9 FEB 06: IN THE THIRD PLACE

The Commander of the Third Infantry Division went before the Georgia Legislature Wednesday, to report on the latest mission to Iraq. When Bruce Springsteen ended a song at Wednesday night's Grammy Awards by saying, "Bring 'em home" - well, the Commander already did that.

General William Webster gave lawmakers a large number of statistics about the latest mission in Iraq. He said the Third Infantry Division's work led to about 5,000 "insurgency detainees." Talk about political correctness! Whatever happened to "the enemy" - or bad guys?

General William Webster added the Third Infantry Division went on 170,000 patrols during its year in Iraq, including eight "major combat operations." I think this refers to cases where the soldiers actually were expected to use their weapons.

General William Webster told lawmakers the Third Infantry Division's work resulted in the number of car bombs being cut in half. At least, I think that's what he said. He could have meant bombs are cutting cars in half....

Thanks to the Third Infantry Division, General William Webster says there was a "92-percent gain in the number of weapons caches that were found." It's nice that these were found - but is this really good news about Iraq? If the cache count is climbing that much, maybe we need better metal detectors at the border.

(But then again, I remember the Iraqi TV tape shown right before the invasion three years ago - with all sorts of people showing off military weapons. Saddam Hussein certainly believed in the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution....)

When the work of "Task Force Baghdad" ended, General William Webster says 113 aircraft brought soldiers back to Fort Benning and Fort Stewart. This should prove our military knows how to do mathematics. It can't always figure out the lowest prices for supplies, but it can do mathematics.

Members of the Third Infantry Division received a standing ovation from Georgia lawmakers, as they were introduced. Apparently Rep. Cynthia McKinney didn't know this was coming - else she might have stayed an extra day after the Coretta Scott King funeral and booed them.

Even though Third Infantry Division soldiers are home, some dangers remain. WRBL showed a new Better Business Bureau web site Wednesday night which has special cautions for military personnel. For instance: if someone sends e-mail promising a date with Sheryl Crow, be skeptical.

(Pardon the distraction, but should we really be surprised that Lance Armstrong and Sheryl Crow called off the wedding? He visited President Bush's ranch, and got along well with him. She's such a Democrat that she opposed Wal-Mart years before that stand was trendy.)

Now for other quick things from a Wednesday which honestly didn't inspire me to blog very much:

+ WRBL visited The Loft's recording studio, and claimed downtown Columbus hasn't had anything like it before now. Somewhere in town, Robert Carr's jaw must have hit the floor - because he's had a studio for years on Front Avenue, and it's only a three-block walk away.

(In fact, I used Robert Carr's studio to record my CD in 2003. Just because it's on the ground floor of a building and not in the attic, I think it still counts.)

+ The Georgia House approved a bill allowing ordinary citizens to sell bus and rail tokens at face value. These Republican lawmakers imply don't get it. I saved the Super Bowl and Paralympics tokens for some reasons - and they're called capitalism and profitability.

+ John Legend won the Grammy Award for "Best New Artist," over the Georgia country music group Sugarland. Sugarland also failed to win similar honors at the Country Music Association Awards and the American Music Awards. Instead of singing "Looking for Something More," they should look for simply anything.

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