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FROM AP: The nation's weather
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FROM AP: Quotations of the day
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The Blog
Maddow succeeds in explaining, in a charmingly non-wonkish way, how we got ourselves to our current state of affairs -- the unhealthy distortion of our time-honored yet taken-for-granted civil-military relationship.
The idea is, NSA only tells Congress what it wants them to hear, and Congress will just have to figure out what it really knows. The problem is, how will Congress find something unless it knows what it's looking for and where to find it?
The Obama administration has expanded on many of the civil rights violations that the Bush administration pioneered. These infringements have assaulted the freedoms of speech, assembly, association, and the rights to privacy and fair trial.
Pondering the impressive array of military capabilities that are at the center of the current defense budget debates, one can be greatly reassured by the high degree of security they promise for us all -- whatever the exact outcome.
While the Veepstakes speculation ensues, planning for a presidential transition and a Romney Cabinet will commence. Who might President Romney choose for his foreign policy team?
Thanks to Secretary Panetta, military sexual assault investigators, victims' rights advocates and the soldiers of the United States military, we are making important progress when it comes to protecting the men and women who protect us. Quite simply, they deserve nothing less.
The Department of Defense is taking a major step in stopping the waste of taxpayer dollars. The legislative proposal is a huge improvement over the current definition, a broadly worded definition open to abuse.
By rejecting Obama's position on homeland missile defense, Congress would both ensure taxpayer dollars are used more effectively and our country is well-protected. That approach would be a new way of doing business at the Department of Defense and real change that Americans can embrace.
The United States is making a gigantic investment in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, billed as the next generation of combat aircraft. It's no secret, however, that the program -- the most expensive in American history -- is a calamity.
For reasons that defy all logic, the administration wishes to spend yet another $400 million on MEADS, the Medium Extended Air Defense System, while simultaneously acknowledging that the missile system will never get off the ground.
After more than six months in port, the USS Freedom has only been out to sea twice this year, and during both trips the engines and other key equipment failed. This is a far cry from what the Navy has been telling taxpayers.
We would like to believe that this most recent in a series of pledges of "zero tolerance" will make a difference. However, we would only know the Pentagon is serious and effective when the careers of those senior commanders who fail to provide positive leadership and take effective action are ended.
America's troops deserve better than spin and half-hearted actions that fail to address core problems. They deserve real action. That means no longer hiding behind manipulated statistics and fundamentally reforming the way the military handles sexual assault and rape.
As a Marine Corps veteran deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I can attest that there is nothing like being around other veterans -- especially when we gather for a shared cause.
