The Hollywood Liberal

Looks like The Marines are guilty of killing 15 innocent women and children in Iraq, but don’t worry, I’m pretty sure they won’t be charged. Its up to a military guy to decide whether to charge them or not. If the Amry is run at all like The LAPD, those Marines got nothing to worry about. They will even be free to sue a real war hero. Can you be sued for telling the truth??

Evidence Supports Accusations Against Marines In Haditha

AP
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON – Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have completed their initial work on the incident last November…The case is one of several involving alleged unjustified killings of Iraqi civilians that have emerged this year, damaging the military’s reputation for humane treatment of civilians and triggering calls by some Iraqi leaders to end the arrangement under which U.S. troops are immune from prosecution by Iraqi authorities.

US Marine accused in Haditha case to sue Murtha

AP
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Marine suspected in the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, will sue Rep. John Murtha for libel after the war critic made public comments about the case and accused the serviceman of murder, attorneys said on Wednesday….U.S. Marines, including Wuterich, have been accused of killing unarmed Iraqis in Haditha last year. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the role of the Marines in the killings could lead to murder charges.
The Haditha case is just one of many in which U.S. servicemen are suspected of killing Iraqi civilians.
Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, has commented extensively about Haditha. In May, he told ABC News there was “no question” the U.S. military tried to cover up the Haditha killings, and that he would not “excuse murder.”

Heavy equipment used to bury the dead

AP
Excerpt:
BAALBEK, Lebanon – People in a village outside this Hezbollah stronghold used a front-end loader’s scoop to carry away some of the dead Wednesday after a night of Israeli airstrikes and a commando raid inside Baalbek that residents said killed at least 15 civilians.
It was the deepest thrust into Lebanon by Israeli troops since fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah on July 12. Israel said its soldiers killed at least 10 Hezbollah guerrillas and captured five.
The village’s dead were shrouded in white cloth and carried to the cemetery in the bucket of a yellow front-end loader. The mayor, Hussein Jamaleddin, lost his son, brother and five other relatives. He broke down crying and pulled at the limbs of the dead hanging out of the scoop.

I don’t understand this story, why didn’t the republicans sue to stop the hand recount? Or have someone lose the ballots? They are slipping.
Bradblog

CNN’s Lou Dobbs: Hand Counts in Iowa Kept Incorrect Op-Scan Counts From Installing the Wrong Candidates!

Enron in the news again (barely)

US court overturns convictions in Enron case

Reuters
Excerpt:
NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) – A federal appeals court has overturned most of the convictions against four former Merrill Lynch bankers concerning a bogus deal with Enron Corp.

The four men and one former Enron executive were convicted in November 2004 of conspiracy and fraud charges connected to the sham sale in 1999 of three electricity producing barges in Nigeria by Enron to Merrill.

A jury in the case had agreed with prosecutors that Enron had illegally used the deal to inflate its profits by promising to buy back the barges in six months.

H.Ls Take:
It was all Kenny Lay’s Fault. We can blame it all on him now. Just hope no one spots him down in Barbados.

The worst President ever should have followed in the footsteps of the 5th worst President ever. (after Bush Jr., Nixon, Reagan, Hoover, and Grant)

Bush’s Embrace of Israel Shows Gap With Father

NY Times
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 — When they first met as United States president and Israeli prime minister, George W. Bush made clear to Ariel Sharon he would not follow in the footsteps of his father.

The first President Bush had been tough on Israel, especially the Israeli settlements in occupied lands that Mr. Sharon had helped develop. But over tea in the Oval Office that day in March 2001 — six months before the Sept. 11 attacks tightened their bond — the new president signaled a strong predisposition to support Israel.
“He told Sharon in that first meeting that I’ll use force to protect Israel, which was kind of a shock to everybody,”

H.L.s Take:The President has nothing to do with what is going on in Israel???? I don’t think so.

Another story about a government investigation that was a sham from the start. (Aren’t they all?)

9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon

Washington Post
Excerpt:
Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources. Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probable cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission, hoping to hide the bungled response to the hijackings, these sources said.
In the end, the panel agreed to a compromise, turning over the allegations to the inspectors general for the Defense and Transportation departments, who can make criminal referrals if they believe they are warranted, officials said.
“We to this day don’t know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us,” said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. “It was just so far from the truth. . . . It’s one of those loose ends that never got tied.”

H.L.s Take:
I guess they’ve run through all the hush money they were paid, by The Bush administration and now they are looking for more. They just decided to refer the matter to people they knew would do nothing. Way to uphold the constitution, that you guys took oaths to do.

Seems Mel Gibson is in Trouble.

Gibson forgot Rule # 1: Public criticism not permitted for some

Official Wire
Excerpt:
Imagine for a moment that Mel said: “f**king Americans… The Americans are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you an American?”
Yeah, I know. Big Whoop. Tell me something I don’t know, right?
But Gibson stepped over the line! He said the “J” word without heaping tons of praise and or pity (best if you combine the two) on God’s chosen people. OMFG!

H.Ls Take
Freedom of speech anyone?? This is still America right??? Lets hear the comments.

Here is Iraq War Casuality #2580

Montana Senator’s Nephew Dies in Iraq

ABC News.
Excerpt:
HELENA, Mont. Aug 1, 2006 (AP)— A nephew of Sen. Max Baucus serving in the Marines was killed in Iraq during the weekend, the senator’s office said Tuesday.
Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, 28, died Saturday during combat operations in Anbar province, the Department of Defense said. It did not immediately release further information.
In a statement, Baucus, D-Mont., said the family was “devastated by the loss.”
Max Baucus voted to authorize war in Iraq in 2002. Earlier this summer, he joined other Democrats in voting to begin a phased redeployment of troops from the war-torn country by year’s end.
Baucus is in his fifth term in the Senate.

H.Ls. Take: He is in his 5th Senate Term, and hopefully his last. This is what happens to Democrats who lick Bush’s Ass. I wonder what Max is thinking knowing that he is responsible for his nephews death by voting for a war he knew was B.S.
Dem voters need to retire him so he can spend the rest of his life thinking about it.