And just in case your outrage meter is running low,

Mark Benjamin has another article up in his excellent series on how the administration respects the troops - by shipping injured and traumatized soldiers right back overseas.

April 9, 2007 | WASHINGTON -- On March 9, Army Spc. Thomas Smith was ordered to board a plane from Fort Benning, Ga., to deploy back to Iraq, even though he was known to be suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder from a previous tour there. Only weeks prior, military doctors determined that Smith should not be allowed around weapons because of his PTSD symptoms, which included bouts of sudden, extreme anger. Smith's medical records, obtained by Salon, also show that doctors had "highly recommended" that Smith not be deployed because of his condition.

But that did not stop Smith's commanders from ordering him to Iraq as his unit, the 3,900-strong 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, was rushing to move out as part of President Bush's so-called surge plan for securing Baghdad.

"I was told to have my bags in at midnight that night," for the flight, Smith said. "I was sitting there looking at these letters in my hand from my doctors," he recalled in a telephone interview. In order to follow the doctors' recommendations, Smith said, "I had to check myself into the hospital." He avoided the flight by just a few hours. Smith's condition was serious enough that the doctors there kept him hospitalized for nearly two weeks...

Read and weep. You know the drill. How is it that the families of soldiers have the restraint not to storm congress and the White House in their fury?

Even though

the creep-in-chief is swearing to veto the bill, this is something to stand up and cheer about.

..the Senate bill headed towards passage -- after Dems defeated a GOP attempt to strip out the any goal for redeployment, and the Senate Minority Leader announced there would be no filibuster -- shares the House language banning funds "made available by this or any other Act" for permanent military bases in Iraq.

Huzzah.

We've hit a new low, people.

And it's rock bottom. Mark Benjamin in Salon:

...As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records...

It's pretty freaking obvious at this point that the Bushies look upon our armed forces as a disposable resource. It's also freaking obvious that the administration is so populated with sociopaths that the fact that our soldiers are human beings has escaped their notice.

Don't miss this heartfelt and incredibly moving op-ed by John J. McSheffrey Jr. in today's Boston Globe. In fact, it might be a good idea to email it to every single member of congress in case they need some help remembering to do the right thing.

Kerry's delivering this week’s Democratic Radio Address Saturday

and since he's pissed off it should be a good one.

This week, Republicans in the Senate blocked a real debate on President Bush’s escalation plan to send 21,000 more troops into the civil war in Iraq. Kerry will address the urgent need for Congress to honor our troops with plan that that opposes escalation, protects American interests in Middle East, pushes Iraqis to achieve a political resolution, and ends the war by bringing our heroes home.

Have you signed yet? Over 26,000 already have.

The New York Times taketh away,

and Radosh giveth. Check out the comments.

By the way, the man a lot of people wish would go away, isn't. They underestimate his tenacity at their own peril.

[UPDATE]: The Radosh thread above has made a wide turn towards asshole-ism, but the original post still makes a good point about Kerry and the media.