other way to properly show how the staplers worked.

"A dead dog doesn't bleed," Hirsch said in a 1988 issue of Time magazine. "You need to have real blood-flow conditions, or you get a false sense of security."

Doggie killer?????????????????? In case you need reminding, here are some pictures of dogs---- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Here is that Time magazine article about U.S. Surgical and their puppy killing procedures. Here is an excerpt from the 1988 Time article:

....Since 1981, U.S. Surgical has been the target of heckling demonstrators, some carrying signs reading STAPLE HIRSCH and KILL HIRSCH. Animal-rights activists have also launched at least two unsuccessful legal efforts to revoke the company's license to use live animals. According to Hirsch, U.S. Surgical uses hundreds of dogs a year to train doctors and the company's own salesmen with the high-speed surgical staplers it manufactures. The trainees practice by stapling multiple surgical incisions on anesthetized dogs, after which the animals are destroyed....

>>>Sen. McCain wants us to believe that his recent trip to a Baghdad open market was like a walk in the park. Why did he need a bulletproof vest, 100 American troops (no Iraqi soldiers), and 3 circling helicopters?

Is McCain's campaign out of touch and low on funds? Check out this article from Politico.

In my opinion, McCain is about as exciting and inspiring a gray linoleum.

The Iraq War is Getting Worse

The Iraq war is getting worse. How do we know? There are statistics that prove it at ICasualties and the right wing media has offered a distraction.

From ICasualties we have the following statistics:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3247
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	10
Total	3257

Secondly, the right wing media has tried to create a distraction. Instead of focusing on the war, troop deaths, and the Democratic plan for withdrawal, the righties want us to look at Rosie O'Donnell. (Don't look at the war, look at the liberal lady over here.) Right wing talk show buffoon, Bill O'Reilly, has suggested that ABC and The View fire Rosie O'Donnell. Does O'Reilly want us to take him seriously? O'Reilly's program is losing major viewers (his average viewer is 75yrs old), while The View is gaining more and more viewers. I think O'Reilly is trying to create a diversion while the war gets worse and he is trying to punish Rosie for her liberal opinions.

The View is part of the entertainment division of ABC. The View is gaining viewers because the program allows the hosts to speak their views. I would rather watch The View than listen to some other show on who is the baby's daddy or how to remove ink from the carpet. The View is lively, thought-provoking, and relevant. Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limpball, and the rest of the righties should mind their own business and concentrate on real news not fake right wing news.

Finally, O'Really and Limpball shouldn't attack Rosie. She is a Mom, and a person who contributes her time and money to many charities. Besides, her views are probably a lot closer to the opinions of real Americans. Those two pompous right wing a**es do nothing but fill their own pockets.

If You Can't Take the Heat.....

I saw this story's headlines over at the Huffington Post and I had to put in my two cents:
(WCBS-TV): Giuliani To Media: Lay Off My Wife

....The former New York City mayor is fending off increased media scrutiny of his third wife -- the former Judith Nathan. Rudy is now asking the media to back off.

"Attack me all you want," Giuliani said. "There's plenty to attack me about. Please do it. But maybe, you know, show a little decency."

That's a tough sell for a man who suggested he might invite his wife into cabinet meetings....

Giuliani, the man who announced at a press conference that he was divorcing his second wife, will probably not get his wish this time. Giuliani and his wife, Judi Nathan Giuliani, have been parading around talking up their experience in dealing with the public. However, it appears that they cannot handle the scrutiny that comes with their very public lifestyle.

Giuliani may choose not to remember the media frenzy surrounding other presidential candidate's spouses (Hillary Clinton, Theresa Heinz Kerry, Elizabeth Edwards, etc). However, if Giuliani and other candidates want to win the hearts, minds, and votes of Americans, they must expect questions from the media. Voters will watch candidates react to the publicity because it indicates how these candidates and their spouses will respond to pressure and the spotlight in office. As the saying goes---if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Republicans: Buzz Words and Plaid Shirts

Why does Republican Newt Gingrich just continue to say stupid things? Gingrich, who hopes to be president one day (heaven forbid!), expressed his opinions about bilingual education. Here are some excerpts:

From WSB-TV:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto" and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.
Gingrich made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.
"The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd.
"Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English. If that's true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language except English," he said.
Peter Zamora, co-chair of the Washington-based Hispanic Education Coalition, which supports bilingual education, called the comments hateful and said research has shown "that bilingual education is the best method of teaching English to non-English speakers."
.....Bilingual programs teach students reading, arithmetic and other basic skills in their native language so they do not fall behind while mastering English. Since 1975, the Voting Rights Act has required ballots and other election assistance in languages other than English in jurisdictions where at least 5 percent of voting-age citizens are not proficient in English and literacy rates are below the national average.

Gingrich is an idiot. Does he think he can just insult people? Besides, he probably hasn't visited a public school with bilingual education. Gingrich wants an "English immersion" program? That sounds interesting, but not even remotely doable. Teachers are still waiting for Bush's No Child Left Behind Act to get funded. Newt gave he speech in front of a very safe audience----- elderly Republican women. I'd like to see him give that speech in the middle of a large American city.

---> Did you see that picture of McCain and other Republicans in Iraq? They were trying to demonstrate how safe it was in Baghdad. McCain appeared at a news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone wearing a plaid shirt. Why do Republicans wear plaid shirts when they are trying to be like regular folks? Anyway, McCain said the truth is not getting out about the successes in Iraq. Do you know why the "truth" is not getting out? There are no successes in Iraq!

As we approach the election, the Republicans will continue to try to excite their base with the use of their buzz words: English-only, family values, protect the flag, 9/11, support the troops, etc., etc. However, Americans have realized that these and other words used by the GOP are empty words. If they really supported the troops, Republican lawmakers would bring the troops home and vote for military health care. How can candidates who have been married multiple times (Gingrich-3, McCain-2, Giuliani-3, Fred Thompson -2) talk about family values when they never valued their own family?

See Sunday's Doonsebury cartoon to see what cutting off funding for the war means.

You Just Can't Make Up This Stuff

Washington Post: Kyle Sampson, Alberto Gonzales's former chief of staff, acknowledged he "should have helped to prevent this," but often drew a blank: He said 122 times in testimony, "I don't remember."

***Looks like Boehner made a boner----Raw Story found this at Think Progress:
Republican Rep. and minority leader, John Boehner, mispronounces "Tuskegee" at an awards presentation for the famous Tuskegee Airman. Here is the part of the orginal post at Think Progress:

...the event was marred slightly by the presentation of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH):

During his short speech to those in attendance, Boehner six times mispronounced the group’s name as the “Tusk-E-gee,” eliciting audible groans from the front to the back of the Capitol Rotunda. One woman standing in front of me leaned to her companion and whispered, “This is so embarrassing, and he’s from my state.”

Perhaps making matters worse, almost all of Boehner’s speech focused on the general accomplishments of American forces in World War II, paying little direct respect to those in the room.

As if to remove any doubt about the verbal kerfuffle, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took the stage and began his speech by pronouncing the group’s name correctly, while making a clear, if passing, glance in Boehner’s direction. Immediately afterward, the entire crowd broke into applause at the correction.

Watch a montage of Boehner: (from Think Progress)

Boehner is an idiot and he is from my state, Ohio.

Remember Sen. McCain's comment that it was possible to walk down some streets in Baghdad? Read this from the Times of India:
BAGHDAD: Nearly 400 people have been killed over the past three days in violence-wracked Iraq as insurgents and sectarian militias ripped through a much-touted US security crackdown concentrated in Baghdad....

Raw Story: In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, witness D. Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, admitted that he had suggested removing Patrick Fitzgerald from his position as a US Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois while Fitzgerald was still working as the Special Prosecutor in the case involving former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

In an exchange with Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Senator asked Sampson if he had ever recommended the removal of Fitzgerald from office.

"In one meeting, I raised Patrick Fitzgerald, and immediately after I did it, I regretted it, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, it was inappropriate, and [Harriet] Miers and [Bill] Kelly said nothing, they just looked at me...."

Sampson, a lawyer with very little legal experience (He has only tried one case.), suggested firing Fitzgerald. Hmm. Sounds political to me. What happened to the investigation of Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis? Was that investigation clipped because of a change in U.S. Attorneys?

Incredible News

Raw Story:

Republicans in Congress are trying to bar former vice president Al Gore's anti-global warming mega-concert from its planned venue on the steps of the US Capitol building.

Gore is planning a single-day, series of free "Live Earth" concerts on seven continents, with the goal of calling attention to the climate change crisis.

The US concert, scheduled for the steps of the Capitol on July 7, 2007, has drawn an A-list slate of pop performers, including the Police, Kanye West, Faith Hill, Bon Jovi and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

But some Republicans have balked over the cost of providing police for the event, while others insist that the concert is a partisan Democratic event and as such, not allowed on Capitol grounds.

One outspoken opponent of the concert is Senator James Inhofe, a longtime debunker of cataclysmic climate change, which he has derided as a "hoax."

"Senator Inhofe objects to having any events on the Capitol grounds that are either highly partisan or politically controversial -- and the proposed Gore concert is both," said his spokesman Marc Morano.

Inhofe and Gore locked horns last week at a standing room only Senate hearing on global warming.

Morano said formal moves to block the concert have been lodged by Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell......

Inhofe and McConnell make a great pair, don't they?

______

Despite the fact that Republican Sen. John McCain said that it was safe to walk in Baghdad, there are lots of bad things happening. Here are just a few of the news items published at http://icasualties.org/oif/ :

03/29/07 Reuters: Customs Office official kidnapped

Gunmen kidnapped Hassan Abdul-Lateef, an official of the Iraqi Customs Office in central Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

03/29/07 AP: 3 Killed in Baghdad Market Explosion

A bomb planted under a parked car tore through an outdoor market in a mixed Baghdad neighborhood Thursday, killing at least three people and wounding 26, police and hospital officials said.

03/28/07 MCT: 13 corpses were found around Baghdad

13 corpses were found around Baghdad, 4 in Risafa (eastern) and 9 in Karkh (western): 2 in both Ilamm and Doura and one each of the following areas: Mahmoudiya, Kadhemiyah, Zayuna, Al-Qanat street, Jisr Diyala, Hurriyah, Nahda, Amil, Saydiya.

03/28/07 Reuters: Five bodies found floating in the Tigris

Police found the bodies of five people, including one that was decapitated, floating in the Tigris river south of Baghdad in Suwayra, police said. The bodies had signs of torture.

03/28/07 Reuters: Car bomb kills 2 In Baghdad's Bayaa district

A car bomb killed two civilians and wounded 10 others when it was detonated at a major intersection in southern Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite Bayaa district, police said.

03/28/07 Xinhua: 2 car bomb hit U.S. base in Baghdad, 8 policemen killed

Two suicide car bombs, including a truck carrying Chlorine toxic gas, struck a U.S. base in Fallujah City, 50 km west of Baghdad, on Wednesday, killing eight Iraqi policemen and wounding more than 20 others, local police said.

From ICasualties:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3243
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	2
Total	3245

Gloves Are Off

According to the U.S. Senate site, the following Republican Senators will be up for re-election in 2008:

Alexander, Lamar (R-TN)

Allard, Wayne (R-CO)

Chambliss, Saxby (R-GA)

Cochran, Thad (R-MS)

Coleman, Norm (R-MN)

Collins, Susan M. (R-ME)

Cornyn, John (R-TX)

Craig, Larry E. (R-ID)

Dole, Elizabeth (R-NC)

Domenici, Pete V. (R-NM)

Enzi, Michael B. (R-WY)

Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)

Hagel, Chuck (R-NE)

Inhofe, James M. (R-OK)

McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)

Roberts, Pat (R-KS)

Sessions, Jeff (R-AL)

Smith, Gordon H. (R-OR)

Stevens, Ted (R-AK)

Sununu, John E. (R-NH)

Warner, John (R-VA)

These senators should be contacted and told that their political future depends on their votes to end the war in Iraq. If the President vetoes the latest military budget bill that includes a withdrawal timeline, those senators who vote AGAINST overriding the veto will put their re-election campaigns in jeopardy. Contact these senators asap and share your concerns about the war. Their service to the country and its people should be more important than their political affiliation. We'll be monitoring their votes.

And....
In October 2001, Rudy Giuliani, then mayor of New York City, entered into a contract that allowed human remains from 9/11 and other debris to used to fill potholes in the city. Yahoo News

Giuliani and his current wife, Judy Nathan, have each been married 3 times, according to the Examiner. Wow! Six marriages between them????? If a person has difficulty managing his/her personal business, it could be an indicator of their inability to manage their life. Giuliani's bad relationship with his children leave one to wonder if he has ever heard the following saying--- The best gift a father can give his children is to love their mother. No wonder his kids hate him.

A Veto Is Wrong!

President Bush said he would veto any effort by the House and the Senate to put a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq. A veto will show how Bush, the GOP, and Lieberman don't support the troops. They want an unending war. They don't care that our military service members are dying and being maimed every single day. Bush, the GOP, and Lieberman, just don't want to lose face. I watched some report last night that interviewed a soldier who was going back to Iraq for the 3rd time. He said he just wants to stay home and be a father and husband. Don't we owe it to them to let them live their lives with their families?

No matter what anyone says, it is time to bring our military and our money home. Bush's invasion of Iraq was based on lies and now the lies continue. History will show that Iraq was the largest mistake in American military history and that Bush was the worst president ever.

Don't be afraid to contact your elected officials in Washington, DC to voice your opposition to the war. If your senator or representative is up for re-election in 2008 (like pro-war Mitch McConnell in Kentucky), make certain that you specify you will not support them if they continue to support the Iraq war.

Just Like a Walk in the Park

Update: Call your senator NOW and tell him/her to vote to bring troops home asap. CSPAN2 has the debate in the Senate. If you are not sure of the Senators telephone number, visit this page for a complete list: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Let those telephones ring and ring! Don't let these senators say they haven't heard from their constituents. I briefly got a little bit of Sen. John "Walk Through Baghdad" McCain's speech. Just now, Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC-R) is on CSPAN 2 and he says that everything is hunky-dorey in Iraq. These guys are just pathetic liars!

>Republican candidate for president, Sen. John McCain, said it is safe to walk in parts of Baghdad (Raw Story). Here are some excerpts:
On Monday morning's "Bill Bennett's Morning in America" radio show, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said that there were parts of Baghdad where he and the host could go for a walk.

"There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today," he said, when asked to highlight something positive about what American forces have been able to accomplish in Iraq....

(By the way, Raw Story even has an audio of the interview at their website.)

Wow! Walking in Baghdad could be just like a walk in the park! Do you think McCain will demonstrate how safe it is to walk in Baghdad? If it is so safe, why are Americans still being killed in Iraq? When I hear McCain and others talk about how terrific things are going in Iraq, I wonder if they realize how their lies are hurting people.

In case you are interested, I did a search at Iraq Casualties and found that McCain is wrong. Since 3/1/07, 32 Americans have been killed just in Baghdad, mostly by IED attacks.

Newsweek: Last Letters

This morning on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Jon Meacham, Newsweek editor, described the cover story from the magazine's latest edition. The cover of Newsweek reads VOICES OF THE FALLEN: Any day I'm here could be the day I die. The article is about the last letters written by those Americans who were killed in Iraq.

This weekend, 5 Americans were killed in Iraq. CBS4 Denver: With U.S. attack helicopters buzzing overhead, gunmen and Iraqi security forces clashed Sunday in a Sunni area in central Baghdad, and police said at least two people were killed in fighting in the neighborhood's narrow streets and alleys. Roadside bombings, meanwhile, killed five U.S. soldiers, including four in a single strike in a volatile province northeast of the capital....
...The U.S. military said it had no immediate reports about the fighting in Baghdad, but later Sunday announced that four Americans had been killed when a roadside bomb hit their patrol in Diyala province. A roadside bomb also killed a U.S. soldier and wounded two others during a route clearance mission in northwestern Baghdad....

President Bush keeps threatening to veto a bill that has a time table for the pullout of American troops from Iraq. If Bush does use his veto power, it will delay pay checks for the troops in mid-April. Call your U.S. Senator and member of the House of Representatives and tell them to vote to override a Bush veto of the bill:

U.S. Capitol Switchboard (TOLL-FREE) 888-355-3588

Things Are Worse Than We Were Told

There are two stories in the news that really got to me this morning: the real cover-up of Pat Tillman's death and the other VA clinics around the country that are also having problems with substandard, moldy facilities.

> Pat Tillman: More information about the death of Pat Tillman is being released. The Tillman family has been suspicious of a cover up and they were correct: (Lompoc Record)
Nine officers, including up to four generals, should be held accountable for missteps in the aftermath of the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, a Pentagon investigation will recommend.

Senior defense officials said Friday the Defense Department inspector general will cite a range of errors and inappropriate conduct as the military probed the former football star's death on the battlefront in 2004, said one defense official.

The official, who like the others requested anonymity because the Army has not publicly released the information, said it appears senior military leaders may not have had all the facts or worked hard enough to get the facts of what happened on April 22, 2004, when Tillman was killed by members of his own platoon.

Dozens of soldiers _ those immediately around Tillman at the scene of the shooting, his immediate superiors and high-ranking officers at a command post nearby _ knew within minutes or hours that his death was fratricide.

Even so, the Army persisted in telling Tillman's family he was killed in a conventional ambush, including at his nationally televised memorial service 11 days later. It was five weeks before his family was told the truth, a delay the Army has blamed on procedural mistakes....

I cannot imagine the heartbreak that the Tillman family had to endure. First, they lost a member of their family and then their government lied to them, over and over again.

>VA Clinics: (MSNBC)
The Veterans Affairs’ vast network of 1,400 health clinics and hospitals is beset by maintenance problems such as mold, leaking roofs and even a colony of bats, an internal review says.

The investigation, ordered two weeks ago by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, is the first major review of the facilities conducted since the disclosure of squalid conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.....

“Who’s been minding the store?” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “They keep putting Band-Aids on problems, when what the agency needs is major triage.”

The review was conducted by directors of individual VA facilities around the country and compiled in a 94-page report to Nicholson. It found that 90 percent of the 1,100 problems cited were deemed to be of a more routine nature: worn-out carpet, peeling paint, mice sightings and dead bugs at VA centers.

The other 10 percent were considered serious and included mold spreading in patient care areas. Eight cases were so troubling they required immediate attention and follow-up action.

Some of the more striking problems were found at a VA clinic in White City, Ore. There, officials reported roof leaks throughout the facility, requiring them to “continuously repair the leaks upon occurrence, clean up any mold presence if any exists, spray or remove ceiling tiles.”

In addition, large colonies of bats resided outside the facility and sometimes flew into the attics and interior parts of the building....

It is plain to see how this is happening:

1. This administration wants to wage an unending war and dump its consequences into the lap of the next president.

2. Despite the fact that this administration says that only they support the troops, there are indications that their words are hollow. Actions speak louder than words.

3. There is only so much money to go around. If billions and billions of dollars are being sent to Iraq, there is nothing left to be used at home. What will happen when more of our military comes home wounded? How will they be treated? How much more will the facilities deteriorate with the added patients?

4. While this administration and the Republican apologists in the House and the Senate continue their mantra about waging war in Iraq, they have done little to push for a diplomatic solution. Why haven't they talked to the leaders in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries to help put an end to this war? What is so wrong about using diplomacy and negotiation?

TGIF

*Gov. Ted Strickland wants to end the state funding of the abstinence only programs in Ohio. I agree. These programs are a complete waste of money. Dispatch:
The debate over abstinence-only education in Ohio is heating up after Gov. Ted Strickland proposed eliminating spending for it in his budget, saying that the money can be used in better ways.

Strickland wants to cut $500,000 a year used to administer the program from the two-year state budget, money that also secures $1.6 million a year in federal funds for abstinence-only teaching and materials.

But some Republican legislators want to put that money back in the budget and say the Democratic governor would cut a program that prevents teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Critics include J. Kenneth Blackwell, who lost to Strickland last fall....

Why are these Republicans such idiots? !!!!!!! These 'abstinence only' programs are worthless. We need to stop subsidizing a ineffective program.

***Our thoughts and prayers go out to Elizabeth and John Edwards. Mrs. Edwards continues to be an inspiration to cancer survivors, their families, and women everywhere.

***Radar Online has this info on the U.S. Attorney firings:
The scandal over the fired U.S. attorneys can be hard to follow. After all, the Justice Department just released 3,000 pages of e-mails between White House staffers, DOJ officials, prosecutors, and various politicos.

As a public service, Radar dives into the pile of paper and comes back with the shiniest nuggets of government gold. In this installment: old girlfriends and a whiff of Scorsese ...

Page 8: One of the most controversial judicial appointments was that of J. Timothy Griffin, whose strongest qualifications for being named the U.S. attorney for Arkansas were that he worked as Karl Rove's assistant in 2005 and did opposition research for the Republicans during the 2000 campaign. In an e-mail to Monica Goodling, the Justice Department's liaison to the White House, Griffin passes along a few references that don't pop up on his resumé. "I am good friends with both chiefs of staff to [Arkansas Senators] Pryor and Lincoln. Pryor's chief of staff is a good friend and Lincoln's was my high school girlfriend," Griffin writes. "Should I say anything to them? I would hate for my senators to be told without my peeps knowing? [sic]" The former girlfriend reference—always a solid way into a job as U.S. attorney!

and this...

Bud Cummins, the U.S. attorney fired to make room for the aforementioned high school swordsman, is a Rove crony who felt threatened enough by officials at the Justice Department that he resorted to fightin' words inspired by Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver.. "I was tempted to challenge him and say something movie-like such as 'are you threatening ME???,' but instead I kind of shrugged it off," Cummins writes in an e-mail describing Justice Department pressure on him to keep his mouth shut about his dismissal....

Are all these replacement U.S. Attorneys Rove's friends? Is Rove running the country?

Getting Things Done

>According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, oversight is defined as...1 a : watchful and responsible care b : regulatory supervision oversight>.

Now we are seeing oversight in the House and the Senate. With the Democrats in the majority, investigations have started. While the Republicans were in control, they just rubber-stamped everything Bush and Rove wanted, without questioning anything. Did this administration want billions of dollars of cash to hand out in Iraq? The GOP allowed it. Did this administration know about the conditions at Walter Reed? The Republicans covered it up. When this administration wanted to protect oil companies, banks, drug companies, the Republicans in the House and the Senate complied. Now the Democrats are discovering all the corruption and getting to work to clean things up. Thank you!

>Yesterday, I watched silly Sen. Inhofe, make a fool of himself while former Vice President Al Gore was testifying about global warming and climate change. Inhofe was rude, disrespectful, and idiotic. I am so glad Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer reminded Inhofe he was no longer in control of the committee. I wonder if Inhofe believes in gravity.

>House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers has been very busy. Conyers, known as the patron saint of the Stephanie Miller Show, has threatened to use his power of subpoena. Go for it!

>Think Progress has remarks written by Tony Snow about President Clinton in 1998 concerning executive privilege:
....On 3/29/98, Snow published an op-ed titled, “Executive Privilege is a Dodge”:

Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration. Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything. He would have a constitutional right to cover up.

Chances are that the courts will hurl such a claim out, but it will take time.

One gets the impression that Team Clinton values its survival more than most people want justice and thus will delay without qualm. But as the clock ticks, the public’s faith in Mr. Clinton will ebb away for a simple reason: Most of us want no part of a president who is cynical enough to use the majesty of his office to evade the one thing he is sworn to uphold — the rule of law.

Interesting, huh? Looks like Tony Snow is a flip-flopper!

>The e-mails sent by the White House to the Senate and House of Representatives concerning the firing of the U.S. Attorneys, has a gap of 18 days. Those of us who lived through Watergate, recall the 18 minute gap in the the Nixon tapes. We know that Nixon was hiding something but what is this administration trying to hide?

What does it look like to you?

>Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce (OH-15) has lost another staff member to a lobbying firm.
The Hill: Rachel Robinson has joined the American International Automobile Dealers Association as vice president of government relations. Most recently, Robinson served as chief of staff to Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference. She was a lobbyist for the Securities Industry Association and served as director of Speaker operations for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

>Are they buying influence? You decide. CQ Politics:
BankPac, the PAC of the American Bankers Association, has already started passing out contributions to candidates:

....As one might expect, several recipients of BankPac campaign contributions sit on the Financial Services Committee. The leadership PACs of Republican Reps. Paul E. Gillmor and Deborah Pryce of Ohio and Bachus of Alabama each received $5,000 last month from BankPac.

>Here is some information on how Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce won the last election. Alternet:
.....In Ohio in 2006, Republican congresswoman Deborah Pryce was "reelected" only after thousands of Ohio State college students -- who vote predominantly Democratic -- were forced to vote on provisional ballots and those ballots were disqualified. That happened on top of preelection polls that found Pryce well below 50 percent, which also raises questions about the accuracy of the voting technology in Franklin County, Ohio. As is often the case, voter suppression tactics can be compounded by problematic counting technology....

Remember, Robert Bennett, head of the Ohio GOP who thinks Pryce would win re-election easily over any future Democratic opponent. The article mentioned above indicates that Pryce won because of voter suppression. Would the Republicans stoop to using voter suppression to win? You bet they would and they have. At least if Kilroy had won, she'd have a better attendance record than Pryce.

>>>>Have you ordered your Smart Car?

You can now put in your $99 reservation. If you've traveled to Europe, you've seen these nifty cars. Now they're coming to the USA. http://www.smartusa.com/

Problems?

***Republicans in Ohio cannot believe that there have been voting problems in Ohio. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wants to clean up the voting irregularities in Ohio. Dispatch:
Tired of Cuyahoga County’s vote-counting problems, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has given the elections board a choice: Resign by Wednesday or be fired.
The board’s chairman is Robert T. Bennett, who also is chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. He said he will not resign and that the board is not to blame for the problems....

(What a coincidence! Bennett is chairman of the Ohio GOP AND the Cuyahoga County Election Board! Hmmmmmm. Anyone else see a problem with that?)
.....Brunner, a Democrat who was elected last fall, said that on Sunday, she asked the two Republicans and two Democrats on the Cuyahoga board to resign no later than Wednesday as a way to restore public trust after high-profile election problems at the state’s most populous county.

Those who do not resign will face a complaint that will be filed Thursday and a public hearing by the secretary of state’s office. Brunner said she has the power to remove any board member for cause....

...Two county elections workers were sentenced to 18 months in prison last week for rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election, and problems in the May 2006 primary delayed the unofficial vote count in the county for five days.

The Cuyahoga County elections director, deputy director and a third top official all are being replaced because of the scandals and problems....

...J. Kenneth Blackwell, Brunner’s Republican predecessor, forced the entire Lucas County Board of Elections to resign in 2005 after a review of the November 2004 election found numerous problems, including ballots being stored in an unsecure warehouse.

**Guess who'd like to go home? The troops! Raw Story has this:
For US troops from 9th Cavalry Regiment bumping around the dangerous streets of Baghdad in Humvees after dark on Monday, news that their deployment in Iraq could be extended fell like a hammer blow.

Their commanders had cautioned that their second one-year tour due to end in October could be prolonged while US President George W. Bush later warned troops it was too soon to "pack up and go home."

The expletives during the four-hour night patrol turned the air in the Humvee, already thick with cigarette smoke, a dark shade of blue.

"We just want to get out of here as soon as possible," said one vehicle commander in one of his few printable comments....

"Ninety-five percent of Iraqis are good but five percent are bad. But the 95 percent are too weak to stand up to the five percent."

"Bush should send all the Death Row prisoners here and they can be killed fighting the terrorists. We've had enough," said another soldier, as the Humvee accelerated past a roadside car in case it exploded.

Added yet another, "Bush can come fight here. He can take my 1,000 dollars a month and I'll go home."

Commander of the night operation, Lieutenant Brian Long, said the anger was understandable.

"One of the men has five children, another has three. Another has a boy aged four -- he's missed two of those years. He'll never get them back," said Long.

"It is like the movie 'Groundhog Day'. Each day is the same and nothing ever changes," he added, referring to the 1993 movie in which the principal character is doomed to repeat the same day endlessly....

Now we know how the troops feel. It is unnecessary for the Republicans to say that the troops want to stay in Iraq. Since only Republicans and Joe Lieberman support an everlasting war in Iraq, they should volunteer themselves, their children, and grandchildren to go fight in Iraq.

>>The latest CNN poll shows that Americans over 50 of becoming increasingly anti-war. Excerpts from CNN:

As the war in Iraq steadily plummets in popularity, opposition has grown mostly among Americans older than 50 and Democrats, survey results released Monday show.
When President Bush announced March 19, 2003, that U.S.-led forces had begun military attacks, 15 percent of Americans 50 and older strongly opposed the invasion, compared to 18 percent younger than 50.
Four years later, the fighting is opposed by 52 percent of Americans 50 and older, and by 42 percent younger than 50.
The CNN poll of 1,027 adults was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. March 9-11. It shows that support for the war has dropped 40 percentage points since 2003, while the number of Americans who say they strongly oppose the war has doubled.
Just after the war began, 72 percent of Americans said they favored the war; today only 32 percent do.
More than six in 10 people oppose the war, and nearly half say they strongly oppose it....

I'm not surprised. Those of us over 50 remember Vietnam and we don't want to repeat those mistakes.

Remember Liberal Radio In Columbus?

I don't listen to talk radio very often. I once listened to 1230 AM when they carried Air America programs, Stephanie Miller, and Ed Schultz. Now 1230 AM has new call letters, WYTS, and new ratings. According to Radio and Records the ratings for WYTS, which is now extreme right wing radio, have declined dramatically. They have a 0.7 audience share and they are third from the bottom in radio rankings in the Columbus metropolitan area. Good. I hope that Clear Channel is satisfied with their format shift.

Not Just Another Monday

>Did you happen to see Chris Rock's opening monologue on Saturday Night Live this weekend? Chris Rock discusses the next presidential election. If you missed it, LAist has it and it is worth seeing: HERE

>I'm listening to the House of Representatives committee hearing on global climate change. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD-8th) has raised some serious questions about how the White House tried to control what was being said. Dr. James Hansen said that science was being controlled by politics. Now Rep. Darrell Issa (tel. phone: 202-225-3906), a Republican, is attacking Dr. Hansen. Issa is a jerk. Issa would rather have scientists lie than tell the truth. Dr. Hansen said that when he talked to the press he had to have someone on the phone listening to him to make sure he didn't say the wrong thing that would go against the administration's views. Also, the Republican put in charge of controlling the message on global warming is George Deutsch, a 23 year old twit who had no expertise about global climate change. Philip Cooney had to "fix" documents to go along with the White House's views! More lies from this Bush administration, as usual!

>Four years ago, Bush started his war in Iraq. Our men and women in uniform have suffered tremendously. MSNBC has an article about the stress put on our military and their readiness:

Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight a major ground conflict elsewhere, senior U.S. military and government officials acknowledge.

More troubling, the officials say, is that it will take years for the Army and Marine Corps to recover from what some officials privately have called a "death spiral," in which the ever more rapid pace of war-zone rotations has consumed 40 percent of their total gear, wearied troops and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies now at hand.

The risk to the nation is serious and deepening, senior officers warn, because the U.S. military now lacks a large strategic reserve of ground troops ready to respond quickly and decisively to potential foreign crises, whether the internal collapse of Pakistan, a conflict with Iran or an outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula. Air and naval power can only go so far in compensating for infantry, artillery and other land forces, they said. An immediate concern is that critical Army overseas equipment stocks for use in another conflict have been depleted by the recent troop increases in Iraq, they said....

....Pace said the unexpected demand for more troops in Iraq -- from the 10 brigades that commanders projected last year they would need by the end of 2006, to the 20 brigades scheduled to be there by June -- prompted him to recommend permanently adding 92,000 troops to the Army and Marine Corps, saying it would "make a large difference in our ability to be prepared for unforeseen contingencies."

Indeed, the recent increase of more than 32,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has pushed already severe readiness problems to what some officials and lawmakers consider a crisis point. Schoomaker said last week that sustaining the troop increase in Iraq beyond August would be "a challenge." The Marines' commandant, Gen. James T. Conway, expressed concern to defense reporters last week that it would bring the Marine Corps "right on the margin" of breaking the minimum time at home for Marines between combat tours. U.S. commanders in Iraq say they may need to keep troop levels elevated into early 2008.

It is time to bring our troops home. This administration and the Republican enablers have allowed this disaster to go on too long.

Another Failed Charter School

Here is more evidence for my previous statement about how most charter schools are a waste of tax dollars:
Columbus Dispatch

After three weeks of hope and worry about the future of the Harte Crossroads charter schools, their sponsor closed them yesterday.

Most at the schools learned of the decision about 3 p.m., not long before the end of the school day.

Teachers, who have not been paid for their last month’s work, stood outside the schools’ doors in the Columbus City Center and cried. Seniors wondered whether they would be able to graduate from somewhere else. Parents said they felt that they had been misled by those who had taken over the schools two weeks ago....

....Richland Academy of the Arts, the schools’ sponsor, made the decision yesterday afternoon after learning that the state would not send its March payment of $131,800 in per-student funding. The state said the records for Harte Crossroads Academy and Harte Crossroads High School were too much of a mess.

Richland took over the schools March 1 after firing founder Anita Nelam, who had announced a week earlier that the schools would close because of financial problems and disputes with Richland and an affiliate.....

....The teachers and staff members, who are paid every two weeks, have missed two paychecks, said Mary Tackett, a first-grade teacher who said she fears eviction....

.....The management company, Innovative Learning Solutions, took 20 percent of the schools’ revenue in return for fiscal, recordkeeping and other services, and Richland took another 3 percent....

....Cooper said problems stemmed from the prior administration’s over-reporting of the number of students. Nelam had said there were about 250 students from kindergarten through 12 th grade before she announced the closure; the schools had 190 students yesterday....

...Gov. Ted Strickland wants to prohibit the type of relationship that existed between Harte Crossroads and Innovative Learning Solutions. He said in his State of the State on Wednesday that forprofit management companies should not be allowed to run charter schools.

The state Education Department will try to help students who need a new school, said spokesman J.C. Benton.

"Our No. 1 priority right now is to make sure the students get into other schools as soon as possible," he said.

Columbus Public Schools principals will be contacting students’ parents to encourage them to return....

Let me explain this to you: One management company got 20% of the operating costs of the school and another group got 3%. This type of arrangement was doomed from the start. The students and parents are left out in the cold. High school students don't even know if their credits will count toward graduation. Teachers have not been paid and the management companies are still pulling in their big money. This is awful! The only groups who are for these voucher supported charter schools are the fat cats who run the management companies.

Charter Schools

Ohio Gov. Strickland's new plans for Ohio schools have upset some right wing nuts in the state. Here are some excerpts from the Akron Beacon Journal:
Gov. Ted Strickland crossed the state Thursday to promote his $53 billion spending blueprint as anger flared among advocates of education choice over his plan to scrap the state voucher program outside Cleveland.

Strickland surprised many Wednesday when he said in his State of the State speech that he would stop students in other cities at low-performing schools from receiving the vouchers to pay for tuition to attend private and parochial schools.

The new Democratic governor also said his budget will prohibit for-profit companies from running state-funded charter schools, as he seeks to funnel more resources to public education within a cash-strapped state budget. His spending plan increases state spending at just 2.2 percent a year on average, a rate barely lower than the last budget under GOP Gov. Bob Taft and less than any budget in the past 42 years.

``The charter school movement in Ohio has been a dismal failure,'' Strickland said during a Thursday stop in Cleveland. ``What I'm asking for in terms of charter schools is simply that they are held to the same standards of fiscal and educational accountability that we are expecting out of our public schools.''

David Zanotti, president of the conservative policy think tank that fought for years to protect vouchers, said backers are mobilizing parents statewide to fight the plan....

I agree with Gov. Strickland. The charter school program has been a huge failure in Ohio. Money is misused. Teachers are unqualified. Students get a less than satisfactory education. Facilities used by charter schools are less than adequate. The only people who benefit are those who own and manage the charter schools and they are lining their pockets with money taken from the public schools.

I have seen the results of students who've left charter schools to attend public schools. Charter school students are far behind similar aged students in public schools. The charter students are far below grade level in the areas of writing, reading comprehension, basic social studies/history, general mathematics, and especially science.

We cannot let the right wing extremists in Ohio dictate how education money is spent in the state. The charter schools have robbed Ohio of badly needed funding for public schools. If you agree with Gov. Strickland, call/write Jon Husted. Husted has said that he never hears from those who oppose his views: Jon Husted, 77 S. High St-14th floor, Columbus, OH 43215-6111. Telephone: (614) 644-6008 or FAX: (614) 719-3591. Email: district37@ohr.state.oh.us

Drudge Lies Again

Is there something wrong with Matt Drudge? He said that since the surge, American fatalities decreased. Do you think he gets his information from the spin doctors of the Republican party?

Here is the truth, as reported by ICasualties:
US Deaths by Month
March 2007 (so far) 39
February 2007 80
January 2007 83

If you go to the site listed above and click on the bar chart, you can actually get the names of those who died in Iraq. I cannot believe that people are stupid enough to believe anything written by Drudge.

Update: It is 1pm and Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC-R) is on the floor of the U.S. Senate speaking about why the U.S. should remain in Iraq f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Call his office. If you can't talk to a human staff member, at least leave him a message (press 2) and tell him why he is wrong.
(202) 224-5972

Sam and Peter Don't Speak for Me

I saw this over at Think Progess:

Brownback ‘applauds’ Pace’s homophobic comments.

Today Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) circulated a letter in support of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace: “The question is whether personal moral beliefs should disqualify an individual from positions of leadership in the U.S. military? We think not. General Pace’s recent remarks do not deserve the criticism they have received. In fact, we applaud General Pace for maintaining a personal commitment to moral principles.”

Every single person knows someone who is gay. It could be a family member, a friend, or co-worker. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Pace's comments and Senator Brownback's support of those comments have hurt a lot of people. Since when do they speak for all Americans? How do they have the right to call people immoral? What about those 50 translators who could have helped the government, but were let go because they were gay? How many men and women in our military have given their lives for this country and were gay? Would Pace and Brownback call them immoral also?

Mistakes

The Bush administration and the Republican Party just keep making mistakes. Unfortunately, their screw ups have resulted in deaths in an unnecessary war, firings of U.S. attorneys, the suffering of injured soldiers, exposing an undercover CIA agent, the lack of a concerted effort to help the Gulf Coast after Katrina, etc.

An update on the firings comes from the Washington Post and includes this:
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday it's up to President Bush whether he remains in the administration and said he wants to stay and explain to Congress the circumstances surrounding the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.....
...Several Democrats have called for Gonzales' resignation, among them presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards.

"The buck should stop somewhere," Clinton said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" which was broadcast Wednesday morning. She added that Bush "needs to be very forthcoming -- what did he say, what did he know, what did he do?" and that high-level White House adviser Karl Rove also "owes the Congress and the country an explanation" for his role in the affair.

The firestorm of criticism has erupted in the wake of the disclosure of e-mails within the administration which showed that Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, had discussed the possible firings of U.S. attorneys in early 2005 with then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers.

Gonzales accepted Sampson's resignation this week; Miers had left the administration earlier this year.

It was the second time in as many weeks that Gonzales came under withering criticism on Capitol Hill. Last week, the attorney general and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller admitted that the FBI had improperly, and at times illegally, used the USA Patriot Act to secretly pry out personal information about Americans in terrorism investigations....

Is anyone else curious as to how Karl Rove manages to insert his nose into all of these mistakes/scandals/screw ups?

Americans are looking for leadership and honesty for our next President. It appears that those associated with this administration and the Republicans haven't a clue about integrity and honesty. It will take years to clean up the mess left by this Bush administration. Our country has lost friends around the world because of this president's preoccupation with Iraq. South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia have not had the attention they need and deserve because this president wanted to settle a score with Saddam Hussein. Now, our people and those around the world have had to suffer because of the mismanagement of our country's power and influence. We've learned a lesson here-----no more Bush family members and no more unnecessary wars.

Republican Family Values

When I think of the Republican Party I think of the following words--- scandals, bribery, lies, Abramoff, adulterers, friends of big oil.

Now it appears that people who identify themselves as members of the Republican Party are disgusted with the presidential candidates from their party. A new poll by the New York Times/CBS News, as published in today's NY Times, has the following info:

...Forty percent of Republicans said they expected Democrats to take control of the White House next year, compared with 46 percent who said they believed a Republican would win. Just 12 percent of Democrats said they thought the opposing party would win the White House....
...Asked what was more important to them in a nominee, a commitment to stay in Iraq until the United States succeeds or flexibility about when to withdraw, 58 percent of self-identified Republican primary voters said flexibility versus 39 percent who said a commitment to stay....

....The poll highlights a Republican weakness going into next year’s election. Just 34 percent of all respondents said they had a favorable view of the Republican Party, and that is the lowest it has been since December 1998. By contrast, 47 percent of respondents said they had a positive view of the Democratic Party.

And by a 20-point margin, respondents said that if the election were held today they would vote for an unnamed Democrat for president rather than a Republican....

The three leading Republican presidential candidates (McCain, Giuliani, Gingrich) have had 8 wives. (McCain: currently married, 1 ex-wife; Giuliani: currently married, 2 ex-wives; Gingrich: currently married, 2 ex-wives). This must be an example of Republican family values.

Injured Troops Going Back to Iraq

This is how Bush and the GOP love the troops--

Salon: "This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight."

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.

On Feb. 15, Master Sgt. Jenkins and 74 other soldiers with medical conditions from the 3rd Division's 3rd Brigade were summoned to a meeting with the division surgeon and brigade surgeon. These are the men responsible for handling each soldier's "physical profile," an Army document that lists for commanders an injured soldier's physical limitations because of medical problems -- from being unable to fire a weapon to the inability to move and dive in three-to-five-second increments to avoid enemy fire. Jenkins and other soldiers claim that the division and brigade surgeons summarily downgraded soldiers' profiles, without even a medical exam, in order to deploy them to Iraq. It is a claim division officials deny.

....Eight soldiers who were at the Feb. 15 meeting say they were summoned to the troop medical clinic at 6:30 in the morning and lined up to meet with division surgeon Lt. Col. George Appenzeller, who had arrived from Fort Stewart, Ga., and Capt. Aaron K. Starbuck, brigade surgeon at Fort Benning. The soldiers described having a cursory discussion of their profiles, with no physical exam or extensive review of medical files. They say Appenzeller and Starbuck seemed focused on downplaying their physical problems. "This guy was changing people's profiles left and right," said a captain who injured his back during his last tour in Iraq and was ordered to Iraq after the Feb. 15 review....

Despite the fact that the administration is denying this, the truth of the matter is that the injured are being sent back to war. While families are struggling to find help for their injured sons and daughters with serious war injuries (New York Times), now some injured are going back to Iraq. This is just wrong!

Why?

Why did President Bush go to Brazil to ink a deal on ethanol when our country could be producing its own ethanol? Did you know that 8 out of 10 cars in Brazil run on ethanol?

Why do the Republicans continue their unwavering support of the Iraq war? Haven't they seen the casualty list?
Iraq Coalition Casualties:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:	3186
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:	3
Total	3189

Why has Jon Husted and the Ohio Republicans refused to budge on fixing Ohio schools?

Why haven't more newspapers canceled Ann Coulter's column?

Why do Republicans continue to support Newt Gingrich? Now he even says he had an affair during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. Raw Story:
Potential Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich admitted in an interview with conservative Christian group Focus on the Family that he had an extramarital affair even while leading the charge to have President Clinton impeached.....

Just asking.

News to Use

Media Matters has a list of newspapers, their editors, and contact e-mail for the papers that still are publishing Ann Coulter's column. Check it out and send those e-mails.

The New York Times has a story that indicates that the Democrats will push for a pullout from Iraq in 2008:

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate began a new legislative push today for the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq in 2008, coalescing behind a fixed timetable to end the war for the first time since assuming power.
The plan to establish a specific date for removing troops intensifies the confrontation with the Bush administration at a time when Congress is scrutinizing President Bush’s request for nearly $100 billion in additional spending toward military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans vowed to block the new Democratic effort, though, which they said amounted to micromanaging the war, and the White House immediately signaled its opposition.....

Those Republicans just want the war to go on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Apparently, the GOP has not seen the polls that show that the American people want our troops home NOW.

More Libby

Doesn't it just get you mad when you hear these conservatives try to minimize what Scooter Libby did? Now they want Bush to pardon Libby. We know Bush will pardon Libby but the question is when will he do it---just before the 2008 election or in the next few weeks?

You must see Jon Stewart's take on how the Libby verdict was reported by cable news:

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=83364