How To Honor Our Troops

Happy Fourth of July everyone. Here's how I pledge to honor our troops now and in the future.

1. Never confuse the troops with the mission -- All Americans support our troops, the brave men and women who volunteer for the dangerous and essential task of defending our country and, sometimes, being sent overseas on complicated and sometimes confusing missions.
2. Always demand our troops be properly armed -- When the MSM reports that two years into the occupation of Iraq that new Marines are encouraged to spend some $600 on equipment they need to survive but won't be given by the military, that is an outrage and an insult to our troops. Politicians should be held accountable WEEKLY by the MSM, the families of the troops and all Americans until the problem is solved, not merely acknowledged.

3. Always demand our troops be properly equipped -- Two years into the occupation of Iraq and we are still hearing that 5 out of 6 Humvees are not fully armored and details about the level of armor on those 5 is sketchy and unclear. We also hear that Humvees are not even best suited to the task and that the Vice President and others stay away from them when travelling in Iraq while using vehicles that we COULD requisition in large numbers.

4. Demand an end to the abuse of the National Guard and Army Reserve -- Soldiers leaving the military have often volunteered for the Guard and Reserve. Just as current soldiers ask only that they be properly equipped and armed and sent only on essential missions as a last resort, the Reserve and Guard has historically been used for defending our native soil and in emergencies at home, such as a hurricane or flood. President Bush, in an attempt to prop up an unpopular policy, has abused their trust in a dramatic, unprecedented fashion by crafting a backdoor draft, sending them overseas again and again counter to the implicit understanding when they volunteered, and endangering their jobs and welfare.

5. Always question the mission -- it is the duty of all Americans to check and then check again that our soldiers are being sent into war only as a last resort. This is the most crucial way we can support our troops since soldiers are practically the last people in a position to openly question such a deployment.

6. Continue to question the mission -- the discussion doesn't end just because the war has begun. Are the troops being properly supplied? Has the purpose of the mission changed? Has the scope of the war broadened? What new factors have arisen that should make us rethink the level of commitment or whether the commitment should continue at all? Has a mission we were told would last one year gone on for three? The most foolish argument of all is that the mission must continue -- no matter what -- simply because soldiers have died. Nothing could be further from the truth.

7. Honor the dead -- We honor them best by fighting on when necessary and stopping as soon as possible when it's not. Remember, no soldier fighting for their country has ever died in vain. No matter how ill-fated or even wrong a particular mission might be, their sacrifice is real and genuine and important. A great country makes mistakes...and admits it and corrects it. No soldier who has fallen would ever want someone else to die just because our leaders were too embarrassed or pig-headed to admit a mission had proven a mistake. Read the rest of this post...

NY Times Profiles Valerie Plame

Hmmm. Interesting article on Plame and Wilson. More about him than her...but does give some insight on her role at the CIA. Never mentions Rove. The dateline is July 1, published July 5. A lot has happened since July 1 on the Rove front, thanks to Lawrence O'Donnell. Read the rest of this post...

Rove Controversy makes NY Times

Okay, it's just a couple paragraphs, but it's in the Bush Fourth of July Story. Maybe, just maybe, this scandal is starting to permeate the MSM:

Karl Rove, his senior adviser, rode the flight from Washington to West Virginia but did not respond to requests for an interview over his reported role in a controversy that threatens to put two reporters in jail. Newsweek had reported over the weekend that Mr. Rove had talked to Matthew Cooper of Time magazine for an article about Valerie Plame, a C.I.A. operative whose name was illegally disclosed by an unidentified White House official in a case now under investigation.

The Newsweek article did not identify Mr. Rove as that source, but Bush critics have been eager to tie him to the leak. Outside the presidential rally in Morgantown, one protester made reference to the case, holding a sign that read: "Jail Karl Rove."

Um, if the press is to be believed, it's the special prosecutor who has been working on tying Rove to the leak, not just Bush critics.

UPDATE: E&P; reports Karl is refusing all interview requests, surprisingly enough. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Just back from sailing in Chesapeake Bay. Happy Fourth everyone and congrats to John on his first riot. Maybe the Kaiser Chiefs were right.... Read the rest of this post...

DC Evacuation Test tonight

The powers that be are testing an evacuation plan for the District of Columbia tonight after the fireworks per WTOP:

A major test of Washington's emergency evacuation routes will take place this Fourth of July. And yes, you will notice the test. It's scheduled for right after the fireworks on the National Mall.

The test is called Operation Fast Forward and it will begin about 15 minutes after the fireworks display on the National Mall ends Monday night. Whether you're walking or in a car, you'll likely notice the change.

Traffic signals on several major routes will be lengthened. Green lights will last up to three minutes, close to double what they normally are.

Okay, this I have to see. I live off Connecticut Avenue which is a major thoroughfare. I think Boomer and I will monitor the progress of "Operation Fast Forward." Count me skeptical...nothing in DC ever goes as planned or moves fast forward. Read the rest of this post...

Our blogging panel live at CNN is finally on the Web

Here's the link, thanks to a number of you who found it. It's the panel discussion I did at the CNN International conference last month. And yes, the real obnoxious chick is supposedly a "liberal." Uh huh. Read the rest of this post...

A little photoblogging, etc

As I mentioned, I met Melissa Fitzgerald from the West Wing before the flight, on the flight, etc. Really sweet woman. I liked her a lot, and very pretty in person.


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You can listen to my 3 minute audio interview with Melissa here

Richard Branson, head of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Records, was on our flight, we got to talk with a him a bit. Again, seems like a very nice guy. Clearly a big somebody over here, everywhere was agape when they saw him. We also were met at London Heathrow by Bob Geldof who gave a pretty good speech, rather firey that one.


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On arriving in Edinburgh we were greated in the airport by the entire G8 as done by puppet people.


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This was the view outside our hotel, pre-hour-long-detention.


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This is an example of a block away from hotel going "oops, wrong turn" - the young kids were taunting the police


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The riot police were everywhere, but people were still taking long walks, like it was no big deal.


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Walked by some beautiful parks on a rare somewhat sunny day.


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go to my room for a quick nap, we did just arrive, it's too loud because of the protesters, so I shower and go to the window and suddenly hear no noise, my street has been closed off:


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The riot police are now every few feet and we're suddenly trapped on all sides by a slowly shrinking net.


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Finally, after an hour, they let us leave, in threes - each threesom would have to stand there, get there picture taken, they'd stare at you, then let you go. Felt a bit not quite legal, the hourlong detention an individual photographing of pedestrians trapped on a street. Curious if anyone's up on EU law on all of this

More blocked off streets.... couldn't get back to my hotel, coulnd't get to a place for food, ... finally about a 18 dollar chicken sandwich at Planet Hollywood, I was that desperate.

Others kept watching as things got more tense, I got out of there, got mmy insanely exspensive sandwich, went to the hotel, and now am blogging (though can't get my email, grrrr). Anyway, lots more to tell, just thought this was interesting, for starters.

live8 Read the rest of this post...

I survived my first violent G8 protest

Good God that was a bit much. I went for a walk after going to my hotel in Edinburgh and cleaning up a little, the riot police were everywhere - apparently our hotel is on the main boulevard (really really really beautiful city), and anyway, we're in the spot of town where the rowdy thugs like to protest. Well, long story short, someone apparently hit a cop in the head with a brick, so our entire two streets I was on were cordoned off for an hour, the riot police slowly moved in on us, I was huddled with the safest looking people I could find, a cute older couple from Edinburgh out on a week and Peruvian guy here on vacation. After an hour, they finally let us go - there were easily 100+ people trapped/detained, and they slowly let us out, 3 at a time, made us stop, and then photographed us, every single one. As much as I understand where the cops are coming from, and they were quite friendly considering, the hour detention of over a hundred innocent civilians and the photographing each and every one before they let us go, struck me as a bit odd. I was wondering about the legality of that.

Anyway, sure did get lots of fun photos, videos, and sound. Posting in subsequent posts.

live8 Read the rest of this post...

Another Update from Scotland -- Getting caught in the protests

Another phone update from John. He hasn't been able to blog because for the past hour or so he was stuck in a crowd surrounded by riot police. AP has a story on the "riots."

John told me that not only was the whole crowd -- which was quite a mix of folks including media, tourists and people from Edinburgh -- not allowed to move, they were all basically detained. And, before they could leave, everyone had their photo taken by the police. Not like a group shot. Before anyone could leave the penned in area, they went through a line to have a picture snapped.

Sounds crazy. Hopefully, John will have computer access soon and he can give more details. But one question: is this legal in Great Britain? Read the rest of this post...

Mayor Jim West Isn't having a Happy Fourth of July

Apparently, he's just laying low....the GOP Mayor, who still isn't gay, spent his whole career trashing and bashing gays. Payback is a bitch. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Just got a call from John. He's getting settled in Edinburgh, will be blogging from there soon. Apparently, he is right at "ground zero" for all the G8 activity. I could hear the crowd in the background....sounds like it's going to be a very cool trip. Read the rest of this post...

Bush Interview with Britain's ITV1

The Guardian has the transcript, it's a painful read. I have a feeling his spin won't work so well in Europe. Some "highlights":

TONIGHT: Do you accept that climate change is man-made, sir?

PRESIDENT BUSH: To a certain extent it is, obviously. I mean, if fossil fuels create greenhouse gases, we're burning fossil fuel, as is a lot of other countries. You know, look, there was a debate over Kyoto, and I made the decision - as did a lot of other people in this country, by the way - that the Kyoto treaty didn't suit our needs. In other words, the Kyoto treaty would have wrecked our economy, if I can be blunt....

and

TONIGHT: Mr President, if I can move on to the question of Iraq, when we last spoke before the Iraq war, I asked you about Saddam Hussein and you said this, and I quote: "He harbours and develops weapons of mass destruction, make no mistake about it."

Well, today, no WMD, the war has cost 1,700 American lives, many more Iraqi civilians killed, hundreds of billions of dollars in cost to your country. Can you understand why some people in your country are now beginning to wonder whether it was really worth it?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Absolutely. I mean, when you turn on your TV set every day and see this incredible violence and the havoc that is wreaked as a result of these killers, I'm sure why people are getting discouraged. And that's why I spoke to the nation last night and reminded people that this is a - Iraq is a part of this global war on terror. And the reason why foreign fighters are flocking into Iraq is because they want to drive us out of the region.

See, these folks represent an ideology that is based upon hate and kind of a narrow vision of mankind - women don't have rights. And I believe this is an ideological movement. And I know that they want to use suicide bombers and assassinations and attacks on the World Trade Centre, and the attacks in Madrid, to try to shake our will and to achieve an objective, which is to topple governments.

It's not like we all don't know what a lying bastard he is. But it's just embarrassing that we have to inflict him (and his lies) on the rest of the world. Read the rest of this post...

GOP Youth: Your Country Needs You

Atrios links to the Baltimore Sun editorial which states

THE ARMY can't find enough recruits. Could there be a clearer expression of Americans' disenchantment with the war in Iraq?

But there is hope according to Atrios -- if the GOP youth will step up:

What they're essentially saying is that the continued survival of the American empire depends critically on the success of Operation Yellow Elephant. Please, Young Republicans, do not let us down. I myself am feeling rather optimistic, because according to the head of the Young Republicans:

Most of our members either serve, have served, or plan to serve in the United States Armed Forces, or have participated in events or projects supporting the United States Armed Forces. We will not be intimidated.

There you go. Most serve, have served, plan to serve, OR HAVE PARTICIPATED IN EVENTS OR PROJECTS, such as Operation Drink a Beer for the Troops, Operation Burn a Dixie Chick CD, or Operation Put a Yellow Ribbon on my SUV, supporting the United States Armed Forces.

Email Mr. Taylor at nathan@yrnc2005.com for more details about how he is serving his country.

Read the rest of this post...

Fourth of July Open Thread

Slow news day? Although, the NASA probe crashing in to the comet was pretty cool. Read the rest of this post...

Late Night Open Thread

Watching the South Park Movie...again Read the rest of this post...

Filibuster Compromise Comes back to haunt Dems.

Uh-oh. Washington Post reports on the danger facing Dems. based on the filibuster compromise from the Gang of 14:

The pact, signed by seven Democrats and seven Republicans, says a judicial nominee will be filibustered only under "extraordinary circumstances." Key members of the group said yesterday that a nominee's philosophical views cannot amount to "extraordinary circumstances" and that therefore a filibuster can be justified only on questions of personal ethics or character.

This is going to be real trouble if when Bush nominates a real whack job. Read the rest of this post...