Quotes of the Morning: Controlled Explosion

“As the War on Terra marches on, we can rely on Fearless Leader to make sure that our troops have exactly what they need to deal with the grueling day-to-day life of our brave soldiers waging a counterinsurgency against the Iraqi civil war.”
-Skippy

“Rushed by President Bush's decision to reinforce Baghdad with thousands more U.S. troops, two Army combat brigades are skipping their usual session at the Army's premier training range in California and instead are making final preparations at their home bases.
[…]
Army officials say the two brigades will be as ready as any others that deploy to Iraq, even though they will not have the benefit of training in counterinsurgency tactics at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., which has been outfitted to simulate conditions in Iraq for units that are heading there on year-long tours.”
-Associated Press, February 27, 2007

“Even under-trained our troops are the finest in the world. Even under-trained and under-staffed they have managed to completely settle Iraq down.”
-Skippy

“Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, uh, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everyone.”
-Laura Bush, February 26, 2007

“That is true. Unless we ignore that one bombing a day the terrorists have already won. Today I am ignoring this one.”
-Skippy

“A car bomb killed at least ten people in a crowded commercial area of western Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.
The blast occurred in Baiyaa, a mixed neighborhood, just after the morning rush hour, police said. At least 20 people were wounded, they said.”
-Associated Press, February 28, 2007

“Yesterday it was this one..”
-Skippy

“A car bomb exploded Tuesday near a park popular with young soccer players, killing at least 18 boys in [Ramadi] a city west of Baghdad known as a center of the Sunni insurgency, police said.”
-Associated Press, February 27, 2008

“Unfortunately there was more than one bombing yesterday. What about this?”
-Skippy

“Bombings have not slackened off, with at least 10 people killed in blasts around Baghdad on Tuesday. However, an apparent success of the clampdown can be measured in the morgues: a sharp drop in the number of bullet-riddled bodies found in the streets of the capital, victims of sectarian death squads.”
-Associated Press, February 28, 2007

“I guess that that is a good thing / bad thing situation.. Less bullet-riddled bodies in the street! Whoo hoo! Still, that sounds like more than one bombing yesterday.. Hmm.. Can we get that number down?”
-Skippy

“Iraq's government and police said a bomb blast near a soccer field in the western city of Ramadi on Tuesday killed 18 people, mostly children, but the U.S. military said it was unaware of such an attack.”
-Reuters, February 27, 2007

“See? The soccer field thing never happened. The military said so. It wasn’t a car bomb. No, the military has a much more likely story.”
-Skippy

“The U.S. military said its soldiers had carried out a controlled explosion in Ramadi, near a soccer field, that wounded 30 people, including nine children.
‘I can't imagine there would be another attack involving children without our people knowing,’ said Major Jeff Pool, a spokesman for U.S. forces in western Anbar province. The wounded had cuts and bruises, he said.”
-Reuters, February 27, 2007

“See? It wasn’t the insurgency at all. It was us wounding (but not killing) nine children and 21 other people in a ‘controlled explosion’.”
-Skippy

“You keep using that word -- I do not think it means what you think it means.”
-Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

Quotes of the Morning: Fine Except for the Bombings

“Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, uh, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everyone.”
-Laura Bush, February 26, 2007

“Yes, but if the media just learns to stop talking about the bombings in Iraq then everything will be just peachy, just like Afghanistan.”
-Skippy

“A suicide attacker blew himself up outside the US military base in Afghanistan where US Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting Tuesday, killing at least three people.
[…]
One US soldier was said to be among the dead but there was confusion about the total death toll after an Afghan interior ministry spokesman said that 18 people, three of them foreign soldiers, had been killed.
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said a US soldier and two Afghans were killed in the attack. Witnesses said the attacker passed through a gate guarded by Afghans and then blew himself up at another guarded by US troops.”
-AFP, February 27, 2007

“Just remember.. terror is only a problem if you talk about it. If you refuse to report on it, then the spread of terror stops and everyone is happy. You don’t have to be concerned about bombings and terror. You government has things well in hand.”
-Skippy

“Dozens of high-level officials joined in a White House drill yesterday to see how the government would respond if several cities were attacked simultaneously with bombs similar to those used against U.S. troops in Iraq.
White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend and the Homeland Security Council that she heads mapped out in advance a massive disaster involving improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The attack targeted 10 U.S. cities, both large and small, at the same time, said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Townsend presided over the three-hour exercise, which brought the government's top homeland security officials to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. All Cabinet agencies were represented by their secretaries or other high-ranking officials, with about 90 participants in all, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.”
-Associated Press, February 25, 2007

“So remember, whether you are afraid of the terrorists or you feel that our troops are stuck in the middle of a bloodbath of a civil war, don’t talk about it. Talking about it just emboldens the enemies of America. You simply must trust that Fearless Leader has everything in hand.”
-Skippy

“President Bush went on a bike ride yesterday morning and did not take part in the test.”
-Associated Press, February 25, 2007

“O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
-1984, George Orwell

Quotes of the Morning: Prom is Cancelled

“A suicide bomber killed at least 41 people and wounded another 46 outside a university in northeast Baghdad on Sunday.
Iraq's interior ministry said the bomber was wearing a vest packed with explosives.
He detonated the bomb when guards stopped him near the entrance to the business studies school, which is part of Mustansiriyah University, police said.
The same facility in Baghdad's Talbiyah neighbourhood, a mostly Shia district was hit by a series of explosions last month, including twin car bombs and a suicide blast that killed 70 people.
Most of the victims on Sunday were students at the college, police said. The blast left cement walls pockmarked by shrapnel and twisted parts of the metal gate and turnstile.”
-CBC News, February 25, 2007

“A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge Sunday, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college whose main gate was left littered with blood-soaked student notebooks and papers amid the bodies.
Witnesses said a woman carried out the attack at the business school annex to Mustansiriyah University. Interior Ministry officials said they were still investigating those reports. The school’s main campus was hit by a string of bombings last month that killed 70 people.
The attack came as the powerful Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr said an ongoing security crackdown in Baghdad was doomed to fail because of U.S. involvement and suggested he was rethinking his cooperation. He bitterly complained that ’car bombs continue to explode’ in the capital despite the new security push.”
-Associated Press, February 25, 2007

“Wow.. That’s pretty bad. 41 people killed in this bombing with 70 more killed just last month. And that isn’t even counting problems like this one…”
-Skippy

“Gunmen wearing Iraqi police commando uniforms kidnapped up to 150 staff and visitors in a lightning raid on a government research institute in downtown Baghdad on Tuesday, the largest mass abduction since the start of the U.S. occupation.
Iraq’s higher education minister immediately ordered all universities closed until security improvements are made, saying he was ‘not ready to see more professors get killed.’
‘I have only one choice which is to suspend classes at universities. We have no other choice,’ Abed Theyab said in an address to parliament.”
-Associated Press, November 14, 2006

“I mean, I know that in media years that was just forever ago (over three whole months), but by most standards it looks like getting a good education in Iraq may be a little tougher than simply trying to afford the text books. Still, kids being kids you know that college students are going to get into trouble, whether it be keggers, frat hazing or jihad. We just need to keep an eye on them to make sure that they say safe.”
-Skippy

“U.S. troops detained the son of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite politician Friday as he returned to the country from Iran, keeping him in custody for nearly 12 hours before releasing him, Shiite officials said. The U.S. ambassador later apologized.
Amar al-Hakim, son of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, was taken into custody at a crossing point and was transferred to a U.S. facility in Kut, according to the elder al-Hakim’s secretary, Jamal al-Sagheer.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim heads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country’s largest Shiite party with longtime ties to Iran. He met with President Bush at the White House in December, and his party is part of the Shiite alliance that includes Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
[…]
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the arrest was being investigated but stressed that Washington did not mean any disrespect to al-Hakim or his family.
‘I am sorry about the arrest,’ he said. ‘We don’t know the circumstances of the arrest and we are investigating ... but he is being released.’”
-Associated Press, February 24, 2007

“Oh those lovable scamps. Only one person seems to understand the collegial feel of Iraq. Rush Limbaugh. Remember when Abu Ghraib happened?..”
-Skippy

“This is no different than what happens at the skull and bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off?”
-Rush Limbaugh, May 4, 2004

“We may as well understand that in Iraq boys will be boys and let them have their fun.”
-Skippy

"’After they leave here, they go straight home to their houses and stay there until school tomorrow,’ Mohammed said. ‘It's like they're in jail.’
For the estimated 4.5 million Iraqi schoolchildren, the world outside their classrooms and homes has all but disappeared. A landscape littered with threats both targeted and general has left parents struggling to shelter their own — with some wondering if an education is worth the risk.”
-LA Times, October 26, 2004

“President Bush’s new Iraq strategy calls for a rapid influx of forces that could add as many as 20,000 American combat troops to Baghdad, supplemented with a jobs program costing as much as $1 billion intended to employ Iraqis in projects including painting schools and cleaning streets, according to American officials who are piecing together the last parts of the initiative.”
-New York Times, January 6, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Let Them Eat Cake

“When people across the world look at America's economy what they see is low inflation, low unemployment, and the fastest growth of any major industrialized nation. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the United States. There is one undisputed leader in the world in terms of economy, and that's the United States of America.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“A nine-figure fortune won’t get you much mention these days, at least not on these pages. This year, for the first time, everyone in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion. The collective net worth of the nation’s wealthiest climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion. “
-Forbes Magazine, September 21, 2007

“Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent. The 2006 profit topped the previous record of $36.13 billion which Exxon set in 2005.
Revenue at the world’s largest publicly traded oil company rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion that Exxon posted in 2005.”
-Associated Press, February 1, 2007

“The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ continues to widen.
A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.
The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy's review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas.”
-McClatchy Newspapers, February 22, 2007

“Workplace health coverage costing more than $15,000 for a family or $7,500 for an individual would be subject to income and payroll taxes. Families that buy their own policies, meanwhile, could deduct $15,000 from taxable income. Individuals could take off $7,500. It doesn't matter if the actual cost of the insurance is less. The idea is being sold as a way to help the 47 million uninsured Americans buy coverage. Not many are buying.
‘It's totally unclear as to how these benefits would be reprogrammed to help the uninsured,’ Fitzhugh Mullan, a former U.S. assistant surgeon general, said over the phone.
The uninsured are mostly the working poor, who don't earn enough to use tax deductions.”
-Seattle Times, January 31, 2007

“On the outskirts of Baton Rouge, La., nearly 800 FEMA trailers packed with families stretch into the distance, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports. It's a mud-soaked outpost where 17 long months after Hurricane Katrina, 2,000 lives feel very much like they've reached the end of the road.
A new, in-depth study obtained exclusively by CBS News illustrates the real mental health strain of living long-term in what some have called a permanent state of limbo. The most startling finding: the devastating impact on children.
The study, done by Columbia University and the Children's Health Fund, found as many as 10,000 displaced children across the Gulf are now suffering from clinically diagnosed depression — a 400 percent increase from before the storm.”
-CBS News, February 1, 2007

“There, she [Laura Bush] met with 15 students, taking time to talk with each table of three kids, third- through fifth-graders. She looked at pictures they'd drawn of where they went to be safe during Hurricane Katrina.
‘It takes a long time to deal with what you all have suffered through,’ Mrs. Bush said. ‘What we're seeing is that people can call upon their own resources. I think people are dealing with it.’
She gave the children a coloring book, some colors and a photograph of Miss Beazley Bush, the White House black schnauzer."
-Sun Herald (Mississippi), February 22, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Welcome to the Machine

“We just toured a pretty fantastic hospital. He talked about robotics that are being used to operate on.”
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“The hospitals would, of course, be much more effective if they were used to operate on people rather than robots.”
-Skippy

“I'll tell you an interesting example of that is our Veterans Affairs Department has done a good job of providing individualized health care records on the computers.”
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“Apparently once they operate on the machines they at least keep adequate records about it. That’s certainly better than the care that they provide for most humans. Hey, let’s talk about the humans that need healthcare for a minute.”
-Skippy

“I mean, a big slug of the uninsured in America works for small business companies -- by the way, of the uninsured are young people who never think they're going to get sick and don't bother to buy insurance. But a big slug work for people that are struggling to make ends meet.”
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“Yep. That’s the problem. Those young kids just don’t buy insurance because they never think that they’re going to get sick. Has nothing to do with the sky-rocketing costs of insurance.”
-Skippy

“The growth rates for public and private personal health care spending are expected to converge in 2007, at around 6.5 percent. However, public and private personal health care spending growth rates are expected to diverge over the remainder of the projection, averaging 7.5 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.”
-U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, February 21, 2007

“Despite significant gains in 2004, the total income Americans reported to the tax collector that year, adjusted for inflation, was still below its peak in 2000, new government data shows.”
-New York Times, November 28, 2006

“Analysis of the I.R.S. data by The New York Times found that average reported incomes fell or were virtually flat at the end of the period at every level of income except for the poorest 26 million taxpayers, the bottom fifth. Those impoverished taxpayers made less than $11,166 each in 2004 and had an average income of $5,743, up $135 or 2.4 percent, from the year 2000.
A taxpayer can be a single individual or a married couple. The poorest taxpayers consist of nearly 48 million adults and about 12 million dependent children. This means that the poorest 60 million Americans reported average incomes of less than $7 a day each.”
-New York Times, November 28, 2006

“It looks to me like the biggest problem is that the poorest 26 million taxpayers have made about a 2.4% increase in income over four years while the cost of healthcare is increasing about 6.5% annually. Huh. How can we help these poor people?”
-Skippy

“So here's an idea that Congress needs to consider: If you're married, got a family, and buying health care, you get a $15,000 deduction from your income taxes, right off the top. It doesn't matter whether you're working for the largest company in Chattanooga or one of the smallest, you get that deduction. If you're single, you get to deduct $7,500 from your -- not only your income tax, but your payroll taxes. And the reason you do that -- and you're going to hear some examples of how this will help our fellow citizens -- one, it helps somebody afford insurance; two, it will help in the development of a market for individuals in the insurance world. “
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“So the poorest 60 million Americans (those making under $11,166 a year) will get a tax break when they buy their $15,000+ a year insurance. Sure, that will work. Ok Fearless Leader, let’s go out with you dropping some knowledge on the people.”
-Skippy

“THE PRESIDENT: What do you do for a living?
MR. JENNINGS: I manage a nursery in McMinnville, Tennessee.
THE PRESIDENT: Really? Fantastic. Now's your chance if you want to put a pitch out there for some rhododendron.
MR. JENNINGS: Those are coming in soon, by the way.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I'm just showing off a little -- flora.”
-Press Conference with President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Straight-Shooting

“As you know, I have been a wee bit critical of the current Administration. While I believe that Fearless Leader is, of course, perfect and without flaw, his people have let us down time and time again. Since the current laws will not allow Fearless Leader a third term to clean up his Administration, it is important that we find someone new to follow in his footsteps. Someone brave. Someone decisive. Someone who will not bend with the political winds, but will stand tall for what he believes in. A straight-shooter. A man like John McCain.”
-Skippy

"’I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary,’ McCain told the Chronicle in an article published Friday. ‘But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.’"
-Washington Post, August 24, 1999

“Sure, he’s a Republican, but so was Lincoln. He’s pro-choice! He’s practically a liberal, and nothing will make ‘straight-talk’ McCain give up on his values.”
-Skippy

"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
-Sen. John McCain, February 18, 2007

“Ok.. Apparently he isn’t pro-choice. He is anti-choice, and unlike what he said in 1999, supports kicking out Roe v. Wade. It is a little bit of a flip flop, but hey, he was just clarifying his position, not giving in to the extremists on the far right of the Republican Party.”
-Skippy

“I am a pro-life, pro-family fiscal conservative, an advocate of a strong defense, and yet Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and a few Washington leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate. They distort my pro- life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters.
Why? Because I don't pander to them, because I don't ascribe to their failed philosophy that money is our message.
Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.”
-John McCain, February 28, 2000

“That’s right! Give em’ hell John. You can’t let people like Falwell and Robertson try to force you away from what you believe in. Stand tall Straight-Shooter!”
-Skippy

“Gov. Bush swung far to the right and sought out the base support of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Those aren’t the ideas that I think are good for the Republican Party.”
-John McCain, Meet the Press, March 3, 2000

‘Stay on target..”
-Skippy

“RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?
MCCAIN: No, I don’t. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain to you his views on this program when you have him on.”
-Interview with John McCain, Meet the Press, April 2, 2006

“Ohhh… wipeout. Ok, it wasn’t politically wise to call out the Religious Right, but at least he wasn’t kissing Falwell’s rear like many in the party do. John McCain is still his own man. He has his pride!”
-Skippy

“American military hero and Arizona Sen. John McCain will deliver the Commencement message at Liberty University on May 13, at 9:30 a.m., in the Liberty University Vines Center.
While Sen. McCain and Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell have had their share of political differences through the years, the two men share a common respect for each other and have become good friends in their efforts to preserve what they see as common values. This will mark his first ever appearance at Liberty University.”
-Liberty University Press Release, March 28, 2006

“Ow. That’s going to leave a mark. Still, while the Straight-Shooter may be cozying up with the Religious Right, he has not forgotten the lessons of the mid-term elections: You need to be critical of the Administration if you want to be elected in 2008.”
-Skippy

"’While Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences, he deserves Americans' respect and gratitude for his many years of public service,’ McCain said last year when Rumsfeld stepped down.”
-Associated Press, February 20, 2007

“Pssst… John.. I said you need to be critical.”
-Skippy

“Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday the war in Iraq has been mismanaged for years and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be remembered as one of the worst in history.
‘We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that's the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war,’ the Arizona senator told an overflow crowd of more than 800 at a retirement community near Hilton Head Island, S.C. ‘The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously.’"
-Associated Press, February 20, 2007

“Much better. Now just remember that while you can be critical of Fearless Leader’s flying monkeys (especially those no longer in office), you cannot say anything critical about the Great Man himself.”
-Skippy

“For his determination to undertake [the war on terrorism], and for his unflagging resolve to see it through to a just end, President Bush deserves not only our support, but our admiration,”
-John McCain, August 30, 2004

“Good! Good job Senator McCain. Remember, when you are nice to the Administration, the Administration will be nice to you..”
-Skippy

“When they pass that basket
Folk contribute to
You out in for Mama
She'll put out for you

The folks atop the ladder
Are the ones the world adores
So boost me up my ladder, Kid
And I'll boost you up yours”
-“When You’re Good to Mama”, Chicago

“..unless you are just a chump being played.”
-Skippy

“The US Senate voted 90-9 early last month to attach an amendment authored by Republican Senator John McCain to a defense spending bill that would prohibit ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading’ treatment of detainees in US custody. But the White House has threatened to veto the measure and has lobbied senators to have the language removed or modified to allow an exemption for the Central Intelligence Agency.”
-AFP, November 13, 2005

Quotes of the Morning: Supporting the Troops (Afterwards)

“Ok. I made it back from vacation, but I’m not yet ready to deal with a lot yet, so let’s just chat a second about our American troops who are protecting us from terrorism overseas. There’s no sarcasm involved when I say that these brave men and women fighting in the military for us deserve only our best, and since Fearless Leader, as we know, is 110% behind the troops you can imagine that our injured troops receive only the best of care.”
-Skippy

“Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
-Washington Post, February 18, 2007

“That can’t be right. These people deserve our best, not cockroaches and black mold. This must be a mistake, or maybe just a temporary thing to help deal with the large number of troops that we have that are surviving attacks.”
-Skippy

A pale scar creates a deep furrow connecting [Pvt. Robert Van Antwerp] Van Antwerp’s eyebrows. Doctors replaced bone with titanium after he fractured his skull. Bare-chested as he trimmed, Van Antwerp has a deep, laddered line from beneath his sternum to at least the top of his sweatpants. A blast ruptured his spleen and ripped out his colon. Pushing up his left pant leg as he told his battle story, Van Antwerp showed where three ligaments tore away from his knee, and then pointed out the scar from his broken tibia.
Above his heart, the ranks and last names of two dead friends are etched in ink. But he calls a friend to ask their first names. Short-term memory loss arrived for Van Antwerp in the same attack that killed his buddies.
[…]
Yet when it was time for the Army to take care of him, one of its wounded warriors, Van Antwerp gave up before he even began. Rather than fight for a higher disability rating, he quietly signed for 20 percent — and no medical benefits — saying he knew he couldn’t do better. He inherited his father’s stubbornness, he said, and refused to ask anyone to pull strings based on his dad’s rank. Then his first medical board counselor, the person who would help him make his way through the medical evaluation board system, left. The second, he said, ‘wasn’t on the ball.’
‘The Army is trying to give you the lowest amount of money possible,’ he said.”
-Washington Post, February 19, 2007

“Sgt. David Thomas, a gunner with the Tennessee National Guard, spent his first three months at Walter Reed with no decent clothes; medics in Samarra had cut off his uniform. Heavily drugged, missing one leg and suffering from traumatic brain injury, David, 42, was finally told by a physical therapist to go to the Red Cross office, where he was given a T-shirt and sweat pants. He was awarded a Purple Heart but had no underwear.”
-Washington Post, February 19, 2007

“Man… That does not sound good. It sounds like they are just slapping something together to deal with the injured veterans. Our troops deserve more. How could this have happened?”
-Skippy

“’We are looking more and more like the Democrats we replaced,’ a House committee chairman told me Wednesday. That comment came before he learned, to his surprise and sorrow, that the House Republican leadership had removed Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The extraordinary purge buttressed the growing impression of arrogance as Republicans enter their second decade of power in the House.
The party's House leaders purportedly removed Smith, a tireless promoter of spending for veterans, to save money. But two days earlier, the same leaders pulled every string during a closed-door caucus to defeat reforms against pork barrel spending. Those disparate moves are united by a common purpose of making decisions from the top down. Smith was a committee chairman who did not take orders. The defeated spending reforms came from conservatives outside the leadership.
Obsession with centralizing authority by the leadership does not precisely fit the pattern set by Democrats during 40 years of ruling the House. But the new majority party resembles the old one in this sense: having long been in power, they act as though they are sure they will keep it forever. That attitude manifested itself in determination to get rid of Chris Smith.
[…]
The leadership's problem with Smith has been his insatiable desire to make life better for veterans during 24 years on the Veterans Affairs committee (six years as vice chairman, four years as chairman).”
-Robert Novak, January 10, 2005

“Thanks to AmericaBlog for finding today’s Quotes.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Vacation All I Ever Wanted

“A week without you
Thought I'd forget
Two weeks without you and I
Still haven't gotten over you yet
Vacation
All I ever wanted
Vacation
Had to get away
Vacation
Meant to be spent alone.”
-GoGos, “Vacation”

“Ok.. I’m not going to be alone (I will be joined by the lovely and talented Mrs. Skippy), but I will be going on vacation as we head off to see the largest hole in the ground that America has to offer, the so-called ‘Grand Canyon’. The Quotes of the Morning shall return on February 19. Hopefully by the time that I return we’ll have this unfortunate ‘Iraq’ problem behind us and we will live in peace and harmony with all of God’s (or Goddess’s) creations (hey, who am I to imagine whether an infinite ethereal being who creates Universes as a hobby has a phallus or not? We’re talking about celestial mechanics, not ‘The Crying Game’). In the meantime I leave you with the words of wisdom of our Fearless Leader.”
-Skippy

“It's a good sign that there's a sense of concern and anxiety.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 5, 2007

“So, while I am gone, keep your head in the sand and keep reaching for the stars..”
-Skippy

“Follow your dreams. You can make a difference. Beefcake.”
-Eric Cartman

“Don’t dream it.. Be it.”
-Frank N. Furter

“See, I have a different philosophy. I'm a compassionate conservative. I think government ought to help people realize their dreams, not tell them how to live their lives.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, October 12, 2004

“Do as I say and not as I did.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, August 5, 1999

Quotes of the Morning: Everything's Coming Up Roses!

“Good news! We’ve finally turned the corner on Iraq and everything is starting to go our way!”
-Skippy

““I think we have made significant progress [in Iraq].”
-Vice-President Dick Cheney, January 27, 2007

“If you look at what’s transpired in Iraq, Chris, we’ve made enormous progress.”
-Vice-President Dick Cheney, January 14, 2007

“Whoo hoo! Sing it Ethel!”
-Skippy

“You'll be swell! You'll be great!
Gonna have the whole world on the plate!
Starting here, starting now,
honey, everything's coming up roses!”
-Ethel Merman, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”

“It's Lieutenant Hurwitz. Severe shell-shock. Thinks he's Ethel Merman.”
-Lt. Ted Striker, Airplane

“Oh.. not so well after all..”
-Skippy

“A suicide bomber killed 135 people on Saturday in the deadliest single bombing in Iraq since the 2003 war, driving a truck laden with one ton of explosives into a market in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad.”
-Reuters, February 3, 2007

“The insurgency is tough, but we are still in control.”
-Skippy

“Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief American military spokesman in Iraq, told reporters on Sunday that the four US helicopters that were first reported to have crashed in Iraq since Jan. 20 were actually shot down by enemy fire.
This is the first time that the US military has publicly acknowledged that the four US helicopters were lost to enemy fire and not to crashes as announced earlier.
He said that ‘it does appear they were all the result of some kind of anti-Iraqi ground fire that did bring those helicopters down.’
‘There's been an ongoing effort since we've been here to target our helicopters,’ Caldwell said. ‘Based on what we have seen, we're already making adjustments in our tactics and techniques and procedures as to how we employ our helicopters."
Four US helicopters including one private helicopter were reported to have crashed in Iraq since January 20.”
-RTT News, February 2, 2007

“Ok.. So we are losing a few copters. The insurgency is a little rough and apparently has access to one ton bombs, but, working with the Iraqi military, we’ll soon have this all wrapped up.”
-Skippy

“Several Iraqis have been detained for questioning in the ongoing investigation of at least two senior Iraqi generals suspected of involvement in an insurgent attack that killed five American soldiers on Jan. 20, U.S. officials told FOX News on Thursday.”
-FOX News, February 1, 2007

“Unless the Iraqi generals are actually working for the enemy. Hmm.. That must be why we need more troops. We can’t trust the Iraqis to defend their country from themselves. We just need to send those 21,000 extra combat troops and everything will be fine.”
-Skippy

“Over the past few years , DoD’s practice has been to deploy a total of about 9,500 personnel per combat brigade to the Iraq theater, including about 4,000 combat troops and about 5,500 supporting troops.
DoD has not yet indicated which support units will be deployed along with the added combat forces, or how many additional troops will be involved. Army and DoD officials have indicated that it will be both possible and desirable to deploy fewer additional support units than historical practice would indicate. CBO expects that, even if the additional brigades required fewer support units than historical practice suggests, those units would still represent a significant additional number of military personnel.
To reflect some of the uncertainty about the number of support troops, CBO developed its estimates on the basis of two alternative assumptions. In one scenario, CBO assumed that additional support troops would be deployed in the same proportion to combat troops that currently exists in Iraq. That approach would require about 28,000 support troops in addition to the 20,000 combat troops—a total of 48,000. CBO also presents an alternative scenario that would include a smaller number of support personnel—about 3,000 per combat brigade—totaling about 15,000 support personnel and bringing the total additional forces to about 35,000.”
-Congressional Budget Office Report, February 1, 2007

“Ok.. It may be a few more than 21,000 overall troops, but we have the soldiers and we are ready to do what needs to be done.”
-Skippy

“Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division had so little time between deployments to Iraq they had to cram more than a year's worth of training into four months.
Some had only a few days to learn how to fire their new rifles before they deployed to Iraq -- for the third time -- last month. They had no access to the heavily armored vehicles they will be using in Iraq, so they trained on a handful of old military trucks instead. And some soldiers were assigned to the brigade so late that they had no time to train in the United States at all. Instead of the yearlong training recommended prior to deployment, they prepared for war during the two weeks they spent in Kuwait, en route to Anbar, Iraq's deadliest province.
As the Pentagon prepares to boost troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 people, such logistical and training hurdles are emblematic of the struggles besieging a military strained by unexpectedly long and grueling commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
-San Francisco Chronicle, February 4, 2007

“Ok.. So we’re going through a tough patch. Don’t worry, we’re going to focus on the Iraq issue until this is resolved.”
-Skippy

“With respect to Iran, first of all, the president has made clear; the secretary of State has made clear; I've made clear -- nobody is planning -- we are not planning for a war with Iran.”
-Defense Secretary William Gates, February 2, 2007

“See? Nothing to worry about.”
-Skippy

“The United States has no plans to invade Iraq or any other country, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday, but he refused to discuss the Bush administration's thinking about how to deal with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.”
-Associated Press, May 24, 2002

Quotes of the Morning: My Great Depression

Jumping the gun a little posting this one.. I'm not in the office tomorrow, so I am magically going to send out tomorrow's Quotes today.. Oooo.. Spooky..

“People once again spent everything they made and then some last year, pushing the personal savings rate to the lowest level since the Great Depression more than seven decades ago.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent, meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned but they also dipped into savings or increased borrowing to finance purchases. The 2006 figure was lower than a negative 0.4 percent in 2005 and was the poorest showing since a negative 1.5 percent savings rate in 1933 during the Great Depression.
[…]
For December, the savings rate edged down to a negative 1.2 percent, compared to a negative 1 percent in November. The savings rate has been in negative territory for 21 consecutive months.
The 0.7 percent rise in personal spending was the best showing since a similar gain in July. It followed increases of 0.5 percent in November and 0.3 percent in October and reflected solid spending by consumers during the Christmas shopping season.”
-Associated Press, February 1, 2007

“Hey.. I’d like to point something out here.. The Quote above reports that we Americans are saving less money than we have at any point since the Great Depression. It points out that we are actually spending more than we make. It goes on to say that the 0.7 percent rise in spending is the best showing since last summer. In other words, the Associated Press believes that the fact we are, as a nation, going into debt is a good thing. Whoo hoo! Go USA! Still, this actually must be a good thing, because our economy is strong..”
-Skippy

“When people across the world look at America's economy what they see is low inflation, low unemployment, and the fastest growth of any major industrialized nation. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the United States. There is one undisputed leader in the world in terms of economy, and that's the United States of America.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Yep. The stock market is growing at a wonderful rate, and that benefits the corporations and everyone who can afford to own significant amounts of stock.”
-Skippy

“Royal Dutch Shell posted record annual profit on Thursday, beating forecasts…”
-Reuters, February 1, 2007

“Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent. The 2006 profit topped the previous record of $36.13 billion which Exxon set in 2005.
Revenue at the world’s largest publicly traded oil company rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion that Exxon posted in 2005.”
-Associated Press, February 1, 2007

“A nine-figure fortune won’t get you much mention these days, at least not on these pages. This year, for the first time, everyone in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion. The collective net worth of the nation’s wealthiest climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion. “
-Forbes Magazine, September 21, 2007

“Meanwhile you still won’t be able to live on a 40-hour a week minimum wage job.. even AFTER they finally raise it up a little. Fearless Leader will help some of these people though with their health insurance, so I’m sure that it all balances out.”
-Skippy

“Workplace health coverage costing more than $15,000 for a family or $7,500 for an individual would be subject to income and payroll taxes. Families that buy their own policies, meanwhile, could deduct $15,000 from taxable income. Individuals could take off $7,500. It doesn't matter if the actual cost of the insurance is less. The idea is being sold as a way to help the 47 million uninsured Americans buy coverage. Not many are buying.
‘It's totally unclear as to how these benefits would be reprogrammed to help the uninsured,’ Fitzhugh Mullan, a former U.S. assistant surgeon general, said over the phone.
The uninsured are mostly the working poor, who don't earn enough to use tax deductions.”
-Seattle Times, January 31, 2007

“Does anyone else remember reading about the French Revolution in history class? How about the Eloi and the Morlocks from H.G. Wells ‘The Time Machine’? When do you think that the last time Fearless Leader or any of our other politicians went without a meal was?”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Translation All I Ever Wanted

“Yesterday we discussed how all of you are idiots who cannot understand even the simplest things that Fearless Leader says. Today, to try to help, I will attempt to translate his incredible fluency in Higher English into something that you mere mortals can understand.”
-Skippy

“Yesterday, I went to the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Illinois -- that's where they make big bulldozers.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: You are all still idiots that I need to talk down to.”
-Skippy

“I understand some people don't like accountability, but how can you make sure if our kids are getting the foundation for the skills necessary to compete in the 21st century unless you measure?”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: Accountability is a wonderful idea for people other than me.”
-Skippy

“When people across the world look at America's economy what they see is low inflation, low unemployment, and the fastest growth of any major industrialized nation. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the United States. There is one undisputed leader in the world in terms of economy, and that's the United States of America.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: What is good for corporate America is good for the country, and no one cares about the minimum wage, median income, or things like this..”
-Skippy

“The United States lags far behind virtually all wealthy countries with regard to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast-feeding, a new study by Harvard and McGill University researchers says.
The new data comes as politicians and lobbyists wrangle over whether to scale back the existing federal law providing unpaid family leaves or to push new legislation allowing paid leaves.
The study, officially being issued Thursday, says workplace policies for families in the United States are weaker than those of all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries. Notably, it says the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.”
-Associated Press, February 1, 2007

“One important step we've taken in Washington is to pass litigation reform like the Class Action Fairness Act. It's important for people in Congress to understand that excessive lawsuits will make it hard for America to remain the economic leader that we want to be. Another important step we've taken is to strengthen our business institutions by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. This law helped boost investor confidence by establishing high standards for transparency and corporate governance. The principles of Sarbanes-Oxley are as important today as when they were passed. Yet complying with certain aspects of the law, such as Section 404, has been costly for businesses and may be discouraging companies from listing on our stock exchanges.
We don't need to change the law. We need to change the way the law is implemented.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: Shielding corporations from public accountability is good for the country, and the way that we can help shield them is through the Executive branch of the government, rather than working through the Legislative branch where the Democrats are now in power.”
-Skippy

“We must ensure that the money you send to Washington is spent wisely. Next Monday, I'm going to submit to Congress a budget that will eliminate the deficit by 2012. In order to do so, we need to set priorities in Washington. You can't try to be all things to all people when it comes to spending your money if you want to keep taxes low, keep the economy growing, and balance the budget.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: Though I came into office with the government having a budget surplus, now there is a massive deficit due to my trillion dollar wars and other issues.. The only way to solve this problem is to cut benefits to the poorest Americans.”
-Skippy

“I believe I need a line-item veto to help Congress spend money wisely.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: Though the vast majority of the current deficit is due to my actions, the only way to solve the problem is to give me more power.”
-Skippy

“The only way America can complete Doha and make headway on other trade agreements is to extent Trade Promotion Authority. This authority allows the President to negotiate complicated trade deals for our country, and then send them to Congress for an up or down vote on the whole agreement.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: Seriously, give me more power.”
-Skippy

“Across the country, business owners tell me that the cost of health care is their biggest problem, and it's becoming harder to provide coverage for their workers.
[…]
We created health savings accounts, which put patients in charge of their medical decisions and helps reduce the cost of their coverage. And I ask Congress to strengthen health savings accounts.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: If people on minimum wage would just save thousands of dollars in case they get sick it sure would be a lot easier on corporations.”
-Skippy

“We're spending money on cellulosic ethanol -- that's a fancy word for saying some day we're going to be able to convert switch grass into energy that powers your cars.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: I don’t really know what cellulosic ethanol is, but man do I love the idea of using grass..”
-Skippy

“In my State of the Union I set an ambitious goal of reducing gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent over the next 10 years. If you want to become less dependent on oil, the quickest way to do so is to use less gasoline. Meeting this goal will require significant changes in supply and demand. On the demand side, we have got to reform our economy -- fuel economy standards, that will reduce the amount of gasoline that cars and SUVs consume. And on the supply side, I have proposed a new mandatory fuel standard that is nearly a fivefold increase over the current target for renewable and alternative fuels.
We'll leave it to the market to decide the mix of fuels that most effectively and efficiently meet this goal.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007

“Translation: I set a goal without any way of enforcing it.”
-Skippy

“Now, on sadder news, columnist Molly Ivins (coiner of Fearless Leader’s nickname of ‘Shrub’) died yesterday.”
-Skippy

“Molly Ivins, whose biting columns mixed liberal populism with an irreverent Texas wit, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Austin after an up-and-down battle with breast cancer she had waged for seven years. She was 62.”
-Star-Telegram, January 31, 2007

“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!’"
-Molly Ivins, January 12, 2007