ARLINGTON, Va. — A painstaking review of nearly 260,000 grave markers at Arlington National Cemetery has so far revealed no further evidence of misplaced or misidentified gravesites like the ones that led the Army to oust the cemetery’s top management last year, cemetery officials said in a briefing Friday.
Still, the cemetery has found tens of thousands of lesser discrepancies between the information on headstones and supporting paperwork, requiring review by a team of research analysts and, in some cases, replacement of headstones to fix the error.
The cemetery provided the briefing to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who chairs a subcommittee that has investigated what McCaskill and others have called widespread mismanagement at the cemetery. An Army inspector general’s report last year revealed that more than 200 gravesites were potentially mislabeled or misplaced inside the cemetery. Subsequent investigation determined those were largely paperwork errors as opposed to having actual bodies in the wrong place.
McCaskill said Friday that she is encouraged by the thoroughness of the Army’s fact-checking process, in which members of the Army’s Old Guard — its official ceremonial unit — were sent to the cemetery over the summer to photograph every marker at the cemetery with iPhones, and build an electronic database to replace what had largely been a system of paper records.
“Most important, I know going forward that we’re not going to have this problem again” because of the systems being put in place at the cemetery by its new leadership team, said McCaskill, who had been one of the cemetery’s most outspoken critics.
Almost all American troops are supposed to leave Iraq by the end of December. President Barack Obama said so on Oct. 21.
More than six years before the announcement, Army Pfc. Robert Swaney called his aunt, Angie Denes. He had been living with her in West Jefferson when he enlisted. He was "Robbie" to her.
Swaney was calling from Iraq. He had killed a person for the first time, and that had upset him. He was starting to wonder what he was doing there. He felt "forsaken," Denes remembered, as if he and his fellow soldiers had been put in a terrible position and then forgotten.
"Do you think it's going to make a difference?" he asked his aunt about the war in Iraq in 2005.
Swaney, 21, was killed the week after that phone call, on July 30, 2005, when his vehicle rolled over a bomb in Baghdad.
Even now, Denes doesn't have a clear answer to her nephew's question. She feels lied to about weapons of mass destruction. But she does think that the international democratic uprisings over the past year came, in part, because of the United States' example in Iraq.
All these years later, is leaving Iraq the right thing?
"I don't know," she said last week. But she still cries when she talks about Robbie.
The Democrats and the Republicans, the political scientists and the media commentators have all had their say about the withdrawal. But the families who have made the greatest investments in Iraq -- those families who have lost loved ones -- have their own opinions.
WASHINGTON — Although all but a small number of U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year, they won’t all be home for the holidays as President Obama promised last month.
The Pentagon is poised to move at least 4,000 soldiers from Iraq to Kuwait at the end of the year, pending a final decision expected soon by Pentagon and Kuwaiti leaders, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The move is part of a still-developing Pentagon strategy that ends the Iraq War but positions a strong U.S. force just across the border in Kuwait and across the region to reinforce the U.S.’s commitment to the Middle East and prevent a power vacuum when the tens of thousands of U.S. forces who have served in Iraq are gone.
According to officials, the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, which is currently in Iraq, will be shifted to Kuwait, where troops will be close enough to serve as a quick-reaction force if needed in Iraq or any of the nearby countries. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been finalized by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
The plan to beef up U.S. presence in Kuwait also must be approved by the Kuwaiti leaders, although most officials do not believe that will be a problem. The U.S. has had a substantial presence in Kuwait for years, even before the start of the Iraq War.
Ten years of war and extreme stress on servicemembers and their families haven't made the military's divorce rate any higher than that of civilians, according to a new report. And the likely reason, the lead researcher says, is the pay and benefits the military offers to married couples.
"Our speculation is that civilians don't get paid extra if they're married, but [servicemembers do]," Benjamin Karney, the study's lead researcher, told Military.com. "The fact that the military pays people to stay married [likely] keeps them married. There's really something going on there, it seems."
The perks of marriage in the military don't stop at the extra pay and housing allowance, Karney noted. Among other benefits, military families also receive subsidized childcare, free counseling and marriage support, free or greatly reduced healthcare, and employment help for spouses.
Karney said the findings could be seen as a lesson for civilian society. If the military can make marriage work over years of war-related stress, he said, the rest of American culture should be able to follow suit.
"We know that the military is under stress and the stress is pretty bad -- but there are other things that matter, too ... which is the support that people have available to them," he said. "The lesson here is that when you help people out and make their lives better, they have better marriages."
The new study, performed by the RAND Corp., is the first of its kind. Unlike previous studies, it compared DoD personnel information from 1998 to 2005 with population data from the Census Bureau. The study broke out and examined divorce rates among male servicemembers and civilians based on race, age and pay to assess how divorce affects different populations within the military.
The results almost universally showed a higher rate of marriage in the military versus civilians, but the same or slightly lower rates of divorce among all military populations.
In 2010, the overall military divorce rate hovered at about 3.6 percent. A comparable civilian rate is not available because of the way that data is tracked year over year.
Quote by Raine:
good morning!
We'll both be voting around lunchtime.
In Herman Cain news, another woman has come forward questioning his behavior.
Quote by Mondobubba:
I wish I didn't have a feeling of free floating dread today
Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
I wish I didn't have a feeling of free floating dread today
Any reason in particular?
Quote by Mondobubba:
That is why it is free floating. It is part of the whole depression thing. It'll pass soon enough.
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:
good morning!
We'll both be voting around lunchtime.
In Herman Cain news, another woman has come forward questioning his behavior.
This is rather large "bimbo erruption" isn't it? "Bimbo erruption" being a Clinton era term for all the women coming out and saying they had sex with Bubba. I use it with an ironic bent.
On serious note, Cain is a disgusting pig.
though he did order two $400 bottles of wine and stuck the women with the bill, she said.
Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
That is why it is free floating. It is part of the whole depression thing. It'll pass soon enough.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:Quote by Mondobubba:
That is why it is free floating. It is part of the whole depression thing. It'll pass soon enough.
Quote by wickedpam:
you know I'm more inclined to believe the reports of sexual harassment because of where the stories are orginiating - Politico and the Examiner are rather right leaning media
Quote by Raine:Quote by wickedpam:
you know I'm more inclined to believe the reports of sexual harassment because of where the stories are orginiating - Politico and the Examiner are rather right leaning media
Don't forget this memo from the NRA Now we know what was too hot to be emailed.
Tomb of the Unknown Guard Silences Disrespectful Crowd: MyFoxDC.com
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:Quote by wickedpam:
you know I'm more inclined to believe the reports of sexual harassment because of where the stories are orginiating - Politico and the Examiner are rather right leaning media
Don't forget this memo from the NRA Now we know what was too hot to be emailed.
Part of me wonders if somebody's dirt diggers tipped Poltico about this. Say :cough:NewtGingrich:cough:
Quote by wickedpam:
I didn't know you weren't allowed to talk or anything at the tomb of the unknown
Quote by Raine:Tomb of the Unknown Guard Silences Disrespectful Crowd: MyFoxDC.com
Wow. Tomb of the Unknown Guard Silences Disrespectful Crowd
Quote by Raine:I think there was some inappropriate laughing going on. When I went there, it was very quiet and people whispered.Quote by wickedpam:
I didn't know you weren't allowed to talk or anything at the tomb of the unknown
What shocked me was the Soldier breaking protocol.
Quote by TriSec:
I could write an entire blog about this, actually.
I had to flee the Tomb myself, with a very young Javi (circa 2004) who decided he didn't want to watch anymore. I knew better than to try to quiet him down.
I'm not floored by the soldier breaking protocol as I am at somebody there laughing. Have we sunk so far, lost so much respect for our institutions, that whoever it was didn't stop to think for just one second that this might not be appropriate?
(And part of me secretly hopes the soldier is from Cambridge or San Francisco and had to silence a Texan, but I digress.)
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:I think there was some inappropriate laughing going on. When I went there, it was very quiet and people whispered.Quote by wickedpam:
I didn't know you weren't allowed to talk or anything at the tomb of the unknown
What shocked me was the Soldier breaking protocol.
They are allowed to break protocol if there is something they precieve as distrespectful to the Tomb and it's surroundings. See my last post.
Quote by Raine:
Huckabee is such an idiot.
Quote by Raine:
BTW, the Freepers are saying that this woman who came forward HAD to be lying... you know why?
The steering wheel got in the way.
Quote by Raine:
Damn -- What is with all the Gloria Allred hate?
According to a Monday report in the French website "Arret sur Images," after facing reporters for a G20 press conference on Thursday, the two presidents retired to a private room, to further discuss the matters of the day.
(...)
The conversation then drifted to Netanyahu, at which time Sarkozy declared: "I cannot stand him. He is a liar." According to the report, Obama replied: "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!"
The remark was naturally meant to be said in confidence, but the two leaders' microphones were accidently left on, making the would-be private comment embarrassingly public.
Quote by Raine:
Reuters picked up the story as well. (they tastefully left out the exclamation point... )
Obama's apparent failure to defend Netanyahu is likely to be leapt on by his Republican foes, who are looking to unseat him in next year's presidential election and have portrayed him as hostile to Israel, Washington's closest ally in the region.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
Reuters picked up the story as well. (they tastefully left out the exclamation point... )Obama's apparent failure to defend Netanyahu is likely to be leapt on by his Republican foes, who are looking to unseat him in next year's presidential election and have portrayed him as hostile to Israel, Washington's closest ally in the region.
That's what I was thinking
Quote by Raine:Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
Reuters picked up the story as well. (they tastefully left out the exclamation point... )Obama's apparent failure to defend Netanyahu is likely to be leapt on by his Republican foes, who are looking to unseat him in next year's presidential election and have portrayed him as hostile to Israel, Washington's closest ally in the region.
That's what I was thinking
I thought that too -- what is amazing to me is that Obama was actually very tactful when face with what Sarkozy said. (IOW: he didn't go all gossip girl... )
“It almost pains me — and please don’t take this away from Senator Grassley’s time — it pains me that, as you said, we had a private conversation, you sent me a handwritten note — that I took very seriously,†a visibly frustrated Holder responded.
“You and I have worked together on a variety of issues, I think I have a good relationship with you, you sent me a handwritten note that I looked at, took seriously, referred that letter to [the Office of Professional Responsibility] or the [Office of the Inspector General] — I’m not sure which of the two — and asked them to try to find out what happened,†Holder continued.
“I called you to try to indicate to you that I had taken that matter seriously, that action had been taken,†Holder said. “In a different time in Washington, I’m not sure that necessarily what you just said would have been shared with everyone here, but so be it, it’s a different time I suppose.â€
Quote by Mondobubba:
Netanyahu being a prickly pear who people don't like doesn't mean Obama hates Isreal. Yeah I know, i'm not thinking like a winger.... Skates to penalty box:
Ruth Bramson, the chief executive of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, wants to make one thing clear. “We’ll never give up the cookie badge.’’
But as Girl Scouts of the USA prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the organization has revamped its badge lineup, and some - Looking Your Best, and From Fitness to Fashion, among them - have gotten the ax. Others, such as the cookie badge, made the cut, albeit with makeovers.
And some of the 136 badges sound more like topics trending on Twitter than something a fresh-faced girl would pin on her sash.
There’s a Good Credit badge and a Money Manager badge, Locavore, Website Designer, and Netiquette badges, a Science of Happiness badge, and, as a component of a cookie-badge program that has been expanded, a Customer Loyalty badge.
At a time when girls have many extracurricular options, the wide-ranging revamp - the first in 25 years - is an attempt to stay relevant.
“The girls said, ‘We love the camping, we love the cookies, but we want the Girl Scouts to be more about what we’re about,’ ’’ Bramson said.
Quote by TriSec:
News from the Girl Scouts...their centennial is next year!
Ruth Bramson, the chief executive of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, wants to make one thing clear. “We’ll never give up the cookie badge.’’
But as Girl Scouts of the USA prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the organization has revamped its badge lineup, and some - Looking Your Best, and From Fitness to Fashion, among them - have gotten the ax. Others, such as the cookie badge, made the cut, albeit with makeovers.
And some of the 136 badges sound more like topics trending on Twitter than something a fresh-faced girl would pin on her sash.
There’s a Good Credit badge and a Money Manager badge, Locavore, Website Designer, and Netiquette badges, a Science of Happiness badge, and, as a component of a cookie-badge program that has been expanded, a Customer Loyalty badge.
At a time when girls have many extracurricular options, the wide-ranging revamp - the first in 25 years - is an attempt to stay relevant.
“The girls said, ‘We love the camping, we love the cookies, but we want the Girl Scouts to be more about what we’re about,’ ’’ Bramson said.
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by TriSec:
News from the Girl Scouts...their centennial is next year!
Ruth Bramson, the chief executive of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, wants to make one thing clear. “We’ll never give up the cookie badge.’’
But as Girl Scouts of the USA prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the organization has revamped its badge lineup, and some - Looking Your Best, and From Fitness to Fashion, among them - have gotten the ax. Others, such as the cookie badge, made the cut, albeit with makeovers.
And some of the 136 badges sound more like topics trending on Twitter than something a fresh-faced girl would pin on her sash.
There’s a Good Credit badge and a Money Manager badge, Locavore, Website Designer, and Netiquette badges, a Science of Happiness badge, and, as a component of a cookie-badge program that has been expanded, a Customer Loyalty badge.
At a time when girls have many extracurricular options, the wide-ranging revamp - the first in 25 years - is an attempt to stay relevant.
“The girls said, ‘We love the camping, we love the cookies, but we want the Girl Scouts to be more about what we’re about,’ ’’ Bramson said.
Baby #20: Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, stars of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting," announced they're expecting their 20th child in spring. Their last baby Josie was born with complications after Michelle was diagnosed with preeclampsia. "Michelle is probably in better health now than she was 10 years ago," Jim Bob told People.
Quote by Raine:HEY! Stop hurting that wall!Quote by Mondobubba:
(otherwise we'll have to find another kitty pic. )
Quote by Raine:HEY! Stop hurting that wall!Quote by Mondobubba:
(otherwise we'll have to find another kitty pic. )
Quote by Raine:
This shit makes me angry.Baby #20: Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, stars of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting," announced they're expecting their 20th child in spring. Their last baby Josie was born with complications after Michelle was diagnosed with preeclampsia. "Michelle is probably in better health now than she was 10 years ago," Jim Bob told People.
Between global over population and the amount of children that need a family to call thier own, these people are terribly irresponsible.
Bob and I have, for many reasons, chosen not to have children -- both before and after we met, to be honest. It would take dozens of other people not having children to make up for these people.
I hope that makes sense. I have no ill will towards people who have families, I find this just reproductively selfish. It hurts the resources on the planet.
Quote by Raine:
I cannot --for the life of me-- imagine 19 and soon to be 20 children getting the proper attention they meed from their parents.
Mala is correct indeed, just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should.
UPDATE: News Corp.'s tablet newspaper The Daily has outed one of Herman Cain’s accusers who had previously made clear that she had no desire for her name to be made public.
Quote by TriSec:
They want that many babies, why don't they adopt some and do some good?
"You lucky boy...you're going to America!" - one of Javi's nurses in Manila, saying goodbye.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
I cannot --for the life of me-- imagine 19 and soon to be 20 children getting the proper attention they meed from their parents.
Mala is correct indeed, just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should.
they don't, that's when the oldest do the parenting instead of the parents
Quote by TriSec:
How many of those dugheads are in the military, one wonders? After all, that's been the reasoning for producing large families ever since ancient times.
Quote by Scoopster:
Can I just take a moment to mention this mess that's at a rolling boil in State College PA?
He let this shit go on for YEARS without informing the administration at Penn State. That makes him an accessory to child molestation.
Quote by wickedpam:
I think the oldest who's now started his own village is a firefighter
Quote by Raine:HEY! Stop hurting that wall!Quote by Mondobubba:
(otherwise we'll have to find another kitty pic. )
Quote by TriSec:
One of the ladies care to comment about this?
How old is the dug-woman? 20 babies now, what percentage of her life has she spent pregnant?
And what makes that different from sexual slavery, one wonders?
"We would love more! I'm 44, almost 45 this September. I know that my mommy years are probably numbered, and I don't know how many more children God will see fit to give me. "It is something we've been praying about because we do love children. Each child really is a gift and that doesn't mean just our children. We asked the Lord to give us a love of children the way He loves children. That is something that we've prayed about, and we'll just see what the Lord has in store for our family in the future."
Quote by TriSec:
OK, sorry if that sounded perjorative. Those people, and that octo-mom person are Z-stoff to my T-stoff.
AP: A high-ranking Penn State official says support for football coach Joe Paterno is eroding among the school's board of trustees.
Quote by Raine:AP: A high-ranking Penn State official says support for football coach Joe Paterno is eroding among the school's board of trustees.
Quote by Raine:She is 45.Quote by TriSec:
One of the ladies care to comment about this?
How old is the dug-woman? 20 babies now, what percentage of her life has she spent pregnant?
And what makes that different from sexual slavery, one wonders?
FORTY FIVE!!!!
“After attacking Herman Cain through anonymous accusers for a week, his opponents have now convinced a woman with a long history of severe financial difficulties, including personal bankruptcy, to falsely accuse the Republican frontrunner of events allegedly occurring well over a decade ago for which there is no record, nor even a complaint filed,†the statement said.
The statement also accused Ms. Allred of being a “celebrity lawyer who specializes in generating publicity for herself and her clients†and said Ms. Allred has “given over ten thousand dollars to liberal Democrats like Barack Obama, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.â€
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:She is 45.Quote by TriSec:
One of the ladies care to comment about this?
How old is the dug-woman? 20 babies now, what percentage of her life has she spent pregnant?
And what makes that different from sexual slavery, one wonders?
FORTY FIVE!!!!
I surprised she doesn't have a prolapsed uturus. AKA it fell out.
There is some legitimate concern over this pregnancy as the Duggars’ most recent child, 23-month-old Josie, had to be kept in intensive care after she was born three months premature and weighing only 1 pound, 6 ounces.
Michelle confirmed to the magazine that she’s under the care of a high-risk pregnancy doctor. She said she’s on a special diet and added, “We are just going to do the best we can. I am taking a nap every day, and we are just taking good care.†The Duggars will find out the baby’s sex in late December and, due to complications from Josie’s emergency delivery, Michelle’s C-section will be scheduled this time around.
Quote by Scoopster:
Oh helloooo what have we here?
Quote by Raine:Thanks for this information.Quote by Scoopster:
Oh helloooo what have we here?
I have a good friend on my page, a conservative -- for full disclosure, that I wanted to set right.
As part of a new effort to derail Romney's nomination for President, a group of Republican activists have just launched NotMittRomney.com to argue that Mitt Romney isn't conservative and isn't electable. On the website they argue that Mitt Romney wouldn't be electable in a general election because Republicans would stay home.
Quote by Raine:
Randi is talking about her ectopic pregnancy.
Quote by Raine:
Wow.
At what point will conservatives finally renounce what Rush says? "Why Don't You Just Make It Official, Put On Some Burkas" If You Want Everybody To Leave You Alone?"
Just shaking my damn head. He is longing for the days when this behavior was appropriate.
Quote by Raine:
Anyone else watching/listening?
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
Anyone else watching/listening?
listening until we leave
no, I have never wanted a "business man" in the White House
and now he's referring to himself in third person
Quote by wickedpam:
so F the other 49%?
Quote by clintster:
FOX News: "Is it a conspiracy?"
Quote by clintster:
Awwwww... it's for the "grandkids".
Quote by Mondobubba:
Looks the Herm has gotten that Fox commenting gig in the bag!
Quote by livingonli:Quote by Mondobubba:
Looks the Herm has gotten that Fox commenting gig in the bag!
Plenty of arch douche nozzles over there. I just will wonder whether his head or Sarah Palin's will rattle more when it shakes due to lack of knowledge.
Quote by clintster:
I noticed that #Cainwreck is a very popular tag on Twitter right now.