American military death toll in Iraq is 4096. It only seems like 5000.

...May I correct that statement? I advocated The Surge Policy BEFORE President Bush....I said the 'past strategy was going to fail (With ear to ear smile).

...now that the Surge is working (according to Neocon Estimates) when can the troops come home from Iraq?

McCain: "No, but, that is Not Too Important. What is important is the casualties in Iraq...." According to McCain we are engaged in a forever war and it is irrelivant when the war ends and the troops return so long as the troops come home with honor and in victory. So, it would seem as though according to Senator McCain, that The Surge worked and is working, but, there is no CLEAR AND CONCISE VICTORY and no honor.

I see. His view of the world is flawed due to Republican rhetoric that blind sides him. He is another propagandist, no different than Cheney and Bush.

We all know the 'reason' The Surge APPEARs to be working is because the organized militias that have been protecting the Shi'ites in Southern Iraq from the time of invasion by Bush, have declared a 'Cease Fire.' Why is it that no one asks McCain what he thinks of the 'Sustained Cease Fire?' I guess it isn't a 'politically enhancing Republican question. Lord knows that the Republican view of Iraq is one of control, not civility. Consistently from the beginnings of the invasion, the 'security' was directed to the oil fields, not the people of Iraq. The people of Iraq were left in anarchy and left to turn to the only means of security the Shia ever had and that was the militias of Southern Iraq.

According to McCain, the war in Iraq is a necessity to instill the desired Western values. Hm. A democratically 'free' society is supposed to reflect the majority choices of that society, NOT, the occupying society. Where McCain loses this argument is when he mixes 'apples with oranges.' He consistently has bought into The Bush Propaganda that McClellan clearly states now are all lies. McCain still believes 'occupying' Iraq will lead to Middle East security when in fact the lies that Bush and Cheney told do nothing but escalate tensions among minority Shia, including Iran thus continuing the 'brinkmanship' of Cheney for an invasion into Iran.

McCain's 'view of the world' is eschewed. It is based in KNOWN lies. The Iraq War is a faux front to cronyism. We all know that. McCain is consistently backing a faux war whereby Iraq was never a threat to the USA and continues NOT to be a threat to the USA, while the 'real war' in Afghanistan is consistently growing in proportion and chaos.

McCain is not presidential material. He can't see the forest for the trees. He believes in 'the war principles of a soldier' and not International Stability. He's wrong. Just plain wrong. He believes in escalating an unnecessary war. He believes in the crony war of Bush/Cheney.

Iraq is a forever war that is supposed to deliver Western Democracy to a country that wants to divide into Provincial authority to prevent more deaths of Shia and Kurds. The Iraqis want provincial control, not the return of a central government that can be turned against them as has been demonstrated by Maliki when using American and British military force to invade Basra and kill innocent people already engaged in a ceasefire.



US military reports 2 troop deaths in Iraq
14 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and a Marine has died in a non-combat related incident elsewhere in Iraq.
The military says the Multi-National Division — Baghdad soldier has died of wounds in the blast that occurred about 3:30 p.m. Thursday in a western section of the capital.
A separate statement says a Multi-National Force — West Marine died as the result of a non-combat related incident on Wednesday. The incident is under investigation.
The troops' names have not been released pending notification of relatives.

The Cedar River has passed flood stage.

The Pleistocene Glacier Advance. Tell me this isn't where record floods are finding their headwaters?

There is major government infrastructure under water in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. All this could have been prevented with the heeding of warnings for five decades now. And this isn't the worst of it. This is your governments at work. Congratulations America, you DON'T pay attention ! A simple question is all anyone needed to ask. "What are we doing to stem human induced global warming?" Simple question with simple answers, "Stop using fossil fuels and seek alternatives in transporation and energy." Simple. So simple.

One aspect to all this that no one points to is the 'long view history' of this region. It was at one time covered by glaciers. I have consistently stated for some time now, that Earth is trying to 'recap' itself but can't because of the warming due to carbon dioxide. If all this percipitation that the mid-continent is receiving was frozen, it would be under a growing glacier by now.

Glacial Landmarks Trail: Iowa's Heritage of Ice (click here)


The Cedar Rapids Public Library (center right), Ground Transportation Center (left) and the Cedar Rapids Science Station (bottom left) in downtown Cedar Rapids as seen from the air on Thursday, June 12, 2008.

A confluence of unlikely weather events has created a Cedar River flood crest that defies historical records.
The predicted 32-foot crest expected to arrive Friday exceeds by nearly 12 feet the previous record — 20 feet, set in 1929.It all started with record and near-record snowfall last winter across the watershed of the Cedar River, said Steve Kuhl, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities.
The melting snowpack combined with spring rains sent the Cedar to a 17.1-foot crest in Cedar Rapids on April 27, Kuhl said."All that water saturated the soil and primed the river for more flooding," he said.
Then in May a consistent southwest-to-northeast upper air flow enabled storms moving through the Midwest to tap abundant moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in frequent heavy rains across Eastern Iowa, including those on Thursday, Kuhl said.
As of Thursday, Cedar Rapids had recorded 24.09 inches of rain for the year — more than 10 inches above normal — and other parts of Eastern Iowa within the Cedar watershed recorded from 15 to 20 inches of rain between May 10 and June 10, he said.
Heavy rains accompanying the May 25 storm that spawned killer tornadoes in Parkersburg and New Hartford raised river levels throughout Eastern Iowa and saturated already sodden soils.
When more heavy rain fell Sunday across the Cedar watershed, "all the smaller creeks and tributaries draining into the Cedar contributed to its historic levels," Kuhl said.
Swollen by record flows on the Winnebago and Shell Rock rivers and Beaver Creek, the Cedar smashed flood records in Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Vinton en route to its record Cedar Rapids crest.

The 'system' resulting in severe storms has remained the same. A Mid-latitude vortex pulling hot moisture off the Equator into Arctic air.

June 13, 2008
0930z
Water Vapor Satellite of the North and West Hemisphere

There is the 'usual' and what is becoming 'standard/static' weather pattern in the center of North America from latitude 36 N to 49 N and longitude 104 W to 80 W.

There is also the beginning of the next 'set' of tropical storms. The Atlantic tropical depression has been consistent for over 8 hours now and that is near Barbados. Barbados has been receiving rain for the entire time since the tropical depression manifested.

The next Pacific tropical storm has been manifesting for approximately the last ten hours north west of Bahia de Charaquez, Equador at about latitude 6 N and longitude of about 92 W.