Support the TROOPS? Yo, President Bush and cronies! When are YOU going to support the troops?!?

Because of his lousy poll numbers, President Bush and his flock of sheep don't do this as much as they used to, but darn near every time somebody criticized one of the many mistakes this administration has made, the critic was made to shut up when he or she was accused of "not supporting the troops" or "being unpatriotic" and, "By the way, don't you understand? We're doing what we're doing because of 9/11!" Well that duck don't float and it hasn't been floating for quite some time.

Do you know what's causing 70 to 80 percent of the American combat deaths in Iraq? Improvised explosive devices. You've probably heard them referred to as I.E.D.'s. And most of those deaths occur in the military's standard Humvees. The I.E.D.'s blast through the underbelly of the Humvees that most of our troops travel in. According to the New York Times, newly disclosed documents show that more than two years ago, Marine commanders submitted an urgent request for more than 1100 vehicles that are able to deflect blasts from below which means they'd save American lives! For what is said are reasons that have yet to be satisfactorily explained, officials who are believed to have been Pentagon officials sat on the request, and when they finally did order some of these life saving vehicles, they only ordered a few!

The New York Times is led to believe that one of the reasons officials didn't want to invest billions of dollars in these life saving vehicles is because these vehicles might have little use after Iraq. There seems to also have been a concern that a large scale purchase of these life saving vehicles might threaten future weapons programs.

My first reaction is confusion. I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

This seems pretty simple to me. For at least more than two years, our troops have requested life saving vehicles to replace the death traps they've been forced to travel in. And the money hasn't been spent because some officials thought it might screw up a money request for some other military operation? Or another group of officials were wondering about the usefulness these vehicles might have after Iraq?

See, this is what we're dealing with folks! A phony wannabe cowboy led us into Iraq where Osama bin Laden wasn't...He sent in a little over 100,000 troops when he should have sent in at least 400,000...President Bush and his staff had no clue as to the type of enemy they'd be fighting...They didn't have proper bulletproof vests for most of the troops...This vehicle thing we've been telling you about...Proper health care for wounded troops...In short, absolute incompetence from A to Z and why we as a nation continue to put up with this is something I don't understand at all.

Regarding the life saving vehicles that officials have objected to ordering because of cost and later use concerns? Here's a news flash for you incompetent hacks. Doing whatever is necessary to save American lives should have nothing to do with cost! And as far as worrying about possible use for these vehicles after Iraq? YO! Iraq is where our troops are now! Take care of the now, Bush administration! Everything else is conversation.

Post Script: Thanks to Senator Joe Biden and some other critics, Pentagon leaders have put in a rush order to buy more than 7,000 of these life saving vehicles by early next year. A request for a total of 21,000 of these life saving vehicles has been made, and new Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered the production of "many of these vehicles and get them into the field as fast as possible." How many? Well, he didn't say, did he. One would be a start, Mr. Secretary.

ISAIAH WASHINGTON AND T.R. KNIGHT:

If those two names sound familiar to you, you're probably a fan of "Grey's Anatomy". And that means you probably know that a few months ago, Washington directed a gay slur at Knight and that resulted in Knight "outing" himself maybe a little earlier than he had planned to. A few days ago it was announced that Washington won't be coming back to "Grey's Anatomy", but that Knight will come back and he's also getting a nice raise. Entertainment Weekly had a recent conversation with Isaiah Washington because they wanted to know how Washington was feeling, who from the show had contacted him, etc. When EW asked Washington, "Would you consider you and T.R. Knight to be on good terms?", Washington said, "I don't know. You have to ask T.R. that." But a few minutes later, Washington decided to show the EW reporter a very recent text message he had gotten from Knight. A message that said, "HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA! Hear about my raise? And next season, George is banging Cristina!" Short Commentary: MEEEOWWW!!!

"BOSTON LEGAL" HAS DONE SOME HOUSECLEANING:

James Spader, William Shatner and Candice Bergen will be back next season, but every other series regular has received a "Thanks for the memories" message. Two new series regulars will be John Larroquette as a senior partner and Christian Clemenson, the actor who has often played Jerry on the show. He's the weird guy who (among other things) has both hands held flat on his thighs a lot.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A new blog is written every morning, Monday through Friday and is posted between 7 and 7:15 Pacific time (sometimes earlier). If you read this before pictures have been added, come back! Pictures will be up soon! Questions and or comments can be sent to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net I do write back. Don't forget, Monday through Friday you can HEAR this blog. For times and link info, scroll down my Thursday, June 7 blog and you'll see all the information you need.

MONDAY: A story about how a number of people doing White House work can be compared to the way J. Edgar Hoover used to work, annnd opinions about some TV shows and films.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND HAVE A NICE WEEKEND EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!