Unfortunately, this news doesn’t seem too surprising: The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces, according to the Government Accountability Office. And there is good reason to believe that some of the weapons are being used by insurgents fighting U.S. forces.
"They really have no idea where they are," a defense analyst told the Washington Post. "It likely means that the United States is unintentionally providing weapons to bad actors."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
One thing that the GOP presidential candidates seem to agree on is that Vice President Dick Cheney has too much influence. "I would be very careful that everybody understood that there’s only one president," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said during Sunday’s debate. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said: "I think the president has over-relied" on Cheney.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Liberal Democrats are pressuring lawmakers to launch impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney. But Michael Tomasky, a contributing editor at the American Prospect, warns against it.
“Impeachment is not merely a bad idea, but the single worst course of action that Democrats could possibly undertake — the only thing they could do that might, in one stroke, convert Bush from the figure of contempt and mockery he is now into one of vague sympathy,” he wrote in the Washington Post. “Just as bad, it’s the one move that would definitively alienate nonideological voters and, therefore, harm the Democrats’ otherwise excellent chances for winning congressional seats and the White House in 2008.”
Besides, he points out, there aren’t enough votes to impeach Bush and Cheney. “For now,” he wrote, “impeachment advocates are urging Democrats to start a fight they’d lose.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The GOP presidential candidates laid the syrup on thick when asked during Sunday’s debate to name a defining mistake in their lives. For example, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., responded: “Not telling my wife and kids that I love them enough.” Is that sweet? But give Rudy Giuliani props for humor — and likely honesty. Giuliani paused then asked, “to have a description of my mistakes in 30 seconds?” He then said to moderator George Stephanopoulous of ABC News: “George, your father is a priest. I’m going to explain it to your father, not to you.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The TV show “24” is taking steps to reduce and offset the carbon emissions produced during the production of its seventh season, with the goal of having the season finale be entirely carbon-neutral, the Washington Post reported. To help do that, the show’s diesel vehicles and generations will switch to a biodiesel fuel blend; the show’s electricity bills will go toward renewable-energy credits; location scouts will drive hybrid cars; and scripts and schedules that used to be hand-delivered by cars will be e-mailed, the Post reported. A Fox Network spokesman said the show wants “to inspire the public to take global warming seriously and hopefully to motivate other studios to make changes to their production practices as well.”
Good for “24.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
