Saturday Afternoon/Evening Open Thread

Roadside Bombs Kill U.S. Soldier, 9 Iraqis

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A spate of roadside bombings killed a U.S. soldier and at least nine Iraqis in Baghdad and north of the capital Saturday, officials said. Two Macedonians were kidnapped in southern Iraq, while a search was underway for a private German plane missing in the north.

Semper Fi

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Military: Troops Accounted for After Crash

By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press Writer

NAIROBI, Kenya - The 10 U.S. troops missing after two Marine Corps transport helicopters crashed into the sea have been accounted for, the military said Saturday, but it did not specify whether they had survived the mishap.

Semper Fi

What the Hell Happened To Me? Pt. 2

As I started losing trust in the bUSH administration, I started to evaluate more and more everyday, what I stood for and what the Rethuglican Party stood for. Were they the same? Hell no! I was in denial for awhile, thinking it's just bUSH, I can be a conservative against bUSH. Then I started hearing about all the scandals... once again I lost more trust in the Rethuglican Party. More self evaluation, and I compared my values with those of the Rethuglican Party. I started noticing, I got nothing that compares to a Rethuglican view whatsoever.

I am pro-choice. They are not. I am pro-gay marriage. They are not. I am pro- Homeland Security. They are not. I am anti Iraq War. They are not. I am pro compassion towards humans. They are not. I don't believe in corporate welfare abuse, they do. I believe the government can accomplish great things. They do not. I believe our tax dollars can be better spent, they haven't a clue. I don't believe in cutting taxes for those who need it the least, they do. I don't believe in screwing over the common man. They do. I could go on and on about how I differ from the Rethuglican Party but I think you get the drift.

I am proud to say I am fully recovered. Was I really I rethuglican? I don't know. Did I vote rethuglican? Yes but only once. Stupid year 2000. Will I ever vote rethuglican again? No, a resounding Hell No!!

What IF?

(Editor's Note: I just read the beautiful post (here) of another soldier who was lied to and betrayed and sent off to war under false pretenses only to survive the ugliness and grace us with his presence.)

WHAT IF: (?)

--This new gathering place we have created for ourselves becomes the hybrid seed of a new generation that will ignore the politics that is "the quid pro quo" and become the "Independant" party that can raise funds and get like minded thinkers elected to positions of power like Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Senator Jeffords.

They were both elected without the (D) or the (R) behind their names on the ballot.

I would be saying this as satire or parody except I was the second person to join on the first day and was like, "Okay, I will check it out!"

What a pleasant surprise to see it quadruple in 24 hours.

Ten Ways Conservatism and Communism are Alike

1-They require deception, force, intimidation, and rigged elections to be implemented

2-They hate the free flow of information

3-They love to use military force to impose their will on other nations

4-They don't tolerate dissenting opinions

5-Only their adherents profit once they gain power

6-They trample the rights of individuals for 'security reasons'

7-They require massive doses of propaganda to hide the failures of their political theory

8-They ruin a nation's economy once implemented

9-They don't care about the environment

10-They both screw working class people

What the Hell Happened to Me? Pt. 1

As a lot of people who read this blog know, I'm a recent convert to the Democratic Party. I'm going to try and lay out why such a conversion happened and what lead me to open my eyes to some new realizations. Here we go:

I love my nation, I really do. I might love it more then some, I did sign a contract that might have had me die for the nation and what it stands for. I love being an American and I love living in America. But a time comes in every relationship where you have to step back, take the rose-colored glasses off and really take a look. Not too long ago I did that, against my mind's best wishes. My conscience wasn't going to have it any differently. I was amazed at what I saw.

The first thing I looked at was the Iraq War, something I wasn't too fond of even when I had "rose-colored" glasses blinding my vision. I looked at why we went to war as presented by the bUSH administration. The main selling points were the WMDs, some sort of connection to terrorists and a nation that has a crazy leader, Hellbent on destroying America. It didn't take much to realize that no WMDs= not much of a threat to the US. I read a little on Iraq's apparent terrorist connection, especially with al Qaeda but only found out Saddam didn't trust al Qaeda, as he is a secularlist and al Qaeda are hardline fundamentalist Muslims. In fact Saddam didn't trust al Qaeda and felt they could be a threat to his power in Iraq. So without any of the smoking guns outlined by the administration found, what prompted the war? I didn't really know all too much on that so I researched a bit.

Leading up to the Iraq War the bUSH administration seemed to trump intelligence in regards to Iraq's WMDs and "smoking guns" saying Iraq had WMDs. They said Iraq tried to buy yellow cake from Niger, only to be told that it didn't happen by Joseph Wilson. Joseph Wilson went to Niger, did what he had to do and came back with no evidence of such things. What does bUSHco do to rebutt this? Leak his wife's name. His wife was a CIA agent, Valerie Plame. That leak led to at least one death of a CIA agent. Was it treason? I don't know, we'll find out I am sure. I came to the conclusion that we were lied to by the administration. Maybe we were, maybe we weren't but I started to lose my trust in them.