Hey John, "Bite Me"

I think this idiot's time has passed.

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

FOB Falcon

A couple of weeks ago a lucky mortar round hit an ammo depot at Forward Operating Base Falcon in Iraq (covered at the time on Hot Air). It caused a dramatic explosion, but no casualties were reported. Now though, this incident has caused some conspiracy theories, promulgated by many of the same people we cover over at Screw Loose Change, that over 300 soldiers died, including a detailed list, supposedly of the casualties.

Official Casualty List from U.S. military hospital at al-Habbaniyah located some 70km west of Baghdad. U.S. medical personnel at al-Habbaniyah initially stated that the US military hospital at the massive American-occupied air base there had begun to receive dead and wounded personnel. The military hospital in al-Habbaniyah, the largest in occupied Iraq, was opened on 12 May this year in response to sharply rising (and redacted) US casualties.

A quick check of the list though, shows it is laughable. For starters this was a FOB, a smaller operational base, yet this list shows casualties from just about every unit in the military, including the Marine Corp, and an Army hospital. What they are doing hanging out in an ammo dump is beyond me. It even lists several casualties from the CIA, based on the number, what must be their entire Iraqi office. Including this entry:

Pfc Darrell Morgan, Central Intelligence Agency

I didn't know the CIA had privates...

Racism?

I heard about this on the radio this morning. I don't get it. How is it racism to invite a respected author, who is a minority, to talk about international issues. Especially considering he didn't even end up speaking!

Among the plaintiffs' complaints was Lakeside's invitation to conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza to speak as part of a distinguished lecture series.

After Sims and other faculty members and parents complained, the school in January rescinded the invitation to D'Souza, who has argued that the underachievement of African Americans has more to do with cultural attitudes and behaviors than with white racism.