Problem Solving, Army Style

After all the recent ado over the atrocious conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit, the Army has come up with a solution to the problem, punish the wounded soldiers and limit their access to the media. From the Navy Times:

Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.

“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

It is unusual for soldiers to have daily inspections after Basic Training.

The wounded have also been moved to a building deeper into the hospital's campus that requires a public affairs escort for reporters to speak with the soldiers. The public affairs escort will provide an intimidating presence for anyone talking to the media thus shutting them up.

It's ridiculous how we treat those who have given the most for this country, isn't it?

Found via Atrios

Wow, It Really Is Obama-mania

This is impressive. At a Cincinnati area fundraiser Barack Obama raised as much as $500,000. but two other things caught my eye. One of the attendees was Stan Chesley, a Hillary Clinton fundraiser. Another was Harold Brooks, a longtime republican activist.

While Chesley is just a guy that wanted to be in the room, he did add some comments to the article in the Enquirer that I'm sure will not thrill the Clinton camp. From the Enquirer:

Class-action lawyer Stan Chesley, who has raised millions for President Clinton and Senator Clinton's campaigns, said he was there because he has "enormous respect" for Obama.

"Of course, I am supporting Hillary, but, mainly I want to see the best Democrats run for president," Chesley said. "Senator Obama is very impressive."

Brooks went further, pledging to organize other republican African-Americans for Obama. Obama has been drawing impressive numbers as well. At this event, people had to line the wall because there wasn't enough seating. Obama drew almost double what former President Bill Clinton had drawn at a similar event there recently. In Austin, Texas Obama recently drew 15,000 supporters at an outdoor rally. Nobody right now can match these numbers.

Whoa

The Dow took a beating today.

Stuck In The Middle Again

Poor Josh Marshall, he seems to be looking for sanity where there is simply none to find. From TPM:

But wait ... Only a short time ago we were told that Cheney and his crew at the White House wanted to take the side of the Shi'as in Iraq's burgeoning civil war. In other words, for all the attention to who we're going to attack and how and how many soldiers we need to do it, there appears to be a basic debate (to be generous) or confusion (to be less generous) within the administration over which side we're even on.

We talk a lot about the 'surge' and that's important since it assumes a intensive military commitment in Iraq for years into the future. We worry about tactics and strategy and whether the White House is going to plunge us into another war as a way to wriggle out of the blame for the current one. But this is a level of folly that transcends all of that: at the most basic level, the folks running the show can't even decide who's side we're on. There's no real strategy here or grand aim or even stable aim -- more like a rather panicked set of improvisations aimed at finding a way to retrospectively justify the mistakes that got us here in the first place.

It's really simple actually. We don't have a side. Our soldiers go out on their daily missions and whoever shows up to shoot at us, we fight. Could be the Shia one day and the Sunnis the next. In essence, we dangle our troops out as bait to see who will come to play that particular day. We do this under the auspice of securing the country, but we are really just playing king of the mountain.

We arm both sides either directly (Iraqi government) or through proxy (Saudis) and hope neither side goes rogue, which they always do. Our wish is for the Iraqi government to attack al-Qaeda in Iraq and that the Salafists the Saudis arm will take on Hezbollah. It might happen one day, but it is easier to attack us at this point due to our visibility and since they both hate us anyway, the shit just falls back on us.

Eek!

Just checked last night's traffic to this blog. Back to back hits from the IRS and the CIA. That can't be good! It got me thinking though. Why isn't the CIA blocking the tracking of their IP addresses? I'd have to think they have the technology.

Not Gonna Happen Soon

The Iraqis have approved a law to equally distribute their oil wealth among all citizens. As I've said all along, this should have been the policy from the start, but the CPA never implemented it. If this would have happened, it would have went a long way toward halting the burgeoning insurgency.

The problem with implementing it now is that the entire Iraqi banking system has been dismantled. I honestly have no idea how they are even going to attempt to do this. I guess once a year every Iraqi will have to line up at some government office to be handed their payment in cash.

We Can Be Sure Of One Thing

The Iraqis don't appear to be getting their weapons from the French.

Libby Juror Dismissed

A juror has been dismissed in the Scooter Libby trial. Rather than seating a replacement, they will continue deliberating with eleven jurors.

The IP Solution

Sometimes the solution to a problem is so simple, it is overlooked. As has been noted many places, the Bush administration has been purging US Attorneys for political reasons, most notably Carol Lam, the US attorney that brought Duke Cunningham to justice and continues her probe into that case. She has recently indicted CIA #3 Dusty Foggo and Brent Wilkes for their role in the case.

For this reason Lam has been asked to resign, although the White House and the DOJ claim otherwise. They claim that Lam isn't doing enough to prosecute immigration cases.

I say fine, lets take the Bushies at their word even if it is a lie. A replacement should be appointed post haste, and perhaps her replacement will do a better job a prosecuting immigration cases. Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats should appoint Lam as an Independent Prosecutor to investigate every facet of the Cunningham case. This will free her from the burden of the other duties Lam now faces as a US Attorney.

See, problem solved. By the time Lam finishes her investigation and prosecutes all the involved parties Bush will be out of office and she can be reinstated as US Attorney if she so desires.

Remember, elections have consequences.

Found via Attaturk

Respect

Just in case you haven't seen this yet.

But Can He Cook?

Ah, a story about my favorite (Not favored, but favorite) candidate. Noted food critic Duncan "Lemon Chicken" Hunter has hired a State Chair for South Carolina. His name is Dr. Henry Jordan who recently said during a State Board Of Education meeting, "Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims, And put that in the minutes,"

The Board was kind enough to not actually put it in the minutes, but a FOIA got hold of a tape of the meeting with the remarks intact.

When confronted about the remarks, Jordan played the frustration card, which is quickly becoming as hot as rehab. From We Are Family:

"I was expressing my frustration. We can't teach basic Christianity even from a historical standpoint, but they can teach about Muslims and Buddhists," he said. "They can teach any kind of cult. Buddhism is a cult. So is Islam. I'm getting a little tired of it."

In a television interview Friday, Jordan said no one wants to be tolerant of Christians, although Christians are expected to tolerate other religions, adding: "I did not wish these two religious groups any ill will."

Jordan plans to offer a proposal at the next board meeting to allow students to vote to display the commandments at their school and to pay for it with private money.

"What I want to do is promote Christianity as the only true religion," he said. "This nation was founded to worship, honor and glorify Jesus Christ, not Mohammed, not Buddha."

Jordan ought to see if those kids can raise some money to get himself a copy of those ten commandments, I'm pretty sure thou shalt not kill is in there somewhere.

And seriously, can he cook?

Deal, Or No Deal?

Michele Bachman (R-Mars) says we can't leave Iraq because if we do, the Iranians will proceed with a deal they have already cut with, well somebody, to divide Iraq and set up a terrorist training area and safe haven. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

“Iran is the trouble maker, trying to tip over apple carts all over Baghdad right now because they want America to pull out. And do you know why? It’s because they’ve already decided that they’re going to partition Iraq.

And half of Iraq, the western, northern portion of Iraq, is going to be called…. the Iraq State of Islam, something like that. And I’m sorry, I don’t have the official name, but it’s meant to be the training ground for the terrorists. There’s already an agreement made.

They are going to get half of Iraq and that is going to be a terrorist safe haven zone where they can go ahead and bring about more terrorist attacks in the Middle East region and then to come against the United States because we are their avowed enemy.”

I'm sure the Sunni in western Iraq and the Kurds in northern Iraq will openly welcome their new Shia overlords with open arms. Seriously, this woman lacks even the basic knowledge of what is going on in the region. Good thing she gets to vote on things pertinent to the conflict, huh?

Speaking in terms of pure politics though, this is great for the Minnesota Democratic party. She is Minnesota's answer to our very own Jean Schmidt. It's a ridiculously conservative district, one where a qualified person could make a name for him or herself and aspire to higher office. Bachman, like Schmidt, is an idiot and isn't going anywhere. She will probably continue to be re-elected unless she gets taken out in a primary, thus taking a nice bench building seat away from the republicans in Minnesota for years. More please in other states! Hell, we should be helping people like her take as many really solid red districts around the country.

And to think I was bitching about not having Katherine Harris to kick around anymore. I think I've found a replacement.

Found via TPM

It's Over

As Atrios noted, our long national nightmare known as the Anna Nicole Smith trial, which has dominated cable news the past few days, is over. In the end, the trial very much resembled the National Title game last month. Three agonizing plays and a punt followed by someone getting buried.

Bush Administration: Worst Foreign Policy Team Ever Assembled

Not content with fucking up American diplomacy, the Bush administration is now meddling into possible diplomacy between other sovereign nations. From Haaretz:

The United States demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory contacts with Syria, of the sort that would test whether Damascus is serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel.

In meetings with Israeli officials recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was forceful in expressing Washington's view on the matter.

The American argument is that even "exploratory talks" would be considered a prize in Damascus, whose policy and actions continue to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and the functioning of its government, while it also continues to stir unrest in Iraq, to the detriment of the U.S. presence there.

It is also known that Syria, like Iran, continues to provide Hezbollah with arms and equipment.

According to senior Israeli officials, the American position vis-a-vis Syria, as it was expressed by the secretary of state, reflects a hardening of attitudes.

When Israeli officials asked Secretary Rice about the possibility of exploring the seriousness of Syria in its calls for peace talks, her response was unequivocal: Don't even think about it.

Well now, we can't have Israel even raise the possibility of successful diplomacy where the Bush administration is incapable of achieving any. That would be a loss for the Bushies and we can't have that. There may be something a little more sinister at work here, though.

I'm not sure who pushed this story up into the press. It could be more hawkish members of the Israeli government, or ours, or both. The intent is clear, however. That intent is to emasculate Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Consider it mission accomplished.

Olmert has taken heat since last summer's war with Hezbollah in which by most accounts would be considered a loss, although I would consider it a tactical draw. I think most neoconservatives view even the possibility of negations between Syria and Israel as the latter suing for peace, thus forwarding a weak posture. I disagree.

Syria actually put forth the olive branch, whether disingenuous or not. It behooves both to see if some compromise can be made, because these two countries are going to eventually have to learn to live together, or mutually destroy each other. Both actually have WMD, chemical for Syria, nuclear for Israel. They both also have an interloper creating an impasse for peace, that being the Bush administration. If I were the Israelis, I'd tell Condi to go to hell.

Found via TPM

Writer's Block

Lately, I have had a nasty case of writer's block. I'm not sure what causes this but most of the stories I read either cause me to say blah, or if it does interest me, I don't feel like writing about it. It usually takes something infuriating to snap me out of it, and then the words flow.

I did see the Ohio State basketball game last night in which the number one Buckeyes managed to get by also-ran Penn St. After the game, Thad Matta got a little testy with reporters asking for the reason Greg Oden didn't get more touches. From the Dispatch:

"It’s a pretty good issue," Matta said. "We’re 25-3. We’re doing a couple of things well here. I’d like to get it to him every time. We’re 13-1 in the Big Ten and have 25 wins, and I’m sitting up here like I don’t know what I’m doing here."

Yea, that's true. But I still have to question some of the moves Matta made last night as well. While it is true that Penn St was packing in a zone defense last night begged to be shot over, OSU wasn't hitting from the outside and Oden was effective when he got the ball.

To make matters worse, with roughly ten minutes left in the game Oden drew two straight fouls leaving two of Penn State's interior players with four fouls and one with three. Oden's touches following that exchange were still insufficient, and we still continued to play with four guards. Neither Othello Hunter nor Ivan Harris saw the floor again last night. In fact, other than Oden, Ohio State's big men tallied only twenty-eight minutes combined.

If one of those two would have been inserted to play alongside Oden, I'm fairly confident Ohio State could have blown the game open at that point as they simply couldn't have stopped them without fouling out.

Eh, what do I know.

Attack The Source

I think Nancy Pelosi is mishandling Dick Cheney's remarks from Japan. Who cares what Dick Cheney says? His mentality is clearly firmly rooted in fantasy land so if he slams you, don't call the president, just point that fact out to the press. Here is his latest shot at Democrats from The San Francisco Chronicle:

"I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we will do is validate the al Qaeda strategy,'' the vice president told ABC News. "The al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people ... try to persuade us to throw in the towel, and then they win because we quit.''

Rather than calling the president to complain which is what Pleosi said she would do, I'd like to see her retort, "Dick Cheney? That man has zero credibility. Just the other day he said Don Rumsfeld was a great Secretary of Defense. Why does anybody believe a thing that man says?"

To me, it simply looks weak to run complaining to Bush every time Cheney spouts off nonsense about the Democratic party. In fact, it's probably Cheney's intent.

Scooter Libby

With the Scooter Libby trial coming to an end today without either Karl Rove or Dick Cheney having to take the stand, I have to wonder if the early trial fireworks made enough of an impression on the White House to guarantee a pardon for Libby. After all the promised fireworks, the trial really did fizzle toward the end. So, did Scooter rattle enough chains to secure at least the promise of a pardon. I'd have to guess yes.

Now, if he is convicted, it will be up to his lawyers to run out the clock before a office exiting pardon can be thrown his way. Can he trust the administration to follow through? Again, I'd have to guess yes. You don't work that close to power and not pick up some dirt on the bosses. This isn't a company man taking one for the team, it's two, or three, armed men slowly backing out of the room through different exits with guns ready.

Faves Of Conservatives

After seeing over at Attaturk that several attendees of a NRO symposium had discussed their favorite presidents, I figured I had to go check it out. Yes, Calvin Coolidge had indeed garnered a couple of votes, but at first I was completely baffled that someone had picked William Henry Harrison (You know, the guy that died a month into the term) until I read Bruce Frohnen's rationale for that particular pick. From the NRO:

William Henry Harrison was only president for about a month. And he spent that month in a sick bed, dying of pneumonia. Why is he my favorite president? No other president has done so much to live up to the original intent of the framers, that ours was to be a republic, with a representative assembly at its center and at the apex of power. Ironically, Harrison entered office with the intention of increasing congressional responsibility and power. Unfortunately, his death brought in the Jacksonian John Tyler who sought to act as an Imperial President.

I guess there are a couple of ways you could interpret this. It could simply be a veiled dig at the current Imperial President and his policies, nothing more. But the more I thought about it, Harrison is really the perfect conservative president. Why? The wheels of his policies never had to be put to the asphalt, or in this case, the hooves to the dirt. Frohnen is only judging Harrison on how he might have governed. And for the fact that his ideals never had to interact with reality, or compromise, or scandal, Harrison is really the Superman of conservative presidents. He died before he could screw anything up.

It's an interesting pick if only for the fact that I never thought I would have an occasion to blog about Harrison.

I'm Back

Jesus, I step off the reservation for a couple of days and the whole world goes crazy! Britney shaves her head and the Chargers hire Norv Turner. Norv Freaking Turner? Are you kidding me? Worst. Hire. Ever. Ugh!

Oh, and John McCain now says the war has been mismanaged the entire time and that Rumsfeld was the worst of all time. Funny how McCain never brought that the first three years of the war. I would have thought everything was going swimmingly from listening to McCain. I guess some people will say anything to be president.

Abe Lincoln The Prognosticator?

Hey, I just found an addendum to the famous Nicolay Draft of the Gettysburg address which attributes the following quote to Abe Lincoln:

Seven score and four years from now some jackass from Alaska will take time out of his busy schedule of wasting tax-payers dollars on ludicrous projects to misattribute a quote to me.

Wow, Alaska wasn't even a state then!!! That must have been a magic stove pipe hat.