DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE UNDER REPORTS BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES

Veterans for Common Sense http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ has uncovered a glaring and sickening error in the way the Department of Defense reports battlefield casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense reports more than 78,000 battlefield casualty statistics for both Iraq and Afghanistan. While casualties in Iraq appear to be decreasing, casualties in Afghanistan continue rising.

During July 2008, the U.S. military reported 800 battlefield casualties. The monthly average number of casualties per month for both wars is approximately 900. A battlefield casualty is defined as killed, wounded, injured, or ill whiled deployed to the war zone.

The injured and ill are counted only if they are medically evacuated out of the country due to serious conditions. These figures are for the military only.

The most recent Department of Veterans Affairs report indicates 325,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran patients treated in VA hospitals and clinics.

DoD Fact Sheet: Impact of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
Updated by Veterans for Common Sense on August 6, 2008

78,048 Total U.S. Military Battlefield Casualties Through August 2, 2008

Casualty Category
Iraq War
Afghanistan War
Both Wars
Deaths
4,122
561
4,683
Wounded in Action
30,490
2,309
32,799
Medically Evacuated Due to Injury or Disease
33,529
7,037
40,566
Total Casualties
68,141
9,907
78,048

Sources: Department of Defense: Afghanistan War (Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF), Casualties from Oct. 7, 2001, through Aug. 2, 2008; Iraq War (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF), Casualties from Mar. 19, 2003, through Aug. 2, 2008; DoD Contingency Tracking System, through Mar. 31, 2008.

CHEBOYGAN, MICHIGAN PARENTS WATCH VIDEO OF SON KILLED BY SNIPER FIRE IN AFGHANISTAN.

500: Deadly US Milestone in Afghan War

Kirk Semple and Andrew W. Lehren
The New York Times
Aug 07, 2008

http://tinyurl.com/6hztt3

August 6, 2008 - Not long after Staff Sgt. Matthew D. Blaskowski was killed by a sniper’s bullet last Sept. 23 in eastern Afghanistan, his mother received an e-mail message with a link to a video on the Internet.

A television reporter happened to have been filming a story at Sergeant Blaskowski's small mountain outpost when it came under fire and the sergeant was shot.Since then, Sergeant Blaskowski's parents, Cheryl and Terry Blaskowski of Cheboygan, Mich., have watched their 27-year-old son die over and over. Ms. Blaskowski has taken breaks from work to watch it on her computer, sometimes several times a day, studying her son's last movements."Anything to be closer," she said. "To see what could have been different, how it —" the bullet — "happened to find him."For months, the Blaskowskis felt alone in watching their son die in an isolated and nearly forgotten war.

And then, in June, the war in Afghanistan roared back into public view when American deaths from hostilities exceeded those in Iraq. In the face of an expanding threat from the Taliban, the conflict is becoming deadlier and much more violent for American troops, who three weeks ago reached their highest deployment levels ever, at 36,000.June was the second deadliest month for the military in Afghanistan since the war began, with 23 American deaths from hostilities, compared with 22 in Iraq. July was less deadly, with 20 deaths, compared with six in Iraq.

On July 22, nearly seven years after the conflict began on Oct. 7, 2001, the United States lost its 500th soldier in the Afghanistan war.

Click on this link to read rest of New York Times story: http://tinyurl.com/6hztt3

SEAN HANNITY AND RUSH LIMBAUGH CAUGHT USING RACE RE OBAMA

Ask yourself this. Why do the BIGGEST names in broadcasting keep reminding viewers and listeners that Barack Obama is Black?

Could it have anything to do with their own racism and the racist audience that view and listen to their programs?

Is the Pope a Catholic?

SOURCE: MEDIA MATTERS: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808070009?lid=501616&rid=12228022

Sean Hannity falsely claimed "Obama can't point to a single instance in which ... Sean Hannity or talk radio" has "made an issue of Obama's race"

Summary: On his radio show, Sean Hannity said that Sen. Barack Obama "can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or McCain or Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race." In fact, Hannity asserted on the March 2 edition of Hannity's America: "As more is learned about Barack Obama's positions, his past, and his affiliations, it seems that the 'change' candidate has all the same problems with race as those before him," and later added, "It's only fair to ask: Do the Obamas have a race problem of their own?"

Media Matters has also documented numerous examples of other radio and TV personalities making "an issue of Obama's race."

Four days after falsely suggesting that no "prominent Republican" has "said that [Sen. Barack Obama] is not patriotic, or that he's got a funny name," Sean Hannity claimed on the August 4 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program that Obama "can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or [Sen. John] McCain or [former White House senior adviser] Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race." In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, Hannity asserted on the March 2 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America: "As more is learned about Barack Obama's positions, his past, and his affiliations, it seems that the 'change' candidate has all the same problems with race as those before him," and later added, "It's only fair to ask: Do the Obamas have a race problem of their own?"

Hannity has also repeatedly distorted what Michelle Obama wrote in her 1985 Princeton University senior thesis, taking the following phrase from the thesis out of context to suggest that she has divisive views of race: "because of the belief that Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor." As Media Matters documented, the full paragraph in the thesis makes clear that Obama was purporting to document attitudes among black Princeton alumni who attended the school in the '70s, and not asserting her own views.
Media Matters has also documented numerous examples of other radio and TV personalities making "an issue of Obama's race."

Radio host Rush Limbaugh:
On the June 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, while discussing Obama's presidential candidacy, Limbaugh asserted that the Democratic Party was "go[ing] with a veritable rookie whose only chance of winning is that he's black."

On May 21, Limbaugh said that "Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate." Speaking about 'feminazis,' " Limbaugh asserted: "They forgot affirmative action for black guys. And because of that, every bit of their plan has gone up in smoke now, because they -- if -- they had to come out in favor of affirmative action for black guys, and that's -- see, this is one of the things that really irritates the women. And there are women all over this country fit to be tied -- trust me on this. ... [L]iberals eventually are going to be devoured by their own policies. And it has happened here. Because Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate." He concluded, "So, it's just -- they just forgot that one thing: affirmative action for black guys. And if they had remembered to oppose that, then they wouldn't face the situation they face today."

Limbaugh stated during his May 14 broadcast that "[i]f Barack Obama were Caucasian, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago."

On the January 24, 2007, edition of his radio show, Limbaugh referred to Obama and actress Halle Berry as "Halfrican American[s]," stating that "Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry." Limbaugh then said: " 'As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry's support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,' Obama said." Limbaugh then conceded that Obama "didn't say it."

Fox News contributor Monica Crowley:
Guest-hosting the June 23 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Laura Ingraham Show, Crowley forwarded a wholly unsubstantiated smear that Obama has lied about his ethnicity. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is "not really African-American. He's Arab. Forty-three percent Arab, 6 percent African negro, and half white. And that is the biggest fraud being perpetrated on us all." In response, Crowley said that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African." Crowley continued: "And yet, this guy is campaigning as black and painting anybody who dares to criticize him as a racist. I mean, that is -- it is the biggest con I think I've ever seen."

Radio hosts Melanie Morgan and Brian Sussman
On the December 4, 2006, broadcast of San Francisco radio station KSFO's Sussman, Morgan & Vic, in speaking to a co-host -- apparently Sussman -- Morgan referred to Obama as an, "as you call, 'Halfrican.' " Sussman responded, "Halfrican ... his father was from Kenya, his mother's white." He added that, "in my opinion -- 'cause my opinion is your average white guy," Obama "is not allowed to wear the African-American badge because his family are not the descendants of slaves, OK? He can't identify with the discrimination and the slavery and all of that that's gone into these black families for generations."

Sussman also said, "I have ... nothing against mixed-race people," but later added, "I get offended and I know I have many black friends who get offended when he [Obama] stands in front of that black audience talking like he's from the hood, born and raised, and ... can identify with all of their issues. He can't!"

Radio host and former FOX NEWS "Big Story" host John Gibson:
On the June 6 edition of his Fox News Radio show, Gibson said to a caller who spoke favorably of Obama: "You don't know what Barack Obama stands for. You just like him because he's -- he's -- he's like you and you want to see one of you up there, and you don't care what he stands for." The caller responded: "[H]e's not one of me. ... He's not one of me just because he's a black guy or something like that. That doesn't make him one of me. He's standing for him, not me."

During the April 9 broadcast of his radio show, Gibson told a caller, "[Y]ou are the third or fourth caller in a row who is -- has identified yourself to [associate producer] Christine as African-American. And when I talk to you, you obviously are smart, well-educated, well-read, and all that, and I think that your loyalty to Obama here is an issue that goes beyond the issues." When the caller asserted, "No, it's not -- it's not beyond the issues," Gibson said, "It is a racial solidarity bond you have with Obama. Tell me -- I dare you to deny that." Moments later, Gibson added: "You're sticking with Obama, because he's ... he's a brother." Gibson also asserted about Obama: "He is lying to your face but he knows you are so -- you so identify with him on the basis of race, you will not even see the lies."

CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck:
On the February 12, 2007, broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Beck featured Philadelphia-based conservative radio host Dom Giordano, who claimed that "the mainstream media has dubbed [Obama] to be African-American" and said, "If you start to, you know, delve around the edges, say, 'Wait a minute, isn't he mixed race? Weren't we told that last year?' Or whatever, biracial. Not allowed to say that anymore." Beck responded by saying "he's very white in many ways," adding, "Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, 'What does he mean, "He's very white?" ' He is. He's very white."
After the interview, Beck attempted to clarify his comments to executive producer and head writer of The Glenn Beck Program, Steve Burguiere, who is known on- air as "Stu." Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" In addition, Beck said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that."

On the January 25 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Beck asserted: "[I]f [Sen.] Hillary Clinton wants to be consistent, I believe, affirmative action, she should give Barack Obama an additional five percentage points just for the years of oppression."
From the August 5 broadcast of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show:
HANNITY: But I think they made a real tactical mistake here by playing the race card the way they did. It's -- because Senator McCain has gone out of his way not to do this. You know, they're making the argument that Obama is a risky choice for president. And that is the right argument to make because he doesn't have experience. And after all, if Obama had his way, we would already have been defeated in Iraq. We would have lost a major war. That's a risky experiment.

You know, when Obama says they're going to scare Americans by saying that he doesn't look like all those presidents on dollar bills, he can't mean anything other than race. In fact, Obama tipped his hand when he said it back in June: "Oh, and did I mention he's black?"

Obama can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or McCain or Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race.
As for his name, earlier in the campaign, when my buddy Bill Cunningham in Cincinnati, great American that he is, criticized -- he was criticized by McCain for saying Barack Hussein Obama. The only one that keeps bringing up Obama's middle name is Barack Obama. So the charge is without merit. And it is his name, by the way.