It appears there are a couple new and upgraded versions of WWTSBQ making the rounds these days.

The first, is the “I’m [or He] The Man” narrative typified by this:

Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The advantages of this version over the previous version is that it ignores Hillary Clinton altogether. We should call this the TSBL (That Stupid Bitch Lost) narrative.  Read more 

We’re in the middle of a war. No, make that two wars. We have military personnel being sent back to Iraq and Afghanistan on multiple tours of duty with less than the recommended amount of rest. We have stop/loss. There is no end in sight.

If you were the United States Government, what would you do with a medic who was perfectly willing to go out on combat missions in Afghanistan and won a Silver Star for repeatedly risking life and limb to save comrades? If you said, remove her from duty because she lacks a penis, then you are ready to lead this great nation into battle, my friend.  Read more 

OK - I sent my Command an e-mail explaining what was happeing and what my next steps were.

I am waiting for my appointment with the neurologist. I am sure this is going to be a long, hard, slow battle. But, oh well, if it was easy everyone would do it.

I am going to try to figure out how to put word documents on here so each post is not so long.

I will post the letter (edited with no names) as soon as I figure out how to do that.

It will give you an example. BUT, do not think it is a great or perfect example. Heck, I may have pissed off the whole world with this letter. But, at least it will give you somewhere to start.

Thank you for the e-mails I have received. Very nice. But, you are welcome to post here. No one will know your name.  Read more 

Personality Disorder has been the scapegoat discharge for some time now. This discharge robs soldiers of benefits, help, and a future life in certain occupations. The military has turned their back on soldiers and just to save a few bucks, the military doctors are ruining the future for over 24,000 soldiers. And now they are trying to do the same thing to me. THIS must stop!

Samantha Power’s book, Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World, would have received much more, and well-deserved, publicity if she had not made a stupid comment to a journalist regarding Senator Hillary Clinton. As a result, she resigned from Barack Obama’s campaign and this has probably affected her promotion of the book. It is a shame because it is indeed a fascinating book regarding the complex and frustrating internal workings of the United Nations through the prism of another fascinating figure: Sergio Vieira de Mello.  Read more 

100 Years of War in Iraq
(sung to the tune of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall”)

100 years of war in Iraq
100 years of war
You burn it down
Down to the ground
100 years of war in Iraq

99 years of war in Iraq
99 years of war
You burn it down
Down to the ground
99 years of war in Iraq…

Continue lyrics to “zero” years of war, then begin the negative numbers*, i.e.:

Minus one year of war in Iraq
Minus one year of war
You burn it down
Down to the ground
Minus one year of war in Iraq

++++

*Two negatives make a positive. Go figure.

++++

Like it or not, our next president will have to deal with conflicts all over the world. The nature of warfare has been changing (a lot of ink has been spent on this already) but obviously, this administration did not read the memo.  Read more 

Rick Noriega has suspended his campaign for the Senate seat currently held by John (Rubberstamp, R-Bush) Cornyn for 24 hours in memory of the 4,000 Americans killed in battle in Iraq. Of these, 395 (known today) are Texans.

Lynndie England, of Abu Ghraib fame, gives a lengthy interview in the German magazine Stern. England was sentenced to three years in prison for her part in the deeds there. She served 521 days and is now out on parole. How’s life for her?

“(She sighs) Oh, it’s just little things going wrong. I’m just trying to get by. Trying to find a job, trying to find a house. It’s been harder than I expected. I went to a couple of interviews, and I thought they went great. I wrote dozens of applications. Nothing came of it. I put in at Wal-Mart, at Staples. I’d do any job. But I never heard from them.”  Read more 

We have a lot of problems, and no shortage of criticism. What we don’t have and need more of are positive, affirmative plans for action, ways to reverse the damage done and start building a sustainable and equitable future.

This is a start.  Read more 

The New York Times is reporting that Admiral William Fallon, the top commander in the Middle East, is retiring early.

As you probably already know Admiral Fallon has been at the center of recent controversy for opposing any war with Iran. So, naturally, having said something so sane and sensible, he must be driven out of his job.

See the NYT article.

From today’s Presidential Radio Address:

Where do we start?  Read more 

Fascinating article by Thomas Barnett in the April Esquire on Admiral Fallon, who sits as apparently the only remaining obstacle between the Bush-Cheney criminal regime and war with Iran. Every time Bush rattles his saber, Fallon makes the regional diplomatic rounds to calm fears of an expanded, uncontrollable conflict and makes public announcements that he thinks going to war would be a mistake.

According to Barnett, Bush/Cheney are tired of Fallon’s unwillingness to get with the program and are planning to move him out of the way.  Read more 

Admitted, in my opinion, the Clintonista will most likely do a better job than the Oborg on progressive social issues.

The Oborg are heavily influenced by the TheoCons. Yes, they’re not the kind of cross-burning TheoCons that like Paul or Huckabee or Romney. But think more of the religious values of Clarence Thomas. Or Condaleeza Rice.

Black doesn’t mean progressive. Vastleft and Lambert and everyone else in the Clinton camp, you’re correct. On that point.

Yet there are other considerations.

Robert Naiman at HuffPo:  Read more 

Via eriposte at The Leftcoaster, compare and contrast:  Read more 

As an ex-Edwardsian I remain in a state of great higgledy-piggledy over having to abruptly change my mindset and pick between the two remaining candidates, neither of whom is perfect (well, hell, Edwards had a glitch or two if I am being honest here.)

Here’s the thing though: One of them though is going to be our nominee in the fall and I most abso-goddam-lutely want him or her to win in November.

Therefore I say, vote what’s most important to you. Vote hope. Vote experience. Vote guts, or glory, or grim determination. Vote genitalia, or skin, or heart. Or whatever other bodily part resonates most directly for you.  Read more 

Go here. Listen to what Operation Iraqi Freedom hath wrought. Tell me again why Bush, Cheney, Petraeus, Rice, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz aren’t in chains before the Hague right now.

It’s all lies. Or distortion. Or confabulation. Or misdirection. But I found this example rather egregious. I bet you DFHs remember this sort of thing from back in the day:

Radio Sawa broadcast on December 11 the good news from the American forces that the regions of Arab Jabour and Al-Buaitha had been definitively cleared of the last vestiges of AlQaeda. Here’s what their website reported that day

Joseph Inge, fourth brigade, third American infantry division, said his forces with the aid of the Awakening forces had been able to clear out the last strongholds of AlQaeda in the regions of Arab Jabour and Al-Buaitha south of Baghdad. He told Radio Sawa: “We have secured the area by freeing it from the threat of AlQaeda, with the assistance of local citizens”. And Captain Inge called on the families that had fled to return to their homes in those areas, promising every type of support and assistance to those families.

On Thursday 40 “targets”—described by the miitary as “reported AlQaeda safe-havens”—were hit by a total of 40,000 pounds of bombs dropped on Arab Jabour in a 10-minute raid by the American Air Force assisted by another brigade, the second, of the same third American infantry division that had invited families back into the area only three weeks ago. The military had no information on how many people it killed.  Read more 

Filipino Monkey

my baby was crying the other night
she lay still just like a stone
she said ’honey, I will get you’
but the voice was not her own

I looked underneath the bed
I looked around the door
I looked every damn place I could
until I couldn’t look no more

but when it was time for loving
she made just like a junkie
she said she had a new lover
the filipino monkey

filipino monkey
took my baby away
filipino monkey
laughing in the bay
come and get me, monkey
come right out and play
but there was only laughter
the filipino monkey way

I joined up in the Navy
to see the seven seas
headed over to Hormuz
got a new pair of jet skis  Read more 

Did someone put Bruce McCall in charge?

Up to three American Airlines jets carrying passengers will be outfitted with anti-missile technology this spring in the latest phase of testing technology to protect commercial planes from attack.

But never fear, 90% of the agenda was “accomplished.”

Heroes in the Beltway:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite their pledges to continue pushing to end the war in Iraq, face growing pressure from their rank-and-file Democrats to focus more attention on domestic, “pocketbook” issues in the upcoming election year.

Junior Democrats describe an “Iraq fatigue” setting in among some members after dozens of successful withdrawal votes failed to drive a wedge between Republicans and President Bush on the war strategy….

[Baird:] “The entire policy has been dictated by the ’Out of Iraq
Caucus’ … What are we going to do, have another 40 withdrawal votes?”

Folks enjoying Christmas in Iraq:

Exhaustion and combat stress are besieging US troops in Iraq as they battle with a new type of warfare. Some even rely on Red Bull to get through the day. As desertions and absences increase, the military is struggling to cope with the crisis.

Lieutenant Clay Hanna looks sick and white. Like his colleagues he does not seem to sleep. Hanna says he catches up by napping on a cot between operations in the command centre, amid the noise of radio. He is up at 6am and tries to go to sleep by 2am or 3am. But there are operations to go on, planning to be done and after-action reports that need to be written. And war interposes its own deadly agenda that requires his attention and wakes him up.  Read more 

And you America doubters-in-chief thought it would stop the drumbeat to war.

Watch as Bush explains it all, nice and slow for all the haters in the house:

I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace.

[…] I believed before the NIE that Iran was dangerous and I believe after the NIE that Iran is dangerous.

And I have said Iran is dangerous. And the NIE doesn’t do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world. Quite the contrary.

How could it be read any other way?

Victory! Yes, the Iraqi government is asking to become a U.S. Protectorate:

Iraq’s government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups [huh??], will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday.

The proposal, described to The Associated Press by two senior Iraqi officials familiar with the issue, is one of the first indications that the United States and Iraq are beginning to explore what their relationship might look like once the U.S. significantly draws down its troop presence.

In Washington, President Bush’s adviser on the Iraqi war, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, confirmed the proposal, calling it “a set of principles from which to begin formal negotiations.”

Of course, given what happened with Katrina, they’re probably better off as a Protectorate than as the alternative, our 51st state.

But, credit where credit is due: Thanks to Dear Leader’s divinely inspired foresight, we just happen to have built 15 permanent military bases and the largest embassy in the world, so we can grant the Iraqis’ extremely unexpected yet highly legitimate request! What could go wrong?  Read more 

No se puede saber por qué.  Read more