It appears as if the MSM has abandoned the F-Word. It was well used several years ago but it seems as if has become the word-that-can't-be-uttered. Luckily there are euphemisms to replace it that won't offend the reader/viewer. You know like time wasting, grandstanding, and the popular Democrat stunt. God knows that the Repugs would never do anything to stop an up or down vote! Oh wait the Repugs staged a fili***ter. Don't they want an up or down vote?
Even the newly redesigned Flyover Times, that heralded progressive newspaper couldn't bring it's self to use the dreaded word. Of course their progressive credentials are based on the fact that they supported The Original Progressive 100 years ago. That and that over 50 years ago they pulled a stunt where local flyover citizens were asked to sign a statement comprised of parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Of course the McCarthy fearing crowd wisely refused to have anything to do with something that smelled of politics. Since then their progesiveness has consisted of endorsing Democrats at election time and weeky (weakly?) listing the number of deaths in Iraq. The civilian figure is the one given out by the government and right now is around 35000. You wouldn't want to use the leftist British Lancet figures of more than 600,000. So goes the vaunted left wing media.

Harry Reid goes for the filibuster, Harriet Meier refuses to appear before Congress, what-will-happen reports are all over about Iraq, it's hard to tell if we are getting ahead or spining our wheels. I'd love to think that we are seeing the beginning of the end of this merry band of fools. The filibuster hopefully will start to show the people that the congressional gridlock is the fault of the Rethuglicans and the recent after action report suggests that a three state Iraq is possible after a withdrawal of American troops. What I really hope for is a legal confrontation with the Bush junta. The Meier situation may well be the turning point. It's one thing to go before Congress and refuse to testify, but to refuse to show up is unheard of. It will have to be seen if John Conyers and other D leaders have the goods and the balls to take this thing where it can go. The scary thing is these fights can end up in the Supreme Court. As we have seen the odds are stacked badly in that arena.

Breaking news. Senator Vitter has met with press in his home district to let them know that he plans on returning to the Senate this week and has no plans to quit politics. At his side was his wife, Wendy. Wendy commented that her husband has "come home to Mama". No word on whether Mama will diaper him.

We spent the afternoon on a pontoon boat on the largest of four lakes surrounding the capitol of Flyover Country. The weather was beautiful and it couldn't have been a better time. The owner (and captain for the day) of the boat is a full time Army Guard member. He served 9 months in Kuwait in 2002. His unit is responsible for copter maintenance. I've known him for years but don't have the slightest idea what his politics are. I've always felt that for the sake of our friendship it was best to not ask. When ever I've asked him about chances for redeployment, he laughs and says that his unit has been so stripped to supply the regular Army that there is no way they can possibly go into a combat zone any time soon. I've meet friends of his who are in the reserves. It seems like they are all getting out. Reserve members can be called up for replacement in existing units while guardsmen stay with their own outfits. Again I don't discuss politics (or the war) with these people but my feeling is they have no support for the mess-o-potamia. I don't mean for a minute to suggest that any of these guys wouldn't suit up and be back in the fray in a second if they felt our country needed them, but there seems to be a feeling of malaise about the war (occupation) .

Senator Webb on Meet The Press showed once again what a real stand up guy he is this morning. When Timmy asked him about the war, his reply was that the war was over years ago and what we are in is an occupation. Of course Timmy's next question was "Should the congress run the war?" completely ignoring Jim's point. The best part was Jim doing a slap down on that weasel Lindsey Graham. I really thought he was goin to bitch slap the little prick.

The protest by Christian Extremists in the Senate this week highlights the real motives of the nutty christian right. By trying to disrupt the opening prayer being done by a Buddhist priest they show just how much they are the American Taliban. The only thing President Chimpy had right about Osama was that they hate us for our freedoms. They do. They hate that America doesn't force it's citizens to live a non-secular life. It's not so much that we're not Muslim, but that we're not a Christian State. If we forced people to church, made women subservient to men, taught prayer in our schools and had a religious litmus test for all office holders, I'm sure they would find a way to overlook that Jeebus thing. Luckily for us the Constitution (that's the thing hanging on the paper dispenser in Chimpy's office bathroom) specifically protects us from that insanity. At least for a little while longer.

The Army missed it's recruitment goals for June. It also missed for March. The military's response to this is to lower standards once again. I remember back to the Vietnam days when the Army took everyone who passed the physical. This was not the high point of the Armed Forces. The military was swamped with people who couldn't figure out how to not get drafted.
I absolutely do not want to disparage anyone who is willing to serve his (or her) country but the situation with the Army today is indicative of what the Bush Administration has done to the country as a whole.
Five years ago the US military was the absolute best fighting force the world has ever seen. All volunteer with high standards, well equipped with the best equipment, and ready to be deployed to anywhere in the world that they were needed.
Today the Army and Marines are under-manned poorly equipped for the job they are being asked to do and in many cases demoralized by repeated deployments. They are having trouble filling the holes caused by 30000 casualties in Iraq and the loss of desire by the best and the brightest to become part of the military.
This ruining of our military is just one more part of the Bush Administrtion's ongoing destruction of what has made America great.