Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Friday, October 20, 2006

GOP aiding terrorism!

CNN story here.

Now the GOP wants to help Al-Qeida. They must, they're advertising for them now aren't they? I find it reprehensible that the GOP would help broadcast Osama bin Laden's message in their campaign ads. As if the GOP hasn't already self-destructed, this should pull the pin on their grenade. Personally, I think they should be held responsible for helping terrorism by running these ads nation-wide...President Bush should have them all "detained" with his new powers!

Unfit troops in Iraq

I was just watching a segment on CBS news alleging that the U.S. military is sending "unfit" troops back onto active duty in Iraq. These are men that have been diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Men who for one reason or another have been diagnosed as "unfit for combat duty", who are then sent back into Iraq on the front lines with weapons.

At the end of the feature, the reporter said that the only response they got from the Pentagon on this, was that they screen soldiers before being put back onto active duty, and that they have 200 mental health professionals evaluating the men on duty. By my calculations, with the present troop strength in Iraq at 130,000, with only 200 mental health professionals that means each one of these "mental health professionals" has to evalutate 650 men...how well do you think they're doing they're job with numbers like that?

Suspicious circumstances...

Here's a story at CNN that I find rather suspicious.

Eight Afghani men who work as laborers for a "remote U.S. military base", were stopped by gunmen on their way home from work, killed execution style, and $6,000 was taken from them. $6,000? Where did these eight afghani men get this kind of cash that they'd be carrying around on them? This seems quite suspicious to me, I know for a fact that law enforcement in the United States would certainly find that suspicious if it happened here in the U.S. even!

It just seems to me, that that's an awful lot of cash for eight men to have between them in Afghanistan. Is the U.S. military paying that well for laborers?

Friday, October 13, 2006

As even our 'allies' turn against us...

If you haven't heard, a british coroner has ruled that U.S. forces are responsible for the death of Terry Lloyd, a 50-year-old reporter for the British television network ITN who was killed on March 22, 2003. They are calling this a "war crime". You can read the entire story here.

I'm sorry, but it's my opinion that journalists who voluntarily venture into a known war zone to try and get a story, are doing so with the full and complete knowledge that they are putting themselves into an imminently dangerous situation. While I am definitely in the anti-Iraq war camp, this is nothing more than a blatant smear campaign. The driver of the mini-van in which the wounded Terry Lloyd was being driven, admits himself that he was "driving blindly through smoke" when the bullet that killed Mr. Lloyd hit him. If he was driving through thick, blinding smoke, how could anyone firing in the direction of the mini-van be expected to see the markings on the van and know that it was a vehicle belonging to a "non-combatant"?

This sounds like nothing more or less than the old axiom of "being in the wrong spot, at the wrong time." Obviously though, if our own allies are turning against us, it's time to get out of Iraq before even more fingerpointing begins to occur. It looks like soon it will not just be the U.S. against Iraq, it will soon be the U.S. against the world...and that is one fight that not even we could come out of on top.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Blech! I feel awful

Headcold...need I say more?

On the upside though, my Colts did squeak by a win against the Titans, 14-13

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Family member down, but not out...



This is Yoshi, one of our two cats. She'd been acting funny for a couple of days, and yesterday I saw she was having trouble urinating and that her urine had blood in it. We were pretty worried, but after a visit with the vet, things are looking up. The doctor was 99% sure she has a bladder infection. After an examination, he gave her a shot, and a couple weeks worth of pills we need to give her, and she should be fine!

Considering this was the first time she's seen a vet in twelve years, she did really well and we were quite proud of her. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon. Our two cats truly have become members of our family, and we couldn't imagine life without them.