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Im off the hook

From United Press International:

Some US troops question Woodruff coverage

Good. I was worried it was just me who felt that way.

Posted @ January 31, 2006 09:38 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

I’m calling for a unilateral pullout from Iraq

My response to Christianne Amanpour...

This week has finally done it for me. I’ve had enough. The fine reporting of Christine Amanpour and Peter Arnett has finally shown me the error in my ways. How many more young men do we need to lose in Iraq before we get the message? Our people over there are simply not going to win no matter how many people we throw at the problem. It's not like our people over there have been the least bit successful in changing public opinion. The war goes on as if nothing they do matters. We have suffered loss and after loss, kidnapping and death after death and still the war still goes on as if our efforts have had no effect. Its time to pull out.

Of course, I’m not talking about pulling out US Troops, but the reporters and journalists of the Western Media.

After the stunning attack on an Anchorman and his camera operator (which has finally personalized the war in the mind of the great reporters of CNN), it is clear that the enemy has no respect for common decency and the rules of warfare. If they are going to attack a prime time anchorman who was in the process of reporting the ineffectiveness of the Iraqi Army, then I ask you, just who is safe in the face of these barbarians? If they will attack a celebrity journalist, then who amoungst the rest of us is safe? It is time to finally pull our brave journalists out of the Green Zone in Iraq and the bars of Kuwait as they have been wholly unsuccessful in their mission. Despite their valiant efforts, they have failed at every turn. The journalistic efforts in Iraq are nothing less than a complete “quagmire” the likes of which we haven’t seen since the free elections in Nicaragua which threw out the journalists friends the valiant Sandanistas, despite the continued best efforts of celebrity semi-journalists Bianca Jagger and Jackson Browne.

As it turns out, Iraq wasn’t the Vietnam the journalists hoped for, but the Nicaragua they feared it would be.

The best efforts of journalists in Iraq have left them unable to sway opinion of the Jihadi and the American viewing public who regularly discredits them for their elitist leftist bias. It is simply not worth the cost in journalist lives to continue to report from Iraq. For all the risks they take with their reporting, and for all the change in public opinion that it generated, it would have been just as effective had the reporters stayed in Boca Raton and made the whole thing up, which truth be told, many of them did.

Can anyone fault the reporter who refuses to man his station at the International Hotel Bar in Kabul or The Green Zone in Baghad? Well neither can I.

How can any Vice President of Network News ask the last stringer to be the last man to die for another story on Halliburton and its obvious crimes against the Iraqi people when that story can be performed with just as much bias and yet much more safely from Ft. Lee, New Jersey rather than the horrors of the Iraqi desert?

Years of training, vocal cadence, serious eyebrow arching and exotic cosmetic surgery go into making a Network news anchor the finely tuned tool of public opinion that we need them to be. These talents should not be wasted in a lost cause like the war in Iraq. The war is over, and sadly for CNN, the newsmen lost.

It is time to bring the boys home. No more blood for ratings.

( Yeah, I know. I crossed a line somewhere, but tonight after listening to reporter after reporter cry their eyeballs out on this evenings reports about how a "brave fellow reporter got hurt" in light of all the unrecognized bravery and sacrifice of all of our men and women who have given their lives and fought not for ratings but for freedom and democracy, it just made me flip out a little bit. This poor reporting was done while at the same time the men and women who volunteered to serve their country have died in Iraq are given "the stinkeye" by the same news organization. So I'm sorry, the whole thing just got to me a bit. )

Posted @ January 30, 2006 10:53 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (6)

NSA Releases transcript of warrant-less wiretap

The NSA has released a transcript of an intercepted phone call from possible al-queda operative and a domestic phone number. I think this transcript makes clear why some people are so hesitant to have any sort of NSA wiretaps in the US.

SNIP...

Unidentified foreign caller: Uh, hello, is this Stephanie? It’s Dr. Z, how are you my darling? Say, is my man Howard in the house?

1st Domestic receiver: Oh yes Dr. Z its good to hear you are doing ok. Let me put you right through.

Unidentified foreign caller: Oh, Thank you dear. And my wife would like me to tell you that your Banana Bread recipe was wonderful and we thank you. Allah be praised, you will be last up against the wall when the Jihad finally comes to America.

1st Domestic receiver: Oh why thank you Dr. Z, I really do appreciate that.

< Call transferred. >

2nd Domestic receiver: Hello? Howard here.

Unidentified foreign caller: Howard?, Dr. Z here. How are you my friend?

2nd Domestic receiver: How am I? I’m broke that’s how I am. You’d think that someone on my staff would have had the sense to trademark that damn “yelp” I let out on the campaign for a little extra cash, but no. Damn socialists never miss a chance to lose money.

Unidentified foreign caller: Don’t I know it. Say listen Howard; I need you to help me "pump up" this little Jihad video I have to make in a few minutes. Your man George went and totally wrecked my summer house in Waziristan last week, and I have to respond or the “band of brothers” here will start to think I’m weak or something.

2nd Domestic receiver: Yeah, what happened with that?

Unidentified foreign caller: Hey, how do I know, we just about had the fondue ready to go, Ali had the pot of cheese boiling real good and so I get up to go take a leak and I’m walking out to the outhouse and BOOM! up goes the whole house in a flash! At first I thought it was just a bad can of propane but when the Predator began doing barrel rolls overhead, I knew it was one of those infernal killer robots you guys created.

2nd Domestic receiver: Buddy, that was close. You’re ok though, right?

Unidentified foreign caller: Oh sure, I just moved in with the old ladies mother for a bit, you know she’s an old nag, but she’s nice enough I guess. She keeps the beer on ice, cooks the lamb a little spicy for my tastes, but she doesn’t fall to the floor and yell “PREDATOR!!!” every time someone starts a lawnmower like Ali and the boys used to do.

2nd Domestic receiver: Ok lay it on me Z-man. I gotta rush this one out with you because “Teddy and the boys” are in the Senate right now putting a new face on the phrase “pointless, pathetic and impotent” which as you know, has become the new catchphrase party motto around here, and I have to get some sort of face saving press release out or the old ladies wont send us any more money. Nobody loves a loser, you know what I mean?

Unidentified foreign caller: Oh man. Howard I just have to say, every time I think I’m hosed, I just have to look at your situation and I get myself cheered right up. You are so screwed man!

2nd Domestic receiver: Yeah, keep a cot in the cave open for me; I think I’m going to need it.

Unidentified foreign caller: Ok, so let me ask you, does "Butcher Bush" sound worse than “Bush the Bumbler”.

2nd Domestic receiver: hmmm, tough call. We sort of wore out our knees with the “Bumbler Bush” thing and we never got anywhere with it so you probably want to go with “Bush the Butcher” but knowing that guy, he’ll turn it into some “badge of honor”.

Unidentified foreign caller: He sucks doesn’t he? He just drives me crazy.

2nd Domestic receiver: He does suck, and he drives ME crazy. I can’t believe I’m losing to that guy.

Unidentified foreign caller: Dude, you lost to Kerry.

2nd Domestic receiver: Do you want my help or don’t you?

Unidentified foreign caller: Oh sorry. Sore point. I didn’t mean to go there…

End Snip...

Posted @ January 30, 2006 04:48 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)

New Blog Goodness

On Tap: Not Looking out for you since 2006.

I've always said that a good blog is like a well run party. This blog is more like a well run bar.

In a seedy part of town.

With the local mafiosa holding court at a table in the backroom.

The kind of bar you have to visit 10 times to be told that there are pool tables in the backroom. Funny thing is, you didnt even know there was a backroom.

Where the entire bar goes silent and everyone stops to look at you when you come through the door because, well you just dont belong in here sonny...

Posted @ January 30, 2006 09:02 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

Let the Caterwauling begin

This just in from AP:
snip...

The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show. In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife."

...end snip.

I'm floored by the simplicity and genius of this tactic. But dont you just know that the left is just going wet themselves over this. (ed note: so it works on two levels! how cool is that!)

Oh, and dont you just love how they make a case about how we "locked up the young mother of a nursing baby..." Yes we did, you idiots!, its called "Child Protective Services" and every City and State government in America does this.

Posted @ January 27, 2006 01:52 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Det. Harry Callahan Explains "The Bush Doctrine"

From the 1971 Eastwood police thriller "Dirty Harry" we see the following scenes of "clarity" to help us illustrate the core of the Bush Doctrine.

Scene 1: Harry is getting a dressing-down for his most recent arrest, where he tortured a psychotic killer so that he would reveal the location of a kidnap victim. The victim is found in the revealed location but by the time the police arrive, she is dead.

District Attorney Rothko: You're lucky I'm not indicting you for assault with intent to commit murder.
Harry Callahan: What?
District Attorney Rothko: Where the hell does it say that you've got a right to kick down doors, torture suspects, deny medical attention and legal counsel? Where have you been? Does Escobedo ring a bell? Miranda? I mean, you must have heard of the Fourth Amendment. What I'm saying is that man had rights.
Harry Callahan: Well, I'm all broken up over that man's rights!

Later in the same movie, Harry has to explain why he shot a man.

Harry Callahan: Well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That's my policy.
The Mayor: Intent? How did you establish that?
Harry Callahan: When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross!

The Mayor(to the DA): He's got a point.

If Hollywood got it in 1971,why cant it get it in 2005? Hollywood should also take notice that unlike Syriana, Dirty Harry made money for its producers. Coincidence? I think not...

Posted @ January 27, 2006 10:43 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

John Kerry on the law

As of late, Senator Kerry has been running off the mouth about how "President Bush has clearly broken the law" in regards to the use of the NSA in gathering intelligence against terrorists that are domestically based.

I just remembered that prior to his current job, Senator Kerry was a Prosecutor in Massachusets.

Why do I bring it up? What's the chance that Kerry used the very same methods to fight crime in massachusets that he now is vigorously against President Bush doing against al-queda agents?

Oh, it gets better, Kerry wrote a book called "The New War" where he goes on and on and on about how we should really fight the war against international crime.

I once suffered through a review of it and I wrote about it here.

I'm going to go back in and see what the 'boston foghorn' has to say about surveilance. If you dont hear from me in a week, call for an ambulance.

Posted @ January 26, 2006 04:03 PM | Kerry File | Comments (3)

Hamas Election

What do I think about the Palestinian Election?

Peoples Front of Judea or Judean Peoples Front?

Hamas or Fatah, can anyone give me a dimes worth of difference between the two? If you can't either then nothing has really changed. I am happy that they have managed to have an election. But elections and free societies as Venezuelans will agree are two different things.

Ladies and gentleman, in times of controversy where you cant quite seem to make sense to the world, I point you to the first "Rule of The Bush Doctrine":

If you are a terrorist, or if you harbor terrorists, we shall make no distinction.

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Hamas-istan!

And as a result, I think this is a good thing. The problem with al-queda is we've never had a country called al-quedastan to directly attack, so we always have to go through these proxies to get to the real enemy,but you see with Hamas now formally in charge of Palestine, its "one stop shopping".

You see, you can sit around and pretend that the bad actors are just a bunch of criminals that you can't stop but you cant do that if they are in the government. At that point, you are one and the same.

Is it an indictment of the idea behind democracy in the middle east? not at all. Democracy is not perfect and its not meant to be, but Democracy is accountable. "The People" are free to make choices but they are also to be held accountable for their actions,both good or bad. You cant elect Hamas and pretend you didnt know they meant to take you to war, thats precisely WHY you elected them. You cant play the victim if you have a crowbar and a molotov cocktail in your hands.You is the victim-izer baby!

The Germans once elected Hitler and the Nazis via a Democratic election. They knew what they were getting for their ballot. They also paid the price for that democratic decision. After it was settled up, they returned to Democracy, even with the possible risk of the "Nazi Problem" happening all over again.

Democracy for all its faults was still better than the alternative not because it could avoid "the next hitler", but because it was accountable.

Hamas has simply removed its own human shield from its arsenal. Nice move, jackasses.

Posted @ January 26, 2006 10:23 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (5)

What crossed my mind...

On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy announced what would come to be known to history as the Cuban Missile crisis. It was a sober and direct message explaining to the American people the direct, specific and dangerous actions that were being taken by the enemy against this country and an outline of what our country would expect in response from the russians. It was a serious time, handled by serious people. During this mornings Press Conference with President Bush, the following scenario crossed my mind:

What if President Kennedy faced this lame-assed Press Corp that we have today, during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

What follows is how that might have played out.

...Snip
JFK:My fellow citizens: let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can see precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead -- months in which our patience and our will will be tested -- months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.
The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are -- but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high -- and Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that Is the path of surrender or submission.
Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right -- not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.
Thank you and good night.

Reporter: President Kennedy – a few questions if you please?

JFK: Certainly, you there, second row.

Reporter: Sir, can you please clarify for us your relationship, if there is one, with Marilyn Monroe?

JFK: I thought we were going to talk about Cuba? Can we stay on subject here? Marilyn is a great artist and a friend of the family. Next question.

Reporter: Sir, about your health. Some White House sources say that your back condition is much more serious than you have revealed publically, is there any truth to that?

JFK: Cuba gentleman, Cuba. Atomic Missiles 90 miles away?, can we please stay on topic here hmmm?. Ok, next question.

Reporter: Sir, many pundits have opined that “Jackie” is spending far too much in the renovation of the White House, do you care to comment on that?

JFK: First, its Mrs. Kennedy, not “Jackie” and second, for Gods sake gentleman, can we please focus?

Reporter: Sir, There have been allegations of direct ties to the mafia to a close friend of yours, an entertainer known as Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra. You have even been seen publically with him with on several occasions. Several reporters have also noted that he has been an active financial supporter of your administration, including running many fund raising efforts that netted several hundred thousand dollars for your presidential campaign. Sir, are these allegations true and will you now formerly denounce the mafia and your association with it and will you return the money he raised?

JFK: Did the microphone not work? Did anyone in this room hear me just a few minutes ago discuss the serious fix we are in here? Global Thermonuclear War?. Toe to Toe with the Russkies? Does that ring a bell? It's serious folks, I'm not joking.

Reporter: Sir, the Republicans say that every time your administration runs into trouble with its domestic programs that you overplay the threat from the Russians in a bald attempt to improve your sagging ratings. Is there any truth to that allegation?

JFK: un-freaking-believable.

Reporter: Many people, such as Vaughn Meader and Gore Vidal, think you sound funny when you talk. When you say “CUBA” you sound like you are really saying “CUBER”, is that a result of your your rich upbringing or are you just, well how do I put this gingerly... ignorant? Apparently when you spoke in Berlin, you also mistakenly announced in german that you “were a doughnut” making yourself the object of mockery to the German press. Do you care to comment?

JFK: ok, I'm outta here.

Reporter: Sir, when will you apologize for your short sighted speech in Berlin which unnecessarily inflamed tensions with the Russians?

End Snip...

Posted @ January 26, 2006 09:06 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

Fisking Osama

From todays message from Osama. I Hereby Commit "A Fisking".

The Transcript taken from the BBC Translation page.

My comments are in Bold...

My message to you is about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the way to end it.

Well now, that’s interesting. Saying “way to end it” is significantly different that pounding on your chest and talking about victory.

I had not intended to speak to you about this issue, because, for us, this issue is already decided on: diamonds cut diamonds.

Diamonds cut diamonds? What the hell does that mean? Either A) We (Bush and I) are both strong warriors or B) Only I am strong enough to take on the great Satan. Which one is it? I don’t know. But lets listen for other signs of what’s going on behind the scenes.

Praise be to God, our conditions are always improving and becoming better, while your conditions are to the contrary of this.

He’s talking to us now. He’s setting the stage.

However, what prompted me to speak are the repeated fallacies of your President Bush in his comment on the outcome of the US opinion polls, which indicated that the overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of the forces from Iraq, but he objected to this desire and said that the withdrawal of troops would send a wrong message to the enemy.

Osama apparently is a subscriber to the New York Times. I think the war would be over tomorrow if the man had a laptop, internet access and a blog aggregator.He is watching us, and its his opinion that we are a divided group.

Bush said: It is better to fight them on their ground than they fighting us on our ground.
In my response to these fallacies, I say: The war in Iraq is raging, and the operations in Afghanistan are on the rise in our favour, praise be to God.
And I say to you Osama, you didn’t answer your own question. If we are fighting in Iraq, is that not what Bush set out to do, and you have yet to stop us from doing?

The Pentagon figures indicate the rise in the number of your dead and wounded, let alone the huge material losses, and let alone the collapse of the morale of the soldiers there and the increase in the suicide cases among them.
Don’t’cha dig it when Osama talks in Washington-speak? “Pentagon figures”? Who talks like that? More importantly, note that he talks about the “huge material losses” and the “collapse of morale”. Again, someone is getting a monthly DNC newsletter with a hand written “thank you for your contribution” note attached to it.

So, just imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts the soldier while collecting the remnants of his comrades' dead bodies after they hit mines, which torn them. Following such situation, the soldier becomes between two fires. If he refuses to go out of his military barracks for patrols, he will face the penalties of the Vietnam butcher, and if he goes out, he will face the danger of mines.
Well Osama, why don't you try to imagine this; a “friend” invites you to dinner in the next village and just as you sit down to eat, the next thing you know the building explodes around you as a missile fired from a flying robotic drone that’s been watching your every move for weeks flies unfettered overhead. Or how about this for size, how about living in a cave with goats and rats for 3 years while US Army Sharpshooters sit 3 miles away with 50 caliber rifles and shoot anything to goes in or out of it; or how about hunkering down under the barrage sent down from an AC-130 Gunship. How about being forced to send badly recorded audio tapes to Al-Jazaera from payphones in Peshawar to get your message out while the average slacker in the western world can send a post halfway around the world without leaving his sofa. How about waking up every day and seeing contrails in the sky, knowing that not one of them will ever be from planes controlled by you and yours? How about losing and losing and losing for 5 long years, not just Afghanistan, but Iraq, and Lebanon and Libya? How’s that feel anyway? Hey, what does Napalm smell like anyway? Does it really smell like victory like they say? Well it probably doesn’t when it gets dumped on you, now does it. Hows that for "imagining the state of psychological breakdown?"

So, he is between two bitter situations, something which puts him under psychological pressure - fear, humiliation, and coercion. Moreover, his people are careless about him. So, he has no choice but to commit suicide.

Yes, of course. Just like all those Marines that all committed suicide around the Baghdad airport when they were slaughtered by the thousands by the Great Saddam, ah yes “Stalingrad on the Tigris”, I remember it well.

What you hear about him and his suicide is a strong message to you, which he wrote with his blood and soul while pain and bitterness eat him up so that you would save what you can save from this hell. However, the solution is in your hand if you care about them.

This dear reader, is just plain weird. He really REALLY thinks things are going spectacularly bad for us. There’s an old management saying about “ the fish rots from the head down” and I think it applies here. I wonder if Osama is suffering from his people giving him the information that he wants to hear because he does not allow anyone around him to give him contrary information which he may find upsetting. An interesting dynamic to study in Business School; “ The culture and management of an International Terrorist Cadre”.

The news of our brother mujahideen, however, is different from what is published by the Pentagon.

Oh, of course it is! Because “The Pentagon” goes out of its way to rarely, if ever, discuss enemy casualties except at the periphery of the story. “Would that it were” that the Pentagon would start to publish the actual numbers of Jihadis that are killed in battle. Notice he says “The Pentagon”, as if it were in charge of and controlled the spread of information. This is a fundamental misunderstanding that many many people make about how our system works.

This news indicates that what is carried by the news media does not exceed what is actually taking place on the ground. What increases doubts on the information of the White House's administration is its targeting of the news media, which carry some facts about the real situation.

Neither of these sentences makes any sense, so I’m assuming that its some form of translation anomaly. I think he’s upset about the media,. (Get in line pal…) yet he uses opinion polls in the media to reinforce his statements about how things are going.

Documents have recently showed that the butcher of freedom in the world [US President Bush] had planned to bomb the head office of al-Jazeera Space Channel in the state of Qatar after he bombed its offices in Kabul and Baghdad, although despite its defects, it is [Al-Jazeera] one of your creations.

Again with the “Document have recently showed”? Who talks like that? Michael Moore talks like that, Harry Reid talks like that, Sean Penn talks like that, and now apparently so does Osama! Now what’s he talking about, he’s talking about the now discredited account of the US wanting to bomb the Al-Jazeera headquarters. This is significant because it gives us a good timeline for when he was alive to hear that message. I like the mental image the phrase “butcher of freedom”. Somehow I think that Osama thinks “Bush The Butcher” deals strictly in pork products.

Jihad is continuing, praise be to God, despite all the repressive measures the US army and its agents take to the point where there is no significant difference between these crimes and those of Saddam.

Wow. Saddam committed Crimes? Shhh. Don’t tell Ramsey Clark!

These crimes include the raping of women and taking them hostage instead of their husbands. There is no power but in God.

Maybe “Rape” doesn’t translate across very well here. Because I remember the way they were repeatedly "raped" by being forced to vote in elections for the first time ever. I remember how they were "raped" by taking city council seats for the first time ever. I remember how they were "raped" by becoming full citizens of their country instead of glorified farm animals like you would like them to be, oh great and mighty Osama.

The torturing of men has reached the point of using chemical acids and electric drills in their joints. If they become desperate with them, they put the drill on their heads until death.

Note to self: Buy more 'Black and Decker' stock right away.

If you like, read the humanitarian reports on the atrocities and crimes in the prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

Oh and rest assured Osama, we will! You see we here in the “decadent West” CAN read! We can also disagree without fear for our lives. And get this buddy, EVEN OUR WOMEN CAN READ! Let's try that with the people you pretend to protect, shall we? Whats the Arab Muslim world at for percentage of the population being literate? What, 2 out of 10? Oh, I know, the numbers go up if you don’t include women. Well you see pal,that’s the thing, we do include women. We include them so much in our lives that one of the "terrible terrible people" who did the "torture" at Abu Ghraib was also a woman. And the commander, yeah, you got it - a Woman. You want to do something for Islam? Try opening a school to teach people how to read, like weve been doing in Iraq and Afghanistan for example, instead of trying to kill everyone who doesnt agree with you.

You remember "women" dont'cha Osama? Those are the things your pals in the Taliban used to take out for target practice in the Kabul Stadium back in the "salad days" of the Jihad. Ah, those were the days, werent they? Go head and talk to me about “Humanitarianism”, see if I care. When the word pops out of the mouth of a butchering madman like yourself, its like getting dating tips from Ted Bundy. I notice we didn’t have to elbow you out of the way to help Muslims after the Tsunami. What?, you could even send a crate of bottled water to your fellow Muslims? Shame on you. Be a man and admit you dropped the ball on that one. Chalk it up to Allahs will and all that.

I say that despite all the barbaric methods, they have failed to ease resistance, and the number of mujahideen, praise be to God, is increasing.

And they are also dying in increasing numbers, more and more at the hands of other Arabs who hate your guys even more than they hate us "decadent infidels", but we'll get to that later.

In fact, reports indicate that the defeat and devastating failure of the ill-omened plan of the four - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz - and the announcement of this defeat and working it out, is only a matter of time, which is to some extent linked to the awareness of the American people of the magnitude of this tragedy.

Apparently Osama voted for Gore.

The wise ones know that Bush has no plan to achieve his alleged victory in Iraq.

You mean the plan where he takes an Army of 150,000 men 400 miles across a desert and two rivers in hostile enemy country, captures intact a "Key Capital City of the Arab Muslim" world; which immediately causes Libya to give up its Nuclear programs out of fear of the same thing happening to them and also allows Lebanon to overthrow its Syrian overlords, then goes on to helps the Iraqis create a secular modern Democracy all without the help of the UN and then he manages to gets re-elected afterwards, all while having the fastest expanding American economy since 1945?

Yeah, that all happened by accident. Happenstance. Kismet. Karma even.

Saddam was on his way out anyway and would have gone fast if we had only left him alone. Democracy in the middle east was well under way until Bush came in and muddied the water with all this talk of "victory". The Taliban?, poorly understood young men of society who are actually very similar to our own Jaycees. They only wanted what was best for Muslims. Their methods might have been poor, but they "meant well". Feh...

If you compare the small number of the dead when Bush made that false and stupid show-like announcement from an aircraft carrier on the end of the major operations, to many times as much as this number of the killed and injured, who fell in the minor operations, you will know the truth in what I am saying, and that Bush and his administration do not have neither the desire nor the will to withdraw from Iraq for their own dubious reasons.

Wow. It finally hit me why Bush went into Iraq. Bush went into Iraq just because it bugs the living crap out of Osama. Jealousy – thy name is Osama. Hey, you dont have any of those Aircraft Carrier thingies to make your own "false and stupid show-like announcements" from do you? Oh thats a shame, because we have 12. Basically, we have one for every month of the year and they have nothing to do every-single-day but look for your skanky goat loving ass.

To go back to where I started, I say that the results of the poll satisfy sane people and that Bush's objection to them is false.

Can you dig that! He sounds like Kerry getting upset about the Ohio Exit Poll Projections versus the actual counts of the votes! Next thing you know, he’s going to start talking about how “We need to investigate voting in Ohio”

Reality testifies that the war against America and its allies has not remained confined to Iraq, as he claims.

You are right, it also goes into Lebanon (which you lost) Afghanistan (which you lost) Pakistan (which you lost) Kuwait (which you lost) United Arab Emirates (which you lost), Qatar ( which you lost), Indonesia (Which you lost), Libya (which you lost)

In fact, Iraq has become a point of attraction and recruitment of qualified resources.

That’s true, apparently Election Poll watchers and vote tabulators in Iraq is now the fastest expanding area of employment.

On the other hand, the mujahideen, praise be to God, have managed to breach all the security measures adopted by the unjust nations of the coalition time and again.

and once they do "breach Security Measures" they are often promptly killed, en masse. I wonder if Osama wants to publish his recruitment and retention figures like the US Army does. I wonder if Slate will do a nice “why our troops are dolts” piece for Osamas highly qualified Mujahdeen?

The evidence of this is the bombings you have seen in the capitals of the most important European countries of this aggressive coalition.

One – Spain. 300 killed. Spain elections go towards socialist who like all socialists, immediately surrenders.

Two – London. Impact to war - Zip. Hard to threaten people with a few sticks of C-4 when they have been bombed from the air by Hitler for 6 years and the IRA for 70 years.

This, is what he points to as a "success". I might consider calling it a "Jihadi quagmire" but that would be mean.

As for the delay in carrying out similar operations in America, this was not due to failure to breach your security measures.

Oh of course not. It was due to his deep and personal love for the people of America that caused the delay.

Operations are under preparation, and you will see them on your own ground once they are finished, God willing.

We are watching. We are listening and every single day we get closer to capturing your coal black soul, you’ll know its us by the whoosh of the helicopter blades over your head. Sleep well...

Based on the above, we see that Bush's argument is false. However, the argument that he avoided, which is the substance of the results of opinion polls on withdrawing the troops, is that it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land and for them not to fight us on our land.

Opinion Polls? We talk Missiles, firepower, boots on the ground. He talks about how “Well, The New York Times Sez…” He sounds like fricken Maureen Dowd.

We do not object to a long-term truce with you on the basis of fair conditions that we respect.

Now we come to the whole point of this entire message. Truce.

He is not offering it to us, but if we were to lighten up and offer it to him, he says he would agree not to kill us anymore.

We are a nation, for which God has disallowed treachery and lying.

However, Allahs support of genocidal tyrants and butchery of civilians is considered perfectly "ok".

In this truce, both parties will enjoy security and stability and we will build Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed by the war.

Second time he says "truce". You leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ll say this for Osama, he says “Afghanistan” more than Democrats do.

There is no defect in this solution other than preventing the flow of hundreds of billions to the influential people and war merchants in America, who supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars.
Howard Dean, Call your Office. Someone stole your blackberry.

Hence, we can understand the insistence of Bush and his gang to continue the war.
Future News Flash – Bush announces intent to Run for 3rd term. Osama found in garage with door closed and car running.

If you have a genuine will to achieve security and peace, we have already answered you.

Translation: please stop hurting me. Our Response? to put another shift on where those fancy flying robot killers are made.

If Bush declines but to continue lying and practicing injustice [against us], it is useful for you to read the book of "The Rogue State", the introduction of which reads: If I were a president, I would halt the operations against the United States.

I’m already looking this up on Amazon. This is amazing. Is he talking about the Chomsky Book “Rogue States”. Oh wouldn’t THAT be precious! Osama writes liner notes to Chomskys next book!

First, I will extend my apologies to the widows, orphans, and the persons who were tortured. Afterwards, I will announce that the US interference in the world's countries has ended for ever. But more importantly...

I note again the need for this question, Is Osama actually jealous of Bush?

Finally, I would like to tell you that the war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever as the wind blows in this direction with God's help.

Well clearly something "blows" here, but its not the wind if you catch my drift.

If you win it, you should read the history. We are a nation that does not tolerate injustice and seek revenge forever.

You might win, but you will still lose because then we can win. Psychotic.

Days and nights will not go by until we take revenge as we did on 11 September, God willing, and until your minds are exhausted and your lives become miserable and things turn [for the worse], which you detest.

News Flash Osama: 5 years into the war - Dow at 11,000. GDP 3.5% Sales of SUVs at all time high. Wealth of Americans at its all time highest levels in history. Biggest American complaint so far is the lack of content for HDTV and a discernable plot of ABC's "Lost".

As for us, we do not have anything to lose. The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain. You have occupied our land, defiled our honour, violated our dignity, shed our blood, ransacked our money, demolished our houses, rendered us homeless, and tampered with our security. We will treat you in the same way.

But, I thought we were losing? If we have done all that and you haven’t stopped us, how could we be losing? And “tampered with our security” doesn’t belong on the list. Its like saying ‘ you burned down my house, killed my family, raped my dog, and dammit, you left the refrigerator door open.

You tried to deny us the decent life, but you cannot deny us a decent death. Refraining from performing jihad, which is sanctioned by our religion, is an appalling sin. The best way of death for us is under the shadows of swords.

Well, we only carry swords for fancy dinner parties; however if you would like to die in a hail of depleted uranium shells, please make an appointment with the United States Air Force for one of their fine aircraft to render you into fertilizer at the first possible opportunity.

Do not be deluded by your power and modern weapons. Although they win some battles, they lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are better than them. What is important is the outcome.

For once in my life, I agree with Osama.

We have been tolerant for 10 years in fighting the Soviet Union with our few weapons and we managed to drain their economy.

Dude, We are not the Soviet Union. You might notice that we beat them too, only we didn’t get ground into paste doing it like you did.

They became history, with God's help.
And a little nudge from Ronald Reagan thankyouverymuch oh and about 500,000 steely-eyed Members of US Armed Services.

You should learn lessons from that. We will remain patient in fighting you, God willing, until the one whose time has come dies first. We will not escape the fight as long as we hold our weapons in our hands.

And we will keep living and expanding our influence around the world, while you and your hillbilly cousins have a reach that expands only to the range of your rifles. We build cities, spaceships and little tiny telephones. You build coffins and over the last 5 years you build them increasingly only for yourselves.

I swear not to die but a free man even if I taste the bitterness of death. I fear to be humiliated or betrayed.

Humiliated, like say the humiliation of Saddam? Or Humilated Like Al-libbi?, or Khalid Shiek Mohammed? Please be specific because we are measuring your cell for curtains as we speak.

Peace be upon those who follow guidance.

Die, you gravy sucking pig.

UPDATE: Rogue State By Blum, Not Chomsky. Blum, in all his leftist America hating glory protested againt our attack on Afghanistan. This cat goes way back in the land of leftist hate of America. Where is there a connection between Osama and the left? Well Osama just gave it to us, Osama apparently subscribes to the Mother Jones' Book of the Month Club. When you hear Osama bleat, its to a tune written by Marx( Karl, not Groucho).

Posted @ January 19, 2006 05:24 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (9)

Station HYPO

I'm parsing the latest intercept from Osama.
To survive the process of reading and interpreting this indecipherable gibberish, I'm channeling the spirit of Joe Rochefort

A few quick thoughts:

1. He's still alive.

2. Who is he talking to and why?

3. I haven't seen Michael Moore around in awhile and most of this stuff reads like the liner notes to the directors cut of "Farenheit 9/11", Coincidence?

Be Back Later...

Posted @ January 19, 2006 12:23 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Quickies

1. A picture is worth a thousand words. Exhibit A:

In this photo released by China's Xinhua new agency, Chinese President Hu Jintao, right, shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, left, at Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Tuesday January 17, 2006. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told China's president he is committed to a peaceful resolution of the standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions as he wrapped up a weeklong, secrecy-shrouded trip to his last major ally. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Rao Aimin)

Who is smiling in this picture? and who looks like he has a live ferret jammed into his shorts? It tells you everything you need to know about what has been going on with our Mr. Kim.

From ABC.com

quote:
Kim's trip ended the same day the main U.S. nuclear envoy was in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials over the nuclear issue. News reports said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill also talked with his North Korean counterpart, but Hill made no mention of any such meeting, and said no date had been set for the arms negotiations to resume.

During Kim's visit, North Korea and China "unanimously agreed to consistently maintain the stand of seeking a negotiated peaceful solution" to the nuclear issue, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported.
However, Kim also mentioned "difficulties" facing the talks. The North has refused to return to the negotiations unless Washington ends financial sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's alleged illegal activities. U.S. officials have rejected the demand, saying the matter is a criminal issue unrelated to the nuclear talks.
In September, the North agreed to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and security guarantees. Talks have been stalled ever since.

"Difficulties" translates into english as "Counterfeiting" and "Drug Smuggling", which the Bush Administration has recenty brought to a standstill and is causing great economic distress in Mr. Kims Playground.

2. Jim "Will leak for lucre" Risen. I wonder if he can get Judy millers lawyer at a discount since it will be the same sort of case. Tom Maguire - Call your Office!

3. Hello? Yes, Can I speak to the President of Pontiac Motors? Could you tell him I think I've found a sure fire way to sell the Pontiac Aztek"? Yes I'll hold.

heck, with that kind of promotion, you could even sell the AMC Pacer.

Posted @ January 18, 2006 10:08 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

A day in the life of...

One cold February day in 1942, a group of Navy men who had been working at a shipbuilder in New Jersey stopped for a moment and had a photograph taken. On this day, a ship they had worked hard to bring into the Navy was finally completed.

It was a simple picture, one snap, a flash, and off they went about the business of their day, one moment of commemoration and camaraderie mixed into the deadly serious business of preparing for war. Chairs folded, hands shook, congratulations all around and it was over. It was a simple human moment in time captured in chemicals, stored on a small piece of film stock, coated in a light sensitive emulsion and rolled up tightly in a camera. For its time, this technology was considered the highest of “high tech”. Today, it conspired to perform a miracle.

Later on in the day, the photographer would have stood alone in a little darkroom under a red light, dressed in his rubber smock wearing protective rubber gloves as he began to work with his film and the transforming chemical agents to conjure out the darkness a photograph that would reveal for the viewer the simple moment captured by the lens on that long ago day and time; just a group of servicemen gathered together in a room in a Shipyard in wartime New Jersey, sharing the simple pride and patriotism of their work with no more historical significance than that to anyone but them.

It was a cold time in history for Americans and a cold time for the world. The entire world was at war, no one was safe and it was far from settled on how it would all turn out. The picture was of a moment taken on a day when the future was very much at question. To the men in this picture, the future is still yet to be seen, while to us; its history.

On the day that picture was taken 90 days after the start of the war, other men were still working to repair the shattered fleet in Pearl Harbor where for Americans, the war started. Other men were fighting the losing battles of the Philippines and those who would survive through all of it would have their fate sealed in the Bataan Death march. The early planning for what would eventually become the “Doolittle Raid on Tokyo” was still being worked out stateside in Florida and the pivotal battles of Guadalcanal and Midway that would occur later that year had not yet happened. To us, its history and its outcome is as certain as the rise of the Sun tomorrow morning, but to all of the men in this picture, nothing is certain and their fate is in the hands of the men and women who work in the factories, the shipyards, the docks of what little remained at that time of the free world. The war at this point is not going well for our side and we have a long way to go before it is a settled issue. Before the war is over 52 million people world-wide would lose their life in the war that by this point has already been underway since 1939.

I have never seen this picture before today, and yet this picture has a direct and deeply personal connection to me. There it was; a simple black and white group photograph taken by someone I don’t know; here it was staring back at me on a web page made of html, hosted on servers sitting in another State and transmitted over phone lines across the country and finally displayed on a plasma screen in my office. “High tech” has moved along in the years since the photograph was itself “ high tech”.

There - seated on the bottom row, on the far right side sits a person who to me is the most deeply influential person I have ever known. He is, to me the very definition of ‘hero’, but he is also something else, something much more personal.

The man seated on the far right side in the bottom row is Chief C. N. Martin.

He is my grandfather.

While I was aware through family legend and tales that he told me that he was there that day in 1942 to see the USS Fletcher get underway, there were no photographs in our family to commemorate the event.

That is, until now.

He was my fathers father, he was my grandfather and my sons great-grandfather and every time I look in the mirror, I have always seen a little bit of him reflected back at me. But today, a missing photograph taken long ago shows up on the Internet and a man I once knew and will always love is now staring back at me.

He sits in a room in New Jersey, while a young ensign sits next to him who cant be as old as the number of years my grandfather had at that time already served in the Navy. I know exactly what my grandfather is thinking without being told, it’s as if I can read his mind from across the years.

Dont worry sir, just stick by me and everything is going to be just fine. And sir, please dont touch anything. I dont want you going and getting hurt on my watch, it wouldnt look good on my record if a new Navy ensign was to go home without all of his fingers.

My grandfather stood "black watch". He did not suffer fools lightly of any rank. He loved The Fletcher Destroyers and he loved the Navy. He served in the Navy until 1961.

And just so you know, in this picture he is smiling...

The world to be and the war itself are out in front of him and the other men of the crew of the USS Fletcher. History is out in front of them. At the time this picture is taken, his family is living safely in Gardena California. The great 30 million person megopolis of Los Angeles of which Gardena is now just a small part of, is yet to be. At the time this photograph is taken, my father is 4 years old, my is uncle 12 years old and my aunts, 11 and 10 years old. They are all young children underfoot of my grandmother Agnes. Today out of all of his children, only one of my aunts survives while over 40 of his grand and great-grand children now live carry out his legacy. Over the years, I’ve watched as each of us, his children and grandchildren lives their lives, ages, grows old and sometimes dies, but in this picture that future and all that it brings with it is still way out there. As a matter of fact, I am still out there somewhere, still yet to be.

Only the fragmentary memories held by myself and by my cousins remain to serve as the memorial to him and his generation. We only have our memories and a few scattered photographs on which to commemorate a lifetime of effort, a lifetime of little miracles and stolen moments and little victories. And now it seems there is one more photograph to add. One photograph, that until today we knew nothing about.

The universe conspires to remind you of how really precious are the little miracles that happen every day in our life. They are what make us who and what we are and one should never fail to be humbled by them when they happen to us.

Today, I am deeply humbled.

( my deep thanks to the folks at www.destroyersonline.com for preserving this small fragment in the history of my life and my family. )

Posted @ January 17, 2006 09:35 PM | History file | Comments (5)

Subliminal Man

Oh Goody!, Al Gore is on a day pass from the 'Institute for the very-very nervous' and is talking publically again! It must be part of "Karl Rove evil plan" to ensure that the Republicans keep the House this year, because there is no better person to start talking about how bad the other guys ethics are than former Vice President Albert 'No Controlling legal authority" R. Gore.

From a Krauthammer article from 1997:

"Controlling legal authority." Whatever other legacies Al Gore leaves behind between now and retirement, he forever bequeaths this newest weasel word to the lexicon of American political corruption.

Bang. And there you go.

The thing is, I love that phrase so much it slips into my inner dialog every time I hear Al talk. So instead of him making some dramatic " gosh I just gotta vote Democrat now" point, all I hear is something like this ( My inner dialog in bold)

From a speech he made today:

Congressman Barr and I have disagreed many times over the years, but we have joined together today with thousands of our fellow citizens-Democrats and Republicans alike-to express No Controlling legal authority our shared concern that America's Constitution is in grave danger.

In spite of our No Controlling legal authority differences over ideology and politics, we are in strong agreement that the American values we hold most dear have been placed at serious risk by the unprecedented claims of the Administration to a truly breathtaking expansion of No Controlling legal authority executive power.

As we begin this new year, the Executive Branch of our government has been caught eavesdropping on huge numbers of American citizens and has brazenly declared No Controlling legal authority that it has the unilateral right to continue without regard to the established law enacted by Congress to prevent such abuses.

It is imperative that respect for the No Controlling legal authority rule of law be restored.

So, many of us have come here to No Controlling legal authority Constitution Hall to sound an alarm and call upon our fellow citizens to put aside partisan differences and join with us in demanding that our Constitution be defended and preserved.
It is appropriate that we make this appeal on the day our nation has set aside to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who challenged America to breathe new life into our oldest values by extending its promise to all our people.

On this particular No Controlling legal authority Martin Luther King Day, it is especially important to recall that for the last several years of his life, Dr. King was illegally wiretapped- by Democrats No Controlling legal authority one of hundreds of thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the U.S. government during this period.

The Democratically controlled and dominated FBI privately called King the "most dangerous and effective negro leader in the country" and vowed to "take him off his pedestal." The government even attempted to destroy his marriage and blackmail him into committing suicide.

This campaign continued until Dr. King's murder. The discovery that the FBI conducted a long-running and extensive campaign of secret electronic surveillance designed to infiltrate the inner workings of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and to learn the most intimate details of Dr. King's life, helped to convince Congress to enact restrictions on wiretapping.

The result was the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA), which was enacted expressly to ensure that foreign intelligence surveillance would be presented to an impartial judge to verify that there is a sufficient cause for the surveillance. I voted for that Wanted to say its my idea but everyone would just laugh at me again law during my first term in Congress and for almost thirty years the system has proven a workable No Controlling legal authority and valued means of according a level of protection for private citizens, while permitting foreign surveillance to continue.

Yet, just one month ago, Americans awoke to the shocking news that in spite of this long settled law, the Executive Branch has been secretly spying on large numbers of Americans for the last four years and eavesdropping on "large volumes of telephone calls, e-mail messages, and other Internet traffic inside the United States." The New York Times Owned and operated by the DNC reported that the President decided to launch this massive eavesdropping program "without search warrants or any new laws that would permit such domestic intelligence collection."No Controlling legal authority

During the period when this eavesdropping was still secret Until some blabbermouth told everyone, the President went out of his way to reassure the American people on more than one occasion that, of course, judicial permission No Controlling legal authority is required for any government spying on American citizens and that, of course, these constitutional safeguards were still in place.

But surprisingly, the President's No Controlling legal authority soothing statements turned out to be false. Moreover, as soon as this massive domestic spying program was uncovered by the press, the President not only confirmed that the story was true, but also declared that he has no intention of bringing these wholesale invasions of privacy to an end.
At present, we still have much to learn about the NSA's domestic surveillance Hopefully more people will continue to act like traitors. What we do know about this pervasive No Controlling legal authority wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently. And it should be me up there Dammit.

A Republican president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government . Our Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a government of No Controlling legal authority laws and not Republican men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our Constitution - our system of checks and balances - was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said: "The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them, to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of Republican men."
An executive who arrogates to himself the power to ignore the legitimate legislative directives of the Congress or to act free of the check of the judiciary becomes the central threat that the Founders sought to nullify in the Constitution - an all-powerful executive too reminiscent of the King Who should be me from whom they had broken free. In the words of James Madison, "the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of Democrat Heaven tyranny."

You see, once my mind locks onto his voice all I ca think of is that phrase and after that the poor guy doesnt have a chance to make his point.

Posted @ January 16, 2006 04:01 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

White Courtesy Phone

Dear Leader Kim Il Sung, Please pick up the white courtesty phone...

This guy is "out of town" for 14 days, no one really know where, but apparently visiting areas of China that are growing and prospering, using something the foreign devils call "capitalism". You know, when the Leader of Communist China is showing the leader of North Korea how to run a capitalist economy - even one that is very, extremely marginally capitalist, its a final sign that Communism just-doesnt-work.

Apparently President Hu is going to lecture the lad on the evils of counterfeiting as well.

Watch this closely...

Posted @ January 16, 2006 03:46 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

I guess it really is about the oil…

I’m just about to haul off to bed when I read this little tidbit on drudge:

Iran's economy minister, Davoud Danesh-Jafari, said the country's position as the world's fourth-largest oil producer meant such action would have grave consequences….

Snip.

…Any possible sanctions from the west could possibly, by disturbing Iran's political and economic situation, raise oil prices beyond levels the west expects," he told Iranian state radio.
Mr Danesh-Jafari's warning added weight to veiled threats by Iran's president on Saturday. Iran had a "cheap means" of achieving its nuclear "rights", Mr Ahmadinejad said, adding: "You [the west] need us more than we need you. All of you today need the Iranian nation."

Well, that certainly gets your attention, now doesn’t it! This is like reading in the summer 1941 that the Japanese Navy is meeting in secret to discuss “options for retaliation against the Embargo”. You just know that this isn’t going to end well even if you don’t know the specifics of what is to come.

This would be bad enough by itself, but then I remembered something else. I remembered this odd little picture from November:

(Hugo chavez and Ahmadinejad in November commemorating a Statue to Simon Bolivar)

For the record, Iran is 4th in world oil supplies. Venezuela is 5th.

Venezuela and Iran are now close allies, in both name and action. Any action we take against Iran will now very likely cause a reaction by Venezuela in the form of “boycott”. Venezuela and Iran have now decided to use the time honored tool of “trade war” to influence the world and its policies.

There are a lot of possible outcomes to this, but this is not going to end well no matter how it goes.

When it comes to dealing with Iran there are a lot of people gassing about that the “Israelis will take care of it” assuming that they can take out the Iranian nuclear facilities ala the Iraqi Osirik operation in the 1980s. Well maybe they can and maybe they can't, but I wish to counsel all of you that the results of that action are not going to be without consequences. If you remember back to the 1970’s the Arab world decided that the only way Israel could have won the Yom Kippur war was that the US intervened on the side of Israel. The result was the Arab oil embargo nearly pushed the US and World economies into an actual full on depression. What actually did occur was a deep recession and the rise of an ugly economic species called the “stagflation”. This was something that lasted nearly 10 years but still causes reverberations in world markets even today. As someone who was around back then, I can tell you that it was not pretty and it is not something I want to ever see again. Those of you who think that we had a bad economy over the past three years are in for a real shock when you see what a full out oil embargo can do to an economy.

But here’s the real kicker in this story, thanks to the incredibly stupid policies of the environmentalists who have done everything they can to ensure that we don’t have enough domestic oil production or refineries as well as our own personal desires for cars and trucks that are far larger than anything we drove in the 1970s, we now use even more Arab oil than we did before. Am I exaggerating the impact? Well Ok, last years Hurricanes took out only 5% of our production and look what happened. Today we look at $2.10 a gallon as cheap. Now imagine the impact of a 45% reduction in oil. can you say $5.00 a gallon? maybe $7.50?

It's time to dust off that moped in the back of the garage kids, daddy’s gonna have to park the Hummer for awhile...

Park a hummer here or there, stop buying this or that, and guess what you got? that's right kids, a recession. And if it drags on awhile, you get a full on depression.

Now if Israel were to step in and “take care of Iran” its entirely likely that Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and yes, Venezuela would all take part in a boycott of the same sort that occurred in the 1970’s against the United States. There is no free lunch for us to have “Israel do the deed”, so lets stop all that speculation as it’s really a non starter to begin with. It doesn’t make the situation any better and in many ways, it makes it worse. I’m also very sure that Israel has at its disposal one or two of its own discreet ballistic submarines with nuclear tipped missiles on which they can guarantee their security, whether or not Iran gets a nuclear weapon, so they are covered no matter what the world does. Israelis are not stupid; they know damn well what happens when you depend on "the kindness of strangers”.

Unlike the oil embargo of the past, today we have two of the oil producing countries actively working to “overthrow the US hegemony”. One is working 24 hours a day to build an atomic bomb behind which they can continue their repressive government without fear of reprisal from the West. The other is working 24 hours a day to create a Marxist Leninist Socialist Tyranny in Latin America so as to challenge the United States.

We can’t hit Iran without Venezuela going into play, and vice versa. Its like OPEC with a big chip on its shoulder.

Now if you think that the threat of the possibility of an embargo is aimed at the US alone, think again. This threat is not necessarily aimed just at the US, its also aimed at Europe. The US will certainly suffer as the result of an embargo, but to Europe it will be a catastrophe.

Recently we watched Russia try the same sort of thing with the Ukraine. While Russia’s use of GAZPROM was aimed at trying to change Ukrainian policies it had a horrible effect on European markets. In a similar way, this is what Iran is trying with the Europeans now, which is to put it in the vernacular of the streets “ do what we say and no one gets hurt”.

Once governments begin to use the trade of strategic materials as a way to influence government policy, you are already 2/3’s of the way into a real live shooting war whether you want it or not. This is something we’ve tried ourselves back when we decided to tell the Japanese that they couldn’t have any of our oil so long as they were going to exterminate the Chinese. 6 Months later, the Japanese destroyed Pearl Harbor, invaded the Philippines, Indonesia and most of the South Pacific. We didn’t start the war, but we did light the fuse. Iran it seems, has just lit the fuse.

The problem is this. Let’s say you decide to go all leftist hippie and give into the Iranian demands this time rather than do the "Bush thing" and use force. Let’s say you decide not to do anything about Iran because, what the hell, half a dozen other countries have the bomb what’s one more here or there. I mean why shouldn’t a country who’s government not only doesn’t believe that the holocaust didn’t happen, but even if it did, the Germans should’ve finished what they started. Nice fellahs, the mullahs…

What happens next time they want something? And of course, there is always a “next time” as Prime Minister Chamberlain can certainly attest. What happens when Iran comes out and says; “ We think the Shiite portion of Iraq is really part of “Magna Persia” (…ahem - and so do you, if you get my drift France and Germany, and you too Belgium). Or “The Persian Gulf really is the Persian Gulf and you need our permission to enter and leave, and permission is granted on a paying basis”, or how about this “ Anyone who does business with Israel, gets no oil from us”. Where do you end up drawing the line after you’ve given into something like ‘ oh sure, go right ahead and build an atomic bomb, you holocaust denying 9th century throwbacks..”.

See, once you give in to “one little thing”, you can’t stop. Once you decide to give in to their demands, once you show them that it works, they will use it every time. There’s only one way to stop being extorted, and that’s to stop paying the extortionists.

Once they have ”the bomb” and the control of a large amount of the worlds Oil, just who is going to say no to them? Once they have the means, motive and opportunity to kill all of us, what’s to stop them from doing just that?

Back in the 90’s, the world went to war with Iraq because Saddam took it upon himself to threaten the worlds oil supplies by taking by force the little Emirate of Kuwait and directly threatening the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The question we have to worry about today is will the world react in the same way once they understand that the threat that has now been aimed at us ( and them!) by Iran and Venezuela is every bit as bad if not worse than the threat by Iraq to the world in the 90’s.

Now, for those of you who still aren’t on board for the Iraq Theatre of Operations in the War on Terror, try to imagine what might have been had Iraq fallen into the hands of Al-Qaeda, who working in collusion with Iran had conspired to control not just two countries, but three of the worlds biggest oil suppliers.

Things are about to get very interesting.

I guess it really was about the oil after all. Because in this case, the Iranians have made clear their expressed desire to to get their own WMD's and no one seems to care or notice very much. But maybe they will care about the destruction of their economies by a country that admires Nazi Germany and hopes to be the next best thing.

Posted @ January 16, 2006 02:03 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (8)

And hold your manhood cheap...

From an article in the Army Times, I found this story about an American who makes me feel both proud and yet somehow undeserving of being his fellow countryman:

...Sar grew up in Cambodia under the oppression of the Khmer Rouge, which separated his family members by age, he said. His father was prosecuted by the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese, and his older brother was executed by the Vietnamese.
Speaking in a quiet voice, Sar said his mom and two little brothers died of starvation.

He came to the United States in 1981, became a U.S. citizen five years later and has been in the Army for 20 years — the past 15 in Special Forces.

“I tell you, I love this country more than my birthplace,” Sar said. “I came from Cambodia and I lost (a lot) of my family there, and nobody here can tell me what it’s like, the loss of freedom. ... This country gave me so much, and this is a small price to pay, the long deployments away from home.”

Now go and read the rest already...

(...This day shall gentle his condition And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.) Amen Willie, Amen...

Like JFK said, Where do we get such men as this?

Posted @ January 13, 2006 09:16 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Huzzah

From N.Z. Bear:

We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

Signed,

N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear
Hugh Hewitt, HughHewitt.com
Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com
Kevin Aylward, Wizbang!
La Shawn Barber, La Shawn Barber's Corner
Lorie Byrd / DJ Drummond , Polipundit
Beth Cleaver, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom
Stephen Green, Vodkapundit
John Hawkins, Right Wing News
John Hinderaker, Power Line
Jon Henke / McQ / Dale Franks, QandO
James Joyner, Outside The Beltway
Mike Krempasky, Redstate.org
Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com
Ed Morrissey, Captain's Quarters
Scott Ott, Scrappleface
The Anchoress, The Anchoress
John Donovan / Bill Tuttle, Castle Argghhh!!!

and little ole me...

Posted @ January 13, 2006 02:12 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Thats It???

That's it? Thats all they brought? Thousands of man hours, Senate aides working through the night, private investigators pouring through everything that the man has touched or stood next to in 40 years, and this is all they got for it?

Is this the "Big Bad Democrat Machine"? This is supposed to make me quake in my conservative right wing fanatic boots?

Are you kidding me? It's like hearing Kerry is running for President again, you salivate for this sort of match.

Ted Kennedy, Pat Leahy, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden, the Mt. Rushmore of modern liberalism.... ( no wonder their party is going into the dumpster faster than undercooked airline food).

Why would anyone ever give a dime to support these frauds? Its not like they get anything for their money, These guys arent even "good TV".

I cant get over the asinine nature of the questions they asked. Did they really think that he would just pop out there and say " Yes Senator, I want Womenfolk to be barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen cookin' me and my menfolk a nice big possum supper every Sunday"

Come on.... 24 minutes of posturing, with Alito answering the issue in about 30 seconds, only to have the gasbag Senator say " you didnt answer my question". Only he did, and it was obvious to everyone that he did.

Every public display of pompus bloviation from Teddy is worth another electoral vote for the Republicans. Everytime Biden smiles, its another 100,000 votes for Republicans. Everytime Schumer looks over his glasses, another Generation X kid says 'whoa, dude. Youre harshing my mellow..."

I was worried about Miers getting through the dreaded "Democrat Gauntlet" but after this pitiful display I think one of the Bush twins could get in.

Why would any liberal give money to a Democrat? I mean if you are going to lose anyway ( and after this sad pathetic display in a long series of sad pathetic displays you have to finally agree that you are going to lose), why not give money to a Green or a Socialist which is where you heart is anyway? If you are going to lose, you might at least go down fighting for something you believe in, even I can respect that idea. How can anyone believe anything these frauds say?

These guys are just pathetic. But I didnt vote for them and I dont support them. I wonder how someone who has supported them in the past feels about their heroes now?

This is the day the Democrats finally lost their "moral authority" badge. It took them kicking a man in the face and humiliating him while his wife watched for them to do it, but the finally showed the world for the disgusting power drunk bullies that they really are.

Posted @ January 12, 2006 03:46 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

Ralph Peters Explains it all for you...

Just to cement the points I made yesterday in my review of "State of War", Ralph Peters says this:
Quote:

"My fellow Americans, the real threats to your information security are Google, eBay, chat rooms, credit applications, junk mail, etc. And the Democratic National Committee holds vastly more information about individual American citizens in its files than do all of our intelligence agencies combined...."

snip

"Self-interested renegades posing as whistleblowers aren't patriots, they're traitors. Not one of the recent "anonymous sources" has been able to cite a single example of an innocent American harmed by our intelligence campaign against Islamist terrorists."

Go and read thusly. Registration required.

Posted @ January 09, 2006 09:08 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

PJ Reviews "Dog Days"

P.J. O'Rourke reviews Anna Marie Cox's new novel "Dog Days" and finds it lacking.

My favorite bit:

"Creative writing teachers should be purged until every last instructor who has uttered the words "Write what you know" is confined to a labor camp. Please, talented scribblers, write what you don't. The blind guy with the funny little harp who composed The Iliad , how much combat do you think he saw?"

Posted @ January 09, 2006 08:49 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

"State of War": Summary

Imagine you are a US Intelligence officer and it is September 1st, 2001. One day a call comes in from a from a friend in a local police department that a suspect was apprehended in a matter that has nothing to do with national security but in the process of investigating that crime, information was retrieved that may very well have something to do with National Security. The suspect has a laptop, an internet and email account, a cell phone, a bank account, credit card bills with plane tickets to various US locations over the past year as well as an answering machine that has been receiving calls since the suspects arrest from other parties who are asking for contact for an operation that is going to happen soon.

So what do you do? Well, you probably tell your friend that it sounds interesting, but legally, there’s nothing you can do but if the suspect starts to reveal any information about anything involving national security, that he should make note of it and give you a call.

Then 9/11 happens. So what do you do now? You call your friend at the local PD, and he tells you that one of the names left on the answering machine was one of the guys that hijacked one of the aircraft.

So do you follow the letter of the law, or do you do your duty?

Quite by accident of relationship you have been provided with information on the network that launched an attack that killed thousands of Americans. With phone records and their relationships to other individuals based on calling patterns, you can work with the NSA to track down locations, identities and relationships, the times and dates of contact for other people who were involved with this attack. With bank records, you are able to determine the source of funds, with each piece of information provided by your local PD friend, you have uncovered a vast trove of information about the terror organization that can be used to help take it apart. From the fingerprints on the doorknobs to each phone number that was dialed out of their house, you’ve stepped into the “source data” that can reveal all of the other parts of the terror organization. As each “node” in the network is uncovered and apprehended, the relational database of information on the terror network and each of its nodes will grow until the network itself is so compromised that it can no longer function.

Welcome to the first Database War. He who has the source data and the correct relationships between it – wins.

But Again I ask; Do you follow the law, or do you do your duty?

Because of the data you uncovered at the first node, you start rolling up more and more of the nodes. When you capture people, they are given to the CIA to be detained to help you in your task to find and reveal each of the nodes in the terror network. They are detained in hidden locations for two reasons. First, to not reveal to the terror organization that one of their nodes is missing and compromised which gives you time to either spoof the network or to continue retrieving information on the next node in the network. Second, so that they cant reveal to the organization what method was used to get them captured in the first place. Were they informed on? Who or what was their source? Did someone in the chain rat them out? Or is it something that they are doing that is getting them pinched.

Things are going along well until a colleague, an old timer who has been left out of the operation becomes aware of what’s been going on with your program. He cares not for the security of the nation, but for the size of the budget of his department and his career and since you and your team have been getting results, you are now also getting the budget, the attention and of course the recognition and promotions to go along with it.

After years of work, after all the "sucking up" to political appointees after every election, he’s about to be lapped by “the new kids” who are violating every rule you followed in the previous 10 years when you had the project. He decides he can’t compete with these rules and the culture that comes with it and the results that are expected, so he decides to even the game in the only way he can.

He decides to have lunch with a friend; a friend who just happens to work for the New York Times.

He relates a shocking tale of an intelligence organization spying domestically. He tells how the United States has access to all sorts of internet traffic and phone traffic and it also has the means to “snoop” on all of it, supposedly in the name of National Security.

In the war against al-Qaeda, the effect of this public release of information has the same effect as it would have been had a World War II OSS officer met with the Japanese before Midway to reveal that the United States had broken their Naval codes. Set aside the loss of manhours as people now have to undergo investigations by congress, you now have a bigger problem. After this is revealed to the public all of a sudden the network goes silent and you quickly find your leads have all dried up.

Within a year, the network has as many nodes up and running as it did in the days before 9.11, only because you haven’t penetrated it enough to determine the network or its nodes, you have no idea who, what or where anything is going on regarding terror in the United States.

All this happens because someone talked to the New York Times and revealed the methods of your team not as a way to help the country, but as a way to hold onto power within their organization.

This sort of thing happens every day in every company where people in their jobs feel threatened in their careers. However, when it happens in a National Security Organization, we all pay the price for these selfish acts not just the organizations the discontented employees worked for and wish to take revenge.

And this is where James Risens “State Of War” comes into play.

This is a book written on the backs of angry intelligence officers who have been passed over for promotion, lost prestige and who feel just a little bit guilty at once again failing to deliver results for their country. By their own inaction and incompetence caused the very war they now see happening all around them. It stinks of the flop sweat of the failed career and begs for revenge at the hands of public indignation for the actions taken by the President, which resulted in the loss of prestige for former “big time operators” in the Intelligence community.

But the book fails to deliver on that idea. In fact, the book makes a surprisingly clear case for the Bush Administration and why they have taken the steps they have in the War against Al-Qaeda. The PR on the book makes it out that this book into a testimonial against the Bush Administration, but the real villain in this book is former CIA director George Tenet, who is savaged in nearly every chapter of the book. President Bush’s greatest crime seems to be allowing Tenet to stay in his job.

Don’t get me wrong; the author is clearly on “the other side” of the President in this book. He refers to conservatives only as “ neo-conservatives” and blames Bush for as much as he can as often as he can but very often his arguments against the Bush administration fall far short of anything close a convincing argument. I often found myself reading the book wondering if the author was in fact a Bush supporter who had been forced by his editor to write an “anti-bush” book and in the end had the book edited to express that idea rather than his actual findings.

The most famous part of the book, the release of information about the NSA “wiretapping” seems contrived and added at the last minute. It simply doesn’t fit into the rest of the book in a seamless way. It's almost like an appendix to the basic theme of the book rather than the central case being made.

The NSA section of the book is also the most troubling and it gets to my biggest complaint about the book. Whomever it was from within the intelligence community who revealed the NSA program information to Mr. Risen should be put on trial for treason, along the lines of what was done to Christopher Boyce in the 1970’s. While I disagree with the idea of doing so, Mr. Risen is within his rights as a journalist to reveal it but for any serving or former intelligence officer to even breath any part of this program to a journalist is without conscience or consideration for the damage that will be done as a result of their self serving and utterly traitorous behavior. These people are not whistleblowers any more than the Walker Gang were advocates for peace with the Soviet Union. That being said, if Mr. Risen and his editors were to be more interested in the security of this nation than he was his career, he would have considered the damage the release of this information would do before he published it because the revelation of this program to the world will probably in all likelihood cost lives. Civilian lives. American lives. Innocent lives.

It seems that Mr. Risen and I live in two different ethical standards, one that puts the nations security first and one that puts career first. I sleep very well at night with my choice but I wonder how Mr. Risen does with his.

One thing Mr. Risen makes clear through the book is the incredible bureaucratic headwind that anyone has to walk into to accomplish anything in the intelligence business for the security of the country. In fact he says that very thing repeatedly throughout the book. At one point in the book, he points out that the National Security apparatus is ill suited to fight a war on terror, and gives the best evidence as the information found in the 9/11 report, which says much to that effect.

Yet over and over gain Mr. Risen excoriates President Bush for not taking the advice of the very organization he works so hard to discredit by publishing this book, that being the CIA. The CIA comes across as a disorganized, disheveled group not even capable of doing a job as even as competent as FEMA did in Hurricane Katrina. Yet, President Bush gets a finger wagging from Mr. Risen for not listening to these learned men whom even Mr. Risen clearly marks as having dropped the ball and left the nation lost and dithering during its dire time of need.

Throughout the reading of the book I kept asking myself what I would do if I were President and I was faced with a CIA that was contradictory in its intelligence findings, inconsistent in its delivery and sometimes working overtime against my administration by leaking to the press outside of any consideration for national security.

I wondered how we could be so lucky to have elected a man who had the patience to put up with that kind of crap and still manage to get the job done with such dignity and grace.

Posted @ January 08, 2006 08:52 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

Liveblogging "State Of War" : Breaking for lunch

I'm breaking for lunch.

As expected, Ive managed to just about finish the first read today. It is somewhat difficult to read because the author is very disjointed with his arguments. Half the time he puts forth arguments about why the CIA is A) useless b) out of control since the end of the cold war c) staffed with lifetime appointees, many of which came on board during the Clinton administration which is quickly followed by a sentence that says something like " many experts in the area of 'fill-in-the-blank ' agree that Bush has clear fumbled and "dropped the ball". You get the idea. No source is stated, no footnotes to documentation just "Many sources agree" and youre supposed to trust him with that even though he just spent a page and a half giving you the direct opposite impression. Its enough to give you literary whiplash...

He constantly moves the goalpost on what is good and bad behavior depending on whos ox is being gored( oh yeah, never seen that before have we...). You get the idea from the back cover which says:

"In the 1960 and 70's it was abuse of power in domestic politics"
( subtext - You remember, that evil Nixon fellah.)

"In the 1980s it was lawbreaking in covert foreign affairs"
( subtext - You remember, that even more evil Reagan fellah)

"Now we are at war and domestic spying and covert lawbreaking are just the tip of the iceberg".
(subtext - Black helicopters - Liberal concetration camps, evil Bush Mchitler is outside your door right now listening to your every move. He knows when you are sleeping, He knows when youre awake..)

It's a good thing nothing happened in the 1990s or his whole back jacket graphics plan wouldv'e been totally shot!

My first thought after finishing the first read is that you could just as easily edit the material in this book to be very Pro-Bush if you were so inclined. I found myself at several points wondering if the author really wanted to say something like that but was goaded into being "Bush negative" by his editorial board. You could take many of his arguments against Bush and give his own supporting evidence as reasons why the President was doing a great job if you remove the overused and unsupported phrase " Many experts agree that Bush is..." from the book.

Anyway, let me eat, enjoy the sunshine, take the dog on a hike and think about it for a bit and then I'll post some of the juicier bits afterwards and summarize the whole thing.

If this really is the very best the New York Times can do...

Posted @ January 08, 2006 02:04 PM | Book Reviews | Comments (0)

Liveblogging "State Of War"

Page 6 of the Prologue reveals this lovely nugget regarding how far the CIA had collapsed during the 1990's:

"Thanks to Vice President Al Gore, for example, the CIA briefly made the global environment one of its priorities."

Let me get this straight. At a time when the United States had already been attacked in 1993 with the first WTC bombing, when terrorists were blowing up our embassies in Africa, When the USS Cole was attacked, under direction by the Vice President - the CIA was looking into how our insatiable desire for SUV's was ruining the "global environment"? un-freakin-believe-able...

I'd like to see more on this. I'd love to see the source for this.

Posted @ January 08, 2006 10:02 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

James R. Risen State of War: Detailed Review

As a service to my readers, I have now aquired a copy of the latest book of literary controversy: James R. Risens "State of War" The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. I will give a detailed analysis of each chapter and provide a "fisking" of those things I find in the book that are of note. I do this to help those of you who wish to know whats actually in the book, but don't necessarily wish to give support to someone who may not be on the same side of the war as the rest of us.

Yes, I did actually buy the book. While I may or may not agree with the man, he did write it and he deserves fair compensation for the effort. What kind of a capitalist would I be if I didn't give him at least that? If its good, I'll say so, if its bad or wrong or wrong headed, I'll say that too.

At first glance, its a small book of about 200 pages. I will be done with the first read of this by tommorow.

UPDATE: This going to be a long bumpy ride. Page 1 of the prologue relates a story of President Bush angrily hanging up on his father in 2003. The author then goes into some detail on what must have been the nature of the call( George HW Bush angry that the "neo-cons" like Donald Rumsfeld and how they were taking over from moderates like Colin Powell ). The author then admits that the call was only heard by two men who we are assumed to be President Bush and his father.

So, assuming that President Bush or his father did not serve as the anonymous sources then who was it that told James Risen what the call was about? Oh I know! it was that good and noble conservative, Colin Powell. But he wasnt there either...Damn!

I'm now up to chapter two but so far its a condensed cream of "East Coast Intellectual Bush Hatred" laid lightly across a bed of foreign service officer dissention, followed by a green-with-envy salad covered in a light vinagarette of Georgetown party circuit smarm. I must remember to stock up on the Alka Seltzer if I am to make it through this.

Most of what I've read so far folows a pattern of " Bush is a bumbling blunderer" quickly followed by example after example of how the CIA or other parties never had Bush involved in the bad decisions in the first place. Its hard to tell at this point if the author wishes to give the President the biggest "get out of jail free" card in history or if he wants the President impeached. My guess is the latter rather than the former, but every time he points out that the CIA kept information to itself without telling the President, I have to wonder.

UPDATE II: Something was bothering me about the book last night and about 3:00 am it hit me. There are no footnotes. There is page after page of incidents, but no documentation to allow the reader to follow up. For example, on page 5 the author goes into some discussion of how John Deutch faired in his days at the CIA.

Quote:

His decision to fire senior officers over a scandal in Guatemala may have been sound management practice, but it led to an open rebellion with the Directorate of Operations, from which he never fully recovered.

What "Scandal in Guatemala" is he talking about? I know we live in the google age, but it would be nice to specify some supporting documentation.

Posted @ January 07, 2006 08:33 PM | Book Reviews | Comments (3)

2006 'Nostradamus' Predicts

Sure I’m late with this but I was on vacation last week, so here it goes...

Summary:

For those people over the age of 40 2006 will replace 1968 as the most pivotal year in our lives.

I believe we are sitting on the edge of conditions that are similar to the very worst and most dangerous years of the cold war.

Also, this year marks the beginning of the retirement of the baby boomers and the effect on the economy will be staggering. Each year of the next 10 years will result in a condition that almost none of us has ever seen except in a temporary basis; a shortage of workers. Those that are employable will find 2006 the beginning of very good times indeed as we are entering an era of a severe shortage of workers. This is not paradise, it has its own problems and we have almost no idea how to deal with them.

2006 will also mark the most significant change in the nations press as a public revolt will occur over the continued release of classified information in vague hopes of “getting Bush” will be increasingly seen to be working against the interests of the public. Shareholder takeovers of several failing media organizations will result in some organizations undergoing a political realignment.

Here’s the general breakdown of some of the things I think might happen in 2006.

The Good

- There will be a military strike against Iran. It will be sudden and it will be comprehensive, similar to Operation Desert Storm. It will not be the Israelis who do it, it will be the US, under UN sanction as a result of Iran doing something that cannot be sanctioned by anyone anywhere and that is 'embarrasing the Europeans'. Afterwards, the government of Iran crumble.

- The German Government will indict Gerhard Schroeder after scrutiny of his actions with GAZPROM. The result of the investigations will ignite a scandal, which will spread across all European governments.

- Fidel Castro will die. With any luck, it will also be a painful lingering death.

- Democrats will lose seats in the House and the Senate, but Howard Dean will proclaim it as a success. After losing yet another “cant lose” election, Howard Dean will be removed as head of the Democrat Party. The effect will be to split the Democrats along ideological lines, which will require a generation spent in exile to resolve.

- All charges against Scooter Libby will be dropped.

- Bush will lose his temper at a Press Conference. His angry response will cause his ratings will go up 10%. It will mark the beginning of a public war against the press by the administration.

- Several reporters will be jailed as a result of the release of classified information. Several members of the CIA and the NSA and the judiciary will also be indicted for espionage as a result of their efforts. It will have what is called a “chilling effect” on the press. While the press will be irritated beyond belief, American public sentiment will rise against the abuses of the press.

- The Bush Administration will begin to release recordings of tapped phone calls that are intercepted between Terrorists. One recording will be of an active member of the western press talking to a known terrorist.

- Zarkarwi will be killed by Iraqis. Zawahiri will be captured by Americans. Bin Laden will be found to have died by his own hand. All thee actions will be immediately ignored by the press.

- Several ‘big media’ organizations will undergo severe ideological transformation due to management changes brought on by shareholder revolts as a result of continued losses. Some will become even more leftist under the argument that they can provide the market with the “opposite of Fox”, while others will work to “outfox fox”. Bloggers will be increasingly integrated side by side with so called “professional” journalists further blurring the lines between the two.

The Bad

- General Motors will declare bankruptcy as a way to negate the hideously stupid contracts with the UAW. General Motors will come out of bankruptcy, lean, mean, efficient and profitable (not to mention smaller) but it will mark the end of the UAW as a force in American political life. The bankruptcy will rock the stock market for months.

- An American Military officer will be arrested by a European Government for “War Crimes” as a way to put President Bush on trial by proxy.

- Hugo Chavez will begin to openly support the revolt in Chiapas and will begin funding Communist revolution throughout Central America. He will begin to court Americans to support his “revolution”. There will be many who support him supplanting their previous support for the now dead Castro for support of Chavez.

- While Castro will die this year, nothing will change in Cuba as Raul Castro steps in to take his brothers place.

- Cheney will leave office for health reasons. His replacement will not be a Senator.

- Nancy Pelosi will step down as House Minority Leader.

- Harry Reid will resign from office.

- John Kerry will announce a significant health event that will impact his holding of the office of Senator. Ted Kennedy will suffer a life threatening and career ending stroke or heart attack. The state Government of Massachusetts will make extraordinary moves to ensure that Democrats replace both Senators, rather than a choice made by their Republican governor.

- The Canadian government will topple this year. Twice. It will come into question whether Canada can be governed. For the first time, serious consideration by Canadians will be given to the breakup of Canada.

The Ugly

- The economy will slow, not because of oil prices, inflation, taxation or global warming, but because of a lack of available employees to allow companies to grow fast enough to maintain revenue.

- Iran will explode a nuclear weapon before the end of the summer. The result will be isolation of Iran by the International community. The world will stand on the brink of nuclear war for the first time since the Cuban Missile crisis.

- Israel will demonstrate a sub launched missile system.

- President Bush will have at least one attempt on his life this year, not by terrorists, but by a ‘crazed lone gunman’. The press will bend over backwards to excuse the act of the madman as somehow “justified” further inflaming public ire against the press.

- China will invade North Korea after Kim Il Sung is killed in a Chinese sponsored coup. China will not call it an “invasion”, but that’s what it will be. The Chinese Border will be blockaded by China and the invasion will come from the sea with the aid of the Russian Navy. It will possibly be dressed up as an attempt to relieve the famine. America, South Korea and the world will look the other way. North Korea will remain isolated, but it will essentially become a prefecture of China.

Ok, they are all 'Wild Ass Guesses', but at least I didnt do what this meathead did.

Posted @ January 06, 2006 11:47 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (6)

Coal Mining Deaths

Now that everyone has decided to play a game of j'accuse with the American Coal Industry, I thought I'd toss out a few facts that are not being dicussed in regards to the record of American Coal Companies.

Coal mine accidents killed some 2,700 people in the first half of 2005 alone in China, where coal remains a major industry.

The China Daily newspaper reported that 5,491 coal miners were killed in 2,939 accidents by Dec. 11 – 206 more than in the same period in 2004.

China, the largest of the remaining Communist states had this unbelievable record for just last year. So let's stop hyperventilating about "The American Corporate disregard for Human Life".

There's also this to consider; Underground mining is the nation's second most-dangerous occupation after a category that includes farming, forestry and commercial fishing, according to the U.S. Labor Department. There were 22 deaths at U.S. coal mines last year, the fewest in at least 10 years.

The single deadliest coal mining disaster in U.S. history was an explosion in 1907 in Monongah, W.Va., that killed 362 people. nineteenhundred and fricken seven!

Posted @ January 04, 2006 01:29 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (9)

open question

Should I buy a copy of Risen's State of War : The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration and provide lots of snarky commentary to the readership of this fine site?

Your comments are appreciated.

Posted @ January 04, 2006 10:58 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (11)

Murtha: Who you gonna call?

"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday."No," replied Murtha."And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued."Exactly right," said Murtha.

I dont think Chesty Puller would say this. Ever...

Look, Representative Murtha is not a bystander in this anti-war stuff. He helped create the Military he now says he would not join and I dont mean in an indirect "I voted for it before I voted against it" way either. Congress members nominate people to the Military Academies. Fundamentally, you cannot be in congress and be against the "big bad war machine" if you nominate the very people who lead the military.

I also think the good people of the Murthas Congressional District should know that despite how their Representative in Congress speaks about the war, that he is still taking nominations for the US Military Academies from January 15th the September 15th, so be sure sure to get your application in early!

To Quote From Rep. Murthas Congressional Website on the subject:

"I stay in touch with the young men and women from our area attending the academies because I enjoy seeing how they mature and grow. The academies provide a tremendous opportunity for a free education, but they also mold people into leaders. It's amazing to see how they grow in confidence from one year to the next as they prepare to become the next generation of leaders of our nation's military."

Oh Really! Im sure they must be most inspired by the congressman to hear that after all the bother they went through to go to get to the academy that they really shouldn't be in there at all. Who am I talking to? Well how about the forty-nine men and women from the 12th Congressional District who were sent by Representative Murtha to the nations academies in 1999!

Quote:

Acceptance to the Military, Naval, Air Force or Merchant Marine Academy requires a political nomination for appointment; application to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy does not require a political nomination. In 1999, forty-nine men and women from the 12th Congressional District were enrolled in the Military, Naval, Air Force or Merchant Marine Academies, so I may have more nominees attending academies than any other member of Congress.
...

Upon graduation from a service academy, young men and women receive a college degree as well as military experience. Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy serve at least six years of active duty starting as second lieutenants. The U.S. Naval Academy commissions its graduates as ensigns in the U.S. Navy or as second lieutenants in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years...

So, let's do the math! Representative Murtha nominated 49 men and women in 1999. I'm sure that a high number of them did go on to graduate and serve this country. Lucky them! because they did it just in time to serve this country as Junior Officers during the Iraq Campaign or in Afghanistan or during the Tsunami relief or during Hurricane Katrina, none of which Representative Murtha feels is a worthy cause. Well, I can see that Representative Murtha feels that its not a good time to join, but I am sure there are lots of people in the hills of Pakistan who survived the last earthquake becasue of aid flown in US Army Helicopters, Tsunami survivors in Indonesia who survived due to the efforts of the US Navy, Women in Afghainsitan and Iraq who were protected by Marines and Air Force Officers who feel differently than Representative Murtha and thank God for the men and women Representative Murtha sent to do their duty for this country in 1999.

But the threats to this country and the world wont end this year. When the threats to us do come in the future, who will Representative Murtha turn to now that he has told them not to come?

Posted @ January 03, 2006 03:55 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Morning Sam - Morning Ralph

Vacations over - Back to work...

( someone just asked me "who's sam and ralph?" Oh dear God,save us from the heathen... - For background on "Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf" Click here

whos sam and ralph?, unbelievable!....

Posted @ January 03, 2006 01:37 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

First baby boomer turns 60

I saw this article:

First baby boomer to turn 60 on Jan. 1

and immediately was reminded of this picture of Phil " I shot a girl just to watch her die" Spector

and thought to myself " apparently not a moment too soon..."

Posted @ January 02, 2006 01:26 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

Holiday Reprint: Ready for your Close up?

Editors Note: I'm still enjoying some time off and this is the last day of it but I've just realized all the things I didnt get done during this little break. I'll be back on regular blogging duty tommorrow, but heres a little something I wrote back last Febuary that is timely...

Were living in a time of great transition. The human world is changing before our eyes in ways our grandfathers could never have imagined. Some of us adjust and sit back and marvel at the majesty of it all, while others cling to a hopeful return to the righteousness of the past like a wet cat locked inside a running shower stall loudly craves a return to dryness.

I’ve been through technology transitions before, so this is nothing new. To me, all technology has the life span of a green banana. It doesn’t surprise me to see change anymore. In fact I’m so jaded that I’m only surprised when I don’t see change. I like change. Most of the time, it works out pretty good. I do have my issues with cell phones, but that’s a rant for another time.

Like I said, things are changing, and changing big. I really hesitated writing this piece because it involves picking on a soft and easy target. This target is a person, but she’s actually more of a totem for a lifestyle that is dying before my eyes.

That lifestyle is “Activist Journalism”, and it’s fading into the past fast and with it fades the career of a particular baby-boomer-Pulitzer-prize-winning-columnist.

Once, long ago, to be a journalist meant having the same prestige as a used car salesman. Respectable men didn’t work as “reporters”, just scam artists and men just this side of the law. Sure, there were a few “writers” as such, but as a rule, kids didn’t go to college saying they wanted to go into the “news” business. It was a knuckle-busting, hard drinking, make no money, all for a little bit of ego stroke kind of business. It was a man’s business, specifically an old mans business a two fisted drinking, smoking, whoring mans business.

She wondered what to do with yourself.

A few years go by. Then one day, a couple of kids just like her who worked at the Washington Post exposed a popular and powerful President in a crime. They became famous. They became more important than the stories they covered. They mattered.

People of her generation began to talk of their role of “Speaking Truth to Power”, exposing corruption and “making to world a better place”. It became intoxicating. She could become famous she told herself, just by writing a few little stories.

She could become an “authority”. She could change government policy, all because you could get hired by a newspaper to write stories. There was no competition; she had the consumer and the publisher right where she wanted them.

She used to march in protests in college, she wanted to change the world, now through the new found world of “Activist Journalism”, she could.

Now she mattered. Now she were important. The world listened to her. They watched her breathlessly help make policy on Sunday morning Political Shows, where the “old men” asked her to appear to give your opinion. She was “speaking truth to power”.

People bought her books. She made up cute names about important people and they had to take it, because she worked for a newspaper, and they didn’t. It was sweet revenge for all the wrongs against her and all of the agrieved "sisterhood".

The people she worked for paid her well, because just by her being associated with them, they made money. It was a great little system they had.

Once upon a time, A person could go to the best schools, get the connections, take a journalism class or two, get out of college, go to work for a newspaper, write a few articles and become famous.

And powerful. That was the best part, Power. In your own hands...

Once upon a time way back when, a person could join a profession who had as one of its goals “Changing the world” and you could. And she did!

She lives in a din of Champaign bubbles, camera lights and the loud hum of stereo speakers at parties. It dulls her to the sound of little feet. The little feet of competition, scuttling across the floor of her finely ordered world where she sits safely at the top.

Once, while she was busy entertaining at a posh party in the Hampton’s, someone across the room said a word she didn’t understand in a sentence she couldn’t comprehend.

“ I read it in a blog…” They said about something that she couldn’t care less about because it wasn’t about her, so how important could it be... she thought to yourself. She kept hearing how your friends were on the “Internet”, but she resisted, it was all so pedestrian. Her admin assistant could do that for her at work, why should she get into the dirty side of it all.

“It gets in the way of my writing”; she said whenever someone asked. Her favorite politcal candidate in the election started to make money off all the little people on this thing called “the internet”. She decided that whatever it was, it was a good thing, but basically, she ignored it.

Her newspaper started an “online edition”. They set up an email so your readers could correspond with her on a story. As long as the checks came in, she didn’t care. She had no more idea what “internet edition” was any more than what the letters “WIC” meant in the milk section of the grocery store. She never checked her email, she had people to do that for her.

Then she heard it again, that little “blog” word. She thought it so passé, but there it was again. Then one day, her editor lost his job because of the effect of this little word she didn’t understand. Apparently, some "blog" caught her boss in a little lie, and told everyone. How could they? and who were they anyway? “This must be the work of the corporate power brokers”. She decided to investigate this "internet thing". She asked her admin about the email account that the paper had set up for her.

“You wont like it” said the admin.

“How can that be? I am loved by one and all!” The admin then explained how readers wrote to tell how often she, the writer, the reporter, the journalist were wrong on so many issues. The admin explained that her fine crafted pieces of journalism were often linked on websites all over the world.

“Well, see, I told you they like me” she said with glee. The admin looked across the top of her glasses at you with a sour persimmon look and shook her face from side to side.

“You don’t understand, they don’t like you, they hate you, they make fun of you every chance they get, and you don’t help with some of the pieces you write, all those cutesy names, its so infantile”.

“Well, it’s the right wing talk radio whackos, of course they hate me!” she said back in angry retort with balled up fists.

“No, its pretty much everyone. I hate to tell you this, but on the Internet, you are a considered a sad joke”.

There, right in the office on that day, she realized something for the first time. She wasn't driving the fastest car in the race, she had just been lapped. The world had passed her by. She were living her life thinking she was Katherine Hepburn, but it turns out, she was really just Norma Desmond.

Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.

Norma Desmond: I am big. It's the pictures that got small.

In the end, it wasn’t about journalism, it wasn’t about the writing, it was all about her. All that mattered was the satisfaction of her ego. That was her morphine, and when she heard the word "blog" the first time, that was the end of her fix, only she didnt know it at the time.

Like Nora Desmond, Main Stream Media is living in a sad reflective world that no longer exists. They live in the narcotic haze of nostalgia, “for the days gone by” when the world rotated around what they thought. Now, they will start the “death rattle” that occurs when all former authorities and celebrities feel their grip on power falling away from them like a drug addict who cant quite keep their buzz going.

They will sue, berate, belittle, crack and claw. it will get mean and petty. And claw though they might, they will lose, for they have lost already. Main Stream Media can no more hold onto their non-existent authority than the cardinals of Europe could maintain their place after Gutenberg made the press. The world has changed. It's conspired against them. The bill has come due.

The smart ones will adapt. The dumb ones will fade sadly into obscurity, dimly holding out hope for better times,colliding with the sharp corners of reality on the way down the cold cement staircase of life. Some will go sad and pathetically like Walter Winchell did in his last days,after no one would hire him, handing out “newsletters” for 10 cents a piece at Manhattan bars,basking in the reflective glory that was his past or like Nora Desmond, acting only to a room full of shadows as the world has cast its gaze somewhere else.

Joe Gillis: There's nothing tragic about being fifty. Not unless you're trying to be twenty-five.

So true.

Oh but Weep not fellow blogger for the fading baby-boomer-Pulitzer-prize-winning-columnist who once mattered, but does no longer. For someday, in the not too distant future, we too will meet our ego-doom at the hands of an unseen competitive force who is even now scuttling across our floors unheard through the din of our current excitement. Meet it with grace and dignity, because has history has clearly shown us, it happens to everyone.

It will happen to us. Just wait and see.

Be ready for your close up. It will be over before you know it.

Posted @ January 02, 2006 10:29 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)