In the 2000 Republican primaries a whisper campaign was underway against John McCain. It was later attributed to Karl Rove.

The 2004 presidential campaign was then inundated with questions over John Kerry's war record.

Fast forward to 2008 and we get this.

A person joins the military for a variety of reasons. Some do truly believe in serving their country and that is a primary reason why they enlist. Others, like myself, need to earn a living and pay for college.

No matter the reasons a person chooses to become a part of the military, the very idea of it has always been widely regarded with great respect...as they should be. To enlist a person has to be willing to lay their life down for the United States. Aside from dying while serving, it comes in pretty high on the list for what is considered patriotic.

John McCain was tortured and used as a propaganda tool. Despite all of that, he chose to stay imprisoned with his fellow countrymen until they could all be released together. That should be considered a heroic act and should be revered as nobility under duress. This is not something everyone can do. I think it's safe to say the majority of us would have leaped at the first opportunity after undergoing so much suffering.

None of this makes him qualified to be president and neither does anything else. What does prepare anyone for a job like that? Well, nothing. It's probably one of the few jobs that can't have set qualifications such as military experience. You learn by doing which has been the case for every person that has filled the position.

This opinion is not about qualifications or experience. It's about military service and it's about politics. It's about what is acceptable and unacceptable.

Anyone with the intention of running for president has to have a certain amount of ego and courage. They have to be willing to contend with a harsh media. Now, it's doubled because they are also dealing with an internet population with unforgiving attitudes who are like-minded and tend to congregate with some of the more outrageous types hoping for their fifteen minutes of internet fame.

Because of this we now see an attitude of 'nothing is off limites because it's politics' type of attitude. Wives, children, friends, old associations from childhood, music, food, relatives...no matter how far removed...are all targets. The latest is military service.

John Kerry was accused of fabricating the reasons for getting his medals...that his wounds were not deserving of a purple heart. The Republicans who claim to love the military more devalued his wounds and his service. They didn't realize that doing so undervalues every other soldier who was wounded while serving.

It's no diffrent with John McCain. He was not the only POW who was tortured beyond our comprehension. There were others. Should we say they were collaborators as well?

Of course not...because it's not true. It wasn't true with John Kerry and it's not true with John McCain. To distort, devalue or to lie about someone's military service is wrong.

Worse yet...to take something so horrific such as being forced to kill during wartime or being tortured and using it against them is morally repugnant. We're passing judgment on events that took place decards ago and that we did not witness.

To use this kind of attacks to justify a motive for not wanting someone as president signifies a weakness on the part of the attacker. They don't have it within them to use legitimate attacks such as the war or the economy. They are so desperate to tear them down that they will use anything.

If a person is willing to use military service as a weapon...at what point do they say 'it's too far'. Spouse, children, religion?

Not only do these attacks demean the military and ALL those who serve and have served...it also demeans us as a nation. The exchange of ideas is demeaned and it worsens the atmosphere for political discussion.

This is what hurts our country.

Church and State...already sleeping together

At any moment, state inspectors can step uninvited into one of the three child care centers that Ethel White runs in Auburn, Ala., to make sure they meet state requirements intended to ensure that the children are safe. There must be continuing training for the staff. Her nurseries must have two sinks, one exclusively for food preparation. All cabinets must have safety locks. Medications for the children must be kept under lock and key, and refrigerated.

The Rev. Ray Fuson of the Harvest Temple Church of God in Montgomery, Ala., does not have to worry about unannounced state inspections at the day care center his church runs. Alabama exempts church day care programs from state licensing requirements, which were tightened after almost a dozen children died in licensed and unlicensed day care centers in the state in two years.

More and more the careful line is stepped on, smudged and in some cases erased.

The differences do not end there. As an employer, Ms. White must comply with the civil rights laws; if employees feel mistreated, they can take the center to court. Religious organizations, including Pastor Fuson’s, are protected by the courts from almost all lawsuits filed by their ministers or other religious staff members, no matter how unfairly those employees think they have been treated.

And there is no stopping the destruction of the wall between them.

An analysis by The New York Times of laws passed since 1989 shows that more than 200 special arrangements, protections or exemptions for religious groups or their adherents were tucked into Congressional legislation, covering topics ranging from pensions to immigration to land use. New breaks have also been provided by a host of pivotal court decisions at the state and federal level, and by numerous rule changes in almost every department and agency of the executive branch.

The special breaks amount to “a sort of religious affirmative action program,” said John Witte Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at the Emory University law school.

More here

I Don't Recall

Rice: I don't recall alert about attack

I don't recall him telling me that,'' Hastert told CNN today

Gonzales said he could not recall key details

Rumsfeld: I don't recall that I've ever lied to the press

Libby defense: I don't recall

Senator George Allen: “I Don’t Recall Every Word I’ve Said.”

The Torture of a 15 year old boy at Gitmo

He was a child of jihad, a teenage soldier in bin Laden's army. Captured on the battlefield when he was only fifteen, he has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the past four years -- subjected to unspeakable abuse sanctioned by the president himself

Upon their return, the MPs uncuffed Omar's arms, pulled them behind his back and recuffed them to his legs, straining them badly at their sockets. At the junction of his arms and legs he was again bolted to the floor and left alone. The degree of pain a human body experiences in this particular "stress position" can quickly lead to delirium, and ultimately to unconsciousness. Before that happened, the MPs returned, forced Omar onto his knees, and cuffed his wrists and ankles together behind his back. This made his body into a kind of bow, his torso convex and rigid, right at the limit of its flexibility. The force of his cuffed wrists straining upward against his cuffed ankles drove his kneecaps into the concrete floor. The guards left.

An hour or two later they came back, checked the tautness of his chains and pushed him over on his stomach. Transfixed in his bonds, Omar toppled like a figurine. Again they left. Many hours had passed since Omar had been taken from his cell. He urinated on himself and on the floor. The MPs returned, mocked him for a while and then poured pine-oil solvent all over his body. Without altering his chains, they began dragging him by his feet through the mixture of urine and pine oil. Because his body had been so tightened, the new motion racked it. The MPs swung him around and around, the piss and solvent washing up into his face. The idea was to use him as a human mop. When the MPs felt they'd successfully pretended to soak up the liquid with his body, they uncuffed him and carried him back to his cell. He was not allowed a change of clothes for two days.

Read the entire ordeal

Stick That Yellow Ribbon Up Your SUV

Don't Be Terrorized!

How many warnings does it take...

Meeting kept secret from 9/11 Commission

Although passages of the book suggest that Mr. Tenet was a major source for Mr. Woodward, the former intelligence director has refused to comment on the book.

Nor has there been any comment from J. Cofer Black, Mr. Tenet’s counterterrorism chief, who is reported in the book to have attended the July 10 meeting and left it frustrated by Ms. Rice’s “brush-off” of the warnings.

He is quoted as saying, “The only thing we didn’t do was pull the trigger to the gun we were holding to her head.” Mr. Black did not return calls left at the security firm Blackwater, which he joined last year.

The book says that Mr. Tenet hurriedly organized the meeting — calling ahead from his car as it traveled to the White House — because he wanted to “shake Rice” into persuading the president to respond to dire intelligence warnings that summer about a terrorist strike. Mr. Woodward writes that Mr. Tenet left the meeting frustrated because “they were not getting through to Rice.”

The disclosures took members of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission by surprise last week. Some questioned whether information about the July 10 meeting was intentionally withheld from the panel.

Bin Laden Determined to Strike US

MI6 warned US of Al-Qaeda attacks

Britain warned US to expect September 11 al-Qaeda hijackings

Warning Signs

Fox News: Clues Alerted White House to Potential Attacks

Days Before, Priest Predicted Plane Attacks on U.S.

Other unheeded warnings before 9/11?

TRACES OF TERROR: THE INTELLIGENCE REPORTS; EGYPT WARNED U.S. OF A QAEDA PLOT, MUBARAK ASSERTS

Israeli security issued urgent warning to CIA of large-scale terror attacks


Report details US 'intelligence failures'

This site detailed many more warnings given to officials of the US government prior to 9/11. Many links no longer work and some foreign articles are at this site as well. Those were not included since their authenticity could not be corroborated. Still, there was ample warning given time and time again.

You be the judge of this information.

Rovian tactics are failing...

Five weeks before the midterm elections a new tape with Mohammed Atta and other 9/11 hijackers surfaced. It's timing is questionable to say the least given the October 29, 2004 Bin Laden tape that appeared just days before the 2004 presidential election.

The late date of the Bin Laden tape was unlikely to change many minds in the 2004 election, but it's apparent that this recent tape which was found late 2001 in Afghanistan by military forces is being used as an election ploy in an attempt to keep the American people in a state of fear/anger.

The timing is questionable not only because of the midterms fast approaching, but also with the latest scandals and accusations that continue to dog bush and his administration.

In hopes of distracting the American people and garnering more votes this was a pathetic attempt to change the dialogue in the favor of the Republican leadership. It's refreshing to see it not working.

All The President's Lies

The cost to our military

Suicide attacks in Iraq at all time high: US military

there is a growing backlash in the military

Retired US Military Officers Criticize Rumsfeld's Handling of Iraq War

Overstretched Army Bring Bush New Grief

Iraqi president asks for long-term US military presence in Iraq

I could never be a republican...

After an interesting week of discussion with a few people, the NIE stating the Iraq War has made us less safe and Falwell's disgusting comments regarding Hillary Clinton , I've come to the conclusion I could never be a republican.

That political party is rife with hypocrisy and looking down their noses at anyone who isn't like them. They speak the same talking points over and over again as if reading from the same exact playbook. They continue to support a president who has continually lied since before he was installed in office, a president who stands back while his lapdogs equate democrats with terrorists, a president who proclaims to be a christian while pushing for the legalization of torture, a president who places the needs of the mega-rich over those who have considerably less and a president who criminally ignored every single expert and warning on the potential of terrorists striking this country.

I could never be a republican because flag burning, the language the national anthem is sang in, and prayer in schools rates pretty low on my importance radar. I could never be a republican because I value the rights over my body, I don't want the government in my bedroom and believe everyone should be treated equally no matter their sex, race, religion or sexual orientation.

I could never be a republican because torture, starting wars based on lies, making our military occupiers, cutting VA benefits, cutting social programs such as school lunches, taking away basic civil rights and trashing the service of veterans for disagreeing with me is just plain wrong.

Another reason why I could never be a republican...I couldn't look at myself in the mirror with a clear conscience.

It's military occupation, stupid!

If Bush really cares about his legacy, he'd go with this advice:

You want to end terrorism? End unjust military occupations. By all means have Syria conduct an orderly withdrawal from Lebanon if that is what the Lebanese public wants. But Israel needs to withdraw from the Golan Heights, which belong to Syria, as well. The Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank must be ended. The Russian scorched earth policy in Chechnya needs to stop. Some just disposition of the Kashmir issue must be attained, and Indian enormities against Kashmiri Muslims must stop. The US needs to conduct an orderly and complete withdrawal from Iraq. And when all these military occupations end, there is some hope for a vast decrease in terrorism. People need a sense of autonomy and dignity, and occupation produces helplessness and humiliation. Humiliation is what causes terrorism.

Entire Article Here