First Up To Bat For Monday Evening

Updates may be a bit light this week.  Daughter is headed home and our son (who has been out of town for his job for the better part of the last two months) is scheduled to return tonight.  So, we're prepping a couple of posts and will update them, if time permits.  That's one nice thing about the software I'm using now - it lets you write and schedule posts to be uploaded to the server.  With that in mind, a mixed bag to start things off:

We begin with a post from someone stationed with the U.S. Military in Iraq:

haji no more  

Word came down. I don't know if it was a post thing, or a battalion thing, or a company thing, or even a platoon thing. All I heard was, no more Haji. Sarge said, don't want to hear the word Haji no more. Not on ops, not on the radio, not in the chow hall, not spanking the monkey in your sleep. Haji. No. More. [...]

Now, some random hits from elsewhere, starting right here at home with some chatter about our governor:

The high-flying governor  

A blog reader directs us to a South Dakota newspaper, which has done a national survey of use of state aircraft by governors. The survey was prompted by the Sioux Falls' newspaper's report on another governor named Mike who uses a state plane for personal purposes. (South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds claims taxpayers have incurred no costs for personal stops he's made with the plane; but there's an open question on his use of the plane to attend Republican events and he apparently tailored official visits to allow personal stops along the way.)[...]

Now, off to the Iraq, Bush, Cheney chatter (Are they getting too picky here?  Or are the arguments valid?):

White House Flip-Flops on Murtha  

First, Murtha was taking a “baffling” position only accepted by “the extreme liberal wing.” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 11/18/05: [...]

WHO PUT THE BUBP  

Max Blumenthal has a nice little post on Mean Jean's Marine and why he thinks Murtha is a coward:"A few minutes ago I received a call from Colonel Danny Bubp, Ohio Representative from the 88th district [...]

Tipping Point?  

Has the American public finally reached the tipping point? Was a burly Pennsylvania Congressman with a long history of service to his country and a simmering disgust at this Administration's treatment of the military all it took to ignite a firestorm of discussion on the Administration's incompetent prosecution of the Iraq War? Or has this been simmering for quite a while?As friends describe [...]

Rumsfeld Forgets Administration Talking Points During Odd Interview About Iraq and Terrorism  

It was as if Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had forgotten his talking points.
Speaking on ABC's This Week, had a very strange response to last week's call from Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) to withdraw all U.S. troops within six months. Rumsfeld told host George Stephanopoulos yesterday that talk of withdrawal tells insurgents that "if they wait, they prevail, and they'll be able to turn that country into a haven for terrorism." The argument doesn't make any sense. [...]