Bumped. Originally posted 2008-06-20 13:13:50 -0500.

Posted simultaneously on ePluribus Media, DailyKos, Docudharma and Below Boston.

There are words that comprise paper tigers and those which ignite fires; some words are worth fighting to protect, others are not.

Some words forge new nations and ideals amid the forge-fires of conflict, while others are relegated to the dustbins of history as naught but a footnote at most.

There are words, on the page following, which have worth that appears to vary across the depth and breadth of the nation today. Once -- long ago, perhaps -- they were words that could inspire and entice the people of a nation to do great things. Now, however, their fate appears uncertain. I ask, fellow netizens, just one simple question: Whither the words necessary to marshal a hue and cry of outrage and demand for restoration, restitution and accountability?

From the poster Becca in the Delphi Forum Pulling to the Left there's this bit of glum news:

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If you go to the Financial Forecast Center, you'll find the current 6-month T-bill yield from the US Treasury. There are links to other forecasts on the page, so you can see how truly spectacularly (yes, that's sarcasm) this economy is chugging along.

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What does the Financial Forecast Center show? A rather depressing graph:

It's a good thing that the GOP, the Bush Administration and George W. Bush himself are telling us we're not in a recession -- acknowledging it might actually mean they'd have to take some responsibility for doing something about it, instead of leaving it (and the myriad of other disasters they've spawned) for the next Administration to clean up.

No wonder the Republican brand is in trouble -- it's true value is now plainly evident, and it's worth far less than the junk bonds it is printed upon.

According to the LA Times, the U.S. Military has no way to tell the number of Iraqi security forces who have been trained or who are present for duty.

Isn't that reassuring?

The information is contained in a report issued by a special inspector general.

Nothing to see here, folks...move along...

You can find it on the ePluribus Media Katrina Timeline handily enough -- perform a search where "summary" contains "McCain" and see what record pops up. When I tried it, the record found provides a brief summary and links back to the source article on the White House website: a wonderful photo essay of John McCain and George Bush, celebrating a birthday and having a party...just where you'd expect the Commander in Chief to be, instead of paying attention to one of the biggest natural disasters to strike our nation in years.

What does Mr McCain have to say about it? Well, he appears torn on the issue.

McCain, in New Orleans today:

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"I want to assure the people of the Ninth Ward, the people of New Orleans, the people of this country: Never again, never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way it was handled. Never again."
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McCain, during the immediate aftermath of Katrina, when the government failed to respond and people were drowning:

McCain and Bush responding to the Katrina disater

Two dKos links where this was brought up today and inspired this post, in case the link above to the White House website happens to stop working:

Blue Intrigue and BarbinMD

J. Sydney "Let Them Eat Cake" McCain: this man wants to be president in mold of George W. Bush. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Bumped. Originally posted Sat, 04/19/2008 - 00:33.

Recognize the title? Perhaps you may, particularly if you are married -- it's a snippet from a marriage vow.

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To Have and to Hold From This Day Forward,
For Better or for Worse,
For Richer, or for Poorer,
In Sickness and in Health,
Forsaking All Others,
To Love and to Cherish,
Until Death Do Us Part.
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Unfortunately, when I came across the phrase and paused long enough to take each line separately, it was not any type of matrimonial bliss that graced my mind, but instead the unholy union that has resulted in the current disaster currently damning our nation at the highest levels. What follows are the random thoughts I found darkly circling each phrase in the vow; tread softly now, that the imprints left do not permanently mar the once-bright promise and potential formerly associated with it...

First off, a chart of the telco contributions to Republicans vs. Democrats. It came in handy during a conversation about FISA and telco immunity where someone tried to illustrate how the "trial lawyers" going after the telcos were "buying off" Democrats. When I countered stating that the Telcos themselves had bought off Republicans, the fool said "Show me" -- so, I did. :)

Via OpenSecrets.org:

Also important to remember -- the legacy that the George W. Presidency leave us, via Dems.gov:

"Willful and malicious" may not apply, but "negligent and clueless" certainly does with regard to how the failure of Conservative ideology has continued to manifest under the auspices of the Bush Administration and the Republicans in Congress.

From a post on Delphiforums by JRichards33, the following article is excerpted:

War demands strain US military readiness

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer, 1 hour, 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

Despite security gains in Iraq, there is still a "significant" risk that the strained U.S. military cannot quickly and fully respond to another outbreak elsewhere in the world, according to the report.

[...story continues at link in title...]

This isn't good, and for more than one reason. Aside from the impact on national security on both the foreign and domestic fronts, and completely ignoring the rising tide of PTSD-related incidents and contractor deaths, our military is being left with fewer options on how to deal with new threats...

An article in the Washington Post tonight caught my eye, almost simultaneous with the eye-catching (and popping) article from Norman Podhoretz that I'll get to in a minute. Army Off Target on Recruits, by Josh White, starts off with an interesting blurb:

The percentage of new recruits entering the Army with a high school diploma dropped to a new low in 2007, according to a study released yesterday, and Army officials confirmed that they have lowered their standards to meet high recruiting goals in the middle of two ongoing wars.

So, this means that as the Army fails to get the numbers of fresh bodies it needs going into the Iraq meatgrinder, it lowers the standards in order to expand the net and capture more folks -- folks who would not have formerly qualified.