Duthie On...

This story may be some comfort for those of us with loved ones in Iraq: An estimated 123 people were shot and killed over the summer. That's nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period. In May, cbs2chicago.com began tracking city shootings and posting them on Google maps. Information compiled from our reporters, wire service reports and the Chicago Police Major Incidents log indicated that 123 people were shot and killed throughout the city between the start of Memorial...

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So the Pentagon released a report that says, among other things: One question remains regarding Iraq’s terrorism capability: Is there anything in the captured archives to indicate that Saddam had the will to use his terrorist capabilities directly against United States? Judging from examples of Saddam’s statements (Extract 34) before the 1991 Gulf War with the United tates, the answer is yes . In the years between the two Gulf Wars, UN sanctions reduced Saddam’s ability to shape regional and world...

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Good for The Daily Show for taking on more than just conservative targets: How can you possibly out-parody the self-parody that is Code Pink? The final moment of the video is just hysterical, and so representative of the clue-free nature of this debate. Also watch for the lib answer to the question, "so if we got rid of the police, we wouldn't have crime? (around 3:50). Priceless."...

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This time, it's the U.S. Naval Academy, which is considering overhauling a traditional ritual contest in the name of "safety". The Herndon Climb, which involves a "thousand first-year midshipmen struggl[ing] to conquer a 21-foot granite obelisk coated with 200 pounds of lard," has been a part of the academy for many years, but may now be revised "with...safety in mind." As many of those interviewed for the story point out, it's rather absurd to obsess about the safety...

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OK, they are letting him go...but they insist on a name change : Who remembers playing with G.I. Joe as a kid? For those of us who grew up with normal childhoods, instead of the moonbat-infested, politically correct childhoods forced onto kids today, G.I. Joe was the action figure to have. It was originally started in the 60s as a WWII soldier, with soldiers from other countries (Germany, England, and believe it or not, France), but saw its most successful sales during the resurgance in the 80s,...

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OK, it was bad enough when the threat was lead paint in kids' toys ...now this : BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing factory recycled used chopsticks and sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest is a string of food and product safety scares. Counterfeit, shoddy and dangerous products are widespread in China , whose exports have been rocked in recent months by a spate of safety scandals, ranging from pet food to medicine, tires, toothpaste...

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Apparently Barak Obama has figured out how to win the war on terrorism: WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would possibly send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive. ADVERTISEMENT The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters...

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So The New Republic 's anonymous correspondent from Iraq is no longer anonymous : My Diarist, "Shock Troops," and the two other pieces I wrote for the New Republic have stirred more controversy than I could ever have anticipated. They were written under a pseudonym, because I wanted to write honestly about my experiences, without fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, my pseudonym has caused confusion. And there seems to be one major way in which I can clarify the debate over my pieces: I'm willing to...

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If you haven't been keeping up with it, the New Republic is under fire for some stories that they published by "Scott Thomas," who's supposedly a soldier serving in Baghdad. Thomas recently wrote a piece called "Shock Troops" that described soldiers engaging in a variety of abhorrent behavior, from mocking a woman disfigured by an IED, to running down dogs with a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb has kept an impressive roll call of the soldiers and bloggers calling...

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Andy McCarthy on the Iraq war and the surge : That's why I get so disheartened when I hear the president talk this nonsense about the universality of freedom. If the surge is just about Iraqi freedom, we shouldn't be doing it. The American people don't care what form of government Iraq has — not enough to fight a war over it. They care about defeating enemies who threaten the United States, and the president has never made the case — nor do I think he could — that American national security is materially...

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So today my brother ships for Parris Island, there to become a United States Marine.

Despite obvious concerns for his safety, I am very proud of him, and I know that he will serve our country well.

Godspeed, Rob!