Uncle Sam might want you after all...redux

Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks August 27, 2008 FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) - Austin Swarner left high school to care for his mother while she fought a losing battle with cancer. Tony Brown wanted to begin supporting himself and left two classes shy of a diploma. Haelee Holden got tired of trying to make it through school while flipping burgers until 1 a.m. But the U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn't see them as dropouts. They are recruits who only need a GED before they're ready to begin basic training. (WTOP)

Damn, but I hate it when I am right. Back in 2006, I said "the military is either going to have to open their own schools or lower their standards" and now it turns out they are going to open their own school. I guess it is better than conscription.

The Cold War is Over? Missed the memo...

"The Cold War is over. The days of satellite states and spheres of influence are behind us." US President George W. Bush (WSJ and others)

Ummm...you will have to excuse me for saying this is little more than the pot calling the kettle black. To say that Moscow risks losing its place on the world stage is absurd. After all, the United States thinks little about its place on the world stage and continues to think little of its place. There are still troops, illegally, in not one but TWO sovereign nations.

Bush would use semantics of "democracy" and "break away state" but Iraq and Afghanistan are sovereign nations as much as Georgia is. The hypocrisy is staggering. The rhetoric would make Orwell and Aristotle spin in their graves. And if it does not make your jaw drop, then I guess the Chinese position that "Politics have no place at the Olympics" is just business as usual. The world is becoming a truly strange place.

Russia Invades, Bush Whines.

WASHINGTON (AP) - With a crisis of Cold War proportions brewing, President Bush demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from the former Soviet republic of Georgia. (WTOP)

I'm sorry, but this President hasn't got a leg to stand on. Despite him being right.

"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century," Bush said from the White House.

But the United States still has troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan...