Did Bush's Pentagon demand soldiers in Iraq start skipping meals?  Two Republicans in Congress are demanding answers (and I hope Democrats aren't far behind!).  

Via AP:

Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK) said she is investigating allegations that members of the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade are not being regularly fed in Iraq.

Allegedly the military is forcing the Oklahoma National Guard (45th) to work nine-hour shifts with no lunch.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) claims he's also looking into the allegations.  Can the Bush Administration get any more shameles in their treatment of our troops?

If the Obama campaign wants to put Sen. Clinton in an embarassing spot, try posing the title question.

It's not that I think she would pardon Spitzer - but that's not the point.  The point is to put Clinton's name back in the Spitzer story for the next 6 to 24 hours by making her comment on it.

Refusing to answer would make her look worse.  

Right now Gov. Eliot Spitzer is working out a plea bargain for patronizing a prostitute and arranging for her to cross state lines, according to the Associated Press.  Although he's likely to avoid jail time, he'll probably be a felon after pleading guilty to some charge or another.  If elected, would Hillary Clinton pardon Spitzer to get the felony off his record?

Is John Sidney McCain secretly a woman?  He openly admits one of his parents was.  And where he went to elementary school, all the teachers were, too.

He also voted "aye" on SR 266 commending the University of Tennessee Women’s Basketball team on their national championship.  Any one of these items should raise questions in the minds of the voters.  All of them together indicate a clear pattern of womanly behavior.  

Personally, I don’t believe it, of course, but the question has been raised and so the voters will just have to decide for themselves if they are willing to risk electing a secret woman.

PS: I heard he took the oath of office on a copy of Our Bodies, Our Selves

PPS: I dedicate this snark to the Tennessee Republican Party, which is set to fire its Communications Director tomorrow for a racist anti-Obama press release.

Have you ever seen a candidate talk over his opponent's concession speech?? Total dick move. Exactly what you expect from a guy spending millions to smear fellow candidates from his own party. I can't believe he ran out on the stage the moment McCain started speaking.

"No one can tell an American there's something they can't do," Mitt just said.  Apparently that applies to Mitt's sense of decency.  

Wow, now he's getting his supporters to boo Clinton and Obama.  Total dick.

Rumors are flying at Vanderbilt University that Condoleezza Rice may leave the White House to become the school’s new chancellor.

Rice last visited Nashville less than a month ago (November 13) although there’s nothing on her official schedule about meeting with Vanderbilt officials. Nor would you expect there to be.

The board members appointed to Vanderbilt’s "chancellor search committee" are known to be among the board’s most politically conservative members – and the university has demonstrated its love for the Secretary of State in the past. In 2004, Rice received Vanderbilt’s first-ever Chancellor’s Medal for "contributions to academia and society."

Before joining the Bush administration, Rice served as the youngest-ever provost of Stanford University from 1993 to 1999, and she had stated that she wants to return to academia after leaving Washington.

I don’t have any information on the original source of on-campus rumors about Condoleezza Rice, but it is being discussed by people worth listening to.

[Cross-posted at progressivenashville.com]

A Vanderbilt University professor (and other scientists) warns that humanity may be accidentally hastening the end of the entire universe.  Oops.

To any and all other lifeforms out there in cosmos, sorry!  Our bad!

It all comes down to quantum mechanics and the bizarre (but apparently true) fact that subatomic thingamabobs behave differently if someone is watching them.

Wow!  It has just been confirmed that Nashville is going to host one of the 2008 presidential debates!

NashvillePost.com has learned that Belmont University will host one of the 2008 presidential debates. The event will be held at Belmont's Curb Center on October 7, 2008, less than a month before the 2008 presidential general elections.

Typically there are just three debates, so I am thrilled to have one of them right here in my hometown!  For one night, Nashville will be the center of the political universe!  All the networks, the cable news shows, the pundits, and - dare I say it? - the DAILY SHOW will be right here in Music City!!

Tennessee leans Red, but we have a popular Democratic governor and have been steadily growing more purple in recent years.  Hosting a presidential debate will, I think, make people here much more interested and engaged in the election - making the voters more attentive, educated, and likely to vote - all of which, I believe, will help the Democrats!

Go Nashville!

In what could be the biggest gaffe of the 2008 election, GOP candidate Mitt Romney just accused Senator Barrack Obama of urging all Iraqi insurgent and terrorist groups to unite against the United States.  It was actually Osama Bin Laden who made that pronouncement in a new audio tape.

This was no slip of the tongue – saying Obama when he meant Osama.  This is actual (and staggering!) stupidity on the part of Mitt Romney.

"Actually, just look at what Barack Obama said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. ... It's almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland." - Mitt Romney

Who is it that’s living in a fantasyland if they think any candidate on either side might conceivably call for our enemies to unite against us in Iraq?  This is complete failure of common sense.

Plus, it’s a complete failure to know what the hell is going on in the world.

Disgraceful.

Stephen Colbert announced tonight that he is running for president of the United States - but only in South Carolina.  He will apparently be on both the Democratic and the Republican primary ballot.  

According to Colbert, he needs just 2.5% of the vote to get a delegate in one (or both!) of the national conventions.  Will it work?  Will you vote for him?  Where can we donate??

The Pentagon has informed thousands of American soldiers in Iraq that their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was a pre-existing condition from before they ever joined the military.  In other words, NO TREATMENT, NO INSURANCE, NO NOTHING!  

And if that isn’t holy-fucking-shit awful enough for you, American soldiers suffering brain injuries while in Iraq are being told that also was a pre-existing condition.

More than 22,000 soldiers serving in Iraq have been kicked out of the US military entirely – booted from a war zone straight to the streets – for seeking treatment for the psychological effects of combat and brain injuries. Now, they’re jobless, without medical coverage, and in immediate need of medical treatment that Bush’s Pentagon/VA absolutely refuses to provide.

This may be the most heart-warming story I’ve read all day.

Via Bloomberg, at least 60 top corporate executives who led the charge for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 are supporting Democrats this time around—and they’re writing huge checks to prove it!

Why?

It’s not just because they know which way the wind is blowing.  Listen to John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley, who was a Bush "Ranger" in 2004 (meaning he raised at least $200,000):

"When it comes to supporting a political candidate, I have always looked beyond party labels to the person I felt was best for the job and most able to lead the country forward," Mack wrote to executives of the New York-based company in June, explaining his choice. "I personally believe that person is Hillary Clinton."

And that’s just the beginning:

Via Politico:

New York Rep. Peter King, a prominent House Republican, said there are "too many mosques in this country" in a recent interview with Politico.

"There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam," King said. "We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them."

And there’s more!  According to Rep. King, a full "85%" of mosques in the United states are controlled by "extremist leadership."

If that doesn’t prove just how simplistic and racist the Republican view of the war on terrorism is, then take a look at Rep. King’s supporters in the comment section of that story:

What could possibly do more damage to Republicans nationwide than to put Pat Buchanan in a high-profile, open-seat Senate race against rising star Mark Warner in formerly Red Virginia?

It just might happen!  The word is out that Pat Buchanan is seriously considering running for the US Senate.

This is even better than when the GOP put up poor Alan Keyes against Barack Obama in Illinois.

BREAKING!!!  

This just in from CNN!!!!  

Via urgent email message!!!!!

President Bush will announce this week plans to cut U.S. troops in Iraq by about 30,000 -- to pre-'surge' levels -- by next summer, a senior administration official confirms to CNN

CNN finds this to be shocking, new information despite the fact that this has been all over Daily Kos for a week.

Check out BarbinMD's frontpage post from Sept. 5:

And from Adm. Michael Mullen, incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

....the "surge" effectively will end in April because there are no fresh replacements.

Troops reductions in April will have nothing to do with improved conditions in Iraq, it will be simply because they won't have the troops to sustain the current levels.  

Thanks for the update, CNN!  Glad you're finally waking up!  Now, will you let Bush pretend this is a victory for his surge, or will you report the truth - this is the inevitable consequence of our over-extended military getting dragged to its absolute breaking point?

Here that noise?  America’s bull shit detector is blaring!

According to a Rasmussen poll released today, only 39% of Americans expect the Magical September report will "honestly and accurately" reflect reality in Iraq.  

And this comes from people who still think the report is coming from General Petraeus, not the White House!  So much for the White House’s brilliant plan of stealing credibility by writing the report under the general’s name.  Only 39% of Americans think Petraeus will tell the truth.

The Bush "Justice" Department now claims that the White House Office of Administration (which, among other things, handles IT services for the White House) is not subject to the FOIA and does not have to follow the law.

This is the despite the fact that the "Justice" Department’s own website specifically lists the Office of Administration as one of the executive branch agencies that is subject to FOIA.

When did the Bush White House figure out that the Office of Administration  was outside (above) the law?  At the exact same time FOIA requests were filed for information on why so many emails have mysteriously vanished from the White House, particularly those related to the fired US Attorneys.  

The "Justice" Department isn’t even pretending this is a coincidence.  Right there in the court files, the "Justice" Department acknowledges this is a brand new concept and 180-degree change in interpretation of the law.  Shameless.

Who left a voice mail to the Arab American Institute saying:

"The only good Lebanese is a dead Lebanese. The only good Arab is a dead Arab. Long live [Israel]. Death to Lebanon and death to the Arabs."

And then followed it up with an email saying:

"Fuck the Arabs and fuck James Zogby and his wicked Hizbollah brothers. They will burn in hellfire on this earth and in the hereafter."

Was it:

A)      Mel Gibson

B)      Pat Robertson

C)      Bush’s former Ambassador to the Middle East

If you guessed C, you’re absolutely right!!  US Diplomat Patrick Syring is being allowed to resign after the voice mails and emails were made public this week as part of a federal indictment against him for making threats.

Very rarely do you come across the F-word uncensored on Yahoo! News.

UPDATE:  Apparently, he was placed in the State Department by President Reagan, not Bush, and has served there for 20 years.

Want to turn Tennessee blue?  It starts right now in Nashville!

We face a classic battle between an old-school DLC candidate (Bob Clement) and a new-blood progressive (Karl Dean) in the runoff for mayor next month.

Don’t care who runs the Nashville Metropolitan government?  Here’s why you should:

Tennessee, like Virginia, is a red state that just needs the right leadership to turn blue.  Our two Senate seats and 11 electoral college votes are not out of reach, if we choose the right candidates and elect the best leaders!  

Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, and Jim Webb have transformed their state into a national battleground for Democrats.  We need that kind of bullpen here in Tennessee!  And electing Karl Dean mayor is a great start.