no change, just a rumor.

It’s called politics my friend. Who knows who likes/hates whom? I didnt like the fact that McCain had a little mutual jerk off with Giuliani after Mr. 9/11 dropped out but he has to play the game to gain the votes of his former supporters. BTW, thank God Giuliani is out. If anybody benefitted from 9/11, it’s Mr. 9/11 himself.

Go ask Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Anne Coulter and the rest of the conservatives if McCain is Bush’s lap dog. Coulter said she would vote for Hillary over McCain. The Fox News Channel has pretty much become the Romney News Channel because the conservative leaders dislike McCain so much.

Gotta throw the BS flag on that one. McCain has gone out of his way to praise Bush on numerous issues including the mis-handling of the Iraq war. I’d even say he’s become Bush’s lapdog despite their past differences. It’s this kind if flip-flopping and his sucking up to Falwell’s Moral Minority that caused me to lose all respect for McCain. Plus I don’t think we need a member of the status-quo old guard who’s been a part of the decades old problems in Washington as our new leader. Time for some fresh blood. America is at a crossroads and needs someone with a bold new vision…not someone with cataracts.

Please, oh God, tell me this isn’t true:

OK. This isn’t true.

Gen. Bell strongly implied that the original report misquoted him.

McCain this year had to mail flyers in South Carolina of his wife holding their adopted daughter after adopting her in Bangladesh in order preempt another smear attack against her:

http://ap.google.com/article/A.....QD8U3BQ0G1

And people wonder why McCain dislikes the Bush administration.

(Note: I’m talking “room” in terms of area for training maneuvers, not merely barracks space. “Room” also implies the need for a lack of irritating proximity to local population; like ROK, Okinawa is much more intensely populated now than it was 50-plus years ago, when the US bases were originally established).

And US Army ground forces are not needed for Japanese ground defense anyway. Should Japan be attacked from the Asian mainland in some manner, the US portion of the defense of Japan will be accomplished by the US Air Force and the US Navy (and possibly by a relatively small additional amount of US Army missile defense ground forces).

If pre-stocked US equipment is left behind in Korea it will be manned periodically by rotating US forces coming from CONUS, probably on an annual exercise basis. They will conduct intense training maneuvers and then promptly leave, with no time to harass the local women and jump up and down on the local taxis.

What’s not to like about that? Besides, it’s unthinkable that North Korea will ever again attack their brothers in the ROK.

Historically, the Japanese wanted the U.S. to subsidize their defense under the auspices of the Cold War. Things are now different now with different threats etc. I think the deal with the troop reduction in Okinawa has something to do with a combination of a few things. First is the well documented issue of Okinawan residents not liking a big US base in their small island (which is around the size of Los Angeles County) and the occasional rowdy Marine. Second is cost issues which we have talked about and third is that the US will share missile defense technology under the agreement. This is something that the Japanese really want.