President Bush vowed anew that there would be no
retreat from the war in Iraq as he addressed a rocking crowd of
military families Wednesday, a supportive contrast to the anti-war
demonstrators who have been shadowing him wherever he goes.
In all, more than 2,000 U.S. military service members have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Outside, Brenda Mansell of Boise was among the
protesters standing in one of the small close-in zones set up for
demonstrators. She said she put her 20-year-old son, a Marine, on a
plane Tuesday for his second tour of duty in Iraq.
"This has to stop," Mansell said, holding a photo of her son, Scott,
and a sign calling for his return home. "Maybe if it starts with the
mothers, the rest of the world will follow."
President
Bush, defending his Iraq war policy in the face of anti-war opposition
and slumping approval ratings, says pulling out before the mission is
complete would dishonor the memory of all the Americans who fought and
died inpursuit of freedom.
Translation: "Death before
dishonor, as long as it's someone else's kids doing the death part...
9/11. Support our troops in the noble cause. 9/11. Stay the course...
Terra... 9/11. You can't get fooled ...9/11 again!"
Words are funny, they run and hide
They carry poison, they get you high
Marvelous, but better yet
Words are something
We haven't yet destroyed...completely
Life is funny, full of pride and pain
Happy people, some of them insane
Beautiful, but oh so fleeting
Life is something
We haven't yet destroyed...completely
Raise a glass
To the silent ones
Raise a glass
And look around the room
Raise a glass
And make a toast
A toast to noble causes
A toast to noble causes
To the silent ones
God is love, and surely god is hate
Hire him, he'll jump right out your cake
Mysterious, in the cool of the garden
God is something
We haven't yet destroyed...completely
Ghosts are made, a thousand different ways
Carry them, carry them all of your days
Curious, in the void
Ghosts are something
We haven't yet destroyed...completely
Raise a glass
To the silent ones
Raise a glass
And look around the room
Raise a glass
And make a toast
A toast to noble causes
A toast to noble causes
To the silent ones
Words are funny, they run and hide
They carry poison, they get you high
Marvelous, but better yet
Words are something
We haven't yet destroyed...completely
Life is funny, full of pride and pain
Happy people, some of them insane
Beautiful, but oh so fleeting
Life is something
We haven't yet destroyed...completely
Raise a glass
To the silent ones
Raise a glass
And look around the room
Raise a glass
And make a toast
A toast to noble causes
A toast to noble causes
To the silent ones
+++
Mortaljive: This song is dedicated to Cindy and Casey Sheehan.
Taylor: Troops short of armor
BILOXI - U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor said Tuesday night in a town hall
meeting that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has made it difficult
to get armor for troops in Iraq.
Since the war began in 2003, he said he has been contacted by parents
of military personnel about the lack of adequate body armor and he has
seen through visits to Iraq that soldiers are armoring their vehicles
themselves. Taylor said the Department of Defense is using words to
trick people about the degree to which vehicles are armored by saying
they meet standards but, in reality, only six in 10 vehicles are
armored.
"I can't tell you how frustrated I have been asking questions about it," Taylor said.
He also said there were problems with the production of armor for
vehicles. He said he visited the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois and,
in a defense factory equal to "three Superdomes," there were only four
production workers at their stations at 2 on a Friday afternoon.
He also said there was not much
information from the Defense Department given to the congressional
delegation related to technology available to soldiers. He said he saw
a device on a Humvee that was made to destroy the signal insurgents use
to remotely detonate the improvised explosive devices that they use to
attack convoys.
Taylor said Rumsfeld told him he could not say how many of the
signal-jamming devices were being sent to Iraq because that information
was classified, leaving Taylor to wonder if the government is doing an
adequate job of protecting combat forces in Iraq.
Bush: "It's Important For Me To Go On With My Life"
Bush says "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life.'' "I think the people want
the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to
stay healthy,'' he said when asked about bike riding while a grieving
mom wanted to speak with him.
Definitely Bush's "Let them eat cake" moment.
This is from the transcript of the president in Idaho yesterday:
Q ... I'll ask you about the Iraqi constitution. You said you're confident that it will honor the rights of women.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q
If it's rooted in Islam, as it seems it will be, is that still -- is
there still the possibility of honoring the rights of women?
THE
PRESIDENT: I talked to Condi, and there is not -- as I understand it,
the way the constitution is written is that women have got rights,
inherent rights recognized in the constitution, and that the
constitution talks about not "the religion," but "a religion."
Twenty-five percent of the assembly is going to be women, which is a --
is embedded in the constitution.
What the
hell did he just say above? That was not a "CRISP" comment. He never completed a real sentence. Is he
inferring that somehow women will have rights? How can women have
rights if... oh I don't get it. Janine and Sam on Air America and they have
been playing this clip all night and had Juan Cole on the air to try to
explain it...well no one can explain what bush actually was trying to
say.
I don't think he knows either, but it doesn't sound like a 'Noble' cause. What a Dumbass.
