BRONXVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Oscar-winner Jessica Lange bashed the Bush administration and denounced the war in Iraq during a commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College.
The star of "Tootsie" and "Blue Sky" was applauded by students Friday at the small liberal arts college after comparing the conflict with the Vietnam War. She said the graduates have "a heavy burden" to chart a new path for the country.
http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-10/121165255238830.xml&storylist=entertainment
"We are living in an America that, in the last seven and a half years, has waged an unnecessary war, established prison camps, condoned torture, employed corporate armies, eliminated the right of habeas corpus, practiced extraordinary rendition, and believe me, this is only a partial list," Lange said.
Lange asked the graduates, including her 22-year-old daughter Hannah Shepard, to commit themselves to the "pursuit of peace."
Saturday, May 24, 2008
ACTRESS JESSICA LANGE BASHES IRAQ WAR IN GRADUATION SPEECH
HERE ARE NAMES OF LATEST IRAQ CASUALTIES
Casualty Reports:
Source: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/
Click on "BLUE" for more details on each GI.
Marine Sergeant Shurvon Phillip, 27, was in Iraq's Anbar Province, in May 2005 was riding back to his base after a patrol when an anti-tank mine exploded under his Humvee. The Humvee's other soldiers were dealt an assortment of wounds: concussions, broken bones, herniated discs. Along with a broken jaw and a broken leg, Phillip suffered one of the war's signature wounds on the American side: though no shrapnel entered his head, the blast rattled his brain profoundly. A portion of the left side of his skull had been cut away to relieve the pressure of the casing of bone against his swelling brain. "His head," Ulerie said, "looked like a ball with the air half out of it." Piero and Clay Kelly, the hospital's chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation, explained that Phillip had hardly progressed from when he first arrived at the Cleveland facility; he remained in a nearly vegetative state and was seen as having, in the words of an evaluating neurologist, "little hope for improvement." But Piero said a system of nostril-flaring that Phillip mastered with his speech therapist had made him able last spring to respond reliably to yes-or-no questions. This breakthrough, Piero said, dissuaded the team from diminishing his physical work.
Michigan National Guard veteran Sgt. Michelle Rudzitis, 33, recounted losing her right leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 22, 2007. Her Humvee was the only vehicle in a convoy struck by a bomb that hurls a piece of molten copper through steel. Two in the crew were killed and two were injured, including Rudzitis, whose right leg was severely damaged. Rudzitis, a former Farmington Hills resident who lives in Traverse City, said the Humvee's extra armor had been removed because it was to be refitted with new shielding. Her description of the injuries -- her eyelashes were fused by the blast so she could not open her eyes, and she woke up in a hospital with her leg amputated.
Army National Guard Sgt. Ralph McCallum, 23, it was June 2007 and he was riding in the gunner position atop a convoy’s scout truck as it traveled through southern Iraq. A roadside bomb hidden behind a lamppost suddenly detonated, knocking McCallum off the peak of the Humvee and inside the vehicle, which soon caught on fire.Rescuers pulled him from the burning Humvee, but he came away with deep lacerations on the left side of his head as well as his left forearm, and the radial tendon in his right hand was sliced. Three soldiers inside the fortified vehicle suffered concussions.
Spc. B.J. Jackson of the Iowa National Guard woke up at Brooke Army Medical Center after he lost both legs and was severely burned by a land mine in Iraq.
Jacob "Jake" Knospler. Jake is a 26-year-old Marine. This great Marine and American served two tours in Iraq. In 2004, while fighting in Fallujah, he was injured when an enemy grenade put a hole in his cheek and upper jaw. The right side of his brain was injured and he was partially blind and deaf. There were other injuries to his body. He already had 22 surgeries.
U.S. Army Spc. Matt McCool suffered multiple skull fractures and a concussion from a bomb in Iraq in late March. McCool was treated at Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and at the Palo Alto Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center. He later returned home.
Army veteran Rob Kislow lost his lower right leg in a firefight in Iraq two years ago
VIDEO: SEVEN VETERANS UNDER VA'S CARE COMMIT SUICIDE
This short video is just one of many telling how the Department of Veteran Affairs is failing miserably in treating veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and unfortunately many of them end up committing suicide.
When you watch this video just remember this is being repeated in hundreds of VA hospitals all across America.
It is hard to believe the VA can't take care of our veterans, but the Bush administration last month send $15 BILLION DOLLARS to the Iraqi government, and now the Iraqi government can't account for the money.
How did the United States ever allow two evil men like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney get us into this horrible mess in Iraq?
Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuZfWo-JKBY
VIDEO: KEEP HOLDING ON 399TH COMBAT SUPPORT HOSPITAL
A video musical tribute to the men and women of the 399th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq.
They do so much and get so little credit and are totally forgotten by the rotten mainstream media in the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU7RB6pNoPk
VIDEO: LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ PRESIDENT BUSH
One can only wonder if President Bush or Vice President Cheney ever stop to look at what they have done to the children of Iraq. Probably not. They really don't care. This graphic video shows the results of Bush and Cheney's war on the little children of Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrySL0cAaN4
VIDEO: CHILDREN OF WAR! MUSIC BY MOEIN
This moving video with music by Moein is a sad but realistic tribute to the war that President Bush and Vice President Cheney unleashed on the Iraqi people for absolutely no reason at all.
Iran had absolutely NOTHING to do with 9/11 and everyone who has an IQ over 75 knows it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5-fPRwfsI
VIDEO: OZZY: BLACK RAIN: BLOODY BLACKWATER
Do President Bush and Vice President Cheney have any idea what they have unleashed on the people of Iraq? I doubt it. And on top of that, I don't think either one of them care.
This video shows the hell Bush and Cheney brought on the Iraqi people and their children.
Music by Ozzy with graphic footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M78oltQCDCU
VIDEO: TELL ME WHY: CHILDREN VICTIMS OF BUSH'S WAR
While President Bush lounges at the White House or his ranch in Crawford, Texas, this video shows EXACTLY what he has done to the children of Iraq.
Enjoy your Memorial Day, President Bush.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNg9vKsHmw
VIDEO REPORT: WILL SISTANI END THE IRAQ WAR?
Pepe Escobar, the award-winnng journalist with THE REAL NEWS NETWORK , explains how the Grand Ayatollah ali-Sistani is about to issue a fatwa which would demand all US troops leave Iraq immediately. In this video, Escobar walks you through exactly what is taking place behind the scenes in Iraq and how the Sistani may be the ONLY person who can end this horrible war.
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1556&updaterx=2008-05-24+11%3A45%3A47
15 BILLION DOLLARS IN IRAQ SPENDING UNACCOUNTED FOR
The US government is not only pouring young men and women down the drain in Iraq, but now a report indicates $15 BILLION dollars given to Iraq cannot be accounted for.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080523/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarybudget
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon cannot account for nearly 15 billion dollars in payments for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which members of Congress blasted Friday as a "shocking" accountability failure.
Of 8.2 billion dollars in US taxpayer-funded defense contracts reviewed by the defense department's inspector general, the Pentagon could not properly account for more than 7.7 billion dollars.
US COMPANIES WILL DIVVY UP IRAQ CONTRACTS
WASHINGTON – Sometime soon, a group of American corporate executives and military leaders will sit down and divide Iraq into three parts.
JAMES RISEN; The New York TimesLast updated: May 24th, 2008 01:25 AM (PDT)
http://article.wn.com/view/2008/05/24/Companies_will_divvy_up_Iraq_contract/?section=TopStories&template=cheetah-search%2Findex.txt
Their meeting will not have anything to do with Iraq’s national sovereignty, but instead will involve slicing up billions of dollars in work for the defense contractors that support the U.S. military presence in the country.
For the first time since the war began, the largest single Pentagon contract in Iraq is being divided among three companies, ending the monopoly held by KBR, the Houston-based corporation that has been accused of wasteful spending and mismanagement and of exploiting its political ties to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Yet even as the Pentagon begins to pull apart the enormous KBR contract, critics warn that the new three-company deal could result in higher costs for American taxpayers and weak oversight by the military. In fact, under the new deal, KBR and the two other companies could make more than three times as much as KBR has been paid each year since the war began.
Last month the Pentagon awarded the companies pieces of a new contract to provide food, shelter and basic services for American soldiers, a 10-year, $150 billion deal that stretches far beyond the final days of the Bush administration.
KBR will still get a sizable chunk of the business, but now it will have to share the work with Fluor Corp. and DynCorp International.
Army officials and executives of the three companies are planning to meet in the next few weeks to start the complex process of breaking up KBR’s sprawling operations in Iraq. KBR, previously a subsidiary of Halliburton, once headed by Cheney, has collected more than $24 billion since the war began. It has 40,000 employees in Iraq and 28,000 more in Afghanistan and Kuwait.
But KBR has come under fire from Congress and Pentagon auditors for complaints ranging from making more than $200 million in excessive charges to delivering unsafe water to American troops, to doing little to prevent sexual assaults of its female employees, often by their KBR co-workers.
SUNNI PREACHER LASHES OUT AT BUSH, US OFFICIALS OVER KORAN SHOOTING INCIDENT
Even after President Bush and the US military issued an apology for a GI using the Koran for target practice, the Iraqi people are in a rage over the incident. The latest to protest the shooting even after Bush apologized is on the on the Sunni preachers who lashed out at Bush and the US officials.
Sunnis condemn sniper's Quran shooting
Iraqi preachers’ angry response follows apologies by Bush, U.S. officials
The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24792627/
BAGHDAD - Sunni preachers on Friday denounced the shooting of a Quran, Islam's holy book, by a U.S. sniper in Iraq following a series of apologies by American commanders and President Bush.
The use of Islam's holy book for target practice has triggered an angry response in Iraq and protests in Afghanistan as U.S.-led forces work to maintain their alliance with Sunni Arabs who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.
"The enemies of Islam have launched their campaign against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and recently against the holy Quran," said Sheik Omar Mohammed during his sermon at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad.
"A bullet that might have shot at an Iraqi believer, was directed toward the holy Quran instead," Mohammed said. "Do not think this is a defeat for us, but it will create enthusiasm to stand up more for this religion."
Sniper disciplinedThe U.S. military said Sunday it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used the Quran for target practice May 9. Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled book two days later on the field of a firing range in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad.
Bush apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the incident after several U.S. military officials tried to soothe anger over the shooting, particularly among Sunni Arabs who have become key allies in the fight against insurgents.
A NATO soldier and two civilians were killed Thursday during a violent demonstration in western Afghanistan over the incident. But there has been relatively little protest in Muslim countries despite fears of a repeat of the worldwide violence sparked by similar perceived insults against Islam, including Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in Denmark.
The imam of Abu Hanifa, the main Sunni mosque in Baghdad, also condemned the shooting and criticized the leaders of fellow Muslim states for not speaking out against it.
"We Muslims condemn the act committed by this malicious person and at the same time we express our regret that Muslim leaders all over the world did not condemn this crime ... it indicates their weakness and cowardliness," Sheik Dawood al-Alusi said.
CNN REPORTS: ROADSIDE BOMB IN ANBAR PROVINCE INJURES 7 MARINES
The Bush administration and FOX NEWS have been bragging about how "the surge" has made Anbar Province almost a Garden of Eden, but on Saturday seven US Marines were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy in Anbar Province.
Roadside bomb in Iraq injures 7 Marines
Story Highlights
Seven Marines wounded by roadside bomb in Falluja, U.S. military says
Civilian interpreter killed, two Iraqi police officers injured in blast
Attack occurred at checkpoint manned by Iraqi police, U.S. troops
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/23/iraq.main/index.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Seven U.S. Marines were wounded by a roadside bomb that also wounded two Iraqi police officers and killed a civilian interpreter in the Anbar province city of Falluja Friday morning, according to the U.S. military.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry earlier called the attack a suicide car bombing and said that one of its police officers were killed.
An Interior Ministry official said it happened at a checkpoint normally manned by Iraqi police and U.S. troops.
Also on Friday, a suicide bombing outside police headquarters in Falluja wounded four police officers, the official said.
Falluja had been a stronghold for insurgents in the early days of the Iraqi war but is now a center for the "awakening," which opposes al Qaeda in Iraq.
U.S. and Iraqi military operations have chased many al Qaeda in Iraq cells out of Anbar province, according to military accounts.
Those militants have now gained control in other areas, such as Nineveh province, and security forces have embarked on an offensive against them there, officials say.
A U.S. soldier was killed Thursday in a roadside bombing southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday, bringing the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq to 4,080.
Friday, May 23, 2008
25th INFANTRY DIVISION-FIRST STRYKER BRIGADE--COMBAT VIDEO WITH MUSIC FROM IRAQ WAR
This weekend we honor past war heroes with Memorial Day, but there are war heroes still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and this video with music depicts just one unit---the 25th Infantry Division, First Stryker Brigade as they battle in Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC0PiFRuBWI
MARINES IN FALLUJAH---GRAPHIC VIDEO OF THE BATTLE FOR FALLUJAH
The mainstream media is hyping that the Iraqi Army is moving into Sadr City to take control of it over the enemy combatants, but what the mainstream media is not telling the American public is that the war has again shifted to Fallujah where this video footage with music of Marines fighting to bring control to Fallujah was shot. WARNING: Graphic language and pictures.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzu3RV-vtSQ
RAT TEAM MUSIC VIDEO FROM IRAQ WAR---COMBAT ENGINEERS
I was a Combat Engineer in the US Army during the Korean war and I thought this video was an especially great tribute to the Army Engineers on this Memorial Day weekend. Far too many Americans have no idea what our brave young men and women are going through in Iraq. The mainstream media, and especially cable news stations, no longer cover the Iraq war and IMO that is not only a shame, it is a crime and an insult to every young person serving our country and their families back in the United States.
For those reasons we present this outstanding VIDEO;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sep63Dv2Gs
LONELY TRAIN-A VIDEO TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO AREN'T HOME ON THIS MEMORIAL DAY
While Americans all across the United States gather for cookouts and family get togethers, this video shows another side of American life of our young men and women engaged in combat in Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1SagJ8Xgkg
COMBAT IN IRAQ. VIDEO WITH MUSIC
The mainstream media in the United States doesn't want Americans to know there is still a war going on Iraq, but we refuse to be intimidated by the media and will continue to show what our brave young men and women face every single day in Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed8WrcR_NnI
BLAZE OF GLORY--A VIDEO TRIBUTE TO OUR FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN IN IRAQ
Perhaps it is time to stop on this Memorial Day weekend and remember the men and women who are still fighting every single day to try and bring democracy to Iraq. They may be an Army of occupation, but they are still engaged in combat operations.
This video spells out in vivid footage what it is like to be in the Iraq war zone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODIa2qnuZ4w
NEW VIDEO:US COMPANY IN IRAQ ACCUSED OF MALPRACTICE
Most of you have heard about how US companies are making money hand over fist from the Iraq war. Many of them use former US military officers as lobbyists. This NEW video gives you a birds eye view of how one company is using the Iraq war to reap huge profits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLO6fticUK8
WASHINGTON POST: SURGE IN US AIR STRIKES IN IRAQ. SAVES TROOPS LIVES BUT MANY CIVILIANS KILLED
In Iraq, a Surge in U.S. AirstrikesMilitary Says Attacks Save Troops' Lives, but Civilian Casualties Elicit Criticism
By Ernesto Londoño and Amit R. PaleyWashington Post Foreign ServiceFriday, May 23, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203869.html
CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- From an Apache helicopter, Capt. Ben Katzenberger's battlefield resembles a vast mosaic of tiny brown boxes.
"The city looks like a bucket of Legos dumped out on the ground," the 26-year-old pilot said. "It's brown Legos, no color. It's really dense and hard to pick things out because everything looks the same."
He uses a powerful lens to zoom in on tiny silhouettes, trying to identify people with "hostile intent" among hundreds of ordinary citizens in Baghdad.
In recent weeks, Katzenberger and other pilots have dramatically increased their use of helicopter-fired missiles against enemy fighters, often in densely populated areas. Since late March, the military has fired more than 200 Hellfire missiles in the capital, compared with just six missiles fired in the previous three months.
The military says the tactic has saved the lives of ground troops and prevented attacks, but the strikes have also killed and wounded civilians, provoking criticism from Iraqis.
On Wednesday, eight people, including two children, were killed when a U.S. helicopter opened fire on a group of Iraqis traveling to a U.S. detention center to greet a man who was being released from custody, Iraqi officials said.
The U.S. military said in a statement that it had targeted men linked to a suicide bombing network. "Unfortunately, two children were killed when the other occupants of the vehicle, in which they were riding, exhibited hostile intent," the statement said.
U.S. officials say they go to great lengths to avoid harming civilians in airstrikes.
Click on link to read full account.
SENATE PASSES NEW GI BILL 75-22 GIVING VETS BETTER EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS. MCCAIN DIDN'T SHOW UP FOR VOTE
Senate Passes Senator Webb's GI Bill, 75 to 22 - Bill is Now Veto Proof
See list of Senators who voted against the bill at end of this story.
Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain didn't show up for vote. He was attending fund raising events.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10193
May 22, 2008, Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka issued the following statement today regarding his votes in favor of passage of amendments to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill (H.R. 2642):
“I am delighted that Senate approved the New GI Bill for the 21st Century that I worked closely with Senator Webb to develop.
This measure would establish a new program of educational assistance for veterans and service members. Sadly, President Bush, who sent our troops into war and is again requesting billions of dollars to pay for it, has threatened to veto this measure.
“Today, I extend my personal pledge to Senator Webb and all who support a revitalized GI Bill. If bill is vetoed and Congress fails to override the veto, I will bring Senator Webb’s New GI Bill before the Veterans’ Affairs Committee during our markup next month and urge that the Committee favorably report it to the Senate.
It is time to give those young servicemembers, stepping forward voluntarily and putting themselves in harm’s way, an opportunity for quality educational assistance. We must make good on our promise of an education in return for serving honorably in our military. I am committed to seeing this legislation become law.”
Akaka is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support. He is a veteran of World War II and was a beneficiary of the original WWII GI Bill. -END-
25 Senators Failed to Support GI Bill for Veterans:
NAYs ---22Alexander (R-TN)Allard (R-CO)Barrasso (R-WY)Bennett (R-UT)Brownback (R-KS)Bunning (R-KY)Burr (R-NC)Cochran (R-MS)Corker (R-TN)Cornyn (R-TX)DeMint (R-SC)Ensign (R-NV)Enzi (R-WY)Graham (R-SC)Grassley (R-IA)Gregg (R-NH)Hatch (R-UT)Kyl (R-AZ)Lugar (R-IN)McConnell (R-KY)Sessions (R-AL)Voinovich (R-OH)
Not Voting - 3Coburn (R-OK)Kennedy (D-MA)McCain (R-AZ)
US TAXPAYER MONEY GOES DOWN THE DRAIN IN IRAQ
We knew it was bad in Iraq, but we never knew there was this much corruption going on in Iraq and it is costing the US taxpayer BILLIONS of dollars.
This is just a small sample of the corruption going on in Iraq with the new US-backed government.
It is mind-boggling to think schools, roads and health care in the United States are in dire need of help and yet the Bush administration continues to pour more and more money into the failed strategy to turn Iraq into a democracy.
Corruption costs Iraq $4 billion annually. $8.8 billion the U.S. gave the Iraqi government cannot be fully accounted for. More than 20% of the government’s Ministry of Interior staff are “ghost employees”—nonexistent workers who collect paychecks. As much as 30% of Iraq’s refined oil ends up on the black market or is illegally taken out of the country. The U.S. government says the insurgency raises $25 to $100 million a year smuggling oil. $9 billion in oil revenues has been lost, almost as much as Saddam Hussein stole from the U.N. Oil-for-Food program over five years.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/03/bill_me_later.html
With Friends Like These41 cents of every dollar of American reconstruction money is spent on the Iraqi military or police. 3 cents goes to “democracy building.” A newly recruited Iraqi soldier makes $60 a month. Iraqi units report that half of their soldiers go awol when sent to new combat areas. The Pentagon says it’s trying to instill “a more deployable mindset.” Of the 323,000 members of Iraq’s security forces, 1/3 are considered “technically proficient” and only 10,000 are “politically dependable.” American trainers report that 70% of the police force has been infiltrated by militias. 90,000 rifles and 80,000 pistols supplied to the Iraqi security forces cannot be accounted for.
Click on link to read more if you can stomach it.
GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH A PARENT IN IRAQ ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN
High school in wartime sets soldiers' kids apart
By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080523/ap_on_re_us/iraq_war_grads
When Evelyn Burwell put on a cap and gown to accept her high school diploma, she knew someone wasn't in the audience — her dad.
The 18-year-old's father is serving in Iraq, like so many other parents of her classmates at Fort Campbell High School, the largest high school on an American military base. His service has meant missing two of his children's high school graduations, countless anniversaries and birthdays, and this year, his daughter being crowned prom queen.
"You don't even have to explain it most of the time; everybody feels the same way," said Burwell.
Burwell and the other students here understand their parents' sacrifice, and there is an unspoken bond that allows them to vent their frustrations about the war and deployments. They may be graduating like millions of others across the country this spring, but their memories of school life in wartime set the class of 116 teenagers apart.
Most had at least one parent gone on lengthy deployments in Iraq or Afghanistan. Former classmates have gone on to fight, some dying in service. Students have watched as uniformed soldiers came to neighbors' homes to notify families of war deaths.
Burwell's father, Lt. Col. Dave Burwell, was able to watch his daughter graduate on a special Internet broadcast in Iraq. He hopes she and his other children understand why he couldn't be there.
"I pray that my children will understand and appreciate that the sacrifices that they made during my years of deployment and service helped secure a bright future for their generation," he said in an e-mail interview from Iraq.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mean thousands of American teenagers have grown up without a military parent at home. Studies have shown that military family adolescents are very adaptive to deployments but are still prone to school performance problems or signs of depression.
Every student at Fort Campbell High has a parent in the military, and most of them grow up the moment a soldier mom or dad steps out the door. They take on extra chores at home, look after younger siblings, work jobs and set aside their own desires.
"Now I have to step up, be the man, take on the responsibilities," says Josh McWherter, whose dad listened to him win the AA football state championship on the radio while deployed in Iraq. "I didn't get the time I wish I could have had if he had been home for me to grow into those responsibilities, but I feel like I've done a pretty good job."
Outside Fort Campbell High, the surrounding base bustles with activity as Humvees and trucks rumble past and the "Screaming Eagle" emblem of the 101st Airborne waves prominently on a flag at the school's entrance.
Administrators know that problems at school can be intensified by a parent's deployment. Teachers often act as counselors, adjusting to an individual student's individual needs. But Fort Campbell High operates just like any other high school, and rules don't get bent just because a student has a deployed parent.
"So if they come in and act out, that's where our job really gets to be out of the cookie cutter recipe," said principal David Witte.
McWherter says he doesn't use his dad's absence as an excuse for bad grades or getting stressed out.
"If we're going to use that as an excuse, why couldn't the whole school?" he said, shrugging. "I feel like you have to be responsible."
Deployed parents make Fort Campbell students more aware of the war than their counterparts at nonmilitary high schools. Witte said the class was brought even closer together by the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan of two former classmates, Pfc. Ron Joshua Jr. and Pfc. Timothy Vimoto, last summer.
Vimoto graduated in 2006 while Joshua spent two years at Fort Campbell High before transferring to a school in Texas. The two soldiers were honored by friends, teachers and coaches at a tearful memorial service at the school only weeks before graduation.
"When you know the people, it's different than just hearing the news say another soldier died," said Jesse Naputi, 17, a linebacker on the football team that Vimoto helped lead as a student manager. "That was your friend: you've got memories of him, you used to eat lunch with him, you used to play football with him, you were close. When they are gone, it's not just another statistic."
Darrissa Dodson, 17, said every death on the base creates stress among soldiers' children. She recalled coming home after middle school one day and seeing two uniformed soldiers walking to a neighbor's house, thinking it was odd that recruiters were visiting a home where only women lived.
"But then I stayed outside for a minute and I saw the girls run outside," Dodson said, her eyes welling with tears as she recounted the memory. "They were crying and saying, 'No, no, not us. It's the wrong person.' I realized that their dad had died and they had just found out. So that was hard on me and I didn't even know them."
The students voice little resentment over being without a parent during a time of war.
"My father doesn't do an everyday job," Naputi said. "Coming from a military childhood, it makes you that much more stronger. And that's going to help me along in life. I wouldn't want to change it, to tell you the truth. It's something different — I'm proud of it."
NEWS ALERT: US AIR STRIKE KILLS 8 IRAQI CIVILIANS
The US military in Iraq wants to do everything possible to hold down casualties of US troops as we approach the election in the United States so air strikes have been stepped up, but for all the ballyhoo about "precision bombing" the air strikes are anything but "precision" and the latest "precision bombing" killed 8 Iraqi civilians, including two children.
BEIJING, (Xinhuanet) -- An overnight U.S. air strike hit a village in Iraq's Salahudin province, killing eight civilians, including two children, a provincial police source said on Thursday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/22/content_8229702.htm
The incident occurred when U.S. troops conducted a search operation late on Wednesday in the Mazra'a village near town Beiji, some 200 kilometers north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua.
Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi, police chief in the town of Beiji, said the attack was on a group of shepherds in a vehicle in a farming area. Relatives said some of those killed were fleeing on foot after the U.S. military arrived in the area.
"This is a criminal act. It will make the relations between Iraqi citizens and the U.S. forces tense. This will negatively affect security improvements," Qaisi told Reuters. A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lieutenant-Colonel Maura Gillen, said the helicopter fired on the vehicle after observing "suspicious activity." She said the driver had ignored warnings to stop.
MICHAEL SAVAGE IS MOST SAVAGE SHOCK JOCK OF ALL
The Most Savage Shock Jock of Them All
Savage once owned the Communist bookstore "City Lights" in San Francisco.
By Rory O'Connor and Aaron Cutler, AlterNet BooksPosted on May 23, 2008, Printed on May 23, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/86237/
Who is Michael Savage? On its surface the question seems obvious: he's a 66-year-old nationally syndicated conservative talk radio host whose program, The Savage Nation, airs five days a week from its home base of KNEW in San Francisco. He's the founder of the Paul Revere Society, which, according to its mission statement, aims to "take back our borders, our language, and our traditional culture from the liberal left corroding our great nation." He's a former MSNBC cable television talk host who was red after four months on the job after he told a phone caller, "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig." He's also the third most popular radio talk show host in America, whose weekly audience of more than eight million listeners is surpassed only by Limbaugh and Hannity.
Dig deeper, however, and the question of who Savage is, and how truly savage he is, becomes far more complicated. "Savage" isn't his real name; it seems to speak to his heightened sense of masculinity, his aggression, and his antipathy toward minorities. Born Michael Alan Weiner, "Savage" is the child of Russian-Jewish immigrants. He earned two master's degrees and a Ph.D. in nutritional ethnomedicine from that liberal bastion the University of California, Berkeley. He's written two dozen books, five as Michael Savage and an additional 19 under his given name, on medicine, the subjects of which range from maintaining a healthy diet to breaking a cocaine habit. But by any name, he professes to know what's good for you.
Before the vitriolic monologist emerged, there was another, kinder and gentler Michael. This one roamed Greenwich Village and the Bay Area in the early 1970s, kept a weathered copy of On the Road in his back pocket, and lay on the beach with the renowned beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti whenever he wasn't working on stand-up comedy routines. He guarded Timothy Leary's LSD supply, and he even once posed naked in a photograph with Ginsberg, a well-known and very public homosexual, which he distributed among friends in an attempt to prove himself part of the counterculture. At some point, however, more than 25 years ago, something took a sinister turn and, like Prince Hal rejecting Falstaff, Savage suddenly disavowed his former friends. In a 2006 interview for SF Weekly, Savage explained, "I was once a child; I am now a man." In the same interview, he said of Ginsberg, "I looked at him almost like a rabbinic figure. Little did I know that he was the fucking devil." For Savage, rejecting his old friends was simply a part of growing up.
The moralist, the healer, and the hedonist -- there's a tension between his three identities, which interact like a trio of siblings elbowing each other for seconds at the dinner table. As one listens to his conservative radio talk personality, one is moved to question whether it's his true self, not because Savage isn't consistent in his views, but because the views are so grotesque it's difficult to believe that anyone-let alone a former beatnik-could espouse them with a straight face. While it's more than passing strange for a homophobic, conservative radio host to work out of San Francisco, Savage continues to broadcast nationally from his base in the city he likes to call "San Fran Sicko."
Savage is so extreme that even many of his fellow right-wing talk radio personalities don't like him. Bill O'Reilly calls him a "smear merchant," while Neal Boortz refers to Savage as "the Antichrist." Although Talkers Magazine recently bestowed its annual Freedom of Speech award upon Savage, publisher Michael Harrison says he thinks the man is "an asshole." Liberal advocacy organizations such as GLAAD and ACLU have censured him. Liberal media watchdog groups have compiled long lists of the especially inflammatory remarks Savage has made-many of which must be heard or seen in print to be believed. Collectively they justify the cautionary statement that is read by an announcer before each edition of The Savage Nation.
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US TURNS TO AIR STRIKES IN IRAQ TO SAVE GI LIVES, BUT CIVILIAN CASUALTIES MOUNT
The US military command in Iraq has switched tactics and are now using more and more air strikes in a calculated move to save the lives of ground troops as we grow closer to the election.
In Iraq, a Surge in U.S. AirstrikesMilitary Says Attacks Save Troops' Lives, but Civilian Casualties Elicit Criticism
By Ernesto Londoño and Amit R. PaleyWashington Post Foreign ServiceFriday, May 23, 2008; A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203869_pf.html
CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- From an Apache helicopter, Capt. Ben Katzenberger's battlefield resembles a vast mosaic of tiny brown boxes.
"The city looks like a bucket of Legos dumped out on the ground," the 26-year-old pilot said. "It's brown Legos, no color. It's really dense and hard to pick things out because everything looks the same."
He uses a powerful lens to zoom in on tiny silhouettes, trying to identify people with "hostile intent" among hundreds of ordinary citizens in Baghdad.
In recent weeks, Katzenberger and other pilots have dramatically increased their use of helicopter-fired missiles against enemy fighters, often in densely populated areas. Since late March, the military has fired more than 200 Hellfire missiles in the capital, compared with just six missiles fired in the previous three months.
The military says the tactic has saved the lives of ground troops and prevented attacks, but the strikes have also killed and wounded civilians, provoking criticism from Iraqis.
BREAKING NEWS: BLAST ROCKS FALLUJAH
The city of Fallujah has been hailed by the Bush Administration their mouthpiece FOX NEWS as a model of how well "the surge" is working, however early Friday morning a blast ripped through a government building in Fallujah and large plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the city.
It is too early to tell if there were any casualties or who set off the bomb.
Source: http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=80107&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1
HOLLYWOOD IS BECOMING THE PENTAGON'S MOUTHPIECE FOR PROPAGANDA
"Liberal Hollywood" is a favorite whipping-boy of right-wingers who suppose the town and its signature industry are ever-at-work undermining the U.S. military. In reality, the military has been deeply involved with the film industry since the Silent Era. Today, however, the ad hoc arrangements of the past have been replaced by a full-scale one-stop shop, occupying a floor of a Los Angeles office building. There, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and the Department of Defense itself have established entertainment liaison offices to help ensure that Hollywood makes movies the military way.
By Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.comPosted on May 22, 2008, Printed on May 23, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/86093/
What they have to trade, especially when it comes to blockbuster films, is access to high-tech, tax-payer funded, otherwise unavailable gear. What they get in return is usually the right to alter or shape scripts to suit their needs. If you want to see the fruits of this relationship in action, all you need to do is head down to your local multiplex. Chances are that Iron Man -- the latest military-entertainment masterpiece -- is playing on a couple of screens.
For the past three weeks, Iron Man --a film produced by its comic-book parent Marvel and distributed by Paramount Pictures -- has cleaned up at the box office, taking in a staggering $222.5 million in the U.S. and $428.5 million worldwide. The movie, which opened with "the tenth biggest weekend box office performance of all time" and the second biggest for a non-sequel, has the added distinction of being the "best-reviewed movie of 2008 so far." For instance, in the New York Times, movie reviewer A.O. Scott called Iron Man "an unusually good superhero picture," while Roger Ebert wrote: "The world needs another comic book movie like it needs another Bush administration... [but] if we must have one more... 'Iron Man' is a swell one to have." There has even been nascent Oscar buzz.
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