What's The Plan Stan

From NY Times

Even as American forces are relying more on Iraqis to fight the insurgency, the Iraqi Army is facing some of the same procurement problems that American troops have experienced in getting adequate armor and other equipment, according to interviews in Iraq with American and Iraqi military officials. But if the Americans have faced an uphill battle in getting vital gear - their shortfalls continue to this day - then their Iraqi counterparts are confronting a herculean task.
The biggest shortage is in fortified vehicles. Unlike the Americans, the vast majority of Iraqis have neither armored nor unarmored Humvees, and are still having to navigate the booby-trapped roads of Iraq in pickup and flatbed trucks.

This brings up a couple of questions for me. 1st is there maybe a better way to spend our money on this effort?
Second question do we really want to be giving Iraqis armoured vehicles et al?

When will we have a plan that works?

End Or The Begining

Another Fitzgerald case underway:

The investigation, dubbed Operation Safe Road, initially focused on bribes exchanged for licenses for unqualified truck drivers when Ryan was secretary of state. It expanded into a broader investigation of political corruption that snared several of his top aides and associates.
Ryan became the 66th person charged in the investigation; 59 people and his campaign committee have been convicted so far.

I don't know for sure how many indictments it started with but I bet it wasn't 59.

A Wise and Statesmanlike Republican

John Danforth :

The influence of evangelical Christians in the Republican Party hurts the organization and divides the country, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth said....

Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri and an Episcopal priest......said the evangelical Christian influence would be bad for the party in the long run.

People of faith have an obligation to be in politics, he said.
"I think the question arises when a political party becomes identified with one particular sectarian position and when religious people believe that they have the one answer, that they understand God's truth and they embody it politically," he said.
"Nothing is more dangerous than religion in politics and government when it becomes divisive," he said. "I'll give you examples: Iraq. Northern Ireland. Palestine."

Oh So Sad

You know, it amazes me how how desperate these lopers are to find "media bias". Here's the latest outrage.


Matt Lauer: "All right, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby what’s their future? What’s your prediction in terms of indictments? Yes or no?"
Franken: "Oh they, they’ll be indicted. I, I am absolutely sure and this is about, of course, the war in Iraq really. It’s about the justification for the war and smearing Joe Wilson by outing his wife who’s a CIA agent. George H.W. Bush, the President’s father, said, as, when he was head of the CIA, that outing a CIA agent is treason. I, I agree. So I think that Rove and Libby will be executed." Lauer laughed along with those in the studio.............

Matt Lauer just smiled and laughed when Al Franken predicted the execution of Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. But a few weeks ago when Pat Robertson called for the assasination of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, an anti-American dictator who has cozied up with Iran’s ayatollahs and Cuba’s communists, Today was outraged enough to lead the show with Robertson’s supposed transgression.
“We fine broadcasters for using four-letter words, we say that’s offensive. So is it offensive to call for the assassination of a world leader?” NBC’s Matt Lauer castigated back on August 23. But a left-wing host talks about executing top ranking officials of the executive branch — that’s just a joke, right? Or perhaps Today’s indignant reaction to Pat Robertson was, shall we say, a little “staged.”

Now for those of you who are soooooooo damned sensitive here's the deal. The idea that Bush and Cheney will be convicted of treason AND executed is compeletely nil. THAT'S WHY IT'S FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!! It's something that would be extremely odd. Contrasts is an integral part of comedy. He's a freekin political comedian for god sake.
Now Pat Robertsons job is "speaker of God to people" . He made a serious statement.

Give it up. Desperation if I have ever seen it...Is this the best ya got?

HEADLINES!!!!

1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end.

More

Pharmacist Choice

We talked about this on the air today and I found this tonight. This makes more sense to me than anything I have seen so far.

When a Fenton, Missouri, Target store pharmacist refused to fill a customer’s perfectly legal emergency contraception prescription recently, insisting that it was her “right not to fill it,” it got me to thinking. Now, she must have entered the profession voluntarily—we never hear of any “pharmacy-school gulags,” where innocent young people are forced to go into the trade. Nothing I could read suggested that she had hung up her smock immediately after this non-transaction in a bold commitment to faith over salary, either.
No—what she was clearly saying was that it was her right to dispense what medications she chose to whom she pleased, based on her own personal convictions, and still continue to be licensed and employed.
To this point, Target seems to agree; I have not read anything to indicate that our legal authorities are inclined to get involved, either.
So, since our Constitution guarantees us all equal rights under the law—and also doesn’t elevate religion above other personal belief systems—we must assume that from here forward, the primacy of personal beliefs over job descriptions has been established, and conduct ourselves accordingly.
And what the heck—while we’re at it, let’s pursue this notion to its logical extremes, and get some good done in the process.
Alcohol’s destroyed a lot more lives than abortion has. So here’s a way to solve that problem AND keep those darned Islamic fundamentalists busy, so they’re not out terrorizing people—they could be manning the counters of America’s liquor stores instead! “I tell you truly, spirits are forbidden to the faithful. Try instead these delicious fruit drinks; also, we carry ample stores of tea and honey!”.......

We might even be able to insist that some zealous nut who didn’t want to do her job should be channeled into some other line of work.


More here

Coffee Table

You have triumphed at life's game when -- no matter wïn or lose in the eyes of the world -- you can walk away from any demanding moment with a measure of more true self-understanding than you took into it. – Guy Finley, American Spiritual Author and Teacher

Icons Of The Right

Rush Limbaugh

Only he can accurately portray how the Liberals feel.

DONALDSON (audio clip): If you listen to Rush Limbaugh, you don't hear a lot of the other side. I try to --
LIMBAUGH: Stop the tape. Sam, you don't listen to Rush Limbaugh. Otherwise you wouldn't have said that. What do I do on this program? I set up exactly what the other side's position is. I'm the only one who'll do it honestly. If I have a liberal guest on this program, I'm not guaranteed the liberal guest is going to be honest about what he believes. So in order to establish what I believe and what I think, I set myself up by presenting the liberal point of view on whatever issue it is I'm talking about. So he's wrong about that.
Ummmmm...no he's not, you just proved his point.

LIMBAUGH: Let me tell you something, the Democrats are more fearful -- and I've told you this too -- they're more fearful of Christians than they are of Al Qaeda. The Democrats are more fearful of Democrats [sic] than they are of Islamist terrorists living in this country. They are more fearful of Christians than they are of any enemy of the United States of America. They probably have more fear of Christians than they do nuclear weapons being launched by North Korea.
Frankly, I must say for myself he's pretty close to right on this. That SHOULD reflect poorly on the so called "christian" not the people "afraid" of them. I don't mean all Christians by any stretch, just the vocal ones.

Anne Coulter

The wonderful strict constitutionist that she is:
Newspaper columnist Ann Coulter confessed that she's "not a big fan of the First Amendment" ....'They're always accusing us of repressing their speech,' she said. 'I say let's do it. Let's repress them.'"..............The Universal Press Syndicate columnist also called the Iraq War "a magnificent success," according to the story.
I'm Speachless~!

Racists

A Blacklamofacisit.

Links!

Just what is Propaganda?

My favorite music information site. Who did that song, charts alla that. Enter something in the search.

What is your anti virus missing? Free scan here from Trend. By the way, I've never found mine to miss anything .....yet. :-)

Full AP News coverage.

Everything

Reading Room

Special "Criminalization of Politics" Issue


It's about the politics of personal destruction and the thief of our Democracy.

The few making decisions in secret that would effect the entire world.

Turned policy making into cronyism.

Winning by hook or crook.

And how the big media aided and abetted it all.

We want our country back!

Yep, they have criminalized politics alright.

The Movies

OK, not a movie but video. Funny too! Here