Change you absolutely CAN believe in.

From Faux News (Stop booing): Obama to End Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy

WASHINGTON: President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, according to incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

I... I'm honestly at a loss. I'm not exactly military material myself, but many in my family have served - and to be honest, if I felt the cause was just, and I was fit, I would gladly serve.

Until this I could not however, because of my sexual orientation, and the fact I refuse to lie about it. There was never a good excuse to keeping gays out of the military, many other armed forces do not have such rules, and we haven't seen those fall apart. Other soldiers being 'uncomfortable' has never been a good excuse, as it's simply giving weight to an argument born out of fear and intolerance.

Furthermore, it's one of the key issues that has always made me feel less than human. Male or female, both can serve in the military in this day and age, but the homosexual - be they male or female - we are apparently something less. Or were.

I said it when the Warren issue came out, and I'll say it here, having an intolerant preacher give a prayer isn't IMPORTANT, and it certainly isn't condemning of the President-Elect. His actions are what will show us the measure of his character.

This action speaks of that character. Thank you, President-Elect Obama, thank you for making me feel human once more.

Souder Hates the Troops

From Fort Wayne Left: Congressman Mark Souder Votes Against Our Troops

Indiana Republican Congressman Mark Souder likes to think he supports our troops in this war. He also seems to hedge towards wanting the war to end without causing complete chaos. He had a golden opportunity to address BOTH of these issues in today's House vote on the Iraqi Supplemental bill and HE FAILED MISERABLY. He failed the veterans in this country. He failed our current military personnel and their families. His vote today was flat out inexcusable and something the people of this district will not forget.

So what did he vote against?

You really must see this post. It's a scathing indictment of Souder for doing exactly what any good person would never do.

Best of all, Jeff's absolutely right about this. Souder's biggest concern isn't about our troops, or about our children, or anything that really matters. No, his concern is about districts that aren't his own and the Mary Jane.

All I can say is, don't blame me, I voted for Hayhurst.

Raping, murdering scum of a military reject gets ten years for crimes.

From CNN.com: U.S. soldier gets 100 years for Iraq rape, killings.

What they're not going to outright tell you: he's only going to serve ten years.

FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky (AP) -- A U.S. soldier was sentenced to 100 years in prison Thursday for the gang rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family last year.

Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, also was given a dishonorable discharge. He will be eligible for parole in 10 years under the terms of his plea agreement.

Cortez, of Barstow, California, pleaded guilty this week to four counts of felony murder, rape and conspiracy to rape in a case considered among the worst atrocities by U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

In his plea agreement, he said he conspired with three other soldiers from the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne Division to rape 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi. The girl, her parents and a younger sister were all killed.

Earlier Thursday, tears rolled down Cortez's face as he apologized for the rape and murders. He said he could not explain why he took part.

"I still don't have an answer," Cortez told the judge. "I don't know why. I wish I hadn't. The lives of four innocent people were taken. I want to apologize for all of the pain and suffering I have caused the al-Janabi family."

The military judge hearing the case, Col. Stephen R. Henley, issued a sentence of life in prison without parole, the maximum for the charges. Under military law, the defendant is given the lesser sentence unless he violates terms of the plea agreement, which requires Cortez to testify against others charged in the case.

Psychologist Charles Figley testified that Cortez and the other soldiers likely suffered stress brought on by fatigue and trauma.

"It eats you up," Figley said. "It's a horrible thing. This is not unique. We've seen this in other wars."

Five soldiers who served with Cortez in Iraq testified that his actions were out of character and described the hardships of war they experienced, including sleep deprivation and the lack of running water.

"I just never would have seen it coming," said Staff Sgt. Tim Briggs, who has known Cortez for five years and served with him in Iraq.

Prosecutors said the stress was no excuse for the actions of Cortez and the other soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell.

On Wednesday, Cortez described raping the girl in her family's home in Mahmoudiya last March, along with Spc. James Barker, 24. Barker pleaded guilty in November to rape and murder and was sentenced to 90 years in military prison.

Cortez said this week that former private Steven D. Green raped the girl in front of him; shot her father, mother and sister; and then shot her in the head. He also testified that the soldiers attempted to burn the girl's body; burned their own clothes; and threw the murder weapon, an AK-47, into a canal in an attempt to dispose of the evidence.

Cortez was found not guilty of more serious charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to premeditated murder.

Pfcs. Jesse Spielman, 22, and Bryan Howard, 19, await courts-martial. Green, who is accused of being the ringleader but was discharged from the military before being charged, will be prosecuted in a federal court in Kentucky.

If this had been anyone else, they'd be locked away for life without any chance of seeing the sun again.

Justice my fat white ass.

U.S.-led forces raid consulate, piss everyone off

U.S. Detains 6 Iranians in Irbil Raid

U.S.-led multinational forces detained six Iranians Thursday at an Iranian government office in the northern city of Irbil, Iraqi officials said, as President Bush accused Iran and Syria of aiding militants and promised to "interrupt" the flow of support as part of his new war strategy.

I really cannot believe this. Are we trying to start a war? If Iran attacks us, we're not getting any support from the rest of the world.

You know what Bush and his cronies would call this if it were someone doing this to us? They'd call it terrorism. So what's that make this?

More torture? Who's surprised by this?

From the New York Times: In Secret Unit's 'Black Room,' a Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse

In Secret Unit's 'Black Room,' a Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse

By ERIC SCHMITT and CAROLYN MARSHALL
Published: March 19, 2006

As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.

In June 2004, Stephen A. Cambone, a top Pentagon official, ordered his deputy, Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, to look into allegations of detainee abuse at Camp Nama.
In the windowless, jet-black garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball. Their intention was to extract information to help hunt down Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to Defense Department personnel who served with the unit or were briefed on its operations.

Yeah, real smart, guys, torture people to get info when you KNOW that it doesn't work and they'll give you a bunch of crap.

The Black Room was part of a temporary detention site at Camp Nama, the secret headquarters of a shadowy military unit known as Task Force 6-26. Located at Baghdad International Airport, the camp was the first stop for many insurgents on their way to the Abu Ghraib prison a few miles away.

Placards posted by soldiers at the detention area advised, "NO BLOOD, NO FOUL." The slogan, as one Defense Department official explained, reflected an adage adopted by Task Force 6-26: "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it."
According to Pentagon specialists who worked with the unit, prisoners at Camp Nama often disappeared into a detention black hole, barred from access to lawyers or relatives, and confined for weeks without charges. "The reality is, there were no rules there," another Pentagon official said.

Oh, but we don't torture people! We shoot them with paintball guns, beat them, basically treat them like animals, but it's not torture! And we HAVE to so we can get information! Ticking time bomb! WHY DO YOU HATE FREEDOM?!

Seriously, you know that they're going to start trying to either cover this up or cover their own asses by calling these people "isolated cases" and "not under orders".

Sooner or later, you just know that all this torture stuff's gonna end up biting them on the ass somehow. The insurgents are going to get pissed off about this and more people are probably going to die, Iraqi and American alike. I hate that. I wish that wasn't the case. But it's going to happen, I'm sure of that.

If there was some magic wand I could wave over this war and make it end, if I could bring all the troops home and give Iraq whatever it wants and needs, if I could fix all the problems we have right now, oh, you KNOW I would...

...but I can't. That's why I do this - short of magic, all I have is this one voice. And I'm gonna use it.