Bush makes historical record for failure

Bush Disapproval Rating Makes History
CNN
Posted: 2008-05-02 11:34:39
Filed Under: Nation News, Politics News
WASHINGTON (May 1) - A new poll suggests that President Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as president."No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup Poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director."Bush's approval rating, which stands at 28 percent in our new poll, remains better than the all-time lows set by Harry Truman and Richard Nixon [22 percent and 24 percent, respectively], but even those two presidents never got a disapproval rating in the 70s," Holland said. "The previous all-time record in CNN or Gallup polling was set by Truman, 67 percent disapproval in January 1952."While Gallup polling goes back to the 1930s, it wasn't until the Truman years that they began surveying monthly approval ratings.

How would you rate Bush's performance as president?
Poor
74%
Good
11%
Fair
9%
Excellent
6%
Total Votes: 127,159

Does he deserve the lowest presidential approval rating in modern history?
Yes
74%
No
26%
Total Votes: 125,436

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/bush-disapproval-rating-makes-history/20080501200009990002?icid=1615988631x1201419143x1200303318

Will congress notice this? Will the GOP in congress notice this?

For the readers who still support Bush, the question is why? When asked about this the people who call into shows will say it's because he kept us safe since 9-11, but they never seem to have an answer as to why it is he was in the chair the day we were hit or why it seems that every defense this nation had all failed at the same time. I've heard them say that it's because we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan but they never seem to have an answer as to why that is or why it has also been apparent that he has not taken care of any of them.

As a Chaplain, I want to get CERT training, Community Emergency Response Teams, so that I can respond better to emergencies. I just returned from the local fire station only to find the program has been canceled because of budget cutbacks here in Florida. That's how bad things have gotten. They had to cut a program to train volunteers!

A report came out the other day on employment and it listed the number one hiring as the federal government. Local governments are cutting jobs.

Fallout from tight state budget will impact many Floridians
The budget set to pass today is $5.7B smaller than that in 2007.
John Kennedy and Jim Stratton Sentinel Staff Writers
May 2, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - The $66.2 billion no-new-taxes state budget the Florida Legislature will approve today will reverberate across Central Florida.Services from courts to drivers-license offices will be cut back; government workers won't get raises. Teachers will lose their jobs; services for the disabled will shrink; and nursing-home patients might wait longer for bedside care.College and university students will pay about $70, or 6 percent, more per semester. There will be no sales-tax holiday for hurricane preparedness; the one for back-to-school items is shortened to seven days and doesn't include books. And parents will find it tougher to place their children in arts classes, summer school or other specialty programs.

71 workers in Seminole laid off in cutbacks
Sandra Pedicini Sentinel Staff Writer
May 2, 2008
Seminole County on Thursday eliminated about 110 positions from its work force of about 1,400 employees to help balance its budget.Seventy-one people are being laid off, effective immediately, county officials said.Seminole residents will feel the effects, as well, of the changes, which a county spokeswoman said would cut about $14 million from the county's general fund budget, paid for by property taxes. Additional money will be cut from other funds, paid for with revenue from sources such as sales-tax revenue and fire assessments.

Again, I would really like to know why anyone is supporting Bush now.

US Military Coordinated Day of Prayer Events with Christian Right Group

US Military Coordinated Day of Prayer Events with Christian Right Group

Jason Leopold


The Public Record

May 01, 2008

April 30, 2008 - At least half-a-dozen active-duty military officials have been working closely with a task force headed by the far-right fundamentalist Christians planning religious events at military installations around the country to commemorate Thursday’s National Day of Prayer.

In working directly with the National Day of Prayer (NDP) Task Force and agreeing to work as event coordinators, these military officials not only violated constitutional provisions governing the separation of church and state but they also signed an oath that states they “believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God” and that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God,” according to materials posted on NDP Task Force’s website.

Furthermore, the declaration signed by the military officials says that they promise to “ensure a strong, consistent Christian message throughout the nation” and that National Day of Prayer events scheduled to take place at their military installations “will be conducted solely by Christians.”

Lisa Crump, manager of the NDP Task Force’s local coordinators, said that volunteers who are interested in becoming event coordinators, including members of the military, must complete click here "a simple application with contact data and statement of faith, confirming your commitment to Christ is all that's needed to get you on the way to becoming a [National Day of Prayer] Task Force volunteer coordinator."
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9988

Has the military suddenly forgotten the rich history of chaplains of all faiths in service taking care of the spiritual needs of all the armed forces?

"This inter-faith shrine...will stand through long generations to teach Americans that as men can die heroically as brothers, so they should live together in mutual faith and good will."
President Harry S Truman

Rabbi Alexander Goode
Reverend George L. Fox
Reverend Clark V. Polling
Father John P. Washington
During World War II some 8,000 Army chaplains dedicated their lives and service to the fighting men of The Greatest Generation. Though these chaplains earned 2,453 high military awards for their valor, none received the Medal of Honor.

Four of the seventy-seven who gave their lives in service received one of the most unusual and distinct medals in history. Ordered by special Congressional action, its intent was to carry the same weight and prestige as the Medal of Honor.

It is known simply as The Four Chaplains Medal, and calls to memory four men of God, one Jewish, one Catholic, and two Protestant, who overcame the boundaries of denomination to become brothers serving the same Father.

This is a Chaplain in Iwo Jima

This is a Chaplain in Korea

This is a Chaplain in Vietnam

These are American soldiers who happen to be Muslim
Does the military suddenly think that their soldiers are of any lesser value if they are not Christian, or a particular branch of Christianity? I'm really getting tired of reading reports about this kind of practice. This was always supposed to be about taking care of the spiritual needs of all the troops as they are, in the faith they practice or taking care of them as humans if they have no faith at all. Don't they understand that they are not only hurting the troops by making them feel less worthy and pushing them away from seeking any spiritual council at all? They feel they are not being embraced but forced into deciding to belong or be an outcast.

Fort Bliss PTSD work praised by Gates

Military's policy for dealing with post traumatic stress disorder changing, defense secretary says
By Chris Roberts/For the Sun-News
Article Launched: 05/02/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT



Bracing against a blasting wind that reminded him of his native Kansas, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates spent a day at Fort Bliss touring a mental health center, watching a demonstration of the Army's newest technology, and meeting with soldiers and community leaders.

Gates said the recent announcement that two additional brigades will come to Fort Bliss as part of a plan to expand the Army "will be the final major additions for the time being."

The total increase in the number of soldiers expected to be stationed at the post since the Base Realignment and Closure process in 2005 is nearly 30,000.

Gates had high praise for a Fort Bliss center designed to treat soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and return them to their units, which he said would serve as a prototype for the Army.

"They are doing some amazing things here in terms of helping soldiers who want to remain soldiers but who have been wounded with post traumatic stress disorder," Gates said of the Restoration and Resilience Center. "I think it's an extraordinary program. I think it's a prototype. And one of the things that I will carry back to Washington with me is the question of whether we can replicate this at other posts
around the country."

During a morning press conference in front of the center, Gates also formally announced a change in government policy he said will allow soldiers to seek help for PTSD without hurting their careers. Getting help for PTSD related to the "combat environment" will no longer be a reason to deny security clearances, he said.

The Fort Bliss center also is looking at finding ways of helping soldiers in combat zones deal with stress, Gates said, adding that those techniques "are clearly worth additional attention as well."
go here for more
http://www.lcsun-news.com/news/ci_9126689?source=rss

Drug tests: Aleve sets off positive drug detection

How Aleve tests positive for illegal drug 6:14 p.m. Sarasota Police and the manufacturer of drug kits struggle to explain why over-the-counter painkiller is mistaken for amphetamines.
» False positive

Airman Thornton suit against Wal-Mart won job back

Resolution filed over former airman's lost Wal-Mart job

Published Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 6:49 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The federal Justice Department filed a decree Thursday to resolve a suit with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that it filed on behalf of a former airman.

The suit, filed in March in U.S. District Court in Orlando, claimed the company didn't give Sean Thornton his job back after he was discharged from the military. It claimed Wal-Mart violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by failing to reinstate him as a cashier at an Orange City store after he was discharged.

Under a consent decree the Justice Department, Wal-Mart would be required to pay Thornton $12,000 in back pay, less legally required employee income tax withholding and other statutory employee deductions, according to court documents.

In a statement, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman says that the company has "the utmost respect" for members of the U.S. armed forces, and is pleased all parties are satisfied with the case's resolution.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080501/APN/805011294

Tell Gates and McCain "retention" is no reason to shaft troops

Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized Webb’s bill as a detriment to service retention efforts in an April 29 letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Gates also endorsed key features of the Graham bill without citing the bill by name or number. Clearly the Bush administration hopes that Graham and colleagues have put enough alluring features in S 2938 to draw bipartisan support away Webb’s bill. S 22 already has 58 co-sponsors in the Senate and 250 House members back a companion bill, HR 5740.

In battle over GI Bills, Webb still holds high ground
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, May 3, 2008



In perhaps any other year, the new Republican plan for enhancing the Montgomery GI Bill, which Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) introduced this week with Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.) and John McCain (Ariz.), would win high praise from advocates for service members and veterans.

But as momentum builds on Capitol Hill to pass S. 22, Sen. Jim Webb’s hefty new GI Bill to replace MGIB for any service member – active, Guard or Reserve – with qualifying active duty service since the attacks of 9-11, the Republican plan still might be a few critical features short of an acceptable replacement for S 22 among leaders of GI Bill reform.

Graham’s bill, the Enhancement of Recruitment, Retention and Readjustment through Education Act (S 2938), is cleverly crafted and will seem generous in comparison to a more basic MGIB reform bill, HR 5684, which the House Veterans Affairs Committee endorsed April 29th.
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54499

Korean War Chaplain Honored For Saving 1,000

Air Force chaplain credited with saving children honored at Gwangju
By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, May 3, 2008

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — The Air Force chaplain whose unflagging efforts saved nearly 1,000 orphans during the Korean War was memorialized Thursday in a ceremony at Gwangju.

Col. Russell L. Blaisdell is credited with getting nearly 1,000 children out of Seoul at a time when a communist ground offensive was expected to soon overtake the city. The rescue became the much-publicized Operation Kiddy Car in late 1950.

The ceremony in Gwangju city’s social welfare hall occurred exactly one year after Blaisdell died at 96.

Among those attending were members of the South Korean national assembly; a representative of the U.S. Embassy in South Korea; local officials; several of the orphans who were saved by Blaisdell’s actions; Blaisdell’s son, himself now a clergyman; and two Air Force chaplains stationed in South Korea.

“A modern-day Moses, Chaplain Blaisdell literally put his life on the line to rescue 950 orphaned Korean children and 80 orphanage workers,” Air Force Lt. Col. Charles R. Cornelisse said in a sermon. Cornelisse is 51st Fighter Wing chaplain at Osan Air Base.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54500

Ranger on 7th tour killed in Afghanistan

Army Ranger Killed in Afghanistan -- On 7th Tour in War Zone

By Greg Mitchell

Published: May 01, 2008 3:40 PM ET

NEW YORK An Army Ranger from Ramona, Ca., was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday—on his seventh tour of duty in that country or in Iraq.

Sgt. 1st Class David L. McDowell, 30, died Tuesday in Bastion, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered in a firefight when enemy forces attacked using small arms fires, according to the Pentagon.

His father was also an Army ranger.

McDowell had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq seven times and was a recipient of two Bronze stars and a Purple Heart. His most recent tour in Afghanistan began on March 29.

He is survived by his wife, his high school sweetheart, Joleen; son, Joshua, 11; daughter, Erin, 3; his parents; and two sisters.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003797539

7th tour? Next time you believe they say there are not that many tours, remind them of this soldier. Two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

PTSD on trial of Cody Morris

Lawyer Says Shooting Suspect Suffers From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
He's accused of shooting his friend while they played video games. Now his lawyer says his traumatic experience in Iraq is to blame.
When Casey Lee Hall died of a gunshot wound to the head last fall, many wondered what happened. When his friends were arrested, they asked why.
Now, just days before his trial is scheduled to begin in Carlisle County, lawyers for Cody Morris are suggesting his service in Iraq changed him. They say he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. "He came back different," says Mark Bryant, Cody Morris's attorney.
Before Iraq, Cody Morris's family told Bryant he was outgoing and knew nothing of guns. They say he changed after a year in Iraq. "He was in combat on a daily basis. He was killing people, really, really often. He saw horrible things. He saw little kids get blown up," says Bryant. And while in Iraq, Bryant says his client was diagnosed with the illness known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms of PTSD include: re-living the event, avoiding situations that remind you of the event, feeling keyed up and on alert for danger, and feeling emotionally numb.
"Everything's pretty much monotone, and that's not the way he was before," said Bryant of Morris's personality.
click above for the rest

After Iraq, student soldiers struggle to adjust

After Iraq, student soldiers struggle to adjust
May 1, 2008
By Jessica Belmares
Reporter
The 150-degree desert brought beading sweat to his face. The ground shook from loud bombs heard from unknown directions. The happiest moments came from grilling a sausage.

This was a typical day of work for Army Sgt. and Coalinga, Calif., sophomore Glen Newell.

"Iraq, to me, was more like being in jail, basically, with a chance of dying," Newell said. "You're surrounded by towers that are about 15 to 20 feet apart and they have gunners in them, and that's what separates you from the outside world."

Newell was 19 years old, had a .97 GPA at a local community college and lacked the discipline he needed in order to make a good life for himself.

"My parents were at peace with me being away. They were okay with it," Newell said. "It was something that we all prayed about and were worried about, but we knew God would help us through it."

Newell is one of 1.6 million U.S. troops that have been deployed to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001.

He is also one of nearly the 20 percent of military service members who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan and report symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder or major depression.

Now he is a war veteran and student at Baylor University.

go here for more
http://www.baylor.edu/lariat/news.php?action=story&story=50836