Oh good, the Cowboys are on national TV. Why, that hasn't happened in 2 or 3 weeks.

Of course, if they gack it up, especially in the last 5 minutes, it'll be worth it.

Meanwhile, I've got to start watching more women's college soccer.

Before you say, "I'd hit it", be prepared to be hit back.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:01 PM | Comments (184)
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Uncle Jimbo mentioned this in his earlier post, and I missed it this weekend. The story linked says the news broke yesterday, I can tell you I'm pretty close to Hood, with some personal and professional ties to the base, and I didn't hear a whisper of it. Or better said (not that I would hear about it), there was no info about it locally, it was kept under wraps. No publicity.

Last night former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura made a secret visit to the devastated military families at Fort Hood.

The Bushes instructed the commander of the mourning military base that they wanted no publicity. With their Secret Service detail, Bush and his wife made the 30 mile trip unannounced from their ranch near Crawford, Texas Friday evening.

Fox News broke news of the visit this afternoon. Other sources said the former first couple spent about two hours meeting with the wounded, family and soldiers, talking quietly and at times hugging them as they did in private at other times of crisis such as post-9/11.

I don't have anything to add really, except to thank them for doing something noteworthy and commendable, something that could not have been easy to do.

Thanks to them both. I am very sure it meant a lot to the soldiers and their families.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 01:42 PM | Comments (223)
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The greatest responsibility of the President of the United States is to serve as Commander in Chief. The current occupant of the White House has shown himself painfully short of capable in that role. Barack Obama had absolutely no experience related to the military or national security prior to his ascension to this position and he has shown no signs that he understands how to lead our military or our country. more...

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 01:02 PM | Comments (116)
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year, but he may not announce it until after he consults with key allies and completes a trip to Asia later this month, administration and military officials have told McClatchy.

The first troops wouldn't arrive until March and the last of the surge troops wouldn't arrive until the end of 2010.

source

Isn't that kind of outside the one year window for success that McChrystal talked about way back in July / August?

And why 34,000 troops? As I understand it McChrystal laid out 3 options with 40,000 being a the medium risk middle path and 20,000 being the high risk bare minimum. So why 34,000? It seems that trying to split the difference here is kind of foolish.

Posted by: Open Blog at 11:15 AM | Comments (97)
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A little different programming this week.

Instead of cheerleaders, something important.

Soldiers' Angels has a few projects underway for the folks at Ft. Hood.

Also at Soldiers' Angels...The annual Project Valour-IT fundraiser.

Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, helps provide voice-controlled/adaptive laptop computers and other technology to support Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries. Technology supplied includes:

-Voice-controlled Laptops - Operated by speaking into a microphone or using other adaptive technologies, they allow the wounded to maintain connections with the rest of the world during recovery.

-Wii Video Game Systems - Whole-body game systems increase motivation and speed recovery when used under the guidance of physical therapists in therapy sessions (donated only to medical facilities).

- Personal GPS - Handheld GPS devices build self-confidence and independence by compensating for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to severe TBI and severe PTSD.

Apparently the HQ is on Team Marines but the money all goes to the same great cause.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:51 AM | Comments (213)
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An outspoken Muslim critic of Americas fight against terrorist, who also has a history of giving shout outs to suicide bombers and just happened to attack American soldiers while yelling "Allahu Akbar!" might, just might actually be a Muslim terrorist.

A senior U.S. senator on Sunday said the shootings at Fort Hood could have been a terrorist attack, and that he would launch a congressional investigation into whether the U.S. military could have prevented it.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who heads the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said initial evidence suggested that the alleged shooter, Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, was a "self-radicalized, home-grown terrorist" who had turned to Islamic extremism while under personal stress.

Mr. Lieberman said he would begin a Senate investigation aimed at uncovering Mr. Hasan's motives and asking "whether the Army missed warning signs."

The lawmaker said preliminary evidence indicated that Mr. Hasan had denounced the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "This is not a matter of constitutional freedom of speech," he said. "The U.S. Army has to have zero tolerance."

Unfortunately, the Army's top officer, Gen. George Casey, is still living on another planet.

What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even-greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here," he said. "We have a very diverse army. We have a very diverse society. And that gives us all strength."

Dialing back on the diversity uber-alles mentality would be "an even-greater tragedy" than the death of 12 soldiers and 1 civilian and 29 wounded at the hand of a Muslim terrorist? Really General?

Just curious sir, but how many people have to die before we can consider the fact that religion has played a role in this war?

Posted by: DrewM at 08:24 AM | Comments (162)
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Out having a life for a bit.

Not sure what if anything I missed, the House is about to voted on the Stupak abortion funding amendment. I can't believe the GOP is going to vote for this.

Come on Republicans...vote present. Make Democrats crack up over this.

Great. Republicans are helping to pass this and making it easier for many Democrats to vote yes on final passage.

Sure we'll get stuck with Obama care but many in the GOP can continue to enjoy their 100% National Right To Life Committee record.

Heck of a job GOP, heck of a job.

I tweeted Brad Dayspring, in the GOP Whip's Office as to why the GOP is doing this, he sent me the link to this statement.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) issued the following statement in support of an amendment offered by Representatives Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joseph Pitts (R-PA) that would prohibit federal funding of abortions under the House Speaker Nancy PelosiÂ’s (D-CA) health care plan:

“We believe in the sanctity of life, and the Stupak-Pitts Amendment addresses a moral issue of the utmost concern. It will limit abortion in the United States. Because of this, while we strongly and deeply oppose the underlying bill, we decided to stand with Life and support Stupak-Pitts.

“The danger of this bill passing without critical pro-life language was too great a risk to do otherwise. Indeed, a number of Democrat supporters of Stupak-Pitts had privately indicated to many of our colleagues that all they needed for “cover” was a vote, and they would support final passage even if the amendment failed.

“To be clear, the Stupak-Pitts Amendment's passage is the right thing to do. We believe you just don’t play politics with life.

“When this bill is conferenced with the Senate, the pro-life majority in the House of Representatives must ensure that this important amendment is in the final legislation. If it does not, this same strong majority must defeat the bill.”

As I responded to Daybrook, I appreciate the answer but this is horrible strategy. The NRLC should have been adults about this. They are going to save this amendment and ensure final passage. Then it's going to get struck in conference and a chance to kill this will have been lost.

Right now it's passing with 63 Dem votes and 170+ Republican votes.

The GOP leadership got rolled on this by Pelosi.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:01 PM | Comments (1103)
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Welcome to Saturday night all. Grab a drink and meat of your choice and begin the serious moron discussions.

Top 10 Mad Science-Worthy Chemistry Demonstrations
This demo shows how to make plasma in your microwave and is just one of the several cool demos you can watch at the link. But don't try these at home unless you've signed the AoSHQ waiver or are ChemJeff.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:00 PM | Comments (709)
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[hangs head in shame] I failed miserably.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 01:02 PM | Comments (177)
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UPDATE [DiT]: Watching the debate, right now arguments over the abortion funding amendment. Heated arguments, defenders say "this bill doesn't change current law". Don't know what other arguments have taken place earlier, but it's interesting... Mike Pence speaking now, in favor of the amendment, thanking Stupak...this thing is supposed to go to midnight EST

7:56 EDT Stupak seems serious on this.

----

There are two procedural votes, one on ordering the previous question and the other on adopting the rule. This is not the vote on the bill itself but the rules under which the debate will take place. They are procedural votes that the Democrats will win easily, simply because they are leader votes and all Democrats will vote for them.

Then the debate starts.

4 hours of general debate, 2 amendments will be in order (including the Stupak abortion amendment) and the GOP substitute.

The abortion amendment is where the action will be.

Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It also would block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.

The deal clears the way for the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who oppose abortion to lend their support to the health care package, the most dramatic expansion of health coverage in more than 40 years. It also satisfies the demands of Catholic bishops, who otherwise support the House legislation.

Republicans are saying they will vote for it, while lots of liberals are lining up against it.

If the Stupak Amendment fails, will enough of its Democratic supporters vote against the underlying bill to kill it? Or if it passes, will enough liberals bail to kill the bill.

My guess is the former is possible but the latter unlikely. Abortion supporters will hold their nose and simply figure they can 'fix' it in conference.

Obama was up on the Hill this morning rallying Democrats for the bill. and right now the GOP says there are 21 Democrats voting no on the bill. Pelosi has 40 votes to play with.

Politico has a list of the undecideds they appear to updating as announcements are made.

Here's The Hill's whip count page.

It's going to be a long day. Supposedly no vote until at least 10:30 tonight and those schedules always slip.

Credit where credit is due, Pelosi was smart to allow a vote on the Stupak amendment. The GOP probably has to vote for it and it will pass. That will enable a number of swing Dems to vote for the bill because as I said above, liberals won't vote no just over an abortion restriction they figure will either be tossed by the Senate or eventually the courts.

My guess is it will pass today, very narrowly. Then the battle moves to the more minority friendly Senate.

UPDATE: The rule passed. They are now doing some sort of silly Suspension Bill recognizing the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Fun stuff...Hoyer led the House in cheering for John Dingle. Nice touch and all but then a Republican got up and asked unanimous consent that Dingle be given back the Chairmanship of the House Energy And Commerce Committee. Pelosi replaced him, the Dean of the House, with Henry Waxman because Dingle, being from Michigan, would never have moved on Cap and Tax.

They have dealt with the Suspension Bill and now it's on.

UPDATE:

Correction: Anti-Harkkonen Freedom Fighter points out the linked story is from yesterday and not up to date.

Delayed due to lack of support? Steny Hoyer says maybe.

UPDATE: As of about 4:30 EST the GOP Whips Office says 31 Dems are a No on health care.

That's about 9 short of killing it, depending on how many vote. The question is, will some of them switch to yes if Stupak passes or worse, will some who would vote no if Stupak fails be yes because it passes with Republican votes?

I get many GOP reps want to vote against abortion whenever they can but the way to ensure that federal funds don't pay for abortions is to kill Obama Care not to pass the Stupak amendment.

Bohener just got Rangel to admit he can't guarantee that if Stupak passes, he can't guarantee that it will survive conference or that Rangel himself will vote against a bill that doesn't have Stupak in it.

The GOP has to vote no on this. It's a sham. Kill the bill and kill it now.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:13 AM | Comments (1146)
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