But Perjury Is Such a Little Thing to Republicans

The latest reports from local TV station KGTV are that Brian Bilbray, Republican candidate to replace convicted felon Duke Cunningham in California's 50th CD may have lied on his declaration of candidacy form. Brian has a home in Virginia, where he practices his profession as a lobbyist. He has a home in Imperial Beach, California, about 40 miles south of the district he is running in. Both homes are listed as his "primary residence." When he filed to run for Congress, he listed his mother's house as his residence.

"If he does live here, he must leave late at night and come back early in the morning," said neighbor Bill Rider

It is not required to live in the district when running for Congress. There is nothing illegal in living in Imperial Beach, or even Virginia, and running for Congress elsewhere. There is, however, this nasty line at the bottom of all the candidacy forms Brian signed to run for this office.

I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.

If Brian lied on the forms he filed to run for Congress, he committed a felony. I guess he is the logical successor to Duke Cunningham.

tag: bilbray
Photo: left to right - Congressman Duncan Hunter, Brian Bilbray, Duke Cunningham

Mastering the Busby-Bilbray Numbers

Live Journal has a new poll out on the runoff for Duke Cunningham's California 50th CD (they charge, I'm cheap, here it is on MyDD). Busby(D) leads Bilbray(R) 47% to 40%. Previously, SurveyUSA had it a 45-45% deadheat while the first GOP poll had Busby ahead 43% to 37%. With differing methods and high margins of error, do these numbers mean anything?

The best news is this is the first poll after the Republican (ie. vile) attack ads against Busby began airing. It appears the attack ads are having no effect or are blowing back on Bilbray. The crosstabs of the SurveyUSA poll showed Bilbray leading among Hispanics. That will not hold, advantage Busby. Busby has better, but not significant, favorable/unfavorable numbers. There is little more visible through the polling fog.

Upcoming Tread Movers
+ The San Diego Union-Tribune has endorsed Bilbray but that normally has no effect. The Union-Trib endorsing a Republican is as predictable as the sunrise.
+ Bilbray is pegging his campaign on a "Stop the Brown Horde" theme. This will move Hispanics sharply to Busby.
+ It appears that Busby's campaign learned the lesson from the primary election - Get Out The Vote. They have a heavy schedule of volunteer activities. Bilbray has none; in fact, he can't even keep his events calendar up to date.
+ There is no compelling issue or person on the June ballot to draw conservatives to the polls. This will make GOTV difficult for Bilbray since conservatives don't like him.

Bottom Line
Busby probably has a slim lead which, in a safe Republican district, is remarkable. She is running an impressive, street-level campaign. Bilbray has a lackluster fat cat-style Republican campaign that leans entirely on endorsements, conservative talk radio, and vicious attack ads. If effort and intelligence matter, Busby wins. If money and connections are the most important thing in politics, Bilbray will pull it out.
tag: busby, bilbray, 50th congressional district, francine busby

Update (5/18): Had to switch my reference for the Busby-Bilbray poll to MyDD, Crooks & Liars appears to have been hijacked. Pity. See also San Diego Politics.

Adolf Proved It Could Be Done

From the mainstream conservative outlet, WorldNetNews, presented without comment because I'm over in the corner puking my guts out.

Not only will (the mass deportation of Mexicans) work, but one can easily estimate how long it would take. If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn't possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don't speak English and are not integrated into American society. ~ Vox Day

Lest we forget.

Hungarian Jews awaiting Nazi deportation. ~ BBC






Jewish children in railroad box cars forcibly separated from their parents and deported by the Nazis. ~ Jewish Virtual Library

At his own website, Vox Day tries to defend himself that he was only saying, "it is quite clearly possible to enact deportations on the scale required." My response, As long as you don't care how many people die in transit.

tag: deportation, Immigration, Border Security

Borderlands

I feel confident that President Bush's bold initiative of putting National Guardmen on the border is nothing more than sop to the conservative base. He needs to do something and putting soldiers on the border will at least make a good photo op.

The lights of Laredo dance on the water
and shine in a young man's eyes.

• The National Guard is untrained for this duty. They will get in the way as much as they will help. In the end, they will be able to do little more than hold the flashlights and clipboards.
• Additional personnel without additional vehicles means they are walking.
  
• The Border Patrol is notorious about protecting its turf. The National Guard will be as welcome as a rash.
• They can't do anything but watch. The Posse Comitatus Act forbids using the Federal Armed Forces in law enforcement functions. The National Guard, under a state governor, can engage in law enforcement; when brought under federal control they cannot unless there is an insurrection. I suspect this is going to be another one of those laws the president will choose to ignore.
  

Who stands on the border and dreams of paradise.
He's heard crazy stories of how people
live over in the promised land.

The National Guard will certainly be carrying their guns, what good is a photo op without guns, but the guns will probably be empty. Can you image the uproar if the miltary shots a Mexican national.

He heard they eat three meals a day,
just across the Rio Grande.
He's got a wife named Maria, and a baby named Rose,
and another one to feed on the way.

I don't see this doing much harm, which by George Bush's standards makes it one of his best policy initiatives. It may have a small impact on immigration, nothing significant. It is applying cosmetics to a porcine. Nothing short of barbwire, landmines, and machine guns will stop the migration back and forth across the southern border that has been going on for generations. To our mutual benefit.

Two willing hands, that couldn't find work today.
He stares at the river and curses the future,
that he can't understand.
He knows the child would have a chance,
just across the Rio Grande.
~ Just Across the Rio Grande by Rebe McEntire

tag: Immigration, Border Security, National Guard

A Yukon Story - Revisited

A few postings back, in A Yukon Story, I shared a little something I learned of the Gwich'in people from the summer I traveled in the Canadian Yukon. I used the tale to illustrate why drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) would be wrong. That sacrificing this uniquely wonderful culture for a few barrels of oil would be a sin.

The Anglican minister story was not my only encounter with Gwich'in culture. In 1987 I joined my brother's family on a kayaking trip down the Bell and Porcupine Rivers. This is as remote a place as is left on Earth. Scores of miles of impassable muskeg swamp separate the traveler from the nearest village. We flew to Summit Lake
portaged to the Little Bell River
and worked our way down this winding stream to the wide Porcupine River
and then paddled to Old Crow. (My pictures of this trip are still on slides - 1987 and no digital cameras. I have borrowed these photos from a German traveler who took the same adventure more recently. He has several more beautiful, and familiar, pictures on his website. For still more photos and English text, visit here.)

But this is politics, not travel, and I want to talk about the Gwich'in people. Our first encounter was with a magnificent gentleman named Johnny Charlie whom we had hired to drive us and our equipment up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik. During the long, bump drive along the gravel highway towards and north of the Arctic Circle, Johnny Charlie filled us with stories of wilderness travel. Each story was a subtle yet pointed lesson on survival in his world. When we parted, he gave us his phone number and instructions to call him as soon as we reach Old Crow. He volunteered that if we didn't emerge from the river on schedule he would come looking for us. Johnny Charlie was one of the gentlest, kindest people I've met in my life.

While we were on the river, a man on shore waved us over to him. I'm from Southern California, when that happens here you calculate the odds of getting mugged. But, in the wilderness, when someone beckons you he might need help. We get to shore and the man, I don't remember his name, tells us he had just killed a caribou and he wanted to share the meat with us. A stranger sees four strangers floating on the river and his first thought is to share his food with people he has never seen before and will never see again.

Okay, So What's the Point
The comments to my previous post implied that the Gwich'in people are greedy hypocrites. The comments both seem to draw from this oil and gas industry funded propaganda. The Gwich'in themselves allow oil drilling on the caribou ranges, they said. As is common with propaganda, a little truth is used to tell a lie.

Yes, there is oil exploration on Gwich'in land. It is in the southern winter range for the caribou, marked on the map with the little purple dots. The areas are carefully out of any reserved land and well into the southern, less sensitive, parts of the range.

This is the Canadian government's map. It is easy for migratory animals to avoid small disturbed areas when they scatter seeking winter grazing lands. The difference is that the proposed drilling sites in ANWR are in the calving area. Over 100,000 caribou congregate in a relatively small area to give birth. If our oil needs drives them from prime lands into the foothills the effect on the herd, and on the people who depend on that herd, will be devastating. An analogy would be putting maternity wards and nurseries in construction zones instead of hospitals.

The first time I visited Alaska, in 1981, I heard an Alaskan state legislator say that Eskimos and Indians don't need to subsistence hunt and fish because "they can always shop in a grocery store." For many in those cultures that statement is both absurd and impossible. The Gwich'in culture should not be killed off to feed a few weeks demand for oil. The cost is far greater than the benefit.

Other links: Old Crow, Caribou range, Caribou Commons, National Geographic, Gwich'in Tribal Council, Dene Nation (The Gwich'in are not the only people who depend on the caribou.)

tag: anwr, arctic national wildlife refuge

Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick

The clock is running. Raw Story reports aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Enterprise are heading towards the Persian Gulf where they will join the USS Ronald Reagan. Three carrier groups is one quarter of the fleet. That much fire power can only mean

Our megalomaniac president is committed to a preemptive, unprovoked attack on the sovereign nation of Iran. The Navy will reach attack positions in June. There will be NO congressional debate. There will be NO attempt to gain the approval of the American People. There will be NO attempt at international support. If, as has been discussed, he uses nuclear weapons then the United States of America will have committed the most egregious war crime since Nazi Germany.

Rationally, there is not a single blessed thing on Earth we can do to stop his lunacy. Rationally, we will leave all concepts of rationality in the smoldering rubble. We have a month, six weeks tops. After that will come the true madness.

There is a madness upon the land, a madness that consumes the beauty of the landscape and leaves nothing behind.
~ Anon.

See also Pissed On Politics, Washington Post, Booman Tribune, Life Through My Eyes, Atlantic Monthly

tags: iran war, iran, nuclear weapons, bush

The NSA Is the Military's Spies

The National Security Agency (NSA) is AN ARM OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY. Sorry about the shouting but this is important. Every news report I've seen fails to mention this vital point. The NSA is not like the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Food Safety and Inspection Service, it is not just another agency of the government. It is under the Department of Defense; it is the military's espionage agency.

The Army, Navy and Air Force are SPYING ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. There I go shouting again. No reason for outrage? Consider for a moment if a few of the recent news articles were rewritten for more accuracy.

The United States Army has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans ~ USA Today 5-11-2006
Rice authorized the Pentagon to spy on UN Security Council in run-up to war ~ Raw Story, 12-27-2005
President Bush secretly authorized the Armed Forces to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States ~ New York Times, 12-16-2005
Military personnel have been spying on a Baltimore anti-war group ~ Raw Story, 1-10-2006

How does that make you feel? As bad as it is that our government has a massive, encompassing campaign to spy on us, it is worse that the campaign is run out of the Pentagon. There are many examples in world history where a country's military spied on its own citizens. From the Nazi Schutzstaffel though the DINA of Pinochet's Chile and Agentina's Dirty War, domestic military spying leads to domestic horrors.

By definition, the military spies on the nation's enemies. When they begin spying on us, they have decided that the American People are the enemy. When a military identifies an enemy it wants to wage war on that enemy. Unchecked, NSA spying will lead inevitably to the American military waging war against the American people.

I have to give the NSA credit where it is due. For a supersecret spy agency, they have an amazingly well designed web site, a museum, and even a park. In their Frequently Asked Questions section (a supersecret FAQ is just weird) they point out how socially responsibility they are. They do blood drives and recycle pizza boxes. I'm so reassured.

tag: nsa, national security agency, spying

Helen Thomas Is Scared Now

Poor Tony Snow. It's his first week on the job as Bush's Press Secretary. He is so terrified he has yet to show his face in a public press briefing. All he can think to do is send flame mail to White House reporters. That's where the pity comes in. Poor Tony's flames are just weak, witless copies of Stephen Colbert.

Snow's e-mail: The New York Times continues to ignore America’s economic progress.
Colbert's Press Secretary comedy skit: I have a brief statement - The press is destroying America.

Stephen Colbert's photo is on the right. I don't know where Snow is.

tag: stephen colbert, tony snow

The Dukestir Ain't No Squealer

After disgraced Congressman Duke Cunningham bitched up (cried) in front of television cameras I was certain he would roll over on his congressional homies. After all, he was a fish (first time prisoner) doing eight-ball (an eight year sentence). Well, according to a Pentagon investigator, the Dukestir is holding his mud (not talking). He's become a Toosh Hog (hard ass) who's refusing to snitch. If the interrogators are smart they will turn the screws by giving him hard time instead of cushy Club Fed.

Not a snitch, nope, never tattle
I open up the crust of the Earth
Then go inside and steal its worth
~ Pass the Mic, Unfidelz

See also DownWithTyranny and Muckraker.

tag: duke cunningham

Three Beautiful Pictures

Yosemite Valley in the Spring.

Lucy Lawless (Xena, Battlestar Galactica) with her pet gecko.

The trendline of President George Bush's approval rating over the last year and one-third. Borrowed from Political Arithmetik.

tag: Bush poll

A Yukon Story

Several years ago I was traveling in the Yukon Territory of Canada. I had the opportunity to speak at length with the Anglican minister in the village of Old Crow. A sociable Scottish gentleman, he shared several stories of his time ministering to the Gwich'in people of Old Crow.

Old Crow from the air

One story he told was about the time he tried to raise some rabbits to eat. The First People of the Yukon are meat eaters. They rely upon caribou for much of their diet. An occasional rabbit, though still meat, would be a welcome delicacy. The people were fascinated by his cages of rabbits. The children, especially, enjoyed helping the minister feed the rabbits.

Pets are rare in the Yukon wilderness. Dogs, kept by most natives, are working animals. Although SnowGo's have mostly replaced dogsleds, dogs are still valuable hunting partners. They do not raise chickens or other animals for food.

A Yukon pack dog.

The time came when the minister cooked one of his rabbits and the people were shocked. This is a society that survives on subsistance hunting and fishing. They eat meat. Yet, they do not understand the concept of raising an animal to eat it. If you care for an animal, if you domesticate it, you have a responsibility to it. To kill an animal you have raised for food is akin to cannibalism. Factory farms for cattle or chickens, to them, is as abhorrent as concentration camps are to us. I don't recall what the minister did with the rest of his rabbits but I know he didn't eat them.


Why Does This Matter?
This is part of the morality of the people endangered by Republican mania to develop ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) for oil. This is the culture that would be sacrificed so my neighbor can continue to power his multiple pickup trucks, motor boats and dune buggy. The Gwich'in are an unique people, different from you and me in ways we can never understand. They are a wonderful people and have a right to keep the lifestyle that gives them a gentle perspective on a harsh world. That lifestyle, of necessity, includes the unmolested Porcupine caribou herd.
other links:
Alaska Wilderness League
a story of the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska
World Wildlife Fund: Canada
Ever Increasing Entropy
tag: anwr, arctic national wildlife refuge

Gas Prices Aren't Near High Enough Yet

I'm driving home on Interstate 8, going about the speed limit because, well I'm boring and it's just my speed. One of those Big Ass Hummers streaks by going at least ninty MPH. He's zipping left and right though traffic like he's trying to outrun the devil. It is then I have an epiphany.
I'll know gasoline is rightly priced when that fellow figures its precious. When he slows down because even he thinks wasting gas is stupid, gasoline will have reached its proper price. We ain't anywhere near there yet.

A Baseless War, Literally

Carved in the dark – their city of dreams
Drowed in the baseless sands
~ Desert Song, Fair Warning

This is a pretty conundrum. The Pentagon is building several huge bases inside Iraq and it looks like Congress is going to cut off funding for them. Yesterday, the Senate unanimously passed a Joe Biden amendment that forbids spending money to "establish permanent United States military bases in Iraq." In March, the House passed the same amendment.

Eschaton thinks this will be another on the list of laws Bush decides he doesn't have to obey. My guess is he will define permanent in a Babylonian sense, anything under 1,000 years is temporary. Also referenced, ThinkProgress.

P.S. Happy Birthday to LB.

Slime Balls

No Capital discusses a new invention out of Texas called Riot Slimer. Apparently, it is a super slimy goo that can be sprayed on an unruly crowd to make them more, ah, ruly. I would be impressed except this substance was invented years ago by the Canadian comedy program, You Can't Do That On Television.
Okay, I admit it. I just wanted an excuse to show a photo of Christine McGlade getting slimed.

Visible Humanity

[I] had a feeling that your people were somehow connected with my destiny. That what happened to you was connected with what would happen to me. ~ Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

It is rare that I am filled with awe. I have seen over 13,000 sunsets in my life (allowing for the occasional rainy day), many have been wondrously beautiful. I have seen the Northern Lights; watched evening lightning play off Sierra Nevada peaks. I have seen men walk on the moon, a miracle people half my age can scarcely imagine. Awe is an emotion for younger souls.

The sight of hundreds of thousands of Americans (yes, Americans) marching peacefully in cities across the county was awe inspiring. Politicians and pundits will spend thousands of words trying to spin the immigrant marches of the past few weeks. It was a simple statement of fact. The millions of invisible people living among us are flesh and blood. They have lives and dreams and families. They are a vital part of us, whether we want to accept it or not.

Turn...Turn...Turn

To everything (Turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (Turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose Under Heaven
~ The Byrds, 1965

President Bush declared today, "We believe this is a turning point" in Iraq. If that sound familiar it is because we have been around this bend several times before.

1. May, 2003 ~ President Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, with the Mission Accomplished banner hanging in the background, said, "we have seen the turning of the tide."
2. July, 2003 ~ The deaths of Uday and Qusay, Hussein's sons, in a bloody shotout, was heralded by Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez as "definitely going to be a turning point."
3. December, 2003 ~ The capture of Saddam was the next turning point. Jed Babbin of National Review said, "if handled correctly - it can change the fight from a brewing ethnic civil war to one of Iraq and the Coalition against external forces." Guess it wasn't handled correctly, eh Jed?
4. April, 2004 ~ The first attack on Fallujah. Although, to be honest, everybody except the President was calling the defeat of the Marines by Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah to be a turning point in favor of the insurgency.
   
5. November, 2004 ~ After the US Presidential election, the Marines went back to Fallujah intending to either win or destroy the city. Central Command called their victory a turning point in its counterinsurgency efforts.
6. Jaunary, 2005 ~ The Iraqi election. President Bush in his radio address said, "tomorrow the world will witness a turning point in the history of Iraq."
7. December, 2005 ~ We were free of turning point references until the next Iraqi election. Bush said, "the year 2005 will be recorded as a turning point in the history of Iraq, the history of the Middle East and the history of freedom."
8. May, 2006 ~ Here we go again. Another turning point.
   

If it seems like we are going in circles, with all this turning, it is because we are.
Additional links: Common Dreams, World in Conflict, Antiwar.com

A time to love, a time to hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late.

Old Fashioned (in a good way)

Stephen Colbert's appearance at the White House Correspondents's Dinner on Saturday took me back to the good old days. There was a time in American that journalists believed "the duty of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Today, too many people in the business believe that the ultimate prize in journalism is being allowed to put on a tuxedo and eat in the same room as the President.

Cronyism is the curse of journalism. After many years I have reached the firm conclusion that it is impossible for any objective newspaperman to be a friend of a President.
~ Garry Wills
Journalists should not be so distant that all they can hear are shouts, nor so close that they become more conspirators than critics.
~ Walter Lippman

Stephen's appearance was classic H. L. Mencken. With bitting wit and courage, he told the truth to an audience that desperately did not want to hear it.

The Wit of H. L. Mencken

• Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.
• The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
• In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
  

Visit Thank You Stephen Colbert to express yourself.

'Nuestro Himno'

O, sagt, könnt ihr seh'n
Bei der Dämmerung Schein,

What a kerfuffle! Some people do a Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner and you would think the end of the world was nigh.

Ce que nous acclamions si fièrement
à la dernière lueur du crépuscule?

Whose anthem, whose flag, whose country is it, anyway?

~ Michelle Malkin

Latino activists have not only commandeered our nation’s anthem, but bowdlerized it to suit their nefarious agenda

~ A Certain Slant of Light

Can "The Star-Spangled Banner," and the republic for which it stands, survive? Outrage over what's being called "The Illegal Alien Anthem" is already building

~ Mainstream Iowan

This sacred anthem of the U.S.A.

~ Church & State

And, then there is President Bush, who is afraid a Spanish language version of the anthem will cause the nation to lose its soul.

Czyje pasy i błyszczące gwiazdy
podczas strasznej walki

I hate raining on anyone's recreational outrage, but the Star Spangled Banner has been translated countless times in the last 190 years. The German translation at the top of this post dates to 1861. There are French and Polish versions. This Yiddish version was published in 1947.

Afn breg, durkh neplen fun yam fartunklt,
Vu dem soynes makhne iz fartayet in shrek,

The national anthem has been done in rap, swing, and jazz versions. Jimi Hendrix did a famous instrumental version at Woodstock. If you want real disrespect, here is the Pig-Latin version.

O-hay ay-say oes-day at-thay ar-stay angled-spay
anner-bay et-yay ave-way

Most fascinating to me is that the Senate in American Samoa introduced legislation last January to make the Samoan translation their official song. "We are now enjoying the 106th year of partnership with the greatest country in the world, yet we have not honored this union by memorializing the anthem of the United States in our native language," said Senate President Lolo Moliga.

I eleele o Sa'olotoga, ma Nofoaga o le au totoa.

For those people who truly believe that the Star Spangled Banner is sacred writ, the original tune is an eighteen century drinking song, To Anacreon in Heaven.

A fig for Parnassus, to Rowley's we'll fly,
And there my good fellows, we'll learn to entwine
The myrtle of Venus and Bacchus's vine.

But I don't want to leave my fellow citizens on the right-wing with undirected outrage. So, here, from the Washington Secretary of State office, is the Pledge of Allegiance - in Spanish, German, and French.
tag: nuestro himno

The more I think about it, the more I love the Samoan version. It is far more beautiful than the English language version. Here it is in its entirety.

Aue! se'i e vaai, le malama o ataata mai
Na sisi a'e ma le mimita, i le sesega mai o le vaveao
O ai e ona tosi ma fetu, o alu a'e i taimi vevesi tu
I luga o 'Olo mata'utia, ma loto toa tausa'afia
O Roketi mumu fa'aafi, o pomu ma fana ma aloi afi
E fa'amaonia i le po atoa, le fu'a o lo'o tu maninoa
Aue! ia tumau le fe'ilafi mai, ma agiagia pea
I eleele o Sa'olotoga, ma Nofoaga o le au totoa.

Breaking Up Iraq

I was one of those people who was against the Iraq War before it was cool. I predicted it would end badly with the partition of Iraq. It looks like that prediction is coming to pass. I just hate it when I'm right about these things.

Iran would be the big winner. They would absorb the Shi'ite region of Iraq, gaining their oil reserves. In the process Iran would become the largest country in the Middle East, larger than either Egypt or Turkey.

Turkey would invade and conquer the Kurdish region. With rebellious Kurds inside Turkey they could not tolerate an independent Kurdistan on their borders. They would have to act before Iran did. It would be a bloody invasion; the Kurds would not give up easily and the word genocide would be used. The US would have to support the Turkish invasion as the lesser evil.

What's left, the Sunnis, would join Syria out of self-protection. The end result would be horrible for the United States and even worse for the Iraqis. Pissed on Politics predicts we will be stuck in the middle and it will be the dawn of World War Three. I just pray his prediction is less accurate than mine was.

Art is the painting "Vision of Ice Breakup" by Uno Prii

What's a Little Prostitution Among Friends

Republicans partying with prostitutes hired by a corrupt contractor in the Watergate Hotel. The only thing missing is if we could get Duke Cunningham involved. Wait. He is. As an extra bonus, the pimp might turn out to the convicted felon who provides limo service to Department of Homeland Security bigwigs.

And they say Christmas only comes once a year.

Rush Limbaugh Arrested

I don't do breaking news for the obvious reason that, by the time I get to it, the news is kind of ancient. But, it just came across the news wires that Rush Limbaugh was arrested on prescription fraud charges. He will likely be released on bail.

What this says to me is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff....The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river. ~ Rush Limbaugh, October 5, 1995

A Debilitating Bleeding

An interesting phenomenon growing from the oil price explosion is the Pollyanna reaction coming from the Right sampled here. Humorously, they are parroting many of the things we environmentalists have been advocating for decades. The high oil price is all good, they say, because it will stimulate alternative energy sources, conservation, car pooling, and high-mileage hybrid vehicles. I really can't argue with them although I will add that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is another benefit.

The problem is how we are accomplishing these good things. We are experiencing gas rationing by random price hikes. This is the least rational way possible. Well, okay, rationing through gas lines like in the 1970's was even less rational. The impact is unmitigated. The result will be inflation. Businesses have to increase their prices to cover the increased cost of transportation. This will ripple through the economy in a slow debilitating bleeding. The Arab Oil Embargo in 1973 triggered a stagflation recession that lasted for a decade.

Planned high gas prices through tax policy, as in Europe, creates a more stable market and funds extensive mass transportation alternatives to the auto. The absence of any alternatives to the car in the United States will cripple us.

The Hidden Evils of the Iraq War

The evils of the Iraq War are well known. Underneath the surface there are still other depravities we have brought to torment the Iraqi people.

Prostitution
Trafficking in women for sex is one of the few growth industries in Iraq. Young women are being kidnapped, taken abroad with the help of corrupt officials, and sold into sexual slavery. Deprived of their husbands due to the war, other women are voluntarily turning to prostitution as the only viable source of employment open to them. The Shi'ites have revived the practice of Muta'a, pleasure marriage or temporary marriage, where a man "marries" a woman for a few minutes, just for the sex.

Child Torture and Rape
Victimizing children has become a common recreation for American and British soldiers as well as Iraqi men. There have been several reports of the torture and rape of children as young as 10 years-old by American soldiers. While there have been no criminal charges filed, the reports persist. The British are no better.

Organized Kidnappings
The occasional kidnappings of journalists or aid workers get lots of media. The gangster kidnapping of regular Iraqi citizens is rampant. Over 20,000 Iraqis have been kidnapped to date in 2006 alone. Some are kidnapped to be executed in the civil war, others are kidnapped for ransom. In Tal Afar, there are even schools that teach the art of kidnapping and murder to the ambitious young Iraqi who wants to do the job right.

Slavery by US Contractors
Halliburton is one of several US contractors that trick thousands of workers, mostly from Asia, into Iraq, confiscate their passports, and force them to do dangerous work in Iraq. The practice is described as "widespread" by General George Casey. This is against United States law and there are some investigations. There are also allegations that American firms are selling people into sex slavery.

The Singular Virtue of George Bush

President Bush on Tuesday ordered a temporary suspension of environmental rules for gasoline ~ Huffington Post

Whether in war or in peace, in poverty or prosperity, in good times or ill, President Bush can be counted on to maintain a single persistant mantra. He will always find virtue in the concept of shitting in our own bed.

Imagine Bush With Boobs

If you were a mad scientist and cloned George Bush using two X chromosomes, what would walk out of your lab?
Would it be harpy Congresswoman Mean Jean Schmidt? She certainly can personify the spirit of Bush's agenda. But Bush projects himself as a compassionate conservative and this is a woman who would kick a sick dog.
What about neo-Nazi Ann Coulter? I hate being churlish (well, really, I enjoy it), but Coulter looks like a high-priced call-girl addicted to snorting the powdered extract of Rush Limbaugh's spleen. She's sick, but hot. If there is one thing George Bush is not, it is hot.
Okay, maybe the Bush Twins. I mean, they already share lots of his DNA (at least according to Laura) and thay have that drink until you're shitfaced concept down to an art. The problem is, does it really take two women, even as shallow as those two, to make one George Bush?
Well, the cloning has been done and the result looks like this. ---->
Hillary Clinton has become a Democratic version of George Bush. She is a defender of the Iraq War and an Iran War hawk. Her latest bon mot is coming out in favor of rebuilding the Berlin Wall along the US-Mexican border. Like Bush, she adds the compassionate conservative position of partial legalization. More than any Republican spoken of for the 2008 presidential race, Hillary promises to continue the Bush agenda intact.

Additional links: Joshua Frank, Molly Ivins

In Iraq to Stay

How I wish they'd go away
but I know they're here to stay
~ Revenge of the Popple People,
poem by Sara Russell

The US Army is building several huge bases in Iraq. Balad Air Force Base is 17 square miles, including its security buffer, and will house 25,000 troops. It is a complete city with fast food joints and a minature golf course. Camp Anaconda is 15 square miles and will house 20,000 troops. Newsweek reports there will be four "superbases" inside Iraq. In total, there are 106 American military bases inside Iraq. Then there is the planned 100 acre embassy in Baghdad, as large as Vatican City. These Christian enclaves are as far as any "troop pullback" is going to go. The occupation of Iraq will last through the remainder of my life.

Additional source: Index Research.

Opportunity Lost

The solution to the Iran nuclear crisis was presented to the Bush Administration three years ago. After the Iraqi army was defeated, before everything started going wrong in that country, the Iranian goverment approached us through the Swiss Embassy. They wanted to discuss ending their nuclear program and ending their support of Hezbollah. The Bush response was to rebuke the Swiss ambassador for passing the message forward. (Kevin Drum in Wash. Monthly)

That night, that stormy night long past,
She came to my door,
And I left her there with waiting arms and cold,
And between us closed my door.
~Opportunity Lost, poem by Gokarran Sukhdeo

It's that Country South of Mongolia

NEWS REPORT: The meeting between President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao began with a gaffe Thursday when an announcer referred to China by the formal name of Taiwan, which China considers a rebellious province.

Guys, come on. Try, at least try to pretend to be minimally competent. Really, I mean it. If you need one I'm willing to buy you an atlas.

'Round the Mulberry Bush'

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,

The internet is abuzz with changes at the White House, as if they are meaningful. HuffPost is a good example.

The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.

But, it is only a game of musical chairs. OMB (Bolton) goes to Chief-of-Staff, trade negotiator (Portman) goes to OMB, a deputy negotiator moves up a step (Susan Schwab). This is the kind of management shuffle that can give recycling a bad name.

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,

But ... but, you say, Karl Rove got demoted. He is no longer chief policy coordinator. It is just a title, a change of cosmetics. Rove still has his security clearance, he still has every inch of power he ever did.

So early in the morning.

In the immortal words of that great American, Officer Barbrady, "move along, nothing to see here."

'And the World Will Live As One'

This video presents President Bush singing John Lennon's Imagine. It is touching and beyond sadness that Bush lacks the humanity to feel even the faintest hint of Lennon's dream.

Produced by Irish filmmaker John Callaghan and found on YouTube. Thanks to Down With Tyranny! for finding it.

Kansas School Board Attacks Faith

In a shocking attack on religion, a member of the Kansas State Board of Education ordered an image of the Creator removed from a Wichita teacher's door.
The image of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Intelligent Designer of the Universe and Creator of the Cosmos, was ordered torn down by Pastaphobic Board member Connie Morris.
This is a free country. Even though the scientific evidence of the FSM is manifest, people have the right to believe any silly alternative they want. But, government enforced religious intolerance must be fought.
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

The Bush Tax Increase

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents? ~ Peg Bracken

If Rupert Murdoch in 2003 was right and his $20 a barrel oil price pipe dream would be "bigger than any tax cut," that would make $70 a barrel oil bigger than any tax increase.

A Gift for Bush Defenders
Current oil prices are not the highest in US history. Adjusting for inflation, oil prices were over $102 a barrel at the end of the Civil War. So stop your whining, you didn't hear Horace Greeley complain.

Will We, Won't We Dance With Iran

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
~ Alice In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

The questions people are afraid to ask: Will we go to war with Iran? Won't we go to war? Are we already at war with Iran?

We Will. Alexandra von Maltzan at the gorgeous All Things Beautiful disguises her basic point with a minuet of words. She believe that Congress and the American people have no right to interfere with President Bush if he wants war with Iran. For her, whether we go to war or not is none of our business.

We Won't. The extremely conservative Claremont Institute offers seven essayist opinions on the subject How to Eliminate Iran's Nuclear Weapons. It is seven pieces of turgid writing that come to the same simple conclusion - Damned if we know. For them, a war would be unwinnable while any other alternative would be ineffective. Several advocate regime change but are skittish around that discredited concept. Josef Joffe is the only one to make this salient point, the Iraq War has greatly strengthened Iran while weakening the United States.

the Great Satan had done them a triple favor: He eliminated their worst rival (Iraq) from the board and so overturned whatever regional balance of power there was. He liberated the oppressed Shia majority and handed Iran's comrades-in-faith preeminence in Iraqi politics. And he entangled himself in a costly, inconclusive insurgency war that Tehran could manipulate at will. ~ Josef Joffe

We Already Are. Colonel Sam Gardiner (ret) in interviews on CNN and Democracy Now says there is evidence that American military forces are already operating inside Iran trying to organize a guerrilla coup. Has the President sent special operations forces into Iran, has he authorized the invasion of Iran without bothering to tell the American people? Is he playing a game of Covert Ops with real lives?

War for Oil, Part 2

Remember back in 2003, those good old days when war in Iraq was just George Bush's nightly wet dream. Back then, Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and propaganda arm of the Republican Party, predicted wonderous things.

"The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in any country." ~ Rupert Murdoch

Today on Fox News, Stephen Forbes predicted that war with Iran will lead to a $15 drop in oil prices. When Murdoch spoke, oil prices were under $30 a barrel. Today, the price is about $70. But, it is just Spring Fever, when a young neo-con's fancies turns to killing Moslems for petroleum.

'And To the Republic for Richard Stands'

As someone stood up to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at a GOP dinner (in San Diego) Thursday, it was suddenly realized there was no flag in the room.

“Pledge to the elephant!” shouted Bob Watkins of the county Board of Education.

So the audience, which included Rep. Darrell Issa, state Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, Assembly Republican Leader-Elect George Plescia and (San Diego) Mayor Jerry Sanders, turned toward the GOP banner and recited the pledge while facing the party's symbolic pachyderm. ~ Diane Bell, San Diego Union Tribune column, April 15, 2006

------------------------------------

Says everything we need to know about where their loyalties and patriotism truly resides.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Many of our Republican supporters are not happy because we are spending money like a drunken sailor. ~ John McCain

To compare Republicans to "drunken sailors" is to insult the far superior financial prudence of inebriated servicemembers around the world. This latest speech just echoes his own words from years past. But, he is just flapping his gums.

Project Vote Smart lists 25 appropriations votes in the Senate in 2005. McCain voted yes on 17 (68%), no on 5 (20%), and missed the votes on three. Three of the nos were procedural; he voted to spend the money, just not waive the rules first. McCain's answers to the National Political Awareness survey shows a man who likes spending money.

McCain talks a good game, but he Slings the Flowing Bowl as greedily as the rest of them.

The Taxman

It is not so much that I hate paying taxes, I hate the tax forms. If ever there was definitive proof of the existence of a living Satan it is the 1040 Forms and Instructions booklet, a Codex Gigas. Okay, so where the hell did I put that damned Schedule D form?

Cal. 50th CD Special Election

I'm getting closer to you
My fiftieth gate
But still I had to wait
At the fiftieth gate
~ At the Fiftieth Gate, Attrition

In the special election to complete Duke Cunningham's term, Francine Busby won with 44% of the vote (56,147). Brian Bilbray was the top Republican with 15% (19,336). No real surprises except the turnout was atrocious.

By percentage, Busby did about as well as expected. If I were her, I would be very disappointed. There were almost 40 thousand people who voted for Busby in 2004 who didn't vote in this election. That is a Get Out The Vote failure. Busby's campaign manager is a young gunslinger out of Colorado, Brandon Hall. I don't know how much effort he put into GOTV, perhaps he simply couldn't overcome massive apathy.

What to do now? If I'm Busby, I'd want to know where my voters went. She needs to do a quick critique of the election and find out why her message didn't click with the people who have a history of voting for her. The Republican, Brian Bilbray, is as fresh as year-old tofu. His resume - surfer turned politican turned lobbyist - is as inspiring as a rousing chorus of '99 Bottles of Beer.' I'd label him "Revolving Door Brian" and pound the theme that Bilbray is posterboy for what is wrong with modern politics.

The run-off has an interesting dynamic, it coincides with the primary election for the next term. Bilbray will likely have a contested primary election while he's engaged in the run-off. While it is interesting, I wouldn't try to get too cute with it. The important thing is beating Bilbray and winning the seat now. It is important to stay focused on that goal alone.

The Right To Hate

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught
~ South Pacific, Richard Rodgers

A new movement among fundamentalist Christians is suing for the right to hate. They don't call it that. They say that businesses and universities that restrict their homophobic utterances are violating their free speech and freedom of religion. Basically, they claim that it is intolerant to be against intolerance. I thought to show some examples, but the vileness of their Faith of Hate was too much for me. When in doubt, offer poetry.

The fix was in but you made sure
Good Christian
and where you had a soul is only hate
~ Diogenes Once Sighted Must Go Blind,
poem by Richard Wells

Ohio '04 Vote Count Fraud

Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.
~ Josef Stalin

I knew, like a vulture finds the scent of rotting flesh from miles away, that the vote counting in Ohio in 2004 was foul. I had no evidence, not a scintilla of proof. Maybe it was all those years tracking sewage spills in San Diego, I could smell it.

While the Cleveland Plain Dealer goes out of its way to sugarcoat the story, the facts are simple. The Cuyahoga County Elections Board was faced with a recount of the November 2004 presidential election that might overturn the results of the election.

The Elections Board pre-screened the precincts, selecting out for "random" selection later only those precincts that would confirm the original count. The hand-count was restricted to the pre-screened precincts and the recount changed little. A truly random selection of precincts would have changed the outcome of the election. That is proven by the fact of a pre-screening.

Why would the Elections Board go through this extra effort unless they didn't trust the machine count? The official argument, that they were lazy or trying to save money, doesn't wash. The pre-screening was unnecessary extra work and expense unless the Elections Board believed the machine count was inaccurate.

The Whaley House

One of my vices is the British television show "Most Haunted." Today on the Travel Channel on US cable is the "Most Haunted" crew's visit to the the Whaley House. The 150 year old Whaley House is one of the most haunted buildings in the United States and my home town ghostly pride.
photo credit: a Whaley House ghost

"I Am Sullied"

Colonel Ted S. Westhusing was a military ethicist, a West Point graduate with a PhD in philosophy from Emory University. He also held PhDs in Russian and military strategy. Forty-four years old, he was married and had three children. He taught at West Point and volunteered for service in Iraq. He was scheduled to leave Iraq at the end of June, 2005. On the Fifth of June, Col. Westhusing put his 9-mm service pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. Or so goes the official story. There is another story circulating.

One of Col. Westhusing's assignments in Iraq was working with the civilian company USIS to train the Iraqi armed forces. Formally a federal agency, it was privatized in 1996 and is financially tied to the Carlyle Group. USIS is one of those highly paid ($79 million) mercenary outfits that provide "security" operations in Iraq.

What is known is that Westhusing had received an anonymous complaint that USIS had cheated the U.S. government and committed human rights violations. USIS was accused of deliberating cutting corners in training staff to maximize profits. There were also reports of USIS consultants participating in the random killing of Iraqis. He reported this to his superiors. Westhusing went to Camp Dublin, the USIS compound south of Baghdad on June 4, sleeping overnight in a guest trailer. In meetings on the morning of June 5, Westhusing was highly critical of USIS. After lunch, Westhusing was found dead in his trailer in Camp Dublin. A military psychologist said Westhusing was unable to reconcile his military ethos with the contractor's profit motives.

I cannot support a mission that leads to corruption, human rights abuse, and liars. I am sullied. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. Death before being dishonored any more. ~ Col. Westhusing's suicide note.

There are many suspicious circumstances. Westhusing traveled from his Green Zone office to the USIS compound without his bodyguard. Highly unusual. The USIS employee who discovered the body picked up the gun and actually credited his "law enforcement training" for disturbing the crime scene. Westhusing was a devout Catholic. Those who knew him said suicide was out of character. His wife reported hearing fear in his voice during a phone conversation in May, "He did not like the nighttime and being alone." Then there is the existence of USIS and its connection to the Carlyle Group, an organization that is closer to a secret society, like the Illuminati, than an investment firm. Wayne Madsen reported on TheTruthSeeker that Westhusing had been "suicided." Murdered to protect Carlyle Group profits.

So, there are two competing theories. In one, a highly ethical soldier, depressed beyond measure about the corruption and thrill-killings going on around him, does the honorable thing. In the other, a highly ranked member of the United States Army was murdered in Iraq to silence a whistleblower. A murder in service of war-profiteers that has been covered up by the very government he has patriotically served his entire life. Whatever the truth, I am heartsick.

My thanks to Pissed On Politics for leading me to this story.

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

She Said, He Said

A week ago, Condi Rice said we had made thousands of tactical errors in the Iraq War but it was the larger aims that mattered. Sort of the international diplomacy way of saying, "Sorry about blowing up the house, but aren't you happy I got rid of all the snails?"

A couple of days ago, Donald Rumsfeld said of Rice, "I don't know what she was talking about." Sort of the exact way of saying, "Sheesh, women, What do they know?"

The military hasn't made any mistakes in the war, according to Rummy, it has just been adapting to the enemy. Those crafty Iraqis. When Rummy ignored Army chief of staff, Eric K. Shinseki, when he said the occupation of Iraq would take several hundred thousand soldiers, why that wasn't a mistake. When the military failed to stop looters in the weeks after the fall of Baghdad ("It's untidy, and freedom's untidy"), that was just part of the plan to train Iraqis to fend for themselves. The fact that IEDs so easily blow apart Hummers was just an adaptable enemy realizing that Army Humvees are crackerboxes. No mistakes there. Why, Abu Ghreib was .... sorry, drawing a blank.

I often wish I could live in that wonderful fantasy world that is Donald Rumsfeld's secret garden.

The Crooks Just Keep On Coming - April Edition

popping in and out of chalk pavement pictures, consorting with race horse persons, fox hunts. Yes, well I don't mind that so much at any rate, it's tradition. ~ Mary Poppins

Let's see. Last month it was the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, Claude Allen, arrested for stealing several thousands of dollars from Target. This month, today in fact, the Deputy Press Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Brian Doyle, was a arrested. The charges against him? Using a computer to seduce a minor and transmitting harmful material (i.e. pornography) to a minor. The alleged victim is a 14 year-old girl. Well, actually, a cop pretending to be a 14 year-old girl.

At some level, these guys upset me more than Libby, Abramoff, and Delay. The big three of Republican corruption were outing spies, spreading bribes, and rigging elections. Traditional political crimes. There's a comfort level with that kind of tradition. But these other guys.... Petty thievery at Target. The absolute worst attempt at child seduction since God invented sex. These are the kind of crimes you'd expect out sleazy winos, not highly paid Administration officials. It's embarrassing, really. I hate saying it, but when I say I expect more out of the Bush Administration, I mean at least a higher class of criminal conduct.

The Long, Inglorious History of Xenophobia

The United States has a long history of xenophobia dating back to the beginnings of the country. The current wave of hatred for Mexican immigrants is only the latest example. It is funny how the trends repeat. What was said about Chinese laborers in the 1880's is being said again, word for word, about Mexican workers today. The faces and skin tone may change from decade to decade, but the hatred is consistent.

1790 Immigration Law (non-whites)
Declared only "free white persons" could become naturalized American citizens. Was not repealed until 1952.

Know-Nothings - 1850's (Irish)

When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics." ~ Abraham Lincoln

The Irish Potato Famine led to the massive immigration of Irish families to the United States. A semi-secret political movement sprouted around the hatred of Irish Catholics. The name came from their habitual answer, "I know nothing," when asked questions. They fielded a presidential candidate, Millard Filmore, in 1856. He lost.

Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion - 1880's (Irish and Italians)

We are Republicans, and don't propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been rum, Romanism, and rebellion. We are loyal to our flag. ~ Samuel Buchard speaking to the Religious Bureau of the Republic National Committee, 1884

By the 1880's, the corruption and scandal within the Republican Party had diminished the party. In 1884, the Republican Party nominated for president the Tom Delay of their day, James G. Blaine was a notorious bride taker. (Oddly Democrat Grover Cleveland was the Bill Clinton of his day, having fathered a child out of wedlock.) Republicans were reduced to a three word platform, opposition to: Rum (appealing to the religious temperance movement), Rebellion (blaming Democrats for the Civil War), and Romanism (opposition to all things Catholic).

Chinese Exclusion Act - 1882

The Chinese must go. ~ Denis Kearney

Denis Kearney was an Irish-American who led the movement to expel Chinese from the United States. Chinese immigration to the west coast started with the California Gold Rush. The Chinese were accused of driving down wages and take jobs away from Americans (sound familiar?). The act excluded all Chinese laborers from the United States. Two years later the law was amended to apply it to all ethnic Chinese, whatever country they were born in. The law was renewed in 1892 and again in 1902. It was repealed in 1943. The United States Code: Title 8, Chapter 7 is still entitled "Exclusion of Chinese."

The California Alien Land Act - 1913 (Japanese)
Prevented aliens, mostly Japanese farmers, from owning land. Repealed in 1948.

National Origins Quotas - 1924 (Jews)

Popular music is a Jewish monopoly. Jazz is a Jewish creation. The mush, slush, the sly suggestion, the abandoned sensuousness of sliding notes, are of Jewish origin. ~ Henry Ford 1920

Escaping pogroms in eastern Europe, two million Jews had entered the United States by 1924. This law restricted immigration mostly to western and northern Europe and was drawn up to limit Jewish, Polish, and Italian immigration. Interestingly, Mexican immigration was unrestricted because of the need for cheap labor in the Southwest; however, in separate legislation, the concept of "illegal alien" was introduced in 1924.

Japanese Interment - World War II

A Jap's a Jap ~ General John L. DeWitt, commander of the internment program

The forced relocation of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans, two-thirds US citizens, into interment camps. Authorized by executive order. The round-up was facilitated by the FBI, which had compiled its Custodial Detention index two years before the US entered the war. Some of the legal justifications developed for the Japanese Internment are being used to justify President Bush's acts today.

Operation Wetback - 1954 (Mexicans)

The only racing I like is spic racing. Watching the wetback run for the border is fun. ~ comment found via Google on an internet chat

An INS program that rounded up and deported one million Mexican laborers. Many Hispanic and Native American citizens got caught up in the sweeps.

California Proposition 187 - 1994 (Mexicans)

They keep coming! ~ from a Pete Wilson campaign commercial

"They" were Mexicans. Pete Wilson, Republican Governor of California in the mid-1990's campaigned on an anti-immigrant platform. Proposition 187 was the pointy end of the wedge. It provided that no one could get public services, like primary school education or medical care, until they had proven they were in the country legally. Prop 187 passed with 59 percent of the vote; Wilson won reelection with 55 percent. The proposition was declared unconstitutional, Wilson's presidential ambitions evaporated, and California went from a swing state to a solid blue.

Some additional links:
Outline of Immigration to the US
Events Affecting Interracial Americans
Mexican Immigrant Labor History
Landmarks in Immigration History

Iraq War: Quarterly Update

How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
~Blowing In The Wind, Bob Dylan

American Military Deaths
1st quarter 2006 ..... 148
Total ................ 2,336

American Military Wounded
1st quarter 2006 ..... 331
Total .............. 16,653

Journalists Killed
1st quarter 2006 ...... 7
Total (est.) .......... 80

Iraqi Security Forces and Civilian Deaths (est.)
1st quarter 2006 ..... 2,720
Total .............. unknown
Source