Our good friend BadTux, the renegade motorcycle mechanic, has regaled us with a learned discourse on the variety of culinary experiences in the US Army’s MRE’s (Meals, Ready to Excrete.) Start here and scroll down. He reviews about eight different meals. Ignore the posts about moto and Jeep modification and cats. We’re not interested in mechanical matters, and cats are not part of the menu, around here, at least.

BT has waved his flightless fowl experience in our faces, sneering at our amateurish fumbling with canned Ravioli in red colored sauce reinforced with cornstarch for the last time.

Tony Karon, the Rootless Cosmopolitan, discusses field combat rations of other armies:

Which army would you be in if your Meal Ready to Eat pack contained the following:

Potted Meat of Mackerel Stewed Beef Indian chicken and rice

Nope, as “squaddie” as that sounds, it’s actually one of the menus dished out in French ration packs. Of course there’s more familiarly “national” fare in there, like sauté of rabbit, mutton stew flageolets, stewed lamb “Navarin,” duck and liver paté and earthenware dish “cassoulet.” (Earthenware dish? Blimey, it’s in a can!) But rumors that it contained a small bottle of wine are not true, although they may have been in the past. And check out the gorgeous little cooker.

Mutton stew flageolets… mmmmmm that has to be wonderful. The flageolet is a bean and quite tasty when cooked and eaten fresh. Freeze dried and set up for a three year shelf life – I dunno. Lamb Navarin should be good, if prepared with generous amounts of garlic and thyme – even if they really did put tomatoes in it. And a field stove – zut alors!

It has to be better than the muck they served back in the 70s. Two year old sausage and four day old boules will make you want to fight – if you ever can pull up your pants.

Now would it be a function of being a non-combatant army that makes the German Army’s Einmannpackung include a vegetarian option: Stir fried vegetables with tofu. The rest of the main courses seem to reflect a history of Wehrmacht WWII conquests — Cevapcicci (Yugoslavian Sausages), ghoulash (which is Hungarian, after all) and Lyon sausage. Nuff said.

Back in the day, the Bundesheer’s field rations included several types of dry sausage, some nice canned chicken stew, and lots of the ubiquitous pea soup. This review contains the best combat ration joke I’ve ever heard.

The Russian equivalent is predictably more lacking in choice, and offers some idiosyncratic variations on the standard meat and veg stew by including barley porridge and buckwheat rice. Including an alchohol based cooking system doesn’t seem like a good idea given some of the truly miserable locales in which this army is deployed — hey, if I was on guard duty in Grozny, I’d be drinking the fuel sweetened with the jam or something and diluted…

Barley porridge? Sign me up. I wonder if the multivitamin drops are an unintended comment about the quality of the food? Second best ration joke, although rendering the fuel tablets into liquid seems like a lot of work when an inventive mind can find vodka or arrack just about anywhere in Eastern Europe.

The British Army caters to a fast-changing and diverse nation in its combat rations. According to this story, the standard ground beef mince meal now comes with three alternative flavoring sachets — bolognese, chili and curry.

Access to the story about the “standard beef mince meal” is forbidden. Thank you, g_d.

A tip of the camouflaged toque to Matt Yglesias for the lead.

Liberal Jarhead from TEAMbio points us to a little thingie from the Disabled American Vets that examines how our employees in Washington handle veterans affairs.

Go here and see how your Corporate slave dealt with those who donned a uniform and served us with their blood.

Act surprised as you go through the list and observe Democrats consistently score higher than Republicans.

Some time back we had an article about military deserters. Desertion is a troubling topic, more so in a volunteer military, and even more so when that military is involved in two wars at once, and obviously gearing up for a third conflict.

The topic is back again, with a story at the online English version of Der Spiegel.

When he goes underground, he won't tell his mom. "John," a rangy young soldier with arresting eyebrows, has planned each step carefully. He will spend his leave from an Army base in Germany at home in the northeastern United States, snowboarding, visiting friends, and hanging out with his teenage siblings.

Then he'll disappear. When the military police call his mother and stepfather, the hard-line Bush supporters will be able to say honestly that they don't know where their son is.

Last weekend, shortly before his return to the States, John let DER SPIEGEL in on his plan over cocoa and ham sandwiches in a Berlin cafe. He is one of a growing number of American service members now going AWOL (absent without leave) from units stationed overseas. Though the US Department of Defense does not keep figures on such cases, a strong indication of their frequency is the number who receive "Chapter 11" discharges through Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Fort Knox, Kentucky, the main processing centers for those who go missing overseas and turn themselves in, or are arrested, back home. Between October 2002 and September 2005, the two made an annual average of 1,546 such discharges. Last year the number grew to 1,988, or more than five per day.

That’s only an increase of 440 in 2006. 1,988 is a demi-brigade. But it’s a steady, constant, ongoing drip, and represents only those who turn themselves in. Troops notice the empty bunks. AWOL happens, but after 30 days continuous absence, with no contact from the soldier it is officially considered desertion. Those left behind might shake their heads in disappointment and disgust, or they might nod understandingly.

Officially, punishment for military desertion can range from an "other than honorable" discharge -- a bureaucratic slap on the wrist that may involve a cut in benefits -- to death by firing squad. In practice, many soldiers who go AWOL overseas follow the advice of the Army's deserter hotline and quietly turn themselves in to Ft. Sill or Ft. Knox. Ft. Knox spokeswoman Gini Sinclair says most of the 14,000-plus troops who have been processed through the two centers since the invasion of Afghanistan were discharged within two weeks.

Notice that the official spokeswoman says that in five and one-half years over 14,000 have been administratively separated after desertion. It’s a far greater figure than listed above, and works out to 2,545 soldiers a year. A brigade. The difference apparently represents those deserting from posts within the US.

Deciding to turn your back of your friends, family, and country is a traumatic step for a young man to take. During the Viet Nam era many did this, and at the time the assumption was that you were leaving them all behind forever. There would be no more Thanksgiving dinners with the relatives, no early morning cries of delight from younger siblings at the Christmas tree. No more of Mom’s home made birthday cakes. At the time no one expected that an official amnesty would be granted. The bitter scars of that conflict tore the country apart, and even the amnesty was bitterly contested by some.

Will some future President excuse those who are walking away from Mr Bu$h’s ego-wars?

Sgt Bob Evers, a 37 year old Nebraskan, had 14 years combined service in the Navy and the Army. Serving in Kosovo, he noted how the local populace welcomed American troops.

"It was what I thought being in the military was all about," he says; one home he visited had photos of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair on the wall.

He found the Sunni Triangle a shocking difference.

No one wanted Evers's men there, and he could see why. Escorting oil trucks up and down roads where families lack electricity and water, "you're doing more harm than good," he says, "and to me that stings."

The son and grandson of military men, Evers joined up to defend his Constitution. Initially, he supported the invasion of Iraq. Before the United Nations, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had staked his reputation on the claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Evers admired the statesman, "and I thought, if Colin Powell said it, it's good enough for me."

Wounded in November 2004, SGT Evers made his decision to leave after reading a book in the hospital. After cautiously speaking of his changed feelings about the American mission with friends, a sympathetic commander eased his way out of the Army.

The book Evers read was a biography of General Ludwig Beck, former Chief of Staff of the German Army, killed in the wake of the April 20th bomb attack on Adolph Hitler. Evers says the quite that changed his mind was "A soldier's duty ends where his knowledge, conscience, and responsibility forbid him to follow a command"

Once upon a time the US Army taught this rule.

US financial sources in Bahrain report American investors in Bahrain advised to pack up business operations and leave

The advice came from officers with US Central Command 5th Fleet HQ at Manama, who spoke of security tension, a hint at an approaching war with Iran. Arab sources report the positioning of a Patriot anti-missile battery in Bahrain this week; they say occupancy at emirate hotels has soared past 90% due mostly to the influx of US military personnel. They also report Western media crews normally employed in military coverage are arriving in packs.

Thursday, March 29, Gen. Khaled al-‘Absi, Bahrain’s chief of air defense operations disclosed that new alarm networks had been installed and air defense systems upgraded to handle chemical, biological and radioactive attacks.

Debka is an Israeli news site with very good links to IDF and Mossad. Some of their past stories have undoubtedly been deliberate disinformation, and this story might also be smoke.

However,

SAN DIEGO -- The USS Nimitz and its support ships will depart San Diego on Monday for the Persian Gulf to join another local aircraft carrier strike group already in the region, military officials said.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will join the San Diego-based John C. Stennis Strike Group and relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to Naval Air Forces Public Affairs.

Military officials said in a statement that the two-carrier presence in the Persian Gulf area is intended to demonstrate the country's "resolve to build regional security and bring long-term stability to the region."

The Nimitz was scheduled to relieve the Eisenhower.

However,

It wasn’t discussed here, but Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah was originally scheduled to visit the US and have a state dinner at the White House with Mr Bu$h. That dinner was canceled earlier this week amid news reports of the king’s terming the Iraq occupation as “illegal.”

The date of King Abdullah’s state dinner? Why, April 17th.

Watertiger has left a barnburner of a post at Firedoglake about Mr Bu$h making a magic carpet appearance at Walter Reed today, and being shown a “typical” but empty room equipped with “wide screen TV and a Macintosh computer on a desk.

Bush first toured a typical — but empty — patient room in Abrams Hall, where soldiers were transferred after they were vacated from the facility's Building 18, where moldy walls, rodent infestation and other problems went unchecked until reported by the media. The room Bush saw featured a wide-screen television and a Macintosh computer on a desk.

"I appreciate that soldiers have got a Mac" to communicate with their families, the president said.

The room he was shown is actually in Abrams Hall, which – sit down now, because this will shock you – was not actually established to house wounded soldiers. Mausergirl used to work at WRAMC:

Medical hold soldiers and some of the hospital staff live in Abrams Hall, which I've pointed out on the map as well. Abrams Hall is home to some 540 soldiers, and that is the barracks I was talking about in my past post about Walter Reed that has recently been completely refurbished - well, in the time I worked there and when I was there last, anyway. Rooms are set up as small "apartments" and have a living area, a sleeping area, and a bathroom. Soldiers are staying two or three to a room, with medical hold soldiers, three to a room is the norm. There are laundry rooms, common areas, and vending machines.

For those of you who don’t know about military hospitals, the Medical Holding Company is where you stash soldiers who have completed treatment, and are awaiting administrative disposition – either release and transfer to a regular post or discharge from the Army. The point is that in Med Hold you’re no longer in “patient” status and not yet returned to a “duty” status. Obviously if it is used as a barracks area for staff it is outside the regular medical circuit of the hospital.

Even when they try to do an eyewash publicity stunt they over reach.

Watertiger takes off on our phoney baloney “Commander-in-Chief with great abandon, unsheathed sword pen and magnum-power insult.

One small point of disagreement:

The conditions at Walter Reed and the shameful treatment of our returning servicemen and women are just another example of how the Bush administration has cloaked incompetence [emph added] in a cloud of Orwellian doublespeak. From the very start, the Bush spin machine has arrogantly manipulated words and images, constructing Potemkin villages out of everything from "Compassionate Conservativism" to Social Security "reform" to "No Child Left Behind" to the war in Iraq.

It’s not really “incompetence” Watertiger. It’s lack of interest. The military are just stuffed dolls to make him feel important. The truth is that he doesn’t give the south end of a hairy rat about those troops, nor about more than 200 million Americans. If we all died tomorrow he wouldn’t spend a moment’s thought on us.

There are a few documents that are the foundation of the American Democracy as it used to be, BB. (Before Bu$h) Most are familiar with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and some perhaps know of the Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution. Few know about the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederation, the oldest continuing democracy on the planet. And few know about the Magna Carta, the document at the base of English law. In many respects the Magna Carta is a foundation for our Constitution today.

One of the most significant documents in human history, the Magna Carta will be on display at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, located at 2200 Parks Ave in Virginia Beach. It will be at the art center until June 18.

Written in 1215, more than 500 years before the Declaration of Independence, it laid out many of the early principles of modern democracy by challenging the power of the King of England and suggesting that citizens have the right to determine whether their system of government is just.

There are four original copies of the Magna Carta in existence. The one on display in Virginia Beach is generally held at the Lincoln Cathedral archives in England.

The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia is open daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., except on Mondays, when the it stays open until 9 p.m. Admission is $8 adults, $6 students.

At first glance, the Carta doesn’t seem all that “democratic” to those of us in the 21st century. Some provisions regarding women’s freedom and debt payment to “Jews” grate harshly on our modern-day beliefs. All journeys begin with a first step, though. It established the concept of judgment by peers, rather than by the king himself, and eliminated many of the harsher penalties of law that existed before that time. At the time it was written it was a great step forward in limiting the absolute power of kings in England.

For those of you who revere what we used to have, and might well have again some day, consider a trip to Virginia this summer. It will be time well spent for me.

John McCain explains how some of the neighborhoods in Baghdad are safe enough to walk around at night without body armor, Kevlar, weapons, armored humvees, and accompanying security detail. Joe Lieberman agrees. The resistance disagrees. The Shia disagree.

Senator Lieberman (R-Tel Aviv) may have a point that the troops feel more confident in the Baghdad streets. Many reports indicate that the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr has gone to ground and this means that some of the daily danger might be temporarily postponed. These reports indicate al-Sadr is waiting to see just what the Petraeus strategy of a mini-Maginot Line in Sadr City looks like when it is finished.

The series of fortified stations, garrisoned with US and Iraqi troops, are planned to be local points of order, fortified patrol bases from which to conduct continuing forays into the surrounding neighborhood in order to maintain contact with citizens, and develop confidence in the national government’s ability to maintain social order. A vague analogy might something like community police patrolling in the US, but with machine guns, armored cars, and artillery and air support on three minute call.

This is the plan that GEN David Petraeus came up with in response to Mr Kagan’s demand for an escalation in Iraq in order to make the occupation look like it’s working.

But I don’t think it’s sensible to consider this a final solution. So far, only one of the five brigades has been deployed in Iraq. The other four won’t be fully deployed until sometime this summer.

It appears that historically the greatest resistance to the US occupation of Iraq has come from the “insurgents,” that vague category of perhaps 30 to 40% of the population that includes the Sunni religious minority, Ba’athist Party members, former members of the Iraqi Army, the adherents of al-Qaeda (certainly less than 500) and “foreign fighters” (probably less than 50) and a lot of Iraqis who probably just resent the occupation. There are undoubtedly some Shia in this grouping, since many of that sect don’t consider al-Sadr their leader.

While the US concentrates on fortifying a part of Iraq that hasn’t been overly violent, the killing goes on elsewhere. The first impression is that locking down Sadr City hasn’t reduced the sectarian killing in other parts of the country.

Today’s NY Times

WASHINGTON, March 28 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales endured blunt criticism Tuesday from federal prosecutors who questioned the firings of eight United States attorneys, complained that the dismissals had undermined morale and expressed broader grievances about his leadership, according to people briefed on the discussion.

About a half-dozen United States attorneys voiced their concerns at a private meeting with Mr. Gonzales in Chicago.

Several of the prosecutors said the dismissals caused them to wonder about their own standing and distracted their employees, according to one person familiar with the discussions. Others asked Mr. Gonzales about the removal of Daniel C. Bogden, the former United States attorney in Nevada, a respected career prosecutor whose ouster has never been fully explained by the Justice Department.

[At the meeting in] Chicago, some prosecutors accused Mr. Gonzales’s subordinates of operating as if the prosecutors were an obstacle to be side-stepped instead of a resource to be tapped in developing departmental policy, one person said.

At least one prosecutor complained that United States attorneys had been excluded from deliberations that led to a change in policy on prosecuting corporate crime, a person familiar with the discussions said. He and others would speak only on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.

The policy change at issue happened in December, when Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty rolled back a requirement that corporate defendants waive the confidentiality of their discussions with lawyers to obtain leniency. Justice Department officials said Wednesday that some prosecutors had been involved in those deliberations.

Oh boy, these are the guys who weren’t fired. Whether they are dead end loyal Bu$hies, or just honest prosecutors who aren’t in key voting districts, this sort of talking back would have been unheard of in the Bu$h malAdministration a year ago.

The descriptions of the meetings are credited to “a person familiar with the discussions.”

These meetings were apparently supposed to be secret, with information about them and the matters discussed to be announced by the White House, or by a functionary at the Department of Justice reading from a Karl Rove-produced script. Details revealed by a person or persons present at the various meetings might well indicate that this entire matter is acquiring a life of its own and is moving out of control of the White House. This possibility would of course make the various House and Senate investigations self-sustaining.

These investigations are part of the reason the Democrats won control of Congress last November. The revelations from these sensitive and confidential meetings might indicate that not only Democratic voters approve of the changes.

The troops in the sandbox like to call home and talk with their families. Cellphone calls from Iraq are expensive. (Thanks for supporting the troops, Cingular, ATT, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon. Those are your customers over there.) One soldier struggled to pay off a $7,000 cellphone bill, and this prompted two Norwell, Massachusetts teenagers, Brittany Bergquist, 16, and her brother, Robbie, 15, to do something about it.

They collected $14 from their piggybanks, got school friends to kick in another $7, and started a bank account. The bank added $500 to the account, and their non-profit was on the way. The next steps were a bake sale, a yard sale, and a car wash outside their Town Hall.

Their plan to help that one soldier broadened when the pair heard that recyclers paid for used cellphones. They began by asking friends for old phones. Within weeks, Brittany, Robbie and their parents had persuaded local shops, police stations and government offices to set out recycling bins.

Three years later, the Bergquists’ recycling network spans more than 4,000 drop-off sites located in every state and in England, Canada and Japan, and yields some 20,000 cellphones a month, which fetch an average of $5 each from a Michigan recycling company that refurbishes them for resale.

The shipments from Cell Phones for Soldiers are “an equivalent quantity to what some of the national chains are bringing in from their customer recycling programs,” said Mike Newman, a vice president at the recycling company, ReCellular Inc., whose clients also include Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Best Buy.

What a tremendous idea. The Bergquists have shown more adulthood and sense than many people more than twice their age.

With the recycling proceeds and some cash donations, the Bergquists buy phone cards worth up to 60 minutes each in international calls. They send the cards to service members and their families or military units that place requests through the charity’s Web site, cellphonesforsoldiers.com.

Nearly 400,000 cards have shipped. That number is expected to grow sharply over the next few months, when AT&T Inc. makes a few hundred of its Cingular stores nationwide official drop-off sites.

A tip of the too-small Kevlar helmet to Ariel Sabar who wrote this story for the NY Times

Overheard while snooping at a keyhole:

Well, it's Novosti, and I don't really trust anything I read in the Russian press, but...

Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.

"The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched.

He said the Pentagon is looking for a way to deliver a strike against Iran "that would enable the Americans to bring the country to its knees at minimal cost." ...

Well, that sounds like the Bushies. War isn't supposed to be costly, bloody, and difficult -- war is supposed to be easy and fun!

We'll know for sure if we hear that Dick Cheney has lit a bunch of candles, drawn himself a bubble bath, poured a glass of wine and moved a TV next to the tub (tuned to Fox, of course). This is going to be exquisitely pleasurable for him.

Historically, the Red Army’s Intelligence Service, GRU, was quite accurate in many of its reports and predictions. This is because the service operated with a large force of covert case officers co-located in embassies and consulates and a remarkably active group of ideologically motivated local agents and informers. Additionally, both the GRU and much smaller KGB discovered that many secrets in the West were easily obtained by the most persuasive argument: cash.

While the present Russian Army is a shadow of its former self, one can confidently assume that its intelligence organs have not suffered the same starvation that has befallen the armed services.

Well, we did suggest a general period, but we had in mind the period between the 15th and the 19th.

Late last week and over the weekend, the nation learned yet another version of the events leading up to, and after, the death of Pat Tillman. The first version had him killed on April 22, 2004 in Afghanistan in a firefight with Taliban guerrillas. There was great national grieving because of his fame as a professional football player, and he was laid to rest on May 3rd, 2004 in a nationally televised funeral and internment service, with a large contingent of Army troops attending. The Defense Department bent all its efforts at media management and control to turn the Tillman funeral into a recruiting tool. This official story was maintained throughout most of the month of May. A friend of Tillman’s was given a funeral oration prepared by the Army to read that stated that CPL Tillman was killed by in combat with Taliban fighters.

On May 28th the Army revealed that CPL Tillman had in fact been killed in a friendly fire incident. This fact was known at the highest levels of the Army and DoD in the immediate aftermath of his death, yet there was no public announcement until the end of the month, because the opportunity for a good, flag-waving moment of nationalistic fervor was just too good to pass up for these corrupt, cynical men.

In the aftermath of his evacuation his uniform and many personal effects, including his diary, were burned in Afghanistan. When asked about his uniform, the Army stated that the burning of his blood-soaked uniform was a standard act designed to protect the health of others. There was no mention of his diary and other personal effects at that time.

The following is excerpted from the current version of the Wikipedia article:

A report described in The Washington Post on May 4, 2005 (prepared upon the request of Tillman's family) by Brig. Gen. Gary M. Jones revealed that in the days immediately following Tillman's death, U.S. Army investigators were aware that Tillman was killed by friendly fire, shot three times to the head.[1] Jones reported that senior Army commanders, including Gen. John Abizaid, knew of this fact within days of the shooting but nevertheless approved the awarding of the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and a posthumous promotion. The citation report accompanying these awards said that Tillman was killed by enemy forces and contained a detailed account of the supposed battle--which Army leadership knew had never taken place.

Jones reported that members of Tillman's unit burned his body armor and uniform in an apparent attempt to hide the fact that he was killed by friendly fire. Several soldiers were subsequently punished for their actions by being removed from the United States Army Rangers. [2] Jones believed that Tillman should retain his medals and promotion, since, according to Jones, he intended to engage the enemy and, in Jones's opinion, behaved heroically.[

In 2005 the Army ordered an investigation into the Tillman killing by its Criminal Investigation Division. On Monday BG Rodney Johnson held a briefing at the Pentagon during which he reviewed the details surrounding CPL Tillman’s death, disclosing that a lack of fire discipline, among other things, caused the death, and the wounding of several other American troops, including Tillman’s platoon leader.

"Under extreme circumstances and in a very compressed time frame, the (shooters) had a reasonable belief that death or harm was about to be inflicted on them and believed it was necessary to defend themselves," the Criminal Investigation Command concluded. … Nine Army officers, including four generals, made errors in reporting the friendly fire death to their superiors and to the Tillman family, the Pentagon said. Defense officials said one or more of the officers who provided misleading information as the military investigated could be charged with a crime.

The subject of the new report's sharpest criticism was Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, a now-retired three-star general who was in charge of Army special operations. A central issue is why the Army waited about five weeks after it suspected Tillman's death was friendly fire before telling his family.

Kensinger knew it was probably friendly fire well before telling the Tillmans, and he "provided misleading testimony" to investigators, the Defense Department acting inspector general's report said Monday.

Another general blamed in the report is Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, also now retired, who conducted the third Tillman investigation ending in 2005. The new probe found numerous shortcomings with his report.

In a telephone interview with Keith Olberman and ESPN’s Dan Patrick, Mary Tillman, CPL Tillman’s mother, expressed anguish and outrage at the level of deception and duplicity shown by the highest levels of the Army and Defense Department. She excoriated these same officials for the cynical and abusive way they created a national spectacle of her son’s funeral for publicity purposes.

During a telephone interview with Randi Rhodes on Wednesday, Mrs Tillman repeated her outrage and indicated that because of the length and complexity of the coverup, and the Army’s refusal to admit the facts and punish those who have failed their responsibilities to the nation, today she can’t even escape a suspicion that her son was killed deliberately because of his public views of the illegality of the war in Iraq. Her belief of this frightening accusation is supported by the destruction of her son’s diary after his death. She believes this diary contained many indications of his disenchantment over the war in Iraq, and his conviction that his country had lost its way.

While this entire tawdry story is a tragic indictment of the Army and Defense Department leadership, it would be a hard step to believe CPL Tillman was killed in revenge for his political beliefs. A mother’s grief and rage is understandable after the many times she has been lied to by this country’s leaders.

An Army that coldly and calculatedly uses its dead soldiers in such bizarre publicity circuses, and then lies about the truth, is incapable of exercising the moral and ethical leadership necessary to defeat nationalistic resistance in a conquered country. It is incapable of mustering the nobility and righteousness to function as a peacekeeper in a sectarian civil war. It has lost it moral authority as the representative of a functioning democracy. It is actually a perfect mirror of the society and government it represents, and will never be recognized by the Iraqis as an honorable force dedicated to bringing a stop to the killings.

It can never “win“ in Iraq as long as one Iraqi lives.

A tip of the too-small Kevlar helmet to Joe Bourgeouis of CorrenteWire for the lead about the Olberman/Patrick/Tillman clip.

Yesterday, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN and made an amazing pronouncement: Not only is Mr Bu$h’s surge escalation working, but it has produced entire neighborhoods in Baghdad that are safe to walk through. That’s right, Americans can walk in parts of Baghdad unmolested.

This bit of happy talk was greeted with some vague sense of discomfort by Mr Blitzer, who always seems to have a problem calling “bullshit” on Republican lies. Not so Michael Ware, who’s been reporting from Baghdad for four years. Catch the video here. Mr Ware gets two recommendations, one for courage (four years in that hellhole,) and one for best line this year in political reporting.

“I dont know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about…” It appears that when Mr Ware discussed these claims with military sources, with “laughter down the line.”

After a good night’s sleep, Senator McCain is now denying he ever said that. But video cameras are so doggoned inconvenient.

This is the latest in a long string of McCain missteps, misspeakings, and flip flops. It should be obvious to the average observer that Senator McCain is having problems establishing a sound, consistent, logical platform on which to base his Presidential candidacy. It should be obvious to the charitable observer that something has gone wrong on the “straight talk express.”

Senator McCain had a long and rather distinguished career as a naval aviator. He suffered untold traumatic torture for five and one-half years as a prisoner in North Viet Nam. He is now 70 years old. Perhaps the toll of advanced years and the physical and mental stress of combat and imprisonment have taken a big bite out of Senator McCain’s reservoir of vigor and he should consider an honorable retirement.

Also posted at dKos

On March 23rd I wrote about the $122 Billion Supplemental Appropriations bill passing through the House by a close count, (218-212) and said that I expected the bill to be defeated in the Senate. Imagine my surprise when the bill passed, upon the 50-48 vote defeating an amendment by Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) that would have removed requirements of phased withdrawals of troops beginning within 120 days of enactment. What I had envisioned was a hard-fought floor debate with the usual Republican Party lies and obfuscations, driving the bill into a conference with House representatives, and the withdrawal benchmarks stripped out to appease the war-crazy shellbacks of the Never-right wing.

The bill as it stands now leaves in place some non-binding political and economic benchmarks for the Iraqi government. If I remember correctly, those benchmarks exist for the present government and any change in government would invalidate the benchmarks. I don’t want to emphasize that last item too much; I’m sure Messers Bu$h and Cheney completely understand the significance of benchmarks that apply to only one government.

Mr Bu$h has insisted that he will veto this bill, with the usual Bu$hCo fertilizer that any Congressional action that tries to tie his hands in any way at all just enables the terrorists, threatens the troops, and why does Congress hate the brave American soldiers, and why is Congress allying itself with those people who hate our freedoms?

These are the protests of a cynical, corrupt criminal in a cynical, corrupt administration.

The Bu$h malAdministration doesn’t really need this money right now; they’ve got untold billions salted away in other budget lines and after all, it’s not real money because our grandchildren and great-grandchildren have to pay the bills.

But it does present a political obstacle for an administration already beset with quite a few problems. There are scandals all over the place, and a new majority in Congress enables the Democrats to start oversight investigations and print subpoenas the way Bu$hCo has printed T-Bills for the last six years.

It’s quite possible the bill passed in the Senate because of all the scandals. After all some of these guys do have to run for re-election next year, and they‘ve probably noticed on trips back home that more and more people are disenchanted with Mr Bu$h’s ego-war. Most likely the incessant, drumbeat tempo of one scandal after another has worn the shine off Mr Bu$h’s name, which has been successfully linked with Iraq.

Scarecrow explains it nicely at Firedoglake:

There are still dozens of other amendments pending on the Senate bill. But if this initial vote holds, the Democrats will go into House-Senate conference committee after both bodies supported some type of timetable for troop withdrawal, along with non-binding benchmarks the Iraqis are expected to meet. The House bill also contains US troop readiness provisions that Murtha championed.

No one yet expects the President to abandon his threat to veto any bill with withdrawal timetables, benchmarks or troop readiness conditions. Nor is anyone predicting the Democrats will suddenly find the additional votes necessary to override that veto. But the President must now pay a price for his veto, and his party may suffer even more.

It would be unrealistic to expect this bill to withstand all the pending amendments and move the White House in its present form. But there are many more bills to be discussed, and voted upon, and each day brings us closer to the November 2008 date when Republican Congress members must justify their blind support of a failed policy from a failed White House.

Every vote the Republicans win to keep the troops there longer adds to the deathtoll of Americans and Iraqis. Every Republican vote to continue the slaughter adds more shattered and maimed American soldiers to an overtaxed and under-prepared medical care system. Each new amputee at Walter Reed underlines the Republican failure to create an American empire in the Middle East. Each flag-draped “transfer tube” snuck home in secrecy during the dark of night marks another chink in the armor of the Republican lie that they support the troops.

Patrick Chorpenning, the director of the Arizona Veterans Services, resigned in the wake of a scandal about conditions at a nursing home for veterans. Complaints about veterans left in soiled undergarments, and covered in bodily fluids from leaking medical devices prompted an examination of the Arizona State Veteran Home in Phoenix.

The home, which has 200 beds serving primarily veterans of World War II and the Korean War, was fined $10,000 by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a result of the report.

Gov. Janet Napolitano relieved the director of the department, Patrick Chorpenning, of his duties associated with the home on Monday, and he resigned on Tuesday, saying that “in light of what has taken place in the press, I feel it is in your best interest that I resign.”

“I am certain that after the investigation into the Arizona State Veteran Home is complete,” he added in a two-paragraph letter to the governor, “there will be a complete exoneration of the charges.”

Mr. Chorpenning, a former marine who was seriously wounded in Vietnam, had also been criticized in the report for hiring his wife and cousin at the home, findings that Ms. Napolitano referred to the state attorney general for further inquiry.
…
A lawyer for the veterans home responded to the Arizona Department of Health Services on Monday with a detailed plan for correcting each accusation regarding care for the residents, who are mostly age 70 to 94. Two other employees at the nursing home have been fired, two have resigned and four were reprimanded, said Ms. Lecuyer, the governor’s spokeswoman.

It was announced this morning that Tony Snow, press spokesman for the Bu$h maladministration has had a recurrence of the cancer that afflicted him once before.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Presidential spokesman Tony Snow's surgery to remove a small growth showed that his cancer has returned, the White House said Tuesday.

Snow, 51, had his colon removed in 2005 and underwent six months of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with colon cancer. A small growth was discovered last year in his lower right pelvic area, and it was removed on Monday. Doctors determined that it was cancerous, and that his cancer had metastasized, or spread, to his liver, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

She said Snow is resting comfortably after his surgery and has pledged to aggressively fight the disease with an as-yet-to-be-determined treatment course.

''He said he's going to beat it again,'' Perino said in an emotional morning briefing with White House reporters. ''When I talked to him, he was in very good spirits.''

We despise Mr Snow for his lack of ethics and morality, and his dishonesty in his dealings with the White House Press Corpse. But we still wish him well. He is faced with a monumental fight, and cancer in the liver is a terrible disease. Fight hard, Mr Snow.

This morning’s NY Times has a story written by Michael Gordon and Scott Shane detailing some of the US efforts to induce Iran to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs.

WASHINGTON, March 26 — More than 20 months ago, the United States secretly sent Iran a diplomatic protest charging that Tehran was supplying lethal roadside explosive devices to Shiite extremists in Iraq, according to American officials familiar with the message.

The July 19, 2005, protest — blandly titled “Message from the United States to the Government of Iran” — informed the Iranians that a British soldier had been killed by one of the devices in Maysan Province in eastern Iraq.

The complaint said that the Shiite militants who planted the device had longstanding ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, and that the Revolutionary Guards and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia had been training Iraqi Shiite insurgents in Iran and supplying them with bomb-making equipment.

“We will continue to judge Iran by its actions in Iraq,” the protest added.

One automatically wonders whether the Bu$h malAdministration understands the world is judging us by our actions in Iraq.

While Mr Gordon’s reputation for being overly friendly to Bu$h malAdministration press releases is well-known, in this case it’s worth looking at the article a little bit.

Over the course of the war, the devices have accounted for only a small fraction of the roadside bomb attacks in Iraq; most bombing attacks and most American deaths have been caused by less sophisticated devices favored by Sunni insurgents, not Shiite militias linked to Iran. But E.F.P.’s produce significantly more casualties per attack than other types of roadside bombs.

“They were a new type of threat with a great potential for damage,” said Lt. Col. Kevin W. Farrell, who commanded the First Battalion, 64th Armor of the Third Infantry Division, in 2005, when a penetrator punched through the skirt armor of one of the battalion’s M-1 tanks and cracked its hull. “They accounted for a sizable percentage of our casualties. Based on searches of the Baghdad environment we occupied and multiple local Iraqi sources, we believed that they came from Iran.”

Mr Gordon’s faithful stenography fails to note that just about every EFP attack has occurred in areas controlled by the Sunni resisters. Why spoil a good story with facts?

As was related in the famous Green Zone presser of Feb 11th, with the “experts” who refused to be identified, over a period of three years EFPs are thought to have produced about 5% of total American casualties. The NY Times noted in its coverage of this presser with the mystery hosts that the evidence of Iranian involvement was “contentious.”

So we would sadly note, Colonel Farrell, that in the military circles we used to inhabit 5% was not considered “sizable.” It is perhaps considered significant in bottom-line recapitulation, and (of course) significant when one is trying desperately to invent a casus belli.

A cynical man would wonder why officers who cannot even defeat the enemies they’re faced with would be casting about for a new war to get involved in. It must have something to do with careerism.

As a result of Mr Bu$h’s ego-war and Mr Rumsfeld’s nickel-and-dime spending policies, the Army, ever mindful of the grunt, its most expensive weapons system, has introduced the Wounded Warrior Hotline, a call center with a toll-free 800 number. This announcement is dated March 19th, which should mean the service is already in operation:

(800) 984-8523

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Army will open phone lines Monday on its new Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline, providing wounded and injured Soldiers and their family members another way to resolve medical issues.

The hotline also provides an information channel for Soldiers' medical-related issues to go directly to senior Army leadership in order to improve the way the Army serves the medical needs of Soldiers and their families, said the commander of U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Maj. Gen. Sean J. Byrne.

(800) 984-8523

While a cynical man might say this service would have never come into operation without the outstanding work of the Washington Post in revealing the disgraceful conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center and the shameful “give a rat’s-ass” attitude of the Surgeon General, the fact is that this direct line contact system was needed three years ago. Better late than never, but we bet MG Byrne isn’t answering any phone calls from troops left adrift by a bad set of policies.

(800) 984-8523

"We designed this call center to be able to collectively hear what Soldiers say about their health-care issues so as issues are raised, we can identify systemic faults or problematic areas and senior leaders can better allocate resources," Byrne said. "It's all about serving our wounded and injured Soldiers and their families. If we can find a way to improve our system, we will. It's that simple."

Many wounded and injured Soldiers who have supported the war on terror, and their families, are enduring hardships in navigating the medical care system, Byrne said.

To collectively hear what soldiers (and their families) have to say about military health cars system? That ought to be interesting.

"In this particularly challenging time, as our senior Army leadership looks to ways to improve our service to wounded and injured Soldiers and their families, this is another step in the direction of improvement," he said "Our wounded and injured Soldiers and their families expect and deserve the very best care and leadership from our Army."

They expect it, but they’re not getting it, General Byrne. Let’s hope this call center doesn’t devolve into “Hello, my name is Ram Singh. Do you have your serial number handy?”

The Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline can be reached from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at (800) 984-8523. The call center is under the command of the U.S. Army's Human Resources Command. As the system gears up, it is expected that it will go 24/7. Seven days a week. Way too late, but better than nothing. Let’s hope this isn’t considered to be a way to just shut the critics up.

I happened upon a very interesting website the other day and I heartily recommend it to you if you have some time to spare and want to meet a rather surprising young man who’s done quite a lot with his life in 20 years. He started blogging in late May, 2006, and since then he’s made me very envious. It’s a bit hard to read the red type on a black background, but stay with it. I think you may come away inspired, or at least fascinated.

Tell him I sent you.

Josh Marshall’s Horses Mouth page of Talking Points Memo discusses the anti-war protest in Portland Oregon and the burning of a US soldier in effigy which we referred to in the post “Stupidity” which was lost during a hacker intrusion problem of last week. The article has been reposted for reference.

For days now, [Michelle and Jesse] Malkin and [Charles (Lirttle Green Footballs)] Johnson -- with an assist from Drudge and other righties -- have been pretending to be outraged by the fact that protesters burned a U.S. soldier in effigy and did other loathsome things during an antiwar protest in Portland. They are both desperately trying to turn this into something representative of antiwar sentiment as a whole, but in a laughably dishonest way.

The reason this is worth our time is that it's part of a much larger winger campaign of desperation to seize on isolated nutty and despicable acts to shore up the rapidly collapsing GOP argument that the Antiwar Majority's opposition to the war is anti-troops. This campaign relies on everything from lies like today's edition of AWOL to evoking cultural memories of allegedly spat-upon Vietnam veterans. Gotta knock it down every time it pops up.

The Never-right has limited tools available for public discussion of matters that are important to the nation. Those tools include the classic smoke-and-mirrors tactics of misinformation, malinformation, misdirection, misrepresentation, obscuration, partial truth, non-truth, the public meme, and the most common: the outright lie.

So here's today's version. Johnson and Malkin are both making very loud noises of outrage about this editorial in the Portland Tribune. They are pointing to parts of the editorial highlighting various disgusting and loony acts by a few of the protesters, which led to a standoff with police and arrests. Johnson claims somberly that this represents "a new low for the antiwar movement," while Malkin sagely opines: "A few fringe actors? Not." [Per M&C policy, no links to wingers. Find it yourselves if you want to read it in the original obscure.]

In the past we’ve opined that if George Bu$h were to shake your hand, and say “Good morning,” the best thing to do is to carefully count your fingers three times and then go home, put on your jammies, and get into bed. Like their master, the Never-right is incapable of telling the full truth, factually and without favor. The obvious reason is either they live in a world of fantasy, or their agenda is so monstrously un-American that they dare not speak honestly. Speaking only for myself, I don’t believe the rumors about either Mr Johnson or the ones about the Malkins. There. I wanted to go on record that I’m sure the things people have been whispering about are exaggerations or the fantasies of a few jealous about their success.

When the Malkins try to typify this despicable effigy burning as not the actions of a few fringe actors, they are flying in the face of the documented statements of police who were actually there, unlike the Malkins who were busy hanging out with the “Gathering of Eagles” at the Viet Name Memorial. We know the Malkins weren’t at the Portland protest because the indefatigable TBogg has told us about their weekend in detail.

Here’s what the police had to say about the effigy burning, per the Horse’s Mouth:

But wait -- guess who doesn't think this nutty behavior represents the "antiwar movement," and does think it was the work of a "few fringe actors"? The police who battled the protesters, that's who! Elsewhere in the very same paper Johnson and Malkin quote from to make their bogus argument, there's also this:

According to police spokeswoman Officer Cathe Kent, the confrontation began when a splinter group at the end of the march tried to pull a bicycle patrol officer into their group...

"This was a splinter group. It was not the group we negotiated with for weeks before the march. Those people had a peaceful march and went home," said Kent.

Of the estimated 15,000 who marched, only 14 were arrested for various low-level charges. That's less than .1 percent, students.

We’re sure the Malkins won’t bother responding. Having smeared 15,000 protestors in Portland, and by extension all those hundreds of thousands across the country who braved brutal winter weather to protest Mr Bu$h’s ego-war, they consider their work done. They’re already working on the next day’s Big Lie.

This is a repost of an article originally placed on March 21st which was lost during a hacker attack.
***************

This crap is just so wrong:

Congressman’s office vandalized over stance on Iraq war.

Congressman Mike Rogers' home is under police guard after his Lansing office was severely vandalized last night. … The vandals also spread red paint all over the 8th congressional district sign in front of the building, as well as on a sign that says "We Support Our Troops."

They also put a sign on one of the buildings windows that says Congressman Rogers has "blood on his hands."

And this is even worse:

Flags and an effigy of a US soldier were burned at an anti-war protest in Portland.
Photos here.

This kind of idiocy delegitimizes all our efforts. All this time I thought the morons were on the right.

Fucking children having a hissy fit.

UPDATE: I am going to apologize for the language I used in this post when I described the protesters (just above.) I know better. I was taught that vulgar language shows intellectual laziness. The keyboard just got away from me.

Today’s NY Times editorializes about some of the evil that Mr Bu$h’s psychological demons have wrought upon the United States in the matter of Guantanamo prison.

Thom Shanker and David Sanger reported in Friday’s Times that in his first weeks on the job, Mr. Gates told Mr. Bush that the world would never consider trials at Guantánamo to be legitimate. He said that the camp should be shut, and that inmates who should stand trial should be brought to the United States and taken to real military courts.

Mr. Bush rejected that sound advice, heeding instead the chief enablers of his worst instincts, Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Their opposition was no surprise. The Guantánamo operation was central to Mr. Cheney’s drive to expand the powers of the presidency at the expense of Congress and the courts, and Mr. Gonzales was one of the chief architects of the policies underpinning the detainee system.

The Times is too self-interested to admit that it is also one of the enablers that permitted Mr Bu$h to set his inner beast loose on a near-helpless American public. Its years of cheerleading for the Bu$h malAdministration’s lies about 9/11, Iraq, WMDs, the fraudulent War on Terror, its refusal for more than a year to report the illegal NSA wiretapping program that listens in to your calls to put $500 on a sportsgame, or the quick cell phone to a married lover, arranging a meeting right after work, or that late night call to a phone sex company. (The Bu$hies want to know all your dirty little secrets because one day they might decide to tell everyone about them if you ever become politically “inconvenient.”)

After six years of watching them at work, do you really believe the claim that they’re only listening in on al Qaeda operatives talking to each other? If you ever believed this claim, surely the latest scandal has disabused you of that foolishness.

Why would anyone with the sense to tie a shoelace believe the detainee program, with its associated rendition to hidden jails in foreign countries, torture, coerced and fraudulent confessions, years of imprisonment without communication with family legal counsel and military tribunals with secret evidence not revealed to the defendant was intended to serve the interests of justice?

Mr. Bush and his inner circle are clearly afraid that if Guantánamo detainees are tried under the actual rule of law, many of the cases will collapse because they are based on illegal detention, torture and abuse — or that American officials could someday be held criminally liable for their mistreatment of detainees.

It was distressing to see that the president has retreated so far into his alternative reality that he would not listen to Mr. Gates — even when he was backed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who, like her predecessor, Colin Powell, had urged Mr. Bush to close Guantánamo. It seems clear that when he brought in Mr. Gates, Mr. Bush didn’t want to fix Mr. Rumsfeld’s disaster; he just wanted everyone to stop talking about it.

I would suggest Mr Bu$h never “retreated” into that alternative reality. He has always been in that ugly place. The boy that blew up frogs with firecrackers grew into the man who mocked a woman asking not to be killed. (Even Tucker Carlson, the glib-tongued, bow-tied TV talking head who is always eager to make excuses for Republican Party crimes and excesses was stunned by Mr Bu$h’s cruel mockery of Karla Faye Tucker.) This is the man who couldn’t be bothered to read clemency appeals while Governor of Texas; Alberto Gonzalez, his legal counsel at the time, would digest the appeals into a summary of 20 words or so, and make a recommendation to refuse the appeal, thereby undoubtedly gladdening his master’s heart.

When [journalist Alan] Berlow asked Gonzales directly whether Bush ever read the clemency petitions, he replied that he did so "from time to time." Instead, Bush seems to have relied on Gonzales's summaries, and they clearly indicate that Gonzales continuously sided with the prosecutors.

Purgegate has awakened much of the media to the fact that America is ruled by people with nothing but contempt for democracy, and the Constitution that governed our lives for over 200 years. The Times has a lot of catching up to do, and a lot to make up for.

It is clear from the most recent revelations that Mr Gonzalez has lied – several times – about his part in the plot to subvert American law by firing US Attorneys and installing apparatchiki ideologically loyal to a cult of people with no regard at all for government by law. Lying is second nature to Mr Bu$h; he would prefer to lie than to tell the truth. Many crimes and malfeasances have been hidden away. The nation will be damned lucky if we ever get our country back.

Back on March 11th we wrote about an incident on a road in Afghanistan:

ISLAMABAD,, Pakistan - The U.S. military asserted that an American soldier was justified in erasing journalists' footage of the aftermath of a suicide bombing and shooting in Afghanistan last week, saying publication could have compromised a military investigation and led to false public conclusions.

The comments came Friday in response to an Associated Press protest that a U.S. soldier had forced two freelance journalists working for the AP to delete photos and video at the scene of violence March 4 in Barikaw, eastern Afghanistan. At least eight Afghans were killed and 34 wounded.

"Investigative integrity is one circumstance when civil and military authorities will reluctantly exercise the right to control what a journalist is permitted to document," Col. Victor Petrenko, chief of staff to the top U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan, said in a letter Friday.

He added that photographs or video taken by "untrained people" might "capture visual details that are not as they originally were."
…
The AP disputed the assertions.

"That is not a reasonable justification for erasing images from our cameras," said AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll in New York. "AP's journalists in Afghanistan are trained, accredited professionals working at an appropriate distance from the bombing scene. In democratic societies, legitimate journalists are allowed to work without having their equipment seized and their images deleted."

Afghan witnesses and gunshot victims said U.S. forces fired on civilians in cars and on foot along at least a six-mile stretch of road from Barikaw following the suicide attack against the Marine convoy. The U.S. military said insurgents also fired on American forces during the attack. One Marine was wounded.

A U.S. soldier deleted the AP journalists' footage that showed a civilian four-wheel drive vehicle in which three Afghans were shot to death about 100 yards from the suicide bombing. The journalists had met requests from the military to not move any closer to the bomb site.

At the time (and afterwards) everyone has been very careful to not characterize the shooting up of six miles of road, “at least eight Afghans were killed and 34 wounded” as what it would have been called in post-My Lai Vietnam: a massacre and war crime. It is beyond the realm of Bu$hCo alibi that a single vehicle making a bomb attack would warrant that sort of body count in revenge.

However, actions have consequences, even in these days of Imperial arrogance:

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The top American general in Afghanistan has expelled a U.S. Marine special operations company for the way the men responded to an ambush March 4, Marine sources said.

Maj. Cliff Gilmore, a spokesman for Marine Special Operations Command, confirmed to The Examiner that the company of 120 Marines is redeploying.

He said the decision followed an ambush on the company's convoy by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. A second Marine source said the Marines retaliated and some civilians were killed.

The action brought an abrupt end to what promised to be a historic deployment. The unit sailed in January from Camp Lejeune, N.C., as the first Marine Corps special operations company sent overseas. The Corps joined U.S. Special Operations Command a year ago.

The company is now redeploying to Kuwait after just a few weeks in Afghanistan in what was supposed to be a six-month tour.

That’ll teach them.

We only had a short squib about the US Attorney scandal because, like all the later criminalities of the Bu$h malAdministration, it is growing more and more complicated with each new revelation. Judyo, who is a regular reader here and has commented several times, took the time to point out that Frank Lynch, a prolific blogger in Brooklyn, has approached the matter from a slightly different angle, and views it with a more benign eye than here at Main and Central. His view is that the storm surrounding the matter comes from the incompetence of Bu$hCo, rather than from what we view as the inherent evil. It should be read carefully.

Accountability moments, nano-second style. It's surprising how little media attention is being given to how the Bush Administration is squirming over the attorney firing scandal. I personally feel that so far there's no evidence of a crime and no reason to not presume innocence, but it's remarkable how disingenuous the White House has been in handling the whole thing. Bush has not acted like someone who is firm of conviction regarding his actions, and/or those of the people in his administration.

The number one argument that they have something to hide comes from the way they've been presenting the whole thing. By resorting to a succession of arguments which have each, in turn, been shot down so easily, they come across as prevaricating; they come across as lacking genuine justification for their actions. We're all left with a vacuum, and when people who write about politics a lot are confronted with a nature-abhorring vacuum, well, that's when the speculation starts. And it gets really messy.

Please take the time to carefully read through his arguments. Frank is a man who gives a lot of thought to his impressions, which deserve attention. And I'd ask you to make the time to visit his photos page, where Frank has archived some of the most compelling and evocative views of New York City that I’ve ever seen. Most people equate “New York City” with Manhattan, but there are actually four other boroughs and Frank’s camera has captured moments of a city in its later years, a grand dame now disheveled and wasting away, a shadow of what once was, yet still harking back to a past of nobility and usefulness. Many of his shots have evoked more nostalgic yearning in me than all the shots of night lights on Broadway ever could.

Our good friend, SoS, who lives out in Phoenix with one of the finest ladies I’ve ever met, posted a commentary about how PTSD has affected him. If you don’t know, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is the hidden ailment affecting at least one-third of our vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It stems from seeing and doing things that just shouldn’t happen, and can only be really understood by those that have seen the elephant. This is not to say that all vets have this problem. – just about one-third, and a cynical man would suggest that less than one-third of those get any sort of useful treatment from the VA. That’s not to imply that the VA is a useless organization because the employees, as opposed to the political appointee administrators, do a heroic job of caring for their clients. But in these days of Bu$hCo wanting to spend only on guns for oil conquest, the VA currently has its hands full tending those with wounded bodies, and has very little extra to spare for wounded souls.

SoS had a tough time of it during his service time and apparently received just barely enough treatment to keep him off the newspaper’s catastrophe page. I think all vets who’ve been affected by combat have had some sort of manifestation, but many of us have been much luckier than SoS.

His story is here and it would be worth your while to read it.

It seems that several first (or second, depending on your valuation) bloggers had a “secret” meeting with some Senators and some people are upset about this. The stated purpose of the meeting was try to bring these 20 or so Democratic Senators up to speed on just what the heck a blog is, what it does, who does it, why they do it and how you too can achieve fame and fortune by blogging away in your jimmies at home.

The bloggers were John Aravosis (AMERICAblog) KagroX (Dkos) and Atrios, and this secret meeting has ruffled some feathers. The stated purpose of the meeting, as I said, was to educate these Senators who are probably a bit embarrassed to admit they know very little about the whole blogtopia (y!sctp!) thing. It’s likely the Senators were intrigued about the blogging phenomenon and, being politicians, were trying to figure out a way to harness this thing for their own benefit.

Spread the word Iraq Nam has posted an article at kos expressing his concern about this secret meeting. The entry includes a quote from John Aravosis at AMERICAblog who had explained the matter.

This is the lead post tonight at AmericaBlog:

Had a really interesting day today. Atrios, KagroX from DailyKos and I were invited to sit down to lunch in the US Capitol building with a group of 20 or so Democratic Senators and talk about the blogs. The lunch was off the record, meaning I can't tell you what anyone said, but since the Washington Post already reported the other day that the talk was talking place, I'm not breaking any confidences by mentioning it. Basically, it was a chance to sit down with the Senators and help them get to know the blogosphere better. I worked in the Senate in the late 80s and early 90s, so I've met Senators before, but never as the expert in the room. It was really quite interesting, and fun, and I think mutually beneficial. [emph in original]

And here I thought that blogs were supposed to be the antidote to chummy relationships between those who report and those in power.

Ah well, la plus ca change...

This could very well be a tempest in a teapot, but should nevertheless be remarked upon. The bloggers are three of the more progressive and sensible members of our community and it’s likely the can be trusted not to betray us, so I don’t share spread the word’s disquiet, and neither do those commenting on his post.

Here’s the thing: they were invited by men (and possible women) who wanted information. A group of twenty or so men do not suborn three bloggers in the Senate dining room, so it seems concern, outrage or alarm are uncalled for. Has anyone ever tried to bribe you? Did they do it in front of witnesses?

These bloggers are not our enemies, although some people have tight jaws over Atrios’s trimming of his blogroll, which many think was a cruel step to take, since it removes a powerful linkage to second and third tier blogs which do not have the fame of the top dogs.

Three bloggers getting free lunches will probably not destroy the nation. Let’s presume that at some point we’ll learn about what actually transpired at the meeting; maybe it was about net neutrality, which is a corporate catastrophe waiting to happen. That is a threat to us all.

As always, your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

The radio news announced that the House bill passed, 218 to 212, with one whining coward sitting on his thumb (hope it wasn’t greased) because that member was too frightened to take a stand on the morality of Mr Bu$h’s illegal ego-war in Iraq.

So, for the moment, the sense of the House is that the troops can be funded, but their asses need to be our of the sandbox by August, 2008. Let this be clearly understood: Mr Bu$h wanted $X for the troops, and the House has authorized every single last penny of our grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s money that he asked for in order to keep his campaign donors rolling in our – well, our progeny’s children’s money.

It should be noted that this bill was passed in the light of day, and not at three o’clock in the morning, as the criminal Republican Party, led by the despicable Tom DeLay, used to do. There was no three hour voting period, while Congressmen were lobbied and bribed and attacked, their arms twisted with threats to their and their children’s political futures.

Mr Bu$h, who probably spent much of the afternoon pouting until his lower lip dried up and dreaming of Nancy Pelosi and Jack Murtha down in Gitmo, being stress postured and waterboarded 18 times a day, will address the nation this evening at which time he will accuse the Democratic Party of being unpatriotic and playing with the lives of the fine men and women of the Armed Forces that he takes great pleasure in posing before. (Somehow, he thinks that makes him a “War President” and “Great Warrior Leader.” Well, when I was eight years old I used to dress up as a soldier and pretend. But I grew up.) Oh yes, my brethren and sistren, he will throw a wonderful tantrum tonight.

Mr Bu$h’s surge escalation is intended to last until January, 2009, or until some excuse can be drummed up to attack Iran. On January 21st, 2009, the Republican Party will begin attacking the Democratic President for failing to resolve the issue of Mr Bu$h’s war in Iraq (and Iran and Syria, if possible.) When you leave your mojo home, and it’s 2 AM in the casino, you keep scrounging for cash, believing the next spin of the roulette wheel will change your luck.

The bill now must go to the Senate, where it will not pass. The financial and ideological slaves of AIPAC in the Senate will not be allowed to accept the removal of ground troops from Iraq until Iran and Syria are reduced to the chaos that exists in Iraq. Senator Joe Lieberman (R-Tel Aviv) will whine and moan and shriek about all the blood that has already been shed and about it has all been in vain unless we continue to double up our bets and take another ride on the wheel, hoping to see 00 come up at long last. The two Confederate Party leaders, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Trent Lott of Mississippi will snarl a bit and promise with their honeysuckle snake oil accents that this treasonous bill won’t pass in the Senate.

Because, you see, to Republicans, trying to save Americans’ lives is treasonous when compared to stealing another country’s oil or fighting to protect Israel and the monthly AIPAC stipends.

The big question that has to come out in “Purgegate” is who gave the order to fire attorneys who were doing their job well, but refused to drink the Kool Aid.

Now, just who the hell do you think gave the order? Who demands complete, unquestioning loyalty?

New e-mails prompt the question: Did Bush make the decision to fire the U.S. Attorneys?

Now what do you think?

Follow the link and see just how smart you are. Then you can follow links over there to learn more from Josh Marshall, who has forgotten more about this scandal than the bought-and-paid-for media know. Think Progress also has some thoughts about this latest piece of criminality.

Apologies for the lack of posting. Very briefly, it was caused by an apparent breach of my security firewall through the wireless router. I discovered it when I had His Imperial Majesty, the dachshund who owns me, out for an inspection of his domain and noticed a guy sitting in his car in front of the unoccupied house next door. The guy was still there two hours later when we next had to inspect things (His Majesty requires frequent outdoor checks of his realm) and at that time I noticed there was a dim light coming from his right side, just like I’d seen in police cars equipped with laptops.

So that explained why my computer was running so slow.

Fortunately my banks and brokers have 24 hour telephone centers and I was able to freeze everything. I called them right after I called the constabulary who found the guy.

I never knew you could hack into a MAC that way. The MAC is now at a technician being dry cleaned. He charges slightly more than plumbers and lawyers do, but not as much as a Republican politician, thank some deity.

It took until just a short while ago for my ISP to deliver me an updated router, which will do until I can get a WPA2 router and figure out how to make it work with my ISP.

There’s so much going on that I’m not sure exactly where to start. Mr Bu$h still insists that, unlike you and me, his stuff doesn’t stink and therefore the Constitution is wrong when it says Congress has oversight authority. I wonder if his stuff comes out in neat little cubes or maybe trapezoids. I know they’re all colored gold, as befits a guy who thinks he’s an emperor.

Senator Leahy says that following Mr Bu$h’s plan of “interviewing” Karl Rove, Harriett Miers, and some other criminal whose name I can’t remember would be just like the great Gershwin tune “I’ve got plenty of nothing.” Not to say “I told you so” but last week I predicted Darlin Arlen would try to give the Bu$h malAdministration a way out of the legal danger they’re in.

Today, White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected a compromise proposed by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Specter suggested that White House aides testify in private without taking an oath but that the session be transcribed. The Bush administration opposes an official transcript.

‘ ‘Our offer is our offer,'' Snow said when asked about Specter's idea. ``It's a no.''

During the committee debate, Specter warned that a subpoena fight with the White House wouldn't help determine whether the firings were ordered to thwart political corruption cases against Republicans or to remove prosecutors who properly declined to bring voter fraud cases against Democrats.

``If we have the confrontation, we are not going to get this information for a long time,'' Specter said.

Even with Snow's rejection, Specter told reporters that he is still optimistic the Bush White House is open to negotiations.

``The president never said it was a final offer. Tony Snow said it was a final offer,'' Specter said. ``The president was explicit'' that ``he was making a proposal.''

Later in the day, Specter told reporters he had outlined his proposal in a telephone call with White House Counsel Fred Fielding. ``He would take my suggestion to the president,'' Specter said.

Asked about Specter's proposal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the committee ``should exhaust all those possibilities'' because ``Specter is very good at trying to work these things out.''

Senator Reid should stick to his strategizing and allow Senator Leahy to deal with the subpoenas, because allowing Specter, the Constitution-hater, to make the arrangements will leave the Senate with a handful of sand, and as Karl Rove strolls away through the halls of Congress laughing out loud, he’ll tell the Senate exactly what to do with the sand.