September 30, 2008 • 2:27 pm 0
I believe in all the second amendment rights and, of course, Iraq is not the US, but this just seems wrong.
Iraq announced Monday it will let doctors carry firearms, one of several measures aimed at trying to keep medical workers from leaving the war-torn country.
Desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.
March 19, 2008 • 10:20 pm 0
Perhaps many will see it as “Same old, same old.” Most oppose the war and they’ve written him off as a lame duck and not too many approve of the job he’s doing. So most likely not much attention was paid to it, other than those looking for “Gotcha!” lines.
So here’s the text. I thought he did well in outlining where progress is being made. There should have been more. He admitted that. He should have done this more often in the last five years.
Where will we be five years from now? I wish I knew.
Let’s hope progress continues.
Filed under: Iraq War , Iraq War, President George W. Bush, War on Terror
March 17, 2008 • 11:24 pm 2
Keith Schmitz (the famous krshorewood) makes a good point here.
We beat Germany and Japan, two of the world’s greatest powers in three years and eight months.
We have been at it in Iraq for five years with no end in sight.
I would disagree that Bush (and Cheney) are dragging things out intentionally. I think they are genuinely clueless here.
Not that I’m much better. We Republicans talk about victory, but what will that look like?
No more casualties with a stable Iraq? What will be stable? And will we realistically get there?
January 5, 2008 • 4:25 pm 1
UPDATE: Mike Nichols of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel basically reprints some of Maj. Olmsted’s post, whose parents apparently live in Cedarburg.
Michael Mathias of Pundit Nation points to this post, humorous, realistic, moving last word by a blogger killed in Iraq. No matter what your views of the war, it’s worth reading. If you get through it without tearing up, you’re a better man than I, even though I didn’t know, nor had ever read his posts.
Some excerpts to whet your appetite,
…while you’re free to think whatever you like about my life and death, if you think I wasted my life, I’ll tell you you’re wrong. We’re all going to die of something. I died doing a job I loved. When your time comes, I hope you are as fortunate as I was.
A lot of people will protest that argument by noting that the people we are fighting in Iraq are unlikely to threaten the rights of the average American. That’s certainly true; while our enemies would certainly like to wreak great levels of havoc on our society, the fact is they’re not likely to succeed. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a need for an army (setting aside debates regarding whether ours is the right size at the moment).
Regardless of the merits of this war, or of any war, I think that many of us in America have forgotten that war means death and suffering in wholesale lots. A decision that for most of us in America was academic, whether or not to go to war in Iraq, had very real consequences for hundreds of thousands of people. Yet I was as guilty as anyone of minimizing those very real consequences….
If everyone who feels this pain keeps that in mind the next time we have to decide whether or not war is a good idea, perhaps it will help us to make a more informed decision. Because it is pretty clear that the average American would not have supported the Iraq War had they known the costs going in.
There’s more, much more.
Rest in peace, Major Andrew Olmsted.
His last post at Obsidian Wings as G’kar. His blog at Rocky Mountain News.
Filed under: Iraq War , costs of war, Iraq War
October 27, 2007 • 8:36 pm 0
An art show at Pasadena City College Art Gallery includes Marine tattoos.
IT’S a canvas of sorts, one threaded through with blue veins, nasty bruises, an explosion of hatch-marks that, upon closer inspection, turn out to be scars. It’s skin — but that’s just one layer of a story.
Read more at the link. Photos of some of the tattoos are here.
October 21, 2007 • 9:44 pm 0
The rally at the capitol was the big news and was covered by the following Waukesha-based blogs (there are others also):
Dad29 (and here), silent e had several posts, many with pictures, as did the Asian Badger who flew in (imagine beating all that traffic!).
David at Carrick Bend Thoughts had a post which caused me to think about how much those who favor a
federalization of Iraq are giving Turkey the idea that they could make their excursion into Iraq against the Kurds.
Jeff at Five Points Blog looks at religious buildings and zoning, especially in relationship to the proposed mosque in Pewaukee.
Sancho rants at Hobo Springs about band competition judging.
Jessica McBride gives her good, bad and very bad on the state budget.
Pete Fanning informs us about what is happening in Tennessee since their rise in the cigarette tax.
Lisa at Sequentially Speaking tells us about some cool upcoming stuff.
The Spring City Chronicle fisked the piece in the Waukesha Freeman on regional transit.
Scott Feldstein shares a video and tells us why he doesn’t follow politicians around.
Fox Head has a long post on schools. Yes, it’s long. Yes, it’s important.
Tim at The Other Side of My Mouth gives us a delightful three act play, his version of Harvey.
You can catch up with Fletch at Two Heroes.
Jim Bouman at Water Blogged in Waukesha writes an letter to Laura Walker of the Journal Sentinel over her opinions on the Pabst Farm interchange.
James Wigderson gives the Waukesha School Board ideas for saving money.
Yorick’s Persiflage opines that Social Security will not be around when he needs it. His post also includes thoughts on Carroll University College and morning people.
The MyCommunityNOW blogs have been updated to allow comments and they now have feeds. Here are some pertinent ones: The Right Side of New Berlin (Matt Thomas), Conservatively Speaking (State Sen. Mary Lazich), New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government, Brookfield City News (Cindy Kilkenny), Thinking Out Loud, Common Ground, Takin’ the Blog for a Walk, Wake Up! Waukesha, Maple & Main, Inside New Berlin, Environmental Stewards, As I See It (New Berlin alderman Joe Poshepny), Pauls’ Falls, Public Trough, Balancing Brookfield, Practically Speaking, and Land Savers. Some of these post periodically, some once a week, some several times a week, others rarely. More are added periodically.
Well, that’s it again for this week. Again if you have a suggestion, know a Waukesha County blogger not on my blog roll, or have read a blogger’s take on happenings in Waukesha (usually the water problem and sprawl issues are most likely), let me know, either by email at thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com or in the comments.
Filed under: Blog carnivals, Blogging, Iraq War, Politics, Taxes, Transportation, Waukesha Carnival, Waukesha blogs, Wisconsin , blog carnival, Brookfield, budget, Iraq, John Jazwiec, Laura Walker, Madison, Menomonee Falls, New Berlin, Pabst Farms, RedPrairie, Social Security, transit, Turkey, Waukesha, Waukesha School Board, Wisconsin, zoning issues
October 12, 2007 • 10:33 pm 0
Presidential candidates from opposing parties, Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sam Brownback, took the unusual step Friday of holding a joint event to tout their proposal for a political solution to the war in Iraq.
Biden, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been the most prominent advocate of a plan in Congress that would limit the power of Iraq’s central government and give more control to three ethnically divided states.
“We often don’t agree … but one thing we agree on is that the solution to our situation in Iraq is, quite frankly, more important than who among us will be the next president of the United States of America,” Biden said. [Emphasis mine]
“More important than who among us will be the next president” We’ll let them believe that if they want.
Filed under: 2008, Elections, Iraq War, presidential , bipartisanship, Iraq, Joe Biden, Sam Brownback
September 5, 2007 • 2:40 pm 1
From WCBS with a tip of the conservative ball cap to the Drudge Report
“We hear so much about things going bad, but real progress has been made there in terms of security and stability,” Couric said Tuesday. “I mean, obviously, infrastructure problems abound, but Sunnis and U.S. forces are working together. They banded together because they had a common enemy: al Qaeda.”
Filed under: Drive-by media, Iraq War
August 14, 2007 • 1:05 pm 0
And from Der Spiegel, no less. I don’t know if the Left will be able to stand it.
Hope and Despair in Divided Iraq
Yeah, I know, the headline is not all that promising, and there’s still a lot of work to be done. But it’s an in-depth article and not all bad news. Here’s how it ends,
That’s the situation in Iraq. A race is underway. Now every day on the calendar is historic. The future can be won or it can be gambled away.
A tip of the ol’ conservative cap to the Queen of All Evil, who wonders “How has Karl Rove managed to get the German Press to do a 180°?”
Indeed.
You can find more on Der Spiegel’s previous reports on Iraq at David’s Medienkritik Online (linked to by the QOAE)
Filed under: Drive-by media, Iraq War
August 12, 2007 • 7:11 pm 0
Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years
Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the United States engaged in Iraq for years.
Filed under: 2008, Elections, Iraq War, presidential
