Troops Question Chicken Hawks

Poll of troops in Iraq sees 72% support for withdrawal within a year Stars & Stripes
"The survey of 944 troops, conducted in Iraq between Jan. 18 and Feb. 14, said that only 23 percent of servicemembers thought U.S. forces should stay “as long as they are needed.”

Of the 72 percent, 22 percent said troops should leave within the next six months, and 29 percent said they should withdraw “immediately.” Twenty-one percent said the U.S. military presence should end within a year; 5 percent weren’t sure.

The poll also shows that 42 percent of the troops surveyed are unsure of their mission in Iraq, and that 85 percent believe a major reason they were sent into war was “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the Sept. 11 attacks.” Ninety-three percent said finding and destroying weapons of mass destruction is not a reason for the ongoing military action."

Civil War Looms With 66 Killed in Baghdad

“Baghdad's main morgue reported yesterday that more than 1,300 Iraqis have died in grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.” Bush Urges Unity in Iraq Government By Daniela Deane Washington Post

“In the year since the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has repeatedly shifted its justification for going to war and constantly changed its story on intelligence, the United Nations, reconstruction, political transition and the cost to the American taxpayer. More than anything, the administration's war in Iraq resembles a software program that, at first, works brilliantly, but then catches the user in a cycle of ‘fatal error’ messages.”See, Why We Went In: Version 10.0 by P.J. Crowley and Robert O. Boorstin March 19, 2004
The Versions:
* Version 1.0 - Saddam Hussein is an imminent threat
* Version 1.01 - Saddam Hussein is a gathering threat
* Version 1.02 - Saddam Hussein poses a real and dangerous threat
* Version 1.1 - The smoking gun will be a mushroom cloud
* Version 1.2 - We can't afford to wait
* Version 1.3 - We never said imminent
* Version 1.3.1 - OK, maybe we did say it once or twice
* Version 1.4 - We should have been more precise

Saddam Hussein is ready to use weapons of mass destruction.

* Version 2.1 - Saddam has weapons of mass destruction
* Version 2.2 - Saddam has nuclear weapons
* Version 2.3 - Saddam has biological agents he's never accounted for
* Version 2.3.1 - The trailers are mobile labs for producing chemical weapons
* Version 2.3.2 - Unmanned aircraft are ready to spread Saddam's biological weapons
* Version 2.4 - Saddam's going to make more of all these weapons
* Version 2.5 - We all know where the weapons are
* Version 2.5.1 - Well, Saddam has used weapons of mass destruction
* Version 2.5.2 - Iraq is a big country. We'll find the weapons eventually.
* Version 2.5.3 - Saddam had weapons of mass destruction programs
* Version 2.5.4 - Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction program related activities"
* Version 2.5.5 - David Kay? Who's David Kay?
* Version 2.6 - It's not about misleading the American people - Saddam Hussein is gone and that's the most important thing

The intelligence is clear.

* Version 3.0 - We based our statements on our available intelligence
* Version 3.1 - Saddam tried to buy uranium ore in Niger
* Version 3.1.2 - Well, that was what the British told us
* Version 3.1.3 - Did we tell you about Joe Wilson's wife?
* Version 3.1.4 - Do you know a good lawyer?
* Version 3.2 - The intelligence is absolutely clear
* Version 3.2.1 - Intelligence is never 100 percent certain
* Version 3.2.2 - We didn't manipulate the intelligence
* Version 3.3 - There was no consensus within the intelligence community
* Version 3.3.1 - We saw the same intelligence the last Administration did

Saddam Hussein has deep ties to al Qaeda.

* Version 4.0 - Saddam has long-standing ties to al Qaeda
* Version 4.0.1 - You can't distinguish between Saddam and al Qaeda
* Version 4.0.2 - There is an al Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq
* Version 4.0.3 - Saddam has provided al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training.
* Version 4.0.4 - Saddam will give his weapons to al Qaeda
* Version 4.0.5 - Colin Powell: I have not seen smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection [between al Qaeda and Iraq]
* Version 4.0.6 - Vice President Cheney: I still believe there's a connection.
* Version 4.0.7 - CIA Director George Tenet: I told Dick not to say that.

The United Nations just can't handle this.

* Version 5.0 - The UN had 12 years to deal with this
* Version 5.1 - We don't trust the UN to handle this
* Version 5.1.1 - We don't need the UN's help
* Version 5.1.2 - The UN should play a vital, but not central role
* Version 5.1.3 - You there, UN, tell Ayatollah Sistani that elections aren't possible
* Version 5.1.4 - UN, please oversee the election process
* Version 5.1.5 - Pretty please? We'll pay our dues

The war in Iraq won't hurt our efforts in Afghanistan or the hunt for Bin Laden.

* Version 6.0 - Iraq won't affect our hunt for bin Laden
* Version 6.1 - Assets have been moved from Afghanistan to Iraq
* Version 6.1.1 - Assets are being returned to Afghanistan
* Version 6.2 - We're mounting a spring offensive against bin Laden
* Version 6.2.1 - We'll catch bin Laden this year
* Version 6.2.2 - We hope to catch bin Laden this year
* Version 6.3 - Even if we catch bin Laden, the threat will still exist.

Mission accomplished.

* Version 7.0 - We won't need hundreds of thousands of troops - that's wildly off the mark
* Version 7.1 - Mission accomplished
* Version 7.1.1 - We'll stay as long as needed and not one day more
* Version 7.1.2 - The troops will be home in six months
* Version 7.1.3 - The Iraqi Army will provide security
* Version 7.1.4 - Where's the Iraqi Army?
* Version 7.1.5 - We've disbanded the Iraqi Army
* Version 7.1.3 - The troops will stay a year and be replaced
* Version 7.2 - We're training the Iraqi army - Iraqification will work
* Version 7.2.1 - We don't need any more American troops
* Version 7.2.2 - Well, maybe we do
* Version 7.2.3 - We're keeping 30,000 more troops on active duty than were authorized
* Version 7.2.4 - We don't know if this increase in troops is a spike or a plateau
* Version 7.2.5 - We're establishing stop loss so troops can't leave
* Version 7.2.6 - The Army is planning multi-year rotations

The cost to the American taxpayer.

* Version 8.0 - Economic advisor Larry Lindsey: The war will cost $200 billion
* Version 8.0.1 - President Bush: You're fired!
* Version 8.1 - The war will pay for itself very quickly
* Version 8.1.1 - Iraqi oil revenue will pay for reconstruction
* Version 8.2 - Our allies will help us
* Version 8.3 - We'll pay for the war through supplementals
* Version 8.3.1 - Congress wouldn't let us put it in the budget
* Version 8.3.2 - Can we please have $87 billion?
* Version 8.3.3 - Well, we really can't calculate what it will cost…
* Version 8.3.4 - Well, maybe we can - $50 billion may be on the low side
* Version 8.3.5 - Ask us after November 2…

Democracy comes to Iraq.

* Version 9.0 - We will be greeted as liberators
* Version 9.0.1 - We'll establish democracy in Iraq
* Version 9.1 We'll turn this back to the Iraqis quickly
* Version 9.1.1 - President Chalabi will be welcomed with open arms
* Version 9.1.2 - Well, not so fast - we're prohibiting political parties
* Version 9.2 - We have the November 15 agreement - it's unchangeable
* Version 9.2.1 - We will appoint a small governing council
* Version 9.2.2 - Well, maybe a larger one
* Version 9.3 - We don't favor elections
* Version 9.3.1 - Caucuses work in Iowa, why not Iraq?
* Version 9.3.2 - OK fine, we'll have elections
* Version 9.4 - We can't return sovereignty until there is a constitution
* Version 9.4.1 - Nevermind, we'll turn over sovereignty first
* Version 9.4.2 - We need to return this to the Iraqis - How about June 30?
* Version 9.4.3 - We're still focused on elections – the ones on November 2

The bottom line.

* Version 10.0 - Trust us. We know what we're doing

I have not had one word from her

Congratulations to Effa Manley. I’m glad that there is now a woman in the the Baseball Hall of Fame, but leaving Minnie Minoso out took some of the joy out of it for me. More on that later. Here's one of Sappho's poems.





I have not had one word from her

Frankly I wish I were dead
When she left, she wept

a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."

I said, "Go, and be happy
but remember (you know
well) whom you leave shackled by love

"If you forget me, think
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared

"all the violet tiaras,
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck

"myrrh poured on your head
and on soft mats girls with
all that they most wished for beside them

"while no voices chanted
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring without song..."

By Sappho--Translated by Mary Barnard

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley

American Prisoner of War camps:
Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan - Human Rights First's new report provides the first comprehensive accounting of U.S. the government's handling of the nearly 100 cases of detainees who have died in U.S. custody since 2002
&
New Documents Provide Further Evidence That Senior Officials Approved Abuse of Prisoners at Guantánamo
&
You Can Do Anything with a Bayonet Except Sit on It

Endangered

It is so quiet on the shore of this motionless lake
you can hear the slow recessional of extinct animals
as they leave through a door at the back of the world,
disappearing like the verbs of a dead language:

the last troop of kangaroos hopping out of the picture,
the ultimate paddling of ducks and pitying of turtledoves
and, his bell rolling in the distance, the final goat.
-- From Questions About Angels, by Billy Collins

& about saving what's left:

Just how far should we go to save the last of a species? Jeffrey A McNeely, the chief scientist at IUCN-The World Conservation Union, argues in this week's Green Room that even a little effort can reap huge reward. - BBC

Apes

One day apes made their grab for power.
Gold seal-rings,
starched shirts,
aromatic Havanas,
feet squashed into patent leather.
Deeply involved in our other pursuits,
we didn’t notice: someone read Aristotle,
someone else was wholly in love.
Rulers’ speeches became somewhat more chaotic,
they even gibbered, but still,
when did we ever really listen? Music was better.
Wars: ever more savage; prisons:
stinking worse than before.
Apes, it seems, made their grab for power.

Poem by Adam Zagajewski, from Without End

Bill Moyers on: Restoring The Public Trust

On the Virg is entering a new stage of softer more sensitive posting. The remaining days of February will be devoted to poetry. Here is the first of many delightful poems. Oh, before you immerse yourself in these poems, you may want to link to Environmental Health News for stories such as: Exelon Nuclear Plant routinely leaks radioactive tritium into Wilmington's water supply.

PURITY
My favorite time to write is in late afternoon, weekdays, particularly Wednesdays.
This is how I go about it:
I take a fresh pot of tea into my study and close the door.
Then I remove my clothes and leave them in a pile
as if I had melted to death and my legacy consisted of only
a white shirt, a pair of pants and a pot of cold tea.

Then I remove my flesh and hang it over a chair.
I slide off my bones like a silken garment.
I do this so that what I write will be pure,
completely rinsed of the carnal,
uncontaminated by the preoccupations of the body.

Finally I remove each of my organs and arrange them
on a small table near the window.
I do not want to hear their ancient rhythms
when I am trying to tap out my own drumbeat.

Now I sit down at the desk, ready to begin. I am entirely pure: nothing but a skeleton at a typewriter.

I should mention that sometimes I leave my penis on.
I find it difficult to ignore temptation.
Then I am a skeleton with a penis at a typewriter.

In this condition I write extraordinary love poems,
most of them exploiting the connection between sex and
death.

I am concentration itself: I exist in a universe
where there is nothing but sex, death, and typewriting.

After a spell of this I remove my penis too.
Then I am all skull and bones typing into the afternoon.
Just the absolute essential, no flounces.
Now I write only about death, most classical of themes
in language light as the air between my ribs.

Afterward, I reward myself by going for a drive at sunset.
I replace my organs and slip back into my flesh
and clothes. Then I back the car out of the garage
and speed through woods on winding country roads,
passing stone walls, farmhouses, and frozen ponds,
all perfectly arranged like words in a famous sonnet.

by the Poet Laureate of th United States, Billy Collins

Looking at President Bush, Seeing an 'Impostor'

"...President Bush an opportunist who lacks a set of political principles like those that guided Reagan, Bartlett worries that the country -- and conservatives in particular -- are being hurt by the president's mistakes. He faults Bush for increasing federal spending -- with programs like the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill -- while also cutting taxes."

Federal Wildlife Monitors Oversee a Boom in Drilling

"The BLM is pushing the biologists to be what I call 'biostitutes,' rather than allow them to be experts in the wildlife they are supposed to be managing," said Steve Belinda, 37, who last week quit his job as one of three wildlife biologists in the BLM's Pinedale office because he said he was required to spend nearly all his time working on drilling requests. "They are telling us that if it is not energy-related, you are not working on it."

An eyewitness to the Cheney quail-hunt speaks - video here

Sage Advice From Patti

She also reveals her true self.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

We developed the the 1911 model .45 caliber pistol because the .38's we’d been using would not stop our small Filipino foes. When they became our allies, they fought just as fiercely against the Japanese. The biggest navel battle of World War II was in the Leyte Gulf. It is also where MacArthur landed when he returned. I lived in Leyte from 1970-1972 and was treated like a king. They still, after nearly 40 years, felt a kinship with Americans. When I left Leyte the illegal logging, with the Japanese as the biggest pillagers, was alreadytaking its toll. I helped shovel 4 feet mud out of a school, but it was nothing compared to the burial of what was Guinsaugon. We owe these people a huge debt for the blood that they shed for us, the aid and comfort they gave us at great risk to themselves, and for the kindness that they have shown us over the years, in spite of the cruelty we showed them at times. Please help them. Please also note that the things that we do with and to our environment have consequences, and not just to polar bears. God help us and the Phillippines.

"No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee." From Meditation XVII, by John Donne

Click Here To See How Your Government Works

Cheney At Winter Olympics

After relieving himself on Fox, Vice President Cheney relaxes at the Winter Olympics after a couple of beers. A spokesman assured the American people that this is a working vacation, and Dick still has his finger on the “nucular” button in case the President should ever get confused. Apparently that has already happened. Bush thinks Cheney handled the issue [explaining his shooting and wounding a man] "just fine."
In his absence, sit back, relax and read about politics and corruption.

Winning Their Hearts and Minds

“MORE photographs have been leaked of Iraqi citizens tortured by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Tonight the SBS Dateline program plans to broadcast about 60 previously unpublished photographs that the US Government has been fighting to keep secret . . .
The photos America doesn't want seen, The Sidney Morning Herald. “‘The abuses at Abu Ghraib have been fully investigated,’ Whitman said, adding that it is U.S. policy to treat all detainees humanely. ‘When there have been abuses, this department has acted upon them promptly, investigated them thoroughly and where appropriate prosecuted individuals.’” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman See, The Guardian; The New York Times ; Der Spiegel and Der Spiegel looks at two lives destroyed by Abu Ghraib

Only about 80 Florida Panthers Remain in the Wild

"The solution: move some of Florida's official state animal to other states - wilderness areas in Georgia and Arkansas are the leading possibilities - in hopes of building thriving colonies there.
Arkansas officials, however, have said no thanks, . . ." Fla. development pushes out panthers. St. Petersburg Times See, Help Save The Florida Panther.
"The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering as possible relocation sites for the Florida panther, according to the latest draft of a recovery plan released January 31.. . . Range expansion and reintroduction of additional populations are . . essential for panther recovery. . . . fostering greater public understanding and support is necessary to achieve panther conservation and recovery. The draft recovery plan notes, 'Political and social issues will be the most difficult aspect of panther reintroduction and must be resolved before further restoration efforts are initiated.' . . . A lack of public support and tolerance could prevent the reintroduction of panthers anywhere outside of Florida. Public opinion is the most critical impediment to reintroduction efforts and attainment of recovery goals. . . .'
Education and outreach efforts will be evaluated, especially to assess human attitude and behavior changes toward panthers. More importantly, this evaluation will help improve education and outreach," the draft report says. The Ashley County Ledger
Copies of the Technical/Agency Draft of the Third Revision of the Florida Panther Recovery Plan can be obtained at http://endangered.fws.gov or http://verobeach.fws.gov.
Comments on the draft plan must be submitted by April 3. Comments may be submitted by:
1. Submit written comments and materials to the Field Supervisor, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, South Florida Ecological Services Office, 1339 20th Street, Vero Beach, Florida 32960. 2. Fax written comments to (772) 562–4288 or hand-deliver to the South Florida Ecological Services Office, at the above address. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Belden at the South Florida Ecological Services Office, (772) 562–3909, ext. 237.

Cheney Muffs Bush Ordered Assassination-The Spin Begins

Vice-President Cheney accidently shot a Texan- ”Saturday while trying to carry out President Bush’s order to assassinate a suspected “Mohammedan hunting guide.” A shotgun pellet in his chest traveled to his heart. Some sources say that the “Mohammedan” ducked behind lawyer Harry Whittington of Austin at the last second. Others say that the shooting went as planned and was simply part of the Administration’s war on lawyers.
Impatient with efforts to close the courts to litigants, the Administration literally fired the first shot in its groundbreaking "No Lawyer Left Standing" initiative. Vice-President Cheney, hunting on a private lawyer ranch near Kingsville, Texas, bagged an impressive buck (Harry Whittington, UT Law '50). Under the new program, hunters may take one in-house lawyer or three outside lawyers daily. The limit has been suspended for trial lawyers. "We've just got to thin the herd," said the Vice-President. "We've tried tort reform and caps on damages, but people are still suing." Cheney added, "It's easy and fun. In Texas, you can shoot in almost any direction and hit a lawyer."
Colon Powell, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the incident proves that Cheney was doing his patriotic duty when he
dodged the draft. “If he could do this with a shotgun, can you imagine how many of our guys he would have taken out if he’d served and had been issued an automatic rifle?,” Powell asked rhetorically.
Cheney Alert System
Carl Rove says anyone who thinks that he or she could do better should try the Dick Cheney Quail Hunt.
Lighten up Dick-No one is saying you're a bad shot. You just went off half cocked-Not the first or the last time for you and yours. See, Gatekeepers
It is a shame that this incident happened, and it could happen to anyone who is careless with guns. People are having such a good time with it because it has exposed the pompous, self righteous, prig, pushing the Neocon agenda. He is impulsive, promarily concerned with himself, willing to sacrifice others. He hides himself, and the incident if possible, when something goes wrong. However, Dan Froomkin in Loose Cannon a Special to washingtonpost.com is correct “Who's calling the shots at the White House? Dick Cheney, of course.” I used to think that was better than having Shrub call them, but now I’m not sure.
“The finer points of quail-hunting etiquette are up for interpretation, but the two most important are set in stone: Don't shoot the dogs and don't shoot each other.” Bo Emerson The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
These cartoons and more may be seen at Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index, Cheney Shoots. See also, The Mighty Hunter at Virg n' Mary.
CHENEY REFUSES TO TALK TO NEWS MEDIA-WILL USE FOX INSTEAD.
Arkansas Rep. Sam Ledbetter, once said "Alcohol and firearms do not mix." I thought he was just being a Goody Two Shoes at the time, but not anymore. See, Cheney, "A Beer or Two," and a Gun and Cheney Admits To Drinking Beer Prior To Hunting Accident.

Time’s First Photo of Bush and Abramoff-White House had initially said there was no record of disgraced lobbyist at 2001 meeting

Over a month after Bellaciao published this photo and some three weeks after On The Virg published Fair To President, Time, published its pictures of Bush at a meeting with Abramoff and Abramoff’s client Garza, former tribal chairman.

"Wal-Mart To Carry Morning-After Pill?-. . . when I think about birth control, my first thought is definitely Wal-Mart customers."

“A TERRIBLE IDEA BASED ON A MISGUIDED SENSE OF PRIORITIES."

In Woody’s day this land was your land and my land. Apparently it won’t be for long. "Not only is the administration proposing to sell off public lands to help finance the president's budget, . . . "

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JON EARLS AND PAT CARROLL

THESE TWO FEBRUARY 11 BORN ARE FAVORITES WHEREEVER THEY GO. PAT LEFT US A FEW YEARS AGO. JON IS STILL MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC IN THIS WORLD. HERE'S TO YOU LADDIES.

Bush and “Several Countries” Break up Plot to Destroy Nonexistent Building

After weeks of insisting that divulging details of the domestic spying program would “hinder intelligence gathering,” the White House decided that the November elections are more important. Bush bragged of possibly saving a mythical building to justify the program, but claimed no link between the hypothetical saving of the hypothetical building and the domestic spying program. "It took the combined efforts of several countries to break up this plot. By working together we stopped [the destruction of the Liberty Building.]" Bush said. When confronted with the fact that there is no such building, [See, Christian Science Monitor & The Seattle Times], the President said “it’s close enough for gummit work” )
Among those who still believe that Saddam Hussein masterminded the 9/11 attacks Bush’s poll numbers will probably go up.
Antonio Villaraigosa, the whiney liberal mayor of Los Angeles, complained that he was out of the loop and only knew what he saw on TV. Some unpatriotic U.S. intelligence officials “attributed the timing of Bush's speech to politics” and said “there is deep disagreement within the intelligence community over the seriousness of the Library (sic) Tower (sic) scheme and whether it was ever more than talk.”
See, Questions of Credibility by Dan Froomkin
See also, Terrorism pays off big for this Administration

Galway Hurlers Beat Tipperary Again In The 1987 All-Ireland Semi-Final

In Sunday’s replay on Setanta Sports the Tribesmen again bested the Stone Throwers in the 1987 All Ireland Hurling semi-final, and again by the same score- Galway 3-20; Tipperary 2-17.
I believe that the picture is from a 1989 match, but probably some of these same lads were playing in the classic 1987 match that some believe is one of the best they've ever seen.

"History will remember Bush as an incompetent and incurious man overwhelmed by a world too big for him."

“. . . the crisis in Washington today stems from a man intellectually and temperamentally unequipped to rise to the challenge. Most of us sense that when, decades from now, the story of this administration comes out, it will be one of ordinary incompetence, of rigid and incurious people overwhelmed by events in a world they don't dare look around and see.” The Little Man by Garrison Keillor
If you think Garrison's just a woofin, see Patti's The Bad Smell of the Budget. and Is This Who We Really Are? and "The Politics of Science"

The President Has Already Ordered The Killing of Separation of Powers & Free Speech on U.S. Soil.

Can the President Order a Killing on U.S. Soil? Of Course He Can. He's Already Ordered The Death of Separation of Powers & Free Speech.

"the American system of government will not survive unless those individuals we elect understand their proper role and the Constitution. However, Congress and the courts, particularly since 9/11, have repeatedly surrendered their responsibilities as
separate and independent branches of government. Both must reclaim their roles and their constitutional uty to act as the full equals of the executive branch. Above all, they must stop deferring to the President every time he invokes the recurring mantra ?war on terror.?

Americans fought the War of Independence to escape being governed or ruled by a single individual who was immune from advice or control. To them, this was tyranny. Let us not forget the lessons of the past or our freedoms will be lost. Our Freedoms and the Separation of Powers by John W. Whitehead

Help Save the Florida Panther

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission has, at times, been criticized for caring more about politics than wildlife. The commission is run by commissioners appointed by the governor. Whatever its sins in the past, its willingness to help save the Florida Panther will be a big step toward redemption. Please encourage and thank them for this noble work by e-mail, letter, or phone call.
FORGET THE CONGRATULATIONS-I WAS MISTAKEN. Though “the FWS has identified four enormous blocks of prime habitat one in the Ozark Mountains, one in the Ouachita Mountains, and two in the southern flatlands. But when panther managers approached the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, they were told to forget it. Deer hunting is really big in Arkansas.
"The commission doesn't have any interest in reintroducing cougars into Arkansas right now," said Blake Sasse, nongame mammal program coordinator with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "We have the resources to accommodate them, but culturally it's not appropriate for Arkansas right now."
“. . . the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is opposed to the reintroduction of the Florida panther in Arkansas. . . . we have an existing population of Western cougars in Arkansas that would interbreed with any reintroduced Florida panthers.” Commissioner Mike Freeze
"Paul said, `I have contacted the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and they informed me there wasn't any panthers in Arkansas.'"
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Mountain Lion Position Statement
“. . . the Florida panther . . . were historically present throughout Arkansas until their apparent eradication, which occurred by about 1920. . . . it is the position of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission that this subspecies has been eradicated from the state and any mountain lion in the wild in Arkansas is not an endangered Florida panther unless proven otherwise.”
"Note: The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is not currently soliciting information on potential sightings of mountain lions in the state."

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
2 Natural Resources Drive
Little Rock, Arkansas 72205
(800) 364-4263 ~ (501) 223-6300
www.agfc.com
keoff@futura.net, esn@jlj.com, svarnell@alltel.net, Freddie.black@simmonsfirst.com,

HRCHCasey@aol.com, johnbenjamin@alltel.net, gdunklin@dunklingrain.com, kgsmith@uark.edu

“. . .even protecting the remaining wildlands in the panther's current range won't be enough to ensure its future, said Paul Souza . . .
‘South Florida is not big enough,’ Souza said. ‘Recovery of the species will require the panther population to expand to other parts of its historic range.’
The panther once roamed much of the southeastern United States, and scientists have long talked about the importance of establishing new populations elsewhere. . . .
Biologists have identified a number of potential new grounds in Arkansas, Alabama and perhaps most promising, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge along the Florida-Georgia border.
. . . .Panther . . . have never been linked to an attack on humans . . ."

"Thanks a lot you dirty rats."

“In case you haven’t noticed, we are now as feared and hated all over the world as the Nazis once were.”
"Thanks a lot you dirty rats. The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick, and Colon."

Kurt Vonnegut, A Man without a Country

Dastardly Danes Ridicule Literalist Muslims

If we don't take a stand now, free speech could spread. I don’t need to Dane to tell you what that could mean. If they are allowed to get away with these caricatures, a sheik or a president could be their next victim, or, God forbid, a man of God. Congress should take swift action, as it did with the traitorous French. It should immediately pass a resolution requiring that all menus in the capitol refer to lutefisk as freedomfisk. We must do whatever it takes to defend the honor of our buddies the Saudis.
Seriously though, we have a classic clash of cultures. Cartoons stereotyping Muslims as terrorists are destructive and some of these offended even me. When the Prophet himself is represented, a Muslim who believes that even respectful depictions of the Prophet are taboo would certainly be more than a bit upset.
That said, Westerners, I hope, are not going to give up political satire, unless the pseudo Christian “assault ministries” change the United States into a literalist theocracy. They, as the Muslims who “know” God’s will, are on a mission and seek to “stem the tide of sin in the country.” If they succeed, will we then join with the similarly simple Muslims to subjugate Northern Europe, the sensible Muslim world, and non-Muslim Asia before the ultimate clash? I’m hoping that cooler heads rule on both sides until the nuts grow up and develop a more sophisticated view of the world. That’s gonna be a while. In the meantime you can’t run, unless you really have guts. I'm surely glad I live in America where there is tolerance.
Instant mass communication is wonderful, because it shrinks our world and brings us together. On the down side it shrinks our world and brings us together.






"Don't complain, Muhammad, we've all been caricatured here."

Still Miss Um

What's Wrong With This Picture?

$120 Billion More for Wars and Tax Breaks for His Buddies.

"Upcoming White House requests would boost total spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan well past the $400 billion mark, while spending for hurricane relief would top $100 billion, administration officials acknowledge.
The new totals came to light Thursday as the administration said it would ask Congress for $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and $18 billion more this year for hurricane relief." By Andrew Taylor

"President Bush went Thursday to a center of American innovation, the 3M Company, which invented Scotch Tape and Post-it notes, to call for permanent tax breaks for industries that invest in research and development and to improve Republican chances in a pivotal state in a midterm election year." By Elisabeth Bumiller

I'm Afraid He's Serious

From Buck Fush.

Oh yeah? Well you must be an . . .

"Most combat vets pick their fights carefully. They look at their scars, remember the madness and are always mindful of the fallout, That's not the case in Washington, where the White House and the Pentagon are run by civilians who have never sweated it out on a battlefield."
~ Colonel David H. Hackworth, 11 November 1930 - 4 May 2005

State Of The Union Address-Bush Promised Less Partisanship-Sheehan Dragged Out in Handcuffs

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq . . . was arrested and removed from the House gallery Tuesday night just before President Bush's State of the Union address. . .
Sheehan, . . . was invited to attend the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif. . . .Sheehan was taken in handcuffs from the Capitol to police headquarters a few blocks away. Her case was processed as Bush spoke. Activist Cindy Sheehan Arrested at Capitol By LAURIE KELLMAN
Cindy Sheehan responds.

The guy thumbing his nose at us has never been arrested and is rumored to still be running the administration.

TWO MORE DEAD. Saint Barbara's Still Working Alone-Bush Administration Scrapped Safety Plan

After one of the deadliest months for coal mining in years, federal mine regulators last week began formally considering safety improvements to help miners survive underground fires and explosions. Among the proposals: mandatory caches of oxygen tanks and breathing masks inside every coal mine.

The idea may have struck some miners as familiar, because it was. A similar proposal was put forward by the same regulators six years ago, only to be scrapped by the Bush administration shortly after it took office. And the oxygen caches were not the only proposed safety improvement to be withdrawn.
Federal Mine Agency Considers New Rules To Improve Safety
Plan Was Rejected Early in Administration
By Joby Warrick Washington Post

Saint Brigid Died On This Day In 525

St Brigid may have been born in Offaly. One tradition tells us that her mother was a slave, but her princly father acknowledged her and a foster mother raised her. She gave her father's property and food to the poor. She was taught to read and write and learned the crafts needed to be a good wife of those times. Still, she turned away her many suitors and dedicated her life to Christ.

St. Brigid at the Well, Celtic and Sacred Art of of Courtney Davis.