RIP Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell responded first and took the fall for domestic extremism.  But he fought back.

Justice coming for Col. Rowe

Justice may be coming soon for the family of Vietnam hero Col. James “Nick” Rowe, murdered in the Philippines in 1989 by goons loyal to Mao-wannabe Jose Maria Sison.  Sison was arrested in the Netherlands where he had been in self-imposed “exile” for many years, even though the Dutch government had refused to grant him official asylum status.

Vote cynically?

Another reason why American doesn’t need a Senator as President.

No such thing as good economic news, is there?

Minimum wages - Montana-style.

Begging for resignations - part VII

First it was Levin.  Now, Hillary says it’s time for Maliki to go.  Coming from these two, this may actually provide a needed boost to Maliki, who may yet prove to be the pivotal strongman Iraq needs him to be.  Levin and Clinton were proven to be exactly wrong about the military’s change to counterinsurgency tactics, and they are wrong here. Regardless of how bleak CW stresses Maliki’s prospects, his story is far from over.

We’re waiting for Schumer, Reid, Pelosi, and Durbin to follow suit.

A refocus?

The Washington Post gently describes the Dems’ conundrum as they adapt their political message to changes on the ground in Iraq.  Apparently Dem voters want want more bang for their buck with their Congressmen–if the message doesn’t fit, just change it to fit the times!  Nobody’s watching the C-SPAN archives anyway!

How can the largest and richest American political party, which based its entire election strategy over the last three years on a cynical alignment with military defeat be expected to come up with a winning strategy for anything?

Upgrade your DeLorean

The marque lives on, sort of.

Glenn Greenwald - Political Blogs and Opinions - Salon

Glenn Greenwald - Political Blogs and Opinions - Salon

That’s illogical, Captain

Greenwald suggests that Americans are losing faith in Congressional Dems because they haven’t investigated Bush enough.

Rudy’s Pet Goat

Salon blasts Rudy for his post-9/11 activities, claiming he spent more time chumming with the Yankees than directing recovery efforts at Ground Zero.

Oh, wait. . we also have Bush sitting through storytime while NY and DC burned.  Bush allegedly going AWOL for a weekend when he was in the TANG.  And so on. . .

This is the respectable, watchdog press?

*sigh* I have to go on vacation

. . .but my heart and mind will be here.  The rest of me should be returning before August 21.  In the meantime, stay offline and go outside.  Play with the kids. Get some sun.  It’s all good.

Cheers.

“Our side”?

More than three months since first reported by blogger embeds the American media has begun to understand that our military’s new counterinsurgency strategy can pay dividends if given enough time.

(From the AP)— Even some critics of President Bush’s Iraq war policies are conceding there is evidence of recent improvements from a military standpoint. But Bush supporters and critics alike agree that these have not been matched by any noticeable progress on the political front.

Yes, progress is at hand, but what about the political front? Here we go again. We’ve heard that before, haven’t we? (”Yes, Tucker, the economy may be growing, but wages haven’t risen.” Which also isn’t exactly true.) What is the flipping of insurgents allegiances if not political progress?

The war is progressing and attitudes improve or worsen. Here’s an interesting take on the shift in attitudes on Iraq following military inroads:

“The administration is aggressively engaged in shifting public attitudes. And our side has been less aggressive than it needs to be,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. “The administration has been making inroads on their Iraqi argument, particularly linking it to terrorism.”

If actually killing or arresting Iraqi terrorists with links to foreign groups is just another propaganda tool the Bush Administration employs in a fight against its political adversaries, then pass me the soma, Ms. Lake. Does the use of all of our prosecutorial, technical, and military resources to net bad guys constitute some kind of partisan cynicism? Did the administration make an “inroad” when we discovered that “AQ in Mesopotamia” was not the indigenous band of haters we assumed but rather a sham front for external forces? In today’s supercharged political climate, it’s hard to imagine her “side” being any more aggressive in their daily ad hominems against anyone remotely associated with the war.

But maybe–maybe–she’s just saying that, yes, sometimes even Bush can catch a break.

Polluters Manipulate Climate Info?

Years of friendly, cross-marketed media collaboration aside, the Goreacle claims the real danger to truth are the propangandists bankrolling dissenting viewpoints:

“There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community,” Gore said at a forum in Singapore. “In actuality, there is very little disagreement.”

This, from a debate-shunning leftist fattened by many of the West’s most influential and wealthy financiers who undoubtedly are the impartial arbiters of consensus-building.

Compelling, and rich.

Politics are universal

Sunni MPs boycott meetings–Iraqi Democracy ist kaput!

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s political crisis worsened Monday as five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings - leaving the embattled prime minister’s unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.

No problem, pardners! There’s precedent here to reflect upon.  Political hissy fits happen,  and nobody was writing Texas off in 2003.

Say what you want about Nouri al Maliki, but he’s seemed to have weathered more than a couple of these tantrums, and in the middle of a decidedly combative atomosphere.

“Do we need to climate proof our bridges?”

Did climate change contribute to the Minneapolis catastrophe?  Well, somebody was bound to ask.

BBC News and more thoughts on Barack Obama

The multilateral, global struggle against radical Islamic expansionism and terrorism is known as the “so-called war on terror” according to the BBC in an article describing the stern warning recently given by Barack Obama to terorists hiding in Pakistan.   Mr. Obama  *may* just be a little less dovish than the Beeb.

Anyway, funny how Obama, with all of his harsh condemnations of President Bush’s supposedly reckless and unilateral psycho bravado, is willing to one-up the sitting President and do what Bush and all of his neocon war goons were too timid to do!  Nah, doesn’t make sense.

Just wondering:

Following his conditional premise of attacking into (presumably) Waziristan, would Obama have had the same fearless determination to act unilaterally on actionable intelligence against  al Qaeda-types finding sanctuary in northern Iraq in 2002?

Similarly, less than two years after he withdrew security forces from Waziristan and ceded the territory to tribal leaders, Pakistan’s Musharraf has had break his foolish truce with the tribes and re-enter the territory in order to confront those openly harboring outlaw Taliban and al Qaeda factions.   Readily apparent now, his appeasement and treaty with the tribes was a tremendously regrettable mistake, yet politicians like Obama want a similar and immediate evacuation of Iraq.  The odds are that the country would deteriorate to a point. . . which would . .  .wait. . .I get it now. . . . . He’s wanting to swoop in later and kill the real bad guys!

All makes sense now.

Obama - Chickenhawk?

Obama warns he would attack al Qaeda in Pakistan.   Hmm, I thought the right way to engage our enemies, Mr. Obama, was to sit and talk with them first. You know, find common ground!  Propose a regional conference first, and bring AQ intermediaries to the table.

And, are you sure the top al Qaeda leadership is in Pakistan, Mr. Obama?

Hillary is now the undisputed Democratic presidential candidate, and Obama has provided enough resistance to her campaign to earn her some necessary toughness–however symbolic–and him a VP nomination.