Tidbits …

A few interesting items for you all to ponder..

• John McCain is not running for a third Bush term. Back in the days, a politican used to be able to say one thing one day and change his tune completely the next. However, we are living in the internet and youtube age now and the old tricks of slimy politicians will no longer work. John McCain is obviously still back in the 19th century. He doesn’t understand the power of youtube and blogs.
  
• The sad untold stories of American casulties in Iraq. It’s unfortunate that Bush/McCain is readily willing to send Americans into harms way, yet they are not willing to compensate them for their work by supporting Jim Webb’s New GI Bill.

The leadership demands of an Army at war, the untold emotional and physical injuries of combat and the unrealistic stoicism of a dedicated soldier all collided in tragedy.

McKinney had been on the scene after a 500-pound bomb left five of his soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter dead; he was in a vehicle when another bomb blew up just two feet away, almost killing him and his men; he had consoled a soldier who lost a leg to a roadside bomb.

And he had stopped eating, stopped sleeping and become convinced he was not doing enough to keep his soldiers safe.

But even after a soldier found him sitting in a wooden supply shack, staring emptily into space, even after his face grew gaunt from weight loss, even after he was unable to form the thoughts necessary to give a morning briefing, McKinney kept going out on patrol.

As of May 3, 139 soldiers, 25 Marines and seven sailors have killed themselves in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, according to Pentagon data.

Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, more suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other problems.

• Another example of the difference between Barack Obama and John McCain. Who do you want in office during times of disaster, John McCain, who supported the Bush Administration’s failure during Katrina or Barack Obama, who will roll up his sleeves and work alongside Americans?
  Staking out the differences between what a Democratic presidential win in 08 would look like during a natural disaster — remember Katrina? — compared to a continued Republican White House, Barack Obama ditched his suit, picked up a shovel and started loading up sandbags in a flood zone. On the same day, John McCain attended a private fundraiser in Riverside, California, and blasted a press release of “sympathy” to Midwestern victims of the floods that have devastated crops, homes, churches, businesses, and lives– most especially in the flood epicenter of Iowa, a ‘must-win’ battleground state this fall for both McCain and Obama.In addition to making an appearance at a flood zone, the front page of Obama’s campaign website urged supporters to volunteer: “Your Help is urgently needed by Victims of the Midwest Flood,” where supporters can link to the Red Cross and either make monetary donations or donate some back muscle to the cause. There was no similar mention on McCain’s website.