The Blue State

Timeline of Idiocy

2003 - 'U.S.Military in Search of Arabic Translators' "Jennifer Ludden reports on the U.S. military's direneed for more translators who speak Arabic and other Middle Easternlanguages."

2005 - 'Army,Marines miss recruiting goals again, Morecash and appeals to parents, patriotism haven't reversed trend'"WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials say it's not a crisis, but it is a majorconcern — a battle here at home to win the hearts and minds of potential newrecruits."

2006 -' U.S.is recruiting misfits for army. Felons, racists, gang members fill in theranks' "After falling short ofits goals last year, military recruiting in 2006 has been marked by upbeatpronouncements from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, claims of success bythe White House, and a spate of recent press reports touting the military'sachievement of its woman- and manpower goals."

2006 - DefenseSecretary Donald Rumsfeld: "As you know, you go to war withthe army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a latertime."

2006 - 'ArmyMeets Yearly Recruiting Goal'  "WASHINGTON - The Army isending its best recruiting year since 1997 and expecting similar success in2007, despite the weight of grim war news from Iraq, Army Secretary FrancisHarvey said."

2007 - 'ArmyMisses May Recruiting Goal' "With an array of special incentivesfor attracting recruits, the Army managed to recover from a 2005 recruitingslump, but the impact of the Iraq war and the strong domestic economy have madeit difficult to attract enlistees."

2007 - 'USArmy unable to afford translators, bomb-proof trucks' "GeneralPeter Schoomaker outlined an unfunded $10bn additional "wish list" ina memo to the congressional military committee" (included $13.3 MILLION forforeign languages translation.)

I think I found some clues where some of the problems lie, AND where GeneralShoomaker's money could have come from...

2007 - 'U.S. military continues todischarge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearing' "WASHINGTON:Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because theywere gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuablelanguage specialists go."

'Arabic Translator Firedfrom the Navy for Being Gay'

Since ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ became law, over 11,000 service membershave been discharged because of their sexuality.  The number of servicemembers who have left on their own volition, or have decided not tore-enlist because of this law is not documented. The government has spent over$363 million dollars in taxpayer money to implement this unfair legislation. Dozens of other countries, many of whom have fought side-by-side with oursoldiers, allow lesbians, gays and bisexuals to serve openly. Those are thefacts and they have nothing to do with a service members passion and skill toperform his duty.

So I pose this question to each and everyAmerican (civilian and military). Would you feel safer fighting side by sidewith an individual which is capable of telling you "they areyelling, watch out, the bad guys are over there...you should go theother way" OR would you rather be with someone that can tell you thestarting line-up of the NY Yankees?

I wonder how many hungry children (andadults) $363 million would feed? And as far as the argument "themilitary is no place for gays"...well we would probably have to go wayback to the very first army ever formed, then tell the first 10 soldiers"one of you is one of them and this is no place for you".

Ican't even believe that we are still having this conversation with the statethis world is in today.

I'd say this guy was qualified.

What the Soldiers Feel, That We Never Will

As I was looking through the blogs to see what was out there to add in a 'BlueBlogs' post (what other blogs are posting), I came across   'Whatthe war is doing to our soldiers' at ThinkProgress. The story is from Captain Jeff Leonard's FresnoBeehive Blog, titled 'Just staring at the wall really'.Capt. Leorand is an Army counselor in Iraq, and with a team of 6 they "helpsoldiers deal with the trauma of combat."

Maj. Johns and I had been at the patrol base to the west for several days. Wetook up residence on two adjacent cots in the far corner of a plywood structurewhich, by size comparisons, was much like the other Army tents it was builtamong. There were no walls to divide the space within the structure. Cots linedthe long side walls with space for a walkway in the middle. There were about 20cots in all and transient soldiers came and went, mostly as they left for, orreturned from, their leaves home. During the daytime, the structure would shakeand breathe in the hot winds and the thin lines of light where plywood panelsmet on the walls, and at the meeting of the walls and the ceiling, would swelland widen broadening bright luminous fissures in the dark space. Small graylizards would crawl though these cracks and take refuge from the heat on theplywood ceiling between the beams.

Soldiers getting ready to go on leave would talk about things they planned todo at home with tones of relief and elation. Soldiers returning to their unitswould move about anxiously and hope for delays in their returns back to theline. When details of their returns were received, and when all hope of delayhad been exhausted, their muscles visibly tightened and their movements becamejolted, almost angry, and they began to speak of their hopelessness, the friendsthey had seen killed. They began to question and criticize the war, late intothe night on their cots in the darkness. In the morning, they would be gone,their empty cots a reminder of them, and of where they would be by now. Oftenwhen we spoke to them, we wondered secretly if they would become one more ofthose we had talked with who might later appear on a memorial flier before us,an inverted rifle and bayonet, a Kevlar, a pair of boots, and dog tags, a typedmessage naming who they left behind back home.

The major and I took up shop in a metal storage trailer during the daytime.It had no windows but had been fitted with lights and an air conditioner.Command, knowing he and I were coming, had detained or sent in several soldiersthey wanted us to see. The recent decision to extend all of the soldiers hadmade our job harder and those who lived day to day had begun to digest andabsorb the mental impact of 90 more days they would need to survive.

"No, sir, I don't really sleep. Well, maybe an hour or two, then I getup. I don't want to dream," the soldier said to us. His name was Staff Sgt.Johnson. He was a good soldier, and you could tell when you spoke to him. He wasa man of honor. He was ashamed to be speaking with us, but his leaders hadinsisted. He had served three combat tours as a squad leader in a line unit. Hisbody and his hands shook during pauses in his speaking and he stared at us, andsometimes past us, with a wide-eyed look of hyper alertness. He had justreturned from leave and two guys in his squad were killed days before hisreturn. Readon...

It's a quick read so hurry back then continue on...I'llwait....

Will Staff Sgt. Johnson be considered an "anti-war lefty thatsympathizes with al-Qaeda" by the conservative war mongers if he can't ordoesn't want to go back after three tours in Iraq? Melanie Morgan's display ofthis behavior was disgusting enough to get her banned from 'TheNews Hour with Jim Lehrer' (with video). Sean Hannity had the balls tostick up for her also with video.

Melanie Morgan was referring to VoteVets .org, which is jammed packed with war vets and heroes. Hannity andMorgan are part of that group where if you don't support the war, you are somesort of "terrorist sympathizer" (or close to it). I'd love to see themtossed into one of these infantry squads and see how long it takes before adiaper change is necessary. Fuc* Hannity and Morgan, and anyone that thinksspeaking out against "A" war is anti patriotic.

Military.com: Army Taking Dragon Skin to Hill

Most of us are familiar with the latest controversy regarding the BodyArmor the military currently issues to our troops, and the rejection to useanother available vest that may be "better" called DragonSkin. MSNBC did an investigativestory on this controversy, and in this interview the developer of thevest  (Ret. Marine Lt. Colonel Jim Magee) currently being used said "DragonSkin is the best out there, hands down. It's better than the Interceptor. It isstate of the art. In some cases, it’s two steps ahead of anything I’ve everseen."

Magee, who has no financial stake whatsoever in Dragon Skin, told us, “Ifyou would ask me today, ‘Jim we’re sending you to Iraq tomorrow. What wouldyou wear?’ I would buy Dragon Skin and I would wear it.”

I don't know why it took so long for this issue to make its way to the Hill,but wouldn't we love to know?

"Since the report, we have gotten a flurry of interest" fromCapitol Hill, Brown said at a May 21 Pentagon briefing. "We're planning ongoing over to the Hill ... for discussions with key members."

Military.comis reporting the Army is planning "another" test to make anattempt to clear their name. I hope they have cameras and a few honest witnessesthere.

The Army plans to brief Congressabout test failures of Dragon Skin body armor after recent news reports toutingthe vest's capabilities prompted calls from lawmakers for an officialexplanation.

The service's top soldier equipment buyer, Brig. Gen. Mark Brown, said heplans to meet with lawmakers and staff this week after NBC News broadcast aninvestigative report Sunday claiming Dragon Skin - which uses a series ofinterlocking ceramic disks to stop armor-piercing bullets - outperformed armorcurrently issued by the Army.

Thetesting is quite convincing (until you get to the biased militarytesting). You can contact your public officials Hereabout this issue, I expect a fair test and a QUICK one!

Army officials saythey want to field a system similar to Dragon Skin, whose interlocking ceramicdisks provide more protective coverage and more flexibility thancurrently-issued armor. But at nearly 20-pounds heavier than the Army's vest,Dragon Skin technology isn't there yet.

I think the military ismaking the "20-pounds heavier" part up. According to the specsheet, its a total weight of  17.2 pounds.

The SOV-3000â„¢ Level IV,with our large standard tactical front and back panel configuration weighsapproximately 17.2 lbs. and varies depending on the level of coverage needed.The SOV-3000â„¢ is manufactured with a ceramic composite.

Videosof the testing can be found here.From the information I have read and videos I watched, Dragon Skin looks prettygood.

History Channel's 'Mail Call' (More videos here)

Lies and Corruption and We're Paying for it

A year after the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (Gen.Stuart Bowen Jr.) reporteda $186 million construction project was a failure, where 150 health carecenters were supposed to be completed and only 6 had been, and the exposure thatKBR(Kellog, Brown & Root) wascharging $28 per empty Styrofoam dining plate for our troops, now more ofour taxmoney is being thrown away?

A severe lack of maintenance appears to be threatening the future usefulness ofsome of the facilities renovated during the effort to rebuild Iraq, says a newreport from the U.S. inspector general monitoring reconstruction.

Inspectors from the Office of the Special Inspector General for IraqReconstruction, which is charged with reviewing Iraqi reconstruction projectsthat are financed by the U.S., visited eight facilities throughout the country,to determine whether the buildings were operating at full capacity.

What the inspectors discovered is that, even though those facilities had beencompleted and declared to be successes, and subsequently met the stated"objectives" of reconstruction, they were not functioning properly.

Sites suffered from deterioration, poor or no maintenance, or were not evenbeing used by the people for whom they were built, at a cost to U.S. taxpayersof approximately $150 million.

And these were sites that the United States had previously declared to besigns of Iraq's rebirth: police stations, a military base, a maternityhospital, a recruiting center.

I was wondering what "successes" LauraBush was talking about in an interview Dec. 2006,  (with video)

It is not encouraging coverage for sure. There’s no doubt about it. But I doknow that there are a lot of good things that are happening that aren’tcovered. And I think that the drum beat in the country from the media, from theonly way people know what is happening unless they happened to have a loved onedeployed there, is discouraging.

And this was at the same timethe ISG (Iraq Study Group) Report stated the Bush administration is "significantlyunderreporting the violence in Iraq."  And now theadministration isn't including the deathsthat result from car bombings.

This always brings me back to the White House's FactSheet: Rebuilding Iraq, and the NationalStrategy for Victory in Iraq.

Victory in Iraq is Defined in Stages 

          Short term, Iraq is making steady progress in fighting terrorists, meeting political milestones, building democratic institutions, and standing up security forces.

Medium term, Iraq is in the lead defeating terrorists and providing its own security, with a fully constitutional government in place, and on its way to achieving its economic potential.

Longer term, Iraq is peaceful, united, stable, and secure, well integrated into the international community, and a full partner in the global war on terrorism.

I don't understand the reasoning behind the continued support for this war bythe few "holdouts"

Post Bonus: Listof Bush Lies, and Top 1020 Bush Lies.

Editorial: VT and The Global Village

Marhsall McLuhan famously predicted that technology and information would lead us to what he called "the global village," a revolution of technology that would inevitably unite us and give us the ability to communicate to anyone in the world at anytime with just about any means. 

I am a senior in college and in three weeks I'll graduate with degrees in Advertising and Public Relations.  One of my morning classes deals with Crisis Management:  how to handle tough situations, having a plan in place, communicating facts and answering questions appropriately, etc.  My morning class today, Persuasive Communication taught by Dr. Robin Meyers (author of the famous speech, "A Minister Fights Back on Moral Values" and author of "Why the Christian Right is Wrong",) took a detour from the syllabus - about Marshall McLuhan - to just talk.  It's difficult to gauge how you're feeling as readers, but as a student I find myself not needing to see political banter or politics for a few hours, at least a few minutes, and rather find myself just wanting to talk.

As a student in Oklahoma City, I felt the building shake as I sat in my fourth grade classroom at 9:02AM on April 19, 1995, the morning of the Murrah Building Bombing.  I drove through the torrential rains and heard my mother scream as the phone disconnected the night she was buried underneath her own house by the largest tornado on record - May 3, 1999.  I sat in my 11th grade Government class and watched as the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.  Yesterday, I sat in an empty room, the living room where I'll soon occupy in my new home, and listened to the cries of a university, a city, a state, a country, about the horrors of what transpired at Virginia Tech University.

My life and the technology within it has allowed me to step out from a small suburban classroom, from a city-wide terrorist attack, from a statewide natural disaster, into what was the first of, unfortunately, many global tragedies.  The global village has its ups and downs, and the down is that we must all experience the devastation of tragedy without ever feeling the ground shake or hearing the shots fired.

At the time of this publication, we have learned who the shooter was and and have begun to piece together the history of the individual:  What he did in life, what initial warning signs were evident in hindsight, what steps could have been taken to alleviate his madness.  We've watched a university stumble in crisis from lack of preparation, failure to warn their students for over two hours, and lack of control over its campus.  We've watched media outlets frantically interview second- and third- and fourth-hand witnesses and provoke emotional reactions.  We've watched Fox News tell you how this will impact the stock market and the war on terror and the security and sanctity of our schools.  Unfortunately, until now, we have yet to just talk.

McLuhan says, "The Medium is the Message."  In this place, the home of inclusion and open-mindedness and intelligent dialogue, I hope the message can resonate from those values.  I needed to engage the global village, to speak back to it instead of merely observing it.  I hope you'll do the same.

If there's anything you'd like to share - comments, critiques,condolences, thoughts in general - please use the comments section todiscuss.

Right-wing lunatic trying to stop Muslim from getting elected in Maryland

Something tells me that our country is in desperate need of another civil rights movement.  When it comes to anti-Islam sentiment, a small few are trying to turn back history.

Take right-wing activist Timothy Truett, for example, who has been holding anti-Muslim signs in front of the home of an Arab American who is running for Maryland's state legislature:

A protester staked out the home of a Muslim candidate for the MarylandHouse of Delegates, holding a sign and wearing a T-shirt that mockedIslam.

Timothy Truett sat in a folding chair Saturday on thecul-de-sac outside Saqib Ali's home in Gaithersburg with a sign reading"Islam sucks," and a shirt with the slogan, "This mind is an Allah-freezone."

Montgomery County police sent a trespass notificationform to Truett warning that he would be subject to arrest ontrespassing charges if he steps onto Ali's property within the nextyear.

Truett called his protest "an experiment," explaining: "Ihad heard that Muslims were generally intolerant of views other thantheir own, and so I thought I would put it to the test."

I wonder just where Truett "heard that Muslims were generally intolerant?"  It would not surprise me if he was told that by Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, or some other right-wing nut radio personality.

Just a side note.  If Saqib Ali wins this November, he will become the first Muslim member of the legislature to serve the great state of Maryland.  If you can, please contribute to his campaign, and help smack down the barriers of tolerance.
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Other sites blogging about Saquib Ali: Political Yak, Washington Rox, Family Crone, Mocopolitics, Maryland Politics Watch.

Pro-immigration marches all across the country today

Even though the Senate's immigration bill has been stalled thanks to disagreements within the Republican ranks, there are pro-immigration protests planned today in 90 cities throughout the country.  As the Christian Science Monitor reports, Latinos are not going to be the only ones marching:

In Los Angeles, Eun Sook Lee will march on behalf of Korean illegalimmigrants, at least 50,000, living in southern California. On BostonCommon, Punam Rogers will join other Indian émigrés, as well asbusiness clients and students from China, Germany, and Britain. In FortLauderdale, Fla., Ivalier Duvra will take to the streets to drawattention to Haitian newcomers who he says need refugee status.

Coming on the heels of demonstrations in severallarger cities, a National Day of Action on Immigrant Rights Monday isexpected to involve people in some 90 US municipalities, well aboveorganizers' goal of 10. Described as the biggest social movement ofHispanics since the United Farm Workers of Cesar Chavez, the plans forprotests, vigils, and marches include a less-visible tier of peoplestirred to action over American immigration policy: non-Latinos.

"If you watch TV and read the papers, you wouldthink this [immigration reform] is primarily an issue only for Latinosor only illegals or only poor immigrants. [Monday] will showdifferently," predicts Abdul Malik Mujahid, a Chicago-based Islamiccleric who says 7,000 Muslims will march there Monday to protest the"climate of fear" since 9/11. "Latino organizers have done a big favornot just to themselves but to all other immigrants, as well as Americaitself, by standing up and saying this country's immigration system isbroken and needs to be fixed. Now the rest of us must join in."

Even the British group "Women of Colour" will stage a demonstration in London today as a message of support for the marches taking place all over the USA.  In Washington D.C., about 180,000 marches are expected.

I'm expecting to see a lot of people walk out of class today at the University of Washington, just as they did last Wednesday.