Jessica bashes US military

US hero Private Jessica Lynch has slammed the American government for exaggerating the account of her ‘rescue’ from Iraqi captors.

The 20-year-old said “it hurt” for the Pentagon to make claims about the rescue operation that were not true.

And she said it was “wrong” for the US government to use her as a “symbol” for the war.

It appears Jessica Lynch has considerable steel in her backbone, no doubt to the consternation of propaganda writers in the White House who wished to manipulate her to their own end. Will they attack her credibility? Sure.

More:

Iraqi doctors say rape claim is not credible

Dr. Mahdi Khafazji, an orthopedic surgeon at Nasiriyah’s main hospital performed surgery on Lynch to repair a fractured femur and said he found no signs that she was raped or sodomized.

Khafazji, speaking at his private clinic in Nasiriyah, said he examined her extensively and would have detected signs of sexual assault. He said the examination turned up no trace of semen.

Dr. Khafazji said Lynch was taken first to the Military Hospital, a few hundred yards from the ambush site at around 8 a.m., about an hour after the attack. A few hours later, she was brought to his hospital.

“She was injured at about 7 in the morning,” he said. “What kind of animal would do it to a person suffering from multiple injuries?”

“When she was brought there she was fighting for her life,” said Dr. al-Saeidi at his private clinic. “She was in shock because of the severity of her injury.”

He said Lynch was fully clothed with her field jacket buttoned up. “Her clothes were not torn, buttons had not come off, her pants were zipped up,” al-Saeidi said.

Remember, these same Iraqi doctors performed heroically and unquestionably saved Lynch’s life. By all accounts, including the US military, she was given the best medical care they could provide. They have no reason to lie about this that I can discern, especially with Saddam no longer in power.

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Calif. Atty General: Groping allegations against Schwarzenegger ‘not going away’

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Thursday that he advised Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger that allegations the incoming governor had groped women “are not going to go away” and he should cooperate with an independent investigation.

Update:

Orwellian Arnold

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that he is in the process of hiring a private investigator to look into allegations that he groped more than a dozen women over a 30-year period.

Let me understand this. He’s hiring someone to investigate whether he groped women. Hey Arnold, you could save yourself the money by simply responding honestly to the allegations.

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Dean to get endorsements by SEUI and AFSCME

Multiple news sources are reporting SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and AFSCME (American Federation Of State, County And Municipal Employees) will co-endorse Howard Dean next Wednesday.

These are big unions, and serious political players. Gephardt, who staked his campaign on getting labor endorsements, is  now out of the running, with the others frantically playing catch-up.

Howard Dean has come out of nowhere, running a brilliant campaign, flying under the radar of both the media and his competition, and is now the front runner.

The Bushies don’t understand him and his appeal at all. Which is precisely why he may be the next President.

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The Midnight Special reopens!

The Midnight Special, a much beloved left wing bookstore in Santa Monica, has reopened in their new location! It was forced to vacate from the now trendy Third Street Promenade due to yuppification and staggeringly high rents and would have died, except for a devoted staff and equally devoted customers, many of whom pitched in money to help in the relocation.

It’s always been more than a bookstore, it’s a gathering place, a hub, for the left in L.A. They provided a space for poetry reading, film series, book readings, Linux groups, political organizing, and more. It was a blow when they closed, but now, yes!, they are back. 

From their newsletter

It’s Thursday, November 6 and we are finally OPEN. We hope to see ALL of you as soon as you can get here.

We’re at 1450 2nd Street in Santa Monica, between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd.  Hours are 10:30 - 9:00 Sunday - Thursday, and 10:30 - 10:00 on Friday and Saturday.

Thank you for waiting for us; for encouraging us; for supporting us.  You are the reason we are back!!

I’ll be there Sunday and will buy a passel of books. Because, y’know, big chains just don’t have the selection the Midnight Special has. Seriously!

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The Third Street Promenade

For years, Third Street in Santa Monica was moribund. Not much was  happening at all. The City Council, in a truly innovative idea, closed off Third Street to cars, making it pedestrian only, in hopes of attracting people and new stores. It took a while, but after a few years three movie chains moved in, followed by a Barnes and Noble at one end and a Borders at the other.

The Third Street Promenade was on a roll. Lots of street performers on weekends in this three block pedestrian zone. Many quirky little fun stores and a large food court filled with mom and pop restaurants.

Then is began to change again, first slowly, now very rapidly. The independent little stores, like the Midnight Special, that made it a unique place got forced out by rapidly escalating rents. The food court was demolished to make room for a Bebe’s. Yuck.

I was there yesterday. The original stores have almost all vanished, replaced mostly by upscale clothing chains. The personality is gone. It’s becoming “Beverly Hills by the Sea”, and this is not a good thing.

The nearby area is also changing rapidly. Affordable housing is vanishing. Large expensive new condos and apartments are popping up all over the area. Hey that’s a nice one bedroom apartment, maybe a little small, but only $1500 a month. The always traffic clogged Santa Monica becomes ever more congested.

Is this progress? No. Does L.A. need another Beverly Hills? Of course not. Is a nearly gridlocked downtown selling pricey clothes a good thing? Not nearly.
    
A story happening many places elsewhere too.

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Jessica had amnesia

Writing history

A short item in the San Jose Mercury News today provides some startling news: “Jessica Lynch biography reveals rape by Iraqis.”

Wow, you say, I thought Jessica Lynch had amnesia and doesn’t remember a thing about what happened to her. Right you are - “Lynch has no memory of the rape”; the author of her “authorized biography” makes this claim based on “the scars on Lynch’s battered body and the medical records [which] indicate she was raped.”

Now I have no idea of Jessica Lynch was raped; maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t. Considering that she was severely injured in a vehicle accident, however, I find it very hard to believe that any scars on her body prove or even suggest that she was raped, and I find it even harder to believe that Iraqi doctors swabbed her vagina for semen, found positive traces, verified that it wasn’t from any of the men in Lynch’s platoon, and put that fact in her medical records.

More

Update: A reader comments

Regarding what you blogged today, Bob:  I think that the POW in the Iraqi War #1 was raped too — as were some of the men?  I think rape is a risk of war, it happens all of the time.  There is a large worldwide women’s movement to make rape a war crime, after all of the group rape that occurred in Bosnia.  And that idea — of it being a war crime it is being strongly resisted by armed forces in a number of countries.  And stuff has been coming out recently about Americans’ mistreatment of POW’s.  So it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that she was raped.  I’m glad that she’s said the rest is mostly made up by the Pentagon.  She sounds like an honest woman.

She may have been raped, and rape should absolutely be a war crime, in fact I’m appalled it’s not. The article, I think, makes a plausible case that actual proof this happened is lacking — and we all know how the Bushies love to spin propaganda lies.

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