To Serve And Protect My Ass!

Disgusting!

The United Nations has investigated 319 peacekeeping personnel for sexual abuse since 2004 and disciplined 179 soldiers, civilians and police but exploitation of minors and the poor persists, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday,

Sexual abuse charges have surfaced for decades in U.N. peacekeeping missions and among civilian and other humanitarian staff. But the world body has seriously pursued offenders only in the past two years after reports of widespread abuse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the world body has 17,000 troops.

"It has been clear we have redoubled our efforts in that regard to prevent these acts from happening, to discipline those who are responsible and to try to bring assistance to the victims," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"We have been making progress on these issues but we obviously have a ways to go," he added.

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Feed Them Once, Feed Them Twice, Feed Them Chicken Soup With Rice

Hey, whatever works!

Odalys Ibarra has lived in the same home - a decrepit, two-bedroom brick house that she shares with 10 others - her entire life.

Yet these days, on her walk home up the steep slope of El Valle, one of the poorest neighborhoods in this capital city, she passes a free medical clinic staffed with Cuban doctors, a supermarket that sells discounted rice and tomato sauce, and a state-funded kitchen that prepares and gives out free meat stew and cookies - programs called "missions" that are the cornerstone of President Hugo Chávez's domestic policy.

While Mr. Chávez's strident anti-Americanism has caused ripples abroad - calling President Bush the devil and supporting leftist candidates and leaders throughout Latin America, as well as befriending Iran and North Korea - those with the power to vote him into another six-year term this Sunday care more about his social missions than his international mediations.

After eight years at the helm of Venezuela - having withstood a coup attempt, a national oil strike led by his opponents, and a recall referendum in 2004 that he easily won - Mr. Chávez is poised to prevail in the 2006 presidential election on Sunday. The latest state-funded poll by the US firm Evans/ McDonough puts him 19 points ahead of his only opponent, Manuel Rosales, a career politician and governor of the oil-rich western state of Zulia.

Venezuelans are bitterly divided over Chávez's ideology, but they can agree on one thing: Many will vote for him Sunday because the billions he has poured into literacy programs, free food, and doctor visits have proved a potent enticement.

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Awww, Suki Suki Now!

He's a cruisin' for a brusin'!

The White House invited newly elected Senate and House members to a “private reception” after the election, and George W. Bush really charmed Jim Webb. According to The Hill, Bush asked Webb how his son was doing in Iraq; Jimmy Webb Jr. is serving in the Marine Corps. Senator-elect Webb said he’d like to see his son get home safely. “I didn’t ask you that,” Bush shot back. “I asked how he’s doing.”

Sources tell The Hill that Webb was so furious he could barely keep himself from slugging Dubya in the face, but he bravely made it through the dinner without violence. Webb’s office will only say that he had a “private conversation” with Bush.

The Post says Webb refused to have his picture taken with Bush and even refused to stand in the receiving line. Here’s the paper’s version of the exchange:

“How’s your boy?” Bush asked, referring to Webb’s son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

“I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President,” Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

“That’s not what I asked you,” Bush said. “How’s your boy?”

“That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President,” Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

I, the person who cannot even watch cartoon characters fight, am hoping someone gets footage of the moment when someone finally knocks the livin' piss out of George W. Bush.

No Unconditional Love Here

This is creepy and it just sucks!

"When I got out of the plane in Greensboro in the US state of North Carolina, I would never have expected my host family to welcome me at the airport, wielding a Bible, and saying, 'Child, our Lord sent you half-way around the world to bring you to us.' At that moment I just wanted to turn round and run back to the plane.

Things began to go wrong as soon as I arrived in my new home in Winston-Salem, where I was to spend my year abroad. For example, every Monday my host family would gather around the kitchen table to talk about sex. My host parents hadn't had sex for the last 17 years because -- so they told me -- they were devoting their lives to God. They also wanted to know whether I drank alcohol. I admitted that I liked beer and wine. They told me I had the devil in my heart.

My host parents treated me like a five-year-old. They gave me lollipops. They woke me every Sunday morning at 6:15 a.m., saying 'Michael, it's time to go to church.' I hated that sentence. When I didn't want to go to church one morning, because I had hardly slept, they didn't allow me to have any coffee.

One day I was talking to my host parents about my mother, who is separated from my father. They were appalled -- my mother's heart was just as possessed by the devil as mine, they exclaimed. God wanted her to stay with her husband, they said.

Then, seeing as we were already on the topic of God's will, the religious zealots finally brought up a subject which had clearly been on their minds for a long time: They wanted me to help them set up a Fundamentalist Baptist church in my home country of Poland. It was God's will, they said. They tried to slip the topic casually into conversation, but it really shocked me -- I realized that was the only reason they had welcomed me into their family.

Fundies are straight up crazy and as manipulative as the devil. I hope this kid learns to laugh about this and isn't scarred for life.

Let Jesus Worry About The Poor

That's what the the Christian Coalition seems to be saying. Really! The poor and those worried about leaving a clean, safe place for their grandchildren just need to pray more. The "church" needs to concern itself with things of a sexual nature:

"The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America has declined the job, saying the organization wouldn't let him expand its agenda beyond opposing abortion and gay marriage.
The Rev. Joel Hunter, who was scheduled to take over the socially conservative group in January from Roberta Combs, said he had hoped to focus on issues such as poverty and the environment.
'These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,' said Hunter, a senior pastor at Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.
Hunter announced his decision not to take the job during an organization board meeting Nov. 21. A statement issued by the group said Hunter left because of 'differences in philosophy and vision.' Hunter said he was not asked to leave.
'They pretty much said, 'These issues are fine, but they're not our issues, that's not our base,'' Hunter said.
His resignation is the latest setback for the once-powerful group.
The Christian Coalition, founded in 1989 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, became one of the nation's most powerful conservative groups during the 1990s, but it has faced complaints in recent years about its finances, leadership and plans to veer into nontraditional policy areas. The group claims more than 2 million members."

This is down right pitiful!

Whoa! Chuck Hagel Says Bail!

It may very well end up being Bush and Barney because I think this is the beginning of the end of loyal Republican support.

There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq. These terms do not reflect the reality of what is going to happen there. The future of Iraq was always going to be determined by the Iraqis -- not the Americans.

Iraq is not a prize to be won or lost. It is part of the ongoing global struggle against instability, brutality, intolerance, extremism and terrorism. There will be no military victory or military solution for Iraq. Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger made this point last weekend.

The time for more U.S. troops in Iraq has passed. We do not have more troops to send and, even if we did, they would not bring a resolution to Iraq. Militaries are built to fight and win wars, not bind together failing nations. We are once again learning a very hard lesson in foreign affairs: America cannot impose a democracy on any nation -- regardless of our noble purpose.

We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam. Honorable intentions are not policies and plans. Iraq belongs to the 25 million Iraqis who live there. They will decide their fate and form of government ...

How?

Iraq is out of control! How on earth is the government supposed to put out some call and tell everyone to stop fighting and play nice?

A U.N. envoy urged Iraq's government on Saturday to halt a slide into civil war and stop the "cancer" of sectarianism from destroying the country, warning that the carnage of this week could tear Iraq apart.

The U.N.'s special representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, said car bombs on Thursday that killed more than 200 people in a Shi'ite area of Baghdad and "blind acts of revenge" were part of a vicious cycle of sectarian violence "tearing apart the very political and social fabric of Iraq".

"No country could tolerate such a cancer in its body politic," Qazi said in a statement.

Here's a clue: it's already is a civil war. The government never really was in charge. They cannot "stop the violence."

Postcards From Iraq

This from Juan Cole:

How bad the situation is in Iraq is suggested by this email I just got from a professional who used to be in Iraq but now is in a nearby country:

' It is desperate in Iraq, worse then ever and there is no end in sight. I had lunch with [a former high ranking medical educator in Iraq] two days ago. [He]noted that Iraq no longer has neuro-surgeons, no cardiac surgeons, few pediatric doctors - they are all gone, killed or fled to neighboring countries like him. He was given seven days to get out or be killed. He is one of the lucky ones. He and his family have an opportunity for a new life in the US. But what about all the others. Where are they to go?

Another friend, a Sunni sheikh of the Shammar tribe noted to me that thousands of former officers are prepared to assault the G[reen] Z[one]. It is no longer a matter of can they do it, they are only mulling over the timing. The breach of the Green Zone security the other day was a test of their ability to get in, and not a real attempt at a coup, though it is reported as such. Every Iraqi I talk to says unambiguously that the resistance attached to the former regime would take out the Shiite militias with barely a fight, but that the resistance will not commit wholesale revenge against the Shiite population. They just want to get rid of the "carpet baggers" from Iran. '

Damned If You Do ...

This is another bad sign. The creepiest guy in Iraq is flexing his power and has told the Prime Minister of Iraq NOT to meet with Bush next week.

Faleh Hasan Shanshal, a political aide of Moqtadr al-Sadr, said on Friday: "We have asked al-Maliki to cancel his meeting with Bush as there is no reason to meet the criminal who is behind terrorism in Iraq.

"We will suspend our membership in parliament and the cabinet if he goes ahead."

Nuri al-Maliki, the Shia prime minister, is scheduled to meet with George Bush, the US president, in Jordan on November 29.

"This is a sign of an alliance between Saddamists, takfiris (Sunni extremists) and the occupation forces," the statement said.

al-Maliki definitely has a hard choice on his hands. I just don't think that either choice will be to his advantage.

Oh Boo Hoo! Poor Baby!

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have spent the better part of 6 years trashing, maligning and insulting Nations, friends and foes who don't agree with their every move. Now folks feel bad because Bush treated Rumsfeld and Cheney the way they've all treated everyone else?

Donald Rumsfeld, one week after his sacking as secretary of defense, was treated as a conquering hero, accorded one standing ovation after another at the conservative American Spectator magazine's annual dinner in Washington. The enthusiasm may have indicated less total support for Rumsfeld's six-year record at the Pentagon than resentment over the way President Bush fired him.

Rumsfeld had recovered his usual aplomb as he basked in the Spectator's glow. But the day after the election he had seemed devastated -- the familiar confident grin gone and his voice breaking. According to administration officials, only three or four people knew he would be fired -- and Rumsfeld was not one of them. His fellow presidential appointees, including some who did not applaud Rumsfeld's performance in office, were taken aback by his treatment.

In the two weeks since the election, I have asked a wide assortment of Republican notables their opinion of the Rumsfeld sacking. Only one went on the record: Rep. Duncan Hunter, the House Armed Services Committee chairman. A rare undeviating supporter of Rumsfeld, Hunter told me that "it was a mistake for him to resign." The others, less supportive of Rumsfeld, said they were "appalled" -- the most common descriptive word -- by the president's performance.

Puleese! Cry me an Amazon River.

Worse, Not Better

When the violence is reaching levels worst than when we first invaded. Can we call it a civil war yet?

A series of coordinated car bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad’s Sadr City killed at least 157 161 people and injured 257 (source: AP). Shiite militia members responded to the attacks with their own mortar barrage on the holiest Sunni shrine in Baghdad, making this one of the most violent days in Iraq since the U.S. invasion.

These People Are Insane!

There's no other explanation for why they would protest at the funeral of children who were killed in that bus accident in Huntsville, AL.

The Death Of Education

This is just sad and given the escalation in violence in recent days, these young ladies have every reason to be concerned.

Maha Nidal's voice is tinged with bitterness and sorrow as she looks around the campus courtyard at her fellow students milling around. The sight is a blend of Iraq's various religious sects --some girls in headscarves, others looking like they walked out of the pages of a fashion magazine.

"The future? The future is a dream. We only live in the now. There is no future," the 21-year-old student says.

This university, with its sprawling green campus, once was abuzz with activity. Now it is covered in the layer of grime and dust that seems to blanket all of Baghdad.

Like most of the students at Baghdad University, Maha lives in fear. But now, after the mass kidnapping at the Ministry of Higher Education this week, she lives not only in fear of the violence, but in fear of losing the one thing that will determine her future -- her education. (Watch Maha describe the lack of hope Iraqi students have -- 2:17 Video)

When she heard that the education ministry was thinking of shutting down the university, her world -- already shattered -- crumbled.

"You can't imagine what we felt, I saw our future destroyed," she says. "How do you know that a future of a country ... has been destroyed? It's when there is no justice, no security, and no education, if you reach the stage of no studies and no education. And when you lose that, that's it, the people are finished.

"There is no future."

With frustration reverberating in her voice, her cousin, 19-year-old Afraa adds, "Each day it just gets worse. Like last year we had maybe 50 percent hope, but now nothing, it's zero percent. There is nothing that is happening that makes us think, yes, they [the government] are doing something."

The two girls live in the same home now. Afraa's family fled sectarian violence in a violent western Baghdad neighborhood and moved in with Maha's family. The two girls are like many here, hungry for an education, showing up each day despite the risks and their families' protests, and hoping that their classes will be in session.

Maha, in her headscarf, is the more conservative of the two, but the more talkative. She says that sometimes she is simply just overcome with anger.

"I want to continue on to get my masters," she says. "I have good grades; I am in the top 10 of my class, but now what am I supposed to do?"

The university is all that these girls and others have left. The streets outside are petrifying. They don't go out, even the simplest thing like walking in the street, grabbing a cup of coffee with friends, shopping, the things that most university students do without a thought in other parts of the world, are impossible here.

Bush Better Watch What He Says To Putin

These people scare me!

A former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic who blamed a "barbaric and ruthless" Russian President Vladimir Putin for his fatal poisoning had a toxic radioactive substance in his body, the British government said Friday.

In the statement dictated from his deathbed, Alexander Litvinenko accused the Russian leader of having "no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value." In his first public remarks on the allegations, Putin said he deplored the former spy's death but called the statement a political provocation.

The Health Protection Agency said the radioactive element polonium-210 had been found in Litvinenko's urine.

The agency's chief executive, Pat Troop, said that the high level indicated Litvinenko "would either have to have eaten it, inhaled it or taken it in through a wound."

"We know he had a major dose," she said.

Delusional

These people are positively pathological.

Violence is escalating in Iraq, and it’s the Democrats’ fault. Thought you’d like to know.

... and still in total denial.

Outrageous

This is totally ridiculous! Maybe I am missing something but how can this be?

A German doctor has been ordered to pay child support to a patient who got pregnant with a contraceptive implant.

The precedent-setting ruling by Germany's Federal Court gives both parents, who are not married, the right to receive child support from the doctor until their son reaches adulthood.

The unnamed gynaecologist from Suedbaden inserted a contraceptive implant into the arm of the woman in 2002. But the woman later found she was pregnant after it was too late for an abortion.

The woman, 25, also unnamed for legal reasons, took the gynaecologist to court, claiming she was unable to continue her work as a kindergarten teacher and could not support herself and the child.

Germany's highest court has now demanded the gynaecologist pay the equivalent of around £400 a month until the child turns 18.

What contraceptive method, beyond abstinence and sterility, is 100%? Can you imagine how broke American OB/GYNs would be if we allowed these kinds of rulings? Unbelievable!

Boo John McCain

He is sucking up to those who are supposed to be champions for the "least of these" but are instead are stokers for the lowest common denominator.

In 2000, John McCain called Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance.” Now, he has hired the debate coach from Falwell’s Liberty University, Brett O’Donnell, to advise him on his communications strategy. O’Donnell has been executing Falwell’s strategy to train scores of debaters to confront “the culture on moral default.”

Falwell said the hiring should not be considered an endorsement:

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, chancellor of the Lynchburg university, said he has not endorsed a candidate, and O’Donnell’s appointment should not be interpreted as a signal that he is backing McCain…”Senator McCain is getting a real winner, and I’m sure Brett will be a great help to him,” Falwell said. “He’s getting Brett at the peak of his production.”

McCain also delivered the commencement address at Liberty University this summer.

I lost ALL respect for John Mc Cain and saw his true nature when he hugged a man who had trashed his wife and child. This is further proof that the man has no real character.

Dang Donald!

I'm not fond of Condoleezza Rice's politics but that does not translate to bitch.

Donald Trump sounded like he would fire Secretary of State Rice if he got the chance - calling her a "b----" last night during a speech in front of 8,000 people at the Javits Center.

Trump, star of "The Apprentice" and a frequent critic of the Bush administration, unleashed his anger at Rice and outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during a keynote address at the Learning Annex Real Estate & Wealth Expo.

"Condoleezza Rice, she's a lovely woman, but I think she's a b----," Trump said to wild applause. "She goes around to other countries and other nations, negotiates with their leaders, comes back and nothing ever happens."

Sounding more like a presidential candidate than a real estate mogul, Trump then set his sights on Rumsfeld.

"You look at Rumsfeld and we spend $900 million a year, and arms and legs and lives are wasted," Trump said. "You look at all this and you ask what kind of government is this?"

Trump said he didn't attend last night's event to bash the White House, but added, "If you don't have smart people running the government, then good entrepreneurship will get you nowhere."

Donald, you are out of line!

Baked Carrot Fries

I'm no fan of cooked carrots. I like them raw and/or barely cooked. But this is a recipe I may just have to try.

So The Point Was?

What a friggin' scam! What was the point of all of this?

The celebrities have arrived, the flowers arranged and the limousines are on stand-by, but yesterday there was some confusion over whether Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were actually getting married, in the traditional sense of the term.

The Hollywood couple, who have spent the past week in a £2,000-a-night suite at the Hotel Hassler in Rome, have not applied for either a civil or a church ceremony, and are expected to pledge their vows under the Church of Scientology.

However, Scientology is not legally recognised in Italy, or anywhere else, and any rites performed under it are merely ceremonial.

"There is no marriage," admitted Iris Novello, a spokesman for Bracciano town council. "This is not legal here, and there will be nothing formal about the wedding." She said the couple simply wanted to mark their relationship and the council had not been asked to issue a marriage licence.

Apartheid To Same Sex In No Time Flat

Talk about progressive. How did they come up with this so fast?

Parliament on Tuesday voted resoundingly to legalize same-sex marriages in South Africa, making the nation the first in Africa and the fifth in the world to remove legal barriers to them, according to advocates.

The nation’s highest court ruled last December that South Africa’s marriage statute violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal rights. The court gave the government a year to alter the legal definition of marriage.

That left the government with three choices: legalize same-sex marriages, let the court change the law by fiat or alter the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Under the proposal approved by Parliament, heterosexual and same-sex couples could register marriages or civil partnerships. In a concession to critics, the law also would allow civil officers to refuse to marry same-sex couples if such marriages conflicted with their conscience.

If the measure is to become law, as both sides said they expected, it must be approved by the National Council of Provinces and signed by President Thabo Mbeki.

In many African nations, homosexuality is still treated as a crime. Some impose stiffer penalties for homosexual acts than for rape and murder.

And African leaders have regularly denounced homosexuality as immoral and a violation of the natural order and African culture.

Melanie Judge, the program manager for OUT, a gay rights advocacy group, said Parliament had taken a courageous stance in the face of strong political pressure.

Although some countries recognize civil partnerships between same-sex couples, she said, only the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Canada now allow same-sex marriages.

Ms. Judge credits South Africa’s liberal Constitution with forcing change. “This has been a litmus test of our constitutional values,” she said. “It forced us to consider: What does equality really mean? What does it look like? Equality does not exist on a sliding scale.”

Religious groups and traditional leaders proposed to nullify the court ruling by amending the Constitution. But their bill to define marriage as being between a man and a woman died in parliamentary committee. Steve Swart, a legislator with the African Christian Democratic Party and a proponent of the constitutional amendment, said the Parliament had ignored the views of ordinary citizens — and international norms.

“We are out of step with the rest of Africa and with rest of world,” he said. “The international norm is civil unions, as opposed to same-sex marriages. What happened today conflicts with the views of the majority of South Africans.”

He attributed the 230-to-41 vote for the measure to whip-cracking by the governing party, the African National Congress. One party leader was quoted this month as saying that the A.N.C. expected its legislators to support the bill, regardless of their personal beliefs.

Vytjie Mentor, the party’s caucus chairman, told a South African newspaper, The Sunday Independent, that there was “no such thing as a free vote or a vote of conscience.”

“How do you give someone permission to discriminate in the name of the A.N.C.?” he said. “How do you allow for someone to vote against the Constitution and the policies of the A.N.C., which is antidiscrimination?”

Still, Ms. Judge, the gay rights advocate, said the new provision allowing civil officers to refuse to marry gay couples was unconstitutional and would provoke legal challenges.

“We can’t be in the situation where civil officers can decide who they want to marry and who they don’t want to marry,” she said. “They aren’t able to refuse to marry a black person and a white person. Why are same-sex couples different?”

Where Does He Find These Folks?

Bush picked another winner. Why would he pick someone who doesn't believe in birth control to head family planning?

The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women."

Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman's Concern, a nonprofit group based in Dorchester, Mass., will become deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the next two weeks, department spokeswoman Christina Pearson said yesterday.

Keroack, an obstetrician-gynecologist, will advise Secretary Mike Leavitt on matters such as reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy. He will oversee $283 million in annual family-planning grants that, according to HHS, are "designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons."

The appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, was the latest provocative personnel move by the White House since Democrats won control of Congress in this month's midterm elections. President Bush last week pushed the Senate to confirm John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and this week renominated six candidates for appellate court judgeships who have previously been blocked by lawmakers. Democrats said the moves belie Bush's post-election promises of bipartisanship.

The Keroack appointment angered many family-planning advocates, who noted that A Woman's Concern supports sexual abstinence until marriage, opposes contraception and does not distribute information promoting birth control at its six centers in eastern Massachusetts.

"A Woman's Concern is persuaded that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness," the group's Web site says.

Not Enough

I just don't think there is enough time to give someone for a crime like this:

One of four U.S. soldiers accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl before killing her and her family was conditionally sentenced on Thursday to up to 90 years in prison with the possibility of parole.

The sentence -- which is subject to review by a higher military authority and could be reduced -- was imposed on Specialist James Barker after a two-day court-martial. He had pleaded guilty to rape and murder and agreed to testify against others charged in the case in exchange for escaping the death penalty.

The gang rape and slayings at Mahmudiya along with the killing of 24 people in Haditha and other U.S. military incidents sparked outrage among Iraqis and calls by officials there for a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

Kevin Needs To Quit

I saw Judge Judy on Larry King last night and when informed of this Britney/Fed-ex nonsense, she stated that if she were the family court judge, Kevin would lose any hope of ever having custody if he tried to blackmail the mother of his children.

THE BRITNEY SPEARS and KEVIN FEDERLINE divorce has turned nasty after it was revealed he is touting a Paris Hilton-style video of the couple romping.

According to our sister paper The News Of The World, dumped husband K-Fed has already been offered £26million for the FOUR hour tape, shot in the early stages of the couple's relationship.

Britney fears the raunchy footage will destroy her wholesome image, unless she caves in to his demands for a £16million payoff and custody of their children Sean Preston, one, and Jayden James, eight weeks.

A friend of K-Fed's told the paper: "At the time (the video was made) the two of them were in the honeymoon stages of the relationship and couldn't keep their hands off each other.

"They did nothing all day but have sex - and play the odd game of chess.

"They were insatiable."

Britney slapped divorce papers on Federline after she caught him in a bedroom with another woman.

Listening to Judge Judy, I guess I also had to understand why Shar Jackson goes out of her way to speak positively about Kevin Federline as a father and ex. Children do not need to hear what a low down loser one of their parents is from the other parent. There are no tapes of her bashing that man. The kids, in due time, will figure it out for themselves. Kevin Federline needs to take whatever check he agreed to prior to the marriage. He left a pregnant woman to marry another. Now he's trying to blackmail the second mother of his children. Despite what Shar says, he won't be getting any father of the year awards - or any other form of kudos.

... and P.S.: Britney's wholesome image was gone the minute she married a man who had a pregnant ex.

If You Lie Down With Snoop Dogs ...

... Well, Victoria Beckham isn't having it ...

The rapper claims to be a big fan of Beckham, and was hoping to hang out with him after last year's Live8 concert - but Victoria had other ideas.

"I wanted to hang out with David because I'm a fan of his and he's a fan of mine," he recalled. "But his wife didn't like that and she wouldn't let him party with me.

The artist suspects his lifestyle may have been the issue: "She said something about my reputation - but I wasn't going to introduce him to any girls," he continued. "I think Mrs Beckham just misread my reputation."

Gee Snoop ... What part of your life did she misread?

Making It Out Alive

But not all there

Why did it happen? "Like thousands of others returning from Iraq, her mental state was fractured," Gurnett explains. "And it went untreated. Within two weeks, Linda Michel would become a private casualty of war. Re-entry into the world of peace can be harder than deployment, experts say. Picking up where you left off doesn't just happen. ...

"Women experience stronger forms of post-traumatic stress disorder and have higher PTSD rates, experts say. In response, the Veterans Affairs Department launched a $6 million study of female veterans.
Seeking treatment -- seen by some as a weakness -- may be even tougher for women, who still feel the need to prove themselves to men in military service."

In fact, this past August, three veterans in New York's Adirondack region committed suicide within three weeks, according to Helena Davis, deputy director of the Mental Health Association in New York.

Michel has served under extremely stressful conditions at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, a U.S-run prison where guards shot four inmates dead in a 2005 riot -- and an episode of female mudwrestling drew headlines. Michel was treated for depression and prescribed Paxil, but they took her off that medicine when she returned home. Her husband was not informed.

"I just wish the Navy would have done some more follow-up, instead of just letting her come home," Frantz, who is on the division staff of the Army National Guard, told the reporter. "If somebody needs Paxil in a combat zone, then that's not the place for them to be. You either send them to a hospital or you send them home and then make sure that the family members know and that they get follow-up care."

That Ridiculous Mustache

I can't get past it. It will soon be gone.

Just Stupid!

What? When has America ever canceled elections do to a war? It's now like we're waging battles in our own cities and towns. We invaded and are occupying another country and, as he never lets us forget, they held elections amidst the violence.

President Bush, during Saturday’s radio address: “[A]ll Americans can take pride in the example our democracy sets for the world by holding elections even in a time of war.”

Once again I don't get his point ... mainly because he doesn't have one!

Rudolph The Pumpkin Nosed Reindeer

I saw footage of this poor deer with the pumpkin stuck to his face on TV and could not help but laugh. If the pumpkin had stayed on too long, he would have died because he wouldn't have been able to get food or water. Thankfully, he was able to shake it off somehow.

A deer whose head was stuck in a plastic Halloween jack-o’-lantern for nearly a week has freed itself and will be fine, animal rescuers said Saturday. Two children found a dented, hair-lined plastic pumpkin in their yard Friday night, and other neighbors saw a thin deer running free, The Grand Rapids Press reported. It was rainy Friday, which rescuers think helped the young deer wriggle free. Rescuers had planned to use a dart gun to tranquilize the yearling, then remove the bucket, meant for collecting candy. The bucket was stuck on the animal’s snout, hanging like a feed bag, preventing it from eating or drinking. It had appeared to be snagged on the buck’s ears or horn buds. Dr. Wendy Swift, a veterinarian, said there was some water residue in the bucket, which probably provided the deer with some water to drink. “I think this deer will be just fine,” Swift said.

True Colors

Survivor took a bizarre twist last night when they offered both tribes the chance to mutiny. Oddly, both white members of a team of six jumped to the other side to be with the two white members on the other team. They then decided that they wanted their original team, the original white team, to go to the final four.

Well, well, well. The show is getting interesting again. The Mutiny on the Bounty theme added a much-needed jolt to the Cook Islands Survivor. Jeff tossed out this new twist just before the reward challenge and, through the magic of editing, just after Jonathan and Candice chatted about breaking up their alliance of six. The offer? Mutiny. With ten seconds to decide, castaways could switch tribes. The only takers? Candice and Jonathan — thus leaving Aitu shorthanded with only four members to Raro's now eight.

Not only did this move piss Aitu off, but it also lit a fire under them. With half the numbers, Aitu went on to win both reward and immunity challenges, forcing Raro to tribal council. Aitu expressed its displeasure clearly by sending mutineer No. 1, Candice, to Exile Island. Jonathan worked his mojo as Raro's newest member by talking up Adam and doing all of the grunt work. While his new tribe relaxed to the sound of his working, Jonathan's former tribe bonded as if they had showered in Fixodent.

Yul, Becky, Ozzy and Sundra shared in a good cry and a group hug while ensconced in terry cloth bathrobes and dining on delectables. Methinks the pecking order that Aitu was working out last week has been turned on its ear. I loved how Sundra broke down in tears after winning the reward. The mutinous betrayal was a surprising move, and it was nice to see some real emotion on the show.

Nate had a million one-liners this week, though many of them had to do with poop. What surprised me most on Raro was the vote. Yet again, another Raro member did not see it coming. Brad was sent packing, and he didn’t seem to mind. He's happy with making the jury and no longer having to sleep outdoors.

From a strategic standpoint, why are Rebecca, Jenny and Nate not worried? Hello? You just got invaded by two members of the original Raro tribe; now the old gang is back together, and you are outnumbered. This should be interesting. I'm just waiting for that light bulb to go on.

Wow! Reality TV turning out to be just like life ...

Bye, Bye Ed

What a great loss of a great journalist. What a hot older dude.

Ed Bradley, a pioneering black journalist who was a fixture in American living rooms on Sunday nights for more than a quarter century on “60 Minutes,” died today. He was 65.

Mr. Bradley died at Mt. Sinai Medical Center of complications from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, said Dr. Valentin Fuster, his cardiologist and the director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mt. Sinai. Mr. Bradley, who underwent a quintuple bypass operation on his heart in 2003, was diagnosed with leukemia "many years ago,” Dr. Fuster said, but it had not posed a threat to his life until recently, when he contracted an infection.

His most recent segments on “60 Minutes” had been on Oct. 15 (on the rape case involving Duke University lacrosse players) and on Oct. 29 (an investigation of an oil refinery explosion in Texas). Even many close colleagues had not known that his health had been deteriorating precipitously for several weeks. On the day that last segment was broadcast, he was admitted to Mt. Sinai. He remained there until his death. “This has been a long battle which he fought silently and courageously,” said Charlayne Hunter-Gault of the “News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” who was one of several close friends at Mr. Bradley’s side when he died this morning. “He didn’t want people to know that this was a part of his struggle. He didn’t want people feeling sorry for him. And for a good part of his life, he managed it.”

To generations of television viewers, Mr. Bradley was a sober presence — albeit one who occasionally wore a stud in one ear — whose reporting across four decades ranged from the Vietnam War and Cambodian refugee crisis to the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and the Oklahoma City bombing (his was the only television interview with Timothy McVeigh). He won 19 Emmy awards, including one for “lifetime achievement” in 2003.

But Mr. Bradley’s life off camera was often as rich and compelling as the one in the studio. Having begun his broadcast career as a disc jockey in Philadelphia, Mr. Bradley was an enormous fan of many forms of music — particularly jazz and gospel — who counted the musicians Wynton Marsalis, George Wien and Aaron Neville among his many friends and made a regular pilgrimage to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

“I made the mistake once of letting him get onstage with my band, and he never stopped doing it,” the singer Jimmy Buffett, a friend of Mr. Bradley’s for 30 years who was also with him when he died, said in a telephone interview today. Mr. Bradley had many nicknames throughout his life — including “Big Daddy,” when he played football in the 1960’s at Cheyney State College in Pennsylvania — but his favorite, according to Ms. Hunter-Gault and Mr. Buffett, was “Teddy Badly,” which Mr. Buffett bestowed on him on stage the first time Mr. Bradley played tambourine at his side.

“Everybody in my opinion needs a little Mardi Gras in their life,” Mr. Buffett said, “and he liked to have a little more than the average person on occasion.”

“He was such a great journalist,” Mr. Buffett added, “but he still knew how to have a good time.”

Mr. Bradley, who grew up in Philadelphia, broke into broadcasting as a news reporter for WDAS-FM radio in his hometown. Following that job, he was hired in 1967 as a reporter for WCBS radio in New York.

In 1971, he joined CBS News as a stringer in its Paris bureau and then a year later was transferred to the Saigon bureau. He became a CBS News correspondent in April 1973 and, shortly thereafter, was wounded while on assignment in Cambodia. Mr. Bradley joined 60 Minutes during the 1981-82 season. Among the Emmys he won throughout his career was one for a report on the reopening of the 50-year-old racial murder case of Emmett Till.

Last fall, the National Association of Black Journalists honored Mr. Bradley, who was among