WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND THIS MEMORIAL DAY?

I have so many things on my mind this Memorial Day weekend. For some reason, this one is so very depressing to me. I was going to post something on the history of Memorial day. But I've changed my mind.

My brother reminded me this morning of a friend of ours who died in 1988. A Viet Nam vet who struggled with strange illnesses for years until he finally parished. A great guy. Mick Bundy. R.I.P. My mind wonders to all the high school kids who have signed up and died in Iraq and Afghanastan. Kids who, like the kids who signed up for Viet Nam, either thought they were doing their patriotic duty, or thought it was a way out for them. I'm thinking about how it's the troubled, underprivledged, disadvantaged youth who, for the most part, fight our wars. It's not the Bushs, Cheneys, Rumsfelds, Rices, Hasterts, Frists......nor is it the Pelosis, Reids, Liebermans...... no....it's not their kids dying and being maimed. And I think of what awaits these men and women when they return. What we, as a country, do for them.....or don't. They say 1 in 3 homeless men are veterans. I wonder, in the long run, how many homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans there will be. How many more guys in wheelchairs rolling around, looking for food and shelter. Getting no respect.

So, homeless vets are what I'm going to post about. Next time you see a homeless man in a wheelchair, or not......remember.....there's a 1 in 3 chance he's a veteran. Help him. Give him the respect he so deserves and his government doesn't afford him. Let him know he's not forgotten. Let him know you are thankful. Humble yourself.....be charitable. Help him in anyway you can.

Read about homeless veterans here, here, and here, and here and here.

While I honor the men and women who have died in service to our country, my mind is on the one's that return....to poverty, poor health, and homelessness.

Question Girl

OPEN THREAD

I'm posting this open thread to honor Eric's silent blog for the weekend. Rant on here, my friends.....UMBRELLA DRINKS FOR EVERYONE.....

Question Girl

TWO YEARS LATER, SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS

Hurricane Charley's victims in Punta Gorda still struggling to find homes

By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press
Posted May 26 2006, 12:25 PM EDT


PUNTA GORDA -- Almost two years after Hurricane Charley destroyed his low-rent apartment complex, Carl Riggs is still struggling to find some sense of normalcy.

The one-legged Vietnam veteran, who is on disability, lives in a government trailer on a gravel lot behind the Charlotte County jail. It's one of about 200 trailers set aside there for hurricane victims.

Read the rest here

Question Girl

HOW MESSED UP IS THIS?

Child sex offender ruled too small for prison, gets probation

Associated Press
Posted May 26 2006, 2:15 PM EDT

SIDNEY, Neb. -- A judge said a 5-foot-1 man convicted of sexually assaulting a child was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead.

His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.

Read the long and the short of it here

Question Girl

VACATION, ANYONE?

Sex theme park to open in London

The academy aims to be a Kinsey-type institute in Europe
A £7m sex theme park, which has no rides, is to open in London's West End later this year.

Visitors to Amora - The Academy of Sex and Relationships at the Trocadero in Piccadilly, will pass through seven zones including Pleasure and Orgasm.

The 10,500sq-ft exhibit is designed to "separate fact from myth and educate everyone into being better lovers".

You have to be aged 18 and over to get in and tickets will cost £15 for the attraction which opens on 7 September.

Organisers expect to attract more than 600,000 visitors within the first year.

The theme park will include life-sized silicone-made models which visitors can touch to discover erogenous zones.


Read the rest here

Question Girl

HAMMERHEAD TIME

Florida angler may have reeled in record 1,280-pound hammerhead shark

Associated Press
Posted May 25 2006, 4:30 PM EDT


BOCA GRANDE -- Fishing Capt. Bucky Dennis has been trying to catch a record hammerhead shark for 10 years. He may have finally succeeded.

On Tuesday, he reeled in a monstrous 1,280-pounder that ate a 25-pound stingray for bait at Boca Grande Pass near Fort Myers. That would beat by nearly 300 pounds the current all-tackle world record for a hammerhead shark.

Dennis, who was using 130-pound test line, and three friends fought the 14 1/2 foot shark for five hours and it dragged his boat about 12 miles offshore before they got it aboard.

"It's fun hooking them, but if you get too close, they will bite," Dennis said. "And whatever they bite, they will bite off."

The current all-tackle world record hammerhead is 991 pounds, caught May 30, 1982, by Allen Ogle of Punta Gorda, according to the International Game Fish Association. The organization is reviewing the latest catch to determine if it qualifies as the new record, a process that will take about 60 days.

The Port Charlotte fishing captain donated the big fish to the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, which plans to have it mounted and displayed. Center director Robert Hueter said researchers prefer that people tag and release large sharks because they help sustain the species.

"But we are grateful that this animal has been donated to science. It will help us understand more about these animals," Hueter said.

The largest shark ever hooked was a 2,664-pound Great White caught off the southern coast of Australia in 1959.

Question Girl

WHICH IS THE REAL IRAQ?

By Patrick Cockburn in Arbil
Published: 23 May 2006

Blair's view: 'We have a government of national unity that crosses all boundaries. Iraqi people are able to write the next chapter of their history themselves' - Tony Blair on a visit to Iraq yesterday

Another view: Two car bombs explode in Baghdad, killing nine. At least 23 more die in attacks elsewhere, bringing the death toll in May to 848 as sectarian violence spreads.

A frustrating aspect of writing about Iraq since the invasion is that the worse the situation becomes, the easier it is for Tony Blair or George Bush to pretend it is improving. That is because as Baghdad and Iraq, aside from the three Kurdish provinces, become the stalking ground for death squads and assassins, it is impossible to report the collapse of security without being killed doing so.

Read on here

Question Girl

REPUBLICANS HURTIN FOR CERTAIN

You should here the way senior citizens speak about George Bush in my neighborhood. In the grocery stores, in the beauty shops.....anywhere I go, if Bush is brought up...they have NOTHING good to say about him. Some say they voted for him, and it was the biggest mistake they've ever made. Today, there was a copy of the Globe in the grocery store line. The headline was something about the Bush's not sharing the same bed, living seperately in the White House. The little old lady with the walker behind me said "Who could live with him? How can he live with himself?"
I love old people......when they're not behind the wheel of a car!

Pollster says President Bush hurting state's GOP governor candidates

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press
Posted May 24 2006, 2:35 PM EDT


TALLAHASSEE -- President Bush's plunging popularity seems to be affecting Florida's race for governor, with two little-known Democratic candidates in a statistical dead heat with a pair of Republicans who hold statewide offices, a poll taker said Wednesday.

U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa and state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua, both Democrats, are running strong, though four of five registered voters didn't know enough about either one to offer a positive or negative opinion, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Read the rest here

Question Girl

THE DECIDER AND SUICIDERS ...YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT.....SUICIDERS

By THOMAS WAGNER

BAGHDAD, Iraq May 24, 2006 (AP)— Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Wednesday that Iraqi forces are capable of taking control of security in all of Iraq within 18 months, but still need more recruits, training and equipment.

Drive-by shootings killed 17 people Wednesday, including a provincial official in northern Iraq and two of his bodyguards, and authorities found the bodies of nine people who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured by death squads.

Read the rest here

Reports were that Bush/Blair would announce the beginning of withdrawl by the end of this year. It will be interesting to hear what they say tomorrow evening.

Another genius quote from the idiot in charge....

"Trying to stop suiciders, which we're doing a pretty good job of on occasion, is difficult to do," he said.

He's the decider, but I don't think there's such a word as suicider.

On ocassion? Good Lord......

Question Girl

U.S. QUESTIONS CHINA ON ARMS BUILDUP.....LITTLE LATE FOR THIS, EH?

By THOM SHANKER
Published: May 24, 2006

WASHINGTON, May 23 — China's leadership has not satisfactorily explained its military expansion and goals, even as it modernizes its forces to be able to challenge foreign armed forces operating in the region, the Defense Department said in a report released Tuesday.

"China's leaders have yet to adequately explain the purposes or desired end-states of their military expansion," according to the 2006 report, "Military Power of the People's Republic of China." "Estimates place Chinese defense expenditure at two to three times officially disclosed figures."

The 50-page report, delivered annually to Congress, is at www.defenselink.mil/pubs. The report includes a list of new Chinese weaponry and describes among other things the modernization of China's ballistic missile force. But it balances its cautionary language about military competition with China with carefully chosen words expressing optimism for harmonious relations with Beijing.

In past years, the report has taken on a diplomatic life of its own, sparking an annual round of analysis and criticism from the United States that, in turn, has prompted an annual response of criticism and analysis from China.

The report comes as the Bush administration works to entice China into a partnership to halt the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

Peter W. Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said Tuesday that the report had been circulated and approved across the United States government and that it represented "a community view about the facts."

"The United States welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China," the report said. "U.S. policy encourages China to participate as a responsible international stakeholder by taking on a greater share of responsibility for the health and success of the global system from which China has derived great benefit."

The Chinese military, according to the report, has embarked on a long-term effort to change from a large army designed for wars of attrition on its home territory into "a more modern force capable of fighting short-duration, high-intensity conflicts against high-tech adversaries."

While acknowledging that China has only a limited ability to sustain military operations at great distances, the report also states that Chinese armed forces have the potential to compete with the United States by fielding "disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional U.S. military advantages."

What that means in the near term, the report added, is that China will continue its efforts to build up its forces across the strait from Taiwan, which Beijing considers a runaway province, even as it is "generating capabilities that could apply to other regional contingencies, such as conflicts over resources or territory."

China had by last year deployed 710 to 790 short-range ballistic missiles across from Taiwan, an increase from the estimated 650 to 730 missiles deployed a year before.

The report details trends in China's ability to deny other armed forces access across the region by a combination of strike aircraft, submarines and precision missiles. The report argues that those weapons "have the potential to pose credible threats to modern militaries operating in the region."

The expanding Chinese economy has resulted in that nation's becoming, in 2004, the world's second largest consumer and third largest importer of oil.

China has carefully sought and nurtured relationships with energy-producing nations in regions where the United States previously operated without competition from China.

"Several aspects of China's military development have surprised U.S. analysts," the report said, "including the pace and scope of its strategic forces modernization."

The term "strategic forces" applies to long-range nuclear weapons. China is modernizing its longer-range ballistic missiles by upgrading some systems and replacing others with mobile, quick-launch models, the report said.

The report is based on evidence that the Chinese are "at the beginning of some serious modernization of their overall strategic forces," said Mr. Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense.

Chinese officials have dismissed warnings about its military modernization, saying that China is pursuing national security interests and protecting its territory as any large nation would, and that its military constitutes no threat to American soil.

Question Girl

NEW DAY, NEW SCREW UP......

This is getting ridiculous......

Thieves Steal Personal Data of 26.5M Vets

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer
Posted May 22 2006, 6:07 PM EDT


WASHINGTON -- Thieves took sensitive personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, after a Veterans Affairs employee improperly brought the material home, the government said Monday.

The information involved mainly those veterans who served and have been discharged since 1975, said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. Data of veterans discharged before 1975 who submitted claims to the agency may have been included.


Nicholson said there was no evidence the thieves had used the data for identity theft, and an investigation was continuing.

"It's highly probable that they do not know what they have," he said in a briefing with reporters. "We have decided that we must exercise an abundance of caution and make sure our veterans are aware of this incident."

Veterans advocates expressed alarm.

Read on here

Question Girl

DEBT RELIEF THE SADDAM HUSSIEN WAY

Considering the extremely high level of debt to foreign governments, foreign banks and other foreign NGOs this already morally bankrupt government we currently have has piled up, and with no end in sight, (300 billion dollar illegal war, tax cuts to the richest, off the scale military spending), I'm trying to figure out how we, if we even can, pay off this debt? Simple, the Saddam Hussien way. A little history might be needed here. After the long and expensive war Iraq had with Iran in the 80's, (in which Rumsfeld and his defense industry cronies sold Iraq weapons) Iraq was financially drained to the point where they could not pay their debt to Kuwait. After trying to re-structure the debt to Kuwait and their refusal to do so, Iraqs logical debt resolution (still having enough weapons we in part had sold to them) was to invade Kuwait. Is it just me, or does anybody else think this sounds a lot like the situation we find ourselves in right now? Wouldn't it be ironic if military dictator Bush decided to use Saddam's way of debt resolution?


Some thoughts brought to you from.................Bro.

Question Girl

STEP UP TO THE PLATE AMERICANS!!!

June has been designated Torture Awareness month, and I've signed on. It's time for Americans to wake up. Many things President Bush has done have hurt us internationally. That is, hurt the way Americans and the United States are viewed. I think the single thing that has hurt us the most, is his policies on torture. Or should I say, his approval of torture. One of the most disturbing events, to me, was the McCain Anti-Torture bill. I'll never forget the footage of McCain and Bush sitting together all kissy face smiley to let the Americans know they had reached an agreement on the Anti-Torture bill. I remember thinking...well alright....maybe there's hope. My hopes were quickly dashed. What people don't remember is that Bush didn't sign the bill for two weeks. No.....he waited until 8pm on December 30th (New Years weekend), when no one was watching, and attached a signing statement to it. The signing statement clearly stated the President will only follow the new Anti-Torture law "in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch....and consistent with the constitutional lmitations on the judicial power." In short, he thinks it is for him, not Congress or the courts to determine when and if the provisions of the Anti-Torture bill interfere with his war making powers. If they do, he will totally and freely ignore the law.
This is NOT ok people! Torture, under any circumstances, is NOT ok. It isn't right, and it doesn't work. It's hurting us internationally, and it will continue to hurt us internationally as long as we, as Americans, don't stand up and say NO MORE TORTURE to this President, and to this Congress.
I urge you to call your Senators and Representatives today and take a stand against torture.

Visit this website to find out about opportunities to oppose torture.

And please, check out the sites of other bloggers who support this effort listed on the sidebar.

Please, step up to the plate America.....and DEMAND accountability from our leaders on this issue.

Question Girl

NEWS ROUNDUP

MASRI PAID HUSH MONEY BY US

IRAQI CABINET SWORN IN

THINGS ARE GOING SO GREAT IN IRAQ, WE'RE GOING TO SEND MORE TROOPS IN!!

PTSD TROOPS DRUGGED UP AND SENT BACK

SHAW/KLEIN RACE IN FLORIDA KEY BATTLE

DO NOT RESUSCITATE

BLAH BLAH BLAH FRANKS

WITCH HUNT??? TIME WILL TELL

US ANTI WAR ACTIVISTS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN SUPPORTING CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

NEWS OUT OF BURMA

MOUNTING VIOLENCE IN SRI LANKA

A DRINK WITH WHICH TO WASH ALL THIS HAPPY NEWS DOWN...YUM YUM

HAD TO ADD THIS ONE.....YOU'LL REALLY NEED THAT DRINK KNOW....

LET'S TALK ABOUT DEPLETED URANIUM

Question Girl