Posted on 02/01/2006 3:48:00 PM PST by GretchenM
The president went to Nashville, Tennessee, today, to give a speech on his 2006 agenda.
He signed a proclamation in honor of American Heart Month.
There are pick up photos from last night of Associate Justice Alito's ceremonial swearing in, and from the president's State of the Union speech.
Welcome to Sanity Island!!!!!
AWESOME photos -- thanks for posting them tonight!!
"Joint Chiefs Send Rare Protest Letter to 'Wash Post' Over 'Reprehensible' Toles Cartoon"
By Joe Strupp, Dave Astor and Greg Mitchell
February 1, 2006
NEW YORK A Tom Toles editorial cartoon published in The Washington Post on Monday and on its Web site has drawn a very rare and very strong protest letter to the editors from all six members of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, E&P has learned.
The letter, not yet published by the Post, charges that the six military leaders "believe you and Mr. Toles have done a disservice to your readers and your paper's reputation by using such a callous depiction of those who have volunteered to defend this nation, and as a result, have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds. ... As the Joint Chiefs, it is rare that we all put our hand to one letter, but we cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered."
A Pentagon spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the letter to E&P late this afternoon. That the newspaper had received such a letter was reported on the popular AmericaBlog site, which is run by John Aravosis, this morning. (Download of letter available at link.)
The spokeswoman said a letter from all six joint chiefs to anyone, let alone a newspaper, is rare, but the cartoon so offended them, they wanted to let their feelings be known. "It was expressing their disappointment with the paper and outrage at using that image to make a political point," said Lt. Col. Diane Battaglia. "That is a rare occurrence, but the level of inappropriateness prompted a response of unanimous support."
Battaglia said Post editors told her office that the letter would be published in Thursday's paper. ...
Reached by E&P, Tom Toles said, "no comment." The Toles cartoon shows a soldier, a quadriplegic, in a hospital, being visited by a Dr. Rumsfeld who is scribbling on a form. Rumsfeld says, "I am listing your condition as battle hardened." At the bottom a smaller figure of the doctor adds, "I'm prescribing that you be stretched thin. We don't define that as torture."
The letter, signed by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Edmund P. Giambastini, Jr., the vice-chairman, and the four other military branch leaders -- and addressed to the Post's managing editor, Philip Bennett -- reveals that they were "extremely disappointed" in the Toles cartoon. "Using the likeness of a service member who has lost his arms and legs in war as the central theme of a cartoon is beyond tasteless," they wrote.
They observed that the paper is "obviously free to address any topic," even use exaggeration. But they added: "While you or some of your readers may not agree with the war or its conduct, we believe you owe the men and women and their families who so selflessly serve our country the decency to not make light of their tremendous physical sacrifices." ...
You bet.
Great things are happening. What a time to be alive.
President Bush says that he doesn't dance, but he walks with people as if he was in a pairs figure-skating event. He is always in step with whoever he is accompanying. And of course, he and Laura have had lots of practice in the pairs department.
For those of you who missed the President's speech today, you will find video of the event at
http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4435323
Rummy looks ticked off in that picture and rightly so. The media and especially the Washington Compost is disgusting.
I don't know how you find all that good stuff (such as the link to his speech today), but I am very glad for it.
*whining* I can't get it to work :(
You are 1 of several million relieved and happy campers. What a fabulous President, what a fabulous legacy!
Please see #103
the hills are alive.. with the sound of music...
oppsy.. we are at grand ol opry.. hmm...
almost heaven, west virinia..
Thank you Gretchen for tonight's Dose.. lots of great pix & SO many begging for captions! ohio, thanks again for the great SOTU party thread last night. GREAT job to both of you
=)
I got to see the spech in Nashville today, which was excellent. I missed the swearing in ceremony, though, so I am glad to see those pictures.
What a wonderful day for the President! I am so proud of him, and so glad to be a Republican!
Just wanted to let everyone know that last night's SOTU Party was a HUGE SUCCESS:
The Daily Dose thread registered 1,126 comments and 8,695 unique views -- CONGRATULATIONS! [NOTE: I've e-mailed a 'thread link' to the SOTU Party 'coordinators' -- if I receive any feedback, I'll let you know!]
The President gave an AWESOME speech last night and viewers responded:
As much as they tried to spin their results, CBSNews and Gallup were both forced to admit that a LARGE percentage of those they surveyed actually LIKED the speech!
CBSNEWS:
77% approved of the President's proposals
23% disapproved
The following quote tells you all you need to know about the BIASED state of current MSM polling:
". . . 36 percent of speech viewers in this poll are Republican and 28 percent are Democrat. In a recent CBS News/New York Times poll of all Americans, conducted January 20-25, 2006, the breakdown was much more even between the parties: 34 percent Democrat and 29 percent Republican."
[YEP, MSM pollsters consider it "EVEN" when DEMOCRATS ARE OVERSAMPLED and grossly unfair when Republicans are oversampled -- Hypocrisy thy name is MSM!]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/01/opinion/polls/main1265484.shtml
GALLUP:
75% had a positive reaction to the speech
23% had a negative reaction
http://poll.gallup.com/content/?ci=21253
Love the pics tonight, love the Opry tonight, and love you, too! Thanks for the posts and ping. I'm so proud of our Pres, Laura and our country.
We may have some "off-square" types, but overall, we live in the best place on the whole earth. Thank God!
THE PARTY CONTINUES :-)
HEADS UP:
C-Span2 will broadcast the NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST live tomorrow morning at 8 AM EDT
National Prayer Breakfast
Pres. Bush joins members of Congress from both parties at the Annual National Prayer Breakfast. Other participants at this inter-faith event include Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MI), Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AK), Rep. Tom Osbourne (R-NE), Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN) and others. The event takes place at the Washington Hilton.
THURS., 8AM ET, C-SPAN2
http://c-span.org/
MUST READ:
The "Marine Moms" website features two special letters:
one a fallen marine's dad (the dad who sat with the First Lady during last night's SOTU speech); the other from the fallen marine! AMAZING!
http://marinecorpsmoms.com/archives/opinions/index.html#000777
I'm off to watch my videotape of the President's speech from today. Night all!
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