Psycho Celebrity Spotlight

How Stella Got her Groove Back?
Turns out, with a gay guy looking to become a U.S. citizen.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Author Terry McMillan has filed for divorce from the man who inspired the 1996 novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back, which chronicled the romantic adventures of a 40-something woman who falls for a guy half her age.

In papers filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court, McMillan, 53, says she decided to end her 6 1/2-year marriage to Jonathan Plummer, 30, after learning he is gay.

The revelation led her to conclude Plummer married only to get his U.S. citizenship, she said.

McMillan met Plummer at a Jamaican resort a decade ago.

"It was devastating to discover that a relationship I had publicized to the world as life-affirming and built on mutual love was actually based on deceit," she said in court papers. "I was humiliated."

In response, Plummer maintained McMillan treated him with "homophobic" scorn bordering on harassment since he came out to her as gay just before Christmas.

McMillan is seeking to have the marriage annulled; Plummer has asked the court to set aside a prenuptial agreement that would prevent him from getting spousal support.

Ah, what a shame. But, if Ms. McMillan fails in court to protect her money from the gold-digger, I smell a sequel: How Stella Got Her Money Back . . . With an ice-pick.

Your kids should go to Iraq . . .

. . . not mine. Or ours. Just yours.

"And to those watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces. We live in freedom because every generation has produced patriots willing to serve a cause greater than themselves. "

- George W. Bush, June 29, 2005.

But what about Barbara and Jenna, George? What about your own daughters? What about Barbara and Jenna? You declared the damn war, you say it must be fought, why not risk some of your own family's precious blue blood? And what about all your buddies in Congress, George, banging the drums of war? How about the fact that of the 600 members of the Congresssional country club, only 5 have kids serving in Iraq. . .

Send your own, I say, then we'll send ours. Send your own, George, into harm's way and then you'll be a leader and someone who we'll follow.

Until that time, never again ask others to give up what you will not.

And now, a few words . . .

. . . from our Propaganda Department! Stay Tuned!

C. William Boyer

Nutshell Reader's Digest version of a New York Times (oh, c'mon, not the New York Times!) article about the Bush Administration's attempt to control, or at least manage, the news we hear:

The former head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (the folks who put out Sesame Street and Masterpiece Theatre and the Jim Lehrer NewsHour), former CPB head Kenneth Tomlinson paid a gentleman by the name of Fred Mann $14,170 to monitor Bill Moyer's program NOW (a program since canceled). Essentially, Mr. Mann would monitor the program and on the transcript mark passages 'L' for Liberal, 'C' for Conservative or simply "anti-administration."

Why is this small thing a problem? Because the former head of Public Broadcasting is a Bush-administration appointee who, it would appear, attempted to 'manage' Public Broadcasting's journalistic output, to manage it to be more amiable to Bush Administration objectives and is just one more way the neo-conservatives under Mr. Bush have taken over first the GOP [full-disclosure: I voted Republican in every single election and on every single ticket until 2004] and now the country.

By the way? Corporation for Public Broadcasting head Mr. Tomlinson attempted to cover up the payment of $14,000.

That makes me feel kind of icky. The government attempting to control the news? Why, it sounds a little like . . .

WELCOME, COMRADES, TO THE NEW SOVIET UNION.

Now, consider that at least 4 journalists were caught taking what effectively amount to bribes, people like Armstrong Williams ,who received $241,000 to tout No Child Left Behind, people paid to shill the administration's party line on news programs without full-disclosure in what amounts to propaganda . . .

prop·a·gan·da: The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.

Smart kids know that propaganda paid for with government funds is illegal by federal law: B-106139, JANUARY 18, 1952, 31 COMP. GEN. 311.

Now, what's the ironic upshot of this? The White House has refused to investigate the incident. In fact, the White House has BLOCKED the Congressional investigation launched after disclosure of Armstrong Williams' contract in January. Unfortunately, the White House refused to allow investigators to interview all officials who may have had knowledge of the Williams contract.

And let's not forget the Horatio Alger-like story of Jeff Gannon. For those who don't remember, he was the one-time White House correspondent/gay prostitute (I am not making this up) who was granted daily passes to presidential press-briefings. Actually, his name is James Dale Guckert, but he operated under an alias. [Don't White House reporters undergo background checks? Wouldn't an 'alias' be discovered?-ed Normally, yes, but somehow Gannon/Guckert's alias passed government security scrutiny; good thing he wasn't a terrorist.] Though never published by any mainstream medium, with his only exposure being on the website TalonNews.com, owned by Republican organization G.O.P.USA, Gannon was frequently called upon by Mr. Bush during briefings to ask pre-scripted questions.

Here's my personel favorite, from the January, 26 2005 presidential briefing. Gannon asks Mr. Bush:

"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was talking about soup lines. And Senator Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath they say that social security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work – you've said you are going to reach out to these people – how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?" [Italics mine.]

[Wasn't Guckert's reference to Sen. Harry Reid "talking about soup lines" proven false? Didn't it originate from a characterization Rush Limbaugh made on his syndicated radio program?- ed Thanks a lot, smarty-pants, I was just gonna bring that up! Hey, who's writing this column, anyway? Butt out!]

Let's see: the party in power controls the Presidency. The party in power controls the Supreme Court. The party in power controls the Congress. The party in power controls the Justice Department. The party in power moves to manipulate and control the media reporting upon its abuses of power. When abuses of power are finally revealed, the party in power obstructs investigations into wrong-doing because it has de-facto complete control of the government . . .

Toto, I get the feeling were not in Kansas anymore.

WELCOME, COMRADES, TO THE NEW AND IMPROVED SOVIET UNION.

Post-Script add 1:

The new Corporation for Public Broadcasting president is none other than Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

Oh, boy, can't wait to see the Fair and Balanced programs she rolls out.

Post-Script add 2: From our Sublimely Humorous Files:

Consider that Jeff Gannon is a Republican and how Republicans feel about homosexuals. Now consider that prior to becoming a journalist working for Talon News, Guckert was involved with homosexual pornography and possibly prostitution. Guckert had registered several domain names of a sexual nature, including Hotmilitarystud.com and Militaryescorts4m.com. Guckert later said that he had registered the domain names for a client who ended up not using them. Many sexually explicit photos of Guckert existed online, with accompanying ads appearing to offer himself as a gay prostitute for clients seeking a military type. When these ads became public, Gannon commented that these activities were in his "past," however some noted that many of his online gay profiles were still active after he had resigned from Talon News.

Ironic Sub-point: During the 2004 election, Guckert/Gannon wrote that John Kerry "might someday be known as ‘the first gay president,’" and that Kerry had supported "the pro-gay agenda."

Ah, c'mon, Jeff. Don't be such a bitter 'swish'. [Is that a gay bash?-ed No, and shut the hell up!]

Zombie Dogs . . .

. . . created in the lab!

Question: Do they like dry food or wet?

By C. William Boyer

This just in from the Weird Wire:

AP June 27, 2005

SCIENTISTS have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans. US scientists have succeeded in reviving the dogs after three hours of clinical death, paving the way for trials on humans within years.

Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed a technique in which subject's veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution. The animals are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity. But three hours later, their blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life with an electric shock.

Plans to test the technique on humans should be realised within a year, according to the Safar Centre. However rather than sending people to sleep for years, then bringing them back to life to benefit from medical advances, the scientists would be happy to keep people in this state for just a few hours, But even a this should be enough to save lives such as battlefield casualties and victims of stabbings or gunshot wounds, who have suffered huge blood loss.

During the procedure blood is replaced with saline solution at a few degrees above zero. The dogs' body temperature drops to only 7C, compared with the usual 37C, inducing a state of hypothermia before death. Although the animals are clinically dead, their tissues and organs are perfectly preserved. Damaged blood vessels and tissues can then be repaired via surgery. The dogs are brought back to life by returning the blood to their bodies,giving them 100 percent oxygen and applying electric shocks to restart their hearts. Tests show they are perfectly normal, with no brain damage.

"The results are stunning. I think in 10 years we will be able to prevent death in a certain segment of those using this technology," said one US battlefield doctor.

Yeah, but what about Disney's head? Or Bush's brain for that matter? Can they be revived?
Hell no. Even Jesus couldn't bring Bush's Brain back from the dead.

Karl Rove says Liberals are soft on Terrorists?

Well, then what about his own president?

C. William Boyer

Speaking to the Conservative Party of New York State on Wednesday night, Karl Rove said: "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

Well, actually, Democrats wanted our attackers apprehended. In the days following 9-11, the Democrats, liberal and centrist alike, voted in tandem with Republicans in the Senate to deliver a 98-0 mandate to President Bush to bring Osama Bin Laden and the others responsible for this horrible act to justice.

The person, apparently, who didn't feel the same sense of urgency was none other than President George W. Bush (President Chicken Hawk to his friends) who said:

"I don't know where [Osama Bid Laden] is.You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about him." [President Bush, Press Conference, March 13, 2002]

So much different than his speech before a joint session of Congress on September 17, 2001 in the haunting days that followed 9-11:

"I want justice. And there's an old poster out west, that I recall, that said, ``Wanted, Dead or Alive.''

Dick Cheney: Unhinged

How old is Dick Cheney? Is it too early to begin wondering if his mind's been overtaken by senile dementia? Does he ever make a factually correct statement?

Here are a few quotes he's made:

ON THE GUANTANAMO DETAINEES:

"They're very well treated down there. They're living in the tropics. They're well fed. They've got everything they could possibly want." Vice-President Dick Cheney, June 23, 2005 in a CNN interview.

"Guantanamo Bay has become the gulag of our times." Amnesty International, May 2005.

Love the Veep's "they're living in the tropics," throwaway line. Tee hee hee. Who writes his stuff? A career in comedy for them!

Pssst . . . let'cha in on a little secret: these detainee characters--- uncharged for any crime, mind you, just imprisoned---- yes, they're living in the tropics . . . but in cages for crying out loud. Not exactly the stuff of a Club Med vacay, tropics, sub-tropics or your aunt Mabel's summer cabin in Minnetonka. And as far as having "everything they could possibly want", betcha they want their freedom.

"Room Service? Yeah, this is cage 322. Listen, can you send me up one of those cotton robes and some champagne? Yeah, the Dom. Oh, and throw in my freedom, too, wouldja? You can charge it to my AMEX."

ON THE STATUS OF THE IRAQI INSURGENCY:

"I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." To Larry King, June 20, 2005

"In terms of the overall strength of the insurgency, I'd say it's about the same as it was. . . . . . there are more foreign fighters entering Iraq today than there were six months ago." General John Abizaid, Commander, US Forces Persian Gulf, June 24, 2005.

Wait, maybe we can chalk this up to the glass half-full, half-empty paradox, right? Dick's not a liar, he's an eternal optimist.

ON WHAT IRAQ WOULD BE LIKE:

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." Dick Cheney to Tim Russert, March 16, 2003.

Latest casualty update: 1730 US troops dead, 6442 maimed for life.

Some darn greeting.

Is anyone else worried that this guy's a heartbeat from the presidency?

Guess The Quote . . .

. . . and Win a Flak Jacket!

C. William Boyer

"[We] have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. [We] have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiqués are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows... Our unfortunate troops,... under hard conditions of climate and supply, are policing an immense area, paying dearly every day in lives for the willfully wrong policy of the civil administration in Baghdad."

Hmmm. Save for the good diction, sounds like it could be from last week. But, it's actually . . . tuh-DUH . . . T.E. Lawrence, Sunday Times of London, August 22, 1920.

Same shit, different century.

"Because 'Lie' is a dirty word . . .

. . . the marketing department came up with something so much fresher."

By C William Boyer

Remember when Bill Clinton argued the meaning of the word 'is'? A classic bit of grammatical legerdemain, it went like this:

"It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If 'is' means 'is and never has been' that's one thing - if it means 'there is none', that was a completely true statement."

Hunh? Okay. Whatever. Now we've got San Diego Congressman Randy 'Duke' Cunningham [R] embroiled in a, uh, situation. Seems the honorable congressman from the great state of California recently sold his house for 1.675 million dollars. Now, given San Diego's superheated real-estate prices, it was probably a three bedroom house with one of those backyards no bigger than a king-sized bed, but something real curious happened a few months later. Seems the fellow who bought the esteemed congressman's house sold it ---- did we mention San Diego's super-heated, over-speculated real-estate market?---- and get this: he LOST MONEY! Lost 700,000 bucks!

SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- In an astonishing turn of events today, a San Diego businessman is reported to have lost money in the San Diego real estate market. This strange phenomenon, in which a parcel of property is purchased at one price and then subsequently sold for less (dubbed a LOSS in technical real estate jargon and losing your ass to the average man) the loss-phenomenon was last seen in the late-80s and very early 90's. Paleo-economists at the Poindexter Intitute of Money were shocked to discover a living remnant of the California real-estatius lossium virus, having believed it eradicated in California except for a few small samples locked in a vault in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills.

Okay, I've gotta ask: who the hell loses close to three-quarters of a million dollars in San Diego's maddeningly over-priced real-estate market? This guy must be some kind of nitwit, right?

Well, actually, he's not a nitwit, he's Mitchell Wade, head of the defense contracting firm MZM Inc. Defense contractors, you know, they do business with the government via contracts doled out by the house defense appropriations committee. In MZM Inc's case, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. And who sits on the house defense appropriations committee and helped secure all that juicy government booty?

All you smart kids who guessed Randy 'Duke' Cunningham get a star.

So, what are we to conclude from this?

1) Mitchell Wade, head of the defense contracting firm MZM Inc., is the only person in the last five years to lose money in the San Diego real-estate market (did we mention home prices are skyrocketing at a clip of 25% annually?) and paid 700,000 more than the home's market worth [Aren't homes generally appraised before sale? Isn't it unlikely an appraiser would err by nearly 70% on the home's worth?--ed Nice point, Nickle-dick, but not necessarily. Mitchell Wade's company is making a lot of money and he's probably drawing a pretty hefty salary if he's a typical American CEO and hence might not have needed a loan and therefore never gone through the appraisal process; unlikely, yes, but not impossible.] . If he's that stupid, losing 700 large on a house, I wonder how good his MZM, Inc. defense products are? Hmmm. On second thought, remember the $700 hammers and $2000 toilet seats the Pentagon got caught buying a few years back?

Okay, so it's either that, or . . .

2) Mitchell Wade, head of the defense contracting firm MZM Inc., in a bid to 'fix' the appropriations system and land millions of dollars more in government contracts, essentially bribed Congressman Cunningham with 700 grand in slush money.

Here's a word defined: Bribe: n. Something, such as money or a favor, offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person's views or conduct; illegal payment in exchange for favors or influence.

I don't know, call me cynical, but I'm putting my money on the second horse. Bribery, c'mon, Bribery!

Which brings us to marketing department's take on that old and nasty three-letter word: Lie. Lie has now been re-branded as a comprehensive statement.

With the revelations hitting the news like a turd in a punchbowl, Mr. Cunningham was asked to comment on the public perceptions of his house sale. A statement released by Cunningham's office Friday said the congressman was "working on a comprehensive statement that will address issues that have been raised recently."

Ooo, I like that. Can you imagine when you were a teenager, getting caught sneaking in the house at 4 am and stinking of beer and your dad demanding to know what you'd been doing?

"Dad, I'm working on a comprehensive statement that will address issues that have been raised recently."

No, that wouldn't work in my boyhood house nor yours, but in the big House on Capitol Hill, it just might. In the lexicon of the political class, Mr. Cunnigham's "comprehensive statement" will turn out to be nothing more than a carefully constructed lie.

By the way, here's a link to the San Diego Union article that broke the story.

Yeah, Yeah, 'They' keep saying it's not another Vietnam. . . .

. . . but the damn facts keep getting in the way.

C. William Boyer

A.P. June 17, 2005

The U.S. military charged a Staff Sergeant from the New York National Guard with murdering his two commanders at a base outside Baghdad, in what is believed to be the first case of an American soldier in Iraq accused of killing his superiors.
The military initially concluded that the June 7 deaths of Capt. Phillip T. Esposito, of Suffern, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen, of Milford, Pa., were caused by a mortar round.

But this week the military charged Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez of Troy, N.Y., with two counts of premeditated murder, according to a statement issued in Baghdad on Thursday.

There was a name for this activity in Vietnam: fragging. See, it seems back in the late 60s, America was embroiled in an unpopular and quite often nasty war in a far away land with a difficult-to-define enemy fought under false pretenses, and . . . Holy crap! Is that Vietnam? Or is it Iraq? More people are getting killed in Iraq at similar stages in the war . . .

Dang, you can almost SEE how people are making comparisons between the two wars and-----

Oh, no, that's just petty liberal pessimism.

Support the troops!



KILL THE MESSENGER! KILL THE DAMN MESSENGER!

. . . and the bad stuff will all just go away.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House and Senate Republicans on Thursday assailed a Democrat for comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. It is "beyond belief" that llinois Sen. Dick Durbin would compare the treatment of dangerous enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay to the death of millions of innocent people by oppressive governments, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think the senator's remarks are reprehensible. It's a real disservice to our men and women in uniform who adhere to high standards and uphold our values and our laws," he said.

The thing about this story you've got to love is that Senator Durbin's committed the massive sin here of calling out the emperor's clothing gaffe. Never mind the emperor didn't dress himself, nor did his ministers inform him of his nakedness, the problem here is that someone dared speak out.

What the Bushies fail to understand is that it's not good enough to be BETTER than Stalin and his Gulag, or the Nazis and their concentration camps. We're AMERICAN FOR GOD'S SAKE! We are the GOOD GUYS! We don't lock people up in camps off the American mainland, hood them, deprive them of food and water, possibly beat them and engage in legalistically defined torture because, again, WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS. Or at least, that's what we used to be considered.

From the expose INSIDE THE REPUBLICAN MIND:

You've got to absolutely love White House Spokesman McClellan's line "It's a real disservice to ourmen and women in uniform who adhere to high standards and uphold our values and our laws." You cynical bastard! How dare you hide behind the unsoiled skirts of our soldiers. We aren't talking about them and their actions. We're talking about you and your policies. Don't play Follow The Birdie and try and draw away attention. YOU are the ones who dictated that America would arrest people in foreign lands, deny them the protection of the Geneva Convention and access to legal counsel. Never was Pfc. 1st Class Newsome or Sergeant Enright accused of deciding this, merely of carrying out their orders.

Some day, the average American will recognize this standard trick of the GOP to draw attention away from the act and on to the reporting. This is epitomized by the Newsweek farce. Right. Blame Newsweek for causing innocent loss of life in the middle-east with it's reporting of the Koran abuses. Claim incompetence, malfeasance and irresponsibility. Demand a retraction. But when the following week, YOUR OWN PENTAGON ADMITS TO AT LEAST 5 EVENTS AS REPORTED . . . shhhhh . . . don't say a word.

Day 2

Nine apparently not enough

Maybe it's just me, but I would think that, after already having 5 kids, someone should not be eligible for fertility drugs. Aren't five children enough for one couple? Apparently not. A Queensland, Australia woman will soon stand at 9 children from two quad-births (not twins, quads) and the Missus says, "Having another quad would just be the bees knees."

Somebody please remove her ovaries. Please.

A Blog is Born

Welcome to Reasonable Rant, the 8 millionth-some blog on the web, where the blogosphere serves up more blogs than MacDonald's serves burgers. In the spirit of carrying the metaphor too far, we're gonna be the cholestoral that gums up the theo-neo-con body Republican, the cheese on the media and celebrity shit enchilada.

Nuff said. Let's get it going.


Run Away Bride, Run Away Sanity

Further proof of America's boundless opportunity for those with the pluck to seize it . . .

Remember the Runaway Bride? Yeah, she was the one who ditched her fiance at the altar, jumped on a bus and headed for Vegas. Vegas! Who-yeah! After scaring the crap out of her family and friends, embarrassing her would-be husband, dominating the airwaves and media for a week, costing law-enforcement tens of thousands of dollars, we get this:

"New York superagent Judith Regan has bought the rights to the life stories of run-away bride Jennifer Wilbanks and her fiance after offering them $500,000 for a package that -- in an unusual twist -- included the first news interview with the couple. NBC anchor Katie Couric interviewed the couple last weekend for an hour-long prime-time special to air Tuesday. . . "

Ain't that sweet? Love (and money) are in the air.


Ooo, the Liberals are coming, the LIBERALS are coming.

This is so typically Republican: The link on the front page of Matt Drudge's website: Shock: Kansas Abortionist Suspected of Eating Fetuses leads to a World Net Daily article (Pat Buchanan's right-wing posting site) and will cause some/many/all think-not-at-all Red Staters to begin debating and preparing for this new onslaught of the horrible left.

"Hide the fetuses, Mildred, the abortionists are coming!"

Never mind it's some employee's absurd claim the fetuses were being eaten. Microwaved, prior, giving new meaning to the phrase 'tater-tot'.

Sub-point I: This is remeniscent of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, claiming Jews ate Christian babies.

Sub-point II: It'll probably get picked up by Hannity and boys and girls at Fox and be the main point on O'Reilly: "Fetus-eating abortionists. Do we as a country have to accept it? That's next in the No-Spin Zone."

Extra-credit question: Anybody know what fetuses taste like?


SPECIAL FROM OUR IRAQ, THE UNTOLD STORY DEPARTMENT:

Despite what we're being told about Iraq's progress toward a civilized nation of peace and prosperity, numbers are not bearing it out. May featured the sixth highest daily-killed number since Bush declared Mission Accomplished at 2.84 deaths per day. June is currently at 2.87 and stands to be the third deadliest if the rate continues. Also, when it's claimed Iraq is no Vietnam, the claimant is correct. As the following website shows, at the same stage of the war, Iraq is deadlier than Vietnam . So, once again, we are being 'sold' overly optimistic claims, sold, basically, more lies.

IRAQ: ADD 1

From a NY Times article today:

"The Tal Afar police force disintegrated last fall, and the few who remain stay
in an ancient hilltop castle, afraid to venture out. Commanders here caution
troops to assume that anyone on the street dressed as a policeman is an impostor. Insurgents wearing police uniforms shoot at American helicopters and threaten residents."

THIS is progress? To ASSUME people dressed as policeman are insurgents? For the cops to hide out in the police station?

And this:

"We have a finite number of troops," said Maj. Chris Kennedy, executive officer
of the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, which arrived in Tal Afar several weeks
ago. "But if you pull out of an area and don't leave security forces in it, all you're going to do is leave the door open for them to come back. This is what our lack of combat power has done to us throughout the country."

Yet we're constantly assured by our president that US military commanders can have all the troops they need. They just need to ask, right?

Oh, yeah, our boys and girls will be out of Iraq in no time.

IRAQ ADD 1.1

As reported on this website, the casualty rate for June has risen to 3.12 deaths per day, from 2.87, as reported two days ago.

Yeah, things are really getting better.


IRAQ ADD 2


If take the time to read this article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060902245.html you'll realize our boys and girls will never come home having succeeded. Many won't come home at all.

The Iraqi army can't take control of it's country and free up US soldiers. It can't even be trusted to be told where it's going on missions:

" . . . The Iraqi soldiers had no clue where they were going. They shrugged their shoulders when asked what they would do. The U.S. military had billed the mission as pivotal in the Iraqis' progress as a fighting force but had kept the destination and objectives secret out of fear the Iraqis would leak the information to insurgents.

"We can't tell these guys about a lot of this stuff, because we're not really sure who's good and who isn't," said Rick McGovern, a tough-talking 37-year-old platoon sergeant from Hershey, Pa., who heads the military training for Charlie Company."

They are considered cowards by US Soldiers:

"As Arab men, they want for us to think that they're just the same as us as soldiers, that they're just as brave," Lieutenant Joseph Cato said. "But they show cowardice. They'll say to me, 'I wasn't afraid.' But if you're running, then you were obviously not just afraid, you were running away."

And they hate us:

Along dirt roads bisected by sewage canals, the men of Charlie Company crouched, their weapons ready. Before them was their home town, dilapidated and neglected. Iraqi Cpl. Amir Omar, 19, gazed ahead.
"Look at the homes of the Iraqis," he said, a handkerchief concealing his face. "The people have been destroyed."
By whom? he was asked.
"Them," Omar said, pointing at the U.S. Humvees leading the patrol.

Meanwhile, the President and all his generals continue to say things are improving. It's a lie, just like the sell-job leading up to the war was a lie. I find myself asking: Will this Theatre of the Absurd ever end? If it weren't so deadly, it would be comical.