Since I posted “Save Me” from Aimee Mann last week, here’s another one of the Oscar nominees from that year, written by Randy Newman, who’s playing piano. It’s from Toy Story 2, where it’s used for a Velveteen Rabbit-like sequence. It’s much better than the song Newman finally won an Oscar for, some much more generic, forgettable song called… hmm…
A Cedarburg man said the Pentagon is covering up his son’s death.
Army Spc. Stephen Castner was killed in July of 2006 when his Humvee hit a roadside bomb
An initial investigation into Castner’s death cleared the Army of any wrongdoing and now a new report is backing that up.
But his father said that’s not true.
He said his son might still be alive if the military had provided the correct training and equipment.
When the Army first concluded it did nothing wrong, Castner appealed to the inspector general.
This week, it ruled there was no reason to reopen the Army investigation.
The inspector general acknowledges that Army investigators made inaccurate statements, but said those statements did not affect the outcome of the report.
Castner disagreed.
“Stephen’s death illustrates the lack of preparedness, the lack of regard for the lives of the soldiers,” Steve Castner said.
Castner said he plans to appeal to the inspector general and ask for a new report.
U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense airstrikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping 40,000 pounds of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected al Qaeda in Iraq safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad.
CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann was on the frontlines with the U.S. troops.He watched in real time from a tactical operation center as the bombs fell in what’s called “Operation Marne Thunderbolt.”
It’s the Third Infantry Division’s assault against al Qaeda targets south of Baghdad, part of a nationwide U.S. offensive that began this week, Strassmann reports.
The mighty barrage - recalling the Pentagon’s “shock and awe” raids during the 2003 invasion - appeared to mark a significant escalation in a countrywide offensive launched this week to try to cripple remaining insurgent strongholds.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century’s greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88.
The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called “Ed” and considering himself just an ordinary beekeeper.
[...]
Hillary’s life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement - and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Tenzing Norgay.
No more tears, please. I don’t mean from Hillary Clinton - I mean the media saying that she cried, which isn’t accurate, as far as I could see. The Yahoo page yesterday showed the graphic above. If you can’t read it clearly, it says “Debating the crying issue.” “Analysts have turned Hillary Clinton’s tears into a national debate.” It also links a Huffington Post entry titled “Double standard?” and has a video link called, “See her tears.”
(Good grief. Had it been a slower news day, one of the networks would’ve grabbed the post-Brit-Brit Dr. Phil for his special brand of obtuse comment wrapped in faux-folksy Texas cornpone psychobabble. But there’s still time.)
There’s other copies of the video out there, but check out this YouTube version:
She gets choked up, her voice quavers, she’s emotional. But she doesn’t have a public breakdown. And I don’t see any tears. Do you? And really, is this that hard for the press to get right? (more…)
