The military's manpower shortfalls

are putting pressure on some recruiters to, uh, get creative:

"Hey Chris, this is Sgt. Kelt with the Army man. I think we got disconnected. Okay, I know you were on your cell probably and just had a bad connection or something like that. I know you didn't hang up on me. Anyway, by federal law you got an appointment with me at 2 o'clock this afternoon at Greenspoint Mall, okay? That's the Greenspoint Mall Army Recruiting Station at 2 o'clock. You fail to appear and we'll have a warrant. Okay? So give me a call back."

That was a local example. Here's more from the NYT:

Interviews with more than two dozen recruiters in 10 states hint at the extent of their concern, if not the exact scope of the transgressions. Several spoke of concealing mental-health histories and police records. They described falsified documents, wallet-size cheat sheets slipped to applicants before the military's aptitude test and commanding officers who look the other way. And they voiced doubts about the quality of some troops destined for the front lines.

The recruiters insisted on anonymity to avoid being disciplined, but their accounts were consistent, and the specifics were verified in several cases by documents and interviews with military officials and applicants' families.

Yesterday, the issue drew national attention as CBS News reported that a high-school student outside Denver recorded two recruiters as they advised him how to cheat. The student, David McSwane, said one recruiter had told him how to create a diploma from a nonexistent school, while the other had helped him buy a product to cleanse traces of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms from his body. The Army said the recruiters had been suspended while it investigated.

Today the US Army called for a nationwide stand-down on May 20 of all recruiting efforts.

To have every recruiter across America review Army recruiting policies and standards.

Kos has an opinion on why this sort of thing is going on, and it has to do with the culture of lies and cowardice fostered by this President. And his administration.

So when I see things like this, I want to scream.

Not to beat a dead horse (off)

...but I'm still amazed at the missing reaction from the Talibaptists over the First Lady's equine masturbation jokes at the Correspondents Dinner last week.

What are they telling the children?

Personally it sounded like those rascals over at The White House had gotten ahold of her schtick and applied some edit. Oh wait, they did:

THE FIRST LADY: Oh please. Not that old thing again. I just threw up my tequila in my mouth a little. (Weapons of) Mass (Destruction)? I think he got confused when all those Mexican hookers in Tijuana took one look at that thing and said they wished there were "mas." Ladies and gentlemen, we are after all talking about a grown man who still pulls his pants and tighty-whiteys down to his ankles just so he can find his little boy business every time he uses a urinal. (Laughter.)

Boy it sure was difficult

being a Houston sports fan this past weekend.

The Rockets finally gave up on advancing in the NBA playoffs in spectacular fashion, losing to the Dallas Mavericks by 40 points Saturday night. That set a an NBA record for futility in Game 7s. At times this past season the Rockets were a thrill to watch (when their cobbled-together components jelled, such as in Game 6 when they punished the Mavs). At times I just cringed. Maybe a junkyard dog with three-point range, in the body of a 6-10 power forward, will show up in the free agent pool over the summer.

And the Astros lost to the Atlanta Braves 16-0 Sunday afternoon, running their road losing streak to 11 games. Former Astro Mike Hampton applied the beatdown, throwing a two-hitter and hitting a home run.

(Rocket Clemens outdueled AJ Burnett last night for some payback, but the 'Stros really need to start hitting. Berkman's returned so perhaps we'll see some improvement.)

It was more fun watching -- and then reading -- the post-mortem on the "Worst" Kentucky Derby ever.

Moneyshot Quote of the Week

There were some strong contenders, but this week's prize goes to the Reverend Pat Robertson for saying that the threat posed by liberal judges is "probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings."

And when an incredulous George Stephanopoulos asked if the good reverend really believed that these judges posed "the most serious threat America has faced in nearly 400 years of history, more serious than al Qaeda, more serious than Nazi Germany and Japan, more serious than the Civil War?," he responded: "George, I really believe that."

Here's the quote in context, from last Sunday's broadcast of This Week. You can also watch a video snippet of that portion of the interview at the link.

This domestic terrorism being practiced on our nation's judiciary by the religious extremists who control the GOP is really just a warmup -- an air assault in advance of the 'nuclear option' -- for next week's showdown in the Senate.

Armando at Kos has more, including the backstory about the ally of Tom DeLay's who keeps the fire under this hatred burning.

Who do you like in the Derby today?

I'll be leaving shortly to pick up Mom and take her to the casino in Louisiana (hey, it's what she wanted to do), and we'll watch the Kentucky Derby while we're pulling the arms of the bandits.

I perused the morning line and came up with Afleet Alex, High Fly, and Bandini.

You got any picks?