U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at least 4,385 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,732 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

Army Sgt. Aaron M. Arthur, 25, Lake City, S.C., died March 8, 2010 north of Al Kut, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

Army Spc. Lakeshia M. Bailey, 23, Columbus, Ga., died March 8, 2010 north of Al Kut, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. She was assigned to the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

Army Pfc. Erin L. McLyman, 26, Federal Way, Wash., died March 13, 2010 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked her base with mortar fire. She was assigned to the 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lews-McChord, Wash.

3/19/10 update: Army Staff Sgt. Richard J. Jordan, 29, Tyler, Texas, died March 16, 2010 in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, March 12, 2010, at least 936 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Outside the Afghan region, the department reports 76 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, for a total of 1,000 military deaths.

Latest identifications:

• Army Pvt. Nicholas S. Cook, 19, Hungry Horse, Mont., died March 7, 2010 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Italy.
• Army Pfc. Jason M. Kropat, 25, White Lake, N.Y., died March 9, 2010 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire, indirect fire, and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
• Army Sgt. Jonathan J. Richardson, 24, Bald Knob, Ark., died March 9, 2010 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire, indirect fire, and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Garrett W. Gamble, 20, Sugarland, Texas, died March 11, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Cpl. Jonathan D. Porto, 26, Largo, Fla., died March 14, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• 3/17/10 update: Army Sgt. 1st Class Glen J. Whetten, 31, Mesa, Ariz., died March 12, 2010 near Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
• 3/19/10 update: Marine Gunnery Sgt. Robert L. Gilbert II, 28, Richfield, Ohio, died March 16, 2010 of wounds sustained March 8 while supporting combat operations in Badghis province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Special Operations Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 16, 2009

An Afghan police officer surveys the damage after an explosion on the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday, March 14, 2009. (Photo credit: Rafiq Maqbool / AP)

Afghanistan/Iraq Update

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed four NATO troops, while bombings and clashes elsewhere in the country killed 14 more people; that a suicide bomber in police uniform detonated inside a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan, killing 11 people and wounding 29; that Iraq’s prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said any U.S. withdrawals “must be done with our approval” and in coordination with the Iraqi government; that the U.S. military confirmed that U.S. forces had shot down an unmanned Iranian aircraft in Iraqi airspace; and that 4,259 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war.

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Addressing Tea Party activists earlier this week, Rep. Michele Bachmann exploited U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan in an attempt to score some cheap political points, saying that passing the health reform bill would be a slam against the troops in Afghanistan and that the bill should be killed for the sake of the troops. Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent reports:

Bachmann: ‘Now is the time to see the whites of their eyes’

By Andy Birkey
The Minnesota Independent
March 11, 2010

Rep. Michele Bachmann told Tea Party activists on Wednesday to “take the town halls to Washington, DC” to defeat the health care bill. Bachmann suggested that passing the health reform bill would be a slam against freedom — and the troops in Afghanistan [emphasis added].

In a video spotted by the Washington Independent, Bachmann joined members of the Tea Party in calling for town halls in Washington, DC, by saying the bill should be killed for the sake of the troops [emphasis added].

“The men and women today who are bleeding for us in Afghanistan,” she said. “We need to think about them, what they gave to us, and recognize if this goes down in the United States, where does anyone go for freedom? Where do we go for freedom?”

“We the people are going to roll them out,” said Bachmann, “and when we roll them out we’re going to roll this bill back… Now is the time to see the whites of their eyes.”

The report generated interesting comments:

magi
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 1:13 pm

WHAT? Bachmann makes absolutely no sense! How is passing HCR putting the lives of our soldiers anywhere in danger? She pulled this one out of the deep recesses of her derriere where all the rest of her rhetoric originates.

Maria
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 1:39 pm

It looks like at leas one Congresswoman from the state of Minnesota is in URGENT need of MENTAL health reform.
She belongs in the PSYCHIATRIC WARD!

tom
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 1:44 pm

Freedom? What we all need is the freedom of Bachmann out of office. She put the loon in lunatic.

George Hayduke
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 2:11 pm

“Now is the time to see the whites of their eyes.”

Is Bachmann urging her followers to come to Washington to shoot members of Congress?

T-Bag Jones
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 3:07 pm

“The British are coming, the British are coming!!!”

She’s pathetic.

Eric
Comment posted March 11, 2010 @ 4:42 pm

I’m stuck between understanding her antics as evidence of mental instability or a shockingly unscrupulous mendacity that knows virtually no limits in its attempts to manipulate others.

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Bill Prendergast comments in the Daily Kos:

Michele Bachmann Update: Support Our Troops by Killing HCR

By Bill Prendergast
Daily Kos diary
March 11, 2010

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at least 4,382 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,716 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• None
• 3/18/10 update: Army Spc. Steven J. Bishop, 29, Christiansburg, Va., died March 13, 2010 in Tikrit, Iraq, while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, 352nd Civil Affairs Command, U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, March 5, 2010, at least 930 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Outside the Afghan region, the department reports 76 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Latest identifications: 

• Marine Lance Cpl. Carlos A. Aragon, 19, Orem, Utah, died March 1, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Army Spc. Josiah D. Crumpler, 27, Hillsborough, N.C., died March 1, 2010 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Spc. Ian T. D. Gelig, 25, Stevenson Ranch, Calif., died March 1, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Spc. Matthew D. Huston, 24, Athens, Ga., died March 1, 2010 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Vincent L. C. Owens, 21, Fort Smith, Ark., died March 1, 2010 at Forward Operating Base Sharana, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered earlier that day when enemy forces attacked his vehicle using direct fire in Yosuf Khel. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Nigel K. Olsen, 21, Orem, Utah, died March 4, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Army Spc. Anthony A. Paci, 30, Rockville, Md., died March 4, 2010 at Gereshk, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered during a vehicle rollover. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
• Army Spc. Alan N. Dikcis, 21, Niagara Falls, N.Y., died March 5, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 630th Engineer Company (Clearance), 7th Engineer Battalion (Combat Effects), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) (Airborne), Fort Drum, N.Y.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 9, 2009

Bachmann sounds the socialism alarm.
(Photo credit: CNN / Getty Images)

Bachmann on the Media Circuit

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann had not met face-to-face with constituents at townhall meetings in her district, but was active as ever on the talkshow circuit.

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“Patriot” Groups, Militias Surge in Number in Past Year

Southern Poverty Law Center
March 2, 2010

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The number of extremist groups in the United States exploded in 2009 as militias and other groups steeped in wild, antigovernment conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream, according to a report issued today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Antigovernment “Patriot” groups – militias and other extremist organizations that see the federal government as their enemy – came roaring back to life over the past year after more than a decade out of the limelight. 

The SPLC documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias – the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement – were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009. 

The report, “Rage on the Right,” is the cover story in the Spring 2010 issue of the SPLC’s quarterly investigative journal Intelligence Report.

Video

Patriot groups have been fueled by anger over the changing demographics of the country, the soaring public debt, the troubled economy and an array of initiatives by President Obama that have been branded “socialist” or even “fascist” by his political opponents.

“This extraordinary growth is a cause for grave concern,” said Intelligence Report editor Mark Potok. “The people associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead.”

The Patriot movement has made significant inroads into the conservative political scene, according to the new report. “The ‘tea parties’ and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism,” the report says.

Unlike the 1990s, the Patriot movement’s central ideas are being promoted by people with large audiences, such as FOX News’ Glenn Beck and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota [links added]. Beck, for instance, reinvigorated a key Patriot conspiracy theory – the charge that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is secretly running concentration camps – before finally “debunking” it. 

The growth of Patriot groups comes at a time when the number of racist hate groups stayed at record levels – rising from 926 in 2008 to 932 in 2009, according to the report. The increase caps a decade in which the number of hate groups surged by 55 percent. The expansion would have been much greater in 2009 if not for the demise of the American National Socialist Workers Party, a key neo-Nazi network whose founder was arrested in October 2008. 

There also has been a surge in “nativist extremist” groups – vigilante organizations that go beyond advocating strict immigration policy and actually confront or harass suspected immigrants. These groups grew from 173 groups in 2008 to 309 in 2009, a rise of nearly 80 percent.

These three strands of the radical right – the hate groups, the nativist extremist groups, and the Patriot organizations – are the most volatile elements on the American political landscape. Taken together, their numbers increased by more than 40 percent, rising from 1,248 groups in 2008 to 1,753 last year.

There are already signs of radical right violence reminiscent of the 1990s. Right-wing extremists have murdered six law enforcement officers since Obama’s inauguration. Racist skinheads and others have been arrested in alleged plots to assassinate the president. Most recently, as recounted in the new issue of the Intelligence Report, a number of individuals with antigovernment, survivalist or racist views have been arrested in a series of bomb cases.

The hate groups listed in this report include neo-Nazis, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, Klansmen and black separatists. Other hate groups target gays or immigrants, and some specialize in producing racist music or propaganda denying the Holocaust.

A list and interactive, state-by-state map of active hate groups can be viewed here.

——

Related media

Video

Number of hate groups reach record level (The Dylan Ratigan Show, MSNBC, March 2, 2010) — According to a new report, militias and other extremist groups increasing 244 percent in 2009. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center and radio host Mark Williams of the Tea Party Express discuss. (08:33)

——

Related reports on this site

Bachmann Conspiracy Nation (Feb. 20, 2010)

Town Hall Face (Photos: Landov, AP, Getty Images / Newsweek)

Conspiracy theories have long been a fixture on the political landscape, with political paranoia most virulent among politically marginalized sectors of the polity. So, with Democrats holding the reins of power, it stands to reason that the right fringe has become the prime repository of collective craziness.

Condemning Beck and Bachmann (Nov. 19, 2009)

Rage Grows in America: Anti‑Government Conspiracies

November 2009

Introduction: A Year of Growing Animosity

Since the election of Barack Obama as president, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the United States, creating a climate of fervor and activism with manifestations ranging from incivility in public forums to acts of intimidation and violence.

Hate groups including neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan have grown since Barack Obama was elected president. (Image: NBC News)

What characterizes this anti-government hostility is a shared belief that Obama and his administration actually pose a threat to the future of the United States. Some accuse Obama of plotting to bring socialism to the United States, while others claim he will bring about Nazism or fascism. All believe that Obama and his administration will trample on individual freedoms and civil liberties, due to some sinister agenda, and they see his economic and social policies as manifestations of this agenda. In particular anti-government activists used the issue of health care reform as a rallying point, accusing Obama and his administration of dark designs ranging from “socialized medicine” to “death panels,” even when the Obama administration had not come out with a specific health care reform plan. Some even compared the Obama administration’s intentions to Nazi eugenics programs. … Full story

Bachmann Rebuked for Nazi Image (Nov. 12, 2009)

Sign displayed at U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call on Congress” anti-health care reform rally in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2009. The sign reads, “National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany — 1945.” (Photo credit: Lee Fang / ThinkProgress)

Anger in America (Oct. 31, 2009)

Bachmann Heads Teabaggers (Sept. 13, 2009)

Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks at a Tea Party at Lake George in St. Cloud, Minn., after a town hall meeting, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (Photo credit: Jason Wachter / St. Cloud Times)

Invitation to Tea Party headlined by Michele Bachmann

Bachmann: “Slit Our Wrists” (Sept. 2, 2009)

Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks to a luncheon crowd at the Denver Athletic Club, Aug. 31, 2009 (Photo credit: Jason Kosena / The Colorado Statesman)

In a speech filled with urgent and violent rhetoric, Bachmann … drew a clear line on health care reform.

“You’re either for us or against us on this issue,” she said. …

At times, Bachmann’s legislative briefing sounded more like the plot of a slasher movie.

“Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom,” she said. “And we may never be able to restore it if we don’t man up and take this one on.”

While Bachmann didn’t ask this audience to “rise up” against President Barack Obama’s tyrannical rule, they stood anyway and applauded when she announced she was No. 1 on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s list of “top targets.” …

Economy and Obama Volatile Mix (April 16, 2009)

An April 2009 Homeland Security intelligence estimate warns that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of the country’s first black president to recruit new members and incite anti-government violence.

Bachmann Call for Armed Revolt? (March 24, 2009)

On March 21, 2009 Rep. Michele Bachmann said that she wants people in Minnesota “armed and dangerous” on the issue of an energy tax, “because we need to fight back” and “having a revolution every now and then is a good thing.”

Obama, Economy Fuel Hate Groups (Feb. 28, 2009)

A cross and swastika are burned at an event called Hated and Proud in Nebraska in July 2008. (Photo credit: Southern Poverty Law Center / CNN)

Obama Racist Backlash (Nov. 16, 2008)

Racial incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama, including schoolchildren chanting “assassinate Obama,” racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars, and Black figures hung from nooses, are shattering the post-election illusion of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America. There have been “hundreds” of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 3, 2009

History repeats? Job hunters mass for $4 a day work in 1935 and the line unwinds outside a New York City job fair in February 2009. (Photo credit: Associated Press)

U.S. Economy in Depression?

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that according to some economists, a Depression doesn’t have to be Great, with bread lines, rampant unemployment, and a wipeout in the stock market; the economy can sink into a milder depression — the kind spelled with a lowercase “d” — and it may be happening now.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, March 2, 2010, at least 4,380 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,706 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• Army Cpl. Daniel T. O’Leary, 23, Youngsville, N.C., died Feb. 23, 2010 in Fallujah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. William C. Spencer, 40, Tacoma, Wash., died Feb. 25, 2010 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained Feb. 20 while supporting combat operations at Combat Outpost Marez, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment, Olympia, Wash.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, Feb. 26, 2010, at least 924 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Outside the Afghan region, the department reports 76 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, for a total of 1,000 military deaths.

Latest identifications: 

• Army Sgt. Marcos Gorra, 22, North Bergen, N.J., died Feb. 21, 2010 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Matthias N. Hanson, 20, Buffalo, Ky., died Feb. 21, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Lance Cpl. Eric L. Ward, 19, Redmond, Wash., died Feb. 21, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Staff Sgt. William S. Ricketts, 27, Corinth, Miss., died Feb 27, 2010 at Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 2, 2009

Photoshopped image on the Tild~ blog prompted by Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “Michael Steele, you be da man, you be da man!” remark.

Bachmann Retort ‘Kind of Stupid’

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann raised eyebrows at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. when she congratulated the new African-American chairman of the RNC with the words, “Michael Steele, you be da man, you be da man!”

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In yet another of her many out-of-state political appearances, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 spoke to Hamilton County Republicans in Cincinnatti, Ohio.

Following is a Gannet news report from the St. Cloud Times — the largest daily newspaper in Rep. Bachmann’s congressional district — along with added sidebars for background context.

Bachmann Tells Republicans in Ohio: Put Brakes on Obama

St. Cloud Times / Gannett ContentOne
February 27, 2010

Cincinnati-area Republican leaders were hoping Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann would give a red-meat speech to fire up the party faithful Friday.

They got what they hoped for.

More than 600 Hamilton County Republicans listening in the East Plaza of Paul Brown Stadium heard Bachmann implore them to go out and work for the election of Republicans “so we can put the brakes on the Obama agenda, put the brakes on the Obama machine.”

“It’s up to us to stop it,” said Bachmann, who has become a favorite of the most conservative wing of the GOP in recent years. “The president has embraced a policy that would have the federal government controlling 48 percent of our economy in just two years’ time. We have to stop him.”

She urged the Republicans to go to her Web site and look at a graph of federal deficits over the past several administrations.

“Yes, George Bush had some big spending years; we all know that,” Bachmann said. “But it is tiny potatoes compared to what it going on now.”

Sidebar: Bachmann’s True Colors

The 53-year-old Minnesota congresswoman has become a lightning rod for controversy for a raft of public statements, mostly on cable news networks, that have made her a favorite of the conservative movement and anathema to Democrats.

Sidebar: Bachmann on the Media Circuit

One of her most controversial statements came last June when speaking about the federal government bailout of General Motors. She called the Obama administration “a gangster government.”

Sidebar: Gangster Government

She has said carbon dioxide isn’t a harmful gas, warned of the coming of a “global currency” and said that voters should ask themselves if their members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.”

Sidebar: Bachmann Says ‘I’m Not a Kook’

But it was a statement on MSNBC where she raised the possibility that Obama might have “anti-American views” that made her the enemy of the left, Bachmann said Friday.

Sidebar: Bachmann Bears False Witness

“I had Nancy Pelosi fly into my district on a plane — your plane — and say she was handing my opponent $1 million and that I was the worst human being that ever lived,” Bachmann said.

From reading the news reports in Minnesota, she said, “you would have thought that I had eaten children.”

Sidebar

Fact check: Is Nancy Pelosi targeting Michele Bachmann?
(By Eric Roper, Star Tribune “Hot Dish Politics” blog, Jan. 22, 2010)

The Democrats, Bachmann said, will go after her this fall, and it was clear the Hamilton County Republican Party was happy to help her out. …

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Related links

Where’s Michele?
Missing in Minnesota and in Washington D.C.
(Maureen Reed for Congress)

Where in the World is Michele Bachmann?
(Tarryl Clark for Congress)

The Bachmann Agenda
(Tarryl Clark for Congress)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 1, 2009

More Bachmann Bad Press for GOP

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Salem-News.com published a commentary on Rep. Michele Bachmann by Dorsett Bennett, “an Independent/Libertarian.” “There’s no point in trying to fact-check such unhinged stupidity,” writes Bennett, “but I should note that none of this is in any way grounded in reality. I should also note that we’re not talking about some strange nut screaming on a street corner; this is all coming from an elected member of Congress.”

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Pope: I Pray for Chile Earthquake Victims

“I implore God to give them relief from suffering and courage in this adversity”

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his 2008 Christmas Day blessing from St. Peter’s Basilica. (Photo credit: Franco Origlia / Getty Images)

Feb. 28, 2010 

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged the survivors of Chile’s devastating quake to be courageous and asked the Catholic church to play a role in relief efforts.

Photo chronicle Earthquake rocks Chile A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake strikes Chile.

The pontiff, speaking first in Italian and then in Spanish, told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that he was praying for the victims.

“My thoughts go to Chile and to the population struck by the earthquake, which has caused much loss of human life and huge damage,” Benedict said.

“I am sure that solidarity won’t be lacking,” he said, singling out the local church in that predominantly Roman Catholic country for a role in disaster relief.

“I pray for the victims, and I am spiritually close to those so tried by such a grave calamity,” he said. “For those, I implore God to give them relief from suffering and courage in this adversity.” …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 28, 2009

A cross and swastika are burned at an event called Hated and Proud in Nebraska in July 2008. (Photo credit: Southern Poverty Law Center / CNN)

Obama, Economy Fuel Hate Groups

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that the Southern Poverty Law Center had released its annual hate group report, titled “The Year in Hate.” The study identified 926 hate groups active in 2008 and found that the number of hate groups had grown by 54 percent since 2000.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010, at least 4,379 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,693 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• Army National Guard Capt. Marcus R. Alford, 28, Knoxville, Tenn., died Feb. 21, 2010 in Qayyarah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Louisville, Tenn.
• Army National Guard Chief Warrant Officer Billie J. Grinder, 25, Gallatin, Tenn., died Feb. 21, 2010 in Qayyarah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Louisville, Tenn.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, at least 913 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Latest identifications: 

• Army Pfc. Charles A. Williams, 29, Fair Oaks, Calif., died Feb. 7, 2010 at Camp Nathan Smith, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 97th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, Fort Riley, Kan.
• Army Spc. Bobby J. Pagan, 23, Austin, Texas, died Feb. 13, 2010 in Zhari province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Army Staff Sgt. John A. Reiners, 24, Lakeland, Fla., died Feb. 13, 2010 in Zhari province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Marine Cpl. Jacob H. Turbett, 21, Canton, Mich., died Feb. 13, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Jeremiah T. Wittman, 26, Darby, Mont., died Feb. 13, 2010 in Zhari province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Marine Pfc. Jason H. Estopinal, 21, Dallas, Ga., died Feb. 15, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Sean L. Caughman, 43, Fort Worth, Texas, died Feb. 16, 2010 while supporting operations in Kuwait. Caughman was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Twenty-Two.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Noah M. Pier, 25, Charlotte, N.C., died Feb. 16, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Alejandro J. Yazzie, 23, Rock Point, Ariz., died Feb. 16, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Marine Pfc. Eric D. Currier, 21, Londonderry, N.H., died Feb. 17, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Pfc. Kyle J. Coutu, 20, Providence, R.I., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Kielin T. Dunn, 19, Chesapeake, Va., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Larry M. Johnson, 19, Scranton, Pa., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Sgt. Jeremy R. McQueary, 27, Columbus, Ind., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua H. Birchfield, 24, Westville, Ind., died Feb. 19, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
• Marine Cpl. Gregory S. Stultz, 22, Brazil, Ind., died Feb. 19, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.
• Army Staff Sgt. Michael David P. Cardenaz, 29, Corona, Calif., died Feb. 20, 2010 in Kunar, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher W. Eckard, 30, Hickory, N.C., died Feb. 20, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Adam D. Peak, 25, Florence, Ky., died Feb. 21, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Pfc. J.R. Salvacion, 27, Ewa Beach, Hawaii, died Feb. 21, 2010 at Senjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Read personal details about these service members 

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 23, 2009

Coleman v. Franken Live Coverage

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I featured live coverage of the trial to decide the winner of the Coleman-Franken contest for U.S. Senate, courtesy of The UpTake.

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Helping Nurse an Impaired Water Back to Health

One person can make a difference

Nancy Carver of Rice, Minn., has led by example by restoring her shoreline on Little Rock Lake to native flowers and grasses during the past two years. She is helping educate her neighbors on how to develop restoration plans for their shorelines. (MPCA video)

February 2010

What do you do when you find out your lake has been placed on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) Impaired Waters list? If you were Nancy Carver of Little Rock Lake near Rice, Minn., you would start attending workshops and reading everything you could about restoring your shoreline and helping to make a lake healthy again.

“What I learned was making sure to have a properly working septic system and restoring a natural shoreline were two important things lake home owners could do on their own. My septic system checked out okay so the next step was to make the shoreline environmentally friendly to the lake,” says Nancy. The first things she did were to stop mowing all the way to the shore and plant some new native grasses to develop a buffer to the lake.

With help from her local Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), MPCA, and American Meadows, Nancy learned about more affordable options for natural plantings. Nancy says, “A SWCD manager and a DNR staff person came to my home and found some native flowers and bur reed already starting to grow along my shore. And American Meadows helped me choose more plants native to Central Minnesota and develop a planting plan.

“It was so exciting to see plantings bloom in all the colors and variety of native flowers earlier this summer. And now the bold colors of the fall blooms are beginning to show. I will continue to work on this project until nature takes control.”

Of course with any worthwhile project there are hurdles. Nancy says early on there was resistance among some of her neighbors because it appeared as though she was just ignoring her lawn and making their neighborhood look sloppy. By meeting with her neighbors and explaining her intentions were to create a natural shoreline and do her part to help restore the health of the lake, that resistance turned into acceptance and appreciation. Several of her neighbors are taking her lead and developing plans to restore their shorelines as well.

Nancy says that without the help from the SWCD, DNR, MPCA, “and the muscle and sweat from a wonderful young man named Keith, this project would not have become a reality for me and my lake.”

It is also important to note that without the brains and passion of a wonderful young woman named Nancy Carver, this project would not have become a reality for our environment.

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Related links

Minnesota Water Stories

Little Rock Lake Association

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Related content on this site

Aubrey Immelman meets with Little Rock Lake resident Nancy Carver to discuss water quality issues at Little Rock Lake, July 24, 2008.

Patrick (2) fishing from a constituent’s dock during a campaign swing to Little Rock Lake in Benton County, September 1, 2008. 

Aubrey Immelman listens to Little Rock Lake residents at the Little Rock Lake TMDL Public Meeting and Open House at Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School, July 29, 2008, to learn about water quality issues on Little Rock Lake in Benton County. The main focus of the TMDL project is to mitigate phosphorus, the water quality limiting nutrient responsible for the toxic blue-green algae blooms in the lake.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 21, 2009

Minnesota private college students present their scholarly research in the Capitol rotunda.

Barack Obama’s Leadership Style

Sarah Moore and Angela Rodgers in the Capitol rotunda.

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that two of my student research associates in the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, Sarah Moore and Angela Rodgers, presented their research on “The Personality Profile of President Barack Obama: Leadership Implications” at the 6th annual Minnesota Private Colleges Scholars at the Capitol event, Feb. 19, 2009 in the State Capitol rotunda, St. Paul, Minn.

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Conspiracy theories have long been a fixture on the political landscape, with political paranoia most virulent among politically marginalized sectors of the polity. So, with Democrats holding the reins of power, it stands to reason that the right fringe has become the prime repository of collective craziness.

Newsweek has a handy primer on the current proliferation of political paranoia, but omits mention of conspiracy theorist-in-chief Michele Bachmann, which has been added to Newsweek’s coverage by way of sidebars.

Know Your Conspiracies

Town Hall Face: An unsightly condition caused by unsanitary health-care politics. (Photos: Landov, AP, Getty Images / Newsweek)

By David A. Graham
Newsweek Web Exclusive
February 12, 2010

Excerpts

1. Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

It’s not clear where he must have been born instead: some say Indonesia; some say Kenya (initial suggestions that Hawaiian natives weren’t citizens when he was born in Honolulu in 1961 were quickly dismissed). The point, so-called birthers say, is that he wasn’t born in the good old US of A, hence isn’t a natural-born citizen and therefore cannot legally be president.
Proponents: Chief birther and Beverly Hills dentist and attorney Orly Taitz, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah, Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), former presidential and Senate candidate Alan Keyes, assorted tea partiers.
Kernel of Truth? It’s fully debunked. Forged Kenyan birth certificates have been exposed, and — despite protestations to the contrary — Obama’s birth certificate has been certified by the state of Hawaii, and images have been shown on national television. And that’s leaving aside plenty of circumstantial proof, like birth announcements in both major Hawaiian papers from August 1961.

2. Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax.

[Read more]

Sidebar: A ‘Rash of Lies and Falsehoods’ (April 9, 2009)

3. Goldman Sachs intentionally created the economic crisis.

[Read more]

4. Democrats’ health plan will create death panels.

Part of Barack Obama’s devious plan to reform health insurance will be the creation of panels of experts who will decide whether or not patients are “worth” treating, making them arbiters of life and death.
Proponents: Sarah Palin, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a lot of angry town-hall-meeting attendees.
Kernel of Truth? Palin was apparently referring to a provision of draft legislation that would have funded consultation about end-of-life care. There was and is, however, no plan for rationing care as a cost-cutting measure, and fact-checking outlet PolitiFact named the theory the “Lie of the Year” in 2009.

Sidebar: Bachmann Rebuked for Nazi Image (Nov. 12, 2009)

5. Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.

[Read more]

6. Sarah Palin is not the mother of her 1-year-old son, Trig.

[Read more]

7. ACORN is part of a liberal conspiracy to steal elections.

The coalition of community organizations first came under fire after allegations that members were filing fraudulent voter-registration forms in order to beef up the Democratic vote in the 2008 elections. Pressure heated up after a videotaped sting humiliated the group. 
Proponents: Glenn Beck, conservative commentators Michelle Malkin and Andrew Breitbart, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), unsuccessful N.Y. Conservative Party congressional candidate Doug Hoffman.
Kernel of Truth? The James O’Keefe videos showed questionable conduct at the very least, but neither they nor anything else proves a vast left-wing conspiracy between Democrats and ACORN to steal elections.

Sidebar: ACORN: Bachmann ‘Pants on Fire’ (July 2, 2009)

8. FEMA is establishing detention camps.

The government has quietly made the Federal Emergency Management Agency a shadow government. Even now, FEMA has concentration camps ready across the country to intern American citizens. The idea attracted leftists during the Bush administration and — updated for the Obama administration — now has right-wing adherents.
Proponents: Glenn Beck (briefly), the Internet.
Kernel of Truth? Too silly to discuss.

9. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is trying to infiltrate Capitol Hill and spread jihad.

[Read more]

10. Obama wants to conscript Americans into a civilian defense corps.

The group would be a brownshirtlike organization that would enforce order in the United States.
Proponents: Glenn Beck, Watergate burglar and media personality G. Gordon Liddy, Ann Coulter.
Kernel of Truth? Liberal press watchdog Media Matters says the theory stems from a speech Obama made in which he argued for the importance of the Foreign Service, AmeriCorps, and the Peace Corps. That’s a far cry from an American Gestapo — a claim for which there’s no support.

Sidebar: Bachmann Brainwashing Paranoia (April 8, 2009)

11. Time magazine wants to restrict the Internet to licensed users.

12. 9/11 was an inside job.

[Read more]

Kernel of Truth? Not even the staunchest mainstream George W. Bush bashers believe this one. Enough said.

13. The Omnibus One-World Government, Unified Currency, Dollar-Abolishing, Free Trade-Advocating Theory of Everything.

To make, first reheat old theories about elite organizations that supposedly control various world governments and would like to create a single, unitary, global regime — the Bilderberg Group, the Council of Foreign Relations, and the Trilateral Commission. Add a healthy portion of slightly newer but equally discredited theories about the Amero, a pan-North American currency, and the NAFTA superhighway, a planned thruway from Canada to Mexico said to be six football fields wide. Freshen with the economic-crisis-born idea that Ben Bernanke is trying to destroy the value of the dollar. Add a pinch of tea-party spice from former Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who believes there’s a plan underfoot to have a United Nations guard at every American’s door. The finished product should taste a little like this.
Proponents: Alex Jones, finance blog Zero Hedge, WorldNetDaily, conservative news site NewsMax, Roy Moore.
Kernel of Truth? Eh, sounds plausible to us.

Sidebar: Bachmann Says ‘I’m Not a Kook’ (March 28, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 20, 2009

Iraqi Shoe Hurler Goes on Trial

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush, said at his trial that President Bush’s smile as he talked about achievements in Iraq had made him think of “the killing of more than a million Iraqis, the disrespect for the sanctity of the mosques and houses, the rapes of women,” and enraged him.

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