This is terrible news from Iraq today.

Attack on U.S. Base in Iraq Leaves 20 Dead

"An explosion tore through a soft-sided mess tent during lunch hour at a military base near the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, and officials said at least 20 people were killed - the deadliest attack on a U.S. base in Iraq since the start of the war."

This is just a terrible attack, and I just hope that we don't have anything like this happen again.

This might be my last until after the holidays. My dad is coming tomorrow and he will be here for a week. So I don't know if I will have time to write much during that time. I might try to post something tomorrow before I go pick my dad up at the airport. Otherwise, everyone have a Merry Christmas.

Could it be? Has shrub actually been able to come to grips with reality? As unbelievable as this may sound, there is some evidence of this today.


Bush: Iraq Bombers 'Are Having an Effect'

"'And so the American people are taking a look at Iraq and wondering whether the Iraqis are eventually going to be able to fight off these bombers and killers,' Bush said in perhaps his clearest expression of frustration with Iraqi forces."

Maybe it was after seeing pictures like this that he is starting to see reality.


A gunman, left, shoots and kills an election worker who was ambushed and pulled from a car driving in downtown Baghdad. The man at the right on his knees, another election worker, was executed moments later, along with another man not shown in picture.
(Photo: AP)

"'Now I would call the results mixed in terms of standing up Iraqi units who are willing to fight,' Bush said in a candid assessment. 'There have been some cases where, when the heat got on, they left the battlefield. That's unacceptable. Iraq will never secure itself if they have troops that, when the heat gets on, they leave the battlefield.' What is needed, he said, is a better military command structure."

Yeah, it looks like reality may actually be in his mind now. But wait for it, wait for it...

"He said he understands why Americans have doubts about Iraq's ability. 'They're looking on your TV screen and seeing indiscriminate bombings, where thousands of innocent — or hundreds of innocent Iraqis are getting killed ...' But Bush said those pictures do not reflect that 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces are relatively stable and that small businesses are starting up."

Oh! So close! Well there's always next time folks.

No not THAT Good Friday. Just a regular old good Friday. I installed a kitchen cabinet tonight, so I really didn't have time to write a real post for today.

In other news, we had our company Christmas dinner tonight, and boy was that fun. Crappy food, but anyways I digress.

Hope all of your Christmas shopping is done for all you Christian folks out there. Mine is almost done. I'm tired. Everyone have a good weekend.

Man they just won't leave this poor guy alone.



GOP lawmaker Collins joins Rumsfeld critics

"'I am very concerned that it appears the Pentagon failed to do everything in its power to increase production' of the vehicles, Collins wrote."

Oh and she went on to say.

"Collins also complained that the Army requested production of an additional 100 Humvees a month only after a soldier complained about the lack of necessary armor on trucks during a December 9 town hall meeting with Rumsfeld in Kuwait."

Now Republican Bud said in a comment on an earlier post of mine, how,

"The Army HAS BEEN addressing this issue..."

Doesn't seem to ring very true Rep Bud.

"Rumsfeld told the troops that shortages of armor did not stem from a lack of money but were 'a matter of physics.' The manufacturers of add-on armor are producing it as fast as humanly possible, he said.

Two companies producing armor plating disputed that assertion and said they could produce as many as double the number of armor kits in a month."

Hmmm, seems someone is not being completely honest. Somehow that doesn't surprise me.

Oh and there's even more! Republican Senator Chuck Hagel:

"U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, said troops in Iraq 'deserved a far better answer than that flippant response.'

'That might work in a newsroom where you can be cute with a television audience,' he told CNN this week, 'but not in a room where you're putting men and women in harm's way. I wonder what the parents thought.'"

Oh but WAIT there's even more.

"'I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld,' [Republican Senator] Lott told the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, according to the AP. 'I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers.'

The AP quoted him as saying, 'I would like to see a change in that slot in the next year or so. I'm not calling for his resignation, but I think we do need a change at some point.'"

Granted I think Lott is a bigot, but I guess even bigots can be right sometimes.

So I am glad that many Republican Senators and even more Democratic Senators agree with me, that Rummy needs to go.

Hello shrub. Pay attention you dunce!

Anyways, I really don't have much to say. Yesterday you were all treated to my emotional ramblings. I promise not to do that today.

A few things.

Army Spending $4B to Send Vehicles to Iraq

Looks like the Army is making a point to show that they are now doing everything they can to armor these vehicles.

Bush Says U.S. Firms Hurt by Lawsuits

You know I have heard this. shrub seems so concerned about corporations, but the question is, does he really have any concern for the people who are taken advantage of by the corporations, and who may be taken advantage of more if these reforms take place. Shrub said the following.

"'Justice ought to be fair,' the president said. 'Those who have been hurt ought to have their day in court.'"

Lets hope he really means that, and it is not just another soundbite that he says to make people feel better, like saying "I am a uniter, not a divider".

Ok I've got nothing else to say. Have a good night.

I really don't feel like writing a political post today. I am not in the mood to do it. I was driving to work today and I put on a Coldplay CD.

Things not to do after a breakup:

• Listen to "The Scientist" (Track 4) off of "A Rush of Blood to the Head".


• Watch Jeff Buckley DVD, especially the song "The Last Goodbye".

Well I did both of those things today. So please excuse my excursion into my mind, and heart for this one post.

Coldplay - "The Scientist"

"...Tell me your secrets, and ask me your questions
Oh lets go back to the start
Running in circles, coming up tails
Heads on a silence apart

Nobody said it was easy
Oh it’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said that it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start.."

I want to go back to the start. Things were so beautiful then.

Oh the memories.
Oh the bitter taste of regret.

Jeff Buckley - "Last Goodbye"

"This is our last goodbye
I hate to feel the love between us die
But it's over
Just hear this and then I'll go :
you gave me more to live for,
more than you'll ever know.
....
You know,
it makes me so angry 'cause I know that in time
I'll only make you cry, this is our last goodbye..."

I know that in time, I'll only make you cry. What a terrible thought indeed.

Oh the memories.
Oh the bitter taste of regret.

Well another week is before us. I had a good weekend. My friend Geoff was here and we went downtown and had a good time. But now another week starts and I can't wait for it to end. Let's see what's in the news.

McCain Has 'No Confidence' in Rumsfeld

"U.S. Sen. John McCain said Monday that he has 'no confidence' in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, citing Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq and the failure to send more troops."

I know Rep Bud, McCain is a RINO (Republican In Name Only) right? Ah well if it means anything to you, this is one republican that I would actually consider voting for. So yeah he must be a RINO!

But seriously, I think Rumsfeld has been a terrible Sec of Defense. I can't fathom how shrub would ask him to stay on. I mean this man has presided over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal with NO accountability. He was the one who had this brilliant idea to go into Iraq light in forces. I think that has been shown to be a complete failure. But I digress.

Oh and the Iraqi Interim President finally seems to be able to say things freely.

"As insurgents continued to step up attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces ahead of next month's elections, the country's interim president said Washington was wrong for dismantling Iraq's security forces, including its 350,000-strong army, after last year's invasion.

'Definitely dissolving the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior was a big mistake,' Ghazi al-Yawer told British Broadcasting Corp. radio, saying it would have been more effective to screen out former regime loyalists than to rebuild from scratch."

Yes, exactly, and why have nearly no one questioned this? Completely dissolving the Iraqi army and security forces was disastrous. It just goes to show that this administration had NO plan for after the war. How shrub can get off scott free on this point is beyond me.

My friend Geoff is coming into town, so I must make this brief.

Nothing much to report on the political front. shrub named his replacement for Energy Secretary.

Bush Dubs Energy Pick a 'Problem Solver'

Other than that, I saw the movie Pieces of April, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a healthy bit of drama, and something a little different than the standard Hollywood film.

Have a good weekend.

So, ok Social Security is in trouble. The question is how are we going to save it? The republicans think that the answer is to partially privatize the system. I don't think that is a wise decision. Here is what shrub had to say on the issue today.

Bush Rules Out Social Security Tax Hike

" Three years after his Social Security commission issued recommendations on how to repair the system, Bush remained noncommittal Thursday on how he would pay for the estimated $2 trillion cost of revamping Social Security. But vast new borrowing seemed increasingly likely."

See here is the thing. We are already up to our nose in debt, and to now propose a solution that would seriously put us further into debt, I don't think is a good idea. I am not saying that another solution is not going to cost as much money, but it seems to me that there very well maybe something less expensive than switching to a partially privatized system.

"We will not raise payroll taxes to solve this problem."

Ok fine, but here is the problem, expressed well by Rep. Bob Matsui,

"'President Bush seems to have painted himself into a corner on Social Security because he says no tax increases and no benefit cuts for current or near retirees, while insisting on costly private accounts with trillions in transition and administrative costs,' he said."

Now also another point in this debate, at this early stage, is this proclamation by shrub seems to rule out removing the cap on taxable income for Social Security.

"By taking payroll tax increases off the table, Bush dealt a blow to some GOP proposals to confront the costs of changing Social Security. They want to consider raising or removing the limit on income subject to the 12.4 percent payroll tax split between workers and employers. The maximum level of earnings taxed is $87,900 now; it will rise to $90,000 next year."

It seems to me, and believe me I am no financial wizard, that allowing more, or even all income to be subject to payroll tax for Social Security would go a long way towards procuring the money needed to save this program. Especially when the cap is only $90,000 next year. I can think of ALOT of people who make more than $90,000 and who are having the same amount of payroll taxes held from their paycheck as someone who makes $90,000.

Not to mention that I don't know that having young people put part of their payroll tax money into private accounts in the stock market is a good idea. Seems like it may benefit the market people more than it will benefit the system. But more research needs to be done.

THESE are the things we NEED to be discussing. It amazes me that some things are being completely ignored in the news. And I think you all know how I feel about the failures of the media. Well they actually come through, but then again they had to this time.



U.S. Troops in Kuwait Fire Complaints at Rumsfeld

"'Now why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles? And why don't we have those resources readily available to us?' the soldier asked.

Rumsfeld asked the soldier to repeat the question.

The soldier said, 'A lot of us are getting ready to move north (into Iraq) relatively soon. Our vehicles are not armored. We're digging pieces of rusted scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that's already been shot up, dropped, busted -- picking the best out of this scrap to put on our vehicles to take into combat.'

'We do not have proper armament vehicles to carry with us north.'"

So what did he say to that question? Did he say that he was upset as well that more armor did not come as fast as they would like? Noooo. In good old Rummy fashion he replied with his sarcastic wit.

"Rumsfeld conceded that 'not every vehicle has the degree of armor that it would be desirable for it to have,' and said the Army was hurrying to provide more armored vehicles, adding 400 per month.

But Rumsfeld added, 'As you know, you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.'

'If you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up. And you can have an up-armored Humvee and it can be blown up,' Rumsfeld said."

Check out the video here.

Some response from Washington, I know, I know, from a Democrat senator, but still.

" In Washington, Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record) of Connecticut called Rumsfeld's comments about the armor 'stunning,' and said in a letter to the secretary, 'Your response -- 'You go to war with the Army you have' -- is utterly unacceptable.'"

Yeah we really need to face these things. Talk about them and fix them.

Sorry folks blogger was down.

In case you all didn't know, today was Pearl Harbor Day. On this day in 1941 Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese setting off a chain of events that ultimately brought the United States into World War II, and one of the most grave situations in war in the history of this planet, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 2,403 people died on this day in 1941, one of the worst death tolls in American history on a single day, save the Battle of Antietam (Civil War), and September 11, 2001. So on this day we need to stop and look at history and think about where we are going.

Having said that. I want to share one article, to further respond to Republican Bud, who said that things in Iraq were going well.

Report: CIA chief paints bleak picture in Iraq

"The assessments are more pessimistic than the Bush administration's portrayal of the situation to the public, government officials told the newspaper.

The classified cable -- sent last month by the CIA's station chief in Baghdad, who is winding up a one-year tour of duty there -- painted a bleak picture of Iraq's politics, economics and security and reiterated briefings by a senior CIA official, according to the Times article."

Yeah yeah I know, all these people are just making it up. They see the glass as half empty. Anyways, if we keep lying to ourselves, and pretending that everything is wonderful, then we are going to be in a world of trouble, this world is going to be in a world of trouble. As Senator Chafee said in my post yesterday, "We really need cold, hard facts and honesty".

Just a quick update, I'm not much up for writing a real post today. I just wanted to sort of answer a comment by Republican Bud from an earlier post. He seems to think that things in Iraq are getting better. And I suppose if you watched the mainstream news you would think that, because they are completely falling down in their job.

Senator: Public needs 'cold, hard facts' on Iraq

"'It's a very tenuous security situation,' [Senator] Chafee told CNN. 'I'd been there [Iraq] a year ago -- what a change.'...

Chafee said the senators were unable to travel through Baghdad's neighborhoods, visit the northern city of Mosul or take the road from the airport -- all things visitors could do last year."

I know, I know, yeah things are getting better. It is seriously a dangerous thing to keep telling the American people this when it is simply not true.

"Chafee said that when Iraqi politicians -- such as interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, who met with President Bush on Monday in Washington -- say that the situation is improving, the effect is damaging.

'We really need cold, hard facts and honesty,' Chafee said. 'The situation is tough over there.'"

EXACTLY!

Oh by the way, that was sarcastic. Here's the story.



Rumsfeld to remain in Cabinet

Thank god! No really, I think this guy has done a terrible job, and I really wish he was leaving, but apparently shrub talked him into staying on. I can only hope that, contrary to his actions so far, he will learn from his mistakes. You know like being adamant, in the face of direct disagreement, that we could effectively win the war in Iraq with a light force of only 150,000 soldiers. When we went into Kuwait in 1991 we went in with some 500,000 strong force. We didn't even go to Baghdad. Uh yeah I think that has caused alot of the problems we are seeing now.

Anyways, I wanted to write about the article that I have been mentioning for several days, but I just don't have it in me again tonight. I know no one is reading this anyway, so I will get to it Monday, hopefully.

Report: 44% of Americans medicated

That is right 44%! I think it is time to re-evaluate where our society is going. I don't want to sound like a republican (who wants to regulate your personal life), but I really think we need to consider what we are doing to our populace.

Granted there are many people who NEED these medications, but at the same time, there are MANY who don't need all the medications that are being prescribed for them.

"Usage peaked at 84 percent for people aged 65 and over, with the top rate at 89 percent for black women over 65.

Even for people under age 18, however, nearly one-fourth -- 24.1 percent -- were taking at least one prescription medication."

Yeah the kids are on DRUGS! All the more interesting considering this article.

Phyllis Schlafly: No child left unmedicated

"Big Brother is on the march. A plan to subject all children to mental health screening is under way, and pharmaceutical companies are gearing up for bigger sales of psychotropic drugs."

I am by NO means against going to a psychiatrist, or proper mental health care. But to simply subject ALL children, even pre-schoolers to mental health screening, I just don't think that is the right way to go.

"The commission recommends "routine and comprehensive" testing and mental health screening for every child in the United States, including preschoolers. The president has instructed 25 federal agencies to develop a plan to implement the commission's recommendations."

Yeah I'm sorry, I just can't support this;

Call me crazy!

In other news, Leah and I broke up tonight. I don't usually talk much about my personal life on this blog, but I needed to mention this here. Leah and I have been together for nearly a year, and she has been a huge part of my life. I am going to miss her immensely.

I just wanted to let everyone know that the topic I promised I would talk about tonight, will have to wait until tomorrow, sorry everybody. Who am I kidding, no one is reading this. :(

Sorry, I was out all evening. I got a rocking recliner loveseat. But I had to help my friend Brook move some of her furniture, before I could take the loveseat. I know you all wanted to know that. Anyways, I had a topic I wanted to discuss tonight, but I don't have enough time now to deal with it like I would like, so I will wait till tomorrow.

Some late news I just saw:

U.S. sending 1,500 more troops before Iraq vote

"The United States is dispatching an additional 1,500 troops to Iraq and extending the stays of more than 10,000 others to bolster security ahead of January's scheduled elections, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The moves will bring the number of U.S. troops in Iraq from nearly 140,000 to an all-time high of about 150,000, the Pentagon said."

I am glad that Rummy has FINALLY decided to up the number of troops over there. I just wish that we had gone in originally with more troops, perhaps some of the problems we have had over there could have been mitigated.