Thank you Captain Redundant.

WASHINGTON — While “formidable challenges” remain in Iraq, President Bush said Saturday, the United States will start shifting more troops into support roles _ in addition to the troop withdrawals announced earlier in the week.

In December, the United States will begin a new military phase in Iraq _ one in which “our troops will shift over time from leading operations to partnering with Iraqi forces, and eventually to overwatching those forces,” Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Does this “new” plan feel oddly familiar to anyone? Recycled and tired rhetoric. There’s little indication of how this “shift” will happen. As noticed by Fred Kaplan over at Slate, Bush is using Gen. Petraeus’ Congressional testimony as approval of this new plan. However….

…the chart that Gen. Petraeus presented in this part of his testimony gave no dates—not even a projected range of dates—for when this shift in mission would take place. Many Democrats, some Republicans, and a fairly large number of Army and Marine generals would like to see this shift begin now. That is the debate that Congress will be taking up. Bush’s speech is an evasion.

…and delusional, indeed.

Popularity: 3% [?]

A study by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics found that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Sen. Barrack Obama (D-IL) have both received the highest amount of military personnel campaign contributions.

This article in USA Today (yes, that appears to be my paper of choice today) is interesting NOT for its title, “Obama, Paul net most military workers’ donations”, but for the shifting opinions of the military that are buried in the article’s guts:

Obama: 44 contributions worth $27,000
Paul: 23 contributions worth $19,300
Both of these Presidential contenders openly and loudly oppose the Iraq war.

John McCain: 23 donors worth $18,500
One of the most vocal supporters of the Iraq war, came in third.

And here are some even cooler stats!

In 2004, military personnel contributed $1.2 million to presidential and congressional candidates, the center said. This year, those donations are about $200,000.

That’s approximately 17% of the previous presidential election donations our service members had contributed during the last election! The politics of our military are leaking out in the form of crisp clean Washington dollars. We’re moving from a generally conservative and traditional fighting force to one that is finding appeal with liberal candidates who are willing to bring them home.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Sen. Barack Obama:

…asking Illinois Sen. Barack Obama whether he understood that gay people could see civil unions without marriage as “separate but equal.” Obama replied that when his white mother and black father married in the early 1960s, interracial marriages were illegal in some states. “Obviously this is something that I understand intimately,” he said. “It’s not for me to suggest that you shouldn’t be troubled by these issues.” But as president, he said, his responsibility would be to make sure gay couples have legal rights.

John Edwards:

Former North Carolina senator John Edwards said he was wrong to have said in an earlier debate that he opposes same-sex marriage because of his religion, but he did not answer when asked what is at the core of his opposition.

Sen. Hillary Clinton:

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton got the same question and replied, “I prefer to think of it as being very positive about civil unions.”

Gov. Bill Richardson:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, asked whether being gay is a choice or people are born that way, said it’s a choice. After the forum, he reversed himself. “I do not believe sexual orientation or gender identity happens by choice,” he said in a statement.

The complete article by USA Today is located here. Other candidates of note:

Other candidates on the [HRC] program were Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Alaska senator Mike Gravel, the only two Democrats who support same-sex marriage. Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut had scheduling conflicts.

All eight Democrats have said it’s time to let gay people serve openly in the military — even Clinton, whose husband started the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy under which gay people must hide their sexual orientation.

Several GOP candidates were invited to appear at an HRC forum, but none accepted.

Should we even bothering asking the GOP what their opinion is in this matter?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Popularity: 2% [?]

I know it’s become easy pickings to point out the many contradictions of the Muslim middle eastern leadership, but come on!!

Iran wants “peace and friendship for all,” the country’s president said Wednesday while again denying Western assertions his nation is pursuing nuclear weapons and trying to destabilize Iraq.

But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a hard line against Israel, calling it “an invader” and saying it “cannot continue its life.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

And here I thought preemptive strikes were saved for the budding newness of spring or the tactically advantageous summer season.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 — After days of silence from the Israeli government, American officials confirmed Tuesday that Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes inside Syria last week, the first such attack since 2003.

“The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left,” the official said. He said it was unclear whether the Israeli strike had produced any evidence that might validate that belief.

Tensions between Israel and Syria have escalated over the past year, since the end of the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, and both countries remain in a heightened state of alert along their common border.

If there’s one thing America envies about Israel, it’s that they have a tendency to skip diplomacy and go straight for the jugular.  In the words of the ever eloquent AC/DC:  Who’s got the biggest balls of them all?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sometimes it’s hard to say that America is the greatest nation on Earth when millions can’t afford to see a doctor. (I’ve had to raise my hand in the past as one of the millions.) Unemployment offers the COBRA health insurance plan which is so phenominally expensive, it’s a wonder how any unemployed citizen can afford it anyway. Compacting the problem even further is a consistent hike in insurance premiums forcing employers to charge even more for health insurance.

Where do we begin to tackle the health insurance issues our nation has been dragging around for decades? Could this be the one thing the ::: gasp ::: socialists had right? While the Iraq war is understandably on the top of the 2008 Presidential campaining debate list, national health insurance needs to be bumped up a few notches. A nation without affordable access to doctors is a degraded nation.

Popularity: 3% [?]

(Photo taken at ground zero, June 2007.)

Popularity: 2% [?]

I’m glad to see the American colonies are still honoring the Queen. Long may she live! Now, how many miles to the booze hole?

The European Commission confirmed its decision to allow Britain and Ireland to keep some of their old imperial measurements so pubs can still serve pints and road signs will show miles instead of kilometres.

Britain and Ireland, like almost all countries around the world, officially use the metric system, but imperial measures are often still used alongside metric counterparts.

Under the EU decision, they can maintain miles on road signs and pubs may continue to serve draft beer and cider in pint mugs.

Pint-sized milk bottles will also be retained, along with the Troy ounce for weighing precious metals.

Popularity: 2% [?]

General Petraeus climbed into his freshly starched and pressed uniform today just to throw himself at the Congressional wolves. It was essentially a public flogging of Bush’s messenger. Many of us secretly held onto the hope that the big Gen would have a moment of moral revelation. Perhaps he would stand up in the middle of his testimony and gallantly speak against the Bush administrations obviously failed plans, bellowing, “It’s all wrong! It must end now!”

Imaginary dramatics aside, the whole event felt like it was teetering towards fiasco either way.

Dozens of protesters needed to be removed as they shouted bold cries of “tell the truth” and “liar!”. The Big P even took a few punches from Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Ca) who said:

“We cannot take the administration’s assertions on Iraq seriously, and no amount of charts or statistics will improve its credibility.”

But beneath all the craziness was the number we were waiting to hear: 30,000. He has essentially decided to remove the “surge troops” of last January by the summer of 2008. 18 months! after the surge was implemented. And doing a little quick math, it’s clear that this is NOT a significant number when compared to the mass of troops who will remain.

Estimating 170,000 troops in Iraq now minus (-) 30,000 Petraeus wants out by next summer = 140,000 estimated troops summer 2008.

In November 2006 (pre-troop surge), can you guess how many troops were in Iraq? 140,000.

A bunch of number shifting magic tricks are coming out of his sleeve, if you ask me.

Popularity: 7% [?]

A case study was released Sunday that analyzed the brain neurons of liberals and conservatives. By measuring the brains neuronal impulses, researchers discovered this:

The match-up was unmistakable: respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed “significantly greater conflict-related neural activity” when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine.

Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits “despite signals that this … should be changed.”

Sometimes I just wanna hug smert sciency people.

Popularity: 3% [?]

General Petraeus is due to present testimony to Congress tomorrow regarding the progress of the American troop build-up in Iraq. As a warm up, he issued a letter to all American service members on September 7th to “share [his] views of how [he] thinks we’re doing”.

Scanning over the general praise he gives our service members (which they rightfully deserve but unfortunately gives little hint to any future plans), I find the letter frustratingly blasé. Sure he makes a great analogy:

We are, in short, a long way from the goal line, but we do have the ball and we are driving down the field.

He also teases us with tasty comments like:

…while Iraqi forces clearly remain a work in progress…

The progress has not, to be sure, been uniform across Baghdad or across Iraq.

It has not worked out as we had hoped.

…it is clearly taking more time than we initially expected.

He does note a few significant accomplishments: a drop in the number of ground attacks and lower sectarian violence since the surge of troops. But alas, it’s just a jumble of comparing what little progress our over taxed military has accomplished with the future burden of monumental problems.

Closing his memo, he makes a vow of sorts that I hope he truly will honor:

I will go before Congress conscious of the strain on our forces, the sacrifices that you and your families are making, the gains we have made in Iraq, the challenges that remain, and the importance of building on what we and our Iraqi counterparts have fought so hard to achieve.

The full text of Gen. Petraeus’ memo can be viewed here in PDF format or here in plain text.

Popularity: 3% [?]