BlackFive

Chester is blogging about the Intelligence Summit where the Saddam Tapes are receiving much scrutiny...

You may or may not (I'm betting most of you fighting men do not)  know about American figure skater, Sasha Cohen.  She placed fourth in the last Winter Olympics, first in the last US Nationals and second in the last World Championships.

Obviously, she's a talented lady and great American skater.

But did you know that she adopted a soldier via Soldiers' Angels?  And considers Soldiers' Angels one of her favorite charities?

That's why you get a special shout out to watch Sasha Cohen skate on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.  Of course, we want her to win because she's an American, but she's also very concerned about supporting our troops.

So let's send her some support.

Go Sasha!

[find more people that you should know here]

Note to self - when you need to spend the next two weeks revising the MilBlog book manuscript to make the publisher happy, do not, I repeat, do not buy Call of Duty 2 for your XBox 360. 

Bad move, smart guy.

St. Xavier University here in Chicago invited Cindy Sheehan to speak.  She was met with protests.  Here's the article about it from the Chicago Sun-Times:

'Peace Mom' greeted by protests at St. Xavier

February 17, 2006
BY MARK J. KONKOL Staff Reporter

 

You'd think that a woman with such an Irish-sounding name would have gotten a better reception down in Mount Greenwood.

But Cindy "Peace Mom" Sheehan, known for protesting the Iraq war, was greeted at St. Xavier University on the Southwest Side with, well, protests.

Sheehan was hired by the university's student activities board to give a speech titled "One person can make a difference, not one more," aimed at getting people involved in the peace movement.
<...>
Bill Naughton, a truck mechanic from Hillside, said he showed up so Sheehan didn't get all the spotlight.

"She gets to say what she wants. We get a say," he said. "She says 'Bring them back. We're fighting for oil.' I don't believe we're fighting for oil. I support what our guys enlisted to do, volunteered to do."

Sheehan suggested she was going to stay away from politics on this night, telling an audience of more than 300 -- including protesters who stood on the bleachers with their backs to her -- the story of why she became involved in the anti-war effort and how one person can make a difference.
<...>
The speech became an anti-war rally, with members of the crowd cheering as she ticked off reasons why troops should come home and the war should end.
<...>
She went on to say: "If you care about the troops, do more than carry a sign or put up a bumper sticker . . . if you support this war and President Bush, march to your recruiter's office and sign up."...

Evidently, she is ignoring the fact that her son, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, believed in what he was doing...enough to die attempting to rescue his fellow soldiers.

I feel sorrow for every lost life in this fight and their grieving families, and Cindy Sheehan certainly deserves our sympathy.

It is unfortunate that she denies what her son stood for, instead, using him for her own agenda as the "Peace Mom."  She certainly didn't stray from politics last night.

Newsmax is running a somewhat misleading headline that Sen. Hillary Clinton received a Purple Heart when in fact she received an award of a different kind:

Hillary Clinton Gets Purple Heart Award

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has put in for a Purple Heart award - and she received the decoration yesterday.

The former first lady garnered the award without being wounded in combat - or sustaining any kind of injury at all - as is usually the case with Purple Heart recipients.

Neither has Clinton ever served in the military, though she once claimed in a TV interview she tried to join the Marines.

Instead, Mrs. Clinton received a symbolic award from the Military Order of the Purple Heart "in recognition of her inspirational leadership and dedicated service to America’s military service members and America’s veterans."

"I am honored to receive the Inspirational Leadership Award from the Military Order of the Purple Heart,” Hillary said, in a statement posted to her web site announcing the award...

Here's a bit from ABC about it (second sourcing):

ABC News: The Note: Gang of 1 (February 15, 2006)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at the Brookings Institution's "America's First Suburbs" symposium at 8:45 am ET. At 10:00 am ET, Sen. Clinton attends committee hearings and she concludes her public schedule for the day at 4:00 pm when she receives the "Inspiration of the Year Award" from the Order of the Purple Heart.

While Newsmax might be a bit shrill about this, what in the hell is the Order of the Purple Heart thinking?!

Is Senator Clinton a supporter of the military?
(please, no posts about her resurrecting the Purple Heart commemorative stamp)

What do you think about this?

Paddy O'Tatertot here blogging from the fine establishment of Grace O'Malley's to discuss a religious holiday.  Not only is Ms. O'Malley's one of my favorite pubs in Chicago, Gracie was pirate, too!

Ah, but on to a favorite topic of mine - St. Patrick's Day.   *sigh*  Glorious St. Patrick's Day...

Yeah, I know I'll get some comments that St. Patrick's Day in New York, Boston or Chicago brings out the worst amateur drinkers known to man. And that maybe true, but I don't let 'em spoil a fine holiday.  Why should you?

I still love it here in Chicago the most.  Sure Boston and New York have good celebrations.  But in Chicago, we dye our river Green.  Beat that, Boston!  Here's a picture from a live blogcast of St. Paddy's Day two years ago just two blocks from my humble home (the Sun Times building is now gone being replaced by the Trump Tower).

Chicago has not just one St. Patrick's Day Parade but three.  Downtown.  Southside Irish.  And Northwest Irish.  I'm probably missing some other smaller ones.

What's the difference between the Southside Irish and the Northwest Irish?  About 135 degrees...I kid, I kid!

Really, there isn't much difference.  It just gives us yet another parade to watch and excuse to drink.  Hell, we Irish would celebrate Spleen Day with a Harp or Guinness if such a day existed. *raises glass to Spleens everywhere*

So look for more on the holiday about St. Patrick - the patron saint of Guinness! - in the coming days.

Good things going on in my world folks. My home blog runs on the website of our two papers here in Madison. I have been playing around with John Nichols who edits the progressive paper and also writes for The Nation, and he agreed that they could use at least one voice who doesn't want to impeach Bush. So today I have a piece on the Op-Ed page of The Capital Times here under my own name. Plus I also can announce that I joined Capital Newspapers Online team, which includes both papers and madison.com. I even got a snow day today, so I am enjoying this from home. Anyhow here are the links so you can read the piece and also find out who I am. If you live in Wisconsin or have ties to the area or kinfolk from around here, letters to the editor give me a better shot at making this a regular thing.

Dave Zweifel

Editor, The Capital Times

1901 Fish Hatchery Rd.

Madison, WI 53713

or [email protected]

Any tie to Wisconsin is important as this is a local paper. I need to get back to running around my house giggling so here are the links:

We must resist Islamist demand for submission

Uncle J promoted to the newspaper? Maybe

Woo Hoo!

And unlike the media trying to restir up hate with photos from 2003 (but, hey, cartoons are off-limits!), these Abu Ghraib photos are from the last six months:

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (Nov. 1, 2005) - Tabark Addul Rahman (Tabitha). Tabitha was a patient at the Abu Ghraib hospital from Oct 28, 2005 to Nov. 2, 2005. Picture taken by Maj. Brad Wenstrup 344th Combat Support Hospital.

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (Oct. 30, 2005) - Maj. Lisa Flynn MD provides oxygen to Tabark Addul Rahman, aka Baby Tabitha. Flynn the general and vascular surgeon for the hospital at Abu Ghraib was primary physician for the baby. Photo by Maj. Brad Wenstrup 344th Combat Support Hospital.

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (October 30, 2005) - Maj. Jose Rodriquez MD (L) and Maj. Brad Wenstrup Chief of Surgery [r] perform surgery on a detainees' leg while Maj. Marie Cadet RN looks on.

BAGHDAD (January 13, 2006) – Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Division and Company C, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry, 1/10th Mountain Division hand out rice, meat, blankets and patriotic Iraqi flags Jan. 13 to Abu Ghraib citizens. (U.S. Army Photo by Capt. Shonnel Makwakwa, 1/10th MTN Medical Planner)

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq (Jauary 9, 2006) – French foreign national, Bernard Planche, who was kidnapped Dec. 5 while working as an engineer in Iraq, was found by U.S. Troops as they patrolled a neighborhood in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad. The Soldiers took him in, provided him with care, and began contacting his relatives and home country. Here, he talks with Soldiers from the 1/10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, A Company, who were in charge of his rescue (U.S. Army Photo by Pfc. Jason Jordan, 1/10th Mountain Public Affairs)

ArmyWifeToddlerMom writes a post about her mom and husband at Mommy Bloggers that's worth your time...

...in northern Iraq, of all places.  The Dream City of the Kurds - Michael Totten has the story and photos.