Two U.S. soldiers were killed Friday when a Task Force Baghdad patrol struck a roadside bomb in the western part of Baghdad, the military said in a statement, raising the day’s toll for U.S. forces to five dead. The military detained nine suspects in a nearby house.

The U.S. military also said Saturday that four U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded Thursday when a Task Force Freedom convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Tal Afar city, 90 miles east of the Syrian border. It did not explain the delay in announcing the casualties.

At least 1,586 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Sad, My heart goes out to every one of them, and the lifes that have been touched… Shame on you Mr. Bush

As we all know, Republicans are so ethical, they never lie, and never do anything illegal, and then I woke up. Here is story from the Teledo Blade that shows the Republicans for who they are, thieves…

The federal probe into whether local Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe was illegally funneling money to the Bush campaign had been ongoing for months. It reached a turning point Wednesday night.

FBI agents swept into Mr. Noe's Maumee condo about 7:30 p.m., spending three hours scouring the home of one of the most prominent Republicans in northwest Ohio. They were looking for evidence of violations of federal campaign contribution laws.

The federal probe is studying Mr. Noe's campaign contributions to the President, and specifically contributions made by others who may have received money from Mr. Noe, possibly allowing him to exceed the $2,000 spending cap.

It is nice to know that some level of our fed is not corrupt to the core; I am shocked Gonzales allowed any investigation of any republican

If you are like me, a gluten for punishment, you watched the President try to sell us on his desire to destroy Social Security. I can go and pick apart most of the crap that he spoke about, but right now tons of sites are doing that, I want to go into one statement that he had last night.

Look, Kim Jong Il is a dangerous person. He’s a man who starves his people. He’s got huge concentration camps. And, as David accurately noted, there is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don’t know if he can or not, but I think it’s best, when you’re dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong Il, to assume he can.

That’s why I’ve decided that the best way to deal with this diplomatically is to bring more leverage to the situation by including other countries.

News Flash Senior Bush, while you are dicking around with your 8 way talks North Korea has figured out how to glue the damn warhead to a missile that can hit parts of the US.

Your "plan" has failed, again…

You spoke about your ill fainted Missile Deference System that has NEVER once worked in any of the tests it does.

Your "Plan" has failed, again…

What are you going to do Mr. Bush when North Korea gets a hair in there ass and they nuke Japan, or worst Los Angeles? Does your "Plan" prepare of for the economic collapse here in the U.S. when the Japanese get bombed? How much money are we going to have to for the rebuilding of a major city on the west coast when your failed missile defense system misses, again?

You have allowed us to be more unsafe than we have ever been before, thanks to you, terror has tripled, and because of you poverty is on the march, rise in abortion is on the march, death of our solders is on the march, destruction of the Veterans Administration is on the march. You are an embarrassment to this great nation, you have made us a shell of the nation we once was, we are at our weakest point, and you relish in the power.

If you recall, just before he left the state of Texas as governor, George Bush signed the Futile Care Act of 1999, this bill allows doctors not family unplug a patient off of life support if they can not afford it. So Much of the Culture of Life.

Here is a story From Houston ABC 13 news.

At five months old, a local baby girl is already caught in the middle of a life or death debate. The little girl has leukemia and a rare type of flesh-eating disease, and her family is fighting to keep their baby alive.

Little Knya Dismuke Howard is only five months old. She is still fighting for her life at Memorial Hermann Hospital. But while she’s in the intensive care unit, her parents are fighting against doctors.

Knya’s father Charles Howard said, “Every time I see her eyes open it lets me know that she’s still here and she’s still fighting. So I want to fight with her until the end.”

But Charles says Knya’s doctors don’t want to continue treatment. Born last November, Knya was diagnosed with leukemia a month later. First she received chemotherapy from MD Anderson Cancer Center. Then, two months ago, she contracted a bacterial skin infection and was transferred to Memorial Hermann Hospital. Her condition is critical.

Thanks Bush, jam the Culture of Life crap somewhere, it is just pandering to the stupid Whackjob American Taliban

Bush is going to get on TV tonight, and for the first time give you details on how he plans to destroy Social Security. I am sure he will try something treasonous like tell you that the program will be broke by next Tuesday. I am sure he will NOT tell you that his plan will cause the addition of Trillions to the National Debt.

I also would bet dollars to doughnuts that he will also not mention that Medicare is in far worst shape, and will crash in a far more spectacular manner.

He will be on at 8:30 EST (Because he has to get to bed by 9:30, or he gets cranky)

From Reuters

U.S. Senate and House Republicans on Thursday reached a deal on a $2.6 trillion budget plan for next year that would wring savings from some health care programs for the poor while leaving room for additional tax cuts, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg said.

The plan, which still must be approved by the full House and Senate, could be completed by the end of this week.

“The House will take up the budget and pass it and then we will take up the budget and pass it this week,” said Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican

We are at war, we are running RECORD deficits, and the dumb asses are looking to fund more tax cuts.

If the money coming in is not as much as the money going out, then we are screwed. What the hell are these damn Republicans thinking?

I am not sure if you are even able to buy gas anymore, I know it has taken a huge toll on my budget. I am one of the lucky few that drive 50 miles one way to work, everyday.

Clothing, Chickens, Bacon, Tacos, Wood, Paper, Salad Dressing, Shoe laces, you name it, it is getting more costly.

So as gas prices sore, and everything under the sun increases in price gas companies are making money hand over fist. Exxon Mobil Corp yesterday profit increased 44% higher than they were last year.

So the question is really, how much of the gas prices we are paying is really just profit, not the price of a barrel of oil.

I found this great editorial I found, People of the Lord is starting to see these nut bag Evangelicals for what they are.

“First they hijacked the flag; now they’re after the cross”
By Colbert I. King
The whole thing can be read at the SunHerald.com, but here is a few good parts.

The American flag was appropriated by the political right wing years ago. Now the Christian right is trying to hijack religion. This time it shouldn’t be allowed to happen without a fight.

-snip-

Emboldened by their appropriation of the flag, ideologues on the right have now set their sights on religion, and specifically Christianity, as the means to promote their political agenda. And as the promoters of “Justice Sunday” national telecast have demonstrated, there is no depth to which they won’t sink in their campaign to seize the country.

The statement by one of the sponsors of Sunday’s event, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is an example of the Holy War that is being launched by the right. In one of the most outrageous smears to be uttered by a so-called religious leader, Perkins said that “activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups… have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms.” That is an unmitigated lie that should not be allowed to stand.

Which judges are out to rob Christians of their heritage? That is religious McCarthyism. Perkins should name them, provide evidence of their attempted theft of “our Christian heritage” or retract that statement with an apology. Don’t count on that happening.

-snip-

They are not now and never will be the final arbiters of Christian beliefs and values. They warrant as much deference as religious leaders as do members of the Ku Klux Klan, who also marched under the cross.

Well said, Please go and read the whole thing, all of it is a great read.

The House Ethics Committee reversed course on the unethical ethics rules it forced down on the House. Rules that were changed were done so to protect the Ethic Titanic of the House Tom DeLay.

AP Writes a story
House Clears Way for Anticipated DeLay Probe

On a vote of 406-20, members rescinded those rules — pushed through in January by Republicans — to end a stalemate that has prevented the House ethics committee from operating this year.

Despite Republican claims that the rules would make the ethics process fairer for all, Democrats had argued that they would make it more difficult to investigate any member, and had prevented the committee from formally organizing.

“I’m willing to step back,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert told reporters in leading the Republican retreat. “There are issues out there that need to be discussed.”

“I think there is a member, especially on our side, that needs to have the process move forward so he can clear his name,” Hastert of Illinois said without naming DeLay.

Your right Mr. Hastert, I am sure he will do a great job bring a whole mess of you down with him. For the record DeLay voted “Yea”, I wonder if he thought this was something else.

President Bush wants us all to think that Saudi Arabia is our best friend and ally. Our beloved leader wants us to forget that all but two of the hijackers of 911 were from Saudi Arabia.

So what do our allies, Saudi Arabia have for us now?

"If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so"

Who said this? Well it was not Osama Bin Ladin, it was is the Chief Justice of Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Judicial Council.

You should take a few and read this story on MSNBC and a related story, also on MSNBC

Well if you listen to Bush, you should. If you are a right thinking American, you know that is a crock of crap, and now we have proof. From Reuters.

World Terror Attacks Tripled in 2004 by U.S. Count

The number of “significant” international terrorist attacks rose to about 650 last year from about 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides briefed on the numbers by State Department and intelligence officials on Monday.

“What it effectively means is that the Bush administration and the CIA haven’t been putting the staff resources necessary and have missed 80 percent of the world’s terrorist incidents” in past years, said a Democratic congressional aide. “How can you have an effective counterterrorism policy from that?”

Well it looks like the mandate has come to an end. Half of Americans think Bush is a lier, he lied to us about WMD’s. The rest of the numbers are not that great, take a look at this from E&P…

NEW YORK Half of Americans, exactly 50%, now say the Bush administration deliberately misled Americans about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the Gallup Poll organization reported this morning.

"This is the highest percentage that Gallup has found on this measure since the question was first asked in late May 2003," Gallup observed. "At that time, 31% said the administration deliberately misled Americans. This sentiment has gradually increased over time, to 39% in July 2003, 43% in January/February 2004, and 47% in October 2004."

Also, according to the latest poll, more than half of Americans, 54%, disapprove of the way President George W. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, while 43% approve. In early February, Americans were more evenly divided on the way Bush was handling the situation in Iraq, with 50% approving and 48% disapproving.

Last week Gallup reported that 53% now believe that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was "not worth it." But Frank Newport, editor in chief at Gallup, recalled today that a majority of the public began to think the Vietnam war was a mistake in the summer of 1968. But the U.S. did not pull out of Vietnam for more than five years, after thousands of more American lives were lost.

If you recall the State of the Union Address back in January, our beloved leader George Bush made a big announcement that Laura "Pickles" Bush was going to head a new program called "Helping America’s Youth". This bold vision was to help keep kids out of gangs, and so on, and god knows we need it.

The "Helping America’s Youth" has received some funding, $50 million bucks has been given to this program, and Laura has set out on a publicity tour to raise the awareness of this new push.

While I am firmly for any program that helps our children, the truth is far more disasters than the light show. You see, Bush made you think he cared about children, and the $50 million is a lot of caring, but the fact is Bush's proposed budget cuts $4.2 billion from youth and crime-prevention programs, can someone say hypocrisy?

That is right, in true Bush fashion, create a diversion with a flashy announcement, and maybe even a cool backdrop at a photo op, and while we are all mesmerized by the pretty lights, gut the same program from behind.

Some News on this from USAToday

So it is official, the reason we went to war in Iraq was in face a farce. The official Bush Approvable WMD inspection team, what do you think there outcome was? We didn't find crap…

Hey, don’t take my word for it, read for yourself, From the AP

In his final word, the CIA’s top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has “gone as far as feasible” and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion.

“After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted,” wrote Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, in an addendum to the final report he issued last fall.

“As matters now stand, the WMD investigation has gone as far as feasible.”