WHEN BUSH WAS IN ALABAMA

Are people claiming that Bush wasn't here or are they saying he didn't report for Guard duty? Or, gee, are they aghast to think that a connected politico's son might be assigned a cushy assignment?
The topic came up accidentally yesterday while I was having lunch. A lawyer friend - also a yellow dog Democrat and hardly one who is going to make excuses for the prez - was still living in Montgomery with his parents, also well-connected GOPers. So he saw him constantly. At any rate, he called Bush an affable "good guy" (followed by the kind of criticism you might expect) and remembers him as being "Montgomery's eligible batchelor" which - if that's an accurate statement - is enough said for the (Republican) women of Montgomery.
But the real point was that he not only remembers Bush as being in Alabama during the Blount campaign but also as being assigned to the Guard. The attention that this is drawing is an unfortunate tabloid diversion - like Clinton's lack of military service or Janet Jackson's boob. It's a santimonious tempest in a teapot and probably, yes, a little invited (aircraft carrier) payback (Clinton). But, if I run into someone at lunch that knows this much about it, surely the media - the Montgomery Advertiser, Mobile Press-Register, or the Birmingham Post - can clarify it pretty easily.
So, get your MTV-like groove on if you must, but sooner or later we're going to have to look at the really serious and immediate issues at hand.
The real debate should be about now. Right now , he's on duty full-time so the issue of what he may have done twenty years ago is bogus. Right now , he's Commander-in-Chief of the most mighty military power in the world. No one can claim it's a cushy assignment or that when forced to handle a horrific situation that he did not rise admirably - and rationally - to the challenge. But giving the devil his due, the issue Right now is whether you support his world view and want to see it continued. Do you support his neoconservative views or do you think them whacky? Right now , he has our economic future in his hands. What he is doing Right now and the potential that he has to continue doing it is the issue. Right?
CLICK HERE TO SEE A VALID CRITIQUE OF BUSH'S MILITARY HISTORY
OR
CLICK HERE TO SEE A WASHINGTON POST STORY AT MOBILE FREE PRESS
(LINK TO NYT STORY ADDED FEB 17, MFP LINK ADDED FEB 18)

COCKFIGHTING?
Bill Messick sent me a link that says that cockfights will go on in Caddo Parish, La. State district judge Charles Scott ruled Tuesday that state law permitting such battles trumps a local ordinance banning animal cruelty. On a whim, I just did a search of the news on cockfighting. Lo and behold, it's a crime wave!
Anonymous tip leads deputies to discovery of cockfight
Merced Sun-Star, CA - Feb 2, 2004
Nine men were cited Sunday after the Merced County Sheriff’s Department
busted up a cockfight north of Merced. Another man was ...

7 Killed in Brawl at Mexico Cockfight Den
Newsday - Feb 2, 2004
By Associated Press. TULANCINGO, Mexico -- A fight broke out between
two families at an illegal cockfighting den, and seven people ...

Cockfight brings tickets, destruction of 60 birds
Modesto Bee, CA - Feb 4, 2004
... injured birds. Most of the spectators ran, Huston said, but seven were
detained and cited for attending a cockfight. Animal Control ...

7 Killed in Brawl at Mexico Cockfight Den
Tuscaloosa News (subscription), AL - Feb 2, 2004
A fight broke out between two families at an illegal cockfighting
den, and seven people were killed, police said Monday. The two ...

Cockfight suspects facing maximum penalty of $50 fine
AL.com, AL - Jan 27, 2004
Two Mobile County sheriff's deputies dispatched Sunday to raid a reported cockfight
at a south Mobile County home saw dozens of people scatter and run away as ...

2 arrested at Irvington cockfight
AL.com, AL - Jan 26, 2004
Mobile County Sheriff's Department deputies raided an Irvington cockfight Sunday
afternoon, arresting two people and questioning about 40 more, sheriff's ...

Cockfight case resolved with $3700 penalty
MLive.com (subscription), MI - Jan 28, 2004
... Misdemeanor warrants remain pending in Allegan County for seven out-of-state
residents who police charged with attending a cockfight.

Second arrested for cockfight
Times-Journal, AL - Jan 29, 2004
A second man has been arrested after DeKalb County authorities raided
a cockfight near Collinsville on Jan. 17. Jimmy Van Johnson ... Five people killed at cockfight in Colombia
Deepika, India - Jan 26, 2004
Bogota, Jan 27 (DPA) Contract killers shot dead five people and injured 13 in a shootout
at a cockfight in the southwestern Colombian city of Jumbo, police said ...

South Alabama's cockfighters
AL.com, AL - Feb 8, 2004
... Seaman was among 40 cockfight spectators who authorities found but did not charge
with any crime when they raided a cockfight in Irvington on Jan. 25. ...
       Call for stronger cockfighting law - AL.com
       and more »

Officials raid cockfight in south DeKalb
Times-Journal, AL - Jan 20, 2004
... The building included bleachers and a concession stand. According to
Reed, this was the fourth cockfight on the property since Nov. ...

DeKalb Officers Raid Cockfight, Arrest One
WAFF, AL - Jan 20, 2004
... The raid was the second in three years at the site though Reed says it
was the fourth cockfight on the property since November Second.

Balinese riot after police raid cockfight
Jakarta Post, Indonesia - Jan 23, 2004
... Yangbatu in downtown Denpasar, Bali, barricaded the main road near their village
on Friday afternoon to vent their anger over a police raid on a cockfight held ...

Tracing cockfighting myths
AL.com, AL - Feb 8, 2004
... We can't say with 100 percent certainty that he did not judge a cockfight,
but we have never found evidence to say that he did," Blanchette said. ...

Get tough on cockfighting
AL.com, AL - Feb 2, 2004
Two major cockfight busts within a week at opposite ends of Alabama -- last Sunday
in Mobile County and days earlier near Hunstville -- were commendable ...

LIFELOG DEAD
The Pentagon has pulled the plug on LifeLog, its stunningly ambitious effort to build a database tracking a person's entire existence.
(DEFENSE TECH, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

HIGH HOLY DAYS
The Rev. Richard A. Arko, 40, a Roman Catholic priest accused of growing marijuana in his church living quarters was charged Jan. 22 with illegal cultivation of marijuana, a fifth-degree felony, possession of criminal tools and illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
(KANSAS CITY STAR, unearthed by Bill Messick)

GITMO CHILD PRISONER CLAIMS GOOD TREATMENT
A 15-year-old Afghan boy released after spending a year at the U.S. prison for terror suspects in Cuba says he underwent almost no questioning while in detention but got plenty of schooling, prayer and good food.
(SEATTLE TIMES, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

THAT'S WHY IT'S THE FIRST AMENDMENT!
"The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force has issued a subpoena asking Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, to produce all records relating to a November 15, 2003 antiwar conference at the University called 'Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!' The conference was sponsored by the Drake Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and was followed the next day by a demonstration at the Iowa National Guard Headquarters in Johnston, at which 12 protestors were arrested on misdemeanor charges."
(COMMON DREAMS, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)