Criticizing the President during military operations

"[The] President is ... Releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home." - Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
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Friday we saw Republicans proposed an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq, but they only did it to support the mission (got to be a Red to make sense of that). So is Rick Santorum, one of the wackiest right wingers out there, now actually criticizing the President in the middle of a military operation!?!? That type of criticism (we hear) is unpatriotic and gives comfort to the enemy. Why would Santorum say such things?

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Well the answer, of course, is that his quote was made about Bill Clinton during the military operation in Kosovo. Ahh. That's not all. Click the title of this story for more (but by no means all) examples of Republicans doing then exactly what they condemn Democrats for doing now.

I guess he ought to know

By KRISTEN HAYS, Associated Press Writer
The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism blasted conservative religious activists in a speech Saturday, calling them "zealots" who claim a "monopoly on God" while promoting anti-gay policies akin to Adolf Hitler's.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said "religious right" leaders believe "unless you attend my church, accept my God and study my sacred text you cannot be a moral person."
"What could be more bigoted than to claim that you have a monopoly on God?" he said during the movement's national assembly in Houston, which runs through Sunday.
The audience of 5,000 responded to the speech with enthusiastic applause

REDS PLAY GAMES, CALL NAMES

REPUBLICANS PROPOSE IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ

Differences over policy on the Iraq war ignited an explosion of angry words and personal insults on the House floor yesterday when the chamber's newest Republican member suggested that a decorated war veteran was a coward for calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.

As Democrats physically restrained one colleague, who appeared as if he might lose control of himself as he rushed across the aisle to confront Republicans with a jabbing finger, they accused Republicans of playing political games with the war.

It was past 10 p.m. when John Murtha, who proposed a more gradual withdrawal earlier in the week, addressed a relatively subdued House. He explained that Republican Duncan Hunter's immediate withdrawal resolution was "not what I envisioned" because it avoids a broader debate of the war, which "is not going as advertised," Murtha said. "The American people are way ahead of us" in wanting a strategy to bring the troops home, he added. "It's easy to sit in your air-conditioned offices and send them into battle."

LAWSUITS CHARGE ONLINE DATING FRAUD

NEW YORK (Reuters) Match.com, a unit of IAC/Interactive Corp., is accused in a federal lawsuit of goading members into renewing their subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails sent out by company employees. In some instances, the suit contends, people on the Match payroll even went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy.

The company said it does not comment on pending litigation.

In a separate suit, Yahoo Inc's personals service is accused of posting profiles of fictitious potential dating partners on its Web site to make it look as though many more singles subscribe to the service than actually do.

Yahoo spokeswoman Rochelle Adams said the company had no comment on the lawsuit.

Joe Wilson calls for an investigation of Bob Woodward's silence on CIA leak case

"The recent revelation from the Washington Post that Bob Woodward learned of the identity of CIA operative (and my wife), Valerie Wilson, in June, 2003, is perplexing. Woodward and his partner Carl Bernstein were heroes to me as they were to many of my generation for their fearless reporting on the machinations of the Nixon administration. The Watergate investigation was what spurred me to pursue a career in public service. As Bob and Carl made clear in their pursuit of the truth, we as a nation had a right to demand better from our government".

"I don't know if what he was doing was a conflict of interest or inconsistent with journalistice ethics, but I would sure like to hear a fuller explanation, and I suspect many of the Post's readers would like one as well. After all, our newspapers are for many of us the principal filter through which we receive our information and opinion. The self styled "papers of record", it seems to me, have a particular responsibility to ensure that the filtration process is not corrupted by conflicts surrounding either interests or relationships with sources".

Blue Vietnam Vet vs. Red Chickenhawks

Criticism about the war in Iraq is growing by the day. Liberals have been sounding the alarm for months. They have been pointing out how statements by Administration officials prior to the war were untruthful and misleading. Now a very conservative Democrats has caught up. Vietnam Veteran, Rep. John Murtha shocked Washington yesterday by calling for a quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. He cited a lack of planning by the administration and the slow progress on the ground. In fact, this former military man and long time hawk on defense, says that our continued presence in Iraq is actually making matters worse. The Bush administration didn't like that and answered his proposal by falling back into an "with us or with the terrorists" argument. This time it appears, more and more American are finally seeing through the McCarthy-like tactics. Polls show the majority of citizens now feel Invading Iraq was a mistake. I doubt any amount of name calling by the Bush Administration is going to impress anyone outside the few people left who still believe that life can be neatly packaged into two sides. Us and them.



John Murtha "Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency. They are united against U.S. forces and we have become a catalyst for violence. U.S. Troops are the common enemy of the Sunnis, the Saddamists and foreign jihadists.''

WH Spokesman "Congressman Murtha is a respected veteran and politician who has a record of supporting a strong America. So it is baffling that he is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party".

John Murtha "I like guys who've never been there to criticize us who've been there. ... I like guys who got five deferments and never been there [Dick Cheney], and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done.''

Who's your buddy?

New AIM feature draws criticism

from Instant Message users.

NEW YORK - Two new buddies greeted chatters on America Online Inc.'s instant-messaging service this week, but not everyone wanted to be their friend. Some AIM users complained that the buddies amounted to an intrusion.

Normally, users manually add a buddy to the list of contacts with whom they frequently chat. The new buddies — to promote AOL's movies and shopping services — are known as bots.
The two join other AIM bots, such as those for news and baseball scores, but this was the first time AOL added them automatically when users logged on, said AOL spokeswoman Krista Thomas

Sly Regis goes to FOX for New Years

In an apparent case of Seacrest envy, Regis Philbin will abandon longtime network ABC to host FOX TV's December 31st broacast.


from E! Onlne
Spurned by Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve a year after stepping in for the holiday show's then-ailing host, Philbin will ring in 2006 on Fox.
The 90-minute New Year's Eve Live, airing Dec. 31 from New York City's Times Square, will mark Philbin's first ever appearance on the 19-year-old network--a surprising factoid considering it seems impossible that the always-on Philbin could have been off somewhere.
"I'm very happy to be asked to welcome in the New Year on TV," Phibin said in a statement Wednesday.
Philbin was asked to welcome in the New Year on TV last year, too. Only the network doing the asking was ABC.
With Philbin at the helm, New Year's Rockin' Eve drew its best prime-time numbers in three years and handily beat Carson Daly's countdown show on NBC and Ryan Seacrest's on Fox.
But when plans for the latest New Year's Rockin' Eve were announced in August, Philbin wasn't in them. Seacrest was.

The end of unemployment in New York City

Well I got the job! After almost 4 weeks in New York and three weeks of interviewing I got “the call” this morning that I was hired into the position. I will be the Marketing Director of a Cooperative in Brooklyn. (Not too much details here – not wanting to mix work and blog) The job is a good fit with my experience and interests, pays well and the people I have met there seem nice. I start on Monday which will give me a few days to really relax (beer) and enjoy the city. I will also catch up on some phone calls and e mails this weekend. I hated to jinx things being so close, but now that it is a done deal I will catch up with everyone.

Administration now admits use of White phosphorous as weapon in Iraq!

DEVELOPING.....It comes with a denial that it was used on civilians. Unfortunately I fear this is only step 1 of the truth getting out. Next, I'm afraid, they may have to clarify that to say not "intentionally" used against civilians. Not only is this terrible for any innocents caught up in the chemical weapon attacks, but it is unforgivable what Bush Administration officials are making our young men and women do. The mental scars they carry will be as long lasting as the physical one they were forced to inflict.



By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON
Pentagon officials say white phosphorous was used as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November, but deny an Italian television news report that it was used against civilians.

Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that while white phosphorous is most frequently used to mark targets or obscure a position, it was used at times in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants.

YOUR CAPTION HERE! Number 1

REAL LIFE 'FOREST GUMP' ENTERS 16TH YEAR OF CONTINUOUS RUN

YOUR CAPTION HERE!

Put your own fake headline in the comments area.

INSIGHT: President limits acess to just four people - all women.

Sources close to the White House say that Mr. Bush has become isolated and feels betrayed by key officials in the wake of plunging domestic support, the continued insurgency in Iraq and the CIA-leak investigation that has resulted in the indictment and resignation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.

Mr. Bush maintains daily contact with only four people: first lady Laura Bush, his mother, Barbara Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes. The sources also say that Mr. Bush has stopped talking with his father, except on family occasions.

Open Thread

I have been going through a series of interviews for a job. I have more this afternoon but it seems the be the last phase. Since this is taking a lot of my time and concentration why don't YOU let me know what's on YOUR mind.

This is an invitation to you to comment on anything at all in the world famous

MQAblog Open Thread

Wrestling Champion Found Dead in Hotel

'WWE Smackdown!' Star Guerrero Dies at 38

UN(RED)AMERICAN!

Major religion

publicly embraces science

"Science and Buddhism share a quest of open investigation into the nature of reality, and science can be a pathway to discovering well-being and happiness"

the Dalai Lama on Saturday

Sunday Comics