The Prissy Patriot: Oh Say, Can You See? The Bushies Scrambling for Cover

Dearest Readers, Prissy had a really great post for you last Friday. You didn't see it because it "disappeared" while publishing. Prissy has had no time to make up for this, as it's back to DC this week.

Prissy will be wrapping up "Operation House Call" with Military Families Speak Out. Prissy plans to post while there. Here are a few, as Prissy is still packing!

Side note: Dubya must have heard Prissy is leaving town, maybe he'll let her hitch a ride ;-)

From Prissy's Inbox: Bush will be attending a fundraiser for Kenneth Blackwell this Wednesday at the private residence of Edward F. Crawford, CEO of Park-Ohio Holdings in the wealthy suburb of Kirtland Hills. Blackwell, as you probably all know, was the Secretary of State in Ohio responsible for rigging the 2004 Election. I believe the fundraiser will be at 4:30 pm. I’ve contacted two Cleveland peace groups to find out if anyone is planning a protest.

Hot Links

Army Times! Dearest Readers, you know the military is so done with this war when you see this in the Army TimesFamilies bristle at word of tour extension

“There has never before been a group of military families breaking the code of silence like this,” she said. “It speaks to the horrific nature of the invasion and now occupation of Iraq.”
Lessin and her husband, Charley Richardson of Boston, founded the organization with another military family in November, 2002, to speak out against military action in Iraq. Their Marine son served in Iraq in 2003.
The organization now has grown to more than 3,000 military family members. Most are parents or spouses or fiancées of troops, she said, but there are also siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and children.
“I got one e-mail from a young man whose 59-year-old mother was being deployed,” she said.
Since June 22, some members of the group have staged “Operation House Call” near the U.S. Capitol, making statements to congressmen, staff members, and others as they pass by. The number varies daily, but more than 50 family members have participated at some point, coming from the Washington, D.C., area as well as other locations around the country. By the time they finish Aug. 3 when Congress is expected to go into summer recess, the number may reach 100.

Note to Congress and Senate: Miltary Families are more militant in their quest for peace than the more traditional peace organizations...so Prissy isn't sure the "anti-war" label is truly applicable in this case.

Irish Examiner Israel to expand Hezbollah attacks

Thousands of civilians trapped in south Lebanon'’s war zone for three weeks also made an exodus for the north, taking advantage of Israel'’s pause in airstrikes. Israeli artillery, not covered under the air halt, continued to pound southern Lebanon. A Lebanese solider outside the southern port of Tyre was killed, security official said.
With the fear of bombardment eased, Lebanese Red Cross teams escorted by UN observers went to the Lebanese village of Srifa to dig up more than 50 bodies believed to be still buried under rubble since Israeli strikes wiped out an entire neighbourhood on July 19. The bodies have begun decomposing, the Red Cross said.
Before ending her diplomatic mission in the Middle East by leaving Israel today, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the UN Security Council to arrange for a ceasefire agreement by week's end that would include the formation of an international force to help Lebanese forces control southern Lebanon.

Yahoo-this is the same ship used to rescue Americans in Lebanon. Keep your eyes on this...Investigators inspect ship that tilted July 19, 2006

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. - Federal investigators examined a new cruise ship Wednesday to try to determine why the 951-foot vessel suddenly rolled to one side, seriously injuring 20 people in a scene that looked like something out of the movie on that night's bill, "Titanic."
The Coast Guard also questioned why authorities first learned of the trouble not from the captain, but from the mother of a passenger who had called her from the ship.
The Crown Princess rolled 15 degrees to its right Tuesday afternoon about 11 1/2 miles off Port Canaveral, throwing passengers, TV sets and other objects against the deck and walls. The ship slowly came back up after 30 to 40 seconds, by passengers' estimate, then returned to port.
The crew reported a steering problem aboard the 113,000-ton vessel, which was christened only last month. The ship was sailing through calm seas, and there was no indication that a rogue wave or foul play contributed to the roll, officials said.

Blogspot-The Pen and the SwordSilencing of the Military Retirees? by Jeff Huber

A Department of Defense directive released on April 18 of this year states that Donald Rumsfeld has the authority to call military retirees back on active duty.

The Practical Nomad reports that: Exhausting all means of getting people into uniform short of a draft, yesterday the USA Department of Defense published new regulations on Management and Mobilization of Regular and Reserve Retired Military Members (32 CFR 64, 71 Federal Register 19827-19829, 18 April 2006)
The only time in the last 40 years, before the current wars, that military retirees were recalled to active duty was during the crisis in military staffing in medical professions in the first USA-Iraq war in 1990-1991, when the call-ups of retirees began with retired physicians' assistants. The new regulations provide for the possible call-up of any and all retired soldiers, but the first call-ups of retirees are likely to be of those with medical or perhaps other specialized skills.
The DoD directive does, in fact, make anyone drawing military retirement pay eligible to be recalled to service at the pleasure of the Secretary of Defense, and they assigned to virtually any federal "wartime" position that the government deems fit. No further permission of Congress is required because such measures are already allowed under Title 10 of U.S. Code. It is not subject to review under numerous federal laws such as Unfunded Mandates Reform Act or the Regulatory Flexibility Act because, among other reasons, the cost isn't expected to exceed $100 million in any one year.

Commander Jeff Huber, US Navy (Retired) was a flight instructor, operations officer of Carrier Air Wing 9 and the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, and commanding officer of VAW-124, an E-2C Hawkeye squadron. His essays have been required student reading at the U.S. Naval War College, where Jeff received a master's degree in national security studies in 1995.

Seattle Indy Media Report from the Suzanne Swift Demonstration

Specialist Suzanne Swift celebrated her 22nd birthday July 15th on an overpass just outside the Fort Lewis gates. She was joined by her mother, Sara Rich, and over 100 other enthusiastic supporters carrying signs, banners and wearing imitation paper wall clocks around their necks. These clocks represented the wall clock Suzanne had been forced to wear around her neck for two weeks by one of her tormenters inside the military. From the freeway below, horns honked and many people waived peace signs in response to the banner reading "“Free Spc. Suzanne Swift."
The July 15th rally was initiated by Sara Rich on the website Suzzane Swift Org, where she invited anyone, who believes that 'any member of the U.S. Armed Forces experiencing such assaults [should] now be heard, be protected, and be cared for'” to come to Ft. Lewis on Saturday, July 15th and ask the military to '“implement the changes the Pentagon's Joint Task Force on Sexual Abuse in the military recommended in a report to Congress in 2004.'”
Sara Rich, Suzanne'’s mother, is leading a crusade to pressure the military to grant her daughter an honorable discharge from the army where, while on duty in Iraq, Suzanne suffered sexual harassment to the point of being subjected to command rape. Command rape, as defined by an Army therapist to Ms. Rich, is when a person who has life-and-death control over you uses that position to coerce you into a sexual act or relationship.

Another major problem in the military Prissy will be addressing when the war is over...Woe to anyone obstructing a woman who seeks justice for this situation-we will come after them on this one if they don't defend her. DOD will never make it up, but they can make it right-Hear that DOD? DOD already knew they were on Prissy's list-and she on theirs-hee,hee.

WMR- The list of data thefts, said to be sold to a black-ops Uncle Sam...PERSONAL DATA THEFTS 2005-2006

U.S. Navy Jun-Jul 2006 31,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Cingular Wireless July 2006 Unknown Corporate data Physical theft
Naval Safety Center July 2006 over 100,000 SSNs, DOBs Leak
Automated Data Processing (ADP) July 2006 hundreds of thousands SSNs, financial data Leak
Bisys Group, Inc. July 2006 61,000 hedge fund investors SSNs, financial data Physical theft
U.S. Department of Agriculture July 2006 350 employees SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
University of Tennessee July 2006 36,000 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Northwestern University July 2006 17,000 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
National Association of Securities Dealers July 2006 76 NASD investigators plus securities dealers under investigation Investigation data

MSNBC Flashback May 2004Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings

May 17 - The White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the debate over the issue.
The concern about possible future prosecution for war crimes—and that it might even apply to Bush adminstration officials themselves— is contained in a crucial portion of an internal January 25, 2002, memo by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales obtained by NEWSWEEK. It urges President George Bush declare the war in Afghanistan, including the detention of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, exempt from the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
In the memo, the White House lawyer focused on a little known 1996 law passed by Congress, known as the War Crimes Act, that banned any Americans from committing war crimes—defined in part as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions. Noting that the law applies to "U.S. officials" and that punishments for violators "include the death penalty," Gonzales told Bush that "it was difficult to predict with confidence" how Justice Department prosecutors might apply the law in the future. This was especially the case given that some of the language in the Geneva Conventions—such as that outlawing "outrages upon personal dignity" and "inhuman treatment" of prisoners—was "undefined."