Surge soldier likely killed by friendly fire, didn't get full training because Bush expedited "surge"

He was 18. Bush has destroyed the military, and is now sending virtual kids, unprepared, into battle. He has the nerve to talk about supporting the troops. His idea of support is killing our troops in order to assuage his own ego. Anyone and everyone who continues to support this war is complicit in this kid's death.

From E&P;

Two soldiers killed in Iraq in February may have died as a result of friendly fire, Army officials said Wednesday, not from enemy fire, as the press reported.

The military suspected friendly fire later in February but did not inform the dead soldiers' families of these new doubts.

One of the soldier's died just hours after arriving in Iraq -- and was one of those troops rushed to the country in the "surge" who did not receive full training....

On February 9, the Savannah Morning News reported: "At least 143 soldiers joined Fort Stewart's 1st Brigade too late to participate in a final combat exercise before their units deployed to Iraq. Last week, one of those soldiers - Pvt. Matthew T. Zeimer, 18 - was the first from the brigade to be killed when he was hit by enemy fire in Ramadi, the stronghold of Iraq's Sunni insurgency.

"Zeimer arrived at Fort Stewart on Dec. 18 after basic training and deployed to Iraq just a few weeks later. He missed the brigade's intensive four-week mission rehearsal in October when more than 1,300 trainers and Iraqi role-players came to the post as part of the most realistic training program the Army offers for Iraq operations. The fact some of the brigade's 4,000 soldiers missed that training raises questions about how well the Army is preparing troops for war in the face of accelerated and repeat deployments."

Two days before that, the same newspaper reported that "some Iraq veterans in the 1st Brigade have expressed concerns about their younger counterparts missing the mission rehearsal. 'The training was good but some guys came in after that. They're basically going straight from basic training into Iraq,' said Staff Sgt. Jason Massey last month, before saying goodbye to his family for a third combat tour."

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What is Michelle Malkin's problem?

I try not to weigh in on the blog wars. I actually have a number of right-wing bloggers, like Krempasky and Captain Ed, who I consider friends, or at least colleagues (hell, I even got along with the Powerline guys). And you'll note that it's rare that I ever write anything critical of any bloggers on the right or left. But top right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin, like Ann Coulter and a few others on the right (read: most of FOX News), have a record of vitriol and crossing the line of decency that puts them in a special category occasionally meriting public comment.

Malkin is the right-wing's top blogger. Among her other extremist views, Malkin wrote a book recently defending the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. (Malkin denies that her book defends the internment of Japanese-Americans. The book is entitled "In Defense of Internment.")

Malkin is now on a kick to get comedienne Rosie O'Donnell fired from ABC's show "The View." Rosie is a regular subject of derision by right-wingers who hate the fact that she's unabashedly liberal and an open lesbian. Just last night, CNN host Glenn Beck suggested that Rosie isn't really a woman (presumably because she's a lesbian). And today Malkin is calling on her readers to boycott advertisers who put their products on "The View" because Rosie said something Malkin doesn't agree with.

Why is Malkin trying to destroy a woman's career? Because Rosie is a bigot? No. Because Rosie is a biased journalist? No, she's a comedian hosting a talk show alongside an avowed conservative (who spoke at the Republican Convention, no less) who balances her out. No, Rosie's crime is having said that she think it's fishy the way one of the side buildings at the World Trade Center collapsed.

That's it.

And in Malkin's view, in the right-wing view, that's reason enough for Rosie to lose her entire career.

It's one thing to have the right to free speech. Malkin has it. I have it. You have it. It's quite another to abuse that right. When you're in a position of power you learn to exercise that power judiciously, or at least you should. You don't just try to end someone's career simply because you disagree with them. That's not enough of a reason. Because they routinely espouse bigotry against millions of Americans (e.g., CNN host Glenn Beck)? Sure, that's a pretty good reason. Because they're supposed to be objective reporters and they're biased as hell (all of FOX News)? Again, good reason. But saying it doesn't make it so - you need to be able to prove it.

Of course, Malkin isn't know for her judiciousness. In a particularly vicious episode a year or two back, Malkin published the personal contact information (including phone numbers) for some local college undergrads who were protesting the war (see a theme here? disagree with Malkin, go to jail, do not collect $200). She sic'd her hundreds of thousands of readers on the under-21 students, with predictably vicious results. Malkin didn't see anything wrong with her actions, though she did object when someone retaliated and posted her personal contact information online.

Unfortunately, some people with power find intellectual rigor (and honesty) a luxury they simply can't, or choose not to, afford. They think that just because Rosie has some kooky views about September 11 - and I think her views are a bit kooky - she needs to be destroyed. That's rather sick, and it's rather sad. It's also rather un-American (though so is internment, to normal people).

I'm not opposed to boycotts, I've supported them myself. But I've never supported a boycott simply because I disagreed with someone, however strongly. If that were the standard, all the blogs on the left and the right would be boycotting each other non-stop. And to all of our credit, we don't.

Malkin's venom, like Coulter's, is something I usually write off as not representative of the right, or the right-wing blogs. But still, I'm tired of living in a country where Republicans decide that someone isn't permitted to have a career because they're either a liberal, a lesbian, or both. That doesn't sound like free speech, it smacks of bigotry and fascism. Though it's perhaps not surprising, coming from the author of "In Defense of Internment." Read More......

Obama actually bested Hillary in last quarter's fundraising

This is a point that Joe explained to me around 3pm today in the airport by phone. Obama actually raised MORE money than Hillary in the last quarter. He was running around today, so was going to write it up tonight, but ABC has already done the explaining so I'm linking to them.

ABC News has learned that the $23.5 million Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., raised for his presidential campaign for use in the primaries is more than that raised by the Democratic frontrunner, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Of the $26 million Clinton has raised in the first quarter of 2007 for her presidential campaign, approximately $20 million is for use in the primaries and caucuses, sources tell ABC News.

Clinton campaign officials cautioned that its campaign was still ascertaining how much of its $26 million raised is available for primary use.

Sources told ABC News that while that is accurate, roughly $20 million is designated for the primary -- it could be slightly less or slightly more. Either way Obama raised more primary cash than Clinton.

The remaining $6 of $26 million raised by Clinton money is designated for use in the general election if the former First Lady wins her party's nomination. Clinton also has slightly more than $10 million that she has transferred from her 2006 Senate campaign account.

Clinton has a distinct money advantage and leads in every national poll, but the fact that rookie Obama has bested a veteran like Clinton in many aspects of fundraising -- he rasied $6.9 million on the Internet, for instance, compared with Clinton's $4.2 million -- has stunned the political world.

As we like to say here at AMERICAblog, this is huge. All of a sudden, this makes Obama a real candidate. Someone worth donating to. People who might have been holding back now have no reason to. On the other hand, Hillary pulled out all stops to raise as much money as she could. And Obama still beat her, in terms of primary money.

Then there are the donor numbers. In a nutshell, Obama can go back to the same donors, Hillary can't, that means another advantage for him.

Obama received donations from more than 100,000 donors, far surpassing any other candidate, including Clinton (50,000), Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., (45,000), former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, (40,000) or former GOP Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (32,000).

And 90-percent of Obama's donors contributed $100 or less, as opposed to the presumbed larger percentage of Clinton donors who contributed the maximum contribution allowed by law, $2,300 per person per voting cycle.

"That means exponential growth is possible for him in a way that is not available to Hillary Clinton right now," explained Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. "(The Clintons) were counting on blowing everybody out this first quarter and sort of, like, slamming the door."

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Religious right says bathtubs are offensive in TV commercials

It's one thing to have the right to protest, it's another to make an ass of yourself while doing so. The American Family Association, a far-right organization better known for its virulent homophobia and being accused of a long history of anti-Semitism, is now attacking Burger King for being "anti-family" because the hamburger giant has a new commercial showing a dad in a bathtub pretending he's "SpongeBob No Pants" - the guy's his wife gives him a look like he's a moron.

You see, depicting a man who might have no pants while taking a bath - and check out the commercial, you don't even see the guy's chest because of the soap suds, let alone anything else - is now anti-family. And apparently even worse, depicting a dad who is acting goofy is a big ole sin.

The commercial is really cute, and goofy. And you'll see more skin by far in a Pampers commercial than you will in this one. But the far-right isn't about legitimate exercises in free speech. They're about lies. They know they can't get what they want by playing fair - they're fringe extremists and the public knows it. And as Joe Murray, their former spokesman has already shown, the only one with no clothes is the prissy American Family Association.

You can see the commercial here. I flagged it as inappropriate since the AFA says it's inappropriate. I mean, how dare they post sexually explicit commercials online where children might see them. Do the AFA a favor and report their commercial to YouTube. It should be behind a wall at the very least. Read More......

CNN's Malveaux thinks opposing the war is a bad strategy for Democrats

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux's first question to Howard Dean a little earlier this afternoon:

I want to first start off about Senator Reid's proposal here to cut off most of the funding for the troops by early next year if the President vetoes the current legislation.

How is that going to help the Democratic candidates? Who can possibly vote for that and win in 2008?

Huh???? Seriously, who is writing Suzanne Malveaux's questions? Karl Rove and the RNC. Does she read the polls? The American people have had it with Bush and his war in Iraq. Everyone seems to get that except Bush, the Republicans, Suzanne Malveaux and some of her fellow reporters.

Bush is governing like it's 2002 -- and some of the media are still acting the same way.

Soon, very soon, I'll be hooking up my EyeTV 250 and will have video of stuff like this. The transcript doesn't adequately capture the attitude. Really amazing. Read More......

Bush appoints Swift Boat financier as ambassador -- avoiding Senate approval

Last week, facing enormous opposition, the White House pulled the nomination of controversial Swift Boat campaign funder, Sam Fox, to be Ambassador to Belgium. Today, in a direct rebuke to America's veterans who served in Vietnam unlike Bush and Cheney, Bush used a "recess appointment" to avoid Senate confirmation and gave Fox the job anyway:

President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox's nomination.

Democrats had denounced Fox for his 2004 donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group's TV ads, which claimed that Sen. John Kerry exaggerated his military record in Vietnam, were viewed as a major factor in the Massachusetts Democrat losing the election.

Recognizing Fox did not have the votes to obtain Senate confirmation, Bush withdrew the nomination last month. On Wednesday, with Congress out of town for a spring break, the president used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in the job without Senate confirmation.

This means Fox can remain ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, effectively through the end of the Bush presidency.

Bush is the first one to play games to avoid the normal procedure when he's going to lose. The Senate should cut funding for the embassy in Belgium. Read More......

Open thread

In Chicago for Easter. It's flurrying outside. Read More......

Did the GOP Congress ever provide any oversight at all?

They should be embarrassed with the pathetic job they did and send back their paychecks. Pick your subject and it's always the exact same story. The Republican Congress consistently opted to let things just somehow work out instead of providing oversight and supporting consumers. Keep in mind that big business is on a major PR offensive right now, crying that they are over-regulated and that they need to be dealt a free hand with business. Sorry folks, but that is precisely what they had for the last few years and they dropped the ball.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) scolded the five members of the Federal Communications Commission when he finally got them before a powerful subcommittee last month.

The FCC botched handling of cable television franchising, racked up a backlog of unanswered consumer complaints, and dallied on various disputes between industry rivals with little oversight from the previous Republican-controlled Congress in recent years, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said in the March 14 hearing.

Within days, word spread that the FCC was accelerating efforts to complete action on about 150 pending matters -- from regulating cable television service in apartment buildings to settling quarrels over the distribution of telecommunications funds in rural areas. Some analysts saw the move as a direct response to lawmakers' complaints.

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More unfounded Iran hysteria

You might think that the lessons of Iraq might teach major media outlets not to report anonymously sourced, questionable, inflammatory information regarding weapons of mass destruction, especially regarding nations towards which we already have bellicose policy and intentions.

You'd be wrong.

ABC reports that Iran could HaVE TEH NUKULAR BOM in 2009!!!11!!1! Who says? "Sources familiar with the dramatic upgrade." Well, then. I'm certainly persuaded. Sean-Paul Kelley of The Agonist, a fantastic source for foreign policy information -- and especially all things Iran -- elaborates:

[If] you go back and look at the record and see how long it has taken for Iran to get where they are you realize what garbage this article is. We've been expecting Iran to install 3,000 centrifuges for some time. And now that they've installed 1/3 that number we're going to blow it up into a crisis? First it was 3,000 centrifuges that make up the red line, now it's 1,000?

Please. This is nothing more than disinformation, a well timed leak doled out to Ross and ABC. Nothing more. Nothing less.

And the drumbeat goes on. Read More......

Right-wingers again attack CNN's Michael Ware for saying Iraq is a mess - and again, their allegations are proven wrong

Seriously, at some point the far-right of the GOP needs to stop representing 30% of their party. The GOP is - or at least was - much bigger than the religious right/Pat Buchanan coalition. It would be nice to see some Republican leaders in the blogosphere and the White House and the media (FOX, Washington Times, WSJ) actually represent the 70% of GOPers who aren't Terri Schiavo republicans. More from Raw Story. Read More......

Obama raised $25 million

CNN reporting that Barack Obama announced his campaign raised $25 million in the first quarter -- far, far exceeding expectations. Atrios highlights the very key fact that Obama had over 100,000 contributors.

AP's initial report:

Democrat Barack Obama raked in $25 million for his presidential bid in the first three months of 2007, placing him on a par with front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton and dashing her image as the party's inevitable nominee.

Obama's fundraising number came from an official in his campaign who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The eye-popping figure was the latest evidence that Obama, a political newcomer who has served just two years in the Senate, has emerged as the most powerful new force in presidential politics this year. It also reinforced his status as a significant threat to Clinton, who'd hoped her own $26 million first quarter fundraising total would begin to squeeze her rivals out of contention.

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Former American Family Association lawyer and spokesman slams AFA and religious right

I met Joe Murray a few years ago when I was guest hosting Mike Signorile's radio show while Mike was on vacation. I first saw Joe on O'Reilly, representing one of the lead, and most hateful and homophobic, religious right organizations, the American Family Association. Joe was one of AFA's lawyers, and often served as one of their spokesman. I don't know why, but in spite of Joe's defense of AFA, I had the sense that he might not be all that bad. So, I had him on Mike's show, we hit it off, and kept in touch.

Over the years, Joe's views began to mellow and shift. He became increasingly opposed to the war in Iraq, and increasingly understanding of the concerns of the gay community. He's still a conservative Catholic, and staunchly pro-life, but true to what I thought I saw inside Joe when we first met, he's a Christian who actually believes what he says. I remember reading once that the true believer poses the greatest threat to a totalitarian regime - he's the one to become first, and most, dispirited with the lies. That would be Joe.

In addition to a couple of kick ass columns Joe has written in the past few weeks, he's also done a series of interviews with blogger Pam Spaulding over at Pam's House Blend. I highly recommend you check them out. Here is her first interview. And here is her second.

As an aside, this is an example of something I learned from Senator Kennedy's staff in the early 1990s. Don't necessarily write someone off just because you disagree - even if you disagree violently. There's a core of humanity in (most) everyone - it's only a matter of finding it, or helping them find it in themselves.

Here is Joe's latest column on hate crimes and the religious right. Joe is an incredible writers, and public speaker - it's good to finally have him on the good side. Here's Joe's column:

Whether Americans realize it or not, there is already a federal hate crimes law on the books. In 1968, while Mississippi was burning and the racial tensions in America had reached a boiling point, Congress passed a hate crimes law that covered biased attacks based on the victim's race, ethnicity, national origin and religion.

After the bill was enacted into law, the world as we knew it did not cease. The First Amendment survived, the southern tensions began to cool, and life went on. Some four decades later, Conyers thinks it is time that the federal hate crimes law is updated....

While it is true that this writer has reservations about the need for a hate crimes law period, he also sees the blatant hypocrisy that exists when people, who are protected by current hate crimes laws, vehemently seek to exclude groups, like the LGBT community, from the same benefits.

If hate crimes is to be law, than why exclude gays? It is one thing to be against hate crimes, it is another to intentionally deny protection to a class of individuals when one enjoys the protection he is denying. This is shameful.

The article continues. Read it. Read More......

Iran will free the 15 British captives

CNN is reporting the "BREAKING NEWS" that Iran's President just announced he's freeing the 15 captured soldiers.

Take that confrontation off the table.

Now, what did the Brits do, behind closed doors, to get their hostages freed? Hmmm... I hope they didn't negotiate with, or give any money or concessions to, terrorists. Read More......

McCain is going to give a "MAJOR speech" on Iraq. That should solve his problems.

John McCain is flailing. He's followed Bush blindly on Iraq -- and his performance over the past week has been astonishingly bad. McCain has lost most, if not all, of his credibility. But, he's got a solution. Just like Bush has done so many times, McCain is going to give a big speech on Iraq. Seriously, that's his solution:

At the same time, Mr. McCain will, upon his return from Iraq, deliver what his aides said would be a major speech at the Virginia Military Institute that will argue that the troop escalation was showing signs of success and urging Americans to back the war effort. The speech will take place on April 11, the day on which Mr. McCain had been scheduled to formally enter the race.

The candidate’s coming speech on the war, too, comes as Democrats are assailing Mr. McCain as having an overly optimistic view of conditions in Iraq, where he toured a Baghdad market while clad in a bulletproof vest and protected by helicopters and armed guards.

Democrats suggested that Mr. McCain had become so committed to building up forces, a stance he has long favored, and that he had linked his fortunes to the war so much that he failed to appreciate what was happening there now.

How many "major speeches" has Bush given on Iraq? I've lost count, but none of them have done anything to make the situation over there better. And like his buddy George Bush, we know that just because John McCain says something, doesn't make it true.

McCain's "major speech" tactic reeks of desperation. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Chris Matthews kept using the word "confident" to describe Democrats today. He's actually right. The Democrats are also acting like responsible adults trying to solve problems that George Bush created. The Democratic confidence is a stark contrast to the petulant President who can only speak in sound-bites and make political attacks. It's obvious to everyone in America -- except the DC-media types.

Note to Suzanne Malveaux: we know you're used to parroting White House talking points as one of CNN's White House reporters. But, if you're going to host the Situation Room, you should at least make an effort to be objective. At least try. Because, while you don't get this as a White House reporter: just because someone on the Bush team says something doesn't make it true.

We get Obama's first quarter numbers today. That should be interesting.

Ok, you've been waiting...start threading the news. Read More......

FDA wants to loosen regulations with irradiated food

Forget about addressing core problems in the food industry, just zap it with some radiation and hope it all works out. Just ignore the issues about irradiating food such as the unknown long-term health effects on humans since testing is incomplete and don't think about the taste issues, because what does taste have to do with food? Another brilliant idea by the GOP run FDA who cares more about the Big Food industry and less about human consumers. Who wants to eat radiated food?

The FDA also proposed letting companies use the term “pasteurized” to describe irradiated foods. To do so, they would have to show the FDA that the radiation kills germs as well as the pasteurization process does. Pasteurization typically involves heating a product to a high temperature and then cooling it rapidly.

In addition, the proposal would let companies petition the agency to use additional alternate terms other than “irradiated,” something already allowed by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 but that no firms have pursued, according to the FDA.

Yes, note the year 2002. These were high times for the GOP who delivered everything industry lobbyists wanted while ignoring concerns from consumers. Pick your issue and it's clear who the GOP sided with. Looking at the actions of the FDA during the Bush years and you could easily forget that they are there to protect consumers. Read More......

Zimbabwe terror continues - journalist murdered, diplomat threatened

Even for Mugabe, this is extreme. The journalist was rumored to have provided photos of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after being beaten.

Eyewitnesses saw a group of armed men abduct Mr Chikombo last Thursday. His captors drove a silver pick-up truck of the same make used in numerous similar abductions during a sustained three-week terror campaign targeting government opponents.

The pattern of abductions and punishment beatings has become a terrifying nightly ritual in Zimbabwe, where scores of opposition activists and their relatives have been attacked by gangs using unmarked cars and police-issue weapons. The government has refused to confirm or deny its involvement in these "hit squads" but Mr Mugabe has spoken of the police's right to "bash" the opposition and of "terrorist acts" by opponents.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe state media (which is not independent and is controlled by Mugabe) is threatening British Embassy political officer Gillian Dare.

The state Herald, a government mouthpiece, called Dare "the purse holder and financier" of an alleged violence and terror campaign by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

"It will be a pity for her family to welcome her home at Heathrow Airport in a body bag just like some of her colleagues from Iraq and Afghanistan," wrote David Samuriwo in an article prominently displayed on the newspaper's leader page.

It said Dare, "labeled in some sections of the media as a British spy, could one day be caught in the crossfire as she plays night nurse to arrested MDC hooligans."

It doesn't exactly sound as though Mugabe is feeling much heat from his neighbors, does it? Read More......