You may of heard the report on NPR this morning discussing the newly announced compensation for troops who have their tours of duty extended beyond twelve months.  They get one whole whopping day off for each month beyond twelve months.  So, the troops, who are now being asked to serve fifteen month tours are going to get to enjoy a three day liberty.  As pathetic as that is, it doesn't tell you the whole story.

If you're wondering why there is such an enormous pushback against the New York Times over the leaking of the SWIFT program, remember this is the modern republican party.  So, where does one start to look to find the origin?  Of course, it's politics.  Everything is politics with this crew.

Hating on the gays isn't working anymore.  Hating on the Hispanics (sorry, fill in your own more PC term there if you're so inclined) certainly backfired.  But here is the New York Times, the right's mortal enemy, and they just leaked a story that was pretty much already out in the public domain, as well as the WSJ, but you don't here anything about them, do you?

Remember the cryptic letter Scooter Libby sent Judith Miller? The one that ended with this message:

"You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover -- Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work -- and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers. With admiration, Scooter Libby."

The next issue of Vanity Fair (via Rawstory) will reveal that Judy used to sleep with US Congressman Les Aspin. Aspen, Aspin. Pretty similar, huh. Judy has long had a reputation for sleeping with her sources, so was this quote a reference to her sleeping with Les Aspin and then quoting him as a source? Further more, does the turn in clusters phase constitute a threat to reveal other sources Judy tapped for her stories?

I don't know, but it is certainly interesting.

I originally posted this late Friday, but not too many eyes saw it so I thought I'd run it back up the flagpole today.

So, you want to prove the Bush administration lied about WMD.  Here's how.  Acquire the records from the navy and Air Force on the bombing sorties they flew during the beginning of the Iraq war.  How many sorties were flown to bomb WMD sites?  How many "chicken coop" missile silos were targeted?  The answer I'm sure is zero or next to zero.  Remember, Colin Powell told the UN we knew where they were.

I've seen the video of Al Qaa Qaa.  Didn't look like too many sorties were flown against it, and there appears to be quite a few "chicken coop" missile silos remaining.

Here is why this is important and is possibly the smoking gun.  When the invasion started, one of two things occurred.  Either the administration knew they were lying about WMD and didn't bother to target zero value sites, or they believed Iraq had WMD and cravenly put US armed forces in danger by ignoring the targeting of these very dangerous sites.  The only real question left is which is it?

So, you want to prove the Bush administration lied about WMD.  Here's how.  Acquire the records from the navy and Air Force on the bombing sorties they flew during the beginning of the Iraq war.  How many sorties were flown to bomb WMD sites?  How many "chicken coop" missile silos were targeted?  The answer I'm sure is zero or next to zero.  Remember, Colin Powell told the UN we knew where they were.

I've seen the video of Al Qaa Qaa.  Didn't look like too many sorties were flown against it, and there appears to be quite a few "chicken coop" missile silos remaining.

Here is why this is important and is possibly the smoking gun.  When the invasion started, one of two things occurred.  Either the administration knew they were lying about WMD and didn't bother to target zero value sites, or they believed Iraq had WMD and cravenly put US armed forces in danger by ignoring the targeting of these very dangerous sites.  The only real question left is which is it?

Gigi Graham, daughter of Billy Graham, got it exactly right in her keynote speech at yesterday's Ohio Prayer Breakfast.  Every right wing Christian ought to read it.  I'm currently trying to get the full text to post here.  It is excerpted in today's Columbus Dispatch here.  (sub. req.)  She said that some of today's Christians "don't serve others a very appetizing entree of the faith."  Listen to this from her speech.

Do you wonder where your tax dollars go under a republican controlled Congress? They go south on Big Corporate Giveaway Avenue, take a right on K Street Lobbyist St., and then take another right on Fill My Back Pocket Road. About a year after the big pharma medicare give away, what have they given us back? Pedophilia. Well, not in the traditional sense, but they are fucking children.

Thomas Friedman was all over TV this weekend advocating that the US government fix gas prices at $4.00 per gallon. His was pushing his new book The World Is Flat. I have yet to read the book (I hope to knock it out this week). While I almost always agree with Friedman's goals, I virtually never agree with his ideas of how to get there.

Like I've been say for a while, it was never about ANWR.  It's all about getting rid of the federal ban on offshore drilling.  Today's Dispatch has the story.  Right now, the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf coasts are protected from oil and natural gas drilling.

   I'm not quite sure what to think about this story. Texas oilman John Brown claims to be searching for oil in Israel using a passage from the Bible. Deuteronomy 33:24 says "Most blessed of sons be Asher. Let him be favored by his brothers and let him dip his foot in oil." I think we can all agree that the oil in question wasn't light sweet crude.

I think this is silly since I'm not a christian, but you know how these things work.  Apparently some universities are switching from using BC and AD to BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era).  This story says that most major textbook companies have adopted the terms already.  I have to admit it has been close to fifteen years since I picked up a textbook so this is new to me.  Has anyone seen this?  Does anyone care?  I don't and will continue to use what I grew up using.  Anyway being Good Friday and all I'd like to wish everybody Happy Holidays.

Apartheid, remember it?  One of the movements that helped bring it to an end was the US university system.  Several colleges in the 80's enacted bylaws that forbid their financial planners from investing in companies that did business in South Africa.  These bylaws generally do not refer directly to South Africa but to any country that violates human rights.  They have been widely ignored since apartheid was lifted in 1990.

So what government can I think of that now violates human rights?  Hmm....

Encourage your local university to divest itself from any company that does business with the US government, in fact demand it.  They have to do it or change their bylaws to allow for companies that do business with human rights violators.  

And as all alumni know, the day you graduate is the day they start asking you to donate to these funds. So cut them off until they comply.

I am preparing to start my own blog covering political news in Columbus, OH.  I'd like comments on an idea that came to me while doing this.  I want to be a local KOS affiliate.

Notice I said I want to be A local KOS affiliate, not THE local KOS affiliate.  Several cities have more than one newspaper so why shouldn't we?

The tech stuff is easy.  You enter your zip code like any "official" news website and local news comes up as well as the national news.  What do you guys think?

You may be wondering what kind of person would sign up to disenfranchise votes.  Here in Franklin County, Ohio that kind of person would be Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien.

Here's the great thing about Ron, He hates voting so much he signed up to challenge voters in four different precincts using four different home addresses.  Ron O'Brien is the person that has to prosecute any electoral malfeasance in Franklin County yet he is actively participating in it.

I have the jpegs of the list of vote challengers that I scanned (I have a hard copy of the entire list) but I need some technical assistance to post it here.

Rick Santorum was a guest on yesterday's episode of "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross.  He was on to speak about abortion and defend the party line on embrionic rights.  The republican platform claim embryos have the same constitional right as their mothers.  He told a story about his wife giving birth at 20 weeks to one of their children.  The child only lived two hours.  Santorum then took the dead baby home.  He said it was important that his other children get to see their little brother before they buried him.  Is it just me or is that completely fucking bizarre.

Green Day has a new album coming out Sept. 21.  It's supposed to be their best effort yet.  The first single is titles American Idiot.  Lyrics in the extended text

This morning around 6:30 EST Bush's "Kerry is a pessimist" ad rans on CNN.  Immediately following was the new NYSE ad.  The following is MSNBC's desciption of the ad (I didn't have time this morning to transcribe it).

The commercial tells us optimism is celebrated around the world with a ringing bell, and then shows us images of a number of them: a wedding bell, Buddhist bells, a school bell; even a cowbell at a soccer match. Finally, we're shown the NYSE's own bell and given the promise that the Exchange has "new standards," "new leadership" and a "renewed commitment to being the best market on Earth."

Is the NYSE running this ad in conjustion with Bush's ad?  Has anyone else seen these ads running consecutively?

The Army has said that they have no authority to charge a mercenary with the rape of an Iraqi teenager.  John Ashcroft does though.  Under the Protection Act of 2003 the United States can prosecute any American for committing crimes against children in a foreign country.

Apparently the victim in Abu Ghraib was, in fact, a minor.  The Guardian story describes the victim as a mid-teen.  The Protection Act was strengthened in 2003 to help combat sex tourism in Asia, but several key points are valid in this case.

-- U.S. prosecutors no longer have to prove the accused traveled abroad with the intent of having sex with minors. Showing intent is no longer necessary. The accused is subject to the full force of U.S. law if they attempted to or engaged in sexual conduct with children under age18 in foreign places.