Dubya is preparing to speak to the country on Thursday, warning that an "early" exit from Iraq would lead to future terror attacks on US soil

The site military.com has a piece by Larry Scott on the Bush Admin's hostility to the VA, and some speculation about what drives the hostility.
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,,77901,00.html

It's good to have a serious, committed, government with experienced, competent people in charge of the important functions that affect us all.  You can sleep easy when you have a cadre of such officials watching over you.

Wish we had some of them here.  From the front page of the 9/9/05 NY Times story titled Political Issues Snarled Plans For Troop aid:

"According to the administration's senior homeland security officals, the hurricane showed the failure of their plan to recognize that local police, fire and medical personnel might be incapacitated and unable to act quickly until reinforcements arrive on the scene."

That was some plan.  Maybe we should change "NRP" (National Response Plan) to "NUP" (National Unresponsive Plan).

They actually admit (anonymously of course) that they didn't anticipate that a hurricane might disrupt local emergency services.  Were they expecting a trained hurricane that would devestate everything except the emergency facilities and access roads?

Did they anticipate that the flood would involve significant wetness?  How about the loss of power producing significant dark after the sun went down?

We're now an embarrassment to ourselves, not just the rest of the world.

Roy Blunt, the man who will be the new Republican Majority leader paid 88,000 to fellow Tom Delay indictee Jim Ellis.

Blunt is temporarily(?) replacing DeLay as House majority leader.

Federal Election Commission records show Blunt's Rely on Your Beliefs Fund retains a firm owned by Jim Ellis, one of three political associates of DeLay who have been indicted.

They're accused of scheming to use corporate political donations illegally to support candidates in state elections.

The records showed Blunt's group paid Ellis about $88,000 for services.

Ellis analyzes House campaigns for Blunt's PAC, which supports Republican challengers and incumbents in House races.

The chain of corruption is like the tendrils of the octopus, it reaches into everything.

~A!

I am completely ripping off Richard Cranium over at AllSpinZone on this one, because there is very little I can add, but this need attention.

TO: Ms. Nancy Grace, Headline News / CNN Host

Dear Ms. Grace,

Latoyia Figueroa is still missing after 8 days. And as tragic as the Natalee Holloway case might be, Natalee doesn't have a seven year old child wondering where she is, nor was Natalee (to the best of our knowledge) 5 months pregnant.

Here's an overview of the important details in this ?missing woman? case:

1) Latoyia (we should only use her first name) is not white.
2) She does not have blonde hair.
3) She was not scheduled to get married last weekend.
4) She's from West Philadelphia.
5) There may actually be a lead or two in her case.
6) HER UNBORN BABY, HER UNBORN BABY, HER UNBORN BABY.
7) To the best of our knowledge, no one from Texas has yet offered to bring in cadaver dogs to search for Latoyia, nor have forensic dive teams volunteered to scour the Schuylkill or Delaware rivers.
8 ) Also to the best of our knowledge, the FBI hasn't been requested to participate in the investigation (even though Philly actually is in the US of A), nor have any DNA samples been rushed to Washington, DC.
9) HER UNBORN BABY, HER UNBORN BABY, HER UNBORN BABY.

I hope this enough for you to run with - certainly, the crackerjack CNN research team available to you can fill in any speculative details or obscure leads of prurient interest. While it's doubtful that Latoyia's family can offer $100 reward, much less $1 million (as has Natalee's), I'm sure they'd still have an undying gratitude for any of your viewers who could turn up a lead on Latoyia.

Lastly, I note that ?Natalee Holloway? rates ?about 5600? Google News hits, while ?Latoyia Figueroa? rates two. Here's hoping your show and CNN's website can contribute another hit for Latoyia.

I look forward to watching the show!

Sincerely,

Richard

~A!

It may just be that what he depicts matches up with my own expectations, but I found the following, apparently a blog by a guy recently recalled to active military duty, a really interesting window into the reality of Iraq for the on-the-ground American military. site, including some interesting comments & responses,  is here

This is some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen. "The ultimate hippie vacation!" oh, man, I wish I had seen that sooner, I'd love to be in the bus with that guy.

Check out the ebay auction for "the ultimate hippie vacation". It kind of leaves you with that "is this real?" feeling.

~A!

Well, turns out no gay majority leader. That sucks, because there could have finally been some real progress in the GOP.

Raw Story is reporting that Dreier, previously thought a shoe-in for the post, is most likely being denied because... well, because he's gay.

It now seems Roy Blunt, of nobody-knows-who-the-hell-I-am fame, will now be taking over Delay's post.

With the stepping down of Delay, the GOP needs a new leader. Speaker Hastert thinks David Dreier is just the man for the job, and I couldn't agree more.

After all, to see the GOP stand up for gay rights is this way is the greatest acheivement we could have ever hoped for.

The AP is now reporting that "A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep.Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader."

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