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Capitol Police say they screwed up when arresting Sheehan

Posted By: PK on 2006-02-01
In Reply to:

Sure they did. Some lowly rogue Capitol cop decided on his own to arrest Cindy Sheehan.

Just like the lowly rogue soldiers in Iraq who have been arrested and convicted and punished because one of them had the bright idea that they should torture prisoners. None of these people could possibly have gotten orders from the Oval Office, right? Of course not. Bush hates torture, right? LOL!

Sometimes the lies are so transparent and ridiculous, all I can do is laugh.

MSNBC.com

NBC: Charges against Sheehan to be dropped
Antiwar mom removed from State of the Union for wearing protest shirt

NBC News and news services

Updated: 5:42 p.m. ET Feb. 1, 2006

WASHINGTON - Charges against antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan, who was arrested after an incident involving a T-shirt she wore to the State of the Union address, will be dropped, officials told NBC News Wednesday.

U.S. Capitol Police took Sheehan away in handcuffs and charged her with unlawful conduct, a misdemeanor, when she showed up to President Bush�s address Tuesday night wearing a shirt that read, �2245 Dead. How many more?� � a reference to the number of soldiers killed in Iraq.

But Capitol Police will ask the U.S. attorney's office to drop the charges, NBC News� Mike Viqueira reported Wednesday.

�We screwed up,� a top Capitol Police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said Sheehan didn't violate any rules or laws.

Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq, was not the only one ejected from the House gallery. The wife of a powerful Republican congressman was also asked to leave, but she was not arrested.

Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Florida � chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee � was removed from the gallery because she was wearing a T-shirt that read, �Support the Troops � Defending Our Freedom.�

The Capitol Police official said officers never should have approached Young.

Criticism from Rep. Young
Holding up the shirt his wife wore, Rep. Young said on the House floor Wednesday morning: �Because she had on a shirt that someone didn�t like that said support our troops, she was kicked out of this gallery.�

�Shame, shame,� he scolded.

Beverly Young was sitting about six rows from first lady Laura Bush and was asked to leave. She argued with police in the hallway outside the House chamber.

�They said I was protesting,� she told the St. Petersburg Times. �I said, �Read my shirt, it is not a protest.� They said, �We consider that a protest.� I said, �Then you are an idiot.��

They told her she was being treated the same as Sheehan, who was ejected before the speech. Sheehan wrote in her blog Wednesday that she intended to file a First Amendment lawsuit.

She did not issue an immediate response to the charges being dropped.

�I don�t want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government,� Sheehan wrote in her blog.

Sheehan was invited as a guest of Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif. She later was released on her own recognizance.

Told she could not wear shirt?
Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said police warned Sheehan that such displays were not allowed in the House chamber, but Sheehan did not respond, she said.

Sheehan, however, told a different story in her blog.

�I was never told that I couldn�t wear that shirt into the Congress,� Sheehan wrote. �I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things, ... I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later.�

She said she felt uncomfortable about attending the speech.

�I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me and I knew that I couldn�t disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket,� Sheehan wrote. �I didn�t want to be disruptive out of respect for her.�

She said she had one arm out of her coat when an officer yelled, �Protester.�

�He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs,� she wrote in her blog. She was then cuffed and driven to police headquarters a few blocks away.

Sheehan was arrested in September with about 300 other anti-war activists in front of the White House after a weekend of protests against the war in Iraq. In August, she spent 26 days camped near Bush�s ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he was spending a working vacation.

The Associated Press and NBC News contributed to this report.

� 2006 MSNBC.com

URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11120353/

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Capitol Police say they *screwed up* when arresting Sheehan - PK

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Do ya think lithium would help here? (only kidding, doesn't make sense, but this is Capitol Hill
nm

Arresting officer, who is Jewish, took no offense. sm

He pretty much said what I did below.

Arresting Deputy Didn�t Want To �Defame� Gibson

�I don�t take pride in hurting Mr. Gibson� says officer, who is Jewish

MSNBC
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:56 p.m. PT July 31, 2006

Excerpt:

CALABASAS, Calif. - The deputy who arrested Mel Gibson on suspicion of drunken driving said Monday that he feels bad for damage to the star�s reputation but hopes Gibson thinks twice before drinking and getting behind the wheel.

James Mee, a Los Angeles County sheriff�s deputy, told the Associated Press that he considered it a routine arrest and didn�t take seriously any comments that Gibson made.

Gibson reportedly unleashed an anti-Semitic tirade and made other offensive comments when he was pulled over, initially for speeding, early Friday along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. He was then arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Gibson has issued a public apology for his conduct without specifying what he said or did.

�I don�t take pride in hurting Mr. Gibson,� said Mee, a 17-year deputy who is Jewish. �What I had hoped out of this is that he would think twice before he gets behind the wheel of a car and was drinking. ... I don�t want to ruin his career. I don�t want to defame him in any way or hurt him.�

*snip*

TMZ reported that Gibson said, �The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world,� and asked the arresting officer, �Are you a Jew?�

In the interview outside his home, Mee would not comment specifically on what Gibson said.

�That stuff is booze talking,� the deputy said. �There�s two things that booze does. It amplifies your basic personality. If you are a laid-back kind of person, just an easygoing kind of person, booze is going to amplify that and you�ll be just sitting around going how it�s a wonderful day.

Those were the arresting officer's words, not mine. nm

Sheehan
She also is involved with the AfterDowningStreet.org site. Last week Representative Conyers held a meeting with Joe Wilson whose wife was outed as a CIA operative by someone in the WH, Ray McGovern, an ex-CIA analyst, Cindy Sheehan and Mr. Bonifaz, attorney, concerning the Downing Street Memos. It was on C-Span twice last week.

Cindy Sheehan
Did you see where Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in 2004 in Iraq, is camping out in front of Bush's ranch and she has gotten interviews with CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN. She states she wants to talk to Bush but he send two of his aides outside to tell her he won't meet with her. Why not, I wonder. He is our president, we elected him to office, he is our servant. I think he owes her a meeting. She gave the ultimate sacrifice, her son. He can't sacrifice a half hour to one hour of his FIVE WEEK vacation? Vacation, what is that? Do you think Clinton or Bush, Sr or even Reagan would have met with her. I think each of them would have.

Support for Sheehan
Please call (214) 764.6668 and leave your message for Cindy Sheehan.
We'll deliver them to Cindy in Crawford and give them to Cindy on CD
later. We will also broadcast your message on RadioLeft.com, so don't
say anything that you don't want to hear on the radio!

Also, sign the petition of support for Cindy. We helped get her on
Good Morning America but we want to help her get on more TV shows.
Sign here:
CindySheehan.com - http://www.CindySheehan.com

Sheehan/Schiavo sm
Well looks like the month-long "working vacation" is really getting screwed up. When a democrat has a dead son she is being motivated by the extreme left. Remember the Schiavo fiasco? People trying to get in to give a brain-dead woman water - which would have in fact KILLED her? I suppose they were not extremely right motivated

;duh, let me think, Bubba in Florida, conservatives watching, let's call an emergency session of congress and intervene in a family matter - WTG George, that really went over well.

Can you say Cindy Sheehan?
It just doesn't add up. Pat didn't have to go, so why would he have gone for a illegal war? I think Mrs. Tilman is another grieving mother expressing her grief in a not-so-honoring way to her son. I've not walked that road of grief, so I'll save my judgements of Mrs. Tilman beyond that...

Cindy Sheehan
Nominate her for pest of the year. She's making a mockery out of what her son believed in. She's a sorry excuse for a mother.

More on Cindy Sheehan...
Again...as with most protestors...it is not about the cause, it is about the protestor. This woman should be ashamed of herself.

Back then (forever ago, it seems), you could turn on any of the major networks � CBS (Cindy Broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcast of Cindy), ABC (All �Bout Cindy), or even 24-hour coverage on CNN (Cindy News Network) � to hear her sad tale of woe about how she was fighting a one-woman battle against the imperial presidency in honor of her fallen son � deliberately killed by the neo-conservative cabal of Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and Halliburton while he was serving in Iraq � by courageously confronting the forces of evil by camping out on the front lawn of the President Bush�s Crawford, Texas ranch.

What heroism. What bravery.

One prop used by Cindy Sheehan at �Camp Casey� (named in honor of her fallen son, Casey Sheehan) was a fake cemetery filled with 2,000 crosses representing all of those American military service members killed in the line of duty up to that time in the Global War on Terrorism. One of those crosses bore the name of Casey Sheehan, who was killed in action on April 4, 2004. There�s even video of her tending to his fake grave surrounded by representatives of the mainstream media. (It should be noted that at least one Gold Star family didn�t appreciate their son�s death being part of Sheehan�s �Camp Casey� media circus. Gary Qualls of Temple, Texas drove to the location and removed the prop wooden cross bearing his son�s name from Sheehan�s faux cemetery, saying, �I don�t believe in some of the things happening here. I find it disrespectful.�)

But at Casey Sheehan�s real grave in Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery in Vacaville, California, the Peace Mom couldn�t bother with having a headstone or even a wooden cross to mark his passing. Until recently, that is, when critics began to take notice of Casey Sheehan�s lonely unmarked grave.

Heaven knows she should have been aware of this grave oversight. In the January 2006 issue of Vanity Fair, Cindy Sheehan was featured in a macabre two-page pictoral spread of her posing on Casey�s grave. In a pathetic twist of irony, she was being honored by the magazine for the �Best Stand of 2005�.

From the Vanity Fair spread, it seems that her son�s real grave was as much of a prop as his fake grave. It wasn�t until Cindy Sheehan began receiving severe criticisms about the absence of any marker at Casey�s grave that the �Peace Mom� began to respond.

The first indication that she was starting to feel the heat from critics noting her traveling cemetary while her son�s grave went unmarked was seen in a blog entry she posted dated April 11th at Truthout.org (the left-wing website that on May 13th announced that Karl Rove was about to be indicted not long before the special prosecutor announced that he wasn�t subject to prosecution), where she offers a rambling explanation for why her son � dead for more than two years � had no tombstone. Of course, it is four paragraphs before she gets around to answering the question about the absence of a tombstone at Casey�s grave:

We had a Casualty Officer who abandoned us when our mortuary refused to pay the cemetery and told us that the government sent the money to the mortuary, so now it is your problem. You may have to sue the mortuary. Our government discards and dishonors its own.

So you see, it was George Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove who were to blame for Casey Sheehan�s unadorned grave. But she later gives a more reasonable explanation � her mental instability:

For the first year after Casey was killed, I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to place a TOMBstone on my son's grave. I didn't want one more marble proof that my son was dead. I couldn't even call where he was buried a cemetery, I had to call it Casey's Park. I placed fresh flowers in the cup every week and journaled there almost on a daily basis, and often laid on it and fell asleep and dreamed of my needlessly killed son. Have any of these people who claim that I am pissing on my son's grave even visited him?

In attacking her critics, she misses the very point she raises herself � if any of us had wanted to visit her son�s grave, how would we be able to find it without some kind of marker?

A quick examination of her explanation for this grave oversight raises glaring contradictions with known facts. Her first excuse is to blame the government. Let�s weigh her story with what we know to be true.

Had the Sheehan family chosen to have Casey buried in a National Cemetery (and his combat-related death would have made him eligible for a spot in Arlington National Cemetery), virtually all expenses would have been covered by the military. They didn�t choose that option. Instead, they had him buried in a private cemetery in his hometown � a perfectly legitimate option. In that instance (a private internment), the Department of Defense reimburses actual burial expenses up to $7,700. In addition to that, the actual expense of transporting his remains back to California would also be reimbursed by the government.

However, it wasn�t just the government in on this conspiracy, according to Sheehan; it was also the mortuary's fault for failing to pay the cemetery. It was only a few days after Sheehan publicly accused that owner of the mortuary that handled Casey funeral that he came forward to correct her story, as recorded in the Vacaville Reporter:

Steve Nadeau, the mortuary's owner, said Monday that not only did he properly pay the cemetery, but that he subsidized the process with his own money�

In an e-mail sent to The Reporter Sunday, Nadeau expressed hurt and disbelief at Sheehan's comments. He said that the amount of money the military gave the mortuary for Casey's funeral service and cemetery arrangements didn't even come close to covering the costs.

Several kind citizens made donations, said Nadeau. I absorbed the rest.

This was not the only way in which he went above and beyond his responsibilities following Casey's death, said Nadeau. He also provided a stretch limousine and a driver at his expense, he said, and invited the family to go to the airport with him so that he could accompany them. None of this was required, said Nadeau.

Having known the Sheehan family for many years through St. Mary's Catholic Church where Ms. Sheehan had previously been the youth director, it was my desire to provide care and dignity to Casey and the family. I did this in every respect.

Nadeau also refuted Sheehan's statement that the mortuary finally paid the cemetery only after the family threatened to bring the story to the media.

This never happened, said Nadeau. I would stop by the family home as I do most families' homes and check with them on necessary needs, etc.

Nadeau said the military provided his mortuary $5,736 in funding to pay for the funeral service and cemetery arrangements. The funding came in May 2004, said Nadeau, and he paid the cemetery as soon as the costs had been totaled and the donations received.

Now this testimony is very damning for Cindy Sheehan. According to the funeral director, the government came through with funding within a month of Casey�s death, and the cemetery was paid immediately. Anyone who has ever had to deal with getting money from the federal government knows this is lightning speed.

Admittedly, the funeral director�s story is not above questioning. Since Casey�s remains would have been embalmed, dressed and laid out at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base even before they were sent to California, and the Defense Department would have covered transportation costs for his remains to be returned to his family, one wonders exactly what the $5,736 was actually paying for? Then again, the �death care� industry is known for its extraordinary product and service markups.

But what about Casey�s tombstone? This is where Cindy Sheehan�s excuses start to fall apart entirely.

In fact, the Department of Veterans Affairs provides virtually all veterans free headstones and grave markers at no cost to the family. From personal experience, I know that it only takes 2-3 months once the VA Form 40-1330 is submitted for these to be delivered directly to the cemetery. In most cases, private cemeteries will lay a base and install the veteran�s headstone or marker at no charge.

Perhaps �Peace Mom� was too busy with her anti-war activism to bother filling out the one page form?

Finally in May, Casey Sheehan�s grave finally received its headstone. In another article by the Vacaville Reporter (May 27th), Cindy Sheehan was quoted as saying that she had to pay for it out of her own pocket.

Sheehan said she had paid for the tombstone herself and was part of a family effort to put it up, even though its installation saddened her.

It is important for the rest of Casey's family to have one, she wrote Friday. I guess the pain of seeing it etched in marble that he is dead is another pain I will have to deal with.

�The headstone was very expensive, Sheehan wrote. She said that the government should have paid for it because of its responsibility for his death. But Sheehan said money is not the main issue.

Surely we should feel some pity for poor Cindy Sheehan for having to fork out the money for her son�s tombstone, even though he died in combat in service to his country? Well, again, this is where Sheehan�s story doesn�t fit the facts.

What she apparently forgot to tell the world in her bitter defense of her son�s unmarked grave was that the funeral reimbursement from the Defense Department wasn�t the only money she received from the government for Casey�s death. At least one former military official noted last month before Casey�s tombstone was installed that Sheehan was the beneficiary of a $250,000 Servicemembers� Group Life Insurance (SGLI) policy. And legal documents filed in the divorce case of Patrick and Cindy Sheehan show that there was another Prudential Life Insurance policy (no. 43520001432577) paid at the time of his decease.

What has not been discussed (and Sheehan would be likely never to admit to) is that in addition to having actual funeral expenses reimbursed by the Defense Department and the SGLI and Prudential life insurance policies, Sheehan also received a $100,000 death gratuity from the government to cover miscellaneous expenses not covered by the DoD reimbursement. The $100,000 death gratuity is paid to all deaths in the line of duty retroactive to October 7, 2001, the beginning of post-9/11 military operations in Afghanistan.

While the description of Casey�s headstone described by the Vacaville Reporter sounds as if it is a fitting marker for a fallen hero killed in the defense of his country and that also reflects his personal interests, clearly the cost of it isn�t near the $100,000 Cindy Sheehan received from taxpayers to cover such expenses.

Now people might be led to think that the Feds get a big chunk of that money back in taxes. Cindy Sheehan even said last August at a Veterans for Peace rally that she was going to refuse to pay her 2004 taxes:

Another thing that I'm doing is - - my son was killed in 2004, so I'm not paying my taxes for 2004. If I get a letter from the IRS, I'm gonna say, you know what, this war is illegal; this is why this war is illegal. This war is immoral; this is why this war is immoral. You killed my son for this. I don't owe you anything. And if I live to be a million, I won't owe you a penny.

And I want them to come after me, because unlike what you've been doing with the war resistance, I want to put this frickin' war on trial. And I want to say, You give me my son, and I'll pay your taxes.

What she forgot to mention in her tirade is that the $350,000 paid to her by the government ($250,000 SGLI insurance policy and the $100,000 death gratuity) is entirely tax free.

But if Cindy Sheehan is correct that she had to pay for the monument out of her own pocket (even though she admitted to the Vacaville Reporter that her estranged husband, Patrick, handles all matters relating to Casey�s grave site, a fact confirmed by Steve Nadeau, the funeral director that handled Casey�s arrangements), the question has to be asked:

What happened to the hundreds of thousands of tax free dollars that Cindy Sheehan received from the U.S. Government for her son�s death?

One has only had to follow Sheehan�s anti-war activism over the past year to reasonably conclude that the money paid to Cindy Sheehan has been going to finance her globetrotting activist lifestyle. Yes, while Casey Sheehan�s grave went unmarked, his mother was spending the money given to her to pay for his funeral expenses having tea parties with Third-World tinpot dictators, like her BFF, Comrade Hugo Chavez.

From all accounts, Casey Sheehan was the kind of guy that you would enjoy knowing. His commitment to his country and the Global War on Terror that it is prosecuting was seen in the heroic actions that led to his death in Sadr City and in his voluntary reenlistment in 2004 knowing he would probably be sent back to Iraq. His death, like the deaths of all members of the military who die in service to their country, was tragic and a loss to all Americans.

But perhaps even more tragic is how Casey Sheehan�s mother has taken to politically trafficking in her son�s death advancing a cause that many close to him have said he would never have agreed with. His mother�s lack of concern about caring for and appropriately honoring her son�s remains while using her son�s unmarked grave as a photo prop for Vanity Fair and also erecting fake grave markers at her media events should tell us all we need to know about Cindy Sheehan.

With no thanks apparently due to her, Casey Sheehan�s grave has the marker he deserves.

We are screwed either way...

no matter who gets in. I feel sorry for whoever wins...what a mess they are taking over, not just with Bush but going back to the Clinton years. Neither candidate impresses me at all. I'm writing in someone this year.

Just one, but it really gets screwed.
xx

Did you ever think this is just a very screwed up
nm

Yes, I think we are screwed either way. s/m

I don't fit into either political party. My Dad was just an absolute RABID (LOL) Democrat. He would absolutely turn over in his grave if he knew 2 of his children had gone Republican (not this one). My brother and sister join me in this mess and thinking we're screwed either way. They haven't volunteered how they're going to vote but I suspect they'll stick with the Republicans (they both married RABID Republicans LOL). Neither of them want to see Palin in the White House, this I know but that's as far as we've gone.

All this aside, I totally agree with you. We don't need, particularly at this time, one party in control of everything. I know a lot of Americans are angry about a lot of things, of which I am one, but I don't want to throw the baby out in the bathwater either.

Gah! we are all screwed!
I would consider that dark and meaningless...........all hope is lost...........

seems like the ones who screwed everyone are the ones getting help?
so mine is not a freddie or fannie mortgage, what you are asking is my same question...

I dont get help?? i am current on my loan, have been always since two years ago when I bought it - i put 20% down...... now in an upside down mortgage (including the loss of the 50K i put down) and it is depressing, but I have done everything right but guess what... no help for me? im pretty pessimistic

Sheehan, a true patriot
I have followed this courageous woman who sacrified her son for this war and I have nothing but praise and respect for her. She is a true American.

I'm sure you defend Cindy Sheehan just the same, don't you?
Not a bet I'd take.

Yes. Every bit as screwed up as right-wing
x

So basically we are screwed either

way this plays out? My biggest fear is having democrats in total control of everything. I don't like idea at all. I know a lot of people are just wanting to get republicans out of the way since they blame Bush for everything.

The big picture is that government as a whole (all parties) were involved in this crisis and it really is going to take all parties to pull us out. We need a split to keep things under control. Our country cannot afford to let everything go extreme left like it appears to be doing. We need some contrast and balance. If Obama were more middle of the road and not so extreme left.....I might consider voting for him. But he is way too extreme left for me. As a conservative.....I don't like that at all.

actually the justice screwed up
The Justice screwed up the wording of the oath, putting the word faithfully in the wrong place. If you looked at Obama, you can see he has a look of surprise on his face, and I think that is what threw him off. I think he knew the oath and was a little bewildered when the justice said it wrong.

OMG. We are screwed as MT's thanks to Obama
Local companies going overseas.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/includes/templates/library/flash_popup.php?pID=283921-1&clipStart=&clipStop=

Take blue cursor to 55:42 near the end of Obama's townhall meeting today in Elkhart, Indiana.

Obama: I believe that the United States has the most productive workers and best colleges and universities. We can compete against anybody. We have problems in failure to invest to keep us competitive.

Our health care system is broken and that is a huge cost. A lot of employers who want to stay here find it very difficult to deal with the rising cost of health care for their employers and fixing health care will make us more competitive. We have a tax code that is too often skewed to encourage companies to move overseas. We still have laws on the books that give tax breaks to companies that are shipping overseas. I think it is important to give tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in the United States of America.

Now, having said all that, the single most important factor, I think, in whether or not companies are going to continue to locate here around the country is what are we doing about education.

IMPORTANT PART OF ALL

Because the quality of the work force is probably what most companies are going to pay the most attention to over time. There are going to be some companies that just ship jobs overseas because it is low value added work and they do not need skilled labor and if you do not need skilled labor to make certain things then you are just going to find the cheapest place and we are never going to be able to compete against a country like India when it comes to low wage work, but what we should be looking for is how to encourage high wage and high value work. The key is going to be how well are we training our work force. That is why in this recovery and stimulus package, we put billions of dollars not only to make sure that school districts are not getting hammered, but able to keep their teachers, but also have money in the package to retrain our teachers, math and science so they are able to provide our young people what they need to compete in this new global economy and have money to create new labs with internet connections so we are modern in this country to revamp our community colleges to get people to train for these new jobs of the future and need to be investing in education and blah, blah, blah.

Frankly, this guy is to contradicting to me and I am known as an unskilled labor worker and basically need to better myself in education for a better high wage job (which I do know that) especially if I am being compared to India employees.

Sheehan Feeling the Glare of the Spotlight

Some Are Focusing Anger on Protester

By Michael A. Fletcher

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; Page A03

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 16 -- Cindy Sheehan rode into town 10 days ago, a forlorn mother with a question for her president: Why did my son die in Iraq?

But now the same wave of publicity and political anger that she rode to become a nationally known symbol of the antiwar movement threatens to crash down on Sheehan herself.

Cindy Sheehan hugs a supporter at her protest site in Crawford, Tex. Conservatives have criticized her, and she says some sympathetic groups have agendas she does not share. (By Jason Reed -- Reuters)

Conservative commentators and Web sites are taking aim at Sheehan with the same ferocity she has aimed at President Bush. In part, they are using her own words against her -- reciting such controversial comments as her vow to refuse to pay taxes to a government waging an "illegal" war and her desire to see Bush impeached.

The backlash is becoming a new object lesson in how saturation media coverage and the instinct for personal attack are shaping political debate. Some independent commentators said the pushback on the right has succeeded at scuffing the public sympathy and deference she had earned as the mother of a fallen soldier, and has shown how virtually any subject relating to the Iraq war and Bush's presidency is viewed through a partisan lens.

"Cindy Sheehan has emboldened the progressives who oppose the war and caused the conservative diehards who are behind the war to go into a defensive mode," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, a trade publication for talk radio. "Cindy Sheehan is going to be a target, and they'll probably go through her past to find what they can to discredit her."

Since her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Iraq last year, Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., has traveled the country trying to drum up opposition to the war in Iraq. She has participated in peace conferences, demonstrations and a mock congressional hearing about the "Downing Street memo" -- notes of a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers that said the Bush administration had decided to go to war and molded intelligence findings to support that decision.

In that time, Sheehan, 48, a soft-spoken woman who says she was radicalized by her son's death, has engaged in her fair share of inflammatory rhetoric.

"It's obvious Cindy Sheehan has become a political player, whose primary concern is embarrassing the president," Fox Television personality Bill O'Reilly wrote Tuesday in an online column. "She is no longer just a protester."

Bush, Sheehan said, lied to the American people about the war and should be impeached. She is refusing to pay taxes in hopes that the Internal Revenue Service will come after her to collect. "I'm not supporting a government that wages an illegal, immoral war," she said. "I want them to come after me, so I can put the war on trial."

Still, she said some of the statements attributed to her are distortions. Contrary to a letter attributed to her that is circulating widely on the Internet, she asserts that she has never said that the United States is waging the war in Iraq to protect Israel.

"I have said a lot of strong things, and I'll stand by everything I said," Sheehan said, adding that she thought the document had been altered. "But I didn't say that."

The scrutiny that has accompanied Sheehan's quick rise to prominence has extended to her family. Several in-laws have publicly criticized her protest -- announcing their displeasure in a release to the Drudge Report. News that Sheehan's husband, Patrick, has filed for divorce has been trumpeted by some bloggers as evidence of her extreme views.

Sheehan acknowledges that some of her views are becoming a distraction. Also, she said, some groups that have aided her protest have agendas -- including conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and some vaguely anti-Semitic theories about the cause of the war -- that she says she does not share.

Consequently, she has asked that her campsite near Bush's ranch be restricted only to organizations of military families, or those who have lost loved ones in the war.

"Attention got focused on the messenger and not the message," Sheehan said. "My thing is ending the war in Iraq. But there are a lot of people who want to attach their horse to my wagon, because of the exposure I'm getting."

The increased scrutiny of Sheehan is coming as some residents here are growing irritated with the stream of antiwar protesters drawn to her vigil.

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Sheehan announced plans to move the camp from the drainage ditches next to the winding road about two miles from Bush's 1,600-acre spread to a field on a ranch offered by one of Bush's neighbors. The new camp would be about a mile from the president's ranch. All that would be left behind at the original site would be three tents and hundreds of white wooden crosses bearing the names of troops killed in Iraq.

The move followed complaints by about 60 of Bush's neighbors, who petitioned McLennan County officials to expand a no-parking zone around the camp, in an effort to avert the traffic tie-ups that have become commonplace as the protest has grown. Also, Monday night a truck dragging chains and a pipe demolished some crosses; the driver, Larry Northern, 46, of Waco, Tex., was charged with criminal mischief.

Sheehan has promised to remain encamped throughout Bush's five-week stay here and to return whenever the president does. She also announced plans for a series of nearly 1,000 candlelight vigils Wednesday night across the country. Liberal advocacy groups MoveOn.org Political Action and Democracy for America are organizing the protests.

"All of this other BS just clouds my message," Sheehan said. "My message is that of a brokenhearted mom sitting down in front of George Bush's ranch, wanting to know why my son died."

The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan

Op-Ed Columnist

The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan

By FRANK RICH

Published: August 21, 2005

CINDY SHEEHAN couldn't have picked a more apt date to begin the vigil that ambushed a president: Aug. 6 was the fourth anniversary of that fateful 2001 Crawford vacation day when George W. Bush responded to an intelligence briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" by going fishing. On this Aug. 6 the president was no less determined to shrug off bad news. Though 14 marine reservists had been killed days earlier by a roadside bomb in Haditha, his national radio address that morning made no mention of Iraq. Once again Mr. Bush was in his bubble, ensuring that he wouldn't see Ms. Sheehan coming. So it goes with a president who hasn't foreseen any of the setbacks in the war he fabricated against an enemy who did not attack inside the United States in 2001.

When these setbacks happen in Iraq itself, the administration punts. But when they happen at home, there's a game plan. Once Ms. Sheehan could no longer be ignored, the Swift Boating began. Character assassination is the Karl Rove tactic of choice, eagerly mimicked by his media surrogates, whenever the White House is confronted by a critic who challenges it on matters of war. The Swift Boating is especially vicious if the critic has more battle scars than a president who connived to serve stateside and a vice president who had "other priorities" during Vietnam.

The most prominent smear victims have been Bush political opponents with heroic Vietnam r�sum�s: John McCain, Max Cleland, John Kerry. But the list of past targets stretches from the former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke to Specialist Thomas Wilson, the grunt who publicly challenged Donald Rumsfeld about inadequately armored vehicles last December. The assault on the whistle-blower Joseph Wilson - the diplomat described by the first President Bush as "courageous" and "a true American hero" for confronting Saddam to save American hostages in 1991 - was so toxic it may yet send its perpetrators to jail.

True to form, the attack on Cindy Sheehan surfaced early on Fox News, where she was immediately labeled a "crackpot" by Fred Barnes. The right-wing blogosphere quickly spread tales of her divorce, her angry Republican in-laws, her supposed political flip-flops, her incendiary sloganeering and her association with known ticket-stub-carrying attendees of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Rush Limbaugh went so far as to declare that Ms. Sheehan's "story is nothing more than forged documents - there's nothing about it that's real."

But this time the Swift Boating failed, utterly, and that failure is yet another revealing historical marker in this summer's collapse of political support for the Iraq war.

When the Bush mob attacks critics like Ms. Sheehan, its highest priority is to change the subject. If we talk about Richard Clarke's character, then we stop talking about the administration's pre-9/11 inattentiveness to terrorism. If Thomas Wilson is trashed as an insubordinate plant of the "liberal media," we forget the Pentagon's abysmal failure to give our troops adequate armor (a failure that persists today, eight months after he spoke up). If we focus on Joseph Wilson's wife, we lose the big picture of how the administration twisted intelligence to gin up the threat of Saddam's nonexistent W.M.D.'s.

The hope this time was that we'd change the subject to Cindy Sheehan's "wacko" rhetoric and the opportunistic left-wing groups that have attached themselves to her like barnacles. That way we would forget about her dead son. But if much of the 24/7 media has taken the bait, much of the public has not.

The backdrops against which Ms. Sheehan stands - both that of Mr. Bush's what-me-worry vacation and that of Iraq itself - are perfectly synergistic with her message of unequal sacrifice and fruitless carnage. Her point would endure even if the messenger were shot by a gun-waving Crawford hothead or she never returned to Texas from her ailing mother's bedside or the president folded the media circus by actually meeting with her.

The failure of the smear campaign against Cindy Sheehan is yet another historical marker in the collapse of support for the Iraq war.

ALL Americans are being lied to and screwed over -
by government, utilities, oil companies, tobacco industry, healthcare industry, insurance industry, auto industry, food industry, etc. The list is so long, that probably the easier way to do it would be to list who ISN'T screwing Americans:

1. Ummmm..... hmmmm.....

Let me get back to ya on that one; I can't find anyone who isn't screwing us.

You betcha we're screwed
and we didn't even get the proverbial kiss.

Its the democrats in cogress who screwed it up
x

Angry Mothers and Trembling Grizzlies: The Sheehan Effect

by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst

"Sheehan has been involved in protests against Bush since last year. She founded Gold Star Families for Peace...She said she decided to seek another audience with Bush when she heard his comments about the war last week, after a spike in American deaths. The fallen men and women "died in a noble cause," Bush said Wednesday. "Their families can know that we will honor their loved ones' sacrifice by completing the mission."

"Sheehan said she wants to tell Bush not to use her son's death as a reason to continue the war, and to ask "why (Bush's twin daughters) Jenna and Barbara and the other children of the architects of this disastrous war are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble." ArmyTimes.com, August 8, 2005

For some, Cindy Sheehan's lonely journey through the shock and sorrow of her son Casey's death in Iraq is of no interest. What, they ask, is the big deal? One soldier killed, one mother grieving � so what? Mothers have no business meddling in the manly business of war, or expressing inconvenient, disloyal, unpatriotic feelings like grief or anger. Get over it, critics command, and think about "the mission" instead, a mission that "we should see through" so that other people can't make fun of us for "cutting and running."

Instead of focusing on one poor misguided woman, or on how many more Americans and innocent Iraqi families will be killed in this war, we're told to think about how great it will be when other people admire us for killing every terrorist and future terrorist in the whole wide world. Instead of thinking about the new fundamentalist Islamic "democracy" that Bush's war has ushered in for the poor girls and women of Iraq, think about "the good news" way, way down the road when they get used to wearing the burqa and live happily ever after. In short, Americans should focus on "the big picture."

But for mothers � even those who've tried valiantly to believe the president when he exclaims that the war on Iraq is a "noble cause" � there IS no big picture. For mothers of slain soldiers, there are only little pictures: their lost child smiling at 10 months in his high chair; riding his first bike without training wheels; opening Christmas presents (Hot Wheels, Transformers, or GI Joe); and making silly faces for the camera.

The little picture encompasses all those times when parents stay up all night with their sick children, or protect them from bullies, or wipe away their tears after a friend's rejection. It's not just the happy times that mothers remember, it's the multitude of little moments, little pictures in a parent's mind, of time and love invested in one's offspring. When this enormous investment is squandered by reckless military adventures that zip kids into body bags, parents are owed great compensation. And they are owed the truth.

Do George and Laura Bush ever imagine how it would feel if all they had left of their beloved child was, as Cindy Sheehan has, a few snapshots and an abyss of sorrow in their hearts? Must they suppress their natural compassion in order to convince themselves of their own administration's spin � that it's "worth it" when American kids die far away from home for reasons that have consistently turned out to be false?

Do the Bushes feel the earth tremble beneath their feet at the mere thought that thousands of parents of slain soldiers are beginning to ask questions, to see the folly for which their children died�to find their voice?

Cindy remembers the little picture, which is why George has been hiding from her. She is his worst nightmare, for she is not just Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey. She is Every Mother. And, no matter how uncomfortable it gets, she's not going to dishonor her son by saying, "Well okay, if you say so, I guess this war was worth my boy's life."

Support Our Wars or Else

What does it really mean to "honor" a soldier's death�and life? To say that he or she willingly died "to end terrorism" (impossible), or "make Iraq a democracy" (ditto)? Unless they were suicidal when they enlisted (I know one boy who was), dying in Iraq is not the soldier's "sacrifice" because by definition, a sacrifice is something that we choose and willingly make. Most young people never imagined when they enlisted � often for reasons their recruiters understood but their parents didn't, such as finding a sense of belonging, or escaping bad neighborhoods or dead-end jobs, or finding a way to afford college some day � that they'd be dead within a matter of months.

To swallow ridiculous, ever-changing reasons for the futile war that has killed over 1800 idealistic youths with their whole lives ahead of them is to take the easy, socially acceptable way out. Pro-war pundits and politicians constantly threaten parents with social disapproval and even hatred if they dare to question those reasons � and it's worked for a long time. Parents have felt pressured to mouth the hawks' lines, lest their love for their child be called into question.

What a devilishly mean but perfect system for subduing the parents of fallen soldiers! Politicians and talk show hosts threaten: "Support our troops (the war), or we'll accuse you of dishonoring your dead child." The last thing that worried or grieving parents can bear is the suggestion that they're "dishonoring" the memory of the one they love. And so they have acquiesced. They have submitted. Archie Bunker would be pleased: Like Edith, they've learned to stifle themselves.

Until now.

Protective Fury: The Tipping Point

One day, back when Americans lived in peace and we'd never even heard of the Bush dynasty or the plotting neocons whose reckless ambitions it would serve, I was watching a nature show about grizzly bears in their natural habitat. I will never forget one particularly electrifying scene that comes to mind whenever I hear about Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside Mr. Bush's gated compound.

A large male grizzly came upon two adorable little grizzly cubs, who looked up at him with wonder and naivete; clearly, they didn't realize the danger they were in. To my great surprise, however, the male grizzly stood bolt upright as though startled, then starting running away from those harmless little cubs. Why on earth did he do that, I wondered. The narrator explained that the male knew instinctively that there's nothing more dangerous than a mother grizzly who senses that her cubs may be harmed.

As the huge male ran off into the woods, the narrator continued: "While the male grizzly is larger and could probably kill the female, he knows that in the process, her protective fury would leave him seriously, if not mortally, wounded. Mother grizzly bears will fight to the death for their young, ripping the flesh of any animal, no matter how large, that threatens their cubs. Coming upon the youngsters frightened the adult male so badly that he ran and hid because the mother, unseen but without a doubt somewhere near by, could at any moment sniff his presence and roar into action."

Human males can also sense danger, and know very well the hazards of facing protective mothers � particularly when other mothers are watching, too. This explains why the mainstream media has worked so hard to make antiwar parents of fallen soldiers look pitiful, and why George Bush is hiding inside his compound, hoping that Ms. Sheehan will lose interest and go away.

But what the president doesn't understand is this: She's not going to lose interest, and furthermore it isn't just Cindy Sheehan anymore. Parents of servicemen and women all over the country are beginning to see the little picture again. This is the tipping point, a showdown fueled by motherly devotion that will embolden other families to start questioning the integrity and fitness of this administration and this president: It's what I call the Sheehan Effect.

And that's the worst news ever for a man who can only see the "the mission," the big picture, and how noble it will look under "Bush, George W." in the history books.

Cindy Sheehan not allowed to watch SOU address, was arrested.
Curiously, CNN reported that Cindy had UNFURLED A BANNER INSIDE THE CHAMBER WHICH IS AGAINST THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS RULES.

Half an hour later we learn that no such thing happened. Cindy simply wore a T-shirt with an antiwar message on it and was promptly hauled off to jail.

In Bushworld, you can not only be arrested and hauled off to jail for wearing a controversial T-shirt, but the major media will also make up ridiculous lies about you and broadcast them world-wide. That's some performance for a liberal press. But oh ho ho, we were all being so paranoid four years ago to claim that the press was a willing servant of deliberate Rovian disinformation spinmeisters. Once again, we are right on the mark and the Repubs? - blind and wrong and misdirected as usual - let us count the many things about which the progressive thinking people of this nation have been absolutely correct, and the Bush supporters oh so regrettably wrong. Wow, it would take pages and pages!

Can't tell them anything though - they can't admit it when they are wrong. The way things are going, they're going to deny us right into the communist USSR of 1965 - the state our teachers used to scare us about in 1965 - and we would think, oh, how awful to live in a place where the government controls all the media, where protestors are thrown in jail, where you have to be worried about speaking above a whisper if you criticize the government, because your own neighbor will turn you in! Oh those poor people, having their mail opened and never being able to see any real news, only what the govt. wants them to see!

But of course that was back in the days when dissent was patriotic, when Americans didn't spy on each other, when the govt. could not throw you in jail without a trial, when even Presidents had to resign if they wiretapped you without a warrant. You know, the OLD America, when nobody was above the law and citizens were shocked when the lies and deceit and self-serving greed of elected officials was exposed, instead of sniggering and giggling behind their hands about how bold their guys are, and ain't it grand they're still in charge.

Gee, I really miss it - was good while it lasted, and something to tell the grandkids about.

If it Clinton screwed something up - why didn't Bush fix it? He had 8 years!

As much as you want to blame Bill Clinton......don't forget who held the reins for the last 8 years......who let them run amuck? Why was nothing done?

Check out the mortgage failures.
Tell me which failed more, prime or subprime
Tell me what is the rate of failures under the CRA or even Bush's ADDI (which i attack alll the time)
Once again, REALITY AND THE DATA doesn't fit ya'lls claims.

Basically what happened was.. we reformed bankruptcy laws.. so that people who ran into dire straights could not restructure.

We packaged the loans into commodity derivatives. These are sorta mirror bets on the loans. Sorta..as the same loan will be sold many times in many derivative packages.. that's why the housing derivatives are worth more than all the real estate in the US. Derivatives are actually not that bad.. when a market is stable and only has to deal with natural forces. The housing market was bubbled.. partially due to low interest rates that encouraged everyone to buy, even the rich, and partially due to the CRA and the ADDI.. which did add customers to the market (helping form the bubble was the extent the CRA and the ADDI had in this mess)

All it took was a few failures to pop the bubble..and make real estate prices drop,. and mind you, it was mainly prime loans (READ not loans given to poor people and not loans under the CRA) that failed. The derivative market.,.which like I said, is really mirrors of the same loans.. cause the defaults to explode with ten times the ferocity, because one loan could effect the price of dozens of derivatives.

Really the poor and even irresponsible people .. simply did not have the economic ability to cause this mess. Pool all their money together and waste it on hookers.. it would have zero effect without help from the rich elites and their magnifying packaged derivatives.

THE CRA and ADDI both had stricter requirements than loans you got from normal banks.. both required income data.. where many prime loans did not.. they also greatly limited you on how much home you could purchase..whereas private banks did not care if you tried to buy something you could not afford.
Don't believe me?.. Look in the phone book.. call your own housing authority - you can get a loan for 106% the purchase price of a home even today.. if you're poor enough.

Ask to hear the red tape and hoops you must go through.. Heck, it is probably easier to just get a real job and earn real money than go through the FHA.

One of the police chiefs
of one of the parishes in LA said that civilian water management people and civilian engineers etc. were being recruited to come there because the National Guard was overwhelmed in size and in capability. He said some had just come for 2 or 3 missions in Iraq or Afghanistan and were exhausted. I'm sorry I did not get his name. I will be more vigilant next time so if you want to tell someone they are alledging something that is untrue you'll get the right person. I's just the messenger. Since I am not there I have no idea how many National Guard are there, on call, whatever, but I still believe they are needed here more than there.

The US is becoming a police state.sm
It is not full-fledged yet, but 95% there. There is a rush to incarcerate (1 in 136 Americans are in jails and prisons). National ID card by 2010, RFID chips, face scanners installed at high schools, those who disagree with government are called homegrown terrorists (another false flag) or traitors. It is very well known that both Bush presidents support the one world government (NWO). The USA no longer resembles the Constitutional Republic it is supposed to be. Land of the free is an illusion.

We are not world police
So Saddam was a bad person..so what..that means we are supposed to sacrifice our hard earned taxes to pay for a war in Iraq? That means we are supposed to sacrifice our brave military to invade a nonthreatening country? There are many places in this old tired world where people are being brutalized..It is not our responsibility to be the world police, it is not our place to save the world from itself. If Iraq was a threat to America, that would have been a different story. This invasion and control of a Middle Eastern country was thought up in the early 1990s by Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz. On the other hand, we are no better than Saddam now..We have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, destroyed an ancient country, we cant even give them full time electricity or fresh water or safe secure homes and jobs. The war was wrong, the situation in Iraq is worse than when Saddam ruled. Iraq was better off with Saddam in power. However, keep trying to justify the war..It provides me a chuckle daily when I see the republican spinmeisters come up with a different reason for invasion almost daily. Bush says Iraq will be a comma in the history books..I disagree, Bush will be looked upon as a warmonger who got it so wrong, a failed presidency

Not our job to police the world...
Clinton - Kosovo. Clinton - Somalia. People died there too. If we had stayed in Somalia and nipped AL Qaeda in the bud there...if Clinton had accepted bin Laden from the Sudan...if, if, if. Have you read the Iraq Liberation bill? The idea for invading Iraq to topple saddam was born during Clinton's term...Bush did not invent it. All the same people who protest it now voted it into law. How would you expect anyone to take you seriously? It is never the liberal's fault. That is the one thread that remains true.

Yes, it is a matter of CHOICE. Why, though, is it only YOUR choice?

You danced around it, but it is very true...because there were some botched abortions in the 40's and 50's, we now have abortion on demand, our own genocide to the tune of 1.2 million a year, and somehow this is acceptable to you in the name of CHOICE. TO some of us, it isn't. You get choice, we don't. You need to change the name of your party, because it has little to do with democracy. If abortion was put to a vote of the people it would fail. Precisely why your party will not allow that to happen.

Because of this war we have ignited the fires of extremists and terrorists? Where were you for the first world trade center bombing? Where were you for Khobar Towers...the USS Cole, the african embassies? Somalia when your soliders bodies were dragged through the streets? They have been ignited for years, but were ignored for 8 of those years by Bill Clinton!

You enable abortion in the name of choice...you advocate it. If it went to ballot, you would vote for it. That is advocating it, no matter how you try to parse words.

Why is it easier to get incensed about war than about abortion? Do you think those infants want to be killed? Do they not have a right to life? Where is their choice?

Have you ever lived in police state?

Because if you had you'd definitely be able to see the VAST difference between a police state and the American state.

Also, your one-world government theory about the Bush's doesn't sync with your view that Bush is alienating the rest of the world, but I guess you think because Bush wants democracy for the world he somehow is planning to take over the world.

Wow, you are very steeped in conspiracy theory I'll give you that.

Why the spelling police have shown up! sm
I make typos all the time and so does everyone else.

Call off the typo police.
nm

spoken by the grammar police.
xx

Your point? Are you the spell police? nm
.

Oh no...the swearing police are back.
.

And who appointed you the "Posting Police?" sm
Everybody is entitled to an opinion just as you are. You should be able to get a pretty good idea of what the posts will say from the subject line. If you are so thin-skinned that you have to take offense at somebody elses posting, then either leave the board and go elsewhere or just don't open the thread. Easy as that.

Humor police in the house....(sm)

The intent of the post was not to compare an embryo to a turkey, but rather simply a joke saying that she would take up one cause but not the other. If you read the posts below you might understand the joke.

However, since you mentioned it, I'm sure I could make that comparrison. Our ideas of when life begins are obviously not the same.

Police Memorial Week
Still another example of a President to be ashamed of. He is the First President to show such disrespect!

Hello everyone,

May 10-16 was Police Memorial Week. It is a week to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving as a law enforcement officer in the United States.  The week is filled with various events to honor fallen police officers and their families.To provide you with Just a little background, May 15 was established by President John Kennedy as "Peace Officers Memorial Day" and the calendar week of May 15 is known as "Police Week" according to presidential proclamation 537.

     http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=24099

The point of this email is to inform you of something I believe everyone should be aware of. President Barrack Obama did not attend this event. This may seem insignificant, but every year for at the past 21 years the president, regardless of political affiliation, has given a speech on May 15 on the steps of the U.S. capitol to the family members of fallen hero's.

I am sure the president has more pressing issues to focus on than attending a ceremony for the widows, parents, and children of fallen police officers. It is understandable he may have needed to miss the ceremony for a more urgent matter and I say that with all seriousness. But, at the time of the ceremony where do you think Barrack Obama was? He was giving a tour of the White House to the 2008 world series champion Philadelphia Phillie's. I know the Phillie's are important and all, but the man could not take 30 minutes out of his day to take a short car ride 10 minutes down Pennsylvania Ave. to the Capitol, give a 10 minute speech and then drive back to the Whitehouse?

This is not a political issue and has nothing to do with being a democrat, republican, green party, independent, or whatever other political affiliation you may have chosen. This is about honoring fallen officers and paying your respects. It is obvious we know where Barrack Obama stands when it comes to supporting your local, state, and federal law enforcement officers.

I feel everyone should know what occurred on May 15, 2009. You will probably not hear this in the mainstream media so I would encourage you to share this with anyone and everyone you want.

Aha! SPELLING POLICE starts again!
This is a sign that you feel in the weaker position. It was a TYPO, o.k.!

Everone who starts with grammar and spelling police, insults and bashing admits that he has been cornered and his weakness shows.

Playing grammar- and spelling-police is NOT tolerated on this Forum, read the rules of this forum!

Got it!

Chertoff says bird flu = police state.
It may not be foreign terrorists you have to fear at your door! - This week Chertoff announced that in the event of a widespread bird flu epidemic here it would not be the medical authorities or health departments who will be running the show - the Department of Homeland Security intends to take over and make our medical and quarantine decisions for us.

Apparently with the migrations of the world's birds about to begin, all the experts are saying that this bird flu could rapidly spread across the world and become a really serious threat.

What has the Bush Admin. done to prepare? They bought themselves 100,000 doses of Tamiflu. You, on the other hand, can wing it. There's no more left. Let's see, 100,000 doses ought to just about make sure his haves and have-more base will have plenty to go around.

Bush supporters in la la land will have no trouble believing those doses are meant for babies and the elderly, and of course somehow for themselves. For the rest of us, the word is: Garlic, goldenseal and echinacea, and stop filling the bird baths.

Iraq: Insurgents infiltrate police

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgents have infiltrated Iraq's security forces, a senior Iraqi official said, as the fallout continued over British forces' use of armed vehicles to smash their way into a police station to rescue two undercover soldiers.

The British government said it would not pull troops out of Iraq after the fury over the controversial rescue of two special forces soldiers arrested in Basra and allegedly handed over to local militia.

Two Iraqis died in the violence, Reuters reported.

Iraq's National Security Adviser, Dr Mouwafak al-Rubaie, said he did not know how far security forces had been undermined by insurgents.

He told the BBC: Our Iraqi security forces in general, police in particular, in many parts of Iraq, I have to admit, have been penetrated by some of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well.

I can't deny this. We are putting in place a very scrupulous, very meticulous vetting procedure in the process of recruiting a new batch of police and Iraqi army, which will, if you like, clean our security forces as well as stop any penetration in future from the insurgents and terrorists.

Al-Rubaie added: I can't give you a percentage of the extent of the penetration, but I have to admit that the Iraqi security forces are penetrated, to what extent I don't know.

Meanwhile U.S. officials revealed that nine Americans, including five soldiers, were killed by bombs in Iraq during Monday and Tuesday.

Four troops, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, were killed Monday in Ramadi, the U.S. military said. The deaths brought to 1,904 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. (Full story)

In Basra Wednesday the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior said it was looking into what led to UK armored fighting vehicles bulldozing the wall of a Basra police station jail in a bid to free the special forces soldiers.

Inside, troops discovered that the two men had been handed over to the militia by Iraqi police and freed them.

The men's capture Monday came just a day after British forces in Basra arrested two leading members of the outlawed Mahdi Army which is loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and is widely believed to have heavily infiltrated the local Iraqi police, the UK's Press Association reported.

The two arrested men from the Mahdi Army were the group's Basra area commander, Sheikh Ahmad Majid al-Fartusi, and his aide Sajjat al-Basri, PA said.

According to PA, the two British men detained by police were members of the Special Air Service and appeared to have been quickly handed over to militiamen by police.

The mission to rescue them, which was condemned by many Iraqis, was launched amid fears they could face summary execution, PA said.

One Iraqi member of parliament said that following the arrest of the SAS men, the Mahdi Army had tried to take them hostage to exchange them for its two leaders.

Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying, policeman Abbas Hassan told Reuters.

Standing next to mangled cars outside the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles, he added: This is terrorism. All we had was rifles.

A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the British operation against the jail had been a very unfortunate development but his office later released a statement saying there was no crisis in relations with the British.

Iraqi policemen at the jail Tuesday surveyed a mass of rubble, broken plywood and air conditioning units where their perimeter wall and a number of prefabricated structures once stood.

A number of flattened cars appeared to have been run over by British Warrior armored fighting vehicles.

The two special forces soldiers, who were travelling undercover, were arrested after allegedly becoming involved in a firefight with Iraqi police at a checkpoint. Iraqi officials claimed they had shot dead a local policeman and wounded at least one other.

The British soldiers are believed to have feared the men were really insurgents dressed in police uniforms, PA said.

British Defence Secretary John Reid defended the subsequent action by British troops against the Jamiat police station jail, saying it was absolutely right.

We do not have designs to stay (in Iraq) as an occupying imperial power. Nor are we going to cut and run because of terrorists, Reid was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The paper said that Reid and British defense chiefs would meet Iraqi PM al-Jaafari Wednesday in London to discuss security issues.

In dramatic scenes outside the jail Monday, British troops were confronted by an angry mob, hundreds strong, throwing stones and petrol bombs and several soldiers suffered minor injuries.

After they discovered the two SAS men were not in the jail, Iraqi police were confronted with a 30mm cannon and revealed they had been given to the militia.

Brigadier John Lorimer, commanding officer of 12 Mechanised Brigade in Basra, said: We will be following up with the authorities in Basra why the soldiers were not immediately handed over to the multinational forces as Iraqi law shows that they should have been.

It is of deep concern that British soldiers held by the police should then end up being held by militia, he added.

You need some serious education on fascist police states
if you are referring to the U.S. Now, parts of France on the other hand has had to become a police state at times due to the riots against almighty socialism. Irony is a fun thing to watch play out sometimes and also how people think the grass is greener anywhere but where they are.

ROFL. Enter the typo police....
at least you found a different subject to attack on. Still snide, but nevertheless...attack, attack, attack. I look forward to your report on all the other posts and then posting our QA scores. Hop to it! LOL. geezzzzz.

St. Paul Police Protest the Press

Be careful of your constitutional rights - they are rapidly disappearing.

http://www.truthout.org/article/st-pauls-police-protest-press

Capitol Police say they *screwed up* when arresting Sheehan

Some Are Focusing Anger on Protester

The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan

Capitol Police say they screwed up when arresting Sheehan