BredeSIN and Jen Doll

Jason enters and presents:

Democratic Governor Considers Turning Down Stimulus Cash!

By Eric Kleefeld - February 24, 2009, 8:36PM

We now have another governor who says he's thinking about turning down the small portion of the stimulus package for unemployment benefits -- and he's a Democrat???

"We are evaluating this piece of money, whether it makes sense for us to take it," Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "We may well be one of the states that say we can't take on that portion of it."

Well, if this guy was ever on the HHS short-list before...

Patricia responds:

So typical of that pseudofraudclosetimpersonatin'DemocratRepublican! Yep! Just see if he gets HHS now! HAHAHAHAHA. A blog at the Tennessean yesterday was reporting that the gov. said he wasn't out of the running.

Hey Guv! You're a G O N E R now.

(Portions referring to the governor's physical appearance have been deleted to preserve sophistication.)

That makes sense, doesn't it? To turn down unemploymt dollars like Jindahl (sic) is saying he may do for LA. I wonder how that will go over wi. the voters. OH, YUCK YUCK YUCK. Let's add that seat to the Democratic list!

Jason changes subject:

Did you see Bobby Jindall’s (sic) speech last night? HAHAHAHAHA it was so bad, even on Fox they were panning it. David Brooks said it was the worst response EVER to a president’s address to the nation.

Patricia replies:

I was so glad he came on since I needed to shower, wash and dry my hair and when doing all that, I can't hear the telly, so no, I didn't hear him, but welcomed the timing of his address. You MUST read My Dana today about all the twittering during the speech. He raises an excellent point! Yes, I told my colleagues today: Jesus came...on Shrove Tuesday!

The Defense Dept. Answers RE: Non-Combat Related Deaths

(Thanks to Sen. Jim Webb for forwarding my questions to the Department. The main thrust of the DOD letter follows. After studying the numbers and percentages, the question rises: Why have non-hostile deaths of our troops risen 250% from the Korean to the Iraq wars? Look at the numbers at the DOD Web site. Am I figuring incorrectly?)

Dear Patricia,

The Department has a casualty reporting system…and both combat and non-combat related deaths are posted weekly…along with the cause of death…at http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil.

[Click “Personnel,” then “Military Casualty Information.”]

Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom each have a report titled “Casualty Summary by Reason Code” [which] …contain the reasons for all deaths, hostile and non-hostile.

Each Service analyzes the information…and they have safety boards to address deaths as a result of unsafe actions, equipment, etc. to try and prevent any additional harm to Service members….[including] suicide prevention and early detection. All of this information is used by the Department to try and prevent further injuries and deaths. Individual causes…are withheld to protect…privacy….

If you have any questions, please contact Kris Hoffman at 831-583-2500.

Sincerely,

Mary Snavely-Dixon
Director, Human Resources Activity
Defense Manpower Data Center

I appreciate the letter and Sen. Webb’s attention. I will send my computations below to Senator Webb after I receive an answer from Ms. Hoffman about reasons, if any are known, about the leap in non-combat related deaths. I talked with her February 23, 2009.

At the Web site supplied above I discovered approximately 20 percent of the deaths (830 of 4,228)of all troops in Iraq from March 19, 2003 through January 31, 2009 result from nonhostile actions:

20% of Army deaths (613 of 3,072) are from nonhostile actions

35%, Navy (including the Coast Guard) (34 of 97)

16%, Marines (162 of 1,010)

almost 43%, Air Force (21 of 49)

More than 62% (518) of all non-hostile deaths in the Iraq War have resulted from accidents; more than 21% (176), “self-inflicted” causes. You have seen the recent stories about the increase in suicides among veterans and at West Point.

Compare “In-Theatre” deaths of other conflicts (which are not broken down "In Theater" or "Non-Theater" for Iraq casualties):

Gulf War non-hostile deaths: 61.5% (235 of 382)

Vietnam non-hostile deaths: 18.5% (10,786 of 58,220)

Korea non-hostile deaths: 7.75%(2,835 of 36,574)

Why did the percentage of nonhostile deaths increase so dramatically from Korea to Vietnam? Reduced training? Lowered standards? Different measuring means? On Friday at Ft. Campbell, KY, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, told soldiers increased suicides among troops may be related to long and repeated deployments.

Many Vietnam troops were drafted and joined the service unwillingly. With economic conditions today and the Army’s lowered standards (accepting felons, more high school dropouts, more with lower intelligence levels) yet with supposedly additional safety measures in place, why has the number increased? Who measures the effects of the Army’s lowered standards? Also, I refer you to this site for casualty count:www.antiwar/com.casualties

Gwen Ifill on Stage at GWU

(Top) Frank Sesno interviews Gwen Ifill and (right) they watch Eugenie Pete describe what Barack Obama's swearing-in meant to her.


By the Queen of Free

Utterly charming, comedic, uplifting, inspirational, engaging, informative, confident, knowledgeable, and captivating.

Can you tell she is quite likable? Gwen Ifill for public office! (Hey Gwen: I know a Secretary's spot which is open!)

On Thursday night Frank Sesno CNN special correspondent and director of the public affairs project at George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs masterfully interviewed Ms. Ifill who had plenty to tell to keep the “sold-out” (seats were free but all taken) listeners (it was taped for radio) on their ears.

She was much more talkative (of course) and animated (of course) than she is on THE shows. She came to promote her new book: The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, and she told a lot more.

The book contains interviews with black politicians and a look behind their scenes: How did they do it? So many, she said, were told “it’s not time for you yet.”

Race ceased to be an issue in last year’s presidential campaign after The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was shut up. She said Barack Obama never wanted to bring up race as an issue but Wright forced his hand.

About President Obama's term so far: He's figured out how hard it is to come to Washington which is "complicated. Every president says he's going to change Washington." And "one thing we all know: Honeymoons end." She said she never thought Obama would be elected. Her predictions "are always wrong," she said.

Two days before Gwen Ifill moderated last fall's vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin (a clip of the "Saturday Night Live" takeoff on the debate was screened during the interview), she fell at home coming down stairs and broke her ankle.

She received hundreds of questions to ask the debaters, "about 99% of them for Palin." She said the key to crafting questions for debaters is to try to steer them from their pat answers and get them into new arenas. As for the 2004 vice-presidential debate, John Edwards was "over-rehearsed and Dick Cheney just didn't care."

When asked about the dearth of female politicians in her book, she said few under age 60 exist, sadly.

She began her journalism career as an intern at the Boston Herald American where a crude note addressed to her about her race led to her hiring. Never one to look back and wallow in self pity, she said she seizes circumstances as opportunities to use for her own betterment.

Later working at the Washington Post and covering the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Ifill said she likely is the only Post reporter to cover that beat who actually lived in public housing at one time.

A clip showed a black lady on Inauguration Day, Eugenie Pete (unsure of name), who caught Ms. Ifill’s attention. She beamed when describing Ms. Pete who was practically unable to speak amid her emotions about the momentous day and what it meant for blacks.

The crowd of about 300 was approximately 20% students (based on a show of hands) with the rest, alumni, a smattering of faculty, and the remainder, interested bystanders. Probably two-thirds of attendees were female. Ms. Ifill graciously answered several questions from the audience.

After the interview we happily partook of varied and delicious desserts and beverages at a reception while Ms. Ifill signed about 250 books.

Thank you, GW! A fitting way to launch Presidents' Day weekend and to recognize Black History Month, too.

Chevy Chase Bank Card Customers at Risk

What? Is this happening so frequently now that there is not even a press announcement warning customers their cards may be vulnerable? Or maybe there was and I missed it. But when?

I just opened a letter from Chevy Chase:

Recently, Visa, U.S.A. notified [us]...that an unauthorized party accessed a large national payment processor of credit and debit card transactions, Heartland Payment Systems. Unfortunately, your...card number may have been...compromised...[which]means that an unauthorized party may [underlined] have access to your Card information...[but it] does not [underlined] mean than [the]...party actually has used your Card number.

Gee, thanks, Chevy Chase Bank whose envelope looked like so much junk mail I nearly tossed it without opening it. The stamp: Presorted First Class. How many thousands were compromised and shouldn't there be some kind of public warning issued?

No warnings or alerts on Chevy Chase's web site. No warnings or alerts at Visa, U.S.A. Wait a minute, down in the lower corner of Heartland's site is a sentence about "security breach" which, if you click on it, takes you to information saying the breach occurred January 20, 2009, and yet, and yet, it took Chevy Chase Bank three weeks to notify its own customers and who knew Chevy Chase Bank had any relationship with Heartland which I've never heard of, have you?

Yep, this is a fine example of NON customer service at Chevy Chase Bank, another reason not to do banking there. I spoke with a teller and manager at a nearby branch last Saturday, February 7,2009, and did either mention this compromise on my account? You guess.

Uncover the Coffins

At Monday's press conference the AP reported President Barack Obama said policy change would be considered to possibly end the media ban photographing caskets holding our military dead from Iraq and Afghanistan as they arrive back in the U.S.

In yesterday's Washington Post (p. A-8) Defense Secretary Robert Gates "said he was told that, if media were allowed to cover the fallen service members return to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, many of the service members' families would feel compelled to attend, which would pose a financial hardship for them and slow the return of the remains."

How grotesque: "would feel compelled." And "slow the remains."

What words are there to describe Gates' callousness and total disregard for affected families? He nonchalantly tosses words around with no thought of their impact.

Should not the affected families be allowed to make their own decisions rather than the defense secretary quoting hearsay and making decisions for them?

At this most terrible times of their lives, affected loved ones can stand on their own without the Defense Department exploiting their losses so it can cover up its dead and the 65% who died of "non-combat related" causes. Enough of Defense Department cover-ups!

Would not local communities rush to raise money for Dover expenses for those in need? Those who want to come to praise, salute and honor their war dead? Theirs.

President Obama: Uncover the coverup of the coffins. We want to see them. We want to see how the military treats the return of our human treasures. We want to see the containers holding our dead on their last journey. We want to recognize their bravery and their sacrifices for us. We want to be stung with reality that inside the boxes are remains of troops who lived and whom we glorify.

President Obama: You said "change." The Bush/Cheney regime ended, praise God, on January 20, 2009. Please bring change.

65% of our Soldiers' Deaths in Iraq: Noncombat Related

Dear Senator Webb:

“Nonhostile circumstances” have caused the deaths of almost 65% (14 of 22) of our soldiers in Iraq this year in a story reported by CNN today about four American soldiers who were killed in a suicide car bombing in Mosul.

This morning NPR carried a story about the Army meeting its enlistments goals, likely due to economic conditions, but the article listed felons who are now part of the service now that the Army has relaxed its standards. Does this play a role in the huge numbers of “nonhostile” (or as the Washington Post calls them, “noncombat related”) deaths?

Who investigates “nonhostile/non-combat-related” deaths of our soldiers? Who reports them? How do numbers compare to previous conflicts? Is training minimized in a rush to get soldiers to battlefields?

Taxpayers want a return on our investments of our human resources, equipment, and time. Answers would be required of any board of directors. Who is our “Board of Directors”? Who speaks for us? The voice is silent.

Sincerely,
Patriciadc

Darling Dangling Dapper Daschle Dashes

Enter Jason who speaketh:

No statement yet but it's happening soon. Personally, I could care less about him not paying his taxes on a driver he employed to take him around town in a car. Nor do I care about Tim Geithner's tax problems or anybody else's tax problems. For heaven's sake, we elected a complete idiot for eight years and somehow he was allowed to escape practically unharmed by the media and now a lowly department head gets the ax grinded into him and has to withdraw his nomination??? We had Rummy issuing torture memos and orders to violate international treaties, and where was Anderson Cooper's outrage then? The VP is holding secret meetings with oil industry lobbyists and never a word said or uttered. Where was the NY Times editorial board then? Oh, yeah the NY Times was too busy employing figure heads who took the notes passed along by the VP's guy pal Scooter and printing them on page A1 all in an effort to appear patriotic. Well where is their patriotism now?

All this has done has poured more blood into the water, just as the stimulus bill is going to be voted on in the Senate. Now, watch every Repub but three or four will vote against the stimulus bill and all will have been for naught. Are we to allow every editorial board in this country the right to veto a president's pick to head an agency? Who sits on the NY Times editorial board anyone? And what exactly is their expertise when it comes to dealing with issues that face the country. The NY Times will be an online only publication in about 10 years, so apparently they're not even good at what they're supposed to be good at! Are we going to allow the minority party to dictate the stimulus bill? The reason why they're the minority party is because a minority of Americans agrees with them. Include them in the discussions, but I would rather see no Repubs vote for a bill than to see half of them vote for it, because in the latter's instance something would definitely be wrong with the final bill.

I suppose it's good to get all of the bad stuff out of the way now. Although, the timing really sucks. The president is going to be speaking to all the networks tonight and instead of talking about trying to reboot the economy and pass his stimulus package, the network anchors are all going to imitate O'Reilly and Limbaugh and try and outmaneuver each other on who can play the best gotcha, inside-Washington parlor game. No wonder good help is hard to find in DC. Who would want to go through this process?

Patricia enters and has her turn:

I am glad! Really! O campaigned on CHANGE and with the treas. sec. and Daschle's IRS problems and all Daschle's connections, I thought this a.m.: What has changed? I say; GOOD RIDDANCE. It was like all his own cronies coming out of the woodwk to talk about how great he is. Oh yeah, if he's so great you mean to tell me he didn't know about the $ due to the IRS 'til Jan.? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. He got caught wi. his pants down and oh no, he paid the IRS and now it looks like he could have put it off even longer! Poor old Tom. I guess he'll now have to forgo the taxis he started taking yesterday to Cap Hill for his limousine. Cry me a river.

Jason replies:

HAHAHA, cry me a river, yes. I don't feel sorry for Daschle. All these public officials should no better. My point has more to do with the media. We just found out that billions of dollars of our money was spent by Wall Street on bonuses and where is the media outrage? You don't see those managers of CEOs getting fired or having to repay the money? Why aren't those people blacklisted like these appointments to be cabinet secretary? It seems that they made mistakes and they have owned up to their mistakes and then some but still they get crucified? This is the kind of thing which led that guy in the Clinton admin to kill himself. It's petty, stupid, and ridiculous at a time when the country needs the best and the brightest to handle our nation's most stressing problems, and the NY Times editorial board is wasting its space on this??? Good thing I never went through with my daily subscription to them. I hope that ten years from now their print addition will be in a museum along with the dinosaurs!!!

Maureen squeaks:

p., relatively speaking, i think i am with jason on this one. m.

DeeDee comes in and adds her two cents:

Daschle knew he has tax problems but didn't take care of it immediately. Why didn't he tell the truth to Obama team? That should solve all the probs from the beginning.

OK, bets?

Patricia exclaims with vengeance:

I totally agree, DeeDee! Like whatzizsis name at Treas. now. Daschle didn't pay the tax since he thought he could get away with it until discovered by the vetting process. You'd think someone wi. that much $ would consider his tax debt a mite, but oh no, those greedy pigs get greedier. Show me to the trough, please, so I can load up some more.

What president has had this much trouble wi. so many Cabinet nominees so early in the game? Oh, oh...I can hear the Washington insider comments growing by leaps and bounds.

DeeDee responds:

Tim Geithner.. oh no, there's another one in line, Obama's choice for Chief Performance Officer..via TPM..

Presidents need to think big, isolate the source of problems and act to fix them. So I think Obama needs to abolish the IRS so his appointees can get confirmed and his program move forward. (Ed's note added later: Abolish the IRS....oh, hahaha, tweedledum and tweedledee, hahaha. Then who would pay for the Fat Cats' Bailouts? hahaha)

Jason fumes and adds a diatribe by Andrew Sullivan which The Editor chose to omit since this is getting lengthy and is anyone still reading?

From Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic: just goes to show what a truly shameful thing that has happened. Now we’ll get an more second-rate nominee who will have no clout to do anything about the uninsured, sky-high insurance rates, prescription drug costs, all of that. All because of petty, Washington politics. It’s a good thing I no longer live anywhere near the place. I would be ashamed.

Patricia's anger is not assuaged:

Yep, Daschle certainly knew the industry all right since it forked over to him $zillions. Line thy pockets, knave! Why, methinks this rings true of Duchess Clinton, TO WIT. Prayeth, what change hath El Presidente Obama wrought with his Knights of Greed?

Jason exclaims as he drives out of sight:

Oh you are going to hang on this one!!!!!
The Politico is reporting that Phil Bredesen, Jim Cooper, Howard Dean, and Bill Bradley are possibilities for HHS Secretary!

Patricia cries:

Show me the noose!