Vince Gill
Go Rest High on That Mountain

Walter Reed Army Medical Center will review its procedures after the father of an Illinois soldier wounded in Iraq claimed his son was discharged wearing bloody hospital clothing and disoriented from pain medication, officials said Thursday.

“We have to find out why this happened and we’re going to,” said Col. Charles Callahan, chief medical officer and deputy commander at Walter Reed.

The soldier, Sgt. Ricki Hardyman, was never in any danger, but officials conceded that he and his parents did not get the assistance typically afforded to those wounded in combat.

The Washington, D.C., facility has treated nearly 5,500 casualties from Iraq, and this is the first known case in which the system broke down, Callahan said.

Sgt. Hardyman, 26, was recovering at Ft. Riley, Kan., Thursday and declined to comment. He said through a military spokeswoman that he was satisfied with his treatment and eager to return to his unit in Iraq.

On Thursday, Callahan said he spoke with the soldier’s father, who lives in Rockford. Officials, he said, are retracing the actions of hospital officials to determine where the system failed.
“Either we do not have a policy appropriate to this situation or we did have [the policies in place] and they were not upheld,” Callahan said. “I made no excuses to the father. We didn’t take care of his son.”

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

The sad part is, with so many on both sides of the aisle ready to set aside the Constitution and rule of law just to secure their partisan future, haven’t we all lost?

GOP turns anger on campaign committee

WASHINGTON - Narrowly defeated in his bid for a fourth term, Montana Sen. Conrad Burns turned his anger on the National Republican Senatorial Committee and commercials it had run months before the election.

“The ads hurt me more than they helped. I wouldn’t have spent the money,” he said, his comments characteristic of the season of second-guessing now unfolding among Republicans.

President Bush’s low approval ratings, the unpopular war on Iraq, voter concern about corruption and Democratic fundraising all figured in the GOP loss of Senate control in last month’s elections. But among Republicans, long-hidden tensions are spilling into view, with numerous critics venting their anger at the GOP Senate campaign committee headed by North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
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Numerous Republicans also have displayed anger at Bush for the party’s election losses, in particular his decision to wait until after the election to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary.

“If Rumsfeld had been out, you bet it would have made a difference,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who was not on the ballot but lost some of his power nonetheless. “I’d still be chairman of the Judiciary Committee.”

The prospect of presidential visits sparked debate within campaigns.
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Some Republicans, including at the Senate campaign committee, complain that the White House and the RNC were urging candidates to use the fight against terrorism as a campaign issue, but offered no advice on combating voter anger on the war in Iraq - an issue that one official referred to as the “800-pound elephant in the room.”

Source: DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent - Yahoo! News

“As long as everyone is willing to understand that they are part of the whole, then I think we’ll play very well together. And if we don’t, then I think we will be in the minority again.” -Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass.

Provisions for Impeachment are written into law. It’s a given. Rules, meant to be followed, adhered to, were broken… and our Constitution provides for this. Are we simply going to ignore our Constitution (too), and let the fear of losing our majority guide us? If we do, then we are no better than those we scorn. The question of impeachment is NOT partisan. It’s the law of the land! Throw up any reason or excuse you want… you’ll still be wrong.

Liberal lawmakers face new challenges

WASHINGTON - There’s one certainty for the Capitol’s most liberal lawmakers now that Democrats will control Congress: They won’t have to meet in the basement anymore.

“One time they put us in the most obscure, smallest meeting room in the farthest corner,” Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio said of life for progressive Democrats under GOP control. Now, “we should be able to score a regular and accessible meeting place.”

That may be the easy part.

Accustomed to pleading in obscurity for causes like universal health care, come January these progressives from Northern California, Massachusetts and elsewhere will be part of the congressional majority and in a position to actually do something about them.

Yet they risk getting pinched between liberals itching for impeachment hearings and a quick end to the Iraq war, and more centrist Democrats looking to make common cause with Republicans on fiscal issues.

And that’s assuming progressives can settle on their own goals from a long list of priorities, including universal health care, action on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, voting reform and fixing the trade imbalance.
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Progressives have already had to disappoint some constituents by deciding not to pursue impeachment hearings against President Bush. “That’s a huge, huge disappointment to people in my district,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, who co-chairs the Progressive Caucus with fellow Northern California Democrat Barbara Lee.
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After that, progressives hope to turn to their pet causes. But there’s one fate they want to avoid: losing the Democratic majority and being forced back into the basement. And that’s a powerful incentive to compromise.

“As long as everyone is willing to understand that they are part of the whole, then I think we’ll play very well together,” said Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., a Progressive Caucus member. “And if we don’t, then I think we will be in the minority again.”

Source: ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer - Yahoo! News

Who pays for all this partying?

Before the holidays kick off, a dose of political news crowds a few front pages. Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is planning “four days of celebration” in honor of well, herself as the new speaker. But it’s “more than just a party,” writes the Washington Post.

Pelosi is presenting herself “as the new face of the Democratic Party” and attempting to “restore the party’s image as one hospitable to ethnic minorities, families, religion, the working class and women.”

Thus, the celebratory events will highlight portions of her personal life (visiting her blue-collar Baltimore hinterland, attending Mass at her alma mater) “while muting her liberal voting record and ideology.”

Read more at CBSNews

WASHINGTON - Top U.S. military commanders in Iraq have decided to recommend a “surge” of fresh American combat forces, eliminating one of the last remaining hurdles to proposals being considered by President Bush for a troop increase, a defense official familiar with the plan said Friday.

The approval of a troop increase plan by top Iraq commanders, including Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, comes days before Bush unveils a new course for the troubled U.S. involvement in Iraq. Bush still must address concerns among some Pentagon officials and overcome opposition from Congress, where many Democrats favor a blue-ribbon commission’s recommendation for the gradual withdrawal of combat troops.

But the recommendation by commanders in Iraq is significant because Bush has placed prime importance on their advice. The U.S. command in Iraq decided to recommend an increase of troops several days ago, prior to meetings in Baghdad this week with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, the defense official said.

More at the LA Times

I wonder how this news will be greeted by Bush? No, I take it back… I know how it will be greeted. He’s got two weeks to come up with a reason to present to this country as to why he’ll have to refuse al-Baghdadi’s offer. I wonder what the excuse will be?

The ante has been upped… and dear leader has one hell of a poker face.

Insurgents offer U.S. 30-day truce to get out of Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The leader of an umbrella organization for Iraqi insurgent groups is offering the United States a one-month truce to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq and turn over its military bases “to the mujahedeen of the Islamic state.”

In an audiotape posted on Islamic Web sites Friday, a speaker identified as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Mujahideen Shura Council, said that if U.S. forces begin withdrawing from Iraq immediately and leave their heavy weaponry behind, “we will allow your withdrawal to complete without anyone targeting you with any explosive or anything else.”

“We say to Bush not to waste this historic opportunity that will guarantee you a safe withdrawal,” al-Baghdadi said on the audiotape.

The United States was given two weeks to respond to the offer.

The Mujahideen Shura Council is an umbrella group formed in late 2005 that includes several terrorist and insurgent groups, including al Qaeda in Iraq.

On the audiotape, al-Baghdadi also called on officers from the former Iraqi army to join an “army of the Islamic state,” promising them a house and a salary as long as they pass a “test of faith” intended to demonstrate the extent of their “hatred” for Saddam Hussein and his regime.

The U.S. military Friday reported five U.S. troop deaths, while Iraqi authorities reported the discovery of a dozen bodies and the kidnapping of a Sunni imam in Baghdad.

Source: CNN.com

The European parliament has produced a report on the complicity of European governments in the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) practice of extraordinary rendition-the illegal transferring of detainees to locations where they stand a high risk of being tortured. Issued in draft form on November 28, the report will be debated in the European parliament in January 2007. It finds 11 European nations had knowledge of flights carrying detainees to secret prisons and overseas torture chambers, including Britain, Germany and Spain.

Following the exposure in November 2005 of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition flights operating across Europe, national governments and European Union (EU) officials issued statements of shock and innocence. The widespread public anger and revulsion at this network of illegal flights compelled the European parliament to form a special committee to investigate the illegal CIA activities and the collusion of the EU. Led by the Italian Socialist Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Claudio Fava, the committee convened in January 2006.

Read more here

The alleged ringleader of a much vaunted plot to blow up multiple transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives has been cleared of terrorism charges and of being a member of any terrorist group, rendering August’s terror scare another hyped creation of government scare mongering.

In every single major terror bust or terror alert we have proven the evidence to be flawed and the charges to be cooked up nonsense aimed at prolonging the illusion that terror cells are lurking around every corner waiting to cause mayhem. The geopolitical agenda of the U.S., Britain and Israel depends on the proliferation phony terror threats in order to continue the farcical war on terror and take more of our innate freedoms at home to stifle dissent against the plot for worldwide hegemony.

The supposed transatlantic bomb plot has dissipated into another staged terror alert.

The BBC reports,

“A Pakistani judge has ruled there is not enough evidence to try a key suspect in an alleged airline bomb plot on terrorism charges. He has moved the case of Rashid Rauf, a Briton, from an anti-terrorism court to a regular court, where he faces lesser charges such as forgery.”

“The Pakistani authorities described him as a key figure.”

“But an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities or that he belonged to a terrorist organisation.”

Since the panic surrounding the ridiculous hoax that led to an outright ban on all liquids in U.S. and British airports, the credibility of the alleged plot itself has crumbled.

Read more here

Pelosi (AP Photo)WASHINGTON — Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi cited the need to preserve the ”dignity and decorum” of the House as she rejected a request Friday that C-SPAN operate its own cameras in covering the chamber.

The public service network has provided gavel-to-gavel television coverage of House proceedings since 1979. But the House leader has kept control of the cameras, with coverage generally limited to tight shots of the speaker or the podium.

The situation is similar in the Senate, which C-SPAN has televised since 1986.

C-SPAN’s chairman and chief executive told Pelosi, D-Calif., that under this arrangement, cameras are prevented ”from taking individual reaction shots or from panning the chamber, leaving viewers with an incomplete picture of what’s happening in the House of Representatives.”

Brian Lamb wrote Pelosi on Dec. 14 that media cameras long have been permitted to cover committee hearings and that for a dozen years or more independent cameras have been allowed into the chamber for joint sessions and joint meetings in the House.

Read more at the El Paso Times