Bullet Bags for Bush

via A Liberal Dose: "Displaying the singular tact and deep humanitarianism for which he is so deservedly reknowned, Chief Chimp hosted an Army recruiting drive for the BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA.

(Start the indoctrination young, 'cause with them Eye-rakees refusin ta stay beat and just pipe their dang oil straight into Bush Inc.'s personal oil tankers, we sure need the 10 to 18-year-old set learning the joys of triage and how to jerry-rig their own humvee armor -- though it's doubtful they issued new merit badges on such short notice.)

To add to the belief-beggaring, appalling tastelessness of the maneouver, two days after the kids had just witnessed the horrific death of four scout leaders in a freak accident, Bush PULLED A NO-SHOW AT THEIR MEMORIAL, and 300 KIDS COLLAPSED FROM THE HEAT while waiting in vain for his majesty to appear.

>sigh....<

People, you just can't even make shit like this up.

Roe V. Everyone Else .

(Start the indoctrination young, 'cause with them Eye-rakees refusin ta stay beat and just pipe their dang oil straight into Bush Inc.'s personal oil tankers, we sure need the 10 to 18-year-old set learning the joys of triage and how to jerry-rig their own humvee armor -- though it's doubtful they issued new merit badges on such short notice.)

To add to the belief-beggaring, appalling tastelessness of the maneouver, two days after the kids had just witnessed the horrific death of four scout leaders in a freak accident, Bush PULLED A NO-SHOW AT THEIR MEMORIAL, and 300 KIDS COLLAPSED FROM THE HEAT while waiting in vain for his majesty to appear.

>sigh....<

People, you just can't even make shit like this up."-(filed by Mike )

For quite a while, the debate over blogs in the Defense Department was over whether U.S. troops should be allowed to have them at all. On the one hand, some officials were concerned about security breaches, with troops inadvertently sharing compromising information online. On the other, some saw blogs as a morale-boosting outlet for the troops.

But as Noah Shachtman explained in an interesting report, a study was written for U.S. Special Operations Command that took an entirely different approach to online communication, which included the suggestion of possibly “clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers.”

“Hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering,” write the report’s co-authors, James Kinniburgh and Dororthy Denning.... Denning, a professor at Naval Postgraduate School, adds in an e-mail, “I got some positive feedback from people who read the article, but I don’t know if it led to anything.”

The report introduces the military audience to the “blogging phenomenon,” and lays out a number of ways in which the armed forces — specifically, the military’s public affairs, information operations, and psychological operations units — might use the sites to their advantage.

The Kinniburgh/Denning report was quite provocative, suggesting paying prominent bloggers to address “entrenched inequalities,” presumably in the media. The study did, however, note the downsides of such a plan: “People do not like to be deceived, and the price of being exposed is lost credibility and trust.” You don't say.

Now, it’s worth emphasizing that there’s no apparent evidence that the Pentagon actually put any prominent bloggers on the payroll. A spokesperson for U.S. Special Operations Command told Shachtman that the Kinniburgh/Denning report was merely an academic exercise: “The comments are not ‘actionable’, merely thought provoking.”

As far as I know, prominent bloggers who toe the administration’s line on Iraq policy are doing so for misguided ideological reasons, not unethical financial ones.

Reuters Via Yahoo:

A U.S. soldier who said his Christian beliefs compelled him to love his enemies, not kill them, has been granted conscientious objector status and honorably discharged, a civil liberties group said on Tuesday.

Capt. Peter Brown -- who served in Iraq for more than a year and was a graduate of the elite U.S. Military academy West Point -- said in a statement issued by the New York Civil Liberties Union that he was relieved the Army had recognized his beliefs made it impossible for him to serve.

"In following Jesus' example, I could not have fired my weapon at another human being, even if he were shooting at me," said Brown, who plans to continue seminary classes he began by correspondence while in Iraq. Read more...

This story hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but I believe it will pave the way for many other soldiers who object to the tragedy in Iraq to get out. This sets an interesting precedent. If other soldiers choose to follow suit in big numbers, it could mean serious trouble for President Bush and an Army already failing to meet recruiting goals.

...except in a video game for Jesus.

NY Times: (h/t Rick)

First the percussive sounds of sniper fire and the thrill of the kill. Then the gospel of peace.

Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game Halo.[..]

Those buying it must be 17 years old, given it is rated M for mature audiences. But that has not prevented leaders at churches and youth centers across Protestant denominations, including evangelical churches that have cautioned against violent entertainment, from holding heavily attended Halo nights and stocking their centers with multiple game consoles so dozens of teenagers can flock around big-screen televisions and shoot it out.

The alliance of popular culture and evangelism is challenging churches much as bingo games did in the 1960s. And the question fits into a rich debate about how far churches should go to reach young people.

Far from being defensive, church leaders who support Halo - despite its "thou shalt kill" credo - celebrate it as a modern and sometimes singularly effective tool. It is crucial, they say, to reach the elusive audience of boys and young men.

Oh, I don't know....one would think the line has been crossed when one is encouraging kids to kill (even if only virtually) to bring them to Jesus. This is a whole new take on "WWJD" that sadly reflects more on our society than religion.

The Democratic Policy Committee has released a following report: Overstretched and Under Strain: Bush Administration Mismanagement of Our Military Leaves Us Less Capable of Responding to Threats at Home and Around the World, that details how Bush Administration is breaking our Army.

The Bush Administration's flawed Iraq policies, including its failure to send in enough troops to secure the peace, its failure to advance a comprehensive strategy for victory, and its failure to anticipate and plan for a protracted conflict, along with its inadequate funding of our military - have dangerously overstretched our armed forces. The Administration's record of mismanagement has resulted in critical equipment and training shortfalls; forced repeated deployments and extended deployments for U.S. forces; led to recruiting and retention challenges; and left our country without a strategic reserve. Today, many Army units are on their third or even fourth tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, while non-deployed units face significant shortfalls in readiness. Military leaders warn that the current pace of operations and reduced readiness of U.S. military forces is limiting our ability to respond to threats to our security and crises that may emerge both at home and around the world.

Keep reading the documentation the DPC has compiled, it's stunningly sad.

From the AP:

More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.

The military's desperately overstretched as a result of this reckless war. With typical Republican logic, they've resorted to using unscrupulous bottom-feeders as recruiters and letting them run wild. Military recruiters have always tended to be sleazy, but it's gotten much worse. They lie, cheat, and manipulate young people - especially disadvantaged young people - to make up for the planning mistakes of their superiors.

Now we're learning that they rape and abuse recruits, too. It's not just Abu Ghraib and Gitmo anymore. Like the old country song says, "War Is Hell On The Home Front Too."

"This should never be allowed to happen," one 18-year-old young woman said. "He had my future. I trusted him."

She might as well be speaking for the entire country.

Jon Stewart had a hilarious bit on military recruiting and the cost of the war in Iraq last night.

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT (David Edwards)

Remember Andrew Natsios telling us on Night Line that the cost of the war would be 1.7 billion dollars?

I got a tip yesterday from someone outside of Congressman Mark Kirk's office, but I needed some confirmation to post:

"...this morning where the Cindy Sheehan bus tour was holding a demonstration. Of course, Mark Kirk wasn't there (he's in Washington) and they were only able to speak to an Aide. The members of the Gold Star families were speaking and had an interesting nugget to report. They said the military is now recruiting at the Astrodome. Could this be true? How horrible and clever of them"

Capitol Buzz is reporting from the WSJ that this is taking place. Shameful!

Army recruiting through iTunes

Yes-it's that bad. Join up and get 3 free downloads. I kid you not.

On the Factor last night O'Reilly was in top form. He had on Pierce O'Donnell discussing how the Bush administration is handling the prosecution of prisoners at Gitmo.

Download | play -WMP

Download | play -QT

Think Progress: ...the entire mess is playing into the hands of the terrorists, who now use Guantanamo Bay as a recruiting tool. So what would Fox’s Bill O’Reilly do to fix the problem? Kill ‘em all:

O’REILLY: I don’t give them any protection. I don’t feel sorry for them. In fact, I probably would have ordered their execution if I had the power

Read the full post at Think Progress...