Priorities

I wonder if the word even has any meanings for our Congress members. Given recent events, I'd have to say, "no."

A couple of days ago they put off deliberation on the Defense Authorization Bill so that they could give the NRA a pre-summer gift of legal immunity. And now this:

The leaders of a Congressional panel wrote to Major League Baseball yesterday to ask for a broad set of records related to Rafael Palmeiro's steroids suspension.

[snip]

...the Congressional committee wanted to determine whether Palmeiro might have committed perjury when he testified that he had never used steroids.

Nevermind that Bush and numerous other administration members lied to Congress, the public, the UN and the world about Iraq. Nevermind that those lies resulted in a war that has killed over 1,800 soldiers and uncounted thousands of Iraqis.

Nope. Pay all of that no mind.

We're talking important stuff here... You know; a grown man, playing a kids' game, for millions of dollars, who just might have taken steroids.

What's Another Thousand?

Twenty today, seven yesterday; the count is now about 1,815.

If you're like most Americans, which you're not because you're reading this, you might not know what those numbers above refer to. The few of us who are really paying attention know that the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq is too rapidly approaching 2,000.

As in wars past, those who die are predominantly young; for argument's sake let's say that these soldiers averaged 20 years old. When today's average 20 year-old can look forward to living to at least 85, that's 65 years gone in an instant. 130,000 combined years of experiences never to be known; love never found, adventures never had.

With so few people having a stake in what goes on in Iraq, especially those counseling us all to "stay the course," it's no wonder that the loss of those fine soldiers elicits so little reaction. Hundreds of hours of television and radio time were taken up this week discussing the small lies and the even smaller consequences of a baseball player who claims never to have "knowingly" taken steroids. The loss of 1,815 lives merits only a mention in the headlines.

"Bread and circuses," my friends... and our own Nero fiddles, blind to the flames around him.

Republican Priorities

This administration and its Republican supporters in Congress have always been about playing up their strong "support the troops" message and their chest thumping brand of national security. But their actions - as always - speak louder than words ever could their real intentions.

My post from yesterday ended with a leading question that plays into this same theme. Today, the Washington Post, via MSNBC, gives us another peek at Republicans real priorities. If the Iraq fiasco was, at least in part, a sop to BushCo's oil company supporters, then this story reveals even more of their toady obeisance to special interests.

The nation's gun lobby is close to realizing a long-sought goal of protecting firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held legally responsible for violent crimes committed with their handguns and automatic weapons.

Supporters believe they have the votes in the Senate to pass as early as today a bill making it virtually impossible for victims of gun violence to file civil suits against the industry -- a testimony to the political clout of gun manufacturers, which have become increasingly vulnerable to civil lawsuits in the District and several states.

What is more disturbing is that twelve Democrats, including the Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid are going along with the Republicans to support the legislation. Worst of all?

Democrats also criticized Frist for pulling a defense authorization bill from the floor this week to ensure that the gun bill would be considered before the summer recess, which is scheduled to begin this weekend.

That's right; the saber rattling, tough on defense, Iraq invading Rethugs are ignoring one of the most important pieces of business they have to give the equivalent of a legislative blow job to the gun industry.

No leading questions required today.

Terror Arrests

British police, working amid a public with stiff upper lips much in display, have made nine additional arrests related to the recent London bombings. Combined with the identification of the first set of bombers and other arrests, the total number of suspects arrested in less than a month far exceeds the total 9/11 arrests publicly known after nearly four years in the US.

Are the Brits just luckier? Or perhaps their terrorists were less fastidious than those in this country?

What the hell is going on? Why won't the American public hold BushCo accountable?

Alive and Kickin'

Those of you who continue to drop by my little corner of the blogosphere may be familiar with some of the - there's no other word for it - crap that's been going on in my life. It seems that, just maybe, things are starting to turn around.

I won't bore you now with all the details, if you're really interested you can search through the archives, but maybe, just maybe, I might return to more regular blogging. I haven't completely lost touch with the world and there are way too many things going on right now to really catch up on here. I will, however, likely write about several of them in the upcoming days and weeks; depending on how relevent they remain.

As I figure out the best way to get back into the blogging game, I urge you to check out the many fine bloggers linked to on the left sidebar; most especially the outstanding folks in the Liberal Coalition. In their fine blogs you'll get your fill of the continuing saga of Karl Rove, the Supreme Court, the fiasco in Iraq and all things relating to the disaster of an administration currently befouling the capitol of this otherwise wonderful country.

***

Finally, in the non-political world, I highly recommend that you go see the following movies if you haven't already: Star Wars Episode III, War of the Worlds and Batman Begins. For various and assorted reasons, they all blew me away.

Now It's Personal

As horrific as it's been to see the list of casualties from Afghanistan and Iraq growing day by day, I found out yesterday that it's worse when one of those names belongs to a friend.

Last week, Colonel Ted Westhusing became the most senior officer to be killed in Iraq. There are still no details about how Ted died - the Army is only saying that it was from non-combat related injuries, which could mean just about anything. I read about his death at Eric Alterman's Altercation (read through Maj. Bateman's letter from Iraq). When I got to Ted's name I froze.

Ted and I graduated in the same class at West Point: 1983. We spent many hours together; most of them studying for and in Russian Language courses over the four years. But there were also the times we spent "out in the field" during our summer exercises and the times we spent drinking beer and laughing.

When I read that my friend had died I could immediately see his face although we hadn't spoken since graduation.

Ted was a brilliant man. I read that during the intervening years he'd gotten a Masters in Russian, philosophy and military history. But he was also - and my memory is sharp on this - a very kind person. In the highly charged and competitive atmosphere at West Point, Ted was always ready to lend a hand, to help someone through a difficult lesson - whether the kind in a classroom or in life. And it was just that spirit that drove Ted to volunteer, from his rather comfortable position as an English professor at West Point, to help train Iraqis to help themselves. It is more a shame that such a life would be wasted on a misadventure such as this; one entirely avoidable and unneccessary.

His family and friends are not the only ones missing something from their lives now. The whole world is a poorer place without Ted Westhusing.

Job

Think either the Robert Heinlein novel or the book in the Old Testament.

Either way - he's got nothing on us.

Stuck in Low Gear

Have you been feeling a little stuck in a rut lately? A financial rut?

It's not surprising, really. Those of us making less than the top 10% of earners are having a harder and harder time making any headway, much less can the bottom 10% live up to the old American dream of class mobility.

In today's New York Times, Bob Herbert puts together many of the things I've thought about and read about over the past several years into a powerful opinion piece. There's no doubt that my wife and I are firmly ensconced in the middle class, but it seems that we can never get ahead - never get comfortable. Herbert lays it all out there; stagnant wages, a jobs market full of more fear than jobs and a plutocracy that's determined to take it all with them. Or at least leave it to their kids.

The privileged classes, with the Bush administration's iron cloak of protection, avoid their fair share of taxes, are reluctant to pay an honest dollar for an honest day's work (the federal minimum wage is still a scandalous $5.15 an hour), refuse to fight in their nation's wars, and laugh all the way to their yachts.

I'm not laughing. And many of our compatriots in that lower 90% are crying and those who are "fighting our nation's wars" are dying.

Bush in Rochester

Ho-hum.

Peddling lies about Social Security to a hand-picked audience.

No excitement here, move along.

Confluence

That's where two rivers or streams flow together. A confluence is often known for its turbidity and, according to chaos theory, the effects of two rivers flowing together can be orders of magnitude larger than you'd expect.

Two things in the news made me think of the above.

The first was North Korea's continued and - perhaps more serious - saber rattling. While the news was all abuzz about a missile test and large holes being dug, perhaps in preparation for an underground nuclear device test, there was little substance. There wasn't much "news" in the news. Nothing much was said about the missile being a short range variety that could only carry a relatively advanced (light-weight) nuclear weapon. And there were only scattered inferences that perhaps the North Koreans were only posturing with their big dig.

The second was this article about the Army and the Marines missing their recruiting goals for the third and fourth months in a row, respectively.

While worrisome on its own, the North Korea situation seems even more ominous in light of the military having trouble with keeping manpower levels up. Despite repeated assurances from BushCo. officials, it's generally accepted that the military is stretched mighty thin around the world and may not be able to handle another crisis (N. Korea) well.

Here's where chaos theory comes in. What happens at the confluence of these two events? Will Kim Jung Il be "emboldened" by our military's preoccupation and staffing problems? Will BushCo. use Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea as an excuse to finally implement a draft (limited or universal)? Will the military let itself be distracted by multiple missions and staffing problems and allow the situation in the Middle East to spiral out of control?

From our vantage point, just before entering the whirlpool at the confluence of these large-scale world events, it's difficult to say where we might end up. But the roar of the water is thundering, the spray is blinding, and I've sure got a bad feeling about this...

War on the Cheap - Part 378

Humvee armor, Halliburton food, KBR gasoline, too few soldiers. It's all a part of BushCo's attempt to do Iraq on the cheap. Now it's body armor.

The Marine Corps is recalling more than 5,000 combat vests issued to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Djibouti after a published report raised concerns that the vests failed a test to determine whether they could stop a bullet.

Things like this usually catch up with you. Unfortunately, it's the soldiers who are paying for BushCo's short-sighted attempt at a Wal-Mart War.

Alice in Fallujah-Land

Self defense.

Self defense? I'm speechless...

What the fuck?

The Italian Side of the Story

How sad, especially for me - I consider myself a real patriot - that upon hearing today that the US and Italians could not come to agreement over what happened during the rescue mission of Giuliana Sgrena I immediately sided with the Italians.

After years of being lied to about everything that goes on in Iraq, who could believe anything that BushCo says about it now?

The death of agent Nicola Calipari became a national tragedy in Italy. Sgrena became a heroine. The US won't even admit the possibility that our soldiers at that check point might have panicked. I don't buy into the conspiracy theories that say Sgrena's car was fired on because the US doesn't think that the Italians should have paid any kind of ransom for her. But it saddens me to think that I immediately discount any announcement from this administration.

How sad is that?

Friday... At Last

Is there anything better than to get to Friday knowing that you have nothing that has to be done over the weekend?

For one of the few times I can remember over the past year, there's nothing that I have to do this weekend. No where to go. Maybe we'll go out for dinner tomorrow. Perhaps we'll actually get to a movie.

Ahhh...

So what are you all doing this weekend?

Support the Goddamn Troops Already!

For all the yellow ribbons and stickers I see everywhere, it seems that Republicans - and BushCo., especially - still can't seem to grasp that "support" means more than just a bumper sticker.

Republicans seem to be more and more ignorant of history as time goes on. If they would only look to the examples set during World War II, they would find examples galore about what it really means to support our troops in combat. Far from retreating from their earlier entreaties to "keep shopping," BushCo. have continued to talk out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to getting the equipment our soldiers need to them. Despite congressional hearings and plenty of press - for as long as our press can pay attention to any one thing - about the need for more armored Humvees, soldiers are still dying in Iraq because of a lack of these sturdy vehicles.

Even the US Marine Corps has marines breaking ranks to complain about the lack of armored vehicles and what that has meant in terms of dead marines. The "brass" is not happy about this turn of events and some are paying the price - check out the details in this New York Times article. It seems that there is still only one, small, contractor up-armoring Humvees for the military. Imagine if the president were just to ask one of The Big-Three auto makers to produce armor kits for military vehicles. The press coverage alone would be worth a couple of points of market share for the winning contractor.

But like the rest of Bush's dirty little war, this is being run on the cheap - or at least being sold to the American people on the cheap. No sacrifices, no tax increases to pay for it, no pictures of the dead.

Dead that would still be alive but for a few pieces of armor.

Cornyn Bares Republicans' Fangs

John Cornyn (R - TX), perhaps intentionally, revealed the Republicans' real reason for wanting to "nuke" the nomination filibuster rule in the Senate. In an interview on NPR this afternoon, Cornyn said something to the effect that they wanted to get this "cleared up now" because there was a Supreme Court nomination "coming up."

Now, to my knowledge, there has been no definitive statement that any of the Supremes is stepping down and I'm pretty sure that Cornyn has no inside line to know which one of them might nod off permanently in the near future. But it's revealing that he would move so quickly to steer the discussion from BushCo's federal judge nominations to a seat on the Supreme Court.

Do democracy a favor. Call your Congress-critter, balance out the fundamentalist, right-wing whack-jobs that are doing the same. Tell them that then nuclear option is no option. Perhaps, just maybe, they'll do the right thing.

Mining a Previous Post

I was finally able to view the landmine video I mentioned in the last post.

Even knowing what was coming - in a general way - did not keep it from being shocking. It's not gory, but it is wrenching. And the tag line is a stroke of genius.

If there were landmines here, would you stand for them anywhere?

Visit StopLandMines.Org, watch the video and then tell someone about it.

Tell lots of people about it.

Two Minds About Mines

We all know that the mainstream media (MSM) are running scared from conservatives. They've been reduced to cowering, blithering idiots by the constant pounding of the "liberal media" meme. Hell, the media haven't been liberal since sometime in the 1980s.

Don't believe that? Go ahead, look up the real owners of your favorite network.

Their latest cowardly deed was this. Refusing to run a public service announcement about the threat of land mines. I haven't watched the video of the ad since my work computer won't let me download the latest Microsoft viewer and MSNBC doesn't support Macs. But the description in the accompanying article makes it clear that the ad was disturbing for good reason. The problem itself is disturbing and most people in the West are ignoring it.

As an ex-military officer, I have to say I'm of two minds about land mines. I know that leftover mines extract an horrible price from the civilian population after a war. But I also know the utility of mines whether placed by hand or scattered by bombs, artillery or rockets. They protect flanks and areas that are too nasty to cover with soldiers or that can't be observed directly. And if somebody has intent to do me or my soldiers harm, I want every tool in the arsenal to keep us safe.

There you have it. I'm of two minds when it comes to land mines. But I'm of one mind when it comes to wanting to do something to mitigate the effects; and cowardly network executives do nothing but piss me off.

The Power of Prayer

Considering the world's population, the portion of that population that's Catholic (estimated at around 6 billion) and the widespread knowledge of the former Pope's failing health, he must have been the most prayed-for person in all of history.

If you consider that there were probably millions, perhaps billions of non-Catholics praying for his recovery from the illness that eventually claimed his life, I would conservatively estimate that some 7 billion people prayed - at one time or another - for his health.

And yet... he's dead.

Think that changed anyone's mind?

Me neither.

The Readers' Digest Version

Before I begin, thank you to everyone who expressed their kind wishes via the comments or via e-mail. You can't begin to know how much they meant.

I have started this post many times over the past week or so. I've been trying to figure out how to tell the story of what's gone on for the past weeks and months and years that has brought me and my wife to near the point of exhaustion; physically and mentally. But rather than go through the whole story - and it would take several posts - I thought I'd give you the short version and let the details flesh themselves out in your minds.

So... how to do this...

A list:

An eating disorder. The longest-lasting problem. One that nearly killed my daughter. At least twice. She is doing wonderfully now. At times I "walk on egg-shells" fearing a relapse. But she is nearly her old, wonderful, silly, incredibly smart self.

Liver cancer. My father-in-law was diagnosed about a year and half ago. I posted about his decline and death just after Christmas.

Breast cancer. My mother was diagnosed last year. The resulting operation has left her with permanent lymph-edema. Fortunately, it seems that will be the worst of it.

Uterine Fibroid Cysts. My sister was diagnosed last year. She is currently undergoing a new procedure that seems to be working well. If only she were working as hard to take care of herself...

Breast cancer. Again. A wonderful friend at work was diagnosed last year and appears to - thankfully - be fully recovered.

Alcoholism. My mother-in-law has had a long-standing problem which her husband was lovingly and tragically enabling until the very end. This has nearly driven my wonderfully sensitive wife over the edge. Which has nearly done the same to me. This past weekend we were able to get her checked into a resident rehabilitation program. We're keeping our fingers crossed...

Work Problems. All of the above has, I think inevitably, caused me to have some problems doing my work well. Now I'm under extra scrutiny at work. I'm making my way through their archaic and somewhat punitive process pretty well. But of course, there are things in that list above that still weigh heavily on my head and my heart.

Hard to believe that's the short version, isn't it? But there you have it. The whole list of things that have occupied me over the past couple of years and in the past several months have occupied me to the point of distraction. I'm glad that there are still those of you out there that come by to read what little I can get posted. I hope, perhaps soon, that things will begin to settle down and I can get back to a more normal life.

Perhaps soon.

Thank you again for all your kind wishes. I'm still here, still interested in all the things that go on in our wonderful, horrible world. I'm just a little distracted.