Year: 2007
As Hurricane Season Starts, Entire 82nd Airborne Redeploys Overseas
The 82nd’s Robert Stanley patrols the flooded streets of New Orleans in 2005. He was killed March 2007, in Samarra, Iraq.
Earlier this year, with recruitment tanking and its forces strapped down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division was forced to disband one of its best known missions, the “division ready brigade” — a contingent of troops on stand-by at all times ready to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.
The 82nd’s ready brigade — an integral part of domestic disaster preparedness — has been disbanded.
The 82nd’s ready brigade has been an integral part of the United States’ relief preparations for domestic disasters such as hurricanes for years. But now, as the 2007 hurricane season begins, the entire 82nd Division is leaving United States for the first time since it was deployed to Iraq in 1990 as part of Operation Desert Storm — and none of its divisions will return until September, when the season is over:
When a jet lifts off Sunday at Pope Air Force Base with the commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team and the last load of his 3,300 paratroopers aboard, the 82nd Airborne Division will notch one more hard-earned mark in a history so often described as “storied.”
For only the second time since World War II, all of the division’s combat infantry brigades will be at war. Other 82nd units are deployed also, bringing the total overseas to nearly 17,000 paratroopers.
One of the most memorable successful stateside deployments of the 82nd’s ready brigade was to South Florida in response to the Hurricane Andrew disaster in August 1992. The 82nd provided food, shelter and medical attention in the region for 30 days.
In 2005, however, Pres. George Bush’s incredible six-day delay after Katrina before sending the 82nd’s ready brigade to New Orleans was the worst of a cluster of bad decisions that came out of the White House. It was this failure of leadership that finally woke many Americans up to the depth of the president’s incompetence.
On Monday, August 30, 2005, the day after Katrina’s storm surge breached the levies and flooded New Orleans’ low-lying neighborhoods, the 82nd was put on alert at Fort Bragg, N.C., for deployment into the region:
[A] battalion would have been ready to move as early as Tuesday, said Major Gen. Bill Caldwell, commander of the 82nd .
“We could have immediately responded within 18 hours,” he said. “We could have come here, had we been asked, at any point.”
As the days dragged on in New Orleans — while thousands of people were stranded in the Superdome, dozens were rescued off roofs and others drowning in the flooded streets — millions of Americans watching the disaster on television were wondering — Where is the 82nd?
It wasn’t until six days after Katrina struck, at 10 o’clock Saturday morning, September 3, that the 82nd was called into New Orleans. Even then, Pres. Bush made the announcement to the media before he or anyone in his government officially notified commanders of the 82nd’s ready brigade.
The 2006 storm season was comparatively mild, but now as the 2007 season gets underway, the American South faces its first hurricane season without the 82nd Airborne on alert and ready to move in if the unthinkable happens — again.
Bush Disses the Pope to His Face – Twice
Papal bull: Hard to find the good guy in this one. During his visit with Pope Benedict XVI Saturday, Pres. George W. Bush twice addressed the pope disrespectfully by using an improperly casual honorific:
Maybe George Bush heard the rumors that Pope John Paul II believed he was the Antichrist.
“Good to be with you, sir,” Bush said. (Italian journalists immediately noted the breach in protocol: The pope is formally to be addressed as “Your Holiness.”)…
The two leaders also exchanged gifts; Bush’s presents included a walking stick engraved by a formerly homeless man with words and images of the Ten Commandments.
“The Ten Commandments?” Benedict asked.
Bush replied: “The Ten Commandments, yes, sir.”
Imagine the brouhaha if a normal president — especially a Democrat — had made a similar faux pas. I’ve seen nothing about it on TV today, and don’t expect to. Besides, in the unlikely event a controversy brews, Bush-lovers and their running dogs in the media will write it off as just his usual muddling.
And yet it is unfathomable, or should be, that a thorough briefing on papal protocol was not fresh in his mind when he entered the room.
Why would Bush deliberately insult the pope? During the president’s European trip three years ago this month, Benedict’s predecessor and ally, Pope John Paul II, called Bush to Rome, forcing an unprecedented change in the presidential schedule, in order to deliver a public scolding over the war in Iraq and, particularly, the torture of prisoners by U.S. forces at the Abu Grahib prison. Adding sting to the slap was the fact it came a few months after Bush had bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom, his highest honor, on John Paul. (The nerve.)
It’s also possible Bush heard the rumors that John Paul was said to believe he is the Antichrist.
Update: Trish spotted this via WTF – Bush in holy gaffe”
US President George W Bush drew gasps at the Vatican on Saturday by referring to Pope Benedict XVI as “sir” instead of the expected “His Holiness”, pool reporters said…
On his way to see the 80-year-old pontiff, the US leader apparently recognised someone he knew, and could be heard greeting the person with a casual “How ya doin’?”
The pool reporters also noted Bush’s relaxed posture, crossing his legs “Texan style” while facing the pope across his desk in the private study of the apostolic palace.
Update on GOP Gay Ex-Congressmen Accused of Chickenhawking Page Boys
Former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, who was forced to resign last year after he was caught sending X-rated emails to congressional page boys, is reportedly returning to his career as a real estate broker. He is remembered around Palm Beach for once netting a $500,000 commission on the sale of a golf course to a local school district.
Former Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, who was for years the only openly gay Republican in the House, has been cleared by the Justice Dept. of charges he was overly avuncular with pages. In particular, he was found not to have behaved inappropriately with youngsters on a wilderness camping trip in 1996. Kolbe had already announced his retirement before the charges were made.
There is at least one allegedly closeted gay Republican remaining in the house, Rep. David Drier of California.
It’s Not Paris, It’s the Stupid Media
While we all sympathize with the incredible psychological pressure Paris Hilton must have been under while being unable to shave her legs for three days, we have to wonder if, besides Al Sharpton (and maybe Lindsay Lohan and Michelle Ritchie), anyone really has a good reason to care about the story.
This is news: There’s a G8 meeting under way, the president is hung over, Lebanon is burning, Putin’s getting all Cold War-ry on us and soldiers and civilians are dying in Iraq. Yet our cult of personality remains obsessed with the story of the poor little rich girl who thinks it’s okay to get drunk and drive a car again and again.
‘Are we just so pathetic and so lonely that we have to live life through people like Paris Hilton?’
TVNewser provides a log of the shallowness of cable television’s reportage of Hilton’s release from jail yesterday:
10:36 am, MSNBC: Chris Jansing asks the Village Voice’s Michael Musto: “You know everything there is to know about Paris Hilton. Does she have a medical condition?” “Yeah, she’s crazy,” he says…
11:01 am, FNC: Co-host E.D. Hill: “It is a great day in America if your name is Paris Hilton or you are an illegal alien. Today, we’ll tell you why…”
11:56 am, CNN: Immediately following an interview with General David Petraeus about Iraq, Heidi Collins says: “Well you know, we’ll always have Paris, but she won’t always have a cell…”
12:08 pm, MSNBC: The cabler reveals an animation titled “Paris Hilton Free,” complete with a bark from her dog Tinkerbell. “Paris Hilton’s long, grueling ordeal behind bars has come to an end,” Lisa Daniels mocks…
12:10 pm, FNC: Jon Scott’s attempt to transition from the G8 to Hollywood: “While the president is in Germany, the world’s attention is focused on Paris — Paris Hilton…”
12:22 pm, CNN International: “These are live pictures from our affiliate KTLA, helicopter pictures of the home of Paris Hilton… We’re watching that home. Lots of cars down there.” Co-anchor Stephen Frazier transitions: “Let’s turn now to Harvard…”
12:44pm, MSNBC: “It’s good to be rich and famous in America,” legal analyst Susan Filan concludes. “It is; I wish I was both,” Lisa Daniels responds…
1:38 pm, FNC: “This was not a good punishment for her,” a Live Desk panelist says. “The real punishment for Paris Hilton, I think, would be that the media gives her no coverage at all… That would be cruel and unusual punishment for her…”
1:54 pm, CNN: Kyra Phillips asks a guest: “Are we just so pathetic and so lonely that we have to live life through people like Paris Hilton?”
2:25 pm, MSNBC: After talking about immigration, Contessa Brewer asks political analyst Pat Buchanan: “I have got to ask you, is it fair that Paris Hilton is under house arrest?…”
4:09 pm, FNC: Neil Cavuto jokes: “Do you know if Paris sold stock today?” “I don’t know if she knows what stock is,” his guest responds.
Before You Leave for the Weekend…Important Friday News Dump
It’s coming hot and heavy:
Gen. Pace is out as chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gates blames it on Congress; says Pace wouldn’t have been able to be reconfirmed when his current term is up in September.
Gonzales will face “no confidence” vote in the Senate on Monday. Bush says he’s doing a heckuva job and the vote is simply “political thee-AY-ter.”
The CIA denies claims by more than 30 current and former intelligence officers here and in Romania and Poland that it abducted and tortured people at secret prisons in Europe. The fully documented report, filed by the European Parliament, is “biased and distorted,” the CIA said.
Cheney needs his pacemaker replaced. The batteries are going dead, and he could presumably follow. Nuff said.
Bush is over his hangover. “The president already was dressed when he began feeling ill in the morning, [Spokestool Dan] Bartlett said. He stayed in bed for several hours to rest and recuperate, missing one session with African leaders and another with leaders from China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, all developing nations not G-8 members. Bush returned to the talks in time for the closing lunch, where he engaged in extensive conversation with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Paris Hilton is back in jail. And reportedly just thrilled to be there.
Houston Chronicle: Jail Libby Now
A call for immediate imprisonment of convicted liar Lewis Libby has come from a surprising source: the biggest newspaper in one of the biggest cities in the president’s home state.
Libby’s lawyers and supporters want Libby to stay out of prison while he appeals, which could take more than a year. [U.S. District Judge Reggie] Walton seems disinclined to go along, noting that people in Libby’s position, “where they have the welfare and security of the nation in their hands,” have a special obligation to be truthful. Libby failed to meet that obligation, stands little chance of having his conviction overturned and should start serving his sentence now.
Libby’s conviction and sentence is a fair outcome to a troubling chapter that afforded Americans a rare glimpse into the machinations of a secretive White House determined to go to war and to undermine its critics by whatever means available, even at the risk of putting covert operatives and their contacts in harm’s way.
O’Reilly Attacks an Evangelical – And Converts Me
Bill O’Reilly has done the impossible. He’s got me cheering for an evangelist who says homosexuals and people who don’t accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior are going to hell. Through the magic of O’Reilly’s utter foulness, I am now on the same team as Bill Keller, who according to the Tampa Tribune, “writes a daily devotional published on his Web site and e-mailed to more than 2 million subscribers. His live, call-in program is televised weeknights at 1 a.m. in the Tampa market.”
Keller: Going on O’Reilly “requires you are really prayed up surrendered”
Keller recently appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, taking the usual abuse and sanctimonious hot air from Bill, who tried to appear to be the voice of reason. The topic was Mitt Romney, whose faith Keller has consistently referred to as a cult (go Rev.!). His charge that a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan has Americans United for the Separation of Church and State asking the IRS to revoke Keller’s tax exemption.
Keller posted his reaction to being beaten up by O’Reilly on his web site, www.liveprayer.com. And he makes some good points. FOX, O’Reilly, and most of their viewers, he says, only pretend they love Jesus and the flag.
As “conservative friendly” and “Christian friendly” as FOX News tries to portray itself, it is still very much part of the world…Anyone who goes into that environment taking a Biblical position on the issues and telling people Jesus is the only way to be saved, immediately comes under intense fire. The world for the most part may believe in God, but they don’t honor Him, they clearly reject His Truth, and very few have really committed their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ.
In addition to speaking to an audience that for the most part rejects Biblical Truth, I was also dealing with exposing a satanically inspired cult that has done a masterful public relationship job of getting people, including many Christians, to believe they are “just another Christian church.” As I have stated often, the teachings and theology of the Mormon cult are completely inconsistent with Biblical Christianity…
Was Bush Too Hung Over to Work at G8 Summit?
The AP has a story online with the title “Illness Sidelines Bush at G8 Summit,” running alongside a photo of Pres. Bush relaxing yesterday with an amber-colored German beverage.
As is usual with our liberal media, we are left to put two and two together and draw our own conclusions, so here goes:
The president was already dressed when he began feeling ill in the morning, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said. He said doctors are keeping an eye on him but that Bush’s illness — whether a stomach virus, a light touch of food poisoning or something else — is “not serious.”
He stayed in bed to try to rest and recuperate, missing the morning session of the summit being held here of eight industrialized democracies.
Hey, it’s happened to the best of us — except most of us don’t officially claim to have been alcohol-free for the past 20 years old when we are afflicted by a hangover.
