David Gregory today in the Rose Garden was terrific.
He perservered in trying to get George Bush to actually
answer a question. We need more journalist like David.

Ivan from LA, you are absolutly correct. in saying that maybe we should be more concerned with a country that not only has nuclear weapons but has used them....on people....more than once! lets clean up our own back yard before we start telling everyone else to. your northern neighbors are very concerned.

You-Know-Who, in Mt. View: Well said!!

Sorry - I can't leave this topic alone -

President Hubris angrily told the American public:

1) We're not leaving Iraq while I'm President.
2) If we don't STAY THE COURSE Iraq will turn into a disaster.
3) He would NEVER question the patriotism of someone who disagrees with him.
4) If we leave Iraq, the terrorists will follow us here.

I have some news for you, Mr. President:

1) Iraq IS a disaster. The only difference between staying and leaving is how long you want to drain (transfer to Halliburton) the US treasury and watch Americans die.
2) Iraq won't be able to defend itself against Iran in 20 years. You opened that door W-I-D-E.
3) If we're not leaving while you're President, then you're committed to staying AT LEAST two more years? No hope of anything sooner? (Or impeachment.)
4) STAY THE COURSE is not a strategy. It's an Presidential Proclamation that the nation must participate in a slow-motion train wreck.
5) Your "administration" has been labeling dissenters as "traitors" from DAY ONE! Just the other day your boss, Chicken Dick, called Ned Lamont the "Al-Qaida" candidate.
6)"If we leave Iraq, the terrorists will follow us here." How stupid are you (do you think we are)? The fact that you're bally-hooing the Britain arrests proves they don't feel obligated to stay away as long as we're in Iraq!

Mr. President, if BS were music, you'd be a brass band.

Everyone talks about the "threat" Iran's nuclear program poses to the region. Noone ever says anything about the threat posed to the region by Israel's secret nuclear program and hundreds of nuclear weapons. If a Middle Eastern city gets destroyed by a nuclear weapon in the near future, the bomb will likely be stamped "Made in Israel."

If the US ever had a government that was not 100% pro-Isreal, Israel might threaten us too.

"The war (in Iraq) is straining the American psyche."*

* George UU Bush

Hey - don't think for one minute it's because of your unrelenting lies, playing on our fears, non-stop divisive pronouncements, over-used excuse for trampling the Constitution, half-witted cabinet (my goodness!) or your steadfast refusal to ACKNOWLEDGE REALITY, President Cronies 'R Us.

Kudos to NBC Nightly for leading last night with the substantive news of the horrific situation in Iraq. I've been very concerned that she has fallen into a nasty civil war with our troops caught in the middle. And I don't think America (or any other foreign country, for that matter) would be able to impose a solution. This will only come about if the Iraqis themselves decide to put aside their differences and work together in peace to heal Iraq's wounds. This is what most Iraqis would want--I've heard that out of her 25 million population, only 25,000 are insurgents. Such a small amount to be causing so much terror, pain, and suffering.

Also, I'm extremely grateful for Campbell Brown's powerful, moving piece on the "2nd wave of Katrina victims"--women being abused by men who are under stress from dealing with all sorts of post-storm problems (and, I assume, their own traumas and losses.) My heart goes out to women like "Marie." It was especially sad to hear how these battered women have no place to go, between damaged shelters and New Orleans' housing shortage. (And after hearing about these battered women, I have to wonder how much child abuse is going on as well in Louisiana's shattered emotional climate.)

This heart-wrenching situation is a symptom of the agonizing psychological turmoil wracking Louisiana. As if her slowly-healing wounds from Katrina and Rita weren't enough to bear, Louisiana is being tortured by an epidemic of anxiety, depression, and suicides that darkens her life and saps her of the human resources she needs to become whole and prepare for future catastrophes.

An estimated 500,000 of her people have severe psychological damage--beset by sleeplessness, nightmares, chronic stress, and substance abuse--which are getting worse now that hurricane season is at its peak.

According to the Times-Picayune, Louisiana is faced by an acute shortage of psychiatric beds. This is not confined to New Orleans and the surrounding area--it is statewide. Emergency rooms are overcrowded all the way to Shreveport, which is imperiling hospitals' ability to provide routine care. Acute psychiatric patients must wait several days before being admitted, and patients who show up for minor emergencies have waits of 24 hours or more.

There is a small ray of hope--FEMA, according to another Times-Picayune article, plans to send more than $34 million to Louisiana Spirit, a mental health program that helps clients face-to-face and by means of a hot line and e-mails. A vast number need this counseling, which may prevent minor issues from becoming major problems. However, there is a drawback--Louisiana Spirit does not pay for prescriptions, hospitalizations, or other intensive or long-term treatments for those who are already desperately ill. In fact, FEMA is prohibited from funding psychiatric services (ones that can prescribe medications, etc.) So the aid, while welcome, is for Louisiana like giving a cancer patient only pain-killers--relieving her suffering while not treating its cause which is destroying her.

Right now the most humane thing the Bush Administration can do for Louisiana is help her repair her mental health system so those who need psychiatric services can more easliy get them. 80% of the psychiatrists have left the New Orleans area, so she needs this help badly.

Again, I am just a mom of a soldier in Iraq. He is still in danger daily and promises his father, girlfriend, friends, and ,myself that he will make it home ok. We now hear hardly any news from Iraq as the Isreal/Lebanon conflict is all the rage. When there is news from Iraq it is all about some protest or gathering that I know my son is at protecting the people of Iraq. But is that mentioned, no. I think that this country is turning our backs to the military again by forgetting them. We should be grateful to all of them for their sacrifices. They see the carnage of their buddies hurt,wear 22 lbs of ceramic armor in 110+ heat, sleep with mortars being aimed at their camps, and patrol with IEDS laying there intending to kill them. Not to mention, being away from the ones who love them so much and I am beginning to wonder if the average Iraqi even appreciates them anymore. Bottom line, thank a soldier,lobby Congress to take care of them, and keep them in the forefront of the news.

OKAY LET'S GET DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY, MERRIAM WEBSTER DICTIONARY DEFINE A CIVIL WAR AS "A WAR BETWEEN OPPOSING GROUPS OF CITIZENS OF THE SAME COUNTRY." PLEASE SEND CONDI, GEORGE, DONNY' AND CHENEY A DICTIONARY AND HAVE SOME ONE READ IT TO THEM.ANOTHER DAY GOES BY AND DOZENS ARE KILLED AND HUNDREDS WOUNDED IN SECTARIAN VIOLANCE! IS THERE NOT 1 PERSON IN THE GOVERMENT WITH ENOUGH BRAINS OR SPINE TO STAND UP AND SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.EVERY ONE IS MANEUVERING FOR POSITION IN THE MID-TERM ELECTION AND RUNNING ON THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN IRAQIS.THE HORRIBLE REALITY OF THE SITUATION OF THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT IN POINTS OUT AND EMPHASISES THE TOTAL DIRTH OF QUALIFIED LEADERS IN THIS COUNTRY.

You can be assured that the Bush administration will contend right up to the last person in Iraq being taken out by the other last Iraqi that this wasn't a civil war, merely interminable strife set off by those lousey terrorists. Gotta love those insane Repubs because these guys can sell their own mother in attempting you to align yourself with their cause. Civil war in Iraq? Simply a slight misunderstanding! Sure, you betcha!