William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

Ann Coulter can call every Democratic leader in the U.S. a faggot and snidely chuckle, for all she wants. She’s an entertainer that preaches to her own choir.

But I still struggle to wrap my mind around Newt Gingrich’s comments from the CPAC:

How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn’t get out of the way of a hurricane.

Whether it’s Gingrich insulting victims of a hurricane or advising the U.S. to rein in free speech, or whether it’s Donald Rumsfeld using his political pull to get Aspartame on the market, or whether it’s the Bush Administration scoffing at the laws of the land, it becomes exceedingly clear.

The “Conservative” movement is lead by those that despise Americans.

–WKW

When you live in a foreign country while working for a U.S. company, you get to feel the effects of a weak dollar every payday. Even today, the dollar fell against just about every other currency.

Things have gotten so bad, in fact, that even the Almighty has had enough and is bailing off the new dollar coin:

New dollar coins missing ‘In God We Trust’

Perhaps thousands of newly minted U.S. dollar coins have been discovered to be missing a key component of American currency: The motto which reads, “In God We Trust.”

Apparently the incomplete coins, which feature George Washington’s portrait on the front, somehow made it past treasury inspectors with the motto missing — and made it into circulation last month.

The dollar coins are supposed to have the motto, “In God We Trust” inscribed along the edge — along with the year of production, the mint mark and “E Pluribus Unum.”

On the bright side, this error should result in the new dollar coin achieving some status, before it ultimately goes the way of the Susan B. Anthony.

–WKW

You know, if you look at a map, Indiana is pretty close to being in the middle of the U.S. Obviously, there’s something wrong in the heartland.

First you have Dan Burton blowing off votes on Iraq and other headlining issues … so that he won’t miss celebrity pro-am golf tournaments. Plus, he was the only lawmaker on either side of the aisle to vote against a measure banning lawmakers from accepting gifts and free trips from lobbyists.

Now, Rep. Steve Buyer, the top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has made it clear that he believes the problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are becoming too much of a political football, and that U.S. soldiers are tough enough not to bitch about sleeping in their own urine in rat-infested rooms.

“Soldiers are pretty gung ho. They’re very motivated. They’re eager to get well and get back with their units. They don’t necessarily gripe and complain,” Buyer said.

So for Indianians, all we can say is: pick up the pace. Your politicians are making you look like all of you, not just the God-like Larry Bird, are from French Lick.

–WKW

In the U.S. State Department’s annual survey of human rights practices, we learn two things.

1) At least the U.S. is aware there’s a genocide occurring in Darfur.
2) The U.S. State Department has balls the size of some planets.

Aside from Sudan, (As well as Iraq and Afghanistan) here’s who else the State Department targeted for human rights abuses and why:

__________________________

Russia: Continuing centralization of power in the executive branch, a compliant legislature, political pressure on the judiciary, intolerance of ethnic minorities, corruption and selectivity in enforcement of the law, and continuing media restrictions and self-censorship.

Venezuela: Problems included politicization of the judiciary, harassment of the media and harassment of the political opposition.

Cuba: There were at least 283 political prisoners and detainees at year’s end. Thousands of citizens served sentences for “dangerousness,” in the absence of any criminal activity. Other reported abuses were beatings and abuse of detainees and prisoners, including human rights activists; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, including denial of medical care.

__________________________

Well, at very least, it’s comforting to see that the State Department can see these abuses when they happen in other countries.

–WKW

So let’s add this up, shall we?

Add it together and what do you get? Terrorist warnings that you wouldn’t believe.

Expect the terror level to be placed at double-secret, extra-dark Purple in the next couple days. And expect some unwitting dude to get seriously Guantanamo’d publicly.

There is just way too much bad news at one time happening right now for George, Dick and the rest of the PNAC crowd to ignore. So be prepared. Because any minute now you’ll be hearing how badly terrorists want to skin you, your children and your pets.

–WKW

If you ever want to see a case of purposefully burying the lead of a story, look no further than the House panel on the Walter Reed scandal. Here are the first three paragraphs from CNN and Fox News. Guess which one is the Administration’s mouthpiece.

CNN (Lead story)

Witness slams ‘nightmares’ of Army medical system

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Witnesses told a House panel Monday that wounded U.S. soldiers are forced to struggle against a nightmarish and untrustworthy Army medical system which leaves veterans stranded in unfit conditions.

Two Iraq war veterans and the wife of a third gave heartbreaking, at times stunning, tales of neglect at the now notorious Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The panel was convened in the wake of a scandal triggered by The Washington Post’s detailing of problems at the hospital.

Annette McLeod, wife of Cpl. Wendell McLeod, who received an injury to his head in the war, said her husband “has been through the nightmares of the Army medical system.

“I’m glad that you care about what happened to my husband after he was injured in the line of duty. Because for a long time, it seemed like I was the only one who cared. Certainly, the Army didn’t care. I didn’t even find out that he was injured until he called me himself from a hospital in New Jersey.”

“This is how we treat our soldiers — we give them nothing,” she said. “They’re good enough to go and sacrifice their life, and we give them nothing. You need to fix the system.”

Fox News (fourth story, with “Cheney has blood clot in leg” leading the way)

Wounded Soldiers Detail Poor Living Conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

WASHINGTON — Wounded soldiers told lawmakers on Monday that the Walter Reed Army Medical Center gives troops “less than what they deserve” in care and quality of living conditions to recover from traumatic injuries suffered in the line of duty.

“Soldiers get less than they deserve from a system seemingly designed and run to cut the costs associated with fighting this war,” Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s national security panel. Shannon was injured by a gunshot wound to the head during a firefight with insurgents in Iraq in 2004.

“The really sad thing is that surviving veterans from every war we’ve every fought detail the same basic story. A story about neglect, lack of advocacy and frustration with military bureaucracy,” Shannon said.

“We have let some soldiers down,” said Army Undersecretary Peter Geren, who will become acting secretary of the Army on Friday. “And working with the Congress and the leadership of the Army, all the way down to the lowest ranking civilian or uniformed military, we’re going to fix that problem. In fact, we’re in the process of fixing it.”

Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., said Congress will get to the bottom of reported problems to give soldiers the care and living conditions they deserve.

“This is absolutely the wrong way to treat our troops,” Tierney said.

To recap:

CNN: “Nightmarish. Heartbreaking. Scandal.”

Fox News: “Wounded vets get less than they deserve. It happens every war. They’ll fix it.”

–WKW

In the 2001, a French paper claimed that “We are all American now.” In 2007, after years of indiscriminate violence that the rest of the world only sees as American imperialism, it’s safe to say that those words couldn’t be further from the truth.

Six years after 9/11, sympathy and respect for the United States has plummeted. Which could explain why in Brazil, Osama bin Laden is now used as a pitchman for an exterminator that promises to bring “Terrorism to the insects.”

–WKW

Osama bin Laden, the man who is credited with organizing and masterminding the largest attack on U.S. soil, is still alive, as is the Taliban in Afghanistan, who helped bin Laden with his murderous plans.

Debate on the U.S. occupation of Iraq “emboldens the enemy” says Dick Cheney.

Democracy emboldens the enemy. So what does ignoring the actual leader of the enemy mean?

Hopefully he’s hiding in Iran.

–WKW

It’s one thing when political entertaining publicity whore Ann Coulter refers to John Edwards as a “faggot.” Such behavior is expected of someone who views being a political pundit as being equal to being a star on a “Girls Gone Wild” tape.

What hasn’t been expected is how eager many politicos are to emulate Coulter’s sluttish behaviors.

Take U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe at the Conservative Political Action Conference, for example.

“I have been called — my kids are all aware of this — dumb, crazy man, science abuser, Holocaust denier, villain of the month, hate-filled, warmonger, Neanderthal, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun,” said Inhofe. “And I can just tell you that I wear some of those titles proudly.”

Inhofe also added that he was upset that the Bush Administration had listed polar bears as a threatened species.

“They’re overpopulated,” he said. “Don’t worry about it: The polar bear is fine.”

All to rousing applause. Yes, idiocy is given a standing ovation. There was plenty more idiocy for the CPAC, where being a Holocaust-denying, misogynist, gay-bashing science-hater is considered cool.

Let it sink in. Because, we can think of ways to slow and eventually overcome the terrorist threat. We can become less addicted to foreign oil. We can do many things.

Of course, the fact-hating morons in charge and their fans will fight us the whole way. And that will be the biggest challenge, as being ignorant and ill-informed has never been more popular.

–WKW

Lawyer, genius neo-con strategist and death-lover John H. Hinderaker surveyed the state of the world yesterday and the biggest problem he could find was the word “fuck” and its cousins.

In trying to make an important point - that liberals swear more than conservatives - Hinderaker showed off the type of thought process that has made him one of PNAC’s favorite humans.

I conclude from this that the survey was pretty badly flawed. Not only did it fail to distinguish between blog entries and comments, which is at least defensible, it failed to distinguish between words used on the site in question, and words used on a different site, which is not defensible.

Having said that, I think the original point still stands …

Followed by:

It is, after all, a great deal easier to string swear words together as an insult, than to string ideas together logically, as an argument.

Now personally, we find it to be rather fucked up that a man of Hinderaker’s genius is forced to spend his time collecting data, then purposefully misinterpreting it to prove meaningless points. We feel he very likely has a shitty Internet connection.

So while Hinderaker and his ilk are stuck being outraged over bad words and over comments left on The Huffington Post about Dick Cheney (who, let’s face it, has already growled the word “cocksucker” 14 times this morning), we feel it imperative to guide him to stories which actually have some type of fucking significance.

Some Fucking Significant Stories for John Hinderaker

Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated “not ready” — largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars’ worth of equipment — jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.

Opium production in Afghanistan reached record levels last year, the United States has said. The US State Department’s annual report on narcotics also said the flourishing drugs trade was undermining the fight against the Taleban. It warned of a possible increase in heroin overdoses in Europe and the Middle East as a result. Poppy production rose 25% in 2006, a figure US Assistant Secretary of State Ann Patterson described as alarming. Four years after the US and its British allies began combating poppy production, Afghanistan still accounts for 90% of the world’s opium trade. The US has recently given the Afghan government more than $10bn in assistance, but most of that money will be spent in security rather than encouraging alternative sources of income.

The commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center was fired Thursday after the Army said it had lost trust and confidence in his leadership in the wake of a scandal over outpatient treatment of wounded troops at the hospital complex in northwest Washington.

Army Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who assumed command of Walter Reed in August, will be temporarily replaced by Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley. But the appointment of Kiley, who had been the facility’s commander before Weightman, surprised some Defense Department officials because soldiers, their families and veterans’ advocates have complained he was long aware of problems at Walter Reed himself and did nothing to improve outpatient care.

A senior Taliban commander says Osama bin Laden is alive and in contact with leaders of Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, according to an interview aired on British television. Mullah Dadullah said he had not met bin Laden since the fall of the Taliban regime after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, but said “we know he’s still alive.”
_______________________________________

These are just a few stories for Hinderaker to look at and opine on. Plus, from many differing accounts, there’s a war going on Iraq, with U.S. Troops being killed and having limbs blown off. We feel strongly that a fucking genius of his level will soon be breaking these stories down with the honesty and integrity that only a lawyer can bring to the table.

So John, get back to fucking geniusing, my friend. Because while the vast majority of the nation understands you’re a fringe propagandist, the White House listens to you. So we need you to work harder, you crazy bastard. This piece of shit, cocksucking world needs you.

–WKW

When a bomb went off in Afghanistan near U.S. Vice-president Dick Cheney, I couldn’t understand the big deal. After all, Abraham Lincoln was murdered.

Sure, 9/11 was bad, but more than 50,000 people died at Gettysburg during the Civil War. Get some perspective.

Think Hurricane Katrina was bad? Stop being such pansies. After all, the Black Death killed 75 million during the 1300s.

Callous? Cruel? Definitely.

But those statements above are the exact equivalent of many of the warmongers who so readily compare the U.S. invasion of Iraq with World War II.

Because you hear it all the time. Like a mantra - “Only 3,000 U.S. troops have been killed, you pansies would never have been able to deal with the Battle of the Bulge. We lost 19,000 troops there.”

Somehow, this argument for nation building is not treated as it is - a callous form of massive disrespect for both Iraq veterans, and World War II veterans.

This is not World War II. And it’s definitely not World War III, unless the PNAC crowd decides that the world will turn a blind eye to the U.S. using any types of nukes in Iran.

So stop it, already. It’s not a valid argument. Tossing numbers of dead U.S. soldiers in the air to make a case for war is not patriotic. It’s evil, and it disrespects every American serving, and that ever served in the military.

–WKW

When dealing with a President who less than one-third of the nation appreciates, it can be easy to slam the guy. But just because a leader consistently shows no respect for the troops he so eagerly deploys, or for the reputation and future health of the nation he leads, doesn’t mean everything he does is bad. Occasionally the billionaire head of the U.S. gets his head banged into a wall enough to at least encourage something close to the right thing is done.

U.S. Will Talk with Iran, Syria About Iraqi Stability

The U.S. and Iraqi governments will invite ambassadors from Iran and Syria to discuss security in Iraq, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“We hope that all governments will seize this opportunity to improve their relations with Iraq,” Rice said, “and to work for peace and stability in the region.”

The surprise announcement came as Rice spoke on Capitol Hill with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. They were there to ask the Senate to support President Bush’s request for $99.6 billion to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Could it be some type of smokescreen? Definitely. But the thing is, the official stance for the U.S. on Iran up to now has been that it’s a nation of Nazi murderers. You just know that Bush hates himself for reaching out to them in any way, shape or form.

So sure, the PNAC crowd will still likely get its way and U.S. bombs will be dropping in Tehran soon enough. But the fact is that, after you invade a nation and create a bloody civil war, it starts looking more and more like you’re a nation of insane maniacs when you refuse to speak to said nation’s neighbors about the whole thing, even in a group setting.

We’ll see how it all plays out, of course, but good decisions need to be recognized. Maybe it’s not enough to be optimistic that this will change your strategy of “kill everyone, let Christ and Exxon sort it out” but it’s something.

We understand the U.S. is still all about strength and would never listen to anyone about anything, and that you already have your mouthpiece letting the world know that you think diplomacy is a load of crap.

“We are not engaging in diplomatic recognition of Iran. We are not engaging in bilateral talks with Iran,” Tony Snow said. “A number of people have been characterizing US participation in a regional meeting as a change in policy, it is nothing of the sort.”

Regardless, we must encourage any move that gives the U.S. a semblance of humanity. Being at the table is something.

So atta boy, George. Now let’s work on not treating injured U.S. veterans like their annoying piles of waste. Baby steps, George, baby steps.

–WKW