Ten US troops killed on Memorial Day

Washington Post:

Gunmen dressed in police uniforms kidnapped five Britons from Iraq's Finance Ministry Tuesday, the same day that two suicide bombings killed at least 44 people and U.S. officials announced the Memorial Day deaths of 10 American soldiers.

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CNN on US military firing gay Arabic-language-speaking service members

This is the video from my appearance on CNN tonight. I was discussing the issue of the US military continually firing gay Arabic-speaking service members even though we have a shortage of such linguists in the military and it is seriously jeopardizing the war in Iraq, let alone the effort to stop the next September 11. My companions in the discussion were Iraq war vet Jon Soltz of Vote Vets, and Mark Smith, an Ann Coulter wannabe (but without the Adam's apple). I researched Smith earlier today and found that in addition to being a winger, he likes to interrupt and keep talking in order to run out the clock when he appears on TV (kind of like his president's approach to winning the war in Iraq). In that circumstance, you simply have to be more aggressive - even though you run the risk of seeming rude and "interrupting", or the aggressive guest owns the show, even if he comes off as a nut. But I knew that Iraq war vet Jon Stolz of Vote Vets was going to be in studio with the guy, so I let Jon handle a lot of the response, especially at the end - and Jon did handle it, with his usual gravitas. (I was especially intrigued by the right-winger feeling the need to tell the audience how much he allegedly enjoys Hooters girls. Look for it.)

Click To Play

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Yes, in fact, Valerie Plame was a covert agent when the Bush team outed her

The loyal Bushies always put politics before national security. And, despite all the claims from the right wing pundits to the contrary, Valerie Plame was indeed a covert agent. Per NBC's coverage:

An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

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I'll be on CNN tonight

Paula Zahn's show, discussing the Pentagon policy of firing American service members who are Arabic linguists simply because they're gay. They just fired 3 more. We should be on around 8:05 or 8:10 PM Eastern. Read the rest of this post...

Wolfowitz for Mayor -- in Iraq

Republican Congressman Walter Jones from North Carolina has a suggestion for Wolfie's new job. Send him to Iraq:

Paul Wolfowitz may have been ousted from his post at the World Bank, but a free-speaking GOP lawmaker has an idea to keep the so-called "architect" of the Iraq War from standing in the unemployment line.

"I would like to suggest...that maybe we give Paul Wolfowitz a new job and send him over [to Iraq] as mayor," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., "since the neocons got us in over there."

As deputy secretary of defense from 2000 to 2005, Wolfowitz helped develop the strategy and public rationale for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He publicly stated that coalition troops would be greeted as liberators, and the nation of Iraq would be largely capable of financing its own rebuilding through oil revenues.

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Bush now banning photo journalism of wounded troops

From the NYT

“They are basically asking me to stand in front of a unit before I go out with them and say that in the event that they are wounded, I would like their consent,” he said. “We are already viewed by some as bloodsucking vultures, and making that kind of announcement would make you an immediate bad luck charm.”

“They are not letting us cover the reality of war,” he added. “I think this has got little to do with the families or the soldiers and everything to do with politics.”

....Until last year, no permission was required to publish photographs of the wounded, but families had to be notified of the soldier’s injury first. Now, not only is permission required, but any image of casualties that shows a recognizable name or unit is off-limits. And memorials for the fallen in Iraq can no longer be shown, even when the unit in question invites coverage.

We quite literally have a government that no longer believes in the very freedoms it claims our troops are dying for. Read the rest of this post...

Bush lying about polls, claims public supports his policy on Iraq and opposes withdrawal. In fact, all polls agree that public wants a withdrawal.

What a surprise, Bush is lying about the war in Iraq. What's disturbing is how blatantly Bush is now lying about public opinion on the war. Either he has decided that lying to the public is, again, the best strategy for a president to take with his people, or he truly believes the lies he's telling, which means that he's not just an idiot, he's also crazy.

From AP:

The president says Democrats have it all wrong: the public doesn't want the troops pulled out — they want to give the military more support in its mission....

Bush said: "I recognize there are a handful there, or some, who just say, `Get out, you know, it's just not worth it. Let's just leave.' I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do as well."

In fact, polls show Americans do not disagree, and that leaving — not winning — is their main goal....

Independent pollster Andrew Kohut said of the White House view: "I don't see what [the White House is] talking about."

"[People] want to know when American troops are going to leave," Kohut, director of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, said of the public. "They certainly want to win. But their hopes have been dashed."

Kohut has found it notable that there's such a consensus in poll findings.

"When the public hasn't made up its mind or hasn't thought about things, there's a lot of variation in the polls," he said. "But there's a fair amount of agreement now."

The president didn't used to try to co-opt polling for his benefit. He just said he ignored it.

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Moscow police sit by as far-right extremists violently attack European members of parliament at gay pride rally

This is what Russia is becoming again - or still is - as George Bush and Condi Rice sit idly by. Eastern Europe, from Moscow to Warsaw, is still struggling to understand freedom and democracy, and not doing so well it would seem, as we ignore them. Rather than rely on the reports of gay advocates present at the event, let's read what the independent mainstream media had to say - it's hideous.

From Germany's Deutsche Welle:

Police detained Russian gay community leader Nikolai Alexeyev and several European lawmakers in central Moscow at the start of the demonstration by dozens of homosexual rights activists campaigning for an end to sexual discrimination.

Dozens of Russian right-wing extremists converged on the group, shouting insults like "fags," "perverts" and "death to homosexuals," throwing eggs and punching and kicking gay demonstrators in front of riot police who intervened much later.

The police also systematically arrested both the attackers and the assaulted. The gay rights activists were also assaulted by ultra-nationalists and Orthodox Church hardliners....

Also detained were Volker Beck, a member of Germany's parliament; Marco Cappato, an Italian member of the European Parliament, and veteran British gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. The politicians have since been released.

Yes, the police sat by while European members of parliament were violently attacked. The police then proceeded to arrest the members of parliament and others who were victims of the violence.

More from AP:

Marco Cappato, a European Parliament deputy from Italy, was kicked by one opponent as he spoke to journalists. Cappato began shouting "Where are the police? Why don't you protect us?" and officers hauled him away as he struggled....

Thirty-one people were detained and most were later released, Moscow police spokesman Yevgeny Gildeyev said. He said two Italians were detained for jaywalking and a German was taken away by police to prevent him from being beaten....

No gay rights opponents were seen taken away by police, though Gildeyev said a man was detained after attacking a Briton, presumably referring to Tatchell.

And more from Reuters:

Richard Fairbrass, a gay singer with the pop group Right Said Fred, was punched in the face and kicked by anti-gay activists while speaking to Reuters in an interview.

"We understand this is a gay event and so we came down here today," Fairbrass said before being hit. Blood dripped from his face after the attack. Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell was knocked to the ground and kicked twice. When he got up he was punched in the face again and taken away by two riot policemen....

Volker Beck, a German Green Party politician, was hit in the face with eggs before being detained by riot police. "We didn't do anything," he told Reuters as he was led away.

There is also growing concern about the status of Russia's gay civil rights leader, Nikolai Alekseev:

Alekeyev and two other organizers of the march - dubbed the “Moscow Gay Pride Three” were detained overnight Sunday awaiting a court hearing and sources close to them told UK Gay News that they feared he may be sent to prison: "We really fear that Nikolai Alekseev will be sent to prison for 15 days as the 'figurehead' of the Gay Pride organising team...Unofficially, we received confirmation that this is what the General Prosecutor already asked. We are not very optimistic about the result of the court hearing. We can say that all three have been provided with legal assistance."

The sources allege: "[It is] becoming very clear that orders are being given to court and militia directly from [the] Kremlin."

Sadly, these are countries that want to be treated as equals. They want to become a member of the civilized, developed world (the EU, NATO), yet in many ways, they are not yet civilized, they are not yet developed. They're slipping back into the sort of violent totalitarianism that made them our mortal enemy for 70 years.

You know what to do:

Russian embassy, Washington, DC: (202) 298-5700, (202) 298-5701, (202) 298-5704, (202) 939-8907, (202) 939-8913, (202) 939-8918

russ-amb@cerfnet.com, rusun@un.int, nyvisa@ruscon.com, waconsru@prodigy.net Read the rest of this post...

White House officially recognizes legal status of gay couples and parents

Something rather historic happened this past week. The White House, for the first time ever on its Web site (that I know of), recognized the legitimacy of gay couples as both married and as parents. It was done, innocuously enough, when the White House published a photo of Vice President Dick Cheney's new grandson, the child of the VP's lesbian daughter and her lesbian spouse. The White House not only published a photo of the child with the VP and his wife, but the caption was even more telling:

Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne Cheney, welcomed their sixth grandchild, Samuel David Cheney, Wednesday, May 23, 2007. He weighed 8 lbs., 6 oz and was born at 9:46 a.m. at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C. His parents are the Cheneys’ daughter Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe. White House photo by David Bohrer

Did you catch that last sentence? The White House officially recognized a lesbian couple as co-equal parents of a child. That not only is a recognition of the legitimacy of gay parents - i.e., if one person is the birth mother and the other the mother's partner, both are the "parents" of the child, per the White House - but the White House is also, implicitly, recognizing the legitimate couple status of two gay people in love, i.e., they are not simply two unrelated gay people, they are parents, akin to your parents, akin to a married couple. Why do I say that the White House is de facto recognizing gay marriage? Because either Mary or her lover, or both, are not the biological mom of this child - with two women, only one can be the biological parent. For the White House to recognize both as parents means that they are recognizing the legitimacy of the two women as one entity, the parent. Anyway, it's a hell of a statement by any White House, let alone one of the most conservative in history, and one that prides itself on being so anti-gay.

JSpot asks a very good question about why the baby's photo is on the White House Web site:

So now a question for grandpa: Isn’t it just a bit disingenious to say that your daughters’ family is private & off limits and to get so pissy with reporters for being “out of line,” and then you’ve got this photo on the home page of an official government website?

Hey, its not like we think you are personally a homophobe, and your love for your daughter is obvious. But given your role in an administration that denies your grandson a legal relationship with the mom who you credit as a parent on the White House website, isn’t it time to explain this incongruity?

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Eight soldiers killed on Memorial Day in Iraq

Updated from MSNBC:

At least eight U.S. soldiers were killed in restive Diyala province north of Baghdad on Memorial Day, two of the victims in a helicopter that went down, the military reported Tuesday.

Reuters:

Six more U.S. soldiers were killed by bombs in north of Baghdad on Monday, the military said on Tuesday.

The U.S. military death toll rose to 112 in this month, making May the deadliest for 2007.

Bush said the war is going to get bloody in August. So what's this? Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Okay, long weekend is over. Time to re-focus. Read the rest of this post...

Swimming at the North Pole

Can you imagine? Besides the polar bears drowning, Inuit hunters are also now falling through the thin ice after thousands of years of hunting on the ice. With the G8 summit arriving soon and Bush digging in to block any and all efforts to fight global warming, it's time the EU steps up and isolates him. Unfortunately the EU powers can never find the backbone to stand up to Bush's bullying ways, just as they never stand up to the knuckle-dragging extremists in Poland. And people wonder why there is such limited enthusiasm for the EU as a political organization. Read the rest of this post...

DNA samples for everyone

Not to worry, Big Brother is (probably) not watching. Not too much at least. Then again...

Civil liberties groups are warning that the details of every Briton could soon be on the national DNA database, raising fresh concerns of a 'surveillance society'. Controversial plans being studied by the government would see the DNA of people convicted of even the most minor, non-imprisonable offences, such as dropping litter, entered on the national database.

The proposals are part of a wide-ranging government review of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace), which campaign groups warn may have profound ramifications for society. 'The danger is that if we start adding the details of people convicted of these sort of minor offences to the database we'll come to a tipping point,' said Gareth Crossman, director of Liberty. 'The government will say: "Actually it's a bit unfair some people aren't on the database; maybe everyone should be on it."'

The DNA database is already proving controversial with some politicians and police officers raising concerns about its use. Liberty claims that, per head of population, the UK has five times as many people on the DNA database as any other country. The government estimates that even if the database is not expanded to include the details of minor offenders, some 4.5 million people will still be on it by 2010.

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Open thread

I'm watching the movie "Elizabeth I" with Helen Mirren. Wonderful movie. It's kind of bizarre, I've always hated Elizabethan England - well, rather, I never cared much for that period of time in history, it just never interested me. I was always an ancient history (Greece and Rome) buff, and a modern post-war history (America and Europe). And now suddenly I'm getting interested in other time periods. Getting older is weird. Read the rest of this post...