Blake, whose only brush with celebrity was as a star quarterback in high school, became known as the Marlboro Man, a label he detests. That same notoriety has carried over into his post-Iraq life, where he is an icon of sorts for another consequence of the war — post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD... He barely sleeps. On most mornings, Blake says, he has no good reason to get out of bed. Often, his stomach is so upset that he can't eat. He has nightmares and flashbacks. He admits that he's often grouchy and temperamental. He knows he drinks and smokes too much.....So he broods, feeling restless and out of options: "I'm only 21. I'm able-bodied as hell, yet I'm considered a liability. It's like I had all these doorways open to me, and suddenly they all closed on me. It's like my life is over.".... "I can't tell anymore what really happened and what I dreamed," he said. "Sometimes I feel like I'm dying.".....Meanwhile, he has slowly turned against the war. "We've done some humanitarian aid," Blake said, "but what good have we actually done, and what has America gained except a lot of deaths? It burns me up."
H.L.s Take: What are the costs of war? 2400 U.S Soldiers Dead, 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, women, and children dead. Billions of Dollars wasted, money that could have been used to make things better here at home. Soldiers who make it back whose lives are ruined. All for what? Because Bush spread fear that some terrorist would "hate our freedom" and come over here and bomb us??? They hate us because of what we do to them, and why do we do it? So people like Bush, and Cheney can get rich on oil, and weapons. Weapons that we have to go out and blow up, so they can spend Billions more buying more weapons, that will also have to be blown up so we can buy more. I watched a show last night that is going to be on the History Channel soon, It was called something like "Stormfront" or some non sense. It was live action footage taken in 1991 during the first Iraq war. Of course this was all shot from a rah rah go U.S.A. point of view. The image that I came away from it was nothing more then Boys playing with toys. Very expensive toys that kill, and why were we there? because Saddam wanted to go into Kuwait, and since The Bush family had oil deals with Kuwait, we had to go in and protect the Bush family investments. Thats all it is. Nothing more, nothing less
Excerpt: The verdict put the blame for the 2001 demise of the high-profile energy trader, once the nation's seventh-largest company, squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a federal criminal trial that lasted nearly four months. Lay was also convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate, non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake related to Lay's personal finances.
H.L.s Take:These are the guys that Bush, and Cheney let decide energy policy for the administration.....Lay, Skilling, Abramhoff, Cunningham, Delay, Libby, Hastert, Frist, Rove, Cheney, Bush. 6 down, 5 to go.
Excerpt: JULY 8--With the FBI slapping handcuffs on Kenneth Lay this morning, let's take a stroll down memory lane, when the disgraced former Enron boss wasn't under indictment and had a cozy pen pal relationship with George W. Bush.
Excerpt: You don't start mouthing off about the Godfather and expect that he won't notice? Come on now. My friend, it's simple: they got the power and you don't. What did you think, this was a democracy or something?
I mean you start getting all hot and bothered about your former crew member, Porter Goss, being dumped from the CIA like a stiff being dropped into Biscayne Bay. You go to the big guy (Mr. Cheney) and the little guy who pretends that he's the big guy (Mr. Fredo Bush) and tell them off. What did you expect? Let me tell you what an elephant and a mob boss have in common: neither of them forgets.
Excerpt: Funny. GOP House Speaker Denny Hastert and GOP Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist don't give a damn about the privacy of their constituents. Law and order is what comes first, to hell with your privacy, let the NSA eavesdrop on your phone calls, it's all for the good of America. And after all, if you have nothing to hide, then what's the problem?
Well, it seems that standard doesn't apply when it comes to THEIR OWN LIVES. It seems they're very upset that criminal congressman William Jefferson got his office searched by the feds. Which again raises the question, why are THEIR offices more sacrosanct than OUR homes?
Excerpt Folks, it's open season on Democrats. Rightwing extremists and various media cohorts are ratcheting up their anti-Dem offensive. Not content with revisiting the Clinton bedroom, rightwingers are going after their favorite targets: Al Gore and John Kerry. Media Matters tracks the anti-Gore assault. The Daily Howler adds perspective: "Al Gore was right about global warming -- way back in the 1980s He was also right on internal combustion. And oh yes, he was right on Iraq, in a prophetic speech in September 02 -- a speech Joe Klein praised at the time. In a rational world, this would make Gore a reigning star -- but we live in the world of a millionaire press corps, and we suffer, every day, from its judgments.
The Hollywood Liberal is an anti-war, anti republican, from right here beautiful Hollywood California.
The Hollywood Liberal loves America, I have traveled to many countries, and have seen first hand how great America is. I want to keep it that way by running Bush, and all his slimy, thieving, con artist, cronies, and henchmen back to whatever hole in Texas they may have slithered out of. I'm not too crazy about Gropenor Ahnold either, so we will try to give him a hard time whenever possible. Check out the site and if you have any comments or suggestions Let me know. Thanks H.L.