Some of the funniest videos I have ever seen...

Ok, so I just got back from the FOB for a week, and I happened on two old favorites that I used to watch all the time. Then I thought, why not just post all them on the blog. These are short Trigon Medical Insurance commercials, but they have me literally laughing in tears right now at the Lawton Public Library.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5jVNsiM4IU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5DwIcnpBCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a189xAYBRv8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R41MtBhKrbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ia9ohCyEw

A Quick Thought About How Good We Have It..

So I was out at the FOB (Foreward Operating Base) this whole week, and coming back to civilization this Friday made me really think about how good things are. The best part of of the FOB was believe it or not, the bathroom. Hot water, showerheads, mirrors. Simple things like this proved to be one of the bright parts of my day almost every day. We had pretty mediocre cafateria type food and MREs most of the time, but that food was some of the best I've had in awhile because it was all I had. There were 32 of us sleeping in a room no bigger than a small garage, and things like soft chairs, comfortable clothes, and riding inside of a car/truck were not to be had either.

I came back to Fort Sill's BOLC II barracks area, and felt like I was on vacation. There were only three of us to a room, you could take a shower as long as you wanted to, and I had my cin/raisen bagels in the drawer again. I came out to Atlanta Bread Company, had an italian and sausage pizza, a smoothie, and started posting on this blog and checking my email.

This is one thing I appreciate about the military. You realize how much you have once you leave it all, even if only for a week. Even simple things like sleep....yep, you don't get much in the military. This weekend I might as well be in the Colorado Rockies, on a Cancun beach, or home in Kansas City. For the next two days, I can do what I want, eat what I want, and sleep when I want. It's amazing. But, I'm off to the FOB again next week again, and while it's nothing close to what the deployed soldiers overseas endure, it definitly gives me a taste of very simple living.

So if you're bored, or think life is dull, you probably need to try life without several things you use daily. Things like free time, a soft chair, or even your own bed in your own room. I know I am much more appreciative of these "routine" good things.

Here's One Way To Get Rid of Drugs

AP - Tue Nov 27, 8:21 PM ET
This photo provided by the Florida Highway Patrol shows a State Police cruiser covered with bags of marijuana Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. The Florida Highway Patrol says anyone missing two big bags of pot can call their Tampa area office.

Exhibit "A" of Radical Islamic Overreaction

Calls in Sudan for execution of Briton
By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press WriterFri Nov 30, 3:59 PM ET
Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."
In response to the demonstration, teacher Gillian Gibbons was moved from the women's prison near Khartoum to a secret location for her safety, her lawyer said.
In Britain, Gibbons' son, John, told The Associated Press that her mother was "holding up well" and she made an appeal for tolerance.
"One of the things my mum said today was that 'I don't want any resentment towards Muslim people,'" John Gibbons said, relaying part of a telephone conversation with her.
The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.
They massed in central Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed. They did not try to stop the rally, which lasted about an hour.
"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.
They called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."
Gibbons' chief lawyer, Kamal al-Gizouli, said she was moved from the prison for her safety for the final days of her sentence.
"They moved this lady from the prison department to put her in other hands and in other places to cover her and wait until she completes her imprisonment period," he said, adding that she was in good health.
"They want, by hook or by crook, to complete these nine days without any difficulties, which would have an impact on their foreign relationship," he said.
Several hundred protesters, not openly carrying weapons, marched from the square to Unity High School, about a mile away, where Gibbons worked. They chanted slogans outside the school, which is closed and under heavy security, then headed toward the nearby British Embassy. They were stopped by security forces two blocks away from the embassy.
The protest arose despite vows by Sudanese security officials the day before, during Gibbons' trial, that threatened demonstrations after Friday prayers would not take place. Some of the protesters carried green banners with the name of the Society for Support of the Prophet Muhammad, a previously unknown group.
Many protesters carried clubs, knives and axes — but not automatic weapons, which some have brandished at past government-condoned demonstrations. That suggested Friday's rally was not organized by the government.
A Muslim cleric at Khartoum's main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons during one sermon, saying she intentionally insulted Islam. He did not call for protests, however.
"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.
"This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad," he said.
Britain, meanwhile, pursued diplomatic moves to free Gibbons. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke with her family to convey his regret, his spokeswoman said.
"He set out his concern and the fact that we were doing all we could to secure her release," spokeswoman Emily Hands told reporters.
The Foreign Office said consular staff had visited Gibbons in prison, and she was in good health.
Officials said Lord Ahmed, a Muslim Labour peer, would travel to Sudan to try to secure Gibbons' release. The Foreign Office said the trip was a private initiative.
In Washington, the U.S. government backed Britain's diplomatic efforts.
"We are very supportive of the British government. They are working to get their citizen back," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"There is a shared assessment that the punishment that has been imposed on this woman is in every way excessive, even though it has been reduced," he said. "Quite clearly there is an overreaction of the individuals involved in the prosecution of this case."
Most Britons expressed shock at the verdict by a court in Khartoum, alongside hope it would not raise tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain.
"One of the good things is the U.K. Muslims who've condemned the charge as completely out of proportion," said Paul Wishart, 37, a student in London.
"In the past, people have been a bit upset when different atrocities have happened and there hasn't been much voice in the U.K. Islamic population, whereas with this, they've quickly condemned it."
Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused the Sudanese authorities of "gross overreaction."
"This case should have required only simple common sense to resolve. It is unfortunate that the Sudanese authorities were found wanting in this most basic of qualities," he said.
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a political advocacy group, said the prosecution was "abominable and defies common sense."
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies, which represents 90,000 Muslim students in Britain and Ireland, called on Sudan's government to free Gibbons, saying she had not meant to cause offense.
"We are deeply concerned that the verdict to jail a schoolteacher due to what's likely to be an innocent mistake is gravely disproportionate," said the group's president, Ali Alhadithi.
The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization, said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir should pardon the teacher.
"The Ramadhan Foundation is disappointed and horrified by the conviction of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan," said spokesman Mohammed Shafiq.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said Gibbons' prosecution and conviction was "an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador late Thursday to express Britain's disappointment with the verdict. The Foreign Office said Britain would continue diplomatic efforts to achieve "a swift resolution" to the crisis.
Gibbons was arrested Sunday after another staff member at the school complained that she had allowed her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Giving the name of the Muslim prophet to an animal or a toy could be considered insulting.
The case put Sudan's government in an embarrassing position — facing the anger of Britain on one side and potential trouble from powerful Islamic hard-liners on the other. Many saw the 15-day sentence as an attempt to appease both sides.
In The Times, columnist Bronwen Maddox said the verdict was "something of a fudge ... designed to give a nod to British reproof but also to appease the street."
Britain's response — applying diplomatic pressure while extolling ties with Sudan and affirming respect for Islam — had produced mixed results, British commentators concluded.
In an editorial, The Daily Telegraph said Miliband "has tiptoed around the case, avoiding a threat to cut aid and asserting that respect for Islam runs deep in Britain. Given that much of the government's financial support goes to the wretched refugees in Darfur and neighboring Chad, Mr. Miliband's caution is understandable."
Now, however, the newspaper said, Britain should recall its ambassador in Khartoum and impose sanctions on the Sudanese regime.

A Present for Hillary Clinton

Hostage crisis ends at Clinton office
By BEVERLEY WANG, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 18 minutes ago

A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate during a hostage drama that dragged on for nearly six hours before he peacefully surrendered.
Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages, Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn.

The suspect — clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie — was put on the ground, handcuffed and taken two blocks to the police office in the back of a tactical response vehicle.
The man walked into the office shortly before 1 p.m. and took several hostages, police and witnesses said. He let a woman with an infant go immediately and at least one other woman got out about two hours later.

Seconds before he surrendered, shortly after 6 p.m., the last hostage walked from the office. The hostage then ran down the street toward the police roadblocks surrounding Clinton's office.
Police said earlier no one had been injured, and that appeared to still be true at the end.
Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.

"She said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," Tzizik said.
Clinton was in the Washington area at the time, but the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season. She canceled all appearances, as did her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the security around her was increased as a precaution.

The office, in a town of 30,000, is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire. The campaign said the people taken hostage were volunteers for the campaign.
A law enforcement official confirmed to The Associated Press earlier that the suspect's name was Leeland Eisenberg, and said Eisenberg was an older man known around the town to be mentally unstable. The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The official said the man walked into the campaign office and opened his jacket, revealing what appeared to be a pipe bomb, and that he demanded to speak with Clinton. Authorities did not know what Eisenberg wanted to talk to Clinton about.
They believe the device strapped to the man's chest was made with road flares, not a bomb, the official said.

Eisenberg made local headlines in March when he held a news conference on the steps of Rochester City Hall to complain about a police policy of placing fliers in unlocked cars warning motorists to lock their doors.
"This is nothing more than a gimmick to get around the Constitution and go around in the middle of the night upon unsuspecting citizens in their own yard and search their vehicles," Eisenberg said.
Police, who said they were just trying to reduce theft from motor vehicles, changed the policy in response.

Kansas is Injured, Injured Bad...

Well, Kansas is currently getting kicked around by Mizzou at Arrowhead stadium 21-0. Wow, well maybe Kansas wasn't as good as they looked after all...

Off to the FOB

Hey hey hey, it's time to go out to the fob (Foreward Operating Base) to do land nav, us weapons, etc...

Sadly, the much anticipated army + awesome music slideshow did not get done because of time issues, but have no fear, that will be accompished during thanksgiving break.

In other news, I had a combatives level 1 "Clinch Drill" on last saturday morning. You have to run at your instructor and grab him in certain holds, all while he is drilling you with his boxing gloves. I got punched about 30 times in the head, so the rest of the day was a bit loopy. But, I am officially certified now, and even bought some super cool sunglasses(60$) for the FOB.

Exciting happenings during BOLC II's week 2

So, seems I got heel kicked in the eye this last thursday. Doesn't really hurt but sure does draw the comments. Oh, and that's not acne on the side of my neck, it's scratches and abrasions from fighting people. Well, I need to go and find an apartment or house to rent for next spring's OBC here. I'll post more exciting things when I get the time.

Fort Sill Amenities

Here are two fun things about Fort Sill. First, this is the artillery howitzer I will soon train to command other people to fire.

Secondly, it seems Miss America 2007 is from Lawton-Fort Sill. She came back to visit, and here's a picture. Lol, pretty funny. I'm still at BOLC II though, pretty slow so far...but that's ok. PT test on Wednesday.

Just Found This, You Need to Watch it!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1805284474389135521&q=chubb+chubbs&total=343&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

An Amazing Poem About Why We Fight...

WISH YOU WERE HERE

By Corporal Joshua Miles and the boys from 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines, Kuwait

For all the free people that still protest. You're welcome. We protect you and you are protected by the best. Your voices are strong and loud, but who will fight for you? No one standing in YOUR crowd. We are your fathers, brothers, and sons, wearing the boots and carrying the guns.We are the ones that leave all we own,to make sure your future is carved in stone. We are the ones who fight and die, we might not be able to save the world,but at least we try. We walked the paths to where we are atand we want no choice other than that. So when you rally your group to complain, take a look in the back of your brain. In order for that flag you love to fly, wars must be fought and young men must die...We came here to fight for the ones we hold dear. If that's not respected, we would rather stay here. Please stop yelling, put down your signs,and pray for those behind enemy lines. When the conflict is over and all is well, be thankful that WE chose to go through hell.

My Kind of Kid!

6-year-old tries to drive to restaurant

Wed Oct 10, 8:13 AM ET

A hungry 6-year-old grabbed his grandmother's car keys, positioned his child seat behind the steering wheel and tried to drive himself to an Applebee's restaurant.
He didn't get far.
Unable to take the car out of reverse, the boy backed up 75 feet from her house into a transformer Tuesday, knocking out electricity and phone service to dozens of townhouses in this suburb north of Denver.
No one was injured and the boy, whose name was not released, got out of his car and told his grandmother what happened.
"He proceeded to start the car and started backing up," said Sgt. Colleen O'Connell of the Broomfield Police Department. "He went backward about 47 feet, hit the curb, then went backward another 29 feet."
Investigators couldn't figure out how the boy reached the accelerator.
No charges will be filed.
"I have five children of my own, so I know you cannot watch them every minute they're awake," said nearby resident Nancy Hollis, whose power was knocked out by the accident.

Looks Like "Success Tech Academy" wasn't too successfull...

Ohio school gunman kills self, wounds 4

By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer

A 14-year-old suspended student opened fire in his downtown high school Wednesday, wounding four people as terrified schoolmates hid in closets and bathrooms and huddled under laboratory desks. He then killed himself.
A fellow student at SuccessTech Academy alternative school said Asa H. Coon, who was suspended for fighting two days earlier, had made threats in front of students and teachers last week.
"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it."
Armed with two revolvers, Coon fired eight shots and may have targeted teachers, said Police Chief Michael McGrath. Police found a duffel bag stocked with ammunition and three knives in a bathroom but found no suicide note, he said.
Parents were angry that firearms got into a school equipped with metal detectors that students said were intermittently used.
Coon had a history of mental health problems and threatened to commit suicide last year while in a mental health center, according to juvenile court records obtained by The Plain Dealer.
He spent time in two juvenile facilities after a domestic violence episode and was also given home detention, and he was suspended from school last year for trying to injure a student, the paper reported.
Officials said two teachers and two students were shot, and that a 14-year-old girl fell and hurt her knee while running out of the school.
Witnesses said the shooter moved through the converted five-story downtown office building, working his way up through the first two floors of administrative offices to the third floor of classrooms. Officials said he was wearing a Marilyn Manson concert shirt, black jeans and black-painted finger nails.
The first person shot, student Michael Peek, had punched Coon in the face right before the shootings began, said student Rasheem Smith, 15.
Coon "came out of the bathroom and bumped Mike and he (Mike) punched him in his face. Mike started walking. He shot Mike in the side." Peek, 14, didn't know Coon had a gun, Smith said.
Antonio Deberry, 17, said he and his classmates hid under laboratory tables and watched the shooter move down the hallway. "I saw him walking past. He didn't see us, we saw him." The shooter swore and shot several times, Deberry said.
LeVert said she hid in a closet with two other students after she heard a "Code Blue" alert over the loudspeaker. She said she heard about 10 shots.
Darnell Rodgers, 18, was walking up to another floor when the stairway suddenly became flooded with students.
"It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot, when I felt my arm burning in the area, that's when I realized that I had got shot," Rodgers said.
"They were screaming, and they were saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' I knew something was wrong, but thought that it was probably just a fight, so I just kept going," Rodgers said.
Rodgers was released from a hospital after treatment for a graze wound to his right elbow.
Coon had been suspended since Monday for fighting near the school that day, said Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student-parent organization. He did not know how Coon got into the building Wednesday.
Blackwell said that there was a security guard on the first floor, but that the position of another guard on the third floor had been eliminated.
Student Frances Henderson, 14, said she often got into arguments with Coon, who once told her, "I got something for you all." He would often wear a trench coat, black boots and a dog collar, she said.
Students stood outside the building, many in tears, hugging one another and on cell phones. Others shouted at reporters with TV cameras to leave them alone. Family members also stood outside, waiting for their children to be released.
Math teacher David Kachadourian, 57, was in good condition; Michael Grassie, a 42-year-old teacher, was in surgery, but his condition was unavailable. The other two injured teens were taken to a children's hospital, which would not release their names, ages or conditions.
People at Coon's home declined to comment Wednesday evening.
Deberry's mother, Lakisha Deberry, said she was upset that metal detectors at the school were not always in use.
"You never know what's going on in someone's mind," said Deberry, adding that she was required to go through a metal detector and present an identification card whenever she wanted to drop off something at school for her children.
The shooting occurred across the street from the FBI office in downtown Cleveland, and students were being sent to the FBI site.
Classes at all schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will be canceled Thursday, said Eugene Sanders, chief executive officer of the district. Counseling will be available Thursday for students at recreation centers throughout the city, Sanders said.
SuccessTech Academy is an alternative high school in the public school district that stresses technology and entrepreneurship. It is housed on several floors of the district's downtown Cleveland Lakeside Avenue administration building.
"It's a shining beacon for the Cleveland Metropolitan School system," said John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused."
The school has about 240 students, most of them black, with a small number of white and Hispanic students.
Coon was white, and Henderson, the student who said she frequently argued with him, is black, but she said she didn't believe race played a role in the shootings.
The school, opened five years ago, ranks in the middle of the state's ratings for student performance. Its graduation rate is 94 percent, well above the district's rate of 55 percent.

And, a slightly less serious map

Go Royals!

An Interesting Map of the Immigration Issue

Bourne Ultimatum!!

Go See It!

Only on Telemundo...almost seems like one of their shows

Telemundo Reporter Suspended for 2 Mos.

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON,

AP

Posted: 2007-08-03 02:28:29

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Spanish-language newscaster who had an affair with the mayor of Los Angeles has been suspended from her job for two months for violating conflict-of-interest policies, her network said Thursday.

Mirthala Salinas was having the relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa when she announced the news of his separation from his wife of 20 years on local Telemundo station KVEA, Channel 52.

Salinas was suspended after a three-week internal investigation reviewed by executives at Telemundo and parent company NBC Universal. Three Telemundo employees also were disciplined. Findings were reported on the network's national newscast and announced by executives.

"Her reading of copy during newscasts ... regarding the Mayor's separation from his wife was a flagrant violation of these guidelines," network president Don Browne wrote in a memo to employees.

Messages left with Salinas' representative were not immediately returned.

"I regret that decisions I have made in my personal life have been a distraction for the city, and I am deeply sorry that I have let so many people down, especially my family," Villaraigosa said in a statement. "Now that Telemundos internal review has reached a conclusion, it is my hope that we can all move forward."

In its newscast, Telemundo reported that others disciplined included KVEA news director Al Corral, who was suspended without pay for two months, and the station's general manager, Manuel Abud, who was removed from his post and will be transferred to a new position still undetermined. Ibra Morales, president of Telemundo stations, will be reprimanded.

Salinas, 35, was placed on leave July 5 while her employer investigated whether her romantic relationship with Villaraigosa breached journalistic ethics.

She has said station managers knew of her relationship with the mayor before she announced the news of his breakup. Salinas led into the story by saying, "The rumors were true."

Villaraigosa acknowledged the affair July 3. His wife, Corina Villaraigosa, filed for divorce in June.

Something Irritating..

So here's a statement from Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California regarding General Petraeus and his grasp of the situation. I don't care if there's a difference of opinion, but see all those awards on his uniform, the stars on his shoulder? That means he knows a heck of a lot more than you ever will about what is really going on in Iraq, Mrs. Woolsey. To say he is flat wrong and inaccurate is sleazy politics, or dumb at best.


General Petraeus's Report on the Situation in Iraq

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, many of my colleagues are eagerly waiting for General Petraeus's report on the situation in Iraq this September. But I don't know why we are waiting because we have already heard from General Petraeus in September; September of 2004, that is.

On September 26, 2004, General Petraeus wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post giving his assessment of the situation in Iraq at that time. I think it would be very constructive for us to review that article, and I would like to read pieces from it.

Near the beginning General Petraeus says: "Eighteen months after entering Iraq, I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up. The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously ..... ''

He goes on to recognize that the Iraqis face a violent insurgency, but he says: "Nonetheless, there are reasons for optimism ..... Iraqi police and soldiers ..... are performing a wide variety of security missions. Equipment is being delivered. Training is on track and increasing in capacity. Infrastructure is being repaired. Command and control structures and institutions are being reestablished.''

And after citing many other examples of progress, the general ended his piece this way: "I meet with Iraqi security force leaders every day ..... I have seen their determination and their desire to assume the full burden of security tasks for Iraq. There will be more tough times ..... along the way. Iraq's security forces are, however, developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders
out front and continued coalition support, this trend will continue.''

Obviously, the general could not have been more wrong.

Madam Speaker, we can only hope that when General Petraeus reports to us this September that he will take off his rose-colored glasses and see things more clearly. The American people deserve a full accounting of what is really going on. But it actually looks like we won't get it. Ambassador Crocker has said that the report will be just a "snapshot.'' So it looks like the White House spin machine is already trying to lower expectations and do preemptive damage control again.

But the damage in Iraq has already been done, and the American people deserve more than spin. What we need is a national security plan that is based on what will actually make our Nation safe. Such a plan must include diplomacy, strong international alliances against terrorism, initiatives to address the root cause of terrorism, and a new approach to foreign policy, an approach that restores America's credibility and moral leadership in the world.

I have proposed such a national security plan. It is called SMART, which stands for Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism. I invite all my colleagues to learn about it and consider this plan.

In the meantime, the runup to General Petraeus's report continues. I hope that this September he will be more accurate than he was in September 2004. But I am not holding my breath. In fact, I will not breathe easily until all of our troops are home safely.

Funny and Ironic

So here's what happened regarding a user at a very liberal blog called "Daily Kos". Made me laugh.

"BooshH4ter4000 is against war though he thinks that violence against Republicans is sometimes justified. He believes that terrorism is simply media hype and that President Bush is going to turn America into dictatorship and refuse to leave office in 2009. He also takes pride in how much smarter he and the rest of DailyKos are than the American public. Such a proclamation was met with great agreement in the comments, a few of which were grammatically correct.

"Posting on the front page of the Daily Kos, this is one of the more prominent DailyKos members that Hillary and Obama will try to seek the approval of at YearlyKos."

Scary, Found This at http://stubbornfacts.us/

Sen. Clinton's worst idea yet

As Tully mentioned briefly in the weekend round-up, Sen. Hillary Clinton has proposed a "national service academy" to train public servants for government work:

"I'm going to be asking a new generation to serve," she said. "I think just like our military academies, we need to give a totally all-paid education to young men and women who will serve their country in a public service position."

As someone who has spent most of my professional career working for the government, I think that public service can be a noble and rewarding profession, often understandably (if regrettably) maligned by our ultimate bosses, the people. Getting things done in government is not easy, and angering the wrong people (even when promoting great ideas) can quickly cut short your professional advancement or send you packing out the door. Most of us deserve more respect than we get.

Military academies make sense because the military is a very special, unusual sort of job. Ordinary university training does not prepare one to lead men (and increasingly women) into battle. It does not teach one how to mold excitable, hyperactive, undisciplined teenagers into clear-thinking professionals capable of operating $100 million pieces of equipment, with thousands of lives at stake.

Civilian public service, worthy as it is, however, requires no such specialized training. The rules are occasionally different than in the private sector (a LOT more record keeping, for example), but the jobs for the government, outside of law enforcement and the foreign service, are pretty much the same as in the private sector.

The public is already separated enough from government. Much of the highest bureaucracies of federal government are dominated by people like Sen. Clinton, graduates of Yale and Harvard, tightly connected to a relatively small group of like-minded people who bounce back and forth between the public and private sectors.

Why does Sen. Clinton wish to adopt a French program, Ecole Nationale d'Administration, which is under fire even in France? As long ago as 1995, Jacques Chirac warned of the dangers of a "dictatorship of a technocratic élite," the civil servants produced by a single school dedicated to producing "right-thinking" civil servants.

In a career of profoundly bad, leftist ideas, this just may be her worst ever. On a practical level, does she think that John Kerry's campaign was helped by his love affair with all things French?